The Italian weekend with a sprinkling of chores

Had awesome Italian over the weekend because we stayed away from it since our trip to Italy. It was mighty good. Cucina never fails to disappoint. Our must order when we are there are the fried calamari, crab meat pasta and 4-flavored pizza. Super yums.



 

Then we went in search for more ingredients to cook our lasagne the next day. Stocked up the fridge with more tubs of Haagen Daz ice cream than we should. 

All that hard work paid off the next day because we managed to produce this! Our first lasagne attempt with our new oven!! All that cheesy goodness was soooo good...

The weekend flew by in a jiffy with family visits and chores done around the house. We did 4 loads of laundry and our living area no longer looks like a warzone. Really glad that everything is falling into place! 

Baby fair this weekend! Can finally stock up on necessities for Junior who has been kicking up a storm in my tummy recently. 

Looking forward to October! Loads to do before Junior arrives! :)

The Move-In

*slurps*

Celebrated our official move in with a feast yesterday. Moving is so exhausting... but it's so wonderful to have a place to call our own! ^^

Our place is littered with dust even after repeated cleaning. I've asked around and everyone gave me the knowing nod and told me that this "dust from goodness knows where" will continue for a month. Argh. Looks like my Novita will be put to very good use, especially since we are on a high floor and will be subjected to air pollution from our considerate neighbours. It was disturbing to see a good part of Punggol covered in a shroud of smoke. PSI was 90 last night and I could smell it in my brand new house.

Very.Unhappy

Will be updating better pictures as soon as we get the house better organized. It's now a warzone, a very dusty warzone.

Lots of firsts for us yesterday! Our first meal, our first attempt with the microwave, the washing machine and the shower. We are soooo in love with our Hansgrohe shower head! Every shower is pure bliss so it was definitely money well spent.

Looking around our new home, it amazes me how everything eventually came together. It feels so personalized because we painstakingly chose most of the elements in the house, less a few HDB provided ones. You know where you got them, how long it took for you to source them, the whole decision making process, the colour coordination, the different specifications and the price of everything in the house. My dad is right, because it's your house, you start treasuring every switch you touch and every tile you step on because it's your sweat and blood.

Home Sweet Home for now! :) Yay!

Free dinner lobang!!

Brazil Churrasco is celebrating their 20th anniversary! They will be giving complimentary dinners on the 1st, 8th and 15th of September 2014 (All Mondays).

Here are some conditions;

a. You will need to book on the respective day itself. Call 6463 1923.
b. Booking starts from 11 am and will be on first-come-first-serve basis.
c. Dinner commence from 6.30 pm till 10.30 pm only.
d. Limited to maximum of four persons per reservation.
e. No pre-booking or double booking will be entertained.
f. Upon confirmation of your reservation, you will be allotted a table number to be verified upon your arrival.
g. They will only allow twenty minutes grace from confirmed time of reservation.
h. Only guests with confirmed reservations will be accepted.
i. The management reserves the right to make any changes or amendments without prior notice.

So go on and try your luck! I've managed to make my reservation for hubby and parents tonight! Cant wait!! ^^

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Dinner was so freaking awesome! ^^

We arrived super early at about 6.40pm ahead of our scheduled booking at 7pm and was warmly greeted by the general manager, Martin. He urshered us in and told us to enjoy our free dinner. We sat down and were promptly greeted by the waitress who took our drinks order (which we deeply regretted because they served free plain water). Then the waiter came over to explain to us about the dinner promotion and how it was usually priced at $47 per pax. Then he told us to help ourselves to the salad bar, but also to go easy so we can have more meat! I enjoyed the salad bar very much, with the wedges, banana fritters, array of salads, oxtail, rice and fruits, it was easy to go overboard and not leave room for the main course.

We were served this tiny cup of delicious mushroom soup with complimentary cheesy bread bites that was really yummy!

Not long after we got back from the salad bar, the waiters came with their skewers of meat and started depositing meat onto our plates. This went on for the next hour without stopping. I had no idea what I was eating anymore because all the meats were so yummy, it disappeared from my plate into my belly within seconds. It was halfway through dinner that I realized I've forgotten to take some pictures.

So here it is, a badly taken picture of some of the meat that was served. My favourites for the night have got to be their smoked duck, beef rump and pork ham. I could feast on these 3 the whole night if I have the stomach space.

Happy faces at our table, stuffed to the brim and extremely happy. We left with a bill of $18 for our drinks and a promise to go vegetarian for the rest of the week.

Will definitely be back next time for more! Thank you so much Brazil Churrasco!
Happy 20th Anniversary!!

Celebrating 25 weeks

Hubby's pressie to me for hitting the 25th week :)

The only time in my life whereby it's not extravagant to down so much bird's nest!

Soo touched la! Thank you babe! 

Time flies, 14 weeks to go before I get to see my baby boy! We are so anxious to know who he looks like! ^^ 

He's been super active recently, wriggling around inside constantly, kinda like his way of saying hi to me. If feels amazing to know when he's asleep or when he's awake. I'm incubating a very active fetus!

Final week before the house is ready! It's been a long 3 months of renovations and we are finally coming to the end. I can't wait to start living in my own home!! 

