new year, new blog

Hi there! I’m moving to a new domain — forwardhomeward (still with WordPress). See you there!

signing in

How about that, it’s been a while since I last wrote here…

The past six months in a nutshell has been a crazy rollercoaster ride, and for the most part it’s more of the hard bumps than the exhilarating aaaaahs. 2010 has not really been a kind year to us, at least halfway through. We left Jakarta in June, we lost someone very dear to us in September, plus a couple of hard hits that really made us wish for this year to just speed by. And since the year is almost at its end, it’s slowly becoming a relief.

But of course, there are still blessings that we continue to be thankful for. And largely, it is for family and friends who kept us under their wing and gave (and continuously give) us warmth and hope that things will get better in time. I pray to God next year it would be. And I believe it will be.

I don’t know when I’ll be signing in again, so I’ll take the chance now to wish you all a merry Christmas and a blessed year ahead. May your hearts be filled with love and your tummies filled with awesome treats throughout the holidays.

Hello SG!

The other day, Leoby and I flew to Singapore for a day trip. We’ve been itching to go there for a visit and luckily we chanced upon an opportunity to say hello to Singapo-lah even for just less than a day.

My only booboo was that I forgot my camera’s battery! I charged it the night before, took the charger out of the power socket when I woke up and placed the whole thing in my little case. I left the case at home, thinking I wouldn’t really need to bring the charger. Only when we were in the taxi on the way to the airport that I realized I didn’t get the battery off the charger. I had the camera in my bag. Stupid me!

Anyways, we had about 10 hours to go gallivanting around the country we used to call home. Leoby wanted to check out Universal Studios but I kinda burst his bubble and said it might be bitin if we spend less than half day there. I was aiming for a leisurely stroll around the city so we didn’t have to rush and worry about getting back to the airport on time.

Our flight was at 7:15 am. When we landed in SG around past 10am, we were so famished that we just had to eat at the first place we can see. Guess where we had our first meal? Mcdonalds! We had hotcakes. Haha!

Our first stop was to a very dear friend whose husband is in critical condition in a hospital. He’s been in a coma for two months already after suffering from a major heart attack. Our visit was quick but very touching and meaningful because we saw how well he was fighting to make a full recovery. I really wouldn’t know how to call his actual state now, he wasn’t fully awake yet but one thing’s for sure, things are starting to look very positive. Seeing how upbeat my friend was and how positive she was in handling things inspired us and made us realize that we’ve got a lot to be thankful for. I’ve always known her to be a thoughtful person ever since, but I felt so abashed when she said she’s got something for us — pork bakkwa! — because she knew pork was scarce here. Imagine that! She even had time to think of us. Awww.

Next stop was Funan Digital Mall. Leoby had to buy a hard drive. I had to check out the Apple stores to touch lovingly and salivate over the Macbook Pros. I fought hard the temptation to swipe the plastic card so I can bring a spankin’ new laptop.

After doing the rounds in Funan, we decided to go to Glutton’s Bay near Esplanade. We knew we’d regret it big time if we leave without having our favorite Singaporean food – BBQ stingray with sambal! We arrived wee bit early (this was around 4pm). The stalls were still prepping and would open at 5. My feet were starting to hurt at this point, so I told Leoby that we’ll just hang out in the area and wait for the stalls to open, rather than walking around another mall, which would be Marina Square across the street.

So we chilled out along the bay and admired Singapore’s newest attraction — the Marina Bay Sands casino and hotel. It is a very interesting architectural structure, with what looked like a long cruise ship atop the three towers. Here’s the photo I took using my iPhone:

interesting architecture, isn't it?

After some patient waiting, we walked back to Glutton’s Bay and took our seats as we watched the stalls do their final preparations. We had prawn hokkien mee (S$6) for appetizer, which we gobbled up so fast we just had to laugh at how hungry and excited we were. Then Leoby ordered the biggest size of the stingray (S$15) and a small plate of seafood fried rice (S$4). He even wanted to order mussels, but I told him not to eat too much because we were still meeting up Tita Gene, who’s our wedding godmother and who used to be our housemate in SG (we rented a room at their place), for dinner. The food was just as delicious as expected. Oh how we missed them so!

From Esplanade we walked back to City Hall station and took the familiar train ride back to Jurong East. Then we took the other train to Bukit Batok where we were meeting Tita Gene. I can feel she was so excited to see us because she wanted us to order a lot of food at Pastamania. Hehe. In the end, we did some catching up over a bowl of pasta and two pizzas. Too bad Tito Jun, her husband, was getting off from work at 9pm so we weren’t able to see him. They were our family when we were in SG.

Soon after, we were headed back to the airport to catch our 9:40pm flight back to Jakarta. Our cab driver was a jolly uncle who immediately knew we are Pinoys.

It was a tiring and very bitin trip, but nevertheless we had fun seeing friends and family. Of course it would have been nicer if we had more time to go around, eat chicken rice and $1 ice cream, and do more shopping, especially since it’s Great Singapore Sale around this time. But it was just great to be able to ride the MRT again, hear Singlish again, and check out the old and new places (at least a few of them). We should go back there again one day, hopefully soon.

the seamstress in me

A few weeks back, I got caught up with a hand-sewing project. I’ve had this black and white paisley-ish fabric, which I bought from Daiso in Singapore, and leftover black fabric. I’ve been thinking for sometime already of something that would put them into good use, until one day I was struck with this idea of making my own apron.

