Celebrating six years of marriage

Alv and I celebrated six years of marriage from our ROM date 8 Aug 2002. Our church wedding anniversary date was more significant to us but it was still an occasion for celebration and good food! I forgot all about it but Alv remembered and booked Barnacles at Sentosa initially. After telling him that the food there is not great, we wanted to go to Buko Nero but it was booked for a private party. So we ended up at Valentino's. We were happy with the choice.

We shared a seafood soup, a parma ham pizza without cheese, a duck ragout penne, and stewed pork ribs - the latter two being the specials of the day. For dessert, we had four! The appetisers and main courses weren't a lot, you know. We had panna cotta, choc cake with rum, white choc sponge cake, and lemon meringue. I particularly enjoyed the soup, pizza, duck penne, panna cotta, and lemon meringue.

But like many married-with-kids couple, we still had to do the more practical stuff after a romantic sumptous dinner - we had to buy groceries for the weekend! After that it was going home to put Ian to bed by 9pm.

It has been a wonderful six years of marriage. It was not all smooth-sailing, being two imperfect, strong-minded individuals and when we faced trials in our lives. But we have a perfect Saviour in the midst of our marriage. And for that we are thankful. With Him, our marriage can only get sweeter and sweeter.

The Lord is my defence

There are some things on my mind and I feel the urge to write about them here. But since this is a blog about the things I enjoy doing/writing about, and since I've decided that I shall be a more guarded person at work, then all I shall write is - the Lord is my defence. I know He always backs me up and He has never let me down.

Why I would do it all over again

Being a mama is hard work. The hardest for me must be the nights of interrupted sleep I've got since Ian was born, the light sleeper that I was and having to go to work the next day. No matter how late I end up sleeping the night before, I have to be ready to get out of the bed when Ian wakes up. But I've got used to it, and now with Ian being older and having a fixed 2 hour naptime, I get to catch up on my sleep during the weekends.

It was really tough when he was a newborn. I was traumatised by how little sleep I got initially but there wasn't much of a choice. I had to wake up when he woke up. And your body does get used to less sleep.

I thought about how having a second child will disrupt my sleep patterns again. It may be worse, since I will have two to take care of. Ian is very clingy to me even with my mum-in-law (his primary caregiver when I go to work) around. I may end up sleeping even less.

But I will still do it all over again, enduring the nights of disrupted sleep, finding pockets of time during the day (when I don't have to go to work) to sleep, fighting sleep when playing with my child. Why? Really, the joy you experience when you play with your child, talk to him/her, see his/her eyes light up when discovering new things (e.g when Ian found the pelican statue in the bird park and kept touching its beak), even look at him/her sleep, is so precious that it is a joy that no material possessions can ever give you. So yes, I will love to have another child!

Friends with kids tell me they miss the times their children were babies and growing up. Now I know what they mean. It may be tough at the time but looking back, even the tough time is to be savoured.

Being a mama also gave me an insight into the heart of my Heavenly Father. Jesus said that if a man knows how to give his children good things, how much more our Father in heaven! It delights me to see my little boy enjoying himself and I want to make him happy. Now I understand better how my Abba feels, that He delights in making me happy. :)

I stopped coveting LVs

There was a time in my life - age 29 to 31 - when I wished I had an LV. I would look enviously at people I know who would carry a new LV every few months. I wondered why it was so easy for them to buy an LV so often when it seemed so hard for me. A rich husband? Generous parents? Rent-a-bag web sites? Scrimping and saving?

I wanted an LV so much then. But forking out over $1K for a bag from my savings was ridiculous. And there was no way I'll save on lunch and buying new clothes every month just so I could buy that LV bag after several months. So I satisfied my craving for an LV by surfing the Web site and visiting the LV store.

HM calls LV a "lao cha bor" brand (I laughed and laughed when she told me that) and some friends eschew LV because of the many aunties carrying fakes around. Still to be seen with an LV is like a sign that you've made it in life for a woman, rich husband or no.

But after the birth of my son, I stopped coveting an LV. It was no longer important that I had an LV. Time spent with my son, the joyful moments between just two of us, seeing him smile and laugh became more valuable than owning an LV bag. The Lord has blessed me with so much already.

I still like buying new bags, especially lovely uniquely-designed leather ones from Pedder Red, Bebe, Nine West, Indivi (which I buy in Japan) and once in a long while Furla. Now I'm eyeing the Longchamp Rival Tote (left) and Longchamp Vintage Tote; Alv is going to Paris for work in Sep and Longchamp is cheaper in Paris, I think (I don't know how much they cost yet!) LV is cheaper there too but I've lost interest in it already. I no longer need an LV to make me feel happy and I'm very glad.

Fashion stylist for a lunchtime

I was "fashion stylist" to my good friend cum shopping kaki Rachel the other day during lunch, and I enjoyed it! She wanted to buy something from Bebe. So I helped her pick out a couple of lovely pink, purple, brown fitting shirts which she tried. She has a slim figure so she looked good in most of them. She ended up buying a deep pink one with ruffles and belt. Think she'll look great wearing it with almost any neutral-colour bottom.

Speaking of fushia pink, Khay has a beautiful pair of stilletto Ferragamos (yes Khay, I finally wrote about it. Hope I got the colour description right). At least Ferragamo updated their "boring coloured pump" with a stilletto heel and a flat heel version. I was wondering how many women nowadays would still wear their boring low-heeled pump.

Please! Chuck your boring black pump!

I cringe whenever I see women still wearing the boring black pump. It's time to update your shoe wardrobe! Especially if you are a young woman! Flanking this paragraph are two examples.

The height is awkward (it's not flat, it's not high), the blocky heel looks horrible, and the shoes don't look flattering on the feet. Usually the women who wear them have ill-fitting suits as well.

There are better looking black shoes out there that are just as comfortable!

Lessons from an Electrolux fridge

This is our 600 litre Electrolux four-door fridge. Unlike most other electrical appliances in my new home, it took some arguments between husband and wife to end up here.

I was contented to have a 400+ litre two-door fridge. Alv was insistent on getting a big one. We choose a Samsung two-vertical-door one at first but I didn't like the narrow compartments. I also knew that Alv wasn't entirely happy about the choice. So we went fridge hunting again. We haggled over whether to buy a four door or a two door, one with two energy-saving ticks or three, a Japanese, Swedish or Korean brand.

Alv wanted at least a 500 litre one; I didn't understand why he wanted such a huge fridge! His dream fridge was the Mitsubishi W-Class but it was $4K+. I had to remind him, "We live in a condo, not landed property!" Then John from Euromark suggested this Electrolux. We didn't even see the display model but Alv liked it very much and it was slightly over our budget at $2700. I grudgingly said yes.

Later Alv explained why he wanted a big fridge. He said it makes him happy just opening the fridge, looking at the huge selection of food and drinks inside, and stocking up the fridge with a lot of food and drinks. I finally understood. I guess I feel the same way when I look at my shoes!

I'm also glad I learnt something new about my husband after 5+ years of marriage. :)