Merry Christmas from Australia !!

Yes I am so useless with this blog.  Merry Christmas from Tasmania, Australia !!

Why I want to go back to Aussieland

I had a pretty sick pregnancy, and even til the 9th month, I had massive morning sickness all the time. It came to the point that while my tummy was growing, the rest of my body parts were shrinking. After giving birth I was lighter then the weight I was BEFORE I fell pregnant. At some point in the pregnancy, I couldn't eat meat, it made me sicker. All this while finishing the last semester of university.  All I wanted to do, was to go back to Singapore and see my mum & dad, and be around friends and be back in my bedroom. But I knew nothing would be the same again, I was married to an Australian, and about to have a baby. I convinced my husband to uproot his whole life to move back to Singapore for me. And so sometime after Jacob's 1st birthday, we packed up our lives and shifted back here. Mind you I was in the middle of a very difficult & expensive PR application. Which I redrew the moment we knew we were going back to Singapore. On hindsight, I should have stuck it out a few more months and sorted that shit out. But then I found out my grandmother had passed away, and I was done done done. Home was all I wanted.

So here we are back in Singapore. And again with the visa issues, but for my husband this time. I have been working as a business development manager for a good friend's Digital Marketing company. Til my last day last friday. Come 1st July, I will be Director of Digital Marketing for a french start up. Also digital marketing but leaning more in augmented reality and specialized apps. Pay is much better, and holidays are better, and I'm definitely blessed to have been given this job. But I'm really tired. To be honest, pre-jacob, I was a producer for Moving Bits, and the working hours were insane. But I loved it. So I figure I never really thought about how hard I was working. Only now, back here, being a working mother, I realize, there is absolutely no work life balance. I answer phone calls from clients on the weekends and find myself doing proposals at 1am in the morning. It was a big reality check when I found myself constantly telling jacob: Not now, mummy's busy.

Coming back to Singapore, I see busy office/bank/business folks, busy busy busy working all night. I assistance produced corporate video for a huge company and we wrapped about 9pm. I asked a gorgeous american lady in her fancy D&G shoes if she was heading home, but no, she was due to  receive a skype call from a client in the USA at 10pm. She predicted she'd be home about 1am. I asked if she stays so late very often, she said yes. The office was amazing, it's the kind of office on one of the high floors of raffles city, overlooking fantastic views, with glass offices, fancy pantry, delivered office lunches for everyone. The kind of office I'd love to work in. But after speaking to this beautiful american lady. Definitely not the type of lifestyle I want. Day after day, I go to retail stores, I visit takeaway places and restaurants, supermarkets, and I never fail to notice how nobody takes pride, nobody is happy. Even down to the smallest thing. Like dispensing an ice cream in macdonalds. Here they mostly do a half ass job, and shove it at you. (Yes there are exceptions, yes there are some very lovely happy people working in mcD, thats's why i used the word MOSTLY) Yesterday night my mcflurry was all piled to one side, the other side was empty. But in Aussie they do it fast and they fill it properly, and they give it to you with a smile. And do you know why? Because they are actually paid decently in Australia (thank you minimum wage). Working in Mcds in Oz is not a dead end job, like it is here in Singapore. Here working in Macdonalds or any fast food place or even a cashier in the supermarket is considered a dead end job, and the pay is rubbish. That's why there is no pride, because they are not happy! How we can be the most expensive country in the world and have no minimum wage is beyond me. How we can have the highest paid PM in the world but we have so many struggling singaporeans is beyond me. How we can be expected to pay so much for "subsidised government housing" for a 99 year lease in a shoebox, when I can pay the same for a lovely 3 bedroom house in Australia, is well and truly beyond me.

My heart breaks for the old aunties & uncles who are still plodding along every day, working at 70 because they cant afford not to. Those still having to push a cart around a hawker centre, cleaning tables. I tend to return my dishes to them after I finish eating and tell them thank you, and I've always felt sorry for them, but one particular old lady, looked a whole lot like my grandmother, and I can't even imagine my little old granny pushing a cart around collecting dishes to survive.

