The Happiness Project: April

And here we are - the end of another month.  How did I do in my March Happiness Project?

No dumping - I think I did pretty well!!  Looking back on the month, I definitely feel like I did a much better job of not dumping my complaints about work out (and onto others).  I asked a friend the other day if he felt like there was a difference this month, and he said yes!  His comment was that although I've still talked about things that irritate me, this month it has been more isolated to very specific incidents, rather than just general complaining.  So I'm still complaining, but less?  I'll take it!

The chapter in the book related to the month of April is titled Parenthood.  Obviously, this topic is not applicable to me, but tonight, I was looking back over the specific bullet points that Gretchen (the author) had listed for the month, and I think I can make some of them my own..

Sing in the morning - She aims to sing in the morning because it seems to have a cheering effect on her daughters.  I certainly am not going to get in the habit of singing to myself in the morning, but I think that there is something else I'd like to commit to doing in the morning in order to put myself in a better mood each day - exercise!  Many of you may remember when I did the #10kRunStreak, and although running in the January cold at 6 am after only a few hours of sleep didn't always seem like a happy moment, I really think that it helped me get through a challenging time at work.  This time, I'm not necessarily going to run every morning, but I'd like to do something.  Of course a quick run or a workout in the stairwell are always good options, and I recently have gotten into this yoga video by Tara Stiles as well.  All easy things that can take less than 15 minutes but will give me a sense of accomplishment and register some activity on my Fitbit One at the very least.  (I literally just thought of this while I was writing this post, so we shall see how this goes!)

Acknowledge the reality of people's feelings - Gretchen applies this to her kids, but I think I will be a bit more selfish and just apply this to myself.  I want to be consciously acknowledge my own feelings.  I've mentioned previously that I've started a bullet journal.  And I love it.  But I don't do it consistently.  I want to.  I'm going to.  I want to put at least one bullet down a day.  About a feeling.  There's got to be at least one thing worth feeling each day, right?

Be a treasure house of happy memories - I guess this kind of goes with the one above in the way I think it would be applicable to me.  Bullet journaling is a good way to preserve memories, but I think this blog is also a good way to document the good (and bad!) times.  So I am going to try to post ten times during the month of April.  (I also just thought of this one right now...)

Gretchen's last bullet point for the month is to take time for projects, but I really don't feel like this one resonates too much with me.  So I'm going to acknowledge the reality of my own feelings (ha!) and skip it.

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the inverse of parenthood is being someone's child.  Many of you know and love Nancy Lin, and many of you also know that I didn't always make it easy for her when I was growing up!  As each year passes, I try harder and harder to make up for my teenage years.  It's definitely not a one month project, so I definitely won't treat it as such, but I am always thinking of ways in which I can be better at "childhood" too!

Alright, this somehow turned into quite a long post!  Time to wrap it up.  I need to go to bed soon if I'm going to get up in the morning to work out!

#OnWisconsin

Happy Sunday folks.. I've had a lovely weekend thus far, and I am very happy to report that both Florida and Wisconsin are in my Final Four.  After Duke's early loss, I thought I was done, but it seems that I may be back in the running now!

Speaking of the final four, I am rapidly approaching my final four months in Singapore... it is CRAZY how quickly time goes by.

This weekend has been nice - I've got a few busy ones coming up, so it was really nice to be able to spend some time relaxing in Singapore!  Friday night, I went to a friend's house for a poolside BBQ.

Side note - one of the appetizers she served was cheese and pineapple.. apparently this was all the rage during the 1970s in England?  Guess it never really made it's way to America...

Saturday morning I hit the yoga studio with a friend.  She suggested a Yin class - I usually go for Vinyasa style classes, but I was SO glad that I tried something new this week.  Yin is a very intense stretching class.  You hold the poses for up to five minutes at a time.  I've been spending more time trying to run and climb stairs, so some deep stretching was just what I needed.  I will definitely be returning to this class!

That afternoon, I had plans with friends to pack a picnic and go to a concert at the Botanic Gardens!  After more than a year and a half of living in Singapore, it was my first time to the Botanic Gardens, but unfortunately, we were a bit delinquent in getting to the concert, and all the music was already over by the time we showed up haha.  Oops!

The rest of the weekend has been fairly mundane, but I've been happy to have a quiet one, although I am super sad to have missed the Vandy MAcc five-year reunion in Nashville this weekend!!

Worth the read

Hello all.. I'm happy to report that although this week has been a busy one, I've felt much better and had much more energy than I did last week!  Weekends away are where it's at.

