We stumbled on a cigar shop, looking great with quick step laminate floor and 2 employees where one was oh-so-clueless about their products and another one was oh-so-unfriendly with sour face didn’t even want to entertain us except telling the price. No question was entertained. It’s like talking to the wall, so we walked away.

Turn up to be the best decision ever, cause we found a much better cigar shop (hidden gems) when we walked around in the evening.

It’s an accidental finding. We just strolled along the street and saw this small shop with tobacco pipes at the display glass. We walked in, spoke to the uncle who owned the shop. Apparently he is a smoking pipes user too! Now we’re talking to someone who knows what he is doing.

He didn’t only introduce what pipes for beginner, but also share some lesson and tips for first time user. Enlighten the two clueless men (read: hubby and his friend).

He told us that he has quit smoking some time ago and use pipes as replacement for it’s less harmful to health. It’s also something to be enjoyed during free time unlike ciggies (anytime anywhere). And that he opened the shop cause he is into pipes, a hobby that turns into an occupation where he can share his knowledge etc to customers.

His words hit us. See, the uncle is doing what he loves, hence he can share a lot with us about the pipes. The whole atmosphere, it felt like we were talking to a friend instead of a seller with marketing gimmick. Definitely a different experience from the first shop where the woman was so grumpy.

source: 55HI’S

So yea, Do what you love, love what you do. Be joyful instead of grumpy, your choice.

Some of the scenes can be very stressful, where things go out of control for Annie the maid of honor. Her life seems to be going down the hill. Then one of the bridesmaid Megan (by Melissa McCarthy) says to Annie (Kristen Wiig):

Now, you got to stop feeling sorry for yourself, cause I do not associate with people that blame the world for their problems. Cause you’re your problem, Annie. And, you’re also your solution.

Love what she says! I’m putting the words into this simple design. Have a great Friday!

1. Found the rental apartment that fits in our budget after months of searching for properties, both for sell and rent. It’s been a rollercoaster ride. Ya, finding rental also gave such a headache, what’s more purchasing property. *Nightmare* We almost had an impulsive house purchase at a bad location and got ourselves in debt for the next 30 years. We found a two-floor terrace house for rent, slightly out of our budget, agreed with the landlord but he didn’t keep his promise and rent out to other instead. After many turn down, we finally found a place to call HOME for the two of us, where we began our cooking adventure, DIY home stuff, etc.
2. Managed to handle all the household chores while also work from home. Five years ago I’d be screaming for a domestic helper. Hehe. Funny how people changes!
3. Went to the concert of my teen idol. Woohoo, Dream comes true! Not long after the concert, they announced their breaking-up news after farewell tour on 2012. Oh well..
4. Still get to travel despite declaring 2011 as non-travel year. Started with Bandung on January to attend WordCamp (WordPress event), hometowns’ trip in between, 4-5 hours road trip to Cherating beach, family vacation to Singapore, year end vacation to Langkawi island – the haven for chocolate, liquor and tobacco + cigar auction . I think I’m parting away from big city/shopping trip and prefer a relaxing beach getaway. Hmm..
5. Got a Dribbble invite, yay! It’s one thing that I’ve been wanting for in 2010, but when I got it I sort of lost the excitement. Haven’t posted the screenshot of my work in progress for quite some time. Gotta pick up!
6. Stirring the direction of SWP to Freemium model. We jumped in joy when we got the first sales. It works! So glad that we walked with faith and pushed our fear aside.
7. Finally took the first step to start my long awaited personal project. It’s near completion now. Pushing my learning curve a lot.

Lesson of the year:

1. Do it now! Don’t wait for the right time because right time will never come. It’s like starting diet, we always give excuse to start it tomorrow. No time? Make time for it. In my case, I kept telling myself that this few months are the busy months (with clients’ projects) so I’ll wait til another few months to start my own project. Boohoo, that right time never comes!
2. Pay attention to details but don’t be over perfectionist, you’ll end up waste time polishing details that aren’t important.
3. Don’t judge a thing too fast before we witness/experience it.
4. It’s OK to be away from the laptop, internet and social media. Life goes on!
5. When there is too much going on and don’t know how to start/make decision, PAUSE + take a deep breath + empty mind, then lay everything out in mind and analyze from there.
6. When in doubt, have FAITH and PRAY! From finding road direction to making decision in life.

For 2012

1. Main thing is to live minimalist. Inspired by this, this, this and many other going-minimalist posts. Have the wake-up call when helping a friend in moving house. Seeing how many ‘junks’ that we can collect over the years scared me. With being minimalist, I’m hoping to spend less time in cleaning (more time to do things I love doing), spend less, and not emotionally attached to the things so I can leave/sold them away incase we have the guts to pack our luggage and move to other cities/countries.
2. Get an oven, so we can baked pizza (a friend refers to it as an expensive bread, haha) instead of PHD delivery, turkey for Thanksgiving, and cake for birthday with baking recipe from MPL.
3. Since we haven’t found a permanent house (as in buy) that we can play with; can’t do much with the apt rental and don’t have the budget to do huge decor project, so I’m thinking of starting a doll house project, inspired by this. A miniature of our dream house, diy-ing it will be much more affordable and possible.
4. Launch my long awaited project and venture into a different field. We have brainstormed several ideas, so it’s the year to release our own projects! I call it the year of planting the seed.
5. Balancing online and offline life.
6. Travel (whatelse, duh) and see the destination from different perspective, in terms of living, design, culture, foods, etc. Not just travel for shopping or going to touristy place.
7. Gain back the snap-and-shot mojo.

While we aren’t rushing to own a property in the near future, we are open for house hunting/viewing until we find the one that we love and fit in the budget. It’s like the journey in finding Mr.Right.

When we saw a corner double-storey house for sale, we quickly contacted the agent. As expected, the price is double from the intermediate terrace house. Way out of our budget.

Usually the real estate agents don’t bother to suggest anything after the first phone call, but not with this agent. We ended up with two house viewing, both double storey terrace house.

First house, 18ftx65ft just great for a small family, price is quite OK, love the neighborhood. Down side, don’t like the house location and the awful taste of the interior renovation.

Second house, much larger 22ftx75ft, quite modern layout, spacious, basic/as-is without awful renovation (move in condition), gated guarded neighborhood. Loving it so much I can already imagine what color to paint, how to decorate the room, what bathroom vanity to be used, what to be planted at the backyard, etc.

So many pros, I want to marry the house already. But, Alas!, reality kicks in. As much as I love it, our wallet won’t love it. Besides, 22×75 really is too much for a small family like us.

At the end of the day I was put into dilemma. One side of me would love to just settle down in a house, decorate it nicely, raise our kids there. It happens each time I read interior design/home improvement blogs or after we have house viewing.

The other side of me will decline that. Still want to experience life at other countries/cities, but often worrying about the belongings that we have now (car and furniture – leave them, sell them?).

I often get jealous (or rather admire) with people who are able to pack their entire life into one or two luggage and roam from one place to another; be it single or with family. Something that I wanna do but don’t have the guts to. Doesn’t mean this dream will be faded though.