Scrapbook start to 2010!

This is gonna be a whopper of a post, enjoy it!

Take a look at your calendar baby, it's January 1st 2010! A brand new year :O

So how did you ring in the new year?

I was pretty down in the dumps about New Year's and not excited at all, until the clock struck 12 and the fireworks started going off at Queensbay, and I had great MSN convos with Jia Yee, Ya Wen and Shar which totally perked me up and got me in the New Year mood!

What is New Year's without fireworks? And oh boy, I got some gorgeous fireworks photos! My digital camera's "fireworks" setting is pure awesomesauce. Totally didn't have to edit any of the photos.

Check it out! \m/

These huge, bright starburst ones are my favourite! They went off on the road outside my house. So pretty, I'm totally gonna use it as a wallpaper.

The road and roundabout outside my house were freaking packed! Half of Penang must've been jammed into the Queensbay area because of the countdown concert, it was crazy!

For comparison, this is how it usually looks. Took the photo once the crowd had cleared at around 2.30 am.

Both photos taken with the long exposure "night scenery" setting and equally as impressive as the "fireworks" setting. My camera actually is good for something after all!

Decided to do a special "digital scrapbook" style post with photos of myself chronicling every month of 2009 to (temporarily) satisfy my fascination with digital scrapbooking.

Maybe I should've posted this yesterday but... *shakes head* Nope, nvm, I know I wanted all the scrapbook-style things grouped together in one post.

Warning: People not fond of my vanity AND not interested in digital scrapbooking/pretty things should more or less turn away... now.

You have been warned! Don't whine/complain/criticize afterwards.

January - McDonald's with Munibah and Duan. February - National Day performance.

I didn't have any nice February photos so I bo pian forced to use the tudung one D:

March - Gelato with Sharlyn, Ashley and Manda. April - My house with Munibah.

Didn't include any wedding photos for March, reason being that I'm saving that for the wedding anniversary next... I mean, this year.

May - Charlene's house with her, Alisa and Jong Yi. June - Sports Day/Excapade with Ya Wen, Sharlyn and Manda.

July - Munibah's house. August - My car with Munibah.

September - Rizqun with Jia Yee and Maria/Swensen's with Jan, Jia Yee and Lennard. October - Trying on my dad's ties in the bathroom.

November - Jia Yee's birthday party at her house/Mall with Sharlyn, Manda and Ya Wen. December - My house in Penang, before and after getting my hair done.

The reason it's so vain and all me was because I honestly didn't want to include any photos that are of me with friends, because I didn't want any excluded (sensitive and close) friends to possibly feel left out. This way, it's fair.

All the beautiful digital scrapbooking materials are courtesy of Shabby Princess.

I think in this generation, digital scrapbooking is a great alternative to conventional (paper, scissors and glue) scrapbooking. Everybody uses digital cameras and you won't have to go through the hassle of printing photos to use for scrapbooking.

Digital scrapbook pages can be printed out too if you like. Digital scrapbooking lets you tap into your creative side just as much as conventional scrapbooking, and is faster and mess-free.

Best of all, it can be free of charge thanks to wonderful digital scrapbook material designers like Shabby Princess. Most of the time, it's the steep cost and limited choice or availability of scrapbooking materials that deter people from taking up the activity even though they may be interested in it.

Honestly, I think digital scrapbooking is a win-win situation. It took me three days altogether to make all the digital scrapbook pages for this post, but it was a project that was so much fun to do!

And gave me a HUGE backache too T__T

Farewell 2009.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Well here it is, my last blog post of the year.

Christmas is over, resolutions have been made and it's time to hail in the new year. What better way to do that than with a spanking new blog layout?

2009 has taught me so many things...

