Happiness Project 2012 Review

Well, in few days the year 2012 will be a thing in the past and we would have to get used to writing the year 2013. I realised that my last post was in July 2012 and no updates after that. Do not worry, happiness project is still on. In fact, the month of July probably marked another 'big' happiness entry if I had the time to write it down here.

To start with, God Almighty has blessed me with good news, I am going to have another baby! So, soon enough my little family will become four in total. This second baby is not easy to deal with, mood swings that never exists, cravings and morning sickness which is more like all day sickness to me. I still hug my tummy with all my love. My first son, who is turning 3 years old in April next year, is still too young to understand that he will have a little brother or sister soon and becoming very attached to us. I still struggle in potty training him.

If you are in Instagram, you will see all my other bracelets and bead projects (follow me on Instagram @aliepey). I would post them here soon. As I grow bigger in size, it is beginning harder to sit and do the projects for long period. Surprisingly now in my third trimester, I can sit a bit longer to do my bead projects. I managed to do few bracelets and gave them away as Christmas gifts.

Recently I have added another craft projects to do, making handmade greetings cards! Lucky in Abu Dhabi I could find paper supplies easily and for the other craft supplies like craft punches, stamps, stickers, different kind of papers, embellishments etc I can find them in Daiso shops and Paperchase. Even stationery section in Lulu hypermarket and WH Smith and Magrudy's bookstores can surprise you with supplies. I admit, this new hobby is very addictive and I am only talking about supplies here :) I will post more about this along the way for sure.

So there you go, a short list that goes a long way to make someone happy. Have you found your Happiness Project yet? Keep looking. It's there.

Getting Wired Up

This week I have not much time to sit and create as my two year old son is demanding more of my attention. This necklace and earrings were done in parts, especially the necklace (it was meant to be a bracelet).

Findings for My Rosary Project

Rosary necklace is one of my 'to-make' project list. Inspired by one of the blogs I read about rosary repairing service, I decided I should make this as a challenge. On Friday 29 June 2012, my husband and I (together with our son) went to Dragonmart Dubai to buy more of my bead project supplies. Trying my luck, I asked the sales assistant from the 'DaDa Trading' if they have this cross and medallion for rosary and she said no. That shop became crowded with people so I left and went to the first shop I bought the beads before, the 'DuDu shop' (see my previous blog in June). Not so many people so I can breathe and think while choosing the beads and findings. I asked the Chinese lady about the rosary cross and medallion and she produced both in less than 5 seconds. I wanted to give her a hug! I bought about 5 sets plus few more supplies and this time, did not even ask for discount. She gave me discounts herself :)

Movie - Intouchables

If you wanted to correct my post subject above, well you can't. The movie title is in French and apparently that is how it is spelled.

I managed to get Perry to watch this with me last night and glad that we watched this together. Such an inspiring movie and funny too. Cannot remember when was the last time I laughed that hard.

Pic taken from IMDB.com

Playing with Wire

I thought I would practice on wire techniques last weekend. The cutting, bending and linking - all paid off!

The wire bracelet is a bit too big for my wrist but will make a nice anklet :)

Marble In A Cage

This looks easy on the guidebook so I decided to try it myself this week. Unfortunately I did not have a thick string or leather strings to make this properly but I made a silent promise to buy it next visit to the craft shop. Instead, I have used thin black elastic string, normally for hairband and waistband. This is just for practice and blogging purposes but hubby has requested me to make him a necklace like this when I get the strings next time. :)

Reem Island 'Reem Cafe'

After so long I visited Reem Cafe at the Reem Island again. Found this sign outside:

I forgot to ask the cafe staff about this sign :D

Little girls' bracelets

I made these bracelets for two lovely girls, Selena and Tiana as a surprise even from their mother. Simple gifts made from the heart.

And for their mother, a simple pair of earrings..

Marble-lous

Will be practicing some bead wrapping with these marbles :)

Treasures!

I was walking around Madinat Zayed area after my visit to Daiso inside Madinat Zayed Gold Souk yesterday and found out my favourite Chinese grocery shop is closing down. No more food and beverage items. No more Chinese steamed buns!

I went in anyway and found out they are having a sale on fashion jewellery items (which is strange as they do not sell jewelleries). Prices are not bad too, I mean they were priced between AED2.00, AED5.00 and AED20.00 each or in sets!

Look what I have bought for myself:



So, I say goodbye to the Chinese shop and will have to find out if the grocery shop next to the new Beijing restaurant is any good.

