Mineral Makeup

My sis-in-law from the US got me interested in mineral makeup. We were talking about makeup and she mentioned that she started using mineral makeup. She told me that mineral makeup offered good coverage without looking cakey, and it does not irritate her skin as her skin is acne prone. Plus its all natural. Plus it take all of 1 minute to brush it on your face. That is a BIG plus.

She recommended 2 brands - Philosophy and Bare Escentuals.

So I went online and found out that there is one store in Singapore that brings in Philosophy stuff - True Colors at Ngee Ann City. So I went to check it out at the store. I found that the prices were too extorbitant. So much higher than if you were to purchase from US. They sold the face primer, The Present, for S$64 (approxmiately USD45) but I remembered my sis-in-law telling me that is about USD25.

I decided to go home and check out some US websites and see if I can buy them online. I went to www.drugstore.com (recommended by one of my girlfriends) and saw that they carry Philosophy stuff! I bought some immediately. Bare Escentuals was not available on drugstore.com. Oh yes, I also bought the Hylexin Eye Cream at a fantastic price of USD95! They are selling this eye cream in Singapore for S$218 (equivalent to (USD152)!

Primer - to use before we brush on the foundation powder!

The mineral foundation powder

A seriously good buy! Only USD95!

As drugstore.com does not ship to Singapore directly, I used my vpost account and had them send it to Vpost USA and have Vpost send the parcel to me. It works out because drugstore.com offered free shipping within US for purchases above USD25. Now I am so excited! Just waiting for the parcel to arrive.

Cayden's Development So Far...

Thought I should jot this down before I forget...

Latest Stats
I brought Cayden to the pediatrician recently (20 Dec 2007). He is:

Weight : 16.5kg
Height: 97cm

He is getting really heavy. Saw an article about overfed babies on the Straits Times a couple of weeks ago and I am getting really worried. In the article, there was a chart on the ideal weight for children and Cayden is way off the chart! I distinctly remembered the chart:

12kg - 2 years old
14 kg - 3 years old
16 kg - 4 years old

Cayden is about as heavy as a typical 4 year old! I really hope he won't be obese in future.

His faves
1. Recently he has been talking and singing lots. He loves Blues Clues (for now) and he mimics everything Steve does in the show - walking, sitting on his thinking chair, kneeling down on one knee, singing all the songs.

2. He also loves to play with his Thomas The Train. It was his Xmas present from my brother & sister in law. He has been in love with it ever since.

3. Iced Milo. Eversince we returned to Singapore, he has been addicted to Iced Milo. My mistake. Just tonight, we went out for dinner with my dad-in-law and sis-in-law before she returns to the U.S. Its just a casual dinner at the coffee shop downstairs. I fed Cayden his dinner first before going for dinner. He had a full dinner, but when we were at the coffee shop I ordered him his favourite Iced Milo just to keep him occupied. I did not expect him to finish the drink because he just had dinner. To my amazement, he finished the drink in 10 minutes. He finished it even before our dinner arrived. *Faint*

4. Fishballs. He loves fishballs and he has been eating them at almost every meal since October. But in the recent 2 weeks, we stopped giving it to him. Why? He is allergic to it. Well, to qualify, I think he is allergic to the perservatives in it. He doesn't like the home made ones. He likes the commercial ones. They are springy. These springy fishballs gives him eczema. Too bad, so sad. No more fishballs.

His Dislikes

1. He still hates meat. Once I was feeding him minced pork porridge and he managed to store all the minced meat on one side of his mouth.

2. He still would not try most fruits. Only eating bananas and sweet pears (lai).

3. I think he is becoming tired of his formula taste. He has been on Gain IQ since he turned 1. Normally, he drinks a lot of formula milk, up to 1 litre a day. But recently, he has practically halfed his intake. I am waiting for him to turn 3 before I start him on Grow.

Resolutions for 2008

A bit late for my new year resolutions, since its 7th Jan already! But nevertheless, better late than never.

Here is a list of my new year resolutions (listed not in order of importance) :

1. Eat healthier. Less junk food, coffee and red meat! More fruits, veg and MILK! Drink more water!

2. Remember to take my vitamins!

3. Be more sociable. I gotta get rid of my bad habit of turning down an invite because I am too lazy! Also would like to host more lunches and playdates/tea gatherings for friends.

