It's been awhile......

Haven't been blogging as often Facebook has become a more convenient avenue to update what's going on in my life. Was sorting out my personal emails and came across the address of my blog with MomoChua. Want to locate it online to read about what we wrote before. 

2018 work wise hasn't been smooth-sailing at all...uphill battle to overcome the challenges and shortcomings so hopefully 2019 will be a better year. I really need to buck up to keep my job, otherwise, I will need to start looking for new opportunities elsewhere. 

2nd Mother's day

Ameline presented these gifts when she returned from MindChamps on Wednesday. Couldn't join her in school for the Mother's Day celebration due to work. :( Luckily, Ying went to accompany Ameline and took videos and photos to show me.

Ameline also said "Happy Mother's Day" & “母亲节快乐” to me, her grandmother & 外婆. Thank you to my mum, mother-in-law & grandmothers for all the love and care showered upon us. 

I'm still learning each day to be a better mum. Grateful to have Ameline in my life though she can be quite challenging since she is better able to express her thoughts now. Just a simple Mother's Day wish for her to grow up healthy and happy. :)

Solemn day due to the passing of a great man...

Woke up around 4+am to hear the radio playing a tribute to our first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and news that he has left us...couldn't believe what I was hearing so waited to hear the announcement again.

With a heavy heart, I headed off to work. As we recited the pledge in front of the Singapore flag flown at half mast and observed a minute of silence to show our respect to our nation's founding father, I wonder how much our young students know about him. He is a man many admire for he has devoted his whole life to our country. Without his foresight and contributions to building our country with our forefathers, we will not be able to enjoy what we have in our beautiful homeland today.

We have to teach our young to be grateful and appreciate the peace, stability and prosperity in Singapore due to the efforts of our founding fathers. 

I can imagine how difficult it was for our Prime Minister, Mr Lee HL to make the public announcement in three languages (English, Malay & Chinese) as he has just lost his father. 

Emotions overcame me as I see Mr Lee stopped several times to gather himself through the speech.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/pm-lee-grieved-beyond-words-mr-lee-kuan-yews-death-20150

The whole country is mourning together.

Thank You Mr Lee Kuan Yew for all that you have done for Singapore. 

May Mr Lee Kuan Yew rest in peace and find his wife in heaven. 

The classical music on the radio attempts to soothe the mourning but the solemn mood lingers on......

Mummy Pandakoala

Been quite some time since I last wrote an entry here. Time really flies when you don't have to work. Very soon I will be back to work and Ameline will be with the babysitter for most of the day time. I think I will miss her terribly when I am at work.

Though I enjoy shopping, I have to consider Ameline's nap time in the afternoon when we are out as she is often too distracted to sleep properly when we go out. She will open her eyes in wonder to look at the things around her.

I really wish she will grow up slowly so that we do not miss any part of her growing up years but it is not possible. Glad that she is behaving well most of the time except when she tries to fool us with her fake burps and also trying to eat her mittens when we are not looking. She seems to prefer the mittens to her pacifier. I wonder if they taste different...hahaha...=P

Drum Tao

Caught this with Teddy Chua at Marina Bay Sands Theatre...saw his Uni friends, Rosie, June and hubby and Naoko and his JC friend, Steve and wife.

The show is quite spectacular and I bought the DVD ($65) while Teddy Chua bought the 2 CDs...Quite impressed by their performance...Comma was scared at the beginning but got used to it...baby's first art performance!!!

London & Paris

Finally I have visited my dream country, London and went to the Stadium of Dreams, Manchester United Old Trafford with Teddy Chua Momo...

Happen to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebration so the atmosphere in London is great, with lots of celebration and happy partying Londoners...

We went to the River Parade where the Royal family was on a boat down River Thames with other boats cruising along. Waited 4 to 5 hours just to catch a glimpse. It started to drizzle after the Royal family passed us by.

Bought the London Pass but didn't get to use it at all as I was doing more shopping than sight-seeing...haha...

