Favourite Things Friday: Freedom

April 18, 2008

For the first time in a long while, I finally feel free. After writing another exam this morning, I walked out into the bright sun and breathed in the fresh air. I was free! Temporarily.

This weekend, we planned on staying in Waterloo for the weekend so we could get more studying done before our last two finals. I'm free to do whatever we want for one weekend. I don't have to worry about getting to appointments, running errands or urgent deadlines. I can do whatever I want! The possibilities are endless. I'm free.

And with this post, I am ending Favourite Things Fridays because I'd like the freedom (hah) to write whatever I want on Fridays. I knew I wouldn't last...

Favourite Things Friday: Meet The Chins

April 11, 2008

One of my friends recently messaged me and asked what I would hypothetically want as a wedding gift from London (England)! I didn't want to be greedy but curiosity got the best of me - what does London have to offer? I had no clue. So, off to Google I went to find out what unique things one could find in London and I stumbled upon this store called Purves & Purves.

As the wedding draws near, I'm getting more and more reluctant about finishing the registry and more interested in finding items that will make my living space look a little more unique. (Enter the Chins)

These may be offensive to some but I found them absolutely hilarious:



Mr. and Mrs. Chin
The salt and pepper shaker couple. While it doesn't fit into my picture of a perfect kitchen, I'm sure it would brighten up someone's morning if they saw these sitting beside their scrambled eggs.






King Chin and Queen Chin
For people who prefer to grind their own pepper, salt and other spices. There was a point in my life when I wished the wait staff at restaurants would let me have a go at grinding my own pepper but I don't think these will be making it into my cupboard either.








Mr. Chin
(Or maybe Baby Chin) This is the Chin I fell in love with. Look how cute he is standing with that huge spoon! Unfortunately, I don't eat hardboiled eggs (sold at fine grocery stores in cstsoi's dreams*). But maybe Andrew will want one! Because he eats hardboiled eggs! But then again, he wouldn't appreciate something as cute as this.



*apologies to cstsoi if this causes you any sort of embarassment... I thought it was funny!

Favourite Things Friday: Double Cheeseburger

March 28, 2008


I have a confession to make. Ever since Andrew introduced me to McDonald's Double Cheeseburger, I have been addicted. There have been midnight trips to the drive-thru window with orders of 5 double cheeseburgers (granted they were not all for me).

Before this point, I was strictly a McNugget girl, occasionally a McChicken girl but very rarely a Mc(insert burger name) girl. Anyway, this love for double cheeseburgers has grown to the point where I got angry when Andrew's order got messed up and we were given regular cheeseburgers instead. That, my friends, is disgusting. I should seek professional help.

Favourite Things Friday: Seat Guru

March 21, 2008

I've been in desperate need of a vacation recently, what with all the stress of school and wedding planning, it's becoming a little unbearable and the light at the end of the tunnel just isn't bright enough. While I won't be hopping on any planes any time soon, I did manage to find a good resource to help you score a good seat on the plane. I mean, if you're going be stuck in a tiny seat with limited space for any amount of time, at least make it a good seat, right? So I present to you: Seat Guru by Trip Advisor:



They provide a colour-coded map for each plane indicating where the good/bad seats are and if you mouse-over the square, it will give you some details on why it is good/bad!

Favourite Things Fridays: Dutch Blitz

March 14, 2008



I think I started playing Dutch Blitz last summer when my sister brought it home. I got hooked instantly and went out to buy my own set. Being the low-key, highly competitive person that I am, this game was the one for me. It reminds me of "Speed", if you ever played that in your younger years, with more piles in the middle (read: more chances to win) and without the pile-slapping. Anyway, I'm always looking for someone to play with me so let me know if you like it too!

Side note: This is the game that got me a little talking-to after I played a little too competitively with Andrew's parents (oops!)

Favourite Things Friday: Pilates

March 7, 2008

... more specifically, the 10-minute pilates videos on YouTube!



I've never done pilates before but Alison invited me to try it out a while ago so, here I am. I've taken to rolling out my yoga pilates mat recently because I have a horrible back and I've learned in my Low Back Disorders class that muscle endurance will help reduce pain. So, I've been trying to strengthen my back and work on toning my body at the same time (helloo! honeymoon coming up!). These videos are great for me because I can do a quick workout session as a break during my long nights of studying! Plus I feel great after, too.

Favourite Things Friday: Uncommon Goods

February 29, 2008

Happy Leap Day everybody! Because today's such a special day (and because I missed last week), I'm going to feature a whole bunch of items I absolutely adore from uncommon goods for such an uncommon day (haha...ahem):

1. X Marks Your Door











2. Come To A Complete Stop













3. Horticulture with Humour








4. Quarter After... Uh... Til...













5. Auto Save









6. The Key To Not Losing Your Keys











Oh and a very big congratulations to my cousin who got married in HK today!

Favourite Things Friday: Drip Clips

February 15, 2008

Yet another desk accessory find, this bathtub-shaped paper clip holder houses specially shaped paper clips and even has a magnetic faucet from which one clip can hang like a real drop of water.

