Thursday 30 November 2017

Im now a Mrs!!

Yes - as I had hinted in the previous blog. I had some ''news'' I was gonna share.

Have you guessed it?   My fiancĂ© and I GOT MARRIED on the 22nd March 2016!!!!

We travelled over to Gretna Green in Scotland 21st March and stayed at Smiths Hotel . We travelled  just the two of us without informing anyone we knew because we had wanted it to be a nice surprise for everybody!

Luckily the weather stayed dry for us!  It was so romantic - the whole setting, everything about it was so special and steeped in history.....

Here are some pictures........



Our witnesses came from down under - Australia!!!  They were the nicest people ever....and were chosen at random by the Blacksmith Guides.

Hard to believe my hubby and I have been married 18 months now!


Thursday 17 March 2016

New 2016, new start.

I must apologise, for not updating for so long....it's unforgiveable I know but time has got the better of me...this year 2016 has been full of social events so far.  My mother turned 65 and we celebrated with her at Lee Gardens restaurant in Belfast. A week or so after that, it was my step dad's surprise retirement party...which was quite funny as my sister had given him an inflatable zimmer frame as a gift...

On Feb 16th 2016, our family was also invited to my cousin Jemmy and his wife Lisa's twin boys turning 100 days old party  - it's a tradition in China to celebrate this, so the party was held in Manchester....unfortunately I could not go as I was working, but my son Ryan who is 9 now, had the privilege of going with his nanny and grandad.

I have some wonderful news which I cannot divulge quite yet but definitely in the next post I will share...meanwhile here are some recent photos...


Christmas Day 2015 - Andy & I

Christmas Day 2015
Zimmer frame guy
Carnfunnock Country Park, Larne
Ryan at the River Liffey, Dublin



Sunday 21 December 2014

2014 pictures

Professional Photo shoot

More than 32 years friendship reunion - with my lifetime friend Mayling

It's Halloween!!!!

Sisterly Love

Abba tribute night - by the Bjorn Identity (13/12/14)


My first time climbing to top of Cavehill with only one lung

My other half at Hazelbank by moonlight

My lovely son (top of Cavehill)

My son and mum

Halloween night!!!

Last family photo before Granny Violet's passing (taken in the nursing home)

 Fright night!

London Skyline (March 2014)


Hello Kitty department in Hamleys, London

Me meeting Yoda in London (March 2014)

Me at Buckingham Palace, London (March 2014)

Where has the time gone?

My my! So much has happened this year, I think it will take me at least 48 hours to update all the fine details! So briefly ...this is what happened:

My health has improved in 2014. I no longer become breathless after walking and I feel so much stronger overall.  It is so true when they say 'time is a healer'....

I started a new job, which although has it's good and bad days....suits me right down to the ground!  Overall I am happy in my job ( which is a very important factor for me for  job satisfaction).

My social life has improved.

My sister Eve who went through a painful separation from her husband is also much happier these days.

Pictures from 2014 to follow....



Saturday 28 September 2013

Penpal of the Week !!

I was featured recently on a Penpal blog - here is my interview!

Please tell us about you!
Hi all, firstly I will introduce myself. My name is Jennifer but my friends and family often call me Jenny. I’m 38 years young and I have lived in Northern Ireland for most of my life. I wouldn’t call anywhere else home! I was born and grew up in the harbour town of Larne, on the east coast of N. Ireland. My ethnic origin is Hong Kong Chinese. My parents immigrated here from Hong Kong in the 1960′s. I grew up in a closely knit community. The people here in this country are renowned to be friendly – that is a reason why my parents chose to move here. My surname is Lau and it is the fourth most common surname in China. My family origin is that of ”Hakka”, which is a unique group of Chinese thought to be one of the earliest ”Han” settlers around the Yellow River area in China. I find genealogy very fascinating and anything to do with my Chinese background I always have a deep interest in.

Jenny 1
A “model” photo of myself when I was 21.

