Month of March ...

A pre-BD treat for my Honey a day before his birthday.

One of his favs - pizza!!

 

Birthday dinner with the siblings @ Kiseki Japanese Restaurant.

Thanks Ben for the treat & vouchers from the sisters! :)

 

My first celebration started on Mon.

Western set lunch @ A'Square.

 

It's an international birthday week with colleagues ;)  On Wed, I had Japanese lunch treat from Ibrina and Korean lunch with Cindy on Thurs.

 

 On actual day, Jap lunch again with buddy Adeline.

 

Lil surprises from colleagues of other units

(the choco almond Danish was from Tiong Bahru bakery).

As I'm in a locked up area, they tried all means to get the lil treats to me.

I'm touched ..

 

Birthday surprise from hubby dearest :)

& photobombed by Simon!

 

Nice! Muakz!

 

Generous serving of my fav food! :P

Coincidentally Chinese food was booked (weeks ago) which completed the 'international' range of cuisine I had for my birthday :D

 

Lava cakes...... & more lava cakes!

Yummy!

 

Then the finale of both of our birthday celebrations was a short trip to HK at the end of the month :))

9 hours

To our short getaway!  Yay!

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.

Getting Prepped :)

Trial run for CNY.
Like how it looks on our dining table ;)

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Double B

Straight 2 rounds of breakfast at T3 on a Mon morning!  Just sent mum off... She's going on a 8-day holiday with her sisters!

Another relaxing Mon.. already had 1 last week... :)

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NY Gift

The bacteria infection has knocked me out the whole week.

During the initial few days, I had varied symptoms every day... Day 1 - dry sticky throat.  Day 2 - throat congested with phlegm & a lil sore nasal path.  Day 3 - Kept sneezing for whole day with phlegm in throat.  Day 4 - Super runny nose & lots of phlegm in throat.  Day 5 - Nose completed congested.. couldn't breathe!  Day 6 - Runny nose & high fever.  Doses of medicine made me drowsy & disoriented.  Day 7, 8 & 9 - nose congested with thick mucus & lots of phlegm in chest.  For more than a week, hot water was my best friend & I went dessertless.  And I had soupy meals throughout.  It's pay back time.  I've had too much curry, deep fried food,desserts & chips.  There's a period, I wouldn't go to sleep without a bowl of our sea salt potato chips. Tsk tsk tsk.....
What a gift I got myself for the new year :(

I started to feel better today & had 2 treats of PS. Café desserts.  Greedy!  Seeing that I was sick & down for a week long, Cynthia wanted to cheer me up so treated me to the first at PS. Café A.S.H Park after lunch.

Indulged in my 2nd dessert of the day with beloved after dinner at Palais - ginger pudding + carrot cake :P 

 

I better be good as definitely don't wanna be sick during CNY.

And A Merry New Year!

She said she never liked festives when partnerless & I thought she sounded a lil melodramatic.  Told her that Christmas & CNY were mostly family affairs... so we should enjoy the time spent with family instead.

But I realized she's not totally wrong & I wasn't totally right.  It does matter... especially when you once had that someone special to celebrate those festivals with.

So yes, I thank God that I was able to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve & New Year's Day with hubby.  The streets & malls were packed with merrymakers... couples/families... Indeed one would be swamped if she/he is lonely at heart. 
So I felt really blessed ....

We worked half day on NYE... then had a 3-hr session @ K Suites in the afternoon.  No fancy dinner (we had chicken rice as it's the least crowded place! hehe) ... Then desserts at 阿秋甜品 at Liang Seah Street.. it's usually long Q but that night it's almost empty.  And it's a cold rainy night... what a good time to have some hot 糖水.   After that, we returned home for some beer + TV.  Contented. :)

---------------------------------------------------

 

Had a nice family outing to spend the last Sunday of 2012.  We visited Gardens by the Bay.  Hubby & I weren't very interested in visiting but didn't want to be spoilsport.  It turned out better than we expected as it's the company that mattered ;)  And we brought our Galaxy camera for her first assignment! :D

 

A nice family pic!

 

Hubby playfully intruded into Ivan's & Con's pic taking.. haha.

 



Blessed Christmas !

Hubby ordered this Durian ice cream log from Scoopz as he knows his wife loves durian (but I'd prefer it more if there's a lil bit of sponge cake in it, hehe).

 

Quite a bit of Christmas meals done with various groups/individuals.

Those with different colleagues were mainly done at Antoinette... Can't believe that I've been there 3 times with different people in less than a week!

  Have way over eaten & spent too much!

 

Had our office Christmas tea on 19 Dec.  It's so crowded & warm at the main reception area so we're happy that we found a cozy cooling corner & some couches there.

 

The Sat of the Christmas weekend, we went for a very nice lunch at Capella.

Weekend Exclusive 5-course Set Lunch.

 

And the usual family Christmas party. 

Only the few of us this year as sis & niece was on holidays. 

 

This year, we're done with Christmas shopping early.. all thanks to  our HK trip where we settled more than half of the presents.  So gift wrapping was also completed quite well in advance :)

A total of 42 done!  42 blessings given out! :) 

My fav wrapping goes to this! ;)

Done !

 

Completed all the wrapping on Wed! :)

A big part of the preps settled!

Now, only about half of the presents left after giving out those for our colleagues this morning. 

And The Preps Begin ...

 

Bought these from my office's mini wine fair - M&C Champagne & a sweet wine :)

 

I grabbed the Champagne when I saw it's sold @ $55!  The cheapest we could find outside was $69.

 

Can't wait for the Christmas long weekend! :D

Christmas Wish Comes True :)

The item in my wish list - Samsung Galaxy camera, has really become my Christmas present this year! :D

We first chanced upon it while browsing at Challenger on a Sunday morning in end Nov & I thought it's so cool... Android camera..  Can edit/share/email/save instantly...

Told hubby I knew what I wanted for Christmas hehe.

But the stock had not arrived yet (Samsung just brought in display sets).  We're told stock would be here in a week or 2.  Then 4 days later, on Thurs, hubby gave me a pleasant surprise!  When we returned home after work, he placed the box (with camera) on our bed.  I saw that there's a box there but I thought it's the car camera box which we got a few days ago.  Don't ask me why as both were of totally different sizes & also, there's no reason why hubby would place the car cam box there.  But I didn't take a good look of it.. didn't cross my mind at all to check it out.  I was just blurrr... or maybe, I least expected to really get it & so soon!

I think hubby was disappointed that such an obvious act was not being noticed at all.  He told me he expected screams of excitement any time from the moment he secretly placed it there.  But nope.. he heard nothing when I came out of our walk-in (to the bedroom).. nothing again from the bedroom to the bathroom walking past our bed........... still nothing when I was back to the bedroom after shower.  And I was even lying on the bed!!!  I can't believe I was so blind!  Haha.

When hubby came out of the bathroom, he couldn't take it anymore & asked me to take our lappy (that's placed on the bed, next to the box).  From the weird expression on his face, I sensed something & immediately related to the box on the bed & Galaxy camera then came to my mind (how retarded I was!!!).  Of course, I was overjoyed!

Apparently, hubby went to all the possible vendors at Vivo in search of the Camera but was told it's sold out.  And he finally got it at the last place which he least expected it - Starhub.  Hubby grabbed 1 of the remaining 3 units.

Can't wait to unwrap my present on Christmas Day!

Hope I can take some nice shots with my new toy :P

By the way, if you're wondering... SLR has never been a consideration because of the weight & bulkiness.  We still value comfort over awesome pictures taken by one... especially taking into consideration the condition of my back & hubby's elbows.

A Truly God-Blessed 1

It's exactly a month since we returned from our HK trip which was an extraordinarily wonderful one.  We brought back more than we expected... not only fats & bags (of purchases)... ;)

The start of 2nd day in HK, hubby's feet started to ache after a satisfying dim sum breakfast at our fav Chinese restaurant.  The pain became more & more intense... so much so that he'd difficulty in walking.  So a 5-min walk took like 15 mins instead....

I was pretty upset... why of all the time, hubby had to have this problem?  Every min was precious as we only had total about 4 days in HK.  
The following day, his condition didn't get better.  I was frustrated.. It's early in the morning& amp; the pain in his feet was not any lesser than the previous night when we're done with all the shopping & walking.  After another round of tantrum thrown on hubby who already had to endure the increasing pain, I was suddenly hit by a question - "Why are you here?".  It's to celebrate our wedding anniversary, of course.  But I was so fixated in wanting a jolly holiday (that's what everyone wants out of a vacation.. all the more for us since we're celebrating a special day) that I was upset with hubby as he changed the whole holiday mood.  But I have missed out on a very important point - this celebration was also for hubby who was suffering then.  Instead of sharing his pain, I only cared about not being able to catch up with our planned itinerary.  Have I forgotten our marriage vow - "... in sickness & in health ...".  I have taken honey's good health for granted.  So on our 7th Wedding Anniversary (it's so wonderful how God worked as it's exactly on the day itself that all these happened, 3 Nov, as I recalled!), I renewed my vow to my beloved honey :)

And almost instantly, my heart was freed from all the grouchiness... no longer uptight I felt... & we just took as long as hubby needed to walk from destination to destination with me holding him (it's not easy as we all know how populated HK is & there's always throngs of people walking behind you!).  Amazingly, the grumps in me vanished so fast that I could hardly believe it myself !!

Hubby didn't need to go through this "lesson" as he's been taking good care of me since Day 1 whether I'm healthy or sick.  He's no problem in doing so.. in fact he's never shown any sign of impatience no matter how troublesome I am (esp a sick person could be demanding... yet I vent it on him when he's not well... how bad a wife I am!).

But hubby's not spared too, haha.  God also dealt with hubby's issue... that is, to rely on Him & not his own understanding.  It's not easy for him as he knows what he wants since young & always prides himself as a go-getter.  But as Head of the household, being close to God is the key because he's leading his family.  And a God-fearing man will have his steps guarded.. so our trust for each other is deeply rooted with the same Faith we have in Him.    

Now back to the HK trip - in the afternoon of the same day (3 Nov), hubby's legs were mostly healed (apart from the tiredness from walking)!  God is so so wise that He can use the same matter to let both of us learn totally different things!

On the last night in HK, while soaking our tired feet in the bathtub of hot water, we shared what we experienced in this trip... the enjoyment from all the feasting & shopping, the lessons & the appreciation of how God blessed this trip & our marriage.  Indeed, we're so blessed.

Jelly Bean !

Updated our phones to Android 4.1.1.
Superb performance on our quad-core mobiles!

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A Toast to the Last Day of Nov2012!

Is that a reason enough for a drink?  Hee.

@ this executives-filled bar facing Fullerton Bay Hotel - FIV五 Izayaka.

Sipping Choya on the rocks & hubby, Asahi Super Dry.... Teriyaki chicken wings for bites... :)

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Our 7th Anniversary Trip :)

Been 3 weeks since we returned from our HK trip. Busy busy! We only managed to clear our luggage as the soiled clothes needed to be washed. The one that's filled with my shopping loots is rooting on the floor of our bedroom... I'm clearing it bit by bit ;)

It's a really nice trip! Did a bit of everything & a lot of shopping (especially for me) :P

Thank God for the smooth journey to HK! Arrived super early at airport (& we even stopped by at my office on the way as I've missed out on some important work)!

Departure (from Spore), arrival (in HK), check-in (to the hotel) all went smoothly & on time. In fact we reached the hotel 1 hour earlier than estimated! The hotel staff were friendly & helpful... a very nice first impression! They even gave us an upgrade to the Studio (which is just one category below their Penthouse). God is so good!  We're greeted by a box of roses once entered the room and I thought it's really generous of the hotel to give us so many surprises. There's a card & hubby asked to read it.  Without sensing anything amiss, I did so.

So it's a pleasant surprise from hubby!

He later told me that he's also surprised to see the packaging as it's totally different from what he saw online haha.

Thanks for the nice surprise honey! ;)

A new & nice hotel - Madera HK... just 2 mins (or less!) from Jordan MTR.

A day on Hong Kong Island.

TST-Central ferry ride / IFC

Central - Mid-Levels escalator / Soho / Pottinger Street

Tram ride / Wanchai / Causeway Bay

Our 7th Anniversary night-out @ Cocky Bar, The One (嚣Bar).

A great night with captivating HK view... 

Feasting in HK!

Tim Ho Wan (the cheapest 1-Michelin Starred restaurant) / Australian Milk Company / 新斗记 / Maxim / 镛记酒家 .....

Shopping sprees!

The One / 波鞋街/ Lai Chi Kok / Granville Road ....