GSS part 2



as i promised myself, GSS shopping will continue after the bali trip and I always keep my promise. :P

and so the shopping resumed...

I really need to stop buying stuff. it seems like im forever buying since may. @_@

 

oh well, the buys are worth it (I hope).

but again, as the husband says, do you really need all these?

I guess the answer is no.

time to focus on saving up more.....

 

so that is the damage these 2 weeks?

- dress from warehouse

- bracelet from bimba & lola

- clutch from ted baker

- zara! 1 skirt, 1 romper, 1 dress, 4 tops, 1 necklace - ok, a little over-doing it but this is my fav. brand!

 

and I saw my zara pants that I bought few weeks back on sale! argh!

I only wore it once!

zzzz.

note to myself: don't buy so close to sales period.

 

some outfits for the week:

 

left: top from gg5, skirt from zara

middle: vest from zara, top from MNG, pants from a shop in haji lane

right: top and pants from zara

 

and the late nights watching WC2014 is so tiring for me.

hubbi was very nice to give me some time-off this afternoon!

i went to get mani & pedi done as well as a  short 30m back massage... *ahh*

busy closing week coming up! hopefully it will be my last closing for the near future..

 

i like these new OPI colors! :D

i have matching colors for the toes too!

bali day 4 - Gunung kawi, tirta empul and dirty duck

this was our last day @ bali and we were staying put at bali area.

no more long-distance commuting!

after breakfast @ the resort in the morning, we took the shuttle bus to ubud centre to spend some time and had an early lunch.

top left: ubud palace

top right: ubud market - which is really nothing much and totally not my cup of tea

 

as you can see from the photos above, the husband and younger boy were wearing some (crappy in my opinion) tees bought there.

cheap yes but the quality is really zzz.

the color ran once we washed back home...@_@

 

anyway our driver came for us around 2+pm and off we go for some temple visitng!

ubud area has a lot of nice temples to visit and the area is surrounded by lush greenery with cool weather to boost.

we enjoyed the whole excursion pretty much.

@gunung kawi

 

first stop was to gunung kawi which is a temple situated at the bottom of a hill.

the walk down was easy and good scenery along the way.

but the return walk up the many many steps was.... a good workout. LOL.

we carried the boys for 1/3 of the walk up and my legs were wobbling by then... gosh.

i think the kg that I lost from the trip was from here!

 

 the stone carvings are intricate and amazing to look at

rice paddies surround the temple

 

2nd stop: tirta empul

the temple where water run all the way from the mountain to and deemed as holy by the locals.

we had to wear sarongs before entry into the temple.

even the boys had to tie some sash around their waist.

 

the water is indeed very clear and can be seen bubbling from the bottom of the pond - pretty amazing.



can see local taking a dip at most of the ponds for good luck and blessings

 

dinner for the last day @ bali was at dirty duck - a restaurant famous for bali's specialty food: crispy duck!

the restaurant was next to a rice paddy and seating arrangements are spreaded out over a huge area in pavilions.

nice setting.

as usual, we ordered quite a fair bit and left the place a little tad too full.

the only not so good thing is some mosquito bites despite burning mosquito coils set up at every table....

 



crispy duck is young ducks which is smaller.

not much meat but very tasty given the crispy texture

 

we headed back to the hotel pretty early around 7+pm given that it was a long day for everyone.

I went for a good massage back at the resort while the boys and hubbi lazed around watching hbo in the evening.

win-win situation. hehe.

 

so jun trip was done and a good one too.

its time to start planning the itinerary for the next one in sept!

only accom and air tickets booked. I need to start scouting for places of interests and especially restaurants to go to!

yeah!

ITA vs URG - ciao my azzurris

again, like WC2010, ITA didn't manage to go into the last 16.
though better than the last WC where they exited with shame after managing miserable draws with PAR & NZ (what?!) and a defeat to SLO.
its really pretty sad this time round too if you ask me.
a great start with a 2-1 win over ENG, I have high hopes for them despite knowing the team for this WC is not exactly stellar.
to be honest, I didn't manage to catch the match with costa rica so the loss was a total shock to me.
reports hinted overconfidence at work but I will never know.

and tuesday's match with URU broke my heart. :(
ITA deserves their defeat to URU if you ask me.
putting aside all the shameful tactics that both employed, the match shows plentifully why ITA wont go on and lift the cup even if they proceed through.
uninspiring forwards, mediocre defenders (I miss malindi & canavaro's times!) don't help even if their attacking midfielders remain solid and creative.

