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Happy February 29th!
J & myself managed to catch our first movie in a few months last night. The kids were away at aunt’s and we grabbed the opportunity to go dating. 
There has been much promoting of local film THE LEAP YEARS and I thought, heck, that was the most promising among the list of movies that were showing. I didn’t have high expectations though, especially not of a local, english production.
I was pleasantly surprised, though. The story was engaging and no wonder when I later found out it was based on a book by Catherine Lim. It was a love story, yes, but not one that was predictable like most Hollywood flicks. I felt it was rather beautifully crafted, evoked emotions and the story unfolded at the right pace. At one point in the show, I knew both J & myself were quite close to tears.
Acting-wise, I must say I’m impressed by the performance of everyone in the show. Granted there were probably an equal number of eurasians and chinese acting… the likes of Wong Li Lin and Vernetta Lopez did rather well actually. It was the first movie I’ve seen Li Lin act in in some time but she played the role of the love-pinning girl really well. And then there was the good-looking Ananda Everingham who appears every Feb 29th … I liked Qi Yu Wu’s character best, I felt pity for him quite often in the show. But I won’t say anymore lest some of you reading this may want to catch the movie for yourselves.
A good movie worth recommending. See you next February 29th!
I am happy.
There’s been lots to follow up since returning from the CHA Winter show… and yummy-licious scrap supplies are slowly beginning to come in. Whilst in the midst of work, I’m also trying to organise stuff for our move to Switzerland (yup, there’s been a change of plans, but for the better I would think!), doing housework, monitoring the kids’ studies. Still, even though there’s lots to do, I can’t help but feel thankful for all that God has blessed me with… a great family, wonderful work colleagues and opportunities, friends and all. I marvel at how rich life can be if only we would just stop and ‘look’… I tend to forget to do that sometimes, to be thankful for life.
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. ” Colossians 2:6-7
Have a great day!
Once the CHA Winter show started, there was definitely no time to waste. The other girls from MWL had arrived the day before the show started and we all got down to planning who was going to cover what area. It was an eye-opener for me as it was my first CHA show. The exhibition halls were HUGE!!! Thank goodness there were 5 of us, as I cannot how we could have done it with fewer people. All in all, we placed orders for over 100 brands and I can’t wait for the yummy goodies to hit the store!! By the last day of the show, we had more or less finished what we had to do so it was time for me to go “celebrity-hunting”.. LOL.. here are some that I caught…
That’s Ali Edwards.. love her style and heartfelt journalling. Have been a faithful follower of her blog, hence it was a thrill to finally get to meet her.
That’s Elsie Flannigan… such a sweetie and her stuff are gorgeous!!
This was not an easy shot to get… there is always a throng of women around Tim Holtz. And I think I’ve just been converted to his fan. He does awesome stuff, check this out…
These are like his tools… inks… stamps.. *drool* I got to play with the new Tim Holtz Grungeboards and Ranger Adirondack Pigment inks, they’re AWESOME!!! I SOOO want to get all the ink colours but I know that would mean a huge hole in my pocket.. LOL!!
If you like Bam Pop! (like I do).. you’d be over-the-moon to meet JJ, the artist who gives us all the quirky and cute stuff in Bam Pop! He’s quiet, unassuming and oh-so-sweet. We (Kel, Jas and myself) all got a personalised drawing from the man himself…
Artist at work… and ta da…. his finished coffee table.
Those aren’t the only people I got to meet, it was great meeting old friends … the guy and gals from Tinkering Ink, Yolande, Jonathan and Kim from October Afternoon (Kim, I LOVE all your new stuff and you’re such a sweetheart .. love ya!! ), Christy Tomlinson from Scarlet Lime, Caroline from Maya Road, and Kah-Mei from Fontwerks (so great seeing you again Kah-Mei!!). Oooohh.. I CAN’T WAIT for the next CHA Show!!!
We had great weather on day 2… just below 20 degrees and I’m a sucker for cool weather. We had brekkie in the hotel…
First up was the stop to Target, a hypermart that sells almost everything. Here’s a look at the SB aisle…
Got some clothes and shoes for the kids, shoes for myself, makeup etc. Good shopping.
Lunch was next and we made a stop at El Pollo Loco for mexican fastfood. I had a really yummy chicken wrap … guacamole was YUM!
We headed to Michael’s next… it’s a craft store here in the US and although I thought I might be getting lots of SB stuff, I ended up getting a load of Wilton baking stuff.
The highlight of the day for me would have been dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It’s a cool, upscale restaurant with opulent decor. I got myself a small portion of the Caesar salad but that was already a mountain of a salad. I liked the Shepherd’s Pie K ordered and it was no surprise we had difficulty finishing the huge portions. But they have got the most to-die-for cheesecakes!!! They must have had like 30 or more different cheesecakes … we had a hard time choosing! In the end we settled for the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and the Strawberry Cheesecake… it was sooooo delicious, they must be the “BESTEST” cheesecakes I’ve ever had. It’s soft, flavourful… simply heavenly!!! And you know what, I’m DEFINITELY gonna bring some home.
Here are the girls enjoying the cheesecakes.. we had to pack them back to the hotel because we were just so stuffed from dinner.
Anyways, what a way to end a GREAT day! Last but not least, here’s the loot from the first 2 days of shopping.
We arrived in LA about 9.30am on 5 Feb. Had quite a long wait at the US immigration checkout coz now they’re doing some finger-printing and taking digital pics of all passengers. After clearing immigration and customs, it was rather fast after that.
I made a car rental reservation before I left home, but the weird thing is the airport does not allow rental companies to have their counters in the airport. So we had to take an airport shuttle out to a parking lot and get picked up from there. S and myself figured we would rent a car
Here I am waiting for the airport shuttle.. the weather was rather cold.
We got to the rental center and got ourselves a Toyota. After adding all the other charges like insurance etc, the total charge came to US$120!!! I thought that was really kinda steep, but we didn’t have much of a choice – first, we were already out of the airport and couldn’t get the airport shuttle to the hotel anymore. Secondly, we really wanted to drive out to the outlet shopping as we knew we wouldn’t have time any of the other days. So there we were, 2 girls in a foreign land, driving off to God-knows-where. Thankfully we had the GPS, a real life-saver, without which I think we would have gotten lost countless times.
We got to the Camarillo outlet and wasted no time SHOPPING! I got mostly clothes and shoes for the kids from Gap, OshKosh B’Gosh, Polo Ralph.. saw a nice pair of pumps at Nine West, but they didn’t have my size. 
Anyways, we were done by late afternoon and started making our way to the hotel. The traffic on the way back was BAD!! Plus the fact that I was really tired and sleepy, that didn’t help things at all. I felt like I was dozing off behind the wheel many times. Luckily, S tried to keep me awake, but she was tired too! Anyways, we got to the hotel after 3.5 hours when the ride should’ve only take 2!! We had a quick pizza dine-in and then we were totally zonked out!
That’s day 1. More on day 2 tomorrow.
We’re having a $9/cup latte at HK’s transit lounge. Will post again in LA soon!
** Updated …
Here are more pics…
Thought it’s quite cool that receipt shows the total in all the different currencies.
I’m really excited.. will be leaving early tomorrow morning for Los Angeles to the CHA Winter Show ‘08. Can’t wait to see all the new and best in scrapbooking supplies and, of course, some shopping! I’ve already printed out the maps to shopping outlets around the area we’re staying at and I hope I have time to get some shopping done. Will update when I get back in 10 days!! Take care friends!
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