The world of JULIANA

Stories are so much easier to tell in categories. Hence, this time, I’ve come up with a slightly different way of blogging compared to my previous entries. I realize that itz been more than a month since I last blogged! Hence, it’s only fair that I continue frm where I left off last! Thankfully, I’ve recovered well frm the ankle fracture. Greattttt to be back at work and to be able to drive drive drive without havin’ to be fully dependent on loved ones! Hehe…

*takes a deeeeeeeeeep breath

Babies

Over the last 3wks, I’ve had two baby-related stories to blog ’bout! The first involves a colleague of mine, who had severe abdominal cramps at our workplace. She looked as pale as a ghost and I knew somethin’ was wrong. We rushed her to the nearest hospital. Upon several clinical examinations and investigations, we discovered that my colleague was . . . PREGNANT !! She was thrilled as they’ve been trying for a second child for awhile and this was certainly the world’s best news for her! I,too, felt so pleased and honoured to be the very first person to find out ’bout it! Even husband found out ’bout it after I did! Hahaha….

The second baby-related story’s to do with a lovely friend of mine who’s going to be delivering her very first baby in a fortnight’s time! We, her close friends, organized a li’l baby-shower for her! She looked gloriously radiant that evening, and I just can’t wait to see her and li’l bundle of joy in weeks’ to come frm now! It was so cosy to sit together and chit-chat over dinner. All of ‘em brought their cameras except Robz and me! *sigh. Oh yeah, that reminds me, I need to go chase the others who had snapped pics as I still haven’t obtained any pics frm that dinner! That kinda wraps up the ‘baby topic’ bit of my blog.

Church

Ahh . . . as church’s such a huge huge huge part of my life, the latest update would be the revamp of our Choir Robe design. Once the design has been ‘unveiled’ to the congregations during the 1st week of September, I’ll definitely post a pic of it in my blog! We’re also organizing a FAMILY CAMP ,which has had several hiccups. Hoping that it’ll materialize by the end of this year.

Movies

We watched a line-up of movies on DVDs , thanks to my wonderful husband who’s almost obsessed with catching up with the latest movies even before they’re released in theatre! For the records, CLICK was certainly an entertaining movie whilst Lady In The Water was a sheer disappointment! I fell asleep halfway thru’ the movie. ‘American Pie 4′ was hilarious frm the beginning right till the end of the movie! Definitely worth watching it.

Books

Currently reading a novel my friend lent me. I was supposed to have finished reading this book during my fracture-recovery period. Itz entitled ‘Madras on Rainy Days’ by Samina Ali and revolves around the life of an Indian-Muslim woman who has an arranged marriage only to later discover that her ‘husband’ ’s gay! Poor gal’s all devastated and the story got very depressing frm then on,which perhaps explains why I’ve had no motivation to flick thru’ the pages till the end of the novel!

Flowers

I have a dream. A hobby I’d like to turn into a reality at some point over the next couple of months.  I’ve always liked orchids. My fascination with orchids perhaps began when I was in my teens, learning how to paint orchids using oil pastels. Then, it evolved into arranging fresh orchids on the dining table. Recently, I’ve developed a passion for gardening. In theory, I’d love to START gardening. However, upon thinking of the commitment and dedication involved in gardening (Watering the plants often, ensuring they have enough but not too much sunlight, ensuring that the flowers have manneure,etc), I have yet to begin this hobby. My interest for growing orchids at home certainly escalated after a visit to an ‘orchids-farm’ in Batu Arang. Frm then on, I’ve even designated certain areas in my verandah for my ‘imaginary orchids’ plants. Once I successfully grow my FIRST orchid plant in my home, will certainly post a pic of it on my blog!

Piano

My piano class,which I conduct on Saturday evenings in church , has become more interesting as I now have 2 new students! One’s my 10-year old niece whilst another’s our church Priests’s 17 year old son. They’re both quick learners and teaching ‘em how to play various songs is simply amazing.

Weddings

Just over de w’kend, I attended a wedding,followed by a lunch-reception. I still can’t believe that the entire lunch reception was so gradual that it lasted over a period of four hours! At that point, I had to politely excuse myself as I was runnin’ late for piano class. It was a mixed-marriage (Chinese+Indian) and I was one of the few over-decorated Indian girl with gold jewellery and heavy-pattu-saree. *Sigh. Most folks turned up in modern gowns,etc. Oh, also, we had completely forgotten to purchase a gift right until the 11th hr. Then, I proceed to the entrance-counter at the reception to place my gift. I did wonder why the string of ladies gave me a strange look. I ignored the look and went ahead and left my prettily wrapped gift, along with 2 other gifts. A thought did cross my mind as to why there were so few presents from the entire ballroom of guests in the hotel. Anyway, we walked into the ballroom and sat comfortably at our seats. Fortunately, one of the guests had the wedding card with her. Upon carefully reading the card, there it was , in bold print, " preferred gift : CASH". Arrggghhhh. . . that explained why those women gave me a strange look! I reminded myself that even wedding cards these days need careful attention as one can always miss out a li’l detail and end up makin’ a mistake like I did!

My 2nd wedding story involves a closely related relative of mine who’s gettin’ married later this year! Am pleased to say that I have been ‘appointed’ as their wedding organist! Ahh . . .it always gives me a special joy when I play for weddings of relatives.

Anniversary

Unbelievably, as of September, it would’ve been TWO years since Robz and I got married! Gosh…time flies!!! Living in the wonderfully highly cultured Asian society that we live in, there isn’t a week that goes past without the eternally-nerve-wrecking question of, " So . . when are we ever gonna see Junior Robz and Junior Julie runnin’ around de hse?". Sadly, people don’t understand that when we DO HAVE A PIECE OF GOOD NEWSto share, we’d happily announce it to the entire world, and perhaps even to folks in other planets in the entire galaxy out there! Till then, all we can hope is that people would learn NOT to ask such questions and wait for us to announce it when the time’s right! Havin’ said that, am definitely livin’ every moment of life to the fullest without gory thoughts of havin’ to change nappies and have sleepless nights of caring for a newborn!

That probably sums up the latest happenings in my life in a li’l nutshell over the last 6-7weeks. Since I couldn’t sleep, I forced myself to update my blog since I haven’t updated it in ages. Considering that slumberland has just extended an invitation to me, I shall happily accept de invitation and march into dreamland. Till I see you folks next, have a pleasant week and God Bless!