First Asian to win a Tennis Grand Slam!

I literally cried over the weekend watching the Women's Ladies French Open Finals. On Saturday, 4 Jun 2011, Li Na from China made history by being the first Asian ever in history to win a grand slam in the singles match. She beat Francesca Schiavone in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 in quite an emotional and mentally straining match.

We watched her as she seemed to have let the emotions get the better of her when she started making unforced errors in the second set. And I was like "Oh no, Li Na not again! Come on!". And we saw her fight the emotions, get herself right back on track and beat Schiavone at the tie-break to win her precious trophy and most ultimately the title of French Open Ladies Champion for 2011.

Well done Li Na! What a way to show that Asians are able to succeed in Sports too and we'll always support you! Let's hope you go the way and win all the other Grand Slams as well. :)

Picnic and movie night @ Moonlight Cinema - Royal Botanic Gardens.

It was thanks to Joan, one of our tennis mates that we even heard of the Moonlight Cinema at the Royal Botanic Gardens. She had organised for us to watch Toy Story 3 last friday. It was a movie night cum pre christmas kris kringle.

There was a "Gold Grass" area where bean bags are provided and there was free flow of snacks and drinks. For us, we had to bring along picnic mats and rented bean bags or blankets if needed. We did the gift exchanges before the movie while we were having dinner.

People chowing down KFC chicken - our dinner.

Check out the amount of junk food we had.

As it got nearer to show time, the inflatable screen by the lake was set up and advertisements were playing as usual before the movie.

Here's a shot of the beautiful evening sky at the back, halfway through the movie.

We weren't supposed to tell who we got for the kris kringle. But I think from the laughter and looks when we each got our presents, we could probably guess who it was. We all couldn't stop laughing when Andy opened his present - which was ceramic/glass egg plants!

Absolutely loved the movie we watched: Toy Story 3 - so much that I really want to get the blu-ray versions of all the movies from 1 to 3. I've also pretty much completed the Toy Story LEGO sets, some of which are on display at home! Just need more room for the rest arggh!

And though the forecast was cloudy and rain, we were lucky that the weather held up for the duration of the movie and droplets only started falling when we were leaving. But it was pretty cold for a summer night when the wind blew and so a thick blanket is definitely recommended for next time!

St. Peter's Carols by Candlelight and Andy's Birthday

I joined one of St. Peter's Catholic Church choir around 2009, they are called the Contemporary Choir. We used to sing every 4th and 5th Sunday of the month, but being the Youth Choir and singing songs that were more upbeat and cheerful, parishioners have suggested that they would like to see us more and so we're singing on 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays now.

Anyway around last year, a new Music Director Chris joined the church with his wife Chenade. They are really nice people and Chris decided to organise a Carols by Candlelight event. The event was called "Emmanuel - Carols by Candlelight, held on 11 Dec 2010. All the different choir groups took turns to sing christmas hymns and all were invited.

A group shot at the room back of the stage where everyone was warming up.	Can't really see, but this should be Patrice or Val's choir group doing their stint.
Us, the Contemporay Choir Group leaving the stage after finishing our songs. We did four songs in total.	When the sky turned darker, we lighted candles and continued into the night with the singing.
THe Korean Choir from Waverly church were also invited. They were really awesome and blew everyone away.	The finale where we performed the song "Emmanuel - God is with us" again. We did this at the start too.

The four songs that we sang:

1) Silver Bells	2) Go tell it on the Mountain
3) Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas	4) Joy to the World (All the boys and girls)

It was a great night and all of us really had fun celebrating the spirit of christmas. Thanks to Michelle and Tubby who were there to watch and support us as well. I'm definitely gonna join again next year. :)

We also celebrated Andy (one of our tennis mate's) birthday that same weekend. He turned 30 and so it was a pretty significant one. We had dinner at these Chinese/Malaysian Restaurant in Balwyn called Mabrown. They had really good grilled spicy quails and you had to make a booking otherwise you won't get a table on a Sat night.

And dinner we headed to our place for a fun night of wii and games. Joan decided to make the birthday surprise at 10pm+ so that Andy can enjoy the last couple of hours before he actually turned 30. LOL. The cake was a very yummy and elaborate one from Brunetti and present was a Lego Star Wars set as he's kinda of a Lego fan as well.

