Spanking new curls!

I think I've complained enough about my hair being too dry (thanks to constant exposure to chemical, sun, and sea water).

I finally chopped it all off. By that, i meant the split ends!

Went to Jean Yip salon at the Curve to do my digital perming. I've come to like their hair spa, scalp treatment, and special 4-step after treatment.

Only downside is that everytime I do something to my hair here, I'll spend like at least 4 hours or so. Today, I was in since 2pm. And I've actually made appointment to meet up with Shukz and Mich for dinner at around 6+pm.

Felt so bad cos my hair was done only at about 7:45pm. Yups, guilt trip kaokao. Sorry gals!

Luckily I've informed the gals that I'd be late and they were smart enough to do some shopping while waiting pour moi.

Please don't ask me how much the damage was. All i know is I won't be going shopping for a while.

I know some of you have been asking already (you know who you are la :P) but I'm sorry I just didnt take any nice pix of myself yet. So I guess I won't be posting a close up pix of myself with my spanking new hairstyle. :P

Yups, you gotta excuse me. I was damn tired from all the sitting and waiting, I wasn't in the mood to camwhore at all.

We had dinner at Friday's.
Why do i look like I was gonna cry or something?
Answer: maybe I was too tired?
maybe I was just plain hungry?

All i could think about was food. Thank God Friday's portion is always enormous.

~*~*~*So happy*~*~*~

My bro just returned from HK and he got me this!

Currently, I just love love love anything in white. :)

Praise the Lord

Last night before sleeping, I was praying.

No, I was actually having a conversation with the Lord.

I was asking Him, "Father, I don't know why, but why am I so calm? Why am I feeling such an overwhelming sense of peace in my heart that I'm not worried nor afraid of the scan tomorrow?"
Yes, there was an extra-ordinary sense of peace and calmness which enveloped me. I would have been scared if I was to go for a scan a year or so ago. I would have panicked.

I think embracing and meditating on God's word - His truth, have helped me alot. Without realising, my trust and faith in the Lord - that He is a great God, and He has plans to give me the best, more than I ever asked for, have made me stronger.

While praying, I've been reminded of His great love for me. =)

I remember there is a verse in the bible that tells us not to worry. I know that I'm His child, and if He is for me, who can be against me? For He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

A few scriptures came to mind. One of which was Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Also, the part in the gospel where the Gentile woman who has been bleeding for 12 years touched His garment, and by her faith, she was healed immediately. And by faith, I claimed that for my healing too. Hallelujah!

I went to bed with a deep sense of peace in my heart.

~*~*~*The ultrasound*~*~*~

My gynae could not detect anything wrong in the ultrasound. whoopee. :)

Thing is, she's not sure what's causing the prolonged bleeding. But according to her, it may be a "one off" thing. I've been informed that it should go on for maybe another 5-7 days, and I was asked to observe the flow of the bleeding.

If it doesn't stop by then, or if the flow gets heavier, I should consult her immediately.

I'm to see her again in a month's time for follow up.

Only thing is, I'm losing so much blood lately, I've been having these fainting spells on and off..Besides feeling very woozy as if I could pengsan (faint) anytime, I've been feeling like sleeping all the time, and of cos please excuse me if I sounded blur to you. I think my brains have lack of oxygen or something.

Don't worry I should be OK. ;) . Also, thanks for your prayers. Muaaakkisses~

Doc has prescribed iron and folic acid tablets to help me generate my haemoglobins back.

~*~*~*ISC's event*~*~*~

I was given a day's Medical Leave today cos she wanted me to rest as my blood pressure was pretty low. But I declined cos there's an event organised by the International Student Council (ISC) at work today, and I've promised to help out.

Oh, did i mention that I met this cute local model, Adrian Jalaludin at the event? He was one of the judges and I had to entertain him at the VIP room prior to the commencement of the event. Adrian is not only a hottie, he's also very talented. He's currently hosting a sports programme (or is it a WIP? Sorry I can't remember if the programme is on air already or not :P) for Astro.