I work as a cashier in a busy wholesale company, I have been there just over a year. I work part time as my son is still at school. It suits me down to the ground, however I am a busy mummy also as I am trying to finish my degree via distance learning which I’d started way back in 1993 – I always regretted not finishing it so that is my aim. I thoroughly enjoy arts & crafts (check out my craft blog), Facebook & surfing the Internet, travelling (I have visited France many many times, Italy, Spain, England, Eire and west Africa), concerts (I have been to more than ten concerts so far – mostly pop including Britney Spears, Steps & also Oasis twice), socialising, fashion, books, music (I am into Cantopop, 80′s music, some dance and indie), driving and much, much more!! I guess because I’m a Gemini star sign I get bored quite easily thus I have that many interests! I love to write which explains my love for penpalling. My general blog is Jenny’s Kaleidoscope. I also have a French related blog – feel free to read it at The Canny Francophile. I have a deep fondness for France having lived there for one year in Strasbourg. I really found myself there so I was really happy to travel to Paris again recently – read about it in my French blog!

My son Ryan will be seven years old soon and I am engaged to my fiance Andrew of nine years.



Describe your personality in 10 words!
My personality I’d say is:

I am very organised (my sister seems to think that of me all the time , probably because we are complete opposites! For example, I tend to start my Christmas shopping in the springtime of each year whilst she leaves hers until December time!!)

I can be quite reserved (I was actually called shy at school but that was a long time ago) but it doesn’t show in my letters!

I can be rather impulsive – once I went into town to get my hair cut, my boyfriend was with me, I took a whim and decided to take a 2-hour train journey down to Dublin!!  We ended up staying overnight down there, my boyfriend will never let me forget that!

I am also funny, whimsical, loyal, spontaneous, honest, sincere – I do not like dishonesty of any form – that includes even if you take a single paper clip from work!

I am a conscientious person, at least, in most things that I do ( I do them thoroughly).

Jenny 3
The kids I played with when I was growing up in Larne.

How long have you been penpalling? How did you first start?  Tell us about your first penpal!
Well I first started at the age of 12. I’d joined a penpal club called the Clover Penpal Club. Then, one day I received a lovely letter out of the blue, from a Korean girl around the same age as me. She introduced herself and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. She came from Ulsan, South Korea and I loved the way she decorated her letters the most, and the Korean words she taught me. She was the sweetest friend ever. I wrote to her for about 6-7 years then sadly, we sort of drifted apart. Since that friendship I’ve always had a fondness for all things Korea related! I still have her letters to this day! I believe a snailmail friend can be just as “special” as a real life friend!!

How many penpals do you have now and where are they from?
I currently have about 10 penpals that I write to on a regular basis. They are generally from Scotland, England, France, Sweden and Mexico. The Mexican girl, Isabelle whom I write is in fact deaf – I am always amazed at the clarity with which she writes her letters, which are always so interesting for me to read! She is very talented in painting. The French ones, Sandrine, and Stephanie are fairly new ones to me, we have only exchanged letters about 3- 6 times. Then I have my penpal Sandra from Scotland and we have been writing for about 9 years I think before my son was even born! Then, Tracy from England is my favourite long letter pal, she usually writes 8 to 9 long A4 pages each time!! So, with each penpal there is something I really like about them, the most important thing for me is that we “click”.

What are your favourite topics to discuss in letters?
I usually talk about what’s on my mind, I discuss everything under the sun actually but especially love talking not only about myself but also, my family, my hobbies, what I do in my daily life etc. I also make sure the letters I write are not one-sided and always include questions for my pal to reply to. Perhaps I generally also include some drawings, Chinese phrases, or sometimes decorate the letters in a nice way! Depends on my mood when I write the letter!

Jenny 4
Ryan having fun at the park. He loves it there.

What are you looking for in a penpal?
Someone who is sincere, who won’t be judgemental and who is honest also. I think that is a very important quality to have these days! I prefer someone that just doesn’t write two lines in their letter. Of course if pretty stationery is used that is a bonus! They should also be open-minded.