The birthday boy very happy to take his cake (from James I think).	Opening his present and already guessing what it was due to the sounds.
Usual group shot on our pretty big and comfortable couch.	Sexy shot of the two princesses "Troy and Andy" hugging.
And then we started on the Wii gaming - Mario Kart was first on the list.	Then Troy decided to make us try the wii fit board and these funny pose exercises.

It was a great weekend of fun and celebrations. And with christmas getting so close, it certainly brought more spirit and feel of the upcoming holiday mood. :)

It's all about Tennis and BRTA Summer Team Monash

We finished our Tennis season and all Tennis Tournaments with Monash Uni T.C a couple of weeks ago. BRTA stands for the Bayside Regional Tennis Association. It's one of the district associations that holds competitions around victoria regions.

Penn, James, Me and Tubby were members of the Monash Uni T.C in Clayton since early 2009 and we joined some of their 1-day ladies singles/doubles and mix doubles competitions throughout the period. But our main highlight was playing in the BRTA Mix Team in Summer 09/10. Being the first time joining as a team and playing together, I would say we did pretty well making it into the finals series and coming in 3rd - though sadly in tennis, they only recognize winners and runners-up. But hey, coming in 3rd out of 8 teams was no easy deal either. ;)

We had so much fun during our practices and comps sessions. Here are some pics to share.

Entouca - artificial clay surface which we mostly played on, as most of the clubs were made.

Me doing a serve at one of our practice sessions.

"Coach" James giving us some advice. Penn's bro Phillip would join us

Penn returning a shot. Loving this shot by Photographer tubbs. :D

Jame-sy returning a forehand shot

Darling tubbyness doing a serve

Team Monash Uni on the last week of play before the final series.

Team Monash Uni on the day of the finals where we lost to Glen Huntly. (P.S Also the club Tubby and I are now playing for. LOL)

Tennis now continues for us on Wed nights social comps at King's Park T.C and Sat arvos in BRTA again but this time playing for Glen Huntly. :D Tennis is and will always be a big part of our lives. And thanks to darling again for introducing it to me in 2006.

Riley meets the world and tennis update...

Just blogging cause I want to show everyone a close colleague of mine's new-born baby boy. Riley Willam Stephens was born on 28th Jan 2009. He was just a little over 3kg. Meagan brought him in yesterday and everyone was going goo-goo and ga-ga all over him. He's just about turning one month old and like all babies was sleeping most of the time. Anyway here's some cute photos of him, except for the top left hand one, the rest were all taken by his mommy.

Look at the photos she took of him lar, so free yah! Can set him in a small box and lie him on top of his teddy bear etc, but how CUTE though! Even darling was saying how adorable he was. There were more photos, but I wasn't sure if I should put all of them up, so just picked a few.

He's just so tiny! As compare to my sweet pies: nephew Desmond and niece Felicia when they were a month old, Riley was much smaller in size. (Of course I really wanna meet my cutie "grand-nephew" Jayden, sometime soon as well. ;) Anyway no one dared to carry Riley except me. I had "training" before hor when mum and I sort of looked after Desmond and Felicia occasionally when they were babies, so it was no problems. He slept soundly for a good 10-15mins in my arms before waking up feeling grouchy, and then I decided it was time his mommy had him back. :p

Well on to tennis lesson update at Clayton, it was good and darling and I have decided to continue taking lessons there. He even told me today after dinner that once a fortnight didn't seemed enough and that he actually feels like having it every week instead, haha. I guess we can work something out with the coach. Only down point is that the uni court rentals are pretty expensive at $14 per hour. Even as a member you have to pay. No doubt the rate might be discounted, but usually when you join other tennis clubs, you can play for free anytime. So boo to this down point. :( Anyway on the first lesson I was actually a bit uncomfortable with the coach as the previous coach actually let me explore other playing options like single-handed back hand. But the clayton coach said that woman usually don't do that as they need the power with both hands. So he kinda wanted to change me back to double back hand. So I'm still kinda like stuck in between both tactics but am glad he isn't too pushy and is slowly letting me adapt myself to the technique I much prefer.

I also just join the Monash Uni Tennis Club (which is affiliated to the Monash Uni Clayton Courts, duhhh) today so I can play in the winter comps! How exciting, I mean I haven't played in comps for a year and have been wanting to go back for ages. So these days, it's all 3 days a week at the gym and maybe another playing tennis. But yeah I'm still as chubby as ever and have not lost any weight.. :( Ah well I guess it's hard to lose weight when you're living in bliss. :p Yes yes I know, I am trying to console myself. :p

Everyday is Valentine's Day if you love the right one. And the ups and downs of Tennis...

