Special

lovely surprise in the mail from MY

Last week this came to my mailbox. It was a lovely surprise from my good friend, MY. Max Lucado has always been one of my favourite authors. This was a simple reminder that just warmed my heart up. Knowing that each of us is uniquely made and valued by God and those who love and care for us.

Thank you, MY for the thoughtful gift! xx

'Someone who loves you just because you are you.'

It is a vital message we all need to hear. A message we need to share with others. Often.



'You are special, no matter what.'

yes, you. :)

Jin's baby shower

       




















Last Saturday, a bunch of us gathered at Kim & Jin's house for Jin's baby shower. Everyone put in their creativity and made it a wonderful time together. We had blue themed decorations. Kim made the most gorgeous vanilla cupcakes with perfect icing piping skill! He said it took him a long time to get them right. He's a natural i reckoned! Jin made some mobiles out of coloured paper and sewn them into strings of cuteness! Cindy made the loveliest pom poms! Lisa hand-sewn fleece bunting which was so soft. Dao, the chef made some yummy finger food & jelly dessert. David & Bena bought super cute balloons including a gigantic baby shaped balloon. Bena also made dragon themed head accessories.

We indulged in awesome Korean BBQ lunch outside in the beautifully decorated backyard. Perfect weather for outdoor BBQ. We played limbo with balloons under our shirts. We laughed and laughed. After the games, we had freshly brewed hazelnut coffee from Gloria Jeans & enjoyed the cupcakes. Lastly we all gathered together as Jin opened up the presents. Lisa's precious darling, Robyn was enjoying herself too...getting all the attention from the aunties & uncles. And she got to play with the toys first! haha!

It was truly a wonderful time to bless the parents-to-be. =)

Best wishes

x

Jin & Kim & soon-coming, baby KK.

Oh Comely & LWLies

keep your curiosity sacred

It is a magazine that makes people smile, full of quiet moments and stories. Read it with a cup of tea or a toddy.
It inspires people to be creative, talk to their neighbours and explore new things. There are adventures that capture the feeling of being free, stories from people with tales to tell, recipes to warm your heart, and crafty things to make. All these things, wrapped up in beautiful words, illustration and photography.
oh comely is published six times a year, available in over a thousand nice places in the UK as well as internationally. 

- oh comely (about) 

Inside issue 9

A week ago, i came home to a parcel all the way from London! Inside were 2 awesome magazines and one of them was called 'Oh comely' (pictures above). These lovely magazines were from a very kind friend, Anthony as a thank you gift. 

Oh comely is very much like Frankie! It features many interesting, inspiring & witty articles. One that i read was a documentary film about the woman whose body lay undiscovered for three years. Another interesting article was on dead pets and what the writers did with them. One of them put her dead goldfish in the freezer and talked about how she couldn't bear to flush it down the toilet.

I read a few pages here and there, while on the bus to work and sometimes when it's quiet at work. I even tried out the guinness recipe for one of my breakfast last week. My friend commented that wasn't it too early for stout...haha. 

Guinness mushrooms on toasted sourdough

The other magazine was called 'Little White Lies'.

LWLies is a bi-monthly, independent movie magazine that features cutting edge writing, illustration and photography to get under the skin of cinema.

Bold, beautiful and unique, LWLies is a magazine on a mission – to reshape the 

debate across the movie landscape. 

- LWLies (about)



I like the bold graphic and colorful pages. It includes interviews with movie directors and creative people behind all the motion pictures etc. So cool!!

Inside LWLies

Ahoy!

Once again, a big thanks to Anthony for these awesome magazines!

Happy Birthday, Jo!

Last evening, Cindy & i had a lovely catch-up with Jo (My Wey of Life) 

at Senoji Japanese Restaurant, Vic Park.

green tea at Senoji

curry croquette (front) crispy! & tori karaage (back) juicy!

grilled Kingfish head & wing -fresh!

love these drawings on the ceramic plates from Japan

We had prepared a mini birthday surprise for Jo. Her birthday is coming up soon so we thought it would be lovely to celebrate it before she goes on her holiday.

ta-da! 

Tweaked all together 'birthday' cake (recipe adapted from 'Afternoon tea' by Frankie magazine.)
cute cake toppers handmade by Cindy.

and yes, amazingly Jo finished most of the cake! Thumbs up*

(check out her blog to read about her birthday awesomeness)

birthday girl, Jo

it was a memorable evening.

Here's to all the laughter and things we shared together. Cheers!

 Thank you again, Jo for the chocolate treats. They were so yummy! Well done!

made by Jo xoxo

earl grey cookies

Over the weekend when i met up with April, she gave me a jar of earl grey cookies baked by her. 

