Escalators don't break down. They turn into stairs.

Eve of 3rd Trimester

2011-06-21T20:07:00.003+08:00

Hello from me and baby!

It's been soooo long since I logged on to blog here. Just a short entry this evening and guess what, I'm blogging from my new macbook pro! :D

And so today marks the eve before I enter 3rd trimester tomorrow. It's the final milestone of our wonderful wonderful journey and the countdown to baby's arrival has started ticking.

This whole pregnancy has been kind to me without any morning sickness (so far!) or any major discomforts except for random fainting spells. Compared to many others, I feel very blessed. And everyday, baby's kicks are getting stronger to let me know she's growing well and healthy for THE day.

D and I also just celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary last Sunday with a staycation at Studio M. Super enjoyable, super fun! :D I can hardly believe it's already 1 year, can you?

Looking forward to many many many more wonderful years with D and baby! Perhaps, the next time I return here to blog, I'll have a photo of our first family photo. :)

Mummy Gina

March - 1/3 way there

2011-03-03T22:16:00.002+08:00

It's been awhile. In a blink of an eye, we are already into the 3rd month of the new year. Even each week is flying by. Just like I cannot fathom how it is Friday again tomorrow.

I don't dread weekends for that matter but weekdays are getting increasingly short, it's almost impossible to get real work done.

Yikes. I have never stopped feeling, since 2007 that I am racing with time. The ticking of the clock threatens me. Tock.

In other news, of cos, March is a blessed month for me cos I will cross a first major milestone in a new phase of my life with Hubs. I still find each day amazing, how life begins, how life grows.

I shall be back by April (if time don't zoom past me any faster) to give a low-down on this special gift of a project. Oh yes, Mum and Alvin turns a year older this month. Time to brainstorm on gifts and birthday dinners.

Till then, I need to catch some good quality restful sleep, like a baby. :)

XoXo

Catechism

2011-02-20T22:02:00.004+08:00

The catechism term for 2011 has begun. Today marks our 2nd lesson for the new term and for this year, I'm in charge of Primary 4H with Raymond and Tim under the guidance of Cindy.

The kids for this batch have been nice thus far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The dynamics within the class is quite balanced out between the boys and the girls. Some a little more chatty, some a little more shy. Some have already slowly warmed up to me which is good for lessson facilitation.

Hubs is running the P5 class this year. I think he is also having a rewarding time so far.

Another 2 weeks to start of an exciting journey. More then!

Start of new work week. I pray for a restful week ahead!

P/s I just got a new chatbox as the previous one was getting hacked, with some stupid Justin Bieber nick asking me to increase traffic for my blog. Friends, tag away. It's just for you. I don't need traffic from elsewhere. :)

XoXo

Happy Bunny New Year!

2011-02-07T00:03:00.000+08:00

It's me again on CNY Day 4! This year of the bunny has been a good one so far, managed to catch up with most of the relatives during the annual holiday and learning new card games like Monopoly Deal! :)

That, is super addictive! I've not felt more excited to get to my cousin's house so that we can start the game! I need to get my hands on my own deck so that I can play it at my own time too.

Also along with the fabulous start of the lunar new year, I am grateful for an equally amazing year of the Tiger which saw me through my key milestones in life. From buying a new place of our own to becoming Mrs Lee to .... Ok, too much info.

In the meantime, I'm busy working on a project and will be back with more details on it in good time. It's very exciting but will take time.

Till then, have a blessed CNY 2011!

:)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gift from Our Lord

2011-01-12T23:02:00.004+08:00

It had been an amazing week thus far! We had the most blessed weekend and received one of the greatest gifts and the beautiful gifts can only continue from here!

Thank you Lord for all the grace and mercy you have shown to both of us.

Continue to guide us in Your love.

Amen!

Miracles

2011-01-12T13:09:00.003+08:00

Stay strong and healthy with me! :)

Bebe

2011-01-03T20:11:00.003+08:00

We really hope you are with us.

Are you, darling? :)

A flashback of 2010

2010-12-31T22:49:00.004+08:00

Okay, I kept to my promise. I told ya I'll be back before the year ends, which is like, in an hour. While I'm waiting for the countdown show to start at 11pm, I thought of posting a short entry to sum up my entire 2010.

In one word, it has been AMAZING!

January

Renovation for our 1st home was in progress. Can't believe that was almost a year ago. Now, we're enjoying ourselves in this nest we built on our own. Hubs and I also celebrated the last CNY that we can officially collect red packets. Hee.

February

Received my long awaited emplacement and celebrated our 4th Valentine's Day. :)

March

Had our wedding photoshoot. Super fun, super tired but it was all worth it. The memory, we will keep close to our hearts for a long long time to come. 3-month countdown to the big day.

April

Got baptised during Easter. Spent my last month with MOF after a good 3 years. Bade farewell to the place but not the many friends I've made during my time there. Thankful for the opportunity given!

May

Started work at CCS. Fabulous place to work at, loving the group of colleagues who have became amazing friends to me over the short course of 8 months.

June

Became Mrs Lee to the bestest husband ever. Happily ever after began from then. :)

July

Went to Brunei for a work trip. First time to Brunei, interesting experience.

August

Singapore turned a year older.

September
Turned a year older. At 24, it is slightly more than 2 decades and considering all I've accomplished and been through, it has been a good 24 years. I thank my parents for bringing me to this world 24 years old.

Also went for our honeymoon in Korea! Wheeee!

October

Passed too quickly!

November

Passed too quickly!

December

Attended the Catechists training session at SJI to get ready for our duty next year. Hubs and I also celebrated our first Christmas together! At the same time, we're working towards building our own family!

I'll get to my 2011 resolutions in a while. For now, happy 2011 to you who have chanced upon my blog. May God's blessings be upon you always.

In the meantime, I wish..

XoXo

Mrs Lee

All I want for Christmas.........

2010-12-24T19:55:00.006+08:00

All I want for Christmas is you.

It's Christmas eve once again! :) Last year this time I was....... awaiting to be welcomed in the big family of the Lees and the bigger family of God.

One year on, I feel so blessed to have enjoyed the last year the way I did. Everything was smooth and blessed, problems found a solution, ideas filled the empty spaces, company filled the loneliness, friends at work filled the mundane routine with joy, family filled my life.

Thank you Father.

This year, I am spending my 1st Christmas in my new house with my husband, in CCS with my new friends, with God as his daughter. And I wish nothing more than this.

The day till now has been nothing lack of fun and laughter. It was half day at work and even during that half day, we were playing games, celebrating and carolling. I enjoyed myself. Left office at 1pm and hoppped down a couple of stations to meet Hubs to head to town for the final lap of shopping. Caught 'Gulliver's Travel', not surprisingly, I fell asleep.

I can't exactly tell you if I were tired or if the movie sucked. Maybe, a combination.

Now, I'm resting my body to get ready for dinner before heading for midnight mass. I have always looked forward to Christmas mass. I love to be surrounded in the congregation of Christmas carols. Love.

My Christmas wish this year is to have a healthy baby by next Christmas. Possibly? We're not betting against anything but we're committed to start our little family soon. Pray for us ok? In the meantime, I've resolved to stop buying new clothes and if I really have to, to cater for additional 'space', and to start saving. Definitely start saving. Our little coin bank we've started for our first child is already filled, we're moving onto the 2nd coin bank. Hehe. I've also started to take supplements to prepare the body for the additional 'responsibility'. Hope everything pans out well.

I've also been doing a bit of reading here and there and have learnt a tremendous lot about family planning. I am also tempted to start a baby blog once the stork comes our way. That would be pretty fun.

Although this Christmas gift from God may not come on Christmas this year, I'll leave it in his hands. When he thinks we're ready, we are ready. And then, you will find some good news on this space. And if anything at all, my family will be the first to share this news!

In the meantime, here's wishing one and all a blessed Christmas and may God's blessings be upon each and every one of you. I'll leave the new year wishes till another entry. I'm certain I'll be blogging before then.

Ta!

Love,

Mummy.wannabe.

Merry Xmas from Mumsy!

2010-12-21T23:34:00.001+08:00

With love, from Mummy. Flown from US.

Thank you.

Jolly Christmas!

2010-12-18T12:01:00.005+08:00

Met up with my dear girls last night for dinner @ Vanilla Cafe and sang our hearts out until close to 2am.

It was such fun! I miss and treasure these moments spent with these ladies whom I practically grew up with. I've known Mel for like, 13 years and counting? Clara for close to 10 and Teresa about 11!

It's truly amazing and I thank God for giving me these ladies I call friend. 2 more are in Oz and I pray that they are having an equally enjoyable Christmas downunder while knowing that they are being truly missed by us!

The food and company was fab yesterday and to top it off, it was a mini birthday celebration for Tree who turns 24 this Sunday!

If you're reading this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREE!

We ordered the dirt cake for her as birthday cake. It looks like a plant but it IS really a cake. The soil is actually hersheys cookies and cream, beneath the 'soil' lies vanilla ice cream and on the 'soil' itself are 2 cute gummy worms.

So cute! But of cos, we paid the price to get to the cafe which is a long story.. but hilarious one that Tree and I will forever have this memory to keep. :)

A brand new Saturday. 1 week before Christmas and I'm heading to town with my dearest hubby for Christmas shopping. Very late Christmas shopping.

It's gonna be such a crowd, I can imagine already. And to top off the evening, we're gonna catch the Crazy Christmas play! I can't wait! :P

Psst, it's our 6th month wedding anniversary tomorrow and we're gonna have a mini celebration at Conrad for lunch. The past 6 months has been nothing but bliss and I thank Him, him(Robin) and our family and friends for that.

Now, the next excitable thing in my life is the big 'O. Not that big 'O' but ovulation.
Hah, I know it sounds bit lame, bit gross but we're anticipating.

Praise the Lord for all good things that has come upon us.

Amen!

Maybe, Baby?

2010-12-15T21:49:00.005+08:00

So.. maybe it's time.. :)

With His grace and mercy, we hope to be welcoming our own soon. I'm not expecting yet, just in case you jump on the wrong note.

We're only starting to plan...so please do not make a huge hoohah over this for nothing.

Lotsa things to do first. To get into the best of health, to STOP buying new clothes, to prep myself for a emotionally (and physically) changing experience.. so many things. I'm really excited.

In the meantime, do stay tuned to this space!

Pray for us.

XoXo
G

December is here and is almost OVER!

2010-12-13T22:29:00.002+08:00

It's already the last month of 2010 and everyday still feels like a huge rush, very unDecember, y'know.

December, to me, should be very quaint and peaceful. Well, not that my life is not peaceful. I am loving and enjoying every split second of my life right now except that my only grouse is that time passes too quickly. We just all seem to be caught in this big hurry.

Ok, I'm gonna stop grumbling since nothing's gonna change that fact.

Moving on. Work's great, Mum and Jacq have landed in US this morning and I can imagine their holiday begin. It must be so exciting to be in Los Angeles at this time of the year, especially if you just got your bonus. Sent them off at the airport yesterday morning and even that makes me happy, although it was really early at 7am.

Anyway, I'm quite determined to go on a long holiday next year. And by long-haul, I mean that the flight must be longer than 6 hours. :) I already told Hubs and he's quite receptive to the idea. Whee! And before that, we have quite a few of our usual short getaways during the first quarter of the year to get us by before the longer break comes along.

Xmas is in another 12 days. I'm mad excited! Not just for Xmas but also the string of events that proceed from Xmas. New Year, Chinese New Year.. This year, we're celebrating these events on a slightly different note. As the first Christmas since we got married, you may be surprised it's not gonna be some expensive dinner 3 months pre-booked, instead I booked us tickets to Crazy Christmas this Saturday and on Xmas' eve, we'll probably spend some quality time together for dinner before heading for Xmas mass. :)

CNY's gonna be different too. The first year to host in our own home, the first year to distribute red packets. I'm estatic to be a part of this with Hubs. :)

Okay, shan't be blogging too long. My cramps nearly killed me today and if I don't take care, it's gonna cause me a sleepless night later. I don't remember having cramps this bad that I had to leave office earlier. I must be getting older. (This sucks)

Okay now, I know the week ahead will just flash by in a blink. Gotta get my act together and adhere to my to-do list.

Nighty night.

Gina

Back!

2010-11-17T21:59:00.002+08:00

I am back! After quite a while - about 3 months?? There were quite a bit of reasons for my being away.
First, my HTML for my blog template screwed up. Hence, it was only viewable on Safari, Morzilla and perhaps Firefox. IE would show a blank screen. I was happily surfing my blog via my iPhone until my sis asked me what on earth happend to my tiny space.

Secondly, I strayed. Not in a bad way but I tried Tumblr for a good 2 months plus. It was a really personal space I maintained for a while and was in fact enjoying it cos nobody knew of that blog and it was only myself so I could afford not to 'sensor' certain stuff and names, compared to a blog that is publicly read (if anyone at all). And you would like to know that I have since deleted the Tumblr account when I got a shock of my life when I discovered someone was following me on my Tumblr.

Creepy and there were too many sensitive issues which I confided in it and I couldn't risk anyone following me. Being the techno-idiot me, I had no friggin clue how to made it private or to attach a password that wasn't breakable, hence the short lifespan of my poor Tumblr.

Oh well. Lots to update since August since my life is never mundane in a good way. I'm not gonna try to update here in one night of cos, that'll take too much of whatever energy I have left for the rest of the week.

Today happens to be the Hari Raya Haji public holiday so it started with sleep-in, late morning, brunch, shopping, movie, shopping, celebration.

The reason for celebration is because other than being a public holiday, today also marks the 25th wedding anniversary of my parents. 25 years ago on this day, they were yam seng-ing away to a life they never knew would unfold on them. In a fabulous way, of course.

Fast forward 25 years later, the kids are all grown up and life is good. I am thankful for my parents' matrimonial, for without which, I would not be sitting here and typing into the cyberspace. Especially now that I am married, the significance of a wedding anniversary resounds with me. Being a newly wed, we do remember our monthly anniversaries with such eagernes and we definitely look forward to our first year of wedding anniversary next June.

In the meantime, our 6-month anniversary is coming in a month's time. Yes, time passes incredulously fast!

Anyway, Robin and I bought Mum and Dad a pair of watches and we hope they like it. Meaning and blessings abound, we hope their love is everlasting and timeless.

Well, at 10.13pm, I gotta call it a day although I suspect I can go on for a while longer. There's a meeting tomorrow morning I needa update at and therefore need a good night's rest. More importantly, my hubby's threatening to turn off the lights and fan where I'm at.

I better run to avoid being caught in pitch darkness.

Will be back soon! Ciao!

4 years and 2 months

2010-08-28T10:44:00.007+08:00

I happened to glance at the calendar back in office yesterday and I realised.

It was 27 August 2010.

Our 'dating' anniversary was every 26 August. By dating standards, we have hit 4 years. And 1 day as of yesterday!

Happy to know we've come so far! :) I never kinda expected myself to be able to be with someone for so long without feeling sick of it. Of cos, my family is exempt from this clause and now, you're my family!

It all feels so surreal, just like yesterday. I wonder if the next 4 years will feel equally fast. What I do know, is that I'm looking forward to more 4 years and each of every day! Wheee!

Happy 4 years and 2 days of being together and thank you for the amazing 70 days since you made me your wife.

Love,
Mrs Lee

(How apt as I was typing this post, our wedding march-in song played in the background. My iPod was on random playlist!)

Short and sweet

2010-08-25T13:03:00.001+08:00

Tumblr?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Email maniac, I am.

2010-08-25T00:08:00.000+08:00

So I was away attending a forum yesterday and when I came into office this morning, I asked one of the staff whom I am supervising, 'So, how was things yesterday? Any urgent matters while I was away?'

She replied, 'It was good! There were lesser emails when you are away.'

Ouch.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ironies

2010-08-20T20:58:00.003+08:00

Life, is full of ironies.

On one hand, I was greeted with a baby blue and pink envelope in the morning by one of the lawayers who handed me a Bengawan Solo baby shower card (to redeem for a cake) and I thought was the start of a lovely day and almost at the same instant when I turned around, my boss told me of a close colleague's miscarriage last night.

My stomach lurched at the news. I couldn't speak.

How could it happen be that when the rest of the world was either preparing for the last day of the week or just having their dinner, my colleague lost her baby.

She would have been 3 months next week and she was looking forward to its arrival next March. I would know cos we would always talk about it during lunch. She hadn't even found out its gender yet and she was excited about it. I feel her loss even though I'm not a mum. I can only pray for her that time makes everything better.

I can't help but wonder.. Here we have people anticipating and looking forward to have babies and crushed when their babies don't make it to full term, yet on the other end of the table, we have people who opt to abort their alive and living babies for various reasons we cannot fathom. I don't really know which is a sader case.

Well, onto other things. It's the last day of the week. I am feeling pretty weary, work's being pretty intense lately. It also doesn't help that I having been staying up to catch the YOG. I really really love the Gymnastics segment. It never fails to bore me. My prizes for guessing where I got my eyebags from.

Saturdays have been given a different meaning 2 weeks ago. In about 13 hours, I will be waiting outside my dental clinic waiting for my turn to be dugged in the root canal. Sigh, the treatment takes like 4 - 5 visits and I'm onto my 3rd tomorrow. Of cos, with each visit, I get less nerves but it doesn't turn it into a trip to Disneyworld either, so yah.

Also received some unexpected good news at work this week. Shan't go into details but I should be able to raise my own child pretty soon. Hehe.. Raising kids in Singapore is expensive as we know it.

Okay, period's here again. Not that I am surprised. It's just nature way of reminding me yet again that I am not gonna be a mum anytime soon.

Time to rest soon. Periods always make me hungry and sleepy.

Oh, and I saw Cheryl Leong on Wednesday and I was sooo happy and excited. I haven't seen that girl in like 2 years? Maybe more? And in that instant when I saw her familiar face again, it felt like we're in school again. What's different is that my husband was beside me. She's now in the Police Force and well, we're like 7 years older than when we left SAC.

Oh, how time flies. Are we enjoying it esp so? I miss her though and everyone else!

Gina

Feast of Assumption / YOG

2010-08-15T20:02:00.004+08:00

Today is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hubs and I made our way to the 11.15am mass as usual and the church was filled to the brim.

It was an interesting mass today for me as I learnt that this Feast, unlike the usual Sundays or the other Days of Obligation is not all about being devotional. It is instead, to rejoice in the fact that like Mary, we can all one day join our Father in heaven one day.

Woohoo!

In the same homily, Fr also addressed the need for respect in our daily interaction with people around us. On a higher level, to possess respect for life. This is also why our faith holds a strong against about abortion, contraception and capital punishment.

At the end of the day, it is all about taking one's life - which is against the very principle of Genesis. Life, as we all know it, is ours to control but do we actually own it?

Some food for thought.

On other news, the inaugural Youth Olympic Games officially opened yesterday. While I haven't been much enthusiastic about the hype leading up to the actual opening yesterday, somehow all excitement and pride came back under my skin when I was watching the opening ceremony last night. I almost had goosebumps, I swear.

I hope Singapore pulls this off, just like we have done so for F1, APEC,S2006, and the many years of magnificent NDPs. This year, it somehow seems like a year for our many performances to take centrestage on these global platforms. Before you know it, just after YOG wraps, we'll be all geared up for F1 again.

But one thing remains though. We're not the strongest when it comes to sports and it may take us many many more youth olympics to get even in the league of the Top 20 but in this world event, this is exactly what the spirit of Olympics is about.

