weddings, weddings & more weddings!!

We are barely into the 3rd month of march and I'm already overwhelmed by weddings! By tradition, the Chinese normally will give red packets on this joyous occasion. Be it a Malay, Chinese, Indian or western wedding, I always ended up giving the couple a red packet as my token of appreciation for being invited.

Ever since the birth of RedRibbon Days, I'm extremely particular about the kind of "gift" on weddings. Nik mentioned to me that she received up to 3 toasters on her wedding day! Boy ! What will a girl do with 3 toaster? Hmm... And I've friends who returned the gift back (and some had the cheek to call up the giver of the gift for the receipt so they can do the exchange!) Gulp!

So, I make it a point from then on that every gift that comes from me on my friends wedding will be carefully thought and intended for. So what makes a good wedding gift, besides cash? Speaking of the latter, I have actually received an invitation card that clearly states that the couple would much prefer to receive their gift in the form of cash. Very direct - but hey, at least they are sparing themselves from the multiples photo frames, toasters and mugs!



I reckon a nice quick getaway experience for the newly weds would be something nice. For those who have no immediate plans for a honeymoon, they could sure do a quick escape from the gift. And a romantic, dining experience never goes wrong. Everybody loves food ! And not to mention, spa & pampering experiences. The newly wed could surely make do with one from pre-wedding preparation.

So yes, I have two lovely experiences nicely wrapped up with our signature gift pack ready to be sent on first thing on Monday morning for two weddings. I sure hope the couples will enjoy the experience and most importantly, understand the intention and emotion behind the gift.

Working hard makes you invisible?

I came across the saying above few months ago - and today the exact same saying popped up in my head again. Is it true that working hard actually makes you invisible? Well, unless of course, if you are working hard to make yourself to be seen then that would be completely irrelevant.

Since the beginning of the new year, I've been totally swarmed with work, back to back events and hardly had anytime on hand to focus on "being seen". This I refer to appearing on media, interviews and etc. So when I stopped doing all that, am I making myself or the business invisible? But isn't business about being preoccupied about getting lots of "real work" and not socialising or attending functions. Isn't business about providing the best you can to your customers ? If so, why then these hard work will make the business less visible and less renown?

And if I'm only working hard to be seen and not working hard in doing the real work, wouldn't that also reflects on how your product/services is? Wouldn't this affect your business or business credentials in the long run? Yes, I may ended up being really popular, in the who is who list - but if my product / services is crap (due to negligence in running the business, because I'm working hard to be seen) wouldn't that make your affect your business or diminishing its value as well?

Xmas @RedRibbon Days

Since it is already 2011, and I've already begun a blog on 2011, I will not be blogging about our RedRibbon Days Xmas Annual Company dinner this time. For interesting reads on this, visit our other blogs at :-

http://redribbondays.blogspot.com
http://nikhida.blogspot.com
http://blackbunnyjournal.tumblr.com

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011 !

In a blink of the eye, 2010 is over and we are bestowed with 2011. 2010 has been an absolutely fabulous year for me personally as well as for RedRibbon Days. I'm extremely grateful for all the things that was bestowed to me last year. Firstly, we moved to a bigger office space that has the capacity to fit in at least 20 new employees! We are definitely in a much better position compared to when we first started - and totally ready to face new challenges. Secondly, I was thrown into "pr" work where I have to socialise with prominent socialites and the get to know the "who is who". Certainly not my preferred cup of tea, but an eye opening experience for me. I got to meet some very superficial people - whom I was introduced to and subtlety snubbed. This however, did not affect me in anyways - if it did in anyways, it only made me stronger and thirsty and eager for success.

As I sat down ushering 2011 last night, I asked myself if I have any resolution(s) of 2011. Quite frankly, this year, I decided to make things easier for myself and the universe. I do not need any resolution(s) - because I believe resolution(s) should be made when it is necessary. For the past 20 years of my life, I never failed to have a list of resolution. Do I actually see and attend to it? I've not much recollection for the past - and frankly speaking, I don't think resolutions works.

So this year, no resolution(s) for me.

However, I strongly believes that the universe is my genie, and my wish is the Universe command.

a wardrobe full of clothes, yet...

I'm not sure if I'm the only one that always felt this way, but of late, I've been struggling to find a decent work attire to don on for work. Everytime I open my wardrobe door, I only see a wave of dull, boring old clothes (despite the fact that I had just recently added on another cabinet!). I can almost feel myself saying out loud (for the past 1 week), "What should I wear today?", "I got nothing to wear" and "I am sick of my clothes".

