Slacking off... really?

Haven't been updating this blog for a while... No I haven't been lazy. In fact the only thing that's on my mind, apart from family and work commitments, is my training. Half marathon event is this coming Sunday and I don't even know if I prepared myself enough or not with all these training. Oh well, tough if not. But I'll give my best shot and am sure I'll have an experience of a lifetime, come pleasure or pain.

Took a few pictures of different places I went during some of my training.

Mt Eden, yes I ran up there weeks ago from home on a beautiful Sunday morning. Was a challenging run but it was great!! I felt fantastic to be able to conquer this volcanic mountain.





It was a long and winding path up to the top.



Just had a Sylvester Stallone moment on the way up with my fist high up in the air. Consequence of watching too much movies and day dreaming...



And the hugest reward when I got on top, not only self-satisfaction but this gorgeous view of Auckland City.

I've ran to Westhaven Marina too. It's amazing the things that I see being on foot... makes me appreciate nature and man made structures alot more.



This is my favourite shot towards Harbour Bridge. Please click to enlarge if you like this too hehe.





And of course, along East Tamaki Drive to and from Mission Bay is every runner's favourite. Flat surface most of the way and I was pretty much running with seagulls.



Rangitoto Island, one of Auckland's iconic volcanic island.



Few more days to go now. Roll on Sunday!!

iBong... iGone

Now you probably think: A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!! WON LOTTO KAH?

No lah I wish. I changed to another pair of running shoes from iBong...

The reason behind was eventhough the iBong shoes were comfortable but I was still getting knee pain when running long distance. So figured that it might not be a good idea for it to run my half marathon.



I booked in to see a podiatrist yesterday after work in Shoe Clinic. The podiatrist is available there every Thursday from 4pm to 6pm, and the best thing was - it's free for me, guess spending NZD300.00 there is kinda worth it huh~



She asked me to put on my iBong shoes, did a bit of walk and run around in the shop so that she could see where the problem came from. Later she told me my feet walk in a neutral way but it's when running my feet rolled in a little and that put pressure on my knee. That's why I experienced knee pain during my long runs. And obviously the shoe was probably not the right shoes for me... DUH!

Kindly, she advised one of the young staffs there to get a few other pair of 'right' shoes for me to try on. I tried on Asic's, Brook's and Nike's. They all felt stiff on my feet when I ran on treadmill. Lastly they got me this pair of Adidas. Once I slipped my feet in the shoes, instantly I felt the difference. It was more comfortable than any other brands and even my previous pair. Only thing is, it's a female shoes and size... Apparently they don't do men's size for my feet... *sobbed*

But it's all good. I love the pink colour, like, it's so me. So I decided to swap my iBong with this iPink.

It was sad to depart with my tailor made iBong but if it doesn't do the job, there is not much point of having it... I guess end of the day, I'll grab whatever that works for me. And maybe one day I can re-create another pair of iBong that is 'right' for me petite feet.

Meanwhile, ladies and gents, please welcome my little pinky.





And ode to Adidas!

Gorgeous Sunday

God Almighty blessed us with 'superbly' fine weather this few days. With no clouds in the clear blue sky. It's the season of love. Blah blah blah...

Enough of this romantic crap. Anyway, I'm loving this warm weather. Perfect for lots of outdoor activities. We went out to Auckland Domain early on Sunday morning for a walk/jog.



It was probably one of the few gorgeous weekend, weather wise, that we had in weeks.









Lots of people grabbed this opportunity to come down here, loosen up some tense muscles, joints and tried to drop a few pounds after hibernating in their nest for the last few months of winter.



People were walking, jogging, running and flying around the domain. Flying? Nah no one was flying, human can't fly. But there was certainly one try hard non-human guy...



Up, up and away~~~~

But of course he got no where, otherwise he wouldn't stand there for the last decade, and maybe more to come. Obviously his little bird couldn't take him anywhere. Maybe he should've put his red undies on , and red cape...

Anyway it was a good workout session for both of us. Specially for my training.



It was awesome that hubby came down with me as well. Although he walked while I jogged, it's nice to know that someone I love was at the same place training with me.

Oh in case if you wondering what was the fine print on my shirt, it read:



The deeper you go, the better it feels - from Great Barrier Reef Dive Club

Yeah baby~

We Are The Champion!!

Mid this year our contact centre entered a competition to compete against various contact centres in this country. This competition recognises excellence in standards of customer service delivered by contact centres throughout New Zealand. The award is called The CRM Contact Centre Awards. So it IS a big deal for us and we worked bloody hard for it.

