My BIG FAT update

Yellow yellow everyone.. it’s been over three weeks since I last posted an entry in this blog. Sorry for the lack of updates guys.. life been super super busy lately. So here it comes, a BIG FAT update.

Work = CRAZY

Well, it’s end of financial year here in Australia – that means if you are an Accountant (which I am not, thank goodness) you’ll be ripping your hair out soon enough because you need to do end of financial year stuff.

There’s no difference here in Retail! All of my colleagues are out doing stocktake at the moment and guess who’s the lucky one who got left with ALL customer-related processing and admin nitty gritty stuff? Yeap yeap, me.

At the moment – I’m doing three people worth of workload. All the enquiries, the processing, data entries, order, special makes even answering calls are done by me. To cut the story short – I’m exhausted. These past one and a half week got me brain-dead at the end of every workdays. I don’t even have the will and the strength to hit the gym on weekdays! Yep, my filofax at work is filled with scribbles, list of jobs to due on the day, post it notes… gosh, it gives me headache just to think of it @_@

Stocktake will be over very soon (I hope) and then there’s the follow up… the moment where I have to fix everything that went wrong in stocktake. Fun (not).

Sex And The City = FABULOUS

I’ve finally watched SATC The Movie on 10th June 2008. The girls and I had a girls night out. Too bad it’s on weekdays – I went home and change my clothes, then went straight to the cinema. We didn’t have the ‘dress up’ night! Oh well, maybe the next one – if there’s gonna be another one.

I must say the movie was really touching. It was so good to see how the characters have developed over the years and of course the dilemmas that came with it. I literally shed some tears of joy and of sadness – especially when Carrie hits Big with her wedding bouquet – because he left her at the Altar - and Charlotte grabbed her and hugged her to console Carrie AND tell Big to get away from her when he tried to talk to her.

Overall, I’d say it’s worth the wait. The girls are as fabulous as they used to be – with better clothes, better shoes and cosmopolitans still.

Michael Buble Concert = AWESOME

Over that same weekend, I went to Michael Buble’s concert at Challenge Stadium with three of my friends (Fang, Meli & Moni). I’ve always loved Buble – he gives me goosebumps everytime I hear him sings haha. It must be cool to be Emily Blunt *sigh*, maybe Buble sings to her all the time.

The concert was awesome. Buble is not only a singer, he’s an entertainer! He joked around, engaged with his audiences very well. He even ‘made up’ scenes – like when he was saying that he is sick from singin and disappear to the backstage… then one of his bandmates who played the saxophone (I think) took over the singing, and Buble came out looking jealous and not amused. That was hilarious.

The highlight of my concert is not Buble though… it was his opening act, Naturally 7. There are a bunch of guys from New York who do vocal play. It’s like a more advanced acapella group. They LITERALLY do their whole song by only their voices – no instruments. They imitate guitar, saxophones, harmonica, turn table, bass, trombone, etc etc. It was phenomenal! I left the concert early to caught them having their meet & greet event. I ended up buying their DVD and got all seven to sign it! YAYYYY :D

Life = NOT SO GREAT

Lately I have this… umm.. thing. A thing that contradicts with my principle. I’ve tried to shake it off, but it won’t go away. I’ve tried to ‘surrender it all in God’s hands’ but being a mere mortal, I kind of couldn’t. It’s when you don’t want to think about the pink elephant in the room, that you actually think about the pink elephant in the room – if you know what I mean.

And yes, kind of make me feel that I will never be good enough. For anything (or anyone), that is. Oh well, not everyone has to know about this, but I blabbed about it anyway. I just have to get it off of my chest, that’s all. C’est La Vie. So help me, God.

Oh yes, I almost forgot…

Our Foodie Link is going to commence very very soon :) It’s a ‘care group’ program from my church that facilitate for people to express their interest. And yep, nothing tickles my tastebuds more than good food. I’m joining forces with Carol Rode from Oh-For-The-Love-Of-Food in building this Foodie link. I have high hopes for it! Come and join us if you live in Perth and love food. This is the Fatkins Diet.. you won’t lose weight but you’ll have a great time! Haha.

Anyhoo… it’s 3:31 pm and I’m still at the office… waiting for the clock to hit 5 pm and then I’m outta here!

Thank God It’s Friday :)

My BIG FAT update

Oh glorious weekend!

'Yellow' everyone!

Finally, the long weekend is here! I'm sooooooooooo happy. I'm determined to enjoy my oh-so-very-short 'holiday' to the max. I'm planning to:

- Finish 'When God Writes Your Love Story' book

- Go to the gym on Saturday morning (pump + combat combo!

- Dye my hair (yeap, my roots are showing!)

- Do major-clean up in the house

- Finished delayed craft projects

- Indulge in DVDs and K-Dramas... hihihi :)

- Sleep in on Monday morning and doing absolutely nothing for the whole day (aside from gym)

- Finished blog layout design requests (I will post the finished 'products' here later on)

- Spend some time with my beloved friends and do goofy things together! always fun!

- Call my mom (again!) and chat chat chatty-chat

- Annoy my lil sis :P through unimportant MSN conversations

- Look for inspiration for new designs and projects

- Make that long-awaited Tiramisu for my friends (if I'm not lazy... hahaha)

Or...

Stuff the entire list, just relax and do whatever comes :P

Anyhoo, in regards of 'celebrating' the arrival of long weekend, my friends and I tried on the new Korean restaurant in Victoria Park last night. It was... ALL YOU CAN EAT. Oh my goodness! This place is bad for me! And true enough, I kept on eating and eating and eating - and now my tummy is bulging. Gosh. But it was good :P

To tell you the truth, I am in the process of launching another blog that my friends thought I should do. I've set up the name and everything, however, there are bits of things that I need to 'get' before I could even start the blog... to name a few, a proper digital camera to take pictures for the blog. I never owned my own digicam (ok, laugh all you wantttt), always wanted one - since I gave up on my mobile's camera. It's pathetic *sigh*.

