sun, sand 'n' prison...

We are on October break from school right now.  So, keeping my boys entertained is my top priority - when they are happy I'm smiling ;-)  We've got some pretty fun and interesting projects and days out planned - remote control car racing, bikes on the East Coast Park, picnic at the beach, Changi Prison Museum, National History Museum, ArtScience Museum, swimming, skate park to name a few...I'll do a little review of some of these and other 'keeping the kids entertained' activities at the end of this week.

Yesterday - swimming, work (Kumon Learning Centre), lunch by the beach and Changi Prison.  We are lucky enough to live just 10 minutes by bike to the start of the East Coast Park.  Here there are lots of cafes, restaurants and of course the beach and sea.  Considering the traffic on the sea to and from the busy port - the beach is kept pretty clean and the sea is nice to paddle in.  Will for sure be heading there again this week, going to buy buckets & spades and do some fun sand castle building :-)

Also, yesterday, we took a drive further East in search of the Changi Prison Museum.  I do not have a 'fab' sense of direction but we did finish 'kind of' in the area we wanted :-)  Unfortunately, the Museum was closed - if we had not got 'a little' lost we would have got there in time to visit!  (we will return to see the little P.O.W chapel). 

My boys being real boys did think that to see the 'real prison' would be a good afternoon activity!  So, we took a drive around the 'actual' Changi Prison Complex.  Probably a bit shocking for them really and did enough to scare them some - to say the high fences, barbed wire, security cameras, police and various protection officers with their big guns were impressionnantes would be an understatement.  I do not imagine what we looked like driving around there...slightly more entertaining than tourists of the beaten track no doubt! :-0

Singapore protection officers

Our first October school break in the Singapore sun ;-)  For, I think, the last 7 years my parents-in-law have spent this holidays with us in France.  My boys have always enjoyed the bags and bags of Halloween goodies (outfits, decorations, sweeties) brought over from the UK.  This October we are recreating the Halloween fun but, happily, not experiencing the autumn weather - although I do 'kind of' miss those crispy orange leaves...

So, here in Singapore we headed to Plaza Singapura and found lots of Halloween goodies and fab material (from Spotlight) to make outfits for the boys (and me).  Erm, yes my sewing machine will be seeing the light of day...watch this space for my creations :-)

Lastly, a friend shared this pic with me via Facebook...

could really be the picture of every Mum (and some Dads) during October break :-D

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

pretty in pink...

Today everything is looking pretty 'n' pink ;-)

October is BCA month.  Worldwide companies and individuals are going pink in support of the cause.  Landmarks worldwide have been lit in pretty pink lights to raise awareness and offer support, here in Singapore the Flyer - pretty in pink too...

So to offer my tiny contribution to this massive event I'm being passionate for all things pink in my blog today...


Pink (and green)...the Dragon Fruit.  Yes,  it looks very pretty and exciting on the outside but inside it's a little disappointing.  With my boys, yesterday, we enjoyed looking at this lovely tropical fruit which is grown in Vietnam.
 

My boys tried to guess what colour it would be inside - pink or green & white.  So, cutting into it they were surprised to see white with little black seeds.  The texture of the fruit's skin is rubbery making it super easy to peel.  The texture inside is pretty dry and would not be to every one's liking (all those little pips are a bit difficult and get stuck in all the nooks and crannies of your mouth and teeth :-D).  My youngest son - who adores all fruit - said the Dragon Fruit is sweet and yummy.  But my eldest, who is certainly a savoury food lover, did not like and after just the tiniest of pieces refused to eat anymore...I could not blame him - not to my liking either/neither.

Pink 'n' oh so girly y ;-)  My much anticipated Bellabox did not disappoint ;-) 

Ah yes, this cute pink box was opened to reveal a second box within - how very exciting!  I am loving my goodies which were so perfectly wrapped inside.  What was in there?  O.P.I skin quencher - mango hand and body lotion, smells absolutely yummy, yummy and my hands are now smelling positively good enough to eat!  Esprit D'Oscar by Oscar de la Renta - this sample size is applied by way of a tiny roll on - lovely, lovely and my fragrance made my 'Mr Man' smile last night ;-)  I'm adding a full size bottle of the fragrance to my Christmas wish list. 

