Argh..what a x'mas!

I'm still recovering from lack of sleep and tired legs from standing whole day cooking! I really wish I wasn't back at work today.. but hey, as the phrase goes, c'est la vie! Come to think of it, this is actually the first time in many years, ermm, 5 years, that I did not take the whole week off up to new year. That has sort of been a ritual for me as I only get to clear my leave at year end and use the time to completely relax and get lazy before returning to work in January with vigour and overflowing energy! Maybe next year.

So, on X'mas eve at MiL's, we had home made fresh mushroom soup (this is jamie oliver's recipe which turned out fabulous even after I tweaked it a bit) and piles of toasted garlic baguettes for starters, roasted leg of lamb with a lovely cranberry sauce (credit to nigella lawson-the recipe was fantastic!) & potato & carrot mash for mains and my carrot cake fabuloso for dessert. Everyone loved the lamb but I didn't even try it, not much of a lamb fan, I am. Of course Nia was not forgotten, I made a small portion of mushroom soup for her without all the salt & pepper of course and separated out some mash for her. She LOVED her dinner. She actually finished her soup and was literally nagging me for feeding her too slow! That I consider an achievement for someone who does not want to eat anything! LOL. My baby. So much spunk!

Hubz & i also made 2 trays of bread & butter pudding, 1 for MiL's pastor, who apparently loves the pudding to death ;o) and 1 for us to devour ourselves!

What I'm very sad about is that I have no pix whatsoever of all the food I cooked up in the span of 2 days! I lost my camera - the best part is I know I put the camera in the house, but I can't find it after many times searching for it, I even turned the house upside down several times but it's nowhere to be found! All nia's pictures that I've been taking I've been using my phone camera or my sis' phone camera, hence the quality. Well at least my sis is using a sony ericsson, way better than my VGA cam! :oPPP Just to take a proper picture of Nia with her grandma, we took the two of them to a studio yesterday! One 8R size pic costs RM55! Bloody hell! But Nia will only be 8 mths old this x'mas, by next she'll be almost two and may not even be interested to take pictures with anyone, so!

Anyhoo, I've been eyeing this particular one.. ermmm.. hoping that santa claus who didn't send me anythign for x'mas, btw, will bring this to me on my birthday instead.. which isn't that far off! Yes, that's the exciting part of being a January baby! Right after x'mas and new year partying, there will be another party.. my birthday! LOL. Oh, back to subject, I've shortlisted these two to replace my previous Ixus 430 that I love so dearly. A looker, ain't it?

IXUS 980
RRP: MYR 1459.00


•New DIGIC 4 imaging processor powers several new intelligent features – improved Face Detection technology, Continuous AF Servo, Face Detection Self-timer and Intelligent Contrast Correction
•14.7 megapixel resolution for rich, low-noise images with outstanding clarity. Allows up to A2 size print
•3.7x optical zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer eliminates blur from camera shake
•Manual controls allows you to take charge of your shots
•Face detection AE/AF/FE/WB ensures every face stays focus and ideally exposed
•Motion detection with Hi-ISO Auto technology automatically corrects blur and minimize noise by calculating subject movement and selecting the ideal ISO settings
•Smooth, 30fps VGA movie recording
•2.5” PureColor II LCD for easy viewing and sharing
•Available in 2 colors: silver & black

The black one is SO chic!

IXUS 970IS
RRP:MYR 1499.00

Advanced Face Detection Technology is a complete system that captures perfect people picture.
-Multiple Face Detection
-Face Select and Tracking allows users to prioritize an individual’s face from up to 35 detected faces.
- Face Detection AE/AF/FE/WB .
-Corrects and eliminates Red-Eye on your subject during flash photography and playback.
-Trimming (NEW) lets you zoom in to trim the beautifully captured faces and saved it as a new picture file.
•Hi-ISO Auto with Motion Detection Technology detects if the subject is stationary or moving and automatically adjusts to the optimum ISO levels to compensate.
•New Long Play (LP) Movie function records longer footages with lesser memory consumption.
•Time Lapse Movie function ideal for shooting slow-moving objects.
• Sound recorder offers continuous sound recording of up to 2 hours (depending on the amount of free space in memory card and remaining battery life).
•Reduce the size of the photographs, which you have just taken instantly with the NEW Resize on Playback.
•Enjoy the flexibility of viewing your footages and images upright no matter if you turn your camera horizontally or vertically.
• Special Scene Mode: Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Sunset (NEW), Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium and ISO 3200 (NEW).
• My Colors Mode: Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black and White, Positive Firm, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red & Custom Color**Adjustment of contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue, and skin tone are available

Oh! I'm so torn between these two.. what am I to do??