Aussie Bound 24 April to 11 May 08

Finally. We have confirmed our grad trip. Booked our airtickets.

I was the one who booked the airtickets for 5 passengers and I found the booking process quite nerve-wrecking actually. I kept checking, checking and checking the details over and over again.

All in Price: 992 SGD per pax for SQ flight to Melbourne. GV4 promotion. Departs from T3 =)

Happy happy happy mode.

Only God Knows

He is still the one who knows everything that has been going on in my life and in my mind.


I feel so alone yet, not alone at times. You know what I mean.


Close friends only know that much but I guess some stuff can't really be put into words. It's too hard to even try putting them in words.


At this juncture, I not only know the truth that God knows but He also understands 100% what I've been going through. And deep in my heart, I take comfort in that assurance.


You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence , with eternal pleasures at Your right hand. - Psalm 16:11


Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5


Yes, I'm trusting in the Lord with all my heart and I lean not on my own understanding.

Ice Cream Places Explored

By now, most of my friends would know how much of an icecream fan I am. Sad to say, I'm not a big fan of big brands like Haagen Daz and Ben & Jerry's (used to be be a fan of their icecream but way too expensive for icecream which is too sweet). Overrated stuff.

On the contrary, I love neighbourhood icecream palours like

1. Daily Scoop (Click Me!)

41 Sunset Way, #01-04 Clementi Arcade, Singapore 597071
Tel: (+65) 6463 3365
Email: icecream@thedailyscoop.com.sg

Our operating hours:
Mon-Thu 11am - 9pm
Fri & Sat 11am - 10pm
Sun 2pm - 9pm
Closed on selected public holidays


My favorite: Their Lychee Martini Icecream.

Shao, I know you love their handmade icecream too ;)

2. The Icecream Chefs (Click Me!)

Premium Home made icecream on the rocks!

520 East Coast Road #01-06 (Ocean Park Building, along main east coast road)Tel: 64466355


3. Ice 3 (known as Ice Cube) (Click Me!)

New found love since it's located at Serangoon Gardens! Just 10 min drive from my place =)

Add: 11 Kensington Park Road Serangoon Garden Estate Singapore 557263
For those of you who know where Chomp Chomp is, the store is located diagonally opposite of the famous eatery, along the same row of 7 Eleven.

Other outlet at Tampines Century Square! For those Easterners.

Alcoholics Anonymous Mudpie. For those who love Rum and Raisin icecream, you'll love this. I'm not a big fan of R&R, so naturally, I didn't find that fantastic but its still pretty shiok.

Caramel brownie.

Finally, my all time favorite icecream place award definitely goes to Island Creamery.

Even though they have expanded all over the island with outlets in Great World City and CentrePoint, I still love going to the original outlet at Serene Centre (Bukit Timah). It reminded me of school days back at the Old SMU bukit timah campus. From a tiny dingy outlet when Jax brought me there to try out their Revers-O icecream and we had to stand around eating the icecream because there were not enough chairs and tables around, IC had since expanded into a full-fledged icecream palour.

Sadly, the owner's son is just a Hi and Bye acquaintance in school, otherwise, I would bug him to give me a mega discount for patronizing his store. =P

Shao, icecream places wouldn't be possible without you as the ultimate walking icecream guide. Haha, you are the best icecream khaki around, ever willing to drive across the island for good and affordable icecream.

Icecream is seriously my Archille's Heel when it comes to having a healthy diet.

What on Earth Happened the past few weeks.

Other than the CNY festivities, these are what happened for the entire month of Feb.

The main highlights.

1. Kavitha's dance ceremony; a culmination of more than a decade of dancing.

Babe, I know I said this like countless times. But I'm going to say it again, "I am SO proud of you! It was nothing short of a brilliant performance!" Even though most of the time, the girls and I had no idea what was going on during the dance, we are still amazed at how well you danced solo. Solo for 3 hours in front of a near full house threatre. What a feat...

The girls who attended the ceremony.

