Still sick but trying to look on the bright side of things

Thanks to all who showed concern for my illness whether here or on Facebook or in text. I'm really touched by all the love around me.

Well, I'm relieved to say that my gastric flu and nausea are officially gone but in the process, cold/flu took their place. There were days when everything was altogether ravaging my body that it was quite unbearable.

The Paris leg of the trip has been pretty jinxed so far. I felt almost sorry to kh for spoiling so much of the trip.

Kh and I had to forgo quite a number of places to visit as I was sleeping for about 1.5 days here. In addition, I could not take the cold for too long and had to cut short the outdoor sightseeing. The sun sets at about 5pm here in Paris (and 2.50pm in London) during winter and by then many places would have been closed too. It was also a torture to go out in the cold with blocked and runny nose at the same time, together with sore throat and a cough building up. I was practically freezing through my nose and brain and blowing bits of blood out due to the cold dry weather.

So here's how I look with Rudolph nose. Not a pleasant sight at all.



Other than the hubby being so sweet and understanding, the other positive aspect of the trip would be the shopping. What with every designer item being up to 30% cheaper than in Singapore on top of tax refund, I was tempted to buy so many things here.

I kept telling kh that I'm helping him to save money by buying these designer labels here. Of course, he thinks I would actually save money by not buying but I'm sticking by MY logic.

Here's kh looking so miserable.



Here's how certain "medicine" could put a smile on sickly Jo's face.



Note: I've to clarify that not all the items in the paper bags shown above belong to me. The rest are gifts for family etc.

In case I don't get to log on again, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas once more and a splendid 2012!

One of my good friend tagged me this quote by Audrey Hepburn and I love how I'm trying to live by it all this while. I hope this sticks by with all of you too. =)

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”

Sick at Paris

Day 1 Paris:
Lady Scarlet visited, causing much pain and loss of energy.
Fever and bedridden.
Gastric flu and nauseous.
Spent the whole damn day sleeping in such a beautiful city. This sux; I totally spoilt the trip. =(

Hello from London

It's Day 4 of London and only now am I dropping a hello to all my readers using the hotel's very unstable wifi.

The past few days, I would K.O before midnight; I was just thinking that this trip is so gonna cure my insomnia.

It's a quarter after one in the morning over here now so I'm gonna sing Lady Antebellum's Need You Now.

Ok I think I'm in such a sleepy state that I'm blabbering nonsense.

Catch up with all of you soon!

For the Love of Japanese Food

This is a scheduled post.

Like many people out there following the latest trend of snapping food pictures, I love to take pictures of food too. Sometimes I wind up having folders of outings with food as the only pictures taken. Hence, the explanation for the title of this post.


~*Nanbantei*~

After having dined at Nanbantei for Regina's birthday last year, I decided to bring kh to try out their food.





Kh is always the one introducing me to quaint and authentic Japanese haunts rather than those franchise kind like Sakae Sushi or Sushi Tei as he has a rather good friend who is a Japanese. This time, I did a reversal of roles.

It was very crowded and hence we were ushered to the counter seats where every couple would be.

I hate counter seats.

Though I love the savoury smokey smell of yakitori, I could not bear for the smell to linger on me.

Over here, the smoke and all was immediately "sucked up" by those cooking hood above. Great for us!




The sizzling hot savoury items were yummilicious!




The cold stuff



I still love the food but kh thinks they're not up to his standard of "quaint, authentic" Japanese haunts.

Hmm... on normal basis, he's always the one saying I'm very picky about food.


~~~

~*MOF*~

Before we caught Thor, kh and I decided to fill our rumbling bellies with food that are quick to gobble so as not to run late for the show.

We ended up at MOF. a place which offers mass culture Japanese cuisine with a little local twist.



As usual, I would always order macha green tea whenever I see them on the menu. The laksa you see up there was mine. As far as I love my laksa full of cockles (or better known to Singaporeans as "humps"), this wasn't too bad too.

Pasta could never go wrong for kh. Personally, Japanese pastas do not quite appeal to my tastebuds.

I was trying to be as grumpy as Grumpy Bear while kh refused to do the same action. He actually loves to fold his arms and say "no" in a grumpily cute way whenever I asks him to do something he doesn't like. Sometimes, he simply loves to fold his arm and say "no" to every single thing I say. Before that shot was taken, I asked him to pose like Grumpy Bear and needless to say, he folded his arms and said "no". What irony! But before I could catch that with my camera, he changed his pose.



~~~

~*Menichi*~

I met up with my 2nd sis at the neighbourhood mall since she needed company for dinner. We ended up at Menichi.



Menichi is one of the more affordable ramen place which dishes out good ramen (considering the price). I know of it coz I used to frequent the outlet in the Jurong Point. I'm quite particular about ramen and the one at this outlet wasn't up to standard at all.



We ordered the normal char siu ramen with chicken karaage and fried ice cream. Bet you couldn't tell that the fried thing with "tomato" sauce on the bottom right corner was actually fried ice cream with fruit sauce right?

Speaking of ramen, one of kh's buddy wanted to do a ramen review session with us since we're all fans of great ramen (aka Santouka).

