Birthday Dinner @ Riverwalk Tandoor

Had an early birthday celebration with my family at Riverwalk Tandoor at Boat Quay...Clarke Quay...Boat Quay...I always can't rem which side is which.










Dinner was good, and conversation better. Can't really remember everything we talked about, but among the various topics was whether maternity leave was going to be extended to 4 months! That was the night that PM was delivering his speech at the National Day Rally. Wahaha, I hope I hope I hope! :) Oh Terrence and Sharon also gave me a little soft toy to enjoy before Baby comes. I say for me to enjoy before Baby comes cos when he comes, the toy will be passed on to Baby! heh. JJSB also gave us a tiny little pair of socks for Baby :) It's qiute cute. When worn it looks like Baby is wearing shoes, but it's just the design :)










Anyway since Sharon & I are both pregnant at the same time, every family gathering has us taking photos together to see how we've been growing :) I think JJSB has the back-to-back photos that we took.












After dinner, we headed to Central to try some Jap ice-kacang that Terrence recommended to us. Mmmm...yummmyy. Their green tea ice-cream and green tea shakes are particularly good :) And I got another prezzie from Joe & Josh! They got me a chic bag to use for when Baby comes! It's large enough to hold all the essentials, and they even made sure there was a compartment for me to put my own stuff like a book to read :) Very practical and useful! Anyway, I guess it's like that huh? Once you have a kid, most of the presents you get will be baby related :) But who's complaining? I can always do with another bag wahahaa.

Rachel & Kieran's Wedding!

They've actually been married for quite a long time now, but this was their belated Singapore celebration. Rachel looked fabulous in her gorgeous blue gown :) Her speech was hilarious too! There was a nice atmosphere to the place, and it was especially nice to see people actually dancing on the dance floor! So often you have empty dance floors during events such as this. The band was excellent too!

Anyway, it was fun to dress up for the occasion. Not many chances to dress up when you're preggers I think :)












It was also nice catching up with some old SC friends and find out what's been happening in their lives. It's like a foretaste of the 10-year reunion we're having this year - too bad I can't make it for that though.










The other nice bit was seeing Mummy & Papa dancing! They've been taking ballroom dancing classes, and it's really cute to see them dancing together! Here they are doing the ChaCha. And see the other photographer in the background? That's Terrence!! Haha. Just as I took this photo, this flash went off as well! Between the two of us we've got their dance well covered! :)

Preggers Tummy! (3)

I think I'm discernibly larger!












(please excuse the mess behind me! my house is still a disaster zone!)

National Day Walk

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Tim, Reuben, Jon and I decided to celebrate the occasion by going for a walk. As we'd not finished the entire Southern Ridges route the last time, we chose to carry on from where we left off. So we met at Alexandra Arches and headed in the direction of the HortPark towards NUS.

A wonderfully sunny, and very very hot, day! Plenty of people decked out in red, including me! Some even brought little flags! :)

The HortPark was quite interesting, though we didn't really study all the exhibits. Our main aim was to complete the route. But I think The Botanical Gardens is prettier, and a more natural environment. HortPark had some landscaping done which was quite artificial. Perhaps there are nicer bits that we overlooked since we were just passing through.

The walk was a little tiring cos there were some continuous uphill climbs, and I found myself panting quite a bit and getting tired - signal to rest! Shouldn't be overheating and overexercising when pregnant. We rested for a while at one of the parks by a carpark up on the hill overlooking Sentosa...where we saw a few army boys tuanging. One of them was snoring so loudly that we could hear him from ard 25-30 metres away!

We went further on to Science Park I where we came across a most ridiculous sculpture which was a classic example of civil service propaganda. It was called "The Tropical Brainforest". Check out what its trying to show...


















...and then see what it looks like!!! *gasp*


















Anyway, for some reason I felt really tired that day and wanted to stop walking soon. The guys were kind enough to finish the walk just as we reached South Buona Vista Road. In our usual style, we then took a cab to Holland V for makan! hahaa. Exercise then food. That's always the order! :) After spending the early afternoon eating (first a long leisurely lunch, then having a long leisurely time over dessert), Jon and I head home to shower and rest before the next National Day activity - watching the Parade at Terrence's place!

Sunday Lunch @ House

Someone suggested checking out the (fairly) new place House for a late lunch. Went there with Curfee, Bernie and Reuben. The place has quite a deconstructed look, with stripped down pillars, and bare concrete floors and ceilings. But I really liked their lighting. Each bulb was connected to a long black wire, and the bulbs were hung around in clusters with the hanging excess wires contributing to the artsy look of the place.










Food was quite good, though could be more hearty. I think the main draw is that it's fairly quiet and provides a nice atmosphere to just hang out and chat the afternoon away. I was busying myself with colouring in the paper placemat, which if you submitted, gave you the chance of winning a free spa treatment. Thought I made a decent effort on it. You can see the uncoloured placemats in next to my coloured-in one.










