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A Colorful Birthday

11 Sep

The girls are teenagers now, 18 and 14 years’ old. At these ages, I deem it insignificant birthday numbers and therefore no big celebrations or parties. Unlike turning 10 or becoming sweet 16, life goes on and it’s just another day but with a small dine-out opportunity and a cake or cupcakes to mark the occasion.

Now the same can’t be applied to little ones under ten years old. My little niece and nephew has a party just about every year to celebrate their birthdays. This stems from them being the youngest and being indulged. With their birth dates very close to each other, my only sibling would hold a party, but just one for both of them.

I have forgotten how party planning goes as far as little ones are concerned. After all, our last big bash was when M2 turned 10 and that was like 4 years ago; and when M1 turned sweet 16 two years ago, not much planning was required, only some conspiracy with her friends to pull it off. Speaking of conspiracy, I remember when I turned sweet 16 donkey years’ ago, I conspired with Dad to have some friends over for a pizza party at home without the knowledge of Mom. She may know of this little secret now though…

Anyway, I was rather amused when the stage was set for the little one’s birthday bash last year. We were invited via online for the occasion and informed, in person, of the color theme. The nephew stated we must wear his favorite colors, orange or green, while the niece opted for pink or purple, colors apparently from the Disney movie, Frozen.

Oh. My. God.

The colors had flashes of Barney (the dinosaur) and Friends going through my mind! Four bright ghastly colors and how do I match? What do I match? Can I match anything? I can’t possible be one-sided favoring only one person’s favorite colors. Gently, I probed and they decided to include yellow and blue for variations. Phew. It was one heckuva colorful gathering as every family member obliged with this request.

This year, the party is not color-coded but activity-enhanced at an activity center. I am not sure I can survive jumping for an hour with a room full of little ones come Sunday. We shall see…

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Where are We Going?

29 Aug

We left the house early this morning to avoid any delays as this is a long weekend. Who knows? The roads may be clogged and the airport check-in line may be miles long. Well, none of these happened; we got to the airport in 45 minutes and the feared long line was non existent. Phew!

It comes as no surprise that we will be heading to our favorite country again for our Alphabet Trip. Since we arrived early, we are enjoying the privileges of the Premium Lounge before our flight at 12.20pm.

The fun begins!

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Our Alphabet Trip

28 Aug

Our wedding anniversary is coming up soon. During the significant milestones, we make it a point to go off somewhere to celebrate and rekindle the romance. Sounds corny I know but necessary for the soul and that’s how it works. Away from our daily routine, away from the mundane and away from the stress.

I call this our ‘Alphabet Trip’. 

A to admire, B to buy, C is ‘see’, D to drink, E to eat, F* to… well, you get the idea.

There was one year hubby got the anniversary year mixed up. Thinking it was the 15th year milestone, he planned our trip to Italy covering Rome, Florence and Venice. We visited museums, admired beautiful architecture, ate and drank a lot and basically, did the whole alphabet routine.

The following year, when it was the actual 15th anniversary and realizing the mix up, we decided to do another trip and basically covered the alphabets again. It was from this trip to Sydney that I bought my Blundstone boots.

The years that followed were ‘insignificant’ years, so we didn’t do anything special or planned anything grand. This year, the 20th wedding anniversary is coming up!

OMG. Where did time go? 20th milestone. No wonder there has been an increase in white hair count, M1 has gone off to university, M2 turned 14 but going on 18 and perspectives on life has changed. But these are good accomplishments save for the white hair count, that can’t be good.

We will be making a trip and decided to extend the alphabet to include ‘G’. For golf. It should be an awesome time.

Here’s to many more milestones together. Happy anniversary to us!

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The Joy of Receiving

30 Jun

It was thoughtful that M1 sent a birthday present to M2 for her upcoming birthday. The parcel arrived timely yesterday while the card came last week; M2 was so excited. We were too! It’s been a while since we received a parcel with such excitement, the last being my Blundstone boots in December.

My second baby is all grown up and turns 14 today. Although M1 is not here with us to celebrate, we know she’s thinking of this occasion in her heart. It may be a school day but we can make an exception. Dinner will be all M2’s favorites.

Happy birthday my M2! 

Look what the postman brought?

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Tradition Continues

22 Jun

Every year when the Dumpling Festival comes around, Mom would painstakingly make the effort to make the dumplings or what we call ‘Bak Chang’ in the Hokkien dialect. She would always make the Nyonya ‘chang’ for me as it is my favorite. 