I am currently in love with Nikon's Coolpix 10 megapixel camera... but it costs a fortune hey. My mom and dad are going to China really really soon and I've been told that it's waaaaaaaaay cheaper there, so I told her to get one for me. I hope they get it! Consider it as an early birthday present, hey mom?

Ok, I think I'm going to stop here. Oh by the way, if you noticed below, I've inserted a 'signature' at the end of my post. This signature is going to be in every post I made because I think it 'personalises' the post more... And, to all drivers out there, be careful when you drive, double demerit points this long weekend, guys!

Have a great LONG weekend, everybody. Til then :)

Oh glorious weekend!

Update - and more updates

Good morning, Upper-East Siders :)

As you might have noticed, I slightly changed my blog appearance a lil bit. You can tell that I was bored, hey? I loved the banner my lil sis made for me, however I just felt that I need a little change in my oh-so-stagnant life. So my blog was the first one I ‘renovated’. The new banner is much simpler than the old one – because I feel that I need some simplicity in my life. I kinda like the effect that the pattern of my background is embedded into the letters – make the title kind of like it was cut out from the white ‘paper’ that I ‘wrote’ my blog on, doncha think?

I also changed the title of my blog into ‘Pretty Little Corner’. The reason is simple, because I wrote my blog post usually in my room which is in the corner of the house, and I considered my room as pretty (a girl has to take pride in her room!). It’s my fortress of solitude – where all the sleeping in and being lazy happened thoughts and ideas come out of nowhere. One day I’ll post pictures of my ‘pretty little corner’ here for you to see.


Anyway, on a more random note, I’ve watched Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of Crystal Skull last night with friends. I’ve been adoring Indy’s adventures since I was a kid and been watching all three movies over and over again. My favourite out of three was The Last Crusade. I reckon that was the funniest – perhaps because Sean Connery was there starring as Indy’s father, which added major points to the comic relief. I’ve always been fascinated by adventure stories like these and Indy is definitely one of my favourite.

However…

I was disappointed when I watched The Kingdom of Crystal Skull. I expected the usual Indiana’s style of adventure – with artefacts, ancient history, the puzzles, the riddles and what not. This one didn’t have enough of it. Instead, there’s Extra Terrestrial involved in this. I’m like ‘what the?’. Me no likey. Maybe because Steven Spielberg directed this movie – he just couldn’t resist to put a lil bit of ET in it? Or maybe I was expecting too much of this movie…

Well, to my consolation, there’s the hot Shia LaBeouf in it, so I’m pretty much consoled HAHA. But yes, despite all that, it’s good to see Indy in action again with his trademark fedora hat and that famous theme song – and who would’ve thought he would marry Marianne Ravenwood (from Raides of The Lost Ark) and found out that he had a son! Hmm… what are the chances of Shia LaBeouf becoming the next Indiana Jones (they did share the name Henry Jones :P).

Oh yes, this weekend is LONG WEEKEND.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

I’m so looking forward to itttttttttttttttt (notice the excitement in my tone? hehe)

I have so many things I want to do this weekend. I've finished the new episodes of Gossip Girl all the way, also 2nd season of Heroes and Psych. Carol lend me the korean drama 'Princess Hours' too, so maybe that's my next indulgement for this weekend? I am known of my capabilities to wrap up the entire season of TV series in one hit :P.

Too excited, I don’t even know where to start... I’ll keep you posted!

Over and out people, have a great day!

xoxo

Update - and more updates

Simpletons

Mood: thoughtful

Listening to: Colbie Caillat - Magic

Aloha people!

A friend of mine forwarded this email to me with a video of a cute lil baby boy who laughed histerically over paper-tearing! It's hilarious to see how he laughed - seemed like he was enjoying himself so much he didn't care about anything else. It's true, baby does not need expensive toys, so we could forget Toy shopping for Christmas and birthdays for them?

Anyway, it got me thinking. When was the last time we laughed like he laughed? When was the last time you enjoyed simple pleasures in life without getting distracted by your routines or responsibilities? Since when did we become 'complicated' and not being the 'simpletons' that we were?

Ah, I remembered when I was a little girl. I had a happy childhood, I must say. I remembered of not having to care about the world's problems, of not feeling like you have the burden of the world on your shoulders. The only problems you face were whether you are able to watch your favorite cartoon without finishing your homework first (turned out to be that you CAN'T *sigh*), whether your mum and dad would buy you that toy you want so badly (and for my case, it was a Goggle Pink figurine... I know) or what to play with your friends on a weekend afternoon.

As we grow up, our eyes has been opened to all the imperfections of life. People disappointed you, friends betrayed you, your plans don't work, you're not happy with yourself and so on and so forth. How did we get here? How did we forget to love life itself? We only have one shot in life, better make it count, right?

Life is complicated as it is, do not complicate it even more. Keep it simple. Live your day one day at a time. Sure, you've set your short-term and long-term goals - keep trying to fulfill it at your best capabilities, but don't stress yourself too much. Yeah, I'm preaching to the choir. Being an overthinker, I often stressed myself out. I think about things too much, feel too much, and without I realize it, I've depressed myself. I forgot how to 'enjoy' life and all the things that comes with it. After all my blog does entitled 'Life, Love and Laughter' and I should live up to it.

What are my simple pleasure in life... I asked myself that very question tonight. I believe that it's your friends and family who made your world, no matter where. Perth - as boring as it is - seemed so much more fun when you have your loved ones around you. Your joys seemed to doubled and your sorrows seemed to eased.

I hope that we all could laugh like that lil cute baby everyday of our lives :)

xoxo

Simpletons

Insomnia

Mood: lost?
Listening to: One Republic - Stop & Stare

Have you ever had one of those sleepless nights when your mind just keep wandering off and your brain - magically - couldn't stop thinking and by the time you look at the clock it's time to wake up and get ready for work?

