November’12 in a nutshell

November was quite memorable. Two “major” things happened to me this month.

First, I had my 1st volcano trekking experience and it was absolutely amazing in every sense of that word.

Pinatubo crater lake

This is the crater lake that after the volcano erupted. And there are quite a few things you can do there such a boating..

Pinatubo crater lake boats

Secondly, on the last day of the month I accomplished something I have never done before my entire life. You know those claw cranes at the arcade? I finally caught not 1, not 2, not 3, but a lot of Sesame Street and Pooh stuffed toys! I never thought I’d feel so happy over this kind of accomplishment! Between my friend and I we caught about 20 of these little toys. What we plan to do with them is another story.

Arcade toys

Pooh and Elmo

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October’12 in a nutshell

October has been a very busy month! All the stress and preparations from the previous 9 months all culminated in October…

My cousin finally walked down the aisle…now they tell me I’m next. Haha. We threw her a hen’s night 1 week before the big day.

a more, um, artistic photo of penis straws from my cousin’s hens night.

And I made my first wedding cake! A present for the couple.

And so after the wedding a lot of us young ones made it to the Philippines for another round of celebrations. It really does looks island-y from above!

One of our stops was Boracay – famed for white sand beaches..

 

September’12 in a nutshell

Spring is here! Flowers are abloom.

And here’s the cutest thing I’ve seen all month – the musical, Annie! I am slightly envious of little kids who are bursting with talent.

 

 

My almost successful attempt at making macarons from scratch – salted popcorn with salted caramel filling.

 

 

Lighting lanterns for mid-autumn festival. I haven’t “celebrated” mid-autumn festival since I was 16!

 

August’12 in a nutshell

How is it the end of August already? Feels like the year just started…and now shops are stocking up on Christmas decorations already. It’s crazy how time flies. But anyhow, I squeezed in a little holiday to Sydney in the midst of all my studying, working, and other things that I should be doing. It was a good 4-day break.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Opera House

Three Sisters at the Blue Mountains

Of course I managed to get my hands on some Zumbarons and other sweets and they survived the plane ride!

And no trip to Sydney is complete without me bringing home some Krispy Kreme doughnuts for my doughnut deprived friends/colleagues/family. I brought back 4 dozens of doughnuts. Holy cow, everyone was staring as I walked through the aisle on the plane.

June’12 in a nutshell

I popped by an organic farmers market in the heart of the city. Can’t say it was the best farmers market but the cafe at the markets was good.

Some time later in the month our state was struck with what can only be described as freak weather. Rain is not something we see that often so even stranger are tornadoes and strong winds. It was cold, cloudy, and gloomy for about 7 days straight.

But, on the brighter side of things…staying indoors gave me time to finally make test batches of mini cupcakes for the wedding. The big day’s getting closer!

March ’12 in a nutshell

March 1st. A good cup of hot chocolate to mark the start of autumn.

Working and studying have been full on. I have always thought that I could study forever. That was before I found out that working and studying at the same time suck the life out of you. Every day I see the files and books I need to read I die a little. But it’s a commitment I have made so one must push through.

Discovered something (not so) new. It turns out that I really really like Brie. Yes, the cheese. I’m not a big cheese fan nor a cheese connoiseur. My knowledge of cheese is limited to cheddar, parmesan, and mozarella. But brie? Brie is one heavenly goodness.

Wedding prep is coming along alright. Went for a hair trial with the bride.

Style # 1:

Style # 2:

What do you think?

 

February ’12 in a nutshell

My favourite month of any given year! Sometimes it’s 28 days, sometimes it’s 29…which other month can claim to have this kind of power? Sure it’s the shortest month we have but I managed to tire myself out (in a good way).

It starts off with love (even though we commemorate it mid-month). It’s the love month and how could you possible hate love, especially with this little cutie looking at ya?

What comes after that a few days later is my birthday. Lots of eating over the birthday weekend and I’m spoilt with 2 cakes.

Plus, I have the best boss in the world. And the best colleagues. Flowers and profiteroles made from scratch because they know how much I love my sweets.

Then it was off for some partying sometime during the weekend. Best part was? I won $10 at the casino :)

Yep, I think this has been the most eventful birthday I have ever had. And you know what I have come to realise? Your birthday of ever year should be a big celebration because that’s another year that you have lived and it marks the start of a new one. That’s 525,600 minutes of opportunities given; and 31,536,000 seconds gift of life. If that isn’t worth celebrating then I don’t know what is.

I also got to experience outdoor cinema for the first time ever. It’s really good! Cool breeze throughout the night and, quite frankly, I enjoyed this cinema better than the indoor ones. The sounds are not as good as indoor ones but lying down on bean bag beds and watching a movie on the big screen while eating popcorn make up for it. I know you can do this at home too but I don’t have a big screen nor a good sound system.

And it’s a leap year!

check out January photos here