salam ramadhan | eating out

one of the things i'll start doing this ramadhan is to conscientiously leave EARLY every single working day. i've not been doing that the last few ramadhans, and i always ended up being home rite in time for buka, or not even making it in time. and then there were days when breaking fast meant just some biscuits and milo in the office.

my rationale then was that theres no point in leaving early since there's gonna be nobody at home anyway. but thats plain wrong rite. just bcos there's no one at home doesnt mean you deprive yrself of some deserved rest rite. so yes. from today onwards i shall go home EARLY! yeah!

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we hv been eating 'out' more these days. the front lawn at uv is just more accessible than the back lawn at cg. and the weather is kinder at uv somehow (or is it just the overall effects of climate change? hmmm), which makes it perfect for a meal out in the middle of the day.

the famished diner

stir-fried vege

cereal prawn

view from the table

pics above taken the weekend before puasa. and the food's courtesy of the hubs, who's a whizz at cooking. me, i'd rather do the cleaning up if i have the choice (which is not to say that i dont cook lah, but he's the appointed chef in this household).

that was also the weekend when we finally, FINALLY cooked on a REAL gas stove using real LPG gas. our gas stove from cg could not be used because it used piped gas whereas the place in uv uses cylinder gas, which means that we'd have to get a brand new gas stove for this and since we had to host some guests the first week we moved in, we bought a portable stove using those portable gas canisters, not knowing that we'd be using that for d next 2 over months. anyway, we finally thot enuff is enuff and called the gas man and connected the gas cylinder to a stove bought in melaka (just 1 stove only but at least it uses REAL gas and i think it should be sufficient for us since we only use 1 hob out of 4 hobs that were available in the last one).

i should not be going on and on and on about cooking in the middle of a fasting day :D

till next time....selamat berpuasa y'all!

on being a weekday single

the thing about being a single on weekdays is that you dont feel guilty about coming home late from work. which also means you tend to stay back in the office WAY too often than you'd have liked. which also means that you end up eating breakfast food at nite most times....like cereal wif milk, or peanut butter jelly sandwich.

which is really not a bad thing actually. i LOVE peanut butter jelly sandwich.

but i digress. being a single on weekdays also means that i get to have a lot of me time. time to spend with friends. time to hit the gym. time to just shop for hours without actually buying anything. time to read my books. time to watch mindless hours of tv both online and off. and time to surf, and blog, and basically get yrself connected to the world at large thru mindless tweets and fb.

the thing about being a single on weekdays is that you sometimes work too much. so much that your back aches and you'd do anything for a loving touch to knead the pain away.

and that you sometimes have so much to say but no one to say it to, so much that you feel like you will explode to pieces with all the unspoken mundane nonsense of how your day had gone for you, or how you think this particular news on tv was hilarious, or how so and so from the office was driving you nuts with all the politics.

sigh

the thing about being a single on weekdays is that you appreciate your partner more when they're around. you dont take your relationship for granted, and every single minute spent together becomes soo precious it is savoured till its last drop and still you're not satiated. which also means that you come to the realisation that you're totally and wholeheartedly in love with him, and you wonder sometimes how you've been so blessed.

i am blessed, and for that i am thankful. alhamdulillah.

but i am also, at this very moment, missing him a lot.

bus adventure

my brother got the car for the day today (special day mah...ehem), so my parents were left car-less. nevermind, car-less doesnt mean helpless rite. so mum managed to convince dad to go check out the new geylang market by public transport.

they took the train to bedok, then bus to geylang. very simple.

my dad the bus novice though, had no idea how to use the humble ezlink card. so he went up the bus, and tapped the card onto the card reader. with both hands holding the card. and he tapped and he tapped. but the thing kept blinking red and churning out angry beeping sounds.

turned out he's been tapping the card onto the display panel on top instead of the part below! hahha damm funny i tell you. especially when you hear the story from them at the dinner table!

i LOVE my parents. they can be super know-it-all, naggy, protective and all (as any parents would i suppose), but they're MY parents and i LOVE them.

if nobody speaks of remarkable things

"He says my daughter,
and all the love he has is wrapped up in the tone of his voice when he says those two words,
he says my daughter you must always look with both of your eyes and listen with both of your ears.

