Last weekend was pretty happening, hence I didn't managed to blog about it, even though I had already uploaded some stuff and activities that happened after it.

Here's a recap of what happened last weekend: ( +++ )

To celebrate Hubba's 32nd birthday, I decided to have a little gathering at our place with a bunch of close friends to eat, drink, chat and be merry. Especially drinks, coz we bought our own booze (vodka, schnapps and beer) this time to prepare our own mixes and make full use of our bar top counter for serving drinks. Pity I didn't remember to take photos of the birthday boy enthusiastically mixing drinks, was a little too busy entertaining.

Of course, a must-have for every birthday celebration: A birthday cake for the birthday boy.



More photos here.

Had a nice dinner sesh last night with our friends. Met up at Sushi Teh @ Tampines One to have a deliciously healthy meal of Japanese sashimi, sushi and mains. Took the opportunity to catch up with each other on various things that had happened in the past month. Like always, it was fun to meet up, chill and catch up with our friends, FK & Judy.


The people were right to go crazy over the tarts. There was a nice balance of pastry with banana, cream and chocolate in my tart and one couldn't stop eating after having tasted the first mouthful. Really great! Now, am toying the idea of whether to get this for Hubba's birthday cake, as his birthday is just a few weeks away. (Plus he kinda hinted at it.)

After all the catching up, it was time to call it a night. However, we made a pact to meet up soon, in a few weeks, to have a crazy late-nighter at probably my place and celebrate Hubba's birthday. :)

More photos here: www.facebook.com/album.php

HH was always a close pal when we were working together. Super happy when Ricky came along and both of them got along very well. It's been a long three years, as a colleague & friend, to finally see them tie the knot.


More photos here.

Since our circle is small, this dinner was also a chance to catch up with all the friends/ex-colleagues I once worked with. Almost like a mini-gathering. It was great fun catching up with all, and getting to know those whom I wasn't so close to previously.

Can't believe the weekend is over. Gonna call it a night... so that I get enough sleep for the hard week ahead.

Tonight was some good old chilling with the other Wongs, down at Vivocity.

First up was to have dinner @ Kim Gary, whose food reminded me of Hong Kong Cafe. Food was not bad, though I felt that it was a little pricey for some stuff like the Nissin noodle range.



After that it was a nice catch-up and chill at Pacific Coffee as we were still a little too early for the movies. It was weird looking our photos and wondering about ourselves years ago when we were still in uni. How time flies. How we've aged/matured (whichever way you look at it), etc. And our physical fitness levels... haa... All the talk about going for night cycling to reminisce our youth, ended up in night driving instead, to look for food. Sighz...



Once we entered the cinema, it was all movie. GI Joe was a disappointment, in my opinion. The plot was sucky and the best bits already shown in the trailer. Shan't say no more though, coz I don't wanna spoil the fun for those who haven't watched.

It was fun meeting up, and we were a little reluctant for the night to end early. But, as we all have to go to work tomorrow, we had to bid our friends farewell and make plans for a next meet up instead.

Had an action packed weekend... that left my muscles screaming in protest.

Fri 31 Jul:
After the jog, Hubba and I went for late night dinner and then midnight show of "The Hangover". Thank goodness the show was hilarious enough to keep us awake, for we were actually nodding off at dinner and regretting the purchase of the movie tickets.

The show was terrific. We laughed almost non-stop, coz of the hilarious jokes and ridiculous antics. Shall not spoil the show for all, but I would seriously recommend this show to all who need to de-stress.

Sat 1 Aug:
Woke up late. And body protesting due to the late night. Something tells me that age is catching up. Lazed around to catch up on the zzz before I left for yoga at 12 noon.

Had a crazy hour of hot yoga with Kai. Think the 5km from the previous day's run was acting up, coz I was shaking badly in some positions that usually wouldn't have affected me. When we finally were told to cool down in the corpse pose, I left the room to catch a breathe of fresh air for I was already seeing stars.

Left to do a little something after that (to be blogged in a separate locked post) before having late light lunch at 4pm (salad) with Kai. Chatted about everything under the sun till it was time to head home and meet Pops and Hubba for dinner, since Mum was out with her own gang.

Had a little father-daughter session after dinner, whilst Hubba left for his guys' outing. Chit chat at the 24/7 Coffee Club until it was almost midnight. Headed back to parents' home, played some DVD and chatted some more with Mum & Dad before I had to raise my white flag and admit defeat to the zzz monster.

Sun 2 Aug:
Kenshin, my darling dog, had followed me home last night. As it was unusual for him to have a late night, I think he also slept later than normal with both Hubba and me, instead of his usual protest to wanna go for his walk. When Hubba and I awoke at 9am to breakfast, he was still slightly drowsy and hid in the room to catch some extra snooze while we breakfasted.

The moment we were through and I mentioned the word "walk", the craziness all started and before I knew it, he was nosing his collar to me. Spent 2 hours walking him round the estate, and reached home totally drenched in sweat.

After lunch, headed out to the hairdresser's with Mum for highlight, treatment and haircut. After spending 3 hours, we headed off to the mall to pick up my shoes that I had sent to the cobbler and the library thereafter.

Came home feeling totally drained, with my muscles protesting for relieve, especially my gluts and hamstrings. Shall bathe soon and enter the dream world early tonight, to make up for all the lost sleep.

Today was a pretty packed day, such that I found it exhausting.

After the morning jog, Hubba and I rushed to complete our housework before we set off for a birthday lunch at FK & Judy's place, to celebrate their baby Aidan's 1 yo birthday as well as Judy's birthday.

As expected, Baby Aidan didn't recognise me since the last time we saw him, which was during CNY. Boy has that little fella grown. He was a little withdrawn in the beginning, and even burst into tears a few times coz of all the strange faces. But after a while, he did warm up to us, and it was pretty fun playing with him.


Judy & Baby Aidan

Later in the evening, we dropped by Tampines central for Hubba to get his library books and to shop on the last day of the GSS. Hubba managed to get himself a replacement pair of sandals (his Teva of 3 years is slowly giving way after our Spain trip) and another pair of working leather shoes (which I felt was a good steal at $69), whilst I got myself another Fancl Lip Cream (somehow their lip balm is super moisturizing and not overly greasy) and a pair of Americaya heels. Think Americaya shoes somehow fit my feet pretty well, and I got this pair of comfy peep-toes to use for work such that I can send my other two pairs of Americaya heels to the cobbler to do up the insoles (the glue for the insoles is giving way). We also accompanied KH in search of his winter wear.

Dinner was at Din Tai Feng coz Hubba had a craving for their fried rice. So the two guys gorged themselves crazy with the fried rice with grilled pork chop, while I had the dan dan mian, and as we ate, I was entertained by the male nonsense sprouting from the two in front of me who were high on their food.



After such a crazy day, I can't believe the weekend is over! Totally not looking forward to working after such a lovely weekend. Why can't the weekend start on Friday and end on Monday, in which we just only work from Tuesday to Thursday?

I think I haven't had such a crazy night for a long time... 3 places in one night!

( Picture heavy post )

Places visited:
1. Etna - 110 Upper East Coast Road
2. Blackout @ QSquare - 16 Tai Seng Street
3. Chomp Chomp - Serangoon Gardens Food Centre

More photos of the night here.

Hubba & I headed down to Parkway to meet Kai for a pool sesh. Thought that I would be able to play, since my stiff neck felt better. But heck, I couldn't even bend over the cue properly to aim. So I ended up spending the couple of hours watching them play. Kai initially trashed Hubba in 8-ball, by a wide margin. However, as 8-ball was a little long-winded and less challenging to play, they ended up switching to play 9-ball.

After understanding the slightly more complicated concept of 9-ball, Hubba somehow managed to make a come back and win 3 of 4 games of 9-ball. Although he still made some funny moves that had us tickled during the game. Pity I didn't bring a camera to take shots of the game.

Think Hubba needs more practice in the game. Hopefully the next time we meet up for another game of pool, my neck would have regained its proper mobility. Perhaps in the mean time, we probably need to brush up our skills in the game, in order to avoid getting trashed the next time round.



Updated: Just got this off Kai, think Hubba looks a little stylo in this shot:

Hubba trying to concentrate

Had some gathering with family friends, the H's, today. They've always extended party invites through my folks to me and Hubba but somehow timing has always been off. After MIA for some time, told Hubba that die-die must show face today since we were given notice way in advance and we really had not met up with them for the longest time.

Gathering was done as high tea, which consist of typical H's style of luxury food like mutton curry, chicken drumlets, fried bee hoon, samosas, and munchies like sandwiches, kueh lapis (this was contributed from us), butter cake and fruits, and of course the tea, which one could never have enough. Aunty R outdid herself as usual, and Mum and I decided we would have to call home to cancel dinner, since it really started late. And luckily we did, coz we all gourged ourselves with food one way or another; the men were all over the food, whilst Mum and I just enjoyed the tea.

Conversation with Uncle H is something that I always look forward to, coz topics are always very entertaining. Any group of his would usually end up being a highly sought-after group and more people would join in with time. Today's conversation was all centred about the economic crisis, Dubai, the US money problem. Of course we went off track and spoke about other things, recycling habits in other countries, dark secrets of yesteryears, and even customs and superstition of different races. This was when I finally found out why my late paternal grandma used to scold me when I was younger, for standing at the door way during the sunset in the evening.

After almost twenty years of never knowing why I kept getting reprimanded for this, I finally learnt that during the evening when the sun sets, it is believed that spirits are moving in and out of the houses as the spirit gates are opened. So standing at the door way during this time basically would put one in the way of the spirits. No wonder I got the kind of scolding from my late paternal grandma; she must really have thought I was asking for trouble!

Well like all good times, we had to call it a night after staying there for more than four hours. Only regret is that as usual, I was so engrossed with the talk that I forgot to take photos. Gah...

We met up with the other Wongs for CNY today. Yup, FK and Judy and Baby Aidan, at FK's parents' place. BT came as well, but left pretty soon after. Seems like eons ago when we started making this a regular affair of visiting his parents' place every CNY. And yet, till today, we are still unfamiliar with his other relatives. Sigh...


Baby Aidan and me

Baby Aidan is quite fun to be with right now. Took the opportunity to play with him, and Hubba had some training on how to handle a baby. Erm... all I can say is, he needs practice. Baby Aidan seemed okay with strangers, as long as he was in familiar surroundings. Initially at FK's parents' place, he was pretty sensitive and easily provoked to crying. But when we went over to FK and Judy's place later in the afternoon, he knew he was back familiar surroundings and took to playing very easily. Simple noises, peek-a-boo and a belly rub with his favourite toy were the key to a continuous smile on his face.


Playing with his toys, Chip and Dale

He seems a smart kid too... constantly accessing the situation and reading the people around him quite carefully. When it was his bath time, I helped Judy look after him while she prepared his bath and stuff. Initially he was ok with my presence, but as it got closer to him getting undressed, he starting being fussy and made noise. Perhaps coz he was shy that I was around, so I excused myself the moment FK came in to help.

With the way he goes about, I won't be surprised if he grows up to be someone very important.

This week has just flown by in a flash.

Kinda relieved that Hubba has finally re-adjusted his circadian rhythm so that I finally don't get awaken in the middle of the night. However, again I have an hour's sleep taken away from me each morning coz he leaves the house earlier than me. Oh well, just have to make up by sleeping an hour earlier each night, which I have been doing ever since before he came back from his trip.

Had an interesting Friday dinner with Hubba's colleagues to celebrate two birthdays. Was fun hanging out with a younger set (by younger, the definition is 4 - 5 years our junior), hearing their funny stories and re-living the thrills of being young and poking fun at the senior people, us included. And it was good having that to end a not so good work day/week; it really helped to relieve the work tension built up the entire week.

Finally broke my abstinence and went back to yoga class. Kind of suffering from it now as the body is totally aching from the lack of action for the past month. But it feels good coz at least I'm back to working out. Wanted to go for another one this morning, but the body was so much in pain that I had to give it miss. Perhaps a mid-week jog again, now that my body seems to be showing signs of an all-clear from the flu. Except the occasional sneezing.

Went down to Sitex yesterday to brave the crowd, all just to get the bro-in-law his GPS. Got a worthy buy, although Hubba and I decided not to continue braving the crowds thereafter even though we very much wanted to get a Wii. Going through one hall is bad enough.

Managed to catch "Quantum of Solace" finally today, before it closes. As usual, I loved the action totally from beginning to end, though I think it would have been better not to have it so much in the beginning such that the end kind of got a little boring. Think the screenwriter and producers need to re-think how to continue wow-ing the crowd if they do not want the 007 saga to end prematurely. However, Daniel Craig is still eye-candy (much to Hubba's irritation), so I was still pretty much entertained, despite the not-so-terrific script.