and instead of focusing on set pieces and capitalizing on their long shots passing accuracy to secure a win, they started the game half-heartedly as if undecided between pushing for a win or settling for a draw.
after which, the non-stop attempts to play fouls and diving is totally uncalled for.
ITA has a lot going for them typically until they get distracted with all the hot-headed nonsense.
disappointing.
even #23 pirlo is no better - the smack to Suarez's jaws was either ingenious or plain devious.

and with marchisio's exit, the turn of event was as expected.
ball possession no longer in ITA, action consistently in ITA's box and ITA's pulling back more often than pushing forward.
frustrating match to watch. :(

if prandelli cant give the team a clear direction and get the players to rise above the heat, then it's a good thing he stepped down too.

so ciao, my azzurris.
see you again in 4 years time.
hope you have a much better team and coach then...

ending the post with my golden italiano boy for this WC: #8 marchisio.
I still think the red card is a bit too harsh for his tackling.

looking absolutely godly on this GQ cover

out-of-the-world blue eyes

bali day 3 - seminyak



we went for a dip at the resort pool after brekkie in the morning.

despite the seemingly strong sunlight, the weather was cool and the water chilly. *brr*

i try to keep the head above water when swimming.. too cold!

the boys had fun playing with water though.

 



the boys taking a break watching tv after waterplay and bathing

 

our driver picked us up at 11ish and we headed out for lunch!

venue was at naughty nuri's which my friend recommended for their ribs.

i found it so-so, perhaps im never a big ribs eater.

the desserts was yummy - fried bananas with vanilla ice cream! *yum*

bottom right: eat pay leave.

lol. how apt for the small eatery place

 

given the crazy travelling time from ubud to kuta/seminyak, i decided to skip tanah lot which was originally on the itinerary.

i guess we would beat ourselves up too much over missing it.

there is always next time i guess. :P

we headed straight to seminyak today and the journey was slightly better - travelling time was a little over an hour+.

 

 

@ seminyak

 

our driver dropped us at seminyak area and we spent a good few hours strolling along the streets.

i think seminyak is more my cup of tea.

less crowded and rowdy, more upscale stuff though nothing much for me to shop still. ha.

 

at around 5, our driver sent us to the Samaya as we had a dinner reservations later.

before dinner, we spent some time on the beach in front of the Samaya!

almost like a private beach (though its accessible by public) with much lesser crowds and much cleaner sand this time round!

i like!

all of us enjoyed our time here.



maybe next time we can consider staying here!

 

dinner @ breeze was by the waterfront.

very nice ambience until it got dark and i cant really see what im eating lol.

to me, my cod was the best meal for the whole trip though on an overall level, i found bridges food nicer than here.

 

after dinner, we slowly made our way back to the resort.

traffic was better in the evening and we reached in an hour+ time.

the boys snoozed pretty soon after their baths leaving the husband and me to spend some time watching HBO eating chips. hehehe.

 

the next day we will be visiting temples and spending more time in ubud.

yes, less commuting around!

ARG vs IRN - is his time finally here?

when messi first bursted into the WC scene 8 years back in 2006, he was touted as maradona's successor and all the hype.
but he entered and exited WC2006 rather quietly if you ask me.
not exactly surprising given the years of experience he had then but I was telling myself that he had at least 3 more WCs in his career life after that to prove himself.
to be honest, his performance in WC2010 was rather lacklustre if you ask me.
ARG teamwork doesn't seem to be there and you just aint feeling the respect and support from the members for him.

but the winning goal in the extra time tonight!
that is brilliant - and a leftie no less! (I have something for leftie goals)
still, IRN's efforts were commendable for tonight.
they did a good job defending and even with lesser ball possession, their shots on target were actually better than those by ARG.
im getting curious with IRN #21 Dejagah.
he was keeping the team tight with  his crosses and as the attacking midfielder, he was doing a good job at the front too.

anyway good job messi!

Bali day 2 - Buggy, Kuta

day 2 of our trip, we had a special program lined up for the husband in the morning!

we woke up very early to have our brekkie at 7.30am for a driver was coming to pick us up at 8am sharp!

 

our room is on the 2nd floor.

lush surroundings in our resort

brekkie selection is good and the boys enjoyed them very much

 

we were heading out for our buggy ride excursion!

it was a good 45mins into the heart of ubud to the adventure site. @_@

over there, we were given a briefing and asked to practice 4-5 rounds around the compound before we were good to set off for the adventure!

