au revoir

ok, blogger is quite messed up with google. The last few posts i've been having to reset my password because my passwords are never right. 3 times' the charm. i'm going to change the email account i use (currently its a hotmail account working with gmail apparently, i dont know how it worked.) and start a fresh new blog.

i havent decided on a name for it yet, but if you're reading this and want to know, drop me a whatsapp/msn message.

bye bye, blog!

for grace

My dearest cousin demanded i give the 'low down' of my life on my blog... but isnt she supposed to be preparing for exams ah?

oops, did i just add stress to you cousin?

sorry la, just joking haha. i know you're very hard working and you need to take frequent breaks ya. and sleep at decent hours, dont let your mum worry.

Today i did my nails, removing the really awesome color i had before. But to have healthier unyellow nails, google tells me to wear my nail polishes for not more than 5 days in a row. And to give them a day or two's break between nail colors. But thanks to an xmas gift from last year, wedding gift from this year, and my own nail oil from Etude... and some enriched base coat from Faceshop, i actually dont have yellow nails. In fact, whenever i wear nail polishes for a period, i never get chipped nails as i would regularly if i dont wear any.

of course, the fact that i paint my nails means extra care goes to them in the first place.. haha

so today was my first attempt at one-stroke nail art on my nail. The last week i occasionally practiced abit on paper. Its quite hard to do, unlike what i see on youtube!! Maybe its the quality of my brushes, or my paints. My paints are definitely abit too watery ( its acrylic)so i got another set off ebay for a water-soluble one that i see a nail blogger use. Quite ok price, cant wait to try it.

Tada, my result!
i think i overkilled on the dots, but it was quite fun to use a dotting tool XD

Now here is most of my nail collection... not everything fits in there and not a good idea to stack those things too high.
Most of my nails colors, the special holographics are not there because they are that precious, plus i wanted to save space for the other colors. My 4 opi are not there either , hadnt painted them on yet!

very purple , i like.

Finally i've also been doing my crocheting, almost 15/21 sets of advent calendar gifts made. woot!

Also got round to finally pinning and painting fabric stiffener onto my giant snowflake. That is a pizza box it is on btw. Its my favourite snowflake so far, but it took quite long to do and pin!
k, thats it for now. Cousin, write me essay-length comments ya!

ouch :(

i'm almost done with the 20 potholders that mary ordered now! I just have one last piece to do a border for... then its ironing all of them flat wrapped in a damp towel. taking a break now because my hands are really aching :(

after i'm done with those, i have another 11 sets of items to make... i'm wondering what i should make now. My main idea currently is christmas themed coasters in sets of 6.... also considering tealight holders. Took out a ball of yarn from the stack i bought at Europris and realised now its size 3.5-4mm yarn... the last set of coasters i made was just 2.5. ARGh. i hope they wont be too big..... i'm running out of ideas that are suitable for xmas advent calendar gifts that are easy enough to make.

aside from that,i have a growing stash of yarn that i've been buying when they're on sale (like 50% off) and stashing them aside to make a growing list of things for myself. well depends really, i might end up selling the end results. gonna be selling a fair portion of my horde of hats though.

argh my hands hurt to type now even....

*grumble*

Random ramblings

so i have nothing better to take pics of than my cute cat in all sorts of weird situations... like sleeping over her daddy's leg, having her ears flipped when she's sleeping.. etc.

Today we took a bus out to Europris, an area with lots of small malls or big shops! So sad i'm not loaded with cash or else i'd be dragging my hubby all over. i went there for yarn mainly,because mary ordered a lot more stuff and its much much cheaper at Europris. I save about 5-20nkr per ball on average, and considering i bought almost 20 balls i saved quite abit. Plus they sell one of Alex's favourite chocolates there and other stuff quite cheaply.

Alex bought some bathroom accessories (soap pump and container) in purple X) scoring lots on perfect hubby points. We also bought some wrapping paper in laarge size because we have something large to wrap. Plus its soon xmas and i loooooveee wrapping. Hubby scored more points by suggesting we go to Burger King for dinner hehehe

So after a satisfying shop, we're now at home chilling out abit... i'm almost done with the white portions of the potholders.. all thats left is the red border X 20 and i will be done with.. with... 10 out of 21 gifts i'm supposed to make...
...
.

