beloved bel

I always tell friends "whoa never been so glad it's the weekend" on Fridays but this time round, I mean it like from the bottom bottom bottom of my heart. I was telling Kat that imagine this whole issue happened on a Monday or Tuesday. I think I'll cry. Actually come to think of it, both Kat and I did shed some tears between us on Friday in the midst of the storm. sobz So I guess this particular weekend was for me to really unwind my mind.... to try to forget and not let it affect me.... Friday night when I closed my eyes on my bed, my mind was like racing over the numbers again. wah lau ... haunting me still! Saturday morning woke up at 8am and couldn't sleep... so I decided to put on a sermon hoping to let God take over. In times like this when Bel is helpless... anyway so I went out with my bible and ipod and sat on one of the benches overlooking the docks. Sarah my neighbour tells me Psalm 23 comes alive to her because it says "He leads me beside...

So I’ll stand With arms high and heart abandoned In awe of the One who gave it all So I’ll stand My soul Lord to You surrendered All I am is Yours You stood before creation Eternity within Your hand You spoke the earth into motion My soul now to stand You stood before my failure Carried the Cross for my shame My sin weighed upon Your shoulders My soul now to stand So what can I say What can I do But offer this heart O God Completely to You So I'll walk upon salvation Your Spirit alive in me This life to declare Your promise My soul now to stand United We Stand, Hillsong United, 2006

Our worst fears have come to past. It was indeed D Day. Kat says "it's officially the worst day of my life in JPM." And I think so too! (I had to double check that it wasn't Friday the 13th or something like that...) She reached at 7.30am and I reached at 8am. From then on, it was full force looking at the whole trade package all over again with the official numbers and it was seriously, hell. System showed him losing millions which was a very bad sign to start off with esp when he was looking at making like huge money. I can't even describe how terrible it was. Don't even want to describe how brushes with C went by throughout the day. We hounded our manager with calls while he was driving to Wales. You know those times when you keep going through the same stuff all over again until you really feel so sick? Yep we both got that. We knew everything was supposed to be correct but then it's not reflecting in the numbers we see in front of us. And ...

To think that I thought it would be a quiet Thursday. Just when we strolled in happily after lunch thinking "yay half a Thursday is gone.. half more day to go and weekend's coming soon." Manager: Oh Belinda, bad news for you... C is unwinding his xxx trades today. And... I'm not gonna be in tomorrow... omg this is like the worst piece of news ever can. Of coz my manager's not gonne be in. He's going to Wales tomorrow. a wave of panic fills our little corner From 2pm onwards, Kat, me and manager all focused on whatever energies we had studying and analyzing the trades trying to see how much money he would make or lose from it. Because the whole package was in millions, we had to ensure it was correct. And in times like this, the clock ticks like it's never ticked faster... we were so stressed and I swear my manager's hair somehow looked very messy too. It was chaotic. TS guys were also milling around asking my manager how to book the trades, are ...

It has been a very chilled out weekend and I love it! Look at how blue the cloudless sky was :) Today the weather was beautiful and I met Yeelin after her gym session to have a lil lunch picnic at More London, right at the foot of Tower Bridge. The thing about Tower Bridge is that I'll never get tired of it, same for Yeelin, same for Ali... it just creates that feeling... I think it's the most beautiful bridge I've ever seen. Everyone was out as usual when there is sunshine, and people just enjoy basking in the sun. Before coming here, I never thought that basking in the sun was an enjoyable thing... "you just sweat what... nice meh?" You know I am never the sun kind of girl. But the difference is that it is never humid here so you don't perspire much... and so we joined the London crowd to bask in the sun. Of course I came well prepared with my trusty red picnic mat! Yeelin said "this picnic spot is too surreal" coz the view is just awesome...

According to Yeelin, black swans are very uncommon here so she got quite excited when she spotted this fella swimming in the docks outside my house yesterday: And so I asked her if it's heng (lucky) or sway (unlucky) to see one then, and she insisted "of coz it's heng lah!" On a seperate note, the orchids which Sabrina gave to me seem to be doing quite well so far.. or are they pure resilient plants?

Sarah had been raving to me on how cheap and good the massage at Neal's Yard therapy is and so last month, I casually sent the link to Kathryn asking her if she has heard of it... and she was super excited coz she has been on the lookout for cheap (London standard) and good massages so we decided to give it a try on Wednesday night. Sitting opposite each other, we counted down faithfully for one month to Wednesday 19 Aug! Neal's Yard started from this place in Covent Garden many years ago and they sell anything holistic and everything organic. From dairy products to herbs to facial stuff to organic salad bars (you get the idea). Their little courtyard is a very colorful and happy looking place: At the same time, I saw this offer at Kettners Restaurant (apparently one of the oldest restaurants in London) that says "get a main course and the second one for £2". Wow how nice and especially Isabelle kinda recommended it to me last year, so we decided to book that as ...

