start of something good?

i have decided to start doing something to my muffin top!
and so far for this week it has been a good start but of cos the question is always how long can I sustain it?
knowing me, always eager to start something new and seldom having the determination and willpower to follow through....

oh well, we shall see how it goes.

and so I managed to wake up bright and (not so) cheery at 6+am on mon, tue and today to hit the gym for a short run on the treadmill!
25m 3.5km, 23m 3.25km, 25m 3.5km respectively.
slow easy jog for others but quite a feat for me. :P
going to rest during the weekend and hopefully I can do another 3 runs next week.
or maybe not, since the ng family is going for our family trip on wed. :P
oh well, I will just try to stay active during the trip.

the perks about waking up early is you really start the day fresh.
I like how im able to prepare for work unrushed and arrive at workplace with a clearer mind.
but by 3/4 pm, I feel like a walking dead. especially when there are back to back meetings....

perhaps just a matter of getting used to it.
the body and mind need to get adjusted too!
and I realized exercising eats up time. I need to be in bed by 11pm given I'm so drained by then so there goes my k-drama/variety time too. :(

for health and happiness - I shall persevere!

a good week

it has been a rather uneventful week but for a working week that can be good news, no?

still, there are always the happy moments to relish and fall back on to brighten up an otherwise drab and routine week.

lunch with nelly after we last saw each other at her wedding 2 years back! glad to know that she has joined a new company in the same office tower as me! more lunch dates with this dear friend of mine.

lunch with suz - great catching up with her though we will be seeing her real soon in 2 weeks time when she returned to work after her longgg maternity leave. :P

went for my bi-weekly jog and even though we cut short the jog due to impending drizzle, we still managed to run 3+km which is good enough for me!

the elder boy needs to be in school by 7.20am today! what a change from his usual afternoon session.. the whole family woke up early to send him to school. after which hubbi and I spent quality time having breakfast with YR.

and I left work earlier today to join some colls to the new sports hub as a supporter- they were playing badminton there. the new sports hub looks good and spacious!

left at 6+pm to meet up with the husband and the boys and we had a good dinner at bedok town centre before spending some time at the library.

 

I like doing the above. counting stock of the little happy stuff makes me feel that the week has been a good one and not just another week zooming past. :)



 

happy with his chee cheong fun

some outfits for the week:

left: top and pants from zara

middle: dress and belt from gg5

right: top from gg5, pants from zara

EXO : XOXO



 

the ng family went to kallang wave mall for dinner and also to take a look at the new stadium.

it's not my first time there since sun yanzi's concert was held here but this is the first time im seeing it as it is.

it sure looks good though the soccer field seems smaller than it should be? just an optical illusion perhaps. 

 

happy boys

 

so why were we there? that is because they have to drop mummy off to watch her concert at the indoor stadium later in the evening! hehehe.

the long awaited EXO concert was finally here! :P

 

the gates were supposed to be opened by 6pm but obviously it was not done so. that resulted in snaking long queues before we can settle down in our seats!

we only managed to get in like 10mins before the concert started..

 

the concert! it was crazy sitting among girls mostly half my age who were screaming their heads off...

to counter that and saving my eardrums from bursting, I have to scream too right? LOL

 

still, I think the concert was a superd one - thoroughly enjoyable.

can see the organizing team puts in a lot of effort in coming out with the sequences and performance items. im suitably impressed.

and it surely helps that we are seated close to a mini stage so we can see the boys upclose..:D

 



 

ms chan and me - happy groupies!

 EXO members! from top left in clockwise direction:
tao, xiumin, D.O., lay

but Korean concerts are too expensive to go on a regular basis....I went for this one since I get to see 11 of them so it's more value for money?
if only B1A4 will come to Singapore! well, one can wish right?

excursion trip with the younger boy - philatelic museum!

