WOOHOOH!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for?

2010-09-08T15:33:00.004+10:00

I don't know if this blog is worth updating anymore, but, oh well. I'll just do it anyways, since I'm currently in assignment-procrastination mode.

A couple weeks ago, on one fine winter morning, my coffee machine suddenly died on me, and as much as I tried to revive it, it just wouldn't come back to life. I knew that repairing it would cost quite a bit, so the only reasonable option was to replace it.

But at the same time, I have always wanted to venture into ice cream-making, because there's just something fun & special about making your own ice cream. So instead of replacing my deceased coffee machine, I decided to invest in an ice cream & sorbet maker instead.

Unfortunately I am currently swamped with essayssssss, so I don't have the time to experiment with it yet. Nevertheless, only 9 more days of ~~hard work~~ suffering! I foresee a very exciting Spring break! :D toodle doo!

Salmon & spinach pizza

2010-08-14T23:22:00.002+10:00

Sometimes, the simplest little things take the stress out of life. Not to mention it's still winter here in Melbourne, and my carbohydrate cravings are still on an all-time high; but at the same time, my flu suppresses my appetite. In the end, whenever I see food, I get so conflicted that I still end up shoving my face anyway.

But mmm.. Food is good, and meant to be ~~enjoyed~~ eaten. I'll just have to figure out a way to shed the winter weight when Spring arrives. :)

Agenda for the month

2010-08-12T19:01:00.003+10:00

1. Fully win the battle over this never-ending winter flu.
2. Cut my hair, possibly chop it, that depends.
3. Eat more fruits & veges, if that is even possible.
4. Exercise, by that I mean dance, and regain some stamina.
5. Attempt to complete my assignmentsss without having to pull any all-nighter.

Going under

2010-06-04T18:32:00.003+10:00

It's just another one of those days, where the banes of life come one after another.

You know how sometimes everything is just smooth sailing? I was on a roll, on fire! Each dessert that came out of the oven met my expectations and it was how I pictured it to be.

Then BAM! My latest dark chocolate meringue tart disappoints. The tart base is not holding together, the meringue on top was not light enough. The only saving grace is the chocolate ganache inside. It's in the fridge now chilling and I really hope the taste is a 'winner'.

And then I made creme brulee with the yolks. I scalded myself with the boiling water. It didn't come out runny, but overcooked. Geez. Hopefully the layer of caramelised sugar on top would do it some justice.

My study week is coming to an end and I have barely done anything. Oh God, were you trying to get my attention? Well I'm all Yours and all ears now.

Failure is not an option. I will overcome this battle.

That grey period

2010-06-03T17:49:00.003+10:00

Things are just moving at such a slow pace now, you know what I mean? Not that time passes by really slowly (in fact, it passes by so quickly, before you know it the sun is setting and you feel like you barely studied at all), no, but life is just so mundane, you can't wait for this dry exam season to end.

Then you can get on with life and do all the exciting stuff again, and best of all, enjoy the cold winter weather. Who says winter has to be depressing? I reckon it's a time to put your creativity to the test and see what you can come up with while everyone else is moping at home.

Two more weeks, Sarah. TWELVE MORE DAYS. In the mean time, I really thank God I have a relatively-big kitchen and good equipments. Coz food makes everything better, yes?

Alrighty. To all uni students out there, YOU ARE AMAZINGLY CAPABLE SO DON'T GIVE UP! Toods & smoochs! ;)

"There's no such thing as a bad chocolate cake"

2010-05-23T23:57:00.000+10:00

So I've been making full use of my electric mixer and it has been serving me well so far. At the same time, I find myself baking whenever my head gets a lil too crowded and I need some stress-relief. I find baking pretty therapeutical, coz there's no better feeling than seeing that dough rise or cake taking shape, and when you finally plate it up nicely, there's just this sense of.. accomplishment & satisfaction.

And besides, sweet treats make good food for exam periods - our brain feeds off glucose. More excuse to munch on sweet stuff. HEH. ;)

Tonight, I decided to make something a lil more decadent - devil's food cake with raspberry compote. I've got 3 essays due this week and that does not include studying for exams and 2 more final essays. THE HORROR!

This thing is so rich & yumm they should rename it to something more glorious and without the word 'devil' in it, like 'heavenly chocolate cake' or something.. Yeah well. Yeah.

Okay I'm off to churn out more academic essays now. Toods!

Calmness smells like rose & lavender

2010-05-14T21:37:00.002+10:00

It's that time of a uni student's life again - when there are multiple assignments due real soon and exams to prepare for. It's that time when libraries and learning centres are absolutely packed out and the aura of stress saturates the air.

It's a Friday night and my brain is totally fried. All these scientific-psychological words are just floating around in my head and making me light-headed.

Hence every now and then, I like to light a scented candle, or put on the oil burner. It's amazing how scents can affect one's mood! Like, how does that make sense? Hmm. I should really read up on it (when I feel like procrastinating), could be very useful information. HAH. :)

I know I said my brain's fried, but I'm determined to get more work done tonight. After all, the night is still young. If people can be out partying till an unearthly hour, I can very well study till the break of dawn, or not.

WE. CAN. DO. THIS! :)

The MasterChef Magazine

2010-05-10T21:43:00.002+10:00

I used to be that girl who would buy tons of magazines and read them all coz I loved the spread of beautiful clothes & models, the photography and how cool things look. I used to buy every renowned fashion magazine, until I got bored of them and realised that I've had enough of em (for the time being).

Not until recently, I began buying food & recipe magazines. I'd flip through Donna Hay's and Delicious every time I stop by the bookstore, and I would pick up one food mag every now and then. And just as I was getting hooked on Australia's MasterChef, they launched their very first issue of MasterChef magazine. The moment I saw it in the aisles of Coles, there was no doubt in my mind that it was going to go home with me.

Say hello to yummy food! That is, if I have the time to cook them at all. Only one more month to go before my semester and exams end. Then I'd have 6 whole weeks of winter-break bliss.

By the way, you can watch Australia's MasterChef online HERE. Be warned, you'll be hooked in an instant. Toods & smoochs! ;)

Baby Chili and her blueberry cheesecake

2010-05-09T15:01:00.003+10:00

So the thing is, I have been wanting an electric mixer here in Melbourne for more than a year now. With an oven just sitting there in my new apartment, I am constantly reminded of my kitchen back home, where the ingredients and appliances are all available and just waiting to be used.

Anyway, after much much consideration and deliberation, I decided that it's about time to own one. Also, Myer is currently having all these sales/discounts, so I got about $150 off the RRP. Which is totally a sweet deal! The remaining would have to come out from my other expenditures. But the sacrifice is worth every single bit.

It may not be my dream Kitchen-Aid mixer, but I would say this is a close second! (coz it's the model they use on the Australian Master Chef. heh.) And in a few years, that Kitchen-Aid would ultimately be mine mine mine! :D

To break out that spanking new mixer, I baked a blueberry & white chocolate cheesecake. The preparation process was so chaotic, firstly coz I was still getting used to the new mixer, secondly my utensils were all over the place, and thirdly, I only had one mitten! Nearly got myself another oven burn.

But it came out well! And I'm glad to report that it tastes goood too! (I'm sorry the picture doesn't do it much justice , coz I couldn't be bothered cutting out another piece.) Who knows? If I don't keep track, I might just end up finishing the whole cake as my comfort food for the week.

Well I see more coming. And as long as I'm still watching Master Chef, there's always something new to make! Toods & smoochs! ;)

Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2010

2010-05-08T16:53:00.004+10:00

So a few months back in March 2010, I attended the annual Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF) with Tricia and Tania, which was staged at Central Pier, Docklands.

There were multiple fashion shows throughout the week, each showcasing the many talented Australian designers. I was able to attend 2 different shows and got to see Sass & Bide's collection live! My gosh those outfits were stunning under the spotlights.

Sadly, I didn't know we were allowed to bring our cameras into the show, so I didn't get to take a single picture for the first show, which, I personally thought had the best line-up of designers. But for the second show, I decided to lug the camera out and boy am I glad I did. :)

With the lovely ladies, Tania and Tricia, in line to enter the Powder Room.

Looking forward to the next fashion show(s) with you girls. ;)

***
First show by Grazia featured Alice McCall, camilla and marc, Collette Dinnigan, Fleur Wood, LIFEwithBIRD, Nicola Finetti, sass & bide, and Toni Maticevski.

Second show by InStyle featured Arabella Ramsay, Gorman, Karen Walker, Lucette, Manning Cartell, Mimco, Obus, and Yeojin Bae.

Life as we know it

2010-04-29T17:53:00.002+10:00

It's these lil routines that we carry out each day, these lil habits that we keep, these lil things that we like, that define who we are.

Sometimes when life speeds up and gets out of hand, it's nice to go back to these lil things we once knew and rediscover ourselves.

Then again, we've got someone up there watching out for us. The question that remains is, Would you trust Him entirely? My answer is yes. Toods & smoochs! ;)

The Amazing Red-Coloured Sky

2010-04-21T23:39:00.002+10:00

Have you ever imagined if the sky were another colour instead of blue? Imagine it being in your favourite colour.

Well I imagined my sky to be red. But as you can see, it hurts the eyes after you stare at it for too long. Also, if the sky were really blood-red, it would be kinda eerie.

Hmm.. Maybe that's why God made the sky blue - coz it was the perfect colour. :)

So you're older. What now?

2010-04-19T21:02:00.003+10:00

So Qivin just turned 21 on Sunday. We had a no-frills dinner at a Thai restaurant in Collingwood. Took us ages, literally ages, to find the place, because the street was stretched across two different suburbs, so the numbering of the street address was kinda screwed up.

Nevertheless, we made it, we ate, we sang the birthday song, we had cake, we had heaps of laughter, and heaps of unglamorous photos too (which I have already put up on Facebook). Photos from the night were taken by Wei Xiong.

I don't know why, but I somehow always have really bad photos of WEI XIONG. You might even say that he enjoys taking these unglam shots. Yeah, you could say that. Hohoho.

So as I was looking through the photos, I realised that I was the youngest among the lot, and each of them (who are only a few years older than me) already have so many accomplishments in their bag. It made me reflect on my own self, and sadly I'm not pleased with the little that I have in my hands, coz I know I could do so much better than this. Then it inspired me, and got me thinking; and now I aspire to be like these ppl, these leaders - I'm gonna stop procrastinating, stop whining, stop lazing around, stop being a princess, stop delaying my calling. I wanna do what God has called me to do and do my very best at it, so that one day, I know that I have fulfilled my potential and I would not regret a single bit. I want my life to mean something to this world, however small or big it may be.

I hope this inspires you too, because we were not born to rot but to excel in life. Toods & smoochs! :)

Vanilla or green tea?

2010-04-17T17:52:00.003+10:00

So mom's leaving for home tmrw night, and we decided to have a family day today. Started the day off slowly with lunch at Shoya - so good and so full too!

Then we wanted to go to Chaddie but the shuttle bus never came. We waited and waited, and finally decided to go to Chapel Street instead. But since we missed the tram, we had to wait some more. Nevertheless, it was a great day - the sky was clear and the sun was shining so we got a tan.

It's nice having parents around, yet sometimes they just get in your way, know what I mean? But I still love my mom heaps. Definitely gonna miss her when she leaves tmrw! Then again, mom & dad are coming down in July - that's just 2 more months away. It'll just be like home away from home. Sweet! Toods & smoochs! :)

Pass me the jam, please?

2010-04-16T23:47:00.004+10:00

So my mother came to visit us in Melbourne over Easter for 2 weeks. As I was away for the first week, being busy with Planetshakers 20Ten Conference, this week was my turn to bring her around and accompany her.

I brought her out for something I absolutely love - breakfast. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it sets you up to face the challenges of the day. Sometimes, a good brekkie can even be so therapeutical in ways I cannot describe.

And then, there's always coffee. No breakfast is complete without a cuppa. :)

Brought my mom to a relatively new cafe called Miss Marmalade in West Brunswick - the Melbourne Coffee Review sent me an e-mail about it a few days before, so I figured I'd give it a try. AND IT WAS GOOD.

Absolutely love how quaint the place is! It's even children & mom friendly. What I mean is, they have a children's play area, where kids can play with the toys and stuff, while the mothers sit at the tables and drink their coffee. They even have a diaper-changing table in the toilet!

I would definitely love to go back there soon. My mom was even surprised that I would go the distance just to have brekkie! (I can't even be bothered to walk out for 5 mins to get dinner some nights.) Yeah, my eating habits are screwed up that way. :S

Have a blessed weekend. Toods & smoochs!

The sick went out for a healing

2010-04-03T17:17:00.006+11:00

So I've been having a cough for about a week now, and the flu also decided to join in 3 days ago. It was wearing me down physically as my body was feeling the effects of my insomnia. Not long after, my sickness started to drain me emotionally too.

This morning, I woke up, and debated with myself on what to do today. Part of me said I should just stay home and mope around and do my assignments, but another said that I should take a short trip out of town. Then again, it was quite depressing to stay at home on such a beautiful day.

