A lazy Sunday in Singapore

Again we slept in and spent the morning relaxing in bed catching up on the news. About 11am we ventured out of the room for brunch. Yesterday in our travels we came across the PS Cafe in one of the malls. They offered a great sounding brunch with sausages, wholemeal french toast and fruit compote - yum! We enjoyed our brunch with fresh juices and despite the presence of a fuzzy (aka mouldy!) strawberry on Ross' plate, it was really good.

We had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport so again we headed all the way up to the other end of Orchard Road and discovered a few new malls that we didn't see yesterday. It was a pretty hot day so we were glad to get back to the hotel, get our bags and jump in a taxi.

At the airport, we debated getting a foot massage but decided instead on sushi, coffee and relaxing on the couches in the movie area while doing the WW crossword. Time flew by and before we knew it we were on the plane on our way back to KL.

We landed in KL to a massive lightning storm. After a bit of duty free alcohol shopping, we headed to the Skybus again for the journey home. It was pretty cool being on the bus in the dark while the lightning crashed around us. Once at Sentral Station, we avoided the taxi touts and headed upstairs to catch a legitimate taxi home.

Despite being only a 4 hour drive away, it had taken us 6 and a half hours to get home. I think we will drive next time! But it was a great weekend break.

Health and Fitness Check:

Weight: 71.4kg

Exercise:
- Walking: 40 mins on treadmill, 40 mins at FRIM and hours in Singapore!
- Jogging: 18 mins
- Walking up hill (FRIM): 30 minutes
- Golf lessons: 1 hour
- Weight machines: 45 minutes

The hazards of going to see outdoor theatre in a tropical climate!

We slept in this morning and stayed in bed watching TV until our hunger got the better of us. We walked to Coffee Bean and I had an amazing muesli parfait - I wish they served this in KL!

The rest of the day was spent walking up and down Orchard again deciding on what to buy from our reconnaissance yesterday. Ross ended up buying about 6 work shirts and 2 pairs of trousers for less than $400 which I thought was pretty good. I bought three beautiful leather belts - they were just so different I had to have them :-). We also bought a couple of foldable duffle bags that we thought would come in handy for all our traveling. They fold right down and can easily fit into a suitcase for extra storage.

We had lunch at Food Republic, an awesome Asian food court. In the afternoon, Ross had had enough of shopping so he went back to the apartment and I soldiered on for a couple more hours. We had a brief rest before heading out for dinner at Cuppage Terrace, a great little spot with a bunch of restaurants and bars just around the corner from the hotel. We ate a quick meal at the Mexican restaurant before getting in a cab and heading to Fort Canning Park to go and see Much Ado About Nothing in the park.

I had booked VIP seats and I am glad we did as it had been raining lightly all evening so the grass was saturated. We sat up on a raised platform on chairs! When we arrived, the support crew were on the stage mopping away trying to get it dry for the performance which was supposed to start at 7.30pm. At about 8pm it started to pour down again! A lot of people left and the poor support crew looked pretty frustrated after almost having the stage ready.

Ross and I made the most of it by enjoying our two complimentary glasses of wine while the rest of the audience either left, sat under their umbrellas or made a dash under the trees (see photo). The director came out about 20 mimutes later once the rain had eased and said the show would start at 8.30pm. Brilliant!

The show was great. Really funny. I didn't know the play before but it was pretty simple to follow once you got the characters straight. The synopsis in the program also helped :-). The rain held off for the rest of the performance. In the second half after interval, you could hear a band in the background belting out Coldplay's latest hit. At first, I kinda thought it was part of the play but we soon realised that there must be a nightclub not far away with a live band so the serious, emotional second half was accompanied by such classics as Eye of the Tiger and Don't Stand So Close to Me - pretty funny really! The actors did well to continue despite the distraction.

It was a great night out despite the rain and we got back to the hotel just before midnight.

Shopping!

This morning Ross got up and went into the Singapore office for a few hours. I tried to catch up on a bit of last night's lost sleep before tackling the management about moving rooms (which they did without any problems).

After moving all our stuff, I headed out for coffee and to wander around the shops until Ross met me just before lunch time. We had lunch at Subway and spent the afternoon walking up and down Orchard Road hunting for bargains due to the discounts for the shopping festival.

In the evening, we caught the MRT to City Hall and walked to the Raffles Hotel for what else but a Singapore Sling on the patio - very civilised (see photo)! The cocktail was delicious and we will definitely attempt to make them back in KL. Back on the MRT again and this time we got off at Clarke Quay and had dinner at Breworks - a cool gastropub with good pub food and beers brewed on the premises. I had the Wombat burger complete with beetroot, pineapple and an egg! What I really liked was the fact that they offered two sizes of burgers - the small one was more than enough. Ross opted for the baby-back ribs that were also great.

After walking all day, we were exhausted (again) so rather than catch the train we jumped in a cab to take us back to the hotel and fell into bed exhausted. At least there was no noise or neon tonight!

Getting ready for Singapore

This morning started with me going to the gym for a good long workout. I finished, had a shower and drove out to Ikano Power Center to pay for the Robert Rainford tickets at BBQ King. While I was all the way out there, I thought I might as well duck in for a 90-minute full body massage at The Circle. I had been so sore from golf/ gym that the massage felt fantastic if not painful as she worked out all the knots in my shoulders. I walked out of there feeling sore but in a good way.

In the Ikano mall, the KL Bird Park had set up an exhibition with a few of their birds. It was pretty neat with a mini rainforest set up inside the mall. They also had a few birds there that you could hold.

At home, I spent the rest of the afternoon deciding what to pack. Ross came home just after 4 and we caught a taxi to Sentral Station to connect with the Skybus to LCCT. It was the first time we had caught the bus and for 9 ringgit, the hour long journey wasn't too bad. Not as quick as the KLIA train but still it was pretty painless.

We arrived really early at the airport and spent some time looking around the terminal and having some dinner at Coffee Bean. As usual with Air Asia, the plane took off on time and we landed in Singapore 50 minutes later. The line at immigration was huge (see photo) and it seemed everything was slowed down due to the swine flu. I would say 30% of people in the queue were wearing face masks.

We finally got through immigration, found our bags and hopped in a taxi after explaining to the driver to take us to Somerset on Orchard. He seemed to know where he was going but he took us to a different hotel. We drove around for another 30 minutes asking night security guards and looking up the address on Ross' Blackberry before we finally found the right place. There are too many hotels, roads etc with the name Somerset in Singapore!

