Esprit de Us

A few weeks ago I told you of our fun shopping trip to Esprit! Well, after much effort I finally managed to get those two boys of mine down to the studio to model their Esprit outfits. I've said it before and I will say it again, my kids are my most horrible clients! Eck! And I had to be in the shots too, now that don't happen often. So please excuse the messy hair and un-ironed clothes as I present to you Esprit de Us! :D A big thank you to Esprit again for the outfits! We will be visiting you often from now :)

 

Shopping

Most ladies I know would perk up at the word SHOPPING! But not me. Since Dylan was born, I have not been able to lose the baby bulge and I now wear two dress sizes bigger than before. Nothing looks good on me when I am in the fitting room thus shopping has become ZERO fun (hey! I'm sounding like most of the husbands out there). If I do shop, it's for my kids or I'm at the supermarket. Yup! You know you have attained "Aunty" status when you would rather shop for groceries than clothes :D

Anyway, you can imagine my apprehensive excitement when Esprit invited me to go on a shopping spree this Mother's Day with my kids at their Liat Towers store with a personal stylist to boot! Oh wow! Me? They must not have seen me before I thought LOL! And hmmm, I wasn't aware that Esprit has a kids range! You must think I live in a farm far far away but seriously I haven't been shopping, and even when I do, it's all done online.

Ok, so I walked into the store and was greeted and introduced to my Esprit stylist Peiling. I wasn't sure what to expect and tried my best to look trendy (ya right! in my daily shorts and tee!) but who am I kidding! Haha! Thank goodness Peiling was a pleasant girl, wasn't pushy at all and gave me lots of suggestions while I picked out clothes for my sons and myself. She took note of my problem areas (read: 5months pregnant looking tummy and fat arms) and my occupation and selected appropriate outfits for me to try. There were a couple of times when I thought nah, that colour/style wouldn't work on me but she insisted I try it and what do you know? It was lovely on me! I even got myself a jumpsuit which I never thought I could carry off but it worked and that ended up being my favourite of the lot! Yay for Peiling's discerning eye :)

Back when I was of school-going age, Esprit was a brand synonymous with the young. We saved our pocket money for weeks just so to buy that rectangular drawstring bag with the ESPRIT logo on it (oops! now you know how old I am :p). I never thought that now, as a mother of two young children, I would still be able to shop at Esprit! Not only for me, but for the kids as well. Walking around the Liat Towers store, I noticed that Esprit also retails footwear, handbags, bodywear, belts and accessories. So really, you can get an entire outfit (top to toe) all at one stop. For someone who don't really like to shop, that really appeals to me :)

Do stop by an Esprit store the next time you are out shopping and check out their smart, affordable and stylish apparel for the entire family. Yup, they have clothes for daddys too! I'll update in another post pictures of the boys and myself in our Esprit gear but meantime, here are some shots I took during our shopping spree :)

 

 

A Skippy Breakfast

So, how many of you skip breakfast even though we know it's important? *me!* The usual "no time", "nothing to eat", "not hungry" excuses. I am glad to say that I have not passed this habit of skipping breakfast to my children. They do eat, at least drink a glass of milk.

Do you know that eating breakfast will lead to better behaviour in kids? Not hungry = happy kids :) They get higher test scores as they can concentrate better in class with a filled tummy. And this next info will interest us mummies, eating breakfast can help in weight control by regulating caloric intake! We won't get hungry till lunch time - means less snacking. Makes sense!

But there's no time in the morning! Those of you with kids in the morning session, I hear you! Try preparing a handy and easy to eat breakfast to let your child eat along the way. Plan ahead and prepare ingredients the night before and assemble in the morning.

It's always sandwiches! The child groans, even I groan. It's BORING! So avoid repetition. Be creative by preparing different cuisines. It can be asian porridge, a continental breakfast of scrambled eggs and baked beans, roti prata, a slice of banana cake, cereal or oats etc. Some kids find it hard to swallow in the morning, in this case, you can prepare a nutritious beverage such as a fruit smoothie or milk shake.

