Weekend Comfort

My weekend outfit from Wood Wood (at Far East Plaza) and sandals at a steal from Heatwave. Love 'em!

And a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon blog surfing and enjoying my kopi and J Co :-)

Blue

Decided I prefer my clean white template. Decided the gentle light blue will cheer and soothe anyone reading this.

The new mast head is pretty too, isn't it? Gideon took the picture! He managed to dig out these bears from somewhere - I must have gotten them at least 5 years ago from McDonald's. TGP - Terence, Gideon, Philo... awww

Now I feel nice, warm and BLUE :-)

Green, Brown & Yellow

I decided to change my blog template to colours I've been in love with of late - mud green, brown and yellow. Although the default templates couldn't quite match up to my ideal palatte, the result wasn't that bad. Maybe it's all those Earth messages that have moved me to like these colours.

As I'm recovering from the bout of spinnies, I started to think how I should (and when should I) re-decorate the house. I was flipping through the latest IKEA catalogue and found they have the most gorgeous stuff in there.

I'm totally in love with this yellow sideboard. Although the measurements don't fit the space I have in mind where I could place this :-( Isn't the colour spectacular? An instant cheer-up(er)! Anyways, they don't even carry the yellow piece in Singapore, only the black. And I have nowhere in the house I could place this =(

And check out the Billy bookcase. I have a few of the white ones. But this floral one is so retro :-) I'm tempted... maybe this weekend... although Terence isn't a fan of assembling this.

V-E-R-T-I-G-O

I think it must have been nearly 3 years ago that I came across this word. While at Swissotel The Stamford, we named this event at Equinox, Vertigo, since there was so much booze at such a high altitude that we thought those who were going to be there WILL experience Vertigo. I never got that drunk eventually, and Vertigo remained a name, not an experience!

Until yesterday...

I got up with a splitting headache and saw the ceiling going round and round. I really thought I was dying and that's a "before-you-die" scene. I forced myself up and washed my face. Then I realised I was walking sideways out of the bathroom! I thought perhaps I was hungry. So I had breakfast. Still not good. I laid down and closed my eyes. I must have dozed off. When I opened my eyes again, the same thing happened. Ceiling was dancing, everything was moving! What's more, I now feel nauseaus!

Went to the doctor, and he said I had "Benign paroxysmal positional Vertigo". WTF! Say that again!?? "Yes," he said, "it could be caused by an infection of the balance orgran." What sick virus could cause you Vertigo!? To at least help me walk straight again, he gave me a jab (a long, painful one! my arm's still numb!). "You shouldn't drive for the next week or so 'cos you may get an attack until it fully subsides, usually in a week or two." He smiled.

Argh!

Ok... and so this morning was still bad. But had to get some urgent work out of the way. Took the pills and stared at the computer for the entire morning. Took my second pill after lunch and felt better already. I'm not spinning any more, and neither is the house. Let's hope this persists.

Gosh, it's tough being perpetually GIDDY :-(

My Latest Drool

Just after a weekend walking our feet bald in BKK, Angie and I found ourselves back in town yesterday (just over 12 hours after we landed at Changi Airport). We saw a couple of Dior gauchos we liked at the BKK airport. And so Angie wanted to check out the price difference in Singapore. We side tracked and walked into LV, LOEWE, Fendi and Dior. We resisted, walked away. As if by some strange pull of the "Paragon magnet" we walked out of Taka and headed straight into the Prada boutique. And the unthinkable happened - I saw a black flappy bag that was too sweet to resist. Slightly more than 3K I had to apply my shopping theory. I asked for it to be reserved for an hour while I thought hard over a cuppa upstairs. We finished coffee and I bravely whisked past the boutique and headed to Tangs where we parked. I gave it a MISS :-( I shall resist the temptation. Angie was a happy lady with a very pretty Nappa A Hobo, while I'm still sitting here, a day later, saddened by the "passing" of my pretty pretty Nappa S Satchel (apparently the LAST PIECE in store). Bawwwwwwwwwwwwwl!!!!!!

Farewell...

Local Tourists

I just realised that it's pretty fun checking out some of our local attractions - like a local tourist. A couple of weeks ago, we saw a huge banner (an interactive Mozart exhibition for kids) outside the National Musuem and decided to check it out. The refurbished musuem was beautiful inside. Terence and I thought it was like the old days where we could see the 'regular' exhibits for free. Of course, we were wrong. It costs $10 per adult and I think $6 per child. Due to Gideon's small build, we managed to get him through for free saying he's just turned 6! The Mozart exhibition was a hefty $16 per child!!! Is there any wonder why locals do not visit attractions such as the museum? It's simply too costly! Think how much one would have to pay for a family to visit Sentosa, for example. Perhaps we should consider lower charges for locals?

