Pretty Sunday

New Section: My Mama

2008-09-03T15:48:00.003+08:00

With all the Yo Mama jokes, we should have something positive or more like zikua-ness. So i'm gonna post as many as i think of now and then. Here's one to start off:
My Mama is so cool; she'll turn your red lipstick blue.

Fedde Le Grand Videos

2007-11-05T18:22:00.000+08:00

I'm liking these sexy videos by Fedde Le Grand: Put Your Hands Up For Detroit and The Creeps featuring Camille Jones. The picture shows the delicious looking actor in both videos, taken from screenshots. He is Arran Garcia, 23 year old Spanish dance student. In The Creeps, he didn't dance but still look good in shirt and tie. Fedde Le Grand cameos as the scientist the clone likes. The hot stripping dancers in Put Your Hands Up For Detroit is Emma Wharton and Aimee Bramall, the latter kinda looks like Alicia Keys. Enjoy!

I heart this Roman tub!

2007-10-22T22:20:00.000+08:00

Yes, i'm dreaming again. Blame the fact that I see pretty bathrooms in my line of work. I wanna have this Naples Tub in my master bathroom in future. I love that it's egg-shaped, heehee! I love eggs! Check out the rest of the beautiful bathtubs here.

Damon wins Q Inspiration

2007-10-16T14:03:00.000+08:00

Check out the award ceremony video here. I dunno why, but every three years, this man's voice gets deeper and sexier. When he hugged the presenters, it reminded me of the Brit Awards 1995, when he snogged the presenters instead! Now he's grown to such a humble gentleman. The award's long overdue of course. We love you, Damon! Oh and he's on the cover of Q magazine this month, though not his best picture. The best cover pic is the one on Face, back in 1998, i think.

Daydreaming

2007-10-16T10:55:00.001+08:00

Was rather bored at work, so started doodling the floorplan of my new house on paper. As it was a 2-storey house, I even trace the outline of the 1st level to coincide with the 2nd level. It was so cute, I decided to do it on Freehand, as to scale as possible. Every 10mm is 1 metre. Here's the 1st level:

The Bathroom is supposed to be about 5 steps down. I saw it at one house and thought it was really cute. F is Fridge. W is Washer. D is Dryer. And the blue rectangles are actually sliding doors.

The terrace is half a storey up. Followed by another flight of stairs to the Pool Room. The Study is for my other half. The Dark Room is mine! And I always wanted a closet. Total built-in area, including terrace, excluding patio is approximately 197sqm or 2120sqft.

Cottage Pies @ White Sands

2007-10-07T00:48:00.000+08:00

My friend has been giving me a lift to White Sands, Pasir Ris, for the sake of beating the peak-hour madness. So I was hunting for dinner and came across this little Cafe called Cottage Pies. The interior looks rather Medieval Country-side and the pies, pretty appetising and affordable. Passers-by drop by for chicken pie takeaways. I was more into dinner, so got the scrumptious Beef Stew Pie for $3.50, it's so good! Coffee was also good value at $1.50 for a small cup. Pity the the tables outside are beside a main entrance near Citibank and the taxi-stand. The next time I was there, I had two small tuna pies and three small sausage rolls. The tuna was dry but just enough pepper. The sausage is the gourmet chicken type, not bad. For halal reasons, egg & bacon pie is no longer on the menu. Just reading that makes me drool...

A good ol' snack

2007-08-03T00:43:00.000+08:00

After work, I was stoning and missed my stop, arriving just opposite what used to be my secondary school. So I took an old route home, passing by the same bushes, the same fruit stall and the familiar void deck. As I passed by the same provision shop, something caught my eye, getting me all excited. It was a snack I used to buy, sometimes on a daily basis. Secondary school seemed so long ago that I can't remember whether was it during Primary or Secondary that I was binging on this like nobody's business. I remembered buying 2 at one go. Unsure of the standard now, I just bought one to try. It still costs 10 cents. And tasted exactly how I remember it: sinfully salty, spicy, peppery MSG! Overjoyed, I walked back from the carpark to the provision shop and bought 3 more! Just in case, I dun miss my stop again, haha!

Circa Ceramics

2007-07-26T01:45:00.000+08:00

Cool vintage silhouettes on mono-colour cups from Circa Ceramics, spotted again on Trunkt.org. I find it very 80s chic. Especially love the bicycle, typewriter, skull and wooden chair. Skull design only suitable for coffee cups though, would look really weird on a dinner plate, you dun wanna scare your guests away.