Anyway we felt like doing something else after hanging there for several hours, and decided on borrowing a movie to watch. We ended up back at our house to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks! Hee hee. Very cute and adorable! Just some fun Sunday entertainment :) Interesting little bit of trivia though, throughout the show they never played that famous tune "Alvin, Simon, Theodore, doo, doo, doo-doo-doo-doo"! How can!

Preggers Tummy! (2)

Still growing!

Sentosa Getaway

Jon & I decided to take a break and have a local holiday at The Beaufort, Sentosa. Initially we had planned to go for a short overseas trip, but we weren't able to get any flights, and in the end, we weren't able to get that amount of leave we needed. We decided a local holiday would still be enjoyable, and we were right!

There are quite a lot of perks to a local holiday. First, it's cheaper than going overseas! The price of a one night stay is the cost of one person's fuel surcharge. Second, it's so convenient and near, particularly since we don't stay far from Sentosa. No time wasted checking in, travelling, etc. We did pretend that our car ride was a flight :) Well, ok, I pretended haha. I gave the announcements to switch off all electronics, to buckle up, and enjoy the flight :)

The pilot - Captain Nair!









It was a little cloudly when we first arrived, but got sunnier as the day progressed.








Third, it can feel like you're overseas anyway! We went to Tanjung Beach, and it could have been Malaysia/Thailand/Bali cos there was the sun, the sand, the sea, and the foreigners! haha :) It was a friday, so most locals were working. I think we were the only, or one of the only, locals around. Of course the sand isn't as white or as fine as what you'd find elsewhere, but still, the environment was very relaxing.

Bo lang. Very shiok.








I loved the huge deck chairs provided - space for yourself, your bag, books, and drinks to all sit comfortably together, plus with space to spare!










Actually before heading to Beaufort we went to McDonalds for a leisurely breakfast. Check-in at the hotel was only at 12pm, so we hung around at Macs reading the papers. We went to the Queenstown outlet - the one with the pond filled with turtles. I had a lot of fun with them! haha. Let me tell you about it.

We were sitting by the railing and I suddenly realised there was a turtle staring up at me. And then I thought, "can they really see so far?". So I started waving my hand around to see if the turtle would follow it's motion, and to my delight it did! Then, I excitedly used both my hands and continued to wave as another turtle looked up and followed my hand motion. I then realised I was attracting the attention of the turtles from the other end of the pond! They can really see quite far! So they all started swimming towards me from all corners of the pond! They probably thought I was gonna throw some fries over or something. I was the Queen of the Turtles, wahaha...they follow my every command! :) (Yes yes, I was on holiday and just playing...) But it was very entertaining to see them swim over, then scramble to get the best spot under me. Some of them were stepping all over their friends to be on top of the rock, or to be at the prime spot in the water! It was hilarious :)

Anyway, after a while they realised there was no food coming their way, and slowly one-by-one they lost interest in me and swam away heh. But that shows they must have been weaned on a diet of fries, nuggets, and other food from Macs. Privileged turtles.

But back to Sentosa.

Yup, after checking into our lovely lovely room, we went to hang out by the beach for the entire afternoon. The sun had come out and it was wonderful! I have decided that Tanjung Beach is my favourite of the lot as it's not as crowded and touristy as the rest. KM8 is a nice beachside pub, and Jon enjoyed a couple of bottles of Corona while I sipped my mango juice :)












KM8 also has a pool by the beach! Yes, you would have thought that having the sea so nearby would make the pool redundant, but no! It's really very pleasant to soak in the pool cos it's clean, cool, and very refreshing! The water was a lot cooler than the sea water. It was nice dipping in it, while waiting for our snacks to be served :)

Anyway, an afternoon on the beach resulted in us having quite obvious tan-lines, which was nice given we haven't had much of a tan in the UK!

After a shower, we indulged by having dinner at The Cliff which is well-known for it's food. We had pre-dinner drinks while watching the sun set, and a subtle, tasty dinner of well-prepared fish.

Back to the hotel to watch brainless movies like James Bond and Borat :) Then a restful sleep!

Day 2 saw us taking a walk to Palawan Beach for breakfast. Then spending the rest of the morning dipping in the hotel pool and reading trashy magazines. Well, actually I was reading trashy magazines while Jon as usual read his Business Times :) If that's what he considers holiday reading, who am I to correct him? hahaha =)

Before checking out, Jon indulged me and ordered room service!! I love room service hahahaa :) Don't know why. I just think it's fun. Like how I like airplane food. Anyway I was quite reluctant to order room service cos it's not say super cheap, but Jon, being the lovely hubby he is, indulged his pregnant wife hee hee. I'm not complaining!! :O)










After checking out, we were again happy for the convenience of a local holiday - a short 15min drive back home! :) And then, as with all lazy holidays - more napping! Think we must have made up for all our lost sleep that weekend! zzzzzzZZZ :)