Hi Ringo!

Today, we welcomed our first pet. It is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, named Ringo. BH and I had been thinking of having a dog for a super long time.. And it’s surreal that it finally happened.

We or rather I wanted a Red and White corgi – it was hard to find a good breeder! Finally… We found a fabulous Breeder near us.. About 1 hour away..

We visited the breeder once but still did not know which pup is available to us. Usually, the breeder would pick the dogs for show potentials then the remaining ones would go to pet homes. Well.. The batch of pups available were tri Color corgis, not what I was looking for.. But you never knew which doggie will steal your heart right? So we went a long with it…

To tell u the truth, the moment I arrived at the breeder’s place, I was attracted by the 3 red and white corgis ( which were pending home or for show dogs) .. I didn’t think much of it…. But just knew that such doggies won’t come to us…. Who knows…….Our breeder got back to us about a month later and said that RIngo didn’t turn out to be what she wanted… His muzzle is too big… I was ‘stunned like vegetable’. Also on the other hand, another tri Color pup was available too. We were torn, not too sure which to choose….(in my heart, I hope Ringo works out)

This morning, we visited the breeder again….. Who knows!!! Our car can’t start!!!! Murphy’s law! Gosh…. Luckily, we have a wonderful neighbour, who came in to help us.. And we also have AAA membership and the battery tech came in about 30mins..charged the car battery and off we went.

We finally arrived at the breeder around 2pm. The first pup that came to us is Ringo!!! The other tri colour pup didn’t even want to come to us. The breeder also thought Ringo was good fit for us,’breeder instinct’ she says.

Ringo was really quiet and mostly still on the car ride. He is super laid back.. When he is home, he just wanna stick close to us. Our worry now is… He has not poop or pee!!!! He also don’t seem to be enjoying his meals.. I literally have to feed him bits by bits…

Well… The journey continues… We will need to work on the leash training tomorrow. New beginnings for us…

*Ringo is on trial period for 1 week.. Really hope he works out for us*

Here’s the picture of the day…

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7th 6eptember!

*This is a belated post*

I was chatting with some friends a few weeks back, telling them that this is our 7th year of marriage and on top of that we have been together for 13 years! wow! you know how the ” 7 year itch” is a term that suggests that happiness in a relationship will start to go down after around year 7?! Gosh.. how scary! and how the number 13 is not a good number?! and to think that ….we are at this point now! *shivers*

Well, BH and I are still very happy together. I am not sure about BH but at least, I wake up everyday feeling blessed and contented. When I get irritated or upset, I will snap myself out of it, give myself a pinch and think “Sheesh… why did I deprive myself of being happy for X minutes!” You know… life is so precious… who knows what’s going to happen in the next second!

For this year, BH and I headed to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for our anniversary! It’s a short 4 Day, 3 nights trip. I’m not too sure if I mention this before…but BH had some mileage on Southwest and travelling to Mexico is the best way to utilize the miles (since it is considered a International flight) + I travel for free as I’m on companion pass.

Took a super early flight out on 5 September and arrived in the evening around 6pm (after a flight delay due to technical repairs). We stayed at Secrets Vallarta Bay. The resort was really nice… it was like a fortress by itself.

Imagine this… as the taxi approach the resort, there is a HUGE gate with a guard house… the taxi stops and the guard comes out to make sure that the resort is expecting you… then the gate opens…your taxi drives up an elevated S-curve driveway… and you are bedazzled by the amazing view…. then you realized… you are in paradise!

View from resort

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, we were tired and hungry…. so we checked in. Our room was nice but it’s just too near the elevators. We can actually hear people walking in and out of the elevators. Also, the *beep beep* warning sound from the elevators’ doors. We were too tired to take any pictures or ‘complain’ so we just accepted the room.

The first thing we did at the resort was… to go for dinner!

Food was good but the portion was small… well… I guess, it’s good.. as we can eat however much we want since it’sΒ ALL-INCLUSIVE!! Oh yes, beverages and alcohol included!

