beloved bel

Before I have time to blog about Peak District, I was off for 2.5 days for the annual Hillsong Colour Conference at Wembley Arena.  In essence, it is all about Christian Girl Power haha.. it's power packed with both sermons as well as different humanitarian projects around the world, hoping to make the world a better place. The opening number As cliche as it may sound "Change the world" and you have to know I came from a somewhat cynical mentality.  But now I know what it means.  You start by changing the world one life at a time.  And it doesn't have to be a big massive overwhelming task.  You change your own world.  Where you are planted.  That changes the whole perspective altogether.  You stay faithful in where you are planted and in Bobbie Houston's words, you flourish in your world doing life the best you can.  Flourish is the word for this year. We have the amazing Priscilla Shirer again this year, and Sheila ...

Four years ago this exact day 22 Apr 2008, I ventured into the unknown halfway across the globe.  Looking back, I cannot but say how much Bel has grown (Can I use the words "quantum leap" here?  It's the unforgettable phrase our FYP tutor said of our final year project in uni after many fruitless meetings with him. haha).  I mean, cooking paella - I had no clue was it was four years ago! I am ever so thankful for the many friends I've met here, people from all across the globe.  People whom I've never thought of forging such close friendships with.  And of course friends back in Singapore who still faithfully keep in touch with me.  I woke up feeling real blessed today with a smile on my face. After the soap making class on the same day, I arranged for a special lunch with my closest group of friends here, at St Katharine's Docks right at the foot of Tower Bridge (my favourite bridge ever).  I told them it's to celebrate my fourth year in London, b...

Another unusual class I went for this Saturday morning with Marketa and Evelyn, my Czech friends.  I emailed them asking if they would be interested in learning how to make soap (!!) when I saw the deal on Groupon (yes and I still maintain I am not a big Groupon fan), and was met with enthusiasm.  Something interesting to learn, maybe one day I can make some and sell?  hehe Bright and early, we managed to find the school in a converted old warehouse near Tower Bridge.  The class was 13 people and naturally all were girls.  The teacher was this lady who has close to 10 years experience in this area.  Besides making all sorts of soaps, she makes bath salts, candles, essential oils, etc.. her complexion was super good and she says she only uses her own products, including moisturizers!  Do people make their own moisturizers I wondered.  But we cannot argue against her complexion.  She makes preservatives free products and with all natural ...

It's been a while since I cooked something special, something not usually within my comfort food menu. Since this was meant to be a "do nothing much" weekend, I decided to cook one of my favourite foods - Spanish Paella. Staying with Rebecca the big foodie helps.  She cooks so much and has a collection of very thick and expensive looking cookbooks, all worthy to be coffee table books.  Mention anything to her and she will whip out the recipe or even recipes almost immediately.  Needless to say, she has put to use her love for cooking very well - by serving in the Green Room serving food to the pastors and speakers at church every Sunday. So I was pondering over the idea of paella and she showed me a couple.  The one which caught my eye was Jamie Oliver's Favourite Paella Recipe. Right on then, this shall be dinner for Saturday night! The chef all ready to start with two pans  Due to the serving size, I had to split the food up into two pans. Co...

Just back last weekend to the Peak District.  More to come!

It's funny how I may sound like a Groupon fan here but I am not.  Well not really until this past weekend.  Ever since Groupon started here (3 years ago?), I have been looking out for their daily deals and buying random vouchers every once in a while.  It so happens that this weekend, I had two Groupon deals one after another. Saturday - Photoshoot I have never done any proper photoshoot before in my life.  Gabby who saw the deal excitedly asked if I wanted to join her and I thought it would be fun, why not? And so it was.  I was told to be at Westfield Shepherd's Bush bright and early at 10.30am.  And considering I needed an hour to travel there, it was early for me.  The deal, GBP16, included a haircut, styling for the photoshoot, makeup, and the photoshoot itself.  What an amazing deal isn't it?  It was an experience.  We each brought 4 sets of clothes and even coordinated our out outfits - one black dress, two normal dress...

Last Wednesday I attended the Hillsong Sisterhood church service after work.  The annual Colour (woman's conference) is coming up and Cathy Clarke who heads up the Sisterhood decided to have a service just for the girls instead of the usual connect group night. I went wondering what would be the message and I came out feeling inspired which I thought I'd share here.  Cathy spoke on the woman's role in today's society and later Louise Cherry, whom I have never heard before, shared about mentoring.  She made the topic really practical and applicable to our daily lives.  She brought out examples in the bible where people were mentored and became great leaders, and challenged us to have mentors in our lives.  The only other time I was asked to get a mentor was my manager who suggested it because she has one herself at work and strongly encouraged me to get one too, for my career advancement.  It hasn't occurred to me I could have a mentor outside work? L...