Preparing for Perth trip...

Hubby and I finally managed to get most of our stuff packed for the upcoming Perth trip. Had a bit of a headache trying to think of the most efficient and cheapest way of getting everyone and everything loaded and whisked off to the airport at such an early hour on Tuesday morning, and were torn between booking a maxi cab in advance (the maxi cab ride would cost us $77 in all!!! @_@) and making our separate ways there. Even got MIL to help us check with her office to estimate the cab fares when we visited her yesterday evening.

Fortunately, Benne's aunt recommended her close friend, this uncle who drives a mini van, to Beebee, saying that he could go to both our home destinations and help to take us all to the airport at a flat fee of $45. So much cheaper in comparison with what the cab companies are charging! Of course we decided to take up that offer.

Also checked the weather forecast for Perth over the next few days. Think the first couple of days of our trip are best -- maximum temperature's only about 23 degrees celsius or so while lowest could be 11 or 12, but it could shoot up to 34 over the next few days. Oh well, we'll just make sure we've got both summer and a bit of cold wear packed in our luggage. :)

Still have to report for work tomorrow till about 5pm, but am hoping to complete my course assignment during that time. Must get it done before I go off on the trip. Then will just return home tomorrow evening to chill out and pack the rest of the stuff in before turning in early hopefully. Am so looking forward to getting away from Singapore and enjoying the trip, especially the farmstay! ^_^

It's a good Friday...

Hadn't met up with HZ and Jess for some time... we finally did so last Friday afternoon. Went out to town for lunch, followed by some jalan jalan, mainly to look around and perhaps settle some final purchases that they had to make for their upcoming holiday trip (so envious! Close to THREE weeks of holidaying in cool winter places! ^_^).

Lunch was at Food Republic @ Wisma Atria. Hubby and I had bought food from Waan Waan Thai Restaurant there on our previous visit and we thought it was not bad, so we recommended that to HZ and Jess. A set meal comprising a main course, clear but spicy tom yam seafood soup and sweet thai dessert costs only $8.50. Pretty good value for money, considering the quantity and taste! :)

The jalan-ing was also quite fun. Bought my latest DS Mario game at a special discount given by Jess's friend since Jess was buying some Wii games too. Cool! :) Haven't had time to start playing it though...think I bought too many games recently! :p We also browsed about at some luxury brand stores at DFS... since the moment he discovered some nice and 'cheap' Gucci bags, Hubby kept asking me to get one that day. I didn't okay! Am quite pleased with myself for being disciplined. Actually, I think after my latest Burberry purchase, I just didn't feel like splurging on another branded bag for the time being. In fact, I told Hubby that I might leave the Gucci till my next birthday to commemorate the day I step into my thirties... (maybe that'll comfort me a little and divert my attention from my increased age :p).

Oh ya, we also took some pictures of the new ginormous installation by LV right in front of Ngee Ann City. Just compare its size with that of the ice cream uncle's station in the background to see how huge it is. If not for the rain, loads of people would probably be hovering near it, taking pictures with or of it.

Hubby and I stayed on in Orchard for the evening. Hubby was also quite disciplined himself. He spotted a Tag Heuer bag that he thought might be a nice weekend bag to carry around (it actually costs more than the 'cheap' Gucci bag) and was toying with the idea of getting it. But after trying it on for a while, he decided against it cos he realised it might be more of a travel bag than messenger bag...

Dinner was settled back at Food Republic -- think we'd never stepped into that place so many times in a single day -- this time, we went for Japanese food at the stall where we had tried their Tokyo ramen before. The ramen didn't taste as flavourful or rich this time though, but at least Hubby had a nice bottle of beer to compensate for it. I decided to try the cheapest bento set they had -- chicken karaage, stir fried beansprouts with chilli and prawn bits and even chawanmushi and miso soup. Quite reasonable for about $10. :)

Well, the day ended with us not purchasing anything else, but I'm happy too cos it was quite relaxing just going out there without any aim or pressure to get anything. :)

Haircut and century egg tofu...

Went for a haircut at Jantzen @ Jurong Point last Wednesday... decided to trim it short again (for the second time in my entire life!) cos we'd be going on our Perth holiday soon and since it'll be the start of summer, I'd have a summer kinda hat on my head as long as I'm outdoors -- don't wanna have to deal with the hassle of having to tie my hair properly or tuck it in under the hat nicely. With short hair, there's less to deal with! :p Of course, the haircut also shaved years off my appearance...haha...think ladies usually look younger with shorter hair.

Hubby came to meet me so after the haircut, we had a nice dinner at the mall. Chose a Chinese meal this time at Lai Lai Casual Dining. Hubby had the mian xian soup set consisting of the mian xian, century egg tofu and iced bubble tea while I chose a bowl of plain rice with two other side dishes -- shredded cucumber and chicken and fried fish fillet. We shared the dishes and I loved the century egg tofu most! Think it'd be rather easy to conjure. Get tofu, century egg, bonito flakes, chicken floss and spring onion and put them together with perhaps some oyster sauce, I guess? Shall try that one day cos Hubby liked it too. :)

The two 'B's...