If I have a wardrobe filled with clothes, why do I then feel this way? Is this normal ? How long does one need to throw out old clothes and replenish it with new ones? In fact, I realised every time I buy something new, I will be wearing the new attire for a week or so, then to realise again that I do not have clothes to wear. So, my question is, what have I been wearing before I bought this new attire that I have been wearing for the past week? Somehow, I don't remember what I have been wearing before my current merchandise.

And is it okay for me to spring clean my wardrobe every season? And how much clothes does one need to have in order to not have that feeling of "what should I wear today" or "Argh, I have nothing to wear!"

So, what should I wear tomorrow?

my 21st birthday

So it was my 21st birthday - again!! Okay, let's be truthful about this. It's not my 21st birthday, but hell, I do feel 21 still ! Anyways, age to me is just another number. So whether I'm 21, 35 or 50 - it doesn't matter. Bottom line, I truly feel good about where I am now. I am still very passionate about what I do at RedRibbon Days - and most importantly witnessing its growth by the day.

Anyways, on 26th November (my birthday actually falls on the 27th, but since 27th is a Saturday, we celebrated a day earlier) I arrived at work as usual - and had to admit here, I kinda knew that the girls will be doing something either on my table, my chair or my room. So, I went in and everyone shouted "Happy Birthday". I smiled, went into my room - and to my horror, they placed something obscene on my chair and table. Too obscene that I'm not even inclined to put up any picture of it here. Well, Nik seem to be enjoying it more than I do anyways! haha !!



It was work like usual - nothing special except that Nik and Ming Ne was acting kinda strange- disappearing every now and then. The day started off extremely well - first I received a Melinda Looi dress as one of my birthday gift and a very generous red packet. At that moment, I felt loved - truly blessed to be surrounded by people who cherished me and remembered my birthday.

It is tradition for us to have birthday lunch in the office - so when Nik came over and asked me for lunch, I eagerly skipped out wondering what they prepared for lunch. I was jumping with joy when I saw the spread of nasi padang ! Nik and Ming Ne had gone all the way (cant remember where they got it, though I remembered asking) for this feast. They got my favourite sambal belacan, fried fish, curry fish head, fried chicken, paru, petai and prawns - it was divine!! It was the most satisfying meal I had in a long time!


Nasi padang spread

Lunch was devoured rather quickly - and soon after a heavy meal, it was back to work like normal. Some time around 3pm, Nik came in again - this time to cut my birthday cake. I was not really hungry - but certainly ready for some sweet stuff after the heavy savoury lunch. I was shocked to see Atika and Az in our meeting room - as it didn't occur to me that they will be getting me an experience gift - to be experienced immediately!

I was thrilled to see boxes and boxes of shoes laying on the floor ! It was actually one of the many packages that I personally created and packaged up. This experience that I received was called "Serious Shoes Lover". When creating this package, I was thinking of the convenience of shopping without having the need to leave the comfort of your house/office. I like the idea of not needing to drive through jam and find parking (can be a bitch especially during peak hours). So when they gave me this gift, I was pleased. I felt so VIP.

The girls (well, we are pretty much an all ladies company) all got excited - all circling around me checking out the range of shoes and bag. The girls all ended up trying the shoes and bags. They were gleefully excited. It was a really cool experience (for me too, even though I was the one that came up with the package!) and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. So without much difficulties, I picked up 3 pairs of very lovely 5" heels (one black, one beige and another in dark blue/silver) and a gold clutch.

Here's some pic I took on that day :-


The angels that brought the shoes and bags to me !





My Louboutin birthday cake & another courtesy of Fuji Xerox

All in all, it was a wonderful day - and once again, I'm truly blessed to be surrounded by lovely people who went all the way to make my day truly special and memorable.

My Age and Passwords

You know you haven't been blogging in a while when you tried accessing the account and then you realised that you do not remember the password. Yup! It just happened to me - while trying to access my very own personal blogspot. Is it a sign of ageing or simply, there are too many accounts one need to sign up these days? In the world of the internet, almost everything requires you to sign up as a member, open an account and etc..I have an account with gmail, google, blogspot, digg, delicious, hotmail, yahoo, messenger, skype and the list goes on and on and on. While some site is totally fine with a short and simple password, some sites simply make it difficult and requires alpha-numerical passwords!

So about an hour ago, I was extremely pumped up and driven to blog about the year of 2010 - when I tried accessing my very own account and I realised I have completely forgotten my password. And it wasn't that long ago, that I celebrated my 3x birthday. So I had to do the normal process of "forgotten password" - reset the password. When I'm finally log in, I have totally lost the urge to write. My mind is now totally focused on am I getting older - hence the slight memory lost or quite simply, there are too many passwords one has to remember that I'm confusing one password with another?