My wonderful, awesome, albeit overly excited aunt came back for a visit from Vancouver. She came bearing gifts, tons of gifts, so many that I felt extremely paiseh by the sheer volume of baby clothes and accessories that spilled out from her luggage right before my very eyes. It's official, Junior has more clothes than hubby. 

lucky Junior...

我可以摆地摊了...

I feel extremely blessed to be receiving so much love from family members during this period of time! It's making this journey a superbly pleasant one! 

You're going to be so loved, little one... :)

To Schneider or not to Schneider

It's so silly, such a trivial thing to be obsessed over. I mean, it's just switches for goodness sake.

But look how pretty... (╯°□°)╯︵

The Schneider switches with their chio blue lights, illuminating my hallway.

Versus...

 

Boring old white MK ones.

Nothing wrong with these plain ones. But... just look at those Schneider babies....  *drools*

And the ability to get the Schneider ones at half price? Is it a no brainer? Ohhhh..... kill me already.

Updates!

Well, if you have not guessed it yet, we're having a little baby boy! *jumps*

 

Into week 21 of the pregnancy now, all's good so far. Really enjoying the 2nd trimester :) Junior's the size of a banana!
Upping my dosage of stretch mark creams because I chanced upon some horrifying pictures of post pregnancy stretch marks. *shivers*

Will be updating my current pregnancy skincare routine on the other blog soon, stay tuned!

 

Finally! Some updates on our home renovations so far, it should be ready for the big move by the end of the month! I can't wait!!

 

The living room

Kitchen (Hob, hood and sink installed!)

Kitchen (Built-in Microwave and Oven)

My dream walk-in!

Master Bathroom

TV Console in Master Bedroom

Baywindow in Masterbedroom

Really happy how everything is turning out well! Final and finishing touches on the house with some last minute installations and we're good to roll! Yay!!

A little announcement :)

Before you peeps start throwing stones in my direction, I have a perfectly good reason as to why I've been missing from my blog for so long besides being busy with renovations that seems to be taking foreverrr.

Guess who's coming in December besides Santa?

Whee!!!

We're having a BABY!!! *confettis*

There! It's good yeah? Bun's a cookin'! 

I'm currently 19 weeks along and am already halfway through my pregnancy. The first trimester was a bummer for me and I'm really glad that I'm onto the second part. Hubby and I are really excited to be embarking on this next phase of our married life. So let's backtrack a little to the first trimester and how it all began!

First Trimester

We started trying in January because we were awaiting key collection for our new flat. I wanted to have a baby after we get our new place because the baby will have it's own room and also we'll have more space for ourselves. 

Then one fine day in March, I took a pregnancy test because I experienced spotting a week before and I was late. 

Why, hello there plus sign!

We were grinning from ear to ear while holding this pee stick in our hands. I then booked an appointment with a gynae to acertain the results and it was confirmed! My due date is Dec 9th and we were gonna have a horsey baby!

After the excitement and celebration died down, I started feeling effy. My first trimester symptoms include;
1) Nausea (but not vomiting)
2) Lethargy and lack of energy
3) Loss of appetite
4) Aversion towards some food (curry, fish, broccoli, garlic or anything strong smelling)
5) No mood to do anything (blogging, shopping, food hunting, even planning for our honeymoon in Europe)
6) Slower digestive system (burping a lot more than I have in my entire life)

Hubby was having such a hard time trying to make me happy because I was feeling tired very easily and didn't have much of an appetite. I didn't have cravings like others do but rather, I developed food and smell aversions. For example, I no longer liked the smell of hubby's Chanel cologne and I survived mainly on bland food, canned pickles and bouts of occasional cravings such as chee cheong fun. I was thankful that I didn't lose weight during this period even though I was not eating much. My gynae also reassured that everything I was experiencing was perfectly normal and that I should take it easy, listen to my body and just eat what I feel like, whenever I feel like.

Second Trimester

Now that I'm into my second trimester (supposedly the Disneyland period as compared to the first),  things are looking much better. I feel like I've gotten part of my energy back and now, I'm up for doing more things such as renovation planning with hubby, walking more and hanging out with my friends. My appetite is slightly heartier now so I'm trying to use this period to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet. The only drawback during this period is, as the weeks go by, I find myself eliminating clothes from my wardrobe that no longer fit me. I am trying to put off maternity clothes shopping for as long as possible but it looks like I may have to hunt for some new threads pretty soon. I'm also trading my heels for flats and lightening my work bag to reduce pressure on my body. Pimples have started to form on the upper part of my body and I'm having trouble keeping them at bay. The warm weather has not been helping with that as well.

A few things to take note whilst you're pregnant
1) Avoid nail polishes so no more manicures, especially gel polishes
2) Avoid getting massages (be it hand, head, feet or body)
3) Avoid machines / equipments to be used on your face during facials
4) Apparently ginseng is not good for expectant mothers
5) Avoid eating too much seafood

The list of what not to dos go on and on but I think these few are not as commonly known (to me thats it!) as the other old wives tales such as not going near renovation sites and not cutting your nails or anything or sewing on your bed are more common.

So there! I have properly updated you guys on my pregnancy journey thus far! And in case some of you are wondering about the gender of the baby (yes, I found out last Saturday), we're having a......

Oh come on! Can't you guess it by those cute little shoes I bought??? ^_-