~It's SummerTime!!~

Saturday, October 31, 2009

As age catches up with you, have you ever missed a part of your younger days and have a sense of nostalgia when you think back bout them?

Well, for me, I have a contradictory feeling. While I rejoice in moving over to Sweden and having alot more quality hubby-wifey time with jw and have a place we call home, sometimes on Friday or Sat nights, I still miss the feeling of dressing and dolling up and going for the usual clubbing sessions. Esp all the themed parties! From Denim Diva to Head over Heels to Bling Bling nites, those were a fun part of my memories shared with family and friends.

I guess most, if not all, girls like to doll up at least once in awhile right? It helps to boost the self esteem somehow and makes you feel on top of the world when you look good. I wonder if guys understand that. Haha. For jw, he likes to wear casual t-shirts and jeans, much more than button-up shirts and pants. The only vain thing he does is maybe put on nice smelling cologne when we go out. But you know what, he still looks good. Haha. Some people are just born with it, I guess, that X-factor.

Judging from how much we would party and drink last time, we have probably cut it down to not even 10% now. For me, it's to ZERO because I can't drink at all now. Which is a good thing, right? And calls for celebration. I mean, I can picture our livers jumping for joy and the hole in our pockets slowly getting stitched up from over spending on booze.

But I know some part of jw still misses the party life somehow. Because I feel the same way. (That's why we are hubby and wifey!) But life moves on, and there comes a time when family takes priority over everything. Sure, we both said we will strive to become happening Mum and Dad and continue to indulge in harmless partying fun once in awhile. But the feeling is never going to be the same as before, I guess. We used to be carefree, unwedded, young and energetic. Now we are more mature, we have commitments, and of coz we are older and more easily tired. Haha. And starting next month, jw and I can't even pop by to Fox and Anchor or Nivö together for a drink or some dancing at night, because we will wanna be home with Baby Angel!! It's really gonna be a big change in mindset and lifestyle.

It was a norm to party till 6am at St James on Friday or Saturday and then head to Simpang Bedok for yummy prata. Our bodies could take it! Waha. Now I feel so doubtful if I can. I also feel doubtful if I can take as many flaming lambos as I used to. Everything deteriorates with age and lack of practice, right? Jw's jiu liang confirmed became lousier these few years than he was when I first knew him. (oooops, dear) Waha. But he was one of the top notch in uni days and although he's not as good now, he still can beat many people hands down. Right right? (*phew*)

I kinda miss those days with the girls. And deep down I also feel that although we may never quit partying completely, things are going to be different when I get back to S'pore. We may hang out for wine and champagne at quiet pubs and bars more than indulging in the crowds and loud music at St James. We may organise nice pot lucks at each other's houses and drink some beer instead of checking out the new club down the street. Hmmm. That actually sounds quite inviting somehow. Progressing to a healthier lifestyle! Waha.

Actually no matter what changes, if friendship doesn't, everything will always be as beautiful. Afterall, clubbing sessions don't mean a thing if not for the company, right? Both jw and I have been blessed with getting acquainted with a bunch of nice friends in S'pore, so we should be thankful for that.

That being said, dear, I most of all miss partying with you! Yeah yeah. You and me, our JS nites remember? I know you prefer many people together instead of just us, but there's a special feeling when it's only you vs me in the game playing and alcohol drinking. So, what say you, IF when our kids grow up next time, before we need to use walking sticks, we still head out for a JS nite once in awhile? Keke. =p

~Summer~ 12:11 AM

Friday, October 30, 2009

Xie xie wu lao shi...

It was finally time to say goodbye to the kids after over a year of having them in my house every Friday. Time flies, doesn't it?

It was done with much regret too, but now that Angel is due in a few weeks' and my mum-in-law is arriving next week, it's time to pack up and prepare the guestroom. Not to mention my big tummy is not an advantage in dealing with the active kids. =) I really love teaching kids somehow. Even the most nottie ones in Berries still leave me with fond memories. Not to mention the three lovely ones I had here, Gerald, Rachelle and Claris.

Kids have a way of making you laugh somehow. They say the most innocent, most ridiculous and most unexpected things. And it is also amazing how kids sometimes surprise you with their actions and behaviour, as if they were already mature and smart adults. Yeah yeah. Never think lowly of kids nowadays. Keke. Anyway, I just love the way they ask me questions and that glow of innocence in their eyes when they do that. It's something that nearly all adults have already lost in the growing up process.

I wonder if they'll realise they have stopped coming to wu lao shi's place starting next week. I told them it's the last lesson today and they seem to understand. And all of them know there's a baby inside my tummy, although Claris has checked and confirmed it with me by asking at least ten over times. "Is there a baby? Is there a baby in here, wu lao shi?" Then she will touch and feel my tummy gently. So cute.

