小小铅笔，大大素描 “Geisha”

以前老是说自己少发文的原因是因为生活很忙碌。

今年更少了上来其实也不能再用忙碌来当借口了。 

可能是随着年龄的变动，生活的中心点也跟着变。 

对部落的爱，就好像爱情变亲情一样，欠了热爱。 

十分敬佩风雨不改每年365天都不停在发文的朋友。 

你们的毅力值得大家多学习，继续保持着这份热诚。  

今晚，我想分享昨晚上刚完成的铅笔素描，用时1小时左右。 

我在面子书提过，描绘艺妓的灵感其实从很久之前就有了。
艺妓是古代女性柔美的代表作之一，是我非常欣赏的人物。

希望大家也会喜欢。

素描的主人。

祝你有个愉快的一周。

情人节2017

Valentine’s 2008－2016。

由朋友变老公，老公再变老伴，希望掉完牙还能收到你的花。

2017。情人节。

New family member - Liam Panamax!

26th December 2016

Boxing Day

Gordon walked me to the Pharmacy and handed me over to the lady Pharmacist.

He wrote on a piece of paper - Liam.

He said, Liam is my name.

Because it combines Alex and Mia; I will soon be the child of the Themistocleous.

Mum said I should have a middle name.

So Dad suggested, how about Panamax?

Because no one lives without Panamax!

So, my name has since become Liam Panamax Themistocleous.

I am Mum and Dad's new baby. 

I don't know how old I am; Mum thinks I am 6 weeks old.

Because 6 weeks old 'Betta' can blow bubble nest.

She also said I am an intelligent, happy and interactive boy.

I flare happily when I saw Mum and Dad moving around my tank.

I flare happily when Mum gives me food.

I flare happily when Dad changes my water to pristine clean.

Mum and Dad said to me, I am their best Christmas present!

回顾 2016

2016 眨眼就过。

在写这篇之前，我回顾了一下去年的计划。

年中的英国游比我预算中更好。

第一次亲身体验国泰航空的 Business Class。

第一次短距离内看见亿万人敬爱的英女王。

第一次在两周内步行超过 150 公里。

第一次接触千多年历史的树林里。

第一次在拥有 600 多年历史的 Pub 里用餐。

第一次有顾客给我送条五彩搏鱼，让我生活中更添欢乐。

今年英国游，我仿佛坐着时光机，回到 Medieval 世纪里探索历史。

今年香港游，我首次发现吃喝玩乐、逛街购物不再是我至爱。

我在香港的每一天，多余时间反而花在画廊、古董廊、历史馆、Spa上。

大概年级逐渐大了，步伐也跟着慢下来。

本身因为热爱绘画，接下来的这一两年也应该会多接触跟画廊及历史相关的活动。

2016 有太多感恩的地方，感恩我全家安康，感恩生意兴隆；

感恩有机会体验世界，感恩扩展朋友圈，感恩每天睡醒能感觉到嘴角边的微笑。

2016 再美好，也总有预想不倒的时候。

由 Brexit 到 Donald Trump 当总统，谁会预料世界接下来将发生什么事？

希望 2017 会更好！

愿世界和平，有心者心想事成！

Mia @ Amber, Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Central HK 2016

My Very Merry Christmas 2016！

Happy Holy Christmas Everyone!

Wishing you all a year of health and happiness, from my family to yours!

祝大家圣诞节快乐，也祝大家新的一年里更健康幸福快乐！

Phew~! 2016, what a hasty year!

This year, once again, has been incredibly busy and more challenging than ever.
Earlier this year, I set myself a big number of small goals to achieve; and the idea of these mini goals were to help build my confidence and strengthen me in the areas where competency are obviously still lacking...

For examples: Money Management and Social Skill

In the current society we are living in, money matters more than you can imagine.
Thanks to my profession and social circle, I have managed to come across with many different people with different perceptions about money management.
I must admit - the number of people who really know how to use their money wisely are, in fact, very little. Genuinely speaking, I hope to retire earlier (before 50's); as such, I have started working on improving my understandings on several financial aspects which hopefully will make my dream comes true. 

On Christmas Day...

Apart from Easter Good Friday (usually falls on March-April), Christmas Day is the only day on which I can sleep in late. Today, I woke up at 9am with a big grin on my face (knowing that I don't have to rush to work) and ready to celebrate this jolly big day with my family.
I am not born Christian, Christmas has never been significant in my childhood life.
For the 1/3 of my life living in two Christian families, I have come to learn, adapt and now adore Christian celebrations; and Christmas Day now is bigger in my life than ever before.

