"The pursuit of happiness is the root of misery. The more you desire, the more unhappy you're"

Happy Sunday y'all! 

This post came abit late due to the hectic weekends that just passed. And rest days are gone like this but nonetheless, it is a new month, new week and new challenges awaits for me tomorrow. 

For the better, we will fight on through th week!

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Friday evening, I decided to make a trip down to #Lolacafe @ Simon Road to have dinner. 

Since I've been wanting to try their mains! But it was a pity since I did not expect the dinner crowd to be that overwhelming! So I packed away 2 of D's Tiramisu in a Jar!
I was praying deep inside that the Tiramisu stays all well till I am home!
Indeed,they were in the best shape ever after an hour of journey home!

Sweet treat to reward myself for fighting hard this week at work, gym and self.

Saturday morning saw us up bright and early!

Went with the mother to pack in brunch for the sisters and bro.
Then we prepped and headed out to jaybee.
We were heading to visit the grandparents for my grandpa's belated birthday!
Gonna be having steamboat over at the grandparent's place in the evening.
Since we were early, we headed to Bukit Indah to walk ard, hv some high tea and grab some groceries for the dinner in the evening!

#ootd
Top- #Ohvola
Shorts- Cottonon

The grandma was hanging around so I took out the Sugarless Bird Nest Egg Tart for her to have for tea!
Glad she loves it :)





My very cutie nephew,named Zhe Kai but we call him "Kai Kai"!
To add on, he really is so adorable! And resemble like a little panda. Teehee!

Dinner was good and very lively with my cousins around. I bet the old folks were happy to be seeing such a crowd at their place after CNY. We're all busy with our own lives and work hence we don't make it back often unless its CNY festive season. So it was quite a good time to be catching up and just livng a layback weekend in jaybee.

Sunday morning, we got back to Sg around 9plus.
Had breakfast and did some grocery shopping before coming home.

Ling was crashing over my crib to trial Lemon Meringue with me so we can bake them for LYY's birthday next next weekend! I hope she is just as surprised!
So glad, the Lemon Meringue turned out quite fine for a first time attempt with zero knowlegde!

Weekends ended and moving onto a new week,month and lots of goals come the Monday.

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Sept was a month whereby I faced quite a few periods of down time.
These few periods were made up of different things and also it has served as a lesson for myself to know better of my limits.

I am moving on in work wise. Hv promised myself to hang in there as much and just ignore what may be wagging in other's tongue or their mind. I will work just as hard to seek for the next path of my career. It is tough now but I am actively working hard. Placing my mind and focus on doing well in my current job scope and then be more consistent in my job hunt.

Personal side, I've seen how much a terrible expense person I indeed am. I've been running away from alot of things in life and didn't face them just cause I procastinated. It was def an expensive lesson learnt well and hard. I gotten a new small notebook, gave myself a fresh start and decided to work extra hard to keep up with my expenses. I need to be more consistent. If I can do better in recording down my expenses, I will cultivate this habit from now. And one thing I was so glad for was how my sisters were still there when I needed help. They could have left me in lurch and just not give a single damn but after all the lectures that I deserved, they were still very concerned about me. Making sure I still have some $$ in hand and paying for my winter apparels for the upcoming Korea trip. I am thankful that my family never leaves when I need them. In fact, they were also the ones whom supported me and gave me advices on my next path in my career. 

Thankyou.

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We learnt at different stages in life. Today, I've learnt quite a fair bit recently on self,mind and life.

I will learnt from these mistakes, keep walking and do better.

Nonetheless, I will still keep things in prayers and rejunvenate myself this weekend at BKK and think through all that I can. I need to refresh my soul and mind. If I stay in the same place, I will never be better to move on. So this time round, the $100 theory will move me from here.

Till then.

Love,

Rachh

“We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.”

Its finally gonna be the last working day of the week tomorrow and I can't wait to end the work week well.

Shall promise myself to do even better tomorrow at work.

Recently,it hadn't been the best at work, every single day feels mentally draining to self, mind and soul but I couldn't just continue feeling this way, I wouldn't get better. 

