Quote of The Day

Love never dies a natural death.
It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source.
It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals.
It dies of illness and wounds;
it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing

-Anais Nin

Facing Reality

After months of hiding and running away, here I am facing my own real life scenario.

Firstly, my wedding is called off this year as we are not able to get approval from my beloved dad. Manfred and I went back last year and the trip didn't really go as what we have expected. In fact, it turned out pretty ugly. I came back here broken hearted and disappointed. Things have gotten really awkward between me and my family.

However we are not giving up. We canceled all arrangements that we have made, and unfortunately, had to forfeit some of the deposits that we have made. But we are still very positive. Monies can always be earned back :) And most importantly, we both know and sure that we want to spend our lifetime together. This experience has really made us emerge stronger.

Secondly, I have postponed my surgery to end of the year -most probably September. One of the main reason, if not the only reason, is that I have yet to informed my dad about my condition and the surgery. And yes it is linked to the first issue. So things really got a lil bit complicated here.

Recently I am reading 'You can Heal Your Life' by Louis L Hay and it speaks so much into me. My boss has been recommending the book for my daily devotional reading since last year and now I can really see why. Interestingly, in the foreword itself, it speaks something about disease which is so true. Disease is dis-ease. Dis-ease causes disease! So much of my dis-ease that causes me my own health! Knowledge is truly power.

I have comes to terms to forgive my family, for not behaving and reacting the way I want them to be. For first time of the year, I slept well -sound and peace.

Happiness

For years I have been searching for happiness, and for years I searched at the wrong places. Until recently, I discovered that happiness is a state of mind. It comes from within and is not affected by external factors. I learned this the hard way.

Almost everyday, we face challenges in our daily life. When things are going great, we are worried because it seems to good for us, or we are expecting bad things to happen. When things are down, we are cursing even more. This is the puzzle of life.

I learned that struggle is part of life. We can't really control what's happening around us, but we can do something to it. I can either succumb to the bad day, or I can take it easy and move on with the next task. It is all in your mind. After all, there's no failure -it's only feedback!

I learned that the best thing I can do to improve my situation is to stop whining and make each moment as special as I can be as if it's my last moment on earth. Everything in life is about perspective -and it's your own perspective. If today you woke up knowing that it's your last day on earth, how different will you treat your loved ones? How different will you look at your deadlines? How different will you talk to your friends?

I learned that I have a choice -and it's always my choice. I can wake up early in the morning feeling grumpy, or think about what I can achieve today e.g. finish my deadlines, greet people I meet with smile, tell my loved ones how much I love them etc..

Today, you have a choice to be happy.. and NOW, you can begin living your happy life..

The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved
-Victor Hugo

Happy Mother's Day

This year, Manfred and I bring his family out for Mother's Day celebration at Korean BBQ restaurant at Jushinjung East Coast. We both are so much into Korean BBQ now -galbisal (short rib boneless), woosul (ox-tounge), moksal (pork collar), kimchi, chicken ginseng soup etc.

*yummy..

Happy Dad and Mom :)

Dear and Mom

Me and Mom
*blurp.. (ops!)

Satisfied faces :)

New Haircut

Money is not Enough

"Exactly 80 years ago, a young man on a business trip to China fell ill. That young man was my grandfather. When he passed away 80 years ago, he left behind a young widow. This young widow had two children and was on the verge of delivering the third child, my mum.

You can imagine the deep grief of a young widow. Back then, there was no MCYS, no Public Assistance, and no ComCare support. Nevertheless, her two brothers gave her an allowance. She was not penniless but money was tight.

My mum had a tough life. She could never really enjoy taking luxury. She worked hard. She became a teacher. It was not easy even near the end of her teaching career. And in those days, MOE was not as enlightened as it is now.

My uncle went on to become a doctor and became a GP in Albert Street. Those of you who know him know that he never took a single day off.

Firstly, life can be tough, life can be unfair, and life is unpredictable. Bad things can happen to good, decent people. Regardless of this, we all need hope.

The second thing I have learnt is that you need family support. Who is going to be there for you when you need help?

