Food: Brunch @ Food for Thought

Sunday brunch with family was so wonderful. As Kaitlyn did not have piano that week, we decided to have the whole Sunday to be filled with family fun and good food.

The restaurant was not crowded even though it was a Sunday. I love the gigantic table in the restaurant that was able to house a family of eleven.

Children were really happy when they met each other. Kaiden had his favorite eggs and Kaitlyn, her pancakes. Jon and I shared the Full Works which left no space in our tummies.

There is a playground to entertain the children. So glad that it was not hazy, the children had some time to run around and play with the slides.

Children had a chance to learn things from Granny too. They were staring hard at something…. 🙂

Food For Thought is definitely a place where I would visit again. Love the ambience and space. We had a leisure brunch not worrying about long queues outside the cafe.

For the morning, children and adults both had chance to be with the greenery, away from the high-tech gadgets and bustling city, breathing in fresh air and embracing the wonders of nature at the Botanical Gardens after that.

I love family time… How about you?

Food For Thought

1 Cluny Road,
Tanglin Gate, #B1-00, S259569
F: +65 6479 1080

Opening Hours

Mon  –  Sun
8am to 9pm
(Last orders at 8.30pm)

Let’s Get Arty at Singapore Art Museum!!!

Have you visited the Art Garden? Actually, I was not even aware of a place like this. Kaiden saw the Art Garden exhibition advertisement and kept bugging me to bring him there. So there we were… on the way to the Singapore Art Museum with the three kiddos.

The children were very excited especially Kaiden who has been looking forward to this trip. The moment we reached there, he recognized the gigantic white  bunny lying in front of the museum. So now… let’s embark on our journey in the Art Garden.

The vibrant exhibition room in the first level attracted our attention the moment we registered to venture. The entrance is free to all Singapore Citizen. Kiddos took off their shoes and went on to explore The Enchanted Garden City on their own. Colorful murals on nursery rhymes and some of the famous twisted fairytales that children have read were on all the walls. The colors used were so enticing that children stayed in this room the longest.

A few activities were happening in this room. One of the activities, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, which children drew, colored and designed  their own version of enchanted garden. Crayons and markers were provided for the children. Children gathered around a pond-like table to doodle while parents sat along the murals to watch. Eye power… quite easy. 🙂

The girls were so engrossed in the designing while Kaiden did his too. He drew the rainbow bridge that he saw and ran up and down umpteen times in the room.

The children submitted their artwork and the young helpers in the room scanned and tada…. their artwork was reflected on the screen. They were so elated to be able to see their artwork on display for about ten seconds for phototaking.

The duo, Kaitlyn and Kaiden, went on to complete other activities in the room. They searched for number of frogs that appeared around the room and gathered the titles of the nursery rhymes and famous twisted fairytales.

*By now, my camera just shut off. 😦 The result of not charging before a trip. Picture from here onwards were then taken with my Samsung S3.*

Next, we moved on to Level 2, another exhibition on Around the Day in Eighty Worlds. Transient to another world, the room was tastefully decorated with many beautifully colored and designed hot air balloons by children who had visited the place. As we walked further in, the room transformed into a monochrome of black and white. Children started playing with the games on the wall. Not forgetting looking through the kaleidoscope strategically located at different parts of the room.

Children went on spider hunting with some newly acquainted friends while I decided to do some craft with Karyn. Kaitlyn and Kaiden also donated $2 each to have a kaleidoscope arty pack which was easily created and beautified on the spot.

Karyn decorated the hot air balloon with the colored papers provided. A job well done!Next exhibition was the Stellar Cave II. The display was entirely created with screws and thread. Making use of the UV rays, I was in awe the moment I stepped into the dimly-lit room, a phenomena art piece awaited me.

Children had their fair share of creating similar works with screws and thread. Definitely they need some visualization skills and patience, taking care not to entangle the thread while making sure that each screw is wound with the thread.

