{I Fell Right For It!}

{Sleep vs Chocolates}

We enjoyed an appreciation lunch at Carousel, Royal Plaza on Scotts today. I had NINE scoops of chocolate ice cream and several other chocolate desserts.

For those who know me, you might have guessed it right.

I'm wide awake now. Experiencing what I call "chocolate overload".

I knew I shouldn't have overdone it, but it's been so long since I enjoyed just eating chocolate desserts one after another.

Although it's a free meal, but I'm paying for it now... or rather, I traded my sleep with chocs.

{O Happy Day!}

The weekend came and went so quickly. Didn't get a chance to scrap anything, but I sure did a lot of window shopping. Yes, you read it right. Window shopping. Ate lots of comfort food.

Saturday
Lunch at Crystal Jade Golden Palace @ Paragon - About 10% more expensive, but I must say, the quality of food is MUCH better and the ambience... I like! Service is good too!

Window shopped at Paragon, Duty Free & Isetan. Finally bought a pair of black fit-flop. Oh my! Super Comfortable. You have to slip your feet in to experience it and be sold on it!

Dinner at Fish Market - Greenwood Avenue. Mussels with white wine sauce, superlicious! Fish & Chips... not too bad.

Sunday
Lunch at Food Court - Kway Chup, Yummy...

Window shop again at Paragon and Ion. My heart sank when the salesman said, the last bag was sold yesterday. Limited edition. I knew it, I shouldn't have hesitated and just bought it! Now, there's none for me... Convinced mum and aunt to get a pair of fit-flop each. They wore it immediately and shopped around in it the whole day. They were extremely happy with their good buy because IT'S SO COMFORTABLE!!!!

Dinner at Crystal Jade Korean Ginseng Restaurant. Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup, Spicy seafood & beancurd soup, Seafood Korean Pancake, Yummy side dishes...

Even though all I bought was a pair of fit-flop, I'm suprisingly happy :) I'm eyeing on a bag... a big bag... a bag I really like. (Evil grin....)

{YES!}

The feeling of being FREE from events for the next one month is absolutely awesome! It's finally over! Monday to Thursday this week, every single day... yesterday was the ultimate full day thing. We did it!

We had such a great supper last night. All of us had dinner at 11 plus last evening. We were just too tired and too hot to eat during the event and too busy making sure everything is in place. We had a really great time catching up, laughing about things... Got home at about 1am.

And P... we're so going to miss her when she leaves. She's part of the team, part of our ups and downs, part of our everyday life! Office will be so different without her. Each time we talk about her leaving, you would see those huge eyes get watery... awww..... love this girl!

K was so funny observing and imitating J. It was HILARIOUS! Highlight of the night was when K imitated J's "excitable" face! It was such a sight!

J must have missed all our "Fun" sacarcism and attention. Some things never change. You can only get so much of lame jokes at any one evening ha ha ha...

Well, the days ahead at office will certainly be a new chapter for us. With new person coming in, everyone have to adjust to new work habits etc. For now, I really just need to rest. It has been one of the busiest month ever. The last time I was this busy was when I was in advertising... it has been that long :)

Will try to get some scrap work done today.

To a bright, beautiful Friday. YES! We all we get through what we have to and be glad that we have a better tomorrow to look forward to!

{Good Food Makes Me Happy}

So, after a really tiring week, M made it all beautiful last evening by bringing me to a Korean restaurant. It's not a fancy restaurant. It's very homely and makes me think of Korea.

Read quite a lot of good reviews and saw them from a tv programme. Here's my accessment:

• Fantastic range of side dishes that comes with the main dish. 13 different varieties! Woo!
• Taste was not too bad. It wasn't mind blowing, but it made me feel like I was in Seoul.
• I liked that it was set up this Korean father and daughter team! Nice!
• The writings on the wall, gave it a personal, homely feel.
• Very reasonably priced.

What I felt was a little lacking:

• I guess it's difficult to get the Korean ingredients and still make money.Things like beansprout, beancurd, tang hoon. The ones in Korea, taste different in texture. And I've not tasted quite the same in Singapore since our return last year.
• The pancake was a little bland, but it was not bad.

Overall, I described this to M. It's way better than all the other Korean restaurant's we've tried in Singapore. Some of them were simply not acceptable. This is like the top of the bad that we had in Singapore. And the bottom of what we had in Seoul. So it makes it, not a bad choice when we're in Singapore.

Check it out, give it a try!

Kim’s Family Restaurant
17 Lorong Kilat #01-06
Singapore 598139
Tel: (65) 6465 0535
 
Ooh.. there's 2 Korean restaurants there. Don't get mixed up.
 
