UQ Open Day,

Hello hello, how's everyone's week going?
Hump day almost over! Super quick update. Have a well-deserved picture of some eye candy.

Yum yum. Now that that is over with, here comes my adventures at UQ Open Day thirdwheeling Mindy and Fred. Frindy. Mindy slept over the night before, and we did some cray cray girlie stuff, you know, the typical dancing around the room, pillow fights, oh and totally snuck out to have a little volleyball sesh. #livinglifeontheedge 
She dragged me out of the bed in the morning and to UQ, where she lost me, then found me, made slime and listened to a few lectures. Free photobooth and pens was the source of my joy that day!

We spent a while in there. #soznotsoz

Fred and Mindy being cute and all. I just spent 10 minutes on the ground squealing.

Will be back with more soon, have a lovely week :)

Secret Women's Business Part II,

Are you guys ready for Part II? 
I apologize in advance that I cannot think of witty introduction sentences like Joanne can, but even as I am typing every word right now, I remain dumbfounded by the awe-strikingly amazing past two days at SWB Conference 2013. After the incredible experience last night, we really thought the second day of this conference couldn't get any better. 
We were very wrong.

There's something so magical about the way so many girls come together as one, singing and praising with all of our heart with hands raised high in the air. Today, we were spoken to by the most intelligent, God glorifying women I've ever met, Caroline Leaf. She's a fab neurologist and spoke in a way that penetrated our hearts, where grace meets science. She teaches people how to think, and in turn, see the light of God in their lives. Everything was so scientific it was startling at first. It wasn't deep or emotional or tear-jerking in the slightest, but I was so captivated and intrigued I could probably listen to her talk about brains and God and neuroscience and cognotive dissonance for the rest of my life. 

We also learnt how to cook today. Yay for girls in the kitchen.

So to save you from me going off on my own tangent about how perfect everything was;
You guessed it, it's photo time.

Bubbles in the air while we are being shaped into housewife material. 

Revisiting the caravan. Irresistible caravans, dammit.

We like to match. #SWB2013

Free Magnum icecreams and Calipo's. You have no idea how delighted I was.

I'd like to leave you with one, final word.

CORAMDEO

"living in the presence of, under the authority of, and to the honour and glory of God"

Secret Women's Business Part I,

PINCH AND PUNCH FOR THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH WHITE RABBIT 5EVA. 

Now that that's over, it's time to recount and and flip through our mind, trying to comprehend the genuine momentous swelling of utter joy that we experienced tonight at the 2013 SWB Conference. The theme, Body Soul Spirit, points the direction as looking at our bodies to steward, our souls to nourish and our spirit to revitalize! (What a wonderful cacophony of words that un-jumbles the goals we strive for in life, and reveals to us the purpose on which we live in this beautiful Earth for!)

Tonight's message centered on what it truly means to have decided to follow Jesus, finding Him in the middle of our trials and tribulations but continuing rowing our boats down the path on which He has called us to go. In the midst of our problems, we need to rely on Jesus for the strength and courage to push through, to near our ultimate goal: tending the sheep. 

 Crafty merchandise with meaningful imprints

 We found a caravan. A decorated one.

It's not okay to have so many shoes. 

 No boyfriend, no problem, we got Jesus.

Dancing for Jesus. 

Scribbles on mirrors=ecstatic cries of joy!

Matching bracelets with owls. Hoot hoot. 

Something about the glass shattering bass, the angelic voices of the singers, and Christ-centered women from all around the world coming together under one roof, praising and dancing makes our hearts feel like we're never going to be the same again. 

Conference was amazing and we can't wait to rest our hearts, ready for another awestruck day tomorrow! Will post more photos and sharings on here soon after the last session. Have a good night, God bless.

"May God Himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole put together - spirit, soul and body - and keep you fit for the coming of our master, Jesus Christ. The ONE who calls you is faithful and HE will DO IT."

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Max's Release Partaaay,

Hey hey hey hey!! 

How you guys doing? As I'm typing this, Shantel is probably curled up in sick in bed drinking beetroot soup, so I'll do my best to sum up our Saturday night for you guys!

Max (Golden Vessel), held a release party for the launch of his first self-titled album at his very homely home. It was a fantastical night, held at his backyard with the yummiest homemade pizza, great music, interesting people and top notch dancing. 

Unfortunately, since both Shantel and I are horrible with directions, we got lost on the way to Max's. Fortunately for Shantel, the nicest stranger walked her there while I encountered a not so nice stranger, but nonetheless had an awesome dad in call with me the whole time from Taiwan checking google map. THANKS DAD. 

Here are some photos from the night, taken by Shantel and various number of Max's talented friends. 

Evie, Max's adorable little sister dancing the night away. 

Telly and Gracey Poo!

Some complicated stuff. 

Guys pretending they can dance and me at the back pretending I can take photos. 

Swag to the max. 

Here's a link to Max's song, Stairwell! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwOxYqjyNrQ

Enjoy your week guys, God bless! :D 

I'm all smiles

"It's been a while since every day and everything has felt this right,

And now you turn it all around, and suddenly you're all I need,

the reason why I smile." 

Smile by Avril Lavigne

Do you ever find yourself smiling while doing maths homework on a Wednesday night? If it were a normal person, probably not (I mean, it's maths and a Wednesday). But since I'm nowhere remotely near normal, I did in fact find myself smiling. I was a little confused at first as to why this silly smile was plastered to my face but then it hit me that it was because I am blessed with amazing people in my life that I call friendssss! What would I do without them.

