What I have been up to lately:

1) As part of the anniversary plans...

Staycation at Oasia Hotel! Uber shiok.

Breakfast at Level 22 coz we got a club room

Atas dinner at Salt Grill & Sky Bar!

Oh hey we are 2 years old! How time flies!

I have a frivolous question for the married people - do you celebrate your "get together" anniversary after getting married, or do you only celebrate your wedding anniversary?

Moving on...

2) Exercising (but weight has not gone down! Faint!)

3) Trying to eat clean(er), like so:

Post-workout dinner - Oven roasted chicken with assorted veg and steamed sweet pototoes courtesy of Corinne! (Who is now helping to whip me into shape) 

On a 3-day course and forced to eat expensive food at ARC

Expensive food part 2: Tandoori chicken salad

Post-yoga dinner

Post-run dinner (I)

Post-run dinner (II). This was awesome! Baked Salmon seasoned with some salt, black pepper, olive oil, basil and rosemary

Post-workout dinner. This was awesome too and hastily whipped up at 1030pm last night

And the not so healthy haha. Finally put my vday present to good use and whipped up a batch of caramel popcorn cupcakes! :D

Happy belated Vday!

Slumpy's birthday falls on Vday so I bought a cake and we sang a birthday song for him :)
(Squishy and Rolly's birthday is on 22 Feb - they are non-identical twins)

Oh yes, Brown is their cousin who looks perpetually solemn.

It wasn't the most romantic of Vdays coz we had a little disagreement/incident. But it's all good now!

I got my teeth cleaned (and nagged by my dentist) and was told that I had to get my wisdom tooth extracted at the hospital. Better remember to get that done soon coz I have a feeling I will forget alllll about it.

Then I got my eyelash extensions removed because half of them have fallen off already! The eyelash-ian (?) was quite surprised that mine only lasted 3 weeks because it was supposed to be able to last a good 4-6 weeks if you take care of it well. I'm like super chor lor plus it's really hindering how I wash my face. Although I must say, they really make a difference to the eyes. A few teachers said my lashes were nice! But a few of my real lashes fell off with the extensions :( so I better give them a break now.

(My brow resurrection is still holding up pretty well though it has faded considerably in the weeks after!)

Concluded the evening with the 10km Brooks Marina Run and I think we did well! We went at a very steady pace and managed to finish the run without stopping, and at a very decent time too. 

Rewarded ourselves with dinner at ECP

Trying to recreate what we ate for our first date hahaha

(Answer: Sambal kangkong, sambal stingray, rice and sugar cane - but we got greedy and added sotong and chicken wings LOL)

Also volunteered at the CEE as a reception couple on Friday. If there's a "ministry" that I have to join, I wouldn't mind joining this. One thing they told us during our EE weekend was that through our love for each other and our marriage, we can show other people God's love. And that was one of the things that struck me the most. Haha not sure if I make sense. Still quite bad at explaining this thing.

So anyway I mentioned that I was still looking for a baptism name and one of the couples told me to pray about it. Honestly I really (1) don't know how to pray and (2) too lazy to pray haha. So I'm thinking maybe I'll just flip the bible or look at all the Saints' names and find one I like. But for now Sophie is still quite a strong contender.

Found a half written post of photos sitting in my drafts!

Might as well post it now. Staycation at Capri by Fraser Residences for no good reason! Haha actually it was the tail end of the September holidays and it also happened to be our 17th month together (at point of staycation). We're toddler age now! Haha.

In fact my parents also went to Capri for a staycation this weekend because it was their 30th wedding anniversary yesterday. They are quite productive seeing that I was born just 1 year later haha. We had a family dinner at Majestic Bay on Sunday after I "booked out" of my EE weekend and she said "(三十年) 不容易".
Then I proceeded to ask her for some tips since you know, I just came out from 48 hours of intensive dialoguing with Paul and was feeling all motivated to be in this (i.e. marriage) for the long haul. But then she said "有孩子了 of course 不容易". Alamak I wanted tips for a long lasting marriage la!

OK digressing.

Exploring the kitchenette... room was really big and spacious! Compared to our recent stay at Moon Hotel (for my birthday)... Moon Hotel was just a tiny square with no windows and no walking space :x

But ok Moon was $99 only so mai hiam haha

Room has a magic partition that you can lower so that your bed is separated from the "living" area!

Our booking included ingredients for us to "cook" dinner. Actually no need cook la, everything here is quite edible even without cooking.