After half an hour of deliberation, I decided on my favourite beach. :)

Finding a quiet spot away from the main beach, I sat down and soaked in everything - the view, the fresh air, and the sound of crashing waves. Along with the wind, the clutter in my head and emotional mess just went away. At the same time, I seemed to have had a supernatural download of something from God. I wasn't sure what it was, but we'll find out in due time. :)

It's amazing what half an hour of doing nothing at the beach can do to one's soul. Maybe I should do this more often, especially during stressful periods. I'd reckon it's better than having a staring competition with my assignments and/or readings.

Anywho, Happy Easter everybody! Let's celebrate coz something great happened over this 3 days many many centuries ago. :)

Get your geek on

2010-03-30T12:29:00.003+11:00

Now that I've handed in my first assignment, I shall go on a temporary hiatus. After all, the 3 books that I bought online have finally arrived in the mail. YAY!

Letters To Juliet seems pretty interesting, and it was quite hard to find in regular bookstores. Plus, the movie inspired by this book is coming out in cinemas this year, so I guess it's worth a read. To find out what this book's about, click HERE.

Then again, I have 2 papers and 1 presentation due right after the Easter break, which I have yet to get started on. I guess this hiatus has to be cut reeeal short. Boo-freakin-hoo. :(

On the other hand, the Planetshakers 2010 Conference is coming up! Only 7 more sleeps to go! Perfect way to celebrate Easter eh? Toods & smoochs! ;)

Stress relief

2010-03-27T16:05:00.002+11:00

So I got bored while doing my lab report for developmental psych. Plus, my headaches had started to kick in again and I felt like I was going nowhere, despite my efforts to stay focused.

The past week has been tough on me, I developed regular headaches, which only attacked during mid-day, which made me nauseous and my eating habits became erratic again. I got worried that something might be wrong with my head, so I did a little google search and found out that I've been having "tension headaches". Read more about it HERE.

I'm not quite sure why I'm having them, or why I'm even stressed out to begin with, but all I know is I haven't been sleeping well due to the crazy neck, shoulder & back aches. So maybe I've got bad posture, or maybe my muscles have stiffen (due to the lack of exercise and what not). Whatever it is, it's causing me a lot of crappy physical distress which is now progressing on to an emotional distress too.

God, please help me! And maybe a nice massage at a spa should help heaps. I'd take Panadol, but I'm repulsed by the idea of taking paracetamol every day, and I wouldn't wanna
become a paracetamol-addict, ever.

Headache, headache, go away; come again ~~another day~~ never!

Viva La Cobra!

2010-03-20T09:49:00.002+11:00

So I've had probably the most amazing & happening week of my life, so far, (more on that later) and to top off the icing with cherry, I attended the Cobra Starship concert featuring Owl City last night.

It was drawing towards the end of a great week, and it was catching up to me. It was not that I got insufficient amount of sleep, nor did I neglect my studies, it was just that my body was tired out from rushing here and there. As much as my mind was still charging at full speed, my flesh was just slowing me down.

I caught a nap before the concert, and I felt so sleepy that I even contemplated giving it a miss. (it was the flesh talking!) Then with the help of several wake up calls, I dragged myself out of the bed into my jeans and a shirt, slicked on some red lipstick and zombied out onto the streets.

As painful as it was to wait an hour in line, and then another three more hours before Cobra Starship came onstage, it was all worth it. Can't believe I almost missed it! Wynn (an avid fan) even said it was their best live show so far.

And Gabe Saporta, my gosh, he's such a charmer and interesting person. Though the liberal use of vulgarity was quite a turn off and pain to the ears. Nevertheless, it feels pretty surreal to actually see him in person.

Before that, an "up & coming" Aussie band, Amy Meredith rocked the stage with a few songs, which weren't too shabby I reckon; followed by Owl City. Well yeeeaaahh, not to offend any Owl City fanatics, but it was quite a disappointment. Adam Young seemed to be high on something and it clearly showed while he was on stage; and his violinist and cellist looked kinda stoned/high too - we all agreed.

P.S. That "keytar" the girl is playing in the second picture is super cool! I'd love to get my hands on em, just for fun. :)

It's raining ice! Hallelujah!

2010-03-13T09:32:00.002+11:00

So in case you have been hiding behind four walls with no door or windows, there was a hailstorm, followed by a thunderstorm in Melbourne.

If you don't know what hails is, well the pictures below should do a pretty good job depicting it. Alternatively, you could Wiki or Google it.
Yes, it was raining ice! Ice cubes/balls the size of golf balls (or a matchbox, as seen above) were literally falling from the sky. Not only did it look & sound scary while it was happening, the damage it did was rather severe too.

Just when we thought it was over, it started raining cats & dogs, that at one point, visibility was almost zero. I was just looking out my balcony at the city skyline, and all I could see was a sheet of gray blurriness.

Then the lights started flickering, internet connection started failing, and my mobile phone had no reception for about an hour or so. I had only managed to breathe a sigh of relief when I found out that my brother was indoors and managed to escape the monstrosity of that afternoon.

* All photos were taken off this group on Facebook.

So if doomsday were to really come the day after tomorrow, or maybe a lil later in 2012, would you guys be ready for it? Food for thought. :)

Le Clavier

2010-03-01T21:17:00.003+11:00

So I've decided to take up piano (keys) lessons at the Planetshakers School of Creative Arts (SOCA) this year . I still remember when I was taking piano classes for the ABRSM examinations last time, I used to loathe it so much coz it was just.. mundane. After (somewhat) completing Grade 8, I decided to not pursue piano anymore coz I simply lost interest in it.

But after two years, my interest to play the piano slowly came back. This time, I wanted to play the piano because a fire had been lit up in my heart. I wanted to play the piano not for entertainment or leisure, but for Him.

I took the first step by signing up for SOCA classes, even though I received a slight disapproval from my parents; and today, I took the second step and made it official - I purchased a keyboard.

I told Him I'll diligently practice whatever I've learned and hopefully He'll give me more. Who knows, one day, I might just achieve that dream I've been having for so long - having a perfect pitch. Some people are born with it, but some, like me, gotta train hard to get it.

Thank you mom and dad for this opportunity.

Five in a car - Mount Dandenong

2010-02-26T14:18:00.004+11:00

So a road trip was what we needed before classes start next week. We decided to rent a car and drive up to Mount Dandenong and the Yarra Valley regions. It's my first road trip in Melbourne and also my first time up Mount Dandenong.

Yes, I know, this is my third year here and only my first road trip. But you see, I seldom leave the city because of two reasons: 1. I don't have a car, and you really do need a car in the suburbs. 2. Road trips are never fun alone, especially when you're trekking into unknown territory.

Anyhow, our first stop was the famous Miss Marple's at Mount Dandenong for their English tea and Devonshire scones. Loved the place, so vintage, so cosy, and so English-grandma-cool.

Then there was this bath & body shop, Soak - smelled so good and looked so good. It was total fragrance and body products galore. I was about to bag the Jasmine Green Tea and the Cranberry, Plum & Cassis body creme when I realised I didn't need them, yet. Yes, I exercised control and overcame temptation. You should try that too! ;)

And I just found out that they have a shop in Melbourne Central too! SWEET!

Then there was the lil tea & coffee shop next door that was so quaint and stocked with all sorts of cute lil tea pots that made me want to start drinking tea. I gave it some thought, and deduced that coffee is still it for me, and I don't see myself turning to tea any time soon. Though the occasional green tea works wonders to soothe my mind.

On the way down from Mount Dandenong, we passed by the Olinda Sweet Co. and (I kinda requested) to make a quick stop. How can I possibly pass up good lollies?

SCORED! Not so good for my heart and kidneys though. Maybe now I'll need more green tea drinks and cranberry juice to detox. And definitely need more water.

So yep, that was it for the morning at Mount Dandenong. As quick as the trip up there was, I'd say it was pretty great and now I can boldly say I've been up there. After that we went downhill and on to other places. More on that later. I gotta go make dinner for two now. Toods & smoochs! ;)

Rural adventure

2010-02-24T18:05:00.004+11:00

So last week I decided to take a day trip to Ballarat. No particular reason why, I didn't actually want to dig for gold at Sovereign Hill, I simply wanted to ride the V-Line and get out of town. Trust me, after doing nothing-much in the city for a month, you'll start to get bored and even the suburbs would seem far more interesting.

I checked the weather forecast countless times to make sure it would be a good day and bought my ticket 4 days before. Leading up to the day, I did all the research I could on the internet about Ballarat - eateries, tourist places, museums, you name it.

The night before, I was so excited I couldn't sleep. It somehow thrilled me to know that I'll be going on a trip to some place unknown, on my own, the kind of adventure you don't get everyday. Since my parents would not allow me to travel alone at this age, I figured this would be the closest thing for now.

I skipped out of bed (even after barely any sleep), got ready, downed a cuppa, packed my camera and departed Southern Cross with much anticipation.

The first place I headed to? L'Espresso Cafe. It's one of the renowned cafes and it also appeared it The Age's 2009 Cheap Eats guide.

From there, with my (insanely heavy) bags slung across my body, a map in one hand and the camera in the other, I toured the city of Ballarat, on foot.

It was fun and interesting at first, until everything started to look alike. Then it was just rows and rows of houses and trees and the clear blue sky.

And when I reached Lake Wendouree, I thought I was lost. Truth is, I was at the right spot. Except that the view was waaaaay different from what I expected - THE LAKE WAS DRY. The drought must have been pretty bad.

I sat down, soaked in the view, felt the wind on my face, and decided to make the arduous journey back to the city centre. And then I found this! Probably the most notable thing about my trip.

After hanging around and enduring too much heat, I was tired and longed to go home. My adrenaline and excitement had worn out and the previous night's lack of sleep was getting to me. Thankfully, there was a train at the station that was scheduled to depart an hour earlier than the one I was planning to take.

I came home, showered, and realised I had a bad-as sunburn. My shoulders, back and decolletage were bright red and they hurt to the touch. I got my brother to lather on layers and layers of after-sun lotion on my back, which did help, a bit.

On the other hand, I scored a bag of beans from the Bean Barn!

So yep. That was Ballarat for me. Maybe I'll take the V-Line to Geelong next and watch the Aussie footie. Or not.

Uni is starting next week and my timetable's out. Despite having a really horrible one initially (I had a 8am Monday tute), I managed to swap it even though all the classes were overfull and nobody was willing to take my slot. Divine intervention and favour works wonders, I'll say. Toods & smoochs! ;)

Peanut cookies should melt in your mouth

2010-02-20T21:40:00.003+11:00

So after we completed the pineapple tarts, we moved on to peanut cookies (my all-time-favourite CNY cookie!). I've tried many throughout my entire life, some were mighty fine, some were rather.. chunky, but I didn't care, I still loved them.

But the ones we helped made, OHMYGOSH they literally melt in your mouth! Especially those that came right out of the oven. Not even the word 'orgasmic' can be used to describe it's awesomeness.

Then again, maybe I just haven't had peanut cookies in a year and eating them now had somehow warmed my soul. Once again, SHARON IF YOU MAKE THEM TO SELL I WILL BE YOUR #1 FAN!

Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures of em after they came out of the oven coz I was too busy "testing" them, aka eating the slightly deformed ones.

I suppose celebrating Chinese New Year in Melbourne isn't so bad after all. :)

The wonders of pineapple tarts

2010-02-19T15:16:00.003+11:00

So as you all know, it's (still) Chinese New Year, coz it's celebrated for 15 days by the Chinese. How awesome is that?

And to me, no CNY is ever complete without the awesome food, especially those CNY cookies. This year, due to circumstances, I had to celebrate it in Melbourne, and it's my first time celebrating it away from home. No doubt I was feeling a lil homesick and reminiscing on all those home-cooked meals! I do dearly miss my aunt's pig-intestine-soup which she only boils during CNY. BEST THING EVER!

Nevertheless, this year, I got the opportunity to welcome the lunar new year with my dearly beloved friends, and even got the chance to help make some awesome pineapple tarts and peanut cookies! (More on that later)

Sharon, the amazing cook & baker, decided to make everyone's favourite cookies for the urbanlife "Reunion Lunch" (more on that later too). The few of us spent nights and days at her place making them, and it was worth every single bit.

THE PINEAPPLE TARTS WERE SO AWESOME! THE BEST I'VE EVER TRIED! Those from Malacca would now seem like a disappointment.

Sharon, if you ever make them to sell, I would buy tupperwaresssss of them! :)

So since I loved the pineapple jam so much (I was very very tempted to eat those balls of jam while making them), I decided to make my own.

Now I have one small tupperware sitting in my fridge, of which I consume a few teaspoonfuls each day, or whenever I have a sugar craving. I mean, it's still healthier than lollies or chocolates, riiiight? :)

Louise Goldin for Topshop

2010-02-16T23:38:00.004+11:00

These babies are finally up for sale! Though I would say that they are a severely modified version from THESE. I mean, the originals were just, AMAZINGLY COOL!

Nevertheless, these are on sale at TOPSHOP.COM and I reckon they wouldn't last long, even with the hefty price tag. So if you must get them, hurry along now, before you regret it.

I, on the other hand, would just be admiring them from behind my computer screen. Hmm.. I might even consider another DIY project before my hectic-uni-life takes over. Till then. Toods & smoochs! ;)

Dude, you look blue

2010-02-15T14:54:00.003+11:00

So a week ago, I thought it'd be fun to experiment with a lomo, coz I absolutely the love the way the pictures turn out - out of focus, blurred and saturated. And with a coloured flash, it gives the pictures a fun tint.

