MARBLES...Something different that I tried this afternoon. I put together a piece made of marbles of various sizes wrapped and knotted with two strips of maroon and cream coloured organza, with a little ribbon finishing it off. Inspired by the latest Spanish sinoritas collection!

Dear Lord, please calm my heart, help me keep my cool, have a big and brave heart and combat whatever fear that I may have which is unecessary in my life. Although this world has many different interesting things/creatures that come in different shapes and sizez, I pray you will help me grasp the idea and understand the reason for their existance. At this point of time, Lord I might not be able to appreciate these things in life but I believe with time, you will reveal their beauty to me. Help me see things the way you would with your mighty eyes, help me feel things the way you feel with your loving touch, help me hear things the way you would with your careful ears, help me understand things the way you would with your gracious heart...Lord please help me...Help me not to get goosebums whenever they are in my sight and help me not to slam or smash them whenever they freak me out! Please do help me stay away from those eight-legged friends who always and never fail to make me cringe! Help me not to always be frightened by these guys when I see them! Oh Lord...help me please!

Waaaaaaa...!! Help...Michelle is darn afraid of this creature called SPI...SPID...SPIDE...SPIDER!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaa...!!

VERGE OF GIVING UP...I'm balancing myself on one leg now at the edge of this funny thing called patience and perseverance. This is beginning to feel quite tiring, I must admit, like as if I were diseased...*sigh* Sometimes people tries to understand by being understanding, but really I don't think anyone truly understands how it feels like to be right where I'm standing right now. All the crap about self motivation, determination, enthusiasm, persistence and sanity which had once upon a time kept me going and kept me strong are just flowing out of my head bit by bit...I'm losing it, sinking myself into a deep deep hole and probably never ever gonna see this thing called "light" ever again!

RAINBOW...Ever try popping your head out the car window (children reading this, don't ever try this at home!) looking for a rainbow after a big pour on a sunny day? Well, although I don't pop my head out the car window, I'm always delighted to see rainbows around and as innocent as a child, I'd always make a big deal out of catching a rainbow on a beautiful day! Somehow even if your day ain't that beautiful, the rainbow always seems to do the trick! Anyway, here's my beautiful, colourful, rainbow choker that I've put together today. It looks all happy and cheery doesn't it?

HIS VALENTINE'S TREAT...Home made Japanese food with lots of love (and wasabi) and a handpainted acrylic painting on canvas - probably not the best painting you'll find around, but at least it's painted carefully with much patience and loving thoughts...!

MY VALENTINE'S TREAT...
Dinner at Joseph Alexander was pretty impressive! The food was thumbs up, the dessert (especially) was terrific, the service was excellent and the ambiance was perfect!

VALENTINE'S DAY...

You can tell that it's Velentine's Day...

1) When restaurants/cafes are fully booked up for the night
2) When online florists stop receiving orders for the month of February
3) When gift shops are overcrowded with people picking up cards
4) When random people on streets holding bouquet of flowers or bundles of balloons
5) When you get complimentary heart shaped chocolates
6) When you see cheery, smiley faces all day
7) When people are extra nice to each other
8) When ...
9) When ......
10) When .........

Thought: I reckon people shouldn't need to be reminded to be nice and all lovey dovey to each other only on the 14th of February each year. Everyday should be Valentine's Day!

Warning: Girls, do not get your hopes too high on this killer day...Coz the higher you get your hopes up, the more painful it gets when your "guy" decides to throw you back on earth and allow you to go through an experience of what they call..."REALITY BITES!" adventure. Having said that, there ARE guys out there who are capable of living it up to our standards, eg; I got my bunch of roses at 7:15am this morning! =)

DICEY & DARCEY...Some say dice, some say strawberries...I say Dicey and Darcey! Dicey is the choker and Darcey is the bracelet. Bold and fun combination. Wear them with a racer back/spaghetti/tube top or a simple black flare tube dress and they scream fun attention! I'd wear these two pieces to really fun places like fun fair or a happy weekend, shopping trip...but reality is that, I've specially made these two to wear to work. For those who don't already know, I'm currently filling up a casual position as a wait staff at a cafe in New Farm. Colours of the cafe are red, black and white and we as wait staff are allowed to wear a red, black or white top with black pants to work...I'd definitely not wear white, considering the chances of getting it stained...and red's not exactly my kinda colour. So, I wear black to work almost everytime (except for CNY - I wore red...yes, I'm conservative!)...Needless to say, I need some accessories to go with it as black on black isn't exactly very exciting for a person who enjoys colours like myself. Well, occasionally I do wear Toffee Apple to work...but I thought since I'd be working more days, I shouldn't bore the customers (or myself) with my same boring "uniform" everyday.

