A new page...soon

In less than 2 hours, as the clock strikes 12 midnight - another year has gone by. It had been another whirlwind year with its fair share of ups and downs. On most parts, my life had been better though there are still things/issues I struggle with. I believe it will be better in the coming year. Hope fuels our lives, and as long as we do not lose sight, some day we will see what we envision to come true.

Here's wishing you and yours a Blessed New Year.

Last trip for the year

Just finished packing my bag for a 3D2N trip.

Not a leisurely trip but I am glad to be able to make it - will share more when I am back. Adios!

It's Christmas...

Christmas Eve

The office was almost empty today, probably less than 15 people on our floor - we didn't even have key to go in as most of the key holders are on leave, hohoho.

My Christmas eve lunch ... new place in town. Kyo-ei Tokyo Ramen @ Level 6, Pavilion - famed for its handmade ramen; as good as the one (Santouka) down at Tokyo Street. Whilst there, we saw quite a number of Japanese diners - so it must be good :)

My fave snack!

One off the long list, anyway...

Ta-dahhhh - say HELLO to Auntie Anne's Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel, yummy!!!

From Auntie Anne - What better way to spoil dinner than this sweet treat, classic & all-time favourite. Blend of fine cinnamon powder with sugar coating the buttered pretzel.

They have a new pretzel on the block - with turkey bits & cheese topping - hence the 'new' packaging. Perhaps I will try it the next round.

冬至 Winter Solstice

古人話“冬大過年”。。。一年一道嘅冬至落在今天，陽曆12月21日，咁岩都係瑪雅族群所傳聞嘅世界末日*。

冬至，又名冬節，係廿四節氣中嘅第廿二個 - 古時唐人以擬日做一歲開始，因為呢日之後日照會越來越長。

Source: 維基

北方人傳統吃餃子，而南方人就吃湯圓。

細個時，阿媽整湯圓都係有白有紅，兩個色。白嘅平安大搵錢，紅嘅歡喜迎新年。今年，因為“唔夠人手”，所以阿媽話唔整湯圓喔。。。真懷念。點都好，最重要嘅係個個都齊齊正正，一團和氣。

*FB好多人開玩笑嘅是芥茉日！呵呵！

12 Days to Christmas

Wonderful reminder

I will be back!

I have 'abandoned' my own for a few months now, but lately motivated by a friend wanting to start a blog and who had asked me on how to get started & so on...

I know I have missed out a lot...I don't think I can even clear all the backlog, December's a busy month (~~shifty eyes) - but I will try to at least conclude 2012 with a summary post :) So stay tuned!

Good Friday thoughts

Personally this is an emotional day for me. A day when I am reflecting whether I have lived a life worthy of Him.

As I think and reflect – my mind travels to that scene on the Calvary…

When I gaze upon the cross

I see the thorns on His crown

And the nails in His wrists

I wonder who put Him there

Then I look at my hand

And I see the hammer in my grip

Then God reminded me – nothing I had done made Him love me less and nothing I can do will make Him love me more – His love for me had always been unconditional, had never changed and will never change. He had loved me from the beginning and He will love me to the end.

As I was reading online last night, I stumbled upon this song “You Love Me Anyway” by Sidewalk Prophets and these words captured me:

The question was raised

As my conscience fell

A silly, little lie

It didn’t mean much

But it lingers still

In the corners of my mind

Still you call me to walk

On the edge of this world

To spread my dreams and fly

But the future’s so far

My heart is so frail

I think I’d rather stay inside

But You love me anyway

It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known

Yes You love me anyway

With that my spirit was lifted up once again, as my heart warmed to the embrace of His love.

Lord, thank You! Thank You for Your love, thank You for setting me free to soar.

You love me anyway...

I wanna remember You...every day. Not just on Good Friday.

The question was raised
As my conscience fell
A silly little lie
It didn't mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind

Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future's so far
My heart is so frail
I think I'd rather stay inside

But You love me anyway
It's like nothing in life
That I've ever known
Yes You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How you love me

It took all of my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
The reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And Why do loved ones have to die?

