i finally saw sunshine for the 1st time since i got back from USA. i was glad that the weather was good today; perfect for walking along orchard. so it was an afternoon out with mr joker, to do some catching up...so it was lunch at swensons and then a movie 'night at the mueseum', which is VERY nice and HILARIOUS!

as the movie ended in the late afternoon, we kinda just walked about heeren and cineleisure, shopping for mr joker's shoes. during which i met lulu & qiyi, (cheng) huiting, then sab at novena. met lulu and qiyi AGAIN at novena, and i claimed (jokingly) that they were stalking me and mr joker. HAHA.

it was super hilarious when mr joker tried to get rid of his coins. attempt #1 was at swensons, where he tried to give exact change, but ended up getting more coins from the bill and from me! haha. attempt #2 was at 'world of sports' whern mr joker was paying for his shoes...and that was the time when he really got rid of his small change! HAHA!

another funny moment was when mr joker tried to twist his mum's words in order to get a wider budget...from US$30=S$45 to 30 Pounds=S$90...haha. but he eventually got a reasonably priced pair. i'll decline to disclose the price. but it was a good decision on my part when i suggested that we go to novena square/velocity wing to shop for shoes. haha. it's not self praise i promise, but it's just a good suggestion! *grins*

mr joker was also thinking how to explain to his mum about the above. haha. he would say 'it's marie's idea. she helped me get a good bargain.'

*faints*

got my xmas gifts from him too.
to mr joker: a SUPER DUPER BIG THANK YOU! i love the gifts so no worries k? :) <333

1st of all, the trip to the west coast of US was not bad, albeit not as great as i'd expected it to be, and not as great as my dad made it out to be. given the choice, i prefer last yr's trip to swiss though i didn't speak a word of german. but that's besides the point.

2nd, USA doesn't like me. really. when i first went there, *this is gonna be gross* but i puked everyday. and i'm dead serious about that. this time, i caught the stomach flu. which is much worse though it lasted a shorter time. but that few days was sheer hell. HELL. and believe me, it's torturous being sick WHEN YOU'RE ON VACATION! and not just yourself, but your family (esp my mum for me) suffers with you.

3rd, sis is lucky when she goes to US. she finds money. quite a LOT of money. lady luck wasn't really on my side. i only found 6 cents. she found US$1+. lucky her.

4th, i'm going to CJC for my 1st 3 months thing.

so this is roughly what happened when i was away. i've got notes. haha.

day 1 *san francisco*: arrival in the evening. walked around fisherman's wharf, san francisco.

day 2 *san francisco*: walked to DOWNTOWN san francisco. went to chinatown first then to union square where it was LOADS of window shopping. while crossing the road, there was this elderly woman who went:
'i've got no insurance!
watch out!
beep beep! beep beep!'
haha...that was REALLY hilarious. there was this trio who sang 'jingle bells' for money. quite nice but didn't give any money.

day 3 *lake tahoe*: got our car. didn't drive much cos the weather was rather bad. lots of fog near our destination. but we were safe. not much happened. except that some caucasians in SF can speak cantonese, like say 'fai di' (quickly!)

day 4 *oakhurst, near yosemite*: drove till REAL late on a scenic route which was treachrous to drive on, though i wasn't the one driving. everyone (but dad) arrived at that conclusion cos we almost got killed. and i mean it. cos in the dark (WITH NO STREET LAMPS) there was a car coming head on and dad quickly pulled to the side of the road and into the grass NEAR A TREE. we were all fine THANKFULLY, but we knew we won't drive till so late on such a road again.

day 5 *oakhurst*: toured yosemite. entrance fee into the national park was $20 (for a week). but we didn't stay for a week. the view was so-so. quite mundane if you ask me. and loads of the scenery was obscured by low clouds (we were on high elevation) so yeah...

day 6 *las vegas*: drove like 400+ miles. had mexican food for lunch and the restaurant in the town of BORON (note: it's the name of an element in the periodic table) had a VERY homely feeling. haha. the serving was HUGE! and the food was GOOD! nothing much happened, except that we travelled a whole lot on the road.

