Some time ago, someone sent me an email about “How to Find Balance in Your Life”.

I’m not sure who the original author was, but I really liked it, and I thought it would be fantastic to share with everyone.

I also found a report on Times Online, about how scientists in the UK did a study and found the “5 Steps to Happiness and Wellbeing” or something like that.

I combined them and added a few ideas to share below.

So this is my list of 5 Things To Do Everyday:

1. Do something enjoyable.

Enjoyable things can be simple acts that are easy to do, don’t cost very much, and don’t take much planning.

Just sitting quietly in my garden and enjoying a cup of tea is very enjoyable for me! I love baking. I like to paint my toenails. Read a chapter of my book. Chat to a girlfriend. I like to plan to visit a new place, and discovering something new and cool. I love tending my garden. I really enjoy journaling and writing.

Of course, a girly pamper is always nice – facials, haircuts, manicures, pedicures, massages.

Take time to really enjoy them. Allow yourself to glow with happiness each day.

2. Do something active.

Spend 30 minutes of your day working up a sweat! Get your heart rate up! Skip. Swim. Run up and down steps. Go for a jog. Ride a bike. Find a step, turn on some music, and do a step workout. Do squats and leg lunges. Go to the beach and have a run. Take a stroll. Do some gardening. Kick a ball in the park with your kids.

Try playing a sport like squash, tennis, soccer, badminton, netball. Sign up to an exercise class, yoga or pilates. Try body jams, or kickboxing just for fun.

3. Do something brainy, challenging or intellectual.

Spend at least 30 minutes a day exercising your brain! Read a book. Read a newspaper. Watch the news. Write a letter. Memorise a song. Do a puzzle. Go to the library and pick up a book in a subject that has always fascinated you. Learn something new each day.

Learn a new skill. Try sewing. Try fixing something. Try making something. Try cooking something. Try organising a lunch for friends on the weekend.

4. Do something good for someone else.

Call up a friend. Offer to help in some way. Bake some cupcakes for a girlfriend and bring it around.

Smile or say hello to a stranger. Let someone with less shopping into the queue in front of you. Do a good deed. A small kind act. Spread some happiness.

You’ll find that if you go about your day thinking, “How can I be nice to someone?” you’ll often find many unexpected opportunities to do so.

5. Take one moment to savour life and your surroundings.

This is my favourite. Whether you are in the car, or walking along, or at home – take a moment to think about something good in your life, or in your surroundings.

Take notice of something beautiful. Look at the details of a building you walk past everyday. Look at the shape of the clouds, remember them, and compare them with the clouds the next day.

After a few weeks of piecing together a list of my favourite blogs, I finally have something to put up!

It’s still a work in progress, and I’m so so SO sure that I’m missing some – sorry, I’m working on it!

Please drop me a line if you have a super-duper site I might fancy!

Enjoy!

In the last week or so, a lot of people have written to me regarding my *deliberation* on whether to get a drastic hair cut.

Well once upon a time, I did have short hair.

This is what I looked like in 1998 – I was 20. Don’t you love the passport photo?

One day, eleven years ago, my hair was long and straight, and I suddenly thought – IT’S TIME.

I walked into a hair salon in Singapore, and said, I’d like a bob thanks.

The hairdresser, who was a lovely, young Singaporean man said, “Eh? Bob? Wah?””

And I was like, “Eh? Do you speak English? Bob! Short! Cut it all off!”

He then spent 15 minutes trying to talk me out of it.

But I waved my hands around saying, “No no! I’ve already thought about it! My love life is going no where! I need a holiday! I need a change! Cut it off! All! Now!“

He was so nice to me after that.

He actually cut it a bit shorter and sleeker than in the picture here – longer at the front and shorter at the back.

Anyway, it was the shortest I ever had my hair. Everyone said it looked great on me, that it made me look taller and my neck look longer.

But it took me AGES to get used to using a SMALL amount of shampoo when washing my hair. I’d get into the shower, squirt a HUGE GLOB into my palm, and think ARGH TOO MUCH! And try to squeeze the shampoo back into the bottle. So, short hair =  little shampoo.

And all the blow drying and styling was annoying. I couldn’t just wake up, tie my hair back in a ponytail and go. I had to use so much product to stop myself from looking like a bear.

And then I had to visit my hairdresser every 4 weeks for a trim. It was so expensive to maintain.

This is me in 1998 or 1999, I can’t actually remember. The other person in the picture is my little sister, and she was feeling very blurry that day. Hi Sis!

I think I kept my hair short for about a year. I tried a few variations of this length – the “Posh” bob, a more jagged bob, wispy ends that curled up, ends that curled in, and a few different shades. Then I got bored with it.

I was tempted to cut it REALLY short, and try the whole cute pixie-look, or spiky biker-chick look! But I didn’t like the idea of being mistaken for a guy. Hey, that might’ve been kind of interesting! Being a biker chick, that is.

And then I really, really wanted to dye it pink, blue or purple, just for fun.

