[a decade!]

Wow, just realised that tomorrow will be the end of a decade... definately the most exciting decade in my life has just flown by..... do many things to remember, lots and lots of milestones, my most "adult" life that has made me such a different person from the start of this decade.

Chronologically here's the gist of it:

2000 - Spent the millenia in London, almost getting crushed in the crazy crazy tons of people that had the same idea (to be at greenwich at midnight on 31st dec 1999?) We were at London Bridge and I still remember the thrill of being there, the feeling of something momentous. Celebrating with close friends and Auld Lang Syning the night away, so carefree!

2001 - 2003 - London, living life the fullest now that we were working instead of studying. Loving my little piece of domesticity with my very first garden. Loving the work and the travel, we must have visited most of Europe in those few years, taking every oppurtunity and long weekend to either fly to neighbouring european cities, or just renting a car and driving into the countryside. Loving being married, loving living in a foreign country, sometimes dreadfully homesick, but always so happy that I'm spending this part of my life with a special someone...

2003 - Coming back home, thrown back into familiar family, familiar friends, it was a good feeling, after living on foreign land for so long, to be back where we belonged. Finally "properly" getting married, the whole works. One of the happiest occassion of my life, to be so accepted into another family. Workwise, to be doing something totally different in scale from what we were used to, but intellectually so rewarding, especially since we went on to win several competitions and interesting projects. Designed and lived in our first work, a tiny studio flat with a single glass bedroom. It was fun to own our 1st car, the world was our oyster.

2004 - 2005 - Pregnant with my 1st child, designed and lived in the 1st home we bought. Eagerly awaiting the birth of our very first child, the feeling of anticipation, when we knew that she was a daughter, the absolute thrill and excitement. We spent so much time being just us, we didn't know how it would be like with another. Had our last holiday in Bali, just the 2 of us.... savoring all our moments and hoping we would be good parents.

2005 - Our firstborn G arrived. All the emotions that we have been preparing for could not compare to the real emotions that arrived when she was born. She was everything that we could have asked for. Our bewilderment as newbie parents gradually became confidence and a sense of wonderment that we could have made this little perfect person that completed our family. She brought everybody much closer together, my parents, inlaws, grandparents... being the 1st grandchild on both sides, family took on a different meaning from this year onwards. We have always been fairly close knit, but G was really the superglue that brought everyone much closer. Started scrapbooking, which led to inspirational blogs and getting so into the internet and being inspired by so many different sources on a daily basis.... and starting this blog!

2006-2007 - Switched jobs, both of us! Life professionally was getting more and more exciting. Work took up so much time, but also gave back so much in terms of working on different projects in different countries. We travelled so much these few years, with G it was a totally different sort of travel.

2007 - Expecting our 2nd. We have planned for this, although we were unsure how it would affect G and the family dynamics. We were sure (and correct) that she would be incredibly jealous. We hoped that it will mean much more to her when she's older, when she would be happy to have a playmate and a sister. Feel that we are getting into the hang of being parents, constantly delighting in the swiftness that G was growing up. She has started to attend Kindie and is the cutest 2 yr old! Workwise - switched jobs again.. both of us again... set up our first partnership with another partner, a significant milestone, one which we thought would be the start of the next leg of our worklife (but this was not to be). Travelled much less now that I was pregnant (and it was not as comfortable as the 1st pregnancy)...on hindsight, spending too much time working. At the end of 2007, K was born. It was a great birth experience, we had so much fun being parents the 2nd time around, it was so much easier and we really enjoyed the first few months very much. So different from the 1st time, so painful to watch G deal with the jealousy, but also so happy to have 2 girls and double the joy.

2008 - Finally bit the bullet and split up from the very shortlived partnership and started our own practice. The first few months were terribly stressful, coping with a newborn, trying to secure projects, seemingly on 20 hr workdays weeks at a go. Luckily for us, projects didn't stop flowing in and soon it became a lot less stressful and a lot easier. Time management also started to be critical as we realise we couldn't sustain a 20 hr workday for weeks at a go at our age and with 2 little ones. Something had to give.

2009 - Another momentous milestone, our 2nd house purchase. Somehow it seemed almost fated that the property bubble and subsequent economic downturn could be such a great oppurtunity for us to purchase our dream property. While not hopefully our last purchase, this new place had all the qualities that we have always wanted for us. It was in a great location, perfect for the office (which we had decided that should remain as an annex to the house) not the normal cookie cutter apartment, and yet having sufficient space for our family. As we start construction and hopefully see it completed by the end of the year, we look forward to a brand new decade in a brand new living space.

So, there it is! 10 years! Phew..... Tomorrow, will post my most memorable photos of 2009....

HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!! Happy 2010!!!!

p.s. and because i can't post without photos, here's a selection:
One of my favorite family pictures... K was just a few weeks old
G at 18 months in Korea
So tiny! So many fond memories of our trips :)
our trip in Early 2008 to Hongkong, just the 2 of us with G.
K watching V dressing up. She looks so tiny here!
G sometime in 2008.
Some exploratory projects that we do....
We converted our home into a gallery / exhibition in 2005. Crazy! All for 1 weekend for an event in the Design Festival. Fun though!

[monogram]

I love making these wooden monograms.. more commissioned pieces:




As the construction races through it's last few weeks, i've been inspired by decorating / styling blogs...
inspirational images of monochrome homes from HERE.. I love the mirrors!
Love the mirror and that side planter.....

[long weekends are good for....]