Howdy everyone, my "sunshine" is back and thanks to the dear encouragement of my dear girls and cousin, I feel much better regarding the parent issue in the previous post. Anyway hoped everyone had a great Valentine's day both singles and couples as it's not just a day about couples in love, it's also about showing your love to your family and best friends. ;) Darling and I spent the day catching up with each other since he just came back from Singapore the day before. We did some shopping in Southland and then bought food back for a home-cooked candle light dinner.

Nothing else beats a nice home-cooked dinner prepared by the charming and loving chef, and with the extra touch of the candles in their vintage candle holders which I got as a farewell gift from my previous company.

And a close-up of the nice pan-fried salmon with capers, broccoli and grilled tomatoes with cheese. Mmmnnn yummy, and even darling Jasper had his royal taster's role fulfilled by having some of the food as well. :D

After that, we rented a movie to watch on Foxtel: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Honestly I much prefer the previous ones, this latest one was just lame. I mean flying saucers and aliens? Whatever happened to the good old ancient artifacts and mythology? Have plot writers just run out of good ideas already? Speaking of which I also watched Bride Wars with a colleague a week ago. That was a chick flick alright but still it was funny and had a good storyline and I especially love the ending that two best friends didn't fall out because their plotting against each other before the wedding. But that plotting actually helped one of them figured out that her husband-to-be really wasn't "the one". Anyway it's one good movie to catch with your girlfriends and you can ogle at the Tiffany ring and Vera Wang gown. :p

On to another topic: Tennis; my favourite sport. As you might know I have been playing since end 2006 and have joined some local comps and stuff in Gippsland. When we first moved down to Melbourne, my ex coach recommended me to a coach he knew at Nottinghill tennis club in Glen Waverley. Now it all started out fine at first (with the coaching I mean). But then because I wasn't "as important" as the wannabe kid star players, the coach kept changing my time slots and then eventually passed me on to his son. Then his son had some emotional problems while moving house and stopped contacting me. I thus had to contact the father again and he fitted me in one of his "precious time slot".

So all seemed fine until the weeks near Christmas when I had to skip a lesson or two as I wanted to spend more time with mum. Mr Coach then got unhappy and said I should just keep my coaching lessons on a casual basis. And I thought to myself. "What a petty and arrogant person!". And so I let the matter rest and thought I'll contact him again in the new year. And guess what? Mr Petty refuses to answer my call or sms. I couldn't be bothered anymore. Tennis may be my love, but that doesn't mean I have to beg someone for it. There are heaps other better coaches out there who are willing to teach whoever wants to excel.

And so darling and I have been looking around for other tennis clubs to join since then. When he bought a new racket for himself over the weekend, we decided to try out the clay courts near our place. I have always only ever played on hard courts and this was my first time in the clay court. Gotta say play in a clay court is certainly much different that in a hard court. The balls are slower and the ball can suddenly change direction depending on how it hits the clay.

Clay Court - usually made of crushed stone or brick. Cheaper and faster to build but more expensive to maintain as they need to be rolled over to preserve flatness and spray water on it before and after play.

Hard Court - Basically just hard concrete but more expensive as you have to bring in special concrete to build the courts, but cheaper to maintain.

At the end of the 1 1/2 hour on Valentine's day evening, we decided that was the first and last time we're gonna play on clay courts. No doubt it was also fun, but I wasn't used to it and slide and fell to the floor on my bum once and Darling just stood there laughing at me. :\ But haha that wasn't the main reason; when we finally finished playing, our shoes and outfits were all reddish brown! All the sliding and running for the balls had turned us into dirty, dusty bums. I had to go home and scrub off the stains of our shoes and clothes like hell and figured, "No I wouldn't want to be doing this all the time". :p I just found out about the Hard courts at the Monash Clayton campus today and made an enquiry. So darling's accompanying me for a lesson with the new coach this friday (who happens to be an Asian who's Singaporean, haha). I just hope everything turns out better this time. :)

My new work place, the new "addition" to the family and netball & tennis craze.

