13 August 2014

Airbnb Review - Barcelona


A lot of people have asked me for more details about the place we stayed at in Barcelona after I shared two photo collages in my Instagram and FB. So I thought of posting this review to paint you a better picture of how this Airbnb apartment looked like, or at least how we experienced it.  

If you haven't heard about Airbnb yet, it's a website where you can book unique apartments or houses on your holiday or vacation. It's a great alternative to the usual hotels and hostels in the big cities if you're looking for a more homey place. Now I wouldn't necessarily say this option is cheaper because there are cheaper hostels too if you look hard enough and if you weigh in other factors such as transportation and breakfast inclusion.

Because we moved from city to city with varying purpose, we didn't book with Airbnb for the entire duration of our trip. Our accommodations in Spain were a combination of Airbnb-Hotel-Hostel-Camp bookings. Again, it will all depend on the purpose and the level of relaxation or sight-seeing you plan to do on your holiday. In Granada for example, we wanted to just slow down and get comfy

30 June 2014

Two Years, Calligraphy and Cheesyness


We've been out the whole day and I just have to do this quick post before this days ends to say that hey, Rolando+Laidel turns two today! Two years that I wouldn't trade for anything else in the world. The past two years weren't perfect, weren't all butterflies and fireflies, weren't at all easy but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd rather do life with R with all its downs and rough edges than do it alone. 

Dear God, thank you for two amazing years of your grace and goodness over our marriage. Thank you for giving me the best person to be with in this journey called life. Thank you for writing our love story. Thank you for I know, the best is yet to come.

24 June 2014

10 Years Ago, Something Wonderful Happened

24 June 2010, a Thursday.  It was quite a big day for me, a series of firsts I was extremely nervous about---my first day on my first job---and the other first that only God knew about. 

The things I knew. At 8:30 AM in the busy corner of Ayala Avenue, I found myself grimacing in pain and sweating like crazy from walking too fast than I could. My toes were killing me but I could never be late on my first day of work. I'd run a mile in my 3-inch heels, have all the blisters in the world and swerve past hundreds of workers all rushing to get to their office if I had to. Luckily, I managed to get inside one of the skyscrapers in Makati CBD just in time and in one piece. I immediately took the lift to the 28th floor already dreading the crowd of topnotch CPAs in the training room. God, I hated introducing myself in front of a crowd. I hated public speaking. I hated trainings.

My first day on my first job basically passed by with me sitting down and staring down at my notes almost all the time. I was taken aback and everything and everyone in the room intimidated me especially the air of competitiveness that hovered in the room all day long. This was an unfamiliar ground, I didn't personally know anyone. There was no one from my former school whom I could sat

18 June 2014

Life Through the iPhone

And just like that, half of June has gone by. It's now officially summer in Ireland and judging by the way the sun has been warming (and burning) us the past couple of days, I think we are in for another hot and lemony summer.  R has been nudging me to go out all day but this morning, I felt this aching need to string photos together, to memory-keep, to write my heart out because no matter how seemingly mundane my days and my activities are these days, I can't let this special month pass by without recording it. I'm staying put till I finish this post.

Life lately has been about new hobbies, summer reads, walk in the park, unanswered prayers and the need to be patient and lean on to God's timing and understanding.

These days too, I depend heavily on iPhone to capture random little things that make up the big picture. And if iPhone snaps are indication of life, this pretty much sumps up how the days of June rolled by:



11 June 2014

Reading List - Book 5 to 8



In my attempt to read 30 books this year and in order to keep track of my progress, I have been capturing the books I read as soon as I'm done reading them. If you type the hashtag #laisreadinglist in Instagram, there you'll find the mini digital library I created especially for my reading hobby. Book No.1 to 4 here.

The past Spring time, I enjoyed reading outside and while in transit. I'm now on my Batch 2 and I'm happy to report that I have already exceeded the number of books I read in 2013 (only 7, shame on me!) Thanks to my season of waiting and joblessness, I've just beat the record. And thank God for books. With all this extra time, I'm close to losing my sanity without them.  