• To have faith because wishes do come true... sometimes;
• Your life can change forever for good or bad in just a few seconds based on one single decision, a decision you may celebrate, or regret;
• Love is hard and messy and maybe I'll wait;
• There's always a first time, again, good or bad;
• I don't have to do my best and things will still be alright;
• Making new friends can be so worth it;
• Being nice pays off;
• I can be so committed and go to the ends of the earth when I want something;
• I'm selfish and jealous, please understand that it's just my nature;
• Good and bad things happen when you least expect them to;
• Not everything goes your way and you just have to accept it and know when to let go, regrets are useless;
• Being a powerless bystander in your own life and seeing, knowing, that somebody else calls the shots, sucks plain and simple;
• Friendships should always be treasured;
• If you see an opportunity, take it and think later, because chances go by so so fast;
• I like wanting what I can't have, even if I'm too scared to follow through when the time comes;
• I'm growing up fast and leaving childhood behind and maybe, just maybe, I'm ready for the transition. I may even be looking forward to the future and a change of view. Maybe I have changed. Or maybe I've just peeled away the outer layers to reveal what's been inside all along.

Okay, I'm sure there's more but I can't be arsed to crack my head and think.

2009 has been a good year, and a bad year. One that passed way too fast. Lost chances and broken friendships, sacrifices, secrets, regret and tears, mixed with forbidden love, newfound and rediscovered friends, hobbies and passions found, and a lot of great times along the way.

So many unexpected things came knocking, and I had some of the best, and worst times of my life. To say it was a pivotal and defining year would be an understatement. It was... an adventure. I think, in the end, I finally let myself be me. I'm finally free.

When the clock strikes 12 tonight, watch the fireworks in the sky and the year will be over. Say your last goodbyes to 2009. It'll be a whole new year. Square your shoulders and face it head on. Decide that it will be a good year, better than the last.

2010. What do you have in store for me? Who will I meet? Who will I gain, and who will I lose? What will I do? What challenges will I face? What decisions will I have to make? Will there be more laughs, or more tears?

Only time will tell. Life is tough, but I think I'm tougher. Bring it on, 2010 (I think?).

KOTD: Leather and lace.

Another Konadicure for all the pink-hating readers of my blog! I think after this I've really earned my right to do pink Konadicures for ever and ever!!

Kidding! Maybe.

I'm a bit clumsy with my left hand so I ended up smudging the black Konad print a bit when I applied the topcoat :(

I absolutely love this Konadicure! Some Konadicures you just know while you're doing them that you'll like them, and others... ugh. The idea and reality turn out totally different.

I did it during the daytime (I usually do Konadicures at night) so I was able to take step-by-step photos of the different stages of my Konadicure. All step-by-step photos are before I cleaned up my nails so you can see the mess I make ^^

Step 1: Elianto Nail Color #33 as a base to cover up my discoloured nails and instead give it a natural peachy pink glow.

Step 2: Skin Food BR610 Coffee Jelly for the french tips with reinforcement rings... still looking very plain though.

Step 3: Next comes the Konad design. Elianto nail color #40 Twilight Zone (which Konads very vividly btw!) using a design from image plate M57.

Step 4: Last but not least, added tiny silver dots along the line of the french tip using a toothpick for a more glam look.

Step 5: Face Shop top coat as a finishing touch and then cleaned away all the excess.

Initially wanted to name it Bollywood Romance with Yawen in mind, but then decided against it because it's not really a good description of the Konadicure after all.

My inspirations for this Konadicure are these two Konadicures and nail art done by Konaddict and Preposterously's Nail Blog respectively.

Happy Konad-ing, peeps!


P/S: Super abusing the "small" font size in this post, lolol! Just bear with me :D

My Christmas 2009.

Christmas was 3 days ago so I admit I'm a bit slow posting this, but what to do? Editing photos takes time.

If you're at all interested, here's what I did on Christmas day.

Got up at 6.30 am! D: Just so I could shower, blow my hair, iron my clothes, put on my makeup, blog, etc. I am freaking hardworking can! Lolol.

Then left for Bukit Mertajam across the Penang bridge with my mom, dad, sister, Ava and uncle at 10 pm for the baptism. The ceremony in the church started around 11 am.

