Happy Birthday, Mother/ Grandmother

Today is Halloween and it is also my mother's birthday. She was born just after the witching hour lol.

Happy Birthday, Mother/ Grandmother!
Wishing you lots of love on your birthday.

lots of love,
Your children
Your grandchildren:
Marieann, Yeun Yi, Juliane, Yeun Song, Yeun Zhen

Halloween

Well, we don't celebrate Halloween, even though my girls would love too. Apparently the below is How I feel about Halloween lol. Quite apt that I see Halloween as scary. Time to watch all the scary movies haha. :P

You See Halloween as Scary

A bit of an introvert, you like the special occasions just as much as everyone else. You just have your own unique way of celebrating Halloween. Yes, celebrate by watching scary movies! You definitely think of yourself as someone who has a dark side. And part of having that dark side means not showing it. True :) Your inner child is stubborn and a bit bossy. Some people would agree to that lol. You truly fear the dark side of humanity. You are a true misanthrope. You're prone to be quite emotional and over dramatic. Deep down, you enjoy being scared out of your mind... even if you don't admit it. Should see me when I am watching a really scary movie :P You are picky and high maintenance. If you wear a Halloween costume, it's only when you really feel like it. And it has to be perfect. More of all or nothing. If you really want to do something, then be perfect at it. Ok maybe that is the perfectionist streak in me talking lol

What's Your Halloween Personality?

Sweets

Here are the photos of Zen Q desserts and the mini cupcakes from House of Mini. :) My girls love them. :)

Happy 9th Birthday, Yeun Yi!!

Happy 9th Birthday, Yeun Yi!

Hope you have a great day full of fun and many happy returns. :)


Lots of love,
Cousins Marieann & Juliane

My Birthday Celebration III

It is my birthday today. I decided I will give myself some tender loving care today lol. :P
First, I started with a late morning breakfast at Jimmy Monkey. The French Toast sounded nice and it tasted really great. :) It was really nice having my breakfast leisurely.


After my breakfast or rather my brunch, I did some window shopping before I decided to go for a massage. Might as well pamper myself today lol. I felt absolutely relaxed and wonderful after an hour of aroma therapy massage. :)
I met up with friends for an early dinner. We went to Sofra Turkish Restaurant. I ordered a Guvec Tavuk: Oven baked chicken and mushroom served with rice which was absolutely delicious. :)


It is a wonderful end to a series of celebrations for my birthday. :) Besides, celebrating it with friends and family, I also had some alone time to recharge. :)

Pressie from my girls :)

My Birthday Celebration II

Today is Deepavali. Happy Deepavali! :)

Being a public holiday, with no school and no work, I celebrated my birthday one day in advance with my family. We went for buffet dinner at Carousel, Royal Plaza on Scotts Hotel. Dinner was really nice and we were all a couple of kilograms heavier by the end of dinner lol. When we were having our after dinner tea and coffee, the staff presented me with my birthday cupcake and sang me a birthday song. It was a really nice gesture. :) I had to pack my birthday cupcake to go because we just couldn't take another bite. Yup, we were that FULL lol. :P

Breast Cancer Month

I saw this video on a friend's Facebook about 3 weeks ago and thought it is really funny and well-made. Since it is still October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I though I should share the video. With this video, women would definitely rethink breast cancer and carry out more regular self-checks on their breasts lol. :P

To all women, be breast aware for earlier detection.

Uploaded by rethinkbreastcancer1

My Birthday Celebration I

My colleagues and friends celebrated my birthday in advance today. It was really sweet of them! :) We had lunch at Fig & Olive, Jurong Point. I thought the food was not too bad but the company was definitely great! :) We ended the lunch with a chocolate banana crepe as my birthday cake. Yum!
I will upload the photos from the lunch later as my camera SD card is faulty :( and a friend is trying to help me recover the photos that have been corrupted (thank goodness not the lunch photos).

My wonderful colleagues and friends :)

Here's what my colleagues/friends got for me. Really sweet and adorable! :) Love the photo best of all lol :P

Childhood Comfort Food II

For the second weekend, we visited a Zhi Char restaurant. It is one of the two zhi char restaurants that my family used to frequent when I was a child. It is Woh Hup at a Chinatown hawker centre, most famous for its fish slices bee hoon soup. Juliane wasn't too happy eating at a zhi char restaurant again, without aircon lol. However when the food started coming, especially the pork ribs, she forgot the non-aircon situation and tucked heartily into the food. :P Marieann was more game to sit at the hawker centre and try out the food. She liked the bee hoon soup as well as the Tofu with gravy.

