F1 "Fever" – Nico Rosberg

Our decision to dine in last evening was the right move. I had the chance to watch the “LIVE” coverage of the F1 race and I was glued to the TV for the 2 hours.

Prior to the race, I was clueless of F1, the only things I relate it to be Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari.

However my view changed after watching my 1st F1 race last night. It's more than just the above 2. It's a test of man's STRENGTH / WITS/ CAPABILITIES.

Looking at how the racers and his team of supports worked together, they drew my greatest admiration. It's man against clock.

Seeing some of the technical mishaps and crashes, it makes me realize how fragile a minute can become. Now I know why so many people become F1 fans.

The race result:

1. Fernando Alfonso – ING Renault
2. Nico Rosberg – Toyota
3. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – Benz

This morning in the office, the main topic of discussion was the F1 race. We (ladies) were going “hoo-wah-hah” over how handsome some of these racers are… : P
(Especially ICEMAN, he was so cool...)

Before lunch, one of the colleagues from Brand Management came by to our office to distribute notice that – NICO ROSBERG is coming to our office at 3.45pm for a Meet and Greet session. There will be an autograph session as well.

Our company is one of the official sponsors for his team, so the company managed to arrange for this rare opportunity.

So when it was about 3.30pm. My colleague from Brand Management came over to get some markers for him to do his autograph. We asked her “is he here, should we go to the showroom now?”

She said: “nope, stay in the office; he will be coming by the office.” At this point, we were so excited and can't contain our excitement.

Then suddenly he appeared along the corridor and walked in the direction of the Brand Office, which is just opposite our office.

He came in for a quick chat with the company CFO, then as he was leaving the office to go to the main showroom for the Meet & Greet session. WE caught hold of him for a quick photo shot.

I took him with my 2 colleagues – R & B. R is an overnight F1 fan and B's husband is a F1 fan. Both of them were so happy and guess what? We even printout the photo and got Nico autograph.

The excitement was so high and we were like those teenage girls chasing after their idols, except these are “aunties” chasing after F1 heartthrobs. ..haha.

Although it was only a short 30minutes session, we were truly won over by his boyish smile and cute look.

Think I am converting soon too!!!

08-08-08

This is one of the lifetime most auspicious date and so many events happened on this day.

This morning I woke up feeling so happy and looked forward to a fun filled day.

Our general manager, Tony, recently celebrated his 15th wedding anniversary and he brought his wife and daughters to Bali for a family vacation. At the same time, they celebrated their anniversary there and re-took the wedding vow. He showed us the photographs and it was simply – So Romantic.

Our department bought for them a small wedding gift from Swarovski. In appreciation for the gift, Tony and his wife treated us to a lunch. It was arranged on 08-08-08 and the lunch venue was Raku Japanese restaurant in Greenwood Avenue.

It was a buffet lunch and we were treated to some really good Japanese food, which I had never eaten elsewhere. The presentation of each dish was very exquisite and the taste was delicious. It was my 1st time meeting Tony's wife and she is very pretty and also a very well groomed lady. From the conversation, she seemed to be a very DIY person. After lunch, we headed home. Tony had agreed to give us early released from work, in preparation for the Dinner & Dance.

I went back to settled Anders from childcare and then brought to my PIL's house as they had kindly agreed to help me babysit both Anthea and Anders while I attended the dinner. When I left my in-laws place, I decided to go to the salon in the Central to style my hair. Honestly for such a theme, it's hard to decide on hairdo. Anyway, I told them of the dinner theme and the rest is up to the hairstylist imagination. Luckily, the Lady Boss did a simple one and it was really cool. I meant because it was outdoor, so I need to tie up my hair, so I will not feel so hot...: P

I took the MRT and reached Fort canning in about 20 minutes time, it was pretty easy to get there. As this year dinner theme is Wacky Olympic, most of the staff came in their sport gear. It was quite a nice change compared to those usual fanciful themes. Some business unit even comes in the same dress code. There were some pre-dinner programmes – photo taking, different games station related to sports, face painting. I went to register my lucky draw and took my goody bag.