Amy Bengtson Jewellery

2007-07-26T01:04:00.000+08:00

These pieces of jewellery by Amy Bengtson are simply sweet, like a forest in the crisp of morning. Flowers, birds, water droplets; little reflections of nature we love ever so much. Spotted from Trunkt.org. My favourite is the Mod Floral Necklace. Clockwise from top right: Oval Cherry Earrings, Two Birds Necklace and Magnolia Earrings.

Zachary Quinto

2007-06-23T11:15:00.000+08:00

Recently, I've been watching Heroes more frequently. As we get nearer to the "NY Explosion", the plot keeps getting better. And this Sylar villain (bottom left) looks so innocent in this week's episode, it seems he's not really interested in killing thousands of people. Guess there's just no one who can keep him grounded, other than his mum. He looked really cute, hair with side parting all gelled back, with black-frame glasses, so geeky! Unfortunately, I can't find that picture. Should have taken it off the tv.

Anyway, the actor, Zachary Quinto, looks quite charming off-screen. And I didn't even notice his eyes are actually brown. I thought he looked familiar, so I looked up his filmography. He appeared in Charmed as a warlock back in 2003, when I was still catching it. Ah...

Beehive Kitchenware

2007-06-23T10:32:00.000+08:00

First featured on Ohjoy!, these pieces from
Beehive Kitchenware look really lovely. All of the lead-free pewter pieces are hand cast. The makers, "Sandra and Jim enjoy sailing, good snacks, their pals, and have spent a ridiculous amount of time fixing up their house." Hehee!

Clockwise from Top Left:
Doily Coaster Set, Bird Coffee Scoop (My favourite item!), Bird Birthday Candleholders and Bird Hooks. In fact, almost all their pieces look just as charming, do check out their website.

My Top Three Mini Prefab Homes

2007-06-22T20:17:00.001+08:00

Inhabitat did a Top 5 Tiniest Prefab Homes. Here are my top 3 favourites, which happen to be among them.

The greenest of them all, Sustain Mini Home! I'll get this as a holiday home in San Francisco. Made to be extremely eco-friendly and preserve general well-being:
* No vinyl
* No formaldehyde
* No toxic adhesives or finishes
* All water-based, or plant oil-based finishes
* No CFC’s or HCFC’s
* All woods to be certified from sustainable sources (FSC certification)
* High natural ventilation rate (windows open)
* Constant fresh air supply (windows closed) via heat-recovery-ventilator
* Durable and low-maintenance
Prices start from US$107,640 nett for a full-fledged home.

The minimalist and most modern looking of them all, the Micro Compact Home. I'll love to get this as a holiday home in Marseille! At only 77 sqft, it has a double bed on an upper level, while the lower level has a working table and dining space for four to five people. Costs EUR 25,000 to EUR 34,000 nett.

And of course, the one I mention to so many many people, Tumbleweed Houses, the cottage house straight out of fairytales! My favourite is the 200Sqft Weebee at just US$42,997 nett. Definitely the holiday home for the English countryside.

Pluck

2007-06-16T16:42:00.000+08:00

Caught The Specialists by Pluck last night at The Esplanade! They're fantastic! Part of the Singapore Arts Festival. More about their Esplanade performance, including a "trailer" here.

Tickets are already sold out for today and tomorrow, but you can still get them on DVD. Their next stop is London followed by Glastonbury. For the latter, any available tickets can only be found on eBay.

My Dream Desk

2007-06-11T02:32:00.000+08:00

Ok ok, I know I dun hv so little things. But I do hope one day I can keep everything neat and tidy in this pretty Geneva Collection Desk and Hutch. Excluding my music collection of course, unless they're all stored in a 2000GB iPod :D

More Cakes

2007-06-02T14:58:00.000+08:00

I'm not that big a fan of cakes, but these from Martha Stewart just look so pretty! Left to right, top to bottom:

Gingerbread-Cookie Trees and Stars & Moon Cake are mostly for kids. Well, there's a kid in every one of us, heheee! Looks just right for Christmas. Do monitor the sugar content though.

The Tiniest Birthday Cake reminds me of my 1st Birthday cake. However, I was more amazed by the single flame, not really the cake. This one is tinier though. And if your kid has got a big party, try Flower Cupcakes! So colourful!

