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 :)

Tis the season...

... to have gatherings ....

One for the family (my inlaws & members) a week ago, then one with the sisters last Thurs and last Sat, with all the good friends from my previous church at our place & now with their families too. There should be another one coming up with the secondary school classmates and one with the cousins from daddy's side. But I'm trying to push the next two to as late as possible (both supposed to be beginning of Dec)... kind of busy & it's tiring to have all within a month. Yet I was the one who called for all these gatherings.. mm...

Last Thurs, met the sisters for dinner at Picotin. The chicken & pizza were pretty good but I didn't really fancy the rest that we ordered (we shared 3 mains & 3 desserts). Ambience was quite good though. So all in all, we'd a great get-together.

Then It's a busy Sat. We're out till 3pm-ish and started preparing at 4. We'd lotus root soup, honeyed chicken wings, nuggets, fried bee hoon & beancurd almond. Our friends began to arrive from 6.30pm and we're glad that everyone came, even those who initially said they wouldn't be joining. Food wise, there were too much... before that I still worried we didn't have enough, that's why I prepared 4 dishes (& a dessert). We ended up having fried chicken wings, pan fried honeyed chicken wings & steam chicken (白斩鸡) among the other food. That's the consequence of not revealing what we're bringing.

Total 23 of us. It's nice mingling around and the kids had fun at the pool too. Very importantly, thanks hubby for entertaining the guests like his own friends. It's something I should never take for granted. :)

The Yearly Affair

Hubby's away "protecting the country" again. Every year I'd have 2 weeks to endure life without my honey. It's a fact that I'm too pampered by him so it's a good time for me to learn to be independent again... hmm.

It's also this time every year that I get together with my friends as much as possible. I could have planned one friend every evening but it's really tiring.

I insist no outing on Mondays. I'll be killing myself if I were to arrange one on the first work day of the week.

Last Tue, went out with Celena. Had a good catch up over a simple dinner at Raffles Xchange's The Soup Spoon. Thurs, with Wendy. We went Prego for dinner.. then City Space on level 70 (Equinox) for a beer. It's a great night but I was home only about 11am. Exhausted!

This Tue, with TM.... he brought me to this German restaurant [Magma] @Bukit Pasoh. Good food. Last night... went out with a colleague. She's from Tax dept on 20th floor, me on 16th floor... yet we become good friends & that's after I tendered my resignation. She's sad that I've to leave just when our friendship starts to blossom. I promise I'll try to meet her over lunch or something as I'll still be in the very same area for my new job.

We worked late till 8pm-ish, then went to MG's for some bites & drinks. Only left around 1.30am!!! Reached home near 2am & we're both completely beat! Right after a quick shower, I knocked out in bed with a swollen upper lip :(( I suspect it's something to do with MG's self-created Watermelon Martini (but it's real nice!).
So I had only a 3.5-hour sleep today. Surprisingly I was fine the whole day till evening... when grogginess started to kick in.

With Flo.... And we had so much fun & laughter:)

And now, I'm so so glad to have my hubby back from the government who "loaned" him for 2 weeks! :D :D

Ce n'est qu'un Au Revoir!

This was what my boss wrote in the farewell card.

Yes finally... I've closed this chapter of a decade yesterday. Was in a pretty emotional state the whole night.. I didn't cry during the farewell part though, which my colleague/good friend & hubby expected I would.

From being offered the job to leaving, I was given only 11 days to wrap things up & accept the fact that I'm really leaving this time round. My colleagues were surprised by the short notice as well.

Last Wed, some colleagues gave me a farewell dinner treat @ Plaza Market Café. It's a great one & they enjoyed it too.. especially the seafood. :)

An all-girls pic.

Last Fri ie. my last day at work, a close colleague & a few others wanted to have another lunch with me before my departure. Turned out that their manager, who's always treated me well, bought us lunch.

I received a few gifts too. A beautiful French crystal vase, a Chomel clutch bag & a nice cup with an extremely adorable cat (meant for my new workplace). Another colleague knows I like her delicious 糯米饭 & prepared that as my breakfast for 2 mornings (Thurs & Fri).. that's so sweet of her.
I was very touched by their nice gestures, to think that I've all along been in a stand-alone department & didn't really work with any of them.