Anyway, most of you probably already know that I love to read books.  But my absolute favorite thing to read is the internet!  Here are a few quick gems that I've come across in recent days -

25 Fascinating Charts Of Negotiation Styles Around The World - Based on my experience, this is spot on.

24 Charts Of Leadership Styles Around The World - I think the Indonesia chart is the most interesting.

NYTimes: Moving Past Gender Barriers to Negotiate a Raise - Just a good read.  Side note - If it's possible for me to like a person that I have ever met before (and I totally think it is), I really like that new GM CEO!

All Good Things - I am a big fan of believing that the universe opens the right doors for everyone.  We just have to keep our eyes (and minds) open enough to see.

A Dedication - I just really liked this one.

That's all I've really got to share today.  It's been a busy week, and I've still been working at that far away client, so it doesn't leave a lot of time for much else.  Even though the week has been relatively smooth, I am still looking forward to the weekend with a bit too much excitement / desperation.  Luckily, tomorrow is Friday!!  Woohoo!

Refreshed

Hello friends!  I am feeling way better this week than I was last week, and I chalk it up to two things - first, I went for foot reflexology on Thursday night after work.  There is a place really close to my apartment that I have started going to semi-regularly.  I got really interested in foot reflexology after listening to Greg Olsen talk about it on The MMQB Podcast earlier this year.  There are tons of foot reflexology places in Singapore, so I decided to give it a try!  I don't know if what I'm doing is anything authentic, but I sure do love it.  I went on Thursday night before a late night conference call, and I woke up on Friday feeling like a new woman!

The second thing that I did that really helped me feel refreshed was a weekend getaway!!  Some friends and I went to Sibu, Malaysia this weekend for some time on the beach.  Sibu is an island that is fairly close to Singapore, so we actually just drove over the border and then took a boat to the island.  Ironically, the border crossing that we went through is basically where my client is, but I didn't realize that when we were organizing the trip haha.

This was my first time doing the Singapore - Malaysia border crossing, and it was not a pleasant experience.  We left Friday night after work, which is a very heavy time for traffic, as a lot of Malaysians who live in Singapore also are trying to go back home for the weekend.  It took us over an hour to go two kilometers (just over one mile) leading up to the immigration checkpoints.  Absolute hell.

Traffic

Once we made it through to Malaysia, traffic cleared up significantly, but our driver was an absolute maniac, so the rest of the trip didn't exactly feel smooth either.  By the time we got to the dock, it was past 11pm!!  I was not in the greatest mood by this point and kind of regretting coming on this trip, but once we got on the boat, everything was great.  There really is just nothing better than being out on the water on a boat!

When we got to the resort it was pretty late, but the staff were all up waiting for our arrival!  They gave us our welcome drink and set out some food for us, and after a quick bite to eat, we all passed out for the night.

When we woke up, we could finally see our surroundings!  The resort is pretty no-frills, but it was actually quite nice for such a basic place, and the price included all of our meals, so that definitely made things easier.

Home for the weekend

View from our balcony

Beach!!!

Some of us went for a walk down the beach one day, and it was interesting because you could tell the exact spot where the resort's property ended along the beach.  Everything was nice and pristine, and then, all of the sudden, there was trash absolutely everywhere.  

Kind of sad, really.

The weekend was incredibly low key, which was just what I needed.  We basically laid on the beach, splashed around in the sea, snorkeled, ate, and drank.  It was great :)

A quick word on our accommodations for the weekend - as I mentioned, it was super basic.  There was no hot water like in the guesthouse in Ream Beach, but at this resort, the doors also didn't lock.  There was a latch on the outside and a latch on the inside, so we could "lock" ourselves in at night (though we slept with our gigantic window wide open), but when were out during the day, there was no way to lock our room up.  This, combined with the fact that there was no wi-fi at the resort, meant that I didn't bring any of the devices I usually travel with, and I didn't use my phone for anything but photos for two days.  It was a good way to make sure I disconnected!!

Also my first time sleeping under a mosquito net!

The drive back was a lot more pleasant, as we left in the middle afternoon and were back in Singapore a little under four hours later.  Our quick and (somewhat) easy getaway was over.

And now it is the last full week of March, and I will once again express my shock over how quickly this year is passing by.  August will be here before we know it....

Old School

Hello friends!  How's your week?

To be honest, mine has been exhausting.  I'm working at a client site right now that it basically on the border to Malaysia, so it's a bit of a long commute, at least by Singapore standards.  The kicker is that the client comes in early and leaves early, so that means I also have to come in early!  Many of you may know that I've become much less of a morning person since moving to Singapore, so I've been struggling this week.. womp womp.