Before I left 'old Blighty' 13 years ago, I regularly used and loved Aveda shampoo so after reading that they would be participating in the BellaBox I was so hoping to find some of their products in the first box.  Rosemary mint shampoo and conditioner these 2 cuties smell divine (my youngest son wants them for his own!)    Not sure the shampoo will suit my 'oh so natural' hair colour so perhaps my boys will get their hands on them afterall? 

Lastly in my beautiful BellaBox was the Twistband.  I have to admit that I had no idea what these little ribbon-y things were!  Thankfully, I spotted these on the BellaBlog and they are now sure to become a permanent fixture on my wrist just ready for pulling my hair back for those extra hot and humid Singapore days. 

Opening my BellaBox and this talk of exciting packaging reminds me of something a friend told me... she had opened her Christmas present from me a few years ago, I had bought her lots of Sephora goodies and got them gift wrapped in store.  The Christmas wrapping staff had put the gifts in scrunchy scented tissue paper, popped them in a big (slightly over sized) box, added tiny silver stars, then tied the whole box up with a red feather boa.  My friend told me that, although she loved the products inside the box, she could not resist wrapping it all up and opening the box again and again.

So yes, packaging and appearance is important.  But thinking now about the Dragon Fruit - the moral of the story has to be - appearances can be deceiving!

There's so many more cute-y, pink-y and pretty produits which are making me smile...probably some more pink photos tomorrow...

Until then...

Kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

Nī hào...

This cute box arrived yesterday :-)  I will set aside some time today to enjoy the 'opening ceremony' and will be reviewing the products within...little bit excited about the very first Bellabox

"Wǒ bù dǒng hán yù"...but I'm learning!  I'm only on my second 'Chinese Made Easy' lesson and it is so much fun - I'm loving it.  Of course, yes, it is soooo difficult but my teacher is fab and makes it relevant to how I can practice day to day (courage required!)  It's not really 'necessary' to speak Chinese here in Singapore...English/Singlish is spoken and understood island-wide but for those trips around China it will come in useful.  Anyway, for the last 4 years I've been saying "I would really love to learn mandarin" so here I go.  Apparently, one of the traits of my star sign which is Gemini is a love for and success with languages ;-)  I agree with the love for! 

Living in France for a total of 9 years definitely developed into a success with French.  Without French I would not have had such great friends or amazing experiences there...I promise to do a topic about living in France and the French language and people (bien sûr les noms changés pour protéger les personnes concernées :-D Yes, you'll see living in France wasn't always with a smile but I did have lots of smiley times ;-)

They say music can alter moods and talk to you...I totally agree with this.  Everyday, twice a day, I walk my lovely dog and pop in my iPod - it is filled with a real mix (Take That - with and without Robbie, Rihaaaaaanna, Cold Play, Eminem, Cheryl Cole, Air, Ke$ha, Enrique, Taio Cruz, Pulp and other crazy choices) with the iPod on shuffle the music really does 'set' my day.  A song that is really making me smile right now (constantly on the radio), I will find it on iTunes, is Enrique featuring Pitbul ...I like it ;-)

Zài jiàn - later...

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

Sunshine 'n' smiles on a rainy day...

Rain, rain go away... Today, has been so wet and grey (North of England weather).  I was rained in at the MRT station with no umbrella.  The wind was blowing, the rain was lashing at my bare legs and sleeveless arms, bit chilly was the rain, so I found the outside vent of an air con unit was pleasantly warm ;-) of course I had to smile at myself being huddled there, keeping warm and dry.

Tropical storms...they seem to come out of the blue (sky), or so I thought.  Just yesterday, listening to the radio in the car the weather guys announced a storm 'a brewing' "expect heavy rain and localised flooding between 8.35 am and 9.50 am" they said.  Sure enough at exactly the time predicted 'the heavens opened'.  We British love to moan, groan and generally converse about the weather! ;-)

So, from rain to sunshine....I've found a great garden/plant store near the boys' school and have decided to have a 'grow' with sunflower seeds.  Sunflowers are my favourite, favourite flowers they look like big smiley faces ;-) really hoping they grow up nice and tall...watch out for photos of my little seeds a growing!

