Day 2: How do I survive a month?

Day two of my working trip in CA, and I'm already ready to pack up and go home. Yes, I am that sian.

Last night (or rather this morning) I managed to fall asleep near 5am and almost overslept and would be late for work if not for ah mi giving me a morning call all the way from Singapore. Hah! I got to office in time and needless to say, I was exhausted again from the lack of sleep. By my count, I think I only slept for 7 hours in 48 hours. :S

Work is hectic and stressful, but at least it offers me a quick passage of time. 12 hours sure pass rather quickly at work today. I only hope that it will be the case for the rest of my stay here.

Enough of my ranting, let's hope that I will be able to sleep tonight (if not, you will see a Day 2: Part 2 entry later)

Sleepless in California

It's 3 in the morning and I am wide awake on my bed watching infomercials on the TV. It's not that I am not tired, especially since I have just completed a 19 hour flight and gone in for work on the same day after landing. I think my system still thinks that its 7pm in the morning bah.

It's been a very long time since my last working trip, and yes, it is as sucky as I had expected it (so far in the past 12 hours). I had never liked business trips, especially when it is alone. I really don't know how my other friends are able to do it frequently, but then again, it's work. Most of the time, we don't have a choice. I guess I can count myself lucky to be able to "siam" travelling for the past 3 years + since mid of 2007.

Just gave ah mi and my parents a call on Google voice just now. Thank God for IP telephony, and instant messaging. I really don't know I can survive without it now.

Sigh, I am so going to suffer tomorrow at work. I think it is time for my caffeine infused days again for the next month. Am just going to stop here, as really don't have anything to write about. Like what Ted's mom said, nothing good happens after 2am. :P

Good morning and good night to you all.

It's Been More Than 6 Months!

Whoa! It's been more than 6 months since we updated this blog. I don't think Pete will update this blog ever again, the blog that he started himself. Hmmm...

I guess I have not met some friends for more than 6 months too, and one of them has reminded me a few times to update this blog. I guess it's how people stay up to date with each other's life when we are too busy to meet as often (if you are not already doing it on Facebook).

So much has happened in these 6 months, nothing very eventful, but still there were a few items that I am glad I can strike off my to-do list:

1. Health Matters

I have always been suffering from chronic constipation, bloatedness, sensitive stomach for as long as I can remember. In the past year, I have been advised to just go for a scope of my intestines and stomach just to make sure it is nothing serious, but maybe just a case of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I proscrastinated and really dreaded it as the thought of having a tube stuck up and down my body really freaked me out. To summarise, dread as I did, I went for both a colonscopy and an endoscopy of the stomach at the same time in August, and I am so glad that it's over! The results were normal (phew!), and I just need to visit the doctor at TTSH periodically for follow up once in a few months. He has put me on probiotics (healthy bacteria) to help me with my IBS.

I also got the removal of my remaining 2 wisdom teeth out of the way last month. There was the usual whining and moping around the house due to the discomfort after the surgery (the side effects of the general anaesthesia lasted for 2 weeks as I suffered from nausea for that long), but I am really glad that I have gotten it out of the way...like forever! Check out the teeth:

Huge eh...?

2. Haircut

Was deciding between cutting or perming my long hair, and decided to just snip some of it off last month. Was a bit tired of my long hair, it seemed to drag me down sometimes.

Before

After... with my new phone. hehe

3. Pete's Birthday

We celebrated Pete's 30th birthday last week. It was a surprise celebration. Pete thought our friends were coming over to our place for a board games evening later in the day. I managed to get him out of the house and come back in time for our friends to get the cake ready, and when he unlocked the door and stepped in, he got a surprise :-)

Birthday cake with Pete's favourite Android

Happy Birthday, Pete!

On Pete's actual birthday, we made use of our 1-for-1 coupon, and celebrated his birthday at Lawry's The Prime Rib. The service was good, food was not bad (not really a beef lover), and we received door gifts, and also had a picture taken by the staff specially for his birthday. 2 of the waitresses brought us a small cake, and sang Pete a birthday song as well ;-)

Our meaty dinner



Blowing out the candle on the cake courtesy of the restaurant



Photo taken by the staff, and later put into a souvenir frame for us

With Pete's birthday in November, we are already approaching the end of the year. I foresee busier working days, and new challenges for Pete on his job at a new company for the new year ahead. However, before that, we will start preparing for the coming holiday season. We will be putting up our X'mas tree tomorrow, and hopefully I get started on my X'mas shopping list soon. I love shopping for X'mas presents!

And with that...good night, and hopefully, we won't surface only half a year later ;-)

Tea Time

I love my tea, and to sip it in a pretty cafe would be even more ideal. I am half a closet tai tai, because the other half of me just love pretty things :-P

Pete and I have been cooping up in the house quite a bit. Therefore, for the past 2 Saturdays, we have decided to drag our couch potato selves out of the house. We visited 2 places for tea, and managed to take the new Circle Line as well. Kudos to the couch potatoes!

Last Saturday, we made our way to Ann Siang Hill to Kki, whose cakes have received much praise from others. Kki is a small, cosy place to have your cake. Half of the shop is occupied by The Little Drom Store, which sells interesting knick knacks, some of which are items that you last saw when you were in primary school:

We tried the Mont Blanc - A chestnut flavoured cake. Quite a light cake, worth a try





With the knick knacks in the background

Yesterday, we tried out the new Circle Line, and took a train to Esplanade. We had a late tea at The Cookie Museum. I ordered the Pomegranate Ruby tea, which was fragrant and soothing at the same time. Pete and I shared a cookie platter. Although the cookies were nice and soft, we figured we will not be making our way there soon, or rather not eat-in anyway. The prices were rather exorbitant. I would not mind getting the cookies by the tin though.