Anyway - I wanted to share something with you guys!  Have you heard of Bullet Journal?  I first found out about it on Shutterbean, and I've been bullet journal-ing for about three weeks now and LOVE it.  I've always been a person who does better with lists and written plans, but I have definitely had a hard time using any sort of list tracking app or productivity app.  As someone who lived and died by my planner from age 14 until I got a job that takes up so much of my life that I basically just used my work calendar for everything, I missed using the old school way of just writing things down with pen and paper!

Check it out.. if you are a calendar / list / idea / note writing lover like me, I think you will love it!

Phnom Penh in photos

My last stop in Cambodia was one night in Phnom Penh.  We hired a car to drive us the three hours from Ream Beach (the roads were actually really good!) and arrived in the early afternoon.  We hit the Russian Market for bargains, did some city exploration, and then hopped from restaurant to restaurant for some small bites for dinner.  A good night's sleep, a delicious lunch, and then it was time to fly back to Singapore!

Reminded me a bit of Saigon...

Cambodian silk

This was like fluff inside of a crepe with grated orange zest?

A Cambodian spin on a Banh Mi!

Chuck Norris Dim Sum

I thoroughly enjoyed the Shrimp Chop!

Katy Peri's Pizza featured Peri Peri style chicken

Khmer style ceviche

Notice the customer name?  "Asian"

Relaxing in Ream Beach

Happy Saturday everyone!!  I was very happy to sleep in for a bit this morning before taking a Yoga for Runners workshop at my studio.  The workshop was just ok, and I left the studio wishing that I had just stayed in bed instead... oh well!

Earlier in the week, I did a recap of the days I spent in Siem Reap last month.  I wanted to pick up where I left off to tell you guys about the beach that we went to!!  We flew from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville and then headed to our guesthouse at Ream Beach.  It was late afternoon when we arrived, so we dropped our bags and had the guesthouse owner show us around.

View from the room

Back porch where we ate all of our meals

I spent TONS of time on this dock

This was my first time staying in guesthouse, and I have to say - I absolutely loved it!  The owner of the guesthouse, Marco, was super hospitable, and the food was delicious.  Although there were other restaurants up the road that we could have gone to, we ended up eating all of our meals at Marco's because it was just so good!

We arrived just in time for sunset

So beautiful

Our first night was pretty relaxed.  In fact, the whole time we spent at Ream Beach was incredibly laid back. We were originally only booked to stay for two nights, but once we got there, we decided pretty quickly that we should just stay there an extra night and cut out any other cities.  It was bliss.

On day two, we spent the day swimming and sunbathing under a gorgeous sunny sky.

Perched on the dock for sunset

Another thing that I loved about the guesthouse was that we became pretty friendly with the other guests that were staying there.  I guess the small accommodations make you more chatty with others?  Anyway, after dinner, we all ended up going down the road for what we thought was just some sort of festival at a temple.  As it turned out, there was a pagoda that had just been built, and the dedication of the pagoda was happening that night!

Tons of people were there.. but we were the only tourists.

They had lots of these set up around the corners of the pagoda.  You drop in some money into the square part, and then you tug on the rope.  I think it's for good luck?  Or a long life?  Or blessings?  Not sure, but it was kind of neat to see.

Inside the pagoda was a spectacle of people and colors

Outside the pagoda, a monk played with his smartphone :)

Our third day at the beach, basically everyone staying the guesthouse rented a day boat to take us out to some of the neighboring islands!

So beautiful

Before we had left, Marco had drawn us a map to let us know where there were places on the beach where we could get food and drinks.  Funny story - there was a place owned by an American couple and, next to it, a place owned by a French couple.  We stopped into the American place (Ten 103) and had a snack, some milkshakes, and a lovely chat with the girl who was working there (she's from Seattle!).  After a while, we figured we should go check out the other place, so we walked over to the French place.  We walked in, and it seemed like everyone just looked at us and then turned the other way.  We stood there for a couple of minutes, then decided that we clearly weren't welcome, so we just went back to the American place! Some would say that is pretty representative of the French haha...

The American bungalow

It was a gorgeous day

Beautiful bungalow but not very friendly.. the French place

It was so peaceful and beautiful.  I could've stayed there all day.  But after a while, we headed out into another cove so that we could do some snorkeling before heading back to the guesthouse for sunset.

Our last sunset in Ream Beach

All in all, it was an amazing couple of days at the beach.  Just what I needed to decompress and just relax!!  There is definitely something to be said about simplifying life...

The only downside to the guesthouse and the simple life was that we didn't have hot water, so I hadn't had a hot shower in days!  So you can imagine that I was very much looking forward to checking into our hotel in Phnom Penh and finally feeling clean :)  I'll post some pictures from that next time, as I think it's nice to end this post with such a peaceful picture.. hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend.

World Sleep Day

Hello all!  It is almost Friday!!  Did you know that this Friday is World Sleep Day?  It is one of the many things I learned on the internet this week!

