Farewell, 2011

It has been a really exciting last day of 2011 for us.
Today we celebrated Marieann's 10th birthday in advance because on her actual day, 2nd January, time is a bit tight for we have a wedding dinner to attend.
Marieann invited two classmates to join in her birthday celebration. We - Marieann, her two classmates, Juliane and I went to a soap making workshop. I had fun making my soaps and so did the girls. After the workshop, we had lunch at Sakae Sushi, requested by the girls lol.

Us before the workshop

Us measuring the ingredients needed for making our soaps

A photo while waiting for the soaps to harden

The girls and their soaps

Marieann and her soaps

Us with our bags of our handmade soaps :)

Our soaps - mine the pink ones, Marieann the light purple ones, and Juliane the dark purple ones :)

After her classmates left in mid afternoon, we went to get more boxes from Plaza Singapura lol. :P When we were done, it was just after 5pm. We decided to have dinner out instead of at home. Again, we did not make any reservation for dinner but decided to try our luck at Raffles City. We decided to have dinner at Skinny Pizza. Juliane and I shared a Sweet Corn Crab soup ($6). We ordered a Smoked Turkey Swiss pizza ($25) and a Squid Ink Paella ($18) to share for the family because Marieann was still quite full from lunch. The super thin crispy pizza was really delicious and did not leave one with the usual uncomfortable, heavy feeling of having food too rich. :) The paella was tasty too, right amount of seasoning and the ingredients generous. :)



It was almost 8pm when we reached home. There is still time for some final packing haha. :P All packing completed an hour before the stroke of midnight! :)

Farewell, 2011!

Life Saviour

Toyogo storage boxes are my life saviour! They are really useful in helping me to organise my stuff as well as keeping them dust free! I have used 7 boxes so far. I definitely need to get a few more.

Girls' Day Out: Movie and Shopping

Taking a break from my packing, I took the girls out in the morning for a movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked" and some shopping.

The movie was definitely entertaining, with certain scenes spoofs of famous movies, e.g. "My precious, my precious!", running away from a huge boulder behind one, lol. :)

(uploaded by FilmsActuTrailers)


The closing act in the movie(uploaded by arsenal1b)


After the movie, we had lunch at The Canteen, followed by some retail therapy for me lol. Needed something to spur me on for the spring cleaning. :P I got myself a new Kipling shoulder/ handbag. :)

Dust, dust,

everywhere. :(
Stirring up lots of dust with the spring cleaning of my room... Sneezing, teary eyes, ...
Going through my Zytec D (antihistamine) like nothing. :(

A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song

The girls bought this DVD - A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song. Apparently they have already heard the songs in the movie on YouTube before they decided to get it. I watched with the movie with them and I am surprised by the lead actress, Lucy Hale's voice. That girl can really sing! Below are the songs: Extra Ordinary (uploaded by DandinoTutorial), Run This Town, and Bless Myself (uploaded by WarnerBrosOnline) by Lucy Hale and Knockin' (uploaded by Nano591) by Freddie Stroma.

Hoarding

We have finally finished clearing up the girls' stuff. Now it is my turn. I have accumulated quite a fair bit of stuff in my room, ok, quite a lot of stuff. But they are mostly the reading materials for my PhD, over the years (yes, making excuses). You can imagine the mess lol. My parents call my room the junkyard. :P
By the time I blogged this, I have managed to clear the study table in my table. Recycling one bag full of paper - all articles that I no longer need and have been hoarding! Bad habit, always thinking I might need it/ them later. I finally found the courage to throw (recycle) them.
More clearing to be done tomorrow. :S

Noisy Serenity Christmas Dinner

Merry Christmas!

Busy with spring cleaning for most part of the day, we could only find time to go for Christmas dinner. We took a chance as we didn't make any reservation for Christmas dinner, deciding to go with the flow. We went to Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant at Vivocity and we were lucky to get a table. :) Unfortunately, we were seated in front of the stage where live entertainment was performing. So it was kind of noisy.
We ordered the Coca de Quesos (flat bread with cheese), Tortilla Espanola (Spanish omelette with potato and onion), Crema de Marisco (Seafood cream soup with mussel, prawn, dory and squid rings), and Suckling Pig, Turkey and Ham Platter for 2-3 Pax.


It looked kind of miserable, considering its price ($128++) but the suckling pig was good!


We were quite full after our Christmas dinner but there is always room for dessert lol. We packed desserts to go from Hong Kong Honeymoon Dessert. :)

Christmas Eve 2011

It is a really wet Christmas Eve. Nothing will be better than snuggling under the covers reading on my Kindle with a hot cuppa. Unfortunately no such luck for me. The long weekend is the perfect time for spring cleaning! I was supervising and helping the girls in clearing and packing up the place since Chinese New Year is less than a month away (falls on 23 & 24 January 2012). Especially since my parents will be back soon after being away for 3 months! :P

The Hobbit

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer is out! :) I read Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (3 volumes) before I watched The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. But I always enjoyed the first Tolkien book I read, The Hobbit. :)
It is going to be a long wait though for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (part 1) as it is scheduled only to be released on 14 December 2012 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (part 2) will only be released in December 2013. Long wait. :( Might read The Hobbit again.

(uploaded by ColliderVideos)

Wedding Request

My mother's goddaughter's mother called up today with a request. My godsister who is getting married in March 2012, would like Juliane to be one of the two flower girls at her wedding.
Not a problem with me lol. I think Juliane will be excited about being a flower girl. :) Marieann and Juliane were flower girls at my friend, Theresa's wedding a few years ago but I think Juliane was too young to remember it and she didn't finish the walk lol. :P I am sure Juliane will do better this time. :)

Unexpected Surprise

I received an unexpected surprise today. I was informed this morning that my revised dissertation has passed my academic group's internal review and has been submitted to Graduate Studies for the final review. I was absolutely delighted to hear that. Now I wait... hopefully for news of when my oral defence will be.

Saboten Japanese Restaurant

We had dinner at Saboten Japanese Restaurant when we stayed at Ritz-Carlton on 17 December. We were lucky to get a table when we arrived because 15 minutes later, a queue had formed at the restaurant entrance.
Juliane ordered the Pork Katsu sandwiches, Marieann Tonaktsu, and I had the Tonkatsu tenderloin and oyster set. The katsu was really juicy, tender and delicious. :) But it is a tad too oily to eat regularly. :P

41 years and Counting

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary.

Happy 41st Wedding Anniversary, Ma and Pa.

Weekend Staycation II

While the family was fast asleep by 12.30am, I didn't sleep until much later as I was uploading the photos of our Ritz Carlton staycation onto my blog. There was a kind of serenity with the night view of Marina Bay before your eyes. It was by virtue of staying up late that I caught the light displays on the Marina Bay and on the office buildings close to 2am. It might be some sort of practice and preparation for New Year celebration.


I slept the latest but awoke the earliest. I managed to catch the sunrise, with it rays reflecting on the buildings along Marina Bay. By 9.15am, we were having our buffet breakfast at Ritz Carlton's Greenhouse restaurant. The buffet spread has both international flavours and local delights. We had a good hearty breakfast. :)



After breakfast, we lazed around in our room. I was looking up information on the Canadian Rockies while waiting for my spa appointment at 12pm. The girls were watching tv while waiting for the rain to stop so that they could go swimming. Their father was napping all these while.

