De-cluttering my Wardrobe

Spring time is the best time of the year to de-clutter my wardrobe. It means sorting out my clothes, donate any clothes that I haven't wore for more than a year or never going to wear and throw out anything that is no longer in good condition.

I will be storing away items that I won't use for the season. My boots will be placed back in their original box and stacked away neatly in a cupboard. All the winter clothings needs to be cleaned and then stored properly. Now all I need is to find some time to get it all organised nicely.

Hello Spring, Bye bye Winter

I am so looking forward to Spring as I yearn for some warmth after being in the cold weather for the last few months.

The Year of the Rabbit!

This year we are celebrating Chinese New Year in Sydney. I miss my family and especially some of my mom's special dishes that were only cooked during Chinese New Year. I have always enjoyed being back in my hometown on this special occasion. It was a joyful time for family reunion and catching up with each other's life stories.

May the Year of the Rabbit bring us good health, happiness and prosperity!

Happy New Year 2011!

Soon we will be ushering into another New Year! How time flies. I would like to wish everyone who follows my blog a very Happy New Year and may God bless us with good health, love, success, kindness and compassion for one another.

My new year resolution is to live a healthy lifestyle, maintain a good loving relationship with my wonderful husband, exercise, eat well and stay close contact with family members and good friends.

Engagement

I am truly blessed to have a second chance in finding love. My partner has proposed to me and soon we will be getting married. I couldn't be any happier and looking so much forward to share an everlasting relationship with my partner.

Chinese New Year

This Chinese New Year we were back in Taiping for a few days. Since the house was already so packed with family members, we have to check into a hotel located near to the beautiful lake garden. We stayed at Seri Malaysia and since it was a peak season, the hotel room rate was pretty costly, 170 ringgit a night. The hotel was not as nice as I had imagined it to be and was pretty run-down. The room was average and the bathroom was really small. This place needs refurbishment badly.

The journey back to KL was quite smooth compared to our journey to Taiping on Saturday. It took us almost 6 hours to reach Taiping. There were too many cars on the highway hence the traffic congestion on the highway especially approaching the rest house along the way.

Chinese New Year is a fantastic time for family gatherings.

A New Year...2010

Time really flies ! Before you know it, we ushered in another year. We celebrated new year's eve quietly at home last night with frozen champagne, waiting patiently for it to melt. Good question, why was it frozen (because my partner put it in the freezer and forgot about it). However we couldn't wait that long and thank goodness we had another bottle of chilled white wine.

When the clock struck 12, we toasted to a new year with good wishes. We saw fireworks being launched from KLCC from our apartment's window. A very spectacular sight indeed. Too bad I couldn't take a nice picture from where I was.

May this be a great year to everyone...!

Christmas....

I just love Christmas time.... the Christmas tree decorations, mistletoe, candy cane, spending time with family and friends, the joy of giving gifts to your loved ones and not forgetting food. Food such as roasted turkey, apple strudles and so much more that are so delicious and delightful. Christmas day is a timeless favourite for giving, feasting and merry-making. Some of my favourite things are wrapping of presents and decorating the Christmas tree. This year, we will be celebrating our Christmas eve at One World Hotel and on Boxing Day there will be family gathering for dinner.

The next day after Boxing Day, one of my many cousins is getting married, so more good food to enjoy. I am truly blessed to have such terrific family, a loving partner and good friends. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year !

Is it possible to forgive and forget ?

Is it possible to forgive and forget? What I feel is that it is possible to forgive but not forget. We don't just forget about bad and hurtful things that have happened to us. We need to forgive in order to move forward in life. We forgive because we all need to have that peace of mind and once that is achieved one can simply move forward and at the same time the unforgettable bad things will just serve as a lesson or reminder to us so that we hopefully do not make the same mistakes again.

Forgiving is such a powerful action and that means letting go of hard feelings or animosity for any wrongdoing. I have achieved a total peace of mind after forgiving someone who has hurt me terribly and I realised that the person who suffer most is the one that cannot forgive. Life is short and it is better to live a life that is full of happiness, enjoyable moments and compassion for others.

Another Birthday

Hey, another birthday means another year older! We went out to celebrate my birthday last night at Vincenzo Ristorante Italiano which is situated at One Bangsar. The restaurant looked very cozy and not so crowded (perhaps it was a weekday). Conversation was so much easier as we don't have to shout across to hear one another.

