officically winter

Winter has arrived... amidst rain, wind and gloom these past couple of weeks, it was a beautiful sunny day when we celebrated my gorgeous and talented friend Polanski's birthday...

click this link for more pics from the birthday breakfast

Other random happenings of late: My friend Shannon's dog Tilly gave birth to 5 puppies and I was able to visit them the day after the birth... they were so cute, their eyes hadn't opened yet and were just snuggling in with their mommy... I'm so sad cuz my hairdresser Michael has decided to leave town for the UK... what's going to become of my hair! haha anyway I'm definitely going to miss my pseudo-asian Luke Perry!!... I got my admin job back (well extended) so I'm really glad that there will be some job security... The Big Weekend at Riverview (a weekend filled with amazing speakers including Mark and Darlene Zschech) is coming up this weekend and it will include the worship album recording. I'm in the choir and it's been really exciting learning new songs, parts and arrangements, and I feel so blessed to be able to serve alongside an incredible team of uber talented people... My friend Karen will be coming over for a visit, we're hoping to have a bit of a vine reunion in Perth!

tilly and her babies + ann and polanski window shopping

a random pile of banana peels on the side of a road

we asians - michael and ann

PS: My super gifted friend Polanski not only hemmed up a new pair of black jeans (cuz regular jeans are too long for my short legs) that I had to buy as part of the album record's requirements for choir members)'s school project, but she also created a really funky skirt for a uni project. I was able to spend some time with her this weekend as she was piecing the whole thing up. I love the yellow and those amazing big buttons which she handmade.

Currently loving:
- irises
- chai tea
- my connect group
- the talented singers and musos who are preparing for Riverview's upcoming album record
- dental check-ups when the dentist gives me the all clear! phew!
- private insurance for covering dental! yay!

yay for may

I've been in my job for just over a year now. Wow! I still can't believe that a 5-day job has turned out to be so much more than what it originally entailed. Thank you God! I was really missing HK two weeks ago... no, I was severely missing HK... and out of the blue I received an email from a dear friend requesting for my home address and within a few days I received a care package from HK complete with the Vine Worship Band's album (yes I know it was so last year but I never got a copy!), one_eighty stickers, a dvd, a kitschy phone dingle dangly thing and even handwritten letters! I was so touched... really felt that God heard my heart and decided to answer it... it was like 'if Ann can't be in HK, let's bring HK to Ann'... incredibly uplifting! And it doesn't end there... my friend Chicken told me a few days ago that she'll be stopping over in Perth before going over to the UK for the rest of her summer holidays! yippee... and I was even able to briefly catch up with Maree who I knew back from the Vine days at my church Riverview over the weekend... ahhhh my HK fix for the week! bliss!

Wishing all the May babies a very happy (belated) birthday including my bro, Kel and Maver.

Here are a few pics taken over the past few days:

at texas' 18th birthday party

gorgeous parakeets near my office

a little something from a magazine bryce gave me before he left town that made me laugh...

Currently loving:
- listening to the Vine Worship Band... it's food for the soul
- my new bookcase... yes I finally pieced it together! now need to sort out my books...
- the rainbows appearing after the rain
- the sound of rain pelting down my roof

pensive: what's going on?

Three weeks into my new acting position, many hours of overtime later and I've still not quite settled into the job... but I've started enjoying the role (which is a start). To prove that nothing is permanent I recently had to apply for the job I was in before I started the acting position... confused? well basically I have to apply for my old job back.

As I was browing through news feeds I found a rather sad and disturbing news story about a father who microwaved his 2-month old baby... To make it worse the father claimed he was called to be minister by God...

I received a bulletin from a travel company and it was advertising trips to Hong Hong. It named and described a hotel that is "in Hong Kong's Chinatown, with a free shuttle to the MTR making this property in a convenient location". Can someone please explain to me what and where Chinatown is in Hong Kong????? I'm so lost...

Currently loving:
- dried mango from the Philippines
- the red leaves outside my office window
- iTunes on my work computer and headphones so I get to drown out the severely loud discussions (that are totally work unrelated ie speed dating) happening in the next pod.
- Red Rock honey mustard chips

Below are a few of my fav pics taken recently. Clockwise from top left: mussels and pizza in freo; chelsea, ann and clare at dave and andrea's wedding (thanks clare); red leaves; bdg and louwie.

april update

April seems to be a pretty eventful month... Here are some picture evidence of what happened after Easter... (not all in chronological order)

Aaron and Chantelle's engagement party - a really cosy luncheon at Chantelle's parents' house where her parents cooked up a storm, Simon helped out as the coffee barista, and there was a dessert table complete with a chocolate fountain for fondue!

clare sarah chantelle + simon working the coffee machine

chris + caleb and clare

fiona and the chocolate fountain

ben sierra ann + emily adam kate

It was my mom's birthday...

dad and mom

It was my cousin Sylvia's birthday - we went to my favourite Japanese restaurant Zen and totally pigged out.

clockwise from top left: the birthday cake; jac and fabe; syl and gong gong; ben, eve and sarah

