060. december underground

"Moment" by lynch. is playing in my head as I write this entry. It's already coming to the end of December and I haven't fully accepted the fact that 2012 is ending so quickly. I really loved 2012, so many things happened and I'm still changing. The good outweighed the bad, that's for sure.

 To end 2012 with a bang, little sis and I will be in Maldives to celebrate the new year. Hopefully welcoming 2013 will help make next year as good as this one or maybe even better (wishful thinking), but I hope the year of the Snake would be good to me, because well, in the Chinese Zodiac, I'm born in the year of the Snake and I really love snakes, so 2013, please be kind to me.

Here's some stuff I did this month : (I was so lazy to update, haha)

Federation Square, one of my favorite places in Melbourne and it has free wifi yay!

Myer Christmas Windows, these are just two out of 5? Cute!

There were animated and could move and the lights would flicker. There was even a queue just to look at this.

It was raining on the day I was coming back to Singapore (why I am back is a long story),

 but I was lucky enough to see a rainbow before I left home. Melbourne is so good to me.

Little sis brought me to watch Rurouni Kenshin, she knew I was bummed to be back. 

The cinema hall was FULL, and we were lucky to catch the last screening! 

The movie was pretty good, the characters really looked like the ones in the anime! *___* 

And Sato Takeru really suited Kenshin well. I love the fighting scenes. 

They changed the story a little to suit the film and it was about Jinei, 

still wish it was about Shishio but it would be so long if it was. 

The film lasted for about a little over 2 hours. 

Dad looking all happy to murder lobsters for our Christmas eve dinner! Dad came back to celebrate Christmas with us since it was a long weekend. We had the lobster and turkey on Christmas eve and on Christmas day, we went to Hyatt. As usual, I had steak and we all shared appetisers and desserts! I got a new Moomin plushie, Fullmetal Alchemist series blu ray, TEKKON KINKREET blu ray (finally) and a Rei Kawakubo book for Christmas! Happy ^^

Dad won a free trip to Maldives so, we're going there for new year, like I already mentioned earlier. I still haven't unpacked yet and now I need to pack again?!?! T_T I never thought I would go to Maldives because... beach. sun. SEA = fish. fish = me dead. I have a phobia of fish. ~_~ They scare the shit out of me but I feel like this is Krabi 2.0 but upgraded, haha.

Hopefully I'll have fun! Currently, I'm working on drawing more girls and still finding and figuring out what I want to my art to be like. Experimenting. I'm really enjoying painting jellyfishes... it's so ironic right? I don't like the sea but I'm basically drawing a sea themed piece just minus the fish and I love sea themed movies like Little Mermaid and Ponyo, they're actually my favorites but I'm scared of the ocean. If only fish looked like Ponyo and instead of sharks, there will be Ariels. 

I don't feel like my current work is very me but I got bored of just drawing girls and nothing surrounding them but hair, so I'm researching on other things that maybe I could add in and create my own world. Since I was little I always wanted to create my own animals, girls, universe. So here I am trying to do it.

Also, after I am back from Maldives, I want to write Top 10s of 2012. This year has been far too great to not even write anything about it! Music, muses, girls, boys, parties, travelling, dining, everything has been great this year and I'm so happy about finally doing what I really want. So, happy holidays and have a great new year! I am definitely cherishing every last moment of 2012.

059. sink

058. chil

27th November 2012 ;

I booked a tour to the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne for some sight seeing the day before because mom really wanted to go to a winery whilst she's still here. We set out in the break of dawn and got on the bus that would drive us all the way out into the hills on Eastern Victoria. (For those of you who didn't know, Melbourne is in the State of Victoria)

It was raining heavily that morning, I normally hate it when it rains when I tour, but the rain that morning had this calming effect on me and I love the cold so much, I don't even care about the rain pouring down on me and getting sick the next day.

It took about an hour or so drive to get up to the hills, we passed by many tiny and cute towns and forests, I felt like I was still in my dreams, the trees were so tall it made it seem like I was lost but still felt so safe. Listening to THE NOVEMBERS suited the mood so well, I can't wait to listen to them in winter. I've always thought that they'd be a perfect band to listen to in the cold and quietness.

