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Movies@Marymoor

    July 18

(1/10 of my personal blog challenge)

Together with our friends, BH and I went for movies at Marymoor park The movie that night was Hugo, which we had not watched

It was an interesting experience for us as it was our first time watching movie in such a setting

The admission fee was $5 each which I thought was expensive as it’s an old movie and it is in a outdoor setting :/ we also needed to pay $1 for parking at the park. However, it was nice way to enjoy the warm summer nights outdoors ( it turned chilly quite quickly as it gets darker) I see people bringing sleeping bags, thick blankets and even pillows! hahaha it feels like a slumber party

The movie was shown at dusk ( ard 8-9pm) There were no subtitles on the screening but the audio was quite good.. the audience were mostly considerate – only occasional barks or babies crying

Here’s a pic of us ( u can see Justin and Sofie in the background.. heh)

I thought Hugo was quite a nice show. I like movies with a whimsical feel + how the movie makes dreams comes alive. It’s the kind of show which will mk you feel good! haha.. well.. the guys think it’s just “horse horse tiger tiger” blah…

This is probably my last movie at Marymoor for the year :/

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Laggy

There’s a whole lot of things that I need to blog about

I am giving myself a 10 day blogging challenge

Stay tuned!

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

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First Camping trip!

    6-8 July

BH and I joined our friends on a short camping trip at Lake Wenatchee. It’s our first camping trip and I was feeling quite anxious. I am glad it worked out well.. Just in case u are wondering, there’s no weird animals …there are also proper showers and toilets… great experience!!! I so wanna go camping again!!! 😀

Beautiful view of the lake!

This trip.. I discovered smores!!! So delicious!

So, what makes a good camping trip?

Looking forward to the next trip!

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Fire alarm

*beep* “Battery low”

In every US apartment, there’s a fire/Co2/smoke alarm cum detector. Well, this is a safety feature which I hate to love.

I remember not very fondly.. one summer day in our Seattle apartment, way back in 2008. We were such noobs to the area and absolute noobs to staying together + cooking. We were green horns in every way! The point is BH and I were cooking using our oven and the fire alarm starting beeping. If you heard any of these beep before, you will know that the sound is a SERIES of loud urgent continuous beep which could make one’s heart beat really fast. Our food was alright, there’s no fire BUT the alarm keep beeping. The sound alone makes us panic – we were more concerned with ‘disturbing the neighbours’ than ‘burning the place down’

Anyhow, we located the alarm and meddled with all the buttons.. hoping to stop the irritating, ear-piercing sound – It just did not work! It only stopped when the maintenance man came to switch it off. By then a good 15 mins had passed. Phew! It was not a pleasant experience

We later learn that we could put a plastic bag over the detector so that it will not *beep* for no reason. Good idea.. it works! I personally found that ugly, so I decided to open all the windows when cooking… I was quite convinced that I won’t hear that irritating beep again……. but…..

3 years later… at this current apartment we are staying at… it came back! This time the alarm BEEPS + TALKS!!! As though beeping is not bad enough, this alarm talks too!! :O

I was cooking in the kitchen.. and I heard “Low battery” – It was creepy.. so I thought it could be one of BH’s gadget and ignored it. The next day, the alarm speaks again “Low battery” and I realised that it’s coming from the fire alarm! This time, I told BH to email the maintenance man to get him to settle the next day (today)

I think the fire alarm have a life of its own… it had to make its presence felt. At 6am, it beeps continuously in 15 sec interval “Low Battery” I tried to ignore it and go to sleep but I just can’t. I looked over to BH.. he was obviously awaken by the alarm .. that worm chooses to use his pillow to sandwich his head in between…. like it helps!!!

In the end, BH woke up and took the alarm down… the irritating and piercing “BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP” was louder than ever before! it was only 6.30am!!! OMG! Finally… he stopped the “beep” but not the “Low battery” sound.

Me: where did you put the alarm?
BH: I hide in under the cushions on the sofa
Me: SERIOUSLY?!! ( Did BH think that he’s Mr Bean?!!) Why don’t you remove the battery!!!