Just like IOC President, Jacques Rogge put it, The games is not about winning, but being a champion. And Singapore is, in so many ways! Even the YOG theme song is so beautiful! I'm not referring to OH YEAH. (Heck, I don't even know the real title of that song, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about).

I'm so proud to be able to witness this whole event in my lifetime. Go, Lyo and Merly!

And to end off this Sunday posy, I think Repo Man is a sick show. I didn't watch it in the movie or anything. Catching snippets of it alone on DVD is enough to make me lose appetite for dinner.

XoXo
Na

Winnie

2010-08-11T22:54:00.005+08:00

I shouldn't be blogging so often but heck, the hair refuses to dry at ultra speed so here I am.

Can't believe it's Thursday already tomorrow.. I still have truckloads of work to do and CDC's next monday. I better get started tomorrow. Hubs is catching this show on AFC again that he dubs as the 'evil show' cos it tempts him so badly with the food they feature.

Speaking of food, I'm putting weight like no one's business. Why am I growing out of my clothes so quickly. There can only be 2 explanations - both of which I loathe equally.

The dress shrunk after one wash. (And for spending $55 on it, I feel so cheated)
I am really putting on weight.

And for the last time, it's not baby weight so quit thinking. Half the time, I find myself justifying my non-preggers status to what seems like the baby watch club on facebook. Hahaha.

How how how can I regain my pre-wedding figure? Le Sigh.

Anyway, on to more interesting stuff. On the train to work this morning, I was standing behind this guy. He was smartly dressed, looks pretty polished (although he was carrying a bagpack) and would seem like any other guy who works in Shenton Way, until....

I saw that he has a winnie the pooh squishy keychain hanging from his bag. HMMMM....

At that instant, the image of a potential funds manager working in Shenton disappeared from my mind and all I saw was him in a winnie the pooh t-shirt hanging out at a Koi bubble tea outlet on a Saturday.

And so I was wondering what makes this characteristic of his possible childishness more dominant than the sleek persona he has presented to me, had I not seen the winnie the pooh. Okay, I know this sounds pretty silly but I somehow have the knack of making something so simple (and okay, silly!) seem pretty complex and mind boggling.

How?

It's as if negative (or should I say, less favourable) traits like childishness, hot-temperedness, clumpsiness and carelessness tend to be more domineering than positive traits like smart, humourous, hardworking etc. And coincidentally, the less favourable traits can only be formed by visually witnessing events that suggest likewise.

I don't have an answer now, basically cos it's 11.06pm and I need to sleep like, soon. But what I can confirm is that, visual impact or characteristics based on visual impression is stronger and tends to be more leading in making certain judgements.

Am I making any sense here?

Okay, I'll sleep on it to see if I'm making any sense or have I just put a poor boy to some unnecessary analysis because of one silly winnie the pooh keychain.

Good night!

Bay- Be or Not to Be?

2010-08-10T21:27:00.010+08:00

Hello, am updating with a half-done root canal. Haha, To be exact, it's probably 1/4 done cos it takes 4 visits to complete the treatment and I'm only done with the first.

It's costing me a bomb but I figured that if I can't even take care of my own well being, how can I take care of my family in future?

Speaking of family, I've always envied young families with kids. It looks so wholesome and always manages to radiates the happiness they are feeling to those around them. And while I thought I have always been ready to have my own, I am now starting to have second thoughts. On hindight, I may have been a little myopic in this aspect, I can just be thankful in a way that we have not decided to embark on this phase of our lives yet.

Since I am pretty free today (didn't bring office laptop home - whoopee!), I shall give you the low-down on why I think being preggers may not necessarily be a good thing for me NOW:

Your new figure.
As much as it may be fun in the first 1-2 months, think about it when you are 7 months into your pregnancy.
I just saw a friend who used to be quite pretty and lean and now at 7 months, she is huge and looking slightly clumpsy. Of cos, she is still quite a pretty mum-to-be, but that's because she is genetically beautiful. Imagine if I had to go through pregnancy, I may scare the daylights out of myself looking in the mirror when I'm all big, fat, whale-ish and ugly. And I'm sure I don't need 7 months to get that gross. 2 months would be 1 month too long. Heh
It's gonna be truly back-breaking.
When you imagine a pregnant woman and you subconsciously place a hand to support your back, that's probably because it's true that they need that support to ease the ache.
Not only do they need to support the weight of the baby, they need to support the additional weight they put on to keep the baby alive in them. Pregnant women put on between 7- 14kg depending on their respective build, while an average baby is only 3kg so imagine how tiring that must be on the back.
Weaker women find themselves perpetually bedbound while working pregnant women find themselves often too tired and weak to go on their everyday. Next time when you know someone pregnant (heavily or not), give her a nice back rub without hurting the lil' one inside. She'll appreciate it. 95% of all pregnant woman find backaches worse than labour pains. (I came up with the stats!). Haha
Clothes.
You may wonder why I listed that as a point. Turn fat just buy la. Right?
Wrong.
If you intend to start a family, you must plan well. You must plan so well that you don't end up buying new clothes up to the last day of your trying for a kid. If done that way, you risk losing all your new clothes and even lingerie f.o.r.e.v.e.r.
Truth be told, very few women (with the exception of Ivy Lee) regain their pre-pregnancy figure and so there's little and almost, zero possibility of you maximising that cute mini skirt you bought 1 month before you turn pregnant if you do not plan well.
Ideally you should stop buying clothes and underwear about 6 months in advance. Even underwear too, cos we know how pregnancy gives you bigger boobs - to feed babies. So if you have a dozen pink polka dotted B75 new bras from Triumph, hurry wear it while you can! Double layer it or something or you can get ready to pack them for Salvation Army. That being said, I'm not ready to ditch my new baby-free clothes for frumpy tops and tees that look like they are about to tear under the belly yet. I never say never, I said, YET.
Your spouse.
Your spouse is an important element in this whole equation, apart from being, well, half of what makes a baby. That aside, he needs to want the whole package. He needs to want the baby and the fact that the family will be expanding and to expect waking up at night to curb your hunger cravings before the lil one is here and to curb the baby's hunger pangs when the little one is born. If anything of the above is done against his will or catches him by surprise (read: accident pregnancies) only the poor baby is gonna suffer. That said, no one is cut out to be a parent from the start so do remember to cut him some slack.
As all family planning book advices, your spouse needs to be mentally mature to handle the pregnancy as well as the impending arrival member into the family. It's never gonna be just you two again and the next time when all members in the family are physically and mentally independent, it'll be 20 years from the time of your labour. I left out emotional maturity intentionally cos no matter at what age, nobody is mature emotionally. Period.
That said, your spouse also needs to be very giving during the 13 months (9 pre-labour + 4 post labour) to ensure that you do not lapse into some sort of depression because he refuses to get you the famous durian penyat at 4am.
We'll admit it, even though I've never been pregnant but a lot of times, pregnant mummies don't expect their hubbies to drop their sleep and drive to Geylang to buy porridge, they just want your indulgence in them, any kind. Even if it's a cup of effervescent from the kitchen, to let them know they are not forgotten and just treated as a birth-giving machine.
It's not just food, sometimes pregnant women may have to rest 5 times to walk from Tampines NTUC to the lift that brings you to the carpark and your hubby cannot make a face that shows that he is irritated. That's being giving.
Travel Plans.
Ensure that you have a good travel plan before you turn anymore than 5 months. Have a good break, buy some baby clothes and supplies overseas, enjoy the last moment of couplehood before a new member comes along and messes up your day and night.
A good travel plan should consist of a destination that is somewhere at least 5 hours away from Singapore, so KL, JB and Sentosa do not count unless the point about resting 5 times between NTUC and the lift holds true, but still husbands should endeavour to give your baby mummies a good pre-labour holiday.
You want the mum to be relaxed, not to be stressed by traffic congestion. Take lots of photos since that's the probably the last time your world will evolve only around each other.
Do not, ever invite friends, family, relatives along on this sacred holiday. You will see a lot of them, on a very high frequency once your little one grace the face of the world, so don't worry about not giving them enough time.
Time.
Your time will be split into many many parts and there will be no such thing as me-time anymore unless you count the time when you are pooping. Even then, you are on ever-ready standby to jump into action when the baby cries. That's when the kid is out.
Even before the kid is out, everyone you ever know in your life will want to meet you, touch your tummy, take narcissistic photos with you, tweet about you, congratulate you, have dinner with you to find out how much preggers women can actually eat and see how much you have actually put on since your last meeting. Worse still, since your wedding if it's not too long ago and think "Oh, luckily not me". Sad but true.
You will not have any time for yourself unless when you are pooping. So, the principle remains the same.

Ta-dah. I think that makes a pretty decent list of 6, although lucky 7 would be good but until I think of something new, that shall be it. Now that I look back at the list, I realised I am very concerned about all the above! Particularly, points 1, 2 and 4 scare me to no end.

Anyway, the entry suddenly made me feel so enlighteneted, I feel like writing a book for mums-to-be. Haha, all that being married for only a month and a half. I think I'm a natural at such advice. Hohoho.

So to all hopefuls, sorry but it'll be quite awhile till you meet Baby Lee. For now, I'll just do with the occasional shopping at Mothercare - their baby girl leggings and bodysuits are the CUTEST!! But that's about it. Half the time, I'm more wondering if they could do the same design for my size.. and not that I'm eyeing some potential kids clothes for my future offspring. Heh, and until something happends, it's just us! :) Be grateful, I know we scare you enough already. Haha

Root Canal Treatment. Ouch

2010-08-06T17:36:00.004+08:00

My suspicion was right. It's a &%$($^(@@!!!&#^%* root canal.

Thank you very much.

I have a hate-HATE relationship with all kinds of canals in case you were wondering. Not only does it cause me pain, it costs me. Literally. Now, I have to meet Dr Sng for the next 8 weeks to get that shit repaired. Grr. And that's gonna set me back around 1.4k. GRRR. Could put that to so much use at Seoul.

Anyway, the worst part of the treatment was not the drilling, injection or poking. It was when it ended. I tried to sit up but couldn't feel my hands. When I managed to get an inkling that my hands were still here and sat up, I felt so woozy, I think I was about to faint. I asked Dr Sng, :" Is it your local anasthetic? My hands are numb. I can't hold the cup to rinse my mouth."

He says, "No, it's not normal. You must be too cold."

I almost thought I couldn't make it back without fainting but thank God I did. Now I have something additional in my mouth and it tastes and smell of nothing but dental clinics.

Sigh, at least the actual treatment wasn't so bad. I'm going to begin my weekend soon, starting with dinner with my hubby, who will probably flip when I tell him the cost of the root canal treatment.

Just wait and see.

Okay peeps. Gotta go..

Na

Ouch

2010-08-06T17:11:00.000+08:00

Once again, I am reminded of what I cannot have - for now.

Ouch.

Long weekend ahead, I fear.

2010-08-05T22:34:00.003+08:00

It's a long weekend ahead. And instead of feeling excited, I am feeling somewhat apprehensive. Not because I'm getting all emo or anything due to PMS but because I'm gonna visit my dentist tomorrow. :( :( :(

And that's definitely not on top of my LIKE list. In fact, I hate visiting the dentist. Hate and unless I have no choice, you won't catch me there.

So I guess it's pretty obvious by now that well, it's between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Made the appointment yesterday and was lucky enough to be able to get a slot for tomorrow cos this way, I'll have a long time to recover by the time I return back to work on Tuesday. There's this nigging pain in my jaws and I'm pretty much prepared for the worst. It's either a wisdom tooth, root canal or some shit decaying. Hate stuff like this. Why can't teeth be just teeth? Urgh. The best part is that such dental treatments are nothing cheap. Gah, for now, I'll just pray to survive the visit. After this visit, I should be geared up for childbirth already. Hah!

Anyway, it is also timely since hubby and I are heading to Korea next month and the worst thing to happen is for the pain to act up then. So I'm not taking any chances! Shall grit and bear with it.

In other matters... (let me think what else is there. too traumatised by the thought of the dental visit).

Oh yah, long weekend ahead. Oh, hooray.

Okay, next.

And, Clara has officially made me very excited about my impending honeymoon cos she was gushing about all the shopworthy places and all buyworthy things - which in a nutshell is, everything . I can't wait!!! Woohoo! :)

Ally also called me today during dinner and we chat a lil' about our Europe trip in March 2011. I can't wait for this either. Will be spending a good 10 days in Europe. Paris, here I come! :)

Okay, I have decided to go catch some rest. Oh yes, hubs and I have also started a 'Maclaren fund' for our future baby. Hahah! More on that when we reach our target, hopefully that's also when our first kid will be born. For those who aren't familiar, Maclaren is a brand of baby stroller which can come up to thousands for the super comfy range, so we're saving up. Haha, but if anyone wanna sponsor even better, call me! Heh.

Oh yah, I have also just tried blogging with my iPhone! Fantabulous! Now, I can blog on the go! Also downloaded Whatsapp and sent Clara something like 3 mins ago, why am I not hearing anything from her? Am I doing it right?? Hmmm..

Okay, I really have to go, although I suspect I can keep on blogging if I'm not working tomorrow and if I'm not too affected by the impending dental visit. Ahh, I just got reminded of it again.

Nights world. Pray for me! :( Lord have mercy!

Na

Test

2010-08-05T22:29:00.002+08:00

Testing!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Blessed are you.

2010-07-25T22:35:00.002+08:00

I have had a restful and enjoyable weekend. Increasingly I realised a fab weekend doesn't have to involve a trip to RWS or even town, but just spending it with people you hold close to your heart, people you call family! :)

Anyway, we celebrated Dad-in-Law's 60th birthday yesterday in advance. His actual birthday is not until 1st week of August but Sylvia's gonna be out of town for work, hence we decided to bring it forward to celebrate for him. We had dinner at Tung Lok with all the uncles and aunties. With each gathering with the relatives, I find out more about them and as a result grow closer to this extended family. And I feel blessed to be part of this extended family.

Mum-in-Law's 60th is not till 2 years later so we have enough time to plan for the next one by then. *Hopefully* there'll be at least 2 more members to join us for the celebration in 2012 - Sylvia's other half and a little tot. :)

After dinner ended, dear and I headed to catch The Socerer's Apprentice. It was okay, I guess. I got pretty tired by the time the movie started at 10am so was having difficulties concentrating. The dim lights and felt couch was getting a little too tempting not to snooze. Hehe. Plus, it's not like Nicholas Cage gets me all excited or something. He's no Will Schuester. :)

Oh yes, have I mentioned that Wai and Stewart dropped by on Friday night itself to pass us our wedding photos and videos? It's BEAUTIFULLY taken! I have since showed it to my parents, my in-laws and the uncles and aunties during Dad-in-Law's birthday dinner. Everyone had rave reviews about it. If you're even readin this, thanks Wai and Stewart!

And while I was secretly surprised at myself for not turning into a merlion on my own wedding day, being overwhelmed by emotions, I was surprised to find myself suddenly crying when I was watching the full version of the actual wedding day - from morning 6am to gatecrashing to church wedding to tea ceremony to hotel check-in to wedding banquet. All of it. It just hit me hard and I felt super touched and blessed. I guess, during the wedding, everyone was asking you to do this, look here, pose that, you get too caught up in the busy-ness. Now that all has settled down, I'm reminded of that beautiful day and all the lovely people who came to grace the event with me.

The only problem with it now is that there are more than 1200 pictures in softcopy to upload and I'll be needing a bit of time on that. I've started here and there since Fri night but I've probably only got 80 pictures up so far. That's not even 10%. Hahaha. That's also because the photos are huge in its size, given its quality. Be patient, ya.

Today was an equally beautiful day. Woke up and headed for 11.15am mass. Coincidentally, they were presenting bibles to the RCIA inquirers of 2010 / 2011 during mass. Has it been a year already? I could still remember sitting there sometime last year. Here I am, forming part of the congregation, receiving communion. Life is truly amazing. And the gospel reading today further touched me, esp the verse from Luke - 'Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened to you.'

This is twice in a row I heard God speaking to me. Last week too. I was praying for a certain something and he spoke to me through one of the readings. Tears welled in my eyes but it was happy tears cos I know he's listening and he loves me. :)

Ended my Sunday by returning home for dinner with my folks and sending Al to Pasir Ris to book in. I enjoy this weekly routine cos I don't feel too out of touch with my close ones.

Okay, my hubby has just finished his DVD and is asking me to bed. Yawn, it's about time to wrap up this eventful weekend too. Time to look forward to a brand new week of work.

Nights all. God Bless.

TREES should be standing, not fallen.

2010-07-22T22:04:00.005+08:00

The local news in the last 2 weeks have been dominated by 2 main headlines - falling trees and charities being, well, uncharitable.

I'm not even gonna try to go into the 2nd topic, so let's discuss the former.

Trees.

A part of our national landscape which we pride ourselves by, used to beautify our otherwise barren scenery, and of cos, to seek shelter from rain, shine and wind. This species of somewhat harmless looking plant from all around the island has suddenly seemed to become angry and turned its back against us, literally by uprooting and falling. And in the past 2 weeks, causing some casualties and even unnecessary death.

And because of this, I am constantly worried for hubbs. Always reminding him to drive carefully and if possible, to stay away from places with too many trees. Which, I realised is impossible with reference to our sunny island.

Let's hope the rain clears up soon, because if not, I would have to seriously scout for some pretty trenchcoat and classy rainboots to get to work. And more importantly, so that the soil beneath that holds our many trees will not continue to erode, causing more trees to fall, endangering our loved ones.

Okay, that's all I have for today. Have had a long day out at course before heading back to office to clear work and then having hubbs pick me up for dinn.

And it's also the first day of my immensely heavy period. Nature's way of reminding me and the 200++ friends I have on Facebook that I am NOT preggers.

Cramps almost killed me today. Ouch.

Time for bed. I can't believe it's Friday tomorrow. Dad-in-Law's 60th birthday celebration coming up this Sat. :) The BEST gift will definitely have to wait, for now, let me crack my brain on the next best gift.

2010-07-19T21:59:00.003+08:00

We have reached our one month. :)

It has been a most rewarding period for both of us and our families. I definitely look forward to more 'one months!'

To celebrate our mini month-sary, hubby and I headed to the 'most-logical' place for dinner earlier. Where else, but Crowne Plaza! Since we held our wedding there exactly a month ago and that we stayed 2 nights at the hotel following the wedding.

Okay la, besides that, it's also the merits of easy parking, availability of lots, location of airport near our home, shops to walk after dinner.. In a nutshell, it was superb dinner with good company. :)

I haven't received the photos from my photographers yet cos lots of people were getting married in June but it should be sometime this week and I can't wait to get my hands on them.

Okay, gotta run now. There's this interesting show on Octo now.

And sometimes, the suspense is so motivating. :)

XoXo

Mrs Lee

Brunei

2010-07-06T00:52:00.003+08:00

Aye, I am now blogging from the land of Brunei. Am here for the conference for 4 days. My first time in Brunei and am pleasantly surprised with a lot of things here, from the reception, to the service to the smattering English that they speak. Although one drawback is that I have to constantly remind myself that prices are NOT to be divided by 2.33 (a la Malaysian RM). Hahaha.

And because it's SGD$1 for B$1, everything's pretty much the same price.

And... I am starting to miss home and my husband. :( I wonder if he misses me.... Hehe

Watched Knight and Day for a 2nd time just now (watched once in Sg last last week), but still was fun catching the movie with my bosses and colleagues overseas after a nice dinner.

Am looking forward to catch Salt. The trailer looks good and timely enough with the recent reports on the spies nabbed in US.

