My weekend in a snap shot

Mozi

I'm SO in love with these funky cute as aprons.

Check it out. mozi

Digital photography

I am excited. I am filled with so much life, energy, vision. Inspired even! The same type of adrenaline I always feel before I set off on a big holiday. It has been 2 years coming. Every since I started blogging and telling my little stories. A desire inside of me started brewing. Of wanting to showcase my thoughts, views, quirks through the eye of the lens. Having visual communication of what I see and feel of things, and stages of my life.

It has been way too many “Oh! If only I had time to do this.” Or “Man. If only I could take photos like that.” And. “Where the hell is Salem in this shot?!.. oh.. hang on.. yeah.. I see the black spot.” AND getting really sick of hearing myself say, “If only..!!”
*fist in the air*

So about a month ago, (despite my incredibly busy year end life) I took matters into my hands and enrolled myself into a digital photography course. And this week, I attended my first digital photography class! *BEAM*

In slightly over a month, I will learn;
- how to optimize my digital camera
- how to set aperture / shutter speeds / ISO
- how to freeze moving objects
- how to blur them out
- take black & whites
- photoshop for picture manipulation
- angle / artistic / close ups
- gone on a photo-taking expedition
- and other bits and pieces that will give you the foundation to take digital photography to the next level.

A resounding “WooHoo!”

So here I am, doing my first digital photography assignment. Experimenting with “White Balance”. And SO having a ball!!



Pic – its Salem’s string puppet toy sitting on a little vege pile. I used Picasa to grid the pics which cropped them up a little… ah well.. I’ll get fussy when I get better… hehe.

My dashing new lappy

For the past 5 months, I've been drifting in and out of computer hardware stores browsing through the many many beautiful and flashy laptops out for sale. Since I left my previous company, I have been feeling absolutely techno lost without my trusty laptop (see my new company sadly doesn't feel the need to provide management with laptops as we are meant to be office bound. Blah, what a load of crap!).

So for the past 5 months, I was forced to brave through internet deprived nights, and scrimmaging at the table for second hand-me-downs usage time of my husband's laptop.

Today, my little sad reduced-to-TV life has finally ended. My dear husband surprised me with a wonderful gift. Yes. A smacking brand new HP Duo processor 1.83 GHz , 2 MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB, 160 GB (2 x 80 GB) silver chromed, too luxurious laptop!! It also comes with a 17" screen, a webcam and a cool funky swirl design finish!

ok. So I don't understand all that technical jargon spill. But it's only my first night with my new dashing lappy and I'm absolutely loving my wide panoramic view of a screen. And that oh so hollywood wannabe webcam!

AH. I feel so warm and fuzzy inside!
You Tube. Ready or not. Here I come!
*wide eyed beam*

Outdoor lunches

One great enjoyment we get in spring & summer is those outdoor lunch parties. Last weekend, we were invited to 2.

Things I love about it…..

Sitting in the sun.
Breathing in the fresh air.
Having the sky above you as you eat and chat.
Hearing the leaves whooshing in the breeze above you.
Spotting a plane doing word acrobatic.
The smells of greasy barbeque mixed with sweet blooming spring.

3rd Anniversary (and a looOong post)

We went away to Port Macquarie last weekend to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. Work had been really crazy for us lately so we were looking forward to spending some time alone and be with our thoughts.

Mel had the whole trip planned. We were to drive to Port Macquarie Saturday morning. Deep sea fishing on Sunday. Horse riding Monday. And ate at award winning restaurants. I was hyped.

The drive up the coast was beautiful. The day oozed with wonderful tropical weather goodness. We stopped for a light lunch of scones with cream and jam, salmon salad and cool ice cream spider at this family run café called Mermaid Cottage (pics), before completing the rest of our 6 hours drive north.

Our accommodation was at the HW Boutique Motel, located by the banks of the scenic beach front. The view from our room was breathtaking! We ended our day as we watched the sun slipped behind the velvety costal line from our little triangle shaped balcony. It was great to hear the whooshing of waves. To see the surf washing onto the beach. And to smell the rich salt in the air. It reminded me of the many sunsets I spent at Cottesloe Beach in Perth writing in my diary. *sigh* How I love those days.

The awesome tropical goodness sadly didn’t last beyond Saturday. Our fishing trip was cancelled the next day due to big surfs. Mel was devastated. But I was secretly relieved. I was soOOoo not looking forward to spending my Saturday morning with my head hanging over the side of the boat and seeing my vomit used as bait (sorry..). Deep sea fishing however, was on my long to-do-at-least-once list so I have to admit, I was a tide disappointed.
So instead of fishing, we visited a council run theme park called Timbertown and the wineries. Bago vineyards & Cassegrain.

