.::. Back to the Grind .::.

It has been a blurry month or two recently.  Ever since the mad rush for quarter-end closing before our Aussie holiday, to the budgeting period once I got back.  Then I fell sick for a good 10 days.  Gosh, the things we take for granted.  You know what’s the happiest things that can happen daily?  It’s having a good night’s sleep and good food for me. I’d be beaming if I had these 2 any day.  No day can actually be bad with these 2 things!

It must have been a very long time since I’m this sick.  After 3 doctor visits, 2 course of antibiotics, at least 1kg of honey, 10 pears with almond drink, 1.5L of Almond Fig soup, I’m finally on the road to recovery.  It’s no joke coughing your lungs out daily, not being able to sleep and totally tire out by coughing itself.  The horrors. 

After so many days of rest, I’m finally back up, starting to exercise again and to tick of some to-do list in preparation for the year-end.

On a side note, Australia was bae, totally exceeded my expectations.  Surprisingly, everyone we met were nice and friendly.  The nature and landscape they have (without overcrowding) was amazing.  I finally see why so many wish to migrate to Australia, even I would consider moving for the weather, nature and fresh food!  We had so much fun this trip, and I think it reignited the wanderlust that has been dormant in me for some time.

Already looking forward to concluding this year and planning the year ahead! =)

.::. Taking Stock .::.

As we are concluding Q3 and going into Q4, I’m glad that 2015 has been another great year, though not exactly lucky for me. I got into an accident, hurt my feet and lost my wallet the first time in my life.

Most of the goals that I’ve set for this year has been checked off the list though.

I have finished my ACCA exams, and is now officially a CPA Affiliate! Not that I’m going to find another job to be an accountant; nor does this change much of anything. I’m glad that I’m done with studying. Studying while working is really tough, especially if you would actually want to have a life. So glad I'm done with this one. =)

An unexpected event threw us off our plans though – we got a car. Yes, I know, absolutely foolish financially when we do not need a car and have free transport to work. It’s an additional expense of almost $2k if not for some help from this parents. It's still a substantial sum of money that could be invested for early retirement and holidays. Although I’m now excited about having our first ride, I can’t say that this has not weighed us down financially and perhaps mentally. I dislike liabilities and hate having to worry about money. After all the sums, we can probably afford it, but things will be different if kids come into the equation and we can no longer enjoy those amazing holidays. If not for the over-trade rebate from the MIL’s old car, and relatively cheaper COE now, we probably wouldn’t have done it. Having said that, since it’s a done deal, we must make sure that we get most out of the car. I’m already planning weekends out with Chikey, and the many places that I always wanted to go but couldn’t without a car. This almost translates to pay more to spend more. =_=”

And with 9 months on my violin, 6 months of piano classes, I’m preparing for Grade 3 ABRSM exams early next year! It brings me so much joy to be able to do what I love and make so much progress over the months. It’s hard work, but it’s a process that I actually enjoy, more than studying for ACCA!

Fitness wise, I’ve been pretty consistent this year till recently. I love BodyPump and BodyCombat, and all the muscles that I'm building. It feels great being stronger and having the energy to do all I do, though my mum constantly reminds me that I'm too 'fat'. It's annoying, but it's also amazing how because of her, I have learnt to not let peoples' opinion of me bother me too much over the years. Life is too short to bother about what people think. 

And here is a picture of us, scaling 2 volcanoes in Indonesia after our exams. It was another great adventure. We climbed Ijen in the dark, leaving the hotel at midnight and reached the top before daybreak. I hope that we stay fit enough to do this again! And I hope that I get to sit down and write about this trip, and our 10th anniversary trip to Maldives last December. And there was Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

The haze is making me so allergic and I’m relying on my inhaler at times. Apart from necessary, I’m hiding at home as much as possible. I have been coughing since weeks ago too. I hope this haze goes away soon! Shooo~

.::. Bangkok 2013 .::.

I found this draft that was never published:

It has been an extremely stressful period for me these months, too much on my plate. Apart from juggling work and Bundle With Love, I'm (trying to) prepare for my ACCA exam in December and (trying to) make some time for fitness goals. I have been wanting to share our...honeymoon pictures since early this year and here I am, almost at the end of the year. I'm acutely aware of how quickly time simply pass by.

 

Amphawa Floating Market - the 'original' one where locals go. The food was so delicious and freaking cheap! My Thai friend whom I knew in Sweden as classmates drove us there.

We then spent a night at Hua Hin, because she bought an amazing apartment there.

Didn't finish writing at all, but those were the pictorial of our Bangkok trip last November. I really love the mookata and have been trying to find the pot for home. We also went to Hua Hin with Fai who drove us and brought us to a very delicious food stall for dinner. We went to the floating market too. And I came across so many beautiful home and decor ideas. It was a great trip and I really love Bangkok - so much so that I've considered buying an apartment there (not that I can afford it yet) so that I can stay there for extended periods after I retire and eat cheap street food. It's hard to explain why, but I love Thai food and like the attitude of the people there. Everything feels very 'real' and down-to-earth there unlike some cities like Singapore where we deliberately try to portray a certain image.

.::. The Getaway .::.