Us at Puerto Vallerta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning, besides getting woken up by the noise outside our room… we also heard the sound of the sea waves – so serene! We got changed, had a light breakfast and hang out by the pool… just chilling.. I love such vacations… no specific places to go…just enjoying the food, drinks and view. (I got to add.. the beach at Cancun looks cleaner and more ‘blue’… the infinity pool at Sun Palace was way nicer than this one….but it’s still good.. at least it’s less crowded)

Drinking cocktail by the pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon, we decided to take a stroll at Broadwalk.. which was a short cab ride away. It was way tooooooooo hot… regretted it the moment we got out of the cab.. gosh… took a few pictures and headed back to the resort…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When BH booked the room, …we informed the resort beforehand that it’s our anniversary! we received champagne in our room and breakfast in bed the next morning!! wooohoo!! πŸ˜€

Anniversary special

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every day, the chambermaid will put a program sheet in our room, telling us the various activities happening in the resort… LOOOOK! Bing’s name was on it!! They forgot my name though… haha..

Basically, we just spent the next day eating, drinking, soaking in the pool, spending time with each other ( and with our phones + ipad Β , internet connection was fabulous!) It was sooooo relaxing… everything I want a vacation to be… Feeling so blessed to be able to come this far and enjoy life together!!!

we are 7!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This resort actually have pretty good night entertainment activities.. there were fire shows, casino night and acoustic live singing on each respective night we were there ! BH and I would hang out in the lobby… have some drinks and just chat while enjoying the sea breeze and view. It was monsoon season.. so it did rain heavily!! Fortunately , it usually stops after an hour or so…

Our vacation ended when we had to go back to work on Wednesday. There’s a 2 hour time difference between Mexico and Seattle. Ever since we got back, we are always hungry at the wrong time.. still trying to get used to the fact that food/drinks/good service is no longer a phone call or a hand wave away!! hahaha.. Hope to go back soon!!

If you ask me… Cancun or Puerto Vallarta? I will say……..Cancun if you love beaches. Puerto Vallarta if you wanna get away from the crowds.

It was a fabulous trip nevertheless!! Happy 6eptember to us and many more to come!!

Who’s reading?

wooo.. my super neglected blog πŸ™

well… everything’s the same.. the good kind of same….

I guess..something worth blogging about is…BH and I recently started talking about having kids and I just don’t feel ready…

It seems like we have a few things on our hands that we need take care off first.. before u start speculating… we do not have any health issues .. ok.. wait… we have high cholesterol which we are trying to control.. The biggest concerns are:
1) Our HDB in Singapore
2) BH’s family health history ( any genetic issues?)
3) BH’s ability to be a responsible/hands-on dad! I seriously have not seen him play with a toddler or held a baby before!

So, we are working towards preparing ourselves to get started… 1 of the things is… to fulfill our long time wish of having a dog! I think a puppy will be a good start to preparing ourselves.. it’s like a baby you know.. and also the 1st living thing we are going to take care of together…

we will see how this goes …

How old?!

While waiting for my hair to dry, I tried out http://how-old.net , which is launched by Microsoft.

Believe me.. I tried many many pictures and I was soooo sad that This website always detect BIng to be younger than me!!! How can!!!

Out of curiosity, I tried my parents pictures too.. Woooo..they are younger than their real age!!! Hahaha…

I came to a conclusion – this website works better for people who are older!!! If you think you are young, don’t use this website to confirm your age!!!

Some pictures to prove my point!! πŸ™‚

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and so…

Sad to say… almost 3 months of 2015 had passed and I have not started on most of my resolutions πŸ™

1) go to work on time and leave work on time everyday

2) go to the gym or zumba at least 2 times a week

3) blog at least once a week

This is the first time I am blogging after January… Tragic.. I haven’t step foot into the gym… oh… don’t ask me if i managed to get off work on time…

BUT I am happy to announce that…I had finally passed my exam and I am a Registered Paraplanner! Β At least resolution No. 4 is done!

It had been a busy start of the year..spent time studying and accomplished some personal goals… I am feeling happy.. I wish I could blog more here but some things are not meant to be public… so.. I will be password protecting some entries from now on…

Till the next entry..

** NO.. I am NOT pregnant**

Binghuan’s year in review 2014

This year was tough, I don’t know why but I feel this year was the toughest so far in the USA besides maybe the first year. Maybe it is due to me aging, maybe it is due to not having anything that is life changing happening to me…

Let’s recap all the biggest events again..

