On 12.12.10

Our 5-year old wedding bears were on their second assignment! :)


It's (Vince's) Uncle CH's Big Day.......

The gatecrash. As expected, the groom & his brothers didn't really get good treatments. Most of the tricks were too déjà vu but still, who on earth will want to experience them? Haha.
Clockwise (from top left):
The guys were fed with a generous serving of wasabi sandwich.
Passing the seaweed, from mouth-to-mouth. Yeeks!
Picking the cherry tomatoes, bare feet, from a bucketful of ice cubes.
Hubby doing the hula while Uncle CH struggling with the Mandrin version of Amazing Grace. Poor hubby... got bruises around his waist after a few takes as that's not an ordinary hula! Tsk tsk...

Finally fetched the bride & having lunch in Bishan, before the tea ceremony

As we're responsible for decorating the wedding dinner venue, we rushed home to get all the flowers & ourselves ready before arriving at the hotel @3pm. Took us more than 2 hours to get everything done. Then went to the bridal suite to get changed, did my hair & touched up on my makeup. Whew..!

Got all ready well before the guests arrived! ;)

Quite a long night with Praise & Worship, Solemnisation & thank-you speech.

Had a group pic before we left

No Super Long Holiday Tis Year

My lunch at the office pantry area. Packed from downstairs.. No lunching out with colleagues, no long lunch n chats at pantry. Just a super quick 1 b4 going back to my seat to hibernate.. Yawn~

Hubby says I'm suffering from Holiday Withdrawal Syndrome. :-|

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I would have? I would have not??

We'd a firmwide Christmas party in office last afternoon. I supposed to go but tummy wasn't feeling well so I took a rest at my place instead. Then I received a text from one of the colleagues - "Your name was read out at the lucky draw". Very shortly after, a few other colleagues ran to me to break the news..... Apparently it's the 3rd prize (total 5 prizes only) & my name was announced 3 times before they drew another person's. Those who're there thought it's a big regret. One of the gals even said I missed the chance of having a pic with the Chairman (which I didn't feel I miss anything :P) & a big hamper with some vouchers (she thought). About the latter I did feel a lil pinch. Ouch...

I could only console myself that if I were there, I might not have won haha..... as I haven't won in ANY lucky draw before so it wouldn't be different this time?

But then, it could have been a good start ..... just like what we experience in our lives now ... Well well ...

Yuletide Joy

As we're planning for the annual family Christmas party.. I've no idea since when I developed this interesting combi of craving - log cake and curry chicken. Realised I've been asking for these 2 for a few years.. Hehe.

I guess dearest hubby by now already knows his wifey well.. So he wasn't surprised at all when just yesterday that i told him about getting a log cake.

We've been busy with uncle CH's wedding, with work & Christmas shopping so till now then we got down to planning for the party. Needless to talk about sis.. Ever since the start of her new restaurant, her days been totally burnt.

This year, we're having the Durian log cake from Angie The Choice! And curry chicken with lots of coconut milk & potatoes! And sis gonna prepare some other yummy foods :-D

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Our Shopping Loots from KL

Got quite a few cheap & nice items from this trip :D

All my RM25 purchases except the grey piece, which was @RM19. I wasn't allowed to try them on so very happy that they all fit well :)
My recent craze is long tops to match my skinny/tight pants & jeans. I especially love the orange 1 with a see-through lacy back (original price @RM69).. Like the black dress too (last piece), been wanting to buy a casual dress like this. @S$10.50, it's a steal!

The grey shorts @RM25 too & the denim one @RM10 (S$4.20 only!!). And yes, it fits.. hee.

I love the black jacket from Times Sq. At first I didn't wanna buy it as it's relatively more ex (@RM65). But I missed it much... so hubby brought me back the next day to get it :)). The slouchy cardi in grey @RM25.

I finally found the 'Volume Hair Base' (at the top of the pic)! I tried to search in Spore but unsuccessful... & found it in a very small shop in Sungei Wang instead! And guess what?? It's hubby who discovered it when we walked past the shop! So cheap.. bought it @S$5.50 after a 20% discount. It's selling online @US$15!


