Eat, drink and be married!

Family that I hold so dear, without them life would be oh-so-boring and incomplete. I wish them good health always for without health, wealth is nothing!

Thank God for a good year, for the love and blessings showered because I am complete in You. Now, 2016...come right on!

Christmas came and went, my favouritest season of the year...and even without travel plans, this special holiday was still plenty of fun and food!



The sis' turn with an oriental twist...

Christmas eve is never complete without a feast TOO. All eyes on those cheese sausages, steaks and....mushroom soup made from scratch!

Realised that this was the only year that logcakes did not make much of an appearance, I still had to eat a slice to get through xmas. :P


And ended the day with the most satisfying bowl. Still a bcm girl at heart!

Hope your christmas was as fulfilling, until the next!

Since moving into the humble abode, we have been plagued by a nasty bout of air moisture - it was ridiculously moist to the extent that my bags started moulding. Not fun at all considering how I never ever had an issue with that and seeing the prized babies being eaten by furry patches was by no means fun.

Bag spa? I tried and tested and declare that it does not work. The mould returned even faster than I ever imagined. The thrill of walking into a bag spa and walking out poorer with a supposedly clean bag because they remove mould from the "root" is a fallacy. The same whitish patches haunted me thereafter.

Charcoal dehumidifiers? I have never seen a thirsty hippo so thirsty before, our wardrobes needed constant replenishment. The excitement of seeing the thirsty hippo's water levels rise was definitely a novelty and even then, the moisture levels in our walk in barely dipped.

Moth balls? These caused a major stinkfest in our bomb shelter and even walk in, I was horribly embarrassed to even carry my bags because they reeked of the moth balls. After three days, I gave up on my moth balls, thinking that going old school was best.

Finally, we caved in on a dehumidifier. And being the budget ken and barbie we were, heading to the departmental store to score one was a pinch on the wallet. Qoo10 to the rescue for parallel imports!

I mean how hard can a dehumidifier be? It is pretty universal and there were only so few buttons to manage.



Here's our first made in korea Novita Dehumidifier snug at home! It's been almost a month and I dare say this is the best purchase to date. And so, I understand korean afterall with a mere few buttons, even if the manual was in complete nonsense to me.

At $156 we have saved ourselves a ton of money dealing with mould. 

The Hubba caught the cheap thrill bug and decided to get another. Which turned out to be a wrong decision - it was way smaller and definitely worked less hard. We barely reduced the moisture in the same amount as the Novita.

We were happy for a good six months before it died on us, suddenly. Warranty? Only valid in Korea. And seriously, it was a huge curse and the risk we took..rawr. It's back to the departmental stores!

November seemed to fly by so fast and rightfully this is the time of the year that I look forward to most. Somehow, this year brought alot of reflection as the year draws to a close. Particularly pensive somewhat...but this has been a single song that has been on repeat mode for awhile now and kept us believing.

It was one of those times when I repeated it to death and the Hubba emerges from the room agreeing with my choice of music - usually we clash haha! 

I have to admit these are trying times and I'm keeping my eye on Hebrews 11 - Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Since the early days of being able to tell time, I probably started my obsession with the instrument I can tell time with – watches. At some point, clock watches were the fad with movies and even dramas featuring them every now and then. 

February and October are two months in a year that my family celebrates birthdays. My dad and I and my Mom and sis.


And yes, my family hangs out at Starbucks. How cool is that. I'm glad my parents have decided to remain hip and cool by joining us at the places that they would not dream of going on their own citing practicality reasons. Even when the dad is a clear cut china man when it comes to choice of cuisine, he indulges us in our pasta and even curry dinners.

My first set of blueberry lemon yogurt pops. An overly ambitious one because

1) Blueberries curdle with yogurt when blended
2) The blend after is a horrifically dense and thickened mixture that I froze anyway
3) Beyond the sweetness is an almost gag worthy gritty and unpleasant popsicle.

Lesson learnt, fresh blueberries do not react well with yogurt.



Honey lemon lime popsicles paired with a honey jello, the contrast was nice with sour and sweet.

THAT heartbreaking moment when one of popsicle sticks went missing. :( Now my set is incomplete. SIGH.

I never quite thought I'd end up counting our milestones by month...not that marriage has gotten any less exciting or fun as started out but we have to admit, reality does bring us to ground zero and fairytales somehow-along-the-way have ceased to exist.

Today marks our 20th month of <strike> blessed </strike> <strike> happy </strike> <strike> ok, wonderful </strike> union, on good days I think it's blessed and of course bad days does warrant a different choice of adjective. Unfortunately, not everyday is strawberries and popcorn kind of happy!