Ok ok so you have a fussy child. Here are some helpful tips:
1. Set a good example, you eat too!
2. Make sure the food is tasty.
3. Children thrive on routine, serve them their favourite meal a few times a week with some variations.
4. Do not bribe your child, you will run out of ideas and money LOL :D
5. Instead, find a substitute for food your child doesn't like eg. muffin instead of bread.
6. Kids are attracted to colours, offer a variety of food with different colours.
7. Keep offering new foods even if they reject them at first.
8. Keep eating fun by involving the children in food preparation.

Now the last tip really worked on my sons. My younger boy Dylan, who doesn't eat peanut butter at all on it's own, chomped down a couple of these delicious peanut butter cookies which we baked together over the weekend!

Some interesting facts on peanut butter...it is not butter and neither does it contain any! It is actually a spread made from roasted peanuts. Peanut butters are at least 90% peanuts and does not contain any additives such as artificial preservatives. It takes 850 peanuts to make 500g of peanut butter! Peanut butter is an excellent source of protein and dietary fibre, containing healthful unsaturated fats and other vitamins and minerals. One tablespoon of peanut butter = 30g meat protein! Kids need protein for normal growth and development, building and repairing of tissues. So wow! I didn't know all that about peanut butter! I thought it was just a few peanuts mixed with loads of butter! How enlightening :) So peanut butter is good for you and an easy breakfast choice, spread over a slice of wholemeal bread or you can try the two recipes I am sharing with you below.

No more excuses, do try to start your child's day (and yours) with a nutritious breakfast, don't skip it! Have a Skippy breakfast instead :p Here are two peanut butter recipes to start you off. One is the peanut butter cookie *yum yum* and the other is a peanut butter milk shake *double yum*! Enjoy!

This is an extra step I did, to roll the cookie dough in some cinnamon sugar :) 

 

 

 

 

Skippy Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:  Makes about 3 dozens cookies.
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (i used half cup instead)
1 cup Skippy crunchy peanut butter
1 cup granulated castor sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (i used 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:                                                      

1          Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2          In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter.  
            Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour. 
3          Roll into 1" balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. 
4          Bake in a preheated 180°C oven for about 15 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.  

Skippy Banana Milk Shake

Ingredients:

1 medium frozen Delmont banana, peeled
4 tbsp Skippy creamy peanut butter
1 cup vanilla ice cream
1 cup chilled fresh milk

Garnishing:  Chopped Nutty Bars  and  chocolate chips or shaves

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in blender.  Cover process until smooth.  

Pour into chilled glasses.  Top with crumbled Nutty Bars and chocolate chips.  Serve and Enjoy!

Can't shoot wearing specs

I'm one of those who can't drive wearing shoes, can't work on my computer wearing a watch and I also cannot shoot wearing spectacles. Which is why you hardly see me in glasses unless it is after work or the weekends. I've been a contact lens wearer since I was a 14 year old teenager. It was life changing, I hated glasses. My myopia was -6.00 per eye and back then even with high index lenses, your spectacles will still be very thick, almost goggles-like :d So as you can imagine, I wore my contact lenses all the time. On a few occasions I even forget to take them off when I went to sleep. That's terrible I know.

Now as a photographer-who-cannot-shoot-wearing-spectacles and a mummy-to-two-rascals, my long wearing relationship with my contact lenses continue. I put them on first thing in the morning after I shower and I remove them in the night after my bath. That's around 12-16 hours. Pretty hardcore huh? But it can't be helped. I often experience dryness, on bad days blurred vision and generally really just very tired eyes. 

Recently I was introduced to Bausch + Lomb’s Biotrue multi-purpose solution. It is inspired by the biology of your eyes and formulated to work like your eyes. Being the only solution to bring together three bio-inspired innovations:

·      * Has a lubricant found naturally in your eyes which helps keep your lens moist for up to 20 hours

·       * Matches the pH of healthy tears thus promotes comfort upon lens insertion

·       * Keeps certain beneficial tear proteins active to promote eye health and comfort

So I thought no harm giving this solution a try. At first I didn't notice any difference cause I was on leave that whole last week of 2011 and did not wear my contact lenses as long as I would have on a regular work day. But when 2012 came and my elder son started primary school, that was when I noticed major differences. You see, he is in the morning session and we have to get up at 550am to get him in school by 710am. Then after work, we will fetch the kids and be home around 6pm. After I shower around 8pm that's when I remove my contact lenses and if you count, that is like 14hours of continuous usage! With the previous solution and life before P1, I would be wearing the lenses from 8am onwards, so about 2 hours less than currently. But by 7-8pm, the dryness would have been unbearable already and my vision will be blurry. Last week I was wearing them for at least 14hours each day and when I took them out at night, my eyes were still pretty comfortable up till then.

