1st step towards the P1 madness

yes, by that, i meant my days as a parent volunteer has started!
we actually registered to be PV for 2 schools end of last year! talk about being kiasu.
but im glad we did.
for one of them rejected me (which is a blessings in disguise, more on that later) and the other accepted me by means of first come first serve basis. *sweat*

and we waited with bated breath (ok, only me. the nonchalent husband cannot be more carefree. tsk) for the results to be out this may.
and the results decided our next course of action!
PV activities to start from July onwards - with the first session to help out being the P1 registration for 2012!
talk about irony.

 and so, i took a day off to help out with Phase 2C registration for my school of choice today.
the registration only lasted for half a day or more but i learnt quite a fair bit of stuff from other PVs who are obviously more in the know than me.
so the stats show that for 2012 registration, those who are in Phase 2B (aka grassroots/PVs like us) all got in for this school.
WHERAS those in the school which rejected me needs balloting even for within 1km!
hence, i said it may be a blessings in disguise to be rejected.
i cannot imagine putting in >40hrs of work and within 1km to the school STILL needs to go through the balloting process. it will be such a heart-stopping process!

and, just realised that Phase 2C is over-subscribed by almost 2 times for the school of choice too. *gulp*
now the husband is finally convinced that PV is the way to go for us....
anyway, today's activity has been pretty interesting.
interacting with other parents and understanding how does the registration process go.
now i know, birth cert, parents' IC and vaccine cert is a must for registration. LOL.

ok, next up.
P1 orientationin Nov with the new parents and kids for 2013!
its gonna be fun! :)
dont you think P1 kids are the most adorable! with their super loose clothings on them and so short! LOL.

i hope to make the PV process an entertaining and educating one, nevertheless.

on turning 30...again.

and so, all of us has exactly a year to renew IC from our 30th birthday.

for me, it will be this dec but being me, i like to do admin stuff ahead of time. LOL.

so, a shot snapped by the husband.

a jpeg edited by him to the right size.

some time online with my credit card on-hand, my online registration for renewal of IC was done in a jiffy!

and i went to collect my IC yesterday morning...

and this is how i looked when i was 12 and now:



i look pretty much the same, no? LOL.

and with the renewal of IC, I'v reached yet another milestone of my life....

where did the weekend go?!

the weekend whizzed past just like that! i cant believe it...

friday night was tv night where i watched my fav. of the moment serials non-stop from 10pm-1am! :)

秘密花园 and sherlock S2! 

i am starting to like the 2 male leads - Hyun Bin and Benedict Cumberbatch very much now!

in fact, i've caught the last episode of Sherlock S2 with the husband like just only.

now, im feeling the withdrawal symptoms - when is S3 coming?!?! how can i wait till 2013... :(

yesterday was a day of accomplishment, at least to me.

finally, moved our butts and enrolled both boys to phonic enrichment classes.

YR commenced straight away yesterday and cried like nobody's business.

oh well, gor gor took 6 weeks to settle down for such similar once a week enrichment class previously. i wonder how long didi will take...

YZ had an assessment with the teacher and im so glad that he didnt lose what he has learn last year despite a half-year hiatus. 

i guess his kindy and twice weekly enrichment sessions help. 

glad that he's continuing his phonics learning once again. :)

the only person not too enthusiastic is ...... mr ng. 

who doesnt really believe in spending for learning. :P

also, i finally brought them to try out kko kko nara!

been raving to the husband for the longest time after ive tried the super yummeh fried chicken and kimchi soup.

so we went and ate and of cos, sour spicy stuff is not his cup of tea. 

oh well, at least i got to eat my spicy chicken wings again!! :)

and then with (elaborated) planning, all of us head over to my parent's place.

let the boys snoozed by 10+pm and finally, hubbi and i were good to catch "dark knight rises" on the big screen! :D

though the 11.30pm show went on to nearly 230am, we were not at all sleepy.

it was definitely a good one. again, i salute nolan's flair for storytelling and inventing credible characters.

though i think "dark knight" is still the best out of the trilogy.

the joker's madness, the fall of harvey dent and the moral dilemma!

these story arcs are fantastic!!

i'll give dark knight rises at least an 8 and its def. better than batman begins.