(She is the WINNER of best dress - Individual Catergory)

The dinner started with a short video show of some of the HODs passing the “Olympic torch” around Singapore (actually it was just in our company location). It was a very funny video and the staff had a good laugh with the video. Finally at the end, the CEO jogged in to the marquee with the “torch” and lighted up the “Olympic fire”.

The dinner started and there were many games in-between and some of them were very hilarious. It was so much fun enjoying the entertainment. My only regret was that I was sitting among a group of “aunties and uncles”, none of them wanted to participate along and just sat there quietly to watch. So “sian”..right. I should jump table… haha.
Anyway, I enjoyed myself wholeheartedly because like I say, this may be my last D&D with the company.

After the final lucky draw, it was almost 11.10pm, I quickly and took a taxi back. Per my last checked with my In-laws, they had brought the children back to our own home. I left a set of house keys with them, just in case.

I reached home around 11.30pm and both Anthea and Anders were still awake. I knew they need to see me before they can fall asleep.

I am so grateful to my in-laws for making it possible for me to attend the dinner and I was felt apologetic for making them stay up so late, especially my FIL, who sleeps early. Thanks mom & dad.

Also, another important letter that i received in the letter box from TGPS confirming that Anthea has been successful in securing a seat in the school. The orientation is on 17 November 2008 at 9 am.

The official Olympic in Beijing opened today too and we had the see it LIVE at the dinner.

It had been a very memorable 08-08-08!!!

Wacky Olympic

Yes, this is the theme of our 2008 Dinner & Dance and needless to say, it will be happening this Friday, 08-08-08. (Very Innovative!!! right...haha)

The location is none other than the famous – The Legends @ fort canning park. Don't ask me why this date and why this place...I have no clue at all.

Last year we had a great time dressing up to the theme but this year theme is a bit too general, so we really had no fanciful idea of how to dress. I suggested those Tankinis (beach volleyball) to my colleagues, everyone was laughing and claimed that “we can't show abs but we can show fats."

Finally we decided that our lucky table 18 will all wear a RED top, simply because RED is an auspicious color and also 08-08-08 is the eve of Singapore 43th National Day. So the RED hit many stones with one color...: )

Today at lunch time, I arranged with a colleague of mine to go shopping at Nike shop in Suntec Shopping Mall. My colleague has shortlisted a Tee that she like and wanted to get a slack to match it. At the same time, I also started looking around for something nice and I managed to get myself a Tee too.

Nope you didn't see wrong, it's a MUFC tee and it's NOT MINE...haha. I told my colleague that I had never own a Football club tee/jersey before and if ever I get a chance to buy one – it must be LIVERPOOL FC. (Actually, I almost wanted to get the MUFC tee for the group sake, but luckily it does not have my size... FATED!) Fyi, this colleague of mine is clueless on EPL, so it does not matter which club it is. However she said her hubby is a Liverpool supporter.. : P

So finally after some consideration, I bought this - FCB (FC Barcelona). I was very happy with my choice and the jersey looks good.

One of my long-timed friends works in Nike and she managed to get some good staff discount for us. Overall, we had a very GOOD Buy.

This may be my final D&D with the company and i hope that this event will be a memorable one for me.

Now, I am looking forward to dressing up for this Friday and hopefully can win a lucky draw prize.

福禄寿三星 - 齊拜年

On Tuesday, our company had the annual Chinese New Year Lo Hei lunch in the office premise.

This year, we had 3 Special Stars (三星) to celebrate this special occasion with us. They are 福禄寿.

福星 - 民间传说之神。象征能给大家带来幸福、希望的人或事物。

禄星 - 顾名思义，是主管功名利禄的星官。

寿星 - 为白须老翁，持杖，额部隆起。常衬以鹿、鹤、仙桃等，象征长寿。

With these 3 special Stars among us and giving us Ang Pows, we are sure the year of Rat will be a prosperous year for all of us.

