My Doggies

Remember some time ago I posted about my DVF inspired Bustier Dress from Eternity Loft that I wore for one of my Sunday outings? Well I promised in that post that I will blog about the outing I had that day with the girls and here I am living up to that promise.

I had just taken Emmie to the vet and finally got the okay that her surgical wound had healed and she could remove the E-collar. Emmie was literally jumping for joy when we removed that collar! So to reward her for being such a patient little dog, we decided to go somewhere for lunch that was dog friendly and ended up at Robertson Quay.

I had a sumptuous Japanese at Chameleon before Sushi, Daryl and my godson Leo came over to join us for dessert.

We moved over to Laurent Cafe and Chocolate Bar for desserts and while waiting, Godson Leo was more than happy to entertain!

Regina heard about the chocolate soufflés we  are intending to order and came down with JW to join us for our Sunday tea.

It was a nice lazy afternoon with my girlfriends and their other halves. Writing this post makes me miss my girlfriends. While I’m having a ball of a time discovering the world and having incredible new experiences, I wish I could bring all my friends with me.

I’ll leave you with a last collage of photos showing how cute my godson Leo is. He’s face has the cutest reaction when he eats anything sourish yet he asks for more and goes through the same process over and over again! Here his reaction was induced by having a little bit of the tart raspberry sorbet we had.

I’ve been away for awhile and I’m starting to miss my 2 dogs, Louis and Emmie. Some of my friends affectionately call them Lulu and Mimi.

About 2 months ago, Emmie fell really sick. She had reoccurring stones, a swollen kidney and an inflamed bladder. The stones were so huge, they cut her kidney and she was bleeding internally. We had to either put her down or give her very expensive surgery and be prepared to fork out a hefty sum to get her checked every 2 months as well as place her on a special veterinary prescribed diet for the rest of her life.  The doctor warned that it was a lifetime problem for her. This was going to cost me way more than putting her down and getting 3 more new dogs. But I love her and there was no way I could let go just because it was expensive.

While most of my friends supported and encouraged my decision to maintain her, there were a few that suggested I be more practical since illness usually worsens with age. I trust that all my friends and love ones had only the best intentions for me with their advice but the thing with love is that it’s essentially a rather impractical feeling.

Anyhow, all is currently well now with Emmie recovered from her surgery and playing happily as usual with Louis. She had to live with the plastic Elizabeth collar to prevent her from scratching her wounds till she healed. And she wasn’t allowed any bathes either so she pretty much looked quite unruly for awhile. Her untidiness makes her look like a little lioness especially when she yawns!!!!

Thank you to those that showed your concern for Emmie and showered me with encouraging words during the period. A special thank you also to Lerelyn who helped me take special care of Emmie while I was away so that I know she’ll get her daily medication. I’m blessed to have friends that also love and care about them. Emmie is doing so well now.

I’m posting this exactly 2 months after the event. That’s how much I’m lagging behind!

Every year, I’ll throw a Christmas party and the venue’s been at my place for quite a few years running. There’s always so much to do every year and since I usually do a little hands on cooking, it’s a whole day affair! I even had to miss Debbie’s party in the afternoon cause there just wasn’t enough time for me to make it to her party and back to cook.

After having so much left over turkey the last year, this time, I decided that baked rosemary chicken would be more than enough. I also decided to do my own honey baked ham, baked pineapples, sour plum and tomato granita, vinaigrette watermelon cubes  and chocolate dipped strawberries among other offerings. Thank goodness I had Andrew come help me in the kitchen! He was a super hardworking guest and a life-saver!

My godson and his family were the first guests arrive and I was still rushing in and out of the kitchen in my apron waiting for all my goodies to finish baking in the oven! A quick couple of shots with my little godson before I had to go freshen up. He’s such a cutie, no wonder he is Santa’s favorite!

By the time I rushed in to change, all my guests started arriving. I invited the same usual friends but I guess the circle must have expanded somehow (with plus ones and little ones) because there were about 30 people in my tiny little apartment! I even ran out of seats at one point! Thankfully most of them staggered their arrival so it didn’t seem that overwhelmingly crowded.

