Tim in Singapore

Tim spent 3 weeks in Spore (1st time back since leaving for America 1yr ago.)



When Tim's in town, no one needs to walk............. :)

Crazy acrobatics in the pool!

Hanging out at all the cool parks in Spore ..................
(Yes, that's Tim teaching the boys how to climb trees and look at Nicolas' muscles!!!)

Tim with his favourite lil Emma!

Tim doing a science experiment for Mat's school project; Mentos and Coke bottle explosion............. In the YouTube videos, the coke fountain went 2m high, ours bearly bubbled! Kids were so disappointed. sigh.

OCBC Cycle

Tri-buddie Yen got me to sign-up for the OCBC cycle. It was only 40km so I thought, why not........... I have only been on the bike twice since the Osim Corporate Tri but I honestly thought it was going to be chicken-feet; Closed roads, no buses or lorries, early morning, riding with friends, no slopes...... Well, it was all of those things, but my wimp of a body decided to show me a thing or two. 1/3rd the way through the nice friendly ride, I developed the worst possible back pain; everytime I went over a hump, speed strip or pot-hole, I got a shooting pain up by back and down my leg. SCIATICA!!!! The rest of the ride was agonising; I tried to ride standing but since I am not very good on a bike, this wasn't really possible. Daniel & Yen Yen tried waiting for me but I was so slow that they gave up and went off. Yes, I spent the 1hr 35mins pretty much riding on my own. People on mountain bikes passed me, people on bikes with bloody baskets and bells passed me........... very sad. But, guess what, I finished it.

And all in all, it wasn't so bad. I came in 26th for my age group (yes, I belong in the over 35s group!) out of over 90 people so as Nic would put it "At least you made it into the 50th percentile!"!

I got a couple of things out of this ride :

1. I need to get on my bike more so this saturday, I am joining the Longhouse group!

2. I need to work on a better cycling posture; will speak to some specialists.

Tris and runs are much more fun though!!!

Daniel, Yen & I at the starting point

Race results can be found here :

http://ocbc.cyclesingapore.com.sg/media/40km_women_placing.pdf

ID Band Launch

www.idband.net

As you may remember, I launched ID Band from an internet cafe in Laos sometime end of Nov08. It is a neat little product; worn on the wrist with the name of the wearer on the front of the band and ICE (In case of Emergency) details on the back :ICE contact, telephone number, ID#, blood type, allergies, long-term illnesses, medication etc...... There are other ID bracelets on the market ; Runners ID, Road ID, Kids ID, Medi Band, amongst others, but there really is no other product as good as the ID Band. I am not just saying it cos I came up with it, it's true!

When Tim used to go for his long runs in KL at midnight, I used to get really worried and upset cos he went out with absolutely no ID on him. I had images of him lying on a hospital somewhere all alone................ I searched everywhere for an ID bracelet that he would use, but there was nothing on the market. The only possible thing I found was the Road ID which is quite a cool looking bracelet from the US (@ about 29USD I think), but it is made of velcro & metal, is heavy and gets smelly & disgusting with sweat after just a couple of weeks!

Well, after I left Michelin, the kids and I started travelling alot and I saw another need for an ID product. Instead of stuffing pieces of paper into the kids pockets with my tel number (in case they got lost) I could just put it all on a band! So, killing 2 birds with one stone, I came up with the ID Band! I started doing research, sourcing for materials and machines from all over the world...... And after 6months of hardwork (with alot of travelling and interruptions in between), I decided to launch ID Band.

Things were kindda slow when I started end of last yr. Well, I was away in the US and Canada most of December & January, so that was understandable. We get back what we put in afterall! When I did finally decide to start working on ID Band in full force, (I had to, since I had no more money and couldn't afford to do anything else!!!) it was amazing what great results I got with just a little focus and attention! A couple of press releases, some phone calls and help from some wonderful friends and we had coverage in

- Straits Times Mind Your Body 29 Jan

- Singapore American Paper Feb issue

- Silver Kris Magazine Feb issue

-interviews on News 93.8FM Radio 2 Feb

http://938live.sg/portal/site/938Live/menuitem.09ade681f1a1a0358ace28101e1000a0/?vgnextoid=9d73638896593110VgnVCM100000e101000aRCRD&vgnextfmt=archive&mcParam=1233504000000&archiveDate=1233504000000

- Palico (Site for Japanese residing in Singapore)

http://sgreview.pablico.com/

etc.... and it is still coming (I hope)....................

