Spring Carnival: Derby Day

It's the Spring Racing Carnival season here and the entire Melbourne has dolled up for the season. Fascinators and hats can be seen in all the window displays in the city.

As part of a work function, I went to the races for the first time yesterday. AAMI Derby Day to be exact. This race day has a traditional black and white theme; more classic than colourful. I spent hours over the past weekend looking for a fascinator from Myer. There were thousands to choose from. I didn't want one that was too big and getting a hat was wayyy too expensive (they cost around 250-300 dollars).

Days before Derby Day, all everyone could talk about was the terrible weather that was about to hit Melbourne. "One months rain in 24 hours" That is A LOT of rain for Melbourne in one day. Considering that the races is an outdoor event, the bosses made sure that Vitality got geared up for the day. They made sure there were enough marquees to cover our booked lots at the races. Considering what we were going to be dressed in, it would be terrible if we were drenched in our stilettos.

The first race started at 11 on a Saturday morning. It was meant to rain the night before and all Saturday morning. When I woke up, I looked out the window and realized it wasn't raining. I thought to myself, wishing that there might be a chance the weather would be better than what we expected. We are in Melbourne after all. We made it to the races by train and got to our lots just as it started to drizzle. An hour later, the rain started to pour. Not just rain but heavy 'Malaysia-like' rain. Such a terrible day for the races. By the afternoon, the temperature dropped and the ladies started to take their coats out of the car. Even the suits were not enough for the men.

Nonetheless, it was a great day. Rain and all. Everyone had plenty to drink and after a few glasses of champagne, wine, beer and food, the rain did not bother us much anymore.

I managed to take some pictures.

The Marketing Team




See what the rain did...


Some of the boys


After plenty of drinks on the train home


Yours truly

Till the next one,
Have a great 'Movember', boys start sprouting your moustaches!

Just a spoonful of sugar

I just got back from Her Majesty's Theatre where I watched Mary Poppins The Musical.
It was AWESOME!!

Will update soon enough...

Till the next one,
Have a great week ahead. I know Mondays are always the best!

Doing it just like the boys...

Just like the boys at home, I finally did it.
I think I had just as much fun as the boys did, being very careful at first, making sure I don't spill anything and eventually make a mess. You know how messy boys can get when they're so into something.

It has become a thing of the past since everything evolved, becoming so high-tech. It's no longer practical to do models the old-fashion way, from scratch, starting slow and picking up the speed as you go. It used to be known as a skill. People ask each other "Are you good with your models?" and they proudly reply "Of course, I've been doing them for years. I do one every two weeks or so".

Model making has evolved to a stage people spend more time in front of the computer doing 3D ones with a mouse. But seriously, how much fun can you have with a mouse and keys? Hell, it's much quicker but I don't think that one gets the satisfaction one gets when it comes to doing the actual thing from scratch.

Since there were scraps lying around on the dinner table, I decided to work on my own little project. I tried to be creative since I only had leftovers.

It takes a lot of patience. If you rush it, you've got to start cutting the pieces all over again.

Behold, my masterpiece.

A side view of what I spent one and a half hours on.

my roof with a gutter so the rainwater will flow out to the sides

That's panels which block the harsh Melbourne winds. It's an outdoor space inside minus the wind.

Obviously I'm not as good as they boys. They've got so much experience. Here's my boy's model.

Now that I've completed my first ever one, I have dreams for better ones. What I want to create next is an outdoor space where events can be held. I've already give it quite a bit of thought, how I want the columns to be, for it to have a roof so that people don't get wet if it rains since Melbourne seems to be raining quite a lot these days. I'll post pictures if I am able to finish it.

Till the next one,
Have a great Sunday because Monday is just around the corner.

the-work-post

I remember the last time I spent this much time on my blog. It was way back when I used to (constantly) procrastinate my uni assignments, journal readings and thesis research. After 16 years of schooling, I don't think I have changed much. I've learned a lot but old habits die hard. I still try my best-est to come up with considerable good quality work although I've always managed to take the longest time possible to finish them. It's just a skill that I have. One that I'm obviously not willing to give up.

Not even now. When I'm working.

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Not as sunny as I want it to but thankfully not as cold as the past week. After a Malaysian char koay teow lunch at this place called "Gurney Drive" (I-kid-you-not) down the street from my place, I'm sitting in front of fatboy's PC (with two screens, which allows me to play Restaurant City while typing this entry) with a hot mug of tea, only because I'm warming myself up after having an ice-cream. For the first time since I started working, I brought work home over the weekend; not because I wanted to, because I had to.

