Instagram Snapshots ~*May 2015*~

It is sort of the last week of June and I can't believe that half the year flashed by just like that. Why does time pass so fast? You know, sometimes I wished for a pause button in life just to stop a little while to catch my breath, smell the flowers and enjoy being in the moment.

Instasummary for May is really late. May started off with a long weekend and loads and loads of exercising and eating with gal pals. I had lots of good food coz of all the celebrations like Mother's Day and my birthday. May is usually the busiest month of the year in terms of social life. Although I dislike my birthday, I love all the meet ups with my favourite people. This year somehow, I didn't meet as many friends as I usually do in the past years but I'm glad for technology which enabled us to continue keeping in touch and showing the love for one another.

As usual, Instagram videos on blog run in fast forwards, skips and jumps. They are better viewed on iamjolene Instagram page itself for sound and image quality, as well as full streaming and on smartphone Instagram app for emoji to display.

PS: Did anyone realize that Instagram on browser recently had a makeover and now it looks so sleek and clean? The only bad thing is that all the dates are removed! I had to find all means and ways to search for the dates in order to do this Instasummary.






~*1 May 2015*~
Sometimes in life, you do stupid things so you'll have something to smile about when you're old.




~*1 May 2015*~
On Labour Day public holiday, we treated ourselves to booze. There goes the healthy lifestyle.




~*1 May 2015*~
What a cute little mussel! Totally whacked the blue cheese and laksa mussels even though I don't quite like mussel. #brusselssprouts #mussel #bluecheese #cute #yummy




~*2 May 2015*~
The weather forecast said thunderstorm. When we reached here at 4pm, we were like "What kinda weather forecast is this? The sun is freaking hot. Let's go and eat till the sun is down then cycle."
#whatkindahealthylifestyleisthis #bimbosisters #bestie #bff #galpal #ilovemyfriends




~*2 May 2015*~
Before we even cycle, we had these and more... I... just... don't know... what... to... say...
#whatkindahealthylifestyleisthis #proteinrichfoodishealthy and a shoutout to #benefit #benefitdreamscreen




~*2 May 2015*~
Latergram: We were probably more enthralled by the pretty Tiffany blue city bicycle with a cute basket than the actual cycling itself.
#healthylifestyle #vintagebicycle #tiffanyblue #bimbosisters #bestie #bff #galpals #ilovemyfriends #flipagram @tifducky @czanneo




~*2 May 2015*~
Latergram: At halfway point and at end point. And then after cycling, it was time to eat again. Eat. Cycle. Eat.
#whatkindahealthylifestyleisthis #bimbosisters #bff #bestie #galpals #ilovemyfriends




~*3 May 2015*~
I've got a pretty little shoe cupcake from TCC.




~*6 May 2015*~
Love seeing #daylight especially when it comes in pretty #sunset orange, pink and purple.




~*8 May 2015*~
It feels really good to be in the city area during office hours. We are here at the National Museum for the Lee Kuan Yew exhibition.
#nationalmuseumsingapore #leekuanyew #LKY #proudtobeasingaporean




~*8 May 2015*~
The early birds!
#nationalmuseumsingapore #LKY #nationaleducation #NEtrip #inmemoriumleekuanyew




~*9 May 2015*~
This is for you, @czanneo!




~*9 May 2015*~
Happy Mother's Day! With @kappo77 and @kezel


~*9 May 2015*~
Latergram Mother's Day dinner at Saveur Art. Appetizers which consisted of Egg Confit, Saveur's Pasta and Grilled Foie Gras. Yummy! If you don't know which appetizer to order, the #eggconfit and #saveurspasta can't go wrong.
@saveursg #saveursg #saveurart #foiegras #frenchfood #frenchcuisine #happymothersday




~*9 May 2015*~
Latergram Mother's Day dinner at Saveur Art. We ordered one of each main course minus the mackerel and times 2 of the duck confit. It's great to eat in a group coz we could get a taste of everything . Clockwise from top: Butter-poached Lobster, Australian Beef Steak Angus Bavette, Grilled Pork Belly, Crispy Duck Leg Confit, Roasted Chicken Breast, Crispy Duck Leg Confit again, Slow-cooked Salmon . When the waitress asked us which main course we liked the best, all of us couldn't give her an answer coz we enjoyed them all !
@saveursg #saveursg #saveurart #frenchfood #frenchcuisine #happymothersday




~*9 May 2015*~
Latergram Mother's Day dinner at Saveur Art. I don't have any top down table shots of the desserts as the cheese didn't arrive together with the sweet deserts. And SOMEBODY started poking at the ice cream in order to help everyone decide whether to eat first or wait for the cheese platter to take a top down shot. So here's a picture of their platter of 5 different cheese. Needless to say, I love the blue cheese best !
@saveursg #saveursg #saveurart #frenchfood #frenchcuisine #cheeseplatter #happymothersday




~*10 May 2015*~
It's been a while since anybody commented that I have a #restingbitchface. I take that as a compliment.




