:: So What If Tommorow is New Year?

People always talk about resolution when it comes near to the end of the year. I, myself don't have any new year resolution and I don't care to have one. I do have some targets in life or a list of what I should have accomplished before the next year will meet its end. I don't think I really have to make one every new year, do I? Cuz' I think new life starts everyday. I believe in what I called 'everyday mental resolution' of what I am suppose to get done by today or tommorow or whenever since we merely live day by day...

It's good to have a resolution so you will have a direction of your jorney throughout the upcoming year. But somehow I think most people would easily forget of what they did say, what they did promise and not to mention the new year resolution. They are easily blown away... they are forgotten as if they never outspoken before.

Anyway, Happy New Year Anyone :)

:: "due too much holiday" syndrome

Kebanyakan liburan memang mungkin bener2 ga bagus ya... atau malah bikin manusia tambah males, atau malah tambah bikin orang capable of doing anything they want...

Contohnya ini :

["before" and "after"]

Beneran deh, kayanya saya ga pernah tuh senekat ini..gunting jaket sendiri. Tapi apa boleh buat, udah ngebet punya rompi yg bisa dipake sama dress. Modal nekat aja deh.... :p

:: Boxing Day

The most exciting day for all the girls and ladies around Melbourne today! Yeah...today was Boxing Day! What's so special about it?

Lemme' tell you, today EVERY store in Melbourne area is having big sale from 10% up to 70%. Now, how does it sound? Good?? Of course, it is! Myer opened the store really really early at 7 am this morning, and amazingly people still faithfully waited in front of the store's door until they open it. Why? Because MYER gave away some special christmas vouchers for them. THAT was pretty much explains everything, right?

This year I went to city for Boxing Day. I went there about 1.30 pm cuz' I woke up at 11.30 am this morning due to those things I've done a night before. There were sooo many people around. Long queue for fitting room, long queue for registers, everything seemed so rushed to shop. Today I saw most people brought more than one bag in their hands and saw the excitement in their eyes.

I went to city by walk this year. I still remember two years a go when I lived in suburb, I went to Chadstone for boxing day. I woke up early and catch a bus at 8.30 am to Chadstone.and met my friends there. Until then, guess what, I didn't get any single thing for myself. How sad.

After then, I had to go to work at 2 pm so I went to train station while my friend dropped me there. And when I went out to the carpark, surprisingly I'd never seen Chadstone's carpark like that before. It was a sea of cars! Car's horns, people shouted, many cars the owner had left them irresponsiblly... it seemed like they all had lost their minds or something. Even when I and my friends were looking for the car *they even forgot where they parked the car!*, this guy came from his car shouting at us and asked where we'd parked the car so he could have it. The problem was...my friend forgot!

And this guy were following us. And when we finally found the car, there was another car came from opposite direction looking for park. When the driver saw us, he drove his car in front of our friend's car but the guy that had following us was angry because he thought he deserved to get the carpark. But not this other driver. And they just shouted each other for the sake of 'precious' carpark...so I and my friends just left.

That's how crazy it was...

It's not finished. I went to work at MYER city then *yes, the same MYER I went for shopping today* There I served this bunch of customers on lingerie section! I was very dazzled because I had to sort out bras and undies, hanged them back after they tried them, not to mention the various customers' inquiries...I was overwhelmed with bras and undies! Until couple of hours later, the supervisor asked me to go to their store room and help someone to put those bras and undies back to the hanger. And you know what...3 big baskets of them, they definetely drove me crazy. One basket has finished, but yet the second is to come, and so forth... I finished at 11 pm.

Yeah...boxing day is always be a great time for shopping. This year, I was happy enough that I was the customer. And oh...almost forget to tell you, today I got couple of tops and face illuminator I'd wanted for months. And the price of waiting was worth it. Haha...

:: Merry Christmas!!!
The Christmas, the dinner, and sharing joy moment...

You all may have read from my previous posting that I had this kinda wish to spend christmas in different but lovely way. Having a proper dinner with home made meals served was one part of it. And of course, sharing it with your closed ones is the most important things. And today was the christmas day. Yes, I admit exhaustion had hit me so badly this morning. While forcing myself to wake up this morning and the fact that I had my service at church today.

But everything was happy ending after all. I went to church, done my service, went home and watched some christmas specials on TV. Afterwards, I continued my cooking and finishing the preparation. It took hours, because I and my friends had to cook 3 main meals, sides and couple of quick entrees. Okay, this is the special christmas dinner menu :)

Christmas Dinner Menu

Entree:

Green Salad Mix

Nachos with Tomato and Avocado Dip

Lorraine Quiche

Main:

Roast Turkey with Herb and Bacon Stuffing

Thai Prawn Salad

Whole Baked Ham with Grapefruit Glaze

Baked Pasta

Sides:

Hasselback Potatoes

Desserts:

Frozen Christmas Pudding with Chocolate Sauce

Creme Caramel Pudding

Honestly, it was undeniably tiring, but it was fun though. It was my second time throwing a party at home, but this one is absolutely different compare to the one before. I served more seasonal foods this time and the worse was I have never known how they taste should be like because I've never tried them before. And then, even though I only invite 8 people for the dinner, but the variety of foods are more complex this time. Last Housewarming party on early this year, we invited around 30 people, but we only provided less complicated foods because mostly we used instant ingredients. So yeah...this one was pretty a blast for my cooking experience :)

Anyway, that was pretty much my christmas was all about. Hope your christmas would be merry, too :) And finally, please allow me sincerelly to wish you all:

Merry Christmas 2005

Let's His peace and His never ending love will forever be in your heart.