and the twist to the show for me is the twist that i thought is, is not.

if you know what im trying to say, ha.

and oh JGL is one good actor- (apart from eerily resembling heath ledger more and more)!

those puppy eyes sure can convey wide spectrum of emotions.

and tom hardy - very cute. that 1 scene of his face is worth the wait. LOL.

anyway, can you imagine my fatigue this morning?!

pulled ourselves out of bed at 730am to fetch the boys to breakfast.

once home, i switched on the air-con and went back to sleep from 9-11am - haha.

while the boys played on their own - god bless playmobil and lego.....

after that, its time to bring the younger boy to attend nelly's wedding!

so happy for her! finally settling down after so many years of pak-tor with her husband. hehe.

lunch @ four seasons hotel was delicious esp. the yam puree! *burp*

YR enjoyed the food lots too! though he was a tad cranky near the end from missing his nap.

still, im happy to bring him to a wedding banquet on my own for the first time!

some outfits for the week - its a dressy week, by the way.

 left: dress from zara, belt from gg5
middle: dress from .....zara
right: dress from forever new


ok, time to zzz.
another busy week ahead. zzzzzzzz

苦中作乐。

ever since i came back from my trip, work has been hectic and non-stop for me!
with the year-end closing and upcoming system upgrade (UAT Testing!!), i've been fighting with fire for the 8-9 hours i am in office every working day!
and sometimes, i still need to log in at night to clear some of the never-ending emails... zzzz.


so, how to keep the spirits up?
1) i make it a point to go off by 630pm so that i can spend time with the boys in the evenings. if needed, i'll log in from home after they sleep. but only for 1-2 hrs at most, if not time with the husband will be compromised.
2) spending time with hubbi catching serials! yes! we are currently watching sherlock every mon, Grimm every tue, walking dead S2 for wed/thurs and 血腥草莓 every fri. LOL.
3) catching up with friends! a session at least once a week with different peeps recharges me one way or another. 
so far, housewarming with my ex-coll 2 weeks back, gathering at my house with girls last sunday and tanny's bday dinner with the peeps this friday have made me look forward to the end of the dreary long work week. :)
4) of cos, shopping always help. :P

happy stuff for the week!

the boys wearing germany jersey like their papa.

as usual, clear photo by me of them and blurry photo by hubbi of us. 

zzzzz.

YR has yet to master doing the victory sign, hence the index-pointing pose only. LOL.

some outfits for the week:

left: top from gg5, zara jeans 

(this pair of jeans just dyed my towels and home tees pink in the wash today. @_@)

middle: both top and skirt from zara (from the trip and glad that these are not on sale here.:P)

right: gg5 top, pants from wicket laundry (@ haji lane)

i like separates simply because you can mix and match in countless combis. 

but of cos, dresses are god-send on busy/tired mornings when you are just too tired/cant be bothered to co-ordinate your outfits.

i think its time to invest in dresses more. for im getting more and more tired in the mornings as i age.... 

im sure i mentioned this before but i just want to repeat here again:

if possible, try to buy stuff only when they are on sale.

esp. given singapore context where sales recurs on a frequent basis!

even if its just an one-off 20% on national day (teehee, can you guess which brand is this?), it beats getting the original price for some brands.

now that GSS is at its tail-spin, the prices are all going ridiculously low.

im glad to get my size for these:

1) an A/X top going at 60% off! though the discounted price is still steep for me but i considered it a good buy for the design and quality.

2) a pedder red pair of shoes. in fact, most of my pedder red shoes are brought during the sale (fyi, twice a year. :)).

