Will be back soon... Been a CraZy WeEk!

What should I wear........

We are attending a wedding this weekend and I am excited.

There is no secret that I lurve weddings. I am one of those people that tear up after speeches and eat way too much cake.

I lurve getting all glam up for it. I lurve having a night of good food and great conversations. And I lurve the fact that the nights are KIDS FREE!

And of course, this weekend, we will be celebrating the union of two very lovely people.

So. The thing that will be on my mind this week would be "What to wear?"

Here's what I put together for the day ensemble. It's down for a maybe.

Meet my new loves

Delicious. Velvety. Shimmering palettes and pods of goodness.

Everyone. I have fallen in love with eye colors.

Admittedly, I have never been good at make up. Don't really care for it or knew what to do with it. My make up routine consist of moisturise, sunblock, powder, rouge, waterproof eyeliner and lip gloss. And I put them on in that order too.

However, of late. I have grown very curious with what colors could do for my face. And in the process of my exploration, I have also realised how much I actually enjoy experimenting with what colors works on me. And which colors blend well with which.

And the tools! Oh My Goodness. I never knew that those expensive brushes could actually work wonders!

So here I am. An absolute convert. Playing around with make up like a teenager in my thirties.

And to make it all official. I will admit here for all you guys out there to tease as you please. I am too browsing on the inter net for make up tutorials.

Oh the shame.

And with that note. I shall end with my latest loot pictured below.

All purchases from Strawberry.Net.
Brushes are Laura Mercier. Crease, All Over Eye Color, Smudge & Eye Color Brush. Lancome Precision Cheek Brush.
Costal Scents 88 Shimmer Palettes from Costral Scents US.

Annabel's day at the Park

We have had ourselves a big Saturday celebrating Annabel's birthday. I had not planned for it to be big. Just picnic amongst ourselves. Plus the grandparents. And Luna Park. It was supposed to be relaxing and light. That somehow turned epic, partly due to the weather.

The forecast was for light showers but we thought we'd press on. The day turned out to be hot and humid instead. REALLY hot and humid

.

Thankfully the girls were not the slightest bit affected by the sticky air. As for me. It was the worse weather ever. I could stand a scorching sun. I don't really mind windy days or drenching downpours. I just don't do humid. In fact, that's one of the reason for marrying Melvin. To get out of warm humid Singapore!

Of course I'm just kidding..... tsk tsk

So all afternoon I was in discomfort central. I had to drink heaps of cool water. While frantically fanning myself down with any piece of brochure I could get my hands on to stay sane. It almost robbed me off the will to live! Yes. For me. It was THAT bad

.

And. Did I mention I had NON-WATERPROOF eye liner on. You think a gal like me, coming from the tropics, would handle herself more eloquently.

Putting the panda look aside. And feeling absolutely spent by the end of the day. Our day at the park was a hit with the girls. And that's what counts. We had multiple rides passes for Annie and myself (some rides needed an accompanying adult) and she had a ball.

Except for the Tumble Bug ride which freaked out the both of us. I thought I was going to lose a child there!

Here are the pictures of our somewhat wonderful weekend.

Picnic by the harbour

Blowing bubbles.

Enjoying her very own chair.

We were in the blue carriage.

The view midway from within the Ferries Wheel.

Eating her first fairy floss.

The moment before the terror began (Tumble Bug ride)

Brisbane

Our prayers go out to you all.

May God be with you in these dire times.

Hang in there and stay strong.

(picture extracted from the New York Times)

Annie's birthday coming soon

Sunday Bliss

Our Sunday mornings are usually a lazy one. We have a full day ahead of us at church so we like to keep it light.

The kids would normally join us in bed. And we would try to squeeze in a couple more minutes of light sleep. Than it's late breakfast / branch or a quick lunch. And get dress and off we go.

However, the weather was cool and sunny this morning. And seeing how we have had strange unpredictable weather of late. We decided we will head on out for a brisk walk after breakie. The brisk walk lead to an hour at the park. And than lunch at our local cafe where we had caramel milkshakes and bacon and eggs. It was so refreshing. Just one of those simple moments that I treasure so dearly.

Welcome 2011!

After all the eating and outings over Christmas, we decided we'd have a low key New Year's eve. With 2 young children in tow, a big party with loads of people around is just simply insane. So we decided it'd be just us 4 ushering in 2011.

We started our low key celebration over at a friend's, who have 2 sons that were fairly closely aged to our girls. They kindly took out their waddling pool for the kids and as it was a warm day, the kids were excited to get into the water and out of the heat. Poor Rachel could only watch from the side because it was not long before the water splash fights began. It was nevertheless short lived as Annabel's princessie girly side took over and we all had to play nice to avoid mega tear bombs.

After lunch and a cup of tea. We headed home for an afternoon snooze and dinner before heading out again for the 9pm kiddies fireworks. The streets were dotted with party goers coming out for a peep at the early sparkles. And the atmosphere was festive. There were heaps of families out too with children all dressed in their pjs like our girls. Some even brought poppers and had their pretend midnight shout outs!

The girls really enjoyed the fireworks. Even Rachel whom we reluctantly woke because we did not want her to miss out. The warm day had mellowed into a cool night. And the girls were fast asleep mid drive home, quickly concurring their over stimulated senses. It was just a perfect end to the day. A perfect end to the year.
Here's looking forward to yet another amazing one. Happy New Year to you all.

Our Christmas Week

Christmas Eve Morning: Went to watch a play for kids at the Sydney Opera House.

Than hang around the city before attending Christmas for kiddies service.
Had a cuppa while the girls have their afternoon snooze.

Christmas Day: Morning, the girls opening up their presies. And we had a festive lunch with friends and family.