So we had salad! and the fishball was from the fishball soup we tabao-ed from the food fair at the Expo haha

Awwww bears all tucked in and happily snoozing

They have little rooms on every level with different items inside... found a punching bag in one

And a unicycle thing on another floor

Also posted some other photos from the staycation on my Dayre... for more visit http://dayre.me/hahaheehee/eJ9Yx7FolN. I am too lazy to update!

More updates on the slumpy nest:

Last Queue Number invited for selection of a 4-Room flat in Toa Payoh under the July 2014 BTO exercise as at 15 Sep 2014 : 00032

Joined this FB group and everyone is quite on the ball and providing information on how many flats have been booked! (about 18 units taken to date)

The BAHs (boyfriends and husbands. Male equivalent of WAGs LOL) also had a discussion on flats and property and things like resonance (which probably nobody would have thought of) and Paul is convinced that all these happened for a reason hahaha and that everything fell into place nicely.

We also dropped by the actual site for a look on Saturday! It's near the famous old school dragon playground. Our choice unit looks like it's just around there. There are a few dilapidated looking flats in the adjacent plot but I'm not sure if those will be demolished. Only 3 buses ply the road along the area and it's 3 bus stops away from the MRT/bus interchange. Oh wells I think I can live with that. All for the sake of the location! Hopefully I'll grow to like Toa Payoh in the near future. Not that I don't like it now - used to hang around quite a bit there since I went for my weekly swims there - but it just doesn't give me the sense of homeliness!  I like having greenery and parks nearby to break the monotony and because the 4 blocks are 36-storeys high, it reminds me of a cold, sterile office building. I look at all the other miniature models on display at HDB and all the other projects look so community-like and cozy!

But at the end of the day we have a roof over our head and that's the most important!

Also I would like to put on record the sweet little things that slumpy Paul has done for our 17th month! Haha we are almost 1.5 years old!

1) Bought me a new exercise/gym bag! Old one was bursting and had a big hole at the side :x
2) Randomly popped up at my house at 8am on Friday morning with Macdonalds breakfast!
3) Gave me a free ride to school. Yay!!! No squeezing with people on trains!

Thank you! *mostest appreciative* :D

2D1N in Desaru

Desaru is one of those places where 2D1N is more than sufficient... else you'll be bored to death there.

We bought a deal and scooted off during the weekend of our 1st anniversary (yeah we're finally 1 year old!).

Lotus Desaru Resort - got a room that's bigger than what I expected. Hey, it even has a mezzanine floor!

But do not be fooled... we found mushrooms growing on the toilet floor. EW GROSS. :X

The pool right outside our room. The blocks of rooms look a bit like those old HDB/condo style right?

Also do not be fooled by their "water park"... it's just a pool with a very long slide. 

#chey

Le squishy Paul looking happy with our buffet dinner!

Again caveat - not very worth it for RM55. Plus we had a constant battle with flies!

SUSPECTED SPRING ROLLS THAT CAUSED ME MILD FOOD POISONING

Spent most of Sunday night puking my guts out at home :x

Unfortunately I recovered the very next morning. Ah! No chance of MC.

There were some bits of entertainment like table tennis/foosball/carom and there's the beach but really other than that... be prepared to just sit by the beach and stare at the waves and/or at each other.

Well well! Being mostest efficient, the date has been settled within a week of booking of our dinner venue!

Date - check
Church - check
Dinner venue - check

So if all goes well, it looks like I'll be getting married on my 30th birthday heh.

双喜! :D

Also I baked an awesome sweet corn chiffon cake today:

Spent a very productive Saturday getting some dates and confirming the venue - must say we're very efficient haha.

Also finally caught up with HIMYM!!! Neglected the show for a while since I didn't have time and only started re-watching from S09E07 a few days back and watched like 7 or 8 eps today. Tomorrow is the last of Season 9, and the last of the entire series. I couldn't remember lots of things that I've watched over the years haha. Such as all those references to characters and incidents. Still think the first 7 seasons were much better; season 9 is a weeeeee bit draggy. Can't wait for Ted to meet The Mother!!!! After all those trials and tribulations! FINALLY!

And thus concludes my 3-year affair with HIMYM.

Saw these GIFs from a HIMYM article I was reading and thought they were cute haha

Will miss Barney Stinson and his wisecracks and exaggerated ways.

