My 20s

It's 2 more days to my big 3 :P Thinking back, the past decade has been a very fulfilling one.

Immediately after graduation at the age of 22, I got a job which allows me to travel and because of that, I have been to numerous countries, some of which I believe I would never go if not for that job-eg, Saudi Arabia where all of us must wear the abbaya. I am very grateful for the exposure and of course all the shopping and sightsee experience. I particularly remember going to Egypt 3 times within my rather short span with the company and I am so lucky to be able to go to the Pyramids during the 3 times we were there. It is amazing to see those artifacts, history coming to life before you. Too bad, that time, digicam was not in (at least to me) if not, I could post up some pictures here, too lazy to scan the hard copies one in the album now :P

After all the flying around, at 25, I was with one of the telco and it was there where I met some of the nicest people you could ever find while slogging it out in the horrible life of the working world. One of them-fayfairy even introduced my soon-to-be husband Mr Kiat to me!

Now, at my present job, darn, I am only talking about work and work, seems like the 20s is all about working :( I have been with my current company for 3 years already and is pretty happy with my current company, department, colleagues and bosses, although some customers can really be a pain in the ass. (Nasty customers are everywhere, I find it very weird because my previous 2 jobs are very customer focused and all but somehow I feel, it is easier to deal with them there rather than over here. Here, they are like a different breed, duno come from where one, really cmi. I know some people may think that hey, you are from customer service background, you should be able to handle all these like a piece of cake but I can tell you, it is not the case, we all have our limits.)

On the workfront,for this year, I have just ended my 3rd sales cycle with satisfactory performance. Thanks to all my colleagues for your help as well! (My dept esp OCL, TCO,JTG and Mr Wong). I wonder if this would be my 4th and final year in LSA??

Back to non work issues-I have attended countless weddings of friends and relatives. I think I have been 姐妹 close to 10 times lol. These were followed by all the baby showers. (We are going to visit SW this Fri!)

As mentioned earlier, the 20s have been a great time of my life! I do look forward to what lies ahead for the next decade, till then!

Reno update-Almost there

The house as wat ASB tell us, will be handed over to us this Sat. (We hope)

Last Sun, we went to Ikea and got quite a few stuff for the house-shoe cabinets, kitchen accessories,lights,wardrobe stuff for the study room and I can't remember what else we got.


The car was filled to the brim and in the process we came Friends of Ikea :P


No more green walls in the living room

Corridor lights installed

Guest room

Study room, Kiat die die want a red wall in the house, so this is it.


On Wed, we went to Tanjong Katong Complex to look at the curtains, as usual, at the 2nd shop-Jimmy Curtains,we decided to let them do our curtains as the service was good, the price which they quote us was reasonable and Steph also recommended them as well. After much selection,there were so many different fabrics,colours, patterns to choose from, he even let us bring the sample back to test on our rooms.


Only the one we chose for the living room (above) did not match and we went back today to change.


Yesterday, went to see the house again and there were considerable progress. All the switches and lights were up. The parquet floors have been polished and they look as good as new. The skirting has all been done.



Kitchen cabinet up-minus the table top.


Carpentry items




This is the light Daniel got for us :) It is now hanging nicely in the study. Thanks again!!


More updates next week.

Sim, Por Favor! Nao Obrigado

For ETN's farewell lunch,we went to Carnivore at Vivo on Monday. It was my first time there.

The server will bring out loads of meat, and I mean loads and slice it on your plate. You can flip the cards on the table to indicate your level of fullness. (But actually they do not see, they just keep on coming to bring you the meat)



The food there is good I must say, I especially like the beef, cod fish as well as the pineapple. I am not a pineapple person but the ones they served there were so sweet and crunchy.




More pictures over at ATY's blog:
http://alvinhgjr.blogspot.com/2008/06/farewell-for-esther-tan.html

Pictures of ATY's transfer :
http://alvinhgjr.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-farewell.html

All the best to you 2!!

Happy Birthday Babe!

Can't believe you really went BKK again!! Darn!! Envy!!



Have fun which I bet you will have loads :P

Karen Cheng and Turning 30

One of my favourite blogger-Karen Cheng from Perth, will be in SIN next week!

http://www.karencheng.com.au/2008/06/24/doing-the-karen-cheng-in-singapore/

Too bad I will not be in SIN, if not I may pop by where she is going to catch a glimpse of her.

I totally enjoy reading her blog-her fashion statements, her life events, her 2 adorable boys.