Nevertheless, we had a rather enjoyable afternoon. The exhibits were so-so but we tried to make it as educational for Gideon as possible. Not sure if he was disappointed 'cos when we asked him if he knew what a museum is, he confidently said "it's a place where you see the bones of a dinosaur!". Novus Cafe at the back of the museum was nice, though. It's a great place to sit down, relax and have a cuppa even if you don't intend to visit the exhibits - you can bride-watch as there was much photography action going on in there.


Fooling around at Novus Cafe's ultra comfy couch & the dancing chandeliers

So, if spending money visiting local attractions isn't your cup of tea, how about checking out our FREE attractions such as the Botanic Garden!? My first encounter with this beautiful place was last week when we met Rina and the ladies for lunch at Les Amis Cafe there. And this week, I suggested we went as a family and take a walk through the garden. It was good exercise and a good chance to take in the fresh air and see some monster trees :-) We will be going back again soon - this time for a nice morning picnic perhaps.


Lunch with the gals last week


Our 'roof' for the day & the Monster tree


Heading to Swan Lake to feed the swans


Waterfall Gideon

It's HOT in Doha

The Pearl Qatar at the Corniche, Doha (coastal causeway linking mainland Doha to the diplomatic area of West Bay)

For once the heat gush when the automatic doors opened at Changi Airport didn't hit me hard. In fact, I felt some relief. That was simply because I got back from a 45-degree (celcius!) weather in Doha, Qatar! Simply leave your face in front of a heated oven and that's what it feels like. And yet, the locals wrap themselves up in their khandura (for men) and black abaya (for the ladies) complete with a sheyla (head scarf that covers the face as well)! Despite the heat, don't forget a shawl when you're there 'cos the inside temperatures (where there's air-conditioning) are chilling to the bone. You just need to be in a shop for less than a minute to feel your brains freezing up - just like gulping 7-Eleven's Slurpee too quickly!

I was told that a holiday is declared when the temperature hits 50 degrees. So the government thermometer usually stops at 48 degrees - ha ha! Qatar is one of the richest nations in the world, with GDP per capita threatening to overtake Switzerland! With its abundance of oil and gas, is this any wonder?

My first encounter at the immigrations counter at the airport made me aware of how "forward" Qatar is. They accept ONLY credit card payments for Visas. And at the souq (market place), every shop accepted credit cards. In fact, I was told that at times, you are slapped with a "penalty" for paying cash!!! WOW!

And you know, they have a fetish for GLASS. All their buildings are clad in glass! Amidst the desert sand and heat, you can imagine keeping the glass buildings looking like... glass? But labour intensive tasks like cleaning of these buildings are not a problem. Qatar has a huge population of foreign workers (Indians, Indonesians etc) who are well-paid (supposedly) to do these tasks. We couldn't get off the car to take pictures so I got some of these beautiful buildings I saw, from the web. Will post the actual of Somerset West Bay, Doha when I get it from Andy :-)

The souq was an interesting place too. It is a marketplace filled with restaurants, cafes and shops, complete with a mosque and an art museum. We had a wonderful dinner at an Iranian restaurant which had the most gorgeous decor and yummy fresh breads and kebabs!

The Souq & The paper cone- like mosque in the middle of the Souq

Business centre services in a back alley at the Souq (in 45-degree heat!)

No back alley left wasted

Entrance to restaurant & Main hall of restaurant

The 'source' of our yummy bread...

Apart from the yucky flight to and from Qatar on Qatar Airways, my experience in Qatar was nothing short of amazing - the Heat, the skyscrapers, the $$$!

Ascott Centre for Excellence

Months of preparation for the big day - the grand opening of our global training centre, ACE. I was supposed to be "head" of the committee but I think I did nothing as much as AK and Pei. The usual small hiccups, squabbles and occasional "bitching" but it all turned out well on the BIG day. Such a relief it's over. The experience has brought some of us closer and at the same time, brought out the ugliest in some of our colleagues. Media coverage and general feedback was good, phew!

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/355389/1/.html

Next BIG event - the grand opening of Ascott Singapore Raffles Place in October - watch this space :-)

The Marquee and garden on our basketball court and football field - yes I work here!

The event backdrop in the Marquee

The Happy Committee and ushers of the day!

