Life Musings

Interesting site on wedding preparation information

2012-10-22T09:37:00.001-07:00

An interesting website on wedding planning and other related topics:

http://www.creativeweddingthinking.com

2012-08-25T18:38:00.002-07:00

Easy to use tips to boost your "peach blossom" aka "romance" factor in your love life

We all like to have the guy of our dreams preferable someone we can walk down the aisle in the future. If you haven't had the chance to meet Mr. Right, here are some easy to use tips for boosting your chance to find that potential special someone from a Feng Shui perspective:

(please note that the tips are only for improving chances, not necessarily the quality of men/women - might write a future post on this topic):

1. Fresh Flowers: Fresh flowers are very powerful in attracting romance. The best colour to use is pink or dark pink. Roses are fine to use but please ensure that the thorns are removed. Put them on the windows/ side tables in your bedroom and change the water on a frequent basis. If you are already in a relationship please do not use this tip.

2. Use bright colours preferable red in your everyday dressing. Red is a very auspicious colour in Chinese culture (where Feng Shui originate). Try to wear red shiny shoes and other red clothes (other bright colours like pink etc... are effective too). Avoid black and dark colours.

3. Declutter the bedroom: Keep your bedroom clean. Clutter in the bedroom manifests as obstacles in your love life so it is best to have a clean and presentable bedroom at all times.

4. Learn to cook a few dishes: This is a weird tip (I know you might be thinking: so what has my cooking skills to do with increasing my dating opportunities?) As I mentioned in the beginning, the tips are written from a Feng Shui perspective, so sometimes the tips might sound irrational/weird. My own rationale is: as long as it works for me, I really don't care what the correlation is between my cooking skills and getting men to date me). If you are still single and longing for a relationship, try this one: learn a few simple dishes to make and make frequent trips to the kitchen to make salad, boil water etc...

My personal experience: I try all the tips I have mentioned above (and some more) while I was single and looking for a long term relationship: I put dark pink flowers in my bedroom, use bright colours and keep my bedroom clean (I am rather disorganized so this was a bit challenging :) )

Within a few weeks after doing all the above mentioned points I start dating my husband (who was a good friend of mine at that time but I had no romantic interest in him ) - Coincidental?

Simple Feng Shui Tips

2012-08-18T20:02:00.002-07:00

Simple Tips

Feng Shui literally means "Wind Water" in Chinese. The practice was concerned about how to locate and gather auspicious "qi" in our environment and dispel/negate negative "qi".

Feng Shui has two main areas of assessing the qi: through assessing the external environment and landforms surrounding the area you are interested in and by using calculations and formulaes.

I personally hasn't been going deep into the calculation based feng shui but external observation is simple and easily to understand.

Here are some DIY feng shui tips and things to avoid that I personally use in my life:

1. Sit against a wall: Ensure that your chair in the office or at home is backed against a wall. In feng shui theory, this means that you will get people support in one's career. This is crucial in getting promotions as harmonious relationships with the boss and co-workers are always a big bonus to get the promotion/appreciation you are seeking.

2. Declutter: We all have clutter in our house: the little gifts we received when we are in grade 6, the clothes you have been keeping because you like them so much (even though they won't fit you anymore) etc... But in feng shui, it is imperative to keep our house and home clean and free of any extraneous stuff such as old furniture, clothes, shoes in order to attract the wealth in our lives. Clutter takes up space that could be used for collecting the qi into our home.

That is why it is a good habit to regularly check to see if we stll need the things/clothes/toys/shoes or it can be donated to a charity. This way we gave way to space for qi to collect, and sending a sign that we are ready for additional wealth to come into our life.

3. Avoid exposed beams: Make sure no exposed beams are visible above your bed, chair, stove etc.. Beams are a major no-no in feng shui as they cause headaches and stress to the person exposed to them. Thus it is best to avoid sitting or sleeping under them.

4. Avoid flowers in the bedroom and washrooms: Flowers are used in feng shui to attract romance, the "peach blossom" factor into ones lives. They are strategically used to attract more romantic opportunities for singles. But if you are married, then no flowers should be put in the bedroom and washrooms. Creeping plants and cacti inside the house should be avoided as well.