Decided to rest our feet and calm the children down, we entered the film screenings room. Karyn was scared for the room was pitch dark and quiet. We watched a short clip for about ten minutes before moving to the next exhibit, Les rêves engloutis – Glossy Dreams in Depths.

This exhibit room showcased arts in 3-dimension. We put on the 3D specs before walking through the aisle. Children then popped by the activity corner again to create masks. Karyn handstamped her masks while the two designed with colors and markers.

This was also our last stop. Pretty much activity based and children love it. They even explored The Enchanted Garden City for the second time before leaving the place.

If you have not visited Art Garden, try making this the last excursion out with your children before the school holiday ends. It would be fun. 🙂

Find out more from Singapore Art Museum.

Beauty: Sephora Haul

E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D is the only word I can describe myself now. Giving my brain a short break from churning out the activities and questions for my worksheets then realized, I have not blog for quite some time.

Was trying to update my calendar and felt so upset. I think I should be happy with the packed schedule cos (PACKED = WORK = MONEY) but not so . I have been busy with workshops, lessons and tuition straight for six days a week. Sunday a rest day? Nah… Sunday is my enrichment day, for the kids. Picking and sending them to classes, grocery shopping and so on…. I am in dire need for time out. Getting out of the house, spending my afternoon lazing and doing things I like.

I think I am reaching the brim with no breaks straight for the past two months but gonna perservere on. Jia You! Jia You! However, this makes me all the more looking forward to the coming break in June, especially a getaway with my family. *Beaming*

These few weeks, I have been focusing on my personal care. With the stress and late nights, my skin started breaking out really badly. To make things worst, make-up was on almost every day. I presume the cleansing plays a part too.

Two weeks ago, received a mailer from Sephora that they are having a 20% off storewide for members. 🙂 I have eyes on a few items and decided to grab them during this sale. Thanks to dear hub, given me a few hours off in the evening to shop. 🙂

The first item that I picked up was  a Dior Addict Lip Glow. I love the natural shine on my lips. It is just a lip balm that enhances my lip color . Supposedly to react with the chemistry of my lips to create my unique special shade. I realized that as the day passed, I get different shades of pink on my lips. 🙂

Well, that’s not my lips so can’t see the change. This is the natural shade of the lippy.

I also bought my favorite concealer, the Clinque Airbrush Concealer. It was highly used by Lisa Eldridge in her make-up videos. Love this as compared to YSL Touche Eclat as this is less illuminated. I used to use Bobbi Brown’s Quick Corrector to cover my under eyes but often cakey after a while leaving more lines. This one is love.

Now the cleansing part. I highly suspect that I have not done a thorough cleaning on my face. Even after removing my make-up and cleanse with facial wash, I still see remains of my make-up on the cotton wool when I apply the toner. With the 20% off, I decided to purchase the Clarisonic Mia2. A lot of reviews mentioned the initial break outs when first use due to the purge. Seriously, I am already breaking out so ya… thus decided to take a risk. I must say this is amazing.

Just one week, my break outs started to ‘simmer’ down. My chin area used to have many comedones and they are slowly disappearing. Skin is definitely cleaner with no more make-up residue on the cotton wool when applying toner. I have also noticed that my skin looks clearer. My Naruko toner, moisturisers and Chanel serum seem to absorb faster than before. Though stated that it is fine to use twice a day, I only used it at night after removing my make-up. Days without make-ups, I will skip it. 🙂

Above were my major splurge.  In addition to those, I also bought a Sephora lavender eyeliner. Wanted to try out different shades for summer.

As I walked towards the MRT station, I could never resist going into Chanel. My Chanel cosmetics and skincare collections are slowly building. Spotted the eyeliner in the above picture? I have dumped all my eyeliners after I found this, the Chanel Sylo Yeux Waterproof Long Lasting Eyeliner. I have very oily eyelids and so far all crayon eyeliners melt on my lids. This works fine for me but what I really love is the colour, a natural brown, Espresso. Unlike my black eyeliner, this colour blends in well. The texture is so smooth and easy to draw with.

