This event was awhile back, but I’d like to document it for the sake of my failing memory.

I think i’ve designed about 4 Party invites for Kim already, and this was one of them, Andre’s 11th Birthday party. The theme was mismatched attires, and I think the adults took it more seriously than the kids!

Day started off with all of Andre’s friends and us meeting at Golden Village to watch Transformers in Gold Class.

And after the movie, Kim chartered a bus to transfer everyone from the movies to the bowling alley for bowling, lots of sugar, custom t-shirts and a custom Ironman birthday cake. Andre has the best mum for planning everything to a tee.

@D4nl1 look what I found in the memory box! This was back in 2003 outside my condo.

No trip to Singapore is complete without Jono having his Geylang beef kway teow. Was Dave’s first time to Geylang, was in two minds about sending him to a pink neon lit house on the premise that it was a row of “cultural exhibits”. I guess they do exhibit bits.

At CM-PB for a more chilled evening with the boys, Elz and Danli. I remember this night, we were in stitches… something to do with Dave’s toe?

When Jono & Dave were in town, I was raving about Bedrock. We had a fantastic dinner, insisting they try the oysters. Wasn’t disappointed. Nom!

Looking for a good brunch place in Singapore? One of my favourites is Spruce on Tanglin Road. It’s a great place to cure your morning hangover. I wasn’t too impressed with the dinner when I went there in the evening, but brunch menu is delicious.

My Favourites

• Spruce Eggs Benny – Corn Waffle, Back Bacon and Hollandaise Sauce /S$15
• Banana Hotcakes – Honeycomb Butter and Blueberry Syrup /S$14

I’d recommend making a reservation first, they get quite busy on the weekends.

Spruce

Address: 320 Tanglin Road, Phoenix Park Singapore 247980

Tel: 6836 5528

Email:reservation@spruce.com.sg

I’ve kinda stopped partying, but I know when Jon is in town that goes out the window. OK to let loose once in awhile?

Pictures from last year’s J & D visit. I love going out with this group because it’s always a happy occasion, no dramas, good times, good friends. Will NYE this year look like this? All pictured except Dave will be in Singers. What to do? Where to go?

Some snaps from Jules’ 2nd Birthday! Big boy, and also a 哥哥 now. I can just imagine the two of them getting up to no good when they are in their teens. Heart breakers in the making.

There’s no such thing as a quiet night out when Jon is in town. Davo tagged along this time, and contrary to what you might think, no they are not a couple! Jon is as straight as a pencil lead.

More photos to follow, but here are the best few from the night.

Ping Pong Bar. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this earlier! Checked out Camp Pong on Tuesday evening with Danli and spent an hour or so ping pong-ing. Great way to de-stress and vent my work frustrations on the table. Shame it’s only around for 7 weeks.

Was keen to take part in The Camp Pong Championships too, unfortunately I won’t be in town. So before this place goes, be sure to check it out.

The Camp Pong Championship is a “not to be taken too seriously, style over substance” amateur league Ping Pong tournament. It will be held over 2 Saturdays, July 10 (heats) and July 17 (qtr, semi, finals).

Dressing up is highly encouraged, especially on weekends. Whether it’s head-to-toe sweatbands, superhero costumes, spandex, or complete New Balance or Fred Perry decked out glory- it’s your call. Its fun, it’s silly, it will add to the laughs. Take advantage of the ample UV lights and shine!

*EDIT
Here’s Danli’s video from that night.

Dates & times
29 May – 18 July, Open 7 Days a week
Operating hours: 2pm-12mn daily (Sun – Thu) and till 2am on Fri & Sat.

Address
#02-24, *SCAPE. 2 Orchard link, #02-24, next to Orchard Cineleisure

Ping pong tables are available at $10/half hr. For reservations, email camppong[a]presentpurpose.com with the subject “table reservation”.

Ushering in the new year in style at Mezzanine Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore. This is probably the 3rd time I’ve done the Hyatt countdown dinner/party and this year it was by far the worse selection of dessert! Me thinks the pastry chef is feeling a bit uninspired or perhaps it had been a bad year for him/her.

We had quite a huge group, so we managed to book out the whole table at the cellar of Mezzanine. Dressed in our best, we left our baggage from 2009 behind and rung in the new year with lots of love, friendship and laughter.

After the countdown, it was a bus ride to Sunny’s place at Sentosa Cove for Casino-themed after party and 5am breakfast by the pool! Happy New Year!

Just another weekend out with the Sake girls.