5. If possible, find a square looking house or apartment: It is best to live in a square looking house/apartment. Square denotes stability in one's general well being: wealth, health and relationships. Avoid irregular shaped houses and or rooms: L-shaped, diamond shaped as this cause unstability in the qi and consequently affects the general well being of everyone living in such houses/rooms.

Later on I will share more simple feng shui tips on improving romance.

Feng Sui: Supersition or something that works?

2012-08-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

What is "Feng Shui"?

Feng Shui has been an ancient practice in China dealing with locating the "qi" in one's house
and environment. This practice is very prevalent in Hong Kong where many high rise buildings
in their downtown area are "feng shuied". Recently many Hong Kong feng shui practicitioners are hired by developers back in Mainland China, indicating a renewed interest in this practice.

Using complicated formulaes to assess the qi in one house and paying attention to the external landforms surrounding the house and neighbourhood, an experienced and knowledgeable feng shui master (sifu) will be able to assess the good and/or bad qi in the area.

I personally came interested in this knowledge back in 2011 when I went to see a Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology practiioner merely out of curiosity (even with my commerce and business background, I was interested in a variety of non-business subjects due to my natural curiosity).

He was quite famous in our city as his credentials shows he was hired by many real estate developers and banks for his feng shui expertise. During our session, he pointed out a lot of accurate details of my life even though I never mentioned anything except my date of birth (which he require to have in order to do the calculations): my early life, in which period I went overseas, my relationship with siblings and even he mentioned when I potentially will enter into a romantic relationship (at the time I was single). He even mentioned when I will start earning money!

Well of course I take his future predictions of my life with a pinch of salt but I was amazed at the accuracy of his depiction of my earlier life (could it be coincidental?)

Anyhow, I went back to my regular life routine and lo and behow, I dated my husband during the time he predicted (second half of 2011). At that time, we were just friends and we have known each other for a few years (but both were not interested in each other for a romantic fling). and now we are married (both of us are still amazed how things have worked so well for us: dated, engaged, married and moved in within less than one year!! )

So all this events somehow deepens my interest in these subjects and I hire the practitioner back to check the feng shui of our new house: still not being able to follow all his advice but still trying ....)

From reading general feng shui books and blogs, I did manage to get a general idea of what are the negatives in feng shui theory without getting too deep in mathematical calculation. In future posts, I will outline them.

So conclusion? I do think that feng shui and Chinese astrology (BaZi) have a certain extent of accuracy ( I cannot say 100%) provided you have an experienced, knowledgeable and reputable practitioner assessing it for you. My opinion is to understand his/her background and credentials and if possible, get referrals from people you trust: if he/she is hired by big companies/institutions to do feng shui, he usually knows what he is doing.

One hint: Reputable Feng Shui practitioners are also expert in BaZi: Chinese astrology as they are interrelated to each other.

Magic

2012-08-17T10:00:00.001-07:00

Below is a video of famed Taiwanese magician Liu Chen:

(sorry couldn't find English version ones but I love his magic tricks)

Some Chinese Songs on Youtube

2012-08-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Came across some You Tube Videos that I like:

逍遙嘆

曾经的约定

爱的涟漪

步步驚心 - 一念執著、三寸天堂、等你的季節 (歌曲)

2012-08-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

Outdoor wedding photoshoot

Has been a long time writing on my blog; been crazy busy: buying a house, arranging our wedding pictures, shopping for furniture and other things for our new place...

Uploaded some pics we took while we are waiting for our photographer to arrive:

Inspirational Quote Day

2012-05-23T19:59:00.002-07:00

Each week, I will feature quotes on wealth, success, love, happiness and gratitude that I have read and have inspired me.

For this week, it will be :

“ It doesn’t matter where you are, you are nowhere compared to where you can go. “ – Bob Proctor

Some funny and interesting you tube videos

2012-05-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

I came across some funny and interesting You Tube videos and would like to share with you:

Our planet earth:

The power of Ten (1977)

Chinese Backstreet Boys - very funny!

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook

2012-05-09T11:03:00.004-07:00

Just bought the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook yesterday.

Never thought I would want to buy an ultrabook because I find them too pricey for my budget. But after some discussion with my husband, he opines that the ultrabook would be more suitable to me because I tend to want to work outside the home.

