Reflection

My first attempt at driving to work alone!!

2010-11-04T07:34:00.005+08:00

I DID IT!! Finally, today, I attempted my first drive to work alone!! Has been putting it off for the longest time, always thinking of reasons to tell hubby why I should not drive. Just not confident in handling a manual car, even after many practices with hubby, and I just prefer to the passenger. But today I decided to face up to it. Got to face it anyway, better to drive than to let taxi driver earn my 10 bucks cab fare. The whole drive was smooth, and I realized that I am quite used to changing gear already, just need to adjust to the different road conditions. The only hiccup was that I mounted kerb while turning out the carpark. There goes the alignment of the back wheels! Oops! :)

Documentation of my hypnobirthing experience

2009-07-05T15:19:00.007+08:00

Yippee! I am damn proud to say that we DID it! I delivered a healthy adorable baby boy 100% natural without any pain relief, gas nor any assistance! Arayfas arrived on 19 Jun at 1030 in the morning and he is 3.23kg and is 51cm long. I had a 3cm natural tear. The birth experience was absolutely positive and memorable. I remember finishing the hypnobirthing book and my hypnobirthing class materials just 2 weeks before and I was wondering if I will be able to perfect my breathing techniques and if I will remember all the different birthing positions. I was also wondering if my birth companion aka my Hubby will know what to do. It was like suddenly there were so many things to do. Luckily, everything turned out well and fine.

18 jun 4am birth show

6am SMS my boss to take off and pack my hospital bag. It was as though I could sense something brewing, and yes, my bag is not packed yet!

9am called my Gynae to change my apt to morning instead. By then was feeling cramps but did not realize they are surges

10am Gynae confirmed that I am 2cm dilated. To admit hospital when I feel 8cm apart surges.

12pm called my boss to inform him i will be taking off as labor has started. had lunch at thomson and ya kun tea after that

2pm went back home to get some rest

8pm surges are 8cm apart, went hospital, still 2 cm dilated. Decided to go home 1st. I was still mobile n cld talk n smile.

11pm surges are 2min apart n by then I can't talk nor smile anymore. Went back to hospital. 3cm dilated! My god! So long to dilate 1cm. We were given option to admit or go home. Decided to stay. Good choice. Nurse saw that I was coping well with my hypnobirthing techniques, so arranged for me to be transferred to ward to rest, reason is other mummies are screaming away and will affect my breathing. Was at ward until I feel I was ready to labor

2am went back to delivery room, nurse checked n I was 4 cm dilated. My god, this is really taking Long. My hubby and I were saying Huh!! Only 4 cm? The nurse was so encouraging and she said no. this progress very good already...TMC nurses are good!

6am Midwife came in to check and good news is I'm 9cm dilated. Finally some progress and I started feeling urge to push baby down. I tried all positions that I know, the birthing stool, the gym ball, n all fours, standing and dancing, and my fav is the birthing stool as I could lean against JQ and that felt very comfortable. I also like the standing one where JQ will hug me and rock me. You may not believe it, but you really can sleep in between surges, even when standing.

8am Still not able to get baby out. Midwife suggested I lie down and push. Can see she is a bit kan cheong already cos all the other babies in the other rooms are out. I can hear the wails and cries from other rooms. Mine is really taking a long time. Since I still was not able to breathe my baby out, we decided to try the traditional way and we did make some progess. At 8plus, can see a bit of crowning and Gynae came in. I huffed and puffed and pushed all the way till 1030am before Arayfas is finally born! The last 30min was like a cheering session, midwife, Gynae and Hubby was cheering me on. The 1 hr skin to skin contact and bonding was amazing.

Summary
30hrs of labor in total
Almost 12 hrs of intense labor pain
2hours of pushing and panting away. Think that was the most calorie burning exercise in my whole entire life!
TMC is a good choice to deliver. Will come back again
Dr Paul Tseng - Fantastic choice to switch then. If I had stuck to Gleneagles, there would have been intervention already. And Dr Paul Tseng is really good! He is very experienced and very assuring. Will go to him again. ;)
Most importantly, JQ was a fantastic birth companion. He was supportive the whole time and did all the right things to comfort me. Wouldn't have managed to go through this without him.

Spate of bad news

2009-03-10T20:30:00.002+08:00

I've stopped watching news on TV and I do not really read newspapers as well. The most I do is browse through headlines in the papers. The reason for this is not to affect my baby with negative news and emotions. With the global recession, all we see and hear is bad news each and every day. Even without the TV and radio news, I have been exposed to bad news recently. Just last month, there was a memo from my company saying that one of our employee committed suicide opposite the workplace during working hours. He was only 26 years old, engineer with first class honors. News has it that he was suffering from depression. Just 1 and a half weeks ago, I lost 2 girls from my dept. One of them has been working for more than 15 yrs. Micron has announced that we are going to cut 2000 jobs, but we did not expect any from Singapore. Boy am I glad I was not the one to break the news to them. I was crying like mad when my boss announced the news. 2 days ago, while I was baking cookies and hubby doing the laundry in the kitchen, we heard a loud thump. JQ looked out and immediately turned to me and told me to stay away from the windows and not to look down. A successful suicide attempt by our neighbor. JQ called the police and the police arrived within minutes to cover the body.

Homemade cookies

2009-03-10T20:21:00.002+08:00

Charmaine passed me a pack of Betty Crockers cookie mix when she was back for LNY. For some reason, I was inspired on Sunday to bake them. So I did! And it turned out well at my first attempt! And it's really easy! If only I had a bigger oven... I could only bake 6 cookies at one time, so I ended up baking 4 rounds! Shall search for more yummy cookie mix. =)

Flutters in tummy

2009-02-19T14:07:00.005+08:00

I've reached the next milestone of pregnancy where I can feel the flutters in tummy and if I'm quick enough, I can see my tummy move! Funny feeling... =) Initial stage, when the flutters were really light, I thought I was imagining things, until one day I realized that I really can feel boy boy's movement already. =)

Our simple anniversary celebration

2009-02-11T19:34:00.001+08:00

A simple salad, sandwich and soup complete with flowers is how we celebrated our 4 years 6 months together. This is also our 3rd ROM anniversary. We do not need a fanciful meal at a restaurant to remind us how blessed we are to have each other... :p

Memories of my first trimester

2009-01-07T10:47:00.006+08:00

I thought I will be the kind of mummy-to-be who will be very excited about anything and everything and will be busy with incessant blogging... turns out to be the opposite... this mummy have been very "lazy"... keke

I'm currently into my 16th week of pregnancy and is super looking forward to the disclosure of my baby's gender this Friday. Hope the scan goes through smoothly as in baby cooperates fully. This is like another milestone of pregnancy, where you will know what kind of stuff to start preparing for the arrival of the baby. I have been looking forward to every visit to the gynae. I still remember the excitment I was feeling when I heard the baby's very fast heartbeat for the first time and seeing the black dot aka baby sac. I was super elated during the 2nd visit seeing the baby growing. The third visit was even more amazing! We can actually see the baby's hands waving away and feet swaying. Till now, I still feel that the most beautiful sound ever is the heartbeat of the little one inside me.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was busy asking around for good books recommendations, courses that I should attend etc... I was still very active then, even meeting up with friends a lot, and that was definitely before the fatigue and morning sickness kicked in. Shortly after, I was feeling tired and sleepy all the time, I go to bed as early as 7, 8pm. I started to puke as many as 4 times a day. I had to adjust to the kind of hunger pangs I was feeling and learn to avoid these hunger pangs so that I will not puke. The only impressive thing I managed to accomplish was completing the 3 intensive full days of Millionaire Mind Intensive. I'm like 1 month behind on What to Expect When You Are Expecting...

Overall, it was a tiring 3 months but luckily I had JQ by my side. I must say he took really good care of me, making sure I was feeling ok, buying food for me, being there for me. It's a blessing to have him. But I have to say, he is currently more pregnant than me! HAHAHA!

Robbed and harassed by loansharks!

2009-01-06T09:53:00.009+08:00

Never have I imagined that the above 2 things will ever happen to my hubby and me... and it's even beyond my imagination that these 2 things will actually happen within a short span of 10 days! I was having a long break clearing leave and went on a short trip to Malacca with JQ's family on Boxing Day. On our first night in Malacca, just when we were heading out to dinner, a snatch thief on a motorbike had the audacity to snatch JQ 's waist pouch and took off!! Did I tell you this happened just outside the hotel at the carpark, and there was a big group of us like 5 or 6 of us helping to load Jimmy's Mum from the wheelchair into our car! The stupid Indian actually dared to execute his plans when there were so many of us there! I have to say JQ reacted very fast and put up a brave fight. He gave chase immediately and even threw a shoe at him, closing the distance between him and the Indian at one moment, BUT of cos, he did not catch him. Slippers and motorbike is not a fair match after all! Luckily, no one was hurt in this incident. JQ just had some scratches on his arms and feet. He lost a camera, all his $, IC, cards and all his personal belongings. It was such a blessing that I was holding on to the passports!

Our dinner plan had to be delayed while we called all the banks to freeze his cards and waiting for the police to come. The police took a very long time to come, and my hubby eventually had to go to the police station to take down statement. Needless to say, they took a even longer time to send him back to the hotel, almost 3 hours for a statement! When he came back, we realized that he had to go to 3 police stations cos they could not understand English well. OMG! He was also describing to us how it was like in their police stations. When he reached the stations, all of them were not in uniform. They were all casually dressed with their uniforms hanging somewhere. Worse still, they were all smoking and chatting away... and they are supposed to be the front line staff...