And this old image that I posted before but still remains awesome:

Next I want to watch this hot Korean drama that everyone's talking about! "My Love From The Stars" or something like that. Haven't watched any Kdrama for years! Have high hopes for this haha.

Another work week beckons. Boo.

Important enough milestone to warrant a post at 3.47am when I have to be up early for work tomorrow!

22/2/14 The day I got upgraded!

 I have a king and 3 bears! Haha

I think this the best photo of all because at least my face doesn't look that round here and there is some semblence of a chin!

How come nobody told me my face became so round and fat!!! ROAR! 

Also having no discipline to stick to the T25 workout. Kinda gave up on it after a few sparodic sessions haha. OK MARCH SHALL BE THE MONTH TO KEEP FIT!

I HAVE 1 YEAR (+/-) 9 MONTHS TO SLIM DOWN! HWAITING!

Merry Christmas...!!! Oh wait.... Christmas is over already haha.

So I obviously should be sleeping now (it's 5am) but I took a long nap from 11+pm to 3am so I guess that should make up for some of the lost sleep.

And it's time for... *drumroll* the annual wrap up post! The time we take to sit down and look back at the year past. Actually I'm not really reflecting about my year, but just randomly plucking off things from my head about what I did. So here's my year in review!

In 2013, I...

MOVED ON! *fireworks*

- I moved on from a hazardous relationship and all that 藕断丝连 nonsense and thankfully found someone a bazillion times better (I think I struck the lottery on that one). Took a while and everyone's right, we will all get there eventually, painful as it was (at that time).

- I moved on (or am about to) from a company that I've been with for close to 6 years. I haven't "officially" tendered but I will miss the nice people there... other than that, good riddance! Haha.

- My mindset moved on too. I used to relish my single life and did not harbour any hopes of settling down (awesome for me - no need to think about having kids plus I get to save my money to do things I want haha). I guess partly because of my friends' influences and seeing people getting married and settling down around me that I start to think - hmm, maybe the married life ain't that bad. Of course, a lot depends the timing and the person, and I am thankful that the right person appeared at the right time.

Which explains the Sale of Balance and the seemingly fast-forwarded pace of the relationship. But if not now, then when?

- I moved from climbing mountains to swimming with the fishes! Hurhurhur. But in terms of achieving my "do one new thing a year" goal, I get an A! Haha. I'm running out of new things to do next year though. Any suggestions?

- I also moved from being a poor struggling employee to a dead broke and struggling employee, if that is even possible. Hahaha.

- And moved from being at my ideal weight to +4kg more. Blah. :x

Also took plenty of trips this year starting from Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh, short trips to Genting, Phuket, Dayang, KL, Batam, went trekking in Nepal and finally ending off the year in Seoul. Lots of notable moments such as seeing magnificent scenery and snow falling. I think one of my resolutions next year should be to not go on so many trips so that I can save some of my annual leave and most importantly, save some money. :x

And the weddings in 2013! Weddings involve a lot of work but I like to be part of them to share the joy of the couple. :D For good friends I mean. In fact I'm starting off 2014 with another wedding! Looks like my whole 1 Jan will be gone sigh!

Looks like Moving On is the recurring theme for 2013! Moving on ahead with life and planning for your future would, I suppose, signify some personal growth and development so I hope that it means at least I've erm, grown somewhat to be a better person.

I really have no idea what I want 2014 to be like. Living life one day at a time as usual. But it really does seem like odd-numbered years are better for me haha. I just hope my new job will treat me well. *cross fingers*

*blows dust off blog*

My poor, long suffering blog. Always here when I am angry or upset and I need an outlet to rant. But when things are calm and peaceful, it goes down the pecking order and gets ignored while I get distracted by Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and what-have-you. Ever selfless and giving, my blog doesn't fight for my attention and always waits patiently in the shadows. *pat pat*


And seriously how many social media platforms do I need?! Haha recently I hopped on the Dayre bandwagon (it's like microblogging on the go - if Twitter and Instagram had a rendezvous and had a kid, Dayre would be it).

But well nothing fascinating has been happening... or wait has there been? OK let me share some recent bakes:

Went for a log cake baking class last Saturday and this ended up as dessert for the Nepal celebratory dinner!

I asked my mom to buy lots of Christmas cake decorations back from Phoon Huat. Haha. Shall attempt to replicate the log cake again closer to Christmas.