You think I'm careless because I'm young and forgetful and irresponsible. That's not true. Other people leave stuff to the last minute too and it really annoys me when I've got to pick up the pieces and rush all because "THEY FORGOT". Yea, you forgetting means me having to bring work home over the weekend. dumbo. I don't really give a shit if you forget your own work and have to stay back half an hour. I've got a life too (even if I want to iron my clothes on a Sunday afternoon with my brand new iron).

I've got to get back to work. The advertising artwork is due tomorrow and I've got some editing to do. I'm just trying to get as much done and I'll ask hunlin to help me when he gets back home from uni. That's just the few benefits of dating an architect-to-be nerd.

Till the next one,
Have a great week ahead!

It's all about the money

I think this place deserves another entry. It has been two weeks since my last weekend shopping craze. I bought an iron and clothes. I promised myself I'd stay away from shops last week, and thankfully I managed to. I only spent money on food over the last weekend; a dimsum lunch and desserts in the city.

Unfortunately, my bank balance dropped AGAIN over the past couple of days. I spend 1500 dollars on air tickets! My three week leave got approved last week and I finally got my ticket back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. I'll be back on the 23rd of January, for three whole weeks. I'm really looking forward to that; although before that I'll be busy with Australian Open since my company is the official sunscreen supplier for that event. If the camera comes my way, I'll remember to wave to say hi to everyone at home. dodgy, I know. I also bought tickets for my mom and grandma to visit me in July next year. I managed to get dirt cheap tickets. $600 dollars for TWO RETURN tickets. Was that a bargain or what? Of course it wasn't Singapore Airlines or Emirates. It was Air Asia.

I realised that once I'm around the city, I tend to spend money quickly AND easily. We bought mooncakes this weekend, a box of four for $44.50. I know that's expensive, but I was rather fussy. I wanted low sugar, white lotus with 2 yolk. I mean, we only eat mooncakes once a year. No harm spending a little more on something that will taste much better.

Oh well, I'm getting paid this Tuesday. Lets hope I manage to save more this month.

Till the next one,
Happy Merdeka Malaysia!
No parties this year, I've gotta work the following day.

Super Steam, Super Glide

There's a sale going on in Myer and I got the catalogue in my mailbox over the week.
Now that I'm staying on my own, household purchases are my responsibility. Unfortunately, some part of my spending money goes to things like frying pans, woks and whatnot.

Now that I'm working (in an office and not teaching at uni anymore), I've got to make sure that my clothes look presentable and not creased. I cannot be meeting people and have crumpled clothes. We already have a smart casual attire (we can wear jeans all we want) and the least we can do is to make sure our clothes look presentable. I think that creased clothes look very unprofessional.

On that note, I got an IRON. A Philips one, mind you.
Yes, I'm getting all domesticated here.
But the iron I got is uber cool.


Power with precision, this steam iron apparently has continuous steam for better crease removal, so the iron does more work and I do less. There's this drip-stop systems so the water doesn't leak out from the bottom. It allows for vertical steam and there's a 100g/min steam boost to remove stubborn creases easily. Damn canggih rite?

I know I don't need an awesome iron because I only do my ironing once a week, but I'd like the chore to be fun and easy, instead of having to iron my clothes for a whole hour because it won't remove the crease from the wash. I also wanted to get a better quality iron because I didn't want to spend $30 on a 'no brand' iron, which doesn't work as well and goes faulty in a year. Investing on this better one which will "fingers crossed" last for years is obviously a better option.

Check out my super cool iron here.

I have yet to try it because my clothes are still in the dryer but I'm already very excited about trying it out. I know it sounds pathetic that I'm writing about irons now when just two years back, I wouldn't have ever thought about spending this much money on an iron. Oh, the iron costs 89 dollars btw.

Till the next one,
I think I need to start spending less. And you should too!

Clean-up

It was my last weekend before the boys get back. Peace and quiet, clean bathroom and clean apartment. I'm going to miss it.

I did a bit of cleaning up over the weekend. I rearranged everything on my makeup table. It looks much neater now.




Unfortunately, the weekend is over and Monday is here again.

Till the next one,
Have a great week ahead!

Lalalala... lalalala...

I had to get it. It was on Sale.


Look who I brought home today...




He was abit scared to get out of the bag

Say hello to Elmo. He's from Sesame Street. He used to stay with Big Bird (so wrong), Grover, Cookie Monster and his other furry friends.


He loves to sing his 'Elmo's Song' which I find amusing.

He's suitable for humans 12 months and above

He's soft and cuddly!

