Mompreneur Ly-na Toye

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I met Ly-na when I was 17 and we quickly became friends. We hardly knew each other but I knew she was a keeper when I told her how much I loved her shoes and she lent them to me for a whole 6 months!! Who does that??? At 17 I thought she was amazing but I had no idea. Even though we lived in different provinces, I in Toronto and she in Montreal, we managed to stay in touch throughout high school and university. She pursued her love of fashion and eventually became a fashion designer, working for David Bitton and other multinational brands. While I studied aimlessly without a clue about what I really wanted to do with my life, Ly-na was doing exactly what she wanted. As a young girl, I wanted so much to be like her. So when she called me one day 5 years ago with a fabulous business idea, I immediately said yes and we started our fashion accessories adventure. And what an adventure it was! I won't go into details here but working with Ly-na, I found what a strong and remarkable woman she is. Her savvy business sense, perseverance, and ability to make things happen, I learned so much those 2 years we worked together. During that time, Ly-na got pregnant and had her first daughter, I became pregnant with MM and we decided to take a break. I closed down my business in Hong Kong and Ly-na was going to be a stay-at-home-mom.

That didn't last very long! As soon as her daughter was born, she was back to taking orders, manufacturing and shipping goods. I had to hand it to her, this woman has so much passion for what she does, she makes everything seem so easy even though I know that its not always that way. When she told me she was launching Angel Lily Toddler Hair Bows and Clips a month BEFORE her second daughter was due. In my head, I thought she was crazy, I mean who does that??? I'm sure I even told her she was nuts, but that is Ly-na and she never ceases to amaze and inspire me. With 2 children and a newly launched business, Ly-na has her meetings while her 3 year old is at school and works from her home office while her 1 year old is napping. She takes them along across Canada to tradeshows and still manages to cook and clean. I always wonder how she manages to do so much, while taking care of her 2 beautiful girls without any help, she definitely is the superwoman in my life.

9 Words that women use, and what they really mean

Thanks Ali for sharing this!

(1) "Fine": This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) "Five Minutes": If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) "Nothing": This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) "Go Ahead": This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) "That's Okay": This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) "Thanks": A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say "you're welcome". That will bring on a "whatever").

(8) "Whatever": Is a woman's way of saying F-- YOU!

(9) "Don't worry about it, I got it": Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "What's wrong?" For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Is Hong Kong really that safe?

Update - looks like the Ikea story is an urban legend after all. After talking to a few people who insisted the story sounded fishy and Gweipo's comment below that she had heard this story before, I did a little more digging around and found the same story written about an attempted kidnap in large supermarket chain Tesco, in Bangor,UK where a little girl was found in the washrooms with her head shaved. Apparently this urban myth was so widespread the company had to issue a statement to the press in an article titled 'Supermarket chain quashes Bangor child abduction rumour'. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you parents!! Like Irene said, Hong Kong maybe one of the safest cities in the world after all.

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I received the following email today (thanks Carla),

Ikea - Attempted Kidnapping

Just wanted to let you know that a friend of one of Nathan's* playgroup friends was involved in an attempted kidnapping at IKEA Causeway Bay a few weeks ago. Apparently, the boy was 3yrs old and ran ahead of his mother in IKEA. When she couldn't find him, she alerted security who then shut all the exits. They eventually found the boy in the IKEA bathrooms with his head shaved and clothes changed! They didn't find the people who did this to him. Scary times.

*boy's name changed for privacy

Living as an Expat an Hong Kong can sometimes feel akin to living in a bubble. Although a world class city, it's so small that there definitely is a small-town vibe when frequenting your area grocery store, cafe, and shops. It's hard not to feel like you have your own little city at your disposal, especially if you've been living here for over 6 years like I have. Before I had kids, I never questioned my own safety. I wouldn't give a seconds thought about walking home drunk through an alley in Central at 3am - something I would never ever do back home in Toronto where at university, the practice is for friends to drive each other to their cars so no one would have to walk through the campus alone at 10pm. I am ashamed to admit that even after having my MMs my relaxed attitude and feelings of safety have continued. My children being kidnapped, the sickening possibility that someone would snatch them has never once crossed my mind. I often let my 2 year old son run ahead of me in the malls and parks, or lag behind, and run around while I tend to MMM. As I sit here writing this I can picture MM happily running along, a huge grin on his beautiful face, I stop for a moment to look for something in my bag. I turn around because something doens't feel right and he's not there. The thought makes me want to vomit.

At first glance I thought the email was a hoax, it has to be, I mean Hong Kong is just so safe, just one of those forwards meant to freak you out but after a little research, I am realizing that this one may actually hold true. Blogger Lisa Tong apparently heard the same story from someone who knows the mother of the attempted kidnappee and goes on to talk about child trafficking in Hong Kong, apparently an infant boy is worth something like $56,700hkd and a girl at half that price in China (This price has gone up since 2004 and 2005). Babies from Hong Kong are thought to be healthier.

I feel stupid and naive. Whilst all this has been going on, I have been freakishly free and irresponsible with my own child. That stops today.

Valentines Day - Free Stuff!

Hubby is out for a work dinner tonight so I had some time. I haven't really felt like writing too much lately so I thought I'd spend the evening designing up some Valentines Day photo cards! Haha not like I don't already have a ton of stuff to do but this is just way more fun! If you like one of the designs, email me the photo you'd like (by Feb 11th) to use for your card and I'll email you back a .jpg file that you can send off in an email. Or if you're the more traditional type, have it printed up at your nearby photo development center and stick it in the mail. You could always add a hand written note on the back, just make sure you use a felt tipped marker and not a ballpoint pen so the writing doesn't show through the front of the photo.

xx MilkMonster Momma

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