Just a Minute in January

Svabhu Kohli

Whoopsy-do, missed it again!
Just a few things I've been up to in January:

Watching ... The Office (US) and only just finished the last episode of the final season today. (Just in time for a new month to get hooked on a 'new' show.) Cried. So many clever stupid lines. The writers of the show : kudos. Well done, guys. At first, I'd be annoyed at all the silly (OK, plain asinine) things Michael Scott did; but after he left, I wasn't all too excited to continue watching. And I teared up to see him back for a bit for the finale. Lucky for the Jim+Pam story, I had to keep watching and then to cry at some points. I kinda felt like Jim+Pam was me+my man; almost too similar! (Married with two kids, husband with plans to start his own business related to his passion). Another favorite part of the show is whenever Jim looks at the camera. And way to go with the guest appearances! Love them all.

Reading ... still working on Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. A little tougher to go through (for me) than Norwegian Wood. I have 1Q84 untouched and waiting for me. Oh bless me. But I'm looking forward to starting Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores (thank you, Meena!)

Eating ... anything I feel like eating, and at any time of the day. Which is terrible and makes me feel like crap after. My excuse to myself is that I'm breastfeeding so I get to eat anything in the hopes of helping with good milk flow. (nope, it doesn't work that way.)

Feeling ... like a half-ass mum right now. I realize I'm not putting enough effort in spending quality time with Joel. Need to work on that a lot more. Tending to Mia keeps me away from him because he always gets too excited around her and ends up hurting himself, Mia or me, or all of us at the same time. Anticipating for the day Mia is old enough so they can play together and it'll be easier to spend time with them both.

Doing ... more work for Kismet which explains why I'm spending less time with my son. Seems to me like the only time I get to do work is after they've gone to bed for the night (between 11 and midnight) until Mia wakes up for her midnight-early AM meal. One night, I ended up sleeping at 5AM, enjoying the quiet time I had to myself and woke up around 10AM. Not the best thing to do. But it does seem like that's my only choice for now, while Mia is still an infant. Once she hits the 6 to 7-month mark, it should get easier for all of us. *fingers crossed*

Dreaming ... of our holiday plan to Tioman Island with the family. I hope it works out, though I know it's going to be crazy tiring for both of us being out of the house for more than 2 hours with 2 young kids for the first time. Also dreaming of the possibility of a "honeymoon" trip - just the 2 of us - to somewhere, anywhere. But now that I think about it, what's the rush? We're still young, it will definitely happen when it's time for it to happen. Judging from my experience so far, everything that's happened is by God's grace, so I have faith things will work out in time.

Planning ... my weight-loss journey. First with yoga, and then when it's easier to be away from the kids for a longer period of time - join a gym and get personal training lessons. Much easier if I had a yoga/gym buddy, definitely. Hope for the best.

Scouting ... the internet for artists and illustrators to convince them to collaborate with Kismet Decals. It can get quite tiring and draining.

Staying ... away from social media (FB and Instagram) as much as I can. I've just started to revisit classical music (thank God for Spotify) and it's definitely awakened my lost-for-awhile love for enchanting and beautiful melodies made with the piano. I also decided to dive into the vast ocean of knowledge that is TED Talks by downloading the app onto my phone. Besides that, I've decided to do more reading of good blogs of substantial quality. I downloaded this reader app called Feedly and it's making me so happy. It's only Day 1 and I'm already significantly more happy with life. Also helped that I got a surprising text from a lovely friend. Really, you never know the power/importance of reaching out to someone until it happens to you. Instead of scrolling endlessly on Instagram/FB, take some time out to text that one person you haven't talked to in a while, just to check in if nothing else.

Listening ... to lots of classical piano music. I was thinking of making a list of songs mentioned in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, but after a few google searches, I discovered that it's been done before. Maybe I'll just share my favorite piece of music in every blogpost.

x,

D

Just a Minute in November

{Shyama Golden's Floral Pattern}

Hello and goodbye November (in a few hours' time)!

