.........

the road is long.......................

57 more!

we did 40 arrangements today(no, not the pic), another 57 more tomorrow!

white roses and ghost month!

i can't believed i just finished conditioning 50 packs of white roses! there's like 1000 white roses in my studio now! and they all look so pretty and pristine with their soft, smooth velvety white petals. oh, and the fragrance! i'm in white heaven! its for an upcoming project this fri, thus gotta rush for it. and the amazing thing was my usual part-time helper wasn't able to help out this week, i called a fellow florist to come on board instead! yeah, it does feel abit weird considering we're doing the same things, but really its the grace and favor of God that we happened to know each other. as i recently started a multiply site for my business, she dropped me a mail to say hi! how many people will do that? esp, when we're both wedding flora designers. we need more people like her! haha.....

***

as july is the chinese seventh month aka ghost month, i would think that this month's sales will be terrible. however, God really knows my heart and continue to bring in business opportunities for me. though i just lost a big client with a substantial budget, He brought in another deal for me. and when i think of it, as in the many preparations for this project, i know it can only be Him that put the right people in my path. at first when i heard of the number of orders for it, my first thought was to reject. and just as quickly as the thought came in, another thought of take it! take it! pushed it out haha.. my mind is like a pots of noodles..

so for this post, i just wanna thank God for this opportunity esp july haha.. many times i feel so lazy, so un-motivated, so slack. but He always leads me to where i have to go. its really amazing how He places me at the right place, right time. its completely undeserved favor man.

pretty

tanacetum

dahlias & roses


is'nt this pretty?
roses are the most widely used flowers in weddings and events. they are so versatile yet many people don't really like them too. why? because many women find them boring, used to death, not original, not creative and so many other funny reasons.
but i love roses! people often think that as a florist, i must like interesting flowers, certainly not boring old roses! but mam, i beg to differ. most often than not, its the florist favourite flowers. they have such sweet fragrance, they bloom so beautifully and they last pretty long too. really. we florist work with many exotic and weird flowers too, but its truly the everyday flowers that makes our day.

pruning

wow, you truly amazes me. and truly and apparently our minds do think alike. yes creativity is a gift from God, and so does wisdom and favor. while a moth can never be a butterfly, like how an ugly duckling can never become a swan. many inspirations are caught, not taught. so while you're considered the most recognised names in the field, your reputation as a person is not exactly well -known. i've had many of your clients telling me about how you stuck your guns on your designs and pricing, while also admitting your talents, but there is simple no human touch at all. we're in the business of human relations, and service is of utmost importance. especially in our field.

i'm not going against you or anything but if you're reading this, you do know what i'm talking about. in the beginning of my business, this was one of the bad habits i caught from you. i'm slowly pruning it away. you know what pruning does? it allows the plants to grow healthily, spring forth more flowers and generally make the plant a much happy plant. however, the pruning process can get ugly. the branches are shaved off, the leaves and gone and all you get is a bald and skinny plant. but with careful watering and nutrients, all the glory and even some, grew back even more. this is pruning. it takes away the unneccessary, and with that becomes a more fruitful plant.

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit"

John 15:1-2

fully paid

we're going ring shopping today!

lord, thank you for your favor and your abundance of grace and gift of righteousness to reign in life today! and thank you its fully paid!

last night

last night we stayed up to talked. it's been a long time since we had such a heartfelt talk. i told you my confusions, my emptiness, my fustrations and just like that, with no questions interrupting, you listened.

and you held me in your arms, you wipe away my tears and softly and gently remind me not to look within myself. you told me the tales from long ago, how abraham were good friends with God himself. you told me about what friendships can and really means. so long as i don't look within myself.

you told me of how even the most powerful man or richest can have everything yet when they look within themselves, they can still find it empty. as long as i look within myself, it is empty. then, you point and gently shift my direction back to Him. you talk about Him, you told me many wonderful things that only He can do. you told me whatever my hearts desires, He will give. talk to Him, you said. only He can and will show you what your hearts desires is.

