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. :)

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!

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

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!

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*

HUGO is smashing!

just caught this show with the husband & elder son @ 112 katong.
this is like the best movie for 2012 so far (yes, i know its still very early in the year, hehe).
i love how the movie used a simple story of a boy's longing for his dad to pay tribute to george mieles, a famous filmmaker and one of the forefathers of movie-making. :)
at one point of time, tears were just free-flowing down my cheeks and onto my neck. @_@
but hey, im not the one sniffing madly in the theatre ok!
the tears fell not because the show is a sad one but from how touching it is!!
it is so true that dreams are made in movies. :)
george mieles: "Laugh, my friends. Laugh with me, laugh for me, because I dream your dreams."

teehee

the husband and i have booked the air tickets for our june holidays! :)
seems kiasu but SQ having good promo now!
though still a good 3 months away, i shall start doing the below:
1) get travel insurance
2) book rail tickets
3) come up with a good itinerary
4) research acomodations and make reservations
of cos, all the above will fall on my shoulders.
BUT, im not complaining!
i plan, you follow! :)

our home is >80% done up! :)

so yesterday was a busy day for us!
we had tons of stuff going on:
1) delivery of our LED TV - happiest man is mr ng now. he is still having fun exploring the gadget and streaming movie from the PC to the TV. tsk tsk.
but i must admit transformers 3 look v. impressive on our new TV. :)
2) delivery of dryer
i must say, this is a godsend!! i actually managed to wash 3 loads of stuff just on saturday and all ready to be folded in a jiffy even for those which i selected dry damp mode (not completely dry).
wahahaha.
3) installation of wallpaper
really glad with the end results. photos below:


*tada* our master bedroom. i really love the wallpaper.
the husband is so nice to accept purple flowers motif design... LOL

the only outstanding stuff for the house is left the carpenter to come and drill holes in the capentry so we can better conceal the wiring.
can you see the messy wiring for the tv in our room? ;p


our master bedroom toilet - i like the big mirror. :)


the boys' room! fast asleep in the naps despite the activities buzz outside of their room...

their toys and playmat is in their room now so they can play there and stop making a mess out of the living room. LOL.
they like the wallpaper in their room though yz questioned why is it only half done... haha.


the messiest part of the house - the study room!!

can you see the clutter on the desk?!
can you see the mess by the wall! we really need to put up all the frames up to free the space below!


our still very bare balcony...

dining area - part of living room...
i like the subtle wallpaper chosen :)

by the time all the delivery, installation and cleaning up is done, its almost 5pm! @_@
still, the ng family moved out to town for some window shopping.

my boys not so look-a-like in these photos..

anyway side tracking, there were one good news and a bad incident that happened to me yesterday. *mixed feelings*
the good news is i went for a follow-up check up as recommended from the annual health-check up i went last nov and got clearance from the doc. :)
the bad incident was i went to collect my new specs but i accidentally left it behind near the toilet area.
when i went back, it was gone. im sure it has been taken by a person with NO conscience!
pui! though i only pay like 10% for it (it was subsidized by coy) but i still feel very heartpain and sad. i really like the specs and i feel so terrible losing something of value. :(

well well, taking a step back and looking at the big picture - i think i should draw strength and joy from the good things going on in my life currently. :)
nothing beats health and happiness.
so cheer up, ecookie!

1) <爱>by 豆导
watched this film with kakis last friday.
though its nowhere near being a classic but i enjoyed it tremendously.
there are some really touching scenes which 让我动容and落泪。。。
i esp. love the part revolving round 小天，舒琪 & 豆导。
sometimes, the best thing you can give to your other half is his/her self-worth.
互相伤害对方会有够了的一天。真的要惜福。
i want to watch this one more time!!