Two 'B's came over to our place last evening...Beebee and her now official boyfriend, Benne. :) Beebee had wanted to try her hand at decorating our Christmas tree so we invited her to come over yesterday and ask Benne along too.

Cooked some pasta in carbonara sauce and prepared sauteed sausages with broccoli, white button mushroom and some red capsicum for some savoury flavour. Also made some soup and tossed a salad to go with the meal. Soup wasn't fantastic, but I guess the rest were okay, or so I hope. :p

Had some Xbox entertainment in the form of Guitar Hero as well before proceeding to decorate the Christmas tree and putting up other forms of Christmas deco around in the apartment. Well, this year's slightly different -- Beebee and Benne did all the work of adding the pretty touches to the Christmas tree. Think it's so sweet looking at them doing that together. Hubby helped to take photos of them next to their completed creation as well after that. :) Aww...

After that was some icecream and TV before they left. Watching the two 'B's together made me smile cos I know that Beebee is happy where she is now, and I hope she stays like this for a long long time to come. :)

Overall, it was certainly a nice evening! ^_^

Farewell...

Thank you, 4E1 '09.
You have been such a wonderful class;
No words can ever define how good you are in truth.
You are champions in your own right,
each and every one of you.
Not because you perform the best academically as a class,
but because you are people of the best hearts --
Compassionate,
Generous,
Fun,
Humorous,
Loving,
Sincere...
and so much more.
Thank you for all the surprises you have given me over the past two years.
Thank you for being so well-disciplined and on task
that I never have to worry about you in that sense,
and can always look forward to teaching you in class.
Thank you for all the times you moved me to tears --
you have a gift when it comes to making me cry in public!
Thank you for blessing my teaching career with the most memorable moments ever.
It may be farewell for now,
and I won't ever see you, as a class, sitting, lounging around or playing your made-up games in my homeroom anymore,
or hear your jovial laughter and giggles,
and fall for all the tricks you have up your sleeves,
but believe me,
you kids will always stay in my memory.
Should I feel down any time as I continue down the journey in this career,
I know I'll always have the album you created for me,
the photographs we took together,
the beautiful and touching videos you created,
and all the little momentos you have given me over the years to cheer me up,
and remind me that my job is worth doing.
The next class I take will have some enormous shoes to fill,
but I will make sure I do my best
and help to mould them into people with hearts and attitude like yours.
Farewell for now, 4E1.
May your next journey in life reap even more rewards and meaning for you.

Work-cum-fun in the east

Just returned very late last night from a work retreat at Aloha Changi in one of the old colonial bungalows... it was supposed to be a three-day two-night thing, but couldn't stay the second night cos a snake appeared in the house but vanished upon being spotted and most didn't feel good about sleeping with the snake roaming about. :p But good also lah, cos some parts of the house could be pretty spooky...maybe it's cos it's been occupied by people from the past, and also cos it's pretty huge...

Despite that and another unexpected, ridiculous hiccup, everyone had a pretty good time. Plus, we got to enjoy the good food over in the east over the two days we were there. Yesterday was also the first time in my life that I visited White Sands twice in a day -- for lunch and then later, dinner. Haha...

Monday's dinner @ Changi Village:

Tuesday's lunch @ Sakae Sushi:

Awww...and besides the yummy food, there's also precious little Charlene, Mary's daughter, who stayed over with us. This darling really knows how to charm all the adults with her sweet girly voice, animated chatter, cheeky antics and kawaii poses! :) Sigh... I want one like her... :)

Tuesday's dinner @ The Manhattan Fish Market:

Fish-lovers will love this! Prices are reasonable, serving quantity's fine, quality of food's great! Yum! It's my first time trying their food and I walked out a satisfied customer. Will definitely be looking out for their outlets in town!

Sigh, went back to work early this morning a little stoned...but glad I quite enjoyed the food and the company the past couple of days. :)

Shopping spree...

Last Saturday was one of the rare times when I found myself having a field day of shopping and Hubby returning home with barely anything new (usually it's the other way round :p).

The purchases made delighted me much and some will come in handy for my upcoming functions and all... :)

The printed white flowery dress and D&G ring is from Tangs Orchard...got wonderful discounts on both, especially the later, which was bought at 50% discount! Got the blue silk dress at Marks and Spencer, and then there's my second mag bag from Kino...YSL! Ho ho ho...this one's different from my previous Marc Jacobs one cos it's stashed away behind the Japanese information counter...couldn't find it on the open shelves. Was eyeing the YSL easy bag when it first came out but couldn't bear to part with my money that way, so maybe this mag bag is a little, albeit 'lame', consolation for that? :p

Return of the pigeons!

Did up a post on pigeons stalking me at home on my blog last year...it's been a while since, but yes, the pigeons are back (dunno if they're the same pigeons though :p).

Hubby and I found the pigeons resting at the wide ledge just outside the window of the study room. They didn't appear scared or budge even as Hubby danced before them in a silly manner and we both inched closer and closer to them till we were right in front of them, separated by just the window. First, they were on the left of the ledge...

Then, they strutted calmly over to the right after some time...

