Breathtaking Veil/Headpiece with Feathers from Bridal Designer Alisa Benay

Blogging is so fun - it means you get to serendipitously meet other bloggers who you learn are big fashion designers. Like Alisa Benay, designer of beautiful corset wedding gowns like you've never seen. When I was designing my wedding dress, and wanted to go the bustier route, she swooped with any advice. Well now she's also designing wedding veils and headpieces, and I'm in love with this one:



This picture was taking during a photography workshop with Jessica Claire, and isn't it lovely.



This wedding gown is one of my favorites from Alisa's 2010 bridal gown collection. I love the thin straps on the shoulders, with the low cut and ruching covering the bust. And the back scoop makes for a nice surprise for the train of the dress, and unique.

Moving into my 2nd Trimester!

I’m loving Marina and the Diamonds!

I especially love her red hot lips and understated Look!

 

 

I know time does whizz by! My second trimester is here and wheew, what a relief.

 

I’m finally feeling a little more like good Old ME! Vain old, crazy old me! Hehe…except that 80% of my pants dun fit me and I’ve gained around 5 kg in 4 months.

 

I still don’t wear that much makeup but I’m able to watch you tube makeup videos and I can appreciate Marina’s red hot lips. It’s a slow road back to me but I see the light peeps!

 

Let’s see, my first trimester went by super fast and now I just look forward to the days when I get to visit my baby doctor and see my little one kicking around and swimming happily.

 

This might bore some of you experienced moms but I’m relishing the remaining 5 months of always having my baby with me. I’ve felt some flutterings in my tummy and it’s so cool and surreal! I think I’m going to smother my kid with so much love, my kid is gonna be like

 

“YUCK mommy, stop kissing & hugging me all the time”

 

Moving on to sports ( I find myself interested in a few car shows and sports recently):

 

Anyhow, I’m a figure skating fan and my favorite ice skater since the last Olympics, Ev­geni Plushenko, looks amazing. His technical skills are amazing as usual and I still adore his hair! I do miss Alexei Yagudin  for his  skating mastery though. In my opinion, Alexei is the only one who would be able to beat Evgeni now because he was everything a world champion should have been at their peak- technically flawless, artistic beautiful and completely composed and charming on ice. I guess you could say that I will always love Alexei at 2002 Olympics. He was and still is the best!

Ya for cut throat competition and immense talent at the Olympics!

Ev­geni Plushenko

Van­cou­ver 2010 Short Pro­gram

 

 

One of the best routines ever in history to me:

Alexei Yagudin
2002 Olympics Winner

Thanks my dearest frens for leaving such sweet comments in my previous post. You guys are the best and super understanding !
Also, I wana wish u all a Happy Chinese New Year 2010!

I Buy Entrepreneur

Well, do you??

Bump Alert - Pregnant in Mexico

Here is the latest bump. It was hard to find a picture because this dress, when lying flat, is fine, but sometimes the wind got under it and made me look extra pregnant. ;) Otherwise, I have a bad habit of wearing my old clothes that are just too small, but that I think work. Tee hee. For example: I actually no longer fit into my easy-peasy Victoria Secret shelf tanks. Otherwise, this was on our trip to a beautiful wedding in Cancun, Mexico.

Ok, off to do my Maternal Dance DVD, and maybe another video for some cardio. Then I think I need to book a maternal massage with Collective-E member Janet Markovits.

House Pictures - Livin' in the Vision

Hey Guys,
Ok, so here are some house pictures, to put to rest the "mystery house" it has now been dubbed by some. ;)

DISCLAIMERS:
1.) I am lazy and did not make pans, so you are getting slices of visions. David, on the other hand, would have taken 3 pictures for every 1 wide angle shot, and merged them together for you. That's why he's the professional locations manager.

2.) I put this off because not everything is perfect yet. We are 90% unpacked (which yes, drove me straight into a massage because this pregnant body became so stiff and sore), but it was worth it. But there are things we'd like to change, and...yada yada yada. But otherwise, it has been like moving into a clean, fresh canvas, ready for embellishments.

3.) It's too cold to go outside to take any pictures. We got no snow from that latest storm in DC and elsewhere. Not one flake.



Welcome to our home. This picture is if you walked into the front door, and could go left into the living room, straight into the kitchen, or up the stairs.


"The reverse" of that last shot. That is the front door that is always nice and sunny in the morning. Gerdy prefers to go outside to the front yard as opposed to the back, so she's out on the porch right now. On the left is our front hall closet, and on the right is our attempt to catch shoes, but we hope to get something like a shelving unit or something better to put our mittens and keys and dog leashes on.


If you took a left at the stairs, you'd be in the living room. Cumphy, we think. And yes, both of those couches and the table were in our NYC apartment. You know what? We did need to leave behind a giant piece - my boudoir thing that held the TV, several drawers, and shelving for books. It was too massive to get out of the building! Wouldn't go down either fire escape stairs or the elevator. I have no idea how it got into the apartment, as it was given to me by a woman who had movers who wanted to place it. Our movers would have had to take extra hours to dis and re-assemble it. Now the next person in the apartment can have it just the same.


The dining room. This is the view from standing in the kitchen. And that door you see with china on display leads to...


A secret china closet! I put Gerdy's food in there, but Oliver already took advantage of when the door was left open, and ate his way into the bag. Darn him.


This is the kitchen. It is spacious, and to the right which you can't see, is a wall that David wants to "take down that wall" to open it up to the living room. For now...we are oddly at a loss for some drawers. We only have 1.5 drawers. The kitchen in our NYC apartment actually was generous with tall cabinets and drawers, so we had to get creative until we make some bigger decisions about what to do with this space that does not have drawers...As you can see, it's coffee time.


