Spending time with my bumblebee..

On By mouseytongIn My Mini MeLeave a comment

Recently, I have decided to dedicate some time to my elder daughter. Not that I don’t already. Just more individual time with here. She and I alone without her sister. So far, we have done it twice. I swap with the babysitter and she takes care of J instead of Z for that day and I take Z out. I can do it now as the exhibition season is winding down and my own client’s shows are over and the others I only need to be in a supportive role. So I can take time off and roam the streets, so to speak, with my daughter.

Our first outing we went to have ice cream in the drizzling rain in Boccadasse and went unique rock/stone hunting on the pebble beach. Then we went to scale the rock wave breakers. She was really excited as it was her first time. She wanted to keep going from rock to rock, to the water’s edge and back. then out again. Even interrupting lovebirds wanting some alone time out on the rocks. Had to stop her and distract her to another rock or pathway. She kept pointing to them and saying that she wants to go to where they are. She has already figured out that since those guys could get there, it means we can too. 😀 Poor lovebirds…sorry we nearly ruined you evening. We kind of did, as we kept circling around them from rock to rock…

Finally go her back on shore and distracted her to go up on the rooftop balcony to look down on where we were. Had to leave after less than 5 minutes as there were a group of smoking teenagers and it was not pleasant breathing in second hand smoke while trying to enjoy the view. Z had her kids scooter with her and it was not easy navigating the old pebbled and cobbled streets in Boccadasse. The wheels were so small that it got caught in every nook and she fell so many times. It was more fun for her after, when we finally got back up to Corso Italia. Then we scooted our way to a bar so that mummy could have her coffee fix. Then we called it a day. Because it wasn’t the best of weathers that day.

The next “mummy and me” outing, I took her to the Natural Science Museum a place I have been wanting to visit for some time now. I couldn’t find the museum’s website in English but they have the official website the region for Culture in Liguria which will give you more info on it. Or this short overview of museums in Genoa here. Didn’t visit it before because I think Z wouldn’t have been able to appreciate even a fraction of it when she was younger. Not that she is much older now, but she could at least now, identify some of the animals and best part of it all, they are having a special Dinosaur exhibit. She loved the dinosaur exhibits more than anything else there. She also liked the primates and the birds. Also the butterflies but was petrified when she saw the bones of a whale hanging above us in one of the halls. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

The best adventure of the day was that I didn’t have any cash with me and after visiting a few banks, I still couldn’t get any cash. Have I told you how much I dislike Italian banks? I do! With a vengeance. Luckily I could pay with my ATM card at the museum but couldn’t buy any souvenirs cause since the dinosaur exhibit was a temporary exhibit, they had a different till for the temporary shop that doesn’t support debit cards or cashless payment. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I could tell Zoe that we didn’t have any cash to buy the useless toy that she wanted on top of the dinosaur books that I wanted to buy for her. I could go back another day to buy the books without her. 😛

Then we had ice cream for her and a coffee for me, courtesy of the coins that I had with me. Scraped together €4, okay…it wasn’t that bad. I had more than enough coins just not enough to buy 2 books. Then we ended the evening with a bicycle ride around the office area with a cousin. All in all, fun times.

Shall leave you with her squealing bicycle moments. 

Bak Kut Teh

On By mouseytongIn Food, Malaysia, Misc...Leave a comment

Did I tell you I made some bak kut teh the other day, and it was awesome!! Missing the real deal but this is as close to it as I can get for now. It was really good too. Managed to get all the ingredients too. All hail the Asian supermarket.
I took me close to 3 days to get all the ingredients. Apart from the laziness, it is the fact that parking would be a nightmare where I first intended to go and with a baby in tow it would have been most inconvenient having to park by the roadside bundle baby up and rush in and out and put groceries in the car as quick as possible and try not to get run over whule trying as fast as possible to un-bundle baby back into her car seat. So I tried to out it off as long as possible but the craving was strong. 

In the end, my babysitter saved the day. She told me of another new shop which I also thought would be impossible to get to, but she told me a day later when I lamented on the lack of parking that this place has its own carpark area right behind. Now I only have to look for that entryway. Which I did easily thanks to her great and way to follow instructions. 

Thanks to her my craving was satisfied. Albeit after 3 days. I don’t cook often. Just wanted to share it. 😀

Night! 

