Halloween Hooters

We had a blast at this year's Halloween Party. There's nothing like hanging out with people you really care about, make memories together and always have something to talk about years down the road.

Here are some pictures from today.

3 Hooters! It's very hard to get a decent family picture taken.

Papa and Mama owl... I don't know why we look so formal here. I tell Mountain Man that we used to be more "fun".

Mountain Man and Boy together. Mountain Boy decorated his very own dorky specs with minimal help from Daddy. He is really a budding artist according to his teachers!

Getting his face drawn by one of the older girls. It's such a smart alternative to a mask, he had been refusing to wear his!

Making "music" with a butter cookies tin. The kids banged and clanged in unison, supposedly emulating STOMP. It wasn't too bad.

Here's our halloween pictures from 2007 and 2010. By next year i'll have a make a 4th costume for baby girl!

Halloween Costume reveal!

It's been about 1-14 degrees in Beijing, sooo cold it's not funny. I could either let Mountain Boy brave the Halloween chill in an awesome costume and risk catching a cold, or let him stay warm but hidden under his wool coat. The choice seems pretty clear to me but hey it's not like i'm gunning for Mother of the Year.

Anyway doesn't he rock!?!

FYI the yellow thingie on his pants is supposed to be the owl's feet.

Back view.

In mid-air.

Wings spread.

He got quite a few praises from people and he felt so proud of his costume that he wore it the entire 3hrs at school so the effort was worth it. We can't wait for the Halloween Party this Sunday. Mountain Man and my costume coming soon....

Artist at work

I sent Mountain Boy for a trial art class last friday. I was told to leave the classroom 15 into the lesson and that sent all kinds of warning signals to my mind. I was worried that he may cry, or wet his pants etc...school has been tough enough on him. So I sat outside the claSsroon jittery for the next 45mins wondering if I'd get a phonecall from the art teacher.

45 minutes later I went into the room again and saw this little guy wearing an apron that ran all the way down to his shoes, busy doodling with his 10 fingers and 2 palms. He merely looked up at me to show me his maroon palms and then continued to work on his masterpiece. Considering how at school he is usually the first to rush out of the classroom to hug me, this came as a shock.

The teacher commented that he was very experimental in his brushwork and use of paint. At the end of the lesson I had a tough time bringing him out of the room, which I guess is a good thing right.
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Nail Marbling

I've attempted this nail marbling at home many times but it doesn't work. I don't know if it's the nail polish i used, or that i've applied the wrong technique... It's not popular in Beijing but i want to try it some day.

Hooters...

I'm so excited that I'm giving away more than I should. The suits for us 3 are now complete. I'm slightly worried that Mountain Boy won't wear his on the actual day. I hope he will put it on long enough for me to get a decent picture.
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somethins brewin for halloween...

It's way past bedtime and I'm still working on this yrs halloween costume. He has a party at school and I am so excited for him (now that he has a decent costume haha). Just the finishing touches left but I won't spoil the fun by showing u the final product. Here's a preview of the sketches... Project runway taught me something useful afterall.
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Diamonds are a girl's best friend...

This is a "push present" I'm giving myself. Sparkles and smiles at me all day.

Unlike handbags, diamonds have little/no resale value so this one is for life, to be passed down to generations after me. At least that's my justification.

Some info on setting options:
The 4-prong setting versus the 6-prong or basket setting has a a key benefit of allowing more light to enter the diamond. The height of the setting also determines how much light can pass through. A higher setting gives the illusion that the diamond "sticks out" and is therefore bigger. But IMO if setting is too high and the diamond is so small the ring looks a little too wannabe. My current setting is in fact a little too high for my liking, need to get it fixed when i get back to Singapore!

There are not my own diamonds unfortunately, but the picture below shows the difference between 4 and 6 prong setting. The 6 prong results in a rounder look and more security.

Picture from Dancing Fire, Pricescope.

All time favorite classic Tiffany design has a little window below to allow light to enter the diamond, making it quite a popular solitaire design. I think i may reset mine to this eventually. Or maybe Mountain Man will buy me his version of a push present down the road, and i would like to state for the record that this is the setting i would like to have my future rings in.

Example of basket setting. More blockage, but i also like the way it looks from the side.

Also if you are a bloke (or if you are Mountain Man) and you are thinking of getting a diamond ring for the other half, u can use the table below as a reference, it shows the ratio of your diamond to ring size. No need too big, 65% enough. *wink*

Other tips on buying a diamond ring that wows...

In order of priority, in my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

1. Carat. Because size is the first thing people notice.
2. Cut. When a diamond is badly cut, it doesn't sparkle, or it doesn't look round. Go for at least GOOD cut. If you have to choose between shallow or deep diamond depth, go for shallow because a "fish eye" effect is more tolerable than a deep dark centre look. Plus shallower diamonds also mean bigger table, ie bigger looking diamond.
3. Colour. D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K, L, M N.... I know there are people who feel that color matters, but i've seen with my own eyes how J compares to F, and frankly the difference is not worth fussing over, especially if the cut is good.
4. Clarity. If you haven't seen the diamond physically, go as low as SI2. Some (but not many) I1-I2 diamonds can still make the mark depending on where and what the inclusion is. Some inclusions are right smack in the centre or rather feathery so it results in a cloudy spit-like look so that's definitely a no-no. But if some inclusions can blend in with the diamond then don't worry, unless people start carrying a magnifying glass in their purse. Some experts say that I1-I3 diamonds are so flawed that the diamond may chip, so keep that in mind. The recommendation is not go lower than SI2.

