Declutter Letters 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 29 In a land far, far away filled with pappadums, there lived a princess. Her name was Avisha. She was the most beautiful and only girl (for now) who lived in this wonderful land, filled with love, daddy, mummy, friends, tutus, pappadums and DORA the explorer!Avisha is the heartmelter, smile-inducer, sweetie pie of homie Daniel and Felicia. I have absolutely no idea why I took so long to post a blog of her but it's never too late! Such a lovely baby who has grown up to be such a Dora the Explorer doppelganger. There's got to be a look-alike contest somewhere that this girl must win!Avisha welcomes her guests with a wave of the national pappadum flag. "Welcome to MY party!!" she said, as pink daddy king restrains her excitement. Damn straight little bella ... it's YOUR party!Even Shea couldn't resist cuddling this little power puff girl (who was still holding on to her pappadum flag). Meanwhile, here's a shout-out to Joe in the background with that most priceless look of surprise ever caught on my camera!Now, here's the tearjerker part. Sunny LOVES this photo lah! I never thought he was one who will ever play with kids but the DJ has been chasing me for eons for this photo of him and Avisha. Sorry about Avisha's Rosamund-Kwan-like look of elegant boh-chup-ness ... but here's your photo!Finally, a re-enactment of the Far East Organisation photo of the original 3. The photo from years yonder is sitting safely somewhere and don't worry ... I will protect it with my life and photos of Sunny with hair will never surface. Still Going Gaga Thank you Sean for the link!Aiyoh ... I am so passe but I still love the pantsless lady and her shoulder pads. I am also so passe because I still blog stuff instead of tweeting it or facebooking it! But how else am I supposed to find these links back easily?This Sam Tsui has the Ukelele (chinese pop group) voice ... which my former choir teacher calls ... "hen you gong ming". So cute this boy leh ... if only I was 15 again.Of course, there is the Christopher Walken version that makes me really happy too! 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 28 Allow me to interrupt this series of carnage with a uber cutie patootie photo of the kids who are one week apart in the same pose ...Let's give Nate and Keidi a round of applause for being crowned Mr and Miss Pouty Pouterson. Maneater: 3 - Man Eats Tea Cup In Marine Parade. First, they shrank Bryan. Then they made him a cup of tea. Bryan tried to chew a piece off the tea cup but it wasn't chocolate. So back to the conveyor belt we went. Maneater: 2 - Man Eats Frog In Marina. Ming ripped the thigh flesh off the frog and enjoyed the salty peppery taste. I think he liked this better than the cat. Maneater: 1 - Man Eats Cat In Katong What started as a single photo to be pinged to Martin in Tokyo ... became another full fledged series!I present you the MANEATER SERIES!Ming attempts a chomp on his Mao but it was too furry for his liking. So he went upstairs to get the lint remover. 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 27 So so so ... there is another baby in da house yo!Say Hi to Skyla Yun McLaughlin.She is a doll. An absolute doll. The first time I met her was a month ago and she was a porcelain doll asleep in the pram. So serene, so tranquil, so precious. Here she is in the butterfly chair, pretty much like the first time I saw her.It’s great that there are more babies being added to my generation of the family. I still remember the days when we were Shea’s age and would hang out at my grandmother’s house in Serangoon. Children, I’m sure ... weren’t anywhere on our minds 20 years ago. Has it been 20 years?!?! Yup. 20 years.Photo credits: http://www.kellysjyphotography.com Have You Left Architecture? Yes and No.The place where I have learnt so much about architecture is now an alma mater but I still love architecture.Thanks for the good times but I just ran out of steam.I will miss the folks, the silence in the office, the easy access to printers and scanners, the smell of freshly plotted paper, the suppliers who pander to us, the very well-stocked materials library, the intelligent conversations, the gotong royong, the model-making and last but not least ... the beautiful houses. Hilda's Wedding. The full agency alumni girls finally got together for the best reason anyone of us can ... a wedding. Hilda's wedding!The picture perfect affair was held outdoors and it such a delight to see Hilda marching down the lawn. Purdy bride + hamson groom + romantic french speech which sounded so beautiful but I don't understand a word of + an endearing tell-all emcee ... absolutely magical.No awkward conversations, no need to try avoid eye contact with the stranger across the table ... just us - a bunch of cussing hussies in our elegant clutches and maxi dresses (of course we are not made equal: some