大年初八

And it's the first day of CNY that I start work.

I must say, not a bad day to start work. Besides clearing emails, answering some emails, print and send out letters to the schools for a competition, I was pretty much left alone! =)

Only thing was, early early in the morning, when I was preparing to go out, I realized, I've misplaced my earrings!! *Horrors* That pair of earrings costs me more than $2k lei. I just cannot remember where I've placed it and I just cannot find it in the box I keep my daily jewelery or on the table.

Hurriedly, Hub and I try to recall when was the last time I last worn it and where on earth did I leave it. I was pretty sure that the last time I worn it was on the 1st day of CNY and after that, as we did not go anywhere fancy, I did not wear it anymore. And I cannot even remember where I've placed it!!!

Worried about it the whole day but also no choice, just cannot recall and not at home to check.

Later in the day, Hubby asked me if I could have placed it in the cupboard in the toilet and he assured me that I must have left it there after I last worn it.

Felt a little better but still...worried la.

Reached home and immediately after I closed and locked the doors, throwing everything (my dinner, snacks and tml's breakfast) on the dinning table, I dashed into the toilet to check.

WOW!

Hubby deserves a big hug! My earrings are there. Safe and Sound!

Hooray!!

Heng ar... Did not loose anything. I'm happy.

And come to think of it.... I must have forgotten to remove my earrings (oh yes. I have a habbit of removing all my jewelery before taking my shower... the jewelers told me, if I don't, the metals and stone will get tarnished easily, hence, I've made it a point to remove everything... thing is, remove and cannot remember where I left it!) before going for my shower that day. When I was about to wash my face, then I realized I still have my earrings on, so I took it out and the only safe place was in the cupboard! It was so safe. Out of sight, out of mind, truly.

Now, I will just have to make even more stringent mental notes to myself.

Take out everything in the room, leave it in the small box! Getting old, cannot afford to have such "heart attacks" anymore!

大年初七

It's everybody's Birthday!!! =)

Happy Birthday to one and all!

We went for mass at CTK in the morning and then dropped by Courts in AMK, I wanted to take a look at the HP mobile phone as I am contemplating one... But oh well, they don't have it, so too bad.

I think at this moment in time, I should be getting the Samsung Omnia. If I can convince myself that it is all right to be using the same model as my mgr and another colleague (all in the same department!) then I will get Nokia E66. Or if I can convince myself that the buttons of Sony Ericsson G705 will get seasoned with use, then I'll get that. After all, the G705 is the cheapest of the lot and still meet my requirements of having WiFi!

Anyway... we had a steamboat dinner at my Grandma's place. First time, having steamboat dinner there and we also have the traditional "Lo Hei" after dinner. Should be before dinner but the adults say after dinner then "Lo" then after dinner lor.

Lots of laughter with my sisters and all the other relatives.

Sitting here blogging just drives home the fact that tml is back to work for me. I should not be grumbling, after all, I've had a week long CNY break. Not many are as lucky as me to have such a long break.

Hope that the new work year will be a smooth sailing one!

大年初六

and I have to go back to SIM for make up lessons!!!!

Worse. It's 4pm to 7pm AND followed by 7pm to 9.30pm. Back to back! =(

Feeling so sad and moody.

Back to back lessons at unearthly times and no time for me to even grab a bite and I got to dong till 9.30pm!

Hubby will, should be at home surfing net, watching TV, napping or enjoying the rest of the snacks left... while I go school.

Depressed.

大年初五

After lazing at home the whole day on the pretext of trying to study, to do TMA and to do revision for the next lesson, all I managed to accomplish the whole day was blog, reply some messages, surf net to search for handphones, sleep and then eat a lot of snacks.

But the one thing that made my day was having dinner with Clement and family. Which means, we got to meet up with my darling God-daughter! =)

It's such a joy to see her growing up healthily and happily. She's getting more and more active with a mind of her own. And she is beginning to look more and more like Mommy!

After dinner at J8, Crystal Jade, we went to walk around and she was playing this childrens' game which will win her some mentos and she seem to be so pro at it. Knowing when to press the button and when to pick up the mentos that drops into the bin. After collecting the mentos, she will pass to her mommy or myself so that she can take some more from the bin.

Then she was soooo busy climbing up and down from the kiddies ride. All of us were just looking after her, making sure that she does not fall and will not knock herself while climbing. Hubby said she's like a little hamster, up and down, up and down and just cannot sit still at 1 particular spot!

