great big nail post amd photo spam

Now that I’ve stopped crafting I’ve been painting my nails. It seems that I keep buying polishes and I change colors about 3 times a week.
I had this bright idea to paint my nails to look like strawberries so I choose a bright pink. But I had 3 bright pinks and I wore 2 on alternate fingers for a day before deciding that neon pinks makes my fingers look dark and washed out.

i'm actually wearing 3 different pinks on my nails here. i wanted to try another shade.



i hated how neon pink make my fingers look so... i removed everything again and put on a dark green







i painted the leaves with a mix of greens (was trying to find something striking) and a dark berry red polish.

i didn't like how hard it was to draw with polish and that i don't have the right shades so i was lemming some acylic paints. so on friday i went to Art Friend and came back with these... heheheh



i also dropped by Etude House and got another 2 dark glittery colors. i'm really like dark colors on my fingers lately. it's either darks or nudes.

got tired of the bad job with the strawberries and got rid of them. decided to play with my new paints on saturday.

my left drawn by my right.


my right drawn by my left.


on sunday the DH wanted to "renovate" the bathtub so we spent a good part of the evening chipping away at the lime/grout. so my lovely green nails were a bit worn out (actually it was only a bit of tip wear and scratches that can be solved with a fresh top coat) and i decided on some new nails on monday.

what i used.


1x base coat, 2x sheer nude brown, 2x shimmery nude on tip. paint on flower petals(rose paint), dot the middle(cream) and dot the french tip smile line (peach), 2x seche vite for extra shine.

left hand.




right hand


decorated my toes last night. i'm still sore about not perfecting strawberry nails.

Coddled Eggs

i was reading SuperKawaiiMama and i came across her recipe for coddled eggs.

i made some one day for dinner but i also put in some mushrooms and blue cheese for a bit of a kick!

i buttered the bread with the crusts cut off and pressed them down into muffin pans using my knuckles. the mushrooms were cooked with some butter and salt and pepper in the microwave. they'd be better if pan fried but i didn't want to soil another pan. :P



a tiny dollop of blue cheese was placed into the bread cups followed by some mushrooms.



3 eggs were lightly beaten with some salt, pepper and rosemary and spooned into the cups. bake for 220 for 10 mins, depending on how well cooked you like your eggs.

i served them with some ketchup.



they were good but not filling enough so the DH made some instant noodles to supplement the meal. LOL!

i've been playing with my nails. once i load them up we'll have NOTD posts!

4.. FOUR huals.. ah ha ha ha (count dracula style)

this was my shopping from the Changi Airport DFS from way back (lol) when i left for Beijing. since i travelled alone, i had ample time to source out the things i wanted. namely, a pink gloss, any gloss or lippie that's of purple or violet tones and some other stuff as pressies.



my Fyrinnae purchases arrived while we were still in BJ so i had a nice package waiting in the mailbox. these are "Fall" colors that i've picked.





i wore Fools gold with Lust bunnies(orange) and i love the look. very edgy and definately eye catching especially during the morning OL transit on the train.

these are what i got last sunday, when Evie and i visited the Kitty Lab.



i bought this golden gray parka thingy and it's in a scratchy wooly material but i love the color and the cut. a colleague said that i was wearing a gunny sack. lol. pish posh! i still love it although it made me itch.



found some cool nail colors by Elianto and also got a YSL rouge at the RObinson expo sale. (it's not very clear in the pic. me use camera phone)

and these were from yesterday's shopping outing with an olde olde friend (since primary school). she made appointments for us to have makeovers at the kanebo counter with the cute japanese makeup artist. he spoke very good mandarin (swoons). so i got a face wash since it was on half price offer, and also a palette from the older collections. my makeover was from the new fall collection but in the end i decided against it since i plan to buy somemore blues from Fyrinnae.



i was given the Impress I skincare set as well as a puff blush from Coffret'Dor. Kino was having a 20% members off so i borrowed my friend's card and got a mag. exchanged my Taka Points and got the Dior's Smoky Crystal. w00t!



off to dinner with mummy!

Beijing 2009 haul

one the day before we leave we decided to lay out everything we bought. ignore the pile of laundry behind/beside me.



that large box on the left top corner is a mop and bucket system. *nods head* un huh. we came all the way here and bought a mop. the bucket has a little foot powered centrifuge that will spin dry your mop. also in this box is a cat scratching post.

in the front of the box you will see some long things which are kites, like the one i'm holding up. and those brown wheelie things are for the kite strings. we are very professional kite flyers. *actually the last i flew a kite was when i was 17**coughs*

the kites all opened and displaying their full glory.



in the front of the wheelies are 2 pairs of waterproof hiking shoes. these were promised not to be *imitations* and are the real things. dose anyone knows if Clarks makes hiking shoes?! but they worked so i'm good since we got to test time in the snow.

next to the shoes on the right a cross stitch pre-packs. 2 Neargo(cat city) books and 3 mandarin books with hanyupinyin for kids.(i don't know why i got these but they are the bomb!)

you will see that at the bottom on the bed i have nail polishes! my only other MU related items from BJ. i also got a tub of honey body cream and some face masks. this does not inlcude my DFS buys.

while we were exploring and getting lost, we found this wholesale mall that sell makeup and nail salon good. Hualage time. i actually didn't buy anything first since i couldn't remember how much these things costs. but after surfing a bit, we went back another day to get them. i have the nicest DH in the world. ah ha ha. he helps feed my addiction.



i also got 2 bags, one of real buffulo leather for 595 yuan and another pvc one for ~100yuan. they're both dark brown lol.

