*1005 - a nibble of home

A very sweet care package all the way from home!! :) Absolutely made my day.

The quintessential Singaporean childhood snackity snack--I don't even know what they are called. Something to do with gems, perhaps??



THANK YOU <3

*1003 - the present

In the past week or so, I ...

... celebrated the resurrection of the one who died for us
... thanked God for you
... went on a midnight walk by the reservoir
... got Daft Punk and Beating like a HAMMER!!! stuck in my head
... got two free pizzas at Uno's (excellent service recovery, Hotelie thumbs up)
... discovered that Mr Bean was not as much of a worldwide phenomenon as I thought he was
... gleefully spent late nights at work nerding out on crosstabs and charts
... had a successful Crazy Sandwich Lunch #2
... converted someone to be a fan of Indian food
... had the most ridiculously swanky lunch at a Japanese place downtown
... danced in 6? 7? inch glass stripper stilettos
... salsa-ed for the first time in months and months
... procured book #2 for Book Club reading (but have not begun)
... got a special package in the mail but failed to be home to receive it adlskfja;
... felt wildly compelled to take pictures of my tights "in motion" (i.e. leaping feverishly in front of my self-timed camera), like so:







(Pointed toes unintentional but always inevitable. Once a dancer, always a dancer.)

*1002 - remuneration

This was my present for getting sick (amongst MANY other thoughtful things like chocolate bunnies and four different types of soups and the softest tissues and happy meals).



Perhaps more specifically, a present to make up for getting me sick but 10000 times worse ;) (JUST KIDDING, D)

Holy moly, an entire week of not being able to go to work, and another entire week to stop sounding like a walking bag of germs and snot. Haven't been this sick in ages and ages!

BUT I am well now and ready for the loveliest weekend, despite the gloomy weather. Well, rain does have it perks: it makes for good snuggles over wine and nibbles and all that jazz ...

*1001 - thank you

And thank you, all! For indulging in my fancies and participating in my giveaway. That was fun for me too!

*1000 - the millennial post!

What began as probably, admittedly, a teenage cry for attention slowly but surely became a simple scrapbook of my discoveries, my loves, my inspirations, my musings, my desires, my tears, my prayers, my confusions, my joys, of me, of you, of us.

Because it takes some sort of dedication and some sort of love from y'all to make it to a THOUSAND blog posts since circa 2005 (some seven years ago?!?! WOW) ...

I'm going to do a freebie giveaway a la famous sponsored world-reknown bloggers that I will never be nor aspire to be, but all in the name of fun and the joy of sharing!



First FIVE people to email me (evelyn.chan.yp@gmail.com) will get a fabric flower freshly picked (well, made) by yours truly! Just drop me an email telling me your favourite colour (no promises, but I'll try my best), no matter where you are in the world, whether you're a good friend or a passerby, and a fabric flower hairpin & brooch will be on its way to you.

Or even if you don't want a flower, just email to say hello--always very much appreciated, of course :)

Well lookie here ...





... I'm dying to give these away and to add a little burst of colour and flowery goodness to your day. It would make me so happy!

(These could be a prelude to a fun business idea, so this partially serves the purpose of getting feedback on these flowers as well!)

So.

EMAIL ME NOW! No, really!

*999 - my latest obsession

Perfecting the art of maximum FLOWER POWER.



These were my virgin flower-stitching experiments. I am slowly but surely mastering the skill of sewing individually cut petals together one by one in JUST the right way.







Some good has come out of being sick and working from home for four consecutive days, evidently.

Flowers on my purse? Flowers in my hair? Flowers on my blouse?

YES PLEASE.

*998 - breakfast

Square jars > round jars:



Berries in cereal > unaugmented cereal:

*997 - first ever nail art attempt

Not anything terribly spectacular, but still, a milestone!

*996 - let loose

Yesterday was a milestone. For the first time in half a year or so, we were able to abandon the winter coats, frolic outdoors, lie in the grass, and feel the sun on our faces as we guzzled down possibly the grossest and most magnificent thing one can get from McDonalds: McGriddles.

When all you've been wanting to do outdoors is to get indoors for the past half a year, you really learn to appreciate and celebrate the first real day (to me) of spring.

