andrew & sheryl

55 Fiction - Perfection

2010-11-04T22:42:00.002+08:00

He sat poised, with fountain pen in hand. The piece of parchment - crisp, white, spotless - lay before him. He had to think carefully; the perfect idea.

Suddenly, it hit him. "Yes!" he cried jubilantly, raising his hand, as a single drop of beryl ink fell from the nib, engulfing whiteness with it's inky stain.

40 Tips for Writing Good English

2010-09-30T20:55:00.003+08:00

1. Avoid alliteration. Always.

2. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

3. Avoid cliches like the plague; they’re old hat

4. Employ the vernacular.

5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

7. Remember to never split an infinitive.

8. Contractions aren’t necessary.

9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

10. One should never generalize.

11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”

12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

13. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.

14. Be more or less specific.

15. Understatement is always best.

16. One-word sentences? Eliminate.

17. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

18. The passive voice is to be avoided.

19. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

20. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

21. Who needs rhetorical questions?

22. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

23. Don’t never use a double negation.

24. capitalize every sentence and remember always end it with point

25. Do not put statements in the negative form.

26. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

27. Proofread carefully to see if you words out.

28. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

29. A writer must not shift your point of view.

30. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)

31. Don’t overuse exclamation marks!!

32. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.

33. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.

34. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

35. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.

36. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

37. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.

38. Always pick on the correct idiom.

39. The adverb always follows the verb.

40. And always be sure to finish what

found here! (:

Merchant of Venice

2010-09-29T14:37:00.002+08:00

Beshrew your eyes, they have o'erlook'd me & divided me; one half of me is yours, the other half yours, mine own, i would say; but if mine, then yours, and so all yours. (Portia to Bassanio)

The quality of mercy is not strain'd, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon e place beneath: it is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. (Portia to Shylock)

tea party

2010-09-23T12:26:00.002+08:00

@dearlizzy

sometimes i wish i lived someplace else, so i could do things like this...

friday night dates

2010-08-28T00:48:00.000+08:00

today was the last day of school and well, while i would miss the kids, it was kind of liberating to know that i would be on the other end of the homework spectrum. so i left school earlier to go for the teacher compass ceremony. it's supposed to represent my compass in teaching to "lead, care & inspire". there was a speech by one of the awardees about his experience from nie to teacher and it was food for thought. he was a Christian and it really got me thinking about whether teaching is my calling and what exactly it entails. today definitely marks the start of a journey for me.

so andrew and i went to burger shack then island creamery for dessert. its a good thing those two places are some distance apart! we definitely needed the walk, could've been longer tho. (: i was thinking about this post i saw earlier today about being a tourist and decided to take lots of pictures.

toppings!

sprinkle cones!

mudpie

nutella & pulat hitam (his favourite & mine)

looking at all the chalk features i'm kinda reminded of this photo i saw the other day in the new ikea magazine - the door of the children's bedroom in chalkboard paint. i asked andrew and he's okay with it. we are so gonna be the coolest parents next time cos we'll let the kids draw on the door. haha. (:

wooden rings (edited)

2010-05-21T20:00:00.005+08:00

i saw a shop at (i think) united square selling wooden rings with giant jewels, but it seems i cannot find its website. i didn't get a chance to take a look, but i found some gorgeous wooden rings online. makes me want to try venturing into making wooden rings.

this one in particular would make excellent he & she rings. *hint to andrew.

[edited] - found 2 more gorgeous wooden rings! (:

anyway, been really busy and caught up with work. haven't really had time to craft or be creative. been doing little things like making guestbooks for my cousins upcoming wedding and the making notebooks for mom. other than that haven't really beaded or scrapped. i'm starting to miss it a lot. miss feeling inspired and being creative. so, shall endeavour to blog more in hopes of pushing myself more in terms of the creative aspect.

just a little update, been marking truckloads of exam scripts, to the point i felt like marking was my hobby. ): but teaching so far has been really rewarding for me in terms of the exposure and experience. i'm starting to fall into the routine of things, but maybe too much - during the exam period i had a hard time figuring out which day it was cos everyday was the same; mark, invigilate, repeat, and then one of those "you are a ___, when you ___." popped into my head. you are a teacher when you tell the days of the week by the lessons you teach. haha.

anyhoo with exams over, the girls and i finally had a chance to meet up for a meal and talk. can't wait to do that again next. san, andrew and i also watched Twelfth Night yesterday and that was fabulous. but more on that later when i get pics from san.

-S

teachers' day presents

2009-09-02T15:14:00.002+08:00

it was teachers' day yesterday. this year sherwin gave his teachers mini chalkboard pegs and two pieces of chalk. i think its rather cute.

back to school notebooks

2009-09-02T15:00:00.002+08:00

been embellishing and altering quite a few notebooks!

this one was originally 4 thin notebooks. i took out the wire binding, used wider binding and combined two notebooks into 1 and changed the cover.

this one had a cover with colours that really clashed, but the paper inside was good. so i took out the cover and covered it with woodgrain paper and then trimmed a postcard down to size and stuck it to the front. (:

this one had some words in front that i didnt like, so i stuck a ribbon round the front and secured it with woodgrain contact sheet inside.

experimented with using twine to bind a simple notebook made out of scraps.

also, i just updated the etsy shop. go see! (:

*sheryl

a lost for words

2009-08-26T20:21:00.003+08:00

you know how some people get inspired by pictures? i get inspired by words. for me, today feels like macrame (an elaborately patterned lacelike webbing made of hand-knotted cord, yarn, or the like, and used for wall decorations, hanging baskets, garments, accessories, etc.) and profiteroles (a small cream puff with a sweet or savory filling, as of cream and chocolate sauce)

i just finished my like 500+ google reader...

2009-08-21T00:03:00.002+08:00

and i 'm in LOVE with the jamie oliver at home graphics / illustrations. sigh. cant seem to find any proper images or the website that did the graphics. rawr. think i shall go sleep now.

i need a haircut.

and i need to exercise.

soon.

tomorrow maybe.

yes, maybe.

*sheryl

weaved cloth

2009-08-20T19:00:00.003+08:00

i've been trying to experiment more, but i've found that sewing with weaved cloth is pretty challenging; the fabric tends to unravel itself much to my dismay. so last night in a paranoid move, i sewed down all the corners of my cloth before proceeding with the sewing of my double-lined (new) pencil case (: honestly i'm really chuffed how it turned out tho. the colour is a pretty shade of pink. the notebook was an experiment too. mom passed me her handbag buckle. the bag gave way but the clasp was still in good condition; pretty rhinestones all intact. all i did was add a vintage enamel flower and swarovski crystal.

i've also took the plunge and started an etsy shop. really hope it'd work out. its like my creative outlet, i tend to make things in excess and well, i cant keep giving them all to andrew or my family. haha. andrew already says he has a boxful of things from me. things he doesn't know what to do with. random small scrapbooks, notebooks (those i guess he has more of a chance to use now that he's started uni), picture frames, pouches...so yes. etsy it is.

i've also technically graduated. waiting final results from Murdoch before God-willing going for graduation ceremony in September. i'm really excited about the trip to Perth. its my birth place and the last time i went there was 10 whole years ago. san was joking we'd only go there every decade. haha. the last time sherwin went he was a baby! goodness.

in other news, i've found a row of dead pixels on quincy. its quite disturbing because i only got her in march this year. i've been dragging my feet but i think i'll call up courts tomorrow to see what they can do about it. my mobile has also been on the frizz. the lcd is all out of whack and weird saturations of pink and blue permeate the screen. on the bright side, this gives me all the more reason to get a new phone! only problem is which one. i've had my palm pre hopes dashed by several reviews. the technology is good and all but the casing construct and all doesn't seem too good. bah. so i'm leaning towards the iPhone again. except its exclusive to singtel and i'm starhub. andrew suggested the htc touch pro. i'm probably going to look into it.

andrew's been real busy with school and his fitness instructor (fic) tests. i miss being able to meet him multiple times during the week. now weekends and evenings are not taken for granted.

been trying to come up with a list of crafty things to do as well. i promised to blog more but i seem to have little to talk about which is slightly disconcerting because i feel like quite a bum now. :|

anyhoo, shall go catch up on google reader. more soon! (:

ttyl.

*sheryl

squiggletown at etsy

2009-08-18T16:21:00.002+08:00

go see!! i've uploaded items there. will be uploading more soon! (:
*sheryl

a different love story

2009-08-07T14:09:00.003+08:00

got this really sweet vid from amber.

and here's something cute. i've always been a coca cola kinda girl; this timeline makes me happy. (:

via craftzine.

got my last paper tmr. i'm really dragging my feet here. i'm thinking its the runner's wall thing. its so close but it already feels like it over. *rawr. but i've got so many things i wanna do after graduation. so will definitely make this last lap worthwhile! (: will be back soon with more crafty things hopefully.

*sheryl

alice in wonderland

2009-08-01T21:05:00.001+08:00

cant wait for this!!!

oh my. superb arrangement

2009-07-23T10:51:00.001+08:00

more on the love story vid. haha.

2009-07-13T11:51:00.001+08:00

I WANT THIS SO BAD...

2009-07-10T23:43:00.004+08:00

oh my. this is like the most gorgeous phone ever. i actually really wanted the iPhone...but this one has a key pad and is "egg shaped". i love phones that have rounded corners. i blame this on my fieldwork assignment for new media tech really. seriously. all the talk about smartphones...and palm pre...and so i just had to look it up.

sigh.

and i have trolled the web to find out whence this device will be launched in Singapore, and it seems no website has the answer. i'm very upset about that. they did say that the first half of the year it will be exclusive to US. well. its JULY now. second half of the year! so when are you coming to singapore?! ):

sigh.

it really is gorgeous isn't it? i've even got a name for it already, andryl. (you know its actually the first half of andrew, "and" + second half of sheryl "ryl"). it will join quincy(laptop), red(ipod), doughty(sewing machine) and eliza(camera).

sigh...

*sheryl

en ce moment ♥ obsessed with soyabean milk with no sugar and cream cheese + crackers.

scarlet letter

2009-07-09T18:53:00.003+08:00

i'm in love with this video...

in other news, i got a new sewing machine and i've been making heaps of pouches.

its kinda addictive. the one above was actually made from scraps of a pillow case i was making and another pouch. anyhoo, decided to do some "boy" pouches. will be doing the upload on sunday as usual! so go see! (:

*sheryl

the passing of "common sense"

2009-06-04T10:24:00.002+08:00

my mom sent me this email today, i thought it sobering and very pertinent, so here, read this.

Enjoy. This is from the Times of London.

"Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, 'Common Sense', who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouth wash after lunch; and a teacher, fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust. His wife, Discretion, his daughter, Responsibility, his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights; It's My Culture; I Want It Now; Someone Else Is To Blame; I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing"

tilt-shift video

2009-05-08T10:07:00.001+08:00

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

via howabtorange. really quaint and charming. (:

edo notebook series

2009-05-06T09:21:00.002+08:00

ahem. like i said, i was reading the last concubine. and it is a book based in japan, before tokyo was the capital of japan and it was known as edo. and i really liked the whole feel of the story - the setting, characters, plot, that yesterday when i sat down to scrap, the japanese paper prints were calling my name. so hand-cut felt leaves, kimono prints and paper blooms, with buttons and rhinestones. whimsical and woodsy. (the blue notebook isn't actually part of the series, i just happened to alter that too. so yea. opps!) :p

lists

2009-05-05T16:00:00.005+08:00

no blog post should be without a picture. so here.

thats a pair of earrings i recently made. will be uploading a bunch of accessories on squiggletown on 17 may. i'm contemplating etsy. but i like a flexibility i get with a blog. and i dont like the idea of needing to use a credit card for etsy (seeing as how i don't really have one). haha. um. yea. so i guess i'll be sticking to blogger.

currently listening to les mis and falling in love with the story all over again. i think andrew is sick of hearing the cd play in the car. haha. but its such a beautiful story. and the music is enchanting. if they come to singapore, i would love to watch them. well. that and miss saigon.

would you believe it, but i'm looking forward to school. working is okay. in fact, its probably what i'm going to do for the rest of my life. but knowing that, makes me want to cling to studying and burning the midnight oil to do so. i'm honestly at a loss as to what to do next. this coming trimester will be my last and then i'll graduate. its like the closer you get to completing something, the more you realise it actually isn't that bad (thats what i say now. check back with me in 3 months when i have my term papers due and ask me if i still feel the same) and i think its also because this trimester i'm going to have lots of same classes with people i've missed having classes with. so it'd be really good to catch-up. (:

the last weekend i had a sudden burst of crafty energy - more specifically beading. i forgot how great instant gratification was - me making something and being able to wear it straight away. been wanting to craft too. been wanting to try hand-binding books. not too sure about needing to buy waxed thread and needle tho.

still contemplating getting a new sewing machine. think i'm just waiting for my bank account to miraculously appear with $500.

been lagging behind qt and newspaper reading. thats bad. so much for being a journalism student. ha! ohh! but i've been reading - novels. i just bought 3 from times. the last concubine, my favourite wife and a thriller - something about a phantom plagued ship. i cant remember the title. will get back to you on that. i liked the last concubine. finished it almost in one seating. made me realise how enjoyable reading is - its like watching a movie except you're the director because you're imagining how it'd be like. and i think it'd make a pretty good movie. its a bit like memoirs of a geisha, except there's a lot more historical facts thrown in with the fictional mix. (did i mention i love ancient history?)

over the weekend, andrew and i (well, mostly andrew) made huat kueh. its a bit like cupcakes but its steamed. its a chinese cake. i haven't tasted it before till i made it. grandma had a mix so she asked me to try it. it turned out really pretty. like little flower blooms. will have to find the picture to upload it. grandma says its nice, so i'm happy.

i know. this post is rather choppy isn't it? its like i'm throwing my thoughts out. need to start using my organiser again. its lapsing into the murky darkness of my bag. haha. okay. should go and start making those lists.

ohh. btw. its andrew and my fifth year anniversary today. seems so long. he got me this gorgeous campo design pen studded with swarovski crystals. its purple. i've been in a purple mood lately. anyhoo its my birthstone, so if i get tired of the colour i can use that to reason with myself as to why i got it in purple. i actually got one for my mom in silver for mothers' day. andrew and i went shopping together. it was really sweet cos it was his idea to shop for mother's day presents. ohh! which reminds me. i actually have a tonne of photos for that day. we bought them sweets from sticky (the mothers' day mix - it said i ♥ mommy and had hearts in blue and pink). then to accompany that, i got her the campo design pen and he got his mom a necklace. (: isn't that sweet? yea, i thought so.

alright. to the lists!

leaves, jam jars, glitter, post-its, chalkboards, eyelets, canvases, watercolour

watch geninne make a stamp!

2009-04-30T11:15:00.003+08:00

Stamp Carving from Geninne D. Zlatkis on Vimeo.

i've always wanted to try carving on rubber instead of lino. havent been able to find large-enough slabs of rubber to carve on tho. but my oh my, the skill she has is amazing. her hand is so steady and her drawing immaculate. makes me want to go out and buy large pieces of rubber and start carving! (:

ohh. and for something fun, click here!

playing catch-up

2009-04-29T13:40:00.005+08:00

this lovely lovely precious moments princessy figurine is from mom for my 21st. slightly belated but very much appreciated nonetheless. i recently got a present from my grandma too. so here's a collage of some of the presents that i got and really like (mostly because i got to choose all of them myself! haha)

click on the polaroid pile to see who got me what. my grandma's present is the most recent, its a marquis cut blue topaz. i've always wanted a coloured gemstone ring. andrew got me the grape prima crocs, lysa + caleb, mel and jel got me the jansport (i took a leap of faith with the colour - PINK. usually i play safe and get neutral tones like brown or blue. so i decided to get things outside my comfort zone, like black totes and pink haversacks. haha) and last but definitely not least, the beautiful diamond cross necklace from my dad. its almost one caret and each section looks like a tiny poinsettia and all clustered to form said cross. its really pretty. especially close-up. and i'm really really grateful for these presents. i feel like its a nice collection of things for a coming-of-age birthday. (:

aunty bear bear got me these uber cute tupperware keychains. apparently its exclusive only to tupperware agents. i love tupperware! the other day i packed a picnic for andrew and i and used tonnes of tupperware in a multitude of shapes and colours.
i think andrew was overwhelmed - not by the act but the amount of tupperware. haha.
i think he envisions that our house will be filled with tupperwares and ikea jars.
(i don't think that notion is too far off)
anyhoo, they are just the right size for a daily dosage of vitamins.
so in it goes.
1 in my bag.
1 on my table.
1 in the chevy.
so our mini road trip on sat. we drove around, bought every burger - andrew's favourite snack as a kid, and me, always seeing it as a kid but never getting the chance to eat it. so that day was the first day i ate it and its super yummy. and addictive. i envision a burger themed birthday party and this would make for great snacks!

good ole brownies topped with walnuts + choc chips (i say topped because andrew doesn't like walnuts in his brownies so i top them so he can take it out easily, instead of rummaging through the brownie. so why even put it in there, you ask. well. mom and i like walnuts. and i always feel there needs to be balance in food - crunch/fudge - you get the idea.) brought 8 to school for mom and her colleagues and served it with vanilla viennettia ice-cream.
you know what was really sweet. when andrew took a bite, he said he reminded him of sec 4. cos that was when i first made them for him. he said it was the exact same taste! amazing. except of course last time i didn't make them in cupcake form, i made them in bars and put them in ugly disposable take-out boxes. haha. i've learnt. cupcake brownies in brown paperbags. (:
he and i both remember meeting early before flag raising at the umbrella table behind the classrooms, making sure we got to see each other before school started. (knowing that i would get to meet him was what motivated me to get up every morning. it still amazes me how i could wake up for school. its was so early!) then i would sneak him the box of brownies and he would put it in his school bag and sneak bites of it in class. haha.
ahh.
reminisce.

okay. fast-forward back to present day 2009.

altered this notebook (this was what i was talking about yesterday) for my mom.
and am super inspired by elsie's new camper kit. i really love her style. the colours are so retro!

haha. ALRIGHT! finally a more substantial post. (:

rhinestones, sequins, feathers, speech bubble-shaped objects and coloured pencils

test your awareness

2009-04-28T23:11:00.002+08:00

two very interesting videos. i seriously didn't see it coming! (:

"i will huff, and i will puff, and i will blow your house down!"

2009-04-28T15:23:00.004+08:00

amazing, GENIUS stop motion video. enjoy!
via red thread

p/s: i think i got my craft groove back on! altered a notebook for my mom last night, lots of rhinestones and flowers. love it! will try to post a picture soon! (:

sewing machines

2009-04-21T11:26:00.004+08:00

i need a new one. NEED. not a want. i was okay with sewing in secondary school, wasn't a fan but thought it was fun. so i got those small craft sewing machines, the type for you to stitch on paper or make small purses and such. well. after progressively getting bigger and sturdier sewing machines, i realised i still hadn't had the courage to take the leap and really get a proper sewing machine. i think its because i always feel like i'm spreading myself too thin, in terms of hobbies and crafts. i always get a tonne of craft stuff and then when i get busy with school or work, it collects dust (but i also blame my lack of shelves and proper storage area). SO! finally. after progressively trying bigger sewing projects and wanting to try bigger sewing projects, i've decided i need a sewing machine. a proper one that can allow me to sew quilts and bags and purses and ohh, just about anything. i'm thinking of getting either a Singer or Brother. Singer is just such a classic sewing brand, its like synonymous i think - verbatim, just like post-its, scotch tape and kleenex. haha. yea. but i'm not ready to spend thousands or more than $500 on it. honestly, i'm more inclined to the colour of the Brother one, but Singer seems like a classic choice. but anyhow, i don't even know if both or either are sold in singapore. so will have to take a look before deciding.

i just looked at the singapore Brother website and they don't have the model up there i think. haha. ahwells. i'm eyeing XL-2630. haven't got a nice picture of it, so yea.

i miss photoshop

2009-04-21T10:56:00.003+08:00

okay. this is a really bland post. it was supposed to be pink + purple. but i accidentally clicked black and white on this other photo-editing software and i accidentally deleted my original photos. so yea. sigh. its pretty depressing. on the bright side, the muffins were made for the first time yesterday. they are triple chocolate mocha muffins. and i'm pretty pleased with them! (: really taste mocha-ish and it isn't too sweet at all! this means for people who have sweet tooths, i get to make ganache or royal icing for the top. will definitely be making them again soon.

(and with colourful pictures. promise.)

lisa hannigan

2009-04-18T20:41:00.002+08:00

gorgeous songs and gorgeous gorgeous paper cut-outs.

I Don't Know from ATO Records on Vimeo.

Lisa Hannigan - Lille from ATO Records on Vimeo.

via d*s
(:

Easter

2009-04-13T11:51:00.004+08:00

bought some gorgeous fuchsia polka dotted cupcake liners. was going to use them to make mini-baskets for chocolate easter eggs! (although i know technically speaking easter & eggs don't have thaaat much of a relation, but the alliteration sold me! plus its rampant and assumed to be part of easter, so.) mom bought a bag of chocolate eggs from queensland, i shredded some lime green paper and ta-dahh! easter basket. included a little note and a verse, matthew 28:6, which reads, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. " and i made banana walnut muffins again last saturday - i think the stress of the impending tests required some muffins. thinking of making cupcakes this week tho. we'll see (:
and the gorgeous poster you just saw there is made by andrew! (: its for the upcoming yf retreat. do come if you can. details are in the fine print.

xo* sheryl

tinkerbell

2009-04-08T12:22:00.004+08:00

oh, i know i've neglected this blog. i fully intend to be a more regular blogger with more substantial posts and with more eye candy and inspiration links.

and i'll do so starting saturday.

cos thats when i officially end the semester.

i promise i'll give the blog a make-over!

p/s: have you noticed the new blog header? its the original sketch of tinkerbell by mark davis for disney. speaking of which, there's a tinkerbell movie (which re-ignited my love for all things tinkerbell and pixie dust) and an online game, pixie hollow where tink and all her fairy friends live. i don't think its meant for kids my age though. hmm. in all fairness, i found pixie hollow by chance while trying to find information for my essay on Disneyfication. i'll be sticking to that excuse till i can find a better one.

xo* sheryl

alice in wonderland

2009-03-30T15:11:00.003+08:00

oh my, i just found out that Tim Burton will be making a Alice in Wonderland movie?! super psyched. i love Tim Burton's type of animation and Alice in Wonderland is a classic. pity its only coming 2010. still very psyched tho. (:

opulent, elegant, gorgeous rings

2009-03-11T17:34:00.002+08:00

this girl takes the sweetest pictures ever. and i love those rings, opal and emerald.

i know i haven't been blogging lately. been feeling rather uninspired. whenever that happens i have the tendency to do an overhaul of the blog or get a new one entirely. i don't know. we'll see. but i will try to blog more, and more meaningfully. typing out what i think is so much faster after all. been feeling slightly under the weather. i think its that flu bug thats been flying around. san also recently had a throat infection, so yea. feeling frumpy and sick and all gross. i feel like i should read more and stop watching so much tv. think i'll use that borders voucher soon. rachel recommended me lord of the flies. shall go search for that. or peter pan. haha. :p

*sheryl

oren lavie

2009-02-25T12:37:00.001+08:00

an amazing video via d* - totally has this magical fairytale feel to it. (:

365 update!

