The Geek Chic 101 - What does it take to be a blogger?

Personally for me, I think this question itself is an understatement. If you were to ask around, I assume people will give you a bunch of different answers.

I remember when I started out blogging, my friends were my fans. I find that rather funny now because it's not like we don't see each other everyday, gossip about the same thing and what not. Right? Now that it has been years, I myself have self-proclaimed that I am an Otai blogger. [Otai means Old Timer.] And what I see today in the blogging world is becoming cliche [Read: Making money] compared to I-write-what-I-want-my-friends-were-my-fans era. [Cheh era. Macamlah dah berabad. T_T]

I've been reading around more lately, finding articles that explains what makes a good blogger. Most of the articles I read has also characterized their article to money-making contents which I simply just cannot agree. Except for this one, by MoneyMakingScoop.com. His site is also about money making lah of course! Oh well, it's not that I totally despise people making money out of blogging, no. I wish I could too! But, by doing it the right way, my way. Anyway, I like the way this blogger Chris Jacobson depicts his article with a personal touch. So, lets!

Blogging to Make Money vs. Making Money Blogging

There are a number of reasons one chooses to blog. It could be for personal reasons (to vent), for fun or for a specific purpose in hopes of gaining something down the road.From the time I’ve been blogging (July 2006 – present), I’ve noticed two groups of people in the internet marketing niche. Those who blog with the mindset of making money and those who blog and end up making money because of it. You want to be in the second category of bloggers – trust me.

Blogging to Make Money

Blogging for the sole purpose of making money may make you a few bucks, but in the long run it’s not a solid business model and you’ll soon crash. If the only reason you’re writing posts is to throw in your affiliate link every chance you get, you can guarantee you won’t be blogging for too much longer. The whole idea is to build up an audience and gain the trust of your readers.

People are very savvy these days and can spot duplicate content, pointless posts and sales pitches. Think long and hard about what you want to accomplish and pick a solid niche. Blogging can be very profitable, but if you force it, chances are you won’t be around too long.

Making Money Blogging

This is the group where most bloggers in the internet marketing niche fall into. They all have other projects on the go and blog about their progress online in their spare time (like me). The content comes naturally beacuse they aren’t stressing out on what to write about – they simply write about their journey to become successful online. The good thing is, because content is all natural and unique, and truthful (hopefully), the readership begins to grow, more people link to your site and look at you as an authority and you become almost like a web celebrity. When all of this happens, the money starts coming in automatically. Soon other webmasters want to buy ad space on your blog, you’re getting approached by ad networks who want you to join them and the list goes on. Take a look at John Chow for example. His blog started off as a personal site where he would write about cars, food and travel. Eventually he began selling ad space and now makes over $30,000 a month from his blog. Not too shabby.

The point is, if you’re starting off in the blogging world only to make money, you should probably think of another way to earn it. It may be okay for a little while, but your full potential will come when you least expect it and you blog for reasons that are morally right.

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And I couldn't agree any less.

Another article I've stumble upon on his site is about the traits of being a good blogger. Earlier I mentioned there are a lot I couldn't agree on because most of them raves about the 'technical' side of blogging a.k.a money making. So here's another article which is summarized nicely by him! Is he just too cool or what? Hehe.

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What makes a good Blogger?

I’ve been blogging for a while now and one thing I noticed while reading other blogs is that some of them suck. There – I said it!

It’s not hard to find a blog that has either died (that is, the author doesn’t update it anymore), provides the wrong information, has spelling and grammar mistakes or the theme itself makes you sick.

I’ve compiled a list of 5 traits that a good blogger should have.

Be Personal

A good blogger should provide insight and a touch of their personal side while writing. The information offered should not be recycled, but fresh and informative (especially on a marketing blog). A blogger should be responsive to their audience, be easily accessible, respond to comments and provide dialog that’s easy to make sense of.

Have a Personality

The blogger personality is a huge key when it comes to having your audience like you or hate you. This is where it gets tricky – you want to be somewhere between ‘liked’ and ‘hated’. You want to be hated enough to cause a little controversy and discussion amongst your readers, but likable enough that even those that hate you will come back to read more. Make sense?

Be Passionate

If you’re not passionate about what you’re writing about, it shows and your readers will know it. You shouldn’t have to struggle when writing a post – it should come naturally. If this isn’t the case, you’re writing on the wrong subject. Have fun while writing and don’t force yourself too much.