1) I ticked off something in my bucket list of giving a talk. Granted it is a small talk, I always wanted to do it, not so much that I think I am great at it. In fact, I think there are lots which I can improve with. It is more because I like to challenge myself. I hate that people will say you cannot do this or that, and I showed that I did it. Obviously I have lots of supporters in the form of my wife and my wonderful team. Challenge accepted and completed.

2) Was selected as the only person from my team to attend an Adobe conference for marketing analytics and I got to go to watch an NBA match in a suite! If only the teams were better, but hey its all free. With that trip, I also manage to visit Utah which is a really interesting city with its Mormon background. Would definitely re-visit it again with Amanda to for the rock and mountain.

3) Was fortunate enough to be re-assigned to a really hot project and deliver it on time. The Halo Channel is by far my toughest assignment so far. With less than 2 months, we had to almost re-write an entire app for Xbox one and Windows. I love UI work but obviously it is not my strongest skill set. Still very happy to learn new frameworks like AngularJS and be able to take a small leadership role to guide 2 vendors is awesome. I think I did overwork but it was all made up for with a 2 weeks break that I got for free…

4) Road trip with 2 close friends to Alaska! I don’t think Amanda and I have done anything as extensive as our Alaska trip with Jo and Dave. It is really hard to find friends especially friends who are of similar age and circumstances. I think we spend so much time in 2014 with them that facebook might think we are 1 big family with their year in review. Alaska was lots of fun, I hope everyone else enjoyed it too.

5) First all-inclusive resort in Cancun. So I got the miles from Southwest and decided to go all out and fly to Mexico. We didn’t want to splurge too much so chose a resort which I think we sort of regretted. There wasn’t a lot of good food choices within the resort. The food and drink is good but I think we both felt that we could have gotten better one. I actually enjoyed us visiting Moon Palace the most, if I have a choice, I think I might have chose that resort instead. Lot more food choices, activities to do. The view and water isn’t as nice though, so I guess its a coin flip. The other issue I have with all-inclusive resort is I miss my wife’s food… πŸ™‚

Did I miss anything, feels bland to me. I am wishing 2015 will be a big year for us, I wish things will change drastically in every facet. I think I am tired, or old. I am tired of getting old. I am thinking of travelling to somewhere far, like Machu Picchu or London. But we have to go back for a wedding, so I guess that is the trip. Amanda and I have like this 5 years plan which I am hoping we will just finish next year too. So that will be great if we do execute that plan.

Hope everyone else have a good year and an even better one next year.

Amanda’s 2014 review

I know I had neglected my blog again. It had been a long while since I blogged πŸ™

It’s the first entry of year 2015!! Happy New Year! This year we went to a friend’s place to welcome the new year. Guess how we spent the 1st minute of the new year? Of course, we drank champagne! So as the saying goes or rather the Amanda’s theory – “If you spent the first minute of the new year drinking champagne, you will be drinking champagne for the rest of the year!!” May this be a prophecy for all who still reads my blog!!! *cheers!!*

2014 had gone by in a flash. Let me try to recall some highlights-

Jan/Feb
The first 2.5 months of 2014 was spent in Singapore. Little would i know that this will be the LAST long vacation I will have for a long long time. I had an enjoyable time with family and friends. BH and I finally spent CNY in Singapore and gave out angbaos for the first time since we are married!! We also redeemed our expiring Krisflyer miles and traveled to Bali in Business Class! I love our Bali vacation so much.. probably the best vacation ever!!

March
We returned to Seattle and decided that we can no longer stay in the crappy apartment.We found a fabulous new community to move to. The rent is expensive but we decided that we wanted to enjoy our lives and save on other areas, so we moved. I think God had planned for this all along. After committing ourselves to the new apartment lease, we received good news of our PR status. This means that I can work and help out with saving more! The fear of increased rent was uncalled for! Just when I thought looking for a job will take me a long time…. someone sent an email within the Singaporean Meetup group, saying that his firm have a job vacancy. I applied and started working the next week! This is the reason why I can no longer go back to Singapore for long vacation already. By the way, that was the first resume I sent!!! (I am still working for him now.. my boss is by far the BEST I have ever had!)

April
Hosted Keurig Houseparty – I received a Keurig coffee maker for free!!! so happy to get selected!

