My Life

Thank you and I love the Challenge!!!

2011-02-03T11:51:00.006+08:00

Yes, this post has been long overdue. I have forgotten to post it here while it is on my Facebook for a while. So here you go :

I love ideas. I always have a lot of ideas forming around my head, and I can have a wide imagination that let me dreams of whatever way I can come up with, to play with my wires.

Though I never have problem coming up with new designs, but I always have problem getting them done. Most of the days, I am caught up with teaching (being there with my students) or at home writing tutorials, doing my online etsy and artfire, playing with new toys that let me become better with my wires, researching to come up with new skills, sorting out my consignment, and the list goes on.

This really leaves me little time to sit down and create. And I mean CREATE A LOT. I want to have a lot of designs and I wish I can go on a CREATE Retreat. No disturb, no internet, no class, no family, just me and my beads and just sit down and CREATE.

I am writing this thank you note for the friends I have whom have helped to make it happen, slowly. With a given dead line, I have to make it happen. I need to make it happen and I want to make it happen.

New Beads, new ideas and the job has to be done within a month. More than enough time for brain-storming, get the rest of my priority right, and also create this piece. As it can be anything, I even bother to go to the library to do research!!! So fun!!

Tribute to the above earring design, I turn my Cobra Ring design into this pair of earring. Same weave, same technique, but instead of forming it around a ring mandrel, I made it go around a Swarovski Crystals 6040 20mm pendant. Free form, no technique and its so much fun.

And this little treasure has found a new home too. :)

Cheers,

Izel Ang

The Forgotten Wired Beads

2010-11-29T20:39:00.003+08:00

Oops. Indeed they have been forgotten for awhile and its only when I was doing some photo search, I realised that they are still in my "To Be Edit" photo folder.

Both items are meant as a gift for someone whom shares the same passion but in another type of jewelry making. Though we uses different technique, but it will be fun to see what kind of outcomes we will be getting when we are being "challenged". Just like the Beader's Monthly project, I need to mold and upgrade my skills with new shapes and beads and this can really let our imagination run wild.

The first pic for the black and matt-white wired beads are my wire mesh ball collection, but in colored wires. It's really fun to see the change of color tone, as it inspires me to use more color wires. I am not sure whether is it me, or the wires, but I am still a little skeptical about colored wires. Perhaps I need to explore more with an open mind. Perhaps the wild imagination will only come when i start to see things more clearly. Or perhaps I am just a "Gold and Silver" series wire color type of gal. But I love to try out more.

Second pics is for my infamous herring bone weaving collection. Huge pieces of coral rondelles are used here and they are done up with a very wide base to create the elongated look. Loud as it seems, the color contrast speaks for itself and the layers of weaved wires are in such orderly manner that they makes me fall in love with them all over again. :) Being my all-time favorite, the herring bone weaving technique never fails to entice me. No matter what shape, size and color of my beads, I always find the outcome pretty amazing.

I hope these have amazed you guys as well. :)

Cheers,

Izel Ang

Chain of Beads-Iphone Appication FREE for Download

2010-11-29T13:05:00.001+08:00

My First Iphone App!!! Yes, this was after much support and encouraging and guidance by dearest hubby.

He was very very creative to help to come up with a software that showcase alot of my handmade wired jewelries. You can use them as wall paper, or just browse for fun. I admit I was drooling when I browse through them. :)

Anyone whom loved jewelries as much as me will also do the same thing too!! So there are days where I will just lie on my bed and flip to "admire" my own creations and give myself a pat on the shoulder!!!

Also, the tini Tutorials are for beginners to guide them along as a beginner to Jewelry Making. :)

I have enjoyed this much and I hope you guys will support as well!!!

Download is free : http://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/chain-beads-wired-jewelry/id394596698?mt=8

Enjoy!! :)

Cheers,

Izel Ang

Simple yet challenging..

2010-11-13T21:59:00.002+08:00

As what the title implies, this custom made ring looks simple yet challenging. The customer specifically wanted to have the two wires at the side to be bundled up together and have little or minimum showing of coiling wires at the end.

While the whole thing sounds simple to the ears, but it is actually not easy to make this!! I struggled a while and figured out how to get around to fit into the customer's requirement as much as I can.

PS : The stone is really stunning, but I really dont know what is the name of the stone. :)

Cheers,

Izel Ang

And I really went a little bit crazy with this.

2010-10-29T11:55:00.002+08:00

Deep down, I have a small part of me that loves dangling, girly stuffs. I believed all gals has a part in them that loves these things, but at times they are just not your style that you think looks good on yourself.

So, with my creations I at times express my little girly, sweet looking desires. This is a custom made piece that was requested from a friend and she also wants to pamper herself a little with sweet dainty designs. And she is really great!! Because she leaves the entire planning and design to me!! How I love her!! Because I like to create with some guidelines but still have the space to explore!!

Happy and Satisfy with myself now.. :)

Cheers,

Izel Ang

Color Coily Wires

2010-10-22T12:48:00.003+08:00

I love colors and I have always been rather adventures with my choice of colors when come to buying stuffs for myself. But when it comes to handmade jewelries, i was a little skeptical and afraid of the responses that I will be getting if I work with crazy colors.

For a start, this is a pair of earring that comes in Gun Metal Color wires. Thanks to Sera, i was able to experiment with them and even went a step further to make the ear wires!!

I love the stunning look with this pair of earring and I am glad I tried out!! :)

*PS : Sera, if you are reading this, next time when we meet up, its my treat!!! :) And I am starting your bracelet soon!! :)

Cheers,

Izel Ang

Paying Tribute to my tools. :)

2010-10-14T11:31:00.001+08:00

I love tools. I believed in having a good set of tools and using the right one to get my wirework done.

Because of this, throughout my wireworking journey, I have acquired quite a lot of different types of handy ones that are very critical in making my jewelries.

There are days when a plier gives me problem, and I regrettably declared the piece for early retirement. But I recognised the days and months they have kept me company and helped me to finish my pieces.

This pic is for the current batch of pliers I am currently using.

Cheers,

Izel Ang

Finally I finish this...

2010-06-29T22:25:00.003+08:00

It really took me a while. I have been very distracted with running in and out everyday for classes and besides that, I had been distracted by other small details in my daily life.

Went away for a 2 short day to Malacca. It was a trip that was not even planned at the beginning, but hubby's friend just asked him and we decided to go along. Anyway, its been awhile since we go away, so may as well. It was a nice break though... :)

We came back yesterday and today I have classes. So I am trying to make use of all the small breaks to finish this as July is just 1 more day away, and the manual is needed for this class.

Since I am onto this, this is for a class called :

SunDrop Pendant

Time Duration : 3 hours

Class Fee : $108, inclusive of materials

Okay now that the sample is done, and photos taken. I need to move on to start compiling the instruction manual. :)

Cheers,

Izel Ang

Jewelry Making classes for July 2010

2010-06-21T16:16:00.003+08:00

Class projects designs. These are the upcoming July's classes available in more details at :
www.chainofbeads.blogspot.com

New designs :
Briolette Wrapping
Cabochon Wired Pendant
Needle Lace pendant

New class :
Sun Drop Wired Pendant

Class Venue :

Beads Cage
176 Orchard Road
#02-24A, The Centrepoint
Singapore 238843
Tel : +65 6733 2480

Cheers,
Izel Ang

New Beads!

2010-06-21T15:44:00.002+08:00

Tada!!!

I love beads. I love new beads. I love new free beads!!! Yeh!! I have gotten a batch of free crystals for a commissioned project that I was working on for the past 1 month and as a way of saying thank you, they send me a batch of new beads!!!

These are the latest color range, shapes and sizes of crystals that I have never gotten before. So you can tell my excitment!

Not too sure what to do with them yet, but I reckon I will use some of them for my classes if possible. It always feel good to give back to my students and I like to see the happy faces when they get something special!

But I will still select some and keep for myself. Just need to play with them for a while first and let them talk to me before I can decide what to do.

Cheers,
Izel Ang

2009-08-31T12:58:00.003+08:00

I envy those people whom can blog daily. While I used to blog more often, nowadays I prefer to keep my thoughts to myself.

At times, words are hard to be put down to sentences, or I prefer to keep them for my loved ones, I have not been writing publicly for a while.

So I prefer to leave it rather than write, for the sake of writing.

Or if you can catch me at some days when I feel like writing them down, then perhaps that will be a lucky day. :)

KL Pictures-May 2009

2009-06-08T11:51:00.004+08:00

Back Dated KL Trip. We were there towards end of May for a two short days before we moved over to Ipoh, for my cousin's wedding.

Since its been awhile we travel together, we got a bit dis-orientated. I either packed the wrong stuffs, or forgot to bring the important daily stuffs. This only shows that I need more travelling!!! Haha!!

Anyway, those 2 days were really great because we got some time together alone to enjoy ourselves and also catch a few movies. :) Its been a long time since we have any chance to be together alone, since most of the time we are very busy with our own stuffs.

Now I am looking forward to another trip! :)

One of those days...

2009-05-20T20:41:00.004+08:00

Today is one of the rare days where I feel like blogging. Its been ages since I last blogged and life went on and on for the past 2 months without my online diary.

There are times where I want to keep things to myself, just doing my work and communicate to the necessary parties. There are also times where I am a little bit loud and wants to tell the whole world what I have been up to. Today is one of them.

I have finally managed to find a day where I can be at home the entire day and do my planned activities. Most of the time, I am juggling between my beading classes schedule and working on paper work. Simple as it seems, there are just endless paperwork that I need to attend to. They became my daily routine to maintain my business.

I need to email to communicate with customers/students/suppliers, update my daily/weekly/monthy schedules and always be 1-2 months in advance with my class timetable. Because by the time I finalised my time table, release to the shops, mass mailed out to the students, all in all 2 full weeks are taken up.

Also, every month I tried to come up with at least 1 new class project, so we will always have "something new" to keep people happy.

Like it is not enough, I also need to spend time to do research so that I can pick up the right skill, brush them up, practice and practice, make samples and take photographs. After that, I also need to send proposal so that we all get to agree the rest of the details before we give more information to those whom are interested.

This is not including my online website and consignment. Yep, you are right. Running your own business is already not easy, furthermore it is a 1 man show. Hahaha... I call this itchy backside. But because of this, I have been having a great great time with my passion and work. Its hard to blend work with passion, but at least I am somewhere there.

And today had been great though, as I have finished 3 rings that I am planning to release for my July's new class. See picture below.

Still not perfect though, but at least I know what the problems are and will start to work on them as and when I have time.

While I am looking forward to my trip away, I am also looking forward to have time again to sit down and play with my beads. They have been calling for me for ages and I have neglected them for so long...

Cool Air, Smooth Journey, spacious walkway and someone to go home with me!

2009-02-22T13:52:00.003+08:00

I am going to the airport today. Though its merely to pick someone up but for some reasons, I loved to go to Airport. Especially the idea of going alone and coming back home with someone.
Though there are times where I will send someone off and bid my farewell, but I don't like the feeling of sending people off and going back alone. The feeling of being "left behind" lingers around for awhile and makes me moody.

Also, I like the spacious airport where I don't get huge shopping crowds and at the same time plenty of seats and eateries in a cool environment makes me feel so so so cosy there.
At times, I will try to go at least 1 to 2 hours earlier so I can roam around casually in a relax mood or just to eat something while reading my book. If I have time, I also like to spend half or a day there just walking from terminal to terminal!

The bus journey is also very relaxing as the night ride is smooth without much traffic. Cool cool air, smooth traffic, nice night view, nice music, I am engage in my little small world while riding towards one of my favorite place.....

So to make today's trip fruitful, I will clear up my work and housework first, bring along a book, roam around and find something to makan there. And when I am done walking around and wants to go home, my darling arrives and we are ready to go back together!

Wire Woven Bead Cups

2009-02-11T13:32:00.003+08:00

Wire woven Bead Cups.

I have just learnt this skill and got head over heels about them. While they don't look that special to some of us (for readers whom are not into handmade stuff, these can be easily misunderstood as factory or machine made)

They are intricate and difficult to make at the beginning. Thin weaving wires going in and out, it definitely takes me the longest time to finish one piece. While one is not enough, I even challenged myself to do a matching earring or even a pendant with 2 finishes.

The pendant is the design that I use for my class at Beads Cage.

Because of the intricacy, I offered these classes in 2 different sessions, thinking that I might kill my students if they are going to finish a piece within 1 session. It takes a lot of patience and hours, so giving them a break in between should be a better idea.

The earrings are available for sale on my website if you would like to take a browse.

Cheers,
Izel Ang
www.chainofbeads.com

~Chinese Niu Year~

2009-01-28T11:37:00.002+08:00

Of course its Chinese New Year's celebration lah. We had our early reunion dinner with my parents and sister's family on Saturday and though there are only 6 adults and 1 kid, there are plenty of food lor... :)

Just for Fun. ;P

2009-01-14T22:44:00.003+08:00

As the title says, this is just for fun.

I wanted to see how my helmet head looks like so I took self pictures under photo booth. So it turns out that I really looks like a helmet head!! Haha... I am trimming my hair coming Friday, so was thinking at the same time whether should I take this opportunity to change my hairstyle or not.. ;P

Well, still don't know yet. But I have faith with my hair dresser, so will let her decide then.

If I change my hairstyle, will post here with the new look. :)

PS : I know I am not too young liao... so taking "Cute pictures" is really weird......

I broke my cup :(

2009-01-14T14:14:00.002+08:00

Its not my favourite cup, but its one of the red and blue series cup from Ikea that had been with us for the past 5 years.

I kissed the cup every morning while I enjoyed my coffee.
It had given me warmth when I was not well.
It had contained my favourite drink and gave me a day filled with comfort.
It had been with me since day 1 when I moved out of my mum's place.

Farewell my dear cup. :(

Just want to share

2009-01-09T22:33:00.003+08:00

I like his new Polo T-shirt's look. :)

While he keep teasing me that my hair looks like a helmet head. :(

Are you ready for the brand new year?

2008-12-31T16:25:00.005+08:00

I have not been blogging lately. The brain block is back, and lack of words for me to express and write down my thoughts had been preventing me from doing the writing.

We were back from Ho Chi Minh City at the beginning of the month, and weeks flies by after we got back as we are both trying to catch up with the backlog of work and am always rushing and rushing. I was rushing out backlog custom made orders, rushing out parcel postages, rushing out new items for consignments, rushing out samples and paperwork for the coming classes at a new beadshop. Meanwhile, we managed to sneak in a little bit of time to prepare for our own Xmas.

The shopping was madness, and I had always skipped Xmas shopping becos I hated the crowd and the messiness, as well as the head cracking of "what present to get for who." But I do like Xmas. In the past, we used to spend Xmas quietly with just the 2 of us. But for the past few years, we have been celebrating Xmas together with family. Though it is still consider a small scale, and its just family, I think it is enough for us.

Xmas went by not being too merry, and due to the long long holiday we had during Xmas, those few days left before the year end is also madness for us. Rushing to clear outstanding work that we don't think is a good idea to bring forward to 2009, rushing to plan our 2009, and rushing to clear out the mess before 2009.

I also spent a little more time with my parents and sister and nephews this month since they are now permanently back in Yishun. Sis is still on maternity leave till the mid of Jan, and having a few of us whom are available and around, we tend to gather and spend a little more time catching up. Knowing that once the new year starts, once she is back to work, we will not have so much "free time" to be together as and when we want. So I also planned my schedule around their time so we can be together. The only problem is, I cannot bring my work along to their place when my nephew is around. He jumps, screams, snatches everything he wants and I am very worried that he might hurt himselves if he gets a chance to play with my work tools.

If I can bring my projects along and work on them while I chat, it will be perfect. But I now need to make sure whenever he is back from pre-school, everything is packed up and he don't have any chance to play with my stuffs. But still, I enjoyed alot going to my parent's place with my sis around and just sitting around talking and watching tv.

And since today is the last day of the year, I believed most of us are either off celebrating or taking a good rest.

Afterall, this is going to be a long break for most of us before we usher in a brand new year.

Our trip to Ho Chi Minh City

2008-12-03T21:14:00.006+08:00

Its been a while since I have a blog update. Too long. And now is a perfect time for update!
Since I am "fresh" from a holiday, I thought I can post some pictures and share with some friends what Ho Chi Minh City is like.