last night, you helped me see. you point me back to Jesus. you prayed shalom over me. it shall surely come to pass.

alike

does great mind truly think alike or is it because we're in the same field, thus we always happen to do the same thing? i gleaned alot from you and enjoyed my working days with you. as much as i loved it, i don't really approved of your monetary terms. i sincerely hope your current employee does not face the same thing as i did. we had many fun times and in the process, i picked up many valuable creative lessons from you. and in the same way, your bad habits too. in order for me to move forward, i have to prune it away. i hope you'll do the same.

i wish you the best!

today

jesus, my heart is yours. craft in me an execellent and faithful spirit, teach me to be your woman. i am deeply loved.

eternal love

just came back from a wedding set-up. it'll be mine in another 40 days. and it'll be for better or worse for life. and this is how God made it to be.

a 3 fold cord is not easily broken.

*

the heart knows her lover and is loved, comforted by her lover's embrace

her lover reached out to her and grasps her frail hand, loving her with all he has

even when she pushes him away to the darkest hole, her lover's love for her will endured

forever more till eternity, till the waters runs through oceans deep

***

soccer

our patience has paid off and all post soccer symptoms has vanished when our beloved EPL started 2 days ago! finally! the regulars came over to watch man u game yesterday. though they managed a draw, they played well. considering there were a few young and promising players being played. oohh and david bentley is looking fabulous man! he's so good-looking! yeah, now you know the real reason i watched soccer, haha!

hope man u can continue to win their games and ronaldo will rot in the stands hahahahaha... you ungrateful little thing. don't forget who plucked you out from obscurity and made you the player you're now. you're an investment to them not the other way round dude.

painful

first thought was to retaliate, to fight back, to defend.

second thought was, i know its me.

third thought was, how did it turn out this way?
*******************************************

my heart and my mind is in turmoil right now,
the pounding pain came crashing in.
all the hearts desires to be truthful,
in one fell swoop, became empty.
********************************************

do not bother to make time for you guys. cancel appointments at the last minute. not diplomatic. not a good friend. rude. wrong place, wrong time.

i do not know who i am right now.

shots

my handy tools

thought i take some shots, trying to hone my photography skills. the thing is, photoshop is also a skill to learn. but never really fancy edited photos though they are the first impression to the outside world. currently using a nikon d40.

poms poms

pretty flowers

inspirations

and why is the time ticking by so quickly today?!!

the bachelor pad for now

his other love

the art piece

his playpen

friends

and just to avoid any bad blood from the previous posts, i wish to say that i truly love my friends. esp BY and SH. its just that well the 2 of them are closer to each other hehe..

the 3 of us go a long way back in sec school. the fateful 1995, 3 jan when we sit dumbly in the school hall, anxious with all the new faces around us. we went through the school days happy together. those days were so fun.

i used to wish to the high heavens to have good friends. a best buddy that i can really tell all my deep, drak secrets to. a best buddy that can really tell you as it is, encourage you, be your slave and willing to walk through your lifetime together. and whenever friends around me changed, i changed too. i thought where are my good friends? where could they be? until one fine day, i heard this, "i have to be a friend to them the way i want them to be for me."

i want to be your friend. not because having friends around is good, it is good. but because i want to feel the joy again of being real to a friend and being there for you. to walk this journey together, to grow old and have many more 10 years friendship dinners. to watch our kids grow up and just like us, be good friends too.

friends?

poosh

and so we had the jiemei's gathering last night. i wouldn't say it was not fruitful. in fact it was too much. i was doing too little and they were telling me too much. man, i feel like i'm taking a super difficult test paper with so much preparations not done.

so while waiting for the Wei to return, i tried to surf online for more information and ended up reading other people's blogs hehe.. i like to read other people's stuff. anyways, i'm looking for favors. perhaps honey pots? i dunno, i wish we could just have the ceremony and be done away with everything else.

