Our Short Getaway!

Being the adventurous man he is, for the longest time, eversince we had a car to call our own, he's been wanting to do this but I always came up with excuses like the kids were too young and there's just too many things to pack and lug around blah blah blah. But this time round, Z managed to convince me to take the kiddos for a short family getaway to our neighbouring country Malaysia, before school reopens next week.

And so we headed off to KL after Boxing Day for a short vacation. We had a really good time eating, drinking, some more eating, laughing and most importantly, we spent quality time really bonding with the kids.

It was fun exploring the place even though we got lost for about an hour plus on the second day on the way to Mid-Valley Megamall in KL. No thanks to the travel charger which died on us which eventually shut the GPS as it was low on battery. I was amazed with myself that I was really cool during that moment but the hubs on the other hand was cursing and swearing. Thank goodness the children and Maria were asleep at the back.

My only complain? Yes, I have one. My ears are just about to explode with the GPS system which is still ringing in my ears, by the way, and its just going..."PLEASE SLOW DOWN, PLEASE SLOW DOWN!" Erm, have I ever mention before that my husband is a speed demon? And in the words of the hubs, he says that I love to drive vicariously through him. Everytime he makes a wrong turn, his GPS system goes off at the same time as me! Hmmm, go figure.

ps. Think this will be my last entry for the year 2007. Here's me, wishing everyone a Fantabulous New Year 2008 ahead!!! Crossing fingers (and toes!) that it'll be a better and brighter year ahead. See y'all folks in the new year.

pss. This song TATTOO by the recent American Idol winner Jordin Sparks was uploaded with the pictures because it reminded me of our ride to KL and back. Whilst this song was being played in the car and the hubs and the children were singing along merrily to it. It was really lovely.

Christmas @ Godma's

Christmas Day was spent visting those dearest and closest to our hearts. We were totally beat at the end of the evening given the places we visited. Heck, no one's complaining coz its Christmas. And er, plus, there were great food everywhere we went and ahem, generous amounts of alcohol too!

The kiddos totally enjoyed themselves as well. Christmas is probably the second time each year (Chinese New Year is the other time) where hubs and me close one eye and let them have orange squash and other sweet treats. So one can only imagine how hyper the chickadees were due to the sugar contained!!!

Its Christmas!

THE TANS WOULD LIKE TO WISH EVERYONE AN EXTREMELY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A FANTABULOUS NEW YEAR AHEAD!!

It's been 9 years....

December 19th is extremely special to us as it is our wedding anniversary.

7 years ago was the actual church wedding and 2 years prior to that was when we exchanged our marital vows at the Registry of Marriages solemnized by the Justice of Peace.

Not so giddy and lovestruck as 9 years ago but still lovey dovey and MOST DEFINITELY in it for the L-O-N-G haul.

This man drives me batty, makes me mad, rubs me up the wrong way BUT he is also my rock and my anchor, keeps me sane, loves me to DEATH and does it all all all for me me me! He admits to being a challenging person to be with, but you know, what's life without a little challenge to grow and stretch you and make you a better person than when you started?

We're both kind of carbon copies of each other in some ways, and we have our differences, which makes things fun and exciting.

I absolutely dig what we have. I love that it's him I'm with. I love what I've become because of him. I'm so glad that we share so many dreams and goals.

Marriage requires work. It's when you push through the tough times that your relationship goes to the next level and you fall even deeper in love.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DARLING!


ps. I'll leave you with this polariod snapshot of us clowning around right after the TEA CEREMONY at home before heading to the hotel to prepare ourselves for the evening. We were so happy that everything went without a hitch earlier that morning during the beautiful church ceremony and lunch reception.

Boogie Woogie Wonderland

Over dinner and drinks last Friday with the posse, one of the topics covered was dance. About our favourite music genres to boogie woogie to and most importantly, whether the husbands/boyfriends/partners do us proud or embarass us on the dancefloor.

Anyways, a colleague posed this question to me some time ago.

"WHAT GETS YOU GOING ON THE DANCEFLOOR?"

My two answers were (and will always be, for a long time, i think) :

1. Seeing the hubs ON the dancefloor. (Wishful thinking on my part only lah! "I dont dance in public. Period." says he.)

2. Holiday by MADONNA, Fastlove by GEORGE MICHAEL and Ride Wit Me by NELLY. (in no particular order!)

So...... what gets you going on the dancefloor?

