Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Random Photo Day!

Will be away from the blog for awhile.
Have a fun June!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Relaxing Sunday

Photo by a four-year old. Pretty decent huh.

Had a relaxing Sunday afternoon meeting friends.

And on a side note, I am looking forward to those pandas coming here next year!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Colour-Blocking

Here's a nod to this season's colour-blocking trend.
Finds from a house-cleaning exercise, in which items that fall under the 'Back in the day...' category were found in my cupboard of erm, vintage toys.



Thursday, May 26, 2011

Random Photo Day!

A close up of the clouds, from my bedroom window.

We're getting closer to the weekend!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

DaFont is DaBomb

Here's another hobby of mine, slightly nerdy! love looking for new fonts, downloading them, unzipping them, reading the README files that come with them, seeing the samples that talented designers include along with their free fonts. Hee.



I also like using the fonts.

In this photo taken from my bedroom, I used the following fonts:
  • impact label reversed
  • celebrate the day
  • never let go

love love.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Treasured Tea-Light Holder























Some evenings, I like to have some candles lit up and enjoy quietness and soft light. I love this tea-light holder that Sheena got me from Turkey. I treasure the gift but more than that, I treasure the friendship that inspired it :)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Josh's 1-month party momento



















My friend Pearl's son Josh turned 1 month old some time ago. These were the simple yet fancy, lovingly-made gifts that Josh's grandma put together. They symbolise her wish for him to have a smooth journey in life and a couple of other things which quite slip my mind now but nonetheless, it's an outstanding loving deed by grandma :)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Bei-ing Wanton Noodles, Roxy Square

Still going strong after all these years...good value for money. And
the uncle entertainingly yells your queue number when it's your turn
to collect your noodles.

[R-eposting this, I think it got lost in the blogger outage...]

Bedok South Market

Home, Truly. 
I really like wet markets. I like their familiar mix of stores selling raw meat and vegetables, cheap clothing & shoes, and awesome old-school cooking.
I like the hawker centres at Smith Street, Ghim Moh and Bedok.
And today I popped in to the one at Bedok South with my mum.
Photo opportunities galore!
~ ~ ~

Eating Out.
A hawker centre is a place where you can eat with friends or all by yourself.
Really, no one cares if you're in shorts and t-shirt or in office attire.
You come, you buy, you eat.
It's not uncommon for an aunty or uncle to plonk their vegetables on the seat next to you while they order their ta-mee to go.
You could have a meal by yourself, while a total stranger slurps down his/her noodles across the table from you, then sips the balance of his/her teh-O before dashing off to catch a bus.

~ ~ ~

Say Cheese.
The fruit stall aunty narrowed her eyes and stared silently as I did a few hasty shots. The eyes followed me as I scampered out of her line of sight.
Nearby at the vegetables section, my mother explained to the vegetable seller that I liked taking photographs. This place will be gone in a few years, he said.  
Come at 6am, he said, the vegetables are beautiful.





Bananas up in the air, and pineapples on the ground floor.


Don't mess with an Aunty

Love this shot. Potatoes, Onions, Garlic & Ginger. With old-school plastic baskets to put your selected goods into.

Love the green of this photo. Feli, this shot is for you. I ate every last bit of it. I honestly could not tell the difference between this and the one at Blk 85, and that's because...

...it's an offshoot of the original! With the hao-chi sign and other requisite guarantees of its goodness! And the tradition lives on...$2.50 a bowl, what a steal.

~ End ~

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Make a difference

Here's a blog entry by supermodel Coco Rocha on relief work in Haiti. The girl has heart.

Make a difference where you are, in your own way!

He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord,
And He will pay back what he has given.
Proverbs 19:17

He who has a generous eye will be blessed,
For he gives of his bread to the poor.
Proverbs 22:9

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Easter Eggs


One of my most recent craft activities. I have been busy and find less time to do things like this, but the mood does come by every now and then.

I have fond memories of making egg-shaped cards in my childhood. I traced out an egg shape and cut out cards on folded paper. (The left-side edge is left intact so it holds the front and back of the paper together)

The thing is, I wanted some sort of crayon feel to it so I used my (another childhood tool) wax pencils (you know, the ones where you pull a thread to expose more of the crayon when it gets whittled down?). But I digress. So the thing about wax crayon is that it's rather messy and gets on other surfaces that it comes into contact with.*

* Unless...and here's another digression... you draw with the crayon and then paint over it, which creates interesting patterns since the wax repels the paint. Great fun.

So I contemplated throwing them away but it would have been such a waste.
I hit upon the idea of using my Christmas-gifted washi tape from Chelle, which worked wonderfully to cover the wax and looked great too. Thanks Chelle! :)

I made a little egg card for my cousins and wrote a message for each of them. Kris and I threw an egg hunt for the kids, complete with an assortment of delicious chocolate and candy eggs. Sure hope all the eggs were found!

As for why there are easter eggs to begin with, well I just think of them as reminders of the new and full life that we have in Jesus. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

:)

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Saturday, hooray (new obsessions!)

Hello! It has been such a long week and a hard one at that, but "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" and so I made it to the weekend. Oh blissful weekend with my work notebook far far away from me.

Before I get too lazy to post any of these, here's what I've been up to. My newest obsessions! Well not really obsession but they have been good side interests to get my mind off work.

Washi Tape! Woo hoo. I finally gave in and bought a roll. Coming soon: What I Did With The Tape That Chelle Gave Me.

Here's another shot, just cos they are soooo pretty.

The guitar stand from my very sweet uncle & aunt. They came over one day out of the blue with the gift. So sweet!

My uncle's classical guitar which I started out with.

And finally, here's the first guitar I've ever bought, a Walden.

So as you can see, I've picked up playing the guitar. I borrowed my uncle's old classical guitar and practised the 3 chords that Wen taught me, which were enough to play 1 song (Heart of worship by Matt Redman). Just being able to (clumsily) play something intelligible was enough to spur me on. My fingers and joints really hurt at the start but I'm glad I've kept going. I have been playing a little bit for almost every day for around 6 weeks now, at all hours. My favourite times are in the early mornings and late nights when things are quieter and the sound of the guitar strings comes out clearer. My reason for wanting to play the guitar: just to be able to play simple tunes to myself.

Have a great weekend and remember to vote! :)

Manda

Monday, May 2, 2011

Long Weekend: Satay Party by the Beach

This nice evening that I had with my family harks back to the old days when we would spend whole afternoons at the beach. Those were blissful, carefree days for me.

I'm conscious that these days that we still have together won't always be here; people move away, grow up, get busy. While we still can, I'm happy to have a quiet evening of family and food, under the stars and away from the everyday fast-paced world we live in.


Much to my mum's delight, we found time to use the portable grill that we own. We had satay and grilled mushrooms - yums!

Capturing the fading sunlight. This looks like a scene from another country. In the distance, solitary fishermen.

The warm glow of light.