if only everything is as easy as gaining pounds

and so, all it took is just 1 month of feasting without care to gain that 2+kg! and it took me almost 4 months of excruciating watching of calories before I lost the same 2kgs late last year. what the....!!
but to go back time and say no to those bah kwas, pineapple tarts, prawn rolls, prawn crackers, kueh lapis.. I cant do it. :P

ok, back to watching what im eating again and have to get the brisk walk routine up and going once more...

anyway, met up with hubbi's friends for dinner and lo hei @ uncle leong seafood place last sunday. the crab was quite good though nothing fantastic. now im craving for a chilli crab dinner where I can have the whole crab by myself! *slurp*

some photos from that night:

I will be meeting up with my own friends for CNY this coming weekend - yeah! cant wait for that.

some outfits for these 2 weeks:

left: dress from zara

middle: pullover from seoul, jeans from 7forallmankind

right: top from bimba&lola, cropped pants from zara

紅樓夢What Is Sex?

caught this performance at esplanade theatres yesterday with the husband. though not an easy performance to understand, I found myself enjoying certain segments. rather thought provoking in fact. of cos as I was sharing with hubbi, Im not sure if im interpreting it the way the director meant it to be but I guess that's the beauty of art. it's really up to the individual to perceive and build the relationship with the subject. while I had briefly read before the "Dream of the red chamber" years ago, I cant recall most of the details. which is a good thing as the director juxtaposed lines from the book with visual scenes that may or may not support those lines intuitively. so I was really "seeing" the old scenes in new ways. in fact, some of the scenes which I recall from the book, I re-interpreted them in new ways that I have never thought of. which is rather impressive. but truth be told, it was not an easy performance at all. it raised more questions than giving answers.

normally, I was drawn to the "villain" of most books/shows especially if I deem them to be most reflective of human nature. but from the past till now, I just find it so hard to even reconcile with the "villain" 王熙凤's actions. not to mention liking her. or is that a case of her being too similar and i have no confidence of rising above her? hmm..

i must recommend the 主題曲《似曾》 of this show. i find the tune gives the feeling of us having no control over the vicissitudes of life. and the lyrics were brilliantly written by the director. and make you think about the difference between 緣分 and 注定.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snz9zzBr8OE&feature=player_embedded

似曾／韋禮安　《紅樓夢What is Sex?》主題曲
詞／林奕華
曲／陳建騏

有些人
匆匆一面
再也不見
如同每一天中的每一天
任隨掠影在浮光中
擱淺

沒有針 只有線
有些心事
來了又去
任隨亂想在胡思中
亂剪 亂剪

有些人
久久不見
卻在眼前
如同那一天就是這一天
且讓未來在過去中
纏綿

只有風 沒有月
有些思念
去了又來
就讓蜃樓在海市中
實現 實現

似曾相惜
未曾相遇
似曾相知
未曾相識

我 為何只能是你夢中的人?
我 為何只能叫你把假當真? 當真

未曾真箇
似曾銷魂
未曾意會
似曾動心

你 為何只能是我夢中的人?
你 為何只能叫我把假當真? 當真

有些人
漫漫一日
轉瞬平生
如同某一天錯過某一天
空教天長在地久中
化煙

好比參 好比商
有些星宿
來來往往
撮合隻影在形單中
團圓

有些夢和有些夢
有些人和有些人

CNY day 1

same old same old. visited in-laws house in the afternoon then it's to my first uncle's house where all my extended family from my mum's side came together!

 

GOAT xi fa cai!

may you and your loved ones be blessed with health & happiness in the new lunar year!!

 

 

family shots before heading out!

happy us!

 

we reached home in the early evening and now both boys are asleep while the husband are out meeting his peeps!

i will laze abit before turning in early. no more house visiting for us for the rest of the week which aint a bad thing. always good to laze at home to re-energize ourselves for the new week!

CNY Eve - 2015



finally, CNY is here! today was an extremely short day at work. I let the team go off at 12 and I scooted off shortly after that too.

picked up the boys and off we went to vivo!

we had a hearty lunch while waiting for hubbi to join us.

