happening w my colleagues

am flying off to taipei for my company's D&D tomorrow morning! it's the 1st time i'm travelling with my colleagues as i had skipped the one in shanghai previously.. am so looking forward to the feasting, shopping & clubbing sessions with them! & i will be back in time for didi's birthday!

am soooo looking forward to the next few days of fun &... yes, no pv either! YESH!

note: dw, don't forget to cover my duty on monday morning, will be thinking of you & missing you loads!

It's time for a VaCaTiOn!

Looking forward to our ocean view apartment! Got this awesome pic off goldcoast.com

We're flying tomorrow night to Brisbane, spending a night at Tangalooma and then heading on to Surfer's Paradise!

I'm looking forward to this break after a very sleepless week. Dw was out-stationed the whole week in Germany and I was left looking after a sick & very cranky Jenson alone. He came down with high fever on Sunday night and a couple of days after, cough & runny nose followed. It's not easy to feed this guy his meds & it gets really bad when he needs to be roused from his sleep for the night dosage. He alternates between struggling, yelling & shutting his mouth and I'm alternating between clamping him down, trying to squirt some meds in when his mouth is open and squeezing in the syringe between his shut lips. It has been a battle every night and I'm zonked. The kids were sleeping in separate bedrooms so that the flu wouldn't be passed from brother to sister and yes, that meant I had to shuffle between 2 bedrooms every night. Each time a kid whined, I'm up & off to the other room. It's either mother's instinct or mothers just have very sharp ears to somehow catch even the softest whimp from the kids. (By that I mean most dads can always sleep through the night even when the kid is bawling.. WHY?!!?!!)

Long story cut short, I'm extremely sleep deprived. Dw's heading back this evening & I know he's going to be exhausted. This sweet fellow always tells me he can't sleep well on his business trips when I'm not by his side... awwwwwwww... dearest dw, that's really really sweet and can you up the sweetness a notch by sacrificing one more night of sleep and let me sleep through tonight whilst you take over the kids...

It's going to be a red eye flight tomorrow. Jill is usually an easy flyer and I've told her numerous times that she MUST sleep on this flight else when she reaches Oz, she won't be able to enjoy herself. As for Jenson, I can only hope he will sleep & not go wild exploring every inch of the plane like what he did on our recent Hanoi trip . In any case, if all fails, there's always sedilex... which by the way, IS legitimate as he coughs alot especially at night cos I'm not one of those moms who use drugs to knock kids out on flights.

I love holidays, I work darn hard for them and I'm going to enjoy myself to the max! Gold Coast, here we come!

Old Yellow Wiggle - Greg Page

Old Yellow Wiggle, Greg Page's back!


And he's coming to Singapore! I'm a HUGGGEEE fan of him!! There's something about Greg Page, his chiseled, oh so man looks.. (Jilliane prefers the purple wiggle as she's amused by his constant sleeping)

BUT, abit of sanity is still in me, I don't think I'm going to pay $270 ($90x3 as it's gotta be a family outing) just to see him in person.

Tim vs Joey

Jilliane's crazy about Tim .. Tim Maddren of Hi5.

Recently we've been watching Friends alot as well. Why? Because she thinks Joey's incredibly handsome.

And when I look at the both of them, I realised the similarities between their features :)

movie tonight!

The last time Dw & I caught a movie (just the 2 of us) was way back in 2010.. Eat, Pray, Love.. Then it was a little treat from Seiki Travel.

Today, we're catching another movie (just the 2 of us). Man on a ledge. This time, courtesy of my mommy, who got this treat from another party.

Looking forward to our romantic night out!

Best wishes for 2012

It's the 2nd last day of 2011. And I'm now a mother of 2. Yikes! Scary!

But I look forward to 2012 with a myriad of reasons:

1) Jenson will turn 1. Can't wait for him to be older. I'm not good with babies. I prefer to be able to have a comprehensible conversation with my kids. Jilliane at age 3 is a non stop talking machine, but at least she makes sensible talk. It's a joy to be able to call home during lunch & have a decent conversation with her. And of course when Jenson turns 1, there's going to be a party! He didn't have a man yue celebration so he's definitely going to have a one year old party. Mommy's worked up about it, as she hasn't had a fun party for eons! In fact, I've already started sourcing around for a venue..

2) A new helper. Yes the previous one did a nasty turn around on me. Packed her up & sent her home immediately. I hope my new helper will not do something stupid and break my trust. So far she's been good. Not a fast learner as my previous one but then again, the clever one turned out too clever for her own good, so maybe a not too clever one may be better. Well, but as people say, the horns come out after a year. Gotta X fingers on this one & hope for a better helper for 2012.

3) New job responsibilities. I now have marketing under my wing as well. Am excited about this but frankly speaking, the only marketing experience I have are those credit card ones which empty my wallet every festive season. But hey, they gotta be good since they have that effect on me right? So I guess I'm on the right track.

4) Trips!! I haven't had a decent trip since my cruise in May. I'm heading to BKK in June. But before that I hope to bring Jilliane to HK Disney and make another trip at the end of year with the 2 kids!

