Namaste

I first went back to yoga earlier this year to try and ease myself into the exercise regime. After 15 years, I found yoga has now evolved from what I first learnt. There are so many different types of yoga you can learn now with different benefits and results. When I first started, I was dismayed to find out how inflexible and weak I was. Seeing all the other more advanced students in the class and their capabilities made me want to push myself harder to be able to get where they were faster.

Then one day, I met a lady who has been practising chi gong for years. As we talked, I told her that I was in the midst of getting into yoga and she started asking me how I felt during yoga and after. How did I feel I had benefitted from it? Do I feel the energy when I am doing my poses?

Since then, I've learnt in my classes not to pay attention to others but myself. To listen to my body, push it to reasonable limits, feel the energy through my body and concentrate on my movements and breathing. It worked! Soon I was able to do the crow pose, headstand, chaturanga dandasana, wheel pose...even if only for a short while but at least better than nothing.


*chaturanga dandasana*

*wheel pose*

*crow pose*

I feel healthier, fitter, sleep better, am more aware of what I eat and feel calmer. Dont sweat the little things in life. Choose to take anything negative that happens in life as an experience rather than a regret. As long as you're happy and feel good about yourself, this will be noticed by others.



Thanks for reading my rantings (if you made it this far!).

NAMASTE

Flying On a Jet Plane

I love travelling...as you can tell from my recent posts but this year all my trips have been wedding-related even if its for work or to just chill with mates. Always some wedding element in there. Kinda takes the adventure out of my trips and shopping ends up being tedious plus I get fatter cos of all the food I do not restrict myself from gorging on during these trips.

For the first month this year, in an attempt to save money and all that malarky, I'm not flying anywhere (or even shopping...*faint*) this month. RBA just had to advertise their $150 ticket to S'pore to try and tempt me recently (doesnt help that Dr A can now offer me free accommodation in S'pore). I shall stand firm. Instead The Boy and I are going for a pre-wedding trip to KK next month. In the meantime, my credit cards get a rest while I try to come up with the guest list for my wedding (its scary I tell ya).

My hen night's (weekend) in October....I cant wait!!

Bali Retreat

Another destination I forgot to post up is Bali (even if I do go there for my honeymoon). There is a site offering a plethora of retreats in Bali which have totally caught my eye. By next year, I hope to be in good enough shape to be able to keep up with one of these classes and doing Bali in the atmosphere like below....I think you just cant beat it.

Bitten by the Travel Bug

This year, I wanted to go to a couple of places but time, budget and wedding stuff has hampered me. As H and I discussed options for honeymoon destinations, my "places to visit" list also lengthened.

The initial proposal was NZ and Sydney but when we realised that if we wanted to visit Brisbane and Adelaide in Dec...we also realised our sisters wouldnt be around at that time so we'll probably go next year. Despite my preference for more 'adventurous' destinations like Morocco, South Africa or Turkey, I knew The Boy was more of a city type so HK + Taiwan came to mind. When we decided that we would be spending CNY in Taiwan next year with another couple, we came to the conclusion that the best honeymoon for us after a stressful wedding would be somewhere relaxing. I shall write about that another time but in the meantime, these are my "must" holiday destinations for next year before I have kids and blow up into a big balloon (if I should be so lucky)

Firstly, Taiwan....planning to spend a week here during CNY basically just pigging out. Cant wait!




Secondly, Australia namely Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney....wine, good food, (good potential of) free accommodation, fun company....looking forward to it. Planning to do this when my sis comes back from UK for summer hols.

Brisbane


Adelaide


Sydney (as if you wouldnt know from the Opera House *wink*



I've had my eye on seeing Angkor Wat since last year when LM went with her posse and after I had visited the splendid Borobudur. I've heard so many good things...I dont want to put it off any longer!


So that's my intended travel plans for next year. I cant wait!!

Boiiing!!

I'm still here :)

Blogging and scrapping hav taken a backseat for now while wedding plans and health plans roll into play....oh not to mention all the travelling.

