Bright Red Hair

Took half a day off to visit the hair stylist. Had no inspiration, so left my hair in the hands of my stylist. Andrew was clearly more inspired than moi. He gave moi flaming red hair with slight curls for volume. Can't say whether I liked or disliked the hair. Its clearly loud.. literally Ronald McDonald's kind of red ( which the dearie teases me about) but different. Andrew says the colour will fade to a copper red. I sure hope so.

Well.. hair styles are quite cyclic in nature.. I get flat straight hair, colour >> change a colour (red) and get some curls >> goes for flat hair and change another colour again >> decides to get some changes>> so the cycle goes on. Yupz, so its now the red hair (uncle Mc style), slight curls for the new year lah.

Its a subdued weekend.. went for a baby shower..the dearie colleague's on Sat evening with shopping after. Stayed home on sunday, with throbbing headache and tried accessing the work email without success. Still can't figure out why the vpn failed. Aiz.. sure hope the connection problem can be resolved soon, so that I can do a day of working from home next month.. :)

Porridge Goodness

He rustle up some porridge for dinner tonight. He throwed in some dried scallops to broil the rice with. And added some prawns and fish cakes with minced meat. Flavoured with fish sauce and a bit of pepper. And its our dinner tonight. Just simple boiled rice, dearie-styled. With the both of us being still sickly with sore throat. We've been slurping up on soupy food the whole weekend.. and I luv this simple meal the most.

Also, feels accomplished today..because I managed to iron the whole couch full of clothes which has been seating there for some time. Happie housewifey kinda day.. :)

Sore Throat

Been nursing a sore throat since Friday. Plus a runny nose. The phlegm is reddish yellowish the first day. So moi has been drinking loads of herbal tea, chrysanthemum tea, and honey suckle tea. Plus the occasional coca cola with salt and manuka honey. Yah, I know.. i still prefer folk remedies than knocking on the doc's door.

Sure hope this blot of illness with pass soon. Been staying home this weekend.. no Chinese New Year shopping for moi. The next workday starts tomorrow..and moi have not recovered yet. Gulp.. more herbal tea and honey,please.

Shoe Obsession

Yupz.. the shoe collection is growing. So much so that the shelves in the shoe cabinet is stocked chokeful of moi's shoes. From the 5 pairs gotten from the overseas trip and 5 pairs this month.. hee, i have to consider getting clear boxes to stack up the pretties.. Looks like moi will bust the shoe quota for the year ;p

Steam-Boaty Goodness

We went in Vivo City for shopping on Saturday and decided to check out the JPot Outlet there. Been wanting to try the food there, since I'm a Jumbo Card holder and they have been sending fliers on the new food concepts. JPot serves hotpots, with various soup bases that is quite unique.

We had the dinner set menu C with the Bak Kut Teh and Superior Broth soup bases. A rather yums meal which moi rather enjoyed. Definitely a place I would bring the family. Although the bill can be quite heffy if you choose the choicer "hot pot" items and the quantity is not alot.

Its also quite a shiok to be able to concoct your own dipping sauce to accompany the cooked food. Plus, with a serene view of the harbour and the Sentosa Resort, whats there not to like. Already salivating and looking forward to the next hotpot meal. Slurp!

First Baking Attempt for the Year

Saw a recipe for cupcakes from a blog which i read. A friend's friend's blog. The recipe looked quite simple, so i decided to give it a try tonight. The good thing about having the necessary ingredients is that I do not have to pick up loads of stuff whenever I feel like baking.

Its a recipe which used a lot more eggs and butter, giving the finished product a more cakey consistency. The dearie liked the cupcakes. The best of the lot so far, he says. He also tried twigging the receipe abit, by adding some coffee granules into one of the cupcakes. The finished product tasted quite mocca like, and surprising good as well.