I didn't feel any dryness of late. The contact lenses remain comfortable and my vision is still sharp. I guess lubrication of the eyes is very important and Biotrue helps.

Biotrue works! Get a free sample at www.biotrue.com.sg and try this outstanding lens care solution for yourself! You will not be rubbing your eyes I swear! 

Retailing at $28 for a Twin Pack (300mL x 2 bottles). Available at leading optical shops island-wide.

Sherlock might need these

To wrap up my experience with the Bausch + Lomb contact lenses with HD optics, I'd like you to view the lens demo here. These contact lenses have been designed to help reduce spherical aberration, something I experience in digital photography with lower quality lenses. Basically it affects my shots when something very bright is shot with something very dark (eg. the leaves on a tree against a bright sunny sky), there will be a colour cast around the edges where dark and light object overlap, a little blurry with halos and glares. The Bausch + Lomb contact lenses with HD optics are in photography terms, like prime lenses, they reduce all those halos and glares especially in low light conditions. I noticed this when I watched Sherlock Holmes and two other movies recently while wearing these contact lenses. They are also great for long wearing as they are one of the more breathable lenses available today, designed to let high levels of oxygen pass through the lens. They are also one of the thinnest lens on the market and makes for a more natural feel throughout the day. 


If you are like me, getting on in years and have some blurred vision especially at night, I highly recommend you try the Bausch + Lomb contact lenses with HD optics and feel the difference. Below are details on how you can win yourself a month's supply of these remarkable contact lenses. Enjoy and let me know by leaving a comment here if it made a difference to your night vision :)
Name 3 benefits of Bausch+Lomb 's High Definition™ Optics contact lens vs normal lens - email your answer together with your name and contact number to omyadmin@gmail.com before 30 January 2012 and stand to be among five winners to each win a month supply of SofLens Daily Disposable contact lenses(worth up to $110)!]**Contest winners will be picked via a random draw and will be notified via email, within one week after the contest ends. Winners’ list is final and no further correspondence will be entertained by the organisers. 


Here is a review of Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows by my good friend and uni mate, Yvonne :)
"The second installment of the legendary detective and his capable sidekick turned out to be just as interesting as the first. Robert Downey Jr put up a remarkable performance as the super intelligent sleuth whom even Scotland Yard detectives constantly turn to for assistance in solving the various crimes that baffle them. And Jude Law also did a splendid job as Holmes' sidekick, Dr John Watsons. The playout-in-Holmes'-mind-first-before-action-takes-place technique which Guy Ritchie used for the first Holmes' movie was re-used here to great effect. And this isn't just another detective movie, there were plenty of tongue-in-cheek jokes planted throughout the movie which made it so entertaining. The action scenes, especially the fights in the back alley and on the running train were pretty well choreographed. Overall, the movie didn't disappoint me as a sequel and I would give it 4 stars. Sherlock Holmes fans shouldn't miss this."

102mins of childhood nostalgia

Brought my 6 year old Kayden to watch The Muppets today thinking it will expose him to the kind of "cartoons" I watched when I was his age. It's hard to accept but in their generation, the only muppet they know is probably Barney :p

Growing up, The Muppets, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Fraggle Rock etc were my generation's TV staple and muppets were present in all of these shows.