He says this is a very big world and there are many many things you could miss if you are not careful.

He says there are remarkable things all the time, right in front of us, but our eyes have like the clouds over the sun and our lives are paler and poorer if we do not see them for what they are.

He says, if nobody speaks of remarkable things, how can they be called remarkable?"

i am so struck by the book, i am in awe.

mrt companions

these 2 books were my mrt companions 2 weeks into uv. discovered there's a library near d station (yeyy!), and though the collection wasnt fantastic, it would suffice for the rides (and STRICTLY for the rides, i must add. which is actually not an easy thing to keep to cos i keep wanting to continue my reading at home but that just wont do cos there are a gazillion things one can do at home, chief of which is to watch tv, and feed the fish, and surf the net, all 3 a must for every weekday night but not necessarily in that order)

i must say i was impressed with the first, being leslie silbert's debut novel and all. it's part spy thriller, part historical novel, involving the last days of the real-life playwright/poet christopher marlowe (who some said was as brilliant, if not more, as shakespeare and would hv been insanely popular if not for his early demise). i'm looking forward to her second novel, which apparently is still in the making.

the second one's typical anita shreve. she has a way of writing that's somewhat lyrical and poignant. anyway, i realised that i hv many of her books (courtesy of the $5 mph warehouse sales over d years) which are as yet unread, and the only reason why i'm borrowing this is cos i've yet to unpack my books. procrastination is the mother of all diseases i tell you.

on moving and turning 32

so it's been a while. i moved house, turned 32 (yeyy!), and started re-acquainting myself with frens. is it possible for us to grow younger as the days go by? i feel young these days. must be the running, or the uv air, or both.

the one thing i dont particularly fancy abt the new place is waking up early to go to work. i HAVE to leave the house at ard 8 if i were to have any chance of coming to work on time. and the journey takes abt an hour in total, which is a bloody long time if you ask me.

what is good tho is that i've been saving on cab fare. it used to be that i'd be taking the cab to work nearly every day when i was in cg, since it's pretty near the office. but there's no way i'd be taking a cab to work from uv - it's just too far away! the further you are from the office the more likely it is that you'd come on time and save on cab fare. strange but true.

so i'm 32 and a month today (or yesterday to be precise), and i'm loving every minute of it. i'm more confident and sure of myself, compared to my 20s when i was still trying to figure out who i was and how i figured in the scheme of things. the 20s was all about pleasing others dont you think? we were young and clueless and so we do things that we 'think' could validate our existence in this world. now in our 30s, i'd like to think that we've gone past that. that we're mature and confident enough to look at the big picture, to grab the many opportunities life has to offer.

may my 32nd year be my best yet, InsyaAllah :)

running

am having a breather in uv after running around like like a lady possessed the whole day. it's no fun having to supervise the contractors at the new home, AND have movers come to the old to give quotations for their moving service (how much is too much?)

on another note, this is actually the first time i'm in uv alone without him. at night. i can get used to this.

walking in the rain

nothing like a walk in the rain to chase away those monday blues :)

i think i'm suffering from work burnout. motivation level is close to zero....and am dragging my feet to work most days. like today.

i need a break. and i think a huge helping of baba chendol would help :D

fun headache

moving house is pretty fun, and pretty much a headache too. we've already started moving some of our stuffs to uv, but there are still tons more in cg yet to be packed.

and we're cheapo, which means that we'll be bringing over practically all our aircon units, our water heaters, our furniture, even our curtain rods! which also means that we'd have to uninstall many of the stuffs, and install them back again in uv...pretty labour-intensive if you ask me.

we'll also be bringing over the plants - a key reason why we're moving to uv is so that we'd have space for the plants. but bringing the plants would mean that we'd have to UPROOT them first...arrrggghh...and replant them again! which would also mean that i'll have my heart all torn up again cos i KNOW when you transplant them the plants will die (cos of shock perhaps?) before they produce new shoots. arrrggh!

some of the plants in cg which will be uprooted and transplated in uv. check out more of our cg pics here!