Fish slices bee hoon soup

Fruit Paradise

Craving for desserts, we went in search of some after dinner. It was literally a "roadside conference" in the car before we could decide where we wanted to go for dessert. In the end, it was Fruit Paradise at Orchard Central that won lol.
We each had the $9.80 tart set (a slice of tart with tea/coffee/soft drink). Marieann had the Mango Banana tart, Juliane the Chocolate Banana tart, I the Seasonal Fruit tart and the girls' father had the Coffee Pear tart. The coffee pear tart was quite light and refreshing.

Mango Banana tart (foreground) and Chocolate Banana tart (background)

Coffee Pear tart (foreground) and Seasonal Fruit tart (background)

Last Exam

Marieann has her last exam today. It is her Science exam. Although she is really interested in Science, I worry because she can be really careless. Sigh.
Her exams are finally over. Now for a different kind of stress - waiting to know her exam results. I am not hoping for great marks, just that she passes her exams.

House of Mini

I saw House of Mini when I was at Yew Tee Point and just couldn't resist buying the mini donuts for my RAs. I initially wanted to buy the mini cupcakes because they were so CUTE!! But I was so lost in what to choose that I gave up lol. :P (no pics of the donuts because I didn't have my camera with me)
However, here are some photos of the mini cupcakes! My RAs were so enthralled with the mini donuts that they went to Jurong Point where there is another House of Mini branch haha. :P They went nuts and bought three boxes of mini cupcakes (each box of 6)! :P



House of Mini is on Facebook too. Log in to find out more about their mini donuts and mini cupcakes.

Zen Q Desserts

My colleague and I decided to try out another eating place for lunch, Yew Tee Point. I discovered a dessert stall called Zen Q Desserts. I was really excited because it is selling traditional Taiwanese desserts!! Including their Q balls which Marieann loves ever since we had Q balls desserts in Jiou Fen. :)

I love their Honey Apple Vinegar drink which I would add aloe vera so that it is sweet, sour and with bite. :) Their Milk Tea with Pudding is nice too. All their milk tea drinks can have the sugar level adjusted which is good for people like me. :P I absolutely adore their Zen Q Glass Jelly dessert that comes with pearls, Q balls, glass noodles and glass jelly. Yummy. :) I will upload photos of the desserts next time. I keep forgetting to take photos of the desserts before eating them lol. :P

Zen Q Desserts is on Facebook. You can log in to see some of their desserts. :)

Happy Birthday in Advance, Grandmother

My mother is leaving for Taipei today so we celebrated her birthday last night in advance. Her birthday is on 31 October.

Happy Birthday, Grandmother!

Love,
Marieann & Juliane :)

PSLE Marking Days

The girls will be enjoying four days of "holiday" because it is the PSLE marking days from 17-20 October. Ok, Juliane can still enjoy her holiday but not Marieann as she still has her Science exam on Friday. I have to make sure Marieann revises for her Science exam during these four days.

Childhood Comfort Food

Since my mother is leaving for Taiwan next week, we took her to her choice of restaurant for dinner. I haven't been here for a long, long time - Fatty Weng Restaurant. It is a zhi char restaurant. My girls were quite shocked that we were sitting outdoors by the roadside for dinner lol. :P
We ordered pork ribs, fried Soon Hock (fish), claypot seafood, fried tofu and vegetable. The food was absolutely delicious and my girls really enjoyed the food despite eating out in the open in the warm night lol. As I ate, my childhood memories started coming back. :) It is my childhood comfort food indeed.

Travel Guide

My friend passed me a travel guide on Canada when my girls and I went to visit him and his family. I haven't had much time to look at it. :(
However, to my surprise, when taking a break from doing their homework today, my girls were looking at the Canadian travel guide and saying to each other, "Wah, this place is so nice. I want to go there". Lol.

Never seen my girls so interested in a place before. Looks like there is hope we may go to the Canadian Rockies for our next trip lol. :)

Exams are Over (Almost)

Marieann has sat for her English, Math and Chinese exams in the last 3 days. She has one more exam on Science and it is held next Friday 21 October. My stress is almost over...

Canadian Rockies

My good friend came back from his holidays in the Canadian Rockies. Last weekend, my girls and I went to visit them and at the same time, to view the holiday photos. The photos were so beautiful!! My girls were in awe of what they saw.

Ok, our next family trip, the Canadian Rockies lol :P

"Half Day"

It was "half day's" work at counselling today. Most of the P6 counsellees were all over the school participating in their different post-exam activities. It was really tiring for me going all over the school trying to "catch" each counsellee. When I do catch them, half our counselling time is gone... :( But the P6 girls do need their break after their PSLE. :)

The Walking Dead S2

I am so glad that "The Walking Dead" will return to tv soon. I can't wait to watch the second season. :) I really enjoyed reading the graphic novel which is still on-going.

Happy 7th Birthday, Cousin Matthew

Happy Birthday, Cousin Matthew!

Hope you have a great day, full of presents and fun! :)

Love,
Cousins Marieann and Juliane

A Dinner Affair

My mother will be going away again soon so she invited my cousins and cousin-in-laws over for a family dinner. Today, she cooked a new dish, a soup that was cooked for hours with chicken stock, cabbage, pumpkin, three different kind of mushrooms, a whole fish, squid, meatballs, etc.


The soup was really tasty. Everyone of us had at least two helpings of it lol. :)

Featured!

Dawn, my former student, who is working currently with Singapore Women's Weekly, asked me for a quote about my experience with difficult parents. Always happy to help out when people need help, what more my student. :)
My quote which accompanies an article about Tiger Mum is now out in Singapore Women's Weekly October issue lol. :) My friends and colleagues commented that I am "famous" haha. :P
Here it is, the snapshot of my quote. :)

Children's Day 2011

Today is Children's Day. The girls were enjoying a carefree day at home, almost for one of them. Well, Marieann had Chinese tuition in the afternoon.

It is also "Family Week - Bring Your Child to Work Day" today at my work place. There were activities planned for the children of the staff from 9am - 5pm. Unfortunately Marieann has her tuition so I couldn't bring both girls to work. It was unfair to bring only Juliane. Equal misery policy had to apply here lol.

RIP, Steve Jobs

I was really shocked to hear about Steve Jobs' passing this morning. Although I am not a die-hard Apple fan, I do own an iPad which I can't live without. Steve Jobs has, through Apple, really revolutionised technology and changed the world digitally. For that, I am grateful and appreciative.

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs.

Canadian Rockies

My friend came back from his 2.5 weeks Canadian Rockies holiday. Really glad to get my pressies - postcards and magnets! :) The photos he took on his trip are absolutely breathtaking! Hmm, maybe my next family trip should be to the Canadian Rockies lol. If not, I could go alone as a treat for myself, especially after my oral defence. :)

Exam Stress (or Unstress)

It depends on who is taking it (or not). I am stressing out for my child's exams when I am not the one taking the exams. On the other hand, my child is not stressed at all for her exams when she is the one taking the exams. I really don't know what she is thinking. Sigh. Her exams starts today. I hope she will take her exams seriously.

Burning in the Skies by Linkin Park

I have been hearing this catchy song on the AXN trailer when it features the new series. It has a familiar tune to it, as if I have heard it before. Later I realised it is "Burning in the Skies" by Linkin Park. No wonder it has a familiar ring to it, sounds similar to Linkin Park's other songs, "What I've Done" and "New Divide". :)

Cat Sitter

My neighbours went away for a holiday and they asked me to keep an eye on their cat over the weekend. I did it gladly because I miss having a pet and I do miss my late cat. :)

Changes

In Singapore, Children's Day is usually celebrated on 1 October, with that day being a school holiday for the school children. However with effect from 2011, Children's Day will now be celebrated on the first Friday of October.
The change has been brought about due to feedback from schools, and parents that Primary 6 children, who usually sit for their PSLE in early October, could not enjoy their last Children's Day which falls on 1 October. Now with the new change, Primary 6 children could enjoy their Children's Day holiday after their PSLE in peace. :)

*On another change: Teacher's Day school holiday has also been changed, with effect from 2011, from 1 September to the first Friday of September.