And for 2 evenings, hubby came up to help me with my personal stuff that I supposed to bring home. I felt like I was moving house...

A farewell card for me..

The last day in my cozy lil office

About half an hour before I left, there's a bit of a commotion in the office...
My intention was to go around to take some pics with my dear colleagues before I ended my last day of work. My boss (who just turned 'ex') happened to walk into my room & a colleague mentioned that to him. So he asked me whether I wanted a group pic & I thought it's a good idea. Then there he went, gathering everyone at the reception area for a picture together. He even "conducted" the whole photography session!

Another one. You know why? Because our dear old lady (next to boss) MIAed during the 1st session & after waiting for a few minutes we went ahead without her. Then when she reappeared, my (ex) boss went around & summoned everyone again for another group pic. I was quite astounded as he, who usually expects everyone of us to be at our workstation all the time, disrupted his staff from their work twice! :P
I felt a lil bad for my colleagues too as everyone's rushing to end a day's/week's work on a Fri evening.

Well at least, it's a happy & heartwarming farewell for me.

Leaving the office with my dearest hubby did help a whole lot. :)

The pre & the post

We started to be in a celebratory mood days before our anniversary. Didn't have anything extravagant. Just dwelt in the joy & love we shared.

Set dinner at Out of The Pan on Wed evening

Dined at Prego with PY on Thurs. As you can see, I'm trying to make good use of our Card. ;)

Visited our friend in hospital who'd just given birth. Then had a quick & simple dinner at one of the stalls in Paragon before heading home. Hubby brought some work back to do so we could enjoy our special weekend & an extended one as we'd applied leave on Mon.

But who knows, right after our celebration I fell sick. Started to feel unwell on Sunday. Then spent half of our Mon in clinics... both western & chinese. Sigh.... A day's ML on Tue as still felt lousy. Much better now though the nose infection hasn't totally gone.

So this week I work only 2 days. Hee.

About TM

Met TM last evening, finally. We had dinner @ NUSS Suntec Guild House.

We ordered a few dishes with plain rice. Did he tell me over the phone just a while ago (when he's on his way to pick me) that he wanted something light? Actually he wanted to finish his bottle @ Bala after dinner. But I had a self-imposed curfew. Hubby's still working when I met TM & he planned to fetch me after his work & dinner. He's already beat after a long day's work & I didn't want to stretch his night. Moreover, nowadays I don't return late on week nights. Good gal right? Guess age plays a big part.

TM's obviously trimmer now. According to him, more than 6kg shed. I asked him for some slimming tips & he replied: "try moving house for 3 times?" So all the house washing & pack/unpacking seemed to be effective huh. But believe the main reason gotta be the difficult 3 months he had (his dad). Especially during the 1st 2 months, frequent road trips between Spore & KL. Being the only son & the distance apart, not difficult to imagine his burden. And now he travels hecticly every other week till at least end of this year, to make up for the past months largely reserved for his mum. Besides juggling between work & trips back home, albeit reducing, he'd talk with his mum minimum twice a day & makes an effort to bring her for holidays once in 2 - 3 months. His mum will also make a trip here every now & then.
Yet I complain it's tough taking care of mum, with such convenient proximity compared to his? Think it's a matter of managing our own expectations?

TM, an intelligent man (RI & RJ graduate), has a caring personality & no airs at all. After dinner, he waited with me at the taxi stand for hubby to come pick me though I kept reassuring him that I could wait by myself. Afterall it wasn't late (10pm). As hubby had to stop some distance away so he wouldn't obstruct traffic, TM insisted on crossing the road with me, saw me to our car & even closed the door for me. He & hubby just managed to exchange "hi" & "bye" through the car window as there're approaching vehicles behind us. He only started to walk away (back to the other side of the road) when we moved off. Isn't he more than nice?

I'm indeed blessed to not only have a very chivalrous man as hubby, but also a good friend who's of such fine breed. ;)

We ...

.. waited 50mins for a bowl of Ba Chor Mee.

Last Sun evening, hubby finally succeeded in bringing me to Bedok 85's Ba Chor Mee. He'd suggested a few times in the past months but always got turned down by me.

We reached there just few mins before 7 & were glad to find an outdoor table effortlessly in a sea of preoccupied tables & chairs. So we're told that the waiting time would be 30-45 mins for the BCM.