Since March, I've been to KK, Singapore, KL, Hong Kong and next week KL. Enough!! So tiring...actually more expensive...all this travelling. I love it but time to save for the wedding!! The next thing u know i'll be on a plane again...hehe.


Contracts have been signed at work...meetings in and out, crazy fun times with new and old colleagues and friends. If you have my facebook, you'll know what I've been up to. Its been fun.


Healthwise this new job has been good for me too. Less stressful, shorter working hours, more time for exercise (together) and destressing. In addition to yoga, I now go hiking once or twice a week with colleagues


As for wedding plans...well, they're chugging along. I'm just happy to have the major issues such as venue, photographer, photoshoot, dress, shoes, make up artist, hair stylist, decor, flowers, etc out of the way. We take our pre-weds next week and I hope it can turn out as nice as this

(I'm a sucker for sunsets)

Thankfully my cheongsam is done and I've just bought a gorgeous white gown in HK. My mum is willing to lend me her 'qua' which is great money-saving news. One of our suppliers is gonna help sort out my close toe shoes (cos we're supposed to wear close toe shoes when we leave our house).

The next big headache will come in the form of the guest list and arguing with my mother over how traditional we're going to be for the wedding. Oh plus room renovation *groan*

Oh my 2 sisters are back from UK and Oz and by Friday, my bro will be back from Shanghai. A rare occasion it is when the whole family is back together again even if for a short time. Hopefully we'll squeeze in a family photoshoot before I go off to KL!

I'm Alive!!

Its been so long and I still havent scrapped. I've realised the wedding is now only 6 months away *gulp* and I take one of my first steps to feeling like a bride when I check out which gowns to wear this weekend to use for my photoshoot in July. Will be great having some girlfriends commenting and helping me choose.

I've been leaving the country about once a month since February....personal trips or getaways. There have been and will be more new things in store for me in 2009. I'm still at my (now not so) new job. Not tempted to go back to private practice for the moment.

I'd like to share with u all what has been keeping me zen tho....





FYI these are not me and the only pose I can do so far without help is the 1st one. I feel fitter than I have in ages and healthier. Even considering attending some yoga workshops....but first....wedding is 6 mths away...YIKES!!

Yesterday....

.....was our 3 year anniversary.....

we both forgot :P

I'm Alive!!

He first had cancer at the age of 26 and it came back in 2002. Despite fighting valiantly for the sake of his family, 3 years ago on 13th March, my dad had a stroke and was admitted into hospital. He was in there for 3 weeks before he passed away in his sleep on 5th April 2006. He was and still is the bravest man I know. The amount of suffering he endured over the years is a testament to the great man he was. I still miss him everyday. This is one of the few family photos we took where all of us are in it. That was more than 5 years ago...



If it wasnt for how strong my father was facing his battle with cancer, there is no way I would have been as strong for myself when I was diagnosed in 2003. So to all of you out there who know or have been affected directly or indirectly by cancer, its time to stand up to it....dont let it get the better of you.



After 15 years, I've now gone back to yoga, feeling much better than I have in a while...am contributing to charity through the hobby of baking cupcakes...am trying to see as much of the world as I possibly can despite such obstacles as money and leave....hopefully will start a family soon....there is a lot more to life, its up to you to make the most of it.

6 years on after my operation, I'm still learning, I'm still trying

February Bits n Bobs

(1) It meant my 2nd month at the new job. Still liking it and the new colleagues that I have. Slowly filling my room and table with junk....hehe. So glad I no longer have to go down 2 flights of stairs for a cuppa or to use the loo. My office is ensuite and the printers and water dispenser are just outside my room.

(2) V-day meant cooking a new dish instead of going out and joining the masses staring into each other's eyes in a room full of couples. Roasted lamb leg. My new favourite home cooked dish. Hate cleaning the oven tho.

