Val vs Milo bottle

Just 30mins ago I woke up to feed my little one and was feeling quite hungry myself.

So I decided to reward myself with a bottle of milo. 

Said milo bottle below:

Unfortunately the cap was screwed on so tight, no amount of force I exerted (with and without a cloth) could open it. 

So I ransacked the tool box and tried this:

Alas, that failed too. 

Not to be defeated by this tiny bottle, I ransacked the tool box once again and found this heavy contraption. 

And guess what????

TA DAH!! Success! 

After all my hard work, it doesn't really fast that nice though. 😒

Val 1 - milo bottle 0

The axis that the world revolves on

My little one has become my entire world. You never really imagine anything ever being this intense. 

The next chapter

I finally gave birth to my little precious on 27 April 2016. I never imagined how life changing that one day would be. Nor did I fathom how vulnerable this would make me feel. 

When I look at her, my heart swells till it feels like it's going to burst. How could I love her so much when I've only just met her? But how could I love her any less? I feel so happy and heartbroken at the same time it doesn't make any sense to me. 

It truly is one of the most amazing experiences in my life. And I am looking forward to this incredible journey of motherhood. 

1 week in our new place

We have officially stayed here for just over a week now, and it's been pretty awesome!!

So many things to get used to, cleaning up after ourselves, making sure the doors are locked, the windows are closed, that there is enough food in the fridge, even preparing lunch for my hubby!

It's so nice to see everything come together so nicely, especially when I think back to those tiring meetings with the interior designer, constant sourcing for the different contractors that would give the best deals etc. You never really put that much thought into it, but every item in the house has a story. For example, as I'm sitting here using my laptop.. i think back to the trials we went through going back and forth with starhub countless times, before finally having wifi at home; this beautiful dining table that i'm working on that I super love and cannot wait to host gatherings; and this chair that we sourced far and wide before finally finding the perfect one that fit our colour theme and budget.

Alas, there is still much work to be done - the study table and chairs have not arrived yet (both ordered separately); we need to get a booster for the wifi as the far corners of the house does not have any wifi reception; and simple things like sorting my shoes out in the cabinets.. those are still in one big heap just chucked inside to be sorted out another day.

I cannot help but go to bed with a smile on my face every night thinking how much I love our place, how near it is to all the important facilities (mrt/ntuc etc), and my super awesome Simmons bed that does wonders for my back.

Life is good, and it's amazing how much loan you can get to "live the good life". =x

Sleepless nights

I guess I have loads on my mind hence the reason why I have difficulty falling asleep lately. Figured it wouldn't hurt to blog about it. Might even clear my mind

We just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary this Monday. My gosh... Time really flies huh.

It has been a busy busy first year for us. Married in October, honeymoon in November, December flies by as usual because it's Christmas. Next thing you know, it's March and we bought a house! 

Far from being my dream house, it did meet many of our strict requirements - squarish design, (relatively) big kitchen, high floor (barely made it), near mrt (5min walk), near town, near his parents place, good estate, supermarket nearby would be ideal. Bonus being a wet market, clinic AND a super famous hawker centre just downstairs. 

Of course with so many plus points, we literally paid an arm and a leg for it. 

Between March to June, there was so much paperwork and we needed to quickly decide on one of the many housing loans in the market, as well as making sure we had enough insurance coverage. Sounds so little, but it really took up a lot of time. 

We reached out to interior designers in May, collected our keys in June, and attended a couple of roadshows before finally deciding on one ID in July. We got busy finalising as many details as possible before going on my US holiday in September. Next thing you know, it's the end of Oct and our first year of married life has passed. 

Oh and this week, I will finally be 3 months pregnant. 

It has been total madness. And I have not even started talking about my work. Back to back projects with no relief. Everytime I go on holiday my poor colleagues suffer (and vice versa), and my respite always feels short lived. I have been working 11 hour days most days, and saved quite a bit of money claiming dinner and taxi for all those late nights. 

I was fighting so hard and told myself to bear with it then, because I was gunning for a promotion. Now that I have finally gotten it, I cannot wait to escape from this role. To be honest, it's not something that I would normally hate so, but it's just been so intense I feel like I burned out my burnt out self. 

