Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 is the year of...

Photo Credits: Mint Exposure
Now that the year is coming to an end, it's a time to be pensive and reflect on the many events that has happened in my life, before we move on to 2014 (and I turn 29 *groans*).

2013 has been a particularly eventful year for me, with both ups and downs just like how life is... and I would like to recap all of them...

(1) My first trip to East Malaysia in January 2013 to visit clients (existing clients whom I have hounded them incessantly and new ones who were very friendly)! It was an extremely interesting trip as it was my first trip shipyard-hopping in Miri and Sibu amidst my professional attire, and these 2 places were serene and calm, far different from what I have been used to Singapore. That said, the hotel I stayed in my first night was really scary and I couldn't sleep at all. Despite having been on overseas work trips several times in this job and being used to having to sleep alone in a foreign place, it was really unforgettably spooky - I will never step foot into that hotel again *eeps*.

But the view from my hotel was still stunning nonetheless.




2. My last work trip to HK in March 2013 was definitely interesting. I was rushing to pack for the trip and I made a mental note to myself that HK was the same as SG (same time zone, compared to Mumbai) and happily just prepared my media kit and newspapers and slammed the suitcase shut on Sunday for an afternoon flight to HK as I had a client meeting later that evening (yes, that was the only window of opportunity for me to meet said person, who was flying off on Monday so I was pressed for time).

Upon touching down at HK airport, smart me realised that it was darn cold - 14 degrees - and the longest dress I had was knee-length! I forgot about the temperature/climate difference and assumed that HK would be as warm as SG.

Despite the freezing cold, I dropped my luggage to meet the client for coffee in Central, mumbling to myself that I would buy a coat or something after the meeting.

Meeting ended at 9pm and when I reached the hotel (Ibis, Sheungwan - which has cramped rooms), room service had ceased and there was nothing to eat and nothing to buy. GG, Belle.

I scampered to the convenience store below and found *gasps* an array of instant noodles, but more importantly, in my favourite Tonkotsu flavour! :)








 This is how I epic-ly ended my first night in HK for March 2013.









The next few mornings were spent visiting my dearest clients at their offices, and I was amazed at the breath taking view of the HK harbour that their premium office locations enjoyed.

Makes work less dreadful, no?








 In my hasty taxi ride back to the hotel, I caught a glimpse of ICAC! Too much HK drama, I know.

I can never go hungry with HK's cha can tengs at all corners of the streets! I ate these for dinner, for 3 nights - love how they make the century egg so delightful!





This was my staple breakfast every morning - love their bo luo buns! Simple yet so tasty :)











And as always, I kept in touch with Dan through Facetime and whatsapp (where he sent me drawings)... Even though half the time we were agonising over the (lack of strong) internet connectivity, these small bits of conversations kept me going on. Being away on weeks of work trip alone is really tough, and his drawings keep me sane :)




Absolutely tired face after one week of work trip (830am - 6pm) with almost no breaks - never too tired to camwhore :)
 3My first trip to Shanghai, China in April 2013

I caught a red eye flight to Shanghai and arrived groggily and grumpily at 7am, extremely upset with the lack of sleep. There was a conference in the early afternoon and my day had just began...


As usual, my belongings were strewn all around the Four Seasons Hotel room and the day just ended very late, with a lot of fun seeing the Shanghai colleagues and the chatter during the opening reception.


That night, I just called the front desk to give me 3 calls with 30 mins intervals for the next morning because I knew I would have overslept.


The next morning, next thing I knew, in my groggy state I heard the phone ring incessantly but I had been so tired that I ignored it (normal for morning calls in the hotel, right?)...

Then I heard the door open - the door was locked and trust me, I am a panicky freak and I would have made sure it was locked -

then I saw a sneaky figure peep at me and run off.

I thought I was still dreaming, until I had to shake myself up as I realised the severity of the situation.

I checked the door - it was really unlocked - which meant that someone had indeed intruded into my room.

I went to the Front Desk and checked and they confirmed they had sent a MALE representative to my room to check on me after my FIRST morning call was unanswered, with no apologies. That was really terrible - I hadn't expected that from them - at least they could have sent a female rep and I wouldn't have died because I didn't pick up the first morning call.

But there was no time to waste as there was so much going on - so I didn't bother making any formal complaint but I took note to double lock my door this time and place a table against the door - just in case.

This also marked my last trip for work in 2013.

 4. My fixation with Diablo III was my way to cope with the increasing stress at work - extremely therapeutic and I was always looking forward to checking if I had won gold or USD in the AH or RMAH respectively.