Got some BBQ chicken wings as a starter & were done in minutes. Delicious. Then we waited, & waited, & waited...... Another 30 over mins passed. Curbed the temptation to order some thing else to fill our stomach & to pass time lest we might have had too much to appreciate the long-awaited BCM (soup). Finally, our order arrived & I was surprised by the portion served. Only then hubby remembered he'd ordered a $2 bowl (earlier on he still asked me how much could it be & I went "eh hello? you went to order one & I never eat here before..."). Once in a while my honey will give me surprises like this.. but I certainly still adore him so! Hee.

Since the serving was smaller than a normal one, we went ahead to get something else (五香虾饼). When hubby came back & said "wait 20mins", I nearly fainted. We finished the bowl of noodles in 5 mins & played the waiting game again. By then, our butts started to numb, so were our legs. We're in the midst of the clustered tables & chairs.. without much space to push back our chairs & relax. When our food was served at least 15mins later, there wasn't much of an appetite left.

After our "3-course" hawker meal (literally course by course, each with a minimum 20-min interval), we're caught in a traffic congestion for another 15 or 20 mins. Our only consolation was that we didn't need to work the following day.

Next time shall be smarter. Options are: not go on a weekend, or reach there @6, or/& place all orders at one go.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

.. had a self-created long weekend. Mere coincidence that it's right after Hari Raya. :)

To beat the blues of at least 1 monday, we've long planned to take leave on the 1st work day of the week.

Had a swim in the late morning, then a 2-hour buffet lunch at Holiday Inn Park View. Food wasn't fantastic but we enjoyed the luxury of couple time which we seldom had on a weekday. Apparently, many seemed to be off work too.

Next stop was Holland Village. Too full for even a drink. So just fed our eyes with the adorable pets in various pet shops.

Then we spent the entire evening watching some rented VCDs & dinner was takeaway dim sum from Northpoint.

By the way, hubby brought me back to Pet's Station at Frankel on the previous day. There's this particular kitty that reminded us of our Tubby-boy. For a while, I was overwhelmed with memories of Tubby who's extremely lovable & good-natured.. it's a pity he's an ailing boy.

Hubby has been suggesting to get me a bunny instead & lop-eared rabbits are so cute. But nope. I can't cope with the growing emotional attachment & responsibilities. Plus the financial & time commitment especially if it is, like Tubby, prone to ill health. At least not now. Also, hubby & I love to move around freely & my mum doesn't help out at all as she's horrified of pets of whichever kind. I wonder why... not that we hadn't kept any before. Thus occasional visits to those in the pet shops should be the best solution for now.

Summing up

中秋 @ Cosy Bay.

We wanted somewhere outdoor & because Cosy Bay serves the most delicious chicken wings in town, that was where we had our dinner. Ordered all finger food & a jug. And it's only Tuesday....

See the moon at the top left hand corner??

Had lunch with June on Tue (coincidentally hubby came to lunch with me so she joined in) & we went shopping during lunch on Wed. Interesting updates from her. Wed evening we met again in AMK for dinner with Constance. Funny... sometimes we don't get to communicate for weeks & sometimes it's consecutive.

Went for Thai buffet at Swissotel Merchant Court on Thurs evening. It's quite average & doesn't really worth the price charged.

In the lift after dinner.
Taking Merchant Court lifts always bring back fond memories 44444 On the day of Vince's return from a 3-week military exercise in Rockhampton, I checked in to Merchant Court. Brought all the necessities including buying him a Topman tee as a 2nd surprise (but it's because I couldn't find his tee at my place!). In the evening I fetched him at the airport. We then headed home to put his duffel bag before going out again as I told him I'd arranged a drinking session with some friends at Merchant Court (he only told me later that he's a lil disappointed we're not having some couple time after 3 long weeks). He didn't suspect a thing as I was empty-handed. Only in the lift of Merchant Court that he sensed something amiss as there's no lounge on the 5th level. He looked at me doubtfully & it's obvious that I was trying to hide the grin on my face. He somehow figured it out but had to suppress his excitement as we're in a crowded lift :)

This orange top is one of those bought in Bangkok @ S$10 in a sale! In fact all items I bought were on offer. I personally don't believe in spending on things in Bangkok that are equivalent to or more than what I can find in Singapore.