We had the usual Yu Sheng and guess what? The God of Fortune was with my table during the Lo-Hei, so hopefully, he will bring us good luck in our Fortune Dreams!!

After the lo hei, there was a buffet lunch. The spread was sumptuous and we had a good time. During the event, we were even being taught how to make “旺梨”out of some simple handy craft things. It was really fun and hopefully we will all be “旺！旺!” on this coming Thursday.

Lo Hei on 人日

Today is the 7th day of the lunar new year and it is also known as人日 (means everybody birthday).

Our department decided to do our company Lo-Hei on this special day. With recommendation from a colleague, we made a reservation for lunch at this restaurant – Sha Tin Kitchen, 8/10 Lorong 3 Geylang Singapore 388861. Tel : 6747 2483.

We ordered their Chinese New Year set for 10 person, we had a table of 11 person. As one of them is a Muslim colleague, he just joined us for the fun and we ordered a special fried rice for him.

Our set menu includes :

- Yu Sheng with Salmon
- Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Crab Roe
- Sauteed Prawns with cashew nuts
- Deep Fried Soon Hock Fish
- Braised Slice Top Shell & Mushroom
- Deep fried chicken with Salad Sauce
- Lotus rice with Preserved Sausages ( we changed to E-Fu Noddle)
- New Year Cake

The Yu Sheng was good and it seemed they added fried salmon skins to the Yu Sheng. Everyone love the Yu Sheng. The food was also delicious and the portion that was served was big. We had an enjoyable meal.


祝大家 ：人日快乐 ， 事事顺利 ！！

Farewell lunch @ Hanabi Restaurant

Our Business HR is leaving the company for her own fulfillment. She said she needs to spend some times with her mom whom she neglected for a while because of her job.

Also her hubby commented that her dress sense is getting bad – like HDB Tai Tai. So she may decide to join a company in the CBD area to regain her glam.

Honestly speaking, she is always well groomed and dressed whenever we see her. However her hubby is more critical...haha.

Well, after 5 years with the company, she said she is leaving the company with a mixed feeling.

On Monday, we had a farewell lunch for her at Hanabi Japanese restaurant @ Odeon Tower. We had the Ala Carte Buffet lunch - $29.00 ++ per person. The 100 plus dishes menu was a “killer”. We ordered the usual sashimi, tempura, grill items and some teppanyaki dishes. The food was good value for the monies. Only complaint is the place is a bit too open and quite noisy, so it was hard to have a decent conversation.

Comes next year, it may be my turn for farewell…if …: )

Sunday Services

This has been a busy week for me at work.

On Wednesday, after consulting the company doctor, I went to the SATA centre at Woodland Civil Centre to have an X-ray done.

The reason for me doing the X-ray :

- I would like to find out the cause of my backache. I am very conscious of my own health as I know it is very important for me, especially when I have a family to take care of

- As I am still working and covered under company’s medical insurance, it’s good to go through whatever comes along

Now, I am waiting for my X-ray result and it should be out next week… : )

Yesterday, our company had an event day, so the whole day was focused on team discussion. It was a quite a major event as it involved worldwide offices.

Today, finally I have some time to clear my work and catch up with some readings on blogs.

Recently, my brother in law has been going for Sunday services with his fiancée, Cherry. Anthea mentioned to me that she wanted to follow them to church. Well, I am a bit hesitant to let her follow them to church. The main reason is she wanted to go to a real Church (as in the building as she has seen them while we drove passed). For Terence and Cherry, they attend services in an auditorium, so I am worried that Anthea may not know what she is there for.

Now I am trying to find something that is suitable for her. Honestly we have no objection of whatever religion she chose, since we are free thinker

Happy Boss Day

On Tuesday, 16 Oct, while driving to work, I overheard on radio that it’s Boss's Day on this day.
Upon reaching the office, I spoke to a few of my department colleagues and we decided to bring our Boss out for a lunch.

After doing some research, we got this recommendation from a colleague from another department – PS Café.

Her recommendation was good. When we reached the place, all of us were like “mountain tortoise”…because everyone was saying – they don’t know there is such a café hidden in the woods.