The stopped somewhere along the way for breakfast, initially, we were supposed to feed some birds but since it was raining, mom and I just decided to hide inside a little cafe and have something warm to drink. We had no choice but to get an umbrella, we settled for the smallest one with cute koala prints on it. We spent about half a hour there and got on the bus again and continued driving to Puffing Billy. Again, we passed by some cute towns.

The rain lightened a little when we arrived at Puffing Billy, we had to wait for another half an hour before getting on the steam train. The guides were filling us in about the history of the railway and train and all that jazz, so we were actually going to get on a train that started operating as far back at the 1900s. It was nothing special but well, it's for the experience right? 

The train ride was about 20 minutes, there was nothing much of a view but trees and more trees and lamas? I couldn't tell if they were lamas or alpacas. We got on the bus again at the end of the train ride and had another hour drive to Yarra Valley for lunch. 

The rain cleared up and the sky was in a nice shade of blue. One thing I hated was how bright and strong the sun rays were. I never liked the sun that much, I think everyone knows that by now, even if it's for the better, I still don't like that ball of heat. 

We had roast beef with some salad and a glass of red wine for lunch. I always love how fresh the produce are in Australia. It's just something that makes me a little happier inside. After lunch, I accompanied mom for a little wine tasting and she bought two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, we both agreed about how much we love how the taste of this wine rested in our throats.

It wasn't before long that we had to get on the bus again, we headed to the final stop of the tour that was Healesville Sanctuary. I was most excited for this stop because I wanted to see platypuses for as long as I can remember. They are cute, weird little creatures, don't you think?

At Healesville Sanctuary, the first thing that greeted us were koalas, I've seen a lot of koalas in my time, obviously, because I am an Australian. I love holding them though, their butts are all warm and smooshy.  There were Echidnas (little things that look like hedgehogs), Kangaroos, several species of birds, snakes and lizards, Tasmanian Devils, Dingo Dogs and Wombats (which were sleeping, they are nocturnal).

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Sanctuary, the weather was nice to us that day, it cleared up right in time. When we arrived at the Sanctuary, it stopped raining completely but I got a little annoyed because of the heat. We left the animals at about 4 in the afternoon and arrived back in the city an hour later, just in time for dinner. The bus dropped us off right outside Taco Bill, so we settled for Mexican. We were both lazy to find and think of something else to eat, plus we didn't want to walk anymore.

I had enchilada and dip for dinner and mom had the mixed platter. I forgot to take photos of my food again, it's rare that I have mexican food. We didn't do much but eat and eat and went straight back to the apartment after that. All I can think about in Melbourne is the food. They have the freshest produce and nicest pastries and coffee. I swear I am going to grow fat in this town.

057. the beautiful fall

 

"The Beautiful Fall"

Chiaki Moronaga's collection

Photographer : Mathias Sterner

Styling : Elizabeth Fraser Bell

Model : Yana Shmaylova

Source: Dazed Digital (x)

Absolutely in love with this collection and Yana Shmaylova. 

It's been a long time since something took my breath away, (other than the Audrey Kawasaki print I recently just bought).

056. bitter & sweet

I've been feeling better after the first few days, so on Monday, I decided to walk around the CBD a little more. We skipped breakfast and lunch and headed straight for tea time at Brunetti. Had Soy Chai Latte again (I think I will be drinking it everyday, haha) and some sweet stuff. Plus, the weather was perfect, I think it was only 20 degrees. Ohhhh and the Tiramisu and Lemon Brulee tart was yummy. :9

After tea, we just walked aimlessly around the CBD.

I've walked pass St.Paul's Cathedral so many times and never walked in, actually there are so many cathedrals around the CBD in Melbourne but I always only go to St.Patrick's because my parents got married there. Yes, you can say that I'm biased and partially lazy to "explore" other churches. 

And this is the alley way next to the cathedral. It was so windy that my dress flew and this guy standing next to me was just staring/laughing at me. -_- Same dress as the last time I went out with Shinpei. Never EVER wearing this dress on a windy day again, EVER. It's like I'm doomed to show everyone my undies with this dress.

