what i've been up to...

merry belated christmas to all! and an early new years... i probably won't be writing before then. Maybe! I just finished uploading a whole heap. I've been busy baking and sewing and have come up with 2 items of clothing and a whole bunch of
cookie. lots and lots of things reallllly. Also.. i DO have to do a re-sit sometime in january so i will be a busy little bee until then.. but for now.. here are some of the adventures i've been up to.

little creature on brunswick :delish

hehe hey sam.. nice jug

success!! -fully retarded

ah assassin's creed II

mollases cookies

and now we learn to breathe once more

"its over! its well and truly over!" i exclaimed happily over the phone. i left out the bits about the fact that i will probably have to do a resit.. but i don't care too much. i'm free to bask in the sun, and take pretty pretty pictures, and bake and perhaps if i'm reallly good, i may just exercise. also, my beautiful niece has arrived. this makes me extremely extremely happy and excited... the "kick your feet with excitement" sort of happiness.

cardi beads& shoes: opshop

top: one piece swimsuit from grade 4

jeans: jay jays

its all so exciting and terrifying

exams signify the coming of a holiday season and the end of my mental stability.. i kid, sort of.

ah summer

today i'm sitting in the lounge with the doors to the deck open and the smell of jasmine wafting in through the large timber frames. There's a slight breeze coming thorough and the sky has turned into its lovely purple haze and i sit back and wish i didn't have to study for an exam and i didn't have to go in to uni tomorrow and i could just sit on the deck and play with the silly bounding heap outside otherwise known as Ruby the basset. I have plenty of things to write about.. but i haven't had much time to sit and recollect my thoughts or go out the the field down the road and lie down on the cricket pitch and ponder... I also need to remind myself to meet up with clara and ali cause i haven't had a good sit down with these ladies in a fair while.. and i do miss them so..anyway it's back to work and it's another sunny day tomorrow!

bring on the picnic baskets and gingham rugs

p.s i love you

maladresse

as promised the first sketch. oh woe, tis the exam season soon. it's really not the nicest time of the year. cash is running verrry low. things aren't quite working out at the moment. but thats okay. : ) i have liddle bits of life that make everything okay. like when it's been hailing and raining and you get a good spot of sun. i'm very much looking forward to the next 5 years. i think it'll be rather splendid. Oh Mao's last dance is MUST see. 500 days of summer? not impressed... it was okay. but thats all it was.

mmm

i love the weather when it's sunny and breezy and i'm back in summer dresses and having picnics with a certain someone. ultimate bliss... plenty a sketches coming soon.

letters in the mail

.the ability to communicate.

.to write letters.

.to put the effort into all the little tiny things that make relationships extra special.

i got a letter in the mail today.

i usually only get letters from uni and the bank.

boring, paperwork stuff.

my uncle had sent me a note telling me he loved me very much and he was heading to china for a missions trip.

he'll be gone for two weeks so he sent me all of his petrol fuel vouchers.

strange.

but lovely.

i love my family

my handbags.. it overfloweth

with breakfast food and uni books and sketchbooks. I have been rather pleased with myself of late, I have found 4 pairs of shoes that I love.. and they fit.. AND are amazingly comfy. I also spent my last dollar on them but it was so worth it because my normal flats had holes in them where the water would seep through on cold rainy melbourne days.

In other news..

in dec last year i headed over to cambodia with a couple of mates on a missions trip.. there we gave out food at the slums and the garbage tip. On other days we taught english classes amd it was common practice for us to exchange emails with the students so they could practice their written english... ALAS, these brought an  influx of weird and strange declarations of love for me and my travel buddies. Amongst these were : proposals and expressions of interest for courtship, requests for money and lastly, a request for a tuktuk from oh, lets just say Bob.

now it was all really funny until Bob decided to compose multiple emails on why we should buy him a tuktuk and when he would return the money by. it was getting rather annoying and thus i vented to a friend of mine[A] who, lo and behold recieved the exact same email from Bob.