Since I have yet to invest in a Holga or Diana F+, I decided to buy a cheap lil Lomolitos that came with the blue flash. And voila!

HEH. ;)

Little did I know that when I gave the camera to Big W to develop the photos, they would assume it was a disposable camera and literally dispose of it. I was really upset, coz I was looking forward to putting in a new roll of film and continue experimenting with it. There goes my $27. Well, lesson learned. Never make assumptions of things you're unfamiliar with. NEVER.

And until I'm really itching to play with a lomo again, I shall continue using Ollie, Pollie and the vintage Canon AE-1 Alvin lent me. Woot!

Man, I didn't even get the chance to name it. :'(

Three in one

2010-02-14T15:01:00.005+11:00

Social convention dictates that one must wear red on the first day of Chinese New Year. Social convention also suggests that females ought to wear lovely, girly outfits on Valentine's Day.

And I decided not to let society down. Although, the ratio of black is larger then the red. Whereas regarding traditions like not washing your hair or not sweeping your house on the first day of CNY, etc etc, well, that's just superstition. Coz I believe in something greater, I believe in favour.

So, wherever you are, and whatever you're celebrating today..

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR
&
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
&
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Pitter patter on the roof

2010-02-11T16:46:00.003+11:00

It feels like ages since I've experienced the heavy rain and thunderstorms. The last time I've seen clouds this thick and grey was probably back in Malaysia.

Somehow, the view of dark clouds overshadowing the Melbourne city skyline excited me. The smell of rain made me calm again. And the darkness and shadows in my apartment brought out my fears.

I miss home. I miss sitting in the car hearing the sound of raindrops on the windscreen, while the wiper works at maximum speed.

Ah well. Until the sky clears up, I'm gonna rely on supernatural strength, coffee and chocolates to keep my spirits up. :)

Ze runway awaits

2010-02-10T19:29:00.003+11:00

The L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2010 tickets have finally arrived in my mailbox! Going with Tricia and Tania to watch the show presented by InStyle, featuring designers like Arabella Ramsay, Gorman, Karen Walker, Lucette, Manning Cartell, Mimco, Obus and Yeojin Bae.

For more info, go to the LMFF website and grab your tickets now now NOW! ;)

The dream kitchen-accessory

2010-02-09T22:31:00.003+11:00

Ohmygoodness is this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen or what? It's one sexy piece of red machinery. Unfortunately it costs $729 and I don't have that kinda dough to splurge now.

If I could choose between a designer handbag and this Kitchen Aid mixer, I WOULD SO CHOOSE THIS. Coz designer handbags are seriously overrated. No offence.

Ollie's Perspective

2010-02-05T17:40:00.003+11:00

So yesterday, I created a TUMBLR blog, and was thinking of switching over. Then, I tried it out, and realised that my loyalty is still to Blogspot. In the mean time, Tumblr would just suffer all my random thoughts and nonsense, until I finally grow to like it.

Anywho, as promised, here are the photos from the D90. Nothing really inspired and/or inspiring, but, it's fun to tweak around with the curves, if like me, you have nothing more interesting to do.

Boy oh boy, have I got a lot more to learn about photography. Then again, I don't see myself becoming a (professional) photographer in the near future.

But somehow, the world seems a lil bit cooler and interesting through the lens of a camera. And I especially like how it looks like coming out from a polaroid and lomo. :)

Sounds so smooth I kinda regret not buying a bag the other day.

You know, on days where I don't leave the house (coz I'm too lazy to go out and play in the heat), I survive on a cup of coffee until dinner time. THIS IS BAD. At least there's milk in my coffee. :)

Embellished Leggings

2010-02-04T16:11:00.004+11:00

Last week, I was on Vogue Australia and Sass & Bide's website, where I came across the SHADE OF GREY embellished tights from their Futuregrand collection. It was instant love. Sadly, I don't have that much dough. Though if I did, I'd buy their dresses instead, coz it's so one-of-a-kind-awesome.

And since I've got heaps of free time on my hands before uni commences in March, I decided to sacrifice my old pair of leggings.

It took me 2 sittings of Big Bang Theory (the entire season 2) in one night to finish one side, and by that time, I was so sick of sewing beads already. But I wasn't gonna give up. I took a one day break by going out for the photowalk, and finally finished it last night.

Obviously Sass & Bide's are waaay better in many aspects, but hey, who cares? Now I can't wait to wear it out! If only the weather here would cool down a bit.. ;)

Of Pollie & Dead Man

2010-02-02T23:44:00.006+11:00

So people have been asking me, "What are you gonna do for the next month?" "Not sien meh?" etc etc. Initially, I really didn't know how to answer them. But now, I figured I'd use this precious one month to nurture my right brain.

Yesterday, I started on a DIY project, i.e. embellishing my leggings. I sewed and I sewed until I was sick of looking at those beads. But more on that later.. And a photo of it if/when I'm happy with the end result. ;)

Today, I went out on a photo-walk with Alvin and Ming Xian. Went to DEAD MAN ESPRESSO at South Melbourne, then over to the City Museum to try out a lil idea I got. Turns out, the polaroid has its moments too.

The sun was shining, the heat was sweltering, and we were all sweating like pigs, and it kinda sucks that the older trams don't have air con. Nevertheless, we had fun, we captured some great shots - it was indeed a good day.

More photos from the DSLR coming up next. Toods & smoochs! ;)

No sleep tonight

2010-01-31T18:50:00.004+11:00

So I hit the streets a bit earlier before second service today to get some of these stuff for my next DIY project. So exciting!

10 bucks if you can correctly & accurately guess what it is. ;)

Book Book for Macbook

2010-01-30T22:57:00.004+11:00

Check out these super cool hardback leather cases for Macbooks!

My gosh. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm secretly wishing my current laptop case would give way soon so that I can replace it with this. Hmm.. The red one. DEFINITELY the red one. ;)

That old red door

2010-01-30T16:21:00.005+11:00

Went over to my old apartment for the last time before handing over my keys today.

It was utterly depressing to look at it, all empty and barren. My heart sank as I locked the door behind me, and shut it for good. Come to think of it, I might actually have some emotional attachments to that unit. It's like losing your beloved camera, or car, or whatever object that has been cemented into your memory.

Good bye, 535. I'll miss walking home to you & your bright red door everyday.

Code 3000

2010-01-29T14:15:00.005+11:00

The view from my apartment balcony:

Not too bad, I'd say. Despite a tram line nearby, a pub/lounge next door and a Harley-Davidson showroom right opposite. One thing though, no more 3-minute walk from my apartment door to lecture theatre; now it's at least 25 minutes, seeing that all my classes are situated at the northern region of campus.

Here's to a wonderful second year of uni! :)

Hello baby boo

2010-01-28T17:02:00.005+11:00

Oh how I've missed you!

Coz good coffee makes all the difference. Yes? :)

Sushi.Ten.FTW.

2010-01-28T00:45:00.003+11:00

The weather here in Melbourne is currently 16°C, not exactly summer weather I'd say. Even during the day with the sun shining so brightly, when the wind blows, you can literally feel the chills running down your spine.

WHAT. IS. THIS.

Brought the dudes to Sushi Ten for lunch, it was Jun & Rin's first time, Fai's second. But really, it's tucked away in the corner of an arcade, can't really blame anyone for not chancing upon it. And if it weren't for Planetuni people, I wouldn't have come to know this place for their awesome salmon don.

AWESOME. SALMON. DON.

Now, I shall attempt to make my own version, although the fish roe might be kinda hard to find. After all, Vic Mart is only 5 mins away. HURRAY! :D

PS. Does anyone wanna voluntarily clean my oven? I'd gladly bake him/her/them a whole batch of brownies after that!

Yellow wellies

2010-01-26T03:32:00.002+11:00

How I wish it rained here in Melbourne, like it does in London (UK). Then I can wear super cute & colourful wellington's without looking like a big idiot.

Despite the heavy rainstorms in Malaysia, I wouldn't wear these there. Coz I'd look like a fool and ppl would call these the Phua-Chu-Kang boots and laugh at it. And really, fashion in Malaysia in almost non-existent, or rather, there's no room for creativity in fashion, if you catch my drift.

Beneath those smiles and laughters

2010-01-25T23:07:00.000+11:00

It was time to say our final goodbyes. Somehow, you just can't stop waving or saying farewell, until you enter the gate. Then it'll be some months, or even a year before you see their faces and hug them again.

I hate airports for that reason. And it's worse if your airport looks somewhat like a bus/train station.

Well, at least I've got my brother with me now.

Bit by bit, pieces of my home are coming to Melbourne. Nice. Homesick, homesick, go away! Where are the true-blue Malaysians when you need them?

Contraire

2010-01-24T18:19:00.003+11:00

First day back in Melbourne, I get a headache and passed out on my bed early. Woke up at 2am, only to feel miserable and home sick.

Second day back, despite having enjoyed good coffee & breakfast, I came back only to get bad cramps and a bad tummy - headache, several trips to the toilet, 2 Panadols, slept.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? I HAD GREAT PLANS FOR THE NEXT FIVE WEEKS!

This had better stop, ASAP! :(

Arrivederci

2010-01-22T16:09:00.002+11:00

Five more hours before I leave home; nine more before I depart Kuala Lumpur; seventeen more before I arrive in Melbourne. SEVENTEEN. Almost a day wasted, I'd say. Someone needs to invent a teleporting machine. NOW.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not excited to go back to Melbourne, neither am I utterly depressed to leave KL. In fact, I don't know exactly how I feel. This going back & forth process has occurred so frequently that numb would be the accurate word to describe this feeling.

I just hate the wait. And now, I'm suffering from pre-departure-procrastination syndrome. A term I just invented, a few hours ago.

Anywho, I went on my last few adventures the past two nights - Putrajaya on Wednesday, Ampang Lookout Point on Thursday.

It was a straight & insanely looooong road. We just had to.

So we didn't know the way up. But thanks to our own GPS system & pro-driver - Nick Yeow, along with several phone calls, we made it to the top.

AND WE ATE AWESOME RAMLY BURGERS! :D

Note: Ampang Lookout Point is only safe to go up at night if you have four "manly" guys with you, who aren't afraid of the dark, and who wouldn't start freaking out at their own Kagutaba ghost stories on the way up.

Here's to a fantastic new year ahead. I look forward to hearing amazing stories from you guys! I love all of you and I'll really miss ya'll. See you guys in December.. :'(

Final Du Lot

2010-01-21T00:53:00.004+11:00

I guess this is it. Good bye, my dearly beloved oven. I will miss you so so much. Till I see you again in December.

// Because I am so damn bored and I wanna eat nasi lemak.

Sass & Bide - Futuregrand

2010-01-20T16:59:00.003+11:00

So I absolutely couldn't resist blogging about Sass & Bide's latest S/S 2010 collection, Futuregrand. I've always liked their collections, well actually, everything they make, but this season kinda struck a nerve in me.

Maybe it's all the studs, beads & detailing.. I don't know. It just feels like something I would wear and feel totally comfortable in. It's kinda like, my subconscious' dream collection, ya know what I mean? :)

For the complete collection, click HERE.

Alexander McQueen

2010-01-19T23:05:00.000+11:00

If anyone were to create amazingly cool shoes, it'll have to be Alexander McQueen. And if I were to buy a designer shoe, it'll have to be an Alexander McQueen too.

Yup, those (second picture) are the ones Lady Gaga wore in her Bad Romance video. As impractical as they may be, they sure are one of a kind. And that's all that matters. ;)

Eat Fatty, Hurry Up And Eat!

2010-01-18T22:41:00.004+11:00

So today, the 6 of us in an Estima cruised down the highway to Malacca. Well who wouldn't love road trips? Especially when you have a car and the next state/city is only an hour away! I reckon you can only get this in Malaysia, yes, no?

First, we ate. Chicken rice balls, asam laksa, ice kacang & chendol.

And then more food! Well, tidbits actually. But still, FOOD!

I'm a happy happy girl. Though I reckon I could've downed more rice balls.
Then we took our time walking back to the car under the intense heat, snapping tons of photos and all that, making us look so touristy.

As I was taking photos, I realised how much treasure Malacca actually had! As in, antiques and ancient equipments/devices. For example, this typewriter. Despite its terrible condition and uselessness, I really wanna take it home just coz it looks so cool!

Passing by this mask shop, my secret love for masks kinda got rekindled. I mean, I used to have a strong fascination towards those Venetian masquerade masks, but when I saw these Tiki-like masks, I realise I kinda like them too! The only down side is, they kinda creep me out, coz you never know what's in it, literally.

Peculiar isn't it? I love them even though they give me the creeps. Man the human mind works in ways I still can't comprehend. Maybe in another 2 years, I will.

4 more days to go. Gee, that was quick! :O

Midnight cookies & milk

2010-01-17T23:55:00.000+11:00

I reckon I've been updating my blog a bit toooo frequently lately. The fact is, I have quite a bit of free time on my hands. Besides, I have this feeling that my updates would die off once I get back to Melbourne and uni starts. Or not.