There's even a Korean super market just a few units down. It's amazing the stores they have on this little stretch at Lor Kilat (Around Bt Timah area). Tucked away, yet such precious finds.
 
There's 2 icecream places there. The one nearest to Kim's is absolutely yummy! Try the Mao Shan Wang Durian ice cream. Oh my! It' nicer than durian! They also had interesting alcoholic options like Orange with Bitter Chocolate, Lychee Martinee Ice Cream etc. Nice, cool, little place. Udders is one of the 3 winners of the Emerging Enterprise 2010 competition! Try it! Ask to sample the flavours before placing your orders!

{3 Down 3 More To Go}

May's a month swarmed with work, work and more work. So many things happening all at the same time. Everyone at office is just exhausted. We're hanging in there, by the grace of God. The last 3 events are all happening next week! Woo hoo! After that, I really want to take a break. So tired!

1. Office Packing & Moving
2. Organise fundraising dinner
3. Launch a new School of Ministry programme
4. 3-day Seminar
5. 1-Evening Prayer Meeting
6. 2010 Graduation Commencement

The fundraising dinner went well. We were delayed by 10 minute, but generally, everything ran like a clock-work. I'm just thankful it's over.

By the time we settled in that evening, and lay in bed, it was 12 plus. I'm a person who cannot just fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow. I need 3-4 hours to wind down. My mind would be running, my heart is racing, I'm still in "active" mode.

If you do the calculation, you might have guessed it. I was tossing and turning all night after the dinner.

1040pm Dinner Ends
1040pm-1130pm Pack up onsite
12am Arrive home
12.30am - 6.45am Toss & turn in bed
7am Plan to get up and go for breakfast with M. BUT I fell into deep sleep then.
7.50am Alarm clock rings.
8am Crawls out of bed. Head to work.

I was really stoned and in a daze that morning. My head was pounding and I just wanted to sleep! Before I could continue to dwell on how tired I was, work took over again. We were busy preparing and packing for Monday's seminar.

I just can't imagine the logistics and the packing after the seminar and the very next day, we have graduation to handle.

We need much grace and strength to run this final lap. Not just me, but everyone in office is exhausted.

{Her First Hand-Made Gift To Him}

J called and wanted to make a "shadow box" for her BF's anniversary gift. She came over last Saturday afternoon and I think I might have changed her views on scrapbooking.

Before she started, she said this would probably be her first and last attempt. After the session, she seems pretty open to do it again.

The part she enjoyed most was distressing the edges. There was a "glow" in her eyes as she scraped the edge of the well cut paper to give it a raw look and fascination took over as she added some "colors" to give it a burnt look. I myself, am a big fan of distressing stuff :)

We even came up with a "sales pitch", a "story" on God, perfection, imperfection all linked together. I don't even remember what it is now, but at that point when the idea was birthed, we had a really good laugh over it!

It was a really nice time to catch up with her and do something I really enjoy. It was a form of "stress release" for me and a time to catch up with an old friend.

The boy and girl transparent tags gave it a really cool touch. Love that idea!

{Completed!}

Finally completed the mini-album for a friend. It's a farewell gift. This wouldn't be possible if she had not taken so many pix that day. I realised I'm not a photo person. I brought the camera and all I took was 3 photos ha ha ha... She went around snapping here, snapping there and we were all avoiding her. But in the end, I must say, her photos made this album possible!

Here's a sneak-peak. Will post more when the gift is given :)

I especially liked the distress combination of Old Paper & Vintage Photo. Looks really cool!

Keep Moving Forward

I wish May would go by quickly. Such a busy, busy period.

Got 2 mini-albums in line, trying to squeeze up every little time I have. It's a real challenge. Got started on one of them. It's almost there but not quite.

The other is still kinda laying around. Basically because the photos are not ready yet. Who knows? I might change it to frame instead.

I think I'm there's something in me that cries out for me to keep to confined spaces. I want so much to have stuff sticking out of the mini-album, but the organiser in me is not allowing that. Each time i put something out of place to make sure it sticks out, I end up putting it back in place. Neat and tidy within the given space. It's like my constant need to work within a confined space, a boxed up cubicle. To be covered, strapped down. Psychologist would say that's a form of insecurity. Really?

Anyway, just wanted to drop a note to say, I'm alive :)

{Taiwan's Whitney Houston? Watch it for yourself!}

{Is It Coming To An End Soon?}

I'm exhausted. We're exhausted.

Too much going on at the same time. Preparing for our annual graduation, a 500 table fund raising dinner, an evening meeting, a 3-day seminar and preparing for the launch of a new programme.

On top of all that, the office is in a mess. We just moved in to our new unit, we have boxes everywhere. We are half packed because part of the cabinets were just installed over the last two days. The smell of the silcon was choking. The noise from the drill, vacuum cleaner and hammer were all going on at the same time on Wednesday morning, in the very same small office that we're in. Ouch. Headache.

