NYC Comic Convention 2011!

We were at NYC Comic Convention 2011 and had tons of fun!!
We bought the one day pass (which was USD50 a pax) and went with a whole group of friends. Well, Mr Lim was once again given the task of the photographer and I guess he didn't do too badly this time. (Still got ugly shots but I'll let it pass..)

As usual, it was a place for me to have a shopping spree! I started off with buying a Tokidoki skateboard which cost as much as my ticket! Hee, Zim and I agreed that the skateboard would add a cute/quirky touch to our home decor (in Senja). Lucky us, the artist, Simone Legno was there to personalize the skateboard! And, he's kinda cute! Hopefully, his autograph would increase the re-sale value of the skateboard, but for now, it's ours to keep!

Close up of the skateboard and the personalized drawing. And yap, it's a branch of tokidokis eating sushi! Cute, isn't it?
I went on to buy another quirky drawing of Christina Strain (signed too!). Happy~
It's a really funny drawing of a lion (holding cup of hot chocolate with mashmallows), raccoon and shark (with ear masks) riding a unicorn!
Of course, how could I ever forget my Zombie love.. I bought a "I Love Zombies" shopping bag (for a whooping USD12) and I grabbed two "The Walking Dead" posters

Mr Lim didn't leave empty handed either. He bought a couple of boardgames and a series of 3 batman posters (that will go up our walls in Senja too!).

There were tons of cosplayers as well (most commonly were games, marvel, star wars and star trek characters). My favourite was a service dog that was dressed up as Captain American. What a darling!

Anyway, the best part of the day was being able to take photos with our favourite characters!

Mr Lim and "Kick-Ass".

And of course, me and my favourite - ZOMBIES!
Till next year!

My few steals from UK..

As mentioned earlier, I really didn't spend much buying things in the UK. I seriously think Zim spent more after investing in his Hugo Boss suit (even when all my purchases add up). Anyway, I managed to buy some items in London for Zim to bring back with him.

No surprises.. more Crumpler!!
I was so upset that I could not find anything that I liked at the factory outlet that I decided to just purchase a burberry scarf despite it being ridiculously expensive (sigh, it was about SGD200. -_-). I guess I was just pissed that Zim bought tons of stuff and I refused to return empty handed. grrrrr. Yap, an impulse buy. Pui~
A doggy umbrella and a doggy key chain that were probably worth less than what I paid for, but still, it works for a dog lover sucker like me. But again, Radley was quite a popular brand in London.
That was pretty much what Zim brought back for me. Pathetic huh?

For the dog lover sucker part of me, I bought some handmade items from a quirky store. (These I really love and do think it was probably the best buy of the trip.)
Oh oh, and of course, to add on to my shotglass collection!


For the food junkie part of me, I found some really yummy bites from Marks & Spencer that zim's sister used to get for me when she travelled for work. Love love love it!
To bribe the little monster and to distract him from attacking my snacks, I bought him some treats from Marks & Spencer and a little highland cow from Scotland. (Okay, I wanted the highland cow for me, so this is just an excuse.)
Well, I was so disappointed in my steals that I went on a shopping spree at Heathrow Airport. I swear I could have spent more had I not spend one stupid hour standing in line for VAT refund for a mere 5 pounds. (Like WTF right?) I found a tea towel, a foldable shopping bag and a pouch from Harolds! And yap, all of dog prints. ^_^
Hee... and shhh.. I also bought a longchamp duffel bag which I shall not post a picture of, lest Qian scolds me even more. =P But that was a lifesaver as I was able to fit everything, including my camera bag, into it to carry on the plane.

Guess that explains why I still have so much cash left behind. I barely did any shopping!!!!!!! T_T

Better luck in Rome. This I will ensure.

UK..

Okay, I conclude, Backpacking really ain't my style. Carrying a shitload on my back and constantly moving from hostels to hostels really just don't cut it for me. I'm still having a massive backache from the weight and the really uncomfortable beddings (I think age did contribute as well). Oh, did I mention that there was no TV! Thank god I had my faithful old kindle and iPod to keep me sane during the early nights. Oh well, I guess that's it. My future trips, either go luxury (okay, not extravagant, just reasonable.) or not go at all. Period.

That being said, it was a pretty good trip. My travel buddies were really nice and accommodating and UK is beautiful beyond words. I fell deep in love with Bath (and almost refused to come back had it not that Zim threatened to throw Sam away if I don't return) and was equally blown away by Edinburgh (which I would almost certainly return to).

