Fun with Family

It's super late but better than never right? :P

This year, after lots of mails sending and phone calls, our long awaited family trip finally materialised! *hip hip hooray!!* With siblings everywhere, it was quite difficult to decide on a meeting point. HA! And i thought setting a date that is OK for everyone is hard enough!

When I was small, we had family trips very often. I remember us going to Genting Highlands, KL, Penang, SIN, Perth..... Then when we studied in Aust, my parents would take us on family road trips during school holidays... We stopped at small towns along the way until we reached our final destination. It was great fun! While my dad drove, we, the kids just ate, talked, enjoyed the scenery, fell asleep then woke up, ate, talked, enjoyed the scenery, fell asleep then woke up, ... the cycle begins again & again..... Thinking back now, I really miss that kind of family trips! Simple yet memorable...

Now, we all live in different countries and family trips become impossible. We've been trying to arrange one LONG AGO but someone always couldn't make it :( That's the trouble for having big family and everyone scattered everywhere...

This year, my parents decided that we should have our long awaited family trip in Brisbane. Yup, a place with no CNY feel at all but it sure has a lot of sunshine (& seafood!) to offer.... Unlike summer in Perth, there are no annoying, as-big-as-a-black-bean flies to bug us! and the weather is not too hot...

We rented a car to drive around and we all think that Brisbane ppl are kind and patient. We did many last minute lane change as we were not v familiar with the way and not once did we get a 3rd finger greeting, 'friendly' shouts or being honked at! Amazing ppl right?

We also rented an apartment in the city.. and it overlooked Story Bridge. Very nice view... It was a relaxing family trip. We didn't try to do too many things in a day.. just taking it easy... oh, but we did eat a little too much in Brisbane... We never have any problem when it comes to food.... if only it was the same for our family trip arrangement, then we wouldn't have to wait so long for it to happen!! Haha...

And I drank lots of coffee and choc while in Brisbane.... just couldn't resist since these are their specialties. I can't imagine what their milk tea will taste like! u gotta eat and drink what they are good at! Gotta be flexible to change taste according to the culture ^^ That's my food philosophy when holidaying. But.... NO BUGS plssss....

Family time

Gold Coast

How I miss our family vacation.. I wonder when our next one will be.....

Park here and there

I thought parking illegally by roadside is bad enough. Yesterday, I spotted this

Someone parked his/her car in the MIDDLE of the road, blocking everyone else from entering the car park! Cool or not? The car may be small in size but the driver's ego is sure huge! hahaha...

Hope and Happiness

There is a secret garden at my home. Haha, not secret actually. I just wanna make it sound mysterious so you would feel curious and continue reading *心機重*

I saw mum digging lots of holes in the garden a few weeks ago. Then I saw her watering and fertilising every evening. I asked her what she planted. She told me to wait and see. Oooo, I like surprises but I hope I don't have to wait too long!

After a few weeks, they finally blossomed! (^V^)

The flowers are bright yellowish.. from far, they kinda look like many little sunshine. very cute... They really brighten up my days :)

I asked ma for the name. She said they are called 新花 (New Flower). Ah? Weird name for such beautiful flowers.. I secretly changed their names to 小太陽 (Little Sunshine) coz they really look like one from far...

I made a request to ma to plant more 小太陽 in our backyard so that every time we look outside, we see hope and happiness...

Hello sunshine!

So bright So cute So Happy

Even the bee loves it!

Hope they bring colours to your day too :)

Diet No More....

I say I wanna go on a diet so often that some of you (esp LJ) is sick of the phrase... I'm very serious about it. I REALLY wanna go on a diet coz being tall, it's important NOT to be too fat unless I'm planning to join the sumo team...

