A Challenge

I recently found a photo-a-day challenge and decided to dust off my old instagram account and take part. There's a list of daily themes posted at the beginning of the month, and you take a photo according to the daily theme, and upload it with the challenge hashtag.

This reminds me of a previous photo "challenge" I tried but didn't manage to keep up with. To post something every day that made me happy. Hehe. Might start that up again.

Another challenge issued today was to eat something different for lunch and dinner, every day for a month. And of course, take a picture and upload it. Lol. Interesting but definitely not an easy task. Will consider hehe.

Anyway, hopefully I'll keep up this habit. :)

My New Phone Cover!

Hahaha thought this was so cute.

The Small Things

In my last post, I wrote about some of thing "big" things in my life, the so-called "pillars" that I am thankful for. Today,  I thought I would talk about the small (and maybe)  silly things that I'm glad I have.

My zhang-da-le bag. This was a bag I spotted at a small shop at Arab Street,  after dinner and drinks with D and N. The shop was called Spoil Market and it had such an eclectic range of bags and shoes and random knick knacks.

I spotted my bag and thought that this would be the perfect grown up version of my army bag- a canvas sling bag that costs all of $4.50 from the Army Market. My zhang-da-le bag is made from a mix of canvas and leather, is much larger (can easily hold 3 days worth of clothes)  and still manages to look rugged yet sophisticated at the same time. A good buy, I must say. 

My S4. While I'm still navigating the phone and figuring out which are the best apps for me, I'm really enjoying the better battery life and the larger screen. Initially the phone felt clumsy and made my hand cramp when i held it for too long, but I've gotten used to the larger size. 

I have yet to port my contacts over but it's not that big a deal thanks to my next fav thing..

Whatsapp. Seriously the best app ever. Whoever decided to create this app is a genius. I love being able to chat with my sister and brother in different countries, without racking up huge global SMS bills. Wheee!

I also love that there is a group chat function so that it makes communication so much easier. My mom has certainly learned how to use the group chat, creating various family groups. Hehe.

Anyway. It's the start of the week and already mid-June. Time flies too quickly. So best to be happy with what we have already.

Giving Thanks

It's so easy to forget to do this on a regular basis, but it's so important to appreciate all the good things no matter how big or small.

Things that I am thankful for:

My family. I grew up in an environment which was loving and supportive and nurturing. I know that not everyone had that growing up, and I feel really blessed.

It's not just my immediate family, even extended family are close, and that's something that is really quite priceless. My mom created a whatsapp group with the aunties and cousins, and it's near impossible to have a bad day when you constantly receive messages so full of love.

My friends. While one could argue that we all choose our friends, I'm lucky that I'm surrounded by such an amazing group of people who are so  kind and funny and talented and smart.

You become who you surround yourself with, and I think the people around me have helped shaped who I am today. The collective amount of experience and wisdom that they have really have let me grow and learn so much.

My job. While I still haven't attained my dream job of getting paid to MSN all day, and while I do complain about my job ever so often (especially during my peak period and when I have to deal with difficult situations or people), I'm thankful that I have a job. And it's not even a bad job.

It's stable and there are no politics in the office (at least not at my level), and I do feel valued and appreciated and I'm pretty sure I'm perceived as doing well at my job.

Plus I am earning a comfortable enough salary that affords me little luxuries. I'm thankful that I do not really need to think too hard if I feel like having a nice meal or take a taxi home.

No one is perfect and there will always be challenges ahead, but I'm glad things in my life are currently stable and that I'm fortunate enough to be so blessed.

:)

My Shiny New Toy

It was about time to get a new phone and I finally decided to get me the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Have a good first impression of it but need to play around with it for a bit. Also need to get me the necesssry screen protectors and figure out how to mute the whistling sounds when s notification from whatsapp comes in.

Some Things Never Change

I was reading some really old blog posts from 2006, and I realise some things just never change.

"I have to be at the airport in about *looks at clock* 6 hours time.. and I'm not even packed!"

Lol.

I'm Cheap

It's been a year since I joined my current job, and I must say that the past 12 months of having cheap lunches has changed my expectations of food prices somewhat.

Watched Hangover3 at Cathay over the weekend, and decided to have a late supper after the show. The kopitiam at Bras Basah was a 24 hour joint, so we headed there to grab some grub.

I happily whipped out my kopitiam card, which entitled me to a 20% discount (10% off at other outlets). Ordered me an orange-carrot juice, which cost *coughchoke* $3.60. Even after my 20% off, it was about $3!

Sure, it's not a large amount of money, but I pay half of that at my workplace! And to think kopitiam used to be the cheapest option for lunch when I used to work in the area.

Ah well. I guess I just have to be glad that I don't have to spend so much money for lunch these days and enjoy having a bit of savings in the bank.

:)