farewell

People come and go, both in terms of friendship and physical distance.

Ever since graduation of secondary school back in Malaysia, I have experienced countless times of separation. Till now, I couldn't bare not to feel emotional on it. 

I could still remember vividly when I decided to pursue my pre-university studies in KL, and my best friend (shay phing) is gonna stay back for Form 6, I was so emotionally affected by the thought of not able to see her. We had been seeing each other almost everyday in school and tuition, tell me how not to be sad over that kind of friendship! We had a hang out for my belated birthday and farewell, and both of us couldn't contain ourselves and cried out at the restaurant. Well it was really hard for us to be apart!

After that I have learnt to understand that's life as we have our different destiny. And also thanks for the convenience of internet nowadays to help all of us stay connected despite the distance. Recently, I have came to an acknowledgement that in my situation, I couldn't fully blend myself in Australian's group. By that I mean not being able to grow further into a very close friendship, but I am happy to social and mix around with them. It's just the interests and activities that I couldn't see myself indulge in. 

However, I have recently met someone, that touched my heart. She cares for me like no one else (locals)  I've met, smile to me genuinely and welcome me so much. I would see her 3 days a week as she work next door. But she left. I am so used to look over next door to say hi, but I know she's not there anymore. I did some butter cookies for her on the last day, to thank her, for being such a great person. Sigh I miss her.

The reason that I started this post, is a good friend that I met during my university years came back for graduation, and now is leaving, again. But this time is for good. We had so much moments together, good and bad that strengthened our friendship. Since I moved to Melbourne, I went back to Adelaide a few times and he came over for travel as well. But after this time, there will be no such travel moments anymore. The next time we meet, will probably be back in Malaysia, and the date is unknown. I wish him all the best with his undertakings and hopefully we will meet again very soon.

I hate this part right here....

Birthday in September

Officially a year older now, and wiser I hope heh... It actually don't hit on me much, everyone grows older anyway. 

I was given the freedom to choose my birthday gift from bf although he wanted to get me a Pandora. I have been thinking of other choices but eventually I couldn't come out with a thing that both of us agreed on. So we went in Pandora to check out a day before my birthday. And surprise surprise we got a Pandora bracelet and charms on the spot, and a sparkling love shaped charm from Elaine! I wasn't prepared to get it on the spot but somehow it happened. Grateful for the gorgeous gift.

On the actual date, there was a special "One day Shopping Sales" at Melbourne Central. How lucky eh?  So we have to be at the mall early.. And..And... that's when I got my flowers delivered to my doorstep by bf <3 a="" enough="" inside="" is="" joke="" lololol="" love="" major="" once="" p="" year="">

To make it more fun, we joined the competition held in accordance of the event, which explains spamming pictures on our Instagrams lol...  Unfortunately non of us won it but we had so much fun running around the mall for treasure hunt! I have never joined any such competition in a mall, a very special memory indeed. This was actually the second competition, there were a limit number of participants for the first game which we didn't get to join and changed the plan to breakfast at Pancake Parlour. 

After the game we went for shopping spree! So many offers at all the shops! Some are really cheap and worthy. Most of the stores have 20-30% off. It was then that I bought a pair of sneakers from Vans. Oh I don't shop for sneakers, really. But I have been wanting one pair to be on my shoe rack, ya' know, sometimes to change a little! Here's a picture of us in a slightly different style, trying on the caps in Vans store.

We shopped from the morning till evening @.@ Due to some delay at the queue to get in fitting room I would say, not sure if it even qualifies as an excuse lol But we got so tired of walking by the end of the day. Good thing that I stay so near by don't need to walk a far distant to get back to home. It was a full on fun filled and adventurous birthday.

We ended our day by going for a steak restaurant called City Grill Room. I am having this major major love for steak especially this year! And this is by far the best, most tender, right to the degree kind of steak! I am so gonna go back if I have the chance! I love my rib-eye on bone so much!

Rib-eye

Scotch

Now I have to backdate to about 5 days before. I had an advanced mini cupcake surprise session at home. Main reason being bf's brother was here travelling and another housemate of mine is travelling back home town  during my birthday. I am contented having them to share the joy with me.

On a side note, I miss my friends back home that would always celebrate it with me as well! Grateful that even all of us are thousand miles apart, you guys still put in effort to send your wishes accross! At the bright side, my relatives are coming over for a week in November! 2 more months :)

Falls Creek Snow Ski

I can now say that I have seen, play and walk in snow after 3 years plus in Australia! Well, main reason being most of the areas in Australia don't snow in winter. The temperature is simply not cold enough for the snow to visit. Therefore we have to go up the mountains such as Mount Buller, Hotham and Falls Creek for the snow experience. It was such a fun and adventurous 3 days trip I would say. We picked Falls Creek as it is most probably not as crowded as Mount Buller, and as for Hotham somehow we just didn't thought of going there. 

