Handmade Cellophane Lantern with LED

CELLOPHANE LANTERN

Have you guys forgotten about this colorful plastic sheet lantern? How we used to run round with it and keep replacing the burnt out candle. Well now, we still have the Mid-Autumn festival, but people have replaced the name by calling it The Moon Cake festival where we will swamped to all the mooncake fairs and in search of looking for the best mooncake.

The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is said that in ancient times, ten suns existed and the extreme heat made people's lives very difficult. It was the hero Hou Yi, who, owing to his great strength, shot down nine of the ten suns. On hearing of this amazing feat and the hero who performed it, people came from far and wide to learn from him. Peng Meng was among these people. Later, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang E and lived a happy life.

One day, Hou Yi came upon Wangmu (the queen of heaven) on the way to meet his old friend. Wangmu presented him an elixir which, if took, would cause him to ascend immediately to heaven and become a god/goddess. Instead of drinking the potion himself, Hou Yi took it home and presented it to Chang E to keep. Unfortunately, Peng Meng secretly saw Hou Yi give the potion to his wife and three days later, while Hou Yi was out hunting, Peng Meng rushed into the backyard and demanded that Chang E hand over the elixir. Knowing that she could not win, she took out the elixir and swallowed it immediately. The moment she drank it, she flew out of the window and up into the sky. Chang E's great love for her husband drew her towards the Moon, which is the nearest place to the earth on the heaven.

On realizing what happened to his wife, Hou Yi was so grieved that he shouted Chang E’s name to the sky. He was amazed to see a figure which looked just like his wife appeared in the Moon. He took the food liked by Chang E to an altar and offered it as a sacrifice for her. After hearing that Chang E became a goddess, folk people also offered sacrifices to Chang E to pray for peace and good luck. Since then, the custom of sacrificing to the moon has been spread among the folklore.

cited from travelchinaguide

 So this year, I have decided to organize a mid-autumn festival get together with the girl gang but I did not expect it to be so difficult to find the traditional cellophane lantern. After calling up a few local party shops, I learned that the lanterns are actually handmade and this explains the hefty price tag. A cellophane lantern could easily go up to $19!! And so the search of this lantern in a more affordable form continues.

 

After much search, I finally found a shop which still makes this traditional cellophane lantern and hence decided to grab this opportunity to try to sell it to all of you at an attractive price! I have now set up a company call LukenLeia via carousel for a start to see the response. Stock will arrive this August and the candle is being replaced by LED light bulb! This is to reduce the possible accidents that might happen a child and also to avoid scrapping of the wax after the festival. And this gives you another reason to support me!

Please order earlier to avoid disappointment!

The lantern comes in 4 design and actual product may varies from picture as they are all handmade.


MANY THANKS!

New member

So we heard anning is expecting! This is really such an exciting news as we all knew how long it has been, and finally the long awaited gift is here. And now the question, is it a boy or a girl! So finally the gender reveal party is here.. And let's let the photo do the talking.

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!

Bb Luke's first month celebration

We have so many occasions to celebrate in a year, CNY, V day, Anniversaries, Birthdays and next year we will have 2 more occasions to demand for presents, heehe.. Mother's day & Father's day. But for now we are going to celebrate Mr Guan's birthday which falls on 28 August, My birthday 4th of September and BB guan's 1 month old on 4th September! I just love his birth date, as August is the month that Mr Guan is born in and 4th is My birth date! A combination of us both.

So this year Mr Guan says that lets just celebrate together since the dates are so close to each other. I had always wanted to try the signature fried chicked at Yardbird MBS so here we are, at the YardBird.

The decoration is posh with a tinge of country feel.

After lunch we went shopping at Hermes because I needed to get a birthday present for Florence but BB Guan 超不给面子的, he did not wince a bit when we were having lunch, but upon stepping into Hermes for a mere 2 minutes, he was wailing 😫 I guess he didn't like us to shop. haa..

Well so much for now..more outings to come!

Arrival of Ĺuke Guan

It has been 2 weeks since baby guan has join the family. People says pregnant woman are forgetful and tend to forget the labour pain but after 2 weeks, its still vivid in my memory. The edd for bb guan is on 4th August and he has no signs of reporting to us on our 39th week hence my gynae Dr Anthony Siow from ASC clinic told us to "check in" to the hospital on 3rd so that he can induce the baby. And so happily we took our dinner at home and make our way down to Gleneagles Hospital at about 10pm and checked ourselves in.
We opted for a 1 bedder but due to shortage, we were given a 2 bedder but paying the price of 1 which was more "wu hua" as Mr Guan gets to sleep on a proper bed and not some sofa. The induce tablet was inserted at about 1130pm that night and after that what we could do is to wait. The night pass by peacefully and came dawn. Still no action.

