Happy Valentines Day!

We don’t really believe in Valentines Day.  We do cards, but nothing else.

            Since we went on best behaviour last February, Nick has been desperate to try out Raffles Afternoon Tea, so I slipped a little note saying that we are going to be going soon into his card.

Suddenly filled with enthusiasm for tea, and with a totally free Sunday stretching ahead of us, he quickly set about calling all other afternoon tea providers to see where we could spend our Sunday afternoon.

            Fortunately (for us, but not my diet), we managed to book the last table at the St Regis, and spent the rest of our day dreaming of, enjoying and recovering from scones, cakes and an awful lot of tea!

A surprise supper

This Friday we had plans for a low key supper in Little India with my new work buddy Sonya.

            Her boozy lunch slightly got in the way of these plans, and so instead of heading back for a quiet evening I went out to join her until Nick finished up work, and then we were going to slip away for dinner on our own.

            Somehow, but the most unlikely of coincidence, minutes after Nick arrived, he had to pop out for another work call, and whilst standing in a very small, ridiculously quiet side road where runners go to do laps because so few people are ever on the road, he bumped straight into Kate and Duncan.

            Kate and Duncan live in Hong Kong, and were passing through Singapore for just a few hours before their connecting flight home from a holiday in Lankawi. Rather than telling anyone that they were in town, they opted to have a quiet dinner, just the two of them.

Dinner at Lukes

Both our plans went out the window, and after a couple of quick catch up drinks we merged our solo dinner plans and had the most elaborate supper at Lukes, which was a real treat.

            Sometimes it’s the nights when you are planning to do very little that turn out to be some of the best!

A rather lazy weekend

Whilst I had a lovely well-behaved weekend, Nick was out with clients on Thursday night, and the result was a very tired Nick by Friday night, so instead of doing anything too exciting or fun, we opted for a Friday night at home, with steak for supper and a new film on the TV. We’re like old people, and it’s glorious!

            Saturday was a little bit more active, but not too much! Nick was up at 6am to go up to Malaysia for a game of golf with a friend, leaving me in Singapore to fill my morning with jobs, laundry, a 10k hike with Liv and a nice coffee in the sun. By the time that Nick got home in the early afternoon we were both exhausted, and we ended up having another very early night after a quick dinner at Smokey’s before passing out (having just about managed to keep our eyes open in the taxi home).

By Sunday we were both feeling a bit more alive and kicking, which was something of a relief! I started the day at Tekka wet market, leaving Nick to prepare breakfast and coffees, ready for the minute I came through the door. There followed a lovey lazy stroll around the newest art gallery in Singapore, The National Gallery, complete with a drink at their rooftop bar and a light lunch of some shared popcorn chicken.

We rounded the weekend off with a healthy dinner (classic Sunday – I cooked, Liv came to join us and we spent a couple of hours lounging on the sofa). She left us at around 9pm, and I was fast asleep by 9:30pm.

            It’s a good job that we have a full four day weekend of nothing by eating, drinking and napping coming up. I feel like I might need it!

Getting the balance back

This has been another very well behaved week for me, so far. I have decided that post-wedding I need to concentrate on not just eating cake at every meal, as amazing as that would be, but on trying to get enough balance throughout the week that by the end of the weekend I don’t feel gross and repulsive, but like I have still had a good time and plenty of chance to get out and about on adventures.

            This week has been my first proper effort, and it’s gone really rather well. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were set aside for very good behaviour, with gym sessions before and after work, and only healthy things for lunch, even when I met Jules for a catch up on Wednesday we still only went for vegan salads. Good work so far!

            Thursday was threatening to be a little bit trickier because we had a full afternoon planning session, which included lunches being ordered in, which normally means pizza for my team, but thankfully I managed to get out to the salad bar and order them all healthy food before anyone raised pizza as a suggestion, so I won one more meal along the way.

            Other than a few little lunch dates, I’ve had very little in my diary this week, so we’ve spend a little bit of time planning for some future adventures that are still to come this year.

            First up is our long weekend in Phuket over Chinese New Year next weekend. Then there’s Dubai for Erin’s wedding a few weeks afterwards, and now Hong Kong for the Easter weekend too. We have a few bits and pieces to sort before confirming a ‘glamping’ trip in Indonesia in June, and a KL adventure in May before our brief weekend at home for my birthday, but all in all, it’s starting to stack up!

            I had been worried that we would run out of holiday days before being able to do the final rounds of Asia that we need to get done before the end of the year, but judging by what we already have in the diary, I think we’re going to be ok!

Two year Singaversary

It’s official, I have been living in Singapore for a full two years today! Sometimes it feels like way longer, and sometimes it feels like hardly any time at all.

I can’t believe that it was just two years ago that I packed up my life in London, threw nearly all my worldly possessions under the road in front of Debbie’s house, and I got on a plane to the other side of the world “just to see” how things would go.

           

Well that was a rather bold move at the time, but I like to think that it was a decision for the very best. Here we are, two years later, happily married and drinking cocktails for brunch in the first restaurant that we went out to dinner at when I first arrived in Singapore. Time flies!