For my upcoming birthday party, I thought it might be cute to compile some baby photos of myself in a photo album.

As I was browsing through my hard drive, I found a couple of nice pics.

Photo above: My brother was 5 years old, I was 3, and my mother was 34. My little sister had not been born yet. Damn, my mum looks so good!

For my upcoming birthday, my husband has organised for us to scuba dive with sharks at the Perth Aquarium. I’ve been wanting to dive with sharks for years!!

I learned how to scuba dive in 2000, and did heaps diving through to 2002. Since then I haven’t touched my wetsuit in 6 years.

This is me in my custom-made, 7mm wetsuit! At the time I bought it, I thought I’d be able to get one off the rack in a “Little Japanese Girl” size. But it worked out better if I just had one custom made to my own measurements. I chose the colours, design, and had extra zips inserted in the legs and sleeves. It fits me perfectly. Like a glove. I love it!

But as I put it on, it suddenly occurred to me: what if wetsuit designs have changed in the last 6 years? What if I rock up to a dive site, feeling all special in my specky, custom-made wetsuit, and everyone raises their eye brows, because, it’s like SO out-of-date?

Haha. Ok, it was a ridiculous thought. When you’re underwater, no one really cares about how fashionable you look at all. But it did make me think about fashion and style merging with practical design in garment wear, and actually, what is fashion, and where are its limits?

So, to go with that ridiculous thought, I thought I’d slip on some pumps to complete my outfit.

Definitely something interesting going on with the zips, velcro straps and the shiny black pumps.

I’ve uploaded a few more oh-so stylish (not) photos onto my Doing The Karen Cheng Facebook group.

Hey, we’re up to month number 6 already! It’s pretty much HALFWAY through 2008!

So once again, at the start of each month I like to see where I’ve been, what I’m doing and what I’m trying to achieve.

1) Look After My Skin

i) Wear sun cream. Use a good quality moisturiser with at least SPF 15+. Apply in the morning and re-apply in the afternoon. I’ve switched my day moisturiser, tinted-moisturiser and foundation to products with SPF.

ii) Cut down on chocolate. Too much sugar is really bad for skin. I have to be honest with myself, there are only 3 days in the month that I actually NEED CHOCOLATE. So there is a complete ban on chocolate for the other 28 or so days! Wish me luck!

iii) Give up coffee! Too much caffeine is absolutely evil for your skin and body! So I don’t touch the stuff any more.

iv) Drink more water. Winter is here and I’m always reluctant to drink more when it’s cold.

v) Get more sleep. For the last few weeks, I’ve been getting to bed by 11pm and waking up at 6am. Trying to get to bed earlier.

2) Improve My Fitness

I’ve been running twice a week.
Playing netball once a week.
And walking 2km every day.
I FEEL SO GOOD.

3) Snack properly!

All this exercise makes me REALLY hungry. And I’ve been snacking like crazy! Sometimes I’m so hungry I don’t care what I eat – because I NEED FOOD NOW!! So I’ve been trying to eat proper healthy snacks at set times. Which is tricky, because I’m a bit particular with my snacks. So far I like pistachios, dried apple, and cheese + crackers. Does anyone have any snacking suggestions?

4) Get Organised!

I’m all over the place! I have so much happening these next two months!!!

5) Take better photos (with the camera I have)

I’ve been hankering for a new camera, and have my eye on a digital SLR. But argh, we can’t justify spending the money, because, my current one works fine. So I’ve been exercising some self-control and trying to make the best with what I have.

The other day, it was drizzling slightly and we took the kids to the park. The light was PERFECT for some gorgeous portraits. So I had an excellent photo session with the kids, while they splished and splashed in the creek. The results are here and here.

They turned out great! And part of me was so thankful that I didn’t take a $1500 camera into the rain!!

6) Learn a language by myself

It’s been going well, but slowly! I’ve got my hands on some great Chinese material, which I’ll write about soon.

7) Create Something!

I’ve been itching to make something! I have serious screen-printing envy every time I browse through Etsy.com.

8) Scuba Diving!

In a few weeks, I’ll be putting on my wetsuit and jumping into the water again!!

Today I had a wonderful afternoon. I’m not entirely sure what made it so special from any other day though.

My boys dressed in OPPOSITE tracksuit colours. They gathered large autumn leaves and fanned the air like buzzy bees. They ran off without looking back.

