Tag Archives: Graphic Design

A Delightful Discovery

13 Sep

It was a typical morning getting ready to leave the house for the office. Sometimes, we would do a quick spot check for caterpillars on the lime tree closest to the car at the front of the house. On this particular morning, we discovered a beauty hiding between the branches!

My my… looking rather alien but not spooked, the moth did not even budged when we took turns to take its picture up close. Later, when we got to the office, hubby googled it up to learn that it was an Oleander Hawk Moth. What a delightul discovery!

This species is rather large, sleek and thrives in warm climates. And it loves to hide within lush green foliage which I don’t think our lime tree is that lush though. But I am not complaining for we had the chance to admire a full grown beautiful moth instead of just caterpillars all the time.

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Happy Anniversary to Us

30 Aug

It’s August already but it feels like 2019 is coming to an end, having gone by so fast with so many changes in both our lives this year. The most significant being M2 going off to college in January and M1 graduating in June. Tomorrow is yet another milestone, our wedding anniversary!

As we celebrate our 24th anniversary, I reflect back with mostly good and happy thoughts of our relationship and love for what we have built together as a team – our family, our home and our design studio.

Not every road to success is a smooth journey; there’s bound to be bumps and potholes along the way but that’s part and parcel of what makes a relationship work – to listen, to compromise and to sync as one to take on this exciting and sometimes challenging journey together.

Happy anniversary to us! And to celebrate the occasion, we are off for the usual alphabet escapade trip. Be back four days later… ta!

Enduring Endometriosis

26 Aug

Last week, my excruciating endometriosis pain struck again because of the cycle. I did not see my O&G doctor immediately after last month’s attack because I wanted to monitor the situation and true enough, it struck to the core. And this time, I was popping more pain killers than ever, otherwise I would be down on the floor curled up and in agony.

To add to my stress or rather distress, I had a logo design deadline to meet and I played in my golf club’s Annual Championship Tournament over the weekend. Thankfully, I managed to pull through for the work that was expected. Maybe playing Cat Condo eased off some of the edge in the stress. As for the tournament, that’s another story all by itself.

So how am I feeling this week? Well, the storm passed and there’s relief but I need to find a window to schedule an appointment to see what’s the best option to resolve this problematic pain once and for all.

A Ridiculous Fortune, Part 2

16 Aug

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My fortune playing Cat Condo has been growing astronomically! When I reached 999b, I wondered what next? Well, I didn’t have to wonder long because I reached a trillion dollars next. All this on Tuesday during my lunch break at the office. As for the cats, species #23 was unveiled, so another 17 more to go.

A mind-boggling trillion dollars, way cool for I have never been at this level in any of the games that I play on my devices. Come to think of it, in my entire life never have I reached a trillion mark ever. Wow…

By yesterday, I reached three trillion dollars and mind you, this is even after spending trillions several times the last few days to grow the place and population! I love this game.

My Cat Condo

9 Aug

Two days ago, I started playing a new game, Cat Condo. Although I am not a cat person, this cute yet silly and mindless cat game has captivated me, keeping me engrossed and entertained.

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Within a day, I amassed a gazillion in fortune (277m to 7.82b) growing my cat condo!

Then again it’s time-wasting too but I don’t mind playing it when I am stuck for creative ideas in the office because it’s a good distraction to reset my thoughts.

The earlier dinosaur excavating game, MyMuseum was completed three weeks ago with all 16 dinosaurs unearthed. And until now, there’s no update with new dig sites to work on. What this means basically is it’s pointless to keep playing it.

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Yes, I am still waiting for the update.

So it’s timely with this new game. And with 40 species of cat to unveil, far more than the dinosaurs, I foresee myself playing this for awhile.

Good mindless fun.

A Delightful Discovery, Part 2

11 Jul

It is when one travels that one finds treasures and delightful discoveries. Besides the Hasegawa EggPlane that I found, I found a couple more things.

Discovery # 1: a Waldo book entitled ‘The Totally Essential Travel Collection’. Yes, I am fond of Waldo and this book totally has me absorbed looking for him whenever I need a breather from staring at my monitor for too long in the office.

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Discovery #2: paint brushes from Michaels. I was like a kid in a candy store browsing the aisles looking longingly at all the art supplies. In the end, I opted for value, variety and quantity, and picked up these two packs of brushes which will come in super handy to use after the carving process.

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With such delightful discoveries, it’s no surprise that I started carving a new piece last night so that I can use the brushes. As for Waldo, staring at the monitor is now not so tedious. Life is good!

The Bags are Still Not Here, Part 2

3 Jul

The perils of jet lag continues! Waking up at 5.30am yesterday morning not for golf but due to jet lag seem to have clouded my senses.

I misinterpreted the information on the status of our bags as stated on the website that KLM provided. Bag One will leave Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on 2nd July, not arrive at KLIA on the said date. And the airport baggage claims office called yesterday evening to confirm this.