I just had one of those episodes last night. I slept around 1 am, and to my dismay, woke up at 4:30 am - and just couldn't go back to sleep. I stayed in bed the whole time, tried to close my eyes, turning around here and there, fixed my pillow, counted sheeps, and what not - but still, I was awake. This could only mean : I am stressing, worrying and freaking out about things. Overthinker, that's what I am.

I have been dealing with this certain issue most of my life. It's weird because sometimes we don't seem to learn from our own mistakes. Even though I've tried SO HARD to avoid it, to fix it, to plan ahead, cut back on things and stuff - the issue seems not to have left you. It brings you down, it haunts you in moments that you've least expected it to happen and certainly, you don't need that to happen. You've got enough in your plate - and usually, your default reaction will be "Oh, GREAT! Now this happen? Could it be any worse?!!"

To be honest, I'm not happy with myself at the moment. I know I shouldn't - but I can't help it. It frustrates me that I seem to have not yet achieve anything major in my life - academically, financially, spiritually, mentally - pretty pathetic for someone my age. I can't really complain about it though since most of what I'm facing right now were results from careless decision making. So yea, have to live with the consequences, I guess. That's seems fair. But I've had enough! I'm trying to move forward but it feels like I'm going nowhere.

They say, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" - but sometimes you think enough is enough. It's like we want the quick fix, the shortcut to make it all go away. Oh, how I wished I could talk to a butterfly and ask how did it feel being trapped in the cocoon for so long before the catepillar morphed into a butterfly? how painful was the process of the ugly duckling growing up into a beautiful swan? I don't think I will ever be a swan or a butterfly. It feels like I'm stuck in a middle of nowhere, not knowing where to go or what's the next step to take. Selfishly, I want to be happy with my life, not just feel content about it.

Or maybe, I am too proud to admit that I couldn't do it by myself? I thought I've learned that God's powers are way greater than human? I've thought that I have faith in Him? My plate's full and I refused to give it away to God? He did say "cast all your anxieties on Me and I will give you peace". I thought I was doing that already? Apparently not.

Was I just blabbering and making no sense at all?

Haha. Blame my lack of sleep last night. Oh well, I'll just enjoy my dark chocolate now - my aphrodisiac and hopefully I feel better by the end of the day. It's tough being an overthinker :P

Happy Thursday everyone, tomorrow's Friday. YAAAAAAAAY :)

xoxo

Insomnia

Soul Searching

Mood: nostalgic

Listening to: Lingua - Bila Ku Ingat

As you might have noticed on my sidebar to your right - I've been reading a book by Eric & Leslie Lundy titled "When God Writes Your Love Story". I haven't finished the book yet (half way through! I'm planning to finish it by this weekend) but this book has made me think about stuff that I don't actually want to think about (or I deny to think about?).

Everyone needs someone. A soulmate, as they call that certain person. They even have an entry in the Dictionary. According to them, a soulmate is a person with whom one has a strong affinity/attraction. The origin of this 'soulmate' concept was not clear, but I found as I typed the word 'soulmate' in Wikipedia one of the theory of soulmate was from Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium is that that humans originally were combined of four arms, four legs, and a single head made of two faces, but Zeus feared their power and split them all in half, condemning them to spending their lives searching for the other half to complete them.

A bit freaky, isn't it? :P

One of the most popular questions that people asked me was "So, have you had a boyfriend yet?", "When are you getting married?", "So, who's the lucky guy?" - and so on and so forth. These questions especially came from my family in Indo. Well, to you guys who are not Asians - it's kind of uncommon for a young lady my age to not have a boyfriend or a fiancee or not planning a wedding (your own, that is). The fact is, almost all of my friends which have the same age (or similar) as mine had been married. And (maybe) it kills my family to see me not even having a boyfriend.

Ok, it's been seven years since I last had one (yeap, it was in highschool. and yes, I'm pathetic!) but I'd rather not rush it. Easy comes, easy goes - they say. Some people called me a 'perfectionist' and I'm too picky... but I think you can never be too careful about these kind of things, right? You don't want to spend the rest of your life with the wrong person and be miserable. Better safe than sorry.

I guess, I'm a bit traumatized by relationships. Most of the one that I had been in left me broken hearted and in tears, even looking at what my parents had been through made me a bit scared to trust that opposite sex. I think I'm cursed that way hahaha. Ironic, really. I don't want to feel this way, but I do. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying my time being single - exploring my capabilities, my skills, my personality, etc.

But yeah, finally - after years of 'single and fabulous' moments - I do feel a bit lonely, especially when most of the friends your age are married (or planning one), building houses together, went on to family dinners from both side of the family - it kind of singled you out even though they didn't mean to. Luckily, I have my friends here which, even though they are married or planning to get married soon, they didn't ruled you out of activities and we actually get along really really well (too well sometimes, haha).

Because of that book, I'm beginning to 'think' about it a lot... After all, I am turning 24 this year and it'd be nice to have someone in your life (apart from your family n friends) that you can count on. I am waiting on God's appointed time to actually meet the appointed one. Let God take your pen away from you, and write you a beautiful Love Story that would last forever...

Incompatible, it don't matter though

'cos someone's bound to hear my cry

Speak out if you do

You're not easy to find

Is it possible Mr. Loveable

Is already in my life?

Right in front of me

Or maybe you're in disguise?

Who doesn't long for someone to hold

Who knows how to love you without being told

Somebody tell me why I'm on my own

If there's a soulmate for everyone

Here we are again, circles never end

How do I find the perfect fit

There's enough for everyone

But I'm still waiting in line

(Natasha Bedingfield - Soulmate)

xoxo

Soul Searching

If the shoe fits, wear it.

