wild truffled mushroom pizza atop a cracker-like thin crust
along with squid ink crust pizza, truffle oil fries and portobello mushroom soup…i can think of a certain sofi who would have thoroughly enjoyed this dinner as well.
getting hungry again actually.
you can’t tell but i’m 10,000 shades darker thanks to ONE run in singapore.
i’m finally home!
my first day back is always somewhat of a routine – i’d arrive in singapore at some unearthly hour, head to tiong bahru market for breakfast (had a dai bao and chin chow!) and then i’d be off to…groom. i’d go for a hair cut, a manicure/pedicure and get my eyebrows fixed before i feel presentable to catch up with friends at night.
today, i managed to kickstart my holiday with a 10k run around pandan reservoir with the father (he walked a portion of it while i ran the thing. so precious because i can’t remember the last time we were actually in singapore at the same time doing somewhat normal things like exercise!) and catch a nap sometime in the afternoon because i was feeling pretty much a trainwreck. i’ve got my usual singapore-sniffles (i’m always allergic to something when i’m back home).
a little chaotic in the room right now as i try to pack for my KL/Krabi trip – i’m flying off tomorrow!
it’s so warm. let me finish up my tong shui, take another shower and get ready to meet the girls for dinner at skinny (!) pizza. yep, the bun who suggested that place is definitely a woman after my own heart. ♥ can’t wait!
i love christmas and this song never fails to put me in a happy christmas mood every. single. year.
rawrrr. i don’t mean to whinge (i am, after all flying off in a few days) but going on a holiday can be quite a bitch sometimes because i always end up with SO MUCH to do in the week leading up to my departure. there’s all these rushing around at work to get some experiments done, handing over stuff, making sure mice won’t die, making sure cells get fed, making sure making sure making sure. then of course, i overslept this morning because i somehow managed to set my alarm for 6pm instead of 6am and arrived at work with diarrhea. i dragged my tired bum to training after work and couldn’t stop mumbling “omg i’m going to die, omg i’m going to die” and the only reason why i didn’t drop my weights halfway through was that i knew it would fall on my toes. broken toes not very good for holidays. or high heeled shoes. my outfit for my cousin’s wedding is complete now that i’ve got high enough shoes for my long dress. it does not pay to be short! like literally does not pay. i have to spend more on high heeled shoes.
i can’t wait for my break, can you tell? before that happens, i need to clean the house, do tons of laundry, pack, buy stuff that i need to bring with me, clean the house. REALLY clean the house.
oh and i should go look for my passport.
hang in there, sueewong!
we decided on a spontaneous trip to sydney because…
1) we wanted to just go somewhere but didn’t have much time (or money) 2) i gave sof a virginblue voucher last christmas and it’s expiring soon. we had to use it to go somewhere! 3) i’ve been dying to climb the harbour bridge for a while now 4) v’s leaving sydney for good next week so we better climb the bridge together before that happens!
it felt as if we spent 48 hours eating and shopping. let me explain…
we arrived on thursday night (our journey there was SO stressful no thanks to bad traffic in melbourne cbd which resulted in a VERY late airport bus pickup. we were late for our check-in but we were lucky they let us through). because v was out with her dental friends (celebrating!), sof and i had dinner and took advantage of late night shopping. we then went to passionflower for not one but TWO ROUNDS of ice cream. hit the spot after round two though. haha!
we then woke up bright and early on friday to conquer our mountain.
the sun was out (but not too hot!), there was a lovely breeze and because it was a nice clear day, the views from up there were MAGNIFICENT. you actually feel pretty secure up there so even acrophobics can do this, i reckon.
to undo all the good work from climbing the bridge, we had lunch at guylian cafe. yes, CHOCOLATE for lunch. chocolate should be considered a food group. i used to really love those chocolate seashells when i was young. wonder why i stopped eating them. 
so we started ordering and this is the classic baked chocolate cake…
mmm.. looks good right?
…
WRONG. it was NOT good. >: ( and i was so unsatisfied because i figured that if i was going to splurge and consume a truckload of calories, it better be on something GOOD. i abandoned this cake and decided to order a second round of cakes. (are you starting to see a trend here?!)
MUCH better.
so what could make a chocolate lunch even better…? we decided to get a massage.
so luxurious…right?
WRONG. (again. somehow we just couldn’t get things right this trip) it was the weirdest massage ever – i felt like she was polishing my body for 1.5 hours. i got so bored, i almost told her to just stop and let me go shopping instead. meh.
but dinner was a win (thank goodness). we headed back to the rocks for a meal at belgian beer cafe. om nom nom.
AND! i went dancing on friday night. i can’t remember the last time i went dancing and i’ve missed it! dancing was tres fun and i can’t wait to paint the town red (and pink and purple) with the cousins next week.
i went for a run the next morning through sydney city and hyde park and then undid all my good work from dancing and running at brunch. haha. oh my. i had a plate of awesome at clipper’s cafe, glebe. after which we headed to the glebe market where i bought EIGHT TANK TOPS. hey, had to keep up with the eating and shopping theme, no?
(sorta appropriate to have a murphy’s law poster on the wall)
well, the first thing i did when i stormed through my apartment door was to jump on the scales. amazingly, i did not put on weight from all the chocolate. but that was seriously too much crap for 48 hours and i still don’t feel very good from eating so much. i think i should be good for the next week or so because i’m GOING HOME NEXT WEEK.
omg.
