shutterbugISm

Wow... can't believe I kinda missed blogging. I know I have been lazy the past 2 months to blog anything substantial but here's one to make it all up (or at least some of it)

* Pardon me if I get spelling errors coz I am experiencing a little reeling from the cocktail of alcohol I had just now in Char Siu Bao's place... (I never knew a welcome roulette of 1 shot of Vodka neat, 1 glass of red wine, 1 small glass of Hennessey Blue and 1 shot of hazelnut favored vodka can be that potent after 1 hour..)

So where do I begin....

Well, the past month I have been in buried under the mountain of backlogs, self-doubts and headaches. I am glad and blessed to have friends that I can talk to for advice as well as for emotional support when I really needed them. Some things really needed to be viewed from the sideline to see the silverlining I guess. Well, like in my previous post here, I will pray for God's timing and guidance for the solution and then the wisdom to take the right actions when He prompts.

So the happier stuff have been plentiful this beginning of the Lunar New Year. First off was the gathering of 4 babies @ Yveon's loft. Actually the plan was to meet dR and the adorable lil' Sniffles, before their big move to USA, somewhere in town but since it's really difficult for a mummy to have to carry so many things and looking after a baby as well as the inconvenient lack of nursing rooms in town areas, we decided to meet up @ Yveon's loft since the 2 lil' babies (dun forget about Lil' Nat) had a playtime gathering there the other time. This time round, I got along Su Ling, Vitali & lil' Vera as well as Sparkletots and lil' Jayden to make it a wholesome gathering.


I was rather amused at myself for organising this gathering coz it's just so coincidental that I know all 4 mummies (mainly through photography) and all 4 of them have babies around the same age group... so it was a 2 lil' girls and 2 lil' boys' playdate while the parents ate and got to know each other better thru the evening. Overall, it was a good networking session for everyone and I want to thank Lil Miss Snooze and TehPeng for graciously hosting the dinner @ their loft as well as to everyone who came :)

This year's reunion dinner with both side families were earlier than usual: my side had it on the 5th Feb night while Ms Clover's side was on the 6th Feb afternoon BUT it was held at the same place: One*15 Marina's Imperial Treasure restaurant. So you can imagine both Ms Clover and me ate almost the same dishes just 18 hours apart! :D

I'm definitely not complaining coz the food is really EXCELLENT! Service is, of coz', top-notch but the delicate cantonese styled cooking makes a lot of difference compared to eating at other restaurants. Sorry, I didn't take any photos coz I was too busy with the food but here's one to share:

CNY celebrations this years marked a significant milestone for both Ms Clover and myself coz this is, afterall, the 1st year we celebrate CNY as a state-recognised 'married' couple (why I used the term 'state-recognised' is that I feel that it's still not really complete without the customary, then I'm really finished....... j/king :p)

As usual, I stayed up the whole night on the eve of CNY to 'shou swee' or 守岁 which is a custom to me every year during CNY. Visitation only started @ 1pm on Day 1 with my parents then to Ms Clover's place where I spent the rest of the afternoon and night with their relatives and playing mahjong.. Seems that this year's not really my year on the gambling side coz I am down by $70 plus after 3 nights of mahjong and Texas Hold'em.. sianz... the tiles that came along were atrociously bad and even after I managed to make them good, I was constantly 'robbed' of the chance to game by someone else...

Must eat more cheese to attract the mouse liao...

Went over to Ms Clover's boss's home also... really nice place set in the quiet surrounds of Yio Chu Kang road's private housing district. Was introduced to her working colleagues and we had a grand time exploring their place which was decorated in a East Asian Contemporary style. Ohh, the well-travelled hostress introduced us to this fantastic gourmet wholesaler called Foodedge Gourmet where they have this really YUMZ tasting choco brownies! The brownies are not overpoweringly sweet and have a healthy dose of orange peel zest to give it a very different texture to the taste palate.. very worth trying! I would recommend also the ice cream selections from Melvados there also! Combine them together and you are on the way to cloud 9!

So back to today's event. We spent Sunday afternoon @ Char Siu Bao's place in the East, together with Xiao Long Bao, Martini and family and long-time-no-see K and her Aussie boyfriend, A.... and my dear friend welcomed me with a refreshing but lethal neat shot of Absolut Vodka (the rest of the drinks are @ the top of the blog entry) coz we were really late as we had a last minute visitor over @ Ms Clover's.

Played with lil' Siu Mai who has really grown up a lot and now can babble words and run around and recognise pictures with their meanings and pronunciations.... and so this 'Unker' Shutterbug played with her almost the whole duration of our visitation while 'Yiyi' Clover sat amused by her other half's silly antics and baby talk while sharing travel tips to Bali with Mrs Lian Rong Bao.

Well, think I have written enough, almost condensing 1 month worth of blogging into a short entry here.

Here's wishing everyone Gong Hei Fatt Choy, Blessed Prosperity and Good health during this festive season and for the year of the cute mouse :D

Huat ahh!! :D

Labels: Celebrations, Clover, Family, Food, Friends, Greetings, Images, Inspirations, Local, Photography, RICOH GrD, Thoughts, Us

Posted by ShutterBug on Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 19:58 | Permalink