 

I guess I have underestimated the whole thing.

the actual journey was much tougher than the training loops!

the terrain was much more uneven with up to 45 degree up and down slopes!

and bends which you can veer off course and fell down the slopes.

very dangerous if you ask me. :(

oh, and so so so dusty and muddy! argh! we were covered from head to toes in a thick layer of dust at the end of it all....

buggy-riding

we already chose the safer choice of vehicles - buggy instead of the ATV (the red vehicle in the top picture) which operates very much like a bike.

imagine me fumbling over the gears while flying down a slope with YR hanging on behind me with NO straps!

impossible!

 

the only redemption of the whole excursion is the scenery along the way and we got to see local villages and farm animals up close.

ok, for the husband and the elder boy, they found the high speed adrenaline-pumping. @_@

 

lush green scenery along the way!

 



after an early lunch, we were back at our resort to bath and rest abit before venturing out to kuta in the afternoon.

the traffic to kuta was atrocious and it took us almost 1.5hrs to reach. @_@

personally, I don't find kuta attractive at all.

too many cheap knock-offs, too many rowdy tourists with beer bottles in their hands around, dirty beach and all.....

still, the sunset is indeed more gorgeous here.



crowded, less than desirable dirty beach...

 

the nice sunset

 



we found a shopping mall at kuta that must definitely be opened by a Singaporean!
imagine seeing pepper lunch, fish & co, blackball etc in the shopping mall....
dinner was at this KORI restaurant which serves value for money food in a nice setting.

 

the garlic bread here is totally yummy!

my barramundi is a tad dry though.

 

by the time we reached our resort and concluded this super tiring day, the boys were all ready to sleep after they bathed!

hubbi and I didn't last very long too.. we hit the sack before 11am too!

has it only been 3 days?!

yes, that's the question that struck me in the middle of yesterday!
since coming back to work on Monday and easing into the new role, it has been bullet-train speed for me!
meetings back-to-back to attend, tons of information to be digested, emails to be drafted and sent out, sessions to be coordinated and requests to attend to. *sweat*
gosh.
has it only been 3 days since I took on the new role?
even the other colleagues commented that I've been up and down the internal staircase more times than ever in a day.. @_@

but surprisingly I am welcoming all these "good" stress and challenges.
it's really been a long time since I felt challenged and motivated to do more.
and the new role allows me to have privy to whole new level of information which helps me to connect the dots in the bigger picture.
also, working under a positive and on-the-ball boss rubs off positively on me too.

work satisfaction is on all time high now which is awesome.
the million dollars question is of cos how long will this last. :P
we shall see, I guess.

Bali day 1 - Ubud

the ng family moved out of the house early in the wee morning on Wednesday, all ready for our bali getaway!

5.30am to be exact. @_@

we had a 7+am flight to catch and we are lucky that our house is just a 10mins stone throw from airport when there is no traffic in the early morning.

 

smooth flight and by 10am, we landed @ Denpasar airport. :D

it's first time to bali for all of us!

 

our driver was there waiting for us - finally i have a chance to have someone waiting with my name sign at the arrival gate. LOL.

our arrangement was for the driver to drop us off for lunch before sending us to our resort.

 

when I planned my itinerary, I thought bali aint too big.

with ubud only around 30-40km from kuta, how long can it takes to commute places to places?

I thought wrong. I didn't know the roads are mostly devoid of traffic lights, lanes so narrow sometimes you have to stop to let the opposite side vehicles pass first etc. :(

we were mostly travelling at 20km/hr (no kidding!) and maximum of 70km/hr (and that is very very RARELY).

 

and so, we took almost 1.5hr to reach our lunch venue @ ubud from the airport....

timing wise, it played out fine since it's a lunch stop.

 

lunch venue was at melting wok warung.

heard good reviews for this warung which is opened by a French lady with her Laos husband as the cook.

menu is pretty limited but the food is good!

 

ordered curry with pork & fish stir-fry with brinjal

desserts were crepe with chocolate & crème caramel with coconut sauce

 

the crepes with chocolate is especially yummy.

simple dish but so good. the crepes were warm and soft when served and the vanilla with chocolate chips ice-cream was milky and thick.

*thumbs up*

 and the pricing is very reasonable ~ S$30 perhaps?

 

after lunch, we had a walk around this part of ubud centre.

typical Balinese architecture. 

