Chinese New Year - Day 2

Tara: Hee! Let me show you how I can do a peace sign and dig my nose at the same time!

Usually this day, Aunt (Dad's elder sis) would come to Dad's place to bai nian. But ever since Grandma passed away, we have been going to her house. It's a respect for the elders, I heard. This year however, we went to Cousin Didi's place instead. Cousin Didi's newborn son was born prematured at 27 weeks and thus the lungs wasn't well developed. My new nephew, Edward, was discharged only recently, after 2 months in the hospital. Even till now, oxygen has to be constantly available cos he might stopped breathing anytime. That's why cousin had to stay home.

We had our routine poker session. And Tara was really fierce, shouting and screaming whenever her demands wasn't met. She definitely didn't leave a good impression with my Aunt and cousins! Hehe..

At cousin's place

Went back to Dad's place for a nap before going to 3rd Aunt's place for dinner. 1st Aunt's daughter, 40s and single, always had to hide whenever Tara was there. Don't know why but Tara would cry really hard when she sees her. Although I thought Tara was being a little ridiculous, but the past 2 nights after seeing her, Tara didn't get a good night sleep. Always wake up in the middle of the night crying. So I thought it's best to avoid seeing her. When I told MIL about Tara crying when she sleeps, she dismissed it as lack of sleep and too much play. I had to tell her it's not that cos she always play a lot and slept little. I thought I saw her felt a little irritated by my comment. But then again, she's only been here for a few days and she's already making assumptions. MIL just likes to make lots of empty assumptions, based on what she thought was right. The last time she was here, she actually argued and was really adamant on the point that xiao long bao is dry on the inside, not watery. My FIL, BIL, Bob and me were telling her there's juice from the meat that makes it a tang bao, but she insist she's right, it's dry. Nobody could change her mind. And she always thought that Tara was sticky to her. And I thought she's really good with her assumptions, to the point I will go speechless, and just put my hands together to applaud her imagination.

We went back early cos Bob and me were simply too tired, but we still managed to take some family pictures.

By the way, the pink piggy beside Bob is not part of the family, i repeat, not part of the family.

Chinese New Year - Day 1

On the first day of CNY, it has always been a routine to gather at one of my uncle's (Mum's brothers) house, they take turns to host the CNY party. Mum had 7 siblings so it's a pretty big gathering. Even though I'm not close to most of them, somehow, I'm already used to spending my CNY with a big bunch of relatives. I have to give out many ang baos, to those little nieces and nephews whom I don't even know by name. Come to think of it, I didn't know the names of my cousins' spouses either! There's too many to remember! 2nd uncle hosted the gathering this year. I went Mum's place to bai nian before we left for uncle's place together.

Tara wasn't fazed by the big crowd. She was walking around the whole time, and refused to stop to let anyone carry. She would flashed her toothy grin, looking so friendly, and giving the wrong idea that she can be carried. Many tried, nobody succeed. Sometimes, not even me. When my Mum is around, I'm her 2nd favourite person. But I'm not jealous at all, because she's my Mum. I wouldn't say the same if it's someone else! Bob is the only other exception.

We went back to Mum's place and decided to have a mahjong session. Dad, Sis, Bob and me. Mum took care of the kids. I'm really lucky to lose only $16, considering that the stakes was 0.50/1.

After the short game, we rushed to 3rd aunt's place. A relative of theirs was waiting for us, or Tara to be exact. When we reached, Tara just woke up from her nap and willingly let the relative's daughter to carry. Tara even rested her head on her! Surprisingly. I saw this daughter only once a year, and every year, she grew more and more pretty. This year, she blossomed, into a ravishing beauty! I guessed there would be countless suitors going after her. I promised to email her the pictures she took with Tara. But I realised all the pictures were gone. Left only a few! Even those taken in the morning were gone! Hence, there weren't any morning photos to show either. I'm so sad!

Tara looking really cute with the mandarin orange carrier

Chinese New Year - Eve

I haven't bought my shoes so I thought I would try my luck on the last day before CNY. 3 places on my agenda; Suntec, Marina Square and Bugis. I'm looking for those peep-toes which I know I would definitely be able to get at Far East or Heeren but I don't think I would wana get caught in the jam there, besides, I need to collect the inflatable castle from ELC, and I need to exchange a pair of pants at Bugis.