Recently here in Singapore the papers, radio stations and tv news have been talking about an ad down on Orchard Road.  Apparently, someone, decided this ad was 'too much' for the Singapore audience and it has therefore been suspended.  It now seems it is in the process of being taken away.  However, it caused such a stir that everyone was either on the Internet desperate to see it or heading down to Orchard Road catching a glimpse before it disappeared!  I so totally had to smile (and giggle a bit) today as a Singapore news station questioned "if it was in fact a planned publicity stunt?"!  Of course, it doesn't take a genius to work out that it more than likely was planned to attract attention - bravo to their marketing team ;-)  I dare not post it here (I don't want suspending!) but my link may take you down there...what do you think?  Not a bad body, hey?

Lastly, SHOES, a girl's best friend ;-)  I smiled while reading a magazine today...a 'self-confessed' shoe addict states "I feel inadequate without my shoes".  Erm...well, I love shoes but would not go quite that far ;-)  I do though, feel extremely happy stepping out in my Jimmy Choo shoes and I do actually clean the soles when I arrive home :-D  Don't we all have strange addictions?  Shoe addiction makes me think of a couple of my fave movies Confessions of a shopaholic and The Devil wears Prada ;-))

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)



Ah yes, Sentosa made me smile...

The first weekend of October my husband took me to Sentosa.  We had intended to go a little further afield but, as this was the first time to leave the boys at home we decided to play it safe and rest close to 'home'. 

When we lived in Singapore previously (2000-2004), Sentosa was very much a run down poor neighbour to the City of Singapore.  Over the last 6 years though Sentosa has had extensive renovation and (painful but fantastic) facelifts.  The last 'big' thing to pop up there was Universal Studios in 2010.  Now, Sentosa is the fun and 'disney land-ish' neighbour to the city!  I really do not mean that in a bad way - I love it ;-)

Our 1 night 2 day stay on Sentosa was just perfect.  A little known fact is that 'Sentosa' translated from Malay means 'peace and tranquility'.  For Jason and I, our stay was exactly that (with a little romance included) ;-)

However beautiful it is to sit on the beach and enjoy a glass of chilled white wine, I would say the Sentosa planners have missed something.  Remember the Trueman Show?  The painted sky and clouds out in the distance?  Well Sentosa needs one of those painted scenes to hide the ships sailing in and out of the busy port.  As just about everything is man made or out of this world there I would have expected someone to have thought of this! 

A few other Sentosa 'things' that I am absolutely loving are ifly - (world's largest wind tunnel for 'sky diving experience) check their website, it is totally amazing and I so want to do it (with the kids, of course) http://www.iflysingapore.com/ and even without a 'true surf' on the calm sea the Wave House can offer a super amazing surfing experience http://www.wavehousesentosa.com/ here is a pic I took while we were looking on in amazement...

I cannot finish on my talk of Sentosa without mentioning a couple of quotes from the details on their map..."a wide variety of food ranging from sandwiches to coffee",  "whether it's for a delicious, wholesome meal or a tasty snack, you'll find what you're looking for here" and "Discover the history of Singapore Cable Car - featuring THREE generations of cable car cabins". 

Sure, there is truly something for everyone on Sentosa ;-)

So, while my husband has been away (for the last 6 nights - and counting) I have not felt great!  Strange how much I rely on him just to keep me smiling and on the straight and narrow of life!  Everything has been wrong, my weight, my face, my wardrobe, my hair...Today though I got out of bed, straightened my hair perfectly with my GHDs and put on a fab 'visiting the bank manager' outfit.  I felt great and got the bank problem sorted (maybe I'll blog more about banks and their relationships with expat wives on another day...) 