Though busy, it is still important to take good care of myself. 🙂 Retail therapy is one of them. 🙂 Yea!

POLW – Aye! Aye! Captain!

Been to Port of Lost Wonder many times. Love the sun, the smiles of the children, the running, the shouting….. Just love everything that is part of the nature. Situated at Sentosa Palawan Beach, the location is walking distance from the  Beach carpark. The moment, I entered the area, soft breeze from the sea caressed my face while I screamed at my children not to run. They went crazy the moment they saw the pirate ship. So glad that the weather stayed that way throughout the day we were there.  Lazing under the coconut trees looking at the fluffy clouds on azure sky , sitting on the white washed benches to watch children sliding from the colourful slides or joining them in the water play, getting myself wet, were just part of my plans.

We reached there early, hoping to grab a good spot. There was already a queue at the entrance. As it was a weekend, crowd was expected. Love the way payment is taken. Adults go in free with a hug from their kids. 🙂 Melts my heart.

The kiddos each received a bag of curios and a Port Pass. Every day, there are series of games and activities throughout the day which the kiddos can use the curios to pay for. From the moment it opens at 10am to it closes at 6.30pm, activities vary from treasure hunting, planting and bubble party. Weekends’ activities are far more interesting than weekdays. 🙂

The main attraction is the Pirate Ship and the only place where my two children would spend most of their time at. They can run up the stairs and down the slides umpteen times, not feeling the slighest bit of weary. Well, I enjoyed myself too but definitely had to take turns with Jonathan to entertain kids.

Though the planting area and bubble party were very enticing, the children were not keen. They still prefered to stay at the water area. Kids love water and especially when they get splashed with!!!

There is a picnic area where we can prepare our own food. Since, we did not have picnic in mind, we did not prepare any food. There is one and only cafe, Port Belly, that serves savoury food. Kids meals are a must. We ordered children’s favourite, hot dogs set meal, and they waited patiently with their rumbling tummies. Our tag number is 10! Big and promninent! Very soon, the waiter dressed in pirates costumes served the food to us. Children gobbled the food so that no time was wasted to continue their play.

This is definitely a place where kids can play to their hearts content. I must admit that the management is very thoughtful. The toilets cubicles are equipped with hot and cold showers. The day ended with a warm shower with another blast from the rain showers after being in the cold the whole day. Definitely will set foot on this place again. 🙂

Kaitlyn’s 8th Birthday

Time really flies. A blink of an eye, Kaitlyn is already eight years old. Very soon, she will be completing her primary two and move on to primary three.

This year, Kaitlyn decided on her own celebration. She was given a choice to invite friends to Kidz Amaze at Safra or to just have a family time at the Festive Hotel. She chose the hotel stay with family. She told grandma that if we were to have it at Kidz Amaze, daddy would need to spend a lot of  money. Such a nice girl to think of saving money for us.

The children spent the day at Hard Rock pool frolicking and building sandcastles. Quite a pity that I could not accompany them due to my lessons on Saturday. Immediately after class, I joined them for dinner at the Singapore Seafood Republic.

Sumptuous dinner indeed with mouth-watering Alaska crabs of three different ways of cooking, chillie, butter and steam (for the kiddos). Kaiden loves seafood and especially crabs. After Kaitlyn is tested that she is not allergy to seafood, she finally got to try them. No pictures for I was too hungry after a whole day of lessons. 🙂

How can a birthday without a birthday cake? The family got a cake from Awfully Chocolate, simple but delish. Kaiden even got  a second helping. 🙂

We sang the birthday song. Remembered the days whenever we sang the birthday song, Kaitlyn would cry out loud. We used to wonder if it was because of the fire or the attention that we were giving her that made her uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she does not cry anymore now. 🙂 Xuanxuan even learnt to sing the birthday song before the celebration is due. Such a cutie pie.

