2007 Recap

It's 3 weeks since the start of 2008 and i haven't found time to recap all the crazy (in a good way) happenings in 2007. Last year was possibly one of the best years of my life because i felt i had lived it up to the max and i hope this year will be the same too! All in all, 2007 was one helluva a great year and i would never want it any other way!

I'm trying to stay away from lengthy posts so i thought pictures may be more appropriate to depict my crazy 2007!

The biggest thing that happened in 2007 was...


Getting hitched to my soulmate, my twin flame and the love of my life, thus ending our 9-year love marathon! Like they say, you marry someone you can't live without, not someone you can live with. I'm glad i didn't settle for less because i don't think i'd ever ever ever want to walk down the aisle to anyone else except him. :)

The next big thing happened 2-3 weeks after our wedding and we were elated to find out that i had a bun in the oven!! The bun is almost fully baked now and we're counting down to finally seeing his little face (let's just ignore the labour process for now).


Nevermind if you can't make head and tail of the ultrasound picture but the important thing to note is that i was promoted from missus in June 2007 to mummy in July 2007!

With my bun in tow, i still managed to do my first ever public frisbee demo with Chester, ran a trial with him and did another frisbee event - all under the permission and watchful hawk eyes of the husband! :)

Dog-training-wise, this has also been an excellent year because of the progress Chester has made - learning to weave, perfecting his flips, learning back-vaulting and finally getting a real trophy and ribbon in the jumper trials recently.





For a loooooong time, i have been missing this and i finally got the chance to re-live the experience again - returning to Perth to see the Royal Show!! Perth was like my second home years ago and because Dan visited me every couple of months, he was no stranger there and knew where all the good food was too. We had a blast there and even recently, the husband said he wished we were back in Perth again because he felt more free and unstifled there and in his words, "didn't have to report to anyone but my wife only". Hehe!

We took a roadtrip down south, saw our first ever humpback whale up close and personal, was ripped off at a Chinese restaurant at Augusta, terrorised wallabies and cross-dingoes at the various farms, binged on fish and chips and endless dimsum, checked out the dog trials there (and also a Border Collie breeder), checked out a car workshop (the hubby's playground!) and was pleasantly surprised it was owned by a fellow Singaporean, spent a bomb at the sideshows (and chips and ribs and yummy corn-on-the-cob!) at the Royal Show and came back to Singapore with 3 big bags and a hugeass husky toy!


Understandably, i wasn't allowed to go on this ride. The last time i took the ride a couple of years ago, Mum nearly had a heart attack just watching me fly past her a kazillion times.


Someone please whack me with a spade. I still haven't sorted out my 2-gb worth of Perth pictures!

Work-wise, it's been a productive year too. Barely 7 months into this job, the new boss sent me for training and site visits early 2007. Was reluctant at the beginning because the husband (then-boyfriend) and i have a pact (since my trip to London in 2005), that we'll try not to travel without each other if possible. I only agreed to go under the condition that it had to be less than 10 days and before i knew, i was whisked off to South Carolina, Birmingham and finally to Florida.

It was great experience and the trip paid off because i took what i had learnt there and applied it back here. For some reason, problems in one of the animal colonies that had bugged us for years diminished and our colony flourished like nobody's business after that. The boss was mighty pleased to see the returns so soon and urged me to put up a poster presentation late last year at one of the regional conferences. By a stroke of luck, i won an award and the boss was of course, more than happy to entertain folks from local and foreign institutions who were keen for us to help them out with their colony.


Btw, this is sunset at Charleston, South Carolina. Took this on my mobile and mms-ed it to Dan to share this beautiful moment with him.

The colleagues and i have also grown tighter as a team and it wasn't till Christmas that i sorta realised i'm valued more than just a colleague or friend to them. Received a number of cards and pressies from some of them and in the cards, they thanked me for my guidance, love and the lessons i've taught them throughout the year (made me emo!). I'm pleasantly surprised because i never realised they do remember things i've said and these things actually do impact their lives in positive ways. One of the ex-interns even wrote about how she has always regarded me as her mentor because i've not only helped her with work and personal issues but also inspired her to always be fearless and live her dreams no matter what obstacles come along.

It is a good feeling to know that i have helped and perhaps, inspired people, even in the most feeble ways. My colleagues, some of whom are really "young" by my standards, are a sensible and down-to-earth bunch. I look upon them as younger siblings (or even my kids - yah, some of them actually do call me mummy!) and feel the need to guide and nurture them, being their "lieutenant". They're great kids, to be honest, and i hope that this year, i can impart more knowledge to them, create more opportunities for them to shine and to push them further up the ladder.

To sum it all up:

In 2007, i took on the role of a wife and a mother, resumed my status as a traveller for both work and play, progressed as a dog owner, trialler and freestyle-frisbee enthusiast, realised i had become a teacher and mentor!

For 2008, i want to continue being all the above and more!! Okay, maybe the traveller part can be on hold because i foresee myself to be heavily involved in domestic engineering issues! I know this year is gonna be more crazy than the last but i'm also sure i'm gonna have the time of my life juggling diapers/milk bottles/rattles on top of everything else!!

p.s. I'm getting quite sick of Blogger and will probably move to LJ soon - check back for the new addy!