Oh yes, heartiest congrats to Ryan and Laura on the addition of their son, Leonidas. I haven't seen Laura since she got heavily preggers but Ryan's photos on fb make me go, "aaawwwwwwwww!"

Babies never make me realise how life-giving we actually are, somewhat like Jesus. I see babies around and I get all envious and warm inside although I know sometimes, we're not ready for one anytime soon.

Having said that, I still do look forward to holding one in my arms one day, but I leave it to Him to decide when's a good time to bless us with a little gift.

Okay, am expecting a long day tomorrow for Day 2. Shall sleep soon since it's already 1am.

Nights and pray for my safe return. Loves!

XoXo

It's been so long!

2010-07-03T01:06:00.004+08:00

I seriously have to find time to blog. I have so much to blog about!

But for now, I need to pack for my Brunei work trip! Talk soon and stay tuned! :)

Saturday!

2010-06-13T21:52:00.003+08:00

It's this coming Saturday!

The day, we've been planning, hoping, wishing and praying for the last year and beyond. It has been tiring and may have resulted in several disagreements here and there but I'm glad, we're inching nearer, closer to the end of the planning and to make our dream a reality.

It still feels so surreal, yet I am ready to embark on this journey.

I am looking forward to:

Having our Father consecrate our marriage, in the witness of my family and relatives.
Having Robin slip the ring down my ring finger as we exchange our vows.
Watching my bridesmaids have some good fun with the gatecrashing segment.
Getting fussed around like a really important person for one night.
Seeing all my family, relatives, good friends, ex-colleagues, current colleagues come together on this wonderful night to share our joy.

Ready or not, here I come!

Pray for me, please.

Will blog about my hen party in another entry. I love my girls so much!

Gina

Blessings...

2010-05-24T22:13:00.008+08:00

Today is 24 May 2010.

It is less than 5 days to shifting house;

less than 15 days to Guo Da Li;

less than 20 days to church rehearsal;

less than 30 days to being Mrs Lee.

Exciting or scary?

Looking at my church friends, all 3 of them who have gotten married in the last 2 weeks make the whole countdown seem so surreal. 1 year ago, we were all gushing about that day this year. I wonder how theirs went, can't wait for photos. Hehe. Anyway, it's already been one year, who's even keeping track? And in a flash, all 3 couples have entered into the holy sacrament of marriage and already gone on their honeymoons. I'm next!

Hmmm.. to sidetrack. I am contemplating getting my mum a new laptop. She says she wants to get her own facebook account to stay in touch since I won't be home so often from next week. So cute right? Laptops these days are getting affordable; my only concern is they are also getting smaller and my mum's eyesight is probably not the best.

Hahaha, I shall continue to see if there are nice models over the weekend if I'm not too bugged down by the shifting and the wedding preps.

Speaking of which, I have SO MUCH to do. Sigh, sigh. Whenever I feel super bogged down, I just close my eyes and imagine waking up the morning after the wedding, and I feel lighter and relieved already.

And onto happier things, we met our wedding planner again on Saturday to do a final confirmation of details before the Big Day. We have since settled and confirmed the wedding theme, colour scheme and wedding favours. Really happy with the favours we have selected, shan't divulge too much details, lest ruining the suprise for you all.

Ally's coming back in a week's time too! Her boys are so big now.

It's a short week ahead, Lots to catch up in terms of work and preps. It's gonna be a stressful 26 days ahead. Stay with me.

XoXo,
Na

30-day countdown!

2010-05-20T23:08:00.002+08:00

Yesterday marks the 30-day countdown to the big day. omg,omg,omg!

Okay, now that I am done hyperventilating, let's get back to business. We have pretttty much covered all the things that need to be done.

We are meeting our wedding planner this Sat for a last finalisation of details before the wedding. Will be selecting our favours, themes, decors, cake for the event! :) Photo layout from the wedding album have also reached us. Thanks Claire! They are really beautiful! We loved it a lot but of cos, I won't be uploading anything until the wedding. For those who are invited, you all can simply check out the album on the actual day. For the rest, I will upload it hopefully, once I have rested enough! Haha

Hmm, workwise. I'm doing well. I like the people in this new place. (I hope the feeling's mutual, hehe) but of cos with any new job, there's bound to be a learning curve and I am glad to have patient colleagues and boss. :)

I am also done with my wedding booklet, hooray to that! Just need to get it printed soon. Yay! So happy cos this took many of my nights. My eyebags are now as black as tuantuan and yuanyuan. Really.

The guardian eyemasks for eyebags are not really working, dammit.

Okay, tomorrow is Friday again. My final weekend in my parents house before I officially shift to my own in the next week. :) Excited but sad to say, I've barely packed. I WILL endeavour to do something productive this weekend.

1 weekend down, 4 more to go. tick-tock. Soon, I'll be Mrs Lee. Mummy Lee soon? Hahaha. I kid.

Alright, that's all for now. I have got to recover on lost sleep.

Note to self:
- draft out a final 30-day countdown timeline
- draft out AD schedule
- check on bridesmaids
- assign guests to tables
- entrance music - DECIDE
- rest and sleep more

Ok, nights world.

Wedding Bell(e)s

2010-05-12T22:41:00.003+08:00

So it's been 3 weeks since I went to City Hall 5 days a week. These days, I stay on 2 more stops to my new office.

I'm into my 2nd week and I'm still alive! -throws confetti-

Hahaha, well, I could really get used to liking it around here. I shan't jinx it by speaking of it too soon, so perhaps I'll review it in another couple of months' time. At the very least, the people here are super warm and friendly. I never felt like an odd one one being the newbie on the block. :)

And before we know, we're into mid May. A couple of my church friends are getting married this week, next week and the next, all the way leading to my wedding, and then there are somemore. Everyone loves a May / June wedding eh? Feeling super excited for them and at the same time, reminded of my own nuptials in a month's time.

Ok, right now. It feels as if a meteor slammed into me as I realised how much I need to catch up on my wedding mass booklet and I am going to end very abruptly here to continue on my nuptial rites on my booklet.

Gina, you can do it.

Nights babes :)

See ya in June

2010-04-30T23:24:00.006+08:00

Today marks my last day in MOF, after a good whole 3 years. Having a track record for being extremely emo on my last day, I expected myself to burst the flood gates with tears.

I had cried previously when I ended a 3- month temp assignment. That, was embarrassing. But I guess that's me. I grow attached to people too easily and often, the thought of not being able to see these people again is what gets me all sad and triggers the tears.

I think, with age, I have matured and able to see things from a different perspective. My resignation from the organization does not mean my resignation from the friendship I have built. In fact, it should be even stronger now that we don't see each other on a daily basis. I've learnt, that it's never goodbye if we continue to keep in touch.

With that thought and believe, I am so proud of myself. I didn't cry. :)

The cupcakes which I ordered online for the colleagues in Performance Group

Cute right? You won't believe who I ordered from.

Clue: A MTV celeb.

The team got me lots of gifts. One of which is this Juicy Couture box which I was asked to open and show everyone. :)

And for lunch, this amazing team of P&O friends brought me out to Riciotti - this italian restaurant at Riverwalk. Thank you guys!

Top Row (L to R): Rick, Teng Teng, Bern, Wee Min

Bottom (L to R): Jing Ying, Me, Yee Sze

And of cos, my HR team!

L to R: Kelly, Me, Bern, Petrina, Yuh Tze, Larry-the-intern, Joanne, Anne, Doris

And in this photo, are my ultimate best friends (bunny and Mao Mi included) at work. I'll definitely miss them. :(

The weekend up ahead shall be one that is restful while at the same time, purposeful and meaningful. I have mass booklets to do up, cards to send to invited guests and getting myself prep up for a new appointment soon.

It's May already. How fast time flies. I look forward to the end of the month cos that's when I move in to my new place officially. :)

Yet at the same time, I'm nervous. End May means start of June. June means wedding. Wedding means preps, lots which are still in progress. Okay, before I start freaking out and inevitably freak you out, I'm out for the day. Retreating for some ME time, gonna finish my Twenties Girl, finally. :)

Okay, bye April. Hello May.

Father, thank you for making everyday perfect with your love.

XoXo

2 month countdown!

2010-04-20T22:29:00.005+08:00

Oh no! I'm one day late. I actually made a mental note to conscientiously blog every 19th of the month so that I can track my monthly countdown to the wedding! Guess my mental note kinda slip my mind.

Oh well, as of yesterday, we're at the last 2nd month before we slip on the wedding bands on each other's fourth finger and as of today, it's the 60th day countdown.

I'm super excited and majorly anxious. I don't know how things will turn out. I have high hopes and zero expectations so that whatever that pans out will still make it a great event for us and our family and guests to remember. :)

So far, we have collected our cards, arranged for our food tasting as well as arranged to meet with our church wedding planner in the next couple of days. Hopefully all things will fall into place nicely. Work has also been okay of late because I'm preparing and handing over of all the projects and work by this week. It's kinda like my last week of work since I will be on leave most of next week and back again on 30th to handover the final admin stuff and then, I'm off! :)

Off to a brand new start.

Please keep me in your prayers that everything goes smoothly. My decision to leave, is a gamble and a risk. Many say, changing jobs at this phase of my life when I'm going through one of life's greatest events is going to cause major disruptions and make me more busy in addition to the wedding preps but deep down, I know, things don't happen for no good reason.

This is the plan He has for me because He has heard my prayers and I embrace it fully. I know too, that if I never take a first step, I never will. I am thankful for the wonderful opportunity to be where I am currently and where I will be in time to come, and more importantly for the grace which He has shown to me through these beautiful ways.

Of cos, I will leave this amazing place with fond memories and one of the many things I take away with me are the many many great friendships which I have fostered over my last 3 years. These people I have bonded with are like my family outside of home. I am not joking when I say I see them more than I see my own family and you never leave your family, even though you are not with them physically. I bring their friendship with me, wherever I may be and I look forward to June when we are all gathered again to celebrate my holy matrimony.

Life is hugely amazing. Just as Jesus has given us life. Someday, I hope to be blessed to be a giver of life too, to bear fruits from our marriage and to bring additions to form a family. That, we will continue to fervently pray for.

In the meantime, I pray for a smooth countdown to the Big Day and that everything will go well for me in my new appointment.

Will blog again soon when I get some time, hopefully by the next 19th. Time, these days are passing in the speed of light. Yikes.

G'night world.

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T01:26:00.005+08:00

Christine, I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Easter 2010

3 April

Father Edward annoiting me with chrism for the sacrament of Confirmation

With Father Albert

Hubby and Me

Sarah, Samantha, Maine, Alicia, Me

Lovely bouquet from godparents

Happy Easter and may God bless all of you. :)

XoXo

Christine

Rounding up of Shalom 2009 / 2010

2010-04-02T22:57:00.006+08:00

Tomorrow is Holy Saturday, which also marks the day of my new 'birthday' where I will be reborn in Christ.

I will be baptised. :)

In a flash, the 1-year RCIA programme has come to an end. Through the past year, I have definitely grown a lot in the faith department through learning more about Christ our Lord, getting to know many new friends and also managed to bring my fiance back to church on a regular basis instead of being just a Sunday catholic. For all these opportunites and blessings, I am just so so so grateful.
And tomorrow, I will be called to his Supper. I am definitely excited at the thought of it and with the upcoming baptism, there are also several people I would like to thank on this little space of mine for making it a meaningful and fulfilling spiritual journey.

God, for calling me.
John 15: 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you
Robin, for being my spiritual sponsor this last 1 year and for being with me through it all. The weekly Tuesday lessons may be a challenge with both our busy schedules but you have never made me felt like I was imposing on your time. You even made arrangements on several occasions, pushing off appointments with friends and colleagues so that you could attend the lessons with me. May we continue to be Christ to each other in our marriage.
Auntie Julie, for being my godparent in this journey. To guide me and steer me in the right direction as a very young and new member of the Catholic community. I look forward to learning more from you and joining your family soon.
My Daddy and Mummy, for always being so encouraging when it came to matters of faith. Although both of you were of a different religion, not once did you stop me from pursuing what I wanted but instead, provided support and strength on many levels, in good times and bad.
Uncle Jason, for always accompanying Auntie Julie for the rehearsals and lessons where she had to attend as my godparent. Your presence there also made me feel loved and supported in this journey.
RCIA facilitators - Stephanie, Florence, Alfie, Eddie and many more, for helping to make the Shalom 09/10 journey a meaningful one for all of us. While you all have your own day jobs to manage, you still make efforts and sometimes go to lengths to prepare class materials and slides for our weekly lessons as well as to coordinate church visits and outings. Your love for us is made perfect in Him.
RCIA friend - Alicia, for being such a wonderful friend. Even though we met you later than the rest, we have gotten closer in a much shorter time. Thanks for all the help you have offered for our coming wedding, from the sourcing of hymn books to agreeing for Maine to be the flower girl. You're a great friend.
RCIA friend - Naveen and Edwin, you both have been an amazing couple inspiring us with your sharing and the occasional light-hearted moments. Your new addition, Gloria has also brought us much joy and is a further testament to how much He loves all of us through the way he has made us.
RCIA friend - Chris and May, such a joy to have around. A great team leader too, Chris! Thank you for the times where you opened your hearts to share with us on your experiences and the time when you showed us your generosity through the time when you made the candles on our behalf for the appreciation session.
Willie and Julie, for remembering and praying for me always. Although we do not meet each other on a regular basis, your love and concern is still deeply felt. Thank you for caring. The baptism card which you sent has greatly touched me, just knowing that you care.
Bernadette, for being a sister-in-Christ to me. For the support which you have provided in times when I was weak and the fellowship sessions which you have generously extended to me. Thank you for the baptism card and the care which you have shown to me all these time.

I hope I have not left anyone out of the list. There are definitely more people than those listed above who have made this happen.

I end tonight's entry with a grateful heart. For the many blessings which I have received in the last 23 years of my life as well as some of the good tidings which I have received in the last 2 weeks. There had been some difficult decisions to make but they were all well informed ones which I hope I will not look back and regret. I know and heard your support in my decision and I will continue to shine in my next posting with your grace.

All I can say now is, Amen! :)

Decisions!

2010-03-26T23:51:00.004+08:00

Next week will be the final week of March. How fast is that! Then ... April, May, June. Whoosh!

Well, now that we're done with the big ticket items - photoshoot, gown fittings, invitation cards designing, I must finally get started on my mass booklets for my church wedding and stop procrastinating about it.

Remember when I was talking about choices in my previous entries? Well, I was really given the privilege of choice this time and although it is obvious to make, it is going to be rather difficult. Shan't go into too much details now since it's too preliminary, more on that next week. I just hope the obvious choice is the right choice.

Anyway, the weekend's finally here! :) Lift up your spirits as we embark on our weekly (and well deserved) break and lift them up to the Lord as we remember to thank Him for all the grace which He has shown us during the past week. All the prayers which he has heard and answered. All the gifts in the form of helpful and loving people which He has sent our way.

As we approach Easter during this Lenten season, let us reflect on the 40 days he spent in the desert as well as what he went through during the 14 stations en route to Calvary.

Baptism is in a week's time. As I look back on this wonderful journey, I feel that I have matured quite a bit in the faith department but yet, all of us are still weak in spirit. Baptism is to help us become more spiritually connected with the Church and Him as one and I am looking forward to Holy Saturday. The journey for most of us has in fact, just begun. I am already thinking of some of the ministries I will be keen to serve in.

Alright now, I have to go continue on my Sophie Kinsella book already. Need some ME time.

Nights world.

p/s I love my hubby cos he watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid with me without complaining! :) I have asked him to guest blog here one day. Do watch out this space for it!

Wedding Photoshoot

2010-03-24T22:36:00.010+08:00

Hello everybody!

We went for our photoshoot todayyyyy!! And thanks to those who prayed for us as well as the grace of God, the weather was PERFECT. Haven't seen the sun shine like that for a while now. :)

To be honest, the entire process wasn't as tiring (and harrowing) as I have heard of photoshoots to be. Perhaps I expected worst, that's why. But in true essence, I enjoyed EVERY bit of this process. Those who are going to get married soon, you may cast all your fears aside. Maybe it's the closet camwhore in me and the fantastic team of wedding planner, photographer and make-up artist that I have been blessed with, but what I can tell you is that this is definitely a milestone in our whole wedding preparations. Those who are married, tell me if you agree with me.

So the entire photoshoot was taken in the indooor studio as well as 3 outdoor venues. In all, I had at least 5 different looks on (all super pretty thanks to Regina) and a change of 3 different outfits!

Photos will be ready in a week's time. Hugely excited to see Wai's works which I am very confident of. The few pictures of us which I sneaked a peep at earlier seemed already picture perfect. Nonetheless, I'll leave it to his wonder hands to make the pictures look even more beautiful than they already are. For those who are attending the banquet, you will get to see all the photos on the actual day. For those who are not, I'll upload them after the wedding once I find the time okie? :)

Some snapshots of today...

Me getting ready as Robin snapped.

Hubby and I!

Well, in other happy matters, I received a good news today which has gotten me all excited and starting to plan a bit. Hmmmm. more on that in time to come.

Oh well, that's all for now I guess. There's still work tomorrow.

87 days to Mrs Lee

XoXo

Thank you JC for the beautiful day and all that is to come.

Of Babies, Mumsies, Hopes and Sophie Kinsella

2010-03-19T22:58:00.008+08:00

Yay, first blog post from my new netbook. :)

If you haven't heard, I bought a new Samsung netbook for our new house. We may just get another netbook in time to come, since it's totally not worth it to get an external hard drive when the prices are so exorbitant and you basically can't run it without a laptop. Plus, netbooks are so affordable these days, 2 for a family is about right. :)

Managed to download iTunes on the netbook over the last couple of days and have managed to sync photos from my other laptop to my netbook. Also managed to sync some CDs and songs to my iPhone. Was a gadgety week. Hahah

Okay, on to less digital stuff. Pei Yin popped this morning! To a beautiful baby girl called Tricia. :) Dear told me this morning via email and right at the moment, I was so shocked but extremely happy for them too. Shock because Baby Tricia came about 3 weeks earlier than expected. I can totally imagine how CS got into Operation B(aby) at the very instant and drove his wife to Mount A. Hahaha. While all of us were all getting ready to head to work for the last day this week, one of our friends experienced one of the most amazing thing in Life.

She gave Life. She became a Mum.

The thought of it makes me go.. Awww. When Dear and I visited the couple this evening at the hospital, there was even more awww moments. The baby was so precious, wrapped up in her white little blanket, oblivious to the whole world who's gooing and gaaing at her, while she stretched and went back to sleep. Must be tiring to get born out to this world. Hahaha

Well, Pei Yin looked great even though she just gave birth hours ago. CS looked super shagged though. The new dad should get some good rest cos once the baby goes home this Sunday, it's gonna be a total ball game altogether. Haha. Looking forward to their baby shower soon. On the other end of Singapore, we have XH who's also due to deliver in April. They were actually a week apart in terms of EDD but Pei Yin delivered early so I guess XH is just counting down to meeting her princess too.

If I say I weren't envious when I saw the munchkins on her little (what do you call that?) plastic bed that the nurses put her on and wheel into the mum's ward, I'd be totally lying. For me, the mere thought of being able to give life to another being still pretty much have me in awe. Such an amazing job, no wonder how tiring and sometimes thankless it gets, Mums seldom complain. Kudos to all mums and mums-to-be out there. Everyday should be Mother's Day!