A lthough things are not perfect B ecause of trial or pain C ontinue in thanksgiving D o not begin to blame E ven when the times are hard F ierce winds are bound to blow G od is forever able H old on to what you know I magine life without His love J oy would cease to be K eep thanking Him for all the things L ove imparts to thee M ove out of "Camp Complaining" N o weapon that is known O n earth can yield the power P raise can do alone Q uit looking at the future R edeem the time at hand S tart every day with worship T o "thank" is a command U ntil we see Him coming V ictorious in the sky W e'll run the race with gratitude X alting God most high Y es, therell be good times & yes some will be bad, but... Z ion waits in glory...where none are ever sad!

Yay - I received a GBP10 goodwill payment from the London Underground for the 48h strike in June. It was a pleasant surprise as I applied for it some time back and have forgotten about it altogether. Every month I pay GBP99 for my monthly travel pass.. *yes it is that expensive* so it's good that I can get a GBP10 discount for next month! :)

After having angmoh food for the whole week, I was seriously craving for some Chinese food on Friday so I suggested going to Chinatown for a good dinner to end a tiring work week. So Yeelin brought me to this Taiwanese eatery in Leceister Square and as we both were similarly desperate hehe*plus really hungry* we were too ambitious and ordered way more than what we could eat. In the end we had to dabao food back home. Well, whatever that makes us happy lah :) food galore - 1 bowl Taiwanese beef brisket noodles, 8 xiao long baos (we didn't know it comes in 8s!), 1 (huge) osyter egg omelette, 1 kong ba bao, Taiwanese style 2 soya bean milk We were quite certain we were gonna roll home that night. heehee To continue our string of Chinese dinners since Friday, I decided to finally cook another Prima Taste mix tonight. I still have so many in my cupboard!! Might not look very appetising in the way it's presented but it was delicious nonetheless. Prima Taste mix can never go wron...

Quite a mouthful for a recipe name isn't it?  But I promise you the steps is simpler than what you think. I love the fact that Kat sits opposite me in office coz we talk all the time about anything under the sun. Her life is always full of interesting activities and once in a while she teaches me some British lingo, a word or two which I think can be a seperate blog post on its own. Anyway she has been sharing some recipes with me, and I decided to try one with Yeelin tonight. It's another of those simple to prepare but the end result is amazing, just like my salmon dish! Presenting... Chicken with pesto and sundried tomatoes wrapped in parma ham Take a piece of chicken breast, cut a slit in the middle. Put pesto sauce in it, together with some sun dried tomatoes Add salt and pepper to taste Wrap the whole piece of chicken with a strip of Italian parma/ proscuitto ham Drizzle a little olive oil on top (optional) Put in the oven and bake at 200deg C for about 2...

Gorgeous weather + wonderful company = Lovely Saturday Breakfast with Yeelin and friend, Rebecca in my garden patio. Dinner party at Marketa's, also celebrating Sarah's birthday. Thank you dear Jesus for all the wonderful friends you have placed around me!

Ever since our over indulgent Spain trip over easter, where we virtually ate non-stop, we still mention our favourite paella (Spanish rice) once in a while going "ooh and ahh" and oh man, how could anyone ever forget our two HUGE paellas where the Spanish waitresses had to join an extra table just so it could accomodate those two pans among our many side dishes as our jaws dropped and while they giggled away :/ *shudder* anyway so my friend Karen sent me a diy paella recipe which she found and improvised.. assuring me "it's very easy one!" and... truly it was! We followed the recipe.. well sort of (with a bit of fumbling in the middle) but! Managed to end up with a big pan of mussels paella and 3 very happy diners. Lucky Quek.. he was supposed to be our guinea pig for the night. The initial unglam look.. looks like yellowy porridge and we got a bit worried. Ali: eh how ah.. no taste leh! Oyster sauce can or not? Me: huh?! cannot la! that one ch...

It was a weekend spent with Yeelin in Edinburgh. I was here 12 years ago and I remembered some part of it like Edinburgh Castle... the main shopping street (Princes Street)... and... of coz the cold gloomy weather although it's a distant distant memory... 12 years later, it's the same haha but this time round we joined the free walking tour so we found out more about the capital of Scotland. I love the sound of bagpipes filling the air which is what makes the difference in Scotland. YL says it sounds like funeral music.. *rolls eyes* Edinburgh Castle looking the same.  Well what was I expecting.. of course it would be the same as 12 years ago! After the tour, we concluded that Edinburgh is an ancient city with a dark history, and more so with the ghost stories we heard on the tour, and mass killings, hangings, burning of witches, punishments, etc... a bit spooky. We almost wanted to join the ghost tour at night to spook ourselves but we decided not to.... discla...