Right now

I am making space in my phone for a new year's worth of photos.
My 2000+ photos are taking up space and slowing me down :)

Let's hope this works (but it probably will)
http://cdevroe.com/notes/howto-del-iphone-photos/

[Afternote: Arghhhhhhhhh!!!! just kidding. worked beautifully.]

Back from a retreat

On Weddings

Attended Lynette's wedding to Jeremy this morning. They look like a good match :)
This is Shane the page boy, who was super cute. Maybe it was stage fright of some sort but he tried to run away :) Aunty Jenny had to prod him along, and he still kept trying to run away even with his eyes closed! Anyway the little man made it down the aisle and all was well.

On the topic of weddings...cute wedding blog with some cool stuff! Via this girl Deanna's blog (who I stumbled upon after reading about her own wedding, very cute).

Road trip

It used to be that I hated going up north, on long journeys along dusty roads and gross toilets and nothing to see.
But the toilet situation is much better these days and now I love road trips and long straight roads with nothing but clouds and random trees and vehicles going about their work.

This was our first ever overseas youth camp...I am not sure if it is my last (even though every year I say to myself, I think this could be my last camp...) but I sure am doing less running around with each year that passes. The kids are so funny, they come up with the funniest nonsense. They are full of energy. I love seeing them play, take care of each other, loved seeing my P6 kids integrate and having a blast.

Butterflies (Or, The Alternative Uses of Aluminium)

The MS Butterfly punch... a handy bookend and producer of pretty little butterflies.

It didn't work as smoothly as I thought it would the first time round, which meant I could try out the whole use-aluminium-foil-to-sharpen-your-punches thing which I was always a little intrigued with. How on earth does aluminium sharpen the punch?

But it seemed to work, and I got a whole bunch of shiny, bendable butterflies to boot. Oh, the possibilities! The aluminium box says 'For cooking, freezing, wrapping and storing'. I think it should also say "for crafting" :)

A Confession

This is the post in which I confess my stationery splurge.
In which I will also be making many justifying statements.

My name is manda and I am a stationery addict.

But it's not really my fault. (Or so they all say)

It was the paper market's fault, with its shiny rows of perky and beguiling stationery goods. And those discount coupons? That was an evil move, my friend.
(to market, to market, to buy...a new punch)























Or maybe it was Martha's fault. Yes, your honour, 'twas she who instigated the creation of beautifully white and delightful punches, packaged in white boxes that suggest a hint of Tiffany & co.

I present the evidence, herewith.

Exhibit A: Said Punch in white-and-blue carton.






















Exhibit B: The other side of Said Punch, with yet more white-and-blue. Incidentally, does the design look a little like Mickey Mouse ears?























And that was how - what with discounts thrown at me, and all that lovely matt cream texture of the punches - I came to own a border punch and a butterfly punch. I have just learnt that the punches are made by EK, and I vaguely feel like I've been manipulated by a genius designer & marketer... but oh well, this is my Christmas present to myself! No need for wrapping, either!























P.S.
There was just 1 last (basic) acquisition to make...























The End
(for now)

The Sweetest Thing

Beautiful, waking up to the smell of freshly baked muffins. The sweet
scent of my mother's banana-chocolate muffins means I'll be having
what I like to think of as my continental breakfast. Yums.

The beginning of the end

We feasted at ikoi today.

At the end of November, I signed a rather insignificant looking piece of paper that said yes, I would be joining a new branch come Jan 2010. It has been in the pipeline for some months now and the day draws nearer...when I leave my first (real) job (ever) and move on to the next one.

It has been an eventful 9 years 5 months. Almost a decade - a long time to be in a place. And yet it has been so fast! A ride with ups and downs. Friendships gained. Countless farewell lunches later, it was finally my turn to have a farewell lunch today.

I'm not feeling mournful about the move - yet. I am rather excited and even a little scared of the changes coming. Moving from a place where I am very comfortable, to a place where I am slightly out of my depth. Time to tread water.

6 hours

I am a pretty good hoarder, so once in awhile I find it necessary to pack my room and take out the things I've squirreled away. Craft stuff, like this melted shell stamp I found this morning, don't last forever, sadly. So I have set up my "christmas workstation" and vowed to use the pretty things in my stash, to use the paper trimmings I made last year at chelle's, to the beautiful paper source labels I bought 3 years ago, to the cute stickers I've had for longer than that.

