Samsung vs iPhone vs BlackBerry. WHICH PHONE TO BUY!

Every time a new phone is launched in the market or one thinks about the need to buy a new phone... a lot goes through one's mind.

There is a few things to consider:
Who is more visible in the market
Which brand do I love more
Which phone is more cool
Which phone has the best technologies
Which phone has the best interface
Which phone is most value for money for all of the above
and the list can go on and on and on...

At this moment, my mind is going through all of the above because the S4 and iPhone 5S has just launched.

I fell in love with Apple's iPhone series as I did the launch from iPhone 3-3G-4. I was extremely well educated on the phone and its functions and I fell in love. I loved the APPLE brand. In fact I love it so much that in my home you will see: Macbook Air, Mac Mini, iMacs, Apple TV, iPhone, iPod, iPad, iPad mini... that is almost the whole range!

However, when Samsung launched the S3 and my best friend introduced it to me, the bigger screen and the Android apps being offered free compared to iTunes made me think otherwise. The S3's camera was also better than the iPhone's. Paired with a corporate offer, which made it cheaper and on a plan - I bought my 1st S3 after the iPhone 4S and I was very happy with this buy.

The Samsung S3 - currently my 2nd phone but mainly works as a camera

But as much as this would shock everyone, I am actually truly a BLACKBERRY fan! People laugh at me as I still carry my 'paperweight', 'extinct phone', 'dinosaur phone' and recently with all the job cuts in Blackberry and they are trying to sell the company off, my phone is now called the Phone That Soon Will Have No Brand!

Nevertheless, I carry a Blackberry Q10 (for my love of an actual keypad) and Samsung S3 now (for the cool factors of apps, great camera and big screen).

Blackberry Q10 - Currently my main phone

Until... recently with the launch of the new iPhone5S which takes really great photos (seen it with my friend's phone) I am absolutely tempted to buy the iPhone 5S.

The iPhone 5S which I am lusting for...

But just as I was certain it would be an iPhone 5S, I walked past the Samsung store and saw this SLR camera and S4 all-in-one! OH MY GOD - that is like a dream come true! Of course battery life will be terrible but imagine you have a Camera and also a Phone all built into 1.

The OH MY GOSH Samsung S4 Phone & Camera in One 

All these items are priced almost the same... so that makes it even more difficult to decide.

I will give myself a few more weeks before I decide. But any comments or suggestions anyone?

My fav Korean restaurant in KL

Ever since I was introduced to Korean food 17years ago when I moved to Sydney, I've never turned back. The Korean fever is huge now but if you lived in Sydney from 20years ago, Korean food was already big as there is a huge population of Koreans based in Sydney.

A lot of Korean food is Beef based and in Australia, beef is so yummy. Makes the Korean food there even much nicer. However, due to some personal reasons, I have given up eating beef so eating Korean food now is difficult... not much choices.

However, I have discovered this Korean joint which serves FAST, very REASONABLY priced and great TASTING Korean food! 

It is called Ko Hyang, www.kohyang.com.my. It started with 1 outlet in The Gardens which is where I discovered them 3 years ago. What I love about it, it has a chicken or beef for almost everything! So I can eat the Korean food that I normally can't in most places. 

So I ordered Bi Bim Bap the 1st time and I've never looked back! the portion is big, so full of really fresh vegetables, brown rice and marinated minced chicken. The egg is cooked perfectly and the red sauce is not too much or too little. When you mix it all up, it gives a really rich taste but feels light. Because of the huge portions of various vegetables in it, it is actually a REALLY healthy meal for kids. Thankfully non-fussy eating Alessi LOVES this dish. Whenever we talk to this restaurant, she knows what we will have and she will eat half of my huge bowl herself.

Bi Bim Bap Chicken

There's actually 2 choices: normal Bi Bim Bap or Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap. It is the same thing just one is served in a Stone Pot. I'd much prefer the Stone pot but it comes really hot and my daughter Alessi has no patience to wait for the meal to cool down :) 

The price is RM16.90 and RM17.90 respectively which is highly affordable for its taste, freshness and quality and also for its unlimited free cold appetizers and hot seaweed soup. Recently the cold appetisers are ikan bills (anchovies) stir fried to a sweet sticky dish, standard kimchi and sliced cucumber in almost a kimchi-like taste dish. Normally i would take the sweet ikan bills and mix it up with the rest of bi him bap. Gives the bi bim bap more texture rather than everything being soft.

The unlimited free cold appetizers: Cabbage Kimchi - Sweet Anchovies - Peppered Cucumber

This is a fortnightly ritual that I would do with my kids. Because Alessi shares half my portion, it wouldn't be enough for me so I would also order OH CHIEN (Malaysian Fried Oyster Omelette) as well to share. The other dish that is really lovely is Jap Chae - potato starch noodles. Normally, this is served with beef but here I can opt for with chicken.

How much we normally pig out as a family together!

With the kids enjoying our regular meal

So that's my favorite Korean joint. They have expanded their business and now available in many other locations. Hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Losing 40kgs after giving birth

Its hard to believe it but I had put on 40kgs (88lbs) in my 1st pregnancy!

I am...
1.71m (5'6") tall
used to weigh 64kgs

At that height and weight, I was considered big sized in Asia. I was tall but I have a huge frame and I have curves.

Exactly months before I got pregnant at 64kgs

I knew I was never the typical Asian size nor will I ever admit that I am slim. But the fact that I love to eat and I hardly exercised since I move to Malaysia in 2005-2006, my body was in pretty good shape.

