renegade @ chicago & etc.

we almost didn't make it there!? due to some last minute conflict in schedules and changing flight times..... bahhhh.... but luckily we managed to, and never did i expect it to be SO. FREAKING. HUGE. oh my gawd. i wasn't prepared, and was quite confident that i could walk the entire thing through in about 2 hours. wrong. i was literally pulling b along because i wanted to try my best to see every stall and all the the great stuff that was there. not possible since we were already in a rush for the fucking plane. i could have spent the entire day there because other than renegade, there were lots of other stuff going on. dear gawd.

i was totally impressed with not just renegade itself, size, quality and variety of stalls and artists (it was so colorful!) , but the crowd! woow! waydago chicagoans! the fair was very vibrant and not pretentious at all (am i saying that some are? :p), and very well managed and organized. i bet a gazillion sales were made that day, like seriously a gazillion, plus it was a 2-day thingie, i could only imagine the crowd on sunday... i think the artists went home rich. ha! happy shoppers, happy crafters, happy big heavy pockets. and the weather, even the infamous chicago weather was cooperatively nice! unbelievable. it was like freezing on and off when we first arrived in chicago, and then the weather got warmer, and warmer, and warmer until it was like singapore, without the stickiness, and i was telling b that nyc was going to be warmer than chicago, and he said it was preparing us for our leg to new york... and then in new york, it was o-kay on our first day there, and then it became slightly warm-humid-icky, and su-jin said it was preparing us for home... okay, i kinda went off-track here.... so on our way there, the train was packed, and you could already guess where they were going to.... especially when their loud conversations were peppered with excitement about going to the do-division street fest and renegade... didn't mean to eavesdrop.. :pp

we saw a gazillion nice stuff and a ton of fun ones, familiar ones too (like the little friends of printmaking -- it's weird because melissa, the mistress of the lfop, actually asked her husband if lof was going to be there, and he said "isn't she in singapore?" ha!!!, and india romeo, smitten kitten, etsy booth!, boygirlparty, sew darn cute, pink loves brown... too many!!) .... there were also lots of food and desserts but all we had time for was a delicious chocolate ice-cream (we had to right??? i was there with a sweet-tooth fella :p i can't believe that we were in a mad rush, and yet had time to queue up for ice-cream!!!) and not forgetting the new renegade store!!! i so love the cute owl... i would not do it any justice with my brief descriptions.... you know what? we might have to get our asses down there the next time again! next year! i don't know.... maybe you should too if you didn't get to go! b was in awe throughout, but was slightly irritated with our rush... :S our favorite, and i think almost everyone's favorite was the super fun postcard machine! It's a fake-o robot, totally man-labored machine that spits out handmade postcards and change!

we didn't get to cover the entire thing of course.... sadly :(( there were 200 over stalls and the area was just too huge, each stall occupied a pretty big area as well, i guess it's a standard size for the fairs there? don't know... it is huge for singapore standards... so yeah... the next one...??? i really really hope so.....

i'm typing this in a rush... so if it's not making much sense.... well, please forgive moi... i had no idea that being away for a while longer than usual has resulted in so many things gatecrashing... elsie was really good at helping me reply customer/urgent emails, but many things she couldn't decide on, and even though we had b's laptop -- i insisted on not bringing my powerbook or using his lappy because it was a holiday dammit! i didn't wanna check emails and worky worky on a vacation????? boooo..... but i did. checked. just a couple. and replied. i've sold my soul. sad.

suddenly, all i can think of now is the word "auto-pilot". hmmm...

to not end it off with such a sad note (i know! my post is of such manic levels of feelings! happy, sad, happy, sad, happy, neutral..... i can be happy and sad so many times a day, it's really pointless to "update my mood" in facebook. LOL! no, i'm not cuckoo. tsk.)

you totally made me smile -- (it was from awhile ago but i just came across it again while frantically clearing emails)

"why do you have to torture me with your little shindig being at singapore!!

i have nothing to look forward here in the states...maybe just convincing someone to buy me all your cute collection for school...

if only.

keep on making the cutest things on earth!!"

and i love love love this uber cool tree coat hanger so i just have to share it with you while i still remember to... so many forest-ty goodies around... can't imagine when i have my own pad... all to meself... all me... muahahaha :p

Bridals in Salt Lake City Utah

How pretty are her bridal pictures!?!?! You might recognize Rachel from one of the previous blog post in August "Rachel and Steve Engagement" We'll were excited for them and will be there for their wedding ceremony this weekend. It's been neat getting to know you both! Congrats!!! I'm sure Steve can't wait to see his beautiful bride in her gorgeous dress! The location for the bridals was perfect up at the lovely temple square in Salt Lake City Utah, especially with the fountain on! Utah brides are a lot of fun to work with.