This is our first trip to Vietnam, and we have choosen Ho Chi Minh City as our destination. We have heard stories from friends about how the city is like, being a shopping heaven, with a lot of things to see and also its similarity to Bangkok. So when we saw a chance to pick up the promotion at Tiger Airways, we decided to try out Ho Chi Minh City.

As usual, i did all my homework before we set off, and we were well prepared to visit those "interesting places" marked on my book and maps.

We were lucky to be staying nearby to "Dong Khoi Street" where all the happenings are since it was stated in my book that it is the tourist area with shopping, messages, places of interest all within walking distance.

But to our disappointment, Dong Khoi Street was not that big. It takes an estimate of 20 to 30 minutes to walk up from one end to another and most of the shops are selling the same stuff. Since this is the tourist area, the hot items for sales are mainly clothings, handmade bags/pouches/shoes/accessories from Northern Vietnam where the minority hilltribes people are. And there was another disappointment. Every shop/restaurant/hotel/ quoted their prices in US Dollars. If you only have Vietnamese Dong, they will jolly do the conversion for you, but not based on the latest exchange rate. So we ended up losing a lot to the currency exchange.

Massages and foreign cuisines are also more expensive as compared to Bangkok. Perhaps because the country is still at developing stage, competition is still not as stiff, therefore prices are not that low.

But overall this was a nice trip, with a lot of resting, massages, slow walk and also some time for a short tour. It was the first time we joined a 1 day tour, but it was quite fun, as we were brought out of the city to see more interesting things and also learn a little more about the country.

Excuse me, who erased my photo away?

2008-11-05T22:15:00.000+08:00

I know this photo cannot bring out the beauty of this design, but I just like the faded away look and decided to post it here.

Once a while I will play with my photo editing software and go crazy with the extremes, and today is one of those days. :)

A quite relaxed day

2008-10-29T21:46:00.002+08:00

I consider today a special day. Although today is another working day for us, I don't have any classes and can stay at home to do my own work. I am done with my last part of preparation for coming weekend's show and also coordinated with the partners and organisers the outstanding stuffs we need to clear. While I am really glad that I started my preparation work very early for this project (a pat on the shoulder!) , I also realised that I will feel more ready and prepared (lesser stress too!) if I don't leave work till the last minute.

So I spread my work out today and loaded up my washing machine with tonnes of clothing. Whenever I am washing, I feel like I stayed in a laundry place, repeating the steps of sorting, washing, folding, stocking, hanging and again and again. We have given up on ironing, it is simply too tedious for us and we don't have the time (did I mention as well that I hate ironing?). So we both agree that we will only iron that particular piece of clothing when we are getting ready to leave the house. We can save a lot of time too because we will not waste time on ironing clothes that we might end up not wearing.

After the washing, I hang out those clothes to get a glimpse of sunlight. Its been a while since the sun is out (I also need to be at home too) and I managed to sort and go for another round of washing since all of them are officially dry in mid afternoon.

And while I was washing, I felt like making some mash potatoes to eat. Its been at least 9 months since the last time I feel any urge to cook. Haha... I admit that I am not a good cook and only cook the minimum to survive. In fact, I prefer to eat bread and biscuit if I am to choose between cooking a meal or just simply eat something so I will not go hungry. Or I just walked to the nearest foodcourt or shopping mall to buy some ready made food to eat. Since a lot of times I eat alone, it becomes very easy to settle my own meal.

But I made mash potatoes today. A little bit proud of myself, I made sufficient quantity for Paddy too or we can keep till tomorrow for snacking. Though Paddy never grumble that I never cook (perhaps he is happy as my cooking sucks) but I know he is glad at times if I have the mood to cook something special. Or at least he try to entertain me by eating and not throwing up immediately after. Mash potatoes was done after making a mess in my kitchen and I cleaned up the kitchen too.

And since most of my work was cleared up in the afternoon, I decided to watch a little of my Korean drama tonight. Its been a long long time since I have the time to sit down for another episode (I am finally done with a long long overdue 24 episodes that took me a while to complete) and starting another new one. Doubt I will have time to watch it consistently, but I will just watch whenever I can.

Today's schedule sounds a little relaxing to me. Hahaha... I do know that I have classes tomorrow, needs to go for my exhibition set up on Friday, 2 full days of exhibition for the coming weekend and more line up classes and schedules for next week too.

Well, at least I felt some sort of relaxed today. :)

The 2nd nephew is here!

2008-10-10T10:39:00.002+08:00

Yes, as what the title suggested, my 2nd nephew is here! Born on Wednesday, 081008, he weighs 3.4kg and has dimples on his face! While he has been sleeping most of the time, he yawns occasionally to display his cute deep dimples to curious on-lookers. He cries a sound or two occasionally to display his protest of displease that he was disturbed when we all gather around him talking and laughing.

It has been a hectic and busy week for me as I was helping out my mum with my sis's elder son. Babysat him for almost a day while my mum takes care of the rest and run some errands. We went to the hospital too and because of his active nature, I ended up distracting him and bringing him round and round the whole hospital just to keep him away from his little brother.

Besides this, I had classes in between the beginning and late of this week and also made some delivery to my consignment shops too. Settled some outstanding paperwork that I need to clear out, send out invoices (same routine for beginning of the month) and also placed some "sample" pictures on my website as well. I called them "sample" pictures because all those I have just loaded up are sold off items and they just act as a reference for those whom wants to see what kind of designs are available as well.

Today I have another class and also needs to go to the airport to pick up Paddy at night. Yes, Paddy is finally back after being away for 6 days. Except for this time round, instead of feeling lonely, I have been so tied up with a lot of stuff that I find 6 days passed by very fast. But nevertheless, I still welcome him back.

How is your day?

2008-10-02T21:03:00.003+08:00

Its been a while since I post my daily activity and I thought I will write it down here today.

I was informed last evening that I will have a class this morning and since it is at 11.30am, I always have my breakfast before I leave the house. Although it takes me around 35mins to reach Orchard, but I always leaves 45mins before so I will not be late for my class. But I was super tired today and woke up slightly later than usual. Plus there is no breakfast at home today, so I left earlier than my normal routine time to get some breakfast near the mrt station. Managed to eat my breakfast and board the train on time. In fact, I was there early and got everything ready before the student came.

Had a 2.5hour class with one student whom was visiting as a tourist and will be going back on Saturday. She suddenly requested to have another class in the afternoon as she was tempted to learn the Nested Wire Ring before she goes back. And she also don't visit here often, so she was thinking of picking up the class before she go. Since I have scheduled for a class in the time table, I switched around as no one had sign up for that class. We then went for a 1 hour lunch break and came back at 2.3opm for the next class. During my lunch break, a called came in from one of the local renowned jewelry instructor, whom extended her invitation for me to be involve in her new book for 2009. Had a short discussion with her and will consider about it before giving her my answer.

I finished the rest of my lunch, and we settle for the class on time. Though it is a 1.5hour class, most of the time if the student is a fast learner, I can take a short break after going through the basic steps and leave them to practice. Since she had picked up from books before, she was quite a fast learner and needs no extra coaching.

We settled and ended the class at 4pm and just as I was about to go back home, a phone call came in to inform me that my crystals and pearls are ready for collection. Since they are meant for the November Swarovski Event, I was given their appointed distributor and will need to give them the quantity that I need in advance so I can do my packing. So instead of heading home, I decided to go over to collect my crystals. The sooner I have them, the more time I can prepare for the packed kits, as I might be tight up at the later part of October.

Chat awhile with the shop owner too and we exchanged some information regarding the coming November show. Sounds exciting and we all are anticipating it and can't wait for it come. I then settle the payment and decided to head for the MRT station where I suddenly thought that I can drop by Paddy's office since I am nearby. Decided to give him a call but he didn't picked up. Guess he was busy with meeting or could be engaged on the phone. I don't want to drop by their office without informing him in advance as I was afraid of frightening his staffs and stress them up. Further more, if he is not around, I also don't want to bother the rest of the boys too.

So I took the train back to Yishun and on my way back, I dropped by Four Leaves to get some breakfast and dropped my cheques in OCBC. I was still wondering what should I eat for dinner, and since I cannot think of anything special, I decided to just go home to drink my S factor with fresh milk. But on the way back, I was tempted by BK's onion rings so I got a small pack and ate them after I finished my fresh milk S factor.

Took my shower just 30mins ago and now blogging while waiting for Paddy to come back. He already called me at 7plus to inform me that he will be not be back early today as he had some events to attend. But he will be back by 11pm.

Anyway, I am tired too so I guess I will stop work here and go and watch my drama before I retired to bed. :)

My past 1 week with Paddy and our new friend call Typhoon

2008-09-16T14:44:00.005+08:00

Most of our friends knew that we went to Taipei last Thursday and will be spending 5 days there for a short holiday. As usual, I am the one planning the itinerary and also checking all the necessary information and materials that we need since we always go for Free and Easy when we visit a country.

For this trip, I had planned to go to Beitou, where there are a lot of hot springs, and a little bit of sight seeing as it is near the rural area. Then I think it is a MUST MUST to go and see the night market, where we always see how fun it is when we watch the Taiwanese variety show. And I told Paddy that this is going to be a "Eating Trip" so we will be spending some time walking around looking for good food, and most importantly vegetarian food.

Just when we are so excited and happy at the beginning of our journey (still on our flight) we got to know that Typhoon Sinlaku is also reaching Taiwan at the same time. Needless to say, that spells the end of our trip as we ended up not being able to visit the places we planned to go.

At the beginning, we just thought that it is just going to rain whole day and not too big deal. But throughout our 5 days stay, we get to experience how serious Typhoon Sinlaku is and why the locals are taking it so seriously. Being a tourist and someone whom came from a country that is Typhoon free, we just thought that we can change our schedule and instead of visiting those rural and outdoor area, we can go to shopping mall and stay indoor lor. While we are safe from the heavy rain and wind, we can also shop and eat at the same time. But we were wrong. When the TV did not announce that the schools and shops will be close due to typhoon (only super serious places that are hit by the eye of Sinlaku) the rest of the places should operate as usual.

But locals take their initiative to close shop and stay at home when they see that typhoon is approaching. Lots of tourists like us ended up without any place to go and can only stay in hotel. The roads are empty without people and cars, the shops and buildings are all closed, and even the train operate only partially.

We went around to other places in search of a place to shop and eat, it took us a long long time to find only a small handful of shops are open. Most of the time, its only the family mart or supermart are open and most locals stock up food and necessities for the next few days. When we realised how serious the situation is, we also stock up a bit of instant noodles and bread just in case we cannot find anything to eat outside the next few days.

Luckily it got a bit better (more shops and restaurants are open) but we are also at the last day of our trip. Nevertheless, we did manage to take some pictures of the place during happier times.

My past 1 week without Paddy

2008-09-06T12:59:00.003+08:00

Paddy is finally back. Without him around, the house felt empty and lonely. I was in and out of the house this whole week, alternating between classes almost everyday. During the rest of the time when I am alone at home, I need to keep my itunes on all the time to keep me company. The house seemed to be in a mess too since I don't have much time to keep it in order. In fact, I only panicked last night when Paddy is coming back. Hahah..

Also spend a day at my sis place to catch up with my mum and nephew. Though its fun and relaxing, I enjoyed his company and also my mum's. But I know I cannot stay long, so instead of staying for another night like what Melon requested, I left after dinner.

I wanted to stay because he made me feel so guilty having not spending more time with him. Haha.. though I spend almost an entire playing with him. But I also know I have work to complete. There are a lot of work and commitments waiting for me back home so I forced myself to take my leave after dinner. Oh well.... I guess I will also grow attached to him if I stay with him for too long. At the same time when he is naughty as a young toddler, he is as adorable as well when he played and show concern on you with his questions.

There are classes today and tomorrow as well, and I have some outstanding custom made orders that I wish I can complete before I leave on Thursday. Though I can finish them when I am back, but I already reckon that I will have more things to take care of when I come back.

Deadline for Swarovski November event is coming, and I need to submit the Class Instructions for them to vet through. Need to make another delivery to Art House since they have sold off almost half of the items that I delivered last month. Since I have not much stock, I need to work out something to send over. Another corporate class coming up after I got back, so I will need to spend another 1 day or 2 packing and sorting if I don't have any stock. Need to add more classes at Beads Etc too since we are going to start prepare for year end.

See, my list of work is getting longer and longer. And this is not including the other paper work or website updates I need to do. Also, must keep doing new stuffs to fill up my ever empty website.

But at the back of my head, I want to go for holiday. Friends and family keep saying we go away too frequent. I agreed, but at the same time told them that we lead a super busy and stressful life and the only way to get away from our life is to go away. Sometimes we feel like going to a place far far that no one knows us. Nobody will disturb us and we can just rest as long as we want. Sometimes we miss the beach and the quietness that we long to go for resort just to keep our sanity for a few days.

Whichever it is, we still like to travel. In fact, traveling has been a part of our life already that I don't think we will ever give this up ever.

But the price to pay for traveling so frequent is to work like hell before and after the holiday. The price is pay is still worth it. :)

Sad Stories

2008-08-27T21:13:00.004+08:00

Have you ever heard about Sad Stories from friends about their friends and you are moved by them?

Though I am not in particularly saying I have one to share, but I am always moved by story lines that have happened around me or movie plots. At times when I encounter any of them, I will empathize with them or shed a few drop of tears.

Today, i found a friend's photo album in facebook and while I already know about the background story, I shed a few tears when I went through the pictures. Taken recently, it is just a simple get together photo with family members. But I can feel the anguish they are going through because they are anticipating something to happen.

Sometimes it is better to go with the flow and follow what takes you in life, but at time when you have the luxury to be feed with information in advance, it might bring on side effects. Perhaps it will make you treasure what you currently have now, or perhaps it will bring on more pain if you keep thinking it through, just waiting for it to happen.

Perhaps the best solution is to always treasure what you currently have now and not to have regrets that makes you want to kick your own ass later.

Bad Stomach

2008-08-12T20:34:00.004+08:00

A cold and rainy Tuesday. I was supposed to go and make a delivery to one of my consign shop this afternoon but received a call in the morning to postphone the meet up to tomorrow instead. Oh well, it rained in the early afternoon and again in the early evening, making today cooling and breezy. I cancelled my lunch appointment too because I suffered from gastric pain right after I finished my breakfast.

Its been there for a few days, but on and off after meals. Only today it became full blown. The pain was unbearable and I took 2 super strong gastric pills to ease it away. But I know this is not the end of it, and it will come back to haunt me for the next few days or even a week. So after I finished my oatmeal lunch, I went to see a chinese physician. Thought it is better to see chinese physican as they tend to dignose and give medicine to cure the roots rather than just pain killers. Doctor says no chicken, fried and heaty food, and sweet stuffs as well for me at this moment.

Came back and got back to my work. Though I still feel pain coming and going, i spent the whole afternoon working out the details for the November Swarovski Fair, as the dead line for initial submission is this coming Thursday. Since tomorrow I will not have time for it, I may as well finished it off today. So I came up with 2 designs for the 2 types of classes, with the details on materials and pricing. As I also need to work out the design details, I finished making the necklace and bracelet too. Now I just need to draw them out nicely with the needed information and email over. At least this will cover me till the end of this month till I move to the next stage.

Stopped for dinner after that. As I don't have any appetite, I just cooked a plain bowl of noodle so I can fill up the empty stomach before I take my medicine.

And I am tired too. But I just don't want to sleep yet.

2008-08-08T19:38:00.003+08:00

I hate thinking of titles whenever I blog. Not that there is no specific topic that I am going to write, but its more like thinking of an appropriate one to fit in.

Perhaps its better to leave it empty, and just let the reader's imagination run wild. Perhaps its better to give them an idea what the following is going to be about, but whichever it is, I have decided to leave it empty for this entry.

After writing the above, I got brain blocked. I don't know what to write at all. My fingers just stopped at the keyboard and while I ponder over it, I will just stop here for a while.

Birthday outing

2008-07-29T12:42:00.003+08:00

As the whole world already know, yesterday was my birthday. Had great time with Paddy where we spend some quiet moments together at the airport (with occasionally phone ringing and email checking on his iphone)

Walked around T3, sat down for a cup of coffee and some snacks at TCC, chat for a few hours, and took the express bus back to Yishun. Got my birthday cake and packed our dinner back home.

Its a simple birthday celebration, as I normally prefer to avoid the crowds and go to some place quiet. As I also don't have anything in mind that I would like to get or eat, we just go with the flow. It felt great to be just the two of us.

