This is just too cute not to share!
Thursday 29 November 2007
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Ms Kidston
I am a Cath Kidston devotee.
I love her prints/designs and my fave are Bird (more recently), Antique Rose, New Rose Bloom, Baby Blue Mini Dots and Bubble Rose.
Good news:
Cath Kidston is having some pre x'mas sales: one in Selfridges (20%) this weekend and some more at her outlets (15%) the following week. Huzzah.
Bad news:
IK does not think Ms Kidston is a wise choice of 'investment' as it is merely overpriced 'plastic' bags according to him. Boo hoo hoo.
But, but, it's the designs, the colours, the patterns, the lovely roses, I scream (in defence) in my head.
Now how do I ensure I have a fail-proof plan so that IK never finds out about my intentions of investing further into this company?
Sunday 25 November 2007
I Am
stroppy. whiny. sad. depressed. pissy. gloomy. miserable. dismal. melancholy. glum.
* I absolutely detest evenings leading to Monday mornings *
Saturday 24 November 2007
Friday 23 November 2007
I Miss My Furballs
Mumsy is great; she keeps me posted every few days on these two little girls she (secretly) dotes on. Getting calls from home is always a treat for me. Mumsy will update me on their antics and I never tire or ever get enough of their anecdotes. Wish I had the capacity (more money and annual leave please!) to be home more often to experience the joy myself.
It is such a pity that they can't talk nor can I cat speak, otherwise I can tell them both how much I miss them.
For now, I’ll settle with Mumsy being the best source of 'cat chronicles' and the closest thing I have in terms of communicating (indirectly) with Winnie and Cleo.
And yeah, I miss Mumsy too.
*sniffs*
It is such a pity that they can't talk nor can I cat speak, otherwise I can tell them both how much I miss them.
For now, I’ll settle with Mumsy being the best source of 'cat chronicles' and the closest thing I have in terms of communicating (indirectly) with Winnie and Cleo.
And yeah, I miss Mumsy too.
*sniffs*
Wednesday 21 November 2007
Woeful Tails, err I mean, Tales
After four days of rain, we finally had some decent weather today (well up until about 7 pm that is). The sun was out as early as 8 am as I was getting dressed for work.
What joy it was to not have to carry handbag in one hand, brolly in the other while manoeuvring my way avoiding puddles and traffic, splish-splashing in the rain worrying about stains at the hem of my beige trouser. I hope this weather will continue through to the weekend *fingers crossed*.
Despite the improvement on the weather front, I cannot say the same for my work.
This is always a painful time of the year for me, the dreaded quarterly self-assessment exercise. It is particularly more laborious than previous quarters as we are preparing for a peer review scheduled in February 2008 and everything has to be done perfectly, any gaps or shortfalls to be identified, highlighted to management and corrective actions taken immediately. Stressful indeedy.
As it is, self-assessments are taxing. Being audited on the self-assessment amplifies the stress threefold. Why oh why did I choose banking as a career path?
If I had my way, I’d probably be working with animals right now. They’re nicer, less demanding, highly entertaining, soft and cuddly and are forever appreciative of the time spent with/for/on them.
Unlike animals, there’s just no pleasing these slave-drivers I work for.
My exact sentiments.
What joy it was to not have to carry handbag in one hand, brolly in the other while manoeuvring my way avoiding puddles and traffic, splish-splashing in the rain worrying about stains at the hem of my beige trouser. I hope this weather will continue through to the weekend *fingers crossed*.
Despite the improvement on the weather front, I cannot say the same for my work.
This is always a painful time of the year for me, the dreaded quarterly self-assessment exercise. It is particularly more laborious than previous quarters as we are preparing for a peer review scheduled in February 2008 and everything has to be done perfectly, any gaps or shortfalls to be identified, highlighted to management and corrective actions taken immediately. Stressful indeedy.
As it is, self-assessments are taxing. Being audited on the self-assessment amplifies the stress threefold. Why oh why did I choose banking as a career path?
If I had my way, I’d probably be working with animals right now. They’re nicer, less demanding, highly entertaining, soft and cuddly and are forever appreciative of the time spent with/for/on them.
Unlike animals, there’s just no pleasing these slave-drivers I work for.
My exact sentiments.
Tuesday 20 November 2007
I Hereby Solemnly Declare...
I have been neglecting Eat Live and Breathe Canary Wharf. I don’t know why but the drive to blog has waned. Maybe it’s sheer laziness. Maybe the novelty has faded away. Maybe the weather has been miserable. Maybe work has been horrendous. Maybe Facebook is to be blamed. Too many possibilities; maybe this or maybe that or maybe a bit of everything really. I cannot say.