Post Pictures

Every now and then post a photo to go along with your post. It doesn’t have to be a photo of yourself (although you could do that too), but a photo related to whatever your post happens to be about. For example, I try to post at least one photo along with each post I make, but sometimes I don’t post any. I like to switch it up a bit.

Stay Focused

If your blog is about detailing cars, don’t write about your political opinions – it’s pretty straight forward. Most blogs I visit like to freestyle on the weekends and break a few of the rules. This is good because it gives the reader a chance to see what else you can write about. But remember, 99% of the time your content should match your title. Your readers were attracted to your blog in the first place because of its subject; try to keep their focus (and yours) as much as possible.

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So there you have it! I hope this will give you [specially my darling VogueU] a clearer picture to what blogging is all about actually, from my point of view that is. Thank you for the articles Mr Jacobson! :)

Cheers to more blogging people!

La Dolce Vita : A Well Rounded Development

Have you ever tried listening to classical music while you were pregnant?

In the 90's there was this theory that expectant mothers who listen to classical music will have smart babies. This theory was never proven though but lots of those mothers did notice that their babies were calmer everytime they hear the piece of music. It is as if the babies recognise the music and finds it soothing. Just for that alone, I think it's worth trying.

Many cds available out there but I think Amazon has the biggest range and cheaper than getting at a store.

While giving your child an advantage musically, one could also include lessons on Islam. Other than listening to classical music, I think Islamic nursery rhymes would be great. Granted these are a bit more difficult to find here in SG but there's always youtube. It's never too early to start educating little ones on The Creator.

On that note, a friend of mine recently recommended this series of books for young children. She chanced upon the Bismillah Early Learners series by IQRA Foundation at the Darul Arqam bookstore. The series introduces young children to concepts such as colors, letters, shapes, and numbers through positive Islamic themes. Abstract concepts of Islamic belief and morals are presented in a simple and personal manner that children will be able to relate to.

I haven't had the time to go down to Geylang to get the books yet. It's a wonderful addition to any child's book collection and the concept is just great! A well rounded developmental book on worldly and spiritual knowledge for a child. Simply fabulous! Will update about the books once I get my hands on them.

Time out with Shopper Mama - List your 3 shopping havens!

Today, I want to hear from U.

Yes U, vogue-Uers! 

I would like U to list 3 of your favorite malls.  It can be anywhere - across Asia, the world or if you think your hometown or state or estate has hidden 'gems' that are yet to be discovered, then tell me pls!

And one more thing, add in WHY you love them to bits!

For me, I have too many, waaayyyy tooooo many shopping havens to list if you ask me!  A true blue pink shopaholic can never get enough of malls, markets & marts you know! The more, the merrier lah. 

But to shortlist 3 that's a must go for me

• Mangga Dua in Jakarta - everything under 1 mall.  Some think its a low class mall (comprising of 4 blocks) but I sure get a kick of finding some pretty good stuff here!

• This is a tough call for me - so many to choose from Bukit Bintang KL.  There's Times Square, Pavillion, Lot 10 etc but I gotta pick Sungei Wang coz again, there's everything under 1 roof for the family!
  

• Its only fair if I select 1 in Singapore lah kan - again I love most of them but the one I frequent most is Suntec City coz not only of the variety of shops, its also nearby where I live, and the parking is cheap too, compared to the ones in Orchard!
  

Ok now, its your turn - 3 je I mintak k! Its not that difficult right?



Thankies!

Vogue-U Potion - The Stress

Praise to Allah, the Almighty, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful

Mak Pah used to take up a motivational course on Personal Effectiveness. And in one of the subject, it covered on Stress!!!! In every subject, we need to submit a learning guide activity whereby we need to write on what we have covered and learned based on our own experiences or encounters.

Let me share the information with all of you as my trainers said sharing of knowledge is virtue. Mak Pah was asked to write on 3 possible stress situations I might encountered and how I would be able to control or overcome them......