(Among things that I did not learn on the internet this week... how to find a plane...)

Anyway, I'm always trying to figure out how to feel more rested.  It seems that I am constantly tired.  I actually had coffee with a new friend this afternoon who has just relocated to Singapore within the past few months, and she was mentioning that she feels like she is a lot more exhausted in Singapore than she ever was back in London.  So it's not just me!!

Some of you may recall that I've mentioned using the Sleep Cycle iPhone app before.  I have still been using it off and on, but I also recently picked up a new FitBit which also tracks my sleep.  I thought it would be interesting to see how the two match up?

Sleep Cycle

FitBit

So I guess it would make sense that both devices register the points at which I got restless during the night.  Sleep Cycle's "sleep quality" score of 88% seems like it is a pretty good night of sleep, but then when I look at FitBit's stats indicating that I was restless 16 times during the night, it doesn't seem so great.  I will say that I had a terrible time getting up this morning.  I actually ended up snoozing a bit longer after I shut off both of these apps!!  I'm blaming residual jet lag for now, but hopefully I will get a better night's rest tonight in honor of World Sleep Day!

The second time around Siem Reap

Many of you probably know that the beginning of the calendar year is the busiest time of work for me.  In Singapore, the dynamics are a little bit different, so work eases up a little earlier (beginning of February rather than late February), but it picks back up again in March and stays fairly (but not crazy) busy through the end of June.  I didn't really know this last year, so the timing of some things I did weren't ideal, but now that I have had one year under my belt, I took advantage of this late February lull to do a quick getaway!

I spent a week trotting through Cambodia.  Even though I had already been to Siem Reap before, I was happy to get back there again.  I love how certain places don't seem to get old, no matter how many times you visit.

We stood a bit farther back this time so a lot of our views were blocked by people with cameras.

Closer to sunrise, we moved in for a bit of a better view

Crowds of people still at the edge of the reflecting pond

Sunrise!

We had a different driver/guide this time (I highly recommend having a guide at Angkor Wat!!), so we went straight into the temple after the sun was up.  We spent a lot more time at Angkor Wat this time, and it was really great to hear so much more about the history of the temple and especially about the significance of so many things within the temple.

I just like the way this photo looks

Love the hallways

Bas relief on the lower floor - such intricate details

More hallways

After Angkor Wat, we hit a bunch of the other temples - Angkor Thom (Bayon), Te Keo, Ta Prohm, and Sras Srang.  Most of them I had seen last time, but a few were new to me.  And it was good to have a different guide in order to hear new stories and have new photo spots!

Our guide told us that the stairs were steep because the kings believed that people had to work hard to get to heaven.

 Our guide had told us all day long about how many of the temples we visited were built with a type of sandstone that was brought down from a mountain.  The mountain is about 90 minutes outside of the city, so we woke up early again the next morning in order to drive out to the mountain.

There is a river that flows only at the top of the mountain, not at the bottom.

The river bed has thousands of stone carvings.. can you see the shape of the lotus flower?  It's crazy that the carvings haven't been eroded by the water!

We stopped at a pond where the water bubbles up from the earth in a milky fashion.  This water is supposed to healing and very pure.

Our guide stopped for a blessing, and we were treated to some fresh papaya!

We went around another side of the mountain and saw where a monk lives in a nook of the stone.

We went to climb up towards a temple, so this little girl offered to watch our shoes while we went in.. for a price of course :)

A reclining Buddha statue was carved into the top of the mountain

We wandered back down the mountain to get to the highlight of the trip - a waterfall!!

Small waterfall at one edge

Big waterfall for swimming!!

Woohoo!!

Our timing was perfect, as we were the only ones at the waterfall when we arrived.  These pictures really doesn't do it justice.  It was massive!!  I had been getting a little cold on the way to the waterfall so was feeling a bit indifferent about going for a swim, but as soon as we came up to it, "I am definitely ready for a swim!"

We took turns sitting under the base of the waterfall.  I could only sit there for about a minute though - the velocity of the water is incredible!!  Another cool thing about this area was that when you stood up in the water, little fish would come and bite your ankles and feet, just like those fish spas that you commonly see in Asia!  Really cool experience.  We spent quite a bit of time just swimming around the waterfall and enjoying the atmosphere before it was time to leave.  On our way out, we spotted a large group of teenagers (on some sort of school trip?) coming down to the waterfall, so I was very happy that our timing worked out so well!

After leaving the mountain, our guide took us to the hostel to pick up our bags, and then we were off to the airport to fly to Sihanoukville!  I think this post is long enough already, so I will save the beach recap for another time!

Happy hump day everyone :)