A simple life

My first vote!

2011-05-18T12:31:00.001+08:00

Singapore just held it's General Election (GE2011) last Saturday, 7th May and like many Singaporeans, it's the first time I had a chance to vote in the Election. The last General Election was held in 2006 and I was kinda exempted because I was overseas on the polling day.

FYI, Voting is compulsory in Singapore as they deem it's part of the responsibilities of being an adult Singapore citizen. You must be a citizen of Singapore and at least 21 years old.

I have never been much into political stuff and it wasn't until we had a friend gathering a week before the polling day and the hot topic was obviously the upcoming GE2011. Well, just like there's our current government, People's Action Party (PAP) vs the opposition parties, between us friends, we have the pro-government and pro-opposition camps. Everyone was debating and I was like thinking "hey, am i missing something here?". That night, I searched and went through all the rallies videos on youtube and something in me just got ignited! Everyday, I would look through all those newly posted rallies videos. Some are refreshing, some are full of punch and some are depressing.

Suddenly, my one vote can make a difference. My friends knowing that I'm kinda neutral were trying to convince me to be on their camp. But a person needs to have their own personal point of view right. I need to make a choice and most importantly, a good reason why.

There's a couple of issues that Singaporeans are concerned about this GE2011. Mainly,

1. Cost of living - Inflation top 5 % in March, rising food and oil prices, rising of housing, health-care. As someone blatantly put it, the only thing that's not rising are our salaries.

2. Influx of foreigners- Singapore is a small country with an area of just 274.2 sq miles. Based on information from Wikipedia, the 2010 census shows a population of 5,076,70o. The list of countries and dependencies ranked by human population density put Singapore at 3rd position with 18,513/mi². Having said that, one in three (36%) people are foreigners. This led to higher property prices, more crowded public transport and competition for jobs.

3. Our current government, the People's Action Party (PAP) has becomes a party of Proud Arrogant People (PAP)? With ministers earning millions a year, living elite lives, do they empathize with the common people? Bulldozing policies through Parliament without any consultation and debate?

Check out the videos. I am both amazed and surprise to find out that my fellow Singaporeans are such creative and passionate lot!!! :))

The polling results:
After the nationwide voting, the PAP scored 60.1%, a vote swing of 6.5% against them as compared to the previous GE2006 where they scored 66.6%. Having said that, they still managed to secure 81seats out of the 87seats total in Parliament due to the way the system works. However it is the first time in Singapore history that the opposition parties managed to secure 6 seats in the Parliament (They had won 2 seats in GE2006).

The tide has finally shifted....

I know it's not my usual kind of post but thanks for reading :)))

Psst: This lady who gave me my polling card commented that she loved my T-shirt!! HAHAHA But I did get a couple of glances when I wore that to vote

Bangkok Grand Palace- 2010

2011-05-05T21:42:00.002+08:00

This is kinda embarrassing but I realise that we didn't take much photos during our stay in Bangkok. So, moi decided to post photos of our Bangkok trip last year (We took tons of photos back then)

Let start with our trip to Grand Palace.

A little bit of infor from Wikipedia:

The Grand Palace (Thai: พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang) is a complex of buildings in Bangkok, Thailand. It served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok. The Palace has been constantly expanded and many additional structures were added over time. The present King of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, however, resides at the Chitalada Palace.

All set for our day trip to Grand Palace!!

At the entrance of Grand Palace. It was such a hot and sunny day!!

Remember to head down early as they are open only from 8.30 AM to 3.30 PM. It's also a huge place and there's alot of stuff to cover

It's truly a grand place!

Im not sure if some of the structures are gold-plated. I believe there are. Think I read it somewhere before. Come to think of it, if this palace is for the Kings of Thailand, obviously it's gonna be extravagant and lavish. Okay, I conclude it's gold plated!!!

BTW, The Thais truly respect their King. The country has very strict “lese majeste” laws that forbid speaking ill of the King, the Queen, or the Heir-Apparent. Those unfortunate enough to be found guilty of such a crime can be sentenced to anywhere between three to fifteen years in prison. So no jokes about the King kaay!

Photos Photos Photos

A man re-touching the painting

Realise that we are getting to be such experts in taking photos of ourselves!! That is a good skill to master when there's just 2 of us. :))))

Yaay!! Managed to kidnap someone to help us take a photo!!

Found another victim to take a togetherness photo!! Muahaha :)))

We were there for almost 3hours and at the end of it, we were both hungry, hot, sticky and tired. Managed to grab a light meal before taking the river boat to the metro station.

Super spicy but tasty Tom yam soup!

Waiting for the river boat. It says Tra Chang stop. Think that's the nearest River stop for Grand Palace.

On the river boat. It was jammed packed with locals and tourists. There was an embarrassing moment when someone asked moi to step away from the railing near to the exit area. Turns out that the corner was meant only for monks. I looked behind and saw there's was really a monk standing behind me. Plus he looked super uncomfortable too (Hello! I'm not gonna eat u up). The man explains that Male monks are not allowed to touch females. It's against their religion or custom.

Found this on the webbie: Try not to put a monk in a position by which he might accidentally touch a female. If on a bus, don't sit next to a monk and if there is only one seat left next to you ( as a female ) then get up and let the monk sit down. There are usually designated areas for monks. If taking the river cruises or river boats, make sure you are not standing in a monk's area ( there will be signs ).

But seriously, I have to stand up to let the monk sit if there's only one seat left next to me?!?!?! OMG~

Moved to a safer location.

End of our wonderful Grand Palace trip. It's a highly recommended touristy place to visit. When I first stepped into the Grand Palace, it just took my breath away. The majestic of it, I was in awe!

But remember to slap on some sunblock and drink tons of water. I got a slight tan from being under all that sun! :)))

Krabi - April 2011

2011-04-29T17:30:00.001+08:00

Tom suggested having a beach holiday one night and after some hasty planning, we were on our way to Krabi and Bangkok. Our itinerary: 4nights in Krabi and 4nights in Bangkok.
Krabi holds a special place in our hearts as that's the first holiday we had went when we started dating. So, to finally go back there after 4 years, I was so looking forward to it.

At Singapore Changi Terminal 1

I'm really glad that they finally refurnished one of our oldest airport terminal, especially with so many international airlines using T1 for their flights. It looks so much brighter and cleaner now. There used to be this moldy/damp smell at the old T1 (Think: Clothes stuck right at the bottom of your mountainous pile of clothes and haven't been worn for donkey years. Get it?)

Even that smell has vanished!!! Now it's just fresh and airy. Almost like new :))

Our Thai airway flight bound for Bangkok was departing at freaking 7.05 AM. And that's not all. Upon arrival in Bangkok, we had to wait another 5hours for our connecting flight to Krabi. Bless us.

I could barely open my eyes and smile.

Tom keeps insisting on using flash for our pictures. He says quote "Without flash, my eyes look like panda eyes and my forehead looks prominent"
Ermmmm, now that he mentioned it, it's actually true :P

I do agree that some photos look better with flash cos it's makes the photo clearer and sharper. But when you are under white florescent light, the photo would turn out looking slightly yellow~ish

Like this====>

I do admit it's still a nice photo (Thanks to the two subject in the photo of cos). But it doesn't reflect the true or accurate colours at that point in time. Arghhhhh, I having such a difficult time explaining that in words, but u know what I mean right? Hopefully....

We were beginning to feel the excitement mounting when our Krabi flight finally takes off from Bangkok. Our minds were thinking sandy beaches , sun, snorkeling, Thai food.... So imagine our shock when we read the first page news in The Nation. "Torrential rains, floods, mudslides and rough seas.... unseasonable storms inundated six southern provinces and offshore islands, killing at least 17 people and stranding thousands more..... Areas hit are Koh Samui, Krabi Surat, Nakhon, and most Southern Thailand Provinces"

We didn't know how bad it was until we arrive at Krabi airport. We could see the heavy downpour outside. To make matter worse, our hotel transfer pickup was no show at the arrival hall. We waited for an hour (with the flooding, traffic jam, it's understandable that they might be late ) till we were the last few passengers there. Left with no choice, we decided to make our way there on our own. We were fortunate (in a way) that we manage to get a big sturdy 8-seaters van to drive us to the Ao Nammao Bay pier that goes to Railay Bay (800bahts). A regular car couldn't have made the journey there in those floods. We heard from a couple that their taxi had to u-turn back as the car couldn't drive through the flood. The journey that usually takes 30mins took almost 2hours.

Scene that greets us at every roads

At the pier, we had to negotiate with the longboat guy to bring us to Railay beach. They would only depart for Railay bay if there's enough people to make their trip worthwhile (usually minimum of 8 people). Since there's only us and another German couple, they wanted us to pay double each, which we refuse. In the end, we managed to agree on 100 Bahts per person.
We had to slosh our way through the muddy knee high sea water and by the time we reached the long boat, we seriously looked a sight.

NOTE: If you have tons of luggage (like us), please book the hotel transfer service!!! Waddling through knee high water while trying to balance your luggage and with the heavy downpour was seriously no joke. We saved like 200bahts but it's so not worth all the trouble.

There we were, completely drenched from head to toes, muddy from the knee down, tugging our luggages and dripping droplets of water as we finally walked toward the hotel reception. Looking back now, it was actually quite hilarious and adventurous. We did laugh about it and thinking what a 'Great" start to our vacation. :))

The experience this time round was completely different. Due to the unseasonal rain, we couldnt do any snorkeling or tanning by the sea. Most of the day were spent just laying around the room, reading, relaxing and playing card games.

Check out the gloomy sky

The complimentary breakfast was pretty good. Mix of western and thai food.

Our favourite haunt for Thai food. Can't remember the resort name but their Tom yam soup is pretty good. We love their pizza too!!

And finally, a day of sunshine!!

It must be a lucky day cos they had Tom's favourite food on their breakfast spread!! He had like 3 helpings of it.

Here we are, at Railay bay!!

The beach on the western side of Railay bay
(photos look so much better when there's sun!!)

Much as I would like to say we were doing rock climbing, I shall not lie. I mean look at us! You'll have to be really fit to be able to do that, and we're so NOT. Plus I'm afraid of height :P
The lady in the picture had seriously strong arms!

Well, at least we had a day of sun. Albeit just a couple of hours. We should have checked the weather forecast before we planned the trip. The locals mentioned the wet weather was totally unexpected and unseasonal, so either way, we'll never really know.

To Krabi airport.

This time round, it was so much better. No more sloshing in muddy water. There's people helping us with our luggage and even a golf-cart to ferry us from the pier to the taxi stand. And all for just 1200bahts.

We arrived too early for our flight to Bangkok. Since we had 2hours plus before check in, moi suggested using their 100bahts/hr internet services to pass time. Tom gave me this distasteful look and said "I don't wanna be losers like them. Can't live without internet. You're suppose to be on a holiday and not think about work"

SAYS THE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN COMPLAINING THE LAST FOUR DAYS THAT HIS COMPANY'S EMAIL SERVER WAS DOWN AND HE HAS NO ACCESS TO HIS EMAILS ON HIS IPHONE!!!!!!!!

Sure, I wanna be a loser like them. Hmmphhh.
And Tom had to take a super zoomed picture of the loser :P

And this coming from the person who has been playing Zombies Vs Plants on his Iphone for the last couple of days. So, Tom, join the club. You are a loser tooo :PPP

Next stop: BANGKOKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!

~Back to Black~

2011-04-22T00:30:00.000+08:00

After having the same natural black hair colour, the same hairstyle for 7 years, Moi felt that it's time for a change. Immediately after my resignation, I went ahead and:

1. coloured my hair to a shade similar to Hazelnut (courtesy of Tom)
2. got bangs (courtesy of Tom).
3. straightened it

It was really nice for the first couple of weeks but once my hair starts growing out, it's beginning to irk me. It doesn't help that the contrasting colours shows up REALLY WELL in pictures. Finally, i can no longer stand it and decided to colour it back to black again.

BEFORE: Bye bye, hazelnut

Soft black hair colour. That's the cheapest I could find.

AFTER: Black to the max

The saying "Once you go black, you wouldn't go back"

Head down to Ikea for dinner after and i just couldn't resist taking a picture of the blue sky!! Yaay, Singapore has really beautiful blue sky too!!!

Updates: It's been a few days since I coloured my hair and I'm still getting used to the shock of seeing black bubbles and black coloured water when I'm washing my hair. Oh crapz! I actually stained two t-shirts and a towel. When issit gonna stop? On the other hand, Tom been commenting that I look MUCH MUCH better with black hair :))))

Smelling Yummy~

2011-04-20T12:37:00.008+08:00

I'm smelling super yummy today :P

A hint of Purple passion fruit, Shangri-la peony and vanilla orchid.
And no. I'm not a walking fruit-tart.

Tom and myself were browsing through the Duty-free shops down at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport whilst waiting for our flight back to Singapore (blog about it soon), and lo and behold there's a Victoria's Secrets (VS) outlet staring right in my face!!! Even Singapore doesn't have its own VS outlet. Sure, there's some chemist shops in Singapore selling VS lotions and body sprays but they are selling them at such atrocious prices.

BTW, American's Abercrombie & Fitch + Swedish's Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) are coming to Singapore really soon!!My prayers been answered!!
So, Mr Owner of VS, whatcha waiting for?!?!?!

I just had to go in!!

Came out 5mins later carrying their famous pink lil bag.
Check out my new scent, Bombshell!! Super heart~ing it right now!!! :))))))

I would, however refrain from using the word "bombshell" while in the airport. Can you imagine the airport security asking what's in the pink lil bag and you go like "Oooh, it's this VS Bombshell". He would probably lugged you away thinking you're a terrorist or trying to be funny.

Semla

2011-04-10T00:56:00.024+08:00

Hey Peeps!! It's been awhile since I updated my blog (almost a year to be exact). Couple of changes in the past year, i.e one year older obviously, change my hairstyle, and most importantly, I'm officially unemployed since Jan this year.

Yupz, I have finally clipped my wings after seven years (as what my batch girl commented on my FB). It wasn't an easy decision for me. I heart my job totally!! The pay was decent enough, I get to visit all these nice and exotic places for free i.e airfare and accomodation provided for. All the shopping, the food, the days off back in Singapore. Oh man, I can just go on and on and on about the pros of it. I remembered distinctively when I just started my flying career, one of my colleague was saying "Where can you find a job that allows you to have breakfast in Frankfurt and lunch at NYC and dinner at say, London? or go shopping in Paris, London, Milan once or twice every month?" Lotsa people say we are just high class waitress in the air but i beg to differ. When the plane is force to do an emergency landing , we are the one who can save your life. Remember that.

The cons? Being away so often. When you are not around on most weekends, family gathering, anniversaries, birthdays, good friends weddings, friend's baby christening. So many times, I had to decline the invitations, the disappointment. And it's taking a toll on my family and especially on Tom. My health is deteriorating as well, with the odd working hours, adjusting to different time zones and climate, the jet lag etc etc.

My priority has changed. Sure, I miss flying ALOT. But family is much more important now. We are now trying to start a family and hopefully, we have wonderful news to share soon. :) Psst.. and Tom says I'm so much more relax and carefree now!!