2009-02-17T09:37:00.006+08:00

week 4

week 5

week 6

the days i forgot to take pictures i printed out pictures that inspired me instead. and because i had to do a lot of catch-up, i didn't have time for much embellies, was just mostly photos and journalling. (:

on impulse, i made these banana walnut muffins last tuesday. i found the recipe, checked if i had the ingredients and made them straightaway! they made for great breakfast with tea on wednesday morning. (crf earlier post)

and then yesterday, i made this grab bag on impulse too! i've been in a rather creative slump. thats why squiggletown hasn't had much updates and i haven't really been scrapbooking. i'm really pleased with the result because usually i shy away from sewing patterns - too many words and instructions and prep work. but i really liked how the bag looked from the picture, so i decided to try it. after some trial and error - taadah! andrew liked it. i loved it! its even got little pockets on both sides for keys and random cash, lipbalm and all.

i added this little detail - crochet flower with wooden button.

well, need to get back to work (:

ttfn!

*sheryl

p/s:

found this on my sister's blog who said she got it from zech's facebook. super funny. its "Christian pick-up lines"

1. Nice Bible.
2. I would like to pray with you.
3. You know Jesus? Hey, me too!
4. God told me to come talk to you.
5. I know a church where we could go and talk.
6. How about a hug, sister/brother?
7. Do you need help carrying your bible? It looks heavy.
8. Christians don't shake hands; Christians gotta hug!
9. Oh you are cold, Ecclesiastes 4:11.
10. Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?
11. What are your plans for tonight? Feel like a bible study?
12. I am here for you.
13. The word says "Give drink to those who are thirsty, and feed the hungry"; how about dinner?
14. You don't have an accountability partner? Me neither.
15. You want to come over and watch the 10 commandments tonight?
16. Is it a sin that you stole my heart?
17. How many times around you would I have to walk before you'll fall for me
18. If we lived in Noah's time,you and me would enter the ark together.
19. I wrote your name and mine in the love calculator and the results showed "divine providence"
20. Have you ever tried praying at a drive in movie before?
21. Excuse me, I believe one of your ribs belongs to me.
22. My friend told me to come and meet you, he said that you are a really nice person. I think you know him. Jesus, yeah, that's His name.
23. You know they say that you have never really dated, until you have dated a christian.
24. Yeah, I predicted David over Goliath.
25. I know why Solomon had 700 wives, it was cos he never met you.
26. Before tonight, I never believed in predestination...
27. Nice bracelet. What Would Jesus Date? Oh, I mean "Do."
28. What's your name and number so I can add you to my "prayer" list?
29. Hey baby, you wanna take the church van for a spin?
30. Has anyone ever told you, your eyes are like doves and your neck like the tower of David (read Song of Solomon)?
31. Excuse me, is this pew taken?
32. [check the person's shirt tag] "just as i thought... made in heaven."
33. Hey, need a ride to church?
34. I'd pick you over Satan any day.
35. God was just showing off when He made you.
36. I'm pretty flexible. I don't think a woman should be submissive on the first date.
37. No, i'm not coveting, I intend to make you mine.
38. What do you think Paul meant when he said, "Greet one another with a holy kiss."? (1 Cor 16:20b)
39. Do you think "ask, and it shall be given you" is to be taken literally?
40. I practice our mission to "love one another" to the fullest extent!
41. I didn't know angels flew this low.
42. If Eve was tempted by an apple than you must be my fruit.
43. That halo matches perfectly with your eyes.
44. I must be dead and looking at the angel that is going to take me to heaven.
45. I just don't feel called to celibacy.

best banana walnut muffins that i've ever made!

2009-02-10T18:39:00.006+08:00

okay this was so impulsive, i found this banana walnut muffin recipe and decided to make it there and then (thank God i had all the ingredients i needed). the recipe had more than enough batter for 1 dozen, so i used my silicon mini muffin trays and cups. turned out pretty good i must say. its comparable to those i've eaten outside. unfortunately, i kinda forgot about the 2nd batch, and they got too brown (just a shade short of being burnt. haha. ahwells.) the crispy outside its not too bad, i guess. but i'm glad its airy and the walnuts add a nice bite. (: time to buy more flour and walnuts! think i might make this for v'day as presents...

ttfn!

polaroid saved!

2009-01-21T15:32:00.004+08:00

look here!

picture via oh joy! i just decided to make it into a polaroid because i love the dresses so much!

in the meanwhile, try polardroid. i esp love the sound effects. :D

that polaroid up there in the corner? thats the polardroid application! is that cute or is that cute? (:

go try it!

*sheryl

365 update! (edited)

2009-01-21T13:48:00.004+08:00

to-do list for today started with a very tall purple inked, purple feather pen! (:

okay, round up of my 365 album so far...

cover 1 - plain, with only a "real leather" tag at the side.

week 1

cover 2

week 2

week 3

click on it to see a bigger version!

(edited*) random, i just found this picture. i miss my gold nokia. and i miss making my clay lentils and the accompanying seashore charms!

ttfn!

*sheryl

120109-200109

2009-01-20T16:14:00.005+08:00

just finished a book by manfredi. its titled Pharaoh and is a culmination of 2 of my very favouritest things - Egyptology and archeology with a dash of mystery. very satisfying read. i took my time with this book; usually i'll just sit down and finish reading the book in practically one sitting, but i had a lot of things to do. i got the book on sunday, but read the bulk of it today. anyhow, the past week has been a swirl of events.

school started on monday.

gave andrew a little present on tuesday.

went to Ikea on wednesday (and bought 14 kraft boxes, so as you've probably guessed, more packing ensued).

went out shopping with the girls on thursday (bought a dress, shoes and some other stuff!)

had dinner out with andrew on friday at new york new york.

cg day was at my place on sat (we cooked curry and played the new credit card monopoly!)

sunday sherwin and i made a recipe file for him to copy down recipes (i quite like that he's expressing an interest in baking!), mom's colleague dropped by with a huge box of yummy pineapple tarts that she makes every year for cny and i bought the manfredi book (and realised i needed a bookmark so made one rather quickly but i like it! mini doily and woodgrain contact sheet!)

monday (yesterday) i did some major organising for my school notes for this sem (printed out the lot of readings from the ecms, labelled, sorted, filed them)

and today, i finally remembered to take my vits! and for some weird reason i scratched my burn wound while sleeping last night, so i had to put antiseptic. and in an effort to try and remind myself to be crafty and took a picture of my new colour pencils (crayons+watercolour+coloured pencil = 3 in 1) that i got from seoul. i haven't tried them out yet. they're pretty pricey but the colour is so luscious! so yea. will definitely try it soon.

hmm. what else...i wanted to bake cookies and the chocolate cornflakes for cny, but mom said she already bought cny stuff to give. so might just make a small batch of chocolate cornflakes for andrew and grandma instead.

ahwells!

okay. going to go grocery shopping now.

ttfn!

*sheryl

i hate dust...

2009-01-08T18:06:00.008+08:00

hello blogworld.

sorry, i know i've been MIA for awhile. the whole new year thing kinda sparked the packing mood in me again (i know?!! like packing again?!) it started on sunday, when i consolidated the sewing stuff and didn't stop till today (at least i think i've packed enough for me to stop. mmhmm.)

SUNDAY

the sewing stuff was in 3 different places - the guest room (in an old 3 tier box), the family room (in my mother's wedding present from my grandma, which happens to be one of those vintage/antique-esque sewing machines) and my room, in the small ikea sewing box. so out came the ziplock bags and boxes and i managed to pack everything into this teal toolbox (that i used to use for my beads) and my ikea sewing box. the more expensive sewing tools are in the ikea box with me in my room, but the teal toolbox is in the family room so if the maid needs to do some hemming she can just do so without asking me for the sewing stuff everytime.

i think the green heart felt pin cushion was made by mom.

MONDAY

andrew and i made ian's birthday present. since i'm pretty sure he doesn't read this blog i guess it'll be okay to reveal the present. anyhow, its slightly different from the picture (we added some stuff to it too. haha)

a gift tag and a small plush croc adorns the paper bag. i added an eyelet to the tail of the croc and ballchain so he can use it as a bag tag or something too.

it was really nice crafting together with andrew. we were watching the last two episodes of Little Nonya while doing so. he made the notebook, the design and cutting and binding, everything! and i sewed ian a pencil case. its double-lined, blue stripes and brown lining. it was the only guy-ish fabric i had. the gift it of course wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine (its like the sound of music "brown paper packages tied up in string, these are a few of my favourite things!) so the gift wrap sorta had a brown-white-orange-green theme going.

TUESDAY

packed my scrapbook paper! they were previously sorted by colour. but i realised it was hard to match. and a monotone palette gets kinda boring after awhile. so i decided to arrange them by brands. i guess its because each publisher sorta has a certain style, so sorting by brand isnt as messy as i thought it would be. and of course i had to use my post-its to tag them! its the newer type? its the one thats thicker, so they stand up well and don't get crushed as easily.

plus its pretty easy to spot the brands too!

close-up. the boxes are from muji. love the frosted white. (:

WEDNESDAY

i packed my scraps. i don't have a picture, but basically by brand too. and i did a layout of the first week of 2009. i wanted to try something similar to the 365 project. except i know i wouldn't be able to really take a good picture every single day. so instead, i'll use either a picture or an item from the day (like ticket stubs or clothes tags). the album is paperchase (love it!) and i haven't decorated the cover yet. i quite like it just kraft actually. but we'll see. ohh, except for the "real leather" tag that was from my clutch (that i will be using for cny.)

its quite a simple layout actually. i was kinda tired from all the packing and my mindset was all "simplify simplify!!!" so the layout was simplified.

and i had this for supper! san and i used to eat this when we were kids all the time! they got these cute animal fishcakes. san and i would wait for them to expand and count them and have a mini competition to see who will have more animal fishcakes. (: i don't know if its new, or that we just didn't notice it, but there was an udon flavour too. the udon one tastes a bit seaweed-ish. now i know i said i don't hate seaweed now, but when given a preference i'll still rather not have it. haha. so i preferred the yellow packaging, which is the instant noodles one, which had somewhat of a chicken flavour.

THURSDAY

*phew! okay, caught up to today! haha. so today i packed my scrap area (i know! again). but it seems that after awhile, dust seems to invade and settle on everything and its really annoying. i like things clean, neat. and for a multitude of reasons, i just had to pack the area again. it was just irking me.

so its more level now? like i tried not to stack things up to much or have things shoved all the way back. and i tried to group items? like put them in a tray or a container - its easier to clean. haha.
been using my colourful ceramic cups more too. the teacups i use for my accessories, the milkshake cups for scrap stuff. (can you spot my green bronto sticking out from the back?)

and i needed to place some items waaaaaaay up on the top shelf. and the thing was they were open baskets with no lids. so i took some food covers and used them to cover the baskets. you could use showercaps too i guess, but the food caps come in different sizes and colours, so it fits snugly. (:

okay! so what else do i have left to do:

type out 2005 murphy's law calendar quotes for mom
prepare sunday school lesson
photocopy sunday school worksheets
photocopy last night's Bible class notes for mel
do QT
try to read the newspaper
eat vits
scrub + face mask
tidy up room a bit
and write all this down in my diary

tmr there is ian's 21st birthday bash and a visit to the peranakan museum will be in order. (:

ttfn!