Mood: impatiently waiting for Friday

Listening to: Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown - No Air

If there's one thing I can fill up my wardrobe with, it would be shoes. Please ask my friends around - I do have a thing for shoes. Why? Because no matter how fat we get, how old we get - shoes, will always be the same. Most of my clothes are pretty safe and plain, but I always play it up with shoes (and bags, and accessories - yes I'm big on those things!). I love my shoes, and my shoes love me. The feeling's mutual, you see :)

I watched Sex And The City reruns last night on Arena channel. The episode was when Carrie lost her beloved 'Sedaraby' Manolo Blahnik (pictured here) at a party where she was forced to take them off - and some girl with (obviously) excellent taste in shoes ran off with her beautiful new silver-sparkly shoes. Carrie was devastated and told the host of the party - however, instead of offering to pay Carrie back for the lost Manolo, she refused to do so and told her that "I don't need to pay for your extravagant lifestyle". The host used to be one of the Manolo devotees - until she got married and have kids.

However, Carrie spent a lot of money for this host. She bought her engagement presents, wedding presents, and of course baby shower gifts for child number one, two, and the latest - three. She spent a significant amount of money for this woman, and this woman refused to pay back $485 for her lost Manolo Blahnik. While Carrie respected and celebrated the host's life choices, the host refused to celebrate Carrie's.

Sometimes in life, we forgot to celebrate other people's life choices - or to just simply understand what they are going through. Of course, we all have our own opinions on things - and maybe some time, we are right. But you won't ever know and fully understand what they are going through unless you are in their shoes.

For example, I have this girl at work (to protect her privacy, let's call her Miss R) who has very wealthy parents and leads very extravagant lifestyle. Her shoes is Chanel, her bag is Balenciaga, her sunnies is Chloe, her necklaces and rings are Tiffany's, and so on and so forth. Sure, there's nothing wrong with being rich - and when you got it, flaunt it - which is very humanly for everyone. It's our pride, and God forgives, sometimes we can't help it.

Then one day, I was out for a walk at lunch time with her, and my other colleagues. We went to Target, and I saw this really cute open toe black patent sling-back shoes which was on sale for $20. I was so excited, and when I tried it on, it did look good! But as I expressed my excitement and my intention on buying it, Miss R said to me "Annie, what are you doing buying cheap shoes???!!!" with a disgusted look on her face. I was speechless, but then my other colleague, Alison, said "buying cheap stuff is fun, and when you get tired of them or they wore out, you could just chuck them in the bin without feeling guilty." and Miss R was laughing.

That's not the first time she said it. She hurts many people in this matter, when she expressed her 'objection' of the 'cheap stuff' that we are wearing. Well, too bad so sad - not all of us has rich parents to begin with, and not all of us still got monthly allowances from our parents (and they still pay for our rent/mortgages). Sure, life will be beautiful if all of us could have those - but unfortunately not.

People lead different lives - therefore, people have different situations. We need to stop expecting (and sometimes, forcing) people to come up to our standard. People are born unique - different capabilities, different calling in their lives, different talents, different point of view of things, different desires, different dreams/goals. The best thing we need to do as a friend is understanding them - because sometimes they just need to be understood and listened to without us strongly expressing our opinions.

Sure, we will always pray for them and support them in prayer, but it's time for us to start wearing their shoes and ponder how does it feel like walking in them.

Of course, life is a perpetual learning process. That's why it needs time for us to learn this, but the point, my friends, is that we are learning.

xoxo

If the shoe fits, wear it.

Red and Gold

Mood: so-so

Listening to: Colbie Calliat - Realize

The sky has lost its colour, the sun has turned to grey and the colour of the leaves are red and gold. Yes, my dear friends, autumn is here. No more of those ridiculous summer heat, no more of those 'my-skin-got-darker-by-itself' eventhough I covered it up and certainly no more flies (double yay!).

For some reason, your mood changes as season changed (or is it just me?). In spring, you feel light - because of all the colours in the flowers that bloomed, the birds chirping, blue sky. In summer, you felt the urge to exercise to get the perfect beach body (yea, rite tas), you kinda feel short-fused because of the heat and somehow your energy level is like the energizer bunny.

In autumn, things changed. You felt it's harder to wake up in the morning, you felt the sudden urge to drink that long macchiato every morning (or more coffee, to you who drinks coffee everyday anyway) just for the sake of waking you up, you lost the will to do exercise - you just simply want to snuggle up in your couch, watching sappy movies while you're drinking hot chocolate. And then comes winter, those autumn urges are still there PLUS the never-ending appetite to eat, eat, eat (and Chris with his yummy take on shabu-shabu. hehehe).

It's not only the mood that changed, the colours you wear changed as well. I noticed a lot more of darker colours such as black, navy blue, maroon, dark brown, and so on in winter and autumn. Whilst the pastel colours of spring and bright summery colours are kind-of out of the picture. Also the songs you listen to - I've realized that I've listen to more folksie, light, eerie, tranquil songs (such as the lovely Colbie Calliat - you should download her songs! they're great!) rather than upbeat RnB stuff that I usually listen to during summer (while jazz has been a constant aspect in my life, so that it doesn't count).

And yeah, this morning I woke up to find that it was raining outside, it was freaking cold, and was feeling very very lazy and I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than five minutes. I even dozed off a bit on the bus as it was stuck in traffic (rain = ridiculous traffic in Shepperton Road = feels like Jakarta), came to work late because of that and now.. blogging? Do your work, Tasia!

Am I the only one who felt this way? Or is it anybody out there who feels the same way too? Hello???

The good thing about this weather is, I couldn't wait to wear my jackets, my beanies, my opaque thights and my gloves! so, double yay!

