Back home again!

We are safely back home after a lovely couple of days in Bintan. We did have some internet access but it was pretty slow and so have not managed to blog while I was away.

We have some lovely photos and a few stories to tell but I am worn out now. We decided to make the most of unexpected mid week family time by visiting Ikea. It was fun but tiring and Miss Scarlett was seriously over it by the end.  Hopefully I will upload some photos tomorrow and update then.

Best Laid Plans

I had a great list of things we were going to do yesterday. We went to all the things listed but somehow things did not turn out the way I had hoped.

My biggest disappointment was that all the Richard the Third tickets worth having were sold out. The lady at Sistic was fantastic and really honest about what I would be able to see from the various remaining single seats. Her verdict - at $245 a seat she would want better seats. I really appreciated her honesty but I am super annoyed with myself for not getting tickets sooner. It has spurred me onto making a resolution for next year of finally finding a baby sitter and getting out with Tet at least once a month and every third date is going to be a performance of some kind. A girl can dream.

Sushi fell by the wayside yesterday too as everywhere we normally go had a massive queue. We ended up going to a lovely tonkatsu joint though so I was pretty fine with that. For those who have not had tonkatsu I would totally suggest you try it. It is breaded, fried pork served in the usual Japanese style with accompanying salad, soup and rice. The restaurant we went to only sells tonkatsu and it is really good. They also serve this amazing multigrain rice with beans mixed in. It is so yummy although Tet went for boring old white rice.

We also made it to Novena but Scarlett was very uncooperative when it came to looking at clothes so we came home empty handed on the clothes front. We did manage to add a new jigsaw and wooden abacus to her toy collection after a visit to Toys R Us.

Our bags are packed and Monkey has been endlessly asking when we go to the beach. She has been up since five so it has been a long day already! Thank goodness for coffee. I will attempt to post from Indonesia but will only have my Ipad so it may be brief. I love living in a place where I can get to two other countries in no time flat!

Why Blog?

I have just read a really interesting post by Michelle Clement on her blog Scissor Quirk announcing her decision to end sponsorship on her blog and go back to the basics with her blog. Blogging when she wants about things that excite her rather than blogging because she has to.

Hubby and I were talking about this very thing this morning. How commercial so many blogs have become. I like a good prize as much as the next person but I also like to see people's real lives and real projects. I do not need a link to the shoes and cute skirt your daughter has on or a post sponsored by a multinational. 

I blog because I like to write. I feel a need to express some of the things that are going on our lives and I hope (if I ever get the time to craft again) to share some of the crafty projects I complete. If you are reading this you have probably stumbled upon this as I have no regular readers and that is okay. It gives me the chance to express myself without censorship and without feeling the need to pander to an audience.
I will blog if I have something to share. If not I do not blog. I just was not feeling it yesterday and so I did not post. Today reading Michelle's blog made me abandon the reader on my Ipad and hop straight on here to share. Before breakfast!

We have a busy Saturday planned. Scarlett has her weekly gym class this morning and then after her nap we will have our compulsory sushi lunch (it just does not feel like the weekend without sushi lunch on Saturday). I need to pick up tickets to see Kevin Spacey in Richard the third which I am super excited about. We might even get over to Novena and visit one of our favourite stores, The Little Wardrobe, and get Scarlett a couple of new dresses for the holiday season. I really will need a holiday after all that.

I hope everyone in Singapore enjoys the long weekend and a big Selemat Hari Raya to those celebrating on Monday.

Playdate Thursdays

My very excited wee girl is napping in preparation for our weekly playdate. We used to be a group of four mothers and five children around Scarlett's age but being an expat community, one family has moved back to Canada and another back to Australia. The diehards remain and Scarlett loves spending time with Xander and Joshua. They are always so excited to see each other... it makes me happy watching them together.

In other news we are off for an impromptu break away this long weekend. Believe it or not it is just to activate Tet's new visa for Indonesia as his trip there for work later in the month comes outside the period when the visa must be activated. I am not one to look a holiday gift horse in the mouth!

Here is a quick peek at the kind of destination we will have to endure. Happy Thursday! 