 

off day for me again today - hiaks.
people are always commenting how often im on leave or so but it's just a case of me not saving up huge number of leaves to carry forward to the next year.
I don't see the point in that, bulk of a year's leave should be used appropriately within the year.
actually with the annual leave and childcare leave that most parents are entitled, it's more than reasonable/enough to take 1.5 days off every month and yet still has enough leave to go for a short (2-3 days) and a long (6-10days?) trips during the year?
and of cos we don't take 2 days off every month and of cos we try to overlap with weekends for trips. so really, most people leave should be more than enough for them to take a break at least every other month.
worst is those who don't and c/f leave just so they can expired!

ok, so the younger boy is having a mini excursion to the philatelic museum with his school.
I took leave to accompany him so that after that, we can head out and spend some time with the husband (who took PM leave to join us!).
comparing to yz, we actually spend much lesser time with him alone - I was definitely doing more such things when yz was in learning vision back then.

happy boy and me on the excursion bus

 

we reached the museum slightly before 10am and the kids had fun with the museum staff who facilitated some interesting learning games with the 2 nursery classes.

I took the opportunity to take tour round the museum which is pretty small and nothing much. :P

 

the bus was here at 12+ to pick the kids back to school and we bade farewell to his teachers and classmates from there.

met up with hubbi who came to fetch us and off we go to town! :D

 

@ ion

 

 

it was amazing how many people were in town - don't anyone have to work or go to school?

simple walking around and stopping often to snack on this and that.

it was good time spent together with the younger boy.

we had an early dinner @ saveur at far east before heading to yz school to fetch him direct.

 

quiet evening of the boys playing on their own and us catching up on housework.

rest of weekend ahead. this is good!

 

some outfits for the week:

left: top from axara, cropped pants from zara

middle: top and skirt from gg5

right: romper from warehouse

stay-at-home weekend once again

just 1 week after recovering from sore throat and fever, yz is down with stomach flu this week. :(
it started early this week when he complained of tummy ache and mild fever came along.
so he was on MC on Tuesday but luckily was well enough to attend school on wed for his mini English test.
and thankfully, there were no school for both thurs and fri due to PSLE so he could rest more at mum's place.

but the fever was ranging high and he was having loose stools a few times a day during those 2 days too. :(
luckily, all the symptoms finally subsided this weekend and it seems like the rest of the family didn't get the virus from him.

but this episode got me thinking of kids falling sick during exam period.
so stressful for if the child is unwell enough to go to school, there is either no re-taking so grades are taken pro-rated from other tests or re-taking of tests by sitting in the class alone?
and if the child is well enough to take the test but not fully recovered, surely the performance will be affected?
ha, it's actually not much of a concern when I WAS the kid having to take exams back then..
but now I worry for the boys. zzzz

there is a time and place for everything so maybe no point sweating over such stuff prematurely.
ok, let's move on!

new look for the living room

 

ok, nothing drastic - just a new carpet.

finally we got rid of the old one which is very new and in mint condition since it's only 2 years old...

but it has been shedding too much for the husband so bye bye to it...

 

it was actually hard work just changing a carpet even though hubbi did most of the work.

I forgot how heavy our coffee table is - shifting the tempered glass almost break my back!

then hubbi moved the sofa and what's under it may be better off left alone.. @_@

but he did the vacuuming and then its rolling out the carpet and another round of vacuuming.

followed by shifting back of sofa and coffee table.. zzz

 

but I like the new carpet! some dashes of colors to our otherwise plain living room.

i wonder when can we change our sofa - it's coming to 8 years old!!

im drooling over those buttery soft leather sofas whenever I see them in furniture shops.

though I must admit fabric sofa is much easier to maintain...

 

long weekend is the best!

 

long weekend is the best! non-work time to catch up with loads of stuff - I like!

the long weekend started from Friday evening when I left the office with my ex-team to vivo for dinner at the very yummy tajimaya yakiniku for wagyu beef and pork grill.

and of cos.... sake. hehe.

it was all fun and laughter chatting up all kind of crap until 10plus when we adjourned to st james or whatever it is now.

it has been so long since I was there.

we just wanted somewhere for more drinks and dancing so it was a natural choice.

however, alcohol and old age is not a combi so we left the place at 1+am. just too tired.

though I went to bed that night feeling shitty and the same the next morning, it was still a very fun night with the crazy bunch! :D

 

Saturday was a peaceful one. as I said, I was really "recuperating" at home from the night before.

and we really spent the whole day at home.

the boys busy playing with their lego, doing some homework and watching tv to their heart contents. ha!

for me, the best moment is chomping on the oily chicken rice that hubbi tabao for me.

that always work wonder to remove any queasiness leftover from last night drinking! shiok!