I am the thorn in your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas' kiss
But You love me anyway
See now I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart, tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night I still call out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life

Weekend Recap - Hot Air Balloon

The 4th Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Festival

Went there with my friend on Saturday... woke up so early and reached there slightly after 7am. Tickets sold out :( Heard from radio yesterday, the last tickets were sold to the person who queued at 5am! The first in line was there at 2am...insane!

This is my third time here. Only missed the 2nd festival... after last year's fest, I thought I would give it a miss this year. Until I saw from the website, there are new balloons this year... so here I was again...

Some of the balloons this year...there were more which I didn't upload - can check them at the official site:

Eye infection

Lately all sorts of things happen to me... most recent, eye infection which started last Sat. God, you telling me something?

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

(Matthew 7:3)

Note to self: LEARN to be ever ready to listen, slow to speak, even slower to judge.

My kind of sky

Artists can colour the sky red colour because they know it's blue. 
Those of us who aren't artists must colour things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid.
Jules Feiffer

心累了

如何可以讓我的心放假？

Stay away, negative peolple

Negative people gets me down. Non-stop complaining and grouchy people gets me down-er. Most times, I just avoid them... except when they are my own flesh & blood, who sometimes treat me as the Complaints Bureau.

I fully understand the reason why they are so, and I could even empathise with them in some circumstances. However, one can't be perpetually sad & whining about everything. Can't and shouldn't.

Of course, I do realise they could be genuinely unhappy. I said 'could be' because deep inside, I know there is a tinge of attention seeking in the reason behind.

They are unhappy because they do not have JOY in their life. They do not have JOY because they are holding on to too much of the past and the sad/bad things that had happened, happening and may happen. These thoughts had hinder them to see beyond - had blinded their eyes to the silver lining.

How can I help? I do not know. I am just very tired now, emotionally and mentally. It hurts me too because they are hurting...but sometimes, I feel so strained that I wish I could just be 'excused' from their lives momentarily. I am so selfish. I feel bad to put it that way. In saying that, does it mean I am also a negative person myself, as I am unable to elevate myself from the negativity and let my emotions be affected?

Valentine's for a single lady

This year's Valentine's is special. Had arranged for a gift exchange with two of my friends, and dinner together.

However, lovely surprises come early. Checked in to office in the morning and found this on my PC's keyboard:

Came back from a meeting in the afternoon and got this:

Finally went for dinner and got this:

Valentine's Day is not limited for couples, but for people whom we cherish. It is not about the price of the gift, but the value of the gift - our sincere love which is precious but priceless. We should not just celebrate love once a year on 14 February - but everyday! Tell your loved ones you love them & show your love to them - you will never know when will be your last chance to do so.

Nature's canvas

The sky is nature's canvas. Nature's beautiful paintings - one taken at 8am as I was doing my laundry at the yard, the other taken at 7.15pm as I was watering the plants at the balcony. Simply awesome, right?

Sunset @ 10 02 2012

I haven't seen a nice sunset for a quite a while... Photo taken near my condo with mobile phone/cam.

On the drive home - I actually saw a prettier sky, was so tempted to stop my car by the road and take some shots. Now I kinda regret I didn't, because by the time I reached home, the whole sky/sunset landscape had changed. :(

Anyway when I saw the pretty sky, I just thought to myself :
I do not know whether every cloud is silver lined, but I do know that today, my clouds are sun-rays lined!

The clouds at that time were so beautiful, with the edges bouncing off the rays of the setting sun.

Celebrating ME Day

Over the long weekend - I decided to take a day off from church & spent a good day at discovering a new place for coffee & browsing through an art market. Wonderful day, well spent.

First stop - Typica Cafe 豆原 @Shaw Parade, my first time here. It's a quaint little place - with just 4 tables and two long benches.

At the table I sat at - a vase with roses... 

The menu - they are famed for the siphon coffee & ice drip coffee. I finally decided to try something different - Ice Coffee with Chocolate Milk & Mint and Black Sesame Cheese Cake. Nice! :)

Cute!

My table looks like a school desk.

After my brunch - I went to the Kaka Creative Art Market, which is held on every first Sunday (that's why gotta skip church, ooppss!). They have a different theme every month - February is the month of  L❤VE.