Babe in Bollywood

Hubs is in India this whole week. Kolkata and New Delhi to be exact. He was excited about visiting Bollywood yet reluctant to travel at the same time as he was unwell and plus, I think I passed onto him the contagious bug of "switching off..particularly at this time of the year"...hehe

Neeways, we spoke briefly earlier. This trip's been a real eye-opener, he says. I think the 'daddy' in him was affected by what he saw. Slumps everywhere and that children our kids age begging on the streets without proper footwear and clothes. Sigh.

ps. If you are hoping to view pictures of his trip, I'm sorry to say that Mr "Kalang Kabut" left in such a hurry and had forgotten to bring along his new toy -his brand new LUMIX. So babe, if you are reading this, all I wanna say is that whilst fiddling with your new camera yesterday, I only dropped it once.

Cant Buy Me Love ...part 2

Last Sunday being the first Sunday of the month, there was a special blessing for couples who were celebrating their wedding anniversary this month. And so when the parish priest requested that we stood up for the blessing, Ethan and Chloe were puzzled as to why hubs and me were the only ones standing in our pew and in the area where we were seated. Son nudged the hubs, who quickly whispered back to say that "Mommy and me got married 7 years ago in December". Since the kids didn't probe further, we left it as that.

Yesterday I got a call just before lunchtime from Ethan who sounded really upset. For a brief second, he got me worried there because I've haven't heard him sound so devastated in a while.

Me : Hi son. Had lunch yet?

E : Mommy! When IS your wedding?

Me : Huh? Oh...Papa and my wedding anniversary you mean?

E : No!! Your wedding this month! Are you planning to invite Chloe and me?

Me : ~almost fell off my seat laughing!~

E : ~continues~ Papa said your wedding is this month! How come Chloe and me are not invited? I am so upset you know. How can you not invite your son???

Me : ~trying very hard to control myself~ But Ethan, you were not borne when mommy and papa got married. I only had you after I got married to Papa.

E : So sad you know! How can you get married and not invite Chloe and me? We are your children you know. We want to be there to attend Papa and your wedding! We want to take pictures with you and dance with you both!

~Awwwwwwww~

My mondo emotional older one was really on the brink of tears here. I could do was actually laugh at this point because I really found it funny. And for a short moment too, I actually panicked as the thought of whether it was time to explain the "Birds and the Bees" to the children ran past my thought.

Thank God for Maria, our helper. As you see, all this while during Ethan and my convee, she had gone to dig up our wedding pictures so as to show and explain to the children hopefully making them understand a little before I get home.

Can't Buy Me Love

Me : Sweetheart, do you love me?
Chloe : YES!!!! (in a tone so loud i bet the folks in the next block could hear her!)
Me : How much?
Chloe : Two dollars and thirty-cents!!!

Happy Birthday Sandy Baby!

My pal at work Sandy, turned another year 'younger' on Halloween's. Here's some proof of the tea time party that we had in the office. It was such a lethargic day at work which got everyone (including the boss, ha ha) goofing off for abit there.

And YES! The Cookies and Cream and Macadamia Nut combo of an ice-cream cake from Haagen Dazs was totally heavenly lah!

Graduation Day!

i finally graduated!

showing her certificate with pride

Babydolls graduated from Playgroup yesterday. Being the true blue Piscean that I am, I found it hard to control and hold back my tears. I mean, the tears flooded the eye and before I could even search my bag for tissues, I messed up my beautifully done up eye make-up which I had spent 45 minutes on that morning!

My baby girl....who was just learning how to walk and talk has suddenly finished her first school year and will soon join her older bro in the same kindergarten come next year. Really, how time flies!

What a Performance!

before the show

before getting caught picture taking once inside! how was i to know, dammit!?!

one totally satisfied audience with the must-have merchandise


sippin' frothy yummy hot chocolate post performance

Finally, the highly anticipated night arrived. Spend a nice and lovely evening bonding with my boy. Ethan had no clue whatsoever that we were going to watch the musical. Told him I was giving him a well deserved treat for his good performance and conduct this semester as per stated in his progress report book. So one can only imagine his surprise and excitement when we actually got to The Esplanade.