Alrighty, enough of my ramblings. Anyway, Tom has been bugging me to update my blog instead of spending so much time on my Facebook games (btw, if you are playing Restaurant City, Cafe world... ADD ME PLSSSS!!! I send stuff everyday!!!) So I decided to look through my pictures folder and find something to blog about.. and get him off my back!! KIDDING!!

We were down at IKEA the other day and Tom bought this special Semla bun for moi to try. The last time he ate one was 12years ago before he came to Singapore.

Moi: "So how does it taste like?"

Tom: "Well, pretty much taste like the semla in Sweden 12years ago."

Some things just don't change.

That's me with the Semla! It's just a cute little bun actually. It's cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off and insides scooped out. It is then filled with a mix of the scooped-out bread crumbs, milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut off top is then put back on as a lid and dust with powdered sugar.

Simply sinful and delicious

I'm a huge fan almonds and I have to say it's a great dessert!! It's only available in shops and bakeries shortly after Christmas until Easter. No wonder i never try it as we only go back to Sweden during summer time.

Tom chomping away as you can see...

IKEA Food facts on Semla

Semlas are probably still available in IKEA so if you happen to pass by, do a small detour and try one yourself. :)

Tom & Jas in San Francisco!

2010-03-15T21:16:00.000+08:00

Tom was in states for 3weeks (Business trip!) and coincidentally, moi was rostered to operate a San Francisco flight around the same time as well.

He had to extend his trip for two extra days whilst waiting for moi to arrive in San Francisco. Super hilarious cos he booked like this cheapo hotel (two stars or something) and the room itself was like 5m X 5m with NO AIRCON! At least he had a 14" wall mounted TV *sniggle sniggle*

He took some pictures of his hotel room. Moi didn't have the chance to look at it yet but from the way he was describing it, i just have to say well, you get what you pay for. At least the location was fantastic. It's smacked right in the middle of the city and just opp. from the 5***** Hotel where i'm putting up.

Our first fastfood meal in San Francisco! Carl's junior

I love the Carl's junior here cos it's so different from the one in Singapore. They have a much wider selection including my favourite burger, "The six dollar burger" made from angus beef. SUPERB!!!

Just writing about it makes me droolz..

Tom had the angus beef burger as well just that his had jalapeno toppings. SPICY!!

After making our stomach happy, we proceed down to Fisherman's wharf. How to get there?
By the the touristy style of cause!! Taking the famous Powell & Market cable car
The ticket cost US$5 per way. You can either get the ticket from the ticketing booth located just beside the main cable car station or purchase it onboard.

All onboard!!

The journey took like 20mins. Just relax and enjoy the sights and sounds whilst onboard the cable car :)

At the Fisherman's Wharf

The weather look sunny but it's super super chilly & windy!! Probably around 19-21degrees. Moi was like squinting my eyes in almost all the pictures, all thanks to the glaring sun! And it didnt help that i forgotten to bring my bug eye sunnies!! ARGHHHHHHHH

Salthy's Famous fishwich.
Well it must be good, judging by the long long quene

I heart these bald trees. Cute!

Btw, do you realisethat the sky in other countries seem blue~er than in Singapore?
Can someone pls explain this strange phenomenon.

At the famous Pier 39

Giant Crab!
Tom & moi are both cancerians!! :)

If only we owned one of these yachts.
We can only dream

A nice old lady offered to help us take a picture!!

We were suppose to take a picture with the sea lions behind. Blame Tom!

Pretty flowers!!

We wanted to get the Alcatraz tour. Unfortunately, the tour was sold out! In the end, we decided on the Bay cruise adventure that brings us to the Golden gate bridge and ard Alcatraz island

Onboard the crusie

Finally, close up pictures of the sea lions

The golden gate bridge
Yesh, i know. It's RED.

I love seagulls

Alcatraz

Finally, how can you go to Fisherman Wharf and not try the clam chowder!!!

We decided to walk back to our hotel. I had walked before so when Tom asked moi how long it takes to walk back, moi happily replied that it's just a 20mins walk.

HAHAHAHAHA

It took us a freaking one hour and 20mins to walk back!!!
AND in the freezing cold, mind you.
We probably burned like a few thousands calories each!

It doesnt help that San Francisco is famous for it's uphill and downhill streets.
Seriously! look at how steep the street is!!!

Not convince? This is not a camera trick!

Tom was so happy to stumble across this "Church of Sweden"

We decided to walk by Lombard street
America's crookedest street!!

This is the place where we were suppose to go for All American brekkie. I read mixed review about their food and service online. I've been there a couple of times and i enjoyed the food and stuff. AND they are famous for their small Swedish pancakes (i have no idea why it's called swedish pancakes!!). Comes in 18pcs with their home-made special maple syrup.

Sear's Fine Food 439 Powell street.

Anyway, i wanted to bring Tom there but we both slept till 12noon and miss the brekkie hours. When we walked by there in the evening, it says that they serves breakfast till 3PM!! Darn!! we could have made it for brekkie afterall. BUT Seriously, who eats breakfast at 3PM!!

All in all, it was a wonderful two days together in San Francisco. Next will be our Seoul stopover.

Btw, i thought mermaids are suppose to be slim and pretty.
They lied!

Shannon & Ben's wedding

2010-03-13T16:54:00.002+08:00

23th Jan 2010 was the wedding dinner of one of our closest friends, Shannon & Ben. It was down at Pan Pacific and moi have to say it's prolly one of the nicest wedding dinner i had attended.

Tom insisted on wearing his formal suit :)
(He almost wore a tie as well!!)

He's probably one of the few to wear a nice suit. In Singapore, people (Guys especially!!) doesn't really bother to dress up nicely to attend wedding and stuff.

I blame our hot & humid weather!

Tom feels it's disrespectful to the wedding couple if people comes in jeans and t-shirt etc etc. And especially if the wedding is held at a high-class hotel.

With the groom, Ben!

Our Team!

Eliz, Baby Megan, mommy Sammie & Moi
Megan is so so adorable in Pink! :)

The Menu

Pretty Decoration

Eliz & moi

Here comes the bride & groom,
Here comes the bride & groom,
Shannon & Ben

The first dish came as well..

Yummy Sharkfin soup~

Tom refused to take the sharkfin soup on the ground that it's inhuman the way sharkfins are harvested. I mean you hear stories on how the fisherman cut the fins from the sharks and then just throw them back into the sea to die a slow and agonising death.

I agree wholeheartedly with Tom on this. However, if the dish is presented right in front of you, how can you say no right?
In the end, moi had Tom's share while Eliz had two as well cos another guy share the same principle as Tom.

Tom call us "pretentious". Guilty as charged.

We are so enjoying our sharkfin soup

Lil Megan

The bride & the Groom.
Pretty in yellow with the black bow

A impromptu's dance in front of us

Yesh! They seriously had THAT many tables!!

The Toast
YAM SENGGGGGGGGG!!!

Our table!

With the newly wedded couple

Girls power!

Avatar in 3D

2010-02-08T00:17:00.001+08:00

Tom and moi just went to watch "Avatar" in 3D last weekend!!
I know, you prolly gog like "that's so passe"!!!

We meant to catch it earlier but somehow or rather our schedule keeps crashing. Thankfully we finally watch it down at Lido house. Surprisingly, the cinema was jammed packed!!

Playing around with our 3D glasses that's a tad uncomfortable cos it keeps sliding downward!!!
(Usually watching a 3D movie gives moi a really bad headache. Fortuanately, it didnt happened)

i have to say moi truly enjoy watching the movie in 3D. The ticket is slighter more expensive but watching it in 3D seems more genuine, more real, more alive!! If you know what i mean. So to all those so called Avatar fan who watched it in 2D, please go catch it in the 3D version before it's too late. You'll definitely find it more enjoyable!!!

Super excited to read in the papers that Harry Potter!! YEAH!! Harry Potter will be coming out in 3D as well..Woohoo!!

Auckland, NZ

2010-01-31T00:03:00.003+08:00

It's been ages (close to two years?) since my last Auckland trip. Everything pretty much look the same. The only change is we now stay in a different hotel which is better since it's within walking distance to the shopping area.

My colleague recommend dinner down at The Occidental, that serves really really good mussels!

Address:
The Occidental
6/8 Vulcan lane
Auckland 1010,
New Zealand

We ordered four different pots of mussels:

*Lobster & brandy bisque
*Garlic, Celery & onion
*Blue cheese & spinach sauce
*a pot of the chef special which was stout with "cant remember what?"

The mussels are totally out of the world! They are plump and really juicy!! The different flavours are really distinct and delicious. Our favourite was the Lobster & brandy bisque pot of mussels!!

TATA!! Our four pots of mussels.
Imagine the five of us eating 4KGS of mussels!!

With pretty Melissa :)
Knew her before i join the airline

The next day, moi headed down town to get those super famous, Active" Manuka honey that my mum loves.

The famous Sky tower

Moi!!! :)

Mananged to snap a picture of a daredevil person doing the Sky jump
The funny thing was moi actually heard the screams first before i looked up and saw this.

Pretty flowers in someone's garden

Took a picture of this interesting statue

My many bottles of "active" manuka honey

From http://www.honeynz.co.nz
UMF Honey
The Unique Manuka Honey (UMF) found only in selective Manuka honey describes the anti-bacterial property (from non peroxide activity), sought after for its qualities that support health and wellbeing.
Honey New Zealand UMF Manuka honey can be taken by eating or application to the skin surface. Its anti-bacterial activity has an equivalent concentration to phenol (a common antiseptic). It supports the natural healing of wounds, and can help soothe the digestive tract as well as the throat.
The active ingredients and anti-oxidants in Honey New Zealand products can be used for added vitality, oral health, an active immunity or can assist digestive health.

My dinner! Some spicy korean chicken!! I know i probably mentioned this a zillions time
I LOVE KOREAN FOOD :)))))
as well as Japanese, Indian, chinese and swedish food of cos!!!!

Was surprised to step out from my hotel balcony and saw the sky tower all lighted up! Pretty!!

I can see clearly now....

2010-01-26T22:32:00.002+08:00

To Tom's family in Sweden!!! Yesh, im starting to blog again...

Tom's mom and dad LOVES my blog so much (It's probably more like we are in Singapore and they are in Sweden and my blog is one form of communicating thru the 9628.91KM between us)
BTW, i googled the distance so it's an actual figure and it took like just half a second to give me the info.
I HEART GOOGLE.

So, Tom's mom & dad had been asking when im gonna start updating my blog again and Moi being the nice & sweet daughter-in-law (cue: Tom puking in the background) shall not be lazy anymore and do as requested

Anyway, BIG & HUGE news for Tom's family :)

*Drum rolls*

Kaay.. i know what you all are thinking
IM NOT PREGNANT...yet.

Alrite... It's about our beloved Tom.
As of yesterday, TOM has a 6/6 vision
which translate to PERFECT EYESIGHT~

Yupz.. He finally went ahead with the lasik. I had mine done like a year and a half ago and since then, moi had been pestering him to get his done as well.
(I mean, c'mon.. he seriously look much much better without his glasses!!)

Went back to the same clinic, Eagle Eye center down at Mt Alveria. I would highly recommend anyone who's considering getting their eyesight corrected to choose Eagle Eye. The staff there are really friendly and helpful, Dr Theng is very experienced, having done like thousands of lasik op. They are slightly more expensive as compared to other places but believe me, your eyes are very precious and i'm sure you wouldn't wanna risk having anything happen to them.

The BIG DAY... awaiting the operation.

Prolly the last photo of him with his glass on
-BYE BYE, spec~ki*

It look scary...but if you listen to the doctor's instruction..you're prolly gonna be fine. Tom was like drumming his fingers constantly to keep himself from tensing up.

A close up shot!
My poor baby

The operation lasted like just 10mins. On our way home, he had to wear his sunnies due to the sensitivity of the eyes from the sunlight

The troublesome part was being extra careful with the eyes, no contact with water, no rubbing of eyes and having to use like two different eyedrops every 3/hr to prevent any infection.

The best part: Tom having to wear this cute lil goggle to sleep every night!!
SO CUTE, TOM :P

!!!!!FAILED FAILED FAILED!!!!!!!

2009-09-08T23:16:00.006+08:00

I just failed my driving test!!!!

ARGHHHHHHHH

Super irritated with myself now... mounted the stoopid kerb while doing directional change!! The first time ever since i started learning!!! (FYI, it's an immediate failure once your car mount a kerb). The worst part was: It happened right at the beginning of the driving test. So even if you knew you failed the test, you still have to complete the whole driving test. Another agonising 30minutes.

My tester sighed~ Moi sighed~

Anyway, moi have booked for a re-test on the 28oct and 2 extra revisions before that. Hopefully, i'll get my driving license on my second attempt.

I HATE DIRECTIONAL CHANGE
*shaked my fist in the air*

To add more salt into the wound, Tommy is looking at moi right now and going "shame shame"
Can somebody strangle his lil neck for me?

Psst~ Sorry peeps, i know i have not been updating regularly (my excuse? BUSY BUSY BUSY), especially Tom's family and TOM'S BOSS IN UK who are waiting in anticipation for my Sweden holiday updates. i'll blog about it soon. Promise. :)

im in Sweden!

2009-07-19T20:06:00.002+08:00

Hello from Malmö, Sweden!!! Only be back in Singapore on the 13th August..will try and update if time permits

In fact, i was in Poland visiting Tom´s auntie for the last couple of days.

Till then..moi having a great time and enjoying my holiday... Good food and in good company

Love Jasmine & Tom tom

Happy birthday Tom

2009-07-09T20:36:00.000+08:00

A "Day" at the museum

2009-07-09T15:39:00.003+08:00

Super love this set of colleague! We practically hang out, shop, eat together almost every day.

Picture taken with my colleague semi-pro camera. LOVE the vibrant colours!!

Moi so tempted to get those big chunky SLR camera. I seriously can't decide between the Canon 500D or the Nikon D80. Kinda leaning towards the Canon 500D cos my friend, Desmond says it's much much lighter compared to Nikon and the photos are much better. But Tom prefers Nikon D80 as both his brother and mum are using that model and they love it so much.
Decisions Decisions. I hate to make decisions Bleah

The two boys (notice i mention boys? cos they are both so young) trying to act cute

Went down to the Japanese restaurant (their sashimi bento lunch sets are superb) for lunch only to find out that it's close for business.
Reason: A fire broke out in the premises.
Had to settle for some Chinese food nearby which was just okay.

SALE SALE SALE everywhere~

Interesting poster outside New York Public library

Due to the bad weather, we could only take a picture with this minature Statue of Liberty instead of the real deal. Le Sighz

The next day, we met up for all American brekkie of toast, ham n eggies.
YUMMY!!

Took a NYC cab down to the America Museum of Natural History.
The boys were trying to whistle for a NYC cab (guess they watched too much American TV) but to no avail. In the end we used the traditional method of getting a cab: Flag your hand and Tata! an empty cab within seconds.

Looks familiar?