We went into the cinema not knowing the storyline or what to expect. I just know my boy will be so lost as he's not acquainted with Kermit or Miss Piggy at all. To be frank, it was a movie for ME and not him :D He didn't get the witty jokes of hecklers Statler and Waldorf, his heart didn't smile when Fozzie Bear (my favourite) appeared, he didn't know of the one sided romance between Miss Piggy and Kermit, he didn't laugh when Gonzo stripped off his suit to reveal his cape, he was a bit shocked by Animal's rowdiness and wondered why Beaker spoke the way he did. But I was familiar with all this and more, and just silently hoped that the muppets charm will win my son over like they did me when I was a kid.

And they did! He even figured out the villain was Tex Richman and whispered to me to confirm,"Mummy, is he the bad guy?" We rooted for the muppets to hit the $10 million target to save the muppets studio from Tex and cheered when they were closed to succeeding. When Kermit performed "The Rainbow Connection" with Miss Piggy, I was singing along to the first verse before my tears engulfed me and I started sobbing uncontrollably as my childhood came flooding back and the sweet and innocent memories hit me hard throughout the song. It felt as if I missed that part of my life terribly amidst this crazy adult life and when Animal came in with the drums, there were no stopping the tears! I was glad no one saw me crying and also glad that I was wearing the Bausch + Lomb's HD contact lenses which enabled me to continue watching the movie clearly after wiping away all those tears :p I have included below the movie's version of the song (just the song, no visuals). Tell me if it doesn't jerk out your childhood!



I was also impressed with a rendition of one of my all time favourite grunge band Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" sung by the muppets barbershop quartet. Old favourites like "We Built This City" by Starship continued to fill you with nostalgia (that's provided you are of my generation) :p I also like the finale "Life's A Happy Song" which was catchy and upbeat and left you with a skip to your step :)

Overall a really enjoyable movie and more so if you were born in the 70s, the Muppets rule!
*hums* "Life's a happy song when there's someone by my side to sing along....."




Win yourself a month's supply of Bausch+Lomb's HD Optics contact lens!
Name 3 benefits of Bausch+Lomb 's High Definition™ Optics contact lens vs normal lens - email your answer together with your name and contact number to omyadmin@gmail.com before 30 January 2011 and stand to be among five winners to each win a month supply of SofLens Daily Disposable contact lenses(worth up to $110)!]*
*Contest winners will be picked via a random draw and will be notified via email, within one week after the contest ends. Winners’ list is final and no further correspondence will be entertained by the organisers.

Contact lenses with HD optics?!?

Ok, you got to be kidding right? That was my first reaction when I was given the opportunity to try out this revolutionary contact lenses with High Definition Optics by Bausch+Lomb. These lenses boast of outstanding vision in low light conditions, sharper details, enhanced contrast and reduced halo and glare especially while driving at night.
Now all that sounds too good to be true but I have been given the contact lenses to try them out for a month and shall give you my verdict soon enough! You can be sure I am pretty familiar with contact lenses as I've been wearing them since I was 14 years old. That's like 20+ years ago.... let's not start counting how old I am now, shall we?! :p


Anyway, you can win yourselves some of these awesome HD contact lenses in the following contest:
Name 3 benefits of Bausch+Lomb 's High Definition™ Optics contact lens vs normal lens - email your answer together with your name and contact number to omyadmin@gmail.com before 30 January 2011 and stand to be among five winners to each win a month supply of SofLens Daily Disposable contact lenses(worth up to $110)!]*
*Contest winners will be picked via a random draw and will be notified via email, within one week after the contest ends. Winners’ list is final and no further correspondence will be entertained by the organisers.


My first experience with the Bausch+Lomb's HD Optics contact lenses was when I went to catch the movie Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol with my good friend Qing Shan. More on the lenses in another blog post but meanwhile, here's a review of the movie by my friend. He's a total MI fan but really, the movie was great!


Mission Impossible 4 : Ghost Protocol movie review by Qing Shan

When the trailer surfaced, it was hard not to get excited about the movie. The infectious Mission Impossible tune cleverly mixed into the action and edited with Eminem and Pink's song. And the selected scenes (mostly the action scenes) shot with IMAX cameras, there was a lot to look forward to.

The forth in the series, Mr Tom Cruise's pet project since he bought the rights to the franchise, has his main character Ethan Hunt behind in a prison cell. For those who remember the last movie, you will have many questions like what happened to his wife and how did he get there. Of course, he gets out and we start the roller coaster ride for the next 2 hours with the answers revealed along the way.

