end of the month again!

as usual, the working week was over in a flash!

and it's month-end again next fri. gosh.

no end to pre-period end blues for finance people.

but friday was an easy day with loads of food and fun with colls & friends alike!

*tossing away my diet plans like how i toss the yu sheng*

we had our department lunch and venue was at peach garden @ ocbc building.

food was good and i had my second lou hei this CNY with the same group - lol.

8 course lunch - burp!

it was 3+pm by the time we were back in office.

after clearing some emails and stuff, time to head off to the next outing!

the uni gang finally made time to have a steamboat gathering @ christine's house.

the last time we caught up with one another was at her wedding 1 year+ back!

sumptious spread!

we chit-chatted non-stop from 7+pm till almost midnight!

really glad that even though we seldom see each other, it was always the same when we meet up.

no awkwardness or running out of topics.

though topics have evolved to old age ones like medical check-ups, wisdom tooth and reminiscing an old common friend who decided to drift away from us...

friends since the first tutorial in uni! ~ a good 13 years OMG.

and candy crush is taking over my life as well as many i know. LOL.
even the husband fell prey to it!
i really dont need another time consuming to-do other than my books, running man, magazines etc!

some outfits for the week:

left: drop-waist brocode dress from zara

middle: long-sleeve top from gg5, printed skirt from MNG

right: romper from topshop

and finally i managed to place order on kueh lapis from rasa sayang @ taka CNY fair.

it has evaded me for too long the past few years!

cant wait to collect next sunday all the CNY goodies ive ordered - pineapple tarts, prawn rolls, prawn sticks and kueh lapis!! YUM YUM.

baobei YR turns 3 today! :)

YR is 3 today! 

both hubbi and myself took leave today to spend time with him.

actually we lazed at home with him until 10+am before we can bring ourselves to leave our bed. wahaha.

ready to move out to fetch gor gor from school!

we made our way to vivo city to shop for their CNY clothings as well as let them enjoy a short session at sing kids!

enjoying themselves!

we made our way back to YR's childcare in the later afternoon to have a mini celebration with his classmates where we ate cake and distributed out the party packs.

very happy with his cake- blowing the candles - cutting the cake

family photo! 

YR with some of his classmates

i hope baobei continues to grow up healthily and enjoy his learning at school!

will be good if he can cut down on his tantrums though. :P

and we finally settled their clothings for CNY day 1!

completed with sketchers shoes!

now to hunt for 4 more sets for our reunion dinners with each side of the family....

another long week at work - mentally draining

Finally, another crazy work week is over.

but i must say this half-year reporting is definitely more of a breeze as compared to the last one.

no working OT thus far for jan except for WD1 which was a good one ending at 7pm. 

though i cant say for the blood pressure at work, threatening to spike every other days!

why cant people just behave professionally and stop acting crazy?!

case in point:

- submission of report earlier by a day and the retort from the internal stakeholder was "why is this submitted earlier this month? Are the numbers good?"  *?!?!!?*

- whenever facing problems to reconcile the numbers at her end, the first response back is always "i cant tie your numbers, i think they are wrong. Please fix it at your end." this is so maddening its actually funny!

- using others' names without basis like " XX said you are the one who did this so can you pls blah blah blah" and when i suggested emailing/calling XX to clarify, she will said oh its ok, i will check on my side.

*grrr*

- querying me out of nowhere with regards to issues/areas which im not involved with and getting all upset when i dont have the answers. 

so accountability is for everything and not those under me?

- and oh, all the frowning is killing me. is it a requisite whenever the discussion goes in a direction you disagree with? we are professionals we can agree to disagree without the OTT facial expressions and harsh tones, right?

and all these are having a bad influence on me, turning me into the same person i cant stand. 

zzzzzz.

ahhh~! 保持平常心！

a gg5 top, an eyebrow tweezing session and a lunch with a birthday boy during weekday lunches are mini ways to perk myself up!

outfits for the week:

left: printed floral dress 

middle: lace top + white brocade pants

right: white lace dress

ALL from zara - yah i know i know...

outfits for the week or weeks?

do: sheer top from topshop, peplum skirt from zara

re: leopard print dress from zara

mi: printed romper from .. (i cant remember the brand) soon lee

CNY is just 4 weeks away!

have you bought your new year clothes?

i have!

i need to buck up for YZ/R's clothings!

even NCL has a new tee for CNY! (and yes, that might just be his ONLY new piece of clothing for the new lunar year)

YR's bday celebration - Part 1

it's YR advanced bday celebration with my relatives today.
we booked the function room and ordered simple catering for around 20 pax. 
while the boys napped in the afternoon, hubbi and i started to tidy up the house to make it more presentable as most of my relatives are coming for the first time. haha.

the boys woke up from their naps waiting for the guests to come.

these are taken with the J1 camera - i find the results quite good!

with J1 as well, nice results in natural lighting.

we adjourned to the function room at 6pm and the catered food arrived shortly.

we almost finished all the food plus cake which is good for wastage is bad.

my baobei is 3 years old (in a week time anyway)!

blowing the candles and cutting the cake himself.

the gathering was pretty short from 5-8+pm but i thought it was a good one since its quite rare for me to gather with the extended family other than CNY or other occasions.

its a far cry from the weekly gathering at my gramp's house when she was still around...

so i was pretty glad today to see the uncles and aunties gathering once more. :)

hubbi and me gave YR a lego duplo barnset.