Daddy’s little girl has turned into a beautiful big girl but yet always remained little in our hearts.

Though without the usual big celebrations, without the blessing of many friends, without the bustlings preparation, the family enjoyed every bit of the warm moments like this with just the few of us. I think that is good enough.

Poor Kaiden, was addictively playing with the phone and was fuming mad when asked to put the phone down to take a family picture.

A very overdue post but still managed to get it out to remember the special occasion. Kaitlyn, Happy 8th Birthday to you. Mummy loves you always. 🙂

 

Before CNY – Hair and Meet-up

Though not working full-time, I feel busier but happier. Life is not so hectic. It has became more mundane but fruitful. Jon is happy, Kaitlyn is happy and I have the full evening to accompany Kaiden. The only setback…. I have to work on Sat.

All mornings are now spent with Kaitlyn, helping her with work and enjoying our bonding time.

My house looks neater with my daily vacuuming and packing in the morning.

Sometimes, I will even get to do some laundry. All my work starts in the afternoon after I have sent Kaitlyn to school. Shorter and more flexibility in my working hours leave me more time to treat myself better. (Well, I will not be sure for the coming few weeks when more workshops are confirmed.)

A haircut is one of the ways. I love to walk out of the salon knowing that I looked great. That definitely brightens up my day. That day, I had a workshop and almost wanted to give up my slot which my sister has booked for me in Dec. I was so glad that my stylist, John from SalonVim, accommodated to my schedule of completing my whole haircut experience within 1.5 hours. Initially, wanted to touch up my roots but was not able to due to time constraints. In the end, did a Redken cocktail treatment followed by a trim.

Some thought I repermed my hair but nope… I didn’t. John layered my hair with the perm I did in June last year. With their professional blow dry, thus the permed effect. Totally love it when I left the salon. 🙂

SALON VIM
313 @ Somerset #04-07/08/09
68847757/68847767

My second way of treating myself better with is food. I have a food buddy,. Ms Yan. 🙂 She never fails to bring me to patronise good food but this time round, I recommended her. As it was Ms Yan’s birthday month, I suggested to her the highly raved Koh Sushi Bar and Grill at Wisma. Located on the same level as Food Republic, I never expect to find good sushi. We had a good time commenting on the food and deep conversations about our lives. She is such good company to be with. 🙂

Below are what we ordered and my personal opinions.

Chawanmushi: A must have for me in every Japancese restaurant thus no comments on this.

Beef Fillet: The beef fillet is nice but not the kind that oooo me; however, I like the crispy stuff on top of the fillet. Tasted like fried lard to me.

Gyoza: Something that I will strike off from my list. The taste is bland and I think it would be better off trying other recommended stuff.

Cold Tofu w Pidan: This is heaven. Love, Love, Love this. The combination is wonderful. Must order.

Finally the legendary highly raved, Shiok Maki: Does not give that WOW feeling but I must say, it tastes really shiok with the flying fish roe bursting in my mouth. Must order.

My advice is to go with a bigger group, then you can try other makis on the menu. There are a few recommended ones. Would like to try their crappy maki. 🙂 Try to be there early. That day, we met at about 6pm. The restaurant was quite empty but queue started to form when it’s about 7pm.

KOH SUSHI BAR AND GRILL

Wisma Atrium #04-21
68360609

Goodbye 2012 and Hello 2013

Time flies and the year is going to end in a few hours. I would like to take this moment to recall and reflect on what have happened over the year.

