2011 New Year Resolutions – Dear2 22 December, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Slice of Life.2 comments
Dear1 – 50%
Dear2 – 16.7%
Joint – 25%
What dismal results for 2010!
2010 was a year when Dear1 and Dear2 have a new baby, Baby1 into the family. Career wise, Dear2 was very much thrown off the track with the coping of Baby1 while Dear1 strove hard to complete his postgrad. We have to admit that handling a baby was not as easy as we thought initially, and going forward, as we strive to give Baby1 lots more love and happiness, it’s gonna become a larger part of us than we would like. Gone will be the days where we can do anything that we like freely, cos now we have added responsibilities known as Parents. Whether you admit or not, we parents are selfish beings when we bring our babies into this world, hence we must give our children all the love and happiness that we can possibly give them in their growing up years.
This year, Dear2 will not be penning Dear1′s new year resolutions for him. You do not own something that someone writes for you.
So here goes for Dear2.
2011 New Year Resolutions
- Maintain at 57kg
- Learn to cook 5 soups
- Get a good Referral Letter from bosses
- Can speak simple Japanese by year end
- Give 1 present/ praise for Dear1 every month
- Tell Baby1 that I love her once every week
- Write > 4 posts per month
For Joint, these 2 simple ones for the time being:
- Make Baby2
- 1 date every 2 months
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
- Dear2
On Board Legend of the Seas 20 December, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Travel & Discovery.6 comments
Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas proves to live up to its expectations. Kudos!
Dear1, Dear2 and Baby1 went on board the Legend of the Seas for a 5D4N cruise to Port Klang and Phuket a few weeks back. I can only say, what a great ship!
The Ship
On the deck at level 10.
Legend of the Seas is the smallest ship among Royal Caribbean’s fleet, but it’s almost as big as Star Cruise’s Virgo. In terms of number of shops wise, the former feels smaller as it doesn’t have the Japanese restaurant (paying), the Italian restaurant (paying) etc, but it has a rock climbing wall, a mini-golf with 9 courses, 1.8m indoor swimming pool and another outdoor one, a children play area where parents can leave their toddlers there for baby sitting, a teenagers’ recreation room, a Disco, a HUGE theatre, a spacious lounge, a smaller lounge, a HUGE double storey fine dining restaurant etc etc etc.
The Crew
The crew at Romeo & Juliet putting up a show for us on the last evening.
The best thing about the entire Royal Caribbean cruise experience is, I would say, its crew. Stateroom attendant - attentive. Waiters and waitresses – that’s what I call service! Entertainers – entertaining and lively. Captain, chef, engineers etc – you feel safe sailing with them. Overall, you feel very pampered by all these nice people who came from all parts of the world. Being buoyant at sea away from home lifts their professional spirit even more with their excellent service.
The Food
Fine dining every evening at Romeo & Juliet.
Usually a cruise’s main focus will be on the (free) food. Not unusual for the Legend, but it’s even more and better food! Fine dining @ the Romeo and Juliet restaurant is always so delicate and sumptuous. The kiasu Singaporeans usually asks for seconds…. Free flow ice cream and coffee/tea is available round the clock at the Windjamer Cafe. Still not enough? Go to the Solarium Cafe by the pool for hotdog, pizza, burgers, french fries, soup for tea/ supper (all at free flow), or ask for room service (yes, inclusive as well!). Dear1 had a hearty time eating and eating while Dear2 crave for local meepok and fish soup after that 5 days. So indulgent!
What about Baby1? Apart from happily savoring the bread which was served at every meal, Baby1 had carrot/potato/ broccoli puree, steam cod fish, baked potato made specially just for her too. Such thoughtful service!
The Room
Our towel elephant greeted us on Day 4.
Spacious, clean, and functional, our Large Oceanview Stateroom with seaview was a $3 upgrade from the Inner Stateroom during the Royal Caribbean’s 3rd Anniversary roadshow promotion at Raffles City. How I love seeing the scenery outside the window, and waking up to dawn in the morning. We had a playpen for Baby1 too, and a bathtub which we requested later on. On Day 3 and 4, towel elephant and swan greeted us when we returned to our room during mid-day.
