I used to have a love-hate relationship with January 1st. I love that it signifies a new beginning, new dreams, new hopes but at the same I hate it due to all my un-met resolutions! Two years ago, I finally grew-up (i.e. matured) and stopped making a big deal out of the New Year, and stopped making a long list of not likely to meet resolutions. January 1st became another flipping of the calendar day. I reasoned that I can do up a to-do-list aka resolutions anytime of the year. The biggest challenge is to stay focused and get it done. So how was past two years since I stopped making resolutions? Were they more fruitful than the ones with resolutions? Not sure but I...

I spent the first couple of days after cancelling our holidays puting up a brave-front in front of my girls. I was my usual chirpy and happy self keeping my elder girl company while she does her work, and helping my younger one with the daily crafts planned for her. When my girls went to bed I sulked and took out my frustration on my husband. The poor guy took it all in a stride ...ever so sweet. I was having so much trouble getting myself out of the in-no-mood for everything in my life. I needed something badly to get me back on track. When I found out about The Original Bootcamp (OBC) from another blogger I was convinced that it was just what I needed to get mys...

Hubby and I made a painful decision last November. We cancelled our planned 6 months in advance, eagerly awaited year-end holidays abroad. It was painful, difficult, awful but we did it. At times I wish that we are less responsible, I wish that we love our daughters a little less, I wish that we are more selfish , I wish, I wish, I wish ..... My elder girl's teachers felt that she has the ability to secure a government scholarship to study abroad. As the exams are going to take place in September next year, we were advised to prepare early (huh?) and send her for extra coaching during the year-end break. Being the non-typical Asian parents (Asian parents tend to...

This is the perfect scene I would love to wake-up to everyday, if I have my way. I always dreamt of living  by the sea with my man during our retirement days. We will have our dream house then, incorporating two of our must-haves ....... a whole floor for his music room and a super humongous craft room for me filled with all my "toys". Here we will live our perfect lifestyle, away from the hustle bustle of the city life, with the sea as the backdrop. We will start our days with an early morning run by the sea, followed by a full session of pilates and many many hours of crafting (for me) and reading (for him). Here no cooking is required (yeah!), and my man wil...

A couple of months back, I was asked by Lai Kuan, of the very popular Food-4-Tots to check out Craft Passion. I did, and I was glad. Since then I have been a huge fan of this very talented lady (Joanne), who has been churning-out lots of amazingly creative stuff that never fails to blow my mind off. Do check out her blog. You will not be disappointed. Here are some of my favourites; "The Dazzled" - I am still waiting for her to make me one. This is one of Joanne's earlier projects. She did this for a charity auction to aid a home for abandoned kids.  On the night of the auction, her sister got her the bag (by being the highest bidder) because she knows that Joan...

Recently, my girls' school organized a Jog-A-Thon hoping to raise MYR250,000. The funds are required to change the school's decade-old air conditioners as well as upgrade their close to obsolete computer laboratory. I wrote an email to the "top guys" at  major Malaysian listed companies, appealing for their support. Honestly I did not expect any response from them. Why should they right? Donating funds to a stranger during such economic conditions? What was I thinking? Many a times my mind and imagination tend to dash-off to an over-run. To my close friends, this would be another of those instances again. I dare not share my bizarre "project" with them. I do not w...

Both my girls started to like eating mooncakes after our experience with Fook Pan last year. So I thought that it would be a good idea to try making them myself so that I could adjust the taste according to our liking. I was all prepared to give mooncake-making a go but hubs thought otherwise. He felt that I am being overly ambitious and is grossly under-estimating the complexity of mooncake-making. Anyway I went ahead and bought the required ingredients. I started by making a couple of small baked moonies and surprisingly they were almost perfect (in my opinion) - nice imprint, evenly browned in the tone that I like and no cracks. I was giggling, jumping up and do...

Whenever we holiday overseas my husband would always take over the planning of all our meals. He would do some homework before the trip and speak to the locals when we get there, just to ensure that we do not miss out any of the must-eat places. He would also find out the opening hours of the local markets (for fresh meat, seafood and vegetables). Yeah, he loves to cook and does a much better job than me. Whenever he cooks fresh ingredients is a must and a never to be compromised quality. He makes an effort to get all ingredients from the fresh market unlike me where convenience is always my priority. I like my vegetables and fruits thoroughly washed and nicely pac...

Since young both my girls love animals very much. They would get very excited whenever the opportunity arises for them to visit the zoo. As both my husband and I are not animal fans, they rely on school trips, and visits from family and friends. As they grow older, they started to negotiate visits to wildlife parks and/or farmstays when we travel overseas, as their reward for doing well in their school exams or in exchange for a month of washing toilets at home. I still have not figured out where their love for animals came from, as I am someone who would scream my head off whenever I see a cat, dog, et cetera. Before we got into Perth, my younger girl (the mo...

Hubs and I were totally burnt-out from our daily routine, him from “his grind” and me a little bored with everything from the domestic front. We decided to take a short break with the girls. We got into Perth early this morning and will be here for the next ten days. Normally we would prefer to either go to Sydney or Melbourne whenever we visit Australia. We consider Perth a little “slow” (no offense meant) for us. Probably it is a sign of old age, spending 10 days in a slow and laid-back place with moderate winter conditions sounded rather appealing to me. Actually it has been ages since we last visited Perth. If my memory does not fail me, Erica was...