 

cartoons and more cartoons on a holiday!

 

the ng family watched the parade on tv and I must admit even if im not physically at the parade itself, it is still moving at moments nevertheless.

I got so emotionally charged up when I saw the last parachutist touched down safely! good job!

and no matter what the hype is gonna be for SG50 next year round, i think this year's parade is truly a wonderful one. I feel the heart is in the right place, I feel the change the government is trying to show, and lastly I really feel my own love for my country.

happy birthday, Singapore. Home, always.

 

and we had yummy mac delivery to go with the parade!

yeah, shiok shiok satay! (no, we didn't have that..)

 

yesterday, we headed out to town after lunch at my in-laws place.

been a long time since I last went town!

finally we had the chance to check out the new orchard gateway!

at first glance, not too bad. seems to sell stuff that I dig.

still, a challenge to shop with the boys+man. @_@

 

but those who know me, I'll have my way. so the damage is:

- a top from gg5

- funky (think neon yellow, pokka dots) socks from chocoolate

- lip balm from Dr GL

 

and we caught guardians of the galaxy after dinner!

what a hilarious fun show! and awesome mix indeed.

we were listening to the soundtrack on youtube on our way back home- even the boys like them.

chris pratt is surprisingly charismatic after the pounds are gone! I cant wait for the sequel really. :)

it will be fun if peter quill ever meet tony stark!

 

and today, we went carpet shopping after lunch.

finally, the husband decided he has enough of our carpet - it just wont shredding no matter how he vacuum in the past 2 years+ :P

oh well, so we went to a direct carpet supplier and after hubbi affirmed its quality, I chose the design, we concluded the transaction chop chop. :D

 

and it's onwards to vivo after that!

more shopping for me and pigging out time with the boys - basically they chose what they want to eat and I just pay (luckily their taste is cheap - texas chicken, ichiban boshi etc)

hubbi went to meet his reservist mates for a free movie (expendables 3...) on army's tab.

 

and I got myself 1 more top and dress from gg5 + romper from warehouse.

what a good long weekend! :D

 

some outfits for the week:

 

left: top from gg5, skirt from zara

right: top from uniqlo, skorts from zara

new haircut!

finally made time to get a haircut - the weather is just too hot for words at time.

not as short as I wanted initially but as usual when the hairdresser said he was done, i just went along and make payment.

no time to do a proper assessment.

not when I need to rush home to the 3 boys home..

never mind, it will do for now!

 

lighter head!

a surprise from the husband

hubbi is having his reservist these 2 weeks - half the time he is able to book out early and spend the late afternoon slacking at home or out catching a  movie on his own...

tsk tsk. super envious can!

 

so when he watsapp me in the late afternoon that he has a surprise for me, I was really thinking along the line of a pack of cookie from famous amos from tampines.

when he did the "tadah" thing at dinner, i was so happy to see the keychain that I had wanted for a long time - spongbob in superhero gear!

I first saw this at a lego store in HK 1 year+ back, didn't get it cos it was overpriced there.

and since then, I've been trying to find it in SG to no avail. what we have here is usually the normal spongbob.

and getting it from amazon doesn't make sense after the shipping charges kick in.

 

so when the hubbi happened to chance upon it this afternoon at the usual lego store we visit at century square, he was surprised to see it there for we have hunted for it there previously too.

and he got it without any seconds thoughts. :D

 

a small gesture but really make my evening.

 

the husband does have me in his mind.

