My Louis Vuitton Selene PM in Pink - my ONE and ONLY bag... I swear...

I have tons of bags (which girl doesn't?), from Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags to Kate Spade to Louis Vuitton. But I'm actually a girl who prefers a all-in-one sort of bag, like just to find one bag that works and that's it. I can't be bothered to change handbags every day just to match my outfit of the day, the trouble of making sure all my cards (especially my ez-link card) are in my bag of the day. Out of all those bags, somehow I didn't have one that is just nice to put my iPad Mini, my iPhone and my wallet. So, it was time to go shopping! 

At first I wanted a hobo bag and shortlisted the Gucci New Jackie Shoulder Bag. I headed down to Gucci at Paragon and Taka to see what designs they had. Somehow none of the designs really appealed to me. I didn't want a canvas one (no point paying $2800 for canvas when a leather bag was only $400 more right?), but the leather bags were plain and didn't "pop". If they had a Gucci-embossed leather design in medium (they only had it for large), I would have gotten it then and there. However, they didn't, so I popped into Louis Vuitton just to see if there was anything. 

I actually wasn't really into Louis Vuitton, until my husband prodded me to check out the LV store on Champs-Élysées when we were in Paris as part of our pre-Wedding honeymoon cum photoshoot. He said that we haven't been to Paris until we have at least stepped into the LV flagship store. He even volunteered to sponsor $1k towards the purchase of my first LV bag. Since then, my husband has regretted the above decision terribly. ;p I have gotten an Alma PM in Damier Ebene, Galliera PM in Monogram, and an International Wallet in Damier Ebene. My Alma I gave it to my mother as I found it too structured. My Galliera I found it too big, so was looking for something smaller. 

So far my LV bags have been canvas, so was looking for a leather one this time round. I looked around the store and saw a few, but none caught my eye except for the Selene. At first I saw it in white and caramel, and was deciding between PM and MM. The MM was roomy, but since it was the same size as my Galliera, and I wanted something smaller, so I was leaning towards the PM. I later realised that they only had pink in PM size, so there my decision was sealed. The mahina pink leather was absolutely lovely! 

Me and Emma went shopping together! She declared the small pouch within the bag as hers.

Displayed very unglamly on my ironing board

Emma modelling "her" bag

So far I have been using it as my every day bag. I love how it can be so casual as a shoulder sling bag, how I can bodysling it like a messenger bag when I have to carry Emma, carry it on my arm like a tai tai, or just fold it and shoulder carry it as a hobo. It's so versatile and I love it!

The bag cost $4900, and I tell hubby it's worth every cent cos with this bag, I don't need any other bags! Really! Ok, I will try...

As a mother of 2, I also know that I can't expect to keep my bag in pristine condition for ever, but you know, I was hoping I could maintain it for a few months or so. But my #2 who usually does not have any major reflux issues, happily decided to merlion all over me on the VERY NEXT DAY, yes while I was carrying my bag. Oh well. I'm so proud of myself that I did not drop her lol. Miraculously her puke only touched the shoulder strap which I cleaned off easily. Sigh, oh well, it's only a bag. My little darling is still far more precious to me.

Kissing and Smelling

I love smelling both my girls, from their hair to their body, just all over. Especially my infant, who has that lovely baby smell. I love kissing my girls too, especially right smack on the lips.

One day, I inadvertently did both at the same time. Woah, the smell of their breaths... smell already damn high! =_=

About Me

So... this is the post to start it all. I decided to start a blog as a running diary to highlight the memorable things in my life, to add thoughts and words to the pictures. I realised that we have been taking many photos, too many photos in fact stored in my iPhoto library, but rarely reviewed or the context forgotten. Hence writing this blog as a way to remember! 

