The Hot Air Balloon Story

I love theme parties. And what a cool idea is this? A Hot Air Balloon party with everyting vintage.

Source: karaspartyideas.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Cuba

One of the places I have wanted to visit is Cuba. And this Spring, we actually did! We visited Varadero. The beaches were awesome; white sand, clear blue water.

We did a day trip to Havana, the capital city. The tour guide gave us some insights on the culture and local systems. It was all very different, very humbling. This was the first time I experienced visiting a country run under dictatorship and communism. Despite still living in the 1960s, the people seemed very positive-minded and generally happy.

The resort was fantastic as well. Here are some pictures to share.

The iOS 5 Update

I am in LOVE with the new iOS 5 update. Loving the look and feel, the iMessaging and iCloud features. Have you noticed that when you start messaging, it automatically detects if the person you are messaging too is also on iOS 5 and automatically converts it into iMessage? And have you noticed differences in color, regular text messages in green and iMessages in blue? Oooh!! And the read receipts? I could go on and on. I also love the fact that I have the option to turn off read receipt for myself to protect my privacy.

 

 

Oh, and yesterday, when my phone was almost slipping off my fingers, I accidentally found out that if you slide your finger from top to bottom of the screen very fast, a shutter slides down which gives a snapshot of all unread notifications from every app I have on my phone. That was it, the last straw which made me go head-over-heels. WOW!!

 

 

iCloud is great … or so I thought. Just to know that the contents of my phone will be secure even if my computer crashes felt great. I feel this feature has better utility if you possess an iPad and iPod as well. Well, I do have an old iPod, but I haven’t synced that to iTunes in years. And I do not possess and iPad. But this feature is actually tempting me to purchase an iPad. Hee, hee …

 

However, when iCloud chewed up 80% of my monthly data plan, it drove me mad. In settings, it says that iCloud automatically backs when iPhone is plugged in, locked and connected to Wi-Fi. Well, that claim is bogus. It keeps backing up over 3G, leave alone Wi-Fi, even when the phone is not plugged in. this is ridiculous and a flaw in design. Apple got to fix this somehow; otherwise I do not feel the iCloud idea will fly too far.

 

Anyways, I have a very positive feeling about iMessaging and it is going to catch up and overtake Blackberry Messaging. It is also going to convert BBM users. Well, I say this because I love Apple products so much and I am completely biased. But what do you think? Are you a Blackberry or iPhone person? BBM or iMessaging? Have you upgraded to iOS 5? If so, which is your favorite feature?

So Inspiring!

Do you remember this?

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear ....

I have heard this song quite a few times before. But probably I am the last person to know it from the musical Rent. So beautiful, so inspiring! Heard it last night and it was stuck in my head all day.
 
Do you love this song? Does listening to it make your day? Which song inspires you? Feel free to leave your comments.

For your eyes only!

For the last two years, I have been using the same eye shadow: Maybelline New York Expert Wear, Enchanted Forest, to the point that it has now started to break into pieces. It was high time to change my eye makeup!

After browsing the cosmetics section, I decided to try crème eye shadow. I had never used crème eye shadow before, but after starting to use it, I love it. For all you ladies who have dry skin like me, I would highly recommend crème eye shadow versus powder. Crème eye shadow keeps the eye area moistened all through your work day whereas powder shadows can have a drying effect. Also, crème has very light feel on the eyes, whereas powder shadow can sometimes feel heavy on the eyelids.

In terms of color, I bought two different shades. First, I bought Maybelline New York Eye Studio, Blue Freeze. Love the blue shade, and it comes as a trio with two other shades, light blue and grey. Apply the darkest shade to the outer corners of your eyes, add the lightest shade to the inner corners and blend.

If you want to add some more shine to your eyes, use little bit of a light colored powder to the inner corners and a small stroke just below the brow bone. I bought Maybelline New York Expert Wear, Silver Lining powder shadow. It works brilliantly for me! I wear it to work to add a touch of glam but not too much. I would highly recommend the above two products.

The second shade I had in mind was plum or purple. A few days after using my blue crème eye shadow and after many considerations, I decided to go for Revlon Illuminance Crème Shadow, Wild Orchids. As much as it looks cute from outside the box, I am not happy with this product at all. After applying, the purple shade is barely visible. The glittery particles in the cream shows more and it looks like you are wearing a silver shadow rather than purple or mauve. Also, the product does not have as creamy a feel as the Maybelline one. So I do not recommend Revlon crème eye shadows at all.

Last and most important is the brush. I learnt that crème eye shadows need a separate type of brush which is sort of stiff. While searching, look for brushes which have “cream eye shadow brush” written on the package. I bought a Quo brush which was on 40% off at Shoppers Drug Mart … good deal!

This weekend, I am off to L’Oreal warehouse sale which I have planned to visit with my girlfriend. Provided we get a chance to get in amongst the mad rush, I hope to let you guys know of any good finds soon.

Till then, ciao!

The Royal Wedding

A truly Royal moment ... Kate's dress was lovely!

But her second dress is my favorite ... very modern.

On a Spring day ...

Yesterday was a lovely spring day and we accomplished quite a bit in our garden. We pulled out the grass in the small area in front of the house to create flower beds.

This one needs a border.

We intend put some tiles in the back side area near the basement window.

Can't wait to head to the nursery to get some of the beautiful flowering plants!!