Happy Hearts Day

Rainbow-colored roses and delicious cake, hand-picked by my daughter for Valentine’s Day

I have been feeling all lazy this weekend. I didn’t feel like going out, so everybody went out this morning, except for me. But what a surprise it is when hubby and daughter came back bringing colorful flowers and lovely cake for dessert… both of which just about summarizes how my love life has never been more colorful and more delicious than ever before.

Happy Hearts Day, everyone!

I’m a Model !!!

Folks, please allow me to interrupt my series of posts on my New Zealand trip with this Breaking News:

Last night, just before going to bed, I checked on my Instagram and saw a comment from Steve Madden’s IG asking my permission if they could use this picture of mine for marketing purposes:

Leg Work for Steve Madden shoes… just hope they don’t photoshop it and put somebody else’s upper body parts on top. 😀

I am just sooo flattered! And so excited. I never thought my legs could ever get so famous like this. I guess you could say I’m sort of a model now, and for one of my favorite brands of shoes at that! Nakakalokah! 🙂

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Best of 2015

According to Instagram, here are my best nine photos from the previous year…

first row: best loved pair of shoes from Steve Madden, Airbus A350 simulator experience, visiting Frodo’s hobbit hole at Hobbiton Lord of the Rings Movie Set in New Zealand (will post about this soon!)
second row: an evil bunny ice floe on Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon in Iceland, a picture representing my first time to try aerial yoga, a throwback pic of my beloved and long-missed autumn at the Japanese Garden in Toulouse
third row: trying out new wide angle lens on night time view from our balcony, throwback pic at Piazza di Spagna, the fittest i have been this year after 2 mos of xtendbarre + yoga + wall climb

…nine best, meaning the “nine most liked” photos of the year. I admit that, like most people, I tend to get carried away and get overwhelmed with the social media “likes” from time to time. But I try to remind myself that I’m doing Facebook mostly to keep in touch with friends, especially those who live far away. Making people jealous is just second priority (insert wicked evil laugh here). And the “likes”, I really usually do not care about. A 1000 likes do not equate to being a 1000 times less lonely. Most of the time, it’s quite the contrary, actually. Especially since, you will only get a lot of likes if you give a lot of likes also. It’s not really because your picture deserves it or that these “likers” really like you. I’d always prefer good old-fashioned personal meet-ups any time or a personal private message if bodily presence is constrained by distance. Non-virtual relationships are seemingly becoming more and more of a rarity these days.

I like Instagram because i treat it like a pin board of all the good things happening in my life, whose essence, I would like to somehow freeze and capture in frames that I can look back on gloomy days to cheer me up. But the truth is, my most loved memories from last year cannot be captured in just a few photos. There were so many of them. For this, I am truly grateful and feeling “blessed” as the overused hashtag goes…

Happy new year, everyone! More photos and more adventures await!

Christmas 2015

The last few Christmases have been really wonderful, especially with the coming of my precious daughter. For quite some time, the thrill and excitement of the holidays have really waned for me over the years. But through my daughter’s eyes, I am experiencing Christmas again as I have experienced it during the wonder years.

My dining table centerpiece pour Le Réveillon (Christmas Eve) — candles and candle holder from Crate and Barrel, some christmas décors from La France, courtesy of my mother-in-law

It’s also a great bonus for all the moon lovers out there that the full moon appears on Christmas this year, not since 1977, coincidentally my birth year.

May we all have a wonderful holiday season with family and loved ones.

The AirFrance La Première Experience

Our family would always visit Europe during the summer. For this year, the opportunity of traveling on the New Air France’s La Première (First Class) flight presented itself right around the time we were planning our trip. This first class cabin was only introduced late last year! We were so happy and looking forward to the experience, especially since it will be the same time as our Fourth Wedding Anniversary. And indeed, it was, just as imagined.

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Le nouvel an chinois

Cette année, on a décidé de rester à Singapour pendant le nouvel an chinois parce qu’on était trop paresseux de decider de quoi à faire et où peut-on aller pour les vacances.

This is how you make Spritz… first, some bubbly drink (prosecco or champagne, or this time, we had some cava from Spain)

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Introduction to Painting Class

ever since i can remember, i have always been on the lookout for painting classes. as you know, i have quite a bit of experience with drawing, as i love doing portraits in charcoal or pencil. but with painting, i always get a bit apprehensive. not only because i find it quite difficult to render color on paper, but also because i’m scared to go in a class where all the other people have already had the skill and experience beforehand. yeah, i hate being judged. especially for my art work. so, do be gentle with me in the comments, now. 🙂

but then, last week, i felt quite lucky to stumble upon this painting school that organizes classes for people who have never ever painted in their lives. and they even offer a discount for this introductory class. what’s more, it’s a mere fifteen-minute walk from where i live, which is just perfect!

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