Sunday, July 31, 2016

Sightseeing At A'Famosa And Christ Church, Melaka

WOKE UP TO A VERY NICE WEATHER IN MALACCA... After our buffet breakfast at the hotel, both of us ventured out for sightseeing by walking.  From the hotel, we went up to level 3 and found the link bridge that connected all the way to the Pahlawan Mall just next to Mahkota Parade.  From there, we walked another 10 minutes to A Famosa and St. Paul church, Jonkers Street...

I am so glad and thankful that I could really walk and explored this time round.  To my surprise, these tourist spots are just around the vicinity of the hotel.
First building that caught our eyes when we reached.... the Museum... 
Entrance was free and we went in to "refresh" our minds on Independence history...
On a weekday, there was no crowd... good to see some security around.. 
So nice to walk at our own leisure and pace... 
Within the compound of the museum...
Surprised to see these two named after the historical warriors.. 
I am sure this place will be flooded with people during weekends and peak season... 
We walked further up and thought of sitting on a trishaw... 
A'Famosa The Fort... built in 1511...
Further down the road, we approached the Church... 
The Church of Christ built by the Dutch... 
                                     Some pictures to show our "footprints" on this day... 
It was almost noon by then and our friends came by to pick us up.... 
From here, we went to Jonkers Street to get some goodies... and lunch as well!


5 Reasons Why You Need a Single Bed Memory Foam Mattress Topper from Luxura

If you've always longed to have a rejuvenating, relaxing sleep on a luxurious mattress, but you can't afford to buy a new one, getting yourself a single bed memory foam mattress topper from Luxura is the next best thing. What you will love about foam mattress toppers is that they cost a fraction of the price of a brand new mattress. And not only that! A good quality memory foam mattress topper can offer you the same great benefits and comfort a new mattress gives.

If you're still not sure whether to buy a single bed memory foam mattress topper, you need to know the following benefits of using a topper:

1. Experience Luxurious Sleep on a Regular Mattress

Upgrading your current mattress with a 2 inch memory foam mattress topper from Luxura is a very cost-effective alternative to replacing your existing mattress. Memory foam mattress toppers add great comfort to existing mattresses which are still in great condition.

2. Love the Contouring Comfort of Memory Foam

When it comes to choosing the thickness of your memory foam mattress topper, it should depend on your personal preference, but you also need to take into consideration your style of sleeping. A 4-inch mattress topper will add comfort and height to your current mattress, but a 5cm memory foam mattress topper that comes with a heavier foam may be more suitable to your needs. That's because heavier foams can offer more support compared to the more lightweight counterparts.

3. Enjoy Enhanced Softness of Your Mattress

If you want a plush, but supportive mattress, what you can do is combine a 2 or 3 inch memory foam topper with a comfortable fiber padding. This will give your mattress extra layers of softness, which should allow you to sleep well and very comfortably.

4. Say Goodbye to Microbes and Bed Bugs

A memory foam mattress topper single from Luxura will not only make your mattress feel comfortable, but it will also protect your mattress from dust mites, bed bugs, and other harmful allergens. Luxura uses microbial-resistant memory foam to add an extra protective barrier so that all those tiny particles will not be present in your bedding. The hypo-allergenic formulation of the memory foam can ward off pesky particles. This is a great benefit for those who suffer from allergies.

5. Memory Foam Mattress Toppers Allow You to Sleep Cool

Next generation memory foams do not rely on body heat to become softer. Not all manufacturers have the technology and resources to produce this kind of material, and Luxura is one of the few who can offer this product to consumers. A memory foam mattress topper single from Luxura allows air to flow freely as well. That way, you can be sure that your body will stay cool throughout the night!

Given all these benefits, there's no doubt that you should start looking for the right Luxuramemory foam mattress topper single for you and your family!


What Taupe Is and Why You Should Incorporate It into Your Home Decor


Taupe trend may be here to stay as more and more designers recognize its immense contribution to design today, cherishing it in their own designs and presenting it in some cases as the universal answer to a designer`s problem.

If you`re wondering what is taupe and you`re unsure if you ought to use it in your home décor stay tuned, more information, after the break.

Taupe might be considered a colored by many, a tone that summons strange pictures into one`s minds but if the individual is well aware that taupe is actually a group of colors rather than a tone itself things start to clear off. Interior designers, home decorators and architects alike use taupe to bring a sense of coziness and a strong feeling of appurtenance in a interior space that requires a neutral tone with a personal vibe.