is it me or is it really rude to ask people for money, assuming they have money in the first place? anyway i attempted to write some sort of passive aggressive letter to let him know that i would not be giving him any money as i am broke. somehow i don't think it was heavy enough on the aggresive..also.. i imagine he thinks very highly of himself as he thought he could get away with writting the same letter to A and I and not get caught out... you FAIL my friend.. you failed alot.

oh the guy next to me is looking at my computer and i just glanced over... someone likes his asian ladies... creepy.

and if one day you wake up

and find that you're missing me....

have you ever lost a friend momentarily for whatever reason only to rekindle it again and find what it was that made you fall in love with them in the first place? its happened a fair few times in the last few weeks and if i could draw/film the images that i can see in my head i would be able to show you exactly how it makes me feel... it's like a drop of paint splashing into your soul, livening up nooks and crannies you forgot existed. And they'd grow outwards and fizzle off into every other part of you. Or like someone playing an instrument and you find yourself unfathomably happy when you hear a once familiar tune.. oh the wonders of rediscovered friendship...

also.. i found the cutest cafe.. 

which also makes me very happy

not as happy as you

the many faces of ruby

in the meantime

breakfast food at my house on a lazy day looks like this:

strawberries and bananas with 

chocolate cream and oreo cookie bits..

dessert looks like this

lunch and dinner consist of cadbury chocolate bars... i kid.. also you know what is really annoying? when parent tell you to watch a show and they crack the shits when you don't.. and when you're watching something genuinely interesting they crack the shits too..cause that just happened like a minute ago.

 no cupcakes for them i say.

le potrait de dorian gray

strange book.. read it.. oh also, penguin books have come up with a lovely range of classic books with the most amazing covers. all the cool kids have them.. on another note. i've been doing a bit of sewing and baking and sketching and what not. SO pictures and a proper post shall follow shortly..

in other news..

i'm terribly excited! i'm going to be an aunty! 

heck i'm gonna be the best aunty every.. 

eek i think i will start sewing a toy for my new nephew/niece.. 

oh gosh, i think i'm gonna get so clucky.

i'm gonna smother the kid with love.

weekend mornings

are for:

 -sleeping in

 -staying under the doona warm and snug and giggling

-chai soy french toast with cinnamon sugar

-chocolate pancakes with strawberry sauce

-big brekkys with salmon and gourmet sausages

-rooibos teas

-apple and guava juice

-french music

-and most importantly 

FRIENDS

i had the most amazing weekend. ever.

p.s: i ♥ you 

secret note #1: i really liked not having to live with my parents... now they're back i want to move out.

is that mean? 

raving review: caffe e cucina

caffe e cucina

the food:

lovers of pasta and all italian food.. come closer as i tell you of the wonderful delights of this cosy little place where my taste-buds embarked on a journey of sublime flavours that came together like a well composed masterpiece.  I think i heard angels singing when i bit into a most perfect, well formed, gnocchi i have ever tasted and the lightness of it left me giddy with astonishment. my plate of gnocchi left me smiling hours after dinner was over. i didn't even detest the fact that it was vegetarian, cause it had my to favourite vegetables in it, hence i was very satisfied. I will never understand why people dislike mushrooms and/or aubergines.

[side note: aubergines don't exist on bloggers dictionary by aborigines do. is it weird that an eggplant is affiliated with an aboriginal? ].

service:

now, i'm abit biased just cause i think any place that speaks a european language to you when you walk in the door, is fantastic. BUT I realized that my repetoire of italian words and phrases were very limited to oh, i don't know, cafe latte? spaghetti bolognese?affagatos and chinottos and you get the idea. So my first logical reaction when the waiters spoke to me in italian was to revert to french...

