To Go or Not To Go

Really heart breaking to see what Japan and the Japanese are going through at this moment. I felt extremely sad for what had happened over these few days. My heart felt so heavy but still, following the latest news from CCTV everyday watching for the latest developments of the nuclear plant issue which worries me the most and the nation of future destruction to the country and globally.

On the early morning before the massive earthquake, I was having a bad dream. I dreamt that I am preparing for a bad Tsunami situation and I can see the pre-earthquake clouds starts forming above me. While the sky keeps getting darker, rains starts to pour, earth starts trembling, buildings and trees were swaying in a distorted form. We were running fast trying to avoid the collapsing buildings around us. People was shouting and crying. I was rushing towards the streets jammed pack with cars running towards home where Angel and Annabelle was. Rain pouring down my face and skies turned into a frightening dark purple, water starts rushing in under my feet from nowhere. What I was in mind was Angel! Annabelle! and I must find them fast ....... and suddenly, I was woken by my ringing mobile from my travel agent! *wipe sweat* I was breathing real fast when I could finally take my first breath. The dream was so vivid that I thought I was really in that horrifying catastrophe! I am so glad that I am not! I saw sunlight, I breathe fresh air, and I am just so glad that I am still alive ........ until I watched what happened few hours later to Japan.

I can do nothing and no one can do anything but watched the disasters and power of nature take it cause. I take the news with a heavy heart thinking that will 2012 become a reality? I am not worry about 'that day' if the day will eventually come. No point to worry too :P :P Just that I am curious, will that day come sooner then I thought? Are we so intelligent to correctly predicted that day? Just pure curious ...

I will be pray for the people suffering in Japan, I hope that those who did escape from the massive quake and those who were still stranded near the Fukushima nuclear plant can evacuate from the contaminated area until it's declare safe again. I am following the development of the radiation issue closely because, China is not that far from Japan actually (>.<)?. The effects of such radiation is just too scary for me. But I am hoping and I am sure, everything will be alright soon, I know it will!

However, another dilemma posted ..... we have booked our holidays to Seoul, Korea in the beginning of April and now, I am thinking whether I should scraped my trip as Seoul is quite near to Japan? I will not worry so much if I am alone but you can call me 'the most timid mom' on earth when Angel is tagging along. I am sure that the government will not alert the people too much (to avoid create too much chaos) if the situation is still under their control, until they have had not much power to do anything anymore which will be too late then. I called up my travel agent and they told me it's safe in Korea and asked me to wait for further notice if there will be any. (O.O)? So should I cancel or not cancel now? Such a dilemma ....

For me, I am still taking every factor into consideration. I am just hoping that I'm not being over paranoid. What about you? Will you go or not to go if your next holiday destination is near to Japan (e.g. Korea)?

P/s: I starts to think now, how about Hong Kong? (>.<)?
P/s 2: After watching the news, suddenly I have a strong urge wanting to joining the rescue team in Japan! Praying for world peace!

My Coffee Break

Busy busy busy,
Everyday, I wake up morning rushing for the afternoon,
While in the afternoon, I am rushing for nights.

To be able to sit down in the afternoon and have a cup of coffee in total serenity,
While she have finally fallen asleep in her cozy slumber land,
That would be my biggest privilege which I could get out of my busy day.

Now and Then

I have not posting up Annabelle's newborn pictures that much but I found this picture of her and her expression looks so amusing! Those wordings up there was the messages to hubby (who has flew back to work) while I was so boring and have nothing better to do during my lengthy confinement month back at my hometown then. *wink*

She was just a few days old then and from the picture, she still have the 'old man' kind of look which all newborn was born with. Those newborn rashes was still all over her face. She is so tiny as compare to her sister Angel at birth but look at her now, I couldn't even associate the picture then with this chubby little girl now ^_^



I am so blessed to have her, my lovely sweet Annabelle! To me, she was always so beautiful now and then, and forever it will be ^_^

Shopping Can Be Fun For Kids Too

Although I am just back from our HK trip few weeks ago but I think I left my heart there (ops!) There were so many nice places to visit which time is never enough and oh my, the malls were loaded with so many cutest stuffs for kids as if I thought I was walking into one of stephen joseph's stores. And for adults, we were spoil with choices too making me felt that I have left with so little money to spare with so many things to buy.

Don't think I am the only one who loves shopping but shopping can be fun for kids too. I think my Angel is having such great fun during our trip and shopped more then I do while I was watching her every move closely and babysitting her in the mall for it was so packed with tourists! She would touched whatever comes into her sight at this age, try on new shoes for herself and even flip through adults clothing as well! There was once she found a torn-designed pair of jeans on the display and shouted at me saying, "Mommy look!!! It's torn! Why they don't fixed it and put it here huh?!" and shook her head! My baby Angel, somehow you would love such torn jeans when you gets older :P

^ ^ Why it was torn mommy?