Drowning

It's that sinking feeling of "when will I EVER finish my daily to-do list"! There's still so much to do... I've been in the office till nearly 9 the past 2 weeks. Last week I nearly dozed off at the wheel on my way home. Rena said, "Wind down the windows!!!" And that's what I did tonight. TGIF - tomorrow! Got to get back to work now on a speech that was due 4 hours ago :-(

Wii Time

Spent the evening at Angie's after a BBQ with Alvin & the family at SAFRA Resort. They have a Wii and after his short experience with the little white box at Belle's a few weeks ago, Gideon was all excited to try it out again. We had loads of fun bowling followed by boxing... Even I felt the "itch" to give it a shot! My hands went soft after just one round of boxing training! But it was really quite fun. Can't believe how silly I look and how badly the adults fared compared to Rus and Gid :-(

Pretty Song

Heard this over TVBS the other day from the bathroom and was surprised when I stepped out and realised this pretty song from Music & Lyrics (original version by Hugh Grant & Haley Bennett) has been re-rendered by 2 M'sian Chinese pop singers, Ping Guan and Fish Leong. And just a minute ago, as it played over the same channel, Terence commented "Nice song". Hmmm... so here it is, enjoy and fall Way Back Into Love just listening to this very pretty song, in 2 very different renditions :-)

A Chinese Performance

After nearly 10 weeks at Tien Hsia, Gideon managed his first end of term performance with his classmates. Much to our surprise, he put up a brave and rather "loud" performance. Tien Hsia has managed to encourage him to speak Mandarin but writing remains a huge problem... one step at a time, I suppose.

Check out "Mr Fox" (second from left). He's supposed to be a tadpole... ha ha!

Anger, Anguish

It's midnight and I'm sitting here at the computer waiting for my dear son to finish learning his ting xie for the near 20th time!!!!!!! I am on the verge of tearing up his books, throwing his pencils into the bin and ripping his bag into two! It is simply frustrating trying to inculcate the importance of learning his spelling and ting xie! I made the effort to remind him to learn the 3 sentences well since I am on leave tomorrow and was hoping to surprise him that he needn't go to school AFTER he gets his ting xie all correct when I test him tonight. Of course, he was glued to his XBox when I got home. He learnt NOTHING!

And so I've decided to stash the remote controls from tomorrow - no more games and TV after school. I'm going to have a hard time (or rather, he will have a hard time) next year when the demands of Pri 1 kicks in.

I hope he learns his lesson tonight. He's here sobbing, I'm here seething.

And it's about the 10th time he's making the SAME mistake!

Early Mother's Day

In our usual fashion, we celebrated Mother's Day before the actual day - to avoid the crowds, price hikes etc etc. Thought we should try something "off the beaten tracks" and suggested Mimolette at Fairways Drive (next to Bukit Timah Saddle Club). It was a dark and narrow drive into the bungalow house where the jockeys lived once upon a time. But the quaint surrounding was a pretty nice welcome at the end of the winding road.

Food was ok. I had the Pan-Roasted Quail which was quite delightful - stuffed with mushrooms and very very tender. And the Brandy Chocolate Melt is a must-have for dessert. The Tenderloin was ok, as my brother put it - expected. Terence had the Pork (can't remember what it's named) which was very juicy and tender - not bad. I would recommend sitting outdoors if not for the hot and humid weather. It does get pretty noisy indoors once the "cocktail crowd" next door in the bar comes over for dinner. The small dining room amplified the chitter and chatters - I did get a little headache afterwards.

I think I'd like to go back there in the day sometime soon. Am sure it'll look a little prettier too. And Jeremy tells me they're going to start brunch and bbq next week, so hmm... maybe we'll be able to see some horses next time :-)

Oh, Happy Mum's Day!

To the Movies

Cathay is now open at Downtown East, a spanking new mall and cineplex. You know I'm never a movie buff. Spare me the cinema and give me a book anytime. But Terence suggested we should all go (it's usually just him and Gideon) and I thought I'd better give it a shot or he'll never ask me to the movies again... Think my last movie was The Simpsons with the Red boys.

So I started my Iron Man adventure by booking the tickets online close to 6pm on Friday. After I hit the "submit" button, I was told that the "booker" has to collect the tickets personally ONE hour before the show! Geez, I raced around the office knowing I'll never get to Pasir Ris on time. Thankfully they allowed Terence to collect the tickets on my behalf. So don't be fooled by them. R even told me "go half an hour before the movie and you'll still get it" - how gullible can I get :-(

Cathay at Downtown East was a bit of a mess. Perhaps 'cos it's still new and they're still figuring out the kinks. But what I don't get is that they sell BOTH tickets and popcorn at the same counter! Yes, it works well when you pressure patrons to get their popcorn as well after purchasing their tickets. But for those who want a popcorn AFTER they've gotten their tickets, they queue forever! At least have a line, just one line for those who only want food and drinks lah! Aiyo! And so we missed about 5 mins of the show :-(

Iron Man was pretty cool I must say. Robert Downey Jr looks really suave. Step aside George Clooney :-) Ok, apart from the pretty face that kept me captivated, the plot was ok lah... no wonder V said I should watch it 'cos of the cool gadgets and technology. Gweneth Paltrow was a ??? - it wasn't a really big part for her I felt. But hey, there has to be a woman behind every super hero, no?

