Meeningfully

Last weekend, I joined my lovely colleagues in Penang for a company offsite.  I almost gave this trip a miss as J was down with fever and flu few days prior. Somehow, I decided on a compromise of going only for a night instead of 2... which was a fortunate thing, else I may have missed out on what I thought was my best meal in 2013 thus far.  The Kebaya Restaurant   is part of the Seven Terraces , a boutique hotel set in a row of refurbished Peranakan terrace houses, in the heart of Penang's World Heritage site.  Walking through doors was akin to stepping back into the time of the "Little Nonya", and having spent 4 years of my life in a Peranakan school, being in this space was like going back in time.  The restaurant serves up 4-course Peranakan set meals of your choice, quite like all western fare with an appetiser, followed by your mains of one protein and one greens, ending with a dessert. You will notice their food comes with hints of influence from

I did not make any New Year's resolutions this year. Not because I do not believe in them, but it does not work very well for me every single year. However, what I am attempting to do is to work on things that matter most to me. So, for a start, I made J the promise that I will try to spend more quality time with him. J will be turning 9 months old in a week's time. About two months back, as I watch him play, I realised how much I have missed out on his development. The daily routine of leaving him at the IFC, picking him up 30 minutes short of 7pm, leaves me very little time to interact with him. I am not sure... but with this, he perhaps defines "mummy" as someone who feeds, bathes and puts him to bed. That can be quite sad...or am I expecting too much? As I write this, I am already in the midst of making some major changes in our lives. I left the job which I thought I would be comfortable in for the next couple of years, for one that would give me the flexib

Burger's favourite teacher has left, and I am pretty disappointed at the way it was handled. I am not sure about other infant care centers, since this is the first time, and the only centre Burger has ever been to.  The infant care centre actually assigns a teacher to three kids , and these teachers will be responsible for the development of their assigned babies. I personally think this is a pretty cool system, as for a parent, I would know who I can look for to catch up on my son's development. This also meant that Burger was exceptionally attached to his assigned teacher who I refer to as A here. He loves her so much that when she was the one to hand him over to me at the end of each day, he would hug her with all his might, and almost every time sometimes ignore me. This is not the case if it was the other teachers who had to do the honours. In such circumstances, Burger will usually be kicking and squealing in excitement for me to hold him in my arms.  On a po

The past two weeks was hectic. We welcomed Burger Boy's paternal AND maternal cousins with lots of helping out both sides. Work seems to be picking up instead of tapering off. Who says year end is a lull period!  And, i was rushing out Christmas orders for UrbanNook. Lots to do, but I would say extremely fulfilling. On that note, I am  joining Mummy J on her "Thankful Today" photo linky, albeit a little late. Better than never I guess. While we countdown to Christmas, it is always nice to count the little blessings in our lives...and I know I have many to be thankful for. So here's (some of) the pics: 1Dec - Beginning Today, my niece Baby I is born,  about a month early. So on this day, I am grateful that Baby I is healthy and well, and am looking forward to the endless playtime Burger boy will have with her. 2 Dec - Clean   My favourite sanitizer.... lavender smelling. Helps keeps the germs at bay! 3 Dec -Read My early attempts at i

As mentioned before...I am really bad with this travel blogging thing. This should have been completed since September.... oh well! The 3rd branch of this boutique hotel chain in Taipei is only 5 minutes from Taipei Main Station by foot.  It's white and orange exterior which glows very vibrantly at night is quite hard to miss. As you enter their doors into the lobby, you will feel the same vibrancy as their exterior. Exterior of CityInn III by night The interesting room doors that has a different theme on each floor 2 things I like about this hotel are: 1) Location, location, location! As mentioned, it is less than 5 min away from Taipei Main station, which means we are in the centre of all the attractions around Taipei City. That also means that a great variety of food is close by with the a full floor of restaurants at Taipei Main Station. Q-square is just round the corner, and I love the shopping here. This was where I bought my MummyRoo (Rootote) diaper b

Dear Jonas, You have grown so much over the past few weeks that Mummy is finding it hard to keep up with your development. You are a week to 4 months old now and you have achieved some amazing social milestones while lagging a little behind on your motor skills (or are you just being lazy?!). Here's how you have developed since Mummy's last letter to you: 8+ weeks - You are frowning less, and smiling more. Smiling on demand even, which melts my heart every single time. Mummy cannot quite remember when you first flashed your genuine smile, but guess that is not  important anymore. It matters more to see you happy each new day, and responding to my presence with that sweet smile of yours. You have also started to coo. You go "oooo" whenever I call out "Jo jo jo nas" to you. Such gentle sound is music to m Mummy's ears. Your physical growth also amazes everyone around you. You gained a hefty kilo just over 2 weeks, making you 6kg at  2 months. A

