my little sweet niece! :)

pictures of Emma! :) still feeling the thrills of being an auntie! and my sister is a MUM! :)

welcome dear emma! :)

I am a proud auntie as of 1 plus this morning :). My dear eldest sister delivered her baby today. she was in the hospitable since yesterday morning and i have just been super anxious and excited! Was praying the whole day while i was running around denpasar shopping for stuff for the office. Couldn't sleep last night either and was praying till i fell asleep! We are so glad both my sister and Emma are fine. Couldn't help but felt teary after the phone call from my sister this morning. It's a mixture of joy, relief, thankfulness and the fact that i am not there with her and to see my niece for the 1st time. so i am counting on my dear nicolas to post lots of them sometime today! :) .

at times like this, you are reminded how precious life is and what a miracle life is in itself.

welcome onboard Emma! Can't wait to hold you in my arms :) . xxx

To Angie & Richard...

Wishing the two of you many, many great moments together! the wedding pictures (http://patricklovephotography.com/blog/?p=548) say so much! after seeing the pictures cannot stop grinning you know! :) .. hugs and xxx to the both of you! :)

long time no write :)

yes we have been really busy at the dive shop! :) I have been studying for my divemaster, helping the hubby with the dive business and trying to sort myself out :). And this facebook thing has just taken over my blog time! with the facebook you get instant gratification, instant replies (chats), you know what your friends are doing and of course there are the word games that i love playing! .. the blog slows you down and make one retrospective which it's a good thing i reckon. :)

life is pretty great at the moment though i sometimes wish i was as certain as some who knew exactly what they want to make out of themselves.. you know the big A word - "ambition". i recall i wanted to be a scientist when i was young LOL.. then i think i want to be in the police force but i didn't want to die too early LOL.. then my dad thought i was going to be a nun! hahahaha.. THAT is funny. The holy moly me when i was back in school. I believe and have great faith in God, BUT i don't think i was nun material you know? :) ..

i have just pretty much taken on what life has thrown at me and i think i have done pretty ok. I am enjoying the diving, i have a good working relationship with hubby, i like the lifestyle (have you seen the view from my rented house!), i get to do my yoga regularly and i have a great hubby who works his butt off for us and so we can build us a home. I am a simple girl. I am content and feel blessed and when i look around me and what i have compared to those who have less, i know I have a lot. Not money lah but i have a great family back in Singapore who cares a lot for me (they are still trying to get me to move home!), a bunch of long time friends that visit me and write to me all the time and a hubby that i am so in love with though he is just absolutely messy which drives me nuts all the time :)..

so yes, i am counting my little blessings today... so should you :)..

PS: looking forward to visitors from singapore this month... :)

PPS: Trivial update.. NOT! .. Got to know french guy who is a hairstylist here! now i get my hair cut for free! in return for yummy chocolates :) LOL..

My Sista & KH - Wedding 250409

our lucylam is getting married!

am so excited our dear cousin rachel aka lucy lam is getting married next may! :) i can only imagine her looking like a fairy princess :) ... can't wait! must start saving for the perth trip next year!

.. be back sing on the 22/4 :) .. can't wait! :)

3rd year wedding anniverary part II

ok, i was told that i was being lazy about not blogging my photos! :) found a short cut way to do it so here's the pictures cindy! :)

our 3rd year wedding anniversary :)

it's been a really great weekend. :) .. having friends fly all the way just to attend our anniversary party. i mean, who throws a 3rd year anniversary party right? :) i miss them loads and though they were here only for a few days, i had a really great time and graeme and i both felt really important *giggle* and very loved :). it's been a while since we both felt relaxed and just let our hair down... it's definitely great knowing that i be home in a week's time to catch up some more. :) and to stuff my face with hawker food and to catch up on some much needed sleep... *eye bags are atrocious!* counting down to the 22nd April! (corrinne's birthday!!!) .. perhaps i might entertain her by wearing an orange top :)

happy anniversary hubby :) i heart you :)

photos on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106576&id=661584965&l=d647ee5909

I am freeeeeee....

dear friends and family
i am sooooo happy to announce that i have quit my job at the resort :). not sure why i waited so long but ah well. I DID IT! i will be helping hubby with his dive business full time; going to get my divemaster license of course and the one thing that i won't stop doing is weddings of course!!! :)
so bring it all.. to new adventures ! I am sooo happy :)

Hubby's 36th!

we managed to sneak in an impromptu birthday celebration at the watergarden for hubby. it was a nice evening despite all that has happened recently... i am glad to see him smile tonight ... happy birthday hubby! xxx

to DT

a very dear friend passed away this morning. he was only 53. he was a good man with a big heart. he had a great sense of humour and he loves his doof doof (rave) music. he will be missed dearly. Dear God, i hope you have him with you now and that you have a doggie for him where you are as he will miss his Deejay very much...

