Holiday Plans

Yes, it's set! We're going Chicago on 30th Aug, to spend the long weekend there since it's Labour Day on 1st Sept. I'm so looking forward to it. The sad thing however is, I have a paper on the 30th and it'll end only at 1pm. Thus we'll have to drive up to Chicago in the noon, instead of having an early morning road trip.

Heard lots of raves about the massive NYE's party in NYC, hence I so want to be there to witness the madness and festivity at Times Square. We need to get started on the planning real soon as some of the hotels are already fully booked during this holiday season.

Meanwhile, I am counting down to the shopping spree this coming Sat! In another 31 hrs, we'll leave WH and take a 2.5hrs drive to Osage. Woohoo!

A Long Wait

Our shipment has been post phone AGAIN! Two weeks ago, a Jessica called to say our boxes were already in LA customs and would reach us in WH by early last week. Last week, she told hubby the shipment was delayed due to some impediment at the customs, so we should receive them this week. This week the same lady said the shipment just arrived at LA customs and should arrive at the STL customs next week. WTF?! If she intended to lie, can't she spin a consistent story instead? Is this a problem with the slow customs or is it a problem with Jessica?

It is really exasperating to still live out of a suitcase after almost 4 long weeks! Not only do we not have enough outfits to change into, we can't cook a proper meal till all our condiments arrive. Oh and yes, I can't start my exercise regime yet since my gym shoes and swim wear are still on their way here. Tell me how more devastating can this be, always munching on pizzas and burgers, yet can't exercise to keep my weight in check and thus can't look good in the few pieces of clothings that now seem too small for me. Welcome me to the world of laggards.

Now not only are we sick of eating out, I am very sick of cooking either instant or bland food. Pastas, fried rice, more pastas, pizzas, more fried rice, etc. There, you get it; that's been our home-cooked menu for the past 4 weeks, with only salt to taste. Packets of salt from Mac's, Schuncks and the hotel cafe are our only condiment for now. Pathetic huh, but not stingy eh. Haha... Don't forget this is the land of free, so we took what was made available to us till our big packet of salt arrives.

Anyway to digress, I was very proud of myself just awhile ago. Sick of cooking the same nothing-but-salt-only menu, my survival instincts finally surfaced. I created a very yummy 牛肉饭, with salt as the only seasoning! Maybe I was a well-known chef in my previous life, that's why I could still perform magic with just one type of condiment. Wahaha...
That's hubby's packed lunch for tomorrow, the famous Gladys' 牛肉饭! It's really delicious, easy to cook and very nutritious with lots of veg. Just dump plenty of chopped onions, mushrooms and carrots together with salt-marinated beef and viola! Oh and not forgetting the tablespoonful of garlic; makes the dish very fragrant. Yum yum... I am such a smart wife... =P

The Land of Free

We were recently told by hubby's senior that this place is the Land of Free. What he meant was that many a times when we bought stuff, we get to mail in the enclosed rebate forms and eventually get either a partial or entire amount refunded. Sounds unbelievable? We did believe, but initially thought it holds true to only the cheap daily necessities, like food products, household items that's merely a couple of dollars, etc.

Till hubby bought his MacBook, did we realise we are indeed living in the Land of Free! We paid US$1,199 for the 2.4Ghz lappie, after a $100 student rebate. This is S$300 cheaper than what we would have paid for in SIN. Then we got a free HP printer worth US$100 and a free iPod Touch worth US$299! That means we got US$500 worth of freebies! That's sooo unbelievable! Include the S$300 price difference, we saved a massive S$1000!

Next year I'll lug an iMac home, since it's so freaking much cheaper here. Anyone wants a MacBook next yr? I can get another lappie with the same promo using my student status, but that has to be next yr coz the one hubby bot this yr is under my name.

Blog Settings

If you have been a regular to this site, you would have noted some additional elements in my blog. I've added the St. Louis weather forecast and local time at the bottom of the page, for more 亲切感. So you guys will know and try to remember the time difference between Sin and STL. I'm getting quite lazy to repeat myself you see. Heh...

I've also added a link to my photo albums at the left. However I am still in the midst of figuring Picasa in depth, and promise more pics of STL after I've sorted them out.

