Wednesday 28 May 2014

A Goodbye Lunch

After our RDA session today a group of the volunteers went out to say goodbye to our good friend Karin.  This is the first goodbye I've done and I didn't think it'd be so difficult to send someone on their way.  Karin was only here for a short while as her husband Ivan was on sabbatical and after a month out for travelling they are going to pack up and head back to New Jersey.
Karin has been so much fun at RDA and our walking group, so we all signed a RDA book for her then took her out for lunch at Cedele on the top of Wheelock Place.  It's the first time I've been there but is a pretty location for a lunch. The other women had amazing looking salads or sandwiches, but I went for the roasted pepper and tomato soup.  It's a bakery/cafe that looked like you get get a few healthy options out of the mains menu.  It also looked like there were good vegetarian options too.  There were bread and chutneys on sale at the front door but I was too busy getting group shots of our post RDA lunch group.
Good luck in your future travels Karin, we'll miss you lots!

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Snapshot

Another snapshot.....still waiting on the laptop to get its act together.....
Reading
My New Years resolution was to read the Bible end to end. I've probably read it through a few times and read most parts of the NT loads, but I've never went all the way through.  It was only when I tried to understand something from the NT by checking back on the OT that I thought there's probably so much I'm missing. I keep marking stuff off so I am trying to get myself into the habit of writing what I want to go look at down and coming back to it later! (Need to get into meditating, it's on the to do list)

Listening to
I'm listening to loads of Coldplay at the moment since I finished my HP.  I got really bored for two days then started playing about with music on YouTube.  When I heard Magic from their recent album I remember how much I lived Parachutes when it came out (oh my gosh, I was about 14 when that happened!). So right now I'm getting fill of Everything's Not Lost and Warning Sign.

Eating
Everything that's in the freezer so I can get all our stored stuff out of there and get some space!  Also trying not to snack as much after all that junk food from all our visitors! Urge, I ate way yo much.

Watching
I am still obsessed with the exploits of The Duggars,  somebody help me...

Loving 
The vitamin D I'm getting right now with the walking group. Every so often someone will turn to me and strike up a conversation in Dutch, but my blank stares are enough for them to say "oh, so YOU'RE the new girl!" I love visiting all these new places, getting out and exploring, as well as the plentiful cake opportunities that go hand in hand with the walking group.

Loathing
Waiting in for the workmen so they can fix up the cracks in the floor tiles, there are so many more things I'd rather get out and DO!

Planing
Fun things for when Holly comes over!

Learning
How to use my new kitchen aid. I'm reading up, as I don't have the converter yet, but when it arrives I'll be ready.





Saturday 3 May 2014

Snapshot

Another snapshot of life at Daisy Towers whilst I wait for the laptop to decide it wants to come out and play.
Reading
Im currently reading Divergent by Veronica Roth which I'd started a while ago before our visitors came along.  When I love a book I go through it whiteout stopping, but with people coming out and wanting to chat with them and show them about all the time I just couldn't grit into it and sometimes found I didn't have the energy for it at the end of the day.  I also only picked it when I'd read it was a bit like The Hunger Games but I shouldn't have picked it for that reason as I didn't appreciate it for its own story.  However, Mark and I went to the cinema the other day and seeing as it was my turn to pick the film I picked this which made me want to give it another go.

Listening to
I love listening to talking books and originally picked The Hunger Games thinking it would be a nice easy to listen to YA. However, I absolutely fell in love with the books and the characters so when I'd finished it I was deep in Book Mourning.  I felt I needed something which I knew I'd love so I went back to Harry Potter. Of course it was easy and nice to listen to whilst I pottered (see what I did there?) around the house, I knew these stories and it was easy. Right now I'm on the last book and I'm back to how it was whilst going through THG.  Oh my gosh, I totally forgot how much I love these characters and hadn't read the last book since I waited up until midnight to buy it and read it in 15 hours without putting it down once. Please remind me I am trying to pick easy to listen to (which means easily forgettable) books that I can have on in a quiet house whilst I do the dishes..

Eating
Erm not very much! Weeks and weeks of visitors eating what people do when they are on holiday has made me put on a few lbs, so I am eating healthily, not picking up snacks at the supermarket and walking more. 

Watching

19 kids and counting.  Totally trashy tv, but I love it.  It's pretty much what the title says and is about a right wing American family who have loads of kids.  Enough said.

Loving 
I am loving walking Daisy in the park right now.  I love letting her off the lead and letting her play and run.  It's what I felt so bad about when I got here and I'm grateful that we were able to find a place foe her to run about in.

Loathing

All the people coming over all the time to investigate the house and those cracks...all......the.....time.

Planing
Holly comes over in only a couple of weeks and I need to keep her entertained. I am mostly excited to just hang out and do the things we normally did ( read eat cake and talk rubbish). But it's going to be so much fun to do that whilst at Universal Studios, Mount Faber or Marina Bay.

Learning

I'm learning to get back in the habit of having the house to myself.  This is great that I get to strip all the beds and toss everything downstairs to drag through the house to the laundry room which pretty much means make a mess before I get things in order...... But it's also really weird to have an empty house again.  I am taking full advantage of the chance to read in the afternoon or perhaps watch some more of that trashy tv.....


Thursday 1 May 2014

Dover Canal Walk and Labour Day Off

Hope you're having a good Labour Day!  Marks had the day off, but planned on taking it easy until mid day when I'd head home then we could do something fun together.  He had originally planned to take Friday off too, but it was too late before we thought of it.  However any extra day that we can spend together having fun is a bonus!
Our walking group headed off at 9:30 from Dover MRT and walked along the canal.  We came up from the canal shortly to cross Clementi Road and walked past some more estates.  We visited a community vegtable garden where a really kind Uncle took us along an old abandoned railway line to a Buddhist Temple where were able to look around for a little while.  We then continued the canal route, past the AYE to Bukit Batok.
Apparently lots of people have seen kingfishers on this walk before, but we never saw them this time, but there was lots of lizards lazing in the grass and we saw a large one cross the river.
Malavika who I know from RDA had to head away quickly too so we got on the red line at the MRT and switched to the green one to get home.
Mark said he'd pick me up at the station, but due to series lack of communication I headed home one way and he waited at another exit at the MRT!  Eventually it was sorted out and we took Daisy to East Coast Park where it was super busy but really nice to see as the last time we were there it was right after picking Daisy up from the airport.
By this time we'd decided it was time to head home and into the pool.  I was pretty tired after our day of walking and felt more than ready to chill out with Mark and eat fried chicken....seems all that good work was for nothing!