We had to park our cars away from the hotel as we suspect that this was a syndicate's doing and that these idiots were targetting our whole group. After the incident, we saw 3 other motorists taking photos of our cars from across the road! We managed to return home safe and sound after 2 nights in Malacca.

On 4 Jan 09, in the short 2 hours that we were at my Mum's place for dinner, another horrible thing happened to us. When we reached home at 8.30pm, we found permament marker marks on our front door! The message read Lim Choon Teck 08-30 O$P$! Hello, you are writing on the door of 07-30 lor! Don't they know how to read? Don't these runners know the difference between 7 and 8! There were also new messages on the stairway wall. Apparently, according to the police, the loansharks now harass the neighbours as well...Well, these people are really desperate. The person who owes them $ has already moved away. My new neighbour upstairs is also a victim who kena paint etc during their renovations... Their CCTV probably saved them from the harassment this time round.

Stay posted for photos of the graffiti...

There goes my US trip!

2008-11-06T08:15:00.004+08:00

Just when I am announcing happily that I am going US soon, I'm even happier to announce that I'm cancelling my US trip cos I'm expecting the arrival of a baby Eve/Seth. As the trip falls nicely within my first trimester, we have decided to cancel the trip. Will just have to squeeze some time in future to make up for this one later... ;D

Looking forward to Nov 29

2008-10-24T13:27:00.004+08:00

Yippee! We are finally going on our honeymoon after 2 years and 8 months into marriage!! It is really long overdue. If JQ sees this, he will probably say... excuse me, ehmmm... we have been to Bali, Bangkok, Genting etc, not considered honeymoon ah? My standard reply will be this is classfied as short trip. Anything less than 10 days is not honeymoon! haha, I very 野蛮 right? keke

Even though we are setting off in slightly more than a month's time, other than buying round trip air tix, and tix to O at Bellagio, nothing else is done. And ours is going to be a driving trip. Wish us luck man! =)

Energy Saving Facts

2008-10-08T07:56:00.003+08:00

Read this in a magazine and decided to share this info...Let's put in some effort to save the planet and cut down on our ever increasing electricity bills...

Discovery 1
The energy saved from switching off the airpot for 1 day is sufficient to light up a 4-room flat for 2 days!

Discovery 2
It is 6 times cheaper to watch a DVD on your laptop than on your LCD TV!

Discovery 3
The energy saved from reducing the use of a storage water heater from 8 hours to 1 hour can power a frige for more than 24 hours!

Discovery 4
It requires more than double the energy to cook rice in a microwave oven than in a rice cooker!

Discovery 5
Running your clothers dryer for 1 hour uses enough energy to heat up an iron 140 times! Or make 160 cups of coffee with a coffee maker!

Sprained toe

2008-09-07T01:26:00.003+08:00

This is how a sprained toe looks like!!

This is not my toe, it's my sister's. She sprained her toe during yoga today.

Auntie Evelyn finally went to St James!!

2008-08-30T18:20:00.004+08:00

28 Aug, Thu was our fiscal year end. As there were guests in town, and we have not had a company gathering for the longest time, Danny initiated a gathering at Dragonfly and in his words, to celebrate a pathetic quarter. Hoon, Jess and I decided to jio Tricia along as well. The exchange of sms between Hoon and Tricia was hilarious!

Hoon: Join us to go Dragonfly tonite leh...
Tricia: What time you all going?
Hoon: 6pm to 8pm...
Tricia: Huh?!! So early? You all go there and set table ah!

HAHA. In the end, T did not go. And the gathering turned out more fun than we thought it will be. :p

3 needle holes and a big blue black!

2008-08-29T15:26:00.000+08:00

Went for my first MSA-Parkway health check on 12 Aug 08 and this is what they did to my vein. There was swelling and the blue black just became bigger. The bruise only disappeared 2 weeks after the health check. This is the first and last time I'm participating in health checks organised by company. I will rather go outside and pay more than to let nurses practice their injection skills on me! :((

My adorable sister

2008-08-27T23:08:00.002+08:00

A cute exchange of sms between my sis and Wei.

Wei: My frd moving to Buangkok...

Sis: Really? She married a Thai lah...

Wei: ??

Sis: She must have married a Thai, that's why moving to Bangkok mah...

Wei: You dunno there is this station called Buangkok in Sengkang ah?

Sis: Oops! HAHAHA!!

Faintz!!!

Inspiration

2008-08-21T09:48:00.004+08:00

Was at ECP for dinner on Mon nite. On our way back, we saw a rare sight. There was this very old uncle learning roller-blading! And I mean really old! He is probably in his 70s already, wearing those kind of white singlet and uncle bermudas and all armoured. He looks quite frail and you can see that he is struggling with balancing on his blades. Kudos to him for having the courage to try all sorts of things at his age and kudos to his children who was by his side holding on to him. This is what I call quality family time. :p

National Day Rally

2008-08-19T07:22:00.005+08:00

For the first time in many years, I paid more attention to the National Day Rally speech by our PM. For the first time, I was in front of the TV throughout the whole speech without yawning even once. I'm the kind that hardly pays any attention to the government policies with mentality that it probably will not help me much anyway. This year was different probably because the issues are of my utmost concerns, inflation and baby policies. Government announced a teaser earlier saying that they are looking at the Swedish model for baby policies. With that, there were a lot of speculation among common folks like longer maternity leave (maybe 6 months), paternity leave, increased childcare subsidies and flexi working arrangement etc. Some of it came true. Maternity leave has been extended to 4 months, but darn, there is no extended paternity leave...

Singapore flag arising...

2008-08-18T09:41:00.004+08:00

Today is a Monday that I don't feel rested at all. Too many activities happening over the weekend: major makeover of our house and supporting the Singapore team at the Olympics. Rushed home from dinner to watch the game at 7.30pm and my eyes stay glued to the TV. There is a huge disparity in standard between the 2 teams. China's team has world no. 1, 2 and 5 players whereas Singapore team's ranking is world's no 6, 7 and 9. But I seriously think Singapore team put up a very good fight. I used to think that so what if they are good, their origin is still China what. But what JQ said to his kids made me think another way. Yes, they were born in China, but they are more Singaporean than us, cos they gave up their citizenship in China to live in Singapore, train in Singapore so as to represent Singapore. They are doing more things for Singapore. And he asked them what are they doing for Singapore... Of course there will be another school of thought, they are getting paid what, if they are not here, they would not have such opportunities. Whichever the case, they made it possible for us to see our Singapore flag rising at an Olympic event for the first time, so I'm still very proud of them! Go Team Singapore and may we see more stars rising to do us proud!

Latest update on my toe

2008-08-14T09:48:00.000+08:00

I've started wearing track shoes recently and went for short jogs/walks. However, I still can't bend my toes that well. Visited a orthepedic and physiotherapist last week and realized that it's not my big toe that is affected. It's my second toe that is more stiff. So I have been exercising the wrong toe all this while! The therapist taught me a few things I can do to exercise and strengthen my toes and I have been doing pretty diligiently. So now I'm seeing some improvement. I've even started wearing my most comfortable pair of heels! Yippee! =) Give me a while more, and I should be able to wear my other heels liao. keke

BBQ on 08/08/08

2008-08-14T09:12:00.001+08:00

It's been a while since Crucial had a get-together. This year we had a BBQ at a chalet at Pasir Ris again. That's what we normally do, cos there aren't that many places a big group can go, hang around, chill out and really catch up.

JQ looks very good in this pix hor...:p

Think I enjoyed this year's gathering more than previous years. I probably stayed long enough to really catch up with the rest of the guys. Food this year was super good too. Mag prepared 2 super yummy salad for me. Her potato salad was really nice. Bee hoon prepared by Dollah's wife was yummy too! =)

Meditation helps

2008-08-05T07:34:00.000+08:00

Was in a super foul mood yesterday after talking to my boss. Can feel my face, eyes and body flushing red and hot with anger! Lucky Tricia lent a "MSN window and her eyes" to me to vent my frustration (with technology, it's no longer listening ears and a shoulder). She probably can relate to what I'm feeling cos we had the same boss once. Anyway, my EQ was just going haywire and I was feeling shitty and lousy and just looking forward to 4pm.

Planned to go for steamboat dinner at Lotus and since dinner starts only at 6pm, hubby and I decided to visit the Burmese Buddhist temple near Balestier. This place always have that magic aura of calming people down. We went upstairs to the 3rd floor and meditated for a short while in front of Buddha. It's truly amazing. I can feel myself calming down and peace taking over my mind. I feel a lot more lighthearted and refreshed after the short meditation. Just googled this temple and realised they have meditation service for adults every Friday 7-8pm. Think I will give this meditation a try one of these Fridays. =)

http://www.burmesebuddhisttemple.org.sg/index.htm

PS: T, what you said about S was very funny. I only had the mood to laugh about it when I recalled our conversation during dinner...:p So you think I should take the photos out?

No more good facials...

2008-08-01T09:04:00.001+08:00

My favourite beautician is leaving! I have never had a regular favourite beautician before until I met C and now she's leaving, all her Boss's fault. Someone should send the Boss to some management courses. The way she's treating her staff now is like they are all her maids! All the horror stories of how she treats them, no wonder everyone is leaving when they have a chance. Such a bully! All her fault!