(3) 2 days after V-day I got my present. The Boy made me feel bad the whole weekend thinking he hadnt bought me anything after I'd slaved away in the kitchen cooking our weird combo of lamb leg, mashed potato, wine infused gravy, teriyaki salmon fish head, sweet corn soup, roasted asparagus and carrots. Tada!! The most expensive pen I'll ever own....
Mont Blanc Starwalker Doue. Catridge costs $10 so I'm using it sparingly...:p

(4)Huge mistake going down to Miri without a copy of my car's bluecard...it magically disappeared from the car. Had to turn back to KB and get it faxed over to EK's office...I kid u not. TWO WHOLE HOURS that could have been spent touring the new expanded Parksons....tsk tsk. Still managed to get some new workclothes.

(5) I have successfully managed to NOT shop for any new clothes or accessories all month....until #4 above...shucks!! But 3 tops and a skirt for under RM200 is a steal right?

(6) I've re-discovered my talent(?!?) for baking. No breads or pineapple tarts for me this time. Keeping it simple. See previous post.

(7) I scrapped....only a little....dont get too excited. It was a couple of cards. Speaking of scrapping. I really need to collect my stuff from Jazz :p

(8) My sister ends her 3+ month holiday back home...she leaves on Friday. I've hardly seen her tho...haha cos we're with our other halves most of the time. But I paid for her hair treatment and expensive high tea yday....she is going to miss having an older sister pay for stuff (and I never even had the priviledge)

(9) I bought 3 plane tickets for myself (and a few more for others) this month alone for travel in March, May and July. I dont know why I've been itching to fly. Its as if someone has chained me and I need to escape. Worst decision now is having to decide between Nepal and HK cos I can only afford one. I havent been back to see my HK family in 8 years and my cousin has offered to bring me to Macau, Disneyland and Shenzhen....oh so tempting cos I havent been to those places. Oh not to mention eat my heart out...all this before I take pre-wed shots. Hmm....

(10) My wedding is approaching 9 months away....YIKES!!!

Sorry Peeps!!

Hope I didnt scare most of you with the title and think that I'm retiring from scrapbooking!! Haha! I've been busy baking actually. I'm helping my sister out to raise money for a charitable cause. The details can be found at http://www.odauk.org/index.php. The trend now is of course, cupcakes and I can make what I call baby or medium sized ones but I dub them "adult cupcakes" cos they're just basic simple cupcakes rich in flavour and less sweet than most of those out there at the moment. It started as a baking exercise to make people happy but I've had good feedback so when my sister told me about her cause, I decided to raise some money with it.

I'm quite flexible in letting people choose the flavours they want with whatever toppings they choose. So far I've made carrot & walnut with cream cheese icing, chocolate with cream cheese icing, chocolate with fudge icing, midori lime cupcakes (topping contains alcohol), red velvet cupcakes, chocolate or vanilla with pink sugar icing (a hit with the kids but personally too sweet for me). Those of you who have me on Facebook may have seen the pics. Below are the baby carrot & walnut and chocolate ones with cream cheese icing. I made those for my CNY open house which was a very last minute affair. They're going for $25 for a box of 36 baby or 25 medi.




Another thing I have to strongly apologise for is the promise of RAKs and fabric yoyo's to those of you. Please do remind me and send me ur address if I owe u a RAK. They're packed up and waiting to be sent to u. I'm taking baby steps to recover from my long break from scrapping. I'll be starting by restocking up my supply of ready made little cards and tags this Friday with Foxyzzz so wish me luck!

On another note, as I now realise my wedding is 10 months away (YIKES!!) I've been scheduling in my travel plans for the year (thank god we have so many Monday holidays) and of course my budget. There is also the dreaded "losing weight" issue that every bride has to deal with too. Cue my initiative to start jogging after work, dragging myself to yoga/pilates classes and re-starting my latin dance classes. *fingers crossed* I lose the 3/4kg I aim to lose before pre-wed pics are due to be taken in July.

So its time for me to get back to work. I hope u've all had a great Valentine's last weekend and are looking forward to a long weekend that starts soon. I'll up date on what the Boy got me next time round. I've been asked to insure it. LOL!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

To those who still keep in touch with this blog....

