Celebrate the Gift!

Merry Christmas! This is one of my favourite Christmas songs, "Celebrate the Gift" by Twila Paris.

The beauty of the ordinary

Got this off Facebook; it's a poem by William Martin.

I've been redefining what I think of the word 'normal' lately. When I watch my little nephew grow, I feel thankful that he's so normal, i.e. developing at a normal pace, doing all the normal things babies his age do. Because, you know, in a child, when something is not normal, it's usually not a good sign...!

So I'm coming to see that it is good to be normal and ordinary. I always thought 'normal' and 'ordinary' meant boring, and that it was not desirable to be normal and ordinary. As Brené Brown said in this video, "Somehow, in the world we live in today, an ordinary life has become synonymous with a meaningless life... it's been very clear to me that extraordinary means relevant." But that's such a fallacy, isn't it?

In interacting with my little nephew, I've decided that I'll never lament about being ordinary again. In fact, I should rejoice in being normal and ordinary. God is in the normal and ordinary.

Nutella muffins!

Baking experiment: success! At least according to my taste testers :D

Very easy to make:

250g Nutella
2 eggs
60g flour (I used self-raising flour, but the original recipe said all-purpose flour)

Mix all ingredients together, plop in muffin pan and bake at 180C for 20mins. Makes 6 muffins.

To be beautiful enough

I have never seen the film "Tootsie", but now I want to. I nodded my head when he described what happened after the make-up artists finished making him look like a woman, and he felt not beautiful enough: "I think I'm an interesting woman when I look at myself on the screen, and I know that if I met myself at a party, I would never talk to that character because she doesn't fulfill physically the demands that we're brought up to think that women have to have in order for us to ask them out. There are too many interesting women I have not had the experience to know in this life..."

Every woman, I think, is intimately acquainted with this fear. You know you're interesting, inside, but you fear guys won't stick around to find out how interesting you are, because you look so ordinary and aren't some kind of bombshell.

There's always also a continual awareness of being "not beautiful enough": I see my friends worrying about their appearance/attractiveness a lot. I have friends who are nowhere near fat obsessing over how fat they are; friends who are, in my opinion, attractive but who believe they need make-up to cover up their so-called flaws; friends who are so insecure about their looks that they can't bear to look at photos of themselves, much less have anyone else see those photos. It's very sad.

Christmas cupcakes!

What a work of art! Too cute to eat!
 
 
 
*Disclaimer: Not made by me ;)

A quiet joy

There is a calmness to a life lived in Gratitude, a quiet joy.
--Ralph H. Blum
 
 
Mmmmm the quiet joy :)

Something I didn't have before, and now cherish deeply.

Our relationship with books

So true, isn't it? Especially #1! Itulah namanya buku teks :p

The Shopping Conundrum

From a friend's Facebook page:

THE SHOPPING CONUNDRUM
 
The sinking feeling of walking away from that something you really wanted at the mall may be a series of pains, but are only TEMPORARY pains nevertheless.
 
But the stress of realizing that you've bought something you didn't need (again), not having adequate savings and having bad debt will be ACCUMULATED pains that will steal your peace of mind and like a landslide, will subsequently suddenly plummet you to utter despair.
 
Always remember that 70% of what we shop and buy are usually things we will end up NOT using.
 
Less barang, more peace! More barang, less peace! ;)

Something I need to remember more often.

Not all tarred with the same brush

Dr Janet Hall, Clinical Psychologist, says these superficial stereotypes are reinforced in popular culture... "Asian men are often depicted as geeky nerds with high intelligence but low charisma."
--When Asian men are seen as 'undateable'

It's really tempting to draw stereotypes sometimes; I will say that yes, a lot of Malaysian Chinese guys do seem rather kayu, sadly... but just because I happen to be meeting the kayu ones doesn't mean they're all kayu At least, that's what I'd like to believe!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!

A friend pointed me to this photo on Facebook... clearly, she knows me too well :p

Romance according to the Sunflower

Yesterday, a guy asked me what I would consider the most romantic first date. I replied:

"Romance is not about place or activity but about the connection between two people; you can be in a classy restaurant with great food and lovely ambiance, but if the two people don't feel any connection, it's not going to be romantic. If there is connection, you can be stuck in a stalled car by the roadside in the pouring rain, and it will still be romantic... especially if you can laugh about it together."

Incriminating evidence

Some of the loot from the Big Bad Wolf book sale.