Big change!

2008-08-01T08:26:00.000+08:00

There is going to be a BIG change in my company again. This is going to be the fourth time in 7 years, BUT this time it has more direct impact on the sales team on the whole. I thought the result and consequence of the last acquistion of LM was bad. My team, especially I, had to go through shit, turmoil and politics. I went through a phase of frequent headaches, pulling hair and vomitting and finally settled all the pertinent issues. Thought it's the time to kind of enjoy some harvesting now, but alas, there is an announcement to change the sales structure. How is that happening, no one knows for sure at this juncture. We will just have to wait and see and hope transition will be smooth and easy. SIGH! Is this a sign for a career change? :(

Sweet birthday surprise

2008-06-27T07:59:00.000+08:00

My sister planned a birthday surprise for me this year and it was a success! Cos I did not have the faintest idea until I saw them at my place. Of course this was made possible with a good accomplice: JQ. JQ and I were out till about 9+ on my birthday. When we reached home, I saw him opening the shoe cabinet with the intention of keeping his shoes, BUT he took out his shoes and left it on the floor. I asked him what he's doing, and he said he wanted to air his shoes. DUH! I did not suspect that there was no space to put his own shoes. Next, I was babbling nonense to him in the kitchen. Usually, I will head straight to our wardrobe room to change out first and that's where my sis was hiding. So he had to lure me to our wardrobe room from the kitchen, wondering why I did not follow my usual routine this time. And there was my sister hiding in the wardrobe room with a birthday cake. BOY was I shocked. My next question was eh, only you ah? Mom never come? I turned around to see my Mom sneaking up behind me with a sheepish cute look on her face. You really should see her face, she looked like a small cheeky naughty girl so much so that I wanted to pinch her cheeks! So I was really really surprised, and touched this birthday. If you are wondering what happened to my Dad, well, he is just not into this kind of family gatherings. If it's proper dinner with table setting, he will be there. =) Anyone has any ideas how I can get my Dad to be more involved?

Busy June

2008-06-24T10:47:00.000+08:00

June has been a really busy period. 2 overseas trip and my birthday month. Went HKG on 5 - 8th of June on a biz trip, and my Mom and sister went along with me. Free accomodation at 5-star hotel, why not right? The photos shown on hotel website was really nice and my sister was so enticed to go. When we checked in though, we were all scratching our head and wondering why the website looks so different. Anyway, this was not the best time to go HKG. Not only was it not the sale's season, it was raining almost EVERYDAY. First day we touched down, it was drizzling, second day pouring, third day black alert, all schools had to close. Lucky we stay in a hotel with immediate access to a big shopping mall. If not, my sis and Mom will be bored to death. There were news of floods at a lot of places whenever we watch the news. Lucky for us, on the last day where I had F&E with them whole day till about 4pm, it was clear weather, so we managed to do some shopping and I even bought 2 Rabeanco leather bags. All 3 of us bought Rabeanco bags this time round. =)

13 - 17 Jun, I went BKK with Junqi. Have not been on a trip for a LOOONNNNGGGG time, so I was really looking forward to this trip. We stayed at Marriott Resort and Spa and really enjoyed our stay there. Service was good, ambience was really good. The location is at Riverside, so in order to get to town area, we had to take a ferry to and fro everyday. Really nice and exclusive. All the goods hotels have this kind of shuttle ferry service at their respective hotels. Shopping was good, I think I did more shopping during this trip than the last 5 years combined. Every night we will go for massage to soothe our legs so as to continue the shopping battle the next day. Every night after all the shopping and walking, on the ferry back to hotel, I have this sizzling feeling in my legs! Food was not good though, tough to find vegetarian food in BKK. Our life saver was MK steamboat. Confirmed, checked and double confirmed that their soup base is soya. So we had steamboat for dinner for consecutive 2 nights. On our last day, I was simply dragging my feet to shop around. No stamina at all! I was on the look out for cafes constantly so that I can rest my feet! I'm getting OLD!

Swimming fun

2008-05-27T10:46:00.000+08:00

Swimming is the only exercise I can do at the moment. Tried putting on track shoes the other day and gave up after walking a few steps. The wound portion still hurts when pressure is applied.

Swimming is going to be a weekly routine with my sister(I hope anyway). Brought my Mom to the pool for the first time in her life. It was hilarious. She has low water confidence and was very scared. Bought a floating board for her, and you should see the way she is hanging to it for dear life in a 1.2m pool. She was so cute, and we were trying to teach her to float and she was like screaming. Nearly died laughing... =) Hope things will improve as she gains her confidence. :)

Overdue Honeymoon

2008-05-27T08:37:00.000+08:00

We are finally going on our honeymoon! This trip has been delayed and delayed and delayed. The only period we can go is June and Dec school holidays (what to do, I married a teacher), and somehow things always pop out. When we just got married in Dec 06, we only managed to go on short trip to Bintan/Batam cos most of our funds were used to pay the top up for our flat. Jun 07, we were busy with moving and settling into our house, plus also cash strapped with the renovation and stuff. Dec 07, he kena reservist, so we only managed a family trip up to Genting. Jun 08, he kena reservist again, so we are going on short trip to Bangkok. So now we are planning early for our Dec trip. And it will be a trip worth remembering, cos we going US for 3 weeks!! Yippee! This time, nothing will stop us! Psst...Actually, Nov/Dec 08, he will kena 2 reservist, but that will be taken care of. :p Don't know why all his reservist always fall into school holiday period one... Sigh...

US US here I come!

Home cooked Wanton Mee

2008-05-27T07:19:00.000+08:00

Haha, so proud of myself, managed to cook some decent Wanton Mee on Sunday. Looks quite nice right? Taste quite good as well. :p Do pardon the unglam looking newspaper, that is a necessity for lazy pple like me! haha

I love our car!

2008-04-10T21:43:00.001+08:00

Rice cooker surprise

2008-04-10T18:54:00.000+08:00

Last night my darling said he was hungry and insisted I help him to take the food he was steaming from the rice cooker. I refused initially and he started pouting away. So I relented and this is what I saw when I opened the rice cooker...

Tata...my Moniversary present...

Moniversary is what he calls our monthly anniversary. We are celebrating our 45 months together and my present: good as new wedding band!

I have not worn my wedding band since the accident cos it was badly scratched and the ring surface will scratch my face, clothes etc when I wear it. He secretly went to fix our rings and now it looks brand new! I got another proposal again last night! SO SWEET!!! On top of that I got a gold necklace with a gold pendant. Yes, you will ask why GOLD! Well, according to a fortune teller, I have to wear some gold as my life is very "light". I was finding all sorts of excuses not to wear the previous necklace, so between a Coach bag and gold necklace, he bought me a lighter, longer, nicer one, so that I won't have any more excuses. :)

My first major serious accident!

2008-03-11T14:17:00.000+08:00

Decided to document this to remember this incident and to grouse people out, so don't continue if you have a weak heart!!

When the bike skidded and I landed on the floor, I was in shock. Did not really know what was happening, only knew I was bleeding a lot and that I could see white stuff and bloody flesh on my foot. The pain started to hit real hard when I was in Simon's car on the way to the hospital. Simon is the nice guy who sent us to the hospital. At the hospital, bored and in pain, I decided to take photos to while away some time. My sister soon arrived with chocolate to pacify me and wheeled me around for my X-rays and checks while my hubby limped around on his own for his checks. After more than 4 hours, we finally managed to head back home, tired and hungry...

Does the wound at the kneecap look like tattoo to you? Btw, that is my fav FCUK jeans!!

Remains of my hubby's socks, can you imagine what would have happened if he was not wearing shoes!!

Does my blue black look like a continent to you?

Aftermath of accident, I rested at home for 6 long weeks. This was taken almost one month after the accident. Still looks bad ya...

check out JQ's wound...this continuously had discharge and smells quite bad...

When JQ and I think back, we still feel blessed that we only escaped with superficial wounds. Given the time and location of the incident, we are really lucky that we were not knocked by traffic behind us. It really could be a lot worse. However, the timing really quite suay. If we could just tahan 2 more weeks, we would have collected our car and avoided this accident all together.

And how did I spend the 6 long weeks? I slept a lot, watched a lot of TV, ate and slept, ate and slept, ate and slept. Lucky we had company on and off, some friends came to visit and talk cock, family came to play mahjong. Think my mahjong improved a lot man. And we are lucky we had strong support from our family. My sis came by a lot to help me shower, helped us with a lot of grocery shopping. My Mum settled our meals, Dad fetched us to and fro the clinic, JQ's family helped us with food supplies, rental of maid and loads of care and concern. A BIG thank you to you guys! Love you all! Also need to thank all the friends and relatives that came with fruits, food, magazines, dvd. Thanks for your thoughtfulness!

V day

2008-02-14T13:32:00.000+08:00

U know you are getting old or in a "stale" oops, ahem I meant stable relationship when

1. U feel V day has no meaning anymore
2. U hear a lot of " everyday can be V day" from your partner
3. U hardly hear pple talking about what they are doing for V day
4. U either let your partner join the crowd of being 菜头 cos the flowers are so much more ex or you have to 暗示 your partner if you are not married and 明示 your spouse that you want flowers (hint at this stage does not work anymore!! )note: you still might not get the flowers after 明示
5. U reply 拜天公 when pple ask you wat's your plan tonight
6. U don't remember when and what was your last V day's gift

SO SAD!!

Seriously, the older you are, the more boring V day becomes. Those days with cards, chocolate, notes, flowers, gifts and romantic dates are long gone with the wind. V day just seems more exciting when you are young!

Prelude to MIL's call

2008-01-15T09:01:00.000+08:00

Got to found out the secret recipe over the weekend. According to my MIL, if you share some of the confinement food of a mother that just gave birth, vinegar pig trotters specifically, then you will have high chance of getting pregnant. She told me that there was this relative who tried to conceive for many years, but did not succeed, but once she tried this method, she got pregnant. That's why she asked me if I wanted to try. Hmmm, what a myth!

MIL's weird call

2008-01-10T16:28:00.000+08:00

MIL called me this morning and asked me weird things. She started with asking me if I wanted kids, so I said of cos yes lah. Then she went on to tell me that her friend shared with her a 秘诀, and asked me if I'm keen to try. So I replied as long as it does not involve me eating meat, anything lah. Not that I believe in old folklore, but I think I have to appreciate her efforts and concern right? Then she repeated her questions of whether we wanted kids and and that this 秘诀 has worked for 2 of her friends but I will have to make some "sacrifice". Smelling something "fishy", I repeated that as long as it does not involve me eating meat, I can go along with it. So finally she said well, then don't say lah, cos it is eating something not vegetarian. Putting down the phone, I was wondering to myself if she knows that we only started family planning like last month. Is she wondering how come we are taking so long, as in married for a year already, still nothing? Still, I know she called me out of good intentions and wanted to share good stuff with me. I just hope these things don't get too "stressful" for me and I sure hope she is not banging her hopes on me for a grandson.

Welcome 2008!

2008-01-02T15:28:00.000+08:00

Had a quiet Xmas at home with my Mum, sister and hubby. Counted down to year 2008 with mahjong also at home with some friends. I am such a homely person... haha...Think I'm going to have a very blessed good year with good luck for 2008, was the biggest winner for both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day mahjong session! Ha ha, that hardly happens to me! (Btw, biggest winner does not mean winning BIG money ok, I won $4.50 for first game and $5.80 for 2nd game. What did you expect, we only played 10 cents and 20 cents what!! Plus we did not really collect $, more for playing for fun. keke)

In the past, I always had the habit of setting some new year resolutions, and penning them down on New Year's Eve, but I realised I never got down to implementing them. This year, I'm going to set a more practical one. I want to be a mother in year 2008 and will work hard to make it come true! Wish me luck everyone and pray for success for us ok? :D

May all wishes come dream for all of us this year. Happy New Year!! :p

Junqi and Bailing's first Marathon

2007-12-04T11:22:00.000+08:00

Miracle Miracle

2007-10-30T17:00:00.001+08:00

A miracle happened on Oct 27. I woke up at 7am in the morning! For me to wake up so early on a SATURDAY morning, it's almost impossible!! To top it up, I actually pulled my hubby out of bed to go JOGGING, a thing that I literally hate doing! Still can't believe I did that, I even told JQ to buy 4D that day... Keke. It was really quite an enjoyable jog, though I only lasted for 15min. I almost reached Bedok Jetty from my house!

Later part of the morning I had to rush to Beth's place for my "make up". Oct 27 is a hot date for weddings and I was Jie Mei for Beth. My whole entire life, this is the only time when I actually had my make up and hair done by professionals other than my own wedding. What to do, all other 6 Jie Mei did the same thing as well. Lucky all of us did our make up and hair, there was a last min decison for us to walk down the aisle of Victoria Concert Hall before the bride. Lucky all of us were 美美. This is my first march in ever, I didn't have a march-in even for my own wedding! keke

Took lots of photos that day, will find a time to upload some. :)

End of Detox program

2007-10-15T09:37:00.000+08:00

Yippee, today is the 1st day of post juice. Have been on juicing detox program for 2 weeks and this time feels really good! Don't talk about all the inches and kilos lost, but more importantly, feel really cleansed as I have been shitting almost every day. Previous juicing did not have this effect at all... really makes you wonder how one can shit when there is no input other than juices. :p

So I have 1 more week and I can start eating normally again. Really miss my Mom's soups... yummy... I can start arranging to go out with friends again as well. Feels really weird going out with friends and I can't eat or drink anything, so it was a hibernating period for me.

Weekend passed by with a lot of shopping done. Sold my phone for $240 at TPY, quite amazed that N70 still can fetch such a price. Bought a lot of fruits, ingredients for post juice soup, DVD player for our room and tons of things from Ikea. Now my legs feel really funny. :p

Miracle

2007-10-11T12:39:00.000+08:00

Today is the first time that I did not take cab to office for my con call in the morning and I was on time. On top of that, I was even early by almost 15min! I reached office at 7.45am!! That hardly happens for me man, take bus and can reach so early!! Haha, so proud of myself. The next call going to be at 7am, jia lat loh, going to have more of these in the coming months. :(

Home alone

2007-09-12T16:21:00.000+08:00

Have been home alone for the past few days cos my darling is out in field, so I have the whole house to myself! Quite shiok but still prefer to have someone to hug at nite. Keke. :) Anyway, it will be his turn to be home alone for 10 days cos I'm leaving for China on Sat with my family. In case you are wondering why he is not going (I have been asked that question many times), he can't take leave due to his job and Dec will be too cold for my parents, plus it won't be so scenic, so no choice have to bang seng him. Anyway, we are thinking of going somewhere in Dec as well, just the 2 of us. Still thinking of where to go. Current options we are considering, Vietnam, Cambodia or Myanmar. Any suggestions?? :D

Yummy homemade carrot cake

2007-09-04T00:06:00.000+08:00

Nothing tastes better than my Mom's homemade carrot cake. :) Yummy!

JQ back in camp

2007-09-03T09:55:00.000+08:00

Xian, JQ will be in reservist for 2 weeks. Still thought can enjoy more time together since he got 1 week holiday. To top it off, once he finish his reservist, I'm flying off for my tour. :(

Anyway, he just finished his IA course and on his way to become a certified Iridology Analyst. Not so easy of cos, got to go through tests and "internships" I think. He is going to get lasik to correct his eyes soon. According to their teacher, contact lens is very bad for the eyes cos you are perpetually soaking your eyes in chemicals. They did a comparison between the contact lens wearers and non wearers and there really is quite a signficant difference! Lucky I got perfect eyesight. phew...

Still hooked on Bleach, on epi 75 now. Only mid-way there. Jia you jia you! :)

天冷就回来

2007-08-28T16:54:00.000+08:00

Watched this last Thu with my sister and I totally enjoyed it! I'm so amazed by the way the songs are stringed together and how good George Chan's vocals is. I know he can dance, but singing as well!!?? Wow, here is someone really talented. In fact, the whole cast is really impressive! The story line is simple and there are some scenes that's so Singaporean that you just have to applaud them. The songs are really familar esp since we kind of grew up in that era and you just have those tugs in the strings of your heart (牵动心铉的感觉). By the end of Act 1, I can feel the mucus flowing down from my nose and tears down my face, and I had to ask my sis for tissue. I must have been quite a sight man. But something weird, Act 1 is significantly nicer than Act 2. Anyway, it's good to hear that the show is completely sold out. Quite an achievement I would say, Bravo to them. And 1 more bonus point, we saw Liang Wen Foo and even got his autographed compilation album. Yippee!! :)

Reason for not updating my blog

2007-08-21T21:48:00.000+08:00

Hooked on Bleach! It's so nice that I have to watch at least 1 epi every nite! Will try to find some time to update though! So stay tuned! :p keke

BLEACH ROCKS!!

7 stitches!

2007-07-30T11:58:00.001+08:00

JQ cut his finger on Monday and it was a very deep cut. It required 7 stitches and the doctor gave him a week's MC!! The accident happened at home while he was sharpening the mini chopper knife. He told me that he could actually see a layer of whitish thing inside and according to the doc, that was the fats tissue or something. That is how deep the cut is! The doc even carried out some finger moving tests to ensure the nerves was not cut! Anyway, it was a horrible accident, really gruesome recovery process. There were traces of the accident when I reached home. Blood on the tissue holder! Anyway, he is recovering well now and the size of the bandage around his finger is smaller by each visit to the doc. I'm going to throw away that gadget and get a safer one!

Shit vs Wee Wee

2007-07-26T16:49:00.000+08:00

My sister once told me that humans are not able to shit and wee wee at the same time. You can only pee or shit. Both functions do not co-exist. Don't ask me how we got to that topic cos I don't remember. Anyway, just realised that it is not true! When you are in super urgent need to wee wee and super urgent need to shit, you can do both simultaneously! Tried and tested... personally! muahaha

Surprise Dinner

2007-07-25T17:13:00.000+08:00

On my way home yesterday, I was starting to feel my stomach growling with an intense desire for food. Was still thinking of cooking porridge when I reach home but knew I cannot make it, so I decided to call hubby and asked him if we should eat out instead. He told me to go home first then we decide. And when I reached home there was dinner all ready!! Nothing fanciful like candlelight dinner, just rice, dumpling soup which was a cute concoction of dumplings, eggs, diced veg cubes (those for fried rice) with instant seasoning and left over curry. But still it was a very very warm meal! Thank you darling dearest! It's really nice when your hubby knocks off much earlier than you. haha. :D

MIO woes

2007-07-25T10:44:00.000+08:00

We finally got our MIO up and running. Had so much problems with them initially. They failed to turn up for the 1st apt on Fri, we had to wait so long before anyone got back to us the next day, technican came late for the 2nd apt on Sat and still could not get the whole thing fixed up saying the line is not activated. Had to wait til Monday before we could take next step and Singtel still insisting the line has been activiated. Finally on Tue, the truth is out, they activated our neighbour's line instead. So now finally, everything is up and running, home line and broadband. Hope we won't run into the same problems some friends warned about, the line cutting off halfway or internet cutting halfway and not able to call in or out when using internet.

Connection

2007-07-20T11:13:00.000+08:00

Have always wanted to "connect" to my spiritual self for the longest time, have been thinking about meditations, reading up on Buddhism, but just never got down to it. Spirituality is a very important part of Wholesomeness, yet is something that I have not actively pursued. Had a "spiritual connection" yesterday though... something prompted me to get this book from the shelf: Awakening the Buddhist Heart. There was this quote from the book that attracted my attention:

Nothing worth doing is completed
In one lifetime,
Therefore we must be saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful makes
Complete sense
In any context of history,
Therefore we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, no matter how virtuous,
Can be accomplished alone.
Therefore we must be saved by love.
- Reinhold Niebuhr

Cheem, not really sure how to interpret this passage. Will finish the book and see if there is any relevation.

张学友

2007-07-17T16:54:00.000+08:00

Had a really good time on Sun at Jacky's concert! He is so good! My heart literally seems to be melting when he sings the ballards. It's so much better to hear him sing LIVE then to listen to his albums. These pictures were taken by my sister's frd who was sitiing all the way in the front, envy envy...:p The concert started at 8.15pm and ended only at 1145pm! Think this is the most worthwhile concert I've ever been to! :p

The concert started with fast sexy numbers. And Jacky CAN DANCE! He is pretty good as well. He also sang quite a few of his hits followed by a 30mins muscial adapted from 雪狼湖 and 如果爱, then his hits again all the way to the end. Really worth it man!! This time he also 'screamed'. I seriously thought it was nothing, just letting go of emotions that is so commonly seen in ang moh concerts. Wonder why his "screaming" and "throwing the mike stand" was all over the papers.

Mingli jie

2007-07-17T10:30:00.000+08:00

Heard so much about her and I finally get a chance to meet up with her!! She is really wholesome and someone who is indeed very successful! There is just an aura around her that I can't describe. Spiritual, full of life, love and a good heart. Had a very meaningful 1 hr chat with her, 1hr of valuable life lessons. She is truly worthy of people's respect!

I'm happy for my friend. He is on the correct path under the right leadership, and I am sure he is heading somewhere in life. :D

Retrenchment again

2007-07-11T16:16:00.000+08:00

Sigh, 6 years in this company and this is the 2nd retrenchment exercise! Don't worry friends, my dept will not be affected...YET, but this just means hire freeze, pay freeze etc and morale is generally low. Maybe it's a sign that I should move on, find another job, seek better opportunities, find that greener pasture out there... some is telling me to hang on since setting up family is my priority and some is saying all the more I should leave in case I get really stuck here! 待观其变吧!

I've come to realise one thing for sure, we got to have choices in life, and we should be able to choose from options and not let circumstances decide for us. We should be able to tour anywhere/do whatever we want and not let budget decide for us. My inspiration? For one more day by Mitch Albom. Action plan? Work towards the finer choices? Abstract? Nah, I have the answers in my heart. :) Keke

I am 31 years old!

2007-06-26T10:31:00.000+08:00

Had a pleasant surprise this year, I had my birthday celebration complete with a birthday cake just when the clock striked 12 midnite on 25 Jun. The most on the dot celebration I ever had! Terence and Gladys appeared at my door with a yummy tiramisu cake and a lovely present at exactly 12 midnite! So sweet and thoughtful of them! Really touched and pai sei that they had to "hang around" til so late though. :p

生命

2007-06-25T10:02:00.000+08:00

一个生命的诞生，同时又是另一个生命的结束。
是造化弄人，还是命中注定？
是该庆祝，还是该追悼？
心痛。
看着友人的坚强，心里有说不出的感慨。。。
唯一能做的也只是做他们身边的强柱。

A New Life

2007-06-20T11:22:00.000+08:00

Has been really busy! Busy with packing things into boxes, busy with the nitty gritty end details of the renovation, busy with last min shopping for the things that we left out and we need to buy, busy with moving in, cleaning up the whole place and finally unpacking things from the many boxes! Setting up our own place is no mean feat, super tedious process... but the end result? Worth it, definitely worth it! It's worth the effort to finally move into a home we can call our own. Our own comfy loft where it's just the 2 of us doing whatever we want, lazing around and taking short walks to East Coast Park together. :D

Anyway, will be organising gatherings at our place soon, in fact got a few lined up already... next will be busy with gatherings and housewarming, can foresee myself eating a lot of pizza, the most convenient food for a non domestic person like me... keke hope I don't get sick of pizza so soon... If you have any food ideas that is super easy to prepare and vegetarian, do let me know ok? Thx in advance! :)

Phantom one more time

2007-05-14T17:06:00.000+08:00

Spent a very nice Mother's Day with the ladies in my family - my sis and my Mum. Went for yummy "tunch" at Aquamarine followed by lots of shopping. We finished eating at about 3pm and started to walk around. Still remember last time my Mum will always like to spend time in the electrical appliance dept and my sis and I will be very "xian". Can't imagine that I've joined her league as well now! I was telling my Mum which rice cooker I bought, which induction cooker I bought and also rattling on that induction cooker is better! So now my sis is the odd one out! keke

Wise choice that my Dad did not join us, he probably will not be able to tahan the shopping. In fact, me and my sis also lost to my Mum. We ended up sitting at Indinine Cafe resting our legs while my Mum was asking have we rested enough! Amazing! Anyway, we managed to coax her into just chit chatting with us until time is up for us to watch Phantom. Shopping trip to be continued another day. :p

Phantom is much more enjoyable this time, probably cos we got better seats this time round. The last time I was stuck at one corner with "restricted view" even though it was Cat 1 tix. This time I could see the whole show a lot better! I also prefer the "Christine" this time round. She is more expressive and I can feel the emotions through her vocals a lot more as well. Brad Little is as charming as the first time I watched him, in fact better. How I wish I can watch the last show (which was our intention but the organisers extended the show yet another week!) Anyway, this is an advanced birthday treat from my darling sister. Thanks mei mei... muak muak! :D

Household chores blues

2007-04-18T18:40:00.000+08:00

I spoilt more clothes when washing clothes last nite!! :( Dumped everything in the machine to wash only to find out 7 of my tops are stained with black dye!! This brings total count of damaged clothes to about 11pcs!! Sigh... seems like I'm really not very domestic man! This is going to be a expensive lesson.

Lesson 1: Be careful of colored ribbons of unknown materials, damage - 1 top. Lesson 2: Always wash white/light colored clothes separately from others, damage - 3 white tops.
Lesson 3: Never be lazy and mix black and colors together and watch out for new clothes that has not been washed before, damage - 7 colored tops.

Luckily, none of the damaged clothes are the super expensive/nice clothes. The culprit is a brand new black tube top. My sis gave me a tip, all new clothes wash separately for first time to make sure the colors don't run.... good tip, must put in effort to follow. :p

Later going for another shopping trip. Need to confirm our lights today. There are so many things to shop for and so much preparation to do for the house. Last week we shopped 2 hrs plus in 1 shop and still cannot decide. Din know that just lighting in the house can amount up to thousands of $$!! :O Just feels like so much things to do with so little time! Jia you jia you! Must put the focus on end result - our nice comfy loft that we can call our own! =)

photos taken at Phantom

2007-03-28T16:01:00.000+08:00

Our ideal kitchen

2007-03-23T17:06:00.000+08:00

This is how we hope our kitchen will look like. :p

Phantom-see u tonite!!

2007-03-23T10:24:00.000+08:00

Today is the opening of Phantom of the Opera! So exciting! The last time I watched this musical was in the 90s! It has been a really long time! Still remember Sarah Brightman was playing Christine then. So looking forward to it!! Time for more souvenirs!! :p Now totally no mood to work. keke

Busy or lazy!!?? Ha

2007-03-22T10:49:00.000+08:00

My sis just sent email to me with subject head: "bianz! Still collecting keys!" Ha ha! Her second reminder that I have not updated my blog. In fact she still ask me to shut down my blog in her earlier email!! Yes yes, it's been a while since I collected my keys, in fact it has been more than a month since I collected my keys on 5 Feb and I have not blogged anything about it!! A lot of things to do leh, CNY, POV, finding renovation contractor etc etc...ha... excuses....

So here's a summary of what has been happening so far!

CNY: 1st CNY with hubby, 1st time giving out Ang Paos, 1st CNY belonging to a different entity, our own entity. We had more gatherings with friends than visiting relatives though. Overall, it has been really fun and tiring.