Louis and Emmie get really excited when there is a party cause they love people and they were more than happy to help entertain the guests while I was setting up the table. I bought the reindeer ears in London and the Christmas hats in Daiso and they have been wearing this costume every christmas for 3 years now.

Some of my guests asked me before the party if there was a dress code and I said “Red” on a whim! And the girls really all came in red! How sporting! Maybe I should come up with a more adventurous theme for 2012. Some of my very kind guests brought food to contribute the the Christmas feast!

Although there was so much food! Everything was wiped out by the end of the night! I guess I got the proportions just right this time instead of the massive leftovers I had last year.

I hope all my guest had a good meal that night. It was a relatively simple gather, eat and mingle party but I had  a good time knowing that all my friends were able to spend Christmas together. I’m pretty traditionalist that way.

Next was the present exchanging time. This part got a little chaotic cause there were so many people oohing and ahhing over their gifts. The base of my tree was overflowing with presents. But everyone had something which was really fun!

I think I missed out a lot of people at my party in the photos and I never got round to asking everyone for a group shot! I shall make a mental note of that for the next party.

JW and E were the official photographers of the night. JW can be found at most corners of my house! He looks really stressed out when taking photos but he’s been taking really good pictures!

Everyone left at different times and I think my last guests left at 6am and I had a tornado of pates, pots and what-nots in the kitchen. Thanks goodness I had a dish washer and lovely sweet souls like, Andrew, Janice and Lian Khye who helped me clean up the place.  We all sat down for some more wine and champagne when it was all quite. Louis and Emmie worked as mascots to send each guests off to the door at the end of the night.

Was it tiring? Of course. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I don’t love to throw parties, and I hate to clean up. But I do enjoy having all my friends together, happy and contented. The quality time spent on an occasion like Christmas with family and friends are ranked pretty high up my priority list and I hope that there will be so much fun, laughter and happiness every year. Christmas is the time of the year I count my blessings.

Almost everyone owns something from Apple. iPad, iPod, iPhone, iMac and I think my dogs want in on the action as well. See how they hover around the iMac all the time!

My mom saw all the yummy food photos I took when I went up to Malaysia the last trip and she got really tempted. Since then, she has been bugging me to take her on a food trip in neighboring Malaysia. Some time last year, I finally found time to take her on a long drive up North with many stops along the way for food and sightseeing. I’ll be posting on this trip in the next couple of posts.

Here I am on my first day being the driver of this food expedition. I’m seriously the chauffeur in my family! Everyone expects me to drive all the time

Louis and Emmie were guarding my belongings and obviously wished they could come along too. I would love to bring them along if not because of the crazy quarantine restrictions they have to go through.

It was such a rainy drive. For a sneak preview of the up coming posts, watch the video below.

Video can be also found at http://youtu.be/0WkF3JFlwI4

I’ve never tried a foot mask before but I thought I give Watsons one a try after coming back from a long trip which required me to walk a whole lot!

It was easy enough to put on. Just snip the top, slip in your feet and let the foot essence work it’s magic. I pretty much just lazed around my couch with my dogs watch an episode of modern family on TV. Oh yes, I’m a huge fan of the modern family series which says a lot since I hardly have any time to watch TV.

After my show, I walked with the mask on to the bathroom, threw it in the bin and gave my feet a quick rinse. I felt that the bottom of my feet was a little softer but was otherwise unimpressed by the mask. That was until the next day when the skin at the bottom of my feet started peeling! I was kinda shocked and first cause I have never had this happen to me before. After I rubbed off all the dead skin, my feet was really super smooth and soft! It was really amazing!

Happy New Year to everyone! I’m currently in Bangkok doing my countdown this year. This is my 5th year in a row that I’ve spent my New Year Eve and the first day of they New Year abroad. I never really planned it that way but at the rate it’s going I’m starting to feel like it’s a tradition.

My 2011 flew by so quickly I can hardly keep up with my pace of life and neither can my blog so there’s still a lot of backdated posts. I’ll get them up on my blog sooner or later though Meanwhile here are some shots of my dog, Louis, after his bath to wish you a good year ahead!

And here’s Louis giving you a New Year’s gift! A January 2012 calendar!