Athletics carnival today, and the entire day was spent playing Taboo and uno, in other words, screaming random words at each other to the point where my throat hurts. It was more entertaining than it sounds, I swear. I love that I get to be totally insane and weird around my friends and I marvel at their ability to handle me at times. Luv u guise 5eva.

It really has been a while, since everything has felt this right.

Hugs and beautiful smiles to end this post. Have a great week guys!

With love, from Shantel

There are always two sides to a story and I feel that it's only fair that you hear from me too. Rewinding through my poor excuse of a memory, back to day one. Year ten, biology class, just back from summer holidays in Taiwan. I walked through the door of that biology class like a nervous yet anticipating little kid on the first day of school and just plopped myself down on the nearest spare seat that caught my eye. It was something so unintentional, a decision made in the spur of the moment because the entire class had their unforgiving eyes scanning me up and down (just because I missed a week on holidays, chill guys). And frankly, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. 

I found myself sitting next to Joanne, that girl who was always in a few of my classes but never talked to. I didn't know a thing about her, and one of the things I despise most are awkward silences so I politely said hi to this girl that I didn't know. It was a comfortable silence, one that made you wonder if she felt it too or if it was just all in my head. So being the totally spontaneous and somewhat curious person that I am, I decided to say hi and that I liked her earrings. Which I did. (I was mildly disappointed when I discovered that they weren't real earrings because she didn't have her ears pierced.) 

So there we go, our first conversation. It all went by so fast, from my first, unintentional decision to sit next to her on my first day, to singing Kelly Clarkson 'Breaking Your Own Heart' every lesson, exchanging silly smiles and stories. I wasn't doing so well in grade 10, it was rough, because most of my friends turned against me as a consequence of my wrongdoings from previous relationships. I had nobody who wanted to listen to me, but she did. She listened to every single word I said, and told me everything was going to be okay, that mistakes can be rectified and that I was strong enough to get back up on my feet. For the first time, what's past is past. I will always be grateful for that spare table, spare seat, on the first day of biology, next to Joanne.

Little did I know... that she has a kissing fetish. I mean, she kisses everything and anything, like for instance, my knee. She just can't keep herself off me. Not that I can help being so kissable. Maybe it's Maybelline, or really it's just me. Sorry that was lame I had to call it. But in all sincerity, thank you so much for accepting my sweaty hands, listening to my pointless rants, crying together in bed because I tell really sad stories, bringing me closer to God, loving my imperfections away, and giving me really good high fives. 

With love, from Shantel

How I Met Shantel,

Most recent photo of Shantel and me. 

All throughout Grade 8 till the beginning of Grade 10, I admired Shantel from a distance. Though yes we crossed paths and always seemed to have a couple of classes together, we had only ever briefly exchanged conversation. She was one of those girls which you stare at if they sit in front of you in class, memorizing every lock on her hair, though never really uttering one word to her. Not saying Shantel is unapproachable though, no way hoooosaaay. That girlie can make any stranger or newbie feel so welcomed and loved it's worth muttering under your breath: "Dangit I wish I had her charisma!" 

It's true though, Shantel always had this aura about her I gazed from afar, (Sorry if this sounds like a love story, me pining and loving her from far away). A confident, a joyful zest for life is something I think everyone notices first in her! Oh and her height. Which I love. Whilst perhaps it may be something she is insecure about, the graceful way she carries herself, the way she fills a room is always something that makes me want to reach over and hug. Moving away from my first impressions of Shantel, and without making this sound like I'm lesbian (lesibhonest), I'm going to try recollect my feeble memories on my second impressions of this girlie.

I entered Grade 10 Science with a bit of disappointment, realizing not only were school rules changed and Grade 10s were forced to complete a full year of a combination of chem, bio and physics, none of my close friends were in my class. There was Matthew and Raymond, but boys will be boys and I could already foresee a semester of dully watching them play Tetris on their classpads. I had heard Ms Valdivia call out Shantel's name on the roll every lesson for the first week of school, but for some reason Shantel never turned up to class. I wondered for a while until I heard she was still off holidaying in Taiwan. The day she came back though, she chose to plop herself down in the empty seat next to me, with her floral pencilcase (later on she would tell me she had heckled for it in Taiwan at a bargain price), proceeded to open her beautiful notebook and print carefully in her print-type writing the date. She was just so intriguing. 

Our first real conversation: 

"Hey. I like your earrings."

"Oh... thank you." I replied in concealed shock. 

Then a few days later, 

"WOW WHY IS YOUR SKIRT SO SHORT JOANNE."

I have no idea how our friendship blossomed after that. It seemed to be derived from a mutual love for Kelly Clarkson, meaningful lyrics and smiles. She gave me a fresh outtake on life, and I was always amazed at the stories she would tell me (back when she was a reckless young teen of course.) that would leave me with my jaws open. I still remember clearly the day she rocked up late to class, and showed me her spontaneous freshly pierced helix piercing. Or the day she sauntered in with a small inkling on her hand: "H<3S" (back when she was in love with Harry Styles). She was so friendly, genuine and open; and when I needed help the most, she embraced me with open arms. 

So thank you Telly. Thanks for your amazing friendship, loyalty and sweaty hands. Without you I would never have someone who corrected my flaws, encourages me with beautiful hugs, and inspires me to be a better person. You are so beautiful. 

I'm sorry that this post turned out to be sappy and boring when it was meant to be funny and entertaining. Sometimes I forget I AM SAH LEWSE.

I should get back to maths now I reckon. 

p.s I named my cactus Telly because cactuses remind me of Shantel and hopefully now that I've named my cactus after her, I would take care of her better because who wouldn't want Shantel to live.