Going for church retreat whole of tomorrow and a good half of Sunday and our wedding photoshoot is scheduled for next Wed. We've been experiencing super wet weather of late which is SO NOT El Nino if you ask me. Isn't it supposed to be super hot? What happened? The ozone layer got confused? Anyway, help me pray for good weather, at least for Wed. It can rain the next few days just stop on Wed. I need the sun for my outdoor shoot. :)

On a more cryptic note, there was actually something I wanted pretty bad since last week and maybe until yesterday but now that I come to think about it, I think I'd be torn apart with options and weighing of pros and cons if I actually got what I wished for. Choices. Damned if you had them, damned if you didn't.

Should I hope no news = good news? Or should I hope and pray to hear something positive soon? I'll just continue to live by my mantra of high hopes, zero expectations. God will take care of everything else.

Alright, shall end off here. I'm half contemplating to work through the night, half contemplating to get back to reading my new books. I finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by the way. Hilariousity! Feel like getting the other 2 or is it 3 books in the series. Wonder if Sippy Seet will be kind enough to help me get it from Land of Wasted Blood.

Oh well, time to .... read book. I decided. It's too good a Friday night to spend catching up on work, since it can never be finished anyway.

Have a wonderful weekend ahead.

Gina

p/s: Forgot to add - The 3-month countdown starts today!! Yikes!! -where's the panic button?-

Bangkok Holiday #4

2010-03-14T01:18:00.009+08:00

Yes, I went on a holiday again.

We spent 3 days in the sunny Land of Smiles. And when I say sunny, I mean like scorching kind of sunny. The weather there was borderlining on 34, 35 deg at the hottest. I hope that's as bad as the El Nino would bring us. I could practically feel the rays lighting up my face, no kidding.

Thank God for shorts and dri-fit tops.

And yes, the trip was eventful. Both in terms of shopping as well as the time spent bonding as a couple. I guess the local papers were slightly exaggerrated when they reported on the mass rally which went about on 12 March.

Everything was super peaceful while we were there, I couldn't even sense the heightened security to be honest. One possibility could be that the rally was planned away from the shopping and touristy areas, for fear of killing the tourism which is just about picking up for the country. Well, we left the night before 12 March so we didn't quite got to experience the rally at its full blow (if any, at all).

Managed to get a new wallet from Lacoste for myself among the many items. On our last day while we were at the airport waiting for our flight home, we still managed to stock up on our Ralph Lauren. I managed to stock up on polo tees, working shirts and even a cap. Hee :)

Contrary to the previous 3 trips to BKK where I loaded on clothes, clothes and more clothes, this time, I bought books and CDs!

By the way, Kinokuniya at BKK is 50% cheaper than in Sg! I bought the Diary of a Whimpy Kid series at last! It's damn funny by the way. And to top it off, they provide good quality plastic wrapping for all book purchases so you won't get dog ears on your fav books. The plastic wrapping are like those you used to wrap your primary school exercise books and textbooks with, except theirs has the Kino brand.

I bought Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl the day before we went BKK and I was crushed when I saw that it was retailing at 50% lesser in BKK, even without any promotion or sale. :(

CDs are relatively cheaper too. Bought the Love Stories compilation with 4 CDs in it.

All in all, it was a good break from whatever that's tiring me back in Singapore. Be it work, family, wedding preps, the holiday proved as a great recharger. I'm pretty sure this will be the last holiday till our honeymoon, so it'll be a while till I head to the money changer's again. Haha

It's officially my mum's birthday as I type now since it's past midnight. Happy Birthday, Mum! Hope you gonna like whatever we got you. Heading for a family dinner later this evening. Technically speaking, this means, it's back to work tomorrow.

Yikes, scary!

I'm off to continue on my Whimpy Kid now.

p/s I found the perfect wedding shoe! That's 1 item off the to-do list. :) 2nd gown fitting is on Monday! Yay. :)

What's not right

2010-03-07T22:25:00.004+08:00

Today we had the Presentation of the Creed during Mass. By Creed, I am referring to the Apostle's or Nicene Creed which Catholics recite during mass. It was a simple affair, in fact the Creed was only presented after we left mass but it felt quite significant to me. It was like the congregation sharing this pledge with us (the Elects), something so powerful so dear to them.

Anyway, just some thoughts I had.

But the crux of my entry is not about the rite, but the headliner about Jack Neo and his alleged mistress. I was so shocked when I walked past the Buzz kiosk and saw the headlines on TNP that I made Robin buy it immediately so that I could read up on the goss.

Well, I guess 70% of Singapore would have heard of his 'mischief' as I am typing now. The other 30% are probably overseas Singaporeans (so my presumption is that all those physically in Singapore would already have heard / read about it). Don't worry, I even made sure I did my part to convey the news to the remaining 30% in Germany - I told Ally. Haha

Anyway, the moral of this story is simple - Don't. Just DON'T.

I guess every family has their own story and I am in absolutely no position to judge him but from the most generic angle without any reference to anyone, I am simply against men who cheat.

Now, we are again assuming there is no wrong from the female partner - i.e no cheating on her side too.

The wife is the sole care giver to kids - whether she is employed or a housewife. By cheating on her when she is giving her all to take care of the family while the guy brings home the main source of (or more) dough is betraying the very basic level of trust between the couple. Once this level of trust is broken, nothing more else can be built upon it.

Secondly, it's damaging on all levels. Apart from trust, there is reputation. Btw, you don't have to be famous to have good / bad reputation. Reputation is a outward reflection of what people deem as your personality and character without even having to meet or know you personally. If you have a mistress who claims to love you to the extent that she cannot lose you, there shouldn't be any showdowns or media release which could potentially ruin the reputation of the alleged party. If word gets out, you are basically screwed. Say bye to reputation.

Thirdly, whether or not you're a public figure, extra marital affairs always always always manages to find its way to you. Not that I am experienced in this area (choy!) but in such a small place like Singapore, where can you go without being spotted? 313 @ Somerset? Come on, even at West Coast Plaza, you're bound to see someone. For public figures, that pretty much leaves nowhere to go. For the less famous (i.e. mortal humans), you just need to add up the numbers of friends and relatives froom both (wife and husband) sides and imagine all of them travelling and moving about this island at the same time, you're bound to meet someone you know - or get spotted. Either way, you're busted.

And lastly, because it just isn't right.

I think this is the ultimate kind of hurt and very often, in today's context and time, the innocent party (usually the wife) is embroiled in the scandal and humiliation which she had no part to play and had not ask for it to befall her. And, I haven't even started on the kind of emotional trauma and distress the kids have to go through.

Well, just some random thoughts off my head on this topic. Plus it's been a while since we heard such news on our local radar. Tiger Woods was too far for us to feel the heat. Now, I wonder how's the movie gonna do in the box office?

Housewarming # 1

2010-03-06T00:45:00.006+08:00

Had our very first housewarming today. Invited Dear's uni friends to our new place. I couldn't leave office on time at the last minute due to some work and my poor boy had to go fetch the cupcakes, fried rice, chicken all by himself.

Felt really bad, sorry Dear! Nonetheless, I rushed a bit and managed to reach home just before 8.30pm. By that time, everyone's already there and I felt bad reaching the last, as the host. In any case, it didn't take too long before we started the random chatter and incessant jokes in the midst of some glorious food and Ben & Jerry's for dessert! :)My dad even cooked the fried rice for us, so thanks Dad!

Among the group, there's 3 mummies-to-be. All due-to-be-born baby girls, ready to meet us in April (2) and June (1). It's difficult to explain the kind of feeling but I feel so excited for them. April is like, only next month! The addition of a new member, the added responsibility, the change in the focus of their life. Awww... but of cos, the one due in June won't be able to attend our wedding.

For like 2 split seconds, I wished I was having my own baby too. The mummies-to-be looked super blissful talking about their yet to be born precious tots. Almost the whole dinner circled around cordblood, diapers, milk powder, C-section, epidural, placenta!, sleeping posture and frequency of peeing. Haha! Even though I'm not preggers, it was nice to just be there and ask them things I never knew about carrying our own baby to labour. Some were funny (well, I never knew placenta was so highly sought-after!) and some were well thought-provoking (I really never knew the many ways people could think of doing with placentas!). Haha, okay, 'nuff said.

Clean-up was inevitable after the session, but you know what? I felt good doing the chores. Maybe cos it's my own place. The pride and joy of owning a clean beautiful place is mine. :) And maybe cos he's with me.

Well, long weekend ahead. Long in terms of things to do, not the physical hours. These days, time has become a luxury for me. The term, 'Got 5 mins to spare?' has taken a different meaning. And no, I don't have too many 5-mins. Sad but true. Hoping to change that in the near future tho. :)

So anyway, thanks for all those who turned up today, altho the chance of you reading this is as high as me striking the $10m Toto without buying a ticket. (Wow, now, that's veeeeeeeerrrry slim).

The cosy gathering and light hearted chatter reminded me of what life after 6pm should be. The luxury of having it everyday is not ours but once in a while like that, we cherish it and the thought keeps us smiling the whole week.

Now, I have a whole week of fatigue charged up in me and super tired has become an understatement. I'll just use the most conventional way to end the post: Good Night.

Love,
Nanaa

You know what I think?

2010-03-06T00:36:00.007+08:00

In my opinion, certain arguments / statements during the discussion were flawed.

Productivity is a measure of output from a production process, per unit of input. Note the highlighted words and contrast them to the subject of concern here. Sounds funny right? Sounds like you're measuring a toy factory right?
If anything at all, perhaps you were referring to efficiency? 'Cos then maybe it would be more apt. Efficiency ratios that are typically used to analyze how well a company uses its assets and liabilities internally.
You got your ally wrong. We are your strongest ally.
Respect is to be earned, not demanded.

Yup, all these in my very humble opinion. Thank you.

Mysteries

2010-03-01T23:02:00.004+08:00

Sometimes I think God works in mysterious ways, more often than not, it catches us offguard. At least for me, I have more examples than I can count using one hand. When I ask and pray for something I wanted so badly, it is always beyond my reach no matter how hard I try. The moment I resigned myself and stop thinking about it, it is offered to me on a platter.

Just to share another example of how things can pan out EXACTLY opposite from what you'd totally expect.

You' see.. I have never liked the June, July period every year (apart from primary and secondary school days cos that's the longest holiday). That period basically holds nothing for me and hence I have never quite looked forward to mid year cos to me, that's the time of the year that passes amazingly S-L-O-W and uneventful.

There's no birthdays, no major occasions, no public holidays, no nothing. Super dry period. Just in case you're wondering. My family's birthday months are: Feb, March (2 in March), May, September. And in between, we have Mother's and Father's Day.

After September, we would then have the different public holidays and X'mas round the corner so that's always my favourite period of the year cos time basically whizzes by while we're basking in the midst of Christmas carols on repeat mode.

Somehow .... and I like to think it's part of his intentional plans, surprise, surprise. Guess what? My wedding will be held in June. Haha. Now, there's no reason for me not to like any month of the year, especially June! From now, every June's gonna hold a very special meaning to me and there's no reason not to look forward or not to like it anymore.

It may sound silly to you on how I can draw the sliggggghtest reference from this example but things like that make me smile. I think about the weirdest stuff, in the weirdest places. I probably came to this conclusion when I was bathing or something. Hah

And don't get me started on how I used to say I'd never date a Chinese cos I want a offspring with mixed features. My hubby's a Lee. 'Nuff said.

Er, no, not Korean.

That's all from me. Hope you had something to thank Him for, today too.

Na

15th Day of CNY

2010-02-28T22:06:00.008+08:00

Today, Dear and I headed back to SJI to serve. As graduates of the previous batch of MPC, we volunteered to come back and help out to 'feed' the new batch of engaged couples.

At the same time, we managed to catch up with all our MPC friends. It was a nice feeling to see them all again. Some have gotten married since, others (like us and Sandra and Nick) are counting down to our weddings. Also met up with our presenting couple, Willie and Julie and they gave us a CD compilation with all the photos we took during our 6 weeks with them.

Some photos from our MPC graduation last year..

Willie, Julie, Me and Dear

Robin and I :)

As you may know, today's the last day of CNY 2010. Well, it definitely didn't feel like it. If you ask me, it didn't even feel like it's 1 month past X'mas.

Anyway, besides being also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day, today is also the day where families gather for reunion dinners and possibly the last Yu Sheng of the year. I haven't had a lot of Yu Sheng this whole CNY but just looking at the trays of them make me feel full (and maybe an upset stomach). Yup, as you have guessed, not a fan of Yu Sheng. At all.

Had reunion lunch with my in-laws, followed by a visit to the legendary Duxton@ Pinnacle right opposite where we had our lunch. From the unit on the 39th level, the view pretty much takes your breath away.

I don't know if my photo does any justice to the view but after today's visit, I now know why people fork out half a mil to get a unit there. Didn't pay the $5 to get to the sky bridge though, thought it was quite a rip-off to charge like that.

Had another round of reunion at my own house, this time, dinner and with my folks. The usual steamboat routine but with everyone (sans Alvin cos he was out with friends) around, it was a nice feeling just eating together even though not much was said and it didn't have to feel like the last day of CNY or anything special

Reunion dinners, as much as Valentine's Day, does not have to be limited to that one day a year. If your loved ones mean that much to you, every day can be a reunion dinner or valentine's day. As much as I preach about this, I haven't quite mastered this art but I am working towards this mentality and I believe it will resound more strongly after June this year. Robin and I have also agreed to set aside certain days of the week to have dinner with parents from either sides so they won't feel like they've lost a son / daughter but in fact gained one addition to the family. :)

Just a random thought, I wonder if there are any descendents of Pontius Pilate (if he had any to begin with) in today's world who are Christians? Huge irony there I think but would be amazing to actually know.

Another random thought, although this one more cyptic. Family, Career or Self Actualization? Please don't start on Maslow's. I know my Maslow's well enough.

Monday awaits. Long week, I expect to do a lot during the next 5 days.

All the best to me.

P/S. Don't watch Dear John. It could be your best decision in March. :) And, you're welcome.

XoXo

Taylor

2010-02-27T00:38:00.011+08:00

Bought the Taylor Swift Fearless Platinum album and have been plugged in to that since Thursday. Been wanting to get the album for a while now but kept telling myself not to splurge. Just so happened Thursday I had lunch with Siaw Ling @ Souperlicious and we ended up inside That CD Shop @ Raffles City after lunch and both of us emerged with a CD each!

Hahaa, anyway she bought some Korean compilation CD which was super worth it cos there are 5 discs in it, I think. Too bad I don't listen to Korean. It even costs cheaper than my Taylor Swift CD but I shall take heart that my platinum album comes with 6 additional new tracks as well as her video CD in addition to the audio CD. You must listen to Jump and Fall and Untouchable. Super nice!

With each song of the CD I play, I find myself liking each one better and asking myself : Does this girl not come up with ANY lousy, trashy, bubblegumpop-pish songs at all??!!

The album is really that good. =)

Anyhows, the weekend is here again. I was just telling Robin that the week always always always just whizzes past me like that and I kinda hate it. I can only remember Mondays and Fridays of every week. Where did Tues - Thurs and the weekend go at all?

I'm so not exagerrating. Why does this happen? Does the clock tick faster when we grow older? I used to think 1 year in primary school felt like 15.5 years and now, the thought of Monday being first day of March, the 3rd of the 12 months of the year, scares me to my toes. We're into the end of the first quarter. Okay, I better stop before I get sick from the thought.

You probably wonder why I should be so resistant to time passing fast, especially if that means a quicker countdown to my wedding. Sorry, I am just not a fan of the fact that we seem to have so many things to do in a day AS IF we have 300 hours a day, when in fact, it is anything but.

On hindsight, 24 hours a day seem pretty little. Trust me, before I know it, my wedding's gonna be over and life's gonna resume to normalcy.

I'm telling you! Yes, You. The Gina in July 2010. Read this entry in 5 months time and tell me exactly how true it is and how it only felt like I was penning this yesterday! (I promise I'll be back to comment on this in July).

In other news, I am ready for some change. I shan't say what except that I'll leave in His Hands. If it's Your will, let it be done. :)

Up for duties this Sunday at SJI as graduands from the last batch of MPC, a little way to return to the community what we have benefitted. I've experienced a random act of kindness today, sent by a colleague from work, someone I would not expect to have done so 6 months ago?

How life is so unpredictable and ever surprising, it never fails to amaze me. With that, I shall endeavour to pass his act of kindness forward. Will let you know again if I managed to find any outlet during the weekend for this act.

Ta!

Gina

Gown Fitting # 1

2010-02-22T23:06:00.003+08:00

We went for my first gown fitting today and.......... I like the pieces, A LOT !!!

Dear took some photos of me in the gowns too but I can't decide whether to post them up now cos by doing so, there won't be any element of surprise for you guys on the actual day...

Anyways, the look Robin had on his face when I came out of the changing room was so funny! He looked totally awe struck! Not saying that I'm super pretty or anything but I think it's always the case when your husband-to-be sees you in your wedding gown for the very first time. It was definitely unforgettable, for both of us.

:)

2nd fitting coming up in about 3 weeks. I have 3 weeks to source for my wedding shoes!

In other happy news, Joey popped last night. Her lil' princess is called Engracia. Nice name! :)

XoXo
Na

Rites of Election

2010-02-21T01:39:00.006+08:00

We had our Rite of Elections earlier today. This event is a key highlight in the RCIA journey as we now move from being Catechumens to Elects. I shall not go into details but this effectively brings us one step closer to God and to his supper. :)

The rite was celebrated by Archbishop Nicholas Chia and was held at the Church of the Divine Mercy. Both the East and City district parishes (9 in total) were congregated at the same place today as we all present our names into the Book of Elects.

My godma (also my mum-in-law) came down to attend the event with me. Dear was there too. So was dad-in-law but he was serving. :) Some photos we took during the day.

Me, Auntie Julie, Dear

May, Naveen, Me

In front of the holy water fountain

Us!

Inside the main chapel

There were several moments during the celebration I recall being overcome by emotions and it was a nice feeling and I know why. :) It's 40 days to our baptism but Iknow that doesn't mark the end of the journey. It has, in fact, just begun.

After mass has ended, we drove down to town for early dinner at Juju Hokkaido hotpot. Yummm. It's been a while since we had that, craving fulfilled! :)

My boiling pot of colourful goodies

Dear's beef platter

Us @ Ju ju

Yesterday we went to Chong Seng and Pei Yin's place for CNY gathering. I enjoyed myself in their company so much and I look forward to hosting them at my new place in a week's.

It was also funny to see how PY and Xiao Hui's pregnancy were making Dear super envious. Haha, also heard another friend's wife is expecting the same period. All between April - June. Seems like the Tiger year is a good year for having cubs afterall. :) Looking to both ladies' baby shower.

As Sat draws to an end, I reflect on today's Rite of Election and I want to thank Him for making it possible and calling me for in John 15:16, it says, 'You did not choose me, but I chose you.'

Good night world.

XoXo

When I Grow Up...

2010-02-18T22:47:00.005+08:00

When I was 3, I wanted to learn to spell;

When I was 5, I wanted to be a teacher;

When I was 7, I wanted to be a cashier;

When I was 10, I wanted to be an astronaut;

When I was 12, I wanted to be a maid;

When I was 15, I wanted to be an archaeologist;

When I was 18, I wanted to be an air stewardess;

When I was 20, I wanted to be a teacher - again;

When I was 21, I wanted to fall in love and get married;

Before I turn 24, I will be a wife to a fantastic guy.