So Mak Pah gave 3 scenarios:

Too much work

This factor is quite common nowadays with the current job situations. All of us tend to be multi-tasking and began to feel the pressure. Sometimes we do prioritize our job accordingly, however circumstances of impromptu incidents do come at the very last minute, whereby you need to stop your other official duties and rectify the current problem or project as soon as possible. For example, in Mak Pah's case, I am in the Administration so any Admin matter including government legislations shall be under my portfolio. For example, if the NEA officers come for inspection and then penalized us on certain issues like mosquito breeding, I had to quickly act on the counter measures like getting our NTS workers and cleaners to quickly clear the area and also get our pest controller to fumigate and larvacide (oiling/killing) the larvae as soon as possible. With this kind of interruptions, it could cause a lot of back lots in other Administrative works and could make me feel stressful especially if I could not meet my other Admin deadline of invoices and good receipt submission to Finance for the closing of accounts. Initially I had a hard time juggling with such situations, but now after many occasions, I tend to take things easily and not get stressed up like staying back late to clear the back lot and on top of that learn to increase self-awareness like quickly manage the time if possible in order to prioritize critical ones to non-critical ones. Eventually the habit has develop the positive thinking like take things as it comes and handle it professionally.

Changing job requirements

With the current fast moving pace of our job market, we began to feel everything around us are beginning to be a part or at least important to us. Mak Pah was from a secretarial post, then all of a sudden I am now moved to Administrative post and I had to be prepared for any new technology and responsibilities. At first the stress of being given more tasks to do made me feel very frustrated and started comparing job portfolios with other colleagues. Eventually as time past, I managed to overcome the stress and accepted the changes positively. I began to build my own support network by listing down who to contact for verification or support. I took the initiative to seek help and enquiries from government bodies like NEA, LTA and MOM for any matter pertaining to the latest legislations and also from professionals like from my peers (engineers, technicians and even lower rank staff who has many years of work experiences), direct bosses or other bosses/depts. In fact as time goes by, the circle of friends from every walks of life began to increase and Mak Pah felt more secured and confident. I think most of us went through many barriers before reaching our goals right.

Personal and family problems

When I send my maid home due to medical problems. The initial part was quite tough for both my husband and me as the children were not able to take up the responsibilities of juggling the house works and school works at the same time. We had to teach them step by step on how to do the task properly like how much detergent to put in the washing machine, how to iron their school uniforms, fry an egg, etc. No doubt when the maid was around, our children did perform some of the chores but with the supervision of the maid, my husband or myself. Now after the maid left and with nobody at home during the day, they need to learn to be independent and manage the task independently and with confidence. Initially there are bound to be hiccups and unsatisfactory tasks performed but as time goes by they managed to pick up easily. The stress level of not being able to juggle my time and commitment with them during the day affected me emotionally. I began to worry about them all the time and always call them to check their welfare and well beings. Initially when I reached home and seeing the house was in a mess made me mad and started nagging at the children. However I managed to overcome that by seeing the positive side of things like at least they took the responsibility of performing the tasks even if they were not to my satisfaction. In order to overcome the stress, both my husband and myself would make it a point of rewarding the children. No doubt we have more two-way communications with them to get feedback, but sometimes certain issues the children preferred to settle among themselves. Through communications with them, we realised there are still some gap between the youngsters and adults. Mak Pah realised now why our parents did the same to us when we were teenagers that time. Nevertheless we try to build the trust and stronger bonding among ourselves without any boundaries if possible.

Well as the saying goes, it is easier said than done. So everyone of us need to be given the opportunity to excel in whatever makes us feel comfortable but of course in a positive way. Nobody in this world should be condemned and criticised coz nobody in the world is born perfect. Everyone has their plus and minus points. So enjoy life to the fullest and don't let others stress us up. God created us as the most beautiful living thing alive, why waste it on trivial matter or remarks from those who wants us to fail.

So vouge-u-ers, stay cool and happy always. Take things and enjoys life to the fullest.

I'll share some more in the future postings okay......

Luv from Mak Pah.

i LOVE mondays : Energy Spill - The Difference

In the name of Almighty, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

And its MONDAY again!!!! HELLLOOOOOO MONDAYYYYY!!!!...Hellloooo to all and I hope the day's been great for all of you...Even if you are in dire straits, hey, somebody is in deeper and worst situation.

Anyways, I had a working weekend as we have a deadline this morning. I got back to Singapore from JB just a tad to 2am this morning and had an 8am presentation. Presentation went well, thanks to HIM and lets hope we'll wing it!!!!

But I couldn't let our i LOVE monday slot be empty...hmm, I would feel something missing if I don't do my Monday blogging. (and I hope it has become a routine for many readers and bloggers popping by VU too..)

So, I'm just gonna share something I came across several months back that has really made true sense. Trust me, I'm sure you'll agree with me too!