But in the end, I was very busy with work, so I just decided to slowly grow it out again.

Mind you, it looked terrible for ages! I looked like a school girl until it grew to about shoulder length.

And my hair has been long past my shoulders ever since, and getting longer and longer.

So there you have it.

The very short history of my not-so-short hair.

I have been VERY BORED with my hair lately.

And you know what? I have been saying that for last 10 years.  I’m going through yet another “bored of my hair” phase.

What usually sets me off is when I meet another woman with rich, curly, red hair. Or short, wispy blond hair. Or someone with a sleek modern bob. Or gorgeous beach wave hair.

I think, SIIIIIGH. I wish I could have hair like that. Maybe I should do something DIFFERENT with my hair this time.

So I ask these women – what’s it like to have curly hair? Or short hair? Do you have to style it every day? How much product do you go through? How do you pin it up like that? Does it get frizzy? How often do you have to get it cut?

I talk to these women, and after a few minutes, I realise that ALL their lives they’ve wished that they could have LONG, STRAIGHT, THICK, BLACK HAIR LIKE MINE.

Surely we cannot ALL be victims of The Grass Is Greener Syndrome?

So I end up back at square one, and think, Bleh I’ll just keep it this way for a little longer.

The truth is, I keep my hair long, straight and black for practical reasons.

My hair is like a pet that I’ve been managing for the last 15 years. We have a good relationship going on. I treat it well, and it treats me well.

You see, I can get completely ready to go out in 45 minutes flat – I wash my hair, blow it dry, straighten it, cleanse my face, put on all my makeup, get my handbag assembled and get completely dressed in less than an hour. Including all those extra touches like a bit of anti-frizz serum in the tips of my hair and putting a touch of bronzing powder on my shoulders. I have it all down pat.

My hair doesn’t spring any surprises on me, because it’s predictable and very easy to manage.

And that’s all VERY IMPORTANT in the bigger picture of my life.

After all, I do have 2 young children and a baby, I am running a house, a marriage, a social life, and I’m keeping a blog on the side.

So if I need to go out, I can manage “my life” and “looking decent” very well thanks.

But every once in a while, there’s a part of me that craves for a bit of anarchy.

GIVE ME CURLS. GIVE ME TEXTURE. GIVE ME A DIFFERENT LOOK.

And my hair seems to be the easiest target.

Maybe it’s time to chop it all off, just past the ears. OK, maybe not. Maybe next time. Or maybe I’ll surprise you all… and myself… maybe.

Ten years ago, in 1999, I published the first ever version of my website. Since I receive so many emails from people asking me how I got started, what software I use, and if I make any money, I thought this would be a good opportunity to reflect on a decade of blogging!

Please be warned, this is quite a long post, because it is covering a whole decade!

Beginnings
My first ever glimpse of the impending Internet world was at high school in 1995. I studied a subject called “Applied Computing”. My teacher told me about “e-mail” and how you can send messages from one computer to another – I thought she was kidding! I had no idea that computers – in different locations – could be connected to each other.

It is a good example of how amazingly fast the Internet developed that only four years later, I published my own website.

Although I was addicted to IRC chat and message boards while studying design and advertising at university, it was not until 1999, that I taught myself how to make a website, in order to show off my portfolio of work.

I was 21. I was single, irresponsible, a spoilt rich kid, emotionally insecure, in and out of relationships, a creative but naïve young woman, working in the crazy rat race of advertising – and I was trying to find happiness.

I became absolutely OBSESSED with the Internet and all things related to personal websites.

I would spend literally 20 hours a day online, sleeping at 4am, and then waking at 8am to check my email, before breakfast! Personal websites were like an underground community – running rampant with page counters, guestbooks, comment boxes, link-backs, webrings, countless internet awards, and small and large online groups.

I was astounded that I could get to know people living in the US, UK, Europe and Asia – people who had the same interests as I did, living similar lives, but all over the world. It was all very, very exciting. I loved the fact that I could communicate directly with my readers. And for it to happen in real time, was pretty amazing. In the early days, I had a hit counter on my site. I was thrilled when 100 people visited my site in a day!

My site in 1999, was essentially an online portfolio, with lots of extra information about me. I had lots of different sections for my resume, photos, contacts, my likes and dislikes. The most popular section was my “Soapbox”. It was like a daily news section, where I updated every day and I ran it like an e-zine.

Becoming Popular
Things started to take off when my website began to get featured in some newspapers, and I won some web awards. From there, it spread by word of mouth – and word of internet. People online and offline were telling their friends about my site. My readership grew and grew, which was completely unexpected to me.

I think one of the main reasons my blog developed a strong following is because I am a designer. I wanted to create a unique experience for my readers. I was very interested in visual communication and interface design. I was meticulous with its presentation and style. I loved experimenting with my visual layout (eg. 3 columns vs 2 columns vs 1) and I always analysed how (and why) others were doing it, and set out to do things differently.

