How much do you give?

When I was younger, I was more concerned about how much I'm taking, how much I'm entitled to and how much I'm receiving. It was always about me, me and me, and how much I did NOT have, did NOT take and did NOT receive.

Never once, did I think about how much I should have given nor have given any in the first place.

All the thoughts about wanting, taking and not getting what I wanted made me a rather angsty and unhappy teenager and subsequently, a young adult.

A few years ago, out of the blue, a thought of giving dawned upon me. I just wanted to give my time, my energy, and MYSELF to a purpose, and for a change, I wanted nothing in return. This "nothing in return" was a new concept to me. I've always wanted something in return. It's not that I'm calculating, but I've always believed that nothing is for free, so if I've given something, be it time, energy or money, I expected something in return.

But now, I've learnt that when I give wholeheartedly, and not expecting anything, I will end up receiving the most. Now, I'm more concerned about how much I can give and to who. I'm more conscious of my actions and the impact that I'll create by giving.

Give back to our society, give our aging parents our listening ear, our love and concern. Give our spouse, siblings and friends our support and faith. And for once, expect nothing in return.

By giving, I've become a happier person, and hopefully a better person as well. I hope you can be as well.

Do you talk to strangers?

When I was a kid, I used to talk to strangers ALL THE TIME. Totally shameless, I could say and ask the darnest things ever. Like "can you take my baby brother home and never lets him out ever" to a complete stranger when I had to take care of my baby brother at a hawker centre while my mum was buying food for us.

It seems to me that all kids talk to strangers, kids aren't so concern about whether they will be deem as crazy or stupid by talking to strangers. Being cute and fluffy helps as well I guess. Strangers wouldn't think that a cute kid would be an insurance agent or something...

Now if a stranger suddenly approaches, I would immediately be on my guard. Although most of the times, they were just asking for directions. Or else, they were trying to sell/promote me something. No big deal, not as if they were going to stick out a knief and hack me to death. I would then remind myself that I shouldnt be so defensive and should just chill...

I still remember that many years ago when I visited Hub while he was still a student in London and there was this day when I was wondering around Hyde Park alone. Suddenly there was a gust of wind and some grits got into my eyes, that caused me to tear non-stop.

There I was, standing beside the lake, wiping aways the tears and blinking hard, when suddenly I felt a pair of warm hands around my shoulders. Then some tissues were stuffed into my hands, and a kind voice that said, "there, there, everything will work out fine. It's ok..." then a little squeeze of my hand.

This kind, old lady with a head of white short hair held my hands for another 10 seconds or so... looked at me in the eye with kindness and hope, she gave me a smile, then she walked away. All I could do was to mumble "thank you so much" and then started to tear for real...

Such kindness and such warmth to a stranger. I'll always remember that.

Project Habitat is finally, taking shape

Last night, I had a really pleasant surprise. Hub and I went over to our new place to check out the on-going renovation, and instead of the usual “construction site” mess that basically engulfed the whole flat from Day 1 of the renovation…

The flat was spanking clean! No debris, no cardboard boxes all over the place, no bags of concrete lying around. Oh my god, finally I got to appreciate how big our new place really was.

The renovation is almost 80% completed. By the time I’m done with my CFA exam, I should be ready to move in and start working on the planter boxes.

YEAH!

The crazy things that we do

There was this one day, my interior designer (ID), who is an avid gardener called me one afternoon and told me that he saw this huge Bird Nest Fern that had fallen from a tree, along the road opposite Goodwood Park Hotel.

“It’s a big-ass fern! Really majestic looking! Just that 1 fern can fill up the whole planter box along your corridor.” exclaimed our ID.

That was like 4 pm in the afternoon and where the hell could I get a lorry to pick up that huge fern in such a short notice?! So, I was thinking to myself “Nah… not worth the effort”. Nonetheless, I told Hub about the fern and he too, thought that the whole process of scouting for a lorry and to go down all the way to orchard area to pick up a fallen fern seemed extremely ridiculous.

But that fern stuck to my head ever since…

And it brewed and brewed and I JUST COULDN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD. Until I couldn’t take it anymore and at 1230 am, ie: 8 and ½ hours after that wretched phone call. I told Hub that we needed to get that fern.

It would be like a housewarming gift from God.

And to my surprise, instead of yelling at me for being “crazy”, Hub pondered for a while and said to me “ok, let’s go and get that bloody fern?!”

