ONE.

Well, it's happened again; time has completely snuck past me leaving me breathless and anxious to figure out how to put into words, everything that's happened since i last wrote.... where to start, what to say... and what time is it?

Gotta keep an eye on the clock because as i type this delicious blog i am baking even more delicious cheesecake bars. Yup thats right, I bake. Not only do i bake, i LOVE to bake- cook- whatever food related activity you can think of!!! I LOVE FOOD. What can i say? I'm secretly a fattie who eats way more than she should and thank god for good genes and a high metabolism cuz lately i've been eating and barely working out! Yikes... i hear the treadmill calling me names...

Let's see... so besides my little co

oking/ baking frenzy, i've also celebrated my 23rd birthday (nothing crazy, just a nice little dinner with a few close friends + my mom and a day filled with lots of desserts!!!), i made a quick escape down to phuket, thailand with my roomie and we basked in the brilliant thai sun for 3 short days and nice long bubblebath filled nights (and lots of room service haha), i've been doing all my normal Mtv work, i won "Best Lips of 2008" at FHM Singapore's recent Hott 100 party - where yours truly almost spit up her drink on a stranger in surprise when they announced that she's #8 on this years FHM International Hott 100 (?!!?!?!?..... my mother was actually very proud and did not hesitate to point out that i get my lips from her haha), but perhaps most exciting of all:::: are you ready for this?! ::::::: Utt and i were asked to help out with the ONE campaign here in Singapore! Didnt i just blog you all about this!? Did someone hear my e-prayers?! 

AMAZING. So Utt and i went down to MILK studios and we got to write a personal pledge for the ONE Singapore website as well as be photographed for website and various other mediums that will be used to spread not so well known facts about what's going on in the world today.  It's such a dream come true for me to take part in ONE campaign... in fact the night before i found out about their invitation, i had just signed a ONE petition! It's like it all came together at once. I love it when that happens... 

Even during my lil getaway to phuket, life handed me one of its rare moments where too many coincidences all line up perfectly- super last minute i was given the weekend off, even more last minute my mom friend was able to find a hotel room for me, and then to top it all off 2 of my best friends from bangkok were in phuket that exact weekend! OH! And i didnt even tell you yet but the hotel has 2 baby elephants that come out to play with the guests! Yup Lucky is 11 months old, tiny (for an elephant) and not only plays the harmonica but also does headstands!!! Lily is 2 years old and super cuddly- she loves giving hugs and kisses (: i fell head over heels in love with both of them....! Too bad elephants arent small enough to make into household pets!

Could you imagine me riding an elephant to work down orchard road?! Ohhhh how FUN!!

Hmmmm what else to say?!

Obviously this weekend is madness in Singapore- all hustle and bustle with the first ever F1 night race happening this weekend... i plan on baking, hibernating, and spending lots of time with the friends who will be in town (:

What are YOUR plans for the weekend?

If you find some free time and you've got access to a camera, flowers, and a computer head on over to www.mtvasia.com/mtvi and submit a photo for the Flower Power photo contest!!! Mtv has a new pro social campaign out that supports World Peace and Anti-Violence (: peace starts within and spreads so sit down, meditate a little, snap a few pix, and help spread the PEACE.

(contest ends oct 6th so you better get to it!!!)

Okay the cheesecake bars are ready to be taken out of the oven so i'll leave you all with one final thought:

"When i despair, i remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it... always."

- M. Gandhi

have a good weekend!!! lots of love, peace, and big delicious cheesecake bars!

taya

moments of pure happiness

WOW. Time has crept by all too quickly... there's so much to say, where should i start....?!

I'll start with laughter- laughter's always a good place to begin. 

So Aug 31st was the big NIKE HUMAN RACE 10K here in singapore... 25 countries worldwide racing on the same day- 1 million runners; 11,000 runners in singapore... in short it was INCREDIBLE. You can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be standing on a platform facing 11,000 runners in matching red shirts all running towards you. It was UNREAL. 

Anyway so Utt and I hosted the race and the concerts that followed; all these amazing local acts came out to entertain the crowd and NIKE being as awesome as they are gave out tons of free stuff and overall the energy was electric. It was hard to believe that most of the audience had just run 10k. I would have died 5k in and Utt would have had to pick me up from the closest starbucks. For reals.