Weeks 36 & 37

Hubby attended his company's event on 7th Sept. They're given half a day off... so they could have ample time to prepare..... how nice. Though I started to get busy since the beginning of September, managed to take half a day to be with hubby.. that's a last minute decision as I saw my work was moving ok.

Seldom see my honey in suit. He looked good!

As for me, I took the chance to catch up with friends. Was to have dinner with my primary school classmates, PY & Esther, but Esther's dad passed away a few days before our meeting. So it's just going to MG's for some drinks before meeting TM later in the night for another round. But TM dropped a rain check at the last minute. I gotta be understanding as his dad just passed away in end July (yes sadly... the passing of another dad) & his mum's needs are of course the top priority. Since I was all prepared, I went ahead to meet MG & we had quite a bit of catching up. As hubby finished much earlier than expected, I only managed to have a short one.

Settled quite a few things during the weekend, including getting a new phone. My line was due for a 2-year upgrade & we happened to come across a good deal which was on for only a few days - $184 for a Sony Ericsson K810i. I was considering this phone 2 months ago (which eventually got the S500i instead) because of its 3.2mp camera but the thought of having to pay $500+ stopped us from buying. Been using it for more than 2 weeks & I'm a happy girl! So far it's the best among the string of phones I've had for the past 1 - 2 years... no lagging, good reception, clearer pix, .... Hope this will stay with me for a long time.

I like it in Golden Ivory

After a busy day in office on Mon, we cozied up & had an intimate dinner @ Ma Maison (their HQ is in Japan) in Parco that serves Japanese-western food before I left for my Bangkok trip. This used to be one of my fav meet-up places for a few years, be it personal or business lunch, as I like the English cottage interior & ambience. This is a great place for dates especially for lunch as there aren't many restaurants that are romantic enough in the day yet won't burn a hole in the pocket (they serve set lunches @ around $13).
By chance we enjoyed a 20% discount on total bill as every Monday is ladies' night (even Vince as a male got the 20%... not bad right? hee..).

Taken from the internet

New York New York

New York New York @ AMK Hub last Thurs

An unplanned small celebration for hubby's promotion :)

The gigantic root beer float. If only they could give 2 scoop of ice cream instead of one.

All Weeknights Occupied

Last Mon, had a dinner gathering with cousins SM & HW @ 1 of the restaurants in Raffles City basement. Enjoyed the food & the catch-up.. a pity that it's too short. Still a long way to go being Mon night, we didn't want to end it late. Poor hubby.. took the opportunity to stay back & work but still gotta wait for me for more than an hour. He must have been real tired yet he's ever so patient... after these years.

Tue, dinner & fetch mum from cell group.

Wed, went to Ah gong's place in Bishan for dinner as my mum-in-law was there.

Thurs, hubby & I had a very nice BBQ dinner @ Gyu-Kaku, especially like the high-cal pork belly. Hmm.. sinful sinful..
My dining experience will never be complete without my honey ;) This has inspired us to do a couple-BBQ at our place 1 of these days.

Fri, drinks with PY & her sweetheart, Brian @ Ink Bar. A good 3-hour drinking & chatting. We'd agreed to do a double-date of BBQ together soon (instead of just the 2 of us)... + some time by the pool too. Looking forward to it!

Celebration

Eve

Went out with TM. Supposed to buy him dinner (his 1-month overdue bd dinner) & he, to pay for drinks. But then I remembered I had a bottle @ MG's.. so I decided to treat him to some wine & last min asked him to buy me a simple dinner instead. And TM, as nice as he is always, agreed. Aanyway he didn't have a choice, did he? Hee...

He brought me to Gyu-Kaku @ UE Square for a Japanese BBQ session. While the meats weren't extraordinarily tasty, it's a refreshing one as we DIY bbq on charcoal over beer (for him) & plum wine soda (for me). I thought it's supposed to be a simple dinner?

C joined us later. To my horror, it turned out to be an awkward situation. One on my left, one on my right.. & both not talking to each other. I'd to take turns to chat with them. Thought they would click pretty well as C's in corp comms & TM's in marketing & corp comms too. And the worst part was we'd already finished our dinner but C was waiting for hers to be served.

After what seemed like a year, we made our move to MG's. And hubby joined us there. Although we chatted & joked as normal, I could feel there's some uneasiness. An hr+ later, TM called it a night. That's the very 1st time TM asked to leave throughout our past meet-ups. So I somehow know how much he liked this arrangement.

Have I made a boo boo?

~~~~~~~~~~~

My BD !

Yep I was working.. in fact was utterly stressed out that day. I thought I would receive flowers from hubby like any other years but nope. Instead he surprised me with my fav durian cake. He said it's too anticipatable every year so he decides to stop for a while since last year (remember the cute & BIG 'hot' air balloon on my last birthday?).

And before I left office, James delivered a box of Krispy Kreme donuts to me which was hand carried all the way from Jakarta (by his friend)! James was a lil taken aback as he didn't expect me to get all excited. So I explained to him that his friend (hubby) would be very delighted to know he's gonna have Krispy Kreme for supper! Haha. Vince has been talking about it for some time & was quite sad apparently that we missed it during our Melbourne trip.

As hubby was very busy @ work too, by the time he reached my office it's already 7pm.. which was just nice as I'd just finished my battle too.

We went back to One Rochester for dinner & some drinks. After a stressful day of work, being able to sink into a comfy couch in a plush environment, with some soft ballads in the background & the refreshing aroma of our fav lemon grass.. not to mention the nibbles that we love.. ooh.. it's haven.

We're so full that there wasn't much allowance in our tummy for the cake. So we planned to bring home & have a poolside cake-cutting session. But in the end, we still decided to forego our 二人世界 & had mum with us in blowing the BD candles & enjoying the cake.

Me & my Krispy Kreme!

His BD dinner

I'd planned it for the whole day.. all the necessary items were already sourced during lunch time with the intention of getting them right after work. Had also sneaked 2 disposable wine 'glasses' into my handbag before we left home last morning (which wasn't ez as hubby's been taking charge of my bag). And yep, a romantic picnic was in the plot for my honey dearest. As a bottle of wine would be too obvious to sneak out, I planned to get 1 from Cold Storage. Including a takeaway dinner from Sketches.. & a lil birthday cake to end the night. 2 venues were considered - Suntec's Sky Garden (contribution from our dear Celena) & the rooftop Sky Park @ VivoCity (which I preferred)... depending on what time hubby was to arrive as we're fetching mum from her cell group in Bukit Timah @ 845pm. So logistics was the main concern.. yet never did BAD WEATHER appear in my mind. Hai..

Then... starting from 4pm, the sky got darker & darker.. & I became more & more worried. 6.05pm, it started pouring REALLY heavily.. just when I was about to run to Parco to get all needed. Umbrellas weren't of much use due to the rain & wind.. so you know the intensity of the downpour.

Only then I was so glad that I didn't abort my Plan A, that is, dinner buffet @ Fullerton Hotel. Oh.. actually the outdoor dinner was the Plan B. It's up only after we bought our birthday gifts & I thought we could save a bit on the dinner. But apparently my Plan B was washed away by the rain. When the restaurant called me last morning, I was so tempted to cancel the reservation which I made last week but I didn't eventually. So sometimes being kiasu really got advantage 1. Haha!

The view from the restaurant was good but food was alright only... maybe because we aren't into seafood.

It's a short but great night of celebration. I hope you like it, honey :)

@ Town Restaurant

Before leaving

On the way back to 1 Fullerton

Eve

2 sessions of reunion meals with our respective families for all of us (bro & sis too). It's a rush but fun affair.

At inlaw's... June & family came back for the reunion dinner too. So that made a bigger crowd :) Had a nice time chatting & joking except I didn't really enjoy the dinner - steamboat. Maybe it's the culture of different dialect groups, on our side there're lotsa delicious cooked food (or at least this sumptuous combi) that we would usually have for reunion dinner. But for them, it's steamboat. Same for sis at her inlaws'. I no like seafood nor too much meat, so you can imagine.

But it's not a big problem.. afterall, it's only once a year. Hee.

Good wine, good company

Had dinner with a new friend, C, last evening then went to MG's pub. Despite knowing her for only a month, we could click so well that we're like besties now. 3 of us shared a bottle.. but C only had a lil as she drove. Great recommendation from MG. Had 2 merry hours of chatting & chilling out. Still have a bottle there.. will enjoy it with hubby one of these days.