The Difference

I got up early one morning

and rushed right into the day;

I had so much to accomplish

that I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me,

and heavier come each task,

"Why doesn't Got help me?"

He answered, "You didn't ask"

I wanted to see joy and beauty,

but the day toiled on grey and bleak,

I wondered why God didn't show me,

He said, "You didn't seek".

I tried to come into God's presence;

I used all my keys at the lock,

God gently and lovingly chided,

"My child, you didn't knock".

I woke up early this morning,

and paused before entering the day;

I had so much to accomplish

that I had to take time to PRAY.

I hope you'll love it as much as I do........ because this has sure put a smile on my face every day from MONDAYS to SUNDAYS....

Fi hifzillah

PearL

The Geek Chic 101 - Blogger New Features

I am not really sure if most of you have already upgraded to a new editor for blogger, but as for me, I just realized it last week! What a bummer lah seh. Anyway, it's mad freaking awesome because say goodbye to you-can-only-upload-6-photos-at-a-time thingy! HAPPINESS!

I am really loving this new feature! Not only I can upload a gazillion photos on one window, I can even choose which one I want it to appear in the entry first! At the beginning I freaked out because once I clicked OK after all the photos are uploaded, only one photo manage to appear on that entry. Terus macam motif motif motif apakahhhhhhh. But don't worry, the uploaded photos are still there when you click the 'image' icon again. Hehehe. So that means, you can choose to put a photo, continue typing and typing before you insert another photo. They even have this auto-link to the photos for you to choose the size of the image. Coolness kentang right?

 

 To change to the new editor, login in to Blogger.com and under the SETTINGS tab, scroll down till you see 'Select post editor'. Select 'Updated Editor' and click Save Settings. And you're done! [Do check out the latest features link too okays?]

This is how your new editor interface will look like. There's not much of changes to it except that they've added a lot more icons for easier usage. The undo and redo button, strikethrough button, words colour highlighting button andddddd the jump break button.

If you might have notice, some professional blogs they adopt the 'Click here to read more..' feature which will make the blog look more organized and well maintained. Well if you would also like to adopt similar standards, that's where the jump break icon comes into the picture. You can insert it anywhere in your entry but my advice is do not keep it too minimal or too long, probably like make a rule such as every entry will only limit 10-15 lines before a jump break is inserted. You gotta try it to believe it. Hehe.

The default jump break for blogger is 'Read more >>' and if you want to change it to something else like 'Why not click here to continue reading?', you can also do that by going to:

LAYOUT > Page Elements > Blog Post [click Edit] > Post page link text: Read more >>[Change this]


And tadaaa! We're done for the day! Have a great week ahead peeps. :)

WITH MAMA MORALLE....RECIPE.......PETUA MENGIKAT KASIH SAYANG

Salam to all voguersssss...........happy Friday, today mama tak nak kongsi any foods recipe, but nak kongsi petua TO TIE THE LOVE.

I was serving the net and came across this simple loveeeeeee recipe......yok together-gether kita jadikan panduan bersama......mama cut n paste jer from there, tak kurang dan tidak di tokok...

Adalah sesuatu yang menyeronokkan apabila anda menyatakan hanya dia seorang saja anda cintai untuk selama-lamanya dan tidak akan ada duanya.

Paling menarik apabila sekali sekala anda mengirimkan kad ucapan yang dibuat sendiri.

Jangan tunggu sehingga hari jadinya atau pada hari kekasih, hari biasa juga anda boleh meluahkan perasaan cintamu padanya.

Setiap saat anda harus mengingatinya dalam sebarang pekerjaan yang anda lakukan.

Percayalah apabila anda mengingatinya, si dia juga pasti akan mengingati anda.

Sentiasa berkongsi rahsia dengannya. Si dia akan merasakan dirinya amat penting dalam hidup anda kerana dalam semua hal, anda tidak pernah berahsia dengannya.

Setiap kali si dia melakukan kesilapan jangan sesekali merendah-rendahkannya. Tugas anda adalah memberi sokongan kepadanya agar bangkit memperbaiki kesilapan, bukan membuatkan dia lebih rasa Jangan malu untuk beri mesej ataupun ucapkan sendiri padanya anda rindukan dia terutama apabila si dia tidak ada di samping anda walaupun sesaat.

Jangan terlampau berdandan sehingga membuatkan si dia bosan dengan anda.