I just found out that Adrian is also one of our students. He's currently studying mass communication at LCS. I told him I bet all the girls in his class are drooling over him. And he being ever so humble, denied.

22 year-old Adrian has lotsa potential!

Another happy thing:
Digi's Yellowman attended our event today as one of the sponsors. He was so damn adorable and really made all of us laughed. At one point, when I was ushering the VIPs into the hall, he (yes, he as in he the Yellowman) actually went in together with our VIPs and was waving vividly to the audience. Naturally, the audience was amused and had a great time. I had to reluctantly usher him out. :P

Disturbing one of our students. Btw, she wasn't aware that he was behind her, making funny faces.

The Yellowman goes shopping.

Er...why is he looking at a pair of yellow pants???!!?!?

We were dressed in traditional costumes as it's an international multicultural event.
Giang, my Vietnamese student in her Au-dai. Me in saree.

I can't wait to upload my pix with the Yellowman. Gotta wait till I get it from the photographer :P

A tad bit worried...

Yes I am a tad bit worried..

I have been bleeding for 3 out of 4 weeks this month. Yup, it first started as normal for 5 days, then it stopped. 2 weeks later, I got my period again..and I'm still bleeding, it'll be 2 weeks soon. So all in all, that's 3 weeks altogether this month.

And trust me, I'm so drained out. Been really exhausted, feel really lethargic. Also, while i was practising my dance (yes, I've finished choreographing three dances for our annual dinner performance for my team), I felt like fainting.

So I visited my GP yesterday and she's written a referral for me to consult with a gynae. I'm gonna get a scan to see if everything is a-ok.

I'm booked an appointment for tomorrow (cos I've got too many appointments and trainings to follow up today).

I'm praying and hoping that there's nothing to worry about.

Wedding photo shoot

I woke up with a start at 10am. I didn't expect to wake up so late as I had quite a handful to do before Mich comes over to pick me up to go downtown and meet Shukz and HY at the Marriot.

Serves me right for leaving everything till the very last minute.

I didn't expect that of the 3 dresses that I've chosen, I couldn't zip up 2 of them. Yups, I had difficulty zipping up once it's near the chest area. I hate hate hate those side zippers! Hmm, maybe it's good news afterall..cos that means my busts have somehow grown :P. LOL!

Finally managed to fasten the zippers but unfortunately I had to unfasten them cos I had to eat breakfast and then quickly shower.

Yups, it did crossed my mind to skip breakfast since I felt so bloated and all. But i knew i wouldn't be able to withstand those hunger pangs. Yes, i have zero willpower when it comes to food.

It was already 11:10am by the time i finished dididada-ing, started to panic.

Had a 10 mins shower + hair wash. Put on my makeup, and I was quite pissed (with myself) that I didn't have enough time to blow dry my hair and pin them up into something a lil more decent.

I should have known better than to proscrastinate. Sigh, regretting big time already.

So I packed all my stuff into the bag and hope that there'll be time for me to do something with my unruly hair once I get there...

Mich and I reached Marriot before Ching. We met up with the bride and groom first and later adjourned to their day room to allow for Shukz to change and re-do her hair and make up.

Look at the pretty bride, all dressed in white.

The bridal bouquet

Despite her not getting enough sleep, she still looks great.

I like those ringlets on you babes, very romantic.

Almost done..

Just add the flower...and

Viola!!!

HY looking at his beautiful wife getting ready.

Or was he waiting for his turn to be made up?
Who says guys don't need concealers and a touch of lip gloss eh?

Time for the photo shoot again

*a sneak preview only*

In the morning, the bride and groom took a family portrait with Shukz' family.

This one here was taken with HY's mum and dad.

We cheemuis took a portrait with the bride and groom as well but it wasn't captured in my camera. Oh well, you just have to wait and see..

On the stairwell, on the way up to the poolside.