The fashion accessories shop next door is not bad as well. This shop is on opposite side of Beijing restaurant / Shoemart, Madinat Zayed Abu Dhabi

Daiso at Madinat Zayed

I have not gone to this Daiso branch for a long time so I thought I would go and visit. Got these from them:

Three tubes of seed beads, two star-shaped beads and colourful round beads. I am going to do two bracelets and maybe earrings for my friend's daughters this weekend. Sssh.. it's a surprise.

For a Little Girl

I had few small packs of plastic beads which are colourful and young girl-ish. I bought them from Daiso when I first started the bead project. I do not think I can use them with the other pearls so I decided to make a pair of earrings and bracelets out of them. This is such a great way to practice and it is fun too.

Dark brown, maybe maroon?

I have been occupied with this project for almost two weeks, partly because I was walking around Madinat Zayed area to look for small metal beads and debate with myself on the design.  I have summarised my trips to MZ as pointless if I need to do serious, money-making business out of this hobby.

And so yeaaay.. the necklace and matching earrings are done and ready to be brought out to meet its fans.

Mina Centre Abu Dhabi

Last night I went to the Mina Centre Abu Dhabi (location hint: Mina Port, Abu Dhabi Co-op, near to ACE Hardware Mina area, Toys R Us) in search for beading tools and supplies. The bookstore, where I bought my tools before, had the small pliers good for cutting wires below 0.8mm. I found the round nose plier set there too, priced at AED30.00 or AED38.00. The only problem is, the round nose pliers are a bit bigger than the ones I have now, it is good if I had a bigger palm *grin*. They also do not sell it per piece so I would have to buy a set of four or five different round nose pliers.

The beads they have are for children craft projects. Small craft section for colourful plastic beads in boxes. Not for me at the moment unless I am conducting bead classes for young children. They also do not have wires I was looking for. I was a bit dissappointed. They have supplies for other hobbies e.g. oil paintings, clay, engravements so if you are into those, you may want to visit this bookstore.

I finally found my mini wire cutter that would cut the 0.8mm in Daiso Al Wahda mall which cost about AED14.00. Happy!

Wrapped!

I almost forgot to post this latest wrapped bead earrings I made earlier this week. I love these wrapped beads projects. Will do more of these. I used 0.6mm wire for this. White faux pearl on top and Crystal white / black bead at the bottom.

Bead Obssession

Lookie lookie what I found... new beads bought from Dragonmart. If you are new in Dragonmart Dubai and want to find beads findings and supplies, go to the GA - GB area. Find a shop called Dudu Shop or DuDu shop (these are two different shop in a same row, no kidding). You should be able to find other related shops in same row. Please try to haggle for discounts :)

This is cheaper compared to the second bead strand. This is AED20.00 a strand. It's just plastic beads in funny shapes.

These are AED50.00 a strand. Purple jade stone.

I think next time I will buy two strands of cheaper beads. I am not daring enough to mix colours and a super perfectionist but I will get there. My new list of supplies to buy include more rolls of wires and a look out for stronger wirecutter. I nearly chipped my wire cutter cutting a 0.8mm wire. Will not do it again! I used my other wire cutters now that I have extra of those from my first few attempts in tool finding in Abu Dhabi.

Last night I have separated few beads from the maroon colour beads as I have plans for them. I have made headpins but short of energy in wire cutting. Next I just need to be brave in mixing colours!  

May Bead Projects

Having to discover a new passion, I am now in need of supplies. Thanks to few expat women forums, I found an area in Madinat Zayed which has almost what I need. They are only short of 0.6mm in diameter and above crafting wires and of course tools. Findings like earring loops and hooks are there but not the right colour. Too bright, too silvery, too bling-bling. I like silver jewellery. If you happen to find this blog and want to know where to get supplies in Abu Dhabi, you can head to Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre / Gold Souk. In the Shopping Centre itself there's one shop in particular that I visited twice to get supplies. It is next to a shop called Hollywood, near the G2000 retail outlet. I should really try to remember how to get to the shop, I seem to be always walking in circles whenever I go there.

Just outside the Shopping Centre, along side the Al Jazira Hotel there's a row of shops having more supplies. Naming a few, you can try to look for Golden Thread and Al Reza Trading. Malek & Shaheed shop has good supplies for Swarovski stones. All these shops are within the same block. Park on one area and prepare to walk. If you do not mind to walk around a bit you will find interesting findings. As the largest diameter of wire I found is 0.6 mm, I have to work with that for now. I hope the shops in Dragonmart Dubai can offer better supplies.

Last night I wanted to try out making wrapped bead earrings with the wires I bought, well not bad. Just need more practice.

Wrapped bead earrings - my first attempt

I love pearls!