Dropping in for a quick update on whats up with the burger family lest some of you think we have vanished from this space. :) The past one month has been busy busy busy. Lots of changes and adjustments (stressful too) but happy to say the least. Here's what we have been up to: Settling Jonas at infantcare - Well, yes. We decided just a month before I am due back to work that we want Jonas to be placed at a pre-school. We never planned this to start off with, but eventually felt it was the best for everyone. Of course we went through bouts of guilt. More on how we came to this decision in a later post . But all I can say is, this burger of mine is enjoying being in "school" , his teachers adore him, and he simply loves manipulating them! Settling myself back at work - I went back to work when Jonas turned 3 months old. It was hard...as I was bored to death at home, greatly in need of adult conversations...yet it pains me to be pulled away from that cute little thi

I finally got down to writing my first letter to our precious boy. Thanks to all the other mummies who have religiously done this, inspiring me to start  my our own letters to document Jonas' development. So here goes for instalment 1. Dear Jonas, You turned 6 weeks old last weekend, and it was probably the longest 1.5 months for Papee & Mummy. You gave Mummy such an easy time when you were in my tummy, and we thought that's going to continue when you arrive. We guess you are now having the last laugh while Papee and Mummy are still trying to suss you out. At week 1 , we thought you were the cutest thing on earth. Mummy had loads of energy and spent almost every waking hour just looking at you. We felt really thankful for you, the most amazing gift we have received in our marriage. You were so easy to care for. We hardly heard you cry... you waited to be fed, loved to bath and went to sleep as and when we wanted you to. Perfect, we thought! Then came week 2 when you d

Wanted to have "final" thoughts recorded before I disappear from this blog for some time.... yes i do foresee I may not have the time to blog when Beanie comes. 1) It was my last day @ work today. Quite a relieve actually. While I had initially wanted to work till the day Beanie arrives, the past few days was rather challenging.  The weight bearing down on my pelvis, the constant need to relieve myself, the daily bouts of diarrhea and the punishing weather makes me wanna just stay home and await the arrival of my precious little hwa. 2) I don't quite care that I am wasting at least a week of my maternity leave. I just need all the sleep and rest I deserve before I attempt to be a mother, a wife and a daugther. Let's talk about being a marketer in August. 3) To everyone who thinks I am such a cool mum even before the baby is here... "Thanks!". I have absolutely no idea why I am not nervous. Yes, this is my first pregnancy... and maybe because it is, and I

This post is actually overdue. Well... after my entry on which new phone I should get , Hwa went out to renew his already expired mobile contract and got me a white Samsung Galaxy SII, when he is still using his really old iPhone 3G.  How sweet is that?! Ok, as mentioned before, I am no professional tech person who can write a superb review on mobile phones... but here's what i like on the S2: I love the 4.3 inch display and super clear resolution. It made my BB torch pale in comparison. It's 8MP camera, and the various free photography apps makes photosharing so much easier now. Love how I can quickly prettify the piccies I take on the go. With this, I can't wait for birth of Beanie, where I can snap non-stop and share them instantly with all of you. While I thought Samsung and Andriod's interface was easy to navigate around, I had friends who begged to differ. They felt that Apple was more user friendly, and works well with non-techy people like them. Actually, I

30th December 2011 saw us celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. Time certainly zooms pass us, and this anniversary will be the last where we celebrate as "just us". Next year this time, Beanie will join in the celebration... as the labour of our love  :) Dying to go overseas, I booked ourselves into Siloso Beach Resort @ Sentosa. (Well... going across that bridge is still considered overseas right? ) I  will do a short review of the resort in a while, but just let me recount the day's happenings first. Celebrations started on 29th December.  We got up bright & early, and headed to the sonographer's for my week 20 fetal anomaly scan. I was a little nervous as I have not seen Beanie for over a month, so am not sure if everything's alright. My worries were unfounded, and this early morning visit brought us the best anniversary present we could ask for.... that was the gender of Beanie. We are expecting a Dragon Boy! Yay! This wonderful news....coupled wi

Happy New Year everyone!!!!! The last few days of 2011 ended with a blast! Albeit falling sick on new year's day, and the first day back at work was smooth which is good.. so let's hope 2012 will be a fabulous year! Anyway... having the flu when pregnant is not good at all. Despite  given flu medicine, the doctor actually said if I can tahan,,... best not to take any medicine. I took the flu pill on the first night .... and i think beanie concussed immediately becoz the usually "active @ night" baby actually had no movement for a good 12hrs... which got me rather worried. So... i decided to not to take any medication for the next few days no matter how horrible I felt. So... after 4 days... I am still nursing my flu! sigh.... Still... i believe 2012 will be fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!