*sheryl

Polaroid PoGo

2008-12-31T11:56:00.003+08:00

look at this! its like the portable printer i always wanted! albeit the pictures only come out 2" x 3", but still! i think thats good enough for me! (: found out that i, can buy one here, unfortunately, i dont like in the US. :( ahwells. definitely on my wishlist. i wish it weren't $USD99.99 tho...

*sheryl

20 things that I've done in the year 2008

2008-12-31T01:11:00.004+08:00

hello. Since my dearest have done one, I shall try too.

1) Started learning driving (pity I cannot get the lesson by this year)
2) Became the church's Sunday school's treasurer!
3) Finally bought Sheryl a decent ring!
4) Completely gave up on my strict dieting
5) Started watching Southpark and loving it
6) For the first time, bought formal shirts for myself
7) Sailed to Indonesia for humanitarian mission with SAF
8) Lost my 11B..
9) I turned 20
10) Found out that Crown Lager is the best beer in the world
11) Ate the mega mac, Quad stacker and triple portebello mushroom burger (not at one go)
12) Got silver for my 2nd year IPPT..
13) Found out that I am severely allergic to dustmites
14) Bought my first Levi's jeans
15) Been to two of my cousin's wedding
16) Got my first boots from timberland
17) Creating this list
18) Horrified at the lack of things that I've done
19) Bought my samsung soul
20) Seriously horrified at the lack of things I've achieved..

look what i got!

2008-12-30T23:05:00.003+08:00

look what i got! haha.

i wanted to get this for awhile now, but didn't because it seemed outta my reach. then today, andrew and i went to a totally nondescript shop and i saw some cameras for sale and tried asking. lo and behold, they sold it! haha. will be playing around with it. cant wait to see what we come up with! (:

*sheryl

my 2009 vision board (edited)

2008-12-30T11:08:00.004+08:00

i was reading ck and there was this article about presenting your new year resolutions in a pictorial form. and in particular, elizabeth kartchner's vision board struck me. photo credits go to quite a few sources, mostly taken from flickr and some etsy shops. it was a spur of the moment thing, so i didnt have time to take my own pictures, but the pictures i chose really epitomises in a way what i want to achieve. so yea. (: and while the whole outlook seems rather simple, i feel that thats the way to go for the new year - simple. essentially, my hope is the next year i will kick Procrastination's butt! so i used the phrase my dad gave to me in primary one - first things first - do the things that need to be done first, others are secondary. i guess for me that applies in many areas, like cleaning up, studying, etc. so God-willing, the new year is going to be a great year. its definitely going to be interesting...and i'll be turning 21! (:

20 things that happened to me in 2008...

i got my driving licence
i turned 20
i worked at a scrapbooking shop
i did relief teaching
i got my wallet stolen
i did my first MAAD bazaar
i learnt not to hate seaweed
i became a sunday school teacher
i got a new oven! (well, not me really, the family)
i realised i have a lot of tigger paraphernalia (not that its a bad thing!)
i got addicted to the second season of gossip girl
i subscribed to ck, shape and cs&p
i was in the camp committee - checkmate
i packed my room (particularly my scrap area) a few gabillion times
i ran more (but obviously not enough)
i went to hongkong, korea and genting highlands
i realised andrew and i have been together for almost 5 years...
i got my first diamond ring (can you spot the picture in the vision board?)
i have 103 subscriptions on my google reader
i fell in love with rainbow colours - ROYGBIV
(*in anticipation for next year when i turn 21. haha) i got a golden half camera!

there were tonnes more that happened of course, my 20 things i thought i'd share for 20 year old me in 2008.

*sheryl

cute crafty video

2008-12-23T13:14:00.000+08:00

via poppytalk. super cute! makes me want to start crafting right now and NOW. (:
*sheryl

craft mysteries

2008-12-23T12:16:00.005+08:00

found this via craftzine. think its really interesting, its apparently like a how-to craft book and a mystery bundled together all in one. i read a bit on amazon, lye in wait and heaven preserve us.

*sheryl

life in rainbow colours

2008-12-22T18:58:00.003+08:00

picture via craftzine. i love the felted acorns! mostly because its a mix between between nature and felt (its almost my favourite material!). anyhoo, because half the world is in this wintery bliss now, there is a whole lot of felting, knitting, crocheting projects out there in blogland. and honestly, i'm VERY tempted to pick it up. but what with scrapbooking, baking, sewing, beading and whatnot, i think i should wait till i've got more time. but my mom used to crochet, so i got loads of yarn and needles to do so. okay, back to writing Christmas cards and gift wrapping! (:

p/s: andrew just got me an absolutely lovely ring for Christmas. its so princess-fairytale-like. thanks love! (will try and post a picture soon!)

*sheryl

'tis the season for a ramble

2008-12-22T13:07:00.005+08:00

this is the most gorgeous amethyst ring i've ever seen. haha. but its crazy expensive. december has been a whirl, like seriously (pronounced the andrew way - see-ry-eous-ly). the first week was spent in korea, the second in hongkong, the third in youth camp. and this is the fourth week - the Christmas week! i had planned on doing the december daily album. but with camp, i got side-tracked. i think its going to be another UFO (un-finished object). andrew and i haven't finished our Christmas presents yet, we're planning to finish it tonight. i'm really pleased with the presents we came up with this year, cos we planned ahead, and thereby put a lot of thought into it, so its really meaningful. and i've kinda lost the photo-bug, i think its because i took copious amounts of photos while on holiday. that day in disneyland, i took more than 1000 for that place alone, just to give you an idea of the amount. so, yea! right now, i'm in a baking mood. mel and i plan to make apple pie again or apple crumble for the yf/yaf anniversary. i'm wondering if we should make rice crispy treats just for old time sakes. i need a new oven. dad said he was going to get one, but with everything that has been happening he hasnt yet. ahwells. THREE days to Christmas! very exciting. (: lost the Christmas mood for a bit because i was in camp and there was a lot of reflection and thinking going on. but now, back to home and the real world, and the shopping and the hustle and bustle, the Christmas mood is coming back. i just added more recipes to my recipe folder - i actually consolidated this huge ole ring binder file with all my mom's old recipes and mine. then i realised it was too much of a hassle to keep lugging it out, and it was difficult to find the recipes that i always use. so i made softcopies of some that i always use and compiled mine into a smiggle folder. and i feel like making hama bead snowflakes. sherwin's making them now and they are very cute. maybe tonight. okay, shall get back to my 1000+ google reader entries to read and thereby end my monologue.

ttfn!

*sheryl

just a quick post to say...

2008-12-13T10:18:00.000+08:00

i'm back!

*sheryl

i want to be able to sketch like her...

2008-12-01T10:42:00.002+08:00

she is amazing. i think my style would be a hybrid of andrea and elsie...

*sheryl

my parents are more cool than i give them credit for

2008-11-29T11:05:00.003+08:00

last night at approx 1.50am, the whole family went to macs for supper. haha. it was weird, we were all awake doing work, and i had a craving for cappuccino and cheesecake, so i asked if they wanted to go to macs for supper. i fully expected a "no", but they were game! and yesterday, sherwin and i made luggage tags for our upcoming holiday. the last time i just used a marker on name cards. this time, i upped it and printed on grid paper before adhering to the name cards and laminating them. i also found some pre-made luggage tags, the red one is part of an Esprit travel set (passport holder + luggage tag). so you know me, i had to alter it, even if just a little. and i used a slot punch so the luggage tags would look more professional, compared to using a regular one-hole punch. pretty, no? anyhow, gotta get back to studying, impending professional communication test at 2pm...

ttfn!

*sheryl

black friday and thanksgiving

2008-11-28T19:13:00.003+08:00

here in Singapore we don't really celebrate thanksgiving or black friday. i know that thanksgiving is something to do with early English settlers and all. but i forgot what black friday was about. i vaguely remember it in history. anyhow, i did a quick search and found this from here:

1. A day of stock market catastrophe. Originally, Sept 24, 1869 was deemed Black Friday. The crash was sparked by gold speculators, including Jay Gould and James Fist, who attempted to corner the gold market. The attempt failed and the gold market collapsed, causing the stock market to plummet.

2. The day after Thanksgiving in the United States. Retailers generally see an upward spike in sales and consider this to be the start of the holiday shopping season. It's common for retailers to offer special promotions and to open early to draw in customers.

i need to dunk myself in a vat of emollient

2008-11-26T20:53:00.004+08:00

(toadstool from chasingfireflies)

i've been a mad-hatter the past few days.

i feel like my life has been an oxymoron the past few days:-

accomplished-truckloads of work undone; messy-neat; on target-lost.

its all quite ironic really.

anyhow, i'm telling myself to hang in there. i'm looking forward to my whole day with andrew on friday, test on saturday (its weird i know, to be looking forward to a test. its not because i'm super prepared, but because its the last test of my sem!), lysa's birthday on sunday, last min-prep on monday, conference on tuesday, korea on tuesday. (:

rewind back to reality, vetting the camper for the youth camp and conference prep.

i need to dunk myself in a vat of emollient (did i mention that?)

lego fashion show

2008-11-24T12:40:00.002+08:00

this is so cool!
imagine the amount of work!

JCDC Versus LEGO from Four H on Vimeo.

via craftzine.

conversation in Elvish

2008-11-20T14:10:00.003+08:00

sheryl: hi my name is Melda (Mehl-dah)

andrew: and mine is Suiadan (Soo-ee-ah-dahn)

(so apparently my name means beloved and andrew's means manly - in Elvish of course. haha)

for the love of ancient history...

2008-11-14T19:52:00.003+08:00

here's an interesting article i found from here...

magazines i've been reading...

2008-11-13T15:07:00.002+08:00

scrapbooking mags and shape are like my staple. haha. its what i look forward to the beginning of each month. anyhow, my dad just got me this - teen virtue. its kinda funny, cos its for teens. so for awhile i thought it was for sandra. anyhow, will pass it to her when i'm done reading. its not too bad, but i think its really more appropriate for san, i just haven't really thought of myself as a teen for awhile now. its a book thats published like a magazine.

but what i especially like about it is the graphics! i love the fact that the typeface looks like doodles. (:

*sheryl

its starting to smell like Christmas

2008-11-12T14:35:00.010+08:00

i love Christmas, strings of lights, tinkling bells, fresh baked cookies,

peppermint candies, striped leggings, red & green,

holly & ivy, candy canes, sugarplum fairies, nutcracker ballet.

eggnog apple cider and pine trees.

gingerbread house with white icing & gumdrops.

presents, holly wreathe and bright red birds.