At the strike of midnight, it'd be the start of a 4 month countdown.

Wish me luck! :)

Love you.

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T22:11:00.003+08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent. Managed to attend the evening mass earlier and received the imposition of ashes.

For Lent this year, what have you chosen to fast?

Let me reflect about mine tonight.

Chinese New Year 2010 - continuation

2010-02-17T11:10:00.009+08:00

Continuation from my previous post....

If you haven't heard (or seen my facebook updates yet), the last day of CNY was totally ruined. I suddenly fell so ill, I couldn't proceed with the rest of the plans we had. Instead, I was stuck under thick covers and doses of medication. What a way to end the long PH. :( More on that later.

Anyway, 2nd day of CNY was spent at Robin's godmother's place followed lunch at Ikea with the family and finally we adjourned to Robin's colleague's house for mahjong till about 3am and we headed back to our new house to sleep.

Bought these flowers from IKEA for the new house! :)

In the middle of the night about 5am or so, I already felt so unwell with a hint of nausea that I was trying to contain but it wouldn't go away. Robin was deep in sleep so I couldn't wake him up either. Lay there until about 8am.. fell asleep and woke up at 10am again.

It was Dad's birthday and we had to be at Kuishin Bo by noon so we had to get ready .. but when I got up from the bed, it was the worst feeling I ever had. I was so dizzy I couldn't even put on my jeans and the room was basically spinning. The nausea was still there and I just felt like I was going to faint anytime. Still, couldn't cancel the birthday lunch just because of me so I rested for a while more before we drove back to my house to bathe and change.

It was in the shower where I actually vomitted and afterwhich, I did feel slightly better so we drove down to Suntec to meet the rest.

Yes, we went for Kuishin Bo lunch to celebrate Dad's birthday. :)

Thank goodness we were seated outside cos everytime I went in to take food / drinks, the nausea came back again. Didn't eat much, not even dessert, which was rare for me. Think I super wasted my share of the buffet for the price Mum paid. Sorry!

Mum, Jacq and Birthday Boy

Robin, Dad and Me. Don't tell me I look super pale cos I know it.

Me, Jack and Daphne

Alvin and Daphne

Robin and I - again

Dad with the Espirit shirt Robin and I got him :)

Alvin and Daphne got him this. Dad is a fan of Bruce Lee, y'see.

And the last gift is from Jacq, some iPhone stuff

Jacq, Mum and Dad

Us.

Jacq being wacky..

Jacq and I acting goofy!

After Mum settled the bill, we were even given red packets from Kuishin Bo. Wonder what's inside it.

It's a 5 dollar voucher! And we have 7 of that. Haha

Last photo to end the lunch with everyone inside it!

At this point, still feeling okay and enthu to head down to Ang Mo Kio (3rd auntie's house) - they have Wii! And they were gonna celebrate my dad's birthday there so we walked around and finally bought a cake. Things started to go downhill after buying of the cake. As we strolled into Carrefour, I was freezing and everytime I feel cold, the nausea comes back. So I had to get Robin to send me home asap while the rest made their way to AMK.

Anyway, that's pretty much what I had for 2010 Chinese New Year. Hope yours was slightly less 'puke-y'. Haha.

Stay healthy y'all. I'm going to get my dosage of paracetamol now. Hope I get well soon, there's so much to do at work. It's also Ash Wednesday today, hope I can make it for mass this evening.

XoXo

Chinese New Year 2010

2010-02-15T03:25:00.009+08:00

In a flash, the first day of the Year of Tiger is over and we're into the 3rd hour of the 2nd day (it's 3.25am now). From the eve of CNY up to right now has been fun - the food, the company, the atmosphere.

Tiring but fun. =)

On New Year's Eve, Mum and Dad, as per past years, whipped up a storm and we had many many dishes in addition to the steamboat, which was the main staple. This year, they even included cold entree. Dear said the style resembled wedding dinner, not to forget the sharkfin's soup which received great response. Dear joined us for a short while before heading back for dinner with his folks. We'll have to stagger dinner times next year onwards so that we can make it for both sides.

We then met up again at 8.30pm and drove down for our annual trip to Chinatown. Once every year on CNY eve, without fail for the past 3 years. Parking was quite a chore cos everyone was driving in but we managed to get a lot within 15 mins.

Every year after our trip, I keep thinking the following year, our (parking) luck would just run out and we won't be able to get any lots and hence unable to go Chinatown but year after year, I've been proven wrong and once again, this year, the same magic worked again. Hehe

Crowd at Boon Keng NEL

The place was super crowded and people were sardined packed. Despite the thick crowd and heavy human jam, we managed to get 2 pairs of chopsticks for ourselves and some bottles of CNY goodies which was going at hugely slashed prices on the eve of CNY. Satisfied, we left around 10.45pm and headed for our CNY eve movie - 72 tenants of prosperity at Kallang Leisurepark. Shan't dwell too much into the film except almost the whole TVB is featured in the movie.

On the way back to pick our car up

Fast forward to ....First day of CNY, which was the last 12 hours. Although I slept at like 3am the morning itself, I pulled myself up by 7.30am (okay la, I snoozed to 8am) to get ready for the 9am mass. Oranges were blessed and distributed during mass. After mass, we adjourned back to my home to bai nian to my parents.

Us at home

Galore of goodies

Took some soup that Dad made and left again, this time to Saltwater Cafe at Changi Village Hotel for CNY lunch with Robin and his entire relatives. It was makan again. I think I have eaten enough for the whole day by noon. Hahaa.. chat, laugh and caught up with everyone. When lunch ended which was close to 4pm, we brought them to our new house. Glad to see that everyone likes how we have done the place, makes us very proud owners. =)

After all the aunties and uncles left, we cleaned up a little, rested a little and got ready for the next long drive - Ang Mo Kio. Pauline's house is the next destination. Here we go!

Reached there slightly earlier than Dad and Mum, but most of the cousins and all were already there. Even baby Issac was there, he has grown so much!

Took to the blackjack table after dinner with the cousins and aunties / uncles. Dear and I played as one team. You wouldn't believe it but I won $48 in 2 hours? Haha, don't worry, I'm not an avid gambler, it's just part of the CNY fun. I'm surprised at my luck cos I usually don't do well when I play with money. Maybe it's cos Robin was with me. Haha

With Wei Ling

Left Pauline's house around 10.30pm to catch Valentine's Day at Tampines Mall. Well, the movie was o.. kay. You go watch and let me know how much you like it. Next up, I wanna watch All's well that ends well 2010 and Percy Jackson!

Movie ended around 2am and here I am, recounting the entire day after a good long shower. Oh, found out from my family too that my cousins from my mum's side had a gathering at Jean's house today, but Mum didn't inform me till at night, so I missed my chance to meet my cousins!! Boo Hoo. =( Unlikely there will be anymore coming up. When will I see them all again? My wedding?

Anyway, I need a good rest tonight, which shall materialise in about 10 mins. It's been an amazing start to the lunar calendar as well as Valentine's Day.

Tomorrow's programme will be Robin's side (Punggol), my side (Tampines), colleagues (Tiong Bahru). The best thing is, there's still 2 more days of public holiday! Yayness.

Okay, need to sleep. Like, NOW.

Nights all. Gong Xi Fa Cai! =)

四点金

2010-02-10T23:02:00.016+08:00

I've heard of 四点金 but never really knew what it was all about. My only recollection of it was some shimmery gold pieces in a velvety red box given to brides in olden times. And I'm probably half right because this is a Teochew tradition (I read from google) and that is also known as the bride's dowry.

Since neither Robin nor I belong to the Teochew clan, the tradition naturally didn't apply to us. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of gold-gold so I thought I'd give it a miss. But my mum-in-law decided to get me 四点钻 (diamond) instead. How interesting, never knew you could add a twist to the tradition to make it so much more modern. Plus it doesn't come in serious looking red velvety boxes anymore, they are all lush, bronzy and princessy.

Haha, I defnitely wear diamonds a lot more often than yellow gold, that's for sure, so whoever came up with this idea is a genius. Hahaa

It's finally Thursday tomorrow. I used, finally because I'm lusting for a good long break to recover from the major stresses from work but I know that's hardly gonna be the case. The fact that first day of CNY falls on a Sunday already eats into the supposed long weekend all of us look forward to every year.

Plus, long hours visiting, driving around Singapore, waking up at early hours and sleeping late into the wee morning doesn't exactly sound like a restful holiday ahead. Haha, before I start to sound like I don't look forward to the upcoming festivities, let me quell that thought cos I really LURVE Chinese New Year! Very much. Often, this is the only time I get to see my cousins and relatives, provided no one is celebrating their 21st birthday or getting married in the same year. And once in 2 years, I get to reunite with Ally who will fly back from Germany. Heehee.

And because of such gathering and rare opportunity to bond, I especially look forward to this holiday. And the thought of starting everything new from head to toe is such a liberating feeling, which makes the (over) spending worth every cent. Heh. To top it off, just take a look at the galore of yummy CNY goodies lined up in store for us ranging from pineapple tarts, bak kwa, kueh bahlu, kueh bankit and many many more. I am getting hungry thinking about it. Only for this period, listening to an overdose of chiinese new year songs make me happy, not irritated especially cos when work's so busy, it is that easy to forget that the festival is round the corner and these songs on repeat mode on all supermarkets and malls help to get me into the mood.

And this CNY is the last I am spending on the receiving end. Next year this time, I could be complaining about the long queues in the bank to change fresh notes. Haha.. And the one question I will probably stop getting is 'When are you getting married?' but I can expect a new spinoff to that question - 'When are you having a baby?'

Just some thoughts on a late Wednesday night. Lots to do before the week ends. I need to sleep badly now. Am typing with one eye, haha. I look so silly but I can't be bothered. Fatigue is NEVER overated.

G'night world, Tok Chiang. :)

CD Retreat

2010-02-05T23:19:00.008+08:00

The PANTHER team

Went for Directorate retreat today.

The programme was split up into morning and afternoon. Morning session was focused on brainstorming and some indoor games were held at YWCA (Fort Canning), afterwhich we adjourned to Sentosa for 2nd part of the retreat which saw us walking a lot.

It also rained for a while and our plans were delayed briefly but the sun soon came out to shine again! (hooray!) and we proceeded on with our activities.

At the end of the day, I definitely got to know some of the new colleagues better as well as to have reinforced the relationship with some of the older (in terms of years of service; not age) better as we may have, in our daily course of work, being too busy, we hadn't stoppped by to say a simple Hi! :)

After the retreat ended, I went Vivo with Bern to do a little bit of shopping for CNY and it was really fun, we went round trying and buying clothes and discussing about pregnant mannequins! Haha.. Guess this is a long deserved break from work. I'm also extremely grateful that nothing major cropped up at work while I was away.

It's 1 week to Chinese New Year. As you spring-clean (you should really start soon if you have not done so, hee), do also take a moment to spring-clean your mind and heart so that in the chinese new year , we can be more forgiving of those who have sinned against us, gracious towards those who have not been kind to us, generous in giving to people who have lesser than us, willing to accept new people into your lives. Spring-clean and throw away all the accumulated grievances, hurt, sadness and everything that makes you a dull person.

It's Spring afterall, so go out and spread that joy! - which, by the way, is contagious.

God bless you all. :)

Good news!

2010-02-02T22:08:00.003+08:00

February holds a host of great news! :)

Rite of Enrolment today - my baptismal name is Christine.

Rite of Election on 20th Feb - after which I will become an elect.

Got upgraded to a MX!

I'm so happy!!!

15 days to CNY

2010-01-29T23:44:00.008+08:00

I just finished painting my nails, erm.. in PK108. I don't know what exact shade it is, haha, it's some kind of pink (I'm sure this was almost a giveaway). Bought it from Faceshop last week but didn't get to use it.

No particular occasion, just decided to test my motor-sensory (is there such a thing?) coordination. I NEVER used to be able to paint my right hand cos my left hand would always fail me. But today, I managed to!! :) This could be a start to more coloured nails. Either that, or the nail paint from Faceshop comes with a really good brush which makes application easy.

It's Friday and if I were an iPhone, by this time of the week, I would already be flashing red - low in battery and require the full 3-day charging. So you can imagine how excited I am to be hitting my bed in approx 20 mins' time. No plans made for tomorrow morning yet so that's good news!!

Past 2 , 3 weeks, I almost had to be somewhere, doing something by 10am every Saturday and that meant that I had to wake up as early as normal days. -cries- It really sucked cos Friday night is the only night I can indulge in some good ol' slumber. Saturday night is difficult since there's mass on Sunday morning. Worst for Sunday night cos the cycle basically renews itself again.

We're heading to the new house for the handover tomorrow but I'm so happy to know that will only be in the afternoon. I shall target to sleep till noon, or 1pm. Yayyy!

I am however looking forward to this Sunday cos Dear and I are flying off for a short trip! :) And this trip shall see me being very focused on what I am gonna spend on, which are shoes, shoes and shoes. I think I have at least 6 pairs of new pumps and flats which I have not worn but decided to bring to the new house, so all those will be unworn at least until June. Need to stock up more this trip and hopefully, I see nice clothes for CNY.

Btw, it's the year of the Tiger, my year. To the chinese, it's not auspicious for Tigers in the year of the Tiger but I'm not a beliver so I am gonna celebrate that it's my year. :)

In a flash, January's ending in 2 days and CNY is approaching in 2 weeks' time. I haven't done any CNY shopping yet, which is shocking, at least for me cos I usually start shopping a couple of weeks' before the CNY rush to ensure I get stuff in my size and more importantly, new pieces. Hehe. very anal about things like that. Can't stand buying something that is the last piece.

This coming CNY will be slightly special because it marks the last CNY whereby Dear and I can collect red packets officially. :( I guess that's one thing you need to give up to be recognised as a married grown-up. Nonetheless, I guess the first year I have to give red packets (2011) will definitely be an exciting one. I reckon this years' CNY will also see Dear and I shuttling all over Singapore to visit each other's families and relatives. It's gonna be fun. :)

Okay, I shall end this random entry cos my eyelids are drooping.

What plans do you have for CNY?

Nights.

I made it!

2010-01-24T00:52:00.003+08:00

I finally understand what people mean when they say, God works in mysterious ways.

He, really does.

Thank YOU.

One can dream

2010-01-21T22:29:00.004+08:00

I promised myself that I'll sleep by 11pm tonight cos it's been an extremely tiring week. Every morning my iPhone alarm goes off, I feel like my body's gonna tear itself apart from the fatigue.

The weekends which have been my ever reliant energy-charger has of late, been packed to the brim with many many activities, hence I have also been unable to recoup much sleep over Fridays and Saturdays.

Oh well, that's not the crux of my entry.

Brought my in-laws to be to the new house this evening. It was their first visit there since we bought the house in August. They had been quite busy with the new church and their new house which pretty much explains the surprise they got when we opened the door at first, cos it looks completely different from when we first bought it. :)

Glad they liked it as much as Robin and I as well as my parents do. Yay. Of cos, credits all go to my hubby. He's the self-proclaimed creative director.

I decided I won't post photos of the new place here - yet so you will probably only understand when you visit. I am contemplating having a house warming over CNY. Would you girls be keen? :)

Time passes so quickly. In a flash, Jan would be coming to an end next week. And as a resolution for the 1st half of 2010, I have decided to assign more time weekly to work out the preps for the upcoming event of my life.

For a first, I have just started to draft out my guest list. Well, looks pretty decent now but definitely will have changes closer to the date when I send out the email for people to confirm their attendance. I know from the experience of being jie mei to Ally, that this is the part which often gives the couple headaches.

I shall aim to have a comprehensive to-do list for every segment of the wedding by this weekend. By comprehensive, I mean for both church and banquet, from the slides in church, to the gatecrashing games to the wedding favours. :)

Hope the next few months will be smooth for us.

Have also been thinking of some goals I want to achieve before I hit a grand ol' age of 30 in 6 years' time - which can be in just a blink of an eyelid. It is probably quite timely to think about it now before the next 6 years just whiz by.

My last 23 years had been a truly blessed one and I had definitely more ups than downs, something I am extremely thankful for.

Moving forward, before I hit 30 on September 2016 (omg, so scary, it seems so near!!! 30 years old!! I thought I just turned 20??) I hope to:

Have celebrated my 5th wedding anniversary with Robin
Have an addition to the family. -winks
Contribute more to the Church by serving in the Minisitries that I'm called upon for
Career advancement
Embarked on and completed my post grad
Shifted to our 2nd home - private this time
Be a greater family member to my folks
Get the Fiat 500 - hopefully by then, already the 5th generation of the beauty

Oh well, just a thought. Quite a good list to work towards in the next 6 years. I shall work hard. :) What would your list for the next 5 years look like?

A good rest is to prepare one for a long road ahead. I'm off to bed!

Nights!!

Good Tuesday

2010-01-19T23:05:00.006+08:00

Was a good day today. :)

Original schedule included attending a work event from 7pm but was later informed that I do not need to attend today's event since I was rushing for another big meeting this coming weekend. Was silently happy cos there's supposed to be RCIA this evening and I was already prepared to give it a miss. Managed to attend RCIA anyway and glad I did.

The good day was also contributed by the fellowship session during lunch. I hosted this round's session and we had a great sharing. The session also provided me with lots of new and interesting insights as well as getting to know some of these colleagues on a more personal and spiritual level. :) Looking forward to the next one in 2 weeks' time. I think it's Jareth's turn to host.

Yesterday, Dear and I brought Mum and Dad to the new house and they were really impressed. I'm so proud of my husband-to-be cos he is showing great potential as an interior designer, haha. But seriously, lots of his ideas (which I could not earlier envision when he drew on paper) materialised into really beautiful interior design. I am actually quite impressed, except that I try not to tell him straight into his face just in case his head swells. Haha. Never quite knew he had this designer streak in him.

In any case, we love the new house as much as Mum and Dad love it and I can't say this enough but I really can't wait to shift in!

Most of the works are already done so this weekend's gonna be a labour intensive one cos there's lots of cleaning and shifting to be done. We even went to buy all the cleaning agent yesterday. Excited? Of cos! It's afterall our first house and we do want to polish it nice and clean for CNY when we host our friends over! :)

We also went Ikea over the last weekend and settled lots of stuff. The last time I spent in thousands at Ikea was when my family shifted too. You will be quite amazed at how much knick knacks can cost when you go on a shopping spree at Ikea. Also custom-made curtains, will be ready by CNY! :)

Okay now, tired already. By the way, I have already thought of my baptismal name. :)

Sleepy time now.

Ciao!

Lord, thank you for the beautiful day.

Reflection

2010-01-17T10:21:00.004+08:00

People often say dreams represent your worst fear or your most desired. Although in my personal opinion, this statement seems rather flawed (given it swings both extremes and covers some in the middle ground), it's times when I have super bad dreams that I use this statement to explain why.

How convenient, I hear some say. :)

Anyway, it's a lovely sunday morning and I'm getting ready for church. In a blink of an eye, it's already mid Jan and CNY is less than a month's away. My house will be ready to be handed over (renovated and all), this coming Saturday and that alone makes my toes tinkle with excitement.

Jessica gave birth on Thursday, congrats to the new mummy and her family. I'm always secretly envious of people with new additions to the family. Of cos, more often than not, I don't see the hard work behind raising a child, such as the midnight feeding, midnight wailing, constant attention deprivation (the baby, not the hubby), and many more that makes the mum all sleep-deprived and stressed up resulting in her losing all the pregnancy weight gain almost before the kid turns a month old.