 

shots with my baobeis!

they insisted on the xmas stickies.. @_@

 

done a spot of shopping and I bought superdry tees for both the husband and myself. surprisingly, I find the cutting of their tees pretty flattering for me. good buy!

 

anyway, I was just at vivo yesterday - came here with my colls to catch 50 shades!! LOL. but sadly, as with most reviews & feedback, the show is a let-down comparing to the book and I found myself getting bored in the second half.

the reel mr grey is not near to the grey in my mind... :(

oh well, hopefully this film will revive such genre in the R21 space. hehehehe.

 

we left vivo for my big uncle's house to have reunion dinner with my parents & extended family. this year, the numbers dwindled further....

only 11 of us.. a far cry from the 20+ in the past...

 

anyway, obviously I like my new gg5 skirt a lot to wear it thrice in 2 weeks! :D

here goes: 

left: with zara top

middle & right: with forever new tops

12.02.2002 - 13 years together and still holding hands

last Thursday marked our 13 years anniversary together as a couple. :)

but this year, both of us were so busy that we can hardly find a common time slot to take leave together. :(

finally, we made time to have a nice dinner tonight after work. :D

of cos, elaborated plans were made so the kids were in my mum's safe hands for a FEW  hours in the evening. haha.

 

as usual, always eager to try out new restaurants for such occasions, we went restaurant ember based on recommendation by.... who else but gb!

and true to the recommendation, the food was awesome! ember was located within hotel 1929. simple décor but in general exudes a clean, quiet ambience. both of us were impressed with the quality of the food and it's a + given that the husband was really a picky eater. but bluntly put, not a fan of fine dining.

 

what im impressed with is really the fact that from starters till desserts, each of them were really yum. their starters were especially good.

bill for both of us came up to around ~$160 without wine which I thought is pretty decent.

 

yumyum

 

i know taking things for granted is almost like my second nature. I know he is still willing to continue this journey with me though he does not explicitly said so. I know that if I can turn back time and given the choice again, the choice will still be him.

 

and that is enough for now. until the next anniversary. or until the next blow up over housework.. :P

#4 lo hei @ wah lok

today, we had reunion lunch with my in-laws at wah lok. im glad we went here instead of some random hotel buffet. its still the nicest to have chinese food for reunion meals, no?

food aint bad but somehow i feel the standard is not as good as before?

 

after lunch, we made our way to suntec city to visit the lego store there which was disappointingly small. :(

still, a good stroll there given the super light human traffic..

 

weekend is ending in a flash as usual. the good thing is coming week is an extremely short one. :)

don't you feel 2015 passes faster than 2014? I think that.

 

silly shots taken with the elder son who can be too stuck-up for such antics at times now:

where has the time gone?

this week has been hectic at work - sometimes I feel like all I'm doing is just going from 1 meeting to another! @_@
so glad that the week is over.
yesterday, did #3 lo hei for this CNY with the marketing team in SG. always good to toss yu sheng during CNY! :)
and after work, a group of us left for jasmine's housewarming gathering at her place. as usual, after a few drinks, the same old topics surfaced again.. LOL.it's always the same conversations with this bunch. :P
good evening & night spent with the colls!

today is Vday! but as with most years, the husband and I did not celebrate this occasion. so same for today, we just hang out with the boys like any normal Saturday.
we made our way to taka today to collect the remaining CNY goodies that I ordered and we enjoyed the time spent at kino & lego shop here. I was so intrigued by some of the books I browsed there that I made further purchases at bookdepository once I'm home!
now I have 7 books in all pending delivery! cant wait for them to arrive. :D

the momentum started when I bought a book from popular last week and now the "engine" has started again. im ready to breathe books for a change from k-dramas. :P

eating too well again

training the tummy to eat well again in preparation of CNY this week!

met up with gb & jt on thursday for a super hearty yummy dinner @ a Sichuan restaurant at mosque street.

think we finished like 5 dishes between the 3 of us. over-ordering is the protocol for this group.

finished dinner pretty early so we decided to take a stroll around chinatown area for to soak in the CNY mood.

soaked in it we did indeed, together with sweat in the humidity and throngs of people!!

it was an idea that started out great then slowly unraveled to "let's get out of here asap"! LOL.