I like the presentation of the cookie jar. The cookies were yummy.

How did she know i like earl grey?  I should ask her for the recipe. haha.

She loves to sew softies too and she made a giraffe for my niece. How sweet of her! 

Also she's doing a project where she would leave little quote-note tags at random places. She left one at the iconic blue boat shed. And very nice of her to give me one too, attached to the cookie jar. 

Hope someday we will see each other again. Perhaps another day at the beach. haha.

Greetings from Germany

Yesterday i received three surprises in the mailbox! One of them was from Nadine ( Time to Shine ) all the way from Germany. Her sweet notes just cheered me up instantly. =)

Hope you are feeling much better now, Nadine! Good to know that you have lots of friends caring for you.

Cheers to a better brighter New Year!

ps: i love the little stars you sprinkled on the card. =)

Blogger Meet-Up

Brunch date with my blogger buddy, Jo (my wey of life) 

at the Tuck Shop, Newcastle St, Northbridge

this morning.

So finally after months of interactions with Jo online, leaving comments on blogposts & instagram...

we have decided that it's time to meet up!! haha!

So excited about this.

First time ever.

Funny we just clicked straight away...kept talking non-stop. lol!

And she even made me the cutest Christmas cupcakes ever!! 

aww, so sweet of her!

She stayed up late just making them. 

Feel so loved! :)

Jo designed the cute 'Mantou' box too!

So Thanks so much, Jo!!

Cheers!

&

see you real soon again!

Before i die

 a giant chalkboard stenciled with the sentence “Before I die I want to _______”  became a space where we could learn the hopes and dreams of the people around us.

A brilliant thought-provoking idea by Candy Chang, New Orleans. Read about how it came about over here.

this participatory public art project is currently expanding to cities around the world, including Perth during Beaufort St Festival last Saturday. Thumbs up!

It was so interesting to read what others wrote on the chalkboard. Some were funny, some were inspiring.

This really got me thinking...what would you want to do before you die. You could choose to do a million things. But what really matters to you is what it really matters.

Linking in with the international movement, the Before I Die project will encourage festival-goers to add to the festival ‘bucket list’ of the must see and do things within our lives in a blackboard installation.

Go see other walls at the before i die website!

I ask myself before I die I want to...

Awesome friends

In previous posts, i've mentioned a bit about my friend, Janice who recently just celebrated her birthday with her boyfriend, Justin.

Today just seem like a fine day... (some lame excuse...haha) Anyway, i just want to introduce their awesome blogs to you!

Janice's personal lifestyle blog, Jan - be inspired by her passion for life, good food, good music & sewing ideas!

Justin recently started a food blog which is very exciting for the couple! And i said i would help to promote the blog!! lol.

So you should really check out Justin's food blog, A Kitchen for Friends - follow his culinary adventures and try some of the recipes.

As a couple, they are both passionate about God, making good music, singing & cooking top-chef dishes.

Also, check out & subscribe to their youtube channel, JaniceandJustin for some of their covers.

ok, i stole this pic from Janice's blog. =P

oh and also, exciting news! Janice and i are going on a BIG trip to USA in A week's time! Gosh, counting down to the take-off day!!

LA, NYC, Washington DC & Boston, here we come!! Woo-hoo!

15/31: hip hip hooray!

15/31: hip hip hooray!

Today is my dear friend, Janice's birthday! Yellow reminds me of her. It's also represent friendship. I thank God for blessing me with a friend like her. 

{ 31 days project }

scrabble mug is simply too cool!

both of us all decked up for Harajuku, Tokyo 2010 =)

Once again, here's a birthday shout-out to you, Janice for being my awesome friend!! 

lots of love & see you soooon!!

Postcard from Germany

A while ago i swapped a postcard with a lovely blogger called Nadine after reading her post saying that she loves to send & receive postcards. I love to send & receive postcards too. Used to sign up for postcard swaps at swap-bot.com. I have collected many handmade postcards too. It's always interesting to read what they wrote. It could be a little something about themselves, their hometown & recent encounters.

All the way from Germany!

 lovely handwriting. =)

Once again, thank you Nadine for your lovely postcard! Go check out her lovely blog now!

Party Pictures

So my dear friend, Janice has been sending me photos of her birthday party via mms today. And i just wanted to share the pictures here! They looked so good! =)

the wooden spoons for the Beeramisu they made!

the paper bunting & the pom poms *she made some gorgeous ones too

the drinks looked so GOOD with the paper straws!

and i sent her this... lol.

To the Awesome Duo, J & J

i have a pom pom hanging above my bed. =P