& Other Stories: Grand Canyon West

Still in the land of 'Murica, this was the destination I had a privilege to visit during Summer 2015. Btw, I had this blogpost postponed for only God knows how long! So hopefully I could still picture you guys the story of this trip to the tiny details. Then again, I barely remember anything. So where do I start? Probably I should've explained how did I end up on the West Coast. There was a time I dreamed about traveling to all the 50 states, but now I honestly don't mind if the bucket list remains unchecked. Because, life happens that way. These days, I just want to count my blessings.  

As I was saying, my 23-year-old self wished to visit the other side of the US. With my sister living in New York City, I felt like I've had enough of the East Coast. HA. To pursue my lifetime dream, of course, I thought I should start off somewhere popular. I think it was a 14-day tour from Jakarta to LA, where everyone began the bus trip to Las Vegas, SF, and headed back to LA again. So this one trip was actually a part of the entire West Coast tour that wrapped in less than two weeks. Yes, you're reading it right since each flight took around 24 hours. 

Two different rims on the package were offered to us, although we eventually picked the west rim because it was the closest to Vegas and ahem, cheaper. I didn't care much about the view, it all looked the same to my eyes. Furthermore, I wanted to walk on the Skywalk where there was nothing much but, canyon. For some safety reasons, no one was allowed to take any pictures on the location, we had to put our gadget inside the locker. Numbers of photographers who sold your photos as souvenirs could be easily spotted, though. If anything was memorable about the trip, it had to be the intense Summer heat! Gosh! I'd never seen myself so tanned before. Oh and, the gift shop deserved its own highlight too. Thanks to the AC, I could just chill out and felt alive again. On another note, my mom and I purchased a variety of mineral rocks and we were so happy to bring them home as keepsakes!

Top-Rated Online Furniture Stores

Photo courtesy: Hannah Blackmore Photography

When purchasing new furniture for the home, of course you want quality and style rolled into one. With this being said, some online catalogues offer more products to choose from than others. For those who want style, form, and quality, you'd want to shop with a catalogue that has several options available for you to choose from. For UK customers who are ready to purchase new furniture, these are a few of the top catalogues from which you can choose to shop, for the latest styles and distinct patterns you want to find when purchasing new furniture.

Furniture Village has it all. Living room, dining room, bedroom furniture, and more. Whether you’re shopping for a new patio set to entertain as the summer months approach or want an eclectic style for your living or dining room area, there is something for every home. The selection of material, ranging from microsuede, to leather, to wicker sets has something for every shopper. The site also offers reasonable financing terms meaning you can buy now, pay later and furnish your entire home.

Graham and Green is a second site to visit. This site caters more to the outdoor furnishing shopper but does have a nice mix of pieces you can put throughout the home. Colourful, quality material, unique patterns, and thoughtfully designed pieces are a few of the many which you’ll find on this site. And, their pieces fit any budget so even those who don’t have much to spend can find something they’ll love online.

Gautier Furniture is another site for contemporary mixed with modern. You can find distinct designs, new-world material, stainless-steel finishes, mixed with a blend of old-world charm and elegance. If you like unique and prefer something that is somewhat different than traditional furnishings for the home, you can find it on this site.

Chaplins also carries more contemporary styles. The catalogue offers “contemporary style, for modern living.” Basically, the furniture has a ‘vintage’ charm, while still providing the newer design scapes, and colourful styles you might want to mix throughout the home.

There are many great places to find furniture when catalogue shopping. Whether you prefer modern, traditional, contemporary, eclectic, or a mix. These are a few of the best catalogues to visit offering great styles, elegant designs and affordability in pricing when you choose to go through the buy now pay later pricing scheme at checkout. Feel free to share you favorite sites too!

Inexpensive Home Décor Hacks

Photo courtesy: Bench Accounting

Are you on a tight budget, yet wanting to transform your home with a little makeover? You don’t have to forego decorating a room or upgrading some spaces in the home. With the right tools, using the right approach, and planning ahead, you can achieve the desired look or finish, without breaking the bank.

Try DIY jobs
Paint the home yourself. Build little tables, shelving, or other small items that are easy to put together. If you want to refinish or stain cabinets, try to do these jobs yourself. In addition to costing virtually nothing apart from materials, you can give the home the personal touches and nuances throughout, which a contractor won’t achieve. But on the other hand, I would not recommend doing certain jobs yourself as some things can be dangerous or will need to be certified by a professional, replacing a fuse box, for example. This is a job you should not undertake yourself.

Consider alternatives
Look for plank-flooring, choose a cheaper wood-grain, or go with linoleum finishes. The same goes with paints and backsplash for the kitchen. There are alternatives which look (almost as good as the original), and they often cost ½, if not less, than what you’d pay for the “real thing”. Shop around to see the great deals.

Keep it simple
Sometimes switching out a few knobs, painting or finishing the cabinets, or doing something small like installing a new ceiling fan, will make a world of difference. Look for smaller, cheaper projects you can do, which will have a great impact in the overall design, when you are re-modelling on a budget. These smaller jobs also take much less time for you to complete, so you are not going to spend weeks, or even months, like some of the larger re-modelling projects are going to take to complete in the home.

Just because you do not have much to spend doesn’t mean you can’t design a home you are proud of and love to be in. These are some simple ways homeowners can go about redecorating, not overspending, and achieving the finishes they desire, when trying to save on the cost of redecorating the home.