When I first started blogging I was missing home badly. I was unhappy with the grief I got from work. I was depressed as I had no close friends to chat and gossip with. I certainly had too much free time on my hands. Whilst browsing other blogs, I had read many claims that blogging is therapeutic, it helped calmed nerves, it was a place to rant and rave about anything and everything. That was when I seriously considered starting my own blog. I had hoped it would keep the solitude at bay and occupy my quiet lonely nights. Although a cat (or two) would have been a great remedy but we could not have any as the landlord would not allow such.
And that’s exactly what it did. Blogging kept the loneliness away. I was happy with the way it was progressing; my little jottings of the on-goings in my life, published anonymously in a nice template which I could customise to make it reflect the person that I am – colours, fonts, photos, links etc. Oftimes I’d write about cats, sometimes I’d write about my travels, other times about life at the wharf, most times about my horrible colleagues, at times it was about how manic-depressive I was and others about how everything was going great for me.
But I have come to a realisation that maintaining a blog has been and will continue to be, no doubt, very helpful for someone like me. Reason being is I am a total scatterbrain and I forget things almost too easily. My memory has been deteriorating and I cannot even blame pregnancy for this. I find it very difficult to retain information in this thick head of mine and upkeeping this blog is indeed very handy for someone like me.
This morning, noticing that I had started slacking big time on my posts, I told myself that I have to pull my socks up. I need to diligently jot down my thoughts and happenings in my life; be it bad or good, happy or sad, in order to have something to look back and go, ‘Oh yeah, I did do that then’ or ‘Yes, he was rather nasty’ or ‘Wow, that was so much fun, wasn’t it’. Hopefully then the details in the posts will help jog whatever’s left of my memory and remind me of the little uneventful but perhaps meaningful (to me at least) things that went on in my life five, ten, twenty years ago.
I am determined to be good and promise to conscientiously blog from this day forth, as this will only benefit me, and no other person, in the future.
When I first started blogging I was missing home badly. I was unhappy with the grief I got from work. I was depressed as I had no close friends to chat and gossip with. I certainly had too much free time on my hands. Whilst browsing other blogs, I had read many claims that blogging is therapeutic, it helped calmed nerves, it was a place to rant and rave about anything and everything. That was when I seriously considered starting my own blog. I had hoped it would keep the solitude at bay and occupy my quiet lonely nights. Although a cat (or two) would have been a great remedy but we could not have any as the landlord would not allow such.
And that’s exactly what it did. Blogging kept the loneliness away. I was happy with the way it was progressing; my little jottings of the on-goings in my life, published anonymously in a nice template which I could customise to make it reflect the person that I am – colours, fonts, photos, links etc. Oftimes I’d write about cats, sometimes I’d write about my travels, other times about life at the wharf, most times about my horrible colleagues, at times it was about how manic-depressive I was and others about how everything was going great for me.
But I have come to a realisation that maintaining a blog has been and will continue to be, no doubt, very helpful for someone like me. Reason being is I am a total scatterbrain and I forget things almost too easily. My memory has been deteriorating and I cannot even blame pregnancy for this. I find it very difficult to retain information in this thick head of mine and upkeeping this blog is indeed very handy for someone like me.
This morning, noticing that I had started slacking big time on my posts, I told myself that I have to pull my socks up. I need to diligently jot down my thoughts and happenings in my life; be it bad or good, happy or sad, in order to have something to look back and go, ‘Oh yeah, I did do that then’ or ‘Yes, he was rather nasty’ or ‘Wow, that was so much fun, wasn’t it’. Hopefully then the details in the posts will help jog whatever’s left of my memory and remind me of the little uneventful but perhaps meaningful (to me at least) things that went on in my life five, ten, twenty years ago.
I am determined to be good and promise to conscientiously blog from this day forth, as this will only benefit me, and no other person, in the future.
Sunday 18 November 2007
Brussels
Brussels is definitely not all about Belgian chocolates and waffles, I have discovered.
It is a city with diverse places of interests – museums, monuments, markets, gothic buildings, parks and palaces. There is endless variety of architecture you will encounter as you stroll around the streets; some are amazing, some are unattractive, some old, some very modern but never uninteresting.
There is just so much to see that spending merely the weekend in Brussels does not do it justice. I believe this city has not been getting as much attention as its European counterparts – Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Vienna, et al. A few of our friends pooh-poohed Brussels saying that there is nothing much to see and spending longer than two days would result in ‘pulling our hair out’, due to sheer boredom. I can vouch that that ignorant statement is farther away from the truth.