1. Kaitlyn was Primary 1

Kaitlyn started her life as a Primary 1 student. She has always been a crybaby (just like me when I was young), I have seen her grown over the year. The teachers have done a great job taking care of her. I am so glad that Jamie and my mil were around for her during the first six months of her primary school life, preparing pretty bento sets for her recess and helping her with her English and Chinese Spelling. I am also very thankful for the help rendered by my family side to pick her up after school when Jon is not available. 🙂

2. Kaiden attended Kindergarten without her sister.

Kaiden is more independent than Kaitlyn thus I am so glad that he is taking well attending school on his own. Over the year, he has grown more mischievous. Wonder is it because he is boy or what. He is so boisterous, not slowing down for a minute. Mrs. Lim, her teacher, said that it could be that I have not been giving him enough attention thus attention seeking. Guilty on my part, it’s true that my attention was on Kaitlyn as a lot of monitoring was to be done on her school work.

3. I am back at work.

Staying home to take care of the children for so many years, going back to work was a struggle initially. I made new friends and interacted with many, many good colleagues. I enjoy working with them and especially with the children. I have learnt a lot over the year especially from the little ones. It is also a joy to see them grow and to grow with them.  On the other hand, I felt guilty for not giving enough attention to my children anymore. Not being able to help Kaitlyn much with her work as I was totally drained out at night after work. Not being able to spend enough time with Kaiden causing him to act out.

4. Embarked on the route to book editing

I took up the challenge to join a team as one of the editors to edit a set of Mathematics books which will be launching in 2013. It was my first time doing an editing job and I must thank people from VM for the opportunity to learn from them. Tiring with work and to continue with the editing after work, the team was very patient and accommodating to my work schedule. I had a glimpse of the books, the covers and layout of the books look great. Can’t wait for them to be distributed to different schools and to the hands of the teachers and students.

5. Went for a Thyroid surgery

My heart was palpitating as Jon walked side by side to accompany me to the surgery theatre on our wedding anniversary to have my thyroid removed. We were laughing our heads off about how comical we were and acting like male and female leads in a Hong Kong serial. I am so thankful that with many blessings from a lot of people, it was just an inflammation and only one side of my thyroid was removed. Parents were worried as the case had been dragging since May from a government hospital. Mother sourced for a specialist in Mount E, which did a really good job on the surgery within 1 week upon seeing him. The difference between a government and private. 🙂

6. I submitted

After thinking for almost a year. I decided to leave the service. Supposedly to feel happy, I had mix feelings. I love my job but at the moment, my priority is my family. I want to spend more time with Kaitlyn to help her in her work and to spend more time with Kaiden to undo what has been done. Staying home full-time is not what I have planned for. I will be taking up a freelance job using the time to engage myself while Kaitlyn is in school.

Welcoming 2013…. My resolutions

1. Start life anew in my new job.

I will be joining VM as one of the Senior Trainers, training students in the center and schools on conceptual thinking in Mathematics. I am not sure how everything will turn out but since I am embarking on it, my aim is to help every child like Mathematics in basic and to do well in their tests and exams. VM is really nice to fit the classes according to my schedule and giving me the autonomy to work from home on some days of the weeks. I can’t wait to see my new group of students starting next week. 🙂

2. Prepare Kaiden for Primary 1 in 2014

Kaiden will be enjoying his last year of kindergarten. I hope I can spend some time preparing him for Primary 1 and to kick off some of his bad habits. He has a lot of bad habits and I shall not mention them. Some are pretty gross…. LOL

3. Help Kaitlyn to build up her Maths foundation and confidence level

Kaitlyn is quite weak in Mathematics. I hope that I could use my expertise to help her understand Maths concepts better and to let her feel more confident in the things she does.

4. Shed some kilos off and have a good diet

I hope to take up a sport to shed some kilos off and to tone up my body. Probably to join my mother for yoga classes or to take up a family sport. Jon just renewed his SAFRA membership and hopefully, we can allocate one day each week to work out together. I hope to take better care of my body by having less suppers and healthier food.

5. Have a family day

Saturday and Sundays this year always ended up at my parent’s place lazing around and doing nothing. I hope to allocate either Saturday or Sunday as a family day where we will bring the kids out for fun. Be it visiting the park, having brunch, cafe hopping or the beach. Something for the kids to enjoy the nature rather hogging on to the TV and iPad.