I was quite surprise to read she is also turning 30 this July. Yes, the BIG 3. Talking about the '3', I will be approaching that decade in a matter of days. I keep grumbling that I am so old,so old,so old, but actually I still feel like I am in my 20s :P Young at heart!! :)

I think it is more of a psychological feeling. 30 is like not young but not VERY OLD too. But, still, 30 is 30!!!!(duno if you all understand what I am talking about hahaha) No more in your teens or twenties. Now,when people ask me to fill up survey form, I will still put the age group as 25-29 haha, in previous years, I will just put the age of the year I am in, not this year!

The 20s have been a great time for me, turning 30 will be a new decade, new milestone altogether. A couple of my friends have told me that the 30s is a good period and it will be better than the 20s, I sure hope so!!!!!

PZ's birthday celebration

In celebration of Ms Goh's upcoming birthday (which falls on 28th Jun 08), we met up last Sat. Wanted to meet her this week but she has got her dates full, so its 21st for us.

Met at Vivo for dinner at Shin Kushiya. It was my first time there and I like that place! The 烧烤was good!

This year, we bought flowers for her :)

And present as well.

Our next plan was to go catch Zohan which Ms Goh said she will book but something went wrong with the booking and it did not go through so we went to Sentosa instead.

It was my first time trying out the monorail, feel like some tourist and we kept taking photos there. Mar and Pz have tried that a few times when they went over for drinks.

Inside the monorail, apparently, there are only 3 stops.

Alighted at the Beach Stop station. There were so many tourists as they just finished watching the Songs of the Sea.


We went to Coasters, had drinks and chatted the night away......

Happy Birthday, ETN!

23rd Jun 08 :)

Have fun!

Reno update-Bring the door forward

As of last Sat, the main door has been brought forward to the common corridor level.



The metal grill gate has been removed.


Lighting points done at the false ceiling




This week will be painting of the whole house, doing of carpentary items.

Next week, hopefully the items will be up and then touch up and we can finally end the reno process.

Happy Birthday gal!

生日快乐 !!




See you next Wed!

Kiat's birthday celebration

For Mr Kiat's brithday, we went to JUST STEAK at Riverwalk on Friday for dinner.

The place was empty when we arrived. In fact, it was empty the whole time we were there until around 8pm when the next customers walk in. It's like having the whole restaurant to ourselves :)

The food was good!!! We had the fried calamari-very fresh! Steak of course for the main course plus an additional sauteed mushrooms.

Yums!

After dinner, we went to catch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

14th Jun 08, Sat

Kiat's annual birthday bbq. For the 2nd year running,we ordered food from BBQ Wholesale.

YH went prawning and got these for us.

Eat, drink and be merry.


Yvonne made a cake as well-Strawberry Cheesecake. It was good :)

He had 2 cakes this year-This is the one I got from Rive Gauche. It was one of the best chocolate cake eaten. So much better than awfully chocolate.


The party ended around 1plus am. Glad everyone had a good time.

Mar's birthday celebration-more photos uploaded

Got more pictures from Jenny's FB and have uploaded them here :P

http://keepingtracks.blogspot.com/2008/06/mars-birthday-celebration.html

Happy Birthday, KIAT!

Hope you have a great birthday!!!!!!!!!! lalalala



Have Fun!

Our Wedding Photoshoot

It's already June,half a year gone soon!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, we went for our wedding photoshoot!!!!!! It was a very eventful day and here are the events that led to it.

15th Feb 08
First appointment at Volans Couture-our bridal studio (recommended by XH as GL has a share in it :P Very good recommendation! Saves me the trouble of going through others stores)

My mum, mar and pz went with me to see the selection of gowns. First time trying on so many wedding gowns.

Took pictures of the gowns secretly as they do not allow photo taking unless you have confirmed your selection :)

First visit-shortlisted some actual day gowns but did not confirm yet as wish to see more ,very greedy.

7th Mar 08
Met up with Jinny, Kiat and my mum and we went to try the evening gowns

Confirmed my actual day white gown with them.

20th Mar 08
Went to VC with Mar and my mum. Confirmed my evening gown with them,Vivien the Taiwanese designer,added an extra touch to the gown I chose :)

11th Apr 08
Try altered gowns for actual day

16th May 08
Kiat's turn for measurements-pants.


I find this shot quite funny, like doing some cha cha.

He also tried on some jackets.


