More Pressies!!!

Though Christmas has passed... happee sleepy is still "collecting" her presents! :)

As mentioned, the PA gals had our yearly Christmas gathering last Fri, 28th Dec. Sad to say, only CL, Dewdrops, Sharon & I turned up; the others had something on & Judy had fallen ill. Nonetheless we had a good time having steamboat @ 鲜得来, another steamboat place opp Bugis. Much prefered this to the one we haf a week plus ago with MangoJo coz it was air-conditioned & they had more variety of food although it was v cramp. & we each paid about $27 each so I felt it was q worth it :) We almost didnt get to exchange pressies coz someone kept picking her own name & there was one instance when we all picked our own names!!! It was hilarious & we were joking dat we would still be there picking names even aft they have closed shop! & when we finally got different names, we then spent a bit of time deciding whether we should give to the person we chose or to receive from the person!!! Gosh! heh... so anyways I got this fr mum-to-be Cheryl:

I like the print! As CL said, has a bit of Jap 感觉 hor? Thnx my dear!!! & had a good catch up with Sharon on our bus ride back... hopefully we can meet up more often instead of these once a year gatherings coz if someone misses the it would be 2 years b4 we see her again!

Doesn't this look yummilicious? M&S Belgian Choc biscuits from my tut kid's parents! :) I actually went to their house on Christmas Day itself but my kid & her Dad forgot to give it to me & the mum has gone to sleep!!! I was still lamenting to Dar that I had no pressie from them! Was telling him dat when I walked into their house that day, I saw the M&S package on the table & guessed it was for me so I was awfully disappointed when it wasn't given to me @ the end of the lesson. Such a greedy teacher I am ain't I? :P :P :P

Whaddya know? Sleepy had another surprise pressie!!! Fr my dear dear fren, Hwee from Shanghai! Had a really good time catching up w her on Sat although Coffee Club was a tad too noisy but it's the company that mattered. It was really a treasured time coz I didn't meet up with her the last time she was back & m sooooooo touched that she is v concerned about my wedding & even offered to be my emcee!!! Sleepy is truly blessed with so many pp helping her along the way =)))) & what did she give me....?

It's another wristlet pouch!!! This is the 4th one I've received this year; Cheryl's, Dar's Sis, this & 1 fr Mangojo as a bday pressie. They r all different sizes!!! & to thnk I was gona ask my cousin 2 buy back a Coach one for me... guess can save $ liao!!! :P

Last but not least, I have been meaning to put this up but haven't... not exactly a christmas present but it was from Dar's mum:

Just a normal pair of slippers u may say... but she MADE this!!! Yep she MADE it for me! & it fits perfectly!!! I didn't wana take it intially coz I thot she bought them but when she said she made it I quickly took it! First time I have a pair of shoes MADE for me!!! I kept telling Dar that I have & he doesn't & he was totally amused haha!!! & it's vcomfy as well; the strap didn't hurt, esp between the toes & the base was v soft, not like some slippers which are too thin or too rough/hard. Yipee yayee!!! Maybe I can design some shoes for her to make for me next time! :P

It's Christmas Time!

It's Christmas time again!!! Really like this time of the year coz it feels so festive n jolly n happy! :) And it is great time for gatherings & catching up and not to mention the sales (but I cant seem to find anything nice to buy for myself) and the pressies! I thnk I got more pressies this Christmas than I got on my birthday hee!


Initially Dar wanted to haf a nice dinner on Christmas Eve with the kids since he didn't get to see them the other day but he had to go and help to "inspect" his aunt's house and as we didn't know how long it would take, decided to forgo the idea as it might be too late to bring the kids out. Instead, we joined his fren's frenz for a bbq @ Tanah Merah. Nothing special u might thnk but the BBQ was not @ some condo, but instead it was held near the beach & we had to go off-road to get in there! It was q an experience sitting in the huge truck bumping along and splashing through the mud. The uncle was q an experienced driver so even though there were many bumps, he managed to avoid potholes where possible and did clever maneuvering of the car. @ our "destination", they started to dig a hole in the sand, putting the charcoal into the little pit and starting the fire. Soon the food was cooked & it was yummz! We had chicken wings, saussages (my must haf @ every bbq) n bacon that was cooked till it was real crispy! It was a gd place for chilling out; lit by the lites from the Land Rover; the kewl gentle breeze... and soon sleepy had fallen asleep on the beach chair! haha! Definitely a v diff kinda Christmas Eve :)


Was hoping dat Dar could accompany me today... but he is bring some customers to Sebana so bored me, being left alone on Christmas decided to take pics of my christmas pressies!!! Some were real surprises!!! Let's see...