This being a public holiday (love it when it's right next to a weekend), I felt a sudden zestiness and got to work cleaning with a vengeance.

7am Awake! Yes, I am a morning person. Breakfast! Yes, I am also a breakfast person. A public-holiday-means-eggs-and-bacon-or something-like-that person. Scanning the newspapers.

730am As it usually happens, one thing leads to another so I start washing my makeup brushes and as momentum picks up, I start keeping this and washing that and before you know it, the activity spreads to my bedroom where I tackle the major pile of stuff which has lain there a whole week since the carnival. Phew.

10am Snack time - fruits: oranges, plums. I dunno, just some random detail that I might be amused to read about some time in the future.

In between - checking email. checking facebook. surfing some blogs. Finding an idea that we might use for my brother's surprise birthday (cup)cake(s), I drop a note to my cousin who is probably still asleep. Bum.

10:30am Inspired by photos in facebook, I remember that I meant to get some lomo applications for my iphone. I think I bought about 4 apps for 99cts each, including a very lame quiz game that is bound to be a hit with the cousins and assorted kids in my life. Surfing round takes time. Hit the sync button and on with the cleaning.

1110am There is a pile of stuff on the floor. Mess!!! But there is a method to the madness. And always, there is a plastic bag nearby in which stuff gets tossed. toss, toss, toss. Therapeutic. Bags get wiped and stored. Un-needed things are removed. Receptacles are repurposed. The floor begins to emerge again, like a beach on which the tide is receeding. Poetic eh, I just thought of that on the fly.

1230pm Lunch with the family. A lazy lunch. A chapalang type of lunch with porridge and leftover duck. And leftover ikea meatballs and chicken wing (yes, 1 chicken wing).

1pm I am updating my blog when my mum mossies in. She avoids using the computer as much as she can and prefers to outsource her online needs to me, her beloved offspring. Check the cpf rates, she instructs. Dad sent her a link to this autistic savant the other day, she says, check it out. Actually, she doesn't say 'autistic savant' - she says go into my email and the link will be there...nononono mum, i'll just google it. I have it in less than a minute (ty google) and she is impressed. So clever, she says. Well, it's not actually me, I'm forced to admit.

And so we watch a short clip of Stephen Wiltshire, whom you can read about right here. Hey a girl's got to check her sources. Very cool, and inspiring.

And that's just the first 6 hours. I've had a full day already!

Heart Craft

Last weekend, a bunch of my friends generously gave of their time, tools and craft materials at a craft stall in a church carnival. It's not your usual type of carnival stall but we figured we would have fun and even if no one bought anything, we could spend the time making our own Christmas cards...

No such luck! We were busy busy busy. Admittedly a little - ok a lot - disorganised at the start but we quickly warmed up and soon we were swamped with orders. These artistic activities take time and loads of creative juice, y'know.

It was a fun day, even if we were tired out by the end of it all. And we had a great time hanging out together. It was gratifying to see the notebooks being enjoyed by the people who bought them. Some people lingered around to see us beavering away, in the midst of our messiness. Oh, we were so messy! Some notebooks were meant as surprise gifts, including 2 that were specially commissioned by an uncle for his nieces in the US. They are somewhere out there, in a Christmas package! Other people stood in front of our work table and thought aloud of the people they could commission notebooks for.

I've always thought that people treasure things with their names on them a whole lot more. Personalised gifts are cool :)

p.s. we raised about $540 (from notebooks and some stuffed bears too), and it's all going to support community work among the elderly and disadvantaged families in the Tg Rhu and Old Airport Rd area :)

Wish I was...

I'm really not sure what I wish for.
To be on holiday? Or just more sane days?
To be high in the sky? Or down to earth?

Have been frightfully busy since I got back from Bali and what do you know? I'm booked on another holiday in May! Thank you Mr Tony "now everyone can fly" Fernandes! It is surreal, being booked on yet another getaway.

The Aforementioned View

Though of course, a photo doesn't do it justice. Bee-yew-ti-ful day.

One of my favourite lounging spots in the villa that we're staying in.
The view from the verandah is spectacular.