It's been a while but I have a valid reason - I was busy going through the final weeks of pregnancy (back aches and preterm labor/contractions, I don't miss you) and then finally giving birth to our second child.

Here's what I've been up to this month:

Reading ... Haruki Murakami's 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' (still!) and just started Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (again). I initially started Harry Potter to read to baby while I breastfed her and while she was awake and kicking with nothing else to do. After a few pages I got hooked again and decided to continue reading it for myself (bad mom alert). And now I'm already planning a Harry Potter movie marathon - I kinda lost interest after the 3rd or 4th one, but now I want to try to watch all of them.

Eating ... quite healthy compared to when I was pregnant. Anything that can help with producing enough milk for the little one.

Doing ... minimal work for Kismet, which is making me feel very guilty. Looking forward to do more once I get back home (I'm currently staying with my parents for my 1-month confinement period after delivery)

Missing ... the husband and our home, though I'm so thankful and grateful to be able to spend our baby's first month with my parents and relatives in our hometown.

Planning ... A LOT - for our house, for my son, for Kismet, for myself; it's a circus right now in my head. Need to get back home to my journal and my stationery and my craft station.

Anticipating ... getting my pre-baby body back and then more 'cos my pre-baby body was still a work in progress and then just as I was getting into a good workout routine, we find out I'm pregnant again (heh).

x,

D

Just a (Late) Minute in May

Sorry for the disappearing act. May just went by in a blur. Let me try to remember what I did. These 'Just a Minute' posts help a lot.

Watching... season 1 of Silicon Valley (thanks, Nicole!). Loving it. Even the Mr likes it since he's also just started his own company, so he's relating well with the guys. Also just flew through season one of Mozart in the Jungle (thanks Daphne!). It made me want to learning a new instrument. The flute or trumpet or oboe or something.
Oh and I just watched Frozen, too. Surprisingly nice. The hype annoyed me into not watching it after so long.

Waiting... for Suits season 5 to start (c'mon, Harvey and Donna!). I'm beginning to sound like a terrible couch potato.

Doing... joined a sewing class and made a little girl's skirt! That was cool. But I think I did that in April and just didn't bother to talk about it too much.
Made some Halfway Kings stickers to give out to everyone who came for their album launch. Go get their album here!
Also, working on more design ideas for kismet.

Feeling... encouraged by the 'likes' kismet is getting and then feeling bad because I'm not delivering enough content there.

Listening... to classical music and blues. Classical music more for the cub and blues for when I've OD-ed on classical music. Oh, and Alt-J and John Legend and Bon Iver. Always.

Reading... as much as I can in the little in-between time that I have. Getting blown away by Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

Loving... my little bear cub more every day. Very amazed at how he's growing every day, really fast. He always manages to surprise me every day. My phone storage is super low because of the thousand photos I take of him just sitting there.

Anticipating... being spoiled silly on my birthday by the Mr. Can't wait!

something I did, playing around in AI and Photoshop with my Wacom tablet. clouds photo stolen from the web somewhere, I'm sorry I forgot where from.

x,

D

Just A Minute...in November

The future mister scored these pretty swag babies at his company dinner. Best door gift idea in the world.

A little late for this but what the hell.

Reading ... (and bawling while at it) Randy Paush's The Last Lecture.
Anticipating ... being jobless for a while. Oh, and my wedding.
Listening ... to some Sigur Ros (post-concert issues) and Jessie Ware.
Making ... long to-do lists involving the house and wedding.
Doing ... last minute exercise and eating efforts so I don't put on weight til the wedding. I need to fit into my dress gracefully, without anything popping.
Going ... for the Sigur Ros concert in Singapore (and missing the one right here in KL) and to Janda Baik for a relaxing weekend getaway-slash-hen's night.
Loving ... the idea of getting married to my best friend in the whole wide world.
Forgetting ... the fact that Christmas is round the corner. We've been so focused on the wedding that we didn't realize that Christmas would be here first. Crazy!


Forgive me if there's a lot of wedding talk around here. It might get a bit corny but hopefully for a while. I made a promise to myself to post more here since I won't be working every day now.

peace+love