Monthly Archives: October 2010

For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness

                                                                                                  - Ralph Waldo Emerson - 

Many good things happened to me this year. Month after month,  I continue to receive great news. One of the most unforgettable ones is when I received a message saying that I was selected as the LG Life’s Good Ambassador. 

The Making of LG's Video

Went for a video shoot for LG early this month. Mine was the earliest slot, and I had to be at Raffles Place by 9.30am. Luckily during that time the place wasn't so crowded. I had a lot of fun smiling and acting in front of the camera.

Here are some moments captured:

And Here’s the final video

LG Optimus 7 Press Conference 

I was also invited to attend LG’s Press Conference (12th October 2010). It was a full house event. This was a special event because that’s the day when LG announced the Singapore launch of its first Windows Phone 7 devices, LG Optimus 7.

In conjunction with the LG Optimus 7 campaign, LG has appointed 7 personalities to be the LG Advocates and  also 7 other personalities to be their e-Fluencers. I am proud to be one of the 7 e-Fluencers.

Me & My LG Optimus 7

I received my LG Optimus 7 on the 15th October 2010. So happy to be one of the first few in Asia who own this cool phone. :) 

3 things that I did to start my journey with my new LG Optimus 7

1. Went to StarHub to get a new line and new data plan   

2. Read the manual (it's very small, and yet it contains EVERYTHING that I need to know)

3. Downloaded and installed Zune software from www.windowsphone.com to sync my LG phone with my laptop.

After that, I can fully utilized my LG Optimus 7.  

I have been using the phone for the past 12 days and I would say it is a really great phone. I love the fact that it helps me to stay connected while on-the-move. At the same time it is so easy to use. To be honest, I’m not so much a technology-savvy kind of person, so simplicity is good!

With my new Optimus 7, I can do more things in fewer steps!

There are 7 things that I love most about my LG Optimus 7. In this post, I’ll share 2 first, and I’ll continue with the rest in my other entries:

1.       Panorama Shot

Super easy to use, all you need to do is just to activate the mode. Once you’ve done so, you just need to press the shutter button once to take the first image. From there, you're guided by a color-coded box as to show you where the next frame is supposed to be, and, once in position, it automatically snaps the picture for you. That goes on until you put together five frames. After that LG will then stitched the images together automatically.  It's so simple! Here’s the photo that I took while attending the Burgundy Private Launch Party at Wisma Atria last week

2.       Scan Search

I called this a ‘Reality Camera’. It has the ability to show the nearest conveniences like coffee shops, banks, pharmacies, and hospitals onto a live video feed from my camera.

Here’s how it looks like.

First, choose what you want to search, i.e. Restaurant.

Then, just point your LG camera to any direction and the nearest restaurant within the range specified will be shown automatically.

You can also search other things, i.e. Bank.

Do the same thing and this time, the nearest bank will be shown automatically too.

Now guess what happened when you point the camera to the sky?

It will give you the weather updates. So Cool, right !!

I must confess that I am addicted to this function, everywhere I go, I'm always 'Scan-Searching'

I'm sure when you own this phone, you'll definitely do the same thing like I do too.

So far LG Optimus 7 has been really useful. One night, I was in the car along Orchard Road. My hubby was driving, while I was playing with my Scan Search Application. Suddenly, one of my favorite restaurants popped up. I thought this restaurant has closed down long ago, so I was surprised when it showed up on my LG. Since there was a phone number and an address attached to it, I immediately called them. Turned out the restaurant is still open, and that is the only outlet that was left (the rest of the branches closed down already). What a surprise!

So guess where I had my dinner that day?

Yup! In my Favorite Indonesian Restaurant. Thanks to LG !

  Life's Good when I have LG Optimus 7

In order for you to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure

                                                                                                  - Bill Cosby  - 

Are you a mother who is also a career-oriented woman?  If you are, you may have number of different issues tugging at your heart.  In today’s society, many mothers are fearful of putting their family first, especially in certain circumstances, in fear of losing their jobs.  With that in mind, there are many mothers who are fearful that their children will grow up hating them due to the amount of time they spent focused on work.

