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Bye 2012, Hi 2013

I feel so reluctant to bid goodbye to 2012

2012 had been an amazing year for me! I mean.. I can’t think of a year which could top this year 🙂 It’s the year that I felt that I can finally start living and stop worrying!

2012 is the year I broke my bond. I can’t say this enough BUT I feel so blessed that God helped us to manage our finance and see that this could be done. It’s quite a sum of $ BUT we did it!! I am so happy! Any regrets? No!!!!!

2012 also marks the year that we probably traveled the MOST. We went to Europe in April, back to SG in August and Disney World in Nov!!! wow!!! Finally got to Europe!!!

2012 treated myself to a Chanel PST and BH got me a pair of Chanel earrings which I always wanted!

2012 took the WA driving test….and passed on the 1st attempt!!! hahahaha… nono… this is clearly not skill.. I still think it’s luck 🙂

2012 tried HOT YOGA! I am someone who is quite hesitant to try new things BUT thanks to Jo, with her persistent persuasion, I joined her and it’s so far so good – though I still can’t touch my toes and can’t seem to get some poses right.. hehe

These are probably the highlights of 2012!!! and probably the BEST in my life so far!!! I am so very happy!!

While i know that it’s highly unlikely that 2013 will be as good as 2012… I am still looking forward…

1) we will probably be moving to another apt/townhouse – depending on what’s on the market

2) Hope to be better at yoga – as I intend to go on a regular basis

3) Rescue/adopt a corgi

4) Volunteer at children’s hospital or something along the line – hope to add meaning to my life

5) Get my own car!!!!

 

Happy New Year 🙂

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2012 review

2012 has been a fruitful one for Amanda and I.

Quick recap of the year
– Went for our long overdue Euro trip
– Went to magical Disney World
– Getting recognized at work
– Broke Amanda’s bond with MOE!

However, as I review my resolutions for 2012, I know I miss something.. 🙁
Keeping fit.

I think this will continue to be an issue for me as I have been putting too much emphasis on work such that I have no balance in life.
So with a new year, come new resolutions!

I will cook more often at home for us! I just discovered this wonderful app on Windows 8 (Everyday Food) that has simple 15-30 mins recipes which even a novice sous chef like me can accomplish! I am already the crepes expert at home! 🙂

I will learn to keep my work-life balance in check. No more late night work unless its really necessary. One’s got to know how to enjoy the finer things in life, after all you only live once.

There are several things to look forward to in 2013 actually…
1) Mayday LA 2013 concert
2) Getting a new car
3) Moving to a new apartment
4) Trying to sell my HDB flat again
5) Looking for a puppy

I don’t think we would be doing too much travelling next year but who knows?
Here’s hoping that 2013 is as good if not better than 2012!

Wishing all a happy new year!
Binghuan

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Disneyworld – Day 5 & 7 Epcot + Downtown Disney

19 & 21 Nov

Going to Epcot is like traveling around the world! You get to visit Morocco, Japan, Paris, Germany, China etc. How Fun!

You know theme park food are mostly yucky… but we thought that the food at Epcot was not that bad. Our fave was Japanese food! haha..

The good thing about Epcot is.. we could get FREE printout of 1 picture each day when we show our Chase Disney debit card 🙂 That’s y we went to Epcot for 2 seperate days

hmmm… Epcot is a nice relaxing place…I just had no idea why we didn’t take much pics :/

ok.. moving on… We went to Downtown Disney on our last night..

It’s a huge place.. so do allocate time for this. Our intention was to go there for dinner… and we ended up at Planet Hollywood. It was super crowded and noisy – food was meh.. and once again.. I needed to have the cocktail served in disco lights cup 😀 There’s also a HUGE Disney store ! You can buy almost anything u saw inside the Disney theme parks here.. nah.. I didn’t buy anything , only 2 small gifts for our friend’s kids

Yup… I think this sums up our trip to Disney world! We left the magical place the next morning…flew out of Orlando.. transited at Washington DC where we got stuck for 2 hours due to plane maintenance…

Nevertheless… It was an awesome trip!!! Till we meet again!!!

 

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Christmas 2012

We went to 2 friends’ place for potluck party. I spent alot of time in the kitchen preparing food.. it was fun to spend Christmas with friends….however… with a big group, we had no choice but to play ‘Mafia’ – a game I have a love-hate relationship with. Maybe it was PMS or it’s just me being tired and grumpy – we left the party before X’mas as I was too irritated getting accused of being the Mafia almost every single time. Yes it’s a game but I am such a delicate creature you know.

the first few minutes of Christmas was spent in a lift (as we are returning home), sharing cookies with strangers who happened to be in the lift as us. haha… not too bad.. at least we gave and share on Christmas day!