We had coffee at Dome and the little princess was in a happy and chirpy mood. Playing with us and even sharing with us her snacks!

Love her!!

大年初四

Hubby woke up late and thus, decided to call in for another day of leave rather than going in late and have his pay deducted. Might as well take leave in that case.

We waited for Carrefour to deliver the ladder and then we went for lunch with Jeff and Godma at AMK, Astons. Nice, cheap, good western food!

Where to find nice Chicken Chop that comes with 2 sides of my choice at only $5.90?! And the serving is reasonable. Not too tiny some more!

After doing the laundry, we fell off to slumber land... and I was waken up by a call much later. On hindsight, I should not have answered the call. Was my colleague who wanted me to do something for him. I dislike him because, he made it seem as though it's my responsibility to do his things when I am actually doing him a favor by helping him do it lor!

Anyway, handle it when I go back to work on Monday, for now, I shall ignore and treat him as invisible. Don't waste my time and breadth on him.

My new resolution for this year will be, "Don't waste time and breadth and energy on people who don't matter."

Our tenant came back from Korea (She went back to Korea to celebrate CNY with her family) and she gave us this...Can guess what it is?

Some kind of nuts? Snacks? Partially right. It's Korean Popcorn!

No added sugar, honey, salt or whatsoever. It's really just POP-ped corn. Taste very good too! Not as crunchy nor as soft as those we get from our cinemas. It's naturally sweet and fragrant.

According to my tenant, it's a traditional food that they must have in Korea for CNY. I assume as much as we have Pineapple Tarts, Bak Kua and don't know what else, this is their must haves lor..

oooohhhh... Now I learned something.

Back to eating!

大年初三

Hubby decided to take a day off to rest (and maybe to recover from the horrifying Sentosa Trip!) and I was a little disappointed that he decided to stay home. I had already planned to go to Suntec Carrefour to buy a ladder and aluminum poles for hanging laundry.... with him around, it just simply means I got to justify my reasons why I'm getting it.

I was really just hoping for a get-it-and-go kind of shopping experience. =/

So, no choice. He will come with me then and I had to explain and justify why I want the ladder, the poles and a new pillow. =(

We had a good lunch at Mahattan Fish Market, they just opened a new branch at J8 and I was dying to go to them ever since they opened! Never had the chance till now.

They have quite value for money set lunches and I enjoyed it. Only thing was, it was a pretty long wait for the food. Hubby had the normal fish and chips I cannot remember the name of what I had. But it was good. My grouse would be the garlic rice and chips served were getting cold. Other than that, the fish are good.

We got our ladder and I got myself a brand new pillow. My neck's been giving me aches and pains for the last few months, I suspect it's my pillow. Finally changed it, hope my neck and shoulders will not be so achy from now on. It's really a pain for me to keep visiting the sinseh every 2, 3 weeks and my co don't approve of chinese sinseh's MC.. so everytime I go, I got to take leave!

Anyway, carrefour ran out of the aluminum poles so no choice, just the ladder and we paid $8 for delivery - which is still cheaper than us taking a cab home from Suntec. (Was hoping to accumulate our purchases till $150 for the free delivery but nothing to buy already, so no choice) Best of all is we don't have to lug it around and we can go for coffee!

After paying for purchases and arranging for delivery, we took a coffee break at Gelare. They have some tea time promotion and we ordered.

Some Ice Cream Cake....Blueberry Cheescake....Flat White for us both. Can sit down and enjoy coffee, hubby is very happy already. Can tell right?! Anyway, the baby seated behind hubby is very cute!! He kept turing round to look at us and smile! hahahaha...

I want to show off the Tee I bought from Old Navy. So cute right?! Actually, I prefer the other piece of the girl decked in soccer attire. Even more cute and girly!

Testing of the self timmer function on the camera...also to showcase that we had a window cushion seat with a rather nice view.

Last shot before we left... This shot took many many many tries before we could get it right and in the end it was hubby who did it!

Walked over to Marina Square and I grabbed another turtle neck top in Grey from Zara. No choice as I need to cover my neck and shoulder area these days to prevent the wind from blowing onto the aching area... and only turtle necks can do that.

Like that 1 day and my 3rd day of CNY is over!

大年初二; Scary Sentosa

Hubby, my 2 younger sisters, my mom, her sister and me braved through scary Sentosa on the 2nd day of CNY.

My mom and her sister are sort of flowers crazy and since we have no plans lined up for CNY, we all made a trip there.