2. My 23rd birthday mini-celeb at Aerins Raffles City.

I'm 23!

Chocolate truffle cake from Cedele Depot. Yummy! Coincidentally, my family bought a cake from Cedele this year too. Their Death by Chocolate or Devil's Chocolate Fudge cake (can't remember which one is the exact name) is sinfully good. The choc fudge is super thick. So if you sink your teeth into the entire slice of cake, your front teeth will emerge speared with chocolate. OoOoOoO. *Salivating* Awfully Chocolate is still better though. I think.

If I were to open a shop in the future, I'll most likely sell chocolate and everything to do with chocolate. Perhaps even a small corner where you can learn how to make chocolate and chocolate cakes.

But, I'll grow fat because I will very likely eat my own supply of chocolate and end up not making money at all. Haha.

oh well, starting to ramble nonsense.

Posing with Vet's car (fondly known as The Silver Spaceship) Why eh? Someone tell me the story behind the nickname. Ha. Her car is filled with truckloads of soft toys dangling everywhere! In the event we cannot remember where the car is parked, we'll look out from far, for a big ass Mashi maro dangling at the side window and we know we have located the Silver Spaceship.

I think I'm a non-accessorize car person. My car would most likely be deprived of any type of girlish accessories (even though I can be girlish). I want my car to be manly. LOL. Because I drive like a guy. Impatient, bossy and cannot stand slow drivers. Just like my daddy. oops.

And and! Thanks Marie, Youie, Vet, Shirong, YuYing and Kavitha for the watch! Love it and love all of you loads!

And of course, Wanzhi! How can I forget your airflown can of Grans Chocolate Fudge from Aussie. It was a lovely surprise. Thank you so much =)

And thanks to everyone else who gave me pressies, red packets, well wishes, CARDS (you know who you are =P!) and treats!

That's all that will be posted. The rest of the happenings are confidental stuff.

Whirlwind of a month. All I can say is, I'll remember this year's birthday for the rest of my life.

Feeling uber blessed with so much love showered upon me.

***

Something lousy happened. My dive trip is postponed due to bad weather conditions over at the island. Boooo... Postponed to 7th - 9th march weekend.

Went to watch Fool's Gold with Jax and there were these awesome diving scenes in the Bahamas (before I die, I'll surely go there to dive!) which reminded me of the dive trip that didn't happen this weekend.

If my chocolate shop doesn't turn out fine, I'll open a tour agency purely specializing in arranging dive trips, live-aboards and family diving around the world. (Youie, want to be my business partner? lol.)

The Best Birthday Gift From Jean

A blog entry dedicated to me by my beloved sister, Jean.

Titled simply, "To Jie,"

May the good Lord bless you, may the good Lord bless you, may the good Lord bless youuuu, may the good Lord bless you~!(sing to the tune of the happy birthday song)

Jie,blessed 23rd! 23 years ain't a lot of years actually, when you have all eternity waiting for you=)

and this year, I've decided to dedicate one post to you instead of writing a letter. This way, I can type down more and you can have an easier time reading what I have to say;)

haha.

It's been amazing these past few years(cause I can't remember the time I spent as a kid), being able to just spend time together as a family, talking to each other, praying together, even simple things like sitting together on sundays during the second service...though it's quite hard for us to spend more time with one another due to school, work and all, but I'm glad that at night, we're just able to smile and say goodnight to each other, know that we have this family to depend on, to have our big family dinners, play dai ti and mahjong..all the simple things do matter a lot.

and on your special day, I just want to thank God and thank you for all you've done and all you are! haha. thank you for being the fashionista in our family(so I can borrow stuff from you..), thank you for the times when you helped me out with my work, with my dressing-up, for those times when you drove all the way to school and church just to pick me up, those times when you stood up for me, those encouragements you have given me...and more.

