So yes, Hachiko's story made Hollywood with Richard Gere.
I watched this on DVD and cried by eye balls out at the end.
But Matt who was watching together slept half way and said it was boring.
He said the movie with all the soppy music was just made to make people cry blah blah...
Cynical? Realistic? Whatever!
I don't care. It reminded me of 'Bruno' our Akita/Shiba-ken in Japan who we had to leave because we were moving to Jakarta. When I told Bruno we had to leave him, he cried.
Although, mom brought Bruno home, Dad got attached to him the most and I think
the two made best friends.
When mom went back to Japan to see him after 1 year at a friend's place, he was all powerless and depressed.
To be honest, I hate talking about this because it really makes me sad.
So that's why the movie really touched my heart.
Matt's rugby club's 1st team (Matt's in the 2nd team) won the Guinness Singapore championship title for the consecutive 2 years now and as usual, the celebration was at Harry's BQ.
It's good fun with everyone in good spirits :D
I think Matt is very lucky to tumble across this club by chance because it seems to me, this club is the most social and fun rugby club compared to other clubs.
It's not like my life is totally uneventful, it's just that I haven't been taking enough photos and not enough time to update my poor old blog.
Also, Kian is getting cuter and cuter everyday.
His 2 lower tiny teeth are starting to show and when he bites it is painful.
He is so aware now, looking around and smiling...
He is still well behaved and easy to take care.
A dream baby really!
On the day Emi & Daichan left, I had organized a Yakitori party at home.
I tried to combine 2 groups of friends this time which I think went well.
Yakitori was amazing, even I am the one who made it I am amazed.
The oil/sauce went very well.
Jacque brought brownies and Why Mun brought cookie brownies, both are very good baker.
Most of them were eaten by Marrieglo my helper... also amazed how she got through so much. But anyway she helped me a lot so it's ok.
Inez brought some of her hand made jewelery and Safia bought some.
Ching brought Lo Hei - a salad Singaporean Chinese people eat during Chinese New Year.
Yes, it's not done in China or Hong Kong or anywhere else. It's a Singaporean thing.
The custom is to toss the salad high before eating which means good luck and all. It's fun and tastes nice too.
It was good catching up and getting to know one another better
So little time, so much to do together.
But the main mission accomplished.
We went to eat at Ippudo, fellow Ramen chain from Japan. Ramen itself, Ramen38 wins hands down but there's a lot to learn from them, like PR, after all, there's a queue to get in from opening til the end.
Daichan and Emi are so generous, they stocked O'Learys fridge with wine and beer when they left.
But wrongly took back Kian-chan's book to Jakarta and forgot to bring clothes I kept for Ai-chan.
But most of all, Emi and I had a brilliant idea, about baby/kids' animation TV.
A business for Emi and a direction for me.
I
t's been a year and 2 months since we moved to our home and we never had any use for the 2nd floor balcony just outside our bedroom, even though it is by size the largest balcony.
It was sadly not utilized well as when it rains it's gone (no roof) and when it's sunny, it's too hot.
But what's cool is that all the furnitures are either given for free or taken from someone who threw them away. I love freebies.
Anyway, recently we got the 2nd hand BBQ stand to work and we've been enjoying Yakitori and all kinds of grills.
We also found that the layout of the balcony is narrow so it's only good for 4 people.
It's been a joy hosting small gathering.
This trip was the first and the many more trips, which was all about Kian.
It was also a challenging one for us, to take a 3 1/2 month old baby on a 10-13 hours flight, and also figuring out his 'time' zones as he was already getting into a routine in Singapore but that was to become up side down. 
Lucky for us, he was a super good baby on and off the plane. He slept through most of the flight and seemed to cope with the weather. Actually it wasn't as cold as I expected (well what do you expect?...on BBC it said The UK is in the grip of its longest cold snap for almost 30 years. )
When there was no wind, it was just cold and nice, and the snow covering the landscape was beautiful.
