Great rewards await you when you join Pásshen as a client!
Get a mystery box worth more than S$150* in health and wellness goodies when you join us as a member. This promotion is valid from 21 Sep till 30 Nov 2015.

How to qualify?
1. Sign up as a member
2. Email marketing@passhen.com your username, email address and mailing address
3. Once we have checked your status, we will mail the box to you within 5 working days!

What are you waiting for? Sign up NOW at www.passhen.com!


*Terms &Conditions apply.

It's my first time in Chicago and the main reason why I decided to go there was because I thought that it's airport is the best to reach my aunt's place in Wisconsin. However, I didn't mind it because the last time I've ever been around Chicago was merely the airport.

Once again, I booked an Airbnb apartment for us to stay and boy were we blown away at how gorgeous the place is!! Check out the video below.

Because the apartment was so beautiful, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon just lazing around, eating Deep Dish Pizza and drinking beer while watching TV on their big screen. Reviews on both can be found on my food blog In Chef Mode.

Tomorrow will be catching up with an ex-colleague in the Chicago office!

I read this article on Buzzfeed entitled "19 Things People With Chronic Pain Want You To Know" and the delightful summary was "We may not look sick, but we are sick." I definitely could relate to the article and I also liked and shared it on Facebook. 

My chronic condition is endometriosis. For those who don't know what it is, it is a female issue where tissue that is supposed to remain in the uterus goes commando and grows outside of the uterus. What sort of mayhem does it do to my body?

• irregular periods
• excessive bleeding (there were times where my periods lasted for 2 weeks)
• extreme cramps
• fatigue
• depression
• weight gain
• irritable bowels

Doctors don't know what causes endometriosis and there's no cure for it. I've undergone a couple of surgeries just to cope with it.

I'm more than happy to talk about my condition with friends and family, without trying to gain sympathy but to spread awareness. Heck, I only knew about fibroids until I was diagnosed with endometriosis. However, please don't make any silly comments. I got really pissed off with a headhunter once because I had written "endometriosis" on a job application and she called me to find out about it. The conversation went something like this:

Headhunter (HH): So...you get cramps every month?
Me: Err...no, I get irregular periods and sometimes the cramps don't come but sometimes they do. When they do, it varies from slight to extreme pain.
HH: So...you get cramps more than once a month?
Me: No...sometimes have, sometimes don't have. It really depends.
HH: You get depressed every month?
Me: No!! It really depends. There are a lot more good months than bad months and because I recognise the symptoms, I know how to cope with it.
HH: Are you on medication?
Me: No. I had a very bad reaction to a medication so my doctor recommends me doing things naturally to try to get my menstrual cycle to return to normal.
HH: So you have your period every month? Cramps too?
Me: (starting to feel pain from rolling my eyes too much) NO....as I've mentioned earlier, my uterus can't decide whether to come once or multiple times per month and I've got an IUD to try to prevent as many periods from coming so that the uterine lining doesn't grow.
HH: Oh...the other surgery was to remove all the lining?
Me: Yes.
HH: So it's all removed and cured lah.
Me: No...cos some of the lining, called adhesion, has caused my uterus to be stuck onto my intestines and couldn't be removed. Also, there's nothing stopping my lining from wanting to grow outside my uterus too.
HH: Oh...so it's not cured.
Me: That's why it's a chronic problem....



In the end, she told me that she'll look for long-term jobs with better medical leave due to my condition. See. Her heart wasn't in the wrong place. She just had a funny way of trying to understand that chronic conditions don't strike on schedule.

Do you know that our wallets are a lot emptier because of our medical bills? Each time I go to my gynae for a check-up, it's about $200. That's before any fancy schmancy tests or pills.


Let me stop before I go on a full-on rant explanation about my condition, as this blog post isn't about that. My post is about seeking people's understanding as well as to get more people to shed their prejudices.

It has been about 3 years since I've been diagnosed and what I have learnt is that more often than not, those who truly understand are those who have chronic conditions too. As awesome it is to have another human empathise with our condition, I want 'normal' and 'healthy' people to appreciate that despite our chronic illnesses, we're living as normal a life as we can.

以小人之心，度君子之腹。

I've heard many stories from friends who have chronic illnesses (not only me) and often times, they too complain that when they take medical leave because they have to, their colleagues get upset and roll their eyes to say, "Yet again." Sounds way too familiar to me.