 

someone commented that spongbob seems to be more muscular here - do you think so?

the ng family going crazy with LEGO

having a new obsession is never good.
and its worse when the obsession in point is LEGO. @_@

since I started buying the first expert modular set earlier this year, there is no turning back.
and im not sure who is influencing who but it seems like the whole ng family is going crazy with LEGO!
the husband with his Star wars sets, the boys with the usual kids range - Chima, Ninjago and recently YZ started looking at the City range! *tsktsk*

for me, it's always buildings, ships or rails.
and so this month, I got myself another 2 sets!
seriously, I think LEGO has taken over my interest in shopping for clothings (at least for these 2 months!).
my coll managed to help me get the Grand Emporium for just $260 from HK when it costs a hefty $340 in SG. *yeah*
and today, I just made another purchase for the Haunted House on Amazon.
with shipping, it's $290 compared to $370 in SG!
the husband is very sweet to subsidized that even though he was against me from making yet another LEGO purchase so soon. :P

but if you are into LEGO or appreciate anything that is exquisitely made, then you will understand why the obsession.
whenever I finished a set, I just want to shrink myself small so I can explore the set better! haha.

I finished the Parisian restaurant over the long weekend last week and it's interior could be one of the best for all modular sets!
and it has joined the rest.
see, so chio!

top: joining up with the movie palace and pet shop

bottom: the first floor is full of details! if you can take a closer look at the kitchen!

you never stop worrying when it comes to kids

the past few weeks have been tough when it comes to sending the younger boy to school.

he kept insisting that he will wake up with nightmares after his afternoon naps and wont stop crying.

at first, he didn't know the word "nightmare" and could only tell the teacher that his head hurts in relation to the "monsters" that he thought of..

and when the teacher called to inform the clueless mummy at work, she was scared out of her wits thinking did he have a fall or has he fallen sick.

by the time I rushed to my mum's place (she went to fetch him straight after the update by the teacher), she had managed to decipher the "headache". @_@

 

and the saga didn't end there.

when we dropped him to school every morning, he would start crying hysterically saying he was scared of school and the nightmares. :(

it would be so heartbreaking for me to see him in tears and sweat before being brought in by the teachers, half cajoling half carrying.

he is 4.5YO, this shouldn't be happening when he has always been happy to go school in the past.

 

it took us a few days and lots of incessant questioning before we got to the root of the problem - he was actually afraid of his form teacher.

why? because she disciplined his friends and him by sending them to the "naughty corner" in the principle office. zzzz.

 

it took us another 2 weeks of talking, persuasion, bribery (using M&M) etc before we convinced him (almost) that school is good to attend, his form teacher is keen to be friends with him and perfectly right to discipline him since he was play-fighting with his friends in the first place.

 

since the start of the week, he has stopped the tears but you can see that he is still apprehensive of attending school.

but there is no longer mentions of the "nightmares" which im glad to some extent its just an excuse for his fear of his form teacher.

we have talked to the form teacher and she has been reaching out to him in her own way and we find that he is more eager to talk about her now than previously.

 

this episode came as a surprise to me for I've always thought YZ to be the more sensitive and fearful one of them two.

so from now, I've to remind myself that YR is really just a 4.5YO little boy who needs more attention and effort at times too.

 

motherhood - you never stop learning for sure.

 

my little baobei

jul and aug - the dry months of a year.

when they are over, it will feel like we are hurtling towards the end of another year again.

jul is almost over sadly, so what can I look forward to in the month of aug?

2 public holidays so I better think of something to do with the boys - nothing fanciful but hopefully enjoyable for them.

oh, im excited about a concert too! im going to exo's concert! LOL

but those who know them, you will know them.

for the uninitiated, you wont appreciate my decision anyway. :P

but im excited, I think it will be an interesting and entertaining concert! :D

 

some outfits for the week:

left: dress from warehouse

middle: top from gg5, skirt from zara

right: top from zara, shorts from topshop

oops i did it again!

