My Life in Mono...

Learning how to set goals

I spent a good part of the morning today at a Goals Setting workshop hosted by Kikki K.  I went to one of their Happiness one in January and enjoyed it very much.  The other reason that I love going to their workshop is, I get to come home with one of their beautiful journals. :) 

Helle, who conducted this workshop is amazing and inspirational.  I can relate so much with her when she told us a little about her life. When she was younger, she suffered from Anxiety and Depression and how she conquered it was pretty amazing.  I am always amazed by people who have overcome Depression.  They are my true heroes. 

I always come out from workshops or seminars like this inspired and gearing to go.  My only downfall is, I lack the motivation to keep it going.  Helle gave me tools today to help me set my goals and reach them.  I am capable of achieving my goals and I do have the tools to achieve it.  So there is really no reason why I always lose steam before I achieve them right?  Well.... not really...

I conclude that I have a couple of pitfalls:-

• I do not write them down as specific as I can.  We learnt how to use the SMART way, more on that in another post once I learn as much as I can about it. 
• Self doubt.  Yep. I sure do know this one by heart. I spoke about how I am slowly learning how to love myself here. 
• And lastly, procrastination.  YEP.  I am a big procrastinator.  I plan and plan and plan and I sometimes don't end up doing what I plan to do because I procrastinate. 

We were asked at the workshop "What our core values are?" and write them down.  There was a sheet with a list of words that represents core values.  The ones that jumped out at me today were Learning/Teaching, Nature and Balance. From your core values, you can set your goals up so there are less chances of you failing because it correlates to your core values.

There are some bits and pieces that I would like to note down and share:-

• Helle talked about the Rock Pebbles and Sand way to prioritise.  I still need to read and learn more about this method.
• Every elite athlete will need to physically and mentally rehearse.
• What you focus on, grows.  
• If it lights you up, you dont need anyone's approval 
• Helle introduced me to an inspirational speaker called Louise Hay.  I am already pinning her affirmations on Pinterest and also will be sharing her affirmations on my Facebook page. 

I am still learning so I am still trying to tweak my process.  If you have anything to share, please share them with me here or on my Facebook page. :)

 

Highlights of the week

1. Autumn is finally here! Cooler days and nights means that I can save on electricity. HA!
2. The Long Weekend. This means that I can experiment more on meal prep for the week. 
3. Discovering Smoothie bowls.  If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest, you will see that I have been pinning, sharing and taking photos of delicious smoothie bowls. 

Chafing the Dream

Perth Marathon happened over the weekend and though I played a very small running part, as I was in a relay team and could only do the 5km leg, I had so much fun being in the cheer squad. 

I had so much fun cheering for other people that 3 hours pass by just from me screaming and ringing the cow bells.  I have to give credit to my friends Michelle, Ben and Didi for making the signs.  They did an awesome job don't you think? Every time someone read the "Chafing the Dream" sign, they smile and laughed.  I think some of them said that they were indeed chafing the dream.  Eeek! 

After cheering near the Narrows bridge, we made our way down to the finish line to cheer for the few that went over the 5 hours mark.  I had marathon envy by the end of the race.  I stayed back to have a chat with a couple of the newly crowned marathoners and I am so inspired by them all.  It is in my bucket list to finish one and I am hoping that I will find the time to start training for one. One day, one day I will tick that off my bucket list. 

 

Weekend Recap: Chinese New Year Edition

Trying to revitalise my Weekend Recap posts once again.  :)  I think it is a good start for me to continue writing on the blog. 

Happy Chinese New Year to all my readers who are celebrating! Quiet one for me this year.  We did have our reunion dinner and joined in the festivities in and around our beautiful city.  

Friday

We had our yearly family reunion dinner.  We decided to try something different this year and went with Western Food.  We went to this little place called Hub Grill in Shelly.  It is run by a small family. The service is very good and the food was amazing! I had the pork and it was cooked to perfection!  The mushroom sauce and the squid, was a good combination.  I give it 4/5 finger licking good! 

Their contact details are:-

The Hub Grill Cafe-Restaurant 
Shop17, Shelley Hub Shopping Centre,
Tribute Street West, Shelley, WA 6148.

Operating Hours: 5:30pm to 9:00pm - Tuesday to Sunday 

Ph  :08-92595595
Mobile :0449776954
Email: [email protected]

 

Saturday

We had the usual ballet and swimming classes on Saturday.  After swimming, my little girl had her very first hair cut.  I was feeling all nostalgic about it and kept telling myself that she needed it. The ends of her hair were dead.  Sob. 