During the pregnancy however, my passion for eating went to a whole new level and I began to eat a full meal almost every few hours. Time passed very quickly, I enjoyed my pregnancy and thoroughly enjoy my food! I knew I was putting on weight and lots of friends had told me that I was ballooning up.

However, the thought that I was eating for 2, it's ok you can eat like this when you are pregnant and you'll get away with it... all these self-excuse led to my weighing in 104kgs at the time I was going to give birth, thats 40kgs extra. I basically nearly put on the whole weight of a lot of my tiny Asian friends.

At time of birth, I weighed in 104kgs!

During that time, when I weighed in 104kgs, Asia's Biggest Loser was on TV. I admired how everyone lost so much weight so quickly. They were my size or smaller and lost all that weight but I knew that it required a lot of work which I wasn't willing to put myself through in a gym.

So I do what I know best - be a workaholic as always! I had to do the iPhone 4 launch which was a 3 day x 24hour event (Steve Jobs just passed away so everyone wanted to get an iPhone!) and the setup took 2 days + nights and preparation another 2 days beforehand and teardown was 1 day. So basically it was a whole week of barely any sleep again, non-proper meals, lots of running around, lots of carrying things like a labourer once again, carrying my daughter around whilst working and stress from work led to nearly 9kgs lost in practically 1.5 week! Unhealthy but then if you think about it, I was working like I was working out in the gym and watching my diet because I didn't have the time to eat big long meals like I usually do.

My 4mth old daughter strapped to me most of the time when I was doing my event

But 12 months of running around for work with a child strapped to me, multi-tasking, breast feeding and mainly just being really busy, weight started dropping off naturally. At the end of 12mths, I naturally lost 18kgs from mainly multi-tasking and working like a labourer at my then events business.

I breastfed for 1 year and it was time to wean my daughter off me. Perfect timing I had an event to run which required me to be running around Malaysia for 5days 4nights and there was simply no way I could execute this event with my daughter with me. With the wonderful help of my best friend and Godfather to my daughter, she was sent to Singapore to stay with him for 1 week. She was an easy baby to look after so he had no problems. That was the 1st time I was leaving my daughter for such a long period.

The weaning off, lack of sleep, running around for my event including in the rain, carrying lots of really heavy stuff, not having time to eat proper meals led to an instant huge drop. I lost 5.5kgs in 1 week! Not the healthiest or best way to lose weight but I did. So 16.5kgs more to go...

Work was really busy with so many huge events I had to run back to back and lots of overnight setups which my daughter would accompany me as always. By the time my daughter was 15mths old, I have lost a total of 31kgs from all my multi-tasking and dancing as well!

My 14mth old kept me busy even when I was working at 4am doing an event setup

The last 9kgs however were the hardest, the final bit of weight left simply didn't want to shed off. So a very good friend of mine suggested that I do a detox. And that I did for 10days coupled with lots of clubbing and dancing (due to my newfound confidence that my body as slowly coming back)... the weight did go off. I lost another 4kgs over 2weeks.

I started looking more regular when my daughter was 15mths old

The final 5kgs finally went off during my 1 week trip to India alone with my 18mth old daughter. The combination of being in piles of cloth (saree), heat, carrying my daughter everywhere, vegetarian food, lots of meditation and prayer and lots of walking did it!

In the temple during one of the prayer sessions

My mantra was that I must be 64kgs again (my original weight prior to pregnancy) before I can get pregnant the 2nd time around. I am glad I did it.

It wasn't easy though it sounds like it. So I respect all the overweight people who have lost of weight like the ones you watch on Asia's Biggest Loser.

But then again, if they can do it... 

So can I.

And if I can do it,

So can anyone else...

Just keep that thought that you must go back to your original size and you WILL!

At 64kgs again! Whoopee!

Water Birth in Asia? Can an Asian deliver via Water Birth?

I am proud to say I am a mother of 2 wonderful children.
I am also very proud to say I delivered both my babies through WATER BIRTH.

Being the unconventional person that I naturally am, I have personally known many westerners personally who have done water birth right in their own home. I have seen the pictures and once you watch a video such as these, I knew immediately this would be the only way I would want to give birth to my own children.

For my 1st birth, my 1st tiny contractions started at about 3am. Of course being a 1st time mother, my friends and I were excited and rushed immediately to the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital with my closest friends.

Updating Facebook whilst going through contractions and waiting for the water tub.

My contractions were regular but very far apart and mild. So I managed some power naps in between whilst my friends also slept to rest. Finally 7am onwards, the contractions were regular and very uncomfortable, borderline pain! I was 2.5cm dilated and told that most likely I would birth in the late afternoon. So we all relaxed thinking that we are gonna have a lot time.

I applied the little knowledge I had about hypnobirthing and my Doula Catherine was with me all the way. She would massage my neck, home compress my womb and back and even put me on a medicine  ball to massage my back. All this relieved me tremendously.

I went all the way and decided to do the full works: dim lights, soothing music, lavender aromatherapy, massage, hot bottle compress, warm water, sitting on the medicine ball and most importantly ZERO pain killers and NO EPIDURAL.

3 hours to the last half an hour before birthing, I kept going to the toilet every 10mins to pee a little and I kept feeling like I wanted to do a big poo. 

Nearing 11am, I really felt like I wanted to go to the toilet to poo and I was encouraged to. This is to prevent accidentally poo whilst birthing. As I thought I was trying to poo, all of a sudden, I felt a HUGE BALL come out of my vagina. I thought the baby came out. It wasn't. Instead it was the water bag.