The Activities
Bingo! The large 6 panel Bingo cards are for adults while the small 1 panel Bingo cards are for children (free). See Baby1′s shoes there? Gee…
You’ll never get bored on the Legend. We played Bingo, watched people learn line-dance and Cha Cha, attended a detox seminar, watched the towel folding demonstration, shopped for Royal Caribbean’s souvenirs, watched 2 shows at the theatre, went on the deck and chat, played mini-golf and blow sea breeze, sat in the lounge and enjoy Dazzle Trio’s live singing and music performance, and had wine and snacks at the Captain’s Reception. And we didn’t manage to catch Salt and Inception at the theatre, participate in the family games, join in the poolside party at night, dance at the Rock and roll Finale Night, went to disco at the Viking Crown, sing at the KTV etc etc etc.
The Land Trip
Jung Ceylon at Phuket is about 20-30 minutes walk from the landing pier.
The ship port at Port Klang and Phuket. We didn’t manage to go to Port Klang because of the lack of taxi (it was taxi-fighting at the taxi stand!). At Phuket, the ship docked outside sea so we took a smaller boat to the pier at 1 end of Patong Beach and walked all the way to the other end where the large air-con shopping malls Jung Ceylon was.
The Timing
We boarded the ship at 2pm on Day 1, and reached back Singapore at 7am on Day 5. Hence it was effectively a 4D4N cruise, much better den Star Cruise’s deceiving 3D2N where you sail at 9pm on Day 1 and alight at 11am on Day 3.
The Check Out Procedure
Check out luggage was deposited by 11pm the night before, so make sure you have a big enough hand carry bag for your over night essentials. The alighting was a breeze too – you have breakfast first while waiting for the allocated time to embark at your leisure. And you are out of the ship, unlike the stupid Star Cruise that asks everyone to gather at the theatre for some dunno what briefing, den the entire mass goes through Customs together…. -_-
We paid slightly over $2k (Dear1: $2021 to be exact) for 3 pax, 5D4N. Though slightly expensive, but if you factor in accom + travel fare + food, it’s pretty worth it. Well worth the money, I would say!
- Dear2
All I want for Christmas is a Coach Baby Bag 12 December, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Dollars & Cents, Shop till you drop.add a comment
All I want for Christmas is a Coach Baby Bag, How material have I become!!
Girls can never have enough bags. You need an everyday work bag. Or maybe 1 more for variety to match your clothes. Or maybe another one for added variety. In fact, you need many many everyday work bags so as to keep up with the times. Luckily for Dear2, I was never one to keep up with fashion anyway, and I was too lazy to keep taking out all the stuff from this bag into the other one. Most importantly, I was too stingy to own multiple everyday bags.
You need a few outdoor bags. Maybe some backpacks – large and small for different purposes. And a few sling bags for different occasions. And a few hand carry bags to suit the event. Luckily for Dear2 again, I was never really into branded last time, so there was just 1 tiny Esprit backpack for me, and a Fila small one for sports purposes. And the Karimor large backpack that we used for travels. And 1 more Fila hand carry one for the sporty me when Dear1 and Dear2 went dating last time in our youth. Plus a couple of slings and shoulder bags bought as souvenirs from Vietnam. Plus a couple more other cheapo ones that din manage to survive the test of time. Etc etc etc.
Alas. After Dear2 started to have earning power, I start to look at what bags do other people carry. Even a girls’ Saturday out and everyone is sporting an LV, Chanel, or minimum Coach. And this is just an all girls outing, who to look at your bag!? And it’s Gucci amd LV and Chanel and Coach again at work – bags, wallets, wristlets, even a handphone strap….. -_-
Dear2 had a Bonia bag for 2 years. ”$200+ and it’s still good as new”, says Dear1. ”Branded bags are really durable”, says Dear2, and I started to look at BPs for Coach bags…. Barely a year down and the small Coach swing bag at $200+ has proven to be too small to be functional, Dear2 starts to eye a Coach Diaper Bag, aka Baby Bag.
All I want for Christmas is a Coach Baby Bag. Hang on, dun impulse buy. Let’s think through real carefully if we really need this item.
I want a Coach Baby Bag…..
- :p Dear2
Looking Forward (to Everyday) 3 December, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Slice of Life.add a comment
I am soooooooo looking forward to our holiday next week.
We booked a cruise about 5 months back, and it has been pinning, yearning, and longing since then. Finally the countdown is almost done, and the cruise is going to happen next week. After that, what next?
