Nuffnang!

Finally… after so many years… I have the option to cash out!!! Like seriously!! πŸ˜€ Thank you all who quietly visit my blog/click my ads… it means alot!!

Shall cash out BEFORE I go back to SG for vacation next yr!

Disneyworld – Day 3 Animal Kingdom

I think this park is the most boring of all. Well.. it has alot of animals (duh!) and it doesn’t have the ‘magical’ feel which I like. haha.. this park also closes the earliest

17 Nov

Ok.. so BH wasn’t feeling well.. i think probably indigestion? We had a very short and unexciting day here. Hmm.. photos are limited too as we used the lomocam

Luckily, BH was feeling under the weather.. I was spared from taking ‘Expedition Everest’Β Β  Phew! The parade in this park is also “meh…”

The most exciting was a ride through the safari… wow! the animals are real and they are super close to u! good experience! It’s like we are suddenly in Africa!

 

That’s all…. our Day 4 is really awesome though! Stay tuned!

Lumia920

New WINDOWS PHONE!

Lumia920 was out at AT&T on 9 Nov. I have no idea why.. but BH decided to get his phone on the first day. I went along with him.. just for the fun of it… and.. to our surprise….. there’s a LONG line ( everyone wanted the Lumia.. I was embarrassed to tell the sales person I wanted the Note!)!! we lined up for 2.5 hours and finally got the phones! yay!!! His is RED, mine is WHITE. Such a Singapore colour right? hahaha

Initially, I wanted the Galaxy Note 2 ( which was also released the same day at AT&T) However, they only had gray πŸ™ and after playing with the phone, Andriod just felt difficult to use. At that time, there was only 1 Note left.. ah… dilemma…hard decision…BUT I decided to stay with Windows Phone πŸ™‚

Avocado House Party!

I was thrilled that I got selected for Avocados House Party! πŸ˜€ I applied for other House Parties previously but didn’t get selected. Lucky me!! I was 1 of the 1500 lucky hosts!

This House Party comes with 15 shopping totes + $15 gift card for the host. It was a great experience for me and also one of the greatest reward as a couponer! Above all, this party would not have gone smoothly w/o Jo’s help (in cooking and preparing) and Dave&Jo generosity for allowing me to host at their house! Thank u!!

For food, we have….

Hawaiian Baked Rice

Recipe from Noobcook This is a good recipe for parties..and it taste so good + very filling too! We made 2 batches (white rice on one tray, brown rice on the other) – everyone loved the brown rice version, even when they don’t like brown rice!

Avocado pop tarts!

Recipe from Scarlettabakes. This is Jo’s idea! OMG… it taste sooo good…

Interior of Avo pop tart
It does not taste like avocado at all.. and looks like Kaya!!! we omitted the lime glaze.. and it still taste good!

Tacos!

How can Avocado Party not have tacos?! Recipe from Guilty Kitchen

A pic of all of us enjoying the party! Thank you House Party and Avocados From Mexico

1st canvas painting!

A while back, I bought discounted vouchers at Costco for painting classes held at Palettes and Pairings I was looking forward to my first canvas painting! Imagine hanging your masterpiece at home!!??

Finally, found a nice painting I’m interested in and signed up for it πŸ™‚ The best thing is.. YS and Jo joined in for the class too! It was fun to paint together.. hahaha.. The voucher includes painting materials + a drink and light snacks. It was quite worth it – can’t think of a better way to spent Saturday night!

Yes… my oversized space needle.. Bh thinks that it looks like a UFO invading Seattle. hahaha… There’s always a first time right?

It’s only a small painting but it’s quite tiring to focus and paint. Now I can imagine how Michelangelo felt when he painted Sistine Chapel’s ceiling?!!

I was abit disappointed that the instructor did not teach us any painting technique – she just told us what colours to mix and paint on the canvas :/ hmmm.. well.. she did teach us how to draw the space needle/ferris wheel but it would be good if she provided some tips on merging the paints

Then again, I will go again (hope for a better instructor) as i think it’s therapeutic to paint.. love it when I see the final product! πŸ˜€ It’s also a good activity to do together with your date/girlfriends! In the mean time… Let me enjoy my masterpiece..hehe

My 20 seconds of courage

I love such nights when we put away technology and enjoy each other’s company. It’s rare but I treasure these moments πŸ™‚ This time we watched “We bought a Zoo” on HBO. This is an inspirational true story about a UK family who actually bought a zoo! It’s sounds so ridiculous BUT they really did! WOW! How brave!

My favorite quote from the movie β€œAll you need is 20 seconds of insane courage and I promise you something great will come of it.” What’s your 20 seconds of courage?

For me..

20 seconds of courage to tender my resignation and break my bond

20 seconds of courage to decide to drive in WA

20 seconds of courage to take a roller coaster

…and lots more…

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And I just passed my driving knowledge test last sat! Now… my practical driving test is 6 weeks from now… shiver!! I can do it!!

Meeting Mr Brown

How now brown cow?

It was amazing to see a popular Singapore blogger in Seattle! It felt like I finally met an online friend! πŸ™‚ Mr Brown’s presentation was nothing about having kids, HDB, CPF, PAP.. it was more of a personal introduction to him as a blogger and also an intimate insight of his humble family and life. After or rather during his presentation, I admire him even more! I am very impressed with how a very normal Singaporean could do what he love and excel in it! I believe that he is not earning alot.. and he have 3 kids!!! out of the 3 kids, 1 of them is autistic! Yet, he still follow his dreams.. and now.. everybody know who he is!