We checked into the apartment where they had arranged rose petals in the shape of a heart on the bed and also put petals in the bath. I always tell hotels now that we are on a romantic getaway and they usually do something - a free bottle of wine, robes, massages. Its pretty neat really :-)

We were exhausted after a long day and tumbled into bed only to be kept awake half the night by construction noise and bright neon lights from the mall across the road shining in our faces! not good!

A pretty exciting day

This morning started like any other Wednesday with Sonja, Julie and I heading to FRIM. Every week we go through the same thing - they keep charging us different prices to get into the park. Today, I just drove straight through with everyone else who seemed to be doing the same thing.

We walked up the hill and I was really struggling today. So much for thinking this was getting easier last week! On our walk back down the long path, we were suprised to come across a snake. Not just any snake, a blue coral snake which is pretty rare, nocturnal and highly venomous! Sonja almost jumped out of he skin as we almost stepped on the thing! She screamed, pretty much jumped on my back, and ran about 500m before turning around. In this time, Julia and I watched the snake writh in reaction to Sonja running and I did have a brief moment of concern when the snake almost looked like it was going strike out at us. Luckily it slithered back into the undergrowth. The photo is not a photo I took, but when we got home I did a bit of research to find out what snake it was. Someone else took this photo of the same type of snake but it was also taken in Malaysia. I emailed FRIM to confirm if these snakes do live there - we'll wait and see. The only other snake I could find that looked simiilar and was found in Malaysia was more black and far more elusive so I doubt we saw that one. This snake was definately bright blue with a red tail and head - amazing!

After our adventure and laughing heartily at Sonja, we went for breakfast and then headed home. I did a few things around the house before Sonja picked me up to head out for my first golf lesson. We went out to the 9-hole course in Ampang where I met Eric our instructor. Sonja had already been taking lessons for a couple of months whereas this was the first time I had picked up a golf club properly.

Eric was an excellent instructor and once he showed me the proper grip and stance, I was managing to hit almost every ball into the water from the driving range. He also videod my swing to show me a comparison with a pro and he was really suprised that my swing had most of the same characteristics. I was pretty pleased with myself when he said I had a natural ability and that he had a lot to work with. It was interesting how I would lose my swing after a while but when Eric held the club up the right way and I felt the difference, I could easily replicate what he had shown me and hit the ball with no worries. And when you hit that thing right it really goes!

I had a blast! I actually didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. I will definitely be continuing lessons with Eric. I think Ross would also like lessons with him as he is a great instructor and from Brisbane :-)

Sonja dropped me home and I got busy preparing dinner as Sonja, Brian and the kids were coming over. I roasted some veggies and made a couscous salad and roasted two chickens. Sonja brought baked potatoes and corn on the cob. It was really nice to just sit down and have a quiet dinner with everyone - something that I had been meaning to do for ages as I tend to invite myself to there's if Ross is not around.

A great day - but now I am completely exhausted - in a good way!

A flat day (post-ball depression)!

Pffftttt.... what a day! Today was pretty miserable. I wasn't really motivated to do anything. I tried to go to the doctor about the corn on my foot but of course the dermatologist only works Mon, Wed, Fri. Sonja came over to KLCC to meet me and we had some breakfast at Coffee Bean. We were both a bit flat after all the excitement of the ball on the weekend - no dresses, accessories, shoes to buy.

After breakfast we wandered around aimlessly for an hour or so before Sonja's friend Sheree joined us for another coffee at the Coffee Bean. We talked a lot about their teenage kids and other things. We left Sheree and I went with Sonja out to ISKL (the American School) to drop off something at the library and then we went to Great Eastern Mall to do food shopping - joy!

Back at home, we both left and I was feeling pretty flat. When Ross got home, I was pretty keen to do something to change my mood so we cooked up a quick stir-fry which we ate before heading over to Pavillion to watch Night at the Museum II at the Gold Class cinemas. I love Gold Class here with the leather recliners and the doonas (as you can see in the pic).

I went to bed feeling a bit better.

Planning and researching

Today I spent the day doing two things:

- Researching ways to stop the cats scratching the couches (which you can see in the photo!)
- Looking at accommodation options for our trip up the coast of WA

I was reasonably successful with the first one. I sprayed a citrus scented leather spray on the couches and tried to clip the cats' nails (easy with Black - not so much with Blue!). I also ordered SoftPaws, plastic nail covers kind of like false nails. The are 'glued' over the nails so that they cannot scratch things. I figure I will check both cats into the vet, put them under anaesthetic, have the vet clean their teeth and also apply the false nails. I also looked into portable cat tunnels so that they can be outside without escaping. I came across some in the states and have asked Sonja to bring one back with her if she can. So reasonably successful I think.

The second one was not too easy! I finally figured out that we were traveling to WA exactly at the same time as school holidays. Of course this means that all the caravan parks up the coast are pretty much fully booked. I spent hours researching what parks were around, sending emails, logging responses, narrowing down options etc. We had success in some locations but it looks pretty bad in others so we may have to look at other types of accommodation. I was sick of looking at it all by this stage!

Not much else going on today.

Relaxing

This morning we woke up late and enjoyed lazing around the room for a few hours before having to check out. We went up to the club lounge to check out and had a little snack while waiting for our bill. I took today's photo from our room looking down on the pool.

From the hotel we drove out to IKEA to look at a rotisserie for the BBQ that I had seen when I was last there. We had some lunch at Dome and went to the pet store to see what puppies were there before going back to the BBQ store to pick up the rotisserie. While we were there, the lady asked us if we wanted to go to a workshop and dinner by Robert Rainford, a TV chef who does 'License to Grill' - a show that I love because he cooks EVERYTHING on the BBQ. So we put our names down for some tickets.

We drove home, dropped our stuff and headed to the pool to relax and cool off for an hour or so. Once upstairs again, we pretty much did nothing for the rest of the afternoon and night. It was a great anniversary weekend!

Health and fitness check:

Weight: 71.9 kg

Exercise:

- Elliptical trainer: 90 mins
- Strengthening workout (light weights): 30 mins
- FRIM (walking uphill and flat): 70 mins
- Weight machines: 50 mins

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11th Wedding Anniversary and MANZA Charity Ball

I woke up early this morning not feeling 100% after all the food and wine last night. I felt alright - just not perfect ;-). I went out to the living room to read my book while Ross slept for a couple more hours.

