Ah Bea's!

Broken Friendship...

2011-11-17T16:52:00.000Z

Today, I want to talk about friendships...about a friendship that's been broken lately...

It never ceases to amaze me how sometimes friendships are so easily established by stangers or how fragile and easily broken a friendship is. Some friendships survive distance and time. Some friendships get broken because of other people. Some friendships have to be kept a secret so as not to annoy your significant other half.

Some friendships however get broken because of old habits that are impossible to break. This was what happened to this friendship.

Friendships are supposed to be a balance of give and take. When all you do is take, the day will come when you have taken too much and there is no more left to take. When all you do is give, one day you will find that you have nothing to give anymore. Or worse, you get fed up and not want to give anymore.

But as always, when something involves two people, both sides will have different views of what happened. Of course, it is hard to accept that you are wrong and the other is right. Especially when you are in the wrong...

I feel that I have given enough in this friendship. Since you have never, did not, still do not and will not in the future appreciate or value my friendship, then I say this to you :

I have had enough and I do not want to be friends anymore.

So goodbye!

Jewellery Class in kk

2011-09-13T12:06:00.001+01:00

Since the idea hit me yesterday, I've been racking my head brainstorming about what I need to organize a Jewellery making class in KK in Oct for when I go back. The idea is wonderful I think.

And it gives normal people in KK a chance to try their hand at something. I mean as far as I know, there aren't any Jewellery learning classes in KK. And I only know of one place in KL.

Not to say there aren't any jewellery makers in KK. There are plenty. But nobody or few people actually offer classes. Hehe and me being a teacher who misses teaching, I think this is a fantastic way of satisfying my needs to teach and my love of making things.

So all you KK people who read my blog, please pass the word around. The class is only for Oct. Come and learn how to make an easy set of Jewellery. Or learn to handmade a rosary. If you are interested, leave me a comment here or leave me a message at http://www.facebook/bealeesjewelleryandcraft :-)

Testing

2011-09-06T21:45:00.001+01:00

I have just downloaded Blogspot on my IPad! Technology is amazing! :-). Maybe now I will blog more often???? Hehe....

Straightened my hair today... Been a while since I had it this straight. The
hubby prefers my hair curled...and now that I am growing out of my curls, I am looking for a new hairstyle. Had my hair curled just before Chinese New Year. It was filthy cheap!!!! Less than RM70 if I remember correctly for my over-shoulder-length hair then!!!! But obviously to get it done that cheaply means they used a very basic perming lotion which is murder for hair ends. I have cut half of my split ends last month when I had my hair colored. So there's the other half head of split ends to get rid of.

If I were to trim the ends, I'd end up with curls at the ends which would look funny. If I straighten it, my face would look like a giant moon cake, not that it doesn't look like one with curly hair anyway. And the hubby likes me with curly hair. I like me with curly hair. But the ends of my hair at the moment just annoys me no end!

I don want to cut it shoulder length cos winter is coming and I want my ears and neck protected! Long hair is great for that! I shall wait till after we move to cut my hair short again.

In the meantime............ I shall wait for inspiration! Or ideas if anyone has any... :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Reflections

2011-08-22T16:32:00.000+01:00

I have been wondering why I had been feeling disheartened all day... I was sorting through my beads stash trying to clear my mental block when I realised I have been feeling disheartened since yesterday when I saw a post by a friend on Facebook.

This is what was posted 'Being a mum makes a woman complete.'

When I saw this post, a momentary flicker of doubt went through my head. Am I not a complete woman then because I have no children?

Quite quickly though that doubt vanished!!! :-) Instead of feeling doubt, the feeling of sadness overcame me. Not because I am not a 'complete' woman but because some women, no matter how modern they think they are, are still caged by the belief that women are not 'complete' until they have gone through all the stages of womanhood : girl, woman, wife, mother and possibly grandmother.

I am very sure that my friend didn't mean any harm by that statement. She probably said that because of the joy she felt at being a mum. But that statement has disheartened me. Do some of my friends pity me because I am not a mum, that I have not gone through the torture of childbirth, or that no children would call me 'mum'?

Do I feel I'm not 'complete' because I am not a mum? No, I don't. I don't think I need to go through pregnancy, childbirth, stretchmarks(battlescars!) and being called a mum to feel 'complete'.

To me, being a complete woman means I enjoy being a woman and am proud of the fact that I am a woman. I can cry and laugh, and whine and wail at whim, be a damsel in distress, wear pretty dress, play with make up, flirt with my eyes, act coy, change light bulbs, complain about being fat and not lose weight, drool at Edward in Twilight, dream of Mr Darcy... I'm a COMPLETE woman.

This reminds me, I get really annoyed when friends welcome you to the Married Club or to the Mummy's Club. ??? Some people think it's an upgrade. I think it's rude. When you are single, they ask you when you're going to have a boyfriend. When you have a boyfriend, they want to know when you're getting married. When you finally find yourself a husband, they pressure you about children. And when you think you're done because you have children, they now want to know when you're going to be a grandmother!!! It's a neverending story, guys! So STOP IT!!!! It's annoying!!!!

Stop picking on friends who are single, unmarried or childless, people..... All in good time! It will all fall in place. What you want may not be what your friends want. Leave them alone!!!!!

April

2011-05-24T14:16:00.000+01:00

April... I know it's only last month,.. but I have to think back what I did in April... and the only thing that came to mind was Hubby's absence and Visit to Jo's.

So with hubby hardly home in April, I went and visited Jo. This time, we stayed away from shops..hehe which was a good thing cos everytime I go to her place, we go shopping and I always end up with a new pair of shoes and new clothes. Not that I didn't buy a pair of shoes, I did but the focus of this trip was going places. And because my problem is I am too busy enjoying myself looking at things that I forget to take pics... wakaka...

We went... drove to The Lake District. The silly sat nav took us through an ultra one lane winding and hilly road instead of through the villages for some reason. but it was very pretty!. That part of Uk is gorgeous. I didn't take a pic cos I would have thrown up all over the car if I did. But I did take pictures of Windermere when we went on the Boatride.

Don let the sun deceive you. It was freezing and windy that day. We were frozen half way back despite the fact that we were all bundled up in our coats.

The yachts all docked there. Only the rich can afford to live by the lake here!

This is Windermere or what you would see when you are step off the boat.

These are gigantic swan. If you look at the top left of the pic, you'll see a couple on the bench having their lunch. Compare the size of that swan to them! They were scary.

And here is a pic of Jo and me. My face is soooo ROUND and BIG compared to hers. hehe. You should have seen the other pics... sigh...

And as is customary, I bought a pair of pumps!!!!(Ya, pumps! Dunno what came over me!) My first pair of pumps! We went to Lytham and walked around the town. It's a pretty and quiet town. No, I didn't buy this green. I bought a pair of cream-coloured ones in this design.... because they didn't have my size in green... wahahahhaa.... This is my going to Sainsburys-Grocery-Shopping Shoes...which I haven't had much opportunity wearing in the cold. Hubby gave me a look when he saw it. lol...cos this just so isn't me. I had a hard time wearing it too cos it just feels and looks soooo weird. but it's soft and the rubber soles grip the floor well in case I decide to ski across the floor in Sainsburys.

I also made what I thought was a stunning cushion cover... hehe... I took the pattern off one of my magazines. It was a Mother's Day pattern. It was fun to make.

and this one is hubby's.

I also finally finished the covers of the other cushions in the lounge. hehe. I promised hubby I'd make cushion covers with this nice chinese brocade meaterial since Reading last year. Hubby chose the fabric from Fabricland when we still lived in Reading. The porject got disrupted cos I stole half of it for my dress... hehe... and I finally made enough covers when I was in my cushion cover mode. aren't they pretty?

And my featured piece of jewllery for April is.... this. Dunno what to name it yet though. What do you think?

And lastly, I love this pic of hubby and me.... :-)

Busy March

2011-05-09T16:24:00.000+01:00

This is crazy!!! It's been a while and this time, I had to think about what my password is!!! sigh... Oh well....I have an excuse why I haven't been blogging religiously lately. It's because...... tadaaa.... I forgot I had a blog!!!!! wakakakaka... Nahhhh.... March has been a month of visitors! Oh, and my birthday.

First, beginning of March, when my sister and her friend were still here, we went to Fountain Abbey ( I think it's Fountain Abbey...hubby laughed at me cos I can never get it right. or Abbey Fountain??? whichever!) on a beautiful, albeit cold, March day!

Fountain Abbey was supposed to be one of the biggest and richest abbeys back in the 13th century and was built in the 12th century. They made money feom farming, horse breeding, sheep, mining, quarry, etc. They sound like a hardworking bunch, don't they? Anyways, this is what is left from the Dissolution of Monasteries in the mid 16th century after whatever was taken to built other buildings. It's pretty impressive.

We also took the girls to Whitby for some fish and chips and sightseeing through the Yorkshire Moors, which I think is gloomy and Hubby thinks it's beautiful. This pic was taken in a rush cos it was soooo cold when we couldn't be bothered putting our coat on and got out of the car. BIG mistake! The photographer was too cold to concentrate. Anyways, what I'm standing on is heather. Heather covers the land for miles and miles. And cos it was late winter, flowers haven't bloomed yet so the landscape looks brown.

Whitby was COLD!!!! The winds... brrrrr.... that'sll all I can say! I didn't bother taking pics cos my hands were too cold to come out of my pockets. The fish and chips were good though.

And then Janet and her family came over from Ireland for a visit. We had loads of fun catching up and we went round town showing them the sights. By then I was pretty good at being a tour guide. hehe...had bits of stories from the horse cart tour round the city with my sister and her friend.

That's Janet(second from left) and her lovely husband, Vincent and daughter, Michelle. Do re mi in the pic and guess who's the shortest? wakakaka...

Then my birthday convo drove down to Reading with hubby and me in one car and Janet and her family in another. That's really sweet of them, wasn't it? It was St Patricks day so they had a long weekend and decided to come to York and then go down to Reading to celebrate my birthday at East West, where I used to work. Bart and Hanie from The Netherlands were there. Fahim and his lovely partner, were there. Of course, Sem, Sandy and Anthonio were there. My sister and her partner, Gareth, came as well. It was like a mini reunion...haha... As usual, I helped out at the restaurant (which I missed doing) and they even had a surprised cake for me!!! As a rule, I hate surprises so it was really nice of them to do that! Bart and Hannie did the balloons. so cute!

Here comes pic of how FAT I am!!! haha... Not a good look but it's ok. It's a pic of the 3 of us. We used to compare lives and gossip when we were all at Reading. I didn't realised how FAT I was till I saw this pic!!! So now, I'm on a major diet! But I blame the camera and phtographer more!

And I had loads of beautiful and much appreciated presents!!!! I loved all of them! Too much? NAH!!! I don't think so. This one is from Hubby dearest. hahaha... I'm spoilt rotten, aren't I? Hubby said 35th is a big birthday so I went for it... hahaha... why waste an excellent excuse for shopping and presents??? haha

From my sister, a tea set!!!! Love it!

And the rest of my presents.

The handmade wallet is from PengPeng. Peng Peng visited me at the end of March. It was a girly weekend filled with food, hair, nails and fun! heheh We had lots of laughs and there was also a panic moment too cos I lost my bankcard due to 3 rounds of supermarket shopping in one day! We must do it again soon, Peng!

And that's Busy March! Next blog, Creative April...

Not working???

2011-03-07T12:59:00.002Z

I work from home... although some people would insist that I don't work at all and that I stay home and play all day...hmmm... not to be defensive but I do work. I make jewellery and then sell them. Now, I may not be selling much and it's not (yet!) a multi-billion business. Nonetheless, I do object to people saying I don't work at all. So there! Rant over.

I just realised yesterday that I haven't blogged since November... haha...well, so now I thought I should update my blog a bit. Not that I have many pics to show but still...

December- Visited Rick's family in Oz.
Regardless of what people say, I haven't seen much of Adelaide or Melbourne. Everytime we go back, it's a family visit and with family visits, I see more of their homes and restaurants then sightseeing.
Adelaide- Linda's birthday. wish I took a pic. I don like lugging Rick's big cam around. Oh well!
Baby Thomas. ultra cute! He's Rick's niece's baby.

Melbourne- Christmas! had a quiet christmas dinner at home. Then Christmas lunch with Sarah.

Sarah's birthday. went out for a meal with Hil's whole family.

oh and before that, went to the Ashes(cricket). England trashed Australia (shushhhh!)

January...Yeah!!!! KK! went home to KK for the whole month till Chinese New Year. Babysat as usual!!! But I love it.The kids are sooooooo cute!!!!

Worked as well.. made loads of jewellery and actually sold some!!! That made me happy! Here are some pics of the things I made.

February- Chinese New Year!!! Gave away some ang pows...hahha..wish I'm on the receiving end though! hehe

Incidentally, I made the dress. Can't fit in it anymore though... hahah I got fat! Looks fat kan??? I blame it on the angle this pic was taken! Made the necklace and earrings to go with the dress as well... hahah that's the best part! I can make my jewellery to go with my dresses!!!

Came back to UK...still freezing! Celebrated our 2nd anniversary at the tapas place. Yum! Note: take pics next time!

Then my sister and her friend came and visited us! So it was shopping and food galore...hahah the week they were here, I put on abt 2 kgs!!!!! Imagine that! Dahlah already fat now fatter! But we had fun! Forgot to get the pics from my sister's cam though! sigh!

Sharrifah and I on the city wall. The wall surrounds York city.

Behind is the Fountain Abbey ruins. very pretty. sunny but cold and windy.

The house is so quiet now with the 2 girls down in London. oh well... So that's all the major events in the past few months!

Oct Highlights

2010-11-19T16:07:00.000Z

Let's see...

Visit to Jo's. I didn't want to stay home alone that week cos of the reactions people get when I tell them the block of apartment where I stay used to be a hospital. These people would joke about the unseen and the morgue and etc. Their stupid jokes didn't help me at all while I'm trying to get used to the place! So when Rick went away for a week, I went to Jo's and stayed away from these friends. Jo and the kids helped a lot cos after I came back, I wasn't pissing in my pants anymore. sigh.... but anyways, spending time at Jo's was great...not to mention the shopping. hahah

finished a crochet project. this is warmer than it looks. hmmm... it's black with pink flower buttons. the pink i used for my shawl. horrible lighting.

Baked a Japanese Cake according to the recipe Vic sent me. didn't line the bottom enough so water seeped in while it was baking but came out beautifully though a bit too moist. added more lemon cos the hubby likes lemony things but I didn't like it cos it was wayyyy too tart for me.

hmmm.... jewellery....here are some of the pieces I've made in Oct. Lighting in this country is horrible for photos.

and sewing... hahah made a winter coat... it's not that hard to make a coat...(dressmaking is easy if you get ready made patterns!)...just the amount of work!!! and of course the fabric i chose was beautiful to look at but a pain to work with! and obviously I made mistakes here and there and by the time it came to hemming it, I was wayyy too sick working on it. but overall, I thought it looked very well done! although from the pic, the back looks funny. Hubby assures me I did a good job though...

a dress before that...looks more like the primary school uniform! should have chosen a diff colour! Just as well, I have never worn one.

A dress for Chinese New Year assuming by then I can still fit in it! . This fabric...sigh... cost me £9.90 per metre. I needed 2m and I am a housewife with no income!!! sigh...

And the grand finale!!! As I was piling on weight like there's no tomorrow... I have convinced myself to break my own rule and overcome my allergy to exercising and convinced the hubby I needed help. Tadaa!!! A cheap Cross Trainer from Argos. Putting it together was fun and tiring cos the hubby was away when it came. the first 2 weeks, I did an hour about 15km on average every other day. This past week, I'm doing 20 mins about 5km every morning. Bloody hard work if you ask me! I must be out of my mind! All this just so I won't get too many 'Geez! You've put on weight!' or 'OMG! You're SO fat now!' Hubby assures me I'm not fat and he loves me the way I am.. but then he's not going to complain if I have a fitter body, is he???

