Weekend Work

I seem to be catching up with work during the weekend. Don't think this is a very good work-life balance. :(

Horror Marathon Weekend

Let the horror marathon weekend begin!
Since Starhub is offering free viewing of channels for a week, we are taking this opportunity to catch all the horror movies and tv series on Thrill. :) 

Working Weekend

I don't know when it started but I am working on most weekends, catching up on work as my weekdays are filled with meetings... 

Weekend "Breather"

Currently I am living one week at a time. The weekend is for me to start preparing for next week's work. :( I need to be more organised and start to plan ahead. 

Thrill

We are thrilled to know that Starhub TV is offering free preview of over 140 channels (25 to 28 September) to beat the haze for families with nowhere to go during this period of haze, especially after the PSI peaked at 300+ on Thursday 24 September. However the only one channel we are interested in is Thrill channel which is dedicated to the horror suspense genre lol.  
Interestingly, the PSI reading for the haze dropped to Unhealthy range of 100+ on Friday which was declared a day of closure for all Primary and Secondary schools. Even today, it has been relatively haze-free, with the PSI reading being in the Moderate range (51-100). :) 

Jubilee Weekend

Today is the start of the long Jubilee Weekend. 7 August has been declared a public holiday so that we Singaporeans can come together to celebrate Singapore's 50 years of independence on 9 August 2015. :) Many places are holding special celebration activities, e.g. Singapore Botanic Gardens, Marina Bay area, the various museums and heritage galleries, and many others. 
It is going to be very crowded everywhere this long weekend, best to leave the car at home and take the public transport this weekend. :)

Last Weekend of 2014

It is the last weekend of 2014. I realised that 2014 passed very quickly, too quickly for my liking. It could be because I was preoccupied and stressed with Marieann's PSLE this year. Hopefully we can relax a little in the new year.

Start

of my LONG weekend tomorrow! :) I have no school counselling tomorrow because it is half day in schools due to the celebration of National Day. As such, my long weekend starts tomorrow, onWednesday instead of on Thursday, one day earlier than other people. :) 

Long Weekend

There is a long weekend in the coming week - August 8 Thursday is Hari Raya (public holiday), August 9 Friday is National Day (public holiday) plus Saturday and Sunday. It will be a short work week, only three days for most people. 
For me, it is going to be even shorter because schools will be celebrating National day on August 7 Wednesday and schools will end around mid-morning. As such, there is no counselling this Wednesday. It will only be a two-day work week for me! :) I need a good break after last week's frenzy lol. :P

2012's Last Weekend

This weekend, 29 December and 30 December, is the last weekend of 2012. 
Time really flies. 2012 is finally coming to an end.
Have you achieved your new year's (2012's) resolution(s)? If yes, congrats! If not, you still have slightly more than 2.5 days to achieve it/ them. Good luck. :P 
As for me, I only had one new year's resolution to achieve and I achieved it - I got my PhD. :)

Extra LONG Weekend

I am really envious of my girls. They are having an extra long weekend. Started on Wednesday with half day school, National Day public holiday on Thursday, today is a school holiday, and plus the weekend  - they have close to 5 days of break! Wish that I was a student or a teacher again... almost lol.

Short Week or Long Weekend

I only just realised that tomorrow is Good Friday! What a short week lol. Looking forward to the long weekend. :)
My girls happily announced to me that since they have no school tomorrow, they want to follow me to office tomorrow lol. Sorry, Girls, I am not going to office on a public holiday!

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. :)

The Girls' Weekend

It's the girls' weekend. I am not talking about me, I am referring to my kids! They had one appointment after another for this weekend.
Saturday
Juliane was at her K2 friend's place from noon till 8pm.
Marieann attended her classmate's sister's birthday party from 6 till 10pm.
I was at home.
Sunday
Juliane attended her classmate's birthday party at Sentosa from 1pm till 6pm.
Marieann had tuition from 3.30pm till 5.30pm.
I was at home.

Hmm, I think I need to have more friends. :P

Oz Double Bay in Singapore

It is the weekend again.

We went to try out a new dining place in town, Double Bay which serves Australian food at Raffles City for lunch. I like the greenhouse look of the whole place, fantastic for watching people and cars, lol.

For soup, we shared a Seafood Cioppino ($10.90): seafood broth with clams, mussels, fish, squid and prawns. The portion of ingredients were pretty generous but the broth was a little too salty and I thought maybe if it was a cream soup, it would have been better. We also shared a Mussels Mariniere in White Wine ($18.90): mussels cooked in white wine and leek. It was not too bad.



The girls shared a Linguine with Seafood ($19.90) and each had a scoop of ice cream as dessert.



I had the traditional charcoal grill Kurobuta Pork Loin ($16.90) served with mashed potato and salad. The pork was nicely grilled, not dry at all and went well with the mustard sauce. But as it was a starter portion so not very filling. :( The mashed potato that came with the pork was wonderful. Really buttery and smooth. :) The girls had most of it. :) I had, for dessert, the Assiette of Dark Chocolate ($10.90): a trio of chocolate mousse, bitter chocolate tart and chocolate ice cream. Pure HEAVEN! The chocolate trio wasn't very sweet and not cloying too, maybe because the portion was quite small. The girls also took bites from my not very huge portion of dessert.



The girls' father had Barred Cod ($23.90) served with mushrooms. The fish was a little too oily for my liking or maybe it was just today that I didn't fancy fish. For dessert, he had Double Bay Signature Warm Apple Pie ($10.90) which came with vanilla bean ice cream. The apple pie was a crusty pie of a moderate size. :) It was quite nice, sweet and sourish at the same time.



On the whole, Double Bay is not too bad. The menu is mostly make up of seafood dishes. They have limited meat dishes and they are only starter portions from the Grill. Maybe next time I will try its sandwich or pie dish which looks a lot more filling. :P

Running Around

Thinking it would be good to have a change of venue rather than our usual Wheelock/ Isetan Scotts area, Juliane and I went to Vivocity.

We got there just a little after 10:30am. We went to Toy'r'us first because Juliane wanted to "turn-turn". Although she didn't find anything to her liking, she wanted to use her dollar. As her mother, I vetoed her decision and we went to PageOne. Of course she was pulling a long face the entire time we were at PageOne until I got her a little notebook, lol.

Around 11:30am, while I was at Esprit, Juliane complained that she was hungry and she wanted to have the Frog. Gosh. How come she is never sick of it?! So for the third weekend, we were back at Sakae Sushi, Wheelock Place for lunch. This time, the waiting staff definitely recognised us. Hmm, maybe should ask them if they are interested to have Juliane be their spokesperson since she loves their food so much.

After a quick lunch (Juliane was really hungry and ate rather quickly today, haha), we went to browse at Borders again, like last weekend, lol. Juliane is pretty independent. She would go round to look at the children's books on her own without needing me to accompany her. Often, I had to go look for her because I was worried haha. We were at Borders for almost two hours before Juliane declared that she was tired. Before we left Borders, we met a good friend and his wife. We chatted for a while before we went off. As we were waiting at the taxi stand, I met an ex-colleague who got off a taxi haha. What a surprise. We managed to chat for a while until my taxi came.

It was nice looking at books and meeting friends today. :)

Weekend Food

Somehow whenever the weekend comes around, my mind turns towards food lol. My responses in blue.

What Your Burger Says About You

You are very gluttonous. Even if you're full, you'll still clear your plate. I have been taught never to waste food, must finish all that's on the plate lol. You are emotional. You have a big heart, and you tend to go for comfort foods. Anything rich and creamy, yummy! :) You have trouble making decisions quickly. Everything looks good to you... especially at a restaurant. So many dishes, so little stomach space. I want to try everything! Haha. You are creative, open minded, and friendly. You are interested in all types of food and new dishes. Yes, I am interested in all types of food except spicy ones. :P

What Does Your Burger Say About You?

The Weekend is Here

The weekend is upon us again. I have to start cracking my brain to think of a place to bring Juliane to. We are always at Isetan Scotts because it is nearest to home and the furthest I have brought her to is Raffles City. It is not that I don't like Isetan Scotts. In actual fact, I love shopping there because of the discounts I can get and of course, I've got my Kipling counter there lol.

It is always the lunch that I dread if we go to Isetan Scotts. Juliane only wants to eat at Green Frog (Sakae)! Sigh. Somehow she is not very adventurous when it comes to food. I know she takes after me with her sense of adventure. But apparently, her sense of adventure disappears when it comes to food, lol.

Thinking, thinking, where to go tomorrow?!

PS. Most probably will end up at Isetan again. Hahaha. :P