Now.. I was super irritated. I hate to be disturbed in my sleep.I got out of the bed and took the battery out – finally the alarm “rest in peace” or rather “rest in (a) piece” I was glad that I didn’t thrash it on the ground! After being awaken by the alarm… I can’t sleep :/

I guess it’s my turn “Beep! Battery Low”

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Meeting new people

I developed a new phobia – Meeting new people

I used to think that I am quite a social person who like to meet new friends. I enjoy talking and networking – on behalf of my quieter/more conservative husband. Things do change. I am not sure if it’s age or maybe I am just not as confident as I thought I was.

So, you know how the meeting people procedure goes…

First, you got to introduce yourself then your spouse
Next, talk about what you do… and here’s the problem or rather MY problem…

New friend: oo… you work for XXX company. What about you?
Me: I don’t work
New friend: I see

Here you get the odd pause or “…” response and the somewhat pitiful or sympathetic look ..That is when I second guess what he’s thinking “She’s such a lazy bummer who doesn’t work?!”

After repeats of 100000X of the above awkward situation, I feel sick to my stomach when I had to explain the painful and tormenting bond which is engulfing my soul and eating me up slowly. It is like a poison in my blood and pollutes my thoughts.

Leave the bond aside. What can I do without the bond? Sadly, NOTHING! My visa don’t allow me to work here! Unless…. some company is willing to sponsor me – who would?! I am not an IT professional! You know what? I will try.. nevertheless..

I always believe that work is not everything. BH is happy that I’m not working. I can’t avoid those condescending looks or weird conversations. Can I?

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Marble Cake

This had always been a cake on my to-do list!

Since I managed to get free eggs from Safeway, I decided to try out the recipe 🙂 Nothing excites me more than trying out a new recipe! Baking/Cooking is such a joy!

Anyway, this is my first time baking a marble cake so I was quite certain that it won’t turn out well.. hah.. I actually wasted like 4 eggs because the egg yolks broke and polluted the egg whites when I was separating them. From my experience, egg whites are very sensitive.. you need to be very careful and make sure that there’s no egg yolks – else it might not reach the desired stiff peaks. Anyhow… I still polluted my egg whites :/ sigh… my egg whites did reach stiff peaks BUT it’s a little watery ( I beat them with my KA mixer for 20mins) I was quite sure my cake won’t be good… however… i think I was kinda wrong?! haha.. it turned out quite well!

Pardon the holes! haha… i was testing if the cake is cooked or nt. I’m not using an oven with fan.. so I was afraid that the cake won’t be baked properly! phew… at the end of 45 mins.. the skewer was still unclean! i pressed on… baked for another 10mins…still not clean… try for another 10 mins… finally… DONE! That’s y there’s so many holes! I just wanna make sure! ( Total time taken: 65 mins) I might use 2 6″ pans for baking this cake in future

First peek~~~

wah… got swirling design ok!! 😀 Happy!! I thought that the most cake-citing part was the type of swirling design you will get.. haha

Lovely!!! Sliced all out and they all looked pretty!

well… I ate 2 pcs immediately… how do u think it tasted?? hahaha… now i feel that the time i spent running in the gym is wasted 🙁

A piece for you!

Old-Fashioned Marble Cake Recipe
(from Thelittleteochew via Life is Great)

– 8 large eggs, separated
– 9 ozs (255g) castor sugar
– 12 ozs (340g) unsalted butter, softened
– 9 ozs (255g) all purpose flour
– 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
– 1 1/2 tsps pure vanilla extract
– 2 tbsps good quality cocoa powder
– 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven at 160°C (convection fan on) with a wire rack in the middle. Line an 8-inch round cake tin with parchment, butter and flour. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment till light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar till light. Gradually add this into the butter and beat on medium speed till just incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form. With a spatula, fold in the meringue into the egg yolk mixture in 3-4 batches*. Add in the dry ingredients gradually until just incorporated.
* The first time I added the egg whites, it was impossible to fold. What I did was just mix it up with the thick yolk batter and “loosen up” the batter. The subsequent batches were much easier. I folded the whites in 3 batches.