What a lazy Sunday

2008-07-27T20:28:00.002+08:00

As what the title suggested, today was indeed a lazy Sunday. I woke up at almost 11am, and went out for breakfast with Paddy. While this is our usual weekend habit, but most of the time we tend to have something else to do in the afternoon, or somewhere else to go during evening time. But today, I have lesser activity, and decided to laze around a little.

We took our leisure time to eat our breakfast, and went to Shop n Save supermarket to top up some daily groceries. As Paddy seldom have time to go grocery shopping with me, we walked around every lane and try to recall what is running low at home, so we can replenish them. And because he was with me, we got a lot of heavy stuffs that I usually need to run a few rounds to get them altogether.

After we got back, I put down some laundry for washing, folded some clothes and tidied up some stuffs in our kitchen. While I was at it, I realised that we have some oranges and decided to make some juices since the day was quite hot. After a few hours of cleaning, I made sandwiches with some fries, and sat down to read the paper and chat with Paddy while we were eating.

For Paddy, its not such a lazy Sunday. In fact, he was so busy with work today (His phone just kept ringing non stop) and since tomorrow is my birthday, he is trying to clear out his work so as to keep me company tomorrow. I really appreciate that, since most of the time he doesn't have much time for me. But every year on my birthday, he will make it a point to keep me company. And also because of that, he need to work even harder today.

After we finished our lunch, Paddy went back to his work and I sat on the sofa and flipped through some magazines. Its been such a long time that I really sit down leisurely to read or just lazed around. After flipping through a few beading magazines, I started to get sleepy. So I asked myself why not and went for an afternoon nap. Woke up 1 hour later, fresh and contented, I on my laptop to check my emails and surf the net.

While Paddy was seated just next to me, I keep making jokes and disturbing him casually. While he is okay with it, I just want to keep him company so he can loosen up a little and relax a while at the same time. After getting online for 2 hours, I decided to order Pizza for our dinner.

Called up the pizza company and waited for almost 45mins before our food arrived. Had a few chicken wings and 2 slices of pizza, while Paddy had some potato wedges and pizza too. Chatted a bit and I cleaned up after we are done. Now I am blogging about our day and will be going to watch a little bit of online korean drama before ending the night with another movie after Paddy finishes his work.

Though tomorrow is my birthday, but we have yet to decide where to go. Actually it doesn't matter to me where we are going, as long as we get to be together. :)

Where is the Sun?

2008-07-15T13:57:00.003+08:00

I don't know what is wrong with our weather nowadays. These few days, it is so cloudy with no sun at all, and it just rain suddenly!

I was caught off guard yesterday morning when I thought it was okay to leave the house to get breakfast. When I left the house, everything seems okay, and I put some clothes out of the window, just to get some sun and wind. But when I was on my way back ( I didn't even eat lor, I just pack and walk back) It started raining already. Gosh! I can see a lot of people were caught off guard and started running as most of us didn't expect it to rain. Since most of them are on their way to work, they don't want to get drench or get delayed.

I ran as well and though I was not drenched, all my clothes need a second wash. I loaded up the washing machine again and this time, I played safe by keeping the clothes in door.

I was also thinking of going for a jog in the evening, but it started to drizzle a bit around 5plus. Last week, I was stucked at North Point after my jog, and ended up wasting 1.5hours there just to wait for the rain to stop. Luckily I saw a friend and chat with him for abit.

Today, the weather is also very cloudy with no sun at all. I think it is pointless putting my clothes out these few days. And I will see whether is it okay to go for a jog later.

No time to think. No time to rest.

2008-07-02T21:49:00.003+08:00

For the past 2.5 weeks, we are like walking zombie rushing from one job to another, trying to cover as much as we can, and within our capability. Sometimes, the job require us not only to get them done, but at the same time to get them done right.

I can understand why Paddy is so busy, as he has always been. But I don't know why there is a sudden surge of work for me. Everything seems to come at the same time, requesting them to be fast, fast and fast. There is consignment work (must delivered immediately one) and class schedule to be planned. Classes are to start immediately as well and also expectation from customers are demanding too. They will expect you to be always on "alert mode" and once they call upon you, you need to deliver.

I will regard them as good news, as busy means more work. But sub-consciously,
I hope the amount of work is lesser so I can have some time to breath as well. Perhaps I am just being whiny and lazy, thinking of the easy way out. No matter how much work I have, the sky is not going to fall down, and we all pass through different phrases of life. Life is never smooth sailing, and difficult time will pass on as well with time.

Japan Pictures-June 2008

2008-06-17T12:54:00.005+08:00

Time flies! I was busy preparing for the trip for Japan during end of May, and before I knew it, we are back home already. June had been a rather quiet month as school holidays kicks off, most of people are off for trips or spending time with family. I wanted to do the same thing, so we went for a short trip at Tokyo where Paddy transit for his flight back from San Francisco.

We walked around the major part of the city, and were amazed by the whole place. The city is so vibrant, full of lights and activities and seems to be a sleepless place. Crowds of people gathered around places where they can eat, drink and talk. Shops are filled with customers and the services are great in regardless of what shop you are in.

Though we are handicapped in the language, but we can feel that the japanese are well-mannered and hardworking people. The culture is very strong and their sense of belongings clearly indicates that they are proud to be a japanese.

The city is indeed different from most of the places we have been to, and its a great eye opener for us.

A great author-Ian Irvine

2008-05-29T22:25:00.007+08:00

I have never like writing. It has always been difficult for me to put everything down in words to express myself clearly on what I am thinking. Even now, I still go back and forth on those words and read them again and again just to make sure they carry my exact thoughts.

And recently, purely on accident, I stumbled upon this great author called Ian Irvine. He published a series of books (actually more than that, just I don't know them all.) and I caught my eyes on one of his Quartets.

The Well of Echoes Quartet consists of:

Geomancer

Tetrarch

Alchymist

Chimaera

I never read trilogy, or any fiction novels. I used to think of those people whom read fiction books are a bunch of waste of time, and also you don't learn anything from there. I only read self-improvement books (except beading books and magazines, of course).

When I picked up this book, I fell in love with it. The writer captured my attention with his simple words. An extraordinary writer, he published a series of trilogy and quartet such as : The views of the mirror and The Song of the tears. With The wells of Echoes, this 3 made up The Three Worlds Cycle.

Besides this, there are a few other series that are available as well if you have become a fan. I think I have became one. Haha... If it doesn't kill me yet, then I will continue reading the rest of his books for The Three Worlds Cycle and hopefully when I am done with these, I can still continue to read the rest of his trilogy. Really fascinating to me that he is such a brilliant writer.

If you have caught on to what I am talking about, read the below to find more what I am currently reading :

TWO HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE FORBIDDING WAS BROKEN, Santhenar is locked in war with the lyrinx - intelligent, winged predators from the void who will do anything to gain their own world. Despite the development of battle clankers and mastery of the crystals that power them, humanity is losing. The enemy is destroying their nodes of power, one by one.

Tiaan, a lonely crystal worker in a clanker manufactory, is experimenting with an entirely new kind of crystal when she begins to have extraordinary visions. The crystal has woken her latent talent for geomancy, the most powerful of all the Secret Arts, and the most perilous. Geomancy is likely to kill her before she masters it. It is a talent that allies and enemies alike are desperate to control.

Falsely accused of sabotage by her rival, Irisis, Tiaan flees for her life. She is also hunted by the lyrinx, Ryll, who plans to use her in his dreadful flesh-forming experiments. Only geomancy can save her. Struggling to control her talent, Tiaan follows her visions all the way to Tirthrax, greatest peak on all the Three Worlds, where a nightmare awaits her ...

This is the first book that caught my attention. Done reading this book and can't wait to read the 2nd one.

SANTHENAR IS ON ITS KNEES. The war with the alien lyrinx drags on, and humanity is losing it, but there is worse to come. The Aachim have invaded with an irresistible force - a fleet of battle constructs. Cursing humanity for the loss of Aachan and his own clan, the embittered Aachim leader, Vithis, demands half the world in reparation. The council is in no position to resist. But even if they agree to his demands, can anything satisfy his thirst for vengeance?

Tiaan is in despair. Her life lies in ruins, and now she is being hunted through the abandoned city of Tirthrax by an implacable Nish, who blames her for the attack.

The future of the world rests in the hands of three flawed people: Tiaan, whose geomancy holds the key to the power that can save or destroy them; Nish, who has sworn to bring her to justice; and Irisis, whose great talents are hidden even from herself.

Mid-way through this book and I am already fascinated and trying to do speed-reading. I keep thinking if I can finish this book fast, I can quickly move on to the 3rd one.

The node has failed, rendering humanity's battle clankers and the Aachim's constructs useless. The battle has been lost. Now hordes of alien lyrinx are swarming out of the tar pits of Snizort, intending to fall upon the survivors and destroy them to the last man.

Tiaan is held prisoner by a vengeful Vithis, who is determined to extract her geomantic secrets at any cost. For his failings, Nish has been cast out and branded a traitor while Irisis, accused of high treason, has been forced to flee for her life.

The fate of humanity is dependent on the survival of one wily old man, Scrutator Xervish Flydd. But Flydd has been blamed for the defeat at Snizort. His enemy, the vicious Chief Scrutator Ghorr, has expelled Flydd from the Council and stripped him of all rights. Now Flydd is condemned to die a brutish death as a slave, hauling ironclad clankers out of the battlefield mire until his heart bursts under the strain.

Can't wait! Can't wait! Can't wait! Can someone give me a fast forward remote controller so I can click on it and move on faster!

All resistance has been crushed. In a few minutes of overwhelming violence the Council's air-dreadnought fleet has destroyed Fiz Gorgo's defences. Xervish Flydd, Irisis and their allies have been condemned to die in a brutal aerial spectacle designed to reinforce Chief Scrutator Ghorr's power and majesty.

Nish is their one remaining hope. But Nish is trapped in a burning watchtower, and hunted by both the scrutators and his former lover, Ullii, whose twin brother he accidentally killed. Before Nish can hope to rescue his friends, he must convince Ullii to spare him, then overcome the most powerful cabal of mancers in the world as well as the Council's four hundred crack guards.

And even if he succeeds, to win the war the allies still have to defeat the scrutators and overthrow Nennifer, the corrupt Council's dread bastion, before the rampaging lyrinx overwhelm all Santhenar.

I think when I am done reading this, I will need to ask myself whether can I resist the temptation of leaving it as it is, or to continue with the rest of the books.

Happy reading, friends. :)

We made our moves

2008-05-19T15:10:00.002+08:00

A short break from work. We had a long one this weekend with a lot of family activities going on. Firstly, I had been going to the hospital from Thursday onwards daily to visit my dad. Doc mentioned that he needs to stay on for more tests and we have no idea how long he needs to stay there since the earliest they can conduct the next test on him will be tomorrow.

And since it is the long weekend, we went out for a walk in town after we visited my dad on Saturday. Its been such a long time since we walk around the shops leisurely without rushing from appointments to appointments. Set our eyes on some new furniture that inspired us to go back and re-arrange our current place.

Had some brainstorming together, discussed what will look good with what colors and also how to re-arrange what we have in mind, and at the same time making it a cosy place, we set our moves yesterday. The whole living room had been turn over 360 degrees, with everything at different location now. The feeling is so fresh and we got so excited as now it looks like a new place. After the move, we realised that we need a new set of tv and home entertainment system.
Since the new tv conso don't seem to be able to take the weight of the current tv, we got a new set that is flat screen.

Now all we have to do is wait for the delivery tomorrow and our new living room will be completed!

Something to be proud of

2008-05-12T12:08:00.008+08:00

Don't you love it when they are so pretty? I have always loved jewelry. Before I can make my own, I was fascinated by the beauty of them and the lovely idea of wearing them. Now that I can make them, I am constantly thinking of how to make them, what method, what color, what design, what collection etc and etc.

Gradually this obession also becomes anything that got to do with my jewelry. I want to make sure I become better in my workmanship, gives more options for different types of classes, offer more collections, present a better website, and also more importantly, make my pictures better.

My photography skills always suck. I have a hard time doing them by myself, taking them at different angles, changing background color and capturing them to tell a better story. But after trying hard for a few years (yep, my skills really sucks!) I got better. Not that it is really really great (I still have some other things that I am thinking of improving in future) at least for this moment I am proud of myself.

Black Hawk Down again

2008-04-26T12:29:00.003+08:00

I have been sick for days. Classes got postphoned and work got delayed. It started with a sore throat that eventually lead to fever, headache, coarse voice and finally cough. Although I have been to a doctor and even finished all the medicine he gave me, I still don't feel any better.

Need to go and see the doctor another time today. After that, will be going to mum in law's place to hang around for abit and also to catch up with her. Paddy was busy after he came back from his trip, so we skipped last weekend and since he settled down now, we will go early today to disturb her a bit. Haha... she loves when we go there to disturb her.

Initially I was supposed to go shopping with my friend yesterday, but since I was sick, I asked her to postphone to next week. Hopefully she is still free then. There will be a few days where I will be tied up with classes next week, and also need to work on a new skill that I wanted to start teaching. Sometimes it just takes the longest for me to sit down and do some research work on all this to get a new skill set. Its never easy, but still the sense of achievement I got later is something that is indescribable.

And I also need to start working on June's schedule too so that I can block some dates that I want to keep for myself or Paddy. At least I need to look at it earlier before mid of May.

We went shopping today!

2008-04-11T23:43:00.002+08:00

Finally, after talking about it for 2 months, I went shopping with my sis today! This shopping trip was meant to be 2 months ago, where she will take a day's leave to go shopping together, but she was too busy and could not go away. The 2nd time, she fall sick the day before and ended up resting at home instead of going shopping together.

Today, we met around lunch time and walk around Taka and Wisma. Basically we just take our leisure pace to do that but since its been 4 to 5 years since we go shopping together, we are so excited that we don't know where to start. We went around the departmental store and feel that there is nothing much and we prefer to go and walk around those individual stores.

We walk around for a while and feel tired and hungry (could be because long time no shopping liao) and ended up at Sushi Tei. Ordered some sushi and eat while we chat. Its been such a long time that we get to sit down and chat, as most of the time when we do get together, the parents and hubbies are also there. And now we get to talk about anything that we want.

After the 2 hours break, we continue our way to Wisma and spend another 2 hours walking around. Got some clothes, shoes, ties and belt. Then we suddenly remembered we need to get a toy for melon, so we head back to Taka. On the way out, we bought some Famous Amos biscuits and snack along the way.

And when we reached Taka, we finally found one maternity clothes store! We spend another 2 hours there getting sets and sets of pants and work shirts. While my sis was trying out all those clothes, I just sat there waiting. Almost fall asleep from the 2 hours long wait! Left the place after she settled the bill and got to the toy department.

We walked around and around again to find something interesting for melon, but it seems like getting a toy for kids is also a difficult chore! First, you must get the right toy for the right age, so some of the toys become not suitable for certain age group. Then whatever you are getting, you must make sure that it is not too violent, and won't make a mess of the house and also serves educational purposes. So whatever the kid is playing with, he or she hopefully can learn something from there.

In the end, we just buy a guitar as requested by melon earlier. He should have some fun with it, and hopefully no complains from the neighbours. Went for our dinner and rest for another 1 hour plus. Sis called up brother in law and asked him to come and pick her up.

We parted our ways at Taka, and I made my way to take the train back.

I will be seeing her again on Sunday for makan since it is our father's birthday.

Random Stuff

2008-04-08T11:17:00.002+08:00

I had been in and out of the house a lot last week with beading classes and a few catch-ups with old friends.

Initially I was supposed to meet my sis for shopping on Monday, but she was down with serious stomach flu and we postphoned our plans so she can rest and recover well. As she is also very busy at work, I told her to take her time and we can go shopping another day. But I know she is dying for a retail therapy, so most probably we will go for one this week or the next.

Then I met my ex-colleague for afternoon tea on Tuesday. She just came back from a business trip and took the day off to rest and at the same time meet up with me for some long overdue chit-chat. There had been a lot of changes in my old office, and though it gets a little hard to cope at this moment, but I guess this long overdue change is good for everyone. Their department also expanded and I am happy for her too since she has been struggling ever since I left the company.

Went for another gathering on Saturday after my beading classes and this time, it is a baby shower for my old secondary school friend. She was a closed friend of mine and since she already informed me a month ago that she had given birth to a baby boy, I am still excited to see her and her baby. And I thought the rest of my secondary friends are coming, but 2 of them happen to be out of town and only 1 more lady friend turned up. There are a lot of people and since she is in a hurry to go off, (her hubby is going oversea the next morning) we didn't have much opportunity to catch up alot. And since both Paddy and myself are a little down with flu, we stayed for around 1 hour plus and left with sis and mum to go home.

