Merry Christmas!

It's that time of the year again to make jolly with loved ones, give thanks for the wonderful year we had & to make resolutions for the year ahead. Cheers to you lot, hope you're having a blast wherever you may be!

Filem: Life Of Pi

I was most excited to hear that a favourite book of mine from way back when I first read it in 2002 was being turned into a movie directed by Ang Lee. But as life would have it, Bobby & I were so busy earlier this month when it first came out here in Malaysia that it was with a huge relief when we finally made it to the cinema last weekend to catch Life of Pi in 3D. I think everyone needs to see this. It's truly a breathtaking movie & the CGI is beyond words. A boy shipwrecked for 227 days in the middle of the Pacific with an adult Bengal tiger is pretty out there, I have to admit but gosh, what a story! It's so wonderful, I bought tickets to watch it again in IMAX this week!

P/S: I found a really great Q & A with Yann Martel about the novel on the ABC News site.

Green Exhibition

Hey eco warriors, check out the Green Exhibiton at MidValley's Exhibition Centre this weekend. Targeted to consumers, it's a showcase of eco friendly products that are available in the market. Expect organic skin care & food for adults & babies, green furniture & household products, energy saving electrical appliances, all sorts of bikes, hybrid cars, electric vehicles & other eco friendly living ideas!

Venue : MID VALLEY EXHIBITION CENTRE (Hall 1, 2 & 3)
Date : 21st - 23rd of December 2012 (Fri, Sat & Sun)
Time : 11am - 9pm
FREE ADMISSION

You also stand a chance to win a ticket to Tokyo & all you have to do is register at their counter out front. See you there!

Thanks & Stay Tuned

Don't let anyone tell you that organising any event is easy. It's not, but do take my word for it, it's fulfilling especially when you see everything you envisioned come together. 

Thank you Hello Deer for your wonderful space & to everyone who came to support Malaysian Etsy crafters & artisans, you are amazing! It's because of you that we get to do what we love best. Big props also to all the Team Etsy Malaysia members who took a risk to join the very first Handmade Love Market. 

I have a tonne of pictures from my Sabah holiday & the market to edit plus so many thingsto share with you so stay tuned k? Xo. 

2 Days To Handmade Love Market!

Don't forget kawan-kawan, Team Etsy Malaysia's very first market at Hello Deer is happening this Saturday! This has been in the works for a long time & it's just in time for Christmas so I hope to see you there. And hey, if you're feeling lucky, do join the lucky draw by simply sharing about the market on your twitter, Facebook or Twitter. Here are the simple steps explained:

 

Back In KL

It's good to be back home but I'm going to miss our time in Sabah. All the sights, diving & food were… breathtaking. I have lots to share with you but with the Handmade Love Market coming up real soon (THIS Saturday!), I need to start cracking like, now now now. Be back soon! 

Sabah Holiday

Bobby & I will be away for a good long week, exploring beautiful Sabah. We'll be spending a couple of days at Kota Kinabalu followed by limitless scuba diving at Mabul's Sipadan Water Village. I'm sure to be back with heaps of pictures to bore you but in the meantime, check out this video of Sipadan Water Village & diving at Sipadan. We're so excited!

Pictures via Visit Malaysia & Haanism.

 

 

Home Sweet Home: Scandinavian Apartment

Ahhh, how much I love Scandinavian design, let me count the ways. And this Scandinavian apartment is just perfection in my eyes. Especially that herringbone wooden flooring in the living room & bedroom and that light sea foam blue kitchen. Love!

Via Freshome.

Giveaway: Zinio Magazine Subscription

I'm so excited! Zinio, the world's largest digital new stand & bookstore contacted me earlier this week to help them spread the word about their big "Give A Little, Get A Lot" Sweepstakes where you stand a chance to win an iPad mini plus everyone (US residents only though) who enters will get $5 in Zinio Bucks, which can be used to buy any of their 5500+ magazines! Click on over to http://bit.ly/givealittlegetalot & fill in the required fields (with or without logging into Facebook) for the iPad giveaway, then you’ll be taken to a new page with your coupon code. Use it to buy a digital subscription to Martha Stewart Living, Frankie (my fave!), National Geographic, Oprah, Vogue, Nylon, Hello or any other magazine from Zinio's huge array of titles helpfully grouped by category. Buy it for yourself! Buy it for someone for Christmas! Buy it for someone just because they're awesome! Seriously, go nuts!

