An American Girl

We checked out the American Girl store in NYC over the weekend and boy was it a mad house! There was actually a line to get in. You'd think it were a new trendy club or something. Apparently American Girl dolls are the latest 'IN' toy for girls aged 7 and up. There are 2 kinds of dolls 1) Historical Character Dolls that come with their own story 2) Just Like You dolls that look like you. Freaky eh? You can even dress like your doll. Of course these dolls don't come cheap at almost $100 a pop!

Hubs and K were rolling their eyes at the insanity of it all while kicking themselves for not coming up with such a money making idea. There are American Girl magazine, movies, books, furniture, clothes for dolls, clothes for girls, pets, the list goes on. The most ingenious (or incredulous) part I must say is the doll hair salon! You can actually bring your doll to have her hair done. $10 for a sassy ponytail, $20 for elaborate braids. They put the dolls in little chairs with aprons ... I was quite fascinated. It's all a little cute, a little nuts.

Erh yes I am a hair stylist ... for dolls. What is the world coming to??? :P


Does this look like me? LOL

Gobble Gobble

My stomach isn't feeling very well at all. It's been kinda queasy the past couple days. I know, I shouldn't have abused my poor tummy over thanksgiving. It's all L's fault! Why did she make such a delicious sweet potato casserole, and turkey and and ... The worst part though is that it all culminated in several bathroom runs while out shopping on Saturday (will spare all the details). Ended up taking some Imodium to feel better. And the saddest part was that we were going to Sushi Nouveau in Montclair NJ that evening for Omakase. Sigh... needless to say I didn't have much of an appetite. However, I did manage 8 pieces of sushi. The scallops and giant glams were amazingly delicious with a slight hint of a citrusy sauce (I think that's the chef's specialty). I can't believe I missed out on a good meal :( So unfair HRMP

Some photos from thanksgiving. Step aside Legal Seafoods, this oyster stew by L gives legal's clam chowder a run for its money.


Not complete without the turkey ...


The pie we bought from Finale in Boston. If you can't bake it buy it teehee


Didn't get any good photos from our sushi dinner. Hubs forgot his camera and we had to make do with my camera. He also refused to use flash :p so they all turned out dark.

The Sushi. Tastes better than it looks:


The green tea tiramisu with almond pocky ... very good. I ate even though my stomach hurt :(

I am ... Mini Moaner

My friends say that I'm a pessimistic sort of person. Hubs calls me Mini Moaner coined after Debbie Downer on Saturday Night Live (she's funny!). I'm sceptical, I'm apathetic, and I love complaining. But I can't help it, I am Singaporean! :)

Was thinking about its this morning. I read a report about Newton being named he safest city in the US. That's a good thing right? But all I could think was, great just what we need. Prices will go up and we'll never be able to afford a house here, and the criminals now know where to shop! It's true you know ...

Hey look, it's Debbie Downer. BTW doesn't Rachel Dretch remind you of Harry Potter????

Natto Obsession

I should be working on my resume. But blogging is more fun. :p Hubs and I have been stuffing ourselves with natto ever since we discovered the joys and convenience of frozen natto. Natto is this weird sticky stinky fermented soybean that the Japanese eat and we love it!

This is what the carton looks like:


Our attempt at making natto maki. I know I know, not very gourmet looking :p

Of Eyebrows and Chocolate

Yay I finally made up with my eyebrow threading lady this weekend. I stopped going to her earlier this summer because she'd stood me up several times! :( Unfortunately, this boycott hasn't turned out to be too successful since it's not like I'm spoiled for choices. I went to Leeba salon near BU for a while but I stopped going after the lady ruined my eyebrows!!! :( They turned out crooked. Mad does not even describe it. And I'm not usually that particular about my eyebrows.

OK so I finally sucked up my pride, tail between legs, and went back to Nila auntie at her new salon. She used to work out of her home and A and I would sneak out at lunch to get our eyebrows done. Anyway her new salon (Dreams Salon) in Harvard Square and my eyebrows are beautiful again!

Another perk of the new Harvard Square location is that it's right behind L.A. Burdick, a New England based Chocolatier! We stopped by the cafe after to get some hot chocolate. The place was super packed so we'd to get it to go. The hot chocolate is unique, more bitter than sweet and very rich. I'd recommend the small cup coz I felt sick after downing most of the medium (and I love sugar!). Oooh I also bought some chocolate mice. Very cute!


