Journey of Happiness

D earest friends, Thank you very much for your positive encouragements regarding living in Beijing. It makes me, somewhat, feel rest-assured... In addition, I will still have to wait until I finish my PhD to move there and I am hoping that I can finish it early, so that Lan would not have to 'wait' too long in the UK with me. I notice that living costs are getting higher here and jobs are getting harder to get. But, I appreciate it very much that Lan has decided he will stay here until I finish my study. We don't really want to be apart from each other for too long... It's too awkward and being alone paralysed me. I get used to living with a hubby by my side all the time! Dear Noni (and all of my dear friends), off course, I will accompany you to go around Beijing and I hope, by then, we can offer our place for you to stay! :) I just hope I won't get you all lost! LOL! Just a few minutes ago, I heard a song at Nafiri FM online streaming... I wrote below the pa...

I will be! I have mixed feelings about this 'absolute' future of mine. There are fears, happiness, excitements and many others. All in all they all cannot be described as purely bad nor purely good! However, above all, I know it's for good reason. :) Being the only child, Lan wishes to take care of his parents in their old times and to be close to them (physically). I am glad that he has such a kind and beautiful heart... because I know these days, there is a crisis in the society, where the kids/the young ones cannot wait to put their parents in the nursing homes! So, I completely agree with his reasons of coming back to Beijing and settle down there for awhile. Let's talk about my fear first. The obvious one will be LANGUAGE! Even after 2 years of marriage, I am still considering myself dumb on Mandarin. I try *probably NOT my hardest* to learn the language. Listening to Mama, Papa, and Lan having conversation every Saturday, trying to talk to Mama Papa and even to L...

L ately, I have been making some LOs that are quite dear to me... I'd like to share them with you. :) First of all, is the LO I made with the photos we took when we went to the pumpkin patch in Warrington. (Since, I'm to lazy to upload one by one to FB, I thought, the easiest way of doing it would be putting the best ones together and scrap them in a layout!) Here it is: Credits: SO Topped Template , Designs by Sine. Harvest Spice , October Mega by Scrap Orchard Designers. I have made this one using Designs by Sine 's SO Topped Template pack! Oh, I forgot to say that, the lovely Sine had invited me to join her fun Creative Team (CT)! I feel so honored to be joining her team! I love her templates! I have to say, I love how the LO turns out! Those photos hubby took are stunning! Love the striking orange of the pumpkins in each and every photo! :D Another one that is very lovely to me is... dedicated to our not-yet-here little baby. Yep, this is the very first LO for our Zhang...

T oday, Michelle Batton is releasing a brand new fantabulous kit at The DigiChick , it's Rawr-o-Saurus !!!! The dinosaurs on Michelle had made are so cute! This kit is so gorgeous and versatile! It can be used both to scrap a boyish and girly LO! It's even great to make a non-dinosaur LO! On top of that, who can resist such a cute alpha?! I LOVE the alpha in this kit! Check my non-dinosaur LO here... Love it? What are you waiting for? Get shopping! This kit is on sale for 20% for today and tomorrow ONLY! Ah, also, we, Michelle's team has prepared some gifts for you! It's a blog freebie train! Apparently, you are at stop #7 (last stop)! And here is what you get at this stop: Click on the preview above to download or you can go HERE . And, if you somewhat missed the other 6 freebies (there are 7 freebies including the one above), hop on Michelle's blog to get you back on track! Here is what's waiting for you at Michelle's blog . You'll be sorry to ...

A fter so much contemplation and googling, I decided to tow Lan along to Warrington. There was a 'pumpkin day' at Kenyon Hall Farm, and I'd love to go and see what it looks like. Lan was hesitant, he didn't really buy the idea of going to a farm just to see a pumpkin patch! Not interesting, as he said, but he still went for me... Bless him for that! So, Saturday morning, we headed to Lime Street Station at around 10.10am, to catch the 10.22am train to Warrington. Guess what? We missed it just by seconds! Thank God the train passing Warrington runs every several minutes or so, we did not have to wait long. The journey on the train between Liverpool and Warrington is around 20-30 minutes. As soon as we got to Warrington, we got on a 15-minutes journey to the farm by taxi. Well, the farm is actually at the outskirts of Warrington. The taxi driver was very kind to give us his mobile number, so we can ring him when we are done... I can't imagine getting a taxi there. ...

T his week has been a strange week for me. For two nights in a row, I got a series of similar dreams; scary dreams, dreams that woke me up with no peace to return back to sleep. Dreams of someone - a black silhouette - that came through our window like a thief. It scared the hell of me! I am really NOT keen of nightmares! The second night was the worst... I woke up panicking for who-knows-what. I tried anything on top of my mind to calm myself, but nothing worked until I prayed. Prayers are really powerful, incredible! Never ever underestimate the power of prayers! It works, believe me! Psalm 91 Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God 1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feat...

U h Oh! I'm so sleepy right now. Last night I took a sore-throat medicine that always successfully knocks me out to sleep even when the sun has risen! I tend to be blurred and it's difficult to concentrate when I'm so out of space like this. My brain and body are in different paces; brain says do A, body does D! Anyhow, let's get back to the topic I'd like to discuss today: *drum rolls* BIRTHDAYS! (This is a response to MJ's Mummy's comment about my brothers' birthdays being so close to each other) In my family there is this weird pattern of birthdays, an order, shall we say? One set of birthdays in the early months of the year and another set in the end of it. The first set is started with my Mum's birthday, which is on January 3rd, followed by Papa Mama's birthday both in February , separated by one day! Mama on 21st and Papa on 23rd. Then comes March , 1st is my little sister, Grace's birthday and 3rd is my Dad. April , which is also the ...