What this means then is that Bag One will arrive on 3rd July, today and delivered to us in the evening. Haish…

Meanwhile up till yesterday, Bag Two was still being traced. Dear oh dear…

Work and worry took the toll on me and last night, I crashed at 9.30pm; I couldn’t hold up and brave the anxiety anymore. And this morning I woke up at 3.30am. I’m not complaining though because there was a text message from KLM saying Bag Two is currently being transported to KUL! Yay.

I checked the website and indeed, Bag Two was labeled ‘Rushbag’ and on flight KL809 en route to KLIA. I hope it’s the same flight as Bag One.

We hope to receive both bags this evening. Fingers crossed.

Oops, The Bags are Not Here

1 Jul

It’s mind boggling when I look back now at the total time of the whole journey inclusive of the car rides. So from the time we left Corvallis for the airport, the flights, transits and our taxi ride home, it was 43.5 hours! Goodness gracious me.

The delay of the bags added to this and it could have been worse if the delayed flight departures were longer. But being under half an hour each time, the flying itself made up for it.

Yesterday when we touchdown at KLIA, all I was thinking of was a nice cold shower and a good sleep to start my recovery from the jet lag. But our checked-in bags never arrived. With this clouding our minds, how to sleep snugly?

We stood at the baggage conveyor belt for more than half an hour and our two checked-in bags never came. They are still in Amsterdam, along with the bags of several other travelers who transited at Schiphol Airport.

Some of them were connecting from Paris and Japan, and us from the US. Like them, we lodged a report and this took time too as the office was packed. Initially I thought we had to go to the airport this evening to get them but hubby said they will be delivered to us instead. I await anxiously for them.

This morning I woke up at 6.20am. I had a good eight hours sleep with four and a half of it being deep sleep. That’s good, maybe a faster recovery but the nagging headache is still there, I don’t know why. Hubby on the other hand, woke up every two hours. He said he was still in airplane sleep mode and each time, he was expecting to be served a meal or ice cream! Hahaha…

We jumped right into work this morning, not wasting any time to rest.

Goodbye Portland

19 Jun

It sure was nice to sleep in despite the bed being too soft for me. Our Airbnb was very cozy, a little apartment with two rooms, two baths, a kitchenette and living room area. The property looked like it was purposely renovated to be an Airbnb host.

The only thing was the floor was cold even with socks on. And this is Summer! And the upstairs creaked loudly too when someone was walking around. But generally the overall comfort and convenience made up for the slight discomfort and little disturbance.

Too bad we can’t appreciate it more because today, we will check out to explore Portland as much as possible and be on the road thereafter. There simply isn’t sufficient time to cover the city unfortunately.

I met up with an old friend from my internship days when I was in New York City. She was one of the many mentors at WBMG, Inc. where I learnt so much. We did a Peruvian lunch while hubby and the girls went off exploring more sights and tastes, and gave us almost two hours to catch up.

It really was so good to see her after all these years, and after saying our goodbyes, we left Portland for Seattle by mid-afternoon.

Pushing Myself

7 Jun

Last week, I pushed myself on my activities. After playing golf in the morning, I was back in the office in the afternoon. Then in the evening we went to the gym. I told my trainer to go easy on me because I had done more than 11 thousand steps already, more than the quota for the day.

So she put me on the lighter weights instead of the ten-pounder that I have been using the last few sessions. And certain routines, I jumped, lunged and turned less than hubby. I managed and survived the workout session.

And towards the end of last week, my weight dropped even further! Now that’s motivation to push myself. I was down to a mere 0.3lbs away from my new revised target. Woo hoo…

This week, it was the same for Monday – golf then office. However, gym was cancelled because it’s two days before Hari Raya. And it’s only sensible to give my trainer a break from fighting with traffic (like last week) to make her way over to us. It can be very aggravating to be on the road with so many cars for their last minute errands and what nots. Not a good feeling to have before the festivity and holiday.

With Wednesday and Thursday being public holidays again, focusing on the 16/8 diet was a challenge because our routine and menu had to be adjusted.

In fact on Tuesday, I literally pigged out when I met up with my girlfriends dining on a sumptuous porky spread. That evening we talked, laughed and ate passed my eating window. Forget the 16/8 as it was a great night catching up. And after an eventful week, the weigh-in this morning, to my surprise was 0.8lbs beyond the new target! Double woo hoo…

Now I know why I push myself and not sit on my laurels. It sure feels good! Maybe at this point, I will go for another 0.2lbs just to round up the number. From then on, it should be about maintaining the weight as is because my target, twice, has been achieved. There’s no need to set a third new target weight.

To recap, I started this 16/8 diet on 25th Feb and had a horrendous weight spike at the end of that week. But perseverance and discipline paid off over the months. Today, officially on record, I have lost a total of 10.8lbs. So proud of myself.