I heart Tolkien

The literary genius that he was, Tolkien is probably turning in his grave at the title of this post! ;) I've just completed reading The Hobbit and it really did live up to its name. See, I'm a massive fan of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy - the movies that is, but never the books. I've just never been able to get into it! (I think it's all that singing. Admittedly, there were a few Elvish songs that I skipped across in the book.) But upon stumbling upon an ancient copy of The Hobbit at Will's place (I'm pretty sure it's a library book from more than a decade ago that never got returned), I thought I'd give it a try and it was definitely worth it.

I love books that can carry you away into another world and let your imagination run wild. Many a times I've lost precious sleep and food just to scramble through the pages and finish off an adventure. I've always dreamt of writing a short novel myself, but as to what I'd actually write about, I have no idea.

Anyhow, until the next page-bending adventure!

Thank God it's Sunday

It's been awhile since I've stayed home on a Sunday night. Apart from going to church this morning and swinging by an old highschool friend's party for a couple hours, I actually stayed home for most of today. And it feels gooood!

This morning I picked up Will's (my boyfriend) mum and brought her to church. Will would have picked her up but he had to be at church really early so I offered to. His mum is visiting from the Philippines mind you, so this is really only the third time I've met her! I thought I'd be nervous, especially considering it was just going to be me, her and Gersh (my little 7 year old brother) in the car but I wasn't nervous at all. Will's mum is a really sweet person and I think we actually got along quite well - well I hope so anyways! I did find myself rambling at times (embarrassing, right?) but whenever I wasn't sure what to say, I just kept asking her about Will's childhood and what he was like when he was little. He sounded so cheeky... nothing's changed really ;)

After church, Gersh and I went to the shops and bought some ingredients to make pizza for lunch. And yes, pizzas from scratch. If you know me, you know that cooking is not one of my specialities. I remember one time, I was in the kitchen making bacon and eggs for breakfast (or something really simple as that) and Gersh laughed and asked what I was doing in there! This week though, I've been really inspired to make homemade pizzas. It was a whole lot of fun and tasted quite yummy too! I should have taken some photos but my hands were so sticky and covered in dough. Note for next time though, everything and I repeat EVERYTHING must be covered in flour when making dough. Oh, also make sure that the pizza base is thin otherwise you'll end up with with... well, let's just say you'll end up with pizzas only a mother could eat :) Thankfully Michelle, my 12 year old sister, was there to help us! I know it's pretty shocking when you're younger sister has to show you how it's done.

Speaking of Michelle, she made a pillow case today - in the space of an hour! I think I might try and make some pillow cases. (Sewing is another skill my 12 year old sister taught me. Yes, I know.) Apparently, you can buy the pillow stuffing at Spotlight for less than $5 and material is always so cheap, so it's definitely a project that I want to work on.

That reminds me, I made a goal at the start of the year to work on a creative project each month. It doesn't matter how big or small the project was but as long as I created something. Here's a list of things I've created so far;

• January - my first dress. It was actually a really gorgeous red shift dress with white lacey sleeves which sadly got burnt when I was ironing it. I got so upset when I burnt it! The dress is still hanging in my dresser though and I might either turn it into a shirt or patch it up one day.
• February - a blue polka-dot shift dress. It's the same pattern as the first dress (Spotlight was having a sale on patterns and I got them for dirt cheap!) and really pretty.
• March - a bright orange dress in the same pattern again. Well, actually it was suppose to be a dress but I cut the hem too short so now it's more of a really long singlet.
• April - I'm not sure if I made it in April but let's say I did even if I didn't :) I made the paper buntings that I posted a picture of the other day. I've always wanted fabric buntings - and I hopefully will get them one day - but I figured paper buntings were much easier to make. And they were!
• May - home made pizzas that were trying to be gourmet but didn't quite get there.

I wonder what I can make next month - perhaps some pillows? Well, until next time :)

Birthday bonanza

It's been a busy, busy week but time has certainly flown by! I was meaning to post some of these photos over the weekend but I just haven't found the time to - and what do you know, it's now another weekend! Not that I'm complaining or anything :)

The first photo here is a small present that I bought for a friend who celebrated her 28th birthday on Sunday. I have this knack of buying the worst birthday presents, mainly because I end up buying things that I would like! But this friend of mine recently bought some lanterns and absolutely loves candles, so I think I didn't do too bad with this one. I'm actually thinking of starting my own collection of lanterns!

To decorate the pressie a bit more, I put a red ribbon on it and cut out a small homemade card from an old frankie magazine and tied it onto the lantern with twine. As a side note, can I just add that you can do absolutely anything with some scissors, twine and old copies of frankie (or any cool paper designs really)! Here are a few other things I've made with twine, old copies of frankie and music sheets I got from my cousin:

Okay, now back to my original post about birthdays! Aside from the lantern, I also bought this birthday present for my godson who celebrated his 4th birthday last week. Please excuse my photography skills, or lack of there of, I should say. Hopefully all this blogging will give me more practice to improve those skills! The number one rule of taking photos, well of food anyway, is perhaps taking the photo before everything gets eaten? Do you agree? :)

There were a lot more cupcakes and designs that would make even the tamest Mario and Luigi fans squeal but this is what was basically left when I took the photo. It really is too adorable and kudos definitely goes out to Love and Cake. All this cupcake talk is making me crave some but junk food is probably not the best idea at 11:22 in the evening!

The beginning

It's been a long time since I wrote in here; wayyy too long. I've been following (stalking) lots of people lately on their blogs and it's inspired me to get into the habit of blogging again. I am aware that this is my third attempt at this but hey, third time lucky right?

As a start, I'll aim to blog at least once a week. That shouldn't be too hard, right? Right?! I guess only time will tell.

I've always been a 'Dear Diary' kind of girl which is why I guess blogging never really appealed to me. I've always been the type to keep my thoughts, dreams and memories to myself, or at best, my most intimate circle of friends. But more and more, I've been thinking where's the joy in that? Sure, there will be some things that are just too personal to talk about openly but for the most part, the best parts of life are shared. Don't you think? :)

Anyhow, apart from having a way to share and record my life (however interesting, dull, challenging or amazing it may be!), I'd like to use this blog as a way to practice my writing. If you know what I do for work, I write a lot. And whilst I am constantly type, type, typing away at work I rarely get to write for me. So, hopefully this will be a chance to do it.

Enjoy.