Some nice shirts for hubby

The cutting of these 2 pants from Times Sq & bermudas fits hubby really well :)

Exchange rate: S$1= RM2.39

The 1st Family Trip

It's a great one. There're family bonding moments & personal time for shopping :) We'd much fun... so noisy that my parents in-law took up the role of "discipline master & mistress" - they'd go "Shhhhh..." whenever our volume was too loud. Haha.

This in fact was also my 1st family trip. As for my side (of family), the 1st & also the last one 6 years back was close enough but bro & family didn't go... so it wasn't complete.

Though the trip was only to KL, it's the time enjoyed with the family that matters :)

Some Recent Great Buys

Shower Radio, its literal name as it's designed to withstand water splashes & hence meant to be used in bathroom :)

Marks & Spencer's Fiery Ginger Beer. We love it.

Recliners for the both of us so we can watch DVDs in our room comfortably :)

Lemongrass for the living & lavender for our bedroom/bathroom... Nice!

An excellent find in Marina Square to put my favourite bags & stuff

Christmas is in the Air! :-)

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A Short Family Trip

To KL, with my inlaws.. the whole family.

Hubby & I are looking forward to it :)

Just The Way You Are

Hubby says the lyrics of this song speak his mind exactly.

So I gotta check this song out :)

A lil piece of Korea

The sat before last, I was craving for some Korean food (of course hubby'd jump at it since I seldom ask for Korean food, while he's a big fan).

I remembered there's this Korean restaurant at Far East Square which I'd been to once when I was still working nearby. So there we went... hoping that it's still around.

And yes, it is:)
Felt as if we're back in Korea.. Hee.. especially with the Korean variety program they'd on their TV....

... & the generous serving (varieties) of side dishes... as well as the sikhye (Korean rice drink)...

At the end of the dinner, I left with a very happy & satisfied hubby :)

Our 5th Celebration :)

Started this special day with a beautiful bouquet delivered to my office :)
It's a big pleasant surprise from hubby as I really didn't expect it this year (because of what I previously told him).
Love the green/white color combi & hubby had a reason for choosing it - he said it reminded him of the surprise bouquet from Ritz Carlton upon arrival at the hotel 5 years ago. It brought back very fond memories indeed...

Due to some last minute changes, we had our plans changed too. We took half a day's leave that afternoon... just to spend time together & chill out.

First, we'd a 3-course set lunch at Fremantle Seafood Market at Clarke Quay

After lunch, we walked over to The Pump Room & had a beer

Then, our next stop was Vivocity.

We'd Haagen Dazs ice cream for afternnon tea ;)

Dinner, we'd Thai cuisine while watching the sun set right in front of us

So we're extremely well-fed on our 5th Anniversay. Hehe..

And hubby got me a BIG gift for our 5th Wedding Anniversary - a 1-carat diamond ring! :D


Our celebration flowed to Friday (PH) as well.. the day we originally intended to have our celebration..

We'd our favourite Peking Duck for lunch at Crystal Jade in Great World City. Nice! And we're so bloated :)

The evening was spent at a very special place - Robertson Walk.

Drinks & dessert @ Hog's Breath.
Across the courtyard (the blue canopy) was where we first met more than 7 years ago :)) The Bar has now become a No Signboard restaurant, The Kelong.
That's the place I went through turning point in my life. So much memories & hubby was, & still is, the anchor. And we spent the entire hours there reminiscing...

That area has certainly changed a lot... it's now directly linked to Robertson Quay (you can imagine how long we haven't been there!). Nice place.... & we definitely don't mind going back for more.

All we can say is... Thank God for blessing our marriage. :)

It's A Long Process - II

Due to the urgency, we met up a few times very soon after the 1st, to confirm/finalise designs, select tiles, lightings, bathroom ware in the next 2 weeks. By then, J (our contractor) & us talked & joked like old friends.

Knowing that we intended to move in before CNY, J was being very nice to volunteer to commence renovation works immediately without demanding for a deposit. And he's really fast, we received both updates from him at the same time - (1) the approval notification he got a couple of hours ago from HDB to tear the walls & (2) the walls were already gone.