Thanks to all who cared, we're pretty much settled on the move down to city. Just a few knick knacks and there left in Gippy, which we will endeavour to take the next time we visit. :P The first week of work went by quickly and I must say I really feel so blessed to get this job. It has a great working environment, you get training and courses to attend, the benefits are awesome and most of all, I can finally concentrate on my area of expertise and what I like doing; which is purely web design. Anyway, here's some snapshot of my workplace:

The first day was really overwhelming because I had so much to learn and the tour around the two buildings itself took about one and a half hours and I was introduced to so many people that I probably can't remember half of who I have met. It's so cool to walk into the SECC (State Emergency Control Centre), the room looks exactly like the scene from movies where they have the U.S Security of Defence giving commands in the control centre during am emergency. Also the 000 centre is also situated in the same building, so that's where all the 000 calls go to. :P My department is in the second building, which is on the right of the main building and there's also a snap of my little workplace. My colleague also took me to the fire stations in other regions for a visit and it was all truly an information overload week, but it was all good.

Then I'd also like to introduce my new "baby" to our family (apart from Jasper). It's nothing big or posh to be proud about, but still it's my first car which I financed from my own hard earned money, so it's just something I'm just really happy about. The mitsubishi colt is similar to the Honda Jazz, but it's just less common and I certainly like the red colour! It's much more secure buying from a dealer as you can a mind of peace as compared to private sellers. As you can see, I can finally "doll up" my own car with all the cutie girlie stuff. *hint hint* chaboh loo, time to get me that devil mirror cover already. heehee.. :D And to top it off, thanks to darling who bought me a GPS to go with it, now I know I won't get lost.

And so everything sort of ended about the same time, my tennis comps ended around mid may and so did the netball comps. Though we didn't win any game at all, we're still proud of ourselves cause we did our best and I'd say we're one of the more united teams who have the same players playing for most of the comps. *Alright we didn't win cause we needed more practice and the ang mohs are very tall okay!" :P I'm pretty glad for gaining some new friends throughout that period too and now it's time to find a new tennis club around my area to continue my tennis and hopefully a netball team to join as well?

A little bit of this and that for the past month.

Okay here's a months worth of updates in brief. I have no inspiration to write much for the moment, so I'll let the photos do most of the talking. Here goes:

Dinner with Tubby, Ammie, Jason at Helens' and Michaels'. Food was yummy as usual. There were chicken wings, roast beef, vegies, potatoes, BBQ chicken and beef and yummy desserts too.

The Churchill Tennis Team - Section 6. We were at the bottom of the list but got pushed to 3rd and we had a walkover against Moe last Saturday cause they didn't have enough players. So it's all good for us and fingers cross we'll make it to the finals.

And finally, Tubby at his Convocation, the same one Len, Me and Joewiz attended 2 years ago at Clayton. Man time really flies. The above one is with his folks, and the meeting with them this time turned out to be pretty good surprisingly. Maybe it's cause their son has finally graduate that they are willing to loosen up a bit.

And lastly, by chaboh Len's request, here is a photo of how the Christmas tree and house deco for christmas looks like. Though we haven't got much people around for the little gathering, but it's the true meaning that matters. And I wanna go to Ivan Hoe to have a look at the christmas lights and decos too.

P.S: And to chaboh loo for her sweet little SMS, I love you girls always. Muaks. And that goes for my Tigger and Kitty. :P

Jay Chou's new album, poster, 2008 calendar and Melbourne Trip

This came from the postman yesterday, I'm super happy! His songs got me hooked as usual. You HAVE to go and listen. My Jay is still the same cutie, though now MORE talented, venturing into movies and directing, but I wished he can put on a little bit more weight. :P I've got nothing much to update lately. Was down in Melbourne last Sunday for a Transformer's fan meet. Some of the guys came from Sydney or Brisbane, it was kinda awkward at first and funny too cause everyone was sitting around the table in the food court and there were transformers toys all over the table. :P We had introductions, chatted around for a bit, then went around to the toy stores for a look.

I didn't stay for long cause poor Tubby was waiting for me at Crown, plus I had a large bag full of transformers toys, some of which I got a friend to bring over from Sydney for me. Then one of them gave me two free toys as well as sold me a book for a bargain price. I also bought one more pack of figures from Myer and also my Clinique facial stuff. So yeah it was really heavy. After I met up back with Tubby, we just went to get Asian groceries and made our way back cause we missed Jasper. Might post a pic of the forum guys if I can get the photo from them. Till then, tata for now...

* Ooohhh and for the first time in 6 weeks, our team won the Tennis match against Moe last Saturday. It was also the second time I won all my 3 sets. Yippie! Hope we can keep the good team effort going! :)