Fly away

Hello!!!

At the holding area now, gonna board the plane soon!!! Starting to feel excited! Will blog when I'm back :)

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More than a kit kat break

Hello!!!

My LONG awaited break has finally begun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gonna be out of office from 28 Jan till 8 Feb! Will be traveling to NZ as part 2 of our honeymoon. This is my first long haul trip after 3 years! The last was a holiday w my family to Turkey in Dec 2007.

Anyway, part 1 was Bali, and now part 2 is NZ. Would have been ideal if we can do both back to back. But our leave and work plans didn't quite permit so.

My leave starts tmr! Gonna go shopping!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!

Till then it's time for a gooood night rest now :)))

+jac

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Heya!

Am on my way home now. Just passed redhill mrt! It's yet another long-hour day at work AGAIN.

To be honest, I felt so miserable when I walked out of office this evening. Simply put, I feel so sick of poor worklife balance :(

I think if I ever going to leave this job, long and prolong work hours would likely be one of the push factors :(((

SIGH!!!

Feeling very hungry now also :(((

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Adrenaline

Hello!

Today has been madness. And so is my week so far! The adrenaline at the workplace is driving me to high gear! My boss is making an important presentation to the minister and have got me to help him with the contents and slides. We have been working on this since Dec. But more and more refinements started to come in last week. And the so called final touches are happening this week. Kept going back and forth with updated versions of the ppt!!! My boss seem to have new ideas each time after he sees a new version that I sent him. Good that he is adding more sharpo to the presentation, not so good because that means that I have to make FURTHER changes to the slides or go and dig for the info he asked for!!! Ahhh... Today was simply crazy!

Went for tour briefing this evening� What separates me from the NZ holiday is a big pile of work to settle! Oh Lord, please show me what I should do, for I want to give my best but not lose my sanity! Anyway, Max and me are flying off on 29 Jan to NZ for holiday. We have planned this as 'part 2' of our honeymoon. Part 1 was Bali, which we went straight after the wedding. Can't believe it had been almost 8 months on since we got married! � Time flies!

Haven't been sleeping much this week. Gonna clock more sleep tonight by zzz earlier!!! Yawns! ���

+jac

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Finale of 2010

Hi there!

This is a BELATED entry!!!
Blessed Christmas and New Year!!! :)))

This entry should have been earlier. But events cropped up over the X'mas and New Year weeks - both expected and unexpected events.

Max and I celebrated our very first Christmas together as husband and wife :) This Christmas was different from the previous years. We were bit last minute in our reservations with the hotels. The Christmas eve buffet dinners were fully booked at most hotels! Max suggested we do a home-made Christmas dinner instead. I was quite skeptical about it in the first place. Haha! "U do the cooking? I do the washing?" LOL! I think u guys know I'm not a domesticated person, what more a kitchen person! Home-made Christmas dinner?!! Haha! Anyway, before I could say my piece, Max went ahead and came up with the Christmas Eve Dinner Menu for 2. Haha! And I must say we really had a memorable Christmas eve dinner, a home-made one. Credit goes to Max!

Just after a memorable Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, events made a sudden turn on Boxing Day. I still remember being woken up by a call at 540am on Boxing Day. I had a bad feeling when I heard the phone ringing, but was too zonk out to grab it. Max picked up the call and he was much silent over the call and uttered only a few words like "ok... yes... i know... ok" and nodded occasionally. The premonition grew and really jolted me out from bed. He passed the phone over to me. My bro was on the line and he broke a piece of news to me. My bro said that that my grandmother has passed away. He didn't want to reveal further details, but just to say he will update me in the later part of the day and ask me to prepare to get ready to go to the wake in the afternoon. When I hung up the phone, I didn't know what to say to Max. He wrapped his arms around me and I couldn't help it but to burst into tears. I couldn't find the words to say, nor could I comprehend the flux of emotions and questions that were racing thru my mind. Sigh...