So here's my Spring read and a little bit of lame review:

Book No.5 - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Rachel Joyce)

A timely read for me while we were in London. A story of set in England about a man who unexpectedly walked from the south to the north of England to find forgiveness and the courage to love again. This is a story to remind us that it's never too late for anything, practically anything. Very well written. I enjoyed reading the vivid description of English countryside and landscape too aside from journeying (and crying) with Harold. Just some of the many heart-tugging quotes from the book I would like to share with you:
"But maybe, it's what the world needs. A little sense, and a little more faith." 
"Beginnings could happen more than once, or in different ways."
And this one's my favorite:
"It was not a life, if lived without love."
Book No.6 - The Last Week of May (Roisin Meaney) - Set in Ireland and full to the brim of Irish humour and warmth, I found myself enjoying this love story weaved during one spring season in one small town in Ireland. Your teatime kind of a book---relaxed and easy and not lacking the kick of a happy ending. 

Book No.7 - The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) - Because I want to include some good old classics in my list and because it's Spring, I re-read this book from the beloved author who also wrote another equally beloved character of the Little Lord of Fauntleroy, a.k.a Cedric or Cedie. The Secret Garden is a story of childhood adventures, discovery, fears and innocence. It never fails to amaze me how children, no matter how sulky or contrary they have grown into, can easily change into someone beautiful if you just let them run around and have something to  nurture and take good care of. They are that bendable. Not my favorite children story of all time but will surely pass it on to my future kids someday, God willing. :)

Book No.8 - Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell) -  I read nothing but good reviews about this book so I purchased it in Kindle. I thought I'm over the high-school-love-story kind of books (because trust me, I read too many in High School) but apparently, I'm not. Give me weird and misfit but intelligent characters any time and I'll surely dive into it. Eleanor (a red-headed fat girl) and Park (a half Korean/half American) were caught up in a love story that defy being a misfit. Theirs is a love story that gave me that giddy clenchy feeling that felt new and warm and dangerous at the same time. There have been mixed reactions about the ending. But for me, it's as realistic as it could get with them being high school and young. On the other hand, it offered a tiny silver lining which made the book more endearing; it's up to you to take it from there.

I'm now on my Summer reading list and I can't wait to do another round up. Hope you're all having an awesome Summer! :)

15 May 2014

Marlay and The Secret Garden

Travel Thursday Series

This was a story of sweet discovery. It was one Sunday afternoon in April 2014 when we learned about this little secret garden. R and I have been to Marlay once last summer but we never had a clue that this vast beautiful park with a stunning view of the Dublin Mountains held a little secret---The Regency Walled Garden. 


Well of course, it isn't really a secret. Had we only taken the time to visit the park's website we would have been well informed. But we couldn't be bothered so it's discovery was a sweet surprise. 

After our Ticknock walk, the call of a warm beverage led us to Marlay Demesne. A mere 10-minute drive down the mountain, we all agreed that it would be a lovely pitstop to cap off the day. The thick clouds and the strong winds changed their course when we were still on the mountaintop paving way for a gloriously sunny afternoon. No wonder all of South Dublin (the posh area I heard) seemed to converge there at the time---parking was full, the huge well-manicured lawn was dotted with visitors, the only cafe bore a long queue. 

Travel Thursdays

In Paris. Before that, the whole idea used to be just a dream.

I've been awed and inspired by a friend's travel blog, The Travelling Kind and Patty Laurel's Travel Tuesday series that one day, I decided to roll up my sleeves and muster the courage to finally write about our own trips within and without Ireland. My wanderlust musings will be called Travel Thursday ala Throwback Thursday (very original, I know right?!) For some reason, I can't dig any clever and unique title in my brain so that will do for now. I am behind so many travel posts anyway so this will be a good avenue to catch up. :)

The Travel Bucket List
The travel dream in the next 5 years or so is to set foot to these 12 travel destinations in Europe and the USA but so far, our itchy feet and limited budget have gotten us only as far as Paris, France and the UK. So we will save up, dream on and write about it once we get there, one destination at a time.