Stayed home today, bummed around, slept a lot, and got a lil agitated, or moody if you will. Yeah, I think it's coming again. So annoying.

It was only 10, the night was young, my hands were itchy, and I also wanted to finish up some of the ingredients before ~~it expires~~ I leave.

One batch of oatmeal & chocolate chip cookies; another of cranberry & oatmeal.

Looks kinda suitable for the upcoming CNY celebration, doesn't it?

Now, if only I can somehow capture the heavenly scent of my house right now and give you a whiff. It'll set your salivary glands wild. Or maybe it's just me & my hormones. Who knows? Toods & smoochs! ;)

Boîte de merveilles

2010-01-17T16:08:00.004+11:00

So I was at Bangsar Village 2 the other night with friends from Melbourne. We had dinner at Nirvana Maju then headed to Espressamente Illy for coffee. Don't ask me how was it, I'm still on my coffee fast. But I heard Melbourne's suckiest still tastes better. Haha.

Photo taken from TWOFRONTTEETH.

Anyway, as we were leaving, we passed by this cupcake shop and I immediately spotted some cute lil cupcake ornaments. Then I asked the sales girl where they got it from, and all I got was, "Sorry, I don't know, my boss bought it"... :(

BUT THEN! Look what I finally found yesterday! :D

Now I'm wondering if I should buy a few more before they're sold out.

La Définition De L'Hyperactivité

2010-01-16T15:46:00.001+11:00

So yesterday, my kid cousins came over to play, and also to see my brother & me before we fly off in 6 days, since we won't be back till end of the year.

Until today, I'm still quite fascinated by the fact that I'm the eldest of the third generation on my maternal side; and that the age gap between me and these kids is H-U-G-E.

But they're SO adorable! So I'm cool with that.

More photos on FACEBOOK.

In that 3 hours or so, I snapped over 250 photos of them. What a killer. I'll definitely miss them heaps! At least I'll have these lovely photos to look back on. But they'll prolly grow up again by December. Toods & smoochs! ;)

Driving with faith

2010-01-15T16:40:00.003+11:00

So we took a spontaneous trip up to Genting, just for fun and coz we had nothing else to do. After all, Genting is really, THAT near to KL.

When we reached the top, the fog was so bad that we had trouble seeing the road ahead even with the fog lights on. It then hit me that that's how life is, but we gotta keep the faith and continue having hope for the future.

Some chit chat over drinks at Starbucks; countless trips to the toilet at Highlands Hotel and photo-taking out in the cold.

Because all these small lil traditions are essential to keeping the group together.

Of Agnus, Pompus and Oranges

2010-01-13T03:14:00.005+11:00

So the night started with two jokers, Wei Xiong and Chee Pang, who came over with the intention of swimming & using the sauna. But due to unforeseen predicaments, we just sat down and talked. 'Twas a good night.

Also, it's the first time I took photos at night with the camera and played around with the light effects. Hmm.. Heaps of stuff to be learned and more tweaks are still needed.

Would you believe that these two blokes, being three years apart, could be so alike and such good friends? (And also not look like their age. Haha.)

A day in greyscale

2010-01-12T22:26:00.008+11:00

So Sook Huey had a day off from work, and since I was due to leave in 10 days, we decided to spend the day hanging out together, eating and shopping.

Lunch at Village Park, Damansara Utama. Their nasi lemak is the bomb! (Simply because I love their sambal.) And so is their Milo Dinosaur.

Headed over to Kota Damansara to check out their boutiques, when the rain decided to come down on us and drench our shoes and made it all wet & squishy.

Cats Whiskers is having a 20% storewide sale in conjunction with the opening of their new outlet. Scored myself a maxi & belt to match. No idea where I'm gonna wear it to though! :X

All in all, I reckon the boutiques at Telawi (Bangsar) win those in Kota Damansara, hands down. MUST. GO. SOON.

I have yet to get a hang of this new camera. Toods & smoochs!

The show must go on

2010-01-10T18:05:00.007+11:00

So as promised, here's an update on all my laughter-filled happenings since NYE.

Countdown at Desa Parkcity.
Impressive fireworks. Happening atmosphere. Cooler weather. Then headed back to my place for some air con, drinks and camera fun.

Photos by Valerie Neo on Facebook.

Because counting down at Curve/OU is so old skool and too crowded. ;P

But before that, I was over at Hau Yon's place for his house warming/brother's pre-wedding party. Met up with his bro, Peggen and his sis too! Such a warm & lovely family. Oh and I LOVE his AV room!

Picnic at Poh's apartment on Friday evening.
Was supposed to be at Desa Parkcity, but the rain came down on us. But the picnic must go on! Coz everyone was out and the food was prepared.

Photos by Poh Wei Shearn on Facebook.

The house had this set of really cool blue-lights that gave the house a very.. cool feel. :)

Tong Ching's birthday party
at Piccadilly with the dudes. Unfortunately, pictures were not taken, on my end, at least.

Then back to Desa Parkcity to chill and play before the night ended.

Mahjong, cards, pizza, football, funny faces & nonsense
at Loong's house on Saturday evening.

"Just look into the camera like you're trying to find out what's inside."

Yeeaaapp! 2 more weeks of mindless fun till I'm off to the land down under again. Till then, toods & smoochs! ;)

Oreo-Butterly Cupcakes

2010-01-10T06:45:00.002+11:00

You know how you've got bad hair days, or bad make-up days and all that? Well, yesterday I found out that there are actually "bad baking days" too. Yep, days where throughout the whole process of baking, things somehow go wrong.

But surprisingly, they still turned out to taste pretty good, and they looked quite presentable too! The best part was, they were well received by others and my brother even loves them! Looks like miracles can happen, even if it's the smallest matter, ever. ;)

Perhaps I should give it another try. Hmm. PERHAPS.

Oh my baby I love you

2010-01-09T08:07:00.002+11:00

GUESS WHAT? GUESS WHAT?

Zero points for getting it right! :D

Je ne voudrais jamais perdre la vue

2010-01-05T18:35:00.002+11:00

I really wanted to make chocolate cupcakes with Baileys-cream cheese filling, but then I realised my house didn't have Baileys. Instead, we had some coffee creme liqueur.

Nevertheless, I made mocha cupcakes with creme cheese frosting. I added some of the coffee creme liqueur into the cream cheese, but the taste of it wasn't strong enough. I NEED BAILEYS!

Also, I realised I have not been very productive this trip back, so I decided that I'll learn a bit of French, or at least, whatever my brain can remember.
With the array of recipe books on display at MPH, I couldn't resist picking one up for myself. There's this 'Butterfly' cupcake which I can't wait to try it out!

AND! I got my new toy! Literally.

This should make up for the lack of Barbie Dolls during my childhood. Haha.

My NYE was a blast! I'll let you in on that soon. HEAPS of photos on Facebook which I have yet to go through em all. Toods & smoochs! ;)

deux zéro un zéro

2010-01-01T19:58:00.003+11:00

A VERY HAPPY & BLESSED NEW YEAR YA'LL!

This year, I'll be turning the BIG-TWO-OH! Which means it's time for changes in my life. A great decade calls for a great start to it. And to mark that, I think I'll do a New Year's resolution for the first time in my life!

Oh boy, oh boy! 2010. Big-two-oh. Verrryyy exciting stuff. You'll see. Love ya'll! ;)

On the 6th day of Christmas

2009-12-31T17:35:00.004+11:00

It's that time of the year again. The time for Christmas/New Year's dinner and what-not. This year, we had it at Porto Romano's again. Love the place, hate the lighting. It's times like these I wish I had one of those DSLR flashes.

We had many new additions and several missing from the group picture, as compared to last year's. Notice that we're all in white too! :D

I finally got to wear my studded heels out.

And Crystal snagged her beautiful lace dress with her charm bracelet. Took 2 woman-power to finally unhook it.

Then the lil kids gathered round the table as the time for gift-exchange approached.

And Jeff was lucky enough to get mine, a DISNEY SAND ART KIT!

I guess I've become infamous for buying nonsense gifts. For the FCT Youth Dinner, I brought a pacifier! Teeheehee. ;)

As for myself, I got this cute lil boxed toy with hand-folded paper roses from Poh! So adorable!

And while the Malaysian sales are still on, I made sure I snapped up some bargains for myself before it ended.

These are absolutely gorgeous!

Christmas may be over, but His light still shines on, coz what He did for us was so great, that it deserves to be remembered every single day, not just on the 25th of December.

Snakes creep me out, the panthers/jaguars looked pathetic, the elephant one reminded me of voodoo, so turtle it is. :)

MAY ALL OF YOU ENJOY A MARVELOUS NYE! :D

All I want for Christmas is

2009-12-30T23:28:00.000+11:00

A 'Mini Cupcake Creations' kit!

Available at MPH.

Except that Christmas is already over. But it's so adorable! Hmm.. I think I can feel my superego agreeing with my id for this one. So the question is, should I get it? :)

Green tea cupcakes with chocolate ganache

2009-12-29T21:26:00.002+11:00

I never knew how to pronounce 'ganache' until now. *click here to listen to its pronunciation*

Anywho, I've always wanted to bake green tea cupcakes. Google-ed the recipe and jotted it down. Then voila! 60 of these lil cuties popped out of the oven.

You could say that the red hearts on cupcakes have become a signature.

I reckon I'll go green tea all the way the next time round. Coz green tea is yummy and it's good for you. :)

A lil bit of 'magic' to brighten up the horribly gloomy & rainy day. ;)

Someone's passcode

2009-12-29T00:20:00.002+11:00

Is your car number plate missing? Is it WME 2522?

Well now you know where it's at. ;)

The cats and bats come out to play

2009-12-26T20:44:00.005+11:00

This is gonna be one long post and you might even feel a lil hungry after this. ;)

Wondermilk cupcakes!
Clockwise from top left: Very chocolate, Peanut butter chocolate,
Chocolate strawberry, Chocolate marshmallow.

I picked all chocolate cupcakes. Why wouldn't I? :)

Green tea ice cream @ The Curve. BEST!

Watched Alvin & The Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel with the bunch. I still love Theodore best! And I love the scene where they spun around in the bowl singing their version of Flo Rida's Right Round! SO ADORABLE.

You can even go create your own chipmunk HERE.

Then dinner at Laundry/Italiannies.

The guys attempted to do a really lame magic trick. I'll upload the video onto Facebook soon.

And because we weren't really full from dinner, we wanted to go somewhere else to eat, but since Curve was packed, there was no way we were gonna get a table anywhere else. So we left and drove around, and ended up at...

KLIA!

And that's where I spent the first hour of my Christmas. :)

More photos on FACEBOOK.

On Christmas day, it was supposed to be a girl's day out at the mall & watching Avatar. But due to circumstances, I bailed and things didn't work out. SORRY!

Instead, I had late lunch with Wykit & Wyman at Lorong Seratus Tahun! (I went there for lunch today, and am going back there again tmrw. 4 times in 5 days. BEST.)

BTW, I'll feel awkward and uncomfortable if people stare at me while I'm eating. So please don't? Thank you very much. :)

Then off to KL with the family & relatives.

First stop: Food court @ Lot 10.

So they got hawkers from all over town to gather under one roof! How awesome is that? Soong Kee beef ball noodles even has a space there now! MUST. GO. BACK. THERE. SOON!

Headed across to Pavilion to check out the Christmas deco.
Dad, mom, aunt, grandma & aunt.

Then more CHOCOLATE for dessert!

Taken by my bro with his 'chun' photography skills.

The fella wore a Santa hat around the mall the whole night.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

May your last week of 2009 be spectacular and miraculous! ;)

Let's burn them fats

2009-12-24T16:04:00.004+11:00

So I went to the gym yesterday. Let me just say that I'm not a "gym person", and I wouldn't go there even if I had a free trial.

BUT! Since I came back to Malaysia 3 weeks ago, I have been stuffing my face silly with Malaysian food, and they're not exactly the healthiest of the lot. AND! I think I've piled on 3 kilos already! :(

After some consideration, I decided I needed to shed some if I was gonna continue piling on some, since I've got another month here, and I highly doubt I'll watch my diet. HAHA.

TRUE FITNESS WEBSITE

Followed Sook to her gym at Jaya 33. Pretty cool place, I'd say. I donno, I've never gone to a professional gym before.

Then I realised my stamina is totally non-existent now! I could only do half sets of each and I felt like bluegh! DIE! Gone were the days when I could withstand the scorching sun & sweltering heat training at least 3 hours a day for cheer competition.

SARAH! MUST. BE. DISCIPLINED. AND. MOTIVATED!

After that, we went to Lorong Seratus Tahun at SS2 for dinner!

I know. Pigging out right after gym. What a waste of effort eh? BUT HEY! I'm only human. And I need food! :)

My mom told me about this place, and boy am I glad she did! It's like Penang food came to town and gathered under one roof. ASAM LAKSA - BEST!

Then Hauyon came to Desa Parkcity and we finally hung out.

AND we sat the big swing at the playground.

At one point, he managed to spin the whole thing round and round and round, and before we know it, we were feeling nauseous and like crap. It was so baaaadddd...

