F for Fabulous

Happy Weekend

2012-02-17T14:25:00.003+08:00

{image via this}

I Just wanted to drop by and said Happy weekend to everyone. I really hope I can have a long good sleep and catch up with my books that I bought recently, but unfortunately that wouldn't be the case. I have to work tomorrow, drive to outstation for workshop early in the morning. Working on Saturday is a turn off for me, because it steals my time with my family, but this time I really have to do it. I seriously think, I shouldn't entertain working on weekend anymore. I will see you again next week.... be happy everyone!

DIY project from The Homemade Home {Sania Pell}

2012-02-16T13:11:00.004+08:00

Hi friends, today is a gloomy day for no reason haha... I think I am still a little bit upset about yesterday, I stuck at the jam for 3 hours from office to my house. I supposed to have dinner date with my hubby, because yesterday is his birthday, but we end up having food delivery at home as I reached home about almost 9 o clock in the evening... sigh!

Oh, and recently I did two DIY projects from the Homemade home book, written by my favorite stylist and artist, Sania Pell. If you have not owned one yet, I think you should get it. The DIY projects are awesome and not difficult to follow. I made linen bulletin board, not as pretty as in the book, but I managed to hand sewn the pocket my self, I never sew anything before you know, so it kinda proud of my self haha.

I used cloth tapes for the borders, it strong enough to hold light cards. I found out having a pocket is also very functional, love it. I tug in my branches at the pocket for now. I used MT to paste the cards because the linen is so delicate to be pinned.

I also make this quick DIY project, coat hanger. It is so easy to make, I have plenty of scrap fabric, so I thought this project is really good for them. I plan to make few and use them to hang my daughter's dresses :).

Note: I am desperate to look for picture collage editing software, prefer web based, I miss my old picnik but they close down soon. I tried to use photovisi but doesn't like it that much. You guys have any suggestion?

{all images are by me}

Bags loves {Jeebags}

2012-02-15T11:49:00.006+08:00

Hello friends, how is your Valentine day? Did you celebrate with having dinner outside or just had simple dinner at home? We had simple dinner at home and spent quality time together. I love it that way :).

I recently admire indies bag designers, they are normally small scales and more personal in design. I smitten with this JeeBags brand that I discovered from Instagram. Yes, in fact we, me and Janneke knew each other through Instagram. I learned that she is a talented designer from The Netherlands who own the JeeBags brand. What I love about her collection is the simplicity and the delicate leather materials that she used. She successfully combine the mute leather color with a dash of bright colors. My most favorite is this below tulip sling bag, love it! One in my shop list.

You could click to her shop to linger for the rest of the collection. Have a happy day!

{all images are from JeeBags}

Flowers powers...Happy Valentine Day!

2012-02-14T13:43:00.005+08:00

I love all kinds of flowers. They simply makes me happy. I never bought flowers for my self till I got married and has own house, normally people gave me during my birthday, valentine day or any special occasion. I consider that the best present that I always love. Flowers!

When we got our new house at bigger space, I allocated budget to buy flowers every week, I love the touch, the smell and the sentiment. I am not picky with them, but there are few favorite, I used to love roses a lot, I still do, but never bought them anymore as they died so fast. My all time favorite is baby breath, of course! Carnation has colorful range and they are so lasting. I still had mine and look fresh after almost two weeks. I really adore tulips, but it is freaking expensive here, furthermore not many florist sells them. Recently, there is Tulip's sale at the mall, fly direct from Holland in conjunction with Valentine day celebration, and people queuing to get them :).

I also normally like to buy few kinds then arrange it together, no special technique just goes with the guts, I am not always using vase to place them, I use my jugs, tea cup, enamel, anything goes...How about you? Do you like to have flowers at your home?

And since today is Valentine then I just want to share few fave flowers photos. They have lovely color contrast, helplessly romantic and lift up the atmosphere instantly :).
Happy Valentine deary....

{all images are via iHeartFlowers}

Little thought on Monday + {DIY project to celebrate Vday}

2012-02-13T10:58:00.004+08:00

Hello my dearest friends. How is your Monday so far? I would like to say thank you for the sweet and encouraging support from all of you through here and twitter for the past week, for the loss of my good friend, I've been thinking about her a lot this past week, I miss her so much. But again I know that she is in the better place now.
Slowly I began to compose my self and coping with the situation, life must go on right?

Anyway, Valentine day is happening in the next two days, I stumble upon this DIY project by The craft dept - Martha Stewart, I found out this project is not too overwhelmed with heart shapes or typically V day gimmic, This is lovely. We could give these love struck pencils to our office mate, love ones or girl friends :).

I also found few V day project over this site, they have more simple and mature DIY project that suits me :). I Hope you enjoy them, and talk to you tomorrow.

{images are via The craft dept of Martha Stewart}

Little thought on Monday + {in loving memory...}

2012-02-06T17:01:00.006+08:00

Hello everyone, I thought I will only be back next Wednesday as we had long holiday here. So I presumed I would spent much quality time with my family and also friends. But I decided to write at my "little thought on Monday' column, as this column is dedicated of my weekly thought or little things that inspired me. It is going to be a little bit longer this time and not a happy reading but it is a happy ending...:)

Well, how do I start? Ok, when you read my Friday post, I was excited to host a tea party at my house for my good girl friends. I woke up at 6am in the morning which is impossible happen during the weekend. I thought I wanted to wake up early so I could prepare my ingredients, I wanted to make some kind of pasta that I am sure my good friends never taste before, because it's a dutch-Indonesian recipe that we couldn't find here in Malaysia. In the end, the tea party was never happened!

After my breakfast I had a phone call, to tell me that my good friend, the one who suppose to come to my tea party, the one that the day before told me she was so thrilled to come to my house again and spend the girly time together, was dead. She stabbed, strangled and murdered, a few hours after we said each other good bye and see you tomorrow. I am in a big lost.

I believe in God and I believe that his plan never fails us, but still so many thousand why I posted to God, it was exhausted. I am grieving, still. Therefore, our live is a journey, and she reached her destination.

-Let not our hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me {Jesus}. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” John 14:1-4.

She is now in heaven, saved, peace at Father's hands.

I took this photo this morning, before I went to her funeral when sunrise started approaching and I praised how great is our God to provide us the beautiful sunrise everyday, I feel blessed for the live that I had, and I feel blessed for the friendship, sorrow and laughter. She is gone and I will miss her so much, but it is not a farewell, it is till we meet again. Rest in peace my dear friend, Xo.

PS: She is the one in the middle, her name is Vivian Goh Chew Peng. I will take a break for a while and be back next week with inspiring finds as usually. Take care everyone.

Happy Weekend

2012-02-03T15:26:00.004+08:00

I just wanted to say happy weekend to everyone of you. I had a rough day today at work, so I am very much looking forward for the weekend. I invited few girl friends to our home for tea party and chit chat. May be do a little crafting time as well.

We have a holiday on next Monday and Tuesday, so I will be back here next Wednesday. Living in Malaysia, we have privileged of plenty public holiday :)

via Brightside Studio

And I hope these quote makes you happy....

Unique mobiles

2012-02-02T14:22:00.004+08:00

This few days I am decorating my daughter room, since we moved to our new home we concentrate to equip our living room and kitchen. While it almost complete for both space, I don't want to ignore our daughter room. Well, she is comfortable with her room as there are plenty of toys over there :), thus being mommy and being someone that love to add detail in decoration I feel to have a need to pretty up the room.

I think unique design of mobiles is a very sweet touch. Not that she needs it, she was completely ignore her Fisher Price mobile when she entered into toddler hood. But I think nothing wrong to have it still for decoration right? I, my self can't make up my mind either the pompoms or the geometric one. Which one is your choice?

{mobile images 1,2,3 are from Digs, 4,5 are from Pukapuka}

Vintage shop : French by Design

2012-02-01T09:54:00.002+08:00

Today I am inspired with this little shop at Etsy - French by Design, because I always drawn by Industrial vintage, I thought a touch of those items for decoration would add quirky feel at my plain decoration style at home.

These are eye picked items that I love and already include at my shopping lists :). Those are normally usual everyday objects that we could use for decoration with our creative guts....

{all images are from French by Design}

Chinese theme dine ware

2012-01-31T14:16:00.005+08:00

Today I just wanted to share some snapshot that I took during Chinese new year break about my recently Chinese theme dine ware. I never bought Chinese set before, but I was in love with these colorful rice bowl sets of six. I put them nicely at our kitchen cabinet display, I doubt when we gonna use them as we normally didn't eat rice in the rice bowl :).

The Chinese tea set and chopstick set are gift from my husband business associates. I read at the box of the tea package that the golden egg represent the longevity tea, we don't know yet when we are going to brew them :).

Have a goo day!

{images are by me}

Little thought on Monday + {few decoration revamp}

2012-01-30T13:25:00.004+08:00

Happy Monday, friends :). Every time I said this greetings is an encouragement for me too, this week onward the festive is sort of over (Chinese celebrates 15 days of Chinese new year and we are in our 7th days) because the heavy traffic is back. Last Saturday I put off the Chinese new year decorations already, I think I need to get over all of these festive feeling and kick off my mind to work harder in 2012 :).

I still keep the willow branches, because they are pretty, and put back my simple decoration on top of my book case in the living room. I bought this yellow bird and the Frangipani leaf ceramic last weekend. Also pairs of cute birdies for our site table at the living room. These days I love to collect birds ornaments :). All are thrift, I found them when I bought a new plants for our daughter room.

My husband fix the IKEA wardrobe for our daughter, she previously only own small cupboard but her clothes are getting more (thanks to mommy who always bought her new dresses :p), we also place the aloe vera plants on top of the cupboard, it said that aloe vera is a natural ionizer. So its good to place at the room to cleanse the air at night, especially when you sleep at the air cond. room.

So that's our weekend...

{images are by me}

Happy Weekend + {Typography posters}

2012-01-27T13:03:00.004+08:00

Let me wish you happy weekend and admire this encouragement quote with sweet design. I am so gonna buy this first print for my self... Adorable!

{all illustrators are via Society6 by Matthew Kavan Brooks}

Short break: French theme resort

2012-01-27T11:07:00.003+08:00

We were at Colmar Tropicale during our last two days of Chinese new year break. It is a French theme resort located at the highland. The weather is chilled, so it is nice to be outdoor most of the time. This time my mother in law came along, so she had plenty of quality time with my daughter while I was strolling the small village inside the resort with my hubby.

It is a pretty nice place for the first timer. They have reasonably complete facilities, from the French food restaurant, massage place and kids entertainment. I admired those colorful French window at the hotel balcony. I dream to have ones someday :).

We also hiked at the Botanical and Japanese garden near by the resort, and I saw this beautiful wild roses and tiny pink flowers that I never seen before. In fact I learned a lot about plants during our hiking.

And we ended up at the Botanical garden's shop and bought this stylish sun glasses for my daughter..:) It was a relaxing short break indeed.

{all images are by me}

{At glace of our} Chinese new year break

2012-01-26T10:42:00.003+08:00

I am a bit freaking out today when I saw the announcement that Picnik (my fave photo editor site) is closing down on April 2012. it said they will merge with Google+, I am sure I will figure it out how to cope with the changes, but I just feel discomfort when I already in my comfort zone of using tools that I like then there are a sudden changes. Oh well... I guess I have to adapt with the changes, constantly. Is it a good sign?

Anyway, I am back to work and blog again after I have a pretty satisfying Chinese new year break for about 5 days. Office is still very quiet, normally peeps will be back next Monday, since we are not going anywhere, so I thought I save my leaves for emergency matters (or other holiday). My hubby is still on leave and he will be a domestic helper today at our home, to clean our house and tidy up some mess left over from our holiday break, what a cutie hubster!

We were mostly home during the break, I tidied up my closet, sorted old clothes and ready to give away to the charity, and it goes for my daughter's too. She grows up so fast till the buying of her clothes couldn't catch up with her grows, scary how many amount of dresses we put aside in every 5-6 months. She talks a lot too, my baby is a little person with own personalty now, I am still a very much denial mom, who always thought she just born yesterday! we bought her an animal globe during the weekend and turned up I am more excited to learn about them. I also cooked as frequent as I usually did during the break, I enjoy cooking, dislike the preps. So I decided to learn more to cook for simple dish, and Chinese dishes are not in the lists apparently!