Once in awhile, we would get together for dinner, sake and get jiggy with it down at the club after. Sake dinner strictly for girls only. Boyfriends and boy friends can join later

Never a dull moment with my ladies of leisure.

xoxo

On the eve of my actual birthday, I squeezed 20 good friends into the private room at Bedrock for an amazing dinner. Am glad I chose that place in the end.

First class service, food was great, and I had one of the most dramatic candle/sparkler I’ve even seen on a Awfully Chocolate cake.

Wearing my new dress I got through Sloane Elizabeth Robertson.

Found this very amusing. Here are photos form Penang Jamboree 2007 vs 2009

Race Day breakfast at the flat.

Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendol.

Foot reflexology at Komtar. Exactly the same shop too!

Mannequin Janice at Komtar.

Dim Sum at Restoran Zim Sum.

Nom-ing at Macalister Road

The Fangs

Me and my Chee Cheong Chook!

In Bali, we all stayed at a Villa in Seminyak called Villa Azaya. It was ridick!?! Beautiful place. Amazing interiors. Gorgeous landscaping. Great service. There was just too much for us to take in all at once when we arrived. Best to explain in pictures!

Also managed to find a website describing the Villa below.

# of Bedrooms : 5
Total Living Area : 1000m2
Total Grounds : 2200m2

Villa Azaya is a contemporary-styled, five-bedroom, Bali rental villa, located just 50 metres from the beach in the Petitenget/Seminyak neighbourhood on Bali’s southwest coast. Covering 2000 square metres, the property comprises a large two-storey building complemented by a fully independent two-bedroom guesthouse, stand-alone gym, poolside gazebo and 20-metre swimming pool, well integrated within an expansive, flat-lawned garden.

The five air-conditioned bedrooms each feature ensuite bathrooms, there is also a living room, dining room, feature kitchen, and guest office/library, while the guest house incorporates its own living & dining room complete with small kitchen.

Ipods have been installed in every living area, and a Bose 321 home entertainment system provides sound in the living room, dining room and pool bar. WiFi internet access is available throughout the property.

Master bedrooms
The two, sizeable, master bedrooms are located on the upper floor of the main building. Each is air-conditioned and each features a teakwood floor, a dressing area and an ensuite bathroom; each is complemented by a rooftop terrace with a lovely view of the garden, the neighbouring fields and a glimpse of the ocean. Each spacious master bathroom is fitted with a bathtub with handheld shower, a double vanity unit with a large wall mirror and twin washbasins, and a toilet.

Guest House
The self-contained guest house offers independence and privacy; it is quite separate from the main building and accessed by a wooden bridge over an ornamental pond. This single-storey building incorporates two bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom, and a centrally positioned, open-sided, living & dining area complete with a small kitchen. The living space is furnished with segmented sofas and a glass-topped coffee table, and equipped with a satellite TV/DVD player, Nintendo Wii game system and an iPod dock.

Each bedroom is complemented by an ensuite bathroom with an open-air shower, a bathtub, a vanity unit with washbasin and mirror, and a toilet.

There is large open-sided ‘bale’ pavilion in the garden, with a raised wooden floor and a high roof, rattan sofas and a dining table for eight. It is cooled by natural breezes and two ceiling fans.

Gym
The air-conditioned Gym is a single-storey stand-alone building, located close to the swimming pool. It has a mirrored wall, sliding glass doors and is fully equipped with a treadmill, upright exercise bike, Concept2 Indoor Rower, multigym, free weights, adjustable bench, stretching and yoga mats, and an exercise ball. There is also an iPod dock.

Staff at the villa
The villa is staffed with one full-time Villa manager, Two cooks, Four maids, Four security guards, Two gardeners and One pool attendant.

Courtesy of Villa Azaya

More posts of Bali coming up where you can see pictures of the villa in the day.

I’m starting to enjoy these spur of the moment trips I make with friends. And I’m so glad I’m in a job now that allows me to travel more this year.

2 months ago, I get Kimmy msn-ing me in a frenzy about cheap flights to Bali on Air Asia.

www.airasia.com >> Select date & destination>> Personal particular>> Submit>> DONE!

In no time at all, about 10 of us were booked on a flight to Bali at the beginning of November. It was just a couple a months back I was in Bali with 2 other friends for some ‘me time’, but this time round it was the complete opposite. This was a time to socialise, have fun, party and emerge back into society with a more confident, happy and steady head on my shoulders.