more proficient in Hokkien than others, some dresses shorter than others).By 3pm, ALL of us were sufficiently imbibed and were a giggling, stumbling mess that drank champagne out of wine glasses and took nearly 3 minutes each to descend a flight of 10 step stairs. Not the most classy but oh-so-fun! Have a good life together, Mr and Mrs Birge!PS: All weddings should have a French speech just because it sounds so good! Pencil Porn I collect pencils.It started out as a souvenir scavange of a travelling schoolgirl. Pencils or postcards are the cheapest things you can buy when you are but a 14 year old let loose in the streets of Europe. I chose pencils because you can sometimes get them for free ... just knick them off the check-in counters of hotels and exhibitions.The collection of pencils I have is sitting somewhere in Jurong, warehoused a carton box, waiting for the day of glory to arrive so that they can finally see the world.I miss my pencils.For that, I will leave you with the schweeeeetest eye candy I've laid my eyes on for a long time. 500 colour pencils from Social Designer, mailed to you in a torturous ritual of 25 colours x 20 months. Getting My Priorities Right My client bought a BEAUTIFUL Belgian ceramic white apple from PLATFORM and I love it! Sadly enough, my call to the shop was a day late and all the apples were sold out and I am left with none.Once again, all things happen for a reason and for now ... I would like to think that the lesson to be had would be to get my priorities right. Get the house first, before I start with the embellishment (a big white eleplant/50cm diameter apple, for the record).Sighnus Maximus.I leave you with the link to the beautiful Gardeco apple that was never meant to be mine. Not So Closet E! Junkie Anymore It's a tediously long story ... in short, I am a tabloid junkie and instead of reading the latest gossips online, I joined Twitter so that I can get the info from the sources in real time.I AM SOOOOOOO EMBARRASSED LAH!But I really can't tell you how much I love Chris Daughtry ... His debut album has my entire emotional life covered; from the soppy break-up song to the angsty get-him-outta-my-life song to the I-want-to-do-everything-with-you song.For the record, I hate HOME though.Anyhow, I got this off Ryan Seacrest's blog (NO!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I've been listening to them the whole morning ... 10 times for Daughtry, twice for Lady Gaga. There's no way I can leave it on that page and not port it over to mine so that I can listen to them more easily.Abi's coolness quotient is officially down the gutter ... Eeeks! Little Miss Not-So-Squinty-Anymore Has anyone seen my daughter?She kinda looks like me with her glasses on ... Oh, tell me it's true! Little Miss Squinty. Somebody needs glasses ...I can't believe how quickly one's eyesight can deteriorate in 6 months! I brought Shea to the optometrist in December and she was a 6/6. And now ... a letter from the school sent me scampering for the only optometrist in the area which is open on a Sunday evening.Determination to increase Pokemon's level on the DS Lite + reading Charmseekers in low light + street fighting with Chun Li on a large screen TV = BAD EYESIGHT. Save your eyes now!!Stay tuned for the pictures of the bespectacled one! Six6 Wedding at TP. The most haps wedding I've attended has to go to the couple with the most haps proposal video ... April and Boi. Their Six6 Wedding (6 June, Saturday) was held at the place where they first met ... Temasek Poly. A marquee was laid out in the centre of the garden outside the TP Design Canteen and it was magical ... Click here for more photos of the day.Wedding car of choice is none other than Mr Randy Ang's infamous Twiggy of "I Like Tow Truck" fame. It was so good to see it transport the wedding couple without glitches.Happiness to April and Boi lah! We Miss TP ... Sorta. Ingredients For A Happy Reunion1) A bunch of ex-students that will fit into the lift comfortably (Preferably 4 members)2) A typical Temasek Poly elevator with the large mirrors (Doesn't have to be the one from School of Design, we discovered)3) A reason to go back to school (Diploma Graduation Show)4) Photo-taking machine (Can be serious pro stuff, can be point-and-shoot ... but from experience, must be a Canon)5) Surefire (aka The Wrath of Ra torchlight ... see the white light on Mak's face)Put all that together and you will get 4 adults returning to their alma mater more than 10 years after graduation + outdoing each other at weird-out poses everytime the lift door closes + struggling to return to normalcy when the door opens + LOTS OF FUN LAH! 