Over and out, peeps.

xoxo

Red and Gold

Allow me to be frank

I have no idea why - but this week seemed to move on so sssssllllooooooooowwwwwww. I felt exhausted, and today's just a Wednesday! Oh how I wish today is Friday :(

On a more random note, I feel like crap today. Maybe it's PMS - it automatically turned me into the self-loating-crazy-emo gal. So, hello to all of you who has never seen this side of me. You won't like it. I hate about being this 'dark-side' - I don't like her. She's dark, judgemental, resentful, hateful, envious, and all those things you guys would hate. So beware, proceed with caution!

Gosh, I feel like I'm Nikki from Heroes. Only uglier and waaay fatter.

That's all.

Allow me to be frank

And they lived happily ever after?

"You know how when you were a little kid and you believed in fairy tales, that fantasy of what your life would be, white dress, prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill. You would lie in bed at night and close your eyes and you had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close you could taste them, but eventually you grow up, one day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears. Mst people turn to the things and people they can trust. But the thing is its hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely cause almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith, that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true."
(Meredith Grey, "Grey's Anatomy")

Since I was just a little girl, I love fairytales (don't we all?) I love the fact that the princesses are pretty, there are fairies involved, cute creatures who can sing and dance (and do house chores with you!) and of course, the handsome prince charmings. Most of the time, the story tells you about two different person from two different worlds who overcome the evil witch/the stepmother to be with each other. The bottom line: love conquers all. Ah, such a pretty picture hey?

I used to have this 'faith' or 'picture' that I'm going to get my own happy ending. Y'know.. that 'and they lived happily ever after' part. But I guess that a child-like faith - that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Once you're married - that's it. You ARE going to lived happily ever after and whatnot. Everything will be peaches and cream. It's heaven on earth. You name it.

Here's the thing... Fairytale stories always end when the prince finally married the girl of his dreams, he will swept her away on his white horse, riding off to the sunset. And then the famous line will appear 'and they lived happily ever after'. But what happens after that? A friend of mine asked the same question this afternoon - "Are there mortgages in fairytales?" "what happens next??? did Prince Charming and Cinderella argued on who has to take the trash out this week?" "Did Sleeping Beauty get mad to Prince Phillip because he snored in his sleep?" and so on and so forth.

You know the real story of The Little Mermaid? It's not the one that Disney created where Ariel finally married Prince Eric. The real mermaid died and turned into a foam in the sea because of her unrequited love to the Prince who married the Princess from another kingdom. He never knew that the mermaid loves him.

I came across that quote above from Grey's Anatomy movie and I can't help myself to ponder... I remember how I woke up one day, opened my eyes and the fairytale faded away. I remember how awful that felt - it's like this dream was ripped out of you, that you have to throw that dream unwillingly. You came across unrequited love, betrayal, broken-heartness, unfaithfulness, lies and so many things that disappointed you. Sadly, I have to throw that belief far far away. Love is never going to be enough.

We are all like that in a way, I suppose. As we grow older, we experienced things. Things that sometimes we want to forget - but it's a part of you anyway so you can't. We complicate things and over analyzed without us even realizing. Suddenly the truth hits us, there is NO happily ever after in this oh-so-cruel-cruel world. Relationship and most importantly, marriage, needs hard work - I know this not because I have been married before... but because of my parents' marriage.

I can't go on into details at this moment - so let's just say that my family is not perfect. We had lots of ups and downs - and my sister and I were somehow 'forced' to grow up even before we need to. My happiest moments were those ones I couldn't recall anymore since it was such a long long time ago. At one point in time - I have almost swore myself off men. Even my sister used to say that she didn't want to get married since it seems so hard (knock on wood!!!!).

I learned along the way that there's no such thing as a perfect family. Everyone I know, has family issues. Some are not-so-complicated, some are wayyyyy more complicated. Then you kind of feel relieved that you're not the odd one out. I used to not want to talk about it - but as you find people who endures the same thing as you, the words just poured out - and it makes me feel so much better.

My mum told me to 'marry the one who loves you more than you love him, that way you won't end up getting hurt'. I rejected her opinion - saying that it's not fair for the other party since it's kind of like a one-sided thing. But then my friends told me that their mothers taught them the same thing... No fairytale is like that, isn't it? The love between Prince Charming and Cinderella are perfect... did that love 'died' along the way? We have no idea. Or maybe it's true, when we are loved, more than we love them, it won't hurt us?

However, doesn't matter how cynical we are. We still have that hope (even if it's just tiny) that when you least expected it - your fairytale will come true. I know I do. No matter how messy life gets - no matter how hurt I was (and still is, I think - or maybe I'm just getting used to it?) I have hope, that someday I will open up my eyes and my fairytale would come true. It's like Charlotte York in SATC... the real optimist who always believe in love - even when she thought she lost it.

Pardon my rant for today. I know I'm going out of tangents here and there, but it's just something that I need to 'let out' :) Ah... I miss those simpler days. But for what it's worth, I learned my lesson and won't lose my faith. I hope it goes the same to you and we all could have our happily-ever-afters one day.


Over and out.

And they lived happily ever after?

A Friday-kind-of-Thursday

It's Thursday, everyone. But it feels like a Friday. Have you ever feel that way? It makes you want to rip your hair out because you WANT it to be Friday (which means weekend is just right around the corner). Kinda sucks, but oh well... only two days to weekend, and I've got my Chai Latte and French Toast for breakfast so I'm full and happy :) Hehehe (Doesn't take much to make me happy, does it?)

Anyway, just a quick update... I did some re-designing of my blog layout last night! I've always wanted to have ruffle-like borders but I didn't know how to do it, until last night when I played around with Photoshop and think of something that might do the trick. And it did! I am so happy on the way it looks! It's not perfect, but at least I'm getting somewhere... I might changed the header as well in the near future, as I'm currently looking for some inspirations.