And Jo and the kids visited us and we had loads of fun but too much walking. Poor kids! and the hubby's been away for 3/4 of the month. That's it I think for Oct!...

My Room

2010-10-05T18:31:00.001+01:00

Hehe... Yes, I have my own room, my very own sanctuary, in this house as I've told you guys.... heheh so here are some pics that might make Peng Peng and Fely a wee bit envious... hehe...here goes....

A bit messy but at least I know where everything is! I call it 'Organised Mess'. hehehe...

This is the sofa bed... at the moment, it is my storage place for miscellaneous... I just chucked them on the sofa bed. the red bag on the sofa bed contains all my yarn that I stuffed into it for the move...doesn't look like much here cos I stuffed it all into the bag. If you look at one of my previous blog entries, I used to have all my yarn on a shelf.

My old sewing machine that I got free cos Peng Peng found a lady who wanted to give it away in reading. It doesn't sew well at all but it's not like it can't be used and I can still sew with it. I'm not going to get it fixed cos getting it fixed could well be the cost of a new sewing machine.... And I made this chair cushion for one of our garden chairs which I used before we bought the blue one. I made this in a hurry and I didn't bother to measure and cut my cloth properly so the lines don match but it turned out brilliantly I thought. Made it out of the fat quarters of cloth I bought in Reading... Have to get more filling cos I used up the filling I bought to stuff our flat cushions... hehe...and now what should I do with this?

My sewing boxes with my fabric, patterns, scissors, etc....got more fabric but beside the sewing machine in the pink bag.

And this is where my multi-billion jewellery business takes place... hehe.. we bought all the furniture and my bureau table in my previous blog from a second hand shop.... let's see, the gorgeous dark wood foldable table cost £15 I think. my bureau table cost £30 or £40. The shelf and the chair was £10 each. The table top was quite scratched so I covered it with vinyl.

Looks messy in the pic, doesn't it?? but to my eye it is very neat cos I have everything I need on hand. well, I don normally have the tray out. I just bought it and so tried it out. I normally used my homemade one under the tray. I draw out measurements on oil cloth leftover from the dining table cover. hehe... my beads don run away from me on the white bit on the wrong side of the table cloth . The red and black box contains my earrings.

This was my old workstation in Reading... hehe I've graduated now!!! hehe I use this table for my sewing machine now. I had to clear the table when I made my dress and then move everything back on the table after that.

My work supplies... hehe..my big box of beads and things I need for jewellery. the white tray on the top left contains half done and complete pieces.

So there you go, my room... hehe

And while I was writing this blog, I looked out my window and saw this.

The old lady was washing the car while the man was just standing there watching!!! heheh I feel like I'm the nosy parker spying on my neighbours!!! Wonder if this is how the papparazzi feel taking secret pics. I wonder how much I could blackmail them for... hmmm...

York

2010-09-27T16:26:00.000+01:00

Everything is unpacked in our new apartment now...except for hubby's books in his office.... might take a holw year before he unpacks them cos he doesn't have enough shelves...hehe... moving is a pain but when you hire movers, it cuts down a lot of hassle. so I actually managed to unpack most essentials on the day we moved cos I wanted to give the movers their boxes back. It took me 3 days actually to sort out the kitchen, lounge and our shower room. I call it oour shower room cos the shower is in the ensuite but we don use that room as our bedroom cos it was smaller than the room we use as our bedroom. our wardrobes are also in the shower room(my own walk in wardrobe!). we also hang our laundry there cos I don like the aundry in the kitchen.

Here are some pics of the apartment...first the lounge.

The lounge is upstairs... but 'you live in an apartment!' I hear you ask... hehhe.. if you look at the top right half of the pic, you can see the white ceiling... heheh it's not a very high ceiling unlike the place in Reading. See the railing at the end? This next pic is what you see when you lean over it.

That's the dining table. I covered our garden table with oil cloth.

Remember the exercise bike in the lounge? You can see it through the railings if you look up. I'm standing by the dining table while I took this pic. See my apron and red heart on the right of the pic? Use that as your bearing in this next pic.

hehe...still with me? The lounge is right above the kitchen and on sort of like a mezzanine floor.

Cool, isn't it??? heheh We have 3 rooms downstairs and they are all like that. In fact, all the units in this building are like this. This building, County House, used to be a hospital in the late 1800s so the ceilings are very high and they have been converted into mezzanine floors to add extra rooms. I must tremember to take a pic of the garish pink lobby and show you one of these days.

Because there are built in cupboards... sigh... I can't reach the top shelves so this is my new kitchen helper.

I love it. I can reach anything now without having to shout for hubby... hehe

York Minster to the right when you look out the window.

My walk in wardrobe/shower room

If you look up, that's my room/workshop

My shoes in the storage room which is supposed to be used for hanging coats.

I finally finished the latch hook door rug I bought the first time when I visited Joanne. It adds colour to the tiny hallway.

This is my new second-hand Bureau Desk. I love it!!!!

I will take pics of my room when I have tidied it a bit... heheh... it also serves as the guest room. I also have to get used to a new place asap cos hubby is going away on a long trip soon... So there you go... pics of my new place.

Finished projects

2010-08-31T19:54:00.000+01:00

My new card!!!

Here is an update on my finished projects the last few weeks...

This is one of Peng Peng's pressie.... Made her a pair of earrings you can see on her blog.

A pendant and a necklace I've been playing around with to match the earring on the top right for a friend.

A bracelet I learnt to weave with beads from Beejang's blog.

A set of silvery necklace and earrings for my Coriandr shop.

Tried crocheting with wire.

My new winter cap... a bit too big and my head looks ultra big in this!

And this dress!!! hahah.. Peng found me a lady giving away her old sewing machine so I had it a while back. So one day while the husband is away, I went to Fabricland and got myself a dress pattern and cloth to make it. After cutting the pattern out laboriously with my small scissors, I had to fix the sewing machine. Cos when the lady showed me all the knobs and things, she turned this and tweaked hat to show me it worked except for the tension spring. Something was wrong with the tension spring...anyways, can't complain cos she gave it to me for free. Her husband got her a new modern one. I spent hours trying to fix it and get the tension between the needle thread and bobbin thread right... Headache.... I think the spring needs to be changed..but it's still usable and VIOLA!...I made this dress... albeit it being a size 12....heheh I thought I was so fat by now, I'm a size 12....a bit of consolation to me, I'm still a 10 or possibly an 11 ...phew!... and i was so eager to finish it while summer was still here, I was too lazy to try it and fix it...so I'm sticking to the dress being a bit loose especially the bodice. It was supposed to be a strapless but I'm not well endowed enough to hold the dress, I made straps at the end...hehehe.. not bad bah kan.. I haven't touched a sewing machine since collage!

But I'm thinking kan...although I have lots of sewing projects to do and I even got material and patterns already!! hahha... but I'm thinking kan.. I still like making jewellery best cos I can be creative with it. I still love crochet and knitting and even subscribed to a magazine for it. But knitting and crochet take the longest. It takes forever for the project to look like what it's supposed to look like and even longer to finish! Sewing takes a hell lot of preparation but finishes fast. But I find the preparation most tedious. Maybe it's also due to my personality...hahah Nobody can accuse me of being organised and I don like planning either...

There's something about working with your hands and making something that is sooooo therapeutic and soothing! No wonder I haven't lost my temper in a while....heheh although the husband like sto think it's because of him...wakakaka...

Moving House

2010-08-28T20:54:00.000+01:00

Yes, we are moving again... it's been a year already here and the lease to the place is up soon and so I asked the Hubby whether he wants to move or stay a month ago when the agents sent us a letter. Hubby, busy with work as usual, didn't even acknowledge me so I thought ok....maybe we'll stay...must remind him again to let the agent know...soon...

Then about 2 and a half weeks ago, when the hubby was free, I brought the matter up again. I said if we want to move, we have to let he agents know and find a place real quick. If we don move, we have to renew the lease. Hubby said let him think about it and started looking at houses in York...(which he does all the time anyways...places in South of France, KK, etc)...cos he likes York. So I looked as well and sent him pics to look at..again just for fun cos by then, I thought we were going to stay. That was a weekend.

Then all of a sudden on Monday I think, he told me to rate the places he has listed down that we have both liked in York. So I did. It didn't cross my mind that he was serious. Then he started calling the agents and making arrangements to view the places we just rated. on Thursday.. wow! I was a bit blur. That was when I realised we were going to move.

But me being me, life is hard!!!! By Wednesday, 3 out of the 6 we planned to view were taken.... On Thursday evening, we drove up thinking we'll book more when we get there. The moment we got out of Reading, it poured!!!! all the 4-hour-way up Leeds where we stayed overnight. At 5 am Friday, some idiot started knocking next door. I assume it's the wake call. It took them 8 mins to wake him up. Sigh.... by then I was awake and couldn't sleep again after that.. Don you just hate it when that happens? And breakfast was expensive and disappointing... Not a good start.

So we drove to York and got to the hotel at about 1030....sat at the lobby and made more calls for house viewings and waited to check in at 12 cos the hotel said it was ok. We deliberately chose a Friday cos it was a working day and hopefully it wouldn't be that jammed...hmmm... nope, it was the end of RaceDay... sigh jammed. and we couldn't see any more places we liked and the ones we liked were already taken... we were a bit depressed by then

At 12, the room wasn't ready yet so we had to leave our things in the car and go to our 1st viewing... fantastic place...so things were looking up. but it wasn't till Sat, we both agreed on the same place. phew! We paid the booking fee. so were happy. 15 mins later, the agent called. said they couldn't charge booking fee was all the rest(booking, deposit, etc.) are done thru another company. OK we had to walk back and refund our money. and wait till Monday fo rthe girl in charge of it to ring us.

Come Monday morning, the girl rang us and told us that the company put the place up at 2 agents and now, we and another family is fighting for the place cos we both wanted the place at the same time. so we had to rush home and fill in the application forms and email them to her immediately...Sigh...Imagine how annoyed we both were. Then we had to change our move in date 2 weeks earlier than we wanted just to get the place.... ok that done... after waiting for 2 hours, we finally have the place. Then for some reason, the company couldn't process Hubby's credit card!!! after the 3 time, hubby gave them another card....sigh! finally!!!!

Happily we went our agent at Reading to give notice that we are leaving.... nope,... it wasn't a month's notice...it was 2 months.... sigh... we thought were had to waste a whole month's rent to do both places!!!! Luckily, the landlord has agreed to put the place on the market earlier and if someone wants our place, we could leave next month... phew.... fingers crossed someone will take this place soon!!!! phew!!!!!

Beautiful new things...

2010-08-17T14:54:00.001+01:00

This past 2 weeks have been quite productive.. hehe... but then I'm under pressure to make new things to put on my website and actually make a sale...heheh Peng was the first to buy something but then it would be nice to have PEOPLE actually liking my things enough to buy... ... ...

But first, I have to have enough things in my webshop to interest people...sigh... that's the problem bit. O mean I made some really pretty things but why are they not on my webshop??? Because they are so pretty I want to keep them.... sigh!!!! And I'm the kind of person who cannot make something unque twice! They never come out the same no matter how hard I try... Sigh...

Anyways, enough of grumbling... here are some new things I've made recently that I really like. What do you think?

This is a bangle which I made.. The book called it Grapevine... I actually think it looks really good.

I made these yesterday afternoon... Made the white one first... then I got braver... Needs work though but I'm thinking...it's handmade..won't a few smudges and fingerprints be more authentic??? Guess which I'm keeping for myself???

BeaLee's Jewellery & Craft

2010-08-11T15:51:00.000+01:00

Finally, I have done something I've been meaning to do the past few months!!!! I have set up my very own BeaLee's Jewellery & Craft on Coriandr!!!

Ever since I started learning to make jewellery, my friends have been very supportive of me saying my things looked nice. And so from all these praises, ( I like to think they are praises!!!!) I have told a few friends about my intention to start a webshop. Their response were good. And my brother helped advice me and did some research for me. Peng helped me design the banner at my webshop and bought my first item from the website!!!!. Janet bought a few things off me. Jo ordered some earrings. And others who said my things were nice....Thank you!!!

Of course, it's only the beginning and things are slow. But I'm looking ahead... hopefully some people will like my things. I need more things to put in my shop so that there's a variety. But having a design in your head and actually making them is very hard....but perseverance is free and I will have perseverance!

But if you are free, click on the link and go look at it. Tell me what you think of the site or of my things. For once, I don't mind being criticised!!! hehehe... oh and pass the word round, will ya?

Legoland

2010-08-08T18:09:00.000+01:00

Finally I went to Legoland... been wanting to go for so long...finally when Janet and Sandy said they were taking their kids, I jumped at the chance too... I have to say though that Legoland Windsor is more like a theme park than what I thought legoland to be. they are lego structures here and there and the sturcture were quite impressive but i exopected more structures built from legos if you know what I mean....imagine half of sunway lagoon with lego structures every 100 metres or so. but I enjoyed myself very very much. So here are some of my fav pics.

first, the entrance. you can't not take a pic in front of the entrance!!! but this was taken at 8pm when the park was closing. Impossible to take a good pics during opening hours.

One of the giant dragons made out of lego blocks. pretty impressive! It was very very big.

farmer's wife and pigs and chicken.

At the lego centre, this pic of the Queen looked really real and the almost full size bike is my fav.

And this cockpit is made entirely out of lego blocks. It's very big.

This is the inside. with real graphics display.

One of the rides.

This section is called the Safari section. The ostriches and lionesses were sooooo real!!!

Pretend Gold Panning

This was a gigantic structure. See the size of it compared to the people sitting at its base.

Games stall. I won the meerkat at basketball and the pig at number balls. No idea what I was thinking. It was sooo embarrassing carrying it home that night cos that meerkat was BIG.

Miniland. My fav section. I mean this is what Legoland should be about! These were mini structures of famous buildings and different European landscapes.

Love the cows in this one.

Wish Michelle, the photographer were in the pic...Oh well....

I think everyone should go to at least one Legoland once! I was a bit disappointed cos I expected more lego structures but I loved whatever was there and we enjoyed ourselves very very much!

Visiting Jo

2010-08-04T14:23:00.000+01:00

Here's a belated blog about a visit I should have blogged about 2 months ago... but with constant writer's blog, it's been delayed till now. And while going through my collection of pics, I came across these pics and thought I should blog about this...

We went duck feeding with the kids on this visit... with very healthy wholemeal bread! haha... The kids were so cute. hehe and there was a lone swan amongst all the ducks... wonder what he was doing there.

As some of you know, back in June was Rice Dumpling Festival, or Dragonboat Festival or Tuen Wu Jia (I think), I visited Joanne and the kids. Hehe...I brought with me on the 4 hr long train ride to her place up north 2kg of glutinous rice (cos that's the smallest packet), a whole packet of dried bamboo leaves and 1 kg groundnuts. It was sooo heavy.

This is a pic of what I took back the last we stopped at Jo's place on the way to Scotland.

So anyways, we made rice dumplings using my grandma's recipe but with modifications cos for some reason we couldn't find 5-spice powder at Tesco that day. We bought a Chinese Spices instead which was the closest we could find to 5-spice. It was different but it was nice as well. It tasted like home away from home.

Kelly helped us wrap the dumplings... haha... I tooks pics of Jo and Kelly wrapping the dumplings but forgot to take pics of the dumplings... ha ha ha...It was fun!

I thought I would have a lighter bag on the way back..... hahhah nope! Everytime I visit Jo, we go to the craft shop... and I end up buying lots...That time I went home with shoes, yarn, beads, clothes....hehe heavier than when I went with the rice,etc. next time I should take pics of bfore and after.

Sandy's Birthday

2010-08-01T11:48:00.000+01:00

My boss, Sandy's, birthday was the weekend before Hubby and I went on our mad cross-country dash to attend our friend's wedding in Wolverhampton and then to a friend's 50th birthday party in Edinburgh. I'll blog about that when hubby finishes playing with his Mac and I can upload the hundreds of pics he took over the week.