You have indeed been the sweetest sister around, and also a most qualified driver in our family!=)

also, even though we are very different from each other, but I'm glad we didn't let our differences hinder us in getting to know each other!


yup, may our Heavenly Father continue to bless this family, and I pray as the year goes by, you'll be drawn closer to Him and that His presence will be manifested in your life. And that you'll experience every blessing in Christ, receive all joy, love, grace, mercy, peace, wisdom and understanding from our great God=) Continue to grow in Christ and seek His will in your life!


haha, that's all.


love you jie,jean.

My eyes just welled up with tears after reading it. It was the sweestest message ever.
****

I know since my birthday, I've been ''missing" from writing online.

It was one unforgettable week in all emotional aspects.

One blatant thing, I ate alot of good food (I ate enough steak to last me for the next month! =\) last week. Thanks friends for all the dinner treats :)

She Amazes me

As I was reading through my younger sister's blog, I was truly amazed by what she shared. She blew me away with her words. Always had and always will.


She wrote this piece, "Believe" and I was speechless by the time I was reading halfway through it. I can truly see how my sister's life has been transformed.

"Believe!"

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. - by C. S. Lewis

This speaks exactly what is in my heart and what I once read from a max lucado book.

let me see if I can find the passage. ah, here's one.
Not the one I remember, but one alright.

Matt 28:1-6:
Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to see the tomb. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, because an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled aside the stone and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him and they fell into a dead faint. "Don't be afraid!...I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying."


Such words mess with you. They cause you either to leave or to hop on. Be they false, the body of Jesus lay a-moldering in a borrowed grave. Be they false, then we have no good news. An occupied tomb on Sunday takes the good out of Good Friday.


Be they true however-if the rock is rolled and the Lord is living-then pull out the fiddle and don your dancing shoes. Heaven unplugged the grave's power chord, and you and I have nothing to fear. Death is disabled. Get on board!

Can we trust the proclamation? The invitation of the angel is "come and see..."

The empty tomb never resists honest investigation. Following Christ demands faith, but not blind faith. Shall we come and see? Take a look at the vacated tomb. Did you know that the opponents of Christ never challenged its vacancy? No pharisee or roman soldier ever led a contingent back to the burial site and declared, "The angel was wrong. The body is here. It was all a rumor."

They would have if they could have. Within weeks, disciples occupied every Jerusalem street corner, announcing a risen Christ. What quicker way for the enemies of the church to shut them up than to produce a cold and lifeless body? Display the body, and Christianity is stillborn. But they had none to display.

Helps explain the Jerusalem revival. When the apostles argued for the empty tomb, the people looked to the pharisees for a rebuttal. But they had none to give. As A.M.Fairbairn put it long ago, "the silence of the Jews is as eloquent as the speech of Christians!"

The other passage I remember has the message along the lines of the quote. Jesus proclaims to be the Son of God, God himself. That He is "the way, the life, and the truth. No one (goes) to the Father except through (Him)"- John 14:6. Jesus didn't give us three choices. He gave us only two- Believe in Him or not. Accept His gift of salvation on reject it.

It may seem harsh, but if you think about it, if you don't accept a gift given to you, you are actually rejecting it aren't you? You can't poosibly say," I acknowledge the gift, but I'm just going to leave it there and that's it." Even if you say"it's okay, I appreciate it..."Returning the gift is as good as rejecting it right?

There is no middle ground with God. And in fact, there shouldn't be. Would you want a God who doesn't really care if you accept him or ignore him? I know I wouldn't. A living God who truly loves us will be able and willing to reach out to us in His way. When He has done everything for us, and the truth is looking at us right in our face, we can choose to accept it or reject it. It's our choice.Maybe it's time now to step out of our comfort zones and seek the truth for ourselves, and to accept it.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.- by C. S. Lewis

Powerful message. Penned by my dear lovely and wonderful sister.

I'm a Book Geek.

I'm seriously am one since at a very young age. That explains my thick spectacle lens.