i realised that there's alot of being nice involved preparing for the invites. i wanted to invite my friend but not the bf but they told me its not nice to. i asked why and got a agitated response from them. but its my wedding, no? i did overheard them say, then we won't invite you lor, but the thing is we know each other so that hurts. sometimes having friends like these takes alot of courage. cos we hardly ever hang out and now we're all hanging out cos there's a wedding to plan. so what happens after all the fairy dust has settled? we go back to hanging out with our own friends till the time comes for us to hang out together again. is it me or its just us?

think this post is getting depressing and thats not how it started out. human relations are so tricky. wonder how jesus did it man.

work day

what is my typical workday like? let's see...

- wake up at 8.30am (ideal time)
- wash up and dressed up (yeah i do dress up though i work from home)
- make a cup of tea
- plonk myself in front of the lappie
- switch it on
- check for mails
by then it'll be 12pm

- break for lunch at 12.30pm
- back at work at 2pm (yeah i take long lunch breaks)
- check and reply mails
- surf for more inspirations
- msn with friends
by then it'll be 6pm

- close all applications
- switch off lappie
- wait for 7pm to watch Blossoms of love!
end of day, repeat next day 

when there's projects and i've got to prepare, it'll be like this:
- wake up at 8.30am (ideal time)
- wash up and dressed up (yeah i do dress up though i work from home)
- make a cup of tea
- plonk myself in front of the lappie
- switch it on
- check for mails
by then it'll be 12pm

- wait for flowers to arrive
- flowers arrived
- unpacked and condition flowers
- make sure to clean and store them in proper vases or buckets
- clear all outstanding orders
- everything is done, clean up workspace and tidy up
- wash my face and back to lappie!

this is my work routine, so don't keep saying i'm very free k! wish i have a studio like this saipua

anemones

i am so getting this as my bridal bouquet (pic from marthastewart.com)

faces

best buddies!
cousins
the Wei family
the 2 small weis

slacker or resting or *gasps* lazy?!

today is the jiemei's meeting. can't wait! should we really make him suffer or should i let them go easy on him? i stay on the 18th floor hehehehehehehehehehee..

anyways, my sister is getting married a few months after me. i think i loved her deeply though its a one-sided love. and i don't express it well so she probably thinks i'm being fake. well anywhoo!

if ever i've 2 girls next time, i hope they will continue to love each other even after all the fights they go through. and when they reached their teens to adulthood, i sure hope that they will continue to look out for one another, keep in contact and not let some stupid little fights tear them apart. its scary when your own sister does'nt really bother about your own existence and only talk to you in a harsh tone when it comes to the bills.

i really don't want this to happen to my 2 girls, ever.

many posts ahhhhhhhhhh......

yeah, you must be wondering if i've went crazy and post like never before right....... but its like this floodgate have been released and all this words just keep coming out man..... sometimes a blog moment will come and its like you tell yourself, ok i'm going to blog about this later but when it comes to the actual blogging, zilch, zero, finito, nothing comes out.... so when this torrent of inspirations hits, better put it down before it all goes away too soon...

on another random note, we're thinking if i can spare the time to go for honeymoon. yes!! we might not be able to go for honeymoon, all because moi has a wedding project 4 days after my own wedding! What?!! yes!! and the Wei has been very sweet about it, looking for short destinations to go though i know he really would love to go to europe for our honeymoon.

and people have been telling us we should go even if its a short one. so we're wrecking our brains to decide where we should go. any ideas?

i can only spare 1 week in between months as year end is crazy for me. and even for our september wedding, there are wedding projects that i've to complete till 1 week before my own. yeah thats how crazy it is this year. and i heard next year will even be better.
*kaching, kaching!* hahahahaha..

and speaking of weddings, i got to know another fellow wedding floral designer through multiply. she's been doing it for a year plus and its really great to know we're doing the same thing. i even recommend my sis to her lol. at first, the Wei asked if its our competitor cos we're doing wedding flowers, so i said yes. but it dawned on me not to see her as a competitor but a fellow designer whereby we can encouraged each other and honed our skills even more. i feel that too many businesses lose out cos they always see each other as competitors. but to me, i would like to see it as a personal human touch.