Sunday was the best as its been such a long time since I don't have classes on weekends! We went for a late branch at our nearby neighbourhood and hang around supermarket after that. Haha... yep, the regular place that we frequent a lot now is supermarket. Usually its only me, but I had a great time with Paddy when we went grocery shopping together. Its been a while since we have this kind of opportunity and though its just getting some regular household items, the trip was more fun.

Came back home, rest and did some over-due housework chores. Managed to clear up 2 full baskets of clothes and some other cleaning, before I settle down and watch a little bit of my korean drama. Its a great lazy afternoon and both of us just relaxed and do our own stuff, while keeping each other company.

A glimpse into my week

2008-03-29T13:32:00.004+08:00

This was a quiet week. Quiet means everyday I am alone, doing my own work, going for beading classes, eat alone, sleep alone and even watch drama alone.

Day 1

Yep, Paddy was away from Monday till late of Thursday, but I was very busy too so its not bad at all. I started Monday sending him off with breakfast at 5am and went back to sleep. Later in the morning, I met up with his colleague to pass him some stuff, and bought breakfast home. Followed by the usual email clearing, planned a bit what I need to prepare for Singapore Fashion Festival, and also went for a late class at Beads Etc. Travelled on the train alone with my mp3, and while I was listening to some of my regular and familiar songs, my thoughts wondered away. No one to talk to, so I just observed how human beings behaved in the train and also what they are doing around me.

Had a 2.5hour class, sorted out the next few weeks class schedule and headed home around 8.15pm. On the way back, I bought dinner and ate while I was channel surfing my TV set.

Did some more work and slept at 1am.

Day 2

Woke up the next day and realised that Paddy was away and I just get around with my usual work. Had already finished all the designs for DIS so I just went around to do the preparation work for my delivery the next day. Prepared some paper work, tagged, packed and put them away in the bag for Wednesday's delivery. Before I realised, its already 3am. I realised when I am alone at home, I tend to work more. Time tend to slip away faster and I just lost track of it and keep working. When I have company, I will tend to have more discipline and want to keep him company.

Day 3

Woke up really late, so I had a late breakfast. Class was at 2pm, so I left the house after packing some stuff that I want to bring to my sis place for the night. Had my class and left the shop at 4pm. I was hungry and walked around a bit in search of some food. Came across Mac-cafe, and since I have never had those before, I decided to try out. While I was having my Bacon Sandwich and ice chocolate, I called my sis to tell her the meeting time and place after my delivery at Bugis. Made a few more calls while I was still gobbling down my food and made my way to the train station. Since its already 5pm, the peak hour crowds are back. I squeezed my way into the train to get my ass to City Hall then Bugis, and walked a bit before I reached my destination.

Had a short talk with their staff, counter checked my products, signed the documents and make my way back to City Hall. Walked over to Marina Square, where I shopped a bit while waiting for my sis. While I was doing that, a few more calls came in, and one of them was Paddy. He told me he bought some stuff for me, and I was really delighted to hear that he had a bit of time to rest and relax. I know he is always busy with work whenever he travel, but I always remind him to rest and unwind a bit at night so as not to be too stressed out. I was worried that he will fall sick if he stressed and work too much. We hanged up the phone and my sis was here.

She drove to pick up my brother in law and we headed back to her place. Its been a while since I go to her place and I have planned to stay for the night so to catch up with her, mum and melon.
Spend a quiet night chatting, played with melon a bit and also went to bed early.

Day 4

Woke up at 10am and had breakfast with mum and melon. Sis and brother in law went to work already so i will just follow melon's daily routine. Sent him to school at 11.15am with mum, then went grocery shopping. Came back and did some housework while we chat, and went to buy lunch and picked Melon up at 1.15pm. Had our lunch and played with him for awhile before he was knocked out and went for his nap. I chatted with mum for a bit, since its been a long while that there are only two of us. It was a great good break from work, and I am glad I spent the night there. Ever since she stays at my sis place, I hardly had a lot of chances to eat her cooking and chat with her. Its a bit far for me to come all the way from Yishun to Senja, and I also dont want to bother them since they have their own lifestyle and daily routine to go around with. I decided to go home and get some work done before Paddy is back, so I left their place around 5.30pm. Bought dinner and ate while channel surfing my TV.

Did some email and rested a while before Paddy was back. It felt good that he is back. We chatted and exchanged on-goings for the past few days and since it was a fruitful trip, I am glad for him too that he went ahead with it.

Day 5

Woke up and realised Paddy was already busy with emails, msns, phone calls. We had breakfast together and read the papers. Within a short while, he went off for his meeting and I went ahead to do my own stuff. Sent out some email blasting about the re-vamp of my site and also did some blogging. Packed up my table and cleared out some outstanding orders as well as took a look at the new sample design for classes. Was a little tired, so cooked lunch and watched Korean Drama online while I was eating my mee goreng.

Went back to work and made some calls for next week's schedule. Meeting up with a few people, so its better to catch them before its too late.

Had a short break and decided to do my yoga at 6pm. After that, I showered and went out to get my dinner. Came back with a BK Tender grill burger and continued with my drama while I was eating.

Paddy came back around 12am and I chatted with Paddy about his on-goings for the day and he shared with me some interesting stuffs as well. Since he mentioned that he was hungry, I cooked him some noodle soup and while he was eating and catching up with his 4 day's of "lost news" with those papers I saved for him, I continued with my drama and we went to bed only at 2am.

Lighter head, clearer thoughts. :)

2008-03-20T14:29:00.004+08:00

Crazy Gal reporting here. My hubby called me a crazy gal because I went to snip off my long hair of 4 years. Yep, now the head is lighter, looks fresher and younger too!

The reason for my act is because I wanted a new hairstyle. I realised that I have this habit of changing hairstyle every 4 to 5 years. Before my long hair, I had short hair that was right above the shoulder. I grew it long after keeping the hairstyle for 3 to 4 years and also I need to have longer hair when I need to take my wedding shoot. And I also made a promise to myself that I will try to have long, perm hair at least once before I turn 30. Well, my wish came true, and its the beginning of another cycle that makes me wish for short hair again!

So, I went to salon without knowing what style to go for (we did some research and got a few nice short hair photo) and leave my fate to the hairstylist. It turned out that those hair styles I have don't really suit my face, so I took the hairstylist advice and came back looking like this lor.

I am quite happy with the new look. And I have more variety of styling my hair too. I am glad that I made the change and I will want to keep this hairstyle for a while before I try out something else. :)

Random Pictures

2008-03-18T11:42:00.002+08:00

I was out yesterday and took them on my journey to and fro.

Bad Face Day?

2008-03-14T13:49:00.002+08:00

Hmm... I think I should rename my post as Bad Face week instead of Bad Face Day. Because I had Bad Face for about a week, not just a day. Its typical lah.. I see it coming actually. The result of not going for a facial for 4 months, and minimum care taken on my own.

I actually considered myself a good gal already, because in the past I never apply any face cream, moisturizer, Anti-aging cream, eye cream, blah blah blah. Its that trip after my last facial that I was told to try them out for a month to see the result myself between the "applied days" and "non applied days". The end result is astonishing. I feel my skin much better, got people compliment (heee.. heeee) and also lesser breakout.

But good thing don't last too if I don't make an effort to take care. So after 4 months of no facial, I feel I need to go for one. So I will drag my feet to one next week.

Well, I never like facial. To me, its a waste of a few hours and also need to endure some pain when they are "Clearing your pores". So I only go when I see it necessary. People always tell me how it is a luxury and how they are enjoying it, but I have never. I wondered whether is it because of a phobia from the past. (I had bad experiences with one facial place in the past.)

Picture Time

2008-02-24T14:31:00.002+08:00

Something to share. :)

When I am alone

2008-02-15T12:44:00.005+08:00

New Year is over, and everyone is back to work. Paddy had arranged for a trip to KL before we had our New Year celebrations and went away on Tuesday and will only be back on Saturday. Everytime he goes away, I will miss him like crazy.

When he is around, i will work and look forward to those times when he is at home or comes back at night. Everytime he is at home, I will try to put down all my work and try to keep him company. Even though most of the time he is still very busy with work at home and I try not to disturb him (I will just go watch some tv or read a book to relax), but knowing that he is at home, in the very next room excites me a little and every once a while, I will go and disturb him a bit.

But for the past 4 days, the house is empty. Everywhere still looks familiar, and reminds me of him. But I know that he is not around and will not come back tonight or even for the next few days. I don't mind him going away for work, because I know he dread going and leaving me at home, and he is not going away for fun, but he is working. Every time he needs to go away, he works even harder. I don't mind him staying over there for a long period as long as he deems fit to finish whatever business he needs to do. I will not allow him to rush back just to see me because this is simply too tiring and he needs to rest well before travelling back. But deep deep down, I will still miss him a lot. No matters where he goes, i will love to msn or talk or email him to catch up with him. Recently, we started Skype, and though it is so fun, I ended up carrying my laptop with me everywhere I go. Else, I will on the speaker volume so loud that I will come running whenever Skype rings. Except for toilet visits, but besides that, I really don't want to miss his call and miss out any opportunity of chatting with him. Though everytime after talking, I feel i miss him more, but this can't be help and I just sulk it up and wait for the next one like a little girl.

Both mums had been really supportive, as they had been calling to find out how I am. Paddy's mum even want to come over to keep me company. I am not afraid of being alone, but I don't want to make it like every time Paddy goes away, someone in the family needs to change their schedule to come and keep me company. Its not that I cannot take care of myself or have a baby that I need another helper, but I feel its not fair to them. They have their own schedule and things to do and they need to re-arrange just to come over to keep me company. And since I am not so concern about eating dinner alone, sleeping alone or being alone everyday, I feel it will be very selfish of me to ask them over.

And honestly, whenever he goes away, i don't really have any mood to work. In fact, I think these few days I worked merely to occupy myself in the afternoon. When night falls, I tend to want to go and watch some movie or read a book. And I realised if I read a book, my mind wonders a lot, but if I am watching a show or movie, I tend to lose myself and enjoy it better than reading. Perhaps I want to pass time quickly so the day I am waiting for will come quickly.

PS : I am not feeling sad, but just a little bit of my thoughts when I am alone at home.

New Year celebrations

2008-02-09T12:40:00.000+08:00

First of all, Happy New Year! We have been busy non stop since we are back from San Francisco, trying to catch up with work, new year celebrations and lotsa of gathering with friends and relatives.

For the past 3 days, we were out at our parent's place. Helping out for the reunion dinner, cleaning the place and decorate for the new year, welcoming relatives and friends, catching up with them, and taking short breaks in between to rest. This year, we decided to sit down to enjoy a few rounds of games and laughed our way through because instead of the usual gambling style, we decided to come up with a little punishment for the loser. It was really really fun and we even took some pictures of our silly faces!

It was a good rest from work too even though we are out everyday early in the morning and only come back home late in the night. But I guess too much rest and no work is not good too. After spending a few days idling, eating, sleeping, talking and visiting, I guess very soon its time to get back to work. :O)

Back with more positivity!

2008-01-22T10:13:00.000+08:00

We are back! Struggled with 20 hours of flight, transit, waiting and more waiting, we reached Singapore at 2am on Monday morning. The flight and all the waiting are frustrating because we have been delayed. But overall the trip was great. Got to see more things and experienced a different kind of culture and life style.

The cold weather was great for walking and strolling, and I can see that the locals walk a lot and are a healthy bunch of people. They take life more leisurely, surrounding themselves with an appropriate amount of work, exercise and leisure. I feel they are more family/personal oriented, looks happier, and enjoys life along the way.

Every time I travel to a new place, I will try to understand their culture and lifestyle and try to improve my lifestyle when I get back. Positive things like enjoying what you currently have with family and friends, exercise more (the people there are really really healthy) and take things more easy. I think it is good attitude to try to improve myself for the better. At the same time, I also encourage myself and try to keep good habits consistent. For example, the food they served comes in really really huge portion, too sweet, too oily and too salty. Their combination of dishes are also not healthy. At the same time, a lot of them rely on medicine. I keep myself happy with my "Not so sweet, not so salty, not so oily and not so big portion" of food and also lesser reliance on medicine.

But overall, I am glad that this trip enlightens me a lot and I see more things that is currently happening around the world.

I realised that the world is so big, people can be so different, but still we are all given the same chance to live, same 24 hours a day and you decide how you want to live yours.

Below are some of the pics I took during the trip. Enjoy! :)

My Sick Days

2008-01-10T11:46:00.000+08:00

Black Hawk Down. LOL, Paddy always says this when I am sick. Yep, I have been sick for the past two days, since we got back from our passports collection. Read more here

It was a pleasant morning, lunch and afternoon till we part. I was suppose to go to Orchard to drop off some stuff to my supplier and while I was walking towards Shaw Centre, it was drizzling. The sky was bright and sunny and I guess a lot of us had no idea that it was drizzling. By the time i realized, it was too late. I was already walking in the rain and reached another cover shelter within 2 mins. Well, this 2 mins is enough to wear me down, as I developed sore throat, flu and fever the next morning! I went to see a chinese physician to get some medicine as we are travelling oversea next Monday, I simply don't want to be sick and waste my time there! Also, the weather is going to be cold over there, what if I get even sicker when I reach?

So, I rested full for the past two days. No emails, no classes, no beading, no working on design, no nothing, and only sleep, take medicine, eat (no appetite, so only eat so that I can take medicine) watch a lot of tv, and read.

While I am trying desperately to rest and recover, Paddy is simply working too hard. Maybe because we will be away for the whole of next week, and he needs to get all his work cleared up before we go, and he also needs to get ready his stuff as he has meetings over there as well, he seems to be working triple hard. I felt so guilty. I am so fragile and weak. Only drenched in the rain for 2 mins, and I am down for 2 days. I can't help him much though I know he will appreciate some help by just running some simple errands, or simple paperwork. But I was either sleeping, or watching tv when he was still busy working his ass off.

I must say, he is really a strong person. I fall sick easily, and whenever I am sick, I will have no determination or will power to push myself further. I just want to sleep and rest. But Paddy will still push through. He just don't give up easily! Work is number 1 priority for him, that those around him have to keep asking him to rest and take medicine. I felt so long winded whenever I do this as I know nobody likes to be nagged at, but yet I find myself repeating and repeating. But then again, if he is not so strong, how will he be nominated as Top 25 Asia's Young Entrepreneurs for 2007. Its take some talent, standard, and will power for a guy to reach that kind of level, right?

Anyway, back to me instead. I am feeling much better this morning, having to sleep and rest so much for the past two days. Thanks DK, for sending your regards through Paddy. :)
Now got to get back to work, clear up some stuff and get ready for classes tomorrow and Saturday. Then we will go for parents visiting before we fly off and packing on Sunday! Getting excited already!

I will post some photos here when we get back. :)

Brand New Year, Brand New You

2008-01-04T10:32:00.001+08:00

This is the beginning of the year, and we are greeted with great stuffs! I always feel the beginning of a year is very exciting because I can start new habits afresh, plan my year and look back at the end of it fill with achievement.

Of course there are years and times where you cannot be as productive and efficient, but at least every year I try to grow to be better. At least this is what I try to do in my life.

For the past two days, I had given myself a little break in between work, managed to catch up on a little bit of personal stuffs like trimmed my hair, read a book while in between work. A few projects on hand now for corporate beading classes as most of the clubs normally plan their yearly/quarterly schedule now and asked for class details, samples, meet ups and also pics for their use. And on top of all that, I also need to conduct classes and finish up all outstanding classes before we go away at mid of Jan. I am crossing my fingers here as the last time we travelled to US, we had a serious jetlag, and ended up sleeping and being a zombie for almost a week!

And since I am doing upgrading to my website, (the progress is really really slow) I need to clear up the text and pictures too for my designer and pass to him to do the work. It never strikes me that I have so much preparation and paper work to do besides doing beading physically. I need to juggle both the preparation work (for classes, online work, answering emails) and actually sitting down to design new jewelry. Everything takes up so much time and I cannot seems to rest enough. Okay, enough of ranting, its bad to do that at the beginning of a brand new year.

But things really really looks exciting now since I will be teaching at a few new places, having a new layout for my website and also try relax more in between.