First of. I detest theme parks. I mean, I don’t see the point in paying to visit a man made world to which I already live in. I have made exceptions. Disneyland, because of my childhood obsession with Bambi and Peter Pan. And I was in Tokyo. And a future anticipated park in hopefully not too distance future for those uniquely creative Japanese cartoon animation. My only other theme park experience was Sunshine coast Movie and Sea World back in Aug of 01, which was such a mistake. The only thing that kept me in was the fact that I had paid for them in advance and was too much of a tight ass to not go. aug!

But Timbertown is a non-profit funded park, whose sole purpose was to educate the public of the hardships of pioneering loggers of past, so it was alright. It was down to earth, modest, unpretentious and pleasant. We played with farm animals, read how timber was harvested, watched a Bullock show, waved at passing steam trains, giggled at the teenage jugglers that could not juggle and poked fun at a funniest looking chook we’ve ever seen. (This was as close a shot as I could get. Notice the one on the right witht he kick ass afro hairdo.)











At the wineries. We tasted wines. Chatted with really friendly staffs. Watched the pita-petal of rain fall onto the lush vineyards. Had chili mussels for lunch and ate expensive hand-made chocolates. The day turned out to be sOooOOooo sublimely perfect!

Our last activity before the end of our getaway was horse riding. I had ridden once before and loved it so I was really looking forward to it. We were chauffeured to the ranch in a shabby van from the side of a bush track deep into the bush lands where the horses were bred (free range!). The owners were once Sydney-siders whom about 3 years ago, decided to give up the rat race city lifestyle and settled into a quiet tranquil life of horse training and raising farm animal as pets. I don’t think I could ever give up city dwelling. I guess I’m too entrenched and really don’t know any better. But than again, do I really want to share my bathroom with creepy crawlers and slippery critters?! I think for their sake, the creatures of the bush are better off without me and my "vocals".

Anyhow. As I mentioned, it was my second time on a horse but Mel’s first. We had just missed the holiday crowd so it was just us and the owner. Before heading off, we were given a crash course on basic horse ridding techniques. We rode through bush lands and up hill tops. We breathed in crisp sweet air and saw wallabies bathing in the sun. It was awesome.

I swear the horses knew we were beginners. In mere 2 minutes, they quickly established their “rule” over us and went about doing their thing. We were just these 2 legged creatures that happened to be sitting on them because we looked like the other 2 legged creature that feeds them. We were so pushed over. Mine stops at every up hill climb. And Mel’s walks into huge bush for a belly scratch. Every. So. Often.

Back at the ranch, in a little hut behind a tree. An inquisitive adult Huntsmans whose home was the toilet paper dispenser decided he wanted to get acquainted. Need I go further??

“FREAKING freakIN GET OFF ME!!!!!!!!!!!! WooAH!!!” *shudder*

Salem

A friend of mine email me a really lovely picture she took of Salem during Mel's bday party. Usually it's really hard to get a decent shot of him. He's either moving about, looking absolutely bored and disinterested (as all cats do) or too "black". Thus my pictures of him are usually blurry, angry or a black spot.

Could you just see the makes-u-wanna-pinch-something cuteness in his face. And those innocently navie green eyes that makes you go all mushy.

*Beaming proud owner*

Labor Day

Last Monday was Labor Day, so the family decided to make a day out of it and do the Split Bridge Walk.

Nothing much to report really other than it was a really lovely sunny day and it was nice just chilling out with hubby and parents.

Anyways, thought I’d post some pictures I took that day.

Mel's surprise birthday party

Mel had his 29th birthday celebration last weekend. I organized a surprise lawn bowling cocktail party down by the leafy posh harbor side Hunters Hill Club and secretly invited family and friends to celebrate the day with us.

It was quite a daunting task as work had kept me from putting the party together till the absolute last minutes (like 1 week prior… I know. I ought to shot.). And to make matters worse, the week that lead up to birthday Saturday was just Wet. Sad. And down right gloomy. A vision of muddy lawns with sweat shirts and umbrellas didn’t exactly spell a good day. So you could imagine how happy I was to wake up to a beautiful morning promising nothing but pure glorious summer weather. The sun was beaming, the sky was clear and Mel had absolutely no idea of my secret plans. ark ark! *Beam*

The cat was finally let out of the dark bag when we arrived at our destination. Mel smiled his widest smile all week (he thought we were heading off to a picnic which he totally hates doing) and 95% of our guests showed up. It was so unrehearsed and unplanned but oh so … well timed! People rocked up with fruits, home-baked muffins and little butter cakes. It was just awesome.

