Bye 2016

Spent the morning with nature as we visited Botanics for the final time this year and quietly ushering 2017 from the comforts of home.

2016 has been kind to us, grateful that I have my health, a loving family, a roof over our heads and food on the table. Noah started pre-school, Sasha graduated from kindergarten, Nat sat for her first exams in P2. Accomplished my travel goals with family trips to Penang and Phuket, a couple trip cruising down French rivers and ticking off lavender in Provence from the bucket list, a girlfriend escapade to magical Bali and a bonus work trip to Vientiane.

Caught Kool & The Gang, Madonna and Take That in concert, looking forward to Coldplay next year.

Started a temp job at CSC which was supposed to be for 5mths but will be back in the new year for another 4mths. My pockets have suffered from countless visits to Expo sales and outlets at CCP...can't wait to get back to work! Hee hee!

Did a mini makeover for the flat and it feels nice to come home to a fresh look.

The only lowlights were: Nick having a tumour scare but luckily it was benign and fixed for the moment with jaw surgery; Geraldine leaving for Canada and her replacement leaving us in the lurch after 7mths; and Pops being hospitalized after a fall, right around the time I started the new job. The new helper is attending her father's funeral back home...she lost him on Xmas, poor girl.

Compared to all the problems in the world or struggles that others face, mine were nothing. Here's wishing for world peace in 2017 and a happy new year to all of you. xoxo

Haze Daze

The haze is back! We’ve been inundated by poor air quality over the past week and on Wednesday while out at lunch at MBFC, I could not even see the Conrad/Suntec buildings.

This is the worst bout of high PSI since 1997 and just as well I was working from home on Thursday and Friday when PSI readings hit the very unhealthy and even hazardous range. Our windows were shut, we hung wet cloths over them to block out the fine particles and the girls were so bored cooped up at home.

We braved the haze to visit Dr Siow on Thursday morning, I did some heart monitoring for 20 mins, it’s all good. Koko Krunch looks really cramped up in there, and now weighs about 3kg…he’s gonna be a fatty!

Singaporeans have gone on a purifier-buying binge, including Nick who spent a small fortune on an ionizer/purifier yesterday. And he just happened to step into the house right after Sasha had striked Nat’s face with a plastic high heel and we were in a state of chaos with screaming children!

This was the view yesterday morning when the PSI was above 300 and below was taken this afternoon. What a difference a day makes!

 

Since the sky was clearer today, Nick brought Nat out for Monsters University and after the show, the Gomezs and Kaelashs came over. I made mac and cheese for the kids but they didn’t appreciate it….ha, they like the Kenny Rogers version!

Did I mention the boy got promoted at the beginning of this month? Robin has retired and is now non-executive Chairman while Nick has assumed the President, Asia role for TravCorp. This has led to him being in the news a little more and this morning there was an article in Malaysia’s The Star and there was a pix of me too! 

So long Phil

Finally I can breathe easy at work, the market forum event that we have been preparing for ended today. We had about 113 delegates plus another 60 staff at the Rasa Sentosa Resort for the past couple of days and the perk of being the organiser is getting to stay onsite.

I had a nice panoramic room on the 10th floor, and there was even some welcome kueh in the room. Earlier in the week, Pops gave us a scare by getting admitted to SGH…he had congenital heart failure!

 

As we outsourced the logistics to a event company and a production company, and there were colleagues from the UK present to help run things, I didn’t have to run around like a headless chicken, and things were actually quite calm before and during the event.

My colleague Sarah came down from Beijing and we had a farewell lunch with Phil on the eve of the event. Yes, my boss is leaving and today was his last day…don’t know what the future holds for me! Nick also came to visit one of the nights.

The opening plenary of the event was quite impressive, by my standards anyway. In Jeju we did things quite simply, this time round the CEO and COO were present so it was a like a mini-version of the global forums we have in Europe and we paid a lot just for stage, lighting and sound etc.

There was a dinner last night at Pangaea but I think it was anti-climatic for the customers because truth be told, it was rather boring with no entertainment….just canapés and food bowls in an exclusive club with no view! Food was slow and portions small so I think the customers expected more. This is what we get for changing things at the last minute!