Last post for the year 2007

2007-12-31T22:24:00.000+08:00

Yep, its time to say goodbye to 2007. What a great year. We had had strings of good news in 2007, and tonnes of things accomplished. We have grown and learnt in the past 12 months, and became stronger and better as well.

We have spent the months, days, hours and minutes wisely too.

For 2008, we are going to continue the journey down as well, but a slight slow down to accomplish things in another aspect.

Thank you, 2007. :)

Christmas Day-Just Us

2007-12-25T21:49:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone. How did you spend your Christmas? I know for most of us, its plenty of shopping to buy presents, exchanging presents, eating, catching up with friends and families and spending the actual Christmas day together.

Both of us are not Christians, so Christmas day don't have much meaning to us except a great day where we rest, exchange presents with our loved ones and if possible, plan for our coming year. It s a great time to look back what we have done for the past 359 days and plan a little ahead what we want to do for the next 365 days.

We have managed to achieve most of the things on our 2007 resolution list and we feel proud to look back and at the same time delighted. We are even more excited with the coming 365 days as we have planned out what we wanted, together.

Today was quiet, with a little bit of our usual routine work in the afternoon. But we managed to take a break with just the two of us and went out in the evening. We talk, jogged, walked and spend 45mins on the road sharing with each other how we feel and what we have planned out. Everything looks exciting ahead of us, and we can't wait to go through the journey together.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Missing out a lot and missing for too long

2007-12-22T17:51:00.000+08:00

These days are all well spent fulfilling custom made orders as the date draws closer towards Christmas. Its a crazy time for me where orders just come in non-stop and there are so many requests for classes that I find over-whelmed to even have the time and energy to sit down to just write proposals.

I closed everything yesterday, posting out everything that I need to post so they will arrive before Christmas, made a bunch of appointments for meet ups so my customers can pick up their orders as well when they are at town shopping for presents.

We have decided not to bring out our Christmas tree this year, because we really dont have the time and energy to do up the deco, and it will just sit for a few days before the whole hassle of moving it back to the store-room.

But we did manage to get some good rest today. Its been such a long time we go out for breakfast, hit the library and get tonnes of books to read. With the extra amount of books you can get during the school holiday, we over-loaded ourselves with books and magazines, to make up for the long lost.

Also, our trip to library has also reminded us that we have not been actively exercising for the past few weeks. We gets tired easily, yawns more, and no matter how much we sleep we just could rest enough. So we got some books on exercising, health and fitness. If only we can find the time to exercise as we can find the time to read.

The next few days will be spent clearing some long due outstanding work, resting and a Christmas eve dinner with Paddy's family and friends. We are going out for a dinner together and a show after that. And hopefully a quiet Christmas day with just the two of us relaxing together.

New Mac Book Pro feature-Nice......

2007-12-10T16:20:00.000+08:00

I had been biting and kicking myself for this whole week for not starting my Christmas preparation earlier. I should have start my planning and keep extra inventory in mid of September so when the holiday season kicks in, I don't have to be so poor thing and can spread out the work more eventually. Besides rushing for custom made orders, I also have a lot of classes. Everyday I have classes and some days I even have back to back for the whole day.

Classes are very draining and I get tired after each class. So during days where I have no classes, I need to quickly rush out those outstanding orders. Also, I have got my New Mac Book Pro just last Sunday, and now I am still not use to the keypad and keeping having typo mistakes. Its such a great machine and everything is so pretty. The feel on the keypad, the screen, the color, the layout... I can go on and on.

But last night I was playing with the folder slides, and so so fall in love with this :

Ain't it pretty? With this feature, even if your pictures are not nice, looking at the layout itself is enough to make you drool. And not forgetting the huge screen that I have now compared to the previous one. I have not have any time to explore the other features yet as I know I am playing far too much and not working productively. I need to focus first and get my work done, before I come back for more. But it sure is addictive, and another thing is, it really really burned a huge hole in the pocket.

The journey

2007-12-02T21:29:00.000+08:00

Today after my beading class in the afternoon, I was doing my normal email checking, reading up friend's blog and surfing the net a little. If any of my friends are reading my blog, they will have know that Paddy is my hubby. He blogs often and I am a regular at his blog as well.

Well, you might wonder since we are husband and wife, why do we need to read each other's blog rather than talk or tell each other our thoughts. At times, certain thoughts and ideas came to mind, and we wrote it down at our blog for our friends and family to read. Those are thoughts/ideas/encounter or just a little something that we want to share with others by blogging down. Also, both of us are quite busy with our schedule that at time when we finally have time for each other, most of the time we are too tired and just want to rest.

And just today, I read his last post about going to KL, and how it reminded him that it had been a year since our last trip with his parents and how his work and stuff had progressed so far. Reading that post reminded me of all the hardships he went through a few years back when he just started his business. I still remembered we just had our customary wedding and honeymoon, and he came out on his own right at that time. I was still working and supported him and his idea for his own business. Every step he took, I gave him my support and encouragement, and told him to leave all the family responsibilities and committments to me. I will take care of our household bills, and any other money woes. He just have to focus on building his business and get it on track.

Time passed, and though things did pick up, but it was not fast enough to put him on the map. Weeks after weeks, months after months, I see him slog like shit and put his business as the first priority. Every penny he earned, he throw them back for more marketing, to help expand his business. Finally a break came when his partner calls quit. The company is about to break down, leaving him with just pieces. Its breaks me to see him and though there is nothing much I can do. A friend came in at that time to offer his hand. He was a friend's friend whom trusted and believes in Paddy, whom wanted to lend his helping hand even though they are not even that close.

With his help, things got slightly better. 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year went by. Things had grown so much, now it is too overwhelming at times that he felt stressed out. The company needs his attention everyday. Emails, proposals, staffs, customers are all waiting for him. Bigger and better prospects and business proposals are all in the planning for the coming future.

It touches me to see him grow till today, and though he had a lot of hardships before, we treasure things more now. Building a business is never easy. Seeing your loved ones build his business is even harder.

Our new Toilets

2007-11-29T11:54:00.001+08:00

Fun ended, and work get piled up. Haha.. except this time the work is housework.

We had a whole week of toilet renovation this week, and since the beginning of the week, the house is in a mess with dust and dirt, to get the two toilets renovated. It takes 3 days for one toilet to be completed, and they need 6 days to finish both of them, since they cannot do them con-currently. Though the brand new toilet looks pretty now, but we have been through rounds and rounds of cleaning, washing, packing, moving, more cleaning, washing, unpacking and moving. Oh well, since I have to do this, I may as well take it as early spring cleaning for Chinese new year lor...

The contractor change their workers everyday since each of them are responsible of different steps/areas, we get new faces walking in and out of the house everyday. That is fine with us, as we make sure all valuables are packed and locked up. But we realised that different workers have different work attitudes and that affected us for certain reasons. The responsible ones are good, they will tell you when they are going for lunch, how long their lunch break is, and what time they will finish. Everything they do they bother to try to minimise your cleaning and pack up properly. Those irresponsible ones just do their job and dont bother to clean up after they are done. They even create a huge mess for you at their convenience.

I didn't know there are so much work and things to clean and pack, since afterall its just the toilet that they are working on. But I was wrong. The whole house is in a mess, dust settle everywhere and its cleaning and cleaning for a few rounds. Until now I still feel the kitchen and renovated toilet is very dusty and in a mess.

And today is only Thursday, where work just started for our master bedroom toilet. I am so looking forward to having all this done, clean, pack and back to our normal routine!

Random Pictures from our trip-Nov 2007

2007-11-24T22:16:00.000+08:00

Random pics from our trip. I didnt label them, and they are not in order. Most of the time when we travel, we love to take pictures of ourselves and the food we eat. With this, we have a lot of lovely memories that comes back whenever we view them. These are sweet memories that we will want to treasure for the rest of our lives, even though we may be very familiar with some of the places already. :)

Its break time!

2007-11-16T11:49:00.000+08:00

This has been a pretty packed and busy week for both of us. Even though we sort of already knew this a few weeks back, but when it is time to "just do it" we got over-whelmed with everything and we are counting down to days when the busy period will be over.

First, I had a 2 day show that required me to do plenty of before show preparation. Then two solid days are spent at the show, and Paddy even came to help out when he is already running around with meetings like crazy. Then after the show, I packed up and cleared out my stuffs and try to clear some outstanding work that I neglected when I am at the show. Then a friend came in from another country with his galfriend and we went for dinner and brought them around since they wanted to see a little bit of Singapore.

And we are flying off early on Saturday morning and I have yet to start packing my things for the trip and change the currencies.

My house is in a mess since we totally neglected the packing and cleaning portion for the past few weeks and I need to clear up some of them before we go off. If not, I think my house will become a rubbish chute when we come back.

Nevertheless, I am so so so looking forward to this trip and finally get a bit of time to rest and pace ourselves. But I know after we get back, work and stuffs will get to pile up again. But we definitely need this energy boost for us to continue working.

Its Show Time!

2007-11-11T17:20:00.000+08:00

I am so excited!! Its been a while since I have any show and there is one that is coming up next week!

I was preparing for this show for the longest time and many many new items are available!

To catch a glimpse of my new designs, come and visit me! :)

Chain of Beads will be at Orchard Hotel with Fancy Faire on 13th and 14th November for a Christmas Affair!

Its time to start your Christmas Shopping and Fancy Faire presents a wide variety of fine arts, antiques, crafts, paintings, jewerlries and many more! Exhibitors are from around the world and with a great honor, Chain of Beads has also a whole new collection specially for this show.

Some of the items are even not on the website, because they are so fresh from the oven!

New items in 925 sterling silver and 14k gold filled are also available if you want a whole new choices of wired jewelries or need to get a Christmas present for that special someone.

See below details for the show:

Show : Fancy Faire
Venue : Orchard Hotel, 3rd Floor, Orchard Ballroom and Lavender Room
Date and Time : 13th November 2007, 10am to 8pm
14th November 2007, 9.30am to 5pm
Admission : Free

What are you waiting for? Mark your calendar now!

See you guys there! :)

The toughest project ever!

2007-11-06T11:28:00.001+08:00

You see all the red and pink beads at the first pic? EACH PIECE is handwrapped and coiled with wires and then connect together to make this 3 layer necklace. This hangs at a length of 82cm and had red corals and rose quartz throughout.

Why I say this is the toughest project because this design is so tedious that it takes me almost 3 days to finish! I was doing it when I am eating, I was doing it when I was watching tv, I was doing it when I was talking on the phone, and basically I was doing it all day long!

But at the end, the satisfactory level is to the maximum because this piece is really really beautiful. The lucky lady whom own this really really love this and since it comes as a matching set with a pair of earring and bracelet, I am sure she will be delighted to wear them everyday! :)

Orange Jewelries

2007-10-31T12:30:00.001+08:00

I just finished this necklace last night and grabbed my camera to take a shot. I remembered someone once asked me why I seldom do "orange" color jewelries since orange is my favourite color. To me, it seems kind of weird to make a lot of jewelries in a color that I like. As I understand at the same time that orange is not a common color like pink or red where more ladies can accept and even wear them as jewelries.

And if you are thinking, I am not going to keep this necklace for myself as I normally don't have that luxury. Maybe one of these days when I have more time, I will do something for myself. I am thinking of doing a bracelet for my sis though. See how lah. :)

My list for the weekend

2007-10-29T12:14:00.001+08:00

Its Monday again. The weekend is over, we had our fun, and its back to working, again! Well, of course I was working as well during the weekend lah.. where got so good life? Since the day I left my full time job, working has blend into my life and there is no more "today is holiday leh, I don't work hor" or "can I do it when I get back to office on Monday?" Everyday need to work lor.. So, let's recap what I have done over the weekend :

Saturday
-Sleep in because of stomach cramp (rest well to recover)
-Took photos of new designs (need day light)
-Search high and low for some winter clothings to bring to in law's place
-Went library and got some books for travelling (doing my homework and preparing for the trip)
-Went in law's place : chat, ate good food, watch tv (weekly affair to visit parents)
-Made half a necklace while watching tv (catching up with my huge pile of overdue work)

Sunday
-Had beading class
-Went my mum's place : chat, ate dinner, watch tv, played with melon (weekly affair to visit parents)
-Edited new design's photos, wrote text to be uploaded onto website
-Uploaded new designs on www.chainofbeads.com (just finished them, so urgently need to stock up my website)
-Fold some clothes (fulfilling my role as lousy housewife)
-Played a bit on paddy's new gadget (mainly those games lah, you think I so nuts with gadgets meh?)

And, we are starting all over again with the weekdays!!

Gosh, October is coming to an end and busy November is coming!

Have you contributed ?

2007-10-24T11:58:00.000+08:00

Hello folks, are you busy with your work/life now? I wondered we work to live or live to work. Just like what Paddy has as his blog title, we are struggling like hell and cannot seems to be able to get out of it.

Its the last quarter of the year and with the economy blooming, everyone is doing great. Plenty of people are working hard because they are super busy with plenty of work (which is a good sign), and to take the stress off a little, they shop and spend and pamper themselves with new stuffs/clothes/gadgets/hobbies and get out of the country for a short break whenever they can. I have friends whom are happy with this cycle because they enjoy what they are doing and it is inevitable to be busy. I also have friends whom dislike their life and complain and complain that they want to leave their job, but never did.

Whether you are busy with work or just idling away, we are all part of the game in the economy cycle. Everyone plays a part in this little game, and in order to contribute to the society, play your part even if you are just a housewife whom only cares for the kids and hubby and does housework chores. Without your contribution, the household/world will not be the same anymore.

Keeping my Sanity

2007-10-21T21:11:00.001+08:00

Recently, life caught up with me. I didn't update frequent at my website, Chain of Bead's blog, and my personal blog. Even though I was offline, but most of the time I was busy working.

I have consignments to some shops that required me to work non stop to make enough to supply to them. Besides making jewelries, I also need to plan what to make, how to make, and also what kind of designs/price range I am setting. I also need to know whether are the target audiences I am looking for is the same type of target audiences the shop is looking for too.

While busy working on the new shops, I have request for replenishment for some items that are being sold off at another designer shop that I had supplied a few months back.
This adds on to the extra working non-stop of getting new designs as well.

Besides all this, I had participated in a show in November that requires me to urgently stock up on new items before that and my website needs a revamp now. I had got a deal with a website guy and needs to supply him my needs and ideas too. He has yet to start the project, but once he does, I am sure there are tonnes of work that require both of us to correspondance a lot.

I am also working on some custom made orders and desperately need to fulfill them as I am already behind my dateline and all thanks to these understanding customers, they even asked me to take my time. But I feel so guilty that I have delayed them in the luxury of wearing my jewelries.

Three quarter of this week was spend packing and preparing for a class I had yesterday at SAFRA Yishun Country Club. Normally SAFRA clubs give students more options in their choices of design for their class project and I will need to prepare more jewelry kits for them to pick. Even though they can buy the extra packed kits later, I will need to pack more than enough so that everyone will get a chance to buy if they want to.

On top of all that, I try to keep my sanity by going to my mum and inlaw's place as well. As I have recently mastered the skills of beading while watching tv, I guess I have saved a couple more hours and get more stuffs done at the same time.

We have also planned out our holiday plans for November. Right after my show, we are flying off for a short break. Though it is going to be the familiar places and faces, we are quite contented that we are going back to the same place again. All these happy memories came rushing back whenever I think of them. After that, I reckon there are more work and custom made orders to fulfill as the year end is near. Normally around festive seasons Chain of Beads get even more busier than normal times.

Despite all this, I am glad that everyone in the family are happy and doing great.

What inspires you?

2007-10-05T12:00:00.001+08:00

I was searching for some pictures of stones and came across this. Its a picture of watches in different fruit flavours. I paused a while to take a closer look at the different colors and styles. I have been a watch fanatic earlier part of the year in search for something "orange" and at the same time unique. The quest stopped after I acquired 2 watches from Taiwan and an Orange watch for my birthday.

But there is something different about this picture. The watch face is simple, and the colors blend in well too. I was inspired by this picture and jewelry design thoughts came into my mind. Something simple and classic. The watch face is simple, actually a very standard design like most of the watches. But from there, I see simplicity as a form of beauty that is pretty on its own.

Next comes the color. The collection only comes in standard black, white, orange(fruit : orange), Fuschia Pink (fruit : strawberry), kiwi green (fruit : kiwi) and lime green (fruit : lime). Each watch comes in only 2 color, keeping to the same family tone and at the same time the original color of the fruit each watch resemble.