Favourite Things Friday: Kitty Staple-Free Stapler

February 8, 2008

This cute staple-free stapler from fredflare is another desk accessory I love. And being staple-free, it seems to be a lot safer than the traditional stapler. It'd eliminate the waste and hassle of having staples in your paper. I've always hated taking staples out. Plus, it would also prevent any injuries a traditional stapler might cause, say... if you're stupid enough, like me, and decide one day that your finger is definitely strong enough to stop a stapler from coming out and are compelled to test that theory...

Favourite Things Friday: Homemade Bailey's Ice Cream

February 1, 2008

Ever since my sister bought her ice cream maker, we've been trying out different recipes. So far, she's tried a berry ice cream, vanilla ice cream and this week, she asked me what flavour I wanted to try out. Remembering I had some Bailey's Irish Cream left from my cruise last summer that I didn't really know what to do with so I thought, why not.

So I set out looking for a recipe and this is the one I found:

Bailey's Irish Cream Ice Cream
1 quart half-and-half
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur (or more...)
3 eggs, beaten
Enough milk to bring to 1/2 gallon

Blend ingredients together. Freeze in ice cream freezer according to manufacturer's instructions.

It turned out really good.

Favourite Things Friday: POM

January 25, 2008

I've heard a lot of good things about white tea and how it's supposed to be really good for you (well, and one cynical comment about it being a hoax but I'll just ignore that one) but I've never actually tried it out until recently. I picked up a glass of POM's Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea for breakfast a couple weeks ago and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I generally like all sorts of fruit-flavoured teas, and though they're coming out with more green and white tea flavours now, most of the teas in the past have used black teas (I presume). The white tea was much lighter and didn't have much of the normal tea-'aftertaste'*. Plus, after you're done with the glass, you can wash it out and keep it (and sniff it because it has a nice light peach-y scent) - how environmentally friendly.

*My parents always used to tell me to drink (Chinese) tea to quench my thirst but I never really understood that because I'd always be left with a dry feeling in my mouth after.

Favourite Things Friday: Webcam Animals

January 18, 2008

I found these cute little webcam animals at redenvelope. You can choose to have a blue dog or a red dino stare at you while you webcam your friends and family. They come equipped with a built-in microphone and from the picture, it looks like they have move-able legs to help them perch atop your computer/desk. Unfortunately, these cute critters can only be used with PCs and are not compatible with Macs. Pity, they'd look great paired with those sleek machines.

In other news, I'm headed down to the States this weekend with my bridesmaids to start looking at dresses (mine and theirs) because I have finally decided that I'm cutting it way too close to put it off any longer. That and, oh.. well I recently heard of this outlet mall that I really want to check out. In any case... ROAD TRIP! Hope you all have a nice weekend. Play nice in the sandbox!

Friday Finds: Second Cup Glasses

January 11, 2008

Ever since doing my Christmas gift ideas post, I've found a few more things that I've enjoyed quite a bit. So from now on, every Friday, I will write a post featuring a new item that I have found.

I've been thinking a lot about the types of 'things' I want in my future home. I want my home to be comfortable, functional and reasonably stylish. As a result, a lot of the things I've been finding (like the hug salt and pepper shakers) are sort of geared towards what I would like my future house to have.

This is the closest representation I can find to the real thing. I saw them at Second Cup last weekend as I was walking by. The ones I liked were cylindrical glasses with metal handles with neat designs in them which looked a lot more delicate. The thing I like about these glasses is that the metal handles can be detached from the glass!

So, in my opinion, you can use the glasses for cool drinks on hot days without the handles or you can use them for hot drinks with the handles on so you don't burn your hands! Isn't that fantastic? The other thing that's great about the detachable handles is that you can wash each piece separately so you don't have to worry about crap building up in between the two pieces over time.

These cups would be so cute to drink a nice cool iced tea or a warm cup of hot chocolate out of. Don't you think?

Gift Ideas

December 8, 2007

Everywhere I look in the blogosphere now, people are talking about Christmas gifts and gift ideas. Christmas gifts weren't really a part of my family's Christmas traditions. In fact, we didn't really have many Christmas traditions aside from a big family dinner and putting up a Christmas tree (but that got stopped because our artificial tree got all mangled in the box so we threw it out).

I tried it out for a little while in high school - giving out gifts, but that didn't really last. I don't really understand why people give gifts at Christmas, not that I'm against giving and receiving gifts. I like getting gifts, right Andrew? But anyway, now, I am one of the few (frowned-upon, I'm sure) people who just don't give out Christmas gifts.

However, since I've been seeing so many interesting things, I thought it might be fun to throw together a little gift idea list of my own. Enjoy!

Hug S&P Shakers! for those who love a little spice
Dozi Paperclip Holder! for the paper-pushers
Fingerprint Wedding Band! for the forensic fanatics
The Ex Knife Block! for those who are bitter
Chef's Quad Timer! for the busy cook
Forget Me Knot Ring! for the forgetful ones
Monster Laptop Sleeves! for those with a (Mac) laptop
Nature Mill Plus! for indoor composting
Chair Game! for those who want a bit of balance
Nusskubus Nutcracker! for those who want to slam nuts between wooden blocks

can you tell I love the MoMA store?