Once he woke up, I gave Ross his surprise, a framed photo from our wedding. It was a photo that we had always spoken about having enlarged and so when I was in Adelaide in February, I finaly managed to track down the photographer and get a print. I had it framed here in KL which was cheaper and easier than having it done in Aus. The photo is of us with a brass band all in red jackets. We stumbled across these guys as we walked through the Adelaide uni grounds and so the photo is very impromtu. It was one of our favourites. Ross loved it.

After this, we went to the Club Lounge for breakfast. We had forgotten the tickets for the ball tonight so after breakfast we headed home to pick them up. As we pulled back into the hotel, Ross dropped me off so I could pick up a Starbucks from the train station.

We relaxed for while reading the papers before deciding on a bit of pool time. The pool is shared with the Hilton hotel which is just next door - an interesting concept! It was pretty hot but we stayed down there getting a bit of sun and floating about for an hour or so.

By the time we got up to our room, I was hungry again. We ordered room service and after I polished off my half a burger and half a salad, I headed to bed for an afternoon nap before the big event tonight.

I woke up, had a shower and drove to Pavillion to begin the beautification process. First was hair. Chris did something a bit different today and I wasn't too struck on it at first but it did grow on me. Sonja joined me at the salon from just having acrylic nails put on. Her guy swept her hair into a french twist/ mini beehive style which although looked a bit out of place with her jeans and T-shirt also looked good when her dress was on.

From the salon we went downstairs to MAC to meet Maya for our makeup. I went first and Maya decided to try out the smoky look on my eyes. As she was putting on layer upon layer of grey, black and blue/black shadow on and under my eyes, I could see this was going to be a pretty dramatic look for me - not something I would ever normally do. But hey, with the hair already out there and the dress being pretty dramatic I thought I would go with it. Complete with pastel pink lipstick, I went to see how Sonja was getting on with her guy Steven. He went for a more classic look with her with dusty pink eyes but bright pink/red lips - also very dramatic for her.

We both felt a bit stupid walking out in our civi's to the car and were glad when we got to the hotel room so we could frock up. Phil, Julia and Brian were already there with Ross and the white wine was cracked - thank god because Sonja and I were desperate for a drink after all the primping and priming!

We got ready and it all came together - hair, makeup, dress. We finished up our wine and went downstairs for a quick photo as a group before heading to the ball next door at the Hilton. As you can see from the photo, we're a pretty interesting looking group :-)

Once we went upstairs to the ballroom, we were surrounded by hundreds of others all with their glad rags on too. We sipped champagne as we waited for Simon and Rima and the other two couples who were on our table. Everyone looked wonderful and it was so nice to be at an event where everyone was dressed up for a change.

Inside the ballroom, the room was decorated in Casino Royale theme complete with huge foam dice, roulette wheel and the old Bond movie - Casino Royale playing on the big screens. The table even had confetti on it in the shape of dice, the different card suits and dollar signs - very nifty. All I could think is that someone had to go around to each table and sprinkle that stuff out - what a job!

The evening starting with a lady singing the Malaysian, Australian (2 verses!) and Kiwi (including Maori) national anthems. She was pretty damn good too! This was followed by the obligatory speeches and thank yous from the MANZA committee members but thankfully these were kept pretty short and sweet.

The food came pretty fast (as did the wine :-)) and by the time the second course soup was served, the dancefloor was packed - always a good sign for the night ahead! The meal was really good - lamb shanks for mains followed by chocolate dice cakes with icecream for dessert.

The rest of the night was spent talking, dancing, taking photos, drinking and before we knew it, it was 1.30am! Ross and I left leaving only Julia and Phil standing from our group, everyone has piked out earlier.

As we walked next door to our hotel room, we were thankful we decided to stay! What a great night!!

First day of our anniversary weekend

This morning started with me trying to get organized for the weekend. Trying to think what to pack. Around lunchtime I walked over to Pavillion to go to the gym. I spent a good hour and a half working out (and exhausting myself!) before having a shower in time to head up to my nails appointment.

Today I went for the spa manicure/ pedicure treatment - lovely! It took around two hours and just as I was finishing, Sonja met up with me in the salon. She drove me back to Stonor where we picked up my bags and the surprise for Ross. Sonja drove me over to Le Meridian hotel so I could check in.

I checked in, we dropped the things in the room, had a quick squiz around the suite and then went to the lobby for a glass of wine. A lovely way to end the afternoon. Just after Sonja left, Ross arrived - perfect timing!

Along with the suite, we also had access to the club lounge so we chilled in the room until 6.30pm when the cocktail hour started in the lounge. We went two levels up from our room to Level 33 and sipped champagne as we watched the sunset over the city.

I had booked us in to the steak restaurant at the hotel, Prime. We went downstairs at about 7.30 for our reservation. The restaurant was really classy inside - all dark wood and glass with a modern but classic feel. The kitchen was all glass fronted and the high walls served as wine racks throughout the restaurant.

We skipped entrees and headed straight for a main meal. I chose the surf and turf - half a Boston lobster and a small Black Angus rib-eye. Delectable! Both the lobster and the steak came with a choice of sauces. I chose lemon-ginger for the lobster and balsamic shallot for the steak. Ross chose a Black Angus sirloin with mushroom sauce. The sauces were served on a platter in tiny copper saucepans - very cute. We also spoilt ourselves with a beautiful bottle of St Hallet Church Block Shiraz. The meal was fantastic and we still had room for desert - creme brulee (me) and decadent chocolate cake (Ross).

This was definitely the best restaurant we have beeen to in KL and we will surely be going back.

From dinner we headed back to the room and ordered a Baileys which came served on ice... with whipped cream and a cherry on top! Yep, another reminder that we live in a Muslim country. We fell into bed full and satisfied - a great start to our weekend.

A day off

I woke up tired this morning and contemplated rolling over and going back to sleep once Ross left but instead, I was motivated to get out of bed and sit on the couch to watch the American Idol finale live. What a show! It was an amazing finale with Queen Latifah, Keith Urban, Fergie, Black Eyed Peas, Lionel Ritchie, Kiss, Rod Stewart, Queen, Jason Mratz, Steve Martin and Cindy Lauper.

I was also quite happy to see Kris win as Adam had started getting on my nerves with all his theatrics. I pretty much spent the rest of the morning researching places to stay in Perth and Broome. Of course, the two weeks we are going is also WA school holidays so it is going to be a bit of a nightmare organizing things and we may not be able to hire our 4WD now.

