i am a "mom"

i am now officially a mom... a sponsored mom :)

have been talking about sponsoring a child from one of the 3rd world countries a couple of years back. even sent an enquiry to world vision before, but never got a reply and i never pursue further. anyway, was at vivo this afternoon and saw the booth from world vision.

guess it must be guilt of too much shopping, spending too much in the past few weeks. so i think it is a little message to me to remind me of the needy and share the christmas spirit of giving. so i have done my sponsorship of a cute Ethiopia girl called Bekelu, 5 years of age. So i am blessed to be able to share my little blessings.

i am now a devil...

just a quick note to mark a milestone...

i am now an official devil... who wears (or more like carry) PRADA!

my first luxury branded bag purchase...
my first prada deerskin tote...

finally something to look forward to

its settled! its back to england for holiday this year!

air ticket booked! so just need to decide and plan my itinerary and look forward to my holiday! haven't had a proper long holiday since my San Francisco trip with lil' c in 2008. Didn't get to travel in 2009 due to change in job at year end. 2010 travels are work related.

yippee yippee yeh!

bad thoughts again

what would you do if your boss asked you to pass a project that you are handling to another colleague? is it because i am not efficient to get that project moving? maybe i am just thinking too much

5am... awake... 5pm... zzzz

been rushing my presentation and preparing my us bosses visit next week. plus it is the first visit by my CMO!

there was so many events going on this week that i was out for a few nights too. so ended up concentrating more during the wee hours...

been sleeping at about 5am for the past 2 nights (or mornings) and waking up by 8am for meetings. i am surprised that i am still surviving!

was super tired and drained out when i came back from a meeting this late afternoon and ended up napping at 6pm! my sleep hours are all messed up!


0240am... still awake... going to force myself to sleep NOW!

it will be a great weekend!

it is going to be a busy schedule for me this weekend... and it will be extended too!!!

attending a friend's son's 5th birthday party on saturday (great time to catch up), most likely to catch a movie on sun and finally taking my first leave on mon since joining popeyes!

its mommy's 60th birthday and we are going universal studios! tickets bought online so only need to pray for good weather!

i've got a feelin'... this week is gonna be a good one :)

hush hush

something has been bothering me...

not a big matter, but it got me thinking about how is friendship being measured? what you gives might not be reciprocated. people that you considered as friends, do they view the same?

breakout!!!

is breakout contagious!??!?!!

a couple of days after reading about a friend's outbreak on her blog, i got my major outbreak too!!! have pimples of small and large size running across nose bridge all the way to the forehead!!! i know shouldn't be touching it, but my itchy hand couldn't stop feeling those bumps!

sis thinks it is heatiness, so much go dirnk "liang teh"... hopes it gets better soon!

active

is anyone still reading this? haha!

just a quick note that this blog is still active... the blogger is still alive... just tired of writing, or running out of enthusiasm to write these days. well, guess i need to find a motivation in life!

3rd time...

just got an email from the hr director of my ex-brand. have only met her once since she joined after i left. so what is the email about? wanted to proach me to join them. this is the 3rd person / time that officially asked me to join them (4th if i count the casual chit chat with my previous counterpart).

so why is it disturbing me? just when i was feeling a bit low about my job (if you read previous postings), the opportunity strikes again. but when i saw the email, i wasn't excited to explore the opportunity. there i sat, thinking about the pros and cons:

pros:
- proper organisation structure / office environment
- it is a bigger brand
- proper benefits since it will be employee status and not on contract
- security / stability as an employee
- know the brand and the fun side of the brand

cons:
- working under 2 direct bosses that are not easy to deal with!
- less flexibility
- less markets to handle or work with
- the pressure to perform since they are calling me the 3rd time and they have not found a candidate since i was first asked about the job late last year. this is the biggest worry coz i can imagine the expectation if i joined them.
- only been in my current job for less than 1 year, no intention to be seen as a job hopper and i haven't really seen my achievement here yet.

so what was my decision? i rejected it for the 3rd time...

is it me?

in 1 week, i wrote 2 keep in touch emails to 2 markets' marketing managers. 1 sent me the email on the day she left and i went to see the other on her last week at work.

such a coincidence? or is it simply not an easy job? but the first thing that crossed my mind - is it me? but i have always be an accomodating franchisor, think they bully me more! haha! but my boss is usually the "bad cop" so i don't think it is me. but that got me thinking deeper again.

as a franchisee, i used to firm, not demanding. confident yet not bullish, passionate and full of drive. am i expecting all the marketing managers to be like that? not that i am perfect, but i am tired of trying to convince people who doesn't really care or those who are clueless.

well, trying to think on the bright side, maybe the 2 new marketing managers are going to be up the mark & makes life easier. can only think of it positively.

is the grass always greener elsewhere?

suddenly felt envious of when you see the works of others.
suddenly felt useless when you are not in control.
suddenly felt lost...

not hating it but not loving it too. need to get the passion engine running...