We all met up at the airport in the arvo to catch our 7pm flight to Bali, and while buying duty free, someone brought up the idea of having a free shot at the Absolut bar. Oh well why not!

so Zileena, Kim, Marisa and me had a shot to kick start one of the best holidays I’ve had all year.

If you were wondering why we were pouting in the bottom few pictures, Kim swore by this lip gloss she got from Boots UK called ‘Mother Pucker’ which makes your lips tingle and plump up!

First evening there and we decided to head out to some beach club. Wasn’t that great so we ended up coming back to the villa to continue the party. More blog posts to follow on our Bali holiday.

It’s that time of the year where we make our yearly pilgrimage up Penang Hill for the Kayuh Lasak Penang Jamboree. Last year, the organisers took a break. So we were all pretty psyched when we heard it’d be back this year.

Day 1 was spent doing the necessary such as race registration, breakfast shopping and preparing for the big ride on Sunday. It was Jo & Grace’s first time to Penang, so we made sure to cover the famous makan spots around town on Saturday too. That is a separate blog post all together.

Day 2 – Race Day!
5:45am: Wake up, shower, wiggle into cycling shorts, get water bag out of freezer, breakfast, pump tyres, check bike, spray lube, check I have all supplies in bag: spare tubes, tool kit, hand pump, energy gels, happy food.

And we’re all set to go!

We stayed quite close to race central, so it was a 15min warm up cycle to the start point. Met up with the rest of the crew and before you knew it, start horn begun our several hours of torture.

This is the first year I was doing the Penang Jamboree without Wayne, and I did feel anxious knowing there was no one but myself to rely on. For the past couple of Jamborees, it was always comforting to know that he was just a phone call away. This year, I spent most of the ride solo.

It was Me Vs Penang Hill.

As usual, if you don’t manage to get in the front pack, you quickly get bottle-necked at the climbs. What you will see are hundreds of people pushing their bike up 30 degree tarmac climbs with the hope that every hairpin turn would reveal a flatter gradient or downhill section.

Here’s an elevation map from Ming’s bike computer.

At every checkpoint, marshals will give you a little sticker on your race plate to indicate completion of that section. And only if you complete the whole route do you get to be entitled for the grand lucky draw.

A few picturesque highlights of the ride would be at the top of Tiger Hill. There was one point of the ride I just stopped and watched the fog roll in between the hill peaks, nature’s air-con at work.

I finished the race broken and humbled. Clearly my inactivity was showing at my poor performance especially on the climbs. As usual, the hill claimed many victims; riders with cramped legs were sprawled in pools of mud, scattered on the side of the trails like litter. And every now and then, you can hear screams of pain and agony in the distance. Ah, another cramper!

For me, I went home with chaffed inner thighs – friction from my cycling shorts. It’s not pretty and definitely not comfortable especially in the shower when water touches the raw skin.

Again, as I say every year, I’ll be back Penang!

I’m about to post a Penang Jamboree 2009 entry, and realised….. I HAVEN’T POSTED THE ONE I WROTE IN 2007!!!!

Here it goes…please remember this was written in 2007
It’s been one year since the last Penang Jamboree, and I don’t know what possessed me to do it again!
Read more…

Had an amazing weekend in Bali and lots of photos to prove it. Will upload them soon, but for those of you on my Facebook, you can see them already in my photo album.

Went for my first Singapore Oktoberfest 2 weeks back at the Swiss Club. It was so hard to get a ticket, but luckily a few spots opened up a few days before! Lesson learnt, book early next time.

Oktoberfest was a riot! I absolutely loved it! And a lot of it had to do with the company. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones. I’m so glad I brought my DSLR along. Although it was a real pain to carry around, the pictures were well worth it.

Nat, Kim and I had bootcamp earlier in the day, so three of us rocked up pretty late at around 8:30pm. But that’s ok, the party went on till late.

Here’s the low-down. It’s basically a heuuugee tent lined with benches and tables with food stations on either ends of the tent. When you walk in, first things first, go get your beer coupon. It’s much easier just buying a booklet of coupons, because they finish pretty fast

Food-wise I stuck to sausages and pork knuckle with loads of honey mustard (my fav), washed down nicely with a mug (or two…or three) of Erdinger beer. There goes the calories burnt at bootcamp!

I loved how so many people were dressed up for the occasion, guys in their tight shorts+suspenders and girls as frolines! Towards the end of the night, everyone in the tent was dancing on the table tops! It’s amazing how much stress and weight those tables can take, I’m sure they took that into consideration when sourcing for tables

Till next year… Prost!