day 7 *las vegas*: walked along THE STRIP aka las vegas blvd the WHOLE day. LOADS of window shopping and bought loads of souveniors for everyone. lots of pics. donated to a salvation army in las vegas too. :)

day 8 *las vegas*: VERY VERY windy day. to the extent that one could lose his balance just standing. drove further down to las vegas to explore more. didn't do much cos we started late. like 3+ in the afternoon. haha.

day 9 *las vegas*: started feeling sick but was controllable. went to an inn to stay cos we didn't really like the hotel. watched a show at las vegas~'the ultimate variety show' that was VERY funny.

day 10 *williams, grand canyon*: more pain. diahorrea and throwing up. shivering VIGOROUSLY at night to the extent that mum and dad got the paramedics. took heart beat, blood pressure, temperature and blood test to check the glucose level (the type where they prick your finger) didn't sleep. and LOADS of pills whatsoever. totally sucked. confirmed case of stomach flu. darn. we also attempted to catch the sunset at the grand canyon but this is what we got from the car.

day 11 *williams, grand canyon*: felt better but still had diahorrea and puked here and there. water froze up in the car overnight! so cool! so we got a pic of it. haha. went to the grand canyon but i sat in the car almost thru-out cos i was really weak from not eating for 3 days. and it was really cold out there. it was more pills and churning of the stomach and even less sleep. but loads of fluids to replenish depleted water from my poor body.

day 12 *los angeles*: felt much better. drove to LA. snowed in the morn. :) no more diahorrea and puking, but very soft and less oily food. met up with uncle guu (dad's friend in LA) and had taiwanese porridge for dinner. REAL food in 4 days. guess i must have lost weight during the stomach-flu-period.

day 13 *los angeles*: went skiing for the whole day. didnt do many runs cos i didn't feel like it. my inability to ski dampened my mood to go for more runs. i'm not as good as sarah. the ski boots were FREAKING heavy and difficult to walk in. hate it. i'm better off roller blading. or even ice skating. had korean bbq for dinner. yum. the only down side is that it's a little too oily and salty for my taste.

day 14 *los angeles*: ~xmas eve~ uncle guu brought us to downtown LA after exploring his neighbourhood. went to a flea market in LA and then to the walk of fame with the stars on the ground. SO COOL! went to beverly hills to see the beautiful houses...during the rides we all caught glimpses of the hollywood signs on the hill! :D the weather was great; we could walk around in tees and jeans, though i opted to put on an additional jacket just in case. went to uncle's house to eat home-grown oranges and do a little air rifle shooting in the backyard. appears that i ROCK at shooting! haha. shot drink cans, and bottle caps and targets...REALLY cool! haha. so jokingly, i may consider shooting as a CCA in CJC. haha. went for the largest steamboat dinner at uncle guu's friend's house which spans 1 acre! ate to my fill and then went back to the inn to pack and stuff. uncle guu also brought us for xmas mass, and it was enlightening cos after all, it was xmas. haha.

day 15 *departure day*: ~christmas~ xmas was spent on the long journey back to san francisco. not that great an xmas, but nonetheless it's another xmas spent overseas. didn't do much again, except to bid uncle guu goodbye before heading for san francisco. dad surprised him from behind while uncle was raking the lawn. HAHA!

and so i'm back home after a 17 hr flight, with a transit at hong kong. still stinky and smelly so i guess i'll stop here. poor blog was stagnant when i was away. but now anymore! :) sorry if this post is too long. haha. it's already condensed as it is. :D

it's hello to USA in abt 7 hours time. i'm gonna be away for a long 2 weeks, spending my christmas overseas YET AGAIN. so do not contact me from today (11th) to the 27th. i'll contact YOU through my blog when i'm back. haha.

thankfully this is gonna be my last christmas away from home, cos there ain't gonna be much chance for my sis and i to travel with mum and dad after this year. and i'll prefer not to elaborate why.

nonetheless, it's a well-deserved break that would mark the closure of yet another eventful year. yet, this also marks the beginning of a new year that would be filled with immense obstacles and experiences. yes, i'm sad. i can't bear to leave what is now my alma mater. 10 long years in the white and navy blue uniform will soon be replaced with a uniform of another colour, that of another significance. i will be entering a new school, i will be forging new friendships, and i'll be starting a new chapter of my life.

even as i'm enjoying myself in the States, i'll miss everything here. haha, it seems i'm going away for good. well, it happens with every trip overseas, because nowhere is better than home.

