Hermit Crabs

Went to Junction 8 this evening after work to buy hermit crabs!! I first saw it being featured in a magazine (yes, magazine again) but forgot where it was sold until my colleague told me she saw it at Junction 8.



This is what the tank looks like on my office desk.



The interior decor of the home of my little crabs. From left, the coco hut for them to sleep and rest in, int he middle the feeding shell and on the right a water pool for them to drink and bathe in. I only bought 2 crabs, the other 3 are empty shells for them to change "house".



Tada, my hermit crabs!! Cute or not?? They hate water so that once you put them into the water they'll climb out.



Aren't their shells pretty? All hand painted.



Oh, I bought another bag again yesterday!!! I love it. Retro chic!!

The Fashion Bible

I finally went for my very very long overdue XXXX brazilian wax on Saturday!!! This time was to the Wheelock Place branch and it was a so much nicer place as compared to the Holland Village branch. It didn't hurt as much compared to the first time but charges have increased though. Lena was telling me to try this new waxing place called Honeypot at Pacific Plaza cos she say even though slightly more expensive than Strip but the pain is less of that. I got excited and I asked her how did she know, and her reply was "Magazine say one".

Went shopping after my waxing session for a new compact powder and finally bought one from Biotherm. While browsing through the many many beauty products, Lena and Liyun told me this one good that one good blah blah blah...... Initially I thought, wah these girls really know many of the products whether they are good or not leh. And know what they told me? Magazine say one!!! Wahahaha......

We are all really becoming followers of those beauty magazines. Just this morning when I was talking to my colleague, she told me she wants to buy this brand of mascara, that brand of lip gloss etc etc. And you know how she arrived at her decisions on what brand to buy for what cosmetic? From the Her World beauty awards!!

And I bought a Dior lipgloss a few weeks back when the new colours were launched. After I bought it, there were lot of print ads in the major fashion magazines featuring it. And you know what? Liyun tried getting it on Saturday and it was out of stock!!! In both Takashimaya and Paragon!!!

Let's face it, cosmetics and beauty products aren't the cheapest things around so that means we cannot just buy and try any product just like that. So the next best way around this is to buy products which received great reviews from the magazines and readers. Better yet, ask your friends what products they are using if you like that colour or texture. Like now I just started using the Maybeline XXL mascara, my colleague loved the effect of it on my lashes and it was one of the award winning mascaras from Her World. So yes, she's going to get it soon.

I admit, I am a sucker for magazines. I religiously buy a few titles every month and simply cannot live without them especially when I am doing my BIG business in the toilet. Bad habit, yes I know but I simply love reading while sitting on my throne. I used to hate these advertisements for these cosmetics and beauty products. Cos I just feel they are all so damn expensive and do nothing more than to just beef up the thickness of the magazines. And I know I am not going to look like the model in those ads even if I am willing to pay for the product.

But now, not the same liao. I guess it's just like men reading car magazines. I mean, they aren't intending to buy that vroom vroom sportscar featured but still, they enjoy looking and appreciating it. So when the time comes, they would know exactly which model they will pay a hefty chunk of money for. I guess that applies to me now. I don't intend to buy every product I see either but I do enjoy knowing what's in the market and what it does to brighten up my eyes, lighten my skin or add shine to my hair.

So the fashion the bible is definitely here to stay in my and many other women's lives.

Cheeky Chick Chick

Went for the very famous 纸包鸡 along the stretch of road where Ngee Ann Poly is situated. It is situated exactly between Maju Camp and SIM.



Yes, this was how the place looked like. Totally kampung style with a plot of land for parking. Reminds me of Malaysia.



Even their signboard looks so traditional. All the awards they received over the years are being hung proudly and the place is scattered with newspaper writeups displayed on the walls and pillers.



They don't have a wide selection of dishes. I think only about 10 other dishes besides their famous 纸包鸡. Pricing guide, basically the more you order the cheaper it is.



A very miserable plate of pickles is served to every table. $2 for this ah!!!



Oyster sauce kai lan and fried rice. Both so so only.



Black chicken soup with herbs. Very very yummy!!!!



And finally, the very famous 纸包鸡!!! I tell you, it was absolutely delicious. A tad oily but all 纸包鸡 are oily anyway. Worth the trip.

Must go early if you're going there for dinner on weekends cos the place gets realy crowded and seats are very limited.

Yoga Yoga

Yoga sessions are being organised for office staff as well as the station managers. Cheap leh, only $26.70 per person for 4 lessons!!!



I am not exactly one who loves to excercise unless of course it takes place in the privacy of my own room. So the though of stretching it out with a group of colleagues (15 participants in each class only) kind of appealed to me.