Back to Sandy's birthday... right so Janet reminded me about Sandy's birthday but we couldn't figure out what to get her and I was busy finishing up my jewellery to hand over to Cheryl to bring home and pack for our trip... but we decided that we couldn't afford to get Sandy something she would like so Janet's suggested I baked a cake. I had to finish packing real quick and then bake a cheesecake for the surprise party we planned for Sandy on Friday night. Sandy likes cheesecakes.

Sandy was surprised when all of us turned up...hehe... and she was doubly surprised when I handed her birthday cake to her... hehe... I think she was real touched because she never expected us all to turn up at the same time and bake a cake to celebrate her birthday with her.

Anyways, I'm very proud of this cake for a few reasons. One, I don't like cheesecakes and so have never baked one. Two, it was a new recipe that I've never tried. But it's one of Rachel Allen's recipes so I figured it would be safe and it didn't take long. Three, I was coming down with a virus that left me coughing and gasping for air and so wasn't sure I could carry it off. So yeah!!!! My first Cheesecake! Blueberry Cheesecake!!! Although it could have been creamier but then I had to tweak the recipe a bit cos I wanted to finish all of the soft cheese.

The icing letters melted though before we ate it. See the 5 blueberries in ta group? heheh it's supposed to be a flower to hide the hole I made while turning the cake over, I didn't have any icing sugar... hehe

Note: Use the icing letters just before serving the cake!!!

And I didn't really like the cake but my friends told me it's very nice and I was too critical of myself! Ya right!!! I just want things to be perfect!!! hehe

Shawl-part 2

2010-07-21T15:19:00.001+01:00

yeah!!!!! finished my brooch!!!! hahaha.

hahaha I'm soooo happy!

Shawl

2010-07-21T11:16:00.000+01:00

Finally I've finished my shawl... I started this project beginning of June. HUbby and I were out for lunch one day. The sun was shining but the wind was chilly. I had a cardi with me but when I had it on, I was too warm, If I didn't put it on, my arms were feeling the chill of the wind... so Hubby and I were discussing it... hehe... he said I needed a shawl and suggested I made one... I was so impressed with him that day.... heheh.. I loved shawls...old fashioned shawls with tassels... haha and so I made one... Here it is... I love the colour and the size of this!!! hahaha.. now all i need is make a brooch to go with it!!!

Elephant

2010-07-20T14:53:00.000+01:00

hahaha how cute is this???

haha..... I decided to take a break from jewellery making today and try out the elephant project for my friend in KK. To be honest, in the beginning and speaking from experience, instructions on the website this project is on is not very well written. More often than not, it doesn't come out looking like the picture. But the elephant came out better than I thought it would. And as can be seen from the right ear, I had to improvise and fix the other ear so one looks nice and the other looks like it doesn't fit. Oh well!!! But it is cute!

I made this out of scrap yarn I had in my stash and I ran out of the light blue yarn and had to sambung with the brighter blue to finish the trunk... although I could hv just stopped when I ran out of the light blue...hmmm cos It's a bit too long actually. I stuffed it with tissue, aloe vera fragranced tissue, mind you! heheh cos I had no stuffing and didn't want to go and get some.

All in all, not a bad effort I think!

Homegrown...

2010-07-19T16:02:00.001+01:00

Not sure if you remember my little vegetable plot from months ago... well, here's an update on my plants... hehe...

My tomatoes...hahah... I have learnt my lesson. Don't sow to many seeds if you have nowhere to plant them and get BIG pots to plant them and prepare support for them. They can grow quite tall...almost taller than me my plants! They are sooo easy to grow and mine survived the bloody aphids and flies!!!! yeah yeah... hopefully they will survive the drought next week when we are away.... I'm eyeing my harvest!!!!

My marmande tomatoes..

These ones are the Golden Sunrise I think...

Next my salad leaves..... this is my second try. and luckily I did managed to eat some but they are tiny because again, don sow too many seeds and thin them out when they start growing! I tak sampai hati want to thin them out ba so that's why they are tiny...but they are sweet!

hehe... i don't think you can see in this next pic... but I have a grand total of..... TWO peas ...hahaha one for hubby and one for me.... must try again next year! see if you can find them! haha

And these here are blackberries... hahaha... not planted by me but enjoyed by me...except they are sooooo sour!!!!!!

My garlic harvest....leftover from the attack of the evil squirrel. stupid thing keeps digging up my garlic and planting its nuts!!! Oh well, enough for one dish! Lesson learnt : use lots of cayenne pepper powder to keep squirrel away!!!!

There you go...heheh... not much but I'm so proud of myself... will do better next year!

New Vintage

2010-07-09T10:56:00.001+01:00

What do you think of my new vintage top???

What era does it remind you of? 60s? 70s? 80s? Check out the puffy sleeves!!!

I really liked the look of it until I put it on...cos I'm FAT now... although I'm not surprised cos I've been a domestic goddess for a while now feeding the husband ... and myself... and sitting all the time!!! But like I said... ignore the bulging tummy....

hahha...well, here a better look of the top without my short neck!

I bought a flower hairclip the other. It can be doubled up as a brooch too so I added it to the ensemble, otherwise it would be rather plain.

BUT....

You ready????

This is the latest project, which incidentally had been going on for months, is made by........ Yours Truly's lovely hands!!!!!! hahah Yup, I knitted it according to the measurements in The Knitted Gifts Collection by Knits Magazine... hahha ... This is called Bee Stylish Honey.... hahah...I was dying to try out this project cos it looked really nice in the book. But because the project called for Mohair yarn which is expensive, I didn't want to spend that kind of money on something that might not turn out so I used cotten yarn instead. Was going to make a shrug last winter but changed my mind. It took me months because cos when I started this, my hand hurt , I got distracted by other projects and I used the wrong needles and had to rip one of the sleeves out,etc. It would be faster if I crochetted it but I couldn't crochet back then.

I'm supposed to add a waist tie with poms poms to it but I ran out of steam yesterday. Putting the whole thing together took me the whole afternoon cos I was distracted by Pride and Prejudice and sewing the top up and hiding all the yarn ends....NO fun! but it turned out better than I thought it would although there were bulges here and there! hahah I'm so proud of it. Not that it is good enough to wear out in public but stilllllll.....

I KINTTED A TOP!!!!!

My one and only knitted top, mind you. Definitely will leave projects of this level to experts!

Neat Streak

2010-06-29T19:15:00.001+01:00

Have you ever wondered where that pair of earrings is? or where that pendant is? or found a necklace that you forgot you had? I mean I remember and know exactly where my things are among my organised mess...at least I remember where the things I always wear are anyways.... hehehe... and about my organised mess...I know exactly where my things are, be they under the pile of papers or in the purple box or out in the open! or so I keep telling Hubby...hehe...well, I know where everything is until I start clearing up and putting things away!!! Putting things away never fails to amaze me because I can't find a single thing after that!!!!!

Anyways, back to what I was saying... hehe... I had a sudden inspiration of organising my earrings and my yarn collection that even Neat Freak Peng (sorry, hun!!!!) would be proud of!!!! Take a look at this!!!

hehe...I strung a piece of leftover chunky yarn(that Peng gave me long ago, thanx!!!) across the back of the shelf and hung my earrings in pairs on it....cuts out lots of time trying to sort earrings out! and it looks gorgeous and you can see everything at a glance and decide on that pair of matching earrings. I'm still thinking of how to organise my pendants... and I keep making new pendants to add to my collection! And my collection of rings.. hmmm... but this must wait till the next inspiration hits me....

Note: must remember to post pics of new jewellery!!!

I mentioned organising my collection of yarn... ... ... Ta Daa!!!!!

These are the balls of yarn that are not involved in any projects at the moment...hehe... This pic doesn't do it justice! It looks much nicer in my closet..hmmm..

Note: must take another pic of yarn!

See the shelf below my yarn? That shelf is dedicated to my nail things. Out of the pic on the right, the space is for my Craft and Scrapebooking things. And then there are shelves for my shoes...heheh I love this closet! It's my Treasure Trove.

Randomness

2010-06-15T16:56:00.000+01:00

As I haven't blogged for so long, I thought I'd put in random pics of what's been going on since my last blog...

This is me drooling at the Rugby Sevens 23/05/10 at Twickenham with the guys.

The largest gathering of superheros wor...sigh... was wondering why there were so many people dressed as superheros and characters from movies and animations...mad!!! but fun!

Next is the progress of my vegetables...sigh...while I'm still in UK, better try planting vegetables kan?

the biggest of my tomato plants...stupid aphids and flies have been attacking my baby tomato plants, the snails attacked them...sigh... tomatoes grow very quickly but is so susceptible to insect attacks! still, anyone want tomato plants??? I've still got lots!!!!

my sweet peas...some of the leaves look a bit yellow...wonder why?!?

Left : some of the red onions
Right : garlic

This is my potatoes but for obvious reasons, you can't see the tubers!!! Not sticking my hand in to check in case there are earthworms or slugs in the compost!!!

2nd batch of salad leaves. 1st batch got dug up by the stupid squirrel that also killed my sprouting rose bush and nearly killed my tomato and sweet pea plants. didn't realise until today at Yo!Sushi that you can eat baby salad leaves like this. tastes a bit too peppery for my liking though so will use for dinner garnish tonight on my meatloaf! hehe

hmmm...will blog more soon or I will have nothing left to blog about...since I have been ordered to rest my thumb by hubby, nothing really exciting has happened to me at home. Oh! having thumb tendonitis is horrible cos you really have very limited movements since you can't do much without your thumb!

New Jewellery

2010-05-12T15:41:00.002+01:00

In my quest to learn a new Craft, I have turned my attention lately to jewellery making. Nothing complicated or intricate really...just the basics like making bead earrings, bracelets and most recently, pendants. I find myself thinking of new designs everyday now! I love it! I get a sense of satisfaction when I finish a project. This keeps me happy and I am less inclined to pick fights!!! I love jewellery...who doesn't!...so I figured if i learn to make my own jewellery, I can save a lot by making my own designs or stealing other people's designs, right? Not to mention the fact that I will have new pieces to wear every week...hehe... But compared to knitting and crocheting, this is a considerably more expensive hobby. But that's the only downside now I can think of. oh! Did I mention that I love beads? hehe.. I'm sometimes so involved and occupied with thinking out designs and learning how to work with wire and that amuses hubby! hehe... so here are the pieces that I have learnt to make. They are simple and looks very amateurish but I'm so proud of them cos I made them!

And then I got a bit more confident and made this bracelet which I think looks very elegant.

I also tried making my own earring hooks and circles.

And then a different coloured pendant. Thought it looked quite nice and simple.

A bracelet with the same colour scheme. I added the star shapes cos I wanted to try shaping wire.

He he.. then I tried this cos it looked really gorgeous in the book but it turned out a bit weird but I love it...cos it's green!!! hahahaha..... The beauty of this is the pendant can be worn showing either side. The pics show both sides of the pendant.

What do you guys think? Any orders? hehe...

Bits and Pieces

2010-04-26T13:56:00.000+01:00

Wow!I didn't realise that it has been a month since I last blogged...hehe I guess my mood has come back...more like I'm finally getting off my lazy arse and blog...hehe..

Ok! As some of you probably already knows, my sister,Sylvia came back with me for a month long holiday. She stayed with me half the time. The other half in London with her other half..hehe.. ok... here's a pic of her and hubby doing something English while the sun is out during the week of summer we had...hehe... I told her that is what happens in summer. Everyone goes out to their garden or somebody else's garden and chill in the sun. She was appalled I made her go out in the sun...hehe...

So while she is here and I am not working, I baked. Here's my Black Forest and Blueberry Muffins. I cheated with the muffins. I used instant mix out of the box. Came out surprisingly good!! I used pink icing...hehe... to decorate!

And I gardened! hehe. I grew...trying to grow tomatoes, salad leaves and peas from seeds... garlic and potatoes from leftover bulbs in the kitchen... and mini cucumber plants from the nursery. I sowed too many tomato seeds so now I have about 12 seedlings from 3 different tomato species. I don't even eat tomatoes. Next time I know! Anybody want tomato plants??? Bear in mind these pics were taken last week.

My salad leaves are comin out nicely and quickly! My peas are starting to sprout! Not sure about my garlic and potatoes though...sigh.

My chrysenthemums died (or so I thought!) over winter cos I left them outside. When I wanted to bring them in, I couldn't get the back door open! Cos the door frame and door have expanded in the cold... old house bah! Most of them have revived!!!! Yeah!

More of my gardening adventure later...unless they all die! Touch wood! Touch wood!

Highlights of My Trip Home - Part 1

2010-03-26T09:33:00.001Z

Gosh! I miss home so much! This trip home was fantastic! Not only did we both go back, Rick was there with me for 2 and a half weeks and then I had another 3 weeks to myself at home! I so didn't want to come back here. But what to do...while i am busy being homesick, I thought I should remind myself of the highlights of this trip home...

Chinese New Year - my favourite time of the year!!! Except this year I had to give out ang pows which dampened things a bit cos I was so used to getting them and not giving them! hehe... The ususal events...Reunion dinner minus my sister Michele who was heavily pregnant...Lion dance...we have the lion dance at our house every year cos of my dad's temple. every year so much so that we were getting a bit bored of the whole thing cos the troupe never did anything different, apart from the dance with the mandarin oranges and lettuce and pole climbing...

Much to our surprise, this year the troupe introduced a new type of lion - The Green Lion I think it's called. My brother and I googled it. It is apparently a lion dance of the Hakka people but we didn't even know it existed till now...hehe...cos we have never seen or heard of this lion before. There you go! The most interesting things you learn when you least expect it! It's got a flat face and obviously it's green. This lion is very agile in its movements. It was flanked by 2 unicorns and according to the internet, the green lion is highest on the hierachy above the dragon! wish i had a better video of it but we were all too busy gawking at it.

One of the best parts of Chinese New Year is the dressing up and a chance for a family pic. Here's a pic of the gorgeous kids decked out in the traditional red bought by my sister, Sylvia. Aren't they just the cutest things??? hehe

Family pic time!!!!

Here are my other fav pics from CNY 2010

oh and our instant family...

Stupid People Day

2010-02-22T08:54:00.000Z

Have you ever had one of those days when stupid people seem to be everywhere??? God!!!!! Today is one of those days for me!!!! NOthing seem to go according to plans today and it's no fault of mine cos it involved other people!!! God!!!! I hate people!!!!!!

First errand of the day was to get Nana's batik painting from the sports centre. Nope, wasn't ready when we went....needed another 40 mins apparently to iron it!!!

Next, went to collect the dry cleaning which they botched up last week. nope, not ready either till afternoon.

Then, went to Shell to fill up the rental to exchange it for another, stupid attendant gave me the thumbs up cos I was going to use my credit card. stupid man didn't say the pump credit card machine thing was not working so I had to walk to the counter to pay. normally i wouldn't mind but my legs hurt. been hurting since forever.

