I’m sorry if you’re reading this in expectation of writhing, scantily-clad women.

It’s about balancing things on your lap, generally a laptop or in my case, dinner.  Both hot and uncomfortable.

Years ago I found a padded tray and Ikea and recently threw in out after years of faithful service – it was getting icky.

Happily I’ve found alternatives, and groovy alternatives at that.

This is one of many from Lap Desk Lady, on etsy.

from Lap Desk Lady

It’s US$44.95 and that doesn’t include shipping.

A cheaper option is one I found at ANBC, in the basement of  Raffles City.  The large one is $39.95, has an easy clean plastic top, a cushion for your lap, and a few fun designs.

Maybe I’m behind the curve, but I only recently discovered Daiso.  As any shopping addict with depleted credit will tell you, Daiso is heaven.  Everything is at $2. So you can indulge your need to consume without too much serious damage.

Daiso VivoCity

And here’s how Daiso is different from previous $1 stores:  the range is absolutely awesome.  I’ve only been to the Vivo outlet, and I don’t know if the others are as big as that one, but the Vivo store has kitchenware, stationery, garden, toiletries, kids’, crafts, and did I mention kitchenware??  They even have a food section.  And not only do they have big range, the variety of stuff within the range is quite mind-boggling.

lots of kitchenware

a selection of metallic tape!

I don’t know the Daiso jingle, or I’d be singing it all the time.  They must have one.  Taka does…Takashimaya!  We can DO!

And even better than any normal store, it’s full of things you didn’t know you needed until you walked in there!  Here’s just a selection of ingenious products:

1. Sick of your bananas getting bruised and battered?  Eradicate the bruised banana from the world!  A selection of containers specially created to transport your bananas.  Not happy with them just sitting on your counter?  Stop by here and pick up the special banana hook! 

2. Find giving your head a good scrub just too tedious?  It’s such hard work/your nails are too long?  Here’s the Shampoo Scalp Massager!

3. Those poor leetle fingers exhausted from holding those chopsticks the right way?  The support clip will help.

4. So very bored with water just flowing out of the tap?  This penguin attaches to the end of your tap and flaps his wings when water flows through.  I can’t believe no one thought of this before. 

5. Just so over your sleeves getting wet when doing chores?  Or oil-spattered when cooking?  Just slip on these arm covers!

6. I’m not sure what this is.  But judging by the name, it’s bound to be useful.  Try taking it to the club next time you party and see what you pick up.

7. Your door handle annoying you?  Giving you the evil eye?  Just cover the sucker up!

8. Having problems stirring your cooking rice and using the stirrer to drain the pot?  This rice stirrer with holes to let the water out is just what you need.  Spilling rice while draining is so yesterday.

9. Too many shoes, not enough room?  No Mr Big to build you a walk-in wardrobe for your shoes?  No Carlsberg closet for you?  Shoe solutions here.

10. You know how painful it is when your neighbour upstairs scrapes the furniture on the floor.  Make sure you’re not guilty of the same thing, cover your chair feet with these chair socks.  Make them purty.

11. Worried about your arms getting tanned?  These long driving gloves are just the thing.  (I remember my mum covering her arms when I was little; but I think the glass today is UV-protective!) 

12. Guilty of stashing stuff into the freezer and forgetting quite when you did it?  The Calendar Clip is here to save you.  Wonder no more!

There are 5 Daiso’s in Singapore:  Vivo, Plaza Sing, IMM, Sembawang SC, Rivervale.

You know I love me my Girl Power.

Which is why I love Glamourpuss.  Fun and fab stuff, with a big splash of style, attitude and best of all – totally useful.

Love the Dolly toolkit! Regular price S$88

Like the Dolly range.  Perfect for someone like me:  tools in a set, and in pink.  Too dah-ling. How cute is that spirit level?!  Who says only men get to have the tools and big toolboxes ; )

Because we love you, and we love Glamourpuss, we’re giving you 30% off for shopping at the Glamourpuss site.

Check out the full Dolly range, and as an pet owner, I really love the Reeyong range of pet accessories.  Seriously stylish, no bright blue chomped plastic here.  My pets will be able to hold their own in the style stakes!

Dolly Garden Gift Set, regular price S$59

Dog Dinnerware, large, regular price S$159

Cat condo: bed, storage and litter. Clever and stylish. Regular price S$299

To qualify for the 30% off, spend a minimum $99 before 12 May, 2010.  Local shipping is free.  Just quote the promo code 212271 at checkout.  Start shopping here.  Have fun chickadees!

Lucy’s fabulous contemporary Chinese-motif giftwrap is now available on etsy.com

No longer do you have to make a special trip to Shanghai or Beijing to purchase!

Buy this and other designs, here.

Yes, it’s always summer here.  Happily, it’s now that time of year when summer collections are in stores.

There are some delicious flat slippers and sandals in great colours…perfect for our mostly casual-sometimes-smart climate!

Unisa $159 + $149

Guess $115

Fun colours, metallics, embellished with bling, a bit of a swish and maybe add a ruffle…and in store now.

Delicious metallics, CK Calvin Klein $150 - $210

did someone say bling?

Steve Madden PVC shoes, LOVE them! $150

By Beverley Feldman. $269 Cool, or Auntie?

from Nine West, $155

Pandora has arrived in Singapore at last!  I’m a fan.

It’s a jewellery ‘system’. What that means is, you buy the basic chain in the size you like (for necklace or bracelet, up to you), then you buy the charms that go on…and design your own bracelet.

