kaleidoscopic

ZZZ. Kinda tired. I often find myself in this dilemma - when there's time, to sleep or to go out and DO STUFF? More often than not, I end up choosing the latter, especially post-call when I'm actually really tired but there's still that buzz of adrenaline that propels me to do something that I really want to do but only end up half enjoying because I get too fatigued by the end of it. ;p That was quite a long sentence. But essentially, whenever I have free time I keep thinking it's too precious to waste on sleep. But after awhile when the sleep debt builds up, I start to realize that nothing is really that fun when you're too tired to enjoy it.

Most times now my idea of fun is just doing something extremely low-energy. Something that requires minimal effort but accords me a whole lot of inner peace and comfort. Reading for one, is pretty much top on my list now. :) As is scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. Things that you only require your hands/eyes/fingers to move while the rest of your body can remain ensconced on your bed of fluffy pillows and blanket, remaining absolutely motionless.

In other news, here are a couple more photos from my NZ trip :) If you're ever in Christchurch in the South Island, I would highly recommend going to this great cafe - Addington Coffee Co-op. It was a recommendation in our Lonely Planet guidebook (which is really quite impressive because we managed to get a lot of great places from that book) and our very first brunch stop on our very first morning in NZ. Momentous indeed. I just remember us being REALLY hungry and bounding out of our rental car because we were so excited for some food.



The boys and our new friend, the random elephant we found on the table. ;p I like places like these where you never know what you might find. Of course, after the initial novelty of taking photos with the elephant toy, we started asking questions like, to whom does this belong to and... more importantly, where has it been and...WHO HAS TOUCHED IT BEFORE. After that it was outta sight, outta mind.  

BRUNCH. :D The food was so good in our hungry hippo tummies. There's something about the combination of spinach + smoked salmon + eggs benedict + hollandaise sauce that makes it such a winner. Technically it should be pretty easy to cook/assemble once you get the whole poached egg technique down to pat right? But everyone just ends up going to a cafe/restaurant for it. Nonetheless, it's a dish I dream of whipping up next time for a homemade brunch over the weekend. 

Another piece of latte art for the road. And Yisheng over on the right, who always looks like a million dollars, with our elephant friend (before we started questioning its origins). 

Addington Coffee Co-op 

297 Lincoln Rd Addington, 

Christchurch 8024, New Zealand 

+64 3-943 1662

Another reason to love this place is for its great service and comfortable atmosphere. The owner (I presume) was so friendly. He simply came along and struck up a conversation with us, giving us a couple of recommendations for places to go to by car. I suppose this sort of casual bantering among strangers is not uncommon in places that are known for the friendliness of its inhabitants like NZ or Aussie but it's always a nice refreshing change from the culture back in SG. 

Yet another place that I LOVED -- Wanaka. It was a place we stopped at for a mere 2 hours or so on the way from Christchurch to...Fox Glacier? But I totally fell in love with the small-town charm and tranquility of this place. It was just by the lake, Lake Wanaka, and while it was quite a quaint and peaceful place, there was a mini farmer's market out in a park where a school marching band was practising... so much life bubbling beneath its quiet exterior.  It's the kind of place I would consider retiring to. ;)



The amazing 30 apples (at least it seemed that way to us!) for $10 deal from a very friendly Malaysian seller at the mini farmer's market. Those apples were petite but so sweet and juicy and we all got free samples before caving in to that deal. At first we had a whole bunch of ideas for the apples (and I even considered making an apple crumble ;p but of course it never quite materialized once we realized the limitations of our Campervan style journey) and it was fun, having an apple readily available every day within reach. But after awhile it was just like, where are all these apples coming from! 



<3 I do like these photo. A lot. X) And I've no idea what I did but somehow the colours just turned out just the way I like them. I think it's the Wanaka color palette. 




One of my favorite photos of the boys. :)) I can't help but laugh/smile endearingly whenever I see this. It's so THEM. I'm always so glad when I'm able to capture a moment which isn't just about people in a particular place in time, but also brings with it the characters/personalities of the people inside brimming forth. If you knew them, you'd know what i mean. ;) 

Time to chill on my bed before going to sleep. If there's one thing that I really like about working now (if anything), it's that at night, I don't have to study. And that time is perfect for reading. I haven't read for leisure in such a long time but I love being able to cuddle up at night with a book. There really is always a silver lining somewhere. 

xoxo