Nurse immediately examined me and then voila! I am fully dilated an ready to birth! It was a mad rush in the hospital. Everyone rushed to fill the tub quickly, pouring buckets of water, putting a hose in and even before the tub was full, I was already in the tub! Doctor has been alerted but we worried he won't arrive on time.

The minute I was in the water, immediately I felt so much relief during the contractions. So I can definitely vie for the fact that water birth helps with contractions.

To relieve the contractions that were happening every few minutes now, I would hum really loudly and squeeze my hands. I could feel the baby's head at the edge and I was told by my Doula that I was crowning. 

I could feel the baby and I didn't care the doctor wasn't there yet. My Doula spoke to me in my ear and then my doctor walks in puts his gloves on really quick and next thing I knew, my doula said 1 more and that's it. I breathed my baby down and doc rushed into the water and got the baby out. All my best friends were with me and I knew this was it.

My 1st baby Alessi came out of the water with gusto. She was a strong baby who wailed out with a cute little frown (a trademark of my Indonesian side of my family). I could hold her in my arm for as long as I wanted. Her white greasy vernix was all over her and immediately she had a strong grip in her fingers. I could warm her up with my own body temperature. There was very little blood that came out of me and the tub water was still clear except for the area near the birth. Finally, I could cut her umbilical cord myself and only then my baby was taken from me to get cleaned, weighed and measured.

I had the gut feeling then that my baby girl was gonna be just as strong and feisty as her mama. I also knew that the bond we had then birthing her in the water will be one that will always keep me close to her.

Going through massive contractions on the left 

On the right, Doctor finally arrived as I was breathing my baby down.

It is the most out of the world feeling and I will not trade that for any other way. I water birthed my 2nd daughter 2 years later as well.

After the water birth, I could step out of the tub to do a land birth of the placenta (something I never knew I had to do prior to birthing).

Breastfeeding for the 1st time

Once the placenta is out, baby's all done, baby was given back to me to breastfeed for the 1st time. I know the colustrum or the 1st milk which looks like honey instead of milk is most nutritious so I gladly let Alessi latch onto my breasts. She was a natural and I became a mother breastfeeding her baby.

A big thank you for the greatest support I could have possibly had during my water birth:

Professor Dr Chong Yap Seng of National University Hospital Singapore, the only Doctor and hospital that you can do Water Birth in Singapore.

Catherine Soon, my personal Doula from Parentlink and Trimester who helped me through all the painful contractions, made me believe that I could do it without the epidural and did/said the right things when I needed it most.

Deborah Fox, my Doula from NUH, that had the patient to explain to me all about water birth in NUH and linking me to Catherine.

My best friends who were by my side and tub: Alan, Nina, Richard and Yunda the donor.

Alessi's birth started with a party of great friends and people and love and it will always stay that way. The beauty of water birth - a few people allowed in the same room :)

My infamous Alessi with her infamous frown at birth

So yes, water birth is not only for Caucasians and for you to watch on YouTube. I am a living example and so is my doula Catherine that Water Birth is possible for Asians and it is available here in Singapore and in Malaysia at Pantai Hospital Bangsar.

Should I consider a Breast Lift after 2 babies?

I used to be infamously known for perky breasts, going without a bra and dancing up & down on a dance platform in a club in really low cut tops. Basically my boobies were my assets! They were a 36C, absolutely perky and just nice :) A lot of people used to ask me if my boobies were fake and whether I had gone for breast augmentation! I took it as a compliment.

 At 36C - on the left, this is a picture of me exactly jus before I got pregnant and on the right, this is a picture of me from 7years ago.

However, during my 1st pregnancy, I had gained a whopping 40kgs (88 pounds)! That obviously expanded my breasts to a crazy 40G!

At size 40G - 1 month before birthing in green and at the hospital on the day of birthing

The massive expansion and shrinking of my breasts have left them not looking as great as they used to. Extreme weight loss and pregnancy are very common reasons why women get SAGGY BREASTS.

A lot of my close friends have made comments about my breasts not being as perky as they used to be and it is most evident when I wear my 'party & clubbing clothes". Not wanting to face the reality of my saggy breasts every time I look at my naked body after a shower, I ignored everyone's comments.

Finally, when my ex-bf visited me, 1st thing he said was - OMFG wat happened to my most favorite breasts!!! (in a very condescending manner).... THAT WAS IT for me!

I went online to do a lot of research and found 1 website which was extremely helpful - How To Tell If I Need A Breast Lift. After reading the measurements the website teaches you to measure, I know for a fact I definitely need a breast lift. 

Most women consider doing a breast lift with a breast augmentation (adding implants or fat). My breasts are already too big, I would like to reduce them so just a breast lift will be more than enough for me. This is a very good video to show how the ACTUAL SURGERY for breast lifts are done using an actual patient. DO NOT watch if you are faint hearted.

I used to say, I will NEVER go under the knife for aesthetic reasons other than the breast reduction and my 1st lumpectomy I had as an 18year old and my 2 other lumpectomies I had as a 25yr old for medical reasons.

I'm single, unmarried and have 2 kids, I think having nicer breasts (it will never be like my original breasts again I know) will boost my dating confidence again. 

If anyone were to criticize me for breast lifts, I would ignore them. Any women can go for a breast lift if they have gone through massive weight loss or pregnancy. It is YOUR body, YOUR rights.

