Update!

Wow it's been ages since I last updated. I just couldn't find the motivation or time to continue blogging. It's been such a whirlwind of activity since the year started, it feels like my first weekend at home with nothing to do. 

Well technically, I actually have many things to do.. But they're not pressing and aren't as time consuming as going out for gatherings and events. So anyway, I thought I'd just blog a few updates of what's been going on these few months..

---

Europe

After buying round-trip tickets for $1085 to Paris during the Qatar sale last September, it was finally time for us to go in February! We bought a Eurail and traveled on first class cabins in France and Germany. Ahh the life of luxury..

We visited new places in France, revisited my old haunts in Germany, and whilst we were there, he proposed in the beautiful town of Chamonix! :D so yes, I'm officially engaged! *throws confetti* [this news is 2 months old oops]

It was quite a simple setup actually, I had mentioned to him many times before I didn't want an audience thus making his work easier for him. For the bulk of our trip, we split our accomodation costs equally, but for Chamonix, he wanted to stay in a Hotel "with a very nice view" and offered to pay for it. So I had my suspicions about this quite early hahaha. Three days before we were to go to Chamonix, I had horrible food poisoning and threw up 4x in the night. I felt damn awful. I couldn't move, couldn't pack, couldn't eat anything and I just lay on the bed wondering how we were to catch the next train into Lyon in 2 hours' time. Thankfully, that was 3 days before D-day, so by the time we got to Chamonix, I was only mildly sick with small bouts of giddiness. 

Unfortunately for ME, our esteemed hotel "with a very nice view" in Chamonix was at the top of a very steep hill. How else does one get a very nice view right?? Laden with only a handbag with the bare essentials, the walk up was one of the most painful treks I have ever undertaken. The locals said it would only take 15minutes.. bullshit! It took at least double the time, but it felt like hours. :'( Keep in mind I was still unwell. And yes, my hero was carrying our 23kg suitcase plus his heavy duty backpack. hehee. 

Upon reaching our hotel, I just collapsed on our bed in fatigue. I wasn't even hungry after hours of travelling and that horrible trek. Eric excitedly checked out the place, taking pictures of the view and nagging me to go out to the balcony to take pictures with the nice view. 

I went outside kinda guessing what was coming but not very sure how it would be presented. The camera on the tripod confirmed my suspicions.. i kept asking him if it was off.. (coz i don't like to be filmed). He sat me down and asked me to watch a video on his phone. I was so surprised coz I didn't know he knew how to make videos! It was lovely, with so many pictures of us and places we've been.. And at the end, it was a very obvious hint of a proposal. With that, he got down on one knee and gave me a tiffany box all wrapped up. I was like Ermmm You need to open the box and ask me... LOL. Awkward max..

So once he did it right, of course I said yes! (: (: (:

The ring needed to be resized so I couldn't wear it out and about. Not to mention we didn't want to attract attention as tourists. But I finally got it one month after coming back to Singapore, and I've been wearing it every day! =D 

Mum said I resized it for the wrong finger oops. I'm wearing my engagement ring on the fourth finger but owell, it's almost the same thing. (: 

The rest of our eurotrip was equally enjoyable. We stayed at Siegfried's place. He was such a sweetie bringing us to Heidelberg and Frankfurt. I got to eat my City Doner and Big Pom in Mannheim. I was so happy they were still there! And they tasted just as good as ever! Brought Eric around Munich and we ate pork knuckles and drank beer 3 nights in a row! We had such good weather in Germany.. Not like the bitter cold we had to endure in France. =/

Since being engaged and coming back to Singapore, we have a lot of things to settle. Learning more about shared finances for housing, wedding details etc. We've barely scratched the surface and it all seems so intimidating. But we have each other.. And that's all that really matters. (:

---

JPM Run

I've been stressing over this race since i signed up for it early this year. I initially told myself val.. you just need to beat last year's timing. And up to the week just before the race, I had been sick, sprained my ankle, and missed 3 weeks of training for when I went to Europe. I fervently hoped that I just didn't perform too badly. I did not only do better than before, I had more than a minute improvement! I did 26:45, compared to 28:10 last year. =D One of my proudest moments ever.. and I couldn't have done it without my colleague who was so nice to pace me. (: (: (:

And this run has been leading up to my run in the US later this month. I'm really damn lucky to be granted this opportunity to go run for my company in the US. Flight and 3 nights accommodation paid for by the organizer, not to mention meals covered for the event parties. (: I've extended my trip and will be traveling with another runner from my company. We will be going Washington, Rochester (race venue), Toronto, Montreal & NYC! I've been busy preparing all my random miscellaneous stuff for the trip. Settling flights, accommodation, bus rides, visa, changing money, NOT forgetting training hard. :( What a headache.. But I'll fly in less that 2 weeks ahhh so exciting! 

Sorry my thoughts are really all over the place. =/ So many things to say, so little time! I'm rushing out now to celebrate my popo's birthday. She's this sweet old thing who doesn't remember anyone anymore, but we remember her right? So it's no excuse to treat her shabbily and not celebrate her birthday.