Of course she would constantly be watching out for toys stores, car racing arcades (which I tried to avoid at all times) and of course the play area for kids! Once she saw the huge bouncy air castle or the slides, she would be hooked there for a good 1/2 an hour before we manage to drag coax her away.


^ ^ Happily in the kids playing area

Upon arriving the children store, normally I would be looking for new items added and also browsing at one of those cute kids laundry bag which would be perfect even for a normal outings. Oh, so hard to resist on cute little stuffs. Angel would be working her hands on the legos in the kids area. But the most interesting spot for her would be the indoor slides as well as the TV games station. I hardly saw her showing any interest in the cute cuddly toys or the board games nowadays.


^ ^ Hooked!

I am glad so far, Angel is more then happy to shop for the entire day with us but would show a little grumpiness at times when it's way past her napping time. In fact, I am delighted to see the sign because once she falls asleep in her stroller finally, it's time for me and hubby to have some break from babysitting her and it's time for us to do some real shopping. Sometimes we suggested to head home for her nap but she told us she prefers to nap in her stroller instead and would wake up a happily kid continue with her shopping day out till shops closes around late evening. A shopping queen she was.

I must admit that it's kind of hard to shop for anything with kids tagging along but somehow, I think she enjoys herself to the fullest! Fortunately I love shopping for kids stuffs and doesn't mind staying in a children store for hours rather then doing the boring lawn mowing on my weekends, which I would be gratefully leaving the job to Dallas landscaping for a job well done.

Our Last Day of CNY 2011

I have to quickly post up the last post of our CNY before I start loosing all the momentum of writing. Lazy worms are all over me now ...... is it post-CNY blues?? :P

I love this very girlie piece of CNY outfit which makes her looks absolutely like a ..... princess! At first I am still a bit skeptical about her wearing this CNY cheong sum (is it cheong sum??) because of the Chinese knot on the collar which looks a bit uncomfortable. But I was so wrong! She told me she looks like 'Princess Angel' and do not want me to take it off even after returning from kai-kai.

Angel looks a bit sleepy in the picture coz she hasn't been napping for the entire day and still manage to stay alert during our night shopping.



The first ray of moonlight from the first full moon on the first 15th of the lunar new year. So lucky to get a shot of Mr. Moon far far away before it hides behind the thick cloud on the cloudy night ^_^



The weather is still very cold but it didn't stop my little Angel from getting out and about in the neighbourhood. Somehow, I think she looks a little alike the mini "小燕子" in the movie 还珠格格?



Sparkles time again! She meant to show "I Luv U" in the pictures below (right column) but turned out "I O U" instead :P



So that marks the end of all my CNY posts (errmmm, I hope .....) and we had the best CNY ever this year which will last a long long time in our memories :)

Investments

By looking at the constant price hike in the commodity products nowadays always makes me have a feeling that our hard earned salary will never ever catch up with the rises in price! The cost of living especially in the city is getting higher and higher day by day which sadly but in reality is normally resisted by lowering our standards of living. Recently, there was a price increase in petrol again in the city where I am staying now. It has already become a norm that everyone would talked and complain about but nothing can be done.

With a family with 2 kids, I am thankful that I do not need to worry about food, clothing, diapers, formula and other stuffs which involved money. But I must admit that from the day that I conceived my Angel, I have this constant worries about her/their educational fees (university especially) in 10 or 20 years' down the lane as I have seen how much my parents has paid for my graduate and post graduate degree years back. And I am so thankful that I managed to get hold of a scholarship in the end which has lessen their burden tremendously, which I am not sure whether both my girls will be that lucky in the future. That is indeed a big chunk of money involved there and tell me that I need not worry too much?

Savings in the bank will depreciate against time where their value will not fluctuate against the pace of price hike. I am not hoping much from the teeny weeny interest rates given by the bank will do any good counteracting the inflation either. So lately, me and hubby was thinking about investments, something which never ever come across our mind until recently.

One of the various investments that we were looking at was the mutual fund. I think it would be great for my girls educational fund. We were planning to allocate a fixed amount of money every month for that purposes over the long haul hoping that it will generate a fair amount of returns in the long run. I am yet to find out what are the impact and how much that we have to invest in order to achieve what we are planning for but I am sure I will be able to find useful advices and services from some of the best online trading company in the market.

As for our retirements, I think property is a good choice but I doubt that we could afford a house in such a short term. Another option would be investing in shares but I am not so sure whether I could take the ups and downs of the share markets personally as yet before having a heart attack. And if that's the case, I think it's better off for me to start scrutinizing my list of best online trading brokerage and leave the job to the hands of the professional while sipping my cup of coffee on my cozy chair and keep track of my account freely from my own cozy home.

Or course, some other option would be investing in gold and commodities, etc but I am still evaluating the pros and cons of all the investment options available.

I am just hoping that we could get a decent return in our investments for the future that we could afford our girls educational cost while still being able to maintain our living standards during the time of our retirement.