Lelaki juga sukakan hadiah tetapi mereka tidak menunjukkannya, jadi apa kata yang perempuan sekali sekala berilah si dia hadiah walaupun hari jadinya lambat lagi.

Begitu jugalah dengan lelaki yang sememangnya sudah sedia maklum perempuan suka terima hadiah.

Berbunga-bunga hati bila anda beri hadiah kepadanya.

Janganlah rasa terlalu kecewa sekiranya si dia terlupa melakukan sesuatu yang kecil untuk anda.

Jangan bandingkan dirinya dengan sesiapa kerana si dia akan menganggap anda lebih suka orang lain selain dirinya.

Raikan hari jadinya dan lakukan kejutan dan sambutan yang berlainan setiap tahun.

Belajarlah membuat keputusan sendiri. Jangan sekadar menyerahkan kepadanya bulat-bulat untuk membuat keputusan.

Jangan selalu menganggap si dia boleh membaca semua yang ada dalam hati anda.

Belajarlah berterus terang. Setiap malam telefonlah si dia untuk mengucapkan selamat malam.

Jika dia membayar tiket wayang, apa salahnya anda pula yang membeli makanan dan minuman ringan.

Hargailah ‘privacynya’, jangan sesekali menceroboh membaca diarinya.

Sekiranya ada kelapangan, ajaklah si dia bercuti.

Jika anda mempunyai lesen memandu, janganlah biarkan hanya si dia saja yang memandu.
Tawarkanlah bantuan anda untuk membantunya memandu.

Tidaklah si dia rasa dirinya seperti seorang pemandu.

Berikan nama gelaran yang mesra tetapi anda berdua saja yang mengetahuinya.

Apabila berlaku perkara yang memalukan pada dirinya, berpura-puralah yang anda tidak mengetahuinya.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST................PETUA YG PALING IMPORTANT DALAM PERKAHWINAN DAN PERCINTAAN, KESETIAN, ONCE YOU HURT SOMEONE, THE SCAR IS THERE FOREVER, ITS EASY TO FORGIVE, BUT TRUST ME ITS NOT EASY TO FORGET.

"HAPPY WKENDS TO ALL, MUACHHHSSSSS"

Happy Birthday Mak Pah Vogue!!

Last weekend VogueU gathered for a mini celebration to celebrate Mak Pah Vogue's birthday @ our Master chef's crib! We decided to go 'mild' on her birthday surprise instead since Mak Pah was quite overwhelmed after Naddy's birthday major attack! Hehehe.

Ice cream cake from Swensen!

Thanks to Mama Moralle for whipping
up a scrumptious lunch for us! HAPPINESS!
Kenapa tak ada gambar sago marvelicious itu?

Gloup photo gloup photo.. lai lai mari mari.. Take pikturrr evelibodi..

Happy nya mak pah kita!! Dapat ape tu? hehe.
Hope you like it! :)

Very the manje, kan? Macam gini lah mesra kami... :)

It was a fun gathering and we sure had fun!!! Birthday seasons are officially over! Wuhoooo! But wait! You must be wondering where is Naddy's full coverage story about her birthday surprise yang paling hot dan happening right? Macam military operation kita plan nak kenakan dia.. Akhirnya, BERJAYA!! To read the full story, head on to Otak Belacan here!

Till next year! For more birthday suprises we mean. Hehehe. :p

Vogue-U Potion - I'm a Barbie Girl

Praise to Allah, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful...

Haha.... the title above sure reminds all of us to the song by Aqua where the lyric goes like......,

I'm a barbie girl, in the barbie world

Life in plastic, it's fantastic!

You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere

Imagination, life is your creation

Come on Barbie, let's go party!

and blah blah blah

The story behind Barbie dolls.... well Mak Pah's youngest daughter was a Barbie dolls' collector. Eversince she got to know about Barbie, all her toys and birthday presents were focussed on Barbie collections, right up to hair clips, hair bands, sling bags, dolls of different cartoon characters, dolls' accesories including furnitures for the dolls.

She has a little corner in their bedroom to display and laid out her Barbie collectables. Everday without fail she would play for hours with her Barbie dolls. Sometimes I would also join her to play those Barbie gadgets for hair pleats and hair curls and so on and on. In fact her other siblings, my eldest daughter and her elder brother would join in as well. However it would normally turned out with loud screams and curses coz her siblings would tease and made funny gestures and funny hairdos with the dolls.

