So I'm a Dr....

My husband got this for me. Wrong type of Dr but still cute. ^^

A couple of weeks ago I got my Doctorate. I am really happy, of course but I've more or less kept it quiet. Not because I wanted to, but as I was submitting my thesis for archival, I was down with the most awful cold. :P Imagine running around the uni to get signatures with dripping nose, sneezing and coughing. So I never got around to announcing it. But despite the cold, I still managed to come up with a thesis archival outfit. ^^

My dress is from Miss Patina London.

My shoes are from Gorman.

I finally told people that I got my letter and all after many people kept asking me how my PhD is going. I guess the reality that it was all done hit me when I packed up my desk at my uni and vacated it. It just felt pretty final. But I guess this is just the beginning, right? ;;^^

As I conclude my PhD journey, I would like to share this quote by Ursula K. Le Guin which summed up the whole PhD journey for me.

Love,

from me to u.

A 2012 Reflection - Lessons I learned while doing a PhD

Happy New Year!!! Now that 2013 is here, a 2012 reflection post is required, I think. :) The year 2012 did not start off in the most positive of ways, but it certainly ended on a high: I submitted my PhD thesis! Yay!

When I first started 2012, I told myself (and anyone else who would listen) that I would like to complete my studies by the end of the year. So I set off planning milestones throughout the whole year (as seen above in my calendar), such as finish literature review chapter by this date, and this chapter by this date. Despite my "perfect" plan, things really did not work out as I expected. So despite the best laid plans, I found myself adjusting my completion date. First, there was 3rd September, then 3rd of December. I finally submitted on the 17th Dec 2012. It took me about 3 years and 9 months, as opposed to 3 years and 6 months that I had planned for. On the up side too, I finally understood what is it really that I am doing when I was preparing for submission. As it turned out all along, other than researching in the area of engineering education, my research is also categorised under engineering professional practice.

As I put my thesis together, I had a couple of epiphanies. When I did my textile design degree, I was taught how to manage projects. We did not have exams, instead we have design projects. At times, we had 3-4 projects due around the same time. My biggest take-away from my design course is time management. When I did my MBA, we had to do a lot of presentations. The course helped me to grow to be a better speaker and presenter. When I did the PhD, I had to use all the skills that I had learned previously, and refined them. Certainly though the PhD taught me the most. It taught me that it is not about doing what you love. Rather, to love whatever you are doing. I actually grew to love my research, if that makes sense. The topic that I had done was not really my first choice of topic/subject area, but I came out of the PhD still loving my research and enjoying the whole process (despite the ups and downs).  I can also say that I learned a whole lot of new things about engineering problem solving processes, and working with engineers. Ultimately, I did feel that I came out of it feeling more confident as a researcher.

So what is next? I am really unsure of what my plan is, or what 2013 will bring. Nonetheless, I am excited and hopeful. What did 2012 bring you? :)

Love,
from me to u.

Styling for thesis submission?!

I bought this pair of shoes to match my dress.
Of course, to celebrate too! ^^

I am happy to announce that I've finally submitted my dissertation yesterday (17th Dec 2012)! I've had about 3 extension dates, and I guess third time is indeed lucky as I've made it finally. It may be silly but I chose my dress carefully on my submission date. I wanted to wear one of my favourite dresses. It is one way I cope and celebrate little events in my life. I wonder if anyone else does this too? If yes, I'd love to hear about your thesis submission styling. ^^

Love,
from me to u.

A Movember Post

This mo certainly fits the building. :) Spotted at Cardigan St.

For more information on Movember: http://au.movember.com/

Love,

from me to u.

Almost 2!

Our wedding cake.
Photography by Jave Lee | Cake by Ab Fab Cakes

I cannot believe that it has been months since my last update! The months have flown by as I was knocked out by an awful cold bug that triggered my asthma and caused a chest infection. And of course there is that PhD thesis I need to be writing up. I wanted to take time though to update the blog as my 2nd wedding anniversary is coming up soon. I wanted to share a little quote that I got from this book entitled Don'ts for Husbands. This book was written in 1913, but it is still full of practical tips on married life. There is the wives' version as well.