Some important dates:

17 Feb 198x - I was born!

26 Nov 2002 - started dating my husband Andrew (A for short)
26 Nov 2005 - he proposed!
26 Nov 2006 - we got ROM-ed at Grand Park City Hall
26 Nov 2009 - threw our Wedding banquet at Amara Sanctuary Sentosa

29 Jul 2011 - gave birth to Emma (E for short)
2 Dec 2013 - gave birth to Leanne (L for short)

Travels (as per my second passport cos I can't remember exactly; first passport was tagged to my mum's):

Feb 2005 - Los Angeles, California (went as part of NUS team for case competition at University of California, Berkeley)

Feb 2006 - Hong Kong (my first trip with A)

Aug 2007 - Phuket and Koh Samui, Thailand (with A for our Open Water Diving Course)
Oct 2007 - Tokyo (with A)
Dec 2007 - KL, Malaysia (think with A and ex-CL gang)

Feb 2008 - Cebu and Malapascua, Philippines (Cebu with my parents and A; then A and I snuck off to Malapascua for some diving)
Apr 2008 - Hong Kong & Macau (with A)
Nov 2008 - Shanghai & Beijing (with my dad and Aunty Joon)
Dec 2008 - Phuket, Thailand (with A and ex-CL gang) 

Apr 2009 - Western Europe (with A to Rome, Pisa, Siena, Florence, Venice, Milan, Geneva, Jungfraujoch, Paris, Reims, London; we did our Wedding photoshoot in Rome and Paris)
Jun 2009 - Bangkok, Thailand (with A, think with my dad as well?)
Aug 2009 - Tioman, Malaysia (with A for our Advanced Open Water Diving Course; mid Aug)
Aug 2009 - Langkawi, Malaysia (with A to Four Seasons Langkawi; end Aug)
Oct 2009 - Cherating, Kuantan (with my parents)
Nov 2009 - Boracay, Philippines (post-Wedding pre-honeymoon with A; go figure)

Apr 2010 - Redang, Malaysia (dive trip with A and Deep Blue Scuba)
May 2010 - Hong Kong (think I flew alone to meet Jolene and Ake in HKG)
Jun 2010 - Tioman, Malaysia (for Rescue Diver Course with Deep Blue Scuba and Hoe Pei Shan)
Jul 2010 - Maldives (post-Wedding official honeymoon with A)
Aug 2010 - Siem Reap, Cambodia (visit Angkor Wat with A; stayed at Angkor Palace Resort & Spa)
Aug 2010 - Bangkok, Thailand (with A and our neighbours Jimmy and Jennifer for a quick 2D1N trip over the weekend for shopping)
Sep 2010 - Shenzhen, China and Hong Kong (with my parents)

Mar 2011 - Bali, Indonesia (with A and his oldest brother and sister-in-law to Four Seasons Jimbaran for our babymoon; she being pregnant with her #5)
Apr 2011 - Eastern Europe (with A to Berlin (Germany), Warsaw and Krakow (Poland), Budapest (Hungary), Bratislava (Slovakia), Vienna (Austria), Prague (Czech Republic); this for my babymoon while I was 5 months pregnant with E)
May 2011 - Bangkok, Thailand (with my dad and/ or A, confused already)
Sep 2011 - Batam (with A for Jackson and Stephanie's Wedding at Turi Beach Resort)

Feb 2012 - Bintan (with A and E to Angsana Bintan to celebrate my birthday)
Mar 2012 - Chiang Mai, Thailand (with A and E to Four Seasons Chiang Mai)
Jun 2012 - KL, Malaysia (with A and E and Jimmy and Jennifer for quick weekend trip)
Jul 2012 - Koh Samui, Thailand (with A and E to Four Seasons Koh Samui to celebrate E's 1st birthday)
Nov 2012 - Sydney, Australia (with A and E to Four Seasons Sydney)
Dec 2012 - apparently I went in to Malaysia for 1 day... I don't remember ever going to Johor... hmmm...

Mar 2013 - Tioman, Malaysia (my first OJT as Dive Master Trainee; which I started in mid 2010 but put on hold when A knocked me up...)
Mar 2013 - Live-on-board to Similan Islands (my solo dive trip while A stayed at home taking care of E)
Apr 2013 - Hong Kong (with my parents and E to Langham Place Mongkok)
May 2013 - Seoul, South Korea (with A and E)
Jun 2013 - Jakarta, Indonesia (with my dad and E to Four Seasons Jakarta)
Sep 2013 - Bali, Indonesia (with my parents and E to Four Seasons Sayan)

So, that's my recap so far, many details unfortunately forgotten, especially for Eastern Europe (keep mixing up the places and doesn't help that I accidentally deleted my photos, leaving me with only A's photos). 

