Back home

This morning, Ross and I woke up about 8 and headed out straight away to walk up at FRIM. On the drive out there, we noticed the big lake just before the final turn off to go to FRIM. We decided to go and have a look. As it turns out, there was a huge walking and bike path around the outside.

Ross and I walked around the lake which must have been a good 3 1/2 km. It was a good walk as there were a lot of changes in elevation along the track. There were a lot of other people out walking and riding their bikes.

After our walk we headed to Marmalade for breakfast - yum! From there we headed home. We spent a bit of time relaxing at home (actually we both had a nap!) before Sonja rang to say that her and Brian were heading over to Santini's. Ross and I walked over to KLCC to meet up with them.

It was so great to see Brian again! I gave him a hug with a lot of caution! He looked pretty good considering what he has been through. We had a drink and some food with them before going our separate ways. We walked back home.

Later in the afternoon, we drove over to Changkat Bukit Bintang for dinner and a massage. We ate at the Fish and Chip restaurant - Ross had the roast lamb and I had grilled butterfish. From there we headed to the Thai massage place and had an hour foot massage - a great way to end a good day! We drove home and pretty much headed straight to bed.

Today's photo is of Ross and I at the fish and chip place. Dee - you will note I am wearing my Gorman dress I bought with you in Melbourne!

A productive and busy day

This morning started by me meeting Julia at her place around 8.15. We went and had a coffee before heading to netball. It was the first time I had played in quite a while and it was great to see the girls again! It was incredibly hot though and so by the time we finished I was exhausted.

We headed back to Julia's place and I jumped in the shower while Julia was kind enough to make scrambled eggs for breakfast. I scarfed them down before heading out the door to make it to my beading class in time.

At beading class, I met Hester and realised I had forgotten my tools so luckily she was kind enough to lend me hers for today. We made two rings today (see photo). They were both very different and quite easy to make. Again, I can imagine making them out of quality beads and they would be great. I really liked the purple and green colours in the woven ring and I can imagine Swarovski crystals for the starburst ring.

I finished the projects about 1pm and drove to Ikano to meet Sonja for lunch at Dome. After lunch we headed to Strip! for our waxing appointments. Afterwards, we popped in for a quick 30min foot massage before each heading our separate ways to go home.

It started to rain as soon as I got in the car and the traffic was so bad it took me 1 hour 15 mins to get home where it would normally take me 20 mins. I was not too happy by the time I got there. Ross was already at home when I arrived and we watched the AFL finals game between Brisbane and the Bulldogs. No real surprise the Bulldogs won.

I was absolutely shattered by 8.30 so I headed to bed.

Wandering about Orchard Road

We had a leisurely breakfast at the PS Cafe in Paragon this morning. Afterwards, we wandered around the shops for a while and then headed over to the cinemas to see what movies were on. We bought tickets for the 1.05 showing of The Hangover.

We then went to Ngee Ann City mall and had a look around there for a couple of hours before the movie. The department store in this mall had a great homewares section as well as a good jewellery section - I think I will have to go back and explore some more!

We walked back to the cinemas in time for the movie and cackled our way through The Hangover. The movie was so wrong but pretty funny! A good mindless flick to while away the afternoon. Because we are in Singapore, the audience didn't laugh at all (Singaporeans don't have much of a sense of humour) so Ross and I were really the only ones laughing throughout the movie - weird!

We headed back to the apartment after the movie and relaxed for an hour or so before heading out again. One of my friends in KL, Debbie, told me about a good supermarket on Orchard Road so we walked all the way down the other end of the road to find it. It was a good supermarket, with many Western products. May have to stock up and take some home.

From there, we walked next door to Harry's for a beer and sat outside to enjoy the great weather. After a beer we found a foot massage place and enjoyed a 45 minute foot massage followed by a 15 min shoulder and back massage - perfect! We floated out of there about 7pm.