Nevertheless, good day. Alvin & The Chipmunks 2 later! Toods & smoochs! ;)

I had to squeeze into my jeans

2009-12-22T20:34:00.009+11:00

As promised, I present to you..

Chocolate-coated sugar cookies!

Instead of crushed candy canes, I used red-coloured sugar instead, coz the candy canes were too sticky and clumpy after crushing. And I cut out stars to give it a more Christmas-y feel. Besides, I didn't have a square cookie-cutter anyway. Haha. :)

FCT B.U.R.N. Youth's Christmas/Reunion Dinner on Sunday night.

Gift-exchange!

I was lucky number one, and initially, got this tiny green bin, before it got "stolen" and stolen back! Sorry Jin Yin! :X

Oh yeh, as for my gift, I brought a Winnie The Pooh pacifier! Hahahahaha! :D

Took pictures with all the "leng-chai" and leng-lui.

It was pretty amazing to meet Lauranne for the first time! We've got so much in common! Including knowing Wei Xiong [TWOFRONTTEETH] and Alicia! I'm definitely gonna pop by Topshop to visit her the next time I'm at OU.

Meet Jaeden Yow.

He's my new 3-year-old boyfriend! :D

He took my bin and went around collecting everyone's rubbish!

And he likes being swung around by Arnold! :)

Headed over to SS2 Murni's for supper afterwards. MILO DINOSAUR FTW!

More photos of the dinner on Facebook.

Day out with Sook Huey and Wei Bing around KL on Monday.

First stop: Beef ball noodles at Soong Kee!

Second stop: Pavilion!

Wanted to check out the place at night, coz apparently it's pretty nice when all the Christmas lights are lit up! Too bad we had to go back before sundown. :(

Then we spent our time at Forever 21, where I deliberated for ages on which pair to get.

And I tried the Uhu!hu!'s from The Loaf for the first time!
Clockwise from top left: Durian, Passionfruit, Chocolate, Green tea, Caramel, Lychee.

No idea what it was initially, but we deduced that it was indeed, cheesecake. And it was awesome! My favourite? The green tea one of course!

Can't wait to try making it on my own. Fingers crossed! ;)

And no outing would be complete without some silly moments.

Btw, I went home empty handed. Yep, I didn't shop at all! HOW AMAZING IS THAT? :D

Third stop: SS2 Night Market!

I stuffed my face even though I was still full from my earlier meals of the day. There was asam laksa, then muar-chi, then soy-longan jelly. And I even wanted to pick up the crispy chicken too! But I resisted temptation like a million times!

My greatest find: 龍鬚糖 [Dragon beard candy]

I can't believe I've never tried this all my life! It's SO GOOD!

More photos of the outing on Facebook.

Lorong Seratus Tahun at SS2 for Penang food, anyone? :D

And did you know, they had a road sign for this?!

Yeah well, welcome to Malaysia. :)

Its meaning is undefined

2009-12-19T20:23:00.003+11:00

Did you know that Scott Schuman/THE SARTORIALIST, was in Melbourne last week? AND! Sass & Bide hosted his book signing!
Too bad I was in Malaysia, at youth camp, to be exact. Not that youth camp was bad, in fact, it was amazing! But still.. ARGHPFFTGRRRAAHHHH! -.-

Moving on.. The cookie dough is hardening in the fridge now. It should be ready tmrw! Otherwise Monday if I'm feeling too lazy to bake it tmrw. Heh.

Caroling with the youths later tonight, and Christmas/Camp Reunion dinner tmrw night! It's gonna be awesome!

And I just love this picture. Epic. :)

Colour is only a perception

2009-12-17T18:22:00.003+11:00

Imagine a world without colour, where everything is in black & white. Life can be rather colourful too. It's just up to us to choose our own outlook on life. ;)

The Oreo Cheesecake I baked on my birthday. :)

I have yet to perfect it, coz this one was a bit too 'melty' and some people thought it was an ice cream cake. Whoops!

After being back in Malaysia for two long weeks, I went out on an official shopping trip with my mom & bro. We even watched The Princess & The Frog! Good times.

Here are a few of my favourite items amongst my recent hauls.

And I found this cute pair of flats for only RM32! What a steal!

Coming soon: Chocolate-peppermint sugar cookies!

Toods & smoochs! ;)

Elevate

2009-12-09T14:06:00.001+11:00

Going away for youth camp at Golden Sands Resort, Port Dickson till Sunday, so it'll be a lil quiet here for a while. I'll miss you!

Toods & smoochs! ;)

My last teenage year

2009-12-08T22:46:00.001+11:00

Thank you so much to all who wished me happy birthday, whether on Facebook, Skype, text messages, phone calls or in person! And for the presents too! You guys made my day special and I love you all for that. :)

In case you wanted to know, I didn't do anything spectacular or extravagant, but decided to go mellow. I baked myself an Oreo cheesecake, which may seem odd to most of you, but hey, I'm all about defying social norms. And who says you can't bake your own birthday cake anyway? :)

Then I had Japanese for dinner with my mom, before heading out with my beloved bunch of friends for a mamak session at Kayu. It was good seeing all of them, particularly the dudes, as I haven't met up with them since I've been back. We then came back to my place and hung out at the pool, albeit some of us suffering from mosquito bites. Nevertheless, it was a good one!

And I'm finally 19! You can now stop bagging me about being 'so young'! :)

It's pretty mind-boggling how
I place more importance on
other people's birthdays than my own.

Lazy daisy, it's her birthday!

2009-12-07T12:45:00.003+11:00

Is it a crime for a girl to love shoes? NO, it isn't. And guess what I found? Oh gosh I can't still my pounding heart now!

TOPSHOP x LOUISE GOLDIN

NICHOLAS KIRKWOOD x RODARTE

How cool are these shoes eh? ;)
I'll be those Topshop x Louise Goldin ones would sell out like hot cakes when they're finally released.

I like those sharp details on both shoes, no need for pepper spray anymore in the face of an attack. It's like us girls' secret weapon. Hohoho!

Anywho,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I shall bake myself an Oreo Cheesecake to share with ya'll! ;)

Oatmeal & chocolate chip cookies

2009-12-04T17:22:00.002+11:00

So I was bored outta my wits and since I didn't go out last night, I baked again. This recipe was recommended by another blogger, so I decided to give it a try.

And you know what? They actually taste pretty awesome! Despite the fact that I left out certain ingredients, and that the cookies had different textures (coz I left them in the oven for different amounts of time).

My gosh they're so addictive! They're like the yummier & awesome-er version of chewy bars. Woot! ;)

Chocolate cheesecake brownie

2009-12-02T15:21:00.006+11:00

something's missing. hmm..

oh that's right! EGGS!

don't you just love how the house smells of baked goods? well, i do. :)

*edited*

And it's finally out of the oven!
would you like some? :)

Good bye Melbourne, see you in 2 months.

2009-12-01T22:54:00.003+11:00

It's insane how my past week in Melbourne just went by in the blink of an eye! They say that time flies when you're having fun, and it's true.

But what can I do to slow time down? Stone and emo? That doesn't sound like much of a plan either. It's times like these when I wish there was more than 24 hours in a day.

Had my last urbs for the year on Thursday. It was awesome! Our leader got us super funky Christmas head accessories. We had cauliflower & cheese, as well as a turkey-looking chicken. Then we played Cooking Mama, House of The Dead and more games on the Wii. And of course, took heaps of silly pictures.

Coz we're just like that. :)

There was also Wei Xiong's 21st birthday surprise dinner at Little King Eatery. Another success story that's going into the books. :)

And the Project: Share The Love Christmas BBQ on Saturday, which, despite the heavy rain, lack of attendance, and extra food, turned out to be a pretty good night, when I finally decided to let the problems slide. Too bad we didn't take any photos. Booooooo! :(

Hectic day on Sunday, having to pack my house down in less than 24 hours. But thanks to the awesome Ming Xian and Terence, my place was almost-ready-to-vacate in 6 hours. An episode of Glee afterwards and the last College Square heart-to-heart talk session with Val and Peak Sheng.

The flight back was partially painful. But let's not talk about that. Anywho, here's to a great summer. Toods & smoochs! ;)

2009-11-30T23:49:00.002+11:00

I'M BACK IN MALAYSIA!

And I just thought you guys might like to know that. :)

Vue 401

2009-11-19T23:12:00.001+11:00

Holy-moly I can't wait to taste them!

If only one day I could inherit a friggin' cake & sweets empire.
Then my life would be complete. :)

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAREST
VALERIE-ANNE LIM!
Coz that's how we roll yo.

MES EXAMENENS SONT PLUS!

2009-11-17T15:38:00.004+11:00

And I declare awesome-ness over all my papers. Now, for two weeks of Melbourne bliss. :)

Prior to yesterday, I have never ever:

1. Happily chatted with my hairstylist

Went for a haircut after my final paper, the old hairstylist who successfully chopped my hair short the last time doesn't work there anymore. So I just made an appointment with whoever. Then when he was washing my hair, he started asking questions I presume every hairstylist would, and I actually answered them and threw some questions back at him, and before I know it, I was having lighthearted conversations with him. Totally epic.

2. Thought a Korean dude was adorable

The hairstylist that did my hair? His name is Charles Park. He is a Korean. Some would know that I'm not exactly a Korean pop culture fanatic; let's just say I'm more pro-American, aight? But somehow, during that whole hour, I was musing to myself about how good he actually looks.

Good haircuts + Eye candy = Awesome hair-cutting package :) :)

Only to see him light a cigarette after I walked out, and find out about his vice from Alvin afterwards. And my perception of Korean dudes shatters again...

3. Bought back kao-nai-cha for my study-buddies at Tate.

After my haircut I sauntered over to that Asian bookshop on Little Bourke and bought our usual orders of milk tea. Val said, and I quote, "We've studied together so much, we know each other's orders for kao nai cha." Stopped by Tate to drop off the milk teas and chatted a bit with Tricia and Val. Awesome 15 mins of non-stop talking & laughters.

4. Stepped foot into a real arts studio

Wanted to watch Time Traveler's Wife, queue at Hoyts was insanely long, gave up, went to Borders to find Tania & Alvin. Borders was closing, got chased out. Went to find DREWFUNK at THE BLENDER STUDIOS.

IT WAS AMAZING! So dysfunctionally cool. You know how artists have those cool vibes around them? Well the studio was oozing with it, it was overwhelming till the point it became intimidating. Haha.

It was Novie's 21st birthday, and she had already spent the day at home sleeping, so we dragged her out of her house and brought her to SODA ROCK for dinner. It may not be the most happening 21st, but it sure beats staying at home cleaning & sleeping.

Hope you enjoyed your pinball-machine-Elvis-Presley-
cookie-shake-awesome-burger 21st. :)

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my peeps in Guest Services Team 2? And our new Guest Services T-shirt? So awesome. You can borrow mine if you wanna attract attention from bystanders. It is stare-at-me guaranteed. HAHAHAHA.

Love you. Bye bye. ;)

I know someday that it'll all turn out

2009-11-15T23:10:00.000+11:00

When was the last time you heard such a happy song?

Seriously. Doesn't it just lift your spirits? :)

Whatever you're feeling right now, wherever you are, I pray this song brightens your day and gives you hope for the future. Never give up, not now, not ever. ;)

Let's go gaga over Gaga's

2009-11-14T12:41:00.003+11:00

OH GOSH SUCH MAGNIFICENT EARPHONES!

I never thought I'd be one to go gaga's (pun NOT intended) over earphones, I mean, as long as I get my music without excessive white noises, I'm a happy girl.

But this ones, created by Dr. Dre and Lady Gaga, are so going onto my wish list.

More info about these earphones, here.

FYI, Lady Gaga used them in her new video.

And in case you haven't already watched
Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video, click here.

It's funny how we're addicted to love stories even when it makes us cry

2009-11-13T23:46:00.002+11:00

Heading out tomorrow to get me some new Nicholas Sparks books. I reckon I should buy more tissues to prepare myself for a week of tears and late nights.

I remember I used to stay up all night reading novels back home in Malaysia, my mom can testify this. What a novel junkie.. ;)

Oh gosh I can feel my heart breaking just by watching the trailer. Watched it over and over and over again today, and played the song (in the trailer) on repeat.

Btw, the song's called Set The Fire To The Third Bar by Snow Patrol.
Watch the trailer here.

February/March 2010. Oh won't you come sooner? :)

The giant silver door was shut tight

2009-11-07T16:52:00.002+11:00

So I was supposed to go for breakfast at Cafe Vue with Val, Wei Ying and Carmen this morning. I reckon we deserve a break from studying, and breakfast is goooood. It always is, coz there's coffee.

But Cafe Vue does not open on weekends. -.-

Anywho, after that took a lil stroll around the city, going into shops and looking at shtuffff. But the funny thing was, I had no impulse or even the slightest inkling to try on any clothes at all! And to think that all the studying would make one in need of retail therapy. How weird is that..

Though I did get One, today.

Love the opening heaps.

And album recording is tmrw. YAY! :D
Wonder what they'll call the next album...

After a whole week of studying in Frank Tate, I've developed a pattern, and Tricia came up with a lil graph for me.

I added the tail at the end of the graph, and it shall be known as Sarah's Coffee Theorem.