2) Breaking Dawn - Part 1
finally, i managed to watch this installment of the twilight series.
i find the adaptation of the novel for this time round to be pretty good.
and, i even managed to shed a tear or two... LOL
im such a crybaby!
robert pattison can only be very very 帅 in this show, all thanks to edward cullen's crazily 深情的角色！

3) J.edgar
regretted choosing this over the descendants...
im starting to feel that leo's acting has sorta reached a plateau.
this is like the best he can do in recent shows... which is still that wee bit away from oscar level. :(
and of cos, must tear in every movie for me.
for this show, the person who made me do so is actually the supporting male lead - Armie Hammer who acted as Tolson inside.

so many movies i want to catch!
1) hugo
2) tinker tailor soldier spy
3) this means war

HFMD strikes again

it has been a harrowing week for us for YR is down with HFMD. :(
it started with him running a fever on last fri night and when we brought him to the doc on saturday, small white dots were discovered in his mouth.
AND, these dots developed to ulcers by monday!
at one time, there were like >10 ulcers in his little mouth. :((((
he was crying out in pain every few moments and kept pointing to his mouth saying:"痒痒"(his version of pain pain). *heartpain*
though he was given painkillers and oral drips that will help to numb his mouth, he totally refuse to take any solids.
so for a good 4 days, he just drink milk and more milk.

FINALLY, today 雨过天晴, he requested for a small piece of bread in the morning and he managed to consume some porridge for dinner too. :)
when a baby is sick in the household, mummy and daddy have to take turns working from home/taking PM leave to take care of him!
i took tue & thurs afternoons while hubbi took wed & fri afternoons. :)
really glad that our jobs are flexible enough for such a situation.
most importantly, 宝贝is on his way to recovery!

finally, a place of our own!

ok, technically we do have a place of our own.
just that we waited for the longest time for the renovation to be done (having CNY holiday period in the middle didnt really help with the progress..).
and so after the final stage of general cleaning is done, our contractor handed us the house and key back to us last thursday evening. :)
and so we shifted in last saturday.
and trust me, unpacking is much much worse than packing!.... *@_@*

the house is still very not done up as im typing now.
the curtains just got installed today, the carpet will only be delivered tomorrow, the dryer & TV to be delivered on saturday as well as the installation of wallpaper too.
and not to mention all the clutter in the study room!!
and all my crazy crumpled clothings from the boxes waiting to be ironed!
HELP!

oh well, just take it one at a time.
for now, im very very happy to have a place of our own again after 6 long weeks at my parents' place! hehehe.
post photos next time when things are more settled..

the boys are in love with.....

yes, selena gomez. LOL
now they are hooked to the song and demand to see it before sleeptime for the past 2 nights!
YZ can sing the chorus while YR can go," beep beep beep". hahah.
but you have to admit it, the song is catchy!

Royal Caribbean cruise - to penang/malacca

the ng family went for our first overseas trip this weekend - teehee.
this is our first time trying the royal caribbean experience.
all i can say is that the cabin, food and entertainment is nicer than star criuses.
but the cruise ship itself is smaller, hence the "stability" of it is not as good. for those people prone to sea sick may find star cruises more comfortable.
also the casino is much smaller than star cruises' ones. though this is not really a problem for us.

we went with the in-laws this time round and hence, the lack of enthusiasm for photo-taking...
hehehe.

well, still a few shots taken here:


on board!


it was actually our 10 years anniversary on sunday! 12.02 :)
we waited for the boys to zzz before sneaking off (leaving them to my in-laws) to spend time with each other.
it was past midnight here and ms ko! open your eyes! LOL

then after that, off to playing cards for us. muhahah.
trying to earn money from tables is really not an easy feat.
i spent 3 hours on 2nd night and 2 hours on 3rd night just to win a token US$55 @ blackjack. zzzz.


@ malacca, we went straight to jonker walk for yummeh food!
1st stop: chicken rice lunch(? at 3pm?). the best were the char siew and otah for me!
but the chicken rice balls were so-so only.
2nd stop: durian chendol - yumyum! the gula melaka is really fantastic!

a short trip that was quite fun with the 2 boys and hb.
if only it was just the 4 of us :P
well, cant complain much since the hubbi treated us all... just have to go with the flow. haha.

after the hectic month-end closing mid of this week, i think i deserved some shopping!
since the husband and the elder son were not keen to go out with me, i shall go with my lil' nut!
1st stop: page one @ vivo.
i was there last week when it first started his 50% storewide! now im back for more!
though im decidedly very excited over the slash in prices, im sad over the closing down of major bookstores one by one.....
and i heard news that harris bookstore @ great world will be closing down too soon. *sigh*
it was one of my fav. haunt when i was staying @ redhill all those while. :(

thanks to a patient YR who sat in the pram most of the time, i managed to scoured for quite a fair bit of books!
in all, i bought 9 books, 2 travel guides, 8 children books and stationery (yes, even those going at 30% off!)! think cost me <$200 after discount. *wee*

some of the books...... :)

2nd stop: PS
went there to settle a wallpaper for the new house.
after the errand, time to window shop with YR. he had fun accompanying me to the changing rooms i think.
he kept singing to his reflection when in them. LOL.
i got a new 2-pc swimsuit since my existing one is a bit too tight to accommodate a fatter me. zzzzzzzzzzz.
and after 2.5 weeks of no shopping (zzz), i bought a work dress and pants from BYSI.