People plan holidays so that they can rest and relax during the break, but very often than not, they get more tired after the holiday, and need another holiday to rest. Yea man, unless you are going on a “do nothing” holiday, or one of those packaged tour where they pack you in the coach bus all day long so that you get to see the “falls” or the “island”, or the “scenic mountain”, so much so that you’ll be sleeping that 4-6 hours on the journey there. This is what a break is all about.
But if you are the young and seeks to explore the foreign country on your own, it’s very much planning and advantages that you look forward to. It is exactly this that tires you out
Holidays aside, we look forward to the year end festive season where it’s partying and a lot of festive mood in the air. Or better still, right after the Christmas and New Year countdown, we have our traditional Chinese New Year where we look forward to ang baos and yummy goodies to fill the stomach.
And maybe after that, we look forward to Valentine’s Day for some romantic moods…
Dear2 is tired of such “looking forward to”. It’s like, I look forward to lunch, and after lunch, it’s dinner, and after dinner, it’s tomorrow’s dinner, and after that it’s next week’s dinner. It goes on and on, and it sorta becomes a habit, a daily routine. And finally when you get that thing that you look forward to, the satisfaction dies off very quickly and you need to fill yourself with another something to look forward to. How material is that….
So instead of constantly needing to excite our hearts with such momentous events/ goods, why dun we derive satisfaction from all the daily things that we do? Be it cooking a nice porridge for the family, or being able to kiss Dear1 goodnight daily; being able to give Baby1 a hug when we feel like it, or even being able to chat with the cherished family and friends around us.
Talk is easy, but let’s try our very best to look forward to every (beautiful) day.
- Dear2
Fidgets @ Turf City 2 December, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2.1 comment so far
Dear1 and Dear2 brought Baby1 to Fidgets at Turf city during the Deepavali long weekend. Knowing that the whole of Singapore loves to go out during such long weekends, we made it a point to reach there in the morning. Minus all the packing and getting ready, we finally stepped into Fidgets at 11+am. Oh my, it was already so crowded at this time even though the place opens at 9am. Let’s recount the experience at Fidgets.
Firstly, Dear1 and Dear2 had not driven to Turf city before, hence the parking/ road signs to the carpark was confusing. It was free parking at the HUGE carpark, and we decided to park in front of the sign that seems to suggest the entrance. Took out the stroller, climb some steps and we decided that Turf City might not be a stroller friendly place at all, and in goes back the stroller into the car boot. That was a wise choice indeed, we found out later.
After entering the “Entrance” it was a long corridor left and right. Gotto make a good guess which side is the lift that will take us to Level 4 where Fidgets is. Managed to locate an isolated, old lift right next to Giant on the left, and up we went. To cut the long tedious story of walking up and down/ searching/ passing many shops that were deserted/ climbing an escalator that was out of order, we finally reached Fidgets which was in a state of chaos even at 11+am.
Took off our shoes, wore socks for Baby1, registration, given a card, and finally we entered. The place was bustling with activity – there were 2 ongoing parties, and numerous kids running about. We thought of settling our stuff in the 100 seater café, but no chance was it was already fully chopped by families who arrived early. We lugged our bags and settled down in 1 of the 2 areas which are meant for infants. Baby1 sat stoned for a while while other babies crawled and climbed nearby. We had to keep nudging her to climb the little structure so that this trip is not wasted. Talked to a Caucasian Granny whose 8 month old grandchild has 6 teeth, took some pictures of Baby1, and we decided time to head off. We picked Baby1 up and went to explore the rest of the place.
The first corner which was supposedly for infants looked very dangerous for Baby1 as there were older kids running up and down. The other side of the area has a huge playground where kids and adults would surely love. It’s really a nice place for parents who want to burn off the extra energy in your kids, so Dear2 is looking forward when Baby1 is big enough to come play in this.
We left Fidgets barely half an hour after we stepped in, and there were lots more families coming in at this time.
The cost? 0, as it was free entry for adults, and free for infants under 2 (not too sure if it is 1 or 2, cos Dear2 seems to read somewhere that its chargeable for 1 year and above).
The enjoyable? Negligible, as it was way too crowded and noisy for enjoyment.
The hassle factor? Extreme, though it might improve on our next visit as we become more familiar with Fidgets and Turf City. Apparently, you should park further in at the entrance to Giant. The lift there takes you right to the correct lift to Fidgets so that you dun have to plough through the confusing City.
Let’s hope our next visit is more pleasant then.
- Dear2
