RAK Winners
Michelle
Ok... I just got Jay (bf) to pick 2 numbers and the winners of the RAKs are:

Tracy
Sandie

Ladies.. peamail me on 2peas (my username:mizzm) with your postal address and I'll get these out to you. Or you could leave your email address here and I'll contact you guys for your addresses. :)

I'll update shortly about my long weekend girls trip, Scrappy 500 and "Scrapped - The Movie" by Wes Thomsen.

Stay tuned!!
2 comments | edit post
Girls Weekend
Michelle
A lot has happened in the past 4 days. Be warned that this will be a loooooonnnnngggg post. :D

Friday night I stayed up all night to finish my last challenge for the Scrappy 500. I didn't finish till 6am and my flight up to Auckland was at 8.15am on Saturday morning. I laid down for 30 minutes and then had to get up to shower and get to the airport. I couldn't even begin to imagine how I did it, but I did.

We had a girls' weekend planned in Auckland. Just Laura, Jessica, Lies and myself - a weekend of eating yummy food, shopping and hanging out. When we got to Auckland it was raining! That was kinda disappointing because Wellington was unusually sunny albeit windy when we left. We took a bus down to Auckland city and headed to the New President Hotel where we had rooms booked. We were lucky that our rooms were ready early so we didn't have to wait till 12pm to check in. Then off we went in search of an early lunch, not many places were open yet. We finally went to a Chinese foodcourt. The food looked really good but when they arrived, we were sorely disappointed. The taste was not even near as good as what they looked like. After our early lunch we had a look around a few shops and went off in search of a bus to take us to Dressmart (outlet stores) in Onehunga. After looking around and asking people, we found the right bus stop and bus and off we went. I had 40 winks on the way there (about 35-45 minutes bus ride I think).

Things were fairly cheap at these outlet stores... the only problem was that there were hardly any our sizes left. But we still came out with a few purchases. By about 4.30pm we pretty much saw everything and all we wanted to do was to go back to the hotel and have a quick rest before heading out to dinner.

Waiting for the bus after a long afternoon of shopping.



We had dinner at Mai Thai. The food there were amazing!!!!



I had an embarrassing moment as we were leaving. I fell down 2 steps, my boots got caught on the steps and according to the girls, when I fell my position looked like one of a frog leaping! That was totally humiliating! It didn't help that the floors were wood - so you can imagine how loud the sound was! OMG!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for a short while and then met up with my friends Jasmine and Kevin. They took us to a lounge/bar called Rakinos. It was great catching up with them. I had a mojito which was a huge mistake. Don't get me wrong, I love mojitos, but because I hadn't had any sleep, I was feeling really drowsy after about 1/3 of the mojito. Needless to say I didn't finish it... what a shame.

Next Jessica's friend Leo met up with us and we went to Minus 5 - This bar is totally cool! The whole interior (except for the floors) is made of ice. There were ice sculptures everywhere and even the glasses for your drinks were made of ice. We were given a thick jacket, ugg boots and gloves to wear inside. There's only a certain number of people allowed inside at a time and every group gets to be in there for 30 minutes. The bar admits people on every hour and half hour (do I make sense? LOL!). My camera battery died not long after we got there.. and I thought I had my spare battery with me! Turned out that I left it on the table back in Wellington! AAAAARRRGGHHHH ! What a mare!! Thankfully Jessica had lots of space left on her memory card and her battery was still going so she was very kind to take a few more of me. I'll have to get them off her this weekend.



Day 2 in Auckland - YUMCHA (dimsum) was for brunch. We went to Grand Harbour and had really great yumcha ... everything tasted great!!



After yumcha we caught a bus to Newmarket to have a wander around the shops and the shopping mall. Didn't really buy much but had a great time looking around. Found a few good deals - there seem to be sales on everywhere. Eventually our feet were aching and we were quite tired, so we had afternoon tea after shopping in Newmarket at Michels Patisserie. Yummy chocolate cake, tiramisu and strawberry flan.



We went and caught the bus back into town after that and went our separate ways. All of us had different plans for dinner and agreed to meet up later that evening. Jessica went off to meet up with her friends. Lies, Laura and myself to freshen up. Lies had dinner with her friend and Laura and I had dinner together at Food Alley. After dinner Laura went to meet up with her friend and I met up with Kevan. We had coffee at Gloria Jeans in Borders - it was great catching up with him.