Mum-in-law Visiting! 8 Feb - 27 Feb'09

Valentine's day in Bali!

MY FIRST WASHINE MACHINE!

My brother Paul text me yesterday morning and told me a Washing Machine was on the way! :) He was visiting for 2 days with Caren and it was great having family here over the New Year, though we were all falling asleep at countdown watching E! entertainment :).

Sitting right at the corner of my bathroom now, is a light grey coloured LG washing machine with fuzzy logic capability (well not too sure what it means but that's what they called it!) and ability to do up to 8 Kg of clothes at one go. We carried the box upstairs to the bedroom, tore off the box and took the machine out and admired it for a while. We read the manual and tried to fix the hose etc but it was a bit short. So this morning, hubby went off to work and obviously visited the neighbourhood hardware store and brough home a new tap and a longer hose. :) after a good hour of fixing the hose and taps together, we were ready for the first wash! :) I must add we were like kids playing with a brand new toy for the first time LOL.

We threw in a few trousers, a few t-shirts, poured the washing powder in the designated box and pressed the start button. The machine rumbled for a second and down came the water! :) The machine tells me exactly how long the wash was going to take and what it is doing at the moment etc. We sat through the entire wash-rinse-spin cycle before we came back to work LOL . It's brilliant. :) I think there is a tumble dry option and i will investigate that tonight :) . (is it obvious enough i don't own one and have not use one before?!? LOL

We are thrilled and very very thankful and appreciative of our washing machine! I must admit i got a bit teary when i got the SMS as well. Thanks so much my dear paula and caren for the very very thoughtful Christmas gift :)... and all the M&S biscuit and my pretty MNG top :) ... the cranberry scrub makes me smell so yummy after each use :). I wonder if i can try to use some on Charlie :)...

Hope yo see you all soon! xxx n hugs.

To my dearest friends and family, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for the new year! ... may all our dreams come true!

Chinese food!

Telaga Naga, a Chinese restaurant in Sanur. We often drive past this restaurant wondering what the food is like especially when i am craving for chinese food. They only opened at certain times of the days so most of the time when we drive past, it is deserted. I found out later it only opens from 6.30pm to 10.30pm and that it actually belongs to Hyatt Hotel which is just across the road! (no wonder the beer was so costly!)

There are big tall red flags lining the walk way with bamboo poles litted up. Red lanterns are hung up everywhere like a typical chinese restaurant. The restaurant is set back about 20 metres away from the main road, into a tropical garden with a lotus pond surrounding it. A very tranquil setting. You can hear each other talk which is a plus point.

The restaurant has a pretty big menu, serving mainly Cantonese (yeah!) and Szechuan dishes. Serving size is just one standard size which is not typical for a chinese restaurant i thought. Hubby asked me to order whatever i wanted :). So i went for the 8 course dinner for 2!

It included:

1. starter: duck spring roll

2. soup: asparagus & mushroom eggy like soup

3. 2 meat dishes: stir fried beef with onion & pepper & spare ribs which tasted like char siew!

4. 1 vegetable dish: bok-choy with oyster sauce

5. fried rice, and

6. dessert was watermelon with sago in coconut milk.

they tasted so home-made! except for the texture of the beef which was quite chewy, we both thought everything was pretty good. we both felt we committed gluttony after LOL. the 8 course dinner cost RP. 140,000 nett per person. Given that the restaurant was part of the hyatt hotel, i thought the price was rather reasonable. What was obviously more important was that the food tasted good. I will definitely return to Telaga Naga. Maybe CNY?

As you can tell there are no pictures taken at all as i was too busy stuffing my face.

