>>> Happy Birthday Dad! <<<

It's my dad's 78th birthday and he's lucky that we are there to celebrate. Well, got him a cake the day before his birthday and celebrated it. The boys as usual were happy to help him blow the candles!

Bought the cake from Bangawan Solo, a fabulous cake shop selling nonya kueh (cakes). Sheesh, each time I pass their shop (and there have many around), I can't resist the durian puki! Wish they would consider setting one up in the UK. I would be a regular customer!

My dad with his grandsons! Didn't use my flash but didn't use a tripod either hence the slight blurriness! Oh well, won't stop me scrapping it either! Luv ya dad and wish you many more living years. Just wish I wasn't living that far from you!

We're off to Genting Highlands, Malaysia tomorrow and no doubt, we will celebrate his birthday again albeit a small slice of cake. Can't really carry a huge cake with us on a bus journey!

TTFN!

>>> Happy National Day! <<<

Singapore is 43 yrs old! Happy Birthday!

I was lucky to get my hands on 3 National Day Parade tickets. I went with my dad and Oliver. Oh mine but what can I say! The Parade was simply spectacular and it was certainly worth going. Nothing like feeling the excitement when you're there in person instead of watching it on TV. You simply cannot feel the excitement. Sure as hell made me proud to be a Sinaporean! I leave with some photos of the event...

Each of us were given a goodies bag that consisted of snacks and some useful items like ponchos which came in handy as it did drizzile for a while during the Parade!

Moi and Ollie

A sea of red and white as it's the national colours of the flag. We were asked to dress in red and it's great that people were sporting enough to do it!

Singing of the National Anthem.
I'm surprised that I could still remember the words seeing that it's in Malay and I've not sung it for years!

The Black Knights in action!

One of the performances!

The finale and the singing of the National Anthem including reciting the Pledge. Sheesh, I was so tearful at the end. It has been ages since I recited the Pledge!

TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Since they are already out, here are a couple of LOs done for the Homegrown Summer Survival PDFs. Gosh the kit packs a lot and it's just fab!

Played with flock here.

I've actually used 5 patterned papers here. Basic Grey (x2), Scrapworks, Cosmo Cricket and Daisy D's.

So far, I've done 9 LOs with this kit including a mini album. And I still have tons left.

The Fall Survival kit is now available for purchase and it comes with a 6 week PDF to download when the programme starts. Shipping starts from 22nd Sept. Based on the kit contents, it's gonna be a whopper of a kit with tons of new goodies from the recent CHA. Looking forward to the kit! TTFN!

>>> News Update! <<<

Sheesh, I've been enjoying myself too much here to blog! And I won't make apologies for it. It's so good to chill out and just enjoy doing nothing. I've not cooked since I landed here and don't intend to until I return. Can't say I like cooking and it's good to have a break from it.

I attended the photography class by John Arifin and it was a blast! The class was conducted over 3 days, each 4 hrs long. The first day, I learnt about my camera thoroughly and was made aware of the 3 main ingredients that compose the photo. I found out what each did and how to look for it in the camera. It was an eye-opener! The second day was a field trip to the Botanical Gardens and I learnt even more features and played around with them. Mostly importantly the histogram which I now used it all the time to check photos that I've taken. The final day was an overall review. Gosh, the class was worth every penny spent and now I can thoroughly enjoy my camera and explore the settings with understanding instead of merely hoping for the best!

I also attended the Photoshop CS3 class which was aimed towards photography and it was an eye-opener too. Now all I need to get hold of the software... somehow!

So what have the boys and I been doing? Chilling out big time. The boys love swimming so we brought them to the pool quite often. Luv it that it's outdoor. I absolutely dislike indoor pool. There is an enormous playground in the kids pool itself so that occupy them a fair bit. Here are some snapshots of what we've been up to:

The playground in the pool itself. How fun is that! It's a wee bit empty during weekdays so we prefer bringing them during the weekdays. Weekends are a no no! Hate crowds and it's more expensive too!

My eldest have a splash!

Not forgetting their trip to McDo!

At the nearby park.

This was taken at a recent Garden exhibiton. I thought it look simply unique and could probably be used as a scrapbooking inspiration!

Moi with the boys and the new look! It's a wee bit reddish though! Gotta luv those orchids behind us. Fab flowers they are.

The boys absolutely luv riding on these electronic bikes. S$3 for 15 mins!

Just watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony! Wow! What a performance! No wonder they spent so much. I wonder how much London will be spending for the 2012 Olympics! No doubt taxpayers might have to foot the darn bill!