Just finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini a week ago. And it was a marvelously captivating read - the best I read in a long while. It made me feel I was living in the story's protagonist's shoes. I was so caught up with the story that I stayed up till the wee hours just to read on, on and on until I finished the rest of the book. However, the movie, in my opinion, didn't do justice to the literature though. I thought I would cry at the end of the movie, but it turned out, I didn't. So, I came to this warped conclusion that the movie was not that excellently done to move me to tears.

Ok, sounds very warped. Nevermind.

I'm gonna read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and Journeys beyond the Comfort Zone by David W.F Wong from the Haggai Institute, concurrently.


Books are an immense source of knowledge, imagination and food for the soul.

Eden Loft Nail Spa

Located at Sin Ming Plaza Tower 2, 6 Sin Ming Road (Off Thomson Road)

After going to quite a number of nail spa palours, this gotta be the best and the cheapest.

Opted for Mani and pedi combo at $40. As compared to Snails' pedicure for close to 50 bucks, I don't think I want to go back to Snails ever again. Disgustingly expensive.

And its just 10 mins away from home by bus =)

Call this number for appointment, 6554 0320

Happy with my red nails for the lunar new year.

Full speed ahead in devouring CNY goodies,steamboats, playing mahjong and collecting red packets. Woooo.. And of course, lots of family bonding time!

Really looking forward to my ah ma's home made curry puffs and my aunt's home made pineapple tarts (I don't really like pineapple tarts but I only eat the ones she made.) Damn fussy, I know. =\

=)=)=)=)

Have a joyful & blessed lunar new year!

Woods @ Dempsey

31st January 08 - Thursday

Indulging in wine after a long day in school. - Morning class, Strat lesson and case study presentation and gym workout. It was worth it.


The 12. We kinda expanded from 7 to 12 (according to May's figure keeping records). Yups, welcome to the Mostly HR-AA club.

With Li Ping, Eunice, & Gary (The VP)

Hui Xin, Julez (The Pres), May & Li Ping

Qiu Xin and Ash

Qihan (soon to be gymming khaki, hopefully...)

As the drinking went on, the increase in the number of unglam and most candid shots are inevitable...

Hah. Grad trip discussion while posing for the camera. She can really multi-task.

They are all reaching out for the wine.

Wine appreciation in the process. Actually I looked puzzled and sleepy.

HAHA... I like this shot.

I like this following candid shot the best because they look really serious...

Till next time. Great company, Good cheese but ok wine (=X)

Only grouses -

Dempsey is really ulu and the toilets look like Malaysia toilets with lizards crawling around.

I didn't get to try the German gewurztramine white wine. I like that, but sadly, we didn't order that.

THIS IS IT.

I filed for Graduation.

It was just a 3 step process. But it took me quite awhile. No, there was no technical screw up, no slow internet speed or whatever. It is just the emotions.

This, marks the end of my 16 years of formal education.

This filing for graduation process makes me feel like I'm declaring to the entire world that my school years are fast approaching its end.

No words are good enough to describe my feelings right now.

I can only think of saying goodbye to,

the years of wearing uniforms to school

the years of canteen food

the years of receiving allowances from my family

the years of 90% play, 10% study

the years of mugging thru heaps of Ten Year Series, Different JCs Prelim papers and Past year papers

But, I'll forever keep the memories of

Having my first crushes, my first strong friendships, laughter, adventure, mischiefs, klutzy moments & the start of dreams and aspirations within the comfort and safety of the school walls.

In retrospect, I would never ever want to change any aspect of my education life. I was truly blessed during this journey.

I'm thankful for my family who gave and is still giving their endless support, love and definitely financial resources to aid me thru school.

My friends, who more than often were and still are the reasons I love going to school everyday. The same old people who lent me their homework to copy, coach me in dreadful maths, physics & science and believe in me more than I do at times. And the Friends who made college life less cut-throat and more worthwhile.

And, of course, ultimately God, who made all of the above possible. =)

HAHA.

After all that writing, I wonder since when a simple affair of filing for graduation became a Oscar winning speech. T_T