We went to a friend's place after that for Chinese New Year Celebration and had yummy food.  When we got home, the Lil' Tiger (or in this case, lion) fell into a food coma.  We took a really long nanna nap. LOL. 

Sunday

We braved the crowds and went down to James Street Northbridge to join in the festivities.  We ate dumplings, watch lion dances and to cool off, we went to visit the WA Museum.  So lucky to have something this amazing and free in my city. After the Museum, we went to a local play ground just to let the Lil' Tiger burn off all the sugary food that she had.  :)  It was the perfect way to end a perfect weekend. 

Back from the brink...

Well that was a long break! I did not anticipate taking a long break from the blog but things, things just got away.  I thought I could get away with just posting photos but that too got away from me really quick.

So what have I been up to?  Working 2 jobs.  One working for an employer and the other one is a small business that I have aquired. It's progressing on slowly but I like to take things slow. :)

What else?  Running.  I have been running heaps lately.  Entering more races, one half marathon in the works in October eeekks, and training for these races.

I lost my grandma last weekend.  She was my last grandparent. She will be sorely missed by some.  Despite the situation, I have to say, I am happy that I went to pay my last respect.  I caught up with cousins, aunties and uncles, whom I have not seen in a great while.

Life is back to normal now.  Hopefully, I will find time to update this blog again. In the meantime, I am active on my instagram and my facebook page, so you can find me there. :)

Newborn Joys

Apart from my youngest sister being engaged last year, there was another joyous occassion in my family.  I am a proud AUNT.  I spent most of December smelling the top of my newborn Nephew's head. Isn't that the most glorious smell ever.  

Creating Awareness: White Ribbon Day.

Today is White Ribbon Day and though I may not have any direct or indirect experience with this, I would like to share and maybe create awareness.

What is White Ribbon Day? It’s a day where we spread the word to end Violence against Women.  It’s a day where Men take the oath to end it, to seek help and admit that they have a problem.  It’s a day for Woman to help each other out. A day to show support, to end victimising and to empower ourselves with the knowledge that we, as women, do hold the power to end it.

We all think that violence against is only about women getting physically assaulted.  It is not. Emotional abuse, verbal and sexual harassment, stalking and etc. these are all considered as violence against Women. So in other words, anything that violates your personal safety that is Violence.

I went to a Women’s only self defence class yesterday.  It was conducted by my Sensei to empower women with the knowledge that they can defend themselves if the situation comes.  More often than not, violence against women, is done by someone we know or once knew.  It could be an acquaintance we once met, an ex, your current partner.  That is alarming.  Someone we know and trust, using it to hurt us. 

In the class, Sensei Stephen showed us a couple of moves to get us out of “trapped” situations.  One thing I realised is that you do not have to be physically stronger than your opponent.  At the end of the class, he told us, even if we can not remember anything from the class, we at least have taken the first step in stopping Violence against us as Women.  He did also say that men who usually prey on women, usually are on a power trip.  They like to exert themselves to show that they are stronger because deep deep down, they are not and that is why, they can not go up against someone their own size but pick on someone who they think is physically weaker than them.

Here are some tips that were shared during the class and in general:-

• In public or if you are in a new environment of place,  show that you have confidence.  More often than not, the more confidence you have, the less likely you are preyed upon.
• Don’t be afraid to use your voice.  Scream, yell for help. SWEAR like a sailor.  This will alert people around you that something is happening. And if you swear, that might put them off a little bit because it's not "ladylike" to swear.
• If you feel like someone is following you, turn around and ask “Are you alright?” or “Can I help you?”. Predators usually use the element of surprise to catch their victim.  By turning around and acknowledging them, the element of surprise is gone and they no longer have that power over you.
• If you happen to know the person doing the abuse, let them know that you know.  Let them know that you do not support what he is doing even if he says “It is none of your business”  because it is. The safety of someone is your business.
• Remind the person doing the abuse that like their mom or their grandmother or the women in his life, his partner or wife deserves the same respect. Make it personal. Tell them that they are better than that.

If you think that the situation is dangerous, call the police.  Let them (the attacker) know that they are being watched.

These are some of the tips that were shared at the class. There are more tips on the White Ribbon website.  Like I said before, I do not speak from experience, I can only help spread the word and create awareness and this is what I am doing. 