too young

the letters were out yesterday.

my head said i'd definitely not get it this year cos i just got a whopping pay adjustment late last year. but my heart obviously thought otherwise, secretly hoping that i'd be recognised for my outstanding contributions (ahem) for last year.

my head won...of cos. no promotion for me :(

i cant say i'm not disappointed. i really thought i did well last year, and if THAT could not account for a promotion then i dont know what would.

and what sucks the most is being told that the bosses thought i'm TOO YOUNG to be promoted to the next grade. TOO YOUNG!

on the brighter side....the amount of money i'm getting for PB is pretty decent...hehhe...so i'm not all sad :)

the number 3 | introducing UV

the number 3 holds special significance to me.

i got my driving licence on 3.3.03.

on that very day, we were 'officially' an item too....which makes us 6 today! hehhe

our current address has 33 in it, and...

our bid ending with the numbers 33 was the winning bid...yeyy!

we decided on a whim to place a bid for a place in the east (back to the east for me!), and what do you know, we got it! alhamdulillah. it wasnt something that was planned. we didnt even know the place was available until the morning of the viewing, and that too because he happened to ask me (while on his way to pick me up from work on saturday - yes, had to bloody work on a saturday...urrgh) to check on the website to see what was available.

so anyway...we went for the viewing, and thought the place nicely done up. we've been around the area before, but didnt really think much of it cos the whole area looked rather run down then if you ask me. but like i said, they seemed to have done up the place rather nicely. so we thought we'd try with a bid.

the market has really gone soft now hasnt it. i dont think our bid would have been successful a year ago, or in fact, 2 months ago. as it is, we've been told that we're the cheapest among our neighbours so far. alhamdulillah...we've been truly blessed.

introducing uv

new plans

the cg chapter is finally ending. we knew the lease will be up soon, but we've sort of harboured some hope that we could somehow convince the powers that be to extend our lease till the end of the year.

but that's like waiting for fate to deal us a hand. and you know we'd rather make our own fate :)

we're making alternate arrangements now...wish us all the best yah..

in the meantime, here are some pics from our last get-together @ cg....

food & frens

we brought the sofa out..hahha!

is that a kingfisher spotted in our backyard???

bookworm

i've found back my love of reading. it's not that i'd stopped completely. just that i don't think i'd obsessively read a book from start to finish in under 2 days flat for the last 2 years, until recently.

it all started early this year when we were hosting a 'party' (as ana my tenant would call it, though it's more like a chill-out get-together over bbq kinda thing) for friends early this year. a group of us were at the table, and the girls were talking about the latest movie to hit the screens then- twilight. and i was telling them about how i was intrigued to get the book cos everyone was saying it was way better than the movie, but that i couldnt seem to get my hands on one cos they were all sold out (which was true back then!). and lo and behold ana herself had all 4 books, which she promptly lent to me.

of course i didnt start on them till the hubs was away (weekends are too precious to be spent reading trashy juvenile novels dont you think ? :P), but the moment he was gone i started on the first, and i was hooked. not because it was well-written (it's very juvenile and nauseatingly sweet-valley-high), but because edward cullen was CUTE, and so heartbreakingly endearing. it helped that i could picture exactly how he'd look like (i caught the film online immediately after i put down the first book..hehh. so-so movie, to-die-for lead actor :P). and immediately after that, i started on the second, then the third, then the fourth.

i finished the 4 books in 4 nights straight (or rather...nights & early mornings. i didn't read during working hours - very unprofessional, and EMBARASSING, to be caught dead with those books).

the books made me hungry for more. and being the cheapo that i am, i copiously took down the titles of books that caught my eye when we were at borders (our weekly ritual...borders-browsing), and stopped by the library one day after a meeting to see if i could get them there. and i could! nlb is so hip i tell you...hahahahhha (even though they refuse to write off even fines dating back to 2000 amounting to a grand total of like $0.80...bleah)!

so i've been reading. and reading. and reading. i've gotten it back! the mojo!

i slept at 330 this morning devouring night watch (the book rocks! must get the other two!). i'm officially knackered.

but i'm happy :)

once a bookworm, always a bookworm. yeah!

the curious case of bb

1. i'm curious as to why the movie is so long. it lasted for about 2 and a half hours. i'm very sure it can be shortened.