I was supposed to try on some gowns for outdoor photoshoot but I did not see anything that catches my eye until I saw this gal who was there and she was going for her photoshoot. She was wearing this dress which I like. I asked the coordinator if I can wear that too and she say no problem, so I chose that without even trying. They say they will alter to my size, which is ok with me.

6th Jun 08-Final fitting before photoshoot

XH went with us for the final fitting,we were glad she did coz she will not be able to go for our wedding as JJ just got a job in Wales and they will be flying over in Aug. Sob Sob Sob. She can't be my jiemei too.

Kiat's pants were ready.


Tried on more combi-Coffee or tea for you,Mdm??? haha duno why we ask him to wear the white jacket but did not try with the white pants, this combo so weird haha


With XH in the kua.


11th Jun 08-Photoshoot
Reached VC at 850am, it was raining in the morning,darn! So nice to sleep. We were first to arrive and took some pictures to entertain ourselves while waiting for them to open shop.



VC is located just opposite 天福宫, which is a great location for photo taking.

GL asked if we wanted to continue with the photoshoot coz we can change to another day if we are worried about the weather. In the end, we decided to stick to it.

Our battle gear.


Vivian doing the make up for me. I love her make up skills and colour combi. The make up and first hairstyle took close to 1.5 hours, gosh!!


Vivian styling Mr Kiat's hair.


Our first take was the evening gown. We had GL as the photographer (we specifically wanted him as he was the reason why we took up the deal with VC). Leong was on hand to help out with lightings, arranging my gowns-I pity him when he had to fluff my actual day gown as it has a very long train and you must fluff it at least 2 times so that the full shape can be seen. I say he can train his hands muscles. :P He is also a very comical guy.

2nd outfit was the kua. We did not take any indoor for the kua but proceeded to 天福宫 as the temple was the perfect location for the chinese outfit. It was close to lunch time and quite paiseh to take pictures with so many people looking but still it was manageable after first few shots. Talking about kua, my mum found a pair of slippers which was from my grandma and it matches the kua completely.


3rd outfit was for the actual day white gown. Vivian redid the hairstyle for actual day and we break for lunch.

After lunch, it was back to phototaking again. VC manage to get the exact flowers which I requested! We were so impressed with them!!! I just printed out a sample from the internet and told them that they can get anything similar to the ones in the picture but they produce the exact flowers and colour shades. Very satisfied.

The last style was the outdoor white gown. While waiting for Vivian to restyle, Kiat was busy taking his 写真 at this point. We only left VC close to 4pm, I was worried that it was too late but my worries were unfounded.

Our first stop was to the Padang. We also took pictures at the Supreme Court and St Andrew's Cathedral since the car was parked there. Saw 2 other couples taking their photos there too.

Next was to my place for the shophouses shots. I had my own cheongsam for this series. My mum dropped by to see as it was just behind our house and I needed her to bring some stuff for me too actually. The sun came out and I was so happy coz I like 蓝天白云 for the outdoor pictures and without the sun, it is impossible to have. So often then not, we always see people taking wedding photos here and now, it was like 终于到我了. I always knew if I ever get married and take photos, this is one area I must go to have the shots.

We adjourned to Alexandra-Canterbury road. I love this place, it reminded me of Ching Jing, the sheep place in Taiwan. The sun was shining so brightly still at Alexandra. Happy happy happy. then, we went to Labrador park for sunset. The last time I set foot there was during JC-ages ago. The place has changed so much. Saw 3-4 couples there too for phototaking.

Last stop was the Southern Ridges-Henderson Waves. Kiat wanted to come to this place for some night shots. As it is a very new area, GL and Leong have not been there before. Luckily, we managed to find the place. It was very beautiful at night with all the lights on. (I am going to be so dead when he developed all the photos for us to choose). The night shots were more difficult to do as you need to hold on to the poses longer for the flash and all to set in.

An old uncle also stopped to see us take photos and wave to me, so nice of him.




We ended the day around 830pm, very tiring but satisfying. We are very happy with GL and his team. They are so pro and funny, it was so so good working with them.

It was a good decision to continue with the photoshoot as the weather was pretty cooling due to the rain.

From this photoshoot, I can conclude that Mr Kiat cannot 'smile big big' unless Leong or GL come out with some lame jokes hahahaha. For me, not a big problem coz I always have my 'plastic smile' ready haha (like what Daniel says, SQ trained)

I am missing the photoshoot so badly now.