clean linen

On special occasions, I'll go to Bernice to get my nails done. The last time I got my nails done was when my brother married Carolin last year, April 2013. I left my nails as they were because I'm such a klutz, hitting my nails here and there, and also I don't like having long nails. But anyway, another special occasion is here - CNY! So, last Wednesday, 22.01.14, I went over to Bernice's house at 7:30pm and got my finger and toe nails done by her over the next 2.5-3 hours. It was a good time of talking and being pampered as my nails came alive with colour and art... and the end product was most pleasing to MY eye (it also only cost $82 for gellish on the finger nails with free soak off and beautiful nail art - yay!): I really like how my toes are so happy and colourful! Now when I feel sleepy or just need a little perk-me-up, I look down at my toes' bright colours and actually feel a little happier about myself!:)

This is my 3rd CNY since graduation (I seem to mark everything now from the time I graduated and returned to Singapore for Nottingham). And this is our 1st CNY without Mama Chua around. It is also our 1st CNY where we did not have to go to the Tan family reunion dinner from the Chua family reunion dinner. The Chua family reunion dinner was at our house on Friday evening. It was a potluck event with yusheng from Sakae Sushi. We were missing Mama Chua's quiet presence. And it felt to me like a big part of the family was missing, even though I have never been very close to Mama. But she always seemed to me like the matriarch of the family, with her reassuring presence. CNY Day 1 began with church from 9-10am, then we went over to uncle Edwin's house for a simple brunch that was mainly Peranakan. And we took our customary family photo, missing Mama Chua and aunty Phyllis. At every stop we made, taking group photos with our elderly folk seemed to be most important as...

CNY Day 13, 15 Feb, Tuesday For LCP CNY lunch, we went to Mouth Restaurant at Chinatown Point, just one bus stop away from the office. There were 22 of us, 11 people to a table. This is a shot of the other table 'doing' the 'lou hei yusheng' first: We had to wait a little while for my table to fill up as the remaining few people were making their way to the restaurant from the office. In the meantime, we took photos:) CNY Day 14, 16 Feb, Wednesday On Wednesday, I made my way to Jien's house directly from work. It was a simple meal with the 'last dish' (which is ironic because yusheng should be the first dish in every CNY meal) being yusheng. Jien had a plate, while Julie got a plate from Sakae Sushi. So, we had ALOT of yusheng. We tried to say all the correct sayings as we added in all the ingredients, and we even googled to try and find out the correct Chinese phrases. Still didn't really get everything right, especially the order. But, we tried:) Altho...

CNY Day 3, 5 Feb 2011 At about 9am, Eugene came to the house to 'bai nian' my parents, and we sat in the living room and chatted for close to an hour I think. After that we left for Ben & Lydia's house in Buangkok. There, I tried bribing Luanne with ice-cream so that she would let me carry her, but I didn't succeed and she ended up eating ice-cream with her grandma. It was an amusing sight to see her whole mouth covered with ice-cream: Us "grown ups" enjoyed curry chicken and papadams. It was a very simple meal, but very satisfying and delicious!:) Luanne is TOO cute can?! Every time I look at her, I wish I had eyes as big as hers!;) Strangely, when we were seated at the sofa in front of the TV, she came to me repeatedly and stood where I was seated. She even let me lift her up onto my lap for a photo with Eugene! I don't know what brought that about, but I definitely tried to milk it for all it's worth before she refuses to acknowledge me again!:D...

CNY Day 2: 4 Feb 2011 Wendy opened up her house to the 17-year-old youth zone, which meant that I was invited as well because I'm one of the co-leaders of a 17-year-old cell group in the Youth Ministry. Our "time slot" was from 2-4pm. Left: Uncle Daniel, Aunty Ivy and their children came at this time as well. So I managed to get a shot with aunty Ivy. Right: A photo with Wendy!:) These two anti-social boys are from my youth cell. The iPhone is really the rage now isn't it - but isn't it a bit rude to be playing games like this when you're supposed to be doing some small-/polite-talk with other people present?! More photos of "my kids" (oh ok wait. In the left photo, you see James - he's my co-leader. Definitely not "my kid"): From Wendy's house, I took a bus to Eugene's house to meet his mum to 'bai nian'. And I actually met some of his other relatives who had come to Singapore from KL. Overall it went well - not like an...