2. i'm curious as to why bradd.pitt acted so 'stoned' throughout the movie. he was stoned when he's 5, and he was stoned when he's 40. shouldnt he be exhibiting a little bit of excitement sometimes? like when he rode that to-die-for looks-like-triumph-bonneville bike through the roads? surely having the wind in your face would elicit some sort of smile? there was none. and for that, i dont think he deserves to be nominated for best actor.

3. (and the most curious award goes to....) i'm curious as to how bb is born as a baby, but died as a baby too. i mean, i get that he's supposed to age in reverse. but if he's born in the body of a baby with the physical/mental conditions of an 80-year-old, he should die in the body of an 80-year old with the physical/mental conditions of a baby. ie he should still be brad pitt, but a brad pitt who can only suck his thumb and go gugu-gaga instead of talking.

so i dont think the movie is as great as all the nominations purported it to be. but it does have its moments.....like that haunting quote "your life is defined by its opportunities...even the ones you miss" which is still in my head even now.

the best thing about the movie though, was the opportunity it gave me and him to date each other. i totally enjoyed our walk through orchard road in the wee hours of the morning, the jokes we shared, the easy way he hugged me.

last weekend was magical, but not curious at all :)

25 things

pakcikely tagged me on facebook...so i'll humour him. but i'm not gonna do this there cos some things are better left within a closer circle of friends :)

so here goes..

RULES: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I am short, specky, and how one would describe, not unattractive (ahem :P)

2. I am inherently intelligent (seriously), but hopelessly lazy. Which explains why I can be in the top class of the top sec school (cos you dont exactly have to study hard for psle do you?), and yet end up with only a merit degree in a generic non-professional discipline.

3. (But) I'm happy. My lifelong ambition is to be happy. Asked what I would like to be when I'm in school, I'd invariably answer "I want to be happy". And I'm happy. Alhamdulillah.

4. I'm hopelessly in love with my husband.

5. I am a toughie. And a tough negotiator to boot. Cross me and you'll be sorry.

6. I've been cautioned several times earlier in my career to be more diplomatic with my words. I can't help it, I'm sarcastic like that. I've mellowed some, but I can still sting.

7. (But) I am a mush when it comes to affairs of the heart

8. I am afraid of dogs, cats, rats, among other creatures. But rats are currently residing at the top of the list. Because they have decided to reside IN MY KITCHEN. Arrrgghhhhhhh!

9. I'm a ManU fan. Glory glory man uniiiiiiiited!

10. I'm a voracious reader. Or at least I was, lost it, and now back on the road again.

11.I finished reading the 4 twilight books in 4 nights. I know - they're juvenile. But I can't help it. Yes the books are sooo sweetvalleyhigh, but the premise is interesting. And edward the character is soo irresistable, AND edward played by robert pattinson is TO DIE FOR.

12. I discovered last week that i'm one of thousands who owed our govt $$ for not paying my library fines. That's cos I borrow most of my books. I only buy books if they're on sale - like really super duper cheap sale kind. (I've settled my fines btw....if not how to borrow more?)

13. I'm a cheapo. I think twice, and then 5times more, before i spend my bucks on something that costs $20. Which is why I've yet to spend on an It bag, even though I've been coveting some. And which is why my wadrobe is full of charlesandkeith, g2 (when they're on sale), giordano and coax items.

14. I HEART purple. My spectacle rims are purple. I have 2 purple watches. I have a different purple outfit for every day of the workweek for a month (I think). I've used my purple suede bag for so many years it's now ratty and yet I'm still using it occassionally. I have a pair of purple stilettos that I wear to work sometimes which look kinda tacky but which my colleagues think are superb. I drink from a purple waterbottle. I have a blog called purple ramblings and i call myself pu.rperg.er. Enough said.

15. I used to be 42kg. Now I'm 52. I console myself by donating blood - might as well do something good since I'm fat. My last donation: 17Jan09.