The third lesson is that it is all about discipline and hard work. No matter how wealthy you are, if we lose that discipline or work ethic, we will fail.

At least for me, my mum has successfully transmitted those values. The question now is whether our youth, born in the times of plenty, spend more time thinking about how to spend their inheritance compared with our parents' generation.

At the end of the day, while money is important, it is also not enough. All the wealth in the world will not buy you success. Nor will it eliminate all the social problems in the world.

Is the real problem the lack of money?

Is it the poverty of material wealth or is it the poverty of relationships?

Those of us who live long enough will agree the long-term problem is a poverty of relationships.

We all need families, we need friends. And it is not just about families. We also want a caring, compassionate society. We will fail if society degenerates into nothing more than a society of selfish, successful individuals looking to spend more on themselves.

I remember Sam Tan's brilliant speech last week. I read the speech three times. I resonate with his views that it is not about the dilemma between the young and old, or between rich and poor, but between the head and heart. The head knows it cannot be overly generous, yet the heart wants the head to be so.

I believe we need a lean, efficient, rational, disciplined and competent government. There is also a need for compassion, generosity and emotional support in our society.

However, these are best delivered by community organizations rather than by a bloated bureaucracy. That is why we believe in many helping hands."

-Extracts from Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan's speech

No Failure, Only Feedback

Sometimes you make the wrong choice and the result is failure. Take heart, making the wrong choice is better than not making any choices at all. At least, you take the initiative to act.

Failure is not the opposite of success, but its by-product. Inaction, apathy and tolerance of mediocrity are the opposites of success.

We learn valuable lessons from failure, such as taking the hard knocks in life. The lessons are not taught in formal universities but out in the street.

There is no such thing as "failure". Instead, failure is actually feedback that can be used to improve your performance. Failure is a necessary part of success. It is actually a step before success.

Many quit when confronted with failure, not knowing that the next step is success.

Domino theory

Tom Monaghan, the founder of the Domino's Pizza chain, was only four years old when his father died. Poverty drove his mother to place him in an orphanage. Young Tom harboured two childhood dreams - to be a priest and to play in the Detroit Tigers, an American baseball team.

However, after a year of studying to be a priest in a seminary, he left. In 1960, he started Domino's Pizza. Initially, it was very successful, but in the 1970s, he started losing control of the company because of rapid expansion. Domino's was on the brink of bankruptcy.

By 1993, Tom Monaghan had rebuilt Domino's Pizza into one of the largest pizza chains in America with a sales turnover that exceeded US$2.2 billion (S$3.15 billion).

So compelling was his dream to play in the Detroit Tigers that he purchased the entire team. He also remained Domino's president. Had he given up during his bankruptcy, he would not have enjoyed Domino's later success - and he would not have fulfilled his second childhood dream.

He chose to see his bout of failure as an opportunity to do even better. As Henry Ford once remarked: "Failure is the only opportunity to begin more intelligently."

AIA Award Dinner 2008

Our beloved FHCP trainer -Cheryl Ong

My buddies -Jason, Eric and Keith

B*tches

The grand celebration to remunerate your hard work for the past one year. That's what I love about AIA -they recognize you. And when they do, they do it GRANDLY :)

Motto: work hard, play harder!

Wealth Can't Buy Health (2)

One hour in orthopedic clinic seems like my last one hour in this earth.

He confirmed the findings. 4 out of 7 bones in my neck have degenerated and they indeed compressed the spinal cord. Out of these 4bones, 1 bone is compressing much on my spinal cord that the cord is flattened. Surgery was initially advised to replace this particular bone with artificial bone; however the lifespan of artificial bone (although being said lifetime) is still unknown. Should there be any complications 30-40 years down the road, another surgery to replace the artificial bone is to be done; but it will be at even higher risk due to age count.

At present, he advised me to do series of physiotherapy (neck traction and heat therapy) to release the tension of the nerve. I am doing it twice a week now, and on top of that, I do my own heat therapy at home.

I'm not sure if it's due to cold weather, but recently my knees are feeling weak. I am seeing orthopedic again this week.

