*589 - update on The Toe

It seems like the tissue between the detached toenail and my toeflesh has regenerated and sealed Toenail & Toeflesh together again! How odd!

*588 - back with a boom

We're back!!

ELISA & EVELYN



Meh meh.

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Today, I accidentally tore half my toenail off and was bleeding unceremoniously in the bus, all alone, with nary a tissue! I stuck the detached nail back on with 3 layers of plasters and went off merrily after work for dance class.

But now, I don't dare to remove the plasters for fear of ripping the entire nail off :O !

Shall end this abruptly, like thus.

*587 - new earrings

1. Dashing danglies, designed mostly by Kenneth (who is a lot more artistic than me), printed and cut and carefully sanded down to size. You'll never find these designs anywhere else - if you do, they must've copied us!! Heehee ;) Fully customisable too!

2. Smashing studs, handmade with little pieces of funky fabric. One-of-a-kind, because I can't get the same fabric anymore. Cut out a chunk of your favourite shirt and I'll make it into a pair of earrings for you! (Heh just kidding, but you can if you want.)

Coming sooooon! (:
(Sooooon meaning whenever I find the time to upload all the photos onto E&E.)

Whee! Excited!

*586 - same difference

6 inches worth of dead trees and 1 week's worth of frantic work gone to waste. So much for my efforts. After all, it doesn't matter if you waste a week of a mere intern's life away and contribute to global warming at the same time, does it?

Work has been mildly more interesting as of late, ever since I stopped getting work from C and A started entrusting me with more important tasks. Now I actually liaise directly with the F1 stakeholders and government bodies instead of printing and stapling and scheduling for meetings.

(But I am now quite the expert with secretarial tasks! Watch me as I operate the hole-puncher, with such startling alacrity! Watch me as I coddle the jammed-up printer back to life! Watch me as I wield my stapler and fasten documents in the blink of an eye!)

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It's as though life in Singapore was put on hold for the 9 months I was away. When I came back, I just hit 'play', and everything started rolling again.

It's surprisingly normal to be back. Settling down and turning everything into routine is oddly easy. Sitting down at a brand new dining table in a brand new house with a brand new Ipa and the same everyone else. Chilling on the rooftop last night with the Tutti Frutti's and feeling like it was just a week ago since we last met. Waking up early for work and wasting my time away like I've been doing that my whole life (please, God, no). Trooping down for Sam's classes and meeting Mel Yihui Aster and reuniting with Weicheng Aunties Flexigirl and realizing that even my jete's don't change. Meeting old friends, making new ones, doing my usual thang, trying out new stuff.

Life's strangely easy to adapt to when you're at home. Everything's changed, but everything feels the same.

And that's what I like - the comfort of being home. Everything else can change, but something intangible's always constant.

Even my most depressed days over here (trust me, I've had plenty) can't rival those over there that leave me feeling scarily hollowed out, like someone carefully scraped my insides dry with a teaspoon.

Of course, I was happi-like-never-before over there, but memories of how I used to be sad-like-never-before scare me. (I don't wanna leave again.)

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2 hours to go. 2 hours to the weekend!! :D

*585 - carrot cake

I made carrot cake! For daddy's birthday (: And it was a hit! Huge cake gobbled up in just 2 days.

With Ipa, Mum, and Sis helping to grate 3 cups worth of fresh carrots, it wasn't that much of an ordeal either. Plus I had my artsy architect to help with the frosting, so the cake turned out really pretty (:













Also, daddy is the most precise cake-cutter ever. No kidding.

*584 - white non-christmas

Now that I'm back sizzling in the sun and humidity of our little island, wintry Ithaca seems like a distant dream from a long, long time ago. How did we survive the -25 degree cold??

Down-filled coats, puffy ski jackets, wearing 5 layers and still freezing, bracing against the burning cold, never being quite warm enough ...

... and of course, beautiful trees made of crystals, snow globe landscapes, soaring down puffy white mountains, never being quite warm enough but always toasty warm inside <3 because cold days are our days.

Bitterly cold mornings


Ice-caked cars


Branches dripping crystals


Pruning trees so they'll grow in spring!


So cold that even my poo froze


Sexy Joel?


Flying Kenneth


Just reminiscing.
Winter won't be the same again.

*583 - waffles and roses

Reliving our waffles + origami days at Gelare, only on Tuesdays, because their waffles aren't worth it otherwise.









Smaddylizard and BananAmy, proud graduates from LycheEvelyn's School of Origami Roses!

*582 - red rose

Guess who loves me?



JOEL! :)

He's a lot sweeter now, ever since he got attached. Heehee. He gave me a carnation on my birthday too. I think flowers look nice in green bottles, against my wallpaper.

*581 - Tao's Karma

If I ever open a restaurant of my own, I'm going to train my wait staff Danny Meyer-style. In this little city of Singapore, where servers close to never go beyond merely meeting customers' expectations (and often fall short), going out of the way to fulfil the needs customers didn't even know they had can be surprisingly impactful.

Free extra bowl of soup, 7 free iced drinks, surprise ice cream with a candle and teapot gift from the boss for the birthday boy, totally out of their own initiative! And superb service along the way to boot. Tao's restaurant. 7 course meal for $35.50. Check it out (:

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Also, try Karma Kettle and Rhapsody too (the one at Dempsey). Quirky and cosy, even though we were the only customers at the restaurant. The lady was most amazing, and gave us free soup for no discernable reason!











Good service makes me really happy, because it gives me the illusion that Singapore's service industry still has hope. You've gotta empower your staff to give customers everything they need and more! What's a handful of free soups when what you get in return is personal satisfaction and loyal customers who bring in more business for you?

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Since we're on the topic of food,

Donuts from the little stall at Bugis Street
Verdict: looks cute, tastes bad


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Time is passing by way too fast. Every day's a routine - wake up early, rush off to work, get annoyed at a certain someone, entertain myself with fellow interns, knock off from a wholly unsatisfying day at 6.30, head out for dinner perhaps, chill out for a while before I collapse into slumber and wake up the next morning.

Soon I'll have to head back to Cornell and start doing the whole academics thing again. This time, I don't really know how I'm going to survive.

Cornell's really beautiful
And I miss my friends
And I miss Pandora, Jim, BenMerDebYut
And I miss walking to Statler, Statler salads, Mac cookies
And I miss horticulture, Maya, cool Hotelie professors
And I miss not studying and having noone to play with when exams approach
And I miss cracking gum, pretty/cute angmohs, talking angmoh (only to angmohs)
And I miss scarves, leggings, cool air
And I miss Victoria's Secret, cheap F21, online shopping
And I miss my samsungs, free texts, unlimited talk time at night
And I miss VP, Collegetown, grocery shopping
And I miss Beebe, uncovered forests, 50-acre gardens
And I miss pancakes, honey chrys chicken, lindt white choc truffles
And I miss the little adventures into the heart of Ithaca
And I miss the freedom of living by myself and doing what I want

But
All that doesn't really matter
All that doesn't make sense anymore
Because it's not going to be the same
And I don't want to leave
(not without you)

*580 - surprisingly good chocolate fudge cake ...

... at Liquids Cafe, a 5 minute stroll from my place.





The mushroom pasta was amazing too, which is why we devoured it before managing to take a photo.