I normally let them be as they would mellowed down after a while. However the one Mak Pah always got mad was when she did not clear the accessories and dolls back to their original place. There was once I stepped on a very sharp object under my foot. I gave a loud shrieked and pulled it out. When I realised it was one of the Barbie accessories, I called out my daughter and gave her a scolding. I threatened not buying anymore Barbie things. She just stared blankly at my face. I got even mad and said.... "Throw away all your Barbie collections, I don't want to see them again!!!!!" and returned to my bedroom.

After a few days, I went into their room to get something. Then I realised how come the room looked different, so clean, spit and span. Scrutinizing the whole room, I saw the corner for my daughter's Barbie collections was empty! I called my daughter to query. She spoke softly with shiny eyes like almost crying.... "We threw them away...."

At that point of time I felt like my heart had stopped pumping and shrieked..."What!!!!! Why did you throw them???". She said after I scolded her that day, she got so scared and reluctantly threw all her Barbie collections. I asked her about the Barbie furnitures, bed and wardrobe. She gave a nod saying everything was thrown.

I sat down by their bed and almost cried too. Oh my God!!! what have I done!!!! I regretted saying those harsh words until she thought I really meant them. I apologised to her and said I'll make it up to her and buy another new Barbie doll but the furniture and accessories will be bought gradually considering the cost!!! She said it was alright coz she's a big girl and realised she did not like the colour pink..... hmmm. She only played with what she had all the while.

Now it seems she enjoys watching those Barbie cartoon movies. And did not bothered to collect any Barbie collections. She's more to video games, PSP games, Xbox games and GameBoy Advance games.

The above experience has taught Mak Pah to control my anger and not bluntly say things that shouldn't be said. No doubt when we get angry, we tend to forget who we are and then without realising it we say things which could hurt another party. As the saying goes, your wish is my command (Kata2 itu Doa).

Sometimes it's easier said than done.... however Mak Pah think we can try to inculcate a good practice to always think positive and stay happy all the time. Life is short, cherish every moment of it.

Luv from Mak Pah to all..... may all of us have a blessed day... InsyaAllah. Ameen.

i LOVE mondays - Humanitarian : loving your boobs!

May Peace be Upon You

note from PearL : Something that we all can do our bit!

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i LOVE mondays - Design : Hari Raya envelopes

May Peace be Upon You

Happy Mondays!! and wishing all a very blessed Monday indeed. And I hope the Syawal brings great joy and happiness to most of you.

Typically during the Syawal festive month, I like to use the Chinese AngPao red packets to hand out those "duit raya". I like the size of the envelope and just being flavour-ly different. Of course not to mention I get remarks like " eh this one Chinese New Year lah..."

Anyways, this year, I found many great design for the Hari Raya envelopes and the ones that I like are always the ones that are from the bank. I love those long envelopes as I don't have to fold the bill.

So, I'm running down to some of my favs :

MAYBANK : The size of the envelope is good but they could have done the whole envelope with the "songket" print. That would made it very symbolic with the Malay tradition feel.

STANDARD CHARTERED : Now this is my favourite. The photo does not do justice. I had to make to do with my Berry phone. But the colour and the embossed print on the envelope made this one feels very exclusive. They kept the colour to the inside of the envelope which made the design seamless. The bank's logo is very subtle and the gold lettering imprints creates a nice highlight.

HSBC : I think HSBC does great design with its Chinese New Year envelope. They need more work with this one.

Manja : This was Manja's from 2 years back that I kept. Its colourful and probably suited with the magazine. I wish they could find better advert for the back.

Donut Empire : I got this from Mama Ann's. This is just hilarious......... They should stick to a fun concept. The gold and the purple makes it a bit serious. Bright cheerful colours with the Donut cartoon would go well for them.

Disney : Now, this is definitely the first for me to see Disney celebrates Hari Raya. Talk about global harmony.!

AMP : I love the design but it would be nice to have the longer envelope. The heavy pattern would work proportionally well with the longer envelope. But I like the bronze brown colour that they have opted for.

Muis : Somehow I felt a similar design concept between Muis and AMP. I'm impartial about this one. It's predictable.

CIMB : This one I see there's an effort from the design. A good graphical representation. You don't get your typical "ketupat" design but you can see the designer had merge the representation of Hari Raya essence in line with its logo design - which is very geometrical. This one has a good concept.