Caught between a rock and a hard place…

On By mouseytongIn Food for Thought, Musings, wonderings...Leave a comment

Of course there are a few reasons for my lack of blogging. No time. Nothing much is up. No inspiration. So on and so forth. It applies to my Instagram and Twitter posts as well. I have to admit though, the main concern for me is the fear and respect for my children.

I chose to write, photograph and post about my life but my children didn’t. Or at least, have not decided for themselves yet whether they would like to or not. Then there is this online paedophile concern that lurks in the corners every time I think I want to post a picture. I don’t want anyone to be using my child’s photo for anything. Not even a meme. But once it is out in the world wide Web it remains there forever. Even with all the security measure we put in, it can still get out. After all, we are all only connected. Just 6 degrees of separation separates us all.

Which means the moment I share a photo in Facebook even with friends only setting, it can and will be shared with others if anyone of my friends liked the picture or commented on it. It pops up on their friends’ feed telling them that their friend has just liked a photo. All this ease has put a stone in my shoe, so to speak, making me uncomfortable. Makes me think twice before posting.

Then, comes the part that maybe my children won’t like their antics to be splayed out for all to see. Especially when they hit their teens. By then, it is too late to say sorry or to retract. What is done is done. It cannot be undone.

Now cones the crux of it all. Since becoming a mother my life revolves around them. Almost every picture and thought I have, have them in it. Scroll through my phone and all I see are my two angels looking back at me. Then when I am with them, I don’t have time for anything else. My hands are full. Even if I take a photo of something else, I have no time to organise my thoughts and make a blog post even if that what the intention when I took that photo.

Or maybe I am just lazy. I still work and am lucky that my time is flexible. Household chores are done to the minimum. I get a lady in to do the heavy duty cleaning. Maintenance is key. Whatever time I have to myself now is late at night, which usually doesn’t happen as by the time I put them to bed, I would have fallen asleep too. Or the time I have the babysitter who is an angel with Z and now I have to get J used to her for an hour or so, so that I can get some gym time in, is my only “me” time. J like Z before her is with me 24/7. There is always tons of laundry to get through. So many older clothes that don’t fit “growing like weeds kids” have to be routinely sorted and stored or given away. That in itself is a chore! Then I have a threenager now who will wear only what she wants regardless of the weather outside. I think she is made for warmer weather. We are living in the wrong country! 😓😝 Just the other day, to counter this I thought it was wise to start her early on her choice of clothing for the day. We took 5 hours to end up not looking like a hobo and be adequately dressed for cold rainy spring evening. Don’t forget loads of screaming and tantrums and threats of “if you don’t get dressed, we are leaving without you!”. I just don’t have the energy after everything. Then I just procrastinate. 

I would love to blog more. I just have to find my balance which I have yet to find. Maybe until then you will hear from me sparodically. Unless I have something else to write about that doesn’t involve my children. 

On another note, it is still surreal that I am now a mother of two! Surreal even after 3 years….

Good night! 

Life in Photos – day 44

On By mouseytongIn Life in Photos, Musings, SingaporeLeave a comment

Siloso beach at Sentosa in Singapore. This was taken from the bar area of Ola. Ola just opened the week before and I saw it on Instagram. Decided to bring the family there for a day on the beach. It was beautiful. Gorgeous place though the menu is not extensive but whatever we ordered, and we ordered a lot, it was good. I especially liked their tea. I can’t remember the name of it but it was so good I, alone ordered it 3 times.

I have not been back to Siloso beach for years and now it is unrecognisable. The whole island is unrecognisable. Not too sure if it is for the better or not. Singapore does know how to keep the greenery and not totally destroy its natural beauty while at the same time it created jobs and brought in tourist which is always good for the country’s economy. 

All in all, it was a good day. Z got sunburnt on her face even with 50 protection on. Delicate skin, this girl has. J, on the other hand, didn’t quite like the water yet. Ola has a pool so we thought to let Jo go for a dip. Guess who ended up enjoying the pool more? You guessed it! my bumblebee Z!

Go visit Ola at Siloso beach on Sentosa island! 

Newest addition…latest happenings..

On By mouseytongIn Misc..., Musings, PregnancyLeave a comment

It is a little early to write about winding down 2016 but I think should get it in before December begins and I will be in the flurry of end of the year activities and will definitely not have time to write.

