We are still not in Edmonton.. what?!



Maybe I should write 'totally MARRIED' instead! They will be by the time we reach!



Panda's snoring away in the living room. I'm still waiting for my hair to dry before trying to catch some sleep.

We should have reached Edmonton by now, but we are not! We are still stuck at home, no thanks to United Airlines which cancelled our flight 4 hours before we were scheduled to fly.

Mind you, it came in an email which cheerfully states that the flight is cancelled and we are confirmed on another flight reaching on Sunday night. When the wedding is long, long over!

And there's no explanation whatsoever.

It's the first time I had a flight cancelled on me at such a last minute. When Panda gasped, "our flight is CANCELLED?!" just when we were about to get ready for airport, I was stunned for a good 15 minutes before moving into action and frantically calling the airlines.

Believe me, we were literally on the phone with them for 3 hours, getting put on hold, arguing with them that there are seats available on other airlines before we finally settled the tickets. Panda's resourcefulness on the internet and persistence paid off, and United Airlines agreed to rebook us on the earliest Air Canada flight out tomorrow to Edmonton, transiting at Vancouver.

We are gonna miss the church wedding, but will be in time for the traditional dinner.

Boy was I looking forward to the church wedding and the tea ceremony. Gugu said I could help decorate the house and I was still doing some letters this afternoon. I guess we won't be using these now. Bummer.





Celebrating a nation's birthday

It's Christmas already? No, it's the Singapore National Day!

I'm so glad that Wendy came up with the idea for a red and white dinner. It's good to get together and celebrate Singapore's birthday.

I nearly forgot about this big day. I'm definitely more patriotic when I was working in the ministry.

Back in those days, it's our job to do ground sensing, analyse media reports, give heads up on issues which we think are brewing, facilitate media queries, staff events, and deal with public through the QSM line.

Naturally, we need to keep ourselves up to speed on national issues. So when national day rolls around, we diligently tune in to PM's national day message and his National Day Rally speech.

This year, being an Overseas Singaporean for the first time, we don't feel the hype of the nation's birthday. I nearly forgot about it, until I saw photos and status updates from my friends on Facebook.

I searched online for PM's national day message. I personally love our PM because I think he's earnest and he works very hard for the country. But in this message, I only saw exhaustion. He had giant eye bags and he was slouching. 

One thing I've learnt in US is, stop being so uptight, be yourself. Speak to humans like a human.

The message I'm watching seemed too scripted. Like a civil servant writing papers, it's a great summary of what the government has done. But where's the human voice? PM looks pretty awkward reading it off the teleprompter.

I have a sudden urge to send him an email to say, "How are you, PM? I watched your message. You look pretty tired. Don't be so hard on yourself or get too focused on doing things the 'proper' way. Be yourself. And most importantly, rest well!"

After all, PM is still a human who appreciates ground feedback and a word of concern, right?

I'm ready for the wedding!

Loving the simplicity of the new nail colour

  

We will be heading to Edmonton, Canada tomorrow to attend a wedding. Panda will be flying back almost immediately for work and I will be staying on to have a few days of vacation with my aunt in Whistler, Vancouver. Life is great!

SensatioNail was having a promotion on their gelish polish at Target so I got the taupe colour (confession: I have no idea what taupe is before this). I must say this nudish colour is rather pretty, just nice for weddings.

Dad and Mom gave us some money for the traditional Chinese red packet for the wedding couple. Panda and I also decided to get something for the hosts (the parents), my aunt (who sponsored our tickets) and the wedding couple.

We got something from Coach for the older folks earlier at Gilroy. As for the younger couple, we decided to go with a photo frame. Not very original but I thought it's always good to have nice photo frames at home to remind us of memorable moments.

Added a little personal touch to the frame to celebrate the start of a new family. What do you think? :)

  

Sprawled on the living room floor in my PJs doing a little craft



Their name in pearl beads and a felt flower for the wedding couple.

At least I did as I believe

Simple chic with sandstone felt. Work involved lopping the wire within, and sewing the centre to secure it.

Ever since I set up SGUS on Etsy, I've gone back to my working mode. I can't stop thinking about new creations; there's always something to look forward to everyday!

I think Panda is half-amused, half-worried about my little project. He has always wanted me to start something since I have all the time in the world. He suggested writing children ministry programmes, writing story books, or setting up a personal shopper business like one of my friends.

But he knew I had an interest in doing crafts, so he allowed me to indulge a little in materials and tools. I go to him for advice on designs, pricing and everything else.

It's wonderful to have a husband that supports you. It may seem like a small thing to him, but it means a lot to me.

It's fun monitoring the shop stats and even though I haven't have any real business yet, I'm happy to have taken the courage to do it.

That's the Silicon Valley spirit, isn't it? Have an idea, do it. If it works, great job. If it flops, learn your lessons and keep trying.

Don't be afraid of success or failure.

加油！

P/S: I just occurred to me that I went to Joann and Michaels the other day with (Joann)a and (Michael)Angel(o). Heeheehee. I think it's quite funny! 