And let's share His spirit of love around you every single day.

:: One More Day...

• 1 pm : Went to Queen Victoria Market. I bought 3.4 kgs of whole turkey, whatever kind of cheese, fruits and all party needs. Whoaa...thanks to the inventor of trolley...
• 4 pm : reached home, went to Asian Grocery nearby and put my things in the fridge.
• 5 pm : run to City to buy xmas present 30 mins before David Jones closed. *pheewww...*
• 7 pm : Bake a cake
• 9 pm : Still baking....
• 11.00 pm : Tidy up the dinner table while watching Christmas Carols on TV and yet still cooking...
• 11.55 pm : Still baking and cooking
• 12.00 am : Merry Xmas!!! *still cooking*
• 12.20 am : Having dinner for three of us at Mike's House while watching light decoration he put himself in his house...so niceee...
• 1.30 am : Come back home with friend, continue our kitchen activity.
• 3 am : Forcing our selves to stop cooking and baking.
• 4 am: Went sleep peacefully....

:: Christmas Shopping!

No no no.. don't you ever think about me buying new clothes or cute long dress or a pair of beautiful shoes! I wish I would buy those things! But apparently I was rushing to go to city today because I had to buy some christmas decorations for my in-house-fine-dining-dinner on christmas night, soo... in order to make my dream came true precisely, I bought these stuffs to add in the moment...you know what I mean ;)

When I arrived at city, like usual for almost every single day in December, shopping center were always full. I've never seen people in Melbourne like this in any other months. So packed, so rushed but yet so fun! And ummm...yes I was one type of people who love to do things last minutes...*mental note*..."no more procrastination" would be on the very top of my new year resolution.

Back to the main topic, about xmas decoration. But before we go on that, please remove that imagination of me carrying around a fake pine tree whice its height is twice of mine... but please, think of a proper christmas decorations to put on a proper christmas dinner table. And ohh... never think I would buy expensive thing only for once-in-a-year moment like christmas... Nah! I'm getting wiser now....and by the way, what would be the purpose of a store like TwoDollar shop or Reject Shop except you'll go and buy something cheap from there? :p

Christmas shopping is always fun, isn't it? It WAS tiring to get myself into a packed store full with bunch of people and loads of drolling beautiful decorations... ah, well..like I've said before, it's a once-in-a-year moment kind of time. We HAVE to cherish it :D

Btw, how's your christmas shopping so far?

:: The Preparation Was Started...

Today I got a special appointment with my friend at my apartment. Today we were planning to bake our very first time Christmas Shortbread and Lorraine Quiche!

All the ingredients were ready to be used on the top my shelf. Butter, flour, icing sugar and rice flour, those are the only things to use for this recipe. All those excitement and curiousity became one melting pot within my mind, thinking if it was right or it would be alright! The best part of making those cookies were the cookies cutting. I got those cookie cutter in star, heart and angel shape! I love the angel one, but it was really hard to use! The angel has the wings, hip and head that we should take extra care on it before it broke!

It was really fascinating, especially after we put them on the oven tray. It was kinda quick process because it only take maximum 15 minutes to bake. And it tasted not bad at all. We like it! We made quite a lot of them and kept trying to figure out if there was something missing or why did it taste like this rather than that.. blah...blah...blah... But overall, we were happy of the result. And all of them were finished in 24 hours time. Believe it or not...


The Quiche! Not really though one, but once again I would say that this was our 1st experiment. We did it though. As long as it looked like one, taste like one, shaped like one...it was more than enough :D A bit crumbly on the pastry but it didn't affect the taste of the food! Of course, proven by the fact that the quiche itself were already gone by the same night. Phewww..mission were done!

By the way, I just sent all the xmas cards to my friend this morning. Mmmm...do you think they would receive it before christmas? I hope so... *finger crossed*

:: My Christmas Plans

• Buying xmas cards, write them and send them to my friends around the world!
• Preparing xmas dinner for 8-1o people
• Making a list of guests
• Browsing for recipes and home design ideas over internet and magazines.
• Practising baking skill to make sure that all those foods are gonna be edible.
• Calling a friend to ask for assistance.
• Smile, put down all the burdens, take a deep breath...
• Ready for sharing joy, happiness and love. Yay, christmas is here!!!

:: I Thought I Was Fine...

