A whole new world...

Such serenity..

2010-05-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

I'm typing away with Lucas sleeping on my lap. Wow, just realised he's quite the long bean. When i place him across my lap horizontally, his legs are sticking out already.

And he's sleeping with such serenity.. how nice it is to be a baby, ain't it..eat, sleep, eat, sleep..

Hubby is on morning shift today. Dad goes home in 5 days.

Yesterday night we popped by Boon Tong and Irene's house to see their twins - Lucas and Olivia. Having one baby is stressful enough. But they have 2. I can just imagine the amt of stress they must be under, and so far away from Home too. But twins! Such a blessing!

So yesterday they wished me an early Happy Mother's Day. And I have to admit, for one second I was taken aback. And at that very moment, I realised - Wow! I'm a mother! I get qualified to celebrate Mother's Day now!

I guess it never quite sank into me all these while that i'm a MOTHER. That word just sounds so... scary. Being responsible for another human being's life. I always thought Mother's Day was meant for my own mummy only. I went around walmart these few weekends looking at all the Mother's day stuff they had.. without even realising HEY! I'm a mother too! It's my day too! :)

How silly of me.

2009-10-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

Today's the day we both were eagerly looking forward to :)

We went to the hospital in -1 degrees weather.. nearly froze to death before I reached there. We were led into the radiology room and the scan started promptly with the male radiology technician taking photos of baby from different angles without talking much to us first.. I couldn't see anything because I was lying down, so only hubby could see. He said he cud see baby turning on his side, kicking.. the technician said baby was quite co-operative today, so most of the pics were quite clear. T

hen after he finished the first part, he went on to give us some narratives of the pics. Asked us if we wanted to know the gender; asked us what we both individually preferred. Hubby say Boy, of cos. I said I'm fine with anything, but a boy wud be nice. ( it wud be nice to have a boy since its the first grandchild for both out families. Next baby, any gender also can le.) Then the technician says "Well, it's a boy alright :)" And then he proceeded to show us a pic of baby's legs, and then pointed out the "third leg" , tiny one, sticking out promiently, as well as pointed out the scrotum (balls).

Well, mistakes have been known to be made when it comes to guessing the gender, so our technician says he cannot 100% confirm its a boy cos you're never really sure til the baby is borm, but he's pretty sure we can go with Boy from now since the pics show pretty clear its a boy :)

Yep and my hubby is just simply over the moon after hearing tat :)

So I guess its a happy week for us... esp for me! Feel more happy today than I've ever been since arriving here.. Happy also cos we've booked our hotels and air tickets for our second (and last) honeymoon before I give birth.. Hubby's taking me to Vegas and Los Angeles! Yeah!!!!

Life is getting better now...

Move Baby, move!

2009-10-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

When will you actually feel those twitterings of life known as quickening? Some pregnant women (the very thin, or those who have had previous children) first feel their baby's movement as early as the fourth month. Most women won't be aware of, or recognize, the flits and twitches (which can feel a lot like gas or muscle spasms) for at least another few weeks. - www.whattoexpect.com

I felt baby move for the first time last night!!!! So exciting!!!! Little painful kicks.. the first huge one that woke me up during the night ...I shoke the sleeping hubby and told him I felt baby move!! And that sleepy party pooper was like "Huh.. oh.. ok.." and went back to sleep... grr..

Anyway.. the baby movements feels weird.. like something swimming in my guts...but it feels a lil exciting at the same time :)

I've been scheduled for this special Ultrasound Scan for next wed morning. If baby is co-operative and opens his/her legs, I shud be able to know the gender then :P

We also just got bk from a weekend trip to Salt Lake City. We blew a SUPER BIG hole in our pockets.. ok tehnically Hubby blew a hole in hIS pocket cos its all his money :P We spent a total of about SIN$2.3K in all on shopping alone... $1.5K was spent at Coach alone :P The coach bags, esp the bigger ones, some were going at like 50% off etc... hubby bot 4 items for me, and then i got some for my family members as well... Ohh love love!! But I was really happy that the usual thrifty hubby was willing to spend so much money on me for once.. hehehe.. he was like "You want, you like, just buy lo." Advantages of being pregnant with his child wahahaha!!

Well, hopefully we'll be headed to Las Vegas next month cos i really wanna visit that place before giving birth, and winter is approaching soon. There's Coach and Kate Spade outlets there as well.. even more than Salt Lake City. Oh no!!! Another hole!!

17th week..

2009-10-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the hospital, did my 17th week check-up today.

AGAIN, they dun want to scan me despite me being there for a scheduled check-up. Unfortunately I tot i will be scanning for gender today, but I was wrong. I will need to go for an ultrasound procedure during my 20th week, and only then will they be able to see the gender of my baby clearly thru the ultrasound.

The gync did a short review with me today however, said I need to put on more weight. I snack like mad already, I'm eating ice-cream, burgers, french fries... but im STILL not putting on enough weight. I have no idea where all the calories are going to.. I only put on 1KG since I arrived here.. 1KG @ 4 months is not ideal.. so I guess I have an excuse to eat more junk food now :P

And since I was already there, the hospital decided it wud be fun to draw more blood from me. Hey, i already contributed 3 times of blood drawing which equals to 9 tubes of blood to them, what's another 3 more tubes today rite? They draw so much blood from me, sometimes I din even know what it was for.. mostly they say for lab tests to tests for different things.. ok at least I know today is to test for HIV, Cystic Firbosis and some genetics quad screening thingy.. but the rest of the earlier 9 tubes? I have no idea.

Grr.. I think im already quite numb from the blood drawing process, im no longer scared of it. Even the guy at the lab who draws blood, today I went there again to get my blood drawn, and he's lik e " Oh! You again! Back for more torture!!" And then he goes and prepare the bed for me instead of putting me on the chair because he already knows I need to lie down when I draw blood cos I might faint. haha. How nice.

Oh well, I did get to listen to baby's heartbeat; going strong. Doc says other than my lack of weight, I seem to be having a great pregnancy.. I truly am.. and I'm truly thankful for that.. =)

Mid-week Wed

2009-10-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

Finally its mid-week wed!

Hubby has officially started work today... as in officially starts his 12-hr everyday shift today after graduating from training class :( That means he'll be away at work alot more now.. and no more coming home in between for meals. I'll have to cook and let him bring food to work instead. Sigh!

He worked 630am today.. wanted to wake up to cook breakfast for him but i couldn't get my sleepy fat ass out of the bed in time. What a loser wife!!

In the end I woke up at 11.30am and cooked my own lunch and sat infront of the TV to watch online shows, then got bored and went to clean up my kitchen.... and then after that was done I was still bored and went to attempt to clean the toilets.. and now is only 3.15pm and still 3 more hours to go before he comes home.. waaahhhhh!!!!!!!!! Sob!!!!

Well at least the rest of the week is gonna be more exciting... Gender scan tml then i can start researching on names hopefully... Friday we the wives are going out for dinner and movie while the guys have some work gathering to attend in the evening. And then Sat early morning 6am we're leaving for our Salt Lake City Road trip, Yeah!! 3 couples - 6 of us will be bundling into our car and driving up about 6 hrs to Salt Lake.. shud reach there by noon and then we can go crazy at the factory outlets.. We also booked a 2-bedroom apartment for us to spend the night in.. heard its already so cold in Salt Lake thats its snowing there.. hopoefully we can catch some snow as well. :) It'll be nice :)

2009-10-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

All dressed up to fight off the cold..

Walking in the cold..

2009-10-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

What a sunless Sunday.. stuck at home because its pouring outside and dunno how many minus freakin' degrees..It's been raining since yesterday.

Yesterday Hubby and I as usual headed down to Boise for Jap food and some shopping. When we left our place at about 2pm, it still wasn't very cold, so I was just in a tank top and woollen sweater, together with 3-quarts slacks and flip flop slippers. Hubby was just in a long sleeves top, 3 quads and slippers as well. We din want to wear too thick jackets, cos the only thick jackets we had were the super thick winter jackets, the 'michelin' kind that makes u look like a total 'Bah Zhang'. And technically since its only autum.. we tot we shouldnt be seen in that kind of jackets, like a bit sia suay... :P

Boy were we wrong. When we reached boise, it was raining and the temp dropped like mad. Plus the winds, OMG it was just so freakin cold... and all the ang mohs were like totally prepared for the weather and in boots and thick jackets, exactly the kind we left at home. Stupid right. Haha.

