One thing to another

You know how some things trigger other things? Like when object triggers a memory or a place triggers a feeling. My bro told me about how a band of students were practising their medley of Disney songs at Sentosa last week. 

That triggered my compulsion to sing along with all the Disney songs on youtube tonight. For all unabashed Disney fans, this one is really cool:

Loving (loved) summer

Did not draw up a summer bucket list but managed to get a summer tan which is fading way too fast!

Summer essentials

Smorgasburg!

Le Bernadin

Queuing for Totto Ramen

Dinner at Parker & Quinn

Cycling across Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn street art

Lunch at Pio Pio

Along the Hudson River

Chilling at DUMBO

Coming to London!

I cannot be more excited having found out that Ace Hotel is crossing the pond to London (in the Shoreditch area no less!)

Picnic!

Summer's time for endless picnics! Just not here in Singapore. The weather is simply not conducive.

Today was a relatively cooler day and by that, I mean it was slightly cloudier. We packed the picnic basket (imaginary one) and headed to Botanical Gardens for a girls pow wow. The mrt brought us to the side of the gardens that was just outside the Bukit Timah Campus. So nostalgic! I remember tramping across the gardens from school to Orchard Road with Bing after lessons last time.

After moving our mat (clever YW who bought a shower curtain) several times, we found our 'perfect' spot i.e. a spot with some shade and polished off the goodies we pooled together, the marshmallow chocolate muffins YW baked before meeting us. That girl is seriously the most motivated and domestically handy friend I have! My contribution was 2 packs of spicy chips and a 1.5l bottle of water. Would love to pack a Da Paolo style picnic lunch but my energy level is bordering zilch in the morning.

Highlight of the day? Meeting the enormous labradoodle (Labrador + poodle) who stole everyone's heart as he frisked down the Palm Valley. He stole the limelight and totally deserved it! I couldn't resist going up to his owner to ask for a pic.

Nutella overload

Friday was a shitty day which explains (is an excuse for) my Nutella overload. Surfeit is probably a better word cos it killed my appetite for the rest of the day - in a good way. To be fair, I did not start out searching for anything Nutella since I've already had two Nutella cupakes in the past week.

To backtrack, Friday was one of those days where I had a court hearing in the morning which over ran into lunch, and I had another court hearing in the afternoon so that effectively meant that I had to hustle around and could only grab a takeaway. I decided to indulge in my favourite chocolate chip scone from Gastronomia Da Paolo and it was at that moment when I spotted the Nutella cake - a new creation from the awesome people at Da Paolo.

I had to get it even though it looks horribly sinful and to be perfectly honest, not very attractive in the plastic tub. But, just the word 'Nutella' makes my heart skip a beat. I simply cannot resist anything Nutella. Maybe my love affair with Italy has something to do with knowing that some Italian dude created this hazelnut spread.

Here's a blur picture of the cake. I only remembered to snap a pic after taking a couple of mouths. I suspect half a bottle of Nutella goes into every piece of cake - that's 3 thick gooey layers of Nutella for you!

Currently...

Rediscovering the lyrical beauty of books by Japanese authors. I'm reading Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and it's as intriguing as promised by a friend and an intern.

Also reading Madeleine L'Engle's A Live Coal in the Sea. Another gripping and illuminating book but I'm partial when it comes to her books and might not be the best judge. I'm trying to savour the book as slowly as I can as this is the last fiction book of hers which I have not read.

Read the controversial The Shack by William P. Young about a man rediscovering his faith. Can't decide whether the whole lot of it makes sense or not.

I find that blogging is a way of keeping notes for my project life scrapbook album which I'm still trying to keep up. Not that my daily life is very eventful but I find myself 3 months behind (hence the blog entries are useful to remind me what I did 3 months ago). Here's a layout (lifted from KP) which I did sometime back when inspiration struck.

Happy Mother's Day

I really love how irreverently quirky Google is. 

You can guess how much time I spent "creating" these masterpieces.

10 reasons why The Great Gatsby cannot come soon enough

1. There's Leonardo DiCaprio (one and only)
2. There's Carey Mulligan (new crush!)
3. It's directed by Baz Luhrmann (R+J)
4. Soundtrack by Florence + The Machines, Lana Del Ray, Jay-Z etc (simply nuts)
5. 1920s decadence (need I say more?)
6. 1920s flapper dresses
7. Bejewelled headpieces 
8. Tiffany's designing the jewellery
9. Miuccia Prada's designing the outfits
10. An adaptation of a F. Scott Fitzgerald classic

Heard that an NYC premiere had a Great Gatsby themed afterparty. This Kate Spade clutch would literally be the perfect accessory.

How cute can this get!

Coveting

A simple dinner bag - this Vera clutch would match the classic Vera shoes perfectly.

I'm a sucker for collaborations and this Levis and Liberty collection is totally swoon-worthy. A causal dress in Levis demin x Liberty prints - ♥