29 March 2012 (Thu) - Happy Birthday! *Updated

~ UPDATED ~

 
Happy Birthday to... me! 

Probably by the time you read this, I would have turned freaking 33.. Yes, you read right.. 33! My gosh.. Time really wait for no one.

I can't say I am totally unfazed by the whole 'growing old' thingy.. but since aging is a natural process, that sort of leave us with not much option except to deal with it the best we can right?! Besides, I always feel so blessed during my birthdays so I can't be very bothered with growing another year older... but try asking me again in a few years' time, I am very sure that I will take it much, much harder then.

Back to feeling blessed.. Seriously, I have such nice family and friends ok! I know that I am a lousy friend because I always lose track of my friends' birthdays.. but that doesn't stop my friends for remembering mine.. so touched!

Thanks to:
- My "Yan Dao" bro for chipping in $$$ on the lesportsac bag that I want.....
- My mum for buying me the pretty pink jelly flats that I like so much + the delicious crabs feast...
- Desmond & Sally for the Betty Boop T-Shirts & lovely hair clip + another gift..
- My friend Desmond for the lunch at Crystal Jade yesterday and for offering to buy me the VS lotion...
- EeLing for the pasta lunch & accompanying me the whole afternoon on my birthday...
- Jeslyn for buying me C&E Body Lotion & Shower Wash..
- Last but not least, Melvin for buying me the all most of the things that I want every other day...


And it's not even my birthday yet!

Besides my birthday, March is also quite a significant month as Lucas turned 18-month. So officially, he can start going to childcare, which he will in June. I have been using the past 18 months as a period of time to do some soul searching.. and see if I can adapt to the 'stay-home-mum' arrangement... don't ask me the answer.. because I don't have it.

Though I love spending lots of time with Lucas and not having to deal with office politics, there are things that I miss (from having a job). Like being in control financially.. Having personal time..

Anyway, shall keep moving ahead.. and hopefully the Almighty One will lead me along the right path. You might think it's too early but I already know what I want for my next birthday!

*I also want a birthday cake for my next birthday ok! Though I don't ask for it, but I secretly wish for a cake, preferably a pretty chocolate one! And I always don't get a cake.. I want I want! I wanna sing song and blow the candles!

22 Mar 2012 (Thu) - Glamabox March (Review)

Finally received my Glamabox early last week after waiting a month for it.. The pink box came as registered mail and items in it are:

1) Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners 60-sec Hand Recovery Cream (25g)
I used a little of it today and the cream came out watery and then grainy... I wonder if it should be like this or the sample has been well past its expiry date, only to realise that it is not a hand cream but more of a hand scrub. Hated the smell of it.. smell waxy to me. Threw it away at first.. then decided to keep it as a scrub for my feet.

2) Clinque Colour Palette: Colour Surge Eye Shadow Duo
Haven't try it yet.. but colour of the eye-shadow and blusher looks pretty enough.

3) Lierac Paris Travel Set
a) Ultra Jour Wrinkle-filing Day Cream 5ml
b) Intense Nuit Wrinkle-filing Night Cream 5ml
c) Coherence Intensive Lifting Serum 5ml
I usually use whitening or moisturising skincare products and these samples came in handy as I wanted to try anti-aging products too. The whitening products that I used can be very drying, so I have been using these together with my daily skincare products.

4) Organix Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo 88ml
I love the smell of this shampoo - light flowery smell. Hated the strong fruity kind. It is quite moisturising without making my scalp oily. But I think that the Glama team should have given sample for the conditioner as well.. I mean most girls will condition their hair after washing it and for us to have a better gauge of the product, they should have included the conditioner with the shampoo.

5) Nature's Moisturising Toner with Green Tea and Orange Water 30ml
I have a few bottles of Toner that comes as a set with my other products, so I haven't given this a try yet.

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I was kinda disappointed with the products as 2 out of the 5 samples appeared interesting/ are useful to me. What really pissed me off is that I only signed up for a month's trial.. but I received an email on the 15 Mar, alerting me that Glamabox charged another month's of subscription to my credit card. It has set itself as auto-charge in my paypal account during my initial payment last month. So I have got to sign-in to my account to terminate this arrangement.. totally disgusted with them! Do take note of this if you are planning to subscribe for a month trial.

*Shall wait for next Glamabox to arrive mid of next month and will do another review on it then.

13 Mar 2012 (Tue) - Guilty

Since the start of the year, i have been shopping a little too often.. Firstly was because of CNY.. Must buy new clothes and shoes, dress up 美美 吗.. Buying stuffs makes me happy and so i just wanna buy some more and more..

CNY was so over.. But the urge to shop is still there and i think i over indulge myself a liitle too much.. And when i look at the bags and stash of new clothes and stuff.. Im feeling all guilty now.

So im gonna stop the buying for as long as i can tahan.. (you probably heard this a thousand times from me).. But Im gonna be determine and practical when it comes to controlling my desire for all thing that are nice and pretty.. See how long can i last this time!

08 Mar 2012 (Thu) - Little Things

I was just thinking to myself that from the moment that we wake up each morning, we get swept into an entire day of activities. Speeding off to work for some, rushing to complete the house chores for me.. it is often & easy for us to stop doing the little things we used to do for our special ones anymore.

Easy things like a message or a phone call to let our loved ones know that we are thinking of them despite our hectic schedules.. 

Buying/ cooking food that we know they love to eat...

Simple gestures like a kiss/ hug at the start or the end of each day.. 

Chatting over a cup of tea, sharing the day happenings before you go to bed..

The above acts are easy to do and cost almost nothing.. slight efforts but will definitely bring a smile to your loved one's face.

However, we frequently use the "I'm too busy" excuse to avoid going that extra mile or doing that additional bit.. I am also guilty of it.. But seriously.. how tough can it be?

Example: Since we always have our phones with us, how difficult is it to spare 2 min of our time to give a call and show our concerns? (This is not the same as constant calls throughout the day so that you can track your partner's locations lah.)


Much as I (or anyone) love to receive expensive presents, simple gestures of care & concern really warms my heart.. and I'm sure that these small actions will bring about big returns in ways that you cannot see. So give it some thoughts too!

07 Mar 2012 (Wed) - Yummy Jap Lunch!

Melvin came home on one of the days last week and raved about the Jap lunch that he had with his clients. He said that the set lunch was well worth the price and also the food was really tasty! And so on Sun, he brought me to sample the food at this restaurant.

They have 2 outlets in Singapore and only one serves lunch on weekends.. Melvin has previously been to the outlet in town and on Sun, we went to the Bishan outlet. The shop is pretty small with not more than 10 tables.. simple decoration but again, we are there for their food.

Each of us ordered a set lunch - mine was Katsu-set and Melvin asked for Ten-don. This was the bowl of salad that came with each set. Nice because they used oriental sauce that I prefer over the usual mayo dressing.

This was my Katsu-set.. it came with a bowl of miso soup and small cup of chawanmushi. I love it that they served each item piping hot, especially the chawanmushi.. hot and smooth! (So hungry that I forgot to take a pic of it.)

My breaded chix.. the batter was just nice, not too thick and the chix wasn't too thick like the one at Sakae Sushi..

And this was Melvin's order, Ten-don! Rice with tempura - 2 prawns, 1 crabmeat and few slices of vege. I love it because the sweet/ savoury sauce that put over the rice was just so tasty!

I'm gonna to have the Ten-don on my next visit!

Last of all was the dessert.. peach pudding to end the yummy meal! Good effort on their part because most Jap restaurants only serve a few slices of cheap fruit when it's complimentary!

All set lunch comes with individual bowl of salad, chawanmushi, miso soup and dessert. The green tea that we had was FREE too! My Katsu-set costed $12 and Melvin's Ten-don costed $10! Freaking cheap right?! And they don't charge any service tax, only GST.

Best deal anot??

Really good value for the quality and quantity of the food! I wanna eat there every week!

05 Mar 2012 (Mon) - Universal Studio Singapore (3rd)

I remembered complaining about our Universal Studio the first time I was there. The weather was unbearably hot, I was pregnant and it was packed with Indian tourists - the queues for the different rides were bloody long. I was disappointed as our USS is so much smaller compared to the one that I went to in L.A.

Anyway, read more about here

So I was reluctant to visit it for the 2nd time but then Sally/ Desmond has free tickets and so I went to USS in Oct 2010 again. I guess the company that you go with really plays a great part as I enjoyed myself then. We went for many shows and on different rides.. and YES, I went on and conquered both the Galactica rides!

And then Sally/ Des got more free tickets and so we went again for the 3rd time on last Sat!

Read about the Malaysian Food Street (food court) and I am going to try the food there on one of these days..

FYI - the Malaysian Food Street is located next to the USS entrance.

 

It was a fine day.. not too sunny and yet not raining too. Perfect for outdoor activities!

The shopping/ eating stretch of street when we entered USS...

Doing my best with a Marilyn Monroe's flying kiss pose... instead of sexy I think I look stupid.. FAIL!

Another silly one...

Charlie Chaplin was very cheeky on that day.. making Desmond very "jealous"!

The pizza place next to one of the theatres.. we were walking by and the aroma of freshly made pizzas was so enticing! Must go try it someday..

Sally and I were wearing Betty Boops' T-shirts that Desmond got for us previously! Mad comfy!!

Mum going to the public library... wahahahaha!

First stop was the Transformers Ride. Queue was super long and it was the only ride that made us queue for 30min. It was quite thrilling and I would rate it a 3/5.

And then I went on the Cylon - Galactica Ride again.. by myself this time round. Brave anot? The first drop was really scary.. and I will rate it a 4/5!

Gave the Mummy indoor roller-coaster and the Shrek 3D show a miss this time round..

Fatty playing with the water.. can anyone tell me why all kids love playing with the water?

All of us then went on the Madagascar boat ride and carousel..

This couple trying to take a photo without the hat in the way... hahah!

Been there, done that.

After which, Sally and I proceed to try the kiddy roller-coaster and Jurassic adventure boat ride.. Both also not scary one...

There was a dance performance by the mascots and I find that the staff following the mascots around are very unfriendly (and fat).. chasing ppl away when one tried taking photo.. and the tone that they used.. damn rude. Why can't USS hire good-looking and friendly staff?

Last few pictures taken at USS before we proceed to dinner.. This Betty Boop very cute.. speaks in a cartoon voice and does all the sexy poses..

I Like this photo!

Dinner was again at the Fengshui Inn.. we are soooo spoilt loh!!

Kung pao chicken..

Some kind of gourd vege fried with Alaska crab meat...

Salted-egg prawns

Asparagus with Scallops fried in XO sauce

梅菜扣肉

 

Double-boil Soup of the day - best! Very thick and yummy!

So this sums up our 3rd visit to USS.. hope you enjoy the photos because blogger makes it damn difficult to upload photos! Only 6 - 7 pics at a time and I always spend at least an hour doing so!

Next up will be the very nice and cheap lunch that I had with Melvin yesterday!