MERRY CHRISTMAS (in advance), HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!



replies:
woycey/ sotongball/ ah goon: i made another necklace, the description is below. i think it's not as nice as the 1st one. :( i only like the colour.
vonne: YAY! YOU FINALLY FOUND MY BLOG! MISS YOU TOO! see you soon!
jess: i tried changing k? but i got fed up.
stoofy: yes i'm looking forward to our afternoon out! i havent got your card yet...hope you like my card! :)

salvation army:
my sis' and my last stint with the salvation army as volunteers for the christmas kettle donation drive thing was ytd, at plaza sing. unfortunately we began late, no, not cos we were late but the salvation army person who was supposed to set up the kettle was half an hour late. so my sis and i ended up waiting. mr joker was so nice to come down specially to see me ring the bell, but as he had to leave early, he just passed me his donation. haha.

during our 1.5 hours helping out, many interesting things happened. although this had started from the train on our way to dhoby ghaut, but what was rather heartwarming to me was this family that walked pass our station 4 times! WOW! there was this girl, a toddler, perhaps 4 or 5 years old, who kinda stared at me. haha. i handed her a sweet and she smiled at me. then her brother, 1 or 2 years older than her came along, holding a taka jewelry flyer. i gave him a sweet too, and later their mum gave them a few coins and they dropped them off in the kettle. oh how adorable they are. haha.

there was this other family of 2 girls and a mum. i tried to be proactive and walked up to them and handed each girl a candy. the younger of the 2 was given a coin to drop off in the kettle. but he almost dropped it into to the cotainer of sweets. haha. luckily her mum and i stopped her in time. :D

on our way back home, i spotted this really nice pair of wedges (not very high, don't worry) at novena square. tried it on, and it was nice, but i didn't have enough money. got my mum to buy it for me on her way back from work, but i've to go change it today for a bigger size.


inspiration #2:
this is my next piece of jewelry. don't get bored reading the below. haha. i need to sort out my thoughts.

again inspiration comes from the tangs christmas catalogue. also, since i've been seeing this all long town, roses have been incoporated into this piece. and rosy red is my choice of colour. what i'd initially thought of doing was a bit similar to my previous piece, with strands of beads in various lengths. but after visiting spotlight at plaza sing for materials, i tweaked my idea quite a bit, and now this necklace is rather plain and dull. the red beads i had added but later removed were a bit too bright to complement the maroon red. the whole thing very simplified. maybe simplicity is the key to a nice piece of work? *arghh i really don't know!* :'(

ribbon has once again been my trusty friend, as i attempt to add a bit of shine to the piece. i must admit lots of uhu glue was used to glue the roses in place and onto the braided strands.*oops?* the ribbons used to make the roses are weaved such that it looks blue at one angle and dark red in another. perhaps that breaks the whole maroon red pattern. as to how it appeals to others, you decide. that's all i've to say (cos this is not that a good piece) and hope it looks nice? tag my board to give me comments! be nice! haha.





i attempted to change my blogskin 2 days ago, but since impatient marie gets pissed every so often when something didn't look good, i chucked the idea and here i am, still using this blogskin. anyway, that's not the point of this post.

this is gonna sound like project runway.

did a piece of jewelry ytd. got my inspiration from the tangs christmas catalogue, where the featured items were classified into colours. though there's a different name for every hue in the spectrum of colours (eg amethyst vs purple, fushica vs pink) i really don't see the difference between each colour. garnet vs rosy, ebony vs black? *marie goes: huh?!?!?!*

my initial idea was to make a red piece of jewelry, cos even though i'm not a big fan of red AT ALL, i wanted to attempt to work with dark red (accompanied with hints of gold) and the tangs christmas catalogue was my inspiration. but the overly thick ribbon and a lack of red beads only dampened my spirit further and made me wanna change ideas.