Let's go for a movie!

Panda's ecstatic about our movie marathon

We had a movie date at downtown San Mateo today! We've bought vouchers from Red Robin and with it came free tickets for... Wolverine!

Unlike back home, what's interesting about watching movies in US is that there's no pre-selected seats. It's free seating as long as you have a ticket.

That also means you can sneak into other theatres to continue watching after your movie ended. We learnt that it's what the locals do. Just make sure there are plenty of seats and you don't get caught.

So we tried it today. It was pretty funny trying to check what's the next movie on the list nonchalantly. We wanted to watch Despicable Me 2 but the timing wasn't right. In the end, we caught Wolverine and Pacific Rim.

Both were great action packed films but it's probably not a great idea to watch them back to back. By the time we came out of the theatres, our minds were boggled with too much flashy images and loud sound effects.

It also didn't help that both had similar story lines - Asian city backdrop, American heroes working with Japanese female sidekicks, America saves the world or the girl. Hollywood productions are predictable, huh?

That said, we still enjoyed our movie experience. I love the fact that people are encouraged not to call and text in the cinemas here. It's a joy to be able to finish a movie without ringtones, Hellos and bright phone screens.

Wish we had a similar movie culture back home.



Continuing the Japanese theme, my miniscule palm-sized 50ml Choya at dinner.

Photo of the day: big guy, small guy

Little Zane decided that he wants to hide his face in Panda's bum.

 

We shopped at Gilroy today with the Low family (Thanks for driving us!) Found great presents for our family friends who will be hosting us at the upcoming Canadian trips.

 

We also snatched up some fabulous buys. My best purchase has got to be the flowy Kenneth Cole Tanya dress. It's such a comfy fit that I bought two colours of the same design (lime and black). Then I instigated Wendy to buy one too. We must share good stuff, right?

 

The highlight of the day has got to be little Zane. We highly suspect there might be some super chemical in his baby food. His energy bar was fully charged the entire day.

 

He also made Panda very happy, because "Uncle" (and all parts related, bum included) is apparently his best friend today. It's such an amusement to watch the both of them. The big guy and the tiny guy.

 

We managed to complete our shopping and dinner just in time for little Zane to go home to sleep. All four adults were also ready to hit the sack. We were exhausted from a day of shopping but satisfied with a stomach full of yummy crabs!

The Boiling Crab, San Jose, at 9.45pm.
The best time to go is really after 9pm, cos the queues will be gone!

We love picnics in the park!

And the best expression goes to... Panda the guy who's gonna eat my skewers.

What's it about picnics that we love? Perhaps, the fact that we are not able to do it back home. Not in that tropical weather. We will either be drenched in sweat from that sweltering heat or rain from those sudden downpours.

So we were glad to have caught the second last band from the park concert series at Leo J Ryan Park. This time we got there half an hour early to secure our picnic space before it's swarmed with people. 

We tried to stretch out our mat and place our bags around the area to secure more sitting space for our friends; they were politely but firmly pushed back to us by others. Strictly first-come-first-serve. Oops.

Being novice picnickers, the grandeur of others' set-ups always amazed us. Tables, chairs, candles, pets, wine glasses, bread baskets, doggy fence. Panda said that if we are staying for another year, we really have invest in a portable table.

I think it's to prevent me from spilling wine/beer/water/drinks all over the place. Or using my shoe as a substitute cup holder. I'm guessing this is pretty common in US.

It works, that is, if you don't mind the smell.

I didn't have time to prepare a proper dinner, so was grateful when more food and munchies arrived. In the end we have staples from the Leows, snacks from the Lows, and some skewers and madeleines from me. But food is always secondary to me at picnics. It's really the company and chit chats that count.

When it comes to picnic food, simplicity is really the best!

I'll be the first to feel sad when summer ends.

What's for lunch at Sunnyvale?

With one of Panda's awesome colleagues, Lisa 

Panda and his colleague, Lisa were going for a client meeting in Sunnyvale. Since I haven't been to that area before, Panda asked me to tag along for lunch.

Lisa suggested Faz, a Mediterranean restaurant around the area. I wasn't an adventurous eater and was wondering what Mediterranean food is. The menu turned out to be great; a wide selection salads, pasta, pizza, sandwiches and kabobs etc. Their naan with balsamic vinegar/olive oil dip, which they served while waiting for our mains, was also awesome.

Faz doesn't have fabulous yelp reviews but it's mainly due to service. We also had to wait some time for our food and water refills. But they made up for it with taste and portion. 

Naan with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dip

Grilled avocado and prawn salad 

Blackened salmon sandwich

Italian sausage pizza

I packed home half the pizza cos I couldn't finish it. Panda said it still tasted good for lunch the next day. I would probably try their kabobs next time.

After that, I headed to the nearby Panera Bread for hazelnut coffee and free wifi to wait for Panda (another one of Lisa's recommendations). There's free refill for coffee too! Yay!

That sort of concludes my first visit to Sunnyvale. It may seem uneventful but I really enjoyed the lunch out. Thanks, Lisa!