i am...

in love with the little cousin. i think it is pretty evident by now how i can't stop gushing over her. indulge me please. she is coming to 8 months and has just started learning swimming...or rather floating... in a tub. she is starting to look more like a boy. an uber cute one, therefore, the need to dress her up in girly hats and pastels. i'm not sure about the blue frock in the last pic but still...she is too cute. her eyes are HUUUUUUUUUMONGOUS. needless to say, i simply couldn't resist putting up one more. oh yes, if you're wondering about the hair.... let's just say i had little hair when i was a baby too. so i'm not too worried. :)

daydreaming about the lovely day. after browsing through my favourite sites for endless inspiration, I am more or less set with the colour palette and ideas for invites

listening to Bruce Springsteen and adding this to the list of songs

awed at this gorgeous glass chapel (Thorncrown Chapel) via mandy lynne. what a stunning place to wed.

feeling crafty. arranging flowers after chancing upon the brilliant blue chrysanthemums.

also writing a report... that is causing some damage to the brain. seriously. i've sat on this... stared at the screen for eons... and the words are taking an awfully long time to materialise.

smitten with Little Part 1 cafe... flowers. glass jars. fairylights. chalkboard.

looking forward to

- five weddings over the 2 months! 27th, 28th Nov. 12th, 13th, 25th Dec.

- moving to the new place at the end of dec after staying at aunt's place for some time now.

- December. the season of peace, love, joy. of fuzziness. hot chocolate. endless fairylights and friends.

lifted up by this which gives me hope,

"Last week, a very hateful group announced that would be protesting outside my college's center for Jewish life. They planned to carry hateful signs and to jeer at Jewish students. When they arrived, they were met by 1,000 students and professors standing in the rain, and left quickly because they could not be heard over the songs of love."

tickled by buddy and the boy

thankful.

moments

visiting Hoppy and baby aashna. she has pretty long eye lashes and falls asleep in the most adorable way in her daddy's arms. here is Michelle carrying the baby. looking forward to her wedding in 2 weeks!

celebrating the birthday of the boy and Aunty Kim, our bible study group's resident chef. she whips up the most delicious food every dg - honey mustard chicken... homemade otah... popiah... thai curry... penang goodies....the list goes on. we are very pampered indeed. we had dinner at BTC guild house. the boy discovered the place while teaching there. the food is absoooolutely amaaaaaazing. former les amis chef. set dinner (5 courses for about 40dollars is a steal) presentation is lovely. the food - yummilicous.

Mr Chng's birthday! and the long awaited class photo.

I will miss you all.

it's time for the baby cousin :) she's growing beautifully. uber big eyes and cute cheeks. she likes to stare out of the window for eons looking at birds flying. i'm trying my best not to fall into the whole goo goo gaga peekaboo thingie and talking to her like an adult... so the walk along the corridor with her in my arms goes like this, " wow...look at that... what is that? that's a tree... and this over here is a rose... a pink rose... here's a plant and this is the leaf!" i hope she doesn't find it annoying. love her loads.

step back in time ...

in shades of blue.

shower of love

June 7th

after the surprise, the boy and i went for a lovely morning eggs benedict at choupinette. after that, we headed down to Far East Flora and picked out the flowers needed for the shower. Went back home and started the arrangements, using ikea glass bottles. We had lots of fun and were so excited to see the eventual effect. pretty blue and white hydrangeas. LOVE LOVE LOVE HYDRANGEAS (:

Fosters rose cafe is beautiful for such an occasion.

wood. flowers. vines. tea. scones. a bunch of girlfriends. polaroids.

a radiant bride.

SIMPLY PERFECT.

i do and farewells...

HG is one of the boy's best buds. He met na in the second year of university and their relationship has blossomed into a beautiful love story. i was really glad when na became a familiar face in our group gatherings, that i'm no longer the only gal around. So, when the call came in march from Hg when the boy and i were at Night safari that they were getting married in May, we could not contain our excitement. HG had to leave for the states to do his PHD in August so the fact that they could pull off the wedding in two months was simply amazing. The wedding was a beautiful affair to remember. The solemnisation took place at the gorgeous Raffles Lawn.

My favourite shot of the couple.

making the grand entrance as husband & wife

toast to the couple and a chat till 2am

Before they left, we had a fabulous staycation at The beautiful Beaufort.