 Banana Walnut Muffins

I'm pretty sure I baked something similar before but since I only had 3 small bananas left, I went to google for stuff that I could make with 150g bananas haha. So specific. But anyway I liked this version a lot, they were incredibly soft and fragrant. As with all banana+walnut combinations, it could do with some choc chips but I ran out of them.

Been really tempted to buy a lot of stuff lately, like a hand mixer, the Olympus Stylus XZ-10, and the Babyliss Big Hair 42mm. AHHH CONSUMERISM IS EVIL!!! All these are just wants and not needs. Like my Olympus E-PM1 is still serving me well but sometimes it's a little bulky to carry around plus I want something that can transfer photos from camera to phone using the wi-fi card. -_-

And I want a hand mixer because it's more handy and convenient instead of having to lug the huge mixer out of the storeroom when I want to bake something simple.

And seriously I always tie my hair up so why do I need the Babyliss product so that my hair can look like I just stepped out of the salon?

OK I shall convince myself that all this is not needed. Coz if I buy all these then essentially I will have nothing leftover from my AWS.

#firstworldproblems

And recently Paul got himself a second-hand bike and I've never ridden on a bike before (save for one time in Cambodia) so this will take some getting used to! Riding a bike requires lots of planning and also the mood of the skies. I wanted an orange helmet hurhurhur but I guess most riders like boring colours because there are absolutely no orange helmets out there unless I spray paint it myself. So my helmet is pink. Haha. Wave if you see a pink head that looks vaguely like me on the roads!

Still trying to find a good time to break the news to the boss ㅠ.ㅠ
But there's never a good time for such things. Sigh!

Anyway I finally found some time to bake after a long while! After my parents packed all the baking supplies into the storeroom I find it such a hassle to dig everything out when I want to bake something. So now I go for super fuss free recipes that require as little baking tools as possible. Better still if it doesn't require the mixer!

Haha I've been feeling bad about all the weight I've gained over the past 7 months so I tried to make it more healthy by using oatmeal. And it's flourless. I hope it's healthier? Trying my darnest to #eatclean but failing LOL.

Presenting the Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies! Woah what a mouthful haha.

 

Round little patties

 They expanded nicely! :D

Probably one of the simplest recipes ever. Quick prep time too. All I needed was a weighing scale, a big bowl, a baking tray and my hands. Dump everything into bowl, mix, shape into circles, bake. Hurhur.

And I keep failing at making caramel!!! SIGH! I wanted to make salted caramel cupcakes for Paul's birthday but I failed twice :( and I ran out of sugar so I couldn't make a third batch. So bo bian, settled for vanilla cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting. Luckily the birthday boy is as easy-going as I am! Hahahaha :)

 

LOL handmade signs 

I'm going for a Christmas log cake baking class this Saturday! Excited to finally learn the art of rolling the cake - hope it'll turn out much better than the one I did last year!

Some time last week, Paul and I had this idea to take part in Kiss92's Perfect Match contest. LOL. Hey, the prize was $8,888 in cash! And other perks included a sponsored wedding party, bridal gown, make up, photography, and HOME RENOVATION! Haha. Not like I have a home yet but what the heck, might as well give it a try!

So we hastily coughed up a video for submission but sad to say the 3 couples have been shortlisted and we were not one of them *insert mega sad face here* :(((((((((((( le sigh. OK la but I saw the other videos of the shortlisted teams and they were really a lot more interesting than ours (which was just basically a slide show). Hahaha.

To not let the video go to waste, here is the mishmash video that we put together in one night. Ahahaha. :D



Not too bad for a few hours of work considering I took super long to do up my KK video and the In Japan without a Yen video! Or maybe it's because my skeelz improved. Hahahahaha.

The Piano Guys - they don't just play the piano, there's a cellist too!





Heh their covers are all awesome and I'm going to watch them next Monday thanks to Paul who sneakily bought tickets! :D

MANY HUGGLES!:)))) Haha :D



Oh my cannot resist adding in this too!!! This is too cute! Bringing the cello for a buffet and it became a double bass when it came out LOLOL and then bringing the cello to exercise. And skydiving with a cello strapped to him? TOTAL WIN!!!

It keeps raining in the mornings. Makes for very conducive sleep-ins.
Unfortunately it also means I'm always late for work. Very blatantly so. I just happily stroll in after 930am or later every day whether rain or shine. If I find another job I have no idea how I am going to adapt to the normal hours of working haha.