I can't wait to see my breast lift results and I hope they will turn out just like these:

I am scheduled for my 1st appointment end of the year and perhaps do the surgery then, so that I will have less saggy breasts for the new year.

I will post details on my blog after the appointment, surgery time and recovery time. Be on the further look out.

Will also detail out the various doctors I will visit to see who I feel most comfortable with and the costs, so that all you women out there don't have to feel ashamed, I will do the background checks for those of you based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia or planning to do one as medical tourism here in Malaysia.

Children are fussy eaters? Untrue, how to condition and transition for child to table foods

People are always amazed how I can cook so many meals in 45mins - cooking for myself and maid, my 3yr old and 9mth old. Technically speaking there are 3 different groups of people I need to cook for but  I only treat them as 2 groups. 1 group eats my food and the only other person differently is my9mth old.

A few days ago, I explained how I multitask cooking in 45mins. I explained how I prepared the next night's dinner, the night before. But the main secret to my ability of multitasking cooking is because I have conditioned and trained my toddler to eat whatever I eat since she was able to eat proper food at 10-11mths.

I didn't have the luxury then when my current 3.5yr old was 9mths old. At that time, I was single-handedly raising her alone. I didn't have time to prepare a separate meal for her or we would be eating out wherever was convenient for me to grab food for myself whilst running around working like crazy. Also, I was selfish, I didn't want to sacrifice the type of meals I would be having nor did I want to waste money ordering another separate dish altogether.

So my baby would eat whatever I would eat. How? This may sound gross but I would order any dish I wanted except spicy ones and mash/puree the food ala caveman style - put it in my mouth, bite it down so it is soft and mashy and then put it into a teaspoon and feed it to my baby. If it wasn't this, then I would breastfeed her under a breast cover.

I would feed her lots of vege, fish, chicken and rice or pasta, chewed and mashed in my mouth and then transferred to her. I did this because I have heard stories from many mothers whereby their babies/toddlers would chew then spit food out or didn't like eating or had problems sitting down still to eat or were fussy eaters.

I knew in my condition as a single mum and being extremely busy working a sometimes 24-hour job that I couldn't afford to have such a situation.

Friends and public were disgusted by what I did but I ignored all their expressions as I felt that what I was doing and my logic for doing so were right. I felt that if my child experiences various tastebuds from young then she would have a great appetite for a huge variety of food.

I continued doing so and as she grew older, my friends would feed her anything and everything as long as it is softer, smaller  and not so dry. As she grew up, everyone was impressed that she would eat sashimi, raw vege, pate, foie gras, all fruits including Durian - the Asian king of fruit which even I can't stand the smell of, truffle oil, plain rice, pasta, pesto - well she eats almost practically anything from any cultural background.

Occasionally she tries to be stubborn and not want to try something new, but I have always praised her tremendously every time she ate something new and I would remind her how much I would love her and praise he if she just tried. Every time I say that, she will try and 98% of the time, she will realize that she loves eating it regardless.

Also I make eating fun. As she grows older, I multitask eating time with education. We bring out all the different sensors - taste, smell, sight, touch, hear. How?

Sight - I always talk to her about the color and how the food looks, sometimes if I am able to, I create a visual or face out of the food. So I rearrange it for her to see and for her to look at and laugh at and respond.

Smell - We will always smell the food 1st before we eat and I will discuss with her the various smells.

Touch & Hear - I will encourage her to touch the food (depending on what type of food whether it's using her fingers or her spoon) and certain food like crackers, I encourage her to crack them with her fingers to hear the cracking sound so it'll make her happy or impressed and then she can eat it.

Taste - finally everything ends with the taste. Once she tastes the food, I will praise her and clap so she gets really happy.

She has grown up to eat better than most adults, less fussy than most people or babies/toddlers and she eats food varying from super healthy foods to of course event junk food.

My 3 year old voluntarily eats fetta cheese for the 1st time and loves it. 

She loves to eat salad on her own

The other night, she ate almost half of my salad and for the 1st time, she saw fetta cheese and she didn't even ask me what it was, she stuffed it straight in her mouth. Immediately, she told me she loves it and ended up eating half a tub of fetta cheese on her own. A lot of people I know don't fancy fetta but my 3.5yr old thinks its the bomb now.

I hope my tips on trying to raise a non-fussy child helps mothers out there!

Squeezy Saturdays - how I pack a lot of activities in a weekend day for my toddler and baby

I've been so busy with work and feeling unwell the past week that I haven't had the time to write my blog. So here I am doing my usual thing on a weekend - multitasking yet again.

So i've written down my typical Madness Monday. Now it's time to write about my weekends. One would think with such crazy weekdays, I would have lots of time resting and alone time on weekends. In fact, it is the exact opposite.

It all depends on my Friday evenings. Currently I am in party mode, so I am going every Friday for a good dance at a new club and me with the extremities, would of cos only come home when the lights are all switched on in the club. So the earliest would be like last night which is about 3.30am. On certain crazy occasions like last weekend, I can go home latest 6.45am (which is extremely rare)!

Regardless what time I come home, my Saturday wouldn't change (it's only whether I get more or less sleep). My 3yr old girl would wake up between 7.00am - 7.30am latest and Saturday's her ultimate favorite day as it is HER DAY.

7.00am - 7.30am
Wake up and make breakfast for the kids, every week we change the theme/menu for breakfast, baking or cooking something new or different ranging from scrambled eggs-scones-pancake-crepe-french toast-waffles-english muffin-eggs benedict, well basically you name the breakfast item and we have probably made it!

