tight hamstrings and lucky toto

and so i finally get to do yoga after more than a year hiatus!
my colls and i formed a group to hire an external yoga teacher to come by our office for an hour yoga on a weekly basis!
i can still do most of the moves mainly requiring strength.
BUT for those which involve stretching and bending.. gosh, kill me!
i guess, i need time to loosen up all those tight muscles by stretching more...
though yoga hurts when it should relax for now, i still benefit by sleeping like a baby at night after a yoga session in the evening. :D

it has been 2 months since we had our new car.
both parents have already given up betting on the car number, lol.
it was really a stroke of luck that the husband decided to bet $2 last saturday and the number really come in under consolation number for Sat's 4D!
though just a humble $500 winnings, it will come in handy for some of the occasions for coming months. :)

im getting restless.
i cant wait for my holidays in nov.
but till then, it will be good to fill up the next few months with outings/gatherings.
yes, i will do just that.

met up with the girls for yummeh dinner @ kko kko nara on thursday for jm is back from down under for a week!
i missed catching up with her the last time she was in town so was really happy to see her this time round. :)
it was a really good yakking session for a few hours with topics ranging from the usual korean drama to ghost stories (seriously?!).
LOL.
and as usual, we were so engrossed in talking that we didnt take a single photo the whole night. @_@
oh well, the next time to catch up with jm will be CNY 2014..

anyway, a book caught my attention in a bookstore recently.
"the power of habit" by charles duhigg.
been awhile since i read such non-fiction books since the malcolm gladwell series (yes, i read all!).
but still reluctant to make the purchase online at bookdepository mainly due to the # of unread books still sitting on the shelves. :(

pretty curious to read more on how to break habits.
old habits really die hard.
i heard an interesting saying on habit.
take away the H, you still have ABIT.
take away the A, you still have BIT
take away the B, you still have IT!
how hard to remove a habit huh!?

anyway apart from filling up my life with time spent with loved ones (& *blah* at work) and friends, other pockets of time are usually taken up by novels, movies, dramas.
i realised recently that time on magazines have dwindled drastically....
either im on another level where i have no time for such superficial *snort* stuff or *gasp* i just have lesser time?!
i still have not finished reading aug Her World come to think of it...unthinkable.
oh well, theres another saying which i believe too:"时间就像乳沟，挤就有。" :D

some outfits for the week:

left: peplum top from topshop, cropped pants from zara

middle: top and pants from zara

right: dress from bysi

what a long day for the ng family

i think i yawned like 50+times over today!
too many activities during the day with the boys and the nights were spent chasing korean drama... :P
i just watched one of the top3 best korean dramas of my life!
no kidding, the first is queen in-hyun's man, second is gentleman's dignity and now this drama just overtook the rest to take one of the top 3 spots on my chart! - 听见你的声音.
the show is fantastic. fast paced and well-developed characters (very rare for almost ALL the characters in the show have their own stories)!
shiok!

anyway, i was very sleep deprived when i woke up this morning.
wanted to sleep more but we have to make our way to YZ's church kindy since he has a performance!
felt a little cheated as we were made to sit through more than an hour of mass before we got to see his 5-10mins performance..... @_@
next stop, we have to attend my cousin's baby 1st month celebration...
by the time we left, it was almost 3pm and we were all tired out...

BUT we were (yes..) due for yet another gathering with the in-laws at our own place.
i was sooo tired that i actually took a cat nap of 15mins in the room  when they were all chit-chatting in the living room.
the boys had a blast with their cousins though.

now they were fast asleep....
and i wonder if i should read a magazine, start a new novel or *gasp* another drama?!
i think i should just put on a mask and then sleep....

having fun in the pool (again..) with the cousin.

some outfits for the week:

left: drop-waist dress from gg5

right: top from gg5, cropped pants from zara

random stuff done with the kids during this longggg weekend.



the long weekend is already 3/4 over! i hope the boys enjoyed their time with us!

1. brought them for a dip  - we've been guilty of postponing for the longest time.
actually its me who dont fancy getting the hair wet and the prep work before and after a swim.. :P
anyway, realised YR is more at ease in the water than YZ. hmm, time for swimming classes?

2. finally, we made it to gardens by the bay!
went on thursday mid-afternoon. the weather was cool and good after the heavy downpour in the morning.
it was surprisngly not crowded in the park itself though there were queues at the domes.
we skipped the domes, wanting to just have an easy stroll round the park.
but the stroll took longer than we thought as we underestimated the size of the park...

3. we went for another round of durian feasting (our 4th/5th time, zzz)!
ate the never fail to satisfy us red prawn and black pearl for the first time.
the black pearl is surprisingly good with its creamy texture and bitter/sweet taste though its appearance really look blah. 
its a pity we missed the delivery of mao shan wang. :(

and tomorrow will be a long tiring day for us.
i hope we can hang on well till evening time!

let the imagination fly.

its has been a good 3 months since my last reading...*guilty*
and the desire to read was fanned by.....china mieville!
chanced upon this book at times book sale at parkway parade last weekend and bought it for just $6...
picked it up on monday night and it has been the best company for that 1-2 hours before slumberland for the whole working week.
finally turned the last page today and i was still reeling from the heady experience of finishing a mieville's book. as always.

his books are never easy to read.
but if you are willing to be patient with him, you will be rewarded with whole new worlds unfolding right in front of you (in your mind).
im never into fantasy genre (though his is more to pulp fiction) but his works make me realise i may be more accepting than i thought. ha.

this is my 4th book by him and im still amazed with how he conjured up all these incredible worlds with the most colorful characters in vivid details.
whatever they say about imagination having no limits, it is definitely still being shaped by our limited perception of reality.
so i like books that surprise me. throwing up images that i couldnt possibly know on my own (maybe its just me having really limited imagination...).
and i like how his books challange. worlds and characters far-flung from reality that i've to re-read the lines to grasp the descriptions, to cement the images in my mind.
new words created wholly for novel which meanings are either explained (more re-reading..) or lifted from context.
so yes, the first few chapters are often spent trying to understand the stage set and the unique lingo used.
once you get past these, you are set for the ride. which is *weeeeeeee*.

but i need a break from reading after his books everytime.
too mind-bending, too draining, too affecting.
yes, a good book takes time to recover from just like a good drama.

ending the above with my favourite lines from the book:
"Scars are not injuries. A scar is a healing.
After injury, a scar is what makes you whole"

back to reality.
another closing passed and i emerged unscathed! *yeah*
and to sweeten things, there are still sizes at zara sale. LOL.
its at 70% off stage and i didnt get anything from this time sale except a skirt when it just started..
so i was glad to find pieces i fancy at 70% off last sunday when i was at marina sq branch.
i got myself 2 blouses and a cropped pants. all for just below $120... it was too good to be true. but it is.

and i made order for (yet) another pair of spectacles when i bought my current pairS just last oct...
i know i know. but the deisgn is too pretty to let go...
got the pair from a store in Jem. it was a japanese brand with the crazy name "baka"...
still, it was a good fit for asian faces and i love the design.

will post photo when i collect it later!

some outfits for the week:

left: top & pants from gg5

right: dress from zara