I even have a Friends of ID Band facebook group

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?sid=863d31eb3f013cdff606ae5fa54e6f58&gid=50809620324

The orders are flooding in and I am really not set-up to handle hundreds of orders at a time! I am going to have to re-think the ordering process or I will spend all my days and nights doing this and nothing else!

Whistler Conclusion

Good ski-ing

Great company

Fabulous Sunshine

Amazing House

Ski Whistler

I cannot believe we have been in Whistler, Vancouver for 10days and it is now the last ski day. Sigh. I am here with buddies Craig and Daniel. Craig & I skied Zermatt about 4yrs ago and last time I skied with Daniel was almost 20yrs ago in Whistler. Daniel says that after all these years of ski-ing, I still ski like a beginner..... Guess it's lessons on the next ski trip. :)

Well, in my opinion, the boys are rather dangerous. I keep reminding everyone that we aren't 20 anymore, so we should ski safely, but the boys keep bombing down the mountain! Craig fell on his head the 1st day and had to spend the next couple of days recuperting from whiplash. Just when he recovered, he went off a cliff and tore something in his shoulder. Ya, we aren't 20 anymore! I have been popping anica and rubbing deep heat all over......... The body feels a little battered!

Whistler / Blackcomb has a huge ski domain. We had wonderful days of sunshine and the ski-ing has been great except for a couple of icy days.

Daniel borrowed a gorgeous house with 7 bedrooms, hot-tub, sauna and a kitchen to die for!

Lunch on the slopes (Favourite places : Whiskey Jack (Whitler mountain) and Crystal Hut Waffle Station (Blackcomb mountain).

With Vancouver friends, Kim & Sharon & the Dublin Gate Pub

The new peak 2 peak gondola takes you between Whistler and Blackcomb in 11mins. It's a great place to nap! There are 2 "glass bottom" gondolas but it really isn't anything special and not worth the wait!

With Uncle Harry & Aunty Ruth on the Gondola to the Peak

WHAT HAVE THE BOYS BEEN UP TO?

1st 2 weeks of Dec : Nic & Mat went off to France to spend time with their French family and Steph stayed with me and had a wonderful time as a single child!
Steph with buddy, Bryan from school. He even did a sleep over!

Steph with friends Luka and Mia

Xmas holidays : Steph left with his father and his family to join the boys! I understand that after a week in Les Arcs, all 3 boys are now expert skiers! Their French hasn’t improved much though…………
Nic & Steph in Mamie Anne's garden in the Sth of France (Mat was behind the camera)

2009 : Back to School : It hasn’t even been 2 weeks and the Xmas holidays feels like a lifetime ago! Nic came back from the holidays a complete bookworm having finished all 7 books of the Harry Porter series in 1 month! He reads all hours of the day and night and doesn’t want to do much else! Mathieu's new year has been very exciting; he is buddying his cousin Mark that just started P1, was made vice-captain of his school house and is on the Rugby team. Both boys promised that 2009 will be a serious study year….. hmm…. Nic is doing his PSLE exams this year and has set himself all sorts of targets! I am impressed. Steph is having a whale of a time and enjoying his childhood!

Weekends have been pretty action-packed; Night Safari with friends from Mauritius, 7km Tree-Top run/walk @ MacRitchie with the Wongs, Teongs & friends, Playtime with cousins at Hort Park (This is a great park that joins to Kent Ridge.); Sean-Rai’s birthday party; Excursion to 1degree15 for the Volvo Endurance Race with the Fus (Ya, I am still trying to get my kids infected with the sailing bug so we can sail around the world! Haha!) ……… Busy Busy Busy.

Playing hamsters in WOOF Balls

With Malcolm & Mitchell on Segways

Mat answering questions about the Volvo Endurance Race

B0ys are now having fun with Nana whilst I am in Vancouver before they leave for Phuket on a cruise with their Dad. Ya, they have quite a life, don't they!

AMERICA - To go or NOT to go............

The last post was supposed to be about my trip to the US and I don't know how I got side-tracked into a Tim & I romance story! Oh well...........


I think Tim wanted to show me what a great and wonderful place the US is to live in so we did a little discovery tour.

