for another fab year to come

this new year’s eve, the boyfriend and i decided to skip the madness of celebrations (including the 39degree heat) and opted for a romantic night in.



Delicious moroccan spiced lamb; check. Romantic candle light setting; check. Wine to compliment; uncheck (the wine was just horrible). Jazz music in background; check.



Fireworks in background; check. The only way it can get more romantic than this is if we had an italian maitre d’ who also can play the violin.



The best thing about staying in this year was that we had front row seats to the fireworks show. Over the years, melbourne has always had fireworks at the yarra river and docklands. But this year, they were lovely enough to have some from flagstaff gardens. And since my apartment is practically right next to flagstaff gardens and with a balcony facing docklands, fireworks were just right in freaking front of my face. As spectacular as it was, it was so loud it felt like i was getting shot in the chest multiple times during a scene of world war 2.

how quick and wild this year has been. It has been an epic year for me; embarked on an adventure around europe, meeting lots of new friends and old friends too.



i also graduated last month; and i mean..FINALLY graduating after 6 long years of university life.



but mostly, i think it was the year to remember for the people i love most.



have a happy happy new year! hope the new year brings all that we wish for.

sent with love

christmas cards; printed, sealed and sent!





merry christmas everyone! a few of my friends were having their graduations at the same time, so congrats too! i’ll post up the cards soon (if anyone actually wants it) but meanwhile, i’ll be gearing up for boxing day sales (insert big heart emoticon).

polka dotted candles

Today i grow another year older. Throughout the many years i’ve learnt again and again that age is just a number. It really is not a big deal to me that i am not getting any younger, or asset-wise; i’m depreciating.

Everyday i learn that no matter how much money there is in my pocket, i would not be as happy as being with the people i love. For now, i am perfectly happy and could not ask for anything more. All i wish for is for themselves to be happy too, and that they would get anything they could wish for. So i am very thankful friends; the 2 cakes that i blew off during the past week, they were for you.

The boyfriend wanted to surprise me too with the perfect beach get-together at brighton beach on the weekend. Sadly the colourful kite broke under the strong winds, it started raining, and the mini sandstorm got sand into the cake. This random guy really wanted to be in my picture though.

Despite the setbacks, nothing beats good company. The cliché jump-shot at the beach with the emotional sunset as the perfect background. How talented they are at jumping; i should’ve forced them to do a h.bday for me.

Someone made a chocolate molten lava cake for me. Split the cake into half and chocolate oooozzess out from the insides. Just FAB.

vintage ghosts

I don’t know if there’s such a thing as a obsessive disorder in thrifting, but i’m experiencing it. I pounce on any warehouse sales i come across to and visiting old musty shops with people’s junk just seems.. exciting. haha. in other words, im a cheapo. refusing to pay full price for high end fashion brands i would really much rather buy off pre-loved items. isin’t it much more special when you actually discover something that other people simply overlooked?

these are just some things i’ve found in the past few months; most of them from camberwell market in melbourne. a hint for shopping there; go when the stallholders are being forced to leave, they would rather just sell it near to nothing than bring back their stock with them.



my boyfriend thinks otherwise. he gets freaked out that i’m wearing some stranger’s pre-owned clothes.

and no. so far i’ve not encountered any unnatural occurrences.

action packed november

i’ve been missing in action for the past month. if you’ve been wondering what happened to me, i was the walking zombie at the university campus, the one holding the UHU glue in one hand and a cutter in the other. dangerous? very much so. but i have this aura where people tend to steer away when i come near anyway.
The final review went alright. In the end i think the guest critiques didn't know what to comment on. How would anyone comment on the design of a war bunker that is highly impractical, abstract and will never be built? but.. im SO GLAD THE SEMESTER IS OVER BWAHAHA. i didn’t make a physical model (it would be impossible to build) but made a book instead.



pretty happy with the outcome. Lots of people had fun flipping through the spaces at the GRADEX exhibition (too late. the exhibition is over and done with). And now comes the next chapter in my life. A career. Stay tuned.



oh. my older brother and his 2 chicas came to visit me too. you’d think that it would be easy bringing 3 adults that are actually older and wiser than you around melbourne, but i was so exhausted at the end of each day. now they’ve gone and the apartment crammed with 8 people back to 3… its getting a little quiet =(


here in australia, november is the month for MOVEMBER! grow a mo to spread the awareness of men’s health! while men with moustaches are many now, chivalry is still, hard to find.

