March 2017

Oh wow, I can't believe that today is the last day of March. Time really flies by so fast.

January

I was busy finding my direction for 2017. I received some words but was trying to piece everything together. Some conferences and sermons I attended, watched or listened to helped to piece my season together. I'm happy and pleased with this.

So basically, 2017 is going to be a re-set year for me, Year of Jubilee. 😇

1. REST to ENGAGE my giants
2. LISTEN and be FED
3. FLOW with the SPIRIT of GOD

So, in summary, that will be the season I'll be in. God is so awesome to fill in the blanks for me. I believe that better things are coming and certainly things will become clearer.

January also holds one of the happiest moments or few days of this year, because my brother, SIL and my cute niece came to stay with us for a few days over the Lunar New Year. I love this little girl so much. She is so adorable and smart. She is the best little girl in the world to me. I was really upset when she left, I cried at the airport after they went into the secured area. Hubby hugged me and called me silly. I know that she is growing up so fast and I wonder if she will remember this visit with us and how I massaged her feet for her and how she enjoyed it.

February

February is always a celebratory month for us. It's our anniversary. God is really so, so good. We kicked off our road trip by attending Joyce Meyer Conference in Phoenix. From there, we headed to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and then San Diego. We re-visited some places but also visited new places. I enjoyed the trip, with the exception of the terrible traffic in San Diego (oh how my bladder paid for it) and a couple of stinky hotel rooms.

While I contemplated leaving negative feedbacks on travel sites on those hotel that advertize non-smoking room but then it reeks of stale post-smoke stench, whose fault is it really? I think that the patrons are so irresponsible to smoke in those rooms. Then again the hotel should be more proactive to clean out the rooms properly if they are still letting the rooms out as non-smoking. For people like me with sensitive airway, it can really become a life and death issue. End rant.

March

I spent most of March being sick or afflicted by allergies. My body fought hard because I was not keen to go to the doctors and be given the pesky steroids due to my history of asthma. All the medications that will be prescribed have side effects that I don't care for. Therefore, I decided to fight with just raw honey, liquids and rest. It was long-suffering but hey, I made it through the worst and I'm left with sniffles from the pollen and that is all. 🙌 Win!

As I was wondering how do I proceed on a creative journey and use up my roomful of supplies, I was directed to the #100dayproject. So I started on the 29th of March and the 100th day would be 6th July. I wanted to paint hearts and crosses, but on day 3, which is today, I lifted an idea off a book. I wrote the Bible verses on love into the form of a dress.

Dress in love. 8.5" x 11" Sketch book Mr Sketch Stix Markers Idea lifted from More Creative Lettering by Jenny Doh. #zoefiedseasontoengage #zoefiedlife #zoefiedlifeinthedesert #day3of100 #the100dayproject #the100dayproject2017 #heart #imnolongeraslavetofear #zoefied100daysofheartsandcrosses #becreative #babysteps #notoverthinkingthis

A post shared by Zoe Ng (@zoefiedlife) on Mar 31, 2017 at 4:21pm PDT

I'm quite happy with it. As long as I quote where I lifted the idea from, I think this can totally help me to be more creative. I'm happy to be on the right track. 🙆

Driving in December

Every time I drive, I have to wonder if it is so difficult to spend some time alone with your own thoughts or with the radio or some songs on the radio in the car. I dare say that 90% of the time, if I encounter a person driving, they are on the phone.  Their cell phone is either plastered to their face or to their mouth. 

Don't they know that there are gadgets easily available to "clip" your phone to the dash, the air vents or the wind shield? There are also those ear piece that comes with the phone, for you to be able to make a hands-free call. And for those who are holding their phones to their mouth, they are obviously using the speaker mode on their phone, don't they know that they don't actually have to hold on to their phones? 

It is crazy! I have even seen people texting while driving on the highway. What is it with people and their need to be talking all the time? Do they really find it so hard to be alone? Do they dislike themselves so much, that they can't stand to be alone with themselves? I really cannot begin to comprehend.