Every Chinese new year, I spend time with my hubby's family... except last year we spent time with Italians cause we were at Italy. Over the years live in Malaysia, I still try to adapt the culture. I think I am pretty good with it, except of the language barrier. My in laws speak English but not all their relatives speaks, they will have a big gathering at every new year, they like to talk, I sit and listened but I barely understood. Throughout the years I could guess what they talked about, because the topic is always the same, who getting married, who has babies, when is the next babies coming, etc... anyhow they are bunch of friendly peeps.

Some aunties that believe in ancestors spirit persuaded us to bring our daughter to the temple to receive blessing. I was reluctant as it against our believe, but when it comes to the family affairs, it is about compromise in certain points. I believe they don't do any harm, so this year for the very first time, my daughter went to the temple :).

So the rest of the break, I was just hanging out with my best friend (read= my hubby). We went to cozy cafe, and also short break to the country side. My mom called me last night, to complain about my dad. Well, my dad is not the easiest person in the world to live with. This phone call was an anchor of my short break. I ended up at sleepless night of worrying about my mom back in Indonesia. I guess I just need to give her much more encouragement. It is well said at the cafe's menu cover ' When life gives you lemons, make Lemonade'.

All photos I took with my iPhone using Instagram apps. And I just got the twitter message from sweet Megan @dressedbystyle, she feature my instagram photos. So honored! You may want to send a little love to visit her post here .

Be back tomorrow!

Little party ideas : Think garnish

2012-01-20T14:42:00.006+08:00

Apart of the terrible traffic lately, I am excited to have a mini break for Chinese New Year. We are having 4 days holiday including weekend, but most of the peeps who celebrates will take a week off. Chinese new year is a big festival here in Malaysia. I will be having mini break from blogging as well and spend time with my family, be back next Thursday :).

After this festive is over, comes Valentine, then My hubby birthday and my little one as well. So I thought of gathering ideas to celebrate. I came across Think Garnish shop lately, I personally like their plain and natural color of their party ware products, so I could DIY it to make them pretty or leave it natural as it is. Either way is adorable.

They also give little ideas about the party theme, I love the idea to have soup swap or may be recipe swap with my girl friends. I am planning to have small open house during Chinese new year with my girlfriends over tea at my place.... ehmmm may be we can do cookies swap as well :).

Some pretty pictures here...

Happy Chinese new year for those who celebrated and see you again next Thursday. Ohhh... Happy weekend too :).

{all images are from Think Garnish}

Winter edition e-mags {going white + bright}

2012-01-19T12:17:00.006+08:00

Last night I was busy mingle with my iPad to flip through this 2 gorgeous e-mag that just launched their white issue. Gatherings Magazine by Heather Spriggs has so dreamy white winter. I am so smitten by the beautiful images and happy to find one of my good blogging friend, Iris from Irideeen was there to share her dreamy white winter table setting. And also delighted to see Tina from Traveling Mama shared her Copenhagen home. I know these amazing women from my BYW class and so proud of their achievement.

I also got so many fresh DIY ideas from Styled e-mag - the winter issue. If you are a DIY person, then you will love their winter issue :). I particularly love their feature about outdoor gathering and idea to have this cute barbecue table set, it feels warm in the cooling time!

So happy reading....

{all images are via Gatherings and Styled - Winter issue}

Prints loves....

2012-01-18T10:39:00.004+08:00

Since we are moving to our new house almost a year ago, we still have an empty wall. As now the furniture is almost complete, I am seriously thinking to dress up our wall. It took us slowly to finally complete our home (almost!), and before it completed I already wanted to sell my day bad away and change our third room become library. My hubby said I always be an indecisive person. Sigh!

Ok then here are my choices for wall dressing...

I always wanted to have vintage botanical prints for my living room wall, I feel that they are classic and charming :). I found these reproduction botanical prints from Etsy, they are actually cards size, but doesn't matter, I will buy several and make them into collage frames. What do you think?

Oh I really adore these little animals prints from TinyFawn, they are from the original paper collage then the seller print it out at the matte high quality of paper. I think this prints will go well at our third's room (that soon will be library).

And I also think having world map on my daughter's room is fun. I initially thought to buy real vintage map (complete with the torn on the sides hahah). But then the wall color doesn't match, so I am thinking of these fun maps below from WallFry. Dilemma to choose between Soft Girly or Retro.

That's is my choices for now. Beside prints, what else we can do with the walls? Hope can hear few suggestion.

Flower and fabric tapes

2012-01-17T13:15:00.003+08:00

This week flowers at my house is a combination of old pompoms that I bought last week with my all times favorites Baby breath. I also added new flower that I just discovered, it called spider flower, the green one like you see in the picture, I love it.

Pompoms are last very long, which is I love them, so I can recycle them for the week after (I bought fresh flowers for my home every week). But I can't afford to buy baby breath every week as much as I wanted too, because its very expensive here.

I don't have many vases, which makes me bored to reuse the same all over again every week, I hope I can get new ones soon. So I stick my fabric tape that I just bought to it. I love the simplicity of black and white color on the tapes.

Have a great day!

{images are by me}

Little thought on Monday + {Wedding Anniversary}

2012-01-16T11:01:00.004+08:00

Yesterday we celebrated our 7th years of our marriage. It has been a fabulous years living together and having family. It is not always merry and happy, we have our bitter days, but it makes us grows closer through thick and thin.

Last year we celebrated just the two of us in Italy. We visited Rome and we also spent three days in Venice, the most romantic place in the world in my opinion, we strolled the canals, holding hands, dine and hang out at the cafe,with a good food, wines and and lotsa of laughter.

This year, we didn't travel, we dined Italian food at nearby cozy and delish restaurant haha.. so coincidence it's Italian food again! And also I found the best Gnocchi in town (after looking for so long). This time, not just the two of us, but we brought our bundle of joy. Turned not to be romantic dinner but we had to take turn of each other to entertain our little one as she was a bit bored with the romantic style and dim lightings of the restaurant :).

In the down side, my mood at that night was not in a 100% cheers up, I got a sad news in the morning that my Indonesian friend living in Malaysia, her husband just passed away so sudden. It remind me that life is so fragile, we never know what awaits us in the future, so lets just cherish life at every moments.

Have a good Monday!

{images are by me}

Happy Weekend {little new things at my home}

2012-01-13T10:42:00.003+08:00

I wish everyone has a good Friday and looking forward to the weekend ( yes, I do). After most of the time I trapped at the traffic jam, I am so looking forward to just stay at home, work something with my hands and do some little decoration, this weekend.

I want to share my latest purchases for my home. I bought these little birdies, vibrant color, love it. Cute right? I tucked them at the pussy willow's brunches. I also like to buy tapes and ribbons, I have no idea what to do with this cherry blossom ribbons, so I just tucked on the candle for now. And I wish this cute quote will cherish my weekend.

{images are by me}

Some Chinese new year decoration at home

2012-01-12T10:02:00.003+08:00

I just did a little bit decoration for Chinese new year (CNY) that will be coming soon in within 2 weeks. I recycle few of my Christmas decoration since it has the same color ; Red. This is the first time I decorate my home during CNY, normally only during Christmas, but since I and my husband has Chinese blood, so I decided to feel the festive at our home. May be will invite few friends for tea and bake cakes at home during the festive too :).

I bought this Chinese dolls from our trip to Shanghai sometime back, I thought it is cute to display during the festive. I put on top of my book shelf at our living room. Used to look like this during Christmas. Now transformed for CNY.

This red flower is actually my brooch, but it matched with the decoration, so I lent it there (sorry for the blurry picture).

I bought this branches, I am not sure what is the name, Can anyone tell me? Suppose to be 4-6 feet tall, they said the taller the better.. but I cut into less than 2 feet and put on top of the table. Below is the photo when the first time I bought them.

Now they started to bloom. They will be fully blooming during CNY day. All white and look like cotton buds, love it :)

And I tucked this little dangling Dragon ornament, since we are going to celebrate the year of the Dragon.

Do you celebrate Chinese new year at your country? how s that? Malaysia is just fully festive.

{Images are by me}

New flowers and wrapping papers

2012-01-11T10:38:00.002+08:00

Yesterday I was off to island for day working trip, The flight back was terrible and at one point made me thinks I am gonna die soon :). The meeting was fruitful so I have no complain for it but I missed my blogging time yesterday. Today I just wanted to share the flowers that I bought over the weekend, this white pompoms are new for me. I never had them at my home before, I love them both because its very lasting, I can keep them for more than a week, worth considering they are little bit expensive.

I also bought few new high quality wrapping papers. I won't probably use them for wrapping, I love the bird and paradise pattern, it is like Chinese new year-ish. And I am in the midst of preparing our Chinese new year celebration. So this print is sweet to display :). I hope I will be able to share few picture of the decoration at my home soon, especially when the willow branches is blooming.

Have a great day everyone.

Little thought on Monday +{girl's power}

2012-01-09T11:29:00.006+08:00

Happy Monday friends. Hope you have a blissful manic Monday :). I had a good weekend, why its good, because it's balance. I had a great girls days out on Saturday and super quality time on Sunday with my family. So I am a happy Monday girl!

Since I had my toddler girl, hanging out with my girl friends is something that very privilege, especially weekend, I tent to focus on my family. I have little friends to be honest, I chose my friends. I am not snobbish, I consider my self very friendly person, but I choose who I hang out with. I like to be surrounded by happy and positive peeps, as much as temptation occurs to listen to gossip, but I made my self stays away to it. I love my girl friends, they are happy peeps, they share meaningful life story and happy dream, it makes me happy :).

I still remember my teen or early 20's when we talked about boys and stuffs. Now I am in mid 30's and we talked about life and dream.... I feel so good to be in this era. I feel this is a good thing to talk and explore. And now my Monday is recharged :) Thanks girls for the wonderful time.

Here some photos and I love my new rabbit ring with hot pink nail polish. Perfect for Monday!

Nothing beat cozy cafe and healthy food when we have girl's talk....

{images are by me took by my iphone - instagram and pic collage apps}

All about glass {Everyday 2012 from House Doctor}

2012-01-06T11:57:00.006+08:00

I am so excited to have my Friday filling with the visual inspiration from 'Everyday 2012' e- catalog from my favorite interior, home decor and online shop House Doctor. I always looking forward to flip through their e- catalog every time I saw a new edition.

This time I am smitten with their glassware collection. I, my self is a glassware junkie and I very much adore them to use as decoration at my home. Here few images from the latest catalog, you may want to browse through the rest as they presented a very much eye candy visual inspiration as they always did.

Also have a great weekend everyone, I hope you have a marvelous one!

{all images are from House Doctor 'Everyday 2012'

Take a BOW

2012-01-05T11:15:00.005+08:00

Today is a gloomy day. Not so productive day too, it started with lack of sleep (only 3 hours) last night. I am not sure why I was totally awake and keep thinking about my daughter grows up so quickly and time to find pre schools, all of these matters made me so stressed up. Sigh!

So to cheer up my so-so day and not so in the creative mood either, stare my bow black shoes that I wore today I thought of ... suddenly I have a crush on bows and mustard yellow color will be {hopefully} cheer up my remaining day!.

And I wish you have a happier mood that I am today.{images clockwise: 1. Secdus, 2. LoseControl, 3. Forage, 4. Utterlyengaged }

Psss: Check on Forage for their original bow ties. Its a good present for your man, or your self :).

Winter picks {wardrobe}

2012-01-04T17:09:00.002+08:00

Today I received the package from Tricotaria, I bought knitted necklace and neck warmer. Yes, neck warmer for winter one, made from organic wool and it's extremely hot if I wear it in Malaysia, also people will laugh at me to walk around wearing winter attire at 30deg C sunny weather. But this month I made two purchase of winter wardrobe, I also bought knee length boot and only God knows when I am gonna wear them. Sigh! I am an impulsive shopper sometimes.

Last year we (me and my husband) were at Switzerland during winter, we enjoyed the trip so much, we love the cozy outdoor cafe at day time when the sun is shine and the weather is not freezing cold, we enjoyed our coffee and soaked our selves on those furry lamb rug. Bliss! And this year we are in sunny Malaysia and here I am imagining winter by purchased winter wardrobe. Silly!

Some of you are having winter currently, right? How 's that so far? any wish list to add for winter wardrobe? I am dying to have wrist worm by Sanda Juto. I think they are adorable.