(from a justjohanna stamp

-i only wrote the parts i liked)

made soba today for the first time. kept craving for soba and jean convinced me it was easy to make! i'll admit i was kinda afraid of the soba when it was boiling, cos it stuck together a little. i wasn't sure if i should treat it like pasta when you boil it? ahwells. turns out, its was simple. and yummy. (:

(andrew i made loads so you can have some tonight if you'd like.)

i improvised, i realised i didn't have spring onions. and the soba would be quite plain without that extra pep, so i added minced raw garlic instead. and i had some mushrooms to go with the noodles.

and yesterday we had kenny rogers - gotta love that corn muffin! (its the highlight of the meal). i do believe i found a corn muffin recipe recently. will have to try it out before Christmas, maybe i could do a bunch for Christmas dinner! haven't been baking. i want to, but the oven has been rather wonky and dad is loathe to get a new one, so we'll see.

found some gorgeous cupcakes from this lady's flickr. i would like that cupcake stand please!

this is from alicia's blog from her new book. i love the culmination of crafty materials. speaking of which, my craft area (and room) is in a mess. i feel that urge to pack again. i know its crazy, but i do love packing and tidying up. (i'm so domesticated. HAHA. right) anyhow, the family is trying to decide if we should have a holiday this year or do some minor renovations. i'm okay with both. but i wanna do-up my room now. but i know that if i get anymore shelving or boxes, my room is not going to have any walking space. think i shall go pack after this post. (:

found this on the hambly blog. can you believe that bouquet was a wedding bouquet?! ingenious isn't it? but this is definitely not a bouquet i would wanna throw to the crowd. would make a lovely centrepiece. the middles of the flowers are apparently vintage buttons!

i used to keep my seed beads by colour in individual mini zip-locks. but over time, the zip-lock tends to have holes. so i gave up and just poured them by colour into bottles. kinda looks like that coloured sand art thinga-ma-jig, doesn't it?

more beads and super lovely suede leaf garlands. i'm saving them for a special project. :D

this is my favourite craft punch at the moment.

poster from the poster list.

prints from backbone.

print from print a day.
print from lab partners.

ceramic tree trunk bowls from domino mag.

this tree is so stunningly red! from donna's blog.

For Josiah

2008-11-10T00:04:00.003+08:00

Hello Josiah,

this is Andrew, stop reading our blog in class and focus on your teacher!

anyway, some rants.

My last IPPT's coming which is good since it means i'm going to ORD soon!
Main problem is running i suppose since the last time i've ran is almost three months ago and the fact that i just bulked up to 82kg! Which is quite a waste since i have lose to some weight now so it doesn't feel like i'm carrying a few BK Quad Stacker while running.

This is BK's new burger, the Quad Stacker (actually the picture shows the triple stacker which is for babies, couldnt find the quad's picture..) And i have eaten two of those, so yes i am literally carrying them while running.

I found another inspiring picture of a potential future pro

Antoine Vaillant, i think thats a picture of him one week out or something. so its pretty inpressive. The old times of bodybuilding is coming back, with the mass monsters replaced by symmetry again.

Anyhow, its time to sleep if i want to remotely fulfil my plan of running early before breakfast tomorrow. Gotta pray that it'd really happen this time!

ballet

2008-11-09T22:24:00.001+08:00

taken from this lady's flickr.

makes me wish i had continued with ballet...

*sheryl

dinosale at SQUIGGLETOWN! (:

2008-11-08T23:37:00.002+08:00

i'm having a sale at squiggletown! :D :D :D

click HERE for more details!

*sheryl

colours

2008-11-08T11:19:00.003+08:00

this gorgeous print is from lab partners. i love the spin on the vintage telephone. (:

and yesterday i decided to pack my swarovskis, so i bought some new boxes and ended up organising most of my beads instead. :D

a deer named Rupert

2008-11-06T12:27:00.004+08:00

found this via elsie! super adorable.

i want one too!

pink woodland room

2008-11-06T11:37:00.002+08:00

i'm not usually a huge fan of pink, but this room has a woodsy theme! found this on one of the design blogs. i especially like the tree mural at the back with the birdies. (:

4 years and 6 months

2008-11-05T21:51:00.006+08:00

it was our anniversary today! (:

andrew got me this bouquet of lilies...

it was so gorgeous! (i realise i've been using "gorgeous" alot. haha) there were so many different types of flowers along with the 3 lilies, i don't even know their names! so i decided to just take pictures, so that in the future, when i know the names, i can put the name to the flower.

anyhow, i've decided to start trying to be healthy! I-NEED-TO-LOSE-WEIGHT!

so i decided to start a food journal. in the past, when i tried, the "journal" was too big. so this time round, i decided to be eco-friendly and make these teensy journals from my scraps.

yea, i kinda have a thing for mini-pens/pencils....

i started yesterday. (: andrew and i ran too. so that was a good start. we didn't run today, but we didn't binge either. so thats good too. as you can see, yesterday i ate a lot of rubbish.

so i've decided to start carrying almonds with me again. they help stave off hunger pangs. maybe an apple would be good too. hmm...

ohhHHhh! and speaking of mini stationery, lookie here! mini post-its dispenser. uber cute! and look, its in DUAL colours. i.e. the alternate pages are in 2 different colours. so its pink-turquoise-pink-turquoise (you get the idea)

and i was just thinking about what to make with my stack of felt. saw this while shopping today. shall try making softies, like that felt owl. (: i think i will name her Wrynn.

random note, after the facial today, i realise i need to stop being so lazy and start scrubbing and using my masks and so on. its all about being healthier i guess. skin and body. so we'll see. Christmas is such a challenging time for diets. what with all the candy, cupcakes, pudding, turkey, roast ham, gingerbread men, cakes, biscuits, salads, mash...oh my. i feel hungry just typing it. haha.

everything in moderation i say!

is it tea time yet?

2008-11-04T14:08:00.003+08:00

was just blog surfing and came across kara's blog. she's really inspiring. and honest. i don't know how people do that, be so brutally honest in their blog posts, knowing that the worldwideweb (including parents - and that is my constant worry, that my parents would read my blog. haha. i think they do...) can read it too. and i'd take that any day, compared to convoluted paragraphs that go nowhere.

anyhow, in case you're wondering, i haven't exactly made a dent in my to-do list yet. but they day is still young. its only 3pm. haha. the weather was so lovely, sunny. then suddenly, thunder and storm clouds gathered. thats the tropical Singapore weather for you. but i won't have it any other way. i love it here. i may complain, and wish for holidays, but they are holidays nonetheless. its always such a great feeling to come back to "home" at the end of it. which is why i choose to be a Singaporean - a Singapore citizen. yea, i get to choose. now why is that? well, i was born in Perth, so i have both a Singaporean and Australian birth certificate. next year when i'm 21, i'm going to have to swear my allegiance to Singapore. i know lots of people are like "why choose to be a Singaporean?!!! are you crazy? go be Australian!!" well, i don't know. i've lived most of my 20 years here on this tiny island. and i must say that familiarity comes at a high priority. so yea. (:

have i ever told you that my favouritest snack is cheese almond rice crackers? i love it to bits. very very yummy. its a japanese snack. almond cheese with green tea makes a perfect tea. but of course cheesecake and a cappuccino would do great too!

i more or less tidied up my room yesterday. so there are neat piles of stuff on my table. i got my school notebook, the gorgeous birds&nests stamps that andrew got for me, my pencil case, ipod, samsung soul, my tea snack, planner and ohhh!! my oakleys. (the picture with the close-up of the snacks has my oakleys on the left) :D :D :D love it! its flawless polished chocolate. that sounds yummy too doesn't it? *grin. (thanks for helping me source for it andrew!)

listening to the wreckers. love that too. think its my favourite at the moment. i needed a new playlist so i passed the ipod to andrew to give me a surprise and he added them in. listening to it now. feeling super inspired. i like this feeling. (:

p/s: i just realised i've been blogging twice a day. i've got a week of holidays. (: and i'm really enjoying it.

black dye stained wooden colour pencils

2008-11-04T11:38:00.002+08:00

to-do list:

catch up on Bible reading
newspapers
professional communication journals
run tonight with andrew
journal/sketch

**i recently bought a box of these gorgeous colour pencils. the wood is stained black throughout, so the colours pop more. vibrancy is inspiration.

some landscapes...

2008-11-03T21:27:00.002+08:00

...that i found on the internet.

gorgeous.

love the whole fall/vintage feel.

makes me wanna go on a holiday to see such landscapes.

thermos

2008-11-03T16:08:00.000+08:00

cg day: bt timah hill hike

2008-11-01T23:54:00.009+08:00

today our cg group went for a hike at bukit timah hill. we took the green route. here's what happened along the way.

group picture #1 - at our secret hidding place (reference to the cave like entrance at the back!)

group picture #2 - somewhat casual. i like the fact they were standing on the stairs!

pit stop! and that means...

group picture #3!

and #4...

and of course, the many bits of nature. including gianormous ants!

i particularly like this picture. the sun reflected rainbows into the picture. (:

we finished our green line jungle trek and headed up the rest of the way by the road. intense discussion as you can see. should we go the fast way (steep flight of steps) or the easy way (the road)? we took the fast way.

making our way to the top. see josiah and daniel w's triumph in the background. haha. (and some random shirtless passer-by...)

Bukit Timah Summit. 163.63m

we made it! (as if its Mt. Everest or something. haha)

jump shots. the many many MANY failed attempts! until...

final successful jump shot! :D this is my favourite shot!

chit chat.

final group picture at the summit!

andrew's favourite comic - cos he says its like a Singaporean thing - chew on it!

chiam trying to be emo. haha.

anyhow, after we went back down, we had a picnic. andrew and i drove there so we had the luxury of space. we brought a gallon of water (in this pink toys'R'us water dispenser. i had iced water and lemon slices), apples and 2 trays of mac and cheese - 1 sausage, 1 beef. the apples and water was in the tupperware cooler bag - so everything was still cold after the hike (i was quite surprised) the mac and cheese was still warm! and we took like 2 hours to leisurely hike. so yea. (: eddison brought basking robbin ice-cream!! he drove all the way to JB just to buy it. lysa baked muffins. jeremy brought drinks. daniel w brought sandwiches. i must say it was a pretty good picnic!

i wasn't very happy that i forgot my camera (which is why the pictures are kinda blur), but i couldn't NOT have any pictures, so i just used my samsung soul. not too shabby if i do say so myself. its got 5 megapixels and i do have a relative amount of control over the settings. so once i got the right setting, the photos weren't too bad. but there was no anti-shake tho. ahwells.

okay. ttfn! i'm tired. nights! (:

*sheryl

craft&stuff

2008-11-01T22:53:00.006+08:00

found this really cute picture by hayley. i love how fall feels. people start posting all sorts of warm and fuzzy pictures. and some with snow even. today is the first day of november! its practically the start of the whole Christmas season! (: cityhall has the Christmas tree up even!

edited this journal a little with woodgrain paper and new spanking new stamps!! i finally got the sassafras stamps that i wanted. and andrew got me the birds & nests stamp set for an early anniversary present!!!! can you believe that? how sweet is he? (:

i got this awhile back. i've always wanted a mary-jane style shoe + its suede! crocs is good cos it lasts long and its pretty comfy. although i've been getting a few small blisters. my crocs malindi gave me some too, but once my feet got used to them it was SUPER comfy. haha. i think i have a thing for quality footwear. i don't mind having only a few pair of shoes if i know that it would last long. so far, i've really liked crocs and birks. i got three of each. i cant seem to find the name or the image of the first pair of birks that i got tho, and that i really bugging me. ):

ohh, and this was part of the decor at the vivo food republic. i really like the decor there. i think my parents especially like it because it reminds them of their childhood. the whole 1960s feel. very vintage. very cool. would love to have birdcage lights too. i'm just not too sure about the dust its going to collect tho...

december daily

2008-10-29T22:26:00.003+08:00

i decided to try ali edward's idea on doing a december daily. this is how the skeleton looks like. will probably post more in december! shall be embellishing bits of it from now till then. (:

*sheryl

my table & noticeboard now...

