End of Year 2

Year 2 has officially ended. If you asked whether it was challenging? Yeap. Exhausting? Definitely. Different? Very. But thank God for pulling me through this far. Sem 2 was honestly the most stressful and challenging sem with tons of projects where we had to always pull up all-nighters just to get work done. It also concludes the end of my study dates with Chao Lei at Pies and Coffee - the cafe which we visited at least once a week to do assignments and mug for our exams. Haha didn't really end it on a good note unfortunately because one service staff working there totally judged us when we ordered iced lemon tea and mouthed something to her co-worker. True that we hogged up the seats but the cafe usually has many other seats available so we weren't really posing a problem/affecting the other customers. But thank you P&C for being my study spot for the past semester!

Today I went to Atlas Coffeehouse and splurged my money on the cafe food! Plus i'll still be going to another cafe on Friday with my project group and Whisk and Paddle with Si Rui next Saturday! #gettingbrokeoverfood Their service was great! I like the decoration too, it has this open window concept = good lighting, perfect for taking photos. Brought my Canon DSLR in an attempt of taking more pictures since it's newly bought and I still don't really know how to use the functions properly.

We ordered iced mocha, iced latte, creamy mushroom on sourdough with scrambled eggs, bacon, baked beans and sausages and lastly, shoestring truffle fries! The place was a little squeezy though and it was pretty noisy but I enjoyed myself! 

Will be going to my grandma's 85th birthday celebration on Saturday, will update again! x

Lord, please help me through this.

Lizzie McGuire movie

Decided to reward myself by watching The Lizzie McGuire Movie after the most exhausting two weeks of school ever. Had a tub of strawberry Haagen Dazs (only ate some mouthfuls btw) and it was 1-2+AM and right now 4AM, and I didn't regret rewatching it! Though I probably watched it way too many times when I was younger but whatever the case, it brings back a sense of nostalgia. :'-) one of my favourite films because I like how it took place in Rome, Italy and Lizzie was exploring the city and it has this very nice adventurous feel to it. Wish i was in Lizzie's place and could go on a school trip to explore Rome I mean how lucky is that? Or I just wanna go to Europe and explore, that'd be really nice. Now Rome is on my to-go destinations! 

Can't wait till April is here, looking forward to Tokyo and Osaka! :-) my foxes and deers in Zao Village and Nara Park are waiting for me. Till then! x

Deadbeat

Have never felt more tired before. Don't know how long I can last to be honest. Because my MICE report is due on Wednesday but technically my group and I have to finish it by Tuesday to submit to Mr Ron and stuff. I've never stayed back in school till 10PM in consecutively 3 days. 2 of which I had a bit of gastric pain because we didn't eat much for dinner. One time I totally skipped dinner till I got home and the other I only ate a waffle. Plus i'm having ear infection now for 2 days already and I finally went to Dr Cheong to get some medicine. It really hurts even when I don't talk/swallow. But thank God it's recovering a bit, on and off.

Today I even had to go to school after seeing the doctor and stayed all the way till 7+PM. Literally had a lot to be done and we should have managed our time better and rushed through it in the holidays but we didn't know there is so much to do and we slowly took our time. Ah, I still have my FMA test that constitutes 20% of my grade that's on Monday and i'm exhausted already but i've to hang on.

Can't wait till next thursday ends so that I can finally get some rest and then i'll be left with SIP and MICE presentation. And then... Exams.

God please sustain me with strength (both mentally and physically) and let me have a speedy recovery and finish this race well!

2016

Featuring my mandatory annual New Year fireworks! :-)

Happy New Year! I'm 10 days late, aren't I? Yeap, i've been piled with project work even though it's e-learning week but I had to return to school from Monday to Thursday just to get things done. This holiday isn't even enjoyable, it's exhausting. School has been draining and the thing is it's about to start again. I don't like whining and complaining about things, but i'll just stop here. On a brighter note, (a really bright one), I'LL BE FINALLY GOING OVERSEAS DURING MY NEXT SEM BREAK! Am genuinely super excited and very happy because I haven't travelled in such a long time (excluding school trips

I believe that 2016 will be a year of new beginnings for me. I think it's time for me to recommit myself to God, even despite certain restrictions. And I know that when we are faithful to Him, and we are earnest in seeking God, He will bless us with joy, peace, and even grant you desires of your heart. 

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

Praying that there will be great things in store for me this year. Trusting in You Lord x

My baking sucks

I'm starting to think that my baking sucks. I mean i've tried out some recipes and they tasted pretty good, like the chocolate chip cookies and apple crumble. But honestly, other than those two, the things that i've baked on my own really didn't turn out all that great. I like baking, it's kind of a passion/hobby of mine, but something always goes wrong.