{images: 1. taken by me during my trip to Zurich, wrist worm by Sandra Juto, Neck warmer by Tricotaria, Boots via Elle by Sydney Wasserman}

Happy new year 2012 +{fresh and sparkling}

2012-01-03T11:12:00.003+08:00

Happy new year 2012, everyone. How's your new year celebration? I hope all was merry and happy. I was having cold at home, but tried not to be miserable so I had a lot of domestic activities (read ; resting, munching, cuddling ;p)during the new year eve.
And, now all the parties was over but the celebration will be throughout the year, despite all the obstacle that we might face this coming year, I believe to always stay positive, focus, work hard, play harder and all the good things will still be in our hands as a result. Let's celebrate our life :).

I am having a few plan to improve my blog. I will be joining the BYW 2.0 by Decor8 this April 2012. Let's join together! Beside that I will still continue my Monday series that I normally write about my little personal thought, and I will add another series on Friday. I am not sure what to call them yet, but I have rough idea about it. I hope I can start to launch it this Friday. Along the way in year 2012, I hope I can collaborate more with other bloggers.

I will write daily again started today after a long deserve break, so see you tomorrow for more post and Have a happy day, peeps!

{images clockwise: 1,3 Selina Lake, 2. TheSelby, 4. Hopscotch & Grace

{Approaching New Year 2012} +Update on Christmas break #2

2011-12-30T13:05:00.005+08:00

Hello dear friends. I am back for a while today just to say how excited I am to approach the year 2012. Me and my family have been so blessed throughout year 2011, bitter sweet, honey lemon, all has been so great experience to make me grows wiser :). I always try to live my life to the fullest including overcome the obstacle because it parts of the journey that we had to face it :).

And below is the last photos about Christmas, as long as I wanted Christmas to be lil longer, but I am ready to say 'see you again next year'. I am ready to welcome year 2012 :).

We have lotsa of sweet at home during Christmas break.

left over flower that I bought for Christmas dinner at home....I always love to rearrange them.

I cooked at most of the time and spent more time at our dining room, eating and chatting, be together. Accompanied with good wines, of course!

And we will just being cozy for spending our quiet new year eve at home, cuddle, eat and love... (as written at our wall decal!)

Oh, I have not done with my new year resolution yet but I listed down what I accomplished at year 2011 at here (decor8's comment section), and I am so proud with it.

I will see you again next year (not that long, right?), meanwhile have a blessed day everyone!

{images are by me}

Update on Christmas break #1

2011-12-27T10:57:00.007+08:00

Hello dear friends. How's your Christmas break so far? We are doing great. And since we were in town, means we hang out a lot, eat a lot, be fed and happy :). Just want to share few pictures of the cozy places that we visited around town.

Also not to forget the sweet treats and snacks....But we also has our quality time and moments to reflect and be thankful to God for our blessed Christmas.

Talk soon for more update! xo.

{images are by me, took with iPhone and use Instagram app}

Happy Holiday + {mini holiday blog break}

2011-12-23T13:47:00.006+08:00

Dear All,
I just wanted to say Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas {for those who celebrated}, I wish you to have a blessed day and quality time with your family and love ones.

I will take a mini blog break for a week, I may come and visit this precious space to have a quick sharing or visual inspiration, but I will spent plenty of quality time with my family during these break. We are not going anywhere this holiday season, we will stay at home, a lot of cuddle...be happy and be merry :).

I will try few recipes from Sweet Paul and Donna Hay (I love them both for their easy recipes), I also will cook our lunch at Christmas day...yay! be a domestic goddess is the best, baby!

And again... I really want to thank for all your kind support throughout the year 2011. I really appreciate that. Love you all.Xo.

{Images: 1,2 via Sweet Paul, 3. via Donna Hay}

{handmade} gift wrapping

2011-12-22T13:54:00.006+08:00

I am so excited that Christmas just around the corner, cant' believe it...wow! I am done with distributing present to dear friends... so happy when saw them happy :). And today I just want to post a simple post to share few of my gift wrapping idea with all of you. I got so many inspiration from the blog that I visited, but I did not follow exactly how they did it, I just gathered the material that I had for so long at my cupboard and mix and match it.

As you see, I played along with washi tape (my most fave material), then I also use my cup cake layers, lace and cute embellishment. Few is recycle material like Doilies that I collected from the cafe that I visited, or tissue paper from the fast food resto. For the wrapping paper mostly I use simple brown paper and my existing wrappers.

My gifts wrapping ain't great but I was contented :). In case you still need idea for last minute wrapping idea, I had few of my most favorite that I saw at many blog, here are the link:

Round up gift wrapping at creature comfort
Lovely ideas at Decor8
Cute and Japanese kawai inspired at Hello Sandwich
My most favorite gift wrapping idea at 2011 is from here.

Talk to you tomorrow....

New year attire {for the love of sequins}

2011-12-21T11:41:00.003+08:00

Have you get ready with your new year dress? I am smitten with sequin dress at Warehouse window display when I walked by at nearby mall. Love them, wish I have one... I will dancing over it. And I also love Ban.do heart shape sequin shoes clips, to wear with the sequin dress, I think they made for each other.

Tell me what is your New Year attire?...would love to know :). Happy Thursday!

{image: dress by Warehouse, shoes clips by Ban.do}

Christmas party at home

2011-12-20T22:43:00.005+08:00

Few days ago I posted my Christmas decoration at home, it represented a simple and informal decoration. Today I would like to share our Christmas party at home, still it was informal, cozy and intimate. We invited 6 of our close friends, love their companion and love the atmosphere.

My number one list when I hosted house party is fresh flower for the table , it is a must lists :). I bought local berries flower and white tiny flower, supposed to by baby breath (my most fave flower), but the local flower shop near by my house run out of stocks. I arranged them together in my enamel jug.

And cuts some berries, remove the leaves, made this Christmas cookies garland , tied on the berries branch that I cut then placed on the mini milk bottle. This one is for my daughter and I was planning to place at her high chair table during the dinner , but end up I placed them above the fridge :).

The dinner set up is very informal, I did not place the cutlery and plate in each designated seat instead I place them inside the glass vase and I stuffed the rice inside the vase to make the cutlery stand. The idea found it here.
Our table is also not big enough for 8 people and 1 toddler. Well, just nice actually. So I did not serve normal plate size, I use assorted smaller plates {that normally to serve dessert/cakes}. Still much better than disposable plates, I don't really like to use them, ruin the aesthetic :).

I love candle, planned to lit them but because the table was too crowded with food, so I decided to remove them instead :).

Before dinner....

And after dinner....
You will see that I use assorted serving plates, dining plates and bowl, I don't own a complete set {I would love to have one someday, still saving for that :p}.

Good companion is not complete without a good wine... We were drinking quite a lot at that night, enjoy our each other companion, laughter and warm conversation. Lovely!

And we must give a high credit to our little one. Even this is her first time to host a house party, She was a great host, not fussy, loving and mingle with everyone. We proud of her...

On the table - {I cooked most of the meal}:

Honey Glazed baked ham (pork)
Potato salad
Brussels sprouts in garlic butter
Seafood Aglio Olio spaghetti
Assorted satay (skewers) - lamb, beef, chicken (from our friend)
Dessert; Manggo float
White wines (I couldn't remember what my hubby bought, but it tasted fruity)

Plates and cutlery are inexpensive from Daiso and IKEA

We won't have anymore party at our home this year. We will be having our Christmas eve dinner with my husband's parent at the small and cozy restaurant near by. Then new year eve I will just cook for my little family and spend our quiet time at home.

How about yours, lovely friends? Celebration just around the corner.

{images are by me for f4fabulous}

5 Holiday gifts picks {series} : wrap up + thank you notes!

2011-12-20T10:48:00.004+08:00

Hello dear friends, How are you today? I feel bad that I did not update my blog yesterday, I supposed want to share with you sneak peak of our Christmas party at home, but then work commitment was really insane this few days before Christmas week, so my hand are full of deadline. Therefore today I had sometime that I really treasure to write in this little space and wrapping up the '5 Holiday gift picks' series.

In this opportunity I would like to thank to my contributors of these series, my dearest friends that I never met but I love them with all my heart, again, they are very lovely people, very supportive and one of the reason why I keep having spirit to write on my blog. Only because of them {and all of you who read this humble blog} I feel very encouraged to share my simple life and inspiration here.

I felt guilty that this year I actually did not send any presents or cards to them. I wish I could made something for them, so it feels more personal. I promise my self next year will be different, instead of send the holiday greetings through twitter or email, I would love to send a real card. How many of us still send cards nowadays? for the past few years I only received few Holiday cards from business partners and my credit card banks... I have no intention to complain about my friends stop sending me cards, we are still wishing each other through SMS blast haha... but most of us including me taking the technology for granted and we forgot the nicest, sweetest, thrilled traditional ways to greet our friends. I miss those days that I have piles of cards from my high school friends and excited to read every message written on cards. I spent couple of bucks of my pocket money to only buy cute Christmas cards and excitement to go to the post office and thought that my dear friends will be happy with the note that I wrote.

Oh... I am blabbing till I forgot the main point, So today post, I would like to dedicate these gift ideas for my dear contributors:

Sandy from The Cookie Cutter
Marie from Etincelle Creative Studio
{I hope I will meet Marie in person soon next Month when she visits Kuala Lumpur, yeah....can't wait, Marie!}
Jeanne from Shop Sweet Things
Megan from Dressed by Style
Iris from Irideeen

Thanks for your sweet sharing, ladies...

I am always so inspired by giving a little gift inside the jars, I am a jar's collector my self. Love their versatility. I made my daughter's first birthday invitation using her empty baby food jars , printed birthday label to stick on the jars and lids and fill in with the candy, inside the jar . Everyone loved it when they got the invitation.

Here are some of my picks for Holiday gift ideas.... inside the jars! Enjoy....

Click at the each tittle below for link, tutorial, recipe and where to buy.

1. Cupcake in the jars
Who doesn't love cupcakes? I am cupcake lover, seriously! It remind me of sweet Jeanne when I found this idea. I think she would love to get one for her self. What is your fave flavors? I am a red velvet addict :).

2. Hot cocoa drink mix
I received a present from dear friend during our Christmas dinner at our home, he gave me chocolate mix drink inside cute polka dot tin, love it. I would love to have one during winter Christmas time {unfortunately its 3oC deg in Malaysia). This will be suitable for Iris and Jeanne who stays in cold country at Christmas time.

3. Cookie mix ingredient
Love this idea. Ready made ingredient to make holiday cookies. Haha... funny but remind meof Sandy from the Cookie cutters when I chose this gift idea.

4. Homemade drink/cocktail
I love wines, but don't mind at all for homemade cocktail. Again will be perfect for Winter Christmas. For hot Christmas like in here, I will substitute this to my signature mix : lemon & peppermint or rock sugar & pandan leaf drink. Just add ice cube, it will be a refreshing drink. I think Megan will love it too :)

5. Sewing kits
Perfect gift for Marie and Sandy. They are handmade queens :). We always can modify the assortment inside the jar though. Depend what's your bff' best interest.

6. Christmas decoration
If you have time, why don't you make this DIY project instead of buy the ready made snow globes. Love this idea. More personal. Suitable for Iris and all domestic goddess who love to decorate their homes :).

7. Gift cards on the jar
OMG, this idea must be everyone fave. Who doesn't love to receive shopping gift card? I 'd love too... hehe... We are ladies +{some men} are love to shop during festive and enjoy huge discount right?

Thanks for reading this lengthy post, doesn't mean to neglect all of you, but really, I am forever grateful for the friendship and support, so allow me a bit more personal to dedicate today post to them.

If you missed the series and lovely gifts ideas from my contributor you could read them here.
And Marie still giving Fabulous15 to F4fabulous reader for her mini me dolls till 31st Dec 2011, Grab now :).

Talk again tomorrow!

5 Holiday gifts picks {series} : For Home sweet home

2011-12-16T14:42:00.006+08:00

Times really flies so fast before I realize it is Friday again so I welcome back to all of you in my mini series for "5 Holiday gifts picks'! Today post is from special person who I fancy her home and styles so much. Iris from Irideeen all the way from The Netherlands will share her picks for home. I couldn't think any other person than her when I came out with this category, here styles represents her personality, elegant with the touch of feminine. Her house featured at the big magazine and design community such 101Wonideeen magazine and IKEA family live, not to mentioned various design blogs who fell in love with her styles too.

Iris also one of the person that I knew online since early of my blogging days. We write email each other sometimes, and I am always so thrilled about her story and life back to The Netherlands, because somehow our country are connected in many ways, culture, food and language. I am intrigued to learn about the Dutch culture and The Netherlands also one of the country at my top visiting lists, so I am sure someday I will meet her in person :). For now, let us enjoy her picks....