This was what we saw on Saturday:
The Grand Place is a beautiful square with elaborate baroque and gothic guild houses, including the striking Town Hall.
Mannekin Pis
This is a famous bronze sculpture of a little boy peeing in a fountain - weird Flemish humour? (Sorry, no pic!)
This is apparently the first shopping arcade in Europe. This glass-roofed arcade in the centre of town houses many cafes, eateries, high-end shops and theatres.
The Atomium represents an iron molecule’s nine atoms – magnified 165 billion times and it was built for the World Fair.
On Sunday:
The Royal Army and Military Museum
The museum displays real tanks, jets and planes that are now inoperative and offers an insight in armament and military technology. This was IK’s personal favourite.
The park is dominated by the triple arch in the middle of the park. The Royal Museum of Art and History, the Royal Army and Military History Museum and Autoworld are all located near the arch.
A perfect family destination; it is an outdoor exhibition of doll-sized replicas of Europe's most famous architectural sights, such as the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and the Parliament, leaning tower of Pisa and the Greek Parthenon.
Regrettably, there were a lot of places we had to give a miss due to time constraint, such as the Fine Arts Museum, the Chocolate Factory, the EU offices (we merely zoomed by the buildings) and Autoworld.
One thing I must mention is the very affordable and economical metro fares, unlike the exorbitantly priced London underground. Oh, and the Belgian waffles are scrummy too!
A vibrant little chocklit shop at the Grand Place
It is a city with diverse places of interests – museums, monuments, markets, gothic buildings, parks and palaces. There is endless variety of architecture you will encounter as you stroll around the streets; some are amazing, some are unattractive, some old, some very modern but never uninteresting.
There is just so much to see that spending merely the weekend in Brussels does not do it justice. I believe this city has not been getting as much attention as its European counterparts – Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Vienna, et al. A few of our friends pooh-poohed Brussels saying that there is nothing much to see and spending longer than two days would result in ‘pulling our hair out’, due to sheer boredom. I can vouch that that ignorant statement is farther away from the truth.
This was what we saw on Saturday:
Grand Place
The Grand Place is a beautiful square with elaborate baroque and gothic guild houses, including the striking Town Hall.
Mannekin Pis
This is a famous bronze sculpture of a little boy peeing in a fountain - weird Flemish humour? (Sorry, no pic!)
Galeries St Hubert
This is apparently the first shopping arcade in Europe. This glass-roofed arcade in the centre of town houses many cafes, eateries, high-end shops and theatres.
Palais de Justice
The Royal Palace
The Atomium
The Atomium represents an iron molecule’s nine atoms – magnified 165 billion times and it was built for the World Fair.
On Sunday:
The Royal Army and Military Museum
The museum displays real tanks, jets and planes that are now inoperative and offers an insight in armament and military technology. This was IK’s personal favourite.
Parc du Cinquantenaire
The park is dominated by the triple arch in the middle of the park. The Royal Museum of Art and History, the Royal Army and Military History Museum and Autoworld are all located near the arch.
Mini Europe
A perfect family destination; it is an outdoor exhibition of doll-sized replicas of Europe's most famous architectural sights, such as the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and the Parliament, leaning tower of Pisa and the Greek Parthenon.
Regrettably, there were a lot of places we had to give a miss due to time constraint, such as the Fine Arts Museum, the Chocolate Factory, the EU offices (we merely zoomed by the buildings) and Autoworld.
One thing I must mention is the very affordable and economical metro fares, unlike the exorbitantly priced London underground. Oh, and the Belgian waffles are scrummy too!
Sunday 4 November 2007
MH 001
Dadster's gone home. Boo hoo.
His flight was at 10pm last night and I think he has landed as I type this.
All the guilt feeling is oozing out of me now that he is gone. This is because I have not been the most gracious hostess/daughter. There were times when I may have raised my voice, became impatient, got angry with him unintentionally. I hope he does not take it to heart. Knowing him, his children can do no wrong and that makes me feel all the more worse.
When will I learn?
In my defence, not that it will dismiss the guilt and that I am permitted to absolve my bad behaviour, he can be quite a degil old man. Ask Mumsy.
His flight was at 10pm last night and I think he has landed as I type this.
All the guilt feeling is oozing out of me now that he is gone. This is because I have not been the most gracious hostess/daughter. There were times when I may have raised my voice, became impatient, got angry with him unintentionally. I hope he does not take it to heart. Knowing him, his children can do no wrong and that makes me feel all the more worse.
When will I learn?