It normally takes about 6-7hours ride from Melbourne city to Falls Creek. Unfortunately, it took us way longer than that! We were stuck just before we reach Falls Creek due to rock slide and VicRoad decided that it is too dangerous and it is gonna take a whole night to clear the road. We were so shocked and worried at that point, it was our first snow trip ya see... So we had two choices, to return to Melbourne city; or to take the chance and stay overnight at the small town we were at, which is called Bright and hoping that the road will be cleared by tomorrow morning. But that means we will be having 2 days 1 night instead of 3 days 2 nights at Falls Creek. Anyhow we decided to wait till the next morning and I am grateful that we made that decision as the road was cleared by the next morning as promised by VicRoad.

I was so ecstatic seeing the snowy scenery, so white so picturesque! None of us has snow walking boots thus we were walking so carefully as it is quite slippery walking on the snow, way more slippery than we thought, not to mention dragging our luggages along to the accommodation. To avoid this, there is a transfer service that costs $20 per person per trip but our accommodation is nearby so we didn't want to pay for that.

We stayed at Elk at Falls and it is a really lovely apartment. It is a 2 bedrooms apartment with fully furnished kitchenette. And that is why we brought food over to have steamboat in the chilly night. A major plus point is the view from the balcony,  so so so gorgeous I can't describe! Gasps! It's all snowy white, it's like a painting!

Our first group picture at snow mountain :D We were on our way to pick up our ski gears. The ski clothing are all waterproof, which is very important not only to protect against the wind/rain but is extremely helpful if you happen to fall down while skiing/ snowboarding or else you will be all wet. The ski boots and boards are not only picked best to your size, but also calibrated for accuracy. The ski gears are pretty heavy to carry. And the bulky ski boots are also quite stiff and tight, which is good to maintain your ankle position to avoid injuries but could be uncomfortable for first time wearer.

It works in such a way that we take chair lifts up the top and ski down, there are various slopes, in terms of steepness, distance and difficulty.  All lifts were opened on that day but given our limited time on that day for us to learn to ski and actually started skiing on our own, we only bought the ticket with least lifts. We had about 2 hours beginner lesson to learn to handle the ski boards. 

The lifts are not even like a cable car, it's basically just steel chair with handle!! And we had to carry the ski gears with our hands all the way up as we didn't even know how to fit it up with our ski boots at that point of time. I was trying to hold my ski gears tightly fearing if I accidentally let loose it will fell off, the long ride was not doing any good! Feeling the weight of ski gears and the never ending distance, the only thing that made it better was the breathtaking scenery, really. Why can't they have proper cable car so that we can rest the gears and enjoy the scenery?!

Also, snowman is not limited to movies anymore! There I seen it with my own eyes and even built one myself! Proud moment.. Don't laugh at how excited I was and still am, 'cause it was my first snowman ever in my life ok! As we were returning to the city the next day evening, we just rented the ski gears for a day. We decided to just walked around the village, just relax and have some fun. For me, it means snapping pictures all the way hehehe

I miss the scenery so much, so much more that I never thought of. It was simply unforgettable! Eventhough the trip didn't go according to plan at the start but I'm glad that we made the right choice and made it to Falls Creek in the end. It is definitely an adventurous one. Everything that was so perfect on Falls Creek redeem it all! One thing that made it not-so-perfect was that it didn't actually snow on that 2 days. Oh well, life is not always perfect isn't it? There's always possibility in life right? :)

Oh Hai again

Great! I've been ditching my diary blog for so many months now!

Ever since I was back in Malaysia actually. And now I'm back to Aus, hoping for a better future. Which is exactly the time that I have more thoughts.

During the two and a half month back in Malaysia, what happened?! To me, there's seriously just two things that happen, grandpa fell sick out of no reason, and then grandma got stroke. Well, of course I had other things going on life a spontaneous trip with dad to Krabi, short trip with le bf and xiu bao to penang, and of course Chinese New Year celebration with family and friends. But I missed out on travelling around Malaysia, especially Johor and Langkawi. All these got brushed off due to my responsibility of being a granddaughter.

So grandpa was so weak the first two weeks I was back, then grandma got stroke, sent to ICU, stayed for 2 weeks, got transferred to normal ward and stay for further 2 weeks. Grandpa somehow amazingly recovered, perhaps due to better nutrition intake. Grandma has always been a relatively negative person as far as I know. Thus, I have been at her side almost every single day since she got hospitalised. As much as I care and love her, it got really tiring at times. It would be better if it's normal sickness. But whole left side of her body can't respond, can't move. She can't sit up, she can't flip body, can't get down of bed. We have to flip her when she doesn't feel comfortable sleeping with her sleeping posture. And also because to avoid her skin got damped and thus initiate rotting. She sleeps alot in hospital, which is not a very good thing as she's not moving at all most of the time. We would exercise and massage her hand and leg. After she got dehospitalised, she's sleeping lesser but she's even more emotional, often crying for very minor incidents.