5) I12! Finally there's a cinema at my doorstep! I hope to be able to catch a midnight show with Dw soon, when the kids are asleep :)

All the best for 2012 folks! May the New Year bring us abundant luck, wealth & great health!

Jd's very own!

check this out!

My balloon man

A couple of months back, I posted that DW had a great imagination with mega blocks. He has decided to put that imagination to use again, this time round, on balloons!

And he's so darn serious that he's actually signed up for a course on this! I'm expecting many more designs after the course definitely, but meanwhile these are the few which he has done so far. Very impressive for an amateur! So if any of you out there needs a balloon man for free for your kids' parties, you know who to call *wink*

(Fr L: Poodle, flower with stalk & leaves, simple butterfly)


Flower Bracelet


An improved, more colourful butterfly!

Buying over Borders

The Borders at Parkway is one of JD's favorite playgrounds. There're books, DVDs and cute inanimate objects for her to shop.

As such, it was rather sad when I read that the "mother" in Australia was bankrupt as that could mean that the Singapore branches may jolly well close shop soon enough. So I've been constantly trying to drum this slowly into JD's mind that "Borders is closing soon" so she wouldn't feel so sad IF & when it really happens. However I don't think she has pretty much gotten the idea yet as she usually will follow up with "Borders close, wait, Borders open again". Ahhh, the innocence of a child!

So last night, I gave Dw something to ponder over. I told him why not consider buying over the Borders in Singapore! With his e-specialist knowledge, he can turn around Borders & perhaps built it to be more technologically inclined! Maybe launch an iphone app, create apps on each story, each song (afterall i-tunes aren't available to Singapore credit cards), each dvd, the list goes on... Obviously, the reaction from him was... "and where do you propose I get the funds from, ROLL EYES..."

Oh well, it's okay to dream isn't it!

*ps: anyway I read an article this morning that Singapore Borders ain't affected by the bankruptcy of her "mother" in Australia, let's wait & see.. I AM crossing my fingers X!

Aged

I was at Butter Factory last Friday & i admit, i've aged.

I felt a strong sense of yearning initially when I saw the Girls were oh so young & oh so Chio in their super short skirts & super high heels & worst of all I didn't see a familiar face at all! Getting into the club was already a hassle. There was the normal queue, the guest list queue, the VIP queue. Of course i had to be at the 3rd option else i wouldn't even bother being there but the difference now is i'm in that queue not because of MY own merit but because I was a friend of the friend whose friend has a friend who's the VIP. What an awfully distant relationship. So unlike the days when all it took to get a VIP table at Dragonfly was a call from me to the VIP direct. I thought back of my heydays at Zouk when I could simply stroll to the front of the queue because i knew the bouncers & everyone (almost) on the centre platform was my friend. And talk to these 1980s kids about the iconic Mdm Wong and they will not understand. I had asked around prior to this day where exactly in Fullerton was Butter Factory. I received a whole string of replies ranging from Starbucks turn left to above Overeasy ( another huh?!). Damn, if only the reply was where Centro was, I would have known!

As the night went on & as I sat with my back facing the Singapore River & the 3 towers of MBS, my eyes were transfixed on the hip youngsters, watching them groove to House & looking at them intoxicating themselves. I still love House & I still love drinking. But I realized that I've progressed (that probably sounds more sophisticated than aged).

I've moved on to the next stage of my life where I prefer to instead drink tea at the Mandarin Oriental lounge. A place where it's my front rather than my back that faces the Singapore river & the 3 towers of MBS. A place where soulful jazz fills my nights.

Simply put: my time is over.

Shots

An old friend shared a link with me this morning. Not exactly with me, it's more to introduce a photographer to another friend who's getting married and searching for pre-wedding photography.

The funny thing is when I saw these photos, I felt a lump in my throat. The photos were beautifully taken. The angles, the lightings truly brought out the grandeur of the venue and the beauty of the couple but yet somehow I do not feel the sincere love between them. I used to gush over pre-wedding shots of my friends and will always envy how beautiful / handsome they look as brides / grooms to be. Now that I think back, yeah, that's just about all there is to these photos. A chance to capture you at your best, with an elaborate gown and a nicely tailored suit and full make up. I mean, no matter how ugly you are, how bad can you look with so much help? If you still don't look your best then I think you're just hopeless.

Anyway these poses are choreographed and best of all, how much love can there be when these people have yet to go through the daily ritual of sleeping & waking up together each & every day, of seeing each other day in & day out and witnessing how sms changes from " Hi darling, I miss you so much, wish you were by my side" to "Tonight home late". The kids have yet to come into the picture where the ugliest scenes will then take place. Hell is raised to earth. These photos to me, mimic the exact kind of life that most of us are leading, pretentious.

Maybe the heart is too cold now, maybe the mind is too cynical. I think such photography should be kept till the couple has truly weathered the storms of marriage. The same link had an album where the photographer captured shots of his parents. Yes, with wrinkled skin & all. But the amazing thing is this album depicted the warmth & love that was between the 2 people. And yes, they were just as beautiful , if not more than those sweet young things.

