Miller's Thank-you party

This morning we were up early and were super busy sorting out the cupboards in the spare bedrooms and organizing the sheets and winter clothes. We threw a heap of stuff out and put a lot aside to give to Daisy our cleaner.

Before we knew it, it was time to take Blue to the vet. We drove out to Ikano with Blue in the back and he was pretty quiet. Ross went up to the vet with him while I did a few things around the place. I bought some candles from IKEA and did some food shopping before Ross met back up with me.

We went to Starbucks for a coffee before running some more errands. I bought a new iron, Ross picked up some water and I also picked up some memory sticks before we decided it was time to head home.

We had about an hour before I had to go to my hairdresser appointment. Ross came with me and got his hair cut too. He left after about half and hour. Gary and Roy were very busy with my hair. Gary cut it while Roy did the colour. While I was waiting for my colour to go on, Gary and I chatted for ages.

About 5.30 I was done and rang Ross to pick me up. Back at home we relaxed for about an hour before getting ready for Sonja and Brian's thank-you party. Sonja had hired the function room downstairs and had a party planner organize food, activities and other things for the evening. She had invited everyone who played some part in helping out the family during the crisis with Brian.

We went downstairs to meet up with Sonja and Brian before the party started. Slowly people arrived. It was amazing to see 140 people arrive - everyone from the Aussie paramedics that Emma ran into in Starbucks just as her Dad had been shot to the nurses and doctors who looked after him in Prince Court medical center during his recovery.

It was such a great event. The Miller's did so well to get everyone together. I don't know too many other families that would be able to do this let alone think to hold an event like this. It was a great closure to the whole event with Brian.

As usual, at the end of the night, Brian, Sonja, Phil, Julia, Ross and I ended up sitting around drinking the remaining wine and chatting until the wee hours of the morning.

Netball night out

This morning, I headed over to Pavillion to go to the gym. I hadn't been there for a few months! I worked out on the cross trainer for 30 minutes before moving to some of the weight machines - chest, shoulders and back. I did about half an hour of weights before spending another 20 minutes stretching. It felt really good!

Back at home I had a shower in time for Annie our landlord to come with her workmen to look at the leak in the dining room ceiling. Ross came home to be there too and they cut a hole and saw that water was leaking from the bathroom above. So they are going to fix that then patch all the holes and paint the entire apartment.

I dropped Ross and work and then headed to the chiropractor. Nick did the usual adjustment and I was out pretty quickly. I had a little bit of time to kill before going to my hair appointment so I popped around to see Julia.

I drove back to Pavillion and parked the car before walking up to Lot 10 in time for my appointment at Tony and Guy. I had booked the artistic director, Gary, as I have finally worked out you get what you pay for with hair dressers. He was really good, listened to what I wanted and did a great cut and colour. I walked out with a fresh lease on life.

Back home, I had enough time to shower and start getting ready for the netball night out. Ross headed to the gym and then we drove to Julia's place. Her friend Chintzia was going to drive us over to Bangsar. We met up with the rest of the girls at Chutney Mary's, an Indian restaurant. Sam had organized pink champagne and we enjoyed a great meal with great company.

A few of the girls left after dinner and some of us headed to The Social for a drink. The Social was a bit dead so more people left and then we headed onto a dodgy nightclub called School Bus. Julia and I stayed dancing and drinking with Sam, Marnie and Olivia until about 1.30 when we decided to head home. The taxi dropped Julia off first and I finally got home about 2. A good night out!

Fixing my hair

This morning I had breakfast and then walked to Paragon to have coffee at the Coffee Bean. The construction around Orchard Road is never ending. Last time I was at Spinelli's it was really noisy so I thought I would try the Coffee Bean - just as noisy!

I walked around the Metro department store and looked around a few other shops in Paragon before heading up to Strip! for my appointment. 10 minutes later I was out! I walked back towards the apartment and stopped in at The Heeren to try and see Ray who did the colour on my hair on Monday. I had a couple of things that I wasn't happy with - the sides just above my ears were too light (it looked like someone had painted a stripe of bleach on the side of my head!) and also at the back, he did not put colour on the short hair at the bottom so it looked pretty dark.

Ray was busy with another client so I made an appointment for 3 and then headed back to the apartment for lunch. I made a tomoto and feta salad and sat down to enjoy a few episodes of The Flight of the Conchords to kill time before I went back for my hair. Just before 3, I walked back to Toni & Guy where Ray told me that he was behind and could fit me in a 4. I was a bit pissed off seeing as I had wasted the whole afternoon waiting for him but I walked down to another new mall - Orchard Central - to have a look around. It was a bit of a weird mall as it had only just opened so only a few shops here and there were open. I had read that there was a whole level dedicated to beauty services but I couldn't find it. I was hoping to find a good massage place. I had another coffee at Coffee Bean before walking back to Toni and Guy.