Haha.. this shows that I'm the type of person who gets bored with things really easily and always wants to find a way to 'spice things up' a little, I guess :P

Last Sunday night, my friends and I went to Long Bar in Pagoda Hotel to watched Meli performed. She is Fang's little sister and she's very talented in music. She's now currently studying contemporary Jazz (I think) in ECU and she sings like an angel! She's the vocalist for WAYJO (Western Australia Youth Jazz Orchestra) and they performed in Long Bar once a month performing Jazz, Swing and Big Band numbers. I'm really into those kind of music so I always enjoyed their performances.

In WAYJO performances, they always have this huge group of swing dancers from various dance clubs around WA. It's kind of cool seeing them dancing to the numbers. Sometimes they have weird movement which makes me want to laugh at them, but most of them are really good in their dancing.

I was just saying to Fang and our other friends, if we were living in the 'Grease' era - this would be what we were doing on weekends - out dancing!! A proper dancing, not like the one in nightclubs. The blokes would dress up and so would the girls. All the glitz and glamour of yesteryear... Ah, what a bliss! I would dress up like what Olivia Newton John did in Grease... will the guys dress up like John Travolta? I leave that up to you!

I've got chills, they're multiplying!

Then we were thinking on how lifestyle in yesteryears are a little bit more cultured than ours now. The guys were (at least I think they were) gentlemen, who will give up their seats for the ladies, who will opened the door, lift their hats off to greet them, and so on and so forth. Instead of getting drunk and going to nightclubs, they go dancing, eat at diners, and drive-in movies. Which I think is really cute. And don't get me started on the dresses!!! They just don't make dresses like they used to, do they? *sigh*

Hmm... Maybe I should do a Grease-themed Costume Party? I think that'll be super fun!

A Friday-kind-of-Thursday

An Easter Holiday

First of all, Happy Easter to all of you! I hope you had a great Easter because I had a fabulous one!

As I stated in my previous posts, some friends and I went down south on Easter holiday. This is actually the first Easter in six or seven years that I spent on holidays with friends. The past six Easters I spent serving in Church - don't get me wrong, it's great! but I just really want to have a holiday with friends and the only time we are able to do that was Easter because everyone is on holidays. So, apologies to Pastor D and Ci Hulda for not being able to be rostered this Easter - but I heard it was a great one so YAY!

We started the road trip on a very fine Friday morning. Woke up early and got picked up by the gank in our fabulous rented Hyundai Imax. To our surprise, the car was huge and spacious. It can fit 8 people easily without squishing anyone and all of our luggage.

As usual, Captain Chrizz has his GPS ready to guide us and Indra as the co-captain of the day. We stopped at Hungry Jack's @ Mandurah for brekkie - which was nice and head off straight to Margaret River.

the whole gank with our super spacious car

We stopped by for lunch at Cape Lavender. Too bad that the lavenders are not in season so only some of them were blooming. I must recommend this restaurant to everyone! Their food are gorgeous. I had their Spicy Squid for entree, Salmon with mashed potato and brocollini as my main and a Lavender Creme Brulee with Raspberry Shiraz as dessert. I gotta tell ya, the salmon is the best one I had so far in my entire life! I also brought home their lavender carbenet jam and lavender tea. Haven't tried them - but I will very very soon!

After lunch we head straight to our apartment. It was gorgeous - a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment with spa. We also have tennis court (half of it though!), swimming pool and barbeque area. We didn't play tennis outdoor since it's only half court - but Indra brought Nintendo Wii and we had fun playing it. Fang knocked Indra out in boxing EVERYTIME! Domestic Violence, Australia Says NO!!!

We basically spent the trip with wine tasting - cheese tasting - eating, drinking and be merry - until our tummy is round and fat. To sum it all, it was very memorable and fun! I felt so relaxed and so at ease it's amazing. On our way back, we visit the famous Bunker Bay Resort - and man, it was gorgeous! it's like something that comes out of a postcard. The beach has white sand with a very very clear blue sea. Very tempted to actually jumped in and played in the sea - however since it's 'private property of the Bunker Bay guests only' and we kind of 'trespassing'. Well technically we had lunch there, so we're guests too I guess :P

we love Bunker Bay!! YEAAAYY.. (look at Chris's pose! *LOL*)

waiting eagerly for my lunch @ Bunker Bay Resort

I can't post too many pics here because we took SO MANY pictures with Indra's fabulous professional photography skills. Liza n Chris also had their so-called pre-prewed photos, if you know what I mean, which turned out beautifully. Well done and thank you, Indra! You could see the pics from the trip in his website: http://www.8round.com/album2.

Now I'm at my office - losing my will to work and wanting more holidays! We're actually planning to go on another road trip around September/October - so I'm searching for good holiday accommodations and booking them now!

So what did you do for Easter? I hope it's as great as mine - or greater even!

Happy Tuesday, everyone... and back to reality... *work, brain! work!!*

***

An Easter Holiday

♪ Spider Pig... Spider Pig ♫

Something happened to me. Something that I have never experienced before - and I would never thought it will happened to me. I got bitten by a spider... A SPIDER!!!!

It was a three-day process for me to figured out that I have been bitten by a spider and this is the chronology of the event...

Day 1
I went home from work on Wednesday, changed my clothes and went straight to a meeting at church. When I went home from that meeting, I found a tiny lump on my left arm - like a mosquito bite. I thought to myself "it's just a mozi bite, should be fine..." completely ignored it, and went to sleep peacefully.

Day 2
As soon as I arrived at the office, I felt that my left arm itched a bit. So, being me - a self-ignorant fool - I scratched it. You know that feeling when you have an itch that's very very itchy and you scratch it? feels so good, right? That's exactly what I was feeling. By afternoon, my whole left arm went red and even more itchy. I spent the whole night trying really hard not to scratch it, but failed!