Wealth Can't Buy Health

Just yesterday I experienced sharp pain on my upper back, which caused me difficulty in breathing. I consulted doctor today and had XRay as well as MRI scan done on my upper back and neck. The scan on my upper back shows no anomalies; but the scan on my neck shows that the last two row of discs have pressed against the spinal cord (nerve system). I am fortunate to discover it early as huge pressure on spinal cord may result in paralysis.

Fear strikes me when I first heard of the results, especially when doctor mentioned that this may result in paralysis if not taken care early. It didn't help much too when he advised me to consult orthopedic and surgery may be necessary to release the tension on the cord. I am seeking second opinion this evening, and will go to orthopedic tomorrow if necessary.

I spent whole day of my day for consultation, XRay/MRI scan and another consultation; and all these while Manfred was with me. I am really grateful yet sad for he has been taking care of me for quite sometime, in another word, I had been a burden to him for sometime.

God has been very gracious towards me in many areas of my life, and I know deeply that I am truly blessed. In all bad situations I had been through, He is always by my side guiding me and conquering my battles for me. And I know, this time is no exception too.

I have submitted this into the hand of the Lord. Jesus died for me not in vain. His body was crushed, so that I can be well. I know that I am healed despite all the medical reports. We are taking holy communion daily from today onwards.

I am quoting from Pastor Prince from one of his sermon:

During their young days, people spend their health to get wealth
But, when they're old, they use all their wealth to get back their health
So, what have they accomplished in their life?

Morale of the story: RIGHT LIVING STARTS FROM RIGHT BELIEVING

Wake Up Call

My eyes stopped on these few quotes in one of the inspirational post in Shelvia's blog.

• "No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow."
  

• "Regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life."

• "Even when I have pains, I don't have to be one."
  

Yes, life has not been smooth sailing ever since my trip back from Jakarta. I went through whole emotional cycle of sad, anger, hate, disappointment, ignorance and now acceptance. The journey was rocky but life still goes on, and everyday I, somehow, seem to be progressing better.

There are many things in life which are not of our control, on the other hands, there are things in life which are within our control. People's reaction and perspective is certainly not within my control. Weather is also not within my control. But my ATTITUDE is.

So for my own sake -for a HAPPIER, BETTER, CHEERFUL, ENJOYABLE life, I decide to change my attitude towards my environment.

First priority on the list is TIME DISCIPLINE. There are time for work, time for family, time for friends, time for rest and time for God. And of course, time to blog :p

I'd like to end my post with this quote..

• Share your happiness with others, and share your sorrow too.. Don't hide and feel the pressure on your own, because no one will understand if you don't speak out..
  

and that's how my blog fits in the picture :p

End of First Evening of 24

After our wonderful fine dining birthday celebration, we returned home happy and satiated. As I entered the house, Manfred's parents greeted me with birthday cake! I was like.. shocked and surprised!















My birthday cake :)




















Loving hubby and lovely moi..




















Loving uncle and lovely auntie :)















Make ANOTHER wish...




















YAY! Our wish coming true!!

Later on, I found out that this celebration is another of dear arrangement with his parents to surprise me. Oh dear.... Enough of surprises! I do not wish to claim on my $300K coverage so soon :p

I love you.. thank you for making my birthday such memorable event..

The First Evening of 24

Dear invited me to a simple yet elegant dinner celebration at our fave restaurant, The Sage. Walking in to the restaurant made me realized why this place is special for us -this is where we hold most of our memorable events, such as first Christmas date, first anniversary, proposal, and now my birthday dinner.

It's difficult to get bored of The Sage. First of all, the menu changes periodically. Even for the same menu, the food art is always new. Bravo to the creativity and dynamism. Secondly, I can't help but to applaud on the professionalism of the server yet the warmth personal touch they give to each customers. Last, the food is non-questionable -flavorsome, sophisticated, artistic and best of all -affordable. This place gets my no.1 vote for French fine dining.

Down to our evening experience..















Complimentary green pea mousse with lemon zest and caviar.

Strong flavor of green pea with subtle hint of lemon. The caviar neutralizes the flavor of green pea and makes this dish totally refreshing! Perfect as starter.
