I finally showered just before lunch and Ross came home so we could eat the leftovers of last night's Korean pancake. After lunch, I tried again to look at hotels with no luck - I just couldn't make up my mind and everything is so expensive in Perth!

I got sick of looking at the computer so I tidied up the house, did a few chores and made some sushi for dinner (see photo). Ross came home early as he was jack of work so he decompressed by telling me about his day over a quiet bourban.

He had been invited to play cards by Dan, the guy we met at the Oilman's Ball last Friday so I drove him over to KLCC around 7.30. I spent the rest of the night trying to tidy up my iTunes library - slowly getting there but what a mess!

Ross came home just before midnight as I was turning my light off. I am trying to finish the last book in the Twilight series and although this last one is better than the previous two, I am still wading through it. Ross told me about his night and how he was smoking cigars (rare for Ross!) and he sounded like he had a great night. I promptly fell unconscious...

A full day

As usual, this Wednesday started early with me picking up Sonja to head out to FRIM. We picked Julia up on the way. Every week we go and they charge us a different amount to enter the park. This week they tried to charge up 15 ringgit - the most we would have ever paid. Sonja had a bit of an argument with the gate guard and we ended up paying 7 ringgit which is pretty much what we normally pay although last week it was free!

We did our trek up the mountain and down again and today it actually didn't feel too bad. Perhaps all this exercise is starting to pay off? Don't get me wrong, I was still drenched in sweat and we stopped on the way up but I actually enjoyed it today.

We dropped Julia home so she could head out to do her dress shopping - she still doesn't have a dress for the ball on Saturday. Sonja and I drove back to Stonor, had quick showers and then walked over to the Prince Hotel where the American Women's Association Spring Bazaar was being held. Debbie, the lady I met at the Oilman's Dinner, was working at the White Elephant stall so I thought it would be nice to pop by and say hi. Of course, I couldn't find her!

Sonja and I wandered among the stalls for an hour or so. We both bought things from a stall selling silver jewellery at really reasonable prices. I bought a chunky ring and thick silver hinged bangle. I also bought a plate that looks like the Monopoly game board - don't ask me why but I did. I thought it might be fun to use at the bar or when we have games nights.

From there we went to Pavillion for lunch as we were both starving. We ended up at Tony Roma's where they do a good value lunch deal. For 17 ringgit I got a cup of soup, a chicken salad and a never ending drink. And it was good!

Sonja and I wandered the shops, had a coffee and changed our hair and makeup appointments to be a bit earlier. Today's photo is of a car that was in the foyer of the mall. I have no idea what type it is but thought it looked kinda cool.

By the time we walked home, it was 4pm. When Ross came home from work, we watched American Idol and then drove over to KLCC for dinner and to pick up my dress for the last time. We ate at the Korean BBQ place and it was fantastic! They had this seafood pancake that sounds aweful but was dfelicious with small prawns, vegetables and I think potato all kind of fried together - yum! The fried rice and the grilled beef were great too.

Downstairs, I picked up my dress, tried it on quickly - it's ok but still not perfect. But it will do. Then we headed home.

Strip!

I woke up pretty early this morning with Ross and as he walked to work I drove to Pavillion and headed to the gym. I worked hard on the elliptical trainer and felt my legs turn to jelly when I got off 45 minutes later. I spent some time stretching in an attempt to make sure that my body wasn't sore later, we'll see how that goes!

At home, I showered, did a few quick chores and even did the shopping downstairs at the grocery van. I then drove out to Ikano Power Mall to pick up something I had framed (a secret I can't talk about just yet :-)) and also to go to my waxing appointment.

I had booked in to get some waxing done at a place called 'Strip!'. Before then, I went up to the pet store to see what puppies they had in (very cute little girl beagle pup that I would have adopted if I could) and then went to Dome to have lunch, a coffee, and to catch up on some emails.

I headed to Strip! a little early and they let me in for my appointment. The shop itself is pretty groovy; they do waxing for women and men and I was surprised to see two or three blokes in there waiting for their appointments. The inside of the store was decorated with cardboard boxes - sounds weird but looked pretty cool.

My therapist led me to the room and without going into too many details, let's just say that I got what I came for and it was the best waxing experience I have had here in KL for the whole year that I have been here. As I lay there gritting my teeth, I took a bit of time to read the posters on the wall. There were lots of funny quotes and sayings about waxing. My favourite was 'If you want to sell the house, you've got to mow the lawn". Another promising one - 'From muff to buff in 15 minutes'. Love it!

Today's photo is of one of the posters on the wall in the treatment room.

By this time, I was pretty ready to go home. Ross came home and we ate the leftover potato, corn and ham soup from last night and I also made a little shepherd's pie to use up the leftover mince. Ross needed a haircut so we walked over to KLCC. I browsed through the Kinokiniya bookstore while Ross was in the salon and walked out with a couple of guide books on Hanoi, the new Malaysia GPS road map book and a book on sociology.

After a coffee at Starbucks we headed home.

Start of the week

I woke up about 9.30am and headed to the lounge for breakfast while watching Project Runway. From there I took myself down to the gym and worked out for just over an hour.

By the time I got back upstairs, it was midday. Sonja text and asked if I wanted to meet her for lunch so I showered and walked over to KLCC. We ate at Dome and then went downstairs to look at shoes to go with Sonja's dress for the ball. She ended up buying a pair with jewels down the front - gorgeous! The photo is of my big hoofer next to another pair of shoes that Sonja was trying on. She has tiny feet! Size 6 compared to my gigantic size 10 - made me laugh.

From there we walked over to Pavillion for a coffee and also to see if we could find a place to do our makeup for the ball. We booked appointments at MAC for Saturday afternoon - the last thing before the ball.

We walked home and it was quite steamy so we put our togs on, grabbed our sun loungers and headed to the pool. Maddy and Ian joined us and we floated about for an hour or so. On the way out of the pool I joked with Sonja that we will end up as twins at the ball as we are getting our hair, makeup and nails done together. A bit like the Stepford wives however she said more like the Stonor wives!

I had a bunch of potatoes that were on their last legs so while Ross was at the gym, I looked up a potato, corn and ham soup recipe from the Weight Watchers site. It was fantastic! I think I will be making that one again. Luckily there is some left over for lunch tomorrow.

A perfect Sunday

This morning we lazed around the house until about midday. We decided to get out of the house so we drove to Changkat Bukit Bintang to have lunch at the Fabulous Fish and Chip Bar. The food was fantastic - grilled butterfish - and went well with a cider.