These days, playing Diablo III has become a luxury instead - I try not to stare at the computer anymore after work.


 5My 28th birthday celebration was an almost one week affair (10 - 16 May 2013) and the best I ever had :)

We spent the first half of the day at USS (where I was promised to be brought to) and after blindfolding me and leading me to somewhere that sounded quite quiet, I opened my eyes to a beautiful Awfully Chocolate cake and my dearest friends in front of me :)






                                                   Thank you for the beautiful surprise that I will never forget :)



My birthday book to keep

 The beautiful villa! 

The birthday celebration ended off on my actual birthday where we had nice sake at Five Izakaya Bar at Changi City Point:




Thank you for giving me the best I ever had :)

6Getting notified that our new house would be ready in 2nd quarter 2014 - filled with excitement and anxiety - and of course lots of planning for our new house's furnishings!

7. Baking (or in my case, looking at Dan bake) has been lots of fun. I can only lay claim on this Oreo No-Bake cheese cake (because... no bake...) while he has baked tiramisu, brownies, cookies, which are always yummy (even when I do not have a sweet tooth). 


8. Terrible haze that caused so much irritation to us but taught us to love and take care of our environment. It was really depressing to see our familiar skylines shrouded in dirty haze.


9. Trip to HK in July with bestie for our project - we had a no frills long day walking along to find out what we could procure and ended up lots of loots! As usual, our trip was filled with nothing but laughter (for example, her dropping her phone, us buying a BAG of rice, finding out there were silicone gel bits available...) - what would I do without you?


10. Spraining my left ankle every week was no joke. My ankle has always been a problem - but the sudden burst of clumsiness exacerbated the problem - I went for TCM at 2 clinics voluntarily despite my darkest fear of pain, because I couldn't take the damn sprain every week. 



11. My cornea laceration on both eyes brought me the worst time of 2013 - it was terrifying to not be able to see clearly; at one point, I was even having blurry visions.

The specialist told me that my eyes had been abused for too long and while others required just days or weeks to recover, my corneas would require months because I had worn my contact lens for too long for years.

Because I was always too lazy, I wore my contact lens from morning 7am to 1am, thinking that it would be ok.

It's not okay - having the biggest scare of your life with such poor vision with hyper sensitivity to light is no joke at all. The amount of tender care required and the medication needed on my eyes caused me so much upset and regret about not taking care of my eyes.

As I cannot control my working hours, I switched to wearing glasses instead - better ugly than lose my sight.
And I only wear dailies (if I ever do), otherwise Dan will start nagging again.


12. Our healthy lifestyle was a success with running weekly and eating non fried and oily food - we have to push ourselves harder again! It's an amazing feat if you ask me the amount that we ran - but running together really helped motivate me :)


13. Celebrating Dan's 30th birthday marks our 5th year together :)

I found this really cute Durian cake from Durian Empire and surprised Dan with it. 

The cake was unfortunately too sweet I feel but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Dan and his favourite boy :)

I also planned a surprise short getaway to Taiwan where we savoured all the snacks we could and this time we stayed at a fantastic hotel at Ximending - it was posh but it did not break my bank, with stylish furnishings and a perfect location.




I honestly wish we have more time to travel, but I know that your work takes up a lot of your time. We will work hard together so that we can go for a longer trip in 2014 :)

Sleeepy,
Belle

Monday, December 16, 2013

5 more months to...


Yes, I'm counting down.

5 more months to...

(1) Collecting our keys to our new home after waiting for years!

(2) Saying "I do" to a lifetime commitment of being together through thick or thin

So many things to do, so little time.

We received the letter that informed us of the expected TOP date of our new home to be in 2nd quarter 2014, which almost coincides with the wedding date - thanks to hectic work schedules and no work-life balance, we are now facing 2 major milestones in our lives - gulps-!

I'm already visualising that the planning will get tougher and tougher as we approach May 2014, so please grant us sanity and control over the madness that will unfold itself.

It's already mid December, and we have so much more to do, including deciding on the wedding theme and colour, the favours, the gatecrashing, the outdoor solemnisation event...

I think we need a holiday, like now...

Tired max,
Belle




Sunday, September 29, 2013

Painful lesson for the forgetful me


I'm not only growing old, but also getting really forgetful.

I was going through my stash in my designated wardrobe (yes, Daniel actually assigned me one wardrobe so that Hurricane Isabelle would not devastate his personal area, but alas... the damage is still done, and I have also taken over some parts of his wardrobe)...