 $199 to $74!

 im not sure which is crazier - the original price or the discount. @_@

 ok, time to go back to the couch to catch the last episode of walking dead S2 with the husband!
i wonder what we will be chasing next and i cant wait for walking dead S3 too even though zombies is really my worst nightmare...........

loots from the trip!

apart from the sight-seeing, museum-hopping and gorging to our hearts content, we (ok, or rather I) shopped alot! :)

with the good exchange rate and general low prices for certain brands, you cant blame me for going a little overboard (at least to the husband) with the retail therapy...

this is our stash!

playmobil and lego (ok, that is more for hubbi and myself) sets!

toys and clothes for the boys!

and these are all mine!!!

ok one of the bags is for my mum, can you guess which one? (shouldnt be hard to guess!)

and being boring me, most of the clothings are from zara/H&M

the husband, being him, didnt buy much of cos.

just the usual pair of sneaker, 1-2 tops... though this time round he actually wanted to get himself a new wallet!

tsk tsk. the one i bought for him is barely 1yr+ old.

oh well, he's keeping the new one in the cupboard for time being. let him be!

im starting to miss shopping in europe already...

i wonder when will my next trip be.. *daydreaming away*

outfits for the week

some outfits for this week:

left: sheath dress from bysi. a rather unashamedly lookalike to a certain z brand. 
middle: top and midi skirt, both from topshop
right: floral top from H&M, shorts from GG5


zara sales moving on to 50% and the skirt i bought last week was slashed further and my size is still available! Pui!
anyway..... i found another gorgeous silk shirt and a pair of shoes to buy. :P


good to lie low till gg5 sale in august. :)

frankfurt - good for short visit

its time to say goodbye to venice of the north and make our way back to frankfurt.

left: was a super cold morning the morning we left amsterdam. was waiting anxiously for the tram as our train was scheduled to leave for frankfurt in 15mins time!

was really a close shave. we found the right train and boarded it in the first 5 minutes that we reached the central station.

and it started to move barely 2 minutes after we boarded it!

right: once we've settled down, time for breakfast on board!:)

it was a good 3hours before we rolled into frankfurt city centre.

after checking into our hotel which is a stone throw from the station, we hit the road in search of lunch and some sightseeing.

actually, i was more keen on shopping since we were just 1/2 stops away from the main shopping area.

but..................... what i dint know is that shopping is a no-no on sunday for............

most retail shops are closed on sundays!!!

can you imagine orchard road being a dead town on sunday?! can you?!?!

i cant and i was in shock while we walked down the shopping stretch.

just cant accept the (harsh) truth...

the husband was pretty zen and suggested sticking to the sightseeing as per planned. :(

after all the other cities, frankfurt's old town square looks pretty "commercialised" and not so authentic, huh?
we managed to get some decent food here for lunch.

this shop sells really nice cheesecake and apple crumble pie!

we had another full day tomorrow before our night flight back to sg.
so the morning was naturally spent shopping since the shops are well opened on monday - hehe.
first stop: to a major departmental store to get toys for the boys!
playmobil is much cheaper here than in sg.

yz very happy with the selection of playmobil here!

then its shopping time for mummy! onwards to goethestrasse and rest of zeil area!

kudos to papa for having the patience to accomodate me. :)

later in the afternoon, we made a trip to senckenberg museum - natural history museum.

it is really an educational excursion for the elder son, and ourselves of cos.

we get to see real dinosaur fossils for the first time!

*roar* T-rex! 

They have many more real specimens of animals from regions round the world.

those are so life-like that i got the goosebumps if i look at them too hard for too long. *shivers* 

specimen of an anaconda swallowing an animal similar to rodent

size of a whale's heart!

it was pretty enjoyable the 1 hours + we spent there.

as we went on a monday, the place was almost empty except for us and a small group of children accompanied by their teacher.

i wondered if its a monday or this place is being off the radar for both locals and tourists.

what a shame if its the latter case, for this place really has a lot to offer to kids and adults alike. 

we left for the airport for dinner since we have to check in by 8pm for our 10pm flight.

and not to mention the queuing up for the tax refunds, though it went pretty fast for our standards.

ok, this more or less concluded our long-awaited trip. :)

im already thinking of the next one and we are definitely bringing YR with us next time round!