I found pictures of sliced up oranges, strawberry, kiwi and lime to make a comparison with the design. You will find that the watch face indeed looks a lot like the fruit itself, with lines of fibre running throughout and ends at the edge.
I don't know if the designer for these watches are inspired by these sweet beauty, but I am.

More Bintan Pictures :)

2007-09-17T12:40:00.001+08:00

More pictures of our Bintan trip, but not in order. :)

Enjoy lor. :)

Our Trip was great, but we are back now!

2007-09-14T11:11:00.000+08:00

We are back from Bintan on Wednesday nite. Since then, Thursday was for catching up with backlog work, some running around for meetings and clearing housework at home too.

It was a great trip, and sooooo relax! This trip is really so different from the rest of our shopping trips because there isn't much shopping to do, and most of the time we are at our resort. Throughout the 3 days 2 nites, most of the time we are either at the beach sun-tanning/in the water/sleeping/reading on the beach, or we will eat our meals at the resort restaurant while chatting away, or in our room sleeping/reading/watching tv/playing PSP.

We went to their shopping village called "Pasar Oleh Oleh". Most of the things there are souvenirs or gifts for visitors and we didn't get much stuff. But we had one great buy. There is this shop that sells local artifacts, and we had our eye on a pair of wooden crafted cats.

Both Paddy and myself are not really cat-lovers, but the workmanship (since I am into hand-made stuffs, I really appreciate good workmanship nowadays) and everything looks great and we decided to get them as our living room display. Also, there was a leaf shaped wooden plate that has fanciful hand painted design, and we throw that in too.

We also bought some local snacks for the family and took a lot of photos and videos to show to them.

The only bad news is, when we are on our way back, the water was really really choppy. We thought that it was windy and since there are quite a lot of traffic around that area, it might have been caused by the waves effect when we by-passed other big cruise ships or container ships. It's only when we reached home and watched the news that we realised that the choppy water was due to the earth quake at the other side of Indonesia. It's the ripple effect that we are feeling over our side and the whole journey was so dizzy and shaky.

Really worry for them and hope nothing serious will happen again.

I will post more photos when I have everything sorted out, but now need to get back to work first. :)

Bintan Trip-Preparation

2007-09-09T22:20:00.000+08:00

Had my clothes packed, work sort out (well, not all because there are simply too much for me to finish all of them before I go off), visited parents and parents in law. Clean up house (not really very clean, but at least the floor and some clothes)

Its going to be 3 great days, and I even got myself loads of things that I wanted to do there. Brought along magazine, PSP, laptop as well in case the mood for some work strikes. Also with my bikini for the sun tan and pool, and lastly, my darling whom is going along as well.

Without him, its boring to go on a trip. I know the same applies to him. He has no mood to go out shopping, eat or even just to walk around to see what is available outside. I guess the fun sits in when you have a companion for all these.. Afterall this is a holiday, so without your companion its no fun at all.

The objective of this trip is to make both of us relax, and take a break from our busy schedule. Every day we are busy working, so this mini trip will allow us to take a step back and breathe for awhile. Even though we both know that the pile of work is going to be even higher when we get back, we even want to bring along our laptop to catch up on some work that we wanted to do, and don't have time for when we are here. When you are away, you can really sit down to clear some back logs... Haha.. sound so so like a workaholics liao...

Okie, we also will bring along our camera, so will load up some pics when we get back.

Enjoy lor.. :)

Its finally time for a break!

2007-08-29T13:26:00.000+08:00

We have been contemplating for a short break since our last one to Bangkok in April. (Paddy said the one to KL in June don't count, as he was there for work.) We finally managed to find a short period of dates where both of us are free! Everything has been booked, and we will be going away for a short 3 days, 2 night stay to Bintan in mid of Sept. I finally can fulfill my dream of going to a resort place for a REAL Relax trip. Its been so so long since we go for a resort, and if I did not remember wrongly, it was in 2004.

For the past 3 years, we have been travelling for city trips where you are surrounded by shopping, eating, massage and more shopping and eating. Perhaps we got too stressed up with work, a resort break is what we are looking for. Running away to a quiet place can help us to clear our thoughts and re-kindle our love, at the same time. (Haha.. not so much of re-kindle love, but just an excuse for some more lovey-dovey..)

And I am praying very very hard that the weather stays sunny and bright for those 3 days!! Its very disappointing and mood spoiling if the sun is not out or rains. We will have to stay indoor and get stuck with limited activities. I remembered there was once we went to Langawi, and it rained for 3 full days! Yes, the moment we step onto the island it started raining, till the moment we leave the place! What a mood spoiler!

But well before the final countdown, we need to settle our work onhand, so no orders or customers/students are left without follow-up, and also more work for us to make sure things are still running smoothly when we are away.

And while we are at the topic of work, another god-send bomb hitted my desk, and its been this messy since 2 weeks ago. Sometimes I don't even know where to start packing, I just leave everything there till the moment where I could not find things anymore! How I wish I have a genie whom can help to do some pack-ups/work while I am sleeping and I can wake up to a brand new workplace! Hahaha...

What's Stress Got to Do With It?

2007-08-22T12:38:00.000+08:00

I believe most of you whom frequent my blog will know what I am working as, and how my lifestyle is.

Working from home is one of the best advantage I have over others, as I have mentioned in some of my other posts. I get to do things my time and my way. But this does not mean that I live a stress-free life. If you think working from home is good because you are surrounded by goodies such as TV anytime, afternoon naps anytime, PS2 games anytime, then you are wrong. Most of the time, the life is as stress as what others are having in their office. Of course this minus of the stress of unnecessary meetings and a highly dangerous political working environment.

Whenever I feel stress, my shoulder will feel the stiffness and I need to work my yoga or get a good massage. But this only work for 1 0r 2 days and it comes back again. Stress also cause me to put on weight at the belly area. I didnt eat extra or have big servings, but the same type of food that I have been eating all the time. I help myself to the occasional chips or junk food, but I don't eat much. I also feel lethargic and gets drain out by the end of the day.

After a good night sleep, I feel energised. But the cycle repeats itself again day after day.
At times I try to tell myself not to get stress out, as I will just try to do whatever I can, but a lot of times stress sips in unconsciously. And so far, I am lucky enough to go for small short breaks in between. Those small breaks allows me to take a step back to rest and relax, but at the same time gives me space to sort out thoughts that are neglected at times when I am busy.

I am sure nobody likes living a stressful life, but stress has slowly become parts of our life. Especially when you need to stay competitive and make money, while at the same time balance your life with family and committments.

Its not easy, but we just have to do it.

Fun lor, but lotsa of work

2007-08-11T12:25:00.000+08:00

Happy National Day to all! I know I had missed the actual date, because I was buried under piles of work during the holiday! Yep, no holiday for me because once you run your own business, there is no public holiday, weekends or nights. Everyday we just keep on working!! Hahaha.. of course there is a little luxury that we call sleep late lah, and no morning rush to work, no jam-packed trains or bus and no commuting for long hours just to get from Point A to Point B.

Still, when you worked from home, there is no break-free from work, because it's there in your house, and as long as you are in the house, you will want to work.

I was quite tight up with shows/events for the past 2 months. Had taken the initiative to book more shows to market Chain of Beads, meet more people and students too. The part where you meet like-minded people is really fun, because you shared the same problems, market, and even exchange ideas! I had made great friends through attending shows, where we keep a lookout for each other and exchange lobangs.

I had students whom visited my website and blog and get to know where I will be during the weekend, and came to visit me too. It was a pleasant surprise because you didn't really expect to see them again, but there they are.

I had another friend whom I got to know online, visit her blog often, but no chance to meet yet. We shared the same passion for jewelry making and I at times comment at her blog and read her writings, see her work. Only till last weekend, she came to MAAD and bam, we get to see each other finally!! Haha.. I know its fun for her too. You can check out her blog here :
Blingalicious. A nice lady whom really writes very well.

Fun aside, I know Paddy is the one whom helped a lot in all these events. Without him, I think I would not be able to do all this alone. Just all the moving of stuff for every show alone is very tedious. But he never complain. He is always there to help me to move my props, set up together with me, brain-storming how to improve display to get more attention, buy lunch and drinks to keep us alive, attend to customers when I am already busy with others, packs with me and moves them back together. He never failed me in any of my shows, at least he is there for 1 day if he cannot make it for both days. A lot of times he don't even have any time to rest during the weekends and he is back to his busy work schedule on weekdays. All my friends at the events praise him for being a great husband. And I am really glad that I marry him!!

Now I have another show coming up the next weekend, so I need to get back to work again. Will post more details about it in coming days at Chain of Beads' Blog

Cheers,
Izel Ang
www.chainofbeads.com

And.. the Birthday Celebrations continues!

2007-08-06T22:26:00.000+08:00

This is going to be a continuous post from previous birthday post, as the celebration continues! Yes, un-expectly, we had a dinner with a birthday cake last Saturday as a make up since I was occupied on the actual day a week ago.

My parents in law, brother in law had all insisted to celebrate my birthday for me, and Saturday was the only day where everyone have the time to get together. So after MAAD, Paddy and I made our way to the restaurant.

This restaurant is a newly open restaurant called Eight Treasure and while all deco looks grand and nice, the food was great too! Such a wide selection of choice that took us by surprise. We ordered curry fish, braised duck, cereal prawn, and many other dishes. Yep, and all these are vegetarian dishes.

Had a nice chat, ate dinner and took some pictures throughout. Its great to catch up with everyone since most of the time we either miss my father in law or my brother in law whenever we visit their house, and only see his galfriend once a while too. Its great that everyone can get to sit down and chit chat and catch up with each other with fun and laughter.

We even had the birthday cake right after our dinner. Wow.. I only realised on Saturday that Paddy's whole family love chocolate cake so much. The six of us finished the whole cake even though we just finished our dinner and most of them have 2nd or 3rd filling while i am already over-whelm with 1 slice of chocolate cake.

They even offered to sing birthday song and blow out the candle, while I insisted that we do it quietly so nobody will know that its my birthday. I am quite shy about it lah.. and also not very use to a birthday celebration with a lot of people. :)

Below are some pictures with the family.

Isn't this the best birthday ever??

The Best Birthday Ever!

2007-08-01T11:33:00.000+08:00

I know, I know. Its been several days liao and my birthday was long gone. But I was caught up with a show over the weekend, and has a lot of outstanding stuff to settle these two days and I wanted to post this entry with pictures of my birthday presents, so I waited till now.

First of all, it was my 30th birthday, and usually I dont like to celebrate birthdays. Not because I fear of getting old, but rather I prefer the type of quiet celebration with just my hubby, a cake and spending time together in a simple way. I dont need fancy restaurant or birthday parties, nor huge presents from the whole world.

But this birthday took me by surprised. First, it was my brother in law whom make a trip to send the present to Paddy before the birthday, because he knows we won't be meeting up and he wants the present to get to me before the actual day. So last week Paddy came back with a orange bag and a orange watch. You are right, its orange again.
Everyone in the family knows that I love the color orange, and they will buy things for me, just because of the color. You can see the bag and watch below. The watch was from my brother in law and his gf, while the bag was from my father in law.

Then came the actual day. I had a show over at Asian Civilisation Museum, and it is suppose to be from 11am to 6pm. Our initial plan was to have a quiet dinner after 6pm, but it turned out that my sis, mum, brother in law and melon came to visit me and celebrated my birthday for me! I was touched and at the same time surprised! We had our dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and she even gave me a present! Gosh! This is the best present ever, because it comprises of my favourite hobby!

Still remember the color books and paper dolls we all had during our childhood time? I loved coloring books since young, and still have a few of them with me whenever I feel like coloring. My sis and mum knew that, and got me a few more books! I also like the paper dolls that we used to purchase for 50cents per piece, with a few cut outs of clothes, shoes and a girl. She managed to find that too!!

Haha... though all these are cheap things, but she really made my day!

Suddenly all my childhood memories came rushing back and I can't wait to play with the paperdolls and color my books!!

Isn't this the best birthday ever??

I know, some of you are wondering what did Paddy give me for my birthday then? Haha... I told him I dont need anything at this moment, and just want to spend some quiet time with him alone, with no phone ringing, emails to reply, work to clear, meetings to attend, so he is putting aside his schedule and will be arranging for a short resort stay for both of us.

I long for the beach with a book, sipping orange juice and the occasional sunshine. If I feel like, will take a dip in the pool and laid back for a while. We can chat non stop, go back to our room for a nap, dress up for a sweet candle light dinner or simply, just enjoy each other's company.

The same small talk at parent's place over the weekends

2007-07-23T12:52:00.000+08:00

I was having classes on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon and went to Parent's in law place for dinner on Saturday and my mum's place for dinner on Sunday. As usual, we are well known in the family to be super busy people, so both parents are very very understanding that we need to work before we can go over to their place.

Whenever I have jewelry making classes on weekend afternoons, we will not reach their place early. Most of the time, we can only get there around 6-7plus for dinner. Whenever we have the time, we tried to go over early to chit-chat a while and hang around before dinner, but they have never ever complain that we are late, or never help out in the cooking or what so ever.

And since the time is always so short, we only managed to eat, talk a while, update them with what ever is happening at our work and life and also check out what is going on with theirs. At times, when the whole family is around ( Paddy has a younger brother whom is still single, and my sis is married with kid) we could not really talk in details.

At times when only my mum or his mum are around, and its only the three of us eating dinner, we can share more details of what is happening and at the same time, they get to show more concerns about us too. Most of the time, the topics remains about how is our business, how is our health, are we eating correctly, are we resting well etc etc and also dropping hints here and there to start our family soon.

Well, we planned out already and since we dont want to stress ourselves with our promises or give them empty hopes, we will want to be working on our plans and let them know when it is time. I know it is not easy to balance work and family altogether, especially when I work from home most of the time. But working at home also gives me the freedom to do things my way and not following time strictly and report for work or etc. There are a lot of rooms to play when it is your own business and your own timing.

I am really really glad that we have such understanding parents whom know what we wants and are willing to wait for us patiently. I am really glad too that my hubby is a understanding guy whom will always discuss with me whatever plans he has for future and our family.

Our Short KL Trip

2007-07-20T11:48:00.000+08:00

Wow, I missed out blogging almost a whole week as most of the time from last week till this week I was away.

Had a last minute arrangement and went to KL with Paddy on Saturday morning. Initially we wanted to go on Friday night, but I had classes at Braddell Height and we couldnt get any tickets. Oh well, since he is there for a business meeting, with some partners, I tack along for the fun since we will be out shopping and eating. And mainly since Paddy has been so busy recently, he dont have much time to rest at all. We shall take this short trip to rest and relax a bit over the weekend and catch up on reading and each of us.

We has a smooth trip by bus and reached there around 1plus. Check into our hotel room and took off in search of food the moment we throw all our stuffs into our room. Since it is already past lunch time, we are so hungry and can't wait to get our taste of KL food! Haha.. after all the food, our shopping hunt begins! Berjaya Time Square has all kinds of shops and since this is their Great Malaysia Sale period, practically every shop is having a great sale! Wow!! Great buy for anyone whom looking out for bargains and since the exchange rate is 2.25 now, we got quite a great bargain.

The moment we stepped into the shopping centre, we had our eye on watching "Tranformers".
Went to check out the tickets and it is only available at night. So we bought our tickets for a Sunday night show to pamper ourselves since we are so busy back home and didnt have any chance to catch the show together!

After getting the tickets, we didnt had much time shopping for clothing as we spend a long time at Borders, and will be meeting his partner for dinner, we rushed back to our hotel to get ready.

It was a long dinner discussion and we missed our chance to catch the local market shopping that we wanted to earlier. Oh well. We are very tired from the long bus journey too so we headed back to hotel to have an early night.

The next day we had an early day, took breakfast at our hotel and went off for shopping again! This time we went to Sungei Wang, a local shopping centre that is a lot like MBK. Quite a nice place, with a lot of good bargains like shoes, bags and clothings. We walked around, got some clothings and rest for lunch. We shopped till late afternoon where we rested for some tea, and since Paddy was meeting another business partner, I left my stuffs with him at Delifrance and I went off shopping alone. Got a bag, a pair of shoes and a top while he was discussing about work. I realised that I buy more stuffs when he is not around..... at least the pressure is not there....hee heee..

After the meeting, we went back to our hotel and rested our tired feet for an hour. Had a quick shower and came out again to catch our show. It was a great cinema with spacious seating and super sound effect. And the show was great. I wont mind watching it again if there is any chance.