Back up Orchard Road again, we stopped in at Paragon to use the bathrooms. We saw there was a restaurant called Spageddies which looked good so we lined up and waited our turn to get a seat. The food was great! It was so busy though and soon after finishing we left because it was so busy. We went to the supermarket and picked up a couple of things for breakfast tomorrow before walking home.

Like last night, I didn't last long before I was so tired and headed off to bed.

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 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

Relaxation

Today was another relaxing day. I chilled on the couch while Sue continued to unpack until lunchtime. Sue and Mark's friends, Kath and Elliot, and their kids (triplets!) dropped by to see the new place so we chatted with them for a while and ate the cookies that Kath baked. When Mark got back from IKEA, Sue and I headed to Starbucks to use the internet to finalize our flights and then on to Dragonfly for a bit of pampering.

At Dragonfly, Sue and I both had a manicure and pedicure followed by a full body massage - tough life :-). We walked out of there looking more beautiful and feeling more relaxed.

From there we headed home and caught up with Jack, Sam and their mate Clio. Mark had been busy organizing the garage and the study including the wireless internet. Sue and I walked over to the Chinese restaurant to order dinner for the boys and ourselves while Mark headed off to play soccer.

Although not normally a fan of Chinese food, the food we ordered - all vegetarian - was excellent. Clio's Dad, Michael dropped around after dinner to check out the new place so we had a couple of beers while chatting with him and mostly trying to arrange a set-up between him and a girl that we met on Saturday night, Daphne - we'll see how that goes :-)

By this stage I was exhausted again and knowing that tomorrow would be an early start to catch my 8am flight, I headed to bed for my last night sleeping in Sam's bed. Poor kid - think he will be happy to see the back of me as he hasn't even had a chance to move into his room yet!

The recovery!

What a day! today was spent in full recovery mode from last night. We woke up about 9am, tried to pull ourselves together by having a shower and some water. Ross had to pack as he was leaving for Bangkok today.

We all headed over to Mickey's Delicatessen for a greasy breakfast of sausages, potatoes and bacon pizza - just what the body needed. Fred and Sandy - JB and Tara's friends - also met up with us and were feeling as seedy as we were which made us feel better. Poor Eddie was a little confused why all the adults could hardly open their eyes and that they were finding it hard to keep up with him!

After brekky we sent Ross off to the airport in a taxi and headed back to the apartment for some quiet time. Tara and I took Eddie down to the pool for a little while and then dropped him off with dad while we went to Starbucks and to the spa affectionately called "Foot Spank" by the expats (due to the noise they make while they are massaging (thumping) your legs). Elizabeth and Sandy met us down there and we enjoyed an hour and a half of soaking, scrubbing, slicing, and massaging - perfect!

It was back to the hammock for me at Tara and JBs apartment after that for about an hour until the masseuse arrived for Tara and I. Sensational! This lady gave me the best full body massage with stretches and back crunches included - a great way to end the day.

Tara and I stayed up to watch "Doubt" which was a bit disappointing but nonetheless it put us in the mood for sleep. A good recovery day!

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!

Spa day

A pretty productive day today. I hit the gym in the morning and then headed out to Kanebo at Starhill Gallery for my monthly massage and facial (thanks to Ross' Christmas present!).

As you can see from the photo - life is good! At this point, I have my peel off mask on which was preceeded by cleansing, steaming, picking and machining. It was followed by more cleansing, an eye treatment, another mask and a massage. Not bad considering this all came after a 2 hour hot stone massage!

The only downside is I walk out of there looking like a bit of a slime ball with oil on my body and in my hair so I pretty much headed straight home.

Tonight we caught up with our neighbours Brian and Sonja who I hadn't seen for a month. We tried a new Thai restaurant (well, new for us) called Bangkok Jazz at Chulan Square. The food was pretty good although it was fairly tame spice wise. We were home by 9pm but apparently after 10 they have live music - we'll have to try out next time.