Autumn wreath....

I admit to missing home this time of year. Where I grew up we generally had long hot summers with almost everyday being bright and sunny. By the time Autumn comes around it is a nice change. I loved pulling my cosy jumpers (sweaters) out the closet after months of being hidden away. The early Autumn was usually dry so we would rake up the leaves in huge piles and jump in them and throw them around. What a sight it was to see the bright coloured leaves floating and blowing "en masse" across the streets. Many people would decorate their front doors with wreaths or Autumnal decorations of brightly coloured gourds and pumpkins. We even used to make "scarecrows" out of old clothing; we would stuff them with leaves and sit them on our front porch with a small pumpkin sat on top for the head. We had good fun using markers to draw silly faces in them.



Feeling just a touch homesick, I decided to make my own Autumn wreath for our front door. Georgia (our little girl) and I went for a walk down our pretty country lanes in search of bits of foliage. I was planning on doing a large wreath but I could not find a double wire wreath ring at any of the local shops, so we made a simple wire circle and used little pieces of wire to attach the foliage. I used a couple pieces of hydrangea along with some brightly coloured garden flowers to create what I think is a little Autumn masterpiece!

shoppe updatesss interlude....

i've replied all your comments! ;)

and yes yes fret not! i'm NOT still in a holiday mode, unfortunately for moi..ha... it's just the pile load of sewing work PLUS dreadful paperwork that i'm furiously trying to clear!!?
soooooo.... shoppe updates soon! cross my heart...

watch out for these starting this coming weekend!
# summer bird-bangle clutches (not in pink! lol can't believe the number of people asking me for that.....)
# leaf pocket bags (in new fabrics and variations!!!)
# snotty crowned bird cushion covers (finally printed enough to restock for the shoppe!!!)
# snotty crowned bird totes (silkscreened onto brand new awesome colored-denim!!!)
# petit leaf straplets (in new fabrics and variations!!!)
# brand new cutesy item under accessories (surprise surprise!! heee)
# brand new tank top designs (we waited toooooooo long!!!! woot!)
# oli the pompous elephantus bag (blue is already restocked! brand new color variations coming up!!!!)
# and more! (my choked brain can't seem to recall......)

already re-stocked!
# snotty bird bags (almost all colors are re-stocked!)
# lof shopping bags (almost all colors are re-stocked, final batches!!)
# stumpie stool covers (waited too long huh!!)
# stumpie seat/chair cushions (yayyy!!!)

yes, i was shouting and screaming throughout this post... exclamation marks galore.... xoxo!

Wedding Photography in Salt Lake City

I seriously loved how they planned their wedding day. It was opposite, so much more relaxing. We first took the wedding couple portraits, then they had the luncheon, then they had the ceremony and a couple family photos be for they headed off for the honeymoon. Everything worked out so great. We're were worried about it raining, but the weather was perfect! We got to see how excited/nervous groom Tyson was before he saw Bonnie in her beautiful wedding dress. It was so cute! He was outside pacing right before she showed up. They both had the a wonderful wedding party with family & friends. As well as the most adorable nieces and nephews! Bonnie and Tyson really just go well together as you can definitely see in their photos. Congratulations you two!!!

some of my precious loot

here are just some of my precious loot i came back with, excluding many clothes i got for myself and pressies i got for everyone, including my dad... who as usual, was indifferent towards his new ralph lauren leather clutch (the one he brings to church for his bible now is also ralph lauren but was quite old, so i thought he'd like this.. but i guess not! :p) old men are hard to please.... my mum's coming back next week, so hope she likes her pressies! i got her the most stuff.... because mummies are bestest... haha i sound so immature... whatever.. ppffttt...

hard to pick favorites, but i adore adore adore my new awesome pink-colored "fake" cuckoo clock from urban outfitters (i got 1 for you too, mao!!! they only had 2 left), the pinnochio measuring tape from the MoMA store in new york, 2 kick-ass tops i got from ragstock (b was super amused that the front entrance was at the side alley, i told him ragstock's entrances were all? like that... well at least those that i've been to! we've to either climb up or down or bothways from a tiny door)




and my US$1 (!!!) nut cracker from the unique thrift store at kedzie, which has gotten much dustier than i last remembered it to be.. i also got 1 huge duffle bag worth of awesome fabrics from the thrift stores in chicago! ahhh!!!! i had to try hard to contain my screams (i gave out tiny ones) everytime i laid my eyes on those bags full of fabrics! that means good stuff in store for new goods ;) weee!

b truly adores chicago for all its quirkiness, and has declared that his favorite place to go to was the belmont area... after our refreshing brunch at orange cafe, i brought him around the cool shops there, and his favorites (other than the costumey and s&m ones!) were hollywood mirror and uncle fun.