Though after looking at the graph for a while, I realised there's a huge error. The graph should have plunged all the way down to negative instead of shooting up. But oh well.

You know how people have their own motivation(s) to study?

Well since I don't have an internal motivation (sadly), I'll have to resort to external motivation, for now.

Some Ben & Jerry's should help, until it runs out..

Oh and the guy at King & Godfree's has the nicest smile! It's one of those genuine ones that's so heart-warming and you just can't help but smile back. Hmm.. :)

Aight gotta studddddyyyyyyyyyy... Nine more days. Oh the horror. Toods yo. ;)

Seven Seeds

2009-11-04T14:27:00.002+11:00

Hello love. ;)

Did you miss me? Yes, I've missed you too.

Forgot to order my favourite choc chip & peanut butter cookie this time. Shucks.

Dietary changes, in progress.

2009-11-01T18:02:00.002+11:00

So few days ago I woke up with a headache, and I took panadol. Then I started to feel all woozy and weird, and before I knew it, I was throwing up almost every half an hour, until only gastric/stomach juices came out.

Stupid panadol, "gentle on the stomach" my backside. >:(

Then last night, I came down with a cold, and this morning I woke up looking like crap. My eyes were swollen, there were red spots on my face, my whole body was aching, and once again, my stomach was hurting, probably from the panadol I took last night.

Then I thought maybe I needed a healthier diet regime. Since vegetables are not an option, I figured some fruits might help.

Well they sure taste ~~blueghhh~~ yummy.

Just like how ppl force-feed Tricia during exam periods, I'll have to force feed myself with 'healthy & nutritious' food, at least for the next 16 days (till exams are over).

Now let's just hope my body doesn't throw these fruits up.

When you finally solve the mystery, let me know.

2009-10-30T23:54:00.001+11:00

So I made 2 life-changing discoveries during the week.

1. MAMAK

I stopped in my tracks when I saw the word "Mamak" right in front of me. Let's hope this one doesn't disappoint.

Then again, I won't be around to experience its launch, and I won't be craving it till next year. Instead, I can have authentic mamak back home during then yo!

That's right folks, I'm flying back to Malaysia on the
30th of November.
:)

2. Ben & Jerry's. On sale NOW!

After 2 weeks of pestering the guys at King & Godfree's on Lygon, the stock has finally arrived! They currently only have pints in Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Chunky Monkey, $11.95; mini cups in Choc Chip Cookie Dough and Strawberry Cheesecake, $3.95.

Yep, these 2 new things would definitely change my eating habits from now on. Maybe not now NOW, but sooner or later. Mamak food and ice cream make a deadly combination, don't you think? ;)

Also, I'm learning to embrace a new look.

If Dame Edna can wear them, why can't I? Well, except that there are no lenses in my plastic-toy-frame. And I'll prolly need a hideous purple curly wig and gaudy outfits.

By the way, does anyone know what a Tootsie Roll really is?

I mean, I love it. But is it a chocolate? A lollie? Or a chocolate-flavoured lollie? :S

When things were stable,
I complained life was boring;
When changes start to happen,
I feel like life's too tough to handle.

The rolling cone came to town

2009-10-27T18:50:00.003+11:00

Guess who came to Melbourne Uni yesterday?

BEN & JERRY'S!
*click HERE to go to website*

They gave out free scoops of ice cream and arm bands. And they're opening up their first scoop shop in Sydney. Hopefully they'll open up one in Melbourne soon. :)

Then, I'll go visit them everyday. MUAHAHAHA.

What would you give up for a nice massage?

2009-10-25T21:40:00.006+11:00

So it has been a pretty long week, and a rather hectic/tiring one for me, especially towards the weekend. I've got an upcoming Anthropology class test next week, and I'm still struggling to rmbr all the anthropologists and their work.

I'm only doing four subjects now and I already feel like it's a heavy workload. I really can't rmbr how I managed to cope with 11 subjects for SPM last time.. Not to mention having to wake up at 6.30am every morning for school. :S

Last weekend, attended Amanda's 18th birthday dinner at Yar Restaurant at Southbank. There were easily 40 odd people there and we occupied one level. Hohoho.

Livia, Joyce, Mian Mian, Amanda and moi.

Just hanging out with the bunch of them was totally nostalgic. Though I gotta admit, I just sat at my spot coz I haven't seen or talk to them for about a year, and I was kinda shy. So I decided to be antisocial. Hahaha.

Next up. Went to watch the Flare Annual Production, Maelstrom on Thursday night with a few friends from PlanetUni. We wanted to support Ness as the artistic director and Aaron as one of the dancers.

And of course, I wouldn't wanna miss my old friends' performances too! Going for Amanda Yee's 18th birthday the other night just made me realise how much I actually miss ma peeps from Albert House last year, and all those fun & funnier times we had..

Mian & Joyce.

Tiffany.

Su Mei & Bee Bee.

Check out the pictures from the performance. IT WAS SO GOOD! Especially the contemporary pieces. I never really appreciated contemporary pieces, until now. I think I might even go watch the ballet next year! :D

To view more pictures on Facebook, click HERE.

Then there was Friday, where I volunteered for Pink Ribbon Day. It was rather quiet because I was located at the foyer of an office building, instead of being out on the streets for Daffodil Day.

Nevertheless, every sale, as small as it may be, is another step to funding the research for Breast Cancer, and one day, someday, there might just be a cure for cancer. :)

Finally went to Myer's to check out the launch of Marc Jacobs Lola. Man they really went all out to promote it. Every where I go in the beauty department, I'll see the awesome MJ-Lola flower, or the bottle, or a poster of the model. It's like my dream come true! Hahaha.

And they had on display this humongous bottle which could easily contain 500mL of liquid. I wonder if it was really filled with the perfume, or if it's in fact just, water. :/

Too bad they ran out of samples, so now I can't test it on my skin for a few days. Coz you know how perfume smells different on paper and on skin. Boohoo :(

After that, I went to usher for the Mighty Men conference at church. At Beautiful Women, the men served us, so now, it's the ladies' turn to give something back to the men.

Did you know that women, on average, cry for a total of 1 year and 4 months in their lifetime?

And while the men were inside the auditorium, we girls played DAYTONA! :D

It was so fun! They also had a pinball machine, and tennis tables. And since all of them were free play, we girls would hog em toys at every opportunity. Some of us even played till our hands were sore and right-legs were cramped. Hahahaha.

And something that bemuses me is, why do guys like driving manual cars so much? Seriously.

Yeh anyways I'm off to ma bed. Another long week ahead. Just gonna study study study until my eyeballs pop and brains dry out.

At least the weather forecast seems hopeful. :)

As long as the sun's up, I'll be able to function at maximum capacity. Till then. Toods & smoochs! ;)

Oh purple day

2009-10-17T15:17:00.006+11:00

Okay so first up, I had a day filled with heaps of purple on Thursday. Everything just seemed to be purple, it was awesome!

Purple tee from THREADLESS for only $5*! YAY! Don't you just love those Threadless sales? And Topshop canvas shoes for only $10! Yeah, so both my purple items happened to be sale items. Ho ho ho :D

My t-shirt was purple, my shoes were purple, and my pencil case was also purple. Then at night during urbs, as it was our last urbs as ULU31, we had potluck, and Carmen brought purple-coloured jelly!

Oh yeah, my urbs is multiplying, aka splitting into two groups as of the next urbs, with Wei Ying leading one, and Lin the other.

Yeah so anyway. The other day while picking up groceries at Safeway, I stumbled upon this shiny-purple-colour-sequined chocolate gift box. I held it in my hands, admiring its beauty (I'm a sucker for shiny objects, especially if it's purple and/or red, or basically just, shiny). I contemplated, and debated with myself, but decided that it wasn't worth it, so I hesitantly put it down.

Then then then, Diane & Val got it for me! :D which totally made my day, as I was having the longest & one of the most hectic day, plus, getting drenched in the rain wasn't part of the plan either.

I already have 2 ideas as of how to use it:
1. Jewellery box
2. Box of chocs & lollies

I think I'll go for number 2. Hehe.

So anywho, exams are coming up, and my oh my, after SPM, I kinda forgotten how it's like to study hard! I seriously can't rmbr how I managed to study for 11 subjects. :S

I'm eating a lot of sugary stuff, and I reckon I'm putting on weight, as well as endangering my own health. I reckon I'll need to do a full-body check up when I go back in December. :(

Green tea mooncake, courtesy of Peak Sheng.

Kinda wished there was a yolk inside though. I love those mooncake-egg yolks. Sadly, I don't have an abundance of em this year. :(

And our beloved Tricia Ong turned another year ~~older~~ wiser. ;)

Okay so that's all for ma update. Back to shtuudddyyyiiiinnngggg. ARGH#*&)@$)#$(! Looking forward to Amanda Yee's 18th bday tonight. Gonna see all my Trinity/Albert House friends again. Kinda excited yet anxious at the same time. Woot! Toods & smoochs. :)

The Americans pronounce Melbourne as Mel-Born

2009-10-08T12:29:00.005+11:00

Firstly, the cupcake shop in QV is finally open! Yes, my long long LONG wait has ended.

And you know what? The cupcakes are good! And cheaper than those from Cupcake Bakery in Melb Central. How awesome is that? :D

Clockwise from top left: Coffee, Green tea, Blueberry cream cheese, Almond orange (covered by sticker), Chocolate & strawberry, Rum & raisin.

Check out the website: THE CUPCAKE FAMILY

I love love LOVED the green tea one. If you love all things green tea, you'll love this.

What's so great about these cupcakes is that, they're not overwhelmingly sweet, and you can actually taste the flavour of the ingredients. Double-thumbs-up from me. :)

Secondly, the new perfume by Marc Jacobs, Lola, is arriving on the Aussie shores next month! Or hopefully, by the end of this month. All the hype that it has created in the US makes it sound like the next Marc Jacobs Daisy. Definitely gonna give it a sniff when it's launched here.

Another awesome thing is the bottle! It's purple, with a red flower at the top. Give me one good reason why I wouldn't love this bottle, especially its colour scheme. ;)

Time to save up, Sarah.

Thirdly, spring break is over and uni classes have commenced. Four more weeks to exams. *horror music plays* Lucky me, I end on the 16th of Nov. On the down side, I gotta start cramming now. Boo..

Now, back to what I did during the break.

Uno: Breakfast at Sugardough Panificio & Patisserie.

Brekkie was good, well, mainly because the coffee was awesome. The breakfast pie which I ordered was really good too! Except that my poached egg was so small. But overall, double-thumbs-up.

In fact, Sugardough is recommended by heaps of Melbourne food guides. YAY! :)

Due: Twofrontteeth's Chinese New Year party.

Yes, a CNY celebration out of no where. But then again, we wouldn't be around during CNY, and it clashes with Valentine's Day next year, so why not? :)

With all the deco, annoying CNY songs, food and atmosphere, any blur fella who stepped foot into the place would have really thought it was CNY. Hahaha.

OH WE HAD YEE SANG TOO! Thanks to Diane and Roy. Well done! Too bad I'm not a fan of yee sang. Let me remind you that yee sang has a hideous amount of vege, and I don't eat vege, ergo, I don't eat yee sang. Except the crackers and raw fish which I have to tediously pick out. :)

Silent Yam-Seng. We had to whisper coz the neighbours were complaining. But then again, it was a Friday night! Is it a crime to make a lil noise at 11pm on a Friday night? :(

And we all wore red, YAY! With the exception of Shiyou wearing black & white. Haha.

Tres: Another lil outing for Project: Share The Love.

So I was 'lucky' enough to receive a bagful of oranges. I picked out the rotten ones and chucked em away, then paired them up and packed them into zip-lock bags, with a lil note in it.

Then a few of us headed out to Lygon Street and scoured the streets for people who looked like they could use a lil love on that gloomy day.

And we shared the love indeed. :)

So this senior gentleman was walking towards us, and we approached him and gave him a bag. He was really skeptical at first, throwing heaps of questions at us, then we explained to him that we were just doing it out of love. AND THEN. He started sharing the gospel with us! :D

So there we were, grouped around this man, listening to what he had to say, for a good half an hour. It was an amazing experience, seeing this man so passionate for God.

So yeh. Classes may have started, but I believe it'll be a more exciting month. Who says we need to be on holidays to have fun? :P

Till then. Toods & smoochs!

* Pictures from Sugardough and CNY party are from twofrontteeth.

Sushi & coffee are my laxative

2009-09-30T17:07:00.004+10:00

So it has been a week since I last updated. Though I did say I would update really often, turns out I did not, because.. hmm.. my holiday wasn't so happening after all. Boohoo :(

I blame the weather! Totally blame it on the weather man. Because of the dark clouds and rain and strong winds, I actually stayed home for three whole days. Lying around in my pyjamas, watching reruns of tv shows and movies that I have in my hard drive.

The on Saturday, I finally stepped out of my house, with the warm sun shining on my face.

Started the day by catching up with Ping Chien, brought him to the one and only awesome Brother Baba Budan for coffee. But sadly, he didn't really know how to distinguish the taste between good and not-so-good coffee. But he probably will, SOON. :)

Then it rained and I got drenched. ARGH!