Simply without a doubt, it was the most fantastic musical that I've ever attended. The props were brilliant, the dancers and costumes were marvellous, the music, singing and lighting were excellent as well. I have nothing but praises of this extraordinary musical. It was.....What can I say....SIMPLY PERFECT!! The producers of this musical were able to put up the highlights of the movie on stage! It was a case of what seemed impossible was really made possible. With the car flying and all. You've got to see it to believe it! If you havent watched it or are contemplating to go watch it, my advice to you is, just close your eyes and fork out the money for the musical. Though it ain't cheap, you are sooo going to regret it if you miss it. Believe you me, its really money well spent ...and I say this in all honesty.

Enjoy!

Hi-ho! Hi-ho! To the hairdresser's we go......

Ethan refused to let anyone of us go near him with the intention of cutting his hair. Even his fave hairdresser, my mother, was not successful with her teases of getting him the latest HOT WHEELS models. Finally, we all gave up sweet talking him and (secretly some of us) even took bets to see how long Master Tan would last without a haircut.

Two months had pass ....our friend seemed used to the fact that his hair was touching his collars and that the itch around the napeline is bearable.

Four months had passed and still nothing said about the much needed haircut. Finally, one afternoon just before nap time, looking troubled, my son whispers to my ears, asking me if he is allowed to have his hair cut. He gave me two solid reasons (well one solid reason actually. you be the judge if the other reason was solid enough or not).

And his reasons were :
1. that the weather's been so very hot lately and thus he's been perspiring a whole lot more and that its making him feel sticky and itchy all over.
2. and this girl he fancies in his class prefers him with a short do too!

oooh...i love the rainy nights!

Its raining cats and dogs as I type this. I LOVE RAINY NIGHTS. need I say more? The naturally cold weather with roaring thunder, flashing lightning and the heavy downpour makes you just wanna cuddle up with your other half under the quilt in dim romantic lighting doesn't it? Now, let me go set the lights in the room...
but wait a minute, not before having my cuppa smooth-frothy-extrahot-skinny-HOT CHOCOLATE of course!!!

Hmmmmm..........life's simple pleasures!

nasi ayam power!

Been wanting to give cooking chicken rice a shot for the L-O-N-G-E-S-T time ever! Each time mom gives me her solid recipe of the asian favourite, i either misplace or chuck the recipe aside, with laziness being the numero uno excuse!

This afternoon, when hubs mentioned that cousin Danny was coming over for dinner, I thought, there was no better time than to cook chicken rice. What a risk! Considering I have not done it before!

Yep! You guessed it right! Mom's recipe was nowhere to be found. "Prove to me me that you really work gingko biloba!!", I thought to myself as I search the drawer compartments for darn recipe. Dammit. I'll just have to rely on my memory for the recipe as I had given up searching after ten minutes. Not before napping for a good hour and a half in the afternoon (~DIGRESS~ isn't the weather today just soooo draining to the body?) did I wake up feeling fully charged and ready to roll in the kitchen.

Whilst the hubs kept the kiddos occupied with some homework (thanks honey!) and roller-blading thereafter. I was kept busy in the kitchen blending the ginger and garlic paste, preparing the rice, marinating and cooking the chicken, chopping various greens for the vegetable stir-fry and finally chopping cucumber and tomato for the side salad. All of which took me two and a half hours to complete.

Except for the comment from the hubs that the chicken was a teeny weeny bit salty, which I found strange as I did not add any salt at all. Not even a pinch. Other than that, everyone tucked merrily and heartily into MY first-ever attempt of chicken rice made entirely from scratch. There is definitely room for improvement but for now, I am just gonna bask in the satisfaction of seeing everyone's contented face and er, stomach earlier.

Score Tonight? You wish!

For some strange reason, hubs inherited loads of basketball jerseys from God knows who! No, he hardly played basketball with the dudes. He was more into Xtreme sports - mainly, Motocross, Ice Hockey and Skate-boarding! Oh ya, and tennis too!

Been feeling really FAT and sluggish the past couple of weeks. Non-stop birthday lunches, dinners, drinks and what have you. Being on a liquid diet, ahem, which is of the alcohol kind, is soooo not very kind to the tummy! With the recent Oktoberfest, I saw my tummy expand by about two inches after just one night at Paulaner Brauhaus!! But the brewery just makes the best beer to date!! So how to say "NO" to that one?

Anyways, the last couple of days saw me going to bed in just basketball jerseys and the hubs simply dread to see me in that getup! It such "AN ANTI-CLIMAX" says he, before summing up that "ITS JUST A NATURAL CONTRACEPTIVE!"

Chloe's first experiment.

I remember doing this experiment back in Pri 3 or 4. Imagine my surprise when my baby girl Chloe, who attends Playschool came home with her cuppa green beans. Personalized with her name even! Boy oh boy, was she excited! And the funny thing is she got the whole family excited along with her! Each time anyone of us goes to pee, we'd check out her cup (which is seated next to the kitchen window) to see if her bean sprouts had shot up by few centimetres. And when the hubs came back from the States last week, our cute li'l enthusiastic one went, "Papa, close your eyes! I have a surprise! I WANNA SHOW YOU MY PLANT!"

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! (oh my wallet!)

When I was a little girl, my favourite mealtime movie was not Barney's or Hi-5. We did not even have the wide variety of cable channels the lucky kids these days have. It was either channels 5 or 8 ditto. No doubt I did enjoy Electric Company and Sesame Street very much, it still could not beat my all-time fave to this very day....CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG! I vaguely remember dad buying the video tape from this shop in Plaza Singapura one weekday after my organ lesson at Yamaha's. Those were the days when VCR ruled every household!

It is really funny how the entertaining and lovely musical has been Ethan's favourite (as well!). When he was at the tender age of 16 months, he used to (and still does!) get very excited every time the DVD is inserted into the deck. Family members and friends close to us still find it pretty amusing and unbelieveable that he LOVES the movie and can sit still, sometimes holding his pee even, thoughout the entire show!

Imagine the thrill and excitement when we found out that come Nov, the musical will be staged in Singapore. For the longest time, whenever Hi-5, Barney and Friends etc came for shows, my oldest would always be disappointed that his fave musical was not added into the entourage.

The musical in Singapore is just a fortnight away. The ticket prices are really ridiculous. Hubs and me are still doing the "shall we or shall-we-not" at this point as we think that at sgd388/- for a matinee show, it really is a mini holiday, you know!

It's Children's Day Today!

It being Children's Day today, mom, me ol' sis Anna and I brought the kiddos to Marche in Vivo City for brunch. Plus we also wanted to view the life sized real car that will be used for the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when it plays here in November. My children's all time favourite musical since Ethan was 18 months! Anyways, it was a disappointment because they had removed the car as yesterday was the last day for the display.

Nonetheless, The kids enjoyed themselves as they had the works...ice cream, pony rides, treats etc..

My wish for my children and nephews and nieces is that they'll grow up to be fine adults and that GOD will bless them with good health and watch over them always.

Family Day Carnival 2007

It was an extremely fun day at the Family Day Carnival last Saturday. The sun was scorching hot but we ain't complaining. Our body-art, face painting and express manicure stall was a hit with both the young and the old. Aunties were queueing up to get temporary tattoos in body areas that I cannot mention here! I am not kidding and swear to that okay! The little girls were living their adult dreams of getting pampered by wanting to get manicured.

I'll repeat it once again, it was fun and all for a good cause. Most importantly, all the children (and adults too!) tremendously enjoyed the event of food, drinks, treats and games. It was afterall done in conjunction with Children's Day.

Sharon and Stephen's Wedding - Saturday, 29th Sept 2007

It was a chock-a-block weekend! Haven't had so much activites crammed and packed into two consecutive days in a really L-O-N-G time that my body is still recovering from the aches of shuttling from one place to another.

Neeways, one of the events over the weekend was Sharon's marriage to Stephen and I only realized awhile ago whilst uploading the pictures that I had forgotten to take pictures of the beautiful bride and her handsome groom. What a pity coz they really looked lovely that Saturday night! Oh well, we all know what a clutz I can be sometimes right? And I seriously need to double my intake of gingko biloba for sure!

Eh! Not Fair!

To celebrate Children's Day, Ethan's kindergarten will be having a Family Day Carnival tomorrow. There'll be lotsa treats for both young and old. Oh, c'mon...we were children once. Oh, correction, there's a little bit of child in all of us. Heck! I am my father and mother's child still what!

Anyways, what I want to say is this. Come down and support if you can. Its at 49B Holland Road, from 10am to 4pm. And ahem, to kickstart the event, our friend E and his mates will be putting up a performance. All proceeds from the fair will go towards the school.

Overhead two days ago when the younglings were chatting amongst themselves.

Ethan : Mummy! Its only two days away from the fun-fair. I cannot wait!

Chloe : Kor Kor, can I go to YOUR fun fair?

Ethan : NOOOO!

Chloe : (Fighting back her tears). Mummy, Kor Kor says that I cannot go to the funfar.

Ethan : But she is not a student of my school what! Its only for the pupils and their parents.

Me : Son, its open to everyone. We are all going to the funfair as a family.

Chloe : (Looking really relieved). Yeah!

Ethan : Okay, okay. You can come to the funfair BUT you cannot touch anything. You can only watch me play!!

Me : (Thinking to myself). LORD, give me patience and strength.

How do you like your OREO??

As always, it was freezing in the office and for some reason, most of us felt hungry just an hour after coming back from lunch.

Everyone conveniently blamed the office temperature for the sudden hunger pangs. Most made a beeline to the pantry hoping to find some pastries or cakes that we sometimes might have - if some lucky colleague/s were to strike TOTO or 4D.

Neeways, all we could get our hands on were oreo cookies this afternoon. And so, there I was opening up my cookie whilst everyone was chit-chatting (or otherwise known in Singlish term as EATING-SNAKE!). You see, I have had this habit, since young, of eating just the cookie minus the sweet, white filing in the centre which is commonly referred to as the cream or creme. So when this was spotted by a colleague, who then broadcasted to the rest, all gave me the look of death as if I had stabbed them deep down in the spine or something.

"Wh..wh..aaaat?" I asked innocently, but knowing what the killer stares were all about. "But...but I really don't like the centre bit. It's just tooo sweet."

I just couldn't take the "Yeah Right!" look that were coming at me in all sorts of directions! Somebody help me! I stood still. About to throw a fit actually. Until someone went, "Aren't you supposed to do the 1. TWIST, 2. LICK and finally 3. DUNK. Wait till Mr Oreo cookie inventor finds out!"

Help came in the form of this new colleague who stated as a matter-of-factly that she does the reverse. Only buys oreo for the cream and then throws away the cookies. And another colleague too mentioned that she has oreo dunked in ...not milk but water (???). In my mind I was going " YES! I am normal after all".

Realness of Concealness

Been feeling like a certain Ogre lately. Christmas is but 13 weeks away and all I'm feeling at the moment is BIG, FAT, BLOODLY BLOATED and UGLY!!

Maybe I'm pms-ing. I don't know. Aunty Mary is never on time anyways. SHE just zooms by as and when she pleases. But that is an entirely different story altogether.

Been sooo stressed at work and home that the face has now broken out to resemble a battlefield! Stress related acne has started appearing on my lower jawline and is slowly spreading to my forehead as I type this!! ACNE - This is THE four-letter word that i truly loathe. One might think that with today's advance technology, its easy to zap that zit! That's where I have to butt in and say that you are so wrong, honey!

Visited my dermatologist last week. (Whoever's gonna ask my about the damage will not have Christmas pressie this year!). And I am dead serious about that. Been applying whatever's been prescribed religiously. What's left on my jawline area are scars courtesy of them wretched pimples. And finding the right concealer shade is really very tricky. There are tens of shades from different brands that really confuse the daylights outta me! I just cannot seem to get the right shade for the blemishes as well as the undereye area. Most times, my dark cirles either end up looking too ashy or too light.

I've always loved makeup. Since I started earning my own dough, you'd see me in the cosmetics counter at the retail stores every other week checking on the lastest colours and collections.
Now that I am in the next decade of my adult life, not that I am no longer interested in makeup but I have decided to concentrate on skincare instead. I used to buy "The best-selling products of several brands". But that has sinced change. I'm targetting to just focus on a certain brand. That way, the products will (I'd like to think so) compliment each other.

How to firm that face? How to prevent age spots? How to prevent lines and wrinkles from forming? How to get that perfect flawless complexion? You get the drift. On top of fussing over the kids and household, juggling work and also worrying about our parents, we have our own beauty and personal grooming to upkeep. Till today, my mom would always stress to us to never ever neglect the latter.

Whoever said that the women of this generation have it easy? May they experience menstruation cramps for 3 days!

Remembering 9/11

Let us observe a moment's silence.

Exactly six years ago this time, coincidentally on a Tuesday too, I was drinking a nice hot cuppa Milo whilst watching tv when the programme was interrupted by breaking news which got the whole wide world in a frenzy of shock and disbelief.

Was pregnant with Ethan and just into my second trimester at that time, I was sooo shocked and disturbed by the television footage that was being played over and over again on almost every channel on tv. I remember wanting to hug and hold the hubs tightly but was not able to do so as he was in Taiwan on army training. I was really emotional and was sick with worry about his safety though the States and Taiwan were entirely two different and faraway countries altogether. Thank goodness that I was putting up at mom's place at that time else I would not have been able to go through the evening. What also helped heaps was that he called later that night to confirm his safety.

The mood in the office the following day was really sombre. Colleagues came into office all teary eyed as a majority of our colleagues from our branch office in New York were affected in one way or another. Many had either friends or relatives working in the building or at least knew of people who happened to be in the World Trade Center that morning. One dear colleague even lost her husband to the tragedy as he was at work as per normal in his office in WTC. The days and weeks after that fateful day were never the same. Everyone in the office were paranoid. What made it even worst was that we had full lengthed glass panels as windows. The mature/older workers suddenly bought handphones so that their loved ones could be reached at the touch of a button. We did not have any backup office contingency emergency plan prior to this but the top management and the technology folks worked overtime just to strategize one. We even have, till today, a BCP (Business Contingency Plan) to work from a remote office should anything happen or should the systems in the office fail us. TOUCH WOOD to this!

And so the memory remains. There are many people, of course, who don't need to be reminded to remember. There are the moms sending children who never met their fathers off to their first day of kindergarten. There are the first responders who are discovering that they are sick and in need of treatment, including 2000 New York City fire fighters. The first responders were real heroes who were right there at Ground Zero but are fighting for their lives today with lung ailments, cancer and other fatal illnesses.

Some people fear complacency; others fear forgetting. Others have only limited space in memory, and the day is overwritten by the events that followed, by war and hurricane and every family's private trials. But the record can't be erased, any more than a year can have 364 days, and anything can bring it back full screen, like a glance at a skyline, a siren in the distance, a prayer that comes as reflex as you walk to work and remember the day they never came home.

Let us learn to never ever take our loved ones for granted.

Happy Anniversary To Me!

It's been a year since Baubles bangles and beads went online. All thanks to Nat who urged and nagged me to death about starting my very own blogsite.

I figured it would run for a couple of weeks and then just like wallpaper, fade away slowly. But I was more afraid of encountering writer's block more often than not. Who is to know that today, 12 months on, its still up and running. Through this blog, my loyal fans, yes all 6 of you, have seen life and death, family and friends and the ins and outs of my daily life. Some have bothered to leave a note or word or encouragement, others prefer to remain anonymous. But hey, I ain't complaining. Its also a therapeutic tool....an outlet for expression for me. Glad I listened to you woman!

And so with this, here's a toast to myself as I raise the champagne glass to another great 12 months ahead! (How time flies!)

ps. Chloe's picture was posted on my first blog. What could be more meaningful than to have her "guest-star" on my anniversary post :)

Spelling Bee!

My cheeky boy came running up to me the other night in excitement. Our convee went as follows :

Ethan with an impish grin : "Mummy, I learnt how to spell a new word today!"
Proudly, I went : "Good, let's hear it".
Ethan : "BMW".
I'm like : "Wha...at?"
Ethan : "BEEEEE.....AM.....DOUBLE U, he stressed! Easy right? Its my favourite car BMW and when I grow up, I'm gonna buy you one in your favourite colour black! Okay mummy?"
Me : Arr....er ...whatever rocks your boat sweetie!

certainly a Girly-Girl not!

Was dressing up to go to church this morning and just as I had finished putting on my lippy and was reaching out for my perfume, hubs walks into the room and hugs me from the back, shoving one of his manly watches at my face.

"Wear my watch." he went. "I like my woman feminine but with a hint of masculinity. It shows that she is bold, has strength, adventurous and not really a girly girl!" I was surprised but more amused.

I didn't mind one bit. In fact, I used to love wearing his watch ALL THE TIME when we were dating.
(also coz he had extremely good taste when it comes to watches.)

Just as how most men would love to see their wives in killer nighties, Z is no different. The only thing additional is that he'd kill to see me in his oversized pajamas as well! That's fine with me as they are oh, so comfy!

i LOVE pedicures!

It was exactly one month from my last pedicure. Been rather busy of late to make an appointment. The toenails badly needed to be filed and re-shaped and the soles of the feet, according to the hubs when he touched them last night, felt like sandpaper!

My pedi appointment was fixed for today. If you don't know me by now, such small things really excite me and I was counting down the hours, then later minutes to my appointment time at my fave nail salon at the moment. The lush velvety armchair and cushions are oh so comfy and my fave nail technician of all the nail salons I've been to, Cherry, (oh, where have you been all this time?) is ever so meticulous and takes pride in her work even though she looks tired most of the time. But can you blame her? It is not easy to be seated in the posture the way nail techicians do. Bent over, scrubbing, filing and polishing countless numbers of feet throughout the day. They must have very strong back!

And finally, new colours from OPI are out! Check out the lovely Russian Collection at www.opi.com
RUSSIAN NAVY, SIBERIAN NIGHTS and MIDNIGHT IN MOSCOW are my current fave! Duncha' just love their names? Whoever comes up with them must be one witty person! I was torn between trying a colour from the new range and a french pedicure. What a BIG decision that turned out to be! I was almost going crazy with the vast variety that was available and finally decided on a pink. I had wanted something sheer. ITALIAN LOVE AFFAIR was what was recommended to me. The tricky part about nail salons with warm lights is that the colours look different when chosen but once you step out, its a whole new different story! This was what happened to me. The pink on my feet now just looks too sweet and Barbie dollish. So totally not sheer and so not me.

You know how little girls and the colour pink go hand in hand? It's sure is a hit with my girl Chloe who cannot stop touching and admiring my feet. At least she doesn't think that they feel like sandpaper!!!

BBQ on the rooftop!

It was a family affair minus the younglings as there were lotsa booze involved. You name it, all your fancy cocktails were made possible with our very own personalized bartender, Steven. This time round, the birthday celebration for the July babies - Auntie Helen, Jeanne, brother in law Zach (who couldn't make it) and hubs was celebrated on the last Saturday of the month which was the weekend closet to all their birthdays with the exception of Auntie Helen whose birthday fell on the 10th.

Neeways, we had lovely BBQ-ed food and salads and yummy gelato for dessert. The pistachio and mango sherbert was a HUGE HIT with all!! We ate and ate till we could eat no more and still with food and countless shots we all had - the amount was still cheaper by how much we had spent on drinks alone last year..which was...drumroll please...A FREAKING ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!

Thank you Annie for your setting up your lovely rooftop, which was complete with the romantic lamp, throw cushions and wonderful music complete with speakers and amplifiers all. Hell, you had your whole room up there!

With all that said, it was a lovely evening filled with fun and laughter spent with family. Enjoy the pictures and pardon the cleavage! You'll know what I mean!

Thought of the Day

Was chatting with mom for slightly over an hour over the telephone whilst at work today. This is something I must do daily - to talk to her over the phone come rain or shine. There are days where we'd run out of topics. But I must hear her voice. It's my drug. But because I've been feeling under the weather a couple of days ago and with the National Day holiday thrown in midweek, I had my hands full with the kiddos and thus, missed talking to mom in the process.

I was bitching to her about stuff - work in general but more importantly, issues the hubs and me face as young parents. At one point, I got worked up and was somewhat crossed with dad and her for not warning me about how hard it is to BE A PARENT!

Mom's answer to me was to start praying daily and thanking HIM for whatever we have and whatever that may come our way. No matter how bad the situation may be cause things could have been worst. She also added that FAITH is important and will that
everything will fall into place nicely!

"And don't worry about not knowing how to pray! By having kids, we'll learn that automatically!" she concluded.

How true indeed.

One, Two or Three Chillies?

Had lunch with my partner in crime Cheryl Anne today. She was craving ramen. We headed to this ramen restaurant near the office. This is one restaurant where you decide the level of chilli or how spicy you want your soup base to be by indicating a tick on the menu denoted by chillies...one being the least spicy and five being...well, you need a fire extinguisher, maybe??

One chilli, two chilli or three asked the waitress? Cheryl being the chilli queen that she is proudly went "FOUR" whilst ahem, I went "TWO" softly.

I could just smell the spice as I saw the waitress approaching our way with our orders Cheryl tucked in merrily and even ordered extra chilli by the side whilst I struggled with mine. With sweat rolling down my face and tears welling up my eyes, I swear I've never looked more pathetic during lunchtime than I did today. What made it worst was that I was dressed in full suit.

Oh, and did I mention that the restaurant boasts about how their soup base is rich in collagen. Now, that's one big consolation.