Desaru..Again.

There was a pool project there, so off we hopped again...

Compulsory artistic flatlay... konon. The boys found hermit crabs! Don't worry, we didn't bring them home and kill them.

I kinda love this photo. Emo hor? The gentle quiet joy of bonding.

The ONE thing you must alway do around tonnes of sand. 

See the sandy neh nehs? Celaka this boy ordered "BIGGER!"

This time, we found something unusual washing up the shoreline. At first I thought these are plastic wastes.

But they turn out to be blue button jellyfishes! They are so beautiful yet I felt 'geli' going near it. Sorry I no Steve Irwin.

Till the next time folks!

My Drawing and Colouring Tools

I have been drawing. And colouring. Like an advanced kindergartener, equipped with professional tools. Huzzah!

My must-have drawing pen: Micron. I have the 0.1, 0.5 and 0.8. 

I purposely bought professional colour pencils. Guess what, the pigments were as rich as Faber Castell's. Maybe just slight variation in the hue. There were actually less colour variety for the professional brand (Derwent). 

Same richness.

I even bought a professional eraser. My Faber-Castell eraser did the job equally well, and true enough, it was dust-free. If you're going to erase a lot, please do your fingers a favour, get the Faber baby.

When my kindergartener complained about how tiring colouring is, I scoffed. Now, I do realize he is right. Colouring IS tiring! Oh my fingers!

My newfound hobby. Maybe I might make a colouring book.

Quaint Cafe Earth Heart in Old Johor Bahru Town

Recently, I passed by a really retro cafe at Jalan Ibrahim. I fell instantly in love! How could you Eh He!

photo courtesy of Peggy Loh

Please do read the very concise write-up from Peggy Loh's blog. It is AWESOME! Basically, it's a cafe AND an art exhibition space upstairs.

I didn't want to take photos of the art pieces, you know, artist's rights. Please go see it! But here are some photos of the cafe's interior. Lots of exposed brick wall, half cemented, post-war look!

The bar on ground floor.

The sitting area on the upper floor. 

Unique ceiling lights made of wood branches and hanging bulbs.

Looks like handmade benches and table.

This is by far my favourite piece in the room! It looks EXACTLY like my grandmother's cupboard! Notice the legs resting on round-containers? Those are filled with water back then, to prevent ants from going into the cupboard.

Mural art by a local artist.

Lots of little cute plants!

I had this black sesame waffle, SERVED IN RETRO ENAMEL DISH. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Pity I'm not a coffee drinker (heart rate goes berserk) but according to my aunt who is a coffee drinker and lived in Japan for 20 over years, the coffee she had was so-so only. 

If you love raw, rustic and zakka look, you'll love this place. Hipster cafes, keep coming! 

Our birthdays

I had a somewhat hectic birthday towards the end. After work, I dropped by AEON to buy a spanking new Samsung Note4 for the husband. We are now sworn to buy each other new phones when our plans expire, heheh. Then got home and wrapped it deceptively in a bigger box. Boy was he surprised!
He was planning to get the phone in April when my plan expires but I accidently found out we could do it two months before the expiry... no penalty fees!

Our dinner was the usual home cooked food. My mom and aunt joined us, and made the Lou Hei all by themselves because mummy dearest doesn't want artificial colours. So, she grated the cucumbers, carrots and peeled a pomelo. She also bought the sauces IN BOTTLES. We could've made 100 Lou Hei kits. Then it's toss toss toss and eat eat eat.

Next on my birthday itinery was getting little snacks to pack Darren's birthday goodie bags for his classmates the next day. So, it's buy buy buy, open open open and pack pack pack.

I wish I had more time to zhng it a bit more, but I was really running out of time.

Oh and we had cake!

Then I brought the boys to visit a childhood and a family friend. That night was the eve of Ti Gong's birthday and traditionally, a lot of Chinese celebrate it too. And this friend celebrates it every year by offering prayers and roast pig to Ti Gong. Oh, and whaddya know, it's my Lunar birthday too! It's such an honour. So, it's chat chat chat and give give give (ang pao).

We got home at midnight. THEN, the little one said he had to do his overdue homework. I told him to let it slip, but HE. WOULD.NOT.LET.IT.GO. I'm really proud of him and all, but C'MON, it's f***ing midnight and he had to finish like 1000 pages of words and colouring.

But he sat at his desk, and so gracefully and calmly wrote letters by letters while I helped him colour some shit pictures.

We finished at 1am. That boy boleh tahan jugak. I think he dozed off 0.5 seconds after he lied down on his bed.

No, I'm not done yet. I showered and made those 'Darren is 5!' little tags, and stapled on the goodie bags. And I took 2 precious minutes to take those pictures. Ha.

There goes my birthday! A good one nonetheless. I am every so thankful to everything I am blessed with, everyday.


***

We brought cake to his class the next day, and handed out the goodie bags.

And this was a gift from my beloved husband. XOXO.

I don't know what it is, but as age catches on, I am appreciating birthdays more now, and letting go more too.  Appreciate what you have, and let go of what you can't have...

...is the key to happiness. Amen!