So after lunch, we promptly went to shop for my boots. In the end, I found a nice pair of pretty white winter boots.

After that, we met up with the rest of our friends for dinner at this chic high-class looking restaurant called P.F Chang's China Bistro. The restaurant sold mostly chinese food, with fantastic and cheap desserts. I ordered their version of Spicy Dan Dan Mian.. and boy was it yummy!! Tasted like Crystal Jade's Za Jiang mian!!! Wanted to take photos of the place but it was a lil dark inside the restaurant. They also had a dish called Singapore Street Noodles on the menu, which they described as Asian Foodfare noodles with curry sauce.. but it tasted more like Mee Siam with curry sauce lol...

And the resturant's waiters were all so cutteeeeeee.. hehe.. our waiter was so handsome, the guys at our table were totally feeling a bit low self esteem hahaha..

After dinner we walked a few streets down to one of the pubs.. and i totally froze just walking there. it was so cold.. i was still in my slippers and slacks because boots dun go with slacks.. and i totally froze my butt off. And then walking BACK to the car thereafter, by the time I reached our car, i was having a huge headache because the wind kept blowing at my head, and i couldn't feel my feet anymore....

Tonight when we go out for dinner, i dun care, Im going out in my boots, michelin jacket, gloves and woollen hat. No more walking in the cold for me...

2009-09-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

So last week I finally blogged on about my pregnancy here and that everything is fine in my and I couldn't feel any better. It is the first entry revealing my pregnancy here as friends and colleagues have been asking me for updates and pictures of the baby.

And so I think I jinxed myself because the next day, I woke up feeling like someone had kicked me in the stomach and the back.. I practically couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't even get out of bed to cook... and because my hubby can't cook for nuts, he had to run out and get me BK burger and fries to fill my stomach, which I had to drag myself out of bed for. Even fries couldn't entice me yesterday.. I was feeling that bad.T

hen at 4pm hubby promptly went off to work, leaving me dead on the sofa. One more attempt to try and cook 2 hrs later and still couldn't make it, in the end called the hubby back to take me to the hospital.

We had to wait 3 hrs to see a doctor when i got there and half the time slinking in the chair uncomfortably.. and with only 4 other patients in front of me!! And there were 2 docs on standby somemore, damnit!! Thats how slow the people here work; They just take their own sweet time!! And its supposed to be their ER, their A&E.. not very ER to me..So they took urine sample, suspecting UTI, but came out negative. Come on, if I have UTI, i wun be dead on the sofa. I would be DEAD in the toilet. I would know that well because everytime I have UTI, I wud spend 4 hrs camping in the loo. I could have told them that, so we din need to waste time for the urine tests results to come out which took abt half hr. Tsk.

So after confirming it wasn't UTI, they put me on a bed, with one male nurse drawing blood from me and another holding the doppler to listen for the baby's heartbeat. Over here, if they can don't scan u, they won't scan u. Not like back in SIN, if this had happened, they would have put me on the ultra sound scanner.. but here they just refused to!!!! so i can't see what's wrong! In the end, the blood test results came out clear as well.. so the doc say she can't diagnose me anything except probably some muscle spasms, so she sent me off with some painkillers thereafter.

I tink The baby decided to kick me for feeding him too much french fries. I swear i could hear the chuckles coming from the baby when they did the fetal heartbeat thingy.

Baby Updates..

2009-09-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

Haven been blogging much here. Wanted to wait til my first trimester is over before I started blogging my pregnancy journey here. =)

I'm now at 14 weeks. Found out I was pregnant just 2 weeks before I left SIN. It was seriously a shock for both hubby and me cos it was unplanned. Well, nothing is 100% safe. HAH!

To be honest, this pregnancy really threw us off guard. The first hour we found I was pregnant, we started panicking, jumping up and down and wailing to each other "What are we gonna do? what are we gonna do???" I was real upset when I first found out abt it. Cos having a baby was not on the cards, not on our 5-year plan. We haven had our traditional wedding yet, our house wun be ready til 2012/2013, and mentally, we were just not prepared to be parents.

Pregnant and being so far away from home really has its pros and cons. Pros: my baby will be an American citizen, and maybe us parents can retire in USA one day. And from what we know, if we give birth here, its FOC, check-ups and meds are all free, plus u get some baby allowance thats just as good as the baby bonus back home. We have our own house, our own car, and most importantly, I don't have to work throughout my entire pregnancy.. but still at that point of time, the cons seriously outweighed the pros: Being far away from home, far away from family, far away from good healthy food, the cold unberable weather here..

Still, needing to take this all in our stride, we spent the last 2 weeks preparing for stuff that we would need to bring here - chicken essences, herbs etc..

And after 1.5 months of being here, I'm coping well. I had morning sickness during my last 2 weeks in SIN.. but the minute I stepped off the plane and onto American Soil, Bam! All gone. I felt as fine as a cow, so fine that sometimes i even forgot I'm pregnant. I could eat, jump around, no nausea no vomiting, no nothing. I did 2 scans at the Base Hospital to make sure everything is going well. It was a great, smooth first trimester..

And now im into my second.. feeling the tummy grow a little.. tummy gets painful once in a while when im not in the correct position. I sleep more now.. about 10-12 hrs a day, and sometimes napping a few more hrs in the afternoon if im tired. Im excused from certin housework like ironing and vacumming and washing the bathtubs and toilets cos it hurts my back. Hubby takes over these chores for me. hehe.

Other than that, so far, so good :) Thank you, God.

Say hello to my little Peanut (At 9 weeks)! :)

Long weekend..

2009-09-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend is a long weekend in the States. Labor day, thus long holiday from Friday til Monday. On Thursday afternoon, the wives were a lil in the holiday mood already, so all 9 of us, we went to one of the wives' house where we baked cakes, then ate our cakes and had high tea and chatting session. It was fun! Finally able to live our tai-tai dream a bit :P

Friday, most of the husbands din have to work, but mine had to cos he is still on course, thus he has no holiday.. so me and Shiyun followed another couple down to Boise to grab some stuff without our hubbies.. without our hubbies, of cos we managed to shop a bit more.. :P we 3 girls went crazy in Forever 21, which is like so freakin cheap here. I boguht two dresses for 12.50USD, and it's not even on sale ok.. damn cheap!

Its a pity its a long holiday but we cant go much places, due to some of the RSAF restrictions in place for newcomers. We haveto be here for a min of 3 months before we can travel out of Idaho on our own, thus this long weekend, almost everyone can travel (drive) to other states except us. Thus, only a handful of us are left behind in Idaho while many of our friends travelled out on their own to other states via roadtrip. S

o yesterday we went to Twn falls and shosone falls, which is within Idaho. Beautfiul natural places... canyons, falls... just lovely. We also went to this Indian Ice Caves, where there are caves where ice is natural formed in the caves... they opened one of the caves for public tours, so we went for one, and boy, i was in shorts and slippers, thus when I went in I was freezing my butt off at sub zero temps!!

We had some nice food too in twin falls... tried a new Thai place in twin falls which was a lil disappointing, still prefer the one in Boise. Then for dinner, we had jap food for the first time. And boy, we order this Happy Boat for 2, and this huge boat arrived with so much food on it, - teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, tempura, sushi etc.. we could hardly finish everything. And we only paid 30USD for it. It's s cheap lo!!! and it's Jap food. Something like that would prob cost us a SIN100+. Yup, its a happy boat alright, cos it made us both quite happy at dinner :P

Some pics!

Canyon rims @ Twin falls

Perrine Bridge

Shoshone falls.. spot the rainbow within the falls!

Happy Boat! :)

House Updates

2009-08-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

We have finally shifted into our new house about a week ago. 5040, Aspen Loop. Facade of the house is old, but on the inside, everything is new and most importantly, CLEAN :)

Entire house, except for kitchen is carpeted, 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms with bathtubs, kitchen is equipped with stove, oven, fridge and dishwasher. The only big ticket items we had to get was our dryer and washing machine. Dryer is essential for winter, thus decided to get one now first.

Our shipment of our own furniture and boxes of our stuff will be arriving on Monday. Yay! No more lying on the floor and watching shows on my laptop and getting backaches in the process.