Yes I am proud of my country, yes it has so much to offer, but it's becoming a rich man's playground, and a tourist hub. Everything is too expensive. My 2 year old's school fees are over a thousand dollars a month.

So now it's all about saving, and this time I'll use a immigration specialist to apply for my visa for me. And once my visa comes through, I'll go back to Australia. No I would never give up my Singapore citizenship, I will always be Singaporean. My family is here,  my roots are here, my childhood memories are here. But for us, Australia will be the better place.

Australia will be home.

Wedding Anniversary

My 2nd wedding anniversary with Christopher is coming up! So I'm going to reminisce by sharing some of our photos from our special day. Our wedding was nothing like the weddings you see in Singapore. The ceremony was at this beautiful outdoor gardens, followed by the reception at a small but elegant restaurant owned by a friend. Christopher baked our 3 tiered red velvet wedding cake. This has huge significance to how we got together!! The first time we met was at a grand final party, and when I found out he was a baker, I started complaining how red velvet in Launceston was scarce, and if found, not very good. So that sweetheart, baked me the most moist, delicious red velvet cupcakes ever! And the rest is history! So enjoy our lovely photos <3 <3

with the in laws 

coming in ceremony 

you may kiss the bride :) :) 

about to cut the cake 

hubby's hard work 

carolyn, izy & joseph

     

our first dance as man & wife 

                           

my wonderful parents 

our nephew joseph, the ring bearer

beautiful wedding grounds 

the backdrop to our wedding 

the bhojwanis + cunninghams 

the boys 

coming in our vintage rolls royce, kindly sponsored by Richard!
Please contact me if you wish to rent this beautiful vintage rolls royce
for your wedding/leavers dinner/function

<3 

my parents soaking in the beauty

With our celebrant Cheryl 

Some of our beautiful friends & Family 

my girls & joseph lol 

2 of my loves + nephew joseph and niece izzy


<3 <3 <3

Gotten married recently ? Share your experience/blog link with me! I'd love to read about it xxxx 

W Hotel Singapore - Drop the T2

I recently wrote a High Tea review for ENVY, and I'm too lazy to write another one for my own blog, so here's my review copy and pasted lol. 

I recently sat down with W Hotel Singapore’s gorgeous b&f insider Laura for the much acclaimed ‘drop the T2’ high tea in the much talked about Woo bar. Upon arrival, the doormen rushed to open our door for me and kindly gave me directions. W hotel is nestled in the luxurious Sentosa Cove so it can be quite difficult to get to, fortunately you can make use of their shuttle bus from Vivo City. Check out their shuttle bus schedule here. Entering the hotel, I was enchanted by their eclectic furniture settings following their modern and hip urban jungle theme. I caught up with Laura in the comfortable Woo bar, overlooking the pool and gardens, colourful bean bags bringing vibrancy to the green and blue hues of the outdoor area.

                                                                                                                                                             Woo bar 

                                                                                                                                                              Woo bar 

                                                                                                                                         Woo Bar

                                                                                                                                                   Pool & Gardens

W hotel’s drop the T2 set comes with a free flow of freshly brewed coffee and a variety of Dilmah’s finest tea, including their exotic seasonal flush, harvested only once a year! As much as I wanted to try the tea, I cannot resist a good coffee and theirs was so good I had 3 cappuccinos!! The staff was quick to take our drink order, followed promptly by the arrival of the high tea set, layered up in a beautiful bird cage.