In the midst of the noise, the mess, work runs at full speed. Meetings after meetings, in the office and outside the office. Schedules to plan, events to prepare, letters to write, programmes to arrange, publicity materials to work on, hotel reservations, calls that are absolutely frustrating, endless emails to reply etc etc etc... Everything is urgent. Everything needs to be done now. Everything is a red light flashing.

Don't people usually stop for a few days to pack and get the office back in shape before work continues. How can we function at full speed as if we've never moved? It's so frustrating working like that.

Everyone stationed in the office is exhausted and not in the best of moods. 3 ladies to pack, move and unpack an entire office. It almost sounds ridiculous. Everyone's a lil touchy, a lil sensitive, a lil frustrated.

The good thing is, at the end of each day, we end with a smile, we laugh it off and everyone's united to get things moving once again.

Thank God for T who came in last week to help with the move. The only guy who came to help us, 3 ladies.Thank God for P. She is practically the only person packing the remaining half of the office while S and I run around like headless chickens to attend to everything else.

We need more hands, less mouth. Talk is cheap.

{Ha ha ha...Hilarious!}

Be inspired to sing in tongues...

{Tissue Boxes}

{For Him}

Kept it simple and fuss-free. Just the way he likes it.

{For Her}

More details. A lil more complicated.

{In Use}

{SALE}

The office packing has officially begun. We need to move everything by Wed. This afternoon I sent out an email notice as well as inserted a simple leaflet under the doors of our neighbours, informing them of the office furniture sale.

Before we started this, we were all wondering if anybody would respond at all.

Oh ye of little faith!

In about 4 hours, more than 70% of the items were sold, including our most expensive items. Wow! I've never sold so many items in 4 hours before!

They are really cheap and in good condition too.

Just a few more to go for 100% sold out!

{Learn Something New Each Day!}

S made a call to one of the hotels in China to make a room reservation. The conversation went on well in Mandarin until we had to spell the email addresses in English.

After a few tries, the lady on the line still could not figure out the English alphabets unti S came up with an ingenious line:

S: "D" for dalian, "M" for ma ma...

{This Little Boy Is Sooooo Adorable!}

{Good Morning!}

M's usually not involved in my scrapbooking activities other than patiently wait for me while I do my scrap shopping. Today, I was pleasantly surprised by his ingenious input.

Did a really simple piece but something just didn't look quite right. He casually walked by and said, why don't you add some sand with the glitter. AH HA! I forgot all about the glitter. He remembers what I bought! So glitter was added... I love it!

Since I've already created such a mess around me I thought I might as well do more of the glitter. And so I added more around the edge of the card stock.

And he casually walked by again and said, how about the sea shells that you got some time ago.... AH HA! I've got seashells. And yes, I've also wiped them out of my memory completly. So seashells were added...

Here's the completed piece. Ah, my first piece that I "feel" was done by the both of us. Even if it's just two statements from him :)

{My Workspace}

Open the work desk.

Paper selection from cabinet above.

Stickers and Alpha selection from green folders.

Add the embelishments, flowers, buttons, sparkles, brads...

These are essentials that are all within reach.

More essentials with containers of chipboards, yarns and more stickers.

Work-in-progress.

I'm done. Now you see it. Now you don't.

{Yeah!!}

G! We finally met today! Catch up soon!

{Cherish}

Here's a piece of LO that will remind me to always cherish what God has given to us. Bought these lovely Webster Pages from Art Republic today. Love the florals and the berries...

{Remember Always}

Gorgeous Prima Flowers... absolute beauties!

Finally used the minty pearl ribbons, wanted a free flow look. And yes, I finally bought a ball of yarn :)

Woo hoo! Not sure if you can see it clearly, but I decided to use a feather here as well.

{Love}

Made use of some left over sparkles ... fits just right!

{Life is a bowl of cherries. Live. Laugh. Love}

I got a little "tacky" here. I thought "Cherries" sounds like "Cherish" so I used a "Cherish" rub-on ha ha...

{Fine feathers make fine birds}

Can you spot the two birds?

{Ecclesiastes 4:11}

God has made everything beautiful for its own time.

{Inspired, Yet Again!}

I've got new inspiration to scrap yet another mini-album. Now, I just got to find the right photos to use for this project.

Things are moving very quickly at work. This might take a while to complete, if I can find time to even start.

To sum up, last week was like a new awakening for me. Picking up from where I left off and starting a new journey...

I'm excited :)

{Tune UP Your Speakers!}

Katie Melua, Eva Cassidy - What A Wonderful World

I've never been a fan of this song until I heard this! I'm in love....

