Capability..

A quote of the day by the wise Mahatma Gandhi. It's about believing that we can do things that we think we can't do. Even if it seems possible, we have to believe in ourselves that we can do it.

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be.

If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing,

it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it.

On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it,

I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it

even if I may not have it at the beginning.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

(image via picship.com)

True Love

Hi everyone..I'm back. Phew, finally the busy days of preparing my sister's wedding are over =) The event was a success and now it's time to get back to the real world, while my sister and his husband are still on their honeymoon in Bali. Hope they're having a great time. So, how have you all been? Hope you're all doing great too. So, I can say that last week was a week full of love, it seems I can find and see love everywhere. That's why I'm posting this article called "What Is True Love?" from Power to Change, written by Harriet Sun. Hoping to give us an understanding about love and what considers true love. Have you find your true love?

What is real love? And is there a difference between that and the heart-pounding adrenaline rush I feel when I see…? You know the person I’m talking about. That hot guy playing basketball at the gym… the cute girl who makes eye contact as she passes by… the friend of a friend of a friend… maybe a best friend. It’s that person we keep track of when he or she is in the same room, whose comments and actions we analyze to no end.

There are a few things love isn’t. Love isn’t a feeling. Although real love is often accompanied by strong feelings, love does not equate with the sense of floating on clouds. Unlike the type of love that movies, television, and songs portray, people in love don’t always feel ooey gooey around each other.

A relationship wouldn’t last long on emotions. In fact, knowledge is the basis of a healthy relationship.

Knowing about the other person is key. I used to and sometimes still do “fall in love” with guys that I have never had a conversation with, whether it be a movie star in the latest romantic drama or the guy sitting behind me in a calculus class. I would know his name and his face, and that was the extent of my knowledge of him. If I were to start a relationship with him, who knows where that would lead us!

Knowing about the person’s personality and character are so important. One good test is to list the qualities that attract us to that guy or girl. If the list is long, we know a lot about them and like those things. If the list is short, we either don’t know a lot about them or we know a lot but aren’t attracted to his or her personality.

Another important factor in a relationship is common life goals. If the relationship is going to be long term, we need to be going in the same general direction as the other person. If his dream is to travel as an international businessman and she wants to be a realtor in a single location, conflict could arise. If she wants to live in the countryside with nature and he likes the hustle and bustle of a big city, there are potentially serious problems with the direction of the couple’s lives.

Love isn’t sex. That statement alone goes against a lot of what the entertainment industry feeds us. Whenever two people hook up in pop culture, they have sex. Without showing some of the unpleasant realities of premarital and extramarital sex, it is drawn up to be a wonderful, fun recreational activity.

Sex is created for marriage–a long-lasting commitment between a couple. Outside of marriage, sex can have harsh consequences. Pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, guilt, insecurity, and shame can follow. A relationship based on lust can only last as long as the two are physically close and find each other sexually attractive.

Love is a choice. It’s a commitment. Although feelings will accompany love, and although sex will be a part of marriage, a lasting, healthy relationship cannot be based on these things.

(article source: powertochange.com - image source: favim.com)

Quiz time..

It's quiz time. This time it's for Grey's Anatomy Quiz, no it's not about the story of the TV series but it's just a quiz to find out about what type of man do you really like. Found this quiz on sofeminine.co.uk. I love Grey's Anatomy, that's why I took this quiz. For those of you who never watched it, don't worry, the quiz has nothing to do with the movie. Take your quiz HERE. Here's my result. I can say that it's quite true =)

What you like:

The Chief is an honorable man. He commands everyone's respect and admiration. What you like about him is his ability to be loved and accepted by all. He's a true man of the world.

He's a paragon of righteousness, but behind his authoritarian airs, he is downright funny.

How Webber's charm works

What makes you fall for him is his gallantry: he is a true gentleman. His charisma rules the hospital in Seattle and your heart! The only problem is his excessive sense of responsibility: he'll always put his job first.

The man for you in real life

You need a man who protects you. A man who can make decisions, and leads his life with a firm hand. A gregarious and professional man. The perfect man? Not really, because his weak point is you.

