yg camp

Was amazing. Over the long weekend we took the youth to Lithgow and just spent four fabulous days in the freezing cold hearing about the certain hope we have in Christ and bracing ourselves for a lifetime of following Jesus in a hostile world.

Highlights:

• Watching the kids really include one another and look out for each other
• Seeing new kids be absorbed and adopted and included by the rest
• My seniors stepping up to really serve others at youth 
• Bonfire night - our sharing prayer and praise evening. Kids were keen to sing, keen to share and keen to pray for one another. 
• Hearing how difficult people find it to be a Christian and knowing you're not alone
• Realising that God really is at work in people, and we are all a work in progress.
• My team won the overall weekend competition. Woo!
• The food as usual
• Interviewed one cook, who shared her incredible testimony of how she learned to pray from watching The Simpsons.
• A shy girl got up and shared what it's like to be a Christian for her in front of the youth.
• New leaders taking charge and running things and stepping up.
• E prepared missionary stories and they were really captivating for the kids to hear about people who went into hostile places to share the word.
• Electives all went really well
• Costumes were on point as usual
• Train trip went smoothly. Nice conversations on the way there, epic games of mafia on the way back

 So many more highlights. Too many to mention. Came back on a high.

Jamie's 15 Minute Meals: Blacked Chicken

I made this for the second time the other night and it was really good. Although would be better in summer when mangoes and avocados are easier to purchase, and when I remember to buy cress.... But regardless, turned out to be super enjoyable. I may have made too much couscous.

Overall gets a very big tick of approval. Recipes that get quicker every time you make them are good recipes. And this one doesn't use a thousand dishes and pans, which is a nice change from many Jamie recipes. 

Would make again. 

The picture is from Pinterest. My dishes never come out looking like that sadly. 

The past two weekends

Reminder to myself: I need to blog. It is good for me to have a scrapbook of fun memories.

Friday 27 - Monday 30 May
The plan was to ride my bike and then catch a train to Campbelltown, but this didn't happen due to a cough and cold air. But I got to drive to Campbelltown, do a hairdresser date and lunch with mum and come home with freshly dyed hair.

Saturday was Equip, which was wonderful but a super long day. Served lots of people, saw old forgotten friends, had encouraging conversations with M and L after the conference, had a really nice road trip with C and a prayer session in the car. Those things are always good for the soul.

Church was good - it's always good. Spontaneous picnic lunch with friends at the park, then dinner with R. Bit of a goodbye dinner, which I'm no good at. But nice to think back over the past year and be thankful for sharing this season of life together as a trio.

Monday was so tired from big weekend. We discovered a mouse in cupboard. Went out to dinner with Mum and family, and then spontaneous board games at my house. Turns out L and I are the most compatible, but am not compatible with Mum at all haha.



Friday 3 - Monday 6 June
Spent all Friday finishing a youth group talk, hearing the mouse run through the walls, and napping. Youth group talk was on Ecclesiastes 9, death is meaningless but Jesus defeats death. Afterwards we celebrated it being a Friday night by driving out for Krispy Kreme donuts and then for HSP's. A random epic evening but my favourite kind.

R left on Saturday, so we helped him pack boxes and drove stuff over for him. Trying to help him get settled in the new home. Had a baby shower in the afternoon which was lovely, and then went out at night for P's birthday with a bunch of girls. Dancing, pizza, good conversations and lots of rain. Was a bit scary driving home. Also I had two energy drinks, so then I was awake most of the night.

Church = good again! Talk was on keeping the gospel pure and free from contamination, and protecting it. I made slow cooker vegetable soup, which turned out to be God's providence as I ended up feeding most of those who stayed around at church lunch. Rain meant that not many people wanted to leave and come back. Spent the evening with E and K watching Veronica Mars and cuddling Paddington dog.

Monday = sleep. Considering that I didn't get much on the weekend. And it was an emotionally exhausting one. Did some housework, spent time with Soong. We went out for spontaneous waffles. Also had coffee with P which was lovely to catch up and just share some of the things we are going through. Disappointed we didn't pray together though. And the camp prep begins. Monday and Tuesday were 1am bedtimes.

Wednesday morning I also enjoyed a 15 minute conversation with E and her daughters R & J. So gorgeous to watch them growing up.

Jamie's 15 Minute Meals: Thai Chicken Laksa

I received Jamie's 15 Minute Meals for my 24th birthday, and decided I would expose myself to new flavours, techniques and skills by cooking my way through the book, one recipe at a time. Four years later and I'm still not through the first section. I took a hiatus after doing the Michelle Bridges 12WBT, focused more on calories than on nutritious filling food. I then almost forgot about the challenge, until the middle of college last year when I decided I should really get back into cooking new recipes to challenge myself once more.