Have started to experiment and play with recipes. Cooked Mee Goreng this morning for brunch. Quite an easy recipe to follow, but will have to cook a few more times to perfect it. Then dinner, Shiyun and SK had dinner at our place ; shiyun contributed her Prima Taste Chicken rice at the last minute, thus we cooked Authentic Boon tong kee-tasting chicken rice in 1.5hrs, just in time when the guys return home for dinner. Damn yummy. Taste like Home :)

Weekend's here! Having STeamboat dinner tomorrow. And also need to start planning for hubby's birthday soon.

In 2 weeks, I have some good news to share with everyone. =)

2009-08-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Finally moving in to our house tomorrow afternoon...

Another round of packing and moving, haha. We've almost made our hotel room look like a home.. my kitchnette and fridge are already stocked with food.. thus lotsa packing to do.

We're always going for a camping and boating trip over the weekend. Then sunday afternoon its back home to clean up the house as house inspection is on Tuesday. Lawn and house maintenance rules here are super strict. Hubby will have to mown our 3/4-sized-of-a-basketball-court lawn every weekend, that shud be fun. :P

We've also purchased our washing machine and dryer set, thus, no need to hang clothes to dry, yay! My cooking has also improved since I have to cook lunch and dinner every weekday. Got recipes from some of the wives, some from cookbooks. Can cook soups and chinese dishes now. Am learning something new everyday :)

Start of a new week...

2009-08-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

Home alone on a Monday afternoon.. studying for my driving theory test to convert my licence..

Hubby went off to work early 7am this morning. He breaked for lunch at 11am, supposed to come home for lunch, but cos I was out with Lawrence and Steph at Mountainhome town applying for our internet service, I din manage to cook lunch for him in time, so tabao back Macs instead. I tell ya, the macs here is just absolutely yummy. Much much nicer than back home.

So he came home for a super quick lunch and off back to work again, leaving me in this lonely place. Everyone has moved into their new homes except us, cos ours is the only one house not ready. So I'm alone here, no car to go out to pop by the wives' places etc.

Yesterdae we went to boise one more time, kindda like a impromptu trip. Got woken up at 9plus am by Lawrence and Steph and off we went to boise again, 7 of us in our car, including shiyun, shu kun and desmond.

We headed for the factory outlets, din find much stuff there though cos no sale. Then we went to IHOP for lunch and then on to Boise Towne Square for Victoria Secrets! Unfortunately this store doesn't sell the causual wear stuff. They only sell their super duper nice lingerie collections plus sleep wear and their bueaty products. So I cant get their causal wear there, only continue to do so though their website which has free shipping to any US address.

I haven had the opportunity to pop by the Coach store yet either. But in Boise, there's only the boutique, no factory outlet. Will see if I have the chance to check out their prices soon in the coming weekends.

Yesterday the weather went back to being super hot again. And we found a long crack on our windscreen after leaving our car in the car park for a while. Might be Due to the weather. Grrr.. will cost us a bomb to replace that windscreen, which will only be partly covered by our insurance. Damn.

Checking out new house..

2009-08-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Boise.We can only make a trip to boise once a week, which is every sat, cos Boise is an hour's drive away. But thats where all the nice food are! For dinnet today, they brought us to this chinese restaurant called China Grand Buffet. It's buffet for about 10USD, which is pretty cheap! Hubby loved the sweet and sour pork there, says its much nicer than back home. For me, i just felt the meat were all a bit too tad saltish. But the veges are quite nice, and the variety of food is huge... sushi, chinese food, dessert etc.. value for money.

We've settled our housing issue, and we've gotten our home address, but we cant move in yet cos they are still refurbishing the inside of our house. We've managed to check outthe outside of it though. We're in the same compound as all our friends, so we're def quite glad that everyone is just walking distance away. The houses there, unfortunately, are quite old, but the inside is cosy and new cos they refurbished them. the downside is our lawn and backyard is just HUGGEE....each house is responsbible for the lawns and backyards within ur compound.. and the rules are strict. Ur grass have to be green and mowned every week. if not you'll be fine

And when its winter time, you'll have to scoop the ice away from ur backyard so as not to let the gass die. And guess what, we have a backyard which is the size of 3/4 a basketball court, and comes with one tree. At the front lawn, we have two trees and 2 bushes together with grass patches as well. Oh gosh! Hubby will have to mown all those every week. That'll be fun. hahaha.. Will post up pics once we get the keys to the house! :) Can wait to move in to our own home!

The first week..

2009-08-05T19:51:00.001-07:00

Today is our 6th day in Mountainhome AFB..

Lots have been done. Plenty has been eaten. haha :)

1. We managed to settle our housing issue, so we'll be putting up in our temp lodging facility for another 2-3 weeks while waiting for our house to be ready. We love this temp loding place. It's got everything we need. We could stay here for the next 2 years and it wun matter to us. hehe.

2. We've got our car. After looking ard a few places, finally settled for a Ford Windstar. We wanted a more family-styled kind of car. And here, the winds are very strong and the road conditions are bad, thus big cars are more steady and safer. Thus we settled for our 3.5 litres Ford windstar 7-seater MPV. It's huge instead, spacey and most importantly, the interior was very clean.

3. Went to the base hospital today to get myself registered. compulsory to take urine test and draw blood. Shucks. What a way to start sia. they drew 6 bottles of blood from me at one go. But the guy drawing my blood was nice. He kept making me laugh, so everything was okay. Ang mohs here are friendly and really nice. Everyone is just nice to everyone else, u greet them, they greet u on the streets and all, whether u know them or not, its always nice to give each other a smile when u walk by. It's a nice culture :)

4. Food here is really quite yummy.. but im really starting to get a bit sick of french fries and chix wings.. there's no chinese food on base, thus its always western food, or cook at home. Like for dinner tonight, I cooked instead, so hubby and I had a nice homecooked chinese dinner with 3 simple dishes. It tasted like home. Plus its cheaper too. Cos eating outside, each meal sets us back by about 15-20USD each time. Really expensive. And im so lacking in greens, i've resorted to eating salad here!!! I NEVER eat salad back in singapore cos i dun like to take raw vegetables. but over here, because of the lack of greens, im automatically eating salad like no one's business. That said, the veges here really fresher and crunchier, so it tastes better too.

Hubby starts his course tomorrow, so i'll be alone most of the time from now on when he's away at work. Lucky for the other wives. Lucky im now staying on base so everyone is near each other. Tomorrow there's a get together for all the singaporeans to commenmerate National Day, which sadly we're gonna miss cos dun think we can get up at 5am to watch it :(

Nevertheless, happy birthday, Singapore :)

In USA..

2009-08-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the States.. =)

Departed Friday morning at 7am, transited at Narita Airport and San Franciso before arriving at Boise, Idaho. God, the plane trip was absolute hell. 17.5 hrs in the air, 6 hrs in transit, and we only clocked a total of 1 hr of sleep. Uncomfortable seats, bad sleeping positions, crying babies on the plane. No way we could sleep.

We were so glad when we finally arrived at Moutainhome Air Force Base. Settled in at our temporary Lodge Facility; had a very nice quaint 1 bed-room apartment fully equipped with kitchenette, even our own washing machine and dryer. :) Our friends who were already staying there for a couple of of months came to greet us and settled us in. also met up with Alexis who is also there; she was so kind to start us off with some dinner and bought some basic essentials for us . Then after our luggages arrived a couple of hours later, our friends drove us out to Mountainhome, the town abt 10 mins drive away, for a late supper before popping by Walmart to stock up on some more food.

It was then that we received some bad news about our perm housing arrangements..dampened our happy mood quite a bit.. haiz.. anyway we will try to settle that issue on Mon..

Sat morning, our sponsors Lawence and Steph drove us out to Boise, the city centre about 1 hr away from Base. Went for chinese food at Panda Express.. not bad for USA standards. Like Chap Chye Peng. It was defintely comfort food. Then we went to Boise Town Square to get our USA hp lines, and then i went on to get a 2nd hand Motorola Razor V3 to use here.. hahaha.. cheap. after that we went car shopping.. looked around at all the 2nd hand dealers. Everyone here needs a car to get from Point A to Point B. No such thing as Public Transport over here. In fact, I haven seen a single cab here either.

We walked a few placces, test drive 1 car. Hubby test drived with all of us including the agent in the car. As USA is left-hand drive and Hubby first time drive on USA roads, it was so scary... Everything is opposite of SIN. Thus, hubby had a difficult time. He even turned on to oncoming traffic.. wah scary! haha.. but we survived.. In the end, decided we haven seen a car we like, thus will be looking at somemore tmr..