After that, went to Maybank to bank in some money. only a queue of 4 in front of me,...quick??? nope! woman at front of queue's friend somehow got her money stuck in the next atm machine so put it out of order. left ours working. woman at front of queue for some reason couldn't work the touch screen properly so she gave up after 5 mins. then next woman had a whole pile of Rm 50 notes to bank in. sigh!!! after 20 mins, she was stilll feeding money into the bloody machine!!! why couldn't she have just queued up at the counter to bank in her money???? she kept pulling chunks of money out from her bag!!!! so we left after 25 mins of waiting!

then we went to get our manual gear car exchanged for an automatic one as well as pay the rest of the money. STUPID company!!!!! I will never ever and I implore all of you and your friends too to never ever rent a car from OG Tour & Rent A Car Sdn Bhd in Indah Permai!!!!! the kenari we had had one headlight that wasn't working. either they didn;'t know or they didn't care so didn't tell us. the air con squeaks and the car was dirty. And I thought it couldn't be worse. we'd just put up with it for a day and then change to the automatic gear one. nope! car wasn't back till 2 days later. when we finally got the other car... ... ... the locks don't close properly. the tank was EMPTY! apparently enough to get us to the nearest petrol station on the reserve tank. and the car was filthy! I was furious by then. I drove the bloody car. felt like it was going to fall apart any minute. the steering wheel squeaks everytime you turn it. we got to Petronas. The fucking petrol door thing didn't work!!!! and nobody bothered to tell us!!!!! so I was fucking fuming by then. I called the stupid bitch that rented the car to us and i complained about the empty tank and the door that wouldn't open and why they didn't tell us! Stupid bitch said ' Aiyoh! just use the key or something lah to open it. easy mah!" and I was livid by then. I put the phone down on her. then we decided to take back the other car. called her to tell her..but no! stupid bitch wouldn't pick the phone up and she even rejected my calls. so I called the office and screamed at whoever picked the phone up and asked for the other car back. stupid man wouldn't fix the headlight!!!! can you believe these people??? Spread the news people!!! Ban this company!

Sigh! what a day! I wish I can do something to close the company down! I can understand about companies wanting to make a profit but this unscrupulous way is NOT the way to do it!!!! Such a disgrace! What kind of image are people like this giving to tourists and people who are in need of rental cars????STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!!

I curse this stupid company and that people will stop renting from them and they will eventually go bankrupt and shut down!!!!!!

I'm going to stay at my hotel room and keep away from people today. Have had enough of them!

Being Vain

2010-02-03T20:19:00.000Z

I went to WH Smith to get my The Art of Crochet magazine the other day and guess what I left the shop with???

This is a set of Victoria Jackson make up. Apparently the Victoria Jackson line of cosmetics is going to break into the UK market soon. I have never heard of Victoris Jackson so I am not surprised if you have never heard of her either. In fact, I would be surprised if you have.

Anyways, the make up set consisted of (from bottom right) 3 eye liner crayons, 12 mini minty lip glosses, a bronzer with brush, a make up compact and a set of make up brushes. Oh, and a non-scratch make up bag. For how much you ask? hehe... £50... I'm not sure if it's a bargain or not... cos I bought 3 kohl eyeliners for £5 from Collection 2000 which is a cheapo brand...heheh you decide.

I also made a flower dog collar for myself.. it looked nice on the website but now I've made it...I'm not sure I'll really wear it...what do you think?

This time next week, I'll be with my family again!!!! Yeah!!!! Can't wait!

The past weeks

2010-01-17T19:01:00.000Z

Since the last time I updated my blog, I've been busy. With what? with working as usual...sigh working at the restaurant takes up sooooo much of my time that I have no time for myself! oh well... another 3 weeks and I'll be home...

When I had time, this was what I'd been busy doing...

Aren't they cute? They are for my sister's baby. She's due end of March. So when I'm back for Chinese New Year, I can give it to her. In case anyone's wondering, I didn't use wool to make these, they are acrylic or cotton so the poor little thing won't overheat!

This is super soft! but hard to work with. it's just soooo cute.

Also, a pair of gloves for me. Made a pair for hubby too but I couldn't be bothered waiting for him to look for them for me to take a pic.

This is a draught stopper to stop the freezing wind coming into the living room from the kitchen. I had to make something to use up the scraps.

Right, so the snow was upon us again last week. It has all be enrained and washed away now and everything is black again... I had to walk to work when it snowed cos we couldn't be bothered digging the car out and it wasn't worth it cos the roads were too slippery to drive on. Now, I'm being chauffeured to work again and home...hehehe...and the roads aren't slippery anymore so I don't need my gumboots at the moment. I'm happy! Snow is pretty but not very practical I say! The same goes for gumboots!

All bundled up on the way home after work.

The giant tree at the middle of the roundabout covered in snow. It's beautiful, isn't it? The lines of lights across the pic are snow caught in the pic.

This was taken when the snow was just starting to melt and the temperature went up a bit. This is a pic of the buds on the branch of a tree right in front of our front door covered in icicles. The pic doesn't do the sight any justice! It's like the scene in Ice Age 1 where prehistoric animals were frozen in ice! hehehe... it was beautiful! but an idiot broke the branch 3 days after I took this pic.

hmm...wonder what's going to happen this week....

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T21:49:00.001Z

Well, the days leading up to Christmas have been hell...I was working more than 10 hours a day and I got flu right before christmas...it was not fun. I had no time to go shopping for christmas presents, Rick had to wrap his own presents...sigh...

but the good thing that has come out of it was the snowstorm before christmas...hahaha...it was so bad and sudden that the roads leading in and out of Reading were shut, and buses and taxis were stopped. People were snowed in and out of Reading. There were a lot of unhappy people that day. The worse part of when the snow started melting and it started raining. Urgh!!!!

Us coming home after he picked me up from work.

When we woke up, the car was snowed over. Our car is dark blue... hehe...

My poor flowers after i so painstakingly revived them before winter...sigh

Everything looks beautiful covered in snow, doesn't it?

We had Christmas dinner with Phil and Sati and their family. We had turkey and roast vegetables. Yummy!!!! And of course I had the job of babysitting Mili, their 5 yr old girl. this is the result of one of our games. Phil bought a set of Tattoo Glitter Pens from Boston and she used them on me...sigh...

Like my eye lashes? lol

The Rose

2009-12-06T14:22:00.000Z

Just saw Bette Miller perform this song on Strictly Come Dancing. Love the song, love the lyrics! Love the Argentine Tango performed by Vincent and Flavia and love the Rumba performed by James and Ola!

The Rose

Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.

Some say love, it is a razor

that leaves your soul to bleed.

Some say love, it is a hunger,

an endless aching need.

I say love, it is a flower,

and you it's only seed.

It's the heart, afraid of breaking,

that never learns to dance.

It's the dream, afraid of waking,

that never takes a chance.

It's the one who won't be taken,

who cannot seem to give.

And the soul, afraid of dying,

that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely,

and the road has been too long,

And you think that love is only

for the lucky and the strong,

Just remember in the winter

far beneath the bitter snow,

Lies a seed, that with the sun's love,

in the spring becomes a rose

Amanda McBroom

Dedication to Hobbies

2009-11-18T17:04:00.001Z

Was on holiday the past 2 days...proper holiday and not being sick, I went on a hobby rampage...hehe.. Hubby's away in US so I had the whole day to myself doing things I love... It was such a rare treat!

So I decided to treat myself to an afternoon of doing nothing but my hobbies. First I tried 3D nail art. I bought 2 sets of UV nail gels and acrylic powder things for manicures and a UV lamp to cure my nails 2 years ago. Finally, I took them out of their boxes and tried them out. Hubby and I had a conversation about the things I can do the other day. I can do just about everything but I get bored after I learn how to do them sort of like 'a jack of all trade but master of none' that's what I am. And he is one of those who learns a skill and then masters it. I said I get bored of it after I learn how to do it so I never master anything. Anyways, with that thought in mind, I decided to try my hand at 3D nail art since I can do manicures reasonably well. With the kitchen door open and chilly wind coming in to disperse the smell of the acrylic powder, this is the result.

Not wanting to try it on my nails after my manicure, I tried it on one of my nail polish bottles. First, it's sculpting the flower and leaves then when that hardened under my UV lamp, I put gel colour on it. And because I got the UV lamp off Ebay..hehe..it was cheap, only about 50% of the gel hardened. sigh! no idea how I'm going to use that bottle of nail polish without getting sticky gel on my fingers from now on. Good thing I have 2 bottles of that colour! lol

So with my creative gear kicking in, next was drawing and painting. Again, I have this art set from 2 years ago.

I envy people who can draw and paint! And encouraged by websites claiming it's a learned skill, I looked for flowers to copy. I wanted to do roses but that was beyond me after I saw the pics on the website. So I chose easy tulips to draw...hehe...

On the right is my attempt using colour pencils. The left is water colours. I'm actually quite proud of my water colour attempt...hehe..I thought the colour tone is quite good...hehe... here's a close up.

I think I'm going to look back at this years from now and think I'm so glad to have tried that and to keep that painting online. I don't think I'll do another one soon. All my creative juices have run out! lol...

Bits and Pieces

2009-11-17T13:20:00.000Z

Having nothing new to blog about, I have decided to blog about my new ways to keep warm in this house. It is a bit cold in the house...Peng described it as the North Pole...cos this is an old house and it doesn't have double glazed windows or doors to keep us warm and the radiator havsa mind of its own and we haven't figured out how to work it properly yet... hehe...soooo to keep warm, I bought myself a pair of house uggs from Primark at a whooping £5...hehe... they are really nice and warm and fluffy! the colour looks gorgeous too! Although I look like I have Yeti feet! Oh, and I made a hat....no idea why since I don even wear hats cos they make my already big head look even bigger! hehe...It was fun while it lasted though...

I haven't been feeling very well lately cos of my stomach..sigh.. that put me in a really really bad mood for days...and so when I finally started feeling better, I had a manicure done on myself...I haven't done my nails since I started working...as a result my hands look really horrible and peeling and my cuticles are horrendous...to my eyes anyway... it's amazing how a manicure can improve a person's mood! In fact, i am so ambitious now, I'm going to try out acrylic nail art soon... hehe will post pics when I finally get round to it!

It doesn't look much but it is definitely much better looking than before. Must make a resolution to do my nails at least once a month! Am now waiting for my pack of 12 nail brushes to arrive! Can't wait!

Romeo x Juliet Anime

2009-11-12T14:17:00.000Z

I love Romeo and Juliet. I love reading the play and watching the 1968 movie version of the play. I thought the 1968 version captured the mood of the play really well...but now I have changed my mind. I recently found this Japanese anime version of Romeo and Juliet and this is now my favourite. I watched it and sat through episodes of it that left me in tears and I am not one to admit I cry at movies. I haven't been this moved by a movie since Ciy of Angels and Titanic and I have watched both many many times and have not yet managed to stop crying whenever I watch either of these 2 movies. If you have time, watch it if you can stand japanese anime. you won't be wasting your time watching this. This is an interesting and different translation of the classic Romeo and Juliet story but it sticks to the theme of the tragic love story very very well. It is also quite funny when names from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet comes up in different chracters and ways...hehe... I still can't believe I am this moved and this touched by a Japanese anime!!! Watch it if you will- Romeo X Juliet. Oh! turn off the silly chat box though. You get some pretty silly chat going on and it's annoying and distracting!

Special Education

2009-11-02T16:54:00.002Z

hmmm.. being the dragon lady I am, most people probably don't know that one of my areas of interest is in Special Education. I don't have patience with people in general...hehe...as most of you probably already know...but I have a soft spot for kids with learning disabilities. And if I were ever going to study again, I'd probably do something in special education....

anyways, what I want to say is, I'm happy because apparently in Sabah, there is a bigger awareness of the need to cater to students and people with disablilties! 1Borneo Hypermall is equipped to cater to patrons with diabalitiles, Karamunsing is starting to, and there are a number of school across Sabah that are supposed to have Special Education classes. I think that is really great! It's a start!

I am very happy about this. Special Education and students with learning disabilites are probably still very much a taboo for many families to talk about in public. And this is because students with learning disabilities are very much misunderstood. And there is very limited support for parents who have children with learning disabilities.

BUT this is going to change! I am not an optimistic person but I know that this is going to change in Sabah! haha...assuming more teachers are trained to deal with students with disabilities...hmm...maybe I should win the lottery and build such a centre! hmm...

hmmm... just out of curiosity, how many of you think I didn't write this post???

So Cute

2009-10-27T21:28:00.000Z

So when Peng came over to visit me, she wanted to knit something for the baby of one of her friends and so I tried out the pattern for a baby bootie. So here it is...isn't it cute? It was kind of fun to make too cos it's sooo cute!!! This is a knitted one.

Right and here is the crochet one. It's a difffernt pattern and not as cute as the knittted one, kan? but stilllll,it's sooooo cute!

Yeah!!!!!

2009-10-26T22:55:00.000Z

Yeah!!! I can leave comments again!!!!!

The problem, according to Google, was because of Firefox. Some people had the same problem all of a sudden after their Firefox was updated. Apparently Firefox does something to your settings after each update, so that's why I had that problem suddenly.

Sigh...to update or not to update next time???

Help!

2009-10-26T16:50:00.003Z

hmm... I wonder what the problem is.... I can't leave comments on anyone's blog!!! Been trying for days!!!..

sob! sob! It has come to a point where I feel so left out cos I can't take part in commenting about anyone's blog. Just when I feel sociable and want to say something about what's been happening in my friends' lives, this happens...sob sob... somebody figure out what's happening and tell me!

so depressing! sigh! Arghhh!!!!

This is ridiculous!!!! I can't even comment on my own blog!!!!! arrrggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Chit-chat

2009-10-22T19:37:00.004+01:00

I'm wondering how to start this blog...hmmm... ok! So Peng came over on Tuesday and went home the next day. Right...What did we do? hehehe... We knitted and crocheted. When we weren't knitting or crocheting, we were eating and gossiping. And this pic was taken at a sushi shop called Sushi OneOEight.

I must say it's been a while since I sat down and knitted almost the whole day. It was very nice too catching up with each other face to face. There's something about sitting down and chatting to a friend. It brings up the feeling of kinship.

The internet is good because it connects one to one's friends no matter where one is. But I think when you sit down and talk to someone face to face, it allows you to see facial expressions and hear the little oohs and ahhs that come natural with a proper conversation between people. Obviously, you can do the same by typing all the ohhs and ahhs you want to say...but it just isn't the same. Smileys can't replace facial expressions either cos they are soooo limited....

Anyways, back to what I was saying... hmmm...it was very enjoyable chatting to a friend and not having to be careful of what you say and gossiping!!!... Not that we gossiped about anyone a lot, Peng hor? heheh well, you know what I mean! I miss sitting down and chatting to girlfriends and go yumcha and all that! sigh!!!

Ok! Who wants to visit me next? Or shall I come visit?

Our New Place - Part 3

2009-10-12T17:35:00.005+01:00

OK...Sorry to do this in bits, guys but it get very cold sitting down at one spot for too long in this house so here are pics of the bathroom... The bathroom was the first room we saw when we first viewed this place and we both fell in love with it... You will soon see why...

See how big the bathroom is??? hehe... it's bigger than the guestroom at our old place... If you take the tub away, you can fit in a double bed and still have space for a built-in wardrobe!!! I love the bathroom! On the left is the shower cubicle. The previous tenants told us that the bathroom used to be fully carpeted and they pushed the landlord to removed half of the carpet. I can see why some people would want to carpet the bathroom to keep the heat in but a carpeted bathroom is ridiculous! sigh! Look at the size of the window. the draft keeps coming in... but it also lets the light in which we love.

This is what we love! hehe... our clawed bath... hehe it's not very pretty to be honest but I find it amusing... hehe .. I suppose whoever bought this bath wanted something vintage but cheap to fit in with the period of the house I suppose. I love the fact that it's a standalone bath or whatever you call it instead of the modern built in baths. Gives it a nice vintage posh feel I think... hehe...and this bath is not suitable for tall people...haha...if I lie down in the bath, my toes cam just touch the other end of the bath! hehe

And this is our bedroom. There's another fireplace feature in the room, but again I'm not sure if it's a working one or not cos it also has a flue flap. And we forgot to ask the owner when he came to see us.

Isn't the window amazing? I love the big windows that let in a lot of light...and draft... but the front of the place is a listed building cos it was built in 1805 so the window can't be changed...and I suppose restoring it would cost a lot of money and is time consuming...It's one of those half and half that you push up to open it. Oh well, I suppose living in an old building has lots of ups and downs.. great features but costly to maintain... our electric bill will probably skyrocket due to trying to heat the place up...sigh...

I have taken a pic of the front of the place but I'm still waiting for hubby to email it to me... sigh...

