Lavendaz: April 2007

Friday, April 27, 2007

Catching the moments

For some reasons, Eve and I have been running roadshows almost everyday for these two weeks and MORE next week. Vera has been the santa little helper but she can be really selective on want she wants to do. If she likes the customer, she would greet them with her sweetest smile and wave her hands....if she doesn't like, she would snatch the shoes from her customer's hands! ho ho

She is such a charmer...especially on camera. She stand by and SMILE broadly for me whenever I am taking photos of her.

Thats Eve...with Mandy. We manufacture this pair exclusively JUST FOR EVE, accomodating her preference - without the back-strap. :)

Well, that's my Jan (below). Pretty much sold out, only left with size 4.

Leaf through our online shoe boutique...for the sole indulging ones...

Labels: lavendaz news

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about What's in My bag!

I rambled on this site and find out about Thursday Thirteen. What an interesting ideal! I got hook and here I am trying to get myself in the TT loop! For starters, allow me to steal Violet's ideal of listing 13 items in my bag.

1. Book. I love to read and never leave home without bringing a book along, then again, I don't necessary have time for them when I am out. It's for the just in case moment, while waiting for a friend, lunching alone (and not wanting to stare into space) or rushing to finish the book before the due date. Yeah, I used to buy books, recently I started to make full use of the national library and it's awesome!!!

2. Wallet. I bought this bulking-looking thing in Japan early last year. I love it, though it is not very practical; itself, its already pretty thick, not to mention after holding all the cards and coins.

3. Make-up pounch. Well you see, what you see is pretty much what I have. I don't own much cosmetic myself and never really good with them. So...it's pretty much a foundation fm Estee, Blusher from Nuskin, Nuskin nu colour lip gloss, Clinque lipstick, Stila lip polish given by Jessica. mac concealer and eye liner. The fishy-looking pounch is given by Colin and Loret last July when they went Japan for their honeymoon. Isn't it cute?

4. Car key. Obviously I don't leave home without them. Josh and I named the car "Löwe" in Germany for the silliest reason. We love the keychain and since we know none that is even close to call "Löwe". We decided to name the car after the keychain. I know it is silly. :P

5. Keys. Like everyone, I own a bunch of keys - two for the house, two for church, one for the letterbox than I have never use before and the last is for mum's place.

6. Inhaler. The only challenging part of owning one is having to constantly check if it expires!

7. Namecard holder. I used to own those typical silver metal ones, then Colin claims that they don't look good so he gave me this.

8. Tissues. I never leave home without at least two packets of tissues. I love to offer them to friends and it becomes a habit to bring ENOUGH for me and the ones I am with. :P

9. Comb and hair accessories. My comb that comes free along with hotel stay. The hair clip (is that what you call it?) is from Evelyn. Eve and I love all these, it is so easy to use.

10. Clutch bag. This is a FANnn-tastic buy! Eve owns the green one (did I mention she loves green?) and I bought the beige piece. I know it sounds a little silly that I am putting this clutch in my bag. Well, I have the habit of stuffing the bare minimum stuff in this clutch and leave the rest of the stuff in the car. This clutch is my best buy manz - i vaguely remember it only cost $16.90!!!

11. Ipod. It appears that ALMOST everyone owns one of these (even if it is not from Apple)...and it is always a gift from a love one. :) Mine too, from Josh a few years ago when I started taking LONG hours ride on train to work. I don't bring this along nowadays (unless I am not driving), but most of the time I still keep it in the car. It has been one of my most reliable companion.

12. Sun Shades. I bought this like five years ago...and it has been serving me faithfully through sunny (as shades) and windy days (as hair band). ha! Like the ipod, I usually keep them in the car.

13. Mobile. I don't know how much you rely on them, but I guessed like many of us, I am one who keeps my life in my mobile. Contacts, appointments, photos and important dates... I love this mobile, it takes great pictures of 3.2 mega pix. I am not a big fan of Ericsson mobiles (rather aside from Nokia, I love nothing else), I went for this phone mainly due to Josh's persuation and I never regret. It's as good as bringing along a good camera with me anywhere I go. It has been such a helpful tool for blogging. :)

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. http://www.violetlim.com/

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Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Something Extra by Patty Rice

I grabbed this book from the library. On the cover, it looks typically like any other novel, except I noticed that Patty Rice is a Christian Writer. I wanted to read through the book and see if there is any difference from the typical ones.