For you non-US residents, don't be bummed. Zinio was kind enough to offer 10 lucky readers of this blog a FREE magazine subscription of your choice! How to enter? Just leave me a comment below. Yup, it's as simple as that. And you can tell me anything! Like how much you love Zinio, if you like my blog or anything you can think of, then don't forget to leave your email address & the title of the magazine you want to subscribe to (don't you dare change your mind later because I need to submit the titles to Zinio myself). I’ll let random.org pick the winners for me on Monday (3 Dec 2012) at 5pm & will email the lucky winners individually. Hurry hurry, dreamers!

:::THIS IS A SPONSORED POST::: I'm keeping two out of 10 magazine subscriptions for myself, so there are still 8 subscriptions up for grabs.
 
UPDATE! The giveaway is now closed! Thanks for participating folks. I will be emailing Zinio the list names & email address of those of you who won & you should hear from them in 3 - 5 days. Check your inboxes soon!

Home Sweet Home: Sandy

Lookie at the shabby-chic home of Sandy from Paint Me White! The house it is a charming mix of vintage & a definite feminine touch. I really wish I could get away with this sort of decor in my own home but I don't think my husband, who's a man's man through & through, would appreciate it. Maybe I can get away with a small corner in our shared study room? Hehe.

 

DIY: Holiday Mobile

Wow, it's been awhile since I shared a DIY craft project huh? This is one I found over at the Freepeople blog & thought you folks might like it as it's something that can be easily adapted for any season. 


 

Masak Masak: Soba Noodles

Since becoming a Missus, especially one that works from home, I find that I like welcoming my husband from a hard day at the office with a meal I whipped up myself. I know that sounds like such a cliche & a 50's throwback but I swear there's nothing more satisfying than seeing my husband eat something I made (as long as it's edible, he'll eat it all up). That being said, sometimes I find juggling domesticity & a small business pretty tiring so I tend to stick to really simple, no fuss recipes like fried rice which allows me to make use of whatever ingredients I have laying around in the fridge. However, one can only eat so many plates of fried rice till one gets sick of it so I'm always searching recipes online & when I found this Soba Noodles with Sweet Ginger Scallion Sauce, I knew I hit the jackpot. I would serve it with some steamed chicken as my man likes his meat, but I know this is definitely something he'll love & is a lot healthier than a packet of Maggi & fish balls. To follow my cooking escapades check me out on Instagram under the hashtag #murnimasak or Twitter. 

Recipe via SImply Reem.

 

Peter Callesen

Paper cut art on plain ol' A4 sheets of paper by Peter Callesen. This is paper cutting taken to the next level & it's flippin' amazing! Make sure you check out the link for more crazy awesome samples of Mr Callesen's work. 

DIY: Tiny Fairy Door

Do you sometimes get a feeling like little fairies might be living in your house? Stashing wonderful little surprises for you to find later like a 50 Ringgit bill in an old pair of jeans? That recently happened to me & when I saw this post over on Design Sponge, I put two & two together. Thank you little fairy. I'm off to build a tiny door to make the fairy feel more welcome. 

P/S: This DIY project would be so cute in a little girl's room. Those tiny milk bottles & letter makes me want to go, "sqeeeee!"

Stardust

Even though Astro keeps playing this song by Lena during commercials, I'm not bored of it. Yet. The video is mesmerising like a dream so that might be why I'm smitten.

Festival Of Lights

Happy Deepavali, dreamers. A festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil is just awesome in my books. Found a great post here with some info about Deepavali, plus it's where I got this fabulous picture of traditional oil lamps. If you're celebrating, eat an extra muruku for me k?

I Feel It All

I love this song by Feist & the video is pretty nifty too, especially if you love fireworks.

The Best Is Yet To Come

I've always believed every difficulty is followed by happiness. So if something has got you down in the dumps, don't worry… Something good is just around the corner, waiting for you. 

Photograph by Alicia Bock, via Design Is Mine. 

Amy Osaba

So inspiring. I love every little thing this team comes up with.
 

Team Etsy Malaysia's Market!