Being a mother and a career-woman at the same time, may seem like an impossible task. In the past, I used to think the same way too. Soon I realised that it is actually a very possible thing to do. 

I'm a mother of 2 year old - daughter, and at the same time I also have many other roles at work.
So how do I manage to have both? 

First thing that I do is to set your mindset correctly. For myself, I acknowledge my role as a mom, and I put that as my first priority. Having said that, that doesn't mean that you should just toss your workload to the side and not care.  There are a number of different ways that you can go about being a good parent, while still bringing home an income.  One of those ways involves spending quality time with your children when you are not working. 

For myself, I usually set aside my weekend for my daughter, or if I happened to finish my work early, I would then play with her at home, or bring her out.

Second thing that  I do is to create a schedule for yourself.  Just like you set a schedule for your appointments and meetings, you should also schedule when you want to spend time with them. This schedule can be used to outline any important events that you and your children have planned.

When my daughter first went to her new school, I took a time off for that 1 week to make sure that I was there to accompany her every morning. (Read my previous blog post: Alvernia's 1st day at pre-school)

I will also make sure that I attend some of her important events. One example was during last International Children's Day (1st October 2010), I was there to celebrate with her at her school.

We had fun creating cup-cakes together

Apart from those things, I also make sure I have time for her personal development. I read bedtime stories for her, teach her singing, watching Barney and Disney Channel together, and many others.

Another activity that you may want to think about doing with your children is taking them to the zoo. I love going to zoo.  Zoo trips are fun and exciting, as they often last all day.  What is nice about zoo trips is that they are fun and educational all at the same time.  (Read my previous blog post: One Day at Jurong Bird Park)

There are many other ways how you can spend time with your family. To be honest, it really doesn’t matter what you do.  To your child or children, how matter what their age, they will likely just appreciate the fact that you took some time away from work to have fun with them, no matter what the activity.

I'm not saying that it is very easy to juggle both career and family, because it is not. At the same time, it is not something that is impossible too. With a clear mind, and discipline, you can definitely accomplish both.

If I can do it, so can you!

The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn

                                                                                                  - David Russell  - 

If you are in the Internet Marketing Business, you definitely have heard of Fabian Lim.

He is one of Asia's top internet marketer, author, featured speaker and consultant. I've heard about him many years ago, but I only get a chance to meet him in person early this year when we shared the same platform together at the Wealth Expo 2010.

From there he and his beautiful wife become a friend to both me and my husband.

I was very grateful too, when Fabian invited both me and my husband to sit in to his 2 most popular Internet Marketing workshop.

The first one was 'Real Social Marketing Secrets' workshop conducted by him and Simon Leung. I actually have to postponed my Bali trip to attend this workshop, but it is definitely worth it. I've learned so much about Social Media, like Twitter, Facebook, etc, which I believe can really help me a lot in creating my presence online.

Within 1 month after I attended, I increased my twitter followers from 50+  to 7,000+  not bad, right?

The second workshop was 'Real Internet Secret'. This is a 3 days intensive internet marketing training conducted by Fabian.

I would say this is a very practical and hands-on course. It is a Internet marketing seminar designed for beginners who want to start their Internet business. So for a person like me who knows nothing about internet marketing the workshop is definitely very useful.  Fabian really teach us everything from basic to advance. He even revealed to us his internet marketing secrets

Creating an online business is interesting. Compared to offline business, it need less capital and it has more potential to reach out to more people worldwide. And at the same time, after attending that 2 workshop, I realised that creating business online shared the same principle in creating a business offline. You need good product, good marketing strategy, great traffic (customer), and many others. 

Being an entrepreneur myself, who own a few business offline, I can definitely relate to what Fabian shared.

Yes, internet marketing IS a BUSINESS,

and if you want to succed, you need to put on your entrepreneurial mindset
And I believe that is the reason why Fabian invited me to be his featured speaker for the upcoming Asia Internet Congress 2010.

