i had been away for too many tuesday due to lessons on tuesday nights.

tonight, was my first zone meeting with wr zone and i am loving it. apparently i am not familiar with the 2 worship songs but the presence  was good and God reminded me that i had my breakthroughs right there in chui’s house =) PTL

i pray i will have a better time table when tri 3 commence in a few weeks times so that i can attend zm to receive and contribute in my zone.

my tri 2 exams are 9 days away and i am mugging. keep me in your prayers while i update my life again.

ps: i got my PDL this afternoon and will be on the road very soon!

celebrated my bestie’s bday on 19sept09 at orchard central mall’s heaven’s loft. heaven’s loft is a nice alfresco chill out place. but the food is pretty expensive, so we only ordered drinks. bee managed to get a few of us to share 6 scopes of ben and jerry’s with her, much to her delight!

we flew back a christian audigier top from usa just for her!

samuel, bingren, bennie, charming and i went to a ktv at serangoon garden to continue celebration after celebration at heaven’s loft.

highlight of the night at ktv was when charming sang “poker face”! =)

roadshows and exhibitions are part of every sales personnel job.. but as an account executive, i really dislike working in such events. it’s extremely stressful and exhausting.. having loads of preparation to do before the event and having tons of followup to do after the event. until you think you have finally settle the admin and it’s time to run the next event again ><

this photo was taken on the last day of the event. i looked pretty happy even though i was working on a sunday, and had just rushed down from church. but i must say this exhibition was one of the “fun-nest” event i ever had cos i had loads of laughter!

but behind this smiling face was a really tough week of preparation.. somehow, preparation was not as smooth. i remembered i was very tired since the set up was till pretty late the previous night and i had to report to work in office at the usual time to do email blasting. i usually show some extreme signs when i am tired:

• i either get on emotional high or i pull a long face
• i either speak very softly or i speak very loud

however, on that particular day, i shredded half of my 30cm ruler while wanting to destroy some documents in the paper shredder:

this was our second visit to the marina barrage. our first visit was during cny eve where we had reunion dinner with my family. but we reached only in the evening and didnt manage to walk around.

had arranged to go phototaking with joanna but she went mia on us! we made our way there still nonetheless. the weather was fantastic and there were many peeps flying kites and having panic. 

marina barrage is an ideal place to chill out and relax with friends and family! i would love to make another trip there for sure, only with a better camera!

charming was admiring the kites in the sky.. nah, he’s catching a nap actually.. 

these few days, my rash seems to have worsen after 2 relatively peaceful days. today, my hives surfaced as below:

praying for complete healing and believing, because hives has been defeated on the cross 2009 years ago.

my mind was in another planet last evening and i had difficultly concentrating in class.

then an sms came this is what a lovely angel wrote:

“hello gerry! random but thanks for being a model superwoman in my life! was just thinking you need to juggle work, studies and ministry and i only need to focus on my studies, God’s challenge for me in life is peanuts compared to yours, really think you’re strong! thanks for being such a great motivation! love you loads! i mean it jia you tgt!”

God knows our every moment.. like when we are struggling and need an encouragement, He sends an angel along not just to brighten up the darkness but also to remind us that He is omni-potent, just right there with us.

doesnt this just gives you the reason to push yourself harder and say “yes, i can do it..” ?

=)

but i really cant help but feel so overwhelmed in my heart when i see my “小朋友”  getting water baptised..

it’s liken a mother seeing their lovely girls going through a very significant process of their lives with such excitment and enthusiasm, and knowing they still have so much more to grow and learn in this life..

my girls, i am so proud of you =)

warning: this post has unglamourous photos of me!

i love having such masks on my face as i simply feel pampered and refreshed! i dont do it often so i try to use them as regularly as i can remember. my skin needs help and i want to look beautiful even without makeup! ahem

recently, i bought these masks from watsons and i like their ability to stretch over your face with its unique ear hooks !

forgive my skills.. i could have smoothen out the ridges and they would fit really well. best of all, these masks are really economical. one box of 5 sheets costs only $9.95 and they are having promotion @ buy 2 boxes and get 1 box free. this makes 1 mask only $1.33!

seriously, this really fits better than most other brands of mask sheets!

go get it at watsons!

august 2009’s issue of pc mag recommends 202 windows utilities that are supposed makes our it life more effective and efficient. i found 3 free webbies which are particulary useful to me.

fotosizer- you can resize a couple of photos at one go conveniently!

dropbox- you can sync all house pc’s and your personal laptop’s and your office laptop’s your files/ folders through this dropbox. now you wont have files and folders here and not there, there and not here anymore!