MG said I look better now..... or is it fatter?!

The Week before Christmas

Before I'm into the main topic, just wondering who, in Singapore, isn't affected by the breakdown of internet connection for the past 2 days?

Below was meant to be posted on 27th....

Busy week that started last Tue night… busy shopping for presents.

Wed, rushed to get the remaining presents as we knew we wouldn't have much time to do so. Within 4 hrs, we'd been to Orchard (a short visit to Justina, shopped @ NAC/Wisma & dined in @ FEP), then back to Parco to shop for another 1 hr+. Reached home near 11pm. Still had a couple of things to do before I called it a day. Sewed the crystals on my dress & did my nails (on the same day only managed to do pedi @ Parco during lunch as 3 of my toenails cracked near the base! So had to let the experts handle my problematic toenails). Slept at 2am.

Thurs evening, attended Gerald's wedding & reached home around 11.30pm. How we wished it's on a Fri night instead so we could have more rest. After shower, wrapped some presents for the next day - hubby's gift exchange during the Christmas party & for my colleague.

@ Gerald's wedding dinner

Fri evening, went to Millenia Walk to get some chocolates for the kids before going back to the same hotel (as Gerald's) for our pre-Christmas dinner. As usual, had a great time.

We thought Sat would be a more relaxing day without agenda. Last minute sis suggested lunching together. Only had about an hour after fetching mum from market & before going to Thomson Plaza of which I made use to wrap some presents.. so the whole morning was gone like this. Had a sumptuous dim sum lunch & reached home just in time for our shower set delivery. We’d ordered 1 that comes with a rain shower (yeah!).. there’s promotion in price + free installation.

After taking 2 hours+ to wrap more presents & the kids’ Christmas goodie bags, rushed to Sembawang Shopping Centre & got almost all the ingredients for the next 2 days’ potluck. Then went back to pick mum up for dinner with bro & family @ Vista Point. During lunch with sis & family, we received a call from bro inviting us for dinner (for Zoe’s birthday & 冬至 which’s the previous day). Reached home around 9pm & there went our Sat.

Early morning of Christmas Eve, got the remaining stuff from the market & back home to settle some of the preps… then went to fetch mum from church. Visited daddy before rushing home again. I made my signature fried rice (hubby’s fav) & some yasai tempura for the evening’s Christmas party at Constance’s. It’s fun & we enjoyed a generous spread as every1 tried to bring the tastiest food there. Yummy!

After we'd filled up our stomach, June & I took quite a few pix with different poses to kill time.

Constance's beautiful home.

After the gathering, we sent my inlaws home & again, went to fetch mum from church as she attended the evening’s Christmas gathering. After sending her home, we went to get some cocktails & drinks… also cooked the popiah fillings (decided to prepare this as we bought lotsa Vietnamese rice paper back during our last trip) for tomorrow.

Then it's Christmas Day! After we got up, only had time to settle the rest of food preps (incl. frying the remaining yasai tempura). Spent the day at sis’ place, indulging in lotsa good food. It’s literally food, chats, food, chats & more food! Exchanged presents & before we could unwrap (which’s the tradition), mum urged to go back. She’s totally exhausted. It’s good actually.. it’s already 9pm+ by then & we gotta work the next day.

What a hectic & 100% family-orientated Christmas holidays for us.

A funny crown! Haha!

On the 1st day back to work, we supposed to return home almost immediately after work for an early rest but on both Tue & Wed, we couldn’t resist the post-Christmas sale we saw wherever we went. Also took the chance to buy some nice winter wear. Hehe..

Breeze

Had dinner with James (hubby's frd) last evening @ The Scarlet Hotel's Breeze.

Hubby & I had a tour of the hotel about a month ago & liked this rooftop Mediterranean grill. Since we're meeting James, we decided to dine in there together.

When we arrived slightly past 7pm, the place was still empty & because it's very cloudy with occasional thunder, we chose a table in the pavilion instead of the lush outdoor.

Food was good.

Bar in the pavilion

Difficult to take the night scene with my mobile phone. The circled is supposed to be a marquee.

The marquees. This & the next pix not taken by us.