I reached Suntec at 11am, the whole place was quite quiet. I remembered I saw a nail salon on the same level as ELC. My badly chipped nails needed some professional sprucing up. To my dismay, it's closed! For new year already! I didn't want to do my own nails, like I did every year, cos I always do it really late and lose precious sleep. My appointment with Lala on Friday had to be cancelled too, as I'm too busy with work.

I proceed to ELC for the castle. I'm supposed to collect it last Monday, but I forgot about it and Tuesday, the day which the staff told me that they will put it back for sale, I was too busy with work. On Thursday, I did went to ELC and couldn't find any stock on the shelves, but I didn't ask about my reserved item either cos I thought they had sold it, I was really disappointed. I only asked the staff if there's any more stock. 2 hours after I left, they called me to remind me to collect the item. They did set aside the item for me! But then said they will put it on the shelves (again) on Friday. I did collect it, on Saturday instead. When I told them my name, they went "Oh!", and immediately, picked out the item without even checking the name on the note. They must have silently scolded me for not picking the item earlier.

Cindy was supposed to meet me at Marina Square, so I thought I would go Bugis to exchange the pants first so we can have more time to shop at MS. When I reached Bugis, I knew Cindy wasn't able to join me so I might as well shop there. I decided to try the nail salons to see if there's any available slot. Lucky me, I managed to get an express manicure at Hollywood Nails. I opt for a red, and realised it look funny. Short nails and red don't go together. So I shopped for a set of nail art while waiting for the nail paint to dry. I had a really fulfilling trip to Bugis, I even get to trimmed my eyebrows, bought a belt and a brooch, 2 pairs of shoes and 4 pcs of undies.

Reached home at almost 4pm. Cleaned up the kitchen and dining table before we left for Mum's place for our reunion dinner. This year, Bob decided to have the dinner at Mum's place, cos he knows how much I wanted to have it there, on the actual CNY eve. He's such a dear. Steamboat dinner as usual. Left for 3rd aunt's place at about 9pm. Although we are not having dinner there, I thought we should at least be there, even though Bob don't find it necessary.

Went back home, finished my final "grooming" and tidying up. Only managed to settle down to do the nail art at about 2 plus, finally get to sleep at 3 in the morning. And I thought this year I'm very well-organized, having had most stuff done already, and will be able to get to sleep earlier. *shrug*

Accessories Frenzy!

I stumbled upon an accessories shop in Queensway Shopping Centre a couple of days ago. It's a godsend. With earrings at $1.90 a pair and necklaces at $4.90 to $9.90 a piece, I thought I'm in Bangkok!

I went there twice and spent less than $40 both trips. But for $40, which will only get me maybe a necklace and a pair of earrings at other places, I actually got 5 necklaces, 2 pairs of earrings, 4 pieces of rubber hair-tie and 2 pieces of ribbon lanyards for my mobile phone. It's a real bargain, no doubt.

Spring Cleaning & stuff

I've started to spring clean the house since last week. During the weekends, I managed to get Bob to install the new curtains for the soon-to-be-Tara's room. I love the new curtains. It makes the whole room look different. I've got to get rid of the sofa bed, which is extremely under-utilized. I've also cleaned up the dining table, now it looks as good as new! The shoe cabinet have been lined with new anti-bug paper. Last night, I've tidied part of the wardrobe. Just 3 drawers and 2 shelves done and it took me 2 hours! And I've chucked one big bag of thrash. Oh man! I've got so much junk. Tonight, I'm gonna continue with the wardrobe, tidy my dresser, tidy up Tara's clothes cabinet and my bedside tables. Tomorrow I've taken a day's leave, to clean up the kitchen, I reckon I will need 1 full day for it. And I'm sure there will be 5 big bags of trash once I'm finished. If I have enough time, I will tidy the storeroom a little. Tara will be at Mum's place as usual, cos with an inquisitive kid around, I can't do much. Thursday I'll have to clear up the study room and I'm done! Friday I'll just do some light housework cos I wouldn't want to ruin my manicure. *wink*

When I tidied the wardrobe last night, I found 2 $10 Takashimaya vouchers, at 2 different locations. Yeah! I'm gonna go get a new pair of Clarks for Tara with the vouchers. I also found a $10 Paragon vouchers. I wonder if I will find more vouchers or even better, cash money! Oh okay, I'm dreaming.

And the guy who sold me the shoes have replied my email. He promised to refund me the money once I've returned the shoes. But he only mentioned $17 which is what I've paid. Okay, give and take. I'll get him to pay another $1 more as I don't feel right having to pay $2 postage to send back refunded goods.

