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Politics
Policies of Von-Nation
*~ Be happy, think positive, SMILE!
*~ Love simply
*~ Live the day like there is no tomorrow
*~ Live without regrets
*~ Dispose of your rubbish carefully
*~ Reduce your usage of plastic shopping bags
*~ Love the world, be charitable
*~ Respect Cross-cultural relationships
*~ Respect same-sex relationships
*~ Be kind to your family, respect ur parents
*~ Enjoy song & dance
*~ Swear till your hearts' content
*~ Love who you are and be satisfied
*~ Eat when u r hungry
*~ Money is not the most important thing
*~ Have faith in something you feel strongly about
*~ Respect all religions
*~ Don't take life so seriously
*~ Give hugs
*~ Have manners! Be polite
*~ Cherish ur group of friends
*~ Don't talk shit, get to the pt
*~ Be passionate about your job
*~ Invest in a good eye cream
*~ Don't waste food
*~ Respect elders
*~ Don't be afraid to have a say!
*~ Love animals

Subject to alteration..
What do you think?
Political correctness
Karen Cheng - This lady must love perth
as much as I do!! Great read, web designer

Ayu - Another nutang bud, luv her
site designs! Sweet person..

Bitch- a "bitch" NOT! Cool Nutang girl!

KOban - NUtang boy who likes ff like me!, from sg too.

ShaShaBoo - she mah home girl..hehe
nutanger too!!

Vera - Frm Atlanta, US, alwiz has
something interesting to say!

JulAngel - Friend from 1st yr uni at Murdoch, Honkie at heart but living in Perth.


Phoid_hearted
- another nutanger...very cool blog, she knows how to write!

Aussie Poida - A work friend, also from Perth. A live journal junkie/nintendo person
Adoption
Count me in
Hey Everyone, I need your help!
Fridayday. 3.4.11 7:55am


This is serious stuff...I have just entered my baby into the Bonds Baby Search 2011 competition and I need your help to vote for Leo! This year the Bonds Baby Search 2011 has over 50,000 entries from babies all over Australia, and this year is when they decide to change the judging system to have the baby with the most public votes win.

Leo is now 7 months, he falls into the under 9 months category and looking at his lil face I think he will best represent Australia in the Bonds Baby Search. Recent news on the competition stated that parents were being 'racist' to coloured babies on the Facebook page. This really pissed me off, and makes me even more determined to have Leo win because being Australian should not be about being born white with blue eyes. It is a disgusting characteristic of adults to be so over-competitive with their baby that they have to say horrible comments like 'Bonds Australia, not Bonds Asia'.

Anyways please vote for my lil man, all you have to do is click on the link below:

http://babysearch.bonds.com.au/entry/35486/leo-a

Click 'vote now' after you enter your email address. And then an automated email will be sent to you, you must click the confirmation link in the email for your vote to be valid. You may vote for other babies too, but the rules are you can only cast one vote per baby.

THANK YOU NUTANG PEEPS! I'M EVER SO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT ^_^

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Change of plans
Saturday. 2.12.11 10:38 pm
This year hasn't been going the way as planned. I thought that I would be at a different place by now, but I am actually still stuck in the same situation. I want to do so much more this year and I haven't had time to plan out what I want to do...even planning takes time! My days are simple but happy, I look after my two children and clean up after them. I have recently begun selling things online, things that we don't generally use to earn some quick cash. I would rather do this day in and day out than to return to work and hardly see my children. I know returning to work would mean a much easier financial situation for us...but would it be fulfilling? Could I really go back to work wondering what I am missing out with my kids? It's tough...but isn't that the reality now a days. Both parents can't really spend the time with their children, income has to come from somewhere. But such is life, families all around the world are doing it..and the kids come out all right from not having their parents around.

Anyho...I have begun some sewing ventures and want to branch out more. I have joined the BurdaStyle sewing group in Perth, they are actually doing really well. They have over 50 members now and growing rapidly, it is great...I think it is even larger than the Brooklyn, NY group :) I can't wait to meet up with these people at Potters on 19th February...we are going fabric hunting which has become a recent obsession of mine. I have a nice stock of fabrics ready to become wearable pieces. I need the sewing classes though to teach me how to read patterns and use them properly. I don't want to mess up my beautiful fabric! It would be such a waste..

I sadly found out my job application for New York was unsuccessful, even though they rated me as 'suitable' there must of been someone highly suitable for the job and got in first. I have been placed on the merit of order...and if that person no longer wants to stay there I may get a chance to go. But come on!! Who would let down the chance of staying in New York. It would have been great if I got it, not for me but for my family...for the experience for 'small town' folk to live in a big city. It would have been a 'kick-up-the-butt' for me and Fernando to start something...make our creative dreams a reality. Perth doesn't seem like the right place to do that.

