Managed to stand for 3 seconds haha

Our best foot forward

Cafe hopping

13 years and counting!

Going for my food tasting later! Mighty excited! :D

And the countdown says.... 73 more days!!!

Something exciting happened recently!!!

One of my closest friends just gave birth! On 23 Jan 2015!

Although I am not a baby/kid person but it's like a totally new phase in life for Ade and that's definitely worth getting excited about!

Quite scary also... slowly you can see the group progressing from being young swinging singles, to getting attached/engaged, to getting married, and now to becoming mothers!

Speaking of which... Paul kept pushing me to carry Sue Anne when I did not want to. It is very irritating! *rage face*

Imagine watching toenails grow. That is my level of excitement when it comes to carrying babies or cooing over them. I don't yabber on about how Shinhwa is awesome and expect everybody to adore them and want to smoother them with kisses. Likewise! I am just not interested in handling babies, don't understand why it is so difficult to comprehend that. It is not rocket science.

Not that I don't like Sue Anne... I'm sure she's cute and all but then that's just how some people are wired. Like how some people find cats and dogs totally adorable but other people are just don't give a hoot.

Enough about my lack of maternal instincts. If Paul is worried about me not being able to take care of my own kid in future then all I have to say is that I will take care of it (unwilling as I may be) when the time comes.

Presenting the delicate little bundle, Sue Anne Poh!

She looks like she's hungry coz her tongue is out lol. I heard they get hungry every 3 hours at this stage!

Practicing with the concerned father hovering in the background

 

This is probably like a scene from the future LOL

One with the girls!

Here to break the dry spell for August! :x 

Some pics from Jon & Shan's nuptials:

Theme was modern vintage hahaha but in the end I think the overall decor didn't look anything like modern vintage.

Vintage suitcase and blue mason bell jars (which are prob the most "vintage" looking items of all) rented from The Pixie Pop Shop!

The aforementioned blue vintage mason jar and our noob attempt at flower arrangement

More flowers... frantic afternoon prep before the dinner

Haha the only thing I did was to place the photo frame there LOL. Flowers and birdcage done up by the caterer.

Beautiful hand bouquets for the bridesmaids!

Fluff fluff fluffing pompoms

Behind the scenes

Colour coordinated in blush pink!

And one with the newly weds!

Fast forwarding the rest of August to current time; slumpy nest updates:

Received this in late July for our May Sale of Balance application

Received this yesterday for our July BTO application

Some statistics:

Sengkang SBF

No. of units available: 142

No. of applicants: 1005

Pros:

- Near my home (i.e. can get grant + convenient for me to go home hurhur)

- Am used to staying in the area / familiar with the north-east

- Can get flat by 2015!!!! (i.e. can have slumpy nest right after we get married!)

Cons:

- High possibility that there won't be good units left by the time it's our turn... then we have to wait again *deng deng deng deng*

- Strain on finances having to deal with wedding + housing $$$$$$

- Transport and amenities in the area (especially in newer parts of SK) are not as developed

Toa Payoh BTO

No. of units available: 419

No. of applicants: 4100

So we are actually quite lucky to get such a good number for TPY!

Pros:

- Central location (though I still like to stay in SK...... there are no parks around TPY for me to jog!)

- Confirm can get a unit (and a probably a good unit)

- Ample time to save for furniture and renovation

Cons:

- Flat will be ready only in 2019!!!!!!!!!! Will be homeless till then!

- Pretty far from my house :( ok la I think it's actually the mid-point between Paul's and my house

- Flats are more expensive in that area

And so there are other issues to consider like... when is our selection date? It could be any time from Sep to Nov or Dec... So if SK comes first and we forfeit our chance because all the units left are cui, do we get penalized for our TPY one? Can we continue to apply for more BTOs while waiting?

In other news I weighed myself yesterday and was a horrendous 53.8kg :x

Considering that I was about 56kg when I was at my plumpest, that's not very far off.

Can't seem to reduce the belly even though I've been exercising religiously. Or maybe I'm doing the wrong kind of exercise?

Just signed up for a 1 month trial with R-evolution and trying to maximize the unlimited classes by going 3x a week on top of weekly hot yoga, swim and jog. So other than Thurs coz I have RCIA, I'm engaged in some physical activity almost every day!

Sigh I guess it's back to controlling diet... having smaller portions... and stop being so greedy. WHICH IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME. Dieting is so much harder than exercising! :x

OK enough whining about weighty issues hurhur. Back to work.

Terrible! No time to do anything!

Helping out with the decor for Yuanshan's wedding... seems like there are ten thousand things to prepare just for the decor! Aiyo. When it's my turn I think I will turn into a Bridezilla :x

Snippets of the weekend just past:

  

Mostest beaming after Garfield Run!