Kids, no matter how big a hassle they are, are still blessing from above and everyone should be embraced. Rick, another colleague of mine and to be neighbour in 5 months' time, just celebrated his baby's first month yesterday.

I guess it's a never a bad year to have babies, despite all the chinese sayings about it being inauspicious to have a kid born in the year of a Tiger. I'm telling you that as a Tiger baby myself. Haha, if anything at all, I would think that the tiger is quite or even as majestic as the Dragon or .. okay, no lion in the zodiac. Never mind.

I think it's also a year where people are getting married just based on the number of BTOs which were launched last year and the 12,000 that are lined up for this year onwards. I have not mentioned the rocket-high resale transactions which took place last year and are still continuing until now. I am a victim of the said unfortunate event. Haha, should have started my hunt like 3 months earlier, would have saved at least 10k.

The week ahead looks long. Many things to be done, deadlines to be met, events and meetings to attend. The rat race we face is quite crazy. I wonder what if we all found out there's no cheese at the end of the race, except for just a finish line ribbon and then you move on to meet Him. Quite an uneventful life, one that is centred around work. I can say this with little conviction cos I am one such person. Workaholic, maybe not, but based on the intensity of the load, I have not mastered the art of not letting work revolve around my world and all the more important things take a less than centrestage role.

Guilty as charged.

The new house, for example, is run all by my dear husband-to-be cos I am simply packed to the brim but of cos, I do take leave to see to the more important milestones of the renovation and as and when he asks me to.

For this, I am thankful for his understanding and his patience with me. =) God gives us gifts in everyway and the biggest gift I have received through him, besides the gift of life, must then be Robin.

Well, this entry is so random and I didn't expect to reach here which may sound almost nauseating to some but I feel sometimes, amid the buzz of things that are going around, it is important to be still, close the eyes (so we don't see how fast things are moving), listen with your heart and reflect. What would be different if something was removed from the equation of your life. If I were to go missing one day, the world's not gonna stop and activate a rescue team to find me, but I know, in people who are important to me and who I hold in great importance will throw down everything to make sure I'm right beside them again.

Okay, as abrupt as this entry began, it shall also end abrupty for I must rush off to church now. Just a little reflection before I head off for more reflection.

Have a good week everyone.

XoXo

Sneak Preview!

2010-01-15T23:38:00.004+08:00

It's gonna be ready reallly reallllly soon!!

Excited! :)

Want to see the rest?

Stayed tune to this space!

Before I plunge onto the pillow

2010-01-10T21:51:00.006+08:00

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

For those we are not familiar with the Catholic's lithurgical calendar, this day commemorates the day Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist at the Jordan River.

It is also the 2nd Sunday of the week so there's baby baptism held during the morning mass. We were invited by Naveen and Edwin last week to attend the baptism of their baby daughter, Gloria (whom we met last week!) and of cos, we agreed!

We attended the 11am mass this morning and there were a total of 3 babies who will be baptised, Gloria is one of them. This is also the first baptism which will be held at Church of the Divine Mercy, quite something to remember by huh? I also read on the weekly bulletin that the first wedding at CDM was celebrated on 2 January 2010. Must have been lovely! :)

Didn't managed to take any photo with Gloria cos the granny (I presume) was carrying her around to be photographed, hehe. Managed however to have one snap with my good friend from church, Gloria's mummy, Naveen. She looks really good considering she just gave birth in November and she's 1 year younger than me! Haha

Yesterday, we also went to check on the progress on our new house and both Dear and I were pleasantly pleased! =) The laying of tiles for hall, toilet and kitchen are mostly done. Only left with the 3 bedrooms and service balcony (yard).

I know it's quite duh, but I really can't wait to see the house in the completed form. Y'see, I have this problem with visualising a mental picture of something drawn out on 2D (like what our ID always shows us through his drawings etc) so you can imagine that the state of the completely renovated house will be a total surprise for me, whereas for Dear, it's probably something he can already see progressively. Funny. =)

And we managed to catch - Did You Hear About The Morgans? starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker. I like! It was a nice feel-good show, about marriage, about kids, about trust, about Wyoming. Haha, watch it to find out!

Before the movie, I also saw this amazing trailer for the show called Valentine's Day. It stars soooo many sooo many people I like! Taylor Swift, Taylor Lautner, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Emma Roberts, Queen Latifah, Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel. Trust me, this movie's gonna be huge! I already told Dear to book it for 1st day of CNY, we always catch a midnight flick after all the visiting! Looking forward already! :)

2nd day, we shall catch Tooth Fairy! Haha

Oh yes, Jacq is also back from Melbourne and she got me a lovely dress. Thanks for that. I can't wait to wear it cos it's awesomely pretty. :) And not to mention, Krispy Kreme!

Okay, there goes my plan to sleep by 9pm again. I always set such unrealistic goals, I wonder why. But 10.15pm doesn't sound so bad either. Tomorrow's the start of a hectic week, I will endeavour to clear all the important stuff so that I can leave on time for once cos I'm meeting the girls!! :)

Okay, gotta go, sleepy time. Had flu this morning too and so am terribly tired. I almost fell asleep having dinner.

Note to self: Need to colour hair soon.

Ta!
Gina

Blessed are those ..

2010-01-07T23:55:00.007+08:00

Attended fellowship session during lunch today and a colleague shared an analogy of which I found very interesting.

She said, "For a believer, life on earth is about the closest that you can get to Hell; whereas for a non-believer, life on earth is about the closest that you can get to Heaven'...

This entry will probably appeal to you more if you're a son/daughter of Christ (and this is of absolutely no offence to non-believers, please)... so do take a moment to reflect on this.

I think with different things going on in your life, you may interpret this statement differently but I'm sure all intepretations lead to a positive note.

Just some food for thought! =)

God Bless!

Gina

The cycle begins - again

2010-01-03T22:26:00.007+08:00

Okay, okay. Quick one! Cos' I desperately need to sleep soon (like in the next 15 mins or so). I need to wake up really early tomorrow cos of an early meeting and I'm doing 3 prezzos. All the best to me!

The past 3 days of the year 2010 has been okay so far, except that it's getting a little on my nerves for passing so quickly. The supposed LONG weekend is officially over and the next break we can look forward to will be in next month for CNY. :( I thought the X'mas long weekend seemed more fulfilling and feels more like 4-days.

Anyway, CNY? Next month?? Goodness, that sounds soooo fast! There's so much to be done before then. Shopping, do something to my hair, spring cleaning (chore!), packing, yada, yada... Also in the month of Jan, there's gonna be gown fitting, completion of renovation to the new place (yippee!) and many more I just can't think of at this hour.

I think I have been quite used to people referring to 2010 as 'next year', so now when I hear people talk about CNY being 'next month' and something else happening 'end of this year', I feel goosebumps rising on my back which denotes an extreme sense of urgency. I usually get this feeling only when I'm caught with a super tight deadline at work. Hahaha. This is bad, right?

Anyway, in Feb too, I'll be going through my Rites of Election and I have to think of a Baptismal name. I was google-ing a while this afternoon and shortlisted a few. If you have any good ideas, let me know, I'm open to suggestions but it has to be preferably 3 syllabus though, cos I've tried out my name with some possible baptismal names with 1 or 2 syllabi and it just sounds a littttle funny. Oh well, I may just change my mind later but in the meantime, please let me know if you have any bright ideas. Have to be named after a patron saint, please. :)

Oh yah, speaking of Church, Naveen came back with her bundle of precious today. She gave birth in Nov to a sweet little girl - Gloria. I met and was made to carry Gloria today. Hahah, I was so scared I'd drop her. Everyone was gushing at the baby. Good job, Naveen and looking great too! :)

Okay, until my next update, I shall work hard in losing weight. Sometimes I feel heavy even to lug myself around. Maybe that's laziness. I also managed to declutter my wardrobe a little just now, a bag of clothes waiting for a new owner. Haha

And yes, meeting the girls on Fri too!

Okay, this is bad. 10.40pm already. Nights all. I leave you with a photo Robin & I took on New Year's Day when we were busy shifting house. His, not ours. :)

Love!

2009 in a glimpse..

2009-12-31T17:34:00.009+08:00

Hello people! :) Before I start on this entry, which could possibly be long, I wanna wish all of you a Happy New Year!

2009 is ticking down into its last 7 hours and this year has been a rollercoaster ride. With the ups, the downs and the half-way-there, it is definitely a memorable year. Since it's a little boring on this New Year's eve and I do not wish to start working on my laptop on the eve of a holiday, I'm gonna run through the highlights of the year 2009 and hopefully, you see that you have been part of my year.

Let's go!

January

Something exciting was going on all the way 10064960 miles away in Germany. I got a new nephew! Baby Hayden was born on New Year's day. He's gonna turn 1 tomorrow, so happy birthday baby!

February

Received my first LV for Valentine's. Thank you, dear! I still remember how he sprung the surprise on me and started my LV addiction. Haha! A Neverfull MM for 2010 would be nice! :)

Dad turned a year older. Celebrated at Crystal Jade. Yum! Dear and I also went for our first overseas trip of the year in the Land of Smiles, Bangkok. I think we travelled A LOT this year. More to come in the next few months of entry. Read on! :)

March

Mum and Alvin celebrated their birthdays at Changi Village Hotel and Park Royal respectively. Lots of eating going on in the first half of the year huh? We also bought ourselves a new EA, our 6th home. Lots of packing going on in March.

April

Went for our 2nd overseas holiday and .... Robin proposed!! =) Highlight of the year, perhaps? And so we got engaged and soon after preps were underway for the Big Day - which by now a good 6 months away. Exciting! Also managed to shortlist our banquet venue and went home-hunting.

Tampines 1 also opened in this beautiful month. I've always had a special affection for this new mall, even before it officially opened cos I don't know when and why, but I had this vision of myself, Robin and a baby pram shopping in Tampines 1 so the mall always seem to remind me of such happy stuff. Maybe, it may just come true one day and you may see the Lees shopping there on a random evening. Haha, yes, I'm dreaming.

There was also the rojak food poisoning incident that sparked some fear islandwide. Thank goodness, I've never and will probably never ever eat rojak.

May

Geraldine got married! Attended her wedding at Church of St Anne and dinner at Furama. I can still recall her video montage, very nicely done! I need some ideas for my own. Haha

Dear and I went for 3rd overseas holiday for the year - Land of Tim Sum, Hong Kong! Enjoyed ourselves thoroughly there. Shopping at every mall we come across and taking lots of photos on the extremely long escalator at Langham place. Hee

On a more spiritual level, RCIA also kickstarted. Got to know lots of wonderful people from the session and more importantly, Him. It's been a good 7 months since and I'm still looking forward to every Tuesday evening. Baptism will be in Easter next April and come June, God shall witness our wedding as a truly consecreted couple. Through my RCIA, I also managed to bring Robin back to church which I'm really thankful to be given this opportunity for. He used to be an 'outstanding' Catholic, he has since become a lot more active in Church. I'm so happy.

Jacq also turned the big 2-1! We celebrated her birthday at Clarke Quay's Jumbo with the whole family and future son-in-law and had a great time. Family gatherings like that never fail to make me smile.

On a professional level, I managed to attained my CHRA. Made many great friends from the 2 month course and networked widely. Although I had to sacrifice many many weekends and weekdays studying, I'd still do it all over again if I had to. It's the process that made the difference.

May was a fruitful month.

June

Shocker of year, probably but Michael Jackson died. Out of the blue. Omg, I can't believe this was half a year ago. It seriously seriously felt like only at most 2 months back. I didn't quite grow up with his music but definitely his presence in the media scene and it does feel strange at times cos in a way, Hollywood celebs present that immortal feel to me, like they just can't age or die. Guess I was wrong. Farah Fawcett further confirmed this when she too surrendered to cancer.

Got my 1st smart phone, the E63 in red.. It was fun while it lasted. Don't get me wrong, I love this phone and would have continued using it for a long time, if not for my new 16gb iPhone! It's an amazing technology, I sometimes forget it's a cellphone. Love this and I'm officially an iConvert. My phone has now doubled, no, tripled to the power of 100 to also be my mobile Bible, iMissal, Archie comics, lomo cam, polaroid cam, ERP guide, carpark guide, Channelnewsasia live updates, Nintendo DS Light (cos of Cooking Mama), Facebook, Puzzle Bubble and Photoshop. Say it with me, W-a-h.

Kudos to Apple. The apple logo on the back of the phone even reminds us of the original sin, very apt. Hee

On 14th, we spent our last night at our old place and shifted to our new house, the morning after. It's been 6 months (I still can't believe time passes so fast!) and I'm still loving this new house, my new room. I think I'm gonna miss it in June when I have to move out to my own house. After yearning for my room for the last 22 years, I finally get mine this year, only to spend 6 months in it and will be moving out to share with someone else again! Haha, nonetheless, this house has many many great memories for me and it continues to grow. =)

There was also the air tragedy of the missing Air France. I wonder if there has been any closure since then, it's just so sad to lose your loved ones, much more if you never know what happened in their last moments.

July

Attended the Rites of Acceptance, one step nearer. Dear and I also managed to find the perfect bed at Serta and bought it! Looking forward to our first night on the lovely devan. 4th overseas holiday was in this month. :)

August

Our 3rd year anniversary. 3 years is not a long time, neither is it short but as long as it has bound a couple together, tight and strong, the time spent is just a numerical figure. The greater news is that after months of house viewing, we finally saw our dream house and bought it. Albeit expensive but well worth every cent of it. On the same day, we also bought our -drum rolls- .. wedding bands!

Bought our sofa too! Nice, the house is starting to piece together.

September

I turn a grand ol' age of 23 in September and we celebrated it at Marina K-Box. We also went on our 5th overseas holiday this year. Bangkok shopping!

October

Travelled to LA and San Francisco for work for a good one week. Was a good experience, albeit very tiring. Spent about 40 hours on air in total!

Dear and I also attended the 1st out of 6 session of the Marriage Preparation Course. 1st session was held at SJI, followed by subsequent sessions at the hosting couple's home. It was a most memorable 6 weeks we have spent. :) I met many many many wonderful people from this journey. At the end of the course, it was a little bittersweet. The thought of not meeting these people every Saturday was a little sad, but of cos, we're happy we all managed to graduate. Yay!

Dear and I also went for our 1st appointment for our new house. :) Feel so grown up.

November

6th overseas holiday this year. See, I wasn't exaggerating. Robin also turned a year older. Finally got hold of my iPhone this month, early X'mas gift! :)

December

2nd appointment for the new house on 10 Dec 2009! Officially home owners! Reno works also started. Just visited the new house this morning, the toilets are up and looking good! Can't wait till mid Jan.

Went to choose design and take measurement for bridal gowns @ Bliss's, exciting. Fitting is in mid Jan, hopefully will have something to show soon. :)

Also some sad news - Analyn left us. It's been a wonderful time working with her the past close to 3 years, all the best to her!

Celebrated X'mas on an eventful note, according to some, my last Christmas as a single so it will definitely be memorable. Haha. Also managed to finalise my team of bridesmaids, shall be meeting all of them soon to discuss the events.

As we countdown to 2010, which is a mere 4 hours away (omg, I took 3 hours to blog), I'd like to thank God for all the grace and blessings which I have received. There were certainly low periods, especially in work, when everyday was so busy, everything is so urgent, timelines were too tight, not enough sleep, temper was flaring towards the innocent fiance and family members and so many times, I wanted to throw the towel.

But of cos, tough times don't last, only tough people do. While the peak is not yet over for me (I'm still rushing some stuff over the long new year holiday and there's a big meeting on the first working day of the new year), I'm thankful for the support and care shown by the people around me.

I hope the coming year will be even more fantastic than the last as we journey towards June 2010 and beyond. What does 2010 hold for us? What will the highlights be? How will the wedding turn out? Will the gowns be pretty? What's gonna be the theme of the new house? Will there be something exciting at work? The answer shall unveil itself gradually following the 4 hour countdown to a brand new year.

My best wishes to one and all for the coming 2010 and that the new year brings you everything that makes you smile.

Happy happy new year, everyone.

p.s. I am also proud to announce that this blog is officially 5 years and 1 month. So much memories!! Should be an artifact if I ever own a museum.

God Bless,
Gina

4th Sunday of Advent

2009-12-20T18:35:00.014+08:00

Hello! How's everyone doing on the 4th Sunday of Advent? I'm taking a while to blog while my family has gone to watch the REVERIE - Cirque On Ice.

As much as I wanted to join them, I have tonnes of work to follow through - (short week ahead for next 2 weeks!) and having stayed out last night and waking up early this morning for mass, I'm really tired. Could sense Mum's disappointment when I told her I'd stay home, felt kinda bad.

Anyway, we went to the showroom yesterday, selected the designs, colours and materials for a couple of built-in stuff such as the TV console, kitchen cabinet, shoe cabinet, master bedroom (10 feet!) wardrobe. Come tomorrow, we will be choosing our lights. With each piece of the picture coming together, I am super excited about the new house. :)

We are officially down to the 6-month countdown to the Big Day. Lots of things to prepare and after speaking with Alicia this morning at Church, I just realised there's more to do, especially for the church wedding. From the booklets to the choosing of the readings, hymns, preparation of the slides to the church decor and meeting Fr Edward.. etc. Sounds like a huge list?

Oh yes! Dear bought me a nice and pink-looking Paul Frank case for my iPhone! It's super pretty! We got it from Nubox which is an authorised dealer of Apple products and their wide array of iPhone casings leave you quite undecided which design to choose but I think this is a good market for them. After people leave their queues at Starhub/ Singtel or M1, they'll be heading to Nubox. Hahaha.

Most importantly, it matches the Paul Frank keychain which Dear and I have gotten for our new house' keys! =) Cos my keychain is also pink, I got the pink iPhone casing (and also, cos this is the only design in silicon, the rest are hard casing which I'm not really keen). Dear's PF keychain is blue, so I was like asking him to get the iPhone too so that he can get the blue casing to match his blue Paul Frank keychain. Of course, he gave me the stare - he bought a new Nokia phone the same week I bought my iPhone. Haha

Presenting the new iPhone case

Chimp

Back to Advent. Christmas is 5 days away. Today's readings were centered on the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth.

As we draw closer to Christ's birth and the anticipation of Advent gives way to the joy of Christmas, we should be eagerly waiting to welcome Christ into our world.

The celebration of Christmas is more than celebrating His birth or re-enacting an event that happened 2 thousand years ago. In fact, we should be using this time to open ourselves to Him once again and to prepare ourselves to receive the saviour of the world into our hearts. Christmas has become too commercialised in recent years, so we must remind ourselves not to forget the true meaning behind this season of giving. :)

If I don't happen to blog again till Christmas, have a Merry and Blessed Christmas, everyone! :)

Goodbye

2009-12-16T23:09:00.004+08:00

Good bye, dear friend.

The pleasure of working with you for the past 2 years is mine. Life is a journey, the people you meet along the way determines if it is worth it.

Thanks for the ride.

May you find joy in everything you set your heart to do and do keep in touch!

XoXo

Lord, grant me courage

2009-12-15T22:38:00.002+08:00

Almighty God, who gives strength to the weak and upholds those who might fall, give me courage to do what is right, for those that trust in you have no need to fear.

Make me brave to face any danger which may now threaten me.

Give me the help that you have promised to those who ask it, that I may overcome my fears and go bravely forward.

Fill me with courage, that nothing which is my duty to do, may be too hard for me. Let me put my trust in your power and goodness.

Amen.