The other wanderlust dream of ours is to explore all of the 32 counties of Ireland including the 6 counties of Northern Ireland.  Technically, Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but its 6 counties are geographically attached to one gigantic land mass called, well, Ireland.  I hope that made sense. Otherwise, please have a peep at this map which explains this division better.

Our travel plan is to tick off our travel bucket list once or twice a year until we reach our dream savings (only God knows when) or until one of us becomes an Irish citizen. Visas are expensive for the two of us I'm telling you. Although we would love to satisfy our wanderlust whilst kids are not yet in the equation, R and I agreed that it's much wiser to build up a "rainy day fund" early on in our marriage than to sight-see. Sure, there are plenty of travel promos and gimmicks out there but at the end of the day, you will still need to shell out a good amount of money for you to truly enjoy traveling. We want to stay cautious in this still precarious land of Ireland, to say the least. We reckon once or twice a year wouldn't hurt our zest for travel and our desire to save. Did I tell you both of us are accountants? U-hm we kinda do the Math all the time.

Travel Thursdays

My travel posts will neither focus on how to get there nor what's the best itinerary although I may write about these in short bullet points if I find them helpful to anyone who will stumble across this humble blog of mine. One quick google search will certainly direct you to a plethora of information written best by those who know best, those who've been there and done that one time too many.

My Travel Thursday will simply be about the memories we made while traveling. It'll be about my own observation and appreciation of one's culture, who we met along the way or simply what those places made me feel. Loads of photos will be posted to make up for my constant lack of adjectives, that I can guarantee. :) Simply put, my aim is to render another voice in sharing the bliss of being out and about in this wonderful world we live in.

Lastly, I share this quote to you because this is exactly how I feel about traveling:
"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving." ― Terry PratchettA Hat Full of Sky

05 May 2014

Weekend Walks and Love for the Great Outdoors

Back in the Philippines, my usual itinerary on weekends would be home-church-mall. In Ireland it's entirely a different story. I have fallen in love with the great outdoors of this country and I'd rather go for a walk or a hike than to window-shop or sulk at home with a computer all day long. Don't get me wrong, I still love shopping (*wink) and I love being home too. But the call to explore outside is as great as my insatiable desire to snap photos of the things and places I find beautiful.  Despite the bipolar weather inherent of Ireland, most scenic spots are worth going out for---rain or shine, cold or warm. Summer is just lurking around the corner and with the promise of a warmer weather, it's  definitely the best season to explore.

With my love for photography and nature, I think God willed for me to experience living in a country as picturesque as Ireland (most especially when the sun illuminates it). To top it all, I get to enjoy the the whole experience with the love of my life and friends---old and new. I consider this a blessing. Not everyone is given this chance. When my eyes feast on the beauty outside, I can't help but be grateful.

It's already the month of May and we kicked off its first weekend which was also a bank holiday weekend walking around the Howth Cliffs. It's my second time in these cliffs but I am just as impressed as the first time we trailed on it in 2013.  We didn't get to finish the longest trail the first attempt so we hoped for a home run this time around. There were heavy clouds that hovered the whole Dublin City last Saturday preventing the sun to say hello even for a while.  Nonetheless, the smell of sea salt was a good therapy for my lungs, the walk a perfect exercise for my legs, the view just as stunning. After 10 kms, 4 hours, lost moments midway through and lots of photos in between, four of us (out of eight) managed to complete the longest trail. 

Our own version of stopping-and-smelling-the-roses, only it's lying on the flowers:


Just some photos from the iPhone to recap the day---wildflowers of sorts were abundant in the cliffs, a surprise turn led us to the middle of a golf course, braving the cliff edges for photo ops, a triumphant "yes" as we approached the finish line and a Japanese meal at home to soothe our tired bodies. 


