my hero

{ daddy and a 2 mth old nathan}

Today we celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary, and everyday I thank God that he put such a godly loving man in my life.

Thank you honey for putting up with my whims and nonsense all these years. And loving me all the same - quirks, warts and all.

Thank you for making me talk whenever I clam up during an argument. And for always saying sorry first even if I was the one at fault.

Thank you for being such an amazing hands on daddy. And for putting Nathan to bed every night so I can have a break.

And oh, have I thanked you for that lovely Kate Spade bag yet?

You know how shy I am about public declarations, so here's a simple
happy 4th anniversary sweetheart :)

You know I ♥ you.

New Necklaces

{petite etoile and petite coeur necklaces}

I added two new simple necklaces to the shop yesterday. They were born out of my own need for simple fuss free chains to go with all the fancy earrings that I make and wear. Although with Nathan now, it means I prefer to wear studs which he cannot tug and threaten to split my lobes in two... There are still days I just like something easy to wear and petite coeur is one of them :)

{Tooting Tootsie}

(Oh wow she got sold even before I blogged about it! Thanks S!)

Next meet little MissTooting Tootsie. She's a charmer of a vintage black enamel and gold owl pin with rhinestones round her eyes that I picked up on a Portobello trawl, like 2 years back? I seriously dig this babe! How cute is she?~! I plan to go back to my more complex necklace designs soon but that'll probably have to wait till we return from UK, with hopefully lotsa treasures and newfound inspiration in tow!

yippee yay yay,

A birthday and an update

New additions to the shop!

I know it's been the longest time. As V so succintly put it, "your last blog post was dated 9 Feb!!" I can only plead procrastination what with all the Chinese New Year celebrations, and Nathan's 1st birthday bash just a week later. Yes, a full whole year of 365 days has come and gone and our little man is now a full fledged toddling toddler!We had 2 parties for him on the actual day of his birthday - 20 Feb - one for his kiddy friends in the afternoon and another one for the whole clan (my side of cos) at his grandparents' place at night. That Saturday was really the longest day of our lives, if you exclude the wedding and nathan's birth naturally.The kids were such a riot! But so memorable nonetheless :) As we are heading back to the UK over the Easter break, Nathan gets to have another 1st birthday party with his dad's side of the family and relive his special day all over again! I'm just glad I don't have to plan this one haha. We are really looking forward to going back for the first time with Nathan, it really is high time he got in touch with his English roots! Not to mention enjoy a break from the crazy heat that was February. April showers here we come!

in vacation mode already,

9 Feb shop update

The little shop received some new additions last night while others went on sale! Yes you read right, I'm having a mini CNY sale on selected items for 3 days before I take some time off for the festive season. If you would like to receive your jewellery for CNY, the last day to purchase is 11 February Thursday.

We will be staying with my parents over the weekend (there's a valid reason why we call their place The Resort) and as a special treat the hubster and I will be having a 2-day-1-night staycation at a nice fancy mystery hotel without the bub. Hehe. Can't wait for some much- needed couple time to relax and renew our romance... some lounging by the pool and cuddles under the duvet, and not a nappy or bottle in sight! Yippee! All we really want is just a decent night's sleep and a truly proper lie in. That's not too much to ask for, right?

Till then, here's to a blessed abundant lunar new year to all! Be back here again soon!

06.02.10 shop update

{Rubie earrings}

{Twin Brocade Bracelet}

{Yu Bracelet}

The 3 new additions yesterday.

Have a toast Saturday folks!

You can always tell Chinese New Year is round the corner with the heatwave :p

slathering sunblock like tomorrow,

Reminiscence

In case you haven't noticed, 3 new pieces were added to the little shop yesterday before I went out to meet the polo girls for the evening. By 10pm, my eyes were glazed and I started to take in only bits and pieces of the conversation. That goes to show how early my bedtime has become! It's funny how conversations have started to revolve around kids - though I'm the only mama, everyone has nephews! - making me feel somewhat auntified among us four.

We reminisced about how fearsome (haha) we were in the pool, but more often than not we lamented the distant memories of lean muscles and toned biceps, nicely tanned skin and the ability to stuff our face without weight concerns. Doesn't help that our male counterparts of old still look as fit as before and 1) continue to be active in the sport or 2) go on to other sporting endeavours like marathoning! The only exercise I get nowadays is toddler-chasing, which I should add, is surprisingly effective though much much much less glamourous.

