May 29 : Kiss!

A kiss for my favorite munchkin! Although, he certainly looks reluctant in this picture.
I hope you gave your loved one a kiss today!

May 21 : I Care About...

I care so much about this little munchkin! I love him to bits!!

Right now he's looking a little bummed out because his Papa is out with friends. I took him for a walk in the park and enjoyed some Mama + Pup pup time. He's getting better with socializing. Before, he would freak out and bark like crazy when other people walk by. Now he takes it in his stride. My little boy all grown up! *beams with pride*

Who knew this little peanut could make me feel this way!

May 20 : Light

My Scentsy lamp casts little hearts on the wall! <3<3<3

May 12 : Mother (Happy Mother's Day)

Waiting for breakfast from their mama!


To my dearest mother, thank you for all that you've done for me these 30 years. You have given, and will never stop giving your love and strength and help in every possible. I know it's tough having to deal with the distance between us and I thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank goodness for technological advances, I see you and talk to you every week. Now that you're on the iPhone, all the various apps make it possible for us communicate within a matter of seconds. I still appreciate the times when I can come home to visit. I love you, even though words cannot adequately convey my love for you.

Happy Mother's Day, 妈妈我爱你！

May 2 : Morning Ritual

Scuffy's morning ritual is my morning ritual. I take him out at dawn to go potty. He and I have an established routine. We walk in the fields near our house, he sniffs out a good poo-poo spot and after he does his #2, we RUN back home!


After my yoga class this evening, my teacher revealed that her family had to put their 17 year old dog down because it was suffering from illness and pain. As she was speaking, tears welled up in my eyes. Before we got Scuffy, I never understood how anyone could be so attached to their pets. Now, I know. Scuffy is not just a pet, he is part of our family, our baby. I cannot imagine anything untoward happening to him, especially if i had to put him down. I'd probably bawl my eyes out.

As I type this out, he lays calmly with his head in my lap. I love his puppy smell, his ears twitching when my arm brushes against him. When I look into his puppy eyes, I know that all is right and well in my world.

Kindle Bueno!

Hello friends,

Let's do a little survey in this post - the good ol' fashioned paperback vs the electronic readers.


I was pretty resistant to e-readers in the beginning, preferring to leaf through a book, owning actual copies, collecting books with pretty and/or vintage covers.

But then, I got a Kindle for my birthday this year.

And i'm slowly falling in love!

Can i just be a nerd in this post and list the pros and cons, the book vs the ereader?





Books!!




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1. I hoard books! I sometimes buy books for their beautiful covers. Like the pretty Penguin Clothbound Classics I've been drooling over...




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2. I dream to one day own a little library. As a kid, I watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and always wished to have one of my own, complete with the gliding ladder.




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3. I love the feel of a book in hand - the weight, turning pages, using a bookmark!




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4. Going to the library! Well, if i can't own one, i go to one! Or a used book store!



But then the Kindle came into the picture and...


1. It's so light!! Gone are the days when my wrist gets tired holding thick book spines.

2. It holds a gazillion books! No more difficult decisions about which books to stuff in my carry-on, to bring on a short weekend getaway, on a picnic. I download a few books and then read whatever catches my fancy at the moment!

3. I know that buying e-books can be just as expensive (it's only a few dollars cheaper than an actual copy), but I can still borrow from my local library!! I don't go to the library anymore, but I loan from their digital collection. So it's free, and I can borrow and return books without having to step out of my house!

4. You can also download a myriad of apps, play games, listen to music, get on the internet. Although it's pretty simple for me, all I need are my books and Words with Friends. LOL.


So before you think I'm going over to the dark side, what matters most is that I'm still reading! I love my books, but now I love my Kindle more!

Happy November!

Here's a track that keeps coming up on my Pandora, both the original and the remix, that I thought I'd share.

Two Door Cinema Club || Something Good Can Work




I'm not usually one for re-mixes, but this remix by the Twelves really make me want to boogie, and makes the original even more fun! I want to go dancing tonight!





Happy Friday!

Celebrations: Wedding at the Alexander Homestead

Congratulations to my brother-and-sister-in-law!!!

J's brother got married over the weekend. And the reason I went MIA was because I was busy making pomanders for their wedding!!

As usual, I waited till the very last minute (nobody but myself to blame!). But i have also reconciled with the fact that although a procrastinator, I get the job done! And pretty darn well!!

So yes, I did finish my wedding gift to the couple! Here are some pictures of the beautiful wedding at the Alexander Homestead in Charlotte!



Note the pretty pomanders that flank the sides ! *lol*



The cosy barn where we had the reception, and all that dancing!



R for Russell!
Cupcakes galore!!