This one year, we have really accomplished a lot.. And I wonder if we should have slowed things down and taken things a little easier. I don't see how work could be taken any easier though, I'm so thankful for my supportive husband who encourages me to be my best as work.. Who manages the house stuff so that I don't need to worry.. Who finds constructive things to do whilst I'm busy so as not to make me unsettled.. Who rubs my back after a long day's work and does everything necessary (and unnecessary) to help me recover from a nasty haze-induced cough. 

When all that's been said and done... I guess I am really looking forward to living in our new place and enjoy the fruits of our labour (and the ginormous housing loan). 

Now.. how to manage the work stress that's threatening to drown me... 

Morning ramblings

Was it only in March that we said yes to our first home? 

I can't believe that was only 3 months ago.. It feels like AGES ago. >_<

These 3 months have been a whirlwind of activity and I've suddenly become an expert on the whole first time buyer for a resale hdb unit. 

You see.. In the span of 3 months, we first bought the option to purchase, then exercised our option, complete hdb checklist & hle eligibility, get a loan, prepare for first appointment, meet the lawyer, and now settle all the outstanding paper. In less than a month, I will finally have the keys to my new place. 

It's pretty unbelievable. 

On my way to work, I would take the train from Dakota station and catch a glimpse of our block. Sometimes, on the weekend or after work, we would also pass by the estate. Every time I lay eyes on the block, I would be filled with excitement and joy. 

This is where E and I will set up our home, and hopefully have our own family. 

HDB? Checked!

A lot of epic shit has been going on in my life lately, I'm afraid I would forget it all so I'm posting it here. 

So here goes... omfg I've bought a flat! Not just any ole flat in the middle of nowhere with a layout I would have no possible way of visualising. I bought a resale, on city fringe, mid high floor, 5 room with sq room layout, 400m walk to the mrt station, less than half that distance to the ntuc, hawker centre and wet market. Naturally, the price is ridiculously high and I feel like I can't breathe every time I think of having so much debt. 

I initially had some reservations about the place as it was only of a mid height floor, and already so bloody expensive.. Aaaand it's not sheltered all the way to the mrt station! 

The hubs liked it a lot though, so even though we went to the block twice in the day, we ended up dragging ourselves there at 10pm to recce the walking paths. After walking around the area for 1 hour, I was like ok let's do it! We saw the flat at 6pm on Sunday, recced the place at 10pm, went to the temple to qiu qian at 9am, and offered at 10am. Every thing happened in a blur and the next thing I know, our real estate agent is sitting us down and asking us to sign the documents. -major freak out-

So yea.. that was barely 48hours ago. 

Till the next update..

People come and go

It was my manager's last day today. A day I have most certainly NOT been looking forward to. 

I've worked with her only a short 7 months, but somehow the best managers are the ones that leave. 

Before joining the team, people told me that she's a very nice person to work with - she even holds an unofficial title of nicest person in Barclays. I did wonder how does the nicest person on Barclays perform a project management role? I mean sometimes you need to be hard on people to get things done no? 

Within a few days I realised that it was her charm that made people willing to go the extra mile for her. She talks to everyone, always had a nice word to say. I was actually very lucky to work with an individual such as her. I had a billion questions regarding this new world I had landed in and during every meeting I would jot down the jargons I didn't understand and any other issues that didn't make sense to me and she would literally spend one hour explaining all these things to me every single time.. Until I got up to speed that is..

She never has a bad word to say about anyone unless said person is a complete moron. Even when I made countless mistakes, even the really awful huge repercussions kind, she taught me how to address and fix those mistakes and even shielded me when necessary. 

They say people don't leave jobs.. They leave bosses. Granted my job is highly stressful and people always leave anyway.. I would definitely work for her anytime, anywhere again if the opportunity arose. 

Dressabelle

I'm superrrrr in love with my first purchase from Dressabelle. This dress is gorgeous and the cut is super flattering, albeit tight though haha (who asked me to buy S?!). And the material very flattering!!

They had initially sold out after the launch, but I requested to be notified if they had more stock.. and lucky me! I think perhaps there were deadbuyers who didn't pay for their item. :D

I think I'm going to have a new favourite blogshop... heehee.

Credits:
Dressabelle Sketches Print Drape Dress

Facial Foam Review

I figured that since I'm such a skincare freak, I should try my hand at beauty reviews... But then if I think about it.. I actually barely have any time to sit in front of my computer let alone time to think through and actually formulate a review on a product.

