I came across an article on Mnmlist, in which I can’t agree more. Here’s an excerpt:

Wearing the same clothes every day might seem weird to your friends and co-workers. Having no car might make you seem like an oddball. Not having a smartphone might make you uncool. Living in a small home or an RV might make everyone think you’re poor or crazy. Eating vegan food might make the meat eaters in your life groan or roll their eyes.

But who are we living for? I am all for living to help other people, but when we live our lives to the expectations of other people, we end up living lives we don’t want. And what do we get when we live up to the expectations of all these other people? They really don’t care — they just don’t like things different because they are uncomfortable with change.
source

It reminds me of a friend who often says,”Why are you wearing like this? Doesn’t look like a designer at all. Aren’t designer should be wearing blablabla [insert whatever fashion here]?”.

He also pretty believes that one has to drive a better branded car (e.g. T*y0ta, H*nda, etc) instead of local car (read: Pr*t0n) to a meeting, so it’ll give a better impression to the future-client.

From him, we have heard a lot of you should be which usually goes back to because those are the society standard.

By all means, I respect his opinion and I believe he is not alone; there are many more people with that kind of thinking – I call it mainstream. But it certainly doesn’t fit me and the husband.

We truly believe in ‘You only live once’ so we’re doing what we love doing and living the life that we want. Also, “Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside.”

The title says it all. I finally gathered the courage to had one (out of four) wisdom tooth extracted this evening. The whole process was quite fast, just need 30 minutes but it’s not without pain and tear.

I was given local anesthetic (the needle, ouchh!!) and the oral surgeon started the process of tooth extraction. I was pretty numb throughout the process but still shaking due to cold air-con + scare of the equipment sound + seeing the blood each time I was asked to rinse my mouth.

I even have this thought came across my mind,”sh*t! If I can’t stand this wisdom tooth extraction thhing, how am I gonna bear the giving birth process in the future?” So I tried to gather strength. The most painful moment was when the wisdom tooth was about to be pulled out. I literally tear #horror #tearymoment

Fortunately hubby was with me. It was such a relief when he told me that everything’s okay, the wisdom tooth was successfully pulled out. PHEW!

I was given antibiotics and pain killer. Went back home with a numb mouth which lasted for about 4 hours. Bite gauze pad and place ice pack on my cheek – helps to minimize the bleeding.

Will have the stitch removed on next Friday (a week after tooth extraction). Then schedule for another wisdom tooth surgery and two more removal (non-surgery) down the road.

Every year is a rollercoaster ride, offering different challenges and whatsnot which lead to growth. 2012 is no different. If I were to choose a keyword to represent my 2012, it’d be I’MPOSSIBLE – where the word IMPOSSIBLE reads I’M POSSIBLE.

1. We started to collect oldies stuffs – not antique, but stuffs from 80′s and below which brings back the childhood-good-old-days. Aside for personal collection, we rent it out under WB.

2. Launched BC on early 2012. It’s the best thing that ever happened to my career! In one year time BC has grown from a side project to a main business for us. #dreamcomestrue #hardworkpaysoff

3. Limit the number of client-work per month, also able to decline some client-work which didn’t fit us well. It leads to a happier and more stress-free life. If we were to decline some client-work last year (2011), we’d be hungry ghosts already.

4. Have a chance to meet up with a long time client from Netherlands, a client from the US, prospect from Australia, etc. It’s been great cause working from home with international-client-base means we rarely meet face-to-face with our clients.

5. For the first time in my entire working life, I get to travel without worrying about work/deadline/email and really enjoy the break. Usually I might be physically abroad but my mind still in the office.

6. Travel to HK and Macao with the girls on early April – weather is around 20°C – 25°C; came back with beautiful pictures and memories – of staying in the smallest room ever in our entire life, hiding in the closet, etc. So much fun!

7. Had a post-wedding anniversary photoshoot on May, at the paddy field of Sekinchan – two hours drive from KL. Just got the album yesterday. The whole experience is so bad, another story on another time.

8. Met a real-estate agent from hell (not honest, so pushy, so bossy) while we were looking for house casually on January. From there on, we learn how to see real-estate agent’s attitude and not to fall in their sugar-coated words.

9. Bought our first house – it wasn’t our ideal dream house, but it’s our home sweet home now. Not as large as oak island nc real estate but fits a small family and home office. Seal the deal with the house owner (no real-estate agent in between) on February. Wasted the first one month cause the house owner was playing hard-to-get; seems like he was waiting for higher deal and/or 3% earnest deposit without black-and-white agreement. Fortunately we engaged a reliable solicitor to settle everything for us. Received the house key on late of July.

10. Had our house renovated on the second week of August, the whole process took three weeks, but the aftermath of cleaning and fixing (by ourselves) took months. Follow the backward stories here. So much lesson for us along with disappointment. #BiggestRegretOf2012.

11. Move out from the rental apartment at the end of September. Packing took around two weeks, have everything wrapped nicely and brought a few boxes back from hubby’s hometown (it’s hard to get a free boxes here). Had a few friends come over to help us, it was tiring cause they need to go back and forth from apartment unit -> lift -> lobby -> lorry. It’s an easier process when moving in to our terrace house, from lorry -> house directly.