A photo from inside LA Burdick. Doesn't it feel like you're in a different country? I want to move to Harvard Square!!!


Eyebrow Theading, 114 Mt. Auburn:

Got Some Spare Change?

Found our mailbox stuffed with all kinds of junk catalogs today (in time for x'mas I suspect?), victoria's secret, patagonia, bloomies, and the ultimate neiman marcus catalog!! I've always enjoyed perusing whilst gasping at the ostentatiousness of it all! :p

My top picks for this year ...

#1. Skycar Prototype
Who can resist a skycar? Only 3 million moolahs ... it's touted as the "world's first personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, designed to elevate individual drivers above the headaches of commuting and the dangers of highway travel". WAH!!!


#2. The Henry Dunay Brooches and Necklaces
From their site: the black jade brooch (217.52 carats) is embellished with diamonds (2.28 carats) and rubies (39.36 carats). Erhmmm like I didn't even know jade was measured in carats?!?!


#3.Swarovski Crystal-covered Ipod Case
Erhmm this one is considered cheap at the lowly price of $840.


#4. Louis Vuitton Jewelry Case
I saw this in the paper catalog for *coughs* $44,200. I can't even find it online. Don't tell me it's sold out already? This one I don't mind having ... so exquisite looking! :(


OK can't continue now. I just told hubs about the skycar and he rudely snatched the catalog away from me for his toilet reading :p ... ahh maybe he will get me something in there for x'mas *dreamsss*

Sephora Haul

It's been a busy start to the week. Attended an info session Monday night and a project management seminar this evening. Was unmotivated to go and a colleague bailed at the last minute, but I'd already told my manager I'd attend. Needless to say it was *#@# boring zzz.

But on a brighter note. To treat myself, I stopped by Sephora before the seminar to figure what I'd order with the Friends and Family code. 20% off gals! Skincare and make up hardly go on sale so I'm taking full advantage. The code is FF2005 and free shipping on orders >$75. Thanks to P, I'm going to try out the Bare Esentuals starter kit which includes sample foundations and brushes. I'm a loyal Shiseido fan but hey she convinced me! It's also one of the top selling items on sephora.com.

Am also gonna get Philosphy's Gingerbread Man Body Souffle (I love the warm scent!), some Nars blush in orgasm, Fresh sugar face polish, and Clinque Water Therapy Body Cream . Hey a girl deserves to be pampered every once in a while ... especially when there's a sale :) Oh and my shopping cart was coming out to way too much money so I had to axe the train case yet again. *sob*

5 Years Too Late? Ikea in Boston

I remember emailing Ikea when I first moved here demanding for a store in the area. Yes, I'm pathetic but so's Boston. Singapore has had Ikea for as long as I can remember. I used to love the stinky ballroom as a kid. :)

So on Saturday, we made the trek down to Stoughton to check out the new store. Just as we got on route 24, the traffic started backing up and there was a ton of cops lurking in the area. Ikea traffic? Was doubtful at first, I mean not like they're giving away free stuff right?!? Then we saw signs that exit 19B was closed. Hey wasn't that the exit we needed to take? Ok so that didn't phase us, we decided to try the detour. But holy schmoly as we got off the ramp, we saw that traffic all backed up as far as we could see. WTF?

Anyway, we never made it to Ikea. Decided to go to Wrentham instead :p ... not a bad trade. I got some cool peenk mixing bowls for $10 from Williams and Sonoma and a wine glass rack. Oh and a cheap pair of $30 slingbacks from Ralph Lauren. YAY one can never have enough shoes.

Ikea Traffic (we're not even close):


My cool pink mixing bowls (pardon the poor lighting):

Kids and Grown Ups Love it So ...