Till the next update, ciao! Hope it will not be long. Please excuse our lazy selves ;-)

Happy Birthday!

Another birthday has come and gone by in a flash! This year, Pete and I took a day off on my birthday to have a simple celebration:

A surprise cake from Pete at midnight

My regretful choice during the birthday lunch at Oomphatico's



I would much preferred to have Pete's chicken

At Oomphatico's




To die for cheesecake for tea at Hilton Hotel

The day ended with a dessert platter for 2 at Prive Restaurant



At Keppel Bay after dessert



Thanks, Pete for the day :-)

I would like to thank my lovely friends too, and Pete of course, for planning a birthday surprise the weekend after my birthday. It was unexpected ;-)

Surfaced At Last

Yes, we are surfacing again, or at least I have surfaced, as Pete refuses to do his part in updating, being his lazy self as usual :-P

Hello to a few of you who have been asking about our lack of updates. I will try to see if we can catch up from our last entry, which was in January :-O Then again, our lives are kinda mundane, being the boring people that we are. So, read on if you are interested in our mundane updates!

I guess the biggest event since January was our trip to the States. As most of the pictures have been uploaded onto Facebook, I will just post some here :-)

We spent 2 weeks in the States with our friends. Much as we enjoyed taking a break, and travelling, the trip was also more enjoyable because of the great travelling companions :-)

San Francisco

Our first stop was San Francisco. I think SF is a charming place with its pretty Victorian houses on challenging slopes.

A group picture with the Golden Gate Bridge

Los Angeles

The City of Angels was a little on the forgettable side for Pete and me. The home of Hollywood was not as vibrant as we thought it would be. I guess it is not fair to write it off completely as well, as we did not have the opportunity to visit every corner of the city. On the whole, it felt too commercialised. However, we enjoyed the stay in our apartment in LA. With our own kitchen, the guys whipped up a few meals, which we had with lots of laughter.

With Mickey at Disneyland

Las Vegas

Truly, the city that never sleeps. Though we are not fans of casinos, we rather enjoyed the bright lights of the city, and the interesting themes of the hotels. It was a pity that we did not have enough time, as we would have loved to visit each of the hotels. We travelled a long way to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but that was a disappointment as the clouds hung low on the day we visited, and we were not able to see the vast expanse of the Canyon.

Outlet shopping in the States, an unforgettable part of the trip ;-)



Happy Honeymoon!

Catching Up

Woah...It's been some time since we came in here. December was a busy month, and it looks like January will be too, as we prepare for our U.S. trip next month. What have we been up to from December.....hmmm...

Baking
Yup, we tried our hands at baking shortbread cookies for our friends and family for X'mas. Although they did not taste as rich as Walkers shortbread, at least they tasted like Danish butter cookies ;-)

Pete's Annual JC Class Gathering
In December, we hosted Pete's JC class gathering at our place. It was a night of Wii games accompanied with attractive prizes. Everyone also got to take home a gift each through the lucky dip method. I admire the class for taking the effort to organise, plan and meet once a year!

Concentrate...concentrate...Pete's team concentrating on the Raving Rabids game

I got the biggest prize, and I'm not even a class member :-P



We were given a Golden Village gift card for being the host...free movies! :-)



Smile, one for the album



The night ended with a karaoke session for a few of us, where we sang till 4am!

Dad's Birthday
We celebrated my dad's birthday on 20 December with dinner at Jurong Point, followed by cake-cutting at our place. It was the first time my dad has seen our place fully furnished.

Tea with the Gals
Instead of our usual tea session with Cindy and Gen at a cafe outside, I invited the gals over last month to our place for tea. Served some pretty cupcakes and sweet tea, and watched half a movie. Looking forward to our next tea session :-)

As usual, our shy Gen was the photographer

X'mas Lunch
Johnny, Sally, Toon and David came over for X'mas lunch on X'mas itself. As usual, we ate till we burst. The spread consisted of turkey and ham, roasted pumpkin, pies and cupcakes. After the pigging out, we attempted to start planning for our U.S trip in February, and exchanged gifts as well.

Pretty X'mas cupcakes that looked too pretty to be eaten

The spread

U.S Trip Planning Session
We started out first proper U.S. trip planning session last Sunday. For now, the accommodations, car and flights have been booked. More planning sessions to take place, before we set off next month.

Our planning board for the trip

Swissotel Stay
Pete and I utilised our complimentary bridal suite stay at Swissotel The Stamford yesterday. The room was great, but somehow we did not get a good sleep. The pillows were either too high, too low, or too slippery. Other than that, I guess we still enjoyed our stay in a suite that would otherwise be too expensive for us to pamper ourselves with ;-)

Enjoying a quiet cocktail session at a private dining area

It has been quite an eventful month or so, and with our trip coming up, I guess it would be some time before we get in here again. Till then...take care!

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly

I love Christmas, and generally December. I love the festivities of X'mas, and the festive cheer during the last month of the year as we approach a new year. Pete and I seem to have a packed month ahead. More so for Pete, who has several deadlines near X'mas. I don't think it will be that jolly for him after all :-(

However, we managed to set up our X'mas tree, something that we had envisioned and talked about even before we had gotten our home :-)

A little early...but just in case we do not surface till after X'mas...Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Retro Halloween

We had a retro Halloween gathering last Saturday at our place. Good food and company. Let the pictures speak a thousand words :-)

Creating "cobweb" feel with thread






Trick or Treat in retro PJs



Old school games and snacks

Truth or Dare: Smell the foot of the person to your right (Dare) Ewww...

Memories of being...caned...Ha!





Not forgetting Five Stones ;-)

Yes, it was "PJs and bring your soft toy" night



Remember this old school game?

It was a night of reminiscence and laughter!