I am moving away from it, trying not to attract as much negativity into my life now as I always believe you're what you think. Hence, to move on better in the remaining 3mths to go, I will do my best to practise positivity every single day at work. 

I am disappointed with myself but I reckon during the 1st year of working, this downfall woke me up. It woke me up to see more imperfections of myself and how I can improve myself this time round to do better going ahead. I think I have alot to work on. Self, mind and life. I need time to sort everything out better and till then, I will then mark down what I really need to re-look into my life. #neversaydie now. 

In fact, I do feel disappointed with some colleagues whom I think I've trusted on, but enough said, I shall move on. There's nothing left to say but just to keeping up with my work and focusing on the right path, this too shall pass.

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I would also like to take this opport to thank my sister who is of a great pillar this period of time. She rendered alot of help to me and I'd say, she is really a good sister which I shld learn from. It is like a $100 lesson for me, I'd pick that up and move on frm there.

Struggling to be mind over matters to achieve better at work. 

Its never easy but I'll keep going.

Love,

Rachh

"I have come to realize that my greatest triumphs have been born of my greatest troubles.”

Happy Sunday once again!

Summer is here and we're all trying to embrace the heat!

TGIF started off well and chirpy! Back to work after being on leave on Thursday and was happy and excited to see the colleagues as I was off my braces! :DD

Work went all well and managed to knock off on time to head home to pick up the car. Drove the dad out to meet his friends before I head down to Yishun to pick Ginnie up!
Tonight's dinner @ Estee's crib and looked what she whipped up in the kitchen of hers!
Always blessed to hv a friend who cooks just so well!



Kimchi Pork x Tomato with Egg x Broccoli Cauliflower Mix!
Thankyou for being such great host and chef tonight!

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Saturday was bright and early as my sisters and I were trying to book the tickets online for Running Man's concert on 19th Oct! :D So excited we managed to get secure 3tix @$158 each to see them! Though it maynt be the best seat we've got but I am more than thankful we managed to grab them! The network was jammed so badly!

Afternoon headed out to collect my retainers at the dental while my bro went for his monthly dental appt. What a sleepy noon. I slept on the bus to and fro from dental. Back home early as we were gonna have family dinner tgt with my dad for my Mom's birthday!




After dinner was an impromptu decision to head to Gardens By the Bay together for a good night stroll and lantern-sight seeing for the lantern display there. We ended the night around 11pm back home. Couldn't take the lack of sleep, headed for a really good cold shower, dried my hair and turned in thereafter.

Did a good workout just now at home for Core and Strength Training. Gonna be back to the tracks tonight, training well enough for 21KM in 2mths time! Last week of Sept is here and I can't wait for October to enjoy the PH! As well as my bkk solo tripppp! :)

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Gonna be trying pre-workout shakes to enhance my workout better going fwd in October! and Korea in Nov! Time to be more frugal in my spendings and save up more for Korea!

Good week ahead! :D

Love,
Rachh

“Life is simple. You just have to stop trying to figure it out.”

Happy Mid-Autumn everyone! Today's mid autumn festival and I hope everyone is home either celebrating or just simply being with their loved ones. 

Love thursdays like such. I spent the whole day alone by myself.

Dropped by Lola to support a friend who had his cake up for sale at the cafe counter! Got myself a cuppa White Ginger Pear tea to complete my high-tea with Hazelnut Choco Cake by Dennis. 

Indeed, the Hazelnut Choco Cake is simply worth all calories! :D I am so happy for him. 

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Today, I did some self-thoughts and some self-read whilst having my high-tea by myself. I didn't at all feel any pinch of lonliness at all. I think we deserve such days sometimes in our hectic lives. Set aside some time to go by a cafe, bring a good read and just enjoy the time alone. It's not everyday you get to do this but learn to appreciate it when you can. I start learning to appreciate small details in life ever since certain lessons taught me well to. And in life, we can't ask for everything to be what we want it to be, so we need to learn how to accept. Go the other path, sometimes you never know what it will lead you to. I chose th other path. I didn't allow myself to be saying "i like certain things/person" just by judging but I chose to do it the other way. We define how we like certain things/people through actions. Not by judging. 