From the christmas exchange that I had w my colleagues... I got this:





which when opened up became this:







It's a jewellery box :) left portion for me to put my rings and on the rite, for me to put my earrings & necklace.


& toking about jewellery, the Santarina in my Office gave me these:
A ring w semi-precious stones from Soo Kee & a really nice arm bracelet!!! Intitially I was wondering what the arm bracelet was & I was thnking maybe it is a choker. I did try to put it round my fat neck but obviously it was way too small!!! Close up of the ring & bracelet:

Hmm... not v clear hor... but it's nice! n I m goin 2 wear it for new year! Was really shocked when she passed me the pressie coz I m sure the pressies are not cheap!!! & she gave a prez to everyone in the office!!! Thnx Ms Choong!!!

& this is wat my Ya Huan gave me... why she give me towel I dunno... I thot she is the that is supposed to be wiping all the dust everywhr n not me??? (hee juz kidding ah)

& now for the suprise pressies... Dar's sis got me these:

A bag, pair of earrings & a ring.

Close up of e accessories:


Kinda expected to get a prez from them as Dar & I were getting something for the kids but didn't really expect these! The earrings match with this charm necklace which I recently bought & I like the ring... only that I can't figure out whether to wear it as a finger ring or toe ring!



& from Dar's best buddy Clifford... I got this which was a TOTAL surprise but brought such a HUGE smile on my face when I opened it during the BBQ... What is it??? It is a...



PIGLET MUG!!!!



Super cute hor!!! This is my 2nd piggie mug; 1st being the one Dar bought for me last year & it is also the bludging out sort which I like. SO thnk I will keep this mug first & use it when my other cups are older...



The biggest surprise of all was definitely Dar's gift which he gave me after we came home from the BBQ.

A Perfume & Body Lotion gift set from Bvlgari!!! Gosh I was totally surprised coz Dar really isn't the kinda person to buy pressies. Plus he is bz working everyday and accompanying me @ nite so I didn't really expect him to have the time to buy me the prez!!! Also thot he was gona get me a watch coz I did tell him that I am thnking of buying a new watch. Nonetheless... Thnx Dar!!!

Still have another Christmas exchange w the PA gals this Fri so that'll be another prez!!! Yippeez!!! Hope everyone enjoyed themselves this Christmas & may it be a wonderous 2008 for everyone! Cheers!

Better Than None @ All...

Darn!!! Like almost 3/4 of the world had half today but not poor sleepy :( So envious that most pp had half day and it was rather evident @ the branch coz there was this HUGE crown b/w 12-1 thereabouts afterwhich it quietened down considerably which was good! Even the volume of cheques was lesser than other Mondays; but still, they took sooooo long to be processed and before we could go home.

But actually, I am wondering why there is half day on Christmas Eve but like not on Hari Raya Puasa or Deepavali? Different case for NYE coz it is NY to everyone but not EVERYONE celebrates Christmas though my colleague thnks otherwise. He feels that everyone can celebrate christmas hence the half day is justifiable. But anyways it doesnt apply to me; if I am in an organisation that gives me half day on Christmas Eve then I wouldn't be complaining on my blog now :P

& I suspect that we won't have half day on the eve of CNY which totally sucks!!! I remember when I was temping @ Citibank, as it is a foreign bank, it is full day on CNY eve and I was really shocked! But I got to leave early coz I was juz a temp and there wasnt much to do. & in PA, never had to work on CNY eve & past 2 years, CNY eve fell on Sat which meant it was an official half day for me. I hope by some miracle, we will be given half day on CNY eve... not that I am helping with the dishes or 2 clean the house n blah... but coz i feel kinda cheated haha.