Went back to our hotel and rested for the night. Packed our stuff since we are checking out the next day and planned our schedule before we leave for KLIA. Since we didnt go to KLCC, we thought that it will be good if we can shop around there and catch the train to KLIA from there. KLCC was really big and we got too tired from all the walking and carrying our stuffs, we left KLCC earlier than scheduled and took the LRT from KLCC to KL Sentral. From KL Sentral, we changed the train that takes us to KLIA direct. It was the first time we take the train, but everything looks very similar to Hongkong International Airport. Great experience for us too. Since we are there early, we roam around and took our late lunch at Macdonald.

After checking in, we shopped around and came across this Toy shop called "Toy Paradise". Its a paradise for Paddy because he saw a huge Star Wars Imperial Shuttle that he has been looking for a while. Honestly speaking, after all this years of Star Wars shopping with him, I have never ever came across this Imperial Shuttle. So I told him to get it if he wants to. Happy like a kid, his eyes brighten up and he was hopping happily when I give him my permission.
Since we have never ever came across this thing, I guess this must be a limited edition or at least not that common around other toy shops. And he worked so hard, so why not let him pamper himself? Men's way of pampering is different from woman. They are not interested in clothing, shoes, bags, diamonds etc. They are interested in gadgets and toys. And its been a while he get anything for himself under the "Star Wars" series, so why not?

We bought his toy and took our flight back home. Thought we are tired, but we still make our way out for dinner since there is no food at home. Unpacked our stuff, started working again and ended our day after midnight.

It was a short trip, but we enjoyed ourselves a lot as this was a good chance for us to catch up with each other and also to have a short rest. :)

What have I been up to lately?

2007-07-11T21:38:00.001+08:00

Well well well, its been a while since I posted anything on my blog to update my life and on-goings. So I thought I better do so before the list gets any longer! (Its already very long now!)

My previous previous post was about being sick, which I can well said I am 98% recovered. Thanks to our weather, the stupid flu virus that is so strong, I finally am on the way up after being sick for 2 whole weeks and after seeing 4 doctors! Now I just need to recover from my persistant cough, and i will back on track.

Work has since piled because of the extra resting and sleeping during the past 2 weeks, so I spend a few days sorting out the back-dated stuffs, get on my butt to push myself to be faster to clear some work, and start to plan for the coming 3 weeks. I have another event coming at end of July and a few classes in between these few weeks. So I cannot wait till the last minute to do all these. In the past, I always waited till the last week before I start to prepare for a show, which always stressed me up so much. Now I will try to do as much as I can so I can spread out the stress and at the same time get myself more prepared.

Both parents and parents in law are doing well, and since everyone can still feel the effect of the super hot weather, I get constant reminder from both mothers to drink more water, brew herbal tea for myself and paddy, eat more fruits, sleep earlier, blah blah blah. I know I know, but I guess when you are not staying with your mum, things are slightly different. You dont get all the home-cooked food warmly served to you when you are back home. You have to cook your own dinner instead. And by cooking dinner, I meant simple maggie mee or sandwich, or simple porridge. When you are not staying with your mum, nobody nags at you to eat fruits and drinks water. You will only drink or eat fruits when you remembered, but most of the time this slips our mind, and we are off to bed and too tired to eat or drink any juice.

I guess staying on your own is never easy, as you need to take care of the household, do your own housework and takes care of yourself and your family.... Haiz... I am never that good at taking care of people, so it gets tougher when you are the wife, and most people expects you to do so.

Besides these, all are well and good, and I am starting to day-dream where we can go for holiday, again. Yes, again. I dont know why, but I just never gets tired of going for holiday. Or should I say, getting away from Singapore? I enjoyed the feeling so much that I am always looking forward to it.

Now I better stop dreaming, and get back to reality!

I ping liao, have you?

2007-07-05T18:04:00.000+08:00

If you have not ping, quickly go and do so now.

If you want to know more about ping, go here to see.

Ping.sg is a Community Meta Blog for Singapore Bloggers.
That's right. You get all kinds of people from all walks of life, and all of us have one thing in common, and that is blogging.

A great way to get to know local friends, network, and also peep into other's life because we live in the same community. So most probably, the problem, complaints, joys that you have, are widely shared by most of us here.

Though most of us blog differently/for different purposes, I think its a great idea to share my blog with others. Sometimes, I even book-marked some interesting blogs of friends (yes, they have now become friends liao after chatting and peeping into their life for a while)

Sometimes I will admire and envy what they are doing, or have, and sometimes I shared their misery too. Though I can't help most of time, but leaving comments to comfort has proven very useful. In fact, I was comforted at times by friends whom get to know my misery/life from reading my blog.

And a lot of times, I have some students whom know a lot about me from reading what I wrote in both my blogs.

Amazing, isn't it?

So if you have not ping, go and do so now. :)

So sick of being sick

2007-07-01T13:44:00.000+08:00

I had fallen sick. For the past 1.5 week, I was either having a fever, or sore throat, or coarse voice, or coughing non stop or body aching. I was quite put off by this whole sickness that I am so sick of being sick.

Have seen 2 doctors, finished all the medicine, went to medical hall and got other medicines, herbal tea, no fried food, no chilli, no cold drinks, no coffee but all afterall, I am still sick.

I hate being sick, because it caused you to feel sickly/lousy, no mood to work and no appetite to eat. All I want to do is to hurl up in my bed and rest. But with this kind of hot weather, I cant sleep in air-con (because of the nonstop coughing) so sleeping becomes miserable too.

Damn. And I have tonnes of work that I have to do. No mood, no energy, everything has come to a stop at this moment.

Right now I just want to recover and get back to normal. The rest of the things are not important.

New Pendants

2007-06-25T17:54:00.000+08:00

It took me a while to upload this picture that I took while I was uploading new designs onto
www.chainofbeads.com

A new collection of pendants that I have created with a new wire-wrapping skill. Aren't they lovely? I love the way the wires are coiled up neatly and surrounds the circumference while ending with a figure 8 right at the top of the stones.

Check out my website
if you want to learn more. :)

Dream of the Past

2007-06-19T12:12:00.001+08:00

I dreamt of my granny the other day. It was a vivid dream where we went back to the times when she is still healthy and alive, and we were visiting her during our school holidays.

As usual, we like to gather around her during the day and we chat and chat about her old days, when she was young, how life was during the war time and being naive and young, we cracked jokes and asked her funny questions.

We will break for lunch or snack or take a short nap. Once a while we will also gathered outside the house to get a breeze. But still, we spend most of our time talking and talking. I enjoyed talking to her, enjoyed her company, enjoyed her touch, or even her smile. She is a gentle old granny to me whom put us as her first priority.

She will remember what food we like to eat, always stock up or cook plenty for us.

Now that I think about it, I missed those days. Because she is in Ipoh, we can only afford to go to her place to stay during the June or Dec holidays. Each stay is around 2 weeks, trying to catch up our loss times where we are back here working and studying hard. She always anticipate our visit and prepare food and everything for us. She is always concern and worry that we dont have enough food or gets hungry.

Its been three years since she is away, and this dream brought back a lot of sweet memories. I woke up from the dream crying and missing her. Even though she is no longer around, but she lives in my heart forever.

Don't let life speed past you

2007-06-13T22:32:00.000+08:00

Finally I can sit down to post all my thoughts down for the past few weeks. I was so caught up with work from end of May till now, and everything like speed past me, and we are approaching mid of June already.

Business is doing good, with a lot of people getting to know who is Izel Ang and chainofbeads. I even have people coming up to me asking me whether am I Izel Ang from Chain of Beads, and telling me that my designs are pretty.

Paddy is busy like hell too. Even though both of us are so caught up with our work, but we are very happy. I am sure this is the same for everyone whom started their own business. At the beginning, there are plenty of doubts and uncertainties, but once you start to see results from all the efforts you have put in, everything is all worth while. All the late night sleep, all the working on weekends, all the forking out your own personal money, and disappointments are finally worth when you see that smile on your customer's face.

Perhaps we are missing out the fun that others are enjoying when they watched tv, or go shopping, or just hang around with friends and family, but we felt that it totally worth it at this stage of life. Perhaps after a while we will be moving along to another stage of life, but as of now, this is what we want.

If you wanted to do something in life, do it before it is too late. Don't ever let life speed past you.

Work too much, live too little

2007-06-08T13:23:00.000+08:00

Too busy to blog. Too busy to even continue with my regular life activities. I have been working nonstop for the past 1 week for this weekend's show. Everyday was : Make new designs, eat, make new designs, take photos of new designs, buy stuffs I need to use for the show, eat, sleep, make new designs, shower, make new designs again and again.

I dont even have time to look at the house, which by the way is a shit hole now (Paddy is not in, so I can leave it as it is as of now) and my desk looks like bomb after bomb came in. All at the same time I am still sitting there doing my stuff, just trying to figure out what is at where without stopping to clear things up!

I am now looking forward to Monday where I can finally settle down and do a bit of tidy up, update my other paper work, and also do whatever that I have neglected all this while.

In case you are wondering what show/event I am talking about, check out : www.chainofbeads.blogspot.com

So friends, if you have the time, do come down to support me, at least to pay me and my stuffs a little visit!!

Cheers,
Izel Ang
www.chainofbeads.com

YouTube: Chainofbeads @ MAAD Sunday

2007-06-02T23:06:00.000+08:00

Just uploaded a short videoclip to YouTube that Paddy shot this afternoon at the MAAD Sunday event.

I was there to sell some of my beading jewelries, beads and also to promote the beading classes that I conduct.

Website

Messy and stressed up leh..

2007-05-29T12:11:00.000+08:00

Where did my weekend go to? I only remembered myself counting down to them and before long, they are gone with the wind.

Work is piling up with plenty of designs to do, and I have a show this weekend and that literally translates to burning mid-night oil. Besides that, I have outstanding custom made designs that I need to work on, corporate class designs I need to submit. Its like time is never enough.

And furthermore, my desk seems to have been hit by a bomb, with beads all over. Check out the picture below. Had just finished one of the design for the class, and 2 more to go.

If only I have those little Izel's that can come out in the middle of the night to help out when I am deep asleep... hahah.. wish on!

Cheers,
Izel Ang
www.chainofbeads.com

And the Hunt begins...

2007-05-24T11:48:00.000+08:00

As what Paddy posted on his blog, we had a mini treasure hunt yesterday for his birthday. This is not treasure hunt for his birthday present, but rather something that I bought and wants to share with him together to celebrate his big day.

First of all, I had arrows all over the house to guide him and drop hints to where the mini treasures are being hidden. But our little dense birthday boy, got no idea at all when he arrived home yesterday evening. Such big white A4 papers with a black arrow on the walls and doors and table top, he didnt see them for a good 10 minutes when he gets home.

Like that not clear meh?? If you see so many arrow in your house, you sure will ask right??

When he finally realised this, our treasure hunt begins!! I told him to follow the arrows to the respective rooms, where I have hidden the mini treasures and even give him a restricted area in case he turn the whole house over.

There are 4 place, namely the living hall, kitchen, our working room and the other empty room where we store his toys and stuffs. After a good search and more hints, he finally managed to find the things at : underneath the sofa, in the fridge, in his work document bag, on top of the cupboard.

And here are all the goodies still wrapped up :

Here are all the goodies unveiled :

-There's two Haagen-Dazs ice-cream that I bought from cold-storage. Didnt know what flavor he likes, so bought both and spend a good S$20 on those.

-Potato chips because it is his favourite titbits. Bought this new flavor "Salt and Vinegar". Sour like crazy and it really slows you down because you cannot eat a lot at one go, so will finish this slowly.

-Facial Mask from BodyShop. Because he never really takes care of his face, so I thought it's a good idea to pamper himself a little with a good facial mask till he falls asleep!!

-Show tickets to Spider-man 3! Finally we have the time to go and catch this movie and I bought the tickets in advance for this Saturday's show!

After the hunt, we went out for dinner and had our little cake celebration only at 11plus. Bought this cutie cake that is suppose to be for kids, but I wanted to theme this with the Spider-man show, so the cake looks like this :

Fun right? Old man getting a kiddie birthday cake! Haha.. hope he dont kill me for this!!

I had a great time yesterday, thanks for celebrating your birthday with me. :)

There is this guy....

2007-05-23T19:18:00.001+08:00

There is this guy whom always ask me how is my day and is always eager to hear my stories or share my day. If it turned out to be a bad day, he will encourage and comfort me. If it is a good day, he will jump with joy so as to express his happiness for me.

There is this guy whom always ask me how I feel or whether am I sick or not feeling well. If it turned out to be I am not well, he will always try to make me comfortable and get me medicine or help me to make me feel better.

There is this guy whom will make up jokes or nonsenses to bring out laughter in me.

There is this guy whom will make things work if they are not functioning well.

There is this guy whom will sit down patiently to hear me out if I want to complain or talk about stuffs.

There is this guy whom always make sure I have my blanket when it is well in the middle of the night and i am deep asleep.

There is this guy whom makes sure I have everything I need so as to feel well fed, well protected, well sheltered.

There is this guy whom always tells me he loves me in regardless of all.

When I am bored, he is there for me.

When I am sad, he is there for me.

When I am happy, he is there for me.

When I am sick, he is there for me.

When I want to travel, he is there for me.

When I am down, he is there for me.

Whenever, whatever, he is always there for me.

And today is his Birthday, I will want to wish him Happy Birthday and I am really really blessed to have him as my partner, hubby, lover and friend.

Pictures of us

2007-05-20T22:21:00.000+08:00

As mentioned, we went for our Wedding Anniversary celebration on 16th May and I did not have any chance to take any photos of our night's outing that day. So, I am going to post some of our old photos that we have taken throughout these years. Most of these are taken within these few years and when we went for holiday or out for dinners.

No particular order, just us together these few years.

Enjoy lor..

For the past 12 years, we have been together since we are schooling in our Poly, and went through a lot of good and tough times together.

I started working, Paddy started National Service, he started working, we got married, got our house, have our customary wedding, went for honeymoon, Paddy started his own business, I started my own business etc etc, till todate.

Thanks Paddy for being there for me. :)

No Blog=itchy fingers?

2007-05-16T12:55:00.000+08:00

Not being able to blog seems to be a big problem recently. For those whom are facing the same problem as me, my fingers are itching like crazy and everyday seems to be a bit weird as I have been blogging for the past 1 year.

Being a user of Singnet and blogger, I have friends telling me to switch over to some other internet providers and also to other types of blog. Now the thing is, I am pretty happy with blogspot, and even though at times I experience small problems/hiccups here and there, most of the time there are no major issues for me to want to make the change over. Furthermore, this is free, so what more can you expect??

I actually have tonnes of things that I wanted to pen down, but now my brain is blank because I am so excited that I can finally blog, and today is our wedding anniversary. Yep, we have been together for 12 years since our Poly time, and 16th May is our anniversary for the past 12 years. This is the date that we are together officially and we also made this our wedding day. Hence, the anniversary comes in and we always celebrate this big day together.

I will pen down more with some photos and hopefully I can login at ease the next time! (Keeping my fingers cross!)

Got to go now, as we are going out today and later on, a nice dinner together. :)

A little praises and my own sense of satisfaction

2007-05-07T18:13:00.000+08:00

What are you busy with? I am dead beat from the weekend show at MAAD, and classes for the past two weeks.

April went by so fast and we are now in the 2nd week of May. Before long, we will realise that half of 2007 has gone by. So what have you done for the past 6 months?

I have a super busy 4 weeks after Bangkok (I am still wondering are these side effects of going for a holiday, or things are really picking up and doing good)
Endless classes of private, clubs, corporate companies, condominiums, community centres. Even my childhood friend called me a while ago to tell me she love my work and wants to learn jewelry making too!!

I am either packing for more classes, or preparing orders to meet up with customers or calling suppliers to stock up for supplies. And since the show last weekend was a great one, I am left with tons of work to catch up, and desperately need to fill up my website with new goodies! Haha.. though tiring, but its pretty fun. Infact, I think I am enjoying the part where I can plan and decide what I want to do, what show to go, what class to offer, and even what designs to make. Afterall, this is my business, so I need to take care of every aspect and all details.

Though it is hard work but the end result really shows that its all worth it and I get a sense of achievement that I dont get when I was working previously.... though there are no praises from bosses or colleagues, but I managed to achieve all through my results... what more to say then??