Only 1 word to describe the trip TO Sentosa from Vivocity. MADNESS!!! Total Madness. I've NEVER seen so many people at Level 3 of Vivo to get tickets there.

Anyway, I kind of feel cheated out of my time and money lei. There flowers there are quite disappointing... Or maybe it's too hot, too crowded and too little walking space for me to enjoy it much....

Anyway, array of flowers... Different kinds... Goodness knows what their names are. I just snapped.

Cactus with flowers blooming, which got my mom all excited and demanding that I snapped. I obliged.
Some strike me more than others...Like this funny flower that seems to have a face on it. Rather fierce, angry and scary face I might add.

Pineapple Flower.Tree of Life.Velvet balls of Red Flowers.There's lots more, I'm too tired to post up 1 by 1.

Sisters Forever!!! Sisters for over 50 years and counting. Mom and her sister la.

Sisters for as long as I can remember. My middle sister (Blue) and I suspect that there's some production error when I was being manufactured. Just look at the size discrepancy lor!!! Sis thinks I'm a defect product. But too bad la, there's no "return to maker" guarantee la. Morever, it's already in usage for the last 20+++ years.

Hubby and I against a field of pink lilies and don't know what else. Oh.. think got lettuce and some big ass hearts and a pair of lovey cows which people got to queue to take photos. Nope. We din. Too hot.

Moo Moo Year. Must. Have. Cows.

People queue to take a pic with the huge plastic cows. We? Din bother. See can already la.

More cow. Some works by some secondary or primary school students.
The horn of the moo moo already dropped off lor. People don't just take photos, they pull and touch and then it came off. *Tsk*

And a shot of us all.2 pairs of sisters and the 1 single sole man.

Finally, Hubby and I. Wishing all a Happy and Prosperous NIU Year! May your new year be Smooth, Healthy, Happy, Worryfree and Wealthy!!!









Ya la. Hide behind hubby will make me look a tiny bit smaller la. After seeing for myself how tiny my 2 sisters are, I will do all I can to look smaller.

大年初一

Was planning to go Church for mass but we both woke up very late and by then mass would already have started, hence really no point to go.

We got ready to go out and 1st stop was to my maternal grandmother's place to 拜年. We had lunch there and then stayed on for a while longer before we made our way to AMK Hub to catch 家有喜事 at Cathay.

Funny show... but rather lame.

Time waster kind of show.

Is about the very tomboyish and spinster sister who cannot find a boyfriend. The brother had girlfriends before but never got married because his family believes that as long as the elder is not married, bad things will happen to the younger siblings should they get married earlier.

Bro got a love guru to try to help the sister, but sister fell in love with the love guru. Love guru fell in love with another girl and spark off lots of funny things in the process when the sister found out and try to find out the truth if the love guru is two-timing her.

My conclusion. No storyline. Watch if really desperate to waste some time (which we were really desperate to do so, hence we watched). But it's a good laugh.

After the movie, we made our way to Jer's maternal grandmother's house to 拜年. We did not want to reach the grandma's house too early because there will be lots of people and it's very hot and crowded. Plus, there won't be much room for standing or sitting, the place is too small for so many people lo... So if we go late, we don't have to stay too long.

Watched the adults played majong and hamsters in cage (The hamster very steady, strong forelegs! Can do horziontal monkey bar against gravity!!) Ate some junk. Made small talk and finally after dinner, we could go home!

Bliss to be able to go home. Away from the crowd and heat and noise.

I really dislike house visitation on CNY. Thank God, it's a once a year thing though.

年除夕

We do an alternate year thing for reunion dinner so as to be fair to both sides of the parents and Reunion Dinner was at my in laws place this year.

Hubby and I brought a "Lo Hei" from Ichiban Boshi and the few of us sat down for a steamboat dinner after the "Lo Hei".

There was only PIL, YBIL and us present this year. OBIL had gone into Malaysia with his wife for reunion dinner and will only be back on the 3rd day of CNY.

I was feeling a little sore. If we had known earlier that OBIL is going into M'sia to celebrate the occassion with his in laws, then we can all have an early reunion dinner and then on this actual day, hubby and I could actually go back to my parent's place for dinner ma.

Anyway, no point saying anything anymore. It's over.

For future years to avoid things like this, will just ask Hub to chk with the bro to see if he is going into M'sia for reunion dinner. If he is, then, maybe we can eat early and then hub and I can go back to my parents's side.