Yesh! It's the same museum as the movie "Night at the museum"

One of the reason why we went to the museum is to take a picture with "Dum Dum". He's this huge stone in the first movie who says "my Dum Dum wants to speak" and loves pink bubblegum. Can't remember what it's called but the name Dum Dum kinda stuck.

Costs moi US$30 for the entrance fee whilst the rest of them use their EXPIRED STUDENT CARD to get a discount. So they paid like US$23. DUHHHH~

NYC tap water. Tried and tested. The boy said it tasted really different while the rest of us were like "it's tasted like normal water lor"

How much is 20.4pounds in KGs arh?

Just googled and it's like just 9.25KG!!! omfg~

Super super long neck~ Like giraffe.
Prolly has a small brain too
(Hellooo..Im not talking about me kaay!!)

Evolution of apes to human beings

They had very big feet during that era too.

The animal world

I love elephants~ They are so majestic

Is this the same naughty monkey in the movie?

I just had to put this up~
I think the largest one is a beaver

Red Indian Chief

Precious stones

Dino World~

My colleague exclaimed "Hey! what's A&F fossil doing here?!?!"
Damn funny.

If you don't know how A&F moose logo looks like. Here goes.
Geez, i can't believe moi actually touched a zillions old fossil.. Bleah~

Children response to climate change.

Found in the Souvenirs shop.

CUTE!!

Even CUTER!!
(check out the lashes!! It's to die for)

So "UNCUTE"
Crickets in sour cream & onion flavour. Anyone?

We finally found the "DUM DUM" section only to realise it's CLOSED to public!!!!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Could only take a photo from the closed door. CRAP.

Zoomed to the max liaoz

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

30 IS THE NEW SEXY!!!

2009-07-08T20:53:00.005+08:00

Geez, can't believe i'm turning 30 in 3 days time @@

It kinda feels like a great mile stone, an accomplishment of some sort.
Super makes moi feel like commemorating this special moment, like buying my first Chanel bag (kidding TOM!!)

And as people around me ALWAYS say "Before you know it, you'll hit 40s, 50s, with just a blink of an eye."

Scary huh.

I know

Anyway, met up with a couple of my really good friends for dinner down at Planet Hollywood, Singapore. The suprising thing is: It's a "FIRST" for all of us.
Very koo koo right?

It's my second time to a Planet Hollywood restaurant. The first time was in Planet Hollywood Copenhagen where Tom treated moi to a YESH birthday treat as well for my last year birthday. Such a coincidence.

Robert was rolling his eyes when we asked him to help us take a picture outside Planet Hollywood. "You do know you are not tourists"

We know and we don't care. Hmph.

Order a Caesar salad and some combo thingy (super love the onion rings!!) for starters.

The Entree

Salmon & mashed potatoes

NZ steak & mashed potatoes

Kent ordered this famous planet Hollywood beef and chicken fajitas which looks super good but kinda troublesome to eat.
It's similar to making your own popian. So if you love to hands on with your food, Feel free to give it a try.

We love our Mojito!!!!

Kent + Moi + Robert

Moi + Desmond + Jany + Lily

MOI + Darren, my buddy!!

Ever since Darren has gotten his car, Moi and Kent have been hitching a ride back home as we all live near to the North Eastern part of Singapore. keke. Love my buddy! :)

Desmond, who's super into photography right now (he even attended photography classes!!) told us to pose with our body slightly twisted, face angled slightly, hands on the hips to appear slimmer in photo.
Like it really makes a difference. LOL

Me + Lily, my Bestie BFF :)

Moi with a Polaroid photo taken by the Planet Hollywood staff after the gang sang moi a Happy birthday song. Complimentary from Planet Hollywood. (can see moi's tearing slightly too)

Moi realized that people loves to go to Planet Hollywood to celebrate their birthdays. Must be the free ice-cream & the Polaroid photo huh. We sang like 5 times!! happy birthday songs for the birthday boys, gals, man & woman.

On a separate note, our first time visit to Planet Hollywood Singapore was not as pleasant as we expected. The service of the staff were okay i guess and i don't even mind singing the happy birthday.

The thing that totally irked us was the special DBS credit card promotion of 1 for 1 entree. It is SO SO SO misleading. Initially, we thought that for every entree we order, we'll get another free. Since there's 7 of us, we could get 3 entree FREE right. WRONG.

Upon checking with the staff there, it's not the case. The free entree is per table. So we only get one free entree no matter how many entrees we ordered. The staff kept emphasizing that "Ohhh, you have to read the terms and conditions properly"

We were like "HELLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!" what's the point of advertising 1 for 1 entree when it's not effectively the case? (btw, there's this huge 1 for 1 banner outside the restaurant as well). Then we asked the service staff if it's possible to split the bills since so many of us has a DBS card. Again, they said "No, they can't do that".
I guess at this point, you must be thinking we're very cheapskate. But the thing is: What they are doing is misleading advertising. Saying something like "one for one" when it's not the case at all?

Can tell im super irritated right? Grrrrr... But it's still a happy day that would remain in my memories :)

Maldives Honeymoon - Part 2

2009-06-25T23:09:00.001+08:00

Writing "Maldives" on the white sand

Had to do it twice!! The first time moi wrote it, it was washed away by the waves before we could take a picture... Grrr!!

My cute lil foot prints~ Size 6 btw :P

Took us ages to pump up the sunbed... But it was totally worth it!! Haha.. we could see the rest of beach goers looking at us in envy

Tom bringing it out for a test run

Looking so pleased with himself

Time for moi to test it out..
Up i go

and down i fail~
super embarrassing
(It's actually kinda difficult to climb on top of it)

Happy!!

Relaxing by the beach with a good book

We are so "sun tanning" ourselves
Moi tanned & Tom burned

Back to our lil hut

Posing for a picture

Beautiful sunset

HAPPY HAPPY

Our Dinner~ Btw, the Maldives Curry is so so good~

it's been a long time~

2009-06-23T18:10:00.003+08:00

Moi was busy busy busy!!

Came back from New York, got activated for Johannesburg and driving lessons in between my days off...

Big phew~

Kinda surprised to see a couple of blogs that moi actively follow shutting down. Which makes me wonder "Hmm, should i shut down my blog too?" I still remembered this conversation i had with this friend recently. She asked moi "Don't you find it scary to put your pictures, your thoughts and everything about your life on the internet where millions and millions of people have access to it? It's like an open book of your life"

It's a thought that I've been pondering over and over again and i have to say she absolutely right!! I don't even know why i started writing a blog in the first place.
Cos i thought it was fun?

But lately, it's becoming like a drag..trying to look for time just to update my blog. My last entry was dated 1st jun which is like almost 3 weeks ago. So much for making an effort.
But i'll try lah :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANYWAY....my first shopping spree in the Great Singapore sale...

Moi had been lusting over it for quite awhile.. and it's quite interesting that moi actually bought it here in Singapore instead of Italy which is cheaper.

I love Ferragamo shoes~

Baby Kadon!

2009-06-01T16:05:00.005+08:00

Just attended the one month baby shower of one of my really good friend. Veron who gave birth to a baby boy "Kadon" on 1st May. Coincidentally, Tom's younger brother, Dennis and his partner, Jill welcomed the birth of their baby boy "Vincent" on the same day as well :)

*throw confetti in the air*

The parent's Veron & Ken held a celebration down at Aranda country club in Pasir Ris.

Meet Baby KADON

(isn't he adorable!!!! He's suppose to be due on 1 Jun but was a month early. Guess he wanna see the world & his parents sooner)

I was super impressed with this baby pram. Apparently, as quoted by Ken, this baby pram is like a Transformer and can be "transform" into many shape and sizes. Or put it simply, it has many usages. It doesnt come cheap either. At S$2000 or SEK10,000 from Mothercare, it's serious moolas. @@

It's probably the "Bentley" of all baby prams!! The good thing is: It apparently has very good resale value with many parents willing to fork out S$1300-S$1500 for a second hand one.

To Ken==> I know you didnt want me to blog about this expensive "transformer" but i seriously can't get over how expensive the pram is!! And ORANGE? Red or Black will be a better colour. Hope the pram lives up to it's price :)

Moi + Baby Kadon

Veron Mommy + Baby Kadon + Moi

With Kent

Super cute! The parent took Baby Kadon for a hair cut so he's now totally bald. And they even shaved his eyebrow off. Probably some chinese custom thingy. Don't ask me why.

The whole time when we were there, Baby Kadon was like just sleeping soundly EXCEPT when it's time to change his nappy. He was really crying whilst Veron & her mom frantically change his nappy and fed him his formula milk in 5minutes flat. I say that's really good teamwork.

The final shot before Kadon got woken up from all the camera flashes and started crying really loudly. It was actually quite traumatising to moi to hear a baby crying non-stop. Bleah~

You can practically see his whole lil face scrunching up and turning super red from all the crying.
Which is really heart wrecking.

This reminds me of another thing. Tom mentioned that if he ever have to endure a long flight with a baby who's crying non-stop next to him and the flight is full and he can't change his seat, He will actually demand a compensation from the airline for their failure to provide passengers with a comfortable flight. We actually had this huge debate over this matter. I mean, to me personally, it's not the airline, non the parent's of the baby, non the baby fault. I would just tolerate it and pray hopefully that the baby would stop crying soon. And it's not like the parents did it on purpose. And they are super embarrass already with other passenger throwing dagger looks in their direction. So Tom, just bear with it kaay!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, Remember when i mentioned that Tom's younger sister, Lucy is a really fantastic singer? Check out this youtube video of her singing the song "Hurt"

I was totally blown away..especially when moi here can't even hold a tune well. I shan't mention anything about Tom singing. He sux totally. *kidding Tom*

Maldives honeymoon.. Part 1

2009-05-22T16:10:00.000+08:00

The long awaited post... Hee~

Having Burger King just before our flight to Maldives

Took a picture at the orchids garden in Changi airport T2...Super touristy spot!
Tom flatly refused to have one taken..Hmph~

Self taken picture on the plane..

Reaching Male airport in 20minutes!! Woohoo~

Waiting for the boat to send us to our resort.

Due to the timing of the flight, we only arrive in Maldives at close to 9pm (Maldives GMT +5). It's kinda irritating because you effectively lose the whole day and you still have to pay for a full day stay at the resort. We were initially thinking of getting the airport hotel for the night and checking in at the beach resort the next day just to save some money. But since it's our Honeymoon, we decided to "heck with it" and just check straight into our resort.

Our Jacuzzi hut down at Bandos Beach resort.

The bedroom located on the upper floor. Our only complaint: There's no toilet on the upper floor and if you really need to use the restroom, you have to go down the spiral stairway (which is quite slippery btw), make your way across the living area before reaching the restroom.

Kinda a hassle really. Especially in the middle of the night, still groggy from the sleep.

Our open air bathroom!! Super love the open concept!

And there you have it, Our very own personal Jacuzzi!! We have to pay quite abit extra just to have that Jacuzzi. Which is why Tom says he wants to soak himself in it EVERY NIGHT!!
*faint*

The next day

Woke up to a beautiful and sunny morning!! Asked a passerby to help take a picture of us with our hut.

Not sure if you can see, but moi put like tons and tons of sunblock over my whole body and face.. Like SPF50 or something whereas Tom uses like just SPF 25 sunblock.

The funny thing is at the end of the day: Moi becomes super tanned and Tom is like burnt and red like a lobster!!

I love the flowers!!

Beautiful view of the Indian ocean

We saw a coral shark!!

Time to hit the BEACH!!!!

Tom getting a sun tan!!

We spent the whole day relaxing in the beach, reading, swimming and tanning..

Beautiful Sunset~

Dinner time~

Jacuzzi time :)

Part 2 coming shortly...

BTW!!! I just passed my final theory driving test!! Yaay!!! *jumping around in ecstasy*
Just a couple more lessons and i'll be taking my practical driving test soon~

Spring in Frankfurt!

2009-05-14T16:43:00.004+08:00

It's a beautiful and sunny day in Frankfurt!! That's the great thing about getting a room on the really high floor.. Superb view!!

View from my hotel room

Met up for lunch..where else but the pasta joint of course!

Our favourite Spinach with mushroom!!

Moi ordered the seafood pasta

We shared a chicken pizza as well..with my favourite rocket leaves~

We walked by this adult shop and decided to snap a picture there...
moi censored certain part of course!

I love Spring time in Europe!! Where flowers of different colours are blooming~

Even the weeds look pretty!!

Came across this interesting flower...It's like pink and purple!! My two most favorite colors in the world!! Anyone knows what it's call?

19 degrees in Frankfurt!!

went for a walk around our hotel area..
I heart this picture!!
Cos it makes moi look super tall n slim
Muahahah

With Miza and the Dino behind us...CUTE!!

Miza call this the "Hammer man"

Bikers will have no fear of rain any more with this fully covered and air conditioned (no less!!) bike.. Doesn't this resemble something that Batman might ride?

Some Easter display...
yeah, i know.. Easter is like so over already~

Went to the hotel lounge for a drink and happened to see Shannon there as well!!
I MISS HER!!

She is this super drama queen and moi love her so much!! She actually wanted moi to tagged Elizabeth (another of our close friend) as the green cactus beer thingy in Facebook just so eliz will go look at these pictures.

To Elizabeth: It's such a coincidence! We have Shannon and moi, ur two close friends..as well as Miza, your room mate having a drink together in Frankfurt. Don't be jealous babe!!
We "really really" miss you in Frankfurt :p

Went groceries shopping and the hotel mini bar is packed fully with sausages, cheese and yogurt! Moi scared myself sometimes with the amount of stuff i buy.

Dinner was Pizza again!! This time it's half Hawaiian and half salmon, topped with rocket leaves

and dessert was strawberries cake

Just realise moi going to Frankfurt next month..HAHA! This time, it's all the way up to New York as well!! woo hoo~

Congratulations!! Grattis!!

2009-05-02T00:50:00.003+08:00

WOW! Is 1st May a lucky day or WHAT!!

First, i received news that my good friend, Veron just gave birth earlier on to a healthy boy!!

Congratulations to both newly crowned parents, Ken & Veron!!

BTW, super funny lor.. i sent out a sms to the rest of the polymates informing them about the news and this Jany replied "Hi, congrats on your newborn"

I was like "WHAT?!?!"

She smsed later on acknowledging her mistake and saying that she kept thinking moi was the pregnant one.. Super funny leh, Jany

Anyway, later on in the evening, Tom told moi that his younger brother, Dennis and Jill had just welcomed the birth of their son too!!

Grattis to Dennis & Jill!!!
Can't wait to see the lil ones and the family of cause!!

Hope both mommys and BBs are doing fine!!

Sighz, hearing all these wonderful news cause my materal instinct to kick in AGAIN!
Time and time, i have been hearing about how our future kids are gonna look so adorable...mixed of both asian and caucasian = Eurasians. The best of both worlds! As how people puts it.

Happy 1st anniversary :)

2009-05-01T00:23:00.002+08:00

I know... Our anniversary was a month ++ ago but we had been too caught up in our work to go out for a celebration.
Nevertheless, we finally had a weekend together for a special celebration!!