Today at the cafe, I was happy to see D. It has been a small lil secret of mine since I followed him on IG this year. And I decided to kept it as a eyecandy on IG. Someone whom I can still see his pics and just know how he is doing. It got to a point whereby just few months bck, I decided to order cupcakes from him for Sis's birthday! Perfect timing to know him better! Aft the cupcake order, I felt I will def see him ard again! And it was so nice to be able to head down to Lola to try his cakes today! Nonetheless, I hope to be able to like what he told me bfore I left "See you again". We can all choose how we appreciate someone. I chose to be appreciating his bakes. Baking is an effort thing. It comes with patience, hard work and lots of consistency. So t appreciate his bake and feedback to him, I believe this is what makes a baker happy. It doesn't need to be a straight forward thing to letting someone know abt it, you could do it in a supportive "friend" way. Thankful that I had no mutual friends with him yet I was still able to get to know him eventually and talk to him!

Its been a good day of self, errands and workout. I'll keep the weekends to being more hardworking at my workouts and being more positive in life towards work as well!
Sept is ending next week, I cant wait for Oct. I am going on a vacation alone, for real. I need to relax my soul,self and mind this trip to Bangkok.

In short to end this post,

I am thankful for everything that had been happening, I will continue moving ahead in life :D

Love,

Rachh

"Life is filled with choices we made"

The recent turmoil at work has made me change my perspective of self & towards work.

I reckon the lack of experience and having this as my first job ever since I graduated is indeed one filled with lots of challenges and uncertainty. I never knew how harsh this would come across to me. But I am thankful certain things happened to make me realize them and I hope it is never too late. It def gave me a good few days of emotions swirling badly inside. I couldn't perk myself up much and I just left it there to not attract more negative thoughts towards the rest of the things in life. And I began to do some self-thoughts on what I'd like to achieve next. 

I realize how much a step I was now. I didn't achieve too much in this 9mths yet. I am still learning everyday at work. However, I've failed at some point of time to handle certain duties. I blamed myself for my ignorance and lack of consistency in things I do hence the consequences. However, I decided to see it as yet another learning point for myself. I wanna do better next - was all I had in my mind. But how to? First, I'd hv to make the choice to change. I decided that no matter how major or minor this issue has impacted and the consequences I am facing, I will accept all that had happened and move on. Getting myself more than ready for work every day and handling everything on hand even better. I rmb my boss told me this "sometimes you don't need to be super fast in your work". And this makes me realize how much I need to start being more patient and practise consistency in my work. It came as a fresh start to embracing this as part of my work now.

After all th self-thoughts, I too decided that it was time to move on. I didn't meant to leave the current due to this issue but I reckon my very young age shld allow me to go out and try more job roles before deciding to settle down on one permanently. It wasn't being small-minded. But I felt the need to get outta comfort zone in order for myself to learn. In 2014, I wanna achieve much more than I did in 2013. Stepping out to diff jobs will enable me to find the one that I will settle down gradually. So im glad, I had a "lesson" learnt. Though it was grieving to me but somehow it will get better. 

For now, I'd work extra hard and use the time to improve and be better going ahead.

Love,

Rachh

"Happines is what you made th most out of what you've in life"

Bright and chirpy start to a Saturday. Had my usuals for breakfast before heading down town for my eyebrow appt then to meet the girls @ Vivo thereafter!
We planned for our High Tea session in Sept and we're heading over to W Hotel @ RWS for our High Tea!

The place was rather quiet for a Saturday noon but it was good cause we could do catchings up over tea and pastries! :D



Love how they have the birdcage concept at W Hotel!
Makes the afternoon so chillax over tea and pastries!'

My girls and I :)

Our high tea ended at 6pm which we then catch a cab over to Dempsey Hill, CMPB for dinner and drinks.

Quite disappointed with the food this time round, Fish & Chips tasted awful cause of the fish stench, Pizza was not as nice as we expected the Roast Duck to be and Truffle Fries were overdone. 

Luckily HH made up for it! Me and ling had 5bttles of Kronenburg each :/



We decided to head over to Five @ Cuppage for more beer after dinner is done.