POV: Fantastic experience! Very different from the seminars I've attended before. Gave me a new perspective of true love, joy, bliss and gratitude. It also strengthened the bond JQ and I have. Made me really appreciate what we have going and really thankful towards WBG for such a great hubby! JQ recently said something to me that really touches my heart. "If not for WBG, there won't be this man here today standing before you who is worthy of having you." *heart melt*

2nd POV: Yet another amazing experience! Saw a different side of the people I truly respect from the bottom of my heart! Also a time of revelation, of acceptance and forgiveness. POV is a course that I really don't know how to describe. There is no right words that can be used to describe it. The best way to say it is GO EXPERIENCE IT!

Our new place: Finally getting somewhere! A clearer direction from our feng shui master, managed to find a contractor we can work well with, applied for renovation permit with HDB, and starting work next week! Hoping to move in by end Apr or May!

AOB: We thinking of a Golden Piglet in Jan 08. See if can start factory production in Apr. But that means NO honeymoon for us! :( See how things go lah. Anyway, now is not the time to enjoy yet, not with the financial liability of a renovation loan on our back. It just clashes with our financial mindset. Will aim to build asset first, will have to work on Junior Seth and Junior Evelyn baby fund and educational fund first... keke

OOHH!! Collecting our Keys next week

2007-01-30T09:39:00.000+08:00

Yippee, we are finally collecting our keys next Mon!! So looking forward to it! Next thing to settle will be the renovation. We have not been diligiently looking for contractors nor designers, so must buck up on that liao. If not, probably Apr still cannot move in. :( So exciting! When our house is done can invite many friends over liao. Most importantly, it will truly be er ren shi jie for both of us and I can start cooking in my own kitchen. HAHA. Yippee, yippee!! =)

Separation Anxiety

2007-01-29T10:58:00.000+08:00

I have been hearing a lot of this since a lot of my friends' babies has reached this phase. I'm not an expert here but from what I observe so far, it's the sense of insecurity when toddlers are separated from their loved ones and in some cases will lead to non-stop wailing. It could even become a serious psychological condition if it's not handled well. I've realised that even adults can suffer from it. JQ has a very cute cheeky adorable niece who is almost 2 years old now. As she is the first baby in the family, all of us really dotes on her. Most family days will be spent going to places that the baby and all of us will enjoy, like going to parks with playgrounds, beach, or just dinner or mahjong at home. Whichever the activity is, a lot of attention will be on the baby as most of us sees her only once or twice a week and will spend the quality time playing with her, esp JQ and Nance. Her caregiver is her grandma, aka my MIL. She takes care of baby Enya during the day and will come home when the parents are back. As this is her first grandchild, she definitely loves her a lot as well. The baby used to be quite sticky with Ah Ma and will always look for her. However recently, realised that there has been a trend that Enya will recognise playing companions, so everytime when we go out, or when the whole family gets together, she does not want Ah Ma anymore, as in don't want her to carry, won't look for her to play. Preference will always be JQ or Nance. Can totally feel her "sense of insecurity" when that happens. Wonder if this is the phase that most grandparents will go through... hmmm... ??!?

Short stay at home sweet home!

2007-01-16T10:01:00.000+08:00

Will be staying at my parents' place these few days cos my hubby is on reservist. Decided to make use of this chance to take a break from the daily long distance travelling since my hubby won't be around, or rather will be home late almost everyday. It feels really nice to be home... reaching home by 7pm if I head straight home from work (will probably be 830 if I stay at woodlands, gasp!), smelling and guessing what my Mum is cooking while opening the door, eating piping hot home cooked yummy delicious food, chatting and "bicker" with my sister, yan o with my mother, talking late into the night with my sister, waking up at 730 and still can snooze (instead of catching the bus by 730am if I'm at woodlands)... etc etc. The only con is not having darling dearest by my side I guess... :p Really glad I'm moving back to Marine Parade in 2 months time, more home cooked food to come! Yum Yum! =) must make sure my new place is ready ASAP! =) Shall aim to move by Mid March.

Seriously, before Woodlands, never thought much about traffic jams, trying to get up crowded buses or trains and feeling lazy to go anywhere. Now I really salute those who have to commute daily under such conditions. No wonder there are people who stick to their own neighbourhood and hardly gets out, probably the reason why biz at heartland malls are thriving. :)

We have ROMed for almost a year!

2007-01-11T10:58:00.000+08:00

Can't believe it. We have been married for 11 months! Seriously don't feel like it. Still feels like we are still dating and in that honeymoon stage. Anyway, we celebrated our 11 mths ROM anniversary at Annalakshmi last nite. Had a wonderful spread of yummy Indian cuisine. Btw, they have moved from Excelsior Hotel to Chinatown Point. Had a hard time finding them initially. I still prefer their previous location though, more cosy. Anyhow, the food still tastes damn good. Those interested can check out http://www.annalakshmi.com.sg/.

Now, where do I start??!!

2007-01-10T18:47:00.000+08:00

Did not realise it's been so long since I blogged! Had the intention to post progress of my wedding prep, had the intention to post my wedding and our little getaway after that, but I realised that I have NO TIME! It's amazing how so much things can crop up at the last min and you are just fighting that battle to be in time for the wedding and suddenly, everything's over. Then you use that nice little 'retreat' to catch up on your sleep and all the buzz, and when you come back, you realise it's Xmas and all the X'mas shopping is not done. And you are just caught up in that festive mood with absolutely no mood to work. At the same time you are drowning in the bliss of marriage life, waking up with your loved one by your side, the morning wake up kisses and the good nite kisses and coping with the cons of staying away from your family and the cons of staying in that faraway town called Woodlands. Guess that is the summary of my life since Nov till now, haha. Anyway, for a glimpse of my wedding, please go to http://triciachangwy.multiply.com/photos/album/25 and http://triciachangwy.multiply.com/photos/album/26. These were taken by my funky good friend. Have not got down to organizing all the photos and videos of the actual day yet, but these are some nice collages done by Pauline.

Yummy yummy, will I get to eat it??!!

2006-11-14T11:07:00.000+08:00

Was looking at PETA website when I chanced upon this spokesperson saying so much of this tofurky turkey, how delicious it is that I had to find out where to get it. When I saw what was offered on http://www.tofurky.com, I was like drooling the whole time . The franks, the sausages, the deli slices all looks so delicious... a very nice alternative to the usual kind of vegetarian food we have here. Bascially, the sandwiches here do not have such variety. They even have vegan turkey and I was really thrilled by that, meaning we still can have a vegetarian Xmas feast with the "authentic" Xmas food at the same time! The best thing is they claim that their sausages will sizzle on the grill! That is almost impossible with the local sausages here. The sausages here are skinny but theirs is really chunky! But when I tried to order online, I realised that they only offer it in the US, and the prices are really steep too! For Deli slices, we are looking at USD$80+++! Anyway, sent an email to them to check if they are offering it in Asia. Hope they will get back to me soon. :p Just hope the market here gets big enough for them to lauch it here as well...:p

Bad recovery!

2006-11-13T14:05:00.000+08:00

I have juiced many times before, nothing ever happened, only the usual benefits of detoxing, but this time was really different, i had very bad recovery symptons (According to Dr Benard Jensen: Illness does not occur without cause. Most if not all illnesses, result through a build-up of toxins. The body cells have a memory of past illnesses and retracing is the process of re-activating, and working through these illnesses. When a disease isn't worked through properly at the time, an element of latency or repression occurs eventually leading to loss of vitality, a sub-standard state of health and eventually diseases of a more insidious nature. Underlying causes of disease must be discovered and removed or treated before a person can recover completely from illness. Symptoms express the body's attempt to heal, but are not the cause of disease and therefore, should not be merely suppressed by treatment). On my 4th day of juicing, early in the morning, I woke up at 7am and vomitted gastric acid out. I was thinking to myself, good, at least it's purging the acid from my body! I quickly took IF and VP to neutralise the acid in my body, and guess what? I vomitted out again along with my precious product along with some acid! I was also feeling very giddy the whole time. Woke my hubby up and told him. He quickly made some warm Enhancer for me, and again I puked. JQ then quickly went out to buy carrots and green apples from the market despite the rain and juiced for me. Accordingly, the puking might be due to excessive acid in stomach, liver problem (might be a signal as I perpetually have dark eye circles), indigestion and stomach problem. The giddiness might have something to do with low blood pressure. He thought that the fruit juice might help in giving some "sweet" signals to my brain. I was also feeling feverish. I was resting the whole time and after the juice, i did feel a little better. JQ had an appointment at Orchard and I followed him, thought it might be a good idea to take a walk instead of being cooped up at home. Throughout the 2hrs of their wedding brothers discussion, I went to the toilet to puke like 6 times. Had to go back early and our plans to take photos of the X'mas lighting was also foiled. Sigh...When I got home, i headed straight to bed and slept all the way through till morning.

Lucky for me, i felt a lot better the next day, just felt like my head is super heavy... and now I'm absolutely fine! :) I persevered on and today is already the second last day of my detox program! Yippee! Still trying to figure out what went wrong causing so much acid in my stomach, probably using distilled water instead of "good water" was a mistake (Did you know distilled water is acidic in nature), or I had been eating unhealthily last few months . Guess I will have to go back to transporting water to and fro liao. :( Anyway also have to thank my loving hubby who has been nursing me the whole time, wonder what will I do without him...=) The good thing that came out of this: Purged all the acid from my body and lost like 4kg in the process... =)

Gym member again...