The sun. the sand. the sea. the fun. the joy. the laughter. the food. the friendship. the love.

farewell dinner days later at Little India

a farewell gift

the buddies

Adieu.

a letter to Mrs Haiks.

hello Mrs Haiks.

another year has passed. happieeeeeeee birthday! something's different this year. You're married! You and Haiks look so sweet together. I'm still thinking of the day of the wedding. you look breathtakingly beautiful and i'm so blessed to be there to witness the journey every step of the way. can you believe that it wasn't that long ago that we were sitting in starbucks talking about boys. and tada! you're with a fabulous boy! forever and ever! did i tell you how much i adore your chic bob? i will blog more of your bridal shower and wedding when i see the photos!

We will dance

When the sun is shining

In the pouring rain

We'll spin and we'll sway

And we will dance

When the gentle breeze

Becomes a hurricane

The music will play

And I'll take your hand

And hold you close to me

And we will dance

------------------------------------------------------
Love is an ideal thing.

Marriage a real thing.

Love, Joey.

a tale of apples and gender...

the afternoons and evenings of revision have come and gone ...

the blood. the sweat. the tears. yes. it was a battlefield.

nagged. shouted. reminded. nagged.

'did i not go through this before?'

frustrated. overwhelmed. weary.

marked. pushed. nagged. again and again.

'cher, you must give us motivational cards ah...'

and so, channelling my inner martha stewart...

with Panetta and Zvonareva slugging it out on the court.

i cut. i wrapped. i tied. 40 apples & cards. 2.5 hours.

-------------------------------------------------------------

finally. as of one hour and ten minutes ago,

the fours have completed their papers.

if there's one thing i learned in this entire process...

when receiving a prettily wrapped apple,

the boy tears away the wrapper, crushes it and munch on the apple.

the girl puts the apple in her bag, careful not to ruin the wrapping and bring it home.

.hello little munchkin.

daydream...

plenty of updates.

weddings.

farewells.

new beginnings.

but for now

I'll give anything to have

that cup of latte again

in venice.

i {heart}

a completely random post of the loves and experiences over the past 6 months. to ease me back into the blogging world after the long hiatus.

here's a snippet of life outside the insanity. the little cousin arrived after much anticipation. seeing her when she was three hours old was the most awesome experience. being there for her baptism was wonderful. the aunt has stopped me from spoiling her. she is becoming very naughty. sigh, i can't resist. she's too adorable.
a trip to the night safari where we finally caught the creatures of the night show, having missed it the previous time when we spent too much time on the tram. they have a 'flight theme' going on. makes for pretty pics.
received a gorgeous basket of white roses from the bride that brought a much needed smile on that crazy night in school. the surprise gave me the opportunity to work on floral photography {inspired from Kari Herer and her breathtakingly beautiful vintage inspired photos of flowers}

watching Rachel Ray on weekend mornings. Her bubbly personality is infectious and her recipes are delish. reading 'A thousand days in Tuscany' for another reason why i will always dream of having my own B&B in Tuscany (will write more on that).

inspiration from {Frolic} and wishing for UK based 'toast' for their delicious frocks, especially that blue coat in the picture.
loving sarah michelle's hair and dress.

cozying up to Paris Je Tai'me and falling in love with Paris 18 times over.

Nat Geo and my current obession is Nat Geo Traveller. for the travel bug in me. for comprehension passages. for those short breaks in between. for those insanely pretty photos. for the next trip. tablescape - bright yellow chrysanthemums & Shakespeare's The Art of Love: a collection of his sonnets and love passages. Getting lost in - The National Geographic Museum at Vivo! loving the most beautiful table ever, all the way from Florence. the boy thinks it's a great place for first dates. :) catching rainbows.

Simply Bread - for its sticky buns! cinnamon sweetness! a lovely discovery introduced by the boy's friend. adore the one at cluny court. white white walls at a small little nook. more reasons to love cluny court.

Date -The boy and girl do not have the tradition of celebrating love day. However, a usual drive to dempsey a week prior to love day for ice chocolate and tea at Dome cafe inspired a moment of spontaneity. At the entrance of Jones the grocer, the boy turned around and instructed, "we have 15 minutes to pick out a gift."
After fifteen minutes of secrecy, stealing looks at each other... they finally revealed their gifts. the boy shocked the girl with a bold amaranth rose bloom. Puzzled, the girl looked around the cafe, certain that there weren't any flowers for sale. The boy had convinced the cashier to give him one of those lovely blooms on display at their window. And so she had flowers and a box of chocolates, he had 'Mondays-Sundays' butter bear biscuits. And they were happy.