1st time home owners

2009-12-12T22:46:00.009+08:00

Officially became home owners on 10th December 2009. Must remember this date so that in 10 years down the road when I re-read my blog entries, I will remember our journey towards marriage (right down to the details) haha =) We will also be starting our 6-month countdown very soon!

The process was a breeze cos Aden was with us. Reno works will be starting next week so hope everything goes well and I should be able to show some photos in a month and a half's time.

Today was fun. Went town with Mum and Jacq. We explored the whole stretch of Orchard starting from 313@Somerset. Well, with the clever use of empty land and open space (I think it used to be parking lots), we have once again, created a brand new mall out of nothing (read: Orchard Ion).

The shops were basically what you can find if you walk further down into Orchard, among them are the likes of New Look, Zara, Mango, Cotton On, Espirit and many many more. What is worth mentioning is probably the 3-storey Forever 21 which is yet to open. I think many many people (read: Jacq) are eagerly anticipating. I shopped at a much bigger Forever 21 at San Francisco (about 4 or 5 stories) but it is definitely good to have one such mega outlet at our very own shores. =) Let's just hope the prices are friendly. I'm starting to miss shopping in US already.

We also covered our alltime favourite - Centrepoint cos Mum can get her shopping fixes there. You should figure out by now my mum, like most mums, doesn't exactly shop at Forever 21. Robinsons makes her as happy as we were to step into F21. Managed to get myself some undies from the lingerie department. Nice. =)

Walking down, we then went to Ion Orchard and Wisma too. Need to get new working clothes badly but to little avail. I don't really want to wait till closer to CNY where everything else on display has hints of red and buying then would also mean I have to keep vigil on the new purchases until after CNY, otherwise I would hear things like: 'Why you wearing new clothes now, when CNY is only XX weeks away...' Hahah, you get the drift.

Anyway, I eyed a black cardi-like blazer today which costs $69.. but Jacq says the collar isn't fab so I put it back. Mum thought it wasn't worth the price tag. Now I find myself thinking about it again, so chances are that I may just return to get it. That's usually how I decide if I really want to get a particular something or it's just a spur of the moment desire. Haha. I think the blazer's gonna be really practical so I should really get it soon. Haha, gotta stop thinking of it already.

Still have X'mas presents I have yet to settle. I don't really know where to start cos Orchard is mad packed and messy. Will think about it and make another trip down to get it.

Dinner was at Thai Express. Nice. We all had glass noodles which is really just tang hoon but it was good all the same. Shall save the Xmas pizza for another time.

Oh, almost forgot to add that I gave the D&D yesterday a complete miss so don't be expecting any photos of me in SAJC uniform. There was so much going on at work so I had to give the event a miss. I was kinda disappointed cos I was looking forward to it since I didn't attend last year's @ St James. Oh well. The only consolation is that I didn't spend on a single thing for the D&D. Wanted initially to buy clothes to match the theme. heng ah. Haha

Okay, my copy of Jan's CLEO is staring at me. Gotta start on it soon and get some sleep before 12.30am so that I don't oversleep for church tomorrow.

3rd Sunday of Advent tomorrow - Joy. What does it mean to you?

God Bless,
Gina

Updates

2009-12-08T23:22:00.007+08:00

It's been one week since I became an iConvert?

And I'm pleased to inform that the iPhone does rock, amid all the hype. Now that M1 and Starhub are also offering the phone, do make your way down to get one of the latest toy. Just don't go down tomorrow - I foresee the queue to resemble the Macdonalds' Hello Kitty queue of 2009.

Trust me.

Anyway, the week has been nothing but exciting. We've pretty much selected all that we need to select for our interior designer to start work next week. Hall flooring tiles, bedroom tiles, walkway tiles, kitchen flooring tiles, kitchen wall tiles, toilet floor tiles, toilet wall tiles. Whole lot of tiles. Bedroom doors, toilet fittings, built-in wardrobes, kitchen cabinets.

The showroom we went was HUGE so selection was quite a joy especially cos it was pretty easy to come to a consensus between us. We have similar tastes! :) My fear of having conflicting ideas for the new house was quite unfounded. Hehe

Next up would be the long awaited gown. Happening this week. More updates on that when it happens.

Lots of Xmas gathering, exchanges and parties coming up. And sad to say, I haven't had time for Xmas shopping. I know many people are already in the wrapping stage and I am determined to embark on my shopping this Saturday. =)

Heard some rave reviews about 313@Somerset. Anyone been there yet? Is it any good? I shall make my maiden trip there to find out.

Attended Fellowship session in office during lunch. The topic was apt and sharing by colleagues was insightful and interesting. Looking forward to the next session.

This week is also the 2nd week of Advent and we move through the week by naming deeper and more specific desires. We re-light the candle of Hope. We remember with thankful hearts the gift of Jesus, who came as a babe in a manger, lived and loved among us.

D&D's this Friday too. I haven't quite decided what to wear. Need help.

Okay, need sleep more urgently now. Time to log off. Bye everyone.

XoXo
Gina

White Christmas

2009-11-29T01:52:00.003+08:00

Today was an eventful day. I'm so tired now, but am gonna try to blog about it before I sleep. We went for church visitation which included a visit to the Cathedral of the Good Shepard being our first stop of the day. We had a dialogue with our Archbishop, Nicholas Chia. I found the exchanges interesting and engaging. He's such a nice man, difficult to think of him as some stern head of the church cos he's always smiling.

2nd stop was at Our Lady Star of the Sea (OLSS) at Yishun area. The architectual of the church is very unique, replicating that of a ship. If you know the history of the church, you'll know why. so I won't bore you with the details. And Clara, I think I was super near your house. I somehow still recall how to get to your place. Haha. We had lunch at OLSS and then proceeded to St Theresa.

We reached there around 2pm and there was a wedding at 3pm today. The car is the exact bridal car I want and the bride looked splendid in her white gown and long train. I was practically just staring at her while the rest prayed to the rosary. Felt so guilty. Yikes. Shortly after, we adjourned to the Carmelite Monastery which was just right beside it and had a dialogue with one of the Carmelite Sisters.

The entire session ended around 3.15pm as the bus brought us back to Holy Trinity. I totally dozed through the entire ride, was sooo sleepy having woke up at 7am for the visitation. Hahah, retrieved our car and headed down to Loyang area. At Loyang, we purchased our chimney hood and glass hob! It's soo pretty!! =)

I sound super aunty-ish getting excited about cooker hob and chimey hood, but you gotta understand that's all that drives me these days. Seeing my nest come together as a picture, piece by piece is so satisfying. I'm also (as you may already know) not some chef wife so you can expect that the chimney hood and glass hob's gonna be purely aesthetics in our new house. I have, however, promised to learn to cook! If anyone's keen (to learn with me or to teach me), please let me know! I'll be more than happy to have someone with me on this. ALternatively, Ally, you gotta teach me some of your recipes when you return. I'm quite determined to learn to be a wife who knows how to put food on the table, literally. Haha! With the hood and hob settled, we are basically done with the shopping of the furniture and fittings! Efficient right? Once the momentum is there, quite difficult to stop... hee hee

Adjourned to town, haven't been in Orchard for at least 3 weeks. And I got a new toy for myself this Christmas! It's the 16gb iPhone 3GS in white. Pretty, pretty! =) I haven't quite explored it for today, have sent it to charge. Will play more of it tomorrow and let you know if it's indeed as good as it has been hyped about.

Dear and I also caught the movie, 'Happy Flight'. A jap movie on a clumpsy stewardess and a rookie pilot who embark on their 1st international flight to Honolulu. It's really cute and funny and is somehow close to our hearts, given we travel quite a bit during the year. The show sheds new light on what goes on in the flight before the passengers board the aircraft. Very insightful.. haha.

Tomorrow's 1st week of Advent.

As we begin Advent, we light one candle in the midst of all the darkness in our lives and in the world. It symbolizes our longing, our desire, our hope. Three "advents" or "comings" shape our desire.

Also attending Mui Choo's wedding tomorrow evening @ Furama. I haven't even decided what to wear, good luck to me.

Have a blessed Sunday ahead.

XoXo
Gina

Hymn of the day

2009-11-27T12:08:00.003+08:00

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my All in All
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my All in All

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame,
Rising again I bless Your name
You are my All in All
When I fall down, You pick me up
When I am dry, You fill my cup
You are my All in All

Exciting Weekend ahead

2009-11-24T22:49:00.006+08:00

The major prezzo today went well! Thanks to all who prayed for me! Hee. That is one huge load off my mind, so much so I even find time to blog at 5 mins to 11pm.

No la, actually I just came back from Church and just bathed so am waiting for hair to dry before I hit the KLIA eskpres to Snoozesville. Okay, now, I'm suddenly thirsty.

-runs to get water-

Ahh.. better now. Where was I?

Just to sidetrack, I'm always afraid of getting thirsty at night cos you know what people say about drinking too much water at night. Water retention and all that stuff. Not that I dunk gallons of water just before I lay on my bed but you never know how much is actually 'too much' to these people who came up with those warning, so drinking water at night has always been as much as just to wet my throat. Hahaha

Okay, coming back to subject proper.. (not that I have a proper structure in any case, since this is so random)

I had a light hearted chat with one of my colleagues today and it was surprisingly interesting as we shared certain issues we had in common, some views we had, some exchanges of ideas. It was a great way to destress just by chatting with a fellow colleague, things other than just work. We already commit more than 9 hours to that daily, so it's always good to take a short break here and there.

Oh yah, my department's having our very own X'mas gift exchange next month and by random picking of coloured papers, I have selected one of my colleague's name. Hehe, shall think of what to get for her, not that I know her well enough but I'll give it my best shot! :)

This weekend - I'm already looking forward to it is gonna be pretty exciting too. There's a church outing to visit the Carmelite nuns as well as the Archbishop on Saturday. And for a first time in 3 weeks (perhaps?), Dear and I could well head to town. We haven't been to town for a while since MPC started cos MPC was typically held on Saturday and by the time it ended around evening, we preferred to hang out in the east instead of making the long drive down town.

Come Sunday is Mui Choo's wedding banquet. Shall ask Ber what she's gonna wear there. Am attending with a couple of colleagues from office so it may be a good gathering.

To top this all off, this Friday's a Public Holiday! Wheee... =)

Oh yah, I have also just signed up for this year's D&D at the NUSS Guild House. The theme's back to school, definitely not the first of its kind, so please feel free to give me ideas on what I can wear to the function. SAC uniform? Haha

Okay, it's now 8 mins past 11, overshot a little here. I'm going to sleep now. Shucks, I really need to drink proper water, I'm thirsty!

Nights!

-runs off to kitchen for more water-

MPC Graduation

2009-11-23T22:35:00.009+08:00

It's been a fabulous weekend for us! I hope you guys enjoyed yours too.

For Robin and I, we took a short break, graduated from our Marriage Preparation Course and have started to piece our new house together bit by bit. =) All in one weekend.

For a first, MPC finally concluded after 6 weeks of coming together to share experiences, to discuss topics, to get to know one another, to bond, to love. While the course has ended, I'm sure this will not be the last time our group will see one another again. In fact, we have signed up to help out in the next MPC run in Feb next year so I'm definitely looking forward to meeting everyone again.

Rachel and Andrew, Peter and Suzon would be married by then, followed by Nick and Sandra, Robin and I in June. Haha.. Through the last 6 weeks, I really felt bonded with this group of people coming from different walks of life, different countries, just for one single purpose - to love.

Our presenting couple, Willie & Julie were also the best mentors we could have. Through their generous sharing and gracious hospitability, each session was filled with meaning and was definitely eventful. The sessions have also helped to strengthen my faith and I'm glad I took up this course with Dear.

We were even asked to be one of the 3 testimony couples during the graduation session yesterday at SJI. We agreed immediately as I know this is one good way to give back to the course having benefited so much from it.

True enough, we enjoyed every moment of drafting our speeches, right down to the actual delivery yesterday at SJI. It was nothing stressful, cos we know nobody's judging and it was all fun and enjoyable. We even received a copy of the 'Cathechism of the Catholic Church' by the late Pope John Paul II as a token of appreciation. I'm pretty excited to get started on the book once I am done with the busy stuff at work. =)

We were also presented certificates for completing the course which will eventually be submitted to the Church before we can hold our wedding in Church. The presentation of the certs as we huddled together, couple by couple with Willie and Julie was touching and heartwarming as they wished us the best and blessed all of us before we embarked on this beautiful journey.

Having been through this course, I would strongly recommend couples who are intending to get married in a Catholic Church to attend it and experience the process of getting to know your future spouse all over again - in a good way. I enjoyed myself a lot and our relationship has only gotten stronger with each passing day, so yay to that! =)

A group shot of our MPC Group 5, Q4, 2009.

I will miss everyone and my best wishes to all the couples!

(more photos available on facebook)

In other great news, we have also contracted our interior designer for our renovation and designing works which are due to start very soon. We also bought our air-conditioner, flat screen LCD TV, refrigerator, DVD player and dining table and chairs.

The house will be taking shape very very soon and we're eagerly anticipating that day's arrival! In the meantime, here's some shots of us to conclude the very eventful week with this entry!

By the way, I have a huge prezzo tomorrow, so if it's not too much to ask, do keep me in your prayers ok? Thanks!!

Love!

Gina

OPTIMISM

2009-11-16T22:41:00.006+08:00

I think I'm starting to like my blogskin. Hehe. Not that I didn't like it yesterday when I changed it but now it's starting to look pleasing to the eye. I even feel like blogging on a Monday - so what are the chances?! Haha

I don't have something specific in mind to blog about but for some reason, I googled 'optimism' and I got this picture which I think is quite interesting.

We (or maybe, I in this case, I) tend to get piled by tonnes of work on a daily basis and sometimes the going gets tough. I saw this quote by Robert H. Schuller at some MRT station that goes, "Tough times never last, but tough people do'.

Makes sense to you?

Perfectly, to me.

Or put in another way. "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going."

Oh well, enough quotes for one night. I hope I can clear the major list of work and all the meetings before me. There always seem to be some huge prezzo each week. Somehow it never seems to ends. I just want to be counting down to a Merry X'mas, like everyone else.

XoXo

New blogskin!

2009-11-15T22:20:00.009+08:00

I finally changed my blogskin!

The earlier template and all the error messages on the skin was giving me a major headache. Do let me know what you guys think of this. :)

Love,
Gina

2012 - End of Days?

2009-11-15T20:05:00.009+08:00

I caught 2012 yesterday. For those who haven't heard, 2012 is this movie about the Mayan's prediction of the end of the world in 2012, December 21.

Given the storyline, you can expect that the movie was overall depressing. Many people died, the US president in the movie stayed behind and died, lands over the world were overturned, some even went underwater. Others included volcano eruptions, huge balls of fire, shattering earthquakes, high tides of tsunami, comets smashing onto Earth. The milder ones revolved around strikes, riots, famine, financial crises. Oh well, pretty much what we see on the papers quite often now.

While the cinematography was pretty impressive, I was somehow more perturbed about how true the Mayan's prediction may be. No prizes for guessing, after I got home from the movie last night, I started to google on the 2012 predictions which led me to a few links. Some didn't seem so convincing, some cited failed predictions, others brought me to biblical references.

One of which I chanced upon was the Letter of Mark 13:24-32.

"... Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, no one but the Father."

Without thinking further into this very morbid issue, I gave it a rest. But the more incredulous and coincidental thing is that during Sunday mass this morning, this was the exact reading that was shared during Gospel. It was mainly talking about the second coming of Christ.

Fr Edward also shared in his homily about the end of days and how many people had predicted the second coming of Christ since the 1960s. He reiterated that nobody knows when the day will come so people should stop predicting the apocalyptic.

Instead, we should live every day like it was our last, so that we will not be caught offguard or regret not doing something when our Father is near, at the very gates. In addition, we should take stock of what good we have done if we were to reach the end of our lithurgical years. Have we loved the people around us as we should? Have we made anyone's life better? Have we been good as a Christian?

During sharing session after mass, I also candidly explored this topic with a couple of church friends and they too did not know how best to live in an expectant and watchful way, although we all know we should.

It is inevitable that after the whole session coupled with some vivid imagery from the movie last night, I got a little scared and worried. My instant thought was, "Nooo.. not now." But thinking again on hindsight, I think no matter when it will be, it's never a good time for anyone of us.

To make myself feel better, I shall not think about it anymore. Sorry for the very anti-climax and abrupt ending to the topic. Hahaa, Hope you didn't think I wasn't going to conclude it with any perfect live-by Bible quotes, I just wanted to set some of you pondering (and maybe get scared) with me as well. Haha, sorry!

Moving on to MPC. We had our last home session yesterday. As I concluded the session with the closing prayer, I think that this course had been really enjoyable in all aspects. I met really fabulous people during the last 5 weeks and made new friends from all around the world. =) I also managed to sneak a peak at Willie's kindle yesterday. So cool, makes me wanna get one too! Hope Amazon brings it to Singapore.

Next week is the final week of MPC, with the presentation of the certificates. Robin and I have also been invited to be the testimony couple which I am really happy to do so! Good to give back to the course in some ways.

It's Monday tomorrow, I feel so tempted to rest early tonight. Afterall it's already 9.15pm and I'm already running on 1/2 (body) batt now. Haha. Need to recharge before a long week looms ahead.

APEC has also wrapped up nicely. Proud of Singapore for being such wonderful host. Hey, we are also gonna receive some cute pandas in 2011, so kudos to that! I saw the pictures of the pandas on ST that day, I have to admit they're kinda cute.

Nothing much to blog about. I wonder if anyone's still reading, really. Haha. Nonetheless, I'd still continue to blog here cos this is my only avenue of airing my thoughts.

Have a good week ahead everyone. I have a huggggge meeting next Tues, 24 Nov, do pray for me. :)

XoXo

4th MPC / Robin's Birthday

2009-11-08T00:33:00.006+08:00

Hello. We've just crossed the very precious Saturday (now past midnight) and I'm trying to find some time for blogging. Today's been a long day. As much as I want to sleep now, like right now, my hair's still wet.

We attended our 4th MPC session today at W&J's place. Met up with the other couples and over the period of 6 hours really bonded and had quite a bit of fun, especially dinner over beef straganoff, pizza, salad and apple crumble. :) It's kinda sad MPC's ending in 2 weeks especially when these people are starting to feel more like close friends than acquaintances.

After we left Frankel, we headed towards Century for our Saturday night movie. Decided to give town a miss since it was already quite late when we finished dinner. Caught the korean flick 'My Girlfriend Is An Agent'. Think I was too tired to enjoy the movie properly but I heard plenty of people laughing so there you go. Your pick.

Dear turned a year older on Wednesday and it's been a stretch of celebrations with him all through the week - with his folks, with my folks. I can't help but think of how we would celebrate our birthdays in our new house next year. :) Some photos below.

Christmas is coming soon! :) Everywhere I go, from Raffles City to Orchard to Tampines 1 to Ikea, it's always this huge atmosphere of Christmas and celebration that hits me. It's a good hit and I like it. Although it's still more than a month away, I look forward to spending Christmas this year. A different Christmas with a special meaning, as I journey through RCIA. As with other years, I can't wait to shop for cards, christmas eve dress and gifts for my loved ones. And yes, shopping while the christmas carol is on repeat mode in all malls! :) Carols never fail to make me happy (and spend a lot!) .. haha

As the year draws to an end, I also look forward to the coming year and all that it promises! Till then, there's a major meeting this week and I pray that all will go well during the meeting.

Oh yes, there's BOW at noon tomorrow, not much time left to sleep. Nights everyone!