I hand-coded my whole site. I created all my graphics and images myself. I took photos, sent them to be developed (yes, it was all on film back then!), scanned them in (so slow!), and photo edited them.

I also really enjoyed writing in a “personal voice” – seeing how voice and identity could be crafted with words and pictures, and how it affected the overall feel of the site. My focus was always to tell a great story, or share a feeling, or a moment, in a way that left readers feeling refreshed.

The effect of all of this is that my blog has unique content, and that content is presented in a distinctive way, making for an experience that cannot be found anywhere else.

This is what I see in the Wordpress software I use to manage my blog: 1,313 post…and that’s just since 2003!

How Blogging has Changed in Ten Years
The Internet is HUGE now. Back in 1999, it was small, but growing rapidly. And there was no spam or advertising on it. The Internet was like a cool café then, with a nice atmosphere, where you might bump into friends. Now, the Internet and blogs are part of the “social-media” phenomenon where everyone is connected to everyone else and everything by so many different software and devices that it feels like everyone in the whole world is shouting out at the same time. And advertising is EVERYWHERE!

The Internet is FAST now. Back in 1999, most of my posts didn’t have a picture at all, and if they did, the picture was the size of what is now called a “thumbnail” image. Remember, this was in the days of “dial-up” modems that made that awful “screeeeech-boing-boing-boing” noise. Your service provider cut the connection if you weren’t actively surfing, so you had to re-connect if you stopped to read something long and interesting. Sometimes, your service provider would cut you off in the middle of a big file upload, to remind you that bandwidth was PRECIOUS. So people were very careful about what they uploaded, and what they clicked on.

Digital cameras, combined with faster bandwidth, have made high quality photos an important part of the internet, and my blog too, because digital is so easy and cheap compared to film. As a result, I have had to improve the standard of my photography a lot over the years, a challenge I really enjoy. But I still choose images very, very carefully. One good image is worth a thousand words, but fifty well chosen words is much better than any bad picture.

I’ve used the very popular “Wordpress” software to manage my blog since 2007. Before that, I hand-coded every post in HTML.

I do all my photo editing with Photoshop. I customize my blog interface by coding my own CSS templates. I store all my images on Flickr, so I don’t have to pay for serving out all the images. And I am still using the same computer I bought in 2002 (with the money I was supposed to use to buy my engagement ring).

Upside of Being a 10 Year old Blogger
One of the best things about having been online for so long, is feeling like I’m talking to a huge bunch of girlfriends, and I love it. I know that I have quite a few male readers, but they never email me. Come on guys, don’t be shy!

Almost everyday I get email from people who thank me for the words and pictures I share, and say they are inspired by my attitude and outlook on life. This is really, really rewarding. It keeps me going. I take all these things to heart, and I find them both fulfilling, and humbling.

Because of my large readership, I can draw attention to issues I believe are important.

I also get asked to support or endorse various entities or products. People offer to fly me to places to do stuff that would undoubtedly be a very cool experience. But I have an even more important job – I am mother to three little children…so I almost never go. Maybe one day!

Downside of being a 10 year blogger
The biggest downside of having such a large readership is being unable to reply to all the email that comes in. Everyday my inbox is filled up, and everyday, I’m really saddened that I can’t speak to each person individually.

After 10 years of having my email address on the internet, it is now on a huge number of spamming lists. Everyday, I delete literally dozens of emails offering me the opportunity to have my sex organs enlarged, to buy insanely cheap drugs or watches, to get rich by helping Nigerian royalty move their money to a safe place, and to marry lonely Russian super-babes with exotic names. It is so bad I am considering changing my e-mail address. But I like being “karen” at “karencheng.com.au”, so I stick with it, even though the word “delete” is getting worn off the “delete” key on my keyboard.

In the last couple of years, marketing people have decided that the best way to get something for nothing is to offer free stuff to bloggers. Thus, I get endless offers to try out mind-control medication on my children, weirdly flavoured mineral water, cosmetics that will take 15 years off my age, etc, etc. At first, I thought all these friendly emails from marketing people meant that they really loved me, and they promised to only send me stuff that was relevant to me, but now they send me anything they are trying to promote. Argh!

The strangest thing to happen to me because of blogging is being a (very minor) celebrity. I still haven’t gotten used to being spotted in the streets or at the shops. But I am slowly getting better at talking to complete strangers, who walk up to me and say: “Oh my God! You’re Karen Cheng!!” Since I am actually quite shy with people I don’t know, these moments are often awkward for me, especially when I am holding a baby with a pooey nappy, a tin of mixed beans and a cauliflower, and I am dressed in an old tracksuit.

The Next Ten Years?
In late 1999, I was living the high-life in the peak of the dot-com boom. Then, in rapid succession, I fell in love, travelled a lot, got made redundant in the dot-com crash, got married, and then had my first son.

My life was a dream till my husband had cancer. It was a year of doubt, fear, surgery, chemotherapy, more surgery, and praying. We were very, very lucky that he was successfully treated. While all that was happening, I had my second son. I was 26 by then. Life seemed so much more precious, and my blog has become even more of a celebration of the everyday moments of life.