Kian had many winter clothes bought by his grandma, who had a perfect plan to hand them down to a friend who just gave birth to a boy. Like this red and navy blue ski jacket which was worn only once.
We had a relaxing time at Matt's parent's house, most of our time in UK. Kian had plenty of time to sleep and adjust to the UK time, while Matt indulged in home cook food.
Terry is quite a gourmet chef. His Italian dishes are really good.
Here, they have replicated a traditional X'mas dinner (with all the paper hats) to celebrate with the family, a belated X'mas.
We then took a cheeky 2nights 3 days trip to Dublin, Ireland on Mon - Wed. I think Matt thought since we are all O'Learys now, and what more with Kian O'Leary, it's only fair for us to visit the Origin.
But I know exactly why... we watch a movie called "ONCE" which is a story about a struggling musician in Dublin. Since then Matt's mind was set to visit Dublin - where the social scene is of musicians in pubs, birth place of world class beer and food is wholesome.
Here is us with Matt's friend Paul Grant (he lived in Singapore few years ago where they met through rugby) and his lovely girlfriend Emily.
Paul works for GUINNESS. It's especially cool to hear from the inside man on the wonder of the black stuff - GUINNESS.
Back in UK, we went to Matt's cousin's house where Kian met his relatives.
Here, Kian is being smothered by his doting second cousins, Katie, Joe, Connie, Daisy and Danny.
On our last day, on the way to the airport, Matt's good friends of whom all were at the wedding, gathered to see us off.
All in all, it was a very relaxing and refreshing holiday for us, thanks to Kian for being such a good boy, and so I guess... we as parents must be doing it right... he he
Look how svelte I was, last year around this time.
I was looking back on the photos when we were in Bali. http://olearysbali.blogspot.com/
My fitness membership resumes this January, since I suspended after knowing of my pregnancy, last February.
I must get back in shape... but tonight we are leaving for UK and Ireland...
Okay, diet starts after the trip....
I joined a 'Book Club' which consists of the WAGS.
By the way, I've had this conversation with few people about the term 'WAGS' sounding negative, like demeaning or insulting as the wife or the girlfriend.
But I personally got over it for the convenience sake.
After all, we are the wives and the girlfriends, and it's easy just to sum it as WAGS.
Anyway, one afternoon while we were having a brunch, this forming of book club became a topic and we decided to read and review 1 book a month.
Each girl selects a book so we are 'booked up' until June or July.
I haven't chosen any book yet...
The first book of this year was "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith.
This book is basically about a Botswanan lady setting up a detective agency and solves her clients' requests.
Of course there are romance and thrills involved, but what's interesting is that it offers the reader with the story of the country, the town, the landscape, lifestyle and nature of South Africa.
It is also comical - which is why, as with most good books, it becomes a movie, and in this case, it became HBO TV drama series. http://www.hbo.com/no1ladiesdetectiveagency/ I've never been to Africa or Botswana but when I saw the casts and photos of the TV series, I thought my imagination was pretty close!
There are 5 series to the book and we are not required to read the whole series for the book club but I'd love to read more!
It was also Kian-chan's first plane ride and overseas trip.
Matt and I was very anxious how Kian will react to the whole experience but he was a very good boy.
We stayed at Dharmawangsa hotel again, and according to the guy who picked us up from the airport, there were only 13 guests that weekend. Love it!
We met Ai-chan for the first time
On X'mas Eve, we went for lunch at Ramen 38 in Pacific Place then had dinner at home which was very nice. Lots of good food...
Then Matt fell asleep in Mom and the babies' room so we ended up sleeping over at their place.
The next day, which was the X'mas day, Daichan took us to Eastern Promise where we had a proper X'mas buffet. Indian food looked very good too!
On X'mas night, Daichan took us to an Oyster restaurant called Oyster in Plaza Senayan and we all ate as many oysters as our hearts desired. As Daichan puts it, "happiness is being able to afford whatever I desire to eat" :) sounds very convincing coming from a chef.