After that I went to a "picnic" at Carmen's apartment on Rathdowne. Was supposed to be at Carlton Gardens, but since it rained, we moved it indoors instead.

Anywho, we still had heaps of fun, playing Taboo, Mafia, Watermelon, and after Val & I left, they played balloon volleyball!

I baked cupcakes the night before, coz I was just bored and bored and downright bored. It was already 7pm, but I couldn't care less, I just had to do something!

So my trial run of red velvet cupcakes began. I had nothing with me, no flour, no eggs, no utensils, nil. Had to do a lil treasure hunt in Safeway to find the stuff. In a hurry, I forgot to get baking cocoa from Safeway so I used my drinking-chocolate-powder instead, and since the dough didn't taste anything like chocolate, I added in chocolate chips.

Then then then. The products were out. However, some would know that I don't eat the stuff that I bake, it's just.. yeah, I just don't. And even if I did, I'll think it tastes bad. Back home, my mom used to be the guinea pig.

Over here, I got Peak Sheng and Ming Xian to try them. And they liked it! :D or maybe they were just hungry... Hahaha.

Brought them for the picnic. Though it wasn't an official outing for Project: Share The Love, but if you look at it from another point of view, it totally was. :)

BBQ & Karaoke night at Daren's place in Oakleigh afterward. Essentials at every party:

1. Food

2. Jokers/entertainers

3. Happy people & weird people

4. Last but not least, girls. Otherwise it would have been downright... gay. Haha.

Amazing time, though waas pretty shacked from the day. OH AND MARSHMALLOWS! I learned how to burn the marshmallows and peel of the burnt layer and eat the melted insides. It was so so SOOOOO good.

So what you do is, you pierce the marshmallow with a stick, then you let it catch fire, and let the whole thing burn for about 5 seconds, then you blow out the flame. Pinch the top of the burned part, and slowly pull it apart. Then you get this small lil round melted ball of marshmallow that is just.. heaven. :)

More BBQ nights pleeeeeeease?

Yesterday, Grace came up with another idea for Project: Share The Love. What she did was, she wrote on lil pieces of paper words of love & encouragement and happy things, then went into Borders (Melbourne Central) with Val, and slipped these lil pieces of paper into books, magazines, DVD's and other places. So that when ppl flip through these items, they'll find the note.

And you never know, a simple note like that might make their day, or better yet, get their lives back on track. ;)

It's all about sharing the love, people.

Also, yesterday, on the spur of the moment, I went to Williamstown Beach. Well see, the weather yesterday was just too good to resist. The sun was up, the sky was clear & blue, and the wind was not-too-strong.

It was 2pm, I was sitting at my window staring into the day, when I thought I wouldn't let it go to waste. Half an hour later, I was at unfamiliar territory.

Unfamiliar, but absolutely lovely.

Doesn't this just look like one of those Malibu beach houses?

I'd love to have a house facing the beach one day.

Though it wouldn't be such a good idea either. What if there's a tsunami? :O

Okay maybe not then. Maybe, I'll just rent a house on the beach for vacation next time. Hmm, yeah. That sounds like a better idea. :)

It was sitting so peacefully there, enjoying the shade under the tree. I think I disturbed its moment of meditation.

Then when I took my camera out, I thought it was gonna jump up and run after me. It was just eying me for the whole 30 seconds. My knees went weak!

I guess I haven't gotten over my fear of dogs after all. :(

And for the cherry on top of the icing, here it is.

No post would be complete without a silly/unglam/weird photo of yours truly now, would it? Toods & smoochs! ;)

Project: Share The Love

2009-09-21T20:41:00.009+10:00

WARNING: This is one long overdue update. Hence it's gonna be a long one, a really really long one. Donno what long means? Well, according to Mac's spotlight dictionary, long means "relatively great in extent". So yeh, you get my point.

Moving on.. I would first like to apologise for going AWOL. Been pretty busy, and whenever I got the mojo/inspiration to update, something else would come up.

I'm so so sorry. Really.

So what's been happening, you ask? Well frankly, I can't even remember them all, so I just randomly selected photos that have been uploaded by people on Facebook to help me recall past events. Note that the pictures are not in chronological order.

There was Lin's birthday dinner at Tomodachi, Melbourne Central. Man she introduced me to the green tea brulee and it was pretty awesome. Since I'm already a fan of green tea, i.e. green tea drinks, green tea ice cream, green tea frap, green tea mochi, wtv ya know, you get the picture yeah?

So yeh, green tea brulee. Definitely gotta go back there one day for a green tea fix. :)

Love ya long time, Lini. :)

There was Tim Chew's "failed birthday surprise" at Carlton Gardens/Grace & Carmen's house. While waiting for Tim & bunch to show up from their dinner, Alvin, Ming Xian and I messed around with the camera and effects. Love this picture.

Run Sarah, RUN!!!

There was also Tania's birthday surprise, (which, despite a bit of blurness/miscommunication on my part), was a success! We hung around outside her apartment building, and when she came out, TADA!

Woot woot! Birthday surprises are awesome, especially when they're a success. ;)

There's also ushering, or Guest Services as Planetshakers calls it, every fortnightly. It's pretty amazing seeing the amount of PlanetUni people serving in church in different areas. Woot!

Love my team to bits man. :)

I reckon we don't have enough pictures together as a team though.

There's spontaneous & fun outings with Val, whether we're just out hanging out, eating, or running errands. And party shops in Melbourne are just.. wicked! They've got everything and anything. Really want a costume party laa, where everyone arrives in the weirdest and stupidest get ups. That ought to be pretty fun. :)

Love you long long time, woman. :)

Then there are cupcake hunts. Recently, cupcake shops have just been sprouting out around Melbourne like mushrooms after the rain man. New one opening in QV soon. Just realised that it took over the Suga shop, boohoo. Thank goodness they've got other outlets at Royal Arcade and Vic Mart, so that ppl like me can get pretty & yummy rock candy.

Can't wait for it! It's been under renovation for a couple of weeks now. Oh hurry up and open already. Excite excite! :D

Then there was Daffodil Day. It was a blast! No, really. Despite the horrid Melbourne weather, i.e. from sun to wind to stronger wind, to likelihood of rain. We still managed to raise quite a bit of funds for the Cancer Council. WOOHOOH!

And the merchandise are just so adorable! Meet Dr. Dougal. Just look at those sparkly eyes staring right at you through those nerd-specs. Makes you wanna take him home, no? Haha.

I've also signed up to volunteer for PINK RIBBON DAY in October. Can't wait for it! ;)

There is room for coffee, always. No matter how busy you are, there's always time to pick up a cuppa too. What's life without coffee, right? Haha.

Seven Seeds, you've captured my heart. Now I really wish I had classes at the Spot, or Law Building everyday so that I can go visit you.

And your deliciously cute cupcakes.

OH OH OH! The next one gets me excited every time I hear the name. It's.. wait for it, wait for it.... LINDT CAFE!

Okay so this picture doesn't do justice to show you how amazing the interior of the cafe is. But there's something about the cafe that just makes you go WOW.

The first time, I went there to do my Anthropology field observation. It was just.. weird. Everyone was happily chit-chatting and eating, while I was frantically scribbling on my lecture pad. I think the lady at the next table must be thinking I was nuts. Haha.

Fell in love with macaroons instantly, thanks to Celicia. Excellence 70%, Pistachio and Passionfruit has gotta be my faves. :)

THEN THEN THEN, there was PLANETUNI CAMP at Philip Island! It just keeps getting better year after year man. I'll never forget the encounters and friendships forged.

Woot! The performance got me dancing again, and made me tap back to my cheerleading roots. Looking back at the rehearsals, as tiring as they were, were really fun and made the dancers bond with each other more than before.

And Val did an amazing job at choreographing the dance moves and leading us. She's only 17 going on 18, and already doing amazing things. Talk about age not being a resistance man. Keep up the good work Val. ;)

There's also my urban life, which has been amazing. Really really love them all to bits.

Ya know, I gotta find a new phrase to replace "love them to bits", it's no fun saying it anymore. Probably.. Love them to shreds. Love them to crumbs. Love them to chunks?? Hahaha.

And of course, more cupcakes for me! The Cupcake Bakery at Melbourne Central LG-floor. *click here* That huge cupcake on display is a real one okay. It's HUMONGOUS! Psst, I'd love that for my birthday cake someday. Ehehe. :P

Clockwise from top left: Red Velvet, Lemon Meringue, Molten Chocolate, Sticky Date.

They're really yummy, and I'm not just saying that. I mean it. I wanna go back there for moooooooorreeeee! :D

Man I really need to get me outta here and find a place with a proper conventional oven. I miss baking! And I most certainly would love to experiment with different flavours. HMM. :/

Well, it's 3 months away from Christmas and Myer is already all set for it. Ahhhh.. Christmas. If I have time, I reckon I'd go to the suburbs at the end of the year and check out those houses that decorate their houses with elaborate lights and deco. That oughtta be real pretty. :)

Last but not least, an idea popped up in my head one night, and I decided to get it into action. Basically, there are heaps of ppl out there who need love and something to brighten up their lives. So I figured the easiest way to spread some love & joy was to give out lollies/chocs to random ppl.

And voila! By God's grace I found love-heart chocs/lollies easily.

Packed them into lil zip-lock bags, had about 30 of em. Started it off by giving it to a friend, and the receptionist at College Square. Then off we went, onto the tram, and the streets, and train stations.

And it was a success! We gave out all of em lil packs. I still rmbr getting this insane adrenaline rush which moved on to nerves on the tram. But all in all, it was a good night, and a fun one.

"We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19 (NIV)

The second episode is coming up! We're gonna be baking... yes, cupcakes, and hand em out to ppl. So exciting! Stay tuned for the next update!

Toods & smoochs. ;)

There's a new thing about to begin

2009-08-25T00:36:00.004+10:00

So the 40-hour famine went pretty well. I found out that a couple of other people whom I know took part in it too.

You know what? Next year, I think I'll do a furniture fast! Yep that's right, no furniture for 40 whole hours. How fun is that? :D

Anyways, I managed to raise $60 for World Vision. It's not much, but it'll help save about 5 or 6 kids and turn their lives around. Thank you to all those who donated. May you be blessed in return. :)

Anyways, after my fast, I celebrated with ice cream! Yeh, it's becoming kind of a ritual for me to consume ice cream when I've had a long and tiring day.

My favourite? Cookies and cream. :)

And Homer Hudson's is just awesome! When it's on discount in Safeway, I'll just stock up on em. Heh.

I think growing up, my bro and I have just been eating so much ice cream, especially when we're facing the tv, that it has become a habit now.

Hopefully dance rehearsals would help kill em calories off. Otherwise ... :X

Also, I've got tickets to the MELBOURNE SPRING FASHION WEEK! SO EXCITING!

Yep, I'll be going with Tania to the second show on 2nd September, featuring designers like Ginger & Smart, Kirrily Johnston, LIFEwithBIRD and a couple more.

Prolly won't be as great as those fashion shows in Sydney, or those Mercedes-Benz ones in the US, but it'll be a rather interesting experience.

And there's a Beauty Room before the event too! There will be makeup artists who would touch up our make up, etc etc. WOOT!

Also, I'll be having intensive dance rehearsals almost-every-day for the upcoming PLANETUNI camp from 4-6 September at Philip Island. By the time camp's over, I'll have killer leg muscles, that is, if my ice cream intake doesn't exceed my calories burnt. Hohoho!

Oh and did I mention? I'm volunteering for Daffodil Day this friday, 28 August. Not toooo sure what I'll be doing, but I know I'll be situated on 333 Collins Street, Melbourne. So do come by and visit me, and buy a fresh daffodil flower, and raise funds as well as raise awareness for cancer! Otherwise, just look out for people dressed in yellow, selling daffodils around the city on that day. Coz you never know who may be affected by cancer.

Interested in volunteering or wanna know more info? Simply go to this website: www.daffodilday.com.au

So that's it for now. I can't wait to see what this week has for me! No assignment is gonna bring me down yo. And I shall also attempt to control my temper when things heat up. Toods & smoochs! ;)

40-hour Famine

2009-08-19T14:21:00.005+10:00

Have you ever watched a video of starving kids in rural areas and sympathised with them?

Did you ever wish you could help those kids out to prevent their starvation?

Have you ever not finished the food on your plate and wished you could give them away?

Have you ever said, "Finish you food la! Think about the starving kids in Africa who don't have food!"

Sometimes, we take these issues for granted and it has been incorporated into our daily lives and made it into a joke. But I tell you now, IT IS NOT A JOKE.

In case you didn't know, the Global Food Crisis is affecting people in over 30 countries around the world. About 90o million are chronically hungry, and 1.4 billion are in extreme poverty. What's worse is that, every single day, about 25,000 kids die from hunger and preventable diseases! :O

Reading that paragraph alone has already touched my heart and broke me for those kids. While I eat my heart out and indulge in the foods I love every day, PEOPLE ARE DYING FROM HUNGER! How I wish I could just share with them my food, and see a smile spread across their faces at the sight of food and water.

If you aren't a little bit saddened by this issue, man, your heart is as hard as a freakin rock!

So, to do my part in helping these kids out, I have been a supporter of World Vision Australia for about half a year now. Just doing my part for the world, ya know.

