Getting cozy

Brrr! The weather has certainly turned cold which is perfect for comfort food eating (food full of warm fuzzies). The pic above is steam boat at Ken & Grace's a couple of weeks ago (thanks for hosting us!). We've been eating a lot of soup at home as well. Nothing much to update here except I went to Equip women conference and it was great as usual. I also got a haircut too not that you would notice lol. I've been finding it hard to find time to craft. Between work, chores and catching up with friends, I feel like I have no time left. However I shall endeavor to make time to create as it is therapeutic for me. I will share one of my more exciting projects soon!

One hectic weekend

Like I said I'm still recovering from a cold since last Thursday. It started with a sore throat and splitting headache but I still managed to get my experiment done before going home that day. (That's when you know you're in too deep with your PhD - nothing can make you part with your experiment). I stayed home all Friday to avoid spreading infection (trust me I'm a Microbiologist! hehehe). That night I felt a bit better so decided to go with Liz to a vintage show in my neighbourhood. I didn't buy anything because I promised myself that I would just have a look this time. I met the lady from the Garden Street Bazaar again. Their cool shop is located down the road from where we used to live in the Northern Beaches. She remembered me having bought our dining set and record player there. It was nice and made me feel nostalgic of when I used to wander in there on my own while hubby was at work. That was Friday night.

Our team: Tan, Matt, me and Christine

On Saturday morning hubby and I participated in Ride for Refugees a bike ride to raise funds and awareness for refugees. It is part of a global event with this being the first time it was held in Australia. So there we were, both a bit sick but we managed to finish the 25km course (below) without any injuries.

I enjoyed taking in the scenery of the countryside and Prospect Reservoir with the wind in my face - it was quite exhilirating actually! Climbing those hills was tough but (to put in perspective) it was nothing compared to what refugees have to go through as they flee war, persecution and tribal violence. Our team managed to raise $6,500 of which half goes towards international refugee work and the other half go towards local refugee work. I'm so glad we did it! we weren't even that sore afterwards so maybe we'll up our antic next year and do more km hehehe

That night after some resting I managed to go along to Agnes' hens night at Candelori's. Food and decor were amazing for a place in the middle of nowhere. It was just really nice to catch up with the girls and spend time with Agnes celebrating the last few weeks of her singledom. Also congratulations to Lyvonne who got engaged earlier that day!

A Spring update of sorts

So much has come to pass since my last post! I've been really busy research-wise which is a good thing :o) I'm still working (rather slowly) on my research article. I do not dare to think about the daunting task of thesis writing ahead. Lab work has been productive and frustrating at the same time due to technical failures. But that's science now let's get on with the good stuff!

A few weeks ago I went to the Stitches & Craft Show with my fellow craftsy friends Liz and Laura (my other craftsy friend Jenni has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl - congrats Jenni & Ron!). I found that this time around at a craft show I'm more interested in sewing-related stuff than paper craft supplies. I bought some sewing patterns for handbags and made a wimpy little pin cushion at one of the 'craft bars'. My fav section would have to be 'The Incubator' where all these craftsy folks were selling their handmade goodies (pics can be found here). It was like Etsy or Made it but in real life :o) hence I like.

That night we joined Ken and Grace at Khoa and Mish's for dinner and a game of monopoly. They prepared a delicious feast of Malaysian curry, Phillipino pork with salted egg salad (above) and one big roasted snapper. It was so nice to catch up and see how they're going in their newlywed life. Thanks guys for a wonderful time!

The following week, a couple from our bible study got married. Congratulations to Tim & Ash! We attended a Nalangu ceremony (below) to bless the bride and enjoy some yummy Indian food.

Their wedding was beautiful (below). Ash looked stunning in her gorgeous Indian wedding gown. I always get a bit teary at the exchange of vows bit at weddings especially Christian weddings. The highlight of the reception was Tim and Ash doing a bollywood turned salsa bridal dance! that was gold.

Apart from all this Tan and I have been getting into the habit of going bike riding and jogging every other day to increase our fitness level. I'm so looking forward to warmer weather and longer days! I've also been cooking and baking so stay tuned for more food posts :o)

Antiquing day trip in Windsor

The past weekend was nice and relaxing and included a day trip to Windsor with the girls (above at Simon's cafe for breakfast). We were there to spend time with Agnes who is getting married in November. The day unexpectedly turned into an antiquing trip where we visited a Salvos store and various antiques shops (one of my fav things to do). At Salvos I picked up a couple pair of pretty earrings (see below), some buttons and get this a set of 1950's Japanese tea cup and saucers (with matching dishes) for $10! I was just looking at it through the glass cabinet (completely in love) and without even haggling, the lady (God bless her) gave them to me for such a cheap price.

