A Homemaker’s Diary

I like the idea of traveling leisurely. It gives you the opportunity to explore at your own pace, enjoy the local meals and take photos of the new places you are visiting. Call me romantic when it comes to travel time, as a matter of fact, I am..hehe!

But being a particular person, I always check out as much as possible about the new places I want to go by reading online travel guide. I know sometimes it is not really that accurate as guide and reviews are written based on different people’s expectation and experience. But at least I know what to expect and what not once I reach the destination.

Hopefully this year we could make it somewhere romantic and nice for anniversary travel destination. Few friends who have been to Phuket suggested Phi Phi Island instead of the well-known Patong beach.

For those who have seen the movie, The Beach, this was where the movie has been filmed and as the travel guide says everything is as accurate as what you see in the movie minus the outcasts..haha! Maybe if we could not make it as far as Phuket, we will settle for Langkawi instead..heh!

Last night I went to my friend’s place to collect some rental items that I need for my niece engagement ceremony this Saturday. I realized that she has such a nice concept in decorating her apartment. I particularly like her lighting style – the usage of contemporary design of table lamps and floor lamps.

I think in any kind of living hall, whether spacious or small, having a good choice of lamps will help enhance the quality of the atmosphere. It will make the space more appealing not only to the home owner but to the visitors as well. Of course less is more when it comes to home decorating.

I wish I could let go of my hoarding habit and throw away most of the junks I kept under the stairs. In that case, I would have more room to put torchieres to give my living room some glow at night rather than the fluorescent lights I have at the moment.

Lately I think I have been experiencing stress and extreme fatigue. I’m sure it must be because of the busy schedule and workload I tend to put on myself but in a way it relates to lack of good nutrition and detox problem as well. Sometimes when I am too engrossed with my work, I tend to neglect eating and drinking. I manage to survive on few pieces of crackers and packed drinks until dinner time, which I know is not a proper meal.

So here I am online looking for more information on how to maintain my natural health. I’ve tried reflexology and body massage last 2 weeks but I think I still need to take some special natural health supplements to provide all the trace minerals that are missing from today’s food.

Especially with the kind of diet that I am having, I’m sure my body is missing what it needs to survive healthily. The only concern is that I kind of lack the discipline to regularly take the natural health products that I bought. Well, this time I will try my best to stick with the plan. I need to stay healthy if I want to manage my business successfully.

I was out for my sinus facial treatment at the usual local beauty parlour yesterday. After the treatment I decided to shop around for items for the coming festive season. So while in the clothing shop, I realized that I was short on cash. The ATM machine at the lower level of the store was out of service when I first reached there so I thought I will resist the temptation to shop till I can get hold of my cash in the account.

However since I found what I look for, I asked the sales girl whether the shop accepts credit cards for purchase and how much is the minimum purchase required. You see, some shops put a minimum amount of purchase in order for clients to be allowed to use credit card to pay for the purchase. I could understand their concern because they have to pay for merchant fees and everything to the credit card company although it might pose an inconvenience to the retail clients.

The funny thing was she started to ask me about how to apply for a credit card, the minimum salary required by the credit card company etc. She said she needs the credit card to pay for petrol and sometimes for emergency spending. Living in a big city like this you just have to rely on plastic cash sometimes.

She also asked where do usually people like her could go to apply for credit card. I was tempted to say that you could apply online credit cards but I was not sure whether she has Internet access at home. So I suggested that she looks around at shopping mall during the weekend because I am pretty sure that most of the credit companies will have some road tour and booths at such places to attract new credit card users.

I hope she will get the credit card she needs. Maybe next time when I go into the shop again I will get the chance to ask her about it..hehe!

When my old friend came to my house to pay me a visit last month, she was telling me on her plan to further her postgraduate study. She is now a lecturer in a local university in quite a rural district and the only way for her to get transferred to the main campus in the city is by getting her doctorate.

I was telling her that since the postgraduate studies will be sponsored by the university, she might as well try to do it abroad, maybe in Australia. So far she told me that Australia is still in the list whereas for other countries, the university no longer wants to send their academicians to further studies in UK or US unless it is really necessary. Maybe because of the higher living cost and more expensive tuition fees in those two countries.

If she further her studies in The University of Queensland in Brisbane, I would love to visit her there. I have checked in the Internet to see where in Brisbane is the main campus situated.

The St Lucia campus is situated about seven kilometres from Brisbane’s city centre so looking for Brisbane accommodation shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe if I am planning to stay longer for 10-15 days, I will consider to stay at Hillcrest central apartment hotel.

It is a perfect place to stay with families as the comments of those who have stayed there state in the website. It is overlooking the river and city of Brisbane and the apartment is only 500 metres to the train station. Plus the apartment will have all the modern conveniences like kitchen, microwave and laundry facilities.

I just hope my friend would find her place in the postgraduate program soon so that I could start saving for the Brisbane trip..haha!