Our New Place - Part 2

2009-10-11T09:57:00.003+01:00

Here are more pics of our place. This is a pic of the kitchen. Looks nice or what?!? It even has a gas stove! Unlike the silly electric stove at the old place that I don't like. You can see that it gets sunny when the sun is out. Peng, note the piggy basket on the left. Thanx for sending me that! Audrey, isn't it amusing it has got green tiles??? lol

And going out the back door to the garden, this is what you see. I love the wooden deck although it rained last couple of days and we both nearly slipped on the deck when we went out cos there was moss growing on the deck. The potted plants are ours. Just beyond the deck are stones.

And to the right of the garden or backyard, is this biggish space. I've been thinking of what to plant beside the fence... We have a squirrel that comes looking for food in the garden in the mornings. See that tree by the back fence? That's where he hides his food on the ground sometimes. Beyond the back fence is unused space cos the neighbours couldn't get a building grant to build something so we have lots of birds in the mornings when it's not cold.

Best part of the day is when it's sunny and I have breakfast at the kitchen with the birds chirping outside and watching the squirrel go about his business in the garden. If only I were a woman of leisure again... so i could spend more time in the house. But on second thought, maybe not...cos it's cold in the house. we are both usually freezing by evening cos of the high ceiling and the draft from the doors.

Oh and we met the owner of the place yesterday. He said the house was built in 1805 and that's 204 years ago!!! It's an old Georgian Mansion. There's a basement, 2 floors and an attic. The son bought this floor first, then the owner bought the basement and the daughter the first floor over the years. Now they are waiting for the attic to come on the market! sigh!

Our New Place

2009-10-08T21:19:00.006+01:00

After 4 days of hard physical labour carrying things, (at least it's going down the stairs instead of up the stairs!) to the car to the new place, a week of unpacking and looking for things and losing things , (you know how that is, when you put something at a new place and you can't find it again!) and spraining my wrist on the third day of moving rendering my right hand useless, we have settled down in our new place. Our new place is fantastic. It's big and spacious with lots of storage places, a proper kitchen and a back garden. Our broadband and Sky are finally working so here are some pics of our new place. hmm... I must remember to take a pic of the place outside.

My hand in the wrist support... sigh!

Our Living Room with the light shining through the double doors. Doesn't it look nice and bright? This is an old mansion so the ceiling is high and the windows and doors hasveno double glazing so we are cold all the time but doesn't the place look fantastic? The fireplace looks classy and we don't think it's a working fireplace although there is a an opening to a flue.
I'll put up more pics soon of our place. Night Night now!

Black Forest Gateau Wannabe

2009-09-26T09:52:00.003+01:00

was in such a cake baking mood the other day that I absolutely had to bake a cake... I made Rick walk to Sainbury's with me...although it takes only 3 mins to get to Sainbury's...at 5pm and made my cake the moment we came home...Sigh... silly recipe has the measurements wrong I think cos it didn't come out resembling any kind of cake I know BUT after the cake was put together with the cream, it was DELICIOUS or DELISH as some would say...hehe I love the cream. If you ignore what looks like a chocolate cake, you will see that the filling is sort of berry-coloured? it's yummy!!! double cream whipped and then canned black berries and cherry brandy were added. we couldn't find kirsch so we used cherry brandy and I must confess that I have since developed a taste for cherry brandy! haha

It didn't come out looking like what it was supposed to look like but it tasted like a Black Forest Cake. Now I must go look for a recipe for Black Forest Gateau that works...if you have a recipe that works, send it to me pls!

My Sister's Wedding

2009-09-24T21:51:00.006+01:00

My sister, Michele had her wedding reception on 9 September 2009 or 090909...in Tawau. My family flew over for her wedding but obviously I couldn't go...sigh!!! I have always been jealous of Michele because she is very pretty and gentle..not that I want to be gentle... hehehe... Anyways, here are some pics of my beautiful sister at her wedding. Isn't she just beautiful?

Ramblings...

2009-09-21T18:53:00.004+01:00

Stupid bureaucracy! Been trying to get my UK national insurance number for weeks now! First they gave me the wrong number to call so I had to spend another 30 mins on the phone. Then I was told to download a form, fill that in and wait for 8-10 weeks for the card cos they won't tell me my number over the phone... Then the silly printer wouldn't print cos the ink spool or whatever you call it doesn't fit right so been waiting for hubby to get new ink so I can print the bloody form out. Now that I have printed it out, it says on the form that I can call the number and ask for my national insurance number over the phone. So I did. Then the stupid man on the phone says I have to download another form and send that off. So I went online to look for that and it doesn't even exist!!!!! Sigh! At this rate, you'll never get anything done!!!! I can understand why there's so much bureaucracy to protect the govt or company or whatever...but it is ridicuolous when it doesn't work!

We called a moving company to help move our furniture and we were told we have to call the council so that the movers will not be issued a ticket for parking by the road cos it's a double yellow line road. So Rick called the council and told them and he was put on hold for 20 mins so the woman could find out what to do about the movers parking outside cos she didn't knowwhat to do! Then Rick had to call the movers again to tell them it's ok to park by the road cos they are moving stuff. Sigh!

The owners of the restaurant I work at had to wait 2 weeks for the draught beer ppl to come and fit the draught taps or whatever they are called. One trip to install the taps. Second trip a week later to bring in the gas by another company. Then a third trip by yet another company to bring in the beer barrels. And finally a few days later after a phone call, a man to set up the gas and beer tubes to the tap and make sure the tempearture is cold enough.

Don even get me started on other things that can be easily done at one go but nooooo.... it has to be done by different departments and by different ppl. sigh!

Anyways, we are getting our keys to the new place on Sat...heheh.. I'm a bit excited for 2 reasons. One is because we are going to a new place with a small garden although I have no idea how much time I have for the garden because I work now and it's starting to turn cold It's the September Equinox today if I'm right.

Second reason is this is the first home Rick and I have decided on together since we got married. I giggle when I think of it this way! Me giggle! sigh! I have no idea what this man has done to me!!!! haha but I'm happy! hehe

Nothing!!!

2009-09-16T16:29:00.002+01:00

hmmm... I'm wondering why I have nothing to say on my blog recently??? It's not like I haven't anything interesting to say... but why am I not telling on my blog??? hmmm... ... I must be more tired than I think I am... and I seem to have entered my recluse mode lately... sigh!!! argh!! I need a pick-me-up spell or potion!!!!

My Little Girls...

2009-09-09T14:25:00.001+01:00

My little girls... I miss them soooo much!

Happening Nothings...

2009-08-31T11:36:00.004+01:00

Starting from this week, I'll be doing the dinner runs cos the boss' son will be going back to school this week so someone has to stay at night and do the night duties, washing the toilets and hoovering... Good though in a way cos I get the whole day at home and start work at 530 pm...

We are still busy looking for a place to move to. Bloody landlord hasn't been paying his loan for months and the bank now has applied for a warrant of eviction so we have roughly a month to move. The worse part about this is he is Rick's friend but in this case it doesn't stand for much! cos there was no apology or anything! He won't even pick up Rick's calls or answer his emails... sigh

We spent weekend before last at Swindon. We had dinner with Fahim in Lechlade or something by the river and I thought the sunset was nice.

I'm so tired... Rick and I are both tired... sigh...

Thought I'll throw in a pic of the restaurant as well while I'm at it. Can you see why my legs have not stopped aching since I started work here? It's very big inside. It's at least 75 m to the kitchen door. And I'm serious... My legs and fingers have not stopped aching since I started work here 3 weeks ago!

Correct Time

2009-08-28T09:35:00.002+01:00

Hmmm... on wednesday, the clock went mad. It was 40 mins faster. Yesterday, when we woke up, we thought the clock was still wrong cos neither hubby nor I could be bothered to change it so we didn't get up. But when the alarm on my phone went off, I checked the time on my phone and compared it to the time on the clock.... It was the SAME!!! How weird is that?!?

Time

2009-08-26T10:24:00.003+01:00

Gosh!!! It was so weird this morning... Rick and I thought we had slept in a bit too late this morning cos it was 10am when we woke up. So he got up and got ready to face the world minus having a shower cos he was already late while I lazed in bed for another 10 mins and then to get ready and go straight to work.

So anyways, the clock in the bedroom said 10:15am. And there was no way I could have got that wrong cos it's a digital clock!!! hehe.. I am handicapped when it comes to telling time on an analog clock with no numbers... so anyways, when I came out of the bathroom...and I normally take about 20 mins in the mornings... I thought what the heck? and I went and turned my laptop on. then I glanced down at my watches on the table and they both said it was 10 to 10!!! I thought okkkkk...maybe I forgot to wind one of my watches and it had stopped. so I wound it but then I realised that both said the same time. and so did my laptop when it finished loading! Then I went to the bedroom and the stupid clock said it was 11.00.

At that moment, Rick came in the door cos he went downstairs to get his iphone which he left in the car last night! The moment he came in, he said it's only 9.52am. And I said ya! That's what all my watches and laptop said... except the clock in the bedroom!. We even turned the tv on to check the time.... hehehe

hmmm...it's really weird and a bit spooky when you think about it... and it is the Ghost Month on the chinese calendar... spooky!

All Kinds of People

2009-08-24T16:47:00.003+01:00

Last week brought in a variety of people to the restaurant... Some were really nice and some were such big jerks!

There was a big black guy who came in with his girlfriend, I assume... He was an arsehole! When he came in, my boss showed then to a table and I was setting the table near them. So after a while, I served him...as is normal cos you need some time to look at the menu, don you? The moment I asked, he asked if I had anything against big black men wearing pink?!? What the f**k? Then he said he was joking. Then when my boss took his order, he told her that I told him that she hated him!!! What a shithead! He was trying to be witty but sounded like a massive jerk!

Then there's this Japanese guy who comes in for lunch and always orders Roast Duck Rice. Never has he once smiled. Once I asked him if he wanted another drink cos he finished his but hasn't finished his rice, the bastard waved me away!!! He was sooooo rude! Feel like slapping him and asking him if he knows what manners are.

But for every 3 of these idiots, you get a good guy. There was this man who asked me where I learnt my English cos I didn't sound British. He said I sounded American and said my English was very good. Best thing was he gave me a £10 tip but I wasn't allowed to keep it. The boss' daughter saw the tip and her eyes went wide.

Then there was this table of old folks. They was very sympathetic that my English was good but I wasn't allowed to teach here without a PGCE.

Sigh... my legs still hurt! sigh... oh and on Fri night, I spilled a bowl of fried rice on the floor just before serving it to the customers....sigh and I got chilli sauce all over my trousers...sigh...

Dirty Dancing Remake

2009-08-21T09:22:00.003+01:00

Oh nooooooo!!!! Have you heard that they are going to do a Dirty Dancing Remake? I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE Dirty Dancing and I love Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in this movie. I love everything about this movie and it is one of my favourites along with movies like Grease, Step Up, etc. And now they are talking about doing a remake.

They had a sequel done in 2004 Dirty Dancing:Havana Nights but it didn't catch on. Now they want to do a remake on the original movie and are considering High School Musical stars Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale and Step Up' star Channing Tatum and his wife Jenna Dewan for the roles. Hmmm... I'm not sure though... Would love to watch a new version of Dirty Dancing if they find the right people to star in it... Some people hate the idea. There's even a petition online somewhere(I can't remember the website) against it...

Last year, they was a UK dance competition on tv filmed at the resort Dirty Dancing was made. The competitors have to do scenes from Dirty Dancing while incorporating their own dance moves and interpretations and the original moves. It wasn't a bad show. The competitors were young and some were really creative. Rick was forced to watch it with me when I caught it on tv...heheh poor man! He's forced to watch Strictly Come Dancing with me too...lol...bless him!

But to remake a movie that so many people love??? It's almost suicidal, I think...

Tired...

2009-08-19T16:11:00.007+01:00

My 4-day-old bruise...isn't it a beauty??? sigh! Got this on the 3rd day of work...

I have always wanted to try waitressing and I have now... I must say that this is going to be the last I will do waitressing. I have always thought that waitressing is a 'mindless' job meaning you don have to use your brains much like teaching... turns out I'm half right...hmmm...wonder if my brain is still working properly...

From the first day, I had to memorise the table number, when to give out plates and when to give out a bowl and a plate, the code for drinks and how to write the chinese name for the dishes on the set lunch menu. It took me a whole week to do that and I still get it wrong. It's not exactly rocket science but to get yourself organised...yikes... not my cup of tea.

My legs have been aching since the first day of work. I can't remember what having normal legs feel like. I haven't got the energy for anything nowadays. I come home crying on friday and saturday nights from sheer exhaustion and emotional depletion cos i used up all my energy to stay focused and keep pain at bay at work. It's going to be 2 weeks this week... and my legs are still hurting and the thought of 10 hours on my feet with a 2 hour break is hard!

This former princess is too tired to feel or do anything nowadays... but... at the moment, this is what I am going to be doing... for me, for hubby, for my pride that I will NOT quit... just yet!

Working Woes...

2009-08-13T11:46:00.004+01:00

It's been a while since I last blogged...and it feels so long ago when I was a woman of leisure complaining about having nothing to do.. sigh... those were the days!!!!

Your truly, a former princess, has now been degraded into a serving maid!!!! a labourer!!! .... not really but it sounded more 'kasihan' when I put it that way... hehe..

anyways... I started work on fri. morning was a breeze learning the ordering process, the serving of food and cleaning work. dinner was fine too although i made some mistakes and ppl are nice when they know it's your first day at work. but at the end of the day...my feet were so sore, they hurt so much! I cried when I got home cos I was so tired and a bit drained cos I felt so bad about not knowing enough written chinese to do my work properly and the boss had to keep covering for me. And I nearly had an asthma attack lugging trays of food upstairs to the karaoke rooms! Good luck I have my inhaler with me all the time!

sat nite : 2nd night at work was a killer! it was suddenly full and the restaurant is not small. it's about 75m from the kitchen doors to the front door. imagine walking that to and fro non stop for 6 hours! and there were only 3 of us manning the front and upstairs! god! i start work at 530. by 1030, i was ready to drop literally. i just about made it home without passing out. the moment i got home, i started crying cos there was nothing left in me! I was crying from exhaustion, from feeling depressed cos my written chinese is so bad, cos i had to be degraded to serving other people, or there's so much racism that we have to face at the resturant from the people here, etc...sigh! Anyways, it's also so funny cos earlier that night, Rick's second daughter was upset and she was crying to him... hehe...

anyways, it was a traumatic start for me. The bosses were very nice the next day about my mistakes though. Cos there was a lot of shouting in the kitchen on sat night cos the kitchen also couldn't handle it.

I think the only thing that has kept me returning to slave at the restaurant is because they are nice people and I don't want to leave them in a lurch without waitresses and it's so unprofessional...hehe and the other thing which is more important is the money I get. It not much and right now it helps a lot. cos now I have my own money to get rick a a present for our 6-month anniversary. we are very big on anniversaries. And the fact that I will not be doing this for long helps.

And I was joking about how it is a lesson in humility for me...it is not working... I prefer having people think I'm a snob...I'm still a princess ... but it has helped my acting skills...hahaha... at work, I'm this really friendly, super polite waitress, but inside, god! I want to kill each and every bastard and bitch that comes in to the restaurant and act like they own the f##king place! haha..

and the uniform that I have to wear ta work... sigh.. I hate white shirts!!! so on my off days, i wear colours!!!

Love You!!!

2009-08-06T21:57:00.004+01:00

Get your own at ExtremeComments.com

I have no idea what's up with me tonight!!!! I'm in such an amazing mood tonight!!! I feel so loving especially to friends!!! If you know me, you probably know that I am a rather ... hmmm ... unsociable person normally ... but tonight for some reason, I feel love for all my friends... close friends, new friends, old friends, lost friends.... FRIENDS!!!! I feel like I'm beaming with love for everyone!!!! I'm amazed... truly am amazed!!!!

