A piece of Berlin

On displat at Bedok Reservoir. Enclosed behind glass, oh the irony of
it.

Random picture day

Cherries! I think they cost $7 for two boxes. On sale at NTUC!

M&M

We hosted M&M for 2 weekends.

Turns out that 12 year olds are a fairly suitable age group for my household.

They are easy to take care of, not demanding, more interested in playing and doing things than in shopping.

They loved:
Monopoly Deal.
My mother's bak chor mee.
The swings at the playground.
Disturbing touch-me-nots

They enjoyed:
Badminton
Taking the mrt
Making cards and bookmarks. You have a lotta stuff!, they said.

They had fun. We had fun too!

The Weather

Super hot days and blue skies through my window one day...


















... and rainy, storm-drenched roads on the next.























But I love them both anyway. Just as long as I'm safely under shelter!

What I'm up to this weekend

Today is that one day of the week on which I can wake up according to my own body clock. Which as you know, turns out to be fairly early in the morning anyway.

I am hosting 2 Vietnamese students this weekend as well as the next (they are only 12 years old! babies! gosh, I am getting old). They're here for a 2-week summer camp. Going to take them swimming at my aunt's this morning and have roped in my 13yo cousin to come along for shopping in the afternoon. Love it that my extended family is on hand to help out too. I have a list of things to keep them occupied... rope them in to make konnyaku jelly, go shopping, catch Toy Story 3, some bowling perhaps, CRAFT :), walk/cycle by the beach... and oh they want to learn how to play monopoly deal (heaps of fun!)




Monopoly deal... faster and therefore more fun than the original Monopoly :)
















It's 9am and they have just woken up apologizing for waking up late! (Well they did say to wake them at 730 or 8...). A full day lies ahead..ta ta!

Saturday Multi-tasking

Shhh. I'm in my room doing various multi-tasky things on the computer. Don't tell my mum. But then again she already knows. (cue minor tsk-ing)

We have 2 Vietnamese students staying with us the next two weekends and this morning I decided we needed to de-clutter the house before they get here. So I got my mum started on a cleaning blitz while I...slunk into my room to do various Saturday-y things. But I am itching to clean up too and am doing that while popping in to saturday-surf in between.

Oh my! A new blog find that goes straight to my visit-often book mark list! Bee-you-ti-ful photos and a happy vibe. via another blog on the same list, piajane.

And oh! A very cute picnic! I'm inspired.

And ooh! Another window display from piajane, this time on Amsterdam! I also liked her window display for her paris book.

Happy Saturday!

Waiting to board

Thank God for starbucks.

A trip with the family is nice but being together for an unusually
extended period does take a toll on family relations. Let's not talk
about the stress of dealing with excess baggage and four individual
opinions on how to organize things!

Am so glad for a quiet place to sit, read, sip a mocha, while we wait
to board our flight. Nerves are being soothed even as I type this :)

Dinner

Dinner by a waterfall. It's chilly in Bandung. Our dinner place has
outdoor fires! We could have roasted marshmellows!

Bak Kwa

So... There is an outlet at terminal 1, guess who didn't have to trek
down to Chinatown? :) it smells lovely here by the way.

Travel Essentials

Ok this is absolutely the last dilly-dallying I'm going to do on my blog before I head out for my trip.

Only because it's a hoot.

We are visiting old family friends in Indonesia and my dad bought 4 or 5 kg of bak kua for his friend (pretty sure that's singular, not plural).

Apparently they like bak kua a lot! Either that or my dad is overdoing it.

Me, I'd just buy from my beloved Bee Cheng Hiang, but my dad trekked down to Chinatown twice - once to order and then to pick up his order from Tan Teck Guan.

:) Ta Ta For Now!

Travel Momentoes

Clockwise from top-left: Brother's Cafe in Hanoi (all you can eat, under the night sky and twinkly lights!), SecondTimeAround in Boston's Newbury Street (scored a nice white bag there), Massachusetts train tickets 27 July 2006, and name card of a driver who I think I booked to ferry Feli's wedding guests around the day of the dinner.

I'm in the middle of packing for my trip.

Flight departs in 5 hours!
Clothes, toiletries, money...

So there I was putting my ruppiah into one of my old wallets when my fingers pulled out a few cards from a back compartment.

Delightful! Remnants from past trips, like a little travel time capsule.

I slipped them back in again.

Now to gather new memories.