So among all the awesome performers there was DJ KoFlow, The Great Spy Experiment (SO GOOD LIVE!), Jack & Rai (i love their vibe), and highlighting the night, Boys Like Girls from the US... some of you may know that i did their music video for The Great Escape way back almost 2 years ago and well i've kinda been in and outta touch with the guys since then but

 i hadnt seen them since we shot the video. It was SO SURREAL to see them here in singapore and not only interview them for MTV Asia but to catch up with them about everything that's happened since we shot the video. Life's been such a rollercoaster for all of us... i couldnt be happier about the circumstances under which we were reunited (And it feels so goooood haha okay i couldnt help myself there) Anyway, best of all, i'm happy to say the guys are still the awesome, fun, humble, down to earth guys they were 2 years ago before the album blew up worldwide. SERIOUSLY. I got a good chance to catch up with them and a few of us went out the night before they left- I HAVENT LAUGHED THAT HARD IN A WHILE. 

No joke i woke up to sore abs cuz we spent the night laughing so much. It was a much needed moment of pure happiness. 

I think we all need those moments... time to just be silly, smile, laugh til we cry, and stop letting the little day to day stresses scratch at our worries. It was SUCH a good night.

And now, a week later, i just returned from 5 days in Japan. I had a full day of studio then headed to the airport, flew to bangkok, met up with the crew in bangkok then caught the red eye to Osaka. We got in around 7:30am, went to breakfast, took a 2 hour bus to Kyoto then got straight to work. We spent that first day shooting for a Thai magazine then going to dinner, the second day was the first day of the music video shoot (for Thai singer Ice Sarunyu, who is SUCH a sweetheart), then the 3rd day we were up and outta the hotel by 4:30am, drove 2 hours out to Giffu where we shot ALLLLL day and finally wrapped at 11pm, got back to the hotel a bit before 2am, then the next day we were up and in make up/ hair by 9am for the 2nd photoshoot. We wrapped that day, did a lil wandering around kyoto that night and then i totally passed out. Like an earthquake AND Godzilla couldnt have roused me from my slumber. The next day we left early for osaka, did a bit of shopping then headed for the airport. I spent 12 hours in Bangkok and now here i am back in singapore in my bed with a handful of new memories, a new job for my resume, and 2 new cameras ;p What can i say, i LOVE photography (i bought a fuji instax camera that i've been searching for now that polaroid is getting harder and harder to find and i bought a lil toy holga pocket camera that was too cute to resist) 

i REALLY wanted to buy this really nice RICOH digi cam but i just got my new digi cam 2 months ago.... so i'll be holding off on the RICOH for a while.... 

SO. Here's what i will always remember about this trip to Kyoto (it was my first time there by the way):

the BUGS! i've never seen so many random species of insects in one CITY in my entire life. it was nuts. and i'm not a big bug fan but there were some pretty and some pretty ugly creepy crawlers in Kyoto.

the shave ice sucked all 3 times i tried it. it LOOKED pretty though....

the food was awesome... and i do love the mini marts in japan (they're like the ones in hawaii)

i MISS acting (even the 2 days shooting the video completely revived my love for acting....)

Japan is simply beautiful for photographing... everything comes out either brilliantly lit up and colored or soft and warm, glowing just a little

HAJI - San at the Yamasoto Ramen restaurant in Giffu makes the best cheese tempura EVER (and i DO love me some cheese!) He and his wife have the most precious lil ramen shop i've ever seen and they were adorable sweet people - we spent a whole day filming at and around their shop, it was wonderful.

gosh i'm sure there's more i just cant think right now... so much on my mind still about the trip and everything that happened in the 4 day whirlwind of work. It was an awesome little trip though :) 

lots of moments of pure happiness.... i've stolen the phrase from one of my dearest friends, Jillian, one of the people in my life who never fail to spread moments of pure happiness. I sent her a pair of lil sushi earrings that she finally received in the mail and she sent me the sweetest message. I had to pass the wish on...

So here's me wishing you all daily moments of pure happiness :)

<3