Whatever it is, this year of having my very own mini classroom in Karlskrona has filled me with many happy memories. I sure am going to miss the feeling and satisfaction I get from teaching the kids, the pleasure of chatting with the mummies whenever they are here, and the laughter and joy that the kids have brought to my life.

If I can do it, I will probably be a part time Chinese teacher forever. Don't ask me why not full time. I don't know. I just want it as a sideline and indulge in that beautiful but not stressful feeling of having kids around me, believing in me, learning from me. =)

Well well. Summer's Learning Paradise is closed for now. Till the next time we meet. Love ya, dear kids, each and every one of you!! May you continue to shine and never let go of the passion to learn Chinese and speak Mandarin yeah!!

~Summer~ 6:20 PM

Monday, October 26, 2009

Our JS photo shoot...

The camera must be one of my most loved inventions of all time. Haha. I simply love how it is that we can capture those precious moments on film and keep them for life. =) Anyway, jw and I did a short, simple but fun photo shoot in the weekend. It only took like half an hour, but the memories will jolly well last for life. =p I'm so glad he doesn't shun the camera but joins me whenever I do silly or act cute poses. I love you dear!

Anyway, I wanted to take pics with my big tummy for memory keepsake. Hee. =) We initially wanted to make the shoot an artistic one, but it's not that easy and maybe we are not artistically talented. Haha. So, well, basically, we did any pose we came up with on the spur of the moment.

It was a happy afternoon that day. We had nice honeydew soup for lunch and we also watched Liverpool beat Man U 2-0. Hooray!! =) A lazy but thoroughly enjoyable Sunday for us. Just jw and me. It'll be soon before we wave byebye to our peaceful weekends and our er ren shi jie.

Wooo. By the way I'm like only 1kg lighter than jw now. Haha. Which was why it was so tough on him to take shots of him carrying me. I miss being piggybacked!! Sob sob. It's not hard to figure out where my 12kg of additional weight went to, maybe half of it to my tummy, but the rest to my butt and thighs!! Jw laughed at some of the pics. Grrrr. For the first time in my life, I am 60kg!! Haha. Well anyway, I'm only going to put up a few pics here. Keke. Hope you don't mind, dear! Will save the rest for our own photo album next time! Hee. Yay yay. =p

Jw said his hair looked ugly which was why we added the caps at the end. I didn't think so though. Wahaha. Dear, you always look very nice in pics! Keke. =) Zi ran jiu shi mei! Hopefully we will improve our photography and directing skills soon! Hehe. Even though we had just a normal Canon digicam, without any professional lightings or camera stands, I still think it was one of the best photoshoots we ever did. =) Looking forward to our next DIY photoshoot. Hehe. Well, probably it'll be us with Baby Angel in our arms already!! So exciting!! 5 more weeks!! =) Lalala!!

~Summer~ 10:29 PM

Thursday, October 22, 2009

P-a-s-s-i-o-n

This was the very first Mandarin pop song I tried to learn on the piano, even before I bought this digital piano. Hee. Previously, I had this smaller, kind of like a toy piano that we bought from Isetan. And guess what, it didn't have enough keys for me to play this song. Haha.

So, maybe that inspired me to go and learn to read chords and subsequently buy this quite cheap but good enough digital piano to keep me company when jw was not around. I also don't know what made me endure that period, with my full time media job from Mon-Fri, my teaching job on Sat, and then learning the piano on Sun. In addition to planning for my ROM and wedding day. All without jw by my side.

Probably passion goes a long way. When you have passion for something, fatigue is out of the equation somehow. You don't feel tired, you don't feel bored, you don't feel sleepy (well, maybe sometimes), you feel energised more than anything.

It's just like how I like art & craft, and making videos and photo albums, so I can spend endless days and nights immersing myself in all this. When I did my wedding videos, I knew I couldn't make it too pro looking, but when I burnt them into wedding favours for the guests, the sense of satisfaction was something I couldn't describe. I mean, no matter how lousy something may be, as long as it's handmade with sincerity from the heart, it still has the power to make you feel gan dong somehow. For example, if you receive this really ugly looking card, with terribly scribbled words and a drawing of you that looks more like a monster like anything, BUT if it was made specially for you by your niece/nephew, your student, or not to mention your own kid, this card will probably be kept and cherished as a treasure for life. Right? Anyway, much as I was happy and relieved when my wedding was over last year, sometimes I miss those late nights of doing art & craft and coming up with ideas and then putting them into action. Yeah, I already said this before. Maybe I'm weird. I just don't like to have nothing to do, somehow.