Day 3
Woke up today, and to my horror, found that my arm was swelling. It was really big, red and VERY itchy. Even more itchy than yesterday. Even my left sleeve couldn't really fit into my left arm since it was really swelling. I still came up to work, however, when my colleagues saw it, they convinced me to book a doctor appointment right away.

Altogether now.... OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny enough, the doctor gasped in the sight of my arm. Was it that horrible??!!! Yes, it was! I was officially a she-hulk. A red she-hulk that is. He said that it was most likely a spider bite, to be precise, a whitetail spider bite. 95% of the bite is harmless, however - to those unlucky 5% - the poison from the spider's venom will 'eat' their muscle slowly and completely ruin it. SCARY!!

He said that I was lucky that I got treated as soon as possible, and that I had quite a strong reaction to the bite. He gave me tablets and creams to heal it. Kindly enough, my boss sent me home early because he was worried and he wants me to get some rest. Pretty much spent Friday night nursing my swollen arm at home.

What bummed me the most was that very Saturday was my friend's wedding. He was a very good friend of mine from college. I have thought about what dress I was going to wear, how I was going to do my hair, which shoes and which accessories I was going to wear - but apparently because of my horrid swollen arm - I had to cancel :(

Fang told me that the wedding was lovely, and knowing our friend - Ace aka Bryan (BRYAN??!! since whennnnn??!!) - is a VERY romantic person, he prepared a surprise firework for his new wife while her favorite song was played on the background. So sweet! I'm so sad I have to miss that...

But anyway, on a more positive note, due to my horrid swollen arm I get to rest the whole day Saturday at home, just being lazy. I'm still expecting symptoms of myself turning into spiderman. Tried the whole 'web throwing with 'metal' hand shape' but didn't work until now. Maybe it took some time for the spider DNA to adjust... However, since i'm a pig (because I love to eat and I do look like one, you know) that makes me not a spiderman... but a spider pig??

♪ Spider Pig, Spider Pig... Does whatever a Spider Pig does... Can she swing from a web? No, she can't. She's a pig. LOOK OUT! She is a Spider Pig ♪

Stupid Homer.

***

♪ Spider Pig... Spider Pig ♫

An unexpected kind gesture

Just a quick update...

You guys remember that post where I said I was 'struggling' with what I have to do in the office because we were short on staff at the moment? Well... as I was working my way through the pile of jobs I have in front of me... My boss, the lovely and funny "CR" walked to my desk and put this in front of me.

"You're doing such a great job..." He said. I was touched. Didn't expect it at all. Not that I really fancy wine or anything - but that was a nice gesture. The wine is from the 'Howling Wolves' Margaret River, and it was a sparkling white shiraz. The bottle was pretty and pinkish-champagne... I wonder whether it taste nice too? NO! no wine for lunch!!!

Well, that made my day so far... but a big PAY RISE will make my day even MORE!

An unexpected kind gesture

Inspire me!

I don't know why but lately I don't have any inspiration on writing on my blog. Why is that so?? I guess that's because nothing's exciting is happening on my life lately. Basically, my life from Monday-Friday is about work - yes, I'm officially a workaholic.

One of my colleagues at work, Alisha, suddenly resigned about three weeks ago - without giving her two weeks notice. She had been working in the company for like 7 or 8 years and I have no idea why she quit. Anyway, by default, her work had been allocated to me and my other colleague, Alison. In the same time, we had another girl starting to work with us as our junior assistant and I'm the one appointed to trained her.

It was a real mess for the first week without Alisha here in the company - she basically runs the workshop and making sure that every job has been done in timely manner by the jewellers. Imagine me and Alison have to process the job, run around chasing it, and train a new person at the same time! It's CRAZY! I didn't go to lunch at the appointed time for like two weeks in a row, and basically exhausted when I got home.

And at this very moment, Alison's on a three-weeks holiday. A well-deserved holiday I say, because she's been working really hard. I was left with the department and the new girl. I was soooooo scared! Because that means I have to Alison's work too for three weeks. I prayed to God on Monday before I went to work... saying please help me and please make it easier in anyway possible. And so far so good, I got most of the jobs I need to get out up until Friday. We will have a training on a new system today so I will pretty much be away from my computer (I guess).

It's funny though... I have this one-year devotional calendar I put on my desk at the office. And for this whole time, all the encouragement words for the day up until today was about COURAGE and asking God for help in times of need. Coincidence? I don't think so :) God's timing is always right and there is NO such thing as coincidence.

Look at the bright side... Despite all the busy-ness of work, I've got more responsibility now. I've got entrusted more than what I used to. With great power comes great responsibilities I guess... and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And I love my job, my colleagues, my boss and the company! So, Praise God for allowing me to work here and to experience all these :)

But for now, let me just say... I am VERY looking forward for Easter holidays since a bunch of us will go away to Margaret River for three days! Note to self: take a lot of pictures and will definitely write about the trip here in the blog. Finally, some inspiration!

Oh hey... I wrote a post. I did.
Being a workaholic can be inspiring too at times, I guess :P

Over and out people.



You know you love me,
xoxo
Gossip Girl
(YES I'M ADDICTED TO THIS SERIES!!!!)

Inspire me!

23 Going 30?

I have just been talking to a friend of mine lately about how our lives has developed over the years without us even realizing it.

It seemed like it's only yesterday when we were at our college years... then uni years... with all the stress of assignments and exams, with all of those glorified day-offs, staying up late at uni to work on ur assignment even though you end chatting in MSN or browsing through Friendster (yeap, Facebook was not even IT at that time), juggling between school and full time job... man, what a life!