At least once a month I cook a new recipe.

And as this is my virtual paperless scrapbook, I thought I would blog about each recipe here because why not.

This Thai Chicken Laksa was so yummy the first time I made it, it was one of the first 15MM recipes that came out super awesome the first time I made it. It took me longer because I didn't have the right food-processor attachment, but the extra time it took was worth it.

So now it's been added to the meal roster, and I am looking forward to making this one more often.

The best thing about this laksa is how thick it is. The grated pumpkin in the soup really adds depth, and there are just some really powerful flavours working their magic. The first time I made it I didn't have kaffir lime leaves, and the second time I made it I forgot the coriander - but both times it has been super flavoursome and I haven't noticed the missing ingredients too much. I add a bit more stock than what JO says, because otherwise the noodles soak up all the broth.

And the chicken thighs are gorgeous and moist, and I love the five-spice/honey/sesame combo. It's a real winner. Soong loves it too.

So this one is a winner because:

• there's only one pot, one grater, one frypan and one mini food-processor to wash. 
• it tastes awesome
• Soong likes it
• it's super easy
• now that I know how to make it, it'll just keep getting faster and faster

This was recipe 11 out of 119 recipes in total. I'll do a bit of back-blogging about the first 15 recipes, and then will blog as I go for the rest! Exciting stuff. 

A place for thoughts

It's probably a good time to start fact checking again and making an objective account of all the really wonderful things that happen, the wonderful people around me and the wonderful ways God blesses me. That will keep me in line!

In the break between the last blog post and this one:
- I finished an amazing year of Bible college and graduated with a Dip of Bible & Missions
- I went back to working at my old job, but in a new office
- I learned a lot about caring for people with mental illness
- We started hosting young adults home group
- We had a wonderful housemate move in and stay for a year (who is about to move out)
- I learned to ride a bike
- I passed Greek! But am pretty bad at it now as I haven't done hardly anything since :(
- I read a few books
- I didn't go on holidays anywhere, but we've got a trip to USA planned.
- Had lots of little fun adventures, including seeing live music, spending time with friends, picnics, getting outdoors, cooking
- I won a competition on Instagram and got a free cookbook
- I had a pretty nasty ankle injury thanks to my friend's dog
- We got internet at home, installed air conditioning and an awning (feeling like real grown ups now)

So it's been a full year and a half, and a happy year and a half.

And here's to more regular blogging. Because paper and pen is so 2010, and everyone needs one or more scrapbooks.

Where to begin...

Warning: thinking aloud. (If this bores you, you can skip down to the bit about college a few paragraphs down)

I am stuck.

I wanted to post about all the fun adventures that I was having on the weekends, the friends I was spending time with, the joys I was experiencing, the things I was learning and seeing and doing... The problem is that since starting college, my life has just become one big ball of fun. College is still exciting, it doesn't have the same vibe as working full time does, and I'm loving every minute of it. But I can't write about every minute of college (it will be just too much to read!).

So I'm just thinking out loud about my 52 Weekends project for this year... I think it will need to change to 52 weeks! I want to record the highlights of the year and share what being at bible college is like this year.

So hey, if you're interested then stick around.

Now to mentally jump back and summarize what's happened in February since I started college!

The Beginning of Bible College

I can't believe it has been 5 or 6 weeks since I first started college. I arrived and I wasn't even sure if I had learned all the Greek I was meant to learn in the summer holidays. I soon discovered that feeling never really goes away, and you're never quite sure if you've really learned enough Greek! But we really did jump in the deep end. The start of college was like the start of school or uni, lots of new things to learn, lots of enthusiasm for study and homework, lots of people and relationships to form, working out what life looks like...

A typical day for me these days usually involves catching the train and walking to college, sitting around under the grapevine and studying Greek, going to class, eating a pear for morning tea, eating lunch, sitting under the grapevine in the afternoon with other people and studying or getting involved in college life and meetings. I've joined the social media team, put my hand up to help organise first year weekend away, and a Greek study group. Being at college was overwhelming in my first two weeks, there were so many names and so many introductions - it was like a Christian camp on steroids! But things have settled down, there are many lovely people who I am enjoying getting to know better, and there are just so many more fun adventures to have! Also, assignments have started...

