Please Decorate Responsibly

Tonight, while you're out ringing in the new year, please be considerate of your fellow cake lovers.

Please, don't drink and decorate.

Don't let this happen to someone you love:

(Lest you incur a pox on your crudely drawn wine glasses!)

Thanks to Jan F., who plans to confiscate everyone's piping bags before serving the champagne tonight. Good plan, Jan, good plan.

- Related Wreckage: Why You Don't Raid Other People's Refrigerators

Craziness

Wow, yes I’m still alive… kind of.  HA. Between the sudden snow in and the pneumonia-ish cold/flu (lovely made up word there) I feel like I’ve been out of the blogging world forever.

Can you believe the year is almost over? I think I’m partly to blame, I mean after all I did start planning for Christmas this year back in August September. Something about the economy just really pushed me to want that feeling of togetherness and family that Christmas brings. The downside to that is now I am feeling that urge to clean, organize, and de-clutter much earlier than usual.

I am really hoping the New Year brings GOOD changes, not only on a life level but in decor as well.

Yes kitchen, I’m lookin at you!

I’ve got this drab “builder basic” kitchen that is really screaming for some lovin and a honey who can help do it.

Speaking of husbands, do any of you know how hard it is to try and write a blog post with your husband reading the latest TSA memo in your ear! Visions of the teacher on Charlie Brown should really come to mind. I finally had to politely stop and inform him that I hadn’t heard a single word he had just said. I suppose that is kind of a lie since it sounded something like “mummmble djeisd mm heusss zzzzzz djeu syringe diehsik yuuuuuuuuu reudssss zzzzz”, needless to say it was kind of like trying to concentrate with a bee buzzing in my ear. HA, and they say we sound like that. Love you honey, thanks for reading my blog *smile*

I hope all of you have a great and safe New Years Eve and a blessed New Year.

Way to "Go," Dad

There are no words....

to explain these words:

My, my. "Daddy" looks rather flushed, doesn't he?

Frankly, I'm not sure which would be more disturbing: a father giving this cake to his daughter, or someone referring to any kind of toilet activity as "daddy love." [gagging] Yeah. Ok, well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go hack up a hairball now.

Solli S., you're #1 in my book. (And #2 in "Daddy's.")

- Related Wreckage: Any Occasion Will Do

The Best In Audio Video Tools

What do you use your computer for? Long gone are the days when the computer was strictly a data processing tools. Today, the computer is an all-purpose media entertainment center. Its capabilities have gone far beyond keeping a catalog of all your movies and music – it’s even gone beyond playing all your favorite music and movies. These days, with the right tools you can splice, cut, record, edit, mix, create and publish your own media. And to accompany the new capabilities there’s a dizzying array of new software tools that can help you do everything from rip CDs to encode complete animations and videos. How do you find the best new software tools?

And you’ll find them easily. There’s no need to wade through page after page of directory structure. You can search all categories from the front page on the site, or click on a category to go directly to browsing that category. You’ll find video editors, audio editors, CD rippers, imaging software, video and audio converters, complete all-in-one packages and more. There are shareware listings, commercial listings and freeware listings – in short, just about everything you’d ever want to play with your media.

Each listing includes a capsule description and a full review as well as a side box that lists all the important details about the software – including both a staff and user rating, and the chance to enter your own rating. The categories include All-in-One, Media Players, CD Rippers, CD Burners, Converters, DVD software, Editors, ID3 Tag Editors, Mobile Phone Tools, Plugins, Radio and Broadcasting (plogcasting, anyone?), Recorders, Utilities and Voice and Text editors.

The reviews are comprehensive, listing all the capabilities of each software package and how well it performs each function. It’s a nice bonus that’s not often found on pure directories.

For software publishers, there are multiple opportunities for exposure. There’s an easy submission tool to add a free listing of you audio or video software, and many different ways to increase the exposure of your listing at very reasonable rates. You can opt for a featured listing, front page exposure, top level search results, footer text links and more.

Among the most popular software featured at audio-video-tools.com is Blaze Media Pro, the popular powerhouse all-in-one media tool that converts between all available video and audio formats .Rip, burn, convert, edit, capture, create, extract and combine files to create your own unique media.

The Best In Audio Video Tools

What do you use your computer for? Long gone are the days when the computer was strictly a data processing tools. Today, the computer is an all-purpose media entertainment center. Its capabilities have gone far beyond keeping a catalog of all your movies and music – it’s even gone beyond playing all your favorite music and movies. These days, with the right tools you can splice, cut, record, edit, mix, create and publish your own media. And to accompany the new capabilities there’s a dizzying array of new software tools that can help you do everything from rip CDs to encode complete animations and videos. How do you find the best new software tools?

