hit the button

My friend just showed me this Coolhunter website (cool things in the US)... Viola! hmm...you see the toilet???!!!



Pictures from www.Coolhunter.com

antique cafe

One of the weekdays, we had lunch at a nice little cafe near Elvis' office - La Aroma de Vida.

Elvis said that everything in this cafe is for sale including its ornaments & furnishings. The lady owner is an interior designer and i think her mom probably whipped up the home-cooked menu. Nothing very fancy...just tiny dishes of everything your mom can probably cook (but your mom's will taste nicer).

It's quite a nice place though to sit and have coffee/tea...and collect your thoughts! Haha! Here's where Elvis and his team like to come to brainstorm!

I didnt bring my camera...so here's a photo and review from CityWeekend:
This cafe soothes the soul with celery-mint-green walls, jazz on the stereo and vintage furniture from the owner’s personal collection placed casually about. The menu includes Shanghai homestyle dishes and a smattering of Western choices. The true delights are inexpensive drinks like fresh-squeezed lemonade and an addictive iced mint latte.

we did

...and still best friends.

And a few 'I do's coming up in 2009 (Agatha's & Celine's) ...and also Jessica & Ryan's which we will miss this 3rd December (which is also my 35th birthday!!!). And a Thai friend's too in Bangkok this November. ;p

free wedding announcer

I'm kinda helping a friend look for some wedding info (for her beach-themed wedding) ...and i chanced upon a wedding announcer website of a couple whose wedding will fall on Jan 2009...and held at The Marriot, Singapore.

Actually, they're a super fat couple. (Just imagine Joel's proportions x 10 or maybe more. Sorry huh, so crude.) Nothing in common with the beach theme i was googling for, but what made me read about them/their wedding is coz they also "pak-tor" for 9 years before they finally wanna get married...and also at Marriot! That's quite similar to us! I also saw from her website that Marriot's wedding themes are different now. No more garden greens which i chose for our wedding.

They really look sooo happy and cute together...their happiness is contagious! Even the music on their website sounds romantic! Haha! O my...it reminds me of the happy wedding we had! Keke... ;p

Anyway, check out the FREE wedding announcer website here! Can recommend it to any of your friends who are getting married soon. So cool! ;)

Here's a nice picture from 30-06-2006


These huge lollipops are 喜糖 "xi tang" (happiness candy) which we gave away to Elvis' Bates colleagues in Shanghai. It's their tradition to give candies after a wedding.

...matches our colourful and happy invite card! ;)

Illustration by Drewscape

hats

I dont know why...but Joel looks instantly fatter in these beanies...

happy family

Last week, it was more fun interacting with Baby Joel. You've probably saw him do his peek-a-boo (in the video below). He really seems to like it...coz he did it whenever he gets his hands on a blanket. He also surprised us by clapping his hands (when i asked him to)...and also trying to wave goodbye - though not always successful.

Still, it makes us really happy to see a happy Joel. ;)

P.S. Our friends saw him on Sat and he also responded to them...laughing so loudly it kinda became a scream...so everyone had so much fun! Sooo cute!

hugz hugz

A friend just told about this thing called the Hug Mug from Max Brenner. What an interesting concept huh. ;)

Hug Mug is a cacao bean shaped mug designed to keep your hands warm while drinking. It creates the ultimate experience of warmth and coziness and the openess of the mug allows the aroma of the chocolate to be thoroughly enjoyed.

So...do you drink from the "fat" side or the "skinny" side??? Haha...

great stuffs

If you're located in Singapore, you should rush there this Saturday morning! Petit Bateau has the best (tshirt) materials ever...and can last for years! Chiong ahh...
P.S. If buying for babies, cutting runs small...or maybe Asian babies are generally chubbier... French babies are born to look like super models!

smart people

The cable TV people came to install some cable TV of sorts on Monday...and i had problems trying to play Joel's DVD yesterday (felt so stupid that i had to use the old TV remote to fix that). Anyway, after playing Joel his DVD again today, i cant seem to get any of the TV channels to work...so NO TV for me tonight - and that meant no Channel Young at 9pm!!! (I was really quite mad!) These are the times i really hate the CHINESE remote control, the CHINESE selections and the CHINESE manual...(let me also add) the chinese menu, the chinese washing labels, the chinese signages... Arrghhh...

