Holiday Adventures

Hello everyone! I hope you've been enjoying your holidays despite the looming TRIALS! Me and CZ were talking about trials today. Apparently some schools like Sydney Boys has already finished them last term :O I couldn't imagine doing them that early.

Anyway here are some stuff I've got up to since my last blog post:

On Friday I went to GW and SS's 17th birthday party. Here is a badly taken pic of the dress I wore:

My mum bought it for me to wear to the party and when I saw it I was thinking odd...this dress look's familiar. It's actually RH's semi-formal dress but hers was purple, my mum bought it in coral. MQ said it reminds her of a towel. Lol. At the party VB was wearing my red semi-formal dress. Haha.

Le photo my sis took of me before I left haha. I'm wearing my Vinnies necklace I blogged about a while ago ! :)

Lol I took this one of my and my sis and she's mucking around



To wrap their presents I used my polka dot paper bags and somebody saw them and said oh hey it's your signature wrapping style and I realised it is now haha. I used the same type for Jashan's bday too :)

I made a cake on Saturday after going out to eat dinner with my family at Temasek :)

I made some sort of collage haha. First make a basic vanilla cake, all the ingredients should be lying around it's just sugar, eggs, flour etc. My sis cut the cake into three bits then let it cool. We whipped up some cream and spread it, with some blackberries, raspberries & blueberries between the layers. My sis piped the chocolate letters haha. Basically you melt chocolate, put it into a plastic bag, snip off the corner and pipe it onto a piece of non-stick baking paper. Let it harden and it will be ready to use. Don't pipe too thinly and the chocolate will break into pieces when you try to pick it up.

The berries were had juice dripping and the cake didn't look that enat so I walked to the store and bought some wafers. Using scissors cut the wafers to how you like and put it all around the cake using cream as a 'glue'. I made it so the wafers at the back of the cake were higher than the ones in front.

When I was done with the wafer decoration I put it in the fridge to kind of 'set' so it no wafers would randomly fall down. Then I chose a gold ribbon from my ribbon bag and tied it around the cake and tied a bow. Done! Haha. Happy birthday GZ! I hope you got a surprise when I turned up at your house like a stalker...

Random note about wafers: You know I never understood the joke 'Why was the cookie sad? Because his mum was a wafer so long' the ENTIRE time I was growing up. I only understood it when I was buying wafers for the cake and I had an epiphany! His mum was a-WAY FOR so long. HAHA

Because I like collages and I'm proud of the final product I made a collage of what the cake turned out like

I went to the library on Monday. There were about 3 tables of people just from our school haha. It was fun :) Tendercrysbeachicken calls this studying-with-friends 'librarying'.

On Tuesday I went to Catswood LOL I mean CHATSWOOD for the first ever time in my life with CL and KT :) It's soo nice. We went to eat ramen for lunch at a place called Makanai and there was this option called VOLCANO RAMEN with a picture of 2 chillies next to it HAHA so I decided to get it and I choked on the first mouthful lol. Then KT tried some and he was choking too hahaha.

It actually wasn't THAT spicy, just the first bite of chilli makes you choke a lot haha. They had an option called SUPER VOLCANO but I didn't get it lol.

Next time I definitely want to try the Wagyu Beef Curry Udon. Yum haha :)

After that we went to get 'Froyo' (frozen yogurt) as CL calls it. It was my first time ever trying frozen yogurt. It was a self-serve place and it was really fun, there were so many flavours like Blueberry, passionfruit, strawberry, even taro (it was really nice), peach etc and our self-serve tub was so colourful after hehe. And you got to pick your own toppings! We got peach, blueberries, some syrup and something chewy called mochi. A whole tub that we shared was only $10 so it was pretty cheap too! And super yummy :)

I actually didn't like that many toppings. My favourite flavour was passionfruit :) Once KT gets to sending me the pic we took of our froyo I will show you guys hehe

Also me & CL took our dogs to the dog park!

Biscuit loves walks

It was our first time going to the dog park. She was so excited she ran around in circles for ages. We were about to leave the dog park (no other people had come round with their dogs except an old man with his labrador that he didn't let off the leash because it was too boisterous) and then this girl with a black dog walked past us in the direction of the dog park and we were like...should we follow her back to the park lol. So we did and all the dogs got to play haha. Her dog's name was Ziggy and it drooled on Biscuit lol.

She was SO tired out when we got home after that she slept for probably >3hours after

Anyay that's about it! Hope you guys are enjoying your holidays!