And lastly, a jumpshot near the Bailey Lighthouse from the SLR.


Full album here.

30 April 2014

Reading List - Book 1 to 4

Here are some books I enjoyed from January to April this year. I made a goal to read 30 books this year, a lofty goal but not an impossible one. In 2013, I only got to read seven and I hated myself for the low stat. This year I've been making slow progress but I've never been more intentional to disconnect from social media to open a book and get lost in its pages than this season of my life.

My biggest inspiration to read more and curate my own online library is Cat Juan. Her lifestyle blog has a section devoted entirely to books. I always easily get bored reading long book reviews but Cat's are short and simple, yet very insightful. I used to list down all the books that I read using Microsoft Excel. I find that so passé now so I decided to make it more visual and more current. The first four books for 2014 will be:


Book No. 1 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Mark Haddon) - Packed with childlike but genius illustrations, diagrams and maps, I enjoyed reading this book immensely.  The book has equal parts of being funny, being mysterious and being tender that had me smiling and crying as I turned each page. I would never forget Asperger syndrome again and how beautiful and painful it was to be in Christopher Boone's shoes. 

Book No. 2 - Strangers on the 16:02 (Priya Basil) - Meant to be a short story, I devoured this book in one sitting. Set in London, the story revolved mainly as the title suggested it, in the tube or train. For a short story to be able to build up its characters as strong as Priya Basil did, I am impressed. It left me wanting for more.

Book No.3  - The Language of Flowers (Vanessa Diffenbaugh) - Just in time for spring this year, I  purchased this bestseller on Kindle. A story of an orphan girl whose only connection to the world was through flowers and their meanings, this book was a pleasure to read. I love flowers and the idea that each flower has a meaning excited me. More than the discovery of the language of flowers, this book will take you to a journey of giving happiness a chance by forgiving---yourself first and foremost, then all the rest who at one point, wronged you or let you down. The world, no matter how flawed its people are, is full of beauty that we can only fully enjoy without the baggage of resentment and hate on our shoulders.

Book No.4 - Becoming Your Husband's Bestfriend (Lisa & David Frisbie) - This was a birthday gift from last year that I got to finally wrap my head around with to read. Narrated from a Christian perspective by Christian marriage counsellors, this isn't a self help book that merely instructs you the steps to better your marriage. This book consists of real stories of real married couples who have gone through real life marital issues---criticisms, infidelity, gossiping, pride, and bitterness. Their stories have had a huge real life turn-around because the wives decided to take the first step, in humility and grace. This, in turn, impacted their husbands' hearts, brought about the miraculous changes and saved the marriage. Divorce was never an option. 

My marriage might not be in any of those dire situations but it's good to safeguard it as early and as young as now. I have personally grown in the area of respecting and building up my husband by reading it. My biggest takeaway however will be this: Becoming a godly woman is its own reward.

How about you? What are you reading lately? 

18 April 2014

Spring at Trinity College

Trinity College, the Harvard of Dublin is a home to some of the most abundant pink and white blossoms at spring time that I've ever seen. Perhaps the trees, just like all the rest of Trinity, are ancient so they harbour some kind of elegance and fullness in the way they blossom. R and I witnessed these blossoms last year and they were lovely so I thought I'd drop by again to see them in the month of April. 

The timing of my visit could never been any perfect. I paid my visit one afternoon of mid-April in my jeans and sneakers. The trees were already full and fat with blossoms of different shades of white and pink. It's a sight to behold I tell you. Even the tourists lounging around couldn't help but snap a photo or just simply admire their beauties from the bench or the ground. 

I've always looked like a tourist anyway so I did not shy away from taking these photos from my iPhone 4s. Well folks, how can you not love spring? I'm crazy about it. :)


I had a book with me that day but I was totally distracted by these. It's a beautiful kind of distraction and I was glad to give up my reading in return to these temporal blossoms. I didn't regret the choice. 