2nd last day of CNY.

Had a small gathering at our nest for a few of my colleagues. A total of 6 came over. And as usual, the group pic is short of 1... coz he's holding the camera. =)

Then very sadly for me, I had to rush off coz I had a make up class (hengz, Mervlyn came to fetch me.. else I have to leave even earlier!!)... leaving the rest to continue yakking.

Following my lessons will be the group discussion for the project and then have to rush back home coz we'll be heading to Yishun for another round of gathering. This time, at the home of one of our church friend.

And her home is... WOO YOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very very nice!!! Sorry no pics coz, there's sme prior arrangement with the designer.. hence... cannot take. But trust me, it's W-O-W!

Sunny Sunday =)

Bright, hot but beautiful day. Mass in CTK followed by a nice lunch at Pasta mania with the parents of my God BB. I had their pinenuts and mushrooms riso. Quite nice lei, but abit too oily for my liking. Light shopping in NTUC for our food and then headed home.

Coz of the mountainous amount of homework, assignments, projects that I have, I settled down in front of the tablet and began to type, type, type...

Sis came over and she helped me slightly with my stats and after that we all went over to my parents' place for dinner.

Dinner was a noisy, lively, kan cheong (no thanks to my mom!), delicious affair. Mom's oldest sis joined us for dinner (as like last year) and we sort of had our late reunion dinner since we missed it this year. We had a homemade "lo hei", stewed mushrooms (heh! Just had it yesterday!!!) some vegs and shark fins soup wor. Not bad for a 'simple' dinner horz?

Yakked, laughed and tease each other, this should be how a dinner is! Not just complain and grumbling or eating in silence lor! I totally enjoy myself!!!

Hubby surprised me... he said my version of stew mushrooms is nicer as compared to my mom's! I'm impressed!!! hahahaha....

Headed home slightly after 9 and again typing away at my assignments. =( I forsee my life to be like this for the next 3 years.

It's really quite fun to study... but the mountainous of work is driving me crazy. How nice, if I can just study without all the stress!!! But hor, how come I never thought like this when I was a FT student last time huh?! I never enjoyed studying then lei!!!

Pot Luck

Sitting at the desk (which by the way, I'm spending more and more time at doing so), typing, typing, reading, referring to notes, textbooks, online materials and goodness where else...

I've also left a pot of mushrooms stewing at the stove in my Tan Yu Clay pot. So far, this pot has only been used to cook my weekly porridge and once a while soya sauce chicken. That's about it. Talk about being UNDER utlise!

But then again, it's really coz I've no time to prepare food for myself and hubby recently. So busy with the school work and just going for lessons is also taking a chore to me already.

But nevertheless, today, is the First time, I'm attempting this dish. This stewed mushroom is actually quite popular among the cantonese. We like it. I've done the soaking of the mushrooms since last night. So that the mrooms will be big and thanks to this action of mine, the whole house smells of mrooms too!

I think even though all are cantonese, we have different methods of preparing this simple dish. I asked Wise and she said use garlic, my mom says garlic AND shallot and also fatty pork meat. ewwww.... Anyway, I did not buy the pork, so I only used dried scallops and also oysters. Mom and hubby "ewww-ed" at the mention of oysters coz they dislike the 'fishy' taste. But I like it. Since I'm the chef today, I call the shots right?

Armed with cooking instructions, albit different ones from Wise, Godma and mom, I came up with my own mixture and it looks like this, while still stewing on the stove.
Ermm... Kind of looks different from the ones that I ate last week at mom's place... Coz she used fatty pork and don't know what veg... But the aroma was quite encouraging when I lifted up the lid.

The results will be known tonite when we bring this to Godma's plc for dinner. Celebrating CNY at her place and it's pot luck. Really not sure how's the verdict, but I think, it's ediable lar, only not sure if it's very ediable or just barely make it kind lor.

Update later tonight after they've tried then.

Edited to add: My mrooms pass, Godma says not bad. PASS! =)

年初二

Woke up late this morning, almost close to 11am then we decided to leave our warm bed.

Nothing much was planned for the day, just that we will be going over to my parents' place for gathering with the relatives who are dropping by and also for dinner.

This year my mom is lazy, she decided to not have ALL the relatives over, so just leave it open, whoever wants to come just come. We went over at about 3pm, my 2nd uncle and his entire family was already there.