Sony Ericsson : This is also another of my favourite. Sony is clever not depicting a particular colour or words that would associate itself with any festival. You could use this for Chinese New Year...it works...You could use it for Hari Raya...it still works...You could even use this for Wedding angpao...It doesn't matter. (although I know Raff would never have this in her purse...because its PINK..hehehe)

So which one is your favourite?

Love from your "kawaii" designer,
PearL

Time out with Shopper Mama - Lacoste shoes

Remember this entry?

I did post a picture of this particular pair of shoes for the ladies designed for Lacoste by Zaha Hadid, the most famous female architect in the world, celebrated for her avant-garde designs.

Here, I present to you again her limited edition collection

Calf leather boots (knee-high) for women - S$ 729 !

Also available in black

(I do wonder whether all 850 pairs are sold!)

Ok now, to be fair to the MEN, Lacoste has also come out with the male version.

So guys, dont despair!

For the men, its only ankle-high

The damage?  Its only S$699 jer - sila pengsan!

Setakat just for this namesake embossed on my shoes, I think I kirim salam ajelah dgn si Zaha ni !

Like, why cant shoes, just look like shoes, really??

 

* All pics googled

Vogue-U Potion - Suasana Beraya diKampung

Dengan nama Allah yang Maha Pemurah, lagi Maha Menyayangi

Minggu lepas Mak Pah singkap suasana nostalgik zaman beraya di tahun 70an, 80an dan 90an. Minggu ni plak, Mak Pah mengimbas tentang beraya dikampung halaman. Sungguh berbeza keadaannya. Dan suasananya sangat santai. Mak Pah bersama suami dan anak sulung berangkat pada Jumaat malam lepas utk ke Bagan Datoh - Perak. Kami kerumah pusaka arwah nenek suami Mak Pah dan makcik2 nya yang masih duduk disana. 2 lagi anak2 Mak Pah tidak ikut bersama sbb mereka masih ada peperiksaan yg belum selesai lagi. Dari Perak, kami turun semula ke KL, kemudian ke Melaka dan seterusnya ke Pontian utk melawat sedara-mara kedua belah pihak Mak Pah dan suami.

Walaupun perjalanannya jauh tapi kami tidaklah berebut-rebut nak sampai. Ada ajer tempat nak singgah dan rehat dan pekena kopi ker, teh ker atau ABC (air batu campur atau istilah S'pura ialah ais kacang). Dahtu bila ada makanan yg tak pernah dgr dan rasa, hah inilah masanya kita mencuba.

Tapi perjalanan kawasan kampung2 mmg slalu dinanti-nantikan oleh Mak Pah, lagi2 waktu malam... sbb kawasan rumah mereka terang benderang disinar pelita minyak tanah dan ada juga yg menggunakan pelita yg pasang-siap dan mentol berwarna-warni dihias dianjung rumah. Anak sulung Mak Pah asyik membongkang jer kat belakang.... suami Mak Pah ckp... wah seronoknya diani, dah lah tak pandu kreta, duk tidur jer, bangun main PSP, dahtu paksa dgr MP3 lagu2 remaja terkini. Bila kita tak nak dgr, terus dia sumbat earpiece dan dgr sendiri ler MP3.... hmmm biasa ler anak2 remaja skrang, sungguh berbeza dgn zaman Mak Pah.

Mak Pah ada lah juga memetik gambar2 utk tatapan semua tapi rumah sedara-mara diKL tak sempat ambil sbb terlupa dah. Itu pun ada juga 2 atau 3 rumah tak sempat kami singgah sbb nak cepat pulang ke Melaka (rumah adik suami) dan ke Pontian (rumah makcik suami).

Alhamdulilah, kami tiba di Singapura pada jam 1 lebih pagi pada hari Ahad (eh kira hari Isnin ler kan.... hehe)

Sila ler layan gambar2 dibawah ni yg diambil melalui handphone Mak Pah jer....

Gambar dibawah rumah (tempat letak kreta)

Diambil dari jauh.... betapa besarnya rumah panggung ni..... jenuh nak mengemas dari depan hingga ke dapur... huhu

Ni dianjung rumah - makcik suami lagi duduk santai menghirup udara kampung

Suami (baju merah) duk sembang kat anjung bersama sepupunya

Anak sulung Mak Pah yg duk liat nak bangun sbb seronok tidur. Bila dah kena dera oleh ayahnya suruh cepat bangun sbb nak pegi rumah makcik didaerah situ, dgn lemah longlai dia mengeliat bangun

Mak Pah curik2 ambik gambar anak sulung yg baru lepas mandi. Seronok mandi air kolah dlm bilik air mereka.... sejuk giler dan rasa mcm taknak kluar dari bilik air..... huhu

Ni kawasan sembang dan santai dekat dgn anjung rumah.... kuih raya masih banyak lagi sbb hanya 3 orang jer duk rumah besar ni... tak luak sey kuih raya dan kebanyakkannya dibuat sendiri.