These are Iris personal words why she picks this gifts for home (please click on the product tittle for the link):

1. Whimsical side table
Table Juffer (Dutch for dragonfly) by Pieke Bergmans is so light and airy and has a wonderful little twist.

2. Unique Ceramic
I am smitten with each and every product Lenneke Wispelwey makes; with her geometrical shapes and soft colors she creates unique items that are almost too pretty to use.

3. Light Garland
In the Netherlands, December is one of the darkest months. So we need lights and candles to brighten up our homes and energize ourselves. This light garland is equally pretty when it is not lit.

4. Insect poster
This poster by Chacha has many happy crawling creatures that would love to be your new friends.

5.Hot pink carpet
If your room needs a color boost, put this beautiful carpet in hot pink by Scholtens and Baijings on your wish lists.

And here is Iris favorite times to do with her family during Holiday season:

'During the holiday season I love to spend time with my family; cooking, eating, drinking wine, being together. We all love giving presents, so there is a large pile of gifts under the Christmas tree. Last year it was so cold we could go ice skating on natural ice. And every year we hope for a white Christmas.'

--------------------

Ah, wonderful. I love all of Iris's choices and I tempted to have the unique ceramic my self. I adore geometric pattern especially in the soft colors. ehmmmm... should I?
If you want to peek Iris's beautiful home, you could visit her blog here. I assure you will love it :).

If you miss my previous '5 Holiday gifts picks' series, you can check it out here!
Happy weekend!

Christmas decoration at Home

2011-12-15T13:36:00.004+08:00

Hello dear friends, today I want to share my Christmas decoration corners, as I mentioned earlier we do not have Christmas tree this year so I collected this branches on the road side. It was not easy to find one that I wanted especially when you stopped your car on the road side and started to walk around for branches, other drivers gave me a weird looks at that time. But finally I managed to find one, not perfect but good size to put on top of my book shelf. I decided this decoration as our centerpiece decoration at home. I decorated with tiny disco ball that I bought at local shop, felt mushroom and light from IKEA, lastly I added my wooden pin here and there.

Here are the details at closer looks. I love disco ball inspired by few of my blogger friends so I decided to bought and used them :0, I also like the red reindeer from IKEA very much, I thought those are very versatile for Christmas decoration, I could place it anywhere and always look nice. Also I adore the LED Christmas light from IKEA with those cute print to cover up.
Lastly I am mad about the felt red mushroom from IKEA, very cute! Oh well, conclusion... this year I really love IKEA Christmas ornament.

I made these snowflake garland. I did not make those snowflake though, They are inexpensive and easily found from the local store, I tied using wool string and make a horizontal garland for my living room feature wall. Also I made the vertical ones to hang on my dining table light and added this little birdie from IKEA.

Below is another corner that I just did last night, I took the abandon tiny Christmas tree from the office and place it on my IKEA jar together with cotton ball, decorate with remaining disco balls and again... a reindeer haha...
I thought I only want to have white and red color this year, but I decided to put a gold color snowflake at my praying card holder. It is matching with the card holder, right? Then I placed the red light around it. One thing that I love about IKEA light, beside they are LED, energy saver, they also using battery, means I can just placed anywhere without worrying to look for a power plug.

I also decided to decorate one of my vintage jars. For this one, my dear friend helped me to decorate, she was spending her Sunday with us last week. She put the remaining mushroom and snowflake on the jar and wrap with a little bit of light for the magical effects :).

I go gaga with IKEA lights haha, and since we do not have Christmas tree I also placed some of the light at our indoor plant. But really I am not over done it so I think my living and dining hall still look pretty with little light here and there.

And this is my daughter cum my assistant. She was really well behave and tried to help me as much as she could during the decoration process. She is 21 month and I let her get involve in everything I do, because I believe unstructured learning nurture creativity.

Thanks for drop by, This is just a simple decoration but made me happy. I wish you could share yours so I can drop by too....Have a happy day!

{images are by me}

Decoration ideas with branches

2011-12-14T13:06:00.005+08:00

I am into branches decoration for this year holiday season, because my husband didn't allow me to set Christmas tree :(. Well he said for safety reason and also avoid me to be agitated only to find out that the tree ornaments will be lost somewhere. Our little one really into exploring things which include pulling and hiding things that she saw, in that case I am agree with that.

I just finished to decorate one of my table corner with branches that I collected from the street, I promised to share them here. Meanwhile I want to share few decoration ideas that inspired me. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did :).

These are few ideas that I love...

{via Tinterior}

{via Travelingmama}

{via HouseandHome}

I love this project so much, simple but lovely.

{via CreatureComforts}

I know this nothing to do with Holiday decoration, but this branches make into antler is so brilliant idea, I can just add few Christmas balls into it during holiday season.

{Via RueMag}

I also love the idea for having man made branches and mounted on the wall, I am still looking where I can buy this. Any idea?

{via Hearthomemag}

I love pine cone. My house is not near the forest, if yes I ll surely collect them and making it as decoration together with my branches that I collected.

{via Tricotaria}

How is your decoration projects going on so far? Have a blessed day.

Amelia presents {new online shop}

2011-12-13T12:45:00.004+08:00

Hello dear friends, how is your Tuesday so far? It is good to me :). Hope yours are great too!

Today, I want to share with all of you that my friend Erin from Amelia just launched her online shop which have fabulous stuffs that worth to check from the site. If you have not done shopping for your Christmas, you may want to drop by here :).

First I know Amelia shop when I browsed online and I said OMG this shop is so cute I wish I could visit, but it is in Oxford Mississippi, I have no idea when I am gonna have a chance to travel to the place (I shared about it here), that is why I am so excited when I know she made Amelia shop into online so all of us could enjoy the good stuffs, right?

I knew Erin via Twitter after I found her shop, since then we become casual friend. I always admired indie shop owner that normally has a strong determination, good taste and a very friendly people. They are source of my inspiration to be always creative and value creativity.

I just bought my self this cute card with USA map printing on it and also 3 issues of Anthology magazine (issue 3-5), in fact I started communicate with Erin when I wanted to buy those Mags from her because I couldn't find in Malaysia and she was so nice to accommodate me for these purchase.

Here are few of my fave cards.
And here are more fave picks....
Happy shopping and have a good day!

{images are from Amelia}

Little thought on Monday +{Pale & Pastel Color}

2011-12-12T10:19:00.002+08:00

Today is a holiday in our state because of our Sultan's birthday. Last week was a very challenging week for me at work, a lot of tension and few disagreement. So these break I am taking my quality time doing creative things, to balance my mind.

We decorated our home corner with branches and ornament yesterday, I took pictures, I will share here once I completely done with the decoration :). But today not much words to say, I just want to share my latest inspiration colors - Pale and Pastel. This mood board and images represent what I inspired. Have a happy day!

Images:
1. Moodboard
2. Lace
3. Door
4. Pretty socks

5 Holiday gifts picks {series} : For Him

2011-12-09T10:12:00.004+08:00

These few days I was lacking of time to post and visit my friend blog lists regularly due to my commitment at work, and makes this little precious space is also a bit lonely from visitors. Today I am really happy that Megan from DressedbyStyle is willing to share her "5 Holiday gift picks for Him" in this humble space. I know Megan through twitter and until now I am still amazed with twitter networking, because through this social media I am able to know many like minded, nice and very supportive friends. I really treasure these friendship even we never meet personally.

I love Megan's quirky style at her blog, even she blogs mostly about fashion and decor but somehow I know she will have a great gifts pick for our Guy :). I hope you enjoy her picks and send her love all the way to Cape Town by visiting her blog here.

These are Megan personal words why this gifts are great for Man (click on the product tittle for the link):

1. Matblac Handmade iPad cover

I would choose this handmade iPad cover as the perfect gift for my man. Not only are Matblac products proudly designed and handmade in Cape Town from the finest materials, but they combine stylish craftmanship with clever functionality.

2. Drawn In sketch books
Drawn In would make an idea gift for my man. The inspiring pages of this bok captures the musings, doodles and brainstorming images from a variety of artists and shows glimpses of their working processes and inspirations. A perfect gift for the man with a creative mind!

3. Pederson & Lennard bike shelf
This bike shelf would be a cool and stylish gift for my man. He loves his cycling and often our garage has one too many bikes learning against the wall, so a well designed bike shelf would make him smiles.

4. Monkey Business magnetic key holder
For a man that loses his keys with astounding regularity, this nifty magnetic key keeper from Monkey Business will be a practical yet fun gift. Hopefully with this gift, my man will be able to spend his time each morning finishing his cup of tea instead of searching the house for his missing car keys!

5. Extreme by Paul Smith (fragrance)
Paul Smith is one of my favourite designers and I'm thrilled that his fragrance are as amazing as his clothes. Extreme by Paul Smith is a gorgeous spicy fragrance which combines fresh and citrusy bergamot with rosemary, nutmeg and cardamom. I know that my man will smell gorgeous wearing this scent!

And here is Megan's fave time to spend her holiday season with her beloved husband and kids :

' I really enjoy spending time with my husband and 2 boys during the holiday season. Cape Town is a beautiful holiday destination for tourist worldwide, and we're privileged to live in such a cosmopolitan city. As a family, we love beach holidays and we try to make the most of Cape Town's gorgeous white beaches, although the water is a little freezing!'

-------------
Thank you Megan! I really love all her choices. I want to buy my self the iPad case :) and also have an urge to visit Cape Town one day to meet lovely Megan, of course!

Next Friday will be my last series for '5 holiday gifts picks' and we will be expected a lovely lady blogger from The Netherlands to share her holiday gift picks for home. I really admire her styling style, so I am honored that she is willing to share in here. Stay Tune!

If you missed my previous '5 holiday gifts picks' series, you could check them here.

And have a happy weekend.

Happy Corners....

2011-12-07T12:48:00.005+08:00

Have you ever think what little things that makes you smiles?
By nature I am a happy person, I am not easy to get upset and I can hold my temper pretty good :) for that I am quite proud of my self. But I am an emotional person, I take little things too seriously sometimes...Little things also could make me easily happy!

Sometime after long hour at work, I love to be back home and redecorate our little corners in our home, as simple as just re arrange the books and mix matching with different ornaments, I just love to see pretty things, it makes me happy!

Today I am so inspired with these few pretty happy corner that I found in the blog lands. Thought of sharing it with you. Also when I saw Bri Emery (Design Love Fest)'s loft and featured on Rue magazine holiday issue 2011, I am drooling. I miss our studio a lot (though no regrets to move to bigger place now).

Anyway... have a happy day!

Images credit - The first four, clockwise:
1. Creature Comfort
2. Me and Alice
3. Traveling Mama
4. The Happy Home

and Bri Emery's loft images for Rue magazine holiday issue 2011 via Bonnie Tsang.

Snowflakes's Wreath

2011-12-06T11:23:00.004+08:00

If you visited my blog yesterday you will know that I hooked into snowflakes decoration for this Holiday season. I've done simple snowflake garlands and now thinking to make the wreath. Found these ideas through Better Homes and Gardens site. Also easy DIY paper Snowflakes tutorial from Martha Steward. I thought to share with all of you today.

{images: via BHG and Martha Stewart}

Little thought on Monday {creative mood}

2011-12-05T17:30:00.003+08:00

Last weekend was a little bit tiring for us. Our little one has been not well for the past few days, we (four of us) took turn to take care of her, I put her with my in laws during the days and took care of her during night time. Then last weekend four of us was under the weather and lil one was so active as she is recovering and passed the virus to us :).

So last Saturday and Sunday was a lot of sleeping and resting. While they both (my daughter and hubby) were sleeping, I had plenty of 'me' time. I 've done the snowflake garland and few gift wrapping for Christmas. We don't plan to have Christmas tree this season, we will wait till my daughter grows up a bit so she will understand not to pull things from the tree :). I thought making garland is the second best choices to feel the holiday season. And surely with the heat of December weather in Malaysia, I just wanted to feel a little an imaginary snows in our house :). I hung the garland behind our sofa in the living room and I am still making more to hang on our light in the dining table area, so when we had dinner we will enjoy the dangling snowflake too :).

Happy Monday! I will be back tomorrow...so much to share to welcome holiday season.

{image: by me, took with my iPhone}

5 Holiday gifts picks {series} : For Her

2011-12-02T10:21:00.003+08:00

I apologize this post a little bit late, suppose to be published this Morning but I am a little bit under the weather and wasn't able to blog yesterday till early morning today. Therefore I have a commitment to carry on this fun series and I also thrilled to share these '5 Holiday Gifts Picks for her' guest posted by my beloved blogger friend from lovely city of San Fransisco - Dearest Jeanne (Author of ShopSweetThings).

