Hi people, I'm finally back and trying to blog again. I know it's been a while and I'm really a terrible blogger - don't you already know that? Well, anyways, I've restricted this blog to the public and only selected friends/people could view whatever there is in here but I've decided to open up again. Reason why that happen - okay I'll tell now...someone tried to sabotage 'Mama Rock' blog and tried to kill her passion to dream big and unfortunately they didn't succeed somehow cos Mama Rock is a lady dragon (born in the year of the dragon that is) and of course a total rocker, and she will roar to anyone who gets in her way!

So this year of the Dragon is a special year for me and I will make this 2012 year the best absolute year for me! Go Mama!

My August 2011 Treat

I tried to be happy and feel blessed as much as possible with my life right now - I know I still have a long ride to go on life's journey that is unexpected and which I'll imagine it will be one great adventure for sure. So every month or at times once a week (it depends on my mood) that I'll treat myself something nice & special just to brighten up my day and of course be HAPPY! I'll buy something that makes me happy.

Here's what I got for me-self just a few days ago (thank God we have Times Bookstore here in Sabah). It's a little bit costly but I've been eye-ing this book for quite some time and I just got to have it. I believe this book could help me organise my goals in life by creating my life lists to do in my life.





This is what some of the contents looks like - there's a guidebook & journal, envelopes to keep things that inspires me (it could be a photo of trekking to Everest Base Camp, visit to a native American (aka Red Indians) territory, my children's artwork & etc as to guide me achieve my dreams/goals. Isn't this interesting - I wrote all of my wish list in life in many of my notebooks but now I have this as a proper one.







Love this book to death - will make full use of it!

Singing in the bathroom

Check out who's singing in the bathroom/restroom (or whatever)??

Ahaa...that's Charice Pempengco!

I heard that singing in the bathroom has the most natural acoustics and roll off sounds and that is why people who sings in the bathroom sound better than singing in the living room or something.

Guess what....I always & always does this too:P Cool place to do vocalising!

Lazy Blogger but trying hard not to....

I'm really a one lazy blogger nowadays...it's either I'm too busy at work or trying hard to be productive (duh!) or too tired to blog (despite also being busy as a mommy). So working mama + tired mama = LAZY! But hey..I'm trying to blog now...haha but this is pretty short - just to let anyone who reads this lame personal online journal of my life that I'll be back when I feel like it. Hopefully - soon with a good mind and better mood! Please have patience with Mama Rock ya:)

Anyways, just to post something interesting before I lazed off again...just to let you know I'm currently in love with this kind of music (blame it on my slow and lazy mood this days too) - aha that's JAZZ! But I have always love Jazz music. Because listening to Esperanza Spalding is cool too - so enjoy her lovely jazzy voice and music in this video. And hey, she's a recent Grammy award winner...so if you dislikes Jazz, at least appreciate her music and talent okay people! Check out her other songs too - it's great!



It's about 4am now...need to get back to sleep (just gave Chardon his milk half an hour ago so can't get back to bed) - I know it's crazy but good morning and see you soon in here:P

Secrets of the Self Employed

Someday soon I would like to be a business woman - as in own a shop and be enterprising. I think that it's great to be my own boss and thats my ultimate dream! In my teens when I was still in high school, I was already creating stuffs like doing handmade greeting cards & bookmarks, designing simple jewelleries and hair accessories and then selling them to friends. I was a 'wannabe' business woman and I even printed out my business cards (see pic - ha!). It's sure is great to dream something like this..I'll keep my dreams high and will work hard to reach out for it!



I recently digged out some of my old art materials from the closet and found these handmade stuffs (see pics below) I did few years ago....made me giggled and say did I really did this? I'm sure it was fun when I use to have lots of those art-times and for the sake of trying to be a creative person.

These are my handmade necklaces/chokers, bracelet and hairclips (I know they are ugly & childish designs but I made them when I was in my teens & early 20s okay):









Well..anyways just for sharing to those business minded people....

I got this great info 'Secrets of the Self Employed' from my favourite author & illustrator, Keri Smith via her blog, Wish Jar Journal. She's inspirational - love her!

Secrets of the Self Employed (or How to be an Amazing [insert profession here])

1. Don’t worry about marks while you are in school. No one will ever ask you what school you went to or what your marks were when you leave it.

2. You are always working for yourself, even when you work for others. Sometimes it feels like you are just the hired hand (and some clients can be really challenging to work with).