I wouldn’t go overly ra-ra over “Something Extra”, but I like how real the story can be related to anyone around us. Genie, a young and attractive girl, on the cover seems to have everything under control. In her ways, she keeps her life in control, dates only exclusive married man to avoid the hassles of love and commitment. Novelist Patty Rice writes in an easy and straightforward style, brings out Genie like her own voice. I like the way she describes Genie’s struggles and psychological underpinnings of her heart.

Due her Genie’s bad childhood experiences – her father fooled around and her mum literally destroyed herself and tons of unrevealed secrets; Genie grew up to believe that men are not to be trusted. She owns her rules not to be emotionally attached to them and never to ‘own’ one…till she met David Lewis, old enough to be her dad.

David is a former newspaper editor, just accepted a new job as professor in the school that Genie works at. Genie came to discover that not all man are jerk and from a friendship, their relationship blossoms. The tricky part was David is married with two grown sons. While David is a good Christian man, he struggles with his beliefs, principles and his own desires. The months of affair bring joy into David’s midlife crisis and a failing marriage.

I enjoy reading the last few chapters, how Genie was encouraged by her sister to reconcile with her past and not letting it haunts her down. I love the ending. Indeed human fails, but we learn and grew; setting our priorities straight and take charge of our life. It’s all about reckoning with our past and move into our future.

I am one of those that believes in the phrase – “Past does affect us”. It can comes faintly or jumps at you when you least expect it. We live and we learn – in good and bad ways subjecting to what we experience. It could be things beyond our control, we bring along memories that were significant in our life with us. The reality is we can’t expect to live baggage-free-life; however, we should always learn to acknowledge our past and how it has shaped who we are (today), be aware of them and not letting them rule our present or future.

Perhaps because I am a Christian or due to my optimistic nature, I am often challenge to look up (and see Him) and not look down (at our feet). I would choose to trust God than trust man, any day.

Labels: book review

Monday, April 16, 2007

Jap-fab-nite!

We held a Japanese theme dinner thingy on sat at Andrew's office. It is a 'tradition' that we would spring up such theme now and then. The last theme was Christmas food in December. This round, I reckon is the most successful one...everyone stick to the theme and along with the Japanese food, we were watching Death note 2 and afternote was Wii again!

That's how serious we were...we held a sushi counter at the side!

Death Note. I love this movie, Josh and I are still following closely to the animation version. It's pretty impressive on how the story twisted along the way. The story is creative and deep, with well-crafted characters carrying unique personalities.

The animation definitely well presented the various abilities of the Death Note, the movie itself brought on modifications and simplified matters. In any case, the Death Note is definitely a page turner with plenty of unexpected twists and surprises that catches enough attention to establish its fandom. Must watch!

Oh.. yes...another late round of Wii...

Labels: activities

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Discovering more of Rome

Rome has always been a place I most wanted to visit. Being there is a mixed feeling, I might have too high expectations of it and perhaps the lack of personal touch in Milan has left me a little disappointed. Moreover, the lack of proper food (when I say proper means no pasta, pizzas and bread) does affect my mood.

Josh on the contradictory, was really enjoying his moments. He has always wanted to be an archeologist since young (but it didn’t happen la…). He loves visiting museums (for longggg hours) and historical places, and by studying subjects like history, science and foreign languages. I enjoy traveling to historical sites with him, for he could usually explain to me the background of the broken rocks and destroyed stones (which meant a lot to him more than me of course!). Rome is literally his wonderland!

Discovering more of Rome....

Colosseum

The Colosseum…located at the center of the city of Rome. Was said to be able to hold a capacity of approximately fifty thousands spectators. We all know that it is used greatly for gladiatorial contests and public event (which include wild beasts hunts/battles and even executions).

