Goodbye 2010

The year has passed so very fast. Late nights and long days at work for a major part of the year. Looking back, i'm amazed that i managed the long hours and the 2 portfolios. Its great that the extra portfolio has been given away and that i ended the year on maternity leave.

And, of carrying and birthing my baby. The pregnancy was a smooth one and we become newly minted parents. Its a huge change, this thing called parenthood. A lifetime of responsibility to the little one ( The days seems to fly by although i'm doing nothing much except caring for the little one) Oh, plus loads of weight gain, lack of clothes..shoes shopping and complementary stretch marks. Hee..

2011 would be filled with my baby's milestones, i'm sure. Although i do wanna meet with my friends more if possible. Goodbye 2010! Its been a fruitful year, of drastic changes. With more abound in the year ahead.

Busy With..

The past few weeks kinda just passed by in a flash. The little ones went for their long overseas trip together with the Mother-In-Law. The Father-In-Law got hospitalised the day they went overseas. Which kinda freaked the dearie out. So, we packed our bags and stayed over at the In-Laws place. We even managed to buy some furniture (a bed and shelves) which was needed in the next few months.

The Mother-In-Law came back about a week plus ago. We are slowly moving back to our own place. Work has been kinda crazy. My new colleague who just joined and took over the diff portfolio has just resigned after 2 weeks into the job. So I'm kinda struck with the 2 portfolios, and its a shitty sinking feeling and it kinda spolits my mood most days.

Other than that, I've managed to catch the entire series of Down With Love in the few weekends..a taiwanese idol series staring the drool some Jerry Yan and Ella Chan. Its a cute series, one of the rare ones which I have truly enjoyed recently. That pretty much sums up the past few weeks.

Looks like the current moodiness over work issues will continue for some time to come. Haiz. Silly Old Me.

A Wedding and Brekkie

Was busy last Sat with the Sec Galfriend's wedding. Woke up bright and early and travelled all the way to the West to her place. She only had 2 jiemeis. Both of which are married.. coz she's the last in the group to get married..Hee.

The groom only had one xiongdi. Wha, so its a rather easy affair. She had her tea ceremony at her place before the whole entourage moved to her new place in the East for the second round of tea ceremony. Wha..the bride had 3 outfit changes during the ceremony.

It was the church wedding thereafter. A very fast event, i must say. A simple ceremony attended only by immediate family and a few friends. This was followed by dinner. Hee.. tits a long day.

Had brekkie @ Graze with the babes on Sunday. It meant more travelling to the West! Brekkie was great manz.. although i din really like my dish which had quite abit of avocado mixed with feta cheese. We ended the meal with the dessert platter. It feels good, meeting up with the galfriends, especially for brunch. Gotta meet up with the fres more often =)

Dessert Platter

Jinny's Hash Brown

Han's Eggs Ben

Hui's order -Omelette

My Brekkie

Weekend of Cakes

Its the dearie's 32nd birthday last Saturday. We had Thai food with the family and spend Sat shopping. The little nephew decorated a cake just for his dear uncle. Wee! We even had rather good mango dessert at the bugis area. We enjoy simple things in life, especially my heartlander hubby!

Dearie's Birthday cake decorated by little Javen

Sunday was little Aloysius and Charlotte's 1st year celebration. More cake! Check out the pretty Noah's Ark themed cake that Qian got for the little babes. So pretty! So many cakes this weekend of mine..

Its Noah's Ark (Cake) ..

Wanderlust 2010: Central Japan

Yup, we've been to Japan and back. 28th April to 5th May 2010. Central Japan to be exact. Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Kobe in 7 days. (5.5 days in Japan to be exact because of the travelling time). Japan has always been high in the list of places I would like to travel to, since the teenage days with the popularity of Japanese Dramas. The travel agent had a 2nd pax travel for 50% off, so we decided on Japan instead of our original choice of Korea. Its a good deal me thinks, so its Nihon , land of raw fish, sakura..here we come.

We travelled by Japan Airlines. Another experience i would say. i quite like the Yuzu sky juice provided by the airlines. Ours was an overnight flight from Singapore. We reached Narita Airport early morning and started day 2 of our tour straight. Totally zonked out when we were at Disneyland Tokyo. The place is huge, compared to Hong Kong Disneyland manz. We did some rides although the place was very crowded as it was Japan's Golden week. The entire country's on holidays and travelling. So glurp.. imagine the long long queues for the rides. We headed to Ginza for some shopping. Yup, me luvs shopping. Although i din get any burberry blue label bag in the end as i din like any of the designs. The dearie did get a black label shirt though. We had dinner at Ginza area before checking into our hotel for the night. We stayed at Tokyo's Hyatt Regency. Hee, liked the hotel. Our hotel's within walking distance to Shinjuku. Our guide brought us there for some shopping. We had ramen for supper.