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 26 Had lunch with Natey-Boo today and realised that he NEVER leaves home without his trains! He was just such a happy camper running around the restaurant, looking for ledges to run his carriage on.It's nice to just love one thing and be happy. New Found Friend Shea's got a new friend!Little Mr Ethan, age 3-going-4 found Shea chae chae at the National Museum and hasn't let her hand go since. We met Hui Fen and Eugene who were there for the dinosaurs, while we were there for the Vernen Panton exhibition (which was awesome by the way). Shea was most happy to shower her sisterly love on this tyke as he entrusted himself to her care the whole time. It was a good day at the museum and even better to see the children of friends getting along with each other.I'm thinking about motherhood again ... 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 25 Absolutely fabulously cute baby photos are the happiest things you can look forward to for an instant pick-me-up!Say Hi to Missy Raeanne, the daughter of Huini's friends - YULING AND ANDY. It's one of those baby photos where I just can't stop myself from writing in to get permission to blog about. One look at this photogenic baby and you know that you just gotta have one of your own :)Too bad they don't come this pretty all the time from the supermarket but you can keep trying!Note: This post has been updated with the right spouse's name and not the wedding photographer!!! This is what happens when you look for the only guy's name where you steal photos from! I AM SO SORRY MISSY!!! Tokyo : 8 Back to Tokyo 3 years later and it's better than ever!More super happy thihgs coming up yo.In the words of the Mart+Mari ... it's all about good feelings. And yes, there were plenty of good stuff going around. 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 24 I swear I didn't paste Nate's face onto Maye's photo!This cute pair shares a funny kangaroo/joey moment as we celebrate Mel and Darren's schweeeeet wedding anniversary (of which I still owe them a pressie) at Charlie's.Nate has grown so, so much and is now a bonafide eccentric charmer with a Rod Stewart voice to make you fall in love with him. Hello boo boo! Where's Sheabel? Oh, mirror mirror ... who's the cutest of them all?It's the little antics that the little one gets up to that makes me grin from ear to ear. OVI-rian Cancer. Just when I thought I found the answer to my phone synching woes (wonky bluetooth connection to the laptop lah) ... Ovi.com came along.Just when I happily uploaded all 1325 contacts online ... added photos ... changed details ... it freaking corrupted my data.Just when I was looking forward to seeing faces on my callers/callees ... no photos appeared except on the online version.Nokia ... Like that how can? How can your data back-up service make me lose my data?3 hours of enthusiasm lost.30 contacts lost.With nothing on your forum to address this cheetoad issue ...And now, I'm back to Outlook on my wonky bluetooth connection.Ovi ... FAIL!Wake me up when you are out of beta.Mucho angry! UECR: Men On The Roof Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch? Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are we losing touch? If you believed they put three men on the roof, men on the roof If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is coolCompletion of the house is nigh and all hopes are up ...Watch this space! 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 23 Do we really have children so that we can amuse ourselves?Yes.Amongst other reasons, of course. 'Tis The Season To Have Babies: 22 Such a pretty little lass and I still want hair like that!It's been more than a year since I caught up with Harith + Waheedah and just look at how incredibly grown up their little Syadeeyah is ... and they are on their way to the third child.Well done, Reef ... keep those beautiful children coming yo! Detachment. Buildings are devoid of emotions. However, they evoke emotions.The memories you derive from a place are what you attach to it based on what you experienced and what you underwent to get there. Would I go back to the cathedral? Yes I would. Does it bring back bad memories? Yes it does.Isn't it my sanctuary in the city? Yes it is.Didn't I go there to pray and got my prayers answered? Yes I did.Perhaps I love buildings because I can detach (I try my very best) emotions from it and it still stands proud with its precision beauty to be admired. The greatness of architecture, sometimes stems from how it spins a different story for anyone who walks under its eaves, while remaning a constant.If only I can exercise the same level of detachment with a similar level of success, to a whole lot of other things which contribute to the ephemeral joy of living. If only. Street Fighting At Home. SFIV mania has hit home!It's Spinning Bird Kicks and Hadoukens all the way yo! Mother - Aunty - Daughter. It's true.There are many roles a woman can take on.There might also come a time when you will be robbed of everything you have built and all you have left are the children and your faith.I'm learning how to be a mother, aunty and daughter once again.