From there we walked down one of the side streets to a small Thai massage parlour for an hour long foot massage - it was heaven! Ross was so relaxed I think he fell asleep - he woke up just before the photo :-)

We drove home and laid on the bed for the rest of the afternoon. We started watching the TV series, Californication with David Duchovny. It was pretty good so we watched 3 episodes. The cats were obviously also feeling relaxed - both sleeping on the bed with us.

About this time we realised it was already 6.30pm. We made a quick pasta for tea and sat outside watching the lights. All the relaxation had obviously made us tired and we headed to bed at 9pm - a great Sunday!

Health and Fitness Check:

Weight - 71.4 kg

Exercise:

- Cardio: 95 minutes (including FRIM)
- Weight machines: 45 minutes
- Netball: 60 minutes

Dress fits!

We slept in after getting home early this morning. We drove over to KLCC to put Ross tux and my dress in for dry-cleaning and I also tried on my dress for the ball next weekend. I didn't have high hopes after the debacle of the other tailor who completed screwed the dress up.

I tried it on and it fitted! I was relieved and happy but I could see that the dress didn't sit as smoothly as I would have liked. I went back and forth with the tailor for a while and finally she decided to take in a couple of darts at the back to smooth the folds out at the front. I think it will turn out fine and no-one will really notice except me. I am just so happy that I can wear the dress and that we didn't have to go all the way to 1 Utama to return the dress.

We went to Dome for breakfast then did a bit of shopping before heading home. It was a sunny day so we headed to the pool to float about for a couple of hours. I finished my book while Ross read the Weekend Australian. By about 2.30 we were both cooked so we headed upstairs.

We whiled away the afternoon watching sport and relaxing. I rang a store in PJ that offered jewellery making classes and tried to arrange to start the beading foundation classes. Hopefully I will start on the 27th. This inspired me to sort out the bags of beads that I hadn't looked at since we moved. During the move, they got completely mixed up so I started sorting them into colours to make it easier to find what I wanted (as you can see from the photo). I am excited to get into something creative!

We made a Weight Watcher's chicken tikka masala for dinner with brown rice and ate it out on the balcony watching the towers and the lights change colours on the Oval.

We headed to bed for an early night after last night.

Oilman's Gala Dinner

This morning started early with Julia picking me up at 7am to head out to netball. We had coffee at Plaza Damas first where we met up with a few other ladies.

Netball was good but hot! By about 9.30am is was too hot and the black clouds were rolling in so we all decided to go to the Blue Cow Cafe for breakfast.

Julia and I headed back to her place for a quick shower before we drove to Great Eastern Mall. One of the shops there was selling ceramic Samurai warriors that stood about two feet high - similar to ones that Julia had seen in Hong Kong and loved. She ended up buying one so we went downstairs and had coffee while they wrapped it up.

Julia dropped me back home and I went straight to bed for a nap as I was exhausted after all the exercise this week :-) I slept for about an hour before I was woken by a text message from Elyse. We chatted on Skype for almost an hour making plans for our summer vacation driving up from Perth to Broome.

By this time, I needed to have a quick shower and head over to Pavillion to have my nails and hair done. After a quick mani/ pedi, I went to the hairdresser and asked him to do something with my hair for tonight. Chris kind of curled my hair and put a lot of volume into it. It actually looked quite good!

Ross was home when I got there and we relaxed for about an hour before having to begin getting ready for the dinner. Brian was nice enough to drive us over to the Mandarin Oriental so we didn't have to get sweaty walking there. The ballroom was decorated in kind of Mediterranean style but the theme was Chinese - it was quite an interesting concept!

We took our seats at the table which was right next to the big wigs and the dancefloor. We met a couple of the customers that had been invited (as the dinner was really a networking opportunity). I sat next to Debbie and Dan who were a couple from the U.S. now working in Malaysia for 8 years. They seemed like nice people and we chatted away pretty easily throughout the night.

In true Malaysian style, the speeches by the vice-president and the secretary of the Malaysian Petroleum Club (the host of the Gala) were quite... weird. Lots of talk about where the roses came from, dirty jokes about CEO's of oil companies and other quite interesting topics.

The speeches were followed by dinner - a traditional 8 course Chinese meal which was served with great fanfare. Not being a big fan of Chinese food, I can't say I really enjoyed it. The whole thought of eating Shark Fin soup kind of grossed me out. Dessert was the hightlight even though I had no idea what it was it tasted really good.

During dinner, the entertainment began. First up was a girl from Indonesia. She was obviously a popular singer but we didn't have a clue who she was. She was only knee high to a grass hopper but was wearing the highest heels I have ever seen! She also had bright red hair - unusual for an Indonesian :-) She sang one song in English and then a few in Bahasa. She dragged the Vice-President up for a song.

After dinner was finished, Freddo and the Flinstones were up. When they first came out, they looked exceedingly dodgy and they were a bit to start off with. The lead singer must have been at least 50 and was incredibly cheesy - wearing a sequined jacket with a tiger on the front. He sang a couple of tunes in Bahasa and funny enough in Thai first but from then on they played pretty good western music. He had two girls who were backup vocals, keyboard and rythym section who also were part of the entertainment as they teased the lead singer. It was suprisingly entertaining and the lead singer did, after much effort, manage to get people up on the dance floor.

Dan, the guy we were sitting next to was so funny when the twist came on. He literally bolted up out of his seat and sprinted to the dance floor where he proceeded to twist like a madman by himself on the dancefloor! I nudged Debbie (his wife) and said 'Looks like you need to get up there Debbie'. She said 'He doesn't need a partner for the twist - he just loves it'. And she was right! He stayed up there for the entire song and twisted better than almost anyone else on the dance floor. I don't think I could get down as low as him and he was old enough to be my dad! We gave him a round of applause when he got back to the table - and passed him a glass of water as he had worked up quite a sweat!

For some reason there was a lot of line dancing throughout the night. I guess the only thing I can put this down to is that it is probably the safest dance to do in a Muslim culture as no-one has to touch and men and women can dance together without being inappropriate. It was quite a sight to see.

One of the guys that Ross worked with requested 'Sweet Child of Mine' for Ross so we got up and did a bit of boogying. At midnight, which came by much faster that I thought it would, they drew the raffle prizes. Unfortunately, no-one at out table won. After the raffle, the ballroom pretty much cleared out. We stayed for a while longer to dance and waited until Dan and Debbie left before we decided to go too. The photo was taken on the way out of the ball.

We jumped in a cab and headed home after a better than expected night.