~*11 May 2015*~
Passport expiring... Need 6 month validity to travel. So how? Singapore IC photo and passport app to the rescue ! There are guided lines to make sure you're framed correctly and the app automatically crops the photo to the specified dimensions. Just upload the finished product via the ICA online application system and renew. What a cool app ! The only thing is... I was alone and used the front camera so the resolution isn't good but I'm very sure it looks fine as black and white passport size. The photo wasn't rejected during application but I've not heard from ICA for a week. Fingers crossed.





~*14 May 2015*~
And it's a "YES!" from me.




~*15 May 2015*~
How do people eat dinner at dinner timing? I eat dinner at dinner timing, feel hungry at 9 and end up eating more! #Tuna in brine with #cheese slices. So yummy and (I deceive myself by declaring it is) a healthy #latenightsnack. #attempttobehealthy is #tunainbrine even healthy? #healthylifestyle #healthydiet




~*16 May 2015*~
Throwback to a year ago when I met up with @emsmoments at Shilin Night Market 士林夜市. It was the best night in Taipei! We bit the heads off our rooster and pig, laughed and posed with our kills. We ought to be hanged. Blogged about Shilin. Link in IG profile.
#shilin #taipei #士林夜市 #instatravel #wefie #galpal #bestie #ilovemyfriends




~*16 May 2015*~
First time at @crabindabagbigsplash with @tifducky. Our men are not here so we had to get down and dirty with those crabs ourselves.




~*17 May 2015*~
The antipasti and complimentary at Osteria Mozza for belated Mother's Day dinner with the in laws.




~*17 May 2015*~
The mains at Osteria Mozza for belated Mother's Day dinner with the in laws. First time trying authentic Italian cuisine for mum-in-law and she loves it!




~*17 May 2015*~
The desserts at Osteria Mozza for belated Mother's Day dinner with the in laws.




~*17 May 2015*~
#全家福 outside #osteriamozza




~*18 May 2015*~
Hair grew out too fast so gotta get new hair cut again. Softened the one length look and got layers at the sides. Only wished I had my stylist's skill in blowing my hair this way. @cyngapore first saw me and exclaimed "So short!!!" Then each time we chatted and she looked at me, she couldn't help saying, "I can't stand your hair. 很美咯。I can't take my eyes off." Hello? Concentrate on the chatting can?




~*20 May 2015*~
Happy 11th birthday to my dear cute and handsome godson @123jaselim! He has grown from a sensible boy to a fine young man. Anyone who knew us from years back and knew of everything that Jase has done as a good son to his mum @cyngapore and a good brother to his sister Charmaine then and to Mia now would know how much he had gone through and grown as a little boy. Can't believe he is 11 years old already. 11 years of awesome goodness he has brought to the people around him! He will always be my Precious Moments boy boy in my eyes no matter how big he is.




~*20 May 2015*~
Surprise! Got you, didn't we?




~*21 May 2015*~
Latergram dinner at Professor Brawn Cafe with That Group That Shall Not Be Named. It is strange. We all talked about growing old, exercising and cutting down on carbs but look what happened.




~*22 May 2015*~
Latergram. The first and probably the only birthday cake for this year. Thanx to my branch babes for the advanced celebration.




~*22 May 2015*~
Well, this photo was supposed to depict me with the smorgasbord of steamboat food in front of me. But the hubz preferred to leave the food overexposed and focus on how this human seemed to be spontaneously combusting.
#spontaneoushumancombustion #onfire #hotpot #steamboat #imperialtreasure #yummy




~*23 May 2015*~
Latergram from last night. My 大姐 @kappo77 got me a durian cake and she claimed it has been planned since January and not because I said that the cake from my branch gals would possibly be the only birthday cake I would have this year. Sorry gotta cut my Dad out coz he couldn't decide if he wanted to be in the frame or not.
#birthday #birthdaycake #durian #ilovemyfamily




~*24 May 2015*~
Staycation at MBS starts now!