3. Scoop out 1/4* of the batter in a separate bowl. Sieve cocoa powder over it and fold to mix well. Pour batters into tin, alternating between the two mixtures. Start with the yellow batter and end with the cocoa mixture. Rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. With a long skewer, swirl (sparingly) around the batter to create the marble effect. Bake for 40-55 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
* This is somewhat arbitrary. A little more won’t hurt, especially if you want a bit more chocolate in your cake! 🙂

4. Cool on wire rack completely before serving. Cake keeps at room temperature up to 3 days and can be frozen up to 3 months.

Try it! 🙂

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The many firsts~~

It’s amazing that we are still experiencing many first times though we are here for more than 3 years 🙂

Our first picnic

Our first road trip with friends to Portland over Memorial Day weekend

Our first baby’s birthday party

I’m feel so blessed~~

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Prada Outlet (Space)

20 April 2012

I am not into Prada .. but I don’t mind MiuMiu 😀

Since we are in Florence, we decided to visit the outlet. I didn’t do any research on the bags/wallets before the trip.. so I was not sure how cheap/expensive things were…

We only had like 1 hour to shop because we needed to get back to Florence for our train to Rome , departing at 1pm. It was a very short trip – we kinda speed shopped. Not a good idea :/

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BH and I took public transport to space outlet (train then share cab) Once you reach Montevarchi station, you will see a no. of people running towards the taxi stand – all going to the same place. Sharing a cab to the outlet cost 3euros/person while taking a cab entirely to yourselves cost 12euros

We left Florence at 9am and reached the outlet at 10am. The outlet only opens at 10.30am ( we went on Friday morning) BUT there was already a line. Do take a number ( we were top 30) as you will need it when you pay at the cashier

Maybe we were the earlybirds – I personally feel that the selection of items were WOW!! There were many items which were still selling in US stores and it is in this outlet already! Amazing! the prices of some items were more than 50% cheaper than US price ( after 12.5% tax refund)!

There were also a huge selection of MiuMiu accessories like wallets, card holders. However, there were only a handful of MiuMiu bags – Grab them fast!

Some items I bought – styles are still on the US website!

1) Prada Shopping Tessuto (This bag is commonly seen in Singapore! I only saw this colour and there was only 1 pc left… so I grabbed!!! you shld have seen how ‘jealous’ the other ladies were when they saw that I found this GOLD)

There’s no defects on this bag.. I think it’s just an off season colour!
Price tag: 550 euros
Price paid: 440 euros
After tax refund: 388 euros = US$496 (see how much i saved!!)

2) Miu Miu Bauletto Vitello

This bag have some minor scratches BUT I am cool with it. I got it and it’s my first MiuMiu bag!
Price tag: 370 euros
Price paid: 296 euros
After tax refund: 260 euros = US$334 (Look at the difference in the cost on the website!)

3) Prada Nappa wallet

This buy is probably my BIGGEST regret.. The wallet looks perfect outside BUT inside it has some glue stains which had been removed, leaving a stain 🙁 It’s not obvious unless i point it out to you.. would love a more perfect wallet though. It also didn’t come with the authenticity card ( I know it’s authentic BUT no proof) This is an example of a type 4 defect by the way

Price tag: 215 euros
Price paid: 150 euros
After tax refund: 132 euros = US$169

The men section was also packed with great deals! wallets and belts are much cheaper than boutique price!

The wallet BH bought –

Price tag: 140 euros
Price paid: 140 euros ( no additional discount)
After tax refund: 123 euros = US$158

BH also bought a belt which cost 60 Euros

Our loots –

I love the MiuMiu passport holder which I found in the outlet (68 Euros) to match with my MiuMiu wallet 🙂

[IMPORTANT]
1) Some bags/wallets come with some minor defects/scratches. They will be priced differently – this means the REAL price could be lesser than the price on the price tag. The no. on the price tag will indicate if the item is on additional discount or not. The no. range from 3 -5. ‘5’ being the worst. The SAs are more than willing to point out the defects to you.

2) After you decide on the items, the SA will hold it at the counter for you – That’s when the no. which you took earlier comes to use. Rem your no. else you may create a lot of confusion when you pay!

3) If you are rushing off to the train station, do get the cab company’s no. to call a cab! We were panicking when we didn’t see any cab in sight after we shopped. Fortunately, a cab came in the last minute – else we would have missed the trains

All in all, it’s a great place to shop if you are into Prada + MiuMiu! Would love to go again! 😀

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BUONGIORNO Roma + Chanel PST reveal!

