Inspiration

Posts have been sporadic, I know.
Just haven't been inspired to write anything lately.
But today, I liked these images from set & prop artist Joanna Laven, via Sacremento Street.

I admire the work of prop artists who pull together seemingly random, ordinary items to form a beautiful collage.

I like the whiteness of this room, the light shining cheerily in through the tall windows. I like the wood accents and dashes of green. In short, I would be very happy in a room like this.

This photo reminds me of little containers from my childhood. I like containers - neat receptacles to keep and contain things. I like the jewel tones.

Have been enjoying work greatly, and am looking forward to getting back to work on Monday to tackle challenges and strategise on how to move my team forward. Life is good when you enjoy your work!

Have an inspiring week ahead.

p.s. more inspiration from this post by Ali. I love yellow.

Foods I can now live with

I used to hate wang shui (coriander) with a vengeance, picking each tiny bit out of my soup if it ever had the misfortune of being placed in my bowl.

Then I guess I grew up, because I quite like it now.

The same goes for:

• brinjals
• celery
• ladies fingers
• & chilli

On Bourne. And Decluttering.

National Day holiday today!

Watched The Bourne Legacy yesterday. Ignore the critics - the series is still awesome! Watched it with my aunt lil who is my Bourne Buddy, having watched the first 3 with me. Jeremy Renner definitely gives Matt Damon a run for his money...and then some.

As for today....it would be a good day to de-clutter or maybe not. And by the way, here's a good post, should one want to get started.
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/08/decluttering-tips-from-an-aspiring-hoarder.html

Hmm.

And off to relax we go...

Saturday

Saturday!

Today we are going to my aunt's for her famous chicken macaroni soup (and lots of croutons, please). 

My grandma is making poppiah, and we might just bring along some Tim Sum that my brother just brought back from Kota Kinabalu. Yes, we are a little hardcore that way.

I miss Manukan Island. It was dreamy and a great place to while away an afternoon.

Then in the afternoon, I have Bible study cell group and dinner plans with Wen.

Now I need to get going on my Saturday housework so that I can go out to play!

TTFN.

Arteastiq & my DIY art

Here are some photos from a visit to Arteastiq, a tea lounge and art jam hosting venue at Mandarin Gallery, Orchard Road. I was there last December with a group of colleagues.

It's a pretty place, with a good view of leafy trees.

But that day, I was there not for tea but to make my own piece of art.

Starting with a blank canvas...

I selected paint colors...

And created my own piece of art that now sits on my bedside table.
Well, it's no Van Gogh, but I'd like to think it's a cross between some of my favorite artists/periods: Mark Rothko and the Impressionists (Paul Signac)

Oh and the funny thing is, it's easier than it looks to do what other bloggers have done:
Specifically, Elise's finger painting or big script art.
I also referenced Oh Happy Day's abstract art or potato prints.

It was kind of fun for a day out.

My Ode to the West Wing

This is my somewhat nerdy post which I'm going ahead to air anyway.

Just finished (finally!) watching probably my favorite tv series ever, so far...The West Wing.

From the very first episode, I was mesmerized by characters striding through corridors, tossing quick-fire dialogue with intensity.

LOVE the opening score, the soaring music...

Sure, they meandered through not a few episodes. I was somewhat bored in the middle of the series.

And what would caucasus and lame duck congresses, congressional hearings and filibusters have to do with a girl from a completely different hemisphere, anyhow?

Yet, as I followed the ebbs and flows, triumphs and failures, the struggles and the mis-steps through the years, the show resonated with me through its echoes of my own challenges at work, being thrown into the deep end.  Just as the characters bounced back (always with that soaring music in the background, sometimes a little wistful), it felt kind of like no matter what happened, looking back, the struggles would become significant moments.

My favorite moments? All the feel-good ones like...

The stackhouse filibuster

Kristen Chenoweth coming on board

CJ & Danny's goldfish moments

The hiring of Charlie

I was bummed that Sam left...but happy that he came back in the last season

POTUS walking up the hill with Josh in a dramatic turn-around of events

Block of cheese days...

