Damage caused by the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami

A little late in posting this, but I’m sure by now everyone would be aware of the devastating earthquakes and tsunami that have hit Japan. At this point, although I feel terribly sad for the country and its people who have to fight the aftermath of the disaster, I am also extremely grateful that my friends in Japan are safe and alright.

There are many organizations fundraising for Japan right now, so remember to check the authenticity of the source, and how your contributions will be made use of, if you intend to donate!

Like most blogs have stated, people worldwide can help Japan to overcome this crisis by donating through various channels online such as:
Save the Children
Red Cross (International)
Google Crisis Response

But these organisations have been mentioned a gazillion times over in the last few days, so I will talk about another area of rescue that also needs help.

It is natural that animal rescue might end up taking a backseat in times of disaster because efforts are concentrated mostly on people. But let us not completely forget the animals that have lost their homes, been separated from family, or have been injured during the quake. My pets have always been considered part of my family, and so I cannot imagine how terrible it would be to lose them in a disaster.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that animal rescue is more important than the other disaster relief efforts! But perhaps if like me, you feel strongly about this cause, you might also want to consider contributing to animal rescue in Japan in addition to your donation to perhaps, The Red Cross through reliable sources like:

Nippon SPCA
Animal Rescue Kansai
Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS in this post)

Reunion between a man and his dog after the quake.

The Kinship Circle also has a very clear and comprehensive report of the many organizations involved in Animal Rescue here.

I was interested in donating to JEARS in particular because they were specially set up to provide support in animal rescue for this particular disaster. Being extra-doubly cautious, I did quite a fair bit of background checks on the groups that made up this coalition.

The three groups involved, HEART Tohoku, Japan Cat Network and Animal Friends Niigata, all have a no-kill policy and are well-established in Japan. To put most skeptics at ease, each group have posted either clear updates with photos on their rescue activites, or announced their collaboration efforts under JEARS on their respective websites. Furthermore, the Coalition has been very transparent so far about their activities, so you know exactly what your financial or non-financial donations are going into.

Hopefully this tiny background read up I did might help to put some hearts at ease about donating to Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support!! Again, regardless of how much you want to donate, please make sure it goes to a reliable organization.

Let’s all hope that with all the help people are offering, Japan will be able to overcome this.

ガンバレ、日本。

Now, I personally loved loved LOVED the idea of it, especially having always seen this similarly done in issues of Non-No, and so I thought it would be fun if I gave it a shot! (: I took these in a rush to catch some natural light at 5pm, so please forgive the quality of the photos and my lack of makeup!!

As those who know me would be aware, I’m 98% sweet lolita (2% being my not-so secret desire to be a more mature gothic lolita one fine day!!) and that my wardrobe is filled mostly with pink and white! So that being said, here are my chosen 10 items:

A: Ports International blazer
B: Offbrand blouse (purchased off a local blogshop site!)
C: Angelic Pretty “Country of Sweets” JSK in pink
D: Secret Shop Shoes
E: Offbrand Mules with heart-shaped heels
F: Alice and the Pirates “This is my blood” Asymmetrical skirt in off-white
G: Forever 21 sleeveless top
H: Baby the Stars Shine Bright “Parfait” skirt in white
I: Liz Lisa short sleeved hoodie
J: Vivienne Westwood short sleeved cardigan

And so here comes Coordinate #1!

Normally I would wear this off-brand blouse over skinny jeans with a belt for some waist definition, and so, I thought, since that works for me normally, why not try it over a lolita skirt? And so I did.

Coordinate items:
B: Offbrand Blouse
F: Alice and the Pirates “This is my Blood” Asymmetrical Skirt
E: Offbrand Heart-heel Mules
Offbrand belt
Primark lace tights
Paris Kids mini hair bow

Coordinate #2!