Amazingly I had 8pints ytd and I was all sober till we went home! 

But felt so terrible this morning when I woke up, not enough sleep and felt a terrible hangover. So I went bck to bed till 11am and got up unwillingly. 

Gonna regret for all the beer and food I had ytd during my run tonight :(

But thats the way, to work out is to pig out more.

Thankful that I had lost some weight recently.
Must keep this going and shall work harder during gym classes this week!

Good Sunday!

Love,

Rachh

"There is a blessing hidden in every trial in life, but you have to be willing to open up your heart to see them"

Another week has jus passed again and here the weekends has arrived! 

Ok, not so smooth at work recently. Things just came crashing altogether and I had no choice but learn. You learn in diff ways. 

For all that had happened recently, it taught me to be even more careful when it comes to work. I made my mistake of choosing to think the intital which caused the misunderstanding as many could have been prevented if I had checked them correctly. And it also brought me to realize how much a careless freak I've been at work. Time to take things even the simplest task at work, seriously. The feeling is terrible but I know to move on, I need to learn to embrace this, accept and just keep walking. The light may not be prominent to me now but all I've is my faith inside to keep me going. I can't give up at this junction in life. If not, I will never be able to be shaped to being better.

- When life gives you lemons, make Lemonade-



Meal preps has been back lately but I still have ALOT to improve on. Need to work on diff recipes daily.



Weekends are meant for brunches and dinners. Today's the high tea and dinner with the girls @ Woobar and CMPB! :DD

Love,

Rachh

"One of the days"

Ever met a day where you feel bummed and just moodless for anything? I am def feeling it today on a Monday morning. My tummy hasn't been well either and I had been running to the toilet for the umpteen times since 8am! I hope all the dirt will flush out soon enough. So I went to the doc, got some med and texted the boss to call in for MC.

Lets #throwback a little to weekends.

Sunday was spent sleeping in a little more and waking up for my brunch.
Came home and did a workout in the noon, haircut and then prep to town to meet the zhous for dinner!

Wanted to put on my blue dress but still don't feel right abt it hence I ended up with skorts and my bralet.

Simple weekend calls for a more casual outfit.

Dinner was set at King Louis Grill and Bar.
Had a platter of Queen Victoria which serves 2-3pax and jus nice for the hungry 4 of us!
I think the meat and seafood are rather fresh, portions are huge and service is decent. I think it was also due to the reason we were dining on a Sunday night hence the rest was pretty empty. But that did good for us as we could catch up even more!



Some photos loving with le gf, Zombie babe!
Amazing friendship tgt with this girl, we've been through the best and the worst tgt. Can you imagine we actually were on very bad terms 5yrs back for a good 2yrs without talking? Hate was probably the word we used towards each other BUT i guess fate is something which we can't escape from! We managed to sort things out, had a talk and build back the friendship from there. Also, it was at that point of time in life, I realized how twiny, @monchao, actually stood by me throughout the whole incident. I had no one else with me, no one to turn to and pour to. It was him who stood by me, not listening nor believing to the rumours and also made it possible for me and Zombie to rebuild our friendship bck in a piece. So till date, I am very thankful and always appreciative to hv mon ard me. He's like an angel sent frm above to standby me through good and bad.



As we both see how each other grow from being FAT to now FIT, how immature we were till fine young adults now, the nonsensical things we did in our teen years, spending like no one's business, hanging out till wee hrs, being a night owl, just spend time outside wasting our youth away drinking and clubbing. We've been now embarked on diff phases of our life. Of course, knowing him well, I'd always want to have something diff and nice for his birthday. And seeing how much he had grown this year, this serves as a reward for him. I am glad, he had a blast on his 23rd!



So that marks us tgt :) our 15th year! and 16th in 3months to come!

In life, we do hv diff grps of friends which we are always close to and they hold a special meaning to our hearts. Of course, they're one of them and will always be a part of me :)

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Can't deny that the work incident impacted alot on me recently. My emotions and thoughts at work is different now but I know I will get over and through this, I just require some time. And at the same time, I am now facing a diff direction at work. I'd use the time to polish up all the knowlegde of what is in the industry, pay more meticulous attention to all of what work has for me and earn bck the trust to handle more work roles. A lesson learnt the hardest, does the best. 