In my defence, not that it will dismiss the guilt and that I am permitted to absolve my bad behaviour, he can be quite a degil old man. Ask Mumsy.
Friday 2 November 2007
Swoosh
Where did 2007 go?
I cannot believe it is already November and that in less than two months, we will be entering a spanking, brand new year. This year has whizzed past ever so fleetingly; it has been a busy-buzzing year with visitors, family and friends, with some positive changes, as well as interesting travels for me thusfar. A lot of happenings on the work front too.
This was how the past 10+ months have looked like very briefly:
January
Egypt holiday.
Restructuring and change in role.
February
Started blogging. Woohoo.
March
Played host to buddy from Malaysia who came a-visiting.
Began self-development course in basic SAS skills.
April
Mumsy spent 2.5 weeks with us.
We holidayed in Venice.
Additional responsibilities for new portfolio as colleague left for greener pastures.
May-June
The in-laws were here for 3 weeks.
June
Home bound for two long lovely jovely weeks.
July
Being catsitters for 3 weeks.
August
Home bound again, but only for a week.
October
Dadster’s visit.
Weekend get-away in land of chocklit and Belgian waffles.
Another one bites the dust and handing over of tasks is on-going.
November
Next week, brother in law will be around for four days.
Restructuring and change in role yet again.
Twice in a year, is that even possible? Apparently so in Shittybank. When oh when will senior management know what they really want and decide once and for all the right direction to head and save us all the grief?
I foresee November to be a very busy and *challenging* month for me in terms of work so time will fly too. Before I know it, I’ll be spending all my hard-earned money, first on the pre Christmas sale and the Boxing Day sale thereafter, much to IK's dismay (!). Then I slog away again until the next holiday, or the next restructure perhaps?
Ah, the vicious cycle of (my) life.
I cannot believe it is already November and that in less than two months, we will be entering a spanking, brand new year. This year has whizzed past ever so fleetingly; it has been a busy-buzzing year with visitors, family and friends, with some positive changes, as well as interesting travels for me thusfar. A lot of happenings on the work front too.
This was how the past 10+ months have looked like very briefly:
January
Egypt holiday.
Restructuring and change in role.
February
Started blogging. Woohoo.
March
Played host to buddy from Malaysia who came a-visiting.
Began self-development course in basic SAS skills.
April
Mumsy spent 2.5 weeks with us.
We holidayed in Venice.
Additional responsibilities for new portfolio as colleague left for greener pastures.
May-June
The in-laws were here for 3 weeks.
June
Home bound for two long lovely jovely weeks.
July
Being catsitters for 3 weeks.
August
Home bound again, but only for a week.
October
Dadster’s visit.
Weekend get-away in land of chocklit and Belgian waffles.
Another one bites the dust and handing over of tasks is on-going.
November
Next week, brother in law will be around for four days.
Restructuring and change in role yet again.
Twice in a year, is that even possible? Apparently so in Shittybank. When oh when will senior management know what they really want and decide once and for all the right direction to head and save us all the grief?
I foresee November to be a very busy and *challenging* month for me in terms of work so time will fly too. Before I know it, I’ll be spending all my hard-earned money, first on the pre Christmas sale and the Boxing Day sale thereafter, much to IK's dismay (!). Then I slog away again until the next holiday, or the next restructure perhaps?
Ah, the vicious cycle of (my) life.
Thursday 1 November 2007
Sound of Music
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things"
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things"
We were at the Palladium Theatre on Monday night with the Von Trapp family; Liesl, Frederick, Louisa, Curt, Brigitta, Martha and little Gretl.
Watching the Sound of Music musical that is.
It was wonderful. I loved loved loved it. But my reviews have always been positive for all the musicals I have been to, haven't they? I am not biased, I *simply* enjoy musicals; the magical feeling I get from watching live performances, especially of songs and movies I am familiar with.
Your sights and sounds are enhanced while your senses are heightened and everything just sounds a hundred times better compared to what you've watched/heard on telly/CD/DVD etc. The live music performed by the orchestra, the talented casts, the magnificent stage set up and fantastic lighting, adds to the unforgettable experience from watching a musical. The experience is truly one of a kind and is something not to be missed if ever you're in London West End or New York Broadway vicinity.
Everyone enjoyed the night enormously including Dadster, being a big Sound of Music and Christopher Plummer fan himself.
I leave you with verses from some of my favourite songs from the movie. I'm sure it'll bring back fond memories from your childhood/the past, as it did me.
“For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good
Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good”
***
“I go to the hills when my heart is lonely
I know I will hear what I've heard before
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more”
***
“Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever”
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