New Year Resolution.....

Song Lyrics of "The Rose"

Some say love it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love it is a razer
That leaves your soul to blead

Some say love it is a hunger
an endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
and you it's only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying
That never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed
That with the sun's love
In the spring
Becomes the rose

My only new year's resolution is to remind myself of the lyrics of this song as personally, once you start loving, that's when everything falls into place & all work & sacrifices are worthwhile....

HAPPY NEW 2007 to one & all!

Alila Manggis, Bali Trip

Back to the dreary side of rain in Spore after 4 whole days of glorious sunshine in Bali - Alila Manggis to be specific (East Bali). Thankfully nothing happened during the time we were there....

We were lucky to have been blessed throughout our stay there with more than enough sunshine to re-charge the body batteries with loads of r&r cos the resort that we stayed in was far from town i.e. not walking distance (15 min car ride) & no other shopping streets around the resort. It was basically "wake-up - breakfast- pool- lunch - pool/nap -dinner -dreamland" for the past 4 days. This life suits me fine after so much of rushing around for the past few centuries *hahaha* a lil exaggeration doesn't hurt no one yah?;)

However, with a view like the pic below every evening at sunset from my room almost every evening, who can ask for more yah?

We had our usual holiday massage at the famous Spa Alila (related to an earlier post of spa at Alila Ubud). Thankfully, the spa was part of the package deal we got from Garuda cos they got their prices in USD! Had a fun time - love to be back there sometime soon (I hope)! :)

Upcoming Trip to Bali

Arising from the recent bomb threats following the acquittal of Bashir, there has been heightened security listing for Indonesia (in particular Bali) for the Christmas and New Year season. This means that hubby & i are put in a position where we have to consider cancelling our trip to Bali starting tomorrow.

After discussions with the travel agent and amongst ourselves, given the fact that the agent informed us that we are the only one who have expressed concerns on travelling there, we decided to go ahead with our Christmas trip, bearing in mind that we have to avoid the touristy places like Kuta and that the resort that we have chosen is far from the maddening crowd as well.

Nonetheless, it's a shame that the beautiful island (of which we have very fond memories of) will be again subjected to such unfairness.

Am looking forward to 4 days of sun and sand with the kids, at Alila Manggis away from the Christmas crowd here in Spore & a bit of r & r.

Hopefully the island will be spared of the gloom that they have experienced for the past few years.....

For more info, please read the news article on New Bali threat as Bashir is cleared

Christmas Gifting

For this year's Christmas gifting, I have contributed to the World Vision organisation the $ I have set aside for gifts meant for MBA, my special pals from college. To me, this is a yearly tribute to our friendship & a great way to remind ourselves of all the blessings we have each received for the year.

To MBA, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I am sure you all will be pleased to know that you have contributed to 2 goats to a family in Myanmar and a pair of sheep to an Ethiopian family.

For those who are rushing about thinking of last minute shopping for special persons close to your heart, why not gift a gift of hope on their behalf by contributing to a worthy cause?

Besides World Vision, here are a few web-links you can access....they need as much help as you can give so that they can continue to do the great work for humans & those who share our planet.......

1. WWF for a living planet - Gifts for a Living Planet start from $15, and they make a real difference to WWF's conservation work around the world.
2. --Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital--is a charitable organization committed to providing quality healthcare to the sick and needy in Singapore.
3. Sharity Gift Box 2006 by The Boys' Brigade this is another initiative to bring Christmas cheer to the less fortunate in Singapore by donating specified food and household items or fulfilling specific wishes. Please help as much as you can. As of 15 Dec 06, their Wishes update indicates that only 25% of the food wishes & 22.5% of the specific wishes have been fulfilled.

to one & all, MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fully braced up!

I finally got my full braces! Straight teeth in 1.5 yrs' time (I seriously hope it's only going to take that long!) I have heard of bad stories that caused the braces to be left on for 3 whole years!

Many colleagues asked why I bother to do it now at a ripe ol age of 34...well, to me it's a case of "now or never" cos come next year is another age milestone for me. Well, truth be told, vanity does play a small part but the other part is simply cos my bottom teeth really getting crowded & more difficult to maintain. I never had the good fortune of doing braces when i was younger so in effect, it took me some 9 years of working before I could save up enough (but more importantly, enough courage to do the task of getting an orthodontist to look into fixing braces for me).

I got the full metal braces (not the stylistic ceramic ones that's more common nowadays) cos it just takes a shorter time according to my orthodontist & costs $1K lesser to fix & lesser $ to maintain in case the brackets fall out.

Had to start the upper row of teeth to move it outwards so that the lower braces could be fitted. That process alone took 3 visits to the orthodontist (some 3 month or so) before the "problematic" lower row of teeth could be fixed with the brackets yesterday.

The result of having full braces is inability to eat anything other than porridge. Great side effect of slimming down! Double plus yah?! Sure going to miss my fav foods but i think it's for a better cause - straight teeth!

I am BACK! ..... The colour of purple....

Finally decided to self medicate to see what's wrong & found out that blogger is not used to my mac book safari & had to download firefox to get things going. Like what I see so far but keeping fingers crossed on whether it will fit well with my macbook safari....

just shifted to my new cubicle in the office & so far a fair number of people have asked me if i like purple cos my mugs, water bottle, spectacles, crystals are all in purple. Decided to do some surfing to check out & my findings are quite interesting....

The Color Psychology of Purple

Purple is the symbol of royalty and wealth.

Purple also represents wisdom and spirituality.

Purple does not often occur in nature, it can sometimes appear exotic or artificial.

What do YOU think?

Answers to the 3 tagged questions....

Ah! My dear MBA folks hve been kind enough to give me not too difficult questions to answer on a long dreay virus filled night (sorry EVERYONE in my family are sick sick sick).... so off to the answering:

(Q1) Have you ever cheated while playing a board game ?
OF COURSE! me certainly no angel when i play games......very mean competitive streak in me.

I also know when my lil girl nat cheated as well...in a way...cos it's a card game called "Old Maid" and she was supposed to find pairs & she cheated by peeking at the cards when placing them down. Ah! my daugther has my mean competitive streak as well ;)

(Q2) Have you ever said an ugly baby was cute to be kind to the mother?
OF COURSE! the worst is when I see an "old" child ....u know those babies that look like ol' froggies & avoided as much eye contact as possible with the mom. Just found one baby photo that looks as bad....



(Q3) When was the last time you called someone a "bitch"?
my dears....we are not called Mega Bitches for nothin! OF COURSE I said this like a gazillion times over the last 34 years of living - not all loud thank goodness or else wld cause a fight where i go.....

So Az (sorry can't link to you), it's off to you!