This year the award ceremony evening was held at Skycity Convention Centre on 4th September.



Apparently there were about 440 attendees. A much bigger function compare to last year.



The company that participated were Coca-Cola, Telecom, National Bank, Marley, DHL, Auckland City Council, Baycorp etc...

My manager told me it cost NZD175.00 per pax for this night including buffet dinner. WAHLAU!!! Probably one of the most expensive dinner I've gone to.



The ceremony kicked start at about 7.15pm.



Awards after awards were presented for different category and finally, our turn came. The category our outbound team paticipated was Outbound Business to Business Calling in New Zealand under 50 Seats. Silver award (2nd runner up) was won by DHL. Gold award (runner up) won by Telecom. We almost die when this was announced. The reason behind was because Telecom has always been our rival in this category and was the winner last year where we came second. So after their name been called, we thought: Either we didn't make it to the top three at all, or we won them over.

The MC then advised everyone to be quiet so that he can announce the Diamond award winner which goes to Coca-Cola.



We were all screaming and jumping with absolute joy!! We were so excited and happy for each other. Yes lots of hugging and kissing.

All of us went up to the stage to receive the award



And had a photo taken of our pretty face (no wonder our manager asked us to put some make up on 'just in case')



It was such a great night and oh my God, what a blast!! To celebrate our win we ended up dance the night away to some band that played after the ceremony. A band where the musical instruments were three times louder than the vocals... Oh well, we were happy so who gives a shit.



Well, all the hard work paid off in the end. In short, WE ROCK HARD OUT!!!

I love nuts

T'was a lazy Sunday and we've been given by a friend a bag full of nuts, macadamia nuts with hard as shell.



She did tell us how to prepare and roast them. So with nothing much to do today, we decided to give it a go. It was actually as simple as she said!!



Oops... Excuse my legs...

After roasting for about 15 minutes, the hardest part was to remove their hard shells. We bought a nut cracker but after a few attempts, it proved useless. NZD5.00 spent for nothing... So we had to use the ultimate hammer to crack open the shell. Bloody hell, didn't expect we had to use such a tool to eat a few nuts eh~

Anyhow the hammer worked perfectly.

One thing, I think we roasted the nuts a bit too long. Because apart from one (out of fifty nuts), most of them are a little burn, but still tasty.




Oh well, first time for everything. Was fun playing with so many nuts thou.

It's Here!!!

After two and a half weeks of long wait, the shoes are finally here!!



As shown in a small diagram a few blogs ago, ziz iz ze real thing



When I went in to pick up the shoes, the lady shop assistant told me: NICE COLOURS COMBINATION!! Wow!! You can just imagine how I felt!!

Oh! In case you haven't noticed yet, at the side of the shoes, there is a small print 'iBong'.



The reason why? Well when I was in the shop tried to think of something that I can come up with for the shoes to make it as unique as I am, an idea came to mind. Lately we have alot of 'i's around eg. iPod, iBike, iSing, iEat, iPood, iSleep etc... I used iBong for the shoes. First of all it is the initial of my first name with full last name combination, moreover, I am in-line with the 'i' fashion.



Not self boasting or anything but I really like the striking combination of bright red and yellow.



And my hubby said to me last night: 'Anyone will see you coming from afar with these colours'. Oh, like I so don't want to catch too much attention...





The only trouble is, now that I have these new shoes, I don't really want to run in it and wear it off... Coz it's so cool!!!

Oishii!!!

Went out with Kelvin and Monica last night for dinner, yup Japanese cuisine.



This little Japanese restaurant is located on the ground floor of Crown Plaza (hotel) and pretty much right by the main entrance.

I don't normally have Japanese food all that often, Sushi is probably the thing I'll eat during regular food court visit. Maybe due to lack of understanding of Jap food and most fried noodle look much more appetizing for me hence I didn't know what do order...



With the help and suggestions from my dear friends, I ordered Miso Ramen (Ramen in Miso soup, quite self-explanatory)



Mmm~ looks nice isn't it? It contain a piece of pork as shown and the meal mostly made out of noodle, vegies, carrots, onion and seaweed.



Although it looked a little oily in the photo but in fact it's not, at all. And it is quite a healthy meal to be honest. Eventhough I finished most of it, I didn't feel stuffed or anything like that.

For all NZD9.00 per bowl, it's well worth the moolah.

Very Oishii!! (Delicious)

Tailor made for me, by me

So this are specs of my shoes,



And this will be how it looks like,



Last but not least, as expected, this is the bill after the long 45 minutes of deliberation of what colours and type of shoes to buy...



Did anyone see the big dent in my pocket? I certainly did...