{L-O-V-E}

So, after watching Yin and her inspiring piece of LO, I decided to attempt making use of my Webster's Pages and prima flowers bought ages ago... It can't really be seen from the photos, but I tried to create various layers to give it some depth... how do I take those shots?

{LOVE}

{It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun.}

{My Angel}

A peacock at the top?!?!?! Don't ask me why, it just looks nice layering it! ((lol))

Wish I had a smaller frame, but this works as well, I think :)

{See U Soon!}

Today's probably the last day I'll be meeting R till she returns a year later from Japan. It was a good afternoon l-o-n-g lunch :) She was saying that she enjoys this lifetsyle of just meeting up with friends to have long lunches... In which I replied... that's called tai-tai life or you can call it silai if you want ha ha ha...

Made a little something for her and also gave her some stuff to attempt making her first (and hopefully not her last) mini-album capturing precious memories in Japan with her family!

It's going to be just a year, but I hope I'll be able to see her soon.

{Inspired}

Have been searching for photos to scrap. Digging through folders... Barely squeezing something out.

Watching Yin scrap so effortlessly last Saturday truly inspired me to want to start working with the Webster's Pages that I bought ages ago. It's already "out of season" I believe. Layering comes so easily to her.

Hope I get something out somehow. Been busy.

{Live Well}

Growing up, I've made mistakes or bad decisions here and there. I used to think as long I've moved forward and if I'm willing to let the past rest where it should, everything will be well.

Mostly it is true.

But once in a while, if a part of that past comes up to me face on, I feel vulnerable and almost at a total lost. Mistakes made in the past comes with a consequence. It's all well when I don't need to face those consequences and move on in life. But even after more than 10 years later, the moment I had to come face on with such consequences, it's pokes like a needle.

Moral of the story? Live well. Live right. Don't make hasty, impulsive decisions that will leave a legacy of consequences that cannot be erased...

{Sleeping Habits}

Sleep till your heart's content and stay awake till sleep time at night.

OR

Wake up early in the morning, take a nap after lunch, wake up late afternoon/early evening and then night falls and it's time for bed again?

I'm like the odd one out at home :)

{Vintage-Beautiful}

iLike

{Inspiration}

I love this blog, do check it out. So many pretty pictures that inspires!

http://pearlnlace.blogspot.com/

{Going, going, gone...}

I'm at a point where I'm photo-empty. Yes. It's self-descriptive. I'm out of photos to scrap.

I've been wanting to start on another mini-book, but I haven't came up with a theme for it. I don't really want to just do a mini-album because it takes up space. If I did one, it has to be meaningful and something I'd want to keep and pass it down :)

Any ideas?

{Wedding}

Attended the biggest wedding event ever. 80 tables... reception was quite a challenge ha ha... It was a fun time of meeting cousins whom I've not met for ages. It's strange. Even though we've not seen each other in years, when we met, it was just like we've just met each other yesterday. There was no awkward silence or strange feelings. These are people whom I grew up with, then separated after grandma passed on. When we came back together again, it was like we took off from where we left. My nieces and nephews have all grown up - gosh... we're really getting too old.

Also met up with grandma's best friend. Haven't seen her in more than 10 years, since grandma departed. She's 92 this year and swims daily -WOW!! Talking to her brought tears to my eyes, thought of grandma. The strange thing is just about 2 nights ago, I actually dreamt of this particular friend of my grandma. Can't quite recall the contents of the dream, but I knew I dreamt of her. I didn't expect to see her at the wedding - amazing huh?

Once again, we suffered the repercussion of not inviting people to our wedding 4 years ago... old relatives of relatives... My mum was just telling me how she had actually lost some friends for not inviting them to our wedding. I myself, lost some, coz I didn't invite them. You see, our wedding was held at chijmes, really limited space. Had a lot of relatives. Ended up we only invited relatives and really close friends and collegues whom we meet everyday. Not that all the other friends were not important, just that there wasn't sufficient space. Over time, you realise those people whom you've not invited either feel offended or just decided to not respond to you... It's strange though, I'd thought they'd be thankful they don't have to spend a few hours at the dinner and spending more than a hundred per person... ha ha ha.. oh well... Life goes on.

{Appreciating Him}

Created this LO just for M, using his fav. color - pink. He denies that is his fav. color, but each time he sees a pink shirt, he gravitates towards it :) He loves to take photos... added a camera rub on. Used Mr Sandman to rub it down to give it a seasoned look. So, I finally bought the butterfly and bird puncher. Wanted a bigger one, but they only had this at that moment - did some impulse shopping. Can u spot them - 2 each :D

{Nami Island, Seoul}

Make a wish. Build the rocks.

{3 little things that I love about him!}