But I wasn't. I may sound exaggerated, but I really had lived in denial in past two days. Been thinking that there's no such a big deal had happened, but the truth was it really had.

Few hours after the accident I was still laughing about it. Not about how bad it was, but it was about how misfortunate we were, that even in the worst moment like that, there was a police handed my friend $170 fine plus the company owner who was about to claim the cost of his ugly fence that my friend hit.

A day after that I have become the most conscientious car passanger ever.

On the second day, I didn't feel really well. I got this headache and finally vomit. And you believe it or not, after a while I've became better than before. I gave myself a flashback to what had happened couple days ago and realized that it was really happened and I couldn't pretend that it never happened.

Then I finally tried to speak about it to some people that I trust and their comforting words were really worked with me. I took my time to think about it and thanking God that His help never comes late.

Another thing to be thankful before I end this year...

:: It was an accident, but not the bad one.

I got an accident today. Doesn't really sound like I really got one? Okay, let me rephrase. I got a car accident today, I wasn't the pedestrian or just the witness. I was in a car and I didn't drive, my friend, though. I sat on the passanger side and suddenly this car came towards us and hit us so bad.

The story begun when I and my friend went to Savos to give away some stuffs then we were driving away to Westgate Bridge because my friend wanted to pay for the toll bill (eTag). The closest Coles Express is on Westgate Bridge, around 10 mins from our apartment so there we went.

Then after every business is done, we decided to go home. Until at one intersection between Montague St. and Mourne St and we decided to go straight. We were on Montague St and we were waiting for the cars at Mourne St. stopped (it was traffic Mourne St). It was clear after a while and my friend drove straight and we forgot of something....

There is another direction of Mourne St. that we didn't aware of. So when we passed the road {after we thought it was safe}, there was a car came in towards us [I think the car was about 60 or 70 km/h] from the other direction. And the car bang my friend's car, hitting the passanger side, where I did sit on. The sound of two cars crashing each other was definetely freaked me like hell. I couldn't do anything, and that time I realized if there's anything bad happened, it would only be me. The crash shoke my body and suddenly the left parts of my body felt were sore.

My friend lost control of the car. The car hit the side of the road, hit the fence of an office that situated at the corner of the road. Then the car stopped. We were looking of each other, checking ourselves and tried to take control of this situation. My body was trembling, my heart was beating so quick and suddenly my head was like spinning. But afterwards, it was okay.

Then my friend went out to approach this guy, who hit our car. They exchanged information and asking our condition. Then this guy told me, if he was driving faster than he did, I might get killed. I am fully aware of that. The only thing I could do is just thank to God because His angels came on the right time to protect me :)

Even though he was the one hit our car, but according to the rules it was my friend's mistake to drive across the street without gave way when there is give way sign. Of course she knew about it, she just didn't realize.

Last but not least, I and my friend are okay. We discussed about it all day and you know what... after a while I realized, it was good that I didn't see the car when it was coming towards us. If I did, I think I'd get a lifetime trauma and unforgetable nightmare before christmas! For sure...

:: Lucky Girl


Did I just say that I was such a failure yesterday? Apparently not for today!

Today I received two (early) christmas gifts. Woohoo... am I lucky or what...They really made my day though...

Thanks ku and the cutie Anna...
I insist to send you both something for x'mas!

:: Such A Failure...

Have tried 3 new recipes last four days. But they all went wrong.

First, the cheese macaroni was terribly tasteless. On the next day, I made a brownies. Again, it wasn't really good at all. The eggs I used are no longer fresh, so it smelled kinda bad! If it wasn't yuck, it was blahhh!!!

And today I gave another shot on shortbread. "Easy" is the word that came out from my mouth when I saw the recipe. But it seemed like this experiment would made my failure even complete! Even when I saw the dough while I was making it, I know it wouldn't work. Trust my motherhood instinct already :p

Now I'm kinda thinking myself as a loser baker. Hehe.

:: Xmas and The City

This year, I'm gladly telling you that I will spent my Christmas in Melbourne. It's gonna be my 2nd christmas here as well as the upcoming new year...*grin*

Who doesn't love christmas, by the way? This is the day when everybody, regardless the backgrounds or religions, sharing love, joy, togetherness between people around them. Every year, when the calender has been rolled to the the last sheet, the christmas athmosphere would start surrounding the whole city. Where ever it is...

If you walked around city of Melbourne, you'll see big christmas decorations and huge x'mas tree displayed at the center of the city, stars hanging in the sky or even, you could find Santa Claus in a public transport!

One famous tradition is MYER open window. It's a yearly display of christmas story on its windows. Every year people come to city, stand in quite long queue just to stare on the window, looking and listening to the christmas story told from the window. And as I said before, because it's quite a tradition, kids are not the only ones who could not miss this show, the grandma's and grandpa's are also looking forward to see, too!

It's a really enjoyable view, for sure. Nothing would beat Christmas day, even my own birthday. So glad it's just around the corner... :)