And you’ll find them easily. There’s no need to wade through page after page of directory structure. You can search all categories from the front page on the site, or click on a category to go directly to browsing that category. You’ll find video editors, audio editors, CD rippers, imaging software, video and audio converters, complete all-in-one packages and more. There are shareware listings, commercial listings and freeware listings – in short, just about everything you’d ever want to play with your media.

Each listing includes a capsule description and a full review as well as a side box that lists all the important details about the software – including both a staff and user rating, and the chance to enter your own rating. The categories include All-in-One, Media Players, CD Rippers, CD Burners, Converters, DVD software, Editors, ID3 Tag Editors, Mobile Phone Tools, Plugins, Radio and Broadcasting (plogcasting, anyone?), Recorders, Utilities and Voice and Text editors.

The reviews are comprehensive, listing all the capabilities of each software package and how well it performs each function. It’s a nice bonus that’s not often found on pure directories.

For software publishers, there are multiple opportunities for exposure. There’s an easy submission tool to add a free listing of you audio or video software, and many different ways to increase the exposure of your listing at very reasonable rates. You can opt for a featured listing, front page exposure, top level search results, footer text links and more.

Among the most popular software featured at audio-video-tools.com is Blaze Media Pro, the popular powerhouse all-in-one media tool that converts between all available video and audio formats .Rip, burn, convert, edit, capture, create, extract and combine files to create your own unique media.

American Super (Sized) Heroes

Americans, by and large, are fat. I'm an American, and I'm fat. Together with 64% of my fellow citizens, we're taking over the country, one chocolate-covered bacon maple donut bar at a time. Rather than get all down and out about it, though, I like the bakeries' approach: simply upsize all of our childhood icons to fit the times!

Whoah. Uh, Spidey, listen: I'm all for embracing your body image, but at some point spandex stops being your friend.

"Something seemed fishy about Nemo's new 'power diet.' And where was Bloat the puffer fish, anyway?"

I suppose Cookie Monster has the best excuse for being a bit blobbish:

Still, I'm guessing this was taken during his "Robert Downey Jr of Cookies" years.

Hey, Mickey!

[singing] "Oh, Mickey, what a pity
You don't understand
You're blocking up your heart
when you eat up all that ham!"

And lastly, here's one for us plus-sized princesses:

"Tink noticed it was taking a lot more pixie dust than usual to get off the ground these days. Peter, wisely, said nothing."

Remember, Melissa W., Jen S., Dawn G., Amanda L., & Cindy S., there's an upside to everything: fat people are much harder to kidnap.

- Related Wreckage: Does This Cake Make Me Look Fat?

Camwhoring

Decided to put on some blusher, lipstick, and dot some fake freckles on to camwhore with the new camera!!

Three pictures only lah... I think not bad though! I like my L10 more now! Please stop saying shit about it!

With flash



With flash



No flash

Think the fake freckles a bit fail but still, must try new things!!!

Lower lashes are drawn on (except in last picture, forgot to put), top lashes are extensions. Not wearing contacts. Photoshopped brown. And yes I know the left eye's lashes are drooping. I need to get them fixed!

Off to play mahjong! :D

Single Lens Reflex

Just bought a new DSLR yesterday at $1,200!!!

(From this point on I shall refer to my DSLR as SLR coz I can't be bothered with the D and nobody really buys SLRs anyway don't be nitpicky and stupid)

Welcoming the Lumix L10 to the family! Which includes just another Lumix, the awesome LX3. Oh and my lousy blackberry camera. LOL

Ok here's why I bought it.

I've been wanting to get a good camera for a long time now, especially coz whenever I do advertorials that require camwhoring, I realised that it's super duper hard when I am alone at 3am at night shooting myself!!!

The pictures I post are of course the best of the lot so you don't realise how utterly horrific the others are.

Here's the embarrassing way I do it:

I put the LX3 on a tiny $3.90 (from mustafa) tripod, and precariously balance that tripod on my swivel chair.

Then I sit on the floor in front of my cupboards (to make a nicer background), and I turn on the self-timer. Then I smile like an idiot for 10 seconds.

It is extra loserish coz i'm like trying to act sultry/chic/funny whatever at 3am while alone in my room with some products.

The first few photos will have me half out of frame, or funny objects in the background, or the product out of the frame.