Had dinner at TGIF (thank God it's Fridays). The food was good, the drinks was great, the service was excellent! Gosh the portions here are hugggee!! There are also already so many Singaporeans here. Everywhere we went, we bumped into Singaporean friends. At TGIF, we formed like 2 big tables..

After dinner, it was off to Walmart Citycentre to grab some stuff like beddings and sunblock. gosh, its summer now, and in the afternoon it gets really hot and sunny!!!! We got burnt today cos we were out looking at cars.. thus, arming myself with sunblock for tml...

We came back, pretty tired. Only slept 6 hrs in the last 3 days.. but can say im enjoying myself a little here... :)

A New Journey Begins

2009-07-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

OMG. Today finally marks the day where I officially start my domesticated lifestyle. No more office work for the next 2 years & 2months. No more office wear, office heals, lugging heavy laptops to work. 3 weeks of break before we fly to Idaho on 31 Jul morning.

YEsterday was a heart-warming day. Since Monday, I was given farewell treats and presents from both AD & AT dept. Yesterday, recieved presents from Rachel and Jamie. Thanks peeps. All your stuff are going with me to the States for sure. But what really surprised me was how I was led to one of the meeting rooms to view a specially-created video by AD peeps with shots of pics we took coupled with live-taken clips of best-wishes from each and everyone of them. (Athough half the time all I heard was Mahjong, Coach Bags and little Babies). I tried me best not to cry during the video screening, but failed. But I was real touched by all the lurve shown by all my CAAS colleagues. It has been wonderful working with all of them these past 4 years. I'm gonna miss all my girlies there as well....

Time really flies. I still remember in the midst of one of the inaugural ceremonies early last year, I recieved a call from Hubby saying we have scheduled to leave for the US in August 2009. I was still thinking to myself, Wow How exciting! But still such a long way to go....

But today, Im 3 weeks away.

So yesterdae, after I had finally returned my laptop and my airport pass and shreded every last bit of paper, I headed to the carpark while hubby was waiting to pick me up. And as I was workking towards the carpark entrance, I saw the huge eyecorp advertisment there with the words "A New Journey Begins".

And I was thinking to myself. Wow. HOw apt. My new Journey Really Begins.

The last lap..

2009-06-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Running the last lap til my no-pay leave starts officially on 9 July 2009...

Slowly being phased out of work.. recieving lesser and lesser emails.. tying up loose ends. 2 & 1/2 weeks to go.. At least I still get to see 2 major CAAs event happen before I leave - Appreciation Dinner 2009 this sat & the launch of the the two new logos for NewCAA and NewCo. Plus yummy chicken rice steamboat with AD on 3rd july! Really looking fwd to that :P

Updates for USA:

Moving boxes arrived last week, all 60 of them, now all stacked up high in my room. Hardly any space to walk!!

Visited the two fave place over the weekend to buy stuff - Daiso and Ikea.. heh heh. Aunty me spent 1.5 hrs at Daiso buying lotsa stuff, not still not enough, will need to make a few more trips back. At Ikea, we bought some kitchen stuff, returning there again in Early July to get our TV rack, coffee table and chairs.

Bought some winter stuff, got our laptop from the PC show, am buying stuff a bit here, a bit there... Hubby last day at work is next week before he goes on 1 month leave to start packing. Only then can we really go out and buy more stuff... sooooo many things to buy!!! Neverending shopping list.. hehehe.. I like!

53 days to go..

2009-06-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yup, 53 days til we leave for USA.

Started buying more stuff for our move to the States. Our sofa has been ordered and will be delivered Early July. Next week gonna get new laptop (again) at the PC show. We've looked around for rice cookers and mutli-cookers, looking at cutleries as well. Gonna have to buy four 29 inch luggage as well cos we have to pack at least 1 month worth of stuff into them. We've bot our inflatable bed tat we would need to sleep on for abt 1 month while waiting for our shpment our stuff to arrive in USA..

Gonna have to temp 'evict' my lil bro our of the house for a few weeks in july, when our boxes for our shipment arrive, all 50-60 of them, I think. My room doesnt have much space to place the boxes, so gotta use his room to store our packed boxes as well..

I cant wait to start packing!

34 more working days to go!

2009-05-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah! 34 more working days to go before I officially start my tai-tai hood !! Wahaha!

I cant wait for June to come. Will need to order our sofa for USA in June and get them to deliver by July, in time for our shipment. we have a 10m by 10m container.. imagine the things we're gonna ship over: Sofa, dining table, my chest of drawers, our bed, coffee table, side table, chairs, and our TV etc... we bought our TV at the Harvey Norman expo sale a few weeks back.. and yesterdae we re-couped the cost of out TV, cos our ROM date open starters for yesterdae's 4D draw. YAY, free TV, paid by Singapore Pools, woohoo!

Trying to save as much as we can now, so this money really comes in handy for us. :)

Fit for flight..

2009-05-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

Medical check-ups done! Fit for flight!
One of hubby's colleague not so lucky wor. Failed the medical tests and may not be able to go le. Lucky for us we are both healthy.

Counting down 2 months more to end of work. Hubby has decided I shud take more time off before I leave singapore, to spend more time with family and friends, thus I am bringing my no-pay leave forward to start earlier. :)

We bought our TV le woooot! 42inch hugeass TV! Put in my room, sit on my bed and watch, can become blind! But I like! :) heh. Have become a counch/bed potato ever since we got it. Planning to bring it back to SIN after 2 years, thats why bot a bigger and better one. :)

I can't wait to go furniture shopping soon too!

Start of the prep work..

2009-05-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Attended an admin briefing yesterday with Hubby for the USA detachment.. got alot of knowledge and tips from there.

This week, worked 1.5 days only as the rest of the days were spent at Alexandra Hospital and Paya Lebar Air Base (PLAB) Medical Centre for Medical and blood tests. Next week gonna spend another 2 days doing X-rays, more tests, and the final medical check-up to be certified "Good to go" for the detachment.

Drawing blood at the PLAB medical centre was not as bad as I expected, compared to the previous batches of wives had quite bad experiences with the NSFs drawing their blood. Mine and some of the wives this time around had quite a painless experience, thank God. Cos we requesed for a more skillful NSF to do it for us. But hubby, along with some of the other husbands, were not so lucky! :(

Our Dep dates has been brought forward to 31 Jul 09. Paper work, visa applications etc have started. We have also started hunting for stuff that we will need to buy and bring over. This weekend seems like the best weekend to get a new laptop and possibly gtet our TV first as well? Our previous laptop we bought from the IT show gave us a bit of problem. We have rtn the laptop to them and had our money refunded to us. Thus the search for a new one....

At the admin briefing yest, we were told that "99% of us will be going back there again many times as this F-15 project in Idaho is a 20-year contract." To actually hear this being said clearly just struck me. This won't be a one off 2-year trip for us. This could be a long term thingy, shuttling btw Sin and USA. If this is gonna be true for us, what about our house? Planning for a family? My Job?

None of the wisdom..

2009-04-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

After 26 years, finally, today, I confirmed what I had suspected, and hoped for all along.

I have NO wisdom teeth at all!

I have had very past traumatic incidents with fierce dental nurses back in Primary School. I was terrified of dental visits, each leaving emotional scares, like after how the dental nurse pinned me down just to extract my teeth.

Dental visits have become a little less terrifying after I grew up a little. Every year, I would still drag myself down to get my teeth polished and scaled. I guess I was lucky that my teeth never really gave me any trouble. But as the years went by, and i hear of all my friends pulling out their wisdom teeth, whereas I never had any, I became to wonder when mine would come out.

Although i never tot much about it, I din really start to get worried until Hubby's wisdom teeth started giving him problems and he has to extract all 4 of them. Gosh! If i had to do that, I think I would just die....

So I have this naggy feeling to get my fears and suspicion cleared once and for all. And today, I went to get an X-ray done. And the dentist confirmed it. None at all.

God is kind to me.

Cheap Spa and Polo Ralph..

2009-04-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

Cool stuff!