First time after so long, I'm meeting all the little nephews and neiece. Those boys have all grown so much!! From the little BB in diapers, now they are like 3 or 4 years old! According to my sis, they came much earlier and well, they run short of tearing the house down with their, climbing, running, screaming and shouting. Coz when I saw them, I was just commenting, one of them is quite well behaved. haha... Guess, I was very wrong.

This year, only 2nd uncle, 3rd uncle, 7th aunt and 11th aunt came with their families. The rest sort of MIA I guess. I think it's also good lor. For them, they just come and eat then go. My poor mom got to cook, wash up and clean up after they are gone too! Not to mention, AP also got to give more! hahaha...

Since not all the kiddies are here, so the APs that we prepared had leftovers. These boys are really cute and adorable! And yes, again, I got THE million dollar questions. hai.. when will this stop?

Dinner was a simple affair, fish, chicken, duck, stew mushrooms and soup. Compared to previous years, this is really quite simple! Mom getting lazy! hahaha..

All these kiddies left shortly after dinner, hubby and I stayed on longer till slightly after 9pm then we went home to. Was online with Sis and she complained that my dad and another aunt both totally drunk are talking nonscense and she can't wait for them to go home.

At times like this, I'm very glad that I already have my own nest and can escape all these! hahaha.. Bad I know, but can't help it!

Year of the "Oink Oink!" 大年初一

Happy New Year!!!

The year of the Piggy is here already!!! I'm sure, this year will have lots of pink, fluffy BB being born! Chinese adore the sign of the pig. Morever, this year is the year of the GOLDEN Pig, even better!

Early morning, we went to CTK first for our Sunday mass. Met a few ppl there and of course the priests were there. My first round of AP distribution was done in CTK (not including AP for parents and silbings which was done last nite!) Everyone was dressed so prettily, bright, cheerful colours, nice smiles and all. Nice! I like. Fr. Yim as usual is the most in "demand" priest, he in his cheena coustume got the BIGGEST crowd surrounding him all the time. We had to stand in queue for sometime before he finally had time to acknowledge our pressence!

Next stop was to my Grandma's house in AMK, it's quite near from CTK, but still have to take a bus and it's direct bus, so very happy lor. Had lunch there and there was another round of "Happy New Year" and more APs being given away. Had lunch there. Food was so so la. The normal kind of CNY food. I think I must be very hungry, I actually had 2 helpings of the bee hoon!

Chatted with cousins, relatives and then it's time for hubby and me to move off to our final destination, hubby's grandma's house, this time in Yishun. From my grandma's plc to his grandma's plc, there's no direct bus, but there are buses to get us to Yishun, from there, change another bus. Not that bad. Weather was windy and breezy. Nice!

By the time we reached, almost all the relatives are there. Began the next round of "Happy New Year" and AP giving. This time, it's hubby who gave away coz I'm not sure who is who, so easier for hubby to do that instead. In addition to all these, I have different aunties coming up to me at different times asking the million dollar question....

"When are you getting pregnant?"

Other variations include, "Pregnant already?", "Planning for BB yet?" etc. My answer to them will be "no, I'm studying". And they will definately follow up with, "Still not yet ar?", "when your course end?", "can study and pregnant at the same time ma."

-_-"

Got sooooooooo sick of it, but no choice, I expect them to ask. But, thank God, PILs has so far NOT said anything at all, ever since in Batam, when we told FIL that we are going to further ourselves.

There's enough kids in that house to mess up every single thing, they don't need any more young ones to be ruining whatever else there is.

I actually felt quite pissed off by all these asking but still I bear thru it, instead entertained myself with the younger kids. I dislike going to hubby's grandma's plc. The plc is over crowded, hot and no space to even stretch your legs!

After dinner, hubby and I called it a day and went back home to our quiet, peaceful, cozy home. I'm so glad that the day is over! Still have 2 more days to enjoy before going back to work! =)

It's time to 吃团年饭

Another LUNAR year has past. And the time has come for all the family members to gather at the dining table for 团年饭.

This year as like last year, we will be going over to hubby's parents' place for dinner. It's really at times like this that I feel it's so unfair. Why does the wife have to go to the husband's side for reunion? Cannot go to MY parents' plc meh? Also parents ma. Also reunion ma. Reunion at hubby's side then my side how? Really sometimes, I feel the chinese is so unfair to their daughters. Anway, grouches aside, dinner at PIL's place for me this year. (again.)