Things I am really enjoying about college:
- Meeting people and making friends
- My first year group
- Learning Greek, it's so fun to see the New Testament in the original language
- Learning how to understand the Bible better and already being able to apply this to how I preach and teach at church
- The grapevine (it's really pretty and it's a nice place to study)
- Travelling to college with Isobel on Thurs/Fri and still getting car-time with Soong on Mon-Wed

Things that surprised me about college:
- How cool my year group is (I wasn't really sure what to expect!)
- How much the staff love the students and want to support them. It's very different to uni
- How much the students want to help and support each other
- How many people are actually in similar life situations to me, living off campus and travelling while spouse works and supports them

Things I am looking forward to:
- Mission in a few weeks
- Holidays (who doesn't love holidays hehe)
- Weekend away
- Introducing Soong to all my fun new friends
- Learning more

College is fun. I'm very thankful to God for the opportunity to go!

20 Completed January Jobs

 

20 tasks in January. What was I thinking? I must have been deluded into thinking I had a lot more free time than what I actually would. In between catering for Sweatcon, learning Greek, and working long days in the office, here's how I went with my month of organising:

1. PANTRY: Completed January 13th

The pantry is tidy. I have thrown out all open and out of date products. I have tried to use up what I can so that I am not storing products for the sake of storing things. My bigger goal was to try and rearrange the pantry into another kitchen cupboard, but I have not had much luck with this as of yet. Hoping to find some solutions soon, but regardless, it is nice to know that everything in my pantry is there for a reason.

2. SPICE CUPBOARD:

3. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: Completed 14th January

Soong is wonderful and took care of these for me. Christmas decorations have been packed away for another year. It's sad to be in my house without the tree, but it feels more spacious which is nice.

4. CLOTHES DRAWERS: Completed 22nd January

As I was putting away my washing I decided to toss a lot of the clothes in these drawers that I didn't wear but was keeping for the sake of it.

5. WARDROBE HANGERS:

6. MUSIC ROOM CUPBOARD:

7. BOOKSHELF: Completed 26th January

We are holding off on buying a new bookshelf until we have to. Our other one is bulky and a bit of an eye-sore, but that's no reason to toss it yet. So I tidied up the shelf, sorted out my folders and added them in, and it's looking a lot better!

8. CARS:

9. DVDs and CDs:

10. KITCHEN GADGETS:

11. LAUNDRY:

12. FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS: Completed 18th January

I sat down with my pile of financial documents and sorted them out, filed them away and paid what needed paying. Feels good to have this all stored away!

13. PERSONAL EMAIL INBOX: Completed 14th January

This was a hard one. Considering that I have never emptied out this inbox, and so found myself wading through almost 10 years worth of emails, it was very tiresome. I had a lot of emotional attachment to some emails as well, and so did my best to file and store the emails from when I first dated Soong, or long interactions with good friends. Feeling very accomplished to see it so clean and sorted though. I hope this lasts.

14. WORK EMAIL INBOX: Completed 13th January

I found this one pretty easy to sort though, as I really only use this email address for job hunting, freelance corrospondance and the occasional formal email (like to my accountant). So if I hadn't opened it or looked at it in the last three months, nor did I need it because it was to do with a finished project, I deleted it! I feel somewhat guilty that I deleted so many emails (close to 400), but what's the point in filing away things that I'm never going to open or look at? This was much easier than my personal email inbox due to lack of emotional attachment. 

15. NOTEBOOKS BOX:

16. PAINT BATHROOMS: Completed 17th January

A full on day of painting and work. We washed the walls, did three coats of paint, and then had very sore arms the following day!

17. SPARE BEDROOM:

18. MEDICINE BOX:

19. LINEN CUPBOARD: Completed 26th January

Sorted out the towels and refolded those, and then checked everything else. It's holding a nice collection of travel bags, which I may need to clear out at a future time.

20: GARAGE SHELF: 

So not only did I not complete these jobs... I also didn't get a chance to post anything until March! Let that bear witness to how full the start to my college year has been! 

Sweatcon, Shire and snags

Monday - Friday (19th to 23rd January)

Sweatcon happened! I love Sweatcon, it's the best conference of the year. This year instead of participating or strand leading I headed up the kitchen and catered for the whole thing. And I had such a great time. I had some lovely kitchen helpers, I loved the challenge of cooking for the entire conference and I think this counts towards my goal of cooking a new recipe every month!