I hope they hold next year’s event somewhere else, I vote for Bali!

Happy belated birthday Jane!

Met JGR for Jane’s birthday lunch today at Prego and it was a good catch up session. We used my FAR card so there was a saving of 25% off the menu, including their sets.

Shared a calamari, 2 soups, pizza, pasta and fish main and even then we struggled to finish. The calamari was a generous portion, at $26 it better be!

 

 

 

The pizza, pasta and fish were on the average side, nothing to rave about but nothing to complain either.

Dessert was a fruity mousse with chocolate sponge but we were all too full to appreciate it!

Last night we held a small farewell party and lo hei at Membina for Wendy. She departs on Thursday after working for us for 3 years. She initially had an offer from Canada but it seems to have fallen through so in the meantime she’s heading back since we’ve already found a replacement but I daresay she’ll be back within a couple of months.

Bought food from Tiong Bahru market including tom yam soup which she said she would miss.

This evening I gave her a small angpow and parting gift of SK Jewellery gold chain and pendant. Nat was super clingy as she knows about the impending departure but Sasha doesn’t seem too bothered.

I hope the kids don’t have withdrawal symptoms for long and adjust to Geraldine soon. She’s been here almost two weeks, during the handover I noticed the senior one bossing her around and deliberately try to make her look incompetent but I’m not stupid!

I’m glad to start fresh, while Wendy was a big help, she did get complacent, bossy and defiant. I wish her luck in whatever comes her way, I don’t think she appreciated how well she was treated.

She made some recent comments on FB in Tagalog which were not complimentary to us, something along the lines of us not showing any gratitude after 3 years and being made to do extra work despite the fact that she was leaving but the first part was premature because it was before her farewell and the second part is just not true because we didn’t assign anything extra and in any case she had Geraldine on board to share the load. Harumpff!

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

It’s the last day of the year, and all we did was stay at home, well mostly. Nick went to work for half a day, while I was on leave. Tried to catch up on my blog which I’ve been very lazy to update of late.

2 days ago we had dinner at Ben’s, the girls love to lounge on his bed, likening his room to a hotel, just because it has a TV in there! Had a new sink installed too in the common toilet to replace the one that broke. 

Yesterday was occupied with church, lunch at Membina and while Sasha napped, me, Swana and Kevin brought Gigi and Nat to Dripz for some tea time snacking. See the posers in matching purple outfits.

 

We ate dinner at home first and then went over to Membina for some family time. For the 3rd year in a row, there was crabs to be had on New Year’s Eve thanks to Swana’s craving.

Aunty Sarda has not been eating for 8 days and her breathing getting more laboured. She’s been in a deep sleep since she stopped eating, so the end is definitely near. I somehow got the feeling as I left Membina tonight that it was going to be the last time I saw her alive. Nick even left a rosary in her hand and murmured some words of encouragement in Teochew to go peacefully and not be afraid.

It’s been a year of mixed emotions. On one hand was Aunty Sarda’s tumour bombshell, then news that No.3 is on the way, and another niece/nephew. There was decent travel, got to see the Keukenhof, Great Wall of China and all the famous London sights and a first time trip with JGR.

Aside from the new bub, I wonder what 2013 holds in store…

Desmond's new digs

Woo hoo, my leave has started and I don’t have to go back to work till 3 Jan.

Met some of the SingTel folks this evening, I think it’s been about a year since I saw some of them.

 

Hong Wei, Desmond, Michael, Crispian and I had dinner at Fatboys Thomson (note to self: don’t order the fish and chips in future), where the hot topic was the sex scandals that dominated Singapore news this year.

Hong Wei left for a conference call and the rest of us went to Desmond’s new digs in Soo Chow Gardens, where Richard popped in.

The house is nicely done, I think I insulted Desmond when I said it had a Scandinavian feel, when he was going for the Hamptons look! Ha ha.

Chen Tze and the kids came home after a while and Tristan and Cameron entertained with their antics playing on the carpet.