We had to buy another suitcase to put all the purchases along with some items our family and friends asked us to help buy.

Went to Paris but didn't buy any branded goods from there. I got my Ted Baker bag from London already and I am contented.

We went to Arc de Triumph and the elevator wasn't working!!! Had to climb the seemingly unending stairs up and down!!!

We were so tired out with all the walking that we did not even go to Eiffel Tower...

Went to Disneyland Paris too...the parade was good but not as fantastic as Disneyland Tokyo...

Sent a few postcards from London and Paris to ourselves and to my sister, my mother and to my Taiwanese friend, Nina. Hope they will receive them soon...

Took lots of photo which I put in an album on Facebook.

And I tested positive to being pregnant when I was in London...now to find a gynae to confirm our findings...=)

What happened over the last 3 mths...

Am glad that Teddy Chua is finally back in Sg and I won't have to imagine him sleeping next to me to get to sleep at night. The following are the movies we've caught in March till May =) 1) "A Simple Life" (Caught this with a pri sch friend cos J was overseas) 2) "The Lady" 3) "Wrath of the Titans" 4) "The Lucky One" (Won this pair of movie tickets by buying Nicholas Spark's book on NOQ store online) 5) "The Avengers" Attended Wanjun's wedding and 2 baby's first month celebrations (both J's friends). My CCA also clinched Gold with Honors Award at the Singapore Youth Festival Competition. Looking forward to June holidays where I can finally visit my dream country: London! =D

Don't steal my hubby...

Teddy Chua just got back from his UK work trip and his work requires him to fly off to Washington by Sunday! *sob sob* Initially, news was that they may post him to US for 1 month...when I heard it, I almost fainted...luckily, on Valentine's Day, it's confirmed that he has to go for 1 week.

Saturday: he is on duty for the Air show then he joins my family for dinner at Thai Village Restaurant (Goodwood Park Hotel) to celebrate my dad's birthday.
Sunday: he will bring me to the Air show before his late night flight to Tokyo->Chicago->Washington (as the air tickets were bought too late).

Teddy Chua's work is stealing my hubby! (X_X)*

First V day as a married couple

Got up when Teddy Chua was in the wash room getting ready for work so I can give him his V day gift. I've made a simple card and hope he'll like the Esprit watch I chose for him when I went to JB with his parents last Saturday while he was in UK. He liked the watch and as the strap is a little loose, he can't wear it immediately (we'll bring it to Esprit store to fix it). He gave me a classic long Burberry wallet which I think must have costs quite a far bit...

Teddy Chua also made arrangements for a Japanese dinner so after work, I went to Botanical Gardens MRT to meet him. We walked over to Crown Plaza En Japanese restaurant and had the Shabu Shabu and ala carte buffet dinner. Teddy Chua pointed out that it's the first time we went for a buffet as a couple alone cos both of us normally wouldn't eat that much. We ate till we were very full then took a cab home around 10+pm. Very contented and happy that at least I got to spend the first V day with my hubby.

Thrilled about The Tampines Trilliant

Our first application for a 4-room HDB flat at Tampines Green Terrace was unsuccessful. HDB merely sent an sms to inform Teddy Chua of the results. They didn't even bother to email both the applicants.

Hence, when we heard about the Executive Condominium near Tampines Central from Teddy Chua's brother, we decided to go check it out on Sunday, 29 Jan. At the showroom, we viewed the 4 bedroom show flat and decided to get a ballot ticket as we favoured the location. It takes only about 10min to walk to Tampines Central and will be located opposite one of the new Downtown MRT line stations.

On Thursday, our agent arranged for us to meet at the show flat to get the price of the units and then we can short list at least 30 units if our ballot ticket is chosen on Saturday, 4 February. We discussed about our options and thought that our finances allow us to get the 3 bedroom unit. We wrote down about 60 choices for the units and on Saturday, we dropped the ballot ticket by 9am. Teddy Chua's parents, brother and his gf who also has a ballot ticket were there with us.

