SbR has moved back home to somethingboutrenes.wordpress.com! I’ve managed to successfully transferred all the posts and comments back there and will be blogging from there!

If I like it there, I will most probably delete this site so do pop by and change the link will ya! And tell me if you like the new site!

Hoping to revamp the blog by trying out the various themes. With an independent domain, it gets a little technical for an IT noob like me. At times it felt a little intimidating, this is especially so when I tried making changes and when I’m stuck, I’m all worried and fearful that my blog will be wiped clean. By going back to the basics, I think it will be easier to manage my blog! So stay tuned while I try to figure this out.

Caught up with Lydia babe over some peri peri chicken and love this girl to bits. Even though we hardly meet up, I love that we can still talk like old times. She is a friend whom I’m very close with during my poly days, the one who suffered with me in our first two years and the one who corrected my grammar in our group reports! Haha. She is getting married soon and is getting her house keys in a few weeks time! Excited for her! Read all about her wedding and home planning at her blog here!

On the last night that we are in Tokyo, our training coordinator Hana hosted us at his home for dinner. Their hospitality is impeccable and heartwarming.

Hana’s wife – Noriko – prepared dinner for us. Yummy sushi roll, chawanmushi, clam miso soup and sakura red bean glutinous rice for takeaway.

Aparently this Sakura Red Bean Glutinous Rice is for family with daughters and it is made to celebrate Girls Day. Since they do not have daughter and we are a group of girls who refused to grow old. Noriko made this specially for us!

We brought a cake over as dessert and it was really yummy. Soft, fluffy and oh so delicious. I love all their pretty cups, plates and utensils.

She even prepared a gift for us girls, Celine handkerchiefs with our Japanese name embroidered on it. Awww.

Their son Yuske is really shy and adorable! We asked for him to play violin for us and he shyly agree after we gave him some encouragement.

We spotted this at their home and apparently it is commonly found in homes who has a son.

We had a fun evening playing family friendly memory games and had a great time interacting with this family.

I just received the cash out of my earnings from Nuffnang for the last Financial Year (August 11 to July 12) for Somethingboutrenes (SbR)! Haha. SbR’s financial year is from August 12 to July 13, in accordance to my birthday and from the start date of this sponsored site.

I received an email notification from Nuffnang sharing that if I blog about my cash out, I can expect to see something cool from them the next time I cash out! This got me curious and so here goes, we shall see what’s that something cool from Nuffnang!

This is the third cheque from Nuffnang and even though SbR is not generating much income, I love this little monetary reward to keep me motivated in writing and sharing random thoughts! Who won’t! I do love to write reviews, advertorials or any form of sponsored posts as well! So here’s a little shout out to the kind advertisers and marketeers out there! Pick me! I’m all for it!

SbR do enjoy other form of rewards as well! That is the support and kind words from my readers out there! Thank you! This is like my little virtual home and a place I meet my virtual friends and family to gain support!

Some regular and loyal readers may notice some changes in my life which I may not have come out in the open just yet. But someday I will. Someday when I am confident to face the harsh reality and judgement, someday when I am all brave and strong. I hope that someday will come soon! Meanwhile, I shall continue to escape into my whimsical world while I share my random thoughts here!

Remember a long time back, I bought a typewriter off Etsy and got Ke Ying to help me ship it back in her container? I grabbed it from her recently (Thank you babe!) and re-spooled my typewriter with new ink ribbon and am excited to start a scrapbooking project or letter typing habit. I love this baby teal typewriter! Haha.

I will be sharing on where I got my ink ribbon from and how I respooled the ink ribbon!

First of all, typewriter ink ribbon is no longer readily available in all bookstores but if you head over to Bras Basah Complex, you pop into some old stationary stores, you can still find them!

I did just that and walk into the first stationary store I saw and TADAH I bought two boxes of standard typewriter ink ribbons for a cheap $3.50 each! Wow!

Standard Typewritter Ink Ribbons come in a standard 2 inch spool which can fit most typewriters. But because my typewriter is a portable typewriter – a Smith Corona Cougar Deluxe – it is smaller and more compact and requires 1.5 inch spool instead!

It is really tough to find ink ribbon in this spool size and if I have to hunt for it, I will probably have to search the web and page a crazy price. The next best alternative is to respool it on your own!

Before you get too excited and are too eager to get the action going, do observe the way the ribbons are threaded along the clips and nooks of the typewriter! There after, unwind one end of the spool and pick it up. You can remove most of the spools from typewriters by lifting it straight up. If it won’t bulge, trying using a little force but be careful not to break it and lift it from the bottom and not pull it from the top. With a little tug, it came off easily.

The way the ribbons are secured to the spool varies a little among typewriters, but most come with a clip. For mind, it came with a little clip that you can pull it out to secure the ribbons.

After you have manage to secure one side of the old spool to the new ribbon, the painful process starts. You just have to work your fingers and keep turning both sides of the spool to transfer the new ribbons from the new spool to your old spool.

Keep doing it until you reach the end of the ribbon, snip the edge of the ribbon from the new spool and fit the old spool which you have filled up with new ribbons on the left side of the typewriter. Thread the ribbon through the typewriter the way it was originally threaded. Then remove the old spool from the right side, remove the old ribbon from the old spool and clip the ribbon to the old spool and TADAH you are done. I think I made it sounds really complicated but it is really not. The trick is to first observe how all the ribbons are threaded along the typewriters, use a bit of common sense and just go with the flow to fix it in.

In the end, I got my typewriter fixed within 5 minutes and ended up with beautiful ink stained fingers. Haha. It can be messy yah. I used makeup remover wipes to remove these nasty inks from my machine and fingers!

Have a Happy Weekend and Happy Easter!

Public Garden Flea is here again! This time round it’s at the National Museum Singapore and I am finally able to spare some time to visit! Am really excited to visit those vintage booths and try those sweet treats from our talented local bakers! Yums.

Yes I know my luggage is huge and very pink! Haha.

I love Winter/Spring! Pulling on pretty boots, wearing pretty jackets, wearing leggings (to cover my ugly legs) and layering on coats and jackets is all too fun! Here are some of my outfits in Japan!

See! I am in mostly office wear! I told you I’m there for work purpose! Haha.

I received an email invitation by National Library Board to pledge my blog to preserving Singapore Memories! If you are a Singaporean blogger, a foreigner residing in Singapore or anyone who shares about Singapore, you may like to pledge your blog here! This is a very meaningful project and I am all for preserving Singapore Memories for the many generations to come!

If you have pledge your blog, you will receive a badge like this!