Having said all these, I think if you have the budget and it's an engagement ring, go ahead and get that perfect flawless diamond because she deserves it. Think about this, she is going to wear it almost everyday for the rest of her life so it's gonna cost less $/day as compared to say... a pair of high heel shoes?

Mountain Boy is billingual!

One of the pros of being in China is that our children get to grow up being exposed to 2 languages simultaneously. Some months back i had been fretting (just slightly) about how Mountain Boy isn't talking as much as he should be. Of course i knew everything will happen in due course and people tell me i shouldn't panic yada yada... but it's normal for a parent to wonder if there was something that could have been done to help the talking, or worse still was there something I had already done that needed undoing.

In the last 2 months though, his speech development has taken quite a huge leap forward. He is basically parroting our last words and he speaks in 2 languages! But the more amazing thing is that he knows how to process who speaks what language and he responds accordingly.

For instance...

While he was on the potty after he poo-pooed, he tells me "finish". And when the nanny walks over he says "没有了".

This afternoon he wanted some polo sweets on the table but couldn't reach it so he said "I want i want", and when i said he couldn't have it he immediately turned to the ayi and said "要！要".

But the most interesting incident happened yesterday morning... He was busy digging his nose and when he dug out something succesfully he proudly showed me "peesai!" (which essentially means booger in hokkien, its a term we use quite commonly in the Singaporean context). And then he turned to the nanny and said "鼻涕!".

Go "green" with handbags...

Okay it's a nice and misleading subject headline that might make you think that I'm about to promote some enviromentally friendly handbag like that cloth bag many years ago. Actually, no.

Over the past 5 years i've accumulated a small treasure chest of handbags that would have been breeding mould if Beijing was humid enough. Honestly, i really only carry 2-3 bags at a given time. Since becoming a mother my repertoire has grown even smaller. I have basically gotten rid of the really heavy ones like the Balenciaga Giant Hardware series, the ones i haven't worn in a year except for a Jimmy Choo that my mom got for my wedding gift which i intend to keep, and the really delicate ones that only gets to see the light/night of day when i'm out without Mountain Boy- which is never.

In the past 1 month alone, I've sold 4 handbags- 2 Chanels and 2 Balenciagas. Making my handbag count at -3 this year because i've only acquired 1 bag this year, which was the Marco Tagliaferri . Totally an excuse to get more before year end. *snigger*

After buying/selling so many handbags i've learnt a few tips to make a good handbag recycler.

1. Keep all tags, dust bags, receipts.
2. Invest in brands and models that have good resale value. LV and Balenciaga retains their value pretty well, Chanel classic designs are very good investments because the actual retail price increases every year and there's a huge 2nd hand market. I've not sold any other premium brands but just by looking at ebay trends, the contemporary and sub-premium brands don't sell as well. I'm not sure about Bottega Veneta, but i'll find out some day. *snigger*
3. Care for your bag. This is something i need to work on but it's hard protecting your bag when your toddler thinks its a stepping stone to mommy, which has been the fate of the Miu Miu Bow Satchel that was gifted by Mountain Man for Christmas last year, now it looks rather like roadkill.

Open yourself up to the idea of 2nd hand bags if you cannot bear to fork out the full price. Sometimes a good buy does come along. I personally don't mind if the bag is no longer sold, or that i like a vintage look, or if i'm not sure i like this design so maybe paying less for it will cause less heartache if i i end up hating it. =)

Brother from another mother

Photo of the week

Let's Burger Plus

It's "try something new" day for us so we explored the new wing of sanlitun village and stepped into the brand new Let's Burger Plus chain. The decor is a lot more plush than the original Let's burger and the menu has a wider variety. We had a good meal, strongly recommended!

Autumn fashion for mountain boy

Went to the zoo market 2 days ago and acquired 5 sweaters and a pair of kiddo converse for Mountain Boy. This blotchy sweater design is my favourite of the lot, already a couple of strangers complimented how handsome he looks today. Its the crazy hormones but I just wanna squeeze him and bite off chunks of his cheeks today.

Winner

Hello!

Back online!

I'm finally back online. By online i mean with vpn access, by vpn access i mean access of Facebook, Blogger and the interesting world out there that China doesn't block. Because i haven't had vpn access for a long time, i've limited my surfing to sites which China deems as "safe", so for me that basically means ebay, and ebay is not "safe" for me (at this point i don't know if you're still following my train). In fact ebay can be quite damaging.

Anyway, my 1.5 yr old Mac Book Pro's hard disk crashed. Electronics don't go together with Lovexiaolongbao, my friend's Mac lasted her almost 4 yrs and it's still going strong. I had to spend quite a lot of money to get it fixed, but luckily i managed to save all of Mountain Boy's photos and videos before the hard disk was rendered 100% unusable.

It's the October Holidays in China now. We're really excited because we're expecting 4 esteemed guests in our household. Mountain Man's brother's family is coming to visit and Mountain Boy is going to have a wonderful time with his cousin! I'll be super busy but in a good way. Hopefully i'll find time to blog.

Oh oh! And i forgot to update progress on my pregnancy. The baby is now 32 weeks, 2.07 kg and get this, SHE HAS HAIR!!! During the ultrasound the sonographer pointed out a halo of floating hair around the outline of her skull. Must be the regular bird's nest intake. Less than 2 months to go. Can't wait can't wait!