Back to passion, well, it's like how Serene has an interest in and enjoys cake baking, she can do it everyday relentlessly with so much patience! Fwah. Her princess cake for rachelle was so amazing! I can imagine the time and effort she took to come up with it. To think within a couple of years, she's now quite a pro at baking cakes already!! Maybe sometimes passion strikes you at the most unexpected timing too. Like if we didn't come to sweden, maybe she wouldn't have discovered her passion and flair in this area too. So, maybe it still takes abit of fate to find your passion in life.

Well, rome wasn't built in a day, and thus passion can't be short lived if you want it to last. If not, everything just fades away sooner or later. Even up till now, I still don't know what's my srongest passion. Is it in teaching kids, in piano, in art & craft? I have interest in them, but to term it as a strong passion of my life seems too extreme still. I don't know. Maybe I'll figure out someday. =) May you find your passion in life too!

~Summer~ 9:20 PM

Monday, October 19, 2009

Hitting the 60 mark..

Well well, time flies! Soon I'll be reaching the 34 weeks along in my pregnancy. And then we are just left with 6 more weeks to go! Woohoo!!! As you know, I like anime pictures because somehow they always look very pretty and vibrant and happy. Hee. So I was thinking if I could find any pics with preggies in them and viola! Here are a few of my fav. Hehe.

It's really quite an amazing and heartening experience to feel our baby girl moving everyday. Now she can not only kick and punch, she can also turn around, roll over and basically stretch her body in every possible way. It's cute to feel her little fists and feet (though we can never feel the diff), or feel a big patch of her and guess whether it's her head, butt or back.

I'll be going for another check up with the midwife tmr. Well, most prob it will be the last few rounds of check up already. Hopefully everything will be fine for baby angel and we will see her healthy and sound very soon. =)

Some of the friends who saw me were saying they think that my tummy is sharp not round, which means it by right should be a baby boy. Wahaha. And it's not just one person, but already three to four pple who said the same thing. But well, baby girl or boy in the end, maybe we will be surprised, maybe we will need to buy clothes in other colours and also change the name. But no matter what, surprise or not, what matters is we have a healthy bb, right?

Alrite. So at nearly 34 weeks, I've gained nearly 12kg and that means I am reaching the 60kg mark liao. Woooo. Probably give me another fortnight and I will be heavier than jw. Wahaha. Hmmm. I also think baby will grow big very fast these few weeks, cos' it seems like my tummy is expanding every day! Keke. But well. It's a nice feeling still. I kinda enjoy being pregnant. Haha.

But well. We shall see how I survive the labour then. I pray for enough strength and endurance and confidence to keep me surviving through this natural but painful process. Angel, let's work hard together! Mummy and daddy love you!! Muakz!!

~Summer~ 5:29 AM

Monday, October 12, 2009

Our precious moments...

I had an urge to develop photos two weeks ago. And I did so. A total of 500 photos! Haha. Why why why? Because I realised that with the use of digital cameras and handy cams, we have stopped having our own personalised and traditional photo albums.

It used to be a joy for me to be able to take out some old photo albums and just look back at each photo, reminiscing those happy moments (many of which I have forgotten as I grew older). So, I decided no matter how advance technology gets, we should still have some photo albums of our own for ourselves, our parents, our kids to look back on years down the road.

Yeap. So I compiled two photo albums using the 500 photos. And when I have time, I will jot down what each picture is about and where it was taken, so that even if memory fails us next time, we will still remember those happy moments. Walking down memory lane, I decided to select a few of my fav photos, taken of coz with jw. Actually I think it's quite obvious, because I use them alot in videos, albums, cards and all. But well. Here are those pics I like. It's an endless list, and if we didn't lose our camera during our Europe trip in Barcelona, I would have countless more to add to the list. Waha. But well. =)

1) The Couple Cap Shot

Taken in Bangkok with our newly bought caps. We looked happy, didn't we?

2) The Top of the World Shot
Taken in Hong Kong at The Peak. Again with our newly bought sweaters. Hee. No wonder we looked so matching.

3) Piggyback Shot
I love to be piggybacked. Haha. Somehow it gives me a very xing fu feeling. This shot was taken in Denmark, at Copenhagen airport after our unfortunate episode in Barcelona and after accidentally erasing our SD card in Venice. It still made me happy to be able to be there at that moment, with my then just turned fiance.

4) The Sepia Shot
I like sepia modes, and this was one of my favourites pics taken of us using it. Again at Copenhagen airport.

5) The "Engagement" Shot
If I had to rank the pics, this would probably be at the top. Yeah, so what if it was the mini Eiffel Tower taken in Vegas. It still meant alot to us. Because Eiffel brought us as hubby and wifey, and it was there I said yes to the man who proposed with a Eiffel tower pendant.

6) The Egyptian Shot
It was initially an odd idea to take wedding shots in Cleopatra and Fero's getup. But somehow it turned out hilarious but sweet and memorable.