It has gotten to the point where I don't feel that I've got the right to take my 14 days of annual medical leave and instead, have to take my regular leave when I'm actually not feeling well. I'm not the only one. Talking to these friends of mine, they too feel guilty whenever they have to take medical leave. When I tell this to my good 'healthy' friends, they get angry on my behalf and exclaim, "But it's your right!" Uh huh...tell that to the rest of the world who obviously take a sickie when they're not sick. These people don't realise the number of times that I haul my ass to work when I really am not feeling 100%. Please just accept that we're really not feeling well and stop thinking that we're trying to screw your work life up.



So, do forgive me for those days where I'm super emo, suddenly lethargic or when I just don't seem sociable. I don't see my endometriosis as a crutch. I do wish that I didn't have it but since I do have it, I just see it as something that I have to live with. Just like how some people hate their legs/arms/butt/shape of their eyes, I hate my condition but I still have to live with it. Can't help it.

I'm trying my best to not let it get to me (there are weeks where I may only work 3 days but I'm helluva more efficient than my peers) but I would really appreciate it if you don't make my life harder than it already is. No need to walk on eggshells. Just don't judge me.

In the past few week’s, the guys over at Key Person of Influence Singapore (KPI) have been working to get Daniel Priestley to run one of his acclaimed masterclasses here in Singapore. Daniel Priestley is a renown entrepreneur, sought-after speaker and author of the three best-selling books including Become a Key Person of Influence.

Just yesterday, they unveiled a new two-day masterclass:

“Campaign Driven Enterprise”

Here’s some more information.. 

Most businesses are designed to win new clients one at a time. This is a really slow and shaky way to grow a business. Campaign Driven Enterprises however create killer promotions that allow them to bring on a LOT of new clients, all at once. 

Successful companies often start with great campaigns. Nike, Apple, even Virgin started (and continue to thrive) using campaigns. It’s how Daniel started a successful business when he was only 22, creating an immediate impact to his industry.

This is the perfect workshop for helping you drive growth in your business - I've personally been through other KPI workshops and can attest to the quality of their content! I'm learning and trying to apply many things that I've learnt from them into practice.

This event will be limited in seats, so it's interactive and hands-on.

The price for this event is $1,247, but as I am an event partner, I managed to get an early-bird offer of only $897 for my readers! This is only if you secure your seat by the 30th June 2015 (save 28% and guarantee your seat, as this masterclass is most likely to sell out).
 
For more information and to secure your seats, click here.

By the way, I will be attending this masterclass too so I hope to see you there!

I saw the photo below on my Facebook newsfeed today and I'm glad to see more and more of such movement(s) in the world.

Needless to say, I shared it and I wrote, "There are tons of 'invisible' illnesses out in the world. We should not judge others by what we have/ don't have, learn to accept that these illnesses are a struggle and that it takes a lot of self control for people to NOT whinge and whine about their illness(es) to others constantly."

As someone who has endometriosis and clinical depression, which is linked to my endometriosis (I shall now shorten it to 'endo'), I can really relate to how it is a struggle to smile to the world while your insides are just eating away at you. Don't get me started on the head trip that goes with every low when depression hits you nor the extreme pain I go through sometimes whenever Mother Nature visits.

The worst thing is that these illnesses are chronic. They will reoccur again and again, with almost no cure. Just prevention of symptoms or just making these symptoms milder so that they do not become stumbling blocks.

I get a bit offended whenever people talk about my weight and my weight gain. It is a side effect of endo (people with PCOS can relate) and it takes me 3x the effort to lose the weight. I'm already happy that I've maintained my weight without it ballooning further. I can't stand it when family, friends and some colleagues talk about my food intake as if I'm consuming 2,000 calories a day. I've checked. There are days and weeks when I meticulously note down all the food that I consume and guess what? I clock in at 1,500 calories on average! Sometimes 1,200 calories too! However, nobody sees this and whatever they assume, they believe. I still can't get over the fact that one of my directors skipped me when she was offering biscuits to everyone in the office.

Another thing about endo is the incredible amount of pain it brings and it's not constant. It comes and goes like a bad diarrhoea that visits you without the accompanying runs. You're so exhausted despite not doing much and you just can't concentrate on anything else except a good book/mindless games/how soft your pillow is. Whenever this happens, I can't help but take a sickie. But of course...a lot of colleagues think that I'm skiving or complain that I'm "always not around/always on medical leave". Some colleagues even go so far to say that I only work 3 days a week (I wish!). Best that I've heard so far: "she has so many days of medical leave meh?" Nope...I still have the same amount of leave as anyone else in the office and I do 3x the amount of work in the same amount of time. That's for efficiency y'all naysayers!