Disneyland Tokyo

Shinjuku at Night

Ramen Shop- Where we had our supper

Day 3 started with a visit to Ameyoko. A local products market. This was followed by outlet shopping at Gotenba Premium Outlet Mall. Hee, the time we had there was too short. There's Coach outlet, Gap outlet, Prada outlet and many many other outlets (i wonder if its be more shiok outlet shopping in the states). We also went to Shirato-no-Taki Falls, where we had our first glimpse of Mt Fuji. Our hotel that night was a traditional hot spring (onsen) hotel. We had a traditional Japanese Meal and the dearie even tried out the onsen. Moi will definitely try the onsen the next time we are in the country (Hokkaido maybe?!) . Is also interesting how the sky is bright and sunny at 4am local time (3am sgp time).. so bright that moi kept worrying about oversleeping. Hee, our days start rather early with morning calls at 6-6.30am local time.. *Yawns* and breakfast at 7.30 am ( imagine eating rice at 6.30 am in sgp .. glurrp!). The locals usually have a full fledge morning meal consisting of rice. So diff from my 2 pieces of bread routine at home..

Goodies at Ameyoko

Our room for the nite

Dinner at the traditional styled Inn

Day 4 was visit to Mount Fuji! The weather was rather good that day, we had a wonderful view of the famous mountain and even went up to Mt Fuji's 5th Station. Very beautiful views (although my fav is still Switzerland's mountains.. opps). We proceeded to Oshino Hakkai with its crystal clear pond and more views of Mt Fuji. We left for Nagoya after that. It was shopping at Nagoya ( at Sakae shopping street near Nagoya TV tower and the Oasis 21 Complex) before stopping at Gifu, where our hotel was located. I rather liked this hotel we stayed at. Out of the way, but nice.

View of Mt Fuji

We headed for Kyoto, Nara and Osaka on Day 5. We visited Kiyomizu Temple which was a temple built in 1633 in Kyoto. We had lunch and shopping at the street next to the temple. I luv Kyoto, which provides a glimpse into the rich cultural history of the country. The next place we headed to was Nara. We visited Nara Deer Park where many deers roam freely . Todaiji Temple which housed the largest bronze Buddha Structure in Japan was housed within the park. We ended the day at Osaka, whereby we had time to do more shopping!

Osaka Castle

Day 6 was Kobe City tour. We opted for the city tour instead of going to Universal Studios. The entire tour went for the city tour as those who opted for the amusement park were not able to get tickets due to the long queues (golden week mah). We visited Osaka Castle, followed by Kobe Chinatown, and Kobe Harbour. Did more shopping and ended the day at Osaka again. More shopping and eating at Shinsaibashi (Osaka's shopping and eating paradise).

Really Oiishi Peach Jelly.. Expensive but good

Kobe Harbour

Shinsaibashi's food street

Day 7 was for last minute shopping at the shopping complex near our hotel before we catch our domestic flight from Osaka to Narita and subsequent flight back home. *Sighs* time passes when we are travelling. The wallets are lighter, but the mind is rich with the sights of the places that we've been to the past few days. Feels great, finally being able to visit Japan. We'll definitely be back, either Hokkaido or a free and easy trip within Tokyo. Hee hee, moi is a happy donkey. Such trips light up my life.. i heart the sights, the cultural, the food. Till the next long trip next year (hopefully Korea or Australia) =)

Osaka Airport

Lunch at Osaka Airport

The shopping loot!!

Mommie's Birthday

We took the day off from work. Am I sure am glad we did. Its the mommie's 56th birthday! We caught up on lost sleep before heading out for the day. The mommie had wanted to visit the Flyer, and so we did ( I know, we quite "mountain turtle" ah..going only so many months after the opening!).

Lunch at Popeyes

It was a rainy afternoon and the rides were temporarily suspended due to the bad weather. We had a late lunch at Popeyes while waiting for the rides. Luckily the rides resumed around 4pm and we gamely got our tickets despite the slight drizzle. Its a good experience, being able to view my favourite landscape and the construction going on at the nearby Integrated Resort. (Despite the pricey tixs and the short half hour ride.. ;p)

Still Drizzling Outside

Beautiful view of the City

Top of the Wheel

This was followed by dinner at Vivo City. Yup, we brought mommie to dinner at JPot. We chose Dinner Set B this round, and added some items from the menu like vegs and bean curd. We had the superior broth and Bak Kut Teh broth again and ended up totally stuffed. We had free flow longan tea and drank many many cups of the drink too. Dinner was yums, and reasonably priced as we had a discount coupon for $20 off. Hee, perks of being an auntie with loads of membership cards.. We ended the day with shopping at Vivo and moi brought back loads of goodies from Candy Empire.. ;p

Packed Weekend

We had a fun-filled learning journey at work on friday. The theme was "Style & Glamour" and moi was roped in for the bags portion despite the fact that I'm no bag expert. Phewz, managed to hoodwink my way thru. We went to Vivo City for lunch and the practical part of the learning journey! It was kinda fun lunching out with the chaps at work. We had great fun walking round the place.