This is probably closest to what my regular Sweet Lolita look would look like! For the longest time, this Country of Sweets JSK was my absolute dream article that I wanted to own!! I was lucky to find this at a relatively reasonable price on Mbok nearly 2 years ago, and I have been one happy girl ever since! (:

Coordinate items:
C: Angelic Pretty “Country of Sweets” JSK
B: Offbrand Blouse (sleeves rolled up!)
J: Vivienne Westwood Cardigan
D: Secret Shop Shoes
Baby the Stars Shine Bright PinkxWhite Hairbow
Baby the Starts Shine Bright Bunny Purse
Sock Dreams over the knee rainbow socks

Coordinate #3!

This is the first time I’ve tried something like this, so I’m not sure if it worked quite as well as I hoped it would, but here goes anyway! The blazer covered up most of the top of the bodice, effectively toning down the JSK, and making it a little more “wearable” as compared to the previous full out Sweet Lolita look of #2.

Coordinate items:
C: Angelic Pretty “Country of Sweets” JSK
A: Ports International Blazer
E: Offbrand Heart-heel Mules
Primark laced tights
Ice-cream Necklace, a gift from Ivory
Feather hairband from Portobello Road

Coordinate #4!
So previously I’ve mentioned that my wardrobe was full of Pink and White items. But strangely enough, in my years of being a lolita, I’ve never really done a proper Shiro-Loli look before! It’s got a bit of an old-school lolita look, I think? But either way, I quite like this coordinate.

Coordinate items:
B: Offbrand Blouse
H: Baby the Stars Shine Bright “Parfait” Skirt
E: Offbrand Heart-heel Mules
Angelic Pretty white lace wrist cuffs
Baby the Stars Shine Bright white lace topped knee socks
H&M Offwhite Flower Hairband
Pearl Headband, gift from Ivory (worn as necklace)

And as it turned out, I ran out of sunlight before I could take any more photos, so this is all the coordinates I have for now!! Stay tuned for part 2, which will be posted soon!

x

There’s that saying that goes “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” and in my case this rings very true! My boyfriend is fond of his food, and since he hasn’t eaten my cooking since he visited me in Bristol in May 2009, I thought it would be a nice change if instead of a fancy meal out, we would have a nice homemade lunch by ourselves!

Now, I don’t claim to be an amazing cook by any means, but I am well-trained both by the internet (haha!) and 2 years of independent Uni Life to be able to throw together a pretty good meal when the time calls for it! Yes, I am an internet-trained cook and proud of it!

The boyfriend offered to prepare starter and appetizer of Bruschetta and Caesar Salad, so I thought it was only fair that I handled main course and dessert. He is fond of anything with beef, potatoes or onions, which gave me quite a bit of options! But I guess I decided to play it safe this time round and go with my tried-and-tested AND guaranteed to please recipe of Cottage Pie.

Bruchetta, Caesar Salad, Cottage Pie (:

This particular pie has never failed me, and my ex-housemate Andrew claims that this is the best Cottage Pie he’s ever had (even better than his mum’s!!) so I had confidence that this would go over well with no problems! Cottage Pie is a tiny bit labour intensive, but it is well worth the effort for a nice warm dinner. Let me know if anyone wants to try this recipe out and I’ll share it! (:

I must take the time here to say that I was so impressed the boyfriend’s contributions to the meal! Both dishes were fantastic (tried and tested by his parents, who are absolute foodies!) with the Bruschetta having a bit of a spicy tuna twist and the Caesar Salad dressing was just amazing! I heard that the recipe for the dressing was previously used by the restaurant at the old Imperial Hotel, and all I can say that it was a winner in my books indeed! I will definitely be getting both recipes off him asap!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (:

For dessert, I used Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe with reduced sugar to go with a yummy Cream Cheese Frosting (which my sister happened make too much of), and finished it with a sprinkling of grated Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Dark Chocolate. To be honest, I didn’t have much confidence with this having never tried this recipe, and having rushed to make it on the morning itself, but I think it turned out pretty good!