                                                                                                                       High tea bird cage set

The sweet treats consisted of chocolate crackles, gorgeous macarons, crispy crones (croissant-scones) baked to perfection, flavoured curd balls, crunchy on the outside soft on the inside whoopie cookies, rich chocolate cake covered in orange cream sprinkled with nougat, and finally, my personal favourite, the fresh berry trifle served in adorable little glass jars. The staff were extremely attentive to our needs, refreshing our teas and coffees when we were dry. To our surprise, they even brought us savoury treats which was exactly what we needed to balance out the sweetness of the birdcage selection. The savouries included a foie gras chocolate tart, a egg & crab sauce mantou, a tika salmon papadum combination, and my personal favourite, and a surprise to me, brie cheese sushi. I had to have multiple cheese sushis to be satisfied, the soft cheese with the sourness of the pickles hidden underneath was indeed a delight.

                                                                                                                                     Cappuccino 

                                                                                                                       Chocolate crackles

                                                                                                                         Flavoured Crones 

                                   Berry Trifles, whoopie cookies, macarons, chocolate cake with orange cream, curd balls 

 

                                                                                                                                      Brie Sushi

 

                                                                                                                                      Chili crab mantou

               

                                                                                 Foie gras chocolate tart & tika salmon papadum 

   

B&f Winsider Laura can help you with all your b&f needs during your time in W Hotel, she’ll give you insider tips on the coolest most awesome place to hang out in Singapore. She’ll help you customize your holiday to however you want it, whether touristy or understated. If you need a special dinner, a party or even a surprise proposal set up, Laura will arrange it all for you. Contact her at Wbfinsider.singapore@whotels.com for all your b&f reservation needs or ask for her when you get to the hotel.

Dear Laura & I 

I give W hotel Singapore 5 thumbs up!! Thank you to the beautiful b&f Winsider Laura for having me, It was the best possible place for us to spend my Friday afternoon 

Picnic at Perth Park

Missing Launceston's beautiful scenery and weather. This was from some time last year that we took a walk down to the park near Perth river and it was absolutely wonderful. Singapore is fantastic with it's city life and multitude of things to do. But it lacks natural beauty and calm peaceful locations. We had a beautiful time, even found a home made bong which someone had stashed among tree roots. That's something your never gonna come across in Singapore lol.

Styletribute

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be selling a few of my branded goods on styletribute.com !! Everything from shoes to accessories to clothes. 

Style Tribute offers the amazing white glove service which handles everything from the photography and the shipping and authenticating of your products! You have to have 8 pieces and above to make use of this service but don't worry!! you can still do it yourself if you have less! It was as simple as filling up the sell form and then dropping my items off to their amazing warehouse where they store heaps of beautiful branded items for you to browse while you wait :D Was so tempted to shop, but managed to finish up without buying anything. The team at style tribute was absolutely wonderful and one of the pretty ladies even dug out a gorgeous vintage Chanel bag for me to oogle at as well as help me pull out some pieces in my size. Not only do they photograph your items beautifully and do the research for the write up for you, they even have an open house sale at the end of every Saturday for the public to browse and shop. That means that stuff for sale goes flying off the rack even quicker! I've had a wonderful experience with styletribute and here's hoping some of my items sell so I can use the money to buy more things. LOL.  

http://styletribute.com/skirt-rochas.html

http://styletribute.com/dvf-wrap-top-2295.html

Here are a couple of my items already up :D Anyone feel like shopping ?? Okay now gotta get back to work, so so busy xxx more updates soon !! 

<3 <3 

I do but I dont.

You know how everyone tells you growing up is not fun and they all claim they want to go back to school? I see why now. Being an adult means bills bills bills and all the things you never thought about before, like how EXPENSIVE it is to buy a house in Singapore. We have recently been on the look out for a 4 bedroom condominium so Jacob can have his own bedroom. But boy are they expensive. We had someone from the bank come down and evaluate our house and even with the low housing market, we still got a nice 3 mil figure. But let me tell you, we've had a few people through our house and the best offer we got was still 2.75 mil which is not acceptable by my parent's standard, considering all the new 4 bedroom condos are smaller than 2000 sq ft, which is the size of our current 3bed + maids room. Don't shoot me for saying this but I'm missing our house in Australia, with the beautiful back and front yard, and its spaciousness and most of all I miss the 4 seasons. As much as I was dying to come back, I have seen the people whom I wanted to see the most, and I've even started working again. Working is extremely fulfilling and I love it, even more so because I am working for a dear friend who already knows my work ethic and trusts me. Having absolutely no formal training in marketing, and only the experience of working as marketing executive in a club for a few short months, I've learnt so much from my amazing boss who is patient and kind. But that's me, my dearest husband is still waiting on the ICA for his LTVP, and to be honest it's moving a lot slower than we expected. 