Ray listened to what I had to say and spent some time putting in more colour. After a wash and blow dry, the colour looks much better and he didn't charge me for fixing it up. I walked out of there about 5.30. As I got home, Ross text me to let me know he would be on Skype so we chattered for about 20 minutes. I then put on my workout gear and had planned to walk to the Botanic Gardens. I headed off down Orchard until I got to the cross road where I thought the Botanic Gardens were. Instead, I walked for about 40 minutes before I finally came to an area that was familiar! I could have walked to the gardens from there but by this time I was a bit knackered so I walked back to Orchard and headed back to the apartment.

On the way, I took a couple of photos of the ION Orchard shopping mall. It really is an amazing building. It the photo, you can also see the conical glass structure of Wheelock Place. I got home, spent half an hour cooking chicken, bacon and poaching an egg for my Caesar salad and then flopped in front of the TV for the night before heading to bed.

Another episode in the quest for a great haircut!

This morning, Ross and I had breakfast together and then he headed to the gym. I didn't have the energy so I caught up on things online. About 11, we walked down to road to get some money out and then Ross headed to the airport to catch his flight back to KL.

I went back up to the apartment and had some lunch before walking to the Heeren for a coffee and to look around the shops before my hair appointment at 2pm. I got a bit bored so I went to the salon early and they managed to fit me in. Max was my stylist and I gave him the run down on my hair - I don't want an Asian hair cut and I don't want the middle age expat wife bob. He laughed and took some time to look at my hair before he started to cut. He cut it quite short and graded up the back and took a razor to the front-side bits. He did a great job! It felt much better and I know that it will grow out well.

Next was Ray who was the colourist. I explained to him that I was sick of the dark rim around my hairline and that I was also sick of the regrowth. He decided that he would put 3 colours through - a blonde highlight to keep it blonde and two lowlights to make it look more natural and less yellow. It took forever to put the colour through my hair but the end result was pretty good. He didn't put any colour through the graded bit of my hair at the back so it is a bit darker than the top but because he put the lowlights through the rest of my hair, there is not such a dramatic contrast as I have had before where my hair looked black at the bottom and yellow on top.

So, overall, I was pretty happy. I think next time I will get some more lowlights put in to help even out the colour all the way through but it is certainly 100% better than before.

By the time I got out of the salon it was 5. On the way out I stopped into another shop and made a couple of purchases that I can't talk about as it is a surprise :-). At the apartment, I grilled some salmon, steamed some veg and watched some TV. I Skyped with Ross and then completed one level of Ice Age 3 on PlayStation before heading to bed.

A pretty good Sunday

This morning we walked over to KLCC for breakfast before the shops opened. We went to Chinoz on the Park and we both had omelettes. Mine was an egg white omelette so it looked a bit weird but tasted pretty good.

After breakfast we began looking again for golf clothes for Ross. We checked out a few stores with no luck but finally in Isetan he found some shorts and a shirt. Afterwards we walked home and relaxed for a while before walking over to Low Yat to buy a new wireless router to improve the internet signal in the apartment. As always, it was chock-o-block! We did a quick hit and run at our usual store and on the way down I checked out the new Nokia N97 mobile phone. I think it is about time to change mine. I liked it but will have to think some more before we get a new one.

We walked back towards home and stopped in at Lot 10. I had seen that there was a Tony & Guy hair salon in there and Ross needed his hair cut so we thought we would check it out. While we waited for his appointment, we had some lunch at 'Jackie Chan Cafe' which is a pretty cool cafe with big couches that you lie on (see photo). I had seen this place with Dad and Ann last year but had never had anything there before. Ross and I climbed onto the couches and ordered some lunch. We enjoyed our lunch in a great atmosphere with chill-out music and a disco ball! :-)

Ross went off to get his hair cut and I tooka walk around the shops. By the time I got back he was almost finished. He walked out with a great haircut! I thought they would be good as I know all their staff are trained in the UK and know how to cut Western hair. So I think I will be going there from now on.

From there we walked back to the Pavilion to pick up a couple of things before walking home. I spent the afternoon trying to connect the router with no luck as we don't have all the passwords etc. from the old one. Ross drilled some holes and hung up the ceremonial robe that I brought back from Hanoi. We also hung our new wedding portrait - the one I got for Ross for our anniversary. It was nice to get those things up!