This was taken on the 10th day into our renovation, on a Fri, which was a Public Holiday

On Sat, a day after the PH, we called J but it's Malaysia ringtone & then were told by him that he's having a weekend company trip to KL then. We agreed to speak again on Mon when he'd be back. Mon, hubby & I had lunch together & we needed to check something with him pretty urgently. So we called him. Still Malaysia ringtone & we guessed he's driving back so we hanged up shortly. In the afternoon, hubby tried again a couple of times but it's still the same ringtone. After work, as usual hubby came & picked me up. After some small chats about my work, hubby asked me to get mentally prepared for some news. Then he said: "J passed away". Just a few words but suddenly, I was like being hit by a gust of wind... so strong that as if I lost my balance because my head swirled & heart was palpitating violently.. & so sudden that I wanted to ask "you ain't serious right???" then the "am I in a nightmare now??!?"...

The feeling was mixed... we're very sad that the blossoming friendship had to be put to a stop that quickly. We're still talking about introducing J to those we know as a good ID firm was really a rare find. Then at the same time, we're so worried about the renovation of our new home. You can see from the pic above, how big a mess we're in at that time. That night, we could barely eat & I couldn't sleep as I kept thinking what had happened to him in KL.

We attended his wake the following night. It grieved us greatly to see that the pretty wife and adorable 8-year old daughter he left behind had to cope with the sudden loss. So they're told that the cause of his passing was cardiac arrest - he felt unwell & threw up.. He then felt better so continued driving. Soon after, he felt unwell again & stopped at a petrol kiosk to rest. When the rest of his staff who were in other cars arrived & called for ambulance, he's already unconscious. Unfortunately, the ambulance lost its way & took more than half an hour to arrive. He's pronounced dead in hospital.

All of us thought if the ambulance could come to his rescue in time, he could have been saved. But it's just "if only"...

At the same time, we're worried about their financial situation... as all of us know that many contractors have bad management of their cashflow.. that's why there're always cases of contractors running away after payment or delaying in completing the job. A staff of the ID firm called & asked us to give them about a week to sort out who'd take over our project. We agreed. I must say we're very worried then.

Less than a week later, works resumed. And they didn't even demand for payment. We're indeed impressed with their credibility among their suppliers as well as their finances. But the schedule of works were very badly.

Grèves

Having watched the recent news of strikes in Paris, I FB messaged Amélie out of concern.

Me: Bonjour Amélie... Have seen in the news these days about the strikes in Paris. I hope you are not affected. Take care ...

Amélie: Don't worry.I was in strike today also !! We have a few probelms with MRT (metro) and fuel for cars but I have no car ;-) Will see the news tonight, a lot of student are in the street and sometimes there are violence at the end of those days with policemen. But now I am at home and I'm going to take a very hot bath because here it's cold now !!!!

So my friend was (is) in strike too... Obviously we've very different culture... I don't understand why they've to go on strikes, just like they don't understand how we can be so submissive to every implementation by the government. Well.....

Thank God It's Friday:-)

I simply love Friday because there're still Saturday and Sunday to enjoy;-)

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Wedding . Reunion .

Last Sat was cousin SM's wedding and it's a good catchup for all the cousins. On cousin Kelvin's (SM's bro) wedding exactly 1 year ago, we talked about a reunion in Mar 10 but it didn't happen. Last Sat, we talked about having a get-together for all the cousins again this Dec. Only the cousins.. no parents (our uncles/aunties).. hehe.

Really look forward to the gathering... :)

70% of the cousins here :)

Le Retour

When hubby couldn't get me an iPhone on Hari Raya, he treated me to a K lunch. It's not the usual one that we used to go though.

K Suites in Orchard Parade Hotel.
The touch screen control panel was on our right, in white, which can be pushed into the couch. We enjoyed the luxury of space & very nice ambience.

There's also free internet (next to the screens)

I'd say the 3-course set lunch was impressive... It came with a drink too (coffee or tea as stated in the menu) but I made the wrong choice - I ordered a hot honey instead & the serving was miserable (less than a normal mug). Hubby chose tea & the waiter presented to hubby a whole long list of tea. Hubby picked earl grey & it came in a big pot. And it's Twinings tea.

The 1st course - Cream of Mushroom. It's tasty.

2nd course - Teriyaki Chicken. Delicious!

