A fresh 2014

Started off 2014 with a good refreshed mind. 2013 had been a good year; filled with lots of ups as well as downs. I am happy to have the ups and sharing the joy, happiness, achievements, love with my family and friends. The downs were there for a reason and it is to pick me up from where I fell to become a better person in 2014! So thankyou to everyone who had made my 2013 a very awesome one. With that said, 2014 will be even better :)

First of the first would be the gf ROM at Kombi Rocks. Def very happy to be able to be part of the joyous occassion! Thanks for giving me an opport for me to self-discover how far I am able to stretch my potential to!

I renamed my bakery to Rachebake (pronouced as Rachel-bake). I named the bakery after me! Afterall, it is very much a personal effort! Didnt undergo any baking school nor trg and achieve all bakes via self taught!

__________________

With that one opport brings a door to another ;) I was glad someone out there appreciates alot of my effort and recognizes it enough to trust me to work on it again!

With that, I give thanks to Samuel & Family!

As CNY approaches us very closely after xmas and new year, bakes came in as well but this year wasn't anything massive as I didnt have anytime

And of course, the CNY wasn't afterall good totally. My beloved grandpa whom I grew up with, left us officially on the 27th Jan 2014. But I knw he had left peacefully and happily. And that he is happy up there smiling to us and blessing each and everyone in the family. It's been coming 1 mth since he left and eveyone still misses him as much. Just that we don't show it out openly. We keep all prayers and misses inside. As for my grandma, I hope that she will enjoy her life well at the age of coming 80yrs old. We're blessed to still have her ard and of course tho her dementia may get a bit bad sometimes, I am glad she somehow still rmbs alot of things/people, esp my grandpa. 

People leave but what stays will always be kept close to all of our hearts :)

With my dajie married, left the 3 dingdongs to malaysia!

Yearly affair with my fam for reunion!

Knowing how much I had been gg through for the past 2weeks, the friends ard me really loves me. They gave me a simple and heart warming 24th ;)

I thank each and every of them for making me the most blessed person on 16thfeb! I didnt have any reason to be upset cause I know people whom I love and loves me is and will always be around me. That is enough to allow me to walk on stronger and further in life in 2014!

Look how we had all grown! :D

Thankyou for these beautiful angels!

Thankful for this never ending friendship w them!

One of my most amazing friendship in 2013? Them! Never had I thought this would be part of me!! :D

And some of them who's not always ard physically but whenever we have time, we spend it well :)

My cousin was someone whom I bonded alot with in 2013. I am so thankful we met up for dinner/drinks/brunch of late. She's like another sis to me which I can talk t her about everything!

Not to forget my MOST unique friend from HSBC. Hehehe, her thoughts and gifts are always the most unexpected! 

AND MY ZHOUS JIA ! ZHOU JIEJIE, DID AND MAMA! :DD

Best personal achievement in Feb, I DID A FUCKING ROSE FROSTING SO FUCKING WELL! (pls dont judge me when I use vuglarities)

Meeting and making new friends is something which I always like. Not to say, gg for events for work and we had so much fun! 

Achievements dont need to come big, sometimes it's the small achievements in life that matters the most!

_________

And of late, something just knocked me in my doors. A thought came by and it is a change I wanna see for myself in 2014; to accept what people say and not be sensitive

Anw, another thing; I WAN SHARPER FACE!! ;(

With that said, I shall end Feb 2014 in a good note; I AM FINALLY EMPLOYED! and of course marking MArch in a happy tone!

Good day!

“The greatest wealth is to live content with little"

Life has been pretty much the same for the past weeks. But was much busier since the grandfather was admitted to TTSH due to a viral infection which kinda spreaded to the rest of this facial veins and caused him to have frequent headaches, crooked mouth and his eyes can no longer close properly when he sleeps. But the good thing is he's all discharged and back to M'sia now. Will be undergoing op on Monday to get the virus out. Hope he will be well by CNY!

So the other day we had a team lunch cum pre farewell for our dearest team leader who will be going for her maternity leave! We headed to Da Paolo at Battery Road for lunch! I had a sandwich while the rest had pasta. HAHA, always being different. 

This was only 1/2 of it! I couldn't even finish the whole thing by myself. Wasted the sandwich somehow!

On Saturday, the girls (ling and LYY) & myself went down to Real Yoga @ Jurong for the 1st Hot Yoga Trial tgt! So thankful these girls are being sportenous enough to try out a new sport together! 

We had a good stretching and sweating out for an hr, headed for breakfast then to JEM with ling while LYY had to leave for some sch matters!

Accompanied her for some xmas shopping for Bern! She had decided on a shaver for his xmas and some Muji xmas shopping too! Then we headed over to Paris Bagette to rest our tired legs!

Love bread and pastries which is somehow not a good thing. Sometimes, i can just hv bread whole day and not a proper meal and my mom will be nagging me so badly at this cause its super unhealthy.

On Friday night, met up with the bff, Steph over at my place! Packed some salad,drinks and we sat by my house pool to share some thoughts and caught up with each other!

Some random snaps of IG

On Monday, I had a dinner appt with the girls (tiff, A & G) aft work at Paul, Takashimaya!

So glad we finally managed to squeeze out time to meet up! It was a good session of bitching, gossips, nonsense and sharing and catching up. Though time seemed to pass by with a snap but i truly enjoyed their company. I am looking fwd to us making more time together again!

The Mommy in our group, A, made us this bodyscrub for xmas gifts! :) Such a sweet thought!

Paul is known for their desserts however I'd say there are def better desserts with a more pocket friendly pricing around!

Made a bad decision to go ahead to satisfy my cravings for peanut roll and ended up with a  bad gastric in the evening. I guess it was jus cause I only had that and nth else for lunch :/ Thats what I meant by how I can skip proper meals to eat junk food all the time

Received some christmas loving from the dept head-secretary who's like a mother to take care of us at work. So sweet of her!

Pretty much been sorting out thoughts & resolutions for 2014. I am in the midst of getting them down into words and do up a blogpost for it.

Love,

Rachh

"Siblings are the first playmate and usually a lifetime"

Love the view from my place balcony some times when I am home on a weekend. I get to enjoy snippets of peacefulness just stoning looking up into the clear blue skies. It's a good time to reflect upon my life & self. I usually do during runs but somehow when I hv times like these, these reflections jus came in and I'd start thinking about every single thing in my life till current. 

Dec had def started off VERY busy. I was just back from a trip, ran my first half marathon in my life and back to work with a terribly sore body on Monday. Cleared most of my work and the work week continues. Somehow getting use to no one beside me and talking to me from time to time. G's officially left the company. Kinda still missing how we used to share a desk together but those were good old days worth remembering. I am meeting her next week for a good session of drinks! Looking fwd!

Well, just recently, some incidents had made me learnt grealty abt life & family. And how I am more determined to kick away my bad temper and to be an even better sister to my siblings and daughter to my mom. Kinda still in the midst of change but i pray for strength to keep me going thru the rough times and of course to push me further. Life has alot more chances for us to really cherish our family so we shld do it when we have the chance. Not regretting in the end. In 2014, i am determined to kick have kicked that bad temper away. Maybe this serves as a good change for myself to be an even better player at work, friend and partner to my unknown future partner. 2013 had been a good learning journey. I learnt alot both at work, family and abt life. I will bring these with me to embark in my 2014 journey well. 

Lots of work on still but not giving up yet.

As for now, i am indulging myself in this festive mood!

Love,

Rachh

"Goodbye is not forever, life has endless possibilities"

Back from the very well-deserved break! So thankful to be able to make it for this trip with the family (excluding my parents). Learning to appreciate every single thing in life better.

It was a good 7D6N getaway to Seoul, a bustling city (other than the COLD), there's no other reason not to love Seoul! I shall blog more about that some other time when I can draft out a better post of the holidays.

Sometimes I think practising thankfulness in life indeed is important. You receive those thankfulness in different forms. G is one of the angels that I believe was sent to love me more. Knowing that I've serious anemia, she prep this blue box filled with colors, rich in vitamins and of course filled with brims of love for me. I def love it (other than the aftertaste of grapefruit). 

She has left the company and well, I'd say this is another journey for us to begin with; embarking on a new form of friendship tgt. 

Being back never fails to make me get a cuppa from my fav trad coffee chain.

Very thankful that my family loves me just as much and can't be more thankful that they have been around me this whole year; when I was gg thru shit. And of course sharing my joy during my convo this year. Thankful to the bro-in-law for the early Christmas gift :D

Every year, I'd set out to achieve something different from the prev year. This year was no exception. I made it for my first 21KM in 3hrs without stopping. Despite the damn slopes, I continued slow-jogging. It was a good exp for myself to push past my limits. I think I could easily do a 8KM run now on a weekly basis. Hehehe.

Proud of my silver badge :DD

__________________________________

It's the month of love, joy and giving! Gonna spend the last month of the year well and party hard with my friends to end 2013 with a big bang! I am thankful to every single angels in my life; family, friends and everyone else. Couldn't hv made it so far without their blessings and support.

New resolutions next year calls for me to be someone better.

