Frannywanny

Another year, another chapter. Yesterday, I celebrated my 33rd birthday. Gosh, I can't believe I'm this old! For a moment there, I had a quick flashback of that one time my 7-year-old self was telling Mommy that I wanted to grow up faster. Oh why did I ever said that?! *sigh* Well, my birthday was simpler this year. A bit more quiet than usual but still one for the books. It began with our traditional birthday salubong with the NKids. They play an important role in my life now and I purposely flew back to Singapore to celebrate my birthday with them. I'm so touched that Paul took charge of buying the cake and of course, he made sure it was yummy one! We're missing I  who's out of the country for work right now but my birthday celebration shall continue once she's back! Of course, we're family and no one gets left behind (or forgotten). Ohana ♥

2015 is finally here and we're filled with so much optimism that this year will bring more luck, love, success and good health. Let me do a quick re-cap on the top 5 highlights of my 2014: 1) New friends, old friends As you may have noticed, Paul and I do love our friends dearly. We're blessed to have a handful who have stayed loyal and loving to us through all these years (some have been there for us for decades already!). Being away from home may have put our friendship to the test but it's such joy to be able to catch up with them every time and it's so easy for us to pick up where we left off making us realize the true friendship knows no distance . When it comes to new friends, we have the NKids whom we love and consider as our family in the Lion City. We're so lucky to have met them and to share a number of foodie adventures with them. C, I and O will forever be mainstays in this blog so do watch out for that. 2) Happy travels Finally, we're ba...

A mother holds her children’s hands for a while, but their hearts forever  - Unknown While doing my research for work a couple of days ago, I chanced upon this quote and I liked it. For one, I think it's so true by just looking at how my own mommy cares for us. I've mentioned before that despite being an adult myself, I still do get my Mommy's weekly reminders -- eat well, exercise often, get enough sleep, don't stress yourself out so much, take vitamins, don't eat too many fatty/oily food, cook more veggies...and the list goes on and on. I live thousands of miles away from home and this doesn't stop my mom in sending me her daily sms to check whether I've had dinner, if I'm home and what am I doing up so late. Surprisingly, I do appreciate all these messages and nothing brightens my day than hearing from my family. Theater lovers -- Me and Mommy During one of my long walks home, I was able to think. Not about what I have to do at work, not abou...

A few months ago, I was asked to be part of a photo shoot for a popular ice cream brand. I immediately said yes and was really psyched about it as this was to be shot by a really famous photographer. I've seen his works and I have to say, he is pretty awesome! So the day came when it was finally my turn to be in front of his camera. I went early to the studio, got myself made up, dressed as required and there I was, happily posing as he quickly snap away. I was out of the country when it was time to unveil the photos so I was really excited to see the final work the moment I got back from my trip. Luckily, my friend Richard got my photo for me so I was able to receive the hard copy a few days after that. As I opened the envelope, my jaw dropped. The photo was excellent but the subject (me) wasn't. Far from perfection, in fact. Back when I can still wear a tube gown and look vavavoom. Note the visible collar bone. Circa 2003. Let's just say it felt like I was given...