Italy - Lake Garda

My plane was a new Boeing 777/400! Love the pretty night 'sky' and the big screen. Plenty of leg room too!

Arriving in Italy...First stop the Franciacorta Outlet Village at Brescia, off Milan. Shopping here was not bad. You can find Iceberg, Fornarina, Guess, Calvin Klein and some other shops. Discounts at some select shops were wonderful, but most offered 30% off retail prices. No need to break the bank here.

Hippo posing on my Hotel Cadria balcony. We were in the Valle di Ledro, somewhere north of Lake Garda. Mountains and lakes everywhere. Spectacular landscape. It's really cold when the sun goes down though. The hotel is run by an old couple who can't speak English. They understand sign language very well though haha! The service here was great, especially breakfast. You can request for fried eggs or zuppa de verde (soup) in the morning! The Italian owner accedes to every request!

Driving around in the vicinity of Lago di Ledro. It's a small but scenic lake. You need to have a strong stomach to drive around here. Formula-One-worthy bends tests your driving skills.

Love my Made in Italy green boots, which incidentally was bought at the Brescia Outlet Village.

It's really warm but the glacier lake feels icy cold. Okay...I know privato means "private" and I trespassed. :P

Here we are at Riva del Garda, and here is Lake Garda, a HUGE lake that's a haven for windsurfers. The cool breezes never stop here, and the waves keep crashing onto the shore. It looked too scary to try windsurfing since the last time I took a course was about 10 years ago.

You'd have thought it was a sea except for the swans. I tasted the water...confirm it's not salty one. They seem to like me but they are scared of the hubby. Maybe they think I have food. I hope they don't think my fingers were little sticks of breadstick.  


It was the first time I saw a family of swans. And also the first I saw a swan getting violent. You always think they are these serene, graceful creatures floating around in a lake. Wait till a dog walks past. I got to see the parent swan becoming all aggressive, making loud noises and stretching its neck to look very tall and stiff.

When this photo was taken, I felt really self-conscious. We were the only asians there and all these elderly retirees were eyeing us, some curiously, some indulgently. Like we were some exotic species from the other side of the world.

In the town Malcasine. I like this town. It's so Italian! There's a castle on the hill here you can get married in! And they sell quaint antiques and a lot of leather bags. I got a Francesca Biasia at half price! Yay!!

My own little truck. It really looks like a gigantic toy. 

Cool respite under the shady leaves and foilage.

Mandarin ducks everywhere. My mom's favourite animals.

Here's my little pony. Remember those days where we had those My Little Pony toys? This looks exactly like one of them. She is soooo sweet!

Finally, we arrive at our destination at sunset. Made too many stops along the way. But anyhow, here's VERONA, the city of Romeo and Juliet. If you think about it, it's ironic that Shakespear is English and he has never visited this city. He only picked it because of its background of feuding families.

 Ok, here's another castle. And me with my new bag. Couldn't wait to use it!

And here's what Verona is all about...the Roman amphitheatre that actually works and not in ruins like in Rome. They're having Puccini's opera Turandot at the moment and I could hear strains of soaring melodies from outside. The locals say that watching a performance here is an unforgettable experience.

 This dear old man offered to sew my name for me free of charge! He was so nimble with his sewing machine it only took a minute. It was amazing to watch.

Interesting intricate paintings on the buildings in this piazza.

Back to Lago di Ledro...

Me going all hiao at Mezzolago.

They have a delicious pizzieria called Al Lago which is overrun with locals. My pasta was soooo very very tasty. Notice all the tiny colored flowers on it. I'm eating pretty flowers! Needless to say, all the Italian fare was not good on my waistline.

Went swimming in the lake. Actually, that was the intention. It looked fun when we saw all these families frolicking in the waters. Nah NOT fun at all...I dipped my toes into the icy water and chickened out instantly. I'm 100%  tropical.

We decided cam-whoring on a berth was a warmer activity.

Here we are, back at Al Lago for another tasty dinner.

Alas! I ordered the wrong thing. I wanted my delicious vegetarian flower paste initially. Btw, the menu is all Italian and German. It was a eenni-manni-minni-mo random food-ordering exercise.

At Ranch di Nero, trying to get a day of horseback riding in he mountains. It was unfortunately raining :(

Here's the consolation prize. A cute 2 month old puppy! No horse, but at least I got to hug a pup.

Cleavage Caddy

Came across this smart contraption selling at $29.95 called the Cleavage Caddy. It comes in a choice of white, black and beige with a little "lace accent to spruce up your cleavage"!

Quite useful when you need to be hands-free, like clubbing. I'm not so sure if the objects will make for a lumpy silhouette or if ladies will need a bigger bra to contain all the barang barang. If you keep cash in there, just don't get caught fishing for it...most people don't appreciate boob bank currency with a hint of eau de prespiration.

I wonder if it will be more of a "pull-down bra" as opposed to the widely-used "push-up" ones. Don't think I'm about to find out anytime soon.

Flash The World Day

Today was Flash The World Day. I rode everywhere on my scooter in a short tight white skirt. I tried to be discreet about it so that I wouldn't leave a trail of devastation in my wake LOL. Obviously a case of bad wardrobe management. I just had to match my new Mango top with that skirt, even though I needed to take the Vespa in peak hour traffic to go places in a hurry.

It was quite paradoxical. I looked absolutely demure in my off-white outfit of lace and ribbons with coiffed long hair and white slingbacks, with a cute leather bag. Riding was the last thing anyone would expect of me. Sigh...need to get another car just for me, in view of general road user safety.