And where else but Morton's steakhouse @ Mandarin Oriental hotel!!
So so exciting!!!

Tom had to force moi to wear a dress ( I HATE to wear a dress!!) and moi thinking that Morton's will be this really posh and sophisticated place relented and wore my purple dress for the first time. Turns out moi saw a couple of people in jeans and T-shirt!!
HMMPH

The ambience inside Morton's. I have to say. WHAT RECESSION???
The whole place was PACKED!! ALL the tables were taken!! WTF?

It was pretty exciting cos it's moi first time to Morton's. Our server pushed a trolley over and explain to us the special of the day, the different cuts and there's even a live lobster!! Wooooo~~

The bread was so so so delicious!! It was crusty on the outside and warm in the inside!! Especially when you spread the butter and watch it melts into the bread!! i was in heaven!!! Moi couldn't resist and had 3 big slices (Which is a huge mistake considering that our appetizer and entree are not out yet)

Entaining ourselves with this huge bottle of wine..
I wonder what will happen if i accidentally drop it?? :P

Our Caesar salad arrives!! I have to say i really love the service in Morton's!! They are really attentive! A big smile on their face! They saw us snapping pictures of each other and offered to help us take a picture together. NOT just once but throughout the time when we were there. They also offered to split our Caesar salad into two portions!

Tom look so good in this picture!! :)
CHEERS!!

That's my rib eye steak. Moi usually asked them to cook it medium rare but there was this once when the medium rare turns out RARE and bloody... *faint*

BLEAH~ Ever since then,i prefer my steak done medium pleaseeee

I have to say, their steak is HUMOGOUS!!!

That's how medium looks! Pink in the middle!!

our huge baked Idaho potato share into two portions.

Topped with sour cream and bacon bits

Tom ordered a double cut filet Mignon cooked medium RARE!!!

And i have to say it sure looks pretty rare to me!!

Tom looking really satisfied. He finished the whole steak

As for moi, i was so stuffed with the bread and everything that i left almost a third left.
That's probably S$30 gone to waste

If you like, you could even purchase the Morton's Steak bible for S$50

Our bill.
(yesh, i would say Morton's is pretty expensive compare to even Lawry's down at Paragon)

I was trying to fold the napkin and Tom kept taking photos of me.
I PROTEST!!

Yesh! Taken by one of the Morton's servers while he was on his way to the toilet. He offered to help us take a photo without asking. Beat that!

After dinner, we headed down to Pan Pacific for a drink. They are famous for their Martinis but we decided to ordered their special cocktails

The nibbles
I love the dried mushrooms n the anchovies!!!

above our heads

Tom bought this 1st year precious moments figurines!! AWWWWW~
He was so sweet and asking moi to close my eyes and everything. The funny thing (not so funny in Tom's case) was i kinda guess he bought that and was screaming out loud with my eyes closed "You bought the precious moments figurine!! You bought the precious moment figurine!!"

So much for surprise huh, TOM?

HAPPY 1ST ANNIVERSARY

Tom and Moi had also made a pact! From now on, we are gonna go to Morton's for our anniversary and also to buy a precious moment figurine EVERY YEAR!!

*Pinkie swear* :P

Dubai~

2009-04-26T18:50:00.005+08:00

Just came back from Dubai! I super love the apartment they put us up in!!
Moi can just visualize myself living alone and owning a place like this!!!
(Tom is so gonna kill me)

And the kitchen that moi hardly use except to store some yogurts n fruits in the fridge

I'm so proud of myself :)

Other than going out for meals and buying some nuts for my family, moi didn't go out shopping with the rest of my colleagues during the whole of this trip.
Moi : If you go shopping, you spend moolas $.
(No moolas means no babies right, TOM? :P).
So the best is to just stay in the room and hibernate with my FREE INTERNET.

THE BEST PART?
I EVEN WENT TO THE GYM!!!

Located on the 44th floor is this huge and modern gym. The swimming pool is on the 47th floor and it's so pathetically small that initially moi thought it was a children's pool.

Moi started with the treadmill cos that's the only machine i'm familar with. I love that they install a TV in front of every exercising machine. You kinda feel distracted from looking at the timer. And it's such a motivating factor. Especially when i saw Pussycat dolls on MTV!! All those toned bodies!! I wanna have a toned body too!!!

Is it just me or does the seconds move slower when you're exercising? I was like "okay, 14:15mins" then when it's like an eternatity has passed, moi looked again and it's just 14.30mins"

Just 30seconds had passed?!?! wtf?!?!

After getting bored of MTV, moi looked out of the windows and enjoy the view from the 44th floor. Distracted myself from the aching legs by counting the numbers of construction workers in the opposite building. HA!

I could even see Dubai Mall in a distance.
FYI Dubai Mall is gonna be the largest Shopping Mall in the world!! Impressive. It's not fully opened yet so i would suggest going to the Emirates Mall for your shopping therapy first.

Moi lasted like 25mins before my body starts giving up on me. My colleague who looks like Hulk Hogan, was there as well, looked at me and shake his head "You're so out of touch!!"

Puleezzz leh!! i haven been to the gym for donkey years!!!

After a couple of minutes rest, moi was on the cross trainer and some other training machines. I personally find the toning machines quite daunting. You wouldn't know if your posture is right or you're breathing the correct way? Stuff like that.

Moi looking hot and sweaty after all those exercising!!

Went up to the top floor to check out the swimming pool which i mentioned earlier was pathetically small.

Was kinda surprised to see the the tallest structure, the Burj Dubai from the roof top.
Yesh! It's still under construction!

My favorite brekkie in Dubai! Masala Dosai.. So much for exercising :P

Healthy time & Pizza Time!!

2009-04-17T11:50:00.000+08:00

I feel FAT! Alright, the word FAT cannot even comprehend how i'm feeling now :(
Im utterly disgusted with myself. Much so when i weighted myself last night and realized moi almost tipping the weighing scale at 50KG!!!
*faint*

I had never ever NEVER been near to 50KG and to actually see the pointer narrowly reaching the 50KG mark almost compare to the feeling of taking a knife and stabbing my lil heart (makes that a big heart) dug it out and throw it out of the window where some lorry would rolled over it...twice
*splaaatttt*

So from now on, moi gonna eating healthily and start exercising regularly!!
Ganbatte!!! Wish me luck :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Saturday, Tom and Moi decided to make pizzas for dinner
I know it seem so ironic... On one hand, I'm talking about dieting and losing weight. On the other hand, Pizza is not exactly a "healthy" food..especially with the tons of Mozzarella cheese that we love so much.

My lame excuse: We had the pizzas before moi found out i'm almost 50KG.
So it's understandable!!

Most of the ingredients are bought from London (cos it's much cheaper!!) except for the ham

1. 4 mini pizza bases

2. The tomato paste

3. Mozzarella & Cheddar cheese

4. My favourite salad!!!! Rocket leaves

Anyone knows where i can get Rocket leaves in Singapore? Tried looking at Cold Storage but they don't seem to carry it :(

Piling our home-made pizza with tons of ham and diced tomatoes

Next, There goes the cheeses... I totally freaked out when Tom put some blue cheese as well

I HATE BLUE CHEESE!!!! Yikes

10minutes in the oven and there you have it!!!
the cheesy crust and the Ohhhh so delicious smell~

Throw in some rocket leaves...and this is our super delicious home-made pizza!!!!
I'm so salivating *droolz*

Lastly, not forgetting the all time Tabasco sauce!! I know it sounds weird but moi loves to get those "sausage lip" from eating Tabasco sauce!! HAH

It's kinda funny cos whenever i get those "sausages lip" from eating too much Tabasco, 'll be complaining to Tom that moi's not gonna put anymore Tabasco sauce in the future. The next time, when Tom reminds me about "sausages lip", moi will retort "i don't care!! i want Tabasco sauce!!" and yupz, sausages lip AGAIN...

It's like a cycle over and over again.

Nespresso Machine :)

2009-04-13T21:29:00.005+08:00

Hi peeps!!

Just came back from (gloomy & rainy!!) London...and Guess what!! Moi just bought for myself a Nespresso machine!! And it was such an impulsive buy!!

I mean i had heard so many of my colleagues buying Nespresso machines from London (cos it's much cheaper!!) and i knew i always wanted a coffee machine as well. COS I"M A COFFEE ADDICT!!! So when moi went down to Oxford St with the intention of going to Primark, i happened to pass by Selfridges and decided to just pop in to check out their Nespresso machines.

I have to say, the sales lady was really fantastic in her sale pitch. The way she was explaining about their coffee machines, the different varieties of coffee they have, their big clientele..
Moi was completely and utterly SOLD!!

And that was why, moments later, moi found myself lugging this big gigantic massive shopping bag back to my hotel. And telling myself over and over in my mind "It's worth the effort!! i love coffee!! It's worth the effort!! i love coffee!!"

And when i say...big gigantic massive shopping bag..i really mean big gigantic massive shopping bag!! It's almost as big as my cargo bag!!

moi realized that it's pretty difficult to carry such a big & heavy shopping bag all by oneself. Seriously, if you ever wanna attempt the same feat, please bring a friend (a strong one too) along :)
TWICE!!! Moi was stuck in the tube gantry!! It was super embarrassing.
Are all the gentleman in London dead?!?!?!

Tata!! The Espresso machine that could make an espresso, a cappuccino, and a latte!! Really simple to use, with just a touch of a button!! Imagine making your own latte in just 40seconds flat!! It's really that fast and simple!!

I Love the Lattissima RED so much!! It comes in Chrome (more expensive), Red, Off white and Black. It's 249pounds (S$560) except for the chrome one that's slightly more expensive at 299pounds.

The interesting thing was: Moi realize they don't carry this particular model here in Singapore! The Nespresso Singapore only carry like just 6 models here. This particular model, krups that moi saw in London for 126pounds (S$290) was retailing here in Singapore for S$520!! *faint*

btw, saw the Lattissima selling in Nespresso Sweden for 4999SEK :)

Instead of using ground coffee from the packet, the coffee comes in lil pods which are really simple to use. Just pop them in and there you have it, an espresso in just 30second!!

Moi bought a couple of the different coffee blends to try. Each tube contains 10 lil pods and cost 2.50pounds or 25p each. So it works out to about S$0.60 each. Which is not that bad.

However, i went to check out the Singapore website and gosh!!they are selling them each tube for S$10 or S$1 each. Guess i've have to stock them up when i fly to London :(

My RED Lattissima seating perfectly in our kitchen

Thorntons!!! My favourite chocolate from London!! Thank god moi bought them before buying the Nespresso machine..BIG PHEW~

Thanks to Elizabeth, moi is now super addicted to Houmous. Dipped it with bread and they are so super delicious!!
I sure hope they're not too fattening!!

SO here's the thing if you wanna get a Nespresso machine:
Pros:
1. Fast and simple to use
2. guarantee fresh coffee every time because it comes sealed in lil pods
3. latte in just a touch of a button

Cons:
1. you can't use your own ground coffee
2. the lil pods are definitely more expensive as compare to buying your own packet of ground coffee
3. the pods uses aluminum so in terms of environmental friendliness: Basically ZERO!

I guess i should have done more research instead of just buying it impulsively :(
I mean it's a great machine!! I really love it!! But the thought of having to solely use their coffee pods just kinda leave me with a bad "coffee" taste. Pun intended.

April Fools

2009-04-02T21:44:00.005+08:00

You know how important some occasions are for certain group of people i.e for Chinese it'll be the Chinese New Year, For Malays it'll be Hari Raya and for some group of people, Christmas is a Big Deal.

Well, same goes for Tom.. For him, April Fools is A BIG DEAL... He just had to trick somebody on this day and who else but his family of cos :P

Look at what he posted on his family webbie

The first portion is absolutely true... Tom and moi will be taking one month break from work in July and travel around Europe. So looking forward to it!! :)

The second portion is SO NOT TRUE!! Moi like
100% not READ: NOT PREGNANT!!!
*faint*

He initially called his Dad to wish him happy birthday ( 31th MAR HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!) and then casually mentioned that moi is pregnant. You should have heard them screaming with joy. Until he mentioned that he's gonna named our baby girl "April" followed by April fools day!!!
HURHURHUR...so (NOT) funny

Then he decided to post it on his family webbie. Fortunately, the rest of his family didnt fall for the trick. Sighz, the things Tom do sometimes makes me shake my head but put a smile to my face.
moi just have to say "I'm not his accomplice!!! I'm not in cahoot with him"

Anyway, Tom's friend just sent him this super funny youtube video.

This is the original video by this Korean girl group : Wonder girls "Nobody"
I love the song!! super catchy!!

NOW CHECK THIS OUT!!!
If you play these two videos concurrently, the dance moves are almost synchronize with each other. And Tom actually says the guy is a better dancer than the wonder girls.. Haha

I'M SO SAD!!!!! Just watched American Idol results..
Megan Joy is out!!!
Boo Boo :(

Shannon & Ben's ROM

2009-03-28T18:31:00.004+08:00

Just attended Shannon & Ben's ROM held at Changi resort last Saturday. Moi have to admit it's one of the nicest ROM i ever attended. The only letdown was the weather. Thank goodness it's only a slight drizzle and didn't dampen the atmosphere at all.

Shannon's dream was to have a tentage for her wedding n true enough her dream came true on that day.

Preparation for the solemnization. The ground was totally soaked and muddy from the afternoon drizzle.

With Benjamin!!

(yesh he look really really happy that day)

The party poppers!!

I was so so overwhelmed by the sunset. I mean, seriously i have no idea the sunset would look so beautiful here in Singapore.

Forcing Tom to go out in the rain to take this photo of Moi. (and he was grumbling)

Self taken photo
(cos Tom refused to help me take another picture)

The tentage

The solomization

Saying their vows

Family and friends gathered around to witness the signing

Presenting the new Mr & Mrs Low :)

Picture with Shannon!!

I'm so happy for the both of them. They make a really great couple!!
To Shannon & Benjamin: Congratulation once again and may u have a blissful marriage and many happy years to come!!!

On a separate note, Tom just had to take a photo of his precious shoe, which moi accidentally stepped on while taking photos.. DODGY!! I'm so not gonna clean it..hmmph :P

off to Milan~

2009-03-26T15:58:00.005+08:00

Hi peeps! Preparing for my flight to Milan... Haven't been there for close to 2 years so kinda looking forward to it. As most of you know, Milan is like one of the major fashion cities in the world so I'm gonna resist, i repeat!! RESIST any shopping temptation whilst I'm there!!!

OMG!! it's gonna be so hard...just thinking about Prada, Miu Miu, Gucci etc is enough to send my shopping instinct into a frenzy

ARGHHHHHHHHH

Anyway, i'm so gonna miss American Idol 8 tonight :(
I rarely follow American Idol except during the auditions n the last 2 idols standing. But i don't know why for this season 8, moi have been watching almost every episode.. and my favourite favourite idol so far (I'm have tons of favourites this season like Scott MacIntyre, Adam Lambert, Anoop Desai) is

MEGAN JOY

took this photo from www.americanidol.com

She's so pretty, has a unique voice and a sense of quirkiness about her.