2 tee shirt for the bro, the green communist and one that has pandas in different taichi poses. <3<3 3 luili pendents at "wholesale" prices. i doubt the authenticity of these but they came complete with the boxes and baggies and certificates even. a couple of arthouse DVDs for my mother who had given me a list. my DH faux ski pants. that gray pile sitting underneath the 4 persimmons.

on the far right where the pillows are you will see a packet of Peking roast duck which i gave to da boss, a pile of fall maple leaves(a very weird purchase, right next to the mop and bucket)(we ventured into a fake flowers and handicrafts mall, have i said that i love BJ yet?), some red packets designed for wedding uses(great for weddings packets, we're always running out of suitable red packets since most of them are new year themed and not so appropriate) a pricey pair of orange kitty shoes(375yuan)

in the middle you will see a Doraemon dispenser(hand soap?) and on the right is a kitty bowl. inside are some pine cones we picked at TainTan park. in the front there's a baggies of "Cow Horn" nuts. i have no idea what they're called. i recalled eating them when i was younger and mummy made "helicopters" from the shell but the DH has never seen them before so we got them. we didn't even eat them because they smelt off. hahaha.

i think the only thing i didn't take a piccy of is the jade bangle i got for 300yuan. i'm wearing it now but i think i should get it valuated. the thing about jade bangles are that they'll age you like one thousand years and make everything you wear seem outdated.

am i overdoing the description here? :P

Beijing 2009

last week i joined my DH in Beijing for a little break. we visited the usual tourists must see like the TianAnMen, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Lama temple, Confucious Temple and TianTan. I'm not going to spam you with pictures of these as they're pretty generic and can be seen in any travel logs etc. another reason is because my pictures are filled with tourists blocking the sights! loads of people everywhere except maybe at the lesser known sights like the Lama Temple and Confucious temple.

Cats of the Forbidden City

My outfit for most of the days. this leather coat was one of my big ticket purchases this year. I got it when i was in Turkey in May.



people exercising at the TianTan park. there were people waltzing, playing badminton, practicing Qijong, meditating and practicing their water calligraphy. i think this is one of the highlights of my trip, rather than visiting the sights.



this grandpa was the only guy i saw crocheting. some other aunties were making toys for sale. he even has a crocheted cozy for his walking stick!



we got lost amongst the many Hutongs. it's always very interesting to see how people live and all i can say that although very romantic i'm very blessed to have an apartment with all the modern amenities.



getting lost has it advantages because we discovered many themed streets that aren't covered on the tours. i think these places might have been listed in the travel books that we had but we kinda just decided to go with the flow.

this street sells art supplies and pieces.


power upgrading in another Hutong.



One of the best yogurt i've ever had. it says Honeyed yogurt but i'm not sure about the honey. all i know is that it's delicious! this stall is at the WangFuJing food street. you can find the fried scorpions and bugs here but we went to the place twice because i wanted the yogurt, the super yummy grilled mutton skewer and cuttlefish skewers.



we ventured into a restaurent one day and i wanted water cooked dumplings. the price listed was 48yuan(~10sgd) and the waiting staff asked if we wanted a "jin". of course he was talking a a slurrrrred mandarin accent and my DH just said yes to whatever the waiter said. i didn't pay attention. both our eyes popped out when the dish was brought out.



that was me trying to figure out where we were.

this is Ghost street(Gui Jie) where many restaurents can be found. we had miny lobsters there (looked like yabbies to me). they were exactly that fantastic to me.



Beijing has the biggest persimmons i have ever seen.



one of the more beautiful places was the Summer Palace. the palace is designed around a large lake and we only have time to visit the half of the lake that had most of the buildings.



the longest corridor and largest art museum in the world. so said because on every piller above there are drawings despicting various scenes in chinese lore.



fall is here and you can see the signs in the trees.





i also enjoyed my time on the Great Wall even though i was wheezing while climbing the bl***dy stairs. my DH comstant taunting did not help with my PMSy and hungry mood.





the sight is spectaculer although only a tiny section is open to public. the rest have not been restored. i promise to go back again one day to explore another section.

an advertisement in progress?


did i mention that it's fall now? on the day we were scheduled to leave there was a freak snow storm. it clogged up the airport causing all the internal flights to cancel and our flight home that was scheduled to leave at 4pm didn't take off till past 8pm. but i was trilled when i woke up on sunday morning and spied snow outside my hotel window.



we promptly hauled our assess to the BeiHai (north sea) park. the falling snow made for a romantic stroll in the park.















the thick layer of snow on the top of cars made me crave cakes with loads of fresh cream icing.