Put A Ring On It!

I seem to have developed a fascination to rings overnight, hehe. I can never quite find the urge to deck myself in accessories though. Time has evolved me to not even wear a watch anymore (ironic as it sounds). Even if I wanted to wear rings and such, I can never find the 'perfect' one, as all the shops sell the same mostly-poorly-made trendy rings. I've compiled a selection of my favourite online finds, though! I hope I would be able to get at least one (or two, or all of them!) one day 8).

via pinterest

I love the concept of a Claddagh ring. A traditional Irish design, the Claddagh ring is a symbol of love, loyalty and friendship. The traditional design consists of a pair of hands (friendship) holding a heart (love) surmounted by a crown (loyalty). This particular ring has been broken up into three, making it an interesting stacking ring! I like how they all look great on their own, but when put together forms a perfect ring.

via etsy

 Fun, handmade, coral and turquoise! (Almost all) my favourite things put together in one ring :D.

via wired

This gorgeous ring was custom made as an engagement ring! It was modeled after the groom's favourite Leica 50mm lens. Unique and perfect for a shutterbug husband-to-be! 

via urban aviary

This ring was my favourite ever find. It's unusual for me to look at a ring and think: "homg I want that". But this one made my day! Oxidized sterling silver with London Blue topaz. It's so simple, clean, and I love the dark coloured band, compared to the usual bright flash of shiny silver or gold. 

I think I'm gradually falling into a lapse of minimalism. My Golden (Drowned in Colour, more like) Age of crazy, rainbow drawings seem to have given way to more limited colour palettes and simple thinking. I'm still trying to find my 'style', but have I already established one? I sometimes get the urge to want to try one style, and another the very next day. It's all very confusing, but maybe I'll be able to find a balance eventually. Even if I don't, it's not quite such a bad thing, is it?

May our inspiration bells ring upon us forevermore! Happy Sunday everybody :).

Painting With Pantones!

Had a lazy browse through the inturnetz and came across lots of lovely Pantone inspirations! I love the blocks of colour; they are always so vibrant and refreshing. Here are some of the more interesting finds!

via stocklogos

These Pantone Underpant and Underpantytones are just hilarious! I wish they made a really bright turquoise for the ladies, though!

via wordsandeggs

via pantonehotel

What can scream Pantone louder than a whole hotel designed to embody it? Pantone Hotel in Brussels, Belgium boasts of a facade drowned in the trademark colours of the Pantone colour chart. I love that orange hallway! 

via griottes

I previously raved over Emilie Guelpa's food art direction, and I am ever ready to do it again! In this project she created Pantone colour chips out of colour-coordinated fruits and edibles. Beautifully styled and photographed! More pictures of the series here at anthology.

via louellacourt

I am head over heels in love with this pastel turquoise messenger bag! The beachy sea colour is perfect breeze for the summer heat!

It's Friday now! Time to get creative over the weekend! Will you be using Pantone to colour up your Saturday and Sunday? :D.

Double Act

From the rocky beginnings of time... when lightning bickered with ground, the waves argued with solid stone. Tempers and glasses and boxes flew left, right and centre. It was a warzone!

But now the opposing forces have declared peace, the elements sighed and fell into the arms of the other. And today marks the second year of peace and fruitfulness! :D

 I was just rereading old conversations, and looking at old photos, and maaan have we changed XD. It's almost as if we went through a second growth spurt! Blossoming from awkward teenagers into lovely young man and woman. Certainly a tad abusive and vulgar, but lovely all the same :D. I mean, seriously, can't you tell how much we've aged over the course of just two years? We turned from this:

Into this!

Well, okay. You get my drift. XD.

Anyway, a happy happy two year anniversary to Esmond! \ ^O^ /. The days have been perceptibly brighter and optimistic after I met you! My blog may have remained luridly red if we never got together! Our forces united, we shall rock the very foundations of the Earth! We were born to do great things, and ever greater things together! 8DD

On a side note: Crash-learning a new program is certainly not the way to go, especially when there are many things to be done. Worse still is at the height of it all, I de-stress by acting out affected scenes from the now popular Kiyomi/ Gwiyoumi in a futile attempt to act cute. I shall at least appropriate scene 2 for the day's festivities.

Cauliflower the broccoli says hai!

And now, we SLEEP! 8D

(This is a scheduled post, it was completed at 4am. Thank you for your time!)

Stupendous Stewy Surprise!

I had a sudden longing for hot, savoury stew the other week, and I finally managed to satisfy my craving on Saturday! It was raining all day too; I couldn't help remembering a line from I Capture The Castle: 'stew is so comforting on a rainy day'. It certainly is, I've tried and I know ;).