[oh, très embarrassant ].That aside, the service was excellent. I think more places need to hire waiters like them.*coughgreccos&eatinghousecough*

I was talking to a friend and we both agreed how good service makes SUCH a difference. We used to go to this place every friday night and we've stopped cause they were just rude..

and so was the manager.

atmosphere:

it was definitely nice albeit a bit small but i guess another word for small is cosy? It was cute, there was this table of 2 by the window which was tiny and looked out to the street and it had a little gardenbox and all. So perfect for the couple that were there i reckon. It's not too noisy which i like and its got all these lovely vintage campari bitters and mamma mia olive oil posters on the walls. Very charming.

famous for:

scialatielli di mareal cartoccio

complaints:

none.

So if you are ever walking down chapel street i highly recommend you stop over at caffe e cucina. 

Definitely earns a rating of 5 stars.

oh also, the menu is one of those where it's impossibly hard to try and guess the pronunciation.

*****

dear miss teo

*hello hot stuff*

i can't wait to have you over!

(i don't even care that you dance with a lesbo). it's going to be epic.. haha i'm thinking of our dinner menu for those few days...i have a lot of shopping to do.. it's terribly exciting. We'll talk nonsense and study of course... but nonetheless it'll be splendid.

ily xoxo

is it weird slash superficial that..

1. i used slash instead of / and say lol and laugh at the same time

2. i like waking up from naps at 5 pm in the afternoon when it's dark and wintery and pretending that i woke up reallly early and feeling really pleased with myself because i can NEVER usually wake up at 5 am without hitting the snooze button a million times

3. i think of my life in 3 person POV when i'm in the shower?

4.i walk out of the shower halfway whilst shampooing my hair to see how high i can pile it up

5. i come out of the previously mentioned shower and try and see if i can put my hair in a really high bun to see how i would look as a sikh? (sorry to any sikhs are reading my blog i'm not trying to offend anyone i just wanted to see how it would look like)

6. i come out with a million ways to wrap my bath towel around me to see how many different ways one could wear a bath towel and still look fashionable ( maybe this is why i shouldn't be a fashion designer ) after pretending to be a sikh

7. i would go back to to sweaty balmy climate of malaysia just so i don't have to deal with schizophrenic skin that can't decide if it's dry one minute or oily the next

8. i have planned how my future house will look in my head..(this will be in a future blogpost i think)

9. i treat my limbs like people, insisting that the amount of attention and care paid to each limb is determined by the amount of work i have done with it.. ..(yeah okay this is weird)... and then i feel guilty for practicing favouritism..

10. i buy most stuff based on how it smells...schwarzkopff makes me dizzy..

11. i'd love to fill my house with a million musical instruments.. just cause i think they are so full of character... and i would want to learn all of them eventually..

12. i groan and mope about my course and how much i want to do design.. but then i again, sometimes i think i won't be any good at it.. i just like drawing but i haven't for so long...

13. i wish i was more into the organic thing... for some reason, i think this would be easier if i was white... 

14. i secretly wish i could use a sewing machine well enough to make dresses, i think it could either have amazing or scary results..

15. i whinge about not having time, but i'm on facebook constantly.

16. sometimes i pretend i live in my house with strangers, i talk more to my family that way, the conversations are more interesting..

17.i forget what i was going to write...

18.oh i wished i was french or spanish or something interesting.. there are so many asians on earth.. it's like being a toyota, when you could be an aston martin... or something..

19. i don't particularly care if i get a fast car or a mechanically sound car, i just want it to be vintage and cute.. i'll probably regret saying this when i've broken down on the freeway on the way to uni.

20. i wish i picked more fights and told people what i reallllly thought of them. i also wish i was bigger so i wouldn't lose aforementioned fights.

 

this particularly page in the pokey puppy book particularly appeals to me. for what reason, i do not know.

i imagine they exported these to asia and needed to write instructions cause you'd get a multitude of asian shouting into their phones going "harh? haalow?" 

but anyway, how cool is this phone.. i will have one in my imaginary future house

the ridiculous expenses that i will hypothetically make

it wouldn't be so hypothetical if i had the funds to buy them. 