This is me, checking out the reverse camera function on my new smart phone that Santa aka my husband gave me on Christmas Day.

(^o^) 

Every year, we adopt the traditional Christmas celebration.

By that, we mean, Roast Turkey is always served on Christmas Day.
I always have my Christmas tree and presents ready 2 weeks before Santa comes to visit us.

I enjoy watching the colours of my Christmas Tree!
This year quite a few people gave us Lotto scratches as presents. 
They must know I like scratching for $$$ luck! 

All sorts of different presents, wrapped in colourful papers!

Christmas Eve... The Night Before...

This is the night most people often don't know what other people do on Christmas Eve.

If you have children at home, quite likely this is the night where the presents are opened and the kids dancing all night with their hands & gifts both up in the air...!

But for us, it is always a very peaceful evening where traditional old English Christmas songs are played in the background and me bustling in the kitchen trying to get the dessert ready for the next day.

NOTE: Christmas Songs ≠ Mariah Carey's or Michael Bublé's Christmas Carols.

Christmas Trifle

In Year 2012, with the combined effort, Alex and I made a hugh Ginger Bread House.

In Year 2015, we decided to make a traditional cherry Yule Log for a change.

This year, we thought Summer Trifle would be perfect for this scorching weather of Queensland.

I work on each of these layers with great care and love!

Finally, Ta Ta...!!!

I sealed the trifle with utmost care but I almost dropped the glass bowl as I was carrying it to the fridge because it was too cold and wet to hold. My adrenaline skyrocketed to the roof!

Luckily my husband caught my hands in time. He saved the world!

This is our Christmas Trifle 10 minutes before it was brought to our parents' house!

Christmas Lunch

I didn't bring my camera with me, so I have to snap the rest of our Christmas feast pictures with the camera on my new phone. The amount of food was phenomenal, as if the feast was prepared for half a team of Rugby players. Roast turkey, smoked trouts, beans, brussel sprouts, salad, prawns... you name it!

In real honesty, this is the best part of Christmas;

To be with your family on Christmas Day, tucking into big feast with plenty of laughters and fun!

Christmas Presents

After leaving our parents' place, we headed back home, did a few things and finally time came to open the presents!

This year, we have got a lot of great presents from our friends and family.

This is a snapshot of some of the gifts, but there are loads more!

Trying out my Napoleon Lip Gloss Set!

Thank you Santa aka my husband!

So, this is it, my holy Christmas Day in Year 2016!

Sadly, it comes and goes too quickly; and soon New Year countdown will follow.

Merry Christmas to all of you; I hope you have had a tremendous day with your loved one and may 2017 brings you hope, health and happiness!

And don't forget to continue sharing your love and kindness to others!

Cheers! *Mia*

铅笔画。眼影画？

天啊。太久没上来了！

最近真的很忙，九月份的时候突然心血来潮，想自修考当 Pharmacist Immuniser (我不知道这个中文怎么说），结果一报考不久后才惊觉，原来年级大了脑袋吸收能力也特别弱。

还好小女我的毅力还可以，终于在昨天让我成功完成了科系，除了感恩，还是感恩⋯⋯

今晚特别想分享我最近的 Casual Sketching，希望大家喜欢⋯⋯

过期的眼影，其实也可以画出一篇美。

祝你有个愉快的周末～

Garden Roses Bridal Bouquet 花球

结婚之前已经做了些功课，也参考了不少花的品种，
为了是想在结婚当天能棒到我心目中最理想的一束花球。

I love garden roses because of the beautiful swirl pattern in the middle.
The roses are fragrant; blooms are big and round; and are very classy for use as a bridal bouquet.
I really love it; my florist had done such a wonderful job putting them together for me.

It is just on the off chance that I flipped through my album;
saw these loveliest pictures and thought of sharing them here ^^

结婚是多么幸福的人生一大事，能找到完美的花球再怎么昂贵也是值得的。

There are three different species of garden roses here. 

One of them is called the 'antique roses'.

Are you able to tell which one is it...? ^^

A happy bride and a happy bridal bouquet (wedding July 2014).

可爱的妹妹

我觉得小朋友最可爱就在这一两岁的时候，因为这个阶段宝宝刚学会交流；

言听计从，咿咿呀呀，从讲话到唱歌跳舞，每样动作包含了各种萌的因素。

而且宝宝活跃得来又逃不出妈妈的掌心，所以妈妈出门时都可以特别放心。

这是我的小侄女，Louise Emma 的近照。妹妹很可爱唷！

A wallow in nostalgia

Everyone ages eventually, inevitably, and unfortunately.