It's funny to say this, but since I'm doing nothing most of the time in NYC, going on vacation is actually more exhausting than ever. All I could think of on the trip was to return to NYC, back to the comforts of my bed and couch and to indulge in my ever favourite pastime of watching trashy reality TV and just surfing the web. (Yeah, yeah, I'm pathetic.) Going on this holiday, while scenic and breathtaking, took away the simple joys of my life - TV, internet (this I could probably live without if I had TV, oh, and CABLE) and bringing Sam for walks. There was even one point of time that I was contemplating cutting the vacation short to come home (okay, yes, I'm that spoilt.) but thankfully stopped short of doing that.

On another positive note, this was probably the one trip that I spent the least as I was constantly worried about fitting everything into the backpack. Thus, after ALOT of self-editing, I came back with pretty much what I went with. Yes, I was wayyyy under budget and have a hell lot of pounds left. Damn. Hopefully, it's not going to fall too low. *Fingers crossed*

Yet, the biggest smile and joy I have had for the past two weeks was when I finally arrived back to NYC and held the little monster in my arms again. That was, without a doubt, the best moment.

You know that...

your husband secretly hates you when you asked him to be a photographer for a wedding and all he took were really unflattering photos of you. -_-

In case you are wondering, there are worse shots that I am not showing... N-E-V-E-R.

sigh. what can I say...

Back to my little monster!!

I was suffering from severe Sam-withdrawal syndrome while I was away. And it really did not help that Jack Russell Terrier is a really popular breed in UK. (Think I saw almost 10-15 JRTs within 2 weeks. But, yap, Sam is still da CUTEST, without a doubt!) Now that I'm back, with the little monster in my arms once again, I cannot resist but take tons of photos of him, yeah, AGAIN.

Caught Sam's transition in falling asleep. LOVE love love it..





What a lovely sight. =D

I'm going ROME!

I was woken up from my beauty sleep one random sunday morning by Mr Lim's excited voice. In my half conscious state, I vaguely heard Mr Lim asking if I wanted to go Italy for thanksgiving. Thinking that I was still dreaming, I said yes and pretty much fell back to sleep.

A couple of hours later, in my fully conscious state, I clarified that the conversation did indeed take place and got the rest of the details about this really random event. It turned out that one of his usual news feeder sent him a link to a travel blog that publicized really cheap air tickets to Europe from the states. Since most americans do not travel overseas during thanksgiving, the air fares are ridiculously cheap.

And that was not the end of the story.

Our beloved Mr Lim actually bought business class tickets on Continental since it was about 20% of the original price. -_- Okay, I'm not really complaining.

So, yes. I'm going Rome (and probably Florence) for a week over thanksgiving.. woohoo~

Stop the door...

We had a door stopper in our Senja Flat known as T-Dog. That was our pet dog for the one year we spent in that flat. However, before we came over to NYC, we packed our faithful pet into one of the boxes and left without him.

After months of door slamming and using my poor havianas (or whatever I could grab) as a temporary door stopper, I had enough. Hence, when my friends asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I requested for a T-dog. True enough, it came. T-dog II served us well through many happy days. Until, the S-monster got his mouth on it.
The little prick is still eyeing it despite mauling it to the extent that T-Dog II is unable to serve the very function he was made for.
Once again, we were back to days of door slamming and havianas door stopper. When we returned home in August, Zim decided to dig through the boxes and found T-Dog! This time, no one was left behind. We brought the little man back to NYC with us!

Sadly, once again, our happiness was shortlived. While T-Dog survived the S-monster, it succumbed to old age and lost all friction it had on it's tail. As a result, T-Dog was unable to hold/stop any door and was nothing more than a pretty 'vase'.
Sad huh. I was pretty resigned to the fate of slamming doors. With a twist of fate, I stumbled upon a quirky store called Pylones while waiting for a friend. Even luckier, I was able to find T-Dogs for sale! (When I saw it, I could feel little dogs holding pom-poms cheering inside my head) T_T Finally~ But this time, I decided to go for a change and settled for...
T-Cat! Don't get me wrong, I am still a dog person. I just needed a change and hopefully, (with an ultra thick stroke of luck) the S-monster would leave her alone. Meanwhile, at least we are free of slamming doors for a little while!

Happy~

You know you..

married a workaholic when he didn't even realised that his stupid dog pooped right in front of him and left him a small chunk of stinky poop... (that probably sat there for a good 10 minutes!)

I'm impressed...

Coffee Bean!