I have never tried Yoga before and the only impression I have of this excercise is that it twists you into really weird positions and you'll start building muscles in places you're not supposed to. But hey, if Yoga can make me into a more flexible person physically, I might discover new and better ways of improving the other excercise I enjoy!!!

But I think I am more interested in the other aspect of Yoga. The relaxation part. I heard they teach you breathing techniques as well as meditation to relax your mind, body and soul. Wah, sounds quite cheem hor?? But anyway, per sign up is only for 4 lessons, so will decide after that if I can be a Yoga fan.

So yes, I have signed up for it. Once they have enough participants, class will commence and it's going to be on every Friday 7pm to 8.30pm. Asked hubby to join in but he said he cannot bend and stretch liao. Sigh..... old man liao lor. Wahahahaha............

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Yong Ye's new toy, a rattle. Found it at my mum's place when we were back during CNY. Wonder who it belonged to though. Anyway, his favourite pastime now is to hold on tight and shake it violently!! Shake the rattle behind his head and he will flip over onto his stomach and try to reach for it by stretching his body and arms. Oh and did I mention that he can now flip over on both his left and right side? Now waiting for him to learn how to flip back.

He is so strong that the maid has "banned" him from his favourite rocker. She told me to keep it the other day because he will wriggle and move about till his body is halfway out of the rocker. She said too dangerous, so no more rocker for him!!!

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Me going Genting Highlands with hubby, Lena & Kerry next Saturday!! Lena booked the room using her points and we sponsor the bus tickets. Very happy cos this time I have company liao.

All the previous trips with hubby, I won't get to sleep peacefully. See, hubby almost never sleeps when he's there and I will have to sleep all alone should I go back to the room. And being the timid me, I dun dare lor. Even if I cannot tahan and head back for some snooze, I won't sleep in peace. I scared of "hantu" mah!!! Wahahaha.......

So this time different liao. Going with a sleepy pig (Lena) so I can almost be sure that the room is occupied when I head back in the middle of the night. Just need to make sure they lock the door if they're in the middle of something.

As usual, MIL will come over for the 3 days to keep an eye on the maid and the kids. Mental note made, no chicken!!!! Darn.

Oh So Sunny

After being bugged by Yun Yi to go to the beach for the longest time, we finally gave in.

We went for the famous prawn noodles opposite the Caltex East Coast. Yummy!!!! Very delicious but very crowded as well. Off to East Coast beach after lunch and the sun was shining so brightly I almost fainted at the thought of having to be exposed to it.



I took this picture under the shade while daddy makes the "sacrifice" to play with his little princess.



I decided to join in the fun. I wasn't wrong about the heat though. Yun Yi's all red and itchy now after about an hour under the blazing rays. Must standby sunblock the next time.



Ahhhh...... me just finished getting my face "repaired" from this afternoon's damage.

We had a great time together this afternoon and the next time we bring her to the beach, it would be together with her little brother.

Sleepy Head

Slept at 4am yesterday!!!! Oh my..... I am having a headache due to insufficient sleep.

Went to Mdm Wong's yesterday and had a great time catching up, drinking and dancing.



Perfect at the first take!!! I am getting good at this self photo taking stuff.



Cheese!!!



Wah, Lena has nice cleavage. Too bad you guys can't see cos covered by her hair!!!



Lena and her very patient boyfriend. She's got herself a good catch no doubt. See the cleavage I was talking about?? Hee hee.......



Taken using camera phone. But quality not bad liao lah, considering it was so dark inside.



I simply love the red background. Very flattering colour for photo taking don't u think?



Hubby came to join us later in the night. I love him soooooo much!!! Notice his hair is black? Hahaha..... he was told to pay $20 to colour it black and cut his hair when he was back in camp. Of course, being the attitude king, he refused. Finally his dunno what in-charge relented and paid the $20 for him.

Still have dinner cum drinks with a vendor tonight at Fort Canning. But will leave at 8.30pm sharp. Need to catch some beauty rest.

Yawwnnnnn..... I want to sleep. ZZZzzzZZZzzz..........

Flowers For Me

Ooopsss... I shouldn't have complained so much in my previous post!! Cos I received flowers from hubby!!! Surprise, surprise, surprise. But a pleasant one.



But when I SMS him thank you for the flowers, he asked me from which company the flowers was delivered from!!!! Oh my goodness. He actually got his "secretary" to arrange the flowers for him and he didn't even saw the picture of it. All he did was pay $$$$. Not sincere at all!!!

But I feel touched and happy still. It's the thought that counts. And there were 12 roses, my favourite number.

I love you darling!!!!!

Love Is In The Air

Happy Valentine's Day

I have mixed feelings about this occasion. I felt differently on VD (not the sexual disease ok!!) almost every year depending on which stage of life I am at.

10 years old: What VD? Such a big fuss but not a public hliday???

