I woke up surprisingly early than usual today. With the lack of things to do at this time of the day, I chose to clean up and rearrange my computer files that has been cluttering my precious computer disk space just to find out that I do not have any feel good songs in my music folder to accompany me while I go about the task at hand.
With that in mind, I quickly hover to the internet and I soon discovered the beautiful and soothing voice of Lisa Hannigan.
Well, I do not know anything about her just yet, and it is not really usual for me to delve deeper on my current favorite bands’ personal lives, except for the fact that she is an Irish songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; a fact which alleviated her and her beauty on a much higher pedestal than her other counterparts, if there is anyone by the way.
Some of her songs from her debut album Sea Sew had not been an instant love at first hear kind of thing for me but those had instead just grew eventually in me as I listen to her while I indifferently just let the second hand of the clock ticked by too quickly.
Photo credit goes to crazybobbles via Flickr
Her ethereal song Lille may not have entirely captured my liking but Ocean and a Rock and Pistachio surely did. Venn Diagram follows in close second, topping the two other mentioned songs, for that sweet and inviting Ah ha! that fills in the atmosphere after every verses and mainly because of the fact that she named the song Venn Diagram, which is something of a phrase that I could relate with quite well. I love how she had produced something artistic and beautiful from something so mathematical.
But of course, who could forget the sweetest song of hers? I Don’t Know may have been that one, single song from the album that is playable in the radio and is easy to be liked and loved by many but the wide reach of the song does not, in any way, alter my impression on it. I just could not blame the song nor the people who had grown an unusual attachment towards it, like I did. I don’t know about you but I Don’t Know is definitely my instant pick-me-up as for the moment.
I could not seem to share with you here the official video of the song due to some embedding option alterations made by the one who owns it but you could just go to YouTube or Vimeo to watch it. The video is so cute and artsy.
There are times that I could see a Regina Spektor or hear a subtler version of Bjork from her but all in all, she has her own unique ways that would surely leave you wanting to listen to her songs over and over again and looking forward to her future creations.
You could also visit her MySpace here http://www.myspace.com/lisahannigan
or visit her official website by clicking the image I made below.
I Just got inspired by the abundance of stitching, patches and a whole lot of sewing related materials found in her website and album artwork. =)
SINGAPORE to MALAYSIA – Are you currently in Singapore and are now running out of options and places to go to? Then why not go to its neighbouring country, Malaysia and take in its different vibe and culture goodness that modern Singapore could not offer you?
But wait! Before you start opening the website of your most favoured airline for this journey and clicking your mouse away to book your plane tickets, I just have some suggestions on how you could make your journey more exciting and environment-friendly.
Train operator in Malaysia, Keratapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), offers a different riding experience from Singapore to Malaysia, even extending to Bangkok if you have the spare time to do so as the railways are connected with each other.
On Buying the Tickets
There are a lot of ways to reserve your train seats for your upcoming journey.
When should we buy the Tickets?
Even though you could buy your ticket on the same day of your journey, I advise you not to. It is still better if you could still choose freely where to sit or sleep while onboard the train.
How Much are the Tickets?
It actually depends where you want to go and in what cabin of the train would you want to stay but we paid a total of RM 201 for three tickets going from Johor Bahru to Tampin all of us in second class sleepers (Malacca) and KL Sentral to Butterworth seating in a second class seat (Penang). Visit http://ktmb.com.my to know how much you will be paying for your journey.
Stopovers
One of the best things about riding KTM’s trains is that you could take as many stopovers as you like.
This is just a suggestion for your next Malaysia getaway. You could still of course include a lot of other places that you would like add in your journey. Like what I have said, if you have time to spare, you could also extend your train ride to the next country, which is Thailand. Go to Phuket first, then Ko Samui and finish off your journey in Bangkok and be amazed, all over again, with all the things that Thailand has to offer.
Would you please ditch the plane ride now and book yourself a train ticket instead? Enjoy Malaysia in a different way and you will surely thank yourself for doing so.
SINGAPORE – Are you looking for branded, rare to find kicks within the country? Well, Limited Edt holds the answer for all your exclusive kicks needs!
It has a total of 5 stores scattered all over the little red dot to date. And because of the incredible range of selection that Limited Edt has to offer in each of its stores, the possibility of you finding a pair of kicks that will surely suit your taste is soaring high!
We were able to visit their store in 313 @ Somerset along Orchard Road. I was welcomed with a very posh looking room even before I had set my grimy little feet on its fully carpeted flooring.
Let us not forget the mock bank vault found at the back end of the room, which I think truly adds character on the look of the store per se and emphasis on the feeling of exclusivity of the shoes that they are offering.
More shoes inside it but of course! A true heaven for shoe lovers and collectors indeed.
Sad to say, the pairs here are for display only but before you lose your giddiness about all of these, they are also putting up a fair number of pairs for sale from time to time.
As the name of the store implies, the number of pairs that they are offering are indeed very limited and could be gone immediately once they hit the stores and the visible and audible range of people. Good thing, they have a website and facebook page that you could visit and that could keep you up to date on all the latest events, promos and product retails they are giving. Just frequent the pages though since the apparent publicity and easy accessibility of those information in the web also means more competition.