We pulled out some meat and veggies for a BBQ for dinner. We used Ross' new baking dish for the BBQ to cook the veg and it turned out great. As we were finishing our dinner, Brian and Sonja came round for a chat and a drink. We sat out on the balcony until about 10 before saying goodbye to the Millers. Ross and I stayed up a bit later watching the cricket. About 11 I couldn't keep my eyes open so we went to bed.

Health and Fitness Check:

Weight: 70.1 kg - just can't get under 70!!

Exercise: (not much)

- General walking around KL
- Driving range: 80 mins
- Walking around KLCC Park - 40 mins

A great day

This morning I slept in a bit and woke up about 8. I pottered around the house until about 10 before driving to the Vietnamese consulate to pick up my visa.

From there I drove to Ampang for my golf lesson at KDE. Eric let me warm up by myself and was happier with what he saw compared to Sunday. I concentrated on keeping my body "quiet and neutral" as well as not twisting my wrists in my back swing. Through the lesson, Eric got me working on little things until the end where my swing was looking closer to what it should be. I was happy that things were improving again. We'll see if it continues on Sunday.

Ross was at home when I arrived as we had the electricians and the oven repair men in the house fixing things. They didn't take too long and Ross and I had lunch together before I drove him back to the office. I spent a few more hours tidying up the house before walking over to Pavilion.

At Pavilion, I went to the gym to work out for an hour or so. It felt good to work on the weight machines today and I was happy I finished all my sets. I showered and then went to Roxy to exchange a visor I bought for a top. I thought the visor would be a good idea - yeah, not so much.

I then walked down to Tang's to the Belfry to get my hair cut. Mark did a good job cutting my hair and we chatted about working out - he was annoyed because he is only 64kg and cannot put on any more weight despite working out and taking supplements etc. I told him I wish I had that problem! He told me that one of the trainers in the gym (the same one I go to) offered him steroids and he said he thought about it but decided that the side effects weren't worth it. I asked him what weight he wants to get to and he said 80kg. I diplomatically tried to suggest that perhaps he needs to think of a more realistic goal like 70kg.

After my haircut, I rang Ross to come pick me up and we made green chicken curry for dinner. Ross was exhausted so we headed to bed pretty early.

More self-improvement

This morning started early again with me meeting Sonja at 7.30 to pick up Julia and head out to FRIM for a morning hike in the rain-forest.
Sonja and I headed up the steep path while Julia opted for the flat trail. We met up at the waterfall and walked downhill together back to the car. As usual, we headed to the Blue Cow Cafe for breakfast afterwards.

After a quick shower, I drove over to Pavillion to get my hair done (after picking up a cappuccino and cookie to keep me going :-)).

Chris coloured and cut my hair - it took 4 hours but I think the result was worth it. It's nice to have my hair short again - I was getting a bit sick of sweat dripping on my back while working out :-).

I drove home only to realise that I had left my key in the apartment. I killed time by heading up to Sonja's place and waited for Ross to come home. Sonja invited us for dinner which was great because it meant I didn't have to cook! The lasagna was excellent and we got to check out Brian's new Apple TV which syncs with his iTunes account so you can buy and download movies directly to it - pretty cool.

Self-improvement

What a great day! Today I woke up and headed straight to the gym to continue working on my New Year's resolution to get fit. An hour later I returned and found Ross just out of bed. We headed to Jarrod & Rawlins (another butcher cum cafe) at The AmpWalk for breakfast where we also discussed our individual list of goals for the year. After some great discussion, Ross and I finalized our list of things we want to achieve - on a personal level and also together as a couple. It was a really positive way to start the day and we have a lot of action items from our discussion to keep us busy in the short term.

In the afternoon, I headed to the Pavillion to get my hair done. It usually takes 4 hours so this time I was well prepared and turned up armed with my book - This Much I Know by Wally Lamb. The book is about the size of a loaf of bread (well, 900 pages anyway) and I am in the last 100 pages so I was keen to keep reading while they put foils in, cut and blow-dried my hair. I came out of there 4 hours later with an "edgy" new cut and colour. Not too struck on it yet as there is a two-toned thing going on in the back but the cut is great - kind of a graduated bob I guess is the best way to describe it.

I was feeling in the mood to continue the pampering so Ross joined me at the Pavillion and we headed to Kenko's for a fish spa, foot massage and neck, shoulders and back massage with Starbucks in hand. The video (not a picture :-)) is obviously of the fish spa experience. Ross and I headed for the big fish straight away - why muck around with the little ones!

Once at home, I ummed and arrhhed about my hair before making the decision to call them back and make an appointment to have the colour fixed on Tuesday. Oh well, one small disappointment in an otherwise great day isn't too bad. Looking forward to what this year brings!