Honestly, people like me aren't asking for sympathy nor empathy. We just want all of you to be less judgemental and more understanding.

Merry Christmas everyone! Above is just a present that I put together named "Spa In A Pot" and in some ways, I too need a spa or rather, a relaxing day without any worries. As I reflect on 2014, I must say that it has been a stressful year that taught me many lessons and despite being over 30, I am still learning more about myself and life has a funny way of reminding you that you're still young in the eyes of the Lord/ universe.

Check out our matching Hello Kitty shoes!

Unplanned matching bling bling tops in the same colour!

I am thankful for some colleagues who are the silver lining in my grey clouds. Their laughter, listening ears, advice and most importantly, their friendship. 2013 and 2014 are the years where I find out who among my colleagues are true friends and who are those who are just friendly.

Thank you for the lovely presents from people whom I never expected to receive special presents from! The thought behind the gifts also show how much they know me and thought about the presents.

Mum makes the best meals from Christmas leftovers!!

I'm grateful for my family, despite their predictability and our constant moments of passive aggressiveness, it is this that grounds me. Just like how it amuses me that despite 11 years of begging at the table and not getting a single scrap, Baileys will still do so in hopes of getting whatever yummy stuff we have.

True friendship stands the test of time and I'm very thankful and blessed to have a group of friends who've stuck with me for 14 years and counting. We've seen each other grow, seen 2 get married and 1 give birth to 2 beautiful children. Sure, we've got our little run-ins but all of us have taught each other about friendship, relationships with the other half and also, what it means to be a good person.

I'm also glad that I managed to take a long leave this year and in doing so, managed to recharge my batteries, take stock of my health and just be at peace with my ambitions. I may want to do 10,000 things but my body is not able to catch up both physically and mentally. I must pace myself. Also, I'm also happy to have made new friends during my Yoga retreat in Krabi!

Yes, 2014 has been full of ups and downs but I can only move forward. I do anticipate 2015 to be a lot more exciting because I do have 2 exciting projects in the pipeline and I can't wait to share them with everyone once they have gained more confirmation.

I do not want to make any resolutions because it would be hard to keep to them. However, my goal for 2015 is to lead a more fulfilled life by balancing health and doing work that motivates me.

Moon and I were very lucky to be 2 of the 100 selected to win invites to Cosmopolitan Singapore's 3rd Anniversary Bash yesterday, where they celebrated Fun Fearless Fabulous (females)!

Doors to F-Club were supposed to be open at 7.30pm for registration but they didn't really open up till 8pm. We arrived at about 7.45pm to see a long snaking queue and we had to get in line. Thankfully there was a roving hunk and FFF Cosmo photog to entertain us with Polaroids and chocolates!

Cool thing is that with the hashtag #CosmoFFF2014, we had our Instagram photos printed out inside the event space!

Instead of your usual wristbands, each of us were given a paper DKNY watch band! Really quite cool in terms of marketing because this highlights DKNY's signature timepiece for this season while making the attendees really remember about DKNY's branding.

As you can see from the photo above, the space was pretty packed. One of the organisers said that there was a limit of 300 pax within the F-Club and it certainly felt like the place was maxed out.

Really liked the DKNY catcher booths (there were 2!) and we wanted to try our luck but the queues were too long and I had NO patience to queue although we had free flow of Somerby's Cider (yum!).

For food, it was only a dessert table that had these really cute red velvet cakes with the Cosmo logo on white chocolate discs. Below is a meringue flower on a stick that was really cute too! Pardon the really crappy photo because I was walking and taking the photo - all done in low light.

After jostling with the crowd for about 20 minutes, my stomach said, "You need real food instead of just booze and sugar. The crowd's suffocating too." Thus, Moon and I walked out with our goodie bags and headed over to Liang Court for dinner/supper!

I must say that I'm terribly impressed with the goodie bag! Check out the loot:

Items inside were:

• Kellogg's cornflakes
• DKNY bangle
• Asience Shampoo & Conditioner
• ZA BB cream and cleansing oil
• The Natural Confectionery Sours
• Kao Steam Eye mask
• $50 watch voucher
• $10 hair voucher
• $50 Spa Voucher
• Flight 001 kit containing:
• 2 travel tags
• laundry soap sheets
• body cleansing sheets
• combination lock
• Lush shower gel
• SheShops discount voucher
• Latest edition of Cosmopolitan magazine

I won't be using this because I'm trying to save $$, hope that you guys will benefit from this instead! Go ahead and use the discount code but do remember that it expires on 31 Oct 2014!