Lots of creating as the girls take their much needed afternoon naps after a good funfilled morning of playing... either at the playground or just quietly in the playroom. This long weekend was full of just that...
Making a commissioned gift layout...
I'm in love with clustering chipboard shapes, a tag, brads and yarn together.
Finishing up a wooden "baby" saying on for my shop.... Wooden letters are from Kaiser and papers are from October Afternoon.
Pink satin ribbon and MR pearly pins go sooo well together....
Love the Wild cards by OA... and see what I mean about my obsession with the chipboard + tags + ribbon combo? :)
Started also to create the wooden monogram letters for the girls' room in the new place. Remember this wall in our old place? I'm all inspired to create another one in the new place, there's a perfect wall (complete with the pitched "house" shape) for just that! :)
Know what they spell?
More clustering of embellishments and chipboard, with really cute farm animals from the OA collection.
More Wild Cards.... :) Perfect for the monograms....
Here they are all put together.. I haven't decided how to display them, if they would be on a shelf, or as part of the wall.... what do you think?

[Merry Xmas!!!]

Where has December gone!!!!Somehow, the last few days of December always passes by so quickly!! Especially since we are busy finishing up the renovation works for our house, and trying as hard as possible to tie up all the loose ends of our office projects too, so that we could break uninterrupted from Xmas to the New Year.....
In any case, it has been the largest and noisiest Xmas ever in the girls' experience. Xmas at New House is soo fun! Especially since we are joined this year by so many of the cousin's children. There was much laughter and of course lots and lots of yummy food...... :) Everything Xmas should be all about. We hope this will mark a start of a yearly affair, it will be so cool to see all the cousins and spouses and children grow up (and old!) together. Not to mention the amount of Xmas pressies the poor little xmas tree had to deal with! Hah...
Here's some pics of the aftermath on Xmas day:
G busy finishing up her Aurora Princess puzzle - this is a great gift! Lots of quiet playtime required and she was really proud that she managed (with mummy's and kuku's help) to complete the 300 piece puzzle meant for 9 yr olds!
How can anybody get angry with a face like that! This little one just mastered climbing up and sliding down the slide all by herself, she was like a one child merry-go-round, going up and down the slide soo many times and giggling to herself all the while....
G goofing around....

The presents - notice how it is and almost all pink repertoire going on.... haha......

This is a little video of K on Xmas day:

[lots of creating...]

I'm now on a roll with the creating of stuff.... Quite a bit of orders for Xmas / commissioned works, so i've been kept pretty busy. My days are pretty much running around trying to get our house organised with the build (yup, we're still hoping we can move in before the New Year.. Fingers crossed!) and the nights and weekends are spent working on these crafting projects. Weather has been pretty dismal these last few days, so I've managed to catch some sun this morning and took pics of all the work done so far! :)
Just completed this mini album for a good friend and client. Love the Kaiser wooden album, I used lots of OA papers and stickers to embellish the album.
It was great that the album has a few sections, so i split up the process photos of the renovation works into the different stages (good thing I know all about reno works!) lol...
It was interesting to have a peek into somebody else's house being completed (yes, it is a sad occupational hazard)
Also left quite a lot of tags and journalling spots for her to write her thoughts against the corresponding pictures.
I love the little tag of the 2 love birds with their nest - very apt!!

The next commissioned piece is for a daughter's graduation..... I altered an old MM glitter shape box.. i love the scalloped clear window, so left that part bare, but did a little AC rubon to give it some colour.
The album inside is a self made accordion album, but it was quite flat, so to take up the height of the box, I tied a crochet flower onto a chipboard fleur, with a little bit of yarn..
The accordion album with some inside pages....
I wanted to keep the pages simple..
Hope she likes it!!!

Lastly, i've been also making lots of Xmas cards with the OA papers and stickers.....
I also found a local supplier of Glassine Paper, and i loved how my handmade glassine envelops look!! :)
Just simple stickers and rubons....
"Merry Christmas" stamp is my favorite from October Afternoon
Papers are the old range of OA papers (i think from last xmas?) but are pretty timeless.
Okay! I've more pics of my HKG album (maya rd + OA) which i will post in the next post!

Have a great weekend.....

[Hongkong trip - Day 02]

It's been a bit of a hectic week, with the children being off school and we've to run lots of errands with regards to the renovations for the new place..... plus we're all getting sniffy and been taking lots of early nites. So, better late than never! :)
Here's the rest of the trip pictures (although most of you would have already seen it on FB!)..
We stayed HERE, there is a deal now with Cathay Pacific - it was pretty good- we only paid for 4 for a party of 6! :) This is complete with all transfers and entry to the park. So that's the annual holiday budget sorted!!
The hotel itself was pretty good - generous space, lots of pretty grounds. (see my last post on the cons.. )
U can just about make out G in the background running away!
My little princess with Mickey, she was a bit upset that there wasn't any Minnie figurines to take pictures with....
the travelling party
G being a bit grumpy with K cos she had the choice seat....I love the pics that V took of the girls at the playground
K running after somebody else's remote controlled car..
K at the playground... she looks tiny here!
Me and G, i love her smile!
G's favorite Princess....My own little princess...
In love! She was sooo thrilled to be taking pictures with these princesses.... we had to wait half an hour for their appearance but it was soo worth it, as we were first in line and had a great time posing and talking with them... (side note - they were about the only few characters that "talked", the rest of the characters were quite mute)
K LOVES minnie.... she was really thrilled to be here....
G all flushed and being cranky in the queue
Waiting for Mickey...
G looks super grown up here, i can almost imagine her in her teens..... boohooo.... growing up too quick!
K loves Mickey, sometimes she will choose Mickey over Minnie! She was a little bit shy about meeting the characters, but she did tell me that the Mickey was a bit ugly... haha, not sure why? I think it might be cos he wasn't wearing yellow shoes... lol....
Our one and only decent family pic..
The 2 girls waiting in line....
G and the super playful Pluto, he scared K away, so it was only G here.

Okay! More pics soon to come...... (next time with links of good eats and shopping places we enjoyed in this trip)