... and I found so many new stuff that I do not remember having bought before.

*sheepish face*

I suspect that it must have been because I succumbed to my frequent bouts of stress-induced shopping therapy, and I conveniently stashed them quietly in my corner and forgot about them.

I have become so good at hiding my purchases that I, myself, forget that I even bought them.

Anyway.

I saw my collection of skincare/makeup products that look so foreign to me, and some of them are even unopened!

The Biotherm AquaSource product above is one such example. Sigh.

Unsealed, untouched, unused.

I tried looking for the expiry date but I saw a foreign-looking batch code staring back at me.

This is the time that Google is the most useful tool on Earth. I frantically typed in "how to read expiry date for biotherm product singapore" and I got this website.

Apparently, the product was manufactured in 2009 (!) and as all skincare/make up products go, the effective use date is 3 years... which means, it's expired!!!

I tried another website to confirm this heart-breaking news and unfortunately, the bad news remain.

I recently discovered a whole box (at least 20cm length x 20cm length) worth of products that I had to throw away - actually Daniel had to pull it away from me and insisted that I just got rid of them as the expiry date was 2009... and I have to go through this trauma again, today!

I really hate throwing things away. Yes, I'm a compulsive hoarder, and one day when I grow old, I think I may just accidentally set a fire to my stash of belongings and die and noone will even know!

I don't think anyone should go through this pain of throwing expensive skincare/make up products away because they have expired after being left forgotten at the back of the wardrobe... so I decided to start using those that have yet to expire (at least 2 more years to go, which means my last cosmetics major shopping haul happened in 2012, during one of my bad days... ).

The website links to check the expiry dates of your products are here, in case the links above fail...

1 .Cosmetic Calculator (http://checkcosmetic.net/)
2. Cosmetics Wizard (http://cosmeticswizard.net/)

Many companies do not provide in a straightforward manner of "Best Before Dates", so it's more important to check, especially for face products.

Sigh,
Belle

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Wedding Preparations 1101E

Image credits: www,celebrateintimateweddings.wordpress.com
I know I will be a bridezilla.

I just know I will be, given my terrible temper and my persistence (aka nasty insistence on having everything go perfectly according to plan, with no room for any mistakes).

In fact, I think I have already become one. 

I cannot describe fully how the wedding preparations have been overwhelmingly scary to me, and the most difficult part for me was how to start planning, as there were so many factors to consider.

We have finally confirmed the wedding venue and the special date, after countless appointments with the banquet sales manager during our missed lunch breaks and numerous deliberations between Dan and I. All I can say is I'm so relieved that we have at least taken the baby steps to confirm these 2 details.

*wipes sweat*

When I was very young and I was the flower girl for my 2 sisters who got married, I always imagined myself having a lot of fun preparing all these details, down to the colour of my bouquet, the lace details of my wedding dress, the engraving on the wedding rings...

But when I first started the planning, I almost wanted to give up and I was telling Dan that I couldn't sleep well, I was having headeggs and it was a nightmare. I'm very thankful that he sat me down and walked through the steps with me.

Yesterday, we went for our first bridal gown trying to decide which bridal studio we would be working with and I really like this dress that I tried:


I fell in love with this gown for its delicate details and its beautiful train.

In fact, I think the most enjoyable part (as you can see, I'm only beginning to start enjoying the planning process... like now...) of wedding planning is the trying of wedding gowns! It's like shopping with no obligations (dependent on the bridal studio you go and whether they are pushy... but I'm lucky I have a nasty resting bitch face).

But then again, picking THE wedding gown is also quite tough... too many choices, too little time, too little money...

This is the best time to go online to browse through gowns and get inspirations for the gown, but the problem is also that there are really too many choices.

I'm not known to be decisive when there are too many choices... so I foresee that I am going to have some problems :/

As for the evening gown, I really like these styles for now... but I have not done enough research yet:




I find the last gown more contemporary, and less formal, since the evening gown is for the 2nd march-in... But I still cannot make up my mind >.<

The next thing is to start losing weight! Probably the most worrying issue for brides-to-be...

Hungry but shall not eat so much,
Belle

Monday, July 22, 2013

Alles gut!

When anyone asks me to go for a full body check up, this is my reaction:

Image credit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-Place/350144495057144
Although I do wish I look this hideously cute when I wince at the thought of a full body check up.

After my 28th birthday, I decided to grab hold of the opportunity to go for the much feared body check up offered to my company (Norwegian companies have good welfare!) by ignoring the many obstacles I knew I would face.