Then there's also wedding cakes. I know pink is like the most clichéd colour for romantic weddings, but this is a Peppermint Fantasy Cake, more Alice In Wonderland. And if you've got a more white, champagne and gold colour theme, check out the Mocha Cake. I'd rather decorate with white rose petals though.

Four Decades of Realism

2007-05-31T20:37:00.000+08:00

Been sick for the past few days, really craving for some good ol' greasy bacon, sausages and eggs with a nice cup of coffee. Hmm...reminds me of American Diners. Which brings me to my post today about Ralph Goings. Photorealist from the 1960s movement.

Some choice picks, left to right, top to bottom:

Airstream - Oil on canvas 1970
This really looks like a photograph! Amazing how he recorded the amount of flare from the reflecting sunlight, making the background hard to make out.

Pee Wee's Diner Still Life - Oil on canvas 1977
All this table needs is a cup of coffee. Very mellow feel.

Rocky's Cafe - Watercolour 1982
This looks like straight out of an old Clint Eastwood movie.

Pie And Iced Tea - Watercolour 1987
The perfect gossip tea break.

Pepper Spill - Watercolour on paper 1995
Look at the light bouncing off the glass detail.

SoHo Sabrette - Watercolor 2006 (he's still well, i hope!)
The yellow van reminds me of Little Miss Sunshine.

You can check out all the photographs of the "photographs" here. His reason for painting stuff for real: fun! "In 1963 I wanted to start painting again but I decided I wasn't going to do abstract pictures. It occurred to me that I should go as far to the opposite as I could. ... It occurred to me that projecting and tracing the photograph instead of copying it freehand would be even more shocking. To copy a photograph literally was considered a bad thing to do. It went against all of my art school training... some people were upset by what I was doing and said 'it's not art, it can't possibly be art'. That gave me encouragement in a perverse way, because I was delighted to be doing something that was really upsetting people... I was having a hell of a lot of fun..." Now if only I can show him my version of the lady's finger in 4B and 6B pencil, heehee!

Inspired by the 1950s?

2007-05-27T23:51:00.000+08:00

When I think of 1950s fashion, I always think of the movie Down With Love. Then I discovered Lulu Guinness She has a very diverse catalogue, most are inspired by the 1950s while some are just weird.

The weird row:

1. Hotel Edith
Would you like your hotel painted on your bag? Or in Singapore's case, your condo?

2. Red & Silver Snakeskin Lips
If you have the red lips sofa, may as well get the clutch too. Or maybe update with a milennium silver one.

3. Solid Purple Bags Anna
This looks really pasar malam. Pardon my French.

The pretty row:

1. St Tropez Gold Dots Large Dolly
Very very Down With Love! Hehee!

2. Embossed Logo Mini Carmen Black
Very gothic feel. Mysterious. Looks a bit Anna Sui.

3. Canvas Day Stripe Maddy Tote
The perfect bag for a stroll in the beach. But i would really love it if it's blue on white! Complete the look with high ponytail, scarf, white Jackie O sunglasses and pedal pushers.

Silver Tree

2007-05-26T02:40:00.000+08:00

Fancy silver trees in the middle of summer? Oh yes there is! The Silver Tree of South Africa that is. Original taken by sbirkhead. Its actual name is Leucadendron Argenteum. Believe it or not, it's an endangered species (IUCN:Vulnerable). "An estimated 40 to 50 percent of the entire world's native population of these trees was destroyed between 26 January and 27 January in the 2006 Table Mountain fire". More info on Wikipedia.

So smokers, stub your butts out properly. And campers, extinguish your fire completely before leaving the campsite. And trash burners, use the right facility. Slash & Burn farmers, please modernise. Forest fires are just so not funny.

Moonrise Hernandez

2007-05-22T00:30:00.000+08:00

Just wanna share one of my favourite photographs from (Master) Ansel Adams' stunning portfolio. This is Moonrise Hernandez, shot back in 1941, New Mexico.

On 19 October 2006, a photography dealer from London paid $609,600 for a rare print of this shot at a Sotheby's auction in New York City, setting a new record for Ansel Adams' prints.

"Moonrise is one of Adams' most recognizable images. Driving past Hernandez late in the day on November 1, 1941, Adams managed to set up his camera and grab the image just as the daylight was disappearing, according to Sotheby's catalog notes. He made very few prints of the negative until 1948, when he reprocessed it to increase the density of the foreground and make it easier to print...Nobody knows exactly how many Moonrise prints Adams made over the next several decades, but they were numerous, and became progressively darker." Read more here.