The 8 hour battery life enables me to work on my laptop in a coffeeshop without the hassle of finding an outlet to charge my laptop battery.

I was initially comparing the Dell XPS13 with the HP Folio Ultrabook and the Toshiba Satellite but choose the Dell XPS13.

The laptop expense would take a big chunk from my savings but I think it is worth the buy because I prefer to study and work where there is noise around so the 8 hour battery life would work out better for me despite the smaller storage and size.

How to deal with failure

2012-05-09T10:42:00.001-07:00

I came across an useful and informative article by Adam Khoo, an entrepreneur from Singapore on the ways how people deal with setbacks in life:

Look around and you can always find three kinds of people or there are three ways in which people deal with failure. Which category do you fall under?

The first group of people when they experience failure they look at it and say, "You know I fail because I'm not good enough." "I failed because it was just too difficult!" and they begin to make excuses, they begin to blame everyone except themselves, they start complaining, and guess what, they would give up. They say, "Well, it didn't work, let's forget about it, the stupid goal didn't work." And they go for something else. That is the first group.
What does the second group do?

The second group, when they experience failure, they may say, "Well, you know I fail, not because I am not good enough or it is too difficult but, I failed because I did not put enough effort. So I will try harder next time." So do you know what they do? They take more action, they try harder next time. They try again and they still don't get the result, what do they do? They will try again. If they don't get the result again, then what do they do? They try again. If they don't get the result, what they do? They keep trying, trying and trying.
Now, will they eventually hit the goal? Well if they do hit it, it is when they target small little puny goals. But if they were to set extremely exceptional high goals, it is rarely that they will hit it. They will improve by taking so much action and trying hard but they will never hit those targets they want to hit. They will never live the kind of life they want to live.
The reason is this, they keep on taking more action but they do not change their strategy. In other words, if you do the same thing the same way, you are going to produce the same result.
And these people, after a while, they begin to get really frustrated. I have seen so many sales people and so many business people who fall into this category, that whenever a business venture fails or whenever they do not produce the kind of sales results they want, they keep working more hours.
They work harder, they try and see more people and you know, they might try new things but more or less they keep within their comfort zone of doing the same things the same old way.
So, after a while, these people become extremely disillusioned. They say, "You know what the heck, I've tried everything, I've tried so hard but nothing seems to improve."
And, they start to get very cynical. They look at people who really experienced lots of success in their life and say, "Wow, you know what, these people are just lucky.
These people were there at the right place, at the right time and you know, they were just born under a lucky star and you know that I could never do that and I have tried everything."
So ask yourself this question, "Are you or the people around you exhibiting the first two patterns of either giving up or doing the same thing the same way until you get frustrated and you eventually give up at the end of it anyway?"

So, what does the third group of people do?
What is their pattern? See, the third group of people respond to failure very differently. In fact, they do not even see there's failure.
Whenever they do not reach their outcome, they say, "I did not fail. I just got a feedback and my feedback is that I used the wrong strategy."
They looked at it as feedback and they do not look at it as failure, guess what, do they feel bad? No, they do not. They do not get demoralized. Their state does not change. They still feel empowered, they still feel motivated, they still feel enthusiastic because to them it is feedback. And these people have what we call reflective intelligence. They are able to notice what went wrong with the strategy and they also have what we call behavioral flexibility.
In other words, they have the ability to consistently change their behavior and do whatever it takes to take action again and again until they get the result they want. No matter how many times they take, they will keep adjusting and changing their strategy until they get what they want. Now, I believe by constantly getting feedback and changing your strategy enough times, guess what, you are eventually going to achieve your goals.

Now that you are aware which category you fall under, you can make the decision to choose which response that you can take whenever you are faced with failure and move forward in reaching your goals.

Adam Khoo is an entrepreneur, master investor, best-selling author and a self-made millionaire by the age of 26. Over the last 15 years, he has trained over 350,000 professionals, executives and business owners tap their personal power and achieve excellence in their various fields of endeavor. Visit his blog at http://www.Adam-Khoo.com

Eco tips

2012-05-05T20:47:00.003-07:00

Today I came across a interesting article on how to live a more eco - friendly life:

Here is the article:

Source: http://www.moncton.ca/Residents/Environment/Green_Tips.htm

Here are 10 ways you can be greener every day:

Some of the following information has been adapted from reputable sources, including Environment Canada.

