Pocket sized art

Morning Chia!

Look what I got in the mail yesterday! It's so beautiful:



Thank you for thinking of me, and for making and sending a visually stunning handmade card.

I absolutely love parrot fish too!

The colours are so magical! I love love love them! The hues of blue are cooling, fresh and peaceful just like the ocean itself.

I'm now trying to think of what I can do with your card. I want to hang it or stick it somewhere.

Thank you again!

P.s I reckon you should initial or sign the corner of your paintings even if they are on a card :)

Otherwise, how can we know which wonderful artist created this piece?

Morning GoPro Fail

Morning Chia!

Damn damn golly damn! What a fail! You ask 'what is this fail you're talking about Anna'? It's a fail!

I woke up this morning all excited to try out my new GoPro that a special friend had gotten me for a belated birthday/Christmas present. I thank my friend so very much for the super awesome gift! Such a thoughtful one, and one that I was completely blindsided. I've always wanted a GoPro but never vocalised it as I couldn't justify getting one as I already had my black Canon and my underwater camera.

My special friend (who would like to stay completely anonymous) blew me away when we met up and I was presented with my belated gift!

I was Gobbedsmacked! Speechless! I was so in shock that I couldn't process it... Though I was super happy, grateful, shocked, amazed, surprised and ecstatic, I couldn't say thank you enough, and I also couldn't help feeling like I didn't deserve it!

Anywho, after being reassured that it was truly for me and my special friend reaffirmed that it was bought for me for my birthday/Christmas gift, I started getting excited about the things I could do with it!

Love! Bazillions of thank yous being sent your way Special Friend

So this morning I woke up put on my GoPro, pressed the record button, and off I went. It was a glorious morning, got heaps of awesome footage while exercising and I even took a selfie near the end of the run:

My and my new GoPro in action

Oh yea and morning stretchies! My morning face doesn't demonstrate how happy I was HAHA!

So when I got home and connected my GoPro to see what I had captured (about 30 minutes worth of morning awesomeness), I was shocked and distraught at what I found:

Left: What my GoPro looked like
Right: What my GoPro should have looked like if it was recording

:(

Oh wells, at least I got a run in, and hey; there's always tomorrow! :)

Xing Nian Kuai Le!

Hi Anna :)

Have you ever eaten or made konnyaku jelly?

I made it for the first time the other day for Chinese New Year. It comes in a packet and it really was simple to make. I suppose you can't really go wrong when all you're doing is boiling contents from a sachet and pouring it into a mould. I added red colouring and a tin of longans for a bit of CNY flamboyance.

Konnyaku jelly, where have you been all my life?

Apart from the eating, I thought it was a good idea to get out and see the CNY fair in Northbridge. It was a scorching day and we didn't last long in the heat. Ended up trying out desserts in MeetFresh which turned out to be a better idea.

Curious kids.

Dashes of red for luck. Welcoming the Year of the Snake. Another one of my maxi skirts.

Adorable little girl getting her ang bao from Chai Shen Yeh. (I think that's how you say it. He's the god of wealth?  Good grief, I need to brush up on my culture) I use to have little wooden shoes when I was about her age and mine had little bells inside the heels that jingle. Hers look like they could too!

New Year costume parade. I saw a mixture of Vietnamese and Chinese costumes. I'm unsure which country the two males far left is representing.

I am not surprised at all that you spent your weekend at the beach. Only you would be skilled enough to capture yourself and maneuver on your board. I went to the beach on Saturday too and was stung by jellies. However I refused to get out  until a much larger jelly got me and pretty much wrapped it's tentacles across my upper thigh.Now I have these ghastly red welts on my legs and photos to prove it, but wouldn't be very nice for the world wide web to see.

I'm impressed with how committed you are with your exercising and I hope you have a relaxing week :)

Morning stretch

Morning Chia!

Just completed a full weekday run and am now enjoying a good stretch in the easterly breeze beside the ocean.



A short and sweet post :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong xi fa cai Chia!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The CNY celebrations started at Kev's place with his family. We had a delicious huge dinner where Kev's mom layered numerous dishes into one serving bowl! I quite like this concept as it's like the deeper you go, the more interesting food you will get!

How have your CNY celebrations been so far?

Besides CNY dinner at Kev's place, the other highlight was more beaching! Today Clem, Kev and I hit the water with our boards again. This time however, Clem brought some thirst quenching drinks to enjoy in the warm sun!

Cool friends on a hot day.

Everyone is taking advantage of the weather!

As CNY lasts for a few weeks, I am sure that there will be more CNY festivities to post about! :)

Quick bodyboarding session

Hi Chia!

What a busy week you've had! Moonlight picnics, solo road trips, art session and a bday catch up!

Your road trip was filled with quirky sights! Any decisions about your future? The pig mowing the lawn is the funniest! How bizarre!

Christina's bird is beautiful! I loved how its feathers shined! The fruit tree was also very very pretty!

Where did you find your photo of Mr Shrimp? He is quite cool! Your drawing/painting of him is very cool! It reminds me of a Japanese animation. Keep posting! I do look forward to seeing what you guys get up to every week!

I've just been doing the usual thing. Morning runs, work, afternoon walk or indoor beach volleyball.

So when the clock ticked over to 5pm today, I was totally excited that the weekend had finally started! It was such a warm day, and Clem suggested that we hit the beach. It was such a great idea! The temperature dropped to about 27 degrees by 6pm, and unfortunately, we all arrived a little late to the beach.

By 7pm the wind had picked up, and the overall weather was a lot cooler. So we all decided to go for a quick run instead and head off to Hillary's for dinner.

However, after the run, we decided to have a quick dip as the water was actually quite nice.

Clem's first wave for the day

$5 worth of awesome crabby fun

A moment of sheer excitement while on a wave

Kev paddling out

Completely happy!

Sweet night out

Empty and peaceful

Weather forecast for the weekend looks nice and hot! I can't wait!

Bird and Mr Shrimp

Hi Anna :)

Yesterday was Satoko's belated birthday dinner at Merrywell.

Food was delectable! I love finger food and sharing platters. I hate the idea of lining up to order food so a big thanks to Lainy for doing that :) Luckily it wasn't too bad because we went rather early in the evening, however later on a very awkward and unsightly line grew.

I think they just wanted to eat!

Must take photos before food arrives next time.

Someone's going to have really moisturized hands.

Outcome of weekly art class.

Christina drawing and painting away.

IN LOVE with Christina's bird and the luminous effect she achieved.

Cup of tainted water?

Christina worked on one drawing, whilst I experimented with a few.

Mr Shrimp made me laugh with his bulbous eyes and spindly appendages.

So I did a quick line drawing of him and splashed on some colours.

Our lunch, Don't worry, there was half a chicken left.

It's Friday and it's Chinese New Year Eve tomorrow!