Since it was auspicious to wear red for this 11th day of the Lunar New Year (according to one of my colleagues), I decided to heed her advice.

The balloting began by 10am and perhaps being superstitious did work...we were the 7th number to be called! Felt the exhilaration and couldn't believe our luck (similar to the wedding fair draw...=P) as we walked up to proceed with booking our first choice unit!

By 11+am, we can leave the balloting area and we wished Teddy Chua's brother and gf all the best as they have tried a few times at different locations to get a flat but were unsuccessful. (In the end, they also managed to get a unit, but were called only by 206)

We left Tampines for Universal Studios in Sentosa to meet Teddy Chua's JC councillor friends as they are celebrating Sindy's birthday. Got her a Lavender purple gift set from Etude House and we met the group (Jixin, Sindy & Wayne, Kangni & Herman)by 2+pm. We couldn't resist stopping by Page One's closing down book sale in Vivocity and I spent about $200 on books...=P

The first attraction we went to was "Lights Camera, Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg" where it's a sound stage set for a hurricane scene in New York. Thought that it was not as impressive as the Gold Coast Movie World Blue Screen set I went to many years ago.

The group went on the "Battlestar Galatica: Cylon" suspended roller coaster ride except for Jixin & me. Thought the ride looked quite intense and scary so decided to sit out.

We went for "Shrek 4-D Adventure" and this is quite interesting. The next ride was "Revenge of the Mummy", an indoor roller coaster. Not as scary as the Japan Disneyland indoor roller coaster I tried with Teddy Chua but I think age is really catching up with me, I'm not as daring as before. We stopped outside The Lost World for a bite and I went to get the bottle with Gingy (Shrek's Gingerbread boy) on it. Forgot that I was recovering from cough so the orange juice in the Gingy bottle that I shared with Teddy Chua started a whole new bout of "serial coughing"...

The group went on the "Transformers The Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle" and since I wasn't a Transformers fan and was feeling a little uncomfortable from the heat and cough, I decided to wait for the group in the merchandise store. Apparently the ride was not that intense and the effects were quite good. We headed for The Lost World and as there was a Hollywood Dreams Parade, we decided to catch that first before going for the remaining rides before they close at 7pm. The parade's music was too soft and somehow the mood created is not as great as Tokyo's Disneyland. But the mobile with the moving T-Rex was quite impressive.

We took the "Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure" river raft ride and all of us got wet during the ride. There was a "dry pod" ($5 for about 10-15min) at the exit of the ride and Wayne decided to try it out. About 6 of us can fit in at any one time and it's quite funny to have us drying or "roasting" ourselves but the thing works. At least Herman who was soaked and most of us got much dryer after using this "dry pod".

The last ride we took was the "Canopy Flyer" where it gave us a bird's-eye view of the Jurassic Park area. However, the ride was super short and before we even warmed our seats, it was over. Think it can set the record as one of the shortest theme-park ride ever...(about 5min). (-___-")

Since Jixin has some food vouchers for USS, we decided to have dinner at Hollywood China Bistro. We ordered a dish each and by the end of dinner, I quickly went into the Universal Studios Store to look for the Gingy soft toy I saw the last time I came with Teddy Chua for the fireworks. However, think it was too long ago and they have since changed Gingy into a smaller furry version, which I didn't fancy.

Felt quite drained from all the activities for the day but we still had to drop by Mustafa to change for UK Pounds as Teddy Chua has to go for a UK work trip before heading home.

First Chinese New Year as Mrs Chua

初一：
For the first time in my 28 years, I did not have to wake up super early as J's family leave the house only by 10am.
The first stop is the Guan Yin temple at Katong area. J's family have the tradition of lighting the candles to pray for good luck for the new year. The colours of the candles are according to the Chinese Zodiacs.
We went to Serangoon next, J's paternal grandma's house for lunch and to 拜年。Second house we visited was in Balestier, J's 老叔。 The third place we headed for was J's lao gim at Chai Chee. We went to J's maternal grandma's place for dinner and 拜年。

初二：
We visited J's 二舅's place in Seng Kang, followed by J's 美丽阿姨's place in Bishan. We 捞鱼生 during lunch at 美丽阿姨's place. The third stop for J's maternal relatives was our house but as we had to go visiting for my side, we left first. We went to Queenstown 老婶's house first, followed by Eunos 大舅's place to visit 外婆。Dinner was at my parent's place. Watched 《恋爱恐慌症》before leaving for our place at 8+pm.