3. There are no actual rules for how to become a successful [insert profession here]. Make your own path.

4. It will help you to create a social network of other self-employed people.

5. Move your body every day. There are many health reasons for this, but it also helps you to work on ideas subconsciously. Ideas and solutions will come in when you least expect them but (almost always after a minimum of one hour of walking). There are new studies that suggest increased oxygen to the brain is a greater source for creativity than “creative brain exercises”.

6. Goof off on a regular basis.

7. If you want to work on your art, work on your life. All those personality traits that aren’t working for you will come back to haunt you in your career (i.e. assertiveness, fear of conflict, fear of confrontation.) It’s all connected.

8. What you think becomes your reality. I always had a belief that if I cleaned out my recycling bin in my studio I would get new work. And guess what, it always happened. If you think the industry is screwed and there is no work to be had, guess what you will find out there?

9. Focus on ideas instead of tools (technology). Anyone can learn to use the tools, but it is the thinkers who really impact the culture in important ways. In the end the tools don’t offer anything interesting.

10. Worrying about the competition does very little to help your career. I know it’s hard sometimes to ignore what other people are doing (we all think that others are doing better than us), but every one of us is on a different life path. We are all here to accomplish different things and even though it would seem like one person’s path is similar to yours, it is not.

11. Only work for free if you are passionate about the cause or receive something of value in return. (Be wary of people who offer your name in lights in lieu of money. Many people will tell you something is good promotion for you, often it is not and there are no guarantees when it comes to promotional value). If you are not getting something of a measurable value (i.e. printed pieces, or money) ask for something else, creative freedom. If they refuse then they may not be a good client to work for anyway.

12. Take some small risks on a regular basis. Some ideas: write some places/companies you would really like to work and let them know why you think they are great.

13. Don’t worry about whether or not you are good (good is subjective and most people are not great judges of their own work), just keep making work.

14. Ignore cool. Successful people do not try to be hip, they just do work that excites them.

15. Always come back to work that excites you. Even if you get off track for a while. Do personal work on a regular basis, show it to others. You can reinvent yourself at any time.

My Christmas wishes

It's Christmas eve today...my favourite day! Ya...guess what, it's my BIRTHDAY - I turned 34 today. I feel so old but I don't have a choice becoming older every year..haha!

Anyways...Happy Birthday to me - hope all my dreams and wishes will come true (kids normally says that) and would like to wish all of 'Mama Rock' blog readers - Do have a Great and Fun Christmas and New Year 2011 with a blast!!!

LOVE YOU'ALL TOO!!!

In a mood for X'mas...

I'm already in the mood for Christmas spirit and I love whenever December comes...who doesnt?! It's the time of the year again, for lots of happy things to happen around us - family gatherings, christmas shopping, gifts, christmas tree, children smiling, my birthday (wink), singing carols, christmas day itself & bla bla bla.

I've been singing the tunes to this lovely x'mas song all week now...so my fav! I might wanna try to record a video of me singing this song soon - we'll see, just wait.

Right now...here's to share Glee's version of 'Merry Christmas Darling' - just love Leah's (Glee's Rachel) voice too! Glee's music soundtracks are in my collection as well. Let's sing along and enjoy this song as much as I do.



Merry Christmas Darling

Greeting cards have all been sent
The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one wish to make
A special one for you

Merry Christmas darling
We're apart that's true
But I can dream and in my dreams
I'm Christmas-ing with you

Holidays are joyful
There's always something new
But every day's a holiday
When I'm near to you
The lights on my tree
I wish you could see
I wish it every day
Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say

That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year, too
I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you

Instrumental Interlude

Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year, too
I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
I wish I were with you

(Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas - Darling)

Can't wait to buy me-self a birthday/x'mas gift soon...and I'll keep aiming to make my dreams come true:)

Art & Ghost

I drooled like a fool when I stumbled on this awesome blog ' Art & Ghosts' by Louise Robinson via decor8. I really heart her works - her art prints is one of the cutest ever! And I loved how different, eccentric, cool and SO creative she is - she's like the modern day Salvador Dali that her arts has some forms of surrealism touch. I really liked how she described herself - so unique! (Hi Ms Louise, I hope you don't mind me blogging about you & your beautiful works in here - I'm your biggest fan!).

If ever I want to write a children story book, I would love her to be my illustrator. My propose titles for my children book will be like 'The little girl who's afraid of the moon' and 'The girl and the mannequin' - sounds a lil weird too huh (?) and it's related to my lil girl, Carmen. Well, this is just a dream away.

Her lovely working space - I liked!