May
Stopped volunteering to focus on my new job. Other than that, I can’t recall anything much

June
Trip to Napa Valley!! The first trip we took since I started working!

July
Bing and I discovered that our apartment have 2 fancy grills. We were like grilling steaks every 2 weeks! so delicious!
We also went to Seattle Sounders game with friends.

August
We finally took our post wedding pictures! The pictures turned out great!! Happy that I have 1 thing off my bucket list! πŸ™‚
We also went on a trip to Alaska with Dave and Jo!! Travelling together was so much fun- we will remember this adventure for life!

September
Happy 6th wedding anniversary to us! BH was busy with work but he still spend time to create an album with our photos!

October
Nothing exciting? Bing was working alot

November
Also nothing worth mentioning…

December

Went for Health check and was told that I have high cholesterol!! It is amazing how much I neglected my health when I start working πŸ™
Our vacation to Cancun, Mexico!! Such a relaxing trip!! I really love the all inclusive resort experience!!!
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I guess that sums up my year in 2014!

In 2015, I will
1) go to work on time and leave work on time everyday
2) go to the gym or zumba at least 2 times a week
3) blog at least once a week
4) study hard to get my paraplanning certification

Just like last year, I hope that more good things will come our way and that our family&friends will stay healthy and happy!
Happy New Year! πŸ™‚

My twin!!!!

Bing had been working a whole lot. Today is one of those days that he decide to work late and not come home for dinner. So… I got to cook for myself. Anyhow, I need to squeeze in a post while waiting for my food to cool down a little….

We have assigned parking slots in our apartment. So, just a few days ago, my parking neighbour bought a new car!!!! LOOOK!!!!

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Boo… I think the driver is a girl!! I haven’t met her yet!! What should I say if I see her???

Bing thought our cars look cute together… I can’t help but we feel that she ‘copied’ me πŸ™ hahaha… And I am renaming my car BAYMAX!! Just saw Big Hero 6 and BAYMAX is sooo cute!!! So my car is my BAYMAX now πŸ˜€

Time to eat!

6th 6eptember!

Happy Anniversary to us!

6 years of marriage flew by quickly. I have been very blessed to know and eventually marry such a wonderful guy. BH is NOT romantic, neither does he cook or clean. However, he is a good provider. He is motivated to work hard so I don’t have to. I remember how he was not too excited when I decided to go back to work “Why don’t you tell your boss that you can only work 4 days a week?” I guess, the MCP part of him just wanted a wife to clean, cook and wash?

Well, so what have we achieved in 6 years? erm… nothing? I really still enjoy having just the 2 of us. On most days, we just feel that having a dog would make our relationship more colorful. Yes, we have been dog searching whenever we can – however, we are just so picky. Just last week, we FINALLY see a puppy we both liked. Like most first dog owners, we were asking a whole tonne of questions.. in the end, the seller/breeder sold the pup to someone else. You should have seen the sadness on BH’s face. His exact words was ” It feels like we lost a child.” I was speechless.

Then again, I am really glad that we still have so much to look forward to as a couple. It’s like we have so much to do BEFORE we have kids. I guess the phrase that we look forward for is to have our own house, buying furniture we really like and decorating our own space without limits. Hopefully or maybe the time will come soon?

Finally, I am delighted to say that BH and I finally took the plunge and did something we wanted to do for a long time….. we took our post-wedding pictures!!

Here’s a few pictures πŸ™‚ Thank you Sam, my first friend in Seattle, who helped with the make-up. Photography by KristenΒ – she is young but talented. Photography session with her feels like a therapy – she interacts with us, ask us questions and certainly helped us to feel even closer after 6 years marriage (+ 6 years of dating)!

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What do you think? We loved them! These memories will last a life time πŸ™‚

I am still alive!

I haven’t blogged for so long and I forgot my log in to blog!!!! I still can’t rem my log in but luckily ipad saved my info.

Things have been going on great! I think I had gained weight ever since I started working πŸ™

Last weekend, I went to my first soccer match. I am not interested in soccer so I was super bored. However, the weather was really nice until it started drizzling towards the end!

My favorite picture from the day. No editing!!! Love the color of the sky. Can you spot the space needle??

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