I'm so excited! I found another way to crack my big toe! Ok, that's too much. I don't feel excited. I feel like an idiot today but I did find another way to crack my big toe. Backwards and the pain disappears so no more pain killers. I know those who knows my habit would be like 'Claire's at it again!'

Ok back to story on why I feel like an idiot. Today I decided to head to Ikea. Everyone's raving about it cos it just opened in April. The night before, I was planning my route with the street directory and bus timetables. I know where to get off. That's alright. Was walking towards the place and was worried about the traffic. There's no traffic lights or any indication on how to cross the roads to get to Ikea since the airport is next to it. So I pop by into a news agency nearby and bought the paper. At the same time, asking the lady how do I walk there. She just said be careful of the traffic and just cross. Oh boy! Already the drivers here scare the hell outta me but I've succeeded in crossing.

Somehow it seems alittle smaller than the one back in Singapore. There's so many nice things but the same thoughts keep popping into my head. 'I have to keep things simple in the house, or don't waste the extra money on this, this is too heavy to carry back'. I was looking at a small vase with a flower in it, then nah...flower will probably die and the vase is just taking up space. What's the point in decorating anyway? I'm only here for studies. So gave up the idea. Have to be realistic. In the end, I bought 2 big boxes where I can store my design and shape magazines seperately. A candle holder which will be used for holding lavender prunings. (Time to take some out from the verandah). More candles for the house in case of a black out. A few weeks back, Renee's house had a blackout in the middle of the night. Hopefully that doesn't happen. I need my heater haha.

Materials for the boxes

Final product


Coming to the idiot part now. Paying for things. Apparently Ikea doesn't use plastic bags. They only have small paper bags (20 cents each) and those big PVC blue bags ($1.00 each). So no choice, I have to buy the PVC bag and it was crazy. How was I gonna take the bus with this huge bag? So I simply walked out, contemplating cab or bus. Cabs are the last resort as they're expensive. But I decided on taking the cab since the stuff were alittle heavy. There was no sign of cabs or signs so I had to walk outside at the parking lot with that big blue bag. I knew the only thing I could do was walk to the airport to catch the cab from there. It's a long walk even though it's next to each other and I have to do the dangerous crossings again. There were barriers so I had to walk the extra long way. Finally the taxi stand and this valet was so nice to carry my blue bag and put it in the cab for me. That was the only highlight of the day. I just couldn't wait to get home. So if anyone who was at Ikea and saw this weird girl walking around with the blue bag, you have found her blog. I am not crazy, purely clueless and lost. No bus stops nearby, no cab stands.

Lesson Learnt: Only go to Ikea if you have a ride excluding cabs.

Enough of Ikea, yesterday I met up with Dad's friend, Christina. She has been really, really nice. I introduced her to Quince (sorry zeren) and she asked why I like the place so much. After I explained to her about how good the food is, she looked through the menu and was very much impressed. I mean, where on earth can you find duck pie? I think I might try that one day.

After that I had an interview at the cafe. I'll only get the job if the lady was able to find someone with the similar schedule. I'm really hoping I can get this one because I'll be able to work when I'm having school. I have another interview this saturday with Supre. Not very confident but I will not say why.

Finally started on my holiday journal and I have 5 pages done. I have to do more to make up for the previous 2 weeks where I was planning the concept when I went to bed at night, when I woke up in the morning, when I was in the shower etc. Been eyeing on a certain johnson & johnson's product lately but decided to find out more. Luckily i did. Was reading the product reviews. First 3 were good, followed by the next 28 who kept saying they had itchy skin and rashes after using it. Yikes! Will look for something else instead.

Anyway, one point I made was being proven from the previous blog. Ha! By the way Mom, if you're reading this, I can give you the big blue Ikea bag *cheeky grin*

And just for fun,
Conjoined grapes

There's one lesson that I learnt over the weekend or rather it's something I can't avoid. Cleaning up the house is really really bad. Yes it's hard work but that's not the part I'm referring to. I had to clean up the toilet and kitchen which means dealing with heaps of cold water. My hands were so numb that I couldn't feel a thing and when I was thawing my hands in front of the heater. The left hand slowly got back to normal but the right hand went downhill. It turned really red and it started to hurt really badly. Huge difference in both hands that I had to keep rubbing the right side. Water is way too cold. Brr...

Heater in the living room is having a problem. I need to jump start it like a car. No idea what happened to it but now it takes a few trys to get it to work properly. I hate the weird sounds it makes. Bet the real estate people sabotaged it! Though they can easily blame it on the cold.