I've not really blogged much about my past outdoorsy life cos frankly I've either lost/misplaced the photos from those days. But in our last spring cleaning, I found a CD containing some old kayaking pictures (Viv you can ask me for them heh) and since we're in the mood for some nostalgia, here they are! Please don't be amazed that I actually am in these photos, albeit much much much fitter and darker than I am now. Haha!

Yes this was my life till 6 years ago.
Ah, such fond memories...

wistful,

Little additions

To fast forward from my last update on the little guy, Nathan is now officially a walker! And gone are my days of (relative) leisure... now it's running after him and saying no you can't touch this, or no running or step, step, STEP!! Oh boy.... It sure is giving me some good old exercise. Exhausting as it can be at times for the adults, it sure tires him out as well so he knocks out for naps and sleeps through the night till cock-a-doodle-doo!

Our days are now spent going to the playground, swimming or having playdates with his friends, like little miss natalie :)

Here they are enjoying their schoolbus ride

And our typical Saturday morning at the playground - the walks there has given the bub and I a nice toasty tan but sadly Daddy is still as pasty as ever hehe. Nate has definitely inherited my ability to tan with minimal sun, phew! We still can't believe he is turning 1 in 3 weeks! Why, he was just a tiny babe when we brought him home with us less than a year ago. And now he is a proper trooper. He is still the littlest walker at the playground but he's not the least bit daunted and goes up to other kids to play with them and is especially adept at terrorising unsuspecting canine bystanders. Watch out world!

I end my little family update with a sweet darling addition to the shop:

{Eléonore}

blissful and contented,

longawaited update

New stuff made it to the little shop today!

{Jade Fishie bracelet}

{Love Pixiu bracelet}

{Empress Orchid}

{Petite Bloom - Blush edition}

{Scarlett}

{Bonham ring}

We just came back from Nathan's swim lesson and soon we'll be off to a wedding dinner at the Fullerton tonight. I'm just glad I managed to upload these pieces after what, weeks??? Seems like 24hrs just ain't enough for me! Or maybe I just need to get my act together and fine tune my time management. Sigh.

have a sunny restful weekend,

Our Christmas Day

I have been such a lazy bum!

It's unbelievably difficult to get back into the swing of things when you've had a super duper truper long break! I should have been up and busying myself for the new year since last week but seriously, taking that time away from the computer and beading table has been nothing short of exhilarating. I've always felt pressured to work and reinvent myself creatively, especially so when you work from home and only a thin line separates your home from your "office". It really takes a baby to change your priorities!

So it was a neat and tidy difference when I cleared the dining table of the last vestiges of stones and metals for the Christmas hols and did nothing but hang out with family and friends. By golly, there were soooo many presents for the little one that it took us 2 days to finish opening all of them!! (babies have notoriously short attention spans)

Here is our trusty old tree engulfed by a ginormous pile of presents, some DHL-ed over from the UK. It was fun having the postman press your bell nearly every other day with a nice big box that you know hold pressies hee hee.

Opening a gift from Nannie and Raffa before breakfast

Dressed to head out to Christmas service

All that singing and playing tired the little bub out

Opening a gift from mama
- a Precious Moments tree ornament that says "Baby's 1st Christmas 2009"
- which will be kept safely out of baby's reach for the next 18 years haha

Taking a break from opening pressies to play

Continuing with pressies... he didn't like the little monkey bag cum baby "leash" at first.
Poor champ.

Opening pressies is a seriously draining business.

Daddy says epics are perfect Christmas Day movies so he's putting on LOTR on.
Nathan seems to agree.

Going on a walk in his new toy!
(COE not included)

Finally! The traditional turkey dinner.
Nathan had his first taste of brussel sprout mash and loved it!
And that marked the end of Nathan's first Christmas.

But there were still unopened pressies.
So we continued to open gifts on Boxing Day.

This time daddy got knackered first.

Come on daddy! We still have more pressies to go!

So yep, that pretty summarised our Christmas in 2009. We then stayed with the grandparents through to New Year and happily snuggled in bed as a family during the countdown while the kids next door screamed their way to 2010 and nearly drove me mad. Nothing fancy, just some good old wholesome family time together :)

Hope you had a wonderful start to the new year too!

I'll be back with new loot this weekend (i hope). Hee.

my bumbling bundle of joy

And Nathan walks!

Friends tell us this is quite a feat for a 10 month old baby. We really thank God that he is developing so well! It is really is hilarious watching him walking haphazardly before falling on his bum. Maybe I will burn off more calories from chasing him around now. Haha!

proud mama,