And...my spiritual journey continues with a daily reader...for an entire year! :) Now, I can really check off growing with christ on my resolution list...

I foresee myself heading back more times to fill our home with more of his word..

SKS Warehouse
315 Outram Road, Tan Boon Liat Building, #09-03, S(169074)

An over due entry on Maldives...it's ALREADY September. Before I go into where did the whole month go, let me bring myself back to paradise. From Singapore to Maldives, there are two flight options - one by SQ and the other by Tiger Air. There was a good deal by SQ so off we were on our national carrier reaching slightly short of midnight. Being 3 hours behind local time, we gained some time!

A stayover on the airport island is inevitable and thank god we chose to because it was raining cats and dogs.

The morning view that greeted us was a gorgeous shade of blue.


 
We saw a couple sunbathing and the man enjoying a sand spa of some sort. No bikinis allowed on the beach but naked men are.



Maafushi Island a 2 hour public ferry ride away was worth a visit - to do touristy activities at half the prices of resorts.



The first time I actually bothered to admire how crisp the US dollar notes are and a stark reminder of "In God We Trust".



We found that postcard worthy famous coconut tree that grows horizontally and stole a snap!



Seagulls were also spotted on the island, a super tame one that reminded me how rambunctious and overpampered my furprince is.



Whoops, attempting a bikini shot and failed quite horribly here. :P



We managed to squeeze in a visit to the sandbanks in our 30 minute jetski rental session - phew! Saved us a good USD 25 each for a separate excursion. Well really, sandbanks are just miniature beaches and they're so small, I probably finish walking from one end to the other in 3 minutes flat. Yes you do get the idea.



My virgin jet ski experience that ended so unglamourously in the sea, no thanks to my reckless daredevil driver pictured above. AHEM.



I fell in love with blue this holiday. All shades of it in a single frame.



Will you bring me to the moon?



We could have tried to squeeze too many activities, after failing to catch dolphins we headed off for sunset fishing! That's our dhoni behind us, mostly open air and no life jackets provided - that sounds like a proper fisherman!



The hubba with his xth catch, he had better luck that me with all the fishes. My luck stopped after the first catch. A grilled fish dinner ensued after the rockety boat ride that was probably the scariest I have ever attempted but I had memories to last a lifetime.

Our time on Maafushi Island ended after two full days of fun and off we were for a pampering good time on a resort!



Ta-dah, our selected resort - Shangrila Maldives. It was a pity the skies were not kind to us when we arrived!



Being buggied to our water villa - hoorah!



I could live in my bathroom if it looked like this - or better still, this set the standards for my dream bathroom.



And that bed with that high ceiling - *swoons* Fly me back to Maldives already?



A welcome bouquet by the lovely folks at welcome center.



Even in the drizzle, we were aching to see the island! With our bicycles, we rode all over and this reminds me of home somewhat - that lush greenery.



I figured my cycling skills were honed by those two days alone!



There are a range of complimentary activities on the island - from seeing the coconut climbers in action to attempting to climb one like Hubba and coral planting...we had fun indulging in the free and paid ones!





Finally caught dolphins in action! And they even performed tricks for us.





Our explorations even brought us to restricted grounds, like the football training ground of their staff!

Spice garden where they grow all the delicious smelling herbs and plants for the restaurants.





The highest point on the island - 5.1 metres above sea level had us laughing in fits. I suppose this is why Maldives is worth a visit because the rumours of them sinking could be earlier than thought.



The gift of a beautiful sunset too, just the Hubba and I, arms interlocked and gazing at it. It is moments like these that make my bucket list grow extra long. :P



The only time I had time to even don the bikini was to pose for pictures like that...haha...and of course...



Snorkel! I won't say I enjoy snorkelling very much because I don't even count swimming as a favourite sport. The sea and I aren't best of friends - and I say so with a lifejacket on. Cannot quite imagine if I went without one. With reef scars to match, for sure it was memorable.




Under the sea!



For all of 5 seconds, I finally got my underwater shot!



Night time was particularly enchanting, infact the skies turn dark alot earlier than in the city.



Another shade of blue I so love.




Another must do on the island of Vilingili is to indulge in a romantic seaside dinner!



Leaving early in the morning was a pain - and why did we even book a noon flight home?!





Goodbye Shangrila, you have been nothing short of amazing.

 

The amazing journey ended the moment we boarded our domestic flight bound for Male City. 

I never thought Maldives could be this memorable and we were the exact same ones who waved this off as an expensive place to do nothing - I think I'll retract that. Dying to return if the piggy bank would allow!


X