Because of stroke attack, her mind got affected as well. She's way more emotional, way more negative, way more sensitive. Apart of taking care of her body, we have to cheer her up mentally too, show her more love so that she thinks positively and hopefully help her in recovering process.At least now she's back home, safe and sound. Now that I'm back to Aus, I can't do much. But I wish she understand my hope for her, to cheer up and trust in herself to recover.

My grandparents wearing new tops I got for them for Chinese New Year. Ahh we're so matching in red!

Life back here is always exciting, not totally in a happy way, but I guess that's how life is. There's always the great and enjoyable part yet there'll always be something of uncertain nature that create a negative part.  Really really glad that le bf is staying in the same city as me now. Now that he's here, we could meet as often as we wish. I've almost forgotten how great is the feeling that I know for sure he could be physically by my side whenever I need him. And also great time spent with housemates. Gosh after two and a half months! It still feel so awesome spending time doing random things or having some facing-reality chat with the girls. I'm feeling so lucky and grateful now, just with these three important person with me here, to face my challenges. One of the biggest challenges, job hunting. All I can do is just to continue to search and search until a company appreciates what I could offer. Some people say its timing, some people say it's luck. No matter what it is, I hope it's coming soon.

Dear God, please pull me through it.

princessy

How princessy could one be?

Yes you can, with princess crown and Vera Wang Princess perfume

Example, look at our princess here - wearing the crown holding princess perfume : "Imma convert you with my princess potion !" lol

Love this photo! She was really surprised =)

This is her cake, a cupcake, sweet pastel colour themed with lotsa hearts. How sweet is this cupcake!!!

#ootd: Bralette top, light grey pants, thin rose gold necklace, geometric necklace, brown faux leather bracelet

Mini celebration strictly only for three of us. A very simple one but it's heaps of fun. Glad that she really like it. I could totally tell by hearing her humming songs happily the whole day haha..



two and a half week more to go back home, finally told my boss that I have to stop. Surprisingly he didn't get angry or anything, just telling me "you gotta go then you gotta go". He was still sort of scolding my colleague for wanting to take a 10 days leave in december even though she's gonna stay back for summer. miracle miracle. good for me =)
Now I have nothing to worried about.

Before going back, need to settle new apartment arrangement for next year, need to pack all my stuffs and move to new place. Yayy moving house is fun because I can redecorate my room lol. But the room is smaller than now. Oh well, it's slightly cheaper plus larger living room plus city center plus 3 of us staying together. ohhh yeaaa =)

One more fun thing is that I'll be heading to Adelaide for 3 days next week. Woohooo gonna try more new cafe there, and not forgetting yummy chilli beef from noodle house! I swear there's no other restaurant cook chilli beef like they do!

Cheers, to the happy weeks ahead =D

recent moments captured

After exams ended, I've been pretty much enjoying my days here. SInce I've booked ticket to fly back Malaysia for holiday, I have to pause my job hunting for now. Thus, I'm left with finding a new apartment unit to stay for next year, earn some money from my part time job, and just enjoy my time with my friends before we split up for holidays back home.

Some photos that I took to capture the memories. Pretty into portrait now, capturing candid, fun moments.

This lady obviously immersing in her own world in this quirky cafe with her cup of coffee.

Playful waitress chatting with the chef.

 Elaine and Yiann

Burst out laughing because the bench was too hot, thanks to the great sun lol

flowers, can't get enough of flowers!

Walked quite a distance from the brunch cafe to this cafe for coffee. But it was a nice stroll. New found cafe called Miss Jackson, a very simple, modern style cafe. Our usual drinks, cappuccino, flat white, and mocha.

How clear is the sea water! can see the corals! super tempted to swim that day, should've brought extra clothes!

some other random shots at the beach:

night world, this week's gonna be a fun week before everyone goes back for holiday. and then it might get bored after that when the apartment is left with me only =(

Of you and I

Amazing how time flies. Thinking about the past, the teenage hood, the friendships, the relationships. Reflecting back then of you and I, they and us.

Now everyone are just apart, literally. Suddenly realize I don't have anyone of you physically here anymore, not even near where I am now. Most of you are in Malaysia, some in UK, some in Singapore, the nearest would be BFF at Perth.

