Lost

Last day of my 4-month long Summer break...

Ecstatic!!!

I finally found the book I've been searching for for years!!! Not literally though, but almost. The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds is THE BEST book I've read in my entire life. I cried buckets the night I finished it and was very much affected by the entire story for the next couple of days thereafter. I never knew life could be so cruel yet atoning. I've never "met" anyone like Sheri Reynolds who is able to produce a novel that makes the reader feel so much pain. Pain for a young girl who is torn between a warped religion and morals. I've always hated stories with anything less than a happy ending, but this is definitely a great read!!! A book that emphasizes on devotion in life's hardships and family love, on how much pain a young girl is willing to suffer for her loved ones.

Since it is such a magnificent book, I've recommended & lent it to numerous friends. The last was perhaps 10 years ago, and I totally had no recollection who was the last person who laid hands on my precious book. It went around for a long time and never came back to me, ever again. Given my puny memory, I could not even recall the title of my favourite book, except that it has the word "Canaan" or "Cannan" or "Cannon". I'd spent hours & days searching for books with such words on the net during the past years, all to no avail. Finally today God was good, and it took me less than 5 mins to find it on Amazon! So yes!!! I am sooooo going to purchase this prized read!!!

***P.S. Dear friends, does this picture ring a bell to you? Did you spot this book on your shelf and think it does not belong to you? If yes, it could be the one I'm looking for!

***By looking at the number of reviews on Amazon, it sure is a must-have on all bookshelves! It could not be anything far less than the best to be choosen as an Oprah Book Club Pick title too. I'm not kidding!

Yakkety Yak

I know, I haven't been updating as much as I should. Nah, school's not starting in another 5 days time. That probably explains the lack of posts recently. With hardly any precious time left, I've been TRYING to fill my Summer days doing the things I love. However, now that I think back on what I have really been doing these past weeks, I recall nothing except the daily morning gym sessions and the occassional shopping/luncheons/tea/golf. I've tried, but it seems like I hadn't done anything absolutely productive other than hitting the gym diligently. I've definitely squandered a copious amount of time on my lappie unconstructively. Yet here I am whining about how time whizzes by without my knowledge. Yes, I'm such a true blue grouch.

We will be embracing Fall in another 4 weeks time. This Summer has been great, though I wish it could have been better with more outings to some new places around STL. A paintball session, I thought we ought to have one since Spring? Complacent again, but I can't help it, especially with only another 4 more months to the big farewell. Anyways, I'm genuinely glad that Hubby planned for the Miami/Bahamas trip. He brought me to the WWE (formerly known as the WWF) Summerslam act and the Naked Bike Ride event too, which were both quite an experience. We went to our second- most likely our last too- Cardinals match (vs. Houston Astro) today, tickets courtesy of Olin. A nice way to end Summer, almost. I'm sure you would have checked out the pictures posted on Facebook for the various "adventures"; I'm too lazy to resize them for blogger or to upload them to Picasa.

It appears that I will not have enought time to fnish the books I've bought. A huge disappointment, especailly when I am more than a book behind schedule. Recently no matter how hard I tried to stick to the nightly reading agenda, there is always something on the net that allures me otherwise. A good-buy from Amazon/ one of the online sites, some enthralling reads from Wiki, or amusing updates from Facebook. On most nights, something is sure to draw me away from my books, and tonight, it is my blog. By hook or by crook, I have to finish "The Kite Runner" and "The Black Swan" by this week.

It's bedtime again. Wish my bones all the best for tmr's 18-hole golf. Ciao!

MakeUp

I'm currently extremely hooked on Make Up For Ever's Aqua Creamliner. It glides on so smoothly, and stays on my greasy lids the entire day! Went for a free makeup lesson at Sephora 2 days ago with PS. Since the moment the MU artist defined our eyes with the mini pot of miracle cream, I was obsessed with it. Get yours from Sephora today!