2006-11-10T09:46:00.000+08:00

Recently rejoined the gym again. I joined Planet Fitness again after "disappearing" for 2+ years. One main reason is to get myself exercising again, after realising that my fitness level is going downhill. Still believe that exercise is a very important part of life. I also miss those days of going through the torturous, yet motivating kind of classes like Daniel's class and all the spinning classes. You really feel damn shiok after completing those classes after being pushed to your limit by the instructors. Guess now it's a matter of disciplining myself to go at least twice a week, together with my hubby... haha =) Hope to get toned abs, butt and thighs soon, JIT for my wedding...keke

We got our FLAT

2006-11-06T11:27:00.000+08:00

So exciting! After so many viewings, we finally chose a flat that we like! This is the first time I'm making such a huge purchase... $300++K! Most importantly, this puts an end to our search. Now we can focus on more important stuff. Even though we not getting a lot of sea view, it's really windy and we have a good feel of the unit. Even the fengshui master says it's a good unit, suitable for us! So looking forward to getting keys soon and start on a new journey with my darling and staying in our little abode. :p

ADMIRER or STALKER??!!

2006-10-27T17:39:00.000+08:00

Received a call from a weirdo today. There is this "Uncle" that has been calling me for the past few years asking me to go out for lunch with him. He looks like a typical ok educated man in his forties and he pretty much looked harmless to me. I had lunch with him probably twice and he actually asked me to visit his family! OMG! Think that happened probably more than 3 years ago! Since then, I knew better than to entertain his calls and lunch requests, so everytime he calls, I will reply with a mono tone "I'm not free, busy" and I will hang up the phone. He stopped calling for a while and recently he started calling again. This time he said he got impt things to discuss with him that is inconvenient to discuss over the phone. Not willing to go at all, I asked him what is so impt. His reply was scary, freaky and shocking! He said he needs to discuss abt us, our future! OMG! I told him I'm married (btw I told him this few years ago to get him off my back) and he still can ask me am I sure? Am I just shy? Why I never tell him earlier after he has been calling me all these years! I nearly freaked out. Trica says he is a serious stalker! Better be careful around my office area in future. What a thing to happen to me! :(

Eczema attack!

2006-10-26T14:51:00.000+08:00

Help, I'm struck with a sudden eczema attack! It's on my neck, on my arm, a tiny spot on my waist and thigh! This is one of the worse attacks I had, usu it will be on my neck OR arm OR body. This time its on my neck AND arm AND body. My eczema will surface for a few reasons:

1. Trigger from by mozzie bites
2. Eating too much junk food (tidbits)
3. Recovery from Indinine
4. Detox (a sign of dispurging toxic from my body)

Think this time it's all of the above. I had more than 10 mozzie 'kisses" from Tioman trip, i ate a lot of tidbits on this trip, I took a lot of Indinine as I wanted to recover from my flu. This is definitely a sign of dispurging toxic from my highly acidic body. Maybe lack of proper rest also triggered this time. I remember on the day I came back from Tioman (started travelling at 10am), I reach SG at 5+, went for dinner at Miao Yi at 6+ til 8pm, then rushed for a gathering at Shaw, followed by a visit to Marco's place to see his wedding photos and only reached home at 12+ midnite. I only remembered I badly needed a shower, the next thing I know after I showered, my eczema popped out! Think its high time I go on detox programme soon before its too near my wedding. I will want to get rid of those ugly eczema marks esp those on my neck. Must jio hubby liao, will love to see the six pack on him on our wedding day. Hear that darling, it's a BIG HINT to you! muahaha. :)

Updates on my little get-away

2006-10-25T13:11:00.000+08:00

Just came back from snorkelling trip at Tioman with my sister. Had a really good time, despite the fact that I was down with a little flu. Lucky snorkelling requires us to breathe through the mouth, not nose. =) The travellling sucks though, took us 6 hrs to get there and 7 hrs to get back to SG. Compared to the last time I went, it was only 4hrs ferry ride frm Tanah Merah Ferry terminal. Too bad the ferry operator went bust. Anyhow, when we reached Tioman, the first thing we did was to take a power nap. Really tired from all the travelling. I still "gei kian" take motion sickness pill, really konked out by the drowsiness effect. We went to Rengis and Marine Park on the first day. Thanks to our guide Ah On, we managed to see cuttlefish, needlefish, baracuda and lots of corals. In the afternoon, we went out on another snorkelling trip just outside Paya Beach. The marine life is really beautiful. Lucky I chose Paya Beach Resort this time. Berjaya will have better accomodation but definitely not so good for snorkelling. On the last day I even went for a 2.5 hr spa. Got standard one leh, really quite shiok, but I went snorkelling straight after, so the spa kind of wasted. Quite a fruitful trip, took a lot of photos (will post some after I organise them), made some friends, and my sis managed to snorkel without life jacket. Not bad for someone who can't really swim. =) But I still can't skin dive. Told JQ and he was so surprised. He said you just dive in lor. Easy for a "sinker" but I am the kind tt tends to float mah...:( so unless got pple pull me down, if not I can't make it down at all. The food was surprisingly nice. They catered vegetarian for both of us and in place of the dinner buffet, we had soup, 2 or 3 dishes and rice. Their ala carte menu has 1 whole page of vegetarian cusine and taste quite good too! In summary, it was a good break, great place, great company, good food, good spa and I'm looking forward to coming back again. Of cos Redang will be better but it's really too far out liao. :0 And between Berjaya and Paya, I will definitely choose Paya over 5-star Berjaya. =)

My "crazy" friend at work

2006-10-18T10:34:00.000+08:00

For the past 1 year or so, it's been a lot easier at work emotionally. A portion definitely because the workload that has been piled on me since an ex-colleague left has been lifted, but a larger portion because I have a good companion at work. My new friend is the same age and gender as me, and most importantly, we have a lot of things in common. We seem to think similarly and we just have the same frequency. Quite freaky one leh, in many incidents we will blurt out the same words together and sometimes we just know what is on each other's mind. Not to mention, we are quite crazy together. We will play catching in office, disturb each other, go toilet together, indulge in snacks/chocolate together, confide in each other and engage ourselves in those silly spates of giggles, so you can sometimes catch some whispers and then giggles/laughter from our "lorong"! One example of our nonense together: Each one of us are given a key to access the femle toilet. She lost hers long ago so she will always borrow mine. Yesterday, she "lost" my key as well, so I went to duplicate 2 more keys after work. Today in office while chatting, she found the key hanging on my umbrella. She purposely hide it there yesterday so that I will not find the key, but she so blur until she forgot she hid the key there! We even went on a mini serach for the key yesterday! OMG! So now we have 3 keys... Will definitely post her photo soon so you can help me konk her head when u see her ok? keke

My DHS gang

2006-10-16T15:50:00.000+08:00

Nearly laughed my ass off when I saw this photo. Not at how geeky we looked but at how Lingshan expertly shaded off the pple not involved in our group! My ex bf, and a girl who used to be in our cliche but later on left for some reason, was shaded off. Way to go girl! Must learn some tips from you next time! She actually implanted Andrew's head onto Alfred's body. Will post this picture another time! Keke...

We are selling our little baby

2006-10-16T11:27:00.000+08:00

After a few weeks of advertising, we are finally selling our car. Not a big thing for me, cos I'm quite used to public transport and definitely not a car lover. However, I tink it will definitely affect my darling. His "baby" (I'm his No 1 baby, his car is No. 2) has been with us for 1 year plus and this car is his dream car. Might be an old car but still his dream car. Many reasons for selling his baby, high maintenance, consumes petrol like drinking water and most importantly, it's really not making financial sense to be hanging on to this car with the upcoming new house etc.

I still remember those days before we had the car though, it was really fun and memorable. My Mum is totally against me riding, even though I grew up sitting in Pa Pa's Yamaha motorbike. She says it's very dangerous. So when we started going out, he always had to park further from my home where he will walk me up and I will go meet him somewhere where it's out of sight from my Mum's eyes. Sometimes we get "caught" and we will have to pretend that we will go out separately. There was this once when he sprained his ankle very badly and had to be on crutches. He still rode during that time with min damage to his already sprained ankle and I will sit behind him on his bike holding the crutches while he rides, quite a sight rite? But still this can't last long and in order to show his sincerity about taking care of me for the rest of his life, he got this car. Kinda sweet hor... :p anyway, it will be back to motorbike soon but I believe it will be temporary. Once we are more or less settled down in our new life together, we shd be able to allocate budget for a new car, so in the meantime, juz hang in there darling ok? :p

A different Mid-Autumn Festival

2006-10-08T22:47:00.000+08:00

My darling was down with headache due to the haze, said he is going to rest at home first before meeting me. I met my frd for dinner till about 9 plus and called my darling again. He is still having bad headache. :( I was quite disappointed to hear that, cos I have not seen him for 1 whole week and was really looking forward to spending a nice nite with him at East Coast, but again, it will be dangerous for him to ride all the way from Woodlands to East Coast with a pounding headache. :( So I told him to rest at home and will call him when I reach home. When I reach home, I called him to check on him. While chatting, he suddenly said, I have a surprise for you, open the door... I was so surprised to see him standing at the door with chocolate and Ben & Jerry ice cream! In the end we still had a good time at East Coast, despite the haze, despite his headache. He is really the sweetest guy on earth...Love you darling!! You are the BEST! :)

My hubby is out!!