First dish on the list is pan-seared duck foie gras with roasted Granny Smith apple mille-feuille crusted with walnuts, fig compote and spiced glaze of port wine and balsamico.

The foie gras itself is crusty yet soft with its own flavor. The sourness of apple sauce and sweetness of port wine make this dish interesting to experience on its own. Every bite produces different taste depending on the amount of sauce that you put in!















My soup dish was veloute of butternut pumpkin topped with pistachio froth, confit of foie gras and Navel orange marmalade.

Pumpkin soup is one of my favorite soup dishes. Coupled with confit of foie gras? BEST! The soup itself is creamy and thick with strong hint of sweetness of orange marmalade, while the confit of foie gras is too creamy on its own. Take them together and you find the best combination of pumpkin soup with foie gras! The sweetness of the hot soup blends perfectly with the confit of foie gras causing it to melt in your mouth!















Dear's soup dish is chestnut mousseline topped with double boiled consommé of oxtail, parmentier of oxtail meat with shavings of black truffle.

I didn't know that chestnut goes well with oxtail until I tried this! The first layer at the bottom is the chestnut mousse, the second layer is the oxtail soup while the top layer is milk froth. Mix them together and....... *speechless*! I would say it's complicatedly interesting. Imagine sweetness of chestnut mix with oxtail soup. Funny? Yes, but apparently the chef was able to pull it, not only well, but perfectly well! The oxtail meat is hard and tasty on its own, but taking it with the soup apparently neutralizes the strong favor of the soup and makes it easier and more enjoyable to savor.

Oh by the way, did I mention that I love the visual display of the soup?















Finally my main: charcoal grilled U.S. Black Angus beef sirloin resting on pommes gratin topped with horseradish cream, glazed vegetables with smoked bacon and jus gras

We ordered this dish in our previous visit, however; this time it comes differently! I mentioned that the chef is creative didn't I? The meat, cooked rare as per my preference, is juicy sweet tender and succulent on its own. The sauce smoothen the succulent taste of the meat. On top of the change in the visual display, it has additional Brussels sprouts with smoked bacon which has completely opposite taste to the meat. Its strong saltness acts like ginger to clear the palette and... VOILA!! You're ready for the next piece of the meat!















Dear's main: Australian grain fed lamb short loin with a cassoulet of summer beans scented with garlic, thyme and lardons, crispy Parmigiano Reggiano and carrot puree

The lamb, cooked rare as to dear preference, is interestingly tender and succulent! The flavor of thyme has overridden the strong scent of lamb. Bland carrot puree helps to ease the meaty taste and sweetness of the summer beans helps to neutralize the flavor. So far, this is the best lamb dish I have ever tried -with no strong scent of lamb at all!

Our satisfied look says it all!















*mmmm... I'm in Heaven... :p















YUMMY! *hehhehe...

We are both too filled after the whole course to eat desserts. This is the first time we skip desserts. Even Misa, the captain, was surprised! So I requested for the bill.

She then returned with ....















A chocolate cake with happy birthday stand!

Apparently, dear has made arrangement with Kimberly on this. It's a piece of thick dark chocolate cake, complimentary from The Sage for my birthday. Lucky we didn't order desserts!















Praying and thanking God for His wonderful blessings on me, and requesting for special wish..




















*fooh.. blowing candle..

Dear asked if I like this small surprise.. in fact, I love this simple sweet surprise from dear. This is one of the reasons why I love him dearly. His thoughts and actions on these small little things touch me.. Dear's doing massage for me when I'm tired, fetching me after whole day work, sending my blazers for laundry, cooking good meal for me when I'm in lousy mood, especially arrange a shopping day for me on weekends and other countless small little things..

All these little things he does add on to great love he has for me. I love you hubby..

and I wish to myself: HAPPY BIRTHDAY :)

The First Day of 24

Today is my first of being 24. Nothing change. I am still as young, pretty, healthy, good, successful as ever -yet my age somehow increased by 1.

It's rather funny how I used to be excited and in fact look forward to my growing age. Now I find myself rather disturbed of the fact that I am getting older. I guess this is what they call 'wisdom'

Well I took a day off and headed to Sentosa. We took the new tram Sentosa Express from VivoCity. It costs only $3 and it's really fast. We reached our destination in 3mins.















