My Easter Bunny

I was in a horrendously bad mood on Thursday morning.

Pops called me when I just managed to get on to the bus (really late) and I happened to just realise that I forgot to bring my thumb drive. Aft spending a whole night working on a paper -_-

I was complaining, whining, sulky, irritated.

Right after lunch, he appeared behind me with this:






It's difficult not to have my mood lifted up after the sweet surprise :)

It's always little things like these that makes a relationship sweet and memorable.

And it shows that the special someone is always on your mind (not only on special occasions).

Thank you poppy chops :)))))

Lesson #2 - Attaining your dreams

Come to think abt it, I believe many of us either do not have dreams or we only dare to 'dream' abt the attainable.

We have been taught to be practical and grounded.

Never set ur sight or expectations too high lest u fall and hurt urself big-time.

I guess it's abt time we learn how to make our dreams attainable and not just dream abt the attainable.


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Sit still and watch the world go by

Have a kit kat!!

Guess what?

Tomorrow I'm on VL :) Hello to Me-Time!


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Life, as it is.

Did a stay-home Sunday after lunch with mummy and pops.

Been busy rushing about the entire week - Staff B paper, Welfare handover, SWB handover, Networking Party, interviews... Almost couldn't fork out time to trim my fringe.

Glad to have a lovely lovely break for the whole of Saturday :) It's indulgence in every way ;)

But I was still so tired and unwell today that I missed church :(

I need to organize my life and instill some control and discipline in the different aspects of my life.

The past 23 years had been easy (albeit maybe not so enjoyable at times) because things have been planned for. We're just living by the schedule, following the timetable, going with the crowd, from one class to another, one term after another.

Working life can be the same - from one weekday to the next, one paycheck after another. And we can just let life pass us by without really achieving anything that we value as significant in our life. We can OT till the cow comes home or we can knock off on time to while the evenings away with pointless activities.

Couple of weeks ago, I was out for lunch w the usual gang and we popped by Starbucks to grab a cuppa b4 returning to the office. Saw a lady casually dressed in tee, shorts and slippers, enjoying the lazy afternoon sun with a book in her hand, music in her ears and occasional sips of iced cold frappe. How I wish I can do that on a Tuesday afternoon, how enjoyable is that!

Well, I CAN actually do that. If I want to. I can always take a day leave and do the same thing, go on a relaxing date with myself. It's so easy, I don't even have to plan! But time has become such a scarcity in life that I'm not sure I can convince myself to something so seemingly "useless".

I guess what's really important now is to regain my sense of control and discipline in life and organize the different aspects of it back into shape.

I need to get closer to God, learn to enjoy every moment with my loved ones, control my expenses, clear my (physical, mental and virtual) clutter regularly, experience new things, gain new knowledge and have a goal in life.

I need to find a balance in experiencing the individual moments in life through the smaller things and knowing in a larger scale, what exactly am I working towards in life. There are so many things I can engage in but I want to know what are the things that can lead me to become the person that I want to be. What may seem important or enjoyable at this very moment may just be something that is a complete waste of time or worse, something that is holding me back from arriving at my ultimate goal.

I once came across a story abt a rich business man who went to a little island to take a break from all the stress that he had been facing at work. Out on the beach during his vacation, he wanted to get a drink and after a long walk, he saw this man resting on a daybed with a cooler box filled with canned drinks next to him and a simple sign that says Drinks for $2. The rich business man bought a can of drink and sat down nxt to the drink seller. They started talking and the drink seller asked the business man why did he look so unhappy. The business man told him that he is thinking about his work and he is very tired with all the stress that he is facing.

"Why are u working so hard then? What are u trying to achieve?" the drink seller asked.

"Money. I want to be rich, really really rich."

"And what happens when u are really really rich? What are u going to do with all the money?"

"I'll sell away my business, buy a house on a little island near the beach, set up a little stall there and enjoy the sea breeze, the sun and the waters at my feet everyday."

"Well, that's exactly what I'm doing everyday!"

I guess what the business man wanted was not the money, but the experience of bliss in its simplicity. If he had realised exactly what is it that he wanted in life, he might have been able to enjoy such a lifestyle for a much longer time.

But life is never as simple as a story. And it doesn't help that human are simply complex (pardon the oxymoron). A short break probably won't help us feel recharged or change our perspective of life. It's the realisation that we get through spending more time with ourselves and understanding ourselves or the eureka moments that hit on us when we slow down to observe and experience life.

I'm glad to know that my life has been perfectly planned by God, and that all I need to do is really to listen to Him and find out where He wants me to go and what He wants me to do. Nothing is chance, everything that we encounter has it's purpose, be it good or bad, enjoyable or heart-wrenching. Through joy we learn to be thankful, through tears we learn to be faithful.

May the Lord grant me wisdom to see His plans and obedience to act in His will.

2 of a Dozen

I rmb the last time it was Rabbit year, I was young, carefree, listening to Britney Spears' 1st album and the biggest thing in life was preparing for PSLE.

12 years on, another rabbit year and so many things have changed.

Now I'm more mature (I hope), more grounded, and I can see that there is so much more to life than just PSLE. More expectations, more responsibilities and more decisions to make are some of the things that comes along with age, but I've also found more people who are here to share my ups and downs, learnt so many lessons in life that helped to make me a more wholesome person and found a faith that has brought peace and guidance to my life.