So, at 1230 am, both of us last minute rented the biggest car that we could find, a Honda Odyssey (thanks to KahShare), quickly changed into something decent and dashed down towards orchard road to “rescue” a fallen fern.

And what a HUGEMONGOUS fern it was?! OMG… the leaves almost reached my shoulder?! Hub looked at it for like 2 seconds, and with all his strength, actually managed to pick up that Fern and squeezed it into the back of the Odyssey. There was just ENOUGH space for that fern.

Then the best part: where to put that monster? At first I thought we could just dump the Fern outside in-law’s flat but it was simply too big. So last minute, I called up my brother’s GF who had a garden and her mum was totally cool to adopt our Monster Fern temporarily.

So, at 1 am in the freaking morning, 2 idiots headed to her place to “deliver” the loot. And she was very sweet (and awake) to direct us where to place the Fern. The Fern was so big that when Hub carried the fern, he looked as if he had completely “disappeared” and you would see the Fern had suddenly sprouted 2 legs and “walked” itself to the garden. It was a really funny sight and instead of helping him, I was crouching at a corner, laughing my head off.

By the time we settled Mr. Monster Fern and cleaned up, it was already 2 am and we completely knocked out after that.

What an adventure.

p/s: the photo above isn’t the Monster Fern, just a picture that I’ve gotten from the net. I’ll take a shot of Monster Fern when he’s settled down at our new place. Monster Fern is way bigger than that… …

Keeping the romance alive

Hubby and I have known each other for 15 years, and out of that, we have been together for about 9 yrs... I used the word "about" because I seriously cannot remember when we “officially” started dating. *opps…*

So after being together for so long, we are already very comfortable with each other that… sometimes, we become TOO comfortable and start to take each other for granted. We would get so bogged down with our daily lives that we would just grunt at each other instead of engaging in meaningful conversation.

But there’s one thing that Hubby will ALWAYS do every single day. He will hug me fiercely for like 15 seconds everyday. NO matter how tired I am, no matter how much laundry I have to do, no matter how stressed up I am over my work or studies. I’ll feel very much loved after that.

And during times like that, I’m really grateful that I married him, and I will feel totally 幸福.

But still not enough to iron his clothes.

;P

I know this is a bit late, but HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

How many babies is this poor mother carrying on her back...? I counted 11. OMG. She's a super-what-ever-animal she is!

I'm sure all mums out there feel like this super-animal-mum once a while. But all of the mums told me that carrying all that 11 brats (0r even if it's just ONE brat) is all worth it.

To my mum: It's our turn (3 of us, brats) to carry you on our backs now. Love you, mum!

Discouraged…

Feeling low and discouraged currently.

The stress of studying for an exam, house renovation, personal investing, company investing and keeping a lookout for greener pastures… all of the above are giving me A LOT OF STRESS.

Exam -> This stupid CFA level-3 exam is freaking killing me. Exam is in a month’s time and I have not finished mugging yet! I know of friends who are already revising for the 2nd/3rd time! I’m in a slightly panic mode… …

House Renovation -> Mr. Contractor has finally started on the cabinets and other carpentry works, but issues such as weird measurements and dimensions kept surfacing and I am getting fed up with Mr. Contractor. It has even reached the stage where I don’t really care anymore, just finish up so that I can move in by June!

Personal Investing and investing for the company -> Everyday, I look at charts, read financial data, internalize economic events and hopefully, pick the right stocks and make some decent returns, for the company that I’m working for, as well as for myself and for Hubby. At work, I’m facing a lot of stress, especially when the markets are moving very fast and very volatile. At night, when we’re at home, Hubby will tune to CNBC to check on the US market and European markets and sometimes… all these stress are really getting to me.

Meanwhile, I’m also thinking of changing my work environment. I’ve been sending out some CVs but haven’t heard anything from the headhunters yet, Geez… is my CV that bad?!?!

All in all, I just hope that after the exam, I’ll be in a better place.

I'm looking for a painting for my bedroom...

I wanted something dramatic, something sensual (it's the bedroom afterall, stupid), something that will make you make you go "hmmm".

Then I saw this painting. Too bad, I can't get it in spore. ;(

I'm going to Paris! Tickets booked... and euro is cheap. B.E.S.T. Will start to change some euros soon...

Some pictures that I've collected from the net to remind myself why I love Paris so, so much.

J'adore la Paris...

The after-and-before photos!

Woah... can't believe that it's actually the same space huh? Looking at pretty pictures of renovated apartments bring me so much joy.

