Thursday, March 29, 2012

to the zoo zoo zoo once again!

the husband managed to apply for the corporate zoo pass so the ng family made our way to the zoo zoo zoo today!
both of us took off in the afternoon and we reached the zoo promptly before 2pm. :)
lunch for the adults first at ah meng cafe!


very excited boys! first time to the zoo for YR (yes, he has been to the night safari before this but not the zoo) and the 4th time for yz?



how my boys have grown up! :)

we spent over 3hrs + in there and it was enough!
we covered about half of it and we rented the pull-cart for the boys!
at the end of the afternoon, both the husband and i were tired out from all the pulling. ha.



they love the ride!



slowly melting under the sun.......

we only managed to catch 1 show - elephant work & play that is.
think yz can better appreciate the tricks performed by the elephants.
at the end of the session, the boys had fun feeding the big gentle giants! :)



waiting for the performance to start.



it drizzled abit for half an hour in the afternoon. no fret, the ponchos bought from disneyland back then came in handy!



and finally, to hubbi's disapproval of cos, we bought the photo taken for us at the entrance. wahaha.

fun but tiring day for all of us!
the boys are slowly settling to sleep as i typed now. teehee.
think we will take a break from the zoo for time being.
hopefully, hubbi can ballot for the discovery centre corporate pass soon!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

moscato is my new poison!

met up with the hall peeps yesterday for yz's (the friend and not the son) birthday dinner.
location was at kko kko na ra korean restaurant at tras street.



the kimchi hot pot and spicy garlic chicken wings are to DIE FOR!
its so good that im going back to eat for lunch next week with my colls! *yumyum*

we adjourned to wine company at sentosa boardwalk for more yakking and of cos a bottle of moscato.

hmmmm..... i can slowly savour a bottle myself, me think. hehe.

and april is going to be an exciting month of social activities!
the way i like it!
drinking, dancing, merry-making with peeps. :)

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Reading Spree

After buying tons of books early this year, i decided to buck up and start seriously reading them!
if not, the stack will just grow higher and higher. @_@

1) China Mieville -
Kraken
first knew about this author from the recommendation for his latest novel "Embassytown" in straits times.
review mentioned him to be a sorta pulp fiction author - meaning his novels are typically a mis-mash of genres.
sound rather interesting to me.
so i bought 3 of his books at 1 go and decided to start with "kraken".
the premise sounds interesting:
a giant squid was stolen from a natural history museum in london without a trace.
a body was found @ the crime scene.
the theft may mean the end of the world.

but well, once the plot takes a dip into an urban fantasy world of london, i was pretty lost.
fantasy genre is never really my cup of tea.
and it was rather hard keeping up with the many strange characters and sects introduced in the book.
though i must admit, the book did kept me turning the pages to find out the bloody truth of what the hell is going on!
so i finished it reading.
it was not an easy read and definitely not one you can easily rehash to others what it is really about.
but it does open my eyes to a new genre - or rather various genres in a novel. which is a novelty by itself.

2) Tea Obreht -
The tiger's wife
i do think this book is a brillant debut novel for such a young writer.
the author painted a surreal balkan country from a not so distant past.
though the plot doesnt follow the typical climax model, it made me flip the pages fast and furious.
the characters were all fascinating and as the author weaves in the background stories for them, you can't help but got sweeped along by it.
there can be so much pain and joy in life. sometimes, its really a matter of choice.

3) China Mieville -
King rat
Mieville's debut novel in 1998.
ooh, this book is different from kraken and i like it so much more.
a man found out he is son of king rat (which made him price rat by the way) and set out to save himself and his kind from an ancient evil in drum & bass london.
the way he factored in well-known fairytale and technicalities of
drum"n" bass in the novel is fascinating!
and it helps that the book is rather lean and fast paced. cool!

4) Carol Birch -
Jamrach's Menagerie
i picked the book thinking its a young boy adventure on sea in search of exotic land and animals.
but its not. :(
the book is a good one with the author dealing out good prose and captivating us with the events of the male protagonist - young Jaf who decided to sail with his long-time friend with a crew in search of exotic animal to bring back.
but the story is deeply unsettling. :(
i totally dont see it coming but when it came - the cannibalism - was dealt out efficiently.
alternating between matter-of-factly and outright shocking.

and now, i decided to take a break from swimming in words.
all the above in 2 weeks is no joke. @_@

time to embrace the other love in my life - movies - before moving on to the other love (yes, im very loving) - travel.
its really time for me to start coming up with a detailed and plausible itinerary for june!

Monday, March 19, 2012

online shopping with a twist, or

rather...... love for my globe-trotting friends!
so, i was rather busy for most of march that i actually have no time to shop!

can you believe it!
well, i can. since the weekends seem to whizz pass sooo fast with us staying in most of the time.

yesh, the novelty of the new home has yet to wear off. :)

so, ive to resort to shopping online.
armed with my ipad and my fav. hello panda, i spent almost an hour scouring the new collection @ zara. *hehe*
finally, i made some orders and sent to................ my friends!
lol, yes i did.
i actually have > 4 friends going to HK these 2 weeks on staggered trips!
so all of them were berry nice to help me buy. :)
now, i have 2 dresses + 2 tops waiting for me when we meet up this wednesday :) @ 30% cheaper than sg prices!
and im waiting for my other orders of blusher + moisturiser to be be bought too!

still, nothing beat old brick & mortar shopping!
so during lunch today, i went to shop for an exfoliator from skin inc and new eye pencil.
i think my march shopping is almost done. :P

Sunday, March 11, 2012



some peace in the house finally with the boys doing their doodling/coloring while i surf some net.
*teehee*

过过麻将瘾!

yesterday i invited some of my colleagues to my house for housewarming/aka MJ session. LOL.
with one boy at my mum's place and my dear hubbi taking care of the other, i was able to have some merry-making with my colleagues! :)
so we played from 10+am all the way to nearly 8pm!
just stopping for a short while for lunch.
we managed to finish 三圈 - not too bad lah..

for the first time i played $0.5/$1, a departure from the usual $0.2/$.4.
but rooster lucky stars are indeed out for this year!
i managed to win some modest takings to finance the weekend activities... haha.
cant wait for the next session with my peeps end of the month!

Thursday, March 08, 2012

dabbling in investment

for the longest time, i don't believe in any forms of investment except in property.
but investing in property is easier said than done.
you need to be like uber cash-rich!!
and its not helping when your other-half believe otherwise...

(can someone shake NCL to his senses, how can investing in property go wrong!?)

anyway, since we've committed ourselves to the new home last oct, dream of owning a second property is not possible in the near future and perhaps, ever... hah

and with the purchase of the unit, my savings for past few years were almost but nearly wiped out. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

starting all over to save up is so demotivating - the balance is simply crawling.
and with such little savings, i started to get bored and wanted to be creative.

and so, with the approval of the husband, i started buying stock, preference shares, bonds etc.
yes, instead of saving up, i pumped money into investment every mth when my pay comes in.
LOL, for awhile, 90% of my savings are in investments!
but we are talking small amount in totality lah *ahem*

so far, i've sold some shares to cash out some profit to help subsidize ard 70% of my air ticket. *hiaks*

the few lots im holding on are suffering some paper loss due to market fluctuations recently.
zzzz
BUT, im positive they will be good in months/year to come!!
shopping for stocks is as therapeutic as retail shopping!

ok, until i burn my fingers.....
*fingers crossed*
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