Yup, it's boring stuff like these that I think people stopped reading my blog besides to update my parents back home. Oh well. Still gonna write on.

Monday morning. Brought all my art work to school. Supposed to leave it there and come back in the evening to collect it. Jacintha wanted to bring me to the zoo so 3 of us including Nick went. I brought my Nikon with me cos I don't trust it to be alone with some weird real estate people during the inspection. Verdict? Singapore zoo is heaps better. I really appreciate it now. The enclosures here are alittle small for the animals and animals which should be kept in groups, there's only one or two. It's sad I think but there's one great part about the zoo though. It's where I met my new boyfriend. Ta-da!

Wallaby whose name i do not know

Sorry zeren but he stole my heart. This is at the petting zoo and I gave this guy a nice rub that he laid on my shoe, not letting me walk away.



He's a really sweet fellow. There's another wallaby who's really sweet too. Practically we spent most of the time there. Good fun. More zoo pictures later.

Finally we went back to collect our stuff. Our teacher secretly walked away and we thought she was still in the classroom. Kinda wasted our time though. Grr...

For the inspection? I checked the house and wow, it looks the same. First thing I did was to check my underwear drawer. Jacintha was telling me her friend's stepdad's friend (not sure how the connection ended) fixes carpets. When he's alone in the house, he goes through underwear drawers. Man I was crossing my fingers for that. Nothing was touched. Thank goodness.

As for today. Was feeling adventurous. Walked all the way to Glen Osmond and back. Yeah, first I called up a cafe for their job ad but they wanted someone experienced to get on the job right away. Bleah. I just felt like walking and breathing in fresh air. Got my first smile from a kid from one of the houses. He's so cute and he couldn't stop smiling. Sure brighten up my day. Went to my favourite cafe there and bought some take-away for lunch. Just me and my bean bag. Holidays are sure boring. Waiting for Dad's friend to get back to me. She says she has a friend who needs help at a shop.

Last night on the news, they were having this discussion whether south australians are racist. If anyone asked me on the street, straight up I will say yes, without hesitating. They had the asian, muslim, italian, and aboriginal ladies to do a test. In the poll, asians are the third most detest people here. I always preferred people living in the hills. They're a whole lot nicer and they treat you the same as everyone else. Down here, they serve other people first or when you walk into a shop, they ignore you. For me, it has improved alittle maybe because they've seen me a couple of times. Now I will never walk into Woolworths supermarket near my place after swimming. They see an asian, a bag pack. Stop you to check your bag. Without fail, it has happened every time. Luckily there's Coles supermarket so I shop there. I'll only go to Woolworths if Coles doesn't have something and definitely not on a swimming day. I hate the stares from the people queuing behind.

Alright back to pictures. First the zoo pictures.

Tassie Devil. Jacintha wanted to bring him home. Felt sorry for him cos he kept walking in circles.

Meerkats! No wonder one of the babies got stolen earlier this year. Look how cute they are!

Best friends - Hippo & Egyptian Goose

For some reason I was excited to see these fellows - American Bisons. Cool Blokes.

This fellow nearly bit at Jacintha

Bambi! Beware, they love to lick. Licked my hand and shirt.

Walking feather duster

Jacintha having a ride on Bonnie

We got each other's backs

Hope zeren doesn't get jealous of this cutie *grins*

Nick with the cutie

Wallabies enjoying our company

The bilby!

The otters

Brown bears

Pictures from the walk to Glen Osmond.

Someone's shoes on the line

Creative Gardens

Couldn't resist a good sun tan

Hey guys! Just had my hair cut. Originally it was supposed to be a trim but i had to change something. I hated the first cut cos the hairdresser cut the bottom at the back evenly like a ruler. It caused quite a few problems for me, the weight, ends get entangled. Every morning, I can sit on my bean bag, one by one pulling the knots out which was really annoying me. As a result, more hair on the floor. But now, I like it alot. Feels lighter, and the bounce! Haha! Now just have the train the fringe with a bobby pin. No more even! Even is bad!

Long blog entry ahead! May bore you silly.

So what's been going? Letters from blood-sucking real estate people. Any letter from them is always a bad one. My strong detest (more towards hatred)for them started from a misunderstanding they created. Both landlord and I are the victims and they are the ones behind it. In the end, landlord scolded me and told me if another prob occurs, i have to move out. I was standing there, knowing she misunderstood me but I don't know how. My dad managed to tell her the full story and it was cleared up, though she didn't apologise for that lecture. She looks the type that never apologises anyway. Then I get scolding from the real estate when in fact, they're not doing their job! So the boss called me up to throw shit at me. I'm still boiling mad when I think about it. Farkers.