By the time we left, around 9.30pm, it's still empty in the pavilion because every1's seated outdoor. So we're the only ones being conned by the thundery red sky.

Hubby suggested that we go back for a drink on 1 of these fridays.

Not a bad weekend

Hubby & I had arranged to meet PY & her beau for drinks last Fri.

Then Fri morning, a friend from PSA called & invited me for dinner with her friend from a certain consul who needed to check some info from me. Tried to postpone it as it's a lil too rushing & didn't wish to spoil our Fri night with a work dinner. But finally acceded to her persistent "pleading", stating clearly that we'd have to run before 8pm. Supposed to meet them @ 6.45pm @ Keppel Club but we're being held up by the bad congestion on the road & only arrived past 7. Had a short but good dinner at The Boardwalk Café. Nice view - Sentosa's just across the sea & there's this mangrove-lookalike view at the entrance of the café. Enjoyed the tranquilizing ambience with sounds of wave gently hitting the shore. And the gentleman turned out to be a funny young guy who's about our age. Think we made quite a scene with our thundering laughter almost throughout the dinner. Also not forgetting to thank my sociable hubby who joined in the fun.

When we left Keppel Club, we're half an hour behind time, again. Made a few rounds before we finally found a lot. Reached Ink Club Bar a few mins before 9pm. 1st time meeting PY’s boyfriend & we’re 1-hr late!
We'd a beer each & lotsa catching up with PY. So happy for her! Didn't stay late... all of us (her bf's sis, their cousin & wife) left slightly before 11pm. Another meet-up should be on the way.. most likely will do dinner.
Hubby then brought me to the famous Boon Tong Kee chicken rice @ River Valley as his wifey was feeling hungry.

Btw... we'll definitely be back to Keppel Club for more.

Woke up late on Sat since I’d no driving lesson. Had a not so dissatisfying lunch @ a HK cafe @ Kovan.. whereas hubby loved it... think I'd ordered the wrong thing. Visited daddy (instead on Sun usually), then back home... & out again @ 5pm+. Went all the way to Orchard to get my undereye concealor, only to realise on Tues that I've got a totally wrong product!! It all started last Fri... read about some good comments about YSL's Touche Eclat, so went to Seiyu during lunch to get it. But who knows for watever reason I went straight to Estee Lauder's counter instead. And coincidentally I found a similar golden pen-like product - Ideal Light Brush-on Illuminator. Wanted to buy it but out of stock. So I took a train to Robinson's @ Cityhall & again, no stock. The irony was after I returned to office, I still went online again to check it out (YSL's) but didn't realised I was all along browsing a different 1! And how determined I was in getting it... thought it must be a real hot-seller to be out of stock @ 2 big department stores. Happily bought 1 on Sat @ Centrepoint. The result was only so-so. Then on Tues at home, out of the blue I somehow recalled............... was it YSL that I previously saw online?! Quickly logged on to check. Indeed.

Oh my.... I can't believe I'm that blur!!! Somemore hubby had to drive all the way to town & paid for the expensive but WRONG product. I’d just mustered enough courage to tell him just now & he’s so cool about it…& told me I could still get YSL’s if I wish to. Yeah!! I’ll see how lor…
But at least Sat’s trip wasn’t wasted as we did find some good buys that evening.

Silly me...

Sunday morning, as usual sent mum to church. Then went to Vince's eldest aunt's... remember the cousin who's getting married on our 1st anniversary? Yep, last Sun he brought dowry to the bride-2b's family, distributed cakes & invites. And yep, we'd to show face... at least for a while. It turned out to be alright... with free food including my fav dessert. Also chatted with hubby's cousin. She's in advertising & happened to know Mel too. It's a small world huh. Anyway, Mel's promoted to COO so not surprising if she were to know her in the advert circle.

Stayed there for more than an hr before fetching mum & then rushed home. Had booked a 3-hr ktv session with brother & family downstairs. Thereafter they had a swim.. hubby & I were simply too lazy... tsktsk......

Dinner time we went to sis' restaurants. Her French restaurant was closed… the other bistro just a few steps away (in Serene Centre) was opened though. The original plan was to set a table there for 9 of us but we didn’t wanna affect her business as there’re quite a few walk-ins. So we’d a “private 3-course dinner” @ her restaurant & every1 enjoyed it. Well I’m not praising her just because she’s my sis… but she can really cook! Hmm....