SUPER EXCITED! We're collecting our keys tomorrow!

Tonight, I probably won't be able to fall asleep. 

After 3 years of wait, we're finally collecting the keys to our unit tomorrow morning.

It's truly all God's blessings. 

From very slow and humble beginnings...

To the tall block of beautiful green flats...

This is gonna be the place we call home. I can't wait to collect the keys tomorrow and check out our unit! There's this fear of plentiful defects cos' the first block who collected their keys had between 50 - 100 defects per unit! Sometime deep within me is scared of the same plight. But yet, something within me also tells me that God is in control and that our unit will be good. 

It just will be.

So I'm so excited! And I shall spend my night doing more taobao shopping for the home! (: 

Draft 2 drawings... and we're collecting our keys soon!

It's been 1+ week since we've gotten our 2nd draft for 3D.. I've been really busy with preparing my kids for examinations. All 25 of them. So much so that I haven't really even taken a closer look at our 3D drawings that Lionel and Richie sent to us. 

Now that we've got a better idea of what we want, we're on lesser of a wild goose chase. Let me share the images with you! 

I thought our kitchen was too bright with all the orange.. we decided to tone it down a little with a little more black.. However, looking at it, it looks really really dark. It doesn't help that we have the service yard to 'block' the sunlight from the back... I'm still playing around with the colours for the kitchen I suppose.. But I'm really happy with the maximised space Lionel and Richie have managed to play around with... 

The hubby was really inspired by the white/black/wood frame look. What Lionel and Richie came up with actually looks really good to me. I wonder what the hubby thinks though... 

And I always believe that things hidden in cupboards are more often than not messy. I decided to have more open shelves both on the left and on the right.. and I'm pretty sure I will have enough toys and books to place on display! 

For the toilet, we wanted it to match the rest of the house so the guys did something simple in white and black for us.. 

The entire process now is kinda slow as we're waiting to collect the keys to our unit... 

And it is super surreal cos' in a couple of day's time, we're FINALLY collecting the keys to our unit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just last Sunday, I made the hubby sneak into the block with me. As I stood outside our unit, I was flooded with emotions. Maybe I'm just really blessed. Maybe I'm just truly grateful that our unit is almost ours... and it's a place we can call our own. 

6 May quick come, I can't wait to collect the keys to our unit! (: 

Strawberry Jelly Hearts

Strawberry Jelly Hearts. This has been so highly requested since I've been playing with cheesecakes a lot of late. I've decided to give the recipe from Story of Bing a try but I've made quite a number of modifications to suit what I feel works best based on the cheesecakes I've made so far..

The recipe is about 3 out of 5 in terms of difficulty and it takes about 2 hours in all to complete. Please do follow the steps exactly as any changes may result in an unsuccessful attempt of the recipe.

Orange Tofu Cheesecake + SunMoon giveaway!

Tofu. Cheesecake. The second type of no-bake cheesecakes I'm exploring. Having shared this with many colleagues, both the yoghurt type cheesecake and this tofu cheesecakes have their league of fans. Many love this for it's lighter in taste and of course, it's lighter in terms of calories consumed!

I'm delighted to have the chance to try the SunMoon fruit cups and it was pretty amazing to me how the fruits are kept fresh in apple juice rather than the usual sugar syrups that come with canned fruits. I then toyed with the idea of fresh fruits inside the cake as opposed to always having it on the outside.. And the Orange Tofu Cheesecake was birthed. 

It was such a hit at the office. It's also my joy and pleasure to be able to feed people and see the delight on their faces when they enjoy what I've prepared. 

This recipe is relatively simple at 3 out of 5 stars in terms of difficulty and it takes about 1 hour 30 minutes to complete. Also, there's a giveaway for SunMoon products in this blog post! 

Hello Kitty Craze...

I must first confess, I AM NOT A FAN OF HELLO KITTY. But thee's just something about these adorable dolls and those before that makes me happy. Maybe they're just really adorable.. though they're not exactly FAT and FLUFFY like most soft toys I have... 

