blog revamped.

well as you can see, I have revamped my blog! It now fulfills every one of your (and my) girly desires.

1. it is pink
2. it is delightfully stripey
3. it has a flower
4. it has lacy looking borders
5. it has ribbons on it

nadia = win

=)

ooh guess what came in the mail today??=)).

my pretty ribbons in a golden box! I feel as if Christmas came early!!! weeeeeee!! =)

All this for 2 pounds can you believe it? I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. This is by far the BEST 2 pounds I've spent in my life. Along with M&Ms and lollipops!

where are my ribbons?.

I placed an order for some ribbons last friday and they haven't arrived yet=( I am usually quite a patient person but I paid £3 for delivery charges when my ribbons were only £2!

Something is not right...

Oh where are you my pretty ribbons? I hope you have not lost your way...=(

oh no i'm lost!! (oh well, what else is new).

Yup that's right! Some things never change and me getting lost is one of them. Be it in Melbourne, Malaysia or London, it makes no difference to me! I was on the way to Kilburn today to view a property with the mindset that I will NOT get lost if it's the last thing I do. Sammie has doubted my navigational skills for the Last Time I tell you!

As I arrived at my destination, (note: without getting lost), I silently hooted with triumph and danced a little victory jig. So great was my joy that I completely ignored the flabergasted glance thrown my way by the parking attendant on the street.

Upon viewing the property, the agent brought me to this other property. Not too far away i don't think.... And when the moment came for our goodbyes, he asked if I needed a lift anywhere. With dignity and pride, I replied, 'Why no thank you kind sir. I think I'll be able to find my way just fine'.

Oh boy was that a mistake...=( And so I walked... and walked.... and walked... and walked... when the streets became decidedly dodgier and after being approached by the 467th crazy person, I finally called Sam at work and sobbed. The poor dude had to cyberwalk me to civilisation and wallah! I'm home nowwww hallelujah!!!!!

There are many things I am embarrassed about and I have decided that this is not going to be one of them. I figured, 'hey! this is a MASSIVE improvement from my Melbournian days where I got lost 22 times in the first month.'=)

finally!.

I'm feeling better now!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE=)))))))) sigh I do tend to fall sick easily.

to love is to let go.

I have been having many many thoughts lately. Mostly about family, friends, life and love. And I've come to a point once again of counting my blessings.

I have been so blessed to be in the midst of people who have let me go with words of blessing, hope, encouragement and best wishes though they sometime do not fully agree with what I do. Yet instead of holding me back, they bid me farewell with the assurance that they'll be there to catch me if I fall.

I remember telling my folks that S and I wanted to work things out again and they asked me ,'How girl? Your life is in Melbourne and his is in England', and I replied, 'Well I guess
I'll have to move to England then don't I?'... And all they did was smile at me with worried eyes. It sounds like such a simple story, yes? But you might appreciate it more if you knew that it was these very same parents who I had to beggggg for dear life to go to Genting Highlands for ONE NIGHT with my friends. And here they are, allowing me to make my own choices to travel halfway across the world to start a new life.

Ann & We-Ki, who are also my parents (albeit aussie ones), had similiar reactions. Though they are more fierce. haha

Ives, Sue, Pheebs, Val, who made time to catch up with me every single week before my departure, always saying how much they're going to miss me yet never making me feel guilty for leaving because they know how it will pain me so. Not to mention, planning the most awesome farewell party for me ever.

My siblings, whose very presence of support makes me calm and reassured.

You are all such blessings to me and I love you all so much. Please know it=) can't wait to see you all!!!! it might be sooner than you think *wink*=)

ann and we-ki

the siows=)

pheebs, samantha, me and winnnie

charles with the guitar!

speech by sarah-ann

aidan soh

the soh and siow boys=)

sarah soh

isaac and nick

jamie, ann and pheebs

aaron. sarah and devon

when in london, please visit :

Portobello Road at Notting Hill. Please I beg you I'm not kidding. It is the prettiest, bustliest place and no amount of rain will dampen your mood. I can testify to that because rain was what we had today and it didn't dampen my mood one bit at Portobello Road!

