This is LiN's Life

On the day Nurul turned one, my hubb had to work the night shift and I had to be in school as there was a Science SPA being held.

ONE cake


My babysitter, Kak Zainab, had mentioned that they would like to have a mini-combo celebration as her daughter's birthday is also in April. So here is Nurul with Ella and the cake.

TWO cakes?
Weeks before Nurul's birthday, we were discussing on whether we should have a birthday party for her. My hubb had a strict rule: kenduri doa-selamat only. no party.

On the other hand, I felt that we should do some celebration but not a full-fledged party coz I didnt want to handle the after party mess.

But as we discussed further, we realised that since Nurul is the very first grandchild for both our families, she would be quite lonely at the party, ie no friends of her age. And, lets just be honest, the party would be more for the adults rather than for the kid. :)

So we decided to hold a simple dinner for our immediate family members and my babysitter's family at a restaurant.

Since we had vouchers from Secret Recipe, we wanted to hold the dinner at Vivocity's Secret Recipe. It was quite a convenient place and assessible by public transport. But we were told that since it was a Saturday night, no reservations were allowed. "Chop"-ing 17 seats on a wkend night can be quite a feat so we had no choice but to look for other options.

With a few days away, we didnt have much time to make a decision. So on Wednesday, I took half a day off and went with my Hubb to Amirah's Grill to recce the place. I had heard so much about it but have never been there myself.

Since the dinner will be after Maghrib, the Bussorah St's branch would be a nice location. We could do our prayers at the nearby Sultan Mosque first before proceeding to Amirah's Grill. Upon seeing the place, we decided to stick to it and put up a deposit for a reservation for 17pax.

I had placed an order for Simply Irresistable's Cupcakes. I must say it was beyond my expectation! They looked too good to be eaten. The "baker" Hasnita, was so sweet that she even gave Nurul a presie! I would recommend the cakes to anyone. Oh, btw the butterflies, ladybirds and flower toppers used are all original, handmade by the baker! How creative!

As soon as I opened up the box, Nurul immediately imprinted her hands on 2 of the cakes.

The dinner went smoothly, Alhamdulilah! It was quite difficult being host & hostess to 15 guests in a crowded and quite cramped restaurant, on a Saturday night mind you! It was only then that I was told that the Pahang St branch would be more suitable as it is more spacious. Geee...maybe next time?

I shall let the pics do the talking...






"HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY NURUL"
















Nurul aiming for the pink cake
















...and she finally got it!




















All involved

















Towards the end, Nurul was getting kinda cranky coz it was waay past her bedtime of 9.30pm. We left the place, sent my mom home and only got home at 10past twelve am!

THREE cakes
The next day started early despite the very late night yesterday. We had to attend a kenduri on my in-laws side.

My in-laws bought Nurul yet another cake! This time round its a Foreva Friends cake.


See the dead-tired look on my face













But having insufficient sleep the last few days, Nurul was no fun to be with. She was all whinny and crying each time someone tried to carry her.

We left at 2.45pm to supposedly to go swimming but were too tired that we decided to just shop for our swimming costume.

Throughout the 1+hr journey from Jurong East to Tampines, Nurul was fast asleep. We reached Tampines and went to Toys'R Us coz I wanted to get Nurul an Aquadoodle set. Nurul was still fast asleep. She must have been sooo tired coz she seldom sleeps when we are in noisy crowded places.

The next day, the kakak told me that Nurul was still cranky the whole day. Well, I guessed, the lesson to be learnt here is .... Nurul must have enough rest!

So the Simply Sweet Grape and Cherry Diaper Cake was finally given away to its rightful owner - Baby Ifa Umairah.

Here is the cake all wrapped up and ready to go...

The front of the gift tag

A picture of the cake so that the mommy can keep it for rememberance...

So while we are at it, talking about birthdays and all, I feel that it would be an injustice if I do not write about this.

We are very practical couple, my hubb and I. For birthdays, we usually ask the other half what he/she wants/need as a birthday gift. If nothing in particular comes to mind, we would just give cash to the other party so that he/she can spend it on any thing that he/she wants.