....

*thinksofthemoneythinksofthemoneythinksofthemoney*

i have already planned out what to do with my earnings.. wonder if that means counting my chickens before they hatch. But my eggs are in a safe incubator anyway. First i want to buy a small dishwasher. Cold weather=always washing with warmer water = very dried out hands and cuticles. And sometimes my hands start itching. So small dishwasher would help alot, plus i found a decent one for 2000nkr with pretty good electricity and water use. I actually like how they state the consumption of utilities on the website!

Next, some money shall go to xmas gifts... alex's parents and grandparents were so generous with our wedding, i hope we can get them something nice for xmas. We already got his parents something expensive but useful! More never hurts though, people tend to give multiple gifts for xmas sometimes. Then some money will be used to spoil myself with buying cheap yet good nail polish off www.beautyjoint.com WHEE HEH HEH

Most importantly, however, will be putting money into a special savings account that alex has opened up. The money saved in this account can only be used to buy a house in Norway, BUT a percentage of whatever you put in will count towards tax exemption, up to 4000nkr per year (so that will be 20,000nkr saved in the bank). That is pretty sweet, so we'll start chucking money in when we go to Hustad in late november :D

still waiting for a letter from the immigration department though, i wonder why its taking so long :(

its been a really long time since i blogged!

so now that i stated the obvious...

i realise i cannot live the tai-tai life with no job or being in the education system. its BORING. or rather, it makes me feel like there's no real purpose, so i got a little moody. quite interesting since i thought i'd be happily bumming out. But then again its a good thing, i know now i cannot live as a useless bum XD

things got a litte better when Mary suggested i could make things to sell for xmas, until i hauled home 2 bags of yarn and drifted from project to project. Again, it seemed a little pointless to make things when you're uncertain they would sell. but luckily for me, the workplace has a tradition of giving out advent calendar gifts to one random person a day, and Mary ordered 20 potholders from me. So i'm 'working' to finish those now, and i'm glad to say they're soon done. i miss making things for myself XD

Potholder that Mary ordered

i have a whole bag of yarn because they were extremely cheap (like $1.50-3 a ball due to sales) that are in colours i fancy, and no time to make them. but soon i shall unleash my urges -...and enter some knit frenzy.

Other things i have been up to is cooking.. i had the urge to make my own homemade stuff (just to have more to do, and to experiment i guess) and successfully made very tasty burgers, kjøttkake (meatcakes) in homemade sauce, fishcakes in self made sauce... and i'm waiting to make a little more.

Of course, i'm also having lots of fun with my nail stuff, especially since Hilde had this website www.beautyjoint.com where the nailpolishes sell relatively cheap inclusive of shipping costs, more so if you order in bulk. Any nail pictures go up on facebook!

Random stuff - they now sell Starbucks coffee in grocery stores. It comes in such cute packaging,but sadly i think i saw only 3 flavours on sale. thank goodness there's mocha!


these pair of kittens are still up for adoption, i hope they find a good home which will adopt them together. They are so close, and run everywhere together. I've never seen one without the other trailing not far behind. Its also really cute when you see one grooming the other !Lastly for now, is the discovery of super yummy belgian waffles sold at 7-11 at 3 for 45nkr. oh YUMS. I pay the same price for a heated up version (or maybe even 10nkr more) for ONE at the Choco Boco (a coffee place we hang out now and then, to get some reading/crafting done)


Thats all for now, got some mexican stew on the stove and i'm hungry!

wedding bears :)

Delayed this post for awhile since things have gotten pretty busy.. But these are my wedding bears! I ordered 110 pairs i think XD. Maybe i'll bundle them together with a ribbon and whoever wants to take them can help themselves at the solemnization.

Dont think i need to give to every single person? Because imagining my favourite family of relatives, i cant imagine what they would do with 6 pairs of bears in the house. XD

Wedding Ring arriveth!

After some drama online and complaining, appealingweddingbands.com finally sent my rings via Fedex. They didnt inform me that they had the rings sent back because of a failed quality check previously hence about a week's delay. They also didnt inform me they changed the tracking number >_>

In the end at least the rings are, according to my aunt, beautiful. They're currently in New Jersey and my aunt will bring it here in june when she comes. So here are the pics my cousin Michelle took i think, or my aunt XD.