We ordered 2 salads as starters – Beef & Tuna salad and both the salads were really good.

For our main course, we ordered our own portion and I think it was a mistake. The portions that they served were BIG.

Main courses that we had – club sandwiches, steak sandwich, Fish & chips & an Udon broth.

All the food was very well done and tasteful and because the serving was big, we had no more space in our stomach to try the desserts, which looks really good. We had made plan to return for desserts….heehee.


Happy Bosses Day to my GM.

Farewell Lunch @ Man Fu Yuan - Intercontinental Hotel

One of our colleague from another department will be leaving the company and her last day of work is this Friday.

Together 5 of us went for a lunch in "celebration" of her farewell.

Thanks to my MIL once again, we managed to have a good dim sum lunch at Man Fu Yuan at Intercontinental Hotel. My MIL bought the hotel membership with the Priority group and she named me as a supplementary holder. So for this lunch, i am entitled to a 20% discount + using the $40 vouchers + a Complimentary Chocolate cake + an In-house White wine...so we had quite a feast.

The dim sum here is very good. The ingredients are all freshly prepared and all done to the best taste. We had a wonderful time with the food and the chat.

As we were too full after the dim-sum, we brought the cake back to the office and also the white wine (which i will share with my extended families during our next makansutra).

We had coffee at Starbuck cafe after our lunch and it was my 1st time trying a Green Tea Latte - Verdict is not too bad.

On our way back from the hotel to office, one of my colleague recommended that we go by a muffins shop in Sunshine Plaza to try the muffins, she said they are really good. When we went to the shop, i can smell the strong aroma of chicken pie and true enough, the shop sells chicken pies too. I overheard a customer talking to the shop owners and realised that they are "suki" too - means they are Hainanese. I started to conversed with the owners in our language and they were pleasantly surprised. I bought a chicken pie (left 1 only) and 6 muffins to try. (hmm..soon, i will become a muffins expert at the rate that i am discovering muffins over Singapore..haha.)

Along the way back, we made another stop at the famour Curry puff shop -SELERA FAMOUS CHICKEN CURRY PUFF. My colleague bought some snacks and our car was load with smell of pies / puffs & goreng pisang.

We had tea break in the late afternoon but i didn't managed to sample anything as i was still full from the lunch. Will try the muffins for tomorrow breakfast and chicken pie will be my lunch after my workout..hehe : P

In the evening, i passed some chocolate cakes to my parents in law, hopefull they will like it, which i think they will.

Another nice makan outing with my colleagues and also getting to know new foodies place.

Feasting @ Café Brios...Again...

Recently at work, my colleague renewed her internet contract with Pacific Internet. For this renewal, PI gave us a $300 Harvey Norman vouchers. My General Manager decided to do a mini department lucky draw and guess what … he drew my NAME…so I was the Lucky Winner.

The previous lucky draw winner bought department lunch for all the colleagues; so needless to say, I will have to buy lunch for my colleagues as well.

So on Wednesday, I brought them to lunch at café Brios @ Grand Copthrone Waterfront for the Buffet Lunch.

Seem like this is the 1st time that all my colleagues were here and they enjoyed the food & ambience as well.

The reason why I chose this place is because my MIL has a 50% discount vouchers for this restaurant, so it was a HUGE Savings for me…hehe. (Thanks Mom.. : )

Now, I will have to start looking around in Harvey Norman and see what to buy with the vouchers. (or if anyone interested to buy over at a discounted rate.. )

Team Building Event @ Sentosa

Last Friday, 27 July 2007, our department had our monthly team meeting in the office. Our GM shared with us the new Strategic Direction from our CEO.

Our meeting ended around 11.30 am and we proceeded to Sentosa for our Teambuilding event. It was a rainy day but we were all in high spirit.

Our 1st stop was lunch – we had a sumptuous lunch at Thanying restaurant. It served very good Thai Dishes. The setting of this outlet is more of fine dining and their service staff was truly excellent.