For those of you who are thinking of owning yet again another pair of ordinary sneakers, you may want to level your field of choice a notch higher by including too these range! Does not hurt at all to sport one of these eh?
So, what are you still waiting for? Hit the nearest Limited Edt shop now and grab your fave and long-waited kicks before it is too late!
Website: http://limitededt.com/website2/
Buena Park, CA - In the wee park hours of 10 in the morning, equipped with a shared breakfast meal of sausage mcmuffin, hashbrown and orange juice.
Hands down our TOP PICK: Supreme Scream. So yeah I enjoyed a 3-second view of Orange County before my ass left my seat and I screamed like a girl should.
If you look closely, there was a tiny bead of sweat while I was surveying the Xcelerator. It's higher than you think! Not to brag but we also rode the Boomerang, Montezooma's Revenge, Ghostrider, Jaguar and the Silver Bullet. IF WE CAN, YOU CAN TOO!
We are both suckers for cartoon characters and cutesy stuff. I decided to profess my love to Snoopy but he way too kick-ass for me with his leather jacket and sporting some awesome shades.
FACT: This girl is obsessed with Family Guy.
DOMO'S EVERYWHERE!! Raaaar!
Jechel (L) and I (R). I had a wonderful day! Thank you <3
SINGAPORE - National Library.
That’s the first thing that surely pops up to my mind every time I hear the word Bugis. A true testament of geekiness and undying love and hate relationship I had built with books indeed, amidst the plethora of words that could be associated with it.
But not anymore! National Library has now been moved a long way down on my list of places to visit when I am bound to go to Bugis or just find myself wandering in it.
So, what on earth could have possibly replaced National Library in my heart?
Arab Street or Kampong Glam is as unpretentious as it could get. With colourful and vibrant two-storey shophouses, each of which offers a different experience from its neighboring shops, parading on your left and right as you negotiate your way towards the seemingly un-Singapore lane, you will surely find yourself getting drawn to its atmosphere and charm in every step that you would take.
Obviously a Muslim district, visitors could not help but flood the place and indulge themselves, too, together with the locals on the richness of the latter’s culture. With the presence of conservatively-dressed Muslims going to the Sultan Mosque at a particular period of the day, newly washed sheeshas hanging deliberately in front of every restaurant that we passed by and menus that will surely encourage you to uncontrollably salivate, which includes Mutton Murtabak, Shawarma, Kebab and Hummus just to name a few, you could not help but grasp minutely but immediately the Arabian way of life.
The place is a gold mine of fabrics, for those one of a kind evening gowns that you like to have; Oriental carpets, for that lovely home of yours; non-alcoholic perfumes with the Muslim customers in mind; rattan products and knick knacks for yourself and for your home and many other great finds that will surely make you think that you’re in an endless treasure hunt.
The treasure hunt does not stop once you finished the whole of Arab Street. There are still streets adjacent to it that are truly worthy of your time such as Haji Lane, Bali Lane, Bussorah Street and Baghdad Street. Since we were so pressed for time, we were only able to ransack Haji Lane.
Haji Lane is a quaint, little alley situated just beside the more tourist-thronged Arab street. A hub for the fashion forward people and indie label whores who love to look around for unusual fashion finds in independent local fashion boutiques and who craves for a breath of fresh air from the shiny and oh-so-generic vibe of the stores along Orchard Road.
Modparade houses an extensive range of clothing choices; from cute daily wear, mostly on basic and neutral colors, that will still surely make you stand out amidst the crowd and flirty little black dresses passable enough as both day and evening wear.
I simply adore this Sweet Pair for its innumerable number of cute and eye candy shoes on display. Eye popping dresses and blouses on the racks due to its dainty and girly styles and vibrant colors make you want to grab and try all of them!
There is also A Thousand Tales for your home needs…
and Friends for their wide range of ultra chic and rocker chic dresses.
For those hidden gems, playful trinkets and eye-catchy tees, Queendora is the way to go!
Salad Shop is a clothing and home accessories shop. The white facade and interior were made to contrast the abundance of black colored items against the white ones. It also offers a wide variety of home products which are pleasing to the eyes and at the same time functional.
Took an ice cream break from all the walking and gawking we had done during this exquisite journey in The Ice Cream Man. Yumminess! Interesting flavors they got there. To demonstrate how out of this world their flavors are, vodka, white wine and red wine flavored ice cream were present in their menu! Anyway, I stuck with the caramel-apple flavoured one. Sweet!
This nice ice cream shop is manned by these two lovely people, Melvin and Claudia at that time. So generous of them to concoct for me a flavor that I want to try the next time I visit the store. Have to phone them first though so that they could make it for me. Care to help me on the flavor of ice cream that I should ask them to prepare? I want it to be as wacky as possible!
So many stores to visit, but so little time! There is still a good number of stores that we have not been able to visit when we were there; add to it the independent shops positioned on the other lanes.
I also promise myself to go back here for the food maybe. A lot of restaurants that caters mouth-watering dishes and promises a seemingly good time while being blasted with soothing indie music awaits my eventual return.
For now, I am more than contented and happy with what i saw. Till the next Bugis experience you guys! Hope I will be able to go back here before I fly back to the Philippines.
Arab Street is just a 10-minute walk away from Bugis MRT Station.