Met up with the sec school fres thereafter. We had seafood dinner at Marina Square followed by drinks at the lounge of Marina Mandarin. I so luv the place and ambiance, despite the pricey drinks. Eeeps..we even had 2 rounds of drinks. The company was great as well. We had interesting conversation, despite not meeting up often. This is representative of friendship through the years. Got home around 12.30 am. Glurp, so unused to late nites out..... :)

Had the last steamboat dinner of this CNY with the babes at the homeland on Saturday. Of course, cute Baby Kayson was present! The Mother-In-Law was wonderful. She helped moi prepare the items for the dinner, so it was a breeze. There was even yums lychee martini cake from Pine Garden which Jinny brought and a Cienna 2008 ,which was a gift from Hui for Christmas. I enjoy the sparking sweetness of the wine, although it was too sweet for Jinny and Noven. Its been a great weekend thus far. Meeting up with the fres. Something that should be done more often.

Lychee Martini Cake

Lunar New Year Meet Up

Met the JC folks today. A potluck gathering at Kris's place in Ang Mo Kio. I got sushi takeaway from Sakae Sushi and took a cab to his place. Most of the folks were already there when i reached. Fen was sick so she passed on the gathering.

There were loads of food, although I din manage to whip out the camera for photos. We had abalone porridge and durian puffs (from colin), fried bee hoon and curry (from Kris), prawns and tiramisu (from cecilia), my sushi, mc's nuggets, chix wings, satay, ice cream, jelly pudding, yu sheng etc. Loads of food again.

Of course we had a good time doing the "lo hei". My second time this new year. We chatted a bit and played some games. Its great to meet up with the friends. Ha ha, coz i dun have much of a social life to begin with.. ;p

2nd Day of this New Year

The dearie's up bright and early to start work today. So moi kinda slack the day away, while waiting for him to return home. Cooked some noodles for lunch with the leftover hotpot ingredients and watch tons of tv.. including 2 episodes of gossip girl season 2. Had wanted to do some work and check some office mails with the spare time, but was too lazy ah.

The dearie managed to get off work at about 4 plus and we had time to catch a movie. Yup, a no brainer feel good valentine's day move called "Valentine's Day". A show about couples dating and breaking up and patching back. Featuring an ensemble of big hollywood names like Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts, and the 2 Taylors. Delighted that we actually caught a movie, and a feel-good one at that. We din celebrate Valentine's Day this year, with all the Chinese New Year hoo ha.. and the depleting coffers.. so its great to be able to watch a show on luv for some romantic trappings :)

This Chinese New Year

Table of food at the In-Law's
Yummy veg

Chicken, Duck, and fried Veg

Golly, have finally heralded in the year of the Tiger. The frenzy last minute shopping for clothes and cleaning of the house. And the 2 steamboat reunion dinners on friday and saturday (the day before the eve of CNY and the eve). Its because the dearie's family eats a day earlier. Its the same type of hotpot ingredients which the mother-in-law prepares. Homemade fishballs, cut fish,pork,beef slices, prawns and other wat nots. The dearie's grandma and little uncle joins us for this meal. So much food huh.

This is followed a reunion dinner at my place on the actual CNY eve itself. With my folks and the in-laws. There's only the brother and mommie at my side, while the in-laws are alone if the dearie eats with my family. The win-win situation, is to have both families together. My mother-in-law prepares the bulk of the steamboat items (almost same items as the day before) while I got some extra vegs. This year, the mommie got some mini lobsters and a plate of homemade yummy yu sheng which her friend made for her. I really luv auntie Pat's yu sheng. She adds in mango slices and fried yum sticks which gave the yu sheng an extra 'something' which is missing from store brought ones. So we did a lo hei that day, the first lo hei of the year. So much food again.

The CNY feast

fishballs, roast duck, chicken, vegs,prawns

mini boiled lobsters

Adding lime to the Yu Sheng

Yu Sheng-'Huat" ah!!

On the first day,or chu yi, we went to visit the dearie's relatives. The tradition of the dearie's family is to have a vegetarian breakfast ( while mine is to have mee sua), so we gathered at the in-law's place and hopped to the other aunties and uncle place as the day progresses. We managed to visit my mommie's place in the late afternoon. I think we had like four meals that day.. breakie at the in-laws, noodles at the third auntie's place, mee sua at mommie's place and dinner at the third uncle's place. *Glup* I cannot even bear to think of all the food and tibits I've eaten the past few days. Yup, we're done with the CNY visiting after the first day.

Strangly, I don't feel as much for this festival as I do for Christmas season but I so enjoy the free days before work starts again, Opps.

Happy Chinese New Year........ :)

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.