No. 1 is 6

2 years ago, we organised a Star Wars party for Monster G. This year, we thought we'd have a little bash for him again. As usual, the planning started from early April. From sourcing for goodies for the goodie bags to deciding on the venue. Thanks to Jeremy who helped with booking a holiday bungalow at Safra Resort - my tiny flat certainly cannot contain any more than 5 monsters! The party was held on Sunday, 27 April, 2 days before his actual birthday.

As with the Star Wars party, I decided to hire some entertainment for the kids. Browsed countless websites and found this really educational Science Show by Professor Messy. The kids will be entertained by a number of science demonstrations like the making of "snow", using a Van de graff to show how static works, and hands-on workshop where the kids learnt to make bubbles that don't burst. The price of the show and workshop is pretty steep but let the friendly guys at Kids Party know your budget and they will customise the show accordingly.

Gideon decided that he was going to be Number 1 from Codename: Kids Next Door. Hence his winterish outfit and cool sunglasses.

=

Not all the kids came dressed to the theme (Cartoon Network characters) but in true May Tan fashion, her little Georgia came as Buttercup from PowerPuff Girls! She was so CUTE!

The buffet we ordered from Riverwalk Tandoor was fabulous. For a change, we decided on North Indian food instead of BBQs and predictable local buffet food. So glad everyone enjoyed it.

Gideon enjoyed himself to the brim and wanted to stay over. I wasn't too sure it I could lay on that crummy looking bed in the dimly lit bedroom. We coaxed him into going home, promising Toys 'R' Us the next day. Thankfully he agreed and it was on to a 2nd day of "birthday celebration" on Monday. And it wasn't even his birthday yet, until Tuesday the 29th! And so on the 29th, we gave him a little surprise for supper - a birthday cup cake!

Retail Therapy

Opened my eyes this morning and the first thought that came to mind was "Raffles City". Ever since I left Swissotel, visits to Raffles City are usually because of lunch appointments with ex-colleagues - rush rush and it's back to Newton straight after lunch, allowing me to just very briefly breeze by new outlets like Topshop. So I've been wanting to check the place out thoroughly for some time now. And today's it.

Very happy with my loot today :-) Topshop has lots of vintage(y) dresses and Dorothy Perkins was stocked with pretty skirts. And what's more, it's 20% storewide at Topshop and Dorothy Perkins in celebration of Labour Day! How thoughtful...

Land of Smiles

Last week, this time, I was lying in bed, all zonked out (but happy) from the walking and eating in BKK. Had a great time in BKK with Che, Mum, Nick Ker, Nicole & Gideon. Got 2 beautiful apartments at Ascott Bangkok Sathorn at a beautiful staff rate :-) The apartments were spacious and really comfortable. It could have been better if I had known much earlier that Healthland was right opposite the property. Then I needn't have waited to satisfy my massage crave - right till the very last night! Argh!

Che & I promised mum a holiday together for some time now. And since it was so difficult finding a date when all of us could make it, the promise was kinda "delayed". Well, better late than never, no?

Hello Bangkok / Rest Stop : Starbucks Siam Square

Nicole's camera tricks / The Penguins

It's such a joy to be with my Che & Nick ker. My brother-in-law is an angel - the only man I know who would walk and shop with a bunch of ladies, with no complains at all. Tripling up as guide, ATM and babysitter! Where to find!?


Guide, ATM, Babysitter - all rolled into one. Thanks Nick ker!

Things in BKK are definitely more expensive today. So my loot was tiny compared to Nicole's amazing (or so she thinks :-) finds. That gal can SHOP! Just goes to show age is really catching up - can't catch up with the young gals anymore. Gideon was really good especially after all the prepping before the trip that it was going to be HOT, TIRING and BORING. He stayed with mum at the shoe departments where mum took care of our shopping finds and he entertained himself with his PSP. Thankfully there was a balloon / magic show and a Kids' Arcade at Central World which kept Gideon pretty happy one afternoon. Plus more paper to add to his overspilling stationery collection at home :-(


Balloon man & the balloon that was more difficult to carry around town than our shopping bags


Central World Arcade / Very cute counterfeit Pringles and ice-cream note papers

It was great to see Rina again. As usual, being the Santa Rina she is, Gideon was spoiled with an advance birthday present plus a surprise Songkran gift of a water gun. Ah... Songkran... We found ourselves (by accident) right smack in the middle of the Songkran ritual when we headed for Silom on our last day. We got comfy inside Starbucks with a bird's eye view of the water madness going on out along Silom Road. The Thais do know how to have fun. It was great we got to see them in action. In fact, Rina, Gideon and I got "blessed" by a taxi driver who took out his little water gun and blessed us with little squirts of water IN the taxi. Couldn't run, could we?


Wet wet wet Rina & I at Provence where we had amazing Beef Kway Teow


Can't get enough of MK steamboat... yums!

Sure looking forward to our next family trip. Will be great if Alice che and the kids could join us next. Now I need another vacation from my vacation :-)