Made myself a sandwich for lunch today. Stuffed it with lots of veggies as an attempt to start eating healthy again. Yes, for the nth time! With just a little over six months ’til our church wedding, I have to start taking this belly fat burner diet seriously. Been running and doing some kick boxing too, so I hope to see positive results in a few months time.

Markers on plain Moleskine. Originally posted on my flickr.

In other news, I finally took out my markers and art tools and doodled in my moleskine again. It’s been months, and I gotta say I really missed letting my creative juices flow. :)

For my sixth Photos of My Life, Faye requested a photo of my favorite non-fiction book.

If you don’t already know, I am a bit of a bookworm. For the past couple of months, I have set aside shopping for clothes, shoes and makeup, and replaced it with trips to the bookstore instead. Every single week I buy about two to three new books to add to my reading pile. It’s such an expensive hobby (which is why I love book sales and coupons!), but something I just can’t seem to live without. My goal of books to read this year is fifty, and I’m glad to say that I am already on my thirty-first book. That’s already past my twenty-seven books for the whole of 2009. :)

Most of my reads are fiction, but I do pick up several non-fictions from time to time. My current favorite is Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I read Eat Pray Love two years ago, and it was one exciting book that I just couldn’t put down. It was a delight to experience the author’s path to self-discovery through her adventures of food, travel, love and inner peace. A book filled with both humor and positive life realizations. It made me itch to pack my bags and go on a year-long travel around the world.

The movie adaptation of the book coming in August is definitely something that I’m looking forward to. I normally find movie versions of my favorite books a letdown, but I think experiencing Eat Pray Love visually would still be a nice treat for a travel junkie like me.

What about you guys? What’s your favorite non-fiction book? :)

** For more photo requests, please comment in my Photos of My Life post. **

For my fifth set of Photos of My Life, Ate Janz requested a photo of my favorite outfit.

My fashion style is mostly on the safe side. I prefer buying classic pieces that won’t go out of style, so about eighty percent of my wardrobe consists of plains and basics. I don’t have a lot of printed stuff. However, I do have one printed dress that I really really like.

My leopard print bubble dress:

Leopard print bubble dress (SM Department Store), paired with my comfy brown flats (Rubi/Cotton On) and necklace (which I made).

It’s such a comfy and versatile dress. I can wear it on a casual stroll at the mall with a pair of flats, or for a night out of drinks and dancing paired with killer heels. Even my sister likes it. She has one too, which she wore during our ROM. :)

I love SM! They’re always stocked with gorgeous clothes and accessories at affordable prices. I grabbed this dress as soon as I laid my eyes on them. I just knew it was a keeper! =P

Anyway, because of this photo project, I ended up having a mini photo shoot with the husband earlier. =D

Photo by: scrufus.

Please excuse the dark under eye circles! =P
Photo by: scrufus.

A close up of the necklace that I made. Will be working on putting up an online store sometime in the future, so watch out for it. :)

What about you guys? Show us your favorite outfit too. :)

** For more photo requests, please comment in my Photos of My Life post. **

Received my first complimentary book from BookSneeze a few weeks ago. I currently have a stack of books waiting to be read, but I put them aside for a day and picked this up instead.

A Girl’s Guide to Life is filled with pointers on dealing with various adolescent issues. Divided into three sections (Mind, Body and Soul), it has answers to questions most teenage girls are generally afraid (or shy) to ask about. From family, self-esteem (in the face of all those alli diet pills out there) and pressure, to boys, love and sex. It’s a simple guide for teens to deal and live their adolescent years wisely and worry-free.

Now, for a twenty-seven year old, this book had very little impact on me. However, if I was presented with this book a decade or so earlier, then I’m sure it would’ve served as my teenage life bible of some sort. =P

The disadvantage of not owning your own house/apartment is the restriction of designing your space as you please. Renting means no renovation or any major changes to the structure of the unit. You just have to make use of what you have.

The husband and I are quite lucky, because our rented flat is pretty well designed. All we needed to do was to add several accessories and decorations, and we were all set.

For my fourth Photos of My Life, an anonymous reader requested a room tour. But since that person’s request didn’t indicate any particular room, I’ll just show you the first thing you’ll see as you enter our flat–The Living Room.

Click the images to view larger size.

