A new year

It's been a year of highs and lows. 2009 has come and gone.

Jan
Bruno turns 3 yrs old!

April
Murray turns 3 yrs old!

Climbed the great wall for the first time. (me, not Murray)

Acquired new boss

May
Celebrated Mum's bday in her fuss free manner.
Realised she is probably the healthiest 75 yr old around. And I pray and thank that she remains healthy.

July
Opened 3 stores simultaneously in Ion
Did not have a life for a while

Aug
Opened a new brand in Spore

Sept
Celebrated Dad's bday and had EVERYONE together and enough food to boot (!)
Realised my dad is a year away from 80.
Realised my dad has survived his op for almost 2 years.
Realised my dad has lots of white hair.
Realised I still think he is 55 yrs old.
Realised he trips quite a bit nowadays.

Saw Xian's terracotta warriors and was in awe for a long time.
Ate duck blood in spicy sichuan soup.
Gallery Hotel has the nicest bed and bathroom. Esp when shared with a dear dear friend.
Found out Zhoulibo is a really funny man.

Oct
Visited Philippines for the first time.

Mum had a fall and fracture - the 2nd fall in 30 yrs.
Realised Mum is not superwoman, mum's now a 75 yr old grandma with brittle bones.
My sis moved to her new house. Gave Sassy to new home far far far away. Almost gave Samson away.

Nov
Gave a talk in a local tertiary institution for the first time
Lost a dear aunt to colon cancer. I didn't know how to comfort my cousins except to be there physically.
Attended the wake of a dear friend who lost her father suddenly, all too suddenly

Dec
Opened a new store in a new mall

Celebrated Christmas in 2 new homes - yay!

Had photos secretly taken and posted on FB. And I found out.

Missed Christmas log cake tradition cos some idiot had no brain.

Realised Samson can sing doggy songs in howling voices when I sing with him.

Finally my HG friend is back from London to take a much needed break from Life and All Its Demands.

Met with Uni mates from XX years ago, it felt so like yesterday when we were in school again. Growing old with peers makes one feel young forever.

A dear friend lost her peer who suddenly passed on in life.

New boss departed. Back to old boss.

And a very dear friend sent me a very dear note on the last day of 2009, rendering me stunned for quite a moment in the midst of rushing a report and preparing for sales. It was a surreal moment that forced me to take a deep breath when all around me everyone was gasping for air.

This year, too many people have lost loved ones, some in a more sudden way than others.

Life is fragile, handle with care. Speak gently, listen carefully, and love kindly. Be generous with encouragement, patience and most of all, time. Take time to be, be there, be available, be patient. Too often we take time for granted, that we never have enough time when we need it, and time is too long for those who wait.

In the new year, I just want to be. Be in the moment, to enjoy the time I have, to appreciate the people I am with, and savour the experience the life has to offer.

I will spend more time with my dogs, my family and make more effort to catch up with more friends. Life is, after all, about the journey, not so much the destination.

Bliss

Finally got hold of Jurlique's Herbal Recovery Gel. (photo courtesy of jurlique.com.au )

It's been 2 weeks of continuous day and night usage and I have to say my skin's definitely more balanced than before. Pricey but definitely worth the bucks if your skin's receptive to plant based moisturisers. Light, juicy and gentle is how I'd describe the feeling on my skin.

On days and nights I like more moisture, I add on Jurlique's Clarifying Day Care lotion or Aesop's Primrose Facial Hydrating cream does the trick perfectly.

Love Love Love the smell and texture! Nothing beats Jurlique's Nurturing Mask or Aesop's clarifying mask with these moisturisers. Ahhhh....

Mamma Mia!

One of the few musicals I watched in the recent years took place in one of my favourite cities in the world.

This is 上海大剧院 - one of the finest theatres I've been to. I was impressed with the modernity of the building. And it was just a stone's throw from where we were staying then.

A good friend had taken great pains to secure tickets for the 2 of us that night. And I mean REALLY great pains to ensure we got SUPER VIP seats.

We were asked to enter via the VIP entrance upon arrival and to say that we were the guests of "so-and-so".

Indeed when we name-dropped to the usher at the VIP entrance, we were immediately ushered to a private entrance and had our very very private and prime seats at the balcony.

Prime unobstructed views to the stage throughout the performance.

From what you can see above, we had REAL special seats :) It's probably one of the few moments we could never get over! Those seats were really really special. No one else but the 2 of us had these uber-special VVVVIP seats. Didn't know what to do but accept them graciously and act nonchalant, and most importantly, enjoy the performance of course!

I'm sure if eye-licious were here she would have loved it!

A wonderful night indeed! ( Cam-whoring )

I still remember we walked back to Tai Cang Lu after the performance and went

to Green Massage, still thinking about the incredulous night we had. This was indeed a classic moment for many many decades to come.

That's why I just HAD to find these photos in my archive to blog this night we had. HO!HO!HO!

Guess Who?

My nomination for this year's Singapore Idol :)

Nice! Nice!

Cheyannemummy chose the outfit, Godpa rushed to order it, and Cheyanne modelled it. Nice!Nice!

And all in good taste too!

My favourite time of the day

A very fond walk down memory lane.

Browsing through some very old photos tonight. I fondly remember these yummy cookies.... Hershey choc chip cookies!!! Yummy!

Tomatoes ready for the boil......

Spicy (sometimes not too spicy, sometime numbingly spicy, depending on mood) chicken wings/drumlets (always fresh, never frozen). Lamb roast - on special occasions. French baguette with butter. Tomato Soup, of course.

Some leftovers for home delivery.

And the dream team that made this possible.

Tapas in Spain

One of my favourite tapas dinners with colleagues in Barcelona. This is some kinda bread with olive oil. It was so good!

We had loads of tapas that day, not all were captured on camera as my colleagues were getting impatient with all that photo taking. " This suaku asian takes photos of everything we eat!! "

This cup of cold gazpacho soup was so refreshing. Made of tomatoes and other herbs blended together and chilled before serving, a summer favourite.

In the background were chorizo sausages and fried egg. Again the sausages were delicious!

Here are 2 of my favourites : Calamari rings - the seafood there cannot be bad, no matter how hard they try it seems.

Smoked tuna with almonds. This is a classic!! Never have I imagined the salty tuna would compliment the fresh almonds so perfectly. And it was drizzled with fresh olive oil..... Ooooh! On my own I probably would not have thought of ordering it.

Happy dinner! For the food alone, I'd go back to BCN.