it was actually bought for YZ when he was 3yo but we kept it in the storeroom all this time cos we thought they have enough toys LOL.

they really like the set and was playing with it for a good one hour before their sleeping time. :)

gathering with colls & belated bday dinner for mr ng

after a week long of late nights chasing movies and what-nots, i slept yesterday at 11+pm to prepare myself for a long day out today..

and i must be very tired... i actually slept till 10+am when im supposed to meet my colls at 11+ am zzzz...

with only an hour to bath and get YR ready to send to my mum's, i was naturally late for my colls... :P

finally, we managed to reach our boss's house near stevens road around half past noon.

boss catered for home-cooked peranakan food fare and its yummy!

and i had my first lou-hei for this CNY with them too.

after that, had a short MJ session with them and walked away with a bite-sized windfall - $16 nia. LOL.

but im one of the 2 winners hor. 

after the gathering, a coll dropped us at PS and i waited for hubbi to come fetch me with the elder son!

he came at 5+pm and we left for our fav. restaurant - Valentino - for hubbi's belated bday dinner!

as usual, procrastinating me didnt manage to make reservation so we tried to reach early to get seats. :P

we actually reached 6 sharp (its opening hour for the evening, ha!) and gosh, we were told we can have seats but need to exit the restaurant by 730pm cos most of the tables were reserved already.

not a problem for us, heh.

so we settled for sirloin & risotto for dinner. plus moscato of cos. *burp*

yz having a go at semi fine-dining setting... ha

we tried the milk pudding this time round. it was really good!

with the end of the dinner, we called it a day and went to fetch little nut.

felt a little guilty at leaving him out again but its really hard to bring him along.

furthermore, tomorrow is his bday celebration with my relatives. he will have all the attention! :)

ok, now time to have chips & coke with the husband while watching "american horror story S2".

*sweet*!

been a good week!

this week is closing week coupled with half-year reporting.

though only half the deadlines are gone, im feeling pretty good about the week.

this is because it has been a smooth closing with us closing at 7+ pm on WD1 - that is like the first time ever for me since i joined the company in mid 2011! 

and i was feeling efficient and all that i managed to complete mostly on time/ahead for most of the deliverables on thurs/fri! leaving me to have the weekend not fretting over work at all! :D

yesterday was a good long busy day for me and i welcomed it!

went to get myself a new hp - Note 2, no less! - in the afternoon!

thanks to dear hubbi for getting it as my bday pressie. 

(anyway, its not that ex after re-contracting :P)

im totally loving the new phone - it was a bliss compared to my ex xperia arc s...

been tinkering with it most of today and i think ive downloaded most of the apps i wanted and adjust the settings to my preference! all is good!

the girls came to my house ard 3+pm for our very post-xmas gathering. LOL.

we did a mini gift exchange and glad to say no one is majorly disappointed with any of the pressies... ha.

went off to meet the gang at ice cold beer at 8pm for grace & zm's bday celebration!

we ate so much chicken wings - i think ard 48! - among 7 of us.... zzzz.

we adjourned to spider room after that for more drinking!

music was pretty good there but it seems like the youngsters nowadays are into getting tables, opening bottles and just drinking away?

where is the dancing? hmmmm.

oh well, we old folks are still very entertained by our own brand of drinking and letting our hair down dancing. haha.

@ spider room

anyway, i wonder why are my eyes area so white? im not even wearing concealer..zzz

as usual after all the alcohol, it feels good to have warm food in the tummies.

so we went maxwell for supper at 3+am LOLOL.

oh my, hot minced pork fishball noodle soup is the best thing to go into the tummy after volka i tell you.

it was a satisfied me when i reached home to call it a day!

January is a busy month!

next up, gathering at my boss's house next sat & YR's bday celebration with my relatives next sun!

it has been eventful!

my birthday was over in a flash!
no off for me so i still has to go to work for half a day.
the morning was over in a flash while most of us busied ourselves with pre mth-end closing activities.
went to brotzeit @ 313 with my team for lunch and i had a small chocolate cake for my birthday!

happy me.

despite the heavy downpour, i went to fetch the elder son and we left for fifi & RC's housewarming at the Peak!

their new place was done up very nicely!

hubbi came around 5+pm and helped to entertain Yz while i continued the banter with the rest of the hall friends.

what a nice way to end the evening. :)

we went off to fetch Yr from my mum's place then headed home for some quality time together.

i really heart counting down in front of the tv.

really, be it for new year's eve or CNY eve. and the boys stayed up till (almost) midnight!

Yr K.Oed on the sofa while Yz still has the sense to dash back to his bed for comfort. LOL.

hubbi and me stayed up later to chat and watched tv till almost 2am... zzzz

and we went vivo today!

why? to collect the nikon J1 camera that i won in a lucky draw! *wee*

i opted for nikon lenses for the specs that i ordered few months back and i was eligible for the nikon draw apparently.

and i was picked as one of the lucky winners! 

so i went to pick up this beauty below today. wahaha.

J1!

this camera is definitely better-performing than my current panasonic lumixFX68 but much heavier too.

so i guess they will serve different occasions.

i had fun exploring its functions and taking shots of the boys at home in the evening.

will upload the photos soon to see how they fare on bigger screens. :)

i guess, roosters are still pretty lucky in the year of dragon.:P