A helper finally...

After 2 years of battling with my conscience and my happiness, I've finally decided that I'm going to get a helper.

Yesterday was commendable as I finally went to an agency, shortlisted a couple and actually paid the deposit. Yes, I put some money down and that would probably indicate how serious I am this time round.

Previously I merely called around a few agencies, trying my luck that I will be able to chance upon the "perfect" helper, knowing jolly well that that will never happen. Somehow I couldn't muster enough courage to really convince myself to invite a stranger into my house.

I don't know what spurred me on yesterday. Maybe it's the accumulating tension at home, maybe it's the beast in me screaming for freedom, maybe I'm just not fit to be a mom.

But whatever it is, I'm just glad that help's on the way...

Lost in Bella

I've tried to resist starting on the Twilight series as long as I could. I knew that if I started, I would be transported into a fantasy world. I know myself best and true enough, now I wish that I was a character in the book, if only I was Bella Swan, torn between a vampire and a werewolf. I mean, how cool can that be!

Every waking moment is spent burrowing myself into the books and I'm half wishing that these are magical books, books that will never end with stories that just go on & on.

A bookworm since as young as I can possibly remember, I would snap up every book in any series that I could lay my hands on. I recall anticipating eagerly for the new book in the Nancy Drew series. I would read & re-read Enid Blyton's stories. I will always remember Elizabeth the naughtiest girl in school, the Wishing Chair, Mr Moonface etc. I can't help but smile to myself, when these characters come flashing back. As I grew older, I started on those teenage love stories from Sweet Valley High and I can still recall how I would drool over Bruce Patman, notwithstanding that he is all but a created, painted face. On hindsight, Bruce does resemble Jacob the werewolf and they both have the dark deep set eyes that C Ronaldo has. (My taste in men has been pretty constant ya)

I'm now hemming & hawing on each page of Eclipse as I know that once this ends, I have to move on to Breaking Dawn and that spells the end of my Bella Swan fantasy. Once again, I dread to get back to reality.

I Heart Wednesday

It's been a super long day. In the morning itself, I've already had more cases on hand that I alone could have handled.

And now, I've finally finished up all the cases. Time passed really quickly and I'm so happy it's going to be nightfall. Not because it's time to head home, but because it's Wednesday. And Wednesday is GLEE night! Yipee! It's another of those silly high school drama but it's full of music. Music never fails to lift my spirits and it's even better when it's accompanied by beautifully choreographed dance moves. It also has those innocent teenager secret crushes which never fail to bring a smile to my face. Somehow, it makes me feel young again...

Wednesdays used to be Mambo nights.. I still remember those horrendous long queues at Zouk and how fortunate we girls were when they finally opened a girls' queue. We will start to queue at 5pm, head for dinner and party all night long. I loved those days, I had June, Ailin & Mich, I had Pam, Clara & Sok Hui, I had Delvyn and the gang from Nee Soon Delta Camp. It may seem silly now to have done all those things just to ensure that we could get into the club, but those were the days that will always remain a beautiful memory with me.

I can't wait for 10pm! Finally.. the day's over...

It's April fool's today

You reckon today we'll all be informed that the Ris - Ross's saga was merely an April's fool's joke? Sounds lame but if it's true, I think it's good that once in a while, we get some trivial excitement. We so need this.

Our visit to RWS

1. My 1st impression of RWS was, aiyoh, looks like a M'sia shopping centre.
2. As I ventured further, aiyoh, looks like Genting.
3. As I took the escalator down to the Casino, I was like, wah, like a nightclub.
4. I am looking forward to visiting Universal Studios though it's gonna be a long while before I can enjoy the rides with JD.
5. I dunno if I will pay $100 to enter the casino. I'm still hoping that some promotions will come up like those with xxx credit card gets $100 back in form of chips or sorts.
6. I'm still not impressed with Victoria Secrets. I won't pay $56 for that lousy piece of T shirt.
7. Car park rates should really be revised - lower. I scrammed before I hit the 2nd hour.
8. I'm proud that we finally have a world class resort in Singapore. Really la. As much as there are people bitching about it paling in comparison to Excalibur or Circus Circus, I'm sure there are just as many or even more people who feel good about our achievements.

My favourite songs for 2009

On the last day of 2009, I wish all of you all the best for the New Year and let's all look forward to being a year older and a year wiser.

That sounds quite sad so to make myself feel young at heart, I've gotten myself into a warp world with these 2 songs which always make me wanna sing along & dance too. One for the very young, and one for the very ah lian. 2 phrases which I've gone through and reminisce.

X'mas in jest

Cool toilet bowl

I was last in Seoul end 2005, beginning 2006.. not too long ago. 3 years later, they've the coolest, most hygienic toilet bowl seat I've ever seen! Just press the red button & the plastic on the seat rotates to a new sheet!

Playboy?

I came back from work a couple of days back and was surprised to see what Jilliane had doodled! What does this look like? 2 fingers? Playboy? *GASP* choy choy choy..

Oh boy, Hugh Hefner, go away!!!!!