~*25 May 2015*~
Falling asleep to my favouritest cityscape. Good night!
#singaporecity #singaporecityscape #mbs #viewfromthetop #staycation #nightlights #igsg




~*25 May 2015*~
I am on top of the world... Together with a million others in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and armed with selfie sticks, cameras, phones, sunnies, various degrees of pool fashion not seen in this frame.
#staycation #viewfromthetop #infinitypool #mbs #mbsinfinitypool #igsg #bikinigirl #bikinibod




~*26 May 2015*~
Latergram. The hubz would always have cravings for burger whenever he watches some gourmet burger programme on cable food channel. He deems that the famous DB burger at DB Bistro is "damn good".
#dbburger #dbbistromoderne #mbs #burger #foodporn #ilovefood #foodie #fatdieme




~*27 May 2015*~
Do you have a partner-in-crime buddy? Well I have at least one of such 损友 at every phase of life. All of you 猪朋狗友emojiemojiemoji would definitely know who you are! Blogged about how @eccentrice was my partner in crime during uni days. Link in Instagram profile.




~*27 May 2015*~
"Hello, may I find Jolene?" Was little 7-year-old @tifducky 's opening line whenever she called me at home. My sisters often joked about whether she has found me after decades of hide-and-seek. Thank you for the birthday treat! muax




~*28 May 2015*~
After I posted that iconic MBS infinity pool shot, lots of people asked me how I did it. Some people thought the whole place was indeed that tranquil. Some knew MBS SkyPark is as crowded as the Marina Bay Floating Platform on National Day. So folks, may I present to you MBS SkyPark version of What it seems to be VS What it really is.
#whatitseems #whatitreallyis #meme #mbs #mbsinfinitypool #marinabaysands




~*29 May 2015*~
Beef Goulash Soup earlier today at The Soup Spoon. Attempting an effortless top down shot of Instagram worthy food. Pass?
#thesoupspoon #beefgoulash #instafood #foodporn #ilovefood




~*30 May 2015*~
Happy long weekend to all Singaporeans! Oh my, the ground is radiating heat into the house. Cooling down with some red grapes which I lovingly plucked and washed to share with the good people at work yesterday but forgot to bring yet again. Now I have them all to myself. Muahahahaha...
#grapes #redgrapes #healthydiet #healthylifestyle #overloadofsweetness




~*30 May 2015*~
Supposed to cut down on carbs and late night eating but SALTED EGG anything is perfectly ok. On a separate note, their salmon was way overcooked and as hard as rock. Totally couldn't finish it. We gave our feedback to the cashier and she merely acknowledged , "太熟，太硬 huh?" With no apology. Oh well...
#lebanhkcafe not #healthydiet #saltedegg #fries #fatdieme #instafood #foodie #foodporn




~*31 May 2015*~
As a Sephora member, I had a complimentary brow waxing and shaping service at the Benefit Brow Bar. It so happened that my bestie @tifducky is the master trainer aka Professor of Pretty (what a cool title to have on the name card right?) at Benefit and she offered to personally do the waxing for me! So honoured ! I love the signature Benefit arch on my very problematic left brow now! They no longer need to hide behind my side swept fringe. For more pictures and write up of Benefit Brow Bar and my horrendous eyebrow history, click on the link in my IG profile.
#benefit #benefitsg #benefitbrowbar #pretty #eyebrows #eyebrowarch #sgblogger #selfie #benefitcosmeticssg




~*31 May 2015*~
Beef Carpaccio... Our favourite kind of Italian anti pasti. Love the beef carpaccio at La Strada. The marinade... the cheese... the lightly salted beef... even rockets that I usually dislike taste so good.
#lastrada #lastradasg #beefcarpaccio #antipasti #italiancuisine #instafood #foodie #foodporn #yummy #fatdieme




~*31 May 2015*~
Chitarra Alla Carbonara -- Best Carbonara ever ! I usually cannot finish a whole creamy pasta on my own and would never order Carbonaro. This time I ordered it after Kh ordered it the other time. They ran out of guitar string pasta so I opted for angel hair pasta. I wrote about this on my blog before and I would exclaim again. OMG, the Carbonara with crispy ham, egg confit, shaved parmesan and truffle butter sauce was AMAZING! I've never tasted any creamy pasta that was so light yet flavourful. An oxymoron I know and that's why it was amazing. First time finishing a creamy pasta in 10 minutes just shows how great it is.
#lastrada #lastradasg #carbonara #eggconfit #truffle #yummy #foodie #foodporn #instafood #fatdieme




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I really love it when my blog friends and I are connected on other social media platforms too since I know many of them don't blog as often yet have got a lot more updates on their Instagram page. I'm so glad to see more blog friends on Instagram now and I hope we continue to stay in touch here!