Every city we go to there’s a story 🙂

Rome April 20-23

It’s unbelievable that we were FINALLY in ROME! I looked at my surrounding.. breathe in the air (not very fresh.. alot of smokers)… and can’t help but to give a little ‘scream’ inside me… wah… I have been waiting to come here for soooo long… and finally… not in June or December.. we are here! I must have said this countless times but it’s such a blessing!

We stayed at this Airbnb It was a modern apartment with great furnishing! wished that was our home! ( The place was generally nice and clean. However, i found the comforter dirty as I saw blood stains on it! )

Believe or not.. BUT the first place we went in ROME was CHANEL – The SA in Paris checked that the bag I wanted is in ROME! wah.. and I can’t reserve it :/ We put down our belongings in the apartment and ‘chiong’ to Chanel. Chanel is sooo crowded… OMG.. u got to wait for someone to serve you…. As I was waiting, i saw another lady who came into the store with the picture of the very bag I wanted. I panicked! BH too! haha.. so BH approached a SA and told her firmly that we had waited for a very long time and was still not helped ( This was one the rare times that BH is not passive! haha) Yayness… we were served shortly… and the lady.. who saw that we were both asking for the same bag panicked! haha… fortunately the store had 2!!! It was ‘hidden’ at the back and not displayed in store!!! Love love!

I bought it immediately!!! Finally putting my hard saved money into something i really wanted! Happy girl!!! 😀 I finally acquired what I pined for w/o burning/perishing

Reveal~~

Petite Shopping Tote (PST)

For records –
Cost: 1300 euros OR US$1712.04 (as reflected on credit card)
Tax refund in cash: US$219
Total cost in USD: US$1493.04
Cost of buying in US: US$2000
Amt saved: US$506.96+tax!! (25% cheaper)

PS: My WOC which BH bought cost US$1595+tax .. look at how much I saved for a bigger bag! That’s why the PST is HOT! AND it is going to be discontinued soon… BUY IT IF YOU CAN! Btw.. my WOC had increased price by US$100!! By the time PST becomes extinct…. I will be holding an antique!! 😀

Enough Chanel talk… heh… other placed we visited..


Very crowded.. we didn’t get to sit on these steps

well.. I rem watching a movie, When in Rome and I told myself that I must go there and mk a wish at the Trevi Fountain! I’m so glad.. I have the chance to.. haha… and my wish is….. *not telling you*


Very crowded too! we were lucky that this man volunteered to take this picture for us 🙂 Don’t u love helpful strangers?

Next.. Vatican City! Do you know that VC is a independent country?! It has its own guards + postal service + radio station!

Everyone was taking water was the fountain.. so we assumed that it was Holy water? haha… BH was coming down with a running nose – I could have spread it to him.. so I told him to drink the Holy water… and guess what?!! The running nose went away! Amazing!

ok.. we can’t take pictures at Sistine Chapel BUT it was a TRUE highlight.. luckily we got Rick’s book from our host – it was a 2001 guide BUT it explained the paintings! Sistine Chapel is a HUGE WOW! DO BUY YOUR TICKETS ONLINE IN ADVANCED 38 euros for 2 person – the line to buy tickets is extremely LONG! we are glad that we can skip the queuing and go straight to security checks then enter the museum


It was another huge WOW for me! It’s hard to believe that we are looking/standing on such a famous historical landmark!


Roman forum was kinda boring… maybe I’ve got overload of roman stuff… geez… even Rick’s guide can’t excite me.. haha

For the Colosseum + Forum, 2 day admission fee $11euros/person. Opens from 9am-7pm


We got to see this parade!! How cool to see gladiators marching towards the Colosseum.. even cooler that I managed to take a pic with one! hahaha

last but not least…

Overall… It was a great vacation!!! Oh… tax refund in Rome airport T5 was extra easy for me ( no long lines + the lady at the customs was only interested to look at my Chanel.. haha) I mean.. I read many horror stories about how long the lines are and how people nearly miss their flights.. I guess… flights in T5 are US-bound + fewer asians.. so.. the refund was very fast and easy – make me so kanchiong go airport early.. haha..