I like this picture. I think the hand-holding bit is very sweet. =)

Igniting poolside romance

Awww...where's my knight in shining armour?

Ching and Mich looking on..(me photographer la)

The girls. Yups, i didn't manage to do anything to my hair.

The groom and his harem of women..*just kidding Shukz*

Mich and I were famished by the time we finished our shoot. It was about 3pm. So we dashed off to shop and eat at Pavilion.

More pictures in the next post.

Bridal photography

I'm so excited already.

The gals and I met up @ La Bodega yesterday to coordinate what we should all wear to complement Shukz bridal gown.

Yups, the time has come for her to take her bridal shots.

It will be held at Marriot Hotel tomorrow and we gals (Mich, Siew Ching and I) will be joining Shukz, her hubby, HY, and their respective families for the photography session.

Talk about wanting to lose weight, I think I've piled on some unnecessary kilos (from all those trainings and meetings) and I'm kinda worried how I'd look tomorrow.

Despite the fact that I've already eaten lunch, I was compelled to order this club sandwich. Gone are my plans to lose weight and look good for the photo shoot la.

Ordered this concoction of mint leaves, honey and ginger to detox.

Won't be staying up too late 2nite, I wanna make sure those eyebags are not visible 2moro.

Niteynites peeps!

xoxo
Carrie

Stressing out over accommodation

I don't know why but it seems as if I've been checking out hotel rates online forever.

First, it was for my beautician cum good friend, Miko. She and her family will be going over to Melbourne-Sydney-Gold Coast for a 2 week holiday and she has asked me for recommendation of where she should stay. For Melbourne and Sydney, I could just name the hotels off hand and search for something which suit her budget.

As for Gold Coast, I wasn't too sure as I can't really remember where I stayed at the few occassions when I was there with different friends.

I suggested for Miko to rent a condo since there will be quite a few of them, it'd be cheaper to rent a condo as compared to renting a few rooms. And they could rent a car to drive around Gold Coast to check out the lookout points and do all the touristy things a tourist would do, instead of buying tour packages from the hotels.

So off I went googling. And I stumbled upon this pretty good website for Hotel Reservations.

I like the fact that the rates are competitive and they offer SPECIAL VALUE rates on and off. On the website, there's this line that says "lowest internet rate price guarantee". I've done quite a few comparisons and this seems to be true to its words.

Also, what amazes me is that I can search for almost any location in the world and there would be something which matches my budget.

I've been checking out hotel rates for my next Bangkok trip. I'm hoping to stay at a different hotel just for a change. I'm thinking some where in Silom or Sukhumvit would be good.

This time round, I'm hoping to check into some chic hotels like the Davis Hotel in Sukhumvit or Silom Lodge for instance. Davis Hotel is just next to Camp Davis, this really cool boutique mall which is small, cosy yet trendy.

But but..I'm a little indecisive.

Currently Davis Hotel is going for $86.23 per room per night. Whereas I'm tempted to book with Silom City Hotel because there's a special deal going on at the moment. The price per room per night has been slashed from $42.87 to $38.58. What's more, they're having a "stay 2 nights and save 10% off your stay". Tempting isn't it?

I can't decide between the two.

Shall I go for...

The chic hotel which is nice but has less public transport accessibility? or the not-so-chic but decent hotel which is surrounded by shops and bazaars? Also, Silom City Hotel is pretty near Lumphini Park too.

Decisions decisions.

Which one shall I choose?

In remembrance of her

I'm not much of a mooncake fan. The only time I touch a mooncake is when:

1) it's from Mandarin Oriental (they make melt-in-your-mouth mooncakes)
2) it's not the typical brown-skin mooncake - i like shanghai yam mooncakes, buttermilk mooncakes, and mooncakes with black sesame paste fillings. You know the sort.




What comes to mind when I see mooncakes is my grandma's birthday. Her birthday falls on the 12th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Whereas Mid Autumn festival falls on the fifteenth.