Long past the age of major birthday celebrations (ok, not THAT long, I just had my 21st couple of yrs ago :X), I'm just really glad to have spent my birthday this year having simple gatherings with my loved ones :)

CHAOS

As usual, it's Chaos' tradition to plan surprise birthdays for each other :) This year (finally!), the surprise for my bday is no longer at my hs!









Poppy Love

Pops gave me a belated bday celebration because he had his exams on 1 March, the day aft my bday.

So we celebrated on the saturday aft my bday instead :)



And he brought me for a Spa at The Retreat :D Just what I need after a crazy mth of career fairs, late nights and writing of papers :))



I loved the whole experience! The service was awesome, they even took our blood pressure b4 the spa and told me that I have slight low blood pressure so if I feel giddy at the steam room, I sld go out and soak in the bath to cool down b4 gng back in again :)




The ambience and decor of the suite was so lovely I feel relaxed the moment I stepped in... And it made me forgot I was in Sg.















I was enjoying myself every single minute during that 3 hours worth of spa, bath and Swedish massage, I told pops that we have to do this at least twice a year :p





:) Feels so so so pampered :)

Aft the uber relaxing retreat, pops brought me to Dinner at a plc I've long been wanting to go :)












It reminds us of those Italian courtyards :)







<3

And I thank God for all the blessings that He had showered upon me and the amazing people that He had placed around me. I thank Him for drawing close to me when I drift away, for not giving up on me, for not witholding his love from an imperfect person like me. I thank Him for watching over me, for guiding me, for listening to my tears when I cry and no words can express how I feel, for granting me peace that surpasses all understanding.

I thank God that He found me.

I hope that when He finds you, you will open up your heart to receive His amazing gift too :)

Lesson #1 - Don't assume, ask.

Making unwarranted assumptions can be an extremely dangerous thing to do, especially when it relates to an important decision.

Making the wrong assumptions can cause u anything from inconvenience to disappointment and even regret.

While asking and clarifying may tk up some of your time b4 u start on a task, that 10 mins spent could have saved u from a tricky case of service recovery.

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Lesson Logbook

They say success comes from failures.
They missed out an impt point.
Success comes from LEARNING through failures.

While school and curriculums build us up on our technical knowledge, life's lessons are far more abundant and practical.

Everyday we face situations whr we can learn and gain new skills, new knowledge and new realizations. But the other impt component abt learning is remembering and applying.

Sometimes (or most of the time) we tend to get so caught up with what we are doing or need to complete that we only have time to heave a sigh of relief before we move on to the next task. I barely have time for implementations, don't even talk to me abt evaluation!

But if we chug thru life like a train in motion, gng whr the tracks lead us, stopping whr the stations are, we probably can go with the just-do attitude. But if we wanna soar thru life, like a plane in the boundless sky, we'll have to know whr we're heading, chart out our journey, pay attention to the information we are receiving and also feedback promptly when we sense danger. Soaring thru life requires us to participate in it actively and attentively.

And so is learning. To learn from all the impt lessons that life provides, we have to learn actively and be attentive.

I'm gng to start a my Lesson Logbook where I'll jot down lessons which I've learnt thru my job or my everyday life.

Lets see what life teaches me :)





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Sweet Love of Mine :)

Was pretty determined that I don't want to celebrate valentines day bcos it's a day which we share with everyone else. I even told pops not to get anything for me coz I'm not giving him anything (read: broke aft the little splurge on his bday prez :X)

But I guess the lovey dovey atmosphere all ard got the better of me :|

So just hours before valentines day, I went on a mad rush to buy sth for him. Popular was packed to the brim -_- thank God not many ppl are into getting electronics for vday present so BEST Denki was pretty empty :)

And aft dat, it's home for craft time!



















My "environmentally-friendly" version of a valentines snow globe!




















Ok, doesn't look like one, but it's the same concept...

And a simple little present :)
(love the wrapping paper!)







My original plan was to sneak up to his desk and place the pressies there early in the morning so when he arrives at work, he will be pleasantly surprised :)))

But I dropped that idea since I doubt I can wk up so early :/

So I changed to a better plan - to pretend I'm not giving him anything but plop the stuff on his table when he has gone for lunch :D


















He removed the sticker on top coz he didn't want to be 'Forever Friends' :P

And when I returned to my desk aft lunch...






Heeeeeeeee






Pops wanted to get 6 red roses (representing him) and 6 purple ones (representing me) but the purple ones were long out of stock :( but it's ok, still pretty :))

I left it in the office coz my was just complaining abt all the dried flowers I have at hm :P






It makes me smile when I see it
:)






Intended to leave on time for dinner but ended up leaving at 7pm -_- which was scary becoz the restaurant will release our seats if we're more than 10mins late. Reservation was at 730pm btw :X

Oh but we made it lah, thanks to Poppy's skillful driving ;)






Korean BBQ for vday dinner, quite original right?! Heheh and so sweet of him to bring me to the place I've been longing to go - Esplanade!












Went for a little walk at my fav place aft dinner :) and caught the performance at the open stage. They were sooooo good I thot it was only 1 guy singing with -1 tracks until I saw a bunch of guys - doing acapella!













So much fond memories :))

Poppy made his confession there, I planted the kiss of acceptance on his cheeks under the fireworks there, we have overnight HTHT over there, we dated there, we went there to welcome the New Year, we celebrated vday 2008 there, we went there the night aft I met his parents... And so many many more lovely moments, I never get sick of recounting them again and again :)
























It was a truly happy valentine's :))

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