There are hundreds of charms to choose from – sterling silver, 14k gold, cute, intricate, ornate, funny, jewelled ones, and the end result will be unique to you, which is pretty cool.

It’s not cheap, and the gold charms are pricier than the silver. A completed gold and silver bracelet can set you back quite a few thousand. For starters, 16cm of the gold wire (your foundation) is $2899; the silver $129. Charms start at $69.

You can build your own bracelet on the site before you actually go to the shop.

Love it!

Pandora is at ION Orchard B1-09 and Raffles City

August update:  Pandora is now open at Great World City, on the the ground floor.

Askinosie has opened in Great World City. They make fine chocolate (well it would have to be at that price), single source – which means your bar came from beans from a specific farm.

Shawn Askinosie was a lawyer in the US and decided to be the best chocolate maker in the world, and set out to do that. So with the shop opening here, (the first outside the US) we get to try the buzzed-about, much-lauded artisanal chocolate.

What I like is that he gives 10% of profits of the bars back to the farmers he bought the beans from. They get to reap the rewards instead of being ripped off.

So would you pay nearly $20 for a bar of chocolate?

I’m not much of a dark chocolate fan myself but I really find milk chocolate too cloying in my increasing years.

This is the bestseller in the store

The perfect chocolate for me is the Dark Milk chocolate. This bar is made with cocoa beans from Davao in the Philippines. It’s 62% cocoa, and rounded off with Sea Salt. You get the serious punch of chocolate from the 62%, but it’s not as intense as the darks (which are generally 70% up). The flavour is smooth, not overly-sweet, rounded yet potently chocolate. Its intensity means you really can’t eat too much of it.

In the US this bar is US$8. Here, $18 something. Hmm.

So is it worth it? Yes, it’s worth the money for me. There’s really nothing else like it, and I think it’s really special.

And remember, Dr Oz recommends eating a bit of dark choc everyday for the flavonoids. Do as the doctor says!

Askinosie is on the ground floor of Great World City, opposite The Coffee Bean. There are a few dark varieties, as well as a white with cocoa nibs.

Never in my life would I have thought I would one day seriously write a piece on chocolate, let alone expensive chocolate, but there you go, life is full of surprises.  So you know I’m serious about this chocolate!

So one of your resolutions for 2010 is ‘get fit’.  And you decide that, to inspire yourself, you’ll get yourself new gear.  Then dismay!  You find that other than Nike and Royal Sporting House, options are limited.  Unless like me, you go online and buy from the US (Athleta, REI) and Australia (Bella Bustiere, Lorna Jane.  Limited Lorna Jane available at Novena Square). Happily, Par Jaune has just launched.  Currently an online business, Par Jaune is the brainchild of my former yoga teacher, Ryan.  Par Jaune is a Singapore-based site offering a good range of yoga pants, capris, crops and tank tops, from Hard Tail, Kitson LA and Be Present.

Ryan’s planning to bring in more brands and more product, but the Kitson and Hard Tail stuff he offers is pretty much exclusive to Singapore.

You can arrange for delivery or collection, it’s up to you – have a chat to Ryan if you have questions, he’ll gladly answer them.

This tank from HardTail comes with a built-in bra and is $68	This groovy roll-down tie die cropped pants are also by HardTail and are $99
Be Present Tank	I love this Organic Cotton Long Tank by Be Present ($53) but I’d wear a bra
Yoginis, these mobility pants by Be Present are $120 but that lotus embroidery is really cute!

Socially-conscious bags

Charles and Keith are selling these great-looking bags, called “Hope” made by Women of Hope Organization (PWHO) in Cambodia to raise funds for UNIFEM’s Cambodian Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (CCW). Kudos to you, Charles and Keith. I hope you sell many of these. They cost $39.90 and 100% of proceeds go to benefit the HIV positive women in Cambodia. Please, buy one.

Here’s what CCW do: “UNIFEM’s CCW currently represents HIV positive women in twelve provinces as well as sixteen self-help groups in Phnom Penh. It seeks the empowerment of women living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia, promoting leadership and aiming to improve the quality of their life. CCW also helps enable these women join in the participation of social and community activities without stigma and discrimination. As one of CCW’s self-help groups, PWHO employs more than 30 HIV positive women who produce woven works of art and oversee the production process from conceptualization to distribution and sales.”

At Charles and Keith

Threadless Ts

Bored of Nike t-shirts? At last, t-shirts with wit and design, and a splash of social commentary. Threadless T’s invites designs and sell a limited run. When they run out, they run out…unless they are voted back in. There are some great t’s that have sold out that I would love to see back. Stocks move really quickly, popular designs sell out fast. And they’re really affordable…prices average US$12.  It’s still cheaper than the cool T’s you find in Ion, which start at $35.   Buy online at www.threadless.com

"I love Rainy Days"	"Meat is Murder"
"Gay Pride"	"Revenge of the Sushi"

Temporary Sale Store

50-70% off Hugo Boss, Max Mara, Max Studio in a temporary store in Paragon. Suits, separates, dresses, shoes, bags. Until stocks run out. Level 2, next to Max Studio.

Ethical Gifts

Ethical Gifts

OK so who really needs another T, or more jewellery? You could give an ethical gift – donating on someone else’s behalf to those in need – like, a goat to a family in Africa, to provide milk to a family. A water tap where there’s no clean water. A fruit tree…

Have a look at what’s available here:

• Oxfam America
• World Vision
• By Nature: Organic & Ethical Living