Oh hi there blog, I almost forgot you exist

Hello there, if there's anyone at all. Anyway, it's day 8 of 2013 and I figured it's too late to do any sort of in-2012-i'm-thankful-for posts so here's a list (I will never tire of lists) of how 2013 has been: (long story short: it's been great)

1. I finally have Instagram (and an ipad mini to load it on)!!!! My account is @divinedance and I currently have nine pictures, with four of them already posted above lol. 
2. That said, the ipad mini is probably the best investment of 2012. (Thank you Jotham xoxo) Because I've subscribed to Newsweek and I can't wait to read it on my ipad!!! One of my resolutions this year is to read more and read widely. I've got novels pretty set (a shelf full of half-read or unread books) so I figured I got to work on newspapers and magazines. I've always loved Newsweek so went they went digital and were available on the ipad, I thought why not? Now, what's next... 
3. Also, did I mention Russh is free to download on the ipad?!?!?!?!?!??! If I could choose to write for a fashion magazine when we're in Sydney, it would definitely be this. Oh, Surface magazine is free too. 
4. I've made 10 resolutions for the new year even though I may not be able to accomplish them all, at least I know what I want to achieve. Anyway, of course exercising is top of my list (it is every year) but this year, I can't exactly pinpoint it but I truly feel confident and determined enough to stick with it.
5. Rowena's wedding at St Regis was beautiful and food was amazing. I was the emcee (last minute thing) and omg, having a wedding is really really tiring. But this girl was all smiles and so happy, it made me so happy for her too. Can't wait to see her chubby baby boy in a couple of months time!
6. Been spending quite some time with Jotham's cell group. Ok I should be calling my cell group now but it'll take some time to get used to it. Mich Lo is also coming along with me and I'm thankful for this girl who is so tolerating of my nonsense and whining and even stuck with me through church changes. Best friends, indeed. Who will even try raw zucchini soup with me, hehe.
7. I have missed out so many things, but I will try to blog regularly, even if it's just two sentences, to keep some sort of "record" of my life.

Happy midweek everyone!

Super overdued birthday update

My 21st was a blur as I celebrated with friends and loved one at the awesome Coq & Ball (the name, I know right) in Tiong Bahru. My parents were so supportive and of course, the bill was insane but my dad didn't bat an eyelid. Jotham was the bestest best boyfriend who came over early with a truckload of present ranging from the yummy nana chocolate from Royce to VS undies to an iPad mini (!!!!!!) to a handmade book with lots of cute pictures. The rain that day sort of spoilt the mood a little but it was all fine anda dainty after. I even got a kettlebell from the Jotham's boys and chocolates from Wan and Amiril, so loved.

So anyway, I'm going to try to keep up this blogging thing and not be lazy. It's so hard to keep track of everything here because I usually just write it down in my moleskine. Oh right, and my next year's moleskine is red (thanks lopez and co!), a change from my yearly black. It's really Christmas, isn't it? I've got a full week ahead with lots of Christmas activities and potlucks and gatherings and soon, it will be 2013. Can't wait to start the new year, it'll be good!

Teenagehood

This picture is proof how much this girl has grown. She looks... like a lady. Gone are the childlike features and the baby fats. Melissa turned 13 on Thursday. We celebrated with a simple dinner with the family + a small vanilla cake I managed to find out of sheer luck as per her request. I don't know how to put into words the amount of love and fierce protection I have for her. It's quite like... I will selflessly jump in front of a speeding bus to save her. It's an honour to see her grow up. Happy 13th birthday, Melissa! My favourite girl, my babygirl, forever and always.

Quarter-life crisis

So I just typed a great deal of nonsense and deleted it and now I'm a sobbing mess. Is it really possible to hit quarter-life crisis even before I turn 21?This feels like the depression and desperation I felt during internship all over again, except unlike the end of internship, I can't see the end.

This post is too long and I have no title

1) My very handsum boyfriend/lover/future husband (ok I typed it out here so if this doesn't happen it will come back and haunt me forever) in one of his many floral shirts. Now I think he just needs a nice watch to complete the look.

