新年新希望

In the blink of an eye, we are more than 2 months into the New Year and 1Q2010 will be over before we know it. But as they say: better late than never. Having been feeling a little low more often than I think I should, and after having pondered some time about the meaning of life and what I want out of life, I've been thinking about what I can do to make 2010 a better year.

So here's a list of my not-so-new year resolutions aspirations:

1. Spend more time with family and loved ones

2. Spend more time with Mischka

• more regular walks and off-leash time
• swim at the beach once a month 

3. Eat healthier

• home cooked meals at least twice a week
• more nutricious food - more fish and greens, and pick some organic battles!

4. More exercise

• more regular stretching: no pain no gain
• more foam-rolling
• don't be lazy - increase resistance on the gyro machine!
• increase dance class attendance to twice a week
• swim once a week

5. Improve wellbeing

• go to bed earlier, try for 7 full hours of sleep on weekdays, and 8 full hours on weekends
• think happy thoughts
• spa indulgence once a month

6. Try new recipes

•  one new dish a month (not ready to attempt a 365-Julia Child project just yet)

7. Brain food

•  try to finish 1 book a month - floozy magazines don't count

8. Learn a new skill

•  Argentine tango!

9. Refresh old skills

•  Sail!

It's probably not too late to work towards making this perhaps the best year yet!

P/S: And if there's enough goodwill around to spare, some dreams I hope will materialise at some point:
* consistent double pirouettes!
* complete my career grandslam and watch the French Open live
* climb Kilimanjaro and do a Nepal trek

We turn 3 :)

Rainy days are good for snoozin...

"Sweetheart!..."

… I called out this morning. And this little furball came scampering up to me.

*melt*

This year it was my turn to plan our anniversary celebrations. Plan A (not to be disclosed so I can use it next time!) was not possible as it was a weekday and we weren't able to take the day off. So I had to settle for Plan B instead.

Promptly after the clock struck 12 at midnight, I presented R with an invitation to dinner...

... reminiscent of our church wedding invitations... hee!

And he (of course) accepted it. :)

Dinner was at Si Bon, at the Amara Sanctuary Resort. They had converted an old chapel into a 20 seater restaurant. And being a weekday, we actually got the entire place to ourselves!

Si Bon serves up sushi and kushikatsu - yummy morsels coated in thin light batter and deep fried! This was rather novel for us, and I was worried we'd still be hungry after the dinner as each skewered piece looked really small. But by the end of the 8 fried items and 9 sushi items... we were stuffed. Didn't have time to take a picture of every course, but the most memorable was fried cuttlefish, topped with fresh uni that was unbelievable sweet, and wagyu beef topped with crushed pepper berries.

An entire meal of deep fried items sounded a little too much for me, especially when both of us were still recovering from a bad bout of flu, so we had opted for a mixture of kushikatsu and sushi. We needn't have worried though, because the batter was amazingly crisp and light, and we never at any point felt that it was too oily or too rich. Anyhow, the sushi was very fresh and possibly one of the best we've had, save for the ones at Tsukiji, and I got my fill of my favourite otoro... slurp! So no regrets on the choice of menu.

Now looking forward to more culinary adventures in California!

We are 2!

How fast time flies. It feels like just last week we were celebrating our 1st year together, and the week before I was walking down the aisle...

It's been an amazing 2 years, darling, and I thank God for granting us such a beautiful, blessed love. Thank you for always being so supportive and sweet, you really are my best friend. Here's to many more wonderful years together!

"Lutte Fille"*

Hubs got me my very first pair of Onitsuka Tigers today! The velvet laces and satin bits remind me of ballet slippers rather than the wrestling shoes that were supposed to have inspired the design.

*translates to "wrestling girl"

the Cookie who could have been our Badgley

Last Friday afternoon, in the midst of my meetings, I received a message from the hubs that he’d made contact with an owner who was giving up her 5.5 month old male cocker spaniel. She was moving away and wasn’t taking him with her (very annoying - but that's another story), so R made an appointment to view the puppy and decided to bring Misch too, and see if they could get along. Sometime during the night, I received pictures of the sweet little puppy named Cookie – the golden ECS was a dead ringer for Mischka at the same age! A total doppelganger, right down to the white chest and the melty eyes!