And he's moved to my place...




Till the next one,
Watch an episode of Sesame Street. It'll bring back memories.

A Winter Break

As I walk out the gate with the cold winds gushing at my face, I know I'm not on first class. I've got to carry my bag, walk out with everyone else in the cold and up the stairway onto the plane. Clearly not Singapore Airlines or Emirates. It was Jetstar.

I was on a business trip to Gold Coast during the week and the weather there was awesome. A few hours after touchdown, I realised that they don't experience much of the winter at all. The skies are sunny and clear. The breeze is what you feel when you're on a holiday. Seriously, how do people get any work done at the Gold Coast? Almost everyone you see over there is on a holiday of some sort. People wearing shorts in the middle of winter with their sunnies on all day. Unfortunately, it was too short of a trip. Three days were obviously not enough and coming back to a rainy night in Melbourne was a bit of a bummer.

This was my first business trip with the company. I was quite excited about it because it was our first sales meeting of the financial year. We've got Territory Managers all around the country and I have only met up with the Victoria guys. It was my chance to finally meet the others, putting a face to the names and the voices I've been talking to for the past 4 months. It was a good trip. We stayed and had our meeting at the Crown Plaza on Surfers Paradise, the best place along the Gold Coast. The team worked hard and played hard. The meeting started at 9 in the morning after breakfast and went through until 5pm with lunch and tea breaks in between. The nights were fun as well. The best part about the company that I work with, they love karaoke. What a relief. I am in the right company. I love what I do, I enjoy working with the people in the office and I enjoy the karaoke sessions with them!!

Unfortunately, I went shopping again over the weekend.
There was a 10% off all cosmetics, perfumes and bath and body products at Myers on Saturday. So after a dim sum brunch, I got this new baby

Say hello to Essence by Narciso Rodriguez. It is not strong neither does it have any flowery scent. It has this fresh 'just-out-of-the-shower' scent which I love.

I also got two new reads from Borders. 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte and a recommended 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The best part about the purchase is that I didn't have to spend heaps on them. Penguin Books started publishing the best books for everyone to enjoy at an awesome low price of $9.99 including GST! Where else can you get a read that's the same price as lunch? I'll update how the book goes soon enough.

One last thing.
The biggest toy sale is on now in Melbourne. All toys are marked down at Target and I have my eye on something furry, red, soft and cuddly. I know I'm too old for toys now but I can't help it. I really wanted to get it over the weekend but decided against it. I think I'll get it sometime this week. Stay tuned for pictures. I know you're going to love it as much as I will!!

Till the next one,
Have a great week ahead!

Musical Boys

Good morning Melbourne...

I just had my morning dose of music...
I have to say I have this thing for boys with instruments and great voices.
My. heart. will. melt.

Have a listen to this...real talent on stage





and off stage



great voices, talent, good looking boys... need I even say more??


Till the next one,
Have a great weekend!!

23 and counting

It has been three quick months since I started my career. Yes, career. Not a part-time job at a cafe or a bookstore. Not a casual tutor at uni teaching marketing to first year students (though that paid my very very well, much more (per hour) than what I am earning now. Though at uni, I only work seven hours a week including an hour for consultation where students are meant to come and ask for help if they've got any problems with the subject or keeping up with what I'm teaching in class.

With my job now, I pay much more tax (shitloads), I get paid once a month (instead of every fortnight) which makes me budget my expenses better BUT I enjoy it because everyday is different and I'm constantly faced with new tasks and troubles. With that said, I still LOVE my weekends and count the days before the next one comes around!

With the job, comes the rewards. It's good because I get paid at the end of every month. I no longer have to worry about semester holidays or any other holidays where I don't teach at uni. I have more to spend now than before and I'm not so worried about the bills and rent every month. I've also managed to start saving up and still have some leftover to spend on things that I like. I've recently bought Mary Poppins The Musical tickets and I cannot wait until September. It was all sold out and the best tickets I could get were for a Sunday evening one.


How can you forget Julie Andrews with her umbrella singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"!


or the Banks children who seem so fascinated by everything



Also, it has been a while since I've had time for this blog and birthday wishes.

Judy turns 23 tomorrow. Happy Birthday dear! Have an awesome one! Hope you enjoyed your trip to India



Just before I go, here's my favourite lines from my favourite TV series.

How you doing?
"Joey Tribbiani- Friends"

Legendary!
"Barney Stinson- How I Met Your Mother"

and my absolute favourite.....


Abso-fucking-lutely!!!
"Mr Big- Sex and The City"


Till the next one,
Watch an episode of Friends for some laughter!