8.30am
Bath time for everyone, this is when me, my 3yr old and 9mth old will have a long bath, playing with water and toys.

9.15am
3yr old gets changed and ready for her ballerina class - her ultimate fav for this moment.

9.45am
The whole family is out of the house and heading towards a nearby mall where her ballerina class is conducted.

10.00am
3yr old at Ballerina class and I am either in the class socializing with the other mothers there or I will be having a quick fix by going for a 1 hour massage.

11.15am - 12.00pm
Running errands - be it payment of bills, getting my contact lenses, dog food, dog groomers - whatever needs to be done for the week

12.00pm - 2.00pm
Brunch/Lunch with my close friends and kids and then the kids will nap whilst I continue with brunch.

2.00pm - 3.00pm
3yr old goes for her arts & crafts class and that's my time, either I catch up on work or read a book or for this particular instance writing my blog.

3.30pm - 6.30pm
At this time, we are either at an indoor playground or at home baking together or swimming at a friend's place and hanging out with friends and if there's spare time within this 3 hour period, then I would watch TV with the kids (watching the kids' program of course) or continue either working or reading a book (most of the time it is working, naturally).

6.30pm - 7.30pm
Hopefully I have a breather, if not I will go straight into preparing and cooking dinner for the 2 kinds and myself.

7.30pm
Dinner time with the kids.

8.00pm
Bath time for all of us.

8.30pm - 9.30pm
Play time or storybook time for both the 3yr old and 9mth old.

9.30pm
Bedtime for everybody and mama does whatever she wants to do then ranging from watching TV/DVD, reading a book, going online or worse case - working on my computer.

11.00pm
If I decide to not go out that night, I will be in bed already around this time. But if I decide to go out and have another crazy night out to tire myself even further - then I would be silly enough to go out on this Saturday night, making it 2 late nights out in a row for me!

So this is how I pack a lot of activities for my kids which also means a lot of activities for myself in a Saturday. So Saturdays are rest days, there's more work for me in a Saturday then there is on a weekday.

I always wonder what most other Single Mums or families do on a Saturday...

Want to travel to space and be an astronaut? Today I did just that...

I had the honour today to be part of history in Malaysia. Since December last year, we have been working on this project with Axe Malaysia. Axe and Lynx worldwide launched this Global Competition to send 22 people into Space.

Buzz Aldrin a former American Astronaut and the 2nd person to walk on the moon 44 years ago, launched the global campaign in January this year with this video link. Malaysians thought that the chance to become Malaysia's next astronaut was a joke, but then after researching online they realized it isn't. Thousands of Malaysians participated and had to get a lot of people to vote for them. The Top 15 rankings will be invited to our Malaysian Axe-tronaut Space Academy/Space Race to then be the Top 5 of which Malaysians will then vote for their own Malaysian Hero that will be sent to A.A.S.A - Axe Apollo Space Academy, watch this (Space Academy video link).

In A.A.S.A Orlando Florida, 150 Space Cadets from around the world through the competition will go through some rigorous training on the L39 Albatross MK-2 et, experience the weightlessness of space in a Zero Gravity flight and ride in the G-Force Centrifuge where the 6-G force will push the body to its limit. Out of these 150 Space Cadets, 1 of them will be the Malaysian that we will choose during these 2 days and then the Malaysians will choose the Top 1 out of the Top5.

And out of these 150 Space Cadets, only 22 will fly up 103km to space with Space Tourism company - Space XC see this Space Flight video. The spaceship departs like an airplane, accelerating at incredible speed faster than the speed of sound. At 60km, the parabolic flight begins where they will experience a period of weightlessness and on the way back down, experience G-Force and gliding back to earth and arriving back like a space shuttle does.

Today, the Top 15 came down to our Axe Malaysia Space Camp. We interviewed them, listened to their stories on why they participated in this competition to go to space and how did they garner so many votes to be ranked the Top 15 in Malaysia out of thousands. We put them through the personality test during the one-on-one interview sessions as well as put them in front of a camera to see if they would know how to respond to media.

Myself together with Nikki, Axe Brand Manager Interviewing Top 15

During the interview, I was amazed by people's stories. They come from all walk of lives - student, lecturer, game designer, rope access freelancer, wall climbing trainer, war game trainer, unemployed, astro physicist, poet, aviation engineer, mechanical engineer and even a direct selling salesman. Amazing thing is they all had one similarity - they all dreamt of being an astronaut or going into space since they were kids.

But the thing that really touched me today is to see the dedication these 14 men and 1 woman had to realize this dream. I mean the reality is yes we all dream of this and that but what do we really do to try and achieve them - not much. Especially being an astronaut or going into space - who would ever think that you would have any remote chance at all. So without any chance, we wouldn't bother to even chaser work towards it. But these 15 people did. I am so proud to be amongst them today and I truly applaud them to get hundreds of thousands of votes so that they can be Top 15. Its easy to get 10, 100, 1000 votes from friends and family but to surpass 1000 votes, you would need a lot of strangers and these guys did anything and everything including marketing themselves globally to get votes. One of them even wrote to Buzz Aldrin to ask him to vote for him.

Words cannot explain these ordinary men and woman who have the guts to chase after what we call a silly childhood dream. But throughout today, I felt like I was going through and living through their journey of accomplishing their dream. Today, I felt like I was one of the Top 15 that will end up being 1 of the 22 going into space.

Most of all, today, I felt Malaysian pride for the 1st time in Malaysia. When they raised the Malaysian flag in our group photo, I felt like a Malaysian even though I am not one.