M.A.C. Hello Kitty~

2009-03-25T15:58:00.016+08:00

Just came across these limited-edition M.A.C Hello kitty collection which is in collaboration with SANRIO... and Gosh~ everything just look fabulous

Visit http://www.maccosmetics.com for more details

Instead of the usual pinkie and innocent Hello Kitty, M.A.C Hello Kitty packaging tend to look more Gothic? or should i say more sophisticated? But I'm a really HUGE fan of Hello Kitty so it doesn't really matter as long as it's still Hello Kitty :)

Some of the M.A.C Hello Kitty products:

HELLO KITTY DAZZLEGLASS

HELLO KITTY MYSTERY POWDER

HELLO KITTY NAIL LACQUER

HELLO KITTY LIPSTICK

They also have a range of M.A.C HELLO KITTY accessories.

HELLO KITTY MAKEUP BAG

HELLO KITTY MIRRORED KEY CLIP

HELLO KITTY BRUSH COLLECTION

Speaking about Hello Kitty, one of my friends was telling us this silly story the other day (just to pass time). Anyway the story goes something like this:

One fine day, DOREMON was out walking when he saw HELLO KITTY at a distance.
If you don't know how DOREMON looks like, here's a picture of him below.So DOREMON called out at the top of his voice "HELLO KITTY!! HELLO KITTY!!".
HELLO KITTY turned around, looked at DOREMON and walked off.

At this point in time, my friend paused and looked at us expectantly and asked why HELLO KITTY didn't respond. We were all like "UH HUH? Cos they are arch enemies??"

TURNS OUT: HELLO KITTY has no mouth!!! And can't reply DOREMON.So then HELLO KITTY decided to draw a mouth on her face. The next day HELLO KITTY saw DOREMON at the same location. HELLO KITTY shouted "DOREMON!!! I've got a mouth!! We can chat with each other". But DOREMON totally ignored HELLO KITTY and walked off.

WHY?????????

REASON: DOREMON has no ears and thus can't hear HELLO KITTY.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Kaay, I know it's a dodgy story and it's totally not amusing AT ALL. But when the story was told, we find it was so hilarious that we laughed non-stop. Maybe I'm a bad story teller or you guys have no sense of humor. HA :P

Gathering 20th mar 09

2009-03-23T22:35:00.001+08:00

Meet up with a brunch of my polymates last Friday night. We then proceed down to Harry's Bar at Cuppage.

Moi with Lily, my bestie bestie BFF :)

We had known each other since secondary school days...which means...Ermmmm...lemme see.. almost like 18years of friendship!! WTF!! That long @@

IM SO BLOODY TANNED!!!..

And since moi's using the same makeup colours as before, my face has this inherently pale look that contrast prominently with my tanned neck and arms!!
*faint*

Veron (mommy-to-be) & Jany

Im so so so excited for Veron who's gonna give birth around end of May!! I could hardly wait to meet this BB boy!! The parents have decided to name him "Kayden". They haven't decided on the spelling yet but i mentioned that the name could probably go with either a "C" or a "K"
LIKE:
1. Cayden?
2. Kayden?
3. Caiden?
4. Kaden?
Went to check my Baby names book and the name means "Spirited"

BTW, im so gonna called my daughter (if i have one)
"Emma Giselle Ng-NXXXXXXXX"
and since the trend for parents nowadays are Unique Names & Spelling, im probably gonna go like "Ohhh fyi, it's spell as Jitzelle with a J"

Anyway, Dinner down at Harry's Bar:

Really good Caesar salad

Hot wings

Seafood pasta

Fish & Chips

Group picture :)

Moi (tanned arms!) with Veron

Jeremy & his girlfriend, Juliet joined us later for coffee. It's the first time we're meeting her and she's so sweet and friendly. Moi personally find they make a good match :)

Moi & good friend,Jany

Moi & my buddy,Darren

All my friends were like "not another picture!!" when i whipped out my camera . LIKE HELLO!!You guys should be thankful someone is taking photos. 30 years down the road, when we are old and greying, we are gonna take out all these photos and laugh/cry/smile/joke over them or even showed them to our grandchildren and say "Look, see your granny last time so pretty"

It's still not too late to thank me!! keke :P

But we had so much fun that night. All the jokes and laughter.
So when's the next gathering? :)

Earth Hour

2009-03-21T16:42:00.003+08:00

All information from: www.earthhour.org

EARTH HOUR
Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm.

Earth Hour is about taking simple steps everyday that collectively reduce carbon emissions – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

At 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March, people from all corners of the world will turn off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - and cast their vote for action on climate change. Anybody can participate and join together with millions of people across the globe celebrating Earth Hour.

Of date, 1,858 cities, towns and munipalities in 81 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming.

WE can all make a difference :)

Super tanned & heat rash!!

2009-03-20T15:05:00.000+08:00

Hi peeps!

Came back from Maldives a few days ago...Had a fabulous & wonderful time there!! :)
Took tons & tons of pictures. We even bought a "one time use underwater camera that cost us a freaking US$25" to take underwater pictures. Hope to get them develop soon..

Anyway, im so so so suffering right now. I had SUNBURNT on my scalp. My whole body is covered in heat rashes and it's those super itchy kind!!! The kind that kept moi awake for the last couple of nights, scratching myself silly. Beat that.

:(

It must be quite bad cos when moi showed it to the doctor yesterday, he exclaimed "OMG!! What happened?"
Le Sighz~

Horrible pictures coming up so be prepared!!

How my thighs look~
That's my stomach.. The hear rashes was all over my stomachMind You! You wouldn't wanna see the rest of my body!!

On the other hand, after hitting the beach every day, im SUPER TANNED right now.
Even after slapping on SPF 30 sunblock all over my body..
Check out my back and and my butt :)
UPDATES: woohoo~ after applying dilligently the cream prescribed by the doctor, the heat rash had went down considerably.. Now, they had dried up and became kinda crusty! Tiny bit of itchiness.

Still tanned though :)

Happy 1st Anniversary, honey!!

2009-03-18T14:45:00.003+08:00

I Love You
XOXOXOXOXOXO

Maldives...here we come!!!

2009-03-10T13:25:00.002+08:00

Woohoo~ Moi & Tom are flying off to Maldives tonight!!

For a well deserved holiday break and our first honeymoon...
5days of swimming in the clear blue ocean, beautiful sandy beach, glazing up at the stars filled sky......
Such BLISS!!!!!!!

The lil Jacuzzi hut where we'll spend our nights

And so looking forward to the
"super many colours of blues" ocean

Fly me there...quickly!!!! :)

Lil Megan : )

2009-03-06T14:30:00.004+08:00

Moi just went to visited one of my ex-team gal, Sammi who gave birth to a sweet and adorable baby gal, Megan

BABY MEGAN!! Awwwwww...look at her smile
*heart melt*

Geez... my maternal instincts is acting up again!!!
*trying to visualize lil Tom n lil Jas running around the house~"

It's kinda difficult to take pictures of Megan because she absolutely hates to have the camera in front of her. One minute, she'll be smiling sweetly at us and then, next minute she stopped smiling the moment we took out our camera to snap pictures of her.

Smart kiddo!

With my other team gals Shannon + Elizabeth. The mother refused to have her picture taken :(

Megan looking everywhere except at the camera

Megan and her power nap.. Why i say that?

Cause she slept like just 10mins before waking up again.

Sammi trying to get Megan to burp after her feed.

It's kinda amazing how your priorities in life change once you have a baby. Gone were the days where spent money without a care in the world. Where everthing is just "ME ME ME" Now every cent matters. Now it's "ME + Spouse + Baby= Family".

Sammi related to us how she scout around the supermarket to compare prices for diapers, milk fomulas, baby clothes ect. The word "personal space" doesnt exist in the dictionary anymore. She's with Megan 24/7, 365 days. She gets worry if Megan doesn't poo poo for 3days, whether she burps after her feed, what's that rash on her arm. And your spouse support and understanding is so so important.

Listening to all her mommy talk, moi + eliz n shannon looked at each other and go "OMG!!"
*look of horror*

On the other note, the joy a baby brings into your life. Her first word "mama" or "Papa".
Well, that's priceless. Something that money can't buy :)
I'm pretty sure all parents will agree with that

nice lappy & snow snow snow in Zurich

2009-02-25T15:25:00.009+08:00

After dragging this big lappy (kaay, it's not that big...just 15") around the world, moi can finally leave this at home and packed....

TATA!!!!!... This small lil HP mini :)

And i mean really really really small!!! It's like half the size of my current one and weighs just slightly over 1KG

The best part? IT'S ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!! :))))))

Our cable TV, Starhub was having this promo whereas if you signed up with them for another 2years, dangling THE CARROT, is this case would be the HP mini notebook, will be ours for free.

How good a bargain is that? It's not as if we are gonna stop subscribing to STARHUB cable TV.
Considering they are the only Cable TV company in Singapore.
Good for them, Good for us.

Speaking of mini notebook: Tom's brother, Micke recently bought a mini notebook as well. And our dear Tom here was practically gloating (in a nice way of cos) cos he got his HP mini for FREE where as his brother, Micke had to pay for his.

Moi to MICKE===> Fret not! I have already whacked Tom's head on your behalf :P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brought the mini lappy with moi to Zurich.
While moi was taking out my lappy for the security scan, my colleague behind moi exclaimed "Wahhhh, using such a big calculator ahh? Use it for counting the total number of meals?"

Like DUHHHHHHH *rolled my eyes*

Anyway, IT was SNOWING IN ZURICH :)))))))
Awwwwwwwww

Snowflakes outside my window

Couple walking their dogs in the snow

Moi + snow

More snowwwwww

But too much snow.
Thanks to the snow, our flight landed in Singapore 2hours late.

A date on Valentine's Day.....

2009-02-15T18:25:00.001+08:00

.....With Tom (obviously) and our Driving instructor :)

Our first Driving lesson!! Woohoo~

We passed our Basic Theory half a year ago and since then moi had been pushing and pushing about getting our practical driving done. Finally, Tom was the one who finally forced moi to sit right in front of our computer with my schedule and arranged for all the driving lessons.

And of all days to start our driving lesson, IT HAD TO BE ON VALENTINE"S DAY!!!

Was I nevous? Yes.
Was I having second thoughts? Yes.
Do I wanna do this? Nooooooooooo......

My only encounter driving car was zillion years ago with my Ex Boyfriend down in Brisbane when in a spur of a moment (and probably crazy enough and young), Moi had literally begged him to let me have a turn at the steering wheel. On a RENTED car too, mind you. Haha. I actually went one round on it, with my EX holding strongly to the steering wheel as well and his face white as a sheet.
Sighz, the sheer look of terror on his face. PRICELESS :)

Since then, moi has always been on the passenger seat.
AND I LIKE BEING THERE!!!!!

But moi had promise Tom we'll learn driving together. And a PROMISE is a PROMISE
(me and my big mouth)

Waiting for the minute hand to strike 1pm. Getting a glimspe of all the cars outside

Alright. Time to look for my driving instructor :)
Keeping my fingers crossed that he/she is a nice and patient instuctor

All these cars!!!

Fyi, Im doing the automatic transmission driving license whereas Tom's doing the Manual transmission driving licence. It used to be only Manual transmission Driving licence but since 1 Jan 2005, motorists can take driving tests using automatic cars and qualify to drive automatic cars with a new Class 3A driving licence.

Obvious reason. It's much much easier to pass with automatic transmission!!

The only downside is, with a Class 3A licence, you can't drive any form of manual transmission cars

I'm gonna be driving this!!

Funny sign

It was not as bad as i thought. I told the driving instuctor that it's my first lesson and i have no prior experience with cars and what so ever (Ermmm, guess it not a good idea to mention about that time in Brisbane?). He told moi not to worry and since it's my first driving lesson, we are just gonna do simple stuff like reverse and drive forward and probably do a feel turns here and there in the circuit. Which doesnt sound THAT BAD.

I must say that the 2hours lesson passed by quickly. And moi had a pleasant time :)
Met up with Tom and compared notes. Turned out he was just in the circuit for an hour before his driving instuctor thought he was good enough to start driving outside on the roads.

ON REAL ROADS!!! ON HIS 1ST DRIVING LESSON!!!!!!!
Arghhhhhhh...while moi was like just going round and round the circuit!!!!!

Tom told moi many times before that he knew how to drive just that he doesnt have a proper driving licence. AND i always say he was bluffing. Turned out he did like 12driving lessons many years ago before he stopped cos of work committments.

To Tom: Nay, im not jealous. You probably gonna get your driving licence way way ahead of moi. Who knows. Maybe i can just sit and relax in the passenger seat after all :P

After our driving lessons, we enroute to AMK hub for a late lunch. After all that excitment, moi kinda forgotten that it's actually V day. Till i saw the menu on Fish & Co.
Awwwwww...."Love is in the air" The cupids look so adorable and nope, we are not having a baby...YET!

Tom with his New York Fish & Chips

and Moi with my *something something* salmon. Kaay, i forgot what it's called but it's so really delicious lor

And my double shots espresso which i seriously need.

Unfortunately, it was just lukewarm when they sent it to our table. IT just doesn't do any justice to my favourite ILLY coffee AT ALL. And at S$4, moi was seriously comtemplating sending it back and getting them to fix a new AND HOT PLEASE. But i just didnt wanna bother them when i saw how understaffed they were.
My S$1.20 Ya Kun coffee would have tasted much much better :(

After dinner. We went to watched UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS. It'a a pretty good movie and i can't believe that XXXXX died :(
Hope i didnt "let too much cat out of the bag" for those who havent catch it yet.

But good movie though.

Since we didnt buy each of us any V day gift, we had an ingenious idea of walking around AMK hub and buying something for each other with a S$50 budget. But nothing caught our fancy.

So no V day gift for each other. Hah.
*is this what happened when you become married?"
KIDDING!!!!!! Im the un-romantic one in the relationship

Dubai~

2009-02-10T21:25:00.001+08:00

Ohhhh!! IM lovin' Dubai all over again :)

Probably cos i haven't flew there for the whole of last year.
And it's winter now and the best time to visit Dubai (around 24-12 degrees celcius)
and we are staying at this apartment that comes with FREE INTERNET n a kitchenette!!

Woohooo~~~

I love my room so much :)

Btw, Tom always complaining that my pictures are way way too small and he had to squint his eyes just to look at the details (Tom's eyesight has seriously deteriorated...i mean the old pictures looks fine!!!) So Moi decided to enlarge them

The sleeping area

The Kitchenette

Which comes with a stove, a microwave, a coffee machine, a washing machine, a toaster n a FULL SIZE fridge!!! Impressive huh! Not that moi gonna use them

Met up with Lina for some Shopping Theraphy @ Mall of the Emirates
Mall of the Emirates is home to over 450 retailers including big names like Debenhams, Harvey Nichols, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Tiffany & Co and so forth.

Moi & Lina :)

SALE SALE SALE!!!! EVERYWHERE!!!!