2008-10-28T09:19:00.008+08:00

pictures of my noticeboard as promised! (:

btw, the chalkboard that says "i am very smart" is NOT my table. its sandra's. haha.

so here's the broad view...

a little closer to see the whole layout. basically, my previous cork board had a lot of hanging paraphernalia that went all the way down, including behind my moocow chalkboard. so it was kinda messy. all the hanging metal stuff like key rings and bullclips got rusty. so i decided to pare it down a little. and neaten things up. i had a lot of to-do lists lying on my table too, so i decided clipboards were the way to go! sourced for nice woodgrain clipboards so that they would go with my table and the corkboard.

well, i couldn't bear not having any hanging notes at all, so i had a corset / ballet shoes type of string, where i can either slot photos and notes in, or use some (i've got truckloads. think i was collecting them at one point...hmm...) wooden pegs to pin them up. that part is kinda messy, but its okay, i can live with that. i like some variation. (:

one of my to-do lists. reminders to eat vits, exercise, creams, scrub, and to be neat. i forgot to write read the newspapers and do QT. but that should soon be a habit. hopefully.

so i've got 2 chalkboards on my table. one hanging up with little clips so i can clip stuff and write about it. the other is my moocow. so i've got a little bag of white chalk there. i've got some coloured ones too, but they're all in little bits. plus white always seems to stand out better against black, so yea.

and i love grid paper. LOVE. i find that doodling on grid paper seems to create nicer sketches. maybe its the grids. hmm.

my tigger figurine from andrew. tigger's my fav from the winnie the pooh series. heffalump follows closely as the next fav. and the super cute toast post-it from fredflare. the post-it is supposed to be the butter on the toast. thats another thing stationery essential in my book - post-its. so i've got heaps lying around.

baby shoes! the weebok pair is shared with mich and the converse is shared with andrew. (:

the crocs is for me to put my samsung soul when i'm doing work. the snow globe reminds me of my favourite season - Christmas. and the post-its dispenser. there's a small tin of burt's bees cuticle butter from US on it. i seem to do random things when i study sometimes, like apply cuticle butter. haha. you can see my lamp berger sticking out from the back. my page up stand is hidden tho. page up is pretty handy too. i got the mini ones too, but honestly they're kinda useless. :p unless its for propping up small cards. big ole' A4 documents need the regular-sized page up.

bucket of pencils and pens. i've got a knack for stationery. sometimes to get myself into a studying mood i buy stationery. i know, i know - wasteful. andrew tells me that all the time. haha. i'm trying to curb it by looking through my stash to see what i haven't used in awhile and use it. its kinda like the feeling of buying something new i guess? :D btw, the heart pen right smack in the middle there was my v'day present to the girls! helped san make a truckload of pencils for her classmates and had some for the other church people too.

cross stitch from benji. but he confessed yvonne was the one who sewed it actually. haha. but i really like it. its a precious moments ballerina. i used to take ballet when i was in primary school. i would have continued if not for the obviously, very gay and imposing ballet instructor. yes, my ballet teacher was male. i would take it up now, but then i would be stuck with little kids and compared to them, my elephant thighs would be such an embarrassment. (which reminds me, i really should go running...) oOohh, more post-its there! my favourite post-it at the moment are these kraft coloured ones. now, if they had grid post-its...oh my!

tiny owl painting that i did. the size is about that of a post-it square! quotes by Gordon Dryden and Walt Disney next to it.

"people will exceed the targets they set for themselves." - Gordon Dryden.

"if you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney.

and a super cute fireman pencil that andrew got me last year...or two years back. i don't remember exactly when. it was one of those random, impulsive gifts. very sweet. next month would be our 4 and half years anniversary. we're getting old and mouldy! haha.

okay, and so ends my tour of my table. what does your table look like? (san, not referring to yours. haha. i see yours right next to mine!)

we might be doing a little overhaul of the house, come end-of-year. this is instead of going for a holiday. cos my school term might stretch two weeks more. (confounded projects!) which again reminds me, i need to do my communication journal.

ttfn!

*sheryl

p/s: (andrew) heyy babe! here's the link to elsie's online class i wanted you to see. i'm so tempted to sign up for it? its like you getting to talk to jay cutler!!! tell me what you think okay? :D

blue inspiration & bookplates (edited)

2008-10-27T23:33:00.004+08:00

oOohh! one more blue inspiration. this one is from black apple. love the way the silhouettes drape across the corner!

when i was younger, my absolute favourite colour was blue. now, i would say that my favourite colour varies. its sometimes brown, green, coral pink, turquoise, red...but somehow, i'm always drawn to blue stuff. like i have lots of blue bags and paraphernalia. its not only till i consciously made an effort to choose non-blue stuff did i get more brown (and other various colours) stuff. anyhow, i grabbed these pictures from etsy, blogs and the internet in general (i don't have the exact links on hand, will update it with links when i find the urls). i love the whole vintage feel. i would also love to have that blue birdie cup. ohh, and i re-did my cork board! shall post pictures tmr!

found this on the internet too! i looooove the shelf / cupboard / whatever you call it. the white wooden thing with bookplates. that would be perfect for my craft stuff! the wooden chair next to it is pretty nice too. (: andrew and i went looking around furniture today and saw the most gorgeous wooden table. i wish we took a picture of it. its like, you can smell the forest in it! super nice. we fell in love with it, but not the price. ah wells

*sheryl

its raining here too

2008-10-24T12:03:00.002+08:00

hey baby,

thanks for finishing up the herbal tea especially since you dont like it very much.
anyway, this is the poster i was talking about(:

Just to avoid this becoming a MSN sort of thing, hello everyone!

muffins for breakfast

2008-10-24T10:16:00.006+08:00

i woke up craving for muffins. its odd i know. i vaguely heard mom telling sandra while i was still in my sleep beleaguered state that there were muffins downstairs. i've been down with a flu the past 2 days, so i got myself a cup of milk (just because its breakfast, its like you got to have milk! haha) then got a cup a green tea and a walnut muffin. the muffins are from swisslink bakery & cafe - and they are gooood! after the walnut muffin i went down and got another banana muffin. :D

and i love the weather today. i'm pretty sure it was storming through the night. when i woke up, the weather was so gorgeously cool and with a slight drizzle. in fact, its still drizzling! it pretty much feels like Christmas already! i don't really celebrate Halloween, i think its partly because in Singapore it isn't really the culture to celebrate it. and i think there are some religious undertones to Halloween, but ah wells. Christmas takes the icing. now, if only global warming could bring snow to Singapore...

and fyi andrew, i've already drank the herbal tea.

*sheryl

desktop & birdie stamps

2008-10-23T17:55:00.002+08:00

hee hee. tweaked my desktop again. seems very clean and bright now. (:

and some birdie stamps that i've been eyeing...

*sheryl

hot cocoa (edited)

2008-10-22T14:20:00.010+08:00

sometimes on rainy days like today, when its raining dinos, a cup of hot cocoa is all you need. i followed the recipe that they gave on the hershey's box and edited it just slightly. (:

2 tsp cocoa powder
2 tsp sugar (i used 1 tsp of brown sugar)
1/4 tsp vanilla (i just estimated this)
1 cup milk (i put the cup in the microwave for 2 mins on high to get it hot)

now i just need some mini marshmallows and a book to snuggle up and read.

speaking of books, these are 2 that i've read recently: -
1. my best friend's girl (dorothy koomson)

thanks mabel for lending it to me! san's reading it now.

2. thanks for the memories (cecelia ahern)

as you can see, i'm quite a cecelia ahern fan. haha. i'm looking forward to reading "if you could see me now". i want to buy the version that has the white cover. i love the whimsical artwork on it. i hate to admit it, but i do judge a book by its cover. story books that is. i take comfort that andrew does the same thing!

i know its only october, but its almost november and november means its almost december! so the year is coming to an end soon and my absolute most favourite season is coming - Christmas!!! so i decided to do a Wordle to describe what is me for this year. and i did a little mini book too. along with some design/decor that caught my eye on the web.

you can see the rest of the pages at my flickr.

okay, i need to get back to work. i've got a professional communication test on saturday, but i keep procrastinating the studying - its terrible. and i've been reflecting. i think its the whole "end-of-the-year" mood. i keep thinking "what do i want to be when i grow up?"or more like "what do i want to do in 1 year's time?" next year i'll be 21. and next year i'll finish my mass com degree with murdoch. therein lies those pertinent questions - like what job should i look for? should i do a masters?

blah blah BLAH.

i should just suddenly imbibe myself with an overflow of narrative creativity and start writing novels like cecelia ahern. or become an independent artist! haha. riiiight. i read a very inspiring interview here on elsie's blog about independent artists. quite an interesting read!

oOohh!! and guess what? in lieu of me being in the whole "end of the year" mood, i've even bought my organisers for 2009 already!

hee hee. i looooove the planner esp. the pages inside are full of the woodland whimsy that i like. acorns, owls, birds, trees...and the diary is paperchase. thats like a staple for me. this one has a blank page for each day. so there's space for me to doodle and alter (: might post some pages next year. i get to start using the planner next month. it starts from nov2008 and ends jan2010.

ohh, and here's a pic from mel's birthday. i just edited the photosize, shall be emailing the girls the pictures soon!

been trying to learn more about photoshop too. i've been trying polaroids and cross processing. love the vintage colour and feel it gives to photographs. now that i have almost the full adobe creative CS3 suite, i'm trying to bring it all together. i'm learning about InDesign in school as well. so its quite cool. maybe i'll start producing newsletters for Squiggletow n!

and i've been catching Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives! i bet you're wondering when i study. haha. shall do so now! (:

ttfn!

*sheryl

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

p/s: here are some things i forgot to share. (:

a few weeks ago i posted a post about my desktop. i decided to do a screenshot instead. so here it is.

very pretty mermaid fabric. sometimes i wish i lived in the US, if only for the retail. but then when i weigh it with the conveniences of Singapore, i think i'm staying put, thank you very much.

ohh, and this is from elsie's post about the interview. i like this idea of using clipboards and notice boards too. so clipboards and cork coasters. maybe i can have a panel of both!

okay, and i seriously can't wait for this to be released. i love the gingerbread man and the narwhal! and what i presume to be bigfoot! haha. can't wait to get my hands on these! :D
basically, i can't wait for Christmas! (:

from the past week or so...

2008-10-16T12:35:00.005+08:00

last saturday, my family went bowling at rtc again. i'm beginning to see that we are going there pretty regularly. hopefully as a result that will mean that my game would be getting better! haha! this time however, i decided to bring my scrap grab bag along. so while waiting for my turn, i did some scrapping! (: mom was doing her work too. i was doing some bookmarks for her as presents for the psg. i did 20 A6 notebooks and 20 4"x3" bookmarks. that was loads of fun, bowling and scrapping. i think i shall try doing this again. using the scrap grab bag more often.
so here are the notebooks. i know its partially blocked. and the birthday card i did for mom! (: her birthday was 2 days ago. sherwin wrote in the card with me. he's at that stage where his drawings are really super cute. he did a hama beads glow-in-the-dark star for mom. so that she could wear it and glow in the dark as well. haha! and its mel's birthday today!
thats her birthday card. i'm quite obsessed with faux polaroids lately. i do want a polaroid camera, but polaroid has stopped production of film and all, so its quite pointless really. i wanted to get this other brand, that had instant photos as well. but i'm not too sure. because i know i WANT to polaroid rather than need it. its a matter of weighing the pros and cons. but at the moment, i'm staving off my desire for one by playing around with photoshop. i must say that its pretty satisfying. i think i might be able to live with faux polaroids! (:

i bought this earring stand for my mom last christmas. i think it holds more than 100 earrings. 150 thereabouts i think. but my mom has so many earrings that its not enough for this one stand! haha. i colour co-ordinated it for her. its pretty no? (:

speaking about beading, i'm getting back into the groove of it. i did 8 pairs last night. kept 4 for myself tho. i'm trying to be more daring in the colour combinations so that it won't be so monotone. still trying to define what is the "sheryl style" or "squiggletown style". but i think the tag line quite sums it up - whimsical, quirky, original. thats what i want.

okay, shall stop the rant. leave you with this. my cappuccino from two days back. smile!

ttfn!