POTUS' father-son moments with Charlie

And the ending was so satisfying. Donna really came into her own!

Just to state a few.

It was an awesome cast: POTUS, Leo, Sam, Josh, Donna, CJ (you know, I can never watch her in a movie without going "CJ!!!"), Toby, Joey, Charlie et al.

And when I tuned into the Obama inauguration in 2009, I half expected Toby & Josh to pop up.

Thank you, west wing.  I had a great time watching. 

If you can meet with triumph and disaster
and treat them both the same... - Kipling

(p.s. This post was written last December. Recently, I took a look at the posts in my draft folder and will be doing some spring cleaning, which is why some posts are appearing very belatedly :)

I heart my library (and chocolate bread)

I like how well-stocked the libraries are in Singapore.
I was perusing Elise's blog and - being also a little hungry at the time - was quite taken with the idea of making chocolate bread. Ooh. You had me at chocolate.

It took just seconds to check out the NLB's catalogue, which is so useful that it's on my favourites bar.
Surprise, surprise (not!), they have the book.




















(p.s. This was composed over a year ago. Recently, I took a look at the posts in my draft folder and will be doing some spring cleaning, which is why some posts are appearing very belatedly :)

Retro post - Farmville cake

A couple of years ago, my brother (!!) was into Farmville.

That was the year we made him a Farmville birthday cake. Basically, we printed the animals and other Farmville-esque features, cut them out and stuck them on toothpicks. My mum made a homemade suggee cake with a generous coating of icing on top, and we decorated it with the little cake toppers.

If I remember right, I was inspired by a post over at a beautiful mess, which has been revamped recently and has lots of great ideas. Always something slightly messy, vey DIY and totally pretty.

(p.s. I took a look at the posts in my draft folder and will be doing some spring cleaning, which is why some posts are appearing very belatedly :)

Retro post - my desk a long time ago

Brochures, quirky little logos or old-fashioned box covers framed in small IKEA frames which apparently they do not sell any more.

How I organized my birthday party

I organized my own birthday party this year. It's been years since I had a birthday party.

I'll admit to having party anxiety. My key reason? Wondering whether it was such a good idea to spend way more money on food, compared to DIY-ing it (or more precisely, getting my mum and grandma to cook). My mum was pretty dubious about the whole affair, but I was determined to do it my way and went ahead anyway. 

As readers might know, my dad is undergoing chemo for cancer at the moment. With mortality staring us in the face, it gets a little more pressing to enjoy life right now. I really don't know if this will be the last birthday that my dad will be here, so I didn't want to have any regrets.

So I jotted 3 things down and kept going with the party even though I worried about it while making plans and confirming details. Namely:

Make it good.

Make memories.

Make it happen. 

Here's the lowdown on the details.

Venue: the Garden Slug, a laid-back little cafe in a sleepy neighborhood on the east coast.

Food:

• Caesar Salad with Multigrain croutons, bacon bits and a touch of citrus zest
• Platter of German Bratwurst & Herby Chicken Chipolata Sausages. Served with French wholegrain mustard
• Signature Oven-baked Wasuga Chicken Wings. Served with home-made tomato relish 
• Slow-Braised Red Wine Beef Stew with Chunky root vegetables
• Grilled Dory Fish topped with Antipasto, drizzled with a lemon herb sauce
• Signature Brownie Popsicles (yummy!)
• Iced Lemon Tea

Decorations:

• Flowers that I picked up from Cold Storage on the day of the party, and trimmed to size. And these were held by...
• ...Quirky lab beakers that I discovered in our store-room during the Great Paint Job of 2011
• Little butterflies made with Martha Stewart butterfly punch
• A train of paper flags from paper I picked up on sale at Paper Market ($5. Score!)

People:

Family (18 of us) and close friends, slightly over 35 in total. I was so pleased that my whole family in Singapore could make it.

Big surprise:
My cousins sang a song for me! With guitar accompaniment! So sweet.