I remember the first craze being the millenium HK dolls where they had wedding couples...

Those were insane back then... 

In recent years, I got this set when I was in HK with the hubby and his family.

It was soooooooooo adorable to me then! And it was pretty silly of me to hand carry this back from HK. 

The HK version had a storybook (hardcover), some vouchers and also some 'magic' cards. 

It wasn't launched in Singapore then and it wasn't the hype. 

It was only 1-2 years later did they launch it in Singapore in a different version.

They had these. The black Singing Bones was the one that threw Singapore into a frenzy. I was no exception. I had the whole set (owl inclusive)... of course I want Singing Bones to complete the set! I queued up for 2 hours at Mcdonalds prior to its launch. And wanted for 1.5-2 hours after the queue started to move to buy it. 

Prior to this launch, they had this... 

But it wasn't really popular. I can't really even remember how many of these I have but I'm pretty sure I have 1/2. 

Then in 2013 when my mil was in Hong Kong, she got this for me...

I love my kitties. 

This time round, they're fluffier. And fatter. 

I couldn't help but salivate when I saw them online. 

I tried ordering it the whole morning, and so did the bil but to no avail.

Thankfully, they reopened for orders and I was able to purchase the number of sets I needed for family and friends.

Now, I am a happy girl. (: 

The BMD Shop - the perfect place for pretty (bridesmaid) dresses!

Selection of bridesmaid dresses has always been a chore for brides. I was no exception. I had issues finding dresses I thought could fit ALL my bridesmaids and flatter them all. Boy was I wrong! More often than not, bridesmaids come in all shapes and sizes.. unless of course, you pick bridesmaids that are all of the same size. But not everyone is made the same. 

The BMD shop is the solution for all brides... bridesmaids.. and even for people who like pretty dresses like me! I purchased my bridesmaid dresses in a huff as I was vexed with the coordination and all that arose from deciding on THE bridesmaid dress that would fit all. It was only after my purchase did I chance upon The BMD shop. They have a beautiful range of dresses that fits small sizes all the way up to larger sizes that you don't usually find in stores. 

One thing I do when I shop is for MILEAGE. I wouldn't wanna pay for something I may never ever put on again. Well, they've got dresses that are pretty enough for a girly day out or even for events! I got one for my second pre-wedding shoot! 

Let me share a few of my favourite dresses from their selection!

Almost everyone loves a beautiful convertible dress! 

They even have it in my favourite electric blue!

Beautiful in chiffon...

A dress with contrasting colours that flatters...

Oh I love pretty colours!

Something adorably quirky!

Not everyone loves bright colours...

Not forgetting the beautiful dress I got for my pre-wedding shoot 2. I had mine in lovely purple!

They even have a toga version of it...

And even something for the conservative dresser.

Aren't the dresses lovely? And the best part of them all? The dresses are all affordable priced under $50! The dresses are actually pretty enough for me to wanna put them on on a regular basis when I want a perk-me-up!

Let me share some photos of me in the lovely dress! (:

Pretty clothes just makes me happy. And they make photos pretty too!

So hesistate no more, check out The BMD shop at http://thebmdshop.com!

Also, check out their facebook page and like them to be updated of new collections that are launched from time to time! 

Green Tea Pistachio Tofu Cheesecake

I have been away... and I'm thrilled to bring you this Green Tea Pistachio Tofu Cheesecake this weekend! It's something different from the usual yoghurt cheesecakes I've baked. This was adapted from one of my favourite bloggers Shiberty. It takes merely 1.5 hours in all to 'bake' this no-bake cheesecake! (:

Meeting our IDs for the second time

We've waiting to collect our keys rather soon. Our new place in Tampines, Tampines Greenleaf is almost ready. We applied for it in May 2011 and now that our HLE has been approved, we're waiting for the collection of our keys.