Love this stall which had all these cute piggies, hedgehogs and sheep made with clay.

Market on ground floor, view from 2nd floor.

Lots of pretty & creative handmade stuffs here, which of course we can shop online for, but nothing beats seeing & touching the goods for real. Wonderful, wonderful. Wish I could do this more often.

After-thought: I wish I could be like some of these vendors. Made me think - what am I good at? So good at, that I just wanna share with people... and hopefully make some money out of it. I wish... 

Long weekend ahead...

February is a fabulous month...

I have a shorter working month, despite 2012 being a leap year. I just had a holiday on 1 Feb for Federal Territory Day. Next Monday & Tuesday I get another 2 days off - thanks to the Prophet Muhammad's Birthday and Thaipusam. One is on Sunday, 5 Feb ; the latter on 7 Feb. Sunday ... means I get Monday off. Yay! Coincidentally, 6 Feb is Chap Goh Mei (Chinese Valentine, last day of the Lunar New Year). Niceeeee!

All 3 major races in the country have something to celebrate for this weekend. As for me, I am celebrating the long weekend with more gatherings! And as far as gatherings go, food is definitely there to fuel the fellowship. My diet plan is perpetually postponed for now!

Finally - I just have to work for 18 days this month. Oooppppsss, that sounds so wrong, makes me sound so much like a lazy person, but who cares? LOL.

Picnic!

Today is the Federal Territory Day - that means I get a day off work. Bestie asked me to join her & her elder girl for a picnic at the Lake Gardens. It had been years since I went to the Lake Gardens, so why not?

Wonderful weather... although it meant hot sun! But it's nice walking amidst the trees and her girl enjoyed herself at the playground. The tram ride in the end was nice... I didn't realise that the garden was actually huge, there were so many places to visit & do. But bringing along a child of almost 3 means we spent most of our time around the playground.

91.6 hectare of parks & gardens at the heart of Kuala Lumpur established in 1888. The gardens incorporate the National Monument, Deer Park, Butterfly Park, Bird Park, Carcosa Seri Negara, The Forest Research Institute , Orchid Garden & Hibiscus Garden. 

Source: http://visit-to-kl.com/visit/Lake_garden.html

(and I shall add: The Planetarium, National Mosque and Islamic Arts Museum are all within the vicinity too!)

2012...1 month's gone

Wow, talk about time flies... it seems like it's only yesterday when we celebrated the dawn of the year 2012. Now, in a less than 10 minutes, the month of January will end... as the clock ticks, February will be here soon, very soon.

And before we know it, March will be here. So on and so forth...

They said "Time and tide wait for no man"... well, I shall add, white hairs too!!! Scarily true, I found quite a few  white strands in this one month... oh, no! If I can't stop the clock ticking away and there's only so much I can do 'preserve my youthful appearance' - I guess I could choose to age gracefully, rather than just grow old.

一頓讓我感觸的晚餐

剛與家人吃了晚餐，在回家途中，突然一股感觸從心底湧起。

這群人。。。就是我的家人，我生命中最親密的人。有些與我相處長於三十多年，最短的也有十多年。

當我跌到生命中的谷底，我多麼的依賴他們。雖然沒有說出口，但是他們的存在讓我覺得我並不是一個人孤身作戰。

今天也讓我想起爸爸。。。在他還健在時，我並沒有請他吃過一頓飯。。。有點遺憾。我唯有盡我所能對我媽媽好。當然我不是完美的女兒，但是我會努力的。

希望。。。有一天，我也可以有機會建立我自己的家庭。

向日葵的勇氣

很久沒有收到花了。。。應該有至少5年了。 這次收花讓我驚喜。真的沒想到。。。

向日葵（又名望日蓮）的花語是勇敢的追求自己想要的幸福。

我想幸福 （誰不想？） 。。。但是我沒那勇氣去追求。

開工大吉

Auspicious day to start work? Well... be it so or not, still gotta work ...

Picture of my cubicle at work...lots of fishes in the 'aquarium' >)))>

Here's to a happier work year ahead - more wisdom, better EQ, less stress; more favour from superiors, peers, staffs; brighter prospects & of course more $$$$$  :)) yay!