If you hear of a self defence class near you, please try and attend.  I can not stress how important it is to feel empowered by going to one. 

Happy Birthday Chori...

Dearest Lil' Tiger 

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet little angel. How is it that you are 3 already?I ask myself this every year week.  Boy owh boy did this year feel like a blur! 

Earlier this year, you told me you didn't want to wear nappies anymore and in just one week, you were toilet trained.  This year we also said good bye to your dummy and "gave" them to the babies.  You have also learnt how to draw, count to 10 and blow bubbles.  You learnt how to sing songs and "read" books.  Just last night, you learnt the lyrics to BINGO the dog and sang it over and over again. 

You are headstrong and very expressive.  Telling me or your dad exactly how you feel.  At times we clash heads and end up in tears. The other times, all you want to do is shower me with kisses and hugs.  I hope those times will never end.  

You are trying to find your ground at the moment.  Trying to push your boundaries and see how far you can be away from me or not need my help in most things. Chori, I think this is the hardest lesson for me to learn.  I need to learn how to let go a little and know that you will come back to me when you need me. 

Chori, please know that you are much loved by me and your daddy.  We want to give you every thing and any thing that your hearts desire. We hope that you grow up with compassion, respect, dignity and most importantly, Love.   

Love always now and forever, 

Mummy. 

When life takes over...

It's been a little hectic for the past month.  I feel like I have been neglecting this blog (yet again ) and life just took over. 

M and I have been sick the last couple of weeks, fortunately, the Lil' Tiger was spared, so I am not complaining at all. I have also been brewing all sorts of herbal tea drinks and making everyone in my family eat their vitamins and suppliments (I now take Olive Leaf Extract AND Elderberry to boost my immune system.

I have also been spending a lot of time in the kitchen on the weekends experimenting.  We are trying to not eat out often and once again I found my love for being in the kitchen.  The Lil' Tiger helps from time to time, cutting up herbs and bits and pieces of veggies but I think secretly, she just wants to sneak in a couple of bites here and there. Not complaining though.

Loads of draft post on my bloggy dashboard but everything is half done.  I am determined to clear it off and post them for you.  Often I find myself having this brilliant idea for a blog post only to be deflated after 2 paragraphs and thus I sit on my chair trying to think of something witty to say or think to myself "That's too lame to post" and I delete it. I have a huge review that I was meant to do 2 weeks ago and have not gotten round to doing it. Sigh. Story of my life.

It's been a while since I picked my camera up.  I went to a girlfriend's place last week to take photos of her new born son and I have yet to finish editing them.  I put too much pressure on myself to make it perfect but I know that I am limited. My camera is the most basic of all DSLR and I do not have photoshop to edit them, instead I use Paint.NET and some times GIMP. It's frustrating at times.

Celebrating Birthdays...

I went to a friend's birthday party over the weekend.  Here are some photos I took of the birthday boy and my Lil' Tiger.  

Look at those beautiful eyes! 

Always so happy

Ballloooonssss

It's always fun when there is cake! 

And a balloon in a basket. 

Triathlon Training

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Yes. You read that right. Triathlon Training. Only a mini one but a first for me. To be honest, I am scared. Very scared. I know it's just short distance but I am still a little bit nervous about it. I have gone from someone who has never ran before to someone doing a Swim, Bike and Run? That is crazy. 

I have started training for the Tri. I started the day after I signed up. I love the swimming and bike riding part but the one that scares me the most is the running bit. It's just 3k, but I am not sure what I would feel after the swim and bike section of it. Not to mention that there is another hidden element to it. The TRANSITION period but for now, I am just thinking about improving my stamina in each stage. 

I train 5 times a week and rest 2 days in between. Most days I run, because I am trying to improve it a lot, I also swim twice a week and on Sunday's I ride my bike. An example of my training calendar. I have this on my iPhone with reminders so I know I will never forget. 

Still early days, I might up my training closer to the date. So far I have to say, I am pretty dedicated to my training (it has been 2 weeks). I feel like my swimming improved a lot thanks to my sister, who is a swimmer. I feel like I can do laps and laps at the pool (she made me do sprints in the pool the other day, who knew you could do that!). 

So, hopefully in 2 weeks, I will have more to report on. I plan to improve my running and try to aim 5km under 35 minutes. I know I have done this once and since then, I have never been able to hit that target. Finger's cross, I will by next month. 

Any tips for a beginner?