Tanglin Mall Xmas

Spent some time taking post-dinner gratuitous photos at Tanglin Mall. Even PS and black dress couldn't save me from looking flabby from too many sumptuous meals. Ok, enough about me and my poor weigh management skills. I salute Tanglin Mall for the superb job they did with the decor. They have decided to go green with the decor this year. Kudos to the management!

Although I doubt that they specially went to source for the recycled materials, it was a creative attempt at using everyday objects for a project like this, saving a few trees from becoming contractor plywood.

For example, the roof of this gingerbread house is styrofoam plates.

The precious convertible has Pepsi cans for wheels, aluminium foil for its bumper, newspaper mache mudguard, bonnet overlaying styrofoam (which of cos is still not that eco-friendly). And whoppee...I get to be car model!!!!

This watch tower is impressive. It has egg trays for walls, giving it a cyber high-tech feel. And Jasmine's 2-tone pumps from foxtrot are yummy! haha maybe becos I had something to do with it.

And this is the bestest xmas tree ever.

MIL from hell

I have to pay homage to the MIL. It was her birthday. Actually she chose xmas as her birthday becos they had lost records of when she was born. If I were her, I wouldn't. One less occasion to celebrate, one less gift to receive and everyone forgets about her on xmas. Because of her, all my christmas-es have been miserable for the past decade. It was a relief that nothing eventful happened. In fact, afterwards, I told D that meeting her was like waiting for a time bomb to explode and he told me he was about to say that.

Her choice of dinner conversation was who and who got cancer and spent $xxxxxxx amount on treatment etc. Who and who was sick and where he got medical help. There were moments I thought she was gonna veer towards how unfilial we were compared to so-and-so's son and kick up a ruckus like last june when we last met. That was the day before my operation and she was unhappy that we didn't tell her about it. She started her litany about how I never regarded her as my MIL and threw me names. It got so bad I almost walked out on her. I never spoke with her since then.

Dinner lasted an eternity as I tried not to let my eyes glaze over. I nodded and agreed on everything she said, and obligatorily nibbled on a few choice pieces of food even though I was stuffed, all these to keep her happy. After that we had to solve her DVD player woes at her place. I warmed her sofa for 15min as I felt my brains crunching to a halt listening to her bleat on about how her DVD from Israel has "a choice of NINE LANGUAGES". I mean if you pay USD40 for a measly DVD, I would expect it to have like a thousand languages. Thankfully we managed to solve the problem and make a hasty escape. I cheerfully announced, "Goodbye, mother" and trotted off as quickly as my 4-inch heels could carry me.

I suppose I wouldn't win an prizes for daughter-in-law of the year awards. I think perhaps she would raise both hands in animated agreement. But well, she's not perfect either.

Christmas Eve

I made some time for merrymaking this Xmas at our very own D & D. Vivienne and I both turned up in hot pink! We decided to stick together as the Pink Ladies.

This is Waiwai, a multi-talented lady who paints. She is like the next Martha Steward. I had a wild time at her annual party held at her cosy place complete with a real pine tree, crockery in xmas colours, nuts, a WHOLE table of desserts on top of a 10 course buffet!

And this is me with another SQ girl. The rest are already ex-SQ. You may have noticed I finally plucked up the courage to wear my fake hair. The hubby went..."er, are you sure or not?" when I strutted out with it. Too late for regrets. I was greatly relieved when some people couldn't tell it was fake. Someone asked me if I used curling tongs. Yay!! Others thought my hair grew (VROOMZ!) in the period they hadn't seen me. Hee...

Yup and that's me with someone else's baby. She had huge eyes and looked like a present wearing this pretty tartan red/green dress complete with velvet ribbon. And that's baby's hot mama besides me.

We made off with 60? balloons and had fun cam-whoring with them at Waiwai's place. How often do you get this big a bunch.

Avatar

I have been getting serious dark eye rings, and spare tyres around my middle. Also have been carefully cultivating a pimple plantation on my face thanks to Royce chocolate (too good to stop!) and late nights with big screens and small screens.

Yesterday was a midnight sojourn to Junction 8 to watch Avatar, the hottest James Cameron movie. It lives up to its name I must say. The concept was well thought out and there was quite a lot of attention to the finer details such as an alien language, alien plants and animals, floating mountains etc. It was a mish-mash of Pocohontas meets Eragon meets Matrix.

I didn't fancy the blue reptile skin the "natives" had, and the movie was inconsistent with the landscaping. If this was a different planet, how come some portions looked uncannily like tropical rainforests while others was filled with wonderful, awe-inspiring plants. The scientific gibberish they came up with to explain away this new technology also whizzed past my head.

Other than that, there were many moments of "WAH, so niceeee!" from my friend Angie. I also liked some of the cute plants and insects they had and how the ground lit up when stepped on. Furthermore, I must say the protagonist had spunk. She was all attitude, and it was cool. The plot was also refreshing and kept us guessing on how bows and arrows were gonna win the spaceships and helicopters.

I'd sum up with "this one must watch!"

Biscuit Teacher

I have been a certified couch potato recently, totally obsessed with this Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy korean drama series. Late nights ensued and I found myself stuck to the telly till 4am sometimes, unable to stop. Nothing much got done this week. All my spare time was spent with my best friend, Mr TV.  Having never been a fan of Korean drama, I was surprised to find myself being so devoted. In my defense, I didn't buy the DVD. The hubby did, thinking it was just a movie. (yeah, some finger-pointing here). Btw, I highly recommend 200 Pounds Beauty; it's a bag of laughs. Or even The Scandal Makers, featuring a curly-haired little imp.

This story is about a teacher who returns to her former school because of the art teacher whom she has a crush on. They almost got married but she finds herself falling in love with her student, who happens to be the nephew of this art teacher. The plot was a bit far-stretched in the sense that there were so many unbelievable obstacles to overcome. Plus the students don't seem to have to study. I wasn't impressed with the choice of lead actress Kong Hyo -jin. (Aiyo, I can never remember how to spell these Korean names!). Kong was not exactly eye candy and drifted through the show with knitted brows. Her insipidness is totally irritating! You wanna slap her character and ask her to wake up her idea.

Since in Hollywood movies, all men are tough cookies, and even in Asian films, men shed blood and not tears, it was refreshing to see Korean men weeping openly, although it did get a bit too emo at times. I watched Gong Yoo in Coffee Prince but he didn't make much of an impression then. In this series, he was so charming in his role as a pre-U student wooing his teacher. He had such cute puppy eyes and the messy crop of hair that makes you wanna run your fingers through! Totally adorable! It was kinda a stretch watching him play a 19 year-old though. I mean, just look at that physique. Which teenager looks like that?! At that age, we were plagued with pimples and most boys were scrawny and awkward. I just finished the ending an hour ago. It wasn't much of an ending, which was very disappointing.  Why couldn't they just walk off into the sunset? But anyway, for me, phew...life can go on again.

Installation Art

Cool installation art at River Walk near Boat Quay... melted plastic. Probably the artist's take on the current climate crisis. I liked the ipod one best. It makes a stronger statement when an icon of today's information age melts down. You probably wonder what the last pic is about. Me too! Haha, my lousy camera phone doesn't do a great night shot and I can't remember what in the world it was!

 I'm getting the Canon D500 soon, so look out for great pictures! It has been a hot seller, according to my friend in Canon, so much it's all out of stock till Tues. I think it's the HD video recording function, plus you can take stills while shooting. Can't wait for it to arrive...

Cute Kitty

If you haven't watched this video, you're missing a really cute kitty. I'm more of a dog person generally, but this lil kitty is so adorable it's almost unreal. Will definitely bring a smile to your face!