Right now I am
Looking at the great ocean view - nothing between me and Antartica.
And the magnificent white foam on the water - maybe about 600m out
from the shore. And seaweed farmers gliding elegantly about.
Feeling the gentle breeze, alternately cool and warm, on my skin and
my hair.
Hearing the sound of the waterfall and pool.

Wallpaper

Postcard from Bali

Life is good

Finally, a day of peace and quiet.

Monday, and an unplanned afternoon off

Unplanned, but good for the soul.

This afternoon I was...
Hearing: My two best friends talking and laughing.
Smelling: Fresh air at the Botanic Gardens.
Touching: Hmm. The little container of chilli sauce. Inside joke.
Seeing: Leafy green trees. Tourists strolling by with cameras in hand. Mothers enjoying the nice weather, and their children running around...ah, blissful childhood.
Tasting: Chicken teriyaki burger at Casa Verde. And fish and chips. And sausage and mash. As always, sharing food.

Inspiration for this post: I thought this blog entry was rather nice and decided to do my own!

p.s. 1 MORE WEEK TO GO! Whee.

Flowers & Prints

1. Many, many years ago, I bought a large print at ikea for the handy wall next to my office cubicle. It's still there - slightly faded, but its blocks of colour make me happy.

2. This week, I bought flowers to support fund-raising efforts at my work place. The nice folks who sold me the flowers were very enthusiastic and I passed the word round, so other people bought flowers and the office was abloom. Amazing what flowers do to a room.

3. Which brings me to the very nice prints I just saw here, from M+E.

"Because you're too old to buy art at ikea" - hmmm, maybe...

"Because white walls are boring" - but I like white walls! and other coloured walls...

"Because prints + flowers make a room" - Agreed!

p.s. I contemplated bring the flowers home for the weekend but they seemed to be doing so well in the cool of the office that I thought I'd leave them where they were. I hope they last past the weekend! It would be nice to have them welcome me back to work. Memo to self: flowers at work are totally worth it cos they last so much longer than at home - 5 days and counting...

Dreaming of pretty places

I'm dreaming of pretty, happy places. Breathtaking views. Moments with a capital M.
I'm thinking gorgeous horizons from high look out points. Sunny days with a seabreeze wafting up and feet resting pretty on green grass. I'm thinking fields and fields of clouds. Or rapeseed fields, fields of gold. I'm thinking french windows and cobbled streets and courtyards and quaint, beautiful things. There is so much beauty in the world :)

I am so looking forward to my holiday in 2 weeks' time!!!

Meanwhile, there is lots of eye-candy here, on a beautiful french house restoration, by a lady whose blog I read. Oh and I would love to go on a good, solid hike. Yes, I really want to get away! But then again I still believe that every day is an adventure. I'm looking for the beauty in each day.

Nutella (ella ella ella...)

ooh! I could think of slight alternatives to this yummy treat. Maybe I could manage a simple little roll. Reminds me of the waffle I had in Paris!

Tis a working weekend I'm afraid, and I have a few things to clear. However, I managed to do my quiet time (bliss), squeeze in some saturday surfing, blog updating and am gearing up to do my work. And as incentive to not dilly-dally, will be going to the airport this evening to welcome wen back from Hanoi (my cell group is going down to surprise her and the rest). Airport gallivanting, whee!

TTFN!

Carnival

Tis a beautiful balloony day on the historic grounds of st Andrews. It
used to be that a church steeple was the highest point in a village.
That has long passed here but it's beautiful anyway. I love green
lawns and white buildings!

De-cluttering

Was finally forced to clean up my hard disk which was choking from tonnes of photos and projects and whatnot. Into my trusty gold seagate harddisk they went. And my notebook breathed a sigh of relief.

Can't hardly wait

I'm counting down the weeks until the much-anticipated break.
There will be no lugging of work over to do.
There will be plenty of rest, unwinding, recharging.

My slightly dorky confession is that my e-ticket is already printed and has been neatly folded and stored in my passport holder - a luxurious-feeling item that makes me feel like I've got it all together.

Can.not.wait.

Retro Green

Our ancient lime/lemon squeezer is still going strong.
It is so cutely green!
It's a hot day, and we had limes in the fridge.
As they say, when life gives you limes, make lime juice...
Here's to a work-free weekend! Whee.