We reached early enough with the mandrain oranges, APs, a can of pineapple tart, "Lo Hei" and also the steamboat + BBQ machine. After all the calling, we settled down to watch TV. Had nothing to do and while watching TV, I even dozed off, think I'm too stressed out over the online assisgnments last night and slept late. But before all these, I noticed that there is a big hamper on the table. Nicely wrapped up, then we found out that it was OBIL's GF who brought this over for the PILs. Nice of her hor? Can see that she's trying hard to get into the PILs' good books, and I hope she will succeed. That will take the 'grandchild' issue off me and hopefully, FIL will not be calling me too often then! =)

Would have been a good dinner, if FIL does not keep saying that he don't eat this and don't eat that and would have been better if YBIL knows when to keep quiet about the food too. After he HAD eaten his fill, he start to complain that this is not nice, that is not nice. Honestly? If I'm the mother, he would have received more than just food from me. But being, the very indulgent parents that my PILs are, they kept quiet. So being, just the DIL, of course I will not say anything else.

I cannot stand YBIL's rudeness. Really, I cannot. Critizising the food that MIL had prepared and then complain not nice not nice when he had finished dinner. Then eating, chewing everything loudly. Which person with the right mannerism will behave like that?! Even if the food is really not nice, how can he keep harping on it?! It is this same food that has brought him up to who he is now lor!

Anyway, after dinner, I helped to wash up. Then we settled down once again in front of the TV. Nothing much on TV and had to remind hubby twice to give the AP and also the oranges for a early "bai nian". Finally, time to "Lo Hei".

It's also auspicious to say something nice when 'lo hei-ing' and YBIL said, harmony in the family, I thought that's nice and sweet of him. Next he mention, "find a GF" I almost burst out laughing! hahaha... I did not laugh, but I sniggered. Not that I think he can't. Just that his mannerism will not frightened the girls meh?! Anyway, time will tell.

Finally, it's time to go home. Finally, I can go home! I find it quite a torture to be there to listen to YBIL go on about the food... somemore it's CNY eve! OBIL sent us home, I was not keen to take his car, but had no excuse to say no.

Reached home, grapped more oranges and AP then we went over to my parents' home. At least, the atmosphere is relax, we were just chatting and laughing while watching TV at the sametime. Not like in PIL's place. Stayed till slightly over midnight, then hubby and I went off back to our own nest.

Today is quite a nuah day for us, we managed to clean up the house last evening, I finished my assisgments as well, so today was lazing in front of the TV. Not a bad way to spend my CNY eve at all. If only, we did not have to go to PIL's place!

Made a pact with hubby already, next year, we are going back to MY parents' plc for reunion dinner!

Nitez out.

Went to check out Chinatown with hubby after work just now.

Was supposed to go tomorrow instead but my facial salon can only offer me a slot for tomorrow, so swop plans and went to Chinatown instead.

If you are there for lights, quite disappointing. Not nice lei. No signs of THE pig. If you are there for food, also equally disappointing. Maybe it's the crowd, I'm not sure. But the "Tian Qi porridge" that we shared was expensive and the porridge not nice the frog was nice though. So we paid $19 for a frog's leg each, a char siew bao, a pork bun, fish slices and a pot of BLAND, tastLESS white smooth, waterly porridge. =(

Walked around and if you are there for the CNY goodies, also be prepared to be disappointed. I don't think it's too early to start buying and keeping, yeah, the prices are not down yet. But hey... need to be so expensive not? And also the variety is not much!

The most stalls that we saw? "Taiwan Muah Chee & Jelly" I have been craving the muah chees for a long time, so we are the proud owners of $10 worth of muah chees and another $7 worth of square, sweet lookalike cuttlefish! Since, really nothing catches our eyes anymore, we decided to head for home.

Pass by the branch of "Ling Zhi Yuan", popped in and came out $50 poorer but armed with their famous "Bak Kua" and also 2 packs of pork floss. Our loot for the night. Muah Chees and cuttlefish. The jelly are FOC and came with the muah chees. Doesn't it look pretty? So colourful right? And the famous "Ling Zhi Yuan" who will be sold out weeks before CNY. Wonder what's so good about their "Bak Kua"? Anway, it's not for us. "Bak Kua" for my parents, pork floss for my PIL.

Din buy much just snacks and we are almost $100 poorer. But I feel darn shiok when spending money lei!

Must be a woman's thing!

What a busy busy day...

*phew* What a busy busy day I had.