GONG XI FA CAI!!

I'm enjoying my work and its keeping me busy in a good way. My hiatus from scrapping is still ongoing and there is just so much the beginning of this year with CNY, Valentines and wedding research and planning...hope u have all have a great long weekend with lots of happiness and prosperity coming your way!

An update

I've been busy learning the ropes at the new job and trying to sort out my sleeping hours so that I can get into work before 8am (for a nice parking spot). Am unofficially taking a break from scrapping etc for now. Its fun...mad but fun...lets see what the rest of the month brings me!

Happy New 2009!

Ok I'm saying that in advance since i'm already too late to wish u all Merry Christmas. Lots of changes going on right now...I might take a break from blogging, scrapping, the works....we'll see how it goes. I cant believe I start work on Friday...and my room is still a wreck. At least H and I have sorted out the bridal studio. We both think we've got a pretty good deal and are happy so we've put a deposit down. We're looking to take pics sometime in July. Now for me to loose 3kg and H to lose 10kg...hee hee

Sigh...

I've been a really horrible blogger and scrapper I know. I've basically been spending time with the family, finishing season one of Gossip Girl (ooooh so b***hy), considering possibilities of what to do to my room (and REALLY need to get down to decluttering), preparing for my farewell party (tonight) and looking forward to my upcoming holiday in a few days...Wow, time has flown....seriously...cant believe half my break is almost gone *sniff sniff*. Oh I've sent out and received some SK Swap stuff....so much fun!! Until i stop by again...take care y'all!

Last day..

I felt an instant weight lift off my shoulders as I finished my trial just now. It means (1) that I dont have to come into the office tomorrow other than to pack up my stuff (2) I no longer have to wear penguin suits/ lizard s**t outfits officially anymore!! (unless for functions in the new job). I've just started watching Gossip Girls (till 5am this morning...yes despite my trial) so guess where I'll be for the next few days till H comes back from Japan ;)

WOHOO!! NO WORK FOR THE NEXT 2 WEEKS!!

Little balls of joy

Hi there, I've been lazy with the blogging world this past week...fitting in mahjong sessions before H's sister left, bringing the sibs to watch Bolt, finishing up my status report at work, wondering what to pack up in the office and my current fix of making little fabric yoyo's. They're cute. If you've seen the Maya Rd ones then they're about that size. Would look much better with a button or brad of some sort in the middle cos I aint the neatest sewing person in the world but its still cute. I prefer the little round ones to the heart shaped ones but I havent ventured to the clover yoyo's. So anyway, I found some leftover fabric from some baju-making some time ago so...I just wanna say hi and thank those that drop by my blog eventho I suck at updating so for those who commented on the last post, I'll be sending some fabric yoyo's ur way...Thanks to Zizi, Mich, Ed, JC, Emily, Vivs and Foxyzz (who immediately sent me an sms wen she saw the post). Hope to see those little things on ur projects soon!

Early Christmas Present

I so totally screamed when I received this package. I was not expecting it at all!! Julia and I had been corresponding since the advocacy workshop and after she sent me a few goodies and I sent her my thank you card, I didnt think there was more stuff coming cos we had agreed not to do this endless cycle of exchange of presents but then this came!!



Actually I didnt even look to see who it was from before I opened it...LOL...my staff had picked it up from the post office without me knowing. I had told Julia about how I liked the cute Heather Bailey fabric yo-yo's and she told me about this tool that helps you make it. Little did I know she was going to get it for me...but not just that, she also got me the heart and clover shaped ones AND she got me 3 pieces of HB fabric and a book on fabric scrapbooking. This is one of those things that you didnt know was on your Christmas list until you get it. *screams with delight again*

Julia, if ur reading this, I havent met you yet but you're a star! On my next trip to Singapore I'm bringing you a whole box of goodies and will buy you a huge expensive dinner and I wont take no for an answer!

*squeal squeal squeal*

I'm off to play with my new toys *huge grin*

The Countdown Begins...