Work Week Interlude

My cousin B turned 11 today.
A bunch of my family stayed at the Sentosa chalets overnight.
This is the school holiday week, so the office is rather quiet.
I took the afternoon off and hopped over to meet them.
I had an idyllic afternoon.
Also did the Mega Zip and Luge. We had great fun.
I love it when I get a good day off.
Oh, and we ended off with an outing to coffee bean.

Gallivanting

I love love love gallivanting. I have been pretty busy in the last few weeks, working very intensively on a project which ended on a high note this past week. So it was a sweet feeling to start the weekend with.

So today was a totally unplanned and unexpected day for gallivanting with Sheena... lunch, shopping (oh I bought my brother's Christmas gift already - I know, it's early, but it's not that easy finding him stuff! Into hiding it goes until the appointed time), heading off for a movie on the spur of the moment. Whee. I am grateful for dear friends with which to share the many chapters of our lives *grin*

In other news - my aunt has been out of the hospital for about a week now and I think the whole experience has brought the family closer together. Cool.

On to the new week!

Presents are delightful

I've got a lovely birthday present waiting for one little girl. Now if
only her mamma will hurry up and arrange for us to meet up :)

Teachers' Day

My first teachers' day in Sunday school. This just about made my day :)

And tomorrow,we're havin' waffles!

Working outside is pretty cool

The Dome outlet at Dempsey rocks. Power socket, wifi, tea and cake.
What more could I ask for?

Elixir in a red thermos

Today I was tasked with the responsibility of personally delivering some home-brewed goodness to my aunt Lil, still in hospital. She's recovering well, due in part to the food she's been getting, I'm sure...

This is a glimpse of my luan-see (what's the translation - endearingly complicated?) family in action:

My mother, early in the morning, bright-eyed and busy thinking up permutations of schedules - who to visit, who to do this and that. Plopping onto my bed to set the plans in motion.

My mother, waiting for NTUC to open at 8:30am in order to buy some liver and cook up a concoction of liver, pork fillet, ginger and just a teensy dose of brandy for the patient. It's not my kind of thing but Lil slurps it up at mid-morning and in the early afternoon. My uncle calls the potion the 'elixir'.

Me, arriving at 10am at the hospital with said concoction in a thermos container. My mum had thoughtfully packed the thermos into a decidedly auntie-looking red seagate re-usable bag, with some golden kiwis in an NTUC plastic bag, and a plastic container of apple muffins. I eyed the bag. "You're making an auntie of me", I said. "You think this is bad, I had to carry 3 bags the other day - and they were heavy ok!", pipes up the cousin who has arrived to go to church with my mum. My mother and cousin take a lift from some fellow church members who stay across the road (more permutations in action).

My grandma, who just got back from Kuching last night, arriving at the hospital at 10:30am. She has porridge in another (smaller) thermos container. I put the thermos containers side-by-side and contemplate taking a photo but (a) you're not supposed to take photos in the ward and (b) it's time to feed the patient.

Emails and SMS-es fly across and out of the country providing updates on Lil's status.

My uncle arrives at about 2pm, thereafter K and I leave. Mama stays behind to stay the afternoon, and probably because she wants to meet...

... aunty Day who will get there around 6pm with special food for dinner and to stay the night.

I love my luan-see family.

The week in summary

This week my thoughts are with Lil, one of my beloved aunts, who has been warded for fever and what seems to be some infection of her brain lining (?!). I miss having her all lively and bossing everyone about. But it's pretty marvelous how the family network sprung into action - people bringing porridge and bovril for the patient, visiting, checking in on the family... it really feels like some sort of safety net: fall, and the rest link up to catch you.

So as I went to check in on my cousin this week, I thought about how - many years ago, I was a blur sotong of a twelve year old, and my aunt came to my rescue. I was supposed to go to my aunt's after a class event at the national stadium. Only thing is, I figured it would be faster for me to take a public bus rather than go back to school. So I persuaded my teacher to let me go... but after the class had left, I found that I didn't know which bus-stop to take the bus from.

Recap: Twelve years old, all alone at the stadium, hardly any money, handphones didn't exist yet, and I think I asked some passers-by for a coin to make a phonecall with:)

At any rate, I managed to call my family to let them know where I was. While waiting for Lil to come get me, it started to pour. I felt sooo miserable and lost and pathetic.