I knew Jeannie early this year through blogging, she is wonderful and very supportive. To be honest she is also my fashion diva, I love to seek fashion inspiration through her blog, she is so stylish, up to date and fun lifestyle blogger :). So I thought she is the most suitable person to share the gift picks for our girl friends or BFF :), True enough I really want to buy everything that she picked ... need a very good self control here haha.

If you would like to learn about how fun to live in the bay and what's new in the fashion world, you may visit her blog here, but meanwhile enjoy her picks below :).

These are Jeanne personal words why she picked this gift for her girl friends (click on the product tittle for the link):

1. Paper Mache Bowl
This is such a simple and pretty bowl, perfect for storing jewelry or on her desk.

2.The perfectly imperfect home book
A great book with lovely illustrations, especially for a girl who loves pretty interiors.

3. Leather bow cuff

A piece of jewelry that looks fun yet still stays sophisticated.

4. Louisa Parris scarf
This makes a great gift for your mother or someone you really love. It's so elegant and chich and the design will last a lifetime.

5. Chevron picture frame
I would get these for my girlfriends because a girl can never have enough pictured to frame!

And here is Jeanne favorite things to do with her girl friends to celebrate holiday season:

'I love doing brunch or dinner with my girlfriends and do a gift exchange. We usually limit our gift to $25 so the gift is always something very cute or very funny. We always have a blast!'

Ahhh... thank you Jeanne to always make me smile with your words and your wonderful picks. Next week we will have Megan from Dressed by Style, all the way from Cape Town to share her picks for our Man.. yay! :).

In case you miss the previous gift picks here is the link:

For a handmade lover by Sandy (The cookie cutter)
For kids by Marie (The Etincelle Creative Studio), and you still have a chance to enjoy 15% discount for her mini me dolls collection. Grab it now!

Hand drawing {gift wrapping}

2011-11-30T15:33:00.003+08:00

Today is a crazy day, I was at the client's place most of the time and the rest was on the road. Sometime when I am in hurry I feel that my creative juices becoming dry and I don't like that feeling at all. I need a little break, and this evening I promised my daughter that I will fetch her from her day care earlier, I am so looking forward to spend some quality time with her, may be I will start to do gift wrapping or decorating some of my empty bottle for Christmas decoration, not that little one will be helpful but she will enjoy to create the mess... and I don't mind at all :).

Ohh since I will start to do gift wrapping for the present that I already bought , I want to share the super duper easy gift wrapping idea that I found from Mini-Eco. I am gonna try it out my self and really it doesn't required any tutorial at all right? What you need is just a brown paper + silver pen and your skill to create the drawing (mostly geometric pattern) and I think I want to try on white paper with red and gold pen, should be lovely too, what do you think?

{images are from Mini-Eco, visit the blog for more awesome DIY projects}

Food for thought {breakfast}

2011-11-29T13:01:00.004+08:00

We had a Monday break, I spent the entire Monday relaxing at home and also our little one was a little bit under the weather, therefore I skipped my 'Monday thought' series. Today is Tuesday and the day seems passed very fast. It is lunch time here and I am writing something about breakfast haha....

Well, today post was inspired by my all time favorite to start a day, breakfast time. Are you a breakfast person? I wasn't before , but since married with my hubby that for him breakie is a biggie, so I converted my self as one of them, it is a healthy habit anyway. My day always be more energetic whenever I had a good breakfast, unfortunately during working day is not easy to find much time having a quality time for breakfast, in case of emergency I sometime drive thru Mc.Donald breakfast. But on Weekends I always getting excited to plan our breakfast, as simple as making it at home or plan to visit the new breakfast place.

I am a little bit different with my hubby, me and little one love bread and their accessories (egg, jam, bacon, etc), he loves his noddles and local Malaysian breakfast. How about you? What do you like to have for breakfast?

Oh well.... just a little happy thought! Happy Tuesday....

I love musing around Instagram/Followgram and enjoy the breakfast photos posted by my friends or people I follow. Here are some images clockwise: 1,2,3,4,5,6 .

5 Holiday gifts picks {series} : For kids

2011-11-25T10:00:00.001+08:00

Welcome back to my second '5 Holiday Gifts Picks" series. Today our lovely Marie from The Etincelle Creative Studio will share her picks for kids. She is a lovely mommy with two beautiful kids, she is also an artist and sell her fab handmade product at Her Etsy shop. Beside writing at her blog, she also a regular contributor at Bloesem blog for her color palette series. I hope you enjoy her picks.

These are Marie personal words why she picks this gifts for kids {click on the product title for the link}:

1. Mini Macaroon in felt
a big crush on this set of 4 macaroons that look as good as the real ones! Kids love to play 'pretend' and I can picture my daughter inviting me for tea and serving me macaroons :)

2. Modular wooden toys for boys or girls
What a great toy! First of all I always favor wooden toys versus plastic ones and this one would be fabulous for my little builder!

3. Mini paper dolls
Vintage looking, light and so cute... they would make the ideal toy-activity to bring on the plane, in the car, o the bus... in short, everywhere! Submitted to my daughter and highly appreciated :)

4. Modern love bird mobile Baby Jives
Look no further for unique, poetic mobile with a modern rwist. I am a big fan of Jahje's beautiful creations

5. Bear a pois
I have never seen something like this one before. I bet it would please a child a bit older with its funky, alien look...Ok, I have to admit I would to have it too!

And here is Marie favorite things to do to celebrate holiday season with her kids {and family}:

'My favorite thing is to prepare the Advent calendar; I hide in 24 little pouches little treats/gifts for my kids. December feels very special in my house as soon as we set up the tree (early December), decorate the house and start listening to Christmas music. We also bake a lot of biscuits to offer to neighbors and friends. I love it, but I must admit I prefer it when the weather is cold and when it's snowing :)'

And last but not least, sweet Marie is generous enough to give F4fabulous readers a special 15% promotion started today till 31st December 2011, if you purchase her mini me dolls collection in her Etsy shop using 'fabulous15'code you will have 15% discount from the actual price (not including the delivery cost). I bought her handmade bag before, she had such passion making it, and it is very delicate yet versatile, I am sure the mini me dolls will be a special gifts for your beloved kids to cuddle . So enjoy the treat!

-------------------------

See you again next Friday for the next '5 Holiday Gifts Picks' series, Jeanne from Shopsweetthings will share her gifts picks for her girl friends. So do not forget to stop by :). Happy Friday peeps!

Sailor's theme birthday party

2011-11-24T13:28:00.002+08:00

My sister and my bro in law just celebrated a massive birthday party for her two beloved kids, that was one of our reason we flew back to my hometown in Indonesia. That was Dania first trip to my home country to meet her cousins and all bunch of secondary relative (my immediate family visited her few times here in Malaysia).

The party theme is Sailor party, when we entered the venue we immediately saw massive decoration on the stage, dominated with blue colors. Kids had sitting allocation near the stage with those tiny stool wrap in silk clothes and ribbon, parent had round table sitting arrangement. They provided free flow pop corns and ice cream and 7 course lunch spread. All kids got their sailor hat and bib which was pretty cute. My sister made to order kid towel with personalized kid name in every towel for the birthday favor. They hired 3 very silly clowns and magician, I must admitted they were very funny and all kids had a good laugh.

Unfortunately I did not took many pictures as this was Dania first major event and she was a bit nervous in the beginning to see so many kids around, screaming, laughing, running... bit chaotic in a fun way. Unlike in Indonesia, normally kids party in Malaysia is more smaller scales, cozy and simple so this will be a good experience for her :). Here few pictures to share....

The birthday cake, the decoration and the favors... it was so many balloon hanging in the air but I did not manage to take a picture of them.

Me and Dania, she got bored with her sailor hat and bib after 5 minutes.

Nieces... but I totally forgot to take a picture of the birthday gal and boy... what a shame!

{images are by me for f4fabulousblog}

Thanks giving tableware ideas

2011-11-23T14:12:00.005+08:00

Hello dear friends. How are you today? I posted a bit late today because I was out for meeting almost the whole day, took a quick break to write and soon will be heading to another meeting...uh huh day of meetings.

Tomorrow some of you will celebrate Thanks Giving, so happy Thanks Giving. We do not celebrate here, but I love the spirit of Thanks Giving, where family gathered and giving thanks to God blessing. But since we are planning to have Christmas party and our first house warming in December I started gathering ideas, we will keep the party small, cozy, intimate and only for close friends. I love to play host and set our dining table cozily whenever we had a small party. Today I gathered few favorite table setting idea for Thanks giving, but the idea could be applicable to all occasion with some adjustment of the theme and materials.

I always love natural linen for table clothes and napkins, they are simple, versatile and lovely. I also think the smarter way and also a budget saver for centerpieces are incorporate our dining ware to be a centerpiece, example we could decorate the drinking bottle with lovely flower garland or just placed our cutlery in a creative way to be a beautiful centerpiece, beside dining ware, my next choice for centerpiece are fruits or spread of cookies in different jars because it is edible so won't waste it after the event. Well wild flowers plugged directly from the garden is sweet idea too :).

I love to light candle around the house and on the table because it creates very warm and cozy atmosphere, just need to be more careful to place them when we have kids around to avoid accident. I also love the idea to place a sweet door gift at my guests plate or something for them to bring home after the dinner, my preference normally are homemade cookies or handmade stuffs.

Those are my favorites, Do you have any? Please share with me so I can have more ideas for my coming Christmas party :)

{images are from DigsDigs, click on the website to find more ideas for Thanks Giving table setting to create cozy athmosphere}

Fresh market today...

2011-11-22T10:54:00.002+08:00

I always love to visit farmer market, grocery, fresh market or whatever you called them, as long as I see green, fresh ingredient, and various fresh food, I feel bliss :). Don't you?

Funny enough, but sometime I can spend more hours in the grocery than in any other store, not that I am a good cooks or anything, but I just love the feeling to stroll along to see those fresh broccoli and imagine what salad dressing I would love to have with those green ones haha... silly!

Here in town, we just have new and huge grocery and gourmet food market called BIG in my favorite hip place Publika. We could plug fresh lettuce from the pipes and also enjoy gourmet food and coffee while we are shopping at the place. Lovely! I 've been pulling my husband to go with me almost every week..haaa...and here I pulled some images for my inspiration today. Enjoy!

{images : Grocery in Zurich is by me, collage clockwise 1,2,3,4}

Little thought on Monday

2011-11-21T06:51:00.003+08:00

Good early Monday morning from Malaysia :). I woke up earlier than usual today and have an urge to just write a short post here at my usual 'Little thought on Monday' post. It has been few times I skipped this post. Started today will be a busy week for me, I have few training series going on at my work place.

Last week, I had a massive traveling week and I was glad I was home for weekend and spent my quality time with my love ones. I was in Singapore for short trip last Thursday and it had been a fruitful trip {work related}, at night we had girls night out with my colleagues, we went for Thai dinner and just strolled along the city center. I could instantly feel the Christmas spirit at the city where most of the Christmas decor was up already. Oh... I also visited Muji, always love Muji. too bad we do not have it here.

It was so funny, as much as I enjoyed the outing my mind couldn't stop thinking about my lil one at home, It changes me so much since I become a mother that no matter how I enjoy my own time but motherhood is the best part of my life.

Happy Monday everyone...

{images is by me, taken from iPhone with instagram apps}

5 Holiday gifts picks {series} : For the love of handmade

2011-11-18T10:00:00.001+08:00

Today is my first mini series for "5 Holiday gifts picks" series and I am so excited to post the first category among 5 categories " handmade gifts picks" by Lovely Sandy, fabulous artist and blogger from thecookiecutter blog. Thus, I really hope you enjoy what she shared.

These are Sandy's personal words why she chooses these fabulous handmade gifts for her friends and love one {click on each tittle for the link of the products}:

1. Polka dots porcelain milk jug
A milk carton in porcelain. I can imagine this being a conversation piece! The polka dots add a touch of cuteness and dash of color.

2. Four seasons paper cuts plates
I've always been amazed by the intricacy of paper cuts done by hand. Now, have them on your plates and delight your guests with them when you host a dinner!

3. Pocket notebooks
For the stationery lover, there can never be enough notebooks. These have such cute covers with pretty background patterns.

4. Animal Finger Puppets
Put up a little puppet show with your little one! It's having fun in a simple way, or use them as decoration. I love that they are of different textures.