The Top 15 Axe Malaysian Space Cadets

When I conducted the briefing session to the Top 15, I saw it in their eyes, the huge glimpse of hope that they will be in Space as I played the videos above and explained the whole challenge they will go through tomorrow.

Even my team members who have not slept much the last few nights, trying out experiments with science building rockets out of baking soda and vinegar, something I used to make heaps when I was in high school. Finally last night and this morning, they got a successful rocket launching up really nice & high. Could see their huge sense of pride and happiness too. But in the craziness of deadlines and stress, our team always find time to have fun, laugh and be silly. Today, we became our own Axe-tronauts too!

Guess which one is me...

In my subject title I wrote "Want to travel to space and be an astronaut? Today I did just that..." you might be thinking, well no... I didn't do that today. I did not go into space.

For me just being part of this, watching the videos, talking to the Top 15, hearing stories and dedication, I felt like I did go to space vicariously through 1 of these guys. If and when 1 of them goes to space and comes back to Malaysia to tell the story, I will read it or watch it and go that's my boy/girl and feel so proud like a mama would.

I wish all the Top 15 lots of success and luck for tomorrow's Space Race we created to pick the Top 5.

And for all of you out there, if these guys can dream big, so can the rest of us.

Sleep is for the weak but at 34, I learned that sleep is important

I ended up sleeping at 5am on Monday night after doing my training materials and lots of research for a pitch I am working on. Amazing enough, I managed to wake up at 6am to tell my friends that I can't join them for a run at FRIM - a forest reserve and went straight back to sleep thereafter.

Since I have been a teenager, most friends who know me will tell you, Sham is crazy - she doesn't sleep or she doesn't sleep much. The past 21years I have been able to go through days without sleep or little sleep (1-4hrs max every night) with an occasional huge Knock Out session lasting 1full day of sleep. I am constantly told by everyone that this unhealthy and I believe it isn't. I just wished that I could go to sleep easily but I simply can't. Call it insomnia or hyperactive or just got too much on my mind or have too many things to do in 24hours or even workaholic. However since the 2 recent funerals that were back to back, in a row slightly more than a month ago, it's a reality check for me. I need to stay healthy and alive for many years to come, for my family - my 2 girls who have no one else but me, their only parent. So all the years or nagging from my friends and family, that I should sleep more finally stopped. After the funerals, I made a conscious effort to sleep.

Yes I had to learn to sleep. Miss Know-It-All Sham had to learn the basics. It was difficult initially for the 1st few nights but I think with the help of loads of holistic supplements and vitamin pills I started taking, eventually after a few days and consciously trying very hard to sleep, I finally did the basics of life - SLEEP!

There's tons of articles and proven research that you can Google on all the good effects of sleep such as Harvard Health. However for me, these past 21 years I have lived or 'slept' on the mantra that lesser sleep is better for me because I am more efficient. These past years, whenever I would sleep a normal 6-8hrs like majority of the human population, I would wake up heavy, still tired and for the next 8hrs I will feel sluggish and even more tired. I would feel like I am not sharp, unable to multitask or perform as per norm.

In comparison to when I have my ideal 3hrs a night sleep, I would be up super fresh, sharp minded, able to perform extremely well, have great ideas, multitask and well be in TOP FORM. So I came up with my own hypothesis that less sleep is better for me and that sleep was for the weak. However, occasionally I would have the 1 KO session which is a deep long sleep of about 12-14hours.

The years of nagging from friends & family is finally heard. With my past health issues and most importantly for the sake of my 2 wonderful children, I am learning to sleep.

Many friends have told me that even if I have to ONLY sleep 3-4 hours then I should only sleep between 11pm - 2am as this is when the body regenerates/detoxifies at its optimum level. After some simple online research, in the Dr Oz website its best to sleep from 10pm - 2am. I figured, hey why not. I will only sleep 5 hours and it is optimum sleep. I can then be awake at 2am and go back to doing the things I normally would do.

It wasn't easy to go to bed at 10pm so initially it started at 11pm, then gradually over days it became 10pm. The surprising element for me though is that the 1st few days I go to sleep at 11pm, I would naturally wake up at 2am. The gradually as the days go by, I would naturally be asleep from 11pm to 6am, then it progressed to 11pm to 7am. I am sleeping 8 hours a day DAILY, which in my life terms - it is simple UNHEARD of.

And how I used to be inefficient, feeling lethargy, cranky if I had slept more than 4hours a day, that all became history. Now with 8 hours of sleep a day, I am happy, functioning very well, still as efficient, able to multitask, feel good and have great skin!

So when Monday night/Tuesday morning, I slept at 5am, I could not wake up at 6am (1 hour sleep - what was I thinking). Instead I woke up at 8.30am and last night (Tuesday) when I was putting both my children to sleep at 9.30pm, I fell asleep with them. I naturally became so tired that I went to sleep so early. My body can no longer survive on 3-4hours sleep a day, it needs the 6-8 hours at least.

This morning I woke up fresh to the sound of the Subur Azan (Muslim call to morning prayer) from my nearby mosque at 6am sharp. It is a great feeling.

At 6am I decided to write this article on my blog and then go to the gym for the 1st time in many many months.

At CHI Fitness doing my 1st TRX class this morning 7am

So from a person of extremities, from extremely very little sleep per day (averaging 3 hours/day) to an average of 6-8 hours/day, there is a huge difference. I personally feel that sleep is good for your body, mind and soul.