Talking about spectacular performance, I'll be going to watch the National Day Parade live! Whoopee! Talk about being lucky but my dad's friend couldn't make it and asked if we were interested. Of course, I jumped at the chance as it has been ages since I saw a live Parade and I'm proud to say that I took part in one before, in 1990 I believe. Gosh, it was an experience I will never forgot and such a proud moment too. My dad will be joining Oliver and moi. I wasn't too sure if Zac would appreciate the event and might just be a wee bit disruptive since I'll be taking tons of photos. I'm sure the attraction of his DS might dissuade him from coming with us. I understand it's now being performed on a floating platform in the Marina Bay. It used to be held in the old national stadium but the latter is no longer in use. Wow, I'll be so excited tomorrow!

Rite, off to sort out my memory stick... I've got tons of photos in there and need to clear them for tomorrow. Despite it being a 4GB stick, I've used up almost 3/4 already. Will update more tomorrow with photos. TTFN!

>>> New Stuff! <<<

Made an appointment with my hair stylist and got the whole chunk cut off.

Man, he did a brillant job with it. I had it coloured to get rid of my whites and then highlighted some strands. Gosh, my head now feel so light and it's good not to have to tie up my hair all the time now. My hair stylist did ask if I was sad about cutting so much off but I told him, it's just hair and it can grow again! Been wanting to get it cut for so long but don't trust British hairdressers to do my hair as most of the time, they merely mess it up. My hair is quite thick and it need thinning and that's the part where most fail to achieve. All I can say is I never ever want to keep long hair again!

The next new item I got was a DSLR. I ended up with the D40 instead as they were having an offer that included 2 lens 18-55mm and 55-200mm plus a load of freebies as well. The D60 was also on offer but I wasn't keen as I had read reviews of it and it didn't praise that particular model highly. My other alternative was the Canon 450D but somehow I deviated towards Nikon and therefore settled for the D40. I think the most important feature was that it was light. It felt quite weightless in my hands and that is important as the glass (lens) can be heavy so pointless having a body that is heavy. It would be so cumbersome to carry around.
Anyway, googling around for photography classes, I came across John Arifin site and booked it. I wanted to learn about my camera and know it intimately. If I'm switching to a DSLR, I don't want to merely shoot it in an auto mode all the time. Hence, I wanted to learn more about the buttons on the camera. Looking forward to the class in the beginning of August! I've also booked myself on a Photoshop course as well with Ace Training. Saw their advert at John's site and thought it was about time I learn how to use Photoshop efficiently. Looking forward to those courses come August! TTFN!

>>> Arrived At Last! <<<

OMG! After what seemed to be taking ages, we finally arrived in Singapore. I started packing on Friday, the day before departure, typical and managed to finish in the wee hours. To be honest, I only packed a week clothes since I know my mom would be doing the washing daily. I can't say I brought much myself too but I made sure I packed my essential scrapping tools with me as I will be doing some DT assignments during my stay in Singapore. Incidentally, the boys and moi will be away for the whole of summer holidays. I figured pointless staying so short in Singapore and since my dad misses the boys dearly, might as well let him have them for the whole 6 weeks.

I leave with some photos taken during our journey. We went on Emirates, which I have to say is the best airline I've ever taken! Gosh, food is fantastic and the entertainment, exceptional! I must have watched at least 3-4 movies during my 17 hr trip there. We had to stop in Dubai to change planes but the 24 hours stores made it worthwhile. Got some dates at the shop. The boys behaved exceptional well, which surprised me but it made the journey so much easier since I was on my own. All I can say is that I had a great flight!

Their DS came in handy, keeping them entertained on board.

Thankfully they went off to sleep when I told them to!

At the Dubai shopping area. Both waited patiently for me while I got some stuff.

While waiting at Dubai airport, their Go Gos came in handy.

Plane about to take off. Pity the wings had to be in the way!

TTFN!

>>> Happy Birthday! <<<

to my darling son Oliver who is 8 yrs old today! Sheesh, time has really flown!

He woke up early this morning and got dressed without me asking him and even pinned a huge birthday boy badge on his jumper! I gave him a big packet of sweeties to share with his friends, a tradition that is observed here in the schools. He was ever so excited. He begged to open a pressie and I gave him a tiny one consisting of go gos. He was so pleased!

The day went well for him. It was after school that the excitement started. At 4.30pm, his party started at the Adventure Mini Golf complex (in Star City) where they played 18 rounds. He had invited 7 friends from his school including his 2 cousins. Have you ever tried telling 8 yr olds how to play golf? I gave up after a while and just took photos.

Sheesh, the amount of cheating that went on. I think what concerned them most was finishing the game. In fact we did finish a good half an hour later! So we brought them to Pizza Hut and they spent a good time there where they had the kids meal and dessert. Thankfully they gave us a separate section as those kids can really make a din! Party ended at 6.30pm.



