Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Friday, December 30, 2011

I never keep track of the resolutions i made through the years but is till like to make them . Having them made me feel like i am making efforts to move forward to new year with an improved self.

2012 Resolution:

PRIORITY: MAKING BABIES

1. Keeping a balance at work and knock off on time.
Will ask if i can change my working hours to start early at 830 and leave 6. Be more organized and on top of things during work so that I will not feel like work is endless. Be more focus and specialize in certain areas and also be more forthright in saying no when i needed to.

2. Exercise regularly
Keep a discipline of doing yoga on monday, wednesday/saturday morning, swim once every weekend, visit the nature or forest every once a month.

3. Eat regularly and ensure that I have lunch and dinner. Try to have dinner early before 8. If that is not possible, have light meals when i am back.

3. Be discipline in daily devotionals and also walk with the lord'
Set aside a short 15 minute devotion and also a 30 minute devotion in the evening with the lord. Pray with hubby together at night( so hard to keep up with this even though we attempt to)

4. Try to be early for church service every sunday and also keep up with attendance when I am serving at Sunday school. Make cell group a Friday Priority and take more active role in leading worship of bible study

5. Have dinner with in-laws and father/brother at least once a week

A 2011 thankful post

A thankful post

I should learn to give thanks . this year, i have not been much thankful about a lot of things happening in my life as I allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the huge workload at work. This also explained why my blog was silent for a while.

Yesterday, while i was doing my performance appraisal, i am thankful that through the process , i am able to reflect and evaluate what i had achieve over the past year. And boy, there were a lot of breakthroughs for me at workplace trying out new things, stepping out of my comfort zone and initiating new contacts and building on my expertise and having opportunities to where god wants me to focus my efforts and that is : special needs education. On top of that, i find myself being more resilient in stressful situations, being more convicted and and confident in expressing some of my views for certain issues and push forward certain staff. And for that, i thank god that he has given me strength to perserve , my hubby who tolerates and shares my frequent whines, my ever sweet, encouraging, understanding , supportive new boss, lynn and of course all the wonderful external professionals that I am working with this year.Without the opportunities given, i will not have grown so much professionally this year

I am thankful for my dad ,brother who were ever so understanding and understood that at times, i am so tired that I couldn't even bring myself to travel back and visit them.I would strive to reach a balance this year.

I am thankful for my wonderful cell group mates. what a year of change and also transitions
that all of us were facing . And despite our occasional frequent meet up due to babies and work, I am glad that we stood by each other and figure a way out to know one another better and also to be more accountable to one another in the lord's way

I am thankful for my friend , Hoon Lan who has been another pillar of strength and listening ear whenever i need one . I thank the lord that she is blessed with a little one next year and that she is able to cope with a demise of her love one this year with strength. I am also thankful that our husbands got to know one another better and that we have opportunities to hang around many times together in the year.

I am thankful for lord's spiritual food for me and provide opportunities for me to learn keyboard and spiritual worship at Believer music and also get to know some course mates who were an encouragement to me. I pray the lord will give me the discipline to continue to worship with him on that through music that will allow me to connect me more to him

And lastly, I am thankful that the lord gave me much strength to overcome the miscarriage that i have in the early part of this year . It took me a while and even now as I overcome the fears, the worries of getting conceiving again and ensuring that the baby is safe and healthy. I pray that he could contiinue to strengthen my faith and trust in his timing and continue to keep a joyful heart on this journey.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Turkey Istanbul

7th August 2011

Turkey has been the one of the countries that we have always wanted to visit.Simply because of its rich history and culture. 10 nights and 7 days in the historically known Constantinople and Byzantium has allowed us to marvel at the beauty of Western Turkey and visited four of its biggest cities.

On the first day, we landed in Istanbul , I so love the city ( that I listed as one of my top favorites after Paris and New York) and had made up my mind that I would visited it again It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents. Istanbul is a designated alpha world city.

Most of the architecture in Istanbul is primarily known for its Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, but its buildings reflect the various peoples and empires that have ruled its predecessors. Genoese, Roman, and even Greek forms of architecture remain visible in Istanbul alongside their Ottoman counterparts, Our first stop is the predominant Haga Sophia. The building is interesting as it has remnants of Christianity and Islam design and influence in one building. It started off as one of the largest cathedral in the ancient world, afterwhich was converted to a mosques, where the mosaics are plastered, minibars and minarets were added after Constantipole was conquered by the Ottoman Turks Under Sultan Memed II.

Next was the Tokapi palace. It is one of the largest palace in Istanbul and was occupied by the Ottoman Turks. The palace was one of the Unesco Heritage Site. When we first entered the site, it was designed with the same concept that it would be a self contained little town like some other palaces that we have visited in the other parts of the world. It has many courtyards and of course different function rooms.While listening to the stories told by the guide in the first courtyard, I could already visualize how the courtiers are assembled to host the different ambassadors from around the world. Then hubs and I quickly hopped over to the second and third courtyard where we managed to see many of the artifacts , the porcelain collection, the treasury, the arms collection and not forgetting one of the biggest diamonds and emerald that the royal families have worn.


As time was a little short... ( the downside of a tour package), we quickly went through the various rooms and visited the outer gardens which is my favourite part of the palace. Over here, we have a panoramic view of the Mamara sea from the palace. With the nice Mediterranean weather, Hubs and I spent a good 20 minutes marveling at the beautiful scenaries.



We then proceed to the the Blue Mosque. What a magnificent mosque in the classical period and being one of the largest in the world, with , 6 minarates, 8 domes. According to our tour guide, when you have 6 minarates in a mosque, it signifies that this is a mosque visited by the royal family.
We linger around the inner courtyard while the guide was giving a history of the mosque. It happened to be the fasting month when we visited Turkey so we could see lot of people which provided such a great view of the exterior of the mosque.




The interior view featuring the prayer area and the dome.

Before we say good bye to the blue mosque, there is this area where everyone has to washed their feet before they left or entered the mosque


Next we had a quick stop over at the hippodrome.It was the heart of the sporting and political life of old Constantinople.Monuments decorating the Hippodrome include the 3500-year-old Egyptian granite Obelisk of Theodosius, brought to Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius in 390 AD. You'll also see the spiral bronze base of a three-headed serpent sculpture brought from Delphi in Greece.At the southwestern end of the Hippodrome is the bare stone Column of Constantine Porphyrogenetus, dating from the 10th century. Just west of the Hippodrome is the Binbirdirek Cistern ("Cistern of 1001 Columns"), worth a look.

After lunch, we started our journey to the hotel that we are staying in Kudasi. Over here, we were ready to depart from the European Continent and take a ferry across the Mamara sea to Asia continent ( Anatolia). What an exciting and life time experienc!!
After 3 hours ride, we finally reached our hotel in Cannakale , checked in and retired early with the beautiful sunset hues.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

YANNI IN SINGAPORE


One thing about marriage is, you learn to enjoy each other company in one another interests. Husband's love from the past- YANNI. I wasn't a big fan but after the one night concert at MBS, i was blown away by the talented musician and his band. Truely world class!

Batam Getaway


Sometimes a simple getway with frens over simple board games and eating can recharged your spirit. We should do this more often.