2006-10-06T17:09:00.000+08:00

Yippee, my hubby is out today!! HAHA, i make it sound like he just released from jail! keke... He is finally out from reservist. He was stuck in a 4 days out field exercise, meaning I have not seen him for 4 days already... quite long hor... :( so used to seeing him everyday. Anyway, he is out just in time to celebrate mid-autumn festival with me. Typically, we will go to East Coast Park, each carry a lantern in our hands and take a stroll along the beach. We will also play with those fireworks wannabe sparklers and just have a good time chatting with each other. This year should be the same I guess. My colleagues actually commented that this was childish, but well, its the quality time spent together that matters right? :p It takes effort to continue this kind of tradition as well... haha. Anyway, gotta go meet my hubby liao, may everyone have a enjoyable Mid-autumn festival this year. :)

My first experience with Field Rations!

2006-09-28T16:24:00.000+08:00

Darling dearest managed to book out late last night! Being the "sticky" me, I spent the night at his place to make up for lost time. :) He took some field rations back as substitute for dinner and I'm so amazed by the variations nowadays! Him being a vegetarian, they actually rationed out vegetarian packs to him, and he got pasta with mock chicken and glutinious rice. They even have dessert which is sweet corn with something. They are packed in these green vacuum bags and you are supposed to put the pack in boiling water for a few min. Then you just open the package and there you have it... your dinner! The food actually taste quite ok with sufficient home seasoning. They even have different sets of menus, guess to ensure that they don't get too sick of the food. Welfare not bad lah, considering how much shit they have to go thru in the field... To all the soldiers, regulars, officers, ns men out there, jia you orh! =)

My darling dearest is in RESERVIST!

2006-09-25T11:09:00.000+08:00

So sad, my hubby has been called in for RESERVIST and this is one of those high key kind, meaning it will be min 2 weeks! Tis time is prob the longest so far, and the worse thing is he is expecting a lot of night trainings and he will not be able to book out until Sat evening or Sun morning!! I seriously hope something might happen to the system and all night trainings will be cancelled! Mua haha, anybody got any ideas on how to make that happen? :p Never tried not seeing him for so long... so used to seeing him everyday liao.... just 1 or 2 days apart i will start missing him already...:( sigh....

My photo shoot...

2006-09-13T16:04:00.000+08:00

Went for my photo shoot in Malaysia last week. We went to Kota Tinggi for nice nice waterfall shots. My mum-in-law and sis-in-law went with us as well as we were hoping that we could sit down and have a nice picnic. When we reached there, we realised that there was no time for such luxury at all. Once we reach there, we were busy shooting and posing away and poor them, had to follow us around. But, it was a good thing they went, cos Nance took 500 over photos for us!! Quite pro some more man. This is one of my fav!! Towards the end it rained, but all went well as we needed to get wet anyway...=)

Something eerie happened in the toilet while I was in the changing out of the gown though. My Mum-in-law and I was in the toilet and suddenly it turned pitch black, my Mum-in-law went out thinking it was some kind of prank, but apparently, the lights kind of went out on its own. Anyway she started talking, saying that we are just borrowing the toilet and to excuse us and the lights came on again. Lucky she was with me man, if not I really don't know what I will do...

Gown selection

2006-09-06T14:28:00.000+08:00

Went to choose my gowns on Sat with my sis and hubby. Thought it will take a very long time, surprisingly we finished by 2pm. Just took us 2+ hrs. I still thought might take 5hrs and above, phew...

Anyway, my sis and I had a good time, and lucky for my hubby, my sis brought a book along, so he kept himself entertained the whole time. :p Lucky got my sis, made the selection process a lot easier... thank you mei mei!! Muak Muak! :) Btw, I'm still tempted to post your unglam but adorable shots, how ah? ;p Can i post without getting myself killed by you? *wink wink*

Excitement slowly brewing within

2006-08-25T14:51:00.000+08:00

What a productive Sat! I found my make up artist (special thanks to Eddy) , my ideal venue for my wedding reception and my cutie darling Reagan to help open bridal car door... hmmm actually like very little done hor, wonder what else i missed, oops! Anyway, Sat was really busy... running around checking out places like Fisherman Village, East Coast Park (Ski 360 degrees) and Sea Sports Centre ( Tanah Merah). We finally decided on the last one cos we really like the rustic feel of the place and the closeness to nature. That venue just feels like "us"...=) Finally one load off our mind, now will be the more intricate details like decor, invitations blah blah blah.... but with the important things like venue and make up artist settled, I have that "sit on it" feeling again... hahaha...somebody knock on my head plsss...

But again, with these important things more or less settled, things seem to get a bit more interesting. At least now find myself looking forward to the preparation and even getting excited about it. Hmmm...I'm a typical bride after all...kekeke. Will be meeting Mich and Cindy soon to discuss more details... Mich is such a great help, and she's so creative. So lucky to have her to help.

Will be choosing my gown this Sat with my sis and hubby, hope there will be nice gowns to choose from, will try to take some pix and post it here ok? Stay tuned... =)

My lovely samsoon!!

2006-08-25T10:37:00.000+08:00

Oh my god! It's been so long since I last posted anything! Didn't realise that it has been that long until my sis told me! So much for discipline... keke :)

anyway, have been busy with wedding preparations so really not much time to do other stuff. Preparing for a wedding can be such a hassle, really wonder why have to go through all these just for a one day affair. For this "一生一次", have to do so much coordination, make so many phone calls etc, wonder if it's really worth the effort. For your info, I'm not a typical bride to be, some friends have been telling me that it's a joy to be doing such things, yet I just can't get any joy out of it leh. *sigh* anyway, my preparation process comes in a burst pattern, meaning I will suddenly do some things, then sit on it for a while, then make some phone calls then sit on it for a while. High "I" style of doing things... muahaha...I'm getting married on the 9 Dec and let me tell you some of the important things I have not finalised yet...Venue and Make up artist, and I heard it's a super hot date! hehe

anyway, have been distracted from my preparation recently due to "samsoon"! Yes, you got it, the hot korean show showing now on Channel U! Guess this is the only show so far that has me so glued to the TV, staying up late, and so determined to watch episode after episode. The aftermath of completing this series includes surfing net for the Kim Sun A, Hyun Bin and Daniel Henney's photos and watching the series a second time (cos my mum and sis watching now and I watch with them again)! haha, my sis even said I 发疯了! keke (Btw, my hubby also watch with me orh, and he enjoyed the show as well.) Really enjoy the humour and the fairy tale like romance. In case you are interested, here are some links. =)
http://kimsuna.sidusHQ.com
http://gallery.asianfanatics.net/index.php?act=thumbs&aid=2063
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-o2dnz229s
http://www.danielhenney.net.tc/

Sweet hubby

2006-07-19T11:28:00.000+08:00

Had a surprise when I opened my bag today. There was a packet of yummy chocolate, nice nice cookie and a sweet little note... My sweet hubby packed all these in my bag while I was sleeping...

So sweet of him hor....:P Never fails to surprise me with little things like this...

Love you darling dearest! Muak muak! :p

What is Health?

2006-07-12T16:52:00.000+08:00

My 1st blog in my entire life and this is my 1st title... HEALTH...haha, prob will scare many off man... :p

Many years ago, I will probably think I am super healthy, cos I'm young and goes to the gym frequently. No major illness = Healthy. Sounds like the right thing to say rite? Probably whoever is reading this feels that is the definiton of health. In recent 3 years, I've seen, read and heard enough to know this is not entirely right.

Have u ever thought of how it feels like to age? Since young, I fear aging. I even thought of passing on at the age of 40 when I'm still in my prime. I want pple to remember the best part of me. *gasp* But now, I know aging has nothing to do with looking ugly, being a burden to family, being wheelchair bound like what I frequently see on TV, worrying about getting ill and sick, inability to do whatever I want. In fact, u can look good even when u are old, u can age graciously and u can do all the things u want to do, including travelling and have lotsa energy and vitality!! And the secret to this has nothing to do with consuming synethetic stuff like Intenze and all that crap! It has got everything to do with how well u balance yr body, the holistic approach! I learnt this from my mentor and what he says really makes sense. The fact is our human body is the most complex and has the most amazing self-healing power (Most books say that too by the way). Yet, most of us fail to leverage on that, instead pple tend to listen to doctors wholly and consume all the synthetic stuff that may do more harm to our body than benefit it!

Think about it, with the advanced technology now, shouldn't the human race be healthier in general? Shouldn't humans be reaping benefits from technology? So why are there more pple dying of illnesses each day? Why are more young pple suffering from old man's disease like diabetes, heart disease, gout (the list goes on...)? The discovery of Penicillin has not enabled the human race to be stronger, we are still vulnerable to a host of attacks by other forms of bacteria, so shouldn't we take another approach towards HEALTH? Healthy = Heal + thy (Heal yourself)

Maybe, we are just too complacent with the happenings around us that we choose to compromise our standard of health.... maybe popping medicine is more convenient than healing oneself, maybe it is perceived as more normal to be sick than to be healthy... whichever the case, I truly hope things will change, I truly wish for 1 day, pple realise it's not normal to have heart problems, hormone imbalances, sinus, diabetes etc just because other pple also have it...I truly wish for 1 day, everyone will work towards their own health...