8 years ago, I was jolly young as a spring chicken.
I had the unbeatable energy that carried me through to the dawn.

Then suddenly, my life took a big turn. 
My energy level sunk to zero very rapidly. 
In fact, some nights I barely last past 9pm.

This is my energy roller-coaster these days.
For better or worse, everyone has to come to accept his ageing fate.

As I become older, I have also become more mesmerised by all the jolly good pictures taken when I was a bit younger.
They often made me laugh out loud.

My silly cousin, Rocan & I sneaked into an orchard in Renmark - April 2007

Sin Hui, me, Julie & Pei Wen were pointing at some random sky objects in Kangaroo Island - November 2007

Paint-balling with Vivian & Julie at somewhere in South Australia - Sometime in 2007

Camping with my housemates, XX (cannot recall who she was), Josie & Phuong in 1770 - sometime in 2008

After bidding fond farewell to my dear old classmates, housemates & friends, I then embarked on a "solo" journey searching for a better quality lifestyle. 

That was when my true femininity began to show as well.

March 2013

Two years after March 2013, this was how I look like:

August 2015

Once I hit 30s, my physical constraint became more apparent.

My body might be playing tricks on me, but I still try to keep my mind as active as I can. Mind over body, as they say. 

I read a lot more than before. I travel a lot more than before.

My old man often says to me:

The more you travel, the broader your mind.

He tried to send all his children to overseas for this reason.

Mia @ Wincester - June 2016

A life is made out of a great number of small incidents and a small number of great ones. 

Big or small, I wish to share more with you in the coming posts.

The joy of discovering some dottiness in Fiji

In 2015, I was one of the 300+ lucky guests who got invited to a private function on a Fijian island.

When I first arrived, I was shocked to discover that the number of Fijian natives who served us was at least twice of the size of our group. Many of them were very courteous and this had made our stay on the island a rather comfortable one indeed.

Some nights, after a few cans of beers, a few of our fellow guests would generously stripped off their expensive jewellery and 'tipped' the Fijian ladies, who I imagined, must be mad not to accept these opulent gifts.

Oh boy, I was totally amused to watch this all night.

Anna, Jo & Mia in Fiji - May 2015

如果时间可以倒流⋯⋯

那天，我跟男人饭后闲聊，谈到如果时间可以倒流，除了药剂师，我会选择个什么样的行业呢？男人毫无犹豫地说，眼科专家。

我则是个花心大萝卜，这辈子想尝试的行业实在太多，从画家到兽医通通都考虑过，但是如果真的要万中选一的话，其实当飞机师会是个很不错的选择（虽然我娘会极力反对这点）。

多说是闲聊了，飞机师在四眼妹的梦里是虚拟的，怎可能实现？

Mia @ America Airline Business Lounge，Heathrow Airport，London － June 2016

New Forest: Brockenhurst Day 1

Some posts rely on fewer words but greater pictures to tell good stories. 

This is one of its kind.

Today, I would like to share with you, our trip to a beautiful country town in New Forest, called "BROCKENHURST".

Always great to begin your journey on the First Class cabin.

Set in a delightful forest environment, Brockenhurst has roads and rail communications from the cities.

The air smells fresh. Ponies are spotted from afar.

Making our way to "our bedroom" for the night. 

Many beautiful cottages and native trees along the way.

Our B&B cottage - Daisybank Cottage.

Dropped off the luggages, but our room was not ready.

 Making our way to nearby town for lunch.

More ponies and cows on the way.

The very colourful village centre.
A lot of local shops supporting a lot of local produce. 
Good sign indeed!

On our way back to the cottage. Our room should be ready by now.

Foxglove and buttercups on the side of the roads are very beautiful.

Have you seen the real holly berries before?

Inside our B&B cottage. Our bedroom is on the left.

A very pleasing looking garden box outside our room.

Dozens of bumble bees were seen bobbing around the flowers.

But they don't attack. They are friendly.

Inside our room, this is how it looks like:

Homemade cupcakes to welcome our arrival.

Milk churn contains our breakfast order ready to be placed outside.

Daisybank Cottage's guidebook on what to do in New Forest.

The book is made out of the local woods.

Wish I could take it home. But I must leave it for the next traveller.

Ponies, mules, deers and cows roam at will in this village.

A very friendly environment for the wild animals.

It is funny how such great happiness can be gained through such short simple country getaway.

Wish I could do it more often. Will share more in the next post.