He suggested trying out the various ramen haunts, take some pictures or even record some video. From the hunt of the best ramen, a mental ranking list would be created in our heads so that we could spread the word.

One year later, we have yet to embark on our ramen hunt.

I've wanted to cry so much for you

Was talking to char char so happily but when I told her about the new star-studded cast of a movie New Year's Eve which portrays scenes in NYC, my voice started to quiver and then the floodgates opened. Within seconds, I was sobbing uncontrollably and could not speak. =(

Char char, I've wanted to cry so much for you but I couldn't for a very long time. I'm finally a human! But... I've kinda grown accustomed to my abnormal no-tears mode and since you do not like seeing us cry, could you sprinkle your fairy dust into my eyes again?

Company's Retreat at Malaysia, Desaru

This is a scheduled post.

Back to updating backdated entries yet again.

~~~

In my many years of blogging, I've neither written or post a gazillion photos about my ex company's annual team building event

I'm not sure why but I just did not think of sharing them here. I've always have a love-hate relationship with team building events. While I love the team-related activities a lot, I hated the emotional ones coz I never fail to shed tears at those activities that ripped the flesh of our hearts and broke us down. Added to that fact is that I don't snap lots of pictures on my camera during team building events.

This year is my last year as a full time staff at my ex company and as I'm writing this post, I'm reminiscing on the good old days. How I miss so many of my colleagues.

For this year, some changes were made. Instead of calling it a team building event, it was termed as a company retreat. In addition, it was the first time the two-day event was held out of the country.

It was anything but a retreat though. The activities were mentally and physically exhausting. Though I would say, gimme the latter any time.


On our way to Malaysia, Desaru via the coach.



We settled down for buffet lunch before the activities began.



Some activities that took place during the two days.



Buffet dinner was a grand feast with seafood like crabs and fresh oysters. The oysters were really not bad. I'm one who is very picky about oysters and I must say they were really quite fresh.





Rooms were assigned according to departments. Here's taking a peek into my department's room.



I spent the night with the Math Department.



By sun rise, I was back with my lovely English Department. Sigh... I'm already missing them while I'm typing this.



The ground was bathed in rain from the wee hours.


Day 2 consisted of some forest adventure and so we needed loads of carb for energy.



Group S.



We were the first group to complete the forest tasks which included building a raft, constructing jungle survivor stuff from raw materials, overcoming our phobia for heights by walking on obstacles high above the ground and peeling coconuts.



The obligatory shot with the company's banner. Did you really think the banner depicted smiley faces? I was blotting out my ex company's name.

I'm aware that my blog is a lot more boring with mere text and no photos

My photos are not displayed once more. The first time it happened after using Photobucket for years was last month and I was quite peeved about the photos not showing here. Hence, I sent a message to Photobucket and here was their automated reply:

Bandwidth is used when digital content is viewed from a link you posted on another website or sent in an email (e.g., MySpace, eBay, message boards, etc.). Bandwidth is a measure of the number of bytes passed over time via direct linking. It is calculated by adding up the size of each of your images or videos as they are sent from Photobucket. The “Monthly Bandwidth" number is the amount of bandwidth you have used within the last month. The month is determined by the day of the month you registered your account.
EXAMPLE:
You have various images of 25K each in size that are viewed by 100 users on your favorite message board in one day. You also have one video of 15000K that is viewed by 10 users in one day. 25K * 100 requests = 2500K (or 2.5 MB). 15000K * 10 requests = 150000K (or 1500 MB). When you add the two together, you have used 152.5 MB of bandwidth in one day.
Important! Do not confuse bandwidth with your album size.

I've set it such that clicking onto the photos uploaded using Photobucket would only lead you to their homepage.

So everyone, please help me not to exceed bandwidth by avoiding clicking onto my photo links but to view them straight off my blog instead. 

Since Photobucket says that bandwidth resets each month on the anniversary of the day a member originally registered, my bandwidth usage will be reset on the 19th of December which is a long way to go from today. I was already planning to do some photo story posts this coming week before I fly off to London on the 17th. I guess I would have to do scheduled posts which would publish after the 19th then.

It is my final week in Singapore before I see all my friends back here next year. I have lots and lots to catch up on so my dear blogger friends, forgive me if I haven't been visiting or commenting much on your blogs.

Stealing my picture

I never thought this would happen to me but after so many incidents that happened in my life when I said "never", I've learned to never say never.

Despite watermarking my pictures and all, my photo ended up as someone else's profile picture on youtube. I wouldn't have known this if not for my friend asking me if I am known as "elva" on youtube.

This is the imposter's link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/elva

If I could publicly write on her/his youtube public page, I would. However, I can't find the button to post a public comment.

I've since reported the profile image and warned her/him over private message. I hope she/he would have enough sense to do something.

