a girly girl day...

I have had numerous girly girl days in the past or even a girly girl hours, with that usually happen over lunch time. It mainly involves shopping where you and your girl friend get all excited when you find a fashion item like shoes, clothes and accessories followed by coffee or meals sessions with endless talking about everything and anything. Normally, these sort of days best happened when they are not planned.

I remember an occasion when Polly, one of my close friend, and I decided to take extended lunch time (we had a stressful morning at work) and went to River Island to look at the shoe sale. We left the shop with two pairs of shoes each and visit to the shop only lasted 30 minutes. Amazing!

Yesterday, I had another successful spontaneous girly girl day. Liz, another one of my closest friend. We spent the mid morning till after the early afternoon at the pool – sun worshiping for me and a few laps in the pool for Liz as well as conversations while having a long dip in the pool. After a meal following that relaxing time at the pool, we headed down to a mall because I wanted to check out an item I saw on Friday and have not been able to take my mind off it. That went spiraling into a shopping extravaganza!

In 2 hours, we were busy checking out a few stores, trying out a few outfits and bagged ourselves some good deals (it is mid-season sale happening all over town with various discounts offered at most shops with collaboration with various credit card companies). The highlight of the day was when we stepped into Top Shop and found ourselves a nice pair of skinny flare denim jeans. We bought the same design and Liz, who has been looking for a nice pair of jeans for the longest time, ended up with 2 great pairs – the skinny flare which we both loved and another dark denim. She was extremely happy that she found a couple of nice pairs after being disappointed when the perfect denim we found at Calvin Klein earlier did not fit her well. I guess that was a blessing in disguise as those two pairs of jeans she paid for at Top Shop cost 30% less than the pair of Calvin Klein jeans. That should explain why she was very pleased with her purchase. Her words later when she tried the jeans again at home was “I love love love the jeans!”

It is amazing what you can bag when you are not really looking for things you wanted. I wish I could post a photo of the jeans we both tried, love and bought but I could not find the photo from the Top Shop website. But it looks something like the following:






























My other purchases include a purple dress from Zara and a bikini from Warehouse. Like Liz, I am also very happy with my purchases. Looking forward to wearing them soon!!

All that shopping left us a little hungry – well, mostly me. Liz is never hungry. But she came along with me and we shared a plate of satay (barbecued meat on sticks). A nice meal to end our spontaneous girly girl day's out.

triumph in moscow...

Ten days on, thanks to the missed penalties of John Terry and Nicholas Anelka and also to Lady Luck, Man United won their third Champions League Trophy last night. I was elated even though it wasn’t exactly a great 90 minutes but I was glad that I woke up to witness it, after having missed the 1999 final against Bayern Munich.

During the extra time, I was exchanging a few texts with Kevin in London, who since moving to the capital has switched his allegiance to Chelsea – traitor!!! “Up the Blues!” he said – I think he was confident that Chelsea would seal a victory. I didn’t feel that it is over till its over and then, the match had to go into penalties. I hate penalties! Anything can happen – and I text Kevin saying that I could not watch this. His response to that was “Strap yourself in baby… you’re in for a wild ride!” Arrogance, I tell you!!!

When Van Der Sar made that save from Anelka’s kick to seal Man United’s victory, his text came with just one word “SHIT”.  I rubbed it in and replied “No time for losers, cause we are the champions!” How sweet!

It was probably one of the longest live matches I have ever watched. I didn’t get much sleep but it was all worth it!! I have waited a long time for Man United’ dominance after I went through my teenage years being verbally abused by Liverpool fans. What a season! Not as nerve-wrecking as it was in 1999 but still. The team gave one of their best performances and persevered against Chelsea who was desperate to bring a trophy back to Stamford Bridge this season, judging from the tears and dejection from their players and manager at the end of the penalty shoot-out.

The champions league trophy is the icing on the cake topped with cherries for Man United’s season. I am looking forward to next season already! I need to talk details about this triumph with a Man United fan now.

no time for losers again...

It was down to the wire last night but after a nail biting 105 minutes, it was time for joy when Manchester United retained the English Premiership title – the 10th league title for Sir Alex and my favourite player, Ryan Giggs. Thanks to Bolton for holding Chelsea with a draw. I jumped for joy at the final whistle as Manchester United ended the domestic season with style.

It was a great final day of the season with crucial matches to be played at the top and the bottom of the league. Teams like Birmingham and Reading gave their best performance of the season only to be relegated. It was an intense moment for some fans, like me, where at the final minute, your team could either make or break it. To me, it was like 1999 all over again, when Manchester United won the treble – that was an intense season for me as a supporter.

I made a prediction last December on how the top and bottom three of the league will look like at the end of the season. I was not entirely on the spot but at least I was partially correct - that Manchester United will be champions and Derby County will be relegated.

Another showdown with Chelsea for the Champions League final (I was gutted when Chelsea defeated Manchester United in a league match at Stamford Bridge on 26 April 2008) in Moscow on 21 May 2008. It will be another nail-biting moment but with the confidence on high, I think Manchester United have a good chance. Liverpool would have made the final a much more interesting match to watch but hey, we need to get one back from Chelsea after that defeat at Stamford Bridge.