So, after ten years, and thousands of readers everyday, what am I going to do?

I have invested 10 years of my life into blogging. I don’t know if most of my readers will ever realise how much of my day-to-day life it takes up. It takes a real discipline to post five times a week, each one with original content, and this continues to be a challenge for me, and doubly so with three kids.

Things have come to a point where I was investing so much into my site, that I had to decide on it’s future, and my future. I had to decide to give it up to pursue a more regular career, or try to make an income from blogging.

So I am now what bloggers call a “Pro-Blogger”, which means that I am trying to make an income from my blog. My mission is to show my readers things that they might actually be interested in, without bothering them with advertising spam. I want to keep my blog as a really nice place to come to. I’m still working out how to do this, and I regard it as a long-term project. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Something that will always stay the same for me is that I will keep blogging about the things that I love and that inspire me. Beautiful things, and important things. I have became very interested in increasing cancer awareness and research (a very important topic), and fashion (also a very important topic, but in a different way).

So I’m looking forward to the adventure of the next ten years!

In 2002, my husband and I travelled around Scotland and the UK.

One of my favourite memories was climbing up Ben More (means “great mountain”), the tallest mountain on the Isle of Mull, West coast of Scotland.

We spent close to 8 hours walking, hiking and climbing on all kinds of grassy, rocky, muddy, icy surfaces.

When we reached the top – with the elevation of 3000 feet – we looked down and the world below was covered in a white carpet of clouds. It was magical.

In the photo above, I was contributing to a “cairn”, a small pile of rocks, that marked the summit of another lower lying adjacent mountain.

As we walked down the other side of the mountains, we would slide, like crazy teenagers, down hills of loose grey pebbles, for metres at a time, jamming our shoes deep into the ground to find our footing.

Here, we were half way down the mountain.

As we walked, we watched the weather clear up around us. We took little breaks to just sit on the grass, talking, laughing and just watching the elements transform in front of our eyes.

It was just amazing. And it was one of the best days of my life.

Thought I’d share a cool update!

I’ve been featured in the Singapore Women’s Weekly, October Issue. Go check it out!

The article is titled “You Don’t Have To Be a Teen to Blog”. It features Malaysian biologist and conservationist blogger Chen Pelf Nyok, and myself.

The article portrays us as smart, graceful, generous, serious, young woman who can run an online business, be their own boss, make money, support charities, write about the more significant world issues in life, AND have a fulfilling life.

So strange to see myself in ink!

I suppose being a blogger (a self-publisher), I am used to being the one writing about myself. I always find it strange to read what a journalist has written – or not written – about me.

I always find myself thinking: “But wait!! I told you about all this other cool stuff as well! Why didn’t you put that in!?” Oh well, I’m a bit of a control freak!

(Note: I’ll upload the whole article next month. Follow me on Facebook or Twitter and I’ll update everyone.)

A LOT of people email me and ask about which camera I use. So, I’m going to explain how I came to have two cameras, and what I think of them. This is not actually a comparison of brands – since I am comparing a “compact point-and-shoot” Canon with a Nikon “DSLR”.

Loving my Canon Powershot

I have been using compacts since digital photography came along. I had a Canon Powershot s45, and I carried it EVERYWHERE with me – I would even leave it on the kitchen bench while I was cooking so I could take cute pics of the kids in impromptu moments.

But after a couple of years, this rough treatment had its price – the Canon Powershot s45 got “water damage”, and I strongly suspect, like the remote control for the TV, that the “water” was kid’s saliva!

The cost to repair the Canon Powershot s45 was almost the same as the newer Canon PowerShot A700. I didn’t even consider swapping brands, because I wanted the same thing again, just upgraded.

But I used it in exactly the same way – I would throw it in the nappy bag, put it down on the grass, and store it on the kitchen top, teach the kids how to take pics – because that’s what I have it for – to take super fast pics of stuff really happening around me all the time.

When the new Canon PowerShot A700 was only two weeks old, I crushed the auto-lens cover thingy in the nappy bag, so the lens cover doesn’t close now, and sometimes, I have to push it open with my fingers.

Due to the dent underneath the “C” in “Canon”, Mr Powershot can’t close his eye, so he can never get to sleep – poor little guy.

Also the “go right” button on the menu selection doesn’t work anymore (I expect due to sand or water damage), so I can’t easily use manual focus, for example. But since I use the Canon in such a spontaneous way, I almost always use it in “auto” mode anyway.

Time went by, and I was getting more and more inspired by photography blogs. I was envious of the depth of focus, lighting, the spontaneity of people’s expressions. I was ready to explore a more careful way of taking pics.

Time to move up to a DSLR

A friend who has been really into photography for a long time had just bought a Nikon D80 after doing months of research to compare Nikon vs Canon DSLRs. He said that he couldn’t find any real difference between the brands at all, not even on price, and he had eventually gone with the Nikon just because it would allow him to use some old 35mm film Nikon telephoto lenses that he had. I trusted his research, and bought my own Nikon D80 so I could share experiences and lenses with him.