The one above is the darker version.

Happy Baby Feet

2007-05-16T00:04:00.000+08:00

These Apple Cheeks shoes are just too cute to be true. If there is one thing i'm going to splurge for my future babies, it is brand-new, comfortable and pretty cute shoes. Oh, the cutest as they can be!

Available in Singapore here.

The only catch is it's not cruelty-free, "Made with buttery soft, high-quality, lamb leather."

O Mummy Dearest!

2007-05-15T23:40:00.000+08:00

Fancy getting a bouquet of flowers for your mummy? Or order a cake? Why not put both together! Have a bouquet and eat it too!

Delicate creations from Cupcake Cafe.

Have a blessed week ahead, all mothers and mothers-to-be :)

BabyCakes NYC

2007-05-11T03:04:00.000+08:00

Chanced upon this adorable site called BabyCakes NYC! The entire shop, right down to the uniform, looks so 1950s. And the cupcakes, delightfully simple in pastels of every colour and shade. Even the menu looks good!

And one other thing, which will win the hearts of the health-conscious and PETA members: "BabyCakes offers all natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs. Rest assured, all sweeteners have been chosen responsibly and used sparingly. White sugar will never be found in our bakery, nor will we ever use toxic chemical sweeteners." No wheat! No eggs?! And less sweet!

Vintage is in.

2007-05-08T01:05:00.000+08:00

Shan't spoil the surprise. Another pretty illustration by Rose of Dzinenmotion for May 2007. I dunno why but this looks so Twiggy to me.

Artfool Site

2007-04-30T09:51:00.000+08:00

Check out this pretty neat site called Artfool. I like the earthy colour scheme and squarish texture.

Great Interior Shots

2007-04-29T10:35:00.000+08:00

By Ditte Isager spotted on Ohjoy. His food and travel shots are as picturesque as well. Clockwise from top left:

1. Royal for Vogue Living. Pretty plates, subtle vertical-striped walls and rustic tables.

2. Jackpot. I love blue and white combos. Especially with indigo, in this case.

3. Marie Antoinette for Domino Magazine. There's something very quaint about this piece. Although we have no need of a luxurious fireplace, we can still have that pretty console in midnight blue.

4. Kjærholm. I love hidden rooms! Reminds me of Moby's hidden bathroom, as shown on MTV Cribs.

M.C. Escher

2007-04-28T16:05:00.000+08:00

Was at Ohjoy where she mentioned spotting some lovely tiles and patio stones that reminded her of M.C. Escher. I'm a big fan of his art. Here's a sample from his official website.

Clockwise from top left. Scanno, 1956. Ascending and Descending. Waterfall, one of my favourites. And Sky & Water I Woodcut. "M.C. Escher became fascinated by the regular Division of the Plane, when he first visited the Alhambra, a fourteen century Moorish castle in Granada, Spain in 1922." So am I, but i'm terrible with perspective drawing.

It's A Butterfly

2007-04-28T16:01:00.000+08:00

Spotted this on my way to work and happened to have me camera with me. Just your regular neighbourhood butterfly resting on a lily leaf.

Monday evening treat

2007-04-28T15:50:00.000+08:00

Took home some leftovers from the potluck. The following day finished the cold satay for a mid-day snack. For dinner, refried 3 potato cutlets and prepared otah omelette. Monday however, still had 3 pieces of otah, so tried my hand in making it into a pasta dish. Finished the rest of the diced tomatoes, added Italian herbs as usual, and threw in plenty of celery and a sausage. Celery was cooked for very long to make sure it was soft. And this is the result, before mixing it up. Otah still taste like otah, haha! But i wouldn't want otah in a cream-based pasta.

Corn Beef Potato Cutlets

2007-04-28T14:27:00.000+08:00

I made Corn beef Potato Cutlets last Saturday for Christus Dominus Choir Easter Potluck.

Steps: 1 - Boil potatoes till soft. 2 - Mash all potatoes, condiments and corn beef together. 3 - Roll them into the size of flattened golf ball. 4 - Coat with flour to prevent sticking to one another. 5 - Gladwrap and chill overnight.

This is the first batch. Then i change the oil. The one in the foreground and the one at the bottom, centre, are the right colours. I qced the rest, dusting off the charred bits with kitchen paper. Tried one, a bit plain, but can taste the herbs, not too overpowering.