Ni rumah makcik suami yg duk dlm 1 atau 2 km dari rumah arwah nenek suami... beza sikit bentuknya dari rumah Perak... lebih rendah dan kecil.

Dipintu belakang (dapur)...

Dah kenyang makan, duk sembang2 (dari kiri, sepupu suami, suami makcik dan suami Mak Pah).... waktu ni anak sulung Mak Pah sambung tidur kat sofa didapur.... hehe... Mak Pah lupa plak nak tangkap gambar dia tgh tidur.

Hai sungguh santai suasana dikawasan kampung. Sungguh berbeza dgn keadaan dibandar. Orang2 nya sgt sabar dan relaks skali. Yg kelakarnya nama sayur kampung berlainan dgn nama sayur kita panggil di S'pura maupun setengah kawasan lain di M'sia. Makcik suami masak lauk lemak putih daun getik.... Mak Pah ckp tak pernah makan. Tapi bila dah rasa lauk, terus Mak Pah ckp ni daun turi..... wakakakakaka. Dahtu mula ler sesi nama2 sayuran.... hahahahaha

Mak Pah rasa beruntung sesiapa yg ada kampung halaman, khazanah bumi dari kawasan kampung mmg lumayan.... tapi sedih jugak bila tgk ada rumah2 yg usang dan tidak ada penghuni (sepupu suami ckp ada penghuninya sudah tiada lagi, dan anak2 semua dah merantau, jadi rumah terbiar usang). Mak Pah tanya naper mereka tak jual jer tanah mereka dari dibiarkan bersarang dan usang. Sepupu suami hanya menjawab entahlah, tak tau ler. Jadi Mak Pah simpulkan mungkin mereka nak balik semula ke kampung kot satu hari nanti....

Hai byk lagi rumah sedara mara yg belum habis dilawati ni.... minggu ni ler minggu terakhir sambut Syawal.....

Mak Pah terkilan tak sempat ambil gambar2 rumah2 kampung yg meriah disinari lampu pelita dan mentol. Takpe lah InsyaAllah mungkin tahun depan dapat kot.....

Sehingga diminggu hadapan... salam sayang dari Mak Pah utk semua.... dan semoga dilindungi dan diberkati Allah. Amin.

i LOVE mondays - Design : An Architecture Masterpiece

May Peace be Upon you

Future architects, take note! If you' ve ever thought that being an architect might be a cool job, I'll give you one more reason. You can create some of the coolest designs with a bit or a lot of imagination and the right client.

Senosiain Arquitectos' Nautilus was built with a 2" ferrocement shell and the material concretizes the idea making it true

This Nautilus Shell House in Mexico City is all of the above and people live here too! The clients, a young couple with two children who after living in a conventional home wanted to change to one integrated to nature. The land, with upward topography, is limited to the south, north and east by high buildings. The west adjoining provides a wide view of the mountains.

The model work generated numberless changes until achieving the volume needed by the construction: the Nautilus. This is actually a modified Nautilus shell, actual Nautilus’ do not have a point on the top but I guess they expanded the shell for more comfort! The metaphor was to feel like an internal inhabitant of a snail, like a mollusk moving from one chamber to another, like a symbiotic dweller of a huge fossil maternal cloister. This home social life flows inside the Nautilus without any division, a harmonic area in three dimensions where you can notice the continuous dynamic of the fourth dimension when moving in spiral over the stairs with a feeling of floating over the vegetation.

You can find more notes of the design concept and other works by the Architect here

Light, Colour & Shape

Interior garden


Fluidity of space

A poetry of space

The TV room

Bathroom

Kitchen

Details

Bedroom

Its facinating to see when a radical concept can be transform into reality. It takes great dignity and passion for your work to push the ideas through..... Good work always comes from the heart within - the LOVE in what you do..

Enjoy your MONDAY!!

Lovingly from your "kawaii" designer

PearL