dinner at home

simple but so good! also, love the round marble table that's been in the family for generations. it's been our dining table since long before i was born, and it's always warm and fuzzy when we gather round it. that's my grandma's arm in the photo - can't miss her long limbs and jade bangle. wonder what sort of traditions we'll have for our future family, and what future kids will associate with meal time as a family.

sisterly bonding

parents freaked out (and rightly so!) when they learnt how much a professional make over costs, and i was instructed to teach my sister how to do her own make up. am far from skilled but a dear friend taught me the basics when i was my sister's age and i haven't looked back (or made much progress :() since. had fun pulling together a makeshift make up kit, comprising of years of unused and possibly expired freebies (sorry jud!) and then after dinner we sat down for a session. was mean and lazy and exercised my "eye power" (army term for looking but not doing!). she did a pretty good job herself, until poking out her eye with the mascara wand seconds after this photo was taken. so that was the end of our first lesson.

when the cat's away

the mice will play

jetlag mornings

hate to admit it but the older i get (sigh) the worse i'm hit by jetlag. once upon a time, i adjusted seamlessly across the different time zones but not this time. maybe i should heed my doctor friend's advice to talk a long walk in the sun. but my liver spot phobia is already on the brink of pathological, what more voluntarily subjecting myself to all that UV light.

on my first morning back, was up at 3am, ordered maccas for breakfast (yay for maccas delievery!) and didn't go back to sleep till 1pm. of course, i slept till dinner time. yesterday was a little better, woke at 5am and was eventually lured out of the house by the promise of fish porridge and carrot cake. slept from late morning till tea time too :( and today, well, let's just say i've gotten 2 x 8h blocks of sleep in the last 24h. so it's quite horrific, really, that i'm sleeping for 2/3 of the day given the precious little time i've in the +65. also, i'm now sleeping in singapore time (midnight till 7am) and then again from 1pm to 8pm (new york time) IN THE SAME DAY. uh, where did london sleep schedule disappear to?! this does not bode well for the big exam i've to sit the moment i return to the UK.

(sorry to bore you with mundane details of how much sleep i'm getting. that's about as exciting as my life is right now.)

home sweet home

it's so nice to be home where there are palm trees outside, a still-fragrant pine inside, and the sun doesn't set till 730pm.

reminded how blessed i am to have three homes to divide my time by, and the need to be "present" regardless of where i am. try not to think about london when i'm in singers, and vice versa. if i did, i'd end up missing either place which would be silly, seeing how there's so much to take in and enjoy without wondering about the what ifs.

happy to be back at my parents' house (it sort of ceased to be "my house") after the wedding, back in the bedroom i've slept in since i was nine, and back to the creature comforts of having help with the household chores. not having to cook or clean is a much welcome bonus! not back for long, but somehow still managed to come home with a ton of luggage. hmm. traveling light is really a skill i need to acquire this year.

seeing in 2013

one thing we both missed about good ol' singers and dear ol' D was that new year's eve was a half day. no such luck in the +44 but the mister knocked off on time and we started with beggar's bellini,  mixing the cheapest bubbles with some pretty darn good peach juice.

 

slowly made our way up the champagne supernova before heading to our local italian for hearty dinner. 

had a leisurely dinner and left stuffed to the gills with wood fired pizza and freshly made pasta. much as i wanted to pass out on the sofa and watch teevee, the mister insisted i put off my geriatric tendencies for just one more day. 

exactly a year ago, we were in reykjavik and true to form, i'd wanted to have an early, quiet night in. but the mister used all his persuasion to get us to the church square where locals were setting off fireworks like there was no tomorrow. i cowered in a corner scared of the noise while the mister ran to the centre to absorb it all. really quite telling of our personalities... took me awhile to get accustomed to the sounds but once i did, i had a blast (hurhur).

this new year, the mister had to drag me out of our cosy flat to this wonderful local spot he'd found. he knew there was no chance at all that i'd brave the crowds at trafalgar square, much less even set foot in the direction of the river bank. so again, using his powers of persuasion, he sold the idea of seeing the fireworks in from a high point that promised to be less crowded than the tourist plagued (i get to say that because we live here now!) hotspots. the atmosphere was electric, with people setting off lanterns and small fireworks.

and as we stood in the open with the london eye at 12o'clock and an amazing view of the bursts of fireworks along river further afield from the london eye, i was reminded yet again that the mister has the best ideas. he makes me waaay cooler than i actually am

it was with some reluctance that we saw 2012 out. it was hands down one of the best years for us. not many people know this but kai moved from london to singers when he was eight, and always dreamt of living and working back in london as an adult. in 2012, the doors miraculously opened for him to do just that. we also got married and moved into our first home, major milestones in both cases! so maybe now it's time to takes things slow and enjoy the good place we've transitioned into.

wishing you and yours every happiness in 2013 :) may it be an even better year!

wanderlust 2013

wanderlust is one of the first things that the mister and i realised we shared. and going on adventures together has been one of the cornerstones of our relationship. five and a half years on, this wanderlust shows no sign of letting up. in a strange way, it's as if we know our time where it's "just us" is running out (no, this is not a birth announcement) and we're trying to cover as many miles as we can before adult responsibilities of the family-kind catch up. strong believer in there being a season for everything and am enjoying this time of growth as a young couple. 

we were blessed to travel a fair bit in 2012 and aim to make short trips every month in 2013. not much of a new year's resolution but trying to max out our london base :) trekked the iceladic fjords after our midsummer wedding so in january we're off to bergen to visit their norwegian cousins! singers for chinese new year and croatia for my birthday. we'll be in paris in march, and then finally honeymoon somewhere exotic over easter break in april. have a sneaky suspicion it just might be central america. but we'll see :) will be spending some of easter back home in singers and can't wait for more time with my fantastic fam. might have to hunker down for exams in may but then i've a glorious four month summer stretch, which we'll plan once the mister settles a thing or two on the work front. 

but all in all, psyched for the travel 2013 heralds and can't wait to spend time with mister planner supreme.

(photo credit)