Dr Siow pop by at about 9am to check on me and said that he would insert another tablet at 2pm. And so I happily ordered fish and chips for my lunch that day. But atlas, at 1030am pain started kicking in real bad, I cannot remember the intervals of the contraction but the pain was so painful that I even vomitted. But as my water bag did not nor did I bleed, I was told to wait in my own ward with no epidural and laughing gas. Then finally at 1.30pm I saw some blood stain while peeing and informed the nurses. Then I was being wheeled to the delivery suite and the contraction became more frequent. The nurses gave me laughing gas and called for the anaesthesia. All along I thought that I have quite high tolerance for pain but in actually fact I think I have none. There are many side effects to the epidural and mine was non stop shivering and numbness in my right leg. And the painless effect did not kick in immediately. I had to endure another 50 mins of contraction before the epidural takes effect.

Anyway to cut the story short, finally at about 8pm I was ready to push. But the pushing again is another challenge, the nurses keep telling me to imagine that I am constipating and try to push, but seriously I never had constipation, in fact I have bowel irritable syndrome.  Haa... therefore it took me about an hr plus for bb guan to be finally out with the aid of a vacumn.

Dr Anthony and Mr Guan, dont they look like 2 serious butcher at work?

Mr Guan & 1 min old BB Guan

I immediately felt hungry after giving birth and so we ordered Mac delivery! So yumz!

Thanks to the many friends who came and visited us the next day with balloons and gifts and flowers, hence we decorated a bit and took our first family photo!

To summarise I really like the service at Gleneagles as all nurses are so attentive and accommodating. I highly recommend anyone to give birth here. 🤣

To follow bb guan's updates, more photos are on my IG: actually_is_a_bell

What goes into a hospital bag?

So I mentioned, I am in the midst of packing the hospital bag but what should we bring?

I surfed the net and browse through the instagram and came up with a list of my own.

Items for the mum:
1. Comfortable bedroom slipper ( so I requested from Lynda who is a frequent flyer on SQ biz class, hee..)
2. Nursing PJ with padding (cos I am not going to wear those provided by the hospital)
3. Breast pump
4. Mouth wash ( in case I am too lazy to brush my teeth)
5. Hair tie
6. Makeup remover ( tissue form)
7. Wet tissue
8. Straws
9. Pregnant pillow
10. Camera stand and camera (in case I am feeling really energetic to take photos)
11. Maternity pads
12. Clothes to wear home
13. And of course cosmetics.

Items for the baby:
1. Clothes, beanie, swaddle cloth
2. Infant diaper

 Packing for a 3 day 2 night hospital stay

 



I have yet to put in the baby's stuff as I have not washed them yet. Cosmetics and pregnant pillow will be put in at a later stage too.

Updates

Updates

After a hiatus of about 16 months, there are spider webs and cow webs on our blog, cant believe our last post was in Feb 2016 and since then so much have changed. Firstly Maggie has been promoted from Miss to Mrs and now to Mdm MOM and now I am joining her in this the MOM status.

Currently I am in my 34th weeks and counting and had put on about 7 kg till date and still growing. Getting preggy after 6 years of marriage, the most frequent question that I encounter was " was it an accident", or " was it a planned pregnancy?" Well, if it was an accident, we would not have waited till now for the accident to happen right?

Mr Guan & I was contented to be "you and me just us 2" till his brother had a baby girl last Feb. With the new addition, we could not wait to go back to the in laws every week to spend time with her and sometime back in July/Aug last year, we moved back for a week to help my MIL to care for the baby as Vicky's (the baby girl) parents are away for a holiday. It was after that 1 week of hardcore babysitting, we realized that we actually don't mind having one of our own and we are think we are quite ready for it and so we planned for a good month to start trying. As Mr Guan has already bought his Ultra ticket for Year 2017 in Miami, we could only start trying in Oct 2016 so that he could still go for his party.

I must say that we were very bless to be able to conceive in the following month. To cut the long story short, I am currently visiting Dr Anthony Siow from ASC clinic at Gleneagles. I prefer a male doctor as I find them more gentler and easy going. Before I found Dr Siow, I visited 2 male doctors but I gave up on them as we do not click and I do no look forward in seeing them for my check ups. Finding the doctor which will make you feel at ease and eye pleasing is very important, so take your time in choosing your doctor and do not be afraid to disqualified them if you do not like them. Hahaa.

So fast forward to today, as the dates draw closer, we are starting to prepare the hospital bag and adding more necessity in welcoming the baby. But currently we are facing a very important hurdle, the NAME. Till date, Mr Guan has only shortlisted 1 name and that is Luke. I personally quite like this name as it means light in the bible but somehow Mr Guan still wants to keep the options open. But hello! we have less than 6 weeks to go man. As for the Chinese name, we are going to do what everyone is doing which is going to a fortune teller after the baby is born . Well that's all for now and we will keep you guys posted of the baby's name. In the meantime he will be called BabyGuan.😂 

First appointment after the double line on the test kit.

We were so sad to not be able to see the baby on the 1st scan which is about 5 weeks. It was just a water bag.