The happy land of Haribo! Me lovess Haribo gummy bears. I was introduced to it in college by a friend whose bf was German. Enjoying some now since it's Halloween and what better reason to snack on all kinds of sugar-coma inducing candy? Today I've had candy corn, M&Ms, Jr. Caramels, Smarties, and Haribo of course. Feeling kinda ill now. No thanks to those darned over zealous people at work who bring in candy to 'celebrate'. BLEH OK fine they didn't force me to eat it ... but still ... :(

Snow not Flurries

I can't believe this! It's only October and already snowing. We just skipped right past fall here! I'm not ready to scrape snow from my car yet. And my other peeve is it's hard to look vaguely chic and stay warm once the temperature falls past 30 degrees F. This sucks #*@#*@#!!! :(

The flurries started just as we got back from the park with Moxie. She's posing with the pumpkins outside our apt:


Mintues later: The view from our kitchen window


Just took another peek, not only is it falling fast, it's accumulating!!! WTF!!!

Friends like These

Do you have friends who are too polite? Who insist on bringing gifts every time they bunk over? Who insist on paying all the time? Damnit they make all the other free loaders (like us) look bad. I usually feel just a little uncomfortable accepting the gifts. After all, what have we done to deserve this? Thankfully my excitement about the gift usually banishes that feeling pretty quickly.

Anyway A and N came up to visit us last weekend and of course brought with them more gifts for us. So paiseh, but it's rude to decline isn't it? In addition to some wine, we got some neat Japanese pastries (wagashi) from Minamoto Kitchoan in New York. They are so delicious, I'm addicted. Every afternoon, I look forward to green tea and a nicely wrapped (you know the japanese) azuki cake or persimon jelly. MmmMMMmmm

As you can see, most of them are gone.

A Very Sony Weekend

Hub's friend from college,T, was in town on a business trip and stayed with us over the weekend. Well you see, he's a vet and was here to treat a very sick dog at the Museum of Science.

Hubs with the sick dog. Aibs is cool!


We also got a treat from T (courtesy of sony) at Oga's, my favorite Japanese restaurant! Yum :) In my very biased opinion, Oga's is the best in the Boston area. Even better than the ones in the city proper (Ginza, Fugakyu etc). And according to our also very biased Japanese friend N, the chefs are really japanese (not taiwanese or korean ok), so of course that is a measure of quality haha. It's only other rival is Oiishi which seats only 14 ppl so there is a guaranteed loooong wait. We don't bother to go there except for take out.

Our sushi below. Didn't get to take photos of the rest of the stuff we devoured (too busy eating).


Oh yes and scheduled for delivery this week is a new LCD tv, also from Sony, with a nice employee discount. I tried to convince hubs against this one so we could spend the $$ on purses instead. Sadly (for me) that didn't go down very well.

Time to Buy?

I've recently noticed a ton of for house sale signs everywhere I go. You know, when I'm walking the dog, driving to work, driving around town etc. Decided to put it to a test this morning by counting the number of 'for sale' signs I see on the 10 mile stretch from home to work (wouldn't recommend trying this, if I weren't such a good driver (hah) I'd have driven into the guard rail).

The total count *drumroll please* 17, not including most of the houses on the opposite side of rt9 that I missed! Damn I think that's a pretty big number. It's almost 2 house per mile along a major road. Could it be true? Is the housing market finally coming down? Will hubs and I finally be able to buy a home??? I'm seeing so many more condos in Newton listed for <400k in the past couple weeks. Some pretty nice too. Just last year you wouldn't even get a shack for 400k.

How cute is this one in Brighton? Only 409k?


Oooh or this 1bdrm for $349??


Or this one in back bay for under 500k!

Should we wait till the price falls some more? Nothing pisses me off more than a bad deal!

Moxie's Tooth

Poor Moxie has a fractured molar and we have no idea how she broke the tooth. It's actually not surprising since she is silly and goes through xtra tuff nylabones like doggie biscuits. The vet doesn't think it's the nylabones that caused the fracture but something really hard, like a rock. The sad part is I can totally see her trying to destroy a rock with her bare teeth. *sigh*

So we were faced with the dilemma of how to get the tooth fixed. There are 2 options 1) extraction and 2) a root canal. Yup root canals, I kid you not. Ironic since there are homeless starving people, people with no health insurance, and here is our dog getting a friggin root canal?!??! Anyway after more research and asking around it seems an extraction would be the best option (let me know if you think otherwise) since it is less complicated and heals faster and not to mention cheaper. Not that extractions are cheap, they run like $400! *weeps*

Here's her broken tooth:

A Room with View?