Beginning of our journey

In reality, I am not so much of beach person and I do not welcome sun at all. It has put enough freckles on my skin than it should. God heard my wish and He turned the weather to cloudy. Just the right weather for me. It was a bit drizzling when we got there, but it stopped when we decided to jump in. Nothing can ruin my day because God is with me all day long :)















Cloudy beach in Sentosa















We had good swim..




















coupled with good drinks ;)

I was in the mood for a bit of thrill and thus decided to go for skyride and the luge. The ride made me realize that I am still afraid of heights -and skyride wasn't really that high! I am now RE-considering my options to go for Singapore Flyer..















On the skyride.. *badump badump















Excited for the luge ride

I had a relaxing and fun day dear.. Thank you :) *muackz

District Kick-Off 3D2N @ Batam

It's my second kick-off meeting in AIA, and this year it's held in Holiday Inn Batam.



















Awesome view from our balcony

First day program was team building games and seafood dinner in the local restaurant. Seeing my boss, Jenny Teoh, Peter Lim, I have to say that my district is full of people who really know how to play -despite of their age. I have to admit somehow that I'm not so fun anymore :p






































Next day was the highlight of the trip -KickOff Meeting. I was very honored to be chosen as one of the speaker in the meeting, to share about my achievement on reaching my goal -MILLION DOLLAR CLUB. The sharing goes like this:

First of all, I'd like to thank God for His faithful blessings upon me. I'd also like to thank my parents for I am here now because of them. And next is my boss for her continuous support, strong encouragement and faith in me.. bla bla blah..

Hahaha! It's none like that! Honestly I can't really recall what I shared -now I really wished if I had it recorded!



















Top 5 of the District 2007 -Michael Lim, Me, Jenny Teoh, Wai Han and Angelia (left to right)

During the meeting, we had dream board exercise which most of all really enjoy. The idea of this exercise is to help us in visualizing our dream plan in 3-5years time through pictures. Each of us would have to share what we'd like to do and what our plan is like.




To simplify, by priority:

1. Blessed blissful marriage with Manfred (2010)
2. LV working bag and pair of wallets (2008)
3. Our new car Lexus GS300 (2012)
4. Our mission trip to Israel (2010)
5. Our new 4rm flat in Telok Blangah (2013)
6. Our continuous savings total worth $1m
7. Superstar Award (2008)

At the end of the meeting, we celebrated birthday of January babies -and turned out that all January babies belong to SP-IVYNEO.



















Chan -12 Jan, Jenny -22 Jan, Wendy -27 Jan and Me -29 Jan (right to left)
ps. Credit to Ching for this full of warmth shot



















Oh dear boss, you're so blessed. After your big bonus, next come our birthdays. We're blessed too -as we get shares of your BIG bonus :p Thank you boss for your thoughtful birthday pressie! *muackz



















SP-IVYNEO -pretty, young, successful vibrant team!



















My wonderful young beautiful and full of wisdom boss, sister, counselor and life guidance.
(I love her and she loves me much too)

The most significant change I find in this kick-off meeting is the missing presence of bunch of well-groomed, muscular, successful young looking chaps from SP-RONALDKOH. I really miss them -esp my dear buddy Eric. Instead, I see new faces in this meeting -a table of young dynamic fun people. Welcome onboard :)

My goal for 2008: SUPERSTAR award!

Post-Indo Trip

Things didn't really turn out well. It was a disastrous trip in fact.

Dad has very strong objections against our marriage.

Oh well.. it has to be postponed...

till further notice..

Holiday Holiday

Bro is in town for 6days. It's Holiday for me! Yay! You bet how buy I will be holidaying with my bro in Singapore, going through one department store to another department stores. hahaha.. SHOPPING TIME!

Miss my bro a lot. Yet after a year of not seeing each other and lack of communication, much or less we have become someone who were once close to each other. It's pretty saddening for me and for him though. I hope that we can cultivate back our lovely relationship that we used to have during this 3weeks of holiday period.