I’M GOING HOME NEXT WEEK!
!!!!!
more pictures can be found on my flickr
i am SO tired but because i am so blogging this
…
we survived the sydney harbour bridge climb yesterday!
(pardon the unattractive first picture because i was all gross and sweaty from the climb!)
i haven’t had much sleep, flew into melbourne to make it just in time for my boss’ christmas party at his place and am feeling like i am going to crash any minute now. will be back with more glorious pictures (new camera!) but i better go get some sleep if i want to run, go to church, have brunch AND go shopping (for a new formal dress because my mum accidentally spoiled mine!) all in one sunday.
toodles!
i feel like i can see every. single. pore. on my face with this camera. and yes, that’s doll. doll was the first thing i took on my new camera. haha.
i’ve been toying (haha, i’m so funny) with the idea of getting a new camera for a long time. while my redhot sony t100 has served me well in the past couple of years (and a little more), i thought it was time to move on to something that would take slimmer shots of me nicer pictures.
i’ve held off buying one because i could NOT decide what i wanted. i REAAALLY wanted a digital SLR but i had some issues with getting one because 1) i’d then have to invest in lens and all the little accessories which would ADD UP financially 2) i could not even be sure that i would not just neglect it after 2 weeks. you know…get sick of it or something. which gave me the idea of buying a semi-pro “transition” camera. and 3) it won’t fit into my handbag! (hey, a girl’s got to think about such things). i also really wanted a new compact point-and-shoot camera. but i could not have both (well, i guess i could but i’d be pretty broke) so i did not get one until…
now!
i bought myself a canon powershot s90 at lunch time today (haha, i should have just spent money on sushi or something). which i’ve been told is the closest thing to a DSLR i can get… in the size of a compact point-and-shoot! it can take pictures in RAW format and has all the manual functions so that i can fiddle. not that i know how to but i’ll figure that out soon… right? (can someone give me a crash course? i’m too lazy to read the manual.)
yum, yum, YUM! the battery is charging now and i can’t wait to play with it. i’ll be heading up to sydney (spontaneous trip!) on thursday to climb the harbour bridge. i hope i can get some nice pictures! then i’ll be truly ready for my holiday which is fast approaching. (2 weeks, 2 weeks!) it’s really bad but i’m already in a holiday mood.
on a slightly unrelated note: i was quite prepared to get the camera from michael’s camera store because i was served by a really nice, patient and helpful man over the weekend. but he told me to go back on a weekday to speak to a lady so that i could get a better deal and that was what i did. the only problem? i ended up getting served by a rude man who made me feel as if he was doing me a favor. 
so i left and decided to give my business to another shop even if it might cost me a little more. SERVICE is SO important! especially when it’s really competitive!
…catches no worm. it’s all a lie. whoever told you that probably was sore about being sleep deprived.
i was having one of those really strange days.
today is santa fun run day.
but… santa fun run did not happen. SO DISAPPOINTING. there’s a women’s run in 2 weeks and i think i might just sign up for that. grr.
it all started… last night. it rained. and it did not stop this morning. i also dreamed that we did not do the run because melvin cut his foot and was hobbling away on crutches. maybe i’m slightly telepathic since we really did not run… but don’t worry, last i checked, melvin’s foot is safe.
by the time i found out it was cancelled, i was already up and ready to go – in full running gear. i even made myself a decent breakfast. soo i thought i’d visit the market bright and early and get all my groceries out of the way. but when i went down to the market… IT WAS NOT OPEN YET. have you ever heard of anyone who goes to a market TOO EARLY??? seriously??
so i decided to change out of my running gear and put on some decent clothes so that i could attend the earlier church service for once. but since i haven’t gotten my work out for the day, i brought my gear with me so that i could visit the gym after my service. but when i went to the gym… IT WAS NOT OPEN YET. again?! i was 10 minutes too early. argh!
by the time i was done with body pump, i thought i deserved a nice brunch or something to bring cheer to a gloomy rainy day. i walked down to brother baba budan which i’ve been dying to try for the longest time just to find that…
yes wait for it…
you know it’s coming…
it is closed on sundays.
…
…
…..
i ended my day with new moon which i absolutely could not sit through properly. ask me if you want to know, i can’t be bothered to think more about it right now. i should just go to bed.
amazingly, i’m in a better mood than i thought i would be. haha.
…and so I fiddle with my phone. I’ve tried everything for the past 3.5 hours but I am still up.
I don’t usually have trouble getting to bed AT ALL because I would be pooped after going to the gym and lying in bed would be the best feeling ever.
But!
I have a brand new 50g bag of French Earl grey loose leaves expiring in December and I brought it to work in an attempt to finish it up before then. I’ve been drinking out of a tumbler ALL day and that must be the stupidest thing to do considering I don’t handle caffeine well. Someone once asked me how I can do a PhD without coffee.. Haha. Oh and it was probably unwise to have that chai after dinner too..
Doh.
It does NOT help that ALL I can think about right now is that apple crumble from the uni’s food co op (I seriously love that stuff and I have to totally avoid the uni altogether because I have zero willpower around that thing) because I’m starvinggggggggg.
I can’t wait for breakfast.
But first I got to sleep. Ohhh.. I’m going to be SO grumpy in the morning. TGIF.
24. singaporean based in melbourne, australia. 