3rd stop: Ion
met up with hubbi and YZ after their naps (tsk tsk...) in town.
finally, i had the opportunity to test my eyesight for my new specs! it will be ready within a week.
cant wait to collect it! very chio specs (to me lah!) that i dont mind wearing to work sometimes! hehe.
passed by wisma and saw gg5 having sale!! *hoot*
how to resist (?!) and i walked out later with a green romper (i think i have another green romper somewhere in the warehouse....oh well.). :)

it has been a happy day for me! i was out almost the whole day doing some of my favorite activities with my favorite persons.
cool!

can anyone be more blatant!!?

heard a horrendous story at work today.
though it didnt happen to me personally but still, i was all heated up when i heard the story from the affected party.
if it has been decided that your team mate will be doing the presentation, its natural for him/her to do up the analysis plus presentation slides right?
ok, so the team mate went ahead to do up the work/slides etc..
then, at the presentation to stakeholders itself, would YOU suddenly just do the presentation even though you are fully aware that the slides/work are NOT done by you and it was agreed that your team mate will be presenting?!
can this be a case of genuine folly-of-the-moment when the pre-agreed arrangement just slipped your mind?!?!
this was so claimed by the person after the presentation....

to me, its just a blatant case of stealing credit from another!
*grrrr*

some people are just ridiculous.
they really think they can get away with anything.
want to steal credit yet do in such a rubbish way.
ive utter no respect whatsoever for this colleague of mine from now on (not that i've alot for this person in the first place anyway)!
it will be a happy day for many when such a person leave the team/company for good!
pui!

i love BJ!

the annual CNY meet-up for the gang was at grace's house for this year.
her new place was really very nicely done up!! every cent of the hefty reno bill is well spent, heh!
as usual, we met up early like 11am to play MJ till dinner time.
this year, dinner was ta-baoed zi char which was sumptious and eaten up by us in a flash too...
after that, its everyone's fav blackjack!! LOL.

we were so engrossed in gambling the whole day that NOT a single photo was taken.
how disgusting right!
anyway, i continued my lucky streak in BJ emerging as the biggest winner for the night! *wee*
think i won more than last year.
after lessing out the minor loss in MJ and cab fare home, i still have some shopping money left. hiaks!

cant wait to try my luck 2 weeks later on board. heheheeh...

CNY 2012

CNY is wayy early this year. before i know it, we are already in the year of Dragon!
busy with work and ongoing reno, it was only until saturday night then i've the time to prepare all the ang baos!
but CNY affair is getting quieter by the years...
ever since my gramps passed away 2 years back, reunion dinner is no longer a big affair with all my extended family.
now, we just have it with my parents and brother.

since we are already staying at ubi for CNY this year, we didnt have to travel for reunion dinner at all. ha.
as usual, flowery legs ng family went out to raffles city before dinner time.
everyone bought something except me who are still hibernating after the splurging in dec. *gulp*
our ploy to tire the boys out worked for they were ready to zzz early after the dinner itself!
both were fast asleep by 930pm, muhaha.
ah long and me grabbed the chance to make our way to vivo for "haywire".
the show aint half bad with its convincing action sequences.

then its CNY day 1!
the routine has been same for the past few years:
1st stop is to my in-laws house.



some shots with my boys while waiting for the lou hei

the handsome boys! YR showing off his gold bracelet, LOL!

second stop: to ah long's grandma place

on our way there. when i asked him why was his expression so, he said he forgot to smile... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

last stop: to my big uncle house where all my extended family goes to.
and we stayed there from 3 - 7+pm.
the 2 boys actually skipped their naps yesterday!
they were so tired that they fell asleep the moment we loaded them in the car.
with this power nap, they woke up again when we reached vivo for our movie - journey to the mysterious island!

its a good thing the show is just 90 mins long.
we were glad to give the boys a quick wipe down, their milk feeds and finally settled them to sleep before 11pm..
it had been a long day for everyone, but a fun one nonetheless!