Rantings!

I'm very troubled, the big job finally got complaints and client asking for settlement. Well, I'll just leave it to my boss on what he wants to do, no matter what, I'm just an employee. I can't elaborate further, the only thing I can say is, I'M SO STRESSED! *urggghh*

And last week, I bought a pair of shoes for Tara on Yahoo Auction. It's stated brand new and in the size I wanted. But when I received the item, I found the shoes to be a little dirty, as if the shoes were left on some shelves for a while. I emailed the seller and he replied that he shoes are totally new which I can see from the soles. He's right, the soles are clean. But if you put brand new, it means it's totally brand, sparkling new right? Like I said, it looks quite dirty, which is the first thing I can't accept. And the second thing, the shoes are in size 5, but on the auction, it's stated size 3. I've got to return the shoes. No doubt I really love the pair of shoes, I can't accept that the seller did not even indicate the description properly. I felt cheated. I've just emailed him that he has to refund me the money, and I will send the shoes back to him. Postage will be paid by him, which I feel it's the right thing to do. If he will refund me, I will not leave any rating. Let's see what he says.

A few things

I've got quite a few things to blog, so I'm gonna just do it in point form, here goes:

1) I went China Square and bought these for Tara. 5 rompers and 2 sets of PJs. And the price? You ready?? $20! Yeah! For everything! Actually to be exact, it's $19.90! What a bargain.. Actually my intention is to get more tops for Tara 'cos I realised that I got 5 bottoms and nil tops for her. I'm talking about short-sleeves-singapore-weather-friendly type. Can someone please tell me where to find nice tops? Zara is out, I couldn't find any there that's why I'm still looking. Fox is out either, I kind of thought the clothes are getting more and more cartoonish.

2) Starting to decorate the house, and the more I look at my new coasters, the more I love them! They are so zen-ish, don't you think? And they cost me only $10, for 3 packs of 6 pcs each.

3) I went Lala and colour my hair today! To a 2 tone brown & ash colour, I can't take picture of it cos my hair style is hideous! Don't be mistaken, it's not that Stella didn't do a good snipping job. My hair texture is really bad. I guess I need lots of hair moisturizer. Can anyone recommend me a good one? And I got my pedicure done at the same time! I love the colour, it's actually a dark brownish kind of red with pink butterflies on it. My favourite butterflies! I'm not showing full pic of my feet cos I don't have nice feet like Gene. I took at least 10 photos but none of them "jian de liao guang".

4) I bought 3 tops from Far East Plaza. Noticed 2 of them are empire cut? Very suitable for someone who still look preggie. Weeks ago, I also bought a bag at FEP too. Melissa will find this bag really familiar. Yup, she has one. I saw it on Talia's birthday party. Hey Melissa, you don't mind me having the same bag as you hor? I thought it's a very nice bag, not too dressy and not too casual as well, just what I need for CNY! It comes with a small pouch and cost me only $35. I wanted a big bag for Tara's stuff and don't intend to carry another small one for my stuff so I might as well get a nice one. Something different from the casual ones I normally carry. But if I need a small bag, I did bought one from MatchGirl just before christmas. I have a white pair of heels which I've never worn before, so if I should have no luck in getting another nice pair, then this will be my reserve. Now I just need 2 bottoms, and a couple more undies and I'm done! I've made appointment to go back Lala for my manicure next Friday. Ahh... I wonder if I've spent a little too much. *frown*

5) I'm not going to buy any ang baos next year. I realised that I will get lots of nice angbaos free. Like those here. Actually I prefer gold angbaos rather than the red ones. I know they won't be called angbaos but gimbaos instead, but nobody will care as long as it's not black right? Those on top are given by my suppliers. It's with pictures of doggies in front and flowers at the back. Really nice and sweet, I'm gonna use this for Dad & Mom's angbao. And special occasions.

6) Tara tore the veil of my wedding kitty. Even though it's not my actually wedding bear, it still has it's own significance. We put it on top of our TV, when kitty dropped on the floor, Bob will say I fell down. Or when I accidentally dropped Daniel, Bob would ask jokingly why I push him onto the floor. I didn't reprimand Tara but I'm quite sad about it.