We had the pan seared scallop to share as apertiser, followed by scallop, salmon & prawn spagetti for me as main course and a diavola e cipolle pizza for my partner and lastly an amretto tiramisu dessert. Not forgetting some beers and white wine to go with the food. We enjoyed the food and also the delighful ambiance of the restaurant.

As the next day was a working day, we left after the sumptuous dinner and headed straight home. It is nice to have a birthday celebration but the reality is that I can't help thinking that I am getting so much older with each passing year.

Birthday celebration

Last Saturday we went to Hilton KL to celebrate my partner's birthday. We have been thinking of eating Peking Duck for a long time now hence we picked the Chynna Restaurant in the hotel. The atmosphere and the surrounding decorations are nice even though it is not really a romantic place for birthday celebration. We ordered the Peking Duck, Crispy Wantons, Stir Fried Eggplant, East Coral Trout and 2 steamed rice. The food was excellent and the price was also reasonable except for the Trout that was a bit on the pricey side. As my partner said "if the food is worth the price, then it is worthwhile eating".

After dinner we adjourned to Zeta Bar where we had a couple of drinks and stayed for about 1 hour and then we proceeded home. The traffic was slightly congested as we have to pass Brickfields where the night markets were held. Finally we arrived home safely and it was a lovely evening out for both of us.

Merde happens

Yesterday evening while I was driving home after work somewhere near Eastin Hotel, I noticed that the water temperature suddenly increased. I panicked and all I could think of was to drive to the nearest workshop. My heart was pumping very hard. I could feel cold sweat all over my face. It was the most horrifying feeling because I really thought that the car would explode any minute.

So after passing the Eastin Hotel just about a few metres away, more and more smoke (which was actually steam as I have been told) came out from under the bonnet of the car. I got even more frightened and I had to stop the car to let the engine cool. The worst thing was that I caused a traffic jam as I was stuck in the middle lane. I thought that if I had driven further, the car would eventually stopped and burned me inside.

I put on the hazard lights and walked as fast as I could to the nearest petrol station (BHP) and asked for help from the attendant. He gave me the number of a mechanic. Luckily he arrived 20 minutes later. After pouring some water into the radiator, he asked me to drive to the nearest cross street where he put in some more water and oil and he actually got the fan working again which was the cause of my car overheating. After he fixed the car, I paid him and I was planning to drive back to home, when I noticed the temperature rising again.

This time I made sure I parked on the side of the road and I immediately contacted him. He came to my rescue and asked me to drive the car to his brother's workshop which is nearby, thank God. I had to leave the car at the workshop so that the mechanic could thoroughly check my car the next day. Finally the mechanic sent me home and yes, this was truly a nightmare for me.

Very rude driver

I have heard many horrible stories about how bad the drivers here. I have not really encountered such incident except for the minor rude drivers who cut into your lane without any warning, until this morning. Having said that, there are also many courteous drivers around, but with the handful of rude and aggressive drivers it is enough to give a bad impression about the drivers here.

I was at the flyover intersection traffic light nearby Centrepoint and the old Sony office when the light turned green. This intersection is always busy with early morning traffic, people rushing to work and sending their kids to school. When it was my turn to go across, the intersection was already blocked by traffic in front of me so I couldn't go, despite the traffic light being green.

There was this woman behind me who looked like in her late fifties started to horn at me. I can’t go forward so I remained put at my spot. Suddenly she swayed her car on my right to overtake me. As a result, her side of the car hit my end bumper. I went down to confront her, she refused to wind down her window and she went on shouting and yelling in the car but I couldn't hear a single word. Such aggression and rudeness shown by her really shocked me because firstly she is a woman (you will think at her age she will be more tolerant or courteous on the road) and the aggression and rudeness shown by her was just too much for me. I took down her licence registration no. with the intention of reporting her to the police.

When I finally reached the office, I inspected my car and since there wasn't any damage done I decided not to report her. This just proved to me how bad Malaysian drivers can be.