Early in the morning, hubby and I had a wedding to attend. Luckily, it's a church wedding held at Risen Christ in Toa Payoh, which is thankfully near and we even have a direct bus to the church! Really thank God!

Erm... I'm not sure if it's me or what, but I thought the ceremony was much slower than usual and sounds so much more solemn than the most solemn mass ever held in church.

The hymns were of those that I've never heard off (that is nothing out of the ordinary coz I'm only a catholic for like 2 years plus) but hey... wedding ma, should'nt the hymns be more cheerful sounding?

And the hymns were so difficult to sing. The cantor made some mistakes along the way too... unfortuntely for the couple. If it was my wedding, I think I will be slightly disappointed.

But nevertheless, the couple did come out with some ingenious ways to liven up the wedding ceremony. We had to dress 'retro' for the wedding and during lunch reception, there were singers entertaining us with lively songs and the couple even put up some dances for us! haha... that was different from the usual weddings we had attended! And I do like their wedding favour. A cute keychain!

Godma and me then made a really fast change OUT of our 'retro' clothes into something casual and we made a dash to the rocher market to grab our CNY suppplies. Hubby was so sweet, he carried all our clothes home so that we can have both hands free to do our shopping!

Our first stop? To hit the shops selling clothings and shoes. I need some pairs of shoes for CNY and last year, we each got like 3 pairs and thus we went back. Soooo disappointing! Can't find any at all!!! =(

We decided that we will go shopping for shoes at another time, so we went on with our quest for CNY goodies. Passed by another shop where we both got plenty of skirts last year as well. Of course we went in. This year.... sigh... we each walked out with only 1 skirt.

But further down the road, as Godma was looking at lao ah ma clothings for her mom, something caught my eyes too. A pair of shorts! Realising that I've not bought any since 2,3 years ago. I went ahead and got it.

Nice?

I think it is. Bubbles and stripes are so 'in' now. I can wear this to the reunion dinner at my PIL's place. Just need some tanks or racers or spaghettis now. And my casual bit of the wardrobe is done. =)

After satisfying our own vanity, proper shopping is in order. But first, let us see to our rumbling stomachs. Hmmm... we did not eat much at the lunch reception earlier so had to see to our energy level now.

We both had fish hor fun. Hm.. not nice. Very bland. But food is food and we really needed the energy... so be it. And it was sooo hot and hard to get seats at the market!

Finally, Shopping for CNY proper! We squeeze thru the throngs of ppl, sampling the foodstuffs along the way and then finally went back to our usual store to grap our supplies. And this was what I got...

Lots hor?

But not all for myself la. There's enough for my own parents, PIL and also some for hubby and me. There's like dried mushrooms, dried oysters for soup, scallops, my mom's favourite "fa-chai", shrip and pork floss rolls and also my cravings, mochi from Taiwan. All these items costs us close to $110 lor. But not that bad lar coz once a year and we don't actually give additional $$$ to the parents after this, so it's still quite ok.

Hopped onto the bus and got on the way home happy with our loot.

Just after we both arrived home, the skies opened and it started pouring... wah... hengz man. Else we would be caught at the bus stop and can't go home, carring all these heavy things.

Hubby was at PIL's place and I got ready for our dinner date with Clement, Wisely and BB. Bathed and then rested while waiting for hubby to come back. He needed to bring some PC stuff back so that he can too use his PC to surf net.

We left home at 6pm to meet our dinner kakis and then I got an sms saying that they already arrived! Woah!! So early. But we were kind of in a jam and cannot reach any earlier even if we wanted to. But we were on time lar.

Had dinner at Lao Bei Jing in Novena. Food is nice. I especially like the beking duck, the pork in garlic sauce and even the french beans was good! I think if hubby and I are feeling rich, we will go back. It's nice food but a tad pricy if we were to eat it often. As usual, when the 4 of us are together, we yak nineteen to the dozens! We chatted about anything and everything.

Clement said his ex-colleague had a brand new shop opened today and we went too. It's at Noveva square 2, the other side of the MRT station from the Novena square. Smoothies and new flavoured beancurds. Hubby and I feeling full, shared the "MangoBbengo". Nice. I can taste the richness of the mango fruit. Not like others where they used mango flavours. Nice and rich. But also can be pricy if I were to drink it on a daily basis. Clement had the "Banapina" and Wise + BB had "Grape beancurd" we were given a huge discount but I'm not sure how much ours costs in the end.