& Other Stories: Downtown Gatlinburg

I'm blessed enough to have visited many places across the globe at such young age. Ever since I graduated from high school, it's been a tradition in my family that we should make our time to travel. Each year in my life was unforgettable as another bucket list was ticked off, yet it's very rarely of me to show this other side of my life. Some of my friend even wondered why I didn't post pictures while traveling. Frankly speaking, I learned from my younger self when I first traveled abroad. I was too busy picking tons of pictures and ended up missing several moments that obviously couldn't be repeated in reality. It's such a sad remembrance when you passed the opportunity to witness bigger things through your own lens.

However, lately as I visit more destinations, I start to think about the what-ifs of forgetting the detail on each journey. And being a writer myself now, I know for certain that one of the best ways to remember is by keeping a journal. Realizing I couldn't have everything etched on my memory, herewith I'm assured I can share a travel journal that highlights some memorable experience that my parents have granted to me. On this first post, I'd like to dedicate it to a resort city in Tennessee that I visited last year. I went on tour to the Southern USA in search of the joys of spring. For that March 2016, the weather in New York wasn't really accommodating due to blizzards and rains.

Downtown Gatlinburg pretty much reminds me of Downtown Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada. Probably because of its quirky attraction that can be found along the road. This tourism destination is situated on the border of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. To me, it was indeed a nice place for a walk. I remembered how breezy the day was regardless the striking sunshine.

Upon arrival, I took an Ober Aerial Tramway in which, I was shown the panoramic view of the Smokies. The cable car goes directly to the mountaintop where the amusement park, ice rink and ski area are located. I wasn't amused with the ride-up, so I decided to leave earlier since there's nothing much to enjoy.

For lunch, I browsed around the area near the cable car station and was easily lured the moment I saw a watermill in front of a steak house named Calhoun's. Didn't have a single idea of what to order, I got attracted by their featured menu of the day; wild salmon. The service was fast and hospitable, but their delicacy was an ok, it didn't make any remark.

Speaking of delicacy, if I could highly recommend anything for you when visiting Gatlinburg, it must be their donut and fudge. The Donut Friar offers variety of handmade donuts that is freshly crafted daily. Just make sure you enter The Village complex to find this little gem inside. Another thing that made quite a remark was Kilwins' fudge. Not sure which flavor you fancy? Worry not, the workers will let you sample! The greeting was all friendly that the guy didn't hesitate to suggest the other delectable flavors to me. (I am just that confused when it comes to picking just ONE flavor, for God's sake!) In the end, I ordered a double dark chocolate one and it was so savory.

This year, I almost booked a tour to revisit this place, but a sudden change of plan headed me to a sunnier destination. (You can look forward to the travel journal!) All in all, I wouldn't even complain if I had to revisit this town. It'll be a pleasant journey knowing how beautiful this place is and I'm eager to explore Tennessee.

My next travel journal will be covering my trip to one of the *literally* HOTTEST touristy places I've ever been. Just the thought of it made me cringe again as I got extremely tanned after. Can you guess? Leave me a comment!

New Year, Stay Golden

If year 2014 until mid-2016 was all about lenses with thick limbal rings, by the end of 2016, I discovered a new style of lenses that its design could transform my look. *HINT: they got the most striking design I've ever seen.*

A little background story before I start the review. In the beginning, I thought this kind of hydrocor lenses would look very unnatural since they are designed with a very low opacity. However, I was wroooong! You will totally look different, but in a great way. It might took a while to finally get used with such lenses, just like how you get yourself (and people around you) used to see those thick limbal ring lenses when you aim for a dolly look. Hydrocor liven up your eye color, especially for people with dark brown eyes like me. 

My very first hydrocor lenses were all gray colored as I was too afraid to try the other options out there. Mainly because I wasn't sure if such light brown colored lenses would suit my skin tone too. The dilemma came to an end the time I eventually gave a shot and purchased hydrocor in brown. The result was unsatisfying, I didn't look as graceful as I did when I wore the gray ones since the rest of the brown colored ring exceeded the white part of my eye.  Lesson learned.

So when I saw Lens Village asked their ambassadors to review their newcomer line, which is Molicon Signature, I didn't hesitate at all and fell in love instantly with the golden one!

The lens itself is designed in tons of distinct dots, and the color of those dots fall somewhere in between green and brown. It's also been said that the result will vary depending on the real eye color of each person. You might be surprised at how radiant the colors are on your eyes, yet they nevertheless look natural. This pair of lenses also feels comfortable for daily usage. Well, it's not like I have zero problem wearing them indoor. There were some days when my eyes needed extra care, but as long as I'm able to rewet them with a lens drop, I'd be fine.

Face:

• Too Cool For School Rules Dual Cover BB Cream
• Etude House AC Clean Up Mild Concealer
• Rollover Reaction Sueded Lip & Cheek Cream in moss
• Etude House Play 101 Stick in #12
• Majolica Majorca Pressed Pore Cover Powder

Eye:

• Molicon Signature Hydrocor in golden
• The Body Shop Brow & Liner Kit in #3
• 3CE Longwear Tattoo Eyebrow Maker in ash brown
• Maybelline The Blushed Nudes
• Dolly Wink False Eyelashes in #23

Lips:

• BLP Beauty Lip Coat in lavender cream