photoshop speedup-  convert your documents into pdf formats online plus a few other adobe software!

i tried the fotosizer which is really easy to use. here are the photos i resized all at one go:

dinner with raine tonight. we ate at this thai cafe in kovan, near hougang ave 1. the cafe was very crowded and i thought they must serve really nice authentic food. it was raine’s second visit to the cafe and my first. the decor and setting was very thai and i like the way it is. the price was alright too. out main dish is abt $6 each, the veggie is $4 and the thai tea $3. raine ordered fried noodle and i ordered olive rice. i didnt finished my food as i thought the dishes were too salty. raine finished her portion though. the thai tea was a bit bland on the other hand- personal preference i guess. not a place i will visit again. golden mile’s thai food is surely much better.

a glimpse of a corner of my working desk- hand lotion, hair lotion, body spray, mirror, potted plants, and photos of happy friends, newspaper cutting of a hunk and other stuff.

my very disorganised shoe rack. i just bought a new 4-tier rack which i have yet to assemble. i am sure my doorstep will look neater after tonight!

let’s remember that none of us are perfect.. our family, friends, cg members, colleagues, etc etc

here’s a heart warming story to remind us to love those God has placed in our lives:

embrace imperfection

when i was a little girl, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. and i remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

on that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage, and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. i remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! yet all my dad did was reach for his toast, smile at my mom, and ask me how my day was at school.

i don’t remember what i told him that night, but i do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite! when i got up from the table that evening, i remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the toast. and i’ll never forget what he said: “baby, i love burned toast.”

later that night, i went to kiss daddy good night and i asked him if he really liked his toast burned. he wrapped me in his arms and said, “debbie, your momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. and besides—a little burnt toast never hurt anyone!”

in bed that night, i thought about that scene at dinner…and the kindness my daddy showed my mom. to this day, it’s a cherished memory from my childhood that i’ll never forget. and it’s one that came to mind just recently when jack and i sat down to eat dinner.

i had arrived home late…as usual…and decided we would have breakfast food for dinner. some things never change, i suppose!

to my amazement, i found the ingredients i needed, and quickly began to cook eggs, turkey sausage, and buttered toast. thinking i had things under control, i glanced through the mail for the day. it was only a few minutes later that i remembered that i had forgotten to take the toast out of the oven!

now, had it been any other day — and had we had more than two pieces of bread in the entire house — i would have started all over. but it had been one of those days and i had just used up the last two pieces of bread. so burnt toast it was!

as i set the plate down in front of jack, i waited for a comment about the toast. but all i got was a “thank you!”

i watched as he ate bite by bite, all the time waiting for some comment about the toast. but instead, all jack said was, “babe, this is great. thanks for cooking tonight. i know you had a hard day.”

as i took a bite of my charred toast that night, i thought about my mom and dad…how burnt toast hadn’t been a deal-breaker for them. and i quietly thanked God for giving me a marriage (friendship) where burnt toast wasn’t a deal-breaker either!

you know, life is full of imperfect things…and imperfect people. i’m not the best housekeeper or cook. and you might be surprised to find out that jack isn’t the perfect husband! he likes to play his music too loud, he will always find a way to avoid yard work, and he watches far too many sports. believe it or not, watching “golf academy” is not my idea of a great night at home!

but somehow, in the past 37 years, jack and i have learned to accept the imperfections in each other. over time, we have stopped trying to make each other in our own mold and have learned to celebrate our differences. you might say that we’ve learned to love each other for who we really are!

for example, i like to take my time, i’m a perfectionist, and i’m even-tempered. i tend to work too much and sleep too little. jack, on the other hand, is disciplined, studious, an early riser, and is a marketer’s dream consumer. i count pennies, and jack could care less! where he is strong, i am weak, and vice versa.

and while you might say that jack and i are opposites, we’re also very much alike. i can look at him and tell you what he’s thinking. i can predict his actions before he finalizes his plans. on the other hand, he knows whether i’m troubled or not the moment i enter a room.

we share the same goals. we love the same things. and we are still best friends. we‘ve traveled through many valleys and enjoyed many mountaintops. and yet, at the same time, jack and i must work every minute of every day to make this thing called “marriage” (friendship) work!

what i’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults – and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences – is the one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting marriage (friendship) relationship.

and that’s my prayer for you today. that you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your married life (friendship) and lay them at the feet of Jesus. because in the end, He’s the only One who will be able to give you a marriage (friendship) where burnt toast isn’t a deal-breaker!