I think I'm F-A-*...oh, nevermind

Winter is never nice to me. She (definitely more like a bitch than an ass) is like this enemy waiting to strike at the right times. She pulls my hair, she claws my face and she throws dessert straight at my mouth, forcing me to open and swallow. She's like the high school bitch that you're afraid off but there's nothing you can do about it. She makes the rules and you just have to play by it. No questions asked.

Apart from the fact that it is very very cold in winter here, Melbourne's cold temperatures have done me no good whatsoever. My hair becomes terribly dry (at the ends) and I have to resort to using better shampoo and conditioner. I've got to apply leave-in conditioner before I blowdry my hair and use a serum thereafter. A lot of work. Don't even get me started on how bad my heels are, how dry my skin has become and how sickening it is to have blemishes on my face!! But all that ramblings are meant for another post.

This is my third year here in Melbourne and during this time of the year (May-September), I won't fit my jeans. Yes, I put on weight even though it doesn't seem like I do. I'm human too okay. Somehow, in some magical way, I get hungry very (and I mean VERY) quickly after my meals and tend to eat more often and larger portions each time. I think it is the cold weather that makes me hungry quickly. Or maybe it's just that time of the year. Whatever it is, it makes me one hell of a hungry person. My colleagues at office thinks that I eat the most food in the entire company.

When I first arrived in Melbourne, I could barely finish a serve of anything. If I ordered a plate of fried rice, I'd only manage to eat half of it and have to pack the other half to bring home for lunch the next day. There was no way I'd be able to finish the food. After sufficient training, I've managed to 'level-up' and now I can say that I eat SO MUCH MORE than before. I could barely finish a small size of Vietnamese beef noodles in March 2008 but during winter, I order a medium! Enough said.

Since the boys are away, I've just been cooking for myself and I can finally measure how much food I consume. I realised that 3 cups of rice lasts for four meals. I don't know if that's what an average person eats, but DAMN I think that's A LOT for one person.

Unfortunately, I "don't have any right to complain about my weight/size" since I'm relatively smaller and thinner than most people at my office, or most people in general. I've got light bones and obviously a smaller built compared to other people but that does not mean that I can't put on weight or get fatter based on the proportion of my body. Based on my Body Mass Index, I'm a little underweight for my height. I blame the bones. But then again, I've been like that since primary school or as far as I can remember. I don't stick my finger down my throat after meals because I honestly like the feeling of having food in my tummy. It makes me happy. I indulge in the occasional treat; ice-cream, chips, waffles and chocolates but I feel guilty after that, much more; now that I've gone back to dancing.




I'm just a normal girl (I think) and I love food. As much as I think I need to make sure I eat enough so I don't faint during the day or so the Melbourne winds don't blow me away; I think I need to cut down on my food portions. Probably eat more during lunch and have a smaller meal over dinner. Have more fruits during the day so I get the vitamins and at least I snack on something healthy. Most importantly, I think I need to cut down on ice-creams. I just bought two boxes of ice-creams on the way back from work today because I finished my previous box over the weekend. If my ballet teacher found out that I'm eating an ice-cream a day, I doubt she'll be keeping her comments to herself when I can't stand on my demi-point or balance when do my ballet steps.

Did I mention that I'm in lurrrrveeeee with the maccas ORGE PREMIUM CHICKEN BURGER? For a limited time only, it comes with chicken, salads and red onion rings and my fav, pesto mayo!! The meal comes with a Frozen Fanta Ogre Freeze in Green Apple Flavour and the World's Favourite Fries!



Oh well, one can only try.

Till the next one,
Have an ice-cream; it'll put a smile on your face!

he loves me. he loves me not

I was on the way back from work on Friday when it hit me. This is how it is and this is how it will always be. Flowers are meant to make women happy. Seriously. You might be telling yourself right now, "I'm not the flower-kind-of girl" or "I don't need flowers to make me happy. My boyfriend never gets me flowers and I'm totally fine with that". I used to tell myself that all the time too. I am not the kind of girl who demands flowers. Heck, sometimes I even think that flowers are a waste of money. You spend so much on them, they make you happy for now and after a week, they whitter and die. You either hang them to dry or chuck them into your bin and throw them out the next day. I'd rather get a gift that will last me months.

If you see a guy with flowers back home in Malaysia, you'd stare at him, thinking that he's so cheesy, getting his girlfriend flowers for their special date or something (and obviously if you're a guy, wonder where his balls went). At the same time, you'd feel jealous, because somewhere in the world, a girl is going to be very very happy when she see him and the flowers. She's sure to say "The flowers are beautiful, thanks, but you didn't have to get me flowers, you know that right?". They always say that BUT they ALWAYS want the flowers.
TRUST ME.