Putu Mayam

Imagine if my grandfather had never left China.

(a) I would not have struggled through Chinese classes in school

(b) I might not be able to appreciate dory in miso soup, mee siam and eggs benedict.

(c) Then again, maybe my cooking might be better.

But I am quite sure I wouldn't be enjoying putu mayam either. My mum knows I like it and brought some back today. Literally sweet...

"noodles", fresh grated coconut and orange-coloured sugar. Best eaten with fingers.

Food for thought

Today is such a hot day.
And because I have some time, there will be lots of photos in this post.















Ain't this a pretty picture? I'm so proud of it ;)

Have been wanting to tell you about a beautiful little restaurant that has the best street view I've seen in Singapore.

I've spent many hours while on holiday enjoying museums and cafes and street views, and this place gives me the same happy feeling. (As you may know, I love love love trees and cafes and hot chocolate and cobbled streets.)

Introducing - Food for Thought.



















It's on Queen Street, a short walk from Bras Brasah station, in the civic district. It's a quiet street so there are few vehicles and mostly locals and tourists walking by, cameras in hand or slung around their necks. Some people hurry by. Others stroll while admiring the old buildings along the street and still others stop to take photos.

Like so:












I love the decor, like the glass bottles strung up like fairy lights on the ceiling.

Any place that makes photos more magical or funds worthy enterprises deserves to be visited more than once.

I like to sit by the window and read a book while sipping a cool drink.













A giant bunny hovering by is fun to watch, too.
Rabbit!, squeal the children, happy to use a word they know.





He walked on, oblivious to the rabbit above him.







Whee!

P.S. How could I forget a food shot?
The food's decent, not earth-shattering, but a place as pretty as this is satisfying enough for me!

Photographers - Mikkel Vang & Paris Whittingham

It wasn't planned but I realise I've spent the last few posts talking about food.

So here's a link to some beautiful shots.

Mikkel Vang
I liked the sense of adventure and beauty in the photos.
I got to the website via a beautiful post on inchmark which also left me feeling rather inspired and in the mood to grab my camera and create something! I will be overseas the next two weekends and will try my best. Whee! I can't wait!

Paris Whittingham
Here's another website, this time from a NY-based photographer who writes about the love stories, like proposals, that he captures discreetly on tape (commissioned work, of course). I've always liked to read stories of people's lives. Although it does seem a little risky to pay someone to capture that special moment when the girl might possibly say no, yah?

Enjoying this work-free weekend loads...

Mee Siam

If it's Saturday, it means some soul food for lunch.

The in-house chef whipped up Mee Siam.

I never have Mee Siam anywhere but at home. It needs to have a special taste, a certain combination...not to mention a generous helping of prawns, eggs and chives.

When I think of Mee Siam, I think of family gatherings with adults playing mahjong and children running around playing. Doesn't matter what time you decide to eat - the tomato-based sauce is heated up in a jiffy and voila, a warm bowl of Mee Siam is dished out. Mee Siam is one of those ultimate feed-whole-families-any-time-of-day kind of dishes.

So here's the humble set up:



















And if this isn't art, I don't know what is.

My Culinary Misadventures

Dinner when the regular cook is away










Vegetables were a bit limp.

Fried corn pork was ok, I thought. (but how wrong can you go with something out of a can, said my ungrateful brother. Hmph*, went I.)

* If you must know, I sliced the onion ever so carefully and tried to create some sort of a wok-hei taste with skillful stir-frying. Didn't work.

I thought the water in the pot looked too little, so I put in more... so the corn soup was bland. I had problems cutting the last bit of corn so after unsuccessfully trying to sever it with a knife...and then a chopper...(ever seen corn splatter on the wall?), I chucked the whole piece in.

Rueful is how I feel, but optimistic that I'll do better next time!
Let's remember that I do better at breakfasts...

Friday nite out with friends

The sweet taste of last night's prawn with mayonnaise is still a pleasant memory.























The new Parco at Promenade Station (love the new circle line....even if it its name is a blatant rip-off and a misnomer...) has surprisingly more shops than I thought it did.

It has been such a long time since I strolled somewhat aimlessly around a mall, chatting with friends along the way. These days things seem to always have some sort of end goal in mind - a habit of the highly effective people it may be, but it's tiring :)






















We walked and lingered and talked and shared.
We sighed and laughed and teared.
Thanks for the listening ears and sharing of lives, guys!