Highlights from the week:
- Peter Jensen gave some amazing bible talks (I only got to listen at night but I hear that Matt Dodd's bible talks were equally awesome)
- Seeing so many youth there
- Seeing quite a few more older people there
- Chatting with people over lunch and dinner
- Seeing the conference grow again for another year

Saturday 24th January

I went to Cat's baby shower this afternoon with Laura. We carpooled and caught up. I ate my weight in sugary treats and quiche, we played pass the parcel and I won a candle. I got to catch up with a few of the girls from church who I haven't seen in ages as well which was great.

We visited Mel and ate Thai for dinner, followed by our tradition of drumsticks for dessert. We spent the evening chatting, playing Bananagrams and watching the lightening storm from her window. It was really fun and it's just so easy hanging out with Mel.

Sunday 25th January

Church this morning, finished off the book of Leviticus and then took the youth group girls out for lunch to McDonalds which was super fun. Then I used the aircon and interent at Pete & Isobel's and studied Greek for an hour. After that, I drove up to the mountains to visit Luke and his family and we went to church together which was awesome! It's been ages since I've seen them so I was so happy to catch up with them all. Can't wait to go back and visit them again soon. When I got home, my inlaws were over so I cooked dinner and we watched a movie and just relaxed together.

Monday 26th January

I slept in very late today because I stayed up till 3am finishing "Clockwork Princess". An intense book. Many tears were shed.

Australia Day BBQ lunch at Erin's today. We had salad and sausages and lazed around watching Harry Potter 1, 2 and 3, playing Cards Against Humanity and playing in the backyard with the kids. Lots and lots of fun. Exactly the way to end an insanely busy week.

First weekend in Australia

Friday 16th January

Soong and I surprisingly had a free night tonight, so we decided to drive out and visit Mum. Lana & Simon were busy hanging out with church people, and Julian was at a party, so we decided to head to the local club for dinner. It was a nice warm night and really fun. We walked there and walked home and hung out and chatted and ate yummy food.

Saturday 17th January

Oh boy. Today was painting day. We painted our two bathrooms and now they are ready to fight mould and look fresh! Also we are installing a new bathroom cupboard in one, so now that the wall is painted we can mount it. Soong had a gig tonight so I went to visit Nan & Grandad, fix her computer, and ended up having dinner with them. A nice quiet evening.

Sunday 18th January

Church today! Super lovely to be back, I always miss it when I am not there. We started Leviticius and looked at how God is holy and we are unclean, but he provides a way to be made clean and that's through Jesus. Then we had lunch at Pete's and had our first Greek lesson with him. Chris is waaay ahead of me, so I need to catch up. We ended up having Chris and Thom over for dinner that night as well.

A quiet but fun weekend.

January Pantry Challenge

I decided that the moment I stepped off the plane from New Zealand and returned to Australia was the perfect time for a pantry challenge.

The fridge had been wiped clean of all off food, the pantry had been mostly cleared out and the freezer was home to a few servings of meat and frozen veg. I had things that needed using and I wanted to start the year by using them all up. 

Also, I had grand plans of shrinking my pantry into a kitchen cupboard.

What is a pantry challenge?

A pantry challenge is a challenge to cook meals simply using the ingredients you already have in your fridge, freezer and pantry. The idea is not to go shopping and buy anything, although some people will go out and only buy the basics.

Other versions of the pantry challenge include the $20 grocery shop challenge, the stock shop challenge etc.

I chose to do my pantry challenge using my $10 Flybuys dollars at Coles. For $8.13 I bought eggs, one loaf of white bread, frozen peas, a kilo of carrots, and one pink lady apple (as a treat). 

My pantry challenge menu:

Monday - Mexican beans on rice with cheese.

Tuesday - Prawn pizzas on puff pastry

Wednesday - Chicken laksa noodles

Thursday - Grilled prawn & pineapple on couscous with vegetables

Friday - Chicken pasta bake

Saturday - Chicken noodle soup OR chicken and cheese pastries

Sunday - Creamy chicken and vegetable pie

Extra snacks - Banana bread

Extra snacks - Home made hummus & carrots

Pantry challenge reflections:

I was surprised at how much I could cook with the few cans of lentils and the small amount of prawns and chicken in my freezer.

I tried to make sure I was getting the right amount of calories and nutrients every day, but I know I didn't do great across the board. I didn't get as many serves of vegetables as what I need in a day, nor did I get my correct serves of protein. But I scored when it came to fruit, grains and dairy.

Overall, I really enjoyed the challenge of figuring out what to cook that would be tasty and healthy from what I thought were bare cupboards. It made me realise just how much you can eat when there's "nothing to eat". Doing a pantry challenge is a really good way to also save money, so I think the pantry challenge will be a regular feature in our household.