I will be speaking on Day 1 of AIC on the topic of entrepreneurship.

It will be held in 2 different locations

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (22nd – 24th October 2010)

http://www.asiainternetcongress.com.my/

and Singapore (29th – 30th October 2010)

http://www.asiainternetcongress.com/

If you are going, remember to come and approach me after my session, so that I can say Hi to you

Hope to see you there!

Never ruin an apology with an excuse

                                                                                                  - Kimberly Johnson - 

Many people usually identify me with the color RED.

It is quite obvious, because almost in every occasion, I will always wear anything related to red color.

That has become one of my trademark.

But there’s another trademark that I have that many of people didn’t really know.

And I'm going to share with you today

Now, I want you to take a look at my logo carefully.

When you see this logo, what does the shape remind you of?
 

Yup! It looks like a butterfly.

I actually designed this logo myself.

Here's my original drawing:

And it was evolved from this 2 letters: M & R

There are 3 important elements in the logo:

1. MR

Which is a short form of my name: Merry Riana

 2. Butterfly

 To me this butterfly symbolize 3 things
 

a. Transformation

The butterfly’s life cycle is one of transformation. The caterpillar emerges from an egg, then, transforms into a chrysalis, the stage in which caterpillar’s body is broken down and changed into the adult’s one. It’s from this stage that the butterfly emerges.

And just like how butterfly transformed from a cocoon, so does myself.
From a humble beginning, I’ve struggled. And thru that tough moment in my life, I became who I am right now.

b. Actualisation

 
Butterfly represent beauty. It brings color and lightness to people’s life. And interestingly, each butterfly has its own unique color and shape. There is no ugly butterfly. Same like us, each one of us has our own uniqueness. We have our own strenght, passion and talent. To actualise means to know who you are, and to be the person that you are, every single minute of your life.

Butterfly also represent freedom. It can freely fly wherever she wants to go. No boundaries and no limits.

I’m blessed that I can now freely living my life. I know who I am, why I'm here and what is my life purpose. I'm enjoying every single moment of my live, doing what I’m passionate about. 
 

c. Inspiration

Butterfly gets their food by going from one flower to another. And interestingly while she does that, she also brings benefits to the flowers because she pollinate them. 

That’s exactly what I'm doing. As much as I’ve been blessed, I too want to be a blessing for others.While I’m doing my work, I eventually will touch more hearts and change more lives.  My aim for the next 10 years is to be able to create a positive impact to the lives of 1,000,000 people, especially women, in Asia. .

3. Cross

I added the cross symbol right at the centre. This is to remind me that God will always be the centre of my life, and in everything that I do. He is the only reason why I can be where I am today, and He will always be the main reason why I’m doing what I’m doing today. 

So, that's so much about the meaning behind my MR Logo.

That’s also the reason why I love the logo so much, because it is something that really personal to me and  I believe can truly represent me.

Well, now at least you know another interesting thing about me
Hope next time you'll see a butterfly, you will think of me :)  hahaha….

It is never too late to be who you might have been

                                                                                                  - George Eliot - 

What do you like to do on family holidays?  Go to the beach or spend a week overseas?  Or maybe visiting relatives?  Whatever you enjoy, family holidays are a chance for everyone in the family to get re-acquainted and spend quality time together. 

It's a chance for everyone to really talk with the other family members and find out what's going on in their lives.  It's important to keep the communication lines open, and a family holiday is a good time to do that. 

Research has shown that when families take holidays together, they are more likely to eat together and that definitely create good bonding.  They do not watch as much television because they are involved in doing things together.  

Me and my family just had our family holiday last month.

This year, we choose to go to Bali, one my favorite place on earth!

There were 8 of us, (myself, my husband, my daughter, my mom, my dad, 2 of my younger brothers, and also my future-sis-in law).

We had lots of fun together, and time flew just like that without we realised.

Here are some of our happy moments captured

I've uploaded the rest of my photos on my Facebook Fan Page

Just click on the link below … and don't forget to click on the 'Like' button too

Enjoy !!