But as the title goes... better than nothing @ all... branches will only operate for 2 hours next Mon... YIPEEEE!!! Rest of the day if supposedly for us to pack our office n blah... but we r doing a bit of packing now so hopefully can leave real early next wk *keeping my fingers crossed*

& till my next entry

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Oopz

Oopsie 1 - It was only during the sumptous dinner that I realised that Ms Tan has a blog!!! & I was even mentioned in her blog too!!! (4 not being able 2 attend her wedding heh... sorry lah... e old man is rather pantang & i had 2 skip 3 weddings including urs) But being the efficient me, I haf promptly linked up her blog :) & juz fin reading her blog... such a funny gal she is but though she claims she is a huge procrastinator... I thnk i m an even greater procrastinator; @ least she has put up her wedding pics... me??? My ROM pics r nowhere in sight yet and it has been 5 months!!! HAHAHAHA! It took us several weeks to get the pics from frenz, another several weeks to sit down n choose the pics we wana dvp and it is gonna take us several more weeks to dvp e pics n put them in e album! Yeah yeah, I know... i got the soft copy so I can upload e pics rites? But they r in Dar's comp & everytime I m there, I m either playing facebook; he is using the comp or else i have promptly fell asleep so dun haf the 嫌情 to wait 4 e pics 2 upload :P

Oopsie 2 - & aft e really filling dinner, we went to Bugis to 消化消化 our food and also coz Ms Tan wana buy a bell for her doggie. walked to this kiosk where they sold little bells (to be used as hp accessories or keychain). Me took 1 to shake to hear the "clarity" of the bell and was happily shaking when the bell flew out of my hand & I expected 2 hear a "clink clank" sound on the floor but it didn't. Puzzled, I looked down on the floor & guess whr the bell landed?? In the jeans of this lady standing next to me!!! (coz she folded her jeans so the jeans landed in the "pocket" where the jeans were folded) I didn't dare say a thing & only mentioned it 2 Mangojo & Ms Tan aft Ms Tan has made her purchases!!! They had a gd luff & I was like thnking when the gal walked, maybe the bell would "ring" & she would b wondering whr the sound came fr haha!!! (btw this is a special request fr Mangojo that I gota post this!)

Oopsie 3 - thnk I offended 1 of my colleagues the other day coz I spoke 2 her in an irritated tone. But she actually went 2 complain 2 other pp abt it & i was damn pissed!!! Gosh she is such a petty person; I mean pp have their ups n downs... she needn't hafta complain rites??? Didn't exactly spoil my day lah but juz sometimes wonder why some pp r juz like dat... haiz!

BS shopping

Finally!!! Me got down to some BS shopping!!! It seems to have dawned on me that I dun haf much time left to decide on a BS, choose a gown that I like and then there's still the Photoshoot! And coz the wedding date is the 1st of the 8th Lunar month, this means that I can't do anything during the 7th Lunar so everything would hafta be settled by June. *gasp* Actually I feel that it is good in a way coz Dar n I are HUGE procrastinators and this would kinda force us to settle everything and not leave it till the last min. That would also mean both of us can have a good rest during the 7th Lunar month and look nice brite n radiant on the actual day! haha!

Intially, I thot it would be good for it to be a whole day affair but am soooo thankful it was only a half day affair coz I was rather tired by the end of it. Added to the fact that I was rather irritated by the sales staff who kept trying to drag us into their shops!!! I have been warned of certain studios and that other than the design of the gowns, the photography..., most importantly, it is the feel of the shop when I first stepped in.

Dar n I actually went to 1 BS recommend by my senior a couple of months ago and we both liked the photography and the gal was rather frenly to us as well and gave us q a good package so that was the first stop we went to as I wanted to try on the gowns there. Tried on 4 gowns there this time and liked 2 out of the 4 gowns but the gal wasn't too frenly this time rd and was a little put off by her coz when she saw the package she offered me, she actually commented " 哇，你那天给我吃了设么药？我给你这么多东西！！！" I suspect that they gave me such a good package coz I told them I was recommended by my senior and now she has forgotton. And also, I clarified w her abt the package and realised that I might have to top up q a tidy sum of $$ which I intially thot I didn't. I asked Dar if he cld rem wat he said but of coz he cldn't lah :(

Wanted 2 go to the Tanjong Pagar stretch when my GRL spotted this lovely gown on display @ another shop and we went in. My GRL has actually heard of the shop and saw some advertorials in mags but I haven't really heard of the shop hee. The gal was q frenly and when she found out that I knew my senior who is a photographer she used, she actually suggested that I go direct to him!!! I was rather surprised that I cld do that and she said that it is coz the do not earn any commission from the photographers. (but when I asked my senior, he told me that they DO give me a bit of comm wor... hmm...) Rather liked the shop and the gown coz it was made w Swarosvki (sorry dunno how 2 spell haha) crystals and the gown I tried had the crystals even on the strap and had pearls and 3 ribbons on the back train. Definitely shortlisted on my list!