But when you are the one actually going through the process of renovating your own place. Argh... not so fun. Nonetheless, I'm looking really forward for my kitchen to take shape. Currently, it still looks like a construction site.

Mr. Contractor... if you are reading this, PLEASE get your act together and start working on the cabinets NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*vomit blood*

P/s: above pictures are from Apartment Therapy . com. Not my place lah...

Colors...

Ok, now Hubby and I are in the stage of talking about colors for our new place. Both of us like plants and living things, as well as natural materials like wood, metal and stone. So our new place theme is about that. Natural materials... However, natural materials tend NOT to be too colorful. Natural wood is naturally brown and stone is naturally grey, you get the idea.

Then I come across this picture. Ahhh... blue. Blue always calm me down.... I feel relax when I see blue, just like when I see the blue, blue sea.

I love it how the dinning chairs are of different shades of blue. That gives me ideas about how I want my dinning chairs to look like.

Can I DIY this?

Hmmm... I'm not that into DIY, cos I'm quite an idiot when it comes to assemble things and lego.

But this! I'm sure it will cost a bomb if I were to buy it... I'm just so tempted to find 3 sturdy twigs/tree branches. Roped them together at the top, varnished it (waterproof it or along the same line), spray it black, then varnished again. Find 2 metal steamer-stands (those you use in a wok, to support the plate when u steam your fish... heh), somehow nail them to the twigs...

And VIOLA!

I would have made my very own bathroom stand. That would be so cool!

I'll keep this project in mind. But.. if i can just pay 25 bucks for it, I'll get it in a heartbeat.

I bet it costs closer to 250 instead...

Je suis chic

Instead of going to the gym, I was out shopping during lunch just now. I felt utterly, totally and definitely ugly when I came into office this morning.

I was running out of clothes to wear, partly because most of my clothes are currently in the “to-be-ironed” pile (and ever increasing), and seriously, life is so much more than ironing. Unless I’m on the verge of going to work naked the next day, then I’ll dutifully be a good wife and iron my own clothes.

Anyway, I wana talk about my shopping spree and not about the tragic wife who has to iron her own clothes…

So, this morning was one of those days where I came dangerously close to going to work naked, out of desperation, I pulled out a top that I’ve bought around 10 years ago. TEN FREAKING YEARS AGO?!

Can you believe that?!

The good part of this episode was that… well, I could still fit into clothes that I’ve bought 10 years ago. (Nevermind that the material was actually stretchable)

The horrible part was that I looked so dated… that I could almost blend into our office’s pantry.

ARGH….. and it really doesn’t help that I am constantly surrounded by beautiful female colleagues who dresses so well to work… …that it hurts.

So during lunch, I ran to the nearest Zara, bought 3 pieces of items and immediately changed into one.

There, I felt better already. Wearing a happy shade of yellow definitely makes me happy and feel a tad more confident about myself.

Je suis chic.

The passing of Princess Basil

Yup, she kaputed before I can take a picture of her to post on my blog…

And I am the direct contribution to her premature death.

Firstly, I should have bought good, decent soil from a reliable source instead of some Pasar Malam. The soil was infested with trips (a kind of pest with wings and can fly!), and that was a very bad start for Princess Basil…

And because of that, I changed the soil and repotted Basil 3 times and I guess the final repotting process was too much of a trauma for her. Yup, according to my reading, plants do suffer from repotting shock… and sometimes, do not recover from the trauma of the new soil.

The irony was that Princess Basil was actually doing not too bad before my itchy fingers decided to buy a new batch of compost/soil and repotted her.

Sigh, I should have just left her alone … she would have been still alive.

Anyhow, my itchy fingers previously also repotted 4 clumps of pineapple plantlets. Previously, my father-in-law bought a pretty and spiky pineapple for display during the Lunar New Year. Although technically the pineapple is fit for consumption, it was a rather small fruit and since my FIL was intending to throw away the fruit after the New Year, I decided to pluck some of the small plantlets, that are found at the sides of the pineapple, stuck them into a tray of the screwed-up soil from the Pasar Malam, and basically forgot all about it.

Weeks later, Viola! Some roots began to appear and all 4 of them made it! Apparently it’s really difficult to kill these pineapple babies as they are such HARDY plants.

A perfect morale boost to an aspiring gardener. It’s finally assuring to see some plants ALIVE and GREEN.

So, any aspiring gardener out there. Get yourself a pineapple and start a pineapple plantation!

I'm not a big fan of making animals wear clothes. I've always thought that it is unnatural for them and most probably awkward as hell.