All of us met back at the hotel and went off to get coffee at Hilton but the cafe there was closed. We ended up getting Burger King (very naughty!) and just hung out in our rooms. I went off to check my emails and get my vote in for the last lap of Scrappy 500. And that was the end of our 2nd day in Auckland.

Last day in Auckland - I woke up to a grey rainy day. Quite disheartening really, but at least it's not too cold in Auckland. Here we are just woken up. Who said that you have to be all dressed and made up to have photos taken? :)



After checking out, we trekked up to Upper Queen Street (uphill for a good 15 minutes) for lunch at a Korean Restaurant called Bu Tu Mak (not sure if I got the spelling right). These are what we had: Bibimbab, Ahl Tang (Fish Roe soup), Yukaejang (Beef stew), Gajami (Fried flounder) and man du (dumplings). What a feast!!!

Food...glorious food....



After a yummy lunch, we wandered to High Street to take photos. And after 3 photos, it started pouring down on us! We ran to a block of shops/apartments for cover. This is my favorite photo from the trip. This is such a cool poster/wall art outside a restaurant called Wagamama. We didn't eat there. In fact we stumbled upon this place when we were looking for shelter from the rain. And I really liked this poster/wall art.



This is the other poster for Wagamama. I still like the other one better. This one got a bit cut off at the top....The girl had her hair in tiny curls and chopsticks poked through them.



With the rain pouring down in bucket loads.. we couldn't really do much, so we went to a cafe (didn't even notice the name!) and got some hot tea and cakes to share. Chocolate mascarpone baked cheesecake, tiramisu cheesecake (Jessica loves tiramisu) and chocolate & peanut butter cookie (I can't rotate the photo for some reason).



By then it was almost 5pm. We went off to Dunkin Donuts to pick up our orders (There's no Dunkin Donuts here in Wellington, so usually we bring them back given the chance). After picking up our donuts, we went back to the hotel to get our luggage and catch a taxi to the airport.

We were scared that our flight may be cancelled as our friends told us that it was really foggy in Wellington and the plane might not be able to land. Thankfully the flight was just delayed for 15 minutes. Got home, unpacked a little, had a shower and checked my emails. And that was the end of my long weekend! A tiring but extremely memorable and fun one.

If you've made it to here.. thanks for peeking and reading my blog. :) Will post more tomorrow. There's a few other things to post but I am truly too tired to type any more.
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Yummy International RAK
Michelle
Right... in celebration of today being Friday and the long weekend coming up and just because I feel like it, I'm RAKing 2 people (from anywhere but NZ and Aussie) these YUMMY Tim Tams! Cathy Zielske was totally hooked on these when she came to New Zealand in August to teach at Crafting Connections 06.





How do you get in the draw for these yummy treats?? Just leave a comment with your name and email address. On Tuesday night (Monday for those of you on the other side of the world), I will get Jay to draw two names and I'll post the winners here. Simple right? So... what are you waiting for? Get those comments in!

Now Kiwi & Aussie friends.. I will post a RAK later on just for you guys ok. :)
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Blogging Challenge
Michelle
First of all, this is in answer to Sophia's Thursday (although it's already Friday here) challenge on The Pub on 2Peas. The challenge? What fifteen minutes of fame have you had in your town?

Lord of the Rings 3 - Premier (2003)







King Kong premier - 2005





There you go.. the 15 minutes (actually more) of fame for Wellington!
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CJ Entry Sneak Peak
Michelle
Ok Glam Girls - here's a sneak peak of my entry in Gwenda's CJ. Gwenda - I'm putting the whole picture in my gallery in 2Peas... so don't go peeking there if you want to be surprised ok. :D

I had a great time working on this entry Gwenda... and being totally true to my love of color here. :)

Kate - this will go out to you in the mail tomorrow!



Okay... I need to get on with my scrapping. I have to get started on my project for the final lap of the Scrappy 500 challenge. Till then.. toodles!!
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Monday musings
Michelle
I knew the sunshine was too good to be true! It's half gone now.. and weather forecast said it'll turn southerlies later today!! NOOOOOOO!!!