Moi even come across Charles & Keith!!
Kudos to our Singapore brand!!

Saw a reallly nice car outside the mall. Thinks it's an Audi. There's were a couple of Bentley parked outside as well... Ahhhhh, All these rich people~

Dinner was at this shop near to Choc & Nuts. Fried Chicken with naan.
(Btw, Tom totally freaked out when i lugged 13KGS of nuts back to Singapore)

Caraway seeds i think. Usually serve after a meal. It have a pungent, anise-like flavor and aroma

Moi decided to make use of the Kitchenette and cook PASTA!!
I love Induction stove!! They are so easy and convenient to use

Question! Issit just me or am i the only person who stir fried my penne and tomato sause together?

Those are golden mushroom (brought over from Singapore) in case you are wondering

I have to say moi had tasted much better pasta. At least it fills my hungry stomach.

I HATE COOKING!!!

Webcammie with Tom on skype
He actually make fun of my pasta!!! Grrrrrr~

Tom being his dodgy self! But i still love him

Happy moo moo cow year :)

2009-01-29T21:25:00.005+08:00

恭喜发财(gong xi fa cai) everyone!!!!!!
which roughly means "Congratulations and be prosperous"

Our humble homw with all the CNY decorations!!!!
Decorated by who else? MOI of cos!!
Moi was pretty fortunate to be able to spend my Chinese New year with Tom and my family.

On the eve of Chinese, Moi n Tom head down to my parents place for the all important reunion dinner. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West which is a really big time for the Chinese.

Our family reunion dinner is a simple affair, usually consist of steamboat.
My dad offered Tom a big can of Carlsberg beer.
Hey Tom, both of u could be beer buddies :) Moi with my Dad...There's some other pictures but it's still with my sista.
SISTA! send those pictures to me please!!!

Stayed home on the first day of CNY. Tom did a faux pax.
He swept our floor on the first day of CNY!!!!

*faint*

It is considered unauspicious to sweep the floor on the first day as it means sweeping away the good fortune and luck for the New Year. Having said that, we were suppose to springclean and sweep away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes our homes ready for good luck WHICH WE OBVIOUSLY DIDNT AS WELL. So moi guess it doesnt really matter huh.

and TOM was the one who did it! im the innocent one!! hurhur :P

Moi is kinda excited about this CNY cos i have to start giving out red packets (MARRIED liao mah) i.e. ang paos to the elderly and unmarried juniors. HAHAHAHA
In fact, i even quene up at OCBC bank for half an hour just to get my hands on the new bank notes :)

It was really sweet of Tom's Mom & Dad who called and wished us a Happy Ox year!! Moi still waiting for the card to arrive..HeeHee. It was wonderful to hear everyone's fine in Sweden. Hope you both will enjoy the trip up to Poland, as well as Tina Turner's concert up in Hamburg!!! Remember to say hi to her on my behalf :))))

Mom, my brother and my sista came over and stayed for the night.
Playing mahjong.
Bro was the big winner that night. Followed by moi.

新年快乐!!!!

for Babee: French twist!

2009-01-16T15:25:00.000+08:00

STEP 1 : Tie a low ponytail
Step 2 : Twist the ponytail about 4inches

STEP 3 : Twist it up.
Im right handed so it's easier for moi to twist it to the right. If you're left handed, then you twist to the left

Step 4 : Start pushing your twist to the right

Step 5: push the pony tail into the middle of the twist
Step 6: Push the remaining of the ponytail in to the middleStep 7: Comb the sides to make it neaterStep 8: Usually you'll get a "hump" at the top of your twist. Just comb it to make it neater.Step 9: Start pinning your twist. Use these "U pins" as they are easier to use.

Use as many as possible to make it more secureThis is how it look from the back
The sideTata!! The front.It's really easy. Just practice practice and practice :)

Christmas in San Francisco :)

2009-01-12T21:25:00.000+08:00

Poor Tom! I have been spending my last couple of Christmas away from Singapore.
2006 was in Beijing. 2007 was in Athens. And now 2008 was in San Francisco!

A special thanks to the wonderful colleagues who arranged a Christmas eve party in San Francisco. Instead of having a traditional Christmas meal like ham and turkey, we ordered Chinese takeouts :)

The roasted ducks, chicken, pork and stir-fried veggies!!! It almost felt like a Chinese New Year Celebration.

Moi was so tired and didn't stayed around for the Christmas countdown. Was back to my room and sleeping in Lalaland by 11pm

Outside in the streets on Christmas day. It looks sunny but it's darn cold.It's not fun to spend Christmas Day in SF! :(
All the shops were closed!! Even big departmental stores like Macy's were closed!!!

ARGHHHHHH!!! No shopping for moi... i mean i can understand. People don't wanna work on Christmas Day. It's a day to spend with your loved ones, your family. But the shopaholic in moi just go "Noooooo....i wanna go into A&F, American Eagle, Hollister, Old Navy!!!!"

The worse part was: Moi is leaving SF in the morning of Boxing day and that's when SF will have it's BIGGEST GIGANTIC AND MASSIVE YEAR END SALE!!!!!

ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Just kill me!!!!!

At least the SF trams is still operating. Tons of people queuing to go Fisherman Wharf perhaps
Interesting sight outside of my window. Yesh. It's a crane
See what's on the crane?
Yupz! A Christmas tree!!! isn't that adorable? Come nightfall, the lights comes on and it turn into a blinking Christmas tree. (which was how i noticed it in the first place)

Christmas in Seoul was just as interesting. Took a picture with the huge Christmas tree down at the hotel lobby. Moi remembered taking a picture at the exact spot a few years ago.. Hmmm probably in year 2005.
When i say it's a huge Christmas tree. I mean HUGE!! All the way to the ceiling
Santa Claus on display

Took a picture of the one that says Sweden. Unfortunately, there wasn't one from Singapore :(

Had my favourite Korean Bibimbap.

Wikipedia says Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang ( chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. It can be served either cold or hot.

Mine is all veggies and comes with a fried egg on top!!
After adding the chili pepper sauce and all stirred up. The trick to eating Bibimbap is to add tons and tons of chili pepper sauce!!! and stirring it occasionally. Else you'll ended up with burnt rice at the bottom of the hot clay bowlThe Korean side dishes!! Ohh, how i loved them!!!! Sometimes, i wanna tell them to just give moi a bowl of steaming rice and just the side dishes. No main.
After lunch, we had a nice surprise when it started to snow slightly outside.Can't really tell from the picturesMy colleagues taking a picture of snow flakes on my hair. Heehee

Happy New Year Everyone!!

2009-01-05T21:25:00.014+08:00

(yupz, betcha thinking why the Christmas tree is still up...and still is)

I know I'm like 5days late but oh well.. Been kinda busy lately

Moi and Tom spent our New Year eve countdown at home with a simple meal. I'm not sure why actually. We could have gone downtown and celebrate the New Year countdown with a few millions people. But the thought of being squashed like sardines, long queues in practically every shops, problem getting home just seem such a turnoff. Issit cos I'm getting older and having a good time just doesn't interest moi anymore? Or am i becoming lazier n lazier n lazier every new year? Geez~

It was wonderful spending New year eve with Tom at home. We even dressed up for the occasion!

Tom pouring the rose Sparkling wine
Dinner was delicious. Pan fried Salmon with Stir fried veggies and mashed potatoes. Made by us truly.

A Big cheer for 2009!!! :)

Tom's family called us a few minutes before midnight to countdown together via web cam which is really really sweet. Considering that their NEW YEAR is 7hours away. We thought of doing the same thing with them but waking up at SIN 7am (especially when we only slept at 4am)!!! As the Chinese saying goes, "the heart is willing but the body is failing"

Sorry peeps!! Well, hopefully in the near future, we'll be able to have a NEW YEAR countdown together!! THE WHOLE FAMILY!! Tom's dad promise to buy moi big big fireworks if we have a New Year countdown in Sweden together. ALRIGHT... He didn't. But *hint hint hint* :P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My poly kakis popped over our place for a gathering on New Year Day.
Moi finally FINALLY put my mahjong set to good use!! Wahhaha
BTW, i won one "zi moh" lor!!! So so excited leh!!! Moi was jumping up and down while all my friends were giving me this "duhhh" look.

Moi was trying to get Tom to play Mahjong (he knows how to play kaay!!!!) but thinks he is shy.
*cough cough*With all my good friends. We were actually looking at another camera when Darren decided to take this shot cos he claimed "it looks more candid"

Ermmmm... like HELLLOOOOO???
Speaking of which, my good fren, Veron IS PREGS!!! Congrats Congrats Congrats to my good friends VERON & KEN!!! She's like 4months pregnant now. Come next month, she'll know whether it's a boy or a girl. Lily mentioned that if you could see the mommy's waist from behind or something, then it's a boy. So anyway, Lily says it's gonna be a girl. We shall wait and see.

The MACHO+IRRESISTIBLE+CHARMING+SUAVE guys.
Sighz, the coming of the New year makes moi think about Christina suddenly. Maybe it's the thought of knowing she couldn't see 2009 gives me a heartache. Miss you babe. Be happy wherever you are. :)

Our Xmas tree

2008-12-19T11:10:00.000+08:00

Just 6 more days to Christmas!! WOW @_@

We finally bought n decorated our Xmas tree!!

:)

Unfortunately, we didn't get a real one. A real one would be nice, with the nice pine smell but we think it'll be a hassle to dispose of later.

And as what Tom's brother, Micke mentioned, they keep finding pine needles in the house all year round.. Which i personally think is really cute!

Saw an advertisement on wholesale Christmas stuff down at Wing Tai building. With 50% off all decoration!! Hoot!

Christmas trees on display. This is our 6foot Christmas tree in a box
Moi carrying the Christmas decorations :)Setting up the Christmas tree!!!It's pretty simple to set up. All the branches are labeled with alphabets and you just match it again the alphabets on the pole in the centreLook how engrossed and serious moi looked!And finally the tip of the tree

Moi quickly grabbed it from Tom's hand and pushed the tip in!!!!
I did the last bit lalalala *sing song voice* The bare tree!! but not for long All our Christmas decorations

Not bare anymore :)
Tom placed the star on the tip of the tree!! Booo~~

The lights were broken cos Tom probably yanked it out from the box too roughly :P
In the end, moi had to go all the way back to get it change

Tata!!! With the colourful lights..
Notice a lone pressie underneath the tree? It's from my sista.
She put it there when she came over yestie.. I'm so touched
Our first xmas pressie!!
Tom bought a small tree for his office desk s well... Awww~ isn't that cute!

London in December

2008-12-18T12:56:00.022+08:00

Im losing my voice as im writing this... caught the flu buggie in Melbourne *cough cough*

Anyway, moi just came back from London a week ago.. Been flying to London on a monthly basis.. In fact, i have another London flight next month...AGAIN~
Moi all warm and snug to go SHOPPING!!!!

:) It was so funny when i was up in Malmo last month... moi was just wearing a T-shirt underneath my coat and Tom's Mom and Dad were hovering over me like a mother hen telling moi to wear thicker clothes and how it's so cold up here in Sweden. Tom's mom even dug up this thick sweater that belongs to Lucy and make me wear it.. Haha

Thanks, Tom's Mom n Dad!! It was really a nice gesture :)
Moi have to admit i totally underestimate the freezing cold weather in Sweden.

In fact, Moi was contemplating bringing my open toes sandal to Malmo and Tom totally freaked out.. He was like yelling "Do you know how cold Sweden is right now?!?!?! You wanna get frostbites on your toes?!!" In the end, i had to pack my knee high boots just to pacify him.

Back to my London trip!

My first stop! PRIMARK down at Oxford street!! I love this place so much cos everything here is so trendy and CHEAP!!!! It's always jammed packed with shoppers. I hate to be there over weekends cos you'll just be squeezing with people.Moi usually buys their home range like towels, mat, cushions etc... their towels at 5pounds each (S$12) are thick and huge, similar quality to those white bath towels found in 5-stars hotels.

Prices range from as little as 1 pound to probably 30-40pounds?? which is so so reasonable...
like the hair accessories below? They were selling for just 1pound (S$2.30) each!! And the 4 coffee mugs was marked down from 4pounds to 2pounds (S$4.60)!!!
Wahahaha!!!
I heard their baby clothes are a great steal as well! Cheap and good quality!!

After Primark, It's time to go to my second favourite hunt, Mark & Spencer where moi stocked up on drystores like cereals, pasta and cookies. Tom always wonder why moi get stuff that's readily available in Singapore as well. Good Question. I wondered too. I guess it's cos you are overseas and you'll tend to go like "Hmm, it's sightly cheaper than Singapore so BUY BUY BUY!!"

Haha...i know it sounds weird to put it that way but that's how it is for moi :)

Another of my favourite hunt... H&M H&M H&M!!!!
I'm putting the words out again... Bold, large and ALL CAPS no less!!!!!

H&M!!!! PLEASE COME TO LIL SINGAPORE!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!

Check out their latest winter collection!! Don't you just love the colours???
Rich Purple!! Turquoise Green!! Yummy~

OH MAN!!! i just realise i have fallen head over heels for RICH PURPLE!!!
It just look so sophisticated and rich and vibrant!! Le Sighz~

I just had to buy clothes in this wonderful colour.... *droolz*Bought a lacy H&M stockings to go with my RICH PURPLE dress. (Tom thinks i'm in Purple mania mood btw) It took moi a long time before i decided to buy it cos it was going for like 10pound!! Imagine paying S$23 for a stocking!!!!!! God forbids!!! But Moi did.Bought another jacket (add to my countless number of jackets) as well.
It's was just 20pounds (S$46). I would feel extremely bad if i don't buy it. Especially after paying half that amount for a flimsy stocking.

And all my shopping stuff.. blocking my hotel room doorway. Moi was just so tired after all that shopping. So all these gets dumped unceremoniously onto the floor :P
Btw, If you are really into Organic food as i am right now, there's this supermarket call the "Whole Foods market" down at Kensington that sells all Organic products. My friend Elizabeth brought moi to the shop one day and I LOVE IT! Tom is not really a firm believer in Organic products cos he read some research articles about organic stuff and how they are not as 100% organic as claimed. Anyway, I love to buy Organic products from there. So you could probably popped over if you are interested.

Walked by this church a zillion times but it's the first time moi really notice it! Was drawn to the red wreaths scattered around the memorial for the Men of Kensington who died in the Great War 1914-1918.

It's a magnificent church though.

Trying out my new purple dress!! :)

Tom says i look funny with the "poofy" hair. Hmph

Omigosh...Christmas in just a week time!!

In Malmo

2008-12-03T12:52:00.009+08:00

Everyone meet Micke n Helena's first child...Baby Minna!!!

Awwww...Isn't she totally adorable??

Happily eating the Pandan cake we brought over from Singapore
Moi was flying up to Copenhagen so Tom decided to use his airline miles to get a free ticket up to Copenhagen with Moi. After a quick nap in Copenhagen Hotel, we caught a train over to Malmo to visit his family.