So i decided to watch Smart People...and i really liked it! It stars Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page (of Juno which i also wrote about below) and SARAH JESSICA PARKER!

It's light-hearted and sets a pleasant mood even though i'm watching it alone. I like its ending too - coz i love happy endings. I dont like those that keeps me wondering and totally hate those that makes me sob. The music is also very good - kinda like Juno's.

peek-a-boo

I was really very very surprised! ;)

i'm seeing dots

Polka dots, squiggles and twisted tailoring... That's what you'll see come 13 November in major cities in the world! It's the Comme des Garcons and H&M collaboration - most exciting to date - after Kylie Minogue (Mar 2007, Beachwear), Madonna (Mar 2007), Marimekko (Apr 2007), Viktor & Rolf (A/W 2006), Stella McCartney (A/W 2005)...

View the H&M X CGD collection here.

hopeless

I just came back from the supermarket...and i'm really clueless what are the types of vegetables - its name and how it looks like! I was trying very hard to figure out if this......ehh......or this looks more like broccoli.

I also bought a pack of muddy purplish longish stuff which i thought was red potatoes...and i came home and realized it's yam!

I know my sis Sandra - who loves food & the supermarket - is going to strangle me!!! ;p

eat n shop

Just 2 weeks of enjoying the cool autumn breeze, i cant believe we're dressing for winter already!!! This weekend, we went out only in the late afternoon. Both days, lunch was home-delivery coz the cold weather makes us feel sooo lazy. Kinda like animals hibernating in winter! That includes Joel coz shortly after he woke up and bathed (at about 10am), he went back to sleep again (at 11am)!!! Or maybe he knows it's the weekends! ;p

We finally went to the Grandma's Kitchen at GangHui (港汇广场 Grand Gateway) for some nice soup...and realized a revamped level 5 & 6 with a whole lot of restaurants!
Picture: Mommy dressed Joel at home in silly hat! And we went out in matching blue furry boots! HAHA!

We also found a new shop from Hong Kong - Bauhaus - in GangHui and Elvis bought this simple but nice jacket and a pair of jeans (both so expensive!!!)...but he received a VIP card for 10% discount on future shopping lah! ;p (The VIP card can also be used in HK Bauhaus which carries about 20+ labels, but here in Shanghai, there's only about 10 labels)

P.S. Sorry, i cannot find a related link for 'Bauhaus', but you'll probably have seen their shops in almost every HK street! Haha! ;)

Sunday afternoon, we went to Shanghai Outlets which is like a really HUGE factory outlet place. (You can view more detailed pictures here from another blog) There's more brands now compared to the last time we went more than a year ago. It's in the outskirts of Shanghai, so getting there by cab takes more than 30mins (1 hour if there's a jam). It was raining and we only shopped for 2 hours coz we had dinner plans with Elvis' boss & friends at HAIKU! Yum yum! That's the perfect ending for my weekend! ;)


The Shanghai Outlets link (www.outlets.sh.cn) doesnt seem to work...their address is at 2888 HuQingPing Road/JiaSong Road, open daily from 10am to 9pm.

If you wanna scour at least 50% of the shops at Shanghai Outlets, be prepared to come early and give yourself at least half a day here. It'll also be more "worthwhile" coz your cab fares already cost quite a bit lah (approx ¥70-100 one-way from town, and might need to get past 1-2 toll highway depending on the route you take).
Adidas, Armani, Burberry, CK, Colour 18, Diesel, Esprit, Fila, Guess, I.T., Lacoste, Le Coq Sportif, Levi's, Liu Jo, Miss Sixty, New Balance, Nike, Nike Golf, Nine West, Puma, Quiksilver, Sisley, Tommy Hilfiger, United Colors of Benetton, Zegna...and much more...most shops offer discounts of approx 30% up to 70%!!! (I even saw 1 shop at 90% discount!)
Also there's a HUGE everything-for-kids section which we didnt get to see...but i saw almost everyone carrying their carrier bags.

women's history month

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; they don't have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of shag carpets.
Real Mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.
Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?' and get their answer when a little voice says, 'Because I love you best.'
Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years or grade... It is marked by the progression of Mama to Mum to Mother...