7) And lastly, guess everyone read the report of the naked salesman in Woodlands. I'm shocked to say that I know him. I won't say how or where, but the couple of times I met him, I actually find him rather decent and ermmm.. good-looking. When I was told that the guy was him, I'm dumbfounded, speechless. It took me a while to register the shocking news. When I saw the pictures, I did not realise it's actually him until someone told me today. Even then, I didn't believe and said the person might haven been mistaken! And finally, I found this report. Yup, it's him...

New Book

Yippee! I've finally bought this book! I got it when I fetch Bob from the airport on Monday. Been on the library's waiting list since months ago and still waiting.. Just got my commission, so it's a little treat for myself. Considered a treat as I don't spend much on books. Don't really like to buy books cos I don't like to keep them. Love reading but hate the storage part. If this book is good, then I might consider building a nice bookshelf for it. Now, my next target is Memoirs of a Geisha. Been wanting to read it since years ago. Have picked up and put down this book at bookstores countless times. Hmmz..

Chinese New Year Shopping

I've been buying stuff for Chinese New Year even before Christmas was over. Although I've bought quite a lot, my shopping is still not finished. I haven't bought my clothes and shoes and PJs, Bob's clothes and undies (yup, my job every year) and Tara's shoes. The only stuff I bought for myself are; bag, bras & undies.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with Cindy, who's gonna be my fashion consultant. I've no fashion sense to start with in the first place so this year, I decided to get some help. Since I can't be slim, at least I'll be stylo-milo right? We will be going to Far East Plaza, crossing my fingers that they will have my size.

Stuff for the house

Today I did quite a bit of shopping too. I went to 3 Aussino outlets before I finally bought my bedsheet and quilt cover set at West Mall. I got 2 packs of bibs at Centrepoint and 1 box of hankies at Great World. Got the most stuff at Great World, I spent $230 in Zara for Tara's clothes, $150 sponsored by my colleagues (her birthday present). I've finally found the cushion covers and bought 2 purple and 2 gold. I really love the purple cushion covers! I also went to Barang to get 2 new cushions. Got my bras & undies at Robinsons Centrepoint too. (Finally!)

Yesterday, I went Ikea to shop for curtains and curtain rods & hooks for Tara's room. We've decided to convert the only guest room for her. Also bought a floor mat, laundry bag and a photo frame for Tara's photo that got her a consolation prize.

Last week, Bob & I went to Chinatown for our CNY shopping. It's the first time we went there together. It's still the rainy season last week so there were passing showers while we were there. It's rather irritating and I hate wet seasons! The only shelter Tara had over her head was the pram canopy and it's cloth. I'm so worried Tara will fall ill. We can't even carry the umbrella properly as the tentage were built pretty low. I managed to get my tissue box holders, coasters and table runnner there, at a really reasonable price of $23! What a bargain. Bob bought lots of tidbits and lap cheung. I also bought 2 set of Espirit towels at Jurong Point for Bob and myself. For Tara, she will use the set I got from Cindy during the christmas gift exchange.

2 weeks before, I went to Ikea and got some glass containers, coasters (yup, I actually bought some already, hehe) and bath mats.

Immediately after Christmas, I bought the ang bao packets and "chun lian" at Bukit Batok while having lunch with dear Cindy. I realised I got the same ones as Gene and Melissa and just like Melissa, I got the ang bao at $1 per packet. I also bought 2 packs of cute ones at Daiso. Those are reserved specially for Tara, my niece and nephew & friends kids. The red ones are for my relatives' kiddos. There are lots of them, and frankly, I can't remember who's who anymore.

I think I went a little over the top at Zara today...

Before Christmas, there was a sale at Takashimaya for Polo Ralph and Guess clothes for baby. I only spent $100 for 3 bottoms from Guess and 1 long sleeve polo tee and 1 denim skirt from Polo Ralph. Really good deal!

Yup, so many shopping trips but I'm still not finished. Gotta get my shopping done soon, tidy up the whole house, colour my hair and find a mani/pedi salon that still has slots for next Friday.

Chinese New Year, the all important occasion, where things have to be new and house has to be spruced up. Another 11 days to go.

Bad Customer Service

Yesterday, I went to Standard Chartered at Anchorpoint at about 2pm to cash my cheque. It’s not really crowded when I reach and I’m the fourth in queue. I reckoned it won’t take longer than 15 mins since there are only 3 blokes before me.

