a picture worths a thousand words

and if thats the case, i hope the pictures can make up for my long absence.

couple wallet! woohooo

brunch at caffe habitu with amiga...plus revision obviously as you can see my pencil case

for some reason this place makes you work harder than you usually do,

and it has some special healing power...

its not exactly feeling like home

its cozy, but special, not something you'll visit everyday

and because of that, you chat, and you chat with sincerity and audacity

oh perhaps its just the italian interior design that confuses me

or maybe it is the people i go with that makes me feel so happy :)

conclusion: don't ever underestimate kids' financial power. lol

those dark days during exam period...fighting till i see the sunlight

and keep reminding myself nothing is impossible...this is what i got after removing the cap

rushing off chinese!

trying to comprehend numbers and symbols...a poor attempt though i must admit

giving up is not easy at all...it is just another type of persistence. do you get me?

but you can see what intense studies do to your..uh...head.

oh and general health too! cos you're hot and you're cold, and you're yes and you're no

wearing cardigan upside down, flipping the bottom over my shoulder...

there you go, a 'poncho', if you would.

obviously freaked out...reading through Brighton Rock once again

(probably the worst approach ever for lit revision)

and that's when a cup of tea comes in...don't sleep don't sleep...

and how can you miss out comfort food! yoghourt with banana and cereal

no kidding, i survived!

amiga you've been too nice to me...eu amo voce. and i mean it.

the best experience for palates...my grandma's steamed chicken

the mother's-day-like father's day...in 20 years time this outfit will be mine muahaha

like mother like daughter...the shopaholics/hand-me-downs

oh did i mention i have cleopatra's hair?

rounding up the father/mother's day with shanghainese dinner

edit:

i almost forgot to write something about the layout. well pretty obviously i've changed it.

the new design templates are simply awesome and computer illiterates-friendly, which i'm very pleased about it. thanks google. and out of all the beautiful pictures, i chose this bedroom theme. it's quite metaphoric...its just the most (supposedly?) comfy spot at home, and there's where i usually dream, come up with my own thoughts, write a bit of diary...pretty much suits the purpose of this blog, but except this is a declaration of wordlove and a platform of sharing.

breakfast at lily's

sorry for the cheesy title i came up with... cant come up with a better one yet. my brain is pretty malfunctioning these days. or maybe i'm recently more in need of it which makes me realise it has never been functioning at all.

so since today was mama's day. what could be more simple and sweeter than making breakfast for my adorable mrs. lee?

the whole plan was a bit arbituary...it all started from searching for mothers' day ideas at Vogue.com, then looked up for recipes on Nigella Lawson's blog, some grocery shopping plus a bit of dad's cover-up and white lies. it may seem to be a bit too casual (if the yardstick is in terms of the money spent), or too smooth to be true (comparing to the bookings and gift-shopping people usually do), but surprisingly, it turned out to be the best mama's day so far. and i just loved how simple it is. minimalism sometimes does apply on me.

basically i just made an avocado brushchetta, cut some smoked salmon into strips and placed them nicely in a zigzag pattern, garnished with a piece of lemon, lime and a bit of olive oil. oh and how could you not start a day with a cup of tea? so i just bluntly grabbed a can of earl grey tea leaves (my lovely souvenir from harrod's. ah i miss london...i should've bought more!) and pour searing hot water into our transparent little teapot.

and i just heard my stomach right after typing the previous stanza.

it may all sounded nice, but it still wasn't good enough (though i'm not a perfectionist) - the brushchetta was over-grilled, the avocado was too fresh thus too hard to be smashed, the parsley flakes i sprinkled on top of the open sandwich cant be tasted at all, the originally breakfast tray was moved from bed to living room by mama (cos she cannot risk messing up her nicely made bed), it was not earl grey but tea with milk in mrs. lee's style that she loves... and the list could go on forever. and when mama demonstrated what it really should be like to work in the kitchen and made me the real brushchetta, i just wondered, when will i ever be able to cook like mom? what would life be like if i don't have mama's breakfast?

mom used to teach me how to remember the word 'breakfast' when i was only 4. she said, breakfast means break fast. you stop yourself from fasting after hours of sleep. and i never understand why breakfast is so important, especially when i usually don't have appetite in the morning.