Love,

from me to u. 

It's dangerous out there...

 I saw this in the hall way, outside my PhD room. This made me laugh....

... so I took a sidekick when I went home. :)

Happy weekend!

Love,

from me to u.

Valentine's Day 2012 - Little Celebrations

I had wanted to do a book post seeing that Greta (from Something by the Virtue of Nothing) had mentioned that 14th of February is a Book Giving Day too... But I thought it would be apt to do a post on how I celebrated my Valentine's Day first. I'm a bit OCD, I guess...;;^^

I love celebrations as it is an opportunity for me to get all crafty. I made my husband a pop-up card with the help of the template I got from minico.co.uk which I covered in one of my past posts here. I finished it all off by using my stamping collection. This is our 6th Valentine's Day together since we've dated but I think it is very important to take the time to have little celebrations. Especially in a marriage it is very easy to settle into routines... :)

I hope all of you had a lovely Valentine's Day too. :)

Love,
from me to u.

Summer Treat

Summer has been in full swing in Melbourne recently. Though we haven't had many 40 degrees days yet, thank goodness. :) But we have been coping well by doing what else? Having ice cream, of course!

My husband has been into cooking recently and he made this easy mango ice cream based on Jamie Oliver's 30 Minutes Meal.

Ingredients:
Frozen mango cubes from 1 large-sized mango
Lemon zest
2 tbsp of honey
About 3 mint leaves
A small tub of yogurt

How to make it:
Blend all these ingredients together!
Then re-freeze it by occasionally breaking it up to prevent ice crystals from forming.

Easy, isn't it? :)

Anyway, this has sparked my interest in making home-made ice cream. I found this amazing blog dedicated to ice creams: Scoop Adventures

During summer time, what is your favourite treat?

Love,
from me to u.

The year of the Water Dragon - 2012

Wishing all who celebrate the Lunar New Year, Gong Xi Fat Choi. May the year of the Dragon brings you more joy and prosperity.

Love always,
from me to u.

Listening to...

Florence + the Machine
Ceremonials

Onsen-ing

One of the most fun thing to do when in Japan is going for onsen. What is onsen?

Onsen is basically taking a bath at hot springs and Japan is blessed with many natural hot springs. The benefit of onsen in manifold such as healing, and most of all relaxing. From what I gathered, bathing together is also something that a family or friends do in Japan. 

Yes, onsen requires one to disrobe completely in front of whoever you are bathing together with and also random strangers. But one of the things to keep in mind, at public baths women and men sections are strictly kept separated. 

My first onsen experience was around 2005 when I visited one of my Japanese sensei in Japan. She took me to an onsen. Although, I was initially shy, I realised nobody else was. So why should I? That began my love affair with onsen.... :) Read more about onsen here.

Anyway, on my honeymoon I did go back to Japan again as you probably have known. I made sure some of the places we visited are famous for their onsen. Other than Yudanaka Onsen, we also went to Gero Onsen on the 14th April 2011. Gero Onsen is accessible via Nagoya where we had opted to stay for 3 nights. We took the Limited Express Wide View Hida train and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. 

We decided to save time by buying bento in the train for brekkie.
It was so yummy!

View from the Wide View Hida train.

Gero Onsen

It's obvious what Gero is famous for... 

While in Gero, we also visited Gassho Mura. Read more about Gassho Mura and Gero Onsen here.

After Gero, where were we off to? Takayama!

This entry is part of my honeymoon journey.


Love,
from me to u.

Melbourne Cup

Catching up at 1000£ Bend

About 2 weeks ago, my friends and I caught up at the lovely 1000£ Bend for brunch. I must admit, it was the first time I was there and it was such a delightful place to catch up with friends. Brunch was lovely with a pretty extensive menu. I had the salmon ontop of mash potato on salad accompanied by Earl Grey tea (my favourite!).