The club has 2 decks of lawn bowling greens and as the upper deck is usually reserved for members only on weekends. We were placed at the lower deck and had the entire lower lawn to our party. We spent the rest of the afternoon barefoot bowling under the warmth of an unexpected spring day, ate our little snacks, and cooled down over a glass of beer. It was SO relaxing and I was SOO relieved it turned out alright.

After an afternoon of lawn bowling, the family and some friends adjourned to our place for the 2nd part of the celebration. It was really nice to unwind after a day of “sporting” activity. We sat around the balcony, ate barbequed foods and enjoyed the cool of the night and talked about random things. It was a nice end to an unexpected day.

Oh. Incidentally, if you thought Mel had a weird chili chocolate cake for his birthday. The little bright red chilies were used only as garnish to give the cake a masculine make over. Brilliant isn’t it. Thanks again Megan for the beautiful cake. And thanks to you’all who showed up at such last minute notice!

Hope you had a great birthday babe! And YES, the party IS your birthday present so you can stop looking under the bed now.

Cyber Salem

Meet my cyber adopted cat Salem (scroll down). You could play with him, pat him, and feed him. He even reciprocates with a meow.

To adopt your very own cyber pet. Go to Bunny Hero Labs.

Oh. And does anyone know how I might fix my alignment problem??

Ignite

A group of friends and I got together last Saturday evening to attend a short film festival in the city called ignite. We were there to support a friend who made his debut that night.

Ignite is a Christian Short Film Festival that aims at bringing out the truths of the bible through short films. It negates segregation of denomination, age or background, and solely seeks to encourage Christians to understand the bible through creative use of the media and cinematography.

The keyword for the night was 'FIRE'. So films will have to, in one form or another, portray elements of 'fire' in the (no longer then 5 mins) presentation. They will need to draw inspiration through bible passages and shape the film to encompass one of the 7 selected themes. Grace • Humility • Justice • Miracles • Sacrifice • Unity • Wisdom

In a nut shell, it was a good night. I thoroughly enjoyed the screening, even though I had to ask friends to fill me in on several films because I couldn’t figure out where the fire element was (I blame it on my artsy deficient genes).

It was great to be immersed in all the creativity that fueled the night. And to emerge after 2 & ½ hrs later feeling soberly encouraged was refreshing.

If you missed out on this year’s “gig”, do not to fret. They will be at it again next year with a brand new keyword. Light. So log onto to ignite, sigh up and stay tuned.

Yet another fashion post

This. Is. Cool. As.

From its collection to its funky website.

You've got to check it out. Womb

ohh… my heart is starting to flutter…..

Spring

Spring beckons an awakening to our winter slumber. With the emergence of new plant life brings along the renewal of our social engagements of dinner parties, the beloved barbeques and numerous outdoor recreational pass time. I cannot wait to set sail under the harbor bridge again and to soak in all that glorious weather. I simply LOVE this time of the year.

It has been a CRAZY start to spring for me. Work is rocketing off to “never-never” land, church activities and commitments have already filled up most of September. And speared all over my dairy are endless dinner and lunch appointments with enough food to feed a little country. =D

And to top off the exciting Spring saga, my parents have recently moved to Sydney!

Can you imagine the number of family gatherings we will be organizing, not to mention the many. many. MANY. long nights we’ll spend playing our beloved Big 2 card games. Don’t ask. It has become a family tradition through the years.

I say. Bring on the glorious life filled Spring!!! I’m excited. *Glee*

My Ten Dollars Earings

We Dream In Colour

I found this while browsing through a friend's blog and thought I'd post it. I just LOVE how funky some of the pieces are! Site

Remembered

A couple of weeks ago, my gf from Japan sent me an email saying her (could die from cuteness overload) almost 3 year old had asked if he could ride the Kobe ferries wheels with me. It had been over 3 months since my last visit to Japan (where I had my almost made me sick ferries wheel experience. IT was 15 STORIES high alright...!!). So I was absolutely delighted and flattered to hear that I was still in his 1Mbyte toddler selective memory card mind!!

Just look at that face and tell me you wouldn't feel the same.
*BEAM*

Time for another mid week shout out

I like Wednesdays.

I like them because we are now only 2 days away from the glorious weekend, and tomorrow is late night shopping which means ...... NO cooking!!

HAPPY MID WEEK EVERYONE!

Gion Festival

As promised....

A nostalgic moment please.....

An old friend of mine sent me pictures of Gion Festival, an annual event that is currently celebrated in the city of Kyoto (which I will post separately).

If you remember, same time last year, I posted pictures of the festival in my July 05 blog and did a short but (hopefully) detailed enough snippet about the festival. So if you want to read more about the purpose and origins of Gion Festival, you know where to look.

