Juggler extraordinaire.

I mentioned in a previous post that I would chat to Sophie Paine about what she finds inspiring. Last year saw her publishing her first book “Are you my mummy? / Es-tu mon papa?”

Besides writing children’s books she also offers Financial literacy training to kids and adults.
(I might need to knock on her door for a little help in the effective budgeting department).

We had a chat over yummy Indian food at Chunking mansion and since then, truth be told, I ended up staring at a blank computer screen every time I sat down to write about Sophie. Here’s my predicament. She’s a finance whiz but at the same time she is fully in touch with her creative side. Pardon me for thinking that chartered accountants all wear pale gray suits and secretly communicate via their calculators. Where do I place her in this world we so skillfully filled with boxes, labels and tags for people?

Lesson learnt. As a result I will tweak my approach and instead of structuring Sophie’s inspiration (through my eyes) on a page; I’m just going to let rip. Bugger structure, bugger labels and everything else that goes with that.

Sophie was born in Orleans, France and she’s married to Denzel: whom she describes as an incredibly loving and supportive guy.
They have two lovely boys - Sebastian and Oliver, aged 9 and 7 respectively, who like to swim and play ping-pong.
They love traveling as a family and find multicultural surroundings interesting and inspirational.
She’s learning not one, but two new languages – Mandarin and Arabic. Wow, wow and wow.

What inspires me about Sophie is her seemingly effortless jumping from one project to the next. Now that must call for some serious time management skills. When I asked her about this she described it as “cross fertilization between different projects”. The one nurtures the other. I do like the sound of that. Maybe after I get “Effective Budgeting 101” down to a tee I can start connecting my tiny projects with one another.

Well, I’m inspired. I’m sure you are too.

In this day and age of e-mail I’ve come to adore anything handwritten. Check out Sophie’s note on how she likes to relax at home. Whew, just when I though this Superwoman doesn’t need to take a break.

Escape to (a nearby) Paradise.

Just before Christmas we escaped to a Golf Resort in Hui Zhou city, Guang Dong province. Now, this is not too far from Hong Kong – less than two hours traveling. The drive there though, has the potential to excite and devastate you all at once. In Hong Kong, we are used to drivers adhering to road signs and rules. However, the moment you cross the border into China you are in for quite a ride. Not bumpy at all! Just a lot of reckless driving at neck break speed all the way to your destination.

But wait, I’m digressing. The resort and especially our rooms were gorgeous and judging by the way the guys were raving about the different golf courses; I’d say those were great too.
Mid-lunch, Adele and I had our first taste of what it felt like to be golf widows. Our initial impulse of course was to order a bottle of wine (each) but instead we opted for Le Spa.
Thank heavens we did…

Within a matter of minutes we were sipping tea daintily from tiny cups while jostling for the “menu” (as we kept on referring to the list of services). After we held a lengthy caucus we decided on a 3-hour package that looked like absolute bliss.

Our pampering session included a foot scrub, aromatherapy body scrub and a Swedish massage. Oh yes, we opted for a bikini wax too – just to keep it real you know. At this point, I have to say that we were struggling earlier at the restaurant to communicate with the waiters. At the spa though it was a completely different case. The girls (especially the manager Apple Lam) were incredibly helpful and made recommendations for treatments – at times in broken English but understandable nonetheless. Something else that struck me was that my Chinese therapist had a very gentle and kind touch. Not at all like the massages I’ve had in Hong Kong before – even though it was the same “style” of massage. I’d compare her touch more with what I’ve experienced in Thailand. Very gentle. Very unhurried.

I emerged from my private room three hours later. Hair sticking out in all directions and a sheepish grin on my face. Wow!
Adele was still busy. I heard little yelps coming from her room – my guess was that she was being waxed. First timer - ouch.

While I ignored Adele’s cries for mercy by slurping my tea, I was handed a feedback form by the owner, Alison Chan. We started chatting and talked spa, business and Yoga.
She’s a great girl with even greater ideas. She reminded me a lot of a friend, Nicole. Interesting enough, Nicole is also involved with the esoteric and spiritual side of life.

Anyway, to make a long story short – our newly acquired golf widow status had a stunning upswing at the end. In the future, this could prove to be a nice weekend away for the girls too.

To bring you into the picture: the golf widows are starting golf lessons next week. Either way we are making sure that we are not missing out on any action in the future – whether it’s on the golf course or in the spa afterwards doesn’t really matter.

Here's to inspiring golf swings and perfect putting.