Lovely Paulina was also wearing one of my necklaces! She's wearing Beetlebug!

Beetlebug

Overall, it was a fantastic catch-up and I might have found a new favourite place for brunch. And who doesn't love the great idea of using old records as table numbers?

Love,
from me to u.

What I'm loving....

... my wedding anniversary. I'm told the first year is special. I'm also loving that we were able to create little traditions during the celebration. We took inspiration from this cake from Style Me Pretty. Thanks to countless hours of being addicted to Pinterest. ^_-

What else do I love this Monday?
Catching up with lovely friends over the weekend with good food. :) Here's Saturday... :)
Being able to introduce friends and having them get along well. (One of them said I should be a matchmaker, haha)
Meeting my PhD deadlines for publications.
Chocolates from Chokolait.

What are you loving this Monday?

Love,
from me to u.

This post is part of Anna's Much Love Monday.

It's Frocktastic!

It's Frocktober time, where girls can be girls and don their loveliest frocks for the whole month. At the same time, they are raising funds for ovarian cancer research.

'According to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF), “one woman dies every ten hours from ovarian cancer in Australia.”
For many women with ovarian cancer, the disease is already well advanced when they are first diagnosed. Unfortunately, there is currently no screening test for ovarian cancer. Frocktober aims to help improve the outlook for women with ovarian cancer by supporting the quest for a suitable early detection test through fundraising for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.' - The Cause (from http://frocktober.org) 

So what is the Frocktober challenge all about? 

We engage in activities that involve the frocks! Like dressing in different frocks and blogging about it for the whole month. While I cannot participate fully in this endeavor (busy with papers and study to blog everyday), please support my friend, Anna who is already starting her Frocktober cause. You can read more about Anna's pledge here or support her here!

 

Frock on!

Love,

from me to u.

365 days later....

 

We made it to our first year.

Ok, some of the recent updates have been pretty personal (and most likely don't make sense to a whole lot of people but me), but I finally hit my first wedding anniversary. The first year has been interesting. Ups and downs, time for adjustments but I always had fun anyway.

Looking forward to two! ^_-

Love,

from me to u.

Thursday Tune - Something about Love (David Archuleta)

Love,
from me to u.

Before and After Project - A touch of vintage knobs

This is my first foray into the area of DIY before and after projects but I thought I'd start small. I've been watching a lot of renovation shows (very addicted to Divine Design by Candice Olson), and the one take-away I've got is that you can give drawers/cupboards a new look just by changing their knobs. What luck, when I was walking around at Provincial Living, I found the most amazing range of vintage style knobs!

I choose the simple glass knobs because I wanted something that would stand out against the black of the Ikea drawers beside my bed. My husband helped with this one as we had to cut away the excess screw length of each knob. Then he also helped to remove the old knobs, drilling and installing the new knobs. Ok, mostly I supervised, but hey, I came up with the idea! And I took pictures. So it counts! ^^

Anyway, I'm very happy with how this turned out! I think this is an easy way to get into doing restoration DIY. My next DIY before and after project is restoring my vintage mannequin. When I finish that project, I'll put up pictures too, so stay tuned! :)

Love,
from me to u.

Colours in the sky

Melbourne had a beautiful weekend, with these gorgeous colours in the sky during the sunset on the Sunday evening. It seems like spring is coming... yet, I'm not ready for winter to be over.

Love,
from me to u.

At the end of the rain, there is always a rainbow...

.... or two. This photo was taken over the weekend. Though the second rainbow is quite faint in the photo, it is still quite visible.

Over the weekend, I went for the Craft and Quilt Show which was very fun. I'll show photos of my loot next time. ^^

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend too, and Happy Monday!

Though I am not playing along this time, play along with Anna with Much Love Monday. What do you love on Monday? ^^

Love,
from me to u.