5. Wood tree log bolster
I love wood. Rustic looking ones. And if I can't have them in the house, this would be the next closest things to have them.

And here what is Sandy favorite things to do to celebrate her holiday season:

'enjoying a delicious and good spread of home-cooked food with my loved ones. Toss in some bubbly. Together we reminisce the year that has passed and look forward to the promises waiting to be made'.

-------------------------------

See you again next Friday at another ' 5 Holiday gifts picks' series. Even though Sandy covers two fabulous handmade gift for kids in this post, but I am sure Marie from The Etincelle Creative Studio will share her fabulous picks for kids next week. Owww.... I can't wait for it.

Latest handmade purchases

2011-11-17T10:00:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow I will kick of the first "Holiday Gifts Picks" series and the first category will be handmade gift idea by my dearest blogger friend. I have 5 categories and it will be published every Friday. So I will be delightful if you could stop by here with me to see fabulous ideas from my dearest guest bloggers every Friday, and it only be fair to share what I bought for my handmade purchases lately to kick of this series :).

From clockwise, I have vintage look stud earrings that I bought from Miye, sweet handmade tissue holder from my dearest blogger friend Jacqueline (So Cute It Hurts) both was purchased during my visit to Zakka market, also I bought online this gorgeous bag from sweet talented Marie (The Etincelle Creative Studio) who will participate at my series, and she was really kind to send the sweetest batik garland as a gift to my daughter.

When you read this posts I will be in Singapore for two days and be back on the weekend. It has been a hectic traveling week, so I can't wait to have relaxing weekend with my family. Don't forget to stop by tomorrow :).

{images by me for f4fabulousblog}

Guest post at Simply Hue

2011-11-16T15:43:00.004+08:00

Hello Friends, I just want to drop by and let you know how honored I am to be the guest post at Simply Hue, one of my fave bloggers that I admire for a long time and I featured her in my blog before as one of fave blogs.

Vicki the founder of Simply Hue is kind enough to give me an opportunity when I approached her to consider me as her guest poster. I learned to build a good friendship with other bloggers and not afraid to approach them to collaborate, because I have a strong belief with collaboration and good friendship we can grow our readership, network and most importantly encounter new lovely friends around the globe.

I really hope you enjoy my travel mood board post at Simply Hue.

And thank you so much for the support all these while my lovely friends :). Xo.

Inspired by Aqua & Mint

2011-11-16T12:24:00.003+08:00

{images clockwise: 1, 2, 3, 4}

Today I wore my Aqua and Mint color bangle to work, and I suddenly feel intrigued with the color combination and inspired me to search how this color combination could cohesively light up the plain tones of the surrounding. Surprisingly this combination is very versatile and lovely in different circumstances.

How do you find your color inspiration? I always observant to my surrounding and inspiration sometimes just pop up unexpectedly. It was funny one time I found the color inspiration of orange and tangerine from my neighbor laundry that hung at the balcony, then quickly I jolted it down at my notes to dig in the images, color palate and inspiring sources.

Have a great day!

blog break {colorful theme} : Washi tapes vases

2011-11-15T10:00:00.000+08:00

This my last blog break posts. And this project ain't new either. I started to be a fans of Washi tapes since I knew Leslie from A creative mint, she is a great stylist and photographer and also love to utilize washi tapes on her various projects.

Without saying and see the instruction, this is the easiest DIY project for people like me with the DIY poor skills. I did few times with my white jugs, vases, empty bottle and really enjoy the process sticking the tapes and being creative to those objects.

I saw this project at here last year and I think still worth to share, it is so versatile and anytime could spark your table centerpiece when you want to host your guests during festive season.

Enjoy! talk to you tomorrow.

blog break {colorful theme} : Whimsy Ornaments

2011-11-14T10:00:00.000+08:00

Hello happy friends. Happy Monday :). How is your weekend? Today I will be flying back to Malaysia from Indonesia. And as you know today is still mini blog break and I pre-schedule this post too.

I posted two inspiring project at my two previous blog break posts, but today I would love to share this whimsy vintage inspired ornaments that worth to check and spark your holiday decoration. Hope you like it as much as I do :).

Also, tomorrow is my last series of mini blog break, I already pre- schedule another easy DIY project that worth to try :), please drop by. Xo.

Link to the shop is here.

blog break {colorful theme} : DIY Colorful foil baking cups

2011-11-11T10:00:00.000+08:00

Inspiring project made from colorful foil baking cup. Love it. Very easy DIY project for festive garland to wrapping gifts. Love the standout color as well. Have you done your festive shopping and ready to wrap it up?

DIY tutorial link is here.

Blog break {colorful theme} : Sprinkle Sixlets cake

2011-11-10T10:00:00.000+08:00

Hello You are visiting my blog break mini series. Welcome :). Today I want to share this gorgeous sprinkle Sixlets cake that awesome to have for festive celebration, or any other special occasion on your dessert table for your lovely guests. Happy baking and have fun decorating it!

Image and recipe link are here.

Colors loves...

2011-11-09T10:00:00.002+08:00

{clockwise: 1.ohcraft, 2&4.Hostessblog, 3.beautyineverything}

Hello dear friends....
I will be flying back to my hometown in Indonesia for our family reunion tomorrow and will be back next Tuesday here. I miss my family and friends, so it is so good feeling that we are able to take a short break and go back to Surabaya. I haven't be backed to my town for almost 3 years, so yeah... we will have a good time there. And my daughter will be meeting her great grandmother and few cousins, aunties, uncles, friends for the very first time. My husband also miss the food very much :).

As usual when I am away, I always put my blog on break series which I will write a short pre-posts here. This time I have a theme... yeah a theme haha, holiday season are coming soon, so I thought I will share few fun link for your holiday ideas. And the theme is fun and colorful as you see I made a collage of the image above to initiate the mood :). So please come back daily at here (except weekend) for the fun idea.

I also in the midst of preparing 'Holiday picks' series, It will be started next Friday and another 4 consecutive Friday till a week before new year. Our special guest posts that expert in their categories will share about their 'Holiday Picks ' - gift ideas. So Excited! Stay tunes...

Talk to you next week and gonna miss you.... (if you leave a comment it will be only appeared next week, sorry for the inconvenience).

Lovely Picnic props

2011-11-08T12:53:00.003+08:00

I am always intrigued by the what people will use for their props when they took engagement, wedding, or family photos. One of my friend is mad about M&M candy, she and her hubby to be (at that time) took the pre-wedding photos surrounded by their M&M collection and other colorful props, so fun!

When I got married in 2005, we didn't have pre-wedding photo, we only had candid photos that our photographer friend took during the wedding. I am still having secret wish that I want to have our pre-wedding photos, despite the wedding gown is now barely fit me...haha.. Oh Well!

I love many creative props and location that many photographers are currently used, but my all times favorite is an outdoor picnic. Isn't it lovely? Well we might consider it for our family photos next time.
What is your favorite?

This inspiring images above are from the engagement photos of Tabitha Emma - one of my fave Designer & illustrator and her love one. I really enjoy their photos and their interesting love story. You can visit her wedding website here.

{Images are via Tabitha Emma}

And the winner of my giveaway is....

2011-11-04T10:00:00.000+08:00

As I promised I will announce the winner today. There are 18 entries like you could see here. I use Random.org to withdraw the winner randomly (you could see the image above). And the winner is... Marie from The Etincelle Creative Studio.

Congratulation Marie Dear!

Thank you very much to join my very first time giveaway, I really wish everybody could win :) but hopefully next time when I held another giveaway you could participate again and have a chance to win.

I also enjoyed all the comments that you posted and how certain people and certain situation really inspired you. I wish, we are like minded people and happy blogger community will continuously grows stronger and support each other. Love to you all....

I dream about Autumn....

2011-11-03T23:03:00.003+08:00

I wonder...
How's the feeling of Autumn?
Cloudy sky,
Golden leaves...falling gracefully,
People are outside for picnic,
Oh and of course a glass of good wine to warm up,

Love to see how people are dressing up for Autumn,
Love the color,
Love the feeling....

But I never experience it. Is it really look like how I described?

{Image credit: I love the autumn photos fromme - toyou}

Happy weekend folks. We have a long weekend here, so I will be back on Tuesday. owww, I love public holiday on Monday.bliss!

Inspired by Harajuku fashion

2011-11-03T14:05:00.005+08:00

Alright, I am still hang over from anything Zakka, lately I've been browsing Tokyo fashion.com at my Flipboard. I love to read and observe the way youngsters at Japan dress up. Not that I want to be teenager wannabe. But really, the way they dress are so fashion forward and some are really inspired me :). It reminded me when I visited Tokyo I felt I was so fashion backward haha....

My husband always said that I am easily get influence about anything that drawn my attention at the moment, actually he is not exactly correct. I just love to observe and enjoy beautiful things, but I always back to what I love most, simplicity and versatility. Fashion is included.

Well... I just bought purple and hot pink stocking recently to spark my plain dresses, but I don't think so I would dress like Harajuku girls, I am not that daring :).

Do you like Tokyo fashion? What is your fave style?

{images are via Tokyo Fashion.com}

Zakka handmade market fair

2011-11-02T13:24:00.005+08:00

As promised I want to share with you today for my first visit to Zakka handmade market fair last Saturday organized by Pipit. I was so excited that I took tons of photos, but I managed to summarize and show them here for you. I started to pay attention of Zakka handmade recently when I knew few blogger and maker who love to share their work in their blog. This event remind me of one of my dearest blogger friend Sandy from The Cookie Cutter who obsessed about anything Japanese (you may visit her blog to enjoy those cute little shop all over Japan in her Japan series), I event tweeted her on that day wishing she was there with me to meet all those fab maker that I saw during the fair.

Alright, here is the few highlight that I was happily found during the visit. I finally met the very sweet Jacqueline from So Cute It Hurt. We only communicate through blog so far, and she is the sweetest girl that always giving sweet comment at my blog. Really nice to finally meet you in person, Jackie.

I also bumped into the super talented girl from Evangelione.com, I am a huge fans of her event before I know what is Zakka all about. I featured her work at my blog here. And I was so delighted that finally met her in person and touch her handmade doll that I only admire through pictures before. When I was in her booth, I only saw three dolls, simple wall display 'evangelione.com' in black color and a shy girl that seem want to hide below the table. I asked 'where are all the dolls?' I thought the 3 dolls on the table were just a display. Then she said shyly 'Sorry, sold out'. OMG I thought I was early but her other fans are faster :).

Last, I was stumble upon the work of Hiya Zakka, she sew and hand painted the dress. I love her delicate work so much. Something really different for me.

Below are few fave products that I spotted on during the fair. I love the quirky accessories and collars with cute beads and flowers, eco bag with various design was seen everywhere, handmade journals were always one of my fave and also Japanese fabrics of course.

The event held at Annexe gallery, love the venue. Wooden floor and white wall paint with natural chips was perfect for this theme. I spotted few favorite decoration by the vendor, Washi tapes was everywhere. Natural wooden frame and also real flower stick on the wall was cute too.

In the end of the detour, I and my dear friend who company me to the fair enjoyed our delicious homemade coffee and biscoti while the Ukulele group played their relaxing songs.

This has been one of the good Saturday that I had, looking forward for the similar event next time... Hope you enjoy my sharing.

Oh, also to let you know that my giveaway is officially closed, I will announce the winner on Friday. Thank you for those who participated. Xo.

{Image are by me}

Inspired by berries...

2011-11-01T11:10:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone, I just want to drop by for a while to say 'Hi', I am pretty much busy with paper work today {and I dislike paper work}. Also I need to finish up my guest post draft this lunch for someone special, I really hope she likes it {finger cross}.

Today I am inspired by the red strawberry color, it started with the red shoes that I bought last month, then follow by red belt and now thinking to buy red lipstick for night occasion. I never wear red lipstick before, so it will surprise my husband, why suddenly I become a little bit seductive haha...

Images - clock wise:
1. Strawberry - weheartit
2. Red hot pants and Japanese banner - Jenny from the block
3. Fox wall decal - SlippinSouthern
4. Red shoes - unknown

PS: Important notification - my Decorate book giveaway will be end at 24 hours, so if you have not joined yet please do so by clicking this link. Good luck !