Another weekend update

I know this is a few days late, but at least I bother to pull myself away from online window shopping to update on what we did over the weekend. Nothing spectacular, since we had visited most of the interesting places.

Friday was the 1st time I officially joined the Wives' Club on an outing, and that outing was of course a trip to the shopping mall! It was my 1st visit to Chesterfield Mall and a very pleasant one. Especially when I managed to grab a DKNY blouse for no more than $15! This mall was much crowded than the few we visited over the past few weeks, but still alot more subdued than the crowd in Singapore. It houses most of the major brands and 2 large department stores, Macy's and Dillard's, and best of all, it's only a 15mins drive from WH. We're going again tmr for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, as tmr's their 30th anniversary and the famous cheesecakes are all going for only $1.50! Slurpzz.... Too bad I was too engrossed in shopping that I totally forgot to whip out my cammie to snap some pics.

In the evening, the hubbies and the rest of the guys met us at Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.
The usual gang were seated together, while the other wives together with their families were at the other table. Uncle Penghan was too embarrassed to be seen in the over-sized bib. Hahaa...
We just need to take a picture of ourselves.
We had very yummy garlic mussels, and a rather bland garlic and herbs steampot at one end of the table...
and the delectable calamari and salty BBQ steampot at the other end of the table. Actually I had more fun laughing at the rest in the silly looking bibs, than tucking into the jumbo crab legs.





Thereafter some of us proceeded to Harrah's casino while the rest called it a night.
Our main purpose was to check out Voodoo, a supposedly happening club in Harrah's that was not very happening afterall. Much to our disappointment, we left an hour later at around 1230am, when the club was still pretty much cold and empty. I guess I probably will not have a chance to relish the good old fun, wasting my nights away like we used to, for as long as we're here. Made me miss the clubbing days so much...

Union Station was where we went on Saturday noon, and dinner was at Hard Rock Cafe.
Abit about St. Louis Union Station, it was once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world! It was first opened in 1894, but ceased operation as an active train terminal since 1978.
Union Station reopened in August 1985 as the largest adaptive re-use project in the United States.
Today, St. Louis Union Station houses a 539 room Hyatt Regency Hotel, luxury offices, a lake, four active train tracks and a plaza for festivals, concerts and other special events. Actually it's quite a boring mall lah. =P
Dinner was good! HRC's ribs kept me busy with licking my fingers clean.
A newly-wed having their wedding pictures taken in the historic station. I love the tulle gown!
Fudgery, is where we bought our most expensive fudge ever. At $15/pound, Say Kwee and I spent a total of $28 on 5 pieces of fudge, each the size of a piece of cake. This was after an estimated 40% discount, else the check would have come to a whopping $45! Quite an interesting outlet, as the staff sang and played games with shoppers. The Singaporeans in us found it rather amusing but the friendly act was what made the business brisk I guess.

Subsequently, we proceeded to the 3rd casino in 3 weeks.
Where hubby won back 1/3 of his previous night's losses.
Lumiere was more uninteresting as there was not even a single club in sight. Thus we headed home to chill instead.





P.S. On our drive back, we realised the very happening nightlife was actually along the road adjacent to Lumiere! We made a pact to visit "Big Daddy's" at Laclede's Landing very soon.

Meixuan, Say Kwee, Shaun, hubby and I ended the night with the extravagant fudge, beer and vodka in our apartment till 3 in the morning. I find this so much more happening than freezing ourselves in the dormant club.





Nothing interesting to mention about Sunday, as the uncles and aunties spent the noon browsing in Wal-mart and its likes along Chesterfield. It was then the weekly grocery shopping in the evening before we prepare for another week ahead.

The coming weekend will definitely be much more intriguing, as we're going for a mega shopping spree in Osage! It's the tax holiday weekend and we're going to take a 3hrs drive to our first factory outlet! As advised by the wives' club, we've set aside $500 for this shopping trip. I can't wait!

Btw, I passed my driving test today on my 1st attempt and we're finally going to apply for our driving licenses tmr. Congrats to myself, that I will no longer be an ID-less alien roaming in States.