For trip blogs, only some were written by my hubby on E's blog (www.emmatan.com)... so I'm gonna start writing blog entries on our trips starting from our upcoming first family of 4 trip to Club Med Cherating!

Travel has been a big part of my life, and now that we have 2 kids, I'm looking forward to travelling with them as well. E has proven to be a road-worthy traveller and I hope L will be too! 

Lawry's The Prime Rib Singapore - Birthday Lunch

The second part of my birthday celebration was on the day itself, with just me and A having some private time alone sans kids. (First part was over the weekend with the staycation at Rasa Sentosa.) To start the day, we went to Ultimate Spa @ Shaw for a 90 mins massage in a couple room. As we were wondering where to head for lunch, I suddenly thought, why not Lawry's. 

Lawry's was a place where hubby and I first came across when they were still in Paragon, back when we were still dating and were students with limited funds. So spending $100 per pax for lunch was beyond our reach. Then in 2010, we wanted to go Lawry's as well, but I read reviews online which recommended Morton's instead. So we went there.

Photo from Morton's (2010)

This time, since we were in Orchard, we decided to go for it. 

Both of us ordered the Lawry's cut, medium rare (finally after not being allowed to eat beef in anything other than well done during my pregnancy) with the spinning/ tossing salad. We also added mashed spinach at the side. The steak was quite "zuppy", as in quite a lot of sauce. Andrew somehow remembered the taste from Morton's 4 years ago and felt Morton's steak was nicer. However, the brighter ambience and nice window view in Lawry's was more comfortable. When the staff knew we were celebrating my birthday, they sang birthday song, took picture and give me an English trifle cake. 

Photo from Lawry's (2014)

Overall, nice experience just hanging out with Andrew alone. It's been so long to have some "us time" especially after the birth of Leanne.

On a separate note, I put the photo in my bag and promptly forgot about it until one week later and placed it on our TV console. Emma's reaction to it was interesting. Emma took the photo and said, "Daddy Mummy inside, Emma Mei Mei Aunty Romelyn not inside". She also observed the birthday cake, and could infer that it was a birthday celebration. I asked her whose birthday, and she can connect the fact that Mummy's birthday was last week, and said that it was my birthday celebration. She also asked to bring it to school so that she can show all her friends. We were quite touched that she seemed to be so proud of us as her parents that she wanted to bring our picture to show everyone, and also amazed at what she can just show and tell based on the photo. 

Staycation - Rasa Sentosa Shangri-la

I planned for a staycation at Rasa Sentosa Shangri-la this year for my birthday. (We stayed at W Hotel last year for my birthday, and we have also previously stayed at Hotel Michael, Equarius Hotel, the resort previously known as Beaufort, and Amara Sanctuary Sentosa; Sentosa is a nice place for staycation, but rates are getting higher.) They had recently renovated and were known to be kid friendly. I got a discounted rate of $315++ since I was also in the hospitality industry, otherwise we would have had to pay around $600++ which I would never pay for a normal room. 

We got there around 1.30pm but the room wasn't ready yet as they were having high occupancy. However, they allowed us to use the facilities while we were waiting. Emma was eager to head to the beach to build her sandcastles. So we changed her up and headed down to the beach area. 

The visibility of the sea surprised me. We could still see our toes even though it was up to my knees. (Ok, I never thought Singapore's beaches counted as such.) It was fun to walk in the sea with Emma. Daddy bought a sandcastle-making toy set from the gift shop (which was at surprisingly non-exorbitant prices, think around $12) and we had fun making sandcastles. 

Around 3pm, we were informed that our Deluxe Poolview Room was available. It is very spacious with a King Bed, sofa bed, bathroom with bathtub and shower, and balcony.