yes, the ng family nov family trip is decided and I have booked the air tickets and accommodations tonight! *woohoo*
early start again, huh? a good 4 months ahead - not as bad as it sounds?
in any case, the cash savings more than justify the *kiasu* early booking. :P
SQ is having promo and the available seats are getting lesser and lesser by the days (yes, I did monitored) and the usual prices are atrociously high if you miss the deal now.
the prices for our family of 4 is $1.6k(!) cheaper if you book now vs the usual prices - which is pretty much the whole of Dec month...
so we are having our family trip during the last 2 weeks of nov which is also the school holidays but much much cheaper as compared to going in Dec.
the savings can go into better accom and other stuff I guess.

im getting excited doing up the nov itinerary now but I guess I should start the planning for the upcoming sept trip instead! @_@
apart from air tic and accom settled, I have no idea what we are going to do/where to eat for the 5D4N trip...
2014 is a good travel year for me - HK in mar, Bali in Jun and upcoming trips in sept & nov! :D

another week...



it has been a busy week for me at work..

though my boss is on holidays, I don't have an easier time at work contrary to what others think.

in fact, I think things will be easier if she's around..

and it was a tiring week as well.

I went for a jog on Thursday - 4.2km at 33m @_@ - and fire drill on Friday had us walking down 47 floors!

oh well, hectic week is over and I think the coming week should be a slower one.

 

met up with the gang for tanny's bday lunch.

brought YR along and he was pretty good for the few hours. :D

some of us adjourned to Candice's house to visit her.

2 months old Shayne is really adorable. ahh.. I miss holding a baby in my arms. :) 

hubbi & YZ came fetched me at 6pm and we had a lazy evening watching tv at home....

 

 

taken by tanny

peeps were amazed at how ready he was to pose infront of the camera. tsk tsk

 

some outfits for the week:



left: top and shorts from zara

right: cardi & dress from zara

zara should pay me commission....

weekend with the boys - stuff we do apart from bursting my blood vessels

it has been a good working week for me this week.. :)

last closing (hopefully, fingers crossed) for me as I take on more tasks for the new role.

 

friday was a cheery day especially as hubbi came to fetch me from work with the boys!

the ng family was heading to great world city for T4 movie event organised by the husband's company.

we were looking forward to it for the longest time as we were all huge fans of the first transformers trilogy.

but sadly, the latest installment is a total crap wasting 2.5 hours of my life. pui.

incoherent plot, cheesy lines and totally senseless!

i actually lol at the later part where it was all chaos with lockdown hunting down the autobots AND that old man was still lurking around trying to take out mark wahlberg's character!?!?

totally nonsensical!!!

the boys enjoyed it still though its pure torture for hubbi and me. @_@

 

and tonight we decided to head out to 85 market (despite my late night supper there just yesterday!) for dinner. hehe.

bad planning and we ended up taking 20mins to look for a parking space.

by the time we had a table and proceeded to make orders, we were told by all stalls that we need to wait at least 30-40mins!

I don't mind that much feeling its all worth it for the good food but the husband's patience was running out by the minute..

it was 9pm when we finished our food haha.

but I think the boys enjoyed the yummy food - carrot cake, otah, bak chor mee, porridge etc- and so did I!

though the next time we should reach the place early like 530pm to avoid the crazy crowd....

 

and its youth day tomorrow so I've taken the day off to spend time with the boys.

hmm.. where should we go?

 

some outfits for the week:

 

 

left: top and cropped pants from zara

middle: top from zara, jeans from 7 for all mankind

right: top from bysi, skirt from zara

steph sun concert!

yeah, attended steph sun's concert yesterday.

my first time attending her concert and I must say im quite surprised with her performance.

it was good.

though I would have prefer her to sing more slow songs, it was still an energetic and good 2.5hrs performance put up!

 

and it seems like the whole world was there as well from all the FB posts. LOL.

I guess most of my age group peeps were there. hehehe.

 

next concert: Mayday @ F1?

 

top: with Alvin and jt!

and of cos after a concert, famished us have to head out for supper.
it was onwards to 85 market at bedok!
nothing beats pipping hot bak chor mee at midnight. :P

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