Sydney D2

We woke up pretty early considering the late night partying the day before, and headed straight for FOOD! such gluttony. But apparently Din Tai Fung in World Square had the best dumplings in Sydney and yes they were good. Cant say how it would compare to the ones in Shanghai but they are good enough for seconds!



We then waited nearly an hour for the free cbd shuttle bus towards circular quay. Considering that the free bus were supposed to come at every 10 minutes; you could say it made us very very grumpy.



We got acquainted with the weekend market at the Rocks before proceeding for Pancake on the Rocks. I think its such a tradition for every tourist to just try them at least once.






It was getting late for the cruise to Manly so we hung around the Opera House instead, where Sydney presented us with a beautiful sunset. Stayed abit for the screening of Happy Feet in front of the steps of the Opera House. I didn’t think the movie was a very good one but it was adorable when kids started dancing on the platform provided with the penguins on screen.





We ended the night with dinner at the Belgian Beer Cafe. At that point our camera batteries were already exhausted from all the photo snapping; but we had mussels and kangaroo meat. I would really recommend them, I’m not a big fan of mussels but they didn’t taste fishy at all and the kangaroo meat was sooo tender. Its funny to know how Australia is the only country that would have their own national animal as a delicacy.

We were unhappy that they didn’t have mango beer as we read in some reviews, so we proceeded to Löwenbräu Keller for them. I have to say that the place is HUGE and has a very authentic german feel to it. Even the waiters and waitresses were dressed up in the traditional lederhosen and dirndl. Thumbs up for extra effort!

Sydney D1

We went on a food rampage in Sydney last weekend. There’s nothing better than good food with great company with perfect sunny weather!! It was a well needed break from rainy Melbourne and all the deadlines that came with it. It really was the perfect time to just not think about work for once.

(ps: alot of the photos come from ym’s camera. just cause she has the more advanced one!)



We touched down on Friday morning and arranged with the hostel for transportation. While waiting, the dog-sniffers were doing their round of training in the airport. They were so adorable, was so tempting to just give them a big big hug! Except that i might be reprimanded for obstructing security or something. Anyways after a minor hiccup of the bus not showing up to pick us up (!!) we found ourselves in maze backpackers which i would totally recommend because its just so bloody close to nearly every single darn thing.






Brunch at Chat Thai! We tried to make a booking for dinner and found out its booked out till the next month! Nevertheless we did make it for brunch =) and it really is worth the hype because it is just soooo delicious!! there would be long lines for dinner so if at anytime you want to try, do go around lunch time or for supper. oh and do remember to try their coconut desserts! (photo above) Made in a takoyaki pan, its crispy on the outside and gooey in the inside with sweet coconut cream and chives. on nom nom nom.





We then made our way to Bondi beach for some sun and sand and pigged out on pork ribs at Hurricane’s. Its great to go on a food-pigging trip with your 2 other girlfriends because then you don’t need to act oh-so-polite and just eat with your hands and sauce all other your mouth. teehee



After dinner, the lovely waitress suggested some desserts to us only then did i realise; we needed to try DEEP FRIED MARS BAR!! ohmigod they were sooo good. of course totally fab for my thighs too. We got them from a fresh fish store on the corner of the block facing the beach. Don’t be fooled by the photo. it really tastes better than it looks!