Director Brat Bird's first live action movie (wrote/directed and won Academy Awards for The Incredibles and Ratatouille), sets the tone early with the animation style get-away chase scene together with the fun, understated humour jail break sequence. Dean Martin's 'Ain't That A Kick in the Head' is well used as a song and fight soundtrack and trigger for the escape.

This time, there's no IMF and Ethan's team disavowed after being tagged as terrorists responsible for the bombing of the Kremlin. He's joined by Benji (Simon Pegg, the comic relief), Brandt (Jeremy Renner who lands some credibility) and Jane Carter (Paula Patton, the eye candy and necessary female balance to the group).

Ethan and team uncover a plot by Cobalt to 'restart' the world with nuclear devastation. They have to act fast to save the world with the newest BMW i8 car, retina scanning device to "blue is glue, red is dead" gloves. Tracking down the bad guys from Russia, to Dubai and to Mumbai.

Those who have been following the series would have a sense of minor deva ju, as some of the scenes; like the dropping and hoisted in midair, to the high building jumps and even Mr Cruise's haircut is nothing really new. But Brat Bird's manages a fresh treatment of those familiar and keeps the audience pacing from suspense to heart pounding thrills.

One of the main attractions of the MI series, is watching Mr Cruise doing all his own stunts. Yes, he's the one hanging outside the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa tower and running and jumping all over the movie. If you are afraid of heights, do be warned its been said to cause some vertigo.

Ever since the second movie's reported argument between John Woo and Tom Cruise wanting to do his own cliff climbing WITHOUT safety ropes, I think it's his way of wanting to do all these crazy stunts, get them on film and get paid doing so!

I have to say, I wished there was more of a romance factor, previously brought along by Michelle Monaghan's Julia as Ethan's wife, but as you watch the movie, you'll understand why it is so. If I  go on any more, I would be spoiling the movie for you.

The movie's well paced with humour, action, entertaining pop corn fun and a good balance of human drama. And if you can, you must try to watch it in IMAX; the 25+mins worth of footage is beautiful, sharp and really immerses you into the movie, especially the Burj Khalifa scenes.

For a taste of the action view this featurette from the movie :)

Win a WowART lesson this holiday for your child!

Your budding little artist at home will be thrilled to know that WowArt Learning Studio is having a holiday program this coming year end school holidays. During the September holiday, they offered art workshops only but this time, they will be taking the classroom outdoors and offering WOW Camps! Students will be able to explore, experiment, feel and play in these hands-on sessions. In the Artist & I workshops, your child will be exposed to great artists of all times such as Henri Rousseau, Van Gogh, Claude Monet and Edgar Degas through painting on canvas.

To know more about WowArt, do visit their website or read my boys' experience with them here and here.

Now for some exciting news! WowArt is offering one lucky reader of my blog a free workshop pass for your child! This is what you have to do:

1. Please "Like" the WowArt Facebook page
2. Help us re-post this blog post url http://maryannkoh.blogspot.com/2011/11/win-wowart-lesson-this-holiday-for-your.html on your own Facebook wall
3. Let me know that you have done all this by leaving a comment on this post
4. Drop me an email maryann@thestudioloft.com.sg with your contact details so that I may contact you if you are the winner

That's it! Last date for participation is Wednesday 16 November 2011. My boys will be at the workshop too on top of their regular Sunday lessons, hope to see you there! :)

Cetaphil Giveaway

Tell me if this sounds familiar in the mornings. Walking into the bathroom, you stand infront of the mirror, a ton of products sitting at the basin area waiting to be applied onto your face. You end up using just one or two. That's me! Cleanser then moisturiser. IF I am not lazy, I will apply a sunblock but that's rare. I prefer a fuss-free facial cleansing ritual and Cetaphil fits the bill.