On the bright side Jacob's Singapore Citizenship settled quick, and the government even gave us a baby bonus which was a big help with getting started, but a man needs to work to feel good about himself, and Chris gains no satisfaction from hanging out at home everyday while Jacob goes off to school and I go off to work. We have finally been given the approval (in principle), I've made the payment, and chris has to finish some medical examinations. But we have still no idea if we have been given the LTVP or the LTVP+ which doesnt seem like a big difference, but basically that little '+' sign, is the difference between Chris being able to get a letter of approval to work, or having to apply for a work permit with a prospective employer and proceeding to MOM to get it approved (case by case basis). the + means he wont be counted within the company's foreign work quota, NO + means he WILL be counted in the foreign worker quota and I cannot recall if or if not they will have to pay the worker levy to hire him. BIG PAIN I KNOW. Also the residential time is also significantly longer with the +. Family or no family the ICA makes the decision. This decision will also be the thing that might have to send us packing back to Australia, and I am half half about this. 

I do but I don't. God help me I love working, but I want to be able to buy a lovely house with a yard for a reasonable price. The dream is to get a lovely 4 bedroom with a front and back yard for less than 500K. And in Australia that is more than reasonable. But anyway, that's my musing of the day. I'm really tired. Work is lovely but oh-so-demanding. Okay time for the baby's bath. Til later xxx 

Jacob's first birthday party, our back yard, launceston - tasmania - Australia Jan 2014 

A Dog's Purpose According to a 6 year old.

taken from 

http://pulptastic.com/a-dogs-purpose-according-to-a-6-year-old/

I don't always believe what I read on the internet, you never know what's made up and what isn't, but this is too sweet. 

<3 

First week overrrr

Hello everyone :D my first week of work is officially over, and I'm happy happy happy to say I have signed my very first client. Here's a clue, they are a pretty popular Irish pub here in Singapore. Will reveal more soon, but yayyyy!! Hope everyone has a great weekend, I'm going to spend all my time with my little one and my darling husband. HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE! and, remember, come to me for all your digital marketing needs, or come talk to me about expanding your business xxx

signing off, 

Victoria Cunningham 

Business Development Manager 

victoria.c@e-solmedia.sg 

E-Sol Media LLP

(A) No.9 Jurong Town Hall Road, #02-57, Singapore 609431

(O) +65 6908 4880

Sommerville park

It's real nice to be home. #resortlife ftw :D 

I wish I had a garden here!

I wish we had a garden in Singapore!! As much as I love the convenience of living in a condo, i miss our lovely garden in Australia so much! someone please tell me if you have managed to grow any of these fruits & vegetables! Perhaps there is room in my grandma's garden for a veggie patch. hehe. <3 <3 <3 

landscape

From the vast natural beauty of Launceston, Tasmania to the urban jungle Singapore. The move has been extremely difficult, and sadly we had to leave a heap of our possessions behind to collect dust in my in laws garage. Jacob and Christopher seem to be coping well, and everyone has been so generous. We need to head back to KL soon, back to the shop but we've been having such an amazing time here we keep procrastinating, I wish we didn't have to leave but dwindling sales doesn't make for a very good business. Jacob seems to have gotten round his phobia of people and he chases after complete strangers, anxious to bid them hello and goodbye, and rushes after children wanting to play with them. I think it's time for playgroup! ! Does anyone have good expat playgroups here in singapore/KL to suggest ? Please and thank you my mommy friends!! Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday! Xxxx