Other things I found but couldn't justify taking home with me included this immaculate retro chair in my fav colour (also matching the blazer I happen to be wearing hehehe) - I sure hope it finds a good home. Here are the pretty earrings and buttons I've made into hairclips with bobby pins.

In the antiques shops, I saw so many beautiful furniture, crockery, cutlery and even clothes but of course I couldn't afford anything well apart from the pretty gold with the pink stone brooch above.
Here is Lyvonne antiquing :o)

After all this we settled for a lovely courtyard lunch (with live music) at Sassafras Creek in Kurrajong. The place is pretty cool in that it is also an art gallery with a gift shop. Here is Anh and I standing next to a portrait completely constructed out of sewing thread!

I should mention that while I was out spending the day with the girls, hubby found us a car! he's just the best :o) We are so thankful for God's providence over our life for all good things come from his hands. Thanks girls for a great day out and special thanks to Mary for organising :o)

Enjoy the weekend!

For such a time as this

(Esther 4:14)

At last! my affogato @ funky cafe in Newtown

All this rain and cold weather is making me miserable, I'm longing for the Summer heat again. Although one good thing about Winter is the comfort food :o) but we all know where that's going ha! I'm trying to be more disciplined with going to the gym and all. I was gonna skip my Pilates class today due to the rain but I persevere and went anyway aren't you proud of me?

Anyways I know it's the middle of the week but I hoped you had a nice weekend. I sure did. Equip'09 was excellent as always.

I was encouraged and refreshed after being amongst thousands of Christian women praising God and hearing faithful bible teaching from the book of Esther. It's wonderfully reassurring to know that God is intimately involved in every single little detail of our life. Our God is a personal God. I'm constantly being challenged by God's sovereignty and how he can use all that's happen to us (the good, the bad and the ugly) to make us more like Christ, to bring us closer to himself. Our God is amazing! I also learnt what radical hospitality is all about. Firstly it's not about entertaining, having an immaculate home or great cooking skills (as I might've thought). It is about extending love and kindness to those in need because as Christians we are called to be generous as God is generous. I'm comforted by the fact that I don't have to wait for my house to be immaculate before I practise hospitality so now the question becomes who to have over? Actually we have some friends who are quite hospitable - they've invited us over for dinner this Friday!

Addicted to crochet

Starting off with some non-craft news since my last post. Our church market stall went well considering it was our first time! We handed out loads of church flyers promoting our many activities/services and even managed to have some interesting conversations with market-goers. The face painting was a big hit with the kiddies (some of the mums even asked if we do kids parties hehehe). I can't wait til our next one!
We also celebrated hubby's 27th birthday. We are about 6 months apart in age which means half of the time we're the same age and the other half he's one year older so I teased him that he is so old hehehe. We celebrated his actual birthday with a Lebanese dinner at Emma's on Liberty. The place was packed for a weekday but the food was good. The next night we had a karaoke (Singstar) party with our bible study group which turned out to be quite hilarious! I made hubby a marble birthday cake - it was the first time I made it so it didn't turn out quite right hmmm.
In craft-news, I have been trying to teach myself how to crochet from YouTube videos by this lady. I must admit the beginning was frustrating as I wasn't sure which hole the hook is mean to go through etc. My first few attempts at making solid granny squares well let's just say they looked more like rectangles then squares! hehehe I finally managed to figure out where I went wrong - I had been adding extra double crochets in there somehow thus the rectanlges instead of squares. I've made quite a few granny squares since and am becoming more ambitious to try other things. At our church weekend away last week, our minister's MIL offerred to teach me how to crochet hand/tea towel tops. Older folks are so full of wisdom and skills - we can learn a lot from them.

This is the resulting crochet-topped tea towel

I'm so excited! I just wanna go buy a whole heap of crochet cotton and teatowels and make some more - these things are always so useful. The other day I saw a pattern for crocheting flowers in a copy of Better Home & Gardens in our tearoom, so I photocopied it and off I went to crochet some flowers.

My corrected solid granny square and my crocheted flower - not bad ha?

I'm super excited now that I can crochet things maybe to give away as presents for friends/family. I have to research more on yarn as I'm clueless about what to use. A random fact: I just realised that all this enthusiasm for crafts actually comes from my mum who used to sew, crochet and knit when I was little (oh and my brain comes from my dad as my mum said it didn't come from her hehehe)