Exchanging vows that are FOR-EH-VUH! Love you both!


Will share with you the (tedious) process of pomander making in the next post!

Puppy love : Dog-sitting for a week

J's parents are out of town so we get to babysit little Daisy for a week. The happiest kid in town has to be Scuffy, because he now gets a playmate to play with.



Scuffy completely adores Daisy. He follows her wherever she goes. He lets her have his treats and wants her to play all the time. Daisy is, however, more chill. She likes to have her peace and is annoyed when Scuffy gets into his playful moods.

But it has been five days, and Daisy has begun to accept Scuffy's presence. They're so cute together. Although Daisy is two years of age, Scuffy is heavier, and almost bigger in size.



Besties forever!

It's the beginning of celebrations....

Beginning with J's birthday!



Happy birthday baby, I love you more than I love sambal belacan!!!

(And that's saying a lot. Singaporeans never joke about their food.)



Yes blogging world. I'm back! Can't wait to catch up on all your blogs!

Latest Addition to the Russell family

Remember this?

Well, in short, my friend Gwen's dog had given birth to 3 little puppies. I went over to visit and fell in love with them, only to find out they were all spoken for...

A week later, Gwen sent a text to say that my favorite puppy has not been picked up! She asked if I wanted to have him. Hell yea! Whoever didn't pick him up is missing out! This has gotta be the cutest thing alive!

Well, so we went and got the puppy. We've been potty training him (not easy), teaching him to sit (relatively easy) and leaving him in his crate when we're not home (VERY TOUGH!) This little guy has got the saddest whine ever.

To make things worse, we found fleas on him. So we gotta take him to the vet's tomorrow for his first round of shots and to de-flea him. But he has been such a good doggie. He let us give him a bath, and sat so still when we flea-combed him.

Did i mention that his name is Scuffy Nuts Russell III? J had 2 male dogs when he was young. Both were named Scuffy Nuts and Scuffy Nuts Jr. So naturally, this little pup is the third.

As for his Chinese name, we call him Xiao Bao Zi 小包子。He is 1/2 miniature schnauzer, 1/2 boston terrier, also known as a mini boz. We felt 'Boz' sounded very much like 'Bao Zi' in Chinese, which means "Bun", and reminded us of our time in China. So he was thus named.

Here are some pictures we took the first night we brought him home.
Warning: the following pictures may make you melt like butter.

Birthday Celebrations

Thank you all for your birthday wishes! I had a long weekend of celebrations and fun!

First up, as I walked into my office first thing in the morning.

Balloons, confetti and a cup of my favorite Dunkin' Donuts coffee to greet me!

      

Then I got some flowers









Somebody must have sent out a memo, because everybody gave me coordinated colored gifts!



The J-man made a scrumptious meal of Spaghetti Vongole in white wine.

I had such a wonderful mid-week birthday!

Uh-oh. It's the Big 3-0

It's a big year. Goodbye twenty-something, here comes the big THREE-OH.

I'd like to think my birthday begins at dawn on the other side of the world and ends when night descends on this hemisphere this time tomorrow. So technically I get 36 birthday hours.

No bells and whistles.

Just some mid-week quiet time with the J-man.

And for a birthday treat, I get to go to Jason Mraz's concert at the end of August. I've been listening to his newest album Love Is A Four Letter Word

Does anyone else think that the cover of this album is super clever? I don't know if it's just the pre-school teacher in me that marvels at our mind's ability to recognize symbols and translate them into meaningful associations. Just four simple shapes, what do you see?

I'm addicted to this one song, in the Deluxe version of the Love album - I Never Knew You

and here I will share it with you. I CANNOT wait for his concert. I am completely enamoured by this man, his voice, his guitar, his music...

"... Why do we forget things… especially our ex-es or past relationships… why do we forget what they were about and why we left…

... What is it about our humanness… we remember, we forget, I think it's just for the opportunity of enlightenment, the opportunity to awaken again and again and again, 'cause it feels good … to remember our greatness, you know. We wouldn’t be so bright if there wasn’t a shadow every once in awhile…

... This song is about forgetting and remembering... and I realize it’s so that we can achieve enlightenment but then, alas we still have to do our f***in laundry..."

Miss Independent : Mid-week blues on Day 1

No, wait. This is not a part of Jess' (from Avant-Garde Living) Miss Independent series. This is me, attempting to function on Day 1, after J left for the Philippines on his all-boys vacay.



This was taken at the airport just before he had to check in.




He will be gone 3 weeks.

And as you may know, he cooks all.my.meals.

When he told me about his decision to go on this trip, the first thought that popped into my head was "What about my meals?" A very pragmatic woman, i agree.