I've been working at the cafe for almost 4 weeks now...we meet different people everyday, some nice, some nasty, some polite, some rude, some smile, some sulk...but I guess it's just human that everyone is different and that everyone has different things to offer. But just a note though, treat wait staff the way you wanna be treated because these poor wait staff could turn out to be one of your friends' friends, your siblings, siblings' friends, neighbours or could even be yourself one day! We stand from the beginning of our shifts to the end with just a 15 minutes break in between 6 or 8 hours. When not standing, we're probably running on the way to catch the bell in the kitchen or behind bar cleaning or walking to serve the next customer or bending down picking up rubbish, walking around checking if everyone's ok, and the list goes on. So, it doesn't really help if you are impatient or just a spolit little brat who demands all attention for no particular reason. Treat these wait staff with a little kindness as they really do work their bums off for the cash (and not forgetting working under pressure with 5 pairs of eyes from the management following you around the cafe to make sure you do it right!) and really, not that these people are born to know how to carry couple of heavy, hot plates/drinks to serve at once. So if they accidently spill something or break something, don't stare like it's out of the world. No one's natural with tasks that they've not done before...everyone's got their first times...give that poor little girl a chance!

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME...Looking back, I've been out of Uni for approximately 4 months now...in these 4 months, I won't say I've had the best time of my life, but nonetheless, bearable and still going although it hasn't really been a bed of roses. I'm still awaiting on residency here...it's been almost 3 months and we're already at our final stages of getting it done - which is good news btw, coz I've known of friends who had taken a longer time. Well, as I've yet to be granted residency, it's not easy to get a job as employers will not wanna risk you leaving the job if anything goes wrong with your application. Thus, I've been working casual at food court and at table service cafe ever since I finished Uni and awaiting residency. Not exactly an ideal job, but at least it keeps me busy for the time being...Well at least I have something to do and some money to spend rather than sitting at home doing nothing and feeling misarable. Let's just say I've got things planned out for me pretty well, I'm happy with most things at the moment, at least I'm having something to do, something to keep me going and most of all something to look forward to.
p/s: Next step ahead is to stay focus hunting for a suitable full time job!

GONG XI FA CAI...I'd like to begin by wishing all a very happy and prosperous Chinese New Year!! May this new year of the dog brings you and your family happiness, peace, good health, good fortune and everything nice and sweet!!

Celebrations of ushering the new lunar year has been a little different for me this year. Interesting in its own ways...I was not home for reunion dinner last night, but was at work and had the chance to witness for the first time Aussie-fied lion dance and kung foo! It felt strange initially as I guess I grew up seeing typical black hair and yellow skin under the lion heads all my life that this Aussie version was somehow pretty comical to me. However, after a couple of minutes, people started cheering and there were fire crackers cracking away in its very own typical way and man, I tell you it does feel good to hear something so familiar in a foreign place! I suddenly felt I connected with the crowd and for an instant, forgot that I was working! But that was all cool as we got our jobs done and quickly got out of there.

After we left from work, Jessie and I headed to Chinatown to have our alienated "reunion dinner"...Well at least I had Jessie and Jessie had me, ahahhahahha! And coincidentally, my dearest family called from home and although it did feel a tiny bit funny that I was here when I should have been home, everything was good. Jessie and I had a good and satisfied Chinese dinner (not forgetting the Chinese New Year songs at the background). Jessie drove me home after and as we drove up Durham Street, we saw my neighbour ushering/welcoming the goddess of fortune in a very Chinesey way like how we'd do it back home. Jessie and I had a good laugh about it and was more surprised than anything else to have seen something to similar to home here.

Anyway, today is the first day of Chinese New Year...I started by going to church for weekly dosage of spiritual food before the whole lot of us headed to one of the Chinese cafes in Sunnybank plaza for lunch. Lunch was good and yummy...we had a good time together...but of course it would have been better with our families...but well, at least we have a home away from home and we enjoyed each others presence as much as we enjoyed our food. So what more can we ask for? Erm...maybe the angpows to be sent over?!?!??! ahahahhahahahahah!! Anyway, I'm already planning to go home for reunion dinner next year. Nothing beats grandma's cooking and good time with family! =)

p/s: If you didn't realize, I decorated our place with bold, RED, Chinesey decorations just to make everyone feel more at home! ;)

COSY CORNER...This is my new cosy little room...Isaac's left for good...Boon's moved in...and I've swapped rooms from upstairs to downstairs. Everything's good...I'm settling in nicely at my little corner, but still heaps of packing and unpacking waiting to be done. I like this new room...like Gwen said, "Just like living in an attic..." (but the total opposite...you gotta see it for yourself)...The only downside is that it has got no windows in the room, which could actually be of advantage to me...that way, I can sleep in without worrying about getting a toasted bum! Also because it's at the basement, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no uninvited spiders come crawling around during summer...Spiders can really freak me out! But then again, I might consider keeping them as pets if they ever come visiting! Well, besides the windows and the univited guests, this place is great...love it!! :D

DURIAN...My favourite local fruit!! =) We've searched everywhere for durians since my arrival back in KL 2 months ago...but coz durian is a seasonal fruit, you can't get it as and when you like. These durians we had were brought back all the way from Penang by Uncle John who knows that I've been craving for these torny fruit!! =) Totally yummylicious!!