The taupe tones are considered warm and more than anything: versatile. The versatility of the color palette brings the confusion in thousands of conversion today as one might define taupe as a sand – ochre hue where the other participant to the conversation envisions a warm grey. The pallet varies from browns to greys and it even includes mauve-rose-deep taupe peeks of color, the taupe color is nothing but permissive yet in its entire line up it does not include cold tones, hues that one could impersonal.

The popularity of the tone mainly comes from its wide complementary attributes as  a supporting hue for individual rich-colors. Taupe can support leading accents that can vary from deep greens and blues to more vivid green mints and teals this interval including the whole color sphere.
Source: Color Palettes
Susan Ferrier, a professional home decorator stated recently in a design conference that taupe is the pallet of complementary tones here to stay yet taupe is more than that. The taupe palette as a whole has enough variety to cover an interior spatiality through its own hues alone, subtle elegant accents could easily surface  to create a very delicate interior, cast a glance over the mood board below to see how this can embrace an interior.


Numerous color palette online generators can surface extraordinary combinations that might solve one`s problems in a couple of minutes greatly sustaining the versatility of taupe with a fail-proof line-up.
 In the following rows we will go through a very beautiful selection of interiors curated to present the grand opportunities raised by this set of colors.

Source: Floriane Lemarié 
Recommended Leading Colors For Taupe

The ability to pair the taupe pallet with other rich tones is one of its feats of strength and numerous homeowners` have had success in pairing this elegant selection with bright jewel tones, rich red hues and even metallic finishes like rich gold looks to place the dot on the i.

Decorating Your Home with Taupe
Source: design seeds
Mary McDonald, a home decorator of professional caliber, enjoys using Benjamin Moore HC-69 Whittal Brown for in her taupe line-up. She states that the hue creates a feeling of comfort beyond the great abilities to pair with really high rich varieties like bold reds.
Color Schemes for Your Home
Floors
Source: Coco Lapine Design
Taupe is a very common palette used on floors even if it`s chosen without realizing. The palette can take a beating from being walked all the time like any floor should. The taupe neutral palette with a warm vibe brings elegance at the floor level ready to support anything that elevates above her.
Withered wood floors are a timeless presence with great resilience that one could think of when taupe colors on the floor level are being brought into the conversation.
Source: M S International Inc.


Walls
 Source: Involving Color
Like a blank canvas that receives the toned ground or colored ground early on only to nestle greater artwork a few days onto the project, the wall receives the same warm earthy tone used in canvas painting, here entitled taupe. Classic paint tones like Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter are timeless and will go beautifully with any artwork that you can throw at them. .
Source: Houzz.com
Source: Houzz.com
Decor
In interior décor the taupe palette pairs beautifully with black and bronze tones as well as light beige and gray walls that bring that warmth into the picture.
Source: Little House of Four
Blues and greens especially when textured or patterned can also go as a great focal point if supported by the taupe palette, a splendid example resides below.
Source: simplybeautifulbyangela.com
Golden accents ought to be complement the richer tones in the color palette, below a plum tone is greatly emphasized by a golden chandelier, white furniture and bold black picture frames.
Source: annagillar.se
Taupe can be translated in design as a great liberty and sheer beauty. The palettes are permissive enough to give birth to extraordinary timeless design solutions that will not look old or outdated. Taupe is a fair-proof solution that one ought to take in consideration yet the color palette in ensemble ought to be balanced, controlled at all times.

What do you think about taupe? We would love to hear from you!

Saturday, July 30, 2016

One Night Stay At Hatten Hotel, Melaka

MY SECOND STAY IN HATTEN HOTEL... the very first time was in February, just a few days after Chinese New Year.  I remember during that time, I was still using the walking stick to help me move around.  Due to the inconvenience, I did not walk around the vicinity of the hotel.  Now few months later, I went exploring around the hotel, from the ground floor to the shopping level above and from there, we walked further and further away till we reached some tourist spots.

Coming back to my topic on Hatten Hotel, it is really convenient for tourists like us to stay here.  I made a booking through the online website, the rates were lower than those who walk in.  Oh, before we came, we made plans to visit the swimming pool area but due to our "busyness", we did not make it to the pool.  We have to wait for another opportunity to do so....