However, we decided to go and watch a movie instead. The boys wanted to watch Kungfu Panda and we did. Had a good laugh. After the movie, we went home.

Armed with a handful of pressies, Oliver merrily opened all of them. Just as well we held his party on his actual birthday too. Well, he got a few packets of Go Gos and what he asked for... a big box of Lego featuring Indiana Jones. He was ever so pleased!

After much persuasion, finally got them to go to bed as it was last day of school for them (since we're leaving on Sat!) Phew! I was tired but thankful we held his party outside! TTFN!

>>> More On Display! <<<

Just another BOM entry to add to my A-Z Journal. The letter 'K'. It took me a while to choose but finally found the word 'kinfolk'.

Have to say, I'm digging into my obscene amount of papers to do this journal. Papers that were bought and somehow filed away are now coming out to be used. Definitely need to make a dent as the amount of papers acquired can easily wallpapered my craft room!

TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

I'm getting lazier in blogging but will try and keep up during the summer hols! Got a reason as well!

Anyway, some LOs to display. Created for BackPorch Memories using July's Solo kit featuring the awesome Chatterbox's Eclectique collection. They are sooooo different from the previous Chatterbox papers!

Been doing more 12x12 LOs these days. Suddenly finding 8.5x11 too small! LOL! Since when did that happened?

A canvas creation based on a LO I did. A gift for a friend!

Also some LOs created for Homegrown blog:

It was my turn to do a challenge and I picked a sketch challenge so I created this sketch.

My LO based on the sketch. Paper from Prima.

For an Ad challenge, I saw this ad in a magazine and had to use it! Combining both my favs... chocolates and scrapbooking!

My interpretation of the ad! Papers from Little Yellow Bicycle and Crate Paper.

Finally, for my A-Z BOM challenge on BackPorch Memories forum, here are letters I and J.

The letter 'I'.
What else could I choose but the Internet! On it constantly and safe to say it rules me! :) I'll be so lost if I'm not connected.

The letter 'J'.
Well, I pay homage to my Jade necklace, a gift from my mom and it never leaves my neck!

TTFN!

>>> Another Busy Weekend! <<<

Saturday

The boys had to perform in a concert today. This was the Suzuki concert, an accumulation of the workshops they have attended this year. Thankfully, Zac mastered the Twinkle variations so he could at least perform in the concert.


Sunday
Hubby's company organised a BBQ for the staff held in a hotel in Kenilworth. It's an annual affair and frankly I think last year was far better. Food was the same, typical English BBQ with sausages (yuks) and burgers (double yuks!). Thank goodness, they had a bit of tandoori chicken, the only saving grace.

The company had arranged a bouncing castle and a rodeo for entertainment. Oliver managed 39s on that bull. I didn't want to embarrass myself!

Zac attempting to pull out a sword which he clearly had no chance!

Weekends these days are becoming so busy. I can't think of one where we had nothing to do! TTFN!

>>> New Puter! <<<

Hubby's company built him a super duper desktop coupled with a gigantic HP all in one printer. Vista is installed and can't say I'm liking it very much but slowly getting the hang of it. Had to installed the new router that came with it and what a mess as it refused to let me get online. In the end had to hook it up directly to my laptop in order to access the internet.

I did speak to the IT chap at his work and we did manage to resolve the connection issue which involed configuring the router but hubby couldn't login into his office network. To cut the story short, we are getting a new router, properly configured! I suspect the present one is a wee bit faulty as I had to jiggle the wire about when I plugged it in. Can't be right can it?

Now does it mean I can't have my macbook??? TTFN!

>>> Another Whirlwind Weekend! <<<

Saturday

Ollie's school held a summer fayre and I was somehow roped in to help out at the stalls. I was put in charge selling books that were going for 10p! Yup 10p! Children's and adult's book. Did a brisk sale but was still left with loads! The books were donated by the children in the school. Each year group was asked to bring in donated stuff according to different themes. Thank god for a sunny weather as it was a fun filled day. The boys along with their cousins enjoyed the day, winning prizes from various game stalls.

The boys enjoying themselves in a game stall.

Sunday
Woke up at 7am and hubby decided to do an imprompt trip to Poole. So woke the boys up and we set off. Got to Poole at 11am and headed for the beach where the boys lost no time in playing.

Zac getting 'buried' in the sand.

As usual, Ollie wasting no time in in the 3 elements... sun, sea and sand!

Self portrait of moi and Zac.

Later headed to SIL's place where we had dinner there and Zac engaged a game of go gos with his Uncle.

There goes another great weekend! TTFN!