First letter it was a letter of maintainence inspection. Couldn't sleep that night. Planning Operation Smackdown. Even thought of leaving the heater in the middle of the floor to trip them. *evil laugh* So weekend = cleaning up and top secret operation. Second letter really did it. Increment in rent which means 40 bucks more a month! How bloody farking can they be? Threw their letter one side and tore up their stupid envelope. I know it should be the other way round but I have to keep the letter and tear something else up.

All of these which means I have to cut down alot! Got to do some financial planning myself, needs vs wants kinda thing. Transport prices due to the fuel here just rose 10% more. *growls* I got that worked out. I can walk home from the city in the day. Somehow I'm trained in that. I want to go to Glen Osmond and Harbour Town. Have to see about that too. Food, more bread. I can eat bread for lunch and dinner. Ooh! Pita bread! I can come up with stuff. I wanted to eat Quince Braschetta but I had to settle for muffin instead. Cutting down on expenses. It really sucks and I need to do serious job hunting. This isn't easy but the farkers just sit back and collect money with their lazy attitudes.

Ok, light side of things now. On tuesday I met up with Camilla and Renee for pancakes. Camilla couldn't stay long cos she had to get back home to pack her bags for her Europe trip. She's going back to see her family for 6 weeks. How nice and it's summer! :/ We just experienced the coldest morning in 24 years. 1 degree. Very soon, we'll be getting frost here. Cool and then not so cool. Finally bought my thermal! I found my size!! Last 2 pieces of that size :( Back to pancakes! So we walked around with Camilla until she had to go back to uni to collect her drawings. Big hugs. Renee and I continued to march towards the pancake house. Since it's tuesday,

All you can eat!

Opened 24 hours

Two scoops of butter on a stack of 3

Hot chocolate with marshmellow for the cold

Renee digs into the chocolate

I dig into my pancakes

Soccer crazy at Rundle Mall and this is only a small part of it. Further down more greens and yellows.

I could only have a stack of 3. The butter was a killer and made me full haha! I thought it was ice-cream but no! But thumbs up really! Whoever pops by here, I'll take you there and we'll go on a tuesday without breakfast for this! I know the blokes would make full use of this.

Just watched the trailer of 'The Lake House' starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. One of my favourite on-screen couples. They won my heart in Speed. This movie is not like Speed. Love story but it's magic. They're at the Lake House, writing letters to each other but they're two years apart! How cool is that? I'm like wondering how on earth are they gonna meet.. *ponders*

I've finished my drawings and now I have to touch up on studio work, label then weekend, Operation Cleanup and Smackdown. Been babying my plants. No Finn or Fievel to baby so stuck with these. They're special too. Someone was involved in it so have to take care of them. And I have converted Siti into a 'Thank God you're here' addict! Haha! It's a great show but too bad they took most of the videos down from youTube. We watched too much of it lol. More pictures and the end! Have a good weekend, well...not me though!

Me with fringe-in-training and apple muffin! This has got to be one of my top favourite muffins from Quince

I love this picture. It's now my fave.

Aloe Vera, Lavender & Lamb's Tongue.

I've been showing this video to alot of people but i figure i should share it with all. I managed to find one of my favourite acts in one of my favourite shows, Thank God You're Here where comedians have to think quickly on their feet when put into a scenario. The second is a segment from Rove Live called Hang up, Don't hang up. I love that game haha!






Yesterday was the last day of school. Yay and boo! Uni keeps me occupied and I'm looking for jobs now. I've already registered to be a dogwalker and a pet sitter. Just waiting on people to email me for jobs. Please do!! Anyway, in class we had to bring food for the last day celebration. I bought half a kilo of chocolate chip cookies for 2 bucks! How fantastic was that! Since no one finished it by the end of class, i took it back home *evil laugh* And we've got one holiday homework from our dearest big stuart. Supposed to do bit by bit each day but I still need to think of the concept. My teacher was asking me whether i was going back home for the holidays, told her i was looking for a job. She asked what kinda job so I said hopefully something related to this but usually it'll be long term and currently i've signed up to be a dogwalker. It sure made her laugh but she sure gave me a surprising grade too.

Stayed up late last night. Was watching bend it like beckham on tv, followed by coyote ugly. I so wanted to watch coyote ugly again! It's so damn long and there's adam garcia...and the music i meant. *coughs*

How did the first day of holiday start? Woke up late, watch cartoons, got outside to get the paper and a shampoo for swimmers (that pool has seriously high level of chlorine), played games, took a really long nap and looking forward to a dvd marathon tonight. Cos tonight on tv it's Titanic night so there's documentaries, cruise ideas and the movie itself. I'll pass! Hmm..I've got new neighours. Newly weds i think.

