{bubble tea love}

I have the office to myself this afternoon so I can ditch the headphones and am turning up the music. I used to be really up to date with music, read music blogs and keep up with new songs, artists, go to gigs.. but this has sort of faded out in the last few years. These days I seem to rely a lot on Spotify and their playlists and recommendations which is great for busy people! But this afternoon I am feeling a bit nostalgic so reminiscing and playing some songs played at our wedding back in 2010 which is bringing back some beautiful memories.   Walking down the aisle:  First dance:

And I'm back... I have found myself with some more spare time up my sleeve recently and a friend suggested that I should throw myself back into blogging again so here I am! It's crazy that it's been almost a year since my last post. 2015 was a bit of a pretty dramatic year for us on the health front so we are hoping for a lot less drama this year! But it will be a big year with a new home purchase and us moving in mid-year.  So that means some renovating and decorating which I will hopefully post about here.  The pinning  has already begun...! In the meantime, we just enjoyed a lovely long Easter weekend at home and hosted some friends for lunch on Easter Saturday.  First time we made a lamb roast (and it turned out great to our delight) and we also pulled out the same hot cross buns recipe that I used last year which was a hit. I think this will become an annual Easter tradition. I really do love cooking for family and friends so I think my next hosting cha...

Today I need to concentrate and write a briefing paper for my boss' boss.  Being in an open plan office it means putting on my headphones and turning on Spotify to listen to their Afternoon Acoustic playlist.  It's my go-to playlist and features this sweet little tune from John Mayer...   

A great Linkedin career advice post from Shane Rodgers appeared on my Facebook feed this morning.  Although it is titled advice for 25 year olds I think it rings true for all ages and all careers.  The full post is here but I have extracted a few I particularly liked:  A career is a marathon, not a sprint Chill. When we are younger we tend to be impatient... Most success comes from repetition, not new things ...The lesson here is to get good at things before you try to move to the next thing. Genuine expertise belongs to an elite few. They seldom have superpowers. They usually have endurance, patience and take a long-term view. They also love what they do. If your find that, don’t let it go. Deprioritise your career when your kids are young If you have skills, commitment and passion, careers tend to take care of themselves. Over the long haul, it really doesn’t matter if you have a few years when your career is in canter mode while you prior...

Two political leaders who have had personal impacts on my life passed away in the last week or so.  Former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser and Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew .  Malcom Fraser was instrumental to the Australian Government's policy shift in the mid-late 70's which embraced and welcomed Vietnamese refugees to Australia.  This move was the first significant step towards multiculturalism following the dismantling of the White Australia Policy . When he came to power  in 1975, less than 400 Vietnamese lived in Australia. By the end of his term, tens of thousands of Vietnamese would be recognised as refugees.   My parents and sister were three of those people.  Upon hearing the news of his passing and then seeing the coverage of his funeral, I surprised myself at how emotional I felt for this man I had never met.  He was a man of true compassion and strength whose support for human rights was unwavering ...

A friend linked this on Facebook this morning and I loved it so wanted to share.

I love this time of year. It means time with family and friends, lots and lots of good food, lion dancing, firecrackers, red packets and since moving to Singapore,  I have discovered the delightful  pineapple tart !   This holiday is the most significant for my side of the family.  Some of my fondest childhood memories are of going to the Tet Festival every year in Brisbane where we would indulge in sugar cane juice and beef skewers wrapped in betel leaves (the only time of year we used to eat it).  I remember my dad covering my ears when the firecrackers were going off and being scared of the guy in the mask with the rosy cheeks who teases the lion dancers.  I think I still find him a bit creepy :)   Whilst we will not be in Brisbane this year to celebrate, I am looking forward to starting some new traditions with the Mr and the little Miss.  Gong Xi Fa Cai / Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

As a mum working in the finance industry I was really interested to read a recent  Financial Times feature called " London: Sexism and the City " on women, leadership and the finance industry.  It focuses on London but I think a lot of it applies and is relevant to other countries. The statistics are pretty telling - only 16.2% of the managing director level positions at banks are held by women.   The report touches on the reasons behind the statistic including gender stereotypes and bias, sexual harassment and sexist cultures and career disruptions due to parenthood.   It also suggests some possible solutions including incentives for diversity, adequate maternity leave and return to work policies. Some very good food for thought.

Over the weekend I hosted a friend's baby shower afternoon tea.  I like baking and cooking but I am also short on time so when deciding the menu, I wanted minimal ingredients, time and effort. For the savoury, I chose  mini quiches  and pumpernickel bread topped with egg + smoked salmon and cream cheese. Image from nigella.com For the sweets, I went with  Nigella Lawson's Rocky Road Crunch Bars and Frankie Magazine's All Together Cake from their Afternoon Tea book/ app . The Rocky Road is super easy to make and sooo good and moreish!  Nigella has dark chocolate in her recipe but I just melted choc chips I found at the supermarket.  I also used honey instead of golden syrup as that is all I had in the pantry. The All Together Cake is also super easy (recipe below).  Just make sure your self raising flour isn't too old.  Mine was nearing its expiry date so the first cake was a disaster as it didn't rise! All Together Cake Recipe: In...

January is over and I am finally starting to get back into my exercise routine again after a holiday season hiatus.  My morning routine (which I try to do a couple of times a week) is to drop the little Miss at nursery, go to the gym and then head to the office.  I usually try and get in by 9am. To do all that usually means my max workout time is 20-30mins + a super fast shower and beauty routine at the gym.  That's why I loved this little discovery on Beauticate  (great beauty blog by ex Vogue beauty editor, Sigourney Cantelo) on how to do your eye liner in like 3 seconds. It works a treat!  There is also a great vid on 5 minute glowy makeup.  