Cause I want to go down memory lane today. =)

This old friend and I (not forgetting another, we were 3) go way back. Way back to the days where long pigsy tails and neat pleads were our main and only focus in life. Back to the time where silly ideas like holding hands while swinging together on the swings in our neighborhood playground in demonstration of our friendship bond was our after school afternoon ambition. And acting out little skids that we wrote (mostly inspired by the movie Jaws.. haha.. it was huge back than alright!!), performing to an invisible audience only to end up belly up with laughter was how life was meant to be. haha.

I cannot help but smile when I think about our childhood memories. The hours spent with our ears glued to the earpiece of the phone, the countless sleepover nights and silly “before and after” makeover sessions we performed on each other. Hahaha… what sweet memories.

Years have gone by now and we are all grown up and adult like. So much so that 2 of my 0ldest friends are now mums and living out their lives in worlds that are apart from mine. But that unspoken bond once demonstrated by physic, now replaced by long distance silence broken only once a year when we made a pack to meet up in our motherland Singapore to fill in the gaps of stories and misadventures of life.

What sweet memories to live for and be surrounded by. I suddenly feel like a millionaire. No. Billionaire! Only that money can never buy the glow I am feeling right now. *BEAM*

A blog about nothing and secret world domination dreams!

About 1 & 1/2 years ago I decided to start a blog. I named it Imperial Salts:
Imperial: a character in my mandarin name that shyly screams royalty.
And Salts: because it was to be my electronic scrapbook of the little and insignificant things that season my life.

I did not have any big plans for it as I have neither any real political views and violent strong opinion of the ways of the world to share, nor dramatic life experiences for readers to indulge in or learn from. It was plainly the simple things in life that made me smile, or fume with frustration or ball up and just have a sulk over.

My readers were (or still are) a group of close friends that I find hard to catch up with on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis due to either impossibilities in the geographical sense or simply because we are all grown ups now and have our own little lives to run.

Whatever reasons it may be, I have gown very fond of this little hobby of mine (though sadly work has taken me away from it more often than I like these days) and in some ways, deep down inside, I am starting to secretly hope that perhaps word would have gotten out about this blog named Imperial Salts and it has started to spread far and wide! And perhaps I even dare secretly hope that in some ways, some 10,000miles away from home, someone is reading my little unassuming blog and having a smile or a frown or even a sulk the very same time as me.

Please spread the word!

Happy reading....!!

Just bec it's SO darn cute!!

I accidentally stumble upon this website game over the weekend and thought I'd post it.

The little pigs gave me heaps of much needed bluey Monday lunch time entertainment!!

It's absolutely mindless and just SO (wanna make u puke) DARN CUTE!!! I love it!!!

Top 8 not meant to be

Australia's world cup dream has abruptly and cruelly come to an end this morning after a penalty kick was awarded to Italy just minutes away from the whistle.

It was controversial, painful and oh SO undeserving.

The top 8 was not meant to be.

But let’s not take away what the Socceroos has done for Australia. We have made a mark in the international realms of football and have played amongst the top 16 teams in the world! Surely that alone is worth celebrating for.

So congratulations Socceroos! It has been a great ride.

GO Socceroos!

11:45pm, 45mins into the game.

Score 0-1 in Japan’s favour.

Anger mounted at the controversial goal.

Getting tired and restless.

Half time… toilet break and a quick silent prayer.

80mins….. waiting for a miracle now.

12.35am…. boy am I going to pay for it tomorrow…

Than.

Amongst the sleepiness and nail biting … the unimaginable happened.

Australia’s first and equalising goal by Tim Cahill!

Suddenly. There is HopE!!!

Come on!!!!!!! …. One MoRE…!!!!! COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And it happened!!!

Breathe held in before the realisation of a wining opportunity!

Jubilation sets in with Aloisi sealing Australia’s final goal.

Score. 3-1.

The whistle ….

VICTORY!!!!!!!!

I say!

What a way to draw the world’s attention to our first World Cup debut in 32 years!

Well done guys! And thanks for a great match Socceroos!!

Come what may Brazil!!! It’s GAME ON!!!!! YEAH!!!!!

Nature Care Clinic

I’ve just had the best massage of my life! A friend of mine booked us in for a much needed remedial massage yesterday. I had stayed up late the night before for the world cup opening game and was feeling the effects after. I was very happy that I’m going to get some treatment for my very sore and stiff neck and shoulders.

It was not our first time there but the lady I got yesterday was incredible. She has really strong fingers but they were not overpowering, and her soothing technique made me feel like snoozing in just under ¼ of an hour.