In the end, Lil zoomed down in a car that she happened to have possession of that week - borrowed from someone at work who was overseas (again, cars weren't all that common then). It was raining buckets, we were both drenched, and I was so cold my teeth chattered together in the car. But I was safe with my aunty Lil, and that's all that mattered.

Ah, the drama of it all. Missing my aunt the drama queen...

***

As for the rest of my week: busy juggling some new areas of work as I get ready to switch units at the end of the year (finally).

Chasing Bubbles

It was dusk, and the little girl was a whirl of pink as she chased
after bubbles blown by her mama. Precious moments indeed.

Back to work

It was a pretty laid back long weekend. I had some alone time at home, which was nice.

I had time to check out old blog links that I chucked under my less-frequently-visited blog folder. This post by a field journal is so pretty and dreamy! Now I'm wondering how she did it.

And continuing the sightseeing theme... this time in Paris...

Have a good week ahead!

Pretty weeds

I have a great fondness for these weeds. I like the shades of purple and white. I like walking by quiet places and finding them growing free, in a place that hasn't been earmarked for development and is just being left to its own devices.

Head over heels for TTV

Oh long weekend, I'm so happy you're here.

My blogger posting issues somehow disappeared so I am back to being able to post photos and links. Whee.

And to celebrate... Photo time! This how-to-do-TTV video was a majorly instructive 5 minutes and 17 seconds. Via Elsie, whose blog is always full of inspiring craft ideas. And thanks also to Nesster who generously shares overlays for photo-editing in that awesome world known as flickr.

About the photo - I took it last December on a family holiday to Sarawak. This was taken outside Kuan-Yee-Poh's house. Living someplace with lots of open sky and low-rise buildings is great for photo taking.

En

The photo doesn't do the place justice but I'm posting it anyway cos I enjoyed looking out of the window of En Japanese Dining Bar, and it is much prettier in real life. What was really good: the beef carpaccio, sashimi, fried beef cubes, unagi fried rice.

I was there with a special group of friends - people who have shared many ups, downs, joys and trials of youth ministry well over a decade. It sounds like a long time but it has passed by so quickly - truly in a blink of an eye. When I look back, I see that God has brought us together, brought us through the challenges, healed many things in my life which are no more than a painless memory now. So the dinner was really a toast to the journey thus far and that which lies ahead. There will be more changes in our lives and areas of ministry but regardless of that, I think the bonds that have been formed will last a lifetime - something which I find deeply moving.

Sun Day

A happy day after church. Taking photos. Zipping along the AYE to
Chelle's. Relaxing with the doggies. Indulging in scrapbooking stuff.
Ahh.

Spotted

Another house, but a real one this time. I like the clean lines and
monochrome colours.

Spotted

I want to see UP! :)

Another stationery store

Another shop discovery from my recent foray at Tampines1, the new mall. From a distance, it already looked like trouble. It's not a scrapbooking store exactly, but it's the closest thing to it in the east. Not luxe, but functional. It won't make you giddy and fork out twice what you intended to spend, more likely you'll make a calm, rational, value-for-money purchase and leave feeling pleased anyway.

To answer the obvious question: I bought 1 set of stickers. Very cute asymetrical heart stickers that will bring cheer to several people. $2.25 after discount (it's an offshoot of Popular!). Yes, a prudent purchase. Though in my mind I hear my mother scoffing. And rolling her eyes :) And for a moment I think, gosh, am I still that 7 year old spending her pocket money on stationery?!

Perspectives on Pocky

Things I do on the train to work: peruse my photos and ponder their
prettiness. LOL.

I compiled this using a photoshop-like iPhone app called montage lite. It works really well and is good for stringing a couple of photos together. It's got other features like editing the colour and transparency of individual photos. Really easy to use and it's free;)

So- the story on the pocky is this: firstly, I am a (moderate, not rabid) pocky fan, junk food though it may be. I'm thrilled whenever I find new flavours - like a certain strawberry marble one from a shop I just found at Tampines1 last Saturday. It's a quirky japanese snack
emporium :)

This one, though, was left on my table one ordinary work day by Bee, one of my good friends from work. It's dipped in CHOCOLATE and laced with OREO crumbs. Cheer for a chocoholic!