Boy, am I totally wrong! There were 3 counters, 1 is for priority banking, and that leaves 2 other counters. Both service staff took their own sweet time to do the transactions. Okay, to be fair, maybe those transactions really require precise care and attention. The queue started to get longer at this stage. To our (not only mine) surprise, one of the counter staff (let’s call him “the guy”) put up a “queue close” sign. He closed the counter!? When there are so many of us in the queue? I’m not sure what required his immediate attention but he stood there and did some paperwork stuff, trying to look really busy. Another 10 - 15 mins, there are only 2 blokes in front of me now and the queue starting to get impatient. Shuffling of feet, deep sighs, “tsk tsk”, “wah lau” can be heard in the queue. And the best part is, the only counter staff was happily chatting to one bloke while at least 15 of us waited.

We kept looking at the guy, wondering if he will open the counter, but he just continued doing his paperwork, nonchalant of the tension building up in the queue. Finally, there’s only 1 bloke before me and the gal (the only other counter staff) after doing the last transaction, stood up and left her counter! We were not only surprised, we were totally pissed! And one uncle said “One left for the toilet, and the other doing stupid things!” One lady in the queue walked up to the guy and told him to open his counter, as there was a long queue already. The guy said “Okay, opening soon, sorry.” That was it?????

A little hell broke loose. The lady walked back to the queue and said: “These paperwork can do after 3 mah! So many of us queuing!” and the uncle said: “Standard Chartered! Since 1960s.. but…”, “I think they want to go home on the dot loh, that’s why they do their paperwork now”.. blah.. blah.. blah.. I kind of felt embarrassment for the guy, even though I’m quite angry with him too.

If the guy really thought the paperwork required immediate attention, he should not have done it at the counter. No doubt he tried to look real busy, it served nothing but infuriated the people even more. And the gal, aware that the queue was so long, left her work desk! If she really needs to leave, at least tell the guy to open his counter!! Waiting for so long to be served was bad enough, but now there was no one to serve us!! I kind of wondered why the management staff didn’t do something about it. When I left, I saw one lady walked out of the office, asking if anyone wanted to cash their cheques, trying to appease the crowd or something. They took 30 minutes to take action. Really bad!

I came back and told my colleagues and one of them told me Standard Chartered has the worst customer service! Yup, totally agree. It’s time they do something about it.

Fulfilling Sunday

I woke up early yesterday morning, at the soft thud of Tara falling off the bed, she whimpered a little but was fine. I checked her body for any redness but couldn’t see anything visible. Fortunately, she was feeding well hence I didn’t worry a lot.

Since we woke up early, I decided to bring Tara downstairs for breakfast. She sat in her pram beside me, behaving quite well, while I feed her a meat bun. When we reached home, I quickly shower her and put her in the sarong for her morning nap. While she slept, I cooked her lunch, a very healthy combination of organic brown rice, organic carrots, organic spinach and new potatoes. I did the 2nd round of laundry. I have to wash all the curtains and could only do it bit by bit. In total, I did 6 loads of washing! I was so worried the washing machine will just explode in a mist of black smoke and die. Considering out of the 6 loads, I soaked 3 loads for 2 hours each.

In between the washings, taking down and hanging up the curtains, I cleaned and wiped the curtain tracks and rods, sweep the floor, tidied and cleaned part of the study room, fed Tara her lunch, one round of milk, her dinner, cooked and ate my own healthy dinner (vegetable soup with Japanese noodles), took a 1 hour nap and even played with Tara, bathed her again and took her to Jurong Point to get some stuff and $$ and then to the pasar malam at night, came home, put her to bed and did this entry, before I finally succumbed to the comforts of duvet at 2am.

Tara at the pasar malam, making funny faces at the uncle sitting beside us, while I feed her and myself some junk.

Tara's healthy brown rice porridge, and a bottle of vegetable fruit juice and my very yummy vegetable soup noodle.

I never knew I could do so much in 1 day. When Bob came back today and I told him the amount of work I did, he said I’m only hardworking when he’s not around. Of course! Usually he will spend his weekends in front of both his laptop and the TV. How hardworking can I be then? So I usually nuah on the sofa and watch TV. Not that I need him to help me with the chores, I’m actually quite happy tidying the house by myself, cos he’s only going to mess things up, throw things I want to keep, and put things in all the wrong places. I can be really disciplined when I want to, you know? *smug*

Yup! A very fulfilling Sunday for me, I’m happy.

Little Miss Scatterbrain

I usually place my car key on the roof of my car, so I won't hurt or scratch Tara when I carry her out from the car seat. This morning, I left the key there for 40 minutes, while I enjoy a leisure breakfast at the coffeeshop near Mum's place.