At the lobby, this time round it was not super peak season as the previous stay.... 
A vast and impressive lobby... 
At the concierge area while waiting for our friends to arrive... 
At the entrance overlooking Mahkota Parade opposite... 
I like their rooms... Divided by a glass partition with two separate televisions on each side... 
Oh, this time our room has a different view...
Just directly opposite is another room facing us...
We were quite "visible" to each other if the blinds are not pulled... 
Get what I mean? hehehee..
Regardless of that, we were so tired for the day that 
once we hit the pillows, we hope that our ZZZzzzz did not "fly" over to the other side...
hehehehehe..

How to Make Rainbow Roses for Your Home Decor

The multi-colored rainbow roses are leading industry crafts, items that not only present great interest to the curious eyes but items that can be actually realized at home through simple means. This makes them interesting to any DIY enthusiasts or rose lover and moreover the process can be considered quite educative as there is biology involved. Happily the craft requires simple materials and if you have fresh white roses in your yard the possibilities are endless, one could dye the white rose to in any tone with little to no effort. More information on the coloring process, after the break.
Items Required
Water Soluble Food Coloring
Scissors
Fresh White Roses
Vases or other containers
Source: mamietitine.centerblog.net
How to Get Started
via ⦁homesthetics.net
The project won`t take much of your time nor immense resources, the most important aspect worth mentioning is that white roses should be freshly cut. Coloring roses that have been harvested a week ago and have absorbed the water of a vase ever since will hardly absorb the water that you`ll now serve colored but more on that later on; keep In mind, freshly cut white roses.
The process broken down into steps follows:

Every rose should have his thorns remove and the stem should be shortened to 7-8 inches.

Prepare the food coloring. Take four or five glasses and fill them with water, drop different hues of food coloring in each one and make sure that ink dilutes well in each recipient.

We will now split the stems, refer to the illustration above for graphic aid. You can split the section of the rose however you consider fit but to start with a knife that would split the stem into four pieces could do the job very well. It is important to make this cut as precise as possible as the water transport system must remain intact for the process to work properly. Repeat the process for all your roses.

It is time now to feed the roses. Place each part of the four into a different recipient in the attempt to gain 4 hues on each rose. Play with their position. A useful trick is to use scotch tape to ensure the stability of the roses.

In 4 to 48 hours changes should occur as the roses are slowly absorbing the colors. This process is influenced by numerous factors from ink`s quality to the rose`s size so be patience and don`t give up if your first attempt fails.

Once your roses have absorbed the colors harvest them from your coloring workstation and plant them in your décor, these will become a brilliant focal point.


Decorating With Rainbow Roses
The process is simple enough to encourage one to get creative with colors. From black to green and purple roses could wear a wide variety of colors and hues, all can be obtained through the same method making the process very interesting and intriguing for the mind. One could associate this process with various holidays to create the ideal centerpieces through different colors.
Dried roses can become part of your potpourri alignment and in a similar manner a beautiful pack of dried roses, still intact can be preserved in a mason jar, their legendary look can emphasize your bathrooms décor for  a good amount of time.

Rainbow roses can also become extraordinary gifts to family and friends, loved ones. Nothing compares with a unique rose that you`ve colored yourself.

What do you think about rainbow roses? We would love to hear your valuable feedback on the subject in the comment section below.



Friday, July 29, 2016

Seafood At Tong Sheng Restaurant, Malacca

IT WAS ALMOST 6PM WHEN WE FINALLY REACHED HATTEN HOTEL after our fruitful trip to the durian plantations.  What a long and productive day! The day is not over yet, dinner was still pending, in another two hours, our host/hostess would be coming to pick us up for a scrumptious meal!  Quickly we freshened up and had a short rest in the hotel room.  Fingers were busy on touching the handphones to keep up with the daily emails and notifications.

Soon the two hours passed and we got ready and waited at the hotel lobby for our friends to fetch us for dinner.  We did not know what we had in store for we are not so familiar with Malacca food. Our friends were very punctual and we were whisked off to a restaurant called FATSO.  Upon reaching, the restaurant was closed... but no worries, we proceeded to another restaurant called Tong Sheng. Seems that these two restaurants are the famous ones in Malacca for their seafood...

This is how Tong Sheng looks like on a weekend... 
*taken from my son's phone during one weekend*
But on the day we went, the crowd was very much less... 
We got our table and seats within 15 minutes or so... 