That said, I still wanted to do this for myself. I wanted to jot down my thoughts on the different products that I've tried so I know to buy or not to buy the same product again!

I want to share 2 of my current favourite facial foams. I hate those gel/menthol ones that always burn up my eyes. I have developed a preference for cream-based cleansers coz I feel they leave my skin feeling clean and moisturised at the same time!

Kose Infinity Pure Advance Clear Up Wash **favourite!**

This is currently my favourite cleanser! I use a very small amount, like half a fingernail, and it is enough for my whole face! I only need to lather it 2 rounds, and it is sufficient to remove all the dirt and oil from my face! I have had horrible cleansers that do not remove the makeup remover properly and I had to wash my face another 1-2 more times afterwards! Best part of this cleanser was my skin was left feeling clean and not dry. This is really important for me as I have sensitive skin and it gets really itchy when it is dry.

It is currently selling at most departmental stores at $43. I'm using those small free samples and I love it to bits. And since I use so little each time, I can use it for a very long time!

***

Belif Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist

This cleanser from Belif comes a close second on my list of favourite cleansers. Like the above one from Kose, it has a creamy texture and is not drying. I especially love that smell of it.. If I had to pick cleanser with the best smell, this would win hands down! It cleanses very thoroughly and I use a standard amount each time to wash my face. Why this isn't taking first place is it does not have that moisturised feel that the Kose one leaves behind after washing off... But all in all it's still a pretty awesome product. 

I didn't buy this as I tried this out in a 3ml sample. They are really generous with their samples. I checked online though and it's selling for $33 at Tangs and I would assume the same price in the Belif stores.

Cheers, and I hope you enjoyed this review! 

Bloomberg Square Mile

Team photo at Bloomberg Square Mile 2013 (missing 2 peeps)

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I initially didn't want to run this race...

It was 1.6 km race costing $100 per sign up! Not to mention there was no women's category so no possibility of winning anything.

However, after seeing the enthusiastic response on the internal running channel, I felt myself being sucked into the idea. Short distances are my forte, and I always enjoy running corporate races.

By some stroke of luck, I ran into the team captain at the North Face 100 when I went to support Eric. I asked if he was still looking for people to run, and if we would have to pay the full fee. Turns out that yes, he still needed people for the team, and the fee would be subsidized $40.

Can I just say that it is so rare for my company to subsidise race fees, even if it is still freaking expensive at $60 per person, I just had to get that last slot in the team.

This was maybe 2-3 weeks ago and I was (and still am) training for a 10 km race. How was I supposed to slot in a 1.6 km training when I needed to do a lot of mileage and endurance training (vs speed training)?

I didn't really do any speed training before the race and my only prep was a recce run on the route. The route sucks balls... There were a lot of sharp bends, u-turns, steps and narrow pathways. Not ideal for a distance that depends a lot more on speed than anything else.

We sent in 2 teams, one competitive team and one fun team - each team had 10 runners. I was runner number 7 in the fun team, so by right there shouldn't have been much pressure. But I guess it's my competitive spirit and something I demanded of myself so I made sure I was fit enough for the race.

Come race day it was such a crush with 160 teams of 10 people. The roads were narrow and the waiting pen was awfully stuffy. My adrenaline levels kept spiking up and down throughout the event before I started. As the 7th runner, I had to wait approximately 40 minutes after the start of the event before I went out to race. It was horrible. I never want to be a runner so late in a relay ever again. The emcee kept raising the hype, counting down the minutes before the start... and then counting down the subsequent runners. Each time I watched a fellow team runner come in, my heart would race, as though I was the next one to go. It was bad...

By the time it was my turn to run, I had depleted my adrenaline resources. Once I received my baton, I was like comeon let's gooooooo but my legs couldn't seem to move. I felt so tired and couldn't seem to propel myself forward. After the first 200m, I finally made some progress. And it helped I had fellow runners standing on the sideline cheering me on. As it was a short race, I knew I had to keep pushing hard through the race and not slow down. It wasn't long before my throat became unbearably dry and my legs ached way before half the race was complete. I don't know how I managed to keep going the second half but I think I slowed down quite significantly.