I love love love my weekends spent with Michael and Fred. I really really do. Nothing defines the term 'good company' more than these two gentlemen. Michael, an antique lover is a man after my own heart. And fred, oh freddie freddie freddie what else can i say than i love you to bits. BITSS i tell you BITSSSSS!!!

And S, well i'm sure you all know how I feel about S by now=).

michael and me

sammie!

by the river

and by the river again

the gherkin on the right!

sammie and i at borough market

spot fred, mick and sam

cheese, anyone?

sam, fred and i

one of the loveliest church i've seen in london.

it's in notting hill!

reliving a hobby.

is how i spend some of my free time in London=) I'm not good at it but I do try because i love it so. I'm still quite rusty though. But here's hoping that practice makes perfect! Here are some of my practice sketches along with explanations of why the random selection of subject matter.

sketch 1: hed kandi art
reason: because sam likes hed kandi art
technique: tentatively using hard lines and soft lines with minimal shading. sorry ar still scared. never use pencil for so long=p

sketch 2: copy of internet sketch of nude
reason: because i suck at nudes and i need to practice because i think good nudes are a true work of art
technique: expanding my use of hard lines, soft lines and shading to accentuate body contours=)

sketch 3: sketch of eye
reason: because chuenie said that if a person has nice eyes, he/she is automatically good looking and i have to admit that it is true
technique: less with the lines and more of the shading

sketch 4: horse (digby)
reason: because michael likes horses and digby is gorgeous
technique: ooh my first attempt after a long while with watercolours! though i used the colour pencil watercolours because i didn't bring any of my paints to london due to the lack of baggage space and the cheapest medium i could find was colour pencils and beggars can't be choosers!

more to come! unless i find something more interesting to do=) in which case, art might just have to wait.=p

yet another wonderful weekend at leighton buzzard.

Thanks to Leighton Buzzard, I'm back in London now feeling like a fairy! I had such an excellent time there yet again=) Spent the whole of Saturday morning sitting in the front of a horse box with Fred and Michael. (it's a giant lorry to fit a horse)* (sammie was still fast asleep so he missed it but he wouldn't have enjoyed himself anyway)** We were on our way to pick up a horse. Lost our way and ended up having breakfast in the horse box. Truly we were too ravenous for words.

Spent the afternoon napping away weeeeeeee! and take it from me, there's no better way of waking up than to the fresh smells of a home cooked dinner=) had a lovely couple over for dinner and i had my first very very light wine. it was alright... quite yum. haha

Alas, this time around, there was not enough time for horse riding. =( but no matter, there's always next month!=)

walking in the fields

me and my favourite person

at deadmau5.

pronounced; deadmouse NOT dead-mau-five, a mistake commonly made by many including myself in the early days.

me, sam, and jessie

sammie's bestie mally and penny

s and i

hmm.. not sure who... plum dj maybe?

s and i

sam, jessie, malcolm and penny

deadmau5

deadmau5 again!

the end

k in london.

sam and i have greatly been anticipating krystina's arrival since the day we heard she was coming to london for a one-miserable-night stopover. well, one's better than none i suppose=S

a rooftop with unbelievable views somewhere off oxford st.

drinks after dinner

drinks before dinner

at dinner

l to r: jessie, malcolm, krystina, me, sammie and phik wern

something out of the ordinary.

It seemed like a perfectly normal Sunday morning. You know, where you wake up, brush your teeth and wash your face, put the kettle on, make yourself a cuppa tea, open the fridge for milk, say hello to the crabs scuttling around the fridge compartments, get dressed for church, slap on some lip gloss, grab your keys and off you go.

wait a minute..........

did i just see 2 live crabs in the fridge compartment??!!!!! can't be... lemme go check again. chilli, crab, chilli, mayo, crab.........

CRAP!!!! IS THIS SOMEBODY'S SICK IDEA OF WHAT'S FUNNY?

well here's a newsflash for you, it's NOT!

chilli, crab, chilli, mayo, crab.........CRAB???!!