So here's the website if you like to make a booking:

http://bali.resort.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/entertainment/restaurants/index.jsp

Christmas arrived in a box today! :)

Thank you no. 1 :) . my sister sent me this M&S care pack with Spinelli coffee! Everything i loved! christmas has arrived! :) Thank you thank you thank you!

my sunday project :)

I made my own christmas tree! :)

christmas shopping :)

Hubby and i went downtown yesterday. Oh, downtown refers to denpasar, where there are shops, more shops, cafes, restaurants, book shops which i miss very much and people! LOL. We wanted to do some christmas shopping and we probably picked a good time to do so as well as there were sale going on everywhere! how strange i thought but i didn't waste time wondering why of course :). i had 1 hour and 1/2 to myself whilst he was in the dentist and i had ball actually taking my time picking, choosing, taking my time over the christmas decoration stuff and zipping in and out of probably every single store in Matahari!. I am finally going to admit that i MISS SHOPPING and WINDOW SHOPPING! my eyes were having a great feasts! Hubby and I walked through every single aisle at the hypermart that was next to MATAHARI and i was taking down notes on how much those worldly possessions that we wish to get for the new home we are building! 37" to 42" tvs (we do not know the difference between plasma or HD tvs. they all looked good to us), nice big huge fridges, microwaves and washing machine (i hand wash all our clothes at the moment!) and plastic plates and cups that hubby feels strongly about given that i am so bloody clumsy :).

We drove to Carrefour after and finally after all this time, i bought Hubby his first ipod. an ipod nano! :)

the nano is super light and so very thin! i bought a JBL speaker as well and as we speak, hubby is playing with his new toys in his office :). Merry Christmas hubby. I hope you like your gift! :)

if it's anything we are deprived of it's music! music in the car, music at home, music at work. the radio stations here are not brilliant and when you finally get a channel that plays an english song you get someone talking non-stop and it feels like eternity before the next song is played. Other times you get no signal whilst driving through the kampung areas. so if you are one of those that just cannot live without music, you will understand our grief and deprivation :).

We ended the day at Cat&Fiddle, a restaurant in Sanur which was on our way back home. The restaurant actually belongs to the british consulate here. If you like a nice big english or irish breakfast or pies and grills, this is the place to try out. The food is great here and i think we were both craving for that draft San Miguel that they serve as well :). it was raining and they had a local band playing. A very entertaining and lively band and they knew a wide range of songs. The liveliness made up for their mis-pronounciation which use to hurt my ears but now makes me laugh. I guess i am slowly fitting in and taking things in my stride.

I had a great day... it almost feel like a "normal" day out. i don't go out often lah! so it means a lot :)

homecook food, good company and music!

Gary & Theo are owners of Ari homestay which is right next door to us and they are great neighbours i must add :). Ari Homestay is a simple basic place for backpackers. Rooms are clean and you have the option of hot or cold shower. Tables and chairs are set up right by the verandah where you get the best view in Candidasa. Their big breakfast and great hospitality is something to look forward to and the icy cold beers of course .

We were invited to their place for dinner last night. Theo is fantastic cook! i never say no to an invite from them and especially home cooked dinner LOL. Ian & Julie were there. (it was their last night in Candi). And there were John & Linda, a dutch couple who are owners of another resort down the street whom we have have never met before! (yes after living here for 3 years!). Trixie arrived shortly with a flat tire.She is our South African friend who lives down the street. (The poor lady is having problem with jealous village people. Her tires get slashed every week!)

The Blues Brothers were blasting at the background when we arrived. I must admit to this: The name was completely unknown to me but i found myself singing to the blues! i grab the cover of the CD and i went oh! :)

i think my dad probably know their music pretty well. (well now i know what i am getting him for christmas present!). i loved the music and we started dancing to it after dinner! We moved the tables and chairs when the rain came and there were leaks from the roof over the verandah. But the music was so good we all started dancing on the verandah! :) The wet floor, the humid night,the smell of the rain and the half cresent moon made it almost like a tribal night, minus the bright florescent lights ;).

We were all very full from dinner and i think the dancing went on for a while :). dinner was grilled tuna in banana leaves, eggplant with sambal, gado gado with home made peanut sauce! i think most of us had two helpings. it was yummy!

time flies when you are having a good time.. i had a great time dancing. something i haven't done for a long time! :) even hubby was on the dance floor today and it was great! i think we have made the homestay verandah our unofficial dance floor for christmas party too :). 19 days to go !