I followed a recipe from the every lovely Pioneer Woman, her Sunday Night Stew is so simple and quick! I omitted the turnip and mash due to lack of funds for ingredients, but that cheesy mashed potatoes look and sound fantastic. I shall keep it aside for another night :D.

I would've enjoyed a tad bit more onions in my stew, and a bit less salt. I should probably use a low-sodium broth the next time. Anyway, that's one food craving settled for now. I've also managed to level up my cooking skills! This has been one of my read-and-dive-into attempts, and I am again reminded of the wondrous beginner's luck I have. Haha.

What about everyone else? What's bubbling in your cooking pot? Hope it's flavorful, nourishing comfort food for your heart and soul :).

Bringing Classic Back : It's All In The Stars!

Hello and happy April! I promised to return after the Puma Social Evolution of Suede Party, and here I am! :D. It was a pretty happening event, by the looks of it. But I am not in any way a socialite so I hadn't a single clue of what to do. I think from most of my posts you have probably reached the conclusion that I am nothing but an introverted worm that likes nothing better than staying in the safety of homes, venturing out only when the urge comes. I can't imagine any better phrase to explain myself in the party than 'rusa masuk kampung'. Which, when translated for the benefit of the non-Malaysian readers, literally means 'a deer walking into a village'. For the first time, I'd like to add. Haha. 

Anyway, I went with lovely friends, so that made the experience ever so much sweeter. I'm glad that despite my deer-ness, I am still blessed with lovely friends to flock about with when I do :D. And to be honest, I think I overcame my initial shyness when I saw how my starry-glowwy-shoes were displayed:

Please don't judge me and my photography skills. I'm not making any excuses for myself.

Here is a closer shot:

If you went 'holy-shit-they-spelled-your-name-wrong' first, then, well. That's not the point. Haha. To be absolutely honest, I did not notice the spelling error until much later, which goes to show you how shocked of a grammar nazi they made of me. MY SHOES WERE IN A BOX! A BLACK BOX WITH BLACKLIGHT! To show off all its absolutely amazing glowy glory!!! It was just as well that the thumping bass was so loud over the speakers, as it drowned out my screams. Haha. I didn't win, but I felt so proud and justified that my design at least got to bask in its full potential, instead of mouldering away in a corner. 

I hope I will soon have more photos to share with everyone, but for now you will have to make do with these. I should've brought Deedee, but she'd have been pretty useless, what with the place being so dark. I'd have to bump the ISO up to noisily ridiculous levels. All in all, I had fun, the free flow of alcohol for VIPs went to my head, and I was glad I didn't bolt at the beginning when I got the collywobbles. Haha. Thank you for reading and have a starry, starry night! :D

It's All In The Stars...

So I entered a competition held by Puma recently, and I was selected to be one of the 30 finalists! 

We had to come up with a design based on 'Future' of the Puma Suede. This is all in conjunction with the 45th anniversary of the Puma Suede shoe! 

This is my design right here. It's based on the starry starry sky :)

All the finalists were given a pair of shoes each to work our final design on. My design being pretty simple, I managed to keep the costs (fairly) low by getting some pretty spiffy 3D fabric paint and glow in the dark paint! That was about all I used, really.

It looks a leeeetle bit boring during the day, but come night time and the black light come on...

:D

The fluorescent orange and glow in the dark really went boo! I am pleased with the outcome. I didn't win, though. But ESMOND DID 8D. His was all spiffy with EL lights and shyt. For a guy he did a pretty darn good job sewing for the first time. Hehe. 

Tune in till next time when I eventually post something about the prize-giving ceremony, on April 5th! Have a blinky Toosday night everybody :D.

Sugar Scrub Spa!

Today's morning activity: Lemon sugar body scrub!

Early this year my sister sent me off on a complimentary 2-hour spa treatment. During the first half, the masseuse used a thick salt scrub to clean off the dead pores from my body. It smelled wonderfully of lavender. Since then I've been wanting to do some DIY spa-treatment, minus the costs ;).

There are plenty of lemon scrub recipes all over the internet, but I really just went ahead with it, not really following any particular one. I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil, juice and zest of a lemon, and brown sugar. I lost count on how much sugar exactly, because I simply added to the mixture until I got the thick paste consistency I wanted. The end result is about a half a jar...or three cups? (it looks a bit like 150ml- and I'm bad with measurements). 

I think one of the nicest things ever is the smell of fresh lemon in the morning :). I've yet to try this, but I've read online that lemons are a natural remedy to whiten skin. Let's see if I turn fair and charming after a few scrubs! :D. Long weekend ahead of me, so it's assignments and fun times. Hope it'll be lemony fun for everyone else as well!