The nerve wrecking wait is over.. I made it into the final lap of the Scrappy 500!! I still couldn't believe it!!! The work from all the racers have been amazing! 10 final racers this week.... OMG!!!! I need to get crackin' ith my layout and article!!!

I want to go home and scrap right now!!

I had a productive day yesterday.. I am 95% done with Gwenda's CJ entry.. and I'll be posting that off to Kate tomorrow! Woohoo! Just need to put the finishing touches on when I get home tonight and then get started on the assignment for the final lap of Scrappy 500.

I managed to get my Hambly layout in on time and it's up on the Pub Calls Blog - Hambly Manufacturer album. There's amazing work there!!! WOW!

Five more sleeps and I'll be in Auckland with the girls! Yay!! I can't wait!!!!! Alrighty ... back to work for now. I may update again later if there's anything of interest to note. Oh... and the day after I get back from Auckland ... I'll be going to "Scrapped - The Movie" which Kiwi Scraps has kindly organised. Can't wait!!

Grey's Anatomy is on tonight! :D

Happy Monday!!!

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I've been tagged in Indonesian
Michelle
Ok.. I've been tagged by Dessy. Unfortunately this is in Indonesian...


APAKAH KAMU
1. Iri hati pada orang lain:
:: Kadang2

2. Kamu mengandalkan 'beauty' or 'personality':
:: Personality donk

3. Punya SIM? :
:: Yup

4. Takut kehilangan 'uang' atau 'teman'?
:: Teman pastinya

5. Berkacamata?:
:: Iya

6. Suka anak kecil :
:: Suka kalo anaknya ga bandel

PERNAHKAH KAMU
7. Berpikir tuk operasi plastik:
:: Not really

8. Memotong sendiri rambutmu?:
:: Pernah - ujung rambut yang udah split end. Heehhe

9. Jatuh cinta pada pandangan pertama:
:: Nope, n there's no such thing!

10. Berpikir untuk mengadopsi anak:
:: Ya nggak sih...

11. Pacaran ama orang yang jauuuuh lebih tua :
:: Nope. So far dapetnya yg seuumuran ato setaun di atas gue and malah yg lebih muda jg ada. Hahhahahaha...

12. Cinta bertepuk sebelah tangan?:
:: Pernah ga yah? Kayaknya pernah tuh...long time ago.

13. Kehilangan dompet?:
:: Ga pernah...please jangan sampe deh

KUSUKA
14. Nonton berita?:
:: KAdang2

15. Pelajaran di sekolah:
:: High School - English & Art
:: Uni - Advertising & Event Management

16. Tipe cowok/cewek:
:: No idea.

17. Menu sarapan:
:: Coffee

18. Orang yang sedang kusuka:
:: Teman2ku, pacarku, keluarga yg pastinya.. hehehehe

19. Penampilan lawan jenis yang kamu sangat suka ngeliatnya:
:: No idea... pokoknya kl enak diliat .. ya udah.

20. Band:
:: Evanescence, Muse

21. Tempat:
:: Pengen deh travel around US & Europe.

22. Baca koran:
:: Jarang banget2 - males belinya. Biasanya baca di internet aja.

23. Resto fast food:
:: Hahhaha.. apa yah? Depends on my mood sih.

24. TV Station:
:: TV2, TV3 (only for America's Next Top Model)

25. Nama untuk anak laki-laki:
:: No idea

26. Nama untuk anak perempuan:
:: No idea

HAL PERTAMA YANG TERLINTAS DIBENAKMU SAAT MENDENGAR
27. Koper:
:: Going home! And also travelling!

28. Sekolah:
:: St Joe Miri

29. Sapi:
:: Rendang! LOL!

30. Rizky Hanggono:
:: Sapa tuh?

NGELEMPAR PR BUAT SIAPA?
Ga tau tuh.. ga banyak yg baca blog gue ngerti bahasa Indo... yg ada cmn Dessy. Ini aja dia yg ngelempar ke gue. So.. siapa aja kalo ada yg ngerti n mau ngerjain.. silahkan. :)
1 comments | edit post
Great mail day & productive Saturday
Michelle
I had a great mail day yesterday! I got a whole bunch of yummy new supplies - ribbons (gotta have them!), new paper from Bampop (totally cute!), some Hambly overlays, Cherry Arte and Sassafras Lass papers, Heidi Swap journaling spots, 7Gypsies tags and American Crafts Mini Marks.