We moved offices several weeks ago and I finally scored one with a window, only to find that having a window isn't all that exciting. I'm not liking the variable lighting conditions brought on by the weather. I actually like it nice, dark, and gloomy in my office. Other reasons why I dislike the new space ...

1) Can't use my glareguard now since the light bounces off the screen. The reflection makes it impossible to read.
2) The door has windows it in??!?! So much for privacy hrmp.
3) It's a pain to walk to the main building especially in crappy weather (which is all the time in NE)
4) The gym is in the building (I don't have an excuse not to go anymore)
5) No more cafeteria or vending machines in the building (only a stupid 25 cent gumball machine type contraption that ate my quarter today. so much for my 3pm sugar fix *@*#!)
6) Shady bathrooms that don't seem to flush properly (but on the bright side they have those fancy motion activated paper towel dispensers)

Yes I'm very whiny. Ok ok check out the view. Nice scenery huh? Haha but I confess I faked it by pointing the camera up. We're only on the second floor so I can see the parking garage below when I'm sitting at my desk. How therapeutic.

Bills Bills Bills

When L told me the other day her first vet bill came up to over $200 I was appalled. Told her that ours was cheaper (yeah right I'd obviously forgotten how much it can come up to :p). Anyway I took Moxie to the vet today for her annual check up, you know the usual round of shots, nothing special. But guess what! The total came up to $227. I was feeling quite faint at that point. Excuse me, but my visit to the doctor's only has a $10 copay. Even without insurance, I don't think it'd be more than a $100 right?? WTF???? At this rate Moxie better be able to double up as a furry designer purse for me ;)

Oh yes and I finally got the bill for my wisdom tooth surgery. A whopping $3k. Luckily half will be covered by my insurance and the other half by hubs'company. But of course the inept idiots at the hospital billing dept still haven't gotten my insurance info right after at least 5 harrassive phone calls from me. So who knows when I'm going ot get my $$ back. Looks like I'll have to call them again tomorrow. :( *groan*

Our New Addiction

Gran Centenario Añejo!!! It's all K's fault why did he introduce us to this. I think we're turning into lushes (especially hubs haha). We had the most delicious margaritas down at K's place a couple weeks ago. The secret apparently is in the tequila used. You have to get the good stuff. No more cheap Jose Cuervo crap from college parties. Craving some, we raced down to the liquor store last Friday night right before closing time to grab a bottle. It was even on sale at only $45! Nice.

Anyway we've been having these damn margaritas almost every night now. The tequila is so smooth, you barely even taste it (I don't know if that's the point since you can drink it on the rocks, but whatever I'm no connoisseur), and no hangovers or headaches either. Very nice. Oh and an added benefit is you end up sleeping like a baby, like you've taken Nyquil or something. :) Niceeeeeeee

Our home made margaritas. That bar set I bought hubs for his b'day sure comes in handy now.

Boston's Best Korean BBQ

I don't usually write about our food forays since I always forget my camera when we go out. It also makes me feel kinda nerdy snapping away at the food. This time though, I managed to get some photos!

We headed up to New Jung Su BBQ in Burlington for dinner on Friday night. We used to frequent Koreana in Cambridge for our Korean fix but we haven't been back since J took us to this new place. The food is as good as that at Koreana but it's out in the burbs so there isn't the hassle of parking and the long wait. Well actually Koreana has a more extensive menu but the BBQ items are comparable. We had the Kalbi, some spicy pork thingy, both cooked at the table, and the tofu chigae. The Kalbi was excellent! The spicy pork was alright, we'll have to stick to the beef next time.

Looks yum right? The spicy pork is in the foil:


I love variety. The little sides dishes are the highlight for me:


A painting on the wall, I thought it was cool since it features my favorite POM wonderful pomergranates (very high in anti oxidants!). Though the damn birds seem to be enjoying it. Weird....


They don't have a liquor license, but I believe you can byob.

Christmas Catalog 2006?

Check out what hubs made with our spare (almost busted) laptop - a live updating photo frame/display for our living room! It tells time, date, weather, traffic with live updates, and rotates photos from our Flickr feed. He was quite dissapointed when I wasn't floored when I saw it, but hey see I am, I am blogging about it!