1. I am afraid of needles (big or small, thin or thick)
2. I hate seeing blood
3. I hate small talk during the time of anguish when my blood is being drawn into the many test tubes (just get it over and done with!)
4. I hate people laughing at me when I overreact during the drawing of the blood

But the biggest obstacle is the fact that I do not want to know the results of the test.

Call this a death wish/counter intuitive/ironic, if you want... but having lost my father and my bro in law to cancer... the innate fear of checking my health and finding out the underlying problems scares me than all the ABOVE four reasons. Proof that this is a normal behaviour? Prof Stella Quah's medical sociology tutorial - apparently, family members who have had loved ones with medical issues (i.e. cancer) are less willing to go for health tests themselves, due to the fear as well as the pain of having seen their loved ones go through the treatments.... I'm not justifying my behaviour.

But anyway, the results are out today (but I hardly slept last night with the hypochondriac me imagining all the possible statements that the doctor would say..."I'm sorry but...", "I hate to be the one to break the news but..." or "Did you bring a family member with you...")!

It's all good! Okay, save for the fact that my cholesterol is sliggggggggggggggghtly higher than what it should be... BUT, I'm doing something about it! And I tried to impress the doctor by telling him I'm adopting a healthier lifestyle and all... my bad habit of not wanting to ever seem to be at fault/wrong/not perfect.

I'm really thankful that the results are actually better than I thought - except for my slight high cholesterol and the darn Thalassemia bugging me... The former, I can change, the doctor says... but Thalassemia-wise, he shrugged and told me to live with it and eat more livers... *shudders*

Now my corneas have fully recovered and my health screening a-okay, I feel less burdened and heavy (no pun intended) now, without having to sweep the worries of my health status under the carpet... I've been getting sick too often, the back hurting too much, whining like an old lady, but doing nothing about it...

Should have done my health check up earlier (my headstrong perfectionistic self speaking again...)!

But as always, hindsight is always 20/20. :)

Blessed,
Belly


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Start by loving ourselves (more)...

Photo credit: www.leanitup.com
Apart from the frequent bouts of flu, chronic grouchiness and feeling darn lazy and lethargic, I have been avoiding looking into the mirror because I don't quite like what I see. Hurhurhur.

And on top of that, we've just had a complimentary health screening at work, and the truth stared back hard into my face - it's time that I start to do something about my health. The numbers aren't looking good (and this includes my BMI), and I was rather affected by what the implications were. Now that I'm still in my twenties, there must be some things I can do to become healthier (and lose weight, as you can see from my list on the right).

I didn't quite know where to start, and the possibilities were endless - slimming pills, Atkins diet and the myriad of the other diet plans you see on the market... or just eat 1 fruit a day.

I had a talk with a friend, who had her epiphany 6 months ago that she had to do something about her health, since her lifestyle could become healthier... and she shared with me what she did to achieve her current healthy and fit body - no slimming pills but with lots of determination and discipline.

The below is Daniel and my version of our "keep fit" plan, revised and adjusted according to our lifestyles:

First, we started by loving ourselves more... That means watching what we put in our mouths, and not allowing our dietary habits harm our bodies.

Instead of the easily accessible fast and junk food, we made a pact to totally avoid (since it's either yes or no completely, right?) the following for the next 6 months:

Isabelly's 5 no-nos
1. Alcohol (i have taken enough of them for the past 5 years, thank you very much *points to beer belly*)
2. Bad Carbos (white rice, white bread and the likes)
3. Soft Drinks (yes, this is damn tough for someone who drinks AT LEAST 1 coke a day....)
4. Fast food (goodbye Macs, KFC, Popeyes, Mos...)
5. Fried food (sigh... let's not even start....)

Of course, it's easier said than done... we started this on 1 July, and the first week went fine (simply because I have this ability to have fiery passion for a task for the first few moments), but the first friday, it was scary. It was as if I had withdrawal symptoms for Coke... -.- *shudders*

That said, other than avoiding unhealthy food, we focused more on eating healthy (or healthier...) food. That's the beginning of loving ourselves :)

Focusing on healthy/healthier food intake

Everyday, being caffeine-holics, we need at least 3 cups of coffee to function (yes, another addiction that's hard to kick...) so we changed our drinks to kopi-O-kosong... iced, for me. Trust me, it felt like drinking diluted sewage water, that was so difficult to bear.... but after 3 weeks, it has become normal to me already.