Famous for their cheesy meehoon... 
I was expecting something milky but to my surprise, 

it was something like Wat Tan hor gravy but with a better fragrance... 
A-Must-Have dish in this restaurant... 
Otak Otak fried with eggs... 
Four types of bean... 
And one more green dish which I have overlooked, I guess...
Lastly and not least, the Crabs in cheesy sauce too... 
I do not normally take cheese but this sauce is Extremely Special 
The cheese was somehow "non existing"..
The gravy tasted like sweet, sourish with minimum spicyness... 
A plate of toasted bread to dip into the sauce... 
Super "omphh" I would say..... 
Ended up taking three big claws before calling it a stop... 
Again we were being blessed with such a scrumptious dinner!
Endless Thanks to both of you!!

DIY Glass Bottle Projects and How to Cut Glass

Wine bottle crafts and glass bottles crafts are simple things to make yet their preparation might seem intimidating without proper guidance, the following article is here to help you in your diy endeavors and it will feature ways to safely cut glass bottles as well a few simple but beautifully-efficient crafts that can be realized with glass bottles .

Supplies Required
Each craft will require different means yet the safety precautions should always be embraced so the following items are mandatory for any craft:

Glass recipients ready to be up-cycled
Gloves
Eye Protection – Goggles

Always be cautious when you work with glass, regardless of type. If you have everything at your grasp and you are ready to start go through the following steps with patience.

The Method
Glass can be cut through numerous means yet the method presented below does not require effort nor expensive materials.

How to Cut Glass in 4 Simple Steps

Start with a glass cutter, this will be used to score the bottle. A small dint, a small incision will be made around the future cutting line of the bottle. Do your best to aim for a straight line, use the aid of a Sharpie marker to make your job easier in this regard. A piece of twine wrapped around the bottle can guide your glass cutter very well too.

A controlled source of heat will be used now to heat the bottle along the small incision previously realized. A candle can work brilliantly as the craft itself does not require immense heat and we all have that candle in our home. It is recommended to constantly rotate the bottle to have the heat evenly dispersed and avoid shattering the glass.

After heating the glass for five minutes or so you ought to submerse the bottle in a bucket filled with ice cold water. The drastic difference in temperature will cause the bottle to break on the scored line. Please keep in mind that the thickness of the glass greatly influences the number of repetitions that one would need to achieve a good cut.

You now have two pieces of glass, it is time to sand the edges of both pieces in order to remove the sharp points.  Start off with rough sandpaper and slowly proceed to finer grit to increase the quality of your end product.

Simple DIY Crafts to Realize

We now have a safe method to cut glass bottles. You are ready to take the glass diy world by storm, cast a glance at the selection diy glass bottles ideas below and bear in mind that the internet has thousands more from these came from.

Build Glass Epic Glass Planters
Source: buzzfeed.com
After the bottle has be sliced in two pieces one could place the top of the bottle inverted into the bottom part to create the ideal glass planter, through this method the plant can feed itself for as long as it desires all the act being presented in a beautiful, glass display.

Tailor Your Own Glass Bottle Wind Chimes
Source: pincookie.com
The crafting of a wind chime might be a little bit more time consuming than other projects here yet it is a project that will surely highlight your qualities as a crafter and through exercise you can improve your glass bottle cutting skills. Use differently colored glass circles to make things interesting.

Epic Conversational Candy Bowl
Source: Etsy.com
A childhood memory might easily portray a candy ball yet the craft that follows portrays a candy ball for the adult, crafted from a whiskey bottle. The new epic function of the bottle can certainly become a conversational starter.

Easy Petite and Cool Shot Glasses

Source: recyclart.org
A super  cool craft that might animate your next Friday party, all those beer bottles can now become shot glasses and the larger the party the more you`ll need. Get creative with simple elements !

Glass Storage Containers
Source: thefancy.com
Nothing compares to graphic storage. We all know that actually beautiful graphic storage is either insanely expensive or insanely hard to find. By using glass cutting techniques any glass bottle can help you in this endeavor. Cork spheres purchased from the craft store make the ideal lid for these containers.

Suspended Bottle Plant Holders
Glass containers can work brilliantly suspended as well, carrying your favorite plant right on the porch. Choose to match these with your glass wind chimes presented  earlier and you`ll have high quality glass items on our porch free of charge. Needless to say that you`ve helped our plantet save the energy invested in the making of the bottles themselves.
What do you think about glass bottles and their place in recycling and repurposing ? We would love to hear your opinion on the subject in the comment section below.
Source: usefuldiyprojects.com

An Evening At Santa Monica, Los Angeles

AFTER A SHORT REST at the hotel, we went to Santa Monica ... my grandson's favorite place... Beach!   Not my favorite though, I don'...