another long break

haha... this is even a longer "blog-break" from the last. last posting 27 Apr... almost 2 months now. been reminded by lil c to start blogging again...

was it a writer's block like lil c said? or maybe there is nothing worth mentioning? when lil c said i might be jaded at work, i paused to think about it. just 6 months into the job, am i jaded alr?

don't get me wrong. i still like my job (did i use the word like instead of love?), i am still passionate about the brand. but something doesn't seem to get my motor running at the speed i would love to be. then it occurs to me that it is because i am missing to be part of the action. met my ex girls for dinner yest and was just sharing how i love that they are executing ideas that we wanted to do during my time (due to previous mgt's cost control). i think i missed that. although i am supposed to be able to bring to the tables of the franchisees all these ideas, somehow it is a lot harder. oh well, will just have to try my best.

till the next blog... (should this be my permanent sign-off? haha!)

chinese invasion

i had a shock this morning when i logged into my blog today. the page was in chinese (besides my postings)! i was thinking, what happened? refresh it a few times and it was the same. then i went to blogspot main page and it was still in chinese. but i could change the language option on the home page so now it is back to english. phew!

a day of chance meetings

it was supposed to be a saturday of a quick lunch and grocery shopping turned out to a chance meeting & 2 unexpected gatherings.

bumped into a secondary school friend who was back from London for holiday outside daiso. haven't seen her since she moved to london almost 10 years ago! well, of course we reconnected via FB abt 2 to 3 years back, but i haven't seen her!!! the funny thing was, she was meeting up with our sec school chinese teacher (another person that i haven't seen since i graduated!). so in the end, i sat with them at starbucks and chatted for hours!

towards the end of our chat, i bumped into my god-aunt & god-cousin who were there for their coffee. so when my friend and teacher left, i switched table! my sis and i were joking that we were supposed to be home early, but ended up staying longer than planned.

this is quite an amazing chance meetings!

MIA

for the sake of SY and Rain, i am back before april is gone! lol!

not even sure if friends are coming to my blog to check if i am ever blogging again... well, to be honest, FB does take away my online time. at times, just feels that i am just doing things twice with the same pictures being loaded, especially since most of my friends who reads my blog are on my FB too... so very often that i sign in to my blogspot and then i stared at it blankly. what's there to write about? before i knew, i would sign out once again, not writing a new entry...

then moments ago (yes, sitting at home alone on a saturday night gets you thinking! lol!), i tried to recall what was the main reason i started this blog? it was meant to be my personal space to keep track on my 2 favourite things - travel and food. then with FB, it seems to just take that away. so i decided to return to my online roots... and this is the space that will be filled with my thoughts during my trail for travel (even for work) and food... and basically things that i don't want to share on FB.

so see ya soon...

what happened to February?

yes... i was missing in action for so long... then i realised i skipped the whole month of february in my postings!

besides travelling for the first 2 weeks for my first popeyes conference, then there was CNY. somehow with FB, it made me more lazy to blog. so suddenly it hits me that time just flies! now it is march, and looking back, i really didn't know what i have done for the past months. hmmm... seems like it just slipped away.

oh well, anyway guess this will still be the place to let me pen my thoughts only meant for myself or my close ones... unlike FB!

seriously, now that i am into the 4th month of my new job (yes... that's how fast time has past!), but somehow i felt the most uncertain of myself at this job! maybe i was always a little confident of myself previously, i always felt that i know what i am doing at each job even when i was new to the industry. this time round, i seem to doubt myself more... less confident in the decisions i make... and even felt that i am not handling it as well as i should have. seriously if i am going to do my performance appraisal now, i think it will be a below average score! don't get me wrong, i love my job, i don't have intention to quit, but i want to make it better for myself, for my company! help! i need guidance from up there to lead me the right way! can only hope that it will get better...

hello vietnam...

reached vietnam yest night... not as exciting as seoul coz i am back to the familiar heat and humidity!

then the next thing that hits me when i got into my room... there is no way that i can get free internet access at my room... even when we are on the club floor... just free internet in the club lounge. thought it was ok as i can still get internet. then surprise surprise... no FB in vietnam! thinks it is blocked like china... sadness...

so just downloading my office email and i will be running back to the room with no internet...

spot the difference

the difference a day makes...

the view from my hotel room when i arrived on Sunday... the snow has basically melted... so i thought i missed the snow...

then guess what greeted me when i woke up this morning!!!! its a snow storm out there!

My first snow storm!

Thot i missed the snow when i arrived in korea yest. Mother nature decided to let me experience snow today! The white blanket greeted me when i woke up! So excited! This pix is taken in the car, on my way to store visit. More updates soon

happy new year!

wow... didn't realised that i haven't been been posting much on my blog!

decided that i didn't want to write any new year resolutions like previous years... seriously... how many resolutions really made it! haha!

all i want for 2010 is a year of happiness for me, my family and friends. many things had happened last year, some good, some bad. wish that there are more good things to come, and the bad as lessons learnt and things will only get better. life can only get better (fingers crossed!)

to all my friends, HAPPY NEW YEAR!