Gerdy, you blinked! This is the cat door to the basement that Oliver had to try out a few times before he felt comfortable. Luckily, he is not too huge to get through it. This leads to the basement, which exists in our minds as a workout room for David and a craft studio for Katie. Right now, it holds boxes and items to be moved to the Garage Sale that we will have come Spring. So no pictures yet. But. It *does* have a washer and dryer! Nothing could be more fun than that.


The reverse of the kitchen. We might replace that bookshelf of pots with an actual couter top situation, as the previous owners had it, but we need to decide on the overall look for the kitchen first. I'm kind of digging that greenish/blue shelf with the red pots...would be an extreme inspiration for something colorful, but I'm not sure David would go for that. So, we shall see...Many magazines to come for that look. That door at the ends leads to...


The office/sunroom. This is the office, and those bags are chocolates from our local chocolatier. Whew hew! I'm trying to keep it clean. My desk used to incorporate a lot of full time things on it, like a file box, bullitin board, inbox folder, etc. So I'm trying it with almost nothing on it, and I'm kind of liking...There are windows all around this room, in the shape of an L, so it's quite nice, and looks onto...


The backyard. To the left is a tool shed which is fantastic. We love it. Though we're not the handiest people around, it inspires us to learn. ;)

UPSTAIRS


Upstairs is my dressing room because the master bedroom has no closets. I did this mirror shot because it's a pretty small room, and I couldn't capture the whole thing. This dresser is one of several of my trash picks, so it will do for now. I'll probably re-paint it.


Sorry, but yes, this is the baby room. Moving on.


Bathroom.


Man room. This is the 3rd bedroom, serving as a guest bedroom and David's closet. We'll see about how to make it a guest room and a man room at the same time...


Bedroom. Ignore the taped on window covering. Still under construction in our minds of what we want - shutters or curtains.

Those are some pics for now! Favorite things so far about the house:
- Letting Gerdy outside on the porch.
- Doing laundry that is just a few steps away and doesn't involve quarters.
- Walking to town that is 1 minute away.
- Hearing about all of the people that our NYC friends know who live in Beacon, including several small business owners like the Pilates studio and little shop that sells lots of indie designers found on Etsy.
- Turning the heat on! But I think I dehydrated myself last night. No more cranking of heat at night.

My Not so Little Secret :)

For my friends and beauty blogger pals who bother to check in on my blog, thanks for your patience and for your words of encouragement.

 

I intend to keep on blogging but I feel a need to explain my not so deliberate absence from the blogging world.

 

Sometime early December 2009, I was getting sick quite a bit.  I was down with the nasty flu bug for 2 weeks and basically, my nose was a choked pipe.

 

Then, I started sleeping way more than usual.  I was on the bed napping away at any given chance and at any hour of the day. It became very hard for me to  concentrate whilst driving, especially for long distances. I would get a little panicky and a little tired and my concentration was a mess.

 

Thankfully, I have a great dad who gave me quite a lot of time off work but the additional rest seemed to make me crave for even more rest. I also noticed that I would be panting more than usual after walking a little and it was a really strange time for me and my body. I was wondering if there was something  wrong with me health wise, so I went to the doctor and was given a clean bill of health but these strange symptoms continued to linger, and than my hubby finally said to me:

 

“ take a test lane”

 

OK. My life has pretty much been turned upside down since the second red line appeared and since then I have been to the baby doctor a few times and I wanted to make sure everything  was okay and get through this first trimester before I let others know. Moreover I was having unexplained bleeding that was extremely worrisome and if this kinda thing makes you squeamish, don't read it ! :)

 

Another very honest and funny reason for my lack  of blog entries is due to my very sudden and unexplainable aversion to makeup.

 

I have a shelve full of makeup and ever since  my pregnancy symptoms came to full swing, I have not once been able to look at it without feeling queasy. Looking and touching any makeup makes me nauseated. Even watching makeup related you tube videos make me feel queasy. The only videos I find myself loving lately are comedic ones – Jonanthan Ross, Craig Ferguson and Will Ferrell Show where he re-lives Bush Presidency.

 

I spoke with my sister in law and found that she had the same symptom when she had her baby. Being uninterested in makeup is the strangest aversion and I’m pretty much waiting for it to go away.

My sister in law took it a step further and could only use facial wash during her pregnancy and no other skin care products. As for me, I’m still pretty diligent about my facial routine (I’ve checked and put aside all products containing any Vit A).

 

My face has been pretty much a naked canvas ( I haven’t been looking great at all)  and I’ve cancelled all dermatologist appointments cause I’m saving it for after the baby is born. I feel it’s healthier and safer.

 

My life has changed very drastically because all I lust for nowadays  is tasty, yummilicious food and alot of sleep. Being an expectant mommy is the strangest, most worrisome and  uncomfortable ( back ache) time in my life. I can’t explain the nausea or the constant waking in the middle in the night due to a very compressed bladder. I haven’t had serious morning sickness yet and I’m very grateful cause I’ve only vomited twice in my life and can’t really take it !!  I get really queasy every 2.5 hours and have gained around 3.5 kg in my first trimester. hahaha…Needless to say my panties don’t fit anymore.

 

My baby is due sometime in August 2010 and I still feel like this whole thing is a little surreal. I love this little baby growing inside of me and can’t wait to see him\her !!

 

* my hubby is guessing it’s a boy due to the aversion to makeup!!

 

 

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Lately, I’ve been listening to the super talented and amazing Robyn and I love love love her voice**

ROBYN – Bum Like you

 

 

ROBYN – Be Mine *The most gorgeous song in the world*