 

@ Chinatown!

 

after that, we drove to old habits café @ telok blangah for tea and desserts. it's amazing to hang out with these 2 who will go the distance for food. :P



interesting vintage themed café - their ice creams are pretty decent esp. the brownies & cream flavor

 

happy times spent chatting then its time to head home - it's just a normal working weekday afterall....

another protocol - we drive ourselves home.

so I drove myself home in gb's car before passing the baton back to them LOL.

 

yesterday, the good eating continues.

we had finance departmental lunch at paradise pavilion - all 12 tables! $888 per table just like a normal wedding dinner foodfare! *burp*

super sleepy when we were back in office at 2+pm.

 

and imagine, the very same evening, hubbi and I headed out to grand shanghai @ corpthorne hotel for wedding dinner. *super burp*

by the time i reached home yesterday, all the rich food is making me sick to be honest.

at the wedding dinner, I actually stopped eating after the 4th dish..it's just too much!

 

today, I look forward to recuperating my tummy abit by snacking on my..... CNY goodies!

ha equally bad. my first tin of melt-in-your-mouth bakeinc pineapple tarts is finishing soon and i just bought it last weekend. *tsk*

good thing im going to collect 2 more tins from taka fair mid next week. hiaks.

just have to accept the extra kilos that come with each CNY!

new role + 360

and so it has been confirmed - contract signed yesterday and announcement made today.
I will be starting my new role end this week. not much changes - still in the same functional team, going back to my old team though majority of the team members are new and reporting to the same boss.
but on the other side, new changes ahead too. for a start, back to month-end closing for me after sitting out of that for the last 7 months!
and going forward, I need to rely on and continue to hone specific skill sets that are more relevant in this new role. hopefully, my natural disposition of being positive and apt ability to build meaningful relationships will help me greatly in this space. one great tip from a manager is that one of the most key thing to constantly remind myself is now, it's no longer just me doing the work but I've to master the art of doing work through others. an art indeed especially I'm someone who is action-oriented and mostly accustomed to doing work at my pace.

we shall see how it goes but im positive as usual. as with all challenges facing us, an open mind and positive mindset will definitely make a difference.
no matter where and how I emerge later from this stint, im sure there will be growth. and I hold the key in ensuring that happens. so at times, if you are the very one closing the door in your mind, then don't get too uptight or surprised when you realize the light at the end of the tunnel is from an approaching train!

received my 360 report 1 week back as well and done a follow-up session with an external consultant. it was really interesting to find out how others perceive me in action at work. essentially, there are 4 groups of respondents chosen by me - 2-up managers, peers, internal stakeholders (1-up managers whom I don't report to and not necessarily from finance), team members of a project im leading - 15 in total.
the great thing that comes out of the report was the gap between how I perceive myself (I need to do the survey on myself too) and how others perceive me is not significant by any stretch for all areas. it shows that my self-awareness is intact and not haywire. *relieved*
generally, the report reveals top strengths of mine to be someone strong in execution & prioritization and definitely a people-person. nothing too surprising here. top areas of development are on conflict resolution and taking risks and be more innovative in learning. this is the interesting bit.

for someone who is non-confrontational and greatest fear lies in not being liked by others, I admit that there is nary a meltdown/blow-up at work with others for me. but I can be assertive and push back stuff that I don't agree with. but again, that only comes out after I deploy all the influencing/negotiation skills I have. so per my discussion with my 2-up managers and the external consultant, either I'm very lucky to never meet anyone that difficult before or I've always manage to resolve the conflict before it  even escalates to a "conflict" definition stage. my scores aint high in this area in the survey partly due to a handful of respondents rating NA or not as high score for me simply because they commented no opportunity to see me in action for this area.