I LOVE YOU, GUYS!!!!! Thank you for taking a part in my life. It doesn't matter if we are not always in touch. It doesn't matter if I haven't seen you for years. It doesn't even matter if you don't like me back... because tonight....and most probably only tonight.. I love all of you!!! hehehe..

No, I haven't had any alcohol...I'm not on drugs or ciggies either... wonder what I'm high on... must be the result of having the whole day to myself and enough rest finally and not being sick for the first time in 4 weeks!!!!

I'm happy and I wish everyone is happy too! MUAKS!!!!

Rumour

2009-08-06T11:34:00.003+01:00

It's amazing what you learn from Facebook... hehe.. I just read a very amusing article posted by a friend on FB. It said that Michael Jackson was a Muslim! I didn't know that... Did you?

It was an article written by someone in The Brotherhood of Islam in Bahrain where MJ stayed at during the course of his trial for that thing with the kids at his house. So anyways, according to the article, Mj expressed his interest in Islam publicly in 1989. He converted in Nov 2008 and went on Haj with the King of Bahrain and son in Dec 2008. And according to this article, MJ wasn't allowed a public Muslim burial by the US government. His public burial was Christian and his private or real burial was muslim in Neverland. And,...heheh.. hehehe... hehe.. this is because "...the US Government is afraid of the rising numbers of Muslims in the world". Bear in mind by whom this article was written!

sigh! Amusing, is it not? Anyway, for the article, click here... not sure if the link works or not though.

London

2009-08-05T19:17:00.006+01:00

Years ago when we were in UK back in college, I was unfortunate enough(*&%#) to be in sleepy little Bognor(but I had fun there) and being the unsociable me, I didn't visit all of the required London sights like the palace. But then I was poor as well back then so I forgive myself. So when Sarah came, this was THE opportunity for me to be a tourist and look at all the places tourists are supposed to look at when in London.

We took Sarah to London to look at places like Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace (which so disappointed me cos there were no guards with tall black hats!), St James' Park, etc... what amused me most was this view...Does the background look familiar? Apparently the tide was amazingly low on that day that this sight was possible because normally, this is what we see.
The Thames is always full of water( as rivers are supposed to be!) but on that beautiful day we went walking in London, the tide was so low that, as you can see in the first pic, people are sort of sunbathing on the river bank. And it's a proper river bank with pebbles(uk...sigh) and sand! Anyways, I was amused so I took a pic.

And I couldn't resist putting this next pic in as well..hehe St James Park. Look at the beautiful flowers... Look at beautiful me.... hehe... Note my jacket? It was a beautiful day when it wasn't threatening to rain on us! P/S. wish my hair would hurry up and grow!

Cheesecake

2009-08-04T10:32:00.004+01:00

The cheesecake Rick and Sarah made... no baking involved... just mixing, crushing, squeezing, melting and chilling... It's Lemon Philly Cheesecake with strawberries for decor.. if you like tard desserts, this is it.

I poured condensed milk and had mine with double cream to counter the sourness or tardness of the lemon juice. It's actually a sin having this I can tell you!

Just got back from York late last night, will blog about it when I have more time. We off to Stonehenge and Bath today.

Cheesecake

2009-08-01T11:04:00.002+01:00

hmmm... just as I was about to start blogging, the front door opened and in walked Rick and Daughter No.1, just back from shopping at Sainsbury's... hehe... during lunch yesterday, I has New York cheesecake for dessert. I said I'm not really one for cheesecakes because I don really like cheese but I like Philadelphia cheese. And she said cheesecakes always reminds her of Rick's cheesecake... and I stared at him! He never told me he baked...sigh!

So today, they found the recipe for Philo cheesecake and they are now making me a cheesecake and for the girls of course, cos they miss their dad. Daughter No.2 is arriving tmrw morning then then it's straight up to York. So cheesecake as a snack on the way up. hehe...

Let them have some bonding time while I update my blog...

Waitressing...

2009-07-29T15:00:00.003+01:00

I just got a call from the Chinese Restaurant Rick and I go to for lunch once a week... hahaha.. it's only a part time waitressing job that pays peanuts but for some reason, I'm so happy about it!!! haha... I'm not going to belong in the unemployed group for much longer! Yeah Yeah!!! haha... You should hear me giggling... heheh yes..me giggle!!!

All the stories about being a Tai Tai... sigh! not for me, cos Rick is a poor kangeroo(hehe! I know I know...I'm not funny! I'll leave all that to Peng and Audrey.)and I feel bad about using his savings even if he insists it's our savings. Bless him!... anyways, I should know cos I've been a woman of leisure for 6 months at a stretch in the past 2+ years since I met Rick. And this time, it's been a year since I've worked! But that's cos I was here for 6 months. Then when I went home, it was preparation for the wedding, then I had to keep myself free for the visa thing till now... Gosh! I didn't realise it's been a year. I didn't feel it at home much although I had no internet cos of the kids. They, especially Nana, kept me sane. Without them around me, it's too quiet and I just don't know what to do with myself. Not to mention the fact that I had to use Rick's savings cos we blew so much on the wedding and the visa trips and the recession that hit the world hard. It's ok when he buys me presents but to actually use his money feels a bit weird to me... but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about...

Back to waitressing... heheh for some reason, I have always had this thing about being a waitress... and knowing my mood swings and fiery temper, hmm.. it's going to be hard swallowing my anger... hehe... but at least, I'll be doing something I've dreamt of doing.. not that it's my dream or ambition to be a waitress... hehe can you imagine writing an essay that goes like this? ... 'When I grow up, I want to be a waitress...' nah... nothing like that... I just feel that sometimes, it's a good to take a break from stressful teaching... hehe...

sigh! Truth is... ... ...nobody wants me here!!! I like to whine about it... I mean I'm hot commodity( in more ways than 1..hehe) at home... but here... it's like I've been degraded to being a second class immigrant! sigh.. My pride hurts!

Anyways, the boss of the restuarant actually wants me to start this sat but the girls(Rick's girls) will be here tomorrow and I don't think Rick will be very amused if I stayed behind... We're going to do the touristy thing. Sarah, Rick's daughter no.1, has never been to UK. So Jasmine, daughter no.2 and their mom, bought Sarah a ticket to visit Rick and they are arriving at dawn tomorrow morning. I'm goign to feel a teeny weeny bit leftout when they do the father-daughters things and I'm wondering which bit of Rick I get to hold if Daughter No.1 gets the right and Daughter No.2 gets the left?.. hehehe ... I hold his... hmmm... hehe

Nah... Me and the girls get along fine. I'll share! Besides, Rick has to go for a meeting in Copenhagen the last 2 days they are here. They will have to say goodbye at the airport if Rick's flight gets in on time or they'll miss each other... sigh! And this is the only time Sarah can get away. I feel so bad for them...but that's ok...he'll see them in Oct.

But.. this is supposed to be a happy blog about me!!! hehe... Rick claims I have Attention Deficit Disorder ADD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD cos I keep getting distracted after 2 seconds... haha but i'm sure I don't.. I'm just BORED!

Memories...

2009-07-29T01:41:00.002+01:00

It's 1.40am now and here I am blogging... sigh... try as I may, I couldn't sleep and didn't want to wake Rick so I came out here to blog about my thoughts... about what's keeping me up...

It's been a year and a month plus since my gramdma's passing away. For some reason tonight, as soon as I put my book away, turned the lights out and closed my eyes, I thought of my grandmother... of her funeral, her last few weeks in the hospital, a few months back before that and then further back... ... ... and soon... ... ... the tears came.

I guess I still miss her. And either the last weeks of her life has been more traumatic for me or her presence in my life was such a fixture that it really didn't cross my mind that she would leave so quick and I still don't know how to deal with the hole... I don't know. I still can't think or talk about it for very long before I start tearing up again.

Not that I was a very good granddaughter when she was alive cos I didn't visit her on a regular basis... nor did I go visit her when her condition turned worse. I was afraid. I didn't want to remember her being frail... sigh...

There are lots more I want to say and record down here... ... ... but I can't. I don't have the words to, nor do I have the courage. Maybe one day I will... when it hurts less... ... ...

Tired eyes...

2009-07-28T16:26:00.004+01:00

I have spent the afternoon changing my blog. I found a website that tells you how to change the layout of your blog without deleting your widgets so I spent the past 2 hours after lunch trying it out. Anyone who has changed the template of their blogs will tell you what a pain it is when you get sick of you present template and want to change it. Changing the template(in most cases) means you lose whatever widgets you have on your present blog. It is a pain redoing and retyping all the urls of your friends and the cute things you had. I did that once and I wasn't in a rush to do all that again.

So this time, I cheated. hehe. This website tells you how to do it... easy-peasy but the blog links have to redone for some reason and my recent comments aren't recent! It doesn't refresh itself when I reload the page. I wonder why... and I didn't stop at that. sigh! I was trying to smart and wanted to change some things on the new template. Spent so much time on it, got teased by Rick, tweaked things here and there... ... ... aannnnndddddd then I found out I can't change anything on the template because a lot of elements on the template are jpg files so I can't change anything!!!! Sigh... Also, I had been fiddling with the html thing to get my blog the way I want it, meaning changing some of the content and changing the position of some of the widgets...

God! My eyes are tired! Rick teased me about how I liked giving him crap about how boring programming is and there I was...doing it since we came back from lunch... I didn't know how to tell him, it's bacause I 'tak nak kalah' to the silly html thing... sigh ... I'm wondering if I should add a chatbox too... would anyone leave me a message???

Real Twilight...

2009-07-27T13:29:00.003+01:00

Rick and I have taken to going for drives during dusk cos the evenings are so nice when it's not raining. Guess what I saw on one of our drives... hehe ... Carlisle Street... hehe for you Twilight fans out there, I wonder if you are as amused as I am... Carlisle is afterall born in England...hehe ... I thought I saw wrong. but last week, we drove down the same route near Pangbourne I think... I saw the street sign again. I wanted to take a pic for the heck of it but I always see that only at the last minute... hehe ... a bit creepy? hehe ... I thought I saw wrong cos I've been reading Twilight again.. Nope, saw right. Carlisle Street. I wonder if there's an Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, Edward, Japser and Alice street somewhere...

I also want...

2009-07-26T15:21:00.003+01:00

hehehe.. Audrey put up pics of us on her blog..and I also want!!! hehe.. so here's my pic of us... It's so nice having friends from home visiting... I miss everyone at home so much!!! It's not like I'm not enjoying myself here when I'm well,..hehehe..but it somehow feels really different when a friend form home visits... I enjoyed it very much when Audrey was here... hehe .. she didn't menton this on her blog but the moment she got here and I went and got her from the train station... on the way back, she dragged us into a survey for eye movements while watching advertisements.... hehe we were paid £5 each for looking at a few advertisements on the computer screen. Her ticket to Reading cleaned out her purse...hehe... I didn't know it was that expensive! Hmmm.. I'm thinking they should have more of this lah.. then maybe I can make some money since nobody wants to hire me...Then we had fun catching up on the gossips at home and our other friends... hehe.. if you want to know who we gossipped about, ask her! cos I'm not telling. then we called Peng at one point and it was fun when the 3 of us caught up on the phone. Too bad we didn't managed to call the others... I actually felt a bit homesick and alone when she went home...sigh... I am happy but i do want to go home...

House of Flying daggers

2009-07-25T18:54:00.006+01:00

Nothing interesting happens to me nowadays which in a way I'm glad because things have a way of happening to me... bad things normally..so i'm glad for my dry run at the moment...

Anyways, here's something I found very amusing... I finally watched House of Flying Daggers! In UK! haha... I missed it when it showed at the cinemas at home. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that it was on sky... hehe I was a bit excited while I waited for it to start. I'm so glad Rick doesn't mind watching the shows I want to watch. The best part was it was in Mandarin!!! Unlike in most of the other chinese shows they do show on Sky in UK, they dubbed the movies, so it sounds really stupid!! For some reason, these english people like to use stupid high pitch ah beng voices! Imagine Jet Li with a whiny high pitch voice??? Yuck!!!

Speaking of Jet Li, last week, it was Romeo Must Die I think. I wonder what's on next week... oh, it's Good As It Gets next week... yeah!!!

And below is the peom sang in the movie. It's written during the Han Dynasty by Li Yannian. It's beautiful!

北方有佳人，绝世而独立。
一顾倾人城，再顾倾人国。
宁不知倾城与倾国。
佳人难再得。
A rare beauty in the north, she's the finest lady on earth.
A glance from her, the whole city falls; a second glance leaves the whole nation in ruins.
There exists no city or nation, that has been more cherished
Than a beauty like this.

New design

2009-07-20T11:44:00.001+01:00

hmmm... not sure about this design!!! sigh! It's so hard to do your own nails!!!!

As You Like It

2009-07-19T14:18:00.008+01:00

It was one of the most enjoyable time I've ever had watching a play especially one at the Globe. Audrey, Rick and I went to watch As You Like It at the Globe on Friday. Although we stood in the Yard for 3 hrs in the drizzle, it was well worth it. I was reading through the reviews this play got, I'm surprised there was a so-so review about this play cos as far as I am concerned, this is FABULOUS!!!!

After a 3-course dinner at the Swan, we went down to watch the play.

We stood at the Yard right in front of the stage so we could see everything! Being so close to the stage, it was so easy to feel involved in the play! My fav was Tim Mcmullen who played melancholic Jaques(he looked like the man who played Severus Snape in Harry Potter to me!) and the more outstanding couple to me was Celia and Oliver instead of the main characters, Orlando and Rosalind. Celia and Orlando were a bit more 'real' in their acting to me. And Peter Gale, who played Amiens, sings like an angel!

Wrestling match among the audience stabding at the Yard, love poems written on papers raining down on the audience, the fantastic modern wedding dance scene at the end of the play...sigh!!!

what more can I say??? It was unbelieveably unforgettably the most fun time at a play for me! Can't wait to go and watch Romeo and Juliet next!

House Hunting

2009-07-16T16:39:00.011+01:00

Hubby and I are sort of househunting...not to buy(I wish! sigh!) but to rent cos our landlord for reasons unknown have not been paying his loan so the flat we are staying at now will be repossessed and we might be kicked out or the rent might increase...we don't know yet cos the bloody bank hasn't got back to us!

anyways, so we thought we might as well go look at houses under HardCastles.

First, it was in a village called South Cerney. On the way in, you have to go pass a water park and 2 or 3 boating places! Was worried about being surrounded by water! beautiful small village, 3 mins to drive from end to end...sigh...but gorgeous buildings...all yellow stonewalls, this is the pub where we met Penny who showed us the houses. all the houses looked 'old' like that. This village started in AD999! However, the place we looked at was rather run down.

Then we went to Cirencester(siren-cess-ter)...it took me a while to get the name right... LOvely lovely town with yellow stone walls...lots and lots of shops in the town! but no train station....here, we looked at a small and very cute stone cottage in the middle of town, very small tucked in between buildings but it was too dark in the house. And the outside was very unkempt. It looked nowhere near like the picture.

Then it was round the corner to this place. modern, well kept, parking space, quiet and in town... but the house number...it's No.4... I'm chinese! I don want to live in No.4 ...hehe
Next, our favourite for the day! 2 houses on a farm. baa baa black sheep down just outside the garden wall, rolling hills, small backyard, the right one had a fantastic new kitchen, the left one had a big garden...so difficult to choose! but we liked the place. and it's was only 5 mins to town thru a backroad...
Decisions, decisions, decisions!!! hehe... going to look at more properties online and see what else there is... so much fun!

Romantic evening out...

2009-07-14T09:45:00.006+01:00

It was a lovely evening last night and we were both bored. Hubby couldn't find anything to watch on the telly and I didn't want to read in bed so I suggested a night drive. It was ten to ten but it was still light. So hubby drove us out us out of town into the country. It was soooo romantic. Imagine sitting beside your hubby in the car and driving...dark blue sky at the back of us and reddish blue sky in front of us in the horizon...ROMANTIC! until it got to the part where we had to drive through forests on both sides, it got spooky and there was nothing to see but tall trees in the dark. ..Then it was 20 mins of looking at tall hedges on both sides of the road in the country. Hehehe...I still had a feeling we were lost cos he drove past the sign back to Reading but according to hubby's incredible sense of direction and 20 mins later, we saw another sign to Reading... so we drove through Pangbourne and Goring. Must make a date with hubby to go to Basildon Park or Beale Park...hope he feels less worried about my asthma now...

