An admirer

Evan came back from school one day and he told me he received a card from Lydia. I've been hearing a lot about Lydia and was surprised that Lydia made a card for Evan. Anyway, he said that "Lydia loves Evan" is written on the card.  I wonder whether Lydia's mom had a part in this. Some more got Ben 10 stickers on the card (i suspect it came from one of the party packs the kids received recently).

He was very happy.... on cloud 9.... held the card last night while asleep. And yes..... Evan did present Lydia with one of his drawings before receiving this card but he didn't write any messages on it - only her name. For the record, it's the 2nd time Evan received a drawing from a girl.... what to do.... he likes to present girls with his artwork and now he's receiving artwork in return.

Lego Creations

 Evan & Marissa love to play with Lego bricks. Evan built a cat using Lego Duplo.

 Here's another creation - and the black/yellow animal is a giraffe.

Marissa likes to built towers and vacuum cleaners with the Lego Duplo bricks.

Evan is also into creating other stuff using Lego bricks. Usually it's some kind of factory, or shop or spaceship! He will also play pretend with his Lego minifigs...... dialogue included!

Kristen's 1st Birthday Party

Evan drew a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 'card' for his Godma's daughter - Kristen Yong. Little Kristen is Siok Keim & Min Wei's princess and she's 1 year old today - 19th Oct 2010! Kristen's mommy organized an early birthday celebration on Sunday, 2 days ago.

It was a Dibo the Gift Dragon theme tea party! We had scrumptious tuna rolls, roti jala, noodles, boxing chicken, agar-agar, popiah, fruits, cordial, tea and mini apple pies.

Uncle Billy the Clown was on hand to entertain everyone and Evan got to participate in most of the tricks..... like this one.

 The birthday cake! Very yummy butter cake with buttercream.

Siok Keim also ordered Dibo the Gift Dragon cupcakes which were placed around the bigger cake. Little baby Kristen was mesmerised by the candle! I

t's been some time since I organized a birthday party for the kids - kinda lazy cos of the preparations..... maybe I will do one for Marissa and Evan next year in the new place.

Swim Swim

The kids got to splash in the baby pool at our new condo on a nice breezy Sunday afternoon. We haven't moved in yet but since it's just opposite the road.... no crowds at all. 

Marissa wasn't feeling quite adventurous in the water but it's the opposite with Evan. He enjoys swimming very much. He's now waiting patiently for his grandpa to visit so that he can jump into the infinity pool - right next to this baby pool. 

Get Crafty

Evan loves Art & Craft so whenever we go to 1U, we almost always will stop by Get Crafty so that Evan can join a class. This time Marissa was also keen to join in.

 Evan chose to do a treetop house and Marissa wanted a Hello Kitty handbag.

Marissa was enjoying herself so much that she didn't cry nor make a fuss when both of us left the studio. Hubby and I then went 'pak-tho-ing' for about 45 minutes.

Here they are posing with their creations. Of course, the instructor helped to glue the more complicated parts of the tree house and also fixed Marissa's handbag. The kids did most of the painting by themselves. 

Each class is RM45 for 1 hour. Package deals : RM350 for 10 classes - valid for 1 year or RM400 for 5 classes - valid for half a year. The classes are more for fun rather than actual art classes. I am keen to send Evan for art classes during the up-coming school break.... need to survey a bit. Any recommendations or suggestions?

Bread Basket @ The Sphere

Our first time at The Sphere Bangsar South for breakfast! Went up to Bread Basket to see whether they sell any buns..... and they do! They also have breakfast and tea time set meals. We decided to try out their breakfast set: RM7.90 for a drink (coffee/tea/milo), a chocolate bun and a mini mushroom pie. 

 Bread Basket opens from 8am-10pm everyday except Sunday.

 Their specialty : Swiss style bread, buns and pastries

 Fruits and drinks also available here

Outdoor dining up on the first floor of The Sphere. Not too hot in the mornings. Food is great too.

 They have kid-size rattan chairs from Ikea.

Prior to breakfast, I was at The Horizon which is just behind The Sphere to collect a prize from UOA. I took part in their crossword challenge published in their newsletter about 2 months ago and won 1st prize!

3D drawings of the Living Room and Foyer

Here are the conceptual 3D drawings done by my ID from Desigva Design.

1st draft - we felt the foyer is too complicated with vertical bars and lots of ambient lighting. The console is fine but not necessary to have lights below it. So, we asked for a simpler design. We wanted more curves rather than straight lines and sharp angles.

This is another view from the foyer.

 

Here's what we got after editing the design. It looks quite bare but I think it's OK. Otherwise, not sure what other design can work in that space. Wallpaper? Curvy lines? Anyway, the console has cabinets for storing keys and letters and a glass memo board behind it.

Living room - quite straight-forward design. We wanted lots of hidden storage place and also a display shelf.

Here's another draft with the partition drawn - a circular patterned MDF board with glass on one side. The partition serves as the feature wall in the living room/foyer. The plaster ceiling will be flat - nothing fancy like L-boxes or light troughs.

All the storage cabinets will be custom made from white laminates with recessed handles for a clean minimalist look. The display shelves are glass though for a light airy touch to the design.

We bought ceiling fans at the recently concluded Homedec Part II at KL Convention Center.

Haiku Kotuku fans for the Living and Dining area (shown above). I like the contemporary design but the best part is it's very energy efficient. Visit their website for the nitty gritty details. Initial plan was to buy all 5 ceiling fans from Alpha. However, in the end, we bought 3 Alpha fans (RM818 for all 3) and 2 Haiku fans (RM1990 for 2). Well.... at least we are not buying any air-conditioners.... that translates into savings as well.

The 'Before' Photos

Sharing some pics of my empty condo unit....

Kitchen - with wall tiles. Not liking the wall tiles at all - should I hack them all out???

The other side of the kitchen - again the wall tiles demarcates the kitchen area from the dining area. Water pipes outlets are located on this wall.

 View of the kitchen - which leads to the yard.

Another water pipe outlet here. The stainless steel sinks are complimentary gifts from the developer but I won't be using them though as they are not suitable -  one is a double-bowl sink and the other is a single bowl sink.

 The kitchen door opens out to the yard - very spacious area.

This is where I will place my washing machine. The water outlet is on the wall plus, there's a drainage hole there too. There's a store room and a small bathroom here as well. Those rooms can be used as maid's quarters but since we don't have one, it will be a store room and spare bathroom.

Lots of space in the yard - gonna place some kitchen cabinets here. Plan to use this space as a laundry room.

 The living room

 Master bedroom. All rooms have solid timber flooring.

 Master bathroom with bathtub and rain shower head (not shown)

 Twin wash basins for the master bedroom

Bedroom 1 is right beside the master bedroom. Will install built-ins for this room for the kids.

Bedroom 2 is a smaller room. No built-ins for this room. Only loose furniture will be placed here.

The ensuite bathroom of Bedroom 2 has a rain shower head. There's also a powder room located opposite Bedroom 1 which has no ensuite bathroom.

Hope to start renovation works by mid-Oct. My ID has drawn 3 drafts in 3-D. Now, she's drawing the finer details eg exact measurements/materials/color. My kitchen designer is also drawing out my kitchen in 3D. The plans and drawings need to be submitted to the management office to be approved prior to renovation works.