Little thought on Monday + {creativity e-course}

2011-10-31T11:03:00.005+08:00

Hello everyone, I wish all of you had a great weekend. Mine was pretty interesting, I went to my very first Zakka handmade market and turned out to be very fun and met few wonderful hand makers. I am still compiling tons of photos that I took, hopefully I can post tomorrow at my blog. Beside that I had fun going for high tea with dear friends and steam boat dinner with hubby n little one.

Today at my usual column 'Little thought on Monday' I would like to share great creativity course called Raining Umbrella by lovely Vicki - sweet friend, blogger and talented photographer of Simply Hue. I know Vicki when I joined her e-course, I was the first batch of Raining Umbrella :). I love her for being so generous, humble and share a lot of creative inspiration. This is the course that I feel very beneficial for those who love to write about lifestyle and beautiful finds. There are so many talented people sharing their creative root and inspiration at the course, I also encountered many like minded people and great networking over the period of 4 weeks.
For this Autumn, she offering a great deal and affordable fee which is more than you could expect for. So enjoy the deal :)

Happy Monday and Happy Halloween... Booo...

{image: Raining Umbrella}

Travel to "the Best of College Avenue" with Starlet

2011-10-28T10:00:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone! My name is Starlet from CanYouComeHome where I write about home, garden, fashion, and design. I'm super thrilled to be a part of lovely Fenny's travel series. Originally from Indonesia, I currently reside in the Bay Area, California - 20 minutes away from the hustle and bustle of the famous San Francisco, 30 minutes away from the U.S. national security laboratory in Livermore, 40 minutes away from the fast pace Silicon Valley, 50 minutes away from the Napa Valley wine country, and an hour away from the capital of California.

Enough of the geographical quiz :D, I want to give you a quick tour on a very special avenue that connects the city of Oakland to Berkeley. It is so easy to fall in love with College Avenue. The street offers a vast shopping and dining experience nestled among the most popular and walkable residential areas.

When I say vast, seriously, there are so many boutique businesses and eateries in this very street I'm still looking forward to discover. So today, I'll let you in on the places that I just can't miss whenever I'm in the area.

THE OAKLAND SIDE

Maison D'Etre

A delightful eclectic shop with TONS of charms, carrying high quality anything-home products to a dash of uber chic jewelries. Known for its antiques! My go to cheer-me-up-full-of-inspiration store, I simply love wandering inside checking each and every products, usually stepping out happily with a pretty li'l something for myself or other loved ones.

Nathan&Co

A recently opened second location, the store's tagline is "great gifts for all occasions" with a bonus of free gift wrapping! The place is newly renovated with gorgeous decor and layout. Known for its selection of cards! On my first certainly not last visit, I was presented with unique and fun merchandises.

Fit Clothing

When I first laid my eyes on this store, I am immediately hooked! They received the "best women boutique" award (readers choice) from Oakland Magazine in 2010. The polished and elegant clothing curation from DVF, Vera Wang, Orla Kiely (among the other American, European, and Japanese designers) they carry explains why. Known for its personalized shopping experience!

The Market Hall

A well rounded spot for "serious food lovers", consists of different stores that each offer: the freshest pasta & specialty food, local high quality produce, deep roasted coffee across from European style bakery, fresh cut flowers, food friendly wine, sustainable fish shop and a butcher shop with holistic principles! If you're a foodie like me, you'd be in heaven.

Diesel, a Bookstore

One of the three locations (the other two are in Malibu and Santa Monica) of a proud independent bookstore (YAY!) that regularly hosts author events, great sense of humor and 'California culture'. It's your neighborhood bookstore! I love the by-color presentation and cozy fireplace.

Bittersweet the Chocolate Cafe

A perfect spot for an afternoon break. This warm and inviting cafe is all about the chocolate, furnished with rustic and colorful pieces. I go here for a cacao adventure (my last one was the spicy hot chocolate, which was simply a joy for fall!)

THE BERKELEY SIDE

Jeremy's Womenwear

I almost canceled writing this post (just kidding Fenny!) because I was like..should I or should I not tell the world about this place? It used to (depends on the season or inventory I guess?) have tons of overstock and salvages from Anthropologie and J.Crew. Fret not, it still has branded items at ridiculous prices. I found a salvage Robert Rodriguez dress for $40 while it was still selling online for $600. There was a tear in the lining, but otherwise it's a perfectly beautiful dress. It is a hit and miss. And you have to be sharp about finding the imperfections and decide quickly whether you want to accommodate those stains or holes or not before someone else snatch it away.

Jeremy's 2 Menswear

A couple of doors away, this one is the mens version of the one above. It also where they stock the shoes, some home decors, and children's clothing.

P.S. The one in SF is bigger and has more high end brands!

Icy

There is almost always a line every time I pass this well designed ice cream place. Maybe it is the soft cloud like yummy color of the store. Or maybe it's because they serve killer handmade ice cream! (Nuv said :D)

Manpuku

Hmm what can I say, it's a hole-in-the-wall Japanese with a cheap, fast, and decent tasting plus quite a wide range of menu from sushi to soba to ramen to the usual suspect-yaki. Free hot tea is always good and for under 8 bucks I got a large bowl of tonkatsu donburi with miso soup. Cash only under ten bucks.

Rialto Cinemas

A small old school style movie theater that often shows indie and foreign movies among great Hollywood large screen experience. The last few times I was here with my beau, we both loved it. The crowd was drama-free, courteous to others, and simply pleasant. {Cash only with ATM on the premises and walking distance}.

So those are a few of my favorite things in the College Avenue. I hope y'all enjoyed the day trip.

Thanks again Fenny for letting me hang out in your fabulous space :)

----------
Thank you for the fabulous travel post Starlet. I love it, don't you?
If you want to know more about Starlet, please visit her blog and say hello. I personally love her fashion posts. Very inspiring :).

And if you have not enter my giveaway, please participate here. It will be ending soon, so hurry up!

Happy weekend folks....

Baby's breath flowers

2011-10-27T10:00:00.002+08:00

{image via Intimate Weddings}

One of my all time favorite flower is baby's breath. I always think this tiny, simple, white flower is very versatile and I could not go wrong to combine this with any flowers. I love to see them with yellow Daisies, pink carnation or just let alone has its beauty.

I never throw away my left over flowers, my daisies fade and fall but this tiny beauty after a week is still looking good, so I just transfer them into my plain black color Japanese tea cup and rearrange it again (picture below). I never get tired to have them at my home, but unfortunately this flower is pretty costly here, so I can't afford to have it every time.

What is your favorite flowers? What are you normally do with your left over flowers?

{image is by me}

Tomorrow will be a special guest travel post by someone extra special, I love her post and she shared fabulous place to shop fabulous books, cozy cafes and steal purchase for branded clothes, I feel want to pack my suitcase and fly to that place. So please don't forget to drop by :).

And if you have not enter my giveaway, please feel free to participate here. Xo.

Happy Deepavali

2011-10-26T10:00:00.001+08:00

Today I am taking a day off from blog-land and spending my day off with family.
Today our Indian friends in Malaysia and over the world celebrating Deepavali - the festival of light. So I wish happy Deepavali.
Talk to you again tomorrow....

{image Bonnie Tsang via 100layers cake}

Lovely Clusters : Fave picks

2011-10-25T12:16:00.003+08:00

When I read this post at Simply Hue. I was so happy that I found another handmade market place called Lovely Clusters. Or may be most of you know about it already? Where am I all this while...

I love to visit Etsy of course, but smaller place like Lovely Clusters makes me feel so cozy to carefully select items that I love. I didn't feel overwhelmed with the choices, makes online shopping more relaxing either :).

I made collages of these items that I picked into my purchase lists. Mostly are vintages jewelry and also fine art photographs, I always love them when I shopped for vintage styles. Do you like my selection?

You can visit Lovely Clusters or enjoy their sweet Fall/Winter 2011 catalog.

Images {clockwise via Lovely Clusters}
1. Saucer ring
2. Photograph by Simply Hue
3. Vintage Brooch
4. Victorian ring
5. Photograph by Stepmel
6. Vintage hair pin

And if you have not enter my giveaway yet, you are welcome to join here :).

Little thought on Monday + {new blog list}

2011-10-24T10:17:00.004+08:00

Happy Monday everyone. I am so ready to enjoy this week. I felt recharged after our company retreat (working related) and also happy that this Wednesday we will have one day public holiday, due to the Deepavali celebration here in Malaysia. I always love public holiday in mid week :).

And today I also added Happy Interior blog into my blog list, I would like to share the new blog in blogsphere that worth to check it out belong to my twitter friend Igor Josif. I love to have him as a friend, because tweeting (we never talked) with him seems to make me happy. He is a very joyful person. Please drop by at his blog and have a blessed week ahead!

{images is from Happy Interior blog}

I have a dream....

2011-10-21T10:00:00.001+08:00

I am going to sign off early this weekend, I am going to country side for my company retreat, this is now going to be a relaxing one but will be having an endless meeting. So, today I created a dreamy mood board for my mental meditation :). If you have not encounter to the work of Jose Villa photography, then you should visit his site. It's beautiful and dreamy.

Have a great and relaxing weekend everyone. And again, if you haven't have chance to enter my giveaway, you are welcome to participate. The more the merrier...

{images are from Jose Villa}

Geometric loves

2011-10-20T13:36:00.004+08:00

Lately Geometric pattern seem drawn into my attention. Love it in any form of design. Sometimes simplicity is the best. Don't you agree?

images clockwise:
1. Wall decal from tinchdesignstudio
2. Boys T shirt {that I wish to own} from Zara
3. Eco bag from The New Domestic
4. Cat print from Gingiber

And don't forget to enter my giveaway here. Don't miss a chance to win an awesome book for your self or for someone you loved :).

special {post} + giveaway - CLOSED

2011-10-19T14:15:00.002+08:00

Prologue

...Again you can't connect the dot looking forward, you only can connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots somehow connect in your future-- Steve Job

I know the world of blogging since 2006 when casual friend of mine introduced one blog that until now I'm still become a very loyal follower. That was the first blog that I ever read, not other than decor8 by Holly Becker . She inspired me to write my own blog, then.

Introduce to Blogging Your Way

Fast forward to year 2010, I knew about BYW e-course conducted by Holly - decor8 and Leslie. I always wanted to join... but it fears me that I won't be able doing any good at it. After fighting with my own fears, I finally joined the class on March 2011, I am thankful I did, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from someone so genuine and willing to share her knowledge to us. If I never joined then, I never been able to discover that I actually enjoy blogging so much. I remember Holly's podcast 'fear is a better feeling than regret'. I totally agree with her. I do not want to have any regret for things that I wanted to do, opportunity sometimes only come once in lifetime.

I also feel blessed to encounter many friends through blogging, most of us living apart and never meet each other {someday, hopefully will meet in person} but we seem to have a creative connection and very supportive toward each others. For that I really want to say thank you, to my dear friends, to my readers.

Decorate book - 1000 professional design ideas for every room in your home

When Holly and her co writer Joanna Copestick wrote Decorate, I was thrilled to have one, This book is not available in Malaysia, I pre ordered the book through Amazon, and the waits for three month at that time seems forever. Again, this is the first design and interior book that I ever had, I always a magazine person when it comes to design ideas. I love everything about this book but I am not going to write a review here , you can click this review from Amazon. Therefore, if I really need to choose between dying or picking anything most favorite in the book, I would said that what I love the most from the chapter are the flea market style, colorful style and attention to detail- flowers. Those are nearer to my personal style.

Giveaway time....

And because you {my readers and my friends) are meant a lot for me, I want to give 1 copy of Decorate book for the lucky winner who participate in this giveaway.

When is the giveaway start?
This giveaway is open from today 19th October 2011 and closed on the 2nd November 2011- 10am Malaysian time {two weeks}

Who entitles to join this giveaway?
Everyone in this part of the world :).

Any particular requirement to participate?
To participate is easy just leave a comment at the comment section below and if you would like to share this answer it would be great too:
1. Who influence your creative life?
2. And how she/he inspired you?

Other than that,
Don't forget to attach your email, so if you are one of the winner I could easily contact you.

Anything more,
No obligation to follow me on Twitter or to follow my blog but tweet about it if you could, good thing is meant to share and let others know :)

Important notification:
I don't have a copy with me, after I randomly pick the winner I will do online order through Amazon and send directly from Amazon to your address. Because I figure out this is a faster way to deliver. Allow me maximum two weeks to a month from the date of announcement for the book to be arrived at your place {the delivery time may take a little bit longer depend on the availability and your country of origin}.

Thank you for drop by and join my first giveaway, I am so excited. I hope you are as excited as I am...