16. I want to lose weight - the healthy way. That means more exercise, and watching my food. Exercise is hard because I'm lazy (see point 2), and watching my food is hard because I love food. I'm in big trouble.

17. I want to climb MountK, scuba dive, and get a motorcycle licence before the year is up. The first two are do-able, but the third is kinda iffy. Cos taking a licence takes a certain kind of commitment, and I'm lazy for that (see point 2).

18. I love riding on the bike (pillion of course). There's something about having the wind in your face, and being exposed to the elements. And I love being on a long roadtrip on a bike. It binds you somehow...to the person you're on the roadtrip with.

19. My ideal guy must be at least 1.7m, wear specs, and read newspapers. My husband fits all 3, and more :)

20. I've never cooked (and I never know how to cook) kari, assam pedas, lauk lemak and the like. But my potato salad's the best (so they say), and I've yet to try an aglio olio better than mine (ok...except perhaps my husband's).

21. I hope to have kids some day, InsyaAllah.

22. I was at the Holy Land at the same time as my husband, except that we didnt know it then. We only got to know each other 6 years later. Life's beautiful like that.

23. I used to sing alto for the jc choir. And I was in the jc guitar ensemble too (coached by the inspiring peter abi.sheg. anath.an no less). Come to think of it, I played the recorder in my primary school ensemble, and the angklung in the angklung orchestra. I'm musically inclined!!! Muakakakaka

24. I live in a rental and am renting out the one I bought. We're looking for another rental once the lease is up, not because we're snobs, but because my husband's a kampung boy (who's lived in a kampung till he's 17) at heart who likes the greenery and walking around barefoot. Which means that rats will probably be a mainstay in my life...urrgh.

25. I have many many friends but very few close ones. It gets harder making new close friends the older you are, don't you think? But the few that you have are priceless, and life will surely be emptier without them :)

what a match!

the nadal-verdasco match was such a thriller i'm still reeling from the high of it all. whoever's heard of verdasco? not me anyway, but i became a fan in an instant..hahha!

i've always been amazed at how tennis players seem to be like duracell bunnies...they just go on and on. when the match started (5pm sg time), i was just back at the office from a meeting outside, and was pestering my colleagues to have a drink with me down at the basement's only 'cheap' kopi haunt. we had our drink....then i went back up to hammer a ppt presentation for d meeting on monday...and realised belatedly that i had missed my self-imposed deadline of leaving the office by 6. i then rushed back home to 'welcome' the exterminators (a story for another day)...but they were earlier than they said they would be so i missed them but thank god for housemates who took care of the whole thing. then turned on the tv...match was well under way so i took it in while having my yogurt dinner. clock turned 8 so it was time for american idol...but i was intrigued so i kept switching channels..which proved futile after a while cos d match was obviously winning my attention. so there i was, mesmerised by the sight of 2 men who's still serving winners and delivering great forehands even 4 hours into the match. and the match (i suspect) would have gone on and on and on based on sheer brute strength and resolve alone, if it was not finally undone by double faults, after a phenomenal 5hr 14mins.

phew...it was tiring watching the 2 go at it!

i must admit i was a wee bit heartbroken at having my newly-minted idol verdasco falter at the very end. he was such a strong man! strong in that he refused to give up, or give in to the greatness that was nadal. "every time it seemed verdasco looked spent against nadal, he found another wind, another big serve, another forehand".

AND he's cute to boot...hahha. i just learned that he once posed nude for Cosmopolitan :P

it was a match that left me so psyched up i couldnt sleep till 7 in the morning!

now for the final!

new year, new look

so this is it. my first post for the new year, AND the NIU year..hahha!

things are busybusybusy on the job front, and we figure that it's gonna get busier before we're done. what with the gloomy outlook out there...gdp forecast of between -5% to -2% (hey the numbers are being repeated to me so often i can practically repeat them in my sleep liao)...it's no wonder we're busy. but we're busy for a reason...a very noble one at that (one that brought me here in the first place)...so i'm not complaining.

anyway, we all need something cheerful our way dont we. so...bright and pink it is. nothing purple here..but no worries...i'm still a purple fan at heart :)