During the medieval era, Colosseum was ceased for such ‘entertainment’. At a later date, it was reused for a better reason, such as housing, quarry, workshops etc. It is currently in a pretty bad shaped due to much damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers (yeah!).

The arena itself was huge, estimated slightly less than a ninety metres by fifty metres. With the arena badly ruined, the hypogeum (underground) is clearly visible. overing an elaborate underground structure called the hypogeum (literally meaning "underground"). I could clearly see the network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where supposingly, the animals and gladiators would be stationed before the match. The underground leads through a tunnel to a Gladiator school known as Ludus Magnus to allow easy access for the gladiators.

Lighter note

Did I mentioned that one of the biggest treat in Italy is we have been indulging in Gelato? I think all of us know that it is an Italian ice cream, pural as Gelati. So we have been faithfully getting our daily consumption of it....and they were even available in the Mcdonalds! Yeah!

Supermarkets are not as commonly found in Italy for a good reason; they have such markets as good subsitute!

More of Rome....and church visiting!

Scala Santa (English, Holy Staircase)

I read about this place before I even come close to it. Being a Christian, I can’t say I am not fascinated by what I read, thus I have been so wanting to visit…Perhaps, it is the closest (physically) that I can at this point find myself closest to Christ.

It was said that the 28 marble stairs were preserved in this building are traditionally the steps walked up by Christ on his way to trial in Jerusalem. St. Helena (mother of the Emperor Constantine) was a collector of relics, and the staircase is among her finds and was brought to Rome in c.326 AD.

There are three flights of stairs in Scala Santa and I saw quite a few people climbing up the middle stairs (Holy stairs) upon their knees, praying. The stairs are now protected by wood, mainly to preserve the original marble. Of course, the visitors are also well come to walk up the alternative staircases (on the left and right).

This is the only place, aside from 16th Chapel, that photography is not allowed. Once again, I found myself standing on Holy ground.

That's a quick shot (below) right outside the Scala Santa.

More random pictures...

That concludes my three weeks in Europe with a smile... :)

Labels: vacation

E-V-I-E 's Party!

Saturday was Evie's 1st year old birthday party! It was a pretty mad day for me. I was settling things for church (Easter event) in the morning and rushed down to church in the afternoon to setup the halls (while Evelyn is also setting up evie's party place! :P).

She told me to reach the party place by 7.30pm...and I did it thou' I rushed like siao. ha! Was a little worried I wouldn't make it on time cos' it can be quite difficult to get out of my church carpark after service hours. Anyway, when I was there, her parents are not there yet! ha! *phew*

Josh was snapping photos for the party....the buffet spread was good! Eve and I love neo garden.

To make things more interesting, she roped in a fondue fountain! I realised that serving fondue is not as ideal in such buffet setting. It is difficult to keep the fruits chilled. There was supposed to be a satay-man, but for some weird reason, he didn't turn up. :)

The birthday cake is the recent 'in' thing. We searched a couple of places for such cup cakes and eventually Eve decided on this. It's actually pretty interesting. The cup cakes are a little too sweet for me, but the kids love them! The top-layer cake is surprisingly good!

The magician cum balloonist! Vera had him two years ago as well...and this year, aside from just doing balloon sculpture, he did magic tricks! Pretty entertaining.

I love this!...Instead of assorted coloured balloons which Vera had it on her 1st, Evie has hers themed - yellow and white.

That's Vera!

Get ready to sing the birthday song....*happy birthday to you....*

and when everyone started singing and clapping, Evie cried...and incidentally, it happened last year to Vera as well, or maybe almost all toddlers doesn't appreciate that sort of ra-ra.

Vera helped with the candle-blowing. Charming...

Labels: vera and evie

Monday, April 09, 2007

My Good Friday

Good Friday is a significant day to the Christians and those that believed in the Lord. The day that Jesus was crucified, Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

Perhaps a little more significant for me, as it was the day I made up my mind to 'go-back-to-church' in 1999.