But it wasn't meant to be...and it isn't such a bad thing. I still have my close group of friends and my supportive family...I was scared to accept the NY job if they presented it to me because I would be letting go of all the people I love. Tonight I got to catch up with them over dinner, we had some good laughs that even made me cry and my cheeks ache. It is the best feeling in the world to be surrounded by such great company, warm and genuine people who I care for and that cares for me. One of the traits of being an Aries is that I have so much energy, so eager to do lots of things, so sociable and so ambitious that it drains the HELL out of me. I wish I could be more practical...and less a dreamer..

Hope you all had a better start to 2011, hope you find what you have been looking for :)

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Christmas and the end of the year that was 2010
Wednesday. 12.31.10 9:12 pm

Leo's 1st Christmas

This Christmas was particularly hectic and there wasn't any spirit really left in it! It was more for the kids and making sure they had a nice Christmas. I guess as an adult you are left to worry about the stress of organising a nice time for the kids and the rest of the relatives. This Christmas was slightly on the grim side as well because we are short on money, being short on money doesn't necessarily mean we have a bad time but a little extra would help. I'm still on half pay maternity leave, so the up-side is I am not spending my days working...I had lots of fun with Sofia shopping for gifts and dressing the two in cute 'Christmas' costumes. It was also Leo's first Christmas, so that was special, it was nice to see him rip through the wrapping paper to see his 'first' presents.

Sofia was a lucky girl, she had so many presents it was enough to compete with the local toy shop. But at first I had begged her to open her pressies, she still doesn't understand the idea of presents under the tree...she thought they just stayed wrapped up! I took enough video footage and digital photos to last the whole year :)


Leo and I on New Year's Day

On top of Chrissy festivities, the weather was stinking hot! 38 degrees on the actual day and we were so uncomfortable! I have a dream to one day fly to the Northern hemisphere and have my white Christmas there. It would be so much more delightful and everyone would be merry, not sweaty and grumpy. I was so easy going on Christmas day, everyone else's bad mood was just easily forgiven. I think Jesus would want that on his birthday :) What ever happened to peace and good will to all men AND women. I got to catch up with my usual group of friends at Melissa's bbq birthday, and that day was 40 degrees! Plus my bestie, Tiff is back in town so I caught up with her for a bit.

New Years was nothing special, just hung out with my friend Michelle at her new apartment in Perth City and then had to leave at 11pm to pick up kids at my parents and go home by midnight. It was just like another day! I have been trying to do more sewing in between the holidays, even though the weather is hot...I have caught the 'sewing' bug. I can't wait for the next project which will be using my very first Butterick's pattern to make a summer dress :) I made Sofia a ballet skirt, in a red colour, just in time for Christmas too. I was surprised at the result, I think I did rather ok ;)


Sofia modelling the skirt I sewed for her

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the opportunity to work overseas
Monday. 12.6.10 5:13 pm
Suddenly I have been hit with the travel bug...I want to travel overseas and work and experience another country's culture and environment. Some who know me may think it is insane, because I have to drag my little family along with me. But I know if I do want to work overseas my partner will support me 100%. He isn't the type to be tied down either and would be open to experience another part of the world. I have come across a job advertised through the Australian Embassy to work in New York, how I have dreamt to one day be in New York and live there. It is only a 12 months contract, but I think that would be enough for me to enjoy the city that is New York. I won't be setting my hopes too high because there must be hundreds of applicants. The thing is I will have to pay for all the costs to fly there and settle there...which is a bit annoying because I still have to finance my house in Perth. I'm a bit relieved that the AUD is going so well against the USD.

My mum would be devastated because I would be taking her grand children away from her. But I figured I only have one life and so do my kids and hubby, and what an experience it would be for them. My head is spinning at the thought of being overseas...away from our support systems, I wonder how we would survive. It would definitely be another maturation experience for me.

It is kinda dull in Perth at the moment, F has been looking for a stable job for a year now and there has not even been a glimmer of hope. We started out applying for graphic design jobs which is suited to his academic discipline, but the job market is tough out there. If you are not in the mining industry or business sector in Perth you are going to find much harder. It is becoming even more depressing as Christmas draws nearer and we are strap for cash...I see Sofia rummaging through the countless catalogues that come through the mail, pointing at the toys she would like for Christmas. It's so cute to see but so sad. She is a good kid, she likes to see the catalogue pictures and dream one day she will get a toy like that. She is not demanding about it...but more excited about the fact that Christmas is almost here.

I also managed to put up the Christmas tree mid-November. The common silly rule is to have it up on the 1st December, but before you know it...24 days past and Christmas is been and gone. I like to enjoy the festivities, the lights etc...it brings on that 'Christmas spirit' and it lights up the twinkle in Sofia's eyes. Leo is 4 months now, and starting to grasp at toys and even the fork from my hand when I am eating. I hope to start him on solids soon...he is a big eater and growing boy, so the breast milk won't be enough any more. It's so much fun being at home with these two munchkins, they may drive me insane at times...but I love them so much :)

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hatchling
Tuesday. 9.28.10 5:52 pm
I'm officially on twitter (von-nation)! It has taken me a really long time to decide whether to join another social networking website but I thought I might as well...or then I may just fall behind in the times hehe. I am not too sure how to use it but I guess all I have to do is post what I am doing? Oh man...how boring is that gonna be? I feel sorry for anyone who has to follow what I am doing, because most of the time I'm at home. I don't want to become one of those mothers who just talk constantly about their children, because I know how mundane that can be for the audience who is listening. Your children are the best in your eyes but not everyone else's. I totally get that!