S crap Orchard is having a huge retirement SALE!!!! They are cutting the prices up to 65% off!!! Isn't that a massive saving?! So, what are you waiting for? Go to Scrap Orchard now and have a shopping spree!! Hurry, this sale is only on from today until Wednesday, 14 October 2009!

I have been busy with my scrapbooking activities lately. And today, it seems that all the designers decided to release their kits! LOL! So, here we go... First, I am enjoying my time very much guesting at LCC by Amy Stoffel! The girls are fun and Amy designs gorgeously! She released 2 new kits this week at the Scrap Orchard ! The first one is perfect for scrapping all your cooking/dining photos: La Cucina . Isn't that cute? Here is what I made with it: Next is the Halloween-y kit, Gimme Candy My LO: This month I am also joining Michelle Batton's Creative Team. Her team is also fun. Thank you, Michelle, for inviting me to be in your CT!! Your designs are awesome! This week, she's releasing a paper pack, October Nights and an alpha, tag! You're It . I especially LOVEEEE the alpha!! Here is what I did with these two awesome packs: So, what are you waiting for? Go and shop! They are ALL on SALE for 20% off, this week! Don't miss the bargain. :)

W ell, we went to the dentist yesterday and had successfully pulled Lan's tooth out with no major problems! In fact, I think he is getting the hang of it better and better! I'm very much blessed that he is improving so much about this dentist thing. And, for now, he can sit out for 3 months to let the wound heal and the gum reshape, before he gets his replacement. So we have arranged his next appointment on 07th January 2010! Gosh... can't believe it's almost the new year again! Time just sprints right through me these days! I do look forward to next year though, because we are planning to have a junior next year. I am having baby fever real bad lately and really excited that soon Lan will finish his study and will be working. I pray that The Lord has provided him the right job as soon as he finishes study. Onto digi-scrapping, today, Rena has released a new 'Autumn' kit, called Autumn Gold . It's loaded with beautiful golden yellow-colored elements, which I...

First thing first: Happy birthday, dear Erwin! May The Lord be your blessings, your shield, your guidance, your Father and best Friend! Amen! Until we see you again! E very time I go home, I always pay a visit to the dentist to check my teeth. I am proud to say that in my family, I've got the healthiest teeth among us the adults (Papi, Mami, Erwin and I). Although they are not genetically white, but my teeth are healthy and rarely have holes. That's the most important thing above all, whitening is not necessary and so d*mn expensive anyway! So, I'll just live with the way they are. Well, this holiday, I went again, literally, dragging Lan along with me. He hates dentists! He is scared of them! But, he promised me. A promise is a promise, he knew that! He's been having bad-smell-breath problems for quite a long time and I make a LOT of fuss about it! Simply because my nose is very very sensitive, way too sensitive compared to his. And this bad-breath is bugging m...

I just got to the office a few minutes ago. Ugh... here comes Monday plus all the businesses that it brings! Today, as we walked from home to the office, we cringed at the cold weather. It's Fall/Autumn here. Yes, the air is crispier and the scenery looks so beautiful with all the leaves turning golden brown, some blown by the wind. But, somehow, it feels more like WINTER already! It's too cold for Autumn. Gosh, I've been in Liverpool from 2002 and, yet, I can never get used to this extreme weather. It's as if from Summer, we just go straight to Winter. That-is-not-nice! Or could it be because I just came back from our tropical weathered vacation, that I feel it's extremely cold? I am already wearing two layers of pants and 3 layers of tops, but I am still feeling the cold. Geez... is that something wrong with me? Or the weather? I just hope this winter will not be as bad as last winter, where I got my eczema really bad. Oh, I don't really want to remember that...

T here is this nice challenge in Scrap Orchard today. It's a challenge to scrap a page without any photo on it. And it suddenly popped into my mind that I haven't scrapped about my beloved Jesus yet. So there came my inspiration. I really love how it turned out, so I thought of putting it on my blog. Credits: Everything from Rainy Afternoon from LCC by Amy Stoffel. WA from Elegant Wordarts by Bethany. Both are selling at Scrap Orchard . Ps. Click on the image for a larger version.

I 've been wanting to continue writing about my holiday, but gosh... I've been in limbo! My body feels like it's not mine and keeps giving me this weird unhealthy feeling. Well, luckily, I found this medicine that really helps me to rest, it knocks me out to sleep soundly (and it gives me hard time to open my eyes in the morning!) It's like a drug, but a good drug! LOL! Anyway, I insist to write about the important things that happen during our vacation this year, although it's been gone far, because I don't want to forget any bits of it... It's too precious to me! If I remember correctly, Yulia arrived at my home on 27th August 2009 by BMW Travel Bus from Surabaya. She had been on TNI-AL ship for 3 weeks by then on a diving mission. Forgive me for making you wait for me to get up, sist! I was so tired that I did not even hear that you've arrived! I was so happy to see you! I even could not wait to give you the gifts Lan and I had for you; one very s...

T his month, I am so happy that I can be a guest in Amy's Creative Team (CT). Her CT is so fun and I am enjoying myself there, the girls are so awesome and Amy herself is incredible. I really wish I could stay in the CT permanently for forever!!! It's just too fun there! So, anyway, this week, Amy has this funky, cool and totally gorgeous kit called Urban Dreamer What's more is that when you buy this kit, you'll get a set of matching cool frames for free! How cool is that? It wasn't enough to make just one LO with this funky kit! I made TWO! Believe me, it's so fun to scrap with! And since Amy is such an awesome person (I've told you that before, right??), she's made this freebie alpha to coordinate with Urban Dreamer, which you can snag it at her BLOG Cool isn't it??? Then, what are you waiting for? Go and get shopping! :)