I was just telling a girlfriend of mine over dinner (2 days before Gd Fri) that I re-dedicated my life to Christ in 1999 after attending a Gd Fri service which Gurmit Singh gave his testimony. Yup. That's him la - our local PCK. He attends the same church (Grace Assembly of God) as me. How time flies...

I started attending Hope of God then and move to Richmond Assembly of God (in Melbourne)...and then Grace Assembly of God when I returned to Singapore (which is my current church). I haven't looked back since. In case you are interested, pop by to Tanglin Road. That's where my church site.

Josh and I attended Good Friday morning service with our close friends, Andrew and Xiuqing. I am kinda shocked. ha! The church was a little too overwhelm... :P I did something silly, I took snapped two shots! Apparently, I wasn't the only one. ha!

The church was so overcrowded that the ushers were refilling rows and rows of chairs, nearer and nearer to the stage.

Wooo...exciting. God is good. :)

Wii-ing in the air

After running a few errands with my two friends and too much of driving, we found ourselves back to my place discovering a new toy - Nintendo's Wii. I read about Wii before and seen it but yet to experience it myself. I am not totally bought in by the magic motion-sensitive wand until 'that' Friday.

I thought it would be relatively interesting to see how Nintendo compete with Xbox and playstation. Josh and I are supporter of Sony product, well, him actually. He bought the ps1 and 2, psp and we are getting the ps3 as well. I was just asking myself how different can Wii be?

Well. It is different. It literally did separates video game players from everybody else. Wii is an engaging tool, I totally agree with what Nintendo claims - it will put people more in touch with their games and each other.

Even for someone like me. Aside for Sims, I do not lay my hands volunteerly on any games.

It was really amusing when I first saw Josh and Andrew getting started with the Wii sports games. They were playing tennis!..then bowling and moved on to boxing. With a fair bit of push, Xiuqing and I get started, oh manz, it is so fun! The boxing game was the one that killed me with laughters. It feels so ridiculous and silly, yet entertaining to the max!

The unique and girlish part of Wii is it allows you to personalised your portfolio. You get to create how you look in Wii! That really market to the ladies. ha!

That's me (below) at the bowling arcade! I know...I know...doesn't look like me at all. Come on, I can crave to look sweeter and cuter in Wii.

And that's Josh, creating his profile.

More Wii-ingggg!

So, we spent the afternoon and evening Wii-ing...and poor Colin has to bring dinner for us since no one wanna get out of the house! Colin and Loret got hock on Wii as well. Loret was the champion of boxing...beat all of us (including the guys) flat. ha!

Labels: activities

Too much to handle

It was a too-eventful-long-weekend. I hardly have time to breathe through the past three days...yet everyday was fulfilling and joyous that I wouldn't wanna trade for anything less. :)

I would talk about that later.

Now. Wow. Shoes.

Eve and I love suede. We simply can't get enough of it. So, there goes another two new collections of suede.

I had a few customers that asked the same - how do you take care of suede? Frankly, suede isn't the easiest materials around to handle. The darker colours ones are fine. The lighter colours would need a little care-taking. Just note that when it is wet, air it before you keep them into your shoe-rack. If it is dirty, clean it with a damp cloth. That's it.

I am not the most practical chap around that goes for easy-to-maintain shoes. I need it to be comfortable as priority and secondly, charming looking. Suede fits the bill perfectly!

There are suede brushes available at watsons and malls...which was said to be able to remove the dust trapped on suede. But oh well, I seriously don't think that it is necessary. Such brushes are technically more applicable for huge suede boots which folks wear them to dirty grounds.

We, demure ladies stay away from such grounds. :)

That's the graceful gracia. Same colours as the beloved cera. :) I am quite certain this would sell as well as cera. It's my personal favourite. This round, eve and I decided that we would grab our pairs before they are sold.

Leaf through the new collections!

Labels: lavendaz news

Monday, April 02, 2007

Karaoke

'Sing song' session last sunday. Most of us are not very up-to-date with our song list and blessed with Jessica, she was busy recommending and explaining (the mtv and meaning of the song) to us.

It is always fun to go karaoke with Jessica. She is very patient with us and extended her hospitable-nature, which means, she would offer to key in the songs for us. :P