An explanation was due and and explanation was what I was gonna get! Well basically, Sam's auntie bought live crabs for us to eat. They were placed in a loosely tied plastic bag. Unbeknownst to her, all live things held in captive have one thing and one thing only on their minds; how to escape. So woe is us who had to find that out the hard way.=(

Lessons learnt, buttocks burnt: Never show an ounce of leniency to your next meal, dead or alive.

Now that they're safely in the garden, in a bowl, underneath a ton of bricks, I'm actually finding the whole ordeal a little amusing. tee hee!=p

like chocolate cake.

hmmm was just looking through old photos where i was suddenly awash with nostalgia and warm and fuzzy feelings. like chocolate cake!

oh pheebsy dearest do you remember this?? i can't believe it's been 2 years. missing you heaps

i can't believe i'm 24! seems like a ripe old age. i keep reminding myself that it's well and truly time to grow up. but with s around, i feel like i never have to.=)

with the wind and the fields and the horses at bay, i think i might just fly away, be a dandelion for a day.

lis and i always wondered what's with the kissing pics??! but i've discovered that it's quite fun lis. hahaha... bring on more kissing pics i say!

mos.

as in the Ministry of Sound, is where I was last night. You see, s loves progressive music and i've agreed to accompany him to the ministry of sound for this event called above and beyond. Well, a promise is a promise!=) And so we headed to the ministry promptly at 10pm.

It was alright actually!.... at the beginning........... But as the clock ticked the minutes away, I started having thoughts like, 'i KNOW i should have fished out my earplugs!' and 'oh my... i wonder where all that fog is coming from?!' and, 'omg man with the white cap, you did NOT try to shove past me for the 12467th time!!!' it was very claustrophobic.

s on the other hand, was a happy camper! so as long as there's good progressive music, you can abandon him anywhere.

At 1.30am, I was ready to call it a night. I've been pushed for the LAST TIME I TELL YOU! Chivalrous Sam promptly caught a cab to take us home despite my fruitless attempts at convincing him that i'm alright, really!! I really am truly sorry for making you miss most of above and beyond. Never again I promise=((

All in all, I conclude that the clubbing scene is not one i feel most comfortable at. I'd much rather be at home with a warm mug of tea listening to KT Tunstall. i did try though! (some credit please)

Mummy, I know you're numb with relief over my self dicovery of not liking the clubbing scene.=p don't worry laa

love you too much!=)

the line.

we were on our way out=p

in the box

with the laser lights

and more

more of the line

i can't believe it

mos

more of the box

the gallery

the gallery again

the homesick blues.

I'm having a tummy ache=( i hate having tummy aches but i refuse to allow it to hinder me from doing stuff i would normally do. eg: coming online and blogging.

I'm feeling a little disgruntled at the moment because of a few reasons:

1.) if my calculations are correct, this is the 3rd time i've caught a cold since arriving at London. I think it's the sudden weather changes that's doing me in. Though, I do still stand by London's weather being absolutely Perfect most days=p

2.) and a more painful reason is, I'm feeling a little homesick. As I was setting up my facebook account, I had to go through all my photos to select which to upload. Needless to say. the whole process was a little more painful than i thought it would be.=(

Everyone is a little prone to homesickness, no? And that's why i thank my lucky stars everyday for fred, michael, sophia and sam who makes this process so much easier to bear.=)

i miss ann and we-ki beyond belief

i miss playing games and reading the faraway tree books with joshua and justin

i miss josiah rolling around trying to take his first steps

i miss giggling away with samuel siow about everything and nothing

i miss aidan's, faith's and reuben's antics in the church's creche room

i miss catching up with the girls over tea

i miss the lively chats with s's dad over tea and cookies

i miss dinner and drinks with s's family back in kl

i miss samantha's sunny presence and sarah's kindred spiritship (is there such a word?? ah you know that i mean=p)

i miss holidaying with aaron and sarah at sabah

i miss my family everyday

i miss fancy dress parties in melbourne

i miss community