Melodies of Life

I'm a big fan coffee and dark chocolate..especially those from France and Italy.  I always wanted to try all the best dark chocolate around the world.    One of my favorite praline truffles collection that I like is from La Maison du Chocolat...it's quite pricey and not something to eat every day.  I only order it on special occasion.  Recently I found a website that sell all the chocolate from France and Italy...
Chocosphere sells all the rare ones that you will not be able to get it here in US.
I couldn't help myself and order few of the famous brand from France and Italy.

The first one is Pralus Dark chocolate Chuao 75% cocoa. Pralus is from France and we all know France have lots of excellent quality chocolate.  Here is the main website http://www.chocolats-pralus.com/en/chocolate.html
It's one the best dark chocolate bar out there so I must try to see how it taste like.  After trying it..I have to give it 10/10.  The taste is amazing..so creamy and has this earthy fragrance in it.  I can say I am a fan of this chocolate bar. 













The next bar is consider rare.  It's from a small plantations in Venezuela and available in extremely limited quantities.  It can also consider to be the most expensive dark chocolate bar.  I introduce you to Amedei Porcelana Chocolate Bar.  I will try it tomorrow since I am limit to caffeine intake due to my pregnancy.


















From Amedei I also order two more bars..one is Dark Chocolate filled with Praline and Almonds

















And the milk chocolate filled Croccantino (hazelnuts and almonds creme)..order this one for my husband since he does not like dark chocolate...just had a bite ...very creamy and milky...if anyone like milk chocolate then they should try it out...


















Lastly I got Venchi Gianduja chocolate..Venchi is from Italy and I heard their brand is also one of the top for chocolate.  I had a piece and I love it!!  you can smell fragrance of the chocolate from the outside...and it has a lot of hazelnut cream filling inside with a thin layer of dark chocolate outside.
Anyway I'm so glad I found a website that sell all these good stuff and they ship fast too.
Here is the main website for the Chocosphere again.

Since our daughter will be born in the year of the Rabbit I think it would be cute to have a bunny outfit for her.  Nothing will be more perfect than the bunny outfit from Bunnies by the Bay.  I found a really good deal from amazon..it suppose to be $150 but for some reason that day Amazon sell it only for $40!!!

Right after I ordered it the price went back up to $120.  No idea why they change the price but I'm very glad I got it.  I got the set for 6 month for our little girl. 
The outfit comes with the book box cover

box cover

Inside the box is the bunny jacket and the hat and gloves

















I cannot wait to have her wear this ...so cute =)

Last week we decide to go to Laguna Beach and have dinner around there.  The sky was clear and beautiful.  We had a good time there relaxing and enjoying the beautiful of the beach.

Laguna Beach

After a long walk we stop by the Thai restaurant on PCH at Newport Beach.  We had the sampler appetizer and two dishes.  My favorite is the sampler appetizer...everything was good.  Had a really nice dinner there.

inside the restaurant

The yummy sampler appetizer..

We went to the ultrasound center today to do 4d ultrasound at 21 weeks.  We will go back to do another 4d when baby is at 30 weeks to see her facial features.
Finally I have some pictures of the ultrasound of her..she was very active and moves a lot.  There is one time she lift up her butt and jump too..so cute lol

Here are 2d image of ultrasound:

You can see her little hand there playing..the tech said she was holding the cord

Another 2d image of our baby girl

And here are some of the 3d image of our baby girl:

posing for the camera!!

Our baby was moving both her arms and play with the cord


















And here is the cutest pic..haha she open her mouth

















such a cute pose =)

Today I will be 21 week into my pregnancy.
It seem time pass by so fast..though I hope it go a little faster so to my labor day lol
I just can't wait to see my baby face.
I feel more of her kicks and punches day by day..
She's very active sometimes she goes on for few hours
I suppose to schedule a 4d ultrasound at 28 weeks to see her face,
but I really can't wait....my last ultrasound is at 16 weeks...
I know now she is growing bigger and I really want to see her moves
so I decide to schedule for a 4d this Wednesday...
hopefully this center is good and picture quality is great..
This is my first 4d ultrasound and I am very excited..
I also schedule for 29 weeks 4d ultrasound as well since it's only $49 more for second visit.

This is how baby look like at 21 weeks..

Yesterday I went to Mitsuwa to get some ramen at Santouka.  As usual we order the special pork salt ramen for my hubby and spicy miso for myself.  They both taste yummy like always.  I also order the vegetable and shrimp tempura from the udon place.  It was ok because they change the way they make it like before.  They now add tiny shrimp instead of the small size one.













Here is the spicy miso ramen














And the special pork ramen

Finally have some time to take photos of all the stuff I got for my little girl so far.
I pick two outfits for welcome home for her, but still haven't decide which one I will put on for her.
  I got one from Carter which has bunny hats


















Since she will be born in the year of bunny I was thinking this would be cute for her.  The other set is from Little Me.  I bought it from Nordstrom.  This outfit I like it a lot as well because it looks so elegant.


