plan (b) came from the 'gold' page, hence a necklace in gold, with hints of orange spattered around, all in the mixture of different beads of shapes and sizes. another idea for my necklace came from what i've been seeing everywhere, which is to incoporate ribbons into my creation. ribbons, as i've noticed along orchard road, are used in place of the traditional hooks. instead of merely functioning as a connector, it adds glam to the jewelry. and since i had a gold ribbon hidden in my box of materials, gold was it.

very unfortunately of course, accidents and mishaps are bound to happen. the finishings broke once, and the nylon snapped twice. so i not only had to re-string the beads, but also pain-stakingly find as many bead strewn all over the floor. (believe me, it's not easy to find the puny beads hidden in the nooks and corners of cupboards and shelves) *sighs in desperation* but now it's fixed and i'm very satisfied with it. :)

here's a pic of my creation. perhaps i'll do more advertising on my blog. so wait and see.

it was a memorable 2 hrs at tp interchange where my lil' sis and i helped the salvation army with their annual kettle collection. it was ringing the bell, and giving pocket calanders and sweets to the donors...it was kinda boring initially, but after our first donor, a teenage girl, sis and i realised that all it took was 1 person to get the ball rolling. there were a number of generous people, and they donated quite a bit. but i'll remain confidential here; i won't disclose how much they donated.

at the end, sis was worried that the sound of the ringing bell will stay in her head. HAHA! of course after walking on after our shift it kinda got out of her head...

i found the STEP UP OST at cd-rama, and went to call soon-li, thinking she'd want the CD. but she had downloaded like half the album already, so it was kinda fruitless talking to her about that. besides, she was in orchard, shopping again i guess.

sis and i had a light lunch. we fooled our mum about having a proper lunch. me=hokkien mee, sis=carrot cake. HOWEVER my sis, feeling guilty, decided to tell the truth. haha, and my mum didn't scream like she always does with me when i skip my lunch while in school. weird.

went to do a little christmas shopping, well that would be my sis actually. she was looking for cards, and we finally found the best bargin at novena square. we walked around more, exploring the new velocity wing, before deciding to head home.

and now for replies!
sarah: like i said with soon-li, i DON'T CARE ABOUT GERMAN FOOTBALL, OR ANY FOOTBALL FOR THAT MATTER!
germs: i know it's SUPER coincidental!
ah goon: i don't really care about germany's football team...my sis is really too much like you...aiyo... =.="
sotongball: you tell me when to go over! but i'm going for my hol soon...........
stoofy: WELCOME BACK! how was china? we must definitely go out 1 day. and yes grad night was AWESOME! <333
lulu: i loved our outing on wed too! take care too and <3333!!!!

Marie
7 June
Music, Fashion, Jewelry
Seeking Christ everday


Then we sat at the edge of the earth, our feet dangling over side, and marvelled that we had found each other.

~Erik Dillard


MY BLOGSHOP!
Mich P's blogshop
4/1'06
2T14
IJ Student Council
IJ Graduation Night Pics
2/2'04
Andrew Lachica
Benji
Delle
Ernest
Germaine
Hillary
Hubert
James
Jess <3
Jethro
Joanne
Jocelyn
Liselle
Mei Lin
Mei Poh
Mei Ting
Melissa
Michelle Law
Michelle Phua
Ngee Derk
Soon-Li






October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
November 2012
December 2012
January 2013
February 2013
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
September 2013
October 2013
November 2013
December 2013
January 2014
February 2014
March 2014
April 2014
May 2014
June 2014
July 2014
August 2014
September 2014
October 2014
November 2014
December 2014
January 2015
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
September 2015
October 2015
November 2015
December 2015
January 2016
February 2016
March 2016
April 2016
June 2016
October 2016
November 2016


layout: + +
fonts: +
brushes: + +
image: +