Syl and Justin

I had lunch with some of my uni friends and caught up with all the latest goss... It was also Jono's birthday - we went to Time Zone, the boys ended up with water pistols!

uni friends brandon dave nikki chris + jono seth jason with their pistols

Bryce decided to leave us for the US... it was a farewell weekend... the official farewell party was at Amanda's house. Amanda was a very gracious hostess who not only let us hang out at her house but also lavished us with a home cooked dinner.

chilling in the lounge room + corina amanda bonnie

leftover spag bol + bryce mal dani

bryce hacker + corina

bryce sarah + ann

Some of us also went to the airport to send Bryce off...

corina and gayle + ado b00f bryce

jess and bryce + bryce and his sis emma

group shots

bryce posing one last time before going thru customs + the rest of us leaving the airport

Currently loving:
- Finding my high school friends on Facebook. Although I think there are too many networking sites these days and it's increasingly annoying as it's really hard to keep track... sigh!
- The combination of abscission, anthocyanin, and carotene in plants that create the amazing colour changes in the leaves and for making them fall off the trees in autumn... nature's eye candy!
- Discovering new functions on my camera (thanks Bryce! and no I guess I haven't gone through the entire user's manual yet!)
- Yumcha (飲茶) - a great time to catch up with friends over dimsum (點心) and jasmine tea.
- Yerba mate - missed drinking that tea... recently started drinking it again... what an amazing green tea! I haven't been able to find Mate Cocido anywhere in Perth though... anyone know where I can get some of that stuff?

easter - a weekend full of bunnies

Easter has come and gone... my church had multiple services over the weekend, including four for Good Friday. I thought there was something really powerful about the Good Friday services... communion was being served up at the front of the stage while the band was playing; the songs sung were beautiful; the jigsaw visual worship was mesmerising; the dance was incredible; the artworks and videos displayed in the foyer were very sensory; the image that I couldn't forget was seeing a cross made out of twine totally covered with notes that people had written their prayers on... it just made me think just how much we crave to connect with God.

On a much less spiritual side of Easter (more like the weekend)... my brother came back home for the weekend and brought back two boxes of Krispy Kreme... yummo original glazed doughnuts! I didn't consume much chocolate this Easter, but I did manage to consume a mini Lindt bunny. My cousin has the Nintendo Wii, so we went over to her house and played Rayman - a game full of animated bunnies! Yes I played on the Wii... it was truly a sight to see! Annette came over to my house on Monday and brought two of her aunt's baby rabbits... they were so small and cuddly. My sister was cooing after them the whole afternoon!!

the good friday service

krispy kreme + cute lil bunnies

other bunnies... the chocolate type and computer game type

Anyway currently loving:
- State of Georgia - a clothing range which Lari and I are currently drooling over, in particular the green peacoat.
- Autumn - the most beautiful season (ever!)

happy easter

I didn't even realise it was Easter time until last week. I didn't even notice the copious amounts of chocolate eggs and bunnies on sale... that might have been cuz I don't eat much chocolate so I don't really pay any attention to the chocolate stands... or just cuz I haven't really been to the shops recently (hmm think the latter excuse is the more viable one)

What have I been up to recently? I've been rather busy at work, so much so that it seems like my body is starting to break down haha... haven't gone to the gym in weeks, in need of making an appointment with a masseuse cuz my neck and shoulder muscles are all clumped, and seeing an optician in a couple days time to have my eyes checked cuz they have been super sore and still not able to wear my contacts. Anyway there is good news this week... it looks like I'll be stepping into a more senior role for almost 2 months as a colleague will be going away on holiday and their job needs to be filled. I'm really excited about it as it'll be a good opportunity to learn more, plus an increase to my pay can't hurt either!

Other (good) news this week:
- It was the last Youth for Term 1 last Friday and it was a cowboy and indian dress up night... it was lots of fun! Loved how so many people actually turned up with their themed outfits!
- I no longer have to borrow Kym's hand cream as I got love attacked from the east coast and received a tube of the same yummy smelling stuff myself! (love you jie jie)
- Nate and Amy got engaged! congratulations!!! so excited for those two :)
- My brother will be flying over from Sydney for the Easter holidays.
- Clare and Nathan organised a dinner party to help raise funds for Water Aid... what a great night... I had the biggest plate of chicken cacciatore... good company... lots of laughter included (in particular a sms prank!)
- Accelerate just started this week. My church has just begun a more detailed study of the Christian belief and practice on weeknights. I'm really looking forward to learning more... the studying, taking notes et al kindda reminds me of uni... gotta love that!
- My friend Brendan is now officially a fighter pilot. Some of us Mounts Bay Crewbies (aka my connect group) were able to attended the graduation ceremony which included fighter jets flying in formation and and acrobatics display. The Dominator and I sat through the ceremony not really understanding what half the ceremony was about, so we had fun making our own interpretations. (Memorable moment: Dom and the red gravel... ask him about it!)

clare made me a paper headdress + edwin, sam, joe and rachel

jack, ramzie and sprout

yummy hand cream + andrea, brendan, ann and dom at the graduation