Over the past week, on the way back from work, I've seen so many men (I'd like to call them men because they're such gentlemen) with flowers. I've only received flowers (I'm counting right now) five times in my life (i think) and each time, they've made me really happy. The smell of the flowers when I walk in the front door makes the day so much better. So every time I see a guy with flowers, it brings a smile to my face, knowing that whether he's doing it because he screwed up before, or just because he wants to get her flowers, he's going to make someone else smile too.

Things that have been making me smile? Lately? Shopping. And I haven't even been buying clothes, just make-up and other stuff. There was a 20% discount at Pulse Pharmacy a few weeks ago because of the end of financial year and that specific Pulse near my office sold the L'Occitane range. I took advantage of it and just bought stuff.
Here's what I got:

Since the weather is so dry here, my heels have gone from bad to worse. I don't wear shoes much (closed shoes with socks I mean) and that makes my heels crack terribly. Now that I've gone back to dancing and ballet, I need to make sure that my heels are not dry as cracked heels hurt, making it harder to dance. I use this after my shower, when the hot water has soften the skin on my heels. I exfoliate in a circular motion and rinse off after. I put my Body Shop foot lotion to lock in the moisture immediately after showering and wear socks to keep it in. I've seen an improvement and I'm not saying that the L'Occitane product works like magic. It's the whole process; exfoliating, scrubbing and remembering to put the lotion right after.
Ee introduced me to this product last year. When she came to visit me in Melbourne, she gave me a bar and told me to try it. She said it clears pimples on the back. After I tried it, I fell in love with it. It feels so gentle and it does help the pimples. You can see the difference within days. However, since I have very very dry skin and I'm in Melbourne, I try not to use this soap everyday. I also have to put a lot of body lotion after showering.

I also got myself hand cream. I do a lot of housework here. Sad ain't it? I have to cook and at times, do the dishes. I wash my hands in warm water during winter and they dry up so easily. I think a good hand cream is really important. You don't want to have ugly, dry looking skin at such a young age, do you? Invest in a hand cream that's good. Trust me.

If that's not enough stuff, I also got more Dermalogica products for my face. I started using dermalogica a year ago. They're all fragrance free and I have to say, they're quite the stuff! Ever since I came to Melbourne, the weather has not been good to my face. I have better complexion back home but when I'm here, I get red blemishes. Dermalogica helped me clear the blemishes and improve my skin. It's still not perfect and I get the pimples and blemishes back at times, but it's been better than the others that I've tried.

Here's what I bought last week from ZIPT on Collins Street,Melbourne.
Now that I'm working full time, I use makeup on a daily basis. Obviously after a long day, removing the make-up off your face is very important. You don't want to go to sleep with makeup still clogging your pores and destroying your skin. Most cleansers now work as both a makeup remover and a cleanser. I don't believe in that. I don't think that washing your face with your cleanser twice will get rid of all the product you put on your face in the morning plus the dust and dirt that comes together on it during the day. I've always believed in using a good makeup remover and after I finished my previous Clinique 'Take The Day Off Cleansing Milk", I decided to buy the Dermalogica Precleanse. I've tried samples of it before and it works wonders in removing makeup. It's a lightweight Olive and Apricot Kernel-based cleansing oil and you only need 3-4 drops for your entire face. On a dry face, massage it over the face and eyes to dissolve the surface oil and dirt. After that, wet your fingertips and continue to massage your face. The oil will turn into a milky white emulsion and you can also see the colour of your makeup come off with it. Rinse with warm water after and follow with your cleanser.
This is a daily microfoliant. It's a Rice-based enzyme powder that can be used daily, as stated. However, after previous experience, I've never used exfoliants on a daily basis. I think our face needs a rest and we can't put too much pressure on it. The skin layers on my face are very thin and because of that I'm supposed to very gentle. Using only a little bit and a few drops of water, it becomes a creamy paste and you can massage it onto your face and rinse off later.

It is only the 10th of July and I've been spending so much money on face, body and makeup. I really need to start saving more and spending less, but sometimes, beauty buys are a MUST for girls. I've also been inspired by Yvonne's blog, Belle Demoiselle. I met her in Melbourne three years back and she and a friend set up this beauty blog to write about things that make girls happy, makeup, skincare and everything beautiful. Honestly, reading about makeup and beauty buys make you want to go to your nearest departmental store to check out the product.