Staycation at MBS Part 3 - Chilling And Dining In The Sky

It was my maiden dip in MBS SkyPark Infinity Pool so expect an overload of pool photos in this post. I had to seize my only chance, you know. ;P Snap, snap, snap!

It was our good fortune to be staying in a suite facing both the east and the west. We watched the sun set over the city skyline the previous evening while the next morning, we witnessed the sun rise over the horizon of the sea view.





The pool opens at 6 am daily and it sure seems like the pool would always be crowded at any time of the day. I guess a normal kiasu Singaporean would rush to be the first in line at 6am. I thought I would be like that too but the lack of sleep drew me to the bed like bees to honey and kids to iPad. I set my alarm at 6 am but snoozed myself back to sleep till the first sun ray beat the butt out of me. Boy was I glad to capture this sun rise shot!

At close to 8 am, we had the good fortune to snag an empty deck chair and were soon chilling in the pool. We managed to claim an edge and clear an area for ourselves. The most important question I had at that time was, "How do I continue to hold my phone and be IN the pool?"




So we did like what everyone did:
Snap, snap, snap and hold the bloody phone with one hand.
Shake, shake, shake water off.
Snap, snap, snap and hold the bloody phone with the other hand.
Some had waterproof casing for their phones and cameras. While some had "professional photographers" armed with a DSLR on the deck and snapping from afar.




This was our view. Rain clouds in the distance!




It really isn't very scary to be on the 57th floor in an infinity pool. If you look over the infinity edge, it looks like this. There is a considerable distance to the actual edge.




We were standing too near the edge and because we are not naturally born with chimpanzee arms, we couldn't get a good wefie that could capture the infinity edge and the city backdrop.




Oh well, it's ok.




I didn't know kh captured this.

The story behind this picture was this lady (who could be a Korean or a PRC Chinese from her English accent) asked if we could take a picture for her. Before that, she was already snapping lots of selfies. She offered to help us to take too but kh declined. In my bimbotic mind, I couldn't fathom why he would decline somebody's offer to take a pic of us. After that, he said she looked wobbly handling her own phone so he reckoned she be even more wobbly holding her own phone and ours. Wow... guys think of everything!




After thanking me for helping her to snap landscape and portrait mode photos, and a few more, she snapped a few more selfies in the pool and then went on the deck to snap more selfies. You could see her seated at the edge with her back facing us in this photo. After snapping 374043023644 times, she removed her oversized celebrity look-alike sunnies, put on a nerdy specs on her bare face and strutted off. I found it so amusing!




Have I already mentioned that there were so many non-Singaporean East Asian females who were alone at the pool taking selfies? We noticed this since Day 1. Were they really alone on a solo trip or were their friends and partners sleeping in while they grabbed more opportunities for pool shots?

This has since become MY iconic MBS pool shot and you would know it if you are following me on Instagram and Facebook. The caption for this is:

I am on top of the world... Together with a million others in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and armed with selfie sticks, cameras, phones, sunnies, various degrees of pool fashion not seen in this frame. 

It sure looked like I owned the pool!




So once an infinity edge is claimed, snap all you can before the next person claims your edge when it gets too crowded.




The hubby also wanted a "It's just me and my pool" shot.




The refraction made all of us look funny. Remember those naked people in the pool? Refraction!




Ninja eyes... or frog, maybe.




This caption aptly reads: Aviators holder.
Kh asked me hold on to his aviators while he (attempted to) go for a swim.




I made this Instagram VS Reality meme and posted on Instagram after my colleagues laughed at my description of how deceptive my iconic MBS pool shot was.




I was on the pretext of taking photo of the edge but I was really taking photo of this group of ladies. They are good-looking but their pool fashion came in the form of tank top with shorts, caps, flowy white dress etc etc. Do other pools actually allow clothing other than swimwear in the pool?