Our small living room, composed of two leather armchairs, a coffee table, a built-in entertainment console/ledge against three glass walls, bulit-in shelves, floor pillows, and a small bookshelf. All the built-in fixtures (shelves, entertainment console, glass walls) together with the armchairs and coffee table, were already in the flat when we moved in. Everything else is ours.

Towards the left are the doors leading to the two rooms, while the door to the far wall slides to the kitchen and the extra bathroom. Behind the glass wall with shelves is the storeroom.

This is my favorite corner in the living room. Sometimes I lounge on the pillows and read for hours.

The Booze & Art Wall. This is where we house our CDs, DVDs, alcohol, display toys, miniature cars (that don’t need carinsurancelist.com),  travel trinkets, and several of my framed art.

The other corner has another built-in shelf. Behind the wall is our shoe cabinet.

The entertainment console is a three and a half meter ledge that houses our LCD TV, wireless printer, magazines, more bottles of alcohol and a few more of my framed artworks.

Left side of the entertainment console: more alcohol on the left, and some art pieces on the right. If you’re wondering, no we’re not alcoholics. But drinks are crazy expensive in Singapore, so we always buy at the airport whenever we fly back in from elsewhere.

Three of my lomo prints in frames, and one of my gouache paintings on canvas board. The silver hand is meant to be a necklace holder, but I like keeping my jewelries in drawers, so I use the hand figure as decoration instead.

Right side of the entertainment console: wireless printer, stacks of magazines and my Photo Tree.

The door on the left is our study/computer room, while the door on the right leads to our bedroom and bathroom. In between the two doors is my crowded bookshelf. The books on this shelf are just the ones purchased here in Singapore (in a span of two years!). I’m such a bookworm, and one of my ultimate dreams is having my own floor to ceiling bookshelves one day. :)

There you go. That’s our living room.

Being a foreigner in Singapore, our living arrangement is quite temporary. This means that it’s not really practical to spend a hefty amount on furniture and other expensive embellishments. So with very little resource, I try to make use of what’s there in order to make our space a little more homey. :)

** For more photo requests, please comment in my Photos of My Life post. **

For my third set of Photos of My Life, an anonymous reader requested a look inside my bag. The last time I posted the contents of my handbag was way back in 2007 when I did the Face Your Pockets Project, so I had fun doing this.

Click image for a slightly bigger size.

Bag: Louis Vuitton Epi Leather Petit Noe (Brown). I love this bag, because I can use it with almost anything in my closet. It’s big enough to carry a lot of my junk too.

Inside: Book (I read everywhere, so I always bring a book with me), Aldo wallet, hairbrush, Charm stippling brush, M.A.C. lipstick in Brick-O-La, M.A.C. Blush Ombre in Ripe Peach, M.A.C. Studio Fix in NC35, Smith’s Rosebud Salve, mints, a tiny bottle of lotion, travel pack tissue (I always stock up on these when I’m in Manila… they don’t have this size here!), house keys, Cotton On shades (my sensitive eyes can’t live without sunnies), hair tie, metal Parker Jotter pen in pink, iPod touch (I use this mostly to play games. Current addictions: Scramble, Words with Friends and Angry Birds), iPod earphones, BlackBerry Curve 8320, Canon Ixus 80is, moleskine notebook.

This is already a scaled down version of the things that I usually stuff in my bag (I usually carry more makeup… but no life insurance quotes). I try to bring only the essentials now.

I also enjoy peeking inside other people’s bags, so show me what’s inside yours too. :)

For more photo requests, please comment in my Photos of My Life post.

For my second set of Photos of My Life, Kat requested:

Since you’re here in SG, i’d like to know what is the one thing that symbolizes “home” for you and/or the thing that makes your homesickness go away all the time :)

This was a little hard, because I have quite a long list of things that make me miss Manila. But, there is one particular thing that I like looking at every time I’m in our living room, and that’s this Umbra Fotofalls Desktop Photo Tree my brother gave me a few Christmases ago:

It holds eighteen different set of pictures of people that make Manila home for me.

I reckon it’s a beautiful piece of art.

I am a very nostalgic person, and this piece of art just screams my name.

I have photos of my friends, and polaroids of my baby Gucci too.

Some photos of beach getaways, and some Christmas shots too.