What do you like most about penpalling?
The buzz I get when a letter drops onto the doormat and you appreciate the time someone has put in to write a letter just for you. How special. The fact that you get to cherish the letter forever. I also get to choose whatever nice stationery I like to use! And there is no rush. You can take all the time in the world. In a way penpalling is a sort of pamper “me” time for yourself, isn’t it? And it makes you feel good. To me, it is very therapeutic as I have mental health issues, and writing my thoughts down helps me clarify things!

In what language (s) do you correspond?
Mainly English but I’ve written in French and Chinese in the past (with the help of a good dictionary I should say!). My memory isn’t as good as it used to be, compared to my university days!!

Jenny 5
My handwriting sample.

What are some of your habits in regards to letter writing?
I love writing back as soon as possible, generally within five days of receiving a letter. That’s if I’m not busy. When I have less time the average would be about two to four weeks! When I’ve written one letter I generally put a cross on the front of the envelope so as to remind myself I have already replied to that particular one. I store my letters received in a special file. I usually write about two A4 pages in one letter if not more!

Has anything strange/funny ever happened to you since you’ve been penpalling?
Nothing strange or funny as such but I have two interesting stories:

I once put a penpal advert in a Chinese movie stars magazine to advertise for a penpal, and not long after doing so I received in the post an envelope stuffed full of around 50 photos of my favourite idol. They didn’t write their name or address so I couldn’t write back to thank them!

Also, years ago I had a penpal in China who happened to have the same favourite singer as I did. She replied to my advert in this magazine and we corresponded for a couple of years. I thought she was just wonderful as she always sent me photos of their fan club meetings, his birthday parties and so on, that she personally took herself. I was so envious yet so in awe of that whole experience! She emigrated to Australia years later and sadly we lost touch shortly after.



Have you met any of your penpals?
I have only ever met two of my penpals. One of them was called Evita, she came all the way over from Hong Kong to meet me in Belfast. I remember it was the summer of 2001, I was working full time then and everyday after work I’d meet up with her to have a meal at a restaurant. It was really nice! I took her to some nice restaurants in town. She stayed for about a week. I still keep in touch with her.

The second penpal that I met was Ji Young from Seoul (Korea) – she flew over to stay at a co-worker of her’s place who she befriended in Korea, and because I was only a few hours up north she came up by train to meet me. I let her stay at my house overnight, and I cooked her a typical British breakfast in the morning – bacon and eggs! I showed her around my local area, however I did make the mistake of wearing high-heeled boots that day and ended up with very sore feet afterwards. After she returned to Korea, she mentioned in one of her letters that she remembered me complaining about my feet (how embarrassing and I regret that as it mustn’t have left a very good impression on her!)



Are you currently looking for more penpals?
Yes I am – feel free to email me at Jenhappy6@hotmail.co.uk

Sunday 16 October 2011

Steps Are Back!!

On Friday the 14th October at precisely 8.45 am, I sat beside my computer & waited. The reason?
Steps reunion tour concert tickets went on sale at 9am.    And , I was one of the first ones to get tickets. Having heard 4 days earlier the tickets would soon be on sale, I faced an agonising wait....but hey I got them!!!

So excited & can't wait 'til 2nd April 2012!!

My favourite Steps songs are:

*Deeper Shade of Blue
*Better best forgotten
*One for Sorrow
*The way you make me feel

Wednesday 21 September 2011

The re-opening of a local Chinese murder case

UTV News - £15k reward to be raised for murder appeal

Such a tragic loss of life, my family knew Simon's parents...he died for a few hundred pounds.
The people that did this are not human in my eyes....

Sunday 11 September 2011

RIP

RIP to all of the victims of 9/11.
My thoughts are also with the families of those that lost their lives.
I was watching the remembrance service today on telly and the tears came rolling down my cheeks.
We take life for granted too much.

Do you remember what you were doing on that tragic day??

Thursday 8 September 2011

Thinking of enrolling my son in jujitsu classes at my local leisure centre. He is getting to that age where he learns fast. I think it would be good for him...he is also going to join some after-school clubs.  Will find out if the application has been successful next week I imagine.

Time for bed.

Monday 5 September 2011