An enjoyable day

I woke up at 10am (after Ross rolled in at 1am!), had some breakfast and headed straight to the gym at Pavillion. I did some cardio and weight machines for an hour and a half. I toweled off the sweat and did a quick deodorant spray before going down to the Benefit Beauty Bar at Parkson's to get my eyebrows waxed. I figured while I looked a wreck, I might as well go the whole hog!

At home I made a salad for lunch then headed down the pool. I floated around in the sun reading my book for about and hour or a half.

After a shower, I tidied the house and waited for Ross to come home so we could watch American Idol. After seeing Danny get kicked off, I used the leftovers of last night's salmon to make a salmon and asparagus pasta for dinner.

Ross was having a shirt made for his dinner suit so we headed to Great Eastern Mall to pick it up. It looks great with his bowtie! So we are all set for the ball tomorrow night.

(Blue is making an appearance in today's photo)

Quite a busy day!

This morning started early with me meeting Sonja downstairs at 7.15am to head out to FRIM. Julia couldn't join us today as she had something on at Lewis' school. Sonja and I dragged ourselves up the hill and back down again. Even though we have been doing this for a few weeks now, it really doesn't seem to be getting easier!

We met up with Julia at Bangsar Shopping Complex (BSC) for breakfast at Dome. From there, Julia took us to a couple of nifty little furniture shops in Mont Kiara. We stopped in at a great little cafe called Providore where Sonja and I shared a slice of apple strudel with icecream for lunch (well, we felt justified after all that sweating!). The cafe is owned by a couple of Australians and they have the apple strudel flown over from a Hungarian lady in Melbourne - and it was amazing!

We left Julia and headed home where I took a shower (finally!) and made some mini orange and carrot muffins (see photo) to take to Sonja's place for dessert. I dressed them up a bit as it was Emma and Maddy's birthdays over the past couple of weeks. I had invited myself to dinner because Ross was out for work. Also, I needed someone to watch American Idol with!

Catching up

I think all the activity over the weekend caught up with me this morning as I didn't wake up until 10.30am. I did a few things around the house and had some breakfast before heading to the gym (see photo :-)).

I spent a fair bit of time working out before going downstairs to the pool. I had brought down the sun lounger so I stripped off my sweaty gym clothes (luckily I had togs on underneath!) and jumped into the pool. I floated about in the sun for about an hour, reading my book and making the most of the sun on the pool.

As I got back upstairs, the girls were in to clean the apartment. I luxuriated in the shower for ages to give them some time to get things done and by this time they had almost finished. Ross came home as they left and the contractors to fix the doors arrived. They took about an hour to shave the doors so they close properly and also to fix a couple of hinges.

Ross headed to the gym and I got dinner started. After dinner Ross and I walked to KLCC so I could pick up my red dress that was having the side ribbons removed. The dress wasn't ready yet so we went to Stadium to see if I could find some more long pants for the gym. Luckily they were having a sale so I walked out with one pair of three quarter pants, a polo shirt, workout singlet and two sports crop tops.

A quick decaf cappuccino (yep, I've switched to decaf tea and coffee) and we went back down to the tailor. The dress was ready.

We were about to walk back but the weather looked a bit ominous so we jumped on the Trader's Hotel shuttle. We managed to get home just as the storm started.

A better day than yesterday!

Incredibly frustrating day

This morning I woke up feeling a bit seedy after last night. It took me until about midday to work up the energy to get out of the house. I drove out to 1 Utama (again!) to pick up my black and white dress that was being altered (for the second time!).

When I got out there and tried the dress on, they had made it too tight - again! So we were back to square one and this time there was no slack in the darts to let out again. I was furious! The saleswoman was completely useless on top of all this. She could hardly speak English and was obviously new at the job. I asked to speak to the manager and she told me the manager was in Canada. She tried to measure the dress up again to have it altered but I was so frustrated because I knew the dress was now ruined. I asked for my money back on the alterations and she wouldn't give it to me so I stormed out with the dress to take it to my regular alteration place at KLCC.

I did find a pair of black heels and some accessories to go with the dress and also a couple of T-shirts at Springfield. I also managed to find a long cotton dress in Forever 21. It is extremely bright as you can see from the photo :-).

I drove back to KLCC and took the dress to the tailor. They said that they would probably only be able to get 3/4 of an inch out of the darts so I am praying that this will be enough. I pick the dress up on Friday so if it doesn't work I will have only 6 days to look for a dress - not as easy as it sounds in KL.

I got home about 5pm and tidied up the stuff that we had been dumping all over the place over the weekend. Ross came home and I told him about the dress saga. He tried to ring the store and speak with a manager but the sales girls weren't listening too him and were speaking at him while he was trying to explain the situation - not good. They finally managed to listen long enough and gave Ross two mobile numbers to call. He called one and spoke with someone who turned out to be the tailor. He said he would talk to the staff to try and sort out the mess. When we bought the dress, the manager of the store told us that if they couldn't fix the dress for me by altering it, they would refund my money and take the dress back. We wanted to make sure that this could still happen.

Then we received a call from the store, the saleswoman said she would give us the alteration fee back but again wasn't listening to Ross when he explained that I couldn't (and wouldn't) drive all the way back out there again tomorrow. Ross rang the tailor back and explained to him about the manager's promise to refund our money and he will call us back tomorrow - hopefully with good news.

What a crappy day! I was so excited to pick up the dress :-(

Skytrex adventures!

Today we continued our active weekend. We met up with Julia, Phil, Brian, Sonja, their kids and another family who are friends with Julia at Fogel's for breakfast. From there we drove in convoy to Taman Pertanian Malaysia (a forest reserve) in Shah Alam.

The park is a great location where you can hike, ride bikes or catch a minibus through the park. It also contains Skytrex Adventure - an "eco-recreational cum educational activity which takes participants from tree to tree via a series of aerial obstacles suspended 3 to 22 metres in the air". Basically the park is a kind of adventure park/ team building facility.

All 14 of us undertook the training and then tackled "the big challenge" course. It was really challenging! Everything from walking on thin planks, swinging from rope to rope, flying foxes, climbing rope ladders and lots of other activities all 22m off the ground. Julia and her friend Lyn opted to be the official photographers as they are scared of heights.

It took us about 2 hours to complete the course and we were all exhausted at the end! We headed back to Julia and Phil's place for drinks, a swim, dinner (complete with haggis and Yorkshire puddings) and also to watch the F1 and Premier League football.

It was a great way spend the day and also good way to try out some new things in Malaysia.