Till the next one,
Stay beautiful and buy a bunch of flowers for your room!

Subway = BAD

I had subway for dinner tonight and I have to say that I haven't had a sub in a long time.
I got off the train from Flinders Station, crossed the road towards the tram stop. Just as I was crossing, the lights caught my eye. SUBWAY! My brains started to tell me stories "meatball with marinara sauce, red onions.." can someone spell Y-U-M-M-Y??

Nothings wrong with eating a sub. Actually, it's much healthier than having a quarter pounder from maccas or 2-minute instant maggie noodles. They advertise Subway extensively; freshly baked bread daily, fresh salads, bla bla bla.

But honestly, I love having my sub with meatball marinara but having it straight after my class is such a BAD BAD BAD idea. I just started dance classes again. After six-long years. Ballet Class to be exact and let me tell you, I'm lousy at it now. I can point and stuff, but my french vocabulary, terrible. I can barely remember the French terms anymore. On the first class, I had to look around before I could do the barre steps. Seriously, you can't just stop after six years and expect things to be good. It's like a relationship. You have to invest heavily in it, put in alot (and I mean ALOT) of effort, be discipline, watch your diet (probably avoiding fast food of any kind) and practice practice practice.

I loved my ballet. I still love it so very much. After six years, I long to dance as I used to before. Every single time I watch a dance movie, a musical or "So You Think You Can Dance" on TV, I miss it. I miss the graceful steps. I miss my technique. I miss the way I feel when I dance. I was good at it, much better than I am now.

So I decided to take up ballet classes once again. I searched online for a school and I found Elance Adult Ballet School. It's a 15-20 minute walk from my office. I went to buy ballet attire. My ballet shoes, leotard and pink thighs. I was ready. Mentally but after my first class, not physically obviously. But I'm determined to get back to ballet for good. I've signed up for a term (12 weeks) and PAID shit loads for it. I'm ready to get my body back in shape (which means not having an ice-cream every night after dinner, probably try to cut down to twice a week), do some stomach exercises at home a couple times a week and do some stretching every other day, to hopefully be more flexible again.

It's not easy and trust me, it's effing frustrating to be in a class knowing that you were much better before and really suck right now, but I'm determined to be a better dance by the end of this term. Fingers crossed.

Till the next one,
Stay healthy, eat your fruits and get some exercise!

Picture Perfect

Pictures paint a thousand words.
You see how happy or sad a person is. Whether they force a smile for the camera or a wide smile while saying 'cheeseee', you can tell with just a mere photograph.

Just before my long weekend ends, I shall recap what happened over the past few days.
I've been at home, without many plans other than to get well and recover. Had a sore throat on Thursday but I'm all better now *fingers crossed*
I get back to work again tomorrow, for what I'm glad to say, a very short week. Tuesday to Friday and the weekend would be here again!

I went for a walk in the city just this afternoon, just for some fresh air. It's winter now and the air's as fresh and cold as it can get. I eventually ended up at Big W (a Tesco/Giant-like place that sells everything for a good price) and started looking around at the books section. It's EOFYS now (End-of-financial-year-sale) and EVERYTHING is on sale. Books, clothes, electrical goods, you name it, it's on sale. Wandering around, I noticed that most of the books were on a 35% sale. Whoo-pee-dee-dooo! I started picking some up and after about 15 minutes, ended up at the checkout with four books and $68 dollars poorer.

I walked to the State Library, hoping to be able to start reading my book inside, came to realize that the library was closed, thanks to the public holiday. Sitting outside the library in the 14degree weather, I pulled out the book from the bag and started reading. It would have been the perfect evening had it not gotten dark so early. After about an hour, I left the park and went to Woolworths to get groceries for dinner. Got a bunch of flowers and grabbed a Free* copy of some cookbook at the counter after paying the guy at the cashier. I thought it was the free monthly magazine that Woolies did. But when I came back and flipped through the book, I realized the cover wrote "Free when you buy participating magazines, RRP $4.45". Shit. I have the cookbook thing with me but I didn't buy any other participating magazines. Did I STEAL the mini-cookbook??? But thinking back, when I took that book off the counter, the guy didn't even say anything. He just smiled at me and asked me to have a nice day! He probably thought it was a freebie too. So not entirely my fault.

oh well, just before I wrap it all up, here are some photos that should have been up ages ago. It's taking ages to upload the photos, so here's just a few of them. Will work on it another day.




I miss my mom and sister so much already.

Till the next one,
Give your loved ones a call to say hie and that you love them!