Until I saw this picture... there's something about this cat's expression.... He looks almost human, doesn't he?

For some strange reason, he actually looks as if he is born to wear that shirt and play rugby.

Geez...

Scared the shit out of me…

This is a true story.

Last night, Hubby and I went over to our new place to check out the renovation works. It has become a routine every night where both of us would take a short walk to our new place to feed Cookie (our newest adopted “block” cat), check our mail box and to check on the reno…

So, we did the usual…we would inspect the flooring, check out the ceiling, and look at the toilets… Basically to ensure that works are on-going. As the flat was still under major renovation, there wasn’t any lighting and I would usually carry a flashlight.

There I was, peering into the master bedroom’s toilet when suddenly a HUGE SHADOW suddenly moved and I saw this pair of eyes staring straight at me.

OH MY FREAKING GOD!

I screamed loudly and Hubby, who was just behind me, rushed over.

“WHAT? WHAT?”

… … …

Then this Banglah stepped out of the toilet and apologized profusely and said that he’s a worker here and staying here for the night. He was shirtless and only wore a pair of berms.

What.The.Hell.

Then I started laughing hysterically. I found the whole incident to be so funny… Seriously, I did not manage to see this guy at all?! He TOTALLY blended into the darkness and if he were to close his eyes and mouth, I would have totally missed him.

He was freaked out too and was most probably scared that we would complain to our contractor. I have no issues about him staying over.. just don’t play Hide-and-seek with us and scare the shit of out me?!?!

To keep a pet or not…

I’ve always had pets at home when I was a kid. Not your usual cats or dogs… but some rather exotic creatures as well….

Other kids played with toys, not me. I had no toys, but I played with my pets and brothers. Best childhood ever. At times I wished that I had become a vet or something since I really like animals. Maybe I can be a zookeeper during my retirement! That can be my second career!

FYI: below is the list of animals I once had them as pets:

1) A pug, the cutest, ugliest and stupidest dog in the world. Oh, but I loved her so much!
2) Chicks. 3 fluffy, yellow, chirpy little things lived in my bathroom for a period of time. Well, until they were about to be chickens and we gave them to my aunt. And shortly after that, I remembered my aunt gave me some home-made KFC.
3) Ducklings. Yes, I once had 5 ducklings… I have no idea how or where my mum got these ducklings. But they were SO CUTE! They made the cutest little “quacks” and I had so much fun bathing with them. I remembered that I fed them little “live” fishes and spent many hours just observing their EVERY move. It was like a mini National Geographic “Live”.
4) Rabbits. In fact, we were trying to keep a litter of newly-born rabbits alive as their mother rejected them. My mum and I were taking turns to bottle feed these little bunnies. Aww… baby rabbits are the cutest.
5) Hamster. I had a really nasty one. I remembered that it was constantly biting me and my brother. Not only that, it was like a demonic little thing, always climbing its little cage, trying to escape. One day, it succeeded. We woke up one morning, and the cage was empty. We never found it.
6) Salamander. See… I bet many of you do not even know what a salamander was. It was like a water lizard, a little slimy but it was red and black in color. Really pretty… I bought it from a little obscure pet shop. However, it didn’t last very long…
7) Gold Fishes. It was actually my mum who was really into gold fish. We had a huge tank and these fishes eventually started to spawn. Unfortunately, none of the fries made it. I had a lot of fun playing doctor with the dead fishes. I happen to know exactly how the insides of a gold fish looks like.
8) A baby ball python. Ok, it belonged to my senior in college and I babysat it for 6 months or so. I was like the only girl crazy enough to keep a snake in her hostel room. Not only that, I let it roamed around my room once a while. It really liked my monitor and would always coil itself under it (During those days, monitors aren’t the slim, sexy LCDs. They were the size of a bed). Then its little pink, forked tongue would stick out with that tiny little “sssss”. So cute lah!
9) Terrapins. Ok, not my favorite kind of pets. I had more fun looking at the gold fish than playing with the damned terrapins. I hope they are still happy living at the MacRitchie Reservoir.

Currently as I am still living with the in-laws, I do not keep any pets, but my mum has 7 cats and technically, one of them is mine. I’m thinking of bringing her over to my new place once it is ready. Not only that, I also intend to keep 2 rabbits, and some gold fishes.

But my worry is…. What will happen to them when Hubby and I were to travel??!!
Argh….. then I will have to either trouble my neighbour or my brothers. That’s the sucky thing about having pets.

However, once you have pets, the urge to keep some furballs alive and kicking will always be there. I cannot wait to have my OWN furballs.