Welcome to "Our Magical Proposal” Contest!
Come share with us the unique and amazing story of how your magical proposal happened and be one of the 50 lucky couples to attend an exclusive Couple’s Wedding Workshop PLUS escape to a lush haven located just 45-minutes away from Singapore and bask in the serenity and romance of an exotic island holiday!*

Winners will also stand to receive other fantastic prizes be featured on www.styleweddings.sg – Our Magical Proposal Photo Gallery (coming soon)!

Styleweddings.sg Couple's Wedding Workshop
Date: 24th April 2009
Venue: 1-Night stay at Holiday Inn Resort, Batam Island.

We got picked!! =) My magical proposal story won a place in this hehehe...
Cheap Spa and Polo Ralph.. here we come!!!

Countdown..

2009-04-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

I Hope time flies in the next few months... now straddling between two divisions, because I'm preparing to switch division. Due to the privatisation of Changi Airport, people are being shifted and transferred around.I kindda have no direction at work, in some way.. a bit lost and in limbo..

Time, pls fly.

26 days to shifting to Air Transport Division
108 days to the start of my no-pay leave
117 days til we leave for USA!

Fantastic Week

2009-04-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

An absolutely fantastic week.. with a great ending: sleeping my entire Sunday away. Slept from 6am to 7pm.. and still feeling so damn tired.. am going back to sleep again after dinner..

Birthday spent at Chalet was great.. Tuesday evening after work, colleagues and I tropped down to the chalet where hubby had already checked in earlier, armed with chips, drinks, beer, alcohol etc.. we ordered in pizza n KFC for dinner, and then after that played MJ.. one small table with small tiles and one big table with big tiles.. wahahha.. my chalet really became a gambling den. But most imptly, everyone had fun!

The poy gang came over after late on Tues night. Wed the RSAF Gang came over for dinner and more MJ.. Thursday, my actual birthday, Hubby brought me out for lunch and then back again for MJ with his brother and Shukun. At night, Desmond had dinner with us and we chatted over vodka, wine and doritos with salsa sauce wahahaha!! wat a combi! Then by 3am we called it a night. And just like that, my simple birthday celebration is over, and im another year older.. shucks...!

But thanks everyone for coming, the lovely pressies... appreciated =)

The Fun didn't stop there...Yesterday was another eventful day. Had steamboat buffet lunch with my BFF Hailing. So excited she's getting married soon after like 10years!! =) But so sad I wun be able to attending her wedding in Oct because we'd be in USA by then and wun be able to fly over for her wedding in Chengdu. After that, Hubby and I went to watch "Confessions of a Shopacholic" Can TOTALLY relate to the show because I was once like that, but not to her extereme la. But i have to admit sometimes i do shop a bit too much.. most girls would be able to relate to that as well. oh well. :)

then at night, the RSAF Gang - all 8 of us, which was quite rare attendance but it was great, we managed to get everyone together for dinner!! We had dinner at Thai Express, and then on to Mind Cafe to play party games.. hahaha! It was damn fun! then our time was up and they chased us out.. but it was still early, so we did the craziest thing - we moved 1 more MJ table from Macpherson to Tampines which was Desmond's house, and then we opened two table and play, since we had 8 people, just nice!!!!! Whahaha!!! Played til 5am, and then we went to nearby Macs for breakfast before adjourning home.

It was a great week.. with great friends...

Pics from USA..

2009-03-29T02:28:00.000-07:00

The first batch of RSAF personnel and their wives, from my hubby's squandron, left for the MountainHome Air Base, Idaho, USA in mid-march. Among them is one of the wives that I am keeping in contact with, and she updates us through her blog and facebook account. She posted pictures of the place, their house and the car they bought. Wow. All I can say is. Everything is HUGE there..

Some pics she posted...

Their house and car.. that's her on the car.. gosh.. they paid USD12K for that car.. and the house is hugggeeeee.. cleaning will be hell for us (technically, me) if our house is this size as well..

Proof that they have chinese food there! That's a relief for me... cos I'm a chinese foodie.. I'll be missing all the nice chinese food in back in Singapore, when I leave..

We're the 3rd batch to leave.. luckily I know quite a number of the wives who are going there as well, albeit different periods, but since we all can't work, we can accompany each other.. go grocery shopping together.. it would be like taking a 2-year sabbatical and enjoying life a little bit... :) After seeing all her photos, we back in Singapore are so excited already... cant wait!

Birthday wishlist

2009-03-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

Hubby took me shopping for my Birthday Present today. He's so lousy at buying presents, whereas I am also quite particular when it comes to the things that I like, thus, he will always get me to choose my own presents when it comes to V-day, Anniversaries, Birthdays and Christmas. Heh! I like!

This year's birthday, I chose this....

Gucci Mini 'Tofu' tote. Have been eyeing this for a long time... but can never bear to buy it for myself.. Usually, hubby will not buy branded stuff... cos he's thrifty.. but since I have upgraded to 'Wife' status, he got it for me. :P

Thanks Baby... Muacks...

Randoms

2009-03-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

Life's happenings summed up in pics...

Bought a laptop yesterday at the IT show.. unexpected purchase cos Hubby and I were only planning to buy a lappy in June before we leave for August.. but our friends who went recommended this good deal: HP Entertainment Notebook with a discount of $500. So we fought the maddening crowd at Suntec and emerged $1,399 poorer.

Well, technically we will only be $1399 poorer when we pay for the laptop next week. So unfortuante (or fortunate) that we queued for like 1 freakin' hour to pay for our purchase at the Harvey Norman Booth, only to have the credit cards and NETs Machines die out at all the booths when we were 3 persons away frm the cashier. Thus, no cards transaction could be made. Ours in a pre-order cos they ran out of stock, so they allowed us to pay cash $50 for it first... We're in denial now...

This two pics taken off the blog of one of our friend who will be leaving for Idaho on Tuesday. She's going with her husband, who's my hubby's colleague. They already have some friends who are there, so they've sent back some pictures of their house in Idaho, in the mountainhome air force base where we will be staying as well.. OMG.. so nice.. so quaint..and so damn huge.. hope there are still houses like that available for us when we get there in August!

Hubby booked the sAF seaview chalet for my birthday from 31 Mar - 3 April! Can't wait to wake up to the sound of the seas for 4 days..

And Lastly....

I won't miss this!!!

Gone too fast..

2009-03-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

Mourning the loss of another weekend gone by too fast...

This weekend was spent with hubby who stayed over.. We played almost tong xiao MJ with friends, and then slept in on Saturday. Woke up, met my BFF for lunch while hubby went home to change. It was pouring horribly when hubby came to pick me up and then on to watch Marley and Me.

Had already armed myself with tissues. I had been warned that the show can make u cry..! True enough.. i was reaching for my tissues. I own a dog, a very white cute lovable one.. who also failed obedience training. I'm very strict with my dog, so he listens to me.. but being smart, my dog knows how to "see people". He know he can't bully me.. so when I'm not home, he bullies my parents.. and become rebelious. So I can absolutely relate to the story.. but I'll never want the day to come where I will have to put him down because of illnesses. In fact, I'm dreading the 2 years that I'll be apart from him..

After the show.. we took a slow.. leisurely.. romantic walk from Plaza Singapura.. to Wisma Atria and back..haha.. I know its a long distance.. but we weren't hungry and we had alot of time, so we just walked til we became hungry.

Sunday started off badly with me fainting in the kitchen in the morning while hubby was still asleep.. luckily I managed to call out to my mom, so she picked me up from the floor and brought me to rest on the sofa. What led to the fainting was that I had very bad tummy aches while sleeping and had gotten up twice to go to the toilet, and yet my tummy was still very painful. The 3rd time i got up, after coming out of the toilet, I couldn't take the pain and just fainted. Twice. I think i became too dehydrated.. After some rest, felt a bit better.. but it was soft diet for the rest of the day.

Later on in the afternoon, still feeling a little weak, but we went down to Orchard again, this time with my mom.. mom wanted to buy some pots and pans to teach us how to cook.. so that when we go to USA, we'd be able to cook for ourselves.. hahaha.. gosh.. im a terrible cook. I have absolutely no interest in cooking whatsoever. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Thus.. mom is attempting to cultivate it for me now... because its a must that Ill have to cook for hubby while we're over there...

And then it was on to quality hotel for yummy nice porridge buffet with the rest of my entire family to celebrate the old folks' birthdys... And thus.. the weekend had just gone by too fast..

Headache..