It's really incredibly frustrating and a totally waste of time.

I know these problems still have nothing to do with an SLR, but I'm getting there.



So one day, I saw that Lumix has an SLR...


DIGRESSING!! That Lumix I was talking about is an SLR only loosely speaking. It's a micro four thirds.

Confusing right? BLOODY PHOTOGRAPHY JARGON. Wait, I'll explain in simple terms.

I asked this simple question that day on twitter and all I got were photography jargon. WHAT IS AN SLR???

Or rather, what makes an SLR QUALIFY to be an SLR?

Is it weight? Coz they sure are all heavy. Is it ugliness of the camera? Coz most of them are really hideous too.

But no.

It's 2 things:

1) SLR = Single Lens Reflex. I'm gonna be corrected by photography know-it-alls, but basically this refers to a mirror inside the camera which reflects what your lens is capturing into the viewfinder (thing people put their eye at in the past. Remember film cameras??)

2) SLRs have removeable lens. You can buy new lens and fix them on the, erm, camera. Is it still a camera if it doesn't have lens? Don't ask me.


End of digression!!



So basically that day I saw a Lumix, and it's only loosely called an SLR coz they removed the mirror thingy to make the camera smaller. But same functionality lah.

This Lumix is RED!! A nasty, brownish red. But red nonetheless among black cameras!!

For those shutterbugs who do know, this camera is the Lumix G1.

So I asked the salesperson to let me take a look. He seems to be pretty friendly so I thought I'd give it a try and CAMWHORE!!!

Took the camera up, was ready to snap when the salesman said, "Hold on, see, you can do this, much easier!"


AND THE FELLOW SNAPPED THE SCREEN OPEN TO FACE ME!!

IT CAN SWIVEL!!!!!!!!!!

It took about 5 secs for me to realise how much easier this will make my life and I erupted into tears of joy!!

So, at that point, I decided one of the criteria for my SLR will be to have a swivel screen!

One of the best inventions EVER or what?

So.

After a lot of research, came to the conclusion that the only newer SLRs with swivel screens were Panasonic G1, Gh1 and Nikon D5000.

And out of these, the GH1 is the chioest. Comes in GOLD:

Still ugly coz the sides of the lens are still black but a vast improvement nonetheless.

Combined with the fact that I LOVE the soft skin mode function on my LX3 (checked and it's available on the GH1), I decided on the GH1.

*************************

Couldn't sleep. Dreamt all night of the GH1. Reached Sim Lim in uber excitement. Found a shop that sells it.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.


BUT IT WAS $2,230.


Good god.

I almost fainted. (And just for comparison other SLRs are as cheap as $699)

The only reason why it's so expensive is that it's "HD" lens and it can take HD video, which I honestly cannot give two hoots about. So high quality for what I'm also not shooting MTV! That and that it can zoom pretty far, which I also don't care about! I wanna use it to camwhore!

I just couldn't bring myself to pay so much extra for something I didn't need. It's $1,000 more than other equally-good-for-photography SLRs!


So. Very disappointed and confused.

Shopkeeper introduced me to the L10, which is about 1 year old and one of the last Lumix SLRs to use Leica lens!

(Leica lens are famous for being mad awesome)

The newer Lumix SLRs stopped using Leica lens... I presume coz it's too expensive? GH1 doesn't use Leica lens.


The L10 is a lot bigger, and black, and sadly enough no soft skin mode coz it's not invented yet, but selling for $1,200.

The cheapest standalone Leica lens in the shop were selling for $1,300, so I thought it's a pretty good deal!

He also assured me Leica lens take better photos (this part wins the Nikon D5000), so I was already half convinced.

On top of that he took a photo for me OF me in the shop and it's MAD chio!! SO I BOUGHT IT!!!

Too bad that picture is in the shop's SD card.



But soo far... Not too impressed with it. The flash, hoisted on top of the camera, casts a shadow on the bottom frame of photos coz it's blocked by the lens, which are too long!

And lao niang's surely not gonna change lenses coz my lens is a good one!! I guess I'd have to buy one of those external flashes but I don't want it too bright either! Grrrr why like this?

I have not camwhored with it yet so I dunno lah... Maybe it would take awesome photos of me, which is the MOST important. LOL. I'm lazy to put make up to take pics lah!

Here are some sample shoots I randomly took of things in the house:

Room + daybed















A pic of unwilling Mike... See the shadow cast by the flash? Tragic.