Been making hubby take pics with me...hehe...you can probably tell how bored I am by now...

Love hubby in this shirt! taken at our favourite chinese restaurant for lunch..

Attack of the bugs

2009-07-10T09:54:00.002+01:00

A very weird thing happened at dawn today. you know the state of mind you are in when you are half awake and half asleep? This morning, I was over at hubby's side of the bed and I was trying to get pictures in my head. I'm assuming it's all in a dream but my body was responding... anyways, it was difficult to get many pictures(like a tv aerial thing) so i thought maybe it's cos we think at different levels so I couldn't get many pictures at his side. I turned over(both physically and in my dream) and tried to get pictures on my side of the bed...also to test out my theory of different levels of brain thinking...I could a bit more pictures this time but it was shortlived... I couldn't get many pictures after a while...and I could literally feel my brain trying to work out the reason for it when suddenly my eyes popped open. It was still dark. The moment my eyes opened, I started coughing. After a while, I sat up cos I didn't want to wake hubby. When I sat up, I stopped coughing really quickly. It was like deja vu...when I realised why that was, I nearly panicked. This is not happening again I thought...Sigh.. somehow the change in weather has made me sick and by being sick with a cold, it is beginning to affect my asthma...oh god!!! please just let it be a phase and nothing more!!!!!

Life...

2009-07-09T11:40:00.003+01:00

The recent passing away of my old coursemate has brought back some old memories of the passing of my other friends years ago. Some of you would have read her blog by now...about how brave she was and what she went through...That got me thinking about 2 other friends of mine.

One was back in secondary school. He was diagnosed with leukemia. He was only 16. I visited him once in the hospital but he was having chemo in his room. He smiled and waved though. That's the last I saw of him cos he never came back to school and I went to college after that.

The other was a friend of William's and mine. He was 28 maybe back then. He had a brain tumour. A few days before he died, we saw him in the hospital and he couldn't speak by then. The moment he saw William, he said(wrote on a white board) that he was going to die.

I'm not even going to talk about my grandmother's passing away. I still can't.

I don have any near-death experience except for the time I was slowly suffocating to death but I didn't know it at the time. I only realised how close it was after I got well again. Even thinking about it now, It's scary!

How does one feel when one knows one is going to die? scared? frustrated? cheated? bitter? Gosh! I feel so morbid! Sigh! I shudder to think of how many deaths of loved ones a person has to endure in one lifetime.... ... ...

Dreaded Cricket Season

2009-07-01T15:13:00.004+01:00

I was informed this morning(a very nice gesture) by hubby that the cricket season has officially started today...sigh...and the Tour de France or something is going to start soon so I'm going to be ignored and bored soon... it's nice of him to give me advance notice! hehe... so i'm starting my crochet and knitting projects again...hehe..my crochet heart...instructions by Bella Dia - Sweet Heart Crochet Pattern. I used some leftover yarn and made this. I love it...

Unappreciated....

2009-06-30T19:27:00.004+01:00

I am so sad when I look at this pic of my poor little bags....I've got lots of time on my hands now, right? so I go through my wedding pics over and over again... Rick says I'm obsessed with the weddings.. well, I am! So there...anyways, I get very sad every time I look at this picture of my poor little bags.... .....I made 175 of these little bags... starting the project in Nov after we decided the wedding was going to be in Feb... right up to about 3 days before the wedding when I decided I've had enough... ... ... ... ... ...but my little bags went unnoticed and I had to tell people at the reception that I made them... ... ... some of the women cooed but... ... ...how many would people remember my little bags??? It's so sad!!!!!!

Narcissistic Behavior

2009-06-26T18:11:00.007+01:00

Hmm... I was surfing the internet for the correct spelling of 'narcisus' when i chanced upon this article on Narcissistic Behaviour.

It's when a person is 'intensely in love with self', has an 'exaggerated sense of superiority', 'distorted self-image' and has 'intense emotions' as 'defense mechanisms by a narcissist, to conceal his deep sense of insecurity and low self-esteem' as a result from 'excessive pampering, parents pressurizing the child to do something in order to enhance their own self esteem, neglect by the parents or abuse by elders'.

Isn't this just interesting? Hehe so interesting in fact that I had a teeny moment of panic when I read the characteristic of this personality disorder!!! Here's why... According to the website, these are the traits...

Narcissistic Behavior Traits or Characteristics A person suffering from narcissistic personality disorder exhibits some specific behavior traits or patterns.

Narcissists are hypersensitive to insults, defeat, criticism, and often tend to react aggressively when faced with such situations.
They are introverts, hence they don't make it obvious even if they are hurt.
They are preoccupied with fantasies related to power, wealth, success and love.
They feel that they are special and hence desire to be treated in a special way.
They lack the ability to understand humane emotions. They don't try to understand other people's needs, feelings or viewpoints.
Narcissists are self-centered and consider themselves to be superior to others.
They are boastful and often indulge in exaggerating themselves and their achievements.
They set unrealistic goals for themselves and don't hesitate in taking extreme measures to attain these goals.
They like being constantly admired and crave to be the center of attraction always.
They appear very arrogant in nature and sport an unnecessary attitude or ego most of the time.
They are always envious about others but simultaneously think that other people are envious about them.

A person suffering from narcissistic personality disorder may take to drug abuse and alcholism as a means of coping with their difficulties. This disorder hampers the development of healthy relationships between this person and other members of his family and society.

I don know about you guys... but I seem to have more of these traits that I like! hehe... in fact, I had to ask Rick if I was just plain vain or if it sounded like I had this narcissistic personality disorder... ... ... He said I was just VAIN...sigh!

My Princesses....

2009-06-25T11:14:00.003+01:00

Was just going through my wedding pics finally and trying to choose my favourite pics to make a wedding album for myself cos Rick and I don't have one... Saw this fantastic pic of the 3 princesseswho are in my life...my 3 princesses all in the same pic! This is a rare opportunity which deserves to be set in stone!!!

Little Garden...

2009-06-22T12:43:00.004+01:00

We went out yesterday to get new plants for the house cos the ones we bought 2 years ago are dead! It's not that surprisingly considering they are potted plants and went through droughts whenever Rick was away... hehe..

Our money plant is a monster though! I have to keep winding the tendrils back round itself. When we bought it, it was about 4 feet. Now, the monster is almost 6 feet. The only reason why it is not taller is because it has outgrown its support and can't climb the wall!

Our little conservatory in the apartment...looks so nice with the flowers at the windowsill. The sunshine comes in at this corner so it looks really nice, like a little garden.

Flowers on the windowsill where Rick works at. Sorry the pic's a bit dark.

It's amazing how a bit of colour brightens up the room and how flowers can put a smile on your face. I wish we have a proper little garden to potter in though...

Homecoming...

2009-06-21T07:06:00.006+01:00

So I'm finally here with hubby again starting our married life properly...hehe...reason why I laugh is because there's not much of a difference to before we got married which I'm glad! So 3 months after the wedding and after 3 trips to the British High Commission, I get my visa. But I couldn't leave until after my grandma's one-year in June. So all that done, I'm finally here.

Wasn't a smooth trip though... first my kk-kl Airasia flight was delayed for 3 hours cos the flight before had to be redirected to Kuching or somewhere for a medical emergency. Another flight was even worse, they were delayed from 6 plus till midnight. There were a lot of angry ppl at the airport that day.

I felt a bit better when I got to Concorde Inn near Klia. It was a gem hidden in the 'wilderness' sort of...I was pleasantly surprised. I do recommend staying there if you have an overnight transit in kl. Had a drink with Kong Hong, my bro and caught up with him.The kl-london MAS flight was a bit better. But for some reason, it was an uncomfortable long flight for once. I couldn't sleep properly cos I sat between 2 big guys. sigh! not that I needed much space but still. The poor lady behind us was a six-footer and big. She couldn't fit in her seat properly and was complaining throughout the whole flight and nobody would swap seats with her. I started a conversation with the Aussie beside me. His name is Terry. He builds scaffolding in Oz. Said he worked in the bush for 2 years and saved enough to take 2 years off work to travel Europe. It's so cool! I doubt very much a malaysian would earn enough being a lawyer to take 2 years off work to travel... sigh

So after the long passport control queue and the queue to get an xray done, I finally got out of the airport and Rick drove us home in the jam. Moment I got home and on our bed, were presents for me...hehe...presents as in food, ferrero rocher, crisps, kinder chocolate to get my food horde started he said...hehe... oh and a card that says 'welcome home, my lau por' haha

then he gave me that green ostrich wallet from South Africa, the replica pot and the pot of spices from Greece...not very romantic of my man but he always gets me unexpected gifts like that. Once I mentioned I wanted a mortar and pestle, he got me a marble one from Eygpt...haha.. Practical man my hubby...haha

Dragonboat festival

2009-05-28T12:29:00.005+01:00

Today is Dragonboat festival. Every year I look forward to this festival because my grandmother would make rice dumplings for everyone. I only eat the rice dumplings she made and no one else's. hehe... I'm sure for those of you whose mums or grandmothers make rice dumpling,s you'd understand. But my grandmother was in the hospital last year at this time so she couldn't make any. My sister and I made rice dumplings last year hoping that my grandmother could try ours, but she passed away before she could. So now it's up to my sister and to carry on the tradition.My grandmother's recipe is using minced meat and crushed peanuts. She used to add salted egg yolks and 'sau nyuk' but we don add that cos of my dad's health-low salt diet. We started preparing the ingredients and soaking the rice since last sat. We wrapped it on sun. We wrapped rice dumplings the whole day, as you can see from the pic. We didn't use the dining table cos it was cooler and had more space outside. My grandmother used to do that too.Broke our backs making the rice dumplings but it was fantastic seeing my family eat them. Ours isn't as nice as my grandmother's but we are carrying on the tradition.

Baby Lanner

2009-05-23T07:10:00.004+01:00

Audrey's baby, Lanner. so cute. Slept like a log...heheh was trying to disturb him so he'd wake up and play...but guess not...

Glad we went to the party and play with the babies. Rick loved Langkah Syabas. They had an orangutan there and hubby immediately said the scientists in Sabah should sequence the dna of the orangutan cos it hasn't been done yet...sigh!

The day was however marred by the fact that hubby had to leave the next day...put up a brave face till evening... couldn't bear it then but was glad we went.

Instant family

2009-05-23T07:01:00.005+01:00

My little instant family!!!!

We went to Mesilau with my family and friends. Cool air finally! The heat was finally getting to Rick after sitting outside at my mom's porch for 3 days! haha....

Mother's Day

2009-05-23T06:37:00.006+01:00

Rick and I met in KL for a fantastic week although it was a working week for him. We had to sit at a place with wifi for half the day while he worked so I got fat being bored and eating and drinking non-stop! But it was worth it!!! Then I had my haircut. I was trying to decide between two short styles. He said to choose the one that would shock him more so I did...

After a week in KL with hubby, we came back to KK to spend Mother's Day with my mom...it was very good of Rick to do so cos he asked for a week off to spend more time together with me.

Dinner was at Nelayan. As you can see...crabs, prawns, sabah veg...yummy!
entertainment of local dances...fantastic night!
But I couldn't sit beside hubby cos the kids both wanted him!!!

Latest hairstyle

2009-05-13T15:03:00.002+01:00

Ready for a change... So why not a major one?!? Lol ... Don't think my hair can go any shorter! I much prefer this to the previous style. Lol Rick isn't sure whether he prefers me with long or short hair now? Lol and he likes this style more than i do!

Did i see right?

2009-05-08T04:42:00.003+01:00

Let's see... Bright yellow rubber boots, curly mop of hair, big mole on face, stripe shirt, trousers tucked into boots... Hmmm... Phua Chu Kang right? That's what i thought...

Rick and i were waiting for the lift up in the hotel. As we were entering the lift, from the reflections on the mirror, i thought i saw yellow boots but it was hard to tell cos the lift area was dimly lit at best. So we went in and the moment i looked up after doing the key access thing for our floor, i saw a man dressed up like Phua Chu Kang. Well, i first saw the boots, then trousers, then shirt, then the mole and then the hair. I mean who in their right mind would dress like that,right? I tried hard not to stare... Not the boots but at the mole and the hair! LOL it's only a character from tv I know but the only thing that crossed my mind then was how utterly disgusting Phua Chu Kang was! And I didn't expect him to be that tall either.

It was only after we got back in the room and explained to Rick who he was that I should have asked for an autograph or a pic! But I was too busy being disgusted and trying to figure out why he looked familiar. Oh well!

Reunited!!!

2009-05-03T09:51:00.002+01:00

Finally after 2 months of separation, we are reunited for a week... it's not very long but one can't complain too much when one is happy...

the past 2 months have been horrible... apart from missing Rick and the stress of getting the visa done, the one other thing that has stressed me out tremendously is a lot of my friends in kk have somehow ostracised me because I am now married! They do not want to disturb me anymore because 1: I'm married, 2: I have my own family now....

What rubbish excuses!!!!! yes, I'm married now...so? does that mean that I have changed? Rick's not even here now....why hasn't it crossed their minds that I need friends more than ever now to help me get through the stress of everything instead of 'nt wanting to disturb me because I am married now!' Does it mean that I have to look for married friends instead now? what rubbish!!!!!!

I'm glad that some friends are still friends unlike so many of them... this sort of mentality has to change!!!! idiots!

anyways, Rick is here with me for a week...so all is well now......and I'm so happy!!!!

Chopped off hair....

2009-04-05T07:47:00.003+01:00

My new hair style... was getting annoyed with my dry and twig-like hair so I chopped it off... not that it's any better cos of the extreme colouring I did to my hair for the wedding...I am still not sure if I should cry or rejoice...

I miss my long sexy hair...but in this horrible weather, it's easier to manage...sigh...only after about 3 weeks am I brave enough to blog about my hair...and these are pics after I came back after the cut...don even ask me what happens after I wash it...

Depressed!!!

2009-03-31T03:30:00.002+01:00

I thought that I can finally submit all my documents for the visa but no...sigh! apparently I need one more document to get from Rick before I can. More money wasted. I'm so depressed! Rick is depressed! Sigh! This road has never been easy for us. There have always been things standing in our way. So we got married to make things easier for us to be together...but no... things still continue to be difficult for us. And it's always beyond our control...This is so depressing...

My Wallet

2009-03-29T09:45:00.004+01:00

Having nothing else better to do on this incredibly hot and stuffy day, i've decided to do what Peng Peng has tagged me to. So here are pictures of both the inside and outside of the wallet i'm using now.

As you can see, this wallet has seen some wear and tear from being used in KK and UK not that i use it everyday in Uk cos it's too small for the English Pound notes. I think I bought this in Signature in Karamunsing. I used to work in Karamunsing and we had to walk through Signature, which is a departmental store, to get back to the office after lunch. It is much nicer to walk through the children's, toiletries, bags and linen sections than the electrical section.

So the brand of the wallet is SMR Ros Maris Collection or something like that I think. It's one of those cheap wallets but it looks and feels like soft leather and it doesn't stink like real leather does. I hate that smell.

Right! Now the inside... What i like about this wallet is it has lots of card slots although these days I stick to the minimal. It's folded 3 ways but normally I open only the flap and take money out from the middle section. The last section is where i 'hide' half my money. My favourite thing in the wallet is Rick and my picture. I love that each time I open the wallet, I see our picture. It puts a smile on my face when i see my old man. And i never buy a wallet if it doesn't have a space for pictures!