on the bit on innovation, consensus with my boss/consultant is that that can only be drawn upon experience/exposure. but reading related materials can be a good start. for someone who is pretty good at taking risks, I was a tad surprised at how people see me not so good at it in learning. but as I understand better, im good at taking calculated  risks in areas that I know well or where I can trust others but perhaps it's the way finance peeps/I'm wired, taking the plunge in new areas can be really a leap of faith at times. and one that I find it hard to take the first step out. good thing is, innovation though largely hereditary can be trained (or so it is accordingly to my boss who read a great deal of such self-improvement books.

and the other interesting revealing bit from the 360 is that the peers & team members of the project im leading (also my peers from other teams) groups rated me consistently lower than the other 2 respondents groups. so there is this interesting and insightful (?) discussion with some on why is this so. hmm..

all in all, a good exercise. I need time to reflect on the discussion points I had with the consultant and hopefully I can formulate some acion items that are sustainable and measurable for the next 6-12months.

it will be sometime before I have the luxury to do a similar exercise - not exactly cheap and only relevant at certain stages of worklife. having said so, no one is stopping you or me to do informal catch-up with others to receive feedback from time to time!

heavenly sunday

i have the afternoon off again today! while the husband brought the boys to my in-laws house for lunch, I spent time in town shopping! :P thanks to dear hubbi.

CNY is just round the corner so on my to-buy list were CNY clothings and goodies! I didn't waste the 3 hours in town.. managed to get:
- a top from bimba & lola
- a shirt & dress from zara
- a pair of Melissa
- CNY goodies (cheese pineapple, kueh lapis, prawn sticks/rolls etc) from taka fair

yeah!

and once home, I rummaged through the wardrobe & shoe cabinet for stuff that I didn't wear for at least the past (half) year and I managed to pack away 2 pairs of shoes (almost mint new) + 10+ clothings to give away and threw away another 2 pairs of shoes. I just have to keep my # of shoes below 50......

now im definitely feeling less guilty.

and no more shopping for moi until my next trip!

travel 2015

in the good spirit of adhering to my new year resolutions, I shall start with the planning of this year's travel for the ng's family. :P

in another 6 weeks, we are heading to HK (yes, like again!! I've been heading there every year for the past 4 years!) with my in-laws and mum. I guess it will be a (super) slow and relaxing trip with the old folks and kiddos.
but I choose to focus on the positive - the parents will enjoy time with the kids (I hope!), hubbi and I will have our own us-time at night after the kids go to sleep - yeah, we can head down to the streets for supper for my mum can look after them!, lego-hunting now that I have a reliable source, staying at the Langham place (I hope its every bit as comfy as friends claim) etc..

for the jun holidays, hubbi can only afford a grand total of 3D leave.. @_@
so for a short trip of 5D4N, I have been wreaking my brains to think of an ideal place for family holiday - bali, bkk, perth, phuket and even lijiang!
in the end, I settled for bkk since it has been 2 years since we last went there and its an easy choice. AND so, I made all the bookings today. wahahaha.
taking advantage of SQ promo and early bird reservations, I confirmed the air tickets and hotel room at good prices. :)

and I guess the long family holiday has to happen at the end of nov like how it was for the last 2 years.
for 2015, I think we are ready to head out to my fav. place - Europe! :D
so if everything goes well, London calling and how can we miss the city of lights.... *fingers crossed*
my only wish is a quiet afternoon at the museums while the boys nap at the hotel - ahh, bliss.

and when free, its always fun to start planning for 2016 travel, no? :)

goodbyes never cease

and... another one threw the letter. though no stranger to the notion of relationships at work can be and will be more fragile than any other relationships.... still a bit saddened by one of my closest peeps at work tendering..

still the same old same old - we should really treasure and enjoy the time while we can for we never know when the goodbyes will come and in what format.

a lot of stuff going at the work front. i just hope for things to come to a closure soon so i can resume my peace of mind.

sometimes, overthinking will only leads to more junk food... LOL.
im gaining back the pounds! damn!

celebrating YR's 5YO bday!