I also got the quilted bunting in pink from Nordstrom for size 3 months and also the rose receiving blanket.The material for the bunting is velour on the outside..so soft and very high quality. 


















I also got this set from Nordstrom as well..very cute design =)

















The receiving blanket is from Little Me and it's a set with the rose outfit from above.  The other two blankets is from Koala Baby which is the exclusive brand from BabiesRUs.  Feels soft and warm..I'm sure my little girl will like it a lot.

I spent about 2 to 3 hours today in the mall shopping for baby stuff and also maternity clothes.  Since I'm about 19 weeks and all my pants do not fit anymore I decide it's time to look for maternity clothes lol...Found a pair of leggings at Pea in the Pod.  It's very comfortable!
I also got the belly band from Nordstrom though I haven't try it on it.
I also got few baby outfit from Nordstrom and they are so adorable..gonna take photos tomorrow since it's dark now and lighting not that great.
During my shopping time I stop by Corner Bakery and had my favorite panini there.  I think for over the past 6 or 7 years this is the only sandwich I ordered.   I tried others but this is still my favorite. 
Today they made the panini very good......the bread is perfectly grilled and the chicken is tender..
Here is my favorite panini from Corner Bakery...Chicken Pomodori!!!

All sudden feel like want to make some Thai soup since we have the jumbo prawn in the fridge. 
I use pineapple, tomatoes, and mushroom.  For the broth I add a can of chicken broth and water.  And for seasoning I add lemongrass, lime, and tom yum soup base. 
The sad thing is I cannot eat the soup as it has pineapple and the jumbo prawn which are not good for pregnancy.  I still enjoying making it anyway.   And this is how it looks like in the pot...umm...so yummy =)

Tom Yum soup with jumbo prawn

Last night we went to Tabento Sushi in Costa Mesa.   Since moving back to CA we haven't got a chance to eat sushi yet and so I was very excited.  Though I cannot eat all my favorite raw stuff due to my pregnancy I am still excited for my tempura hand roll.

We order more cooked stuff this time and I get to try some that I haven't try from Tabento.  The first order is the crunch cut roll.  It was yummy!!  It came with lots of crunch so I had to ask for a spoon to scoop it in my plate.  I like this roll a lot and I probably will order it again if we come back.

Crunch Roll

Next one is called Dynamite Cut Roll....I'm sorry but this is not good at all.  I only had one piece and had the whole order box for togo lol.

Dynamite Roll

And lastly from cooked stuff is shrimp tempura hand roll..I always order this because they made it just the way I like it.  I had two and oh boy it really stuffed me lol...

Shrimp tempura handroll

Well that's all for cook stuff and here are the yummy raw stuff that my husband gets to eat =(
Oyster...fresh looking...and I'm sure it tastes fresh as well..














Sigh next is his favorite...that he must order every time we go to eat sushi...uni
So buttery...so fresh...so yummy...

Uni with quail egg

Uni with quail egg

I was reading Voce March 2011 magazine today and I just learn two new makeup ideas.   First makeup is the mixture of light blue shimmer eye shadow mix with bronze color eye shadow.  I don't have any sea blue color to try out the look, but I will probably look for something similar to what they use on the model.









They use two different eyeshadow palettes to achieve this look.  It looks really fresh and different.
The bronze color is used from KATE Crystallise Quartz Eyeshadow BR-1

KATE Crytallise Quartz BR-1

And the sea blue color that you see at the corner of the eye is from Lunasol Ocean Scene Eyes 03 (Vivid Ocean)

Lunasol Ocean eye 03

The next make up look for Spring from the magazine that I like a lot has silver eyeshadow and pinkish red lip color.  I'm still trying to figure out what color they mix to achieve this lip color, because it looks very pretty.  In the magazine it said that the lipstick they use is from Chanel Coco Rouge 78, but after checking the swatch for sure they use something else with this color on the model.  They must use another color of gloss and mix with this lipstick.

I know it's still a bit early to buy baby clothes... but I'm just so excited that I'm having a girl so I start checking online to see if there is any cute outfit for my baby.   Well haha...good news is that I found some really good deal and the bad news is that there are so many cute design...I can't help myself and order some =P for newborn size and 6-9 months.  I figure since I deliver in July I will buy longer sleeve outfit for my baby when she is 3 mth to 6 mth.  These are the things that I got for her.   Each one only $5 so I think it's really good deal since the design is so cute compare to the ones I saw in department store for a higher price. 
They are sooo cute...
And my husband already complain why I buy so much...I honestly don't know how many clothes you will need for the baby but I don't think this is a lot =-=;
So yeah this is my first purchase for my baby!!  Next I will look for a homecoming outfit and some winter stuff for her.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be released on December 31, 2011.   Square Enix release trailer for both Japanese and English version.

Here is the trailer for English version on their website:  http://www.finalfantasy13-2game.com/#/uk/trailer/

Also there are some screen shots of Lightning.  Hopefully it game itself will be better than the first one.