Never Enough

of bags!

I've been hooked on this site http://i-covet.com/categories/Handbags/10/ ever since I chanced upon it a couple of days ago. There're sooooooooo many nice bags I want to get my hands on, all for different occasions! Have been fighting with hubby over the use of MY lappie coz I can't take my eyes off the bags, while hubby couldn't take his off the iBook. He wanted to do his online shopping for the iBook while I wanted to do mine for my bags. Tsk tsk...

Erotokritos Handbags Patent Croissant Bag
I love the shape! It's dainty yet roomy enough for all my barangs and best of all, the price has gone down to $202.80 from $676! That's barely a third of the original price! Very tempting, but not very willing to pay such a price for a patent-leather bag.

Brontibay Paris Hawaii Tote
This somehow reminds me of Carrie from Sex and the City. I love the colour combination, but not the nylon. Again, it's the reduction in price that makes me salivates. At $92.40, down from $300.00, it seems like it's really a steal.

Foley + Corinna Handbags Jet Setter Jr Tote
This is my favourite! It's big enough for work and school, and chic enough for shopping. The colour is perfect and easy on most apparels. However, the price at $528 is not friendly enough for my pockets. This bag was featured in Gossip Gals, in various colours. Made me hanker after it more.

Juicy Couture Classic Leather Makeover Tote
At $395, this could be a cheaper alternative but the design is abit too busy for my normally plain dressing.

Foley + Corinna Handbags Patches Jet Setter Jr Tote
I may end up buying this, since it's the closest match to my favourite and after a 50% discount at $264, it seems more reasonable.















We'll see if any other bag entices me more this weeked at the Osage outlet. If not, I will just hit the button and purchase my first Foley + Corinna tote.


I have also been going ga-ga over my second fetish; heels! But the problem with me is, I've been battling a love-hate relationship with my stilettoes. I have a collection of heels, the most expensive being my 2 pairs of wedding shoes from Paradox, at S$378 each. But I only wore them once, on my wedding day of course. I have another 4 pairs of heels on the way to St. Louis, bought many months back and still very brand new. The issue is, I have an extremely soft spot for stilettoes. The higher the better. However, it seems like I can never walk in them for barely more than maybe 2 hours. Thus, they ended up beautifying my shoe cabinet at home.

Now that I do not have to take any public transport in St. Louis, I made a pact with my heels. Once they're here, I promised to wear them out often. And for that to happen, I need to practice walking longer hours in stilettoes right? Since our shipment had been postphoned AGAIN, and I've decided to start my training immediately...
da-dah! I absolutely adore this Colin Stuart® zebra-print satin stiletto pump! So, I'm going to buy it online and start practising real soon! Yum yum...
At $88 for 2 pairs, I can't decide between this white pearlized peep-toe pump, or...
the red side cut-out pump as my second pair. Help!

The Wasp Problem

Ever since we moved in 2 weeks ago, I've been encountering numerous face-offs with wasps. The irksome pests do not just fly around to bother & scare me, but enraged me more by building a nest in my living room of all the places! A fortnight ago, what we saw was just a tiny brown wood fibre on the top of our sliding door to the balcony. We thought nothing of it and had absolutely no idea that a wasp nest was in the midst of a construction.
A week ago I had my first nasty encounter with the annoying pest. Not knowing that the wasp actually came out from the nest above, I was appalled at how it could fly through the net covering the door, and then through the closed sliding door to get into the house.
It was after the third scuffle I had with wasps did I realised the tiny brown piece of thing had grown into this huge nest! It's utterly disgusting, even for me to take these pictures and post them up here. But to let you guys apprehend how I have been feeling lately, I need to grit my teeth and do it!
The previous picture was taken at night, when the wasp will close the opening to the nest. That's probably coz the queen does not want to be disturbed I guess. This was taken just awhile ago, when I saw a wasp flying around the living room! The entrance to the nest is now open. Its darn horrible isn't it??!

The hopeless hubby did no help at all to rid the wasps and nest as he is as terrified as me. I've been pestering him over the weekend to kill all the wasps and to tear the nest down, but his fear to be stung overtook his gung-ho-ness. Thus, the poor me had to wait till this morning before i could get help from the maintenance.

