A few months ago, I did a photo shoot with the gorgeous Ifat Kafry (aka MissyK) on the backstreets of Wan Chai. The concept was to capture a dolled-up Ifat casually against a colorful "Old Hong Kong".

We shot in an older area of the city where you could see subtle signs of age (peeling paint, rusty gates and window panes, old scratched up doors), but yet it was still very colorful and vibrant.... bright turquoise walls, vivid red doors, faded colorful tiles of an old porchstep.

This is my favorite photo from the shoot...

I loved the dress that Ifat wore, it worked really well for the shoot. It was sexy yet casual. It was colorful yet the colors matched and complimented all the different colored backgrounds, and it stood out against less colorful backgrounds. It was light and flowy and it worked perfectly to show movement during the shots of her walking down the street, especially as there was a light breeze blowing at the time.

Here are some more of my favorites. Check out my album for more photos.










Here are some of my favorite B&W photos from the shoot.

Okay, I admit it.

I used to LOVE New Kids on the Block.
I used to be their "number 1 fan" (along with millions of other screaming young teenage girls).
I used to be a member of their Official Fan Club (after forking over my $20 annual membership fee).
I used to spend what little money I had saved up to buy their posters, cassette tapes (this was before cd's), magazines, buttons, books, videos, t-shirts and even went to two of their concerts (and for a poor junior high/high school student like me, these were pretty unaffordable).
Donnie was my favorite (I dug his "bad boy" image back then, what can I say? Plus, my other hardcore friend was a Jordan fan, so we couldn't compete, ya know? haha)
I even wrote a fan letter to Donnie and bought flowers to one of their concerts that I went to with my hardcore friend, but not surprisingly, didn't have the chance to see him in person.
I also entered a contest to try to win their concert tickets by drawing a poster of them... it was a pencil drawing of each of the five boys which I spent a few weeks working on (I must say I thought it came out pretty well. I didn't win though. pffffft.)

And now, more than 15 years later, I can't believe they're back together~

I just listened to some of their new songs. I wasn't sure what to expect now after all these years... but there's some that I like, especially the ones with an R&B flavor, like "Click Click Click" and "Single" (a tight song with Ne-Yo, one of my current favorite R&B singers).

"Single" (NKOTB & Ne-Yo):
Funny thing, I heard the song "Single" for months before realizing that NKOTB was part of it... I thought it was just Ne-Yo! Here's them singing it live (minus Ne-Yo) cuz the official video can't be embedded.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/OyGhfg6_Qq8&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

"Click Click Click":
A funny story. As I was playing this song at home, my husband starts groovin' to it.
Me: So you like this song huh?
Hubby: Yeah, it's not bad. (Continues groovin')
Me: Really? You'll never guess who sings it! (Pause for effect) NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!! (Starts laughing hard)
Hubby: (Abruptly) What??!! Forget it then, I don't like it!
Me: (Laughing even harder)  HAHAHAHA!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/qtoBPZ-RSM4&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

Happy Thanksgiving! =D

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

The Dead Not Alive party was my very first Halloween costume party, and it was a lot of fun dressing up and seeing everyone else in elaborate costumes. I intended to dress up as a German beer girl, but in the end, I could've easily passed for Heidi the girl from the Swiss Alps too. haha! 

Here's a picture of me and Kate, the sexy French maid. You can check out more photos from the evening in my album here.

Did you guys hear about the numbering system for plastic bottles?
Check the bottom of your plastic bottles for a triangle symbol with a number inside... If it has the numbers 3, 6, or 7, don't drink from it!

I got this email below recently and apparently, re-using plastic bottles by refilling them is NOT a good idea. (You'd think it's a great way to save money and help the environment, but instead it could be toxic for your body). In Hong Kong, tap water isn't clean enough to drink so I filter/boil water at home to drink, and I always bottle up water in reuseable plastic bottles to bring out with me on a hot summer day or to my yoga classes to keep from dehydrating.

Scary enough, I found that these plastic bottles that I use are made with some of the most toxic plastics (number 7 on the numbering system). I immediately threw these away just to be safe. I guess if I can help it, I'll just avoid the "toxic" numbers and look for the safer numbered bottles. It seems like many bottled waters use #1 plastics, which seem fine to drink from once, but not recommended for repeated use.

Here's a video which Matt Lauer talks with Dr. Leo Trasande of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine about just how (un)safe are plastic bottles:
Video: http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=238518

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Did you ever drink from a plastic bottle and see a triangle symbol on the bottom with a number inside?


Do you know what the number stands for?
Did you guess that it's just for recycling?    
Then you are WRONG !!!!!!
THE NUMBER TELLS YOU  THE CHEMICAL MAKE UP OF THE PLASTIC.....

(1)    Polyethylene terephalate (PET)
(2)    High density polyethylene (HDPE)
(3)    Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (UPVC) or Plasticised polyvinyl chloride (PPVC)
(4)    Low density polyethylene LDPE
(5)    Polypropylene (PP)
(6)    Polystyrene (PS) or Expandable polystyrene (EPS)
(7)    Other, including nylon and acrylic
What you aren't told is that many of the plastics used are toxic and the chemicals used to create a plastic can leach out of the plastic and into the food / drink.
The WORST ONES are Nos: 3, 6, and 7 !!!
DO NOT USE THOSE NUMBERS if stated at the bottom of the bottle) !

(Errr, the reuseable bottle that I have is a number 7... ) 

Check out this chart that breaks down the plastics its uses and chemical makeup:
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_plascod3.html 

Recently, I got to take a nice trip to Bintan and Singapore. The trip to Bintan, Indonesia (a short ferry ride away from Singapore) was a nice, relaxing beachy getaway that was much-needed after a hectic period of work and projects. It felt great being able to chill at the beach everyday... and I also got to snorkel, go biking, learn windsurfing (it's definitely not easy!), and go swimming.






Then I was in Singapore for the F1 races. I have to say that for my first time watching car racing, it was pretty cool to see it live, and we had a great view by the bay. We were seated in a huge grandstand where we couldn't see any other portion of the racetrack except for the stretch that was the width of the grandstand. You could hear the cars coming, then you'd whip your from right to left to catch a glimpse of them flying by, and then they were gone in a flash. Repeat for each car of the cars that whizzed by, and repeat for 61 laps. We happened to be seated in front of the track where a few of the crashes happened. Luckily everyone was okay. We got to see the driver of the first crash climb out of his car admist all of us in the crowd cheering and the crane lifting the crashed car off the tracks, so it was kinda cool to see some of this action in front of us. As you probably know, aside from several crashes, there was the embarrassing pit stop drama with Ferrari, who started off the first part of the race in first place and ended up losing, badly.



After the first crash:

Behind-the-scenes below the grandstand:




The rest of the Singapore trip was spent eating, shopping, and partying and hanging out with friends, so it was fun! My good friend Sangita is possibly leaving Singapore soon, so I'm glad I got to hang out and party with her.

Also got to meet up with fellow AnD artist Jeszlene briefly. Great seeing ya! :)