Amsterdam - Part 2

the funny thing about this trip is that we were up super early in the morning (normally by 7+am) and we slept very early in the night too (normally ard 9+pm!).

so in some way, i was more rested during the trip than in sg. 

lol, this is a departure from my usual trips where i just chiong! 

so having a kid around really slow you down to take in the view and smell the roses. :)

it was pretty cold in amsterdam so we layer and layer for mr worm.

guess how many layers of clothings he had on here? 5!

lol, hubbi and i cant stop laughing at the "donut" around his hip with his clothes all tucked in. 

our very big room. 

we were good to explore the museum area as well as the red light district next! 

doing the touristy thing.

next up, the rijksmuseum! where all the great dutch paintings are!
and after a quick discussion with the husband, it was decided that he will bring the boy for a happy slow waffles breakfast while i will go to the museum alone for a good 1.5hrs.
finally, can slowly look at paintings i like without distractions! :P

rijksmuseum - a substantial part of it is still under reno. 

blessings in disguise? i can focus on the popular ones which are still on display while being able to manage them in 1.5hrs..

a very well-executed piece by Frans Hal. looks at the details.

with just white and black paint - very impressive

i don't particularly think of rembrandt as striking previously.

but i saw this painting by his and was struck by how life-like this hand of an old lady is!

and the way he paint the light and shadows really make the hand the focus of this painting.

and they have a few vermeer pieces! 

his paintings were rather exciting to see. they are usually a snapshot of a rather serene or even placid moment. 

but, they still speak volume. 

the milk really looks like its pouring out of the jug, huh?

breathing life just with mere colors. :)

and only a stone throw from the rijksmuseum is the van gogh museum which houses a rather impressive number of works by the tortured genius.

look at the crazy queue. luckily, we have the iamsterdam card which allows us to take the shorter queue at the extreme right

no photography allowed inside. sigh.

i would have like to take shots of those that i like.

hubbi was more receptive to van gogh's work having seen some of his best previously at D'orsay and also when some of D'orsay's collections came to singapore for exhibition.

i like particularly a quote by van gogh which roughly means that beauty is always present in nature and he is just the extractor.

one of van gogh's more famous paintings will be his sunflowers pieces. he drew a few showcasing sunflowers against different color background.

when i looked at one of them here, and peering hard at the exquisite swirls of the sunflowers petals, i feel the sudden surge of emotions and my eyes threaten to tear!

like very 夸张, and i really dont know what comes over me.

but i do recall having similar feelings when seeing caravaggio and botticelli works..

sigh, i miss rome. :(

after all the cultural stops, time for a quick lunch before our canal cruise!

before boarding the cruise boat

every table has a city map so you know exactly which canal you are in. lol.

it was a relaxing hour plus cruise whereby we navigate through all the major canals in amsterdam.

after the cruise, we walked over to the red light district where the old church was located.
it has now converted to an exhibition space, not unlike the new church.
at the time we were there, the world press photo exhibition was on so we went in and take a look.
it turned out surprisingly interesting and we spent a good hour in it.

look at the queue snaking outside.
yz chose the moment to nap and we were more glad than anything. hehe.
inside, there are tons of photos where there is a story behind each of them where you can read.
photos take showcase current issues worldwide, be it social, environmental, political etc.
rather informative and eye-opening.

after that, it was our fav. past time! shopping and tea breaks while getting lost in the city centre! :)

dinner time @ cafe esprit! food is ok not fantastic but will do for the price and ambience

mr muscle with mac happy meal toys as biceps. LOL

this concludes our holland travel leg!

back to frankfurt for some leisure sight-see + shopping before jetting home to singapore!

some outfits for the week:

left: finally get to wear this dress from topshop. i think i bought it last year-end (yes, no joking).

i forgot about it in the wardrobe...

right: top from zara (yesh, one of the stash i got from this recent trip!). i love the gold spikes on both shoulders though not obvious here. shorts from topshop.

seriously, most of my clothings only come from the usual suspects - zara, gg5, topshop and the occasional odd brands here and there.

talking about shopping, i was a little upset with visiting the zara sale only today though the husband chided me that didn't i buy enough zara from the trip!? <.<

finally, managed to go see see all my fav. brands at ion today since coming back to sg last tues!

gg5 has some new stuff and i got myself a nice pink top. :)

went to both ion and liat zara branches.

most of the designs that i like, ive already brought during the trip.

those that i still like are either still too ex despite the 30% or no more sizes. :(

so, i only managed to buy a skirt which on hindsight is very similar to another zara skirt that i already owned. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

ok, hope i can continue to take nice shots of my new clothings before they become seasoned and run-down by my washing machine....