Anyway the desktop uses Konfabulator (some new software don't ask me to explain, I can't) and pulls in info from different websites (wait correction, he says it's widgets... butwhatever). I really think we should sell this to Neiman Marcus to display alongside LV trunks, and private jets, in their ostentatious christmas catalog. :)

Shoes Shoes and more Shoes

Read recently that Condoleeza Rice was seen shopping for shoes at a Ferragamo boutique in NYC, a couple days after hurricane Katrina hit. Of course a big brouhaha ensued. Duh ... the woman should take a lesson or 2 from me. Sweetheart take your shoe shopping online ...

Speaking of which, I finally received the shoes I got from the Neiman Marcus online sale last week. I managed to snag a pair of Burberry Dr. Scholls for only $50 (marked down from $150) and also a pair of Delman D'orsay pumps with free shipping! Woohoo! I also wanted the Via Spiga Spectator pumps for $50 but sadly they were sold out by the time I got home to make my second order (hah). Do that many people shop online? Are there really that many psycho shopper like me out there? *sigh* Nothing makes me feel happier than a good bargain! :) BTW Condi they had Ferragmos too! And all for less than $100

Moxie checking out my new shoes. She better not chew on them if she knows what's good for her !!!

South Park Me

Say hello to South Park me, so sweet yet so deadly.


Say hello to South Park hubs. It really looks like him!


Wanna create your own? Click here. I guarantee hours of fun!

I Need a Maid

Our apt is a freaking dump. It looks like someone ransacked the entire place. The good news though is that we don't have to worry about burglars coming in. HAH. But one can only tolerate the mess for so long. Spent the better part of the weekend cleaning. I am so proud of myself. Check out the vast difference. I promise I didn't stuff all the junk on the bed into the closet or something lame like that. :)

Guest Room Before and After


Much as I'd like to blame the mess on the dog, the hubs, etc. I'll have to admit, I'm just not very good at keeping my place neat and tidy. I used to have an obstacle path leading to my bed in college and sometimes I couldn't locate the other side of my shoes. Now is anyone able to make me feel better by showing that their place is worst off than mine? :) (guess it's doubtful but the challenge is on)

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Who who who who .... Being psycho dog lovers, we drove down to NJ last weekend to meet Pasha, my cousin's new German Shepard puppy. He turned out to be the sweetest pup who loves collapsing by your feet. Awwww.... and he's only 3months old so his ears haven't stood up fully yet. Right now they're kinda crazy looking making him even cuter!

Moxie and Pasha posing for the camera:


You can see more Pasha photos here. Check out his too big paws. They are surprisingly soft compared to Moxie's. I love big paw paws. Saturday was also baby E's first birthday party! He's seen here with his grandma (my aunt). Isn't he such a cutie pie?


The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around the house with the dogs, though we did manage to drive into the city (which was surprisingly empty) and hung out with some old friends who used to live in Boston. Why has everyone moved to NYC? *sniff*

Late to the Durai Party

We received an email at work today about the company matching donations made to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. Feeling really bad for the poor Katrina victims who've lost everything, I reached for my credit card to make a donation. I mean which Singaporean can resist a good bargain right? My donation will be worth even more!

I mentioned this to hubs who then made a jab at how I better be sure the CEO isn't getting overpaid like the infamous Durai! Curiosity stirred, I did some research and learned that the Red Cross CEO, Marsha Evans, is paid US$450k a year.

Ah hah, now I've heard some arguments that people are just jealous Durai is getting paid so well, that running a large organization like the NKF is really tough and you gotta pay the best man for the job and blah blah blah. But let's do the math here.

Durai
Salary: US$360k
NKF Program Expenses: US$4.8 million
% Salary: 8.4%

vs

Evans
Salary: US$450k
Red Cross Program Expenses: US$2.8 Billion
% Salary: 0.02%

Tadah!!! Confirm overpaid!! This Marsha woman is running an organization with expenditure of over USD$ 3 billion. And Durai?? Using the Red Cross as a rough guideline, he should only get SGD$137,600 a year. Sounds reasonable, it's more than 10k a month ok. Not like he will have to pimp out his kids or anything. Come to think of it, it's not really be his fault except for the lying part. Now who were the fucktards who decided to pay him that much in the first place???