As it's our first year as a newly wedded couple, we actually received 红包 from the relatives. We did prepare 红包 for our 4 grandmothers, both parents as well as the 2 brothers and sister. Next year, we will have to prepare 红包 for the kids as well.

初三：
Went back to school in the morning for the CNY celebrations. Had lunch with some of my CL colleagues and J at Parkway Parade Central. Went to buy my iPhone 4S as I can renew my hp contract. Chose the 16GB white coloured version. Am no longer belonging to the endangered species of people who don't own an Apple product. Managed to buy the last OPEN将 jelly from Cold Storage. Super happy to find it! =D

《爱到底》

蔡太太的第一个除夕：
- 帮蔡妈妈摆了全部的桔子
- 帮蔡妈妈炒了她拿手的糯米饭材料 （猪肉，香菇，虾米，蒜头）
- 把新年的小吃装好在各别小罐子

吃了丰盛的火锅晚餐，和老公一起回娘家一趟，把糯米饭和白肚鱼送给爸妈。
想吃 Udders 雪糕，但它没开店，所以去了 Haagan Dazs.
买了二手的DVD，守岁时，看了《爱到底》。这部电影有四个小故事，最喜欢九把刀导演的第一部。

今年是水龙年，我们回家不久下了好大的雨。
希望这两天去拜年，天气会晴朗。
希望龙年会带给大家健康和幸福。

Tis' the season to be shopping...falalalalalalalala...

Shopaholic Lai is back...miss the exhilaration and adrenalin rush from shopping...Previously, Shopaholic Lai restrained herself and went "cold turkey" to save $$$ for her wedding.

Now, when the Xmas season is here and Chinese New Year is round the corner, she decides to furnish her wardrobe with new clothes. The festive sales also helped to attract her to the stores...have spent 3 days this week shopping and counting...=P

Sunday: Shopping in Orchard with Teddy Chua
Tuesday: Shopping in Somerset with Mum & sis, Shopping with Teddy Chua in Orchard
Wednesday: Shopping in Tampines with Yifen
Thursday: Shopping in Tampines with Beryl, Grocery shopping in Marine Parade

"Sherlock Holmes- A Game of Shadows"

Caught this movie with J & his colleague, Gar Lun at the new I12 Katong GV cinema. Am quite impressed by the way the movie was filmed. Like the plot of the movie as well. =D

Sleepless & amused...

Sleepless nights have somehow creeped back into my life...missed chatting with my sis when we can't sleep...now, I get to be amused when my hubby sleep-talks...

2 nights ago
Him (sits up halfway): "Have you gotten the shake?"
Me: "Huh? What shake?"
Him: "Those selling at the push-cart stalls..."
Me: "Huh? What are you talking about dear? I don't understand...what shake?"
Him: "Nevermind." ~ snores...
Leaving me totally baffled...next morning when I questioned him, he says he doesn't remember...

Tonight: "Ehm...Just give me a light coffee." ~ snores...

Surely, tmr morning when I ask him abt it, he'll not remember a thing...=P

"With this ring, I marry you."

My marital status is no longer "single" but has become "married" since 24 November 2011...=D

Trying to get used to being addressed as "Mdm Lai" & "Mrs Chua" (sound so old... =S)

Very grateful that everything went well on our wedding day. Thanks to a very efficient and helpful team of Brothers & Sisters, my cousin Ah Xiong Kor who helped with the whole day of photography, littleredants for the videography, my cousin Ah Cheng Jie who graciously lent us her BMW as our bridal car, all the relatives who helped in one way or another, Meritus Mandarin hotel team & a very nervous Teddy Chua Momo.