Be your own boss?

2007-05-01T23:14:00.000+08:00

Aiyo, the last time I blogged was 9 days ago about our stupid weather, and I cannot believe I was so busy with life that I dont have time to pen them down at all!!

Super tired now after having 4 classes from yesterday till today, and I have been talking and talking non-stop during the classes. Now I have got dry throat and a coarse voice. So need to drink more honey and rest to recover!

Though today is a holiday, but my work dont really have any particular rest or off days, as long as I planned my work around beading students and plan my time for new designs, website updates, blog updates, online marketing, email correspondances, doing up proposal for corporate classes etc etc. These are just a few hats I wear, and the roles that I need to take care of running my own business full-time be it online or offline.

I had a student whom asked me this question today :

Student : "Why do you want to do this? Why dont you get a job in the corporate world? Isnt it easier and better with benefits and fixed income?"

Me : "I used to work as a International Marketing person in an MNC, and I have reached a stage that I questioned my lifestyle with what I want in my career and felt that its time for me to move onto something else. My life no longer circles around getting up, going to work, coming back home to sleep and the cycle repeats. There is no motivation push and my passion does not lies in my job."

Me : "I seek happiness in my life that I will be more than glad to work harder on, and will continues throughout my life, rather than finding another excuse/reason to get me out of the house. In other to have happiness, I need to like what I do. And therefore, I turned to my passion to make it into a full time job."

Advantages of working on your own :
1. I have no more bosses to answer to, because I am my own boss.
2. I can wake up anytime and start work anytime I want/like.
3. I can go to supermarket and do my errands when everyone are working, so no queues and waiting.
4. I can decide every single little details in my business, nobody to question or nag.
5. I dont need to take care of office politics, because I have only me, myself as my colleague.
6. I dont need to dress up with fancy dresses and make-up to please others.
7. I dont need to commute because my office is the next room of my bed room.
8. No more unproductive meetings as there is nobody to discuss, so no need to waste time.

Disadvantages of working on your own :
1. I can't call in sick because I have no MC or annual leaves at all. Any day that I am not working is a loss of income, and I need to work even on holidays, weekends, night time, practically all the time that you are awake.
2. I cannot push workload to colleagues or "tai-ji" to other departments, because I have to do everything myself.
3. I have no colleagues to complain about my work, or take lunch with, so I ended up doing more things alone.
4. I dont have a fix income because every month is different.
5. I dont get to wear pretty clothes at all, because there is really no need to. So no excuses to shop for clothes, bags and shoes.

Now you tell me, whether is it a good idea to work for others or for yourself. :)

Super Hot Weather

2007-04-21T16:09:00.000+08:00

What is wrong with the weather today? It was so super duper hot today, and its killing me with all the errand running for the earlier part of the day.

First of all, was meeting up a friend at MRT to get some stuff from him as hubby was not around to meet up. So we catch up and chatted for while. While talking to him, I was perspiring like mad since we are standing at the train station with semi open space. As it was noon time, the strong sun glare was hurting my eyes and I have to keep turning my head to prevent hurting my eyes.

After talking for about an hour, I made my way back and stopped by at NorthPoint to pack my lunch. While in NorthPoint, the air con chills me down and I had an evil thought of staying around for a while, maybe have lunch at foodcourt or go to bookshop to cool myself down.

But the thought of going home to catch up on my work brought me back to reality, so I packed my lunch and headed back home. After cooling down and filling up my stomach, I started to pack and sort my stuffs for tomorrow's class. While packing and searching for my things, I suddenly realised that I dont have enough pliers for my class tomorrow. Damn it. I need to go out and get them. Without wasting too much time, I contacted hubby and told him I am going out again to get stuff and since he just reached Yishun, we will meet up and go back home together.

When I reached the store, I realised that they dont have enough quantity for me, and the soonest they can bring in the stock will be another week. Damn, I need the stuffs by tomorrow and even though I am getting them as extra/spare, I cannot wait till next week.

So in the end, I didnt get anything and walk back home with hubby, except we stopped by our regular spectacle shop to adjust his white glasses and also repair the blue one. He has been looking for a new pair of squarish look glasses, but so fair could not find anything that he fancy.

We got so tired from all the perspiring and walking in rounds, we headed home straight, and for shower!

The sky was really dark when we reached home and before long, it started pouring heavily. Though the rain was heavy, but it is not windy at all. It just rained for a while and now we are back to hot weather!!

And the best part is, we have to leave house soon to go to MIL place.

A place in my heart

2007-04-19T12:44:00.000+08:00

As usual lor, the before and after holiday are periods where there are tons of work to clear, so we always feel the "after effect" when we are back. And this is the time when I will curse and swear why in the first place so stupid want to go away....&#%*&^$#...haiz...

But after we settle down, the mind goes off wondering again for a holiday break....

Life has been great so far without much hiccups, and I am blessed with a happy marriage. Hubby and family are all great, everyone gives support to what we wanted to do and encourage, advise us along the route.

I guess family afterall is the most important next of kin and are the ones whom really cares for us. You can be working hard all your life to build your career, get rich, or even have a society status. But if you are old, sick, poor, who will stick around with you ? Not those friends whom have been keeping you company at clubs till wee hours, not those girlfriends whom sticks around you like bees to honey, not those colleagues whom will be your "Friend" as long as you are still within the same company. If you really think about it, everyone above are there for a reason.

At the end of the day/life, your family are still the ones you turn to if you are sick, old or poor.
They all suck it up and take you in because you have a place in their heart. This is the same for us if any of our next of kin turns to us for the same reason.

But most of the time, we will not think of them when we are rich, healthy and young. This is a sad fact that a lot of us needs to face.

Though I am not rich now, but at least when I am young and healthy, I try to think of my next of kin and schedule to spend time together. At least I know this is enough at this moment to keep them happy. :)

Back from Holiday!

2007-04-13T12:39:00.000+08:00

This whole week went off pretty fast since we left for Bangkok, came back, unpack, catch up with work and sleep. Paddy left for Macau the next morning right after we came back on Tue night, and he will be coming home this evening.

This whole week was great. With no stress, just shopping, eating and massages, life seems to be so carefree and relax. Typically, we will leave our hotel around 10am to search for breakfast, then we will begin our shopping journey after that. Most of the time, we come equipped with a shopping list and a list of itinerary for us to know where to go to get our stuffs. Along the way, if we are hungry or tired, we will stop for a while to eat and re-charge.

We will normally end our day around 8pm where we will drag our tired feet and heavy bags (full of shopping stuffs, of course!) back to our hotel and rest. After a hot shower, we either come out again for massage or go to night market.

Its pretty tiring to be walking and walking everyday, but its fun at the same time.

Some photos to share. :) Enjoy!

Found! Kooltime, Mars Odessey Series

2007-04-03T17:18:00.000+08:00

Thanks for all the friends whom commented on my previous entry for my search of Orang Watch. After much pondering and also suggestions from friends, I have decided to go back to the same brand and get a few other series of the watch that I currently have. With my beloved hubby's assistance, I also managed to find a Taiwan website that carries this brand of watches with other selections too. Check out :www.kooltime

This is their Taiwanese website with a whole selection of the collection they carry. I am so excited when Paddy found this and can't wait to go through each design and find something that I like. Since I have had this watch for a few years, i know they have good quality and also their designs are rather unique. So Paddy suggested that I get a replacement and also a few others. All in orange color!! Wow!!! I think I will wear all the watches on both wrists all day long and to bed and shower!! Haha... Anyway, check out the below pics in the order that I plan to get :

Of course all these are on top of my existing Mars Odessey watch. I was thinking of getting the strap change since it is still working well now and I really love it too much to get rid of it.

Now after seeing the designs in so many beautiful colors, I wonder should I get all of them in orange or a mixture of colors....

Haha! Greedy me!

Orange Watches

2007-03-28T15:51:00.000+08:00

For those of you whom know/seen me before, you might have noticed that I have an orange watch that I wear all the time. This is my favorite watch that had been with me for more than 5 years. It was a free gift when Paddy bought his handphone from M1, and since it is my favorite color, he gave it to me. Since then, I only wears this watch wherever I goes and has not set my eyes on any other watches. I remembered once when we were shopping at Taka, we see this watch on sale for S$99.

I like this watch because it has a unique watch face. It come with a pertruding glass that covers the watch face and bulge out at the top. A lot of times I get compliments from strangers that my watch is unique and asked where I get this. After wearing for 5 years, it got a bit of wear and tear. The strip has become slightly darker orange tone and the small plastic pieces that holds the watch strip at the end is about to give way too.

I have started to search for a replacement watch recently, and though there are a few that I fancy so far, they are still not as attractive as compared to my current one. Also, I want to get a watch within my budget, though there are others that are attractive, the price tag is too steep.

Since I am not in a hurry, i will just keep a lookout whenever I come across any nice watches. Maybe I might get some surprises when I travel oversea next month. :)

This is one of the watch that I like so far, but didnt really see this at any of the shops here. I was surfing online and came across this site.

Yummy Slurpee

2007-03-21T16:46:00.000+08:00

When was the last time you had your 7 eleven slurpee? I know I have not have one for years. At least for 3 years. I have never been really a slurpee person and it just did not occur to me that I can go and grab a cup of slurpee during a hot day if I bypass any 7 eleven. Even if I go to a 7 eleven store, most of the time I will get a canned or bottled drink to refresh myself rather. But with so many 7 eleven stores throughout the island, it is hard to miss one.

But when we were out for lunch today, Paddy suggested to get a cup of slurpee. Its pretty hot this afternoon, and I wondered since its been a long while too, why not. So we bought a cup and shared as we walked. Before long, we got brain freeze with every sip we take, and since it is quite refreshing, we finished the whole cup within minutes.

Hey, now I know, Slurpee is the way to refresh myself during a hot sunny afternoon. :)

Weekend outing

2007-03-19T15:59:00.000+08:00

This weekend was a busy one for us, as most of the time we are not at home!

Its jewelry making class at Asian Civilisation Museum on Saturday afternoon, follow by dinner at Cafe Cartel in Marina Square. Its been a while since the last time we go to Marina Square, and this used to be the place where we date when we are still in school. I still remembered we come to Marina Square once a week as we like the atmosphere then. But there are so much changes now that we can hardly recognise the place except for the water fall right outside the main road where the taxi stand is.

Maybe its age catching up, we only walk around for a while and made our way back home. Or it could be because I was conducting class in the afternoon and Paddy had a few meetings, so by 8pm, we are tired out and want to go home to rest.

On Sunday we went to a blog friend's popiah party and get to know a few new friends. All of us comes from different background and the only thing that links us up together is, we are bloggers. Yep, all of us are Singaporean bloggers whom blog for work or leisure. Somehow somewhere, one of us got to know each other and get linked up together for this little popiah party. The host was great, had plenty of food for us, and she makes excellent strawberry cakes! We had a great time chit-chatting at her place while eating free lunch! Haha.. if any of you are reading this, thanks all for sharing, I enjoyed myself a lot! :)

We left her place around 3pm and made our way to Ikea at Tampines. The new Ikea has been open for a few months and we have yet to have any chance to shop there. Now with a list of things we wanted to buy and since we are in the east, we dropped by for a while before we go to my mother's place for dinner.

Wow, the new Ikea is big! I feel it is much bigger than the one at Alexandra, but my sis keep telling me it is similar in size. Is it so? Anyway, the layout is simliar, with showroom at the 2nd level and small items and collections all featured at the 1st level.

Even though we came with a list, but we restrain a little bit because we wanted to give ourselves a wider selection when we visit Bangkok next month. So if we can get a better design or price and still manage to carry them back from Bangkok, then we might buy from Bangkok rather. Else, we will make another trip again to Ikea when we get back.

Shopping at such a large place really tired us out. We didnt even have any chance to visit Giant and Courts, we already surrendered and take a cab back to Yishun for dinner. After our dinner, we are in half dazed, only managed to chat with my mum and sis a while before we make our way back home.

With so much playing these past two days, we now have tonnes of work/housework and other stuffs to catch up!

When you are away

2007-03-11T16:43:00.000+08:00

Wow, time pass by so fast. I was still just thinking about this weekend a week ago when paddy will be away for 4 days, and now 3 days are gone and he is coming back tomorrow already.

On Friday I went to see him off at the airport, and after he left, I went to town to get some stuff. Its been a while since I go to town, and I have been avoiding going there since before CNY. Have always hated huge crowds, and I am not getting any CNY clothes, so there is not much reason for me to go there unless I am getting things.

It was a hot afternoon and by evening, I was dead beat from running from place to place and since I have bought tonnes of stuffs and was so hungry, I took my dinner at Far East before I can make my way back to Yishun. I had wanted to come back to Yishun for my dinner but I saw Subway, and since I was dead beat and hungry, I decided to go for their sandwich. Another reason was because its been a long long time since I eat Subway. Paddy mentioned a few days back that he ate Subway for his dinner one of the nights, and I started to have craving for it too.

When I reached home, I was too tired to do anything, so I just take a shower and seat down to watch my show. Since I am alone, I can do my stuffs in between and stop for a short break before I finally go to bed at 5am. Its been a long long time when I sleep so late, and usually its because I am watching TV series and wanting to complete the season asap.

Anyway, the next day I woke up at noon, again do my stuffs and get myself ready to go to my ma's place. I dont know whether is it because I so enjoyed my own space and freedom, I actually dread this short stay. Just a few weeks back, I initiated to stay over at ma's place with my sis and her son when Paddy is away, but I dont know why, I just dont feel like going and was hoping to stay at home to do my stuffs!!

Last night we chatted and relax together and played with little melon too. Today morning, I was awake by him at around 8am, so got up, chat for awhile and we went out for breakfast together. It was actually nice that we eat and shop around the market for a bit. I must say, its been such a long time since we do that. Though I didn't buy anything, but all the shopping, eating, chatting and sleeping over brought back fond memories of the past.

Now I am back home already, typing this blog entry. Will be going for a short jog later on, and come back to cook my own dinner. Will be doing some work later and maybe relax a bit before I call it a night.

Planning of picking Paddy up tomorrow at the airport :)

Photo on the Train

2007-03-09T10:26:00.000+08:00

This photo was taken last weekend on the train, while on my way to MAAD. I am just looking at it and comparing to other photos I have taken years back, I have realised how much I have grown.

My Life

Thank you and I love the Challenge!!!

The Forgotten Wired Beads

Chain of Beads-Iphone Appication FREE for Download

Simple yet challenging..

And I really went a little bit crazy with this.

Color Coily Wires

Paying Tribute to my tools. :)

Finally I finish this...

Jewelry Making classes for July 2010

New Beads!

KL Pictures-May 2009

One of those days...

Cool Air, Smooth Journey, spacious walkway and someone to go home with me!

Wire Woven Bead Cups

~~~Chinese Niu Year~~~

Just for Fun. ;P

I broke my cup :(

Just want to share

Are you ready for the brand new year?

Our trip to Ho Chi Minh City

Excuse me, who erased my photo away?

A quite relaxed day

The 2nd nephew is here!

How is your day?

My past 1 week with Paddy and our new friend call Typhoon

My past 1 week without Paddy

Sad Stories

Bad Stomach

Birthday outing

What a lazy Sunday

Where is the Sun?

No time to think. No time to rest.

Japan Pictures-June 2008

A great author-Ian Irvine

We made our moves

Something to be proud of

Black Hawk Down again

We went shopping today!

Random Stuff

A glimpse into my week

Lighter head, clearer thoughts. :)

Random Pictures

Bad Face Day?

Picture Time

When I am alone

New Year celebrations

Back with more positivity!

My Sick Days

Brand New Year, Brand New You

Last post for the year 2007

Christmas Day-Just Us

Missing out a lot and missing for too long

New Mac Book Pro feature-Nice......

The journey

Our new Toilets

Random Pictures from our trip-Nov 2007

Its break time!

Its Show Time!

The toughest project ever!

Orange Jewelries

My list for the weekend

Have you contributed ?

Keeping my Sanity

What inspires you?

More Bintan Pictures :)

Our Trip was great, but we are back now!

Bintan Trip-Preparation

Its finally time for a break!

What's Stress Got to Do With It?

Fun lor, but lotsa of work

And.. the Birthday Celebrations continues!

The Best Birthday Ever!

The same small talk at parent's place over the weekends

Our Short KL Trip

What have I been up to lately?

I ping liao, have you?

So sick of being sick

New Pendants

Dream of the Past

~Chinese Niu Year~