I do try very hard to watch my weight. The thing is, mum always cooks nice food every day. And it's like a feast enough for 10 people! My dad eats v little while my mum sometimes skips meal coz being the chef, she claims that she is full just by cooking it. Me being a 持家节俭的好女生, wasting food is a big NO NO. So what do i do? I stuff all into my tiny tummy, which is no longer tiny T______T

Lately, mum is into making new food she hasn't tried before. In one week, she made chicken pies twice, crispy-skinned roasted pork twice, egg tarts, lo bak (braised pork) and salted chicken. With so much delicious food, how is it possible not to eat? *Where is my will to lose weight?*

Homemade chicken pies

Penang "Chick" Ku Teh

Mum just returned from her 1 week Thai & WM trip. Before we could finish mum's 3 bags full of food from China, she bought another bag full of food.

more food on top of lots of food

Mum even bought birdnest dessert all the way from Thailand for me! WAH.. so touched ^^

Nice packaging!

It comes with a spoon somemore

Oh well, i might as well just stop dieting since that's never gonna work. Let me just sit back, relax, enjoy mum's love and BE FAT.... (^@^)

Cool or not?

Found these in my colleague's car

Her new generation Sunglasses

Did you spot anything unusual about them?

My colleague bought a pair of sunglasses but as she is short-sighted, she needs them re-done. Instead of taking them to the optometrist, she decided to DIY. And here is how they look like, close up....

Lens + clear sticky tapes! haha

I laughed so hard when i saw how she did it. Then laughed til my tummy aches when she said " Actually, I wanted to use superglue one..."

Would like a pair just like that? LOL

Oppps....

I did something very bad... i feel guilty abt it and i want to confess and ask for forgiveness.

It was unintentional.I Did it thinking that this will benefit it. But because of my lack of knowledge, i actually killed it :'( Good motive but bad action...

I mentioned about how mum spends a lot of time and effort in growing organic veggies and fruits. That day, I saw two big ang mo liu liang hanging on the tree and to prevent the birds from getting to them before me, I plucked them. Mum was in China at the time and being a filial daughter, i wanted to save the sour sop for her.

NORMALLY, to keep things fresh, we will keep them in the refrigerator right? That's what i did but when i took it out and tried to cut it for mum to eat, it totally DRIED out and was as hard as a rock! HOW COME?!

Totally cannot cut thru T__T

Mum said "Aiya, ang mo liu lian is just like banana. Cannot put in the fridge"

Aiyaya.. I know that guava and banana don't like cold place but ang mo liu lian being an ang mo ('Caucasian' in Hokkien), it should be able to live in the cold leh...

Oh well, now i know... Not only can looks be deceiving, names can be deceiving too! Like how Winter melon doesn't grow in the winter, Rock Melon is not hard like a rock and eggs doesn't grow on eggplant etc.....

I FIXED IT!

Last January, my brother accidentally locked the study room from inside. As we did not have the key to open the door, my dad dismantled the door knob. Ever since that very day, there is a BIG hole in the door.

Can "see thru" from outside

At that time, i thought it wouldn't be a permanent thing because my dad would fix it like what he always did when we were small. I also figured that this is a man's job so nobody would expect me, a girl to handle it.

One day turned into one week, one week became one month, soon one year came and went, the hole is still there T__T

Last weekend, I finally ended the knob-less door life *hooray!*

I knew nothing about door knob so i started by asking my male friends abt it. Naturally right? Since they are men, they should know how to do work like this. But mannn... it turns out that they were just as clueless as me! *not man at all guys!* hehe...

So I went to my trusted google and did some research. Then with limited knowledge, I hopped into the store and bought a copper coloured door knob. At home, I sat at the table examining the knob trying to figure out how it works.

Mannn.. am really proud of myself. Look! I installed the knob all by myself!! *la la la...* Am I invincible or what? haha...

FIXED by ME me ME!

la la la.. the power of determination is incredible! I realised that nothing is difficult when u set your heart on it! Long life to the phrase 天下无难事，只怕有心人!

When we have problems, we could either sit there and complain about how unfair life is or face it, deal with it and fix it. Am glad that I chose the latter although it came 2 yrs late T____T oh well, it's better late than never right? hehe...

Let's face it, problems will not disappear by themselves. They will only go away only if u DEAL with them and FIX them....

And do you know, many times WE are the problems ourselves... DOH! *Cannot accept the truth!*