Found another piece of home away from home! It's The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf!! They finally opened a branch in the east coast and it's at NYC! Hooray!The Sucky part: just because it was newly opened (and hence, uber popular), all pastries were sold out by the time we arrived at around 9pm. Chey~ Was so excited to finally be able to eat my favourite cheesecake. WTH.. Ended up settling for an ice blended instead. I was happy nonetheless. At least I managed to get a little taste of home (Think Holland Village & Serangoon Gardens with my favourite peeps! Sigh~). Ironically, TCB&TL originated from the West coast! Hence, there's really nothing 'home' about it at all. But again, who cares, it still reminds me of home.

Happy~ but better (Cheesecake) luck next time!

All I want for breakfast is...

I miss YAKUN!

Little little sam..

Found this photo while reorganizing my external hard disk. Just makes my heart melts.

Doesn't this just make you go awww...

My backpacking trip..

I finally invested in a backpacking bag for my upcoming UK trip (and hopefully many others more in future..)! After some deliberation, I settled for a Deuter 45Litres backpack! And, it being green was an absolute bonus. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the ugly flower is totally detachable and I'm definitely going to remove it!

I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that I would be able to fit in ALL the stuff that I would like to bring. And yap, to nobody's surprise, I've yet to start packing. Maybe I should start...The bag is so big that I could probably fit 2 sams into it!
Well, can't wait to attend both Sangee's wedding and to experience my very first backpacking trip! I'm not exactly sure if I would like it (especially when I'm a spoilt luxurious traveller.) We shall see..

Wish me luck!

Things on my wall...

My growing project!! See how it has grown from here..

My new art piece...
Illustration by Izak Zenou and thanks to Zim's hard work in standing in line, it's personalized with my name! (Down goes the resale value though..=/)

Yummy.. not so..

The long due home-cooked dinner...The "I want to cook" feeling is returning! Plus, Sam's phobia of the cooking smoke seemed to have disappear too! (Hooray~) Time to find some recipes!

My dog, the monkey..

Sam's new ability - tree climbing..

At this rate, he is going to catch a squirrel pretty soon.

Good job, my little man!

10 Canine Commandments..

My promise to the little man:

Number 4 makes my heart ache... While I know I am his everything, I hope he knows that he is my everything too.

I love you, my little man and I'll be with you throughout thick and thin...

in the many, many, many years to come...

Secured, not..

Zim, Sam, I and a friend that was bunking over were watching TV in the living room at around 1 am last night when we heard someone opening our door. Initially, I kinda thought that it was our neighbor who just came home and didn't think much of it (well, NYC walls ain't that thick to begin with). However, Sam literally jumped up from his sleep and ran barking at the door. Zim got up to find that a rather attractive and confused looking couple (and possibly drunk as well) had actually opened the door with their keys. In the confusion, they mentioned that they supposed to be going to apartment XX (our exact unit). We were shocked and being sure that we did pay our rent and that we were probably not evicted, we chased them away and called the doorman. Apparently, we were told that they were supposed to be in the same unit in the opposite tower and came to our doorstep by accident.

The truth is, we weren't exactly convinced. Firstly, even if they were in the same exact unit, their keys shouldn't be able to open our door. Secondly, after complaining to the management, they did reset our electronic lock, as a result, I was locked out of my apartment as my key wouldn't work. (I would have really appreciated it if they had kinda informed me that they were doing that, so I would at least be more prepared..) I went to the doorman and asked if I could use the spare key that they had kept to open my door. It turned out that I didn't have a spare key. (Missing or never there? I wouldn't know..)

Well, while we won't know the exact truth behind the situation (and the management has pretty much zero incentive to tell us the 'real truth' if any), I was really freaked out by the whole incident. Since then, I jump every time someone opens their doors thinking that a stranger might have entered my apartment 'by accident' again. The sense of security that I used to have is gone. I'm honestly a little worried about leaving our apartment empty in future or to be home alone when Zim is travelling. The only consolation, at least I've a scardy little dog that would probably give me some warning and with a thin stroke of luck, scare the intruder away. So much for security in a high rise doorman building huh.

Sigh, really wishing that my lease would end soon so that we could move..

Pet photography..

I always wanted to have Sam's portrait professionally taken. I guess that would be one of the best ways for me to remember him and have him with me when that fateful day comes. However, after viewing several websites of photographers, and comparing their photos with those I've taken with my DSLR, I actually think that I'm doing a pretty decent job myself. Nope, I'm nowhere near their skill levels, but I think I'm pretty good at capturing Sam's most candid moments. Now I just have to take more outdoor shots of my little man.

In addition, I think one aspect that I really fail in is editing the photos I've taken. I guess if more time is invested in editing the photos, the effects would be even better. Thus, I have decided to embark on my first attempt using Gimp (besides the usual resizing image) to improve the quality of the photograph! Since it is afterall my first baby step, I will go slow and simple..