3rd course - Dark Chocolate Cake. Very nice... & it came in a generous portion.

We could even record our own singing & send to our phone via bluetooth (the middle blue icon at the bottom). We're impressed!

It's a very nice experience as we didn't expect such quality for their food. The only downside is the very limited choice - either teriyaki chicken or seafood (small portion). Even without the KTV entertainment, we'll go back again as I like the teriyaki chicken & it's only $23.80/person :)

My New 'Love' ...

... Hot Lemon Tea (instead of iced one) from Hans to go with my weekly American breakfast ;)

Gadgety Weekend

Hubby had a super long weekend during the Hari Raya holiday as he took leave on Thurs & Sat. But I had a super super long weekend as my leave started a day earlier, on Wed. It's a last minute decision as my back problem had a relapse & got worse espeially when seated. It's so sweet of hubby to immediately apply leave to spend time with me :)

Had a really relaxing Wed, with TV & laptop (strangely only my recliner could ease me of the back problem... thank God we bought the right stuff). My breakfast & lunch were all taken care of as we stocked up the previous night.

On Thursday, we went to AMK Hub as hubby got $0 iPhone 4. But it didn't come easy as we waited a total of 6hours!! The 1st 1.5 hour was spent in the queue (it's really unbelievable how huge a crowd that the phone with a lil Apple could command) & then walking around for the next 4.5 hours to wait for our turn. It's quite an impromptu decision, just a few days before, so no order was placed & that meant much longer wait.

During those hours, we also took the train to J8 for a walk since we've explored almost every corner in AMK Hub. Thought would only be browsing around but we brought back with us a Canon Ixus 130. Best Denki was having clearance sale & we're happy to see that the camera we'd been eyeing on was $40 cheaper than the market price.
I've been wishing to get a Canon camera since more than a year ago, after seeing how nice the pictures taken despite my friend's shaky hands, when our Panasonic camera of 2.5 years started to produce bad pictures. We guessed that it's due to the sub-zero weather in Korea and later had our suspicion confirmed. Just glad that we got a cheaper camera then.

Our Canon camera

After returning to AMK Hub, we waited for another half hour. The wait was REALLY overwhelming...

All this while I disliked touch screen phones ever since the bad experience with Sony Ericsson P800 many years ago. But after playing with hubby's for a couple of hours that evening, I contemplated getting 1 too. Anyway, like the ah beng (who sells numerous mobile phones but, like me, dislikes & refuses to use a touch screen phone) whom we went to for hubby's screen protector said, technology advances in such a pace that soon most phones will be touch screen, like it or not.

We regretted not adding mine on when we queued that morning. Hubby felt bad so he, who usually enjoys lots of sleep on a no-work day (it's public holiday!), got up early the next morning to get ready to join the queue again. But there's no Q.... as no iPhone for sale on the 2nd day (when Singtel staff said on the previous day that there would be continuous supply...). But I didn't feel too disappointed.. maybe because I was still not very into iPhone. Hubby was more bothered than me.. hehe.

Without very strong intention to get an iPhone, we went to Causeway Point's Singtel shop in the evening to do some 'window shopping'. We had plans to upgrade my plan to a data plan but I was fickle about getting an iPhone.. especially when we'd have to go a great extent for an item I didn't fully desire. When the staff introduced Samsung Galaxy S, I fell in love with it almost immediately.. It's lighter than hubby's but a lil bigger so as to give a big screen, the biggest so far. And the colors are impressive on a Super AMOLED display panel:)

Hubby got his iPhone 4 & I, my Galaxy S ;D

So that weekend, we're both busy exploring our new gadgets. Hee.

K Suites @ Orchard Parade Hotel

Last Wed, hubby's company held its dinner get-together @ K Suites & we're impressed with the room & entertainment offered.

We'd Thai buffet that evening. Behind us was the big dining table that could seat about 16 pax.

The buffet spread was behind the screen..

That's the WII corner (where 2 men were standing)

Pool table behind the couch

There's also a booth for wireless internet next to the pool table.

We played quite a few games of pool since it's 'free'!

Many of them played dices

We're so engrossed in Cranberries' Zombie :P

We'd a fun night :)