1. Avoid idling vehicles for more than one minute

Instead of letting your car idle, turn off the ignition. It uses less gas and emits less CO₂ to stop and restart your car than to let it run. In fact, idling uses twice as much gas as driving! If every driver in Canada avoided idling for five minutes a day, we could prevent 1.6 million metric tons of CO₂ from being emitted.

2. Walk, bike, or take the bus

The City of Moncton continues to invest in public transit. We’ve recently added more buses and more connections to residential routes. Bike racks are also available on buses. More people taking the bus means less cars on the road, and that’s good for everyone.

3. Maintain your vehicle

Keeping your vehicle in top shape will save fuel and help the environment.

Keep tires inflated: Just one tire under inflated by six psi can increase fuel consumption by three per cent and wear up to 40 per cent faster.
Replace the plastic cap on the tire’s air valve with a steel cap, which seals much better than the standard issue cap. This is the best tool to keep your tires inflated and generally costs less than one dollar.
Align tires: A misaligned tire will use around two per cent more fuel and cause premature tire wear.
Use appropriate fuel: Read your owner’s manual before heading to the pumps and use the recommended type of fuel. Using supreme or premium fuels in cars designed for regular fuel is paying a premium price for something that will not work as well. It is a waste of money and fuel, could hurt the engine, and will harm the environment.
Keep tank full in winter: Keeping your gas tank full can end up saving you big. When the gas tank isn’t full, the moist air in the gas tank condenses against the inside wall of the tank. This water affects the quality of the fuel, causing starting problems, fuel not being burned efficiently, engine misfiring, and adding strain to the engine.

4. Conserve Energy

Use fluorescent bulbs: Changing just one traditional incandescent light bulb to a compact fluorescent bulb results in savings of over $45 during its lifetime. Each bulb uses one-fourth of the energy of an incandescent bulb, lasts up to 10 times longer and the energy saved keeps CO₂ out of the atmosphere.
Lights out: It’s obvious, but turning off lights at night can save you, and the environment, big. A computer left on to run 24 hours a day can increase the electricity bill by $75 to $120 yearly. By putting the computer into standby mode, this amount is reduced to only $15 per year.
Wash clothes in cold water: Over 90 per cent of energy used by a washing machine comes from water heating. Save on your bill by washing clothes in cold water, with special cold-water detergent.
Lower the thermostats: Lower the thermostat by three degrees in winter and you can save up to 10 per cent on your heating bill. Wearing that sweater never felt so smart!
Choose energy efficient appliances: Dishwashers today are nearly 95 per cent more energy-efficient than those bought in 1972. Visit the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s directory of the most energy efficient products on the market at www.allthingsefficient.ca.
Have an energy audit done on your home and retrofit your home to make it energy efficient. Many grants are available to finance this type of project. For more information, visit New Brunswick’s funding program, Efficiency NB and the federal funding program, EcoAction.

5. Conserve Water

Most common water wasting culprits:

Leaking toilets are the most common cause of a high water bill. View our tips on preventing a leaky toilet.
Toilet flushing is the largest single use of water in a home, followed by showering and bathing. New low-flush toilets use six litres per flush compared to 22 litres with older toilets, lowering your water bill by approximately $65 a year. Low-flow showerheads save eight litres of water each minute.
Do not leave water hoses running unnecessarily.
Never leave the tap running when washing vegetables or dishes, shaving, or brushing your teeth.
Repair leaks immediately, as a small drip quickly amounts to litres of water wasted. Water meters can help detect a leak.
Use water-efficient fixtures in the home, as showers/baths account for about 30 per cent of indoor water use and toilets account for about 35 per cent.
Run the dishwasher and clothes washing machine only with full loads.
Shorter length showers help conserve water, and filling the bath only half full saves 80 litres or more per bath. You could save hundreds of dollars each year!
Keep water in the fridge instead of running tap water and waiting for it to get cold enough to drink.
Dispose of kitchen and dry waste in the garbage instead of flushing down the toilet or garburator.
Use a bucket and sponge for washing the car instead of running water.
Use a barrel to collect rainwater from your downspouts. Collected rainwater can be used for garden and lawn watering.

