Our new home (for now)

We arrived in the states (Logan Intl Airport, Boston) on the 12 August 2009.

Having stayed in various hotels for the first couple of weeks of our arrival, we are very happy to have finally found a place to rent in this small town called Marion.

And this will be our home for now.

Why the long silence

It has been many months since I last wrote here. Please pardon my tardiness as I had been too bogged down with stuff. So much has happened in the last 3-4 months! Almost life changing events I should say....

First, RG had decided to take up a short overseas stint. And since the both of us will be away for awhile, we decided that perhaps we should sell our apartment as the "fruit seemed ripe for picking"! Being the DIY sort, we decided to market the apartment on our own. Much work had gone towards that - decluttering, cleaning, researching, advertising, answering phonecalls, arranging for viewings etc. We even done up a blog with photos and details of the property. Luckily for us, we managed to secure an offer within 3 weeks! You can't imagine how happy we were to be rid of one major task.

At the same time while we were trying to sell our apartment, we decided to look around for a small flat to purchase. We figured it'd be better to still have a place that we can stay in whenever we are back in Singapore.....and we also need a place to keep our furniture and stuffs. We managed to find a place that we really like and within our budget after 2 weeks of intensive house hunting. But as the flat is really old, we had to do quite some renovations which was yet another big task added to our already long list of to-dos.

Then we had to pack. My goodness....the packing was the worst nightmare. We didn't realise how much stuffs we had gradually accumulated over all these years...until we started to pack. We filled up boxes after boxes after boxes.....it seemed like the packing was never gonna end. I was starting to lapse into a depression just waking up every morning and not looking forward to having to continue with the packing. When we realised that there was just too much to pack....we started to dump. Oh we dumped like we've never dumped before....the poor cleaners must have had a hard time emptying trash cans after trash cans of our stuffs.

We had to think about our flat renovations and finding a contractor while juggling all the other tasks at the same time. The old flat had quite a weird layout and we killed countless braincells trying to think of the best configurations for the fixtures in the bathroom and the kitchen. And finding a contractor that you can trust is like the next hardest thing in the world! We decided to go back to the one that we had engaged previously to work on RG's brother's home even though his quote was slightly higher than the rest. We decided safe is better.

Then we hadto sort out our visas, air tickets, hotel accommodations, car rental and a gazillion other things for our big move. We were also worried 'cos our overseas accommodation was not finalized. What if we can't find a place to stay? What if rental is very expensive? We almost went crazy with all the "what-ifs" going through our minds. But everytime I started to get a panic-attack....I kept reminding myself of the chinese saying - "the boat straightens itself when it reaches the harbour".

My next big headache was what to do with all my big chunky furniture? You see, we were moving from a 1625sqft apartment to one that's barely 580sqft. Most of my furniture were designed and built for huge homes. I figured that I could take 5-6 pieces the most of the existing furniture over to our new place. The rest will all have to go. So, I decided to hold a garage sale. I posted in various websites about the sale of our furniture and the response was just overwhelming. But coordinating the viewings/collection of all the furniture wasn't exactly easy and it took quite a lot of time and effort but we eventually sold all of our furniture.

One of the last things on the list was RG's car. We had to keep the car till just before we left as we needed it to run errands and transport stuffs. As with our apartment, we also decided to DIY the sale of the car. We posted the photos and information on a used car forum and immediately after our post went online, RG's phone started to ring non stop till he almost went berserk. He managed to sell it to the first person who came to view and test drive the vehicle. I think RG felt a sense of loss as he had grown very attached to it. I have felt the same about our apartment. It was when I realised detachment is the hardest thing to do.

So for the past few months, we juggled and juggled the gazillion things. It's amazing that we are both still sane. We even found time to meet with our families and closest friends to bid farewell. And finally, on the 12 August, we gave our home the last longing glance before closing the door behind us and then we left the apartment....and left Singapore.

Airfares - Cheap! Cheap!

Just heard from my gal friend that she booked her Emirates airtix to Melbourne for only $403!! I couldn't believe my ears and decided to check it out myself:

http://www.emirates.com/sg/English/destinations_offers/special_offers/special_fares/special_fares.aspx?id=425575#425575

Fantastic deals indeed...if you are planning your travels for these couple months. Only slightly over $700 to travel to numerous european cities and $424 to Brisbane. For my last trip to BNE, I had to pay $1.1K.

Damn I really wish I can afford the time *sob*

About passports....

Both RG and I had to renew our passports recently for our impending trip. I'm holding a S'porean passport while he's holding a M'sian one.

It used to be so much of a hassle to renew the M'sian passport. One would've to go to the consulate at least 3 times just for renewal alone. And it'd take days (even weeks) before you get your M'sian passport. That's why we were pleasantly surprised to find out during our recent trip to the consulate that RG could apply and collect his new passport on the same day! We almost couldn't believe our ears when we were told that. While that's definitely a great improvement in service quality...RG was disappointed that the M'sian government no longer issue the 64-page passport. The new ones are all 32-page and cost RM300.

For my case, I applied for my new biometric passport via mail. And I got a notice within a few working days to ask that I collect my new passport at ICA. Everything was done in a fuss-free manner. My only complaints are that the new biometric passport only has a 5yr (+) validity and it's 64 pages unlike the old passport which was 96 pages. But I'm grateful to have a S'pore passport...'cos we've visa waiver arrangements with so many countries (unlike RG who has to apply for visa to most of the countries i.e. China, Japan, USA etc.)...and at least the S'pore passport is much cheaper than the M'sian passport (SGD70 as compared to RM300).

Pulau Tioman, 21-23 Mar 2009

Photos first....details of the trip later!

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Doesn't the Sydney Harbour Bridge look kinda nice in this mosaic? Click on pic to see the details. I've made used of all my brisbane/sydney photos in the mosaic.

I'm dreaming of spicy sweet pork chops

Today is officially the first day of my diet. Not planning to starve myself thin but I'm just gonna stick to more vegetables and fruits and less meat/carbs for the next couple of weeks. It's more for health reasons than wanting to look good. A recent chat over dinner with SN and XY made me realised that I really should start taking care of my health as I'm not young anymore =P

Although I'm not a big meat-eater, I do love my red/white meats. Now that I'm off meats, I can only look at my past photos and salivate =P~~ Here's a photo of the recent pork chops that I had made for dinner...it was absolutely delish! For you lucky people who aren't on diet, I've provided the recipe for the chops. It's so easy to make.

Ingredients:
· 4 x 3/4-inch pork loin chops
· 1 tablespoon brown sugar
· 1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 1/4 teaspoon cumin
· 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preparation:
Mix dry ingredients together. Thoroughly rub spice mixture over the entire surface of each pork chop. Let the marinated chops stand at room temperature for at least 30min (I usually leave it to marinate for 1-2hrs). Heat up the frying pan and some oil. Panfry for 8 to 10 minutes over a medium fire. Flip the chops frequently to ensure even cooking. Serve with sides.