4. Spend more quality time with Cayden. I need to draw up a timetable as a guide for both of us! For example, Monday afternoon is playdate day, Tuesday afternoon is Numbers day, Wednesday afternoon is Alphabet day etc...

5. Spend wisely! Everything is getting so expensive nowadays!

6. Teaching Cayden to speak Mandarin! So far he knows "Cayden is Ming Hao" but he won't respond when I call him Ming Hao. He repeats after me when I say 1-10 in Mandarin, but he won't say "liu 6" or "jiu 9". Guess he can't master the pronunciation yet.

I guess that's all for now. I am not hard on myself at all, aren't I? :-p

Random

While Cayden was in class today, I popped down to Orchard Road to run some errands. I needed pick up a bag which I reserved at Ngee Ann City and to go to M1 to see if they have the screen protector for my new phone - the Samsung U700. No I am not kiasu and want to 'baby' my phone, but I hate finger prints on the screen. Unfortunately, I leave finger prints every single time I use it because the phone is a slide phone and my fingers inevitably leave prints when I slide the phone to answer it or to send a sms.

Anyway, while waiting for M1 to open, I had a coffee at Starbucks. I met one of my really old ex-colleague. I met her when I was in my first job - I was innocent and naive. We were in the same team and even though she was more senior than me, we got along well. However after close to a year, she moved overseas with her then-boyfriend and I changed companies too. It has been 12 years since I last saw her. I didn't know if I should go up to her and talk to her. I thought for a long time, and in the end, still decided against it. She sat facing me, so I was quite certain that she saw me, but she also did not walk up to me and say hi. Wonder why?

I don't know why I didn't go up and say hi. Maybe it was because i was afraid that she couldn't remember me? Am I anti-social? I have no answer.

Dora Show

We went to the Dora show at United Square today. I have been feeling really bad that I have not brought Cayden to see any of the shows so when Shareen asked me if I wanted to go to watch Dora show together with her son, I immediately agreed.

The show is scheduled for 1pm, but knowing that there will definitely be a crowd, we decided to go early. Shareen & Brion went to the Barney show the day before at Marina Square and they had to queue up for 1.5 hours!

We arrived at United Square at 12pm and there was already a long queue. We got into the queue and started taking some pictures for the boys, but were not very successful. Its impossible to get them to look at the camera at the same time, with all the distractions around them!
















We were finally urshered into the sit down area at around 12.45pm. Cayden seemed excited enough. But when the show started he became scared! He refused to stand up and only wanted to sit on me. I could see that he was really interested, but he was too scared to participate. He kept stretching his neck to see the stage.

Only after 15 minutes he started to stand up, but only within the confines of my crossed legs. After 5 more minutes, he started to jump up and down. Not scared anymore. :)








Cayden & me



Shareen & Brion

Finally Settled In school

Finally, Cayden stopped crying whenever I leave him at school. We arrived in school early today, and I spent some time with him in the classroom as his classmates are not here yet. When most of his friends arrived, I turned to him and said, " Ok, Cayden. Mummy will see you later, ok?" His face immediately turned red, and his eyes filled with tears, but he put up a brave front and said "OK" with a very sad voice... It was so heartbreaking for me!!!! I nearly teared myself. When I stepped out of his classroom, he waved to me and said " Bye mama! Bye! See you later!".

My brave boy! I was so proud of him!

Some pictures we took before his classmates arrived:


In his classroom... the playdough the school uses are home made.


The school's "make-do" Xmas tree!


Where are my friends?



He was bored so he started dancing


The school foyer

Get Together...

We had a get together amongst ex-colleagues last night. One of our ex-colleagues, Jesley, will be packing up her bags and leaving for Shanghai to work in mid December. This get together is her farewell.

During dinner, I had felt disconnected with my friends. Somehow there is an invisible barrier and exists between us. No matter how I hard I try, I couldn't. After a while, I gave up. I guess this is inevitable, because I am no longer working so we have different lives. On top of that, I live in a another country, so we have lesser things to talk about. I guess now our status is now downgraded from "friends" to "acquaintances"?

But I was still glad to have went for dinner because I could catch up with Jesley. She and me can talk for hours and hours. I am sure to be visiting her in Shanghai soon.

I wonder if its true that as you grow older, you have lesser friends? Or it is just happening to me?