So, here is what I have learned (so far).

The Nikon D80 is great for doing a lot of fast photos, because it has much greater capacity. With the flash turned off, it will just take and take pictures – 5 a second, or something like that, if you hold the button down. This has been great for catwalk fashion photography, for example, and the resolution of the pics is definitely greater – which is important if you are going to manipulate images for professional print use, as I occasionally do.

Not only does the D80 have huge internal bandwidth and storage, but it also has actual physical buttons for adjusting everything. This makes it MUCH faster to change the settings, compared to a compact, where you have to change down through menus on the screen. With the Nikon D80, I can change manual to auto focus, aperture, etc without even taking it down from my face. Very cool, once you get used to it. The DX 18-135mm zoom lens is definitely a more powerful zoom than the Canon compact.

For example, these moon rising shots were much clearer and dramatic, and more fully convey the experience I had, taken with the Nikon D80. And the range of controls of almost everything in the menus is HUGE. The Nikon D80 just feels like a very powerful tool.

Problems with the DSLR

BUT! The Nikon D80’s carry case is a big as my head, whereas I can put the Canon compact into my purse. So I never take the Nikon D80 anywhere casually, and so, I never take impromptu pics with it.

I just presumed that since the DSLR was physically bigger, and more expensive, it would naturally be twice as capable in every way. But not so.

The in-built flash is much less powerful than I expected, and although the DX 18-135mm zoom lens is “zoomier”, it does not actually allow any more light than the Canon compact – they are both limited to an “f” stop of 3.5. Because I don’t like flash photography very much, getting more from natural light is important to me.

And a MAJOR problem is that I can’t take Macro photos with the Nikon’s DX 18-135mm zoom lens. The Canon compact’s single in-built lens, however, can take amazingly close up pics using the “flower symbol” macro setting for focus.

For example, this pic of the wings of a dying dragonfly my kids found. I just LOVE discovering these amazing textures and structures, so this is an important part of my photography.

Learning to Love Them Both

On the other hand, a huge advantage of the Nikon D80 is that you can change the lens. For example, I have just started experimenting with a fixed lens 50mm lens (it has no zoom). Because fixed lenses are so simple, they can pass a lot of light…which is great for me, since I don’t like using flash. For example, the current Nikon Standard 50mm f/1.4G lens (with auto-focus) has an aperture of f1.4. That’s FOUR TIMES more light than either of my current zoom lenses. However, this lens is around US$400-500, and I’m just not ready to spend that kind of money.

So in the meantime, I am using a Nikon “E series” lens from the late 1970’s or early 80’s that my friend gave me. It uses the same “F” mount that Nikon still uses, so it goes straight on, but it won’t auto-focus OR work out the exposure. This is no problem, since I just take a picture, see if it is too bright or too dark, and change the ISO, shutter speed or lens aperture to fix it. I’m loving the way I can shoot in almost any natural light, and don’t have to operate the zoom. And, the retro look of the tiny lens gives the Nikon D80 a vintage fashion look I love!

My D80 gets some street cred with an “old school’ lens accessory.

Summary

Part of the reason I am so happy with my Canon Powershot compact is that it is a pretty sophisticated camera. It has great light sensitivity, it can be made fully manual, it has a quality zoom lens, etc. Because it is so much quality packed into a small size, it makes sense that it is not a cheap camera.

I guess my advice is….don’t buy an DSLR unless you want to do a LOT of reading of the manual, lens changing, experimenting, and carrying of bulky gear. Unless you do, you won’t be getting any of the benefit of the much greater capacity to take “professional” quality photos.

Using an DSLR is a different kind of photography for me. Far more planned, like landscapes, and portraits, and special effects stuff. I’m excited about all the pictures I know I will be able to take with the DSLR. But there are so many possibilities, it can be overwhelming. I’ve got a lot to learn!

So for day to day, I’m still packing my ever present, much abused, ever faithful Canon PowerShot A700 compact into my handbag/nappy bag. And when I or my kids finally kill it, as we surely will, I’m probably going to go straight out and buy the current Canon equivalent, the PowerShot A1000 IS or the PowerShot A2000 IS.

Happy snapping!

Hey, I really want to thank everyone who sent me a birthday message! Aww you guys are rad.

Wow that one crept up on me. I remember it was January not so long ago. Now we’re halfway through the year.

6 months have gone. And there are 6 months left. What happened? What did I achieve? What were the highlights? And now, what am I going to do with the rest of the year?

Out of habit, I like to claim July for myself. All of it.

I like to indulge myself a little. I like to buy myself something new. I like to organise a party for myself, or two. I like to think of something I’ve always wanted to do, and heck, just do it.

I also like to sit back and remember the good things in my life. I like to celebrate the stuff that really matter.

