New Year Resolutions - Not

First off, A Blessed and Merry Christmas to one and all!

Gigantic Christmas wreath hanging on our wall

Can't believe it's been more than a month since I blogged and that in a few days' time, the year will be over! This year has just zoomed past in a jiffy. Some updates.

Had a family wedding in November.

It was a lovely setting (and oh! look! what a lovely couple! ha ha)

Doesn't look like much but I had actually spent a few nights making purple felt flowers to adorn this old BCBG Maxazria dress. Though it doesn't show up on a computer screen, it's a lovely long-sleeved purple velvet dress. It looked too hot to wear on a nice, Sunny afternoon but it was quite comfy actually. Most importantly, it was a straight cut so it hung ok around my belly and thighs! I didn't want to blow moolah on a new dress I'd hardly wear so I just decided to handmake some flowers (I love cloth flowers!) and sewed them onto the bottom part of the dress and I also made a matching one to adorn my hair. As a T-shirt and jeans person, this is one of those dresses I'd have hanging in my closet forever. Would I have preferred to turn up in T-shirt and jeans? You betcha!

Then we had to run around buying stuff for my son as he was spending nearly a month in Canada with his grandmother and some other relatives.

Sending John off at Changi Airport
(Did you notice the nice, new National Geographic camera bag he's carrying? His advanced Christmas present from us. The boy is an avid photographer and aspires to be a professional photographer. We're more than happy to support this dream of his)

Just before his trip, hubs and I managed to squeeze in a roadtrip up north (as usual). As usual, we had a wonderful time together, just he and I. Then we came back, attended our Godson's Confirmation and then, nothing. Yep, nothingness. Suddenly, the house was quiet. Having only one kid around is very different from having two. There wasn't anything planned for us already. So given how we can hardly sit still doing nothing, we booked a last minute trip to.........

 Chatuchak Weekend Market (Dec 2011)

BANGKOK!!! Where else???

Excuse the patheticness of having to snap my own pic in Chatuchak. We'd all split up to go shop on our own. As soon as our plane touched down, we'd headed to the hotel to dump our bags and head out to Chatuchak. No flooding in sight.

Had my fill of Thai fried worms. Unfortunately, hubs so stingy, only bought a few packets for me. I had told him I was ready to pack a whole container of them home. He told me we could always go back to the hawker stall to buy more the next day. Hmmmph! Couldn't find her stall in subsequent nights!

Oh well, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Meanwhile, I've got my cousin's hand delivered Australian biltong to keep me happy (Thanks, Carrie!).

So, it's unlikely I'll be blogging again before the end of this year. So I may as well do my traditional 'summary'. I look back and think what a horrible year it's been for me and yet, what a beautiful and wonderful year it's been too. I've learnt to be strong against humans and weak against God. I've emerged a more empowered woman (no, I don't want you to hear me roar) not in the sense of woman's rights but I've learnt to fight for what I think God wants for me. I've also learnt to relax and be cool about a lot more things. If my being so doesn't make you happy, then I'm sorry. I'm done trying to please everyone.

To the one person who has made my life a living nightmare since you stepped into my life, I hope you sleep well at night. It's not that I haven't known all along what you'd been doing. But I closed my eyes to the annoyances because I love my family and because God says to forgive. I won't let you take them away, no matter how cunning you may think you are. I felt sorry for you, even right up to the very last day. I let you torment me and step all over me with your tantrums, lies, incessant rudeness and gossip. I will not be taken for a ride any more. I pray that you won't stir up trouble for another family. But more importantly, I pray that you will finally be back in your home soil with your own family. Meawhile, keep your hands off my family, they're not yours. Good riddance to bad rubbish. God says to forgive, but it doesn't mean I have to see you or have you in my life anymore so stay away.

God has stood by me through it all. Over and over again. He doesn't let me down. He whispers in my ear and he moves in my heart. My only resolution for 2012 is that I learn to trust God more (I've given up on the losing weight resolution - yep - totally scratched it out). Truly, God has shown me, that with Him, nothing is impossible.

Happy New Year!