Hello, Twenty Ten

A new year, a new decade, a new chance to start fresh. I often face the new year with negative emotions such as fear of the uncertainty and frustration from the feeling of I didn’t do enought last year. I also fear that I would bring with me the same old baggage, habits and emotions.

In order to encourage myself, I sat down and reviewed my accomplishments in 2009. To my surprise, I did learn something new and try something fun. I have gotten to know myself a little better and have gained more confidence. Here, I am listing down some of the special experiences to share with you ( a lot of first times!).

* Lost a handbag and retrieved it successfully two weeks later (cracked a crime case in Fairfield along the way). Scorpios can be very good investigators.

* 20 day juice detox (with daily enema) and my first colonics

* Learned Bollywood dance and performed at the Sondheim Theater

* Underwent LASIK surgery for my eyes (09/09/2009) and am  loving my new vision

* Made my 1st movie, and 2nd movie and more to come!

* Started a blog (thanks for reading)

* Blown away by the beauty of Hawaii (had my first boogie board fun!)

* Remodelled a home (with Karan) and moved into it (3rd move in Fairfield!!)

* Bid for a house in an auction and won

Bilingual MC at my brother’s wedding

* Owned a holiday shop (Little Laddoo) on the Square and realized how much I appreciate my freedom and how lovely it is to work from home (with Kai sleeping next to my feet!)

* Summer road trip to Northen California and Oregon (lavender fields were breathtaking!)

* Gained some friends and lost touch with some

* Planted & harvested my first lettuce

* Gained a new family member: sister-in-law

* Attended my brother’s wedding & family gathering in Singapore

* Mid-autumn festival celebration with my family after 8 long years

* Learned that baking is not as scary as I thought

* Japanese School Girl on Halloween

* First 3D movie

* Continue to work on dropping some baggage: the need to please, perfectionism, fear of failure, low self-esteem, self-consciousness, need for control

* Discovered that I am a cross between a nerd, a child, an artist, an entrepreneur, a dreamer, a social misfit; AND that’s OKAY!

Family matters a lot to me
. I like to spend time with my family more than anyone else. There’s really no point making irrelevant random conversations with people whom I don’t care about. I get enough love from family. I just want to hang out with people who share the same values and beliefs.

Phew! Not so bad for a 2009 list!

I have strong feeling: “I just can’t continue down this same road any longer.” in terms of relationship, relocation plans, career, etc. In 2010, I will continue to explore the possibility of change and to confront the aspects of myself that I may not like.

The choice is mine to either have the courage to change for the better, or not change and stick to the comfort and security in order to avoid disappointment.

I have a lot to think about. 🙂

Happy new year to you all and I hope that your 2010 is filled with peace, love and happiness.

My Idea Book

I am very visual person.

I am often inspired by pictures. I prefer to learn by trying and through physical experiments.

When I am inspired by something, I take note.

Let me introduce you to my Idea Book.

023
My Idea Book is nothing fancy, just a black folder.….

014
that fills with lots of great ideas inside!

Don’t be afraid to tear out the pages from the catalogs/magazines. I know most probably I am not going to read any magazines twice. So, I tear out the pages that I want to keep in my Idea Book and recycle the rest.

018
Photos that I love

IMG_6313
Cool products- I use a marker to mark them. 🙂

015
Organizing ideas

016
Inspiring organizing ideas

021
How about hanging your “visual board” over your office table?

Remember, you don’t have to follow each idea exact. They are inspiring ideas. I like the bag shelving idea. But it doesn’t mean that I am going to build myself custom shelving for storing my handbags. I could just stack two open bookshelves and put them in my walk-in closet.

IMG_6309
Quote I love – so comforting at times. 🙂

IMG_6310
Great advice

IMG_6305
Cutest boxers!

IMG_6302
I realized I have the same taste after reading this quote: I don’t like delicate, tiny, skinny things!!!

IMG_6303
I love chunky watches. The watch that I wore in high school was my dad’s watch (Casio stainless steel multifunction digital watch). I loved the heavy, chunky feel. How did I forget that???

Why not start your own Idea Book? It could store anything that inspired you: vacation spots, quotes, coupons, photos, decorating ideas, makeup tips, gift ideas, and more. This could also be a process of getting to know yourself better; your dreams, your dressing styles, etc.

How about keeping a small notebook with you, so that you can write down your ideas whenever you want?

Keep your ideas alive and updated! If you can visualize them, they might just become reality one day.

Fresh Snow Day

[Tuesday]

This morning there was three inches of new powder snow outside. All white, and it was so pretty to look at.

I don’t like cold weather. I didn’t see snow until I was 21. Frankly, I don’t care for snow at all.  It’s actually a pain in the butt to warm the car and to clear the snow in the morning. But who doesn’t love fresh fluffy powdery snow? It’s dry, and doesn’t stick to the skin. It moves with the wind, like feather. It’s so dreamy!

I really wanted to play in the snow this morning, but I had to go to work. 🙁

First thing I did after I came back from work was to let Kai out. He started hopping in the snow and playing happily. 🙂 This Iowan born dog thrives in cold weather. I threw snow balls at him and he would jump and catch them. He loves chewing the ice.

I will never let the kid in my heart die. If I can’t avoid snow in winter, then might just as well enjoy it.

Q: How much snow comes from one inch of rain?

A: Fifteen inches of dry powder snow equals 1 inch of rain. This is also equivalent to only five inches of very wet snow. The accepted average is ten inches.

(Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_snow_comes_from_one_inch_of_rain)

IMG_6263
Fresh snow on Kai

IMG_6262
Checking out neighbor’s dog

IMG_6260
Ready to play any time

IMG_6258
Kai was so hyper in the snow that I had to say  “Treat!” to get him to look at me for one second.