A photo with my High School best friend, and another with my college girls.

My little Gucci. <3

And my dear family, of course.

This piece of art makes me miss home, and at the same time makes my homesickness go away. I talk to my family everyday, and I’m in constant contact with my close friends too, so living in Singapore has never been that hard for me. I’m just glad I have these pieces of home with me in Singapore. :)

For more photo requests, please comment in my Photos of My Life post.

You know you’re getting old when you start saying that you’re a certain age, months before you even turn that age.

Yes, for some reason, I’ve been absentmindedly saying that I’m already twenty seven years old, even if I just turned that age last Tuesday.  And no, I don’t think I’m in denial about being old. For some reason, age seem to have stopped being important after twenty five. =P

My Birthday celebration started a day early this year. The husband likes to spoil me rotten! :) Upon my request, we went out for a quick Japanese dinner, followed by a movie (SATC 2). I have been craving for sushi for weeks, so it was about time I finally satisfied both my tummy and palate.

At Nihon Mura, The Cathay, about to devour my sushi. I don’t remember how many plates I had, but it was certainly more than what I normally eat! =P

And of course, what’s a trip to a Japanese restaurant without having sashimi. I love my sashimi! <3

We had several plates of sushi, some yakitori, tokayaki balls and the salmon sashimi which we happily downed with hot green tea. And is if we weren’t full enough, we even munched on ice cream and chocolates during the movie too. =P

On the night of my Birthday, we headed to Clarke Quay and had Persian for dinner.

Shiraz, Clarke Quay.

The restaurant was well decorated, with a relaxed and cozy ambience. Upon entering, we were greeted with a big and beautiful chandelier that had over a dozen lamps in different colors. The chandelier alone had more than enough color to please an artist like me, but more lamps in an array of colors were decorated all over the restaurant. Including this pendant lamp that I just wanted to take home:

Pretty lamp! I want!

We took photos while waiting for our food to arrive.

My obligatory Birthday pose. :)

The hubby and I. <3

And finally, the food arrived.

There was a complimentary serving of a ginormous flatbread with olives, chives, feta cheese, and other greens on the side. The cheese and chives wrapped in the bread went perfectly well together.

Halim Bademjan: Fried mashed eggplant mixed with lentil, walnut, garlic, served with fried onion, lamb meat & sour cream. This went really well with the complimentary bread too.

My order of Bareh Kebab: Premium lamb “eyeloin” cut into cubes, marinated with saffron & special herbs, skewered and charbroiled. I loved how tender and juicy the lamb was. It was served with buttered Basmati Rice flavored with saffron, grilled tomato/green chilies and mixed fresh vegetables. I haven’t eaten rice in months, but my plate was empty before I could stop myself. =P

The hubby’s Lari Kebab: Charbroiled tender venison marinated in yogurt and herbs – a special recipe from south of Persia. The meat was bursting with yummy flavors, I made the hubby give me a few pieces because it was just too good. =P

As we dined, we were entertained by a belly dancer who made her way across the tables doing a great ab workout. Seeing her sexy body made devouring all the meat on my plate seem like a serious crime. But then the guilt only lasted for a couple of minutes, because the food did not disappoint. The servings were quite big, but we managed to empty our plates anyway. You just can’t let good food go to waste! =P

I was one happy Birthday girl! :)

After dinner, we walked over to Brewerkz and joined JR‘s officemates for some drinks. As soon as we sat down, they all burst into a Birthday song, where people from the next table joined in too. Haha!

A few minutes later, they surprised me again with a slice of cake and another round of the Birthday song. :) Aren’t they such sweeties? :)

JR and I with my cheesecake. <3

To cap off my Birthday, I arrived home to a Facebook page flooded with over 150 greetings. What a wonderful way to feel the love. I am truly blessed. :)

My twenty seventh Birthday was definitely one celebration full of yummy food, great conversation, awesome company, and an overflow of love, love, love. <3

Thank you for all your photo requests for my Photos of My Life project. :)

The first set of photos, as requested by my sister Carla, will be my stash of makeup. Now, I don’t really have that much makeup (not as much as my makeup artist sister, that is), but I reckon I have quite enough to satisfy my slight addiction to prettifying myself.