Gina

HDB 1st Appointment!

2009-10-28T21:24:00.004+08:00

Okay, quick one cos I'm rather tired and there's so much to do and on top of that, I plan to sleep by 10pm.

I went for my 1st appointment at HDB today. It was such a funny yet nice feeling to purchase your very first property! I was constantly being referred to as 'co-owner', sometimes I didn't realise the HDB officer was talking to me. Haha. The part that was not so nice was probably the part where we had to hand in the cheque for the apartment. Haha, but we're super looking forward to it, so I think the money's gonna be worth it for a beautiful home. :)

We will be getting our keys pretty soon! Yayness! I can't wait till reno work to begin and end and to see my dream home come to fruition. It feels like time's gonna whoosh past again. It's been 4 months since I shifted into my current new place (so fast right!!) and the same amount of time will see me in Feb 2010, with 4 months away from the big day. Haha

After the appointment, we went for lunch at Sizzler with Aden. He bought us lunch! I missed the salad bar since the last time we had Sizzler's - which was in Bangkok. Of cos, in the Land of Smiles, we paid a fraction of the price here.

We spent a while at Sizzler talking and chatting - anything and everything. Afterwhich Dear and I headed down to Holy Family. Went to KCBC where we spent quite a while. I bought some books as well as a couple of crucifix pendants. Really pretty ones. I like the one in gold. :)

Drove down to TM for movie - Julie and Julia. The food looks SO good, even though I went in feeling full with lunch, I was close to salivating at every scene where either Julie or Julia cooked. So, NEVER EVER watch that movie on a empty stomach! You probably just head out halfway to buy snacks at the candy bar. On the whole, the movie was okay but I was hoping for a different ending. Don't wanna spoil it for you all, go watch it, maybe you may agree with me.

Dinner was with Dear and Mum. Simple one but all the same, great company. It's now 9.30pm (1/2 hr to bedtime!) and I've got a list of things to do (arising from my leave today).

Sigh. Gotta go send some emails out and then I'm off for the day. The day was well spent, I enjoyed it so much. Sometimes, all you need is a day off on a weekday. It's not the same as your typical Saturday or Sundays.

Everywhere you go on weekends, people are rushing, running with time, so much so you find it difficult to relax but on Wednesday, it seems different. People seem to walk slower, the time seem to past slower, you seem to get more done yet feel less tired.

I need more Wednesdays like this. In the meantime, it's Thursday tomorrow so enjoy all of you. Looking forward to Sunday. 3rd session of MPC and it's All Saints Day! Attending evening mass instead plus farewell to Fr Johnson.

Nights! I'm gonna read my new books in a while!

Gina

A Gift From God

2009-10-25T22:09:00.006+08:00

A short sharing on my key takeaway from the 2nd session of MPC on Saturday.

**********

A Gift From God

Persons are the gifts of God to me. They are already wrapped, some beautifully and others less attractively. Some have been mishandled in the mail; others come as "Special Delivery".

Some are loosely wrapped; others very tightly enclosed. But the wrapping is not the gift, and this is an important realisation.
It is so easy to make a mistake in this regard, to judge the contents by the cover.

Sometimes the gift is opened very easily, sometimes the help of others is needed, maybe it is because they are afraid. Maybe they have been hurt before and don't want to be hurt again. It could be that they were once opened and then discarded. They may now feel like 'things' rather than 'human beings'.

I am a person; like everyone else, I, too am a gift. God filled me with goodness that is only mine. And yet sometimes I am afraid I would be disappointed.
Maybe I don't trust my own contents. Or it may be that I have never really accepted the gift that I am.

Every meeting and sharing of persons is an exchange of gifts. My gift is me; your gift is you. We are gifts to each other.

************

Go ponder on it and have a blessed week ahead. :)

US Trip and MPC # 1

2009-10-18T17:03:00.007+08:00

I'm back (again!) from the States! Was shuttling between Los Angeles and San Francisco last week for work and while it's good to be back (cos I miss him too much), I also wish I could spend more time while I was there.

By the way, the weather's great. Cold, but great.

The temperature was averaging around 10 degree celcius and it was a wonderful breeze that greets you every morning. Something you don't find here in Singapore. Either you're hot or you're wet (cos it's raining), it's never a nice chilly breeze. I don't even get the chance to pile up on the sweaters and shawls here compared to in LA and SF which I actually do enjoy although it makes me look fatter in photos. Hee

In anycase, I'm back and life goes on. WORK, for one - goes on. That's for sure. I'm just glad to have met the many people I met there as well as the group of lovely ladies from work who were on the same trip. We never quite got the opportunity to get to know one another in Singapore but I'm glad that over this trip, we really got this chance to know each other and bond in a nice way. :) The 36 hours flight (18 hours x 2 way) was definitely worth it.

Whatever free time we had on our hands (which was not much), we went to explore the varsities and the campuses.

Impressed. Envious (of the students). Anticipating (to return).

More photos are uploaded on facebook so you can view it there. Oh yah, photobucket is showing some 'account inactive' message on my blog that's making it look so messy. What's going on? Can anyone tell me?

The weekend following my return (which is actually today and yesterday) was also filled with fun events! Dear and I attended our first Marriage Preparation Course (MPC) at St Joseph's Institution (SJI).

This quarter's intake saw a large group of engaged couples all gathering to journey with their other halves towards marriage. I seriously wasn't expecting such a big crowd but it's really nice to see everyone there. There were couples of all profiles, some older couples, some as young as me, some from different countries, New Zealand, France, US and of cos, Singapore. The one thing that's the same for all is that everyone's happily engaged and eager to take the next step in their lives.

My group's made up of very interesting people. I hope I will get to know them better in the weeks ahead as we journey together. :) My presenting couple is also very friendly and engaging and I'm sure it won't take us long to warm up to them. They will be hosting the coming session at their house. :)

For Dear and I, the MPC allows us to see each other from a different light, to understand why each of us do certain things, say certain things. I've heard horror stories of couples breaking up midway through the programme and never making it to the altar but I'm confident we won't end up that way.

It's probably gonna gel us even closer after this. Even after the first session already, it's starting to show. :) I hope I'm not making it sound like some miracle programme for problem couples, but instead it's a programme that's designed to help couples who help themselves prepare for marriage, so yah. I think I've pretty much summed it.

Looking forward to the next session already. Till then, some homework to be done. Hee

It's Monday tomorrow, already. Yes, I know. The dread, the drag, the unwilling, but think about it. To be employed, to be able to wake up to another day, to be able to live in an environment without natural disasters that separate families, to be able to be loved and love, to be healthy and safe and not starving or suffering from diseases and illness, that already makes us one of the world's luckiest people.

So we don't really need to wish for good luck on a lucky penny or a lucky rabbit's foot (it probably isn't that lucky since it's foot is with you). Luck doesn't happen that way, at least to me. All we need to do is to count our blessings, no matter how small because you never know what you have may be a great deal to someone else and to also make our existence impact people around us in a positive note. That's what really matters at the end of the day. :)

Sorry if this entry is a little too dry or appears like it's trying too hard to be inspiring but these are really just some thoughts I have at the back of my head after a long day at MPC and church. I'm not perfect but I do hope through my ways, actions and words, I can make someone I love, someone I know, someone I care about happy.

Ok, enjoy the rest of your weekend! :) I still have work which has accumulated during my US trip, which I have to clear.

P.s 8 more months to Mrs Lee! :)

Love,
Nana

Collection of Wedding Bands

2009-10-04T00:02:00.005+08:00

So yes, I'm back from my short holiday at the lovely Land of Smiles. =) Shopping was fabulous! I cannot emphasize enough but I love, love, Platinum Mall. (I went there all three days!)

Dear is quite scared of me going there, I think. The moment I hit the mall, I go into practically every shop inside and I think there's close to 500 of them. Haha! I just wished I bought a couple of clothes which I was contemplating. This always happens.

Anyway, weather was extremely good for shopping, which was very very very hot. Well at least, the rain only came at night when we're having dinner back at the hotel restaurant or already snuggled to sleep. In any case, Dear has promised me the next trip soon!

Work's still busy. I think I'm burning more midnight oil working than when I was studying.

Flying off to US this week. Needless to say, I haven't packed, which I need to start soon before I get too bogged down with work in the next couple of days and end up having to rush in the last minute.

Weather forecasts for LA is about 18 - 20 degrees and San Francisco is hovering around 12 degrees. I better bring thicker clothes to keep warm.

Oh yes, Congrats to Ryan and Laura who tied the knot this afternoon at Raffles Hotel! =)
In related news, we collected our wedding bands today! It's really pretty and comes with a small diamond, I love it loads! Looking forward to the day when Dear puts it on for me!

Attending noon mass tomorrow. Haven't been to church for the last week due to travel, so it feels like it's been a while since I attended mass. Okay, need to crash soon so that I don't end up late for church tomorrow.

You girls and guys out there enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'll see you when I see you again.

Btw! Really great movies coming out - 500 Days of Summer, My Sister's Keeper, Jennifer's Body, Coraline.

XoXo

Sawadee Karp

2009-09-26T11:19:00.003+08:00

I woke up at an unearthly hour at 8am this morning. Yes, on a Saturday. Anyway, I'm now watching the Project Runway (S5) marathon on Discovery and I have been doing so for the last 2 hours. It's really good (bitchy) stuff, continues all the way till evening, unfortch I'll be heading out in a couple of hours and before then, I'm hoping to sneak in some time for a nap.

Just ......AFTER I finish some outstanding work on my lappie cos I'm flying tomorrow morning and badly want to clear stuff. I know - I still have time to blog. haha, have to la, else I'm becoming a human robot. I even think I'm getting better at multitasking. I quite sucked at it to begin with. I could be talking to you and doing up a report but somehow after I say something to you, I end up typing that very sentence into the report. Go ahead and laugh.

Flying off for a short holiday tomorrow morning. Haven't packed. I really need to start. When I return next week, it's gonna be another WOAAH before the week ends without a warning again. Really fast. How can we change that?

And before I know it, I'll be on the US-bound flight to LA for a couple of days and San Francisco for another couple of days for work. Plus the many many many hours on air. I'll also be stopping over at Tokyo when I head there and Korea when I am on my way back. I just hope for a smooth trip, no hiccups at the meeting and event.

Okay, think I better get back to work. Hope everyone's doing great. Enjoy your upcoming weekend and I'll see ya all next week if I find time to blog.

Gina

I turn 23!

2009-09-20T02:39:00.009+08:00

Firstly, a BIG thank you to everyone who have sent their birthday wishes, whether through facebook, sms, email, blog - I feel truly loved knowing you guys remembered. :) Thanks also for the gifts!!

So I turn 23!

It feels like only 2 years ago I was turning 18 followed by 21 not too long ago, how did time manage to pass so quickly? In any case, I don't feel any bit older at 23.

In fact, I am rather excited to be turning 23. You could say, life starts at 23 for me. Graduated, enjoying my job, people at home are doing great, starting my own family in a year's time, learning to be independent, all these lead to the excitement of turning a year old, a year wiser.

Anyway, for this year, I decided we shall celebrate it in a different way. It has always been heading down to hotels for buffet but I thought - why don't we have both food and fun? And tadah, the idea of K-Buffet came about. Hahaha

Plus, I've only been to karaokes with cousins and friends, seldom with family so this was an excellent opportunity to do so.

7 of us headed down to K-Box at Marina for 4 hours straight of buffet and singing! It was so very fun and enjoyable. I hope everyone enjoyed it too!

Some photos of the evening for your viewing pleasure!

Guess what's inside?

My 'birthday cakes' - baked by Alvin and Daphne. Thanks guys! =)

Anyway, it's a long weekend ahead so enjoy and sleep in late! That's exactly what I'm intending to do. Hee.. 1 more thing to be excited about turning 23 -counting down to my Bangkok holiday!!

Happppyy! Already looking forward to turning 24! Will probably be at my new house next year, can't wait!

XoXo

Gina

U-p-d-a-t-e

2009-09-14T22:19:00.004+08:00

Hello, hello! It's been a while.

I've been so busy, haven't had time to blog and for the record, I MISS blogging! Did you guys miss me?? Hahaha

Right now I'm having a throbbing headache and as much as I think I should be sleeping, for some reason, I'm not.

Anyways!

I'm turning a grand ol' age of 23 this coming Saturday and I've already made plans to spend the day with my entire family and hubby, in a different style. I'm quite looking forward to it, will blog more (hopefully, with pictures!) after the event. :)

Lots of people asking me what I want for birthday. To be honest, nothing. 3 years ago, I would have come up with a long wishlist but fast forward to 2009, I think I have everything in my life now that I have always wished for, so keeping it this way would be the best gift. :)

Hari Raya's coming too.. it's coincidentally one day after my birthday. And that means, Public Holiday!! Whee!! PH on Monday is always good but first I need to survive this week. Haha, quite a lot of deliverables to go out by end of this week so it's a bit of a make-or-break. Krrrack.

I caught quite a bit of movies since I last updated - Time Traveller's Wife (must-watch!) , I Love You, Beth Cooper (funny!), Thirst (omg, please don't watch this!). I'm waiting for The Ugly Truth this weekend.

Looking forward to my Bangkok holiday in 2 weeks' time, followed by a trip to US for work. A bit of travelling coming up in the months ahead, so I hope I don't suffer from any jet lag or fatigue.

In other happy news, Kharina popped! She gave birth to a healthy baby boy! Happy and excited for her. Motherhood is such an amazing journey and I do hope to experience it one day. It's not a phase 'cos it never ends. I wish her and her family well and hope I get to see the cutie and mummy soon. :)

Wedding preps have slowed down a bit, now that the house and all has been settled, we want to take a bit of rest before embarking on the next step. Haha, we should be collecting our bands sometime next month too. That will also be the time when we have to look into the venues for our outdoor shoot.

Okay, that's a lot for now, given that I have almost nothing to start blogging with.

I really gotta sleep before the headache gets any worse.

Nights!
Na

San Francisco

2009-09-08T23:12:00.001+08:00

I may be heading there in a month's time for work.

Year One

2009-08-30T20:47:00.004+08:00

I caught Year One over the weekend and it is hilarious, the sort of movie I laugh and cry to. I didn't get really fab reviews about this movie initially but decided to watch it anyway cos Bandslam wasn't available and we didn't regret it one bit. In fact, we loved it and still laugh about the jokes offline. Haha

The movie makes very strong Biblical references (and jokes about it) so if you don't know your bible well, you may not get some of the dry humour it is conveying. Just a sneak, there's a parody of Cain killing Abel, Abraham sacrificing Isaac as well as Sodom and Gomorrah. So go watch it if this sounds interesting to you! Similarly, if you take offence to such content, then maybe you want to give it a miss.

Bought another wedding mag after church today... This edition looks promising, lots of articles from brides-to-be on their preps and pictures of gowns! The previous copies I bought were just lots of adverts.. =(

Also stocked up on stationery @ Urban Write. Happy!

Had dinner with entire family @ Pu Tien. It's quite some delish stuff they serve there, I'm sure everyone including Dear enjoyed dinner.

The start of the week beckons again tomorrow. Not dreading it. On the contrary, I'm looking forward to going back to work cos with each passing day, I am counting down ... to lots of things!

Time to go bathe and sleep soon. Yes, I'm aiming to sleep by 10pm tonight, hopefully it's not too fetch'd a target. Hee. Am also thinking of taking 1/2 leave to go shopping some time soon. Anyone up for that? =) I need to shop badly. Urgh.

Gina

Archie marries Veronica

2009-08-28T22:49:00.004+08:00

This is just so sad, cos I know what the ending's gonna be. It may sound silly but I follow Betty and Veronica on their official blogs.

Archie's gonna marry Ron. Nooooooooooooooo way!

He can't cos poor Bets' gonna be heartbroken. Sigh and will this mean the end of Archie comics since the love triangle between Archie, Ron and Betty is the very essence of this comic.

Wonder if the comic will reach us here too? I needa get my hands on it soon. Note to self: must visit the comic stand on Orchard Emerald if I head downtown tomorrow.

Any Archie fans here too? What do you think of the 'happily ever after?'

XoXo

We turn 3 years old!

2009-08-26T21:43:00.003+08:00

We turn 3 years today! It's been an AMAZING journey and I don't think I'll be able to do it any justice just by blogging bout it even if I were Enid Blyton.

Point is that it almost seems like just yesterday when we started hanging out. In a blink of the eye, we're getting married. It sounds like someone else's story sometimes, very unreal. To cut the chase, I'm just very glad and happy to have him and I hope he feels the same! Hehe

I can't recall what else I've been doing the entire week besides work.

Even right now, I have things on my to-do list for today which is not done yet and I have half a mind to stay up to do it on my lappie and at the same time catch my HK drama (on Ch 255) which repeats at 11pm. The show lasts for an hour so by the time I sleep, it'll officially be Thursday.

This was my exact routine yesterday.

Anyway, I woke up this morning looking like a panda, so I decided against it today. If it doesn't show, I am very very tired. I need a good thai massage and some good ol' shopping.
-countdowns to end Sept-

Okay, shan't spend too much time here. I'm not sure if I want the weekend so fast anymore.

Bye!

BRUNO

2009-08-23T22:33:00.004+08:00

Okay, here's another entry. I think the mini hiatus thing isn't really working for me. I always feel like I need to talk bout the buzz going on in my life.

Anyhows, nothing exciting this weekend, as compared to the past week when we bought our sofa set. The highlight of this week must be a sucky movie I caught. You may have heard about it, the movie is called Bruno.

I am usually not a Simon Cowell critic but here's my take on the movie.

Firstly, Bruno speaks in a weird Austrian(?) accent that I can hardly make out what he's trying to say half the time during the 80 mins movie. They should have really considered having English subtitles.

Secondly, I don't see how the movie is funny. At all. I tried to laugh but it really couldn't come out, I burped instead - was drinking Coke.

Thirdly, is it even a movie? It really did seemed like I was watching more of a documentary. Sorry, but if it was a movie, then I didn't catch the plot or the theme.

Oh yes, Gays. That's not a plot, that's more like the selling point.

Fourth, it's rated R21 and apart from the subject of gays, it was probably rated R21 becos Bruno decided to flash his manbits, swinging and swinging around on the cinema screen. I'm not adverse to R21 content but this takes the cake. It was a degree short of repulsive.

Fifth, Borat in comparison was so much better. It was R21 too and it was more meaningful and funnier. This was the only reason why I'll catch Bruno.

Six, I don't know but I hope he didn't really anatgonise anyone in the making of the movie especially when he tackled the Israel-Palestine issues as well as approaching the leader of some terrorist group.

There's no Seven as of now - can't recall that much but despite of what I've said above, there are many people who do like the movie and have given rave reviews, so don't believe all I that I have to say.

My poison may be your meat. Haha, what a weird analogy. Anyways, watch it for yourself and let me know.

In the meantime, I'll eagerly anticipate other real blockbusters like, The Time Traveller's Wife, Final Destination and Phobia 2.

XoXo

Soft Hands Kind Heart

2009-08-20T21:50:00.005+08:00

Did my part for charity. Bought the Soft Hands Kind Heart hand cream from Body Shop. All proceeds go towards helping little children in less developed areas of the world.

You even get a card to write to these young kids when you purchase the lotion and they will paste your card onto a big board which they will send over.

In addition, the lotion smells great and mositurises your skin really well (esp to you ladies who work in offices day in day out).

At only $19.90, what better time to do charity?

p/s. Sorry, couldn't help it, had to update with a mini entry. :P