On Wednesday, I went out to dinner with my husband. He organised a little surprise date for us. We sat in a restaurant and talked non stop! I’m astounded that I’ve known this guy for 10 years and we still have so much to say to each other. And that I’m still madly in love with him.

Thursday, I joined a gym for the first time in my life. It is a wellness gym, as opposed to anything hardcore or upmarket. My god, my life has been changed. My body feels soooooooooooo good.

Friday, I invited a few girlfriends and their kids over for a playdate lunch. It’s always so cool to hang around with good friends, talking, laughing and simply being yourself. Knowing that they love you for being you.

Saturday, this evening, I will go out with my family and some close family friends for dinner, all 14 of us. My favourite cuisine, Japanese food.

Today I celebrate happiness. My life. My husband. My children. My family. My friends. My work.

I have no idea what 13 year old girls do for fun these days.

When I, my sister and all my girl cousins got together, we used to be quite creative when it came to passing time.

As I think back on all the things we’ve done, I giggle with embarrassment. But the truth was… we had so much fun.

We used to make our own TV commercials, then film them using a video camera. We’d act out our favourite movies, we’d make our own video clips, write our own TV shows and plays, pretend to be radio DJs and make radio shows. We’d make our own magazines, newsletters and cook books.

Having said that, we were not always so hip and savvy. We were also quite… how should I put it… down to earth? Feral?

We’d ride around the neighbourhood on our bikes like bored teenagers. We’d go out on hunting adventures, play in the creek, catch tadpoles, make daisy chains, climb trees, explore bushlands, swing on vines and make mud pies.

So we weren’t typical girly girls.

Anyway, sitting around one day, we thought it’d be really cool if we made fashion photographs of ourselves. We pretended to be fashion stylists, fashion photographers, and models.

We gathered all our favourite clothes and accessories, and set out to create a different look for ourselves.

We spent the whole day dressing up, going out on locations (the backyard) and taking photographs of each other. We did a whole lot of giggling and pouting. We had so much fun.

I think I was trying to create some kind of country, horse-riding look.

Me trying to look sophisticated and floral, I think.

As I look back at my photo album, I laugh and laugh.

I cringe with delirious embarrassment and I’m utterly mortified by how naive and artless we were.

But I also reflect on other issues, like how influenced we were by the media, how we didn’t care, how we saw ourselves, how we saw fashion, how we obsessed over magazines, what it was like to be a young girl, and what we believed was cool.

To think that after all these years, I’ve found myself to be a creator of pictures, images and media – passionate about getting the right look, fashion, design, clothes and photography.

It’s kind of interesting and charming. And still a bit embarrassing.

By the time I was a young woman in my early 20s, I had worked overseas, gone through several bumpy relationships, worked hard, partied hard, made friends, lost friends, earned money, spent money… all to realise one thing – that I was all over the place and I needed some stability.

Basically, I had to love myself a bit more.

I had to sit back and remember who I was.

So I slowed down. I learned how to enjoy my own company. How to be by myself.

I sat in cafes by myself. I sipped coffee and ate BLTs. I read books on park benches. I took long walks. I went jogging. I went shopping. I explored new places. Visited art galleries. Went to the beach. All by myself.

I loved it.

I loved the whacky conversations in my head. I loved how my creative juices would flow. I loved seeing the world with my own eyes and hearing my own thoughts.

And most of all, I loved being happy, positive, strong and confident. By myself.

Several years later, I met a guy, got married, traveled a bit, moved house, had children, and started my new life as a wife and mother. A companion and a nurturer.

Never have I been happier. Yet, never have I realised the importance of ME TIME.

It’s easy to forget that I’m still Karen.

It’s easy to forget that I once liked things like… kick boxing, Latin dancing, scuba diving, yoga, cycling, rock climbing, swimming, and dancing on the stage in night clubs!

It’s even easier to forget that, I once upon a time… I wanted to try wind surfing! Canoeing! White water rafting! I want to try a 3 day camping hike in the Australian bush! I want to climb Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia! I want to run in a marathon!

I really like Adidas’ new campaign – aptly named Me, Myself.

They contacted me, and asked if I was interested in exploring this idea of Me Time. I was like – Sure! Look, I have a blog category called Me Time! I’ve dedicated a whole section of my life to this idea!

I’ll be trying out a new Adidas “Me Time” Calendar on Facebook, planning my weeks, slotting in my exercise routine, time for tinkering with my hobbies, my shopping time slots and relaxing time. Add me as a Facebook friend to see what I’m up to!

And feel free to take a peek, join in the fun, share your own ideas, and spread the love on the “Me Time” Facebook Group.

Hope to see you there!

These last few days, I’ve been thinking about my marriage.

Yes, we’ve gone through some trying times. Cancer. Infertility. Children. Single income.

But despite all that, my husband and I, our marriage, it’s pretty damn amazing.

Strong. Loving. Full of happiness. Full of foot massages. Little projects around our home. Big adventures in new places. Meaningful conversations about things that matter. Daily giggles about random silliness. Delicious food and healthy living. Long hugs. Quiet moments. Lots of laughter. Mutual adoration, honesty and support. The highest regard for each other. And a passion for living.