Wow! What a Saturday! I had a productive scrappy day today (by my standards that is). I finished my Scrappy 500 Lap 4 challenge just in the nick of time! I nearly had a heart attack trying to load my pictures to the gallery within the deadline! I literally made it 1 minute under the deadline thanks to stupid dial up! Now comes the excruciating wait to see if I make it to the final lap where there'll be 10 contestants left. This is nerve wrecking!!

After lunch, I decided to submit an entry for the Hambly Studios Manufacturer Challenge (Which closed today). Initially I didn't think I was able to as I was waiting for the overlays to get here. Thankfully I got them yesterday. This was a really fast one for me - from idea to complete layout all in 3 hours! I'm a slow scrapper, so it was really good that I managed to do it in 3 hours!! The Hambly Manufacturer album will be posted on the Pub Calls Blog today.. not quite sure what time. I just checked and it's not there yet.

This layout is a photo of my brother Gary and his girlfriend Vince. I really like the unusual combination of vintage(Hambly overlays) and doodles(Bampop paper & journaling block).



These make me soooo happy even just by looking at them! Chip Chatter chipboard alphas - aren't the colors soooooo pretty? The purple ones are on the way too! :D



Alrighty.. I'm off to bed! Will try to post tomorrow. I'm planning to have a full day of scrapping tomorrow - going to get Gwenda's CJ entry done and 2 other CJ entries for the Global Peas CJ I'm in.

Goodnight & Happy Saturday to my friends on the other side of the world!

Mich
xoxo
4 comments | edit post
Mid week
Michelle
Technically it's already Thursday here...12.01am.

My arms are sore. I've just punched out 155 eyelet holes with my Silent Setter for a layout I'm doing for the Scrappy 500 challenge. Unfortunately the Crop-A-Dile doesn't reach far enough.. that would have been easier to use. I really hope that I'll make it to Lap 5 of this challenge. :)

Weather is getting better here. Hopefully that's the last we've seen of the rain and wind (wishful thinking - being that this is Wellington!). I can't wait for the weekend to be here. 2 more days to go!! Woohoo!

 Here's the Meme from The Pub on 2Peas:

 1) When was the last time you truly watched at a sunset?
I honestly can't remember!
 2) What are you most obsessive about?
My scrapping I think!
 3) Last thing you ate?
Noodles for dinner
 4) Any plans for Halloween?
Not really.
 5) What kind of shampoo do you like?
Anything that doesn't make my hair greasy.
 6) What do you do with your change?
Keep them in my coin purse for the parking meter and $2 coins for the laundry
 7) What do you usually do/eat at lunchtime?
Depends what I feel like - sushi, sandwich,Singapore fried noodles
8) When was the last time you called someone for help? What was it for?
A month ago I rang my friend and asked him to help me figure out HTML codes for my blog.
 9) If you could have one TOY for Christmas, what would it be?
Kids toy? Barbie. A scrappers toy - a new camera.
10) How many people have you currently not forgiven for something/do you hold a grudge against?
Don't think there's really anyone.

That's all for tonight. I'm off to bed.. have to get up at 7am for work! *sigh*

Thanks for stopping by as usual.

Mich
xoxo
4 comments | edit post
Barnyard Cider kit
Michelle
A layout I did earlier this evening. This one is done with the new kit Maggie created called Barnyard Cider (available from OScraps). The colors are just so rich! I really like it! Isn't the flower brush just the coolest??! :D



This is a photo of Chiqa & Gana's dance Lebuh Arok and Keris Gandring which they both choreographed together and performed at the Indonesian Cultural evening last month. I love the effect of the lights in this photo. Photo courtesy of Jeffri - got this off Ditha.

That's all for now. Back to my scrapping for the Lap 4 Challenge of Scrappy 500 at Scrap Street.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mich
xoxo
2 comments | edit post
I've been slack...
Michelle
Wow! I didn't realise that it's been over a week since I last blogged! Had a busy busy week... and a busy one ahead too!