1.5 to 2 years ago, I started ID hunting. There are many many companies in the market and the competition is stiff. There were a few IDs which we fancied but never came to a decision as we didn't know what we wanted nor when exactly our place would be ready. When the date of key collection drew closer, we realised that we had to make a decision. We narrowed down to 5 companies... 

1) Renozone as recommended by Van (We spoke to Colin)

2) Vegas (we had great recommendations & service from our previous contact but they didn't reply our email this time round.)

3) Box Plan as recommended by Yang (We spoke to Ogata but he was really really slow in his replies)

4) Twerkz as recommended by Zelig (We spoke to Thomas and he was really slow in his reply too)

5) Absolook which I've fancied since our previous search 

We were really sold by the plans Colin had for us though the price was a little steep. But we were really comfortable with him and the plans he had. We met up and discussed the plans we had and what he could do for us. We were to meet him upon his return from his trip to discuss more before finalising if we wanted to engage him.

However, that very weekend, we headed down to Absolook's new branch in Yishun to meet up with Richie. He has been very helpful through messages when we discussed things we wanted in our homes and the quote he would then do up for us. Lionel was our other ID assigned to our case. As you may already know, the kitchen is sooooooooooooo important to me. And it really didn't help that we got a 3 room unit which is like SOOO SMALL. So maximising whatever space we had in the kitchen was my top priority. Lionel and Richie listened to all my needs and wants for the kitchen and even drew up plans for us on the spot. I was quite amazed.

They then introduced us to the package they had for promotion since they had just opened that outlet. But of course, with what we wanted, we had to top up a fair bit more. That, we were prepared. The hubby and I were contemplating in signing up with them. We narrowed down our options and it was between them and Colin. Colin was more expensive and Absolook did provide us with some freebies that would ease our load as we didn't have to fork out money for them... 

When the hubby and I discussed, we did not feel uneasy. In fact, we felt peace in our hearts. We then decided on Absolook. We were delighted then to have walked out of Absolook, glad that we have firmed up one more detail to our home.

Lionel and Richie then submitted our requests and had our 3D drawn up. It was to take 2 weeks but due to the lack of drafters and the long queue for 3Ds, it took us 3.5 weeks for our first draft to be delivered. We have to admit, the 1st draft wasn't exactly what we asked for. However, the hubby and I didn't exactly know what we wanted then... Nevertheless, let me share our 1st draft with you!

Here's the feature wall for our living hall. They did incorporate the wooden feel we wanted with black but it wasn't the feel that we wanted. After loads of research, the hubby decided on a look like this.

He loves the idea of the black frame.. and glass. Having met Lionel and Richie yesterday, we managed to discuss the new direction for the look of the feature wall and I'm sure the hubby loves it more! 

And as I did my research, I fell in love with the exposed brick wall concept. However, it costs a TON to have it done ): So sadly, we may just got for the wallpaper. 

I asked for an orange kitchen but truth be told, I was SHOCKED at the brightness of this kitchen! Then again, I didn't exactly know what I wanted. Since we met our IDs yesterday, we have since toned down the colours and the drafters will work on the design again. 

I did think of infusing white into the decor, making it white black and orange but was advised against the idea as it'd be too much. White and orange was too bright for my liking and managing a white kitchen isn't really to my fancy. 

As we LOVE to read and have plenty of books and also toys (we collect too much stuff!), we decided on a full length full height bookshelf. This part of the house is really expensive (other than the kitchen)... the shelf alone is 4 - 5k! But we decided on getting carpentry work so that it lasts better and longer as compared to commercial shelves. Richie also suggested a fake 'shelf' on the other side of the room so that more space can be used for storage and display. 

Our bathroom has the class casement separator that I love. The design will be modified again to match the rest of the house.

Having met them yesterday, it excites us even more knowing that our 2nd draft will be out in 2 weeks' time. Till then, I will share the photos with you again! (: