catherine.sg

Short Trips

2011-12-21T21:33:00.009+08:00

We're finally going back to Bangkok after missing it for a year. Seems like Poppy has gotten over his trauma of "too-much-of-Bangkok".

Wanted to do the trip for my birthday, but unlikely that my leave will be granted so we're bringing it forward to March instead. February will be reserved for the Mister's Genting getaway after unsuccessful plans for Japan. Not feeling up to much travel for the year, so we're spending a little more on this trip. Accommodation-wise, we'll be staying at Shanghai Mansion Boutique Hotel and Grand Diamond Plaza Suites this time 'round.

Very much glad we don't have to lug our loot around because we're taking a suite at Grand Diamond, just beside the Platinum Mall, for the second half of the trip. And looking forward to chillaxing at the pretty Mu Dan suite at Shanghai Mansion and tucking in to the yummies in Yaowaraj for the first couple of days.

The suite room at Shanghai Mansion

The suite room at Grand Diamond Plaza Suites

Oh, i miss Bangkok. Hope everything's peaceful and well throughout the trip.

Fantasyland

2011-12-17T13:36:00.007+08:00

Had our D&D at Shangri-La hotel's Island Ballroom last night.

The first time our department is dressing up and we snagged the Best Dressed Table, Best Dressed Female, Top 3 Best Dressed Male awards!

Not forgetting, 3rd Prize for Best Christmas Decoration competition held earlier in the month.

众神云集 together with Danny aka King Tut

With ET (Athena) and GL (Perseus)

With Saul and AS (Hera)

So much fun, we're gonna do it again next year!

Swamped.

2011-11-25T12:34:00.003+08:00

Hello, my much neglected blog and readers (are there even any?)

Our Team Retreat has just ended. Lotsa fun with awesome food from Mad Jack Cafe and Hyatt's Straits Kitchen, and our Vegan and Apple pot pies from the baking session.

Picture courtesy of AS =)

And now although we're piled with different projects, we're all uber enthusiastic about our upcoming themed D&D. Bought our costumes online a couple of days back, and expecting it to arrive next week. And, riding on Black Friday sale in USA, i've just helped them order accessories from F21 before work today. Next up will be the make-up tryout. Exciting!

Well, of course the peak period begins in less than a month. So we're resting up and preparing for the madness. My team is tying up the loose ends for the current project, then i'll be helping out with part of the Orientation.

Busy? Definitely, but happy.

Credits to Poppy for being super duper sweet all these while. He bought us the tix to the 3D Puss In Boots, and we had a great time yesterday evening.

2011-11-04T14:53:00.002+08:00

It's been so long since I've been so upset.

I hope this feeling goes away soon...

Back from Korea.

2011-10-27T22:04:00.002+08:00

Back from the tour around Korea... and i survived the killer packaged tour itinerary that's more hectic than my work. Rawr.

Started clearing work emails from home since i arrived home yesterday evening, and managed to finish them today in the office. Feels great to be back at work. Had a few moments of low period earlier this month, but i'm back on my feet now. Hope it lasts for a good long time.

Pops has been recurrently sick since 2 weeks ago. Fever's gone but he's down with rashes. Poor thing has been on medication for the longest time ever. My absence meant that he's been largely staying at home alone... why of course, he's sneaked out to meet the Alex-es and attend Zavier's baby shower.

Bought him a little pressie from Tiffany's while i was away for our 5th anniversary this weekend!

Couldn't resist and gave it to him in advance. Hopefully it cheered him up a tad.

Out of Town

2011-10-18T11:06:00.002+08:00

Out of Town

Seoul Far So Good Part II

Bittersweet October.

The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.

- Carol Bishop Hipps

PureConnect

2011-10-16T14:28:00.004+08:00

Released this month - my new loot from Brooks PureProject™.

PureConnect

Fits like a dream <3

Just because...

2011-10-03T10:20:00.002+08:00

A month since i last posted.

And here i am blogging just because schmelly Poppy says i'm lazy.

Off to Korea again in 2 weeks' time.

Nui says it's blistering cold there now. Gotta bring out my autumn/winter wear and wash them before my trip. Bummer.

Ok, back to work.

Back in Town

2011-09-01T09:03:00.008+08:00

Back from Seoul last week, but instead of uploading all my pictures from Korea, i'm till trying to clear my backlog from Cambodia. Luckily, the mister's taking charge of all the laundry. Yay!

Just a couple of pix for now...

Self-taken shot in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace

Group picture with newfound friends at Nami Island jetty

Meanwhile it's offloading shopping loot for the girls and tabulating the bills in progress...

Out of Town

2011-08-17T23:49:00.001+08:00

Out of Town

Seoul Far So Good Part I

Waiting to board my flight at the airport without the hubby.

*Nervous*

7 days

2011-08-10T16:04:00.003+08:00

Leaving for Incheon in 7 days, and i'm completely unprepared.
Well, we did make a trip to Mustafa to change a few thousand buckies on top of the USD we already have. That's about all, if that even counts as prep work. Muahaha. The hubby told me he'll plan the itinerary, seems like he read up a little and last night i tried to mark some places of interest, but last night we concluded we will just go ~~shopping~~ with the flow instead.

Had a rather fulfiling month, with GL's birthday dinner at OverEasy and a movie date, both with the fun folks from UniSIM. Then a dinner date with Helmi and Nora last Saturday, and a private date with Nora this Saturday. Hiak hiak. And my parcels from US have all arrived! Yay! Love Vida's booties, even Poppy agrees they're pretty.

Sadly, Mommy's down with viral infection and has been having bouts of high fever over the past week. Visited her over the weekend with some herbs and made her food. Checked with Bro yesterday morning, and heard she's feeling better already. Phew.

Ooh lala, such a fine month =)

2011-07-26T09:01:00.003+08:00

Moving into my thirteenth day.

The past twelve days seemed much like a dream, except, of course, the part where Poppy was summoned overseas at the last minute for an assignment.

Being a bit too free, my uncontrollable urge for shopping has led to more sprees. This time, on top of the usual Old Navy/GAP and Forever21, i managed to get a couple of prezzies for Poppy from Amazon. Most of the packages have already arrived in Portland, waiting to be shipped to Singapore. Yay! i also bought a couple of items from local blogshops just to quench the hunger while waiting for my US parcels to arrive.

Now, i just gotta organize one more spree to utilize the US$100 Forever21.com voucher the good folks at NOC got for me as farewell gift. Hiak hiak.

Can't help but miss the times i worked with Vida, when we'd be browsing shopping sites and chattering excitedly...

Luckily Poppy accompanied me to the library last week, and we lugged home almost a dozen of books, so i've been catching up on reading and trying to stay away from the evil interwebs since then. The sweetsie also bought my favorite swiss roll just before his trip, so i have munchies to snack on while he's away.

And on Saturday, i went on a shopping date with Mommy. We raided Bugis Village and almost bought the whole street home! Then it was time to attend Leann's baby shower, so we sent Mommy home before heading over. Stayed for a bit, then drove to Ikea to buy some what-nots, then met Mommy and bro at the interchange for more shopping. Pops got one more shirt from G2000 (his third in a month), and we all grabbed dinner at Popeye's in Century Square before heading home. Nom!

Spent most of the next day picking out clothes to bring home and dozing off on the sofa, while the rest played mahjong. Mommy made us a sumptuous dinner, watched 华人星光大道, then had a late-night drive home.

Doing A Lot of Nothing

2011-07-15T09:48:00.000+08:00

Busy spending most of my time doing a lot of nothing.

Been staying away from my games these couple of days, doing mostly reading, stoning, reading, and more stoning.

Life after dark is slightly more exciting. Did our usual JB dinner-petrol-car-wash routine on Monday; dinner with Angie, Zen, QL, Vincent on Tuesday; dinner at Alex & Pen's. Thursday was just a regular two-of-us dinner at the central followed by grocery shopping, and hopefully tonight, we can have a jog before light din-din.

Just had a slice of dragonfruit after some bread earlier on, now back to reading-stoning routine.

Happy Anniversary, Love!

2011-06-27T06:07:00.003+08:00

Thank u for accepting the different faces of me,

the bad,

the worse,

the worst-est.

Thank u for engulfing me with tender love,

and at (many) other times

... the odor from your smelly armpits.

Thank u for sharing the good times,

and being there even when it's not.

I love u, my Sweetsie Popsie Poopie Pops!

2011-06-27T02:20:00.003+08:00

Alex & Penelope held their housewarming in conjunction with Mathias' 3rd birthday.

The Make-A-Wish foundation and MacDonald's have generously sponsored the party for little Mathias who has been diagnosed with Menkes since he was a year old. At three, Mathias is unable to sit, stand or move agilely unlike kids at his age. Penelope has dedicated herself to caring for him full time, and a year ago, they have been blessed with a healthy second child, Zebedee. It's been a tough journey, and we pray for the best for them =)

That aside, we were discussing about planning a trip to Melbourne with Anders and Serina then i had to leave the party early coz I got recalled back to work (for the third time this month). Standby duty sucks balls. Aargh. I was SO upset that my weekend was ruined, that I was sulking the whole time when Poppy drove me home to get my stuff. I went for a jog in the morning, and was hoping i can get a good sleep tonight after the workout. TMD, kena called back to work.

Poppy tried to cheer me up by offering a nice dinner tomorrow after work, but i was totally not in the mood for anything. Blah. And just before leaving home, i got a message that sent me raiding the closet:

"Don't be sad ok... Open the bedroom door, open the top wardrobe..

A surprise for you... Hope to make you smile and a happy 1st month anniversary..

We will have more wonderful years ahead.."

The first two compartments i ransacked, had nothing special in them. Then i dragged the stool to the other side and found...

A brand new Longchamp Planètes!

He came up from behind and wrapped his arms around me, but instead of smiling and hopping around in joy, i broke down and started wailing. I felt (and still feel) so terrible about not having any presents for him and not even being able to spend the rest of the evening counting down with him. Boohoo.

This is indeed came as a huge surprise coz i wasn't expecting him to buy me anything since i have everything i needed plus he just got me the new lappie two weeks ago. He's such a sweetsie, isn't he!

The funny part was he asked me why i didn't open the bag up. He asked if i did not like it. And i was like: "i like it, but it's just that i'm not in the mood", but still went back to the room to open it. When i started opening the bag, he smugly added: "...but there's nothing inside anyway. muahaha."

中招 ._."

I wonder if Mich had any part to do with this. I'm pretty certain he got Adrian and Jessica to buy it during their honeymoon to Europe, but how did he ever know the exact size and color i wanted?! Oh, by the way he got himself a nice wallet from Longchamp too. Can't remember what it looked like exactly, but i think it's the Veau Foulonné:

No wonder he was reluctant to tell me when he went to meet Adrian up. Sneaky Poppy!

Now, left with just a couple of hours before i knock off, i'm gonna do some shopping online. I'll order his favorite cK and Gap fragrances plus the Crabtree and Evelyn India Hicks Island: Casuarina diffuser set to make it up to Poppy! Need to resist the Zee monster. Yawn...

Changes.

2011-06-20T14:18:00.003+08:00

Many changes have been taking place.

Sometime early this month, i've finally decided and got down to it.

Poppy's has been uber nice to me since i arrived at the decision. We've been out for fancy meals, he offered to bring me for massages and shopping!

And on that day after work, he surprised me with a new Samsung lappie he bought at the PC Show! Yeah, my 2-year old desktop has been acting weird for a while, and has finally succumbed to motherboard and hard disk failure (...due to overheating from long hours of gaming). Was planning to revamp the gear in my CPU but he was a step ahead of me. Though i don't really appreciate his rationale behind buying a lappie - so that i can still get to play but can't hog it for too long?! He says i can now play my games in the living room while he watches TV so he won't be lonely. Which also means i can now nag at him while he spreads himself like a slab of fat on the couch.

Oh, i'm in such a relaxed state that i haven't managed to wake up until late afternoons (though i've been sleeping early). Last night, out of the blue we decided to login to play some games together on Viwawa. Actually, we were planning to play Rift but the patch updating was taking gazillion years. With that said, i've just finished configuring the wireless modem and the update is done, so i'm off to play!

Sure, many uncertainties lie ahead, but i'm sure everything'll be fine as long as we overcome it together. <3

2011-06-09T08:03:00.002+08:00

It's a done deal.

Half the battle won.

Poppy appears to be exceptionally pleased.

Nom.

2011-05-24T05:38:00.002+08:00

Was having a terrible headache which left me limp and nauseous on the office desk, and now i'm having this crazy craving for oysters now.

http://www.fishshop.sg/promos

It's Tuesday, and Greenwood Fish Market & Bistro's having a promotion. I MUST convince the mister to go there with me later.

Week of Housewarming

2011-05-23T04:19:00.002+08:00

Indeed, it's been a week of housewarming.

We attended three in a weekend - one in Sengkang, another in Punggol, the last in Ang Mo Kio. Alex and Penelope's in Bukit Panjang is coming up. And the next week or so is wedding week - Adrian & Jessica (at Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa) followed by Angie & Zen (Republic of Singapore Yacht Club). It's a sunny-beachy-yachty wedding season!

Anyway, finally caught up with Nurmimi on Saturday. Grabbed a bite at Jalan Kayu after Derrick's housewarming, followed by Pirates of the Carribean 4 at Iluma. Missed their recent JB trip, so we've arranged another on Wednesday. Yay. Need to stock up some groceries and magazines before I'm on my banned-from-leaving-the-country-unless-urgent-and-approved standby duty.

By next month, I would've fulfilled the required twice-in-a-year standby, but alas, they decided to make changes starting from July. As if not being allowed to swap shift isn't bad enough, we have a non-travel standby duty, AND now, the few of us who have met the quota for the year, have to re-start together with the rest of the team. Ultra demoralized. I should really start packing.

For now, I'm only looking forward to, are my Forever 21, Old Navy and Korea Gmarket parcels.

Damn I feeling uncomfortable after gorging myself with snack noodles nuggets and one of the mid-size homemade glutinous rice with chicken. I need some chocolates to help digest the food.

Therapy

2011-05-17T04:50:00.000+08:00

My mood's been pretty turbulent these few weeks, so I've been eating A LOT. Poppy's been very accommodating. He bought two tubs of ice-cream after our ice-cream ban for the past year or so, and just before our trip to Cambodia, he went all the way to Haji Lane to buy the swiss rolls I've been lemming to eat. We also bought some mangoes a few weeks back, and I went hysteric with the making and eating of lots of mango sticky rice.

I've been cooking almost daily. Making and bringing my own dinners to work for the night shifts, then back home in the morning and preparing my own lunches as well. It's kind of a headache trying to decide what to buy to office everyday, so cooking a simple dinner seems to be the best solution, and it's quite a mood-soother, except for days that I'm exhausted from other chores. I secretly enjoy seeing Poppy's expressions when he tastes my food. Trust me, it didn't look very good in my recent Catherine's-Homemade-Killer-Chili experiment though. Hah.

Speaking of mood therapy, I just bought a whole lot of stuff online from Old Navy, Forever 21 and Gmarket earlier this month with the girls and my brother. I'm not looking forward to my credit card bill this month.

~~Wanted~~ Needed a pair of new heels but I wasn't sure about buying heels again off the net, so I bought a pair of sandals instead. The last pair of heels I got from GoJane was the right size, but the embellishments weren't in the right place and it hurt like mad. And since Armie's helping out at Ton Ton's wedding, and she was didn't have sufficient time to shop for her shoes, I volunteered mine (since we're the same size). Passed her 3 - 4 pairs, and Poppy caught me raiding the shoe racks. Took the chance to tell him those shoes don't fit anymore, so I'm giving them to Armie. (Then pretending to worry about what shoes to wear for the weddings this month and next. Heh.)

And finally got his permission to buy a new pair when we were at the mall on Sunday! He enforces a strict one-in-one-out rule on my shoe purchase because we have already bought three new shoe racks since we moved in. Not forgetting, Mommy is constantly reminding me I should relocate my stocks from Tampines. I HAVE NO MORE SPACE!!!

On a different note, I got myself a new pair of specs on Sunday too, coz the current one's scratched and blur. Poppy shopped for it with me from Queensway or somewhere, and that's 3 - 4 years ago! The myopia on both eyes have dropped a tad (about a hundred degrees on each eye), and that was the reason why I get headaches from wearing the current specs. Another couple of hundred dollars spent, but well worth it, I suppose. Been wearing specs pretty much these days, especially since one of the eyes is really prone to swelling the past two months. Had to wear specs throughout the whole Cambodia trip. Dang.

Meanwhile, work hasn't been all that good.

And I only managed to muster my strength to clear Custard's stuff away on Sunday afternoon. Memories of her still flood my mind and eyes two months after she's passed on. I still miss her. So much.

I cherish and enjoy Poppy's presence even more than before.

But when I'm alone, all I can do, is make futile attempts to comfort myself with retail and gastronomy therapy.

While life is good, it really isn't fantastic. Maybe a change is in order. If only I could eventually manage to let go of some stuff...

3 Years 6 Months

2011-05-11T02:59:00.004+08:00

Enough is enough.

On a side note, much thanks to the mister for great support.

Love u, Poppy.

Back in Town

2011-04-24T15:46:00.003+08:00

Back from our 8-day stint in the kingdom.

Lots of fun and (too much) sun - we came home looking like 4 roasted ducks, fresh from the oven.

Too lazy to work on the pictures now. Maybe later, maybe another day. Maybe not.

A Post for Custard

2011-03-15T15:23:00.003+08:00

In Loving Memory

Custard

2006 - 15 March, 2011

A song dedicated specially for our baby...

妳並沒有离开我們

是搬到天堂生活

妳永远活在我們记忆中

好事成雙

2011-03-11T10:30:00.005+08:00

Got a call from KTO on Monday telling me that I've won a return ticket to Incheon, Seoul (via Asiana Airlines) the NATAS lucky draw (where I spent a bomb a couple of weekends ago). I was still skeptical about it, pondering if it's one of those phone scam, even after they sent me an email with the prize collection details.

Alas, it's proven to be true, and I've collected the ticket on Wednesday. It's by far the biggest prize I've gotten from a lucky draw! Yay!

Unfortunately, the ticket's non-transferable so I have to make the trip myself and can't simply get Poppy to just tag along my October trip. And so apart from the short trips to Malaysia, I'll be in Cambodia, then Korea TWICE this year.

Was contemplating on giving up the prize since I'm already going to Korea in October, and after two 8D trips in the year, my purse is down with a big hole. Then Poppy dissuaded me, and says he'll go with me this time. LOL. After persuading for SO long to go with me in October, he refused, and now... IT'S FATE!

But since Poppy doesn't have much leave available to go for too long a trip, so we're making it a 8days stay, coinciding with his birthday in August. Heh. It's my third long trip this year, so I'm hoping to skim the luxuries for this one and do the planning myself instead of joining a tour.

Planning in progress right now. Excited!

Excitement.

2011-03-07T13:15:00.000+08:00

Back at work since Sunday.

Surfing the TripAdvisor website and looking at pictures of places I'll be visiting next month in Cambodia. And boy am I motivated!

The first place we'll be landing in is Siem Reap.

Angkor Wat, Angkor Wat... need I say more?

Angkor Wat at dusk

Tony Leung's favorite spot on In the Mood for Love

(If u don't already know, I'm a sucker for Wong Kar Wai's films!)

After checking with my Cambodian colleague, it's gonna be the Khmer New Year, so there'll be lots of opportunities for great photos throughout the 3 days of celebration. Yay, for the boys.

We'll be putting up at Siem Reap Garden Inn, a family-run B&B, for the 4 nights in Siem Reap. Going for US$15 per room per night - which works out to less than S$40 per person for 4 nights. It's a steal! Of course, the reviews are pretty good.

Then off to Phnom Penh, where we all agreed to spend a little more for a better accommodation after the back-breaking days of hiking up and down the Angkor Wat. Boutique hotels have sprung up rapidly over the past years, there's plenty of choices for ur buck. Pity though, The 252, one that Rae recommended is already sold out. Then I hunted for others with a private plunge pool and/or jacuzzi as my objective. Heh.

And here it is, the Blue Lime "Standard Twin Room" for Tian Yong/LiHan and the "Private Pool Room" for ourselves. Yummy.

View of the private plunge pool from the bedroom

View of bedroom from the private pool

But before that, we are going on a trip back to Malaysia, with Dad and Bro, for tomb-sweeping. Bro and Poppy's first visit to 爷爷 & 奶奶's tombs, and a second for me after many many years. Not sure if Ah-Gong will be back home by then, if so, we can visit him too. And when we return, as the new member of the family, I will probably join Poppy and his family to visit his 爷爷's tomb.

Also, Luis will be in town for a day, during his transit from Japan back to Sydney, so we've arranged to catch up after my JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge at the Esplanade with my colleagues. Hopefully, I can "psycho" him to help me buy some of the Shiroi Koibito cookies, which Jasmine bought during her recent trip to Tokyo. They're delicious!

Then again, in May, I've got the Adidas Sundown Marathon with Poppy and a couple of other friends. Let's get healthy!

I can wait, I can wait... No, I can't wait!

Boring Weekend.

2011-03-05T18:40:00.003+08:00

Custard's snoozing quietly in the shelf beside me the whole time.

Bored, I am, so I've decided to do up some 3D models of the new home. Of course, the floor plan isn't confirmed by the HDB, but I've got nothing in particular to do after finishing my chores, so here goes...

Top View: 4-room unit

Another View: Half-completed

I've been off from work for four days, since Wednesday, and Poppy happens to be working on each and every one of the days. Being so free, I went grocery shopping and made dinner everyday for the past three days. Being too free, I went for spa at the newly-opened Shine Studio at Clementi Mall, and signed on TWO packages - one for lower-leg IPL and another for underarm IPL.

The week before, I had four off-days too.

And I went to NATAS with Mommy, where we took up the packaged tour to Korea.

This month's credit bills are mad (exclusive of the two above-mentioned big ticket items) - a few thousand dollars on each card, though the bulk of it is Custard's medical bill.

I think I'm too free. I must find something to do and stop spending money. Nope, no spree for these two months either. Not at least till I return from the next trip, I think.

Broken.

2011-02-28T22:24:00.004+08:00

Custard's declination for food has started again after a week of eating.

The week after her stay at the hospital, she was reacting to the food fine. And for the past week when I wasn't working, I continued to accompany and watch her as she feeds to keep her motivated. But just two days before I return to work, she stopped again.

The second day she stopped eating, I hand-fed her. She didn't react to the food despite having food dapped onto her mouth, just like the week before. After a few attempts, she got irritated and spit out the food. Not surprising, since that's exactly what she did previously.

So I thought it'd be good to let her mood settle, and went on to syringe-feeding the same night. Started her off with half a syringe for the two feeds on the first day (yesterday). And she's been ignoring me since then. She doesn't curl up against me when I sit in front of the TV, and she doesn't greet me like she always did. It hurt me a bit, but I knew it was normal, and I had to do it for her well-being.

And because I had to work today, I fed her a single full syringe at night when I got home. She fidgets, she yells, she struggles and protests her reluctance with all means possible. As she had her post-meal drink from her favorite cup, she didn't make a sound, but... I saw a quiet tear in her eye.

It totally broke me.

I wish I never had to do this.

I wish she'd start eating on her own.

I wish I have the strength to keep going on.

But I really wonder if she'll ever get better at all...

And all I can do is pray and hope.

Lunar New Year Part III

2011-02-23T13:15:00.004+08:00

12.02.2011 Saturday - [初十]

Brought Custard in for her appointment with Dr Liang. By now she's severely dehydrated despite of the regular sub-Q injections, so Dr Liang says Custard has to be hospitalized again for IV drip over the weekend. Oh bother, we were expecting guests at our place, and we dolled her up already. But since it's more important for her to be treated, we did the necessary administrative stuff, paid and left with heavy hearts.

And the celebration continues. This time at Wilson & Phoebe's.

Picked MIL up and headed over. After din-din, the boys started mahjong-ing. Ended around 9pm and drove over to SAFRA for KTWee with his cousins and Tiffani. Halfway through, we were invited to join their "Beer-drinking" competition - one that puts drinking speed to test. Poppy "sacrificed" for us that night. Heh. Left around 4am, and were all dead tired.

Family Photo

13.02.2011 Sunday - [初十一]

Started the day early despite only reaching home in the wee hours.

Left Poppy in slumber, while I started preparing the food items and wait for the guests to arrive.

While I was occupied with the chores, I heard a faint knock on our door. When I walked over, I saw nobody but a big white envelope. The HDB logo was printed on the cover and my heart started thumping - not that we owed them any debts and they're here to collect money from us. LOL. Alas, it was our SERS package! ...and the rest is history

MIL and sis were the first ones to arrive. Poppy then fetched Godma & family over before picking Gong Gong & Popo from Wilson's place. The rest of the relatives came one after another. Mommy, Daddy, bro and our family of 17 arrived in the late afternoon, and our entire house was bustling with chatter.

After most have left, 舅舅, Godpa, Wencong and Poppy got to their mahjong game again. 舅母, Godma, Tiffani and myself rotted away on the couch while waiting. Had our mass V-day kisses when the clock struck 12am. Heh. Did the cleaning up after everyone's left and off to bed.

And this marks the end of our 2-week CNY madness.

Lunar New Year Part II

2011-02-21T13:58:00.008+08:00

06.02.2011 Sunday - [初四]

Picked Gong Gong & Popo up from 舅舅's place in the afternoon to 二姨's.

二姨 made a pot of delicious pig's stomach soup - a Hokkien tradition, together with other yummies. She even baked a cake for Niel Niel coz it's his birthday today!

Debs, Gerald, Niel Niel & Abby

Second half of the day is at Godma's.

More eating. Poppy sent Gong Gong & Popo home and we headed home ourselves. His cousins insisted that he joins them for mahjong, like AGAIN, and I got a little mad because I'm so tired from waiting for his for the past few days. Once I reached home, I pulled on my running shoes and told him I'm going jogging, then he decided to go with me instead.

07.02.2011 Monday - [初五]

Got our well-deserved rest, finally. Woke up in the afternoon, grabbed lunch at IMM and did some shopping before heading to Sheng Siong at West Coast for groceries. We've got some colleagues & friend's over at our place tonight, and it's steamboat time.

The guys headed to the aquarium after dinner, then we were home to do the cleaning up.

A picture after din-din ^_^

08.02.2011 Tuesday - [初六]

Went to the clinic for medication for my sore throat. Then we had to bring Custard to Dr Liang for her review. Darn, the doc's on MC and we'll have to bring her back again during the weekend.

Nothing much for the rest of the day. Had our dinner at West Coast, and some more grocery shopping at Sheng Siong.

09.02.2011 Wednesday - [初七]

Another day to rest. Grabbed a late lunch, then off to Partyworld for KTV.

Did our jog to burn some calories from the New Year binge-eating sessions then went to Prata Planet to add some more calories back. Damn.

10.02.2011 Thursday - [初八]

Back to work for a day.

The team's out for dinner at The Magic of Chong Qing. Had the Lo-Hei (my 3rd for the year) and hotpot dinner. It's a fresh experience for most of the colleagues who are not locals, but I believe they enjoyed themselves much.

Chefs Vanessa & Armie having fun

11.02.2011 Friday - [初九]

'tis the Sentosa Flowers day!

We were up and awake by noon, prepared some drinks and snacks and drove to Sentosa.

Stopped for a bit to grab a quick lunch at KFC at the Merlion Walk, continued with the photo-taking and then got stopped for some air-con at RWS. Before we left the isle, we reminisced the warm and fuzzy feeling as we drove by The Sentosa, where we stayed during our 4th anniversary last year. Aww..

Taking a break ^_^

We headed straight to MIL's to catch some rest, then picked Godma & Godpa, and went to Loyang Tua Pek Gong. Did our prayers, took some pictures of the lanterns from last year's 春到河畔 and headed to Mommy's. Mommy made us some nice meatballs, and additional bee hoon for Poppy and myself, who hadn't had anything since lunch.

At Loyang Tua Pek Gong

Mommy and bro loves the LED TV Poppy bought for them last month. They got a HDMI cable and is now constantly watching movies straight from bro's lappy. Poppy seems tempted to get a set for ourselves too. Hurhur.

Anyhoos, sent everyone home and got back to our pad for some Zzz.

... to be continued

Lunar New Year Part I

2011-02-21T13:24:00.005+08:00

02.02.2011 Wednesday - New Year's Eve

Woke up in the afternoon to send Custard for her final jab before the lunar holidays.

Headed home to finish up our chores and washed up, before going off to MIL's for our first reunion dinner. Second one was at Mommy's in the evening. Mommy and my aunts headed off to Chinatown after that, but we decided to go home to rest instead (SO tired from the pre-new year cleaning and preparation).

03.02.2011 Thursday - New Year's Day [初一]

As with previous years, this day is reserved for Poppy's paternal family.

Started off with visiting MIL's place, and having our lunch. Then visited 伯伯 & 伯娘's house - this will be the last year we'll be having our new year visit at this house. That's coz this old flat has been announced for en bloc a few years back, and they'll be receiving the keys to their new unit a couple of days later. Next year, we'll be seeing them in the new house! 伯娘's a huge Lego fanatic, so we bought her a set from the States during our honeymoon. She was so happy. Heh.

Next stop is 姑妈's. Because she's been having trouble with her knees and joints, her maid was the one who prepared the dinner this year. We still enjoyed nevertheless. Then we ferried both 姑妈 & 伯娘 to MIL's place for a bit of chit chat, then brought them to our house before sending them home.

Headed off to 三姨's place where Poppy battled against my brother, aunt and uncle on the mahjong table while Mommy and I went to sleep in cousin's room. They finally ended the "war" at 7am and we headed home to sleep.

04.02.2011 Friday - [初二]

Like always, this day is reserved for visiting 舅舅.

Seeing Nathaniel, Sharmayne & Abigail grown so much, Gong Gong + Popo were overjoyed and could hardly stop smiling throughout the day.

Poppy had the honor to take the photo of the attendees this year.

Sis and the two pretties - Sharmayne & Abby

05.02.2011 Saturday - [初三]

Had our brunch at McDonald's at the new Clementi Mall, loitered around a bit, and headed to MIL's. The usual chitter-chatter and the guys had their dose of mahjong. Godma and I waited on the sofa till we almost zonked out. Luckily they wrapped up around 11pm, and we sent Godma & Godpa home before heading to JB for supper and top-up our tank after these few days' island-wide traveling.

Abby & Niel Niel @ MIL's

... to be continued

Week 4 - 5

2011-02-21T13:07:00.002+08:00

26.01.2011 Wednesday

Relatively boring day.

Had dinner at Dian Xiao Er, followed by some light shopping at West Coast Plaza.

27.01.2011 Thursday

Met Poppy at Vivocity after he knocked off.

Caught Shaolin at GV with Loh and YM after Bah Kut Teh at Food Republic.

28.01.2011 Friday - Sunday

Work work.

Took 2 hours during lunch on Saturday to bring Custard to the clinic for her fluids.

31.01.2011 Monday

Off day.

Went over to Foong parents' place, with a whole bunch of their other colleagues, to help them to paint the house. Started at 1pm after lunch, and finished at 6pm! Din-din on Foong at Cheng San market, popped by Seaview for a bit and headed home.

Ultra tired.

01.02.2011 Tuesday

After work, we picked up MIL and headed to Chong Pang for New Year shopping with Godma.

Got ourselves the usual dose from Ochado, shopped around the market before driving up to Khatib for MORE shopping.

Got home at nearly 3am. Another tiring day.

New Home. Soon enough.

2011-02-16T09:45:00.007+08:00

Amidst struggling with getting Custard back to on the track of recovery and uploading the tons of pictures taken over the past weeks, we found great comfort upon getting this piece of good news...

We will be moving soon (again)!

'twas a huge gamble we took about 2 years ago, when we decided to buy this 30-year old unit. Much disappointed from our participation in previous balloting of flats, so we went for resale units instead. The already-announced SERS flats in Commonwealth were going at a ridiculous asking price range of 40 - 50 thousand cash per unit (COV), and we had to try our luck at guessing the next possible SERS location.

And so on the morning of our open house during CNY, we got a suspiciously thick envelope at our door from HDB, containing the SERS booklet and brochure of our future home. The new unit will be located at Clementi Avenue 3, where the current temporary bus interchange sits, diagonally across where our house is currently located. Still a street across to the central, just that there'll be no more overhead bridge linked to the MRT. Heh.

SERS Site Details		Milestone Information
Announcement Date & SERS Site	Deadline for Submission of Resale/ Transfer Applications	Collectors Inquiry	Serving of Compensa- tion Notice	Registra- tion of Replace- ment Flats	New Replacement Flat
					Construction	Selection	Estimated Completion Date
13 Feb 2011 Clementi Avenue 5 Blocks 321, 322, 323	By 31 Jan 2012	Mid 2011	End 2011	3Q2012	Early 2013	Early 2013	Mid 2016

Thankfully the wait wasn't too long ^_^

Went through the documents given real quickly (too excited) at 2am, after he finished his mahjong session and the folks all went home.

We've a choice of 3-room; 4-room (85sqm); 4-room (92sqm); 5-room, and we started working on our sums since we're planning to get a bigger unit this time.

Poppy and I almost couldn't sleep that night even though we were dead beat from all the preparation and cleaning up!

Posing for a peekture despite the pain.

2011-02-14T21:42:00.002+08:00

Notice the red patch on her left arm after 3 days of fluids. Another patch on her right arm too.

=((

Week 2 Review

2011-02-11T23:21:00.002+08:00

An unhappy Custard. VERY unhappy.

Custard 101

2011-01-30T23:56:00.002+08:00

2011.01.30 Guarding the Bedroom Door

Custard: Week 1

2011-01-30T23:09:00.002+08:00

These 2 weeks have been terrible for both Custard and ourselves.

Though her diarrhea is gone, she still vomits constantly and then cries for attention afterwards.

When we're around during the day, she's relatively peaceful. But when we she loses sight of us, even for the slightest moment, she starts whining. This is especially bad at night, happening as frequent as every 2 - 3 hours. We can hardly catch a good, continual sleep since we will get up and check on her to see if she puked or poo poo-ed.

Poppy hardly took part in the caretaking in the past, but I think upon seeing that it's taking a toll on me, he offers to get up to check on Custard and have me stay in bed.

~~~

And so, after 3 days at work, I'm bushed and she's at it again. She persistently loitered outside the room, wanting to keep me in her sight, and I had to move her basket to my room door so that she can nap comfortably with me in sight instead of sitting on the cold, hard floor. Now, she's finally zonked out (in the basket outside the door) from the fatigue of meowing non-stop since I came home.

Get well soon, Custard.

Week 4

2011-01-30T14:34:00.000+08:00

24.01.2011 Monday

Started the day off with breakfast at the Clementi Hawker Centre. Popped by the bank and NTUC, then off to JB briefly before stocking up a little at Sheng Siong in Woodlands. Dropped our groceries home and headed to Mommy's!

Fixed up the new LG LED TV Poppy bought for them while Mommy made din-din for us, so we tucked in before going over to IKEA in Tampines. Bought ourselves a new set of dining chairs (finally!), a dish drainer and some miscellaneous stuff.

Loaded everything onto the car and off to Sheng Siong at Elias Mall we went. There wasn't much at the store, so we only got a carton of beer for the guests coming to our house for gathering and Poppy succumbed to temptation and bought 2 boxes of Ferrero Rocher. Went home after sending Mommy home.

25.01.2011 Tuesday

Brought Custard for her first injection at the clinic. She whined a little during the injection (must've been painful because the needle was so huge). Stocked up some canned wet food from Polypets and sent her home after our breakfast. Fed her medicine and food, then we continued with our Ngoh Hiang making!

After tolling 2 - 3 hours, I hereby proudly declare that my Ngoh Hiang's are successful! Even Poppy has to accede defeat. Caught a catnap and in the evening, we were off to fetch MIL for new year shopping at IMM. Grabbed a couple of buns for the next day's breakfast (because Poppy'll be back to work), and spent the rest of the 2 hours or so foraging the hypermart, ended up with 300-buckaroos worth of stuff, and free delivery. And there, we got ourselves a replacement fan, because the other year-old fan is cranking up.

Got home near midnight, and rested up with Poppy coz he's starting work the next day.

Random dinner with Alex, Loh and YM at Dian Xiao Er (West Coast Plaza) on Wednesday; Met Loh and YM again on Thursday for some last-minute new year shopping. Had dinner and movie (Shaolin- very nice show!) before heading home past midnight. Nothing much for the rest of the week, apart from taking 2 hours off work to send Custard for her 2nd injection.

3 days left to CNY! It's gonna be another busy CNY, and I've updated our "schedule". It's packed to the brim, as usual, but one thing's different... And that is we'll be giving out the red packets this year. If only giving them out was as easy as giving out other Baos - just buy Char Siew Bao or Tao Sar Bao and distribute. But no, we had to queue at the bank to exchange for small notes, buy some cute Ang Baos, then stuff the money in the packets. I had the urge of tearing open all the packed Ang Baos as if they were given to me. But of course, that was just a silly thought.

So much more still needs to be done. Poppy has fixed up all the rest of the dining chairs and I've put up the new year decoration. Lemming to buy more clothes because there's so many events to attend, and I haven't painted my nails and I still need to do another round of hair treatment + face mask in preparation for all the sleep-deprived days ahead. Hah!

Can't wait for it to actually be here!

Week 3 Part II

2011-01-30T12:13:00.003+08:00

23.01.11 Sunday

Today's reserved for Gong Gong. He "chope" us 2 weeks ago. We fetched him from Wilson's place, then met up with Wilson and Phoebe at Boon Lay Market for breakfast, then sent him to Bukit Panjang Khek Community Guild for their annual new year gathering. Afterwards, we sent him to Nanyang Loh Clan Association. The members were mostly old folks averaging 60 years old, at least. After everything, we drove Gong Gong to Chinatown. Passed by Lim Chee Guan, saw a snaking long queue, and decided to pop by their supplier Kim Joo Guan to try our luck. Unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn't on our side that day, so we dismissed the whole idea and went jalan-jalan followed by dinner with Gong Gong.

Caught a short nap back at home, after sending Gong Gong to Uncle's house. Then prepared and set off for Amara Hotel for Triston's wedding.

22.01.11 Saturday

Stayed home for most parts of the day. Woke up near noon, had our brunch at the Tim Sum shop downstairs, and visited the aquariums as well. Rather humdrum day, continued our spring cleaning and fetched Custard home in the evening. She's been prescribed 3 types of medicine, and her first injection will commence on Tuesday.

After feeding her, and putting her to bed, we headed off to Chinatown for the new year market. Got home past midnight and went straight to bed.

21.01.11 Friday

1st day of our leave and 3rd day of Custard's diarrhea + refusal to eat. Brought her to The Animal Clinic at Sunset as planned. It was the worst visit, ever. Don't be mistaken, the vet, Dr Liang, was great. She has loads of experience because she herself is the owner of 2 kitties.

During the consultation, we were told that Custard's likely to be 4 - 5 years old instead of 1 - 2 years old (but of course, it'd have been difficult for Mrs Wong to judge since Custard was brought home as a stray in the first place). So Dr Liang asked a few questions on Custard's progress since the last visit for her eye problem. That was ok. Then they proceeded to do a blood test for her, and we were told to go grab a coffee while we wait for the results (which will probably take 40 minutes or so).

Halfway through the meal, about 20 minutes later, the clinic called and told us the vet wants to speak to us. Not good. I sense something amiss, and quickly headed back. Custard's blood test showed that she is down with FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) and CRF (Chronic Renal Failure). Although the FIV is relatively harmless at the moment and is unlikely to pose any immediate harm, the CRF, however, was more dangerous. Custard had to be hospitalized immediately for 2 days and be put on medication and drip.

When she broke the news to me, I couldn't hold in the tears no matter how hard I tried.

I guess it was just too sudden, considering the fact that she's been with us for a year, there was a lot of negativity in my mind about whether I've done my duty as an owner to care for her.

Dr Liang gave us more insight about the conditions, symptoms and advise us the injection of subcutaneous fluids have to be done twice to thrice a week, and a review to be fortnightly.

And we soon came to realize, she had the symptoms the Dr described before she came to our household. That did relief my negative thoughts a little, then Poppy did the administrative stuff after Dr Liang explained to us the process post-hospitalization care and we bade Custard goodbye as she's being prepared for her 2-day stay.

Totally moodless, but I couldn't cancel my spa visit, so Poppy drove me over.

While I was doing the IPL and mask, Poppy was super sweet to read up on FIV on the web and shared the stuff with me when I came out. I'm really glad he was with me because I felt so down the whole day.

Stayed home for the rest of the afternoon. Poppy offered to clear his wardrobe, because he knows it'd make me happy. He cleared out everything from the wardrobe, but I ended up helping him fold most of the clothes and packing them back into the closet anyway. What a bum-bum. We sorted out and packed aside 3 paper bags' worth of unwanted/unused clothes. 1 bag to be discarded due to old age/discoloration etc, the other 2 to be sent to Godmum's place for Ah Boy to see if there's anything he fancies. Brought along my bag of clothes for them too.

Dropped the bags of clothes at Godma's then set off to Sembawang 白米粉 for din-din. Headed over to Chong Pang to buy our favorite Ochado and browsed at the new year market a bit before sending everyone home.

Week 3

2011-01-20T16:46:00.001+08:00

Foresee that I probably won't be updating for the rest of this week, so here goes...

20.01.11 Thursday

Decided to pamper ourselves with Golden Pillow delivery for lunch. Ordered 1 X Curry Mutton Bun; 1 X Ginseng Salted Chicken; 1 X Fried Bee Hoon to share among three of us. Quite big portions but we still 杀到完. *Victory*

Otherwise it's another humdrum day at work with lots of drilling next door. Not like.

The Curry Mutton Bun + Fried Bee Hoon + Ginseng Salted Chicken (which comes with the entire claypot, which I have already *chope*)

19.01.11 Wednesday

Nua-ish day off. Did the laundry early in the morning, cleared some old letters + bills + rubbish from the bedroom and washed up Custard's corner (her pee-pan, bed, basket, towel and vicinity of her cage). Bushed. Went to nap after playing game.

Poppy's call woke me up and I couldn't sleep anymore so watched Coraline on DVD while snacking on Ruffles and Minced Lattice Pies from M&S (Marks & Spencer's). As I'm speaking, I suddenly crave M&S Honey Roast Wiltshire Ham Crisps. Aargh.

Poppy came home shortly after, fiddled with his fish tanks again before we headed off for din-din. Custard's not her usual self these couple of days. She just had a case of diarrhea + vomit again and refuses to eat. Apart from her usual kibbles, we tried to give her boiled chicken (which she usually loves). No-go. Even tried to hand feed her, but she just doesn't budge. Sigh. Booked her in for a vet visit on Friday morning, and bought her 2 cans of tuna on our way to dinner.

Stopped by my fave bakery to grab some pastries and cake to cheer ourselves up - Poppy got a large buttercream swiss roll, while I got the butterfly cake and a cream horn, then headed home to feed Custard. She did eventually take a few licks of the tuna, but that was it.

Finally on leave tomorrow!

Vet Visit (Poppy and I bringing Custard together, for the first time, usually I go alone ~~dragging the hundred-tonne carrier with my bone-skinny arms and walking all the way to Sunset under the hot sun from home~~); Spa Visit; Ngoh Hiang-making; MORE packing; Manicure + Pedicure; Ang Bao-packing; Receiving my Forever 21 + Old Navy parcels; More Laundry; Receiving our new LED TV; and yet... MORE (UN)PACKING!

Plus going to Tristan's wedding on 23rd with the guys from TSPL.

Wow, I'm excited already.

Back to work for 4 days on 28th Jan. Then 6 days off from work from 2nd Feb, back to work again, and on leave again for the 3 weekends that follow. Talk about clearing leave!

Week 2

2011-01-16T14:44:00.003+08:00

Realized that I've missed out on too many weeks of updates, so I'll just start from this weekend.

15.01.11 Saturday

Wanted to sleep in late coz we ended up home at nearly 3 in the morning.

But my neighbors decided it was such a good day to begin hammering the wall at 8am, followed by drilling and pounding some chili, I never really got a good rest. Dang.

For some bizarre reason, I decided to go put on some hair treatment and facial mask right away. I guess the special treat (Laneige Strawberry Yogurt Pack + Optima Ampoule for hair) did perk me up. Bugged Poppy to wake up and have breakfast (or is it lunch?) with me, and ordered my fave egg and toast set meal.

Got home after brief walk to NTUC's CNY tentage to check out some packet drinks and goodies. Then I started packing the storeroom - moving some unopened champagne glasses, jugs and plates to the cabinet; throwing out the vacuum cleaner (since Poppy has a new love so he probably won't use it anymore, while I prefer the good ol' broom) and shifting his aquatic rocks to the storage.

Wanted to take a nap to replenish some energy, but MIL arrived earlier than we expected so we finished up the last chores, put on the Despicable Me DVD for Custard to watch while we prepare to go fetch Popo for dinner. Yes, Custard's such a TV addict, on my off-days she'd sit in front of the telly and wait for me to switch on 包青天 in the afternoon. I suppose the guy with black face speaking in dramatic tone amuses her.

And so, dinner was at Lim Joo Hin coz we were craving for steaming porridge on the rainy day. Ordered half a dozen of dishes or so, finished up and sent MIL home before sending Popo home too. Got home, finished watching Despicable Me and went off to bed.

14.01.11 Friday

Was off to Colourful Aquarium, followed by IMM.

We got ourselves a couple of Lock & Lock freeze-able containers, fruit cutting mat and sushi mat for Poppy's upcoming Ngoh Hiang making session. The last time Poppy made them and stored them in the freezer, our ice cubes all turned into weird (and not to mention, awful) Ngoh Hiang flavor. Blek.

Anyhoos, we met Alex, Helmi and Nurah (not sure if I got her name right) for supper at Pandan City. And Helmi recommended the "3-layer tea" to us. It looked something like this...

Damn good stuff!

The Cheesy Chicken Chop I had was actually really cheesy. The stall was very generous with the mayonnaise-like cheese and the fries were yummy too. Went jalan-jalan after the meal, and to my surprise, there were quite a lot of stuff to look at.

And Poppy bought a replacement for the watch he lost at work. He loves it so much because it's water resistant and cheap, and wears it to work and his swims all the time. Alex bought an identical one after Poppy showed it to him the last time. LOL. And it was one of the watches my bro and I bought for my dad's birthday (about 15 years ago?!).

School-boy Casio watch

We almost bought a dolly stroller for Custard, but figured she would easily claw through the cheap material. Pity. Would probably buy her the skateboard the next time since Poppy promised to bring me there again. Heh!

WORK ON A SUNDAY ISH SO BORRRRRING (but I like it that way).

Gives me time to plan for our Cambodia trippy. Doing a 8-day tour from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (and maybe Sihanoukville or Battambang). Time to strike off another UNESCO site on my to-visit list.

And I'm looking forward to my week-long leave from Friday onwards. Yay!

Pre, Pre, Pre-CNY Chores

2011-01-14T16:48:00.004+08:00

The first lunar new year as the missus, and second year in our new home.

After doing the laundry and sweeping yesterday, took the air-con apart for cleaning and brought down the curtains for washing. Cleaned up the bedroom a bit, and I'm only left with clearing my bookshelf. Every year I'm stuck with the last-minute attempts to tidy up my wardrobe, so this year I decided to do it earlier.

Brace urselves for the horrendous sight of my wardrobe...

Before

After

It's tidier now (I think) since I did cleared out a stack of unworn/unwanted clothes which I've been hoarding for years. Self-console.

To reward myself, I've decided to spree Forever21 and Old Navy/GAP with the girls this week. We bought more than ~~US$500~~ US$600 worth of merchandise, so happy! I'm sure I'll be able to figure out where to chuck the new clothes again at a later date. Hah!

Anyway, both Poppy and I took leave on the third week of the month to finish up the pre-new year chores, and help him with his annual Ngoh Hiang making. There've been lots of requests for his Ngoh Hiang it seems, so Poppy's doubling the quantity as compared to last year (and he's more than happy that his snack is so popular).

Oh, Poppy's back from work.

Off for din-din!

2011-01-14T16:41:00.003+08:00

There goes my hope of a second property and, not forgetting, my Capitaland stocks. Aaaarghhhh!

For the fourth time in two years, they have implemented "cooling measures".

The new measures

by Esther Ng

- Holding period for imposition of Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) increased from three to four years.

- SSD rates raised to 16 per cent, 12 per cent, 8 per cent and 4 per cent for homes bought today and thereafter and which are sold in the first, second, third and fourth year, respectively.

- Loan-To-Value (LTV) limit lowered to 50% on housing loans for property purchasers who are not individuals.

- LTV limit lowered from 70 per cent to 60 per cent for individual property purchasers with one or more outstanding housing loans.

Taken from:

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110114-0000238/New-cooling-measures-but-,,,

Brisbane Flood

2011-01-12T17:26:00.007+08:00

Just where did all that water come from?!

This is so saddening.

Animals suffering in Brisbane flood crisis

It is not just people who have been affected by floods swamping Queensland - animals too are suffering terribly.

Domestic pets, wild animals and commercial livestock have all been caught up in the disaster.

Michael Beatty, the RSPCA's Queensland spokesman, says he has heard many devastating tales from residents forced to evacuate their homes.

"In some places where people have had to leave their pets behind it's been absolutely heartbreaking for them, as I'm sure you can understand," he said.

Mr Beatty says the flooding has left the organisation in a tough position.

"Anything to do with animals, everyone calls the RSPCA. Unfortunately, the situation in Brisbane now, in regards to us physically being able to take in animals, is non-existent because we simply can't," he said.

"We don't have an operational shelter in Brisbane. The animals that left the Brisbane shelter have gone into foster care and we just really thank the foster carers and the volunteers who came in this morning to help.

"But at the moment, we basically can't take in any other animals."

Mr Beatty says for the time being, the RSPCA has enough foster care homes.

"But certainly in the days, possibly even weeks ahead, we are going to need more foster carers, there's no doubt about that," he said.

Mr Beatty says there are concerns for all animals, including domestic pets, farm animals and those in the wild.

"In Rockhampton even now we don't know exactly how bad the situation is going to be in regard to livestock," he said.

"We have started to drop food to areas where we know livestock has been isolated.

"In most cases people did their best to try to move the animals to higher ground, but in some cases the higher ground that they moved them to simply wasn't high enough.

"In all possibility there'll be a large number of animals, livestock in particular, that will have died during the floods, no doubt about that.

"As far as the native animal toll, well, I don't think anyone's going to know probably for weeks."

Taken from

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/12/3111620.htm?site=news

Birthday Trip '11

2011-01-03T00:00:00.002+08:00

And so, there's something to look forward to in 2011 already!

My annual birthday trip =)

Past trips include: 2007 - Trip back to Gramps' with family; 2008 - Brought Mommy & Bro to Bangkok with Poppy; 2009 - Guangzhou, Macau & Zhuhai trip with Poppy, Vincent & Qingli (and, that was where he proposed. hee.)

This year, Poppy has finally decided that we shall go to Cambodia. Like FINALLY.

Had wanted to go there last year, but wedding preparations held back most of the trips, including my birthday trip.

Since my trip to Yogyakarta in 2008 with Hoochie, I've been lemming to go for a nice photography trip with Poppy. Indochina's my personal favorite, apart from India (which Poppy has yet to come to terms with). Although we've been to Vietnam, Thailand and the Riau Island (countless times, I must add) over the past few years, I've never actually brought my cam equipment because... I was more keen in shopping. Oops, hah.

Simply surfing over the internet and looking at pictures of the countless boutique hotels in Phnom Penh makes me want to fly there right this instance! Here's a few for your viewing pleasure...

The Japanese Suite from The Villa Paradiso

Pretty cabanas by the pool from Blue Lime

Can't wait to take this opportunity to explore and play with the cammie I got for him during X'mas. The cammie's still naked now (with no bag or carrying case), so I'm still pondering over which camera bag I should buy for the baby. Something comfy for carrying throughout the day and yet trusty (best if waterproof).

So far, I've got two in mind, both from Crumpler

(I personally prefer Lowepro but I think Poppy would like something that doesn't look as dull)

5 Million Dollar Home

6 Million Dollar Home

Hilarious names they have for their line of products, don't you think?

Am I impatient or what?

I can't wait for April to be here seriously!

New Year. New Resolutions.

2010-12-30T00:00:00.002+08:00

The New Year spells the need for new resolutions.

A gentle reminder for myself to work towards fulfilling them all, like I did for last year!

1. A trip to Seoul, Korea

Unfortunately, I'll be missing the chance to join Shan in February.

Because it's my first official lunar new year as the "Missus", Poppy thinks it's a bad idea to be travelling during the festive. A little disappointed, but I love CNY too much to miss it anyway.

So hopefully, I'll have a chance to bring Mommy there in Spring or Autumn in 2011!

Also, my annual target of 4 trips per year, as with previous years, may be reduced it to just 2 or 3, if I do get to go for a long one in Korea.

2. A new member in the home

After rounds of discussion (...and disagreement) since the wedding. We have finally concluded that, yes, we should have a new member in the house. Of coz, we're gonna let nature take it's course and nothing much's being done yet since we've got conflicting schedules for most parts, so hopefully the new year will be kinder on us and grant more time to fulfill our parental duties.

Lemming to go for a month or two of long leave to rest up and Poppy seems agreeable on that. Hee. And yes, we think it'll be nice to have another kitty at home too =))

3. More, more, more Moolah

As with every other year, this item is a permanent resident on my list.

Definitely not one to pray for striking lottery, simply by my own hard work, I want to set and attain a reasonable amount to save in the new year. Only starting to grow my savings back since the wedding-and-honeymoon, so extra efforts are in order for 2011!

Now that you've seen mine, what's your resolution(s) for the new year?

New Year. New Hair.

2010-12-26T22:38:00.006+08:00

I want a new style for new year!

Love the current length, which is easy to manage, but it's getting a little untidy although I've already trimmed it once in October. Told Shan and Mich sometime back that I'm lemming to perm it again, but very much afraid I will look auntie-ish. Mich is totally regretting her cut and is against my idea, of coz.

Anyhoos, here's a couple of ideas I got online...

About the same as my current length. A little unkempt but more natural.

Suits my lazy a$$ best =D

Slightly shorter and neater. I gather much effort has to be put it to keep it this tidy.

About the same as current length too (after perm). Tighter curls and cuter.

Would look pretty when tied up too, I think!

Shucks. I need suggestions.

New Year. New Resolutions. - The Review

2010-12-26T03:40:00.007+08:00

A review on the resolutions I made at the beginning of 2010:

~~1. cut down on sprees~~
relatively hard now that i've found my way to buy stuff not just from US, UK but also Korea at the comfort of my home. ok, skip this.

Check. I still make one or two bulk purchases once in a while *sheepish*, but definitely not as much as I did in the first half of the year.

1. continue to buck up on my exercise regime
2009 was a good start.
now that i've moved in with Poppy, let's hope he''ll continue to keep me motivated

Check. Back on the exercise routine. With a little objective of completing a half-marathon under 2 hours, hopefully it'll keep me going on in the months to come.

2. i will attempt (at least a little) DIY for my wedding

i resolve to add some personal touches (or at the least attempt to do so).

on side note, i was (or still am?) infamously known in the family for my 三分钟热度 lit. short-lived enthusiasm. i need some whipping from my bridesmaids.

Zilch. Turns out the wedding was too big an affair for me to handle myself. Glad things turned out ok afterwards, anyway.

3. increase my moolah

alright, i figured i probably won't be able to save much because of my terrible shopping habits. since i can't save more, i shall earn more then! more OT!

Check. Fairly successful, I gather. Despite the huge drain on my bank accounts in 2009/2010 due to the wedding and honeymoon, still managed to meet my target for 2010, recover my losses and start growing my savings again.

PS: Eating out much more than before this year, and that's burning a considerable hole in my pocket. Baaaadd.

Feeling a little itchy though, from our abstinence from traveling abroad.

Still, we got to visit Bangkok in January, USA for 2 weeks in July, Hong Kong in September and random Malaysia trips (just one more trip and I would've met my once-a-quarter trip objective too. I'm just greedy.)

Just 5 more days to a brand new year. New resolutions are in order!

Week 51

2010-12-25T23:58:00.001+08:00

The past weeks have been work, work.. and a lot of work.

17.12.10 Friday

We did manage to visit Megatex at Singapore Expo, after my night shift, and we finally bought Poppy his Dyson vacuum. Had steamboat buffet for dinner at Sunset, just by ourselves the same evening, and visited Alex at his place to collect his early X'mas pressie for us - a set of Pioneer Home Theatre System. Yays.

18.12.10 Saturday

Went to fetch Loh Wei in the afternoon, and met up with Derrick and his wife at Ubi. Then we headed off to meet Foong for lunchie and their "fishy" business. Of coz, I took the opportunity to grab some cakes from Pine Garden! Yummo!

The boys moved all the equipment and tank to our place, set up, chit chat, snacked, finished up and another of his colleague, Stanley, came by to join for dinner. Much as anyone can guess, Poppy introduced them to his fave 咸蛋排骨 at Sunset.

Work, work over the next few days with random visits to the aquarium and our regular jogs.

22.12.10 Wednesday

Finally off!

Took my well-deserved sleep after work.

Since Poppy wasn't hungry when I woke up in the evening, we went for a jog together before washing up and having our dinner at Sakae sushi at City Vibes (at almost 9pm). Dropped by aquarium again, then went home to fix up my own feesh-tank. Took a short drive out to West Coast park afterwards and back home again to continue fixing feesh-tank. Sheesh.

PS: Poppy was a sweetie and bought me some more Pine Garden cakes when he was in the area a few days back!

23.12.10 Thursday

JB day.

Terrible traffic jam. Only managed to reach Jusco after an hour of being stuck in the traffic.

Can't remember if we had lunch or we headed straight for KTV. Only recall having noodles at Ah Biao's before engaging in another hour of jam or so. Blah.

Met Vincent for snackie and popped by his place to see his or-gui (tortoise) and new tank.

Poppy had to work the next day, so we headed home shortly after.

24.12.10 Friday

Off to Changi for some business in the morning. Then caught up with Shan over lunchie. It's been such a long long time since I last saw her! We always have endless to talk about! =)

Brief shopping at City Plaza after Mee-hoon Kuey meal. Then we headed home separately.

Poppy returned home after attending his colleague's funeral, then we slacked around at home for a bit. Before deciding to have a light dinner - our fave Teochew Porridge at Lim Joo Hin Eating H ouse off Beo Crescent. Turned out to be not-so-light for me after I devoured two bowls of porridge together with a plate of bak chor (minced meat); sweet and sour pork ribs; tow pok (dried beancurd); and half a salted egg. Poppy strictly adhered to just a bowl of porridge, but had to help me finish a few mouthfuls after I was thoroughly stuffed. Hehe.

Bored as we were. We agreed to go to Sea View aquarium in Jalan Kayu to take a look. Picked up Foong on the way too. Browsed and bought some miscellaneous items. Sent Foong home, then off to meet Khiam at Dempsey for ice cream at Ben & Jerry's (with compliments from my dear brother)!

Chitter-chatter for a bit, and off home again.

On the drive home, told Poppy that all I want for X'mas-es, New Years or Valentine's... is to have a simple meal, go watch feesh (although it's not really my kinda hobby, but it's nice to understand what Poppy enjoys doing and we can have a common topic) and have a peaceful day. =))

25.12.10 Saturday

So here it was, X'mas day - just like any other days. No special celebration and no church visit this time 'round since I'm working in the evening.

Got up around 10, prepared and drove over to Alex's. Poppy went for his swim with Khiam and I went for my jog in the gym. Off to West Coast for yummy duck rice after washing-up. Grabbed some groceries at Sheng Siong afterwards because Poppy was in the mood (again) for making Ngoh Hiang.

So while I was taking my pre-work nap, the fragrance from his cooking filled the whole house and Custard was making funny hungry sounds. Ok, maybe she's just pissed that she has to stay in the cage while Poppy mopped the floor and cleaned up the kitchen after cooking. Packed some of the yummo meat rolls together with my pasta, fruits and pastries, then Poppy sent me to work.

That marks the end of my monotonous festive.

Well, I was supposed to have prepared a pressie for Poppy but there was a little crop-up.

Anyway, I really racked my brains X 1000 to think of a suitable and practical gift since we already got the Dyson vacuum earlier last week.

Ruled out:

(1) adidas miCoach since I managed to find a pretty useful (but slightly cranky) Runkeeper App available for both iPhone and Android OS (for free!);

(2) Bicycle - As someone who doesn't cycle, I've got no clue what brand/type he would prefer

(3) iPhone 4. Apparently, he's not very tech-savvy and I have to jailbreak/restore/manage his current iPhone 3GS. Can't imagine what I have to do if he gets iPhone 4 in his hands. Brrr.

(4) iPad. Same as point 3. Plus it's redundant have 2 Apple OS gadgets.. might as well get Galaxy Tab, but he probably doesn't need either.

(5) Definitely, not a watch because he only wore the last cK watch I got for him less than twice! Bad Poppy!

Shit. What's left?

He's always been really thrifty and never indulged much in his hobbies, especially if they're expensive. So finally decided to get him...

A picture to make up it first (only if he reads this in time). Hee.

Nikon DSLR D300 with 17-55mm Lens (AF-S Zoom-Nikkor ED 17-55mm f/2.8G IF DX)

Did some comparison against the D90 also from Nikon & EOS50D / 40D from Canon. And still prefer Nikon. I'm just biased. Ha!

Hopefully, things iron out and I can get my hands on this baby during my sole off day next week.

S$6K poorer by then, but worth every cent =)

Week 49

2010-12-12T01:24:00.001+08:00

02.12.10 Thursday

Met Poppy at Jurong Point after work, bought a cake for LiHan from Icing Room.

Pity Mingkai couldn't make it at the last minute, so we decided to meet at Vivocity instead. Had our dinners at Marché, then off to Coffeebean to cut the cake and have a cuppa.

Coffee & Cream. Yum.

Headed home after sending LiHan home.

Long day ahead.

03.12.10 Friday

Set off for company's D&D at Klapsons in Tanjong Pagar. Ultra tired, especially after an entire day's work.

There were giveaways including a pair of air tickets, a Royal Caribbean cruise and about 10 iPads but I only managed to win myself vouchers (AGAIN). Ok, at least it's better than Eric's prize (last year) of rice cooker. LOL.

Part of the team during the D&D

04.12.10 Saturday

Collected my parcel from the post office, had breakfast at the central, then grocery shopping at NTUC in the morning. Fetched Kenn and his family, then headed to Turf City to see cars again. Spent half the day there and he decided on a Lancer Ex in black. We then rushed off for Gong Gong's birthday dinner with the rest of the family at Bukit Timah. They were almost finished and we went to clear the leftovers. Haha.

Sent Godmum and her family home, then we stopped by Ochado in Chong Pang. My brother recommended me to this brand, but it's oh-so-faraway so I've never tried it till today. Poppy got his usual Hazelnut Milk Tea but with Coffee Jelly and I got the Roasted Tea with Azuki Beans and Pearls. He's was just ok but mine was really good. Price is about the same as Koi, but pity it's simply too far away for me though.

05.12.10 Sunday
Had our late breakfasts at MacDonald's, West Coast. Went for a stroll in the park afterwards, and since we had no program so we headed home. We were feeling game for some badminton, but all the courts in the sports complexes nearby were all fully booked, so we called up Kenn and met at his house to play instead.

Worked up a good amount of sweat, showered quickly and met Alex & Mich at their place. Then all 6 of us were off to Nex! Darned crowded. All we could see were many heads. =S
Anyhoos, we had some sweets and headed off for dinner at Foodpark, Sunset.

Home to Zzz after dindin.

Work as usual on Monday and Tuesday. And it's my turn for night shift for the rest of the month. Boring.

It's high time for a job switch, I think. Sigh.

08.12.10 Wednesday

Home to sleep in the morning after work. Poppy came home in the evening and we were off to JB for dindin at Taman Sentosa. Returned home and popped by Bengawan Solo to buy some snacks (because of night shift, I become extremely hungry at night).

Attempted to sleep but ended up watching HK Drama and forcing myself to bed at 3am. Then woke up at 8am when Poppy prepared to go to work. Night shifts sucks balls.

09.12.10 Thursday

Random nothingness throughout the day. Took my nap then met sis-in-law to go to Sunset together for FIL's birthday dinner. Stopped by Balmoral Bakery, as recommended by Lady Iron Chef, to grab some confectionery. Pity, the custard buns were already sold out. Almost bought the entire shop home but decided to just buy enough for the next day's breakfast.

2 X Napoleons (mille feuille), cake with cream centre, cream horn, curry puff (not in picture)

Dinner was humdrum, considering we've eaten at the same place for like 4 - 5 times in the past few weeks. Every dish on the table was ok, until MIL decided to order crabs. Yucks. Cooked crab swimming in diluted sweet-and-sour chili sauce. Bad choice.

Poppy sent them all home afterwards, and I took a walk back home via my favorite scenic route.

10.12.10 Friday

Slept late in the wee hours again. Then went to Peace Centre in the afternoon before heading to Raffles City shopping centre to do some x'mas shopping. Bought many much snacks (Yum!) - Honey Roasted Whiltshire Ham Crisps, 3 X Fruits Jelly Puffs and an assortment of cookies and chocolates. *drool*

Walked over to Suntec City to meet Poppy for dindin. Had a Salmon with Soba set meal and skipped dessert coz we'll be having popcorn and nachos later. Browsing in Carrefour for a bit then got to the cinema for Narnia 3.

I never watched Part 1 and 2 of this movie, and after the show it's not difficult to figure out why I never caught the prequels. Guess I probably didn't miss much anyway.

Anyway, we headed home straight after the movie since Poppy's working the next day and needed to rest early.

And I managed to get myself to sleep by 1am too.

Haven't gotten my dose of jog/run or any exercise the whole week. Feeling awkward all over. Not like night shifts at all =(

Week 48

2010-12-02T13:03:00.003+08:00

27.11.10 Saturday

Work as usual. Met Alex & Mich after work, fetched Kenn & Lynn and headed off to JB. Had Bah Kut Teh at a random shop because 2 of our favorites were both closed. Drove back to Taman Sentosa after dinner for a car wash, then supper of Lok-Lok and Ice-Jelly. Noms. We ate SOOO much within the span of a few hours.

'twas almost 2am by the time we sent Kenn & Lynn back, and got home ourselves.

28.11.10 Sunday

Supposed to get up early for our jog, but we were too tired from the late night before. We did manage to grab ourselves brekkie at MacDonald's though. Then we drove over to 舅舅's place to visit Popo & Gong Gong. Stayed there through to the evening, sent them home and headed home for our evening jog.

Alex called up and asked if we wanted to meet for dinner. So off we went to Causeway Point for Ichiban Sushi. Still the same long queue even at the other end of the island. They ran out of the custard roll, so we had dessert at Swensen's instead. Ate super full (AGAIN).

All that run gone to waste. Tsk Tsk.

Home, wash-up and Zzz.

Monday & Tuesday was just work, work and work. Our new shoe cabinet has arrived and we don't have to stack our footwear like a mountain beneath the window anymore. And my Forever21 shipment is also delivered. Yippee X 2!

01.12.10 Wednesday

Wednesday was my sleep day. Slept till noon, woke up for some cereals and a variety show, then back to sleep again till 6pm, when Bro knocked on my door. He brought me many Ben & Jerry's vouchers. Yay.

Poppy came home slightly after 6pm then it was dinner time!

Had Salted Egg Pork Ribs again at Foodpark in Sunset. Friendly to our taste-buds and pockets. We like!

Sent Bro back to hall, headed home to wash up, then Poppy said to meet Mingkai at Botak Jones downstairs.

Random chit-chat over a drink. And I finally realize who was Poppy's Ping-Pong kaki. It's so out of this world, I thought only my dad plays Ping-Pong. LOL.

Anyhoos, decided we'll meet again this evening for LiHan's belated birthday dinner.

Then there's the company D&D at Klapsons tomorrow evening.

So sleepsie. 1 off-day is barely enough for me to sleep. Wish I don't have to work tomorrow.

Oh well...

Random

2010-11-26T23:27:00.002+08:00

An entire day of nua-ness at home.

Woke up at 5am, thinking it's time to go work, only to realize it's my off day.

Played Angry Birds on my phone till Poppy came home from work around 7am.

Slept all the way till noon, got up to do laundry and fix Custard's meal of boiled chicken fillet.

Back to nua again before heading off to Jurong East.

Had my first (and only) meal of the day, loitered around a bit and finally bought our new shoe rack. Yay.

Headed home, changed and had our jog to Sunset and back. Washed up and ready to sleep now.

Bye bye lazy Friday off.
Back to work tomorrow.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Fruitful Week.

2010-11-22T12:50:00.001+08:00

2010.11.09 Tuesday

My shipment from Korea finally arrived.

Fixed up Custard's new scratch post and she totally digs it!

2010.11.12 Friday

Audris choped me today for a girls' afternoon.

Met her at the MRT station, bought our lunches and headed home to play with Custard.

Had dinner at Neo Garden Restaurant with the rest after stopping by BBDC to book my Final Theory Test. Ah yes, passed my BTT just the day before, on 11 November. Went home to book the test online only to realize I've insufficient credits. Bummer.

The guys had their dose of billiard at West Coast Recreation Centre and we headed home separately.

******

Can't really remember what happened for the rest of the week.

But I did bring Custard to the vet on Saturday to get her eye checked. Fortunately, nothing serious. I did get seriously traumatized by a Golden Retriever at the clinic though =S

The other worth mentioning is visiting Victor's Kitchen for Dim Sum (which I will elaborate later). Checked out a couple of condominiums over that weekend too. One was too pricey, the other has no suitable units left. Blah.

The rest are most likely something unexciting and monotonous.

******

2010.11.17 Wednesday

Slept in till the afternoon coz we were off to JB the previous late night.

Prepared to work on our Home Improvement Program (HIP).

Performed a 乾坤大挪移 and shifted our TV plus console to another side of the door. Of course, we had to move the sofa as well, together with the bench and coffee table. Derrick & Leah came by to pass Poppy the cutter and Yao-Yao helped out with the trunking.

Shoo-ed them off for their appointment then finished up the touch-ups and cleaning.

By then we were famished! Only had some home-cooked pasta since morning =( Met up with Alex & Mich for din-din at Ikea, then browsed for shoe cabinets. No luck though.

Alex wanted to come by and 參觀 our new setting. LOL.

So we popped by Fong Seng Nasi Lemak, near bro's school, to grab a dozen of wings before heading home. By our 3rd wing, we were stuffed to the brim. *burpppp*

2010.11.19 Friday

Again, we got up pretty late.

Couldn't decide on where to eat, so we walked over to the newly re-opened Clementi Market & Food Centre. Poppy got his fix of Chee Cheong Fun and I had economical rice. Then it was KTV time! It's been quite a while huh.

Caught up with Loh Wei and Baby Clarice for dinner in Jurong afterwards.

Then set off to meet Derrick and Leah at Sunset Grill.

Wings, nachos, beers and ribs

The deep-fried wings were pretty disappointing, nachos was good for me but Poppy felt otherwise.

Chillax a little over some beer, then we drove by Derrick's soon-to-be-ready flat in Sengkang.

'twas almost 11 by then. took a slow drive back home via Serangoon.

2010.11.20 Saturday

Had to wake up early coz we promised to send MIL and aunt to the airport for their flight to KL. Turned out we had to fetch all 3 aunts, so Popo & Gong Gong had to wait for us a bit. Grabbed breakfast at Mac then they proceeded to check-in. And it started to pour. We were totally caught off our guards and without brollies. Ran all the way to the carpark and one side of my slippers flew off. Nenepok. Anyhoos, we still went over to the Expo to collect our SCMS Race Pack amid the rain.

Dropped by Mommy's for a chat and since Poppy's been lemming to try out the Honda Airwave and check out the prices, we drove over to Turf City's car dealers for a look. Then stopped for a bit at Autobacs as well.

Since Alex (Hong) was still in JB fixing his car, so we called the other Alex (Ong). LOL. Met him, Penelope and their 2 chubby tubbies for dinner at ABC Market. My fave Koo Kee Yong Tau Foo was replaced by another stall. Sian. Ordered Kuey Chap instead. Had an additional serving of Rojak to share as well. Noms.

The bubbies had to take their milk, so the pair hurried back home.

So we did too.

2010.11.21 Sunday

Much awaited Sunday is finally here!

Alex & Mich parked their car at our place and we took Poppy's ride to town. The place was packed as usual. Yes, it's none other than Victor's Kitchen at Sunshine Plaza.

Since our trip here last week, I've found the closest competitor to Hong Kong's dim sum. Love (X 1000) their Egg Yolk Lava Bun (流沙包). We agreed it's not as good as HK's but close enough than most others.

We ordered another handful of munchies including the Siew Mai; Quail Egg Siew Mai; Glutinous Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf; Chicken Roll; Beancurd Roll; and Mango Pomelo Sago (dessert) and Summer Ice Tea (beverage).

SO DAMNED GOOD.

Hot Favorite - Lava Bun

Siew Mai

Summer Ice Tea

(Sitting in an ice-bowl)

Mango Pomelo Sago

(almost as good as Ah Chew's!)

*slurp slurp*

Satiated, we went over to Tang's to collect my 3rd & 4th hamper from Clarins. Gave Mich one of them coz I simply have to many already. And I don't dare to play the game anymore or else Poppy will chop my head off the next time I ask him to send me there to pick up another hamper =S

We then jalan-ed in FEP for a bit. Bought a pair of sandals to replace my fly-away slippers. And another pair of shorts - matchie matchie with Mich. We have identical shoes, skirt, dress and now, a pair of shorts as well. Must make sure we don't end up wearing them on the same day.

The boys were mad bored by then, so we took off and headed back to Sunset Grill.

Had the Cheesie Fries and Buffalo Wings this time 'round... but being scaredy cats, we tried the Level 1 only.

Forgot to take picture, so here's one from Mich

Not bad. We will be back for an upgrade soon.

Took off quickly coz we were surrounded by flies and all sorts of insects.

Left for Sungei Kadut. Alex wanted to check out the side-tables and we wanted to see shoe cabinet. But after 2 hours' tour in an assortment of stores/warehouses, we still returned empty-handed.

Dropped the duo at our place, then Poppy went off to meet his friend, Nelson for a bit. I stayed to pack the house and wash up. And we were both having mild flu, so popped a pill each and headed off to bed.

... and today I woke up with a sore eye - got it from Mich yesterday. Shibby.

Speculation and Trading vs. Gambling

2010-11-15T13:54:00.006+08:00

Mental note to self.
Chants: "I AM NOT A GAMBLER. I AM NOT A GAMBLER."

Excerpt taken off FJ's blog.

When does trading become gambling? There is a very thin line. I maintain that most traders ARE gamblers. They use markets as a substitute for a casino. Here are some of the sign posts that you have crossed the line. I love Jeff Foxworthy so I will steal his "you just might be a redneck."

1. IF you enter trades without a clear trading plan, you just might be a gambler.
2. IF you trade just to be trading, you just might be a gambler.
3. IF your bored and enter a trade, you just might be a gambler.
4. IF you look at potential profit before assessing potential loses, you just might be a gambler.
5. IF you have no impulse control, you just might be a gambler.
6. IF you have no methodology, you just might be a gambler.
7. IF you rely on others for your trading decisions, you just might be a gambler.
8. IF you do not take full responsibility for your trading outcomes, you just might be a gambler.
9. IF you increase your risk due to losses, you just might be a gambler.
10. IF you do not use stop losses or do not adhere to them, you just might be a gambler.
And my all time favorite
11. IF you get an adrenaline rush when your entering trades, you just might be a gambler.

In summation I would like to say that I do enjoy casino gambling as a form of entertainment. I strive to over come the house's edge when I do gamble. Gambling is entertainment and trading is a business and should be approached as a business enterprise. IF your using the markets as a gambling outlet, be my guest. Traders that approach trading with a positive expectancy WILL take all your money. They will send you stumbling out into the night, cross-eyed and mumbling to yourself. Be smart. You can either feed the trading gods or feed your head. Do the work and get educated before risking one thin dime. Employ laser like focus in your trading and use iron discipline. The end result can be well beyond your wildest expectation.

LWE

2010-11-09T18:45:00.000+08:00

Another picture-heavy post ahead.

Too busy these days to write too much.

2010.11.05 Friday

A long day for us.

First stop: Fetch MIL; then went to 舅舅's place, picked up some foodstuff and brought it over to the chalet, where Pei Si and VIctor were already checked-in. Had some hot food while waiting for the rest, then the usual jabber session for me and mahjong session for Poppy.

Then we were off to meet Alex & Mich for Megamind! Awesome show!

Had our suppers at Pioneer and back home for Zzz.

2010.11.06 Saturday

Met up with Angie, Zen, Vincent and QL for JB day trip.

Pity Alex had to attend a wedding dinner, otherwise it'll be so fun with Mich around.

Anyhoos, we caught some random movie - Adèle: Rise of the Mummy. Afterwhich, we walked over to the CIQ building to apply for the MACS pass (yes, we are such frequent visitors, so it'll really help reduce the waiting time.)

Then it was dinner time at Kim Gary. Yum.

American A-mix set

(consists of chicken chop, pork chop, bacon, sausages, chips and salad)

Poppy and his yummy Ice-blended Yam drink.

The boys.

Headed home after a little shopping + petrol.

No car wash since it was raining madly.

2010.11.07 Sunday

Had a good sleep till late morning =)

Bro came by in the morning, and we went to fetch Mommy, and off to JB we went. Told you we're such frequent visitors. Hah.

Popped by aunt's place, hanged around a bit and set off for the supermarket for groceries.

Took a good long time to shop around, drove over to Sutera Mall and shopped some more. Poppy even had his haircut while we shopped.

Dinner was at an ultra-ulu location which came highly recommended by my aunt.

Our objective for the day: CRABS!

Coussie, Mommy, Bro - waiting for the food to be served

Deep-fried Crabs with Salted-Egg

(so irresistible, I almost forgot to snap a picture, because I was busy giap-ing a piece for myself)

Everyone was singing praises for the crabs and Nonya-style fish (not pictured) after dinner.

Of course, we'd love to patronize them again, but I guess we just gotta give my aunt another treat so that she'll bring us there. Hehe.

Ahh, it's been THAT long since Poppy allowed me to have any crabs because of my darned lipid levels.

I must invite Mommy to our dinner more often to enjoy that once-in-a-blue-moon treat.

*Hiak hiak hiak*

Weekstart.

2010-11-03T08:42:00.001+08:00

Back to day ~~shit~~ shift.
And already looking forward to the long weekend.

Met up with Zen, Angie, Vincent, QL on Monday for Koi + Nando's + TCC after a long, long time =)
Heading off to JB for seafood with them again this weekend. Yummo.

Anniversary weekend

2010-10-31T23:38:00.006+08:00

2010.10.29 Friday

We were off to our Pre-anniversary dinner.

Poppy kept me in suspense right to the last minute, reassuring me from time to time, that I'd love that place.

Still, every 30 seconds or so, I'd ask him "so where are we going?", "are we there yet?" or "is the place so-and-so?".

I even tried sulking to make him talk. Nope, no go.

Finally, we arrived at that place I indeed love so much -

Asian Civilizations Museum.

Of course, where else in ACM could we dine but Indochine?

Absolutely love Poppy to bits.

I should've guessed it, because he asked me to use him phone to call Alex a couple of days back, and I questioned him about the Indochine number I saw on the dial list. He flatly denied, saying it was his colleague who borrowed his phone. Ok, I'm that daft too.

Anyway, the food was awesome - mix of Indo-China cuisine.

Poppy ordered my favorite comfort food - Salmon Carpaccio (Japanese equivalent of Salmon Sashimi); followed by Pan-seared Red Snapper Fillet with Grilled Zucchinis; Hot Basil Chicken and rounded it all off with another of my all-time favorite Mango Sticky Rice.

'twas a lovely meal indeed.

After the meal, we took a quick stroll around the ACM before it closed for the day. It's already been a couple of months since we've been there... Then we walked over to One Fullerton for a cuppa and people-watched for a bit. Headed home early for we had a long day ahead on Saturday.

Marina Bay Sands across the bay

2010.10.30 Saturday

Woke up slightly earlier today.

Packed a little and made sure Custard has sufficient food and water to last her for the next 2 days.

And yes, we're off to Sentosa!

Headed straight for The Sentosa, checked-in and watched Marmaduke in the room before wandering outside.

We are such suckers for their feather pillows and quality bedding. Poppy even insists we should ask them where to get those pillows!

Took a good, long stroll from Tanjong Beach to the Beach Station.

Queued for our first Luge ride.

It's much more fun than Disneyland's Autopia!

Skyride + Luge

Afterwards, we hopped on the Yellow Line shuttle and took the car out to meet Alex, Mich, Loh and YM at Vivocity.

Early dinner with the rest at Marché

Songs of the Sea

Poppy gave everyone an ice-cream treat at New Zealand Natural.

Drinks were also on him at The Pavilion back at the resort. Such a sweet lad, ain't he?

After bidding the guys goodbye, Poppy made a beeline for a soak in the tub while I snacked on my cake and wine.

The toiletries provided by Spa Botanica were heavenly. I was lemming to get a good spa treat the following day, but of course, that didn't happen because we slept right through to the afternoon.

Bummer!

2010.10.31 Sunday

Slept all the from the night before, after watching 身娇肉贵.

Poppy's plan to hit the gym and swim was foiled too. Hah.

Snappily washed up, packed and checked-out reluctantly =(

If not for work, we would definitely have stayed for an additional night!

While Poppy was driving us to breakfast, I told him:

"Poppy, say bye-bye to Sentosa. We'll be back soon right?"

And Poppy cheekily replied:

"Sure, very soon. I'll make a U-turn right in front."

*rolls eyes*

Dim Sum at Yum Cha

Took another stroll around Chinatown after Dim Sum at Yum Cha.

Poppy wanted to queue for Koi but held back after I told him not to take so much sweet drinks. Oops.

Then it was back to home. Fed Custard, unpacked and took a catnap while Poppy sat himself in front of the telly again.

Yet another weekend has zipped past.

We've decided it's been too short, so...

We're heading back to Sentosa again tomorrow, yippee!

Weekend with Family

2010-10-27T05:27:00.017+08:00

Had an ultra fulfilling weekend.

But I'll let the pictures do the talking since I'm pretty stoned after an entire night at work.

I've just received Google's invitation to App Inventor earlier yesterday, and I simply have no energy left to start today. Although tomorrow's my off-day, I still have to back in office for meeting, followed by dinner with the team.

Zzz.

23 Oct '10

The boys went to get their cars serviced while Mich & I went to do 美美. teehee.

Lok-Lok with Poppy, Alex, Mich after BBQ tze char

24 Oct '10

Had late lunch at Lucky Plaza with Poppy.

Headed off to Tangs to collect my Clarins Hamper afterwards, followed by Suntec City to collect the V-Cam. Yay.

Poppy's Ayam Penyet & my Pecel Lele

My renewed look

Had this style a couple of years back, and now again =)

Hamper from the generous folks at Clarins

1 more coming my way, by the way! Can't be luckier!

Off to Tampines to fetch Mommy & Papa to Ikea.

Bro had to stay in Hall because he had some project meeting.

Browsed a bit, then went to Century Square to look at some sofas, then had dinner (on me) at Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant at Tampines 1.

Love my parents so much.

Unlike most parents, no matter how little I visit them at home, they will never nag at me.

Without me telling them, they will already know I'm tied up with work and even encourage me to rest more. I just can't love and pamper them enough.

My fave: Lotus Root with Spare Ribs Soup

Vegetable stew and some leftover from the BBQ combination

I'm a slow eater, so I didn't manage to take any pictures of the deep-fried prawns with salad sauce nor did I manage to read and remember the names. So whatever names you see above are made up by whatever my goldfish-memory can recall.