Went to a couple of shops alg the Tanjong Pagar stretch; 1 offered a v good package and the gowns were ok nice (they also haf their own in-house designer) but I didnt really like the lady who toked to us coz she commented that all the BS same one. Happened to another of the BS I walked into where I was served by this lady who served us @ the bridal fair @ Marina n Dar n I were rather put off by her coz she told us dat since we were not signing on dat day, no point tokin 2 us! What's more, she kept showing us pics on the comp, so aft dat we juz walked out without really enquiring abt e pkg!!! Saw some q nice gowns @ this other shop & such a coincidence that the boss recognized my GRL n her hubby as they took the package from their main shop some 11-12 years ago!!! But though the gowns were nice, she didn't really give an attractive package despite e fact that she recognized them... BAH!!!

Was contemplating whether to check out more shops when the best news came yesterday... my senior said he will give me a v special price if we asked him to do our studio shoot!!! (we haf already engaged him for our actual day n he also gave me a too-good-to-be-true deal!) Sooooooooooooooooooo tempted coz I really like his coffee table book concept and my GRL n fren told me that I shd juz engage him without any 2nd thots! Similar to Dar's rxn who said dat since he has already given us such a good deal, not v nice not 2 engage him but still, I want Dar to take a look @ his coffee table book concept before deciding! Really as wat Dar told me before, "It's not what u know but who u know"! So excited & many thnx 2 my this crazee but v v nice senior! (m refraining to put his name here so dat pp won't bugger him for a good deal n make him diff hee hee!)

Innocence & Arrogance

Had a really short wk this wk; only worked 2.5 days as I was clearing leave on Mon & Tues and off on Fri :) Actually wanted to plan a short trip to Bkk w Dar's frenz but our schedules didn't work out and anyways I heard from them that the hotels there were rather ex. Anyways we have gone on 1 long trip and 2 short trips this year already so it was also a good idea to save $$ for next year!

Didn't planned anything much on Monday, merely lazed around and then accompanied Dar to find the eye dr @ Gleneagles. Dar's eyes (thankfully) are pretty much ok now after 3 ops on his rite eye and 1 on his left eye last year. But due to the retina ops, he has now developed cataract in the rite eye :( whilst it is not as serious as retina detachment, he has to go for an op soon as his vision is becoming more blurry. We reached the hospital rather late; about 5pm and were a bit worried that the clinic might have closed. Luckily they were still opened and Dar went in to enquire. Initially there was only 1 nurse/receptionist @ the counter and she was rather nice, giving a form for Dar to fill up and telling him nicely that he would have to check w e Dr's nurse whether the dr was still ard. But suddenly this nurse came up fr behind and said v rudely "We are not accepting anymore patients u know!" I looked up from the newspaper i was reading through and I was going to go up and scold the nurse but somehow decided against it!!! Gosh... so wat if u work in a high class clinic?!?!? If u were capable enuff, then u would be e dr and not juz the nurse rites!?!?!?! On the other hand, the dr was super nice! He recognised Dar as the "water-ski instructor" and they had q a good talk!!! The best part was... get this... he DIDN'T charge Dar for the consultation!!! We were q surprised but Dar told me dat this Dr is v nice and compassionate, he did a cataract for this guy they both knew for free as the guy did not earn a lot of money!!! It'd be good if there were more drs like that...

& on Tues, brought my little nieces n nephew out. Wanted to bring them to try wakeboarding but the boy said dat he would get seasick and requested for us to bring him to the fish farm instead whilst the 2 gals wanted to go the playroom @ Ikea. The boy wanted 2 buy a fish for his mum but we thought to buy a fish for each of them anyway. @ the first shop, the boy bought a Black Molly and the younger gal bought a little tetra. We left the 2 fishes in e car whilst we went 2 e 2nd fish shop coz we fig it was only for a while and whilst it may get q hot in e car... the fishes shd survive. However to our horror when we came back 10 min later, the little tetra has died!!! :( :( :( We were wondering how come the Black Molly cld survive whilst the tetra didnt when Dar figured that the Black Molly might have attacked the little tetra as it was v v v v v hungry! The little one was really upset and it didn't help that her brother kept teasing her. Her retort to her brother was "I'm goin to kill your Black Molly... I'm going to kill your Black Molly tomorrow!" And when her told her she can't do that as he suspects that the Black Molly is pregnant (which I honestly do not think so) and if she kills the Mother, the little babies whom are innocent would also be killed... the little one replied that the tetra was innocent too!!! It was really q funny listening to their conversation :) Hopefully, can bring them out on Haji or something... n then I will haf more stories to tell! :P