When we decided to send Erica to a all subjects taught in Mandarin Chinese school, many of our friends taught that we were mad. Frankly, I don't blame them. It was indeed a crazy move as both Dave and I cannot read or write in Mandarin. Despite all the well-meant you better not to it advise, we went ahead with our plan. Yeah, we are extremely stubborn, haha! How did the learn Mandarin plan come about? Why did we decide on such a "difficult" path? Dave is convinced that China would be the next big economy after the US and Erica would have an added competitive advantage if she is proficient in Mandarin. When he told me his theory I remember laughing to myself, thinking...

My hubby was a little worried during my last birthday (in March). He assumed that I would be depressed as it meant saying farewell to days of being thirties. As "the day" was on a weekday and he was super busy at work, he made arrangements with the girls' school for them to have the day off. Yeah, he actually wrote a letter informing the school that the girls needed to skip school to celebrate my fortieth birthday. Men!! *shakes head in disbelief*. The girls brought me to the movies to watch Alice in Wonderland. They used their pocket money to pay for our tickets and popcorn. It was kinda of nice but weird at the same time. Just because they were paying for po...

Where have I been for the past 2 months? Have I stopped blogging but never said good-bye? I received quite a number of emails on this for the past few weeks from many concerned friends. Some were even worried that something happened to me. Thank you so much for your concern my dear friends. I am fine, don't worry. Yes, I am still blogging .....  its just that I was so pre-occupied with my little BFF. We spent so many hours hanging out together daily that I do not have anymore energy to blog after that. Here she is. What do you think? I have never been a doll person. Actually I don't remember having a doll as a kid. Not sure why I never took a liking to them, mos...

Both my girls are pretty good swimmers but I feel that they need some pointers to further improve on their strokes, especially breast stroke. This is the perfectionist in me talking, I suppose. For me proper technique is important in order to fully enjoy an activity and to prevent injuries. I have been on the lookout for suitable advanced swimming lessons for quite some time. Good swimming instructors are so difficult to find. I thought all my problems were solved when I found him, but it was a challenge trying to "squeeze" a slot into my girls' already jam-packed weekend schedule. Eventually we gave up sleeping in on Sundays for it to happen. David has been s...

When I saw Ashley's Graffiti Shoes Tutorial, I couldn't wait to make one for myself. I did, yesterday, while the kids were swimming with their friends. I had a fantastic time playing with paints. I didn't realise that I miss painting and creating a mess  so much. It was therapeutic turning a MYR5 plain-looking black canvas shoes, into cool graffiti art. Thanks, Ashley! My girls were jealous when they got home. They made me promise that I will paint them each a pair while they are at school tomorrow. I was stunned when David told me subtly that he wouldn't mind having a pair too! *shaking my head in disbelief* I was wearing them all of today, eve...

My baby announced the minute she woke up, "I am nine years-old today. I don't want to be called Bee (her pet name which is short for baby) anymore. Your can call me Rihana, if you like." I turned to Erica and we burst out laughing together. We were trying to imagine a out of tune Rihana croaking Umbrella. Honestly it is quite a shock to me that my baby is 9 today. She seemed to grow up so quickly despite her tendency to fall sick often. She has two huge tonsils so it was high fever once every 3 weeks since she was 6 months old. It gradully became once every 6 weeks. Her relationship with her tonsils are improving.... only losing it when she is s...

When it comes to cooking, I have accepted the fact that I am destined to be a noob forever. Noob not in the same category as this ironchef-in-disguise-noob, but noob in the true sense, know very little and have no will to learn. I no longer live in denial, buying cookbooks after cookbooks dreaming of being my Mister's Domestic Goddess. After trying at the most two recipes from the salad/entree section, I would be demoralised. Mine would never ever look and taste anywhere near that described by the book, even though I put in twice the amount of time in the kitchen. Nothing wrong with those cookbooks, it's just me ... poor execution due to "no-interest" subject matter...

To my elder girl, he is the BEST-LOOKING guy in this whole wide world. Her everything Pattinson craze has been going on for a while and I never understood why, until last December ....... I finally got curious when she was watching Twilight for the 10,000th time. I joined her. Initially I was bored but when the perfect in an eerie manner Pattinson appeared I transformed into an excited teenager and became more excited than my tween! When the movie ended, I told my daughter, "Erica, let's watch one more time!". She was beaming with the "I told you so" look. We ended up watching three rounds of Twilight and two rounds of New Moon. I had a smashing time....... Â...

I have never been one good with traditions, frankly I suck at them. Since young I never saw the significance of Chinese New Year. To me it was (and is still is) merely another flipping of the calendar day. I only enjoyed the extended days of holidays that came with it. Before marriage it would mean holidays overseas with friends, but after marriage everything changed. I needed to be a responsible daughter-in-law and mother ....... certain chinese new year must-dos needed to be done even though I do not believe in them. During Chinese New Year it is customary to prepare "goodie bags" for family and friends. I enjoy putting together personalised gifts each year. 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...