FAMILY DINNER...Our family gathered together for dinner last evening to celebrate Guo Tung which is the last event on the Chinese calander for the year. What's for dinner??...Lots and lots of yummy tasting food all prepared and cooked by the best cook ever - my grandpopo!! =) And for dessert we had homemade Tong Yuen and DURIAN!! *yummyyummm*

PLAIN WHITE FLOUR...As you can see from the picture, Aunty Tess is very hard at work preparing the flour for Tong Yuen purposes. I don't know much about preparing the flour, but I do know you'll have to add some water to make the flour stick together like a piece of dough!! Interesting, isn't it?? According to my grandpopo (she says it every year while making these balls), every year after you've eaten Tong Yuen you'll grow one year older, (erm...well, don't ask me why coz I've yet to find out!! :p) and we'll all always respond by saying, "Oh, then please put these Tong Yuen away from me!!" Ahahahhaahha!! =) p/s: It doesn't really work that way, coz we'll be forced to eat anyway!! :p

COLOURFUL FLOUR...All ready to be made into tiny little colourful balls...Tong Yuen usually comes in pink and white, but to show the world our love for colours, we've included yellow and orange as well... ;) Ahahhahaha, speaking of our love for colours, there were years where we made pink, white, green, yellow and blue too!! =)

CHAI TONG YUEN (also known as Sweet Glutinous Ball Soup)...This is an annual event at the Lee's. Every year grandpopo will call every female member of the family at home to help out with making the colourful flour into little balls before boiling them into sweet dessert. I recall as a child, I was always fascinated by the colourful flour and would asked to be given some to play with...the adults at work would usually give me a pinch of the flour that they were working on and I would make pretend cooking them in my own masak-masak set. As I approached my teens, I no longer needed to beg for flour to play with, but instead I was given permission to sit with the adults at work...hahahhahha...and ever since then, I always picked the brightest colour and had an obsession comparing sizes of the little balls!! =)

To me, this Chinese tradition is very important and it knits a family together therefore it should always be practised no matter which part of the world you live in...We, Chinese should always know where our roots come from and should be proud of our heritage. In my opinion, as Westernized as our world is becoming today, events in the Chinese calander should never be neglected because behind every event, there is always great values to it.

TONG YUEN...according to the Chinese calander, today is Guo Tung...a day where family members gather together to ensure the family's togetherness in the coming year. In the Chinese calander, Guo Tung is also the final event wrapping up the year before ushering in the new year. The reason this Chinese dessert was named Tong Yuen is because it sounds like the Chinese word for "togetherness".

MY FIRST CROCHET PROJECT...And to those who thinks I'm better with tools like screwdriver, hammer and nails...ahahhahahha, think again!! ;) Here's my first crochet project...few flowers to be attached to a bag I knitted few months back. I've always wanted to crochet but no one I knew had the knowledge (or patience) to teach me...till I finally pestered aunty Tess hard enough!! =) She went to kidnap a few sheep from the nearby kampung in order to get me some yarn to learn, ahahhahahha, and melted some metal for the crochet needle, ahahahahahhah!! And so here it is...my first ever crochet project!! =) And to those who think I can' t do such girlie stuff...ahahhahah, proven you wrong, haven't I?? =)

CHING CHING...After a long long time...Here's an anklet I've put together...with a pretty hand-painted center piece and glass beads accompanying it...all nicely and neatly tied together to a brown nylon cord. This is a very casual, ragged yet chinese looking piece...I'd wear it everyday!! =)

SHOPPING FRIDAY...Here is another pair of shoes I got today while shopping with Mommy. Ahahhahaha, just as I reminded myself that I should really stop buying more shoes, I got myself another pair!! Ahahhahahha!! Okay, what else did I get besides shoes?? I also got some clothes in preparation for the roaring working world!! Ahahhahaha, speaking of which, I haven't even gone for a single interview but I've started worrying about what to wear when I join the work force!! So far I've got 2 skirts, 4 shirts, 5 knit wear tops, 4 pairs of pants...Hmmm, now no wonder my Daddy says I fall under the "high maintenance" category!! Hahahhahahah!! Haih...actually, I'm really praying that I get a job soon!! Don't really wanna go back to Brissy with nothing to look forward to...And definitely not the casual food court job anymore...it's time to move on from there...