This is the second batch. The colour is much better overall, didn't had to qc much. This one just had the right amount of salt and pepper. Quite a success I would say :)

A house should be a home

2007-04-19T12:05:00.000+08:00

Check out these clean, simple and family-friendly interiors from Victoria Hagan. Now if only HDB has such high ceilings. Read an interview with the designer here.

Strorybook Part II

2007-04-16T16:08:00.001+08:00

I missed the Storybook series by Le Sportsac. But this year we have the Enchanted series!

Can I have one in the form of a small sling bag please?

Pretty Sunday

2007-04-15T22:40:00.000+08:00

It is my first time stepping into OLPS since Maudy Thursday. OLPS likes to hang banners on either side of the crucifix especially when the occasion calls for it. And since it is Easter season, I had the delight to view these pretty posters. My fellow parishioners must have noticed I wasn't here for Easter, as I took photos of these posters to share with you. The message really warmed my heart, a great way to start celebrating Sunday Mass.

My sister surprised us with Black Pepper Chicken and Honey-glazed Chicken yesterday for dinner. However, thirteen of us could not finish the 3 whole chickens, so we kept some leftovers. Bearing this in mind, I went to buy "traffic-light" capsicums (green, yellow and red) among the bunny veggies and other groceries. Then I reached home, famished and whipped this up in less than 30 mins: tomato-based linguine with (leftover) chicken and yellow capsicum. This photo was taken before mixing it up, scrumptious!

La Tarte Tropezienne

2007-04-14T00:06:00.000+08:00

In the spur of a moment, my friend and I decided to meet up at Bugis! It being Friday evening, and both of us had dinner waiting for us at home, we went ulu-cafe hunting at National Library and found this not-so-ex wan on L3.

She had an apple cheese cake and I had a Tropezienne. La Tarte Tropezienne is simply a big sugared brioche bread cut in two and filled with a ton of English cream and lined with raspberry milk. Both our first time trying it, it was surprisingly really light! The apple cheese cake was a little dry and hardly cheesy. I finished mine while she was just halfway into hers. Plain black tea to wash it all down. Plus, plenty of chit-chat. A great start for the weekend!

Inspiring Wedding Dresses

2007-04-13T00:36:00.000+08:00

From MarthaStewart.com's Weddings. Clockwise from top left:

Ristarose Couture
If it's a garden wedding, dressed up with a pretty diamante cross pendant and dangly earrings.

Carolina Herrera
Love the bead pattern on this one. Princess needs a ballroom, pair up a diamond choker with a tiara. And heels! Looks very trippable.

Claire Pettibone
Looks very very feminine, 'cos of all the lace. Definitely need air-con atmosphere for this one. Will probably look good with a veil.

Vera Wang
Very Irish to me, can walk down the aisle with The Chieftains in the background. Flowers in my hair sorta thing; garden wedding. And I dun need to worry abt my tummy showing. There's a store in The Link Wedding: Lower Lobby, Shangri-La Hotel - Singapore, Orange Grove Road 258350, 65-6235-4648; Bridal, Fragrance, Silver & Gifts, Footwear and Dresses.

My version of Isaac Brown's Monster

2007-04-12T17:28:00.000+08:00

You guys follow Mr Brown's blog? Anyway, a few weeks ago, he posted some monster drawings done by his son, Isaac. And just today, he posted a coloured version of it by Singaporean artist, Torei. But it looked more cute than scary. So I went into photoshop and did some colouring of my own. I dun think Isaac intended those 4 strokes to be legs.

Jacspotting

2007-04-12T15:03:00.000+08:00

I was just wondering if there was gonna be an IDN Design Edge this year, so popped over to their site to take a look...and found this image. I was actually wondering wtf is he doing...in the end I thought his work was crap and squeezed myself outta there.

There's an entire gallery, they even had one of Maharishi. I think Yen is in the 4th Entrance pic, but can't remember if she wore purple that day and carried a grey designer clutch bag.

Brings back memories...plus i met quite a few of my ex-classmates and ex-school mates.

For the love of pretty things

2007-04-11T03:53:00.000+08:00

Ever since i've made a career-switch (sort of), something pretty seems to be missing from my daily life. Hence, this blog is gonna be about the prettiest thing I discover or create for the week. To be posted on Sundays, so come visit again this coming Sunday. Expect pretty things, pretty people, pretty animals or just simply pretty pictures :) If I find more time, I'll try to post more often.