Wedding Bells-Part 3

2009-03-28T03:19:00.008Z

We had a wedding that was traditional with playing the groom and tea ceremony in the morning. Rick and his friends drove the hired van to my mom's house for the groom playing part. I had to wake up at 530 to get my make up done so that it's done before 8am. Rick and his gang were supposed to get to my mom's house by 8am so we can finish the game thing well before 9 and obviously they were right on time. Sylvia, Michele, Cheryl, Alexia and Max were my 'sisters' with Sylvia and Cheryl leading the gang. Rick had Fahim and Bart to help him. James was our official photographer. Hannie, Bart's wife, was good enough to take charge of Rick's camera. Anthea helped James.

What I resent was they were having so much fun outside while I was hot and bored and hungry in the house! They had the Rick shout 'I Love You' in Hakka, write my name in chinese, did push ups(Rick) and sit ups(Fahim), my favourite flower, my height(which Rick never knew cos I refused to tell him! But Bart and I were discussing the depth of the swimming pool at the hotel the day before and I said I could drown in it cos it was 1.5m and I'm shorter than that. I forgot about this conversation! You should see their faces and Sylvia's face when Bart answered!), sang our song which is Can't Take My Eyes Off You(thanx to Bart's lead vocals, Fahim's Rhythm, Rick as back up and practice with the hotel band the night before, they pulled it off! 3 times! haha cos I couldn't hear a thing in the house. Too bad we didn't manage to video it!), ate tarap(which can only be grown in Sabah) and wasabi on oatmeal biscuits. What was funny was the 3 'gwai los' going through it. It was different!

After that, we went to the beach to take pictures. hahah Rick and I were like royalty. We had umbrellas over out heads and our royal subjects trailing us. It was fantastic but it was Sunday and there were people having picnics there. hehe and there we were posing for pictures and having fun under the hot sun. I was so afraid my false eyelashes would fall off. Throughout we had like 5 or 6 cameras taking pictures...hehe... the paparazzi! hehe

Then we went home for the tea and cake cutting ceremony. I wore a red cheongsam. Felt like I was baking in it! The kids were so cute! Annabelle was so serious and Stephanie refused to serve tea to Uncle Rick. The kids were in half the pictures we took, either one of them or both! Besra was also very cute. She had fun playing with Uncle Bart. So cute!

Gorgeous nails!

2009-03-26T09:02:00.003Z

did my nails at the nails place today. Absolutely loved it! Wish i could do my own nails though...

Wedding Bells-Part 2

2009-03-23T02:24:00.004Z

Right finally decent internet connection... so the civil ceremony... you wouldn't believe what happened!

we went to the office before 10 am thinking the earlier we get there, the faster we'd finish the ceremony...but noooo... I got my brother and sister to be our witnesses. so we all got there by 930am. my bro planned to go off straight to work after that. we got there, waited for them. they went through our documents again and then told us we had to go all the way to kk and get the form signed by a JP! by then my bro had to go back to work already.

so we had to go to kk and get the things signed and paid and then drive all the way back to the office again. by then we were one witness short...sigh...so my poor sister-in-law who was just diagnosed with diabetes had to drive all the way to the office to be our witness. all that waiting and running around took an hour and a half.

now for the best part, when everything was finally done... they made us wait in the room. the room is quite pretty and we had cameras with us so why not take a few pics cos we doubted that we will have time during the ceremony. hehe we were happily snapping pics of us exchanging rings and posing and using their malay wedding chairs(whatever they are called). We were having fun and laughing. We found out later that to use the chairs, you had to pay RM1000!!! lol

Then the woman came in to marry us. I was laughing and the first thing she said was...(drumroll...) 'WHAT'S SO FUNNY HUH?' ... I was shocked!!! so shocked I kept quiet...all the laughter out gone clean out of me... can you imagine being told off on your wedding day??? Bitch! and the ceremony was more like a swearing in ceremony than a wedding ceremony. we had to raise our right hand throughout the whole thing. She shook our hand at the end of it....my goodness!!!! it was like holding a limp fish in your hand...cold nd clammy and limp! ppl should learn how to shake hands properly! that bitch!

ppl are right! Your wedding day is definitely a day to remember!!!

Wedding Bells-Part 1

2009-03-08T08:15:00.004Z

Most of you would have probably known by now that I am married... lol.. it feels wierd to say it to be honest...not that there is any difference to my life right now..but still saying it makes me blush. Afterall, I have been saying I am single for so many many years and I enjoyed saying it although my mom used to cringe every time...lol... those were the days...

Since I am very lazy and my internet connection is slower than a snail, I will have to tell the story in parts starting with the eventful 'pre-civil ceremony'.

We had to apply for a special license to get married because Rick couldn't be here for 20 days and he couldn't come twice. The special license is permission to get married within a week of your application. It costs RM100 for the license and RM 20 for the ceremony and another RM 10 for the English marriage certificate which is only everything translated to English...sigh

Ok so at first months before, my mom went to JPN(because Chinese Chambers are not allowed to conduct marriages involving foreigners anymore!) and asked them if we could have the ceremony held on a Sunday at my mom's place and the lady said we could but we had to pay them a fee to get that done. So with a heart full of anticipation, I went to the JPN office to arrange things when I came back to kk, but the guy I talked to there said they don work weekends and so my hopes were dashed. I had to explain to Rick why the civil ceremony and the chinese part had to be on different days. you try explaining things so a 'gwai lo' can understand...sigh!

So Rick got here and we went to the office to get a form(which they wouldn't give you until the groom-to-be is present) and filled it in and had to wait till after lunch to hand it back cos apparently 30 mins is not enough to complete the form and we were sent home. sigh....not a good start...after lunch, we submitted the form. they told us they would call us after the form was signed by their Pengarah within a week.

No calls came after 3 working days so I called them. Took more than half an hour for someone to pick the phone up! Apparently our form was approved 2 days after we submitted the form! I said no one called us and they insisted they did...ya right!!!!! They asked us when we would like to get married and then told us to go the NEXT day to sign the marriage certificates cos it was either the next day or the following week! Sigh! And we were supposed to go to Australia the week after! Why bloody ask you when when you don have choices?!? Can you imagine if I hadn't called them??? We won't even be legally married now!

This is not even the worst part of it! Wait till I am in a calmer mood to tell you about the actual civil ceremony! The next part would be To Hit or Not To Hit!!!!!

Our New Car

2009-01-01T15:46:00.002Z

Under orders to get a car by his boss, this is our very own little black Toyota Yaris... We drove to York in this...

Boredom

2008-12-18T14:48:00.002Z

Wedding Dash -Pt 2

2008-12-01T10:36:00.002Z

It's been a few weeks now and things are starting to calm down a bit...even my excitement, to be honest, and the headache is now reduced to a dull pain and not a throbbing pain...hehe...

The restaurant's been chosen and now in the negotiating stage cos mine is a small wedding and hotels don profit much from me so a lot of things are cut out! and I only just realised that in this age and time, mine is a REALLY small wedding cos for some reason when I say I only have 15 tables(it's been increased!), my friends go "What!?! Only 15???" heheh that's when i realised theirs was 100 and 80 tables respectively and I was shocked!!! I mean most are church friends I understand and relatives but do you actually need to invite that many ppl to your wedding? I mean My 15 tables... my 6 tables are for my close friends and their families and another 6 or 7 for relatives and my parents' close friends. I don want to invite friends I haven't spoken to for years. I mean it;s a special occasion and I want to share it with close friends. and the relatives my parents are inviting are close relatives that I know. hmm... now it's how i pay for the deposit when i'm so far away!

My dress is fantastic! and it's been shortened...hehe...i'm wondering if I should post a pic of me in it cos I took a gorgeous pic the other day when I was bored. I've only got my jewellery to sort out now and my hair to decide what to do. let down or put up, veil or no veil... cos I'm probably only to wear my dress for the ceremony and the first few courses of the dinner then I'm going to change into a loose dress to eat! I don care what ppl say, I'm going to EAT! I've given up on losing weight! it'n not workign and will not work so even if i look bad and have a beer belly(as my brother says), I don care!

I'm making the wedding favour sachets..hehe only about 120 more to make!!! sigh! I think i might have taken on more than I can do..but Can't give up!!! and have Mr Rick laugh at me! Sigh!

I wonder what else I have to organise....

Wedding Dash - Pt 1

2008-11-15T13:50:00.006Z

It's been about 2 weeks now trying to plan for the wedding! I'm totally ready to scream and rant and rave now! Almost everything is based on other ppl and ppl say it's my wedding! No sooner has one problem been talked thru and decided on, another pops up and is again beyond my control... not that I am a control freak or anything... it's just that life has this very annoying habit of trying to throw problems at me and not leave me alone or let things go smoothly for me... If this is wat PNT Pre-nuptial tension is, I hate it! Of course it doesn't help when I'm so far away!!!!

First, it was waiting for my parents to look for an auspicious date. Being brought up in a family that can be amazingly traditional in certain things, this rule has to be followed! And then when I was told when, it didn't help! because it's a Sunday! What official office would open for me on Sunday??? And for the chinese, obviously it's leaving the family home that's important, and to the western part of me and to Rick, the ceremony is more important... It would be wierd to him to have both be days apart and we have to think of the number of days he can get off!!!

Then, it was the photo shoot and album bit which Rick is nice enough to agree to do for me. But the shop that does great dresses is horrible at making the album. And then it was deciding which would be less painful for Rick, the studio pics or outdoor pics. And then I had the idea of doing the photo shoot in UK so I have something to show at the wedding pop into my head. and that didn't help cos it's cold now! and photographers are expensive here!!!!

Then, trying to think about the venue for the ceremony, lunch and dinner. At first, I wanted to do everything at home. It was asking friends for names of caterers and things but now, dinner can't be done at home cos my guest list is too long!!! so I said ok to cut cost, have the ceremony at mom and dinner at the hotel...but apparently this won't work either because the office says I can't do that because Rick's not malaysian! and I have to do it at the govt office! I don fancy that idea! because obviously, the dresscode would be stricter and not as private!

And then I had to find the perfect dress and Rick had to like it enough to buy it on the spot! and it's green and not white. and I have to lose 2 inches off my waist and grow 4 inches in the next 3 months to fit it perfectly!

Argh!!!!! What else can go wrong!!!!!

Friends' Weekend-Pt 2: Shillington

2008-11-10T15:18:00.010Z

Right, so the next day after dinner with Phil and Sati, we took a train back to Reading in the morning and went over to get our hired car cos we were driving up to Shillington which is north of London I think. It's a VW Polo i think, nice little car.
But first things first, we drove over to See Woo and went shopping for Chinese food!!! Bought enough noodles to last me a month and bought kangkung and seaweed snacks and things to make sushi and bought frozen tilapia and grouper..heheh I never thought I would buy fish!

Then we drove up to see Andy and Kat who just had a baby a couple of months ago. As usual we had to go the scenic route through the countryside. so much I was a bit sick of the countryside after hours and hours of it! We went thru so many towns I can't remember their names and was too busy looking to remember to take pics..hehe...We stopped at Dunstable I think, a place where ppl go to fly kites! there were so many kites and children and adults were having so much fun.

We booked a room at the Yew House B&B and it was a normal sized room but with an ensuite bathroom which was tiny and had a tiny closet built beside the bathroom and there was a sink at the other end of the room.

The white door is the ensuite and the blue door is the closet.

This next one is a pic of the common bathroom outside. I love the mirror and the faucets and the landing decorated with the wooden horse. And there were lots of chinese vases all over the place so I asked the landlord and he said he's been collecting vases and china antique pieces for years now.

ok. then we went to visit Rick's friends and I love the dog. She is gorgeous!
We had chinese takaway for dinner and Rick had a lot of fun catching up with them and seeing the baby and drinking wine, while the dog had fun sitting on me.

The next morning, it's breakfast at the conservatory while looking out the windows at the gorgeous garden.

Then it's time for one more picture before hitting the road home and as usual, it was the scenic route home before he got tired of driving and we took the M4 home quick..haha...

It snowed!

2008-11-04T10:38:00.003Z

Rick was away that week..this was a video i took on 28 Oct 2008... it had been raining the whole day that day and it was freezing! at night it got to -2 degrees i think. I was watching tv when suddenly i looked up and saw this outside the window. I was wondering whether it was hailing but i thought it looked a bit too feathery to be hail...so I got my bum off the sofa and went and looked... heheh it was snowing!!!! in oct!!! apparently the last time it snowed in Reading in Oct was in 1974...hehe..and Rick missed it... there's something about snow that makes people go all happy and giggly inside...wonder why... it doesn't look like much in the pictures but trust me it was beautiful!... as little snow as there was...

Friends' Weekend - Pt 1: London

2008-10-28T16:36:00.011Z

It was time for me to start blogging again in case anyone's interested in what's happening in my life since I've been here.

I have been falling ill quite often since I came here, but it hasn't stopped us from enjoying ourselves. Way back in September, we went to the Museum of Natural Science where we saw exhibitions of dinosaurs, mammals and reptiles...it was fantastic but since it was so long ago, I'm not going to post any pics. However, I am going to blog about our trip to London first, then Shillington where we had a very nice time with Rick's Friends.

Rick's friends, Phil and Sati, invited us for dinner and spend a night in London with them. It was very nice of them to do that because normally we go up to their house in St Albans to see them and the kids. This time it was a grown up only dinner. We got in to London late afternoon and checked in at Jurys Inn London. It was a 3-star hotel and the rooms were a bit run down but hey! it's in London!

I love the bathroom fixtures!

It was a small room overlooking the back roofs of the bulidings at the back but it was right in London near The British Museum. We went to the museum for tea and had a bite to eat and I was complaining about how we didn't go into the shops the last time we were there, so we looked in the shops before we left...every one of the shops...hehe

Look at this!!! First tier was sweet dessert things, tarts and cakes..my tier. Second tier was wierd sandwiches-Rick's, figs and something in one, stinky cheese in one, smoked salmon in another. Third tier was scones with jam and clotted cream-shared tier...yummy!!!

I took this shot while waiting for the food to come... the roof of the museum...gorgeous!

Bellys filled...I couldn't resist and Rick obliged me, bless him!...A very nice lady offered to take a pic for us.. so I jumped at her offer. Behind us is a totem of something, an exhibition downstairs.

This was on the way down for drinks before we went out for dinner cos dinner was...... at 9pm!!! good thing i convinced him we needed to have tea first. I had one margarita which was amazingly strong and sips of Rick's many wines...these ppl can really drink! between Rick and Phil, i think what they had at he bar was equivalent to 2 bottles of wines...before dinner and I as usual started coughing after half a glass...

Then finally we went to dinner at a restaurant which had very good reviews-unfortunately I can't recall the name of the restaurant. All the names of the dishes to me are wierd and whatever I ordered suited Rick more so in the end I had whatever he ordered and he had mine. I had a Pig's Head dish for starters and it was braised pork. I hated my traditional meatballs so I had Rick's Lamb. Safe names weren't safe. Dishes with funny sounding names were good. but by then I was so weak from coughing and the asthma attack, I was too tired to care really. but we had more laughs and more chats and the men had more wine...apparently the tolerance for alcohol has to do with the genetic make up of asians and europeans. That's why they drink alcohol like water. And the tolerance for alcohol also has something to do with lactose tolerance, hence many asians are lactose intolerant and asians can't hold their drink.

So, conclusion, it was definitely an enjoyable evening with friends albeit the asthma attack.

My Masterpiece

2008-10-16T17:46:00.003+01:00

I recently got back in touch with William and finally got him to take pictures of the table for me... He bought this gorgeous table which has a glass panel on top and another panel under it which you can decorate. And I did... hehe I have to make it very clear that I decorated it.. cos William loves to tell people he did it... Hmph! I hope you are reading this, William!So anyways, we went to Pangkor and decided to make a beach-like motif. He bought 2 gorgeous dried starfish, and shells... and i made him bring home a plastic bag of sand from the beach... hehe... and viola!Come to think of it... it doesn't look like much from the pictures but if you look at it in real life,... it is a gorgeous piece of work! You wouldn't believe I made it...