No pictures of the party as nobody is keen in taking photos and I didn’t bring my camera :/

I think Christmas spent by ourselves is still waaaaaaaaaaaaay better

*hides in my shell*

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Disneyworld – Day 6 Magic Kingdom again

[Will blog Day 5 & 7 together.. fast forward to Day 6 first]

20 Nov

I figured out that if you are celebrating a special occasion on a Disneyland trip, it’s better to go when it’s your 4th- example, 4th birthday, 4th anniversary! The characters are pretty excited when we told them that we are celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary! hahaha it’s kinda like a white lie (anniversary was in September) but I just wanna wear that badge and be extra special 😀

Turns out that it’s worth it to openly declare that we are celebrating our wedding anniversary!!! the crew members congratulate us… the characters congratulate us… the cutest part was.. the characters showed their hands and counted – that’s when i discovered that most of them have 4 fingers (Mickey, chip, dale) !!!! That’s y i think going to Disney to celebrate the 4th of something is a good idea! You will see Chip counting his fingers in one of the pics below .. how adorable!

It was the soft opening of the NEW Fantasyland!!

We made reservations at the new restaurant – Be Our Guest (Beast’s and Belle’s castle) For Disney dinning, u need reserve many months before or u won’t get a table. It’s our 1st and only sit down/full service Disney dining in this trip

Love the deco.. it's so real! FYI, the prince's pic will change to beast every 8 mins or so 🙂

Food was good – considering that we had bad food for the past few days. The dishes served were French inspired. I had seafood pot pie while BH had steak

When it’s time for dessert, the server would push the cart to u so that u can have your pick! Cool!!!

After we paid and exit… we met BEAST!!! It was probably the only character that we don’t have to line up for a long time!!!

Not a good pic of us BUT BEAST is majestic! Now I know how Belle fell in love with him.. such a gentle giant!

After dinner, we headed to a new attraction “Belle’s Tales” It’s an interactive story-telling session with Belle. The crew members picked some participants.. and BH was picked!!! OMG!! I was soooo excited!!!! hahaha.. I mean.. of so many people he was picked!!! see… the beauty of the ‘we are celebrating’ badge!!!! 🙂

Bing’s role was Belle’s knight!! everybody say “WAH!!” hehehe

It was such a awesome experience!!!! Something I will nv forget!!

Love how the castle changes at night… very pretty!! very magical!! I know.. I used the word ‘magical’ many times.. but it really is!! this time round, we didn’t take much pics of the fireworks.. decided that we shld just enjoy and rem it in our heads instead 🙂

Just one last look…..

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Chocolate Souffles for 2!

[This is an outdated post]

One Sunday, 2 weeks ago, I was really craving for chocolate souffle and tiramisu. Yes, both desserts at the same time! haha.. I bought the ingredients and decided to make them on the same day! Abit ambitious BUT these are ez recipes! The chocolate souffle came out v well.. Tiramisu taste ok but the cream wasn’t as smooth as I wanted it to be

managed to find a recipe that yield 2 servings for the chocolate souffle

Chocolate souffle recipe (for 2)

(from My San Francisco Kitchen)

Ingredients

⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips (used chocolate bar)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp warm water
2 tbsp and 2 tsp granulated sugar
2 large egg whites, room temperature (I used 3 egg whites)
⅛ tsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cinnamon
Confectioners’ sugar for garnish (I omitted this)

Instructions

1) Grease 2 ramekins with soft butter, then coat with sugar. Place ramekins in the freezer and chill for at least 30 minutes.

2) Place an oven rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

3) Add the chocolate and butter to heatproof bowl then placed over a saucepan filled with an inch of simmering water (not touching).Stir the chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth.Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and cinnamon. Set aside.

4) In a large bowl, add egg yolk and warm water and beat until frothy. Gradually add 2 tsp sugar, and continue beating about 5 minutes.

5)Gently fold the yolks into the chocolate mixture.Remove ramekins from freezer.

6)Add egg whites to the bowl of a standing mixer with whisk attachment and add lemon juice and pinch of salt.

7)Beat on medium until frothy, then gradually add 2 tbsp of sugar and increase speed to high.Beat until the whites hold a stiff peak then stop.

8) Gently fold about a third of the egg whites into the chocolate to lighten, then fold in remaining whites until just blended.

9) Carefully spoon the souffle mixture into the ramekins, and place on a baking sheet.

10)Bake until the soufflé rises and when the top is touched with your finger it springs back, about 18 to 20 minutes.

11)Remove from oven, dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.

Finished mine up almost immediately! Yummy!

Note: Eat immediately after baking – it will shrink and sink once out of the oven!

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My not so successful Tiramisu.. shall share recipe when i find a better one

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I passed!!

yay!! Finally got my WA driving license 🙂

I consider myself v lucky! My tester is very kind to let me pass! Well.. I am still a timid driver.. hahaha

So.. My test is at 8.30am on a Saturday. I think it’s a pretty good timing because everyone is probably still sleeping. To top it up, there was slight showers.. so roads were quite empty.