I found my sole!

One day, when I finally wore something decent to work, when I looked into the mirror and saw a trendy dresser, when I put on this pair of cute, dainty-looking heels and sashaying while on my way home… and suddenly, “Phat”.

I stumbled and realized that the sole of my left heel somehow got torn away and was stuck by the side of a side road. Still wanting to look pretty, I simply kicked that useless piece of plastic away and continued walking, as if nothing happened. I figured that I can easily go to my trusted cobbler to fix another sole, and I can wear my cute, dainty, made-in-china cheapskate heels once again.

The following weekend, I religiously took my heel to my cobbler, requesting him to attach a sole. To my horror, my cobbler said that most cobblers in Singapore do not stock up on soles anymore because most soles and (cheapskate) shoes/heels are being made in china. If he were to order from China, minimum order would be 500 pairs of soles. How on earth could he finish all 500 pairs?

I should set up some Cobblers Association where these old men can pool their orders together! Geez… not very enterprising, these people.

Not believing his story, I took a little detour and checked out this Ah Pei who is also a cobbler, but in a make-shift little stall, next to a NTUC.

“Aiyah, Xiao-Jie, no xie-di (sole), cannot do lah”

“Really, ah? Uncle, really cannot ah?”

“Cannot lah, but you can find another old heel that you don’t want with similar height, then tear out the sole loh”

Hmnp. O well… I’ve just thrown ALL my old shoes away during the spring cleaning. Thanks leh.

Not admitting defeat, on the very next day, I went back to the very same small lane where I left my sole, hoping that it would still be there, and guess what… It was still sitting prettily by the side of the road!

Can’t believe that after 1 week, the sole was still there?! Obviously, the road sweepers and cleaners aren’t really doing their job, but good for me!

Of course, some people were giving me some weird looks when I picked up this dirty, little piece of black thing by the side of the road. But who cares, I FOUND MY SOLE!

Wahahaha… now I can go back to my cobbler and get my made-in-china heel fixed.

*Victory dance*

Can't upload pictures via my cellphone.

I was trying to upload some pictures of Princess Basil via my cellphone, but somehow things aren't exactly working. argh...

Anyway, Princess Basil isn't doing too well right now. Well, she is still alive and kicking. But recently, I noticed that her new shoots and leaves tend to dry up and turned into little, black lumps. Thankfully, not ALL the new shoots are turning into black little rasins... so, at least there are still some new leaves around.

I also saw some really tiny, little black wing insects around the soil. That is NOT good. It seems that I am having a pest issue here. After doing some research, I realised that my Princess Basil is being raped by Thunderflies!

These %^$*# sap-suckers are causing some stress to my Princess Basil. Unfortunately, these thunderflies are really tiny and quite impossible to catch by hand. And since Princess Basil is meant for consumption, Im not too keen to use pesticide on her.

Thankfully, a really kind lady from GCS forum (Green Culture Singapore) gave me some advice on making my very own home-made-and-yet-organic pesticide, which I'll give it a try this weekend.

If all things fail, I'll eat up Princess Basil before those evil, pesty Thunderflies get to her 1st!

Busy Bee

I’ve been taking my green chores rather seriously lately. I would check on Princess Basil at least twice a day. Just wana make sure that she is sprouting new leaves and getting enough sun. I have also added some “organic” fertilizer to her… some left over coffee powder, some left-over tea leaves, and also some crushed egg shells. Well, so far she’s still alive, so I guessed those left-over stuff aren’t too bad for her. At least, not KILLING her yet.

I’ve also been surfing the net for more information about indoor gardening, and what are the suitable plants that I can plant for my planters. Previously, I was gloating that my unit was north-east facing, which meant that I would not get much sun. In fact, I’ll only get some partial sunlight from 2 – 5 pm onwards… Now, I'm kinda beating my chest over the limited amount of sun that I'll be getting UGH, O well, better than nothing.

So, I just gotta work with plants which are shade-loving. Most flowering plants and fruiting plants will be out of reach for me then. ;(

But I think I can still work with herbs with that few hours of sun, I can't wait to hop over to my herb garden while preparing for a meal, a la Jamie Oliver style. I simply adore the way he can just pluck some herbs from his herb garden while working on his zhi-czar.

So, from the internet, I’ve come across this ingenious lady, who has this really kick-ass idea on how to plant her herbs. Vertical herb gardening rocks!

I am so inspired…. This Project Planter Box is really getting interesting!