If I'm not in Singapore or a safe neighbourhood, my car would be gone faster than you say "Go!". It's practically an open invitation to car theives and burglars. I even leave my bag inside can? Although I did put it in an inconspicuous corner.

I've been dubbed Little Miss Scatterbrain by my ex-colleagues, they even bought me the book on my birthday. Well, what can I say? Still as scatterbrain as ever. But now I should be called Madam Scatterbrain or something.... since I'm married with a kid.

Bob went to KL & My Shopping Trip

Bob left for KL this afternoon and will only be back next Monday. As usual, Tara and I sent him off at the airport. We had a quick meal at Burger King before he left in a hurry. Tara and I strolled around the T2 and took the sky train to T1. Barely 20 metres of walking into T1, I decided to leave, what's there to see in Changi Airport besides those travellers coming and going. It only makes me feel envious, and wonder when is my turn. (It's coming soon, yeah!). And the airport has ample space for Tara to totter around.

Towards the end, Tara walked towards me and wanted me to carry and make noise when I didn't.

While we were waiting for the sky train, we saw this couple, taking their wedding photos at the airport. Romantic! Maybe the bride is one of the cabin crew, that's why they decided to take their photos there. Hmmz..

I thought of going to some neighbourhood mall to shop before I go home but I realised that the nearest is Tampines Mall (if I'm not wrong), and Bob said I will definitely lose my way and told me to go Bugis instead. I hate going town on weekends cos it's really crowded and finding parking is difficult. Eventually, I still ended up at Suntec. Fortunately, I managed to find parking pretty easily.

Tara and I went to the Family Link first and I reserved this at ELC (Early Learning Centre), it's on 50% discount, at only $30! I'll just need to go Toys R' Us to get those plastic balls. Hope Tara will be really happy with this new toy. Now, I gotta think of where to put it. *scratch head*

After I've done my shopping at Carrefour, I thought of going to Marina Square to have my dinner Carl's Junior. I've always wanted to try the large burgers there but Bob will cringe when I mention fast food. Besides, the sky cast a dark shade of gray, too risky to walk there and too troublesome to drive so I just thought I will try the restaurants downstairs. When I reached the basement, I glanced to my left and was both astonished and elated to find Carl's Junior right beside. There weren’t any seats so I stood beside this small table, where the occupants were ready to leave. Once they stood up, this very no manners auntie just plonked herself onto the seat! From the look on her face, I know she knew that I was waiting! I was piffed, but I didn’t confront her because even if I did have the seat, I wasn’t sure of how I am going to order since I’m alone with Tara and pushing a pram full of shopping bags. Yes, I’m pushing a pram alone! And this woman, with no sense of shame, decided that she needed the seat more than I do! I stared hard at her anyway and she tried to ignore me. Eventually, I settled for a small Beijing restaurant, where I had xiao long bao and zha jiang mian.

Anyway, spent quite a bit at Suntec. I bought Munchkin suction bowls and straw cup for Tara.Had wanted to get bedlinen, bibs and hankies from Aussino but the shop wasn’t well-stocked. Maybe it’s the sales season. I’d better plan my next shopping trip soon. Still got lots of stuff to get before Chinese New Year.

Kena arrowed (tagged) by Gene

Got tagged by Gene, phew, took me quite a while to finish this!

First, I have to remove the blog in the number one spot from the following list and push everyone up one space. Then add my own blog to the bottom spot.
1. My All
2. Simple Hamtan
3. Princess Diary
4. Mommy Gene To Save The Day!
5. Amy’s Diary

And next, I will have to answer and victimize another 5 persons with the following questions...
1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
2. What were you doing a year ago?
3. 5 snacks you enjoy.
4. 5 songs to which you know the lyrics off your head right now.
5. 5 things you would do if your were a millionaire
6. 5 bad habits
7. 5 things you like doing.
8. 5 things you would never wear, buy or get new
9. 5 favourite toys

Here goes!
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago in January, I’m waiting for school to start. I got into Nanyang Polytechnic, studying nursing. Friends who know me were dumbfounded when they heard. And considering the job I’m doing now, nobody believed that I used to study nursing. I couldn’t believe it either, and dropped out after 10 months. I’ve never been good in taking care of others, and having sickness and death in my face everyday is far too depressing. I decided to quit after 2 attachments and 1 mid year exam. While waiting for my ‘O’s and school to start, I worked part-time as a beauty consultant for YSL. I was given a counter at Paragon to look after, all by myself. Everything was taken care by me, the display, the stock inventory and the samples inventory. It was so much fun! I felt so grown-up! And as for relationships, I was with this guy 9 years older but mentality 5 years younger than me. We still clicked that time, but 5 years on (no longer together), I can’t stand him already, and he was really childish. I’m glad he got married last year, hope he has grown up. *shudder*