20 January Jobs

Now that I am back from New Zealand, I need to get organised and ready for the year ahead. With roughly 20 days left in the month and before the year really begins (it always feels as though everything starts again in February), I thought I would come up with a list of 20 things that I should really get organized before the year officially begins. 

1. PANTRY: I started cleaning this out before I left for New Zealand but encountered a cockroach so that ended pretty quickly. The plan is to clear out expired food, wipe down the shelves, label the sections of the pantry, wipe down the outside of containers, and reorganise with what staples I have left. 

2. SPICE CUPBOARD: Some of my spices are almost 3 years old. Some haven't even been used. So I need to clear it out, check used by dates, remove spice I don't use, replace spices that are empty and wipe it down. 

3. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: Sadly these need putting away until next year. Time to say farewell to the Christmas tree. 

4. CLOTHES DRAWERS: I have a set of plastic drawers in my room I would like to clear out and get rid of. Time to be ruthless and cull clothes I am keeping but not wearing.

5. WARDROBE HANGERS: I don't have much hanging space, so to hang things that don't belong to me or don't get worn seems silly. Time to donate or chuck!

6. MUSIC ROOM CUPBOARD: I started using this to store paperwork, and somehow now it is full of things I don't look at or use. Time to clear, toss or sort!

7. BOOKSHELF: We have a clunky old bookshelf that stores board games, cooking books, photo albums and also junk. Time to sift through it, replace the shelf with an 8 stack cube from Kmart, and keep only what is beautiful or useful. 

8. CARS: They could do with a wash, a vacuum and a general tidy.

9. DVDs AND CDs: Return any that belong to other people, copy music on to an iPod or phone, sort and store. Give whatever we don't want to charity or to cash converters. 

10. KITCHEN GADGETS: We all have things in our kitchen that we don't need. I know I have a cupboard full. So it is time to get rid of gadgets I haven't used in 2014. This way I will have room for all the new gadgets :)

11. LAUNDRY: A long time ago I dumped liters of fabric softener and cleaning products in here, and now there is a collection of random things sitting on my laundry shelf. Time to sort, find a home for anything that needs keeping, and toss anything that doesn't. 

12. FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS: These need filing away, and sorting, and some need shredding. Time to clear the mess. 

13. PERSONAL EMAIL INBOX: File away emails I want to keep, delete all the spam. 

14. WORK EMAIL INBOX: File away emails to keep, delete spam, unsubscribe from things. 

15. NOTEBOOK BOX: I have notebooks and diaries dating back to 2000. So I need to work out where to store 14 years worth of journals. I'm thinking a long low box under the bed or at the top of the wardrobe could be the best place. 

16. PAINT BATHROOMS: When we moved here, the bathroom cupboard was warped and rotten and there was mould on the ceilings of the bathroom. We ripped out the cupboard but before we install the new one we think we should paint. Bust out the brushes and lets get to work!

17. SPARE BEDROOM: A dumping ground for old furniture. We need to get rid of some of the stuff in here for once and for all. Time to declutter and toss. 

18. MEDICINE BOX: Clear out expired medications and unused ones. Replace anything that gets used frequently. 

19. LINEN CUPBOARD: Clear and find a new place to store a lot of the blankets and linen. Possibly move some of the items from the front room storage cupboards into this one? I'm sure I can shrink this cupboards contents. 

20. GARAGE: Tidy shelf and organise everything into containers and boxes that are labelled for easy access. Less is more. 

Continuing the Kiwi adventures

Why only write about the weekend, when all of last week was super fun and worth remembering?

Monday 5th Jan

Today we went on a New Zealand roadtrip to see the Waitomo Glow Worm caves. It took us four hours to get there, although we did stop off for an hour in Hamilton for lunch and a wander. We did a two hour cave walk exploring a really large and cold cave, followed by a second cave and a boat ride underneath a ceiling of glowworms. It was as though someone had strung fairy lights all across the inside of the cave. Really pretty.

Tuesday 6th Jan

Soong and I went to Auckland's premier theme park today: Rainbow's End! Their main roller-coaster was out of action today so that was a pretty big disappointment. But the rest of the rides were super fun! I have decided that I am not a fan of rides that let your legs dangle and flip you upside down, and so I didn't actually go on the scariest ride there (Soong is pretty bummed about it still). We did go on these "bumper boats", which were dodgem cars that float on the water. They were pretty awesome, big floating rings with motors in them. Mine broke down though, and I had to be rescued by the staff and towed back to the deck.