13 years old: Excited cos love notes gets passed around in the classrooms and your secret admirers will all decide to profess their undying love for you on this day.

14 years old: Soft toy, BIG card and flowers from the then boyfriend. Sweet guy but too bad he wasn't a very good kisser. Next!!!

15 years old: Friends were boyfriends and boyfriends were friends. Confused and complicated.

16 years old and beyond: VD was almost non-existant.

See, I have spent all my VDs with hubby since I was 16 years old. No doubt I still received flowers and gifts from the few remaining bees and flies buzzing around but he was the official valentine. And what does he do to profess his love for me?? Nothing!!!!

Let me clear this up, I am not complaining here but just for the record. For the past 10 years, he has only given me flowers twice. Both on VD. But that was ages ago!!! We don't have the habit of celebrating VD and thus no expensive dinners nor flowers. No gift exchange either.

I totally agree that everyday should be a VD for couples in love. But it would really be nice when you get that something extra and special during this particular day when EVERYONE else is getting something extra as well.

Yes, I know love cannot be measured by the size of the bouquet of flowers you receive or the value of the gift. And especially during this period when florists earn big $$ from the very very expensive roses they sell, it really doesn't make sense to send flowers. And it becomes almost impossible to have a decent dinner at a decent restaurant without having to burn a hole in your pocket. And all you get is pumpkin soup (I dunno why restaurants lurvve to serve this soup for VD), starter, main course and dessert which sounds like alot but barely fills your stomach. I am probably better off eating Myojo chicken abalone instant noodles with a can of left over abalone from CNY!!! Cheaper and ohhh so delicious!!

So, I bet you guys are excited to hear how I am going to spend yet another boring VD. Hubby is at reservist yesterday and today, so a perfect excuse for him to escape yet again. The government should just cancel all reservist plans on VD if they want the birth rates to go up!!! But I am not going to just sit at home on the couch tonight. No!!!

Me going clubbing with the girls tonight!!! Yippeee..........

So how are you guys celebrating VD??

Made Up Me

Is more always better? We’re talking about make-up here that it.

Those who know me personally would probably be aware that I almost NEVER apply make-up. Except for when I am attending wedding dinners, D&D or out clubbing. When it comes to work or shopping even, I am out with a naked face almost 99.9999% of the time.

Recently, I have taken a liking to applying make-up. It seems to be generating quite a response!!! You see, when people aren’t used to seeing you with make-up on, it can prove to be quite an attention grabbing situation. You are suddenly a much prettier person!!!

The reason why I didn’t put on paint on my face as often as I’d like to was because I hate to wake up 15 minutes earlier just to do that. But now, things are different. I usually wash up before Yun Yi does and while waiting for her to be done and for hubby to get up, there is a time lapse which I have nothing to do!! So, I start drawing.

So here is the difficult part. I feel good when people think I look good. I continue to apply make-up on a daily basis because I want to feel good. As time goes on, people around me will only remember a made up me and not a naked faced me.

So should one day I decide to go back to au natural, will everyone get a shock?? Shocked that Celine has become “ugly” when I have just actually gone back to the way I look without any artificial enhancers?

This is a vicious cycle which shouldn’t have started. Or rather, shouldn’t end??

Fly Fly Away

There has been lots and lots of really really small little flying things around the office compounds recently. It's getting on my nerves. Everytime I talk or breath when I am outside of the building I am afraid it's going to get "sucked" into my mouth or nose!!! And through some opening somewhere, these flies are getting into the office too!!

Every morning when we come in, there would be "bodies" lying on our desks. Eeeeks!!!! And I got to cover my cup before these flies decide to take a dip in it. Just today at the canteen, one fly decides to commit suicide and drowned itself in my curry sauce!!! Damn!!! What did I do?? I scooped up the "corpse" and continued eating........ Hahaha.......

One colleague was saying our office is very "productive". First we have ladies getting pregnant and giving birth one after another. And then came the rats which scared the hell out of me when they scurry across the false ceiling after the sun sets. And now come the flies. I wonder what's next???

Went to lunch with one of our suppliers yesterday together with the team at Grand Shanghai Restaurant located at King's Centre. The food was really really good!!!! Yummy!! But I was filled to the brim cos it was a nine course lunch. Alamak, but the food was so good I couldn't resist. Got to starve for the next few days to burn that meal off.

Oh Mother!!!

Not my own mother I am talking about here. But rather, the mother of my other half.

When we went on our Bangkok trip last month, she came over to watch over the kids and the maid and I am thankful for it. She enabled us to leave without worries. But when I came back, she started grumbling to me about asking the maid to keep cooking chicken!! Hey, who could blame me for loving to eat chicken??