Hopefully, next year will be another full and fat blossoming in this college. I will certainly pay my annual spring visit. I wouldn't miss it for the world. :)

08 April 2014

Thoughts on Spring and Slow Sunday Afternoon


It's already my second spring in Ireland and yet, I am still in awe of it, still amazed by it. In fact, I am loving it more than ever. If love is sweeter the second time around, then that will probably explain best how I feel towards spring. It is undeniably my favourite season of all seasons. I am most alive when days are longer, the chill is milder, the chance of a blue sky is higher and blooms are literally sprouting everywhere. Not to mention that I can already wear sandals and flats. :)

Last weekend was a series of partying that we decided to slow down after church on Sunday and call it our own. The sun was out and bright, the perfect kind for park-hopping. It is the cheapest form of R&R one gets to enjoy in this side of the world where parks are abundant. By foot, we visited two parks, snapped some photos via our iPhones, chilled and took things slow. After enduring a painfully cold winter (figuratively and literally), the coming of spring time is a sweet symphony to our souls.

Sometimes we need days like this, to just lie down on green grass, to breathe in and marvel in the beauty of the season and to be fully in it, to close our eyes and whisper a silent prayer of thanksgiving to the Great God who has it all figured out including our future, to have a hushed soft talk on the verses where we feel God is speaking to us, and to dream and plan a little.  The effect on us is always refreshingly good. Always.

On another note, it's been three weeks since R started on his new job and so far, he's been very happy. Which makes me happy that he is happy. I'm still on a hunt for a job and still praying for direction.  A medical procedure is on the way but we have hope that it's nothing too serious. Our mothers celebrated another year in their lives on the 5th of April.  And lastly, there are some beautiful plans being cooked up for summer. 

I know in my heart that better days are ahead. That's what spring does to me, it keeps my hope up. Hope you feel the same way too. And in case you have forgotten, God loves you! Very very much. If you have some doubts on God's existence, hope this one will shed a light. Cheers!

***


All photos taken via iPhone4s/5s

17 February 2014

A Heart That Loves is Always Young


Since its the love month and my birth month, kindly allow me to be a little extra cheesy in this post, photo speaking. Rolando and I didn't really get the chance to celebrate Valentines on the 14th. I hosted a Spa Party that night so he wasn't allowed to set foot at home until the party was over.

In keeping with our tradition to do a photo shoot on my birth month, I let the hearts strings decor from the party hanging over the weekends. I always tell him we should take as much photos together as we can while we are still young and childless (but hopefully not for long).  Once a child is introduced in the equation, I'm pretty sure we won't have a minute to spare for silly-corny-cheesy stuff like this. 

Well actually, we don't celebrate Valentines extravagantly. A simple dinner (kahit nga sa fast-food lang) or a bouquet of even the simplest flower will do. After all, everyday should be an opportunity to love each other so why only show it on V Day? Don't invest on Valentines day just for the sake of joining the Valentine fever---flowers, chocolates, gifts and all that. Invest on everyday little things, on those little acts of love and sacrifices that never get to be shared in the social media. Even more, when you are married, love is translated to a more tangible and practical ways such as making him a coffee, ironing his clothes or giving him a foot massage and vice versa. Depending on your husband's love language, invest on that as much as you can, as often as you can.

Married for almost 2 years now, I learned that to love is to love young, to love fresh, to love anew everyday as if it were the first day I realised I can't live without this person. To love young is to keep doing whatever silly or crazy or cheesy stuff that make us click and to just giddily commit that we will stay together, forever and ever. Teenager lang ang peg.

On a serious note, I learned that for us to really enjoy our marriage, we have to be intentional to follow God's will for marriage (i.e. husband to love his wife just as Christ loved the church and wife to submit to her husband as she does to the Lord). Love and submission are the operative words that you can only do with a humble heart that is ready to love anew every waking morning.