So for now, till the maintenance guy is here to rid the nest, I have to blog and surf the net in my room, behind closed doors. Lest the bothersome pest annoys me again. As I have not had a bite from the time I woke up, I had to crawl out of the room discreetly in this...
to grab my bag of popcorns. It's really a ghastly ordeal. I wish the maintenance will come really soon, but as it's lunch time now, I probably will have to wait another hour or so. Sigh poor me......










The pictures of the wasp and its nest make my hair stand when I previewed this entry. Yucks! I shall stop here and pls pardon me for any spelling/grammer/vocab mistakes as I just can't bear to look at the pics any longer!

Sudden Thunderstorm

It's 1.30am in the morning and I'm still wide awake, watching Project Runway. I should have forced myself out of bed much earlier this noon, instead of crawling out of it at 2pm.

The weather here has been pretty erratic recently. It was hot, hot, hot this afternoon when we went shopping. I had to put my shades on when we're out in the open or in the car, else I could barely open my eyes. Then not long after the night fell at 9, there were thunderstorm warnings flashing on the black box. Shortly after, we could hear the rustling of the leaves on trees, the sound of the rain and the loud roar of the thunders. And then, blackouts! Not once, but twice! Lucky the blackouts lasted for only a couple of seconds, and we had our torches nearby in the event that they lasted longer than I could bear.

Project Runway has ended and its really time for me to hit the shack. Ciao!

Revealing the Artistic Sides

Last Sunday was spent in 2 museums in Forest Park, the history and the art museums. I'm tired and the cold weather is making me lazy to type further. Pictures shall tell the story.

A group picture, with hubby's colleagues.
I can't remember who these black figurines represent.
A horse carriage commonly used in the olden days.
Vintage wear is full of lace and frills, I like!
Golf evolved from wooden clubs.
Meixuan and Penghan on a hot air balloon flying across The Arch! Penghan is acrophobic?! He looked quite scared with his hands gripping tightly onto the edge of the basket. Hehe...
Say Kwee and Hubby. Hubby said he wanted to try to "grab" The Arch. HAhaa...
The Art Museum from afar. The Forest Park is super huge. It'll probably take us numerous weekends to comb the entire park. There's a zoo, a golf course, the Science Centre, the Jewel Box, etc. It covers a whopping 1371 acres of land!
A tree made of steel outside the Art Museum.
That's St. Louis I supposed.
Must show proof that I do have artistic vibes coz i visited an art museum!
Go Art museum must take artistic shots! =P
My Favourtite painting, St. Peterburg, Russia.
Hubby admiring my 2nd favourite painting, St. Helen and the Emperor Constantine.















Thereafter we went to this Thai eatery that serves expensive and second-rated food. Nothing fantastic about the place, so I didn't bother to whip out my camera. The pad thai was a tad too wet and sticky and while I thought the green curry was passable, hubby said it was too sweet for his liking. At least the extravagant dinner saved me from preparing the next day's lunchbox for hubby, coz we only managed to finished up half the portion and had the other half packed.

That's all I have to blog about the last weekend, and before I could take a break, the weekend is here again! Wooohooooo!

We went for some drinks and cheap wings (at only a quarter of a dollar each!) just awhile ago after my test, and met up with the rest of the wives. They're bringing me shopping tmr! To this mall that has a cafe that sells the best cheesecake and then we'll probably head to Joe's crab shack for crab dinner. I can't wait to go on a shopping spree and then a feast! Yeah!

Btw, I passed my driving written test. Will find sometime next week to go for my practical test, since we were late today and only hubby managed to take the test.

Adventurous Weekend

I ended up not going for the driving tests today coz hubby didn't get to knock off early enough to come pick me before they went for the tests. Now that all of them have passed the theory and some the practical as well, I'm the only one who still hasn't gone for any of them yet. Feeling even more stressed now, especially when all except one passed at their first attempts. Now that I am more or less prepared, I do hope hubby manages to go off early enough tmr to come pick me for the tests, before i threw all that I've cramped into my puny brain away.