We went for a short trip a few months back during one of the long weekends. It was our first trip of a very busy year and a trip that I absolutely do not want to do anything.

I have never been a beach vacation kind of person. I don't exactly like being in the sun and bum around all day. It just wasn't me, until recently. Maybe it's a sign of aging, or maybe I'm simply too tired that I really looked forward to not doing anything for a few days.

We flew AirAsia from Changi to Kuala Trengganu. There was a slight delay of the flight, other than that no complaints. We took a taxi to the jetty where we took the public ferry to Taaras, previously known as Berjaya. There are direct flights to Redang from Singapore, but they do not fly daily. We were somewhat worried by the bad reviews we read online - there were strikes, very horrible food and some bad service complaints. And when I emailed them to check things out, I got an auto-reply saying that internet was down till further notice! They were already really bad when I was asking about private transfers and ferries, it was so frustrating but I assumed that it was a language issue - certainly not a good impression!

We went ahead anyway, because of the beautiful beaches. While waiting for the afternoon ferry (because the hotel did not have private transfer), we took a slow walk to their Chinatown and market, buying a huge bag of mangoes for $4! We counted and there were 13 mangoes - RM$10/kg. They were all ripe and sweet. We were stuffed with mangoes the next few nights till I swore of mangoes for a long time.

Thankfully, the hotel did pick us up from the jetty (some people waited for hours). We were in awe of the beautiful beach upon arrival. They checked us in promptly, asking about our departure and said that they would prepare a breakfast box for us since we were leaving very early in the morning.

We didn't have much time before it turned dark, and we spent the evening lazing on the beach chairs and checking out activities tomorrow. To our disappointment, ALL the activities such as island hopping and seeing the sunrise weren't available because there was a minimum amount of people needed and nobody wanted that. We could only do the snorkeling trip.

We didn't have an underwater camera, but here's one of the views.

The snorkeling trip wasn't cheap at like around SGD$60 per person for half a day trip. It was badly organized really, with insufficient vans to pick everyone to the jetty. They simply dropped us there and we stood around waiting, not knowing what was going on. Then, after like 30 minutes of waiting we were ushered to the speed boat with 13 of us squeezed on it. A french woman was so upset about it, though we were totally chill. I'm too determined to enjoy my holiday anyhow.

The service was bad - they spoke zero english and didn't even tell us how many stops there were or when should we go down or how long will we stay there. The snorkeling was amazing though, way better than Tioman and both of us enjoyed it.

By the time we were back to the hotel and showered for our late lunch, it was already late afternoon. We spent the afternoon on the beach with me reading a funny novel while he fell asleep. Absolutely blissful.

From where I was lying.

Absolutely stunning beach!

The second day, we slept in and spent another day on the beach. The husband stayed there while I went for a facial and massage at the spa.

I really enjoyed the me-time and spending a few days just doing nothing.

By the way, the food was quite bad and the service was hit and miss. We confirmed our breakfast box during checkout the night before, but they said that there wen't informed (though they did during check-in). They said that they would arrange it, but we didn't have any breakfast boxes the next day! I insisted that we did ask for it, they eventually did prepare it for us but many other guests weren't aware. Internet was also pretty bad, and only available near the reception area. Food was really pretty bad and I would bring some cup noodles if I go back again.

The room was nice and comfortable, though it's pretty expensive. There's not much activities really - the karaoke room wasn't open and the games room had carom without the thing to shoot. There's only a small souvenir shop that's open in the day with a few Pringles chips and nothing but the resort actually. We would have brought some snacks and chips if we knew.

We had to go home after 2 days on the beautiful beach. Really reluctant to, though the bad food made it easier to leave.

It's amazing how we still feel the same way about each other after 10 years.  Always thankful to have him on this journey.

.::. 2013 in photos .::.

iphone. The one thing that follows me wherever I go and contains snippets of my life. Things that I sometimes forget about.

Mental note to buy a bigger capacity iPhone! And in no particular order, just happy memories that I'd like to remember:

The many celebrations at our home:



With my CCHS friends.



With his CCHS friends.



LY's birthday.



Also JH's birthday, with Minnie and a greedy Chikey.

With the neighbors.

The lazy dog who has grown so much.

Brunch dates.

Unglam pictures I took to send him while he's on work trips.











He sometimes arrive in the morning before I leave for work, and buys me breakfast. And yes, I'm very appreciative of that. I wonder if he'll continue doing that till we both grow old.

Outings with the neighbors.

Brunches at home during weekends. My favorite is the bacon and cheese sandwich.

Sometimes there's pancakes and a good pot of tea.

I cut my hair short after a long time.

We celebrated little milestones in our lives.

I mugged and passed my exam - last 2 in 2014!

One of the rare outings with the dogs.

My all-time comfort food. I love a good porridge whenever I don't feel well, and the husband cooks a good pot of porridge.

We visited Hong Kong, his first trip to Hong Kong.

And Hong Kong's Disneyland pretty much sucked.

We celebrated his birthday and had a delicious steak.

We visited Bangkok again after 6 years.

And my little precious boy has grown so much over the past year.

That about sums up 2013. Lovely memories, cozy home to call our own.

Yea I know, the first quarter of 2014 is already almost over. It's been a crazy, hectic year.