We spent a wonderful 2 weeks back home in Australia over the Christmas/New Year period.  We had lots of family, beach and chill time.  I was also super excited to go shopping in Aussie supermarkets and big box stores like Kmart and Target haha.  Living away does mean you often miss the conveniences and way of life back home so some recent discoveries have given me a few little cute reminders of Oz....  Australian bird prints by  Studio Cockatoo  which I purchased from Lamington .   I also spied these wooden kids toys from Make me Iconic  recently - I think it would be a cute way to introduce some Aussie food to the little Miss! 

It was our wedding anniversary yesterday and I can't believe it has been 4 years already. I was looking back on some of our photos from the day (courtesy of the wonderful Todd Hunter McGaw ) and was just thinking how so much has happened and how we've been through so much.  Love you Mr - the little Miss and I are so lucky to have you xx

I recently saw this post titled "From Mothers to Daughters: Do as I Say, Not as I Do" and I wanted to share it as it was a nice little reminder for me and I hope it is for others too. Prompted by an article in the Atlantic titled "the Confidence Gap ' (which is also an interesting read), Kathryn Sollman writes, Too many professional women hold themselves back from the big promotion or raise and too many others believe they made an irrevocable choice to leave the workforce. All wish much bigger career achievements—and more confidence–for their daughters...  In my view, however, there is a big disconnect. I see this spectrum of women—those who work in and out of the paid workforce—in my community, at my child’s school and in my professional work. All of these women encourage the utmost confidence and achievement in their daughters—but not in themselves...     It would be hard to find a woman in my personal and professional circles who isn’t ...

I can't wait for the weekend - there is so much to look forward to!  Saturday is chockers as we are taking the little girl to the zoo in the morning, then off to a little boy's birthday celebration and date night with the Mr.  Sunday means family skype chats, breakfast at our favourite cafe with friends and a chilled sunday afternoon in a park or by the river.   Happy Friday!

I can't wait to get back home for our Christmas holidays in December - one week in Brisbane and one week up at the Sunny Coast.  This beautiful short film c elebrating Summer and 40 years of Country Road makes me miss home!

For a while now I have seen a lot written about green smoothies and to be honest I didn't get it.   I read interviews in beauty and celeb blogs and there was always some reference to green smoothies as part of a morning routine. Instagram and social media were flooded with images of folks traipsing around with their green smoothies and eating raw this and that.  I thought it was all a bit over the top and just some food fad. I was a cynic to say the least. I am a food loving, coffee and wine drinking girl who likes to eat bread, rice and all the stuff you aren't 'meant' to. But a few weeks ago I started making some changes.  For most of this year I have been feeling run down, tired, was getting sick alot and just feeling 'blah'... My iron, zinc and vitamin levels were way down.  I had previously put it down to just being busy and stressed with work and life but something really needed to change. My time off between jobs gave me some time to get back i...

You may have already seen this (as it is has garnered lots of media/social media attention) but I encourage you to watch it if you haven't already. Emma Watson delivered a brilliant speech a few days ago on feminism and a new UN campaign that has been launched to promote gender equality.  She asks both men and women to take action. “The more I have spoken about feminism, the more I have realised that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating…. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop. For the record, feminism, by definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong. It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what w...

One of my frequent blog reads, A Cup of Jo  is featuring career themed posts this week. Her first post from earlier this week set out some quotes and tips from some inspiring women... below are some of my favourites (mostly from the hilarious and cool Tina Fey !).  Although a career driven post, I think a lot of the below applies to life generally.  On being confident:   I love women who are bosses and who don't constantly worry about what their employees think of them. I love women who don't ask, "Is that OK?" after everything they say. I love when women are courageous in the face of unthinkable circumstances, like my mother when she was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Or like Gabrielle Giffords writing editorials for the New York Times about the cowardice of Congress regarding gun laws and using phrases like "mark my words" like she is Clint Eastwood. How many women say stuff like that? — Mindy Kaling Speak in statements instead of ...

I have a few weeks off before I start the new job so we decided to take advantage of the time and sneak in a week to Hong Kong.  The Mr could work from his office there and it left me, my mama and the little lady to enjoy the city. I lived in HK for two years between 2008-2010 and definitely have a love affair with the city.  I have been back and forth for work since then but this was the first time in a long time that I have spent some 'off' time there.   It was so different seeing it and experiencing it with a kid in tow and I didn't get to do a lot of what we used to do.  But we did have a great week (despite the toddler sleep regression  which is still ongoing..sigh) revisiting our old haunts, catch ups and playdates with friends and discovering some cool new places.   Here are a few of my tips from our week: The Peak  - We were spoiled with beautiful, clear (but hot!) summery weather all week so we took advantage and went for...

Most of us have heard about glass ceilings , but what about the bamboo ceiling ? The Australian Financial Review and the Guardian both ran articles this week about "Asians" in executive corporate management after an Australian Diversity Council report was released.  The Council found that only 4.9% of the labour force of Asian heritage make it to senior executive level in Australia and only 1.9% of executives in ASX200 companies have Asian cultural origins.  Some interesting statistics. Read the full articles  here  and here . There are so many different ideas thrown out about about how we can increase diversity at the higher echelons of the corporate world (eg quotas, affirmative action).  I don't know what the answer is as I don't think there is a 'one size fits all' solution. As a young female Australian full time working mum/career woman of Vietnamese heritage, I have certainly been the subject of my fair share of stereotypes and gossip in the c...