Zeren has left for brunei. Guess he's going through something similar to what I had in the beginning of the year. Leaving friends and family. It's really hard but thankfully for modern technology. Somehow him going to brunei still makes me miss him more. Weird eh?

Picture time!

this cookie is big and extremely delicious! Worth the 2.50! That i had to buy another...

to keep in the house and touch only when I really, really want it *grins*

Smoked salmon, rocket on pita bread. I'm becoming obsessed with pita bread now.

my bear coat. An essential for wednesday nights. No worries...it's fake fur!

500g of choc chip cookies!

that's where i sit and hopefully i'll get it back next semester :/

Colour wheel madness! Haha! We had to paint them. My teacher is the lady in red, in front.

More colour wheels on the side! Leigh with one russian twin, Dimar. Asked leigh to send me his sketches cos they're fantastic.

the most beautiful postcard i've seen. Took 4 of them since they're free.

Apricot Pie from Quince *grins*

Today is the last day we have to draw nudes. Actually it's pretty alright. After the first one, it's not so bad. The day we had the male model, he was walking around naked, chatting with us. In his forties, taking up 5, 6 jobs to support his 4 kids. Woah! It's really funny how he loves to pose nude but when he's dressed, he looks like a professor. Clothes do make the man haha.

For the past 3 days, I have been working on my essay about ancient religions. 1st day, try to squeeze as much info i can from library books, sitting in front of my heater.


Followed by 2 days of doing the essay itself. I skipped school cos I know the lecture won't help in the essay & I can never understand the lecturer. When Renee messaged me about why I didn't turn up and I should set an example for them in a joking manner since I'm the oldest among them. When she told me that only 20 people turned up, I said I did set an example! The remainder 80% didn't show up! Ha! Anyway i'm so happy it's over and done with. I'll happily hand the envelope to the teacher.

Winter has just started. The night before it was pouring and it was a wednesday night (late classes). Wore my bear jacket and Renee and I caught the bus back together. The bus went over something that all of us went flying up in the bus. Thanks for the bump on my butt, mate. It was cold and suddenly it's all sunny for the past few days. Well, I better not say anything cos i don't want any drenching like I had in poly. Tonight is going to be 2 degrees. My love for my heater, quilt & spare blanket has grown...sorry zeren. *hugs blankets tightly*

Due to this winter, I have problems with the reception of my tv. I have masking tape on the door to tape up the wire to get better reception for one channel. When I turn to another channel, it gets awful reception. Tape up and down, up and down. Soon I'll be good at feng shui tv reception. *thumbs up*

World cup is coming up and man! Aussies are psyched! Socceroos go go go! Everywhere the golds or yellows and greens are up! Then when you look at the schedule,
1. Australia vs England
2. Australia vs Japan
Ooh! here's a good one!
3. Australia vs Brazil

Yes i did laugh alittle for the last one...ok fine. I had a good laugh. But one thing, I applaud that the aussies are very optimistic. It's really good and it does unite everyone so cheers to that.

Another matter that is about to come up. I totally forgot that I have an 'uncle' coming to interview me about adelaide to see whether his daughter should come here and study. Seriously i never knew I had this uncle until my dad called me, saying that he has this cousin whom I have a name for. When the uncle called me, he was like 'hi claire! it's your uncle!' I'm like ... Sorry I have this thing about distant relatives. Cos I'm the youngest, meaning naive in family relations. I'm always the last to know. When relatives start popping up, i'm like 'you are related... how?' Anyway, when he called again about where to meet, I was like 'shit! i totally forgot about him!' I'll be really honest with his questions...possibly politely blunt. I'm gonna make him and his family catch a cab near my place because i have a project dued the next day and he came at a bad time. Finalisation of projects time!

Alright...let's bring up the photos. This time food that I've been experimenting except for the muffin I couldn't help buying from Quince again. *angelic smile* The rest are drawings. Enjoy the rest of the week guys!

the girl

teacher wanted me to draw it this way

the dude

my foot! mom says it's a decay or mummified foot. Sweet!

I love drawing skeletons

Egg crepes (from scratch) with frozen yougart.

my own pizza with findings from the fridge

Pasta with macademian nuts(?)

I called it the lady bug pita bread with fish fillets

Mustard Veal and cashew nuts with salad in pita bread (yums!)

*drum roll* Banana muffin! I love you!