12. When we hand-over the apartment’s keys to the landlord, she was surprised at how clean the unit is. We do our best to be a responsible tenant by cleaning up the unit after moving out and patch the wall (where we hang frames). Happy landlord, happy us.

13. Had a several road trip to our fave town Melaka, Mantin to visit hubby’s friend, S.Tenggiri (awesome place in the concrete jungle of KL) on my birthday. Went back to each of our hometowns and went to Langkawi on our anniversary.

14. Get ourselves busy with more DIY and home decor stuffs, which includes: experiment with homemade chalkboard paint, paint the wall shelves/shoes shelves/stove table/gate white, DIY wooden skirting and painted it white, painted the store-room floor in white/gray stripe pattern, and many more.

15. Experiment with baking; started with M&M’s cookies, muffins, pizza and chicken wing. So much fun, another activity where hubby and I can spend time together.

16. Bought our first Christmas tree and started advent calendar’s tradition but only last for a week cause we were too occupied with the upstairs-flooring project.

Lesson of the year:
1. I don’t believe what you say, I believe what you do.
We have engaged quite a lot of service provider on 2012; from buying smart-phone to house renovation. Basically what they say is one thing, what they do is another thing. Before the seller seals the deal and we hand-over the money, everything is “Can do”. They can even bring the moon for us as the customer. After we pay, thing turns 360°, it becomes “It is like that one”, so take it or leave it.

2. If possible, try to do things by ourselves first.
We have tried to delegate work to others (from dry-cleaning the sofa slipcover to painting house interior), thinking it’s their profession so they should know how to do the job better than us, but what we get is a disappointment. Yes, it’s their job but they don’t do it wholeheartedly with responsible. Like a friend says,”Some people go to work only waiting for the time to go back home; after all whether they do a good job or not, their pay is still the same and it’s not their own business, so they couldn’t care less.”

3. If we need to commission a friend for work, hire him because of his capability and past work. If we hire just because he is our friend, that means we are no different with the government – passing the project to their colony #KKN.

4. Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. And, The only person you should try to be better than.. is the person you were yesterday.

Father, I want to thank You for Your goodness to me this past year. I confess that there were times when I focused on the storm instead of on You. I allowed fear to overpower my faith. Please help me begin this New Year in faith, with my eyes on You and my glance on the circumstances. I want to face every giant in Your power alone, walking straight through my fear in faith. Right now, Father, I surrender to You and the plan You have for me in 2013.

As for 2013 goals, I don’t have any list. All I can think of is to grow our business and push them to the next level along with travelling to our dream destination. Aside from that, I’m welcoming 2013 with open heart and mind to see what’s in store for us!

We’re so enthusiast to bake again; with the agenda to re-try the chocolate cookies, get our hand dirty on homemade pizza, simple cupcake and/or muffin. You know, while the holiday lasts and we have the time to play around in the kitchen instead of the laptop.

We headed to the baking shop and hyper-mart this afternoon, bought the necessary ingredients and equipment. We started the baking adventure by making the pizza dough. While waiting for the dough to rise, we moved on to the cupcake – which doesn’t turn out well, it’s more like a pie #fail. We had Nutella on top to rescue it. Better luck next time.

As for the pizza, it rocks! We followed the pizza-dough recipe from ABM. Had the toppings based on our personal preferences. It got pretty messy in the kitchen with all the flour and bowls to wash, but totally worth it! Looking to say goodbye to PHD soon.

Note to self: tone down the tomato paste and decrease the number of mushroom.

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH
Can make two 10inch pizza

1. Bowl A – Combine the following:

3/4 cup warm water
3/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar

2. Bowl B – Combine the following:

1 1/2 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

3. Add bowl A into bowl B, stir along with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
4. Knead until the dough is well combined and elastic. Lay in a bowl, cover and allow to rise for 2 hours until it doubles in size.

MAKING THE PIZZA

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (approx. 10 mins).
2. Lightly flour a smooth table surface and roll out the dough to a very thin layer.
3. Bake the pizza crust at 200°C for 5 mins .
4. Spread tomato/bbq sauce on top of the crust and add toppings.
5. Bake for another 10 – 15 mins or until the cheese has turned a light golden brown.

Getting an oven and start baking is part of my (our) 2012 goal – it’s a way to spend time together and nothing beats home-baked food. So, it’s great when we got an oven as house-warming gift from my Parents-in-law.

We used to be very busy with the new house. But now everything is back in a good shape, we have all the time to start baking cookies just in time for Christmas. That’s the easiest recipe to get started before we embark on a more advance recipe. Gotta build confidence first!

I’m not putting any expectation as it’s our first time; though we both come from family where the Mummies can bake very well and we used to help them. Hubby is more knowledgeable and reliable than me in this case, don’t underestimate this tough man. My role is pretty much an eater when it comes to food. *not ashame*

We went to the neighborhood baking shop this afternoon to get a few baking utensils (but forgot the baking sheet) and started our first baking session together. The chocolate chips is replaced by the M&M’s from our Langkawi trip.

The next few minutes, I found ourselves sat in front of the oven like a curious child, watching how the dough rises into a decent cookies shape. We were pretty much mesmerized by it. The result, not too shabby for first trial.

Recipe via here and here.