(I'm waiting for some photos from Julia before I post one)

Health and fitness check:

• Exercise:
• 30 mins interval training
• 1 hour weight training
• 4 hours trekking in jungle
• 2 hours on adventure course

• Weight: 72.4kg
  

Getting out of the city

We were up and out of the house by 9am this morning on our way to Taman Negara National Park about a 3 hour drive from KL. This park is the biggest and contains most well preserved rainforest in Malaysia.

The drive was relatively easy with the help of the GPS. As we got further away from KL there was more to see. The roads led us up into the highlands near Genting and over the other side of the ridge parallel to the east coast of the peninsula. We cut inland and headed west through palm oil plantations, rainforest and hundreds of little kampungs (villages). In one village we managed to place ourselves in the middle of a funeral procession. We wondered why we were traveling so slowly until we saw the van up the front with the coffin inside!

Monkeys, cows, goats, wild boars, chickens and cats could be seen alongside and often on the road. They were harvesting the bunches of palm nuts in many of the plantations we passed so the road was full of trucks carrying them towards the city. We also passed numerous logging trucks with massive trunks on the back - not good to see.

The further we went, the smaller and narrower the roads became. We ended up on a narrow little village lane which led us to Kuala Tahan, the small village across the river from the entrance to the National Park.

We had some lunch in the car before heading down to the river to catch a small boat across the fast flowing Pahang River. On the otherside we found ourselves at the entrance to the park and also in the resort where you can stay. After registering with the informatioin center and getting ourselves a map, we headed off.

Our first place to visit was the canopy walk. Unlike the walk at FRIM, this was the longest canopy walk in Malaysia at 450m and 50m above the ground. The tracks weren't well sign posted and I think we took a couple of wrong turns but we did find the start of the canopy walk after a while. On the way we saw plenty of lizards, butterflies and a massive spider (a bit like a golden orb spider I used to see in outback WA).

We paid our 5RM each and headed up the ladder to the canopy walk. Just like FRIM, the walk was made out of ladder lashed together with a plank of wood on top. The walk gave us great views of the river and also of the landscape around the park. In some spots, ladders were angled upwards as the walk was set on the side of a hill so we had to keep climbing up to stay in the canopy. It was the best canopy walk that Ross and I have been on and fairly challenging as well.

At the end we had a bit of a break to suck down some water and eat some nuts and fruit. It was incredibly hot and humid (suprisingly - not!) in the rainforest. From there, we headed up hill to climb to the top of one of the peaks in the park - Bukit Teresek at 344m. It doesn't sound that high but it was an almost vertical climb up to the top. Ross and I were completely knackered by the time we reached the first viewing point.

From there Ross made the decision to continue on the path rather than to walk back the way we came to meet up with the track back to the entrance. This decision meant that we walked for another 3 hours before getting back to the park entrance! At the time it was exhausting as the tracks are not cleared well and you have to traverse many small hills and valleys. However, it was amazing to walk through this rainforest and just hear the birds and insects.

It seemed that the map we had may have underestimated the distances or we took a few wrong turns because the 1km track that we wanted to take ended up taking us 3 hours. Towards the end, we passed some swimming holes where you can swim in the river and also the closest camp site to the entrance. We had actually come to the park to look at the camping facilities. They were pretty basic but definitely doable.

Once we got back to the park entrance we headed straight to the bar for water and a cold beer. We had only walked a small area of the park (less that 10km radius). There are many more rivers and campsites that can be accessed by boat or trekking. We thought it would be a great place to come for a weekend and you can also fish the rivers (which would make our friend Brian happy).

It was about 5pm when we got back to the car and headed home. We made pretty good time on the way back and were in civilisation again before it got dark. After our excertion today, we felt justified in calling into McDonald's for a Big Mac meal while filling up the car. Our bodies were craving salt and grease :-).

We got home, spent an hour in the shower, and tumbled into bed. We watched the AFL game for a while before being overcome with sleep.

An interesting and exhausting day!

A slow but productive day

Today started a little slowly from the night before. Ross and I stayed in bed until about 10am before thinking about getting up and having some breakfast. We pottered around the house for a few hours, doing this and that, until the afternoon was upon us.

We had a phone conference with our financial advisor at 1pm. It was good to talk to Stephen who we haven't met since he took over the business from Peter. We talked through the numbers of our investments and made some plans to meet up in December and to reevaluate things then.

From there, we headed to the pool. We had to blow up the sun loungers first so we dug out the air compressor and headed down to the car to use the 12V connector to blow up the lounger. It took about 20 minutes! Luckily the sun was still out when we got to the pool and we were the only ones down there which was nice. We took turns lazing about on the lounger and getting some sun until the clouds came over about 4pm.

After showers, we drove to Great Eastern Mall to try and get a shirt so that Ross can where a bowtie to these bals coming up. We went to a tailor who will make a shirt for him by next Thursday, the day before the first ball.

We did a bit of shopping and picked up more kitty litter before going to KLCC to drop off my new dress to have the ribbons removed around the waist and pick up a couple of extra things from Isetan including sushi for dinner.

We spent the night watching AFL. The photo is of 'The Oval' which now has coloured lights on both towers that change colours.

Start of another long weekend

I spent half the day working on my iTunes library today - I am slowly getting through the 20,ooo songs! The electricians came by to check all the lights and I was still in my PJs but oh well. About lunchtime, I thought I should probably have a shower and get out of the house so I headed to KLCC to return a top I bought at TopShop. I managed to find an aqua dress and a pair of gold earrings to exchange it with.

I wandered around for a while looking at shoes to go with my dresses for the balls coming up but could not find anything that wasn't either too expensive or not in my size. Realistically, I think I can probably make do with the shoes that I have but it never hurts to look.

About 3pm Ross called and said that plasterer was coming to fix some cracks in our wall. I picked up two New Zealand Natural smoothies on the way back and met him at home. They finished the plastering and Ross went back to work for a couple of hours before coming home to start the long weekend. I relaxed and watched some TV in the bedroom with the afternoon sun streaming in through the windows. Black also was enjoying the afternoon sun on his back in his basket by the window.

We had invited Brian and Sonja and one of Ross' colleagues from work, also named Brian, over for a few drinks and some takeaway. Brian Miller arrived about 6.30pm and we toasted the long weekend with a gin and tonic. The other Brian arrived about 7 and we chatted for a while before Sonja arrived after dropping her kids off at friends places.