We have the Euro 2008 next month, so the withdrawal will not be too bad this year.

happy days...

Despite the lack of sleep (only four hours, after going to bed at 4.30 am earlier this morning), I am in good spirits now. I made myself get up at 8.30am this morning and kept myself busy with chores – like putting away my luggage, sort out the dirty laundry, etc. A few on-line chats with some friends helped too. I hope to stay up till midnight tonight to watch the title decider of the Barclays Premier League and perhaps the jet lag will be over and done with by tomorrow morning.

My previous entry was written when I was in such a sorry state – like I want to believe it was. Sheesh! I even said that I was going to take a holiday from looking at my holiday photos! Now, how could I? I was looking at the photos again this afternoon while uploading it and sharing it with a couple of friends. One of them commented that these photos are happy photos and the fun that was had was very obvious. My mood was uplifted after hearing that and took a look at them again.

So now, I want to share the happy days I had in Europe with everyone here. I have so many favourites from the lot, so I will not even attempt to post those on this page. Enjoy them! I certainly have and will be for a long time from now.

Click here to see photos.

PHD - post holiday depression...

The one thing I hate the most about going on holiday in another continent is recovering from jet lag on the return leg. Getting over a jet lag once you get to your holiday destination is so easy. Probably because you know your holiday has just begun. However, the reverse is utterly depressing and that is what I am going through at the moment.

It is late and my body is still in European time, which led to this sleeplessness the last couple of nights. Then, while I am awake in the middle of the night, I start wondering what my friends in Europe are doing and it depresses me because I want to be there with them. But alas, I am back here. There is not much I can do but try to get over this jet lag very quickly and move on with my regular routine back here. Easier said than done actually. This post holiday blues will be over in a week or two but in the meantime, getting over this is such an ordeal for me.

I thought of ways to get over this depression:

Unpack my luggage as quickly as possible instead of leaving it there for days like I usually do after returning from a trip. That way, the luggage will not serve as a reminder that my holiday is over. Once I tuck away my luggage in storage tomorrow morning, I think I will be over this depression.

Stop looking at the holiday photos until the jet lag is over and done with. I get so depressed just looking at them the last couple of days. So, I will take a holiday from my holiday photos until this jet lag is over and done with. If I am happier, I will look at the photos in a more positive light.

Keep myself occupied with anything – going out with friends, work, reading and my health routine. It has to start tomorrow, or else, I will never get over this depression.

And note to self : No holiday in European countries for a while. Getting too old for this jet lag thing and I don't need the depression – I don't deal with it very well.

This is not like me. I hope to feel better soon.

filled with friends and fun...

I am completely knackered and losing the track of the day and time in the last 36 hours but I certainly remember the exciting two weeks away from Singapore. It didn't seem like a long time ago when I last went on a holiday – it was about 8 months ago to be exact – and now I have just returned from another one. That short stint in Rubbishville was enough to motivate anyone to go on holiday as often as possible, especially where yours truly is concerned.

This is a holiday with a difference for yours truly – not doing too much of the touristy thing – I had a different objective this time and it also involved a lot of spending time with friends.

I was in Vienna to run a half marathon. My first race of the year and I completed it in 2 hours and 31 minutes – a personal best (previous best was 2 hours and 45 minutes). Kevin ran too and he completed it in 1 hour and 58 minutes. Not his best but still, it was better than me. Apart from the race, we also visited Schonbrunn Palace – spent half a day there and most of it were at the palace garden, where we lied on the grass, enjoying the view surrounding the palace, the sun and the fresh air. A visit to Vienna will not be complete without an evening at a classical concert - a couple of champagne were had and we truly enjoyed the experience.

Spent a few days in London, doing a spot of shopping, going back to my favourite eating places Wagamama, Giraffe, La Creperie de Hampstead and hanging out with friends. Went for a nice dinner with Ger in a part of London where I have never been before. I also met Kam a few times – I have not seen him in five years, so there were catching up to do.

Kevin, Ger & myself also spent a long weekend in Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands in Spain. We hit the beaches for some sun worshiping and around the island, where the beaches and sceneries were beautiful. It was like an early summer holiday for some of us. As for me, it was the first time that I have ever spent a holiday by the beach in Europe. My previous beach holidays have always been in Asia.

I also made a brief stop in Paris to meet some of my wonderful friends! These are the people who I used to work with during my time at a French organisation. Cyrille and his wife, Helene, hosted a nice soiree at their home. I truly appreciated their hospitality. It was good to spend an evening among friends and I am very happy to have met them again. Nothing has changed – the camaraderie is still there.

All in all, like Kevin said, a wonderful, action packed and fun filled holiday. It was not long enough but I certainly enjoyed every moment (except for some stressful moments towards the end, which I will cover in another entry). I am looking forward to my next holiday – I don't know when that will be but I hope it will be just as great as this one.

Photos will be up soon!