You are a strong woman who knows how to be heard. You're independent and need a man of character and responsibility. The good thing is he'll love you all the more for standing up to him but the downside is that can result in some pretty epic rows.

Still the making up almost makes it all worthwhile.

(image source: here)

Your Lips and You

I had another busy week last week. It was a busy but a fun week. It was full of family gathering and other family stuffs. So, how are you all doing? Hope you had a great weekend. Today I have something to post here, something fun from Woman's Day. This one is about your lips and how your personality relates to your lips. You might think it's not related but as I said earlier...it's just for fun =)

Genial and Talented

The overall rounded shape says you dislike conflict, look out for others and are happiest when those around you are happy, too. Corners that point up, with an open space between the edges, indicate a multitalented person who hates boredom.

Open-Minded Negotiator

Having a small "Cupid's bow" on the upper lip means you excel at mediating and negotiating.

A lot of space between the lips says you're open-minded, with no preconceived ideas about people and situations.

Generous and Good with Kids

A diamond-shaped print shows that you are accomplished and give generously to your community.

If you have a full lower lip, it means you're an excellent communicator and children adore you.

Stubborn and Affectionate

This slight protrusion (known as a "hug pucker") means you're not openly demonstrative, though you're affectionate in private. Very little space between the lips indicates stubbornness:

You know what you want to do and how you want to do it.

(images from womansday.com)

Butterfly story...

Hi everyone..sorry for the lack of post lately. I've been busy preparing things for my sister's wedding which will be held on Feburary 25th, next Saturday. Days are getting more and more hectic but more and more exciting of course =) Well, I just realized that today is Valentine's Day. Anyone of you celebrating the day? I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. For those of you who celebrate the day.."Happy Valentine's Day". As usual, I always love to open a new week with a story or a quote. Here's another story to be pondered. Have a great day...xoxo

The story of the butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.

Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.

The butterfly emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body, Neither happened! In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand:

The restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us. We will not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly.

So have a nice day and struggle a little and teach well.

(article source: hawaiiswim.org - image source: favim)

Countryside...

I loooove country house. The decor, the location, the view..everything seems perfect. Just by looking at it, I can feel myself having a relaxing time doing nothing on the countryside. Here's another decor of a country home I found via 1Kindesign. This time, the house is located in Spain. I'm in love!

(all images via 1kindesign)

Trusting Someone

For me, trust is a very small word with HUGE and DEEP meaning. It's not easy to truly trust someone and it' an easy thing to do to re-trust someone when the person has broke the trust between both of you. Don't you think so? Trusting someone needs big effort and sincere intention. If you don't feel like trusting someone fully, I say don't trust the person at all. That's what I think. Trusting someone is a 100% yes or no. There's no 50% trust and 50% no trust. That's what I think. Here's an article I found about how to trust someone from Secret Contents. The article is called "How To Trust Someone Truly". Happy reading =)

How To Trust Someone Truly

• Trusting is a difficult task

Trusting is one of the products of loving. That is why it is considered a great feat that only few people do in their usual lives. To get it right to the point, to trust someone is to build trust with someone. This means you cannot trust somebody if you haven’t built a trust for him. Trust is something that we give. If we don’t possess trust, we cannot give trust. Hence, to trust a person is to build your trust first.

• Trust is based on the truth

Remember that love rejoices in the truth and trusting is based on the truth. Therefore, we cannot trust based on confusions and unreasonable assumptions. Can we trust someone who is lying? Of course not! Can we trust someone whom we don’t know if he’s lying or he’s telling the truth? Still we cannot trust such person. We can only trust a person if we know that the truth is in him. Thus, we need to do extra efforts to find that truth in him. Everyone must bear in mind that seeking for the truth when there is confusion is not an act of distrusting, but rather it is an act of getting enthusiastic with the truth that builds trust.