Mike disbelieving my "flash casting a shadow" theory, somehow testing it out with his leg. LOL... Sexy!

That's it! Think I'd snap more tomorrow.

Learnt a nifty little photoshop trick from Priscilla (I can never spell this name) that's why the colours are so mad chio!!! The original photos don't look like that but I hate posting ugly pics so there.

How do you think the photos compare to the LX3's?

Spelling Airs

We all know that nearly all cake decorators misspell "congratulations" every day.

(Um, John? I don't think...)

This is obviously because they're either drunk or completely incompetent.

(Okay now, we're totally gonna get in trouble for that...)

Now you might be saying, "I thought all drunk and completely incompetent people were politicians?"

(Well, that's true.)

But you would be wrong!

(I would?)

Which brings us back to cake.

(Oh, good.)


See? Comgratation. Interestingly enough, there are close to 3,000 accepted spellings of "congradulationed" in the decorators' dictionary.

Occasionally, though, they do spell it goodly:

Like so. Of course, sometimes after successfully spelling a word the thrill goes to the baker's head. Thusly we get "Ternifer" - a hybrid creation of "Terrific" and the name of the person who ordered the cake, perhaps?

Here again the decorator got the "hard" word right:

Sure, the number's a bit, well, wrong...but hey, numbers are hard!


Wisites: n. [wi-SET-eez] Small, fuzzy mammals indigenous to Uganda prized for their venom, which is said to cure gout and certain types of restless leg syndrome.

See? No misspellings here!

Well, y'all have a grrr-reat day now. Oh, and decorators? Bottoms up!

Jessica E., Christy C., Dana S., & Jessica, watch out; I hear those wisites spit.


- Related Wreckage: The "Year" of the "Grad"

Nature Girl

© 2009 R.Caldwell
Available at Tilteed shirt company beginning on 12/29/09.
Buy a shirt **here**.

Get In Mah Belly!!

My my my. This was certainly a labor of love, wouldn't you say?

Or...

When this baby sits around the cake stand, she really sits around the cake stand!

Or...

Forgive me if this seems disjointed (since I'm just shooting from the hip here), but methinks the baby shower cake has now officially gone belly up. Next time maybe we should avoid telling the baker to break a leg - eh, Geri B.?

- Related Wreckage: "Baby" Showers

Sunday Sweets: Charity Roundup

Today's Sweet comes from five cake decorators who made an extreme Christmas Tree cake for the Festival of Trees in Utah to benefit Primary Children's Medical Center. Since the cake was itself made to benefit a charity, I thought it would be a fitting way to wrap up our Charity Countdown.

As you can see, it's big. :)

Here are a few close-ups:

Love the train and wood-graining.

It's hard to believe that tiny tree trunk can hold up such a huge five-tiered cake!

Here are some details on the tree itself:

Candy!!

And finally, the fine bakers who made it:

That's Amelia Carbine of Frosted Fantasy Cakes, Dianne Holgate of Cakes by Dee-sign, Tara Churchill, Paula Ames of Cake Creations, and Lynn Winter of Sugar Bakers.

We finished our 14 days of giving on Christmas Eve (go here if you don't know what this is about), and I'm proud to say that together we gave a lot of money to some fantastic organizations! We haven't quite reached all of our goals, though, so if you haven't had the chance to give your dollar yet there's still time to donate!

Here are the current tallies:

Charity:Water - $12,869 raised online so far. Every $5K builds a well that serves 250 people in need of clean drinking water, so as of now 643 people will be helped thanks to your dollars! (Today is the last day to give, so let's see if we can't still reach our initial goal of $20K!)

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Sorry, we didn't set up a page to track these donations. But you know you gave, right? So that's all that matters.

Heifer International - $5,770 raised online so far. Again, that's over halfway to our $10K goal!

Child's Play - since they also accept Paypal (and prefer it if the donation is more than $1), we don't have totals for Child's Play. On our First Giving page we've had $2,072 given - but again, the majority of us gave via Paypal.

Share Our Strength - Initially featured on Day #2 of the Countdown, so a lot of you donated before we had a way of keeping a tally. (Had to switch to St. Jude because the site wouldn't accept $1 donations.) On our First Giving page now, though, we have $2,783.

Puffy Paws Kitty Haven - Another with two options to give, but we've talked to Rick & Chrissy and they reported well over $5,000 given through Paypal. So combined with the $5,186 on the FG page, that's over $10,000 - or enough to feed and house the cats for over 3 months, plus pay for the de-worming meds they needed. Thanks for helping meet some serious needs, guys!

Doctors Without Borders - $4,723 raised online so far - not quite halfway to our $10K goal.

Love 146 - $9,025 raised so far for our $10,000 goal. So close! Oh, and you must read this amazing post by founder Rob Morris on the impact your comments and dollars have had.

Habitat for Humanity - $2,090 raised so far of our $10K goal.

Operation Smile - $2,712. To put that in perspective, that's 12 kids who will now have reconstructive surgeries thanks to your generosity. If we hit our $10K goal, that would be 41 kids.

The Buckland Family Trust - The last time I spoke with Kristie, a close family friend, the Bucklands had received more than $14,000 dollars through Paypal. Awesome! Thank you for helping Amanda & her stepdaughter start to put the pieces of their lives back together.

Free the Slaves - $1,759 so far of our $10K goal. These are all great causes, guys - if you're catching up, please be sure to check them out.

To Write Love On Her Arms - $1,566 so far of our $10K goal.

Give Kids the World - $2,193 so far of our $10K goal.

Thanks again, guys!

Xmas!

Happy Boxing Day! Just a short picture post before I go off to play Mahjong!!

Dinner @ Modesto's

Incredible Sulk does it again!



Waiting for nom noms



Me!



Our starter: Parma ham with Melon!! Mad love this!!

Well of the six slices of melon 3 were ultra sweet and the other 3 super not sweet. Worth half the price.

Mike's Mediterranean pizza... Yucks, olives!





My favourite creamy mushroom pasta!! Slurps slurps

Had time to kill before watching Avatar 3D so we just sat around on at the open area on top of Vivo... People-watching with the giant Xmas tree in front of us. I love that place! It's so big and windy... :)

On a sidenote, Avatar was not bad but I seriously hated the 3D glasses. Gave me a splitting headache!! I hated it when the background is blurry!

And the glasses kept hitting my eyelashes (no, it doesn't mean the lashes are too long, it simply means my nose is too flat), so imagine... for 3 hours I had to HOLD the glasses!! Looked like a retard.

Loves!

Xmas Eve dinner at Gillian's... Well technically Gillian's parents' place. Had a fab time with Rozz (new blog), Zin, Joan and of course our hosts Gillian + Bryan! The food and company were just spectacular.

Melt in your mouth roast beef... Goodness knows where Auntie Tan gets her crazy good food from, but wow!

The buffet line-up... Aglio Olio was delish!



The hams giving that exclusive Xmas feel

Banquetish waiters were all around and all the table tops were done with super professional looking settings!

Chilli crabs!! I had 2 giant pieces kthxbye



Dessert cakes still in their boxes



Rozz getting a piece of that eggy goodness

Gillian and Joan... I might have shocked Joan with a dirty joke. Oh well, she's heard too many to be shocked anymore HAHAHA

Gillian's bro, Glenn 'subaru' Tan (private joke), with Bryan (navy shirt). LOL

After the yummeh dinner we adjoin to the basement for lounging around and guess what we found!! Gillian's baby photos!!

Hahaha Rozz said she was an ugly child!! Why last time she so black now she so fair and chio one wtf!!!

At 11++ Mike and I left to go to Ben's place...

We arrived to be clouded in popper smoke. -_- It was midnight! Merry Xmas everyone!!!

It was safari themed, which explained my leopard print dress and Ben's ridiculous head gear. And that's Jason before he got uber drunk and forced everyone to drink.

Clara + Ben 2



Junne + Ben 3. Super a lot of people called Ben.



The drinks, which Jason abused

Junne said she took the most unglam photo of me, wiping the side of my mouth. Still chio LOLOL see Jason likes it.

A bit more glam but blurry... Junne is lousy photographer.

A load of Twister photos...


After the 5 guys were bent in awkward positions over the plastic mat,
it was the girls' turn!

Must have made the boys very happy, which explains
the amount of photos taken. -_-








I love this photo!!
Laughing at Junne coz she got a damn awkward position LOL!!!



How come I looks like I has a dimple here?!?

Mike took this picture... Don't know what's his point but ok...

Xmas day itself we just relaxed at home... Momo called and asked us what we are doing (nothing), so she came to my place with my Aunt in tow... AND MADE DUMPLINGS!!!

Bottom: Mommy's dumplings. Top: Aunt's dumplings.
So cute they fold in different styles!!

Nom nom nom! Mad delicious and full of motherly love!!!


I had a wonderful Xmas! What about you guys?