So tonight I decided to bake brownies for my friends for Christmas. I literally went out just to buy baking powder because I mistakenly thought that I had baking powder at home when it was actually baking soda. They are two different things so I was like "nah, i'm not gonna screw up the recipe this time round". See my dedication here?

Anyway I think I overestimated myself and made 2 portions, because like I mentioned earlier I was planning to give them to my friends around 5-7 of them. But the end product turned out too crumbly and dry, and it wasn't sweet enough. This is probably because I didn't follow the recipe accordingly. I used a much lesser amount of chocolate, and the chocolate was unsweetened when the recipe's one was semi-sweetened. My mum said it's okay so I thought it would turn out fine. I added >50g of sugar to compensate for the chocolate, but it didn't help much. Sigh, then my mum kept reassuring me by saying, "it's not that bad, it's nice. I'll eat it for breakfast tomorrow." The more she said it, the more I thought she was trying to make me feel better. I mean my brownies weren't that much of a failure, it's just a moderate pass, but much improvement could be made.

Let me share with you my other baking failures haha. So one time I saw Byron's instructional video of the cookie cup and it looked super cute and appealing so I decided to be ambitious and tried his recipe out. Turns out somehow, I couldn't even get the cookies out of the cup. It failed so miserably and I left the two cups in the fridge because I didn't know what to do with it. Next day, my dad threw them away without even asking. He threw the cups away! Thank God they were free cups.

Another time, (which was quite recent, it was during my previous holidays), I wanted to bake these mother-in-law tongues which I found from my dad's recipe book. It's a cookie shaped like a pringle. And I thought, hey if this turns out successful I can post it on instagram. Turned out to be a total disaster. It tasted like cake instead and I'm not even joking. The batter was stuck to my parchment paper and I couldn't get it out! Unfortunately I wasted my parents' money on the ingredients and my time put into baking and washing up. The recipe was way too vague and adding my limited baking skills and knowledge = *_*

The more I write this post, the more depressed I get. But yes, I read that baking is like a science or an art, and it's kind of like trial and error. My dad says sometimes you can't get it right on the first try. I'm not gonna give up on baking I can assure you! I'll fill this blog of hopefully successful bakes! x

Holidays make me happy

Holidays equals to doing things that you like, things that make you happy. As for me, it equates to baking, binge watching Korean dramas (that is if I discover interesting ones), reading books, visiting cafes, exploring new places in Singapore and i'm definitely planning to visit the National Gallery which looks absolutely beautiful. I love any building that resembles those European architecture that looks ancient yet visually appealing. I think my (future) camera would be in love!!! Currently saving up for the Canon 100D but my progress is kinda going nowhere at the moment, clearly can't wait to use it when I travel overseas next year!

Today, I went to Awfully Chocolate with Chao Lei this afternoon to satisfy my iced mocha craving, which I tried the previous time I went with Wei Ling and it tasted heavenly, even better than Starbucks/any other mocha i've drunk before! Not lying, I promise. We started on our SIP reflection journals and we kept getting distracted and chatted non-stop. So much for getting things done but like they say, the first step to overcome procrastination is to start easy (or just start somewhere). #sourceunknown #probablyfromme

Spent the evening with Wei Ling, Si Rui, Lin Ying and Vivien at Jcube and had my sesame udon noodles at Itacho Sushi which wasn't even filling. Need to stop spending on food, someone remind me please. It wasn't really a bible study session, more of a shopping session for Wei Ling haha!

Still can't believe that 2015 is ending so soon. Reminds me of the faith goals and regular new year goals i've set to achieve for the year but some failed miserably... I'm also planning to restart on my #100daysofproductivity challenge, which originated from Tumblr. The general idea is to make sure that everyday you do something — anything productive. It embraces the concept that by chipping away at least a little bit of that big pile of work we all have everyday, we can make huge changes for the future. 

Felt motivated and inspired after scrolling past some posts of it and thus, i've created a blog specially meant for that. (Link here) Hopefully, the challenge is a way to develop my self-discipline to literally do anything like go for a jog, cook something healthy, read newspapers, bring my dog out, make some study notes, do household chores, study a chapter or two for my exams, instead of stagnating at home watching Youtube videos incessantly. I believe that it's a choice (or even a struggle) everyday to choose between being productive or wasting the day off. And this challenge will get me started and avoid procrastination. 

I'll update you on the progress! xxx