Before I forget, I need to congratulate Penghan on his promotion. It's all thanks to him that we all had free and yummy lunch on Saturday!
Kim Son is the place where we went for delicious and reasonably-priced Viet food. It's somewhere along the unofficial Chinatown, and near where we had Viet food the 1st week we arrived. After patronizing Kim Son, I doubt we will be going back to the previous Viet outlet again.
That's Penghan, the boss, and Mingwei. Penghan said his wife commented that I did not post any of his pics, so I'll have to bear in mind to show his face here regularly. Haha...
That's Say Kwee's pork and rice. Looked much more appetizing in real!
This is my bowl of very delectable beef soup with egg nooodles! The bowl was full of superbly tender beef in very rich and tasty broth. Egg noodle is my all-time-favourite so it was an additional bonus to have them with my soup. The serving was humongous. After stuffing myself to the max, there was still almost half a serving left. I shall bring you guys there, if any of you were to pay me a visit ONE DAY.

After the sumptuous free lunch, we proceeded to a chinese supermarket just across the road. This supermarket plays cantonese music in the background! I tried to record a video of hubby going crazy for lup cheong in the supermart with the canton pop in the background, but I stopped almost immediately after just getting started when I noticed pairs of eyes staring at me; lest they think I super sua-gu. In the end I managed only 2 pics in the supermarket.
Hubby and Say Kwee very happy to be back in a chinese environment. Haha... I noticed the supermarket was also attracting quite a number of Koreans and Japanese. I never knew so many Asians existed in St. Louis till I saw multitudes of them doing their shopping in their supposedly favourite hunt. Unfortunately, merchandises sold are quite expensive since they are mostly imported. A small packet of red chilli padis cost a freaking S$2! But do they need to be imported as well?
I never knew he had so much pleasure in parting with his own money. Noticed hubby was smiling to himself at the cashier? I bet that must be because he managed to get his lup cheong, salted duck egg and our favourite preserved olive vegetable.


Next, we went to the St. Louis Walk of Fame in Delmar Boulevard. This place is full of colours and life; much more happening than our tranquil WH and surroundings. Mebbe because it's inside University City and is surrounded by colleges, that's why we saw many hip youngsters around. On the contrary, we felt pretty unsafe as the place seemed to be a haunt more for the blacks (I'm not trying to be racist). Sights of police petrol cars and guards with guns sticking out of their trousers made things worse, as they attest to the fact that we're in a high-crime area. Nevertheless, we attempted to enjoy our walk along the boulevard.
While the other 3 guys went browsing in the comic shop, the rest of us decided to kill some time.
The Loop in Delmar is "One of the 10 Greatest Streets in America", so claimed the board. Just that to be one of the grestests seems too effortless, I thought.
The retro looking Tivoli Theatre in the background. I insisted on taking a pic with the theatre coz it's a touristy thing to do. Haa...
While some of them stole some shade from the tree...
hubby was posing with some pillars in the background. My college is just to the right of the pillars, thus I wonder if they belong to the uni.
I'm going back to school, but the rally's not for me leh.
















After the tiring walk along Delmar, hubby thought of just driving around the scenic town without GPS before calling it a day. The initial intentions were to just move around aimlessly to check out the interesting places in town, if there's any. Then unknowingly we venture into East St. Louis, crossed the bridge and entered Illinois!
没有人的 factory. "Mebbe got drugs and firearms inside?!" I asked hubby. No cars on the road too!
Hubby said he felt like his GTA game came alive! Still 没有人 on the roads! I was very scared our car would get hijacked especially when we stopped at the traffic lights. With only hubby and Say Kwee protecting Meixuan and me, I doubt they can do much if some 黑人 decided to "ki siao".
Deserted buildings were everywhere in this 黑人区.
Dilapidated shop with shattered glasses. After making many wrong turns around the highly unsafe area, we managed to get out after an hour's drive. Took us another 30mins to rch home. By then, all our legs were aching and our butts sore.


Night was spent chilling in TGIF, a 2 mins drive from WH.
Quenching our thirst for alcohol! Thereafter, it's a gdnight's sleep after an eventful day.