But this year, since its my thirtieth birthday, I wanted something different. My hubb wanted to give me $500 cash to spend. I took $400, coz I wanted to spend part of it on Spa packages and also on some shopping for a revamped new me. As for the other $100, "Get me a surprise," I told him. He was clueless, kept asking me what I wanted and kept pestering me to buy the surprise myself.

Truth is, after the birth of Nurul, I think we tend to forget about each other, spending more time, money and effort on Nurul. Of course Nurul needs that from us, and we are more than willing to do so coz she is our beloved daughter, but sometimes we need to spend sometime or some effort on each other, to remind ourselves that the roles that we have to play in this household is not only to be the mom and dad to Nurul but also as lovers or as a couple who in the first placed fell in love with each other and that is the very begining all this.

So he kept pestering me, everyday, to a point that I almost gave up. I told him that I have always been giving him hints day-in, day-out. And had he been listening to me (men! where are their ears?!) it would have been such an easy feat.

Like when I said "I think I need a laptop bag lah dear" or when I said "If I have a egg-beater how nice, than I can bake Nurul's birthday cake". Anyway.....one day, he stopped pestering me and told me that the Surprise will be a belated birthday gift.

Day passed by and I still didnt receive any belated surprise birthday gift. So I kept quite and sort of gave up. Then, one day, I opened my wardrobe and I saw a box with a gift tag on it. And when I opened it up, boy was I surprised to see a Coach handbag!





SURPRISE!















Beaming from ear to ear, I thanked my hubb for the surprise.
"Eh, but this costs more than the $100 that I returned back to you leh..."
"Nevermind, as long as you like it"
"Like? I soooooo like it lah!"

He asked his friends where is the Coach boutique, went to Taka, and he chose and picked out the bag himself! I am so proud of him lah! He seldoms follow me shopping, even then, it would be shopping for Nurul's stuff only, so I didnt think that he would know my taste. So it was a huge deal when I really liked the bag that he picked out! (I find some Coach bag a bit tacky, those with the patchwork design, luckily he bought one which is simple yet practically big enough for me!)

Later I found out that he even tried to get the gift wrapped up, but didnt manage to find a gift wrapper suitable enough and that the Surprise gift have been sitting in my cupboard for since two days ago (I didnt find out about it earlier coz I didnt open my wardrobe for two days! hehehe...)

I did ever told him that I will be saving up my March bonus to join the next Coach spree on the SMH forum and that this time round I wanted to get a bigger handbag for Hari Raya. But it was just a one time comment, so I didnt think that he would remember it!









Coachy-Coachy-hota-hey!













Dang! What do I get for his birthday then? Oh oh!

My dearest Lil Monster,

These handmade zippered pouches were made for an order which didnt turned out in the end. So I am letting them go...
























Usual Price: S$6.00ea
Now: S$4.00ea!! (includes normal postage)

Size: Is slightly bigger than your EZlink card
Colors and Qty is as in the pic. Will not be duplicated anymore, so these are limited edition.

To "chop" one for yourself, please email me simplylne@yahoo.com.sg


A inside: White Twill Cotton

















B inside: Red Twill Cotton

















C inside: White Plain cotton

















D Inside: Beige cotton with printed stars

One weekend two simple yet important events.

First up, my thirtieth birthday.

We had a late lunch at a restaurant at Tanjong Katong Complex. I had Mee Goreng Nyonya which was yummy! My hubb had Bee Hoon Fish Head Curry (which to me is yucky!) and we shared a plate of Black Pepper Beef and Mushroom Kailan in Oyster sauce.

Let's just say the meal was simple, but the bill wasn't!!

Next we travelled all the way to Chinatown Point to get the Swensen's cookies n Cream ice-cream cake. We over at my mum's place and I had the cake cutting ceremony there.

Nurul was so "busy" trying to imprint her hands on my cake.














Hai, kak, birthday girl beli kek sendiri ke?"
hehehe... that is just me, self-reliant.













On Sunday, my younger twin sister, Nur Azlin had a simple exchange of rings ceremony.




































And here is Nurul looking more excited than her aunt.