On the last day, we went to Sunter and according to Matt he ate the best durian ever.
I missed on that durian but had the best goat sate and goat soup ever.
I usually don't like goat or lamb but this was better than beef, pork or any other meat. Very yummy.
So to sum it up, it was a lot about food food food... and of course. But this time, it was also about babies, kids and family too.
I wonder how our next generation will be...
The festive mood is everywhere... and I thought it is about time for us girls to meet.
So in the spirit of the season of giving and sharing, I organized a mini bazaar where we bring what we want to sell and share.
Inez brought her hand-made necklaces and some edgy, quirky, vintage accessories she sourced.
Pauline buys elegant, vintage, costume jewelery from States.
As for me, I bought lots of Jamu and other interesting Indonesian spa products from PP.
In a small scale it was a success, I suppose.
I have not bought any accessories for myself for a while, so it was a money well spent.
My slimming cream (with chili) was a hit too.
We definitely gave each other 'friendly' prices, it's a steal.
In fact, they could be below cost price.
It felt like we were the women from the stone age, trading items for items.
And our men in some cave, singing and drinking around the fire.
In the attempt to have some 'Us' time, I searched for a good movie to watch, and go for a 'date' with Matt.
Luckily, AVATAR was just showing in cinemas so off we went.
I bought the tickets before hand to avoid disappointments knowing how a highly hyped block buster Hollywood Sci-Fi movies can get in Singapore, and so I was able to get the last top row seats of the largest screen cinema in Asia.
Sure enough, on the first day was a Friday night and there were many audience, including a row of Gay Geeks.
The effects of the movie was very very good. They made the aliens look so real.
But what was very obvious to me was that the objects they used in the story and the elements were very much taken from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ, Kaze no Tani no Naushika) and Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Mononoke-hime) both directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
While I give credit for AVATAR's creativity in making the effects so real and the degree of imagination, the story line is pretty straight forward - human vs aliens, resembling the war we have today, like the greedy government vs the tree huggers.
It is still far from the depth and twist of the script of Hayao Miyazaki's films. He is the original and his stuff is nothing anyone saw before or after!
There are few good animated film directors in Japan though.
Recently there was a movie that won an international film prize. I really wanna watch it.
Gosh, I'm such an Otaku!
We were invited to George & Safia's newly bought home in Pasir Panjang road.
I was inspired by the mantra which George hung up on top of the front gate:
Emma is Matt's ex-colleague Chris' wife and they are our neighbors too.
So yes, Hachiko's story made Hollywood with Richard Gere.
Kian loves taking a bath, skinny dipping in the pool, being held high up and getting a head tickle to his stomach, loves BabyTV, his nanny Marrieglo, and his first taste of Mango :)
He is a good eater, unsurprisingly!
Matt's rugby club's 1st team (Matt's in the 2nd team) won the Guinness Singapore championship title for the consecutive 2 years now and as usual, the celebration was at Harry's BQ.
It's not like my life is totally uneventful, it's just that I haven't been taking enough photos and not enough time to update my poor old blog.
On the day Emi & Daichan left, I had organized a Yakitori party at home.
t's been a year and 2 months since we moved to our home and we never had any use for the 2nd floor balcony just outside our bedroom, even though it is by size the largest balcony.
This trip was the first and the many more trips, which was all about Kian.
Back in UK, we went to Matt's cousin's house where Kian met his relatives.
It was also Kian-chan's first plane ride and overseas trip.
The festive mood is everywhere... and I thought it is about time for us girls to meet.
In the attempt to have some 'Us' time, I searched for a good movie to watch, and go for a 'date' with Matt.
While I give credit for AVATAR's creativity in making the effects so real and the degree of imagination, the story line is pretty straight forward - human vs aliens, resembling the war we have today, like the greedy government vs the tree huggers.