My husband and I strolled behind them. Usually we would talk, chat and laugh noisily about our day.

But I was in a very reflective mood today. Lots to think about.

There is always so much going on in my head, but today, it all seemed to be moving at the same speed, with the same rhythm.

I was thinking about parenting. Motherhood. Children. My family. Infertility. Future. Love. Hopes. Sensitivity. Sadness. Loss. Emptiness. Depression. Blogging. Writing. Creating. My life plans. My community. The people in my life.

I had this strange calm in my spirit. Like I reached some kind of clarity. Or perspective.

Or like I’ve been unconsciously gathering thoughts for the last 2 weeks, and suddenly, somehow, everything has all come together.

And everything is all good.

It’s a good place to be.

(more…)

Again it’s the start of a brand new month. This time MONTH NUMBER 5!

What goals did you reach last month? What have you achieved?

What are you working on for this month? What are you hoping to accomplish? What are you inspired to try out?

Here’s mine:

1) Have a declutter day.

We made an appointment: Saturday, 10am-12pm. My husband and I sat down in our “spare room / junk room” and cleared it out!! We got rid of old boxes, old papers, old clothes, old shoes, old computer parts, old printers, and a whole lot of other junk. DECLUTTERING FEELS SO GOOD!

We still have plenty more stuff to clear out. Will finish it off this month!

2) Wake up EARLY everyday.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been waking up at 6am every morning, instead of 7am. For some reason, I find myself MUCH more alert, awake, and fresher – not sure why, because I still sleep at 11pm most nights.

I’m hoping to continue into this month and maybe start going for a brisk morning walk.

3) Get into a team sport, for fun and fitness.

I just started my first game of netball, in 8 years! I think I did pretty well. I’m still as competitive as ever! It’s a great rush, and an excellent work out.

I was accidentally paired with the most experienced and seasoned chick from the other team – she must’ve been in her mid 40s, shorter than I was, and she zigzagged through the court like a mouse on speed. Damn she was so good.

I kept up with her quite well in the beginning, but by the end of halftime I was huffing and puffing and wheezing like an old lady. Whereas she didn’t even break a sweat.

I told her, my aim is to be like her within the next few weeks. It made her day.

4) Start dancing!

My husband and I have decided that we are going to take some salsa dance classes! Yipee! Looking into formats and times that will suit us.

5) My Reading List for April:

I’ve actually finished 3 novels + 1 non-fiction this month . But I’ve only written up one review.

It’s Not About The Bike by Lance Armstrong
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
So Close by Tertia Albertyn
Cosmetics Unmasked by Dr. Stephen Antczak

6) Take better care of my shoes.

I’ve been trying to take better care of my shoes. So the other morning I cleaned, waxed and polished every shoe in our house. It took me 2 hours! I tossed out the old ones, I fixed broken ones.

I put a few in my new clear shoe boxes, and organised the rest on my shoe rack.

7) Be active in a Community.

There are 22 mums in my son’s pre-primary class. It’s really funny, we see each other TWICE everyday, and yet I don’t actually know many of them beyond a certain level.

So I’ve organised a girls only dinner for everyone. I’ve sent out invites. Already have a great response. It’ll be next week at a local restaurant, and it kinda doubles as a Mother’s Day dinner. Can’t wait!

8) Fundraise for a worthy cause.

Planning to host a play date morning tea at my place for the Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.

Hi everyone! It’s the start of a brand new month! How’s everyone doing with their personal goals and resolutions for the year?

I’ve signed up for a social netball team, with some other mums from my son’s class. The last time I played netball was in 2000. It starts next term! I’m excited!

My Chinese lessons are not going as fast as I had hoped. I have been following a DVD for children, and I can say, “Hello little friend! Let’s play together!”

Admittedly the other day, I was wearing a rather low-cut top, and I was introduced to a group of young business men from China. I was about to blurt out the very little Chinese I knew - with perfect inflection and much pride – but I suddenly realised that it might not go down too well.

(OK. I exaggerate. I can count to ten and I know a few colours.)

My book project has kept me fairly busy. I’m trying to start another personal writing project, but argh, not enough time during the day.

Last month I read 3 books, and half way through another one.