Special thanks to Micke, Helena n lil Minna and also Kimmy who took the 4plus hours gruesome train ride from Stockholm down to Malmo as well :)

Clockwise: Lucyna (Tom's mom), Micke (Tom's elder brother aka Minna's DAD), Tom and Moi truly.
Psst: Tom, the bunny ears thingy is so passe.I do feel like a lil dwarf standing among them.
Sighz, Why can't i be taller :(

Moi with lil Minna. She's turning thirteen months btw.
Something to think about: I'm not a mother (YET!) but what's with BBs n months? i mean, countless times when i asked mothers how old the BBs are and they would go "Ohh, she's 22mths" or "he's 18th months". Why can't people just say he's a year and a half? or "She's turning two years old soon"?
Can you imagine moi telling people "Ohh, Im 353months old".

Tom seems to connect with BBs more. Maybe cos he's the Uncle.
Uncle Tom *sing song voice*
Tom holding Lil Minna handsHey Tom, adults who steal ball from cute lil BBs will not get any Christmas presents this year.The same goes for adults who make lil BBs cry.
Moi innocent!!
It was a really great trip with amazing food made by Tom's mom and family. It's like a pre-Christmas gathering with some Christmas dishes, Christmas gifts-exchange, a small lil Christmas tree and good company.

Miss you all already
.

Moi in Japan

2008-11-27T15:14:00.005+08:00

The almost 2hours bus ride from Narita Airport to Shinjuku is totally worth it!

Somewhere in the middle of Shinjuku..Holding hands :) Lunch was Tonkatsu: Deep-fried breaded pork cutlet served with shredded cabbage. Happily grinding the sasame seeds.It was really fun..My friends and moi had a competition to see who can grind it the fastest.
Of course i lost.

The tonkatsu sauce (which is kinda sweet n sour) is added to make it into a dip. Honestly, i prefer eating the tonkatsu minus the sauce.
The Pork cutlet was so tender and chrispy!! Yummy~
It was so so good~ You know what's so funny? I realise that you can never go wrong with food in Japan. Everything just taste so fantastic here!! You can just walk into any restaurants in Japan and order something, and you will never be disappointed with the food. (Hmm...am i being too biased here?)

I don't care! I just LOVE JAPANESE FOOD!!! Even the shredded cabbage tasted fabulous~
After lunch, we headed over to the electronic area in the shopping mall. One of my friend was thinking of getting a digital camera. We approached one of the sales lady and that's when we realise we have a small lil problem. We don't speak Japanese (at all!) and the sales person couldnt really understand English. There we were trying to communicate with her in English whether the camera has a worldwide warranty and stuff and she was like replying in Japanese!

*faint*

Moi turned to my friend and said in chinese "I seriously don't understand what's she talking about."

Suddenly, this sales lady looked at us and replied in CHINESE "I can speak chinese!"
Turns out she's from China and came over to Japan to work. Super funny!
After that, we were all like good pals and communicating in chinese.

Came across this cute lil Digital audio player in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head!!
Awwwwww~
Moi is seriously thinking of getting a Polaroid camera!!! Is it just me or does the photos taken using a polaroid camera somehow makes people look prettier??
Moi was so so so close (><) to getting one but Tom thinks it's a total waste of money :(

which is kinda true in a way, cos YEN$$ is super high now!!
Oh well, I'll get it when YEN$$ comes down..HEHEHE :)

Dinner was Kani kosen Bento (crab and ikura). It's another one of my favourite dish!
I did feel a lil tiny bit bad for eating all those Ikura i.e salmon roe... I mean all those baby salmon eggies.. eaten by MOI!!!! MONSTER!!!

Sorry for the lack of photos this time. I think I'm getting too lazy to take photos.
hope this lazy phase will pass soon
.

14.11.2008

2008-11-19T23:14:00.003+08:00

My dearest Cousin,

I am sorry for not catching up more often.
I am sorry for not being there when you need me.
I am sorry for thinking there's always tomorrow.
I am sorry for being caught up in my everyday life.
I am sorry for not saying goodbye.

All the tears that i shed while standing by your hospital bed, knowing you can't hear me...all my sorrys are just too late. The things i would give up just to see you smile again, the smile that would lit up the whole room. Our laughter. As you and me used to gang up against your elder brother, Andrew. How he always looked at us in desperation and said "You two rascals are so alike". There's just so much i wanna say to you. But can you hear me? Can you hear me from where you are now?

It hurts really bad. When someone whom you know your whole entire life just goes away. One minute there, the next minute like "pooof". The six of us were so so close when we were growing up. Your mom would bring the 3 of you over to our home and we would just messed up the entire house. Our dreams. Our little secrets and promises. All these reminisces of the past. What happen to our dreams of growing old together?

You were so brave and so strong. A true fighter. Always so cheerful and optimistic throughout the whole ordeal. Never letting your loved ones see the pain you were going through. But life is so cruel sometimes. You were so young. So much ahead of you. I keep asking " Why? Why u have to take her away from us?"

I did a silly thing yesterday. I logged into friendster just to see your profile and your photos. I cried while reading through your ambitions and your fav things in life. It just feels like you were still with us. I posted a message in your friendster account. I just missed you so so much that it's really painful.

:(

My dearest Christina, take care wherever you are. You were the best cousin i could ever wish for. I would always remember you. All our fond memories together will be forever embedded in my heart. You hate pple to cry over you. I will be strong. I will not cry anymore. Promise. (maybe sometimes?)

Dr. Seuss -- "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened" and i can just see you smiling back at me
.

curls curls curls

2008-11-05T23:25:00.011+08:00

Moi have been dying to curl my long hair.

I didn't wanna do a permanent perm (in case i super hate it) so Moi finally decided to buy a Hair Curler!

I chose this Philips model cos the temperature is adjustable (100-180degrees)and the 32mm barrel is just perfect for those big wavy curls. Ermm, cant rem how much i paid for it..probably around S$50?
I brought the hair curler along for my 8days trip hoping to use it when im overseas.
While shopping around Japan, i bought this Lucido-l hair curl lotion which supposedly helps to make the curl last longer.

Problem is: The wordings are all in Japanese!! Moi had to ask my Japanese colleagues to help do a translation. It looks like a lot of words but my colleagues just say "Ohh, you just spray it to your hair. Wait at least 10-15mins before curling it."

Ermmm..OKAY?!?
TATA! Me with my curls!!
Pardon the messiness (It's my first try!)
It's not as easy as how i imagine. First of all, moi kept burning my fingers on the the hot barrel
-_-"
At 150 degrees. it's seriously no joke! Then, the hard part was curling the hair at the back. (i got no eyes behind me) Lastly, MY ACHING ARMS!!!.. holding my arms up for almost half an hour was so so tiring..bleah~

I guess im pretty happy with my curls :)
And im happy with my Philips hair curler. Read in the forums about how some hair curler takes donkey years to heat up, some with uneven heat or not hot enough. I would say mine is good enough. It can get really hot i.e 180 degrees and heat up in just one minute.

Plus Plus...the curls lasted the whole day!! Only start to turn a lil limpy at night.
This is how it looks from the back
moi also came across this video from lucido-l webbie showing videos on how to curl your hair
http://www.lucido-l.jp/library/roll_style03_movie.html
Moi watch it and seriously... It look simple but IT"S NOT!!

Im gonna practice n practice from watching all those videos and hopefully, my curls will be as nice and chic as those pretty japanese girls. GANBATTE!!!

happy curling ;)
.

It's still ME!

2008-11-04T11:58:00.001+08:00

Finally went about changing my blogskin...The previous one was getting kinda borrringggg and kid~dish. Moi actually took this from a particular female blogger, make some changes to it and tata!! The New Moi..or should i mention The New Moi and Tom too? cos he's kinda in my blog as well..

Moi spent like 4hours trying to figure out how to upload the photos on to the sidebar (super troublesome!) and then Tom came around and just show me in like 2 minutes!! Grrrr...

IRRITATING

This is still WIP, gonna slowly add in other stuff next time... Moi just asked Tom how he find my new blog look and he actually have the nerve to say he prefer the previous one!! Grrr...gonna take all his photos down!! HMMPH

Tom's new toy~

2008-10-23T14:13:00.004+08:00

We finally bought the 40G PS3 in Satin Silver!...Been waiting for the last couple of months to get the re-launch 80G PS3. So when Sony finally re-launch the new 80G in US, turns out its not gonna be much of a difference i.e Just bigger hardisk size and paying so much more for it.. Oh Well~ the 40G PS3 is prolly good enough

Happy Tom!! :)

We paid around S$800 for the whole set which includes a second handheld control, and 2 games.
Lego Star Wars is a super cute game!!

London: Grease

2008-10-17T15:09:00.013+08:00

yeap~ moi in London again! This is my 3rd London flight in 2months~
Not that I'm complaining... especially when the exchange rate drop by so much!
used to be S$3.10 to 1pound.. now its like S$2.57 to 1pound!!!

GOOD TIME TO GO SHOPPING!!!
However, with the financial downturn, it would probably be better to save that extra bit of cash for rainy day

I was so looking forward to this London trip (even though Ken is back in Singapore) cos my ex-team gal, Elizabeth will be there!! We had already planned to catch a musical in London..

I know it sounds unbelievable, but moi had never catch a musical in London during my countless times there. Watching a musical in London is almost like top of the "to-do list" in London, other than Big Ben, London ete etc etc

Instead of playing top dollar to watch a musical, try walking around Leicester square area where there'll be plentiful of stalls selling discounted musical tickets. It's a good bargain and if you're lucky, you might even get the grandstand seats.

Our Tickets!! It cost 30pounds and that's discounted!
Imagine it cost 55pounds originally.
We initially planned of watching Mamma Mia but they didn't have the earlier ticket show. In the end, we decided on watching Grease. I had watched the movie Grease twice before and kinda have a vague memory of enjoying the songs in the movie.

Outside the Piccadilly Theatre
You are not allowed to take any pictures inside the theatre. But moi secretly took a few pictures before the show started.

The STAGE

Moi and Elizabeth!
BTW, im so so so jealous of Elizabeth!! She's super skinny now!! She probably lost like 6-8KGS!! i wanna lose weight too :(Grease was FANTASTIC!!!!

I was kinda skeptical initially cos Eliz told moi she felt asleep while watching The Lion King *faint*
GREASE IS SO SO SO GOOD!
Gosh...moi truly enjoyed every minute every second of it!!! It's a wonderful adaptation of the original movie.. Eliz, moi and this woman beside us were swaying and humming to the songs like "Greased Lightning", You're The One That I Want, "We Go Together" and "We Go Together"Danny Bayne as "Danny" is such a Cutie!!
:)

The "Greased lightning" sign Don't miss GREASE... IT'S ELECTRIFYING!
check out http://www.greasethemusical.co.uk/ for more details

London: Harrods & casino

2008-10-14T15:33:00.002+08:00

Moi just did a London flight two weeks ago and here i am in London again~
It's also the last time moi is meeting Ken in London cos this guy is finally going back to Singapore for good.

Ken and Moi goes a long long way back. He was already in London doing his masters when i first started flying. That was almost 5 years ago. Since then, whenever I'm down in London, we would definitely catch up for lunch, dinner, shopping and stuff.

I know it sounds really silly..but I'm so gonna miss meeting up with him in London. We even had this silly conversation.

Moi: KEN!! it's the last time we are meeting in London!! (sob)
Ken: But I'm going back to Singapore leh!! We can always meet up in Singapore!
(giving moi a DUH look)

As usual, our last time in London, we headed down to Chinatown for duck rice. We walked by a Casino and decided to pop in. It was my first time in a London Casino and Ken says its one of the better ones around..we decided to try our luck at Roulette, just for the fun of it and won 50pounds in 5mins..heehee

Super super happy :)i mentioned to ken that it's pretty easy to win money and he gave moi a disbelieving look!

BUT on the same note: Moi condemn gambling. Any form of gambling. I mean it's alrite if you do it just for fun. But not when u don't know when to stop and cut your losses. To gamble to the extent of borrowing money from friends and relatives thinking you could strike the jackpot. That to me is: PATHETIC. It will never happen. Mabbe one in a billon might. But you just aint that one. While Ken and moi were playing roulette, at the same table, there's this Asian guy who's like betting 200pounds per game (we were just doing 10pounds). He probably lost like a few thousands pounds in that few minutes. It's probably his hard earned money too. I felt sorry for him but at the same time he should have just stopped when he could. Know wat i mean? *sighz*
Sorry to bore you there. I just feel very strongly about this subject :)
The money won was spent on a nice Chinese dinner and the rest, to two buskers making music in the London tube station and a homeless guy out in the street.

The next day, we headed down to Harrods down at Knightbridge tube station. On my first visit to London, Ken brought moi to Harrods and other sightseeing places like London eye, Big Ben.
Kinda like reminiscent of my first trip to London.

(Ken was an hour late, btw)
The famous Harrods bears...
We passed by the theater showing Mamma Mia!
I would love to watch it sometimes...

I love all the songs by ABBA...But Tom forbids moi to play them at home (HE HATE IT!!) which is so so ironic considering that ABBA is a Swedish group!
It's Berries season!! Moi will always buy them when i'm in London.
Do you know Berries are super good for your health!!! From :http://nutrition.about.com/od/healthyfood1/a/berries.htm
Berries contain phytochemicals and flavonoids that may help to prevent some diseases. Cranberries and blueberries contain a substance that may prevent bladder infections. Eating a diet rich in blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries and strawberries may help to reduce your risk of several types of cancers. Blueberries and raspberries also contain lutein, which is important for healthy vision!

BB cream

2008-10-04T21:55:00.009+08:00

Moi just did a Seoul flight and lemme tell you, the whole set of girls on my flight were going super "ga-ga" over BB cream.

So, What's BB cream?

From the webbie: The BB Cream, aka Blemish Balm, is *the* hottest beauty product in Asia right now. The product was originated in Germany and used by dermatologists to help patients who have gone through laser skin surgery soothe and regenerate the skin.

Big companies then took the idea and turned it into a product widely available to the public. The new product is suitable for all skin types, especially those with sensitive and acne-prone skin.

*skin tone appeared more even with a radiant glow
*facial blemishes including their dark undereye circles looked less obvious
*control their excessive facial oil
*improved their overall skin texture overtime
*fade acne scars

After reading all that, my first reaction (like yours probably) was like
"Is this a miracle cream or what?"

Feeling kinda dubious, Moi and the rest of the girls head down to Myeongdong to hunt for this "so called" miracle cream.

One of the first shop to have their own range of BB cream, Hanskin.
(super expensive as well)
Their Top seller: HANSKIN SUPER MAGIC BB CREAM (53,000won or S$63)Alot of the crew use the CAVIAR GOLD BB CREAM (27,000 or S$32)Fortunately, Hanskin is very generous with their samples and the sales lady gave each of us a couple of samples to try.Walking along Myeongdong, moi truly understand the meaning of "BB cream is *the* hottest beauty product in Asia right now" Every shop has their own range of BB cream. From Faceshop, to Missha, to Skinfood. We were indecisive which BB cream is the best.