to know each other, building friendships and helping each other along the way are what we ought to do. not to diss each other off or compare. comparisons are deadly. its a poison arrow that will seeped you of any joy or life. so don't compare. jesus did'nt died for us to compare. he died so that we might live. to live his life and to be set apart for his purpose. so if your purpose is to be a good teacher, he'll set you apart for it. if your purpose is to be a singer, he'll set you apart for it. and if you're thinking whats my purpose? i don't have a purpose for anything! don't worry, he'll set you apart for something!

i know my purpose for this season is to be floral designer, i know he has set me apart for it. he'll equipped me with the creativity, wisdom, favor and joy for it. like a dear friend once shared with me, i'll not dwell unduly for days of my life because God has keep me busy with joy of my heart~ ecc 5:20

ain't that awesome! (",)

for love's sake

i want to thank you for the sacrifice you took to ensured that i'm provided for, the pay cut, the normal working hours and being stuck in office, all for love's sake.

i'm thankful that you believed in me and have always been pushing me to be more than what i'm capable of.

i'm thankful that you weigh everything in its options when making decisions, but when it comes to me, i'm a gamble you decided to plunge into.

i'm thankful that we've a house now and we're going to build a home together real soon.

i'm thankful for your love, your loving kindness, your unselfishness and your patience.

all for love's sake.

Smell of rain and thoughts of randomness

it's raining now, i'm feeling sleepy, after waking up from a power nap. man, my hormones are playing with my body.. alot of friends are asking about the wedding preparations, dress, house and stuff.. well most of it is done, mainly the house! our regular houseguest, Kwee has been keeping the Wei company and the occasional other regular houseguest, johnny tends to drop in as and when he likes too.. so what do they do when they're at home?

they play ps3, watch movies till late (he has a kicka** cinema room), eat durians or make pizzas.. the weird stuff that guys do together. also we've sean, yimei, jerome and andy dropping by too! so now our house is the JRC, Jurong Recreational Club.. i must collect cover charge le..

anyways, what we still need to confirm for the wedding is the invites (yikes, we're horribly late!), settle the caterer, last fitting for both my dresses, get shoes, accessories, hair and make up and whatever else that needs to be done.

i do wish there's photos but i've no camera, so this year i wish for a compact digital camera! haha haha.. 

we got our very first ang pow from aunty nina! It was during the parents gathering when she gave it to us. so with our first fruits, we tithe all of it! and i'm mighty glad that the Wei did it cos that was whats in my heart to do so.. its our miracle seed!

and thank pastor mark's for sunday preaching. we gotta say out our blessings! so if you're still wondering why no breakthrough, its cos you ain't saying it! so say it!

and i am blessed with the blessings of Deu 28 and jesus is the provider of all my needs!

Today

Today, I endeavour to clean the house, clear up my room, set up blog.


Guess which have been accomplished?

Hello!

I've been inspired by many of my friends who have been blogging for a long time. I'm inspired by their openess, their sincerity and their zest for life. Thus, I thought of blogging but have putting it off as I did'nt want it to seem like I'm merely copying them. But what decided for me, is I'm going to another phase of my life. To be a wife this coming September! I'm getting married! *Happy Applause* haha..

So, I decided to pen down my thoughts about the wedding from now till that day and after the wedding, marriage. This is a good way for my friends to catch up on my life and happenings too. Hopefully, I'll blog regularly and in the mean time polished up on my English. As The Wei told me the other day that I'm speaking like an uneducated person! Man, that was an insult ok! I was good at English Composition back in my secondary school days one hor, haha.. well time flew real fast.............

I hope I will also inspired the people around me too, with my openess, sincerity and zest for life. Even if no one is reading this, I'm happy too. This will be a blogging journey with myself, The Wei and Jesus.. Happy Blogging! :)