I could do this all day long. =)

So the week has almost come to an end, and with it the month as well. I realised I've been obsessed with counting down the days and weeks and months. To nothing in particular actually or rather to an unknown future. Just that ending the second quarter so soon seems to just bring me closer to that.

So anyway I'm here to share my week with you as promised. A week of many late nights I should say, pushing away all appointments. But it has been fun. Maybe therapeutic as well, as my coursemates would put it. Three hours of baking by my mum; fifteen hours of rolling, cutting, molding and icing; thirty-six roses and two fondant-covered cakes later, here's the result!

Yeah!! I'm proud of this cake! Been looking forward to putting this cake together together. My sweetest creation to date I think! I did put alot of hard work in especially for the roses, which took about thirteen minutes apiece. Do the math, ya. I did cut short on the leaves and calyxes though. Ha! But I achieved the simple elegant blue-white look that I had in mind. Don't you like it as well? I really didn't mind putting in the hours and effort. Hence the title of the post.

And that's what I call progress! There has to be progress in everything right? Definitely brings justice to the many hours and dollars invested in this hobby of mine. And of course, it benefits those around me as well. Heads nodding, I hope.

I'm going to dedicate this cake to Anthea, who's turning a sweet 21 tomorrow and due back in Singapore in a week's time. Hope she likes it as much as I do.

And so, time to catch up with gatherings and meetups that I've been neglecting. See you soon!

All in the month of May,

So the month of May rushed in and is almost out of the door. Along with two different courses, a mini-project and lots of cakes, cookies and baking. The past two weeks have been exceptional I must say, though it really doesn't speak alot for itself. Oh, and a hugely pleasant surprise. I just need the faith to believe and take that first step. A friendly nudge, anyone?

It's quite scary to think that 5 months of two-oh-oh-nine has just whizzed by like that. I need to take time to sit down and relive the past, ponder the present and mull over the future. I haven't been the best that I am lately and I admit it. Need to get my act together. A tad feeling of deja vu as I typed the last phrase. Have I said it somewhere before?

Truth be spoken, I'm actually waiting for this month to pass. This last week will prove to be a challenging one and I will tell you why in due time. =) I do hope to have something great to show you all. Then in June, I can finally catch up with all the appointments that are long due, some for a good part of a year!!

So have a good week ahead and enjoy what's left of May. May May muster many merry moments! Alliteration at its best!

What lies ahead.

So again I feel that am slower by a beat, though it's definitely not a competition or anything like that. Should I take that step of faith, or by my standards, more like a leap into the unknown? Maybe I've subconsciously chosen to avoid the obvious, so that I would not have to face up to it? I need to get my life in check. I'm just not built for decision-making. I just ask for a smooth year.

The two sides of April.

One more to come. Stay tuned!

What matters most.

This is a snapshot of the aeroplane flying over Chiang Rai last year in October, with Davy beside me. I think he took this shot. I can't really remember. And another camp goes by again.

The lion turns and roars, only to meet another of its kind. So here I am again, wondering what I should share here, whether it will benefit you or me, or even who's reading. Many many thoughts running through my mind. Like a phrase I read somewhere, "you can only find when you are truly lost".

This isn't supposed to sound so melancholic but somehow it just feels that way. And you wonder how things can change so much in the blink of an eye. I do. And thus I approach each day with trepidation. Draining, simply put.

But no, I can't just go looking in a medicine chest for help. Not just a salve for a sore, an ointment for an ache, a band-aid for a wound. self-medication just doesn't work either. Just go straight to the Healer, the One who has been through and understands and hears. Each and every time. I just have to learn to give Him my ears and my time. My heart. My life.

"Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people
from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith."

Roman 1:5

Some happy faces.

So it's been a long month past. Where I traversed every single day as its own, to get to the end of each day. To count my blessings and know that He is leading. To learn how it is to be stripped of everything and depend solely on Him. And prayers. Lots of. In a time of waiting, seeking and humility.

So there's a brief summary of sorts. Words are hard to flow nowadays and I do find myself building up a wall around me. Maybe to keep myself in. Maybe to keep others out.

On a sweeter note, here's a peek into the sweets that have been churned out of my kitchen this year.

Need to get my daily fix of Noah Wyle now. Haha! Shall end with this screen shot. Yes, kids nowadays are starting younger and younger.

=)

The Curious Case of the Indignant Ostrich

"Why the title?", you might ask. This bird would walk towards the crowd and seem to like to bask in the attention while its partner was busy rolling a fake egg up and down its beak. And at the same, purse its beak as depicted. If it is possible to purse a beak. So there you have it.

So the party ran its course and finished a good hour ahead of schedule. All was good and I did not walk away with the tv or the Wii. That was good too. I was content and that's what matters. =)

So a walk through Jurong BirdPark brought us to many kinds of birds. Duh. Flightless birds who descended from dinosaurs, birds of pray, hornbills who were blowing their horns, crowned pigeons, graceful swans, pink and not-so-pink flamingoes, and my favourite, the penguins. The list goes on. The list of God's creation goes on.

"By causing the creation to come into being by his word of power, God establishes it as part of his own vast kingdom. He thus establishes himself as the great King over all creation, without limits of any kind, and worthy to receive all glory, honour, and power in the worship of what he has created. ...
As God creates, he names what he creates, and this again is an expression of his sovereignty. 'The act of giving a name meant, above all, the exercise of a sovereign right. ... Thus the naming of this and all subsequent creative works once more expresses graphically God's claim of lordship over the creatures.' ...
In God's own creative work, he acts for the good of what he has made and not for his own selfish pleasure. For example, he creates a perfect home for humankind. And at every point in God's work within it, the creation is described as 'good' and 'very good'. Over this good creation, God calls the human 'ruler' to serve as steward or under-sovereign, to embody God's own care for, and protection of, his good creation un his own sovereign rule over the earth. Psalm 8:6 expresses this wonderfully: the glory of human beings is that God has made them 'ruler over the works of [his] hands.' It is impossible to read this as suggesting that humans are free to do what they like with God's workmanship. Above all things, the human caretakers are accountable to the divine Creator of the world entrusted to their care."

- The Drama of Scripture

So let us as people of God, use the authority that God has given us on this earth to take care of the environment and all it holds, which has been for generations and will be for generations.