Healthy and wholesome drinks. Do go and try it out if you like smoothies and they are having promotions now! A dollar off for every smoothies. The location??

Well, here it is.
Tofu King. smoothie & fruit beancurd.
10 Sinaran Drive
#B1-94
Square 2 (the other side of the Novena MRT station from the usual Novena Square).

And being chatterboxes, we spent at least another 30 mins there before we all called it a night.

Off to the bus stop, hubby and I went and the Choong family went to hail a cab. Nice ending to a nice day. Somemore, the rain had stopped! Yay!!!

Off to bed now. Tomorrow will be another day.

CNY is on the way.

After shopping with Godma for almost the whole afternoon, hubby and I arranged to go to Audio House to collect our free gift from Citibank.

Reached there and shopped around. Nothing to buy at all. Liang Court is really quite a pathetic place to be in. But the weather was sooo good today. No rain, no sun but plenty of wind! Hubby was feeling hungry and we had Mac outdoors. Quite a good time to people watch and just enjoy the breeze. In fact, it was so comfortable that we both almost nodded off to sleep!

Hubby suggested that we go Chinatown since CNY is round the corner and we assume that the decorations should be up by now, since it's about a month away to CNY.

Being the sua ku me, I did not even know that can walk over to Chinatown from Clarke Quay! So, hubby walked me there.

Quite disappointing lei. Chinatown is not ready to receive CNY yet. Not much decorations are up. But the crowd is already there. Not to mention, there's alot of foreigners too as well.

Feeling hungry, we stoped at the Food Street for dinner. I think it's a mistake to have dinner there. Gosh! 1)The food takes forever. 2) It's expensive. 3) Not nice! Maybe the tourists find it interesting. But as locals... hmm... I don't want to wait that long, morever, it's self service. Then so expensive as compared to other food courts or coffeeshops and worse! After going thru all the hassle of queueing and paying more, the food is not nice!

This will be my first and last time that I eat in this Food Street again lor.

Din get anything much except for 5 CNY kind of stickers for our house to hang. Which, we shall keep 2 for ourselves, one or 2 for my mom and the rest for PIL. Other than that, nothing. Anway, I was also feeling tired from the morning bout of shopping and we decided to head for home.

I'm not sure what hubby had been doing, I know he did the chores and he appeared to be very tired lor coz he feel asleep on the bus. While I, though tired can't sleep. =(

Rainy rainy day.

What a wet wet morning! This rain has been pouring since yesterday with just some brief moments of stopping and then the floodgates opened once again and the waters came down even heavier!

Wet and cold was the weather but so was I for the past 2 days!

Anyway, I like this kind of weather and very strangely, of all days, hubby and me decided to hit the towns after work. I know hubby wanted to go to John Little to get some shirts since they were having some sort of promotion. But! We went a day too late! The promotion ended yesterday!!

I was soo looking forward to the end of the work day and immediately when the clock shows 5.30pm, I dashed out of the office to meet hubby.

*DANG!* Hubby late lor.. for at least 10 mins. I kena sit at the MRT station and wait for him with a rumbling stomach. Finally when he reached, we caught the next train and went on our way. Was thinking of what to eat and I finally decided that I want Manhattan Fish. But don't know for whatever reason, we ended up in MOS. My favourite fastfood for the moment.

We spent a long time in MOS not coz we were eating slowly but our food took forever to come. After gobbling down our food, we went to JL. Hubby began his "touch touch here, touch touch there" regime. I just followed him around and comment on the colour.

Then the 'trying' regime began. I've lost count of the number of times he went in and out of the fitting room and myself. He went in to try taking like 1 piece each time and I had to walk in and out to take other sizes or colours for him.

How come men shop like tat wan? Not very effective lei. Should be like us, women ma, take ALL that we fancy and then try all at one shot ma!

Anyway, after a good 1 hour in JL, hubby finally decided on 2 long sleeves shirts. Not bad. It's strippy and in a colour that I've never seen hubby in so far. One is white and blue, rather boring and the other is black and purple! Ha... I think he looks quite cool in it though. hahaha

Can't wait for CNY to see him in his new clothes!

Not a bad evening =) Got not bad dinner, new clothes and also a good time with hubby. Somemore got a pack of Ang Pow packets free coz we spent more than $50. And it's cute lei. Winne the Pooh and his friends.. haha.. Total of 8 pieces, 2 of each design.

Cute right? My favourite is Piglet!

The only thing that irked us was we spent about 30 mins waiting for 162! argg!!!