Venice Venice Venice

I want to go Venice!!! Within the next on year, if that is possible. JY, please get married soon!!! If you are reading this...

The Vaporetto, the classic gondola ride... I wish I can fly to Italy soon!

Time Does Not Wait for Anyone

The days are starting to get shorter again. Sigh... I wanna have Cold Stone ice-cream under the bright evening sky, just like what we used to do last year, before the nights start to get longer. It was such a marvellous feel to head out to Cold Stone after dinner, and watch the sky slowly turning dark at 9pm...

To digress, I have been over the moon recently, cos Hubby and I are going to appear in one of our buds' wedding picture! I'm sooooo excited excited excited!!!!!!

Books Please

I want to go Borders, for the longest time. It's only a 3 mins drive from WH, yet Hubby is sooooo lazy to move his fat ass there. Quite disappointing to realise that I've been there only twice, considering the approximity of it. Not a place I really want to go alone though, cos I need someone to prevent me from lugging a huge pile of books out, and to foot my bill. GGrrr.... must really really move that fat ass to Borders soon, by hook or by crook!!!

What's sizzling in the kitchen?

Since school's starting in about 2 weeks time (AArrrgggghhhhhh), I've been trying my best to dish up as many comfort food and yummy bites as possible, to make up for the lost opportunities ahead.

I've always have a penchant for baking since my first baking session during my secondary one Home Economics class, and used to bake quite often during the holidays ever since and all the way through JC. Uni days were spent mainly clubbing till the wee morning and struggling through tutorials, thus I hardly ever thought of baking anymore. Thereafter, the horrendous hectic work life crept into my world and sleeping was all I ever thought of. Moving into an apartment with an oven was one of the best things that has happened to me here. I've kept myself pretty busy baking all kinds of food I can think of recently, and here are the pictures of my first endeavors.

Portuguese egg tarts! With pre-packed frozen puff pastry available in Dierberg's, this was as easy as ABC. Delicious too!
Choc fudge cupcakes with frosting and rainbow rice. The vanilla frosting was too sweet for my liking, but I thought they just look oh-so-pretty for the camera. LOL!
An ugly choc fudge cake for PS and Jos' bday last weekend, with the too-sweet vanilla frosting and chopped nuts. The choc fudge cake itself was soft and tasty though. =)
Banana walnut cake made from scratch! Yummy stuff, to satisfy Hubby's constant cravings for his favourite cake.











Of course, efforts have been put into preparing our dinner menus too. Hubby has been the lucky one, to be presented with "exotic" fare ever so often.

Nasi Lemak with sambal french beans, assam eggs, ikan billis and luncheon meat! With the perfect nasi lemak chilli (courtesy from a very kind friend), this dinner was just heavenly!
Wanton mee, my second attempt unlike the others featured here. Much better than the first, and I'm glad I've improved. However to my dismay, I'd vomitted out quite a fair bit of the noodles later that night, as I'd over-eaten the huge portion placed on my plate.

Black bean soup, for hair nourishment. I'm very much concerned with Hubby's greying hair (the effects of nightly poker I supposed), thus this tasty comfort soup which my mum used to cooked quite often. However, this is so much more tastier than Mummy's, just like most of my other dishes. Wahahaha.....

I'm glad Hubby noticed that his once "kitchen-dimwit" wife has flourished into an amatuer cooking-connoisseur within a span of a year. All that matters after a tough grind in the kitchen is a heartfelt praise/ thanks, and enjoying a meal together with your other half...

And no, I am definitely not turning into a homemaker. I'm gonna ditch the apron once we're back in SIN for good, for I do not see any purpose for all that toil when delicious local food are all over the island.

Amazed

I'm so amazed by several things around me recently.

I'm amazed by the wonders of internet; how it enabled me to chance upon a long-lost childhood friend, allowed me to "find" and meet my distant cousin in LA, and permits me to re-create many of the chinese & local dishes we have been craving for, amongst others.