 

YR's actual birthday was yesterday but we spent it rather quietly. the husband and YR fetched me from Tanah merah when I came back from batam and we went to pick up the elder son before proceeding home.
dinner was just a simple one at our fav. mixed vegetable stall at bedok area. :P

but today, hubbi and I both took leave to do the "tours" with YR... tsk tsk.

in the morning, we popped over to his church kindy to cut the cake and distributed party packs.

YR selected the olaf cake for his kindy mates.

 

after that, we spent quality time with him alone since gor gor was at School anyway. we had lunch around SAM area and we spent time around there before ended up at bras brasah. it was fun checking out the shops there.. i wonder if bras brasah will still be around when the boys grow up..

 

after that, we went to fetch YZ and we made our way to YR's childcare to do the whole routine - cake-cutting and distribution of party packs - all over again...@_@

 

its batman for his childcare's friends... LOL

 

i guess this is the best birthday pressie for the younger boy - he does enjoy the limelight just like me! hehe.

and we still have to bring him out next weekend to "celebrate" with him properly.. jeez.. he is still undecided between science centre and night safari.. let's see where he wants to go..

 

im secretly glad that there is no such celebrations for primary school :P. now the birthday affair for the elder son is just quiet and intimate, the way i like it!

virgin trip to batam!

 

and so yesterday I was off to batam montigo resorts for an extremely short trip with the colls! we met at Tanah merah for our noon ferry, and we came back today in the early afternoon. LOL.
it's really a whirlwind trip! reminds me of the same short 2D1N bintan trip that I did with my ex-dow colls when I was still in audit. :)

so what did we do? we went for massage, we took dips in our own pool, we drank, we talked, we ate, we played cards, we ate somemore and then it's time for home.
oh, and really taking turns to use the toilets for big business... LOL

@montigo resorts

 

I think my quota for travelling with friends is once again utilized for the year... or will the husband be so good to let me go on another trip with peeps before end of the year?? hehe.

 

some outfits for the week:

left: shirt dress from seoul

right: knit top from gg5, cropped pants from zara

eating greens and party packs

met the gang for pff & zm's bday dinner yesterday and guess which atas sinful restaurant we went this time round?

we settled for jap vegetarian restaurant at sunshine plaza. gosh, is this change in taste a sign of old age?

but the food is really good! I highly recommend teng at sunshine plaza for all those who wanted to eat healthier but has a misconception like me thinking all green stuff must be zzzz...

 

after dinner, we just had to hunt down some sweets to end the night right.. in the end, we walked to dome at SAM area. not exactly the most creative but the desserts will do.

 

wefie!

 

today, the ng family went out with a mission. with YR's bday round the corner, we need to do the usual - party packing!

this year, with him attending both church kindy & childcare, we need to prepare around 35+ party packs in all!! headed to parkway parade giant and let the birthday boy chose his choice of snacks to include in the packs. and the late afternoon was really just spent packing away. @_@

 

another week and i'll be going on a short trip with the colls next weekend! like really short - think 24hours... lol.

belated bday lunch @ etna

both the husband and I took the afternoon off for his belated bday lunch today!

hubbi fetched me from work at 12+pm and we set off for duxton hill!

his belated bday lunch was at etna - an Italian restaurant.

personally, I found the food good but nothing fantastic so no, there will be no revisiting not like latteria. :P I think pasta brava maybe a better choice for the same price range.

 

@ etna - they have another branch at siglap area

 

it was lovely catching up with the husband without any distractions (ie the boys ha) and we had a long good lunch till almost 3pm.

we left for raffles city for one of our fav. activity - window shopping leisurely!

this time round, we window-shopped for our next watches! hehe. i wonder when will that purchase ever materialize for me. for someone who doesn't wear a timepiece everyday, my current omega & rolex is more than sufficient to take me through most days/occasion. but I have been lusting after cartier & chanel timepieces for the longest time. hmmm....for that kind of money, I rather buy bags. :P

 

and I found some feel in shopping again! I basically sleep-walked my way through the recent sale season in dec - finding NOTHING in zara, topshop, gg5 etc sales! so not me!

but today, I bought a lovely top and midi-skirt from gg5 new collection. yeah, back in the game for me!