It is my heart's desire to love and to stay young in loving, ready to start everyday with a blank canvass, ready to paint our God-given love story with hearts, colours, cheese and lots and lots of photos. Go ahead, hover over the photos and bear with our corny and cheesy poses in our pambahay  topped with scarves. :)

DIY Valentine Decors

I am planning to post more of my DIYs here so I'm gonna start with the decors from the Valentine slash Spa slash Advance Birthday Celebration held at our home sweet home on the night of the 14th.

Since it's Valentines, the goal was basically to set the mood using hearts garlands, hugs sign (i.e. xoxo) and the word love as an accent (which I made using spare buttons and spare tiles). This was also a Spa party so I just used lots and lots of candles to decorate the  apartment while all the other spa supplies including the foot massage and back massage appliances were brought by the ladies. In my opinion, aside from creativity, resourcefulness is the key to achieving a low budget, or in my case, zero-cost decors. 

To achieve this, I just brought out all the supplies that I bought in the past from sale or a store closeout---heart-patterned gift wraps, pink yarn from the €1 euro knitting starter kit I bought ages ago, wood twines, ombre pink candles, dainty doilies and lots of construction papers (bought last year when I used to teach on Sunday school). I also used hubby's fishing rod for the floating heart backdrop. 

So as you can see, I just worked on whatever supplies I had and as you might have known now, I'm a sucker for SALE especially on craft supplies because they don't take up much space anyway and I know I will always need them in the future. In that sense, I think my instinct was right to spend a euro or two for them.

So here are the DIY decors and the little details: 


Here's our guest room turned into a Spa Room:


The DIY Love accent:


The floating hearts backdrop: (full instruction here; I basically just copied all the steps except that I couldn't find a heart punch in Dulin so all those hearts were painstakingly manually cut).


Materials used:


More of my crafting and DIY adventure in the future. :)

08 February 2014

While Waiting

And so I entered a new season of my life---a season of waiting. As life offered me necessary endings, I decided to take this season as an opportunity to trust Him who knows best. While waiting for so many things to happen that are not beyond my control and for which I can only do so much, I decided early on that I will embrace this season and be fully in it. That I will be productive. That I will do things in humility. That I will get to know new hobbies---scrapbooking a.k.a. Project Life, calligraphy and oh yes, knitting! That I will be better at the ones I have known---photography, writing and oh yes again, playing the guitar. That I'll be a better wife to my husband who's been working like a dog these days. And that, most importantly, I'll grow up in my faith walk.


As January came to a close, I let it go with no regrets and what ifs and what nots. Amidst all the let downs, life is still beautiful and God is still God. And though there are times inspiration is hard to come by, I will press on. Though it's not easy, and we are never promised an easy life anyway, I will wait---for His timing, for His yes, for His provisions, for His wonders to take me to heights I've never been and seen. I will wait---joyfully, faithfully and expectantly knowing that every detail of my life has been taken care of.
"But those who wait in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:31

06 February 2014

Necessary Endings



How can I even begin writing about my two toughest weeks of 2014 by far? (Insert the longest and  deepest sigh here.) I might be your Ms. Smiley on those snaps but I was hurting and worrying when they were captured, truth be told.

Let me begin by saying that in the span of just two weeks, I lost two precious things---my job and my iPhone 5. The former I relied on for financial security; the latter I relied on for connectivity. Not to mention that the smart phone was a gift and therefore had a sentimental value.

Week 3 - The Lost Job

It's the first time ever in my nine-year career that I lost a job. I was briefly told that it wasn't about my performance but that the company could instead hire trainees, either for free or for only half of my salary. I knew this for a fact (as well as the cash flow difficulty) so I accepted the decision humbly knowing that it was God who willed this to happen. 

Now I am and was grateful for that job. But there were days I had no joy at all going to the marketplace. There were days when, the minute I sat on my desk, I was wishing the day was over even before the computer asked for my password.  There were days when the only motivation I could hold on to was Colossians 3:23. Coming from big companies in the past, I value integrity and quality at work more than anything else but perhaps I didn't share the same values with this company I worked for. At one point, I was even told that I wasn't assigned any "messy work" because I was used to "structured work", whatever that meant to them. So I knew it was just a matter of time, that I would leave this company soon. 

