Cirque du Soleil!

When Nick was back in the UK without me earlier in the year, tickets for Cirque do Soleil went on sale, and in what I can only assume was a knee-jerk ‘I ought to be out and having fun too’ reaction, I bough two tickets in the most ridiculously expensive section of the big top seating.            

            Thankfully, we are now doing our best to be sober whenever possible, so what better way (other than slobbing on the sofa) to pass a sober Friday night than with a carb-free dinner and an amazing view of the Cirque du Soleil spectacular!

            I have been to a couple of Cirque performances in the past, as has Nick, so whilst we knew what to expect, we were blown away with just how impressive the full set up and show is. Everything from the costumes to the set design is impressive. Then add to that acrobats and strongmen with the occasional clown appearance and it really did make for a very special (and yet well behaved) Friday night!

There’s always time for tea

I love it when I get a little care package from home, and I love it even more when they include tea! This amazing bundle arrived from Katya this week, containing some very special Emsworth tea – I can’t wait to brew up a cup this weekend and see if it tastes like home. Fingers crossed!

Blue sky, happy sky

Today, for the first day in almost two months, we work up to haze-free blue skies in Singapore. We’re talking fresh air, clear sky, actual sun and no smell of smoke or choking smog. It was glorious! I’ve had the busiest day, but it was all made better by the glorious sight of a blue sky all day long.

            Well, a blue sky and the save the date invite from my amazing Ellie! Can’t wait to get my bridesmaid dress sorted for that one, and it means another trip back to the UK in September.

            It’s the day that keeps on giving! What a difference a little bit of clean air makes!

Pollen treats

Every so often Nick gets to take his main client and his wife out for a nice dinner, and the best thing about the wife being included in the plan is that it means that I get to tag along too.    

            With the company very nicely footing the bill, whenever these dinner dates get booked in we spend some time finding the nicest places to try out, without the stress of having the settle the bill ourselves when it gets to home time.

            In the past we have been to all sorts of fabulous places, and we have stocked up on more than enough cocktails and courses while we have been there, but with all four of us on good behaviour, this time around we went for a slightly different approach.

Dinner was booked at Pollen, a sister restaurant of the fabulous Pollen Street Social in London, which has a great reputation for food, drinks and over all experience. Whilst a good reputation is obviously great, the main appeal for this particular restaurant is that it’s nestled in the flower dome at Gardens by the Bay. This means that to sit and enjoy a three course meal you have to wear a jumper and sometimes trousers just to survive. It’s probably the only place in the world that works so hard to replicate the autumnal chill in the air that we’re missing so much now that it’s nearly November. It might have been artificial, but a night spent wearing layers were utterly ideal!

Dinner was delicious, and the drinks were too. Considering it was our cheat day for this week we did really well at keeping it restraint, with Nick opting for a carb free salmon dish for his main instead of the amazing looking steak.      

            It was tasty, not too naughty, chilly, and of course lovely to catch up with Phil and Nathalie for probably the last time before we head home this December – what a way to celebrate the return of the cold! 

Hiding from the Haze

This is our last weekend of no plans before the countdown to our wedding really starts to speed up and we find ourselves without a minute to spare, so we decided to make the most of it by booking in absolutely nothing, and just mooching around as much as possible. Sadly our nothing plans could not include any form or outdoor activity or sun lounging due to the continued disgusting haze, and so our entire weekend had to be arranged to be as inside as possible - clear air activities only!

            On Friday evening we were supposed to go to a happy hour at a bar with no walls, ie, a smog pit. By this point the cough that I have been nursing for a few weeks had already turned to some disgusting sounding smokers cough, so this plan had to be ditched in favour of wandering around a couple of shops and a healthy chicken dinner instead.

SHARKS!

Saturday started strong with a good gym session, before we had a lovely coffee and then headed out for a kids day of fun at the aquarium. We had thought that we were going to the Singapore Maritime Museum, but it turns out that the Maritime museum is a short corridor of “examples of trade items”, and then you enter the aquarium. The museum was clearly a disappointment, the aquarium really was not!

All the most colourful little fishes

There were tanks in there the height of four story houses, and just as wide. The shark tunnel was surrounded by five foot beasts of every kind, including hammerhead sharks which amazed me. I always love an aquarium, and I think that this might be the best one that I’ve ever been to.

            Sunday was gymming and wedmin day for us, and then a little lunch with Kev and Jules that lasted well into the afternoon. Rather than heading out to eat we went to theirs where we demanded, and were served, super healthy chicken salad, lemon water and tea. It was simple, well behaved and delicious!

Wedmin plans are GO! 

Good behaviour ruled the way all weekend, and now we’re really are getting close to the wedding, we hope that this will continue through for a good few more weeks!