{images are by me for f4fabulousblog}

Old & New {plates}

2011-10-18T08:34:00.003+08:00

The moment I found these work of talented Dutch artist Ninainvorm, I immediately falling in love with it. I always have a heart for vintage plates and tea set. And I love how smart she is to screen printed vintage treasures with hip design of hers. Isn't the collaboration turned out to be very lovely? I am saving money from now to budget this purchases.

Ninainvorm shop is on Etsy.

{all images are from Ninainvorm}

Little thought on Monday

2011-10-17T11:11:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was the best Sunday that I ever had for the longest time, well our Sunday was always good, but this one is one of the best :). The weather was so pleasant, it was raining in two days, at Saturday and Sunday morning, left the rest of Sunday with a cloudy and chilled weather, we didn't turn on the air con either, very lovely for outdoor activities, but we just relax at home, I went to swim at down stair while my daughter and hubby had their afternoon nap.

Because of Saturday was heavy rain, when I woke up at Sunday morning, I saw few leafs from my plant falling on my rattan rug at my balcony. I felt autumn in a glance haha... I always dream about autumn even we live in the country that forever sunny. And I also very delight that my tiny yellow flower is starting to bloom. Love it.

Actually, I had a lot of things to do, including preparing give away for my blog, but we spent the rest of Sunday cuddled at the sofa, I thought hey... I need to do nothing once in a while. isn't it? And only before dinner we went out to shop for our little one. Her feet grows very fast, so she needs a new shoes :).

How was your weekend treated you? Happy Monday everyone...

{images are by me for f4fabulousblog}

Vintage globe centerpiece for fall

2011-10-13T12:53:00.003+08:00

I love to collect old/vintage globes from my flea market finds, but because its old, they never came in perfect shapes, means some of the globe's leg are broken, or event only the globe but no leg. I thought after I found this images at BHG... yay.... finally I know what to do with few of them. Isn't it cute idea to cut them into half and make as a fall centerpiece? Well, we don't celebrate fall here, still we can fill in with summer flowers :).

Do you love the idea too?

{image via BHG}

Guest Travel Post at Bloesemblog : {Poco homemade - Kitchen and Zakka}

2011-10-13T11:01:00.003+08:00

Hello dear friends, today I am a guest post for the second time at Bloesem blog- one of my favorite blog, and again I am so honored to have the opportunity to be a guest post at Irene's blog. She always so generous and kind.

I visited a sweet lifestyle cafe in the suburb of Kuala Lumpur with my dear friend (photo above) last week, this place is quite special and I think it is worth to share to all of you and Bloesem readers to know a bit more about dining places in Kuala Lumpur :).

Further reading please visit this post at Bloesem Blog. I hope you like it :)

{image is by me for f4fabulousblog}

natural linen table setting

2011-10-12T10:00:00.000+08:00

I love to peek Etsy for my window-online shopping. And look what I found! What a lovely, natural and simple table setting. I really love linen. It is one of my favorite texture to play with. The natural color it self is very intriguing, and I would really love these set for my dining table.
Do you love them?

These gorgeous set could find at here.

{images are courtesy of lucypritchard}

Thrifty find + {splurge indulgence}

2011-10-11T13:45:00.003+08:00

Oh.. I am so happy that I finally back here. You can't imagine how busy my working schedule last week and it will continue for this week as well, in fact the whole month of October I will be busy. I can foresee the month of October will pass in a blink for me.

I miss to write here. Writing at here is like my personal brand of heroin (quote from Edward Cullen..haaa). It make me miss this space so much when I am not able to visit it daily. Anyway, to start my busy week , Me, little one and my hubby managed to have a good weekend. We went to shop a little bit. And look what I found...

A vintage grandma white cardigan, it's pre-loved item (that what they called it here for second hand product) for few bucks. And bold leather belt Just Cavalli from Roberto Cavalli for few hundred bucks. Some I shop for thrifty find and some I splurge for personal indulgence. Life is fair, isn't it? :).

I will be back tomorrow. Have a nice day lovelies....

{image is by me for f4fabulousblog.com}

a buzy bee

2011-10-06T12:27:00.002+08:00

{image: BHG via Decorology}

I feel heavy, but I won't be able to blog this few days due to work commitment. I has roadshow to go. Work is still chaotic this week, I really hope that next week I will have more time to blog. Meanwhile have a good day for all of you. And I just want to share this inspiring image above, I wish someday I could have workspace like that...bliss :).

Pillow loves

2011-10-05T10:00:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I was a busy bee, so I did not have time to drop by here. It makes me restless when I wasn't able to blog for a day :). But you know those who has a daily job will understand how hard sometime to find a quality time to write. Anyway, today I would like to share my pillow projects. Some of you know that since I moved house it hard for me to find pillow cushion that I want, when I found ones it was always over the budget haha... so to spark my grey wall and mostly dark wood furniture, I decided to custom made the cushion with bright color. Here is the previous post about the fabric, and with the help of my dear friend ( she sewed the cushion), tada.... I enjoy them at my home now.....

This bright yellow, blue and green pillows were placed at my day bed in my reading room.

These floral pillow cushions I placed at my sofa in the living room.

An here is how my reading room corner looks like. I keep the scrap fabrics and I will think about project that I can do with it. But for now I tied some of them at my roller blind handle and at my red dining chair leg (image as above)

Thank you for stopping by....:) Have a good day!

{image is by me for f4fabulousblog}

Little thought on Monday

2011-10-03T13:35:00.002+08:00

Good day everyone. As usual I will always ask the same question every Monday, How's your weekend? :). Mine was so relaxing with family and friends, also a highlight for last weekend was my first time joining Tweet party at #blogbrunch, and it was awesome, I was able to know some of wonderful people and visited their beautiful blogs. I love to meet new friends, it is precious for me.

And today is my first post on October month. I still couldn't believe time really flies, I had so much fun at my little space here, I am so glad that I was back to blog again last March this year after I took a long break for almost a year from blogging. If I did not restart again I knew I feel regret, because I met so many fabulous people through blogging. And yes I am preparing my first time giveaway, I am nervous about it but hopefully I can launch it this month. Got to be something really special for the first time, right?

Also, morning dew, gardening, outdoor, quiet time with my book are still dominating my mood for this month. I started to swim again twice a week, I really hope the weather will be friendly this month so I can do more outdoor activity. And for those who enjoys fall and spring, I envy you :).

Happy Monday.

{all images are from She who eats blog, the gorgeous Japanese food blog that I currently read on}

{Happy weekend} and Happy Blogbrunch

2011-09-30T16:00:00.005+08:00

Time really flies when you are having fun or a busy bee like me. Work was mad this week and full of rock and stone {read : tough}. I am so looking forward to have a good weekend. What a fun way to spend the weekend beside with my family and friends is of course to mingle with other creative bloggers out there. Blogging gives me sanity when I had a tough day, Blog friends keeps me inspired and socialize with new blog friends makes me happy. This weekend I am looking forward to join the twitter party at #blogbrunch and mingle with creatives ladies {and men - may be} virtually and hope someday will be able to meet some of them in person too :).

What is blogbrunch? please click the image below to know more about the community and the founder.

And when you love it, please visit their website, bring your mimosa and join the brunch at #blogbrunch (via twitter ) I hope I 'll see you there :) Happy weekend.

{all images are via The pink and blue blog at their surprise party of the launching of Blog Brunch website}

Shop Tour - A loft of things

2011-09-29T13:35:00.006+08:00

Yesterday I finished my meeting earlier than usual and I went to the neighborhood shopping complex to buy groceries. Then I notice a little shop above on the second floor was attracted my attention. I don't normally shop for fun after working day and it has been long time I never really explore local indie boutique at places nearby.

A loft of things is a cute little boutique that look like a loft (the tittle is well said), dominated with white color wall , floor and furniture to made the decoration subtle and the product stand out. What I love about the place, It gave me a different experience to shop in the fashion boutique but there are bed, dining set and sofa around. It is like play dress up at your best friend house :).

Here are few pictures to share. I bought blue polkadot pant which turned out to be very comfy to wear and a vintage dress. Love it. Will be back again.

{the entrance to the shop at the 2nd floor}

{view of the window display- from the back}

A loft of things
B-13-A-1 Sunway Giza mall
Jalan PJU 5/14
Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara - PJ

{all images are by me for f4fabulousblog}

KL design week : comprehensive recap

2011-09-28T14:21:00.009+08:00

I was so overwhelmed sorting out the pictures that I took at KL design week 2011 from my last visit to Publika last weekend. But finally I managed to pull up some few of many pictures that I took with my iPhone. Apologize if the quality is not so good, I seriously need to get used to bring along my DSLR camera with me and take picture freely in the public area. I am a little bit shy in this area hehe... I am an amateur. Oh well...

First of all I would like to share about the place that hosted the event it self. I am so impressed with Publika, a new hip mall in the expat area located in Mt.Kiara - Kuala Lumpur. There are plenty of mall in the city like mushroom grows in the forest, it won't never finish to explore one to another, but it's very little that has an authentic concept like Publika. The architecture it self is very modern and cozy. Judging with the event that they hosted and also there are dedicated gallery for artist to display their art work, I guess the management of the mall seems to sport local designers. Well, we'll see for if any similar upcoming events but I definitely will be back to do window shopping and visit the impressive food court :).

The name of Kuala Lumpur design week 2011 sounded so grant to me, but unfortunately the exhibitors are not as many that I expected, I believe there are plenty of talented local designer in Malaysia it self. And the visitors were also very few ( I went to the event on Saturday morning at the last day of exhibition), may be lack of publicity from the organizer (which I actually did not aware until the last day and I only got the info from twitter). Nevertheless I really enjoyed the visit. The concept to display the art works in each corner of the mall, unfinished shop lots (the mall just newly open and still 80% vacant) and temporary plywood wall was a brilliant idea. The natural color of concrete and raw paints wall made the exhibit products looked stand out. I personally love the photos collage from magazine, news paper, tear off brochures that displayed on the plywood wall. It is an mood board inspiration by it self.

{collages of images from mags, news paper, brochures -

made a inspiring moodboard}

{Wirakanta - collaboration of Amateur
and professional photographer}

And there were also Architectures exhibit section, this area I have zero knowledge to write about haha...There are few architects exhibits their design,I enjoyed the photos and read all the summary of the concept behind their design, it made me learn new things of course.

Below images are two of my favorite design and proudly said they are from my home country Indonesia (first image) and from neighbor country Singapore (second image), What I like about both design are the exposure of natural light and the use of concrete wall. I feel it makes the house really roomy and warm.

And below images are few types of design, the collaboration of modern, minimalist, urban and quirky designs. I enjoy each styles. Some has a deep messages behind the design, I guess you need to really into it in order to enjoy it :).

Before I adjourned to handmade section that I purposely visited at the last part {because I want to spend more time at the section}, let me shared few pictures of Publika food court. The food court is really has an awesome contemporary design, not like generaly food court that I visited at the local mall. The food are nice and affordable and the cozy environment is a value added. I love it.

Lastly, I shopped at this section haha.. expected. I always support handmade artists, my heart goes to them. They are normally genuine, kind heart and very friendly people. My fave little Syam was there, I had a chat with her and she shares few stories. I bought wall hanging decoration from her famous silk screenprint handmade. I also bought the patchwork stool from RAW as you seen here at my previous post. And lastly I met Gigi Gee - jewelery designer, I adored her work so much, she is genius. I bought her latest design necklaces for a gift to special blogger friend far away at State, hope she will love it. Gigi really was so kind to spare time with me to explain about her design process.

{little Syam}

{Gigi Gee jewelry}

{R.A.W}

I did not manage to visit all the shops though. But I strongly suggest you pay a visit to awesome blog Bloesem. Irene did a very thoughtful recap for each designers and of course her photos that she took in KLDW are so gorgeous. Happy reading!

{all images are by me for f4fabulousblog}

e-mag: Smallable Fall/Winter 2011

2011-09-27T16:19:00.006+08:00

I am so busy with work today, I feel bad that I promised to share pictures from KL design week that I visited over the weekend but I wasn't able to upload it yet. I hope tomorrow I can post and write about it.

Meanwhile I just want to drop by and share with you about these beautiful e-mag, do you know about Smallable? They are fashion line for kids 0-12 years old and curated fabulous brand all over Europe. And I really love their e-mag for F/W 2011. Kids can be so fashionable and fabulous on that pictures, I love all their inspiring images.

Happy reading folks. I ll see you tomorrow again..Xo.

{all images are from Smallable F/W 2011}