The pinks and purples at the successful Hen's photoshoot! Was sweltering hot but great fun!

 

Atas dinner at Pollen! Here's my perfectly cooked salmon

And snippets of last last weekend:

 

Up close and personal with a panda haha

 

 Baked some white chocolate macadamia nut brownies

And snippets of last last last weekend:

 

FOOD (belated Father's day lunch)

 

MORE FOOD (great pig organ soup with selected organs) 

 

Brunch on a Sunday!

That seems to quite accurately sum up July. Not including never ending work at work.

I could go on and on and on about last x 4 weekend (meetup with Ichee after 4 or 5 months and melty charsiew) and last x 5 weekend (Hatter Street, cream puff baking class and meetup with Gassers after 3 or 4 months)... but ok I need to sleep, so till the next time, whenever that is. I need to find some time to blog and compose some coherent thoughts!!!!!!!!!

In case I go MIA again, this is what's up:

This long weekend: KL to attend a dinner/leisure trip/get stuck in a terrible jam back home

Next weekend: Yuanshan's wedding

Next next weekend: National Day and I HAVE NOTHING SCHEDULED! Woohoo!!!

Oh look who's here!

Happy New Year and happy 2014 y'all!

 

From the 45th floor of MBS haha

MBS is super crowded on NYE, but we found a good spot to catch the fireworks!

Still trying to recover from the aftermath of the wedding yesterday. Had about 1 hour of sleep the night before the wedding and considering that the 姐妹s only got to know each other because of the wedding and the dynamics of the group (read: Bridesmaidzilla!!!), I think we did pretty ok.

 

 Me in my lok kok t-shirt and shorts and the radiant bride in her red gown! Haha

Too bad I didn't have any photos of me emceeing! LOL was a little nervous and I probably sounded very stiff like I was doing a Chinese passage recital. LOL. And I think it's time to retire my killer heels, twisted my ankle on Christmas Eve and made the mistake of wearing killer nude heels which made me walk like a duck and probably placed unnecessary strain on the recovering ankle. Luckily I had the help of Paul who vroomed to help me get another pair of shoes from home! :D

So that's how Day 1 of 2014 was! May the rest of the year be smooth sailing!

Woah~ before I know it September's rounding up to an end!

Some moments from Sandy's wedding before I forget: 

 Typical props... or rather, food for gatecrash + a love poem

 

The bread that we didn't get to use due to time constraints

ROARRRRRR!!! Brothers you are VERY LATE!!!

One of my favourite photos from the day!

Another nice group shot! Glad to have these lovely ladies in my life! :D

Then we move on to domesticated Si Yi:

Went for a 5 course Japanese meal lesson to learn how to cook miso soup, tempura, omu rice, chicken katsu curry, tofu cheesecake! Taste - 6.5/10, curry was wayyyyy too salty :x

Lemon drizzle loaf from The Meat Men - recipe here 

Candied lemon was too sweet :x

Sweet corn ice cream bread - saw this insanely easy recipe on Facebook and gave it a try. Just 2 ingredients, mix. But I got the measurements wrong and this turned out kueh-like. #fail!

Gave it another try with chocolate chip ice cream and it turned out better, but bread was really dry. :x

I guess the quality of ice cream affects the bread. Recipe here.

 
And I can haz Tim Ho Wan char siew baos! Queued 50 mins to eat there!

And miscellaneous happenings:

 

Sandy's hen party on a boat! Got a little giddy after that though :x

 Our completed lego caravan! It's pretty cool, the inside is furnished! :)

 

You can't find clothes cheaper than what I was selling at the flea :x

 

And yes look who received her long service award yesterday. Haha. Technically it's 5.5 years already!

Dim Sum baking class yesterday!

 

Amigos hard at work making Portuguese egg tarts

Wah I didn't know that to make the flaky kind of crust, it actually involves a lot of layering of fat (margarine) and flour

 

Fresh out of the oven! The egg custard looks a bit puffy here but they sank after cooling down. There wasn't enough egg filling by the time it came to us :( so ours was only like 3/4 filled while the rest of the aunties filled theirs to the brim :x

 

Piping hot 流沙包 that just came out of the steamer! Haha for some reason the salted egg custard erupted while steaming :x

 

波箩包. OMG I was so frustrated trying to roll the pastry dough into a round shape, then creating the textured patterns, and then getting it OFF the baking sheet. Rarrrrrr that must have been the most difficult step of the day

 

 

What we got to take home! The fruits of our labour! Nom nom :)

The Portuguese egg tart and bo luo bao is really a little too tedious to do at home, but I think I can give the liu sha bao a try. Problem is, the salted egg custard was already pre-made for us hahaha so not sure if I can replicate it at home.

And there goes another busy weekend!