this was his first-time in an actual thrift/vintage store, and he went berserk! he was like a wide-eye kid in willy wonka's chocolate factory! i gave him a huge appreciative hug because... seriously... how many singaporeans... men!... actually enjoys shopping... and in a thrift store????? i was really apprehensive, and prepared to let him go walk around elsewhere while i went to my long list of thrift/vintage stores... i guess i worried too much. *smuacks!* we also got ourselves some fun halloween costumes, a pair of awesome thrifted cowboy boots and hats each. other than some vintage shirts and pants, he also got a little decent lootful of crazy toys (we call it ba-ling-long... and all the way during our trip, he kept asking me to bring him to more shops that sells ba-ling-long!!!?!) HAHAHAhah! he was sad to leave chicago for ny because i told him that chicago had more ba-ling-long stuff than newyork.....

and we both decided that if ever lof decides to open our own boutique, it has to be in the armitage area. that's my favorite place in chicago to live also, if ever.

did you know....

that refugees were flown on commercial flights with other passengers? i had always thought they were flown only in non-commercial private carriers/flights or even by the army... well, guess not!

we had a huge group of people (more than 12 of them?) who looked out of place, the women in some unidentified traditional garb, flying with us on our long flight - singapore-tokyo-chicago. they were seated all the way in the back.... 1 baby who couldn't stop wailing throughout, 3 little kids, 3 really elderly peeps, 2 middle-age and the rest all youngish looking adults... with many huge sacks (yes, sacks) of their belongings. not regular luggages or bags, but sacks. odd looking sacks with mended holes? with some oversized duffle backpacks and more sacks. we were discussing why they were allowed to bring in such hugggeee sacks onto the plane.... but sleepiness took over (we had to wake up at 3am for 7am flight...)....zzzzzz.....

anyways, this was b's first long flight ever (23++ hrs), and because he didn't have any mileage points, we couldn't upgrade to business class, well i could upgrade and leave him all cramped up by himself.. ha! i thought it was going to be a nightmare for him so i thought of all possible ways of entertaining him, but as usual it wasn't necessary at all, his very easygoing nature took over, and he had zero whinings. thanks for being so awesome :) it also helped that i picked good seats while booking our flights :pp i love expedia!

i insisted that we had to take the bloody shower at our narita airport stopover, even when our first leg of flight was delayed because the runway sweepers at changi airport decided that they should be super-kiasu and sweep the runway 3 times more than usual. and our transit time became only 45 mins from our original 1 and a half hours, so i was practically pulling b along the way to the shower room.... anyways, you all should too if you're transitting there!!!!! it's super cheap, just US$5 for a nice shower cubicle all to yourself, equipped with everything you'll need (but of course we girls will bring and use only our own toiletries :p) including dresser and chair and hairdryer and creams etc. and you get to feel all refreshed, nice-smelling, oil-less, clean, and happy! :D

side-note: this is why i really dislike transitting in hong kong, because their freaking sucky shower room costs us$12 for nothing, except towels and the usual shampoo + soap we won't use... throw in an indifferent service personel and it totally blows. i can shower for free in the star alliance lounge but when i'm flying with someone else who wants to shower too, i can't possibly just abandon them, can i.... well, i guess i could if i wanted to be a selfish biatch. ha

because i insisted on the shower, we didn't have time for the yummy jap noodles... ppfftttt... b loved the shower, but you know, food is always much more important to a mannnn...... bahhh.... whatever... so we quickly bought some japanese snacks and got onto our second leg of the flight....

so anyways, that same group of people with huge sacks were in this flight to chicago, and this time, we were seated all the way in the back, just a couple of rows in front of them. so i had to walk past them everytime i go pee (which is quite often, with my weak bladder haha). they looked super miserable. and hungry. they didn't eat any of their plane food at all, i know it is "plane" food, but it looked more like it didn't suit their tastebuds than that it sucked.... and left it mostly untouched... it's too long a flight to go without food i think...

and then it was welcome to chicago! but not so welcome i guess, you know how "friendly" the us customs are... lol... there is actually a customs check-in area meant solely for refugees, so says the huge sign, and no surprises, that whole group of them were led by custom officers to wait there.... together with a huge group of what seems like an african tribe... for real... they were in tribal garb....

and so whilst being ordered around in the queue like dog packs by the custom officer, b whispered to me "wow, you planned all these right? a simple flight also have stories to tell!" hahhaha!!! you're so singaporean, b!!!!! *hugs*

and he made the same comment again on our way to the hotel in the cab....

there was a hoo-hah on the highway when there was a mini explosion, and the owner of the burning car who had already ran out suddenly ran across the highway back towards the car, and our cab driver, being the ever spontaneous ang-moh, quickly winded down his window and kept shouting for him to get away from the burning car

yup. i totally planned all these.