2009-02-26T05:21:00.000-08:00

Had a bad headache and bad bad leg cramps yesterday night.. slept early, woke up this morning still feeling so damn groggy and my head was still throbbing when I was on the way to work in the bus.. By 2pm, hubby came to pick me home to see a doc and manage to rest my head a little after popping pills.

It's friday tomorrow! Yay! end of another working week.. this weekend would be kindda boring though, cos hubby working 24hr guard duty on Sunday! Grr.. hates it when he has to work on weekendsss... what to do... life of a RSAF Regular's wife.. Haiz.

Oh, we recieved our letter for the HDB appt to put the downpayment for our house, like finally!!! Grr... really 4 months' of waiting.. Appt's on 10 March. Hubby will be poorer by 16K after that, heh heh.

Blog revival..

2009-02-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

Figured I need to reviev this blog after so many months... our move to USA is drawing near.. Blogging would be a great way to stay in touch with all our friends and family back in Singapore..

Life has pretty much changed since I last blogged. After hubby's proposal is June, We finally crossed our first big milestone together and had our prefect solemnization ceremony at Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel.. it's been 2 weeks and I'm savouring everyday of being together.

Had a short break overseas, our mini honeymoon in Phuket, played ATV and had bruises all over my legs which are still in the processing of healing.. the many sessions of massages did some good though.. On our last day there, the Massage lady was kind enough to rub some oilment for me to relieve the pain.. haha..

We've booked our Punggol Breeze flat back in Nov 08... its been 4 months later and besides getting a letter to say our project will be built, we haven recieved any appt letter from HDB to say when we can go down and and sign the lease and put the downpayment. It's frustrating!! The entire process of buying our flat will prob take us one whole year! We balloted for our flat in June 08. Waited for the results...Results were out in Early Sept.. and then we waited again.... we finally got called down to pick our flat more than 2 n 1/2 MONTHS later on 26 Nov 08. We picked our 11-th floor flat and paid the 2K deposit.. and now... waiting again for appt letter to sign lease!! So slow la, buay tahan!

Beside our flat, we also have to settle the Move to USA. Have applied for my 2-years no-pay leave, waiting for it to be approved. Have to go open my citibank account soon as well... Medical check-ups, dental check-ups, visa applications... that shud be coming up soon. The first batch of wives are leaving in March, and hope to get as much vauable information from them as possible so that when we leave in Aug, we will know exactly what to buy and what we need to bring over..

In case anyone's wondering, we're only holding our Customary wedding dinner when we come back from the States. That's in 2011. We wanna settle our flat which should be ready by the time we come back..get it up and running and then we'll plan for our customary... so people who are expecting any bundle of joys from us over in USA, sorry, that likely won't happen :)

Numbers..

2008-08-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

I love it how the numbers and dates just fall into place...

090908: Our Fitting for Gowns/Suits!
081008: Our photoshoot!
090209: The day to display our photos!

We're a bit special... we aren't doing our customary yet but we are gonna take our wedding photos first. Signed up a package with Di Gio Bridal yesterday. We wanna take our photos now while we both are still young and still in shape. 3 years later when we come from USA, goodness knows what we will look like. Esp me.. with that kind of "tai-tai" lifestyle and all the potatoes.. I think I'll just become real fat!

We've decided on our restaurant for our ceremony. Close affair, families and close friends only. I think We're right on track.

Magical..

2008-08-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Putting on my first ever wedding gown... was magical...

And the many many gowns tried thereafter, I wish I could a bride sooner.

2008-07-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

Haven gone back to my office in 3 days...

Mon and Tues I was on course, yesterdae night, was real sick. Kept vommiting and had a real bad headache since 6pm.. 6 hours later I was still feeling so sick, couldn't digest the panadol thus the terrible headache wouldn't go away.. at midnight, mom brought me in to the A&E to get a jab and drip... by the time I returned home it was 3am already.

Today after resting feeling much better. The Boyfriend brought me out to eat Sushi just now... I'm not a fan of jap food, unlike him. But sushi just taste good when you're sick. Cos it's mild, bland and healthy.

First batch of wives leaving for USA in Mar 09. Stephanie and Derline are amongst them. When i join them in Aug, I wonder what we all can do there. No working, as we are drawing a so-call spouse allowance from the govt. Staying within the air force base, wonder what they would have. Think I'll have so much time on my hands, I can clean up the house every day, go grocery shopping, play mahjong and EXERCISE! EXERCISE! EXERCISE! oh yes, and grow potatoes in our backyard, since Idaho is a Potato County. hee.

Punggol ?

2008-07-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

We've applied for a 4-rm punggol flat today!!

HDB's June BTO exercise has opened for Pugnggol and Sengkang... We did our research online, went down to the actual site today to check out the location. Punggol is defintely quite lively now.. although the things surrounding the actual site is still rather quiet and undeveloped.

These flats we ballot for will be near the proposed waterway and the town centre which will be developed into a bustling area for alfresco dining and watersports. It's also right next to the LRT station, so transportation should be quite conveinent. It's very quiet now, but I guess we can forsee the place to be quite good 5 years from now.

Plus, the flats will only be read 4-5 years' time, so it's just nice for our timeline. Come back from USA, the place should be almost ready by then.

We also went down tday to HDB to see the showroom flats. Quite small the floor space, I must admit, but to me it's quite cosy. New flats nowdays are very small, so no choice. Ultimately, it's how you design the flat and play around with colours and things like mirror and glass walls to make the flat look bigger. These flats we apply for are premium flats, so they do come with nice flooring and finishes.

So we're keeping our fingers crossed. Response for the flats are not overwhelming at this pt of time, but who knows, by the time they close the ballot end of next week.

Hope and pray!

Planning!

2008-06-25T01:26:00.000-07:00

Soooooooo excited and sooooooo in loveeee!!!

Finally after 8 years...!! My diamond ring has arrived :) The Bf's proposal was sweet. When he went down on one knee, i couldn't stop laughing!!!

In my eyes, simple, yet perfect.

Have discussed our plans with my mom.. we had dinner with my mom yest and he asked for permission to marry me! Told my mom our plans for the future, for our ROM.. Mom laid down a couple of conditions for him... ( Like giving mi 2K every month in the USA!! HAHAHA... kidding)

We have decided to do our ROM outside so we are looking at some options... lots to plan!!

Trying to see if we also can at least try balloting for new BTO flats b4 we leave next year...at my mom's advice.. new flats require less cash downpayment .. we need to get at least a suitable location to ballot!!! Land is so scarce in Singapore why!!!!!!

And double happiness for me, I also got promoted!!!!! More moolah to save for our wedding!!!!!!!!!!

lalalala... and our anniversary is coming up next month as well.. lalala... planning! planning! planning!

2008-06-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Boy: Will you marry me?
Girl: Yes, for eternity..

2008-06-15T00:08:00.000-07:00

Til Changi Airline Awards 2009..

The aftermath...

2008-06-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Changi Airline Awards 2008 was a smash hit!!!!

The event went beautifully well, and although I was on my feet for 15 hours straight and could hardly feel my legs thereafter, I had a great night!

The Dim Sum Dollies were superb!! And the Flying Dutchman talked about our event the next day on his Class 95's Morning Express!!

It was just such a great feeling after the entire event was over.. such a high.. all the airlines giving us good feedback and saying they enjoyed themselves... our bosses praising our hard work... the organising team this year did a fantastic job.. everyone was a team player. And our events company GRID Pte Ltd, really pulled off the event very well.

The aftermath - just super slacking this weekend.. long weekend for me, cos Monday I'm on leave. and so is the bf... so we'll go walk walk and catch a movie.

Life is going superbly well now... hope this keeps up...

it's a date..

2008-06-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

Finally... after 8 years..
090209

2008-06-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

11 days to Changi Airline Awards 2008!

This week is super busy.. today was really crazy.. all the RSVPs streaming in like mad. Tml going down to Raffles Hotel to sort out all the logisitics, Wed meeting the models cum ushers for the event, Thursday meeting with Dim Sum Dollies and and the ever-so-charming Flying Dutchman & Claressa Monteiro, our hosts for the evening.

And den we're down to 7 days to sort out everything else before the big night. :) Gosh.

And once this is over, I can get down to doing my other more impt stuff....

Have been secretly doing some research for my next big step in life... :) cos of USA, now we hope to get everything done by first quarter of 2009 so that we are in time to hand in paper work, do check-ups, visa approvals etc before we leave..