Boxing Day: Drove up to the coast to spend the day with family who were holidaying at Magenta Shores.

A couple of days later: Soaking in the sun at Taronga Zoo.

It has been an awesome week.

Merry Chirstmas Everyone!

Remembering our Lord Jesus Christ.

Little G

Mel's Mum, Sister and her little toddler had been over visiting past couple of weeks. It was great catching up with them and to finally meet Gracie. Up till last week, our only coorespondence with her has been through Skype. I was so delighted that Annabel and Rachel took to her instantly. And the love was reciporated by little G too.

It's that time of the year...

I cannot believe it's almost the end of the year. This year past by way too quickly for me. I know I say this every year, how I always struggle to fit everything in. And how I am almost always chasing after lost time. But this year really did go by SO quickly. Too quickly.

Perhaps having 2 growing and demanding children speeds up the clock a little. And going back to work does make the weeks go by that much faster. But I also noticed that as I age. Time just seems to elude me at almost lightning speed.

Do you feel that way too? Or is it just me.

This time of the year, I like to reflect on the year gone by. The good and the bad. The lessons learnt. And remembering the ones I had forgotten. I like to reflect on the blessings. And remember to thank God for them. I tend to forget them too quickly.

I also try to do some baking. Just so my poor cookie cutters and rolling pin don't feel too neglected. (I know I know. Once a year is not nearly good enough. I am certain if they had legs, they would have ran away by now.) And last year I was too sleep deprived nursing a new born. So this year, I made up for it.

In one night. I had baked over 40 vanilla christmas cookies. A small army of gingerbread man. And used up all my black bananas on a yummy banana yogurt cake. I had turned baking manic.

So here I sit. Close to midnight. Wrapping up some christmas cookies for some friends. Feeling tired as hell. But quietly happy. For me, I couldn't think of a better way to slowly end the year with.

And here's my little helper.

Annabel's Body Guard

I need one because I'm so darn freaking cute.

Bejeweled blitz

It has been a while since I last posted. The mother and sister-in-law and her super duper cute toddler have been visiting. Thus we have been busy.

However the main reason for this void, very sadly, was not really that. It is our addiction to Bejeweled Blitz. Yes. I am hopelessly and shamelessly hooked.

It is awful. The soonest we got the kids to bed. Out comes our iPad. And that addictive "bling bling" begins.

This game is not new to us. In fact, this love affair started about 3 years ago. Before Annabel was born. And it has seen me through sleepless nights when I had to stay up to feed Annie. But it was mainly to pass time and some light entertainment.

But now. With the easy accessibility of the iPad. And the option to compete with friends over cyberspace. It has become irresistible! I simply cannot stay away. I think I need to join some AA club for finger tapping addicts or something.

Anyhoo. I will be posting pictures of what we had been up to soon. The "bling bling" awaits.

Couch art

We were doing our usual sing and dance routine of dinner rituals. Feeding the kids. Feeding ourselves. Washing the dishes. Catching up on each other's day.

The whole time through. The kids would hang around the living room playing with whatever toys left over from the day. Nothing unusual. But we did notice Annabel running busily through and fro from the kitchen to the living area.

Than we saw this on our couch.

Now. We have absolutely no artistic fibre in our bodies. Back at school. I strive to just pass in arts. My best art projects were 3 dice made from clay. And perhaps a pencil sketch of some office buildings.

So naturally I never did have any idea in helping the kids develop. Artistically.
Seeing this tonight made me realise I should do something. We may have a little artist on our hands.

My weekend past

We had a couple of friends visiting from Perth last weekend. It was great catching up with old mates. And fantastic to know that time does not dilute friendship.

Over the last 3 days, we visited the Hunter Valley, the Rock's market, ate seafood at Prymont fish market and comb the restaurants lined street of Darling Harbour. We did touristy things like taking pictures of the Opera House and watched a British lady street performer squeeze into a box.

The the kids love the new house guests too. They were so chatty and happy and well behaved. AND. They love hanging around them all the time.

We generously gave the willing pretend parents many "practice" hours. And spent most of that time carefully concealing how ecstatic we were that we had found two baby sitters for the weekend.

In my Inbox

Baby Porcupine

Cuteness Overload!

(Almost) kids free weekend!

Hubby's good mate and his girlfriend are visiting over the weekend. We have the friday off and will be dropping the kids off at mum's before heading down to Hunter Valley for the day. Dinner has been organised for Saturday, without the kids.

I simply cannot wait!!

Our new pad

It was such a whirlwind experience searching for a new place to live. We had loved our first home very much and have grown very attached to it. We had so many happy times there.

The many gatherings with family and friends. The meticulous assembly of furniture. Memories of Salem. Of bringing Annabel home from the hospital. The tears and laughter that made hubby and me a stronger unit.

All the wonderful memories condense into that little space. Our familiar surroundings and neighbours who have become friends.

But alas. We need more room for our growing family. A backyard so the kids could roam and discover the world of worms and spiders. We knew it was time to move on.

The search was exhausting and many a times, out right frustrating. Needless to say, we weren't the only ones looking. Which meant, the good ones are usually very quickly snapped out, or are bought at a much higher value.

But we finally found the one. And it was within our asking price. So it was a huge relief as I was than so heavily pregnant. The whole packing, moving and unpacking took us almost 3 months. Thankfully all we needed to do was to give the house a fresh coat of paint. So we managed to just settle in before Rachel arrived.

It has been just over a year now and we are loving our new pad. The extra room was definitely worth the while. And we love our backyard with the huge gum tree. They say pictures speak a thousand words. So I'd better share some I took a year ago.