Though I was also nervous about the first march-in and the second march-in (thinking how best to enter the banquet hall and be on stage without tripping on my gown)...I tried my best to contain my nervousness as I wanted to calm Teddy Chua more...he was practically shaking as we stood outside waiting for our second march-in as there's the speech on-stage which we'll deliver.

The photo-taking for 51 tables of guests also went according to schedule and our wedding dinner was able to end by 11+pm.

I suppose the adrenaline & happiness of the whole day sustained me. Tiredness hit me only when we got back to the bridal suite as Teddy Chua's JC council friends insisted we drank a beer and probably red wine concoction. It was lights out ard 2am as I had to shower and remove the make-up before having the extra late dinner.

Frankly, there were a few moments where I almost teared but I remembered my Dad's words to me: "No matter what happens on the wedding day, you are to keep your smile and not cry or lose your temper...everyone will be watching you." Moreover, the make-up artist keep saying that due to the fake eyelashes and make-up, I'm not to cry at all...so when I felt the tears coming, I contained them which is quite a feat considering how easily I cry when I watch movies or feel touched...=P

Looking forward to see the video and photos of the actual day. ^_^

Trepidation to Exhilaration

After months of waiting and an unsuccessful Open Posting school transfer, trepidation creeps in...keep telling myself not to have high hopes due to the fear of great disappointment...just plan for the worse that if the transfer is unsuccessful, I'll have to take 3 buses to get to work.

Finally, heard from a colleague that the Closed Posting results will be revealed tomorrow. Was trying to check my work email before I sleep when I saw the email notification of posting results. The same anxious feeling when checking NIE Exam results online gripped me...still, I've got to know...hence I clicked on that attachment...

The transfer is successful!

Though I'll miss my colleagues at my current school, but a huge wave of relief overcame me. I'm spared from the gruelling daily travel...

Next step would be to adapt to a totally new environment...fresh start to 2012...

1 week apart...

Sent Teddy Chua for his business trip with his parents at Changi Airport. Will be the 1st time Teddy Chua is away frm me for 1 week. 12 hrs time difference as he is in Washington D.C. , will 'survive' with sms...Soon, he'll be back and I'll be at the airport to welcome him home. =)

Children's Day Birthday

Feeling very blessed to enjoy my birthday on Children's Day. It's the first year that MOE decided to allow the 1st Friday of October to be Children's Day holiday and it falls on 7 Oct this year. I woke up much later and spent my day playing Facebook, thanking all well-wishes and completing a project report.

By evening, it was time to set out to meet Teddy Chua for my birthday dinner treat. It was pouring quite heavily and I was running late as I got carried away doing my report. Luckily, Teddy Chua was patient enough to wait for me (think i was abt 15min late). We went to Bugis, Hotel Intercontinental, where he treated me to Japanese food. We walked to Bras Brasah to check out a book store but it was already closed. The slight drizzle added a romantic feel to the after-dinner walk. We walked over to artichoke, at Sculpture Garden but it was a full-house.

We went back to the lounge area in Hotel Intercontinental where Teddy Chua insisted on getting a mini birthday cake for me. The pianist was very observant and when the cake was served with a single lit candle, he immediately played the birthday song before resuming his original piano piece. Though Teddy Chua is tired out from work, his efforts to make me happy on my birthday is much appreciated.

I got home and sis gave me a handmade letter with our photos and a red packet...Thank you all dearies...i feel very loved and blessed to have all of you in my life. =)

Birthday celebration 2011

Celebrating my birthday a weekend in advance as Dad is going overseas for a business trip on the actual day. Mum ordered my birthday Black Forest cake from Pine Garden.

J gave me a handmade gift and a birthday card with a message that touched me till I teared...

He spent almost 6 hours at night to complete the gift!

Thank you my loved ones...I feel very blessed to be loved and cared for by all of you!