Come one, come all! On the 15th of December, Team Etsy Malaysia is hosting a Handmade Love Market at Hello Deer, just in time for some Christmas shopping. Here are the list of Etsy sellers all offering unique, handmade goodies…

Mimpi Murni - succulent arrangements (& something new I'm working on with a buddy!)
I Heart Badges - button badges
Notbook Notbuk - notebooks & journals
Sew Fabby - gadget sleeves, bags & baby stuff
Bisou Bonbon & Bisou Rose - bath & body products
F64 - prints, films, cameras & darkroom services
Nukilan - stationery, tiles & mugs
Beadcraftz - jewellery, soaps & more
Guiirin - tags, postcards & accessories
totoro2008 - sewn pouches, dolls & bags
Mettaville - journals, magnets & jewelry
MaykeMe - ceramic figurines
Nottypooch - recycled banner gadget sleeves, marshmallows & baked goods
Snazzy & Such - pouches, bags & kids clothing
Okinokiyo - sun hats
Love And Craft - supplies, accessories & bags
KatrinaGumal & EmiKaz - jewelry
The Lollipop House - jewelry & bags
huhubag - bags

Remember now, it's on Saturday, the 15th of December from 11am - 7pm so don't miss out! There will be a lucky draw as well with over a dozen prizes to be given away, so watch this space.

P/S: If you make cool things & you're an Etsy seller (or would like to be), come be part of Team Etsy Malaysia. Here's how: http://www.etsy.com/teams/5026/etsymalaysia

Check out the following links for more info on the market:
EtsyMalaysia Site
EtsyMalaysia Facebook
EtsyMalaysia Twitter

Hello, November

A day late to welcome the new month but hello all the same. My, how fast the year seems to zoom by. Before you know it, we're ringing in a new year! Well, here's a lovely desktop calendar to help you keep track of the finals days of the year, thanks to the talented Oana Befort who I've been following on Instagram. Her work & photography is so inspiring to me & I always look forward to her updates. Have a great weekend ahead, dreamers.

Moleskine & Lamy Love

Along with my Macbook & iPhone, my day to day life just wouldn't be complete without my Moleskine & Lamy pen. I've been using a Moleskine since 2007 & my Lamy rollerball pen is new to me as it was a recent gift from my husband. I've always loved notebooks & pens and I have a nice little collection of both from years of trawling the stationery stores & handmade markets, but my Moleskine & Lamy trumps them all. Honestly, the minute I cashed my first big pay check, I ran to the nearest store that carried Moleskines & now that the mister has introduced me to the world of high quality pens, I will never look back.

But honestly, they're not all that different from your average notebook & pen. Especially the Moleskine; black hard cover, lined paper, a black elastic to keep your notebook securely closed or as a page holder, a back pocket to keep bits & pieces and that's pretty much it! So what is it about a Moleskine? Besides the construction, which is good & almost indestructible, I can't really say but whenever I'm reminded that I'm writing into something that Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso & Ernest Hemingway once used, I get a little thrill. Yeah, I guess you can say I bought into the hype but I use up all of my Moleskines which is a heck of a lot more than any other notebook in my collection…. Some of which have only a few pages of scribble, then abandoned to languish at the bottom of my catchall drawer in the craft room or are too pretty to use so are left unused & eventually forgotten. Not my Moleskine though. Since I use every single page, I like to keep it as organised as possible so from time to time, I refer to this Monster Collection Of Moleskine Tips, Tricks & Hacks. In the earlier years I referred to this post on How To Keep A Moleskine PDA but I still think it's a great introductory read if you want to start keeping a Moleskine for organisational purposes. This of course applies to any notebook.

As for my Lamy pen, although it's something I just acquired, I am hooked, line & sinker. For the longest time I scoffed at the thought at spending more than a few Ringgit for a pen. I mean, if it's really pretty like some of Typo's I might make an exception, but for something that looks simple & utilitarian for more than RM10? No way! That is until my husband made me try the Lamy 'Tipo'. It's an entry level pen for Lamy but the heft & the smoothness of the ink won me over. It's a great everyday pen & I love whipping it out during meetings with clients… It makes me feel very grown up! I am now eyeing the 'Swift' thanks to reading this review at Notemaker. Hehehe.

Here's my current Moleskine which is a limited edition Le Petit Prince & my red Lamy 'Tipo' pen (my husband has a matching silver one). Have a great day folks!

Super Storm Sandy

Currently following updates on Sandy via #instacane & Sky News TV in HD. A few friends of my husband's are stuck in Manhattan right now & we're praying for their safety. Even though Sandy has been downgraded from a hurricane to a super storm not long ago, reports are saying that it's no less vicious. At times like these, I really start to think being a Doomsday Prepper is not such a loony idea after all...

Checking In

It's been a crazy couple of weeks over at Mimpi Murni land. A couple of event styling jobs, some succulent teapot orders, an impromptu dive trip to Tioman, I finally learned how to knit (thank you Hello Deer!) & a trip to Johor Bahru for the recent Raya Haji. Hope you are all well... I miss this blog!