The last I wrote was back in March and besides having a new venture, I was carrying another bun in the oven at that time. Fast forward months, Julie joined us on the 19th Of September. So now, we are a family of four!! She is gorgeous and a total darling. Of course I am bias! She is my little girl after all. 🙂 😀


Being pregnant with her was totally different from her sister. I didn’t put on as much which is a plus! I also felt less heavy with her till the last 2 weeks. I put on 2kgs in the last 2 weeks!! The stretch marks reared its ugly head in the last 2 weeks too and it was going so well…sigh. I guess it can’t be helped. I was pregnant, after all.

She turned out to be quite a big baby, literally. Born a healthy 4.11 kg. A head full of hair like her sister. They even look alike!! Which can only mean that they will grow up and look like their dad. Sigh…oh well, the huge eyes, long eyelashes and hopefully not a flat nose like mine and great hair colour is a good trade off. ;P

I don’t remember the last time I stayed in Malaysia for so long. This time I think it felt longer only because my daughter made it feel longer. Not in a bad way but because she misses her dad so each parting when he has to go back to work is a struggle. She also has her moments where she sniffles and cries when she misses her daddy. It breaks my heart each time. 😦

We are dealing with this because I can’t fly after a certain and I need and wanted to be back in Malaysia when I give birth. I don’t have as much support in Italy as I do back here. Also, for Chinese we have a confinement period where someone is hired to help you out with the baby and recovery for a whole month to 40 days. Been back since mid July and boy, when you have 3 kids all under 3 years of age and no school all under one roof, morning till night is like a war zone at home. I do understand that children are like that but in my pregnant state and constant screaming, laughing, running, crying and fighting for about 14-16 hours a day is not something I want to repeat any time soon. Though it is great that Z has someone to play with and I really like it that she can bond and get to know her maternal grandparents and uncles, aunts and cousins better.

So each time daddy comes to visit, is a time of great joy as Z is daddy’s little girl and each parting is met with crying and screaming of “I want daddy!!” sniff!! T_T

I like that she goes to school here too. Her English has improved and the best part of it all? Her Manglish!! Cracks me up!! I enrolled her in school or rather nursery here for the few months that we are here so that I can have some sanity and some time when J comes along to bond with her and recuperate. It was also important that she has something to do and learn something new and mix with children her age and not be cooped at home the whole 5 months that we are back. I think it has benefited her. She has celebrated Deepavali and today is the early Christmas celebration in school. Since it is an international school and being in Malaysia, she got to mix and learn about other cultures as well. In Italy, she would just be celebrating Christmas, Halloween and Easter. Here, she gets to celebrate all of the above and more. If we stay on, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and even Wesak day.

J is crying for my attention now, so I have got to go. Hopefully I get to update soon. Getting the hang of being a mother of 2 though I still can’t believe that I am a mother at all! Still so surreal..it has been close to 3 years and now 2 children on, it is still surreal. ok…ok…got to go. Signing off just like that.

Till the next blog post….toodeloos!

Hmm….is this an Asian thing?

On By mouseytongIn Food for Thought, Misc..., wonderings...Leave a comment

So, a friend of mine shared a video from Buzzfeed on her fb page and it got me thinking. I always knew that some things are really Asian like sitting crossed legged on the floor. Or even like how the Japanese and Koreans do with their legs tucked in under them.

My funniest experience was when I took M to a typical Japanese hot springs hotel for a weekend when we were in Tokyo for work. I booked this particular hotel for its traditional Japanese tatami rooms with modern convenience and it’s traditional Japanese Kyo Seiki dining experience. We had our own lady “butler” who saw to our needs and also did a great turn down service. Anyway, as you can imagine dinner is served on our low Japanese table with cushions as seats. M struggled to stay seated with his legs outstretched so much so that he got a cramp. It was so funny to see him trying to get through dinner. Eventually he dined like a roman in ancient times. Even this he had to change his position from left to right and back again every 5 minutes or so. He was like a swinging pendulum. 😂

Then I asked other friends and found this to be true for most of them. I was told that for many, the last time they sat like that was in kindergarten! So, this I know is true for most. But squatting, I didn’t know.