Two of her many cutest prints that I adores:

Just looked at what she reads - interesting books (see her reading list here)....no wonder her works of arts is different, so one-of-a-kind, strange & mysterious, beautiful, etc (I could go on and on just praising her works).

Notebooks from India

My sister, Debbie just got back from her India Trip yesterday and I think she will brag about it very soon in her blog. She actually asked me to blog about her trip on her behalf while she was still in India and gave me permission to use her pictures from FB but I didn't have the time to post about it in here yet. But I liked the fact that she got the chance of lifetime to meet HH The Dalai Lama, who is living in exile in Dharamsala, India and is one of the world's most influential religious figure - and I'm a lil bit jeolous (hehe)! Deb is so kind to buy me a few souvenirs from India such as this pretty unique notebooks - thanks Deb! We both love to collect notebooks. By the way (just for your info) we are fraternal twins. I bought 2 pretty notebooks recently as well - will show those addition later in here.

Well, here's to share some of her photos from her trip.....just love those creative art & craft stuffs and the Himalayan mountain range (to Deb, thanks again for allowing me to use your lovely photos):

More later from Mama Rock:-)

Have a Cozy Weekend!

Weekend is here again - time flies! Not sure how my weekend will turn out this time. There's a camping activities going on at Dantai Beach, Kota Belud, Sabah and my husband is gonna be quite involve because it's a teachers camping retreat...but I don't think me & the children are coming along with him - scared of getting sick with 'Chikungunya' (lots of mosquitoes there).

So I might plan something to do like - do scrapbooking of the Twilight Saga & about my children; redecorate a plain notebook into something funky; update my blog; draft 1 or 2 short children stories or whatever. Not sure if I can ever start doing anything of these activities during this weekend but I shall try - but only when baby Chardon has dozed off:P

Wish to have a cozy weekend like this puppy - hope you too!

The Notebook Collector

Yes...I collect notebooks and I go nuts about them! So if you thought of giving me a gift, token or something, just get me a pretty notebook ya haha:) I've uploaded some photos of my collection on FB today for fun. It's one of my biggest addiction...can't stop buying them when I sees some cute/pretty notebooks...small or big and mostly cheap (or affordable)...but if it's a bit costly...I dare sacrifice my $...ya serious...my fetish for notebooks is that bad. I used some of them to write down my plans for the day and a few turned into scrapbooks.

Well...here are some of my collections:






I even bought some mini notebooks on Disney's princesses and 'buku 555' (buku hutang)...who knows I can't find those anymore next time.



Here's my favourite ones:







One of my scrapbook:




Carmen's scrapbook...I kept her baby hair here:


And not forgetting my most precious...my very 1st moleskine notebook (don't laugh..I never can afford one before). A friend was so kind and generous enough to buy me this pretty costly legendary notebook for my birthday last X'mas eve. (Picasso and I think Van Gogh too, Ernest Hemingway & other great personalities uses them). If you like to know more about Moleskine notebooks - read here.




Just sharing with you people out there what I love...inspired?

Go animated

As I was going around searching for X'mas gifts, I saw this tiny cute keyring called 'Forest Ghost' which stated on it's box could bring love and luck. Me being so Donna loved stuffs like this - I loved collecting. I'm amazed with those creative people who creates stuffs like these and make $ out of it. I got it from 'Something Different' gift shop. They have a few kinds and this one is called 'Love Dolls': Sparks of love will never eliminate interest, enjoyment of forever fatal-level gravity-like feeling love. I might buy other series later.


It's made in China - you can tell by reading the description at the back of it's little box.

Well, I was at the movies again....

Went to watch Disney's musical 'The Princess and the Frog' today - loved/enjoyed it...so worth watching for you and your family. It's funny and the music is great...the movie soundtrack is a MUST buy! When I read that the movie is gonna be set in the Jazz Age in New Orleans - I already knew the music is gonna be great! Can't wait to buy the dvd for my CJ, I know she's gonna love it too.

Check out the synopsis and the trailer here:
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, an animated comedy set in the great city of New Orleans. From the creators of “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” comes a modern twist on a classic tale, featuring a beautiful girl named Tiana (ANIKA NONI ROSE), a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG marks the return to hand-drawn animation from the revered team of John Musker and Ron Clements, with music by Oscar®-winning composer Randy Newman. One of the voice-over cast is Oprah Winfrey...guess which character(?).


Here's one of my fav song from the movie 'Almost There' sung by Anika Noni Rose (just loved her vocal)


La da di..la da da...Weekend is here again, I hope your weekend will be as fun and exciting as in this picture...beautiful illustration from Mia Overgaard: