Brunch @ Le Bistrot
Decidedly Dressed
Since I my quasi dieting didn't help me to fit into this dress,
I wore this one instead:
Not as bright, but just as fun and flouncy :)
No Lines Please
It was a forum with international speakers and participants. With the exception of one speaker, I quite enjoyed the presentations. I was actually scribbling notes and putting into memory the content pieces that I personally found interesting.
I was particularly impressed with one of the reknown keynote speakers. He was humourous, sharp, and was like one of those old, fatherly professors. The type that is kind and gives good advice :) I wonder why I never had any of those professors when I was in Uni! (Although I did have one who would give lectures in shorts and Scooby Doo socks in the dead of winter)
Anyway, being the doodler I am, I was disappointed I didn't notice till much later that there were blank sheets in the given notebooks. The pages in the first half all had lines on them. I had dutifully started taking notes from the front of the book!
Notebooks are so much nicer without lines. But maybe, just maybe I took better notes this time...
Sisterhood
As a kid, whenever I was asked who I loved most in the world, my answer would invariably be My Sister. Or, more accurately, My Leetle Sista, as we like to say it :) She fills a place in my heart no one else can. She also brings out in me a strong feeling of protectiveness and nurturing spirit. Till today, I would fiercely fight back if I feel she has been bullied, or wronged.
She's musical, artistic, intelligent, and has an incredible gentleness to her that makes her seem almost vulnerable sometimes. She also has a really adorable sense of humour, often coupled with a certain 'blurness' that characterises her unassuming personality.
It was wonderful to have spent a recent evening with her. Over beef noodles and speed shopping.
There is no one better to be a Beeg Sista to :)
SNIP!
And so I did :)
For S$6 and in under 5 minutes, I got myself a new fringe.
Felt like a breath of fresh air.
Now I just need to explain to my regular hair stylist when I next see him ;)
Granny's Trinklets
Granny's Day Out store:
Stretchy black belt with a gorgeous clasp
Dragonfly Pin
I loved the stones 
Ring
I think it is Opal,
and was attracted by the designs on the band of the ring
The colour doesn't show so well here.
It actually has an antique gold tone
And I matched them all with a
1960s Wicker Bag that I purchased sometime ago
Pizza Da Donato
We recently got to know Donato.
So we went to try his pizzas.
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They were good.
Fresh, good quality ingredients were used.
We particularly liked the rich,
flavourful tomato paste that was used as a base.
My favourite was the pizza with the HUGE brinjal/aubergine.
Juggling Time
The weekend flew by so quickly as usual, with church service, dinners, lunches, a SATC movie, a housewarming (with a ton of kids tumbling around, great coffee and glasses of Choya) and a wedding (featuring bare-chested photos of the groom and a self-composed Chinese poem) to attend.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Great company, conversations and food do make a good weekend.
But as I look into my calendar for the week, I’m feeling tired already! Every evening has been filled, and the weekend starting to as well.
How do others do it?!
And oh yah I also haven’t watched telly for a long, long time. So, for the umpteenth time, No, I have not seen the Gatsby ads!
Karaoke Okay
Once or twice a year though, I would go to one of these sessions with a specific bunch of friends. To be a spectator. Because these friends are special to us.
They love singing. I must admit that a number of them are pretty good at it, sounding very much like the real deal, and even managing to do renditions of super fast numbers by Jay Chou. Others, with less vocal talents, make up for it by inventing their own lyrics, imitating boy band choreography, giving their best eunuch sounding falsetto voices (Bee Gees), screaming with rock-star mannerisms, and generally being hilariously funny.
I admire them for their ability to let their hair down. To be uninhibited. To laugh at themselves and allow others to laugh with them. And really, to be their own crazy selves. Among friends.
I decided yesterday to scream and sing along. In my own subdued way. Without the microphones. Interestingly, I didn't realise how much I was participating until we left the session.
Then I realised my voice was hoarse.
Creepy Crawlies
Other than that, ants, lizards and the like are left to share our living space.
Today, a wasp flew into our house. He was trying to "chase" it out of the windows. I was slightly mortified because I recall my mum being stung by a wasp at home many years ago. I remember seeing her thumb swelling three times its normal size. And I remember my dad quickly taking her to the doctors.
So I asked, Why don't you spray it with the insect killer?
He replied by saying he did not want to kill it. At one point, it flew so close to his face my heart skipped a beat, because I could see its long sting.
Finally, after strategically closing doors to lead and contain the insect in a room with opened windows, we think it has flown out.
Alive :)
Black Shoes Frenzy
I do things in spurts.
Bought 3 pairs of shoes this week. All in black.