Alina + Jo picked us up from the airport!! It was so nice to see both of them after 2 weeks!!! It was already late at night and Jo made Salted duck soup for us!!! ooo… such a sweet gesture… we were very touched… It’s great to have friends like them 🙂

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Ciao Venezia + Firenze + Pisa! (April 16 – 20)

Venice ( 16 – 18 April)

The closest BH and I ever got to Venice was The Venetian at Las Vegas and Macau.. haha.. I clearly rem that the skies at The Venetian were clear blue – I thought that it was just the artists’ impression of the place. I was so wrong.. the real Venice is indeed v pretty! The skies are blue and every picture you take is nice!

From Paris, we took Easyjet to Marco polo Airport. We only reached at night, 8pm. We took the booked the Water Taxi on Viator to bring us to our hotel. It’s a pity that it’s late and dark, we didn’t take any pictures on the water taxi. In fact, when we reached Venice it was quiet .. like a ghost town

we checked into our hotel and rested early that night – I was still feeling horrible because of my cold :/

Our hotel is The Westin, Europa and Regina We paid US$100/night as we managed to claim our SPG points for it. We were hoping to get a free upgrade to a room facing the waters BUT we didn’t. We only got upgraded to a suite.. oh well.. better than nothing

The next day, we woke up bright and early… it was a beautiful day!

We had a hard time looking for food which is affordable. I mean.. Venice is VERY touristy and it’s an island! Price of food/drink is high! We walked around and settled for food at a cafe (where there’s a lot of locals) Order your food BUT DON’T find a place to SIT The price of coffee when u sit and stand is different! We paid 2X more coz we sat. eeks!

So Venice is about walking around and getting lost… a map doesn’t help much

We spent the day walking around and chilling out at a cafe when we are tired.. it was really relaxing.. nah.. we didn’t take a gondola ride as it was kinda ex

We only spent a short time in Venice… after about 2 days, we left for Florence via Train. You can reach Venice train station easily by taking the Water bus ( it’s the last stop) and a stone throw away from the pier (literally)

Oh yes.. our FREE mask from the hotel

How scary! Got it free because the hotel forgot to give us a welcome gift as SPG members. In the end, we got the extra points + the mask! Yes, it’s so bulky but we lagged it back home in 1 piece

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Florence (18-20 April)

This is the 1st time we are taking the train in italy. There’s no need to go thru’ security checks or check in your luggage. It was really ez and convenient + the trains are v punctual and well maintained

After a few games of Hangman with BH – we reached Florence

We stayed at an Airbnb apartment This place is super cool and nice! Love the kitchen! Just that the climb up the flight of stairs (6 floors!) with luggage is a HUGE turn-off!

I personally feel that Florence was a little boring.. the weather was really wet too.. and it makes travelling v sianz..

Below shows the 3 BEST things in Florence (in my opinion)

Beautiful view of Florence.. it was a HUGE wow~~~~ The journey to this place was painful and tedious… we took a bus and it took v long… the traffic is extremely bad. We were really lucky because the rain stopped for the 30-45mins when we were there 🙂

Trattoria il Contadino is the BEST place we have eaten at! The price is affordable and the food is good! This restaurant does not have a fixed menu, the menu changes everyday! The server will tell you what they are serving for the day and you choose 3 courses + drink for $12euros! (Yes, the server repeats the menu to EVERYBODY) We ate here 2X. Thanks to our host who told us about this place! I only found out much later that this place was highly rave about on tripadvsior. We have our dinner around 6pm – it was still empty… The line gets super long when its around 7!

Space is the Prada + Mui Mui outlet! How can I miss that! haha.. I am not the only one who shopped, BH also bought wallet and belt. I am truly blessed to have a husband who likes shopping! well.. we reached Space at 10am, the place opens at 10.30am! Our no. is 23 and 24. You need to take numbers to go into the outlet for payment purposes. Read more about Space outlet here 😀

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Pisa ( 19 April)

We used Florence as a base to make a Day Trip to Pisa.

The weather was really bad – it was drizzling… we didn’t go up to the tower :/ Pisa pretty much have nothing besides the leaning tower… we snapped a few pics and headed back…

At some angles, the tower don’t look slanted.. haha..

ok.. next (and last stop) ROMA!