:)

Avocado shake

Just the thing to cheer me up (from the gloom of the work day).
Avocados, gula meleka, milk, ice, blend and voila, mum-made avocado shake.

Giant bunny

Was that Walter... or a close relative? (Ans: It was Walter.)


Suffice it to say for now that I had a lovely, sun-kissed afternoon.

Fireworks at the Helix

I tried out the 'fireworks' function in my camera at the launch of the Helix bridge.
It worked like a dream.
Now all I need is more fireworks! National Day, here we come.

(Miniature) Golfing Weekend

Godzilla meets Changi Airport

I played 18 holes last weekend. Phew.

Ok, it was miniature golf. In a large air-conditioned room. But still, it was tiring!

Lilliputt is the name of the place we went to, partly to recce for the upcoming summer camp programme. It turns out that it is also the venue for children's parties so there were lots of kids running around but fortunately there was enough space for everyone and we didn't have to wait long to try out the different holes.

Mini golf always sounds a little cheesy and amuses me no end.
Mainly because of a 1987 movie called Overboard in which the lead actors (kurt russell and goldie hawn in their salad days) developed a mini golf course. Love that movie!

Saturdays are bliss

Eye-update:
My eyes have been lasik-ed for a week now, and I still find myself groping for my glasses in the morning. And feeling like I need to take my contacts off late at night. And I had a minor panic attack the other night when I realised that the halo around street lights were larger than before. Yikes, 0-Had I done something to permanently ruin some part of my vision?

But apart from that, it's been good. I feel like I am less tired these days, maybe because I don't have lenses to dry my eyes out, plus I've been diligently using eyedrops through the day. But we'll see if this turns out to be one of the unexpected benefits from the op!

And on to this good Saturday:
Like clockwork on a Saturday morning, I awoke at 6 all bright eyed (heh) and bushy tailed (not really but you know what I mean).

Breakfast of leftover pancakes, with my beautiful mother. (Is this pancake mix better, she asked. I nibbled. I concurred. Score 1 for Aunt Jemina pancake mix.) My daily dose of Nescafe Gold Blend. The Straits Times (mum starts on Section A. I start with the Life section.).

After a delightful breakfast, we adjourn to the living room. (I finish the rest of the papers and wait for mum to finish Section A :)

Mid-morning, the karung-guni uncle arrives. We save our papers for this particular guy. He gives a decent rate, reminds me of my uncles on my dad's side (bryll cream and old-school shirts), has a cheerful disposition, the right low tone of voice that is loud enough to let you know he is there without being annoying, and a row of pretty coloured raffia strings on his trusty trolley to boot. Many other people swing by the neighbourhood on weekends but this uncle is the real deal.

In case you're interested, the week's newspapers netted $1. The 2 insurance annual reports that were a total waste of time probably accounted for about 20 cents.


Disclaimer: this photo was taken some weeks ago and depicts about 2-3 weeks' worth of newspapers. Prices quoted are seasonal. Check with your friendly neighbourhood karung guni for prevailing rates.














And tonight, I think I will take my camera for a walk to the launch of the new double helix bridge. Maybe I'll get to test out the fireworks function on my camera!

Snail tale

For Feli.

"We ate here!!", I thought, as I stumbled on this chef/author's page.

Then I realised it wasn't the place we ate the snails (after being careful to remove the little footpads...)

Still, it was nice to see the photo, a familiar place we passed by almost every day from the apartment to the train station.

Paris was fun :)

Part II: Eye told you eye'd be back

Hahaha. Did you like the pun? I thought it up in about 5 seconds :p

Here is a shot of me all garbed up in my small personal waiting space before and after surgery.

My thoughts around this time were, why on earth am I doing this?? I was sleepy, and standing between me and my bed was this little eye surgery.

It didn't help that there were several other patients in similar curtained cubicles and I could hear them post-surgery. The man to my left was groggy and sounded a bit disoriented. I could hear a Caucasian man on the phone with someone, talking about how it hadn't been as bad as he thought it was.

Anyhow, I was pretty nervous. I thought, what if there was a blackout in the middle of the whole procedure? Sometimes, it would be best to leave the vivid imagination at home.

I was downright stiff as I lay on the operating bed in the cold room. I heard loud noises. I visualised what was going on. There were two parts to the surgery; after they cut the cornea flap (the worse part of it all), they quickly moved me to the next machine for the lasers to reshape my eyes (medical details omitted) and thankfully, moved on to wash my eyes and gently flip the cornea flap back.