We had a great night chatting, drinking and enjoying brilliant pizza from California Pizza Kitchen - they were seriously good. We kicked everyone out about midnight and as you can see from the photo, we had been through quite a few drinks (and glasses) by this stage! It was a good night and definitely put us in the mood for the long weekend.

Rat in the roof!

This morning I bailed out on FRIM with Sonja and Julia as the cats had kept us up all night! I went back to sleep for a couple of hours before getting up and heading to the gym. I did a quick bit of cardio and then tackled the weight machines. I mastered the glute machine which I struggled with before. There is nothing natural about lying on your stomach and pushing your leg and the weights vertically up in the air! That being said I managed 3 sets this time. However, when it got to my shoulders, I couldn't even get through 2 sets :-( I am glad that I went even though I walked out of there with severe jelly legs that lasted for about an hour!

I picked Ross up on the way home and we had lunch together before I hit the bathroom for a LONG shower. I spent the afternoon watching contractors patch up things in the roof. I couldn't believe it when they cut a hole in the roof where there appeared to be a leak and what did they find... one very dead rat! It had decomposed so badly that its juices had leaked through the roof! Eeeuuuwwww!!!!

Wish I'd taken a photo of the rat but couldn't bring myself to get too close to it. Anyway, after that excitement, the contractors replastered the roof and painted it - not too well but at least there is no hole.

Ross came home and we cooked dinner together - deviled chicken legs with almond and spiced rice. It was pretty good! Now off to watch American Idol...

More shopping for the ball

After heading to the gym for the first time in a while this morning, I met up with Sonja at midday to head out to Bangsar for lunch with Julia and some much needed dress shopping.

We had lunch at Delicious which was great as always. We then wandered around Bangsar poking our noses in all the shops and boutiques we could find. The first store we went into, Coast, had a beautiful long red silk dress that I loved and it fit me perfectly. It was also on sale - 50% off! I asked them to hold it until we looked at other places.

I tried on a few more things but was starting to find that I couldn't do up many of the dresses because of my wide back (bloody skinny Asians!). Dresses here are just not made for Western frames. After shopping for a while we stopped for coffee and then Julia left us to go pick up Phil from work. Sonja and I continued to explore the boutiques of Bangsar with limited success.

Sonja did find a short black dress that looked great on her and also happened to be 50% off. She got it for an absolute bargain and ended up paying more for a pair of matching earrings than she did for the dress! I went back and tried on the red dress again. The dress is a halter neck with an empire waist line. Both the halter and the waist have ribbons that I assume you tie in a bow - it's a bit much having two ribbons I think so I will take the dress to the tailor and have one of them taken off - probably the one around the waist.

Both Sonja and I went home very happy that we found dresses! I should now be set for both balls coming up. I was also really happy that the red dress matches my favourite red shoes (in the photo) - what a bonus!

Ross and I spent the evening watching more Entourage and had to drag ourselves away again to head to bed.

A low key day

Not much happening today. I met Ross for lunch at Dome in KLCC - however, the service and the food was disappointing. Ross and I think that they put all the good staff at the outside Dome rather than the one inside.

In the afternoon, I just vegged out in front of the TV. I needed a break from cooking so we went to Santini's for pizza and a drink - the weather was beautiful to be sitting outside. The video is of the water fountains outside KLCC.

We came back and started watching Entourage Season 5 on DVD. I had forgotten how funny this show was! We had to stop ourselves watching the entire season all in one night!

Last day of the first long weekend

After catching up on a bit of sleep from the night before, we spent the morning relaxing before deciding to go out to 1 Utama again to pick up my dress.

At the shop, I tried it on and they had definitely let it out enough so that it could easily do up but they had also let out the seems all the way down to torso so now it was not fitted on the waist. The lady measured me up again and sent it back to fix - we'll see how it comes back this time. I was a bit annoyed that I will have to go back again but as long as it is fixed.

After 1 Utama, we headed to IKEA and the Curve to have a look around and pick up some drawers that fit into our bookshelves in the study. We had been dumping stuff in the bookshelf and it had become quite a mess so we bought the drawers to see it we could organize it a bit better.

The afternoon was spent watching TV and tidying the bookshelves (which turned out OK as you can see from the photo). I spent the evening still trying to sort out the harddrives and in particular my iTunes library which is a complete shambles. By the time I went to bed, it was starting to take shape but still a lot more work needs to be done particulaly to fix the song names etc and get rid of the thousands (not exaggerating!) duplicates.

Health and fitness summary:

• Exercise - walking (but not much)
• Weight 72.1 kg

A typical Saturday

Despite the late night last night, Ross was still up at 8am to watch the rugby (no surprise!). We had taped the AFL game from last night so we spent the morning on the couch watching a great game between the Kangaroos and Collingwood.

I went over to KLCC to try and look for more dress options. I spent a couple of hours over there with little luck however I did come home with a couple of tops. Ross was still on the couch when I got home.

In the afternoon we watched more AFL before heading out to Great Eastern mall to have a look around. The evening was spent much the same way - watching AFL - before we headed to bed early.

Today's photo is of the construction site across the road. Ross had a good idea to take one photo a month to compare the progress - let's see the difference next month.

May day holiday!

Ross and I made the most of the long weekend by lounging around the house in the morning before heading out to 1 Utama to look for ball dresses and recliners. We wandered around the massive shopping mall for a few hours before coming across one shop on our way out (and right next to Starbucks where we started!) which had a beautiful dress. I tried it on and it fit really well except for the last inch of the zip that wouldn't do up. The lady told us that their tailor could take out the seams and make it fit and if it didn't she would give us our money back. So we bought the dress - let's hope they can fix it!

After we got home, we relaxed for a couple of hours before heading out to our friends place, Julia and Phil, for dinner. Julia is Scottish and Phil might as well be so Julia cooked up a Scottish inspired meal for us. Scallops with black pudding for entree followed by steak and haggis and chocolate moulton puddings for dessert! I was a little anxious about the black pudding and haggis but it didn't taste bad at all, although I will probably not rush out and buy more.

After dinner, Phil broke out the Mahjong set and we played with their son, Lewis and his friend as well as Phil and Julia. It had been a while since we played but we picked it up pretty well and actually won a couple of games. Before we knew it, it was 1.30am and Ross, Phil and Julia had been through about 6 bottles of wine! I wasn't drinking because I am still doing my detox. The photo is of Phil with their dog Sheila.

I drove home with Ross hiccupping pretty much the whole way! We fell into bed completely stuffed and tired after a good night.