And at one point, the smaller one pooped...

And the bigger one also followed suit! *grrrr*

Now they've flown off... leaving only their poop as gifts for us to remember them by... Ugh.

Band NCO POP

Attended the NCO POP at CCAB this evening with Portia in support of our new Drum Major and Band Major. Felt so proud of these 2 kids as I looked at them conducting themselves in such a smart manner. It also brought back memories of my days in the military band when we had to march and play music. :)

One of the highlights included the Drum Majors performing, not to the music played by the Band Majors, but the song "Beat It" by MJ. It was pretty cool... such a pleasant surprise. Haha...very nice.

After the event, we hung around to take pictures with the kids...am so happy for them. Their efforts finally paid off! ^_^

Cool stuff

FB's pretty cool...my account was created just yesterday, and already I have been located by old friends and even chatted online with one of them -- Adele! I was so pleasantly surprised when she just began a chat session with me...managed to catch up a bit with her before we disconnected. :) Am enjoying the adorable games there too! Other than my virtual pet, I now own a restaurant in FB. Haha...

Something else is cool too-- this limited edition Super Mario chess set that Hubby bought today. It's a great addition to our collection of Super Mario merchandise at home! Hee, Hubby said he got this cos he knew I'd have fun playing with it. How right he is! I'm sure I'll enjoy this. Can't wait to get it opened and start moving the cute pieces around! ^_^

A first on FB!

Haha... after what seemed like ages of persuasion from people around me, and also after an intensive session of 'introductory briefing' by Sophia (glad she's ok now, btw) in an attempt to coax me once again into signing up on this hugely popular networking website, I managed to finally create my first Facebook account.

Felt so out of touch once I completed that and started searching for people I know cos it's like...my goodness! Everyone's already connected to everyone else and I'm only starting to add people as friends now. Boy...it'll take a while for me to build up my friends list after locating people I know.

Started on my secondary school friends first. Some I still keep in touch with, others I've lost contact with for some time, especially those who went overseas for work. Was quite happy to actually come across their accounts and look at recent pictures they posted as part of their profile. Now I'm just waiting for my request to add them as friends to be accepted. Haha.

Also started this virtual pet game titled "Pet Society"...graphics are like the one above. You create a pet (nope, that's not my pet...will take a while for my pet's home to become so lavishly decorated!) and then do loads of stuff like play some mini games to earn money and buy things to make the pet happy. So cute! Well, if I can't have a real pet now, at least I've one online! So there!

Doubt I'd become addicted to this website though. I know of people who absolutely have to log in every single day just to keep track of whatever's happening. I'll just log in periodically or whenever I'm free to check on updates or play with my pet (I named it "Maru", after the famous Japanese cat :p). Guess it's still quite a new thing to me, but I hope I'll continue to enjoy FB! ;)

永别了，小花。

This is it.

小花 will be taken to the animal hospital tonight,
accompanied by her beloved mistress
and all those who have helped to look after her everyday needs.
As much as it devastates her so,
Sophia has decided to end her suffering, once and for all.
Tomorrow, 小花 will be officially put to sleep in the morning,
and then cremated in the afternoon.

With each update Sophia gave me today about 小花, I shed several tears.
I could imagine the dog's pain and fear at not being able to close her eyes the entire night,
or move because her body muscles were so stiff.
I could imagine the dog just lying there so still, unblinking,
throughout the hours
as her human caretakers stayed by her, feeling so helpless.
I could imagine how she must have looked
when Sophia told me that besides the fact that her little old heart was still pumping,
the rest of her was gone.
I could imagine her in her better days
when some of us offered to visit Sophia
but the latter preferred us not to,
so that 小花 could be remembered fondly as how she was,
all cute and fluffy,
the little diva she was,
before old age struck and rendered her totally weak and immobile.

Yes, I think I should heed what Sophia says,
and just think of the dog as she used to be in her heyday
because she deserves it so.

永别了，小花。
但愿你在狗狗天堂里
能再次当回你活泼可爱型的小公主。

Maru the Cat! *meow*

Hubby and I stumbled across this wonderful book at Kinokuniya yesterday. It's a little 'biography' of a famous cat in Japan named Maru. Apparently, the owner had previously submitted videos of this heart-melting, charming cutie for a YouTube video contest and that won the cat its current fame. The book's a really easy read cos it basically introduces the cat with lots of pretty photographs and accompanying captions. It also comes with a DVD compiling lots of wonderful videos of the cat too! So it's kind of a must-buy for us, since cats appeal to both of us. Haha.

Anyway, this cat's got quite a personality. Unlike other cats in general, it loves water and does lots of silly things like trapping itself in a box. After going through the pages with Hubby as a bed-time read, I was so captivated by this little thing that I promised myself to look up some the videos, even though we should already have them in the DVD and are planning to watch the DVD over lunch later, and blog (yes! its owner set up a blog for it too!) online today.

And now, introducing Maru the Cat! (The last part of the video is especially funny as the cat is seen indulging in a silly activity which is one of its favourite...haha...)

And here's the link to Maru's blog as well...

http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/

It's sure gonna be included in my favourites from now! ^_^