But every year when she makes them, she would highlight the tedious efforts taken and declare that it would be the last time she’s making them. This went on for the last several years.

Last year with M1 still around, she taught her the skills on how to make ‘changs’. And I would just wait to eat them when they are ready. I’m terrible, I know.

This year, things have changed. With M1 away and I have never, all these years, picked up the skills from Mom to master to carry on this tradition, it looked like we would not have homemade ‘changs’ to eat. And I dared not open my mouth to request from Mom.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that there are some to eat. The elder twin niece had complained that purchased ‘changs’ do not taste as good as Grandma’s recipe. And she took it upon herself to carry on the tradition with Grandma supervising her on the side.

Thank goodness for nieces, I have my homemade Nyonya ‘changs’ to savor!

  

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Happy Anniversary 

12 Jun

I find it amazing that today marks the second anniversary of my blog. Two years! Wow… Two years of daily musings (except for Wednesdays) and constant blogs when I travel. I never knew I had so much to talk about.

What started out as simply my wanting to share about my children’s antics has evolved somewhat to what it is now. I would to thank my followers and readers for keeping up with me to reach this milestone.

Looking forward to many more!

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Forever 38, 2015

28 Apr

I was aghast looking at the back of my crown in the mirror the night before my birthday. More white strands! Eeeeks… I cringed. My birthday was approaching and this is not something I wish for. M2 came into the bathroom and I told her.

She chuckled and said, “People get white hair when they get older, you get them when you get younger.”

I will be like, what? 39, I asked her.

No she said. I will be forever 38.

Aww…

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Of Chap Goh Meh and Birthday Dinners

9 Mar

Chinese New Year is officially over with Chap Goh Meh celebrated last Thursday; Chap Goh Meh being the 15th day of the Lunar New Year calendar. Mom insisted on feeding the family with a home-cooked meal during the gathering on Thursday, a workday instead of going out for the occasion.

It was a great time and the last time for M1 to savor the home cooking and cherish the times before she goes off to college. And as if this family time together was not enough, my sibling scheduled Sunday to meet again for yet another meal! He wanted to give her a farewell dinner and yesterday was the only window every family member could make it.

The dinner was fancy, at a restaurant in the heart of the city. We had fine Malay food which was really good. It’s not often we make this choice but I think it’s apt. It will be a flavor M1 will miss.

What was even more special was the dessert that came after the meal. M1’s cousin, K1, painstakingly stayed up until the wee hours of the morning the day before to bake it for her. Such love. It was supposed to be a farewell cake. However, when the cake was brought out, the restaurant automatically blared out the standard ‘Happy Birthday’ song! It was hilarious as we all sang along. Heheh…

Such good memories especially for M1. Time is moving too fast.





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Let’s Eat!

26 Feb

Although I have been mindful of my weight, I would not give last night’s dinner occasion a miss. It was a gathering with my old school friends. And when I say old, our friendship goes back to the dinosaur era when we were 7 years old. Told you we are dinosaurs.

Since it’s still Chinese New Year, all the more reason to meet up, chatter to catch up, enjoy a good meal and exchange Angpows (red packets) for the children! We took the opportunity to have the ‘Yee Sang’ for prosperity with all the good wishes recited poetically by the waitress and also had the ‘Poon Choy’ dish, which roughly translates to a bowl of everything. Very filling despite it being just one bowl.

Dinner gatherings with old school friends are unlike dinners with golf friends but both are always enjoyable. I only wish the school friends would do it as often as the golf friends. Friendship prevails when we make the effort.

Maybe after the festivity is over, we will prioritize meeting up more often, like hubby and his (and also my) friends with our Tuesday Food Club. After all, we have to eat. And why not eat with good old friends?





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But I Sucked the Tummy In!

24 Feb

I knew I gained some weight when we took Chinese New Year family pictures because looking at myself in the group shots, on both sides of the family, I cringe with disdain at how I looked. And both times, I sucked my tummy in but I guess it didn’t work.

Gosh, is that really me? I gotta stop eating despite the gaping hole in my molar!

When we got home on Saturday after a nine hours and 45 minutes journey (yes, traffic was horrendous), I stood on the bathroom scale and cringed again.

The scale must be lying! I can’t be this heavy. Ooohh… with Chinese New Year being celebrated for 15 days and just about everyday, there is a big meal because it is a celebration, I better do something about the weight gain than just sucking the tummy in…

CNY2015(2)

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