YR having fun taking photos.

noticed how his socks were pulled up high?

the boys did that cos they saw the big ants on the pavement and wanted to protect their legs.. @_@

our driver sent us to our resort after that which is another 15mins from ubud centre!
im starting to regret my decision to book this resort until we arrived.
its location is really not that desirable though to be fair, it was already highlighted during my research that it's nowhere central but its draw points are its tranquility and peaceful surroundings.
and the resort is indeed a haven tucked away in a lush setting with rice paddies in its view.
in the days that followed, im impresses with the hospitability shown to us by the staff as well.

our room was not yet ready, so we were ushered to the restaurant for welcome drinks.

they gave us flowers to put behind our ear! even the husband had one.

in the end, the boys wanted 2 flowers each.. LOL

 

panorama view from the restaurant

 

finally we checked in at 2+pm and took our time to nua in our room.

after some time, we finally bathed and moved out for afternoon tea!

afternoon tea was provided FOC at the resort daily.

not too sure if the menu will change but we only had 1 chance to try it on the first day.. ha.



left: freshened up and ready to move out!

right: tea break at hotel

 

we took the hotel shuttle bus to ubud centre at 4pm.

there were really nothing much at ubud centre if you ask me. :P

but we were on a mission hunting down the dinner venue for the night - bridges!

and we realized how the name came about for it is located next to a bridge so if you are seated at the right place, you have a good view of the scenery under the bridge.

through the entrance of the restaurant next to the bridge, you actually descend to the main part of the restaurant for the tables.



middle: nice view!

bottom left: huge foie gras!

bottom right: our mains

 

this meal ended up the most expensive of all for the whole trip ~ S$150 for 4 of us which is pretty hefty for balinese standards but the food is nothing short of fine dining standard if you ask me!

and we ordered quite a fair bit.

entrees: wagyu beef, foie gras

mains: barramundi for me, lamb shank for hubbi, pasta and chicken for the boys

I cant remember what desserts we had. even a glass of wine for me!

they even had palate cleansing sherbet for all of us. pretty impressive.

 

and that concluded the first day at bali for us - a foodie one no doubt!

we are back!

yeah, we are back from our 4D4N bali trip.
virgin trip to bali for all of us.
not as relaxing as I thought but again, who am I kidding?! relaxing with the 2 boys?
again, I think im being overambitious with my planning - leaving us tired out most of the days.. we were sound asleep by 10.30pm almost all the nights! LOL

anyway, a big thanks to the husband for sponsoring most of this trip - he paid for the air tickets and accommodations!
i paid for the other expenses which are mainly food (a good thing for i got to choose all the restaurants i want!) and the buggy rides (which is really for hubbi...).

more on the trip in later posts.
need to get all the unpacking and washing done.
need to sleep earlier tonight for  a long week at work ahead. *boo*

oh, and we are heading out for father's day dinner too.
though hubbi said he had enough of rich savory food in bali that he just wanted something simple at simpang bedok. ha.
so we are heading there for dinner now!

tata!

under the weather..

argh! just before the trip, I have to feel under the weather.. :(

was on MC yesterday for sore throat and flu.

though im feeling much better now, I hope the symptoms wont worsen during the upcoming trip.

 

and im officially moving on to a new role at work next week.

a little apprehensive with the fluid and slightly ambiguous job scope but nevertheless feeling geared up with the challenges that come with it.

will I rise above the occasion or drown in time to come...?

only time will tell.

for now, I say go with the flow and enjoy the ride. :)

 

some outfits for the last few days:

 

left: top from topship, pants from zara

right: basic top from uniqlo, vest from soon lee, pants from zara

 

disclaimer: these 2 pants are NOT the same. one is more cropped than the other.

lego day for the ng family!

it was a fantastic, albeit back-breaking (more for me), day for the ng family yesterday!

we woke up pretty early, went for a mac brekkie, did our grocery shopping and attended the parents-teacher session for YR at his childcare - all before noon!

good job!

after lunch and back at home, we got down to the interesting part - lego building!

 

ok, more of me doing the building.

the boys did alternated between that, playing with other stuff, lazing around etc.

bless their backs.

bending over building bricks is really not an easy task.

my fingertips were all sore and swollen by evening time..

not to mention a lonely one. :(

 

blurred photo of my black pearl!