At 12 noon, the rain had stopped and Marieann went to the pool for a swim. At 12 noon, my milk bath was prepared by the butler. :) Ah, it felt really nice and indulgent soaking in my milk bath for 40 minutes and overlooking the breathtaking views of Marina Bay from the 3 square metre octagonal window! :) My skin felt really smooth and moisturised after my milk bath. :) I finally know how it feels to be Cleopatra in a milk bath and I finally know how it feels to be in a bathtub in front of a huge window haha. :P


We checked out around 1.30pm. We enjoyed our staycation very much. The girls wanted to come back again next year and to stay longer the next time round lol. We shall see. :)

Weekend Staycation

We treated ourselves to a staycation holiday at Ritz-Carlton Singapore with their overnight package, 12 Joys of Christmas. We checked in just before 4pm. We were wowed by the view from our window. Our room (upgraded) is facing the Marina Bay. :) The view from the bathroom/tub is even better (same Marina Bay view) lol. :P Often wondered how it would be like taking a bath with a huge window like that. I will know soon enough haha. :)



The Marina Bay view from the window





The walk-in wardrobe

The reflection of the famous bathroom/ tub window in the mirror

The famous bathroom/tub window


The Marina Bay views from our window






Welcome gift from the hotel

We lazed around in our room. The kids were playing on their father's notebook, I was updating my blog and their father was napping. We left for dinner just after 6.30pm. We walked to the nearby shopping mall, Millenia Walk and had dinner at Saboten Japanese Restaurant. Will say/ show more about dinner in another post.
After dinner, we walked around the mall for a while before returning to our room. The night view of Marina Bay is really beautiful.

At the Ritz Carlton retail shop

The Christmas tree at the lobby

Weekend Break

Looking forward to our break this weekend. :)

Surprises

Surprise 1:
The girls' father said that he would go on the trip to the Canadian Rockies too in June 2012. In addition, we would be going to San Francisco to visit his aunt and family.
Surprise 2:
The girls' father said he would drive while at the Canadian Rockies! This is a shocker, coming from a guy who has never driven in foreign land and much less left-hand drive and long distance driving. But it would definitely save a bundle when self-driving as compared to taking a tour, a saving of more than $1000 Canadian dollars.

Coloured Xiao Long Bao

We had lunch at Paradise Dynasty on Sunday. We got in just before the crowd lol. Lucky. :) We ordered the Coloured Xiao Long Baos ($13.80) sampler set - original pork dumpling (white), cheese pork dumpling (yellow), foie gras pork dumpling (brown), crab roe pork dumpling (orange), ginseng pork dumpling (green), szechuan pork dumpling (pink), garlic pork dumpling (grey), and black truffle pork dumpling (black). The xiao long baos were delicious. :) We also ordered other dishes such as original Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, Chilled Assorted Egg Loaf in Yang Zhou style, Duck slices, Double-boiled chicken soup, wanton la mian, etc. Desserts were Souffle Egg White Balls stuffed with red bean and banana, Chilled Aloe Vera with osmanthus jelly in honey lemon juice and longan almond jelly. It was a very satisfying lunch. :)

Soup Craze

Marieann is suddenly obsessed with cooking soup. She has been experimenting with various ingredients and cooking the soup with the help of the domestic helper. Guess who is the guinea pig? Poor me! Lol. :P

Christmas at the Gardens

Here are some photos of the Christmas decor at the Botanic Garden.

Happy Birthday, YM

Happy Birthday, YM.
Hope it is a great day for you,
fill with lots of love and great memories.

Love,
HM and family :)

Last Lunar Eclipse of 2011

Tonight Marieann, my neighbour and I witnessed the last lunar eclipse of 2011. I am really glad that I managed to see it because the next one won't happen until 2014. And knowing life, who knows what can happen in the next minute. :P
We didn't travel all the way to Labrador Park. Instead we camped at our "front yard" - The Botanic Gardens lol. There are plenty of wide open spaces at the garden and with zero cloud cover tonight, it was perfect for viewing the moon. Best of all, there was no crowd! We could watch the lunar eclipse in peace while enjoying the cool evening weather. :)





Maximum eclipse - the moon in darkness

End of total eclipse - the moon reappearing