Love: Michelle

Collage Mania

Hey guys! How have your holidays been? So rainy outside :(

I downloaded this new app on my ipad which lets you create collages and I've been going a little bit crazy over making a million collages...

Here are a few hehe:

There's actually a story behind the odd leopard background...Biscuit has a cushion on her pet bed that has leopard print haha. It's really fluffy

hehe

This is a full collage of talented Biscuit's circus tricks

Some mini carrot cupcakes GC made me :) So sweet

My sis piping a green tree

Haha my crazy collage mania..I made A LOT MORE above just a few :)

Yesterday night I had hotpot at GZ's house for his 18th bday.

Birthday cake! :) His house is so nice hehe



Today I had lunch with SS and CL at GPK and afterwards 'studied' with RH at the library..we were mostly talking haha. 

I guess those are my adventures thus far! 

Enjoy your holidays despite the weather!

Love: Michelle



Assesments + Trivia

Wow. I have been away from the blogosphere for ages. I will make a silent pledge to try and write more often for my own sake haha since I want to be able to look back on this blog :)
I guess this term has been the crazy assessments term!

This is the cake my sister baked for me as a goodluck cake. Tasted like Ferrero Rocher!!

Just got back from Trivia Night 2012, the first and only Trivia Night I've ever competed in (all the other years I had to help run etc so it was super exciting stuff this year!!)

My team went as hippies and it was so fun dressing up! Thank you to BT who basically lent out all her hippyish clothing to all of us hahaha. Everyone dressed up so nicely! I really liked the Cold War Russian team whose name was Full Marx which I thought was so clever haha. Overall we came 6th out of maybe 18 or more teams? Not bad LOL the sport section...but we totally made up for it with the PICTIONARY OMGSH the most crazy game of pictionary ever played, we got 43-FORTY THREE- points from Pictionary alone HAHA. My voice was hoarse after that intense game and shouting out words.

Pics to come, too lazy and sleepy at the moment haha but have an awesome LONG WEEKEND everyone!!

Love: Michelle

First week back!

Hi everyone! :) It's been a while since my last blog post. It's cos the lull and relaxation of holidays is OVER :O School is a pretty time-consuming activity.

On Monday we had our study skills day at school. It was actually super helpful, and I feel energised to study more consistently this term (a concept foreign to a study crammer/procrastinator like me).
The funny thing was that after the study skills bbq thing, the prefects had scheduled a meeting for the Anzac Day Ceremony on the Tuesday and we were in our meeting room, discussing, when our Year Advisor Mr S comes in and says "Hey guys..I actually booked another speaker for everyone in the afternoon but I forgot to tell you guys so most of the people outside have gone home..."
So we ended up having a secluded/private session with the speaker (who was teaching us about pencil grips or something).

On Tuesday in the afternoon we had our Anzac Day Ceremony! Ran smoothly, although all of us were pretty stiff after standing at ease/attention on the stage for about half and hour lol. TJ says he nearly fainted which is pretty scary stuff! :(
On Wednesday we had our public holiday cos it was Anzac Day and all the Prefects, which is kind of a traditional thing, went to Arthur Whitling Park in Castle Hill to attend the Dawn Service. Lol AM had slept over at my house on the Tuesday night so my dad could drive us both to the Service and when our alarms rang at 5am, it was still pitch black outside, and AM was like "It's not Dawn Service..it's midnight service." Lol. Regardless we got there on time and wactehd the sun rise as we paid our respects to those brave soldiers :)

JJ's photography. So many people turned up at the park that next year they actually have to move the venue to somewhere bigger

Then we got free breakfast at Castle Hill RSL :) After the breakfast it was still only 8something in the morning but since we had got up so early, it felt odd, like it was already 3 in the afternoon.

Wednesday night was JP'S birthday! I had to get there from maths tutor at Castle Hill and I was trying to research how to walk to the restaurant from Parramatta Station by using googlemaps and HAHA I'm so silly cos I had supposedly reached the restaurant address (as googlemaps had indicated) but the picture was a bunch of work buildings and I was so confused, trying to zoom into the buildings to see if the restaurant to see if it was hiding behind there and going all the way up and down the street again to see if I'd missed it (because by now I was convinced that googlemaps was utterly untrustworthy) when about an hour later I realised it was right across the street from the work buildings. Lol I'm a genius

A polaroid of me and JP at her party

On Thursday my sister made a cake for her friend's birthday! I ehlped a little (by being the professional taste tester)

Drizzling chocolate over the berries on top of the cake :) Inside, the cake is two layers with rasberry cream in the middle

:)

Strawberries!