After all the times we’ve had to decide on where we should go out to eat for over 5 years worth of special occasions, I think it was a lovely change to have a nice home-cooked meal date! We managed to save a little money, and got to spend some time working together in the kitchen, which was really lovely! Admittedly, I used to the sort who absolutely hates someone getting in my way when I’m cooking, but recently, I like having the extra company (and help!!) around.

Oh, I do like a guy who can cook up a pretty good meal, and I do like yummy food! After today’s success, I think there will definitely be more plans for more cooking dates in the future. (;

x

Tiggy says it's his year, not mine!!

Just a quick one to wish everyone a happy Lunar New Year!

As most of us know, according to the Chinese Zodiac, it’s the year of the Rabbit this year. That means that it’s my year this year! However, I’ve just discovered that for the Vietnamese, instead of the Rabbit, it’s the year of the Cat! My two cats would be pleased to know that, I expect!

I decided to go traditional this year and wore a Cheongsam/Qipao! The bad bit about wearing a Cheongsam during Chinese New Year is that because it is so form fitting, it does get uncomfortable if you eat too much!! But it does look flattering, and I guess maybe it will help to curb over-eating during the festive season??

Love the collar of my cheongsam, and how the light in this photo makes my hair look black!!!

My sisters and I picked ours out during our Yunnan trip in December, and it’s got a bit of an unusual collar that I thought was quite cute! (: Sadly, I did change out of it into something a bit more comfy at the end of the day when I went to visit my boyfriend’s family so I could run around with the kids and dogs!

It’s been quite a nice Chinese New Year so far for me, especially since I haven’t celebrated it with all of my family for nearly 5 years! I’m just not too keen on people starting to ask if I’ll be getting married soon… I didn’t think I’d be getting those sort of questions for a few more years!? :\

But anyway! Here’s hoping everyone else is having a great time relaxing during this long weekend holiday, eating lots of goodies and collecting hongbao money! (:

Gong Xi Fa Cai! (:

x

Natalie Portman in Black Swan

I don’t think Singapore has fully caught onto the whole hype about Black Swan yet, especially since it hasn’t officially started showing at cinemas here (opens 10 Feb 2011)!

The white swan

I’ve had the strange privilege of catching it early sometime ago while I was overseas and I will admit that was quite impressed with it. Yes, the movie was definitely dark, thought-provoking and very intense and as such, may not be up everyone’s street, but I felt like the inner perfectionist in me could relate, and had a connection with it.

Natalie Portman’s acting was simply stellar in portraying Nina, a ballerina who was so consumed and tormented by her aim to be perfect. Not only was I so enchanted over the beauty of the dance and costumes on the surface of it, I ended up being so caught up in (and to some point, affected by) the storm of emotions and twisted confusion inside her mind. A masterpiece indeed.

So impressed by her effort to achieve her ballerina physique!

Since I am into the whole hype about black swan/ballet style aesthetic at the moment, I picked up a few points from the style to incorporate into my daily fashion that I wouldn’t usually wear! A couple of feathered headbands, a splash of glitter liner on eyes, comfy ballet pumps, swishy tulle skirts of varying lengths and soft flowy fabrics.. just a few things that could put you in a twirly ballerina kind of mood!

My swanlake-worthy feathered hairbands! Pink/Green from Portebello Market, Black/White from Diva Accessories

Now, I don’t claim to be a fashion expert by any means, but I do love dressing up! Here are just some accessories and outfits I picked out inspired by the ballet and the 2 characters of Swan Lake as played by dear Miss Portman.

Inspired by the Black Swan, the one who will catch your attention and steal your heart!

Inspired by the white swan princess, who is innocent and romantic. The sweetheart.

Maybe its the girly, romantic feel, or perhaps due to my long lost dream of wanting to be a ballerina. But at the end of the day, I do love this whole ballet trend that seems to have popped up thanks to Black Swan. (:

Definitely catch the movie, if you are able to, And hopefully, you’ll be impressed with this beautiful, yet chilling thriller like I did.

x

Unfortunately, it has come to a point where I needed to get a new shade. And for some reason, I decided that due to my previous failed attempts at getting a slightly darker shade of brown, this time I would go extreme. Yes, I went back to black.