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

This month I need to focus on a few things :

TO RELAX. I’ve been very tense these last few weeks. I’ve got a lot on my plate. Can’t seem to wade through the to-do’s in a graceful manner.

I mentioned in my post about “Making Baby 3 – The STRESS Factor” that I might getting all stressed out about trying NOT to be stressed!

I have to learn the art of prioritising.

We have my son’s 5th birthday coming up. Plus the school holidays are approaching.

Need to do some swimming.

Hmmm. Can’t think of anything else. What are your goals this month?

1.

In 2000, I was leaving work, walking quite fast towards the office exit, saying goodbye to my colleagues. Suddenly I walked into the very clean glass door.

I blooded my nose and smashed my teeth. One quarter of one front tooth had broken off. That’s right. I didn’t just chip it, I BROKE it. All the money my parents spent on my teeth had gone to waste!

I stood in the bathroom washing the blood off my face. I looked into the mirror, examining the damage. It was just one tooth. It could have been worse.

But it looked like my face was in a magazine, and someone had coloured in one tooth with a black marker. I looked ridiculous! Completely and utterly ridiculous! I was so embarrassed! I BROKE MY TOOTH!

My colleagues stuffed me into a car and rushed me to emergency dental surgery. I kept my head bent low, my hands cupped over my mouth, speaking only with muffled Mmmmm-mmmm-mmm’s.

Everyone must’ve thought that I was in so much pain. But really, it was my pride that was hurting.

2.

Several years ago, I noticed a small lump on my nose. I thought it was cancer. I completely freaked out and quickly went to get it checked out.

My doctor sent me to a skin specialist, who said it was a common skin virus – otherwise known as a WART. OMG I HAVE A WART ON MY NOSE! A WART! ON MY NOSE! LIKE THE FINAL STROKE ON THE EPITOME OF UGLINESS, I’M A WALKING CLICHÉ!

My doctor said she could burn it off. But it might grow back. There might be scarring. The scars might never fade. The burning might irritate it and it might grow back even bigger! OMG I HAVE A WART ON MY NOSE!

Then my doctor suggested I see a plastic surgeon.

Seriously? What will a plastic surgeon do? Isn’t that a bit drastic? I have to see a plastic surgeon to fix my nose? That’s the solution for ugliness? Can this situation get anymore clichéd?

While I was umming and ahhing about seeing a plastic surgeon, the lump disappeared by itself. THANK GOODNESS!

It’s the third month of the year already!

And how’s everyone going with their New Year’s resolutions so far?

I made a simple list in January, but I like to call them Personal Goals instead. Here’s how I’m doing:

1) Learn a language.
I’m learning to speak Chinese. By myself. From scratch. With books and CDs. And I’m practicing with my kids. I know it sounds mad. But I’m determined to do it!

2) Eat better. Exercise More.
I’m trying to cooking 3 vegetarian meals + 3 fish meals + 1 red meat meal a week. I’m swimming more often - hopefully I’ll be committing to doing it once or twice a week, soon.

3) PLAY with my kids.
I know this sounds a bit weird, since I’m a stay at home mother. But most days I am so absorbed with doing errands and running the household, that I forget to stop and have fun with the kids at their level. So this year I’m determined to enjoy the kids while they are young.

4) Read more books.
Books I’ve read this year (in the last two months):

Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Secrets of Happy Children by Steve Biddulph
1-2-3 Magic by Thomas Phelan
Discipline Without Shouting or Spanking by Wyckoff
The New Strong-Willed Child by James Dobson
How To Choose The Sex Of Your Baby by Shettles

5) Get involved with a REAL LIFE community.
Online communities are awesome. But a cup of coffee with some real girlfriends does wonders for the soul. I’m hoping to branch out and meet new people with similar interests.

6) Fundraise for charity.
I haven’t actually done any fundraising yet. But I’ve been to two fundraising events. That kinda counts, right?

7) Take more photos.
I’ve been trying to take photos every day and practice my photography skills. I’m hoping to write up a few more photography and Photoshop tips too.

8) Learn a new skill. Or revisit an old one.
I sewed curtains together last week.

9) I’d like to learn how to play the piano.
I’ve been wanting to learn how to play for years. I don’t think I’ll be getting around to this one just so soon…

10) Write more often.
I’ve been really enjoying writing and posting on my site almost everyday now. It’s excellent practice. I’m hoping to manage my online time better and be a more efficient writer.