Highlights of last week:
  • Finished my Lap 3 Challenge for Scrappy 500 with time to spare (instead of sliding in 2 minutes before cut off time!).
  • The weather was awful all week - rain and gusty winds!! Eeeeeeekkkk.. what happened to spring coming with daylight savings!?!
  • Work was insanely busy I thought it'd never end! (still hasn't ended!)
  • Watched America's Next Top Model Season 6 (yeah.. we're a season behind!) - I just can't get enough of this show!!
  • Went to my LSS and bought a few more sheets of American Crafts 'Play' paper and 2 new sets of ribbons - one of them is the Tie Rack range! I just soooooo love them!
  • Went to Queensgate Mall with Jay and had a nice time shopping and looking around.
  • Had dinner at a new place with the girls - we have a habit of ending up at our favorites but this time managed to go somewhere new (new to us that is).
  • Met up with a friend, Kav and his new girlfriend for yumcha on Sunday.
  • Scrapped a bit - although haven't actually finished anything yet.

So far this week:

  • I found out yesterday that I am proceeding to Lap 4 of the Scrappy 500 challenge! It's now down to only 20 scrappers! OMG!!! The pressure is definitely going up!!!
  • I have started on one of my Lap 4 assignment, but yet to finish... and have to start thinking of the other one.
  • Dragon Flaire's website will be up soon! I'm really really excited!
  • I am looking forward to the long weekend next week - girls trip up to Auckland, spending quality time with the girls, catching up with friends, a little bit of partying, a lot of eating yummy food, hopefully a bit of Christmas shopping and lots of photos!!
  • I am behind on my CJ entries! I have 3 to do! So have to get started soon! It's all up in my head just need to get them down on paper.
  • I am doing a bit of scrapping here at work today because the bosses won't be here for another hour! Just doing the journaling for Ali's Perspective class I did in August - yup.. I'm a slow scrapper!
  • I realised that I'll be another year older in less than a month.
  • I am looking forward to going home for the holidays this year - I haven't been home to see my family for 3 years!

That's about it for now.. will try to update more this week.

Have a happy week everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

Mich

xoxo

3 comments | edit post
Busy Busy Busy
Michelle
Where do I start??! Daylight savings started yesterday! Yay! I love it... I love that the days are longer...love leaving work and it's still bright outside. I love that summer is around the corner!!

I had a scrappy weekend. Worked on my Glam Girls CJ and also my Lap 2 Challenge layout for the Scrappy 500 at Scrap Street. Unfortunately I can't load my Srappy 500 layouts here yet... rules of the contest. I'm really happy with my CJ and my layout for it. I had a lot of fun doing it and enjoyed every minute of the long process (I'm a slow scrapper and take a while before I'm totally happy with my layouts).

Sorry about the funky scan - the scanner doesn't like lumpy embellies... and it's too dark for me to take photos. IRL the colors are a lot more vibrant.

My CJ Cover (front & back)






Inside cover & Instructions




My layout




Today I found out that I am still in the race! Yay for me! The Lap 3 Challenge is a huge one!! I've gotta get started tomorrow! I have the idea for it already..just need to put it down on paper..

Work has been insane! I took some home to do in the weekend and my day was full on today.. I was exhausted when I got home I barely had energy to scrap! Tonight is TV night... Friends, Shortland Street, NZ Idol, ER, Grey's Anatomy, Chief of House (I think that's what it's called)...I usually scrap with all these shows on.

Finally paid for my ticket to go home to Malaysia over Christmas and most of January. Jay is coming with me too! I just can't wait! I haven't been home for 3 years. I went home on a 2-day business trip last year so that didn't quite count. Only sad thing is that my brother, Gary won't be home this year. He's planning to go home in February.. so I don't get to see my little brother till I don't know when.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is the girls trip up to Auckland over Labor Weekend (21 October - 23 October)... I just can't wait to relax and hang out with Lies, Laura and Jessica - shopping, lots of yummy food, Dunkin Donuts!! and just having fun!

Auckland Glam Girls - maybe we can meet up for coffee? Just a thought.. I totally understand if you gals have other plans though. Will get in touch a bit closer to the time.

Anyway.. that's all I have energy for tonight... I'm off to bed! I've got a long work day ahead tomorrow!


Good night all and thanks for peeking on my blog... leave me a message/comment to say hi if you pop by. :)


Mich
xoxo
3 comments | edit post