Jessica

Watching this little girl in action is inspiring. Look at how much Jessica believes her speech with her whole heart and how enthusiastic she is! We ought to take a leaf out of her book and do the positive 'Jessica' motivational "affirmation talk".  Btw, she's now 13.

Another horror story

What is it with creepie crawlies and me??? Just a moment ago, I was serenely hanging out the laundry listening to Lee Hom's album. The next moment I was absolutely grossed out.

After hanging out the last piece of clothing, I noticed a small gluey-looking curved piece of bubble gum (or so I thought) at the bottom of the washing machine barrel. It looked really benign in the dark recesses of the barrel, so I tore a piece of tissue paper and proceeded to pick it out.

In the daylight, I realized to my horror, that it was a piece of DEAD LIZARD!!!! missing a tail, with the red innards showing. It felt stiff and unyielding in my fingers. Oh no....now all my laundry is tainted with lizard juice! Yuckity yucks!!!

Now, where has that tail gone?

My Mortal Enemy

I'm a roach magnet it seems. Since young, I have had various intimate contact with roaches. Once, I stepped on one bare-footed when I was 7. Another time when I was 15, showering, I felt a trickle of water moving upwards. Looking down, I saw a roach climbing up my leg. I screamed, stamped my foot, grabbed a towel and dashed out the bathroom under the curious gaze of my teenage neighbour just outside. Another time, I ran into a flying cockroach roaming my kitchen at night. Suddenly it disappeared, until I looked down at my chest and saw it making its ascent on my blouse. Thank God for Lycra...with a spring it bounced off while I ran to dad for help. So you see, I've never been particularly fond of roaches, however stimulating my adventures have been.

Have been having close encounters of the insect kind these 2 weeks. It started with an innocuous visit to a friend's place. I was about to push open the heavy wooden door when I caught a glimpse of a brown glint. Looking up, less than 10cm away from my face was a HUGE cockroach on the metal knocker. I fell back in horror before bravely making a dash through the door.

Last Friday, when I got into the car, I noticed a movement on the passenger side door. Two little roaches were doing a mating dance, too intoxicated to notice me. I scurried to look for something to brush them off as I contemplated the alternative of running off into the rain. Finally,  I found an alternative use for parking coupons as weapons, sending them off in a watery farewell.

While the hubby was away the last week, I had to keep running away from cockroaches along the pavement as Tiger took his night walks. One particular night, as I stepped into my lift lobby, I noticed a cockroach flirting with my neighbour's door handle. I sighed after I made a quick escape into the lift.

Late that night, as I was spectacle-less, a noticed a flitting on the floor. On closer examination, it was the very same cockroach!! I squirmed, squealed and ran for my Baygon spray, making a feeble attempt to kill it despite my myopic blurred vision. The damned insect made a dash for my bedroom, where my glasses were. Damn damn damn it!!

When I had plucked out enough courage to step into the room snatch my glasses, the insect was nowhere in sight. I paused, wondering what to do. I couldn't sleep with an intruder in the room...then I heard a rustling. The roach reared its ugly head on my vanity table, drunk with insecticide. I wondered if it was wise to douse my skincare with a layer of Baygon. And then it flitted off to the curtains beside it, climbing upwards. I thought quickly now, with my prior knowledge of roach psychology...if I aimed and sprayed, it's likely to charge towards me. Then like it heard my thoughts, it FLEW straight at me, causing me to squawk in terror, running like an idiot out of the room and slamming the door.

By now I was desperate. I contemplated waking my neighbours at an unearthly 3am to ask for expert exterminator help but changed my mind when I realized their baby wouldn't be too happy. I froze in absolute cowardice for 15min, then pacing back and forth while holding the roach hostage in my room. Finally, I armed myself with a broom and Baygon and opened the door, prodding lightly around. Nothing...nothing at all! Great, my company for the night was a cockroach!!

It was a good 4am by the time I bunkered down under the covers with my glasses on, Baygon and broomstick close at hand. Darned cockroach! Go to hell!!

Mango After Party

Got invitations to the Mango After Party. As I'm such a Mango fan (I've been consistently contributing to their coffers), I thought I should go take a look and look at their new collection. When I got there, there was a queue snaking all the way towards the carpark ramp already! Most of the guests were gals and some bfs/hubbies.

They got 6 gorgeous models to showcase their new clothes. As we gathered around the dancefloor, I noticed a couple of angmoh guys in the crowd couldn't take their eyes of some of the models. It was quite interesting watching them ogle the girls from head to toe and staring like there was no tomorrow. They were standing like statues with drinks in their hands and speechless. Yeah, I know I'm being nosy parker, but observing the male species' behaviour in the midst of gorgeous women is quite fascinating.

I like this jacket! Glamour!

It was a great night..cos I got the Chic Fashionista Award for the Best Dressed guest. I guess it must have been the hairband. They took me aside and took a Poloraid picture of me, writing down my details. Then about 11-ish, Sharon told me some lady was giving me the once-over, not unlike those lusty angmoh men. Turned out she was the judge who told me I was the winner. 

Anyway, here's my winning outfit - my definition of Simply Chic, theme for the night. Wasn't so sure about the hairband. It's pretty outstanding, and maybe too pink and too sweet-ish. If I were 10 years old, it would be perfect for me. But well, since I'm going pink, might as well go over the top. Yes, hot pink suede heels too!

Here's me posing with my treat for the night...$150 Mango vouchers! Not too bad for an evening...free drinks, free entry, free fashion show, free cocktail, free entertainment and free vouchers! I love freebies!

In case you're wondering about the hair looking different again, yes, it's me and my Vidal Sassoon crimpers at work. 

Alright...Mango here I come!!!