Here’s my makeup stash:

I keep my makeup in these drawers from Muji. If you read back to one of my blog posts almost two years ago, I revealed my neat-freak personality, pointing out my love affair with cleaning and organizing my stuff. Storing my makeup in a neat and organized way is therefore not a big surprise. Like I said in my post before, these drawers were love at first sight. I started out with only two layers, but since these are completely stackable (I can buy extras whenever I want!), I bought 2 more layers a couple of months ago.

I keep different types of makeup in separate drawers, that way I know exactly where to find things when I need them.

Now, let me give you a tour inside my drawers. :)

Top Drawers

Left Drawer: This is where I put my random beauty stuff. From hair ties, bobby pins, sponges, scissors, thinning scissors, palette, sharpeners, tweezers, etc.

Right Drawer: I like keeping my brushes inside drawers instead of pen holders. I’m afraid they’ll just collect dust and other bacteria if I keep them out. My brushes include M.A.C., Bedazz, Charm, Clinique, Fanny Serrano, and other unbranded ones. Among all of these, I love using my Bedazz brushes the most. :)

2nd Layer Drawers

Left Drawer: Where I keep my skin products. These include M.A.C. Prep + Prime, M.A.C. Fix + (in a 30mL bottle which I got for free), Skinfood BB cream, Clinique foundation, MUFE HD Powder, Ellana mineral products, Paul & Joe Highlighting Powder, L’oreal Revitalift Eye (wrinkle creams, anyone?) and a Fanny Serrano compact powder, just to name a few.

Right Drawer: Several tubes of mascara (mostly Maybelline and L’oreal), Sephora Corrector Pen. eyelash curler, pencil eyeliners, eyebrow pencils, Mario Badescu samples, eyedrops, etc…

3rd Layer Drawers

Left Drawer: Several pots of M.A.C. eyeshadows (I should invest in Pro palettes soon so I can finally depot these), Mica Bella pigments/shimmer powders, Paul & Joe Pearl Powder, M.A.C Eye Prep + Prime, M.A.C. Paint Pot, M.A.C Fluidline, Cinema Secrets Concealer, M.A.C. Studio Finish Concealer…

Right Drawer: Lip stuff: Clinique lipsticks, M.A.C. lipsticks (Touch, Captive, Hug Me, Retro, etc…), L’Oreal lipstick, Victoria’s Secret lip glosses, Clinique liquid lipstick, Nina Ricci lip gloss, Urban Decay lipstick, etc..

Bottom Drawer: 88 Eyeshadow Palette, 28 Neutral Eyeshadow Palette, $ U 2 I-Pro Palette, Fanny Serrano Eyebrow Powder, Revlon eyeshadows, Rimmel eyeshadows, Red Earth eyeshadows, Body Shop eyeshadows, Clinique eyeshadows, Silky Girl eyeshadows, Body Shop blush, Fashion 21 blush, Sephora Duo Blush, Prestige Bronzing Powder, NARS Blush, M.A.C blushes…

I’m thinking of getting another set of these drawers, because they’re starting to get a little crowded already. Plus, I need to make more room for future makeup goodies. Plus, I’m praying for free makeup to fall on my lap too. *cough*sister*cough* Hahaha!

So there you go, that’s Photos of My Life No. 1: Makeup. For more photo requests, please comment in my Photos of My Life post.

If you don’t already know, I love photography. I enjoy taking photos, whether they be styled or random shots. My Flickr has over 700 photos of my love affair with cameras and photographs.

I’d like to try something new this time, and I’ll be needing your help. :)

All I need you guys to do is to ask me to take a photo of any aspect of my life; be it a place or an item or something that symbolizes something to me. Ask me anything you might be curious about (from stuff in my bedroom, my favorite shoes, or other random things like tuxedo shirts–not that I have any =P), and I’ll post a photo of it.

Don’t be shy, guys! Just ask away. This will definitely be a great way for you all to get to know a little bit more about me and my life. :)

———

Here are the completed photo requests:

• Photos of My Life No. 1: Makeup
• Photos of My Life No. 2: One Thing That Symbolizes Home
• Photos of My Life No. 3: Inside My Bag
• Photos of My Life No. 4: Living Room Tour
• Photos of My Life No. 5: My Favorite Outfit
• Photos of My Life No. 6: My Favorite Non-Fiction Book