Long weekend

Winter is obviously here in Melbourne. With a minimum of 3-4degrees and a maximum of 15, you know you'd need a jumper or two when you leave the house. If you don't have the heater on inside, you'd need a jumper and might I suggest, sweatpants to keep you comfy?

I'm not a huge fan of the cold. I don't mind it, but I don't particularly love it. The worse part about winter is having to wake up early in the morning and heading to work. Seriously, its freezing cold at 6.30 in the morning and the only thing that makes it better is the crazy hot shower I jump into. Walking to the tram stop to get to work sucks when the wind is blowing directly at your face and all you breathe out is fog fog and fog.

The WORST part of winter is the flu season. Everyone gets sick over winter. I don't know if it's the cold or if the germs have nowhere to run to. People start coughing, sneezing and some even cough their lungs out on the train. Imagine the germs. Some have a rating of 6 cps (coughs per second) and 6 is a big number.

Talking about getting sick, majority of the people in my office is, do I even need to say it? SICK. Some have been coughing for weeks, some sneezing every other minute and some are just plain sick. We all got a flu jab about a month ago, when we all got our health check. But that didn't stop the germs from attacking them. I've been trying to stay healthy. Getting sick over the winter sucks. And the cold obviously makes it worse. But as of Thursday, my body gave in. I fell sick. Had a bad bad bad sore throat, so bad that I woke up at night, having difficulty sleeping. I went to work on Thursday feeling like crap. Sore throat got worse. Started to get a sniffy nose. Shit. I'm officially sick. And being at the office doesn't help with all the germs circulating the entire place. I obviously needed a break. So I decided to take Friday off, to rest at home and to get better. I obviously needed the day off, considering the fact that I slept for 13 hours that night, from 8.30pm to 9.30 the next morning. Talk about catching up on sleep.

The best part of all is that Melbourne has a long weekend. Monday's a public holiday because it's the Queen's Birthday. So since I took Friday off to rest, I've got an uber-long weekend to rest. Four days to be exact. I'm getting better, been getting tons of sleep during the day AND night. Fingers crossed that I've managed to build up enough immunity to fight away the germs at the office.

Till the next one,
Rest up and try not to fall sick in winter!

A Graduate's Update

Firstly, I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts. I've been so very busy with the new job, my graduation ceremony, my mom and sister's visit that I barely have time to catch up on my tv series, let alone update this place with pictures and what-not. Nonetheless, there's no excuse, so this is gonna be an all-in-one post.

It's been two months since I started my new job. Wonderful working environment, friendly colleagues, and good location. I've managed to pick up most of the things that I need to work on, and I've been busy, which is a good thing. The days pass faster and the weekend comes around quickly. I'm not saying that I don't like my job. It's great. I get to do what I want to, mostly in the field that I studied. Market research, competitor analysis, new product development. On top of that, it deals with food, healthy food to be precise, so I'll never go hungry at work. There's always fruits in the fruit bowl at the receptionist's desk, bars (protein, wholegrain with fruits) and chocolates in the marketing room and birthday cakes every other month when someone celebrates their birthday. Despite how fun work is, everyone looks forward to weekends. Best part of all, not having to wake up early!

In other news, I'm finally a graduate. 19th May 2010. My 30 seconds of fame. She read out my name. Walked onto the stage. Accepted the piece of paper. Walked off. Done. Four years of studying for that. I know, so cliche rite? We all study for ages, literally, since we were four and all we look forward to is that 30 seconds where we receive our piece of paper. Heck, people even print their own pieces of paper now, some even get them over the internet for a couple of hundred dollars. Nonetheless, I'm very grateful of my piece of paper. The sleepless nights, the countless research readings and finally, the 150 page research paper that came to be. Thinking back at the year that was, I knew I could have done so much more to that paper, but now I know, that moving forward, if I do have a chance to do another long-ass piece, I'd work like hell. But until that day comes, I'm happy going to work and getting the pay cheque at the end of the month. For now, nothing beats spending money and being independent!

I also managed to get tickets to see FAME The Musical which was in Melbourne for 8 weeks. I brought my mom and sis to watch it too and it was quite good. Not as great as the one I saw 8 years ago in KL, but for an Australian production, it was good. Produced by the same guy who did Wicked The Musical, John Frost did a good job and Kelly Abbey choreographed amazing dance steps for the entire musical. I'm a fan of these things, so I'm quite happy with it. Next up in line, Marry Poppins, The Musical. They are running out of tickets, so I'm trying to get the best seats I can get. And that's in October.