And then kh came and parked himself there to block my view.
He joked about swimming along the whole length of the pool and making big splashes of water while people were taking their selfies/wefies.

To that guy swimming, You go guy! It is virtually impossible to swim in this pool!
I know it coz I saw a solo Caucasian lady (who is so pretty btw) badly wanting to swim but each time she passed a group of photo-taking pool dwellers, she would give a sheepish smile as if she was invading their space. In the end, she went up to the deck chair to people watch.

Aside: I'm tickled by the coincidence of the 2 guys in the same hunched pose on the left of this photo.

I told kh that the group of ladies behind was a gorgeous bunch (who all wore clothes into the pool wtf?) so he did this to pretend that I was taking a photo of him.




The gal in white shirt turned and gasped at our ploy. Hahaha... That didn't happen but it sure looked the part!




I had a fun time telling my gal pals all about what I saw at the MBS pool. They found it an eye-opener and kept laughing at my stories. You know what's the in thing to do before going to the infinity pool? Slather on 3-cm thick make up to make sure your face make up is photoshoot worthy. Only then could you camwhore 393765948548 times in and around the pool.




I do not know about famous pools in other countries but I swear that MBS is the only pool that I observed 95% of the female population in make up and 60% in very thick make up. Me? I belong to the 95%. Except for the eyes, I don't think my make up is considered thick. Look at all the visible freckles! I was melting under the scorching sun.




Some females with no make up would be in their shades the whole time and some looked great because almost everyone in shades look like superstars right?




Perhaps it is all the same or even more dramatic in Miami or Las Vegas or some other pools. When I see people donned in super beautiful and chic jewellery to match their swimwear, all I could think about would be the uneven tan lines after that.




I know I have a soft and flabby tummy that is especially visible when seated. The only time I have abs are when I wake up with empty tummy sucked in and when I was much younger years ago. But I feel comfortable in my own skin coz all the people there are like that too. Flabbiness... cellulite... they are all common sights.
Check out this link of our Bintan escapades a decade ago when the hubz had 6 packs. Now all he has are the United Nations.




That lady there looked like she was singing in an opera. That guy there looked like he had toe fetish.




This is such a staged Instagram shot with caption:
"I'm having a lazy day tanning by the empty pool."
But you know that's not true.




Only little puppies or kittens did that to my toes.




One last shot before we leave the pool for breakfast.




The selfie lady, the selfie stick guy and the one with the DSLR.




There was complimentary breakfast at either The Club or Sky on 57. After checking out the breakfast buffet spread at The Club, we decided on Sky on 57. Besides, I really love it there when I had my birthday dinner there last year. Still can't help thinking of the heavenly broth.

It was a semi-buffet style breakfast at Sky on 57.




Each person could choose 2 ala carte items each from either the Western or Asian concept.




We had omelette which was like any other buffet omelette.




The Baked Egg Printemps was delicious. It reminded me of egg confit and I love the straw potatoes!




The laksa was a little too rich and I always prefer cockles in my Laksa the hawker way.




I cannot remember the name of the chef's special dish. All I know was that my eyes lit up when I heard that it was Asian broth. I was head over heels in love with their Langouste Superior broth soup that I kept on hoping it would taste something like that. I was wrong.




But still, I love Asian soup.




Let's take a look at the buffet spread.




A variety of pastries was available, of which we only took those fruity ones.






The cold cut and cheese was so so. We preferred the one we had at The Club the previous day.






After breakfast, I spent some time soaking in the bath tub just to make sure we made use of of it and then it was time to pack up.




After checking out of MBS, we went to town to shop for some necessities and ended up eating at Paul just because the hub wanted to sit down and that place reminded us of Paris. It was supposed to be a relaxing staycation but I'm not sure why we felt soooooooo tired.




Sigh... even on leave, kh is constantly on his phone for work.




I was still full so we ordered a duck leg confit, pumpkin soup and hot chocolate to share.




The interior decor was semi elegant and reminded us of patisseries in Paris. The service was slow but apologetic and courteous. The food was so so. We were just glad to sit down and recharge. After that, we spent the rest of the day at home sleeping till night fall.




This post rounds up our staycation at MBS. Just in case you need, I've provided the links for the previous parts here:
Staycation at MBS Part 1 - Virtual Tour Of MBS Orchid Suite & The Club
Staycation at MBS Part 2 - DB Bistro Moderne