Lately, I’ve been tempted to do something DIFFERENT with my hair.

So I was looking through some old photos and

This is me, October 2006.

I just got my braces off.

I was a bride’s maid at my sis-in-law’s medieval wedding. See photos here.

I had my hair in curls for 3 days after the wedding, and I loved it.

I felt so funky!

Oh the temptation.

The days have been hot.

The heat is choking.
I can’t escape it. The walls, the floor, the air. It’s everywhere.

My house is an oven.
My skin is suffocating. My body is aching. And I am so tired.

1. I hate ironing. I make my husband iron his own work shirts. In fact, I wash and hang my clothes so carefully, that they require little or no ironing at all.

2. I love watching Extreme Makeover. I always cry at the end.

3. I like listening to Elton John. And Metallica. And Justin Timberlake.

4. I know all the words for Hi-5’s Jump and Jive CD. It rocks.

5. My desire to save money (paying off the mortgage) overrides my passion for design (ie. living in a gorgeously designed home.)

6. Given the opportunity, I would eat instant noodles and KFC everyday.

7. At the end of a hot day, I let my kids play in the paddle pool in the garden, then let them skip a bath. C’mon everyone does it.

8. I have to write post it notes for myself, or I’ll forget EVERYTHING.

9. I haven’t cut my hair in 12 months, because I can’t seem to get around to it.

10. When I wake up in the morning I’m really, really grumpy.

11. I’ve watched every episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager.

12. After a lifetime of loathing and recoiling away from romance novels and movies, I recently picked up Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice and I ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY LOVED IT.

Read: More Random Things About Me

The other day I wanted to show my kids some pictures of me growing up on Christmas Island - where I was born.

We dug through my old box of baby photos and I told them stories of jungles, turtles, coral beaches and crabs. It was like a fairy tale. A different world.

I thought I’d share some photos on my site, starting with some photos of me aged 2 to 4!

I was born in 1978. I have one older brother and one younger sister.

After my mother had me, she continued to work full time. My brother and I would go to a “day care” which was basically some close family friends. Apparently we had a whole host of babysitters – all of whom I can’t remember!

My mother eventually stopped working and became a stay at home mother when my younger sister was born.

Even though there is a closer age gap between my brother and I, I was closer to my younger sister - only because my brother wouldn’t play Barbie Dolls with me, and I could boss my sister around.

I wasn’t really a girly-princess girl. I remember exploring jungles, climbing trees, and catching crabs, as well as playing with dolls, dressing up and cooking mud pies.

Thinking back, I can’t recall any outstanding, defining moments of my childhood. Nothing bad happened, nothing impacted or influenced my life in a distinct or incredible way.

I only have lots of happy, colourful, blurry, fun, innocent memories of being a kid.

Perhaps that in itself is a great gift to pass to my own kids.

I really cherish people who inspire me - and possibly unbeknownst to them - fuel the little fires going off in my head.

7 years ago I used to be a keen scuba diver, diving all over the well known West Australian dive sites.

But since the arrival of the kids, I haven’t touched my wetsuit ( almost five years now! ), and all my gear sits in a dusty bag under my bed. So. I decided a while back, that I was going to get back into scuba diving. Do a refresher course. Then.

Dive with sharks! At Perth’s Aquarium.

I know heaps of people who have done it – and one friend in particular, brought back some souvenirs that she showed me the other day. Teeth! How awesome!

For a moment, I stupidly thought she had an “encounter” with a shark, hence the teeth. But she assured me that shark’s teeth fall out naturally and the tank floor was littered with them.

How exciting! I can’t wait!

I’ve given myself a little deadline – to dive with sharks before my 30th birthday next July.

What crazy thing have you done to celebrate a birthday?

For our weekly date night, my husband and I took a nice long stroll in the evening, around East Perth’s Claisebrook Cove.

We reflected that it’s been a year since we employed our babysitter so that we could have some time away from the kids.

What have we been doing every week for the past year?

Sometimes we eat out, sit in a cafe, or hang out at our favourite places. Sometimes we might meet up with friends, go see a play, or an art event. Having that regular time slot, forces us to do a bit of planning, which is great because it’s so easy to fall into a too-lazy or too-tired-to-do-anything-state-of-mind.