Over the past week, there’s not been much going on. A couple of days ago, I saw some of the Singapore Lions having lunch at Amara and secretly wished them luck for yesterday’s game which they won.

On Sunday, after mass, we went to Raffles City and had lunch at Coffee Club before catching the live jazz performance of classic Christmas songs, that Nick/Trafalgar had sponsored. Sasha got carried away with the music and started twirling around, attracting amused smiles from onlookers.

On Saturday, we just chilled at home. Nick had time to paint a model plane I bought him in London, and Nat and I spotted a funnel cloud forming, then disappearing. Cool!

 

 

On Thursday the 13th, I was peckish at suppertime and I wanted carrot cake from Serangoon Gardens but there was a jam on the CTE so we diverted to Newton and ordered from a stall I’ve not tried before but he seemed to have several awards and it turned out to be pretty good. 

Toilet fiasco

Made some chocolate chip and pecan cookies yesterday after preparing the batter the day before but because I cut down on the sugar, I think it affected the consistency as the cookies didn’t spread on the tray and retained their scoop shape…or maybe it was just too cold!

We went to Membina for lunch and dinner was at Amah’s house. Daniel is in town and came over for dinner, along with his friend. When he said he was bringing a friend, I thought it was a new girlfriend, turns out it was Amy, his ex-girlfriend whom we met a few years ago and now they are back together.

There was a pasar malam downstairs and Nick got conned out of I think $46 on games for the kids, where they try and win cheapo toys. Sucker!

I was bloody freaking pissed during lunch today, and I don't get pissed easily. We were at Vivo and ended up at the White Dog Café. Midway through, Nat said she needed to pee so Wendy brought her out.

Then Sasha said she needed to go, so I took her in search of the nearest loo only to bump into Wendy and Nat who said they had encountered 2 closed ones already. So we went up to level 3 and crossed over to Marche only for the loo next to it to be closed too. Then we went down another escalator to Toys R Us, and the loo next to it was closed also, and so was the one below it. So that was at least 5 different toilets closed in the same vicinity, leading me and my 2 toddlers with full bladders on a wild goose chase over 3 floors.

By the time we found a working one all the way at the Bakerzin, and headed back to continue our lunch, a good 20 mins had passed and our food was cold. Aaaarrrrhggggh.

This evening after dinner, we took the kids to MBS for a walkabout to see some Xmas trees along the waterfront and we walked all the way to the other end to the Art Science Museum, where Nick left us to get the car while we continued on the Helix Bridge then to the Float.

Finally I see the logo I helped create while at SSC! They sure took their time to announce the official name and put up the logo!

Ladies in Waiting

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge aka Will & Kate are in town as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and I’ve been guilty of ‘stalking’ them!

I had a dinner appointment with Adrienne yesterday, who hung around the Istana hoping for a glimpse before their state dinner but their car windows were darkened. We were supposed to meet at Bugis but changed our dinner venue to City Hall at the last minute so we could be in the ‘zone’ in case we decide to stake out Raffles Hotel where they were staying.

Had ramen at Raffles City and bumped into ex-SESer David. He paused to chat for a while and after we finished our noodles, we walked around Robinsons before receiving a tip-off that they would be arriving back at the hotel at 9ish. We didn’t have to think twice, we made our way to the hotel immediately to chope a good viewing spot. 

We ended up waiting for over an hour but it was worth it! We were right at the railings when they both alighted from their car and gave the small crowd little waves and smiles. Kate was in a gorgeous Prabal Gurung dress and Will is so tall.

This morning, Ma tried her luck, dragging the kids with her because Nat wanted to see the princess too. They caught a fleeting glimpse, their backs were turned most of the time because they stopped to chat with some kids but it was still a thrill. Wendy got a good shot from her phone!

Had lunch with my colleague Aaron, promised to buy him lunch before he moved to Australia and he suggested Red Star which I seized upon as it’s been on my list of places to try. 

The restaurant is quite retro, hasn’t been renovated since the 80s I think but that adds to its charm. The food goes around in trolleys and despite my blocked nose, I thought the food was pretty good and I would definitely go back again.