Can you spot the difference? ;)

Sunday afternoon, we made arrangements to meet up with Cookie again, so that I could see him for myself. I was totally won over by his exuberance and affection, he licked me all over my face, and just wanted to play! Chasing Mischy all around the playground, and rolling over for tummy rubs – so adorable! Unfortunately, despite it being Misch’s 2nd encounter with Cookie, she couldn’t get over the psychological trauma from the bite she received from evil LeeLee*, and her first instincts whenever Cookie approached, was to bolt, and if we tried to hold her still, she’d let out the most pitiful, strangled whine. The closest we could get them to be to each other was one foot away, lying down. If Cookie so much as leaned over to sniff her, Misch would jump away.

It was a sad moment when we came to the realization that we could never adopt Cookie, but it was even more heartbreaking to see Mischy so tortured. Our main reason for getting a second dog was to give Misch a playmate, but now we know, it would only serve to upset her and cause her distress. So for as long as Misch doesn’t get over the LeeLee episode, we will never be able to get a second dog. Not that Misch doesn’t bring us enough joy. She absolutely does. She’s the perfect dog – in our eyes at least – sweet, intelligent, affectionate, fun loving, and she’s won so many hearts with her endearing ways. I’m just sometimes resentful that the act of an irresponsible owner has brought so much pain (physical and psychological) to Misch, and I can’t help but feel immensely sad that Misch can’t enjoy the company of another dog. All we can do is try to socialize her more at dog runs and let her meet with other dogs as much as possible, in the hope that one day, she will come to realize that they mean no harm, and she won’t feel the terror rising up in her when a furry friend approaches. Hopefully one day she will learn that most doggies just want to sniff and play. In the meantime, we’ll be patient and as loving as can be. And we’ll only have eyes for her.

[* At barely 3.5 months old, Misch was bitten by LeeLee, an adult cocker spaniel, at the pet shop round the corner. He snapped on Misch's snout and refused to let go, despite Misch's desperate cries. She was frightful and refused to come near us for the rest of the day, and it took a few days before she trusted us again. Since then, she's been afraid of other dogs. Even after 2 months of puppy classes with friendly dogs smaller in size than her, she is still wary and sometimes barks and backs away in fear.]

A Jolly Good Monday

I finally made it back to ballet class at 6.30pm for the first time in 7 weeks! And thankfully it was somehow slower and less strenuous than usual, which allowed me to ease slowly into the routines. We also did more jumps across the floor which is always fun.

After, Hubs came to pick me up and brought with him a big bunch of flowers - pink peonies!! - in celebration of Leirhnjukur Day and we wrapped up the evening with a leisurely dinner at Brasserie Wolf.

Lovely start to the week - unfortunately it will only go downhill from here. :(

Our Precious

Ever since Mischka came into our lives, we’ve never had a dull moment.

The helpless whimpers and whining the first few nights, the silly antics she got into while stumbling around, discovering a whole new world of kibbles, toys and treats, her first play session outside the confines of her enclosure when she was merely 12 weeks old, her first visit to the vet and her first walk outside. We’ve certainly come a long way from the harrowing days of toilet training her. The days when we would brace ourselves, as we walked in the door, for the mess that we knew would certainly be there, and her tap-dancing all over her own filth in her excitement to see us – those days are finally over. Phew. She still does the same tap-dancing routine, with the same expression of pure joy and relief that we are home (which probably means walk + food!), but no more mess! She’s all grown up now. She leaps and bounds down the stairs now, when she used to retreat in fear and insecurity. Her fine baby fur has given way to a thick, silky, luxuriant coat of glossy ruby-brown. Her once-sleepy, dreamy eyes are now bright and alert, always looking out for excitement, always inquisitive yet she looks at us, eyes full of love, and with the most melting, trusting expression.

I love it when she sees us for the first time each morning and showers us with a million kisses and rubs herself against us, all affectionate, and wanting some cuddles – she’s so cat-like that way, slinking around our legs, and burrowing in your neck and chest. I love to sneak up on her while she’s sleeping, watch her breathing softly. Sometimes I can’t help it, I reach into her crate and carry her out, her still in fantasyland, and cradle her in my arms, sniffing the faint scent of her cherry-almond shampoo on the top of her fluffy head. I love how the glutton in her can never resist a treat and she would be so focused and attentive to every sit/stay/paw/hi-5/rollover command, love how Miss Kaypo just has to follow you around and poke her little cold, wet nose into everything you’re doing, looking over tables, peeking into the fridge, sniffing at the doorway to areas out of bounds to her. Her favourite games are playing catch with Ozzie the ostrich and tug (with anything!). It never fails to crack me up when she struggles with her toy and her long floppy ears flap around her head as she shakes the life out of another innocent, unsuspecting plush. On walks, Mischka’s favourite activity is to chase any flying thing – especially birds – she’d pause mid-step when she spots one and stalks her prey, creeping up on them, before bursting into action! (never reaching any of course, since she’s always on leash – I wouldn’t know what to do with a dead bird in my hands either!)