Over the long weekend I caught with my girlfriends over some tapas and cocktails, I have been waiting to catch up with the goss after all the baby stuff. Funnily I admitted to them that I do not feel like a mum even though I have 2 under my belt, I feel like a guardian and a really close friend...I guess cuz I am a young mum and can understand the years of being a youth as I am still living them! But I'm also a person will lay down the law when it comes to teaching them how to be respectful children. Pure Bar in Subiaco is a little, trendy place that people come and relax, enjoy tasty tapas and awesome cocktails. After our dinner at Pure Bar we cruised over to San Churros for some dessert. There we enjoyed a nice cuppa spanish hot chocolate and churros on the side. Honestly to die for! That would have to be my final supper choice!

The girls opened up about their relationships and how they manage to manoeuvre through the bad ones and hang onto the good ones. It's tough out there no doubt... but it is best for a single gal to really enjoy the days of being single before they settle down into a marriage and having kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't wish to change my journey at all. But if I could have built up a career and started investing sooner I would feel much more comfortable, my life would have been set...and then I would not worry about having to rush back to work after maternity leave!

Then there is always the sacrifice...if you work harder as a young single person you won't be investing in a committed relationship, you put off the biological clock etc. When people say 'until I pay off the house', 'until I can travel the world' etc...you may just lose out in the baby race. I can't help but feel that I am not given that chance to advance in my career at work because I am labelled a 'mum'...it's tough for working mothers, we are still so what linked to the stereotype that we don't work hard enough or put in the hours. I returned to DIAC as a full time mum after Sofia was 5 months! I invested myself into the business for 2 years full time, but my mentor failed to invest in me when I fell pregnant again. I can't help but feel...was there a bit of discrimination??? Or was I just someone 'too young, too inexperienced' to be promoted. I'm just ranting now...I believe the employer is still stuck in the dark ages. There are no role models e.g. pregnant EL1s to show that women can have their careers and their kids.

I'm not sure how I came to this point. But hey...it's what I have been thinking all this time and I just needed to get it out. Anyway what's to worry, I'm really enjoying my family now and the career will come one day...if it's not the career then it will be me accomplishing my dream or vocation. I plan not to work for the Big Guy for the rest of my life!

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Childhood flash back
Tuesday. 9.7.10 9:09 pm
The other day I took Leo to see the Doctor to seek further information on circumcision. I was quite the nervous wreck and found myself going through a hot flush in the doctor's office. I guess I wanted to make sure I was there for the right reasons, to find out everything I could about the procedure, about the recovery stage and what is the current trend. Not that I am one to follow trends! All I want is the best for my child and for him to live a healthy and fuss-free life. After chatting to my in-laws and my parents they are all pro-circumcision, all in all, it is a personal choice in the end. But they recommend it be done sooner than later. Circumcision stats in Australia are currently around 15%.

Also at the clinic, the nurse at the desk asked me 'Did you go to Sacred Heart Primary?'. I was puzzled, looking at this woman's face I tried to recall all my primary school teachers. I was ashamed of my terrible memory... lucky she was the one to recognise me first. She said 'Do you remember a boy named James Terlick?', 'Your name sounds familiar' and there it was...she was the mum of my very first crush! It was a while back, but I was 7 years old and totally smitten by James Terlick. You couldn't blame me, I arrived to Australia from Malaysia at the age of 5...I hadn't seen blue eyed, blond hair boys before and I was totally fascinated by their 'alien' appearance. The crush lasted till I was 10...and I had move onto another as we do as lil kids. It was a trip down memory lane seeing his mum, and I was just shocked that she remembered me! The last time she saw me I was a kid myself...and now to see me all grown up with 2 kids of my own..

Today, I took Sofia to a child modelling agency called Bettina. Last year at the Royal Show we came across their booth and thought it would be fun to enter her into a photo competition. She didn't win but the agency was interested in her looks. It has taken me almost a year to contact the agency because I have been pregnant for most of the time...signing up Sofia for modelling was far from my mind. I don't want Sofia to be all about the looks, she is quite an intelligent girl and I want to build on those attributes. But I remember being young and wanting to try out modelling for the fun of it, dressing up in pretty clothes ain't that bad! My mum never sent me to those classes, I didn't have extra curricular activities...I hope to give me children a chance to experience modelling, drama classes etc. Maybe it will help Sofia build some confidence, as she is going through a shy phase. If Sofia can earn some money, that would be a bonus! Then we will help her save it up for a rainy day or put it towards her education.

Being a parent allows you to relive your childhood, it is a strange feeling...it's like going back through time. I don't purposely want to live through my children, but I do want to offer them a better and more fuller life experience that I didn't get as a child.

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