But yes, I was going somewhere with this...hair...yes, hair and feeling good!  I, and I'm guessing most if not all women and guys, do not feel good if their is a disastrous nest...in the last couple of days I've gone from wanting it all chopping off, wanting it dying blond, wanting it wavy/curly (with this humidity could be difficult).  As said though, today, with my perfectly straight and a lovely shade of Rhiaaaaanna red, I felt like 'the only girl in the world' ;-)  Here is a pic of a style I crossed 'on t' 'tinternet' today which made me smile;-)

As I sign off for today, only one more sleep until my wonderful husband returns and my boys have only 1 'n' 1/2 days at school until October break...what shall we do for 17 days (!) and where shall I take them?  Of course I will talk about family fun in Singapore and keeping the kids entertained (and doing homework) in the next couple of weeks blogs...until then,

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

What made me smile today...?

This morning started with a tropical storm.  Rain absolutely 'siling it darn'!  I drove my boys to school and was reminded what a privilege it is to have a car here in Singapore - passing the queues of people all waiting (in no particular orderley fashion) for those 'rare' taxis.  I did feel for the people as I was reminded of the time I was without a car...My boys were at summer camp, we took a taxi to school intending to get another taxi to get myself home.  Then the rain came!  I started to call a taxi with no success, began to walk in the direction of home with the intention of flagging down a taxi - again with no success!  I got to the point of no return (!) having walked so far that to get a taxi would be just silly.  Therefore I had walked around 5km, in the rain, chuntering to myself and questioning 'why we did not have the car'!  I still had to smile that day - I couldn't help to think the exercise would have done wonders for my 'arse' :-)

Of course, as tropical storms do, this morning's blew itself out and by lunch time we had 32 degrees with blue sky.  Very nice!

I also smiled at etsy.com a website of handmade and vintage items (one of a kind items).  They sell some lovely pieces.  I love their handmade jewelry section and had to be very strict with myself to not order (at least not today).  Lovely, lovely items.

Since hearing about the Glossybox in the UK, glossybox.co.uk I have been waiting for the Bellabox to be launched in Singapore.  Finally, Bellabox was a go go on the 1st October!  Today my payment has gone through and posting will begin tomorrow.  I shall post and review when it arrives - I soooo hope I am not disappointed...!  Bellabox.sg

Supermarket!  No-one smiles at the supermarket?  But me, this morning I went to the supermarket with my helper Aileen.  I had to smile at how fast we were finished and how much less I spend when she is with me.  I do not feel the need or rather am not tempted to pick up anything other than what is on the list.  While at the supermarket I smiled at a baby holding a Dragon Fruit - the baby was absolutely fascinated by it...Dragon Fruits really are unusual looking things - although, if I remember rightly they are not too impressive on the inside (taste wise).  I shall buy one and let my boys review it... 

This evening, after dinner, I snuggled up on the settee with my boys.  Last night we watched a double episode of Dr Who 'The Family of Blood' (their choice) so, this time, it was my choice.  My favourite, favourite Dr Who of all time is 'Blink' or 'Weeping Angels'.  It's got the right amount of scary in for the boys and I love the super storyline.  My only grumble is that 'Blink' is a 'Doctor-Lite' episode!  But anyway here is a pic of my favourite Dr Who - David Tennant...just look at that smile ;-)

Putting David Tennant aside now....Lastly I must mention I have only two more sleeps until my husband is home.  He's been away on business in China since the middle of last week :-(  I so totally missed him during last weekend.  The weekend previous, we had spent a romantic night away on Sentosa - we had a lovely, lovely time.  More about Sentosa tomorrow after I upload and (of course) edit my pics.

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

beginning the blogging

I've emailed emails, I've chatted on Skype, I've tapped and sent sms, I've emoticonned with im and my status on FB has been updated with photos and links.   Now this blogging business is 'my' new thing! :-D

Sometimes it might be funny, sometimes it might be interesting, sometimes it will be boring but 'mostly' it will be true ;-) It's about life as I live it...my thoughts, my feelings, my dreams and my wishes.  Always wrote with a smile and posted with kisses xx 

I'll enjoy writing it, I hope you like reading it. 

Follow me on my journey.......

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx :-)