Trying to play with the colour blue

My Happiness Project

Have you read this book, the Happiness Project? I have not read the book myself but I found the book on the display table in Magrudy's book shop in Al Wahda Mall, Abu Dhabi few months back. I was flipping through the synopsis and read few pages (was not planning to buy any more books that day). It is from reading that few pages of book that I have decided the 'Happiness Project' is what I would call my journey this year onwards.

I have made few list of to-dos in my project which has no timeline but will have an objective - Make Me Happy! So if it does not make me happy, it will not be in the list. Simple.

One of the projects in my list had made me really happy.

Yes, I made my first bead earrings! It even looks expensive (quoting my husband's words). One of the things that I always wanted to learn and do is making bead jewelleries. It is not easy to find the tools. Supplies are not easy to find and choices not many. Under the Summer heat, I had to plan my route on where to be dropped and picked up. I will be heading to Dragonmart, Dubai one of the coming Fridays to shop for more supplies as I was informed that there are more choices there. Hope so. If not, then online shopping we will do!

I was so happy about my first earrings I decided to make another pair. I could go on making more but having a headache and a toddler demanding for attention, certainly not easy.

My second pair of earrings looks 'ethnic' - my husband said.

I am so happy. Happiness Project is a go!

Are we there yet?

When I made that sudden move to change my career from hotelier to a normal office worker, I never expected to 'feel' myself changing as well.

Hospitality industry has always been my sandbox since I left high school. It's in my DNA. I had doubts in myself, wondered if I could survive outside my comfort zone. Adjustments in working schedule, list of duties, colleagues, office cultures and not forgetting, new friends! I have never had so many non-hospitality related friends in this country and within 3 months I have new strings of friends.

Honestly, my first three months was depressing. Doing the same routine and felt that I have not achieved anything, except the good night sleep, cooking more and of course more time with my son. Well, reading back what I typed, I did achieve what I meant to do after all. I just want to break the cycle with much more life.

As my husband pointed out, I need to reinvent myself. Be happy. Therefore, in the next coming months I look forward to reinventing 'me'.

Nope, we are not there yet.

Spa review - Gossip Day Spa / Salon, Abu Dhabi

I am not a a usual spa-goer but last December I saw a good deal on Groupon for a facial, face threading, hair mask treatment and blowdry for AED199.00 so I bought it.

Gossip Day Spa is located in Sas Al Nakhl Village, near to the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The Village has a few entrances, so to find this spa you have to find the gate next to a small mosque. When you are at the gate (the security guard will stop and ask your purpose to enter) you will already see the spa signage in front of you, next to a pharmacy and Spinneys Supermarket. I have a trusted taxi driver who knows where the Village is so I am blessed.

I booked the treatment for 5pm on a Thursday (March 2012). When I entered the spa was empty, three ladies huddling at the reception counter looking at something behind the counter. I told them I was their 5 o'clock appointment and one of them quickly addressed me by my first name. Only one of them knew I was holding a voucher so she was the one pointing me where to go, where to put my stuff (I came straight from the office so I had my big sling bag and my black coat on the other arm). Did I feel welcomed? Not really. I felt rushed.

In the treatment room I was informed that I will have the face threading first. This is only my second time doing this method and the first time it was gentle and was done slowly (different salon). I still have tears streaming even though I was given this special treatment. This second time, the lady seem to ignore the fact that I was not used to this threading method. I can feel her thread was the thick type and boy, I was gripping the edge of the bed. At this point I was already sensing that this will not be an enjoyable spa experience.

The second treatment was the facial massage, done by the same staff who did my eyebrow. I told her I have my contact lenses and she said she will do gentle massage on my eyelids. The lotion or liquid she was using to massage my face was going into my nostrils and this was not comfortable at all. The massage was just okay as you can feel it was  rushed and rough.

The third treatment was the hair mask treatment. A different lady attended this treatment and she had very limited English vocabulary. She first washed my hair. Water was above warm level and for my sensitive skin it felt hot. I had to tell her twice to get the correct temperature. After washing she massaged in the hair treatment, wrapped my head with a shower cap and a towel.

The whole experience took about 2 hours and 15 mins.

Location - 4/10
Staff friendliness - 2/10
Price - 2/10
Overall experience - 2/10
Will I recommend this spa to anyone - No
Will I come back - No

New Year New Me

What do you feel when you have from less time to yourself to plenty of time to yourself? Confused! Slowly, I am rearranging my life and getting that work/life balance. I still miss that chaos in my previous office but I must admit, I am starting to enjoy this new life. More play time with my son and having to cook for my husband when I want to, pure happiness.
Now that the new year has finally arrived, I am determined to make some more positive changes into my life. It's never too late to acquire new skill. So my new year resolution would be - learn at least one new skill!