Long post today! Anyway, better crawl back to bed and recuperate as unfortunately I got sick from the Dawn Service (it was suepr cold in the morning and our school blazers are pretty thin)

Love: Michelle

P.S. We gave Biscuit a new toy this week-FISH :) SO cute! Haha when Biscuit has her fish in her mouth we call her a fisherdog, cos it looks like she was down at the lake and is bringing back her winnings...

End of exams and an early birthday for a rat

Tomorrow is VL's birthday and I couldn't think of anything to get him so I made him a cake :) I ran out of M and Ms lol so I made some makeshift 17 out of the leftover teevee snacks from the background.

                                                         The ribbon slipped :(
Do you guys recognize the design? It's adapted from my sister's cake for her friend a while back.

My sister helped a lot cos I was trying to study for English and legal at the same time. Multitasking studying and baking does not work guys :(

Miss Bowen complimented me on the cake :) woo~

Happy early birthday rat

My face is blocked by a pole in this one which is probably a good thing cos I look like a mess during exam weeks lol

Upside down cakey

I was so tired cos I didn't get much legal studying done yesterday due to baking so I woke up at 6 to study for legal so instead of partying hard after end of exams I solemnly went home to nap HAHA

Oh well celebration tomorrow with ma gurl frans at towers :) so excited! I'm going to wear that white dress/top/short thing I posted on my blog a while back and my sister's blue wedges :)

Pizza for dinner tonight!! That's celebration enough for me :)

Love: Michelle

P.S. In the middle of packing up my room! Since my cousin, her husband, and her two sons AND my aunt are coming over on Thursday to big ol Oz from HK and they're staying with us for a week, it means I gotta make sure my room is presentable LOL

3 unit mathssss, 2 exams to go and 1 happy McD

Haha I stole this pic from AG's fb :P

It's so funny! Lol appreciate the 'usefulness' (circle geo really?), beauty and elegance of maths? Sounds like maths is a type of dance or something HAHA. I would probably say maths is more of a B-A-T-T-L-E. Strewn paper all over exam desks whilst you try to work out strange volumes of cos curves and how many ways you can pick 5 people from 8 women and 4 men if a minimum of the 5 people picked are women lol.

I always wanted to stand in a line and do some random perms and coms of the ways people in the line can stand just for fun haha. PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

2 exams to go!!! Gotta study dat legal and english :)

Making a cake for VL tomorrow :) Anyone who wants cake please stay behind after the english exam for a few minutes hehe :) shh hoping he doesn't see this. It's supposed to be a surprise! :D

Today we said goodbye to Mr McDavitt today cos he isn't going to be our teacher next term. We bought him all these boxes and boxes of Twinnings tea

He loves this tea

Anyway we got him lots and lots of tea and he jokingly said "These will last me about a week." haha :)

Aww his voice seemed so grateful and happy when he was opening all his presents (we also got him a massive photoframe with all our pictures of the texts we did in After the Bomb which was 'The Spy who came in from the Cold', 'Hiroshima' and 'Waiting for Godot'. Lol and JB told him he was the bomb. Which is funny cos our topic is all centred around the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. We all signed a card as well :)

Kudos to GC for doing everything lol seriously dat girl she got all the photos, printed them all out, put them on the photo frame, bought the photo frame, brought it to school, bought al the tea and wrapped up all the tea. She's amazing :))))))

Later when me and GC were walking we saw McD and he told us he shed tears in the staffroom. :') Sooo sweet

Off to study purposes of punishment for Legal Studies! Lol 'revenge' is not a proper legal term, it's 'retribution'.

Love: Michelle

I'm 17!!

NOTE: this was written on the 22nd of February 2012, I didn't want to post it then cos I didn't take any of the pictures yet :P

Wow. 1-7.

Today was one of the best, if not the best birthday of my life (only I think 16th can be a real contender).

It differed from my 16th though; it was low-key, relaxed, but full of laughter and good weather and smiles and memories :')

Firstly, at recess I recieved a polaroid and film from AM, BT, RH, MQ, GZ, KT, RC and RL. Thank you so so so so so so so much guys; I love it so so so so incredibly much :') Not sure how many 'so's' I can fit there but honestly I nearly burst into tears :) Thanks for the burnt sienna hat too!