Very black hair thanks to Beauteen's Natural Black hair dye!

Although I was the one to make the decision, I was so reluctant to make the change! I worried over it, I consulted the people around me, I put it off for week and weeks… and even up to the point when I was buying the box of hairdye, I felt so unsure of it! But in the end, despite the unnecessary drama I had with myself, I got it done in 20 minutes. Lol

However, my silly hair obviously had different plans, for within a week of being dyed black, it has lightened considerably! Yes folks, in the last week, I’ve somehow ended up with brown hair again. :\

brown hair yet again!

I guess you could say that I am a bit miffed that after all that indecisiveness over the decision to change my hair colour, I’ve gone back to a lighter shade so quick. But I am secretly pleased that it is a darker and more natural shade as compared to what I had before!

I guess the lesson to be learnt from my slightly blonde moment here is that at the end of the day, it’s just hair! I’ll definitely be worrying a lot less the next time I have to make a hair-related decision, lol.

good hair days ahead!

Comes in a pretty pink box!

I knew very well that the price was WAY too good to be true, and I knew for a fact that this particular box set was sold out over a year ago, so it was highly likely that it wasn’t genuine. But since it was high time both me and my sister needed a new set of straighteners, and it was cheaper than what we would both usually fork out, we decided just to get a set against my better judgement!

the styler comes in a set with hairbrush, 2 sectioning clips, tote, styler bag and instruction booklet

Having used ghds almost religiously for the last year of my life and having seen this particular model in real life, all I can say that if these are truly fake, it’s a bloody good one! I’ve tried it out on my difficult hair, and compared it to photos, reviews, everything I can find!! It just seems like the real deal, from how effective it styles my hair, even down to the bleeps and blinking light! To be honest, the only thing that gave it away so far was that I was unable to register it on the ghd website. I have sent an email to ghd for a final registration number check just to settle my curiosity, but I don’t have my hopes up for a positive reply.

Hairbrush and clips with interior tote print as a backdrop!

Yes, I know the negatives of fake ghds, but these seem to work alright (and better than my current Babyliss ones, even!) so far. So till I’m able to finally get my hands on my own genuine pair of ghds, or a better set of stylers, these will have to do temporarily. As sad as it is, I guess I am still ghd-less for now! ):

Yulong Mountain in Li Jiang, Yunnan

It’s a brand new year! I spent a whole week up in the mountains of Yunnan, China including a very uneventful New Year’s Eve in Shangri-La. However, I will admit that being internet-less in the middle of all things (somewhat) basic, peaceful and natural does bring a different perspective into my thoughts. I will probably do a trip post soon, after I get my photos out of my camera!

A few days late, to post resolutions, but this year I have 3:
1) Stay fit
This includes eating healthy, shedding the weight I’ve put on in the years of studying in England, and keeping in shape! Since I’ve been back in Singapore, cheerleading has definitely pushed me to shape up, but I feel that I can do better and I will admit that I am vain enough to want to work for it. No more half-hearted diets for me this year!

2) Clean up!
I have way too much clutter in my life and it is partly because I just can’t give anything I own up! Sentimental value and all that jazz.. it’s really not a helpful to be a pack-rat when I’ve come back from 5 years of having my own space to sharing a room with my sister again. The state of my wardrobe is appalling and no matter how much I clear it out, it just seems to be so full! And let’s not get started on my shoes and cosmetics. An absolute nightmare! So I will have to declutter and reorganise my life by Chinese New Year, and somehow keep it that way! I know lots of girls have this clutter problem too, so I will probably blog to document this process.