Well, another few hours left of the Sunday, before I have my whirlwind of meetings starting tomorrow and then zoom off for company team-building the following week. Now it's back to the laundry.

Met up with KH and decided to bring him to try out Gourmet Plus. Here's some of what we had:



Albeit a little costly, we did enjoy the food and the ability to just sit, chat and enjoy ourselves without having someone to shoo us away once we were done with our food. But I guess we have exhausted most of the food we like on the menu, so I guess it would be some time before we head back there again for dinner.

Just less than an hour after I posted about the photos, dear JC has already kindly posted them on FB. Hip hip hurray! Have just finished "koping" the photos off the FB album (don't mind ya, JC?) so as to save them for my memories.


Click here for the photo set from JC uploaded on my Multiply Album



Last night's group of crazy people for a terrific TGIF pub sesh

Last night's pubbing was great fun! As usual, the hub's colleagues were great to hang with and we had the typical "Truth or dare" game to spice up the evening. Hubs got quite a lot of nonsense and ended up consuming a litre of beer, which caused him to really act uninhibited towards the end. Luckily I abstained from the alcoholic beverages, or else I think we would have to leave the car there and take a cab home.

Still waiting for photos of the hub's surprise birthday cake/party sesh from his colleagues, which hopefully would be uploaded on FB together with last night's sesh soon.

Spent a PH morning doing strenuous arm exercise... bowling!

The two hours was quite well spent, especially since I maintained consistency in most of my bowls. Most... coz there were times when the ball still went into the gutter. Sigh... Looks like my dreams of going pro will always remain in my dreams.


More photos here

Managed to catch a vid of the husband's first strike of the game too...

Photos of the Ubin trip has just been updated to include interesting shots taken by JC.


View the entire collection here.

Credit of photos titled "ubinxx" goes to JC. Thanks gal!

Took a maiden trip to Pulau Ubin with the hubs and his colleagues yesterday for an entire day of cycling madness.



Must admit I really feel that I've aged. What would formerly just cause minor aches and pains with such activities has intensified into major aches and pains and lethargy. Not only that, the joints feel like they need a fair bit of "oiling", especially the arms (shoulders, elbows and wrists) which acted as shock absorbers when going downhill on the bumpy dirt terrains. And oh my... the butt!!! It's such a chore to sit down too coz it's totally bruised by all the bumping.

But I think, I'm quite gian about the dirt track thingees and the hubs and I have decided that we might try out the mountain bike track in Tampines sometime soon. However I think it would be best if we start getting some gear to protect ourselves before we go on to do this.


More pics here

Yay... Debs finally loaded the pics on Facebook and so I have them! Yes, the pics of us at our long awaited dinner last Friday at Brotzeit, Raffles City.


Mel & Yvonne



Debs, Val & me



The bunch of us together with out food. :)

Really missed hanging out with these gals. Such fun were the days of long ago. Can't wait to meet up with them again soon!!!

Debs scheduled a meet-up via Facebook (really cool to be able to meet up on such a awesome piece of technology) and the group of us met up yesterday at Raffles City to hang and catch up. 5 of us managed to turn up (Debs, Val, Mel Q, Yvonne and me) and we all chatted over a lovely dinner at Brotzeit.

Gosh... I think it's been 10 years since I last saw this bunch of girls that I used to see almost every day when we had daily classes every night to prepare for endless ballet exams. But like always, the moment we met up, all the missing time was forgotten, and we all started talking and filling in on the missing parts of life when we were apart, totally oblivious to the surroundings.

I guess the one who had been gone the most was me, since the others still bumped into each other some time here or there, or had continued with classes after I went on to Uni. It was really quite a lot for me to grasp, hearing about who else had got married, divorced, had kids, working updates, etc. and we were so engrossed with all the news that we took more than half an hour to place our orders. Pissed off the waitress who was waiting for us. :P Pity that the others who were supposed to join us didn't manage to come in the end due to work. If not I think we'd have been even more rowdy!

Group photos are with Debbie, who has promised to upload them all on FB, so I will load them when I get them. For now, here are the foodie pics that I took of the food we had:


At the end of it all, it really felt great meeting up with this lively bunch of chums that we made a pact to have to do this often, especially when those of us who are now overseas come back for a short visit, like Shupei and Yvonne.