Touristy Night

We started our (Hari Raya & National Day) long weekend with a dinner/drinks session with an ex-colleague.  He's from the Port and we used to work together during those commercial missions and exhibitions in the region.

It's a reunion after 6 years+ and the first time we met his Chilean girlfriend.

Dinner @ Lau Pat Sat.

I didn't expect the outdoor seats to be full (90% were tourists).

Beer @ One Fullerton's Overeasy

The our guide's name is Vincent :)

I'm always mesmerised by 'The Fullerton Heritage' view

Fullerton Bay Hotel

Though there's language barrier with Erica, it's a great meet-up.  She's such a warm person :) 

蛇年快乐 ！！

This is a long overdue post !

A couple of 'First' for this CNY:
-  First time we had our Reunion Lunch at a restaurant instead of at home.
-  First time we didn't visit any relative on both sides (only visited our siblings).

 

 

A great reunion 9-course lunch on CNY Eve @ the Prosperous Kitchen at Sembawang Shopping Centre.  Nice!  Quality not compromised at all. 

Dinner was the usual steamboat @ AMK :)

God was so great to have healed me just in time to enjoy all the good food!  Imagine I was still feeling sickly on the eve of Eve in office.  Thank God for answering our prayers!

 

年初一

We went to daddy's, bro's, AMK & watched a movie with the whole family at night.

 

年初二开年饭

Went to Gin's new home & then Gina's before she moves out later this year.  She & her family will be moving close to us soon as they've bought a penthouse next to Sembawang Shopping Centre.

After the gathering, we went for another movie.

 

Cheers to our 24 years of friendship!! :D

 

年初三

Visited PY & Brian & their very adorable 15 month daughter.

 

We started work on the 4th day...

 

The following Sat, we went to Ivan&Con's for lunch.

June & Ben came over to ours in the evening to play Monopoly.

 

Homemade 香港耶汁年糕 given by a Hong Kong colleague that's made by his grandma.

Very nice & fragrant when fried with egg!  It still remained very soft even when consumed the next day.

A Good 1 Month

The past month was quite an unusual one as I got to catch up with some individuals that I never got to meet for years.

Mid of July, hubby & I met up with Gina (my ex-JC mate) & her husband, Albert.  It's on a sad occasion though... at the wake of Gina's mum.  We've not met for at least 3 years... but there's some happy updates - we should be seeing more of Gina & family next year onwards as they'll be moving (from very West) to Sembawang.. to a Penthouse to be exact!

The following Thursday, I met Karyn for dinner @ Mandarin Gallery's Wild Honey as hubby attended a dinner event for work.  We hadn't met for.. 9 years!!!  Just about 2 years ago we managed to reconnect through FB.  This dear friend has been going through a lot, for the second time, so much to catch up on.. so we adjourned to Brotzeit at 313 for dessert & drinks after dinner.

The following Tue, had lunch with Jo.  She's our ex-neighbour whom we lost touch for about 4 years till we bumped into her couple of months ago.  Recently I bumped into her again near my office & we arranged to catch lunch.  She's like what we've guessed.. but it's her ex-hubby, the uglier of the 2, who'd affairs & we're surprised.  It's a good 1.5-hour lunch... as we'd never chatted anything personal when we're still neighbours.

The first Fri in Aug, I'd a gals' night out with colleagues while hubby had drinks with his colleagues.  After a simple dinner at Boat Quay, we'd drinks at a new pub at Circular Road - Cellarbration.  At the end of my session, hubby came & fetch me to rejoin his colleagues.  When we reached home past 1am, I was already a lil intoxicated after 2 sessions of drinks.

We'd had a tower! 

I was excited when I saw Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc while walking in so I "influenced" some of the gals to get it.  And it's cheap @ $50!

Enjoyed the draft beer from the iconic Eiffel Tower :)  Hubby would have been happier to have it as he loves 1664 Blanc.  Hope hubby & I would have the chance to drink from the Eiffel Tower soon, hee.

The following Mon, we'd a big group farewell lunch... first time so many of us from different departments could gather for lunch.

Dim sum lunch @ Yan Palace.

Besides meet-ups with friends/colleagues, we spent more time with our families too :)

Some snippets...

Our last singing session & steamboat dinner thereafter

Exchange Programs

Amelie told us about her plan of visiting Singapore next year with her daughter (Cilaé) & it got me all so excited as finally after almost 15 years, we're gonna meet again!!! Then she brought up her ideas - 1) an exchange program for her daughter with a Singaporean family 2) home exchange for holidays. 

Project No.1 - Exchange Program for the Kids

The first I had in mind was sis. And as expected, sis was keen.  Both of them are of similar age too.. 12 & 14... But the girls' school holidays are in totally different timing, so I suggested that Cilaé comes over during her holidays & perhaps spend about 10 days with sis & Rachel (my niece). Then when Rachel has hers, she'll go over to Amelie's. Both Amelie & sis thought it's a pretty good idea but would have to discuss in details about how they spend time together while one of them is attending school. Perhaps enrol the other girl who's not schooling in a short term English / French class?  Amelie has even come up with the preliminary program - a few days at the countryside and a few on the mountain besides spending a few days in Paris.  We think it's really educational yet fun to learn about another country's language/culture & to make new friends. 

Project No.2 - Home Exchange

Hubby & I find Amelie's idea of home exchange interesting but as it's not common here, it might be difficult to make it happen.  If Amelie & Cilaé were to visit, we would definitely have them stay with us for a few days.  Then we thought if she could bring forward her trip to this year end to coincide with our anniversary trip, we could consider exchanging home with her??  But we both think the chance isn't high.

Whatever it is, I'm so happy that I'll be seeing her again... even though if it's next year.  Can't wait!

Félicitations !

René is elected as the Deputy Mayor of Paris!  Amélie said she's proud of her brother.. & that her dad would have felt likewise too.  Yes... I'm sure... my late boss would have been very happy & proud of his son ........

Happy weekend & Mum's Day! :)

On Sat, hubby's buddy, Thomas, celebrated birthday for his 2 year-old son, Javier. So we spent a couple of hours at his AMK home.

Dinner with inlaws & family & relatives last night @ Geylang Prawn-Fishing Restaurant (Guillemard Village, formerly Singapore Badminton Hall)


Pretty red super roses!
One of the cousins won 99 roses in a Mother's Day radio contest.. & shared with all the ladies at the dinner. Hee!

Adorable lil Kate :)

Thought we'd have missed the initial part of the polling results but nope... after we reached home & got everything done, we still waited for nearly an hour. Stayed up till 2am & we surrendered. Didn't manage to watch the exciting ones...

Surprised mum with a bouquet yesterday. She loves lily! As she's not into eating recently (still on the way to recovery but thank God, the TCM works well in her), we just went for Hans breakfast after church service & the flowers.

In the evening, bro & family came & we'd dinner together with mum. Bro treated us to salted egg crabs... nice!

The Hubby-less Days

Hubby has started his 3.5-week ICT.... a period which we've been dreading since a year ago, that's because this year's a very tough one.... with 2 x 4D3N outfield training.

I planned to catch up with friends but this year I just couldn't choke up enough energy to do so. Solely due to the very lack of sleep. I haven't been sleeping well since hubby's away... too used to having him around. Sometimes I don't understand myself... been a traveler for 10 years & didn't have too much problems in sleeping in numberous hotels ALONE (without any traveling companion). Which is why too much of anything isn't good for one. But nope, I still will never request lesser attention from hubby, hehe.

But I've no lack of things to do..... thought I could make use of this 3.5 weeks to catch up with stuff (like update blog?) but I was busy every night with miscellaneous chores.

So I only had a get-together & that's with some ex secondary school classmates....

@K Suites on Thurs evening.
Find the one on my right familiar? He is 'Ms Hawaii' haha. Now he is Lieutenant Colonel :O He is re-singled recently & I'm trying to intro some nice gals to him, hee. And hubby says the one on my left, who is 'Ms Chile', looks like a Korean star... a Korean comedian to be exact :P

Counting down to the end of hubby's ICT...... and then... we'll go Hong Kong!! :D

Happy Bunny Year !

1st day of CNY.
The gals were in cheongsam...

.. & red nails ;)

Notice my dear 2nd SIL changed her outfit? She managed to do so since she lived there. Hehe.
I love my cheongsam. It's done by our church friend but altered by someone else (long story). Every1 who saw gave real good comments.. Hee.

In the evening, we didn't go for movie like any other year because FIL's siblings were late in visiting. So hubby's siblings visited us after dinner instead & we'd a happy & money-filled night together.

Gambling?

Nope! It's Monopoly! Haha.

The game ended at about 1am & we all adjourned to an indian muslim coffeeshop nearby for supper. So our 1st CNY night ended past 2am & we only slept at about 3am (yawn~).

Day 2, we'd reunion dinner at home. Mum cooked a very sumptuous lunch!

Generous serving of sharks fin soup prepared by mum... each one of us had, like, 3 bowls? Yummy!

In the afternoon, it's movie with the family @ J8 that's postponed from the previous day.

Day 3, we'd lunch at 5th aunt's in Yishun. Then to another aunt's who lives in Jalan Bukit Merah. There're more & more dropouts - sis, bro, cousins Ann & Candy... while hubby has been such a filial son-in-law & never thought of escaping :) Otherwise mum would have to go to aunts' all by herself.


In late afternoon, we visited my ex-colleague, Lee Lee, in Eunos. She & her husband, both Malaysian, been working in Singapore for the last 15 years & had ever emigrated from Singapore to Melbourne. But they returned to Singapore after some 2 years... just in time to attend our wedding. They've been real true friends... many years ago they came to our rescue when we needed most... She's someone who's very protective of herself, didn't trust people easily & was known to be aloof in the company. That's why it's really God's grace that we can be good friends. And when I approached her for help then, she agreed without hesitation... didn't even ask for reason. We'll always remember their kindness...

The 4 of us had a great catch up of 2 hours:) In the evening, it's movie in AMK Hub.

Day 4, after church, we went to bro's... In the afternoon, to Tampines Mall's Starhub to change our SCV boxes to interactive ones... also shopped a lil @ 1 Tampines.
Just like this, the 4-day CNY holiday ended swiftly...............

Day 5, which was also the first day of work, we're still visiting. After work, we'd Lo Hei @ sis'. And she prepared dinner too. Enjoyed it!

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.....

Back to the Lord

A good friend of 22 years passed away this afternoon. He'd a massive stroke yesterday but was only discovered last night @9pm when his brother returned home.. so no1 knew when & how it actually happened. He's pronounced brain-dead.. his organs were failing & he took his last breath today @2.30pm. It's sudden as he's a year younger than me.

Many of our good old friends visited him yesterday... he'd be happy if he were to know since he loved to have his friends around.

Life can be that short.

Feasting Month

Have been putting on weight & it's not being helpful that we've been feasting quite a bit lately.

Early Jun, hubby's company monthly birthday dinner (buffet) @ Holiday Inn Ochard.

The last Sat in Jun, we met up with PY & Brian & had buffet dinner @ Merchant Court's Ellenborough. There's crab promotion then.

We'd a walk at Clarke Quay before dinner... the place was done up for the Singapore River festival performance which was right in front of Ellenborough that evening. Many aspiring & professional photographers were already walking around with their SLR cameras...

The next day we'd buffet lunch with hubby's family @ Suntec's Kuishin Bo. Nice food.


The following Fri, hubby had business dinner (a la carte buffet) at The Link's Akira Japanese Restaurant.

Then yesterday, hubby's company monthly birthday dinner again... @ MOF Bugis....

We had the VIP Set Menu... a 9-course dinner? Thought all the items would come in small portion.... but not really & by the 6th or 7th.. many of us surrendered:)

Too bloated.... have some fun then.. haha..

Just a month but the damage is substantial.... we should really consider going on diet especially for hubby.... hehe....

Development of "World Map"

Don't know why since Tue, I'm having really bad rashes that look more like a world map, which become worse at night. We're choosing between seeing a doc and going TCM. Think I'll choose the latter if by tomorrow my "world map" doesn't subside.

Especially this weekend, we're gonna have lots of food. Meeting PY & Brian for dinner on Sat & we're having a belated Father's Day lunch this Sun. 2 buffets consecutively.... not good not good....

Miracle

Just visited JH with hubby.

Totally understandable that he's still very traumatised & refused to talk about what'd happened. I felt heart pain just by listening to the injuries he's now suffering... needless to talk about the parents. But he's a very brave boy and his parents are so strong. He's the most seriously wounded among the 3 victims, yet experiences the most improvement in his condition. The good news is... 3 out of his 4 fingers can move now & are healing well after the reattachment. It's really God's miraculous works as the doc said they would usually give up if the detachment was more than 6 hours and his was more than 10hours! Praise the Lord! There'll be 1 or 2 surguries done, when he gets better, for his index finger and perhaps his nose too.

It's still a long road to recovery. All of us will continue to pray for him and his family .....

Please Pray for Him

The 19-year old young man used to be my Sunday School student. Was close to him & his 2 sisters years ago, when we're still attending the same church.

When I got to know about it on Sunday, I thought it wasn't that serious.... Monday, got a lil more details about the seriousness of his injuries but without info on what actually happened. And I couldn't really sleep that night... kept thinking what led to the attack. Yesterday, finally got more details & also read from the news... and I really feel sorry for him and his family. Have been praying for them....

He's a very smart boy... in fact, he and his siblings went through gifted program in school. His ambition is to be a pilot. Especially when you've kinda walked with him in the path of his growing up, who he is today is not to be taken for granted. And I feel for his parents, who are our family friends.

I taught them since they were about 3 years old... till 12 or 13. Their age gap is only 1 year apart. At that time, they're the infamous "三大天王" in church... everyone would shake their heads at the mere mention of their names. How naughty were they? As they're too smart for their age, they'd no interest in all those toys/games the parents bought for them. They created their own games, that was, all the furniture in the house... they'd jump from one furniture to the other. Another time, as they didn't want the maid to bring them out (can’t remember where to... maybe to school?), they locked the gate's padlock & threw the key out of window. They caused their parents a lot of headaches then. So in church, you can roughly imagine how mischevious they could get. It was a lil challenging for me initially as I wasn't someone with a mild temper. But not too long later, we built up very good relationship. When they saw me in church, they (among some other boys & girls who were in my classes) would run to me to tell me things that happened in their school or to complain about their siblings. I taught them & played a lot with them as well... so much so that my ex was very unhappy as he thought it was unglam for a grown-up girl to be running around & chasing the ball with them in church (& in heels). But I couldn’t be bothered as during class, I wanted everyone to be serious but out of class, I wanted to have much fun with them. The parents were so happy that their kids ‘listened’ to at least someone out there. I even brought them out to the Science Centre before & for a few other outings as their parents were in my cell group. Over the years, they changed for the better... became more & more thoughtful and obedient. Then they did so well in school. Then they graduated from my classes but they’re also in my cell group, together with the parents. The boy even started to lead the singing portion sometimes. In my mind, they’re the young ones who have a very bright future, so this came as a really shocking news to me.

He’s in ICU now.... among his multiple injuries, the most serious one gotta be the back, that was so close to hitting the spine. And also his hand & fingers... the docs had done a re-attachment surgery for him but still very much under observation. He’s a brave boy who supposed to have a very promising future. But our will may not be His. We thank Him that JH’s will to live is so strong.. imagine, being left out there, bleeding for 7 hours. Thank God for his life... we’ll just continue to pray ernestly for his journey to recovery and his family as well.

CNY Celebrations & A Roaring Year Ahead

LNY celebration started a week earlier, on 6 Feb, when we had reunion dinner @ Kitchener Road's Pu Tien Restaurant with hubby's family & his paternal relatives. A total of 4 tables . It's a joyous affair... 喜气洋洋!:) After dinner, Con & boyfriend, June & family & the both of us adjourned to Canelé in Shaw Center for drinks/cakes & the post-dinner session only ended past 1am. Woopz... It'd been a long Sat for us both.. Went for my gel-nail appointment in FEP @ 11am while hubby's working. Had no intention to do gel nails tis year till all my nails became brittle due to the frequent contact with water (cleaning our new place) & the last day for doing gel nails was actually that Sat as the following week they'd only do classic mani/pedi.

The Thurs before CNY was a shopping day slotted last minute. Long story: I'd bought a very nice black-laced Cheongsam which I've been trying to find for a few years. The type of design & color I wanted exactly & much to my delight, it's not ex, @ $60 only. Then my dear hubby washed it, together with all other new clothes, with the washing machine. So you know the consequence even before I say it... my lovely fitting Cheongsam had become a fishtail Cheongsam. :_(

Hubby felt so bad that he's willing to get me another dress at all costs. But it's just 3 days before CNY....... So at the end of that day, I got a striking blue dress (the only piece I'd my eyes on after shopping for hours & it's cheap!) + a short skirt from FEP + a pair of jeans from Bershka. A fruitful shopping trip indeed ;)

Nobody seemed to be working on Fri (the day before CNY Eve).. Hee... Square 2 was crowded with last minute shoppers. We're in a festive mood too! In the evening, after hubby finished work, we rushed to sis' place for our Reunion Dinner. Sis prepped some sumptuous & traditional CNY food that filled the whole table....

