A Whiff of Roses...

I have succumbed to the Blogger in Draft Template Designer feature and converted my then WordPress inspired White Page template (mildly modified to my liking) from btemplates.com to a similar version via the Template Designer. Essentially the look and feel of the blog is the same, it's just slightly different yet personally me. If that makes any sense. *furrows eyebrows & presses lips together*

This way, I pretty much know that the template will mesh well with Blogger and flow with the changes Blogger implements (if any). At least I hope it will. Externally obtained templates usually refer to Blogger tags and such and when certain attributes are changed, it affects the overall template as a whole and can be a pain to search pinpoint what went wrong where.

Ah yes, Giant officially opened in Megalong Mall in Donggongon Town. I passed by hoping to drop in if I found a spot to park but of course, with Giant opening it's doors today, it was impossible to find parking. Oh well. So I ended up going to Giant in City Mall instead. Unfortunately, the shelves that I'd wanted to get weren't in stock so that was clearly a waste of time (and petrol). Maybe I'll drop by 1Borneo tomorrow to see if the outlet there has the shelves that I want. I find that they're much cheaper in Giant than a regular furniture store. Now if they had Jusco or Carrefour here or something, I'd have more choices of places to check out. In fact, those stores' outlets in MidValley had a wide array of items. *sigh* But that's in KL. Metrojaya? They don't even sell those sort of things. Too high end and snotty I guess.

In the midst of my rambling in the above paragraph, I stumbled on this little bit of news:

Article from The Borneo Post (October 5th, 2009)

Seriously? Does that mean in the next couple of years we'll see a Jusco outlet here in KK? (or MaxValu?.. Nooo... Please be Jusco). That'll be nice to see. More choices! Yay! Ah yes... Cheap sushi!

Anyways, tonight as I was walking out and entering my car in the porch to head for City Mall, I caught a whiff of roses in the air. After starting the engine I realized that I'd forgotten to take the measurements needed to help me choose the right shelves dimensions *silly me* and stepped back in the house. Oddly enough, the smell of fresh roses were no more. Puzzled still, I looked around and couldn't identify any possible source for the scent to linger or even float around where I was standing. Our rose bush hadn't bloomed yet (no flowers at all... Or maybe it died, not too sure) and our neighbours don't have roses. So I continued to head for my room, take the necessary measurements, jot them down and walked out to my car a second time. Again, the scent was gone.

Sitting in the car while starting up the engine and waiting for the gates to completely open, it got me thinking, since it was after all Malam Jumaat tonight and my mum loved roses and we'd just placed roses at her resting place last Saturday, could it be her spirit had come to visit? Needless to say just the thought of it made my eyes go into dam mode and well up. I don't know for sure of course but I'd like to think so. At least it makes me feel that she comes around and checks on us every once in awhile.

Red Rose photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I miss her dearly...

sigma, blogger and things in between...

if you've been using blogger, you may or may not have noticed a cool new feature to help customize the look and feel of your blogger. currently only available in Blogger in Draft, the Template Designer is definitely a nice new toy to fiddle with.

screenshot from blogger in draft - layout>template designer

so what exactly is the template designer about? well, there are a few pre-made basic templates to choose from (i usually go for the simple template) and then you can choose your colour scheme (customizable) and background image (none, upload own or choose from a wide selection of gorgeous images). for the less familiar with css and sorts, customizing your sidebars and footers are a cinch! just select how you want your page layout to look like and click "apply to blog" and your all set. it's so easy. personally, i love it because i don't have to go hunting for the perfect basic layout to manipulate into the look that i want. of course there'll be a little attribute line at the bottom of your page to acknowledge the creator of the basic template and all that.

screenshot of the new image uploader

also, i don't know if it's just in drafts but the insert image function looks really nice and is super easy to use too. the loading is pretty fast too compared to the old uploader. excellent stuff. plus with the new uploader, you can choose photos/images already uploaded to your picasa web album. sometimes i get clumsy and accidentally clicked the backspace key (ie keyboard shortcut to go to the previous page) and when i edit my post again, the photos just uploaded is no more on the insert image box. which means i have to manually insert the url of each individual image. troublesome, i know. so with this latest feature, i wouldn't have to do that anymore. wee!!

logo courtesy of sigma makeup website

on another matter, i must commend sigma makeup's tara who has been cordial and extremely helpful with my missing shipment problem. she did mention that sometimes it takes a whole lot longer than anticipated for the shipment to arrive when using standard international mail to deliver the brushes. although i didn't have to pay for the cost of the brushes a second time, i did however have to bear the cost of express international mail. after much consideration, i have decided to reduce the items i'd purchase to compensate for the shipping charges. that's 1 extra brush roll and 2 SS239 brushes less than i'd purchased. i suppose i'll just get to those another time. so hopefully, this time around, with a tracking number provided, i will receive my brushes on time. again, thanks tara for the kind assistance and for bearing with me through this ordeal.

haha. the house is still a mess with all my aurora stuff. i really need to clear those up. hopefully i'll get to clear some up before i leave for KL this sunday. *oh dear*

if you don't know by now, i am a shopaholic. i try to work within my budget and hunt for bargains anywhere i can. was so excited to receive my Forever21.com long necklaces which i've been looking forward to. maybe i'll post the photos in another post either on this blog or another but i'll link it here somewhere. haha. and yes, i'm somewhat of a blogaholic as well. OCD? haha. maybe. i like things to be separate i guess. so i don't jumble up everything. plus, different blogs allows me to experiment with different tools and layouts that suits whatever it is the blog is about instead of one big mess of a blog. hehe.

honestly, i don't know how people blog with all these color changes and stuff. i like to write and type and stuff but colors and stuff, i'm not so good at. i can do pictures tho. does that count? ;p

my bestfriend's wedding is in 6 months or so and i haven't even started designing my clothes yet. *cringe* what am i going to do? the beadwork is gonna take awhile too. hurm. guess that means i better get started i suppose. it's highly possible that i'll be going for a pretty simple design and vamp it up with bib necklaces or something. that would be totally awesome. now to design the necklace. colors? fabric? gotta figure out something gorgeous but yet totally flattering and wearable on other occassions as well. no point me making a dress that can only be worn once right? to the drawing board!!!