2. What was I doing a year ago?
1 year ago, I was desperately trying to find clothes for New Year. The weight I put on during pregnancy did not shed off much. Although I’m slim before preggie, I was the fleshy-slim type. I couldn’t find clothes that fit me, it’s really frustrating! Not that I really mind the extra kilos, but not able to find nice clothes really make me depressed. I’m still trying to lose the weight, 7kg to go. And I’m also trying to cope with a new baby and also my in-laws. I’m so used to, and still am, the life of just me and Bob enjoying our ‘er ren shi jie’. I kinda hate having to get used to so many people at once.

3. 5 snacks I enjoy
1. Calbee potato chips BBQ flavour, but the old version ones.
2. Sapporo
3. Kaka
4. Chicken in a Biscuit
5. Yan Yan Strawberry or Chocolate

4. The 5 songs
1. Almost here by Delta Goodrem & Brian McFadden
2. Superwoman by Karen White (Classic!)
3. Hands to Heaven by Breathe (Another classic)
4. Cool by Gwen Stefani
5. All About Loving You by Bon Jovi (My wedding video song! Always makes me feel warm and fuzzy..)

5. 5 things I would do if I am a millionaire
1. Give money to my parents.
2. Revamp and re-renovate my house. And stay in a nice hotel in the meantime. Nope, not going to move to a condo or what, cos I love my current house!
3. Put aside $$ for Tara and the next little one that comes along. Just in case in future no more money to give them
4. Save up a portion of it. For rainy days of course
5. Go slimming after the next little one and buy loads and loads of new clothes. Opps.. now it’s 6 things leh.. can hor?

6. 5 bad habits
1. Too lax. In other words, lazy.
2. Spend too much. Can’t have too much $$ in my wallet, it will be gone in matter of seconds.
3. Constantly procrastinating. Just like Gene, I will leave things around the house and wait for a nice sunny day to I tidy up.
4. Always taking showers late at night. Mum used to nag a lot for this.
5. Over-eating. On a good day, 5 full meals is nothing!

7. 5 things I like doing
1. Reading
2. Craft work
3. Cooking
4. Spending time with Tara & Bob
5. Shopping! Real shopping, window shopping doesn’t count.

8. 5 things I would never wear, buy or get new
1. Too tightly fitted clothes. Oh come on, with my figure now?!
2. Beige bras
3. Haversacks
4. Teva-kinda sandals. I think it’s the worst looking sandals I’ve seen, besides the ah peh type.
5. Everything that has Andy Lau’s face or voice in it. Sorry Andy’s fans, this guy turns me off big time.

9. 5 favourite toys
1. My new camera!
2. My computer, always looking for new photo editing or design programs to play with.
3. I wanted to say my car lah, but I’ve been driving for over a year but I don’t know that there is a Repeat button for my stereo. Before that, if I need to repeat a certain song, I just keep pressing on the “previous” button loh. Someone just told me about that feature couple of weeks ago. And I’m no good driver loh. Keke..

My 5 victims... (I only got 1 leh)
1. Cindy! (Please, do this for me can boh?)

New Digital Camera!

Yippee! Finally got a new camera. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face when Bob bought it. We went to Funan IT Mall on Monday night to get it. We didn't compare prices and Bob, being the very un-lei cheh person, just decided to get it, despite friends telling him there will be another IT show in April, and other shops are selling it at maybe $10 cheaper.

Bob only wanted to get Canon cameras, and since I'm the one who's constantly using it, I asked for a compact one. That leaves us with only 3 choices; IXUS i zoom, IXUS 55 and IXUS 750. I really loved the i zoom, I thought it's really small and the colours are cool, but the 55 and 750 are definitely better in terms of optical zoom, LCD monitor etc. I thought I would settle for 55, since it's almost comparable to 750 except for the megapixel. But Bob got other ideas, he prefered to pay $170 more for the 7.1 megapixel 750. I'm totally fine! Well, he's the one paying right? The sales guy was telling us unless we intend to print up to A3 sizes, a 5 megapixel one will suffice. And 55 is slimmer as compared to 750. But Bob insisted on the 750. We got quite a few freebies; a camera pouch, a LCD screen protector, a 512MB SD card, a SD card reader, an extra battery, total worth at least $150! I hope it's a good deal..