Once on the final stretch, I knew this was it. My final push... I had to make it count somehow someway. So I kicked. Whoop it felt good going at a pace that no one was able to overtake me. I was so happy to pass on the baton and I saw I had clocked 6.12 when I checked my watch. Way above my expectations of 6.40-7.12. In fact, my official time was 6.05 and can you believe it I started berating myself for not going 6 seconds faster to clock at sub 6 timing. -.-"

See lap 7..

My team did 42nd overall which was still pretty good since we were only doing this for fun. Our first team got 3rd and we got to share their glory, taking the "winners" photos as a group and going on stage together to collect the prize. The event could have been organised a bit better though.. We were entitled to 3 drinks, 1 dessert and 1 main course, but the queue for the food after the event was horrible. There were 5 queues, all equally long and slow-moving... We queued for 40mins and the line barely moved 1 metre. You would think that they would have catered for 1600 people clamouring for food after the event right?

Some of my teammates never got to eat anything coz of the queue.

I liked that there was a post-run event and I got to hang out with the other runners from my company. We popped the champagne that we got as part of our 3rd place prize and celebrated our victory with the party music going on late into the night. 

I didn't expect to enjoy myself so much despite all the organisational hiccups... 

I would definitely do this again next year (hopefully it will be fully subsidised heehee).

One of those days

I've been having one too many of just one of those days... Days where there's so many things happening at the same time it makes me feel so lost and troubled by it all. 

Work is not exactly bad. It's just heavier.. And my sleeping problem has gotten worse. I don't know if work is the reason I'm not sleeping well or the lack of sleep is making me stressed at work. 

It's a bloody vicious cycle.

Please please please let tomorrow be better. If possible, make next week even better. 

I'm thankful though that through all this shitty-ness, I have Eric always supporting me and encouraging me. (:

Intoxiquette & The Blush Inc

I just scored some purchases from my all time favourite blogshops, Intoxiquette & The Blush Inc.

I'm soooooo broke now... heh.

I got these from Intoxiquette's launch earlier today. They're so gorgeous I couldn't help myself even though I'm over my expenditure budget for the month already!

And these from The Blush Inc at an earlier launch this month... I bought them in XS without realising the XS measurements were too tight! >_<

Luckily the ladies from The Blush Inc are super awesome and let me do an exchange provided I pay for 2-way postage, which is still a better deal than no exchange at all. (:

Can't wait can't wait!

Mr Postman please hurry...

Credits:
Intoxiquette Hibiki Floral Romper & Tinge of Surprise Collared Dress in Navy
The Blush Inc TBI Emboss Lace Pleated Dress in Navy & TBI Sofie Embroided Laser Cut Romper in White

Small wins

I met my ex-director today just one month into my new role. He asked me about my work and after a 1 minute commentary from me, he said "Wah now you know what you are talking about." 

His words don't really mean much on the surface, but I was so happy to hear that. It made me reflect on this past month and how much I have learned thus far. The clarity at which I could explain my job and how it fits in to the whole organisation and the respective responsibilities. It feels good! 

I sometimes feel so overwhelmed and lost with the tons of documents being sent to me, I never know what to read first and how to use all this information. But I guess I subconsciously piece these little bits together to form a big picture. So every document I manage to complete is a small win.. baby steps to help me excel at my job. (:

Heineken Advert

I love this advert. It made me laugh so much.

I told Eric if ever faced with such an encounter.. he would never be able to convince me to buy this. heh =P

The next chapter

I'll be leaving my team at the end of the week. And as I slowly handover things to my colleagues.. I find myself feeling strangely nostalgic and deeply satisfied at all that I've done these past 2.5 years. 

Joining the firm as a fresh grad, I was totally ignorant of office dynamics, what a bank does and the different department functions, as well as basic understanding of the structured products that my team review. 

I remember stumbling through the office politics, unintentionally offending people with things I failed to say (thank you). Slowly discovering that pointing out my mistakes to everyone was not meant to embarrass me but to teach me and everyone else how to do my work better. 

Still so much I don't know about the organisation and it's many many functions but I feel so much more informed about how things work and flow between the different teams and departments. 

I've reviewed so many different products, mostly structured rates options, that I previously thought was beyond my feeble mind's comprehension. And not only do I know how to review the trade, but I'm also able to explain (to the many new joiners to the team) on how the different products work. 