Across the road from Rainbow's End was a large shopping center, so we hit that once we were done with the rides. We bought a few small things for ourselves, Soong bought a new T-shirt and we bought season one of Brooklyn 99. We love watching DVDs together.

Wednesday 7th Jan

Seeing as I missed my post-dinner run yesterday, I started today with a run around Panmure Basin. Soong didn't want to come running with me so he sat in the car and watched concerts on his laptop while I ran around the water.

This morning we had tickets to see the Auckland Aquarium, a place called Kelly Tarlton's. It was so much fun. It was a mix of aquarium and museum, with lots to see and do. We watched penguins play and feed together and splash about in their pool. We walked through the shark tunnel and saw seahorses eat lunch. After we finished at the aquarium we drove to Auckland and spent our time wandering through the streets. Soong went to three music shops and he bought a pedal. We walked up and down the main street of Auckland and looked in stores before going home to watch more of Brooklyn 99.

Aunty Wendy came over that evening and took Soong and I out to the beach. We went for a walk along the sand and watched the sunset. Then on the way home she took us to MoMoTea, an awesome Taiwanese place that sold bubble tea in pint glasses and night-market style food.  

Thursday 8th Jan

After having big days for the start of the week, we took it easy. We slept in for ages, and then went out shopping. We went to a place called Oceans for lunch and I finally got my fush and chups! They sold chowder there made with muscles, and it was the most amazing chowder I have ever eaten. I'm going to learn how to make chowder this year, I am inspired by how good this one was! In the evening we were planning on just having a quiet one with some Brooklyn 99 but Aunty Wendy surprised Soong with a ticket to see Taken 3 so they went to the movies while I had a nap and wrote some blogs.

Friday 9th Jan

We took Waigoong and Waipo out for lunch today which was good fun. Then we went out to buy Manuka honey for our families. They sold lots of other manuka honey products such as face cream and lip balm so I picked up some gifts for friends made from kiwi fruit and manuka honey. Aunty Wendy came over in the evening again and took us out to Sky Tower. We went up the top and had a drink at the cafe up there, and just enjoyed the view of Auckland. It was pretty fun. After that, Aunty Wendy took us to a Mexican cafe across the street where they had salsa dancing and she and I danced for a while before heading home.

Saturday 10th Jan

Road trip day with Aunty Wendy! We had a late start after the night of salsa dancing, but we were on the road heading to a place called Goat Island. We stopped off at Makatana Farmers Market on the way there, and we bought some spanakopita for lunch. Then we went to Goat Island, to the beach, and walked around the rockpools looking at the fish in the water. After that, we drove to another part of the New Zealand coast to see the nesting birds. There were over a thousand birds nesting on the side of this cliff, all squawking and making a right ruckus. We watched some paragliders floating through the air, and walked along the beach. The town also had a fresh berry ice-cream parlor where they crushed fresh berries into vanilla ice cream. It was really fresh, and really delicious. Perfect for a hot summer day. We were exhausted by the time we got home though. We had a small dinner, and then it was Brooklyn 99 and bed.

Sunday 11th Jan

The last day! I woke up early, keen for a run, but before Soong and I could leave Waipo had taken the car and she didn't get back in time. So we watched Brooklyn 99 and relaxed before going out to Yum Cha with the grandparents. In the afternoon we packed our suitcases and spent time with the family before we went to the airport. Nothing eventful happened on our flight, which is how I like my flights to be! Lana and Simon picked us up from the airport and drove us home, and bought us dinner (sushi!!).

It's a bit sad that our holiday is over now, and it's a bit sad that it went by so quickly! But we loved it and had a fantastic time. What a great way to begin the year!

A new batch

Well, here we are in 2015. Time to embrace a whole new bunch of weekends, even though I know I will be living in the past for quite a while (I will be writing 2014 at the top of my pages for the next few months).

We are currently in New Zealand and will be here for several more days. It's nice to be on holidays, it's nice to be out of the country, and it's nice to have a week just to spend time with Soong and explore. Let me recap on our first few days...

Thursday 1st January:

We woke up late. Ugh. A quick mad rush around the house to pack our suitcases, get rid of the potatoes sitting in their basket (the neighbors have them now!), take out the bins, and be ready to go. Jason and Mandy drove us to the airport, which was super kind of them. We are very appreciative for their love and friendship! Killed time at the airport, caught the plane, arrived in Auckland, drove home to grandparents house, got the wifi password. hehe.