Everything in my drive test went on well ( he only brought me to residential areas to drive – little traffic) until…I got to park on a hill… and i bump onto the curb! OMG.. In my head.. I was like that’s it! I also turned the wheel to the wrong direction ( should be AWAY from curb, I did otherwise 🙁 ) Erm.. that was -4 pts. Then we went onto a small road… He told me to turn RIGHT BUT i wanted to turn left! gosh… he alerted me again in time … I have a super bad sense of direction! At that time, I was thinking in my head “it’s ok… I can just retake the test”  Then I encouraged myself that “I still have hope – test is not over!”.. s0… I tried to be positive.. and perfected my parking!!

Drove back to test centre.. and it was time for results…. when he told me I passed.. I was sooooo happy!!! 🙂 Thank God for giving me such a lenient tester… hahaha… The passing score is 80 and I got 89… way to go!!

The only bad thing is… the photo of me on the driver’s license is really UGLY 🙁

hahaha.. But…. I passed! Happy Saturday! Now I have an identity in WA and I don’t have to carry my passport around!!

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USS – Day 4 The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Feeling down today… so decided to blog.. looking at these happy pictures, put my worries away for awhile..

18 Nov

We did not rent a car.. we booked Mears Transport Shuttle to bring us from Disney to USS Orlando – US$19/person round trip. This shuttle is quite good – ez to book, no need credit card, pay by cash to the driver – no complains.. just that it’s a shuttle, so it will mk stops at different places to drop/pickup people

Most of the people who go to USS are headed to Harry Potter Land (HPL) . OMG! It’s soooo crowded… we also zoomed to HPL BUT can’t help and got distracted by Dr Seuss.. haha

HPL is way inside… so it’s a walk… Finally…

It’s really a world of it’s own! No.. I am no HP fan.. BUT it sure feels like I’m in Hogwarts.. many people were holding wands and wearing long robes!

I feel so spoiled by Disney… because there’s no photographers here to take pictures for us… blah… their photopass pictures cannot be seen online 🙁 Most of our pics were taken by not very pro tourists

Places were very nicely constructed.. just like real! However, we felt that their organization for taking the rides was messy! Of course, we took the superb simulator ride.. OMG..probably the best I had ever taken.. took it twice! the line was super long…. no… I didn’t dare to take Dragon’s Challenge. haha

The above pic is an example of a photo taken by a tourist.. haha.. he really took a picture of us ( and not with the castle) sigh….ok.. try again… our self taken shot…

Much better! A front facing camera is so important!

Things at HPL is soooooo expensive.. I left the place with NO souvenirs ( except the pumpkin juice bottle)

Butterbeer is NOT alcohol. It is root beer with marshmallows…it’s sweet BUT really nice… very sinful drink. Pumpkin juice on the other hand is kinda sour-sweet? acquired taste I would say..

Had lunch at 3 broomsticks (a cafe inside HPL).. food was ok…We didn’t take pictures of the food as there was nothing special… walk around in the other parts of USS

Took a few more silly rides.. ( does not include roller coaster.. I was just too scared…)

o…. we found this funny! hahaha…

Dinosaurs drinking coke! I think I know why dinosaurs are extinct..They drank too much coke! hahaha

Had dinner at Bubba Gump for the first time!

Food was decent.. BUt our server was super nice.. we ordered a drink which was served in a normal cup. I told her that I like the cup with dancing lights.. and she packed us 1 to bring home! 🙂

After a filling dinner… we headed back to our hotel… we changed hotel on this day too!!!

New resort: Art of Animation

I always wanted to stay in a Disney Theme hotel.. so glad that BH made my wish come true!!! I feel like a princess!! hahaha.. Disney moved our stuff from the 1st hotel to this one… MAGIC! Bags were already in our room when we open the door 🙂

Once door is opened.. it’s a huge WOW!!! The place is so new and clean.. There’s a ‘new’ smell too!! Super happy (to have a change esp when I saw a living cockroach in our room at the other resort) !!

Shall end this entry with a sign I saw at USS – Seuss landing….

Time to THINK UP now….

 

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How much are you worth?

[Random thoughts]

Since BH and I had relocated here, my parents are helping us to collect our letters. My sister would then take pictures and inform us of the letters we received.

One day, she send me a shot of  BH’s insurance policy. I took a quick look and giggled at how insurance companies put a value to one’s life. I saw that BH’s life was valued at $X amount. I felt a little sad..why?

1) If something happens to BH.. I will only get $X! So little!!! “Lu gi” leh…

2) Insurance company is not God … who are they to put a monetary value to our lives right?

sigh… then again..it’s a dog-eat-dog world.. you pay more premium you are worth more.. money talks. Who cares if you are a good person?

I told my sis about what I suddenly realised…

Sis: Now then u know! I am worth more dead than alive!

hahaha… so sad….

When BH knew how much he’s worth.. he’s like…

BH: I am worth more alive than dead!

Now… I wonder how much I’m worth…

I think I’m worth more not working than when I’m working.. heh