Yes, I admit I am no cook and I had also once declared to the world that I can never cook to save my own life. But hey, I am trying, very hard in fact. Even though I am not the one doing the actual cooking, I am the one who tells the maid what to cook and how to cook. It takes time and experiment to get things right and does she not realise that I do not even know how to fry my own eggs or even how much water to put when cooking rice?

So when critisms came out, I readily accepted. It doesn't help when hubby agrees as well........

But the fire rises from within me when the same thing keeps replaying out from her like a broken recorder EVERYTIME I see her. Let me do the math.

1) When we arrived home at 1.30am from BKK.
2) The next morning before she went home.
3) When we brought drinks for CNY to her place.
4) During the reunion dinner at my place.
5) First day of CNY when we visited.
6) Today when we went up to collect some stuff.

6 times!!! 6 freaking times in a month!!! It took me hell lot of self-control and good upbringing to stop the very unfriendly retorts from coming out of my mouth. Does she really need to bring this up every single time we meet? Am I going to be haunted by this statement for the rest of my life?

Look, I know I am not the best at what I am doing, but I am trying am I not??? So stop trying to make me feel inadequate at being a good wife and a good mother. I do not have the time to buy fresh groceries everyday and with my limited knowledge about cooking, I honestly feel pretty proud of myself.

I am upset. Terribly upset.

I guess that's just how human beings are. Generous on criticisms but stingy on praises. Does criticising someone make you feel good? Does praising someone cost you anything? I don't think so.

Online Baby Contest

I have enrolled Yong Ye into an online baby photo contest and he needs all of your votes right now!!! The link to the contest photo is http://www.arieljoy.com.sg/shop_new/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=100_102&products_id=781




Please show your support by sending an empty email with Yong Ye #1 as the subject line to arieljoy_shop@yahoo.com.sg and only one vote per email address otherwise the vote will not be counted. So send a few with your personal and office email addresses. Better yet, spread the word and get your friends to vote for him as well!!!

Thank you to all in advance!!!!

CNY 2006

Been busy. Really busy. This entry is long overdue...........


First Day



No CNY decorations this year as per hubby's wish. But how can we possibly do without the lucky hanging vegetables??



Little Yong Ye looking a little dazed cos we woke him up to shower and get him changed. Poor boy!!



Posing for some pictures before we set off to my in-law's place.



Yong Ye looking irritated from the lack of sleep and his sister turning his head towards the camera.



New shoes for CNY chosen by Yun Yi herself. But it's white and after wearing it for 3 days, it's now almost black!!



Time for a picture while waiting for her daddy to pick us up from the void deck.

Sent Yong Ye and the maid home and we made our way to Marina Square to catch a movie. No choice, can't possible bring a baby into a cinema right? Cannot be so inconsiderate!!



At Swensen's for dinner.



Yun Yi getting excited when her food arrived.



We proceeded to watch "I Not Stupid Too" after dinner. The show was not too bad considering there were heaps of people crying during the show!! No doubt defnitely better than Jet Li's "Fearless".


Second Day



Yun Yi's CNY costume. Korean inspired, nice?? We're making our way to my parent's house.



Rabbit ears courtesy of Yun Yi's cousin.



Three little pigs posing in their mei mei CNY costumes.



The children having lunch together before we adults tuck in. From left: Yu Ying, Yu Lin, Qing Qing, Yuan Bin, Yuan Zhen and Yun Yi. Next year this time, Qi Qi and Yong Ye will be "promoted" and sit on the same table with all of them liao!!



Our first family photo!!! So excited!!!



Hubby and his little darling.



They both mei mei!!!



The 4 ancient beauties.



Finally a whole family picture. Never took one for many many years. The 2 little babies were woken up for this picture. But little Qi Qi totally ignored us and continued her beauty sleep.

Rushed home to prepare for the gathering at our place. Great food and great company. Needless to say, we gambled the night away like any true blue Chinese would do during CNY.


Third Day

Woke up around noon today and we headed out for lunch before proceeding to the River Hong Bao carnival at Marina. This year it's moved to the old satay club site and no longer along Marina Bay.



Yun Yi having an ice-cream. It was such a hot and sunny day.



Yun Yi eating AGAIN!!! This time marshmallows dipped in a chocolate fountain. I tried some and it was yummy!!



Helicopter pilot. She reminds me of barbie, cos she looks good in all professions. Hahaha!!!



Yun Yi enjoying her carousel ride.



Finally catching some "duckies" before leaving.



And her duckie won her a pair of devil's horns!!

Fourth Day

Went back to work today after a long CNY break. Went to watch "Fearless" after work. Heard from friends that this show very very nice. But I was so dissapointed!!! The show was not good at all. Totally boring with nothing but fighting. Weak storyline and too much violence in my opinion. Waste my $$.