Totally worthwhile extra:

In what was meant to be a surprise for my family, I hired a professional photographer to take photos of the event. Yong Sak was professional, pleasant and obliging. Usually I'm the one taking photos but having someone else capture the moments & details was great and freed me up to talk to people. Plus I realize I'm not that adventurous when it comes to posing for my own photos, so having someone suggest photo poses was new.

Party favors:

My aunt was so cute - she brought a basket of little sweets that were appreciated by the kids in particular. And my grandma made nonya kueh. Love her.

I enjoyed:

Having my family chip in to help with the set-up and packing-up. 

I realised:

It's important to make the effort to keep relationships going, especially old ones. They're like trees - more beautiful with age.

I am glad:

That my dad was well enough to enjoy himself.

That my guests mingled so nicely.

That it went smoothly.  

Mission accomplished. Thank you God!

Saturday Scribble

Inside joke...you'll only get this if you're Singaporean

I have a busy day ahead, looking forward to an afternoon & evening with friends.

But first, housework calls. And I have sundry things to attend to on this Saturday morning (like planning an upcoming party!).

And before that, I'm perusing some regular reads. I like blogs that have a friendly, personal vibe and are updated fairly often. Collectively, these blogs that I read most often are about life, craft, fashion, food...
A cup of Jo
Elise Blaha
The daily bucket
Oh so Coco
What I wore

And off to work we go...

On Wardrobe Spring-cleaning

I like having two new years in well, a year. It's like a re-start to the year.
Haven't made progress on new year's resolutions? Happy (Lunar) New Year! Here we go again!
Wardrobe still in a state of clutter? Time for spring cleaning!

This year's Chinese New Year found me with a spring-cleaning yearning.

I made some progress with my wardrobe, and with that I will be satisfied.

I set a time limit (about an hour) so that I wouldn't get cleaning fatigue.

I did a quick scan through the clothes hung up.  I found some pieces that: (a) I will never wear - these went into a pile to be given away; (b) I have outgrown or were a little small in the first place. Like a cute blue-flower-on-dark-background top from my parisian H&M spree a few years ago that I managed to wear a few times, at least. Le Sigh! This top found a new home with my cousin; (c) I am undecided about. Into a pile they went, to be reviewed later on. For instance, a dress that I wore to Chelle's pink-themed wedding festivities. Hmm.

Lastly, I found quite a few things that I'd forgotten I had. Out of sight, out of mind. I need to do some conscious rotation of clothes so that I don't get caught in a rut. Quite often, I find myself reaching for the same tried-and-tested items. I'll try figuring out new ways to wear existing clothes. 

And so, that was one round of spring-cleaning. Till next time...

Milestone of Note

I finished my guitar lessons this week.
It was great fun learning over the last 5 months, and I'm thrilled to be able to strum to myself now.
"Can make out a tune now", said my mum.

Proverbs, Recycled paper and Washi Tape

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.

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

A Kite in a Tree

This looks like it might be in a temperate country but it's not.

I was on a walk with my mum and was drawn to the bright colours of the kite, stuck in a tree. I like how it looks like a bird. I like the sparseness of the leaf-less tree in the early morning light.

Day Off

My noticeboard, May 09

I brought my stamps home from work where I've been doing craft stuff with a colleague at lunch. This being a long weekend, and with my new stamps, I thought I'd have time for some craft. Made a card for Joel & Mandy who got married this May Day.

I've been playing with my friend's Polaroid camera. I wasted one shot at lunch with Stella, Jac and Sheena when I accidentally pressed the wrong button. There went $3. I stuck it up on my board as a reminder of lunch, and I tried stamping on it to see the effect.

A giant A by Adobe which I love. I tore it out of a brochure.

Christmas card from Sheena. We made our cards at Chelle's store, I mean, home :)

Some Lomo photos that I cut up.

A little pen and marker thing I did after seeing Jacob's website.

And things that have been on my noticeboard for ages... what I have previously described as a decorative thing, and a toothpick-and-macaroni-letters painted over with nail polish from a secondary school fun fair made by my one of my classmates. Someone once said that things in my house don't change that much, which is pretty true!