I'm currently staying in south Arizona, where the snow birds flock to, to escape the colder weather or snow conditions in their home state. So now, with the holiday season upon us, there are a lot more cars on the road - the cars that are usually out and about, the folks who don't often venture out but do so to get stuff for the holidays and of course, the snow birds. 

The point is, there are so many cars on the roads. It's already frustrating to drive with the increased number of cars on the road and then there are those who insist on talking on the phone or text. It makes driving so much more dangerous. You hear more honking on the roads and sudden braking. There is an increased need to drive more defensively.

I'm staying in an area that has a few miles of road construction going on, and the speed limit is either 25 or 35 miles per hour. There is increased traffic police surveillance in the area, but I guess many has not seen them around. There is only a single lane to travel each way, but there are people who are so impatient, I can't even! I have better use for my money than to pay for any traffic ticket and so I travel by the speed limit, paying special attention to my speedometer, especially in construction zones.

You would assume that people who have to travel the entire stretch of construction would have good sense to factor in extra travel time, but no. I mean there are times when you need to be at a complete stop because of the construction vehicles that need to get in and out of their work area. There are crazy people who zoom zoom so fast as if there was no construction going on. They are a menace on the roads especially to the construction workers. There were a couple of times when the car behind me actually cross into the opposing lane just to cut past me and a few other cars who were travelling at speed limit. It's just so crazy!

It's no fun driving with crazy drivers and those who insist on talking while driving. 

New Season!

Oh yeah! This is my first blog post on my very own new laptop.

I got a new laptop over Thanksgiving! A LG gram. It's so light! I thank God for being able to get this and I believe that things are on their way!

I think I'm entering into a new season. God is good!

Oh To Be A Nomad Again...

Yup, it's that time again. We're moving to Arizona on June 4th. 12 more days to be exact.

Our boxes have left and we're now settling paperwork and last minute purchases. 

I had this dream early this morning, after waking up momentarily at 4am, due to an achy back. I dreamt about saying that I'm finally sleeping in a proper bed again. 😴😴😴 currently hubby is on a single air mattress and I'm on a thick foam mattress, and we're sleeping on those on our wood floor in the bedroom. I think we're too used to our comfy bed that seems to envelope us as we sink into it. 😌😌😌

Our comfy big mattress is now on its way to AZ. The shipper seems to be more efficient this time round, so we're hoping to see our stuff in early July. 

I'm still not too sure how I'm feeling about this move. I just know that I'll miss church here and my darling Niece a whole lot. But I also believe that there's a wonderful season ahead of us, that Abba is bringing us to. Our attitude is we will trust and obey, and believe for the best.

Collection : Lunar New Year Red Packets

Seeing as the Lunar New Year is less than a week away, I thought I'd document the various Red Packets that I have right now.

I like this one because it has the different icons of Singapore. 

This set was from my hairdresser last year.

This one was from Trinity Christian Centre from 2011.

This is a really old and battered one from Ben & Jerry's, obviously.

I really like this, I think I shall use it on a layout soon. 

This one is not bad as I like the tiny icons on the background.

This is the latest one from my church. :)

This set I bought from a random stall last year because I liked the mint color.

This one we received in our mailbox.

This set was given with some CNY goodies we bought in JB City Square.

Last year's from church. :)

This one is a nice pink color, different from the usual red ones.

This is pretty nice too, but I don't really like orange or peach color.

This is simple and nice.

This one has pretty flowers!

This one looks like a tiny chinese painting?

From Vicom (duh!) last year, when we had our auto inspection.

This one is special because I like the back only. Haha! I can't remember where I got this from. Hmm...

From NTUC! 

More flowers! 

This one I'm not quite sure about it.

This one is really plain.

This one hurts my eyes! From Uniqlo, complete with stickers to seal the deal.

The 4 designs below are the ones we bought to put in our gifts for weddings.

I love the one on the top right one. So pretty!