*sheryl

bronto stamp

2008-09-30T12:02:00.001+08:00

when the girls and i had our sushi buffet, guess who we saw? elmo and cookie at nydc for dessert! (:

*sheryl

oh my goodness this is so cool!

2008-09-25T22:19:00.003+08:00

ingredients for a chocolate cake in 5 minutes!

4 tbsp cake flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp cooking oil
mug

by dizzy dee via craftzine!

i'm so going to have to try this!!!!

*sheryl

hama*beads!

2008-09-25T21:20:00.005+08:00

i recently re-acquainted myself with some childhood craft stuff. the top 2 pictures are shots of a sticker machine. its actually sherwin's but i'm keeping it for uh...safekeeping. haha. and i recently found my hama beads! sherwin and i have been making loads of hama bead stuff. he made ben 10 omnitrix thinga-ma-jigs and what-nots.

i've been making...
that is for andrew. the next few pictures are squiggletown preview sneaks. as in i haven't even posted these sneaks on squiggletown yet, but seeing as how you found my blog, here are the sneaks beforehand. (:
pretty yummy ain't it? (: super psyched about it.

ohh. and shots of me attempting to study at the front porch. there's a shot of my new swan pencil case and red nike waterbottle. which reminds me, tonnes of assignments due soon! got a study session with the girls tmr before we reward ourselves with shopping and sushi. yum!

ttfn!

*sheryl

coffeecups and moocows

2008-09-21T00:03:00.003+08:00

i know this sounds quite silly, but i scrapped this cup with all intent of using it as it is meant to be, a coffeecup. but this was a freebie and as freebies sometimes go, it smelt somewhat weird. so i decided not to use it afterall. now i'm wondering what to do with the nice scrapped sheet that i put inside. perhaps i shall craft it into a sort of abstract notebook...i mean one could never have enough notebooks right? :D

got tonnes of work to do.

there is church tmr.

i need to exercise and take my vits.

they say exercise isn't really the cure to cellulite.

i wonder if that is true.

"they" meaning the loreal ad for their cellulite cream.

so maybe the info isn't trustworthy.

i need a spa...or a scrub.

i need to get offline.

ttfn!

*sheryl

The Land of Checkmate (v.2)

2008-09-19T12:36:00.012+08:00

Once upon a time in the Land of Chess, there were two opposing townships – White and Black. The two townships albeit near, were as different as day and night; good and evil. The King and Queen of Township White were gracious, Godly and good. The King and Queen of Township Black however were malicious, Machiavellian and malignant.

Legend has it that a long time ago, the two townships were actually one united country. One of the princes decided that he was as good, if not better than the King and should be the one ruling. He staged a revolt that ended in his exile. Along with him, he persuaded many others to follow him and they formed Township Black. Throughout history, the two Townships have constantly been engaged in war. Travelers and passer-bys were the biggest victims, for they did not know the true character of Township Black and many were enticed by its colourful and broad-minded ways. Before they could save themselves, many were ensnared by vices with no means of escape. Conversely, the first perception many have of Township White is that their ways are too narrow and straight, with no allowance for anything fun. What they did not know is that the King of Township White was a merciful and loving King who constantly looked out for his people. Even those who were trapped in Township Black, if they but call on His name, he would send his army to rescue them.

Township Black was literally the mirror opposite of everything that existed in Township White. The White Rook was the friendliest and he and his fellow Rooks worked together and formed a formidable force to protect Township White. Township Black followed this tactic and created Black Rooks as well – seemingly to protect but mainly to harm. The White Knight was the leader in battle and had on him at all times the Armour of the King. While the Black Knight did not have such as armour, he had fiery darts of lies and deception. The White Bishop was the pastor of the local church and provided the essential spiritual food for the people. The Black Bishop however told false prophesies and heresies. Sadly, many were taken in by the lies and promises of the Black Bishop. In Township White, even the mere plebian White Pawn had an important role to play, for in battle, they played a part in helping to defend their township, square by square. In Township Black, the Black Pawns were treated like parasites and many could be seen scurrying in the shadows, doing the evil biddings of their evil King.

Despite the obvious and vast differences, many choose Township Black for that momentary pleasure and enjoyment. They live for the day without regard for the consequence of their actions. One day, Township White will launch an attack on Township Black, a battle so great, the day has been named the Armageddon. Until then, the good people of Township White know that they need to support each other, to fight that constant battle with Township Black. The King of Township White has promised that He will be with them always, even until the end of the world. And in that, they take comfort and look forward to the day they finish well and earn the right to say “Checkmate!”

The Land of Checkmate

2008-09-19T12:36:00.005+08:00

i'm doing this mini write up that explains the purpose of the YF camp theme. i've always liked the idea of the camp to be like a journey or story, so i decided to design the camper like a story book. so this section would be the prologue. i did the first draft, and feedback was that the story should show that the townships of black and white should be fighting each other, rather than be amicable neighbours. so here is draft 1 and draft 2. (:

DRAFT 1

Once upon a time, in the Land of Chess, there were two townships – Black and White. In each township, there lived a King and His bride, the Queen. And they were happy.

There were many genteel and lady nobles living in the Land of Chess – Rook, Bishop, Knight and common townfolk who were known as Pawn. Rook was the friendliest, he and his fellow Rooks worked together and formed a formidable force. This was particularly useful when they had quibbles with the opposing townships or during the Festival of CheckMate. Bishop was the pastor of the local church and provided spiritual food for the township. Knight was the leader in battle and had on him at all times the Armour of the King. This included the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Shoes of Peace, the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit. Even the mere plebian Pawn had an important role to play, for in battle, they played a part in helping to defend their township, square by square.

Every year during the Festival of CheckMate, the good people of the Land of Chess role played an ancient battle that pitted the township of Black and the township and White against each other. The aim of the role play was for one township to capture the other township while maintaining security of their township. In order to win, the citizens of each township had to work closely together and support each other. Only then can that township successfully win.

Each citizen with their individual strengths played a part in ensuring that their King remained unscathed in this mock battle. The choices each piece made during the mock battle mirrored the choices they made everyday and was a reminder on the importance of looking out for each other in their journey through the Land of Chess, according to the plan the King had for each and every one of them.

i'm eyeing these...

2008-09-12T19:30:00.004+08:00

it is flawless.

and it is polished chocolate.

sounds yummy isn't it?

yes it is!

*sheryl

packing, and packing and PACKING

2008-09-09T20:17:00.004+08:00

okay, that is a bad picture. but i just wanted to show you my new uber cute dishes! there's mini office stationery in it. the past few days, weeks, i've been rather obsessed with packing. (i can hear andrew groaning already "OH NO! not again!" haha.) its like i caught a spring cleaning bug (or other bugs - been feeling under the weather lately). first it was sherwin's stuff (he has TONNES for a nine year old), then it was my room - some reorganising. got some box folders, files, mini files, stationery, ikea boxes, various found containers and re-arranged and packed stuff. then back to sherwin's stuff. it almost seems like i can't stop myself. and then when i've packed things, i get really peeved when the maid or sherwin or other people find or use things and just leave 'em there and don't put it back where they belong. they start to chuck things aside, and things start to pile up again. its so frustrating. i have a foreboding - i feel my perfectionist self creeping up again. and that isn't too good. i get very tired out when that happens. in secondary school, when i started making notes and thereby just started doing mindmaps, the perfectionism was so bad that i would re-do my notes just so they would look nice. it was more for the appearance rather than for making notes/studying. ahwells. there's a stamp "embrace imperfection". so i'm trying to convince myself that imperfection is part and process of art and life. so yea. :D

on the other hand, squiggletown just had a truckload of updates in the inked section!

here's a gator notebook for andrew...
school notebook for myself...
very in love with woodgrain see.

hmm. besides notebooks and perfectionism, i've been getting alot of driving time(: been trying to fine-tune my parking, my estimation, sense of direction and most importantly confidence. i realise now while giving my friends lifts the immense responsibility that driving brings. andrew and i were planning some "us" time tomorrow, but the plans were jolted by the realisation that i have class tmr instead of today. ): upsetting. but we're probably going to still try and have some "us" time and do some fun stuff - hopefully of which there will be bowling and a run involved. (: oOohh! and a home-cooked taco dinner!

exciting. (: okay, think i'm going to do some random embroidering.

ttfn!

*sheryl

woodgrain journal + vintage*spoons

2008-08-30T12:27:00.005+08:00

found these gorgeous BLUE woodgrain contact sheets. seeing as how i *adore* anything woodgrain, woody, birdie, owls (you get picture), i just had to make a notebook for myself! these are apparently from Holland. there were only 2 rolls left, so i bought both.

need-to-find-MORE. yes.

stationery always makes school more bearable. and makes me happy anyhow. andrew can attest to that. i have tonnes of stationery at home, but it never seems to be too much!

now, if only i can buy these woodgrain sheets in a nice timber tone...

went for the mgs Aloud concert last night. it was pretty okay. this girl was really cool tho! she's like p5 and she was the only girl who came with her own band. whats more, her band was all guys, waaaaay older than her! bet one of them was her older brother or father (like hannah montana or something!). if i was a younger sister, i would love to have my older brother have a band and let me join as the lead soloist! :D

maybe since i can't have that, maybe my distant future daughter can. hmm...

okay, some other happy finds and products and purchases!

i miss you andrew.

can't wait to go out with you again.

to go for our long walks and endless meanderings.

perfect.

*sheryl

teachers' day & crafty*weekend

2008-08-29T14:43:00.003+08:00

ah! i know i have neglected this blog for a bit. been rather lazy. anyhow, here is a snapshot of what i've been up to lately...

yesterday, sherwin and i were doing teachers' day presents! he did mini chalkboard tags. i helped mom make 10 purse notebooks - stamped "happy teachers day 2008" on all, one letter at a time, plus 20 tags with the same type of stamping + i stamped the front of each little paper bag. the tags and these beautiful shell spoons were put inside the paper bag. i forgot to take pictures of the completed purse books in their individual mesh bags, but the last picture in the collage shows how the notebook looks like. and sherwin is very proud of his Ben 10 omitrix. its quite impressive really, looks like just like the real thing in the cartoon. sounds kinda oxymoronic. hmm.

last week i made this double-lined pouch for andrew. and i hand-stitched 6 little booklets. its pretty big, as in it can fit his Bible, story book, the mini booklets and some pens. i'm pretty happy with the result. this is by far the nicest, most professional looking pouch that i've made so far. not saying that it is excellent. but its not too shabby. (:

and andrew passed me his acrylic paints! haven't really got down to using them yet, but i'm going to try and do so this weekend! (:

met up with mel for lunch after school (as in after relief teaching). we had yummy hotdogs from 1901. that one is the ny chicken. reaaaaaally yummy. but eating hotdogs always reminds me of ikea. i wanna go ikea. ):

crafty*weekend

okay! so yesterday was my last day of relief teaching! so i finally have some time to do crafty stuff. here's the list:

chalkboard paint and cheeseboards. intending to paint them. very inspired by elsie and enimsay designs!
crop-a-dile (finally, i know!) and the lovely alpha stamps (which i suddenly realise i'm so dependent on! haha).
recycled journal. this one is by donna, she has a how-to-video. looked interesting so i decided to try it too! so far i've only got the base down. need to paint the pages soon. (:
mom has a stack of journals for me to do up.
i'm going to try decorating them with these lovely prints.
mom bought a truckload of scrap stuff for me from philippines.

yupp! lots and lots to do! and here are some envelopes i did for squiggletown! (:

ttfn!