Lawn watering tips:

Deep, infrequent watering promotes deep, strong roots and will make your lawn healthier. Watering too often may cause disease by starving the soil of oxygen. Apply 2.5 cm (one inch) of water once a week, only if watering is needed.
Water early in the morning or late in the evening.
Some experts say lawns don’t need watering at all, since grass will go “dormant” during extended periods of dry weather, and will return to normal once dry weather stops.
In an effort to promote the conservation and wise use of water, the City of Moncton has a lawn-watering bylaw.

6. Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce

BYOB ( Bring your own bag!): Re-usable grocery bags greatly reduce the amount of plastic bags going into landfills, and are easily available in most stores. Use them for all your shopping needs!
Enviro-friendly take-out: Bring your own reusable containers when ordering take-out. This saves tons of styrofoam, plastic wrap, aluminum foil and cardboard from ending up in landfills. Just let the restaurant know you'll be bringing in your own dishes, and make sure to have enough dishes!
Rinse recyclables: Though some of the materials recycled in our wet waste are used for compost, help maximize the amount of material recycled. Rinse out cans, bottles, and other recyclable materials and place them in the blue dry bag.

7. Compost at home

You can further reduce materials going into landfills by composting at home. For more information on backyard composting, visit the Composting Council of Canada’s website at www.compost.org.

8. Plant a tree

Plant a tree. The city funds a residential tree-planting program that entitles each homeowner to have one tree planted by an arboriculturist on his or her property. Having trees on your property also provides shade and shelter for birds and small animals, keeping our ecosystem healthy and diverse.

9. Buy locally

Support the local economy and enjoy fresh local food when possible. When the average person in North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 2,400 km. That’s like traveling from Moncton to Florida to get your peas and carrots! The transportation of this food emits tons of carbon dioxide, not to mention increases the cost to the consumer. The Marché Moncton Market provides locally grown produce, fresh meat and dairy, specialty foods, beauty products, crafts, and more. With over 130 vendors, there is something for everyone.
Visit the 100-Mile Diet website for more information on how eating locally helps the environment, the economy.

Avengers Movie

2012-05-04T21:40:00.004-07:00

Today my hubby and I went to watch the Avengers after work. We have watched the trailers and hubby being a big fan of the Marvel Comics, we definitely going to see it on opening day.

I normally would like to avoid opening days as it is always so crowded and having difficulty finding a parking spot. But for this movie we make a exception hehe.

Thankfully we order our tickets online but still couldn't find the best seats and have to seat on the second row in front.

The movie was awesome and I would highly recommend to watch it if you love action and/or hero movies.

Looking forward to watch G.I Joe in the summer!

Here is the trailer:

The second trailer version :

Enjoy!!!

Two hit songs on Itunes

2012-05-02T18:28:00.002-07:00

For the past week, I keep hearing the following songs on the radio while me and my husband were driving to work (aweful commute; takes us at least 40 -60 minutes for a one way drive on the 407). Been googling them and looks like they are currently the top two songs on Itunes:

1. We Are Young

2. Somebody that I used to Know

My First Post!!

2012-05-02T18:11:00.002-07:00

My First Post!!

I start to write this blog as a way for me to document and keep track of all my interests and goals. In the mean time, I will share and post useful information that I came across and hopefully to benefit my readers on topics of personal finance, motivation, travel, technology and other topics.

It will be a way for me to get more organized as I have been reading so many varied topics but have a tendency to forget them...or cross reference them

Please feel free to comment as I appreciate all kind of constructive feedback

About Me

2012-04-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

About Me

I am currently working as an administrator for a Mississauga real estate management company. My interests range from personal relationships, psychology, business, accounting to holistic healing, life perspective and cross-cultural adjustments.

I graduated from the University of Toronto with a Honours Bachelor of Commerce.

My blog serves as a platform for me to write and share my thoughts on all kinds of topics along my personal journey.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Disclaimer:

All the information published on this blog is soley my own opinions and views. The validity and accuracy cannot be guaranteed and any use of this information is at the user's own discretion.

Thank you