4 years of age - My Mummy can do anything!
8 years of age - My Mum knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 years of age - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.
14 years of age - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.
16 years of age - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 years of age - That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 years of age - Well, she might know a little bit about it.
35 years of age - Before we decide, let's get Mum's opinion.
45 years of age - Wonder what Mum would have thought about it?
65 years of age - Wish I could talk it over with Mum.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

sleepy sat

It's Saturday 1pm...and the 2 Mr Chaus are still sleeping soundly!!! We're supposed to go to Haiku to eat...and now, i'm starving!!! :/

Big head #1 just came back from Muse at 4am... (one of the clubs opened by Carina Lau) &
Big head #2 has the separation anxieties and has been grouchy since he woke up at 9am...and is now asleep again. (It's now his nap time until his lunch...)

The aircon man (probably also a big head) is supposed to come in at 10am...but didnt show up...

So i decided to wash Joel's clothes since they take forever to dry now...it's washed & hung...and i even put the-day-before-yesterday's-clothes in the dryer...and kept them too... What else can i do besides blog?! I'm really really hungry! It's sooo cold today...so of course very shiok to sleep lah! I also hope i can sleep like you leh...

Please wake up soon... Haiku Haiku...or else have to call Xing Wang delivery liao lah!

crab season

S/S is "xiao long xia" season & A/W is crab season - and we're not talking about clothes here. Yes, it's the hairy crab season!!! And we just had a 大闸蟹 Hairy Crabs session with Elvis' team. They had gone to buy it (from a famous place) after work and went to one of his colleague's house to steam it... and also made the "special dip" of vinegar, chinese wine & loads of chopped garlic. Other than hairy crabs, they also ordered Singaporean food - chicken rice, hokkien mee, black carrot cake, sambal kangkong, curry chicken, bakuteh, kulou pork, caixin... from Orchard Restaurant. (You're also supposed to drink "huang jiu" /yellow wine with the hairy crabs coz they can "get rid of the cold")

I remembered the first & last time i tried 大闸蟹 at Fomo, i really didnt like it...and i wonder why some people say 大闸蟹 is the best thing/food on earth!!?? I think normal Spore crabs is much better. When i go to Fomo for 小龙虾 "xiong long xia" (literally translated to 'mini lobster' but it actually looks/tastes more like crayfish), i dont even want to try the gross-looking crabs again! BUT this time, it's really very yummy and very very fresh!

This is "good quality stuff" and we each paid for 2 crabs - ¥70/set (1 male & 1 female). If you eat at Crystal Jade, it's ¥200 for the female, ¥98 for the male (!!!).

I also think that maybe Fomo wasnt as good for their hairy crabs compared to their "xiong long xia". The thought "xiong long xia" always makes me drool... Keke... ;p

blame it on the weather

Winter's almost here...and i'm starting to feel hungry the whole day. That's bad!!! Almost every 30 mins, i will look for something to munch - chips, chocolate, biscuits, Milo...

During my last winter here, i ate more & more...until when we went back to Singapore for CNY...and everyone says we've become fair & fat (coz there's hardly any sunny days here).

So i think it'll be the same again... ;p

P.S. But really lah, almost everyone here is like that...they put on the pounds during winter, cover with thick jackets (anyway)...and lose the extras during summer. Keke... It's a cycle.

kawaii candy boots

doremon

The one chinese song i have been listening to for the past few weeks is 时光机 by Jay Chou. It's been playing kinda nonstop on TV and it's in my head now. It's the official song for the Shanghai Fashion Week which opens on 1 Nov 2008.

Anyway...here's the MV with the cute guitar:

stainless steel