Friday 2nd January:

Today was a quiet day. I slept in for ages - there's nothing better than a good sleep in. Usually we take the first day or two of holidays really slow, as a way of recovering from the intense time that leads up to the holiday itself. So we woke up late, ate breakfast, went to the local shops and bought some things I forgot to pack (like running shorts... seriously who packs six running singlets and forgets shorts?). Had dinner at home with grandparents, followed by a post-dinner run. Trying to exercise every day while on holidays in NZ.

Saturday 3rd January:

Quiet day. Spent time with grandparents. Visited Aunty and Uncle and cousin in the afternoon. Dinner at home. Post dinner run. Wandered down to the local shops, where they have a Saturday night-market. It reminded me of Taiwan with the different food stalls and imitation goods. Almost bought a KFC jumper but decided not to at the last minute. We took the grandparents car for a bit of a drive after the markets, had ice cream at Maccas and decided to go bowling (where we discoverd they had $10 for 2 games after 10pm - brilliant!). 

Sunday 4th January:

Visited our Aunty's church today, and was greatly encouraged. They do a sermon series in January called "Life at the Movies" and they show excerpts of popular films and look at the themes in light of the Bible. So we looked at Man of Steel and compared Superman to Jesus, looking at how humanity often looks for a supernatural saviour, but we have the ultimate Saviour in Jesus. Then we went and walked around Auckland for a bit and had lunch. Had a long afternoon nap when we got home, followed by fried dumplings for dinner. Aunty Wendy came over and we went for a walk around the bay after dinner - it was magnificent!

Monday 5th January:

Today was road trip day. We left about 9am and headed across the country with no GPS to Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Road tripping in new countries is fun, it's a great way to see the sights. New Zealand is SO GREEN. Didn't see as many sheep as I expected to see. We stopped off for lunch in Hamilton and wandered around there as well. The glowworm caves and cave exploring was pretty fun, we did lots of walking around inside the caves and it was super cold down there. The drive home was quicker (it always is) and we got back to grandparents about 8pm. So tired from all that driving, it was about 6 hours in total, we have just been lying in bed ever since playing on phones, reading and being zombies.

If you aim at nothing, you're sure to hit it

While I'm not a fan of vague New Years resolutions or wishes, I do like thinking about what I want to do differently or better at the start of another year. I have tried to set SMART goals; goals that are realistic and actually achievable with tangible results. So I thought I would write a bit about the six goals I have for 2015 and expand on them a bit. 

1. STUDY GOD'S WORD

I want to keep growing as a Christian, keep understanding more about God and keep loving like Jesus and obeying Jesus. What better way to do this than to let God's word change me? So how will I do this? I will go to Bible study regularly, read the Bible with Soong every week, read the Bible myself every week and do whatever else I can to immerse myself in His word. 

2. COOK A NEW MEAL MONTHLY

Since doing the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation I have pretty much only cooked with her recipes. I've tried new ones here and there but I have been so careful with health and calories that I haven't cooked from a normal cookbook in a long time. 

I originally started 2013 with the goal to cook through Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals. I want to go back and try some more but I am aware that I am going to be busy this year. One new meal a month? Surely I can find time to cook 12 new meals in a year.

3. EAT HEALTHY ON WEEKDAYS

What do I mean by this? Monday to Friday I will:

• Track what I eat on MyFitnessPal

• Limit junk food intake to a snack at Bible study or Youth Group, if I really want one

• Eat home cooked meals for dinner

• Aim for the correct serves of each food group: 5 of grains, 2.5 of dairy, 2.5 of protein, 2 of fruit and 5 of vegetables. More on the correct serving sizes here: wee.eatforhealth.gov.au

Of course there will be exceptions. Whenever it is a choice between my health goals and loving others I will choose others. But if I do this 80% of the time then the other 20% won't be a problem. 

4. EXERCISE 2x A WEEK

Or 104 times in the year. Part of making sure I so this will be to book in sweat-sessions with friends. Running dates, exercise DVD dates, attend the fitness class at church when it is back on, go to the gym etc. I will need a way to track the numbers though, so if anyone knows of any fun tracking apps (one with a thermometer towards my goal would e super fun). 

5. BLOG 2x A MONTH

This one may be harder to do. I don't mean blog here, this blogging is easy and relaxing. I mean blog on other blogs such as Here In The Waiting Room, and also on my joint health food blog What About Health. Blogs for other people count as well. So I am aiming for twice a month. 