With my maternal grandma's passing on boxing day... the rest of the week was spent at the wake held at the void deck. I only informed my immediate circle of frens and am very grateful that they rallied around with encouragement and well wishes. My grandma had been down with osteoporosis for the past few years. Her bones grew very brittle and weak. Her energy level was unlike in the past and she became less active as a result. She has been falling quite a bit due to her condition and I guess the fall in the wee hours of boxing day proved to be serious and fatal. *heartache* To be honest, I knew she will leave us someday. Each time I visited her at my uncle's place, I see her in discomfort and pain. I know that she being the strong and resilient woman would put up a strong front, persevered, and not wanting to 'trouble' her children and grandchildren. But I could see through her strong front. I know she was in a lot of discomfort due to the injury suffered from the falls. I can't help but shed tears whenever I visited her. I even told Max before that I'm not sure how I would handle if grandma leave us someday. Do I know how to cope with the death of someone so dear? My mum often told me that I'm the closest to my grandma amongst the 6 grandchildren, bcos grandma lived w my family for many years and closely watched me grow up from a baby, to a little girl, thru my years of eduction from primary school and all the way to university! I guess I was expecting that she will leave us someday as her condition has been quite on-off especially in the recent months. But I was secretly hoping that we can 'buy' some time and keep her with us as long as we could. The last time I saw her was 2 weeks before her passing. I kept crying and crying non-stop. I dunno what got into me also. I was so irritated w myself and I wished I could shut off the tear glands! I simply couldn't control those tears when I saw a loved one going thru so much pain. Yet I didn't want grandma to see me crying and I hope she can stay strong. 26 Dec 2010... time was up and I believe grandma has gone back to be with the Lord. We have been sharing the gospel with her. Grandma has been very opened and she finally accepted Christ recently :) Grandma's wake was held for 5 days. It was an emotional trying week. I accept that she has left us and believe she is at a better place now - no more pain and no more sorrow. But each time I think about the fond and lovely memories spent with grandma, I couldn't help but cry. The wake was facing a playground that grandma used to take me to when I was toddler. I used to stay at my uncle's place, and I could recall grandma taking me down to the playground to play in the late afternoon while we waited for my mum to return from work. I know I will never get to taste the soup and dishes that grandma made with her personal touches... nobody can replicate her dishes and soup seriously. Hard truths like these really hit me hard during the week after her passing. Sigh... I could tell that grandma's passing affected my parents and my uncles and aunties. I think we tried to be there for each other and rallied with moral support. I guess it takes time to get used to this separation from somebody dear and much loved by us. I will remember grandma for her resilience and love for the people around her. Lessons like these ... I will bring with me as I move on in life and pass on to generations to come. *sniffs* I have just used up almost 10 pieces of tissue as I typed out this episode. Anyway thanks once again to those who have sent well wishes and encouragement. I'm generally ok and have gone back to life as per normal :))

Anyway, the first week of January 2011 has just gone by. I had quite a rough week at work! Hmmm I think I would talk about it in another entry lar. This entry is already 'heavy' enough. Anyway here are some pics of our Christmas eve dinner!



(Above) Grocery shopping @ Cold Storage




(Above) Pasta in progress




(Above) Pasta... still in progress




(Above) Scallops with garlic, mint leaves and black pepper. I love this!!!




(Above) Christmas Eve Dinner for Max & Jac
Pasta with choice of home-made carbonara and meatball sauces, baked fish fillet with home-made butter and spice sauces, pan-fried beef with red wine and spices, mushroom soup, and red wine.



(Above) Highly recommend this. Not too sweet and leaves u with a balanced alcohol spice after-taste.




(Above) Christmas prezzie for Max.
Might look like some shaving kit, but it's NOT ok!!!
It's a dock for Apple products like iphone, ipod touch, ipod nano... etc




(Above) Max and his Christmas prezzie




(Above) This is funny!!! Have Apple produced iInvisible ?!!




(Above) iPhone 3GS, an external battery, all together with the Universal Dock




(Above) How stuffs works
I hope Max likes this. He has been doing work on-the-go on this iphone. Too bad, Max doesn't own an iPad. With this dock, Max shouldn't have problem tilting his iphone in an upright position :)




(Above) Lovely Christmas prezzies that I received from Celine and a new colleague of mine. I'm turning to become a Crabtree & Evelyn fan! Love their scents!!!




(Above) We obviously couldn't finish up all the food on Christmas eve. The leftovers were good enough for a Christmas Day dinner for the both of us. We had an additional dish though - Turkey with berries and red wine! Yummy!!!