*sheryl

Samsung Soul EXTREME

2008-08-19T23:08:00.004+08:00

haha. i *love* the giant samsung. you know what the coolest thing is? we both actually have the samsung soul. this is like the version for giants! we took photos with giant crocs too. so me i had one foot in the giant cros and the other wearing normal shoes. funny. its like a collection of items for giants. hmm...

and a scrapbook for lianne. she left for a 6 month exchange programme. she's going to somewhere in europe i think...

and guess what?! i finally managed to get a copy of my class photo from last year! (: asked one of the kids to bring it so i could scan a copy :D actually the teachers are supposed to get a complimentary copy. but i left before the photos got delivered. but i'm very happy with a scanned copy.

ttfn!

*sheryl

my grab bag + what is me (now)

2008-08-15T14:38:00.009+08:00

i was reading the ck mag, and ali edwards was talking about making mini albums on the go. so one of the things she suggested was compiling a little bag of essentials so that scrapbooking on the go wouldn't be such a put off because of the need to pack the stuff. so i decided to share what i think essentials are for me. at the moment, i'm really into labels, journaling tags and tabs. i recently (FINALLY) got some tag and tab punches! been waiting forever to get some. haha. so i spent some time yesterday going through my smaller scraps to punch some tags and tabs. (: andrew was really sweet and helped. so i've got some jam and candy jars and my uber cute robot tin. using those to house the tabs and tags. so naturally my grab bag has some tags and tabs too. ((:

sheryl's grab bag:

labels
tabs
tags
glue stick
tape glue
pva glue
pen knife
scissors
cutting mat
metal ruler
white signo
pencil (eraser)

this doesn't include my pencil case which has my other bits of stationery like pens and all. so the grab bag i choose has two compartments. a larger (almost A4 size) compartment, which i'll put the bits of my project in and the smaller compartment where my essentials will go. note i didn't put items that would cost me too much, because since its on the go, there is the possibility that i would lose some stuff. but if i were going for a class or a crop session, i'd prolly bring my cutterbee (penknife) and honeybee (scissors) and perhaps even my dymo :p

what is me now (in terms of craft)?

(note: i used wordle for this, having some trouble with making it larger, so clicking on the picture will direct you to the wordle website where you will see a large version of this)

*sheryl

pen geek

2008-08-12T17:43:00.004+08:00

i'm such a pen geek! love love looooooove pens. got tonnes but it never seems enough. bought some more new ones yesterday. love the colours. the pinks-orange-yellow hues! plus the fact that these weren't the usual pinks and oranges that are sold. the unique colours makes them keepers!

*sheryl

henderson waves

2008-08-11T20:31:00.002+08:00

on national day, my family went for a walk around henderson waves. it was really great, but slightly rushed cos we woke up late and met with the blazing midday sun, plus the fact that san had tuition in the afternoon. but it was really nice. i got some great pictures! mostly nature. but pretty nonetheless. makes me want to go for long walks.

*sheryl

wishing for Christmas...

2008-08-10T23:20:00.000+08:00

i know its kinda early, but i'm wishing for Christmas already. and a white one at that!

looking at my snowglobe helps me pretend Christmas is coming. (: love the happy festive mood, the shopping, the gift-giving, the exchange of goodwill and most importantly the reminder of Christ's birth.

*sheryl

happy national day Singapore!

2008-08-09T12:36:00.000+08:00

found these really cute mouse staplers. since this year is the year of the rat (according to the chinese zodiac) and national day is tmr and my parents are born in the year of the rat, thought they might like this. thought it was pretty apt. haha. anyhow, sometimes its fun to give gifts for no reason. but in case they need a reason i'll say its their national day present.

sidetrack: see behind the mice? the margarita bottle? its filled with the thumbtacks for my notice board. thought it'd be neat to use the bottle instead of some normal jar. (:

*sheryl

oakley: i want this....or that...

2008-08-08T10:47:00.006+08:00

2008-08-07T21:10:00.004+08:00

Hello everybody(if there's even anyone looking at this blog at all)
so sorry for the long due post.
as you guys can see, Sheryl's back to SKPS. and i do kinda miss the place since i taught there before. I dont think the kids will remember and love me like they do to Sheryl though. was never the teacher who connects? more of doing my job and keeping them quiet. weird thing is, GOD seem to want me to teach. Right now in NS, i'm actually a medical instructor in the NAVY so i do alot of teaching, conducting of courses. I actually enjoy teacher and like the fact that i always find ways to teach my audiences easier way to remember things and the logic of doing them. I taught the BMT batch today and despite them being mono intake, they were very co operative and eager to learn, so thank God for that. (i'm not saying that mono intakes are bad people, they just tend to be more rowdy? but i like them better than the A levels's, they are more up front and dont carry balls as much)

but one thing i dont get is, i didnt really enjoy teaching while in SKPS? i actually dreaded going to school every morning? no idea if its the waking early part, the lack of preparation or the surprises that comes along the way (unlike Sheryl who puts in alot of effort to prepare for her lessons and to make them bloody interesting for the kids, its not surprising that they love her)

ah, i dont know. right now, i wish i could open a gym? like a franchise of GOLD's gym? that'd be awesome, having a job that is also my passion(: but what percentage of the people actually have a job that they love?

Right now, i'm actually trying a new training concept called the "x reps"(just type X reps in google to find out more). the amount of reading is simply amazing (bodybuilders are actually very intellectual people k? they do frontier nutrition concepts more than nutritionists). do read up if you are interested. i'm still not sure if its working for me, its surprisingly more difficult a concept to grasp than i thought.

thinking of taking a off day from work tomorrow, not sure if i should. would love to spend a complete day with Sheryl. haven been able to due to duties.

alright, that's all for rantings.

ps: check out this up and coming natural bodybuiler , Jim Cordova. his genetics are simply awesome. (pic attached)

back to skps

2008-08-07T18:00:00.007+08:00

went back to skps to teach for this august hols. my ex-students are so adorable! when i came in unexpectedly to relief their class, they were extremely co-operative and really helped me to keep the class noise level down. plus! they seemed really excited to see me. really warmed the cockles of my heart. its not like they were complete angels, but they were the first to go "shushhhh!!" to the rest of their classmates. while i enjoyed catching up with them, i didn't expect to take pictures with them. these pictures were taken during the second last lesson of the day. was in this primary 2 class. i taught some of them art last year when they were in p1. they were so sweet, wanted to take pictures with me and asked if i could print it out for them. i was more than happy to do so. here are some of the pictures: -

i took over a malay mother tongue teacher today. and so i took primary 1, 2 and 3 classes. and my form class last year was p2. so i managed to see some of my students who are in p2 and p3 now. the p1 pupils were really cute tho. my colleague took this malay teacher's timetable yesterday and she told me today i can actually just bring a book to read cos they don't have any work to do. but cos i knew these kids, i decided to catch up with them instead. its really interesting to see how much they have grown and what interests them now. the p3 pupils are just starting science and one of the things they are learning now is cycles - like from a egg, larvae, pupa, insect. so most of them got a container with a mealworm inside which i learnt will grow into a beetle in time. the boys especially were very fond of playing with the mealworm, taking it out of the container and handling it. the girls, some were quite squeamish about it. the boys were telling me how its like playing with centipedes which i told them were poisonous. but they said they didn't get bitten. it reminded me of how when i was in p3 myself and we used to go to the peranakan garden and pick up millipedes to play with. we'd pick it up and put it on precarious ledges or let it run along our hands. its weird how i was so fearless in the past. RIGHT now. right now if i were asked to do that, i'm not sure i'd dare. looking at the kids play with the mealworm, i wasn't too sure if i'd be able to pick it up like they did.

but the main thing is just being with them and actually learning from them. for the p1 and p3 class, i played hangman with them. but i gave them the option of doing their own stuff as well. its then that you see the types of kids that make-up the class. some were talking, drawing, some were even doing their own homework?!! can you believe it? like in p1 and they were doing their own work, on their own. the p2 class was really small - only 16 kids. they were so-oooo adorable! they were playing restaurant! they split themselves into a sort of 2 groups and had two friendly rival restaurants! so i decided to play along with them - i was the customer cum restaurant reviewer. so part of the stars that i was giving them was for the food they prepared (they drew the food or used erasers and other stationery to improvise), the presentation (part of which i told them included noise level. haha. sneaky huh, so they werent too noisy.) and service. very fun. so i got a little break from school. tmr, next monday, thursday and friday i don't have to go to school. because of national day celebrations and psle oral. but just as well. i do need a bit of break to gather my thoughts and settle down.

i kinda plunged straight into work the moment school ended. so i didnt set goals for myself. like things i want to accomplish. i do know that part of it is strengthening my spiritual walk, especially since i'm in the yf camp committee - i need to make sure i am right with God before i can help plan such events. and the other stuff i want to do is to really start crafting! especially beading and scrapbooking.

speaking of which, the weekend i ended my exams, i had this sudden urge to spring clean my room in a day (which frankly is near impossible). so i had to pare it down to just my craft area. before that, i had a lot of cute (but small) containers with everything separated and displayed. while it was nice aesthetically, but it was pretty cumbersome. like i had all these little bottles and nooks and crannies to shift before i can get something from the back. and it was a magnet for dust! plus i wasn't too happy about the little dark corners i was providing for potential beetles / lizards / cockroaches. *bleagh* so! i decided i needed an ikea field trip! haha. daddy was kind enough to bring me there after yf. so after we left sherwin at smalland (the play area for kiddies), within an hour we had dinner (naturally i had meatballs and coffee) and i bought almost $60 worth of containers to supplement the existing containers i already had. so then i started using these wonderfully colourful containers instead and used dymo to label! :D

okay, so watch out for some serious crafting coming up this weekend! (:

*sheryl

a student's prayer

2008-07-30T08:10:00.004+08:00

the Lord is my Shepherd, i shall not flunk!

He keepeth me from lying down when i should be studying.

He leadeth me beside the water cooler for a study break.

He restoreth my faith in study guides,

He leads me to better study habits for my grade sake.

Yea, though i walk through the valley of borderline grades,

i will not have a nervous breakdown, for Thou art with me.

my prayers and my friends, they comfort me.

Thou givest me an answer in moments of blankness,

Thou anointest my head with understanding.

my test paper runneth over with questions i recognise.

surely passing grades with flying colours shall follow me all the days of my examinations

and i shall not have to dwell in this school forever. Amen!

***aunty v sent this is us some years back. its an adaptation of the Psalm 23. i quite like it. (: stressing out cos my media law and ethics exam is tonight, not fully prepared and i think i've got a slight fever/headache. praying that i would just get through this week. i want to do well, but at the same time i'm sooooooo looking forward to my month of holidays! going back to skps to relief teach. looking forward to seeing the kids - especially those who were in my form class last year. (: but RIGHT now, i need to just buckle down and study. so Lord, i pray You'll grant me the discipline and determination Lord. Amen!

*sheryl

orange*purple sunsets

2008-07-29T10:36:00.010+08:00

captured these beautiful sunsets just outside my house. it was amazing. around 7.30pm. it stayed there for a mere few minutes and then disappeared. reminds me of God's handiwork - magnificent. (:

somehow, it seems that as i grow older, and further attached from the school system, i start to cherish what i had before. so when my mom gave me her set of housekeys (mine got stolen, long story), and i found this keychain they gave us when we graduated, thought it was apt.

found my old set of lit flashcards. got an exam on wednesday. really need to just sit down and study. but as you can see from this post, i'm finding it quite hard to do so. *bah.

ohhh!! and my parents FINALLY trust me with the car. i drove alone last night. yesssss! and i must say, thank God, but my parking is improving! manage to park like i could when i was learning with the poles? now even without the poles, i'm starting to be able to gauge. (:

okay. crunch time.

*sheryl