6. SHARE A MONTHLY MEAL WITH DIFFERENT PEOPLE FROM CHURCH

I have my church friends over a lot. God has blessed me with a comfortable cosy home that I can serve people in this year I want to go beyond just my church friends and open up my home to others at church. I think it is great and biblical to practice hospitality often and open up my home to those I don't know very well yet also. So one meal a month. 12 times a year. 

Those are my goals for the year. Is anyone else setting goals? 

2014 Reflections

Successful 2014 resolutions:

- 52 weekends project. My aim for the project was to record happy memories. I think it really helped me to remember how lucky I am and how much I have been blessed by God. It definitely helped me to keep a hold on reality when I felt sad. 

- investing deeply in a few. This included learning how to say no and prioritize my time so I could build certain relationships. I feel happy about this one. I feel like I narrowed my focus and was able to love and serve people better than in previous years. 

- Paying off debts. I paid back one loan and met all my mortgage repayments. 

- Eat healthy and be consistent. I made a meal plan and stuck to it regularly. I only bought my lunch once at work. I ate pretty healthy on weekdays. I have stayed roughly the same weight all year, give or take a few kilos, so I am pleased about that. 

- Pray every day. I didn't pray every day, but I did most days. Also, Soong and I worked out a way to read the bible together regularly that suits this season of life. That was a real blessing! 

UNsuccessful 2014 resolutions:

- Learn Mandarin fluently. I think I stuffed this one up because I didn't have enough time to give it properly. I needed to be practicing regularly and just often didn't have the mental space. But I picked up a few new words. 

- Run a half marathon. When I have too much on my plate, things fall off. Running was one of them. So I am still learning to prioritize and say no to things. I think with work, family, church, friends etc it all got a bit much. 

- Eat and blog an eat-street. This was just too expensive! We hardly eat out just us two and so this was a bit too heavy on the wallet. 

Overall reflections:

2014 was one of the best years of my life so far. Things stayed consistent (as opposed to 2013 when we moved house, both changed jobs, had multiple car issues and I wound up in hospital) and boring. My friendships strengthened. New friends entered the picture. It was a steady consistent year, something I felt I really needed after a crazy first two years of marriage and full time work. 

So thanks for being a good year 2014! 

The final chapter

It wasn't really the weekend but it sure felt like it, so lets continue with the end of December. 

Monday 29th December

I worked today and then we went to Lay family reunion and then to Kmart again. I bought a folder so that I can keep my recipes better organized. 

Tuesday 30th December 

Worked at our warehouse today in Ingleburn doing stocktake. Then went and visited mum and Julian came home with me. We played a game of basketball at church in the heat, watched Impractical Jokers and had dinner at Graces house. I had a nap but then couldn't sleep so I tidied like four cupboards in the kitchen and got halfway  through clearing out the pantry before I discovered a cockroach. So that was the end of that. 

Wednesday 31st December

Worked today. Forgot stuff for work so had to catch train home and back but was nice to listen to so many podcasts. Work was quiet. Realized I had booked my flight to NZ in the wrong name so change that. 

Erin and Matt hosted the most epic games night ever. They ran it like a games show and it was so much fun. We played Catch phrase, talkin bout your generation, the price is right, thank god you're here, etc. they even dressed the part! So amazing! 

We missed the official countdown because we were taking care of kids but we had our own countdown and then danced around with sparklers. 

Best way to end the year. 

Christmas and Birthday week

Monday 22nd December

Work today and went out for laksa with Steph for lunch. We babysat Matt and Mel's kids at night. 

Tuesday 23rd December 

My birthday! Soong got me a DVD player for kitchen and set it up for me. Lana and I cooked for my shindig. My favourite friends came over and we had a BBQ and chilled. 

Wednesday 24th December

Christmas Eve!! Worked then went to Aunty Liza's for wog Christmas dinner and presents. Went to mums afterwards to wrap presents and sleep. 

Thursday 25th December

Christmas Day!!! Started by cooking breakfast at mums and opening presents. Then we went to church an both mum and dad came. Soong was in the kids talk and it was awesome. Then lunch at Graces house and dinner at home with Ryan and Julian

Friday 26th December 

Today we had lunch with Soong's parents and then Sing family Christmas for dinner. Lots of food, lots of presents, lots of fun. 

Saturday 27th December

Slept lots. Bummed out. Ate junk food. Watched DVDs. Went to Kmart to swap presents. Went to Kinseys place to eat noodles and watch Impractical Jokers. Amazing. 

Sunday 28th December

Church this morning. Lunch with the Kinseys and more Impractical Jokers. Fun times! Then sleeping and quiet night!

Oh and check out the EPIC blanket Mum made for us: