Meeningfully

This post is dedicated to my colleagues. Many know I don't usually dine out during lunch while at work. When I do, it is usually for official work reasons (must be really good reasons like celebrating a birthday etc) or to meet up with friends I have not caught up for ages or when I am super stressed and need a breather.

I am always inspired by mothers who dare to step out of their comfort zones, whether they are SAHMs or FTWMs, to start their own business. I have always wanted to do the same. Ideas have been conceived, but never really gotten down to putting my plans into action. It takes a lot of discipline and I am personally still working towards making my dream a reality. 

"Hypnotherapy can help kids overcome behavioral changes" Before I delve into today's "In Conversation", I just wanted to say that my blog is not just about mummies and stuff. More often than not, the experiences I share here are The Man and my parenting experience. Just that The Man prefers not to make any writing appearance on the blog. Oh well. Having said that, I will be speaking with fathers as part of the my "In Conversation" series. The parenting perspective from dads can be helpful for us mums to take a leaf from. Yes?  Today, I am extremely excited to have Samuel Tan, single dad to a Primary 2 girl who interestingly is also certified in hypnotherapy!  Read on to find out why he took up the discipline, and what he uses it for. 

Looking back at the time when I first became a mummy, I was overwhelmed with how much there was to do, and sometimes lamented at how much our lives have changed. As time went by, I now look back at those times fondly, and certainly wish that time has more mercy on us as the boy is growing up too fast. Today, I have a Victoria Koh on the blog. A first time mummy of only 4 months to a boy, Ryan, who she endearingly calls " Chilli "! Let's hear from her on how she is coping and what advice she is dishing out to other new mummies.

Today, I have got " The nice rebel rabbit " on the blog. An educator, bursting with positivity, who loves life and lives life to the fullest. That's Becky, a mother of 2 boys with very different temperaments. Let's hear from her on how motherhood has made her the person she is.  If you are curious to find out why she calls herself "The nice rebel rabbit", read till the end of this post! 

On the blog today is Geraldine Low, mother of 2 beautiful girls aged 7 and 4. Gerry, as I like to call her,  is also a passionate digital marketer in the financial services industry. That says a lot. As someone who has been in a similar role before... the work hours are crazy! When I had J, she was always the first person I'd go to when I needed sound mummy advice. Needless to say, she was also the first person I thought of to start this new "In conversation" series.

"How do you manage without a helper and still find time to blog?" is one of the most common question I get since J entered our lives. Well, the answer really is... I sometimes don't know how I do it either. Some days I am a wreak, some days it's a breeze and most days to be honest, I struggle on many levels. 

I am back with my "Working Mommas Survival Tips" series after more than a month hiatus. The motivation to get this started stemmed from my daily struggles to manage both home and work.  I am no expert but I am constantly trying. Hence sharing how I go about ensuring I have quality time with the boy, at the same time collating other mothers' experiences in this linky. Hopefully, this can be a valuable resource for other mothers too. And, you don't need to be a full time working mother to contribute. You can be working at home, working part-time or used to work. Your experiences will be great for this series! *** I don't usually share a lot about what I do, but I will make an exception today. I am in marketing and communications, managing a full spectrum of marketing duties in a small local office of a global education brand. So you can imagine the amount of work that comes through ranging from public relations to advertising & promotions and social media

Delegation requires a certain level of trust between the delegator and "delegatee". I always try to delegate at work as it is the most efficient way to get things done. While not always in the manner I'd like it to be, I accept that there's no perfection anyway. That took me quite a few years to come to terms with and I advocate it to all my colleagues and friends when they whine about how much work they have. Unfortunately, when it comes to matters at home, it is hard to practise what I preach. The fact that J did not come into our lives easy, it is only natural that I want to protect him with all my might. A little too much sometimes (excessive most times actually!). From the time he entered my life, I have been his sole caregiver (other than the lovely teachers from his school). I insisted that I am around J whenever possible. Most times, I rather rush to pick J up from school than bother anyone else in the family to do the job, even if it makes my life a l

Do you ever wished you have more than 24 hours a day?  I do. Time is so precious that I always try to make use of whatever little pockets of it I have. I am usually up by 5.45am every day, 15 minutes before the hubs and baby gets up which also means chaos. This 15 minutes is when I attempt to prep myself. Precious me time before I start the day. By 7am, we will be out of the house and the time i really look forward to is the 30 to 45min I have on the bus ( make that a double shot since I get same amount of time on the return trip). I take a private bus service to work, which means there will almost always have seats available.  While to some people, it's perhaps the best time to catch up on missed episodes of that favourite drama. I usually choose to either catch up on sleep or on responding to emails, just so to make the day in the office slightly easier. There are times when I just want to sit there and do nothing. Looking out of the bus, watching other people go about thei

I am blessed to be in a job that allows me to leave for home at 5pm everyday. Despite the occasional homework I pack, I always make it a point to reserve the evening exclusively for J. The moment I step into my mum's house to pick the boy up, I try not to attend to any work related calls or emails. Not always easy given the nature of my job. Hence, it is important that I make full use of my time at work, ensuring that I deliver to expectations, yet have quality time spent with the family. The crux of being efficient at work is time management, and after years of being in the workforce, I am still trying to master the art of doing so, although I have picked up some habits that's made managing work and family a little easier. Make a list I make a list of things I need to accomplish during the day on a daily basis. This helps with getting an overview of what needs to be done and makes it easy for me to prioritise my tasks. I do this the moment I step into the office, somewh

I am starting a series called " Working Mommas' Suvival Tips" (WMST) on my blog to share how I manage each day working full time with an active toddler. This will also be my first linky which will be open from now till 31 May 2014. Although I have been  juggling motherhood and a full time job for 1.5 years now, I am still learning. I don't have an organised life as each new day brings brand new challenges. As J grows older, I find myself exploring new ways to be more efficient at home and at work so I can spend time with him, and give him the attention he deserves. Sometimes, that  means cutting some corners and saving time on even the smallest thing such as putting on make-up. If I had flawless skin, I would be more than happy to walk out of the house confidently with no make-up at all. I used to take considerable effort to prim myself for work. Taking 15 minutes to paint my face seems like a luxury now (especially with the toddler hanging onto your legs ask