I... just wouldn't have anywhere to put them.

oh i will, when i buy my hypothetical house.

hypothetical house, mine would look.. well, awesomer

one of these, maybe two

definitely one of these, maybe more antique though.

oh that is rather quaint is it not?

oh my entire previous post that i had drafted went missing. Anyway, i think everyone who loves all things pretty,vintage and just downright quaint should take a trip or perhaps a leisurely stroll to Maling St, if it isn't too far from your abode...[ see what going to pretty places that reminds me of Jane Austen novels does to me. Anyway,i was running low on cash but i walked into this shop and i saw the cutest wrapping paper and i proceeded to empty my coin purse out. My mother looked at me as if i was stupid for spending $7 on a sheet of paper. Perhaps i'm just a slave to pretty things. It is undeniably cute. If i had more money i'd be spending it on every single piece they had up there... SO pretty!!!

the whirlwind

i'm back from a wonderful weekend getaway with the most wonderful bunch of people ever. i've been so busy with everything  else that i've sort of drifted away from so many people that i forget how much i miss my friends and why i became friends with them in the first place. ALSO, i'm starting to realise that i'm doing alot of things to make other people happy but it just absolutely kills me [perhaps this explains the over exhaustion where sleep doesn't come easy and when i do i'm dead to the world ]. for now, despite everything good that has happened it feels like my world is crumbling a bit, but worry not, the good bits are kinda duct taping my whole world together for now. sometimes i really just wish God didn't give us free choice and he didn't give us the emotions to care wether or not we had free choice. it would make things so much easier, sometimes i think that people aren't thinking when they say that God gave us free choice because he loved us. If God just made it so that we did everything right we wouldn't have been kicked out of heaven. even if we were, we'd always do the right thing, thus making it impossible for anyone to go to hell.. this whole faith thing. WHY does it have to be so confusing? i have so many unanswered questions, i don't want textbook answers, they don't make sense. {rant off}

this old man was at the top of the wat in siem reap

he was just waiting and waiting for the sunset but his spot got stolen when he got up hence he missed seeing the sun vanish after which it was so very dark

sometimes it feels like  i'm waiting for something spectacular to happen but in doing what someone else wants me to, i'll miss the best bits of my life.

nana date

i had the day off uni today so i went to pick my nan up from a hair appointment and we set off to get lunch... being of asian origin.."white people food" as she puts it.. was out of the question [to my dismay] BUT then i remembered that i was hankering for a good ol malaysian hawker style dish.. my beloved "char kuey teow" and it just so happened every time i go to the this place called "claypot king" it'd be closed. So i finally managed to douse the fires of cravings!

 but anyway, back to my nan... she's in her late 80's and she is tough as nails for someone of her age, sure she walks slower and does things alot slower than she used to, but she did participate in a fundraising marathon.. AND she could probably make a grown man cry. now, sometimes my nan acts up and she tells us how to do things she doesn't know how to do and it annoys the crap out of me. but i had a blast with her today, she was awfully cute when the guy got our order wrong and she pretended like it was fine cause she didn't want him getting into trouble.. and she tipped him anyway later even though i said he got out order wrong... haha and also..she is rather vain [ this is where i get all my shoppoholic tendencies from] i remember her showing me her black and white photos which had been coloured in and finding a box of her old hair pieces which turned her crop of hair into a whopping beehive. I kinda wish i knew her when she was younger, she would've been such a beauty!

i love her clothes : )

dusk escapades...

frankston jetty at 9pm.

we walked down the pier with our bellies filled with pasta. The food wasn't great but the ambience definately was. Oh, it didn't loook like the above picture though... the myriad of colours in the sky is thanks to the slow shutter speed of my camera and long exposure.

mmm jelly cups

 the jelly cups as mentioned in the previous blog.. oh btw. this is a huge achievement for me. I've never had enough patience to wait for the first layer to cool down. so hoorah!

lazy fridays and Canemah

i am sitting smugly in front of the screen with a honey joy in hand and its making me ridiculously happy cause i think there is waaay too much sugar in there. Its a coronary heart attack in cupcake case. I decided i really just needed to do something productive like.. making jellies. which are still setting in the fridge and coconut/chocolate honey joys. No one eats cornflakes but we had them in our pantry so i thought i'd best not let it go to waste. 