Gosh, I'm boiling mad right now. Kh helped alleviate my anger by saying that I've already known that whatever I put on the world wide web do not belong to me anymore so just treat it as a flattery... Like you know the adage? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. wtf! Ok he didn't really say that but the implications were there.

I still can't help feeling violated that my picture has been misused in this manner. It does seem like my hubby is displaying a nonchalant attitude towards this little saga and I'm beginning to worry if he's really my hubby. lol.

Updated:
"Elva" has already taken down my image as her profile picture. No reply to my private message nor any word of apology. I guess it's only natural not to reply when you've been found out that you've done something wrong right?

Pot Luck & Games Night

This is a scheduled post.

Back to updating backdated entries yet again.


We always had such fun playing games at Karen's place that she organized a pot luck dinner and games night at her place yet again. It sure seems like Karen's house is synonymous to a game station!

We made new friends and caught up with the old. Everyone brought lots of delicious food like pies, tarts, skinny pizzas, home made tortillas, and more! Kh and I brought fried Taiwanese skewer snacks.

Karen baked some lovely cupcakes with hand made fondant.



I've yet to savour her cupcakes again coz whenever I bring cakes back from her home, my brother-in-law would have finished them up the next morning.

This time, we played a new game -- Gift Trap. How I hated that game. Lol... I didn't understand how to play it at first and lost big time coz I'm one who hate to guess.





While playing, we kept feasting on various snacks. When Karen brought out the treat she bought from Japan, I squealed like a 4-year-old high on glucose. I just had to snap a photo of this packet of Care Bears sweets.



Ok, if you're not a huge fan of Care Bears in the 80s and 90s, you would never ever understand my immense joy when I saw this. These Care Bears pictured here are the traditional ones!

The purple bear on the far right is called Share Bear and I have that soft toy when I was about 4 years old. I love the ice cream sundae on her tummy. The new Share Bear has two lollipops on its tummy instead. I say it's laziness on the manufacturer's part coz the ice cream sundae embroidery on the tummy was really exquisite. I should go snap a picture of the toy which is in my parents' place coz I'm quite sure not a single one of you reading this would know what I'm talking about, except maybe for my sisters.

The current Funshine Bear, Cheer Bear, Bedtime Bear, Love-a-lot Bear and Good Luck Bear (fr left to right) also don't  look quite like their original selves anymore. Damn, some were even taken off the shelves and being replaced by some gaudy bears. How I hate the new Care Bears. They are a complete joke!

Right, I've ranted enough about the new Care Bears. Back to the topic...

I forgot what other games we played but we had such great fun.

Other than being entertained by games, we were constantly being entertained by Louis, Emmie. Like most dinner at Karen's place, the night ended really late with the last of us leaving at 5am.

Here's what I wore that night:

Hubby's Invitation

The hubby kept pestering me to check my email just now. This was what he was up to:

[click to enlarge]

Birthdays in April

Back to updating backdated entries yet again!


~*April's Birthday Meet Up at Ootoya*~

It is so difficult to catch April the busy bee that she actually had to take leave every year in order to meet viv and me for her belated birthday lunch. This time round, she was a little sick and so took medical leave. Poor gal!




We met up at one of my favourite Japanese haunt-- Ootoya Japanese Restaurant 大戶屋 at Orchard Central.

As usual, we had our mains and also food to share coz what's food when you can't share it with great pals?

I absolutely love their Japanese Tofu Salad. It's so yummy yet healthy.








Of course when it came to desserts, we simply could not decide what we wanted. Hence, we ordered 3 different desserts so we could indulge in a variety of flavours. Our 3 choices were great! You could really tell from the photos right?




We wanted a shot of the 3 of us but when kh saw this photo, he insisted, "Don't lie. I know April's Chanel is the main focus here."




Sidetrack:
Well, I hadn't intended for it to be that way but you know what? He was godamn right! I love her beige jumbo classic flap in gold hardware but logic got the better of me and so I got the black medium one in gold hardware instead. I think I would cherish the bag more than my life should I get a light coloured one and I would kill that person who spill red wine on my beige should I get a beige.

I will blog about my bag in time to come. I know some of you have been waiting for me to write about my dream bag for the longest time ever. For those of you who own so many Chanels like my one of my favourite blogger friend Peh Sun, don't scoff at the poor peasant me who could only afford one ok? =D

Btw, Peh Sun wrote an absolutely touching tribute to me and a few other lovely ladies some time back. Click on the link to read it!


Enough of digression...

Right, so we have a proper 3-of-us shot with no timeless Chanel to interfere with our timeless friendship.






We attempted a proper self-taken 3-of-us shot which failed miserably, leading to some fun shots in the process. I hope we look cute instead of annoying!




Parting shot!




~*2nd Brother-in-law Birthday Dinner at Peach Garden*~

After having Japanese cuisine for lunch, I had Chinese cuisine at Peach Garden with hubby kh and his family for dinner to celebrate my 2nd bil's birthday.

That was one of the rare occasions when I felt so full halfway into dinner. My parents-in-law were somewhat used to me gorging so much that they thought it was pretty abnormal for me to be nibbling so little that evening.

Chinese restaurant food would most of the time never go wrong. I'm so hungry typing this while looking at the succulent prawns!




Feeling all happy after a sumptuous meal!




Here's what I wore that day:



♥ M)Phosis white top
♥ Clubcouture sleeveless draped vest
♥ Coax denim shorts
♥ DMK grey mesh shoes
♥ Brown leather watch
♥ Fayfey heart tag and key necklace