7) The Natural Beach Shot
The beach kinda suits both our personalities. We like sports, we like the sun, we like to jump and hop around. So this kiss on the forehead shot at Sentosa not only captured one of our fav places, but also symbolized the love we shared.

8) The Sunset Shot
Well, although the sunset wasn't really obvious, but we felt the warmth and the love at Aloha because this was taken right after our ROM ceremony. Which is why it's so valued. Keke. Newly wedded couple! I loved the informality of our event and how we could dress up like going to the beach.

9) The Proud Moment Shot
There. I guess this picture made our parents proud and happy. It was also an achievement for both of us to successfully graduate from NTU. Definitely a milestone in our love history.

10) The Romantic Shot
Yeap. Sepia mode + sunset + pretty lake + trees + orangey sky + a happy couple. Which makes this photo an all time favourite. No photo enhancement effects added at all. Hee. It was used as a montage in our ROM invitation cards. =)

There you have it. Some of the best loved pics we have taken so far. Looking forward to Angel's addition in our future family photos and it will be a brand new list of fav pics then!

~Summer~ 10:01 PM

KTV, Taboo, Bday Celebration!

It was cohesion day last week and we had a gathering at our house after having thai food for lunch. Keke. Yay yay. The girls, Cindy and Priyah, came over early to help out with the steamboat preparation and also have our private KTV session! Woohoo. So what if the mics were lousy. Wahaha. It's still shiok just to sing along, and hey, watch original MTVs yeah!

After nearly 3-4 hours of KTV, waiting, chatting and food preparation, the guys finally came. Yoohoo. As usual, the food was an overkill, but better to have more than less! Amazingly, we finished the whole BIG pot of corn and chicken soup.

Yeah Cindy brought her SLR cam and took some really nice pics! But well, my canon digicam will suffice for now. Keke. My tummy looked really big, right? I feel not only preggie, but very full! Haha.

And that's not all. We still had a chocolate cake for Naga's bday celebration. He totally didn't expect it. Haha. It's nice to be surprised, right?

The guys took a pic together. My hubby looks like he's wearing pyjamas pants. Waha.

Now, the girls and the bday boy.

This was quite a classic out-of-the-blue shot.

Last but not least, a group pic! Thanks to everyone for staying till midnight despite it wasn't the weekend. I always love playing games and eating and chatting together. And hey, the girls won Taboo twice in a row! Next time we'll have another round of challenge!

Tata!

~Summer~ 9:19 PM

Sunday, October 04, 2009

KTV time!~

I discovered with delight that Kuwo not only lets me watch the newest and my favourite MTVs, but it also has a wonderful function which allows you to switch off the vocals for not all, but most of the videos. Keke. Yeah, and what does that mean? K-A-R-A-O-K-E!!

Jw and I tried it last week. It's easy. Just run the software, find the songs you like to sing, connect the lappie to the TV, plug in the mics and SING! Yeah yeah. Even though we may not have Partyworld or Kbox or even Teo Heng's sound system, but this will suffice and it's really a good (and free) leisure activity, esp for us KTV lovers who miss it so much!

So to those in Karlskrona who like to sing too (Kersin, Sherin, Seline, Cindy, Aizhen, Serene etc!), try it and soon you'll have a fun time singing too! Cindy, I also found alot of the original tai yu MTVs! You'll love it! Hehe. Now can learn how to sing all of them!

Well, for those who don't have the software yet, you can get the updated one here. http://mbox.kuwo.cn/ Sometimes I just let the MTVs keep running when I am alone cooking or eating. Wahaha. I love chinese pop!

Happy singing! Lalalalala!

~Summer~ 6:04 PM

Pinkie sitter..

We bought a kawaii pink babysitter for angel recently. Hee. For some reason, pink colour was cheaper than the dark blue one. We were thinking what if the slim possibility of us having a boy came true, then he will be rocking in this pink seat. Wahaha. But well, hope it's baby angel eventually!

Was thinking that I could strap BB to the seat while I cook next time. Wahaha. Hope it works. Sounds quite challenging to cook and keep an eye on baby at the same time. But well, I'll manage I guess. Mummies are wei da!! Keke. So are daddies larrr. =)

Am so happy that so many people gave angel clothes. Hee, saves us alot! Thanks to auntie kersin and auntie aizhen and soon to auntie yanqin. And also our sis-in-law. Now angel has many clothes already!! Yippie yayyy!! Plus we also bought her quite a few from SG, from sweden and from US. Wahaha. Well, like all babies, I think she will outgrow alot of them soon! I am so eager to dress angel in a bikini and bring her swimming. HAHA.

59 more days till we see BB!

~Summer~ 5:28 PM