And the best part of the past month, my mom and sister's visit to Melbourne! It was the best week ever, coming back from work and having family at home. Mom's cooking was awesome, soups and stews. She even made extra food for me for the week so I wouldn't have to do much cooking after she left. I planned a whole list of tourist attractions for them to visit, but obviously, thanks to the late nights and even later mornings, they only managed to visit a couple. We managed to catch the Titanic Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. That was a good one, bringing us back a hundred years to the time where the ship was built and reminding us how she set sailed and never arrived at her destination. They made the exhibition a little exciting by giving each of us a passenger card. We'd have a description of the person who boarded the Titanic, who they boarded with and the reason why they went on that ship. At the end of the exhibition, there was a board with all the names of the passengers, who survived and who didn't. My mom and sister had passengers from first class and I was from a second class cabin, and to our surprise, all three of us survived the tragic incident (but then again, we were all women passengers, so we had a higher chance of surviving!).

Mom and Jess also managed to visit a couple of other places, Melbourne Aquarium, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, DFO South Wharf for the usual shopping, Shrine of Remembrance, Eureka Skydeck88 and the Edge Experience. They came to see where I work and said hie to some of my colleagues.

It was a week that went way too quickly and I can't wait till they visit me again.

(I typed this entry about two weeks ago,only posting it up today. I know, stale news again.)

Until the next one with more pictures,
Stay warm as winter's here!

Easter Sunday Feast!

I mentioned that I'd update more often and I'm keeping to my word (so far). Today is Easter Sunday and we've got a feast planned for the weekend. Yesterday, Thong (my housemate) made vietnamese dinner. We had vietnamese pancakes, beef salad and prawns. All vietnamese by a vietnamese. And it was yummy.

And today, it was my turn.
So, I made tacos, cauliflower gratin and Caramel Apples. Sounds yummy ey? IT IS :)

For the tacos, we just bought the mix, beef, taco shells and taco sauce. I chopped onions, tomatoes, lettuce and cabbage for the toppings.


After that, I fried 500grams of minced beef in a pan. Once it starts to brown, I added 3/4 cups of water and the seasoning mix for tacos. Fried for a further 10 minutes and it's done. Looks something like this.


We bought a couple of sauces too. Sour cream, nachos sauce and taco sauce.

For nachos, I laid it on a baking tray, sprinkled tasty cheese on top and popped it into the oven to bake and melt the cheese. This is how it ended up.


Moving along, I made Cauliflower gratin cause I thought we'd needed some veges after so much meat. So I bought one large cauliflower and broke it up into bite size florets. Then I boiled it in water for a couple off minutes till it cooks. I transferred it out into a bowl of iced water to cool it completely. Then I let it dry.

Melted butter into a saucepan, whisked flour into it and cooked it over medium heat, stirring.

It becomes this thick dry mixture. I remove it from the heat and then gradually whisk in milk until it becomes smooth. I stir it over low heat till it bubbles and thickens. Then I put in a cup of tasty cheese until it melts and becomes very smooth. I add a little salt and pepper to season.

I put the cauliflower into a baking dish and then I drizzle the sauce evenly over the cauliflower. I sprinkle tasty cheese over and bake for 15-20 minutes.



After baking, this is what cauliflower gratin looks like. Yummy.


The best part of making a meal: Dessert. Sweet, tasty, yummy.

I got 6 apples which were cut into wedges. I put sugar into the saucepan and the sir it until it dissolves. This one was really tricky. I have never made caramelised apples before. So I didn't know how it should look like. After the sugar dissolved and became pale golden, I took it away from the heat. I think I was supposed to let it cool a little but I poured in the thickened cream immediately. It just spoiled everything. My caramel hardened and got stuck at the bottom of the saucepan. Terrible. I was like whattttttttttt? Shitttttttttttt!!! Determined to make it work, I put that into the sink and started a new one. This time, it had to get it right. Because I only had enough cream to make a second one. I dissolved the sugar and everything went well. Then after I took it away from the heat, I made sure I poured in the cream carefully. Very slowly. Little by little. And it worked! Thank goodness. After that, it was easy. Add vanilla extract, cinnamon stick and apples. Cook until apples are tender.



After that, I let it cool while we were having dinner. To make it superbly yummy, make sure you have ice-cream and chocolate shavings.




It was a really good easter feast. After this weekend, it's all work for me. Here are more pictures.

the chef and her work!

Till the next massive cookout,
I hope ya'll had a great Easter too =)

p/s: I gained an hour today cause daylight saving ended. I'm now two hours ahead from home.