A trip to the land of smiles will never be complete without a visit to the spa. I used to frequent Baan Dalah MindBody Spa @ the Sukhumvit Soi 8 for their foot massage. This spa is lovely, convenient for where i stayed and reasonably priced.  But for this trip, i wanted to try some place more lush. Googled before the trip and found a couple... and settled for Urban Retreat as it's the cheapest of the lot. There are 3 outlets in central Bangkok, all of which are along the BTS Sukhumvit line. I chose the newest outlet, right at the doorstep of Asoke BTS station, made a reservation via their online form, and was quite impressed at how quickly they responded to confirm my booking. All these in a matter of 2 hours. :) True to their name, upon walking through the doors behind their counter, it felt like you have just entered  a retreat away from urban bangkok. You will be brought through what seems like a maze with multiple doors .... kinda like a sense of mystery as well! SImple an

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Ok.. like my work... i am actually having a backlog of entries. I was looking at the photos I have taken over the past few months... and realized that there's so much to share... yet not had the time to do so. On 8 May, I had the pleasure of attending a good friend's wedding @ Capella , Sentosa. It was my first time @ Capella, and have heard lots of good stuff about it, and that it made a very good location for that perfect wedding. Well... i would say it sure lived up to it's reputation. Rustic architecture amid the island' s greenery, giving one a sense of tranquility right from the drive up to the hotel. The ballroom was one of it's kind... circular, pillarless with pretty dome shaped high ceilings. The environment played a very important role in bringing out the love that was floating in the air. It was simple, yet very beautiful. Beautiful not because of how the place was dressed up to be... but coz i could truly feel the love. The way the groom looked at

Merry Christmas everyone! I know i have been pretty quiet both on FB and here for the past few weeks...been trying to make some changes, and adjusting to them. When i made the decision to move from Aviva to my current job, i have in some way made my christmas wish(es). I want to change the way i live my life .... i want to be able to spend more time @ home, doing the things i love. So far, the past few weeks seem quite promising , so let's see how i go from here. Other than changing jobs, we've got a new member in the family. Mum has let go of Vespa's passing, and opened her heart to accepting a new dog. We adopted and welcomed Mickey , the mini maltese to our home. I've also made baby steps to re-visit my plans for UrbanNook. I have put my maiden business in cold storage for about 9 months now. It is about time squeeze some time out of my daily schedule to fulfill my dreams. SO.. here's doing a little advertisement... there will be new stock coming in in Ja

“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.”  ~Lazurus Long I have made the decision more than a month back to leave my present job for another. This is probably one of the hardest decision I have made in my career so far. I love my job…I love the opportunities given to me, the trust people in the office have in me. I love the people….and the chemistry the team has. Then everyone starts asking… if i like whatever that’s going on…why do i then want to leave? My answer? Hope . Hope that with the change, I will start having the time to do the things I have always wanted. Hope that the new environment will help me attain the things I dream of...and Hope that I can slow my pace down… and start enjoying the world around me. I know this sounds quite ridiculous to some… and many have the other view that jumping into some place new … also brings about an equal and even greater stress than staying in a place of familiarity. Like what I have said to people around me

I finally completed editing my favourite photos taken in Perth.   Sunset coast…. we spent  two days at a bed and breakfast at Sorrento. Not only was the property and our hosts fantastic…the beach and the view you get is simply breathtaking! Enjoyed the evening walks we took along the beach with the cool sea breeze and warm sunshine… if only we stayed there longer. :) The pic on the bottom right is Sorrento Bed and Breakfast which i just mentioned. The property is split into two levels, where the owners, Alan and Clodagh lived on the first storey, while the the second storey is kept exclusively for visitors like us. The bed was the cosier than most hotels i have stayed at… for the price we paid… we got so much more from staying here…. :) Rottnest Island… having lived in Perth for 3 years…. i have never stepped foot onto Rottnest. It is only now that i realised what I have missed! An almost untouched island… with soft white sand… and clear blue water… Love Love Love the sun an