We walked down some more to St.Patrick's Cathedral and stayed there till closing time. After that, we went to Fitzroy Gardens for a scroll, where I got chased by a duck. Seriously, this particular duck chased anyone who didn't even stand that close to it. I get that it's trying to "protect" it's young but this poor duck is just crazy. But nonetheless, the ducklings were cute!

Miniature houses! 

After walking around Fitzroy Gardens for a little bit, we took a tram down to get some dinner. 

Well, you've guessed it, Vietnamese for dinner. :3

So far, I am enjoying Melbourne a lot. I hope I don't have to go back.

055. bookends

So here I am finally in Melbourne! It's only 12 degrees as I write this, the weather here makes me so happy. I arrived on Friday morning, and my body failed on me for the last 2 days, so I mostly stayed in the apartment to rest.

On Saturday, I had Mexican food for dinner. It's my first time and now I know what Yuri was saying about the rice and beans. Love it, I might be going back for some more next week or something.

On Sunday, I was feeling much better, so mom and I decided to walk around the CBD. We had yum cha for lunch, still yum cha is the best and I even had mango pancakes for dessert. :3 After lunch, we walked down to Federation Square and there was a book market going on. They sold a lot of cute things like accessories, art, bags, iphone cases and all that. I bought a cute cat ring and mom bought a nice laptop bag for little sis.

There were a ton of cute stalls, so we just spent some time there. Reasons why I love Melbourne.

These buttons were so cute!

I really love seeing fairs like this. Hopefully, I won't be lazy to go out on weekends. If not I'll be missing out on a lot. After this, we walked down to Brunetti's to get some nice coffee. Can't tell you enough how much I loathe Singapore's coffee (other than Oriole and my hazelnut soy latte at Coffee Bean).

There was this bird nest thing(?) displayed outside Federation Square, I am not sure what it is, but you can actually smell the plants/wood from where I was standing. So at Brunetti's, I got the Soy Chai Latte! So yummy, I will be going back later for more and maybe some cake. After coffee, we walked down to Flinder's Lane and just basically around the CBD. I stumbled upon a 3 storey magazine shop, called Magnation. It's really cute.

To my surprise, they sold Dazed and Confused here! I was telling little sis to go to Kinokuniya back in Singapore to get the latest issue because it was a Japanese "underground" scene fashion and this issue had Kiko in it so I must have it. *_* But since they sell it here, it looks like I will be missing Kinokuniya a little lesser. 

I thought the shop was so cute because they had chairs for you to sit and browse magazines, and it's so quiet in there. I love to bury myself back in magazine/books back in Singapore so this place is ideal for me. They also sell Juxtapoz magazine here, so I am insanely happy. All I need to do is find Hi-Fructose and I'll be all set. Both of them are art magazines, by the way.

mom! 

After looking at the magazines, we went to Meyer and David Jones for some window shopping. Mom wanted to buy some baby clothes for my god sister's daughter, she's due on 13th December. So we spent some time window shopping until the early evening. When we decided to go back to the apartment, we stopped by Target to grab some light dinner.

Also, on the way there, I was looking at how this guy uses spray paint quite differently from other people. It was quite interesting because I used spray paint before but never thought of using it this way. Spray paint always remind me of Hana (my friend's black cat that I looked after for a while), I was doing some school work and being the nosey cat she is, she came to "touch" my art work while the paint was still wet and after that her paws were all pink and she walked around the house, there were pink cat paw stains on my floor and I had to clean up after her. -__- Still, I love her no less.

I really love Melbourne.

But my body has been failing me for the past few days and I've been coughing like crazy and having a lot of sleepless nights. If this goes on, mom wants me back in Singapore and I have to put the move on hold. ;____; But it is true, I have been having some anxiety issues for the last couple of years and now my body failing me is saying something. I need to get myself fixed first before thinking of living alone.

I don't want to go back to Singapore to be honest. I really hate it there but we'll see. I hope things turn out better in the next couple of days. Wish me luck!