Apparently, God has other plans. He obviously wanted me out of there sooner than I expected. I was delighted to be out of that work but the moment it sunk in, I got worried about our finances and the job-hunting difficulty in the private accounting sector (i.e. not audit or accounting practice which is really not for me anymore in this stage of my life). My number one encourager in the person of my husband recounted the times I had no job but God sufficiently provided, that we managed to pay the bills somehow. Slowly by His grace, I felt like I was getting back on track.

Week 4 - The Lost iPhone5

However, days after, my iPhone 5 was pick-pocketed in the city. I hadn't fully recovered yet from losing one thing then here came another lost. It was ironic because this unfortunate incident happened the week I was fasting from social media. Naturally so, I posted a question to God; I asked why He stripped me off one thing after the other. Obviously one of these is to be more careful with my belongings because apparently, smart phone theft is the number one crime in Dublin these days.  That I have to learned the hard way.

Necessary Endings

Then I was reminded by this that necessary endings are necessary for pruning, for letting go and for accepting that some things, no matter how good they are, must come to an end. As the wise Solomon puts it:
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."
There's a beginning and an end. Our four seasons in a year in Ireland is the quintessential of this verse. The same goes with life. The same goes with possessions. The crucial thing is to know when something has ended so you can learn, let go and welcome the new season fully and wholly.

Rolando understands this concept better than I do. When I lost my job and my phone, Rolando got to me wherever I was and just locked me in his warm and tight embrace. No blaming. No scolding. Just pure unconditional love shown at the time it was needed the most. His words of encouragement to me were:
"Lai those are just material things. Eventually, they will get lost, they will be broken. So don't put your security in those things so that when they're gone, it won't hurt as much and you won't feel less of a person."
Necessary Beginnings

Necessary endings are also necessary for something to begin. Of the countless trials I hurdled in the past, God never took something away from me without replacing it with the best ones! He has never allowed something to end without leading me on to a new chapter, a new season. So even if it was painful to lose these precious things and to put an end to the comfort they provided, I know He is preparing something for me. I may not see it now, I may not see it in the coming days, I just simply need to trust His sovereign plan.

Lessons Learned

On why these things were stripped off me and had to end? Because most likely, these are not good for me or they are holding me back from my true calling. It can be that I may need to step out in faith and explore other avenues where my talents and gifts can be maximised. It can be (and this one is quite obvious) that I need to spend less time on a smart phone checking feeds/sites when I can be accomplishing something worthy of my time like honing a skill or doing a hobby.  It can be that He desires to make rooms for something better. And no, better may not mean a newer phone or a higher-paying job. Better means being able to cultivate gratitude in our hearts.  Better means growing up in this season of inconvenience and taking it as an opportunity to be moulded by God. Lastly, better may simply mean finding joy knowing and trusting that God means well and He knows best. The answers can come later. :)

04 February 2014

Home Sweet Home

The second week of 2014 was a frantic and tiring week both at work and at home.  During the day, we were busy bees at work and at home during the night, we were busy ants packing our stuff, tidying the house and entertaining future tenants. Yet, no amount of tiredness and weariness could keep our excitement from going down the hill. We were just too excited to move. And move, we finally we did!

A few memorable snapshots of our frantic week here before the house move:


Leaving the first home we lived in as husband and wife is a bittersweet thing. At one point during the week, I sighed an emotional sigh, a long one which worried my husband for a second until I told him I was just being emotional that we were leaving our tiny abode that witnessed our humble beginnings.    Our Home#1 was the silent spectator to the just-married dreams that we dreamt---those that came true and those that were broken, to the laughter of good times and to the tears of rocky roads, to the finally-we-have-savings days and to the super thrifty days. Needless to say, it was also the silent witness to all the burns, the cuts and the chapped skin I got from domesticating myself

The truth is we were not supposed to move (even if we were planning to) until that problem with the  noisy boiler occurred sometime in November when the winter season officially began. We would like to think that it was God's way of moving us out of that place since we've been praying and we've been on the lookout as well for an apartment away from the hustle and bustle of the city. So I reckon we moved earlier than we should.