We never get tired of just sitting and watching her amuse herself with her own toys. And she seems perfectly content just lying by our feet and absently waving her paws in the air while she gets a belly rub or gnawing dreamily on her bone. It’s always reassuring to hear the clink of her bell and dogtag somewhere in the house as she trots around. Mischka has truly changed our lives – not just XJ’s and mine, but also our family. Our parents were never dog-lovers, but now can’t stop gushing about how sweet and endearing she is. How life ever was before Mischka came along, I don’t quite remember the details. But knowing what I know now, and having what I have now, I could never ever do without a puppy as loving and affectionate as her.

Mischka turns 8 months today. See how she’s grown…

Celebrating One Year

to have and to hold...

... from this day forward,

... till death us do part.

Yes, we are ONE!! :)

Weekend Warrior

After a harrowing week and a half, and a mad scramble to get submissions in by Wednesday, I did get my long weekend afterall!


Thursday, 9 Aug: Happy 42nd Singapore!!

We had Char-emy, D, I & K over for National Day. We were wading around in the jacuzzi when we saw the Chinooks with the giant flag fly overhead, followed by the fighter jets. Cool! And we were just about finishing dinner when the fireworks starting blasting away. We tried pointing them out to K outside the window but she didn't seem too interested... heh... think she preferred to concentrate on the food... oh we also discovered that there's a delay of approximately 2 seconds between real-time and the tv telecast.

Friday: Gardening and Attempted Exercise

After a late breakfast, headed to Mum & Dad's to feed their thirsty plants. Gee... it's practically a mini forest there - and it took us a good hour to fill up all the pots with water, indoors and out. I even saved Mummy's herbs from a nasty looking caterpillar. Visited Granny for a bit and brought her Jln Tua Kong meepok (yumz!), before heading off to ECP.

Team Hungry had to eat again, of course, and we ordered McDees at the drive-thru, fully intending to work it all off with at least an hour of rollerblading. But alas, hub's wheels fell apart after the first 20 mins and we ended up on a bench facing the sea, chatting and watching the turquoise waters slowly turn green in the setting sun.

Saturday: Burn, Fats, Burn!!!

Tennis! Gym! and Ultimate Frisbee! All in one (blazing hot) day! Whee!!! We must be mad.


Sunday: too soon...

Ballet class this week was a little challenging. My thighs were burning from the exertions of the day before, and the longer-than-usual series of jumps left my heart racing and my head pounding. But I'm pretty pleased with how my pirouttes are getting more steady, ever so slowly, and I think I might just about be able to manage a double on the right real soon. :)

Hubs took me out to dinner, and we decided to try something new. Our choice of Coriander Leaf was closed so we decided to give Ivory (Indian cuisine) a shot, and were pleasantly surprised with how good it was, and how huge the portions were. We had the Malabar Trio for starters - prawn, chicken and lamb, followed by chicken in chettidad curry and a mutton pepper fry, served with chickpea-green onion pilaf. It could probably have fed another 2 persons. But of course, Team Hungry polished it all off. Heh...

*****

Certainly one of the best weekends I've had in awhile. I'm glad we managed to spend lotsa quality time together before hubs goes off on his business trip. I'm going to miss him bad...

sometimes i dream...

...of satin pointe shoes

...and how i'll never dance in them.

Quitting ballet was probably one of my biggest regrets. Deciding to get back to it too late is another. every sunday after class, I have to walk past the pointe class in the next studio on my way out, and I can't help but linger a while. I always feel a teensy twinge in my heart, thinking about how I could have been one of them but I gave it all up when i was so close.

Of course, now I just don't have the same strength in my ankles anymore, and a 1.5hour class a week is hardly enough to re-build that strength. I read about girls outside Singapore, never having danced before and then starting ballet in their 20s who find studios willing to let them go on pointe after a couple of years, and am filled with envy. It's so difficult to even find a studio in Singapore who will take adults seriously in class, much less consider pointe. Most classes are progressive, non-syllabi, recreational classes where the teachers aren't so strict. I miss the rigours of intensive training, repeating the same exercises just to perfect technique. I miss my nit-picky teacher, who nudged the back of our knees to test if we are holding our positions properly, smacked our butts, called us clumsy kum-suahs (her funny name for embarrasingly ungraceful little girls), and measured our waistlines monthly. I've never harboured thoughts of going professional, of course. But I at least want to be graded! (and yes, the meanie teenaged girls will prolly just laugh at old auntie me.... haha...)