Despite what my aunt told me, my vision wasn't perfect immediately (seems it was the case for her). I stumbled out of the waiting room, silently traumatised but glad it was over. I could see well enough to walk out and meet my beautiful mother blessedly waiting for me outside. Homeward we zipped in a cab, me with my bug eyes (little eye guards to protect my eyes), got home, popped a sleeping pill and off to bed!

In less than 24 hours, my eyesight has gotten as good - or better - as when I was wearing contacts. And yes, I am happy to confirm that there was no pain, just slight discomfort and it done wonders for my eyes.

Whee!

Part I: Eye story (and there WILL be a part II)

A night time photo! Pretty lamp hand-carried back from Turkey by Sheena :)

Tis late (for me) - almost 11pm.
Time for bed! Yawn.
But just 1 post.
Because tomorrow evening I am going under the knife.

Well, laser to be exact.

And the surgeon will do gross things like slicing my cornea and having a laser beam reshape my eye (any doctors reading this: please fill in the missing medical details yourselves :), flipping the cornea flap back and [something else happens..more blanks here] and ta da, my eyesight will be perfect. Grossed out yet? I am...

For the record, my eyesight is 550/600 and very low astigmatism. And I have small eyes but my cornea is slightly above the average in terms of thickness. And I have healthy eyes. So basically I can undergo lasik.

I'm sure it will go well.

But, what if it didn't...

Over the last few weeks, I have been fretting a little over a possible loss of sight while I mulled over this decision. What if it affected my photography? :( What if I couldn't blog any more? :( Or gaze at beautiful scenery?

I'm pretty sure it will go smoothly.

But really, sight seems extra precious right now! Treasure it...

Old building - black, white, red

I had the loveliest jaunt last Sunday and the memories are fresh in my
mind... Looking forward to posting some photos from the gallivanting,
like this old building. Lovely gate and doors.

It's Friday! Bring on the Friday wardrobe! Weekend is almost here...as
usual, there are places to go, things to do and people to see.

Weekend inspirations

I thought about...

Hosting a party. Tips, and a new blog I think I'll be reading. My aunt, who migrated to Canada, is coming back for a visit in July, and I am thinking of a theme party.

Doing good in the world, and doing it well. Saturday's life section did a great spread on the Lien Foundation and the good work they are doing in making clean water more accessible to people in Cambodia.

Maisonettes. Also in the papers was a reproduced article from March's Home & Decor which has made me rethink maisonettes.

Design and marketing. Article on the Spades. Which also made me think of chelle's owl bag (hello chelle). And incidentally I feel like it's odd when the brand's namesake is no longer at the helm. It's like macdonald's without ronald, or KFC without Col. Sanders. Or something like that.

Handmade books and legos. I keep wanting to make a book, and I keep procrastinating. The inspiration comes and goes :) Thought this book project was very cool.

I had a good weekend including badminton on Sunday evening.

And here we go hurtling toward the end of the month.

Weekend

So. I didn't go to Bali. This week, I contemplated jetting off for the weekend to join the best friend but had to reluctantly relinquish the wild, almost-attainable dream of nonchalantly catching a Friday night flight, living it up in the St Tropez of Asia (well I think it comes pretty close) and moseying back on Monday evening.

Alas, work got in the way.

Still, thinking about it got me all rev-ed up for enjoying the weekend, starting with discipleship group with a close-knit group of friends followed by supper at Old Airport Road where the Hokkien Mee hit the spot. Can I just say that cheap hawker food at 11pm is one of the joys in life...

Have a great weekend!

Hankering

To go or not to go? That is the question...

Word of mouth

Two trips ago to Bali, there was this amusing sign.
Just an update from 1 trip ago.

Seeing the art in me

This was a side-product of a card I made last year for Tara, one of my sunday school kids. I was testing out the stamps and it occurred to me that there was literally art in her name...

Anyways. I took the afternoon off today because I felt a cold coming on and I was pretty distracted the whole morning thinking about my developing sore throat and a funny feeling in my head. Plus I have about a million days of leave to use. Ok not really but a lot more than my (envious) brother.

Oh the joy of breaking the routine. Of the smell of freedom and the weekend ahead. Even though my next two Saturdays are already booked up with important but probably boring events :( I'll try to see the silver lining in those clouds...