And Friday ended with a little partying at flow at world square. =) asian club; what more can i say. but what’s great about it was that it was practically 2 minutes walk from our backpackers hostel! can’t complain of sore feet when it’s just around the block!

feel my eyes on your back

I admit it, i stalk people online. HAH. Everyone does it. That's why you've got an account on facebook isint it? To stay 'connected' to your 'friends' which is.. basically everyone you've met in your life. Sometimes you don't even know that person in real life, or even their names.. but you would find them and stalk them.. all in the name of entertainment. Follow their every status update, picture comments, photos they've been tagged in or wall-to-wall conversations that are meaningless.

Ok, i don't think i'm to that extent. But really, how would i know who-married-who or who-broke-up-with-who if not for the largest social network on the net? Not so sure if it really works in terms of 'social networking' tho. =/



Booyah. i'm obsessed with taking photographs of everything i see too. I'm going for a short trip to Sydney this weekend. Wait for the photos on facebook!

or maybe not.

by the way

if you didn't know already i am currently doing my final semester in architecture where we would have to propose our own thesis in question. of course this is rad and all where we would have the freedom of doing something we're passionate about, this was how i felt when my lovely tutor briefed us on the next 6 weeks to come;



i iz dead monkey. keel me nao.

yea i'm just exaggerating. but inside i was really panicking. this was the one chance that we get the freedom to do anything we want, yet i'm stuck. there's so many things i want to do, and i've got to choose just ONE, and finish it within 6 weeks. while other universities conventionally stretch their thesis projects throughout a whole year i've got 6 weeks. how fab.



maybe i'm just stressing myself out with too high expectations. till then, let me flaunt my (amateur-ish) yet pretty photograph skills when cherie voon came with bokeh filters. it was fun.

the week in august

emo post just bear with me. i feel so mentally and physically exhausted these days. As life throws more rocks at me, i get irritated at people much easier, seriously demotivated to do anything and the sleeves of my sweater gets wet too. I'm living by Barney Stinsons's motto though:  

"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be AWESOME instead".

Being awesome isint easy. But heres a peek into 5 good awesome things, just as a reminder to myself.

1) the thicker folder cost me more than 3 times cheaper than the thinner one. wert?



2) oh i got my coffee fix. Coffee in the nederlands was horrible. and horribly expensive. Then theres the exception when the italian boy made espresso. Divine.



3) got my sushi fix too. come into my mouth you little critters.



4) participated in the superstudio design competition for my 2nd year in a row. it was great fun to be working with hong again this year and wk where loads of random and (most of the time) nonsensical ideas were tossed about. the brief this year was to rejuvenate invisible spaces in the city through the theme of play. we took inspiration from the ted talk by jane mcgonigal (watch it and LOL! with me) and had the citizens of melbourne embark on their own epic adventure. let's just say we're one step away from an epic win. pray for us =D





5) the class is designing conceptual bridges for the semester. at the moment mine is less than awesome but just being able to attend such a challenging and interesting class conjures rainbows in front of my eyes.





Whats keeping us from being awesome? i can tell what's mine but why cant i just overcome it?

grateful for all that i have

The hostage drama in Manila was shocking. Seeing bloodshed in movies and video games is so different from watching it live on the news channel, knowing that its actually happening in real life. Personally I thought the police did a horrible horrible job. I understand that any person would be scared shitless yadda yadaa but those attempts at breaking in was outright pathetic. Felt SO much like vomitting when I saw the spray of gunshots through the window, knowing someone was behind there and even more when a body was pushed through the front door of the bus. It was like watching a really really bad dream and was praying so hard that no one else would get hurt. My heart goes out to the innocent lives lost. Dear friends; i'm glad you're with me today.

happy mornings

as i said thank you to the cute coffee barista, i dropped my coffee on the pavement while walking away. it dropped with a huge splash. and my whole face turned into a bright red tomato. but he gave me a new one right away and said not to worry about it. nice people just make my early mornings so much brighter.

some loving for your stomach

good morning. i know you're hungry so i made these sandwiches with all my love