And now suddenly you'll find yourself to be almost 24 years old (OK, I admit.. that's only me!) with a bachelor degree and a full time job. You basically don't want to go out and play on weekday nights due to tiredness (I don't even know how to anymore! ahaha), you kinda hate dressing up for some reason, you tend to eat MORE, you love to stay in with a good movie and a homecook meal, you don't have the strength to go out and shop around during weekends (that's a good thing for me!)... to cut the story short - u became a lazy bum :P

Time goes by so quickly, and before you know it, you'll be like... 30. Wait, that's a scary thought! Hahaha. But it's trueee... What if you wake up and realize that you haven't achieved what you want to achieved.. you haven't done what you want to do... you'll never know right?

That's why, I'm compiling a list of things that I want to do before I'm 30. Here goes...

1. Buy a car in 2008 (happening!)
2. Buy a house here in Perth in two years time (if I decide to stay here for a long long long time, that is)
3. To learn Chinese and French
4. Get a tattoo, and yes, I'm serious.
   
5. Visit US at least once more with my friends
6. To adopt another Compassion child - and actually visit them in real life
7. To actually lose those extra pounds on me... for good!
8. To do a culinary course - and master it
9. Own my small business with my best friends
10. Visit Europe with mum and sis
11. To reach that digits in my bank account
12. Maybe... study again?
13. To be able to pay my sister's tuition fee
14. Have a dog here in Perth
15. To climb up that career ladder. I'll get there someday!
16. To actually try out for Australian Idol... I'm just curious about it!
17. Oh... and, to get a boyfriend and get married. HAHAHA. I almost forgot that one!
18. To enjoy every second of your life to the max - that's an ongoing process
19. To be better.. and better.. and better - that's also an ongoing process)
20. To learn piano at same stage. I have a very minimum knowledge of keys and chords it's embarassing
21. To actually stick to this list and crossed it off one by one :P

That is for now I guess... I'm pretty sure that I'll be adding some more to it and when I'm 30, I'll make the list of things to do before I turn... er... 40?

23 Going 30?

Celebrating LOVE

Since it's 14/02/08... I just had to say Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. May your day be filled with love and joy with your loved ones.

To think of it, we should make everyday Valentine's Day. I mean, expressions of love doesn't need to only be shown on a special day. Make an effort to surprise your loved ons with little things, call up your parents in Indo to find out how they are doing and say that you love them, do one act of random kindness everyday, and just be nice to each other :)

After all, we should work like we don't need the money, love like your heart has never been broken and dance like no one's watching.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone~!

Celebrating LOVE

Potato Couch

I'm officially turning into a potato couch.

I am not exaggerating... this is true! Due to excessive amount of brain usage at work, I always came home feeling tired, restless, sleepy, hungry (don't I always?) and most of the time, with headaches. Don't get me wrong, I extremely love what I'm doing, but I'm just tired.

When I was about to go home from work (late. again!) I thought to myself, I needed to relax and unwind. What should I do...? And then my mind shifted and went "Eureka!" when I remembered what's waiting for me at home. These.


Ah... yes! I have a couple of extremely large Mangoes in my fridge. Cool, sweet and yummy. Just what I need. And with a hot green tea with honey and lemon on the side, accompanied with a magazine I just bought, it made my evening unforgettable.

Tomorrow's a new day!

Potato Couch

Girlfriends in God

I subscribed to this daily devotional for women from Crosswalk called "Girlfriends in God". I have them sent everyday to my office email, so before I start the day I will read through it and take it all in.

This one from yesterday was really good... How many times in life that you thought you will be happy when you already achieved something? And when you did, you set yourself another 'goal' and ensure yourself that you will be happy once it's fulfilled... I know I did that sooo many times.

So I just want to share with you, what I believed is very encouraging. I need to work on this as well!

Be happy TODAY and right now! I hope this will bless you as it has blessed me :)

(and while you're at it.. feel free to browse that Crosswalk website and subscribe to a devotional or two! note: The weekly Max Lucado one is really good as well - he's my favorite author!)

***

I have come that they may have life,

and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

Jesus lived and died so that we can experience abundant life! "Abundant" literally means "going beyond; full or exuberant". In other words, life should be saturated - not punctuated - with joy. Yet, we postpone joy.

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another baby. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we get that promotion, when we are able to go on our dream vacation or when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges, dark times and trials. Understand and accept the fact that we live in a broken world but also accept that fact that because God lives, we can choose to be happy anyway. Treasure every moment that you have and remember that time waits for no one.

Stop waiting...
...until your car or home is paid off
...until you get a new car or home
...until your kids leave the house
...until you go back to school
...until you finish school
...until you lose 10 lbs.
...until you gain 10 lbs.
...until you get married
...until you have kids
...until you retire
...until summer
...until spring
...until winter
...until fall
...until you die

"There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Work like you don't need money.

Love like you've never been hurt.

And dance like no one's watching."

Girlfriends in God

I have seen the light!

No, no... this posting is not about The ROCKS's last year Christmas musical which had the same title.

If you have been staying in WA in the month of December, you might know about the fact that WA held an annual Christmas Lights competition for the houses. So basically, what happen is that the houses will be decorated in Christmas lights and what-nots to compete for the best every year. At night, the lights will be on until about 10pm, for people to visit and they can vote online on which house they like the best.

Every year before everyone went back for Christmas holidays, my friends and I always circled around Perth, 'hunting' for those Christmas lights houses. We downloaded a list of the address from a website, and went searching for them. Our survival kit those nights were our maps, because most of the houses are located in the suburbs that we (sometimes) never heard of. So, it's a christmas lights hunting with a twist :P

So, I'm planning to go again this year. My must visit suburb would be Joondalup (which I reckon the best decorated ones!). I already downloaded a list from The West Australian Newspaper for the addresses of the houses. You can get it from the link below, and I also posted some pics I get from The West for your eyes' indulgement :)

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=50412

Aren't they gorgeous? The only thing missing is winter... Yes Australia, keep on dreaming of a white Christmas!

Apart from their beauty, I was just wondering... how much do they spend on electric bills??

I have seen the light!