So first quarter 2009 is just nice, after my bro's wedding... was looking at some dates.. thought 3103 (31 Mar) would be a perfect date because that's the exact date we started out first together about 8 years ago..

But Bf's mum says NOOOOO... all odd numbers, cannot... then i was also looking at 10 Feb for certain reasons... but she also say cannot... soooooo... I guess it's not up to me anymore... must go and "suan hao hao" first...

so that aside, there's the qn of customary? No customary? Dinner? (NO WEDDING DINNER FOR ME, THANKS!) want to do customary, must start planning soon... so many decisions to make....!!!

But now... just waiting for it all to happen....before i put my plans to action :)

August 2009...

2008-05-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

It's set! It's firmed!

August 2009 is the date to look foward to.....

That's when life in the USA will begin...

Now..... lots of planning to do.......

3 years..

2008-05-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 years in CAAS. Time flies.

I love my job (most of the time, anyway). Apart from sucky incentives wich test my super lousy math and sometimes having to deal with statistics which runs into the millions, I love the people, the environment (cos food and coffee is always available 24/7), the events and the joy and laughter the job brings.

Two great shows I watched over the weekend. 2 thumbs up!

2008-05-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Quick updates. Have been busy lately.

Two events coming up in June that im working on. Another new airline inaugural in early June, hope it will be pushed backwards though.

Then 12th June is Changi Airline Awards 2008, important event as Minister of Transport is our guest-of-honour. This is the 3rd year that im working on this awards dinner, never gets easier. This year we have hired the Dim Sum Dollies for our event !! Looking forward to working with them on this exclusive appearance!!

Went to see my elder bro's new flat today. He and future sis-in-law balloted for the same Bedok flats as we did, but they're luckier, got a really good ballot number so managed to get a flat! Their number was quite far back one, so when it was their turn to choose the flat, they didn't have many units left. The highest left was 3rd floor, so they got a 3rd floor one. But it's prime location! At Bedok Interchange, with so many amenities !

Anyway they're getting married in Nov this year, earlier than us, so is good they managed to get their flat first instead of us hehe :)

Although I really wouldn't have minded getting a flat there as well, with such a good location. Oh well, fated. I can still eye my dream ideal home, the green condo-looking flats at Kallang MRT station, and just nice, can buy a resale flat there when we come back from the US of A.

Anticipating April*

2008-04-19T21:37:00.001-07:00

April has been an exciting one for us.

There was the Genting Trip, den less than 2 weeks was whisked to Hkg and Macau for a work trip. Athough it was a work trip, I really had fun with my colleagues there.

Having to travel to and fro on the plane on my own, plus sleeping in a big hotel suite all by myself made me realised I'm actually little more independant than I though I was.

Before leaving for the trip, we got the results for the two big things we had been anticiapting that would decide the future of the Bf and I.

Firstly, we din get a good flat ballot number. Which works out well for us because we got the results of his USA posting after that.

If all works out well, we'll be leaving Singapore in November 2009
for the USA for 2 years.

And I'm glad we won't be going there alone. Many colleagues of his are going as well, although leaving different times of next year, we'd at least all be there living and working together.

And there's a comfortable window period of about 18 mths for us to get ourselves prepared mentally, emotionally and financially for this trip. Lots of things to work out. Lots of decisions to make.

But I'm glad we're in this together.

---------

Trip Pics!

In Hkg! One day to shop only :( still managed to grab some good ESPIRIT
deals before moving on to Macau

The Iconic Ruins of St Paul.
I insisted on making the trip there just to snap this although there nearly wasn't enough time for me to do so. If you haven seen this, youhaven been to Macau.

The many hundred of Casinos in the City of Luck.

Porteguese Egg Tarts! Simply Yummy!!

An Ex-colleague staying at the Macau brought us to a quaint little porteguese restaurant
with really good food.

My lovely hotel suite at the Venetian Macau. It's an all suite hotel, and we only paid S$200 per night for this. Freakin' cheap!

Bedroom area + Living room area. HUGE.

The RSAF gang had a day out at Sentosa yesterday.
The wives and Gfs - Jolin, Stephanie, me and Shiyun

Jolin and Stephanie will be going to the USA as well. Stephanie promised to impart some cooking skills to us over there. And I promised to teach them how to play Mahjong :P

We are all working towards going to the US together !

Hong Kong/Macau

2008-04-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

Will be off to HongKong/Macau on Sat to attend a work conference til Wed.

Am not overly happy cos it's because of a colleague's misfortune that I'm going in her place. I hope her mom gets better, am praying for her to recover...

Will be spending one night in Hong Kong and 3 nights in Macau. Work trips won't be fun, esp this one cos im super unprepared for it and had to rush to get everything together today, including booking my air ticket. Last min booking means no seats on SIA for me, so I'd have to travel alone on CX while the rest goes on SIA. :( well, lots of peace and quiet to do lots of reading up to do before all my airline meetings.

The only thing im looking forward to is staying in super poshy The Venetian Macau. The hotel and suites look absolutely stunning from the website.

Til then.

Birthday Week

2008-04-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

Last week was Birthday Week. Simple, relaxing, shopped til I dropped.

Fantastic.

Hot cuppa of coffee, kept raining at Genting

Birthday Teddy and Famous Amos cookies

Some of the stuff I bought on my trip. Din manage to find much cheap nice deals, so shopped for their local brands instead.

3 Bags, 4 tops, 2 bottoms, 1 dress, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 socks, 1 head of rebonded hair.
Total Damages : 1,000RM

What the boyfriend bought during the entire trip. Why?
Cos he lost 1,000RM at the casino and din have money to buy anyting else.

I love the Zhi Char at Jalan Bukit Bintang's food street. Yummy.

Our new hairstyles done at KUL!

The guy waits patiently while the lady shops :)

Lugging all my loot home. One happy shopped-out gal :)

* You are the love of my life *

Moolah!

2008-03-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Colleagues

PAYMENT OF GROWTH BONUS, PERFORMANCE BONUS AND CORPORATE PERFORMANCE BONUS

Following the completion of the performance appraisal cycle, we are pleased to inform you that the payment of the Growth Bonus (ranging from 0.1 month to 0.8 month depending on performance) will be paid to staff on 31 March 08. The Performance Bonus will be paid out on the same date as well.

Woohoooo!

Moolaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Now I have more money to shop in KL!!

Stupid me!

2008-03-17T08:26:00.001-07:00

Recieved a letter from HDB today regarding our ballot for the flat.

Realised we made a big mistake! We should have applied under the Married Child Priority Scheme (MCPS) which would double our chances of the balloting because the flat we applied for is near my parents' place and they defintely won't be moving out within the next 5 years!

I knew there was such a thing but I din know it we had to apply under the MCPS. I thought just putting myself as the main applicant, they can trace back my current address and automatically can double our chances :(

My brother and his fiancee, who also applied for the same flats, got 4 chances because they are first timers (x2 chances) and applied under the MCPS (x2 chances)!!

As First-timers, we only got 2!! :(

In a balloting exercise of 3,000+ applicants for 199 flats, 2 chances is all we've got. Not getting out hopes up too high, getting the flat will be nothing short of miracle.

*fingers crossed*

Love like you've never been hurt..

2008-03-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

Countdown to April..

2008-03-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

I can't wait for April to come!!

We're leaving for Genting on 30 March.. a little worried about the jam at the causeway checkpoint.. so many reports in the newspapers about long queues for tour buses.. Argh! Hope we won't get stuck in one.. Supposedly to come back on 2nd April, which is my actual birthday, but we have the flexibility to extend our stay if we want a longer holiday.

First holiday abroad, just the two of us :) Hope we won't end up killing each other though.. heh..

So when we come back from our trip, we will await two BIG NEWS, to know whether successful or unsuccessful:
1st - our flat balloting results.
2nd - His posting to the US

This week had 3 mahjong sessions with the Bf, Daniel and Shukun/Shiyun. Having a Mahjong overload! Tomorrow will be pak tor day for the Bf and I.. we're going Sim Lim to get my new laptop some nice accessories.

And... DID YOU KNOW..

Almost every single Public holiday in the year 2009 will be a long weekend?