After Bob paid for the camera, the sales guy asked if we wanted to get a personal photo printer (oh man! He can read my mind!), and went on to show us how the Selphy CP-510 works and printed a test-shot photo of Bob and Tara from the new 750. Well, needless to say, Bob bought it. He's so impressed with the quality and the price of the Selphy, and of course the 30 cents price of per piece of photo. The sales guy threw in 2 packets of paper and ink for 36 photos and a carrier bag. Bob bought an additional pack of paper refills and ink for 108 pcs.

Bob saw the look of my face;
Bob: Happy hor?
Me: Of course lah!
Me to Tara: Daddy very rich hor? Hehe..
Bob: Hng...

I really love the new camera! I've been shooting anything and everything with it since I got hold of it. It's more like MY camera than Bob as I'm always the one using it. Don't ask me if the quality is better cos I really can't tell yet. But I can say the functions are much better than the Olympus! And it definitely came at a right time, Tara started walking yesterday!! Actually she walked a little on New Year's eve but had refused to walk again until yesterday. Maybe she preferred Mummy to shoot the moment on the new camera? Hehe..

New Year Eve and New Year Day

I started the first working day of 2006 really stressed up. The big job didn’t go smoothly. Now I’m trying to resolve the issues with my client, crossing my fingers and hope everything will turn out fine. The payment has to come in on time as I’m planning a Hong Kong trip with the commission.

We spent our last day of 2005 at Stella’s shop, Lala (reminds me of sambal lala, yummy), having barbeque, curry chicken and fried bee hoon. It’s a quiet affair, with the staff of the shop, their partners and Stella’s mum and sis, and of course, us and Ronald and family. The whole bunch of Sec school’s buddies (Bob’s) was invited but none of them turned up, except for us and Ronald. We only get to see them during occasions like full month parties or kiddos’ birthdays nowadays. Those were the days where we would meet up almost once a month, on every single occasion. Once babies started coming into the picture, gatherings got lesser and lesser.

Anyway, the small party at Stella’s wasn’t much fun, as I knew none of them except for Ronald & Janice. Janice and I made small talk about kids and work while our kids tottered around. Actually only my kid tottered, because Ryan is three already. He’s really cute. Asked Bob and me our names and called us by our name rather than Aunty Amy or Uncle Bob. After about an hour or so when they reached, Ryan got pretty restless and kept telling his Daddy he wanted to go home. When both his mum and dad just dismissed his requests, he walked over to where I’m sitting and in his cutest tiny voice and saddest puppy eyes; he said to me “Amy, I wanna go home, Amy”. It’s so cute I kept laughing non-stop. Even after a few days, Bob was still harping on how cute the boy is and how much he likes boys like him. He told me whenever I feel stress at work, just think of Ryan, and the way he talked to me that night. Too cute.

Despite my recent recovery from diarrhea, I decided to indulge in the oily and spicy food. 3 days of bland food is enough, I really need something to stimulate my taste buds. I ate everything, from the curry chicken, to the Taiwan mini sausage, to the yummy otahs. Pure indulgence.

At the struck of 12, they lit up sparklers to celebrate. Seconds after, we heard loud booming music from the nearby pub, another few seconds later, we heard the fireworks and another few seconds, we heard a group starting their countdown. Everyone’s start their countdown on a different time; they should have synchronized with the countdown on TV.

Well, the next day, I treated my family to a brunch at Carlton’s Wah Lok Restaurant. I’ve been there twice before, really like the food and the prices, and thus decided to bring my family there. We used to have a monthly brunch of dim sum but that was before I had Tara. It’s pretty nice to have a meal together once a month, we really should do it again.

Halfway through the meal, my tummyache act up again. Just when I thought the bug had gone… After our meal, we went to OG at Chinatown and I practically sprinted to the loo. Yup, I will never listen.

Another late night

Another late night today, have done the following:

1) Created 2 backdated posts for Christmas. Remember to read this and this.

2) Finally! Created an online photo album for the gang's gathering.

3) Search flight and accomodation for Feb trip to Bangkok. YIPPEE!! Holiday!

4) Downloaded Photostylist software from Pixart. Gonna do a coffee table book for Tara soon. Just hope that I have time to do it.