until a few years ago.

a few years ago, someone told me by slacking off breakfast you'll reduce your appetite and eventually lose weight. and i can tell you, having tried that for two weeks, yes i've lost 10 pounds (plus insane lunch slacks), but i gained prolly 20 afterwards. it does no help at all cos you'll obviously rebound but you'll simply fall into this desperately-crave-for-more pitfall and literally emotional depression.

breakfast is the key to brighten up a day. it could come in different forms, it may be a great session of swimming under the perfect weather, it may be some stretching and namaste yoga, but what i'm trying to illustrate is that, we all need some sort of power to energize ourselves and actually wakening our minds up. and given that not many of us have time to exercise in the morning, but (presumably) no one could possibly skip breakfast without feeling hungry a few hours later. plus, breakfast indicates the start of the day, it basically determines how good your day is, just like today! *teeheee* and in the end, food is love! why not treat yourself a little better by eating something green or something you love at the beginning of the day?

i would say i'm a very fortunate kid for being provided with mom's well-made sandwiches every morning, and hence being brightened up every morning. serving her back for one single morning is simply nothing but something most worthy of doing.

i love food, because my mom shows me what food really is.

i love life, because my mom taught me to.

i love my mom, simply because i do.

to all the mothers

and extra love for my grandma(s), my friends' moms, and my lovable lovely mom,

happy mother's day.

xo

p.s. i watched the proposal at home with mom to have some entertainment. i highly recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh. (though i basically laugh at everything.) no seriously its good.

p.p.s. still owe my lovely blog loads of articles. just some highlights of upcoming posts: orabrush review, original version of my article for youtube artist/miss brand new star 2010 robynn yip, more on food, la mode, music...

p.p.p.s i can't believe i didn't take a single picture of the breakfast. so i'm sharing my source of inspiration here.

from Nigella's blog - the Breakfast Brushchetta

also from Nigella's blog - the presentaion of smoked salmon(?)

suggested by Vogue.com - Restoration Hardware tray

and of course - The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock

Donnez-moi une leçon de sorryology

Okay. seriously. what's so wrong with saying sorry?

I know sometimes I'm saying sorry a lot, but then, why is it even wrong when it is necessary (to me) and when everyone's interpretation and definition of "sorry" is different?

Let's put it this way.

Let Sorry be "dui ng ju"

Let Excusez-moi be "ng goi"

and Let ThankYou be "ng goi"/"doh jeh"

"ng goi" is always how i start my conversations. i mean, even in english, you would say "excuse me" to grap someone's attention. ...or am i wrong? it doesnt mean i'm feeling sorry for bothering you, but it was necessary to grap someon's attention. like, you won't go to an macdonald's counter and say, "Oy/Yo/Hey, can you fetch me a cheese burger combo?", no?

and when you bumped someone, or failed to help someone when being asked to do a favour, my habit is to say "ng ho yee see" but then, you won't say "excuse me" in that situation if you happened to be speaking in english. so instead i said sorry! i mean, you failed your friend, you wouldn't even say a word just to tell her you feel bad for failing her? please.

well at least i do care if it is me being failed by my friend. or a thank you from you if it is me helping you the tiniest bit of stuff. cos they are simple, very frequently used words. you're intelligent and comprehensive. you're civilized. you're nice. and you'll say it for the sake of provening that you are civilized and nice. and that's etiquette.

and that is why sorry to me has always been light-hearted. not that i'm using it casually, but it is because i've defined it as something like "oops/... (i was just about to type sorry again)". Seriously, its not that serious. if you get what i mean.

I understand everyone's definition for sorry/excuse me is more serious than mine, and because of that, and because of my beloved friends and my beloved mom's reminders, i'm changing catchphrases. atm i can see progress in myself. verbally i still cant really stop it, but its becoming less frequent in my casual writing and typing. just give me some time.

and its now almost 2am again. oh darn. i've completely ruined my perfect plan for tomorow. oops if you will excuse meee, i must go for now xx

p.s. okay no more late night sleep. and i have a list of reasons to share.

p.p.s. i still owe my blog something fashion-related. OOPS lol

p.p.p.s. yes i just a family dinner just now and if possible, there are loads to tell as well. oh god maybe i'm just too talkative.