1st PORT : LAS VEGAS (Tim's adopted home for nearly 10 yrs)

LV is probably not the 1st place one would think of when moving to America ; casinos, strip clubs... sin-city of the world! Well Tim tried to show me another side of it;

a. Great outdoors : Hiking, camping, cycling & running @ Red Rock


Red Rock National Park


(We didn't actually do any of those things this time round as it was snowing and we weren't really equipped. The recce however showed great potential!)



b. Ski-ing @ Mt Charlestone. About 45mins away, there is a great little mountain with about 6 runs on it. (Very comparable to ski-ing in Club Med Sahoro). Perfect place to spend a day out!



c. Amazing houses : yep, we went house shopping and there are huge 4 bedroom houses (w/ outdoor and indoor fireplaces, 2 living rooms, place for a yoga studio/therapy room, mum's room when she visits, 3 bay garage......... ) all for USD400K!



d. Yummy Food. Many celebrity chefs have restaurants in vegas so it isn't a bad place to go to on un voyage de gourmandise! We went to Daniel Bouloud's restaurant @ Wynns (I think he has some Michelin stars), but it was expensive and not much to write home about! The Banana Cream Pie @ Emerald's in MGM is to die for though! The really good restaurants are however not on the strip. Jodie (Tim's flatmate) took us to a delicious little bagel deli out of town and we did a couple of really good jap restaurants that locals go to. The most yummy of yummies was undeniably the Krispy Cream Donuts that I am absolutely addicted to!



e. Shows galore : The great thing about being resident in LV is that you get to do the shows at local rates. $49 instead of the $100s it normally cost! We did Barry Manilow (Yes, Tim & I are closet BM fans!) and the sexy Cirque du Soleil Show, Zumanity (Very good, but not something you'd bring the folks or kids to, if you know what I mean!)


So far so good, but it is still SIN-CITY!

2nd PORT OF CALL : SEDONA ARIZONA






Tim always talked about this place and when I discovered that it was filled with Energy vortexes, we decided to pop over and check it out! Sedona is a bit of a New Age Hippie place for Energy healers, psychics and the likes of it. We did a couple of hikes to the Vortexes for meditation and it was very very nice. Sedona is a beautiful place; the color of the sky and mountain really takes the breath away. We stayed here much longer than planned cos it was so nice but I still don't think I would want to live here!

BOYNTON VORTEX : in the pouring rain all decked out in our ski gear and the most inappropriate footwear : Tim in his Prada's and me with my suede boots cos we had no walking shoes!

CATHEDRAL VORTEX

Little cottage we rented @ Oak Creek


Photo on the left by Tim (photoshoped sun!), Photo on the right by Elaine (all natural!)

Tim's brother Todd and his family live in Scottsdale Arizona so we hopped over for the day for a mini family reunion with Tim's parents! All very nice. It seems that there are some very good schools in Arizona and I learnt to my amazement that everything is free (school fees, buses, everything............) Now, that is tempting! If we can put the kids in a good school (one that does not cost an arm & a leg) and prepare for Nic to go to college paying in-state tuition fees, that would be good! Anyway, that is definitely something that I am filing away for future consideration!
Tim w/ niece Gracie. (Emma & her would get along like a house on fire!)

LAST STOP : CALIFORNIA

We had planned to ski Big Bear or Mammoth before heading to LA to see my best friend from boarding school, Armgard! But, we ran out of time and had to give ski-ing a miss. There was no way I was coming to Califonia and not see my darling friend Armgard though!

Armgard, Tim & I have quite a history too. When I was studing @ KU in 1987, Armgard came over from London to visit. We decided to do a road trip to Tennesse to visit Tim, got into an awful car accident that lead to my parents flying out to America to pull me out of school and drag me back to England. Yep, I was a very naughty girl! Anyway, Armgard moved over to LA a few yrs ago and now lives in a beautiful & charming historic cottage; biking & hiking and loving it in America! Listening to her talk, I couldn't believe this was the same Armgard that hid with me in the toilets to skive PE all those yrs ago! (Well, I guess the same can probably be said about me; who would have imagined that I actually exercise for fun now!) Well Armgard tells me that I HAVE TO MOVE TO LA; great for the kids, amazing weather, things to do, fun people............


So, Tim & I said we'd think about California. He is thinking about going back into the kitchen to do healthy cooking (yep, video editing wasn't his thing afterall) and I think doing yoga & massage in sunny California, might work for me!

We said we'd THINK about it! Spore is still such a wonderful place though. And the boys like it. And my mum is there. And my nephew and nieces. And my ex-husband would make my life hell if we moved. And And And..... sigh. Guess we need to meditate on this more.