 

we fetched the boys earlier in the evening at 5+pm and we headed home for a swim. they had a lovely time and with the early waking up timing, they were snoozing by 9pm just now.

wont be long before I start tearing and in need of my own beauty sleep, it has been a week of waking up at 6.30am for me!

but im starting to like the new lifestyle of ending the night at 1130pm and waking up at 6.30am. the body and mind seem to be in a fresher state for most of the days as compared to last time. have I find the right sleeping cycle!? we shall see.

belated birthday dinner at latteria

hubbi brought us out yesterday for my belated birthday dinner - or rather i brought them out hehe.

as usual, I came out with the venue since the husband know that bit about the dining scene in SG anyway. :P

 

before that, we brought the boys to watch.... penguins of Madagascar.... but it was actually not as bad as i thought. with benedict cumberbatch's voice, the show is definitely much bearable. :D

dinner was at latteria mozzarella bar at duxton hill. of cos it has to be hubbi's first time there and he was suitably impressed with the ambience and all. so much so that he requested that his bday meal to be in the same area too. ha.

 

lovely lovely mac n cheese!

 

 

anyway there is this quote from the recent re-watch of LOTR series:

"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.For even the very wise cannot see all ends" by Gandalf.

somehow, this stuck in my mind and I find myself thinking about it often.

in life, we really cant conclude and judge too early. every mistake or failure in life can be reframed into an opportunity or lesson learnt. cliché as it sounds, we decide what to take away from each situation. do we walk away defeated or stronger? do we make the same mistake or turn things around the next time? sometimes, we have the choice more so than we thought.

it has started!

yes! the new school year has officially started! YZ is starting his P2 year and YR is officially attending his K1 church kindy today!

both boys need to be in school respectively by early 7-ish and 8-ish. @_@

so the husband and i started early today at 6am to prepare the elder boy for his school. once he has set off for school, it's time to prepare YR for his school.

 

happy with going to kindy for the first time. he is definitely a more confident boy than gor gor but we shall see how well he adapts after that.

we were with YR for his orientation day this morning and I was glad to see he seems eager and happy in the new environment. let's hope it continues.
YZ typically is nervous and reserved in new environment but he adapts very well as time passes. YR, on the contrary, is normally more outgoing and at ease in new settings but sometimes with time, he may regress to being hesitant and upset when things don't turn out well in his opinion.
in short, YZ starts out with low expectations and when things progress normally, he starts to build the confidence and takes everything in his stride. YZ on the other hand always started out confident and optimistic but when things take a turn not aligned to his high expectations, he turns confused and starts running back to us to complain and turning wary of the new place.
LOL. they are so different and managing their expectations and guiding them needs to be different too.

after settling all the admin stuff - logistics with school bus drivers and buying the last bit of textbooks, uniforms etc - I headed back to work.
by the time we fetched the boys back from my mum's place/childcare, I was so drained.
I need to sleep before 11pm today! need to use this weekend to start planning for the real school week next week!
jia you!

new year! new start!

happy 2015!
 
after having no new year resolutions for so many years, maybe it's time to set some for this new year.
maybe not so much as resolutions but more of reminders.
 
ok, here goes:
1. take ownership of my health 

• drink more water, cut down on sugared water except for milo kosong :P
• try to exercise at least twice a week - brisk walking counts
• cut down on chips to maximum twice a month
• continue with salad lunches for 2-3x/week
• cut down on carbs, sugar, acidic food

it will be nightmarish to keep track of the calories and everything the way I did when I tried to lose some kgs back in sept. just have to try incorporating the few important guidelines of above as much as I can into my mindset so it's natural for me to do so. more sustainable too.

2. learning to be kind

• starting with those people closes to me, try to be kinder. we tend to treat those closest to the heart harshly thinking they should understand us and able to tolerate such behavior from us better. what a wrong way to think. they deserve our kindness all the more simply because they are worth it. I need to start recognizing this fact.
• read somewhere that being kind is like a muscle. the more you exercise it, the stronger it will become. while im sure most of us are kind by nature but there are always room to improve. small acts like treating people in service with a smile and kind words are good ways for a start.