And so concludes my red packet collection. 

We went to Bugis and Sim Lim Square area. Initially we thought we could perhaps have our lunch at 18 Chefs but the servings look really large and we thought we would try it another time.  After walking around Bugis Junction, we took the link bridge to Bugis+. And we passed by the Ramen Champion and got hooked by the various kinds of Ramen available. Yum yum!

Our tags.

My Black Garlic Tonkatsu Ramen that Hubby ordered for me.

My 3rd time eating this but dunno why this has so much meat, which Hubby helped to eat 90% of it.

His Tan Tan Ramen, which was too spicy for me.

I felt the noodle was like instant noodle, very different from the seemingly fresh-made kind I had.

After a super tummy-bursting lunch of carbo, we spent maybe 1.5h walking a bit aimlessly around Sim Lim Square.  We had nothing to buy but coming to Sim Lim Square is what we usually do, since we started dating. This tradition has continued well into our marriage.  When we were in US, we missed it. Hehehe... just something that we do, I guess.

On the drive home, we noticed that the clouds was getting darker and darker ahead. Finally drove into the rain nearer to home, and it was accompanied by thunder and lightning, no less. Hubby dropped me off at the sheltered area at our block, before going to park the car. 

The rain was really pouring but somehow the camera can't seem to catch it.

Anyway, we relaxed at home until it was way past dinner time.  We headed to a coffeeshop in Cheng San area for dinner, before heading to Ang Mo Kio Hub to walk off dinner and to complete my daily challenge of 10k steps.  Done!

Hubby is back to work today. 

Start Before I'm Ready!!!

Ok! So many things going through my mind right now, and about half of them on why I should not be typing this out.

The truth is that I've got a gazillion (dramatic much?) ideas going through my brain, but I'm still waiting for that perfect day when everything falls into place, so that I can start on them.  I feel that my blog is very blah, and I'm just not digging it.  However, I think I should just continue it for myself.

This is the current state of my studio a.k.a. craft room a.k.a. rainbow room.  I took this the moment I got home today. No procrastination or excuses, just the messy truth that is where I am right now. 

I'm so blessed to be given a Mac by D, my elder brother. It is a spare that he has and he brought it to my home and helped my to set it up. I wanted a Mac to try out and see if it is the environment that I want, seeing how, I'm using an iPhone and mini iPad, that the whole environment and use should be quite seamless? So I really thank God that D suddenly asked if G (my younger bro) and myself would like to try using a Mac. So timely, this was within a month of my first serious trip to an Apple store to check stuff out.

Hmm, I supposed to re-install the OS he passed to me but I've yet to do so. The truth is, I ran into some difficulties and I stopped using it for the past month. And that is why in the photo, you can see that things are kinda piled onto it. So after I reached home, I took this photo, settled all the things that needed my immediate attention, and I pushed the pile of stuff in front of the Mac to the right. And now, I am typing this post on my Mac. 

Yes, I started before I'm ready! :)

Speak Up or Suffer

Sorry that I was not able to post a quote last Tuesday. I was kinda caught in chasing one of my many rainbows. More on that in a month's time, maybe.

Never Too Old!!!

Fitting In?

There is always peer pressure at any age, to fit in with the crowd you're hanging with.  

From young, I could remember wanting to fit in, by wanting or coveting what others have.  First, it was a Barbie Doll, then it was a pair of running shoes, followed by boyfriend, drinking habit and whatnots.  

It took me a while to realize that, to fit in, I actually compromised by coveting what others have.  I asked myself "Do I even like this thing that I'm coveting?" More often than not, I just wanted to belong and for that the price to pay, is sometimes high.  While there were no lasting side effects to the things I've compromised to, there was definitely no value added either. 

Right now, I believe that if these people can only accept me when I do certain things or own certain things, they don't actually want me there. In that case, I can live without them. I don't believe that any real, lasting relationship of any kind, is worth abandoning my values and beliefs to do it. 

Have a wonderful rest of the week!