But I had to start planning my time better now that he's gone. Because there's a ton of things on my to do list, that used to be split between two people.

Such as

☹ Feed and play with the lizards.

☹ Water the garden.

☹ Weed the garden (on weekends only)

☹ Pick veggies from the garden before they rot and go to waste.

☹ Figure out a way to feed myself

☹ Motivate myself to keep up with evening runs without J

☹ Wash the car and change the oil.

Such and such and such. Bah.

Is it really just the first day?

Birding: Surrogate Mothering for 3 baby Starlings

We always knew that we had a starling's nest in our roof, where the vent is. Last evening we heard the distressed chirping of a bird. After further investigation, we found a baby starling on the ground, right below it's nest! It had fallen out and was chirping for it's mama's attention.

So we looked up at the nest, and seen another baby dangerously close to the edge. It was chirping and sticking its head out so far we were afraid it was going to suffer the same fate as the first. True enough, in a few minutes, I saw the little thing fall out. I wasn't quick enough to catch it!



As we were about to leave for a friend's dinner party, the nest was too high for us to replace them, so we hurriedly filled a box with some earth and laid the two babies in it and kept it in the house. When we returned, it was quite dark. We were afraid to find a third on the ground. But we did.

We didn't know how long the nest had been abandoned. I haven't seen Mama the whole day today. Usually, when we are gardening outside, we would catch glimpses of the mother flying in and out of her nest, presumably bringing food to her babies. And why would the starlings try to leave their nest one after another?? I think it's safe to say that something has happened to the mother and these poor little babies have been abandoned.

We knew they needed some food, but probably something with protein in it. So we had to make do with some almond nuts we had at home. And since they were only babies, I had to chew them up, and feed them regurgitated nuts. Once they were nicely settled, I had to call someone.

It was a Sunday night, nobody was going to assist me, I knew.

So I left messages with the Raptor Center, and googled a little more about caring for young starlings.

I found some pictures which helped me guesstimate that the babies were about a week old. And then I read some more, and realised that i should not have fed them until we have contacted a wildlife rehabilitator. Well, too late now. But the birds seemed to gobble everything up and were fine with the nuts.



I changed their bedding and lined the box with fresh towels instead, to keep them warm throughout the night. This morning I checked on them. They were still breathing and each of them did a little Number Two, so I took that as a sign that they're doing well! I'm going to work now, J will have to watch the birds while I call the Raptor center again at lunch. Hopefully I get some help and answers.

Found: A Nautical Affair

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Now that it's summer, I'm longing to hit the lake!

And I actually sat down and created a mood board for it too! Phew! It was time consuming but super fun! Here are my picks from my favorite sites!



:: Swimsuit :: Bib necklace :: Heels :: Maxi Dress :: Tote Bag :: Ring:: 




I love stripes, the color palette red, white and blue. So one weekend I whipped these up!


Here and here




Have a wonderful week ahead! There's time yet, to plan for a nautical weekend!

Birding: A birder's delight!

I'm so excited with my birding experiences recently.

I have been sitting at the window which looks out to my bird feeder for the past few mornings, and patiently waiting for birds to come. The usual suspects, the chickadees, the cardinals, the finches and the titmice, come faithfully.

On some observation days, the turnout's great. Some days are quiet. I know it has to do with the time of the observations, the weather and the level of activity of the surroundings. But I wished I could spot a few more different ones!!!!

I did see two new birds I'd never come across:


Carolina Wren

and the


Brown headed Nuthatch


I grew a little restless. I wondered if the reason for the quiet feeder could be the fact that two doors down, my neighbor has fancy birdhouses, feeders and birdbaths. I was even considering buying a birdbath to attract more birds.

Then early morning yesterday, I, for some reason, decided to look out the window at the opposite end of the house. This window faces a field, not a particularly large one, but a decent open space. And there, to my disbelief, I saw not one, not two, but THREE BLUE JAYS squawking away, pecking at the ground! I have never seen more than one blue jay at any point. So i thought, this must be my lucky day!

I sat, uncomfortably, on the edge of my couch for a few minutes, but the effort paid off. A pair of cardinals that seldom frequent my feeder were hanging out right here. And a mockingbird scuttled by. Then, my eyes widened as 3 little brownish-black birds speckled with white flew onto the ground, right outside my window. I had turned the slats of my blinds just enough for my binoculars to look out, so I bet the birds couldn't really tell anyone was watching, unless I made a sharp movement. I am proud to say, however, I always move. ve-ry. slow-ly. when. i. bird. watch.

These birds looked like they've been splattered with white paint. I took note of a few identifying marks like color, shape of beak, size of bird and distinct markings, before running to grab my ID tools - my trusty Cornell Lab website and the book i got from the library.