Everyday he makes me want to be a better person.

I’m crazy in love.

In terms of our temperaments and personalities, I believe we’re very different.

But we share the same values, feelings and goals towards things like family, friends, health, work, money, stress, holidays, how we spend out time, our future plans.

We hardly have any disagreements. We just seem to align so perfectly with each other in all aspects – that love, marriage, the relationship, the companionship, the everything… well, it’s just so easy.

Everyday he tells me how much he loves me, why he loves me, why he loves his life with me. Sometimes it’s silly, sometimes it’s random, and sometimes it brings a tear to my eye.

It’s been 6 years, and I’m one lucky woman.

I don’t think I’m a naturally disciplined and focused person.

I’m more of a “all over the place person”. I have so many interests and passions, that I often find myself losing focus.

I get easily distracted by problems and projects. I get side-tracked by interesting projects that pop up. Or I have little flits of inspiration that take up large amounts of time.

I think if I didn’t practice any self-discipline, I’d find myself 5 years down the track, thinking, “Huh? Where’d my life go? What did I do with my time?”

So I believe in setting personal and life goals.

Throughout 2008, I’ve made it a point to reflect and work on them every month. And I must say, I’ve found it to be very fulfilling and rewarding.

My goals for the new year are [still] very simple.

Take care of myself. Eat well. Live well. Exercise. Have time for myself. Balance my activities. Manage my stress and anxiety.

Take care of my marriage. Love my husband. Make time for him. Talk. Laugh. Be honest. Men need affection, consideration and alone time too.

Take care of my children. Have alone time with each of my kids. Talk to them. Listen to them. Enjoy them. Create happy experiences for them.

Be part of my community. Make time for friends. Give my time to helping others. Organise gatherings.

I do have a few more ambitious goals. But these take second place to the ones mentioned above.

1) Deliver my third baby naturally, and recover a life of normality in a timely manner!

2) Develop and dedicate a bit more time and energy to this blog. Hopefully it will become my part time job soon!

3) Run in a marathon of some sort.

4) Learn how to play the piano.

5) Learn to speak Chinese.

I remember being a kid during Christmas time. The weather used to be BAKING HOT. All we wanted to do was pour iced drinks on our heads and jump into the pool to cool down.

We hung around in our bathers and bikinis all day!

This year, the Christmas weather has not been so ferocious. It’s been hanging at a GORGEOUS 28-29C. So it allowed for a bit more formal attire during the Christmas festivities.

I thought I’d wear my red dress and silver shoes again. Coincidently, my two good girlfriends turned up wearing almost exactly the same thing! We thought it was quite cute.

On the more casual side of things…

This is me on Boxing Day, in my festive, spotty green, baby bump.

This year, I thought I’d create a new tradition:

The Boxing Day Left-Over Party!

I invited a bunch of friends, with their kids, to bring all their left-over turkey, ham, seafood, salads, shortbread and chocolates for lunch.

We had a play in the garden with bubbles, bikes, scooters, sand pit, water, balls, and totem tennis!

The kids had such a great time.

I was planning to whip out the paddle pool, but the wind suddenly picked up, and everyone got hungry.

Basically, everyone hung around for hours, with no actual agenda, just lazily lounging around, chatting, talking, playing and assembling Christmas presents.

It worked out really well in the end, I was really pleased.

We still had so much food left over!

(We had to have ham pizza for dinner.)

I don’t know if you all remember the Blogger’s Choice Awards 2008.

Well it turns out that I won the Best Blog Design! I came 2nd in Best Parenting Blog, and I was one of runners up for Best Blog of All Time and Hottest Mommy Blogger!

I’m completely stoked! Thank you everyone for putting in your votes throughout the year!

Yay!

Well I have been nominated again in 4 similar categories for the 2009 Bloggers Choice Awards. And I’d love it if you could spend a few moments voting for me?

For a website about blogs, the Bloggers Choice Awards website is a bit confusing, but if you follow these simple steps, you should be right —

1) Go to http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com

2) Create an account by choosing “sign up” at the top – you do have to fill in everything, except “choose a picture”, and you do have to give a real email address. Don’t forget to uncheck the “send me email box” (if you don’t want spam).

A message will appear telling you to check your email for a confirmation message. Mine arrived in less than thirty seconds, and you click on the link in the email message to log you into the Bloggers Choice Awards site.

3) On the top right hand side of the screen is a “search” box. Type in the word “cheng”.
A list of entries will appear, and mine – “KarenCheng.com.au” – will probably be on top of the list.

4) Click on the drop down menu called “Choose a Category to View this Blog” and you will see a list of all the different categories I have been nominated for. Choose any one of the four nominations.

5) It will load up a little profile of my website, and there will be a yellow “vote” button. Hit the vote button! Then you can just quickly click on the other 3 categories listed to the right as well, to vote for me in those categories.

And don’t forget to have a look at a few new blogs!