I'm seriously contemplating getting them appraised to see if they're really made of what they are... and alvin's cheapo suggestion was take them to the pawn shop to ask the value ;D
Our rings together...
An individually, a plain polished ring for Alex... thicker in my opinion is more masculine looking and suits his fingers.
and mine, 4mm wide. Not too slim for me either since my fingers aren't long and slender like kas's.

now my dress is due to arrive this week or early next week , yay! =)

Gowns!

Aint that a dream of a dress? Its about $165 inclusive of shipping, which is much cheaper than renting a dress here, and definitely cheaper than buying one in norway (apparently over there dresses cost over $1300, my god). Kinda worth it since i'll be wearing it thrice this year.


And if i had my way, thats probably what i'd love to wear. except i'm more secure with the first dress since it has straps, and i'll be able to actually eat and breathe in it Xd

and lastly, a necklace i got on ebay because i thought i'd be outbid (it was stinkingly cheap XD)

Wedding Bands

Well for most people who have a facebook account, people would know by now i'm engaged. And the plan is to get married in July. Why? A number of reasons, really.

First, we're been a couple for over 4 years, talked almost everyday for almost 5 years. Aaaand i'm not one to blurt mushy stuff in public, so i'll leave out the rest of that.

Second, if i intend to study in norway, the easiest way is to obtain a residence permit, and that in turn is obtained by marriage. benefits of this? if i dont get into a masters program a year later, at least i'll be able to legally work in between and stuff.

Third, i quote my mother : "if you're going to live there that long, its best to get married first"

Other fun quotes from parents... alex's dad : "i got married earlier." and something about getting presents now if we get married XD

So in sum, instead of marrying a few years later and having the whole big chinese wedding thing, i'll have an ROM now and the big thing much later when we're done with our education. Now on to the fun part- rings! Asking me its one of the bigger decisions since it will probably be used for the rest of our lives. Dresses and stuff... well those get used a few times but mostly get stuffed in a closet.


Option 1 ( -1 votes)
its the only rings here that aren't white gold, but they sure are very nice looking! These were actually found my Alex because of this $1250 ring i found that i liked alot but yeah, its $1250 for ONE ring. This find is the oldest ones i've kept on the 'to-be-considered' list because the more i look at it, the more i like them XD


Option 2 (1 vote)
white gold with some diamonds. Pretty cheap considering what they are at about $350 usd for a pair. It looked good at first, but the longer i look, naaaaaah.

Option 3: (-2 votes)
Again not too expensive considering its white gold + diamonds. Quite like the simple design ^^

Option 4: ( 3 votes)
These cost over $600 USD, but they look pretty damn good. I'm inclining to these because the matt surface would make scratches less obvious i think. thinking long term wear and tear XD Alex agreed they looked good too.

Option 5: (3 votes)
my grand finale! It doesnt come in a set but would match the one below! Sadly this ring alone costs almost $500 USD, but looks very similar to the first $1250 ring i liked. As much as i love this design, pushing the price aside, i'm guessing a polished surface = obvious scratchmarks after some time. plus i cant find a good match other than a plain band for my fiance. Other options that could have matched this ring would cost over $800usd and wayyy up.
So thats it, thats all the nice rings i've found so far! just wanted to list em out XD opinions are welcome XD

last post

last day in norway, not happy about it but the world just keeps spinning.

spent some time taking cute pictures of the cat, shopping abit, cuddling and watching tv... and i'll get on talking about the cat before this gets depressing.
took a pic for xinyi, who asked me to take a pic of cat1 and cat2. cat2 is the one she got me for my bday this year XD yes, that was a positioned shot, but she didnt mind having the toy there and she even gave it a lick.
"oh holy feather, i pray to thee..."

action shot, she jumps about 20cm in the air to catch her beloved feather!

now on to recent knitting projects, mostly done while multi-tasking. mainly when:
1: playing lotro
2: watching movies/tv
3: socializing
4: on the boat back to trondheim!