I tried one piece and kept remembering the amount of sugar and butter which went into the mixture. Urrgghh.. I guess I'm one who rather cook den eat. At least till I've lost the extra weight I've piled on in the past year. Its a good start, I wanna do some cookies for the upcoming lunar new year. And maybe make some chocolate truffles as well. Let's see how it goes. Quite an accomplished day, this Sunday of mine.

Extra Shelves

We went to Ikea for lunch with the mommie. With the new year coming, we also picked up new items for the homeland. Extra storage space in the study room, where we can keep our bits and pieces and wat nots.

This time round, we did the assembling of the shelves ourselves. Am impressed by the dearie. He managed to do up the item, despite not being a 'handyman' type of guy and the lack of professional tools. Although he made a major mistake in the process ( he's still kinda devastated by the flaw), the final product fits in with the deco of our studyroom and now holds our files, boxes etc. The saving grace? the flaw can be concealed most of the time.

So happy, as the extra storage space means more shelves for moi books!! Try and spot the imperfection in our new shelves.. ;p

Chinese Meals

Been having quite a bit of Chinese meals recently. From traditional teochew food at Swa Garden with its yummy cold crabs to tonight's dinner. Yup, met up with the babes tonight for dinner. At an air-conditioned 'Zhi Char' place at Bukit Timah. We had curry fish head, black pepper crabs, fried prawns with oats, fish slices with ginger, vegs etc. A simple zhi char meal that's rather yums.

Curry fish head

Black Pepper Crabs

It was a long overdue meet up with the gal pals complete with the husbands, boyfriend and little one (baby Kayson). I even managed to drag the dear hubby along. We dun meet up often, with our busy schedules. But it feels good when we do. Oh, we really should meet up more often. Otherwise I'll feel like a fuddy duddy soon to be middle-aged donkey.

New Year resolution, to meet up with family and friends more. Learn cooking. Travel more. Exercise more. Carpe Diem.

New Year, looking back at 2009

A year has passed. So very fast.

2009 in summary? It was a year of change. The year moi changed jobs, taking a pay cut to do a new portfolio. It was a long wait for the switch. But I'm glad I did. Although I still feel nostalgic about the old work organisation. After all, I've been there for nearly 5 years. I cannot imagine moi self being at the new place for the next 5 years. Will see how it goes. One thing for sure, the work life journey is a long one.. so its alright to take breaks along the way. Work days passes.. Mondays leads to Wednesdays to Fridays. And the weeks fly by. Before you noe it, a year has passed huh. I'm so used to being busy during the holidays which is peak at the old workplace. At the new place, at least I can plan for long weekends and getaways if I wanna. Yes, I will in the year to come.

Have been lazy, not meeting up often with the mommie due to the distance. Its a guilt that eats at moi. So, I'll do more family gatherings and do some cooking in the process. Outings with the mommie. Plus meet ups with the gal pals for high teas and wat nots.

For the travel tally is sadly dismal. Only went to Penang in early 2009, went for a cruise to Penang and Thailand with the family, another family trip to Macau in July and 2 family trips to Malaysia. Its great to travel on short trips, but it would be more ideal to have a longer get-away a year. Yes, a longer trip and a few more short get-aways please.

Being eating way to much, too unhealthily for the past year. The weight seems to have stuck. Not used to the fatty moi, so the pics get lesser, and moi a tad depressed and reclusive. So, I will eat more healthy, and hopefully fit into smaller sized clothes. Plus, throw in abit of excise as well. Hah..

On the wealth aspect, still lacking in the savings part. The moolah is still tied in investments. Although I've finally gotten down to increasing the financial portfolio bit by bit. Not much liquid savings on hand, so need to save more. Live more frugally. I was kinda amazed that a friend of the dearie has x amount of liquid assets purely for investments. Thats like so many times more than moi. I believe its time to rethink the excessive splurging. After all, I wanna retire at 55 with revenue generating assets if i get to live that long.

Yup, its a similar kind of year that has passed in 2009. Still finding my calling career wise. Still neglecting the usual components. Hope this changes in 2010 for this silly donkey.