In less than 2 weeks, I'll be packing up my office to fit into an (XL size...hehe) Ikea box and stored away for another 2 weeks before it the stuff will be unpacked in a new location. Its been over 4 years and I've moved from a cubicle to a lovely room (and hopefully an even lovelier one). I cant wait. Its all so exciting...a new place, new people, new challenges. Lots of things happening in 2009. A new journey or more to begin so...LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!

Fun weekend and some sayings...

Panic set in when I left work at 5.40pm (very rare so early) and drove up onto the highway only to find that it was jammed cos of a fender bender!! I was DEFINITELY going to be late for SC's anniversary crop. Argh! I called Anna and had to ask her to save me a space. It didnt help that it was end of the month which meant that Gadong would be jammed too! Huff...puff! I got to SC by about 6.20pm which wasnt too bad I guess considering...

Sharon quickly burst into action once we were all settled and had some fun projects for us. We were divided into the pink and blue team. I had Foxyzzz, Scrapperholic, Renoa, Serene and Bee Fong with me on the pink team. Firstly we made a little coaster autograph book and we went around introducing ourselves and getting everyone to sign it. Then we had a little game of listing out the number of items that we were supposed to try and memorise which our team won! We continued with a few questions then altered a mirror which Sharon had brought all the way from Singapore with her for us! The last game of the night was to list down A-Z of scrapping brands...the other team won so we all went home a winner. That's not all though!!

Being Scrapperholics also meant we were shoppaholics! We had a chance at a lucky draw for every $50 we spent (this is still on-going) and I got a kit and a $5.00 voucher...and and and...I got an anniversary gift of 3 6"x6" American Crafts albums!! And and and...there's more! I attended the crop and Emily's class which meant I got a goody bag from each session! It was a weekend full of fun and freebies! Will update this post with pics later on. If u want to see the beautiful creation we made at Emily's class, check it out here. I would have loved to join Lia & Sharon's classes but my weekend was booked up. I hear they had some great giveaways though!!

My sis and I spent some of the weekend pampering ourselves (all paid for by me...broke now) and making cupcakes (carrot & walnut and pink icing) as well as trying to remember how to play mahjong. Ken had a whole bunch of friends surprise his wife with a lovely gathering at Sheraton on Saturday night for her birthday. Aww!! I didnt expect for there to be so many people but it was good to catch up. Dinner with my out-laws (not yet in-laws bah)on Sunday was postponed and I got a head start on making X'mas cards for the kids that will be receiving some lovely goodies from the SK Swap...my brother is going to have a very happy X'mas! I'm soo going to capture lots of pics of his reaction to receiving all the packages!



*the cupcakes*

Anyway I just wanted to leave u guys with some stuff people have told me over the years that has really helped me. I hope it helps u in some way too!

1. When ur rich, everyone wants to be ur friend. It's who is still there when ur poor/normal

2. Its very rare that people find someone who fits their criteria 100%. Be happy with someone who is 70/80% cos remember, ur not perfect yourself

3. Whatever your hubby does with his money is his business, as long as he treats u well and provides for the family, he does what he wants with his extra money

4. Take everything that happens to you in your life as an experience you can learn from, whether its good or bad. U still walk away with something u've learnt at the end of the day

5. A smile always starts things off well no matter what

6. Always make time for yourself no matter how busy, or in love or rushed you are. It really makes a difference...clear your mind, read a book, do what YOU want to do. I find I really cannot go without more than 2 weeks without having a girly session with my girlfriends or taking a moment to just taking time to immerse myself in a good book always helps.

And finally...

I have completed the SC ASR Challenges. The one that took me the longest was the last LO for some reason. My mojo decided to run out on me just before the last challenge so I wasnt the first 5 to finish but I'm just happy to have gotten it all done. Now I have the crop on Friday and Emily's class to look forward to!

Challenge #5:- Create an LO with 15 pattern papers


Challenge #6:- Create an LO using the title "I Scrap Because..."


TFL!! Good luck to all the others in the running and thanks so much to all those who leave their lovely comments for me!