I reckon a solo backpacking trip to Tasmania or Sydney next year so I could better learn and see the world. I wanna go around and learn the cultures, eat the food, talk to people, know more and just experience a life in their country. Aiming to be travelling in August!

Sometimes, we need to take the leap of faith to know how far we can achieve. This year I rcd more than I expected and I am in every single way thankful. The bad brought out the better of me, the good builds me to being even better and of course, thats what life is about; happiness and sorrow. When you have experienced them, only will you know how simple happiness can be :)

Love,

Rachh

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength"

Back here for a quick update! Let's backtrack to Monday!
Started off the week with a good run after work, 4KM clocked. Was amazed by my energy to clock the distance after a long day of work, usually my body would give in at 3KM but pushed myself to go another 1km more. Dinner was fruits. Happy colors makes my day :)

Tuesday was the usual cardio class after work at 7pm with le buddy, Pam. We always pushed harder each trg. It's not the speed that matters but the reps and posture of the workout. So thankful to have known her through FF and stayed on for a good 3mths tgt!



Dead beat after the workout class on Tuesday. Crashed damn early that night.

Wednesday calls for a white day, I felt vain to dress up in my new white Laude Exquisite Lace Dress frm #ohvola!



Perfect dress that does not make me look fat! :D

Thurs breakfast was a change! I decided to try the Charcoal Red Bean Bun that I've been walking past every single day to the coffee hut. But it turned out not as good as it shld have been. How disappointed!



Saturday noon clocked a good run of going pass my usual limits. I could have done 2KM more if not for the treadmill which auto stops after an hour of using it. But am proud to have ran so far and motivated to go further than this!



And so this morning at 5.30am, I clocked a 7KM outdoors run! It felt so so refreshed and cooling. Love how the roads are quiet without much traffic and the pavements are just empty. I could have them to myself. I always sort my thoughts during my run. It's a good way of self-reflection as well!

__________________________________________________________

It's gonna be less than a month to a new year of 2014! I am looking fwd as I've set aside a few person goals for myself in the new year. I hope by dec, I can clear all debts (with my sis) and then work harder in the new year for myself. 

New quote to live by ' Learn to live and accept with what you can't change. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength". I shall, thus, live by this in 2014. May the work brings in new challenges and greater heights, may myself be stronger than 2013 so I can set out to achieve more, may my family and friends be blessed to always be safe, to laugh more, worry less, travel more and play hard in the new year. By 27, I hope I can start to achieve my dream- having my own cafe.

Love,

Rach

"Of blessings"

Happy birthday to dearest Auntie Siew Ping. 

May this year 2013 been a great year filled with love, happiness and good health for you. 2013 is ending in a month's time and I wish you much more happiness, love, luck and better health in the upcoming 2014.

It has always been the greatest blessing to have met you and known you. Times flies, knowing you had been a good coming 2yrs. Despite all that had happened, you do drop bits of encouragement and love to me. I appreciate every single bit of it. Even though we mayn't be as close as we used to be but you're always inside my heart and I will always keep a blessing for you to always be happy and in good health :)

Till then,
Love, Rach

"With contentment, you'll realize that you're happier"

Always thankful to have the sweetest girls around me in life.

Ling brought me my fav Tiramisu in a Jar by @empiredsg from Lola Cafe!



Lola Cafe is a quaint cafe located in Kovan. It's a travel away from my place hence I only managed to go there if I ever have time off enough to travel down :) So I was so thankful to be able to have fav Tiramisu again!

My sis-in-law came over for dinner today with my family. It's been a good long time everyone sat down tgt to have a proper good dinner. Def love such family bonding time tgt.



Mom seems to cook better dishes whenever we've family dinner. On usual days, dinner are kept really simple. So I appreciate times like these cause i hardly have dinner home on weekdays due to work & gym.

Wes started packing for the upcoming Korea trip after dinner



Thats a total of 3 bags for my brother! HAHA.

This weekends was kept pretty simple as I was tasked and planned to help Ling with her wedding favours. So glad we managed to keep in track with our timeline. And we're ALL done for the ROM party on the 11 Jan 2014! Don't say we're mad but it is VERY true that time flies so fast before you know it.
I am planning to work on my cupcakes during weekends after Korea Trip to churn out the best for my gf's ROM!

So many plans to work towards to and I am making sure I keep to them. Hoping 2014 will be another new fresher year for myself to improve myself and financially. 1 more month till we bid 2013 a good bye and welcome 2014 with a fresher self and mind. I am looking fwd to a good new 2014 ahead with my family,friends and everyone else.

Till then,
Love, Rach