Blog my heart

The wonderful Stephanie Howell has put out the challenge to once a month blog in a really authentic way about how we feel. It is easy to leave out the hard parts of our lives and focus on the things we want to be or think people should see. Here I go...

• I have found being a mother while living away from friends and family a truly lonely time. I still struggle with often going for five days or more without speaking to anyone apart from Scarlett or shop staff. I thought being a mother would be an instant opening into social activities but sadly I have found many of them very cliquey and they make me more unhappy than spending time with Scarlett alone
• I am so grateful to be able to be a SAHM but I live for the day that Scarlett starts some pre school so I get a little bit of scheduled time to myself. Fingers crossed she will start three mornings a week next February
• I am disappointed in my inability to get any real exercise done and that I continue to go for the quick junk rather than the healthier option
• I wish I was a better mother to Scarlett. She deserves the best but, more than I like to admit, I am often grumpy Mummy
• I am so excited for my friend who has returned to the workforce this past week but am sad to see our weekly play dates end. The playdates will continue but her helpers will be there with her boys which is good for them and Scarlett but takes away my weekly adult contact time
• I am getting very excited about going back to NZ for Christmas but I am terrified about the ten hour flight back with Scarlett on my own. She has become increasingly likely to react to any limits with tantrums which is not a good look at 38000 feet on a night flight
• I wish I had the solace of faith. Neither my husband nor I have any religious belief and I think it must be wonderful to have that belief to aid you through the tough times. We have got through some very tough times without it though, so I guess we are more resiliant than I ever thought possible

• I would love to go back to work but I am scared I would not be able to do a good job anymore

That is pretty much what I am thinking about at the moment. It all seems so negative and I am generally pretty happy with the way our lives are at the moment but it feels so good to be honest about where things are at for me right now.

A little about us

I have just realised that I have not really done a very good job of introducing us.

We are a family of three plus one very tolerant cat. My husband, Tet, was born in Japan but was raised in NZ from the age of 9 so he is a little bit Japanese but mainly Kiwi. Funnily enough he has lived in NZ longer than me as I grew up spent much of my childhood in  Singapore.

Tet and I have been married for nearly seven years (wow that sounds like a really long time) and together for nearly nine.

I feel so lucky to have found such a wonderful partner in life. He is just amazing.

We took four years to conceive our daughter and were about to start some serious intervention when we discovered we were pregnant. We really enjoyed the pregnancy and post pregnancy period - the birth not so much!

Scarlett is the focus of our lives now. She is bright and bubbly and has a pretty big vocab for a pretty small girl (20 months). She certainly has turned our lives upside down and apart from the lack of sleep we would not change much.

We are really enjoying living in Singapore. It is a second home for me and Tet has a job that he enjoys.

We all enjoy travelling so we get away from Singapore regularly through the year. Our aim is to visit NZ and Japan once each year and have a few other short trips as well. It is such a great spot to live with so many wonderful countries just a couple of hours flight away.

 Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.

Let's get serious!

I had such good intentions restarting this blog but today is a new start once more.

I have been plugging away with my Shimelle's Learn Something Everyday album. It covers the month of September and I have really enjoyed the process even if it has taken me an extra month.

I signed up for Shimelle's pretty paper party too but made a promise to myself that I could not start until my previous project was finished. I also bought Elle's studio Gratitude printers tray. I am making it up for my Dad for Christmas with pictures of his stay with us including lots of picture of Scarlett and Grandad.

I have three months of Studio Calico kits practically untouched so I am planning to make November the month of the scrap fest! Fortunately Tet has had all his travel plans for work disrupted by the flooding in Thailand. A little selfish of me and I really feel for the flood victims but I love having Tet home! I should get some decent spare time in the evenings.

Scarlett continues to grow and change and is definitely not a baby any more. She has recently developed some food allergies so we are I now in the process of having her tested. She has started to react to peanut which is a big worry. We hope it is something she will grow out of especially the peanut as that pretty much stops us from eating out as practically everything is cooked in peanut oil here.

I am off to work out how to add some photos and will come back and add a photo post later today.