Even the cold I have contracted over the weekend isn't enough to bring me down. Nuh-uh. A beautiful reward for a very harrowing week (the weather, I mean, not the cold).

One joyous lesson we learnt from lying in the park, idly watching dogs bound and tottering babies totter, was the importance of not losing the ability to release true, raw, uncensored joy. (Happy-gasms, he calls them.) The type of glorious, bellowing, uncontrolled, ROARing joy that only babies dare to let loose ("RAAAWHHAHAHHAEEHEEOOOHOOOHOOO") as they stumble along with arms outstretched to the waddling puppy or the twig on the ground.

So link arms and skip through the imaginary (or not) meadows and take a deep breath and let your happy-gasms loose! HOOHOOOHOHHHWHWHAHHAHAHEHHEEEEHE. It feels good, trust me :)

*995 - humpback dialect

Perhaps the funniest part of the movie that had us falling off the couch.

If you haven't, watch the making of the movie--seeing the three years of hard, hard work and attention to detail really makes you appreciate it so much more!

*994 - lotus flower

I think this is absolutely brilliant. Heard it on the radio and looked it up.

Lotus Flower - Radiohead

I was amazed to find out that every single movement was choreographed (a tad disappointed, even). But still.

It absolutely reminds me of the type of spontaneous and ironic movement that is so familiar but so painfully a thing of the past to me. In fact, some parts of it are oddly similar to some pieces I have created (maybe Mark, Frank, Allen can atest to that). Makes me wish I had played around more with videography in dance. LOVE IT.

*993 - 90 seconds of joy

A good pick me up on a bad day, perhaps, might be to indulge in my 90-second-counting-of-blessings ritual.

What makes me happy when I am not, in 90 seconds, first things that come to mind ...

strawberry preserves and nutella (not together)
classical music (obsession with Chopin nowadays)
hot showers in the morning
babies
wavy hair tied in a side ponytail
a laundry bag full of love
the awesomest mentor
weekends every week
taking out my contacts
amateur DIY nail art
the smell of steamed broccoli
forehead kisses

There we go. All better now. What are your 90 seconds worth of joys?

:)

*992 - early december

AHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHHHHhahahahh!!@!! fSLDiohagosiehdga;lkwej :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D HAHHAAHAHAYYAYAYAYAYAYAAAYYYYYYWHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :D :D :D :D

"What r all those symbols u r typing? Supposed to be emoticons?"
"Er no they are me missing the keys in excitement"

*991 - cuppa tea

Brilliant concepts!

Hanger tea bags by Soon Mo Kang:



And crane tea bags by Green Berry Tea:

*990 - baked chicken roll-ups

Catching the warm rays of sunny goodness on my legs as I lounge on the couch with the 50 degree breeze wafting in every now and then ... quite sublime, yes!

The painfullest April Fools' joke was heavy snow--yes, in April--and the resulting two inches of slush the next morning that threatened to creep into ones ill-advised footwear (i.e. heels, because I refused to admit that I needed to dig my boots back out again).

Well then. Here's what I made last night, using whatever I could find in my fridge as an experiment and very loosely inspired by the concept of chicken cordon bleu. Layered spinach dip, cream cheese, parmesan, pesto, and asparagus wrapped in thinly pounded chicken tenders, secured neatly with a strip of maple bacon, sprinkled with a heap of breadcrumbs and assorted herbs, topped with a pat of butter, and simmering in a pool of white wine in the oven for half an hour.

A good try, I do think.







(Oh lookie there, who's in the window?)

Me in my brand new and ridiculously fantastic apron that is proof that D might actually have more fashion sense than he claims. Now I only wish it were a dress instead of apron because of how adorable it is!

*989 - when I am in a rush or just being lazy ...

... I whip together Asian-styled fried rice and blanched Chinese veggies in 15 minutes.

*988 - seared sesame ahi tuna

My first time making seared ahi tuna steaks some weeks back. D did his part by obligingly counting down from 45 seconds for me as I pottered anxiously about the smoking pan.







And they turned out to be the best ahi tuna steaks I've had yet! Success! :)