3. im at a age where routine may start to be good for me

with the boys growing up, attending schools and needing more time and attention from me, I need to structure my time in a way that is productive and fair to most including myself. having said so, im not saying farewell to being spontaneous but you can plan to be spontaneous too! LOL. planning ahead can give you  pockets of time to be spontaneous too.

I need to start thinking of feasible routine for the usual day-to-day so I can take care of myself and my loved ones well.

4. taking time-out to reflect

I started to realize how important it is have some time alone or with others to reflect on what has passed. only upon reflection do you reconcile within yourself on the lessons learnt or next course of actions. what you have internalize is something strong and no one can influence it so it's important to do so. reflection is an important step if you wish to grow wiser instead of just older. :P

5. you plan, you commit, you achieve

this shall be my advice to myself for 2015. be it at work or in personal life. for a start, work is going to be challenging for the new year not because of anything but because I want it to be. I want to stretch myself and achieve what I think im capable of at work. it will be a good year to grow myself professionally. :)
outside of work, it is definitely going to be challenging us having to wake up at 6am daily to ensure the boys get to their schools on time and dealing with the additional school work with them after our work. evenings are going to be as short as they can be so I need to have a think on how time can be maximized since i need to turn in by 11pm! I will commit to that timing as it only makes sense to do so if I want to stay healthy with enough sleep and ensuring that the next day is going to be an equally productive day and not one where I have to turn to caffeine to stay functional.
travel plans wise - it should continue. and more planning taking into account the kids' school holidays, hubbi and my peak periods at work, budget, leave balance etc. is necessary.

for a start, my Q1 travel plans are more or less firmed up! a super short weekend getaway with the colls nearby in mid jan followed by a short trip in the region with the in-laws and my mum in mar!
I need to start thinking of places to go and planning ahead for the Jun and Nov school holidays! :)

the above sounds good for a start! along the way, im sure I will slip back into old ways of being lazy and going with the flow but so long from time to time im reminded of the points above and work on them, im sure im not so far off from what I set out to do/be.

lastly, I hope health and happiness for my loved ones and myself. and believe me, we can do our part in ensuring health and happiness so stop only leaving them to hope but work on them too!

my day again! turning 33 is as peaceful as it can get.

*hoot* its my birthday today! and what better way to start it than to have an eczema flare around my neck and chest areas! @_@

this is the first time im having it other than around my tummy area and in SG (normally I get it when in cold dry countries overseas or during my pregnancy times when the hormones went awry and left me with super dry skin).

gosh, what a nice way my body is telling me that im getting old. jeez.

being positive me, im not going to let this get me down for too long though the itch can be so unbearable at times. :(

appointment to doc will have to wait for tomorrow when I have the time..

 

I slapped on moisturizer to ease the itch abit and kept myself busy with work in the morning to get my mind off it.

today I worked from home in the morning and it was great being at home with the 2 boys. though most of the time they self-entertained themselves leaving me to work on my laptop, I like being close to them. :)

 

ended my work and left the house with them to raffles city where we met up with my ex/current colls for lunch @ marche!

it was nice catching up with them even though I see some of them almost everyday... LOL. missing ping's presence, cant wait for her to be back from Belgium in early jan!

 

some photos for the week:

 

random photos taken before attending my cousin's wedding at Red house @ prinsep st last Saturday

 

 

@ marche - lunch with colls. they got me a small cake from awfully chocolate - sweet!

and yes, I had my haircut last sunday.

 

had a quiet dinner with the husband when he was back from work (poor guy doesn't have half day off at work). now we are well settled to start our evening program - watching LOTR - the return of the king extended version that is almost 4.5hours long!

i wonder if the boys can last the whole show. we have promised them that they will decide their bedtime tonight as a treat. ha. let's see how it goes.

 

it's always lovely to end the last day of the year and my birthday with persons whom I love. :)