This is the first time we're celebrating/not celebrating mooncake festival without her. As the family is still in mourning, we won't be celebrating this year.

I remember my pohpoh used to pray to the moon with mooncake offerings while us kids busied ourselves with our colourful lanterns.

Today is the 12th day of the eighth month. To commemorate grandma's birthday, we all gathered at her house to have lunch together. According to my mum, it's as if we're going back to celebrate her birthday for her (I think it's a Buddhist thing, as I'm a Christian I'm not really sure how this works).

The funny thing is, I dreamed of her this morning. I dreamed of her talking to me, like how she used to when she was alive. She used to ask me when I'll be going over to her house and what I'd like her to cook for me. She used to cook my two favourite dishes on special request: Black vinegared pork knuckle and Chicken rice wine soup. She used to pamper me heaps.

I dreamed that she was looking well and happy. And when I told my mum and dad my dream, I didn't know why but I had tears welling in my eyes.

My grandma would be happy to know that we were all home that day, and all of us (including the kids) were praying for her hoping that she's in a better place with no suffering whatsoever.

~*It feels good to make others happy~*~

I made some cutesy stuff with the pipe cleaners (again) for my little cousins. It was so nice to see the smiles on their cute little faces.

Meimei and Lulu won't be taking off their rings for a while.

Pohpoh, I wish you were there with us. How i wish you could see the kids' happy faces.

Of good friends...

I haven't seen Yong Yee in ages. I think it has been more than a year since we last met (it was that time when Dora came back from JB to visit us).

Bee, YY, CS, Dora, Kelvin and myself were once super-duper close. We were all working at TOA then.

One by one we left the company and since then we spent less time together. But still, we made every little effort to meet up. Birthday celebration was a good way for us to gather together and catch up.

Ever since Dora left for JB for good, I realised our group has gotten smaller and smaller everytime we meet.

Is it becoz we all have no time for each other anymore? Is it becoz no one cares anymore? Or is it becoz we are just too lazy to make the effort to meet up? I dunno.

Bee called me up to plan for YY's bday a week ago. And I was really looking forward to meeting up.

Initially, it was just me, Bee and YY. CS was still in the office, and he wasn't sure if he could make it to join us. He sounded pretty stressed out.

Question, do you realise that as you go older, with the heavier workload and responsibilities, sometimes you tend to forgo little luxuries like meeting up with friends?

Or maybe it's just me. I see that happenin to my circle of friends only too often.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We went to TJ Haus (yes, it has officially been voted as our fave choice bcoz of its value-for-money-good-food and convenient location) again to celebrate YY's bday.

Happy belated birthday YY!!!

Bee, YY, me - while waiting for CS.

Mengada-ada striking a pose.

Clockwise from top: Crispy duck, Lamb shank, Chicken chop with rich mushroom sauce.

We were so glad CS could make it. Ah boy ah, i miss u leh. hehe

I had some pipe cleaners leftover from the training. And I made a flower each for the girls.

CS didn't want flowers. So i made him a ring.

It was good catching up with you guys. We gotta really do this more often.

Learning outcome

The Power to Influence : Mastery in Counselling training ended on Friday.

What I think I can take home from this 3-day workshop:
The knowledge to SPIN (hopefully), the how-to of converting reservations to opportunities, and the discovery of my new found love - being creative with pipe cleaners. :P

Talk about being creative, my colleague Albert made these..

A cool dude hanging on the wine glass for dear life.

The cool dude and his spiky-hair friend aka Fido Dido.

A cute baby giraffe.
I like the giraffe so much that I asked him to make me one.

I got the mummy giraffe. Awww..how cute.

We were all given a potato each and some straws at the end of the session.

Question: Do you think you can poke a straw right through a potato?

Answer: Yes, it's possible. You just have to believe you can do it and visualise that the straw actually goes through the potato before doing so. That's the power of believing.

I did it! I poked the straw through the potato. *all psyched up*