New Year’s Day Thursday, 1 January 2009
Chinese New Year Monday, 26 January 2009
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Good Friday Friday, 10 April 2009
Labour Day Friday, 1 May 2009
Vesak Day Saturday, 9 May 2009
National Day Sunday, 9 August 2009 (Monday is PH)
Hari Raya Puasa Sunday, 20 September 2009 (Monday is PH)
Deepavali Sunday, 15 November 2009 (Monday is PH)
Hari Raya Haji Friday, 27 November 2009
Christmas Day Friday, 25 December 2009

Time to start planning that long holiday!

Up, Up and away..

2008-03-09T22:17:00.000-07:00

The prices of everything in Singapore are going up!

Petrol, car park prices, hotel rates, food.. going up like nobody's business! The days where you could still get a plate of decent food at a shopping centre's food court for $3.. now, it's $5 a plate!

The only thing that's not going up is our salary! Grr...

Went to Cathay to watch 10,000BC today. I was shocked to discover the prices of cinema tickets have gone up as well to $10! Sometimes I wonder why prices can go up with no rhyme or reason. Don't tell me the costs of making popcorns have gone up so you need to hike the price!

The Bf's unhappy face about the hike in cinema ticket prices..

Our salary's not going up as fast enough as the living costs in Singapore are..

Baby Talk..

2008-03-08T04:25:00.000-08:00

Just got up after napping. Spent most of Sat sleeping, what a waste!

Usually when we play tong siao MJ on friday nights, our Sat is spent sleeping in cos we're too tired to do anything else.

We played MJ yesterday night with the bf's colleagues + their wives. We usually open 2 tables; the guys will play 1 table, the girls will play at another 1.

I'm always very amused when I play with thewives.. always tease them that I'm playing 3 aunties! Although they are all still very young (still in their 20s) and each have at least 1 child already. And 2 of them are even younger than me!

So at every MJ session I'm subjected to 'aunty' conversations and I always listen on with amuse, yet at the same time learning new things that could prepare me when I reach the stage they are at now in their life - married with children.

Previously when I started playing with them about a year back or so, I was subjected to talks about pregnancy cos one of the wives was still pregnant at that time. So I hear about the experiences and the pains of giving birth, C-sections, the Dos and Don'ts of pregnancy...

Now, I hear about where to buy the best diapers and prams.. hehe... No doubt I know all these things now, and where to shop for the cheapest baby clothes and baby wipes!

It's quite an experience everytime we gather to play :) and sometimes when they are distracted with their conversations, I try to win their money at Mj... :P

But I salute these 3 ladies because it's never easy trying to bring up a kid(s) at such a young age, yet all 3 of them are doing a wonderful job at that, together.

So to the 2 Graces and Mavis, I really take my hats off to you. :)

2008-03-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

A long week ahead. Today is just Monday. Gonna be buried under piles of red files for the next few days..

The weekend was good. Spent Friday night and Sunday afternoon playing MJ with friends.. The boyfriend won so much money yesterdae... 3 legs lose to 1 leg. Thrashed us all. Poor Shiyun.. 2 rounds win 2 times altogether..MJ is really 30% skill, 70% luck. No matter how good your MJ skills are, if u sit on a lousy seat with lousy 'feng shui', you can still lose alot of money.

Technology sure isn't on my side these days. My comp was sent to my dad's friend's place for repair and came back in a worst state. Nothing much was done! when I switched it on, my old wallpaper was still there. And that irritating buzzing sound in the CPU is still there as well!!!! The main thing the guy was supposed to help do is upgrade my RAM cos my comp was kindda slow after using up alot of memory. But it's still SLOW! The only thing changed was upgrading of my IE and added a new anti-virus. Doesn't solve the problem! Grrr....trying to cheat my money....Good thing is I'm getting a new laptop for work soon, so at least I have something proper to work on at home.

And yesterdae my (boyfriend's) beloved Ipod hung on me... and dieded.. sigh..........

Listening to Love Songs on Class 95..

Have you ever been in love
You could touch the moonlight
When your heart is shooting stars
You're holding heaven in your arms
Have you ever been so in love?

Have you ever walked on air,
everFelt like you were dreamin'
When you never thought it couldB
ut it really feels that good
Have you ever been so in love?

Have you ever been in love
You could touch the moonlight
When your heart is shooting stars
You're holding heaven in your arms
Have you ever been in love?

Have you?
The time I spent waiting for somethingThat was heaven sent
When you find it don't let go

Celine Dion, Have you ever been in love

Looking ahead..

2008-03-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

Crossroads ahead

2008-02-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

These couple of weeks the Boyfriend and I have had some serious heart to heart talks about the future ahead.

There's a high possibility he might be posted to the US to train for the F-15SG for a period of at least 4 mths, 1 year or 2 years. If he gets posted for 4 mths, he 'll quickly go and come back.. but if he is posted for 1 or 2 years...... we might go together.

If that happens, we'll have so many things to think about. Marriage, because you need to be officially married before you can bring your wife over. Work, because I'll have to quit my job and go with him.

We've also applied for a flat earlier, that would mostly have to be given up as well if we really get it.

Also, what I would do if I were to go there with him. Spouses are not allowed to work, so only can stay at home and do housework 24/7 and take care of the husband, or study. Did some research on the city that we will live in if he gets posted to the US and there are some study courses that I can take up.

But despite all these concerns, cold weather and being far away from Singapore, I know it'll be an exciting, exciting experience for us if we really get to go and it will only serve to bond us closer together.

It's really a big move and many decisions to make if he's seclected to go... getting myself mentally prepared for the crossroads ahead.

My loved bowl of Bak Chor Mee..

2008-02-22T19:32:00.000-08:00

Old habits die hard.

I absolutely love the bak chor mee (BCM) at the Bedok Market Blk 511 near my house. The couple who operates the stall has seen me grown up since I was a young girl. When I was young, every Sunday morning was bak chor mee time. My parents would bring me down and I would gobble my bowl of BCM down with soya bean milk.

Even now, when our family breakfast ritual has died off many years ago, I still troop to the market most weekends, sometimes alone, just to have my BCM. Nothing can separate me from my BCM.

The uncle at the stall takes the orders while his wife cooks. After so many years of eating there, all I have to do is walk up to the uncle and say in chinese "Uncle, BCM yi wan" (I want one bowl) and automatically Uncle would say "hao, qu zhou" (Okay, go and sit) and then he will tell his wife "Xiaomei yao yi wan" (Little girl wants one bowl).

My requirements has always been simple and the same all these years - Mee Pok, dun want Wantan. Only today, did I realised that Uncle kindda got my order wrong all these years. Today when I ordered my BCM, he shouted out the order to his wife "Xiaomei yao yi wan, bu yao wantan (no wantan), bu yao cai (no vegetables), Mian Sao (Noodle less)". And then uncle turned and grinned at me like a small boy who just got full marks for his test.

Wait a minute! Where did the extra requirements for my BCM come from? Thinking back, no wonder I always had no vegetables and lesser noodles in my BCM. Btw, I love vegetables, so I have no idea how that came about.

But then I decided not to correct the uncle. Since he cooks me the best BCM that always makes me happy, I'll just let him think he got my order right all these years. :) It's an exchange of happiness.

Airshow Spectacular..

2008-02-19T04:20:00.000-08:00

My legs are totally dead. And My back is killing me. This, from all the walking around the whole day at the Airshow Site in high heels.

The busiest 2 days at the airshow is over. The whole of yesterdae was spent at the Equinox Complex for bilateral meetings, and today, at the airshow site.

Early bright and cheery on Mon morning at Equinox..

The great view from the 69th floor..

Their pretty Liqour display..

At the Airshow... the RSAF Black Knights flying display wowed the crowd..

And the crowd's favourite...

The F15 Fighter Jet... the deciding factor of mine and the boyfriend's future...

On top of the CAAS Chalet..Seaview, very nice!

---------------------------------

On a side note, The boyfriend and I have booked my birthday Genting Trip, Yayeers!!

Singapore Airshow Week..

2008-02-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

It's Singapore Airshow week.. my colleagues and I will all be busy with bilateral meetings at Raffles City as well as onsite..

Tomorrow's Sunday and was looking forward to spending time with the boyfriend and also to book our Genting Trip.. but he got summoned to work tonight and will end work only tomorrow morning and will probably be zombified by then, whereas I need to work tomorrow and have to be onsite at Raffles City for a bilateral meeting at 4.30pm.. Our lovely Sunday... GONE..

You're the air that I breathe..