My Instagram has some snaps of what our home inside looked like:


The seasons and the number thereof that we spent in our first home:


We will miss the local cafe that we used to frequent for breakfast, coffee and snacks. 


But we have to move on to something bigger and brighter.  And with that, I welcome you to our Home#2:


More of our new apartment in the next month or so, that I can guarantee. :)

31 January 2014

New Year Tradition

Project Life 2014 | Week 1/52

As a custom, if we can help it, we just stay at home on the first day of the year and we normally write our commitments to God as a couple and as individual. We established this tradition in 2013 and we like to keep it that way to set the tone for the current year. Home. Write. Call family. Relax.

However, for this year, a friend asked us if we could perhaps meet her friend that was going to work in Dublin in the same firm as hubby. So of course the answer was yes. It is always nice to meet a new friend, no matter what day it is.

So this is the Week 1 spread of Project Life album (mostly taken on 1 January 2014 when we met and greeted our new friend Treena). Not much as there were only four days on this week.


Other than the reasons I mentioned here, the reason I'm doing this is to push my creative borders outside my comfort zone. This is something I haven't done before so I'm pretty sure there will be lots of misses more than the hits and it's completely fine. I also want to improve on my colour combination skill, learn Photoshop (also something I haven't explored before) and improve on my writing and photography.

Week 1 unraveled. More to go.

29 January 2014

One Little Word: Humility

This is yet another inspirational project that I stumbled upon online. The aim is for you to choose one little word that you would like to reflect on and focus on as you go about with your daily life in a given year. It is also in a way, related to any creative stuff you'd like to embark on. As for me, I have forced myself to do the Project Life memory keeping and to be a minimalist at that.
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For my one little word for 2014, I had pondered and contemplated almost all month of January often asking God in prayer what that word should be. As I have been wanting to revive "writing/blogging" this year, I had initially chosen the word write. But God, in His own sweet timing and nudging, decided otherwise. To be honest, I am very much aware that I need to grow up in this area, I was just really too proud to admit it. See? You can pick up by now that my heart needs to grow in HUMILITY.



At this point, I would like to elaborate why I need to meditate on this area all year long. Oftentimes, it is my pride, my selfishness and my lack of trust in God that drive me in doing things, on why I do what I do. I have always been guilty of wanting to be in control, of having an entitlement mentality, of worrying and of being ungrateful. Much of these really stem from my lack of understanding of who I am in the light of who God is. Apart from Christ, I cannot do anything, I have nothing. Am I not just a steward of whatever talents and things I possess? Do I really need to acquire things just to feel secure and important?

It is my prayer that as I have chosen and written down this one little word, that I will be humbled in the truest sense of the word. That instead of demanding, I will gain a child-like faith (Matthew 18:3), depending on God and putting my security in Him alone. That in the process, I will learn to put the needs of others first before my own and in turn, build a more meaningful relationships around me.  That I will be content of what little materials things we have. That along the way, my gifts, however simple and lacking they are, will be used to inspire and to encourage others.

Humility doesn't necessarily mean I should stop nurturing big ambitions. It only means that my dreams and decisions should now revolve around the question of "are they pleasing to God and am I doing them for the right reasons and motives?"

As 1 Peter 5:3-4 put it:
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of the others."
My journey to learning humility will of course not be confined to a year, that's for sure. It will be a life-long journey. My desire is to be really intentional about it this year, to think of myself less and to put others first and foremost. Easier said than done, you would say and I will agree. But God's grace is always sufficient for us to try and to be better in this life. Until we become that someone He wants us to be, we should never stop trying. :)


What I want my 2014 to look like: To be filled with humility, to write, and to delight in life.