By now I have fallen head over heels in love with instagram. Here's what I've been up to for the past few days.

Highlights: Meetup with the ates, F1 birthday buffet for Cla, Yamazaki and Mochiko with the gf, Kinect at J and J's pad, heart to heart talks, Liana's scrumptious cookies, Making my collection, authentic Bulgarian rose perfume holders, sparkly watercolor, finding that unicorny waterbrush, gummy dinosaurs hatching in front of our eyes, beautiful pink skies

Here's the mood board for my summer collection. Nervous and excited about the presentation later. Wish me luck!

( Here we go! )

Stayed at Phoenix Timeshare, Lake Taupo. Pretty much like my dream house:


( Exploring Lake Taupo )

I now have an instagram account! (username: aphazia--let's be friends?) I'm sort of in love with the app, heh.

We went to Pangasinan the other day, and it made me really glad to be living in a tropical country:



( Summer equals beaching! )

Maximized two days in Taupo by renting a shuttle to take us to various interesting places.

At Wairakei Terraces, Maori cultural show:


Geyser!


Huka Falls river cruise:


Huka Honey Hive:


Craters of the moon!


( I was able to try hongi. And taste more than 5 varieties of honey. And see geysers up close. And frolic among bees! )

I'm giddy about some recent events this week! Discovered the loveliest tea house near our office the other day:




( Noms, friends, more noms and fun dates )

Let me tell you something about me and LOTR. When I was in college, my mom told me about LOTR and how life-changing it was for her and basically how much she loves it. Intrigued, I picked up her copy of The Hobbit as an introduction to Tolkien's world and proceeded to finish the trilogy (with some genealogy parts skipped/skimmed) which reaffirmed my faith in how good always triumphs in the end. I love fairy tales, and I love epic battles and dragons, so I finished the books with a happy heart, even considering a tattoo done in elvish script, heh. I also felt closer to trees, sometimes hugging/talking to them afterwards. Because of ents and stuff.

But I'm also very forgetful, and even if reading the series gave me a fantastic high, and the story stayed with me, I got distracted by school and other books, etcetera etcetera, and my obsession faded, until I saw the movies which helped me remember.

Recently, when my family and I went to New Zealand, we really planned on checking out Hobbiton, which they also visited five years ago.

Because of the recent filming of The Hobbit, everything was in tip-top shape, or so my parents say. The look of the set improved and the colors of the houses were more vibrant.

Look, my dad as a hobbit! Me as a giant. Or orc. Taken by our most excellent tour guide.







( It was really preciousss )

Another quick update!
When we heard that the Mochiko branch in Collective opened, my former office buds and I immediately rushed to the area after work:


( What I've been up to recently )

Tried to paint:


( Another one )