Here is the video. I hope I managed to link it here. Squatting is pretty common for us. There is even a Cantonese saying that goes “mau kai” which literally means squatting on the road. Not to say that it means that specifically but more to mean like you have no where else to go so you are squatting in the roadside. Basically describing squatters. Hmm….maybe that is how the word squatter came about.

Oh…I forgot something. Even squat toilets are a sight for foreigners when they come to Asia. It is so common for us and strange to us to hear someone comment about it. Hehehehe!

So foreign friends of mine, do try it out an let me know if it is really something too difficult to do. I am now curious to see the responses to this request.

Hear from you soon! Good night!

Toodeloos!

Spillo is here!!!

On By mouseytongIn SpilloLeave a comment

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Spillo is finally here!!! In my last post I said that we had many things in the pipeline and it was a super busy year for us? Well, it has cummulated to this! Our very own watch brand!!!!

Spillo is the brainchild of Marcello and Marco who are motor fanatics. I say motor because they both love bikes and cars. Restoring them and riding or racing them. One of them suddenly thought of a watch to go with their passion and with their 2 minds put together, they came up with this beauty of a watch.The idea of the watch comes from the cover of the carburetor.

Personally I LOVE it! Besides the fact that it is also my brand, I love the look. The design is so unique. So one of a kind. Hehehehe! Tooting our own horn here. Check us out on http://www.thespillo.net

We were interviewed by Le Temp and was featured on their cover of Baselworld series. You can see the video here if you are interested. http://www.letemps.ch/images/video

We also have a Facebook page, Spillo Watches and Spillo Crew. Come join us for more updates. We will soon be on Instagram too. So, see you soon!

Toodelos from the Spillo Crew!!

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Welcome 2016!

On By mouseytongIn Misc...Leave a comment

Hello all!! Just a short and sweet post to wish everyone a very happy New Year!! Have a blessed 2016!!

2016 is the year for us. Everything that we have been working on in 2015 will come to fruition this year.

It is going to be an exciting year!!!

Have a absurdly amazing 2016 everyone!!

Lots of love! Toodeloos!!

Useless ramblings…

On By mouseytongIn Food, Food for Thought, MusingsLeave a comment

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I really should add a new category called “Useless ramblings at odd hours”. I have had so many useless ramblings at the weirdest of times and if I don’t write it down here, I might be in danger of thinking of them out loud which might be quite inappropriate at times.

Today’s useless rambling is this…because I fee like having a beer right now, that I should go to bed instead. The context is, that it is 1.31 in the morning and I am already in bed. Besides writing this, I should be or should I say should have been asleep some time back. It is late, so before the urge of having a beer overwhelms me, I should finish this post and get some shut eye.

Urrghhh…the struggle is real…the beer ‘s calling my name…help….

Signing off grudgingly….I can’t hear you, beer! Go sleep, beer! It is very late now…shush!

Hello….

On By mouseytongIn Food for Thought, Misc...Leave a comment

I haven’t been writing for a while and I apologise. It has been a busy time for me. We have a few things in the pipeline and it has taken up most of whatever time we have for ourselves.

Anyway, what I wanted to write about is the new song from Adele. I was listening to it just yesterday in the car and it occurred to me that it is a scary song. Though whenever the song starts…”hello..” I just want to break into “is it me you’re looking for?” ala Lionel Richie. 😀 That TOTALLY revealed my age. This cracks me up each time I think about it. Sorry, inside joke.

So, as I was listening to the song the words started to sound so eerie. Like something from the movie “The others” and “Sixth Sense”. Don’t you think so? Just think about it. She has been calling and calling, there is no answer. She talks to herself and the other person seems to have moved on like the wife in “Sixth Sense”. The words “calling from the other side”….what came to mind suddenly was when we sometimes say that the other person has crossed to the other side, the person has passed away. What is scarier, is that she is calling and calling so the picture that came to mind was like the haunting in “The others”. The haunting continues. Somewhat stalk-ish don’t you think? She can also see that the person has moved on. That it doesn’t bother them anymore but doesn’t see herself being a nuisance. Kind of like “I see dead people but they don’t know that they are dead.” When this thought sprung to mind, I can never listen to this song the same way ever again. It has become a creepy song..LOL!! 😛

Just a totally random thought. Just thought I should blog about it since I have been silent for far too long now…