Speaking of which the job search has been very stagnant! Why nobody wants to hire me? :(

Sigh. OK on to happier things. Long weekend that just passed:

 

Baked egg tarts on Thurs. The egg custard didn't curdle like it did the last time so that's good! I originally wanted to bake a Lemon Drizzle Loaf from this video I saw. It looks so gooooooooooooooood! It's the way the shot the video I guess haha. But my mother asked for egg tarts so ok lor. Haha.

Then I went for Muay Thai and kicked some ass (I wish). Haha but it's a very tiring sport and I say that even as I do Boxercise regularly.

Staycation at Wanderlust Hotel on National Day! It's a boutique hotel so the rooms are quite quirky - each level has a different theme and we got the Pantone Room on the second floor. The room is entirely decked out in a single colour so there's a red room, a yellow room, a blue room, you get the gist. We got the green room and proceeded to look like Shrek coz of the green tinge hahaha.

 

It's a small room and these capsules are the toilet and shower, right in the middle of the room haha. The bed is just adjacent to the toilet!

 

The bed is good for huggling hurhurhurhur

 

Yup so that's the longish room

 

The French (? I think?) restaurant on the first floor called Cocotte where we also had our breakfast

 Being a boutique hotel, there wasn't any swimming pool or any other facilities, but they did have an open air jacuzzi on the second floor which was right next to our room.

To catch the fireworks from the parade that night, we walked from Bugis all the way to Promenade MRT station. Took us a good half an hour I think. Aaaaand we were then blocked by a tree when the fireworks came on. Bahh.

I did girly stuff on Saturday, met some Ichee folks for lunch, and on Sunday enjoyed an afternoon dip in the MBS infinity pool thanks to free passes hurhur.

 

And yup so that wraps up the long weekend. Weekends can never be long enough though. :(

Next break would be Nepal in Oct, and I'm not sure if that's a break or not coz I think I'll be trekking every day. OH NO I AM SO NOT PREPARED FOR NEPAL!!! Have not been training at all! Yikes!!!

My office is super noisy now with consultants talking over each other (zzzzz) while here I am, sitting in my tiny corner, trying to tune the noise out. This is what happens when your confined office space (i.e. the Jail Cell) doubles up as a meeting room.

Here's my activity filled weekend. I really think weekends should be a 3-day long affair. 2 days to play and meet people and one day to rest and recuperate! Sounds good? I'm a strong proponent of Me Time. ME TIME IS IMPORTANT PEOPLE!!! Don't lose yourself in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. Take time to chill, slow down and do whatever nonsense that you enjoy!

And lately I miss my Me Time :( Don't get me wrong, of course I don't mind being busy and spending quality time with friends and all but yeah. It sometimes gets a bit. Overwhelming. Like I can't even say yes to impromptu meetups and Nepal training sessions now because my weekends have been filled up months ago. When in the past I was probably the freest and the first to agree to everything. Rarrrrr.

Ah well what was I going to say? Oh yes. My activity filled weekend!

Was at Legoland on Saturday after we postponed our original trip in June due to the bad haze. It was pouring really heavily in the morning in Singapore. Throughout the day the rain came and went and came and went. And the roller coaster stalled 2 out of the 3 times we were on it. Meh. There's just something about us and theme parks!

  

Einstein made entirely out of Lego

 

Hello Ribena Berry!

 

 

Miniature Singapore

 

Taj Mahal

 

Forgot what building in China

 

Angkor Wat

 Went home with Ninnnnnnja Banana and Purtato!

 

And this iz the tower we built to test its stability

And then I went to play mahjong/poker/I'm the Boss again at Mabel's house (looks like we are moving Headquarters soon!) and I won money again! Yay! Mabel's house has good fengshui :)

Sunday. Stumbled on the St. Anne's church 50th anniversary carnival. Dropped by VivoCity for the Hair for Hope event but the queue was so long we decided it was not worth the wait. Nua-ed a bit. Went for baking class!

 

The BEFORE: Cranberry cream cheese country bread

 The AFTER: warm, crusty buns (but a little hard) haha. Actually the before and after photos don't look any different except for slight browning.

And yup so I had no time to jog, iron or nua and watch Running Man. This is why I need a 3-day weekend! Hahahaha.

But I am trying to consistently watch a little bit of Running Man a day since I now have all the subbed episodes from 1 to 153! Making good progress, I'm going to start on #17 soon!