6. Spending and savings plan

I normally do not keep track of my spendings. The new year, I hope to save more with some goals in mind. One of the big goals is to save for a major trip to US in 2014. This has been in Jon’s family discussion since last year and we shall make it happen in 2014. Save! Save! Save! Not forgetting my another major splurge, a Chanel flap. 🙂 Hoping to save for one this year.

7. Organise my life

Instead of living on what comes tomorrow, I hope to plan my life in a more systematic way. Getting a pretty schedule book to jot down my important schedule (still prefer pen and paper :)) and blog to reflect on my life. This year has been a busy year that I do not have time to meet up with my friends, spend time on my crafting and even blogging. I hope to spare some time in life, to meet up with good friends at least once a month and to create a craft  and blog at least once a week. I want to start documenting my life thus embarking on the journey of ‘Project Life’, a fuss free scrapbooking, to journal and document my happenings on a monthly basis.

8. Have my own family trip

Jon’s family without fail will have an overseas trip at least once a year. This year, we went Hong Kong together, a group of 13 people. I hope to have the chance to have my own family trip with my parents and siblings. Shall we have one this year?

9. My wish for my family in 2013…..

is for everyone to be happy, healthy and to be thankful for every moment spent together.

A very Happy New Year to everyone. 🙂

My last post for year 2012.

ChippyChipDovey giveaway on FB

ChippyChipDovey has reached its 50 LIKES and we are giving away not one but 5 pairs of Twosome earrings (Freshwater Pearls in 925 silver) worth $16 each.

In three simple steps, simply:
1. Like ChippyChipDovey’s Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/#!/ChippyChipDovey
2. Like and Share the giveaway status.
3. Leave a comment under the status saying “I ♥ CCD” (so that I know that you have shared this)

*Ends on 17th August. Five winners will be selected.

Good Luck!!!!

Karyn’s 1st Birthday

It seems like only yesterday that this little tiks just arrived.

The children are very close. They practically grew together. They see each other everyday, play with each other everyday. They became part of each other’s lives.

I did not get the chance to take a lot of pictures. Too busy with my own kids as well. They were so excited about the party. Just the gist of the event.

So difficult to get a picture of smiley Karyn. 😦 She is really cute when she smiles.

A family picture with Karyn and family. A picture that I “stole” from Gerald’s fb.

My New Hideout

Life is returning back to the days as a SAHM without Jonathan. Got 2 weeks of holidays to spend time with the kids but the days do not seem to be a lot after counting them. Late nights of crafting… and so much more time in the day to play with the children and blog. 🙂

Last Friday, I visited MAAD at the Red Dot Museum again. I love the atmosphere there especially with all the crafty and arty people around. 🙂 I reached MAAD at about 5.30pm when the stalls owners were still busy setting up their display.

I strolled around with my camera exploring more of the place. The last time I went was with the kiddos. They were practically running around the museum. 🙂

The pamphlets were randomly scattered in a wooden box.

Some of the interesting things I found.

And there were portrait drawing after dark. The personnels were still setting up the chairs and lighting.

Actually my main purpose there was to attend the Crafty Party organized by Jasmine from Gift Wrapsody. She will be my new craft supplier for bezel charm and glass cabochon. 🙂

Remember my name charm necklace collection?

The charms were sealed with glaze and I had to keep on redoing some of them as there were too many bubbles presented during the curing period. The process was long and usually took a day or two for them to dry up as well. 😦 Jasmine offers me a good alternative to fast and pretty customised charms.

I love craft parties but there isn’t many in Singapore (or I was unaware of). It is quite common in the US though. It is an opportunity for me to meet other crafters and to share each other’s knowledge.

And…. what have I done at the Party?

Cufflinks for Jonathan and a ring painted with nail polish for myself. 🙂 I enjoyed myself tremendously. Hope there will be more craft parties for sharing. 🙂