Bargain Hunter

Yay my new Charles David shoes from Amazon finally arrived! Who knew that Amazon sells shoes too eh? The best part is I got them for $30 marked down from at least a $100!! So cheap right? Free shipping too muahahha. Very pleased with my purchase. It's been a while since I've done any shopping. Was too obsessed with wedding planning and became quite frumpy for a while. But I'm back on track!

Love the shoes, only dissapointing thing is that it's made in china (but what do you expect for $30). Stuff made in china just seems so mass produced and of poor workmanship. Apparently many companies are moving their operations to China due to lower cost. Of course the savings aren't passed on to us consumers. What were you thinking? Duh! It's hard to find mid-range designer shoes/bags not made in China for less than $300! Kate Spade, Cole Haan, Coach ... all made in china!! **@*#!! ... but back to the shoes.

So cute! And the heels make my legs look longer :)

Park Review

They say that people with kids or dogs know all the best parks in the area. The latter is certainly true for us. Having had Moxie for a while now, we've toured most of the parks in the vincinity. And just when we thought there weren't any more left to explore, we discovered another favorite today! The little Reservoir Park off Route 9 in Chestnut Hill. There's a nice path with plenty of benches and trash cans (very important so you don't have to carry the poop with you) that go all the way around the water. It was breezy, shadey, and so picturesque that we decided to go back in the afternoon for a little picnic. Here's a photo from our excursion:

Notice she's drooling. She desperately wants her treat.


These are the other parks in the area. Let me know if there're others we left out:

1.Arnold Arboretum - In Jaimaca Plain. It's a huge park covering over 250 acres but I didn't find it particularly spectacular. The Singapore Botanic Gardens is much better. haha

2. Boston Commons - Nice place to people watch and for Moxie to meet the city dogs! Cons are that it's hard to find parking.

3. Bowen Playground - Good for daily walks since it's right across the road.

4. Cold Spring Park - A favorite since it's close to our place and dogs can run off leash. There's also a doggy playgroup in the afternoons for the lazy.

5. Chestnut Hill Reservoir - Near Boston College. Parts of the trail is a dirt path. Reservoir Park is way nicer!

6. Reservoir Park - Our new favorite. Great for jogging or catching some rays.

Dum dum dee dum

They're finally ready. We finally received CDs of our professionally taken photos from my dad by mail last week. See there are reasons why I haven't been blogging in a while. I've more important things to do like mull over my photos!

Initially I was really dissapointed with the photos because our photographer neglected to take shots of our wedding programs and confetti packets. We put so much time and effort into designing and making those ourselves. I've been bitching and moaning about it for days. So I'm kinda feeling sick of the topic. But today I am feeling slightly generous and will say that for the record I am quite satisfied with the rest of the photos he's taken. *gasp*

Based on my pre wedding shots and wedding day photography experience, I've learnt that choosing the right photographer can only do so much to guarantee the quality of your photos. Yes, I hear you bridezillas out there going ... what you mean it's the luck of the draw? It also depends on a variety of factors like whether the photographer is on form that day or if he's got an inspiration block. It's similar to being an artist. Got mojo = good day. No mojo = bad. Choosing the right photographer will only mean that you'll have a higher likelihood of getting better photos over some amateur who might be a hit or miss. I've seen photos from 'so called' good wedding photographers that were kinda blah.

So if I could do it all over again. I would get 2 good photographers :) and hedge my risks. Great idea eh? Why didn't I think of this before? *sob* Muahahhahhah ... I bet hubs is soo glad that we won't be doing this again.

One of my favorite shots:


What's a wedding without the kiss:


You can see the rest of our photos here.

Dear Gahment, Why Can't I Vote?

Triggered by tribolum's post I read on tomorrow.sg and the presidential election fiasco in Singapore, I must say that while it's outrageous most Singaporeans don't get to vote because of the lack of candidates, it is even worst when others don't even qualify based on some other criteria (i.e. me and hubs). I looked up the elections.gov web site today and was stunned to find that I didn't meet the requirements because I had been out of the country for more than 3 out of the last 5 years. Say what???