How to make Konnyaku Jelly

For Steph - sorry! tech issues!

You will need (shown in the photo):
Konnyaku powder - 1 pack (10gms), makes 24 jellies
Citric Acid - 1/8 teaspoon
Food colouring - 1 drop
Flavouring, e.g. Lychee - 1/4 teaspoon
And just for fun, some dried kiwi seeds

(not shown)
Caster Sugar - 210 gms
Water - 950 ml
Canned fruit - my mum used canned lychees


The name to remember is Red Man. Yes, Red Man. Proudly made in S'pore. Everything shown above is from Red Man, except the food colouring. You can get the ingredients from NTUC or directly from Phoon Huat. The most amusing discovery I've just made is that - after repeated attempts to save my photo of the ingredients - it's all on the Phoon Huat website! Just buy the Konnyaku Jelly powder and you'll find the recipe on the back of the packet :)

So anyway, what you do is mix the Konnyaku powder and caster sugar. Boil the water, then stir this mixture in. Keep stirring, add the citric acid, colouring and flavour.

Pour the Konnyaku solution into plastic moulds where you've already placed the fruit. Chill in the fridge.

Easy to do, and they just look so pro :)

Ta-da :)

Today's Lunch

Just a snapshot of a relatively frugal lunch from the staff canteen.
And a pretty satisfying one, at that. I used to eat like this most
lunches but these days my food expenditure has increased...

Birthday Blooms

It's kind of nice to have flowers on the table at breakfast. This is my birthday bouquet from my aunt, in which she also artfully shoved in a mascara and eye liner :) love my family...

I can never quite decide but if I had to pick 2 favourite colours, I think it would be yellow and white (technically a non-colour).

One Hand Waving

OOH. I am thrilled to add this blog to my list of blogs-to-check-frequently.
http://thesoundofonehandwaving.blogspot.com/

Janice Tay, ST correspondent, has been studying/working in Japan for some time and I've always enjoyed her articles. Unfortunately, the blog doesn't allow for linking to individual posts at the moment so one of the articles she wrote on 22 Sep 08 has to be searched for by entering 'vending' as a key word. It's about a seemingly inane Japanese blog about a vending machine. Totally Sassy-Girl like. I could see it playing out as a movie!

I love reading blogs! (to quote Steph :)
I like going through them the hard way. None of that Google reader stuff for me, it's just not the same experience :p
Another reason I'm happy to add this blog is that most of my blogs are American-based, with 1 Australian one. Lots of mummy blogs and people-who-love-fashion/design blogs, and people-who-love-scrapbooking blogs. Whimsical Asian blogs : none, till now! Whee.

30 was good

So I was just chatting with an old classmate who shares the same birthday. And when I say old, I don't mean literally...for this birthday anyway :P

It was so funny, I was on facebook and she just popped up in my chat box. We haven't talked for what... 15 years maybe? No need for preambles to conversation, just cordial exchanges of bday wishes and exchanging thoughts about hitting the 30s and whatnot. Last year this time round, I was blue about moving up the age bracket. This year, I am much calmer. In fact, I am feeling very relaxed about many things at this point in my life. I am satisfied :)

Photo blues

I am having problems posting photos :(

Meanwhile, check out this gallery by Matt Lauder, a professional photographer - he takes astoundingly amazing, breathtaking photos of the Australian landscape.

Nitey Nite! Woohoo, the weekend's here!

Park

Played hooky today, just for awhile...

Dinner & Dessert @ Riciotti

Memo: Chelle's turn to organize next dinner :)

This was tonight's lovely dessert from Riciotti (ri-CHIO-tee, said
Steph). I was reminded of my warm chocolate cake recipe from Martha
which is still stuck forlornly on my fridge door - I will get down to
making it (eventually).

Yet another nice night out with Chelle and Steph!

By the way, I've been enjoying this free iPhone app called Polarizer
which turns photos into pretty cool Polaroid-like shots.

Jelly relief

It has been SO HOT of late.
My mum made Konnyaku Jelly last weekend and we slowly ate our way through a few trays. Cool, cheap and yummy!

Shadows

Day at the Museum

Like I said, I love big wide open spaces.