Just a bit of background, Daiso is one of my favorite stores in SG. This Japanese store carries anything and everything — tableware, gardening tools, underwear, office and craft supplies, essential oils and oil burners, denture holders, plastic containers of all sizes, fake eyelashes and nail polish. You name it, they most probably have it. The best part is, everything is sold for S$2 each!

What I loved most in Daiso are the cut fabrics. They’re not big pieces of fabrics; they range from about 25 to 90cm. Some are of the gauzy, translucent type (sorry, I’m not good with fabric names), while there are thick ones like denim. Just good enough to make cute little totes, table napkins or small curtains.

Ahh, curtains. That’s what got me started with this whole hand-sewing thing. You see, the room we used to rent in SG had one window. When we moved in, it had some kind of white printed vinyl curtain on it that did little on blocking light from outside. We put up with it because we didn’t want to spend money buying window coverings. And so when I found the cut fabrics in Daiso, I decided to buy a few so I can make curtains. No fancy swags or whatever. I just sewed the top part to make that “hem” where the curtain pole can be inserted, plus edging on the bottom. Then voila! Our window was decked out in super cheap but cute curtains.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I began scouring the Internet for doable apron designs. After going through many links to find a nice design with detailed instructions, I finally settled with the retro apron style from Crafty Gal. It wasn’t the typical straightforward kind of apron because it required a separate “bib” and pleated “skirt” and a long sash to join them together. Since I didn’t have a sewing machine, I went on to hand-sew everything. Yes folks, I sewed every inch by hand. It took me about a week to finish because I used two fabrics back to back and the joined thickness made it harder to stitch at a faster pace. For some time my thumb and middle finger were calloused.

me in my new apron

a closer look

Here’s one more handmade project that I’m so proud of — the ring pillow we used in our wedding. It’s made of jute fabric, which was also pain to sew because it’s quite thick. Anyway, it turned out pretty and it was one of my little personalized touches to our special day. (In case you’re wondering where the rings were supposed to go, the plan was to tie the rings on a ribbon around the flowers. But our ring bearer was our then one-year old godson, so for safety, the rings were brought and kept by our best man. Our cute ring bearer still marched with the pillow in tow.)

our handmade ring pillow

Thinking back, I was already pretty good with sewing and crafty activities when I was younger. In 4th grade we had a dog stuffed toy project for home economics class. Mine turned out to be a cute puppy, whereas some classmates had a cross between a rabbit and a log with ears and feet. Hehehe. I also did well in crocheting in high school. I’d like to think that someday, I’ll be that mom who would make her kids costumes for school or Halloween. Or maybe just curtains or pillowcases for their room. But I guess the wisest thing for now is to buy myself a sewing machine!

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 30 – My favorite song at this time last year

Knowing There Is Only Now – Cynthia Alexander

Around this time last year, I was still on a high from the wedding. I was constantly listening to our wedding playlist on my iPod. This is my favorite; it was our ‘first dance’ song. Now it’s my customized ringtone for Leoby. Awww. Hehehe.

And that’s it folks! I am officially done with the song challenge.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 29 – A song from my childhood

Stars – Simply Red

I remember this song became popular when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. Oh I remember it well because we used it for a dance prod number during our Family Day celebration in school.

And I… wanna fall from the stars… straight into your arms… I feel you… I hope you comprehend…

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 28 – A song that makes me feel guilty

I can’t really think of a song for today’s category. I guess it’s more of I’m really lazy to think of one.

So… why don’t you and I just listen to a great song by a great band today instead of me trying to wax poetic..

Under Crisis – Urbandub

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 27 – A song I wish I could play

Oh, It Is Love – Hellogoodbye

Just because it’s a sweet song, and it would be cool to learn to play the mandolin.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 26 – A song that I can play on an instrument

Somewhere My Love – from the movie Dr. Zhivago

I studied piano when I was about six years old until I was eight or nine. This was my first recital piece. It’s also a very special song because it’s my late grandmother’s favorite. Whenever she visited us at home, I’d play it for her and she would sing along. I’m sure my piano skills are already rusty because it’s been a while since I last played, but I bet this is the only piece I can still play from start to finish.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 25 – A song that makes me laugh

Cinta Atau Uang (translation: Love or Money) – Cinta Laura

I have no song file of this, but I’m urging you to watch the music video here.

It isn’t really because of the song per se. I couldn’t even understand most of the lyrics. I just happened to catch a preview of the music video in AXN channel, which was part of the promo here for So You Think You Can Dance. The young Indonesian artist proclaimed “I love dancing. Dancing is my passion!” with so much confidence. Then I saw her strut her stuff in the video and sorry, I’m bad, but it really made me laugh. This girl is FAR from being a real dancer. So every time I hear this song, I remember her and the video, and I just couldn’t help but chuckle. You gotta see the vid to know what I mean.

By the way, here’s the chorus, which is the only English part of the song:

“love needs money
love needs money
but your money can’t buy my love
love needs money
love needs money
but your money can’t buy my love”