beloved bel

The world's spotlight is on London at this very moment.  All the buzz and excitement has been building up and on Friday, I was all bursting with Olympic excitement!  Work wise, my new manager has been asking everyone if we are all set up to work from home if needed.  They expect transport woes especially those who live far away.  One of my team mates has to pass by Stratford every day to get to work and back home.  As for me, no excuses.  If the DLR trains stop working, I can still walk in to work!  A 25min walk which is a pretty ok distance to walk here.  From my office on the 29th floor, we can see the Olympic stadium, so we were saying IF we work late, we can get to see fireworks.  With work and home being in East London, that is where all the Olympic action is happening! Everywhere, we started to see all neon pink signs popping up, all Olympics related.  Olympic lanes are also painted, only athletes and officials can use that lan...

I consider myself a lucky girl because my engagement ring was done by our friend Karlin Anderson.  (Very good choice K, well done!)  The very first time I met Karlin was probably close to 4 years ago and I distinctly remembered her accent wondering where she was from.  I thought she was Russian for some reason!  Then she told me she is Scottish but her family is from the Shetland Islands in the UK.  I got really intrigued because the Shetland Islands is the extreme north of the UK, and not many people live there now due to the harsh weather and terrain. I had gone to her workshop on Tuesday to have it re-sized.  By request, she showed me the designs that both K and her were looking at, and the two shortlisted designs she drew for me.  Next she sourced for the best diamond she could get based on K's budget.  Ooh made me feel so special :))  Next time when I get a chance I will take a pic of her hand drawn designs for me and keep it for memor...

  The day after we got engaged, we were both reeling in some sort of a omg-wow-we-are-engaged mode and did an impromptu day trip out to the coast in Kent. Whistable is a seaside town in Kent, a little more than an hour's drive out from London.  Every year in July there is an Oyster festival, and people come here to enjoy seafood.  Beach wise, it is a shingle beach (ie not sandy but full of pebbles).  It was a beautiful day so kids were out running on the pebbly beach while adults sat on benches enjoying the sun with a pint of beer. I enjoyed the high street because all the shops are so quaint and they sell all sorts of beach and nautical inspired stuff that made me wanna buy everything!  Just arrived!   After all the Oyster feasting... Colorful boats Fishermen nets All sorts of huts by the beach Beach huts converted to shops Loving all the stuff here... ... and here! ok can I have a cuppa! A s...

As you probably know now, I run twice a year in the month of July. At least that is what K always says.  And he is probably true.  Save the few jogs I do with him in summer, most of the year I prefer to laze around at home while he goes running. Every July, I do the Race for Life - Fight against cancer 5km run, as well as the JPM Corporate Challenge 5.6km.  Last year I thought I was rather impressive (haha putting a feather on my cap) because both runs were 3 days apart from each other and I didn't think I could run that much considering I don't run at all.  Seriously, by God's grace I tell you. This year, I joined the Race for Life with Sarah and Sunday was the run at Black Heath Park.  Cherry came to cheer us on which was really nice of her.  Honestly I was fretting over this run because I didn't train for it, and when I woke up, I felt a tight knot in my stomach.  Omg, as if it were an exam or something!  Inside I was worried I would end up...

Wow... what to say... I am engaged!! Yes K proposed last Friday over dinner! :)) Shall not go into too much details because I'm a lil shy haha.. but he booked a really beautiful restaurant for dinner near Covent Garden, and had requested for a table in the conservatory with flowers around and a glass roof.  Coincidentally we both remembered that one of our first dates was to Covent Garden and he especially loves the baskers singing in that area.  So imagine at night once the hustle and bustle of the market has died down, the baskers strum their guitars and sing, it is really quite a nice setting. After it happened, we asked the waiter to take a photo for us, and I posted it onto Facebook.  Not to show off the engagement but I thought I'd share a photo of the beautiful restaurant. Never did I know that my friends have eagle eyes and immediately spotted the brown box and the ring on my finger!  haha We were shocked by their c...

26 more days to go.  At least according to the advertisement on TV.  And by that, I mean the countdown to the Olympics!  I know Mimi is especially looking forward because she is coming down and we have got tickets to two games (yayy).  I am not a huge Olympic fan but when it's a once in a lifetime opportunity like this, you shouldn't miss it.  Like what my friend Christina said, London's gonna be overcrowded anyway, we should at least be compensated by going to the games just so we know what is going on. Have to make a special mention that 5 years ago (I think it was 5?), I was sitting at a restaurant with Min and Mimi.  We met up for dinner after work at PS, and the hot topic that night was the release of the results of where Olympics 2012 was be held.  It was broadcast live and everyone on TV were all tensed and waiting in anticipation.  And then the winner was announced - London!!  All the Brits were cheering like crazy.  We went "o...