2md appointment with another doctor

Finally we saw a glimpse of the baby and hearing the heartbeat for the 1st time. But there wasn't those tearing moments like in the movies though.

And we celebrated at Kisho after the checkup.

Double K - Kyoto & Kimono

Ms and Mrs exploring Kyoto Together!!

Can you believe this gal dress up and had her full make up on for the early morning flight!!

Osaka --Shopping and Eating

It had been 2 years since Ms and Mrs last travel together....this time Miss C is travelling with us!

Our hotel ...Hotel Monterey near Osaka Station. Initally, we wanted to stay at Swissotel Namba but it was also China Golden Week during our period there. Thus hotel price also become golden price...SGD 400+ close to SGD 500 a night. Normally it would only cost 300+ a night. Hotel Monterey cost about 300+ a night with 3 beds, thou location not as good as Swissotel but it is still convenient. (P/s: Swissotel would still be my first choice if the price is right)

Our Old English Style Room. There is a English Chapel in the hotel where Japanese couple hold their wedding. It seems to be quite popular, there is 2 wedding being held during our 3 days stay..

Our Weekend Gateaway - Road Trip to Penang

It took us about 11 hours to reach Penang....Jam at the custom both Singapore and Malaysia side for 2.5 hours. Stopping in between to eat breakfast and lunch and some toilet breaks. Luckily, the North South Highway traffic was smooth.

After reaching, the first thing we did were to check in our hotel a St Giles.

Ashley's Travelogue - Down Under

Leaving our footprints in Perth.

Everyone was very surprised when they found out that I had never been to Australia, well my chance came when SQ was having a promotion on the airfares. The best part? No extra leave needed as 4 days of Jubilee leave was enough. =) Thanks Singapore!

Booked 6 months ago and finally we are departing! 4.5 hours flight on SQ was so enjoyable. Caught 3 movies which I wanted to watch and before I knew it, we landed. We didn’t plan anything in particular, just playing by the ear and following the mood. But first, car pick up and a sim card for the internet savvy people. LOL. Booked a convertible thinking that it’s an awesome plan as we could enjoy the coastal scenery when we drive pass it. But truth hurts, it was drizzling when we step out of the airport. Drove round and round around the airport as there was road construction everywhere, we couldn’t relay on the maps but to read the road signs. After 10 left turns and 20 round abouts we are finally at our accommodation.

Sunday Brunch at Boomarang

Googling where to go for Sunday Brunch....I came across this restaurant Boomarang and decided to try it out. It's perfectly located in the quiet corner of Robertson Quay. Perfect place for a perfect Sunday if you want to have a "out-of-Singapore" feel.

Al Fresco seating is good, especially when the weather is not too warm.

The Menu of Boomarang...

If you are adventurous ...you can tried out the Kangaroo Burger...ok, I gotta admit that I am not adventurous...so there will not be any photos of that burger here... :P

Photo-time!!!!....while waiting for our food..

 I ordered the Boomarang Benedict....It looks really good on the poster!!

Our Sunday Brunch....it looks really good!!

The EGGCITING moment...will the egg yolk flow??

 

 

The moment was over when we were a little dissapointed... the egg yolk did not flow out...slightly overcooked. But overall the egg benedict is delicious. They replaced the english muffins with bread which is good. I prefer the bread then the english muffin which I find it too dry sometimes.

Bangers and mash was great! 

Overall, I think this is a nice place to spend a lazy afternoon. 

60 Robertson Quay

#01-15 The Quayside
Singapore 238252

Vegas- The Sin City I Love

Hello to LAS VEGAS!!! This is my first time to Vegas...the feeling is so unreal and yet exciting! This is the infamous destination of the west right? Where all the crazy things happen, where the reception will tell you:" Anything can happen in VEGAS" with a wink*...Oh am I glad we are finally here! 

Ashley's Travelogue - 2 nights in Taipei

Whenever there is a long holiday in Singapore, it means it’s travelling time! This time round for Easter weekend we chose to go to Taipei! We booked our Scoot tickets last Christmas for $470 which I felt was not budget fare at all. Prior to the departure date, Scoot changed the departure time to an earlier timing. Nonetheless I decided to go ahead with the trip as as refunds can only be in the form of credit (not cash) which means having to book an alternative Scoot flight.

Ashley's Travelogue - 2 Nights in Shanghai

Over the weekend I hopped over to Shanghai where  3 out of the 5 of us had arranged to meet Maggie Kok who is currently based there.

Since it was my first trip to Shanghai I didn’t have any expectations and decided that I would just go along with whatever the girls had planned.  Although 2-nights might seem like such a short stay, the number of things that we ended up doing over these 3 days were uncountable!

Lake Louis and lake Moraine Adventure

RimRock Banff, one of the best hotel in downtown. Time of check-in does not justify the beauty that awaits us. When we woke up in the morning, we were amazed...and of course, excited on the continuation of our journey in the most beautiful park on earth!!!