And now, I'm going on the 40 Hour Famine to show how much I care. Yep, that's right people, this time, I'm giving up the foods that define me and keep me going, which are: CHOCOLATES, LOLLIES, COFFEE and ICE CREAM. If you know me, you'd know that these are essential to me.

And the fact that I'm giving them up for those starving kids, definitely has to mean something. I have decided that my fast would begin from 21st AUGUST (Friday) 10AM till 23rd AUGUST (Sunday) 10AM.

So people, I urge you to support me on this fast. Support World Vision. Support those starving kids. Simple CLICK ON THIS LINK, to make your donations online. Every single penny you give goes to World Vision Australia.

Don't have a credit card? Well then grab hold of someone who does, and arrange things yo! Get activated! Have a heart for the poor and starving kids. You never know whose life you just might save! ;)

What are you waiting for? Start donating now! :)

Let's raise as much as we can! Come on people. These kids need it more than you need that pair of new shoes or jeans or jacket!

Love ya'll heaps for long long time. Toods! ;)

There's too much blood in my caffeine stream

2009-08-17T18:33:00.004+10:00

Missed me? :D Yeah well, I missed myself. HAHAHA. The past week just seemed to slip by me and the next thing I know, it's the start of the new week. Sometimes, I wished I had more than 24 hours a day to do the things I need to do.

Well one thing's for sure, I definitely ate a lot and checked out new cafes. Because there are just so many and they all intrigue me. :)

I hope I lose what I gained during winter, otherwise my parents might not recognise me at the airport again! Haha.

For starters, COFFEE! Yes, another cafe under the St Ali/Brother Baba Budan coffee group.

One before lecture, and another during lecture. MUAHAHA!

Had lunch there with Taty too. It was the most random thing ever. I bumped into her on campus, and she had an hour lunch break, and we ventured to Seven Seeds together, with Peak Sheng joining us very much later.

Ya know, the tomato relish on the sandwich reminds me of.. blueghh. :X

Also, there was the Salvador Dali art exhibition at NGV. Unfortunately, there were SO MANY ppl there that night, I couldn't enjoy the full Dali experience. Oh well.

So I decided to get the souvenir catalogue, which had the prints of his displayed artwork. Just in case I ever need some artistic inspiration or anything, ya know. ;)

And then more food. :)

And shopping!

Lucky lil me got a free $10 Coles & Group gift card from Nuffnang Australia about a week ago, and I also got my reward from Myer's in the form of a $20 gift card.

And what did I spend it on? Well yeah I know $30 actually ain't that much to shop, but it did pay for my new wand of mascara! Woot. And yes, this time, I got the Benefit Bad Gal, in plum. :)

I ish sho happee nows. *smirks*

And more coffee. MUAHAHA!

Pushka Espresso Bar, is tucked away, like, literally tucked away in Presgrave Place. Almost gave up trying to find it until I decided to give the supposed-coffee expert a call.

And woot! Super dodgy, wanted to run away for fear of being mugged. But ahh.. THEY HAD CHOCOLATE PORTUGESE EGG TART! So worth it laa.

The guy on the table next to mine ordered this super-unique-looking bagel, there seemed to be heaps of things/cream cheese stuffed in between. Yumm.

It's gonna be another week of uni, and things are gonna heat up from now on, with online tests and essays starting to pile. Problems and stress and everything is gonna just start pouring in too.

But I will not fear, I will not shake; I will continue marching on, for I have God by my side all the time, and the devil & all his other friends will be under ma feet yo! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Another step to becoming an even more beautiful woman of God. Toods! ;)

You choose You lose

2009-08-14T23:54:00.002+10:00

You know what I realised? For some of us, watching dance shows or movies is the same as watching football/soccer for guys.

Disagree as you might, both shows are quite similar. It creates hype, excitement, joy when our favourite person/team wins, etc etc. Just like how we don't get why guys love watching 22 sweaty men chasing after a ball on a field, they don't get why we like dancing and watching dance shows/movies.

Anyways, the latest season of America's So You Think You Can Dance has concluded a week ago, and the winner is none other than Jeanine Mason. Woot! She's really good alright. Check out a couple of her performances on Youtube via these links:

LINK 1
LINK 2

And this one's my favourite.

Alternatively, you could type in 'Jeanine' or 'SYTYCD' on Youtube and I'm sure you'd get heaps and heaps of results too. Knock yourself out! ;)

Next up, I present to you *drum rolls*....

The Sarah & Sarah Show!

Hahahaha. Any show is better than no show, no? Stay tuned! ;)

Another moment, please

2009-08-10T16:34:00.002+10:00

So I realised, that throughout the whole of this year, I have done nothing imaginative or creative.

I think I'm losing the creativity I once had. Or worse, the neurons in my right brain are dying! :O

Oh God, please give it back to me? :(

Stay focused

2009-08-07T10:35:00.004+10:00

Here's a picture I got off Wei Xiong's blog, twofrontteeth.

I don't know what, but something about this picture in his recent slide show just caught my eye. Maybe it was the colourful lights that looked so pretty, or maybe it was just the blurry effect.

Anyhow, it got me thinking. Ever felt like your life is moving at such a fast pace that everything seems like a blur? You're not sure which direction you're heading; not sure if what you're doing is the right thing; not sure what your purpose in life is, etc etc.?

See, the thing is, I feel it all the time too. I'll be like, What did I just do? What the heck am I supposed to do next? Whose birthday is coming up next? OH NO OH NO HOW HOW HOW?!! All panicky and stuff like that.

But then. Something in me will just tell myself to calm down, to shut my mind up so that I can listen to the still, small voice talk, to give me a peace of mind, as well as directions.

All we gotta do is, shut out all the blurry motion going through our lives, and focus on the still, small voice, and then we'll get a clear & sharp picture of things.

Know what I mean? :)

On another note, I'M GONNA WATCH JABBAWOCKEEZ PERFORM! Along with a couple of people from Planetuni dance team and some.

Teeheehee. So excited! :D

Okay, time to go for ma Research Experience Program, where I, am the subject of testing. Toods! ;)

Because women are beautiful beings

2009-08-04T17:22:00.010+10:00

For those of you who attended Planetshakers Beautiful Woman 2009, HOW GOOD WAS IT? :D

I met a couple of familiar faces there too. There was Arlyn, Yuen Ping's friend from high school whom I met during his Year 12 formal. Really sweet girl. AND! Crystal Chong! What a surprise, and joy to see her there. :)

Ladies, I hope the conference has empowered you to live the life you are meant to, and I sure hope your experience was as enjoyable as mine.

In fact, I'm pretty sure some of the guys who served got something out of it too. Haha.

Yep, the guys from our church volunteered to help out with the event. Next up, it's time for us ladies to bless them during the Mighty Men conference. ;)

We had an international speaker, Ps Lisa Bevere, who came all the way from the US to share with us some great messages.

She was the coolest woman, SERIOUSLY. She's got this biker chic personality and dress style. She's almost a grandma, and yet still fearlessly riding her Ninja bike alongside her husband, John Bevere.

She's so open and transparent, and so relateable. Even after the whole thing, Debs still kept going on how much she loved her.

Gonna read a couple of her books and load up on such splendid wisdom. :)

And that was it for Beautiful Woman 2009.

The registration for next year's conference has opened already. And I'm so excited! I can't wait to see what God will continue to speak into my life. :)

On a totally random note, I've been craving yummy hot pancakes, with a scoop of ice cream on top, totally soaked in maple syrup, and drizzled with a bit of chocolate syrup. GAAAHH! I WANT! :(

Here's something to live by if you're feeling down & low and totally lazy to study.

The sluggard caves and gets nothing; but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. Proverbs 13:4.

CHIONG AH! Stupid thang, I've got so much reading to do, it's not even funny. -.-

Yoohoo!

2009-07-31T15:08:00.022+10:00

I know in the previous episode, I said that I'll show you around my place, but I don't think it's quite ready yet. It's still shy, needs to warm up from the cold first. HAHAHA. *lame, i know.*

Instead, I shall give you an insight into what I have been up to over the one week that I have been back to Melbourne. Wait. One week? Gosh it seems like I have been back for aeons now!

I have been going to my classes, most definitely. :)

In case you were wondering, for this semester, I'm taking four subjects: Psychology, Globalisation, Anthropology and Intro Macroeconomics.

And today, I rocked up to my Intro Macro tute, only to find an empty classroom. Panic panic, went home, call here call there, and found out there was actually no tute in the first week. -.-

Also, my sofa is currently preoccupied with a mountain of clothing. Jackets, jeans, shirts, scarves, whatever nonsense, all piled up to form this scenic view.

I've been trying to cultivate healthy habits by taking my vitamins. (And partly also because my parents have "persistently encouraged" me to take em.) But I guess in the long run, it'll be good. Though every morning I struggle to swallow them down coz they're HUGE! Like, GIGANTIC! I can't swallow pills for nuts. :(

I eat my chocolate chip cookies with cold milk and watch an episode of The Simpsons before I go to bed. So therapeutic, and helps me wind down after a not-really-that-hectic-actually day. :)

Every morning, I coat my lashes with mascara. Every night, I lather my dry-wrinkled-aunty hands with hand cream. It's amazing how these small lil wonders can change our lives.

Oh and, apparently, the colour of your undies can affect your mood/luck/something for the day too. Hmm.. I wonder where that superstition came from.

If I manage to drag myself out of bed early enough, I'll be able to make a cuppa for myself.

And I'm currently falling asleep to Outliers.

Don't you just feel like hugging the cute lil elephant too? ;)

Every single day on the streets, I see Mini Coopers zooming past me. And every single time that happens, I yearn for the day when I can finally drive my own. Not that it's impossible a dream to achieve. And the feeling of working hard and earning it all by yourself, gosh what a rush!

Perfume makes me happy, because they smell nice. :)

And besides, who wants to smell like moth balls and oil, right? On a random note, Incanto is Italian for charm, spell or enchantment. I'm considering taking up Italian next year, just because. Should I?

I make sure my house doesn't smell like fried eggs and chicken too. I think Lavender is great. Very... Mmmm.. Calming? I wonder why though. Maybe psychology can explain why different scents can affect moods. :/

And before I leave, I send you my love, blessings, and regards.

Because love is what everyone needs.

Beautiful Woman tonight! I'm so excited, I just can't hide it! Toods yo. ;)

Here's one to all of us

2009-07-28T00:49:00.002+10:00

Hello earthlings. I'm blogging a lot more than usual lately, simply because I still have spare time on my hands, since it's only the first week of second semester, and I only had ONE LECTURE today. Muahaha!

So after that, I headed down to the city, with the intention of running errands. But but but.. I strayed, REAL FAR. Ended up walking into heaps & heaps of shops, with the impulsive urge to spend and buy those pretty pretty shoes, or dresses and bags. Anyway, I succumbed to ONE SCARF ONLY. *beams*

Also, let me tell you what happened. I was in General Pants Co., and I saw this totally cool pair of Sass & Bide jeans, with gold studs on the behind pockets. Fell in love with it in an instant! Too bad they didn't have my size, so I just walked away. Then, I walked around David Jones, and saw the same freakin pair! In my size! It was like calling out to me! SARAH! BUY ME! YOU KNOW YOU WANT ME AND YOU LOVE ME!

How to resist gold studs laa? On a totally unrelated note, I wore black leggings with gold studs that lined the sides, today. Bad choice though. I could feel air swooshing through my behind when the wind blew. Haha.

I couldn't' do it. I just couldn't. I quickly went down the escalator to make sure I don't stand around and contemplate. FYI, in case you didn't know, Sass & Bide burns a hole in your bank account, not just wallet. But their clothes sure are AWESOME.

Psst. If you see me wearing light blue jeans with gold studs, you'd know I succumbed to my inner temptions.

THE MAIN POINT IS, we can't have every single thing we want/desire. I sure would love those pair of Jimmy Choo's (not that I am able to tot around in em), or that Chloe bag, or those Oscar de la Renta dresses, but then again, we gotta be realistic and snap ourselves back to reality.

We are not living in a fairytale, where dreams come true so easily, and everyone lives happily ever after.

No, I'm not saying dreams will never come true in this world, they will, but they would take one heck load of an effort. No swishing of wands can give us the life we want, no fairygodmother will provide us with the things we need. WE HAVE TO FREAKIN MAKE IT HAPPEN AND EARN IT.

Even those trust funds would run dry one day, and the rich would have to somehow earn a living, or maybe go into hiding and suffer from depression.

All I know is, I will prioritise the things in my life, and live a God-driven life, and I know that He will provide me with what I need. The rest of the pretty pretty things that I want? Now that, I'll have to save every cent I can, and I might even have to work part-time.

But that's all part & parcel of life, isn't it? My parents won't be supporting me forever, and it's time I learn to be independent and fend for my own. I shall work hard, and complain/whine less, and whatever I get, I'll give some back to Him.

So here's to me serving my God, studying relentlessly harder than the previous semester, finding a part-time job, building solid friendships/relationships, learning valueble life lessons, and working towards that pair of Louboutins. Cheers. :)

Winter Break Ep4

2009-07-25T19:40:00.001+10:00

BACK IN MELBOURNE YO! ;)