The only downside, I have lesser time to use in the 24hours we have in a day once 1/4 - 1/3 of the day is taken up by sleep.

But longevity and good health is very important to me now, for the sake of my 2 children. So 11pm - 7am sleep it is for me everyday. But after reading Dr Oz's article earlier on, I am going to try and sleep 10pm - 6am daily now and learn to be even more efficient with the remaining time I have left in a day.

For those few crazy people out there like me that still sleep less than 6hours per day and sleep at 1am - 3am at night, try to put in 1 extra hour of sleep by going to bed 1 hour earlier. Keep trying that till you are able to fall asleep at 10pm or 11pm and feel/see the difference like I do.

I intend to try and keep this up for as many days I possibly can in a week (except weekends when I do go out to nightspots).

How I Multitask Cooking: 45mins to prepare many meals

For quite a lot of my friends who are used to coming over to my house for dinner, they are used to seeing me multitask in the kitchen, cooking plenty of dishes for a lot of people in a short period of time. Again, in my arduous task of obtaining perfectionism, I developed this habit of being able to act like a chef of a restaurant in my very own kitchen.

Monday nights I prepare the following:

• Monday night's dinner for myself, my 3yr old and 9mth old
• Tuesday afternoon's lunch for myself to pack to work
• Tuesday's lunch for my 9mth old daughter
• Semi-prep for Tuesday night's dinner for myself, my 3yr old and 9mth old

So how do I do all of the above in 45mins? Here's how...

All 3 of us are in the kitchen at the same time every evening

I will put my youngest daughter, Adrianna in her walker with some toys or vege sticks to munch on for her teething to distract her.

Alessi has been trained from 18mths old to always assist me in everything I do, so now she is my pro-assistant chef. Alessi will help me cut, clear, stir, mix, wash and clean :)

1st 10mins is always cooking rice in rice cooker (if it is rice for the night) & everything on the table to prepare all of the above meals and doing all the cutting, chopping, mincing, watever. I cut the meat 1st and marinade it while I cut all other items. 1st cut items are always for Adrianna's food steamer & blender. Once the rest are ready, I place all the cut items on as little plates as possible. Meaning as many dishes' cut items onto the same plates if possible (to reduce washing later).

Then I will cook Item No 1: Alessi's Chinese herbal soup 1st because it is the easiest and fastest to do. Boil water in kettle, pour onto half chicken carcass in a big bowl and pour boiling water into pot with herbs. Boil herbs, remove chicken carcass from big bowl and place in boiling pot of herbs. Bring to boil for 5mins and then lower the fire to simmer for another 30-40mins. 

In another small pot, Item No 2: pour boiling water to steam the corncob.

Whilst I am doing the Chinese soup & corn, I will also heat up 1 wok/pan on low heat and I will also place Item No 3: Tuesday night's dinner ingredients into the oven to grill. I am roasting vegetables for Tuesday night's dinner so I simply place them all on the tray and let them oven grill them for the next 15mins.

Once it is all in the oven, I go over to my heated wok to stir fry Item No 4, for tonight I am doing Chinese stir fry of tomato and celery with butter, garlic and salt. Very light stir fry to maintain freshness and crispiness of the vege. Remove from wok, 1/4 onto plate, 1/2 onto lunch box, 1/4 onto Alessi's plate.

I also multitask and do Item No 5: put a knob of butter into a small pot to lightly melt the butter, low heat for 30secs then pour in the finely chopped garlic, leave for another 30secs. Switch of the fire and leave to cool down. This prepares Homemade Garlic Butter which costs peanuts compared to the ones sold in supermarket! Breakfast tomorrow: Toast with Garlic Butter and Slice of Cheese

Using the same big wok stir fry vege, I cook Item No 6: pour in the marinated meat, stir fry for 2-3mins, then pour in the broccoli stir fry for 1min and lastly the bok choy for another 30secs. I always like my vege still crunchy so it is a short period of time to stir fry. Remove from wok, 1/4 onto plate, 1/2 onto lunch box, 1/4 onto Alessi's plate.

Cooking Multiple Dishes To Save Time

In the meantime, Alessi would have washed all the cutlery and plates used to prepare.

Remove corn cob from pot and put into lunch box.

Add salt to Chinese soup and remove from heat. 

Pour soup into 2 bowls, balance into lunch box.

Scoop rice onto my plate, Alessi's plate and lunch box.

My maid will scoop Adrianna's food from steamer/blender into her bowl.

So in 45mins, I have prepared:

Chinese Soup to last 2 dinner nights

2 Dishes + Rice for Dinner and Pack Lunch

1 Corn Cob to snack on at work

Adrianna's meal for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow

Semi-prepare tomorrow night's dinner - Roasted Vegetables

Dinner Tonight + Lunch Tomorrow + Dinner Prep Tomorrow

I know it sounds like a really crazy 45mins. 

But in this short time, I am enjoying my favorite past time, spending quality time with my kids teaching them cooking and cleaning up (a life skill) whilst making it a fun activity filled with great conversations and I feed healthy meals to my family!

So if I can do it, so can you :)

Madness Multitasking Monday!

First of all, I am very impressed that my 1 simple blog post last night received 288 views! Purely from the linking of my blog to Facebook... sounding like an old aged non-tech savvy person, but... I am DAMN impressed! So a BIG THANK YOU to whomever is reading my blog.

Now, back to my 2nd blog posting...

Monday is always called Madness Multitasking Monday!