Talking about silver linings, I have thus far been able to ignore solitary strands of white hairs that have appeared amidst my erstwhile entirely black hair, occasionally plucking them to give them the hint that they're not wanted... but they have a mind of their own and persist in coming up and multiplying. The other day I caught sight of 3 long strands on my right side, spread out equidistant and looking like one of those streams of smoke coming from jet planes at an aerial display. Argh! And just yesterday I saw a white strand resting on my shoulder, made all the more visible on my black blouse (like dandruff, but I don't know which is worse, dandruff or white hairs. hmm dandruff probably). I went so far as to consider not wearing black tops any more. Which would be a problem, as I'm in black half the time.

Argh! I could go on about the signs of aging in this 'jar of clay' but I will try instead to see the art in me (this from a song I like by Jars of Clay). And I will turn my thoughts to the weekend ahead!

Day dreaming / inspiration

This is what happens when you relax a little and stare out of the
window... You see your name in big bold letters (albeit hidden in a
hotel name). Never saw THAT before!

Rider's Cafe

I love, love, love special breakfasts with best friends on perfect
days off. Eggs benedict, waffles!!, bacon & toast & fruit. And a
verandah-side view of horses to captivate the little girl.

Delightful :)

Two Months

The days are frightfully hot.
The grass is much browner now, unlike the still-green shot above.

It has been two months since I took up a new post at work.
(deep breath)
It has been unsettling, at so many times feeling like I was sinking. Thinking I would have to quit soon. Feeling anxious, oh so anxious.

The grace of God kept me going.

Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 61:1-2

Thank God for family and friends. For lovely meals and kite-flying and quiet times and Chinese New Year gatherings. For friends who empathised and asked how I was doing. For the inspired word of God; for the Almighty God's revelation of Himself and who He is, to us. For the Saviour's call to abide in Him, for His joy to abide in us, for His word to abide in us (John chapter 15).

And then the rain cleared. Things are falling in place and tis a work-free, worry-free weekend! My biggest problem is what to bring to a birthday party later today... oh joy!

Art All Around

I think there is art everywhere you look.
Photos from a Saturday jaunt earlier this year.
Introducing...HDB art!

typography...


















photography / slice of life / social commentary...


















modern art


















and my personal favourite, something rothko-like. and incidentally, it would make a pretty skirt pattern :)


















- The End -

Quiet Retreat

It has been tough at work.
Imagine having monday blues start on friday evening.
But I am cheered to know that my family loves me no matter what, and that I have friends who will stand by me. And that even if I don't do well in work, I can still do well in other areas of my life.

***
I wrote that in Jan but was sleepy and depressed at the time so the post languished in the drafts folder until now. I'm back, woo hoo!

The 1-day quiet retreat I attended was good. It was good to slow down and be quiet (quieting even my anxious thoughts, for instance) and let God's word impact me.

Right now

I am resting on my bed
Watching the sky
Feeling happy for this respite
I have about 10 minutes before I have to get moving
Signed up for an inductive bible study workshop this morning
After which I hope to have a nice lunch
And sigh I have work to do
Before i get to the evening when we have a young adults' fellowship
group

Phew.

I was just reading facebook updates and was amused by the common
thread - people relieved to get to the weekend after a traumatic week,
people up to their ears in work with deadlines looming...

In the past few weeks, I have been cheered by several things, like
encouraging words and my continual stream of hillsong and planetshaker
songs in my ears (iPhone was great buy indeed :p). Speaking of which,
hillsong kids' Love Never Fails really cheered me up. "Did Jesus
really say we should love those/who hurt our feelings and step on our
toes?" Hee.

Also, I have been so cheered by the psalms. Gotta run so more next time.

Admired but not bought

'It photographs well next to my bag' was just not reason enough to purchase the dress :)

One - I was glad they didn't have it in my size.
Two - this shop's dresses were about $100 on average a year or two ago, and it's gone up about $70. Crazy!
Three - I am trying to think thrice before I buy something. I have so much stuff, it takes just a little effort to think of alternatives that probably already exist in my cupboard.

And four - I am headed to Jakarta (aka land of outlet shopping) in May...

The day winds down

Feet. Hurt.
It was a full day. Shopping after dinner, which came early now that
cell group now starts and ends earlier. It was funny to come out and
still see sunlight. Wow it sure was early. So we took the rare
opportunity to go gallivanting. Whee.