La Proposicion

Thank you for the magic

and loving me the way you do.

back after the insanity and still in the midst of it.

leaving you here with the latest love of my life- little miss cousin.

{seven}

{stealing moments}

we had so much fun with {little miss niece}.

she had so much fun with {little miss chatterbox}

she couldn't stop giggling. neither could we.

the boy had monday blues and so it was the girl's turn to spring a suprise. I grabbed the white bucket off my desk after school. rushed down to my favourite florist and bought the pretty blooms. this time, i fell in love with the sweetest bunch of tiny white flowers. florist calls them qin ren hua {lovers' flowers} sometimes she calls them starflowers. how could i resist? so with the cheerful orange yellow gerberas, quintessential forget-me-nots and a bunch of those romantic stars, i went home and started on the arrangement. even with the insanity at the back of my mind, i was really happy. doing something i love for myself and for the boy. pleased with the result :) i wanted to create the wild flowers picked from fields look. showed up at the boy's spanish class with the bucket of blooms. mission accomplished. sitting bright and pretty on his work desk now :)

{the sky} from Boat Quay as colleagues got together for a break.

beautiful bright sunny conditions make for pretty pictures.

{ joey is }

trying to get her life back. She is trying very hard to be an octopus except for the fact that she really doesn't want to be one at all. She is struggling to balance expectations...expectations... expectations. she is trying to be good at what she is doing but she feels torn and inadequate. she loves the young ones and hope she can spend more time with and be there for them. She miss her friends very much and is grateful for that piece of sanity from the bride-the only friend she has met up with two weeks ago at fosters. yes. the only friend she has met in the past two months... since the beginning of 2009. she is really sorry for missing out. she misses the herd. she misses the twin. she misses the one whom she promised to discuss Shanghai with. she misses the dg whom she can only meet in the third week of march. Because she leaves school at seven every evening and returns home to continue with the insanity, weekends to her are precious. she loves to spend time with her bible study mates on saturdays but sometimes those moments are lost when insanity knocks on the door. When she does get some time to breathe, all she really wants to do is breathe. and when she does get that little more, she would like to spend it with the boy. even then, the insanity persists...that lesson to plan, that essay to mark, that email to pen. when Anna, her daily inspiration, announces that she's taking a break, joey is sad that she will not be reading her posts for some time but is happy for her that she will be spending time with the most beautiful ones in her life. she remembers the promise she made to make time for all things beautiful. fresh new flowers every week. a rich book. a lovely song. a mesmerising film. a pretty dress. a breathtaking photo.

she is determined to claim her sanity {life} back. one flower. one book. one song. one film. one dress. one photo. one friend. at. a. time.

{ a note to self }

"Make up your mind to be happy even when you don't have money, even when you don't have a clear complexion, even when you don't have the Nobel Prize. Some of the happiest people i know have none of these things the world insists are necessary for satisfaction and joy. Why are they happy? I suppose it is because they don't listen very well. Or they listen too well-to the things their hearts tell them. They glory in the beauty of the earth. They glory in the rivers and the canyons and the call of the meadowlark. They glory in the love of their families, the stumbling steps of a toddler, the wise and tender smile of the elderly. They glory in honest labour. They glory in the scriptures. They glory in the presence of the Holy Ghost. One thing i know for certain: the time we have here goes by far too quickly. Don't waste any more time sitting on the bench watching life pass you by."

- Joseph B. Wirthlin (Lessons learned in the Journey of Life.)

{pretty bed of green}

Priscilla Ahn - Dream

I was a little girl alone in my little world

who dreamed of a little home for me.

I played pretend between the trees,

and fed my houseguests bark and leaves,

and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream

That I could fly from the highest swing.

I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park,

I asked God who I'm supposed to be.

The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie.

I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream

That I could fly from the highest tree.

I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey.

I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave.

I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell.

I'm ready now, I'm ready now,

I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.

I had a dream.

{a lovely anthem for the girl... oh yes that's a little of nature's green in her mouth}