THANKS SO MUCH! Fingers crossed for next year!

My last few months of personal goals have been very simple – To Survive Pregnancy! Everything is basically about keeping myself together, sane and healthy. Not to mention, to continue living a balanced life.

Eat well.
I’m trying to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, even though I’m really craving junk food and oily Chinese food. No junk food! Go easy on the excessive eating!

Try to exercise.
I’m trying to go for a 2km walk or bike ride every day, do yoga or stretches every other day, and a small swim once a week.

Re-energise myself daily.
I try to get some rest during the day. I can’t nap. So instead, I find some quiet time to lie down or meditate for at least 30 minutes each day.

Complete a daily project.
Find a simple, little, achievable project to complete every day – sweep leaves in backyard, bake muffins, read a chapter of my book, do a little bit of work on the vegetable patch.

I know it’s a bit silly, but I find that it actually makes me feel really good – despite everything, I have accomplished something that day.

Find 5 things to be thankful for.
Some days I am skipping with happiness or energy. Other days I’m miserable with despair and frustration. I’ve found a nice habit to do – whether it is a good day or a bad day – to find 5 things to be thankful for.

Spend time with my husband.
My husband and I are still going out on our weekly date nights! It’s been two years since we arranged to have a weekly babysitter, and what can I say… it’s one of our best parenting decisions ever.

These last few months, we’ve been fine-tuning the quality of our date night. Try to spend less money, don’t talk about anything kid-related (since we do that every day!), see more friends and take more strolls in the sunset (daylight saving is wonderful!).

Go out once a week, by myself.
I love my husband. He’s so understanding. Sometimes I forget that I need a weekly dose of girly company. I need to chatter in that senseless girl-way. Perhaps I start to inflict it on him. Because every week, he comes close to shoving me out the door and shouting “GO SHOPPING!!”

OK not really. But seriously, alone-time is wonderful balance for the soul.

Save money!
I’m being much more mindful about the money I spend. Particularly with Christmas around the corner. Eep!

…
My previous Monthly Personal Goals for the year: August 2008, July Reflections 2008, June 2008, May 2008, April 2008, March 2008.

On the weekend, I took a gentle walk by the river with my 3 year old.

I needed to stretch my legs and I needed some stillness. My son danced around the shore, chasing ducks, collecting pebbles and drawing in the sand.

It was a gorgeous morning for reflection. Perfect for recharging my soul. Remembering that no matter what happens, life is what I make of it.

I have some very cool news! I’m going to Melbourne!

The very kind folks at Accor Hospitality are sponsoring a flight and accommodation for me to stay in their brand new 5 star hotel, The Grand Hotel.

While I’m over in Melbourne, I’m planning a kind of fashion blitz of the city – visiting shopping hotspots, boutique reviews, designer interviews.

So I need a bit of help from all you Melbourne locals! What are your highly recommended shopping experiences? Your favourite boutiques? Send me your list of places to shop in Melbourne! I would love to hear from you!

Please email me!

Image from Wikipedia

For the last 5 days, my life has been filled with fashion events, fashion people, fashion photographers, clothes, jewellery, fashion, fashion, fashion. I’m up to my eye balls in fashion!

Although it’s been great fun and such an incredible opportunity – I can feel my ying and yang tipping balance. I’m a person who craves balance. If I do too much of one thing, I start to twitch and get agitated.

Basically, I’m desperate to do something DOMESTIC.

Something HAZARDOUSLY DOMESTIC.

Like attacking my shower stall with my new steam cleaner.

Or cooking a huge lamb roast dinner with all the trimmings.

Or planting a new bed of tomatoes and snow peas.

Ok, I didn’t do any of the above. But I did manage to come home early one evening and make a nice meal for my family.

Today was pan fried salmon seasoned with dukkah, roasted egg plant, baby potatoes and mixed vegetables.

Every month I make myself think about my personal life goals.

I might set new goals, revisit on-going ones, check up on how I’m doing in various areas in my life. I’m not strict about it. It’s just nice to create a space for my thoughts.

I decided to skip my reflections for July. It was the month I turned 30, and really, I had one goal – to turn 30 and celebrate it by doing something significant.

I can’t exactly pinpoint a beginning, but I think I have always been plagued by a “wanting to achieve something”.

A wanting to be special. A desire do something significant. A yearning to stand out of the crowd in a special way. A hunger to be someone amazing and inspirational. To live an admirable life and make a difference.

I have always looked up to amazing women. Female scientists, politicians, designers, humanitarians, artists, writers, public figures. Women who have conquered illness, climbed mountains, helped build hospitals for dying children, inspired millions. I would read about their lives and be filled with utter amazement and awe.

And who am I? Absolutely nobody. Just plain old Karen. Living in Perth.

Until I realised that my life is how I choose to live it.

I can sit back and envy others, or I can try to make a difference.

I can focus on my inadequacies and insecurities, or I can be significant in my very own special way.

So, here I am.

I am 30, and it is a new beginning.