In my quest of being a perfectionist, I find that MULTITASKING ends up superseding Perfectionism. I strive to have my usual Mondays as such:

• 7.00AM: Wake up, make breakfast for myself and kids and eat breakfast together (whilst eating breakfast i quickly go through some emails - multitasking no 1)
• 7.45AM: Take a shower and bathe Alessi (my 3yr old) at the same time (multitasking no 2)
• 8.00AM: Alessi picks her clothes, I put all my lotions and creams on, lotion up Alessi then wear her clothes, I wear my clothes then its hair dryer time together. I dry her hair 1st then i'll dry mine as she goes downstairs to watch TV (multitasking no 3)
• 8.30AM: Walk or Drive (pending on my mood or how rushed I am) Alessi to school
• 8.40AM: Check on my work emails whilst interacting with Adrianna (my 9mth old) and the Baby Einstein DVD (multitasking no 4)
• 9:30AM: Leave home for work (Thankfully I live 5mins away from my workplace so on "bad" days it takes me only 10mins max)
• 9.45-10:00AM: its work work work work work in the office, have lunch in the office. I normally bring packed food from home or I'll have takeaway in the office as I'd rather get as much work done rather than waste time going out to eat. (multitasking no 5)
• 6.30 - 7.30PM: I leave work for home, if I leave early that means I can walk my dogs with Alessi or now I am TRYING to go to the gym for half an hour. If I leave 7.30pm like tonight, then the madness begins
• 7:30 - 8.15PM: Cooking time with my kids. I cook, Alessi cuts and washes (multitasking no 6)! Cook tonight's dinner for me and the kids, Cook tomorrow's lunch to pack to work, Prepare tomorrow night's dinner (multitasking no 7) - this is what I will further explain on how I multitask cooking so much within such a short period of time, in buy next blog post
• 8.15 - 9.00PM: Eat dinner with my kids, talk about today, what we did in school, at work, play interactive games, watch TV together (Disney Junior or Baby TV only, preferably the latter to unwind the kids down)
• 9.00  – 9.15PM: Evening shower together, brush teeth together, wear pyjamas and while Alessi goes to the playroom to play, I will be applying my night lotions and creams in the name of my vanity (multitasking no 8)
• 9.15 – 9.30PM: A quick short playtime in the playroom or educational reading of books together with Alessi and Adrianna
• 9.30 – 9.45PM: Drink milk (I will feed Alessi and my maid will feed Adrianna), hugs, kisses and goodnight to both kids and lights out
• 9.45 – 10.45AM: It’s me time: Check out news feed on FB, Googling interesting ideas/articles, reading a book or starting today, it will include my 10mins writing on my blog!
• 11.00PM: I used to sleep very little before, but new me is trying to go to bed by 11.00pm. However, like tonight, I have tons of work and deadline and research to do, I will go to sleep once I am done with my work. Most likely tonight, I will go to sleep at around 3am

Just writing this, I already kinda feel exhausted. You must be exhausted reading it too.
But I would assume most working mums have the same kinda day as I do. I have a maid now finally for the past 11months since my 2nd child was about to be born. But I am very hands on and I thoroughly enjoy doing all of the above with my kids so that they get to spend quality time with me whilst I educate them on growing up. No matter how exhausting a day like this may feel, at the end of each day when I put my kids to sleep, I have this smirk on my face knowing that everything I am doing, every minute and every second of the day is all simply worth it for them.

Why am I blogging? My 1st blog post ever.

This is my 1st blogpost ever. I advocate content and blogs so much but I myself didn't have a blog whereby I could create and share content. So this is it.

I contemplated for days what in the world would I blog about. Why would anyone want to read my blog. Whilst pondering, as usual friends and people would ask me on a daily basis... how to this and how to that and how can you do it while you are a single mum. Then it finally struck me, I should write about my daily life.

I am a single mum by choice. My kids are through IVF and I chose/bought the sperm. I decided to have kids on my own with our without a husband at the age of 30 and at 32 I was blessed with my 1st child - Alessi, my little princess. Alessi is now 3 years old and she is the Chinese one. What do I mean by that - her male donor is of Chinese origin. At 33, I was blessed with my 2nd child, Adrianna, my other little princess. Adrianna is now 9mths old and she is the Dutch one. And again, what do I mean by that - her male donor is of Dutch origin.

While in Europe, America or Australia, it is common to hear of single mothers or women who have decided to have kids on their own accord, in Asia it is a big boo-boo... a taboo. Maybe if being a single mother was through out of wedlock and marriage didn't happen thereafter, or through a tragedy such as an accident, teen pregnancy is heard of.

But to decide on your own accord and purchase the male sperm, go through IVF or insemination and have kids as a single woman without a husband is a whole different ball game altogether.

This has resulted in the many comments be it good or bad, praise and criticisms, admiration and mock from friends, family and the public.

However, this has made me even stronger and prouder of the fact that I am a single mother by choice and it is THE BEST DECISION I have made in my life. I don't deny that many a times I wish I had done it the regular way, be married and have kids, but I am still unmarried and my 2 wonderful children  complete me in a way I can never explain and have brought my life to a whole new meaning.

I am still that career woman, that party girl, the girl waiting to find her soulmate, the trying-to-achieve-everything-in-life person, a daughter, trying to be a sister, the friend that my friends can always rely on, the trying-to-be-a-humanitarian, the entrepreneur, the perfectionist and now... the mother.

Thus, the title of my blog: Single Mother Doing Everything In 24 Hours.