Macarons <3

I was walking along in Holland Village when I stopped to admire this magazine cover:

It set my heart all a-flutter...

Mmmmacarons (:

Also, while looking for the picture above, I found this incredibly useful post by someone with a macaron obsession.

By the way, this month at Bakerzin macarons are S$0.90 and cheesecake is half off!

Harry Potter Widget

Be an alien.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (New International Version)

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Hebrews 13:14 (New International Version)

14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

***

I really liked this devotion below when I read it, and was just reminded of it by an email from a friend who asked that I pray for her because she gets quite disturbed by the work culture at her office.

Adapted from DailyCare June 28 2009: Aliens & Alienation: by Elaine Young, McGuire, Lilburn, Georgia

Alienation calls to mind feelings of separation, or of being misunderstood.

But being an alien as used in 1 Pet :11-12 carries a positive connotation. That is what we should be as Christians in this world. We should be disturbed by the content of many mainstream magazines and books, the language in the media, lyrics of popular music, the materialism promoted by advertising... the list goes on. If you don't fit in this respect, good.
It is good to be alienated from such a society that you grew up in.

As a Christians, we need to worry when we do fit. We need to be concerned when we feel too comfortable, too at home, too happy and content with our earthly surroundings and material goods. We need to remember the words of an old song, "This world is not my home, I'm just a'passing through."

Dear Lord, make me feel alienated in this terrestrial world, and put within me and deep longing for your heavenly one.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

***

Maintaining a state of alienation is challenging. I find that I need to be on my guard and always checking myself to see that I am living according to God's standards and walking the straight and narrow path.

Romans 12:2 (New International Version)

2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

"Be Transformed not Terminated" banner in front of Orchard Road Presbyterian Church.
They always have interesting banners and a prime location to display them since they are opposite The Cathay which happens to be showing Transformers 2 now and just ended its run of Terminator.


Matthew 7:13-14 (New International Version)

13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

getting to where you want to go

This is a really useful website! : http://www.gothere.sg/

It has directions for bus (inclusive of waiting time), mrt, taxi (with approximated fare) and driving directions (sometimes with ERP avoidance routes).

It even gives tongue-in-cheek chastisement to not be lazy and walk if the place you are searching for is actually really near your starting point.

Sometimes I wish there were Wi-Fi on the street so that we can use this anywhere in Singapore.

Recently when I was walking around the area where I live I got asked for directions quite often from poor lost people including a sophisticated Indian business man, a foreign model and an out-of-breath person late for his appointment...

Stuck Tic Tacs, A Collection

The extent of other people's brilliant randomness astounds me everytime....

I really like tic tacs...
especially the orange-flavoured ones.
Another random fact... someone told me that they started making the boxes coloured and left the tic tacs white because it was cheaper.. but I think it's for health reasons too. I'm glad I don't have to eat orange dye anymore.

Oh and I love the extent of tic tac obsession in the movie Juno.

Our lives are not our own

James 4:13-17 (NIV)

13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."

14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

RIP MJ

This is so sad... i saw someone had signed the memorial petition on facebook but it didn't fully hit me till I saw people's tweets about it on twitter. How the world has changed that I found out this way...

This is the first legend i grew up with to have passed away... it seems it's like when Elvis died...

I was so excited and happy to read a while back that he was going to make a comeback with his concert series in London. One of my friends was excitedly telling my other friend who was going to study in London that she might even get a chance to go see him perform...

I remember when he last came to Singapore in 1996, there was this concert thing that I don't remember too well, where my classmates and I were roped in to be the cute little kids doing something... and my best friend got to hold his hand.

That was amazing.

RIP MJ. You will always be the King.

gorgeous cookies

Stained-glass teardrops from Gourmet magazine.

This is possibly the prettiest cookie picture i have ever seen.

I really want to make these!

Things To Be Happy About

Inspired by yesterday's sermon on Living Thankfully and a book that was mentioned; 14000 things to be happy about, I have decided to make my own list of things to be happy about (:


when someone you've been hoping and hoping would come to Singapore and do a concert is finally slated to have one

planning a week ahead with your friends to buy tickets to said concert the moment they go on sale

red velvet cupcakes

finding a great website (in today's case, it's gourmet.com)

cooking Father's Day dinner for my Dad

spaghetti bolognese

cooking spaghetti using Jaime Oliver's special trick

taking a risk in cooking something new and having it pay off

sleeping in your own bed again after being away from home

catching up with friends

taking silly neoprints and having all the time you want to decorate them because no one is in line behind you

God is with us in our decisions

This is one of the devotions I prepared for the girls' nightly sharing while we were in Tuao for our missionary internship.

I thought it would be appropriate and timely because some of us had to make important decisions about university soon. I was also spurred on to write it when one of my friends was telling me how hard it was for her to make a decision about school. I also hoped for it to be an encouragement and help to myself and others when at the crossroads between choosing whether to do what is right or wrong in God's eyes.

God is with us in our decisions

Adapted from “Footprints-Scripture with reflections inspired by the best-loved poem” by Margaret Fishback Powers

We have many decisions to make each day. Purchases at the supermarket or what to wear are easy, but life-changing decisions are, of course, more difficult. How can God help us?

1.He will be our guide

The Lord says, “I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.” (Proverbs 4:11)

2. He will make our paths straight. We must not rely on worldly wisdom or on ourselves.

Proverbs 3:5-7
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes…

3. We can ask God for wisdom without insecurity

James 1:5
5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

The decisions we need to make may be simple or they may be complex, but they should always be aligned with our decision to follow the Lord. When we decide to follow the Lord, it means we must live our lives the way He wants us to, following his commands, yielded to his control. It is easy to be influenced by the ways of the world and pulled off-track. We cannot be reminded enough of what the Bible teaches us about living our lives in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.

Titus 2:11-12
11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,

With regards to what we think:

We have to strive to be pure and holy through and through, because we cannot hide anything from God. The LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. (1 Chronicles 28:9)

We must not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but should be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Which we learn from Romans 12:1-2)

Romans 8:5
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

With regards to what we do:

All our actions will have consequences, for 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)


We all need God’s divine power from day to day to help us follow in His footsteps, and to learn the eternal values of His kingdom so that we may make decisions based on His character and commands, and ultimately share in His glory.

1 Peter 4:11 11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ…

fred flare!

One of the coolest websites ever, fred flare.

shuriken fridge magnets!

For the secret ninja in your life.

How cool are they?!

rubix cube salt and pepper mills!

Look like a genius cook!

online daily devotionals

While preparing devotions for an upcoming mission trip, I tried to find my Oswald Chambers daily devotional book "My Utmost for His Highest".
I didn't find it, but tried online and found online versions and some other good, useful things.
So in the last half hour, I had myself signed up for My Utmost for His Highest daily devotion email and Read the Bible in a year online.

hello!

Have you ever had the feeling where you can't wait to share about something really good that you know about?
I certainly have.
And I'm sure there will be many more instances to come (:
I have decided to write about them here so that I can always come back and be reminded of them, and also, of course, to share them with other people who might find them useful or interesting too.