Crying Times

OK, so the packing is kinda turning out to be the least of my problems.  It's the good-byes that're proving absolutely heartbreaking.

Maya's friends threw her a big surprise farewell party, with lots of sweets, presents, and a handmade Minion cake(coz she dressed up as one in one of the school's charity events).  They also crafted up a video montage of all the best pics with her at various school trips, class-clownings and sleepovers, set to a couple of Taylor Swift songs.  A right riveting tearjerker, I tell you.

Maya's Farewell presents

And this afternoon, Ruhi said her last good-byes to her BFF, Hettie.  After a tearful hug-and -"bye-bye" at the door, Hettie stood by her window sobbing and waving to us at the bus-stop, for a whole 5 minutes until the bus came along.  Needless to say, Ruhi, too, was sobbing her little heart out.

Ruhi and Hettie, pre-sobs.

It's so heartbreaking to see the kids' hearts breaking... :(

End of a Chapter

Our time in the UK is coming to a close far too quickly.  We moved over from Singapore in November 2011, and now it's time to head back...

And so the complete and utter nightmare of packing begins.  The movers have come and done their survey, so the reality of what needs to be done has set in.  Painfully, it involves a lot of sorting, throwing out and giving away, stuff.

But those are just Things.  Even more difficult to deal with are the attachments and friendships and connections we have made during our 2 years here. It's especially hard for Those Two, who are lucky enough to have some of the sweetest girls I have ever known, whom they can cite as BFFs.

As for me, I will sorely miss the family friends and relatives who live here, the fact that world-class museums are just a short train ride away, the slower pace of life that allows me to literally stop and smell the roses, my lovely yoga teacher Emi who has helped me grow and progress in ways I never knew I could...

Gah! It's just too depressing for me to go on.  So I shall leave you with a pic...

Singapore Zoo, WE'RE BA-ACK...!!

New Acquisition

My new tattoos. Finally got them, a couple of months back.  I had been wanting them for the longest time, and I finally got round to it.  I am SO happy!

I knew I wanted old skool swallows with Them Two's names on, but I was waiting for the right time, the right artist, and the right "Go on! You know you want to!". So I scouted around a bit online for London artists' portfolios, saw Jaclyn Rehe's work and was immediately smitten. And then I decided this was the perfect way and time to collect some super lovely art as a souvenir (of sort) of my stay in London.

The great Jaclyn Rehe working on me.  2 hours of whirring, buzzing, bleeding and idle chit-chat...

This is Jaclyn Rehe.  She hails from Australia and currently works out of Good Times Tattoo up in Shoreditch, fronted by Nikole Lowe of Discovery Channel's London Ink fame.

Jaclyn is the cutest little button in the entire button shop, but is one mean old skool tattoo artist.  Her work is curiously timeless, because the theme, subjects and form are so traditional, yet her slight cubist lean gives her art that little handsome quirk and a modern edge.  I mean, how cool is it that my traditional swallows match-but-don't-match?!  Check.  It.  Out!

Fresh from the shop...

... and, some days later, in full scabby glory.

It was a tad tricky, and  bit of a pain (to say the least), that these had to heal under full sleeves (this was February/March), and through days of school runs, cooking and cleaning.  But look at them now, and you know it was all worth it. *happy sigh* :)

Scenes from Rome

Rome absolutely stole my heart...

The Romans are a special lot.  They are warm and friendly, super-smart dressers, crazy about coffee, hardworking yet chilled-out, and generous to a fault.  Basically, they treat everyone pretty much like family. Absolutely amazing.

The sights had to be seen.  Walk into any random little church (and there are loads everywhere), and be gobsmacked by the art and architecture.  The exteriors are deceptively non-descript.  And inside, although the awesome beauty renders you speechless, it still is really hard to be quiet.  Every one had heart-stopping ceiling murals, where it's a real challenge to decipher where the actual ceiling ends and where the illustrated heaven starts.  

The Colosseum, The Roman Forum (and the ruins in between), the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Obelisk at St. Peter's Basilica... I found it hard to wrap my mind around all that history.  Cardiac-arrest inducing, I tell you.  On top of all that, we got to see the new Pope, His Holiness Pope Francis, at Vatican City!  It wasn't a formal thing.  He just popped out of his apartment window at midday, said a few words in Italian (probably something sweet like "Now go and have a good lunch!"), and waved.  It was exhilarating to see the sea of people just wave back.  What a rock star!

The food was soul-satisfying.  Who knew that the simplest of foccacias, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with a pinch of salt, could be so... "bellissimo"!  And I discovered that Roman Carbonara (real carbonara, if I might add) was all pancetta and no bacon, all egg and no cream.  With that, I shall for ever judge an Italian restaurant by its Carbonara.

 

 

 

(Our slice of heaven in Rome, at Maison Giulia)

Common Winter

Apparently, we've had a particularly harsh winter.  Come to think of it, it has been colder this winter than last.  In fact, it's still cold now!

But the Common is a glorious sight on brrrr! winter mornings.  We trudge thoughtfully on the snowed-over gravel path, stopping for a while to skid some stones on the frozen pond.

Everything looks peaceful, and there is a still in the air.  Until Ruhi meets up with friends also on their walk to school, and start a snowball fight.  

Which, I have to say, is the perfect start to a cold winter's day. :)

  

Life Happens

As blog post records show, it takes me about or month or so to recover from Christmas and the New Year. So here I am.

Since my last post, I have travelled to Dubai to spend Christmas with family, maintained my yoga habit of practising every other day, discovered that Brixton has gone boho, resolved to smile more, sprained my ankle (twice), acquired me a Cambridge Satchel, played in the snow over The Big Freeze, and did some Scottish dancing (in between spraining my ankle twice).  It's a lot of stuff to go into, so I'll just let the pics speak for themselves. :)