Facebook

I have recently joined facebook. It is a great way to keep in touch with relatives, friends and some long lost friends which I thought I never hear of again. It is fun and interesting to know about their thoughts, daily lives and views just about anything and everything. Not only that, I get to play many games and my partner actually complains that I'm now spending too much time playing games. I think it is just a temporary phase of excitement, trying something new and I might just get bored with the games on facebook. Let's just see how long this craziness lasts for me.

My dearest Mother

Recently my mum has fallen sick due to Bile-duct blockage and infection caused by stones in the biliary tract. We only found out the reason why she was so sick when we sent her to the hospital. She went through a few diagnostic tests that include the Computed tomography (CT) scan, blood test and Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). ERCP is used to locate and remove stones in the ducts.

Thank goodness, we managed to send her to the hospital in time for the removal of stones and abscess. After spending a few days in the hospital, she was finally discharged yesterday evening. We were all thinking at that time when she was so sick, that she was going through some old age sickness. It caused us so much distress and pain to see her suffering and even at one point she was saying that she doesn't want to live anymore.

All my siblings from Australia and US rushed back because she was not showing any sign of recovering despite visitation to the clinic and medication prescribed by the doctor. We were even preparing for the worst. In my mother's case, thank God we acted fast enough as with prompt diagnosis and treatment, it is curable. She is recuperating at my brother's home now and my prayer is that she will recover soon. She still needs to have another round of ERCP once she is stronger to have all the remaining stones remove.

Time really flies

Time really flies ! Just received a call from my aunty inviting me to her son's wedding dinner which is going to be held on 27th December. It made me realise that before you know it another year has gone by and we will usher in a new year. So far I am happy about life now and hopefully more good things are to come for my loved ones and me.

"Could you be with a person that no one likes.."

This was the topic being discussed at a radio station this morning. "Could you be with a person that no one likes", a question from someone who has been with her boyfriend for 8 months and her family and friends dislike him.

It brought back memories when I was with my ex-husband. I remember clearly that none of my family members and friends liked him. They even told me how they felt but I was totally ignorant as I was so in love then. We did marry after 2 years of courtship but the marriage only lasted for 6 years. Despite being aware of him being a hot tempered person, domineering and very critical and judgemental about everything, still I went ahead with the marriage. Perhaps back then, due to age pressure and because most of my friends were already married and had kids, it pushed me to get married. However, it was an unhappy marriage and it was a blessing in disguise when we eventually got divorced.

When we are in love we have the tendency to close our eyes to everything about the person. Nothing seems to matter, everything is so sweet. But listen to your family and friends because they are the ones that can see a person clearly without bias. Think about why they dislike him, surely there must be something that is not right. Know a person well so that there won't be any regrets and never give in to any kind of excuses to get involved with someone who is wrong for you. Love can come at any age and when you least expect it.

A not so great dinner ....

I attended the company annual dinner last night held at a hotel in Seri Kembangan. The theme of the night was Hawaiian and most dressed to the theme except for a few who were in their office attire. We were told that the buffer dinner was a lavish one but it was a big disappointment. The food on offer was salads, prawns, oysters, barbeque lamb, chicken sausages, pasta, fried noodles and rice, spicy fish, sweet and sour seafood, satay, rojak, some desserts and coconuts. The only beverage served was some cheap cordial orange juice which was not even fresh and to make matters worse I couldn't see what I was eating due to inadequate lighting for the tables located closed to the man made beach, so we were all flying blind.

The entertainment bit performed by the staff was quite amusing. There were also karaoke competition, best dress and lucky draw. I won a hamper. Hooray! By the time I got home, I was very tired and went straight to bed but the next morning I had great 'workout' which more than made up for last night. Hahaha....

Are good friends important ?

I was driving to work this morning when I heard over the radio talking about "Are good friends important?". I realised that over the years friends would come and go in my life, some still remain friends, good or bad there are always some experiences to be learnt and some friends are worth having and some are purely a pain in the neck. I used to have a friend whom I met at college and despite being friends for so many years, she has this selfish and strange thoughts about how things should be done or said in her own way, even to the extent of interfering into my personal life. I always felt used by her in that sense that when she doesn't need me, she will totally ignore me. I am happy to say that today we are no longer friends.

We always have choices to choose our friends. Good friends are important, they are the ones that you can count on when you have a bad day or need a shoulder to cry on, someone to share your sadness and joy, for moral support and they certainly never take advantage of another friend.