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This is the bird I'd seen!

A European Starling!! My starling darlings!


Then i quietly took my place back at the window only to gasp in shock!

THIRTY-SEVEN FRIKKIN' GRACKLES pottering around in the field, their black iridescence glistening in the sun! WHERE DID THEY COME FROM??? I'd seen 5 or 6 or 8 maybe, at one time, but 37??? (Yes, i did count them, and they were pretty good at staying relatively still)



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I was wa--aaay excited. I was having a field day! *pun totally intended!*

I guess that's just it, i've been sitting at the WRONG window!

I think i might have to switch my feeder around. However, on this busy side of the house, there isn't a good sheltering tree for the feeder birds. They need a place to take cover if anything startles them. I don't have a good "feng-shui" feel for the feeder here, but I'm thinking it doesn't hurt to try. Anyway, I'm already seeing so many birds without a feeder. It might make sense to keep them separate. I just have to dedicate two separate sittings for my observations.

I also just found out my HR manager is an avid birder too. She has invited me to our county birding meetings. I looked on their website and had seen birding field trips on weekends. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Eeks, I hope I don't sound like a total birding dork here, but I'm brimming with excitement!!!

Does anyone have suggestions on how to enhance a birding experience, or what should i do to attract MORE birds?


Have a great week!

♥ A Valentine's Day special! ♥

My fellow crafter/blogger Joyce of Chic Noir Design sent me a link one day and said

"Hi Chewy, I was searching for weddings at Singapore Zoo and I saw yours here :D"

She sent me a link to a blog post that had pictures of my wedding in 2010! How random is that, but what a splendid surprise!

I guess this is a good time for me to recount my wedding day, I don't think I ever posted about it, not on this blog anyway!

Well, our wedding was in two parts. The first was a traditional Chinese tea ceremony (not so traditional, we had to make a few accommodations, since J's family wasn't in town) and that was held in the morning. The second part, was the evening dinner reception, which I will share with you in this post.

For those who don't know, J and I celebrated our union at the Singapore Zoo. We are both crazy about animals and having it at the zoo seemed like a natural first choice. So couples who have their weddings at the zoo will be offered two choices - to arrive on a horse-drawn carriage in a classic white Victorian wedding, or atop an elephant, Indian Maharaja style! No prizes for guessing which entrance we chose!

On the morning of our rehearsal, my family and friends who were coordinating the wedding were invited to a special breakfast with the orangutans at the zoo! While we were having our breakfast buffet at the dining area, the zookeepers brought out four orangutans who were perched atop a branch the entire time we were eating. Guests could walk up to the apes and take a picture (or five) with them. I loved how they were all so human-like. One of the apes was more intent on grooming my sister's hair then posing for the picture.






We had a theme for our wedding - Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"...



We had about 200 guests on our list seated in an elongated dining hall, complete with ceiling drapes and fairy lights! We were going for a whimsical, rustic, woodland feel. In terms of decor, we decided on more greenery than blooms.





Our seating cards that led our guests to their tables....





...which were named after the characters of the Shakespearean play...





In the play, the fairy Puck anoints queen Titania with a love potion to make her fall in love with the first living creature she sees. Following the playful prank, we decided to give the gift of lavender buds for all guests to concoct their own love brew...




In place of a guestbook, we had the guests sign on these beautifully illustrated botanical cards instead of a guestbook. We wanted to frame these pretty cards after the wedding, but have yet gotten down to it!!


Also, our guests were invited to the zoo on the morning of our wedding, so out-of-town guests could have the time and leisure to visit one of the most popular tourist spots in Singapore and still have time to freshen up for the dinner reception in the evening. 
One of the perks of the zoo wedding was having to spend the night inside the zoo! We were given a room next to the reception area, that was complete with a bed and shower. We were very amused when we awoke to the howling of monkeys in the morning. 



It was such an amazing and unforgettable day, J and I were very grateful to be able to share it with our loved ones. We've been married four years now, (I consider us married the day we signed the papers in Shanghai) and our love for each other grows stronger with each day. I'm glad I listened to my heart instead of my head when I chose this man, I love him with all my heart.

♥♥ Happy Valentine's Day, my penguin! ♥♥

If you drop by, I hope you'll share a love story too!

Found: What to look forward to in the fall!

1. Halloween!!

2. Long socks, scarves and boots

3. Soups and broths

4. Blue Ridge Parkway and its changing colors

5. Bonfires!

This week the temperatures dipped. I pulled out my knitted hoodies and long socks. I can't wait to do a wardrobe overhaul! What are you looking forward to this fall???