Plus, we’re not exactly the most romantic couple we know. We’re a bit on the practical side, and we don’t like spending too much money. The price of dinner + wine + movie + snacks + coffee + babysitting is something crazy like $150. And there’s no way we can afford to do that on a weekly basis!

We like to talk. And walk. We like to enjoy the quiet. And each other’s company.

It’s been good for us.

In 1998, I finished university, flew to Singapore and began a career in advertising as an art director in a small advertising agency.

It was an easy move, because I have lots of family and friends living there, plus I visited many times before.

I lived the high and crazy life as a single, young woman in a booming ex-pat industry. But it was refreshing to be able to blend my Asian face into the local crowds, and soak up the familiar “Sin’glish” – English as it is spoken at home and on the streets by Singaporeans.

I worked hard and played harder.

Sometimes during the week, we would worked until 2am for 7 days straight. And no one thought that it was a tad abnormal.

On the weekends, I was rarely home – just to sleep, shower and put on some fresh clothes, then back out again.

As a 20 year old, I had awesome fun.

Searching all over Singapore for that elusive “Best Plate of Chicken Rice”, stage dancing at Zouk, zipping over to Malaysia for supper, rollerblading at East Coast Park, eating roti and curry for morning tea, random condo parties, dodgy foam parties, eating fresh durian by the side of the road, catching a cab when I was late for work.

I really miss a whole lot of things about living in Singapore. Lunchtimes at Maxwell. Breakfast at Holland Village after a late night out. Hanging out at Chjimes in the evenings. Jogging through Fort Canning Park. Lazing around at Borders on the weekends. Buying fruit at the noisy wet markets. Adams Road Food Centre.

And most of all – for some reason – I miss that feeling of waking up at 6:30am and feeling the cool, sticky, humid breeze on my skin. I loved that.

In case you didn’t already know, October is International Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Throughout this month, I have seen shops sell everything from pink ribbons, to pink chocolate biscuits, pink bras, pink soap, pink light bulbs and even pink tomato sauce bottles… lots of pink!

Every time I walked past a random pink product, I thought, “This is awesome!” and felt somewhat inspired that if large corporations can make an effort to spread public awareness… perhaps I could say something on this website.

And, well, have an excuse to post a picture.

Seriously though.

Two weeks ago, a new friend of mine died of breast cancer. While she was a mature woman who had lived a full life, I know other women – around my age – who are fighting and struggling with breast cancer.

My husband has nearly died of cancer, and being so close to his experiences, I know that there are two really important things about surviving cancer -

1. Treatment is much more successful, and much less painful, if you find out about it early. So get into a screening programme. Find the cancer early – or even better, find out you don’t have cancer.

2. So much more research needs to be done to find better treatments and to find the causes. And that costs money. So it makes a lot of sense to invest in the future, and donate a little to help fund research.

You can read some more women’s responses to this issue at Blogging for Boobs.

Dina Rabinovitch, died yesterday from breast cancer. She wrote a column at The Guadian UK, about her battling journey. Read an extract from her columns.

You can shop at The Breast Cancer Site to fund mammograms for women in need.

Or donate to the International Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Or donate at Australia’s National Breast Cancer Foundation.

I thought I’d bring up some stories on how I balance being ethnically Chinese, living in a western society, and having been raised with a mixture of both Eastern and Western values.

Living in a place where mish mash is OK

Chinese massage medicine that makes you smell like a chicken wing.

Teaching my son how to be Asian - by eating chicken feet!

The one where I can’t use FISH HEADS in my fish head curry!

Sheep Poo Tea

The Essence of Chinese Soups

The Chinese Post-Natal Confinement Tradition

Feeling Out of Place at Annual Chinese Community Events

Getting my kids used to CNY traditions

Considering how I’m going to teach my kids how to learn Chinese, when I don’t even speak it myself!

My Chinese Maiden Name

When a Chinese New Year event goes kampong style.

Learning the Traditional Chinese Cookie making

My View on Expensive Chinese Restaurants.

A Chinese Girl at a Scottish Event

Breaking the Chinese cultural obsession over money

Perving on Cute Asian Boys on TV

On my 29th birthday I was surprised by my own powerful emotions towards turning 30.

I wrote a post about it and many people of different ages and backgrounds have responded with their personal stories, thoughts and reflections on “Turning 30”. Here are a selection for you to read…

(more…)