long time no blog. been delaying it for a while.

this year's hong bao collection is not fantastic. even though economy is supposed to be getting better, ang pow's are getting slimmer. what used to be filled up with red notes are now left with purple and of a undesirable denomination (i'm superstitious).

anyhow, it's the time of the year where ppl ran out of things to ask you and can ask one question. even if it comes differently phrases from different mouths, it's the same damn question.

"when can i stop giving u ang pow"
"when my turn receive ang pow from you"
"when getting married"

at least my eldest aunt has more sense.

the rest are being typically the "crowd".

for pete's sake i'm only 23 years old.

you wanna sponsor my wedding and care for my kid issit?

hearing such things during the sweetness of your relationship, this can bring slight thrills running down your back and a flush of warm glow up ur cheeks but no, we have more things in our mind to think of. the real deal about marriage.

i just got a dress and settled for it to be my CNY dress.

glad ppl agreed with wad they saw at the gathering.
i had a few nice compliments here and there.

mix and match of unhappy events with bored moments, i seldom had much fun during CNY other than a typical gathering of relatives whom i do somehow miss seeing. but after that few hours of gathering, it's back to woodenly going ard visiting ppl but not enjoying the company much.

then i realised. i really am too solitary. i had close one-to-one friendships but i belong to no close knitted group. thus gatherings seldom involved me.

then i'm thrust back into the past where i recall bitterly those mid-year and year end holidays where i'll stay home doing nothing for few weeks straight.

but at least i have him around with me always and that's comforting enough.

there is however, something left to have me feeling bitter about future gatherings.


in carpark in wilson's neighbourhood

this was another day. we met up with zhiwei and his gf.
but before that, we had to wait in suntec for zhiwei to finish work.


smile.

my dad's turn to show his cooking skill w/o my mom stopping him. heh
and.. dad can get abit extreme. in terms of overfeeding us.

just look at the amount of golden mushroom he thrown into the soup!



but actually, i like golden mushroom alot heh.

another project.

made a crystal angel keychain for helen.
now it's hanging my her hp. heh.

wilson never fails to surprise me and what more a surprise totally unexpected but very sweet nonetheless.

it's quite an amusing sight seeing him half hiding behind a pillar grinning from ear to ear.



lol so that's the sweet surprise.

i know he is awkward about stepping into a florist haha and since it's valentines day and prices of flowers are outrageous, the way he described the florist looked as if she was sharpening her knife when he stepped in was hilarious. like another sucker paying big bucks for flowers lol.

couple of colleagues saw him holding the flowers waiting for me and told me when i returned to the office.

lol



hehehe

Have been busying myself with a few tiny projects lately.

Ever since I bought those new books I've been sucked into a vortex of obsessive reading. Anytime I find myself with a moment to spare, my mind wanders to the story I last read, my hand reaches out to the book which will not be too far away from me and soon, I find myself engrossed in reading until I tear myself away after much reading to only go back to reading it in the next moment.

even so, i still managed to find some time for some handiwork projects... and erm work of course.

soon it'll be my 2nd year anniversary with wilson. yes it's been two years and time does fly. the official date of our anniversary falls on the 25th which will be a sunday, and already, wilson thought of what he would like me to cook for him.

besides that, i launched into a mini-project to make a card, or rather, display card for him as a gift. it will be framed up in my room once it's done but still, a gift from me to him.

it's not quite completed yet. i still need the frame.

here's just a sneak preview for you of what it SORT OF looked like.



you'll get a better look once it's all done. wouldn't want wilson sneaking a peek from blog to know what i've made for him. i'm quite happy with how it turned out actually.

besides that, i've had two colleagues with their birthdays coming up. one is next week so i've not made a gift for her yet.

as for the birthday girl who's birthday so happened to fall on the valentine's day EVE,

i made her two stuff.
one i made her chose a design and colours.
the second was impromptu but it turned out great.

the ring

ok this is the impromptu one

i took two shots.

one with the new owner's hands...



she's the same height and about the same size as me to i used my fingers as the guide for how wide my ring should be and it fitted her fingers just right!

AND, i took another shot on its own and played with this technique sano showed me from an online professional tip. turned out really nice.



...and the phone strap.

i took quite a while to finish this up. it's not toooo easy but it's not that hard either.

since i'm using a nylon wire, it's a little stubborn and warps in direction less than desirable and i had to sorta twist it into shape and FINALLY, and thank god, i managed to pull it off.

i did learn alot about what kinda beads would be right, pro and cons, techniques to use and avoid and why it is impt to choose the right beads of the right sizes or it'll be a waste of effort and money when you can't finally complete the project right.

it's all the more frustrating since though i'm not a perfectionist to the core, i'm a perfectionist nonetheless when it's gifts from the heart that should be totally sincere. one wrong twist or a wrong knot or missing a bead is very intolerable. i often find myself cutting up the wire in frustration (3 times in total) when near completion and simply re-do.

but in the end it's all worth it i guess.


(click to enlarge)

Dear Heizai passed away at night on Feb 3rd, 2007.
It has lost weight drastically for the past few weeks and though besides its weight loss, there's no visible signs of illness, we've lost Heizai.

So I did up a collage of Heizai.

Still remember the time when I first bought it, it was really tiny and small. Could hardly fit into my hands cos it's so small and in over a year it grew and grew and filled up my hands.

byebye heizai.

love,
ur mom n dad.