Original Photo:
Slight edited Photo - ya, like S-L-I-G-H-T-L-Y, just a little color adjustment and cropping done.
Simple black and white effect...
Posterized effect, my favourite of the three actually.
Pretty decent for a virgin attempt right? (LOL, okay, this is a ridiculously amateurish attempt.) Guess I should pull up my socks and experiment further in future!

Zombie Attacks..

Damn.. Why didn't I think of this, especially when I'm such a zombie fanatic. A quirky couple came up with the idea of involving a zombie attack as part of their engagement photos.

I'm sure Zim would be quite relieved though. Oh well, at least I could still dress up as a zombie for halloween!

Cat-sitting..

I've finally expanded my horizons and tried cat sitting. While cats are almost as adorable as dogs, I hadn't actually had the opportunity to interact with anyone of them closely. (Partly because, with cats, come lizards. Or rather, dead lizards they treat as toys.) However, when one of my friends had to go out of town, I jumped at the opportunity and volunteered to cat-sit. Why not? Especially since there are NO lizards in NYC.

It wasn't all that difficult as all I had to do was to swing by once a day to clear the litter box and replenish his food bowl. But I decided to be a little more adventurous and approach the cat on the 2nd day. Mr Weasel was comfortably hiding in the closet as he wasn't at all familiar with me. As I read that cats really enjoy having their cheeks stroked, I tried that on him for about 10 minutes before heading off.

When I returned the next day, I was pleasantly surprised that Mr Weasel actually came out and greeted me! Guess he did enjoy the massage I gave him. I eventually started playing with him whenever I visited for the next couple of days (especially since he would come out of hiding just to get a massage). He was a real cutie I have to say. The only downside was, his method of play involved mouthing and scratching with his claws. (Yap, a slight ouch.)

All in all, it was a pretty good experience and I had come to realise how easy it is to own cats. They are so low maintenance, unlike the stupid four-legged creature I have at home (yes, aka SAM). But still, I'm definitely a dog person and going to focus on getting a second dog and not a first cat.

Anyway, here's Mr Weasel. Cute huh?

My birthday pressie to meself..

I decided to give myself a belated pressie (well, anything goes in august..) at a spur of the moment.

Yap, I got me a new Fujifilm Instax Mini 25. I've been thinking about getting a replacement after tossing away the polaroid camera that I once had. Guess this is just the right time to pamper myself.
With the new camera, came a new inspiration! I've decided to embark on a new project where I would take two pictures of Sam a day and paste them on my wall! Zim wasn't too thrill about it as he was already thinking about what a chore it's going to be when it's time for us to move..Well, it's true but again, since when do I think so far in advance... We will deal with it when the day arrives. Meanwhile, so far so good and I'm already loving the effects even though it's still pretty sparse!
Only downside, one single shot costs about USD1. So, hopefully Sam would stay still and allow me to take the shot without fidgeting too much!

My "artsy" parents..

My dad's boss decided to give him a painting after he briefly commented (maybe in a 敷衍 manner) that a particular painting his boss bought was really nice. The boss gave my dad a budget and asked him to choose himself a painting from the Red Sea Gallery at Dempsey Road. So my two "artsy" parents went painting-shopping and chose the ONE. When I went back home in August, I was just in time to see the painting.

This is it: "Old Town" by a Vietnamese Artist called Le Minh Duc.

Erm... I'm no art expert, and while this is a really pretty painting, it was not quite my style. But at least my "artsy" parents seemed to like it.

Oh, just in case you are wondering.. this gorgeous painting has an equally gorgeous price tag - SGD5,000.

Yeah, jaw drop huh?

OUCH...

No, it wasn't Zim (LOL, he wouldn't dare), nor was it Sam. I actually got bit by a random dog at the dog park, a dog that was probably Sam's size. Well, for once, it really wasn't my fault. I did not disturb the dog at all. In fact, I was just chatting with the owner (whom I had met a couple of times) while I sat down on the bench. She followed suit and signaled her dog to hop on the bench as well. Within a split second, the dog attacked me and bit me hard. Seriously, like WTF right? Zim was really annoyed that the owner wasn't more responsible as she had known that her dog was aggressively protective of her. (I was aware too and thus was trying to keep my distance from him, but I didn't expect him to come at me like that.) What luck...

While it really did hurt, I'm not intending to see a doc since the swelling has gone down a little. Well, in the worse case scenario, I've approximately a year if I'm infected with rabies. I guess I should just live life to the fullest for now!! Or rather, try to...