At the end of the day, I know pointe isn't everything, and ballet is still beautiful without (at least to me). I love the music, the discipline, the graceful lines, the poise, the painful stretch in my aged muscles, the heady feeling of a piroutte (even if I can't do doubles anymore), the breathlessness after a series of jumps (getting old), and the tingly tired feet after. I love it - pointe or no pointe. And for all the wistful longing and aching regrets, I'm just happy knowing I am dancing again.

Thank you, darling, for egging me on (and bearing with my incessant, obssesive ballet talk)...

[Pics from (?) and Pond]

If you ask...

I'd Still Say YesI love u most when we share a place
Those special good times together
It seems like our love cant get much better, no
'cos we were as close as two could be
We knew love would last forever
We're more than just lovers, we're
Good friends

And even if our love
Could drift away
I wouldn't even think twice
If I wanted love back again

Because I'd still say yes to you again
My darling for you I'd do it all again
Yes I'd still say yes to you again
Darling for you I'd do it over and over again
To you ya know I'll say yes
oh my darling only for you

~The Braxtons~

The Banyan Weekend

Holiday Essentials

Arrival

the resort

Seafood Sesh

Patong sights


at the beach

by the pool

in the pool

paradise pancake

rest & relax

by the lagoon

The Weekend Away

So we found a really good travel deal and zipped off to spend a long weekend at Banyan Tree, Phuket. We didn’t really think about what we’d do there, but there were a couple of very simple rules…

Rule 1: No talking / thinking / discussing work

Rule 2: No waking up earlier than necessary to grab breakfast before the buffet line closes

Of course, Rule 2 was promptly broken upon arrival, thanks to the EvilBerry and relentless clients. *snarl* Hubs even had to catch up on some work at the business centre on Sunday. Poor thing.

… and a small checklist:

Task 1: Get a tan!

Task 2: Spa-massage-spa-massage-spa-massage… you get the idea…

Task 3: Overdose on cheap seafood and authentic Thai fare

Task 4: Find the elusive prata man

And I’m proud to announce that it was MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

Well, except for Task 4 – we didn’t actually find our regular prata man, but did manage to get our hands on the original Paradise Pancake. The Real McCoy! – and not some pathetic, soggy, crepe-like imitation (which we succumbed to in desperation on the first night of our quest) that has somehow captured the hearts and minds of unsuspecting tourists. Bah.

What’s Paradise Pancake? It’s a prata with egg and fresh banana filling, fried to a crisp in lots of oil and ghee, then drizzled with condensed milk, chocolate sauce and a generous dusting of sugar. It takes skill to whirl the prata dough to a suitable thin-ness without breaking the skin and that’s why the imitators resort to using crepe machines.

We spent the rest of the trip doing little more than lazing by the pool, totally pampered by the attentive staff who would ply us with cold towels, iced drinks, peppermint sprays and refreshing sorbets. *Bliss*

Back at work today, and already looking forward to the long CNY weekend – soon as I get through the work that has piled up… *mutter mutter*

(Pictures to follow)

Catching up!

Finally downloaded the hundreds of photos over the past few months from the camera. Here are some of them...

Char & J's pink & chocolate wedding - it was so much fun making all the decor! I got to be bridezilla all over again (albeit vicariously)... hee hee… Who’s getting married next? Indulge me!!

My Birthday! - which we celebrated on the 16th instead... Mummy made red eggs and had them delivered together with a yummelicious dinner. Hubs was really sweetums – he made a huge brekkie for the both of us before we headed out for some furniture shopping at the new Marina Square.

Christmas Candlelight Service - Arise, Shine!

- and that's XJ's handprint from when he was 14! :)


We got a half-day off on the Friday before New Years, and thought we’d try out Brussel Sprouts – this new place just round the corner, which served up pretty decent moules-frites, and Belgian beer. Of course, we couldn’t resist the very sinful but very delicious caramelized pork belly… *drool*

Update: Just realised from Sunday's papers that Brussel Sprouts is actually another one of Emmanuel Stroobandt's babies! Mmm.. wonder if they serve up foie gras too?

Sun, Snow, Ski!

Haven't had time to upload all of our honeymoon pics, but here's one of my favourites, taken at Cerro Catedral in Bariloche.

Birthday Flowers

to replace the ones i'd lost on the evening of our wedding...