3) Off Screen Memories
I realise that since going digital, I don’t have any physical photo albums anymore! It sucks that I used to have all these photos from my Poly days (no matter how badly taken) that I no longer have  because I lost them as digital data during computer crashes and harddrive failures. I recently unearthed a few photos of my childhood and I’ve decided that I would like to keep my memories recorded off the screen as well. (:

I’ll be working to keep these resolutions! What are your resolutions this year?

My favourite photos, printed out using a Polaroid Pogo on the spot!

It’s been a while since I’ve last cosplayed.. possibly over a year! Recently thanks to my dear friend Ivoryfox, I’ve somehow gotten roped in to doing characters not from Anime and Manga, but from Japanese Dramas! Sometimes I think if not for Ivory, I wouldn’t be cosplaying very much anymore…

This time around, we chose to cosplay the main characters off the Drama Uta no Oniisan with Ivory as Kenta, and Me as Urara.

The thing about cosplaying a character off a live action drama is that there is always that comparison to the actor’s face and features, thus making it a little more challenging. Plus, these characters tend to be a little less recognisable, so I got a couple of strange guesses as to who I was, like “Strawberry Shortcake” and “Strawberry Girl”. Lol!

The cast of Uta no Oniisan

Photo by Valentine (:

This shot by Valentine is my absolute favourite of the day (thanks Val!)! I also love how colourful we look in costume together in photos and that unlike previous times, this was not hard or too expensive to put together at all. (: We also had a couple of kids who came up to us asking for photos with them, so that made me quite happy too!

I also really like this one by Valentine!

Polaroids! Photo by Shu

And one of me looking pissed off! Photo by Shu!

Now that this one’s done and over with, I guess it’s time to start thinking about the next project?! To think that my family always asks me why I’m still cosplaying at my age!! There’s just so much more things I would love to do in my life that I know I won’t be able to do when I’m much older, so I’m just making good use of my youth till it runs out on me, I guess!

x

Little Bears Cafe at EOY 2010, Photo by Shu ♥

Steph and I came (fashionably) late, having been held back a while by Dance Central and dressing up in her Magical Dressing Room earlier that day. I originally planned on wearing my Milky Berry JSK, but I couldn’t say no when Steph generously offered to let me wear her lovely Little Bear’s Cafe JSK! I lovelove this series, and I’d definitely consider owning a piece of it myself (:

But anyway, what I really wanted to blog about isn’t so much about the runway or the attendance.  Basically, during one of the performances, one of the audience members in the front got really into the song and stood up and did wotagei! However, he and a few others who were up on their feet jumping and dancing to the song were told by staff to sit back down in their seats. I was late, so I missed seeing this in person, but the girls did take a video of it, so I have seen this in action at least on video.

If you are not familiar with Wotagei, it is basically a sets of dance moves and chants that fans in japan do to show their support and appreciation during their idol’s song. Here’s a class example of Wotagei done in Japan to Mikitty’s (Hello!Project Artiste) Romantic Ukare Mode:

As an innocent bystander I do think it is a little strange and scary to see Wotagei being actually done in real life, but at the same time, I feel that it is a little unfair for the poor guy who was obviously really into the performance enough to wotagei it up by himself to be told to sit back down! I mean, when I’m at a gig and there’s a song I love that comes on, I’m definitely up on my feet dancing to it! So I think it is quite a bit of a downer to be told to sit back down. Plus, EOY is meant to be a platform for Japanese culture and I think that Wotagei is a big part of otaku culture and should not neccessarily be out of place at such an event.

Anyways, Wotagei aside, I didn’t get to see many people during the event having come so late! I managed to see a few of the Runway participants in their coordinates and chat with them as I haven’t been to any meets in ages! I also caught some of Danceroid’s performance (which some of the audience had to dance along in their seats)! The two girls were very cute and have a lot of energy and spunk into their dance so I quite liked it!

After a full exciting weekend full of events and activities, I’m completely knackered. EOY is the last event I’ll be going to this year, so here’s to more exciting events in the next year!

x