Love,
Rachh

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

Saying thanks and counting my blessings every single day of my life. I am glad, I've been practising it and now I am proud to say, you reap all you sow.

TGIF started off well. Dinner was set at 8pm @ CMPB situated at Dempsey Hill. 

I really love the outdoor Alfresco dining but wouldn't mind having indoor either cause of the liveband!
I am def making another trip bck to try more of their other food items on the menu!

For the bestest friend of 15yrs and going, a blessed Happy Birthday to you. May all that you wish upon comes true.

Whats Friday night without a good drink? 

For him: Sparkling Mojito
For me: Kronerburg Blanc (can never live without beerrrrr)

The only downside of outdoor dining is the lightings were rather dim and hence the photos looks really flashy here. But nonethless, I think the food and company made up for it totally!

On the table:
-Parmasean Truffle Fries
-Beef and Pork Sausage Meatballs
-CMPB Burger



Meantime when he went to the loo, I had to grab the opport to order a cake for him.



Wonder why his pose was so funny! But then I am so glad he was totally caught off guard!
Happy Birthday, Mon!

Not a bad shot by the waitress. I think their service is really good. Def wor going for th food, ambience, company and service!

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Never did he know that there was a part ll of his birthday surprise all planned out 2weeks ago via a 69 grp chat for him. I brought him to Mandarin Gallery, Bar on Five. The initial lie to cover up was that I needed to collect mooncakes from my "merchant". I even had KC to call me up to make the story looks deceiving enough. True enough, my bff is always a sotong who totally fell for it.

The people whom he had wanted to all be there with him to celeb this special joyous occassion together were there :)
Nonetheless, I had to thank each of them for being sportaneous enough to play a good role in making this surprise party a HUGE success!

We opened 3bottles of alcohol and there we started the party!

Partied till 2am, the raining was pouring and howling the whole night but that didnt spoil any fun!



Good Saturday morning, waking up to fav Hum Ji Peng, Ya Kun Coffee and IKEA catalogue for 2014!

What a peaceful morning to be having breakfast in comfort.

Had to meet the girls up @ 12pm for baking! Hurried over to wash up and off I went.
So glad and thankful we had fun baking and cleaning up!

The cake pop was the hardest to master. Even though it was a first time attempt but I am quite glad we managed to do up the cake mixture well! More to go!

Mini Cupcake and Wine session thereafter with the girls. So thankful to have their companionship and friendship tgt,sharing, gossiping, laughing and just spending girly times tgt. I love simple weekends like that. As we don't meetup every week, thats why I treasure such a bond even more.

My handmade gift for the bestfriend this year. Something to remind him of who he is and to walk on further in life with good faith. Thats what friends are for; they know when they shld be there :)

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Saturday's complete with an hr of workout.
I am done with my chores for the night as well. So thankful I made good use of Saturday meeting friends, running errands (even got my meal prep ingredients) and went for a workout!
Sunday will be even better w an awesome dinner w the zhou's for mon's birthday.

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The start of Sept wasn't a great beginning. I met some probs at work and was given a "punishment" to make me see how grave the consequences were. I learnt it hard and well. It caused me a day of being really at my down time. That same day, I broke down badly, both alone and infront of G. but I was glad, I did it. It allowed me to let my emotions run for a period of time. Aft that, I wrote a note of apology to my boss and decided I shld end the day off with a good workout. It did made me feel th emotions off abit. And I caught a warm shower and an early sleep that night. I knew I was still feeling slightly sore the next few days but I had told myself that this is human nature and hence I will move on frm here soon which I did. I believe to be able to be given another opport again, I need to prove I am worth the trust and ability to do so. Next week will be my new beginning at work. Starting off with meal preps for lunch and working hard at work, gym and a new path which I am intending to take on. We shall see how things will work out to be for me.

With that said,
Goodnights :)

Love,
Rachh