Originally developed by skin experts, Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser is a soap substitute that preserves your skin's natural moisture. So it softens your skin as it gently cleanses. Its special formulation won't sting your eyes and can remove light make-up without clogging pores. It also does not leave a sticky residue over the skin surface. Developed to be used with or without water, Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser is pH balanced and lanolin and fragrance free. It's non-drying and non-irritating properties makes it a gentle formula ideal for every age, every stage and every day. Cetaphil is the leading brand of gentle skin cleanser in Singapore.

Now for some good news - Cetaphil has travel packs up for grabs! Simply tweet (or retweet) the following text:

4 Cetaphil Travel Packs up for grabs! Tweet this & stand a chance to win! More abt Cetaphil on @maryannkoh http://bit.ly/n3TkJd #cetaphilsg

Giveaway is limited to one entry per twitter account, and those residing in Singapore only.

There is also a Cetaphil roadshow at Jurong Point on 29 & 30 October 2011 from 12pm to 9pm where you can win travel packs, iPad2 and cash! So if you are looking for a fuss-free way to keep your skin healthy and beautiful, try the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser and clear some space from your basin! :)

WOW your child this September school holiday

All kids look forward to holidays like us adults unless if like me you have kids of your own, then a holiday isn't really a holiday, you have to plan activities for your kids to do :p Well, I have a great suggestion for you and your kids this school holiday, join the WowART Studio Holiday Workshops! The workshops run from September 5-9 2011 and are for children aged 2.5years till 12years.

Both Kayden and Dylan have been with the art school since the start of this year and after each lesson I am ALWAYS pleasantly surprised with the quality and creativity of their art pieces. Have a look below at some of the photos I've taken with my iPhone of their art pieces which always garner oohs and ahhs from friends on Facebook :p



Dylan was just 2.5years when he started and no, he was not too young. The holiday workshop for under 4years is specially designed for the younger children and has a wide variety of medium and artworks for them to choose from. Clay modeling to wire sculptures and yarn painting, their little hands will be filled as they enjoy the process of creating their own art!

For the older children, they have two main workshops to choose from - Artist & I and Claybook. Artist & I is a canvas workshop where 2 impressionist artists Claude Monet and Edgar Degas are introduced. The Claybook workshop allows children to unleash the writer in them as they enjoy the pleasures of handling clay. They create their own stories and make the characters from clay. This 3 day workshop is sure to keep the child entertained and allows room for them to be creative. Each lesson is 2.5hours and I would recommend this workshop if you have the time.

Details of the workshops and fees are below. You can also give WowART Studio a call at 6352 2221 for more information or to reserve your place in the workshops. Early birds enjoy a 5% discount if you sign up before 30 Aug 2011! Do update me here if you bring your kids to the workshop, I am sure they will enjoy themselves whilst unleashing the artists in them :)

Save the Colour

Birds have enjoyed a raised level of interest in our lives lately, in particular the angry one who resides in our iPhones :p There was also the recent animated movie Rio which told of the adventures of the last two remaining blue macaws and the mission to get them *ahem* doing the *errrm* so that they will not be the last blue macaws, oh you get the message!

In the real world, birds are also dwindling in numbers as they lose their natural habitats. In a bid to raise awareness of this fact to our children, the Jurong Bird Park has been running the Save The Colour event this month.



To help the kids learn more about bird conservation in a fun way, there was an Origami Village at the park where kids fold paper fishes to release back into the sea, create ice blocks for the penguins, plant some origami flowers and colour butterflies to set free. The boys chose to fold the fishes and colour the butterflies. It was challenging for Dylan to do the origami on his own but he had lots of help from the park staff and Gong Gong. Colouring of the butterflies was a breeze though! Ok, he had a bit of help from Daddy :p





kayden putting some finishing touches to his fish






dylan letting his origami fish go into the "ocean"






our butterflies are ready!


setting the butterflies "free"


the madatory family pix by the waterfall :p gong gong was our photographer


There were also other activities like adding your own origami crane to the Pledge Tree with a written promise by you to do your part for conservation. You can also send your friends and family a free postcard sharing the conservation message! And a hit amongst the kids were of course the air-brushed bird tattoo and bird-face painting stations :)

The month long event may have come to an end but the message on bird conservation to our kids especially, will certainly resonate through our daily activities and actions. Save the colourful birds of our world, save the colour!