Anyway, La Senza is having it's 50% sale now. Today I bought $400 worth of bra-s, PJ-s and lingerie-s, but ended up just paying $170 for them. GOOD BARGAIN! Thank you God! AMEN!

NO pictures for them though -It's PRIVATE :p

My shopping saga to be continued...

Five Loaves and Two Fishes

Been listening to this song by Corrine May.

God showed me this song when I was looking for songs for my wedding. Beautiful song indeed and full of His glory. Only by His greatness that a story can be written into such sweet lovely song.

Not only that, Xin Zhan then offered to lend me his CD collections of Corrine May! WOW! AMEN!

Both me and Manfred love this song a lot!

Beloved Chloe

Chloe FINALLY decided to come into this wonderful lovely world, after additional 7days of resting she had in her beloved mother tummy -my cousin, Karen.

She weighed 3KG when she was borned!! OMG! and yet, she is still so small!

I don't have the pictures with me now, but will get it uploaded in Jan'08; after my trip back from Jkt :)

Happy Anniversary dear..

It's officially one year since we first dated, and we decided to celebrate at the restaurant where we had our first dinner date one year ago -The Sage, Robertson Walk.

As I walked into the restaurant, Kim (the lady boss) welcomed us and brought us to our table -with a bouquet of pink roses on the table. I initially thought that it was complimentary from the restaurant, as I had told them specifically that we're celebrating our first year anniversary when I called them up for reservation. To my surprise, my beloved Manfred had arranged for the bouquet to be sent -something that I never thought I would receive.. A simple yet surprise for me..















My first bouquet from dear..

One of the reason that we love this restaurant, not only because of the beautiful memories we shared, but also the wonderful food and warmth personalized service. None of the dishes had ever failed to make me 'WOW!'.. We were initially served with their complimentary Amouse Boche -a mixture of tomato with salsa sauce, avocado and caviar serving. Very refreshing taste -sourness of tomato mixed with the spice of salsa and flavor of caviar. Definitely interesting!




















Amuse Boche

For appetizer, we had Oysters & Vichyssoise -fresh oysters topped with caviar on a bed of leek and potato vichyssoise, and Carpaccio of Wagyu beef. I love them both! The fresh oyster tastes sweet, while the leek and potato cream is thick and full of flavor. The carpaccio beef comes with sour cream and rocket salad, which blends very well with each other. We were too curious at this point that we finished the dishes before we managed to grab a shot of it.. :(

The Maine Lobster Bisque SUPERB and amongst of the best I'd ever tried! It comes with scallop mousse -soft and light. A MUST-ORDER dish!















Maine Lobster Bisque

Main course were Roasted quail breast on a fondue of porcini mushrooms and white leek with polenta for me and Charcoal-grilled Rare US Sirloin Beef with mashed potato scented with white truffle oil, glazed asparagus and onion for dear.. I honestly prefer the Sirloin to the Quail. The Quail tastes like chicken while I'm not so much fan of mushrooms.. However, it's very much based to individual's preference. The beef was really tender and sweet, with its crust crispy and salty. Its robust flavor makes it tastes so good on its own even without the sauce..















Quail















US Sirloin Beef

At this point, we were pretty much filled. However, every ladies have different stomach for main course and dessert -sounds familiar eh? ;) So we decided to order Chocolat Fondant to complete our meal.

Kim then came over to me with a box on a big plate -put it on my table and made me confused. I asked her if it was complimentary from the restaurant, she explained that Manfred had brought it there earlier. I opened the white box and found.... a diamond ring.

With the ring on his hand, dear proposed and asked me if I were willing to marry him. I was so surprised and shocked.. yet happy.. that I turned into complete speechless.. I could only nod and answered 'yes' afterwards.. There was so much mixture of emotions flowing inside me.. I was definitely surprised, touched, happy and... deeply loved!




















I love you dear.. and 'Yes, I do'

The guest at next table congratulated us and offered to take a snaphot for us as it was a moment to remember..




















The dessert came and completed our magical evening....




















Chocolat Fondant

Thank you dear for making this evening wonderful and magical for me..

I love you..