holiday fun!

These holidays ('vacation'/'winter break') seem to have gone really quickly (we're back to school next week) but one of the highlights has been spending time with family, especially with my cousin Grace who was here visiting for the last week.

Here are some photos from her visit, featuring our day at Luna Park with second cousins (or is that twice removed or once removed or something?) Kezia and Kayleigh. To take a closer look at these pics, click on the slideshow below.


Credits
Star poser: Grace
Transport: Melissa (sponsored by Beep Beep Barina)
Giggle champion: Kayleigh
Shopping queen: Kezia

Creating the Creator

Let us not shape Him into who we want Him to be
Let us not mould Him into One who exists only to achieve our purposes
Let us not make Him in our own image
Rather let us allow ourselves to be continually crafted in His likeness
Let us allow Him to reveal to us who He really is
Let us allow the Son to show us the Father
Let HIM do the inventing, the creating, the shaping, the moulding, the crafting, the transformation in us, and not us of Him.

Random Compliments

Recently I was told by six year old girl that I 'sorta look like Pocahontas', which thrilled me to BITS! Another time, I was invited to become an 'honorary guy' which I think was MEANT as a compliment.

Yet another time, my good friend Natalie told me that I have a 'good palate' and Jioji added that I have a 'good soft palate'. It was a first for both compliments but I think the latter wins the prize for the most random compliment I've ever received. (See Jioji, I told you I'd manage to weave that into my blog somehow and I hope I spelt your name right!)

I'd like to hear your random compliments - whether or not you believe them to be true. Post your comments now! (don't let me down)

And so it continues...

This is my first post in a while. Somehow, I've been too busy being on holidays (trans: 'vacation')! In the meanwhile, I've thought up a name for my dad's silver Toyota Avalon as well. This is the automatic car that I've been driving since I'm still not manual-savvy yet! The Avalon is also Japanese so I've decided to name him after Hiro's friend Ando, on the TV series 'Heroes' (on the left in the picture below):

Ando is better looking, taller and slicker than his mate Hiro. Funnily enough, my dad hasn't quite taken to the name!

More holiday-fun-blogs and photos to come...

And the winner is...(fanfare)...

All right, all right, somehow in the midst of studying for my (one) exam, I've managed to find time to judge the car naming competition! There have been a number of good entries. Melissa's suggestion of 'Blue Steel' was apt since he IS blue, steely and really really good looking! But unfortunately, she decided to name one her fish that, and we can't have two things in the same family with the same name! It would be too confusing. Nat's entry of 'Joey' from NKOTB also came very close since he WAS my favourite and at some stage I had a plan to marry him one day (what happened?).

'Tim Junior' was never really an option...'Wazza' made me laugh and 'Nemo' was cute. I also just thought of 'Ferris' (yes I am a true child of the late 80s/early 90s). Sadly however, there can only be one winner and taking into consideration that it is a Japanese brand car and it will (hopefully) be transporting me from place to place (but not through time!), the winner is indeed Hiro, named after Hiro Nakamura from the TV show Heroes:

Congratulations Kev! What will it be? A Mars bar? Twix? Bounty? I'll even personally deliver it to you in Singapore!!! Quoting Hiro: Yatta!!!!!!

it's hot and it's in a pot!

It's HOTPOT! Yummo!!! This is one of my favourite activity-meals (next to Korean barbeque and Malaysian popiah) and thankfully they have it here in Sydney too! And yes, it's 'hot' in every way. This was not as spicy as some I've had (the one I had in Chengdu by far tops the list) but still it was good enough. This restaurant provided an authentic China experience with slow service and me fumbling to order in Chinese! I had a great time though - good food and wonderful company, what else can you ask for? For more pics, go here.

aussie girl in chinatown

I had a FANtastic 'China night out' last weekend with three girlfriends. First stop was a Uyghur restaurant in Chinatown. For those who don't know, Uyghurs are an ethnic minority group in the far northwest of China. We had 大盘鸡 dapanji (literally, a big plate of chicken. This is one of my favourite dishes, made with chicken, potatoes, chilli and garlic. Well we didn't actually get a big serving, we ordered a small one making it a 小盘鸡 xiaopanji 'small plate of chicken'), 烤羊肉串 kaoyangrou chuan (lamb kebabs - with about 50 times the amount of meat per stick than in China!) and 抓饭 zhuafan (or 'polo' in Uyhgur which is also another one of my favourites - a rice dish cooked with carrots and meat). And we also had the classic China vegie dish - stir fried broccoli. Yummy!This place was so authentic it even had fake grapes and vines hanging off the ceiling. I wish I had taken photos! Oh well, I'll just have to go back sometime to get some photos.

Our China night didn't end there. This was followed by 'dessert' at a cafe where I enjoyed a hot pearl milk tea and others had redbean ice type drink-desserts. THEN we made our way to a karaoke place complete with all the chinese pop songs that the world has ever heard (none of which I am able to sing)!!!! Sad to say, 'Love Shack' and 'Eternal Flame' were the highlights (for me at least)!

To top it all off, we stopped at Krispy Kreme for doughnuts...which was totally unchinese. But yummy all the same. Thanks girls for helping me get over some of the 'home-sickness'. I had a great time!

(BTW, the winner of the car naming comp will be announced soon, once I'm sure that all the entries are in)