Pretty Low-Heeled Pumps
I actually had a pair like this before.
Loved them and wore them out
Sequinned Diesel Sneakers
What's there not to like about these?
I was blown away by the sparkly-ness.
Not pictured that well here, but you can imagine! :)
Ribboned Heels
A touch of girlishness to go with a serious suit.
Love the insole print!
Ambience Retreat
It was one of those meetings I looked forward to, but as the discussions unfolded I could feel a pounding headache collapsing onto me.
I doodled. Fidgeted. And wished I ordered a drink before the start of the meeting.
It got to the point where I felt that my brains were blanking out and I could not adequately process the options we had to consider and make decisions on.
When it ended, my colleague and I decided we needed comfort food. A lunch retreat.
So we drove out. To Pietrasanta. An Italian chef seated next to me on that Qantas flight recommended that place.
That's when I realised that ambience itself can calm and relax me. Even when I wasn't particularly impressed with the food nor the service*. With sound of the rain beating onto the colonial roof, I sat and admired the soothing colours of the light wooden furniture, the heights of the sloping ceiling, and the artwork on the walls.
(*But they are new, so I would give them a try again in a couple of months' time.)
Choices of a Child
There are however, many other causes of pain besides the death of a loved one.
I want to focus on the pain that can be caused by a child to parents. One always remains a child to his/her parents even when grown up. In making choices as an adult, a child can still cause unspoken hurt to the parents.
Choices made can always be explained, rationalized, supported, argued about, and decided on. But no matter the explanations or reasonings, choices always come together with consequences. We feel we can bear these consequences, that we are responsible, that we will sort it out when "the time" comes. That it is no one else's business.
But you know, it will always be the parents' business. Whether they show it or not. In their hearts and own quiet time they will care, they will worry, they will pray, they will laugh, they will cry. They know they have to let you go, but there will always be those ties that tug at their very beings.
Do we choose to tug those ties the right way?
It HAS to fit!
I want to wear this dress to a wedding on Sunday.
BUT to my horror I now have great difficulty zipping it up :(
It is one of my favourite dresses. Fun, twirly and in a bright, unexpected, cheery colour.
I'm gonna abstain from all sweets from now till D-day.
Please let me fit!
Home Sweet Home
I look forward to coming home at the end of each work day.
This home is one of our many blessings.
And I'm very thankful.
Heels!
My boss often comments about the height of the heels that I wear.
On her more serious days, she would look down at my feet and exclaim: Oh My, how do you walk in THOSE?! And then start asking about whether the heels cause hurt my knees, back, feet etc.
I would gently proceed to tell her that I choose my shoes carefully, and that the slope of the arch, width of the heel, and type of material used all have to match up to my expectations for me to decide to wear a pair all day.
On her more whimsical, cheery days however, she has been known to come alongside me and suddenly start walking on tiptoes to attempt to understand what it could mean to be wearing the kind of heels I do. In her tiptoe gait, she would waddle past me, roar with laughter, and shout: How do you walk like that?!
It is on these days that I giggle and proclaim that even with my "how-do-you-walk-in-that" heels I am still shorter than her!
Mineral Miracles
I tried M.A.C's Mineralize Foundation (Loose Powder) at Sydney's airport and absolutely loved it. The powder was fine, light, and felt absolutely velvety on the skin. The sales rep told me that it would provide pretty good coverage, and I was skeptical until I tried it on. I was surprised to see how it really evened out my skin tone without caking up my skin.Unfortunately they ran out of my colour tone, so I made a mental note to get one back in Singapore. Over the weekend, I dropped by the mall and excitedly walked to the M.A.C counter to ask for this. The sales rep STARED at me and curtly said: It is not available yet. It is only coming in sometime in August.
GAH!
To tie myself over the next few weeks, I snapped up one of these instead: L'oreal's Bare Naturale Powdered Mineral Foundation.
I'm wearing it today, and you know what? It actually feels pretty good! Sure, it is not pure mineral foundation, but it sure feels like it does the job of one. My skin looks smooth and fresh. A colleague commented that some of my freckles appear to have vanished, vouching for the excellent natural-looking coverage it gives.
Application took a while to get used to (powder initially peppered all over the place), but once I got the hang of it the attached brush was a breeze to use.
At a fraction of the cost of other mineral foundations, I'm already loving this new buy!
No Mummy Muscles
The pain from muscle soreness radiate from the shoulders, upper arms, forearms and even wrists. Sitting at the computer today, I constantly have to stretch the muscles and self-massage.
Just what did I do yesterday that caused this?
.
.
.
.
.
I carried my friend's two-month-old baby.
For about 30 minutes.
FAIL!
Friday Flair
Wearing red, even touches of it, makes me feel cheery. I loved how my red bow belt set off the colours from the little pin I had on. This Fairytale apaloosa pin, purchased from the wonderful TinyArtJewelry, is one of my favourite Etsy buys.It has never failed to attract compliments when I have it on :)
Beautiful, isn't it?
Taiwanese Fare
We discovered a pretty good little Taiwanese Eatery in the rather forlorn-looking Bukit Timah Plaza.It is one of those places that we stumbled upon while trying to have a meal away from our usual haunts.
Liu San does a mean Oyster Mee Sua and Taiwanese Beef Noodles. Their dumplings, handmade, are also worth a try. They also have a specially made chilli paste that is shockingly spicy but very delicious, especially for chilli lovers like me.
The eatery is tiny, so during peak hours it does get pretty crowded. The staff though, are well-trained, and come across as friendly and hospitable. The only gripe though, is that they speak superfastsuperfluent Mandarin, and we sometimes can't keep up. It is quite funny when they explain to Roboman what he's supposed to do with his noodles (stir to mix the sauce, and to ask for more sauce if he wishes to), and he looks at me questioningly blank because their automated instructions just flew past his head.
The boss by the way, is the man pictured in the cardboard cut-out. Interesting chap :)
Liu San
No. 1 Jalan Anak Bukit#01-09 Bukit Timah Plaza
Filling my tummy
Some portions of my lunches these 2 days. Pretty to look at and yums to the tums :)
Ouch
I was toasting some bread to make bruschetta and accidentally scalded my arm :( I jumped, moved my arm, and scalded it a second time, creating an almost parallel scald line.So artistic =P
Rain
On Sat morning, I decided to ditch the car and catch the bus to run some errands. It started to pour the moment I stepped out, but instead of turning back, I merrily sploshed out into the rain in my flipflops.
There was something magical about the cool winds and splashy sounds of the rain. I enjoyed walking through the puddles of water that quickly formed, and feeling the rain beat onto my feet and legs, soaking up my capris. Then I remembered how blessed we were when we were holidaying. We had fantastic, sunny weather everyday. Even the town of Napier, which had awful weather the days before we arrived, had bright sunshiny weather the whole time we were there. God blessed us!
Rain on tarmac
Who Am I?
Do you know what kind of animal am I?
The person who took this photo doesn't!But I have to agree with her exclamation that I have a camel face and a sheep body.
Not very polite, I must add, to be making all these comments about how I look.
Especially since we just met.
And oh, I don't really like people interrupting me while I am grazing,
so I shooed her off with a big stare.
She trots away to take a photo of my friends:
Black Swans
I was thrilled when I spotted a lake FULL of Black Swans during a random drive.
I don't think I've ever seen black swans in the wild before, and even if I have, definitely not in these numbers.
Having been introduced recently to Nassim Taleb's Black Swan theory, I can imagine the shock felt during the 17th century discovery that black swans actually exist in the Southern Hemisphere. Prior to this find, it was believed in the West that swans are always white. Nassim thus uses Black Swans as a metaphor for unpredictable events. The kind of stuff you would never even dream could happen.
We parked our car and sat there observing the swans for a while. They are quite majestic creatures really, graceful and strong. A lakeful of them was a stunning sight to behold.
Bliss
One of our most memorable moments during our holiday was having a wonderful lunch at Craggy Range.
Not only do they do beautiful wines, but the setting of the winery's restaurant is simply gorgeous.
We chose to sit out in the open, facing gorgeous views you can see in this picture.
The air was sweet. We could hear birds chirping in the distance. The tranquility of the place instantly calming.
We would have loved this place even if the food sucked.
But you know, the duck confit and braised lamb shank we had were delectable. The duck skin was crisp and tasty, and its flesh tender and moist. The lamb was melt-in-the-mouth and very flavourful.
There and then, I told Roboman that I would most definitely crave for the duck again when I am back home. I know myself. He says we'll have to find something just as good on our little island!
I'm actually quite confident we would. But what about the scenery?
Food with Family
It has been my prayer that God would teach me to be hospitable. And in the past few years, my prayer has been answered again and again.We have had a steady stream of guests staying with us since we moved into our apartment. Not only that, I believe one learns so much about hospitality too when being at the receiving end of it. It fills you up, making you want to give, and teaching you how to give.
Our Kiwi relations not only showered us with gifts of their time, conversations, laughter and travelling advice, but also gave their labour of love through filling our stomachs with lovingly prepared meals.
Chefs' Loving Artwork: 
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