My favorite part of the presentation was the podcast of his wife’s “I Am Singaporean” message. It was very touching – “Behind every great/successful man there stands a woman” How true!

After the presentation, it was Q&A. Mr Brown was really frank in all his answers. However, BH felt that a question (along this line) “How do u cope with a Autistic child?” could be planted. Mr Brown answered and told us the importance of family support, which obviously.. most of the overseas Singaporeans do not have. Still, I think that the presentation and Q&A was sincere and it does not sound/feel like a script.

I would say that Mr Brown’s presentation is a “silent weapon” – he did not directly tell us about Singapore BUT used his own experiences/life to make us think of home. This is an intelligent way to plant the seed ( of where u truly belong) in every Singaporean’s head! 1 word.. POWERFUL.

For once, after so many years… I miss home πŸ™ It’s a successful presentation , Mr Brown!

—–
His presentation made me feel empowered and inspired! I shall not wallow in self-pity.. I want to take control! I had decided to take the first step to acquiring my WA driving license. I also applied to be a volunteer at a local children’s hospital. To be updated πŸ™‚

Mr Brown is coming to Seattle!

Say “WOW!”

Every year, the Overseas Singaporean Unit will organize speakers to talk to Singaporeans. Well.. the usual speech is about going back to SG to work/live etc..sad to say, BH and I NEVER attended any of these talks before. The past speakers were not people we know.. and we are not interested to hear about how good Singapore is .. or how we need to have babies to increase the population.. blah…

This year is different! we found ourselves+our friends looking forward to this event as it’s not any Tom, Dick or Harry… it’s MR BROWN!!! hahaha… If there’s 1 blog which keep us updated on news in SG.. it is Mr Brown’s πŸ™‚

we signed up for this event several weeks ago.. and the event is finally happening this Saturday!! How exciting!!! I hope to have a picture taken with Mr Brown! hahaha.. let’s see how this go…Shall update more ~~

Going Pumpkins~~

It’s been a long time since BH & I did a project together.. so I took advantage of a livingsocial deal and bought us to a Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze

I was looking forward to the trip as I have NEVER been to a Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze!Β  Bailey Vegetables is located about 30mins away from our place. We set off bright and early.. and arrived about 11am. It was a beautiful place! The weather was good! Of course, we were greeted by a whole lot of pumpkins!

I was very excited to see the pumpkins growing on the ground (duh!).. haha.. I guess I have never seen pumpkins in their ‘true habitat’ before :X The voucher we purchased gives us a bag of kettle corn (aka popcorn) and a medium pumpkin

Waiting for the wagon to bring us to the corn maze..

The corn maze was quite scary… no.. there’s no map… and the plants are so tall that u can’t see the end of the maze.. haha.. every corner we turn, I hope we could get out…i was really afraid that we will gt lost… fortunately, it’s a small maze – we only took 10 mins to find the exit πŸ™‚

Us at the corn maze!

 

After which, we u-picked our own pumpkins! How fun!! BE CAREFUL!! Use your feet to step on the pumpkin then break it from the stem – the stem is very sharp! So we picked 2 pumpkins and didn’t have to pay extra! wow!! The staff at Bailey’s is really kind πŸ™‚

Came home.. and did our pumpkin carving! Check it out here!

Really proud of our pumpkins! Extra proud of my Hello Kitty one!! πŸ™‚ It’s not ez to carve Hello Kitty – there are many small details which u need to be extremely careful with, else u will break the pumpkin!!! I was very tired trying to carve the kitty.. and wanted to give up…BUT BH helped me.. hehe…and we finished it before dinner time!! It’s a joint effort!!

I really like days like this when BH and I spend the day doing new things! It’s fun!! I wonder why I only started carving pumpkins this year! gosh… should have done it a long time ago!!! πŸ˜€

I am so gonna do this again!!!

Basic pumpkin carving for noobs!

Tools needed:
– Pumpkin carving knife ( can be purchased from any craft store)
– Thumbtack
– Plastic sheet/unwanted table cloth ( for the work area to prevent pumpkin juice/scraps from staining the floor)
-Print out of the stencil design
-Tape

Steps (view pictures below):

1) Angle your carving knife at 45 degrees and cut the top part of the pumpkin – you need to do it at this angle, if not the ‘cap’ might not fit the pumpkin snugly. Best to cut the ‘cap’ in a diamond shape, so that you will know how to place it back later.

2)Use a spoon to scrap out the flesh and seed inside the pumpkin. Scrap in upwards motion

3) The inside of the pumpkin should look very clean – The ‘web’ of the pumpkin might catch fire and burn if it has some remains in it. Wash and dry the pumpkin

4) After pumpkin is dried, use tape to paste design on the pumpkin

5) Use thumbtack to mark the design on the pumpkin – make sure the holes are close to each other so that the design is clear

6) Design on pumpkin!

7) Carving time! Start from the smallest part of the design first.

Enjoy!!!

P/S: I used battery operated tea candles as I placed the pumpkins indoors πŸ™‚