One of my Korean colleague recommended us the SKINFOOD ALOE VERA BB cream in shade 2 which moi bought for less than 10,000 or S$12.
(psst...heard it's being sold in Singapore for like S$38!!!!!...almost triple the price i got from Korea!!!)

I have just started using SKINFOOD BB cream a week ago and i cant understand what's the buzz about this BB cream. Mabbe it's still too early to see any results but BB cream just feel like, well, a normal foundation to moi. In fact, it gives my face an inherently pale look that constrast prominently with my slightly tanned neck.

And it doesnt control my excessive facial oil :(

Moi should give it another month before i chuck it out of the window..kekeke

Aesop

2008-09-27T15:13:00.010+08:00

On my last Sydney trip, one of my colleague introduce moi to this Australian brand, Aesop
(pronounced E-sop)

Moi had never heard this brand before. Apparently, they don't do alot of advestisments. People who come to know about Aesop is more from words of mouth. You know, this person telling someone how fantastic this product is, the person trys it, love it and then tell another person about it.

There's an Aesop corner down at David Jones (basement one) located along the walking street in Sydney. I believe there's only a counter in Takashimaya, Singapore but as my friend mentioned, It's definitely much more expensive here in Singapore.My Colleague literally swear by their products. She was raving and raving throughout the flight how fantastic Aesop products are. I
n the end, moi kanna "kena" convinced to try their products as well.

My Purchases (which literally blew my whole allowances):1. This is one of their top seller. B Triple C Facial Balancing Gel, A$110
From the webbie: Boosted with one part Vitamin B to three parts stabilised Vitamin C, this unique gel provides perfectly weighted hydration together with potent skin-balancing and anti-oxidant properties.
(Apparently, Fann Wong and Fiona Xie are a big fan of this product)

2. Amazing Face Cleanser 200mL, A$45.50, Tea Tree Leaf Facial Exfoliant 35gM, A$33.00
The Tea Tree Leaf Facial Exfoliant is added into the Amazing Face Cleanser and presto!! It become a facial scrub!!4. Chamomile Concentrate Anti-Blemish Masque Tube 15mL, A$24.50
I super need this cos moi suffer from breakouts frequently.Perhaps it's my first time tryng their products, the Aesop lady is super super nice and she gave moi like tons of samples to try.

Happy :)
These are just their basic stuff. They have products ranging from face, hair care to body care.
visit their webbie for more details:
http://www.aesop.net.au/

Clarissa & Thomas's Wedding :)

2008-09-26T00:14:00.002+08:00

On 14th Sept, Tom & moi attended one of my close friend, Clarissa & Thomas's wedding held at Hilton hotel.

The bride and the groom saying the wedding vows. Alot of my friends were going gaga over her big headband! :)
All the ladies in "BLUE" except...except....

I must say that the food was super fabulous!! The salad bar was so so so so GOOD!!
Moi probably had like 3 servings from there.. Sorry, no photos!! Was too busy eating and catching up with my friends .

The bride and the groom making an entrance.
Awww, i seriously think they look so good together
Group photo! Our 10years of friendship!
Issit me or does Tom look super super tall in the photo?

It's says at the dessert table "Hilton's famous cheesecake"
Wahhhh...guess moi have to give it a try then
It's pretty good actually! Creamy and lemoney?
Desmond like it so much that he ate like 2 slices..or was it 3? heehee

Finally! Time to take a picture with the bride!Another group pictureKungfu fighting WO ARH~
(Tom was the only one who didnt strike a pose...Borrinnngggg)
Congratulations once again, Clarissa & Thomas!!!
May you have a blissful marriage and many wonderful years to come!

London - DAY 3 Ken's Convocation

2008-09-24T15:04:00.003+08:00

Whilst moi was in London, I'm so honoured to be able to attend Ken or should i say "Dr Koh" (heehee) convocation.

He finally graduated with a Doctorate of Philosophy degree from UCL. "After spending four years of 24x7 in my office doing research and endless reading and writing on human brains" as quoted from his blog. I still pretty much amazed that this same guy, who used to skip classes in poly and not do any schoolwork, could obtained a PHD!! Well, guess people change as they get older huh.

Veron was so sweet to buy moi krispy kreme donut for brekkie!!!
Muakz muakzCheck out all those graduates. Veron and moi were assigned different seats cos Ken had bought veron's ticket way way earlier and mine just a few days back.
My view from the seat~
Yesh! Moi's seat number is : X28 which is like second row from the backAs luck would have it, the seat beside Veron was empty and she quickly got moi to join her there! Happy now :)
(and just a few rows away from the stage)

Ken walking up the stage to shake hands with his vice-provost while Veron and moi clapped and cheered wildly!!
I wonder what's with the graduation gowns actually. Don't you think they will fit right into the "Harry Potter" movies perfectly ?Ken brought Veron and moi up to his office. Moi noticed something straight away...Tucked in the pantry corner====>AHHHHHH, I LOVE MOONCAKES!!!!!!!
Moi happily opened the box to find it EMPTY!!
i am so disappointed~ Moi with Ken and wearing his Mortar Board! The happy couple and that important piece of paper!!
I heart Veron's new baggie SO SO SO MUCH!!!! And it look super good on me!!!
Moi tried to convince Veron to swap her LV bag with moi's Gucci bag but to no avail
Cheers!Congratulations KEN!!!! Thanks for inviting moi to celebrate this special moment and finally coming back to Singapore after so many years in London...

Psst!! I'll keep all the recruit section in Straits Times just for you

London - DAY 2 BATH

2008-09-14T00:42:00.033+08:00

Continued....

Ken...i meant "WE", kinda got lost on our way to Bath. It's therefore fortunate that he has this cute lil gadget that you could plug into the lappie and allow internet connection wherever you are. With internet connection, we were able to google the map and eventually find our way to Bath.

Thank goodness we came prepared with food and snacks to keep our stomach happy!After like 30mins of driving, road sign bearing the name "Bath' came into sight.
We are so so close...weeeee~~Our first view of Bath! Alright, actually our first view of Bath is this row of pretty houses. Moi couldnt take a nice picture of it cos we were moving in the car. I found out later from Wikipedia that the row of houses is referred to as the: The Royal Crescent. It is a notable residential road of 30 houses, laid out in a crescent. Check out the wikipeida photo of the Royal Crescent here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath,_Somerset

Since we didnt do any research at all about Bath, we were just driving aimlessly around. The funny part was we ended up in the University of Bath. Moi then suggested following the sightseeing tour bus. I mean, it seem like the best options we have at that point in time.After following the bus down to the town centre, we decided to start exploring this beautiful city. We got out of the car and saw THIS======>The birdies sure doesnt like Ken :P
Funny street name!See the wording: Water is BEST!We also came across a number of decorated piggys...
Not sure if its some kind of piggy Art festival?
In fact, they are even selling a map on the location of all the piggy in the city.
Awww... so cute~
Moi recalled my friend mentioning about this Roman Bath thingy that is like the "must visit" touristy place. And there u have it! The sign just right infront of us...
Heehee! i even found a piggy hidden in the Roman Bath!!
CUTE!!Check out all the simmering coins & pennies !!!
PRETTYYYYesh! I can be really dodgy at times!Another picture of the Roman Baths
This picture was taken by this kind soul...and mind you, it was drizzling when it was taken
We couldnt really explore the rest of Bath because it started pouring which is really unfortunate :(

it was getting late as well and we have a long journey back to London.
Psst: Poor Ken totally freaked out when he saw the the road sign back to London.
108miles to London..
It's just one and a half hour of drivingback to London, Ken...heehee...
On a serious note, Thank you so much Ken! it's really no joke to be driving around for 10hours.

London - DAY 2 STONEHENGE

2008-09-10T00:11:00.020+08:00

Met up early with Veron and Ken for our long journey up to Stonehenge.

Ken following the direction of the map to Stonehenge. It's pretty easy to go to Stonehenge on your own. The drivers on the highway are very considerate and there's signs along the way to make sure we're on the right track
A rare moment of clear blue sky in UK!
Visitors coming to UK usually comment on the dreading and rainy weather here.After 2hours of driving (Poor Ken have to do all the driving...kekeke), we finally saw road sign indicating StonehengeAnd there it is!! Right in the middle of nowhere...
Ken parked his car just beside this cute looking car and Moi just can't resist taking a photo of it!The stones were roped off in 1977 as a result of serious erosion. Visitors are no longer permitted to touch the stones but merely walk around the monument from a short distance.
Moi came across a group of protesters lobbying outside for the release of stones.
They must have been here for a pretty long time then...Since 1977?The ticket price are:
Adult: £6.50
Children:£3.30
Car park: £3 (refundable on admission into Stonehenge)

You will receive an audio player upon admission into Stonehenge. Located around the trail of Stonehenge are number cards. When you passed a number card, press the number on the audio player and a voice will give a short explanation of the different area ard the stones.
Super convenient!

Veron & moi listen attentively to the audio player :PBEFORE: This is how Stonehenge look like before everything comes tumbling down

AT PRESENT: Yesh, alot of the stones had eroded or collapsed over time

A togetherness (threesome?!?) photo
Weather changing rapidly from bright and sunny to dark and gloomy
Check out the dark clouds looming in a distance.
Time to move on to our next destination, BATH which is prolly another hour drive?

Moi touching the stone for good luck mabbe?
That was before i realise that Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings
*faint*It took moi four years (all the planning and then things don't go as planned and blah blah blah) to finally come to Stonehenge..
No... THANK YOU!!! for restoring this wonderful ancient monument.
For more information, visit the webbie:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

London - DAY 1

2008-09-05T23:18:00.012+08:00

Moi is so looking forward to this trip :)

One of my really good friend, Ken is finally getting his Phd after spending 8years studying and doing his research in London. Woohoo~
And his lovely wife, Veron who is also my best friend is in London for his graduation ceremony!

Meaning that moi can meet up with both Veron and Ken in London this time... HOOT!!!

Since we had plan in advance to go up to Stonehenge and Bath, Ken decided it's probably easier and better to rent a car instead of following a tour package.

On our first day in London, Ken drove us up to this place called Bicester Village, a designer brand outlet mall ten miles from Oxford. There's more than 100 chic designer and brand name boutiques in Bicester Village. Last season's Diors, Ralph Laurens, Salvatore Ferragamos and everything else are at least 30 to 50 per cent off normal prices.

Ken does the driving while Veron read the maps. Moi kept asking Ken to let me drive (cos im gonna start learning driving soon mah) but to no avail..
tsk tsk *shake my head*Speaking about driving... moi is super super impressed with British drivers!! I read in my Basic theory book that the extreme right lane is for overtaking cars ONLY and the moment you have overtake the car infront, the driver is suppose to go back to the middle lane. So when moi read that, i was super confused because i don't see that happening in Singapore. The drivers in Singapore basically doesn't follow that rule.
In fact, I'm not even sure if they follow any rules... KUAKUAKUA

But in UK, the extreme right lane is really just use for over taking cars only. Once they overtake the car in front, the drivers MOVE BACK INTO THE MIDDLE LANE!!!!
And it happens EVERYTIME!!
Kudos to the UK drivers :)
(They keep a safe distance and DON't TAILGATE TOO...*hint hint*)

We reached Bicester Village an hour and a half later. It was almost 5pm when we reach there. As you can see, there wasn't much of a crowd left. Without a moment to lose, we start our shopping spree!!!!
Taking a picture outside the Burberry storeKen trying on a suit from Ermenegildo Zegna. It's this Italian brand (which moi can't even pronounce) and they are really famous for their suits. Even with the discount, moi still find it super expensive. (THINK: S$XXXX) Ken looking really good...and YESH! he bought it.
The funny thing is: Ken brought us to Bicester Village with the intention of getting Veron and moi to do some serious damages to our wallets. Turns out that Veron and moi left empty handed whilst our dear Ken spent the most!
HAHAHAHAMoi don't find the things cheap personally. I guess it's due to the high standard of living. A XXXXX Polo T was going for like 35pounds or S$95 (on discount no less) and that same Polo T is selling at regular price S$110 (Moi can get discount at DFS somemore)
See!! It's not that much of a difference!!

But Somebody was going like "Wahhh..So cheap!! Buy more, buy more"
This is what happen when you live in London for so many years :P

Nevertheless, it was still a great experience!!
Thanks, Ken for bringing moi there
:)

A nice Saturday :)

2008-08-30T22:10:00.021+08:00

Tom and moi headed down to Audio house at Liang court this afternoon to look at Home Theater system. We are planning to get a decent one which must also be within our budget. So far, we have shortlisted down to two brands and will probably make a decision soon.

Getting a decent Home Theater system with the receiver, subwoofer, speakers is probably gonna cost us like S$2.5K to 3K.. It's still pretty reasonable price to pay especially when the top tier home theater systems are like S$10k and above. On the other hand, we hardly watch TV at home and i'm away half of the time.. moi just hope it's not gonna be like a white elephant..

Anyway, while heading over to Liang court, we passed by Clarke Quay and saw they have already put up the mooncake festival displays.. Speaking about Clarke Quay, it has change so much for the past few years... It's definitely more vibrant and colourful as compare to its neighbourly Boat Quay and Riverside.

Large floating lanternsThis ang moh guy saw moi and tom taking pictures of each other and offered to help us take a picture together.. It's probably the FIRST TIME EVER in my entire life where strangers just offer their help.. Awwwww~ Thank you so much, Mister :)These are lanterns in the shape of some Chinese folktales characters and will be lit up at night for the mooncake festival.
Moi can just visualised the whole place looking so beautiful and colourful when night falls

Speaking about mooncake festival, need to sidetrack abit.. WHY ARE MOONCAKES GETTING MORE AND MORE EXPENSIVE each year?!?! moi just bought a box of mooncakes for my parents and it cost like S$48!! @@
AWWWW...i found my BAA BAA lantern!!!
Tried to look for Tom's Chinese Zodiac, The Tiger but to no avail...Oh well~~~
Guess I'm the lucky one :P

Random pictures taken while walking over to Suntec for the Comex Exhibition
Cool pictures outside the ladies
cool picture outside The gents
on the window display of Kinokuniya
Preparation for the 2008 FORMULA 1™ SingTel Singapore Grand Prix on September 28
This is probably the Grand stand?
The Comex Exhibition was jammed packed with thousands of people.
Hmmm...The term "packed like sardines" suddenly popped into my mind.

Anyway, we wanted to find out how much they were offering for this particular brand of Home Theater system. Turns out that the price quoted at the Comex was actually 30% more expensive than what was quoted at this particular shop in The Adelphi.
The moral of the story: The prices at Comex may not be as competitive as what you think. The best advice will be to do your homework and research first and not just buy on impulse.

I finally bought the Rubik's cubes!!! It has been constantly on my mind since moi saw it at Micke's (Tom's elder brother) place. Micke and Helena are huge fans of the Rubik's cubes and moi got kinda hooked on it too when i was there last summer..

TATA!!! My Rubik's cube collection!!
moi wanted to get the 5X5 Rubik's cube too but tom was like "Enough is Enough" while dragging me away... *sighz*
So that's my Saturday... Hope yours was as interesting as mine!! :)