Inside the same church where my sister got married in March. Wth time flies! T__T

My sister and baby Ava in a sea of white-clad babies all waiting to be baptised.

Christening and pouring of the Holy water. Those are Ava's Godparents looking on.

I love this photo cause I look so unaware and carefree. And also cause everybody else is out-of-focus, very DSLR-ish. When DSLRs get smaller and come in pink, sign me up! :D

Don't ask.

My uncle, aunty Rani and Ava.

My sister with Ava and her Godparents, Olivia and Kok Beng.

Aunty Patsy (Anek Joe's mother), somebody (??), sister Claire and brother Patrick. And Ava.

My family plus my uncle. My hair looks so big cause of my errant rushed blow drying D:

My sister and Ava with my uncle's family, my aunt and two eight and five year old cousins, Lilian and Vivian. (Omg since when are they not six and three?!) And poor Patrick! Somebody left him behind there :S

After the baptism, we went to Aunty Patsy's house for Christmas lunch.

This is their Christmas tree.

The decorations were complete with a nativity of baby Jesus in the manger... Wahlao.

Baby Ava's baptism cake which was part of my sister's wedding cake from 9 months ago (omg!). "On your Christening Day, Ava Jade".

Cutting the cake and Ava giving her signature dudu face T__T One day when she's older she's gonna look back at these photos and regret making all those dudu faces!

Ohmagawd, okay okay. Behold, the most beautiful thing you will ever see! The Barbie doll shrine!! Worship yee, before the throne of Barbie!

OMG! *drools* Claire, although handicapped, works at the Mattel factory making toys. She managed to tell me through some sign language that there are 32 Barbies altogether in the cupboard!! :O:O I WANTS CAN I HAS???

After lunch, we made the one and a half hour trip to Alor Star for the wedding dinner that night.

Last December in Kedah, I ate the awesome ais kacang at the super old hawker stall. This time, I ate it again! (The bowl changed from blue to pink, lol!) I cannot look at the photo without drooling. So good!

Was too busy eating during the dinner to take any photos :P The wedding dinner was a very typical kua zhang Chinese 7 course dinner. And the old uncles singing Chinese karaoke (one guy even did a Michael Jackson dance) and drinking lots and lots of Tiger beer.

The type of dinner where everybody commences afterwards to a.) karaoke somemore b.) drink even more beer or c.) gamble. And everybody gossips about all the relatives on the drive home.

Something I've come to realize is that wedding events are only fun when you're part of the bride or groom's immediate family. Other than that, pah! Boring!

Oi fatty sister, faster get married! I can't wait to be a bridesmaid again, mad fun! And pink dresses please. Plus minimum 6 months notice kthxbai.

Only got back home at 11.45 pm, according to the time this picture was taken D:

After being up for 17 hours on just 4 hours of sleep, can still look so bright-eyed and bushy tailed riding the lift up to my condo. It was still no match to my sister's wedding day where I went 18 hours on 2 hours of sleep. But as I can remember, I was still very bright eyed and busy tailed by midnight ;)

Definitely my most eventful Christmas to date! Hope all of you had nice Christmases too :)

KOTD: Kristmas Konadicure #2

Did a very glittery and blinged-up festive Konadicure for my second set of Christmas nails which I absolutely love! Say hello to a barrage of 16 nail photos :D

Santa's Sparkly Helper

6 nail polishes altogether went into making this Konadicure. I kind of want it to last till New Year's but you know, out with the old and in with the new. I'll be removing it with a heavy heart.

Elianto Nail Color #33 Peach for the base (which was a bitch to apply! Had to repaint some of my nails up to 5 times).

Elianto Nail Color #40 Twilight Zone...

...for the Konad m57 image plate design.

The Face Shop Nail Color GL112 under...

...RD304 with the help of reinforcement rings for the tips.

Used both The Face Shop Nail Top Coat and...

...and Nail Color BK902 as top coats.

My inspiration was this gemstone and sticker manicure by Preposterously's Nail Blog, but I decided to take it one step further.

Happy Konad-ing and happy holidays! :)