 

it really look much much better in real life. pardon the blur photo.

arrowed the husband to re-assemble it and did a check if all the pieces are intact.

since it's built 2 years back, it has been the plaything for the boys though we had explicitly told them not to dismantle it and never, never lose a piece.

the husband will do a check every now and then and its a good thing that all is good!

it's time to put it somewhere safer.

just realized recently the price for this black pearl has rose to a crazy $450 (think lego has discontinued the range)!

i think we bought it for around $150 from Germany 2 years back....



http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Palace-Cinema-10232

 

and I spent almost the whole day (think come close to 7-8 hours...) to assemble my Palace cinema!
it was the first modular set that I've fallen in love with, thanks to my love for movies.
the boys were excited and helped me for ..... only awhile before their interests went elsewhere.
as I said, it's a lonely activity..

anyway, the finished product is lovely!
though its more like gothic architecture, gorgeous on the outside but a little bare inside.
still, there are some delightful parts within the walls. :D

1st floor boosts more interesting details

top left: movie posters on the outside

top right: ticket booths exterior where the dollar brick can slip through under the glass pane!

bottom left: ticket booths interior

bottom right: snack bar - see the cupcakes holder at the left? the bottles on the right? :D

 

left: the "PALACE" billboard is fingers-numbing hard... all the small parts.. @_@

right: the theatre itself on the 2nd floor completed with reclining seats. *Hoot*

 

and of cos, its not completed at 1 shot..

we went for some water fun at the pool in the late afternoon and yummy dinner at simpang bedok.

the boys had their own fun in the afternoon too.

they were busy building their own lego - the CHIMA set that hubbi bought for them.

to be honest, the set looks good and i'm impressed that the boys can build on their own given the recommended age group is 8-14 for this one.

 

they are only half-way through.. I hope the end results look as good as what's on the box!



the new chima mammoth set!

 

i wonder when I will start the Parisian restaurant.

perhaps before the school holidays end. I know the elder boy is very keen to help me with it. :P

and oh, I bought yet another set online from Amazon. :P

the pet shop set..

anyone keen to buy the emporium set for me? hehe.

an afternoon off - spending time with my boys

yeah, I was on PM leave today!

the husband came to pick me up at work with the boys around lunch time and off we went to plaza sing.

the plan was to catch "Maleficent".

before the show, we were pleasantly surprised to see some booths at the square on level 1.

these booths were selling snacks and showcasing games from yesteryears (my childhood era)!

think zero-point, country "rubber" (the one that you flip to end on top of your opponent's erasure), pick up sticks etc!

the boys found all these fascinating as they walked around seeing how the games are played.

and I bought snacks like ovaltine, white rabbit sweets, polo sweets etc.

my fav. toy would be the one that you blow bubbles out from a tube which smell all chemical and nasty. :P

hubbi didn't want me to buy for the boys to try as those are toxic...

but, we all grow up fine that way right?!

 

@ the booths - vespas!

 

 

after the show, we left for bedok mall.

the ng family has a sudden craving for tim ho wan and the queue at plaza sing is atrocious!

and as usual after dinner, we ended up at the lego store there.

I almost ended up buying yet another set but a personal boo boo convinced me not to in the end.

BUT the husband, in a good mood or so, decided to buy the boys a CHIMA set.

*tsktsk*

I don't like buying toys for the boys for no reason.

but its rare that hubbi want to buy anything for the boys on his own accord so I just let him be.

YZ & YR are now busy building lego as I typed... @_@

 

 

yeah, the weekend is about to start properly tomorrow.

I want to catch up with all my reading, watching and playing. :P

 

 

some outfits for the week:

 

left: top from gg5, skirt from bysi

middle: top from HK, skirt from bysi

right: dress from Massimo dutti, perforated belt from gg5

updates on the work front

its closing once again!
but I was good to leave the office by 7pm this Monday. :D
work was pretty manageable for now.
my stint at the other team is coming to an end soon - 1 more month max to go I presume.
now im in the midst of handing over stuff to the new contract...

and its pretty much confirmed that im really moving on to another role.
seems like a good move at this point of time but really too early to say.
perhaps another 6 months down the road, I will have a better picture.

and I went jogging with the colls this evening!
wow!
it  was surprisingly a good jog from the office to marine barrage and back.
the weather was cool after a whole afternoon of raining.
think I ran around 4.2km slightly under 32mins...
not fantastic but I was happy that I didn't stop running at all the whole time (though at 1 point my speed was slower than the fast walking tourists around me... jeez).
no mind, a good start!
lets see if I can continue to join 'em at least twice a month going forward. :P