We make sure we get our daily servings of fruits by picking grapefruits, watermelons, lychees (sometimes), mangos, strawberries, blackberries, for our fruit juices. Our juices are prepared not with those juicers that remove all skins - in fact, we picked this Shake 'n take Smoothie Blender from Groupon (yes, I'm addicted to that as well -.-) which blends exactly what you put inside... so in way, you don't have to worry about losing the nutrients/vitamins when you make fruit juices with machines that remove the skin of the fruits...




Calories intake

Just like our life, everything requires a fine balance between input and output. Similarly, for a good dietary plan, we have to make sure that your calories intake cannot be more than the daily recommended amount, in order to maintain your current weight. From what I read, ladies are recommended to have a minimum of 1,200 calories to avoid what experts call "starvation mode" which would decrease your metabolism.

So of course, if you are looking at losing some weight (the recommended amount of weight to lose every week is 1 kg - the more weight you lose at the beginning esp through crash diets, the faster and more you gain it back, and it's therefore a poor strategy), make sure that:

Your nett calories = not negative

Your NETT Calories = Calories Input - Calories Output

If you notice, we focused more on our dietary plan than the exercise regime (which will come later) because from what we read, 70% of reaching your ideal healthy weight is from your diet and 30% is dependent on your exercise/fitness regime.

Of course, eating healthy is so darn tough, especially when Singapore is a food paradise and our busy schedule is always a good excuse for grabbing unhealthy food (often convenient):

My personal favourite excuses:

"I'm running late - I'll just grab a burger and fries from Macs!"
"I'm too busy to buy veggies/fruits from the supermart - anyway my wanton mee got veggies already, what..."
"One coke a day won't kill... I'm not drinking 10 cans anyway..."

The truth is, it's too easy to eat unhealthily. Even if I were not to be concerned about my gradual weight gain these few years (i.e. I am not looking at losing weight), I have begun to worry how I allow myself to eat so much non-nutritious and even harmful food...

And all our lifestyles are highly stressful, filled with horrid addictions, and the last thing I want to put my body under is bad junk/fried food...

And of course, one underlying reason I have begun to have the slightest concern for my health is because of KJ. He left us when he was so young, leaving behind his loved ones... and I don't wish to leave my kids behind or have Daniel leave me behind... one less sin (unhealthy food) cut down, is better than none, i say.


Exercises

This is the toughest part, not only because I HATE to get my butt out doing some strenuous running/jogging/brisk walking, but also because I am always overly ambitious and I try to start something unachievable, and end up burning out/being depressed that I couldn't reach my goals.

So Dan and I decided to start slow - for someone like me who hasn't ran in years... since I was 18? (that's 10 years ago...-.- ) we decided to pace ourselves and get our bodies ready...

The first run was so bad, as expected... I ended up running like perhaps 1km and stopping for 2km... At the end of the 1st run around Dan's place (that's about 1km), I wanted to kick myself for this foul suggestion of running...

 
Trust Dan to still look so happy... I looked so incredibly happily ugly that I had to crop myself out...

But the hardest part about starting an exercise regime...is actually not the beginning... it's the continuing...

It's too easy to say "Not today! My legs are still sore!", "Let's run another day!" or "I'm too tired", so we didn't give ourselves (too many) excuses to be lazy... we ran 2x the 1st week of July, but we stopped entirely for the 2nd week as we flew to Taipei that weekend (tickets had been bought to celebrate Mr Dan's birthday... and yes, excuses like "we are busy with work in anticipation of the weekend trip" really did happen).

But the best thing is, we noted that we had stopped in 2nd week... so we told ourselves that we had to do something about it... so we made a note to work harder in the 3rd week (this week).

Guess what? We ran 4x this week (Mon, Tues, Wed and Sat) and of course, other than being utterly tired, I'm so proud that we've been improving (no matter how slightly) our stamina, our pace and our discipline!

Of course we are not going to complete 3km in 15mins any time soon - not excuses, but to be really realistic - but we are doing something positive to improve our health and we are keeping this going, without just ignoring the health facts that we are becoming increasingly unhealthy. That, I do think, deserves 2 big thumbs up!

That's why these few days, as I tell Dan, I'm not quite self-conscious in sucking in my tummy - I know I'm unhealthy, but I'm doing something about it! ;)

x        x       x      x      x

It's been a good 3 weeks - and with a healthier diet plan and lots of water (very impt!), I actually feel much happier and less lethargic (but of course, my legs don't feel like they're mine anymore...)  - I hope that in another month's time, we are still carrying on strong! :)

Off to zzz,
Belly