So when we reached our room, it was apparent that Emma would not be sleeping any time soon. So we changed her into swimming attire and brought her down to the pool. The pool had a wadding area which she enjoyed. There were also 3 slides which were more like mini slides, but Emma would still not be comfortable riding down alone and adults were not allowed on the slides. Fortunately there were breaks in between where the lifeguard was not around and Emma and I "sneakily" went down all 3 slides together. 

Emma and her "seahorse"

Leanne chillin'

After all the beach and pool play, Emma finally fell asleep exhausted at 7pm, right smack during dinner time. So my husband and I ordered in-room dining. We were too beat to head out anyway. The Hotel arranged for a little Tiramisu cake as a surprise for my birthday as well. 

Next morning, we headed for breakfast (which is apparently included for all guests, makes sense cos it's quite isolated from everything else) at Silver Shell Cafe. Variety was good but the better items like salmon ran out quickly and were replaced with cheaper stuff like chicken. They also had a cute Kid's Corner where kid-friendly food was served in smaller bite-sized portions. Would rate the breakfast 7 out of 10. Not too bad. 

After breakfast, we headed for the beach again.

Daddy and Emma building sandcastles

Leanne chillin' again

Nice huge pool

Great way to spend the weekend!

Staycation - Naumi Hotel

Occasionally I browse Groupon to see if there are any good deals, or anything to buy (you know that saying, a woman will pay $1 for a $2 item she doesn't need if it is on S-A-L-E). So I saw this Groupon deal on Naumi Hotel along Seah Street for $288 nett. I previously passed by it with hubby back when we were still child-less, and thought that it would be a nice luxury boutique hotel to try out. But rates were around $400-ish after taxes, which I felt was too expensive. So when I saw the deal, I thought it would be a good time to try it out.

We got the Habitat Room, which was really small. However it did have the minimal necessities, including a nice King Bed, shower, and the sink was island-style. I liked the fact that they had Apple TV so we could airplay stuff from our iPads and iPhones, but the wifi connection was quite spotty. The furnishings did remind me of W Hotel Sentosa Cove, which we stayed in Feb 2013 for my birthday.

One nice little touch is that they had complimentary mini bar, which consisted of 2 packets of chips, miniature bottles of some hard liquor (didn't pay much attention), 4 cans of soft drinks and 1 can of beer. The cost is minimal, but was a nice touch, as it was good to chew on something while watching movies when the kids were sleeping.

The rooftop pool is quite nice, with cool edgy type of furniture. It featured a nice view overlooking Raffles Hotel, Raffles City; generally the City Hall area. However the pool rules does state that no kids under 5 years were allowed. Luckily we were the only ones using the pool.

While the staff were quite pleasant during our stay, and the location was quite accessible to Bugis/ City Hall area, for the usual rates that they charge, I think it would be more worth to stay at other Hotels that have more facilities. 

Hi-5 House Party Concert

I had previously asked Emma to choose between this and Mickey Mouse Magic Show. She chose Mickey Mouse and I bought the tickets and we happily went for that show. Then there was this Facebook giveaway by Singaporemotherhood.com and I entered the competition just to try my luck. And guess what? I did win 4 passes to the show, including a meet & greet session after the show! And the tickets I won were for 20 Dec, which happened to be my confinement nanny's birthday as well. The show was also at Marina Bay Sands theatre, which was the same venue for the Mickey Mouse Show as well. 

It was the new batch of Hi-5 people including Dayan, Stevie, Ainsley, Lauren and Mary. My personal favourite Hi-5 member is Tim, cos he's soooo good looking. Hahahaha. (Apparently he and his wife got married on Fiji Island... so romantic!) They came out and did their dancing and singing. Emma was engrossed in watching, but did not seem to be eager to dance along. However, somehow because of the concert, she became more involved when watching their shows on TV and starting dancing along more. (She also became more into Mickey Mouse when she met him and Minnie Mouse at Hong Kong Disneyland.) 

I'm glad for the meet & greet session after the show, as Emma and Leanne got to have their pictures taken with the cast. That was a cool experience!

After which, we went to Din Tai Fung to celebrate Fen-Jie's birthday.