Holy schmoly is that really grounds for having your right taken away from you? What have I done to deserve this? Afterall, I am a good, polite Singaporean citizen, with a red passport, pink IC, and a spanking good command of singlish. I don't litter, I am over 21(don't ask), I read the Straits Times daily (ok ok only before they started charging), I have good personal hygiene,I am kiasu, kiasi, though I must admit to my one vice, chewing gum.

According to these rules, if you live overseas you must either be i)a scholar ii) gahment henchman or iii) diplomat to be worthy of a vote. Which leaves out us not so privileged folk. See for yourself:

You must have resided in Singapore for an aggregate of two years during the period of five years of being away as of the cut-off date of the Registers of Electors; OR

on full-time training or full-time service abroad as a member of the Singapore Armed Forces, or as a public officer or an employee of a Singapore public authority;

on full-time training which is sponsored by the Singapore Government or any Singapore public authority;

employed outside Singapore by an international organisation of which Singapore is a member, or any other organisation designated by the President under the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore;

Could it be because ...
a) I'm not smart enough? Only stupid people study or work overseas, unless of course they're on a gahment scholarship.
b) I'm a quitter and quitters don't deserve this privilege.
c) Or maybe like Gardenia bread, being Singaporean has an expiry date.

Honeymoon Series Part I - Bali

After all the wedding madness, we managed to sneak in a short 3-day getaway for a mini-honeymoon. Ok I call it the mini honeymoon because it was too short and I feel jibbed. We need another honeymoon, or a series. (hint hint) :)

Perhaps my expectations were too high. Hotel Nikko where we stayed was quite mediocre (though the Ritz was probably a hard act to follow). Now I wish we'd stayed somewhere else, like ALila or The Four Seasons (thanks for the rec Gabby, it's too late now) but alas since all our plans were made last minute we weren't able to do much research. We don't even have a Lonely Planet Bali guidebook that we so faithfully buy for each trip. No one to blame but us!

I was surprised by how quiet Bali was. Kuta, the supposed tourist hub, seemed rather lifeless, so was Jimbaran Bay where we went for seafood. It could be because tourism is down as a result of the Bali bombings, the place just isn't as vibrant anymore. Besides lazing by the beach, we also went snorkeling. Though most of the time I was trying not to get washed away by the currents which were pretty strong. The water wasn't that clear either, though we did get to see an assortment of tropical, brightly colored fish that came up to eat bread from your hands.

Our hotel room:


At the beach:

100 Years

I love the photo montage that hubs dearest created for our wedding. It's set to my favorite Five for Fighting song. I must have watched it a gazillion bazillion times but I never pass up an opportunity to watch it yet again. Too bad the song was recently cheapened in some stupid commercial on channel 5. Damnit I discovered it first ok!

For those of you who want to see our very very adorable baby photos so nicely arranged in the montage again (hah), we've uploaded the file so you can view the montage here. Be sure to download Flash 8 before viewing the montage since it contains embedded videos. The absolute latest technology. Would you expect any less from hubs? This is all just a teaser for when we actually get our wedding video and photos! Meanwhile I am desperately trying to relive the moment through photos from our friend's cameras. The wedding was so much fun ... can we do it again?

PS: Pardon the timing in the montage. For some reason the photos cycle at the correct frequency only on hub's computer. Flash is flakey!

I was born with a full head of hair


I can touch my toes

Surprise!

Awww my co-workers threw a little surprise wedding parteh for me with champagne and all. I should have been tipped off by that 4pm meeting on a friday. *#*! But I digress ... wasn't that so sweet of them. More importantly I got a nice $120 gift certificate from Bed Bath and Beyond. A great gift too since I already know what I want. A cool Zojiroshi neuro fuzzy rice cooker! Just in time too since our existing rice cooker is busted with a capital B. Everyone seems to be raving about this rice cooker and being the kiasu lemming that I am ..I want one too! Features I'm looking forward to:

• No more scrubbing the pot ... always have to do that with our existing cheapo rice cooker! Rice at the bottom doesn't burn and stick
• Timer so you can come home to warm rice! (ok ok who am I kidding I probably won't use it. But it just looks so nice and cool!)

Only problem though is the same rice cooker at BBB cost more than at amazon. Hrmmm wonder if they do price matches?