Hi, I’m back!

Took me a while to get things into perspective and get back into writing.

When I’m happy, sad, frustrated, confused – I write. But the words just couldn’t flow ever since I left my job last year. Everything I tried writing felt forced. So I told myself – just let go and go live. 

I used to want to snap photos and share experiences. But now, I feel content just living through the moment. (Ugh I know that sounds cliche! LOL.)

I’m not sure what changed, but I don’t feel the need to put my whole life out any where on the net – I used to post tonnes of photos on facebook. Sure it’s nice to share the joy with friends, but after a while it becomes a chore, and subconsciously it’s like a call for attention to see how many people like your photos. It suddenly became enough to share experiences with those with me at that moment. I still take photos, and yes, I should probably still share them somewhere – just for those who were with me at that time. And also so that it will be a memory I can look and remember about, and not be lost in the abyss of my horrible memory :P

I used to want to have perfect pictures before I post them, want to have something meaningful to say before posting it. That in turn made blogging feel like “work”.  I used to blog, to bake and work on my hobbies as an escape from work – but that didn’t quite work out as a closet perfectionist, and ended up stressing myself and getting involved in too many activities. It was a vicious cycle of stress at work and then in my hobbies.

In the past year, I’ve learnt how to cut away activities, and kept those I feel are important to me so that I can balance my energies for both work and leisure.

Life’s been good :)

(And yes I’m still sharing my favourite recipes over at Dessert Tales. I don’t update as often as I used to, but there’s no rush since baking and documenting my favourite recipes is going to be a long-term project of mine!)

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014

Every year, I look back in the year and have a hard time remembering everything that happened. It’s one of the reasons why I wish to brush up my photography skills because I rely so much on photos to jog my memory. Even though I rely a lot on flickr (and instagram) at the moment, in time I wish to turn From Cass with Love into a photolog of some sort ;) Especially with my new baking blog Dessert Tales, sometimes I get boggled on what to share here and what to share over there. It’ll take a while, but I’ll figure out in time.

I can’t say 2013 has been a great year, but it hasn’t been all that bad either. I won’t go into a whole lot of details, but 2013 for me has been…

…the passing of my godmother. And hugging my godfather at her funeral.

…the beginnings of Miaow & Squeak with Mandy (who is running most of M&S, so credits go to her!), and the start of a wonderful journey in crafts.

… leaving my job. Finally. And then taking months of break to rest.

…Stephen coming back from Canada :)

…the trip to beautiful Melbourne with Mandy, and the solo trip to Sydney in winter.

…a trip with a group 8 friends I’ve known for yearsssss to Seoul in summer. If Singapore is bad, we almost died of humidity there.

…the beginnings of Dessert Tales, pushing myself to experiment more and photograph better ;)

I think this year has been quieter for me, as I try my best to focus and prioritise, put some things on hold, and not put a foot in everything I find interesting (which was what I did last 2 years). While fun, it can get tiring and there’s only 24 hours a day and only so much we can do. It’s not been easy, because I find it hard and sometimes feel bad saying ‘no’ to new exciting things, opportunities and people.

Anyway, enough said. Lemme share a few of my favourite photos from this year!

Group selfies in Nigel’s car on the way back to my place after guitar purchases ;)

Glenn a.k.a Guowei on the guitar chilling at bishan park before a gathering. I miss our jams!

The beginnings of Miaow & Squeak, the lego accessories that started it all.

Mandy and I during our trip in Melbourne, on a side tour on the Great Ocean Road.

Watching the sunset at Nelson Bay after some dolphin watching and sand boarding :D

My second last day at work. Almost all packed up and ready to go. My colleague gave me a cupcake box and some cupcakes as a farewell gift :~(

Miaow & Squeak at our first Arts Market at LASALLE. We teamed up with our good friends Karen and Agnes to share a booth :)

Trip to Seoul in the summer heat. Rand trying to find the aircon vent in the subway. Hahahaa. Did I mention we got bumped up to business class on flight to Seoul? Score!

Family Christmas shot at my aunt’s :)

Black forest cake made for my dad’s birthday. The last cake for 2013! :)

And I guess that’s all folks. Go prod around at flickr and follow me there if you like. Goodbye 2013, it was nice to have you around. Happy new year everyone, have a fantastic 2014! x

Christmas Bakes for Sale!

Christmas is just around the corner! :)

I have some cookies, cupcakes and a tart for orders this season. Also I’ll be sharing some Christmas bakes that I’ve found in the next few weeks! If you like to order some bakes to share with family and friends, please hop over to Dessert Tales for more details.

Cheers!

Job rants

My last post was to announce the opening of Dessert Tales, my baking blog. It was also my last free day before I started my new temp job. I’m ending work here end of Nov; frankly I still feel like I’m on a break the 2 months I’m here. I’m not sure to call it lucky or unlucky, but ever since I came in, everything they hired me for got postponed so I’m sitting here half the time with nothing to do. I decided to end my stint here one month early, so that I can celebrate December and Christmas away (hah!).

I think my best decision this year was to quit my job and just be free for 6 months. Put a stop to all the negativity that came from work. It’s true putting distancing yourself from the unhappiness help put things into better perspective. I still miss my co-workers after I started working as a temp, and suddenly all the pain from my previous job doesn’t seem so bad. But I regret nothing taking that step to be out of the ‘chaos’ and getting some clarity in job expectations.

My friend casually commented just the other day, “after being in a few jobs, you learn that there will always be little things that annoy you in each job you’re in.”

It was something I thought about these few months – that in no matter which job we go into,  there will be things that drive you crazy, and things that make you happy. If we can stop putting so much emphasis on ‘chose a job that you love and you’ll never have to work another day’, I guess everyone will be much happier. Cause even if you’re in a job you love, there will be someone or something that will make you want to pull your hair out.

With all the rest and time to think, I’m now ready to take up my next job.

But before that, December! More baking, crafting, gatherings and Christmas celebrations! :D

Dessert Tales

And just like that September has come to an end. And so is my 2 1/2 months break from work – I’m starting a temporary job from tomorrow. A little excited, a little anxious.

It’s been a good two months. I’m wisdom-toothless (with no pain!), had a good time with at various Arts Markets with Mandy and more craft ideas to play with, and managed to start Dessert Tales from scratch.

It’s not the first time I tried moving my bakes out into a new blog. The first time it didn’t quite work because I felt that my life was so much intertwined with my bakes (and food), but now I’ve a better idea of how to spilt the two. I’m still crossing my fingers, frankly, but I’ll willing to take another shot because I want a space just for my baking adventures. It’s also easier for people and myself to navigate if they want to find recipes and not get caught up with other random personal rants :P

If you like to see more of my bakes, come join me over at Dessert Tales. See you there!

A small shoutout of thanks to my good friend Dorothy too, who suggested the name way back when I started my first experimental baking blog. The name stuck around until now, and I knew it was something special ;)