I'm amazed at how easily money flow out of my pocket. It suddenly dawns on me that when you are not earning your own dough, you tend to spend money without giving it a second thought. Is it because you do not have to work for it, thus the value of money dimishes once it reaches your hand? Or is it because you knew you will never die of hunger and cold with a working spouse and doting parents, so the need to save now takes a back seat? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then you are such a selfish and abhorrent being. Perhaps, that "you" is me. Then I will be very amazed at how disgustingly atrocious I am.

Lastly, I'm truly amazed that NONE of the women I saw along Miami Beach and the Bahamian Beaches had any stretch marks. Not a single line of it. With a couple of friends getting pregnant in recent months, the topic of pregnancy stretch marks had surfaced numerous times. I'd never knew how bad it could be, till I saw it with my own eyes that those red wormy lines can be really gruesome looking. That particular sight had since etched deeply within me, and I've been trying to look for ways to prevent that from happening to me even before we start a family. Naturally, when I was on the beaches, I'd started looking at women's bellies. Women of all ages, from young adults to mothers-with-kids-in-tow to old grannies, and I am extremely astonished that none of them were spotted with any of those unsightly worms! If you talk about cellulite, yes, majority of them bear the brunt of its presence together with sagging skins. But where are the stretch marks?! How did they manage to make them disappear or even prevent them from appearing? How is it possible that none of the hundreds of American women I saw had those while almost all the Asian women had to live with the red ugly worms after pregnancies? Could it be their diet, or the creams/lotions they applied to make their skin so elastic? I've now embark onto a mission to solve this huge mystery...

Kate Spade Bags for Sale

I went to the outlet again recently and got a couple of Kate Spade bags. I have 2 for sale now, and below are the details:

Kate Spade Narragansett in Tofee
Original price was USD375.00, but I bought it from the outlet at USD275.00, a good 27% off the retail price. With tax, it's at SGD443.73 after conversion.
Fully made of 100% soft cowhide leather with contrast white stitching, magnetic snap closure, "Kate Spade New York" embossed leather license plate logo on front and gathered sdes with leather ties for expansion. Double handle with top snap enclosure, strap drop 4.5".



















Kate Spade Terrytown in Camel.
Original price was USD195.00, but I got it at USD89.00 from the outlet, a whopping 54% discount! With tax and after conversion, it's at SGD143.60.
Fully made of boarskin leather with a slight grainy texture, and a "Kate Spade New York" embossed leather license plate logo on front. Perfect for casuals/ tea/ cocktail parties.


















All bags are brand new with the tags still intact and each comes with its own dust bag. Conversion rate used to convert USD to SGD is 1.5, and these bags are at least 30% cheaper than what you get in Singapore. Total shipping cost is estimated to be around USD50 for all three bags, and hopefully I get to ship all three bags (including the Juicy Couture one) for sale out together so as to minimize the costs. Will be shipping the bags to my parents' home, and arrangement for pickups will be required. Do contact me if anyone is interested to purchase these good deals.

*P.S. as these bags are purchased from the outlet (read: off-season bags), you won't get to see them on the shelves of Kate Spade retail stores (except of cos their outlet stores).

Juicy Couture bag for sale

A brand new black leather Juicy Couture bag for sale. Tags and wrappers (around the tassel and the metal logo) are still intact. Comes with its own pink dust bag. I received it via shipment today, but realised I've gotten too many black bags. Want to sell this brand new bag to fund a white one that caught my eye instead. Bought this bag from Nordstrom, at USD348.00, and the bag is for sale at this same price since it's newly opened from the box just minutes ago. I'm sure there is at least 30% savings (checked out the JC store at Taka!), as compared to buying it from the Juicy Couture store in Singapore. Do leave me a message/email me if anyone is interested.

*Considering the JC store in Taka sells the velour bag at SGD500, this leather bag should command around perhaps around SGD700. That's a whopping SGD200 (estimated) discount, which explains why I just can't keep my hands off the bags!