• Everyone wants to trust

Well, the fact is that everyone wants to trust. Who want to distrust and suffers confusion, worries, insecurities and other fruits of darkness? I believe no one does. Trusting is a great thing. It gives us a peaceful mind and a joyful feeling. It also makes us healthy and safe. So why are we always blaming people for not trusting us? I think we should blame them for not building their trust to us. Let’s also put some part of that blame to ourselves for not helping them to build their trust to us – as we don’t always make ourselves trustworthy.

• How to create trust

We cannot share or give something we don’t have. So if we want to give trust, we must create it. To create such, we need to not just build it in our mouth, but also build it in all parts of ourselves. This means we also need to generate trust from our mind, heart and even from our hands. To build it in our minds, we should have answers on our questions. Thus, we need to be patient to always talk gently and listen carefully to gain knowledge and understanding. To produce trust in our hearts, we need to have true faith. This means we need to accept the knowledge and understanding that we got from our minds. To put trust in our hands, so that we can give and share that trust, we must act based on what our hearts have accepted.

• Final thoughts

Trusting requires patience and hard work because it needs to be built within you. It is developed through acquisition of knowledge and understanding. It is established through acceptance in your heart. Finally, it is manifested through your actions. Trust is not an easy task. It must be founded based on love which always comes with patience, humility, perseverance and trueness. So if you want to trust someone truly, don’t give trust without building it first.

(article source: secretcontents.com - image source: favim)

Today & Tomorrow

Here's a quote for today. It's about today and tomorrow. It's about what you can always do and not to give up. Life brings us many opportunities and challenge but at the same time life can give us a colorful life if we have a positive mind that we can reach whatever our dreams are.

Have a great Monday =)

(image source: weheartit.com)

Conversation with God

A friend of mine broadcast a short story through Blackberry Messenger Group this morning. It's a conversation between someone with God. It is o good that I decided to share it with you all =)

Me (in a tizzy) : God, can I ask you something?....
GOD: Sure. .....
Me: Promise you won't get mad?....
GOD: I promise....
Me (frustrated):... Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?....
GOD: What do you mean?....
Me: Well I woke up late...., GOD: Yes....
Me: My car took forever to start...
Me (growling): At lunch, they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait....
GOD: Hmmm....
Me: On the way home, my phone went dead, just as I picked up a call...
GOD: All right...
Me (loudly): And to top it all off, when I got home, I just wanted to soak my feet in my foot massager and relax, but it wouldn't work. Nothing went right today! Why did you do that?...
GOD: Well, let me see.... The death angel was at your bed this morning and I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life.
I let you sleep through that....
Me (humbled): Oh...
GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that might have hit you if you were on the road....
Me (ashamed):..........
GOD: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick and I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work....
Me (embarrassed): Oh....
GOD: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give a false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered....
Me (softly): I see God...
GOD: Oh and that foot massager, it had a short that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark....
Me: I'm sorry God.
GOD: Don't be sorry, just learn to trust me.......in all things, the good and the bad.....
Me: I WILL trust you God.....
GOD: And don't doubt that my plan for your day is always better than your plan...
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, thank you for everything today....
GOD: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God...

(image via favim)

Recipe time...

It's been a while since the last time I posted a recipe. I just found this great (and easy) recipe. This time is for main course, it's called Smoked Salmon Carbonara by Back To Her Roots. I looooove pasta, so I am really sure that I'm going to try this recipe...soon! Enjoy

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• 10 ounces whole grain thin spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 8 ounces smoked salmon
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Cook spaghetti according to directions, omitting salt and fat. Before draining, reserve 2 cups of pasta water.
2. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, heat olive oil and add garlic. Cook until garlic is softened, about 3 minutes. Add in salmon and cook until salmon is warmed.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and egg whites.
4. Remove Dutch oven from heat and add cooked spaghetti. Stir to evenly distribute salmon and garlic.
5. While stirring briskly, stream in eggs until egg is no longer slimy-looking and thickens. Add in pasta water, 1/2 cup at a time, until pasta is creamy and saucy.
6. Divide pasta into four bowls, divide cheese on top of the pasta.
7. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary. Both the salmon and cheese are salty, so you might not need to add any salt.

(image and recipe via backtoherroots.com)