So I got up (not so early) this morning and went to the park to jog.
Managed a few rounds before I started to walk briskly (Oh the sun!!!) and retired after finishing a grand total of 6 rounds (2.4 km). This distance is much less than what I did on Sunday at the gym at N's place. I think it's the airconditioning and the 'flatness' of the treadmill. Wehhhh.

I ought to wake up earlier to save myself from the scorching sun.
Feeling incredibly bloated and oily after dinner.

I think I shall try waking up earlier to jog tmr.

*grunt*
My thighs hurt.

But pain is good. Very good. *grunt*
I hope to keep up this regime, I feel great after exercising.
Now why do I realise this only now? Or rather, why do I keep forgetting this fact?

Hopefully my legs will recover by tomorrow. :D
More Counterpain please!

Happy Sunday

Today is once again the day that we all kick back our shoes and relax and enjoy each other's company. We started off the day with a nice breakfast together at my place. C had her fave bee hoon with tomato ketchup. And I had cereal with milk. We took the time to leisurely read the papers together even though we were running late for church. Thank God we did not miss much of the service as we had the chance to sing through two of the fast songs. Hehe I love to sing fast songs, it just makes me feel energised. The message today was complicated yet simple. To cut the long story short, the main message was to do all small things with great love and to do everything with the Love of God. Easy to say but difficult to do, however, it is our lifelong goal.

After church we went to peoples' park to eat lunch. I queued up for the famous yong tau foo and thought the queue was super long, it was super fast. The soup was nice and not too salty, the ingredients very home made and the chilli sauce was SEDAPPP, and in C's words FANTASTIC. WE also had fried guo tie which was crispy and not oily. Then we had the famous big big fishball which somehow was not that solid as before already.

So, after our meal we proceeded to Casual Poet (I am sure no one knows where this is) which is a somewhat Indie Taiwanese cafe culture shop. So they sell nice tote bags, unique publications and music cds. They also have novelty items like blackboards, wooden cutlery, writing pads, and the list goes on. Haha but the smell of coffee from their cafe was shiok. ButI resisted the urge so that I could go to the Austrian cafe at neil road to drink nice freshly brewed coffee. So in the end Cheryl bought a tote bag and a sketch book. So we proceeded to the Austrian cafe but to our horrors it was closed. Argh. hahah so feeling lazy we went to compasspoint to get something. And after that we tucked into Ya kun to enjoy our nice afternoon tea. heheh. After getting energised by the food, we came home to exercise and C's cheeks were all pink after her run. So cute. Now we are here waiting for dinner to happen. hehehe wat a nice day.

Happy anniversary :D

No guesses for what this post is going to be about *haha*

N and I celebrate the 7th year of our relationship today. We met up after his work at Raffles City. Was waiting at Anthropology when he surprised me from the back with a huge bouquet of lilies *beams* Now they're giving out a lovely sweet scent in my room~

I was super surprised by the flowers, totally didn't expect them at all because yah well, flowers cost good money yah!! hahahahahha.

But N's gesture was totally sweet and I couldn't stop beaming and blushing. N then whipped out a cd compilation by Hillsong United "The I Heart Revolution" which I suggested as my present. THAT was another surprise as I expected us to shop for it on Sunday after church. (Yah I know lah, I'm super unromantic one.) With it came a little enveloped letter and obviously I will not leak the contents out here!! Hohoho

So we headed to Sushi Tei, having decided that we were going there for dinner, but alas! Waiting time was going to be more than 30mins and famished as I was, N suggested Kuriya - the super atas-y Japanese restaurant at the basement of Raffles City. The interior deco was super slick and chic, but quite dark at the same time. I guess it helps create that atas-ness of it. Hahaha

Was pretty hesitant about dining at such a place, as under-dressed as I was in jeans and a simple ensemble with my COLOURFUL lesportsac (hurhurhur), and the rest of the population was the after-office crowd and some big honchos who shut themselves up in private rooms.

Anyhow, N persisted and I had to accede his request. :P We ordered soba tea (rice tea) - tasted pretty light, but smelt smoky and herbal-y. We also shared a little hotpot soup thingy that came with seafood and nice slabs of salmon. Yes SLABS. Haha they were succulent and soft and ooo-la-la~. We shared another order that had a mish mash of unagi (slurps!), tempura (double slurps!), sushi pieces (SLURRRRPPPP!!!) which unfortunately did not have enough wasabi, and a small bowl of chawanmushi and miso soup. I was so famished that I forgot I had my camera with me and didn't take pictures. :(

After dinner, we adjourned to our favourite ice cream place, Tom's Palette at Shaw Towers. There was a huge crowd and I was glad that the business has finally taken off from the past few months we've been stalking their little outlet. So N had his longan red dates / sea salt caramel ice cream, and I had my usual staple of chocolate and apple pie crumble.

Tralalala so we headed to Bugis to work out a bit after our delicious meal, where N got himself a box of Thai salad at the food fair. It was super-chili-padi-my-brains-want-to-burst-and-my-eyes-want-to-pop kind of spicy but it was gooooooood. Hoho N sweated buckets after having most of the salad and only managed to cool down after gulping a bottle of Coke-light.

By that time, it was time to head home - I was super tired from a paper I had to submit during the day, and N had to wake up early for some stuff the next day.

I now leave you with some pictures of the lovely bouquet.. and as you can tell, Cupcake was greatly enamoured by it!

We've come a long way in our relationship and our love for each other has been stronger than ever before and so has our relationship with God. Thank God for blessing our relationship and both N and I are looking forward to our future together. :D

Pardon the sudden influx of so many youtube videos. hahaha this is another of my favourite praise and worship songs. I love meaningful lyrics!

Here's something bound to brighten up your day. :)



And something in similar fashion :D



Look at the little fight that ensues between the chickens at the bottom row! Hilarious!



Sigh.. Just love the meep meep guy.. *wipes tears of laughter*

I'm such a fuddadadada when it comes to wearing heels.
*think wobbly walking and the tendency to suddenly lose balance*

I think I shall make a bid to wearing more 'feminine' shoes. (Besides wearing flats of course.) Doesn't help that my feet are quite broad. Bah! Why can't men wear heels too?! Then perhaps there'll be more comfortable and cheap heels out there.

Will pop by 'chows and keef' on Friday. Hurhur.
Am very stressed right now.
Laters!

Love

The closer you get to God, the more you find out about yourself and you have trust that God knows you can overcome your own issues.

Everyone has been hurt previously, whether by friends, lovers, family, a scar has been made in your heart and certain events retrieve those memories that you feel are best forgotten.

Perhaps God wants to remind you of something, something that God wants you to admit, acknowledge and work towards becoming a better person in Christ. Not in Christ alone, but your change in perspective will also benefit the people around you.

I was feeling down just a while ago, and God pointed out certain flaws in my character (while conversing with N) and that I needed to tend to certain immemorable events that happened in the past. I felt a strong urge to draw something, and He prompted me to draw this 'love tree', where each heart represents each forgiveness I've made. Yes it's hard, rehashing all those unpleasant memories, but I know it's for the better and I want to be the better person that God has set me out to be. (I'm not sure if that's the exact no. of pple who have hurt me. I haven't counted.)

Learning to forgive and love is probably the hardest thing in the world, but God is Love and with God in your heart, mind and spirit, you HAVE LOVE within you! In that sense, we have all the love in the world to forgive our enemies, but whether we choose to have the right mind to love is another issue altogether. I hope this makes sense to you.

Remember - who you are, what you've done, whether you believe in Him or not, God loves you! You may not feel it now, but perhaps if you choose to let God enter your life, give God a chance and God's love will overwhelm you and you will feel an immense love and warmth in your heart that you've never experienced before. It happened to me, and I don't see why it wouldn't happen to you too. :o)

Have a blessed day.

Much love,
C

Finally a time to blog

Finally, I've got the time to blog. It has been a long week starting first with my graduation. Hehe it was a nice day and a special day to share with all my loved ones. Although the day started off on a wrong note by someone testing my patience but all ended well as I went up to collect my scroll from the NUS President. As I sat there in the audience listening to the dean giving his speech, I can't help but reflect on the advice that he gave us. He said that we should always "play to our strengths, and work on our weaknesses". Translating this piece of wisdom to every day life is so apt. Always excel in where you know your strength is. But also have the courage to face your weaknesses so that we will develop as a well-rounded (not in the physical sense) individual.

Anyway, that day we went to this jap restaurant in Circular road and had a nice jap lunch. I had tuna and salmon don, while cheryl had this sea eel tempura don. The food was nice and it is one of the rare times I finish the whole bowl of rice just becos the rice was so nicely down. Then I also ordered a side dish of sashimi which included salmon, tuna (maguro), yellowtail, ebi, and hotate (scallop). Slurpz. After that we went to ya kun at funan centre for tea and had a nice chat with Elvin. He was sharing to us about his trip to Israel and found that the natural places like Mount of Olives related more to him rather than guided tours of the Via Dolorosso. I must say that he really has grown more closer to God over the years and God is really using him mightily in his sphere of influence.

Next up, my spiritual walk with God. As things happen around me and to me, I begin to realise that God is always in control. No matter what happens I will strive to lead a surrendered life to Christ. Although it is difficult but I have to tell myself daily to submit to the authority of God and resist my fleshly temptations and ideals. I know that the main weaknesses I have now is pride, impatience and sometimes unbelief. I know I can overcome these weaknesses with the Holy Spirit's help. However, at this juncture I must mention that I am really thankful that God has really worked so much in C's life. I have seen her life changed so much that I am encouraged by the good work that God has done. She is now a pillar of faith and sometimes I draw strength from her when I see the faith that she has that God can do anything. Think alot of times my human brain gets in the way and I ask questions like "is it possible?". I have limited God so many times that I really need to seek his forgiveness. So in all case I pray that I would remember to trust in God all the time and lean not on my own understanding.

Lastly, I really want to thank C for standing by me all these years and being such an understanding gf. Really treasure all the time spent together and really look forward to every weekend where we can just spend our quiet time with each other just reading, walking or praying with each other. Thank God for bringing C into my life. May we continue to grow from strength to strength in the Lord.

a long journey...

Have you ever been caught in the situation where you're doing something you 'feel' you're not meant to do, yet still willingly trudge through it because it's what God wants you to do, in order for you to learn something or to form a closer relationship with him?

For 4 years, I've held on and even though the end is near, it's one of the most trying times I've faced in my life. I've been emotionally up and down the roller coaster, because while I want to be a good testimony to the people around me, my determination to continue this journey has not been particularly satisfactory.

Perhaps this is what God wants me to learn - to be a stronger woman for the other tasks He's set out ahead of me in the future and to strengthen my faith in Him. Even though I may know this, but I've often felt down and in despair, eventually burdening those around me. I am truly grateful to those who've been there for me. You know who you are :)

I must continually remind myself of the goals the Lord has set out for me, and to always console myself that God will never put me through situations that are impossible to go through. It just dawned on me that within this year or so, I've been drawn closer to God faster than any period of time in my memory.

I thank God for his overwhelming love and devotion to me, and I guess I should use that as my determination to move on. I know He has big plans for me, and that He's building up my character now so I can fulfill whatever He has in line for me.

These are 2 of my favourite worship songs. Hope they'll touch your heart.

liberty of london

DROOOOOOOLLLLLL

Embossed leather with floral details on a classic tote-shaped bag, what's there not to love?!
Perhaps if it wasn't white (think mustard / bright olive green and matching handles) and perhaps if the straps weren't so bright-shiny patent, and PERHAPS if the price tag wasn't a hefty FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS, I may have just gotten it in a snap!

Heehee check out more yummy bags at Liberty of London!

life's lessons

Today, I learnt a lesson about patience. Our limits (N and I) were stretched thin, but thank God for our perseverance and His grace for the peace and forgiveness in our hearts.

Perhaps it was easier, since both of us and A (his friend) felt the same way and we could understand how one another felt. It was a wonderful time to learn more about A too. :)

It's N's commencement day too, and he looked smart in his attire. I'm glad we had a nice day together.

:D

let's make this our sunday ritual

:) Sunday was spent with N as I wanted to spend Saturday by myself with my books, stress and also to pack my messy room.

Anyway church service yesterday was great, and the basic message was "Do not Judge", based on the examples of the Pharisees and the Saducees, religious leaders in their own right, but controversial in their walk with God. It greatly reminded us (N and I) that we were not to judge other Christians in the way they worship, how they dress, what's right and what's wrong negatively. Yes, criticism can be the first and most natural reaction, but we should learn to control it and deal with it in the least potentially insulting manner to the person/ people in question. More importantly, we should not take Man and Rituals before God, but that God's rules preceeds everything else. Open your hearts and minds to unfamiliar methods of worship, and when in confusion, seek the Word to understand whether it is good or not.

So that was the basic gist of it, at least what I discerned from the service. N and I spent a great day at Marina Square after service, heading down to the food court and to Muji (hoho!) and walking from City Hall to find our way to Waterloo Centre to borrow a dslr from Z. (Thank you!)
It was kinda funny because both of us vaguely remembered the address and we weren't quite sure how to make our way there, so we just headed towards a general direction and tadah!! hahaha very amusing.

We retired to his place for the evening - where he swam for an hour as I read by the poolside and later we went to Hougang Mall to decide on a watch he saw and for some grocery shopping; during which I managed to stub my toe - which bled! eek! Ok this paragraph is really bad, but haha I shall not correct the awkwardness of it. :P

At night, we watched this dvd "Jesus Camp", a documentary where children in USA (the South) take part in a church camp, and how POWERFUL their faith was in God. It was amazing, despite their early youth (10 years / 12 years and even younger) that they were able to defend God and make choices against popular mainstream culture and have the Holy Spirit working powerfully in them. Which one of you would be able to approach a stranger at a bowling alley just because God prompted you to do so? Which one of you is able to write a sermon based on what God prompts you to?

The documentary definitely has its critics, there was one within the show itself and well, although it may seem fundamentalist / extreme, but at least the church leaders aren't training children to hate / release their anger through weapons / kill because someone is different. They're teaching children to love and connect deeper to God, and to reject the lies that society has led us to believe. These children were able to ignore insults and taunts from their peers because of their strong belief and it was extremely hardwarming and was a definite eye-popper (so much more intense than eye-opening!) for even a Christian like me. These children are definite soldiers for Christ, and I pray that more children will take up roles in the war for God.

[Note: This is definitely different from the physical manifestation of "gee-hard", where weapons / violence are used. This is war in the spiritual realm, where not only will more souls be saved, but much deeper and intense r'ships with God are created and that God manifests in our lives 24/7! Amen!]

So I spent the night at N's place after the dvd and prayed together before we slept. Despite my many dreams, it was one of the most peaceful sleeps I've had in quite a while - such is the power of a prayer. :)

Hope this post touches your heart :)
And congrats to those who're having commencement today! :D

what's your heritage?

I've always been asked whether N's Malay / pure Chinese, and today I have ground breaking news. Hahahaha.

N just told me that he's 1/8 Indian, his dad 1/4 and his grandad 1/2. Unfortunately his grandfather was adopted and makes it impossible to find out more as he's already passed on. Oh and when I mean Indian, I'm referring to North Indian here. This revelation came about through N's granduncle during a family gathering.

N says that probably accounts for his deep set eyes that's pretty rare among the Chinese here.
Huuhuu. Such an interesting tidbit!

M remarked that makes N exotic! Haha and that'll make our children 1/16 Indian. Lol.

This bit of news made me rekindle my interest in my own lineage, but ah well, I guess it'll probably take ages and ages and a long journey back to China if I were to pursue that interest. All I know is that my maternal grandma stayed near a lake somewhere deep in Guangzhou as a child.

(Pssst! Did u realise that there's a wider space after the fullstops and before the start of each sentence? The aftereffects of dissertation I say! Apparently it makes the dissertation easier to read.)

down and out

I'm trying my best to stay sane with all the stress I'm facing right now.
My mental faculties are being pushed to the extreme and my emotional stability has been rather topsy turvy.

Yes I sound like a wimp, but when you've got a menacing deadline and an obligation to do well because you've got one of the best tutors PLUS a overloaded brain that has mysteriously gone blank, you'd probably be in the same situation as me.

I need more perk-me-uppers and happy pills.

Lord, I ask you for peace in my heart and clarity of my mind!
Amen.

Much love,
C

Snippets of boredom

Here's my handphone buddy after a wash with light soap. He's all spanking white and new again! :D

On a super random note, here's what I discovered after an innocent search on 'Strawberry Shortcake'

This is one of the evil characters in the series, "Sour Grapes".

Doesn't she remind you of someone in real life?

Tadah!! No, I'm not likening Sour Grape's character to Mrs VB, just that there's such a striking similarity between the both of them in terms of facial features, especially the area around the nose and mouth. Perhaps it's just like how I'm often likened to Chloe Dao. -_-.

K back to work.

i look forward to happy weekends

As the title suggests, N and I had a great weekend again :)

We checked out the Turkish restaurant (pretty good food but singed the pockets a bit), yummerlicious ice cream from Tom's Palette, oogling at cheong-sam inspired dresses from Tantan, discovering the immense variety Carrefour had to offer (We left the place at 10.30pm!), sushi goodness from the Japanese supermarket at Isetan@Lido, and basically enjoying each other's company.

I love weekends where we enjoy the simplicity of life and disregard the mad rush for materialism, jealousy, deceit, lust, etc that some couples go for everyday.

I love that we discover more about each other and form a deeper understanding about our relationship. Ahh... such is the simplicity of life and love!