It generally was a fun event but it was just too crowded for my liking. The ZA cosmetics were just placed on the bar tables and it was a shame that it was too noisy and crowded for people to just play around with them or talk to the ZA staff. The free flow of cider was EXCELLENT and of course, the games were a fantastic idea. I also like the printing of photos through the hashtag. All in all, it was great to celebrate everything that's Fun, Fearless and Fabulous!

I was lucky to win a pair of tickets from Style magazine to Guess' launch party of their Fall Collection 2014 of bags and shoes last Saturday and I brought my mum along to it.

As part of the door gift, each of us were given a $100 gift card for us to spend on any bag/shoes. Wee~~

There were a few canapes but the most adorable were these pastries with Guess logos made of icing sugar! The caterer for the event was One Paradise, the catering arm of Paradise Group. Thanks to my occupational hazard, my guess is that the catered food cost an approximate $25/pax (they were giving out bottles of Fiji water) and excludes the wait staff (approx $80/server). Was it worth it? Mmm...I'll stick to Creative Eateries/ Marmalade Pantry.

I really liked this pair of shoes but they looked really uncomfortable and it didn't help that the model was teetering on them while walking up and down the short runway. Oops.

I also liked this hobo bag that the model is carrying but as the speaker, Keith, advised, hobo slouchy bags aren't good for short and plump people like me who have hourglass figures. It'll just emphasise the roundness of me. ):

That's mum and I enjoying the show just after we had our make up touched up by Make Up Forever.

With my gift card, I ended up buying this pair of denim wedges with lace heels. It's super super pretty and I love it loads!! It's part of their latest collection which was inspired by the Wild West, hence the denim. I wanted to wear it to work but I fell down on Monday (which is another story) so alas...it'll have to wait.

We even had a goodie bag on our way out! The goodie bag itself is a usable Guess mesh and PVC tote and it contained a Style magazine, a complimentary month subscription to the digital edition of Style and samples of Make Up For Ever's Eye makeup cleanser and Microfinish Powder (excellent for absorbing oil). I must say that it was a fruitful afternoon and I love my haul. Thank you Guess, Style and Make Up For Ever!

Went to watch Music Matters Live 2013 at Clarke Quay mainly for Flumpool and Weaver (reached at 7.30pm and it was already crowded!) but managed to discover Dubfx who is an Aussie beat boxer who is really really good!!

He performed everything live by recording and looping beats.  I was blown away at how he can create a whole 'band' with only his voice box.  Simply amazing! Dubfx had a very short set of about 20 min.

After Dubfx, we had a rock band from Taiwan called 'The Chairman' and all of their songs were in Hokkien!

They had scary painted faces and it was quite interesting to hear the fusion of rock, traditional Chinese opera and Hokkein together.

After 'The Chairman' was the band that Siew Mai and I were waiting so long for....Flumpool!!! They were really entertaining and you could see how much they enjoy performing live. Siew Mai and I wanted to 'accidentally' hit the signs that some fans brought. I can completely understand why they brought them but as a standing-only concert, it really blocks one's view of the stage.  There was another woman whose fan kept getting in my way of getting a good shot of Flumpool's lead vocals, Ryuta. :(

After Flumpool was Sid but Siew Mai and I wanted to see Weaver and Flumpool's 'secret gig' at Beer Market so we left after Flumpool's set.  Thank goodness we did that because we had to queue for a very long time before we could get into Beer Market!!  Anyway, below are the videos that I took and you can find them on my YouTube Channel too.




I really enjoyed the gig at Beer Market because it was a lot more intimate and you could hear the vocals of both leads a lot better.  The downside was how long the set up for Weaver and Flumpool took! The gig was supposed to start at 11pm but it took the staff 40 min to set up for Weaver.  After Weaver's performance, it took the same staff an hour to set up for Flumpool!! To make things worse, the band went up on stage to do further sound checks!! Made you wonder...wouldn't it be faster if the band had done the initial sound checks instead of the staff?

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself (despite one evil look from a staff of Beer Market when she asked me whether we're going to order more drinks and I said 'No.') and I'd love to see all these great JRock bands perform live in Singapore again!! Kudos to the organisers of Music Matters Live.  I know that it must've been a logistical nightmare but I think that it was generally well put together! Enjoy the other photos that I took!!