Please don't quote them when you do visit the restaurant! LOL!

Almond Tofu with Longan

not fantastic IMO, but had to make do with it since they ran out of Red Bean Paste.

I'm glad everyone liked the food lots!

And Poppy is lemming to bring Ah-Po & Gong Gong there soon too.

We're always bringing them to Ah Yat's dim sum, we need variety!

The next time will be Poppy's treat. bwahaha.

... and before we knew it, weekend was over in a flash.

I'm looking forward to many more fulfilling weekdays and weekends ahead with my family and friends =)

Plan finalized, finally.

2010-10-27T00:11:00.012+08:00

As I was saying in the previous post... Our anniversary is this weekend!

I've finally managed to make changes to my roster with some swapping,

And we've also finally decided that we'll spend the day in Sentosa (not on gambling, I hope).

Managed to get ourselves a night's stay at The Sentosa Resort & Spa by Beaufort despite being SO SO SO last minute.

I wanted to stay at New Majestic but 'twas already fully booked =(

Had to go with Sentosa instead and decide between RWS Hotels (Hotel Michael; Hard Rock Hotel; Festive Hotel) & The Sentosa, but a quick look at TripAdvisor gave us a clear answer. So The Sentosa it shall be. Unfortunately, they ran out of Junior Suite so we were only left with either Deluxe Room, Beaufort Suite, or Garden Villa to choose from. Siao, of course take Deluxe King - Beaufort Suite and above costs around 2-grand. Lao-niang will have to apply for bankruptcy after 1 weekend. Not really, never mind.

There seems to be a lot of activities lined up on the island over the weekend since it's Halloween. Pity though (for him), the day tickets to Sentosa Spooktacular are sold out. I'm not a fan on spook-me-out, and you probably can't never imagine how relieved I am about that, especially after the Demon Jungle trail in Hong Kong Disneyland.

I'll be more than happy to just hang out at Cafe Del Mar for their 1-for1 instead.

Anyways, I'm ecstatic!

Update: 1:01am

Just remembered that although this stay is a treat for Poppy, I still ought to buy him a proper gift, ain't it? (Ahem. I've conveniently eliminated the Dyson vacuum by now).

My trusty companion, Google, came up with this interesting list of Traditional Anniversary Gift List created by a lady, Emily Post.

The first ten goes like this:

1st	Paper
2nd	Cotton
3rd	Leather
4th	Fruit or Flowers
5th	Wood
6th	Candy or Iron
7th	Wool or Copper
8th	Bronze or Pottery
9th	Pottery or Willow
10th	Tin or Aluminum

Oh, I love Google. It always has the answers to my questions.

Decent Dyson

2010-10-26T00:15:00.000+08:00

Poppy has an infatuation over Dyson stuff recently, thanks to Stanley who kept promoting his Blade-less AM03 Pedestal Fan after buying it a couple of months back. We almost bought the DC31 (Handheld) Vacuum Cleaner while at Carrefour yesterday. Almost - for now.

This little "gadget" costs a whooping S$319 before tax.

Should I buy it as a gift for our anniversary?

(I'd very much rather top-up a little and buy an iRobot for sure. But considering it's a gift for him, I should buy something he likes. Or not.) Decisions decisions.

Now, here's what it looks like. Very Transformers-ish.

Before it sucks the dirt clean, it sucks my pocket dry. *Applaud the power of Dyson*

喜歡。你

2010-10-23T04:47:00.002+08:00

Always have been. Always will be.

♥

喜歡你 by 庭竹

So Lucky.

2010-10-22T00:42:00.010+08:00

Time really flies these days.

Work schedule's so tight, i can hardly stop and relax. November's roster is out, and there's lots of complaints... can't imagine what December will be like with so many people on leave and reservist. Bummer!

Only had a day to rest last week, thank goodness, i get the weekend rest this week!

You must be wondering what's with the title. Well, that's coz i won myself two prizes from contests! Nothing huge - just a digital video camera (i'm guessing it's some cheap-plug old stock. still free nonetheless.) and a $100 Clarins Hamper. Hah!

Material gains aside, it's also nearing my 4th anniversary. Though we're bogged down by work, Poppy still makes it a point to spend quality time with me. Once in a while, he'll try to come home a little earlier; or bring me out for nice lunches and dinners (he never wakes up in time for breakfasts); or offer to make me dinner when i'm too lazy to eat out.

He's also a consistent help with majority of the chores - from strenuous ones like carpentry work; putting the laundry out, to mopping; fixing bulbs and doing laundry when i'm not around. He never grumbles (although he loves nagging). Wahaha!

We've been spending lots of time apart due to work. And i guess he's right, we have come to cherish the rare moments we get to see each other. Some of the time, we visit our parents and grandparents, other times, we have gatherings with common friends. And more often than not, we simply go for a drive in his car... spending time during the ride chatting about bits and pieces of our lives.

Much of our focus right now is on the financial aspect. The touchy "to-have or not-to-have" topic. Making plans for mid and long term. Life is just so tough, isn't it? I'm glad just so glad I've got a confidante in him, sharing (almost) the same objectives.

All in all, what i wanna say is... I LOVE MY POPPY!

I'm SO lucky to have him in my life.

So lucky to have someone who loves me, loves my family and my oddities. My life would have been completely different if not for him =))

Then again, he says he's got plans for us, but I just can't pull myself away from work on that day. Ughh, I hope I can work something out by then. *Pulls hair in frustration*

Dale Carnegie Course

2010-10-16T01:45:00.001+08:00

Completed 2 full days of Dale Carnegie crash course worth more has 700 buckaroos.
Fulfilling, insightful and most importantly, relevant!

But I'd also like to conclude that the rate of absorption (of information) is definitely inversely relative to age.
Bleh.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.3

Raaaaaaandom.

2010-10-09T03:58:00.010+08:00

back from KL / Genting on Monday.

since Custard's motion-sickness episode after our HK trip, we decided to keep Custard home instead. managed to get MIL to help us feed and attend to her once a day while we're away. turns out that wasn't a very smart choice either. on the morning following our return, we found Custard's "freshly baked" poo-poo right outside the toilet door. and not far from the crime scene, we spotted a puddle of pee / barf-like substance (was hard to identify since we figured Custard must've done it the night before). the best part was, for some reason, that didn't bother our tenant coz he gladly left it as it was. oh bummer!

Custard ended up getting a day-long quarantine in her cage to make sure she does her business proper at the pan. we took the opportunity to finish up our holiday laundry and carry out a thorough spring cleaning from the bedroom to the kitchen. aired the house proper (since we rarely open our doors these days after Custard attempted 2 runaway stunts and scared the sh*t outta me. will talk about that some other time.).

anyhoos, KL was the usual humdrum. we drove in with Linda and her BF, up to Nilai, where they parted and headed to Genting straight. caught up with some sleep right after we touched base at the hotel. got up a couple of hours later, lunched at Jalan Alor, and did some shopping at Pavilion before a quick cuppa and some Uhuhu's at The Loaf. scurried back to the hotel after my new shoes from Hong Kong (got a matchy pair with Mich) gave me terrible blisters plus my relative came to visit (read: 大姨妈). afterwards, got our usual dose of KTV at RedBox in Sungei Wang and headed back for Zzz.

Poppy was apparently more excited about going to Genting anyway, but since we spent most part of the stay in the casino anyway, there's nothing much to write about. we did catch the match between Chelsea and Arsenal over a couple of beers though.

over the years, it seems we have developed a penchant for patronizing pubs/lounges for sports matches whilst on holidays. guess our travel habits have shifted from being hectic-fanatic to slower-paced and relaxing. alas, maybe that's an indication that age has crept upon us. so random and so depressing. hah. (i think i'm getting high on caffeine.)

on another note, i made a teeny weeny bit of fortune from the stock market recently. yay.
and so, Poppy says we're good to go for another trip, on my account though (that bugger), but leave slots for year-end are ALL snapped up. bummer X 2. persistent me strongly suggests that we should try to squeeze in an island getaway on one of the weekends in any case.

while i rack my brains over that, i suppose i'll end here today.

Off again!

2010-09-29T01:05:00.007+08:00

taken at the bay

(notice, me and Poppy were wearing matchy-matchy Puma sneakers. wahaaa.)

back for a week from the Pearl of the Orient. had mad fun 买东西 -ing & 吃东西 -ing.

visited Disneyland, as well as, Ocean Park, Madame Tussaud's and The Peak. spent the last 2 days doing our shopping, eating and catching up some colleagues over hotpot.

lamented the trip for being so short, else we could've popped by Shenzhen or Guangzhou as well.

anyhoos, we're off again this weekend, for a short trip to KL & Genting.

Poppy needs to satisfy his gaming desires, since we didn't get much time while we were at Vegas. so off we go, also to meet Wynn and CH while we're there. miss the dim sum at Jalan Ipoh & the Uhuhu's!

... aight, till then

Moonie Cakies =)

2010-09-04T20:03:00.007+08:00

after breakfast today, we made a trip to Taka to check out some nice mooncakes for our families. and much to our surprise, we saw Kee Wah's booth at the podium!

after tasting some different flavors from various stalls (including the Wolfberry & Chuan Xiong one from Swissotel - glad Sherine forgot to order that for me afterall, bleh!), we decided to buy from Kee Wah afterall. we were still worried if it'd be too late to give the mooncakes to our families when we return.. now, we don't have to worry already! we purchased two of the "迷你圓月茗茶錦盒" (Mini Mooncakes with Chinese Tea Gift Set) and 2 little "piglets" in rattan baskets. so cute =)

headed back home to rest up for night shift afterwards. can't wait till we get to HK next week and buy MORE moonie cakies. yay.

Going Places. Eating Food.

2010-09-01T14:01:00.003+08:00

completed the reservations for our Malaysia trip. yippie.

decided to keep the 3 days after Hong Kong to rest and relax, and go in October instead.

initially, i wanted to stay in KL for both nights, and Poppy wanted to stay in Genting for both nights. so, we compromised and agreed that we'll spend a night in KL, and another night in Genting. and, if time allows, we'll probably visit Malacca on our way back. yay.

it's been almost 2 years since i last visited!

the last time Poppy went was in December last year, with Alex and Penelope, and he bought me many much Uhuhu's. can't wait to eatbuytabao more Uhuhu's this time round. yummeh!

will also be buying mooncakes from the renowned Kee Wah (奇華) bakery from Hong Kong as recommended by J. then there's the famous 許留山 desserts, though we had them in last year's trip to Guangzhou too.

with Mooncakes from 奇華 & Desserts from 許留山, HK; Uhuhu's from The Loaf in Pavilion, KL; Chendol + Chicken rice balls from Jonker St, Malacca, i'm sure my grow fat-fat plan will succeed. meanwhile, here's some peektures to explain my excitement. mwahaha.

Mooncakes from 奇華

Desserts from 許留山

Uhuhu from the Loaf

Chendol from Malacca

Chicken Rice Balls from Malacca

are u hungry yet?

Blogging from Android

2010-08-31T18:33:00.004+08:00

it's been a while since i started off with my Android device (HTC Desire), but for some unknown reason, i've never attempted or thought of blogging via the mobile.. well, till today that is.

i guess i'm just too lazy to even switch on the netbook!

randomly posted while waiting for Poppy to be home for dinner. kthxbai.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Married for 2 months (+2 days)

2010-08-29T14:21:00.004+08:00

life after the return from our honeymoon has been nothing but busy..

knowing we'd have trouble adjusting back to work, we pre-planned a short getaway to Hong Kong, with Alex & Mich, in June - even before the wedding! *pats self on back*

visited Universal Studios in LA (3rd July), then in Sentosa (7th August);

visited Disneyland in LA (4th July), and again soon in HK (September)...

may (or may not) visit Ocean Park, but definitely going to visit the colleagues this time!

anyhoos, had a couple of random gatherings over the past weeks.

dinner + drinks at Wala Wala with the gurls; steamboat buffet with NOC guys; seafood dinner at Bottle Tree Village with Alex, Mich, Liz, Loh for Poppy's birthday; and also simple dinner celebration over at Mommy's.

and yesterday, Poppy being super sweet, drove us around the island to pak-tor =)

started off at People's Park to change money for the upcoming trip then queued a bit for Koi bubble tea (nothing very fantastic, methinks?). went over to Clarke Quay and took a stroll over to The Central before driving over to MacRitchie Reservoir because i've never been there (i'm serious). had another round of long long walk and we sat by to watch the monkey clan travel from the feeding area back to their trees before sunset!

grabbed dinner at Bishan then met up with the rest for prawning at Hai Bin. and of course, we had BBQ prawns before heading home for a beer and catch up with sleep.

had a quick brunch today before Poppy headed off to work, and now i'm home alone again. blah.

i shall proceed to SC2 after feeding Custard (who is much ignoring me coz it's her nap-time).

...till the next time!