What I'm most proud of is definitely the process improvement stuff that I worked on for the better half of my time here (which I won an award for heehee). 80% of it was just writing and designing macro templates for the team to use, and the remaining 20% was liaising with internal stakeholders on existing processes to either improve or remove redundancies. The removal of redundant processes, plus the templates I created resulted in so much time savings, that we could actually reduce head count from 12 to 9. :D 

And lastly I like to think I was a fully contributing member of the team. Anything I felt that we could improve, I voiced out. Anything I required more information, I asked. I eventually got a lot of random ad-hoc duties along the way and I became the one people went to when you needed something to be done. 

Need stationery? Ask val to order. Your second monitor isn't connected? Ask val to fix it. How to add shared inbox in outlook? Ask val. Print notes? Organise team outing? Archive old emails? Everything all ask Val. I never realised how much ad-hoc responsibility I had taken up until I was clearing my old emails in my inbox yesterday. 

Yes.. There is that bone-deep contentment when I think back to my time here and see how much I have achieved for myself and my team. 

A new chapter begins next week (what a lovely bday present might I add), and I'm excited for what the future holds. 

JPM Pics & other gatherings

Okay quick entry before bedtime.. 

I'm so tired, and it has been such a hot and tiring day (Plus I did macritchie this morning).

JPM Run

Yup, I did a brief entry on this previously. I just wanted to put up the few pictures that characterized the whole experience for me. (:

Here's Eric & I celebrating our awesome timings! ♥

Here's the other person I have to thank for my awesome timing. He was so sporting, agreeing to pace me for this race so that I hit my target. His encouragement throughout the race helped loads.. I almost gave up so many times! (i look like shite here >_<)

The thing I love about this event is seeing everyone decked out in their corporate jerseys, not to mention the big showing from my company. (:

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Canopy

It's with a heavy heart that I announce that our brainchild, Royal Troika has officially closed down. It has been difficult trying to manage this with our varying schedules and respective personal commitments. 

Far from being upset, it has been a very enlightening experience and I am thankful for it. It's one thing checked off my bucket list.

And what better way to end a partnership than to go for brunch? (:

Yvonne's Smoked Duck Salad

Hq & I shared 1 eggs ben and 1 eggs royale. 

Apple Crumble that we three shared.

Much loves ♥

Whilst I was really psyched to be at a cafe where one could bring their dogs, the food was average. =/ Not sure if I would come again.. 

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Misc

Me and Bff at Hatched. Overpriced Eggs ben and horrible sausages. The food doesn't warrant any picture. 

Cross seniors gathering at Melvin's. (: Good to meet and catch up with the other old fogeys. 

Last Pic of the night.. Will miss my love loadssss when I'm in US. *whimpers*

Note to self

Note to self: NEVER EVER ask someone (namely anyone in my family) for help if I can do it myself. 

If it's not handled properly, they will often shirk responsibility, AND turn it around and say why didn't you do it yourself. 

I really don't understand it. If I agree to help with something and I screwed up.. I would most definitely apologise! My word is important and it means something! 

If only everyone thought the same way.. 

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..

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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. (:

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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. 

2013 update! [delayed post]

Hello blog, you've been sorely missed!

It's been a whirlwind of activity all through December to January and I haven't really had much time to even upload pictures to facebook, let alone update my blog. It's nearing the end of the first month of the year, and an update is definitely due. I'll try to do up blog posts for past events as and when I have the time, but doubt I have much spare time to do so. =/

Before the pictures come up, I have some exciting news to share with everyone.

I participated in the JPM run last year and came in overall 73rd, but 5th in my company. Top 4 runners of each company would be submitted as the corporate team and my company won the women's category! Winning teams are sponsored to participate in the championships the following year in different locations. Naturally I was really upset at getting 5th and not being given the opportunity, but lucky me runner no 4 pulled out and now I get to go!!! =D Opportunities like this don't happen to everyone and I'm so psyched to be going!

If I extend my trip, I'll be going on two long trips this year. hohoho. *burning wallet*

On the flip side, I don't get to sleep in on Sunday mornings anymore moo. :( I need to drag my sorry ass to MacRitchie to get some mileage and slope training. haizzz.. And then up the intensity in March with interval training omg.