Anyway, I know how hard it is on the big wide internet to get recognised so i am going to be featuring new shops from etsy on my blog. Tell you what, its pretty exciting when after sifting through hundreds of stores finding one that reallly catches your eye.  Last night [ i think it was last night ] I stumbled across Canemah who sells all sorts of wonderful things like this :

4th gen Duaflex Kodak Twin Lense + Ansco Pioneer camera

At this store you'll find plenty of collectibles. Wether you're after a working vintage cameras or are just collecting, Canmeh is a great place to start looking for a one of a kind sorta camera. There are old cameras and then there are vintage cameras.. These are vintage and are in pretty good condition. Even if they aren't the seller lets you know the condition they are in but its fairly hard finding old cameras that are mint and ones work well and don't burn a hole in your pockets. I'd definitely be buying one of these babies if i had more than what is left in my current bank account.

For now i will just shoot with these two:

minolta hi-matic F + olympus trip

olympus trip

minolta hi-matic

 Its always been a bit of a hit and miss for me. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to film cameras but the result are so worth it when you get it right. They just don't make em like these anymore. And because i'm in a good mood and feel like spreading the love...

aww. they're kissing xoxo...

flashback!

       

daddy :20 yrs    decades later me : 20 yrs

totally a daddy's girl

the customer is almost usually always right

dear greccos... 

your service was highly unsatisfactory, you forgot our veal scallopini somewhere along the line. which we would tolerate, but when we asked about it no one came back to tell us what was going on. we asked a 2nd time and you said it'd be 4 minutes. It took 10 or so. When one of us complained you said " well,he seems to be alright with it".. dumb move! it would've been smarter to just say sorry about that and move on. when you got back you were rather rude. also, when we said we didn't order the water you brought us, your waiter started speaking in french to his friend.. whilst he may have been saying something completely unrelated, his face clearly indicated who he was talking about.. VERY rude. Your food was great, but the quality of your service means we won't be coming back too often if we do come back. We were sorely disappointed as a few of us who are ourselves in the hospitality industry would have expected a bit more from an establishment like yours. OH and on top of that you charged us for the water we didn't order.....we ended up going to riverland later where things are a fraction of the cost and the service is MUCH FRIENDLIER & ALL AROUND BETTER. their staff actually smile! and don't seem pretentious at all.

to the staff at riverland : you never fail to make an awesomely delicious soy chai latte. I love ordering thing through those huge as windows as i'm always greeted in the nicest way possible. :) 

p.s i love your lamb hotdogs.

"new" but a lil oldschool

i attended a wedding this saturday. i LOVE weddings because i think marriage nowadays is rather under rated. And many probably disagree with me... that living with someone works just as well and there is no need for marriage and what not.. i think if you loved someone enough, then marriage is the way to go. i just all-together love the celebration of well, love. It was simple and nice and very relaxed as it was a nice sunny autumn day and the jazz band, combo bombo, in the background was just simply delightful! I'm completely in love with the double bass. Oh and they wore skinny ties [extra plusses for that! ] Anywho, i was in a teensy bit of a dilemma as all girls usually are events such as these as i had nothing to wear! A walk down chapel st proved futile as hardly any stores stock sizes 4-6. I think there needs to be more petite friendly stores as the only fitting dress i found was $200 and whilst being a very good cut didn't really tickle my fancy that much as it was just.. a bit.. well, boring. It looked good.. but it just didn't have any character really. so i eventually found this darling little dress at forever new for a much friendlier price of $70. I love the detail! And the lace! Oh it was love at first sight..and and! it fitted me perfectly. So if you can't find something you like or they don't make clothes in your size.. check out forever new's collection for this season.

 

"lol coming out of the closet?"