knitted this for Alex in 2 days, had to even go back to the wool store to get an extra ball of wool and it was the last one left! WHEW. annoying fact about wool : you have to get them around the same period of time, because different batches can turn out in different shades :P its highly annoying.
then i knitted me a beret, which was really fast and easy. i like it alot, and alex said it suits me =) made out of wool i had lying around, and had to go back to the store for ONE more effing ball again. considering i've had this wool lying around for a year, the shade was totally off it might as well be classified as a different colour. luckily they had another brand of wool that was so similar in colour, just had to buy two of it to combine to get it thick enough.
aaand from the side. mainly cabled work.

and this is mochimochisnowman! spent $3USD just to buy the pattern for it =P but its so cute! i'm going to do my usual variation of faces. good way to get rid of little bits of wool lying around too...

also made miniature pigs and a small netted bag.. and half a bag which got messed up, and i'll fix later.

thats it for now.

housewivery

Today alex is out at school to touch up his paper before handing it in... giving me time to do other stuff since we usually do stuff together.

So i'm knitting... vacuuming... doing the dishes... tidying up... chatting..blogging... oh gosh, what a typical house-wifing day. all i need now is those women magazines and a mani+pedicure and i'm all set :P
anyway...

Finally, the time cometh for pics of my beloved..cat.
look! alex's fingers! ;D now you cant say i dont love my bf too. *gloat that she'll be out of reach when alex reads this*
she's getting loads of cuddles!
you can see she's really enjoying it XD
or is she?

well yeah, she was XD she just doesnt care much for the flash.
mockery... a little late ,and one size too small :(

finally have time to just chuck a couple of RAW pics on to photoshop and convert/edit slightly...
and voila.


last but not least... be prepared!..

one...two... three... AWWWWWW

little updates

update 1: photography

i wonder now how much it'll take to be a real nature photographer, when i was climbing over slipper rocks to get nearer to the rolling waves in the stormy winter sea. i -HAD- to get closer cuz i wanted to take nice pics of the waves, especially when it curls XD you just dont see that in singapore.

to top it off, it started to hail X) ahh. hail isnt that bad actually, as long as you dont imagine the classic comic-book bowling ball sized hail stones. personally, i think its better than snow since it doesnt melt as fast (hence you can brush it off after walking to where you want instead of getting your jacket wet) and it looks like those mini ice cream thing they sell in vending machines in some malls XD. cant remember what its called, but i had it with kas once at tampines mall, i think.

pictures are yet again taken in RAW, so i'll probably only handle that when i'm back in singapore.

side note: i'm sick of people asking me when i return. shoo.

Update 2: the pukey cat

little adventure today, since the cat was out a full 24 hours, spending most of that time hiding under a fence, in a hole. (there's knee deep snow piled up now) we tried calling her, she'd come out and meow pitifully cuz she apparently couldnt jump back up to our side. We tried puting a plank so she could climb up, but she didnt even approach it. I even went to ring all the damn doorbells in the neighbouring property but NO ONE WAS HOME?!

so finally, i had to yet AGAIN climb the garage roof X). and its filled with snow X). my frozen butt.

and i had to coax her out ,spending quite some time just by that hole... finally she came out long enough for me to grab her and toss her over the fence to alex. only then she became calmer.. i got a scratch in the process, but when i went into the house and shoved my hand under her nose going "you see? huh ? h.." and she starts licking my hand... awww, ok , its not her fault anymore.

she was quite unstable though, dashed for her food ( i had just watched a tv show where a cat got shipped from america to france in a container, spending almost a month without food.. and my cat cant even survive one day without freaking out) and puked it out promptly a few minutes later.

i had to admire alex for catching the puke with his hand.

and she puked again later on the bedroom rug.........

but now she's okay, sleeping loads more. very happy to get cuddled ^^

ah, i do love this cat. she's so cute, especially at night when i snuggle into bed and she'll jump up, and climb on top of me and lie down there for awhile to get some pets... and after that she'd spend the night sleeping on the left side of the bed, shifting from the head of the bed to the foot at times.

alrighty, time for snacks and a movie!

random quick post

thats the piggy we got from Eva (mary's sister) for xmas XD
thats the cardigan mary made for me, and the scarf is from beate. they go really well together :D

and thats Dag Remi playing the Kinect adventures while Are (legs only) and Alex watch on XD.

the video is more fun to watch, but i shan't put it up. most of the recent pics are taken with my dslr, and are in RAW format... so that means quite some work before i can post the pics here!

heading back to Trondheim today, so YAY wireless net!