On CNY Eve, hubby wasn't working so we could wrap up those household chores that we would only do on the eve every year - changing bedsheets & washing toilets. We thought this year would be much lax as all cleaning & packing were already done when we moved in but turned out that the nitty-gritty took almost half of the day to finish. In the evening, back to inlaws' for reunion dinner (steamboat) :) We left for home before 11pm & we only slept @4am! It's all because of ME. Hubby took care of the outstanding chores for the night like ironing our clothes, preparing the ang paos & getting ready CNY goodies while all I did was doing a bit of alteration to the dress I was gonna wear the next day & DIYing my pedicure. I took more than 2 hours just painting my toe nails as (I don't know why!) I kept messing them so had to remove & paint again, remove & paint again, remove & paint again! Grrr! Think I'll have my toe nails done by experts next year as my back & our time certainly worth more...

大年初一. We reached AMK slightly before 1pm... we're getting later & later.. oops. Had lunch & the usual photo taking session, bantering with siblings, mingling with the aunts/uncles, idling around.. hehe.

Taking "refuge" in the coolest & quietest place in the house --> MIL's bedroom:P

Some serious business going on before the family pic ...

We left about 4pm & went to Daddy's. Then got home for a rest & had dinner at home (mum cooked porridge... something light amidst the feasting) before meeting everyone again @8pm for movie (大兵小将) in AMK Hub. This year, lil Rylie joined us & he's such a good boy in the cinema:) After movie, FIL & MIL left & the rest of us went to Upper Thomson's Hans for supper.

大年初二. We enjoyed a slightly extended slumber & woke up just in time for lunch (开年饭). Mum cooked shark's fin.. Yummy!

Soon after lunch, PY & Brian came. Much time was spent on 'touring' our place & both parties shared experience in the making of our home sweet home. Glad they liked ours;) Also finally managed to see their wedding pix after more than half a year!

After they left, took some pix with sis & niece...

Amusing ourselves in our Walk-in Wardrobe:)


A nice one (纱龙照? haha!).. that's because we've a nice walk-in :P:P

Before aunt & family & sis left, I needed to excuse myself to get ready as we're going to meet June & family, Con & Ivan. A busy day indeed, with a chain of activities...

Before leaving home;)

We all met in McDonald's at Marina Sq for dinner then to River Hongbao. Know what? This is the very first time both hubby & I went for such carnival.. Hee... This year we wouldn't have gone as well if June didn't suggest it.

Prints, prints & more prints.. besides having a floral background, ha!

Spent about 1.5hour there & then to Evans Road's Mr Prata (24hours)... nice;) Again, we only headed home past 1am.

大年初三. The annual lunch @ 5th aunt's. She has also shifted about the same time... even later than us, just 1 week before CNY! And nearer.. only 1 train station away, in Yishun. Mum must be happy:)

After the 2nd stop @ another aunt's place, hubby & I returned home as inlaws & family would be visiting us in the evening. Con & Ivan tapao-ed dinner from Bedok hawker centre for all of us... it's a nice & casual dinner:) And our walk-in wardrobe has been a phototaking spot for our visitors;)

Look... someone's more than a Couch Potato! Haha!

The night ended early @ 9pm as the following day was a working day. So soon, the CNY holidays ended.

@ June's on Sunday (年初八). Nice pic they have from Cambodia.

Lo Hei @ sis' on 年初九 evening. We bought the Yu Sheng from The Soup Restaurant(三盅两件).. it's nice.

We supposed to celebrate Yuan Xiao with the sisters & their family as Sara's only back from a business trip to the US on that day morning. But Gin's mum is diagnosed with cancer so she wants to spend time with her mum. Totally understand how she feels.. we shall give her the moral support that she needs now. Talking about this, was texting Gin yesterday & got to to know that her mum's doing BRT treatment for her condition & turns out that she's a patient at hubby's centre. It's such a small world! Let's pray for God's healing according to His Will