Form 4 if not form 5 gave me the most memory, honestly. When I met most of my BFFs, and started to learn about relationship. How much I cherish each and everyone of you. I miss the moments, every single one of them, whether it's sweet or heartbreaking. The memories and feelings still feel so fresh, couldn't believe it has been five years away. Sometimes I wish I could stay back at that moment, if only I can freeze the time. But I know we are where we are now because we are doing greater things now, be it studying higher level education or earning money already. Greater in the sense that we have all grown up, not that the past was any less fun. Therefore I guess it's just too selfish to freeze the past. The past will be in my heart, it's gonna be there forever I swear.

I hope I'm doing my best to keep in touch with everyone as much as I could. Thanks to all the social media technology nowadays. Hope everyone of you is having a good time with your life now.

celebration for 22 years of life

日子一天一天，就这样流逝了。
又过了一年。回想起这一年，除了读书，就是吃喝玩乐。
多愉悦啊，相较于现在，好怀念去年。
但我心底懂，无论如何，都该珍惜当下。
是的，至少遇到了些值得珍惜的情谊。
还有，经历了这新环境所带来的一切，好的与坏的。
说实在的，觉得2012年还真不是很容易。

撇开日常的不如意，今年生日还是很开心地度过了。
今年，有他，有多年的好朋友黄秀宝小姐，和今年刚熟但很要好的朋友们一起庆祝。
还有家人的祝福。爸好像很多年都忘了主动祝我，但今年却记得了，还真让我蛮感动的。
现在还真想家了。
很感激身边的人们，很幸运遇到了你们。
感恩。


With my love for beach, a picnic at the beach it is! =D

candid shot by Elaine

 Made all the food hehe.Different types of sushi, sandwiches, potato salad, and fruit mix which we didn't have time/stomach to eat in the end lol.

happy us! Always love group photo =)

yiann and elaine

Was still sick on that day therefore didn't manage to capture more photos. I was taking a nap while the girls are all having fun posing in front of camera lol.

Went for special dinner at Nobu in Crown at night, a really awesome one. Pretty expensive too, each main costs around AUD30-40. We had 3 mains and a dessert. So yummy thus must bring in all the picture so that I remember them the next time I flip back to this birthday post. Thanks B!

Black cod

soft shell crab with kiwi salsa

wagyu beef gyoza

dessert bento - matcha ice cream and chocolate fondant

Supposed to meet the girls at home after dinner and continue for gelato at Freddo's. But! This was what welcomed me. Balloons and cake - a little surprise party =D Thank you so much for all the details people.

And when I was happily done cutting cake and finding for my water bottle, this was what awaiting me in my bedroom. More balloons... and presents!!! Balloons never fail to excite me, what's more with presents in the middle of them!

with bff 

Really feel so blessed to have you guys. Sincerely, appreciate every things from you guys. We were strangers before we met, and now, look at us, we are so close. 

NOOOO that's not all because all those happened on 02/09/12, before my birthday because that's the only date that bao bao and him are both here and only day that yiann don't have test when they're here. So on the exact birthdate, I went for lunch with the girls. Wanted to go for crepe at first as it has been a while since we have it. I meant savoury crepe, not those fruits type. Not sure where to get it back in Malaysia, I never had it in Malaysia actually. But the savoury crepe here has ham, cheese, egg etc. When we reached the restaurant, it was closed! Closed for one week, according to the notice sticked on the door. So we went to the restaurant directly opposite it, called Campari House. None of us ate there before, but I spotted "squid ink fettuccine" on their specials! Have been reading good review about squid ink pasta from bloggers in Malaysia =) Have been longing for it since, how lucky am I to get to try it on my birthday! The squid ink fettuccine was served with bug tail and topped with lobster cream! It was so yummy, the whole plate was just full of seafood flavour! But the portion was quite small, I couldn't get enough of it haha the photo below doesn't justify the size of the portion because I took such a close shot of it. It costs AUD28 but the ingredients used are really good. Wonder what do they serve with squid ink pasta in Malaysia. We also ordered salmon with spicy tomato sauce and pesto. It was good too but it's no beating squid ink pasta haha bias to the max!

Then Elaine and I headed to Le Petite Gateau for tea time. They have a selection of cakes on display, probably around 8 for us to choose from. I had a piece of black forest while she got a baked custard tart. The blackforest was really good. strong liqueur mousse on the top layer, then thin chocolate sponge followed by cream and cherry, lastly another layer of firm chocolate sponge. The cherry for deco on top of the cake tasted like plum and quite liqueur-ish actually. A rather small piece of cake for the price of $8.50 but the taste was real good.

This is our view, looking inside of their baking work place. Can see that they are enjoying their work very much. Made me think of how I should be enjoying what I do, or actually do what I enjoy?