2) How my usual breakfast looks like 

3) First time in Forty Hands (no, I didn't just hear it for the first time; I just couldn't be bothered to go look-see) and unfortunately, I don't like that place one bit neither do I like the supposedly awesome coffee. Too strong for me. Not sure if I was drinking water, spitting out or gurgling in the picture LOL brunch may be getting too pretentious for me now that I have found my perfect breakfast, see number 2 above.

I've just recovered from a random bout of high fever after my mom peeled me off my sweaty bed (gross ikr) and dragged my dying body to the Chinese doctor. Apparently my body is of the "cooling" type and I may have eaten too much raw vegetables (aka salads) over the past few months which is considered a "cooling" food so it isn't really good for me. ._______. All the supposedly healthy salad lunches for the past 10 months... are making me sick?!?!?! Ok anyway so I googled it (thank God for google) and it's not recommended to consume spinach, the main raw vege in my salad, raw too often because it's high in oxalic acid, which has been linked to the formation of kidney stones! But obviously you've got to eat like a ton of raw vege to get thaaaat sick like this woman who ate too much raw bok choy aka xiao bai cai aka my favourite Asian-y vegetable in the world (on par with kang kong yums) but who in the right mind will eat them raw when it's so much better steamed or lightly stir-fry?! So now, I've got to relook at my diet again. I think Jotham greatly approves and wants to hug the doctor and probably suggesting in his mind (because he knows I'll punch him hehe) that I just eat meat/protein or something. Btw I didn't fall sick because I ate too much salad (that is just sad) but the doctor just happened to ask about my diet and the first thing my mom said was "salad" and resulted in the whole raw vege conversation.

Actually I came here wanting to write about my October just for memories' sake. Overspent my credit cards (shall never give my daughter one, ever), got my knees bruised in Krav Maga, ate hell lot of sliced fish bee hoon, met my LLL peeps, tried to matchmake ML, failed to catch the church bus so destined to cab to Potong Pasir forever, went USS twice, first time for Halloween Horror Nights 2 with my bro who basically walked through all the haunted houses with his fingers stuffed in his ears and me pathetically hanging off his arm, second time with J's family where only both of us took the Human and Cyclone rides, met Siyun for Perks of Being a Wallflower and long talk, sort of screamed at an incompetent security guard through a taxi's driver's mobile phone (long story). OK goodnight.

Miss Atomic Bomb

Taking a moment to appreciate the musical genius that is Brandon Flowers and The Killers with Miss Atomic Bomb. They need to make a music video for this. 

Asian-style cooking

After a few months of sandwiches and wraps and salads, I finally realised that while our home pantry may not have lots of Western herbs/seasoning like thyme, basil, oregano, tarragon (I have all of them in bottles but still trying to figure out what goes with what sort of ingredients, it's truly a nightmare resulting in dubious food sometimes) but my mom has an impressive stock of Asian seasoning like fish sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce in all variations, abalone sauce, rice wine vinegar, etc, so I experimented.

I adapted a recipe from the BBC Good Food Asia magazine for the bowl above, a mixture of soba (they asked for rice noodles but I don't have and don't like it), leftover baby spinach, mixed vegetables, firm tofu and last minute bacon addition or else the picky little sister wouldn't eat it. While I failed at cooking tofu (looks nice but lacking in taste, damnit), the noodles were amazing because of the soy sauce and sesame oil!!! Didn't know the sauces would make such a great different but... omg totally in love with sesame oil.

Ok here's a Korean side dish of soya bean sprouts (finally found the right kind of bean sprouts in NTUC, everywhere else including the wet market my mom goes to only sell the regular bean sprouts, meh) with sesame seeds. Don't know why my mom has roasted sesame seeds in the fridge but she does, and totally made this a success. Again, soy sauce and sesame oil!!! So I snacked on this while watching tv shows yum. That's all for the gluton side of my life, bye.