After a very spicy & fulfilling lunch, we headed for our next stop – the LUGE. Honestly, I have not been to Sentosa for a long, long time, so there are many things that are very new to me. We were a group of 6 adults – 5 Singaporean and 1 American.

Guess who is our Tour Guide…??? The AMERICAN….hahaha… : P

Our GM is a member of the Sentosa Islander and he has been to Sentosa quite a few times with his family.

We bought the Sentosa Luge and sky ride combo package, it was really a thrilling ride and we had a “speedy” time.

After the luge, we had ice-cream while waiting for the rain to stop before we proceeded to our next stop – Mini Golf.

However, when we reached the golf venue, the ground was too wet so we did not play the game.
As it was almost 4 plus, I decided to return to the mainland first as I need to fetch the children, while the rest of my colleagues went for the 4D Magix show.

When I reached home, I was so tired. It had been a fun event for us, even with only 6 people. I am really glad I had this chance to visit and explore Sentosa. I will definitely bring the children there again.

Masquerade Ball

The most anticipated Friday, the 13th finally arrived.

We were all very excited and looked forward to the Dinner & Dance. We went off early, mainly to get ourselves "DOLLED UP" for the party.

I went to my usual salon and the stylist did my hair and makeup. When Anthea came home from school and saw me all dressed up, she said "mommy, you looked like Queen Rowena."..hee : P

Queen Rowena is the "BAD" Queen in the story of Barbie in the 12th Dancing Princesses. Actually i was happy to hear her comment because that was what i planned to be in my costumes. As i had Princesses with me as well.

Adrain fetched me and the children to the hotel. While i attended the dinner, he brought the children for dinner and walk around Toy R Us.

The event started at 6pm, when i arrived at the hotel, i was so happy to see so many people dressed up in their costumes. Needless to say, there were so much fun & laughter outside the Ballroom waiting area. Cameras were flashing all over the place.

At 8 pm, the dinner started officially with all the VIPS arriving in GRAND STYLE. The entertainment show went along when dinner was served. There were 3 segments of show -

1. The Disguise of Suzie Wong - a lady singer who is very versatile entertained the audiences with her 4 different languages songs.

2. Serenade of the Grand Harpist - this segment is a bit slow & boring.

3. Kumar - Lady in Waiting - the famous Drag-Queen Kumar performed his usual talk show, with a lot of X-rated jokes and also very obvious that he is not a PxP supporters...hee : )

Then there were games and Best Costumes / Masks competition. It was really fun to watch our colleagues going on stage and put up their best performance.

The final part that eveyone was waiting for the night was the top 20th Lucky Draws...sad to say, my numbers were not in there. Anyway, i saw my number being flashed on the screen for some prize, will go back office on Monday to check again.

Overall, it was a very fun night and all of us have a Great Time and most important, the bond between colleagues get better.

Mystique Mask

Our Company dinner is scheduled to take place on Friday, 13 July 2007.

The theme of the dinner is Masquerade Ball and the organising committee has requested that the staff to come in Victorian Costumes.

My colleagues and myself are very keen to DRESS UP for the dinner & dance. So today at lunch time, we went costumes shopping.

The organising committe has given us a list of names on shops that does event costumes rental. We shortlisted one - Costumes And Mascots. When we reached the shop, we were so excited to see all so many faciful dresses and also accessories.

So we started trying all the Victorian Dresses that matches the theme and it was simply so fun.

So much laughter and share of opinions when we saw each other in the different dresses. It is like we are taking our Bridal shoots or attending the Proms Night ... : )

Finally each one of us managed to get a Dress that fit and we immediately put down our deposit. After that, we had Hainanese Chicken Rice at one of the many chicken rice stalls along Purvis Street. After lunch, we had TCC coffee and desserts. What an excursion it was.

Now i am looking forward to the actual day for the Dinner & Dance in about 2 weeks time. I guess these kind of events/activities "spices" up the routine and it adds excitement to the daily mundane work. Hopefully i can win a Nice LUCKY DRAW Prize...祝我好运 !!