In short, I was completely relaxed and tense free at the end of the treatment. And it had only cost me $35 for 50mins worth.

If you live in Sydney. Check it out. Nature Care Clinic

Word of warning. It’s a college clinic which means you get student practitioners. The rooms are basic, and it’s pretty limited bookings. But for the price you pay. It’s worth giving it at least one go.

World Cup Fever

Australia has qualified to play in the prestigious 2006 FIFA World Cup. It’s THE king of all kings match in the soccer realms and the whole nation is sited.

Almost every second car has a little gold and green Socceroos flag waving proudly in the rear window. Good luck cheers shouting from all corners of the commercial world to the proud and esteemed team, already crowned as heroes for beating Uruguay in the qualifying match.

I myself (I have to admit) am not a real soccer enthusiast. Though I do enjoy participating in all the fuzz and jazz over 11 men running around madly chasing and manoeuvring a ball. But coming from Singapore, it’s hard to find a real course that would make crazing over a team worth while.

So when Australia made her way into this year’s world cup. I naturally was all hyped up for it. I now have a genuine course in supporting the sport by cheering on the national team of my adopted country. And judging by the performance of the Socceroos in the qualifying match, I trust that they will put up a good fight jammed packed with a truck load of world class football entertainment.

Bring it on!

Work and no play makes..... well.. u know...

I’ve been in my new job for a month over now. It’s still settling in times so things are still cosy and smooth sailing enough. Nothing much to say really… except for the fact that since I’ve starting work, I have found myself being booked in to an endless list of social events all snowballing one after the other! Most not planned and absolutely random and spontaneous!

I’m quite happy with my new ..well.. if you could call it a routine… and am definitely not complaining, though admittedly I would love to have a Sat of just couch sitting and reading. But these weekends curriculum has made the weeks go by really quickly and in a way, makes a week of hard work that much more rewarding!

It’s great!

And to top if off, a good friend of mine will be flying in for a quick visit in a couple of weeks and I've made arrangments to bump over whilst her stay in Sydney. I’ve been dying to visit Bondi markets for ages and now I’ve finally got someone that will willingly go with me!!!! What could be better!!!!

oh. Can I also mention that there is a looong weekend (public holiday) ahead? And come Monday. Japan meet's our very own Socceroos in our long awaited World Cup debut!

It can only go uphill from this on end. Woohoo!!!

Cat Fight

A cold wet night after dinner. Mel and I were settling in for a quiet night of dvds and hot mugs of tea.

“Burr... Salem, u wanna come snuggle on my lap?”

Blank stares at my bath robe……

“Salem…. you want to come sit with me instead….??”

“You know he will come to me. He loves this bath robe!….”

Mel starts to slowly lean back and folded his legs to make a basket like well…

Salem inches forward… Totally aware of what’s happening….

“Here… let me carry you up here.”

“Hey I called him first!!”

“But he loves me more!!!”

“That’s not true!! He’s not purring. Let him choose. Let go!”

“Ouch”

“Here… Come here Salem”

He jumped off the couch and onto his stretching post and gave us both a disapproving stare.

“Now look what you’ve done Melvin. …. He’s just staring at us now…”

“What??!”

Freebie

We have just checked into Singapore Changi Airport and are waiting to board air Vietnam to Ho Chin Mhin city. I spotted this free internet access while buying ourselves ice mocha and thought I'd take the opporunity to do a little blogging. yay!

Last night, we landed at Changi Airport at a quarter to 11pm. After a brief reunion with my parents and exchanges of hugs. We celebrated our reunion Singapore style by whisking off to a late night super of porridge and little pickled veges and meat (Teochew Porridge)!

We chatted, we ate, we laughed, we ate some more. It was great! I felt instantly at home. Meanwhile, a rat ran across the unpolished tiled floor of the little road side restuarant. We shrugged our shoulders and continued while Melvin politely declined eating and quietly sipped his canned ice tea.

Time running out! Got to rush.... Don't you just love free internet access!!!

See you all in Vietnam!!

Holiday frenzy

Oh. My. God!

In 2 days, both Melvin and I will be flying in to Singapore and then Vietnam for 6 days, than back to Singapore for 4 days. And I will be off to glorious cherry blossom spring Japan!!!! AHHH!!

Yes. I will be making a second trip to the land of the rising sun and will be spending a week with my dear friend in Kyoto!!!

I can hardly contain myself! Every living cell in my body is bursting out in anticipation.

What a fabulous April it will be! I’m absolutely high from my holiday frenzy!!!

See you all in about a month!!!

Though I will be logging on and updating all our advantages from time to time, so take a peep every now and than yah! =D