YR turns TWO!

yesterday was a super busy day for the husband and myself!
we ran a dozen errands and were out of the house from morning till night....
in the morning, we woke up at 7+am even though we were both on leave for the day. zzzzz
after sending the boys to their schools, we went to meet up with the wallpaper person to take site measurements for our new house.
done in a jiffy, we drove to paya lebar area to make final payment for some furnitures to be deliver to the house by end jan.

THEN, we met up with ah long's friend to make our way to JB to collect our lightings purchase as well as to source for the rest of the lightings required for the new house!
lucky for us, traffic was uber smooth and we were in JB by 11+am!


1st stop: yummeh bak ku teh for lunchie first, of cos!

we spent the next 2 hours "chop chop" select the remaining lightings for the house.
wahaha, 100% of our house's lightings were bought from JB lor.
good savings of at least 40% compared to prices in SG!

back to the new house again to deposit our purchases so our contractors can fix up the lights after CNY.
then we went to pick up YR from his childcare. our little boy turns two yesterday! :)

brought him back to mum's place and let her freshen the boys up while hubbi and me took our time to rest awhile after the hectic day...
then, its time to bring them out to ...... NIGHT SAFARI for YR's bday celebration! :)


@ night safari entrance

family shot - but check out YZ's eyes.... @_@ and YR's awkward smile... LOL

the boys enjoyed themselves lots there.
especially for YZ who can name out most of the animals and was totally amazed (or scared...) to see the animals so up-close during our tram ride.
YR, surprisingly, was quite unfazed with most animals and tend to over-shout a wee bit at them... haha.
the only animals he said "pa pa" were the buffalos and cattle.
so, he is afraid of his own kind. LOL.

it was almost 11pm when the ng family reached my mum's place!
after wiping down, the boys K.O.ed in minutes...
hubbi and i still find time to savour some chips after bathing. :)
though a long day but i cant help smiling the whole day for we got things done and spent a lovely evening with the 2 boys!

weekend galore!

been a super busy work week for me. think i worked OT for 2-3 nights... *sulk*
no choice, with jan being a peak period for me since it's half year reporting and the auditors are here for 2 weeks. zzz.

at last the weekend is here where i got to spend time with my lovely boys!
the weekend kinda started early on friday when i met up with my ex-DT peeps for lunchie @ harry's bar.
it;s been awhile since i last saw GS, PP, cher ying and frances!
we still yakked like last time. :)
then its supper with zm like the good old days when i was still living at east side (now, im back!).
though supper may not be that good an idea for such a busy week.. i was dead tired when i finally got to zzz at 2am...

the boys must be tired out by their weekdays routine like hubbi and myself.
for on saturday, all of us napped for a glorious 3 hours from 2-5pm! LOL.
we moved out from my mum's place at 6+pm, heading to taka square to get some CNY goodies!

we bought mostly from vendors who flown in from overseas.
mian sian and egg rolls from HK, prawn rolls and pineapple tarts from indonesia.
the very nice kueh lapis from rasa sayan indo was sold out - :(

late dinner @ wisma food court.

had an early reunion lunch with hubbi's family today @ vivo's akashi.
the boys were super happy after lunch when my father--in-law let them take kiddy rides with the cousins to their heart content!


outside giant waiting while the boys did their kiddy-ride hop.

matching tees!

we continued walking @ vivo after the rest went home family by family.
i decided to utilise the BYSI vouchers that i had by buying a top.
then we chanced upon pageone having sale! but i didnt have time to really comb the place for YR started getting cranky after his nap.
also, i have already bought some books from prologue @ ion the day before... @_@

and we bought the TV for our new place too!
we had been window-shopping for awhile and kinda know what brand we wanted.
was at best denki today and a few models going at reasonable price. so after some consideration, we bought the model that we want!
cant wait for it to be deliver and mounted at our place in feb! :)
we still need to get a mattress for peanut and a dryer for the new place too..


trying on my shades and loving it!

and now, the most important thing is squeezing some me-time out for my many books!
*gulp*

apart from these, i still have 5 more books waiting for me!!