ROFL MY REACTION FACE WHEN I GOT IT:

Thank you to EL for the AWESOME DELICIOUS COOKIE and the super cute piggy lunch box :) I love love love cute lunch boxes :)

Thank you to LL for the awesome earrings! Too cute :) Haha I've already worn them twice :)

Thank you to MQ again for the use of your camera practically all night when we went out for dinner :D The lighting is soo cool (I call this photo cruise ship cos the background looks like a cruise :D )

Thank you to everyone who wrote me a card, texted, wrote on my wall, wished me hbd in person etc :) It all meant so much to me and made me feel so special :D

Thank you MP my Vice-captain male counterpart; who initiated everyone in Prefects roll call singing me Happy Birthday and tried to get everyone in my chem class to do the same ROFL. I couldn't ask for a better partner :) Woo secret handshake time!! :)

Thank you RH for the chocolate cake!

Thank you to JP for the super cute bag :) I LOVE the colour!!

  Thank you to GZ for the super fancy cupcakes! I've never seen such nice ones! Sorry sorry that I ruined them when I accidentally dropped the box :(

Thank you to BT for my first ever mix-cd! Listening to it as I'm typing this :')

Thank you to my Mummy for paying for the dinner!

Thank you Daddy for the blowtorch! Now I can make creme brulee hehe :)

Thank you to my sister (who has currently been away from home all week cos she's an O Week leader or something for UNSW) for the new pyjamas! I would take a photo but you hid them from me haha and you said you'd show me when you came back home :P

Anyway I know this is a lot of thanks but basically I want to thank EVERYONE that made this day such a spectacular and special one. My last birthday as a high school student was so magical and honestly I wouldn't have changed a single thing about today. Even math tutoring was super fun today lol :)

I'm taking all my cards to bed and reading them all again before I fall asleep. I love you all so so much and I'm so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family :3

Let them eat cake

Who doesn't like cake? There's so many types, and that yum frosting and cream...uh oh! What about people who are lactose intolerant? :O

My sister hs a friend who turned 20 yesterday, and she LOVES cake. Except she's lactose intolerant. And she also loves candy and chocolate. So my sister tried to think of a solution around it....a cake that would taste nice and still look good that would have candy on it but no frosting or cream....hmmm

Well here it is!

First, make a basic kind of cake, sponge, chocolate, etc. This one is a Vanilla sugar tea cake

Electric mixer, mix until smooth etc Okay now most people use ovens, but I always use a rice cooker. The cake ALWAYS turns out perfect with no burnt bits, perfectly shaped etc :D You guys should totally try it btw (of course if I was making a cheesecake or a torte I'd use an oven etc but in this case I'm talking about tea cakes, basic sponges, family chocolate cakes etc then rice-cooker away hehe)

Tada! This cake is DONE! :)

Okay since it's a tea cake my sister put cinnamon and sugar over the top.

Woohoo cooking part is done! Now time to decorate our cakey :)

First, melt some chocolate (we're going to use this as glue)

Notice the tim tams on the paper towel? We used two packs for this cake

Now 'glue' the tim tams to the side of the cake. We used two different flavours; caramel and original.

Continue glueing until you've reached all around the cake.

Now, pour in some colourful sweets into the cake and tim tam barrier. Make sure your cake is shorter than the length of the tim tams btw so then you can create a little area where your colourful sweets can sit properly. We used crispy m and ms. Yum! You can also use skittles etc :) Likewise, substitute tim tams for kit kats, other kinds of chocolate etc :)

Notice how the cake is off centre of the red dish? It's cos we wanted to put more sweets at the front but you can do it however you like :)



Tie a pretty bow around the tim tams for decoration and also to keep everything in place and sturdy :D Also cos my dad wanted to eat some tim tams and he tried to steal one so the ribbon also = safety precaution against dads HAHA. He stole lots of m and ms off the top of the cake though LOL

Okay can you see the little mini marshmallows? We had pink, white, yellow and green ones and deicded to make a pattern. Again, use the chocolate as glue.

Continue gluing marshmallows all around the tim tams. Yay! Gluing in a pattern makes it look even cuter :D

My sis and I made some sort of production line HAHA I put the chocolate glue on the marshmallows and she stuck them on :)

Okay once you're done with the marshmallows decorate the empty space at the front with moar candy! Yay!

 TADA! I like this picture. Natural light from the window :) We used Hershey's kisses and Reese's cups for the front bits. A friend got them for us from Costco :)

Anyhow hope you enjoyed the walkthrough of this cakey, may the rest of your Sunday be wonderful today and hoping to see you all at the SWIMMING CARNIVAL tomorrow! Woo! Last swimming carnival ever! :)

Love: Michelle