The really nice thing about everything is that we're really starting to enjoy our neighbourhood and neighbours. It helps that the new neighbourhood also consists of friends who already are or have recently moved into the area.

Funny things you don't realize about having a house after living in an apartment after all these years are the most basic things like - having a rake and a shovel for snow. We had our first snowfall a month ago and Stefan asked whether we had a shovel. "Hmmm.... of course we do! We only lived on the 5th floor of a loft for almost 7 years." He can be so silly that boy!

We have so much to do to make it ours and of course, I always want instant gratification. It's hard to have caviar taste on a craigslist budget.... so we've decided to take it one room at a time. This weekend, we're finally going to look at some major things like lighting and a new sofa. I hope to share more soon....

It was at the time before the area was really developed and there were still a lot of old NY style lofts around. Friends who were not familiar to the area found it weird that we were going to be staying at a somewhat "dodgy" area, but I had a great feeling about the potential and vibe of the neighbourhood. It has since been transformed to one of the most sought after neighbourhoods for the young and hip. This is also one of the reasons why we wanted to move out; as the party scene is no longer really our vibe any more.

I remember so vividly seeing the raw space and Stefan and I envisioning the space that could be. We proceeded to update the loft quite a bit with our own expense. Even though it was a rental, we were willing to commit to the space as we felt we would be here for awhile. We built walls, storage, added fixtures to bathroom, ceiling fans, we even had to provide our own fridge and stove! It really was that bare.

I hope the new tenants realize how much we have added to the comfort of their space but at the same time, they're going to be a little shocked as we need to take some of the lighting and fixtures with us to the new place.

There are so many things I love about this whole thing.

I am such a bibliophile and love to collect books. On the very far left are vintage children's books (old Enid Blyton books) that I have collected over the years through auctions and also new children's books that I have discovered since buying Ryo her presents. It's a reflection of my early love of books and also to my very first job, which was working for a children's bookstore. I am actually not sure whether I am willing to share my collection of books with any of my possible future progeny. We all know I am so bad at sharing...

I actually re-read a lot of my books, so it's hard for me to give any of these books up (although I have edited the collection a little bit for the move). People are often shocked that the books are read at all. I tend to be anal about handling my books and not bending the spine etc.

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I also love the random tiny collectible things I have been given/collected over the years such as my vintage letterpress letters of my name, the chick from Bitter With Baggage books given to me by Marie...

The thing I absolutely love the most is the ever revolving pictures of the people I love the most in the world - my family, friends & Mindy.

We will be reconfiguring this again in our new space but I am not sure whether it will have as much impact without the high ceilings.

So au revoir beloved book case in old space! You have given me many years of utter joy!

I am 31 today. I don't really feel any different from last year or even from when I was 12. I've remained in many ways, at least the essence of whom I have always been. Of course, there have been changes, these things are meant to happen with time. Like a slower metabolism and a better wardrobe in general but deep down inside, I am still the scabby kneed, little, pony tailed girl chasing after my brothers and regaling everyone and anyone about my opinions in life.

I tried to think of an interesting list like "31 things you might not know about me" but since I am such a blabbermouth on this blog, thirty one points are hard to find. Instead here are 10 random things about me and forgive me if they are things you've heard before. So here goes:

1. I have a weird birthmark/mole in between my baby toe and the toe next to it on my right foot. When my mum got home from the hospital (I came home before she did) she thought the nurses forgot to wash my foot and was pissed off that they left her baby girl dirty. Occasionally when I am not paying attention, a determined pedicurist will try to scrape the mole off.

2. Supposedly when my mum gave birth to me, she saw the "white light" - she is one of the few women who can really say,"I nearly died giving birth to you." More often than not, she likes to bring this point up and I say I don't care but secretly I think it's kind of cool I gave her that experience. And am very glad she didn't actually walk into the light because my mama is my guiding light in life.

3. My dad and I have a somewhat awkward relationship (although it's getting MUCH better with time). He's pretty old school and has trouble expressing his feelings. This year, for my birthday card, he wrote a small little blurb, and it was SO sweet. It made me cry. Sometimes I think he doesn't realize that he's one of my favourites too.

4. I love that we bought our house. I am excited about starting a new life there. I can't wait to see what we can do with it. But deep down inside, I would have preferred just renting forever in the city and having a fabulous cottage in the country instead. Being practical won on this one. However whenever we go furniture shopping, I am still really mentally furnishing our very-fabulous-not-yet-owned-but-hopefully-will-in-the-future cottage.

5. If it was a choice of having 10 mediocre shoes and bags as opposed to having one really fabulous pair of shoes or bag, I will take the one pair of fabulous shoes or bag anytime. Those are just things that you own for a really long time and can never fake.

6. I have almost two mirror image moles underneath my eyes. For some reason, in Malaysia moles are called "taik lalat" or maybe that's just what people used to call mine. But they literally translate to "fly shit" which funnily enough, if you think about it, if a fly really shit the size of these moles, it really must have been constipated before.

7. I really, really despise the colour sexism that occurs when having children. You know where boys wear blue and girls wear pink? I think the whole thing is a little retarded and irrational. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it really does.

8. I have always wanted to own a lifestyle store so that I can buy all the cool, miscellaneous, random things I find on the internet. Unfortunately, I would be my own best customer and never end up making money. Bah! Sometimes earning a living can be so overrated.

9. I never, ever brush my hair. Honestly. I usually just wash and go. Now that my hair is longer, this makes things difficult as sometimes I'll get knots and my first reaction is to just cut the knot off. Patient Stefan is the one who usually has to brush my knots out to avoid the possibility of me having random lopped off hair.

10. I always joke that Mindy is the love of my life. I know it's ridiculous because Mindy is a cat (Shhh! Don't tell her, I really believe she doesn't know it) and Stefan is my husband. But the truth is, they're just both pretty equal in my books with Stefan coming up very slightly on the top.

Now that we are down to our final month at the loft, I would like to say, I very much wish that he was back Down Under. The man is making me crazy.

I've spoken about this to numerous girlfriends who also have co-habitating boys and the verdict is all the same: They simply are not the same species.

There is no sense of urgency, no feeling the need to purge, no nothing. This happened the last time as well when I helped move Stefan. I basically packed 90% of Stefan's things. If it had been left up to him, he would simply pack on moving day.

It's not so much that we have a lot of furniture, we simply have a lot of miscellaneous "stuff" accumulated from over the years. We also have the issue that a big chunk of our furniture won't fit which means we will have to sell quite a number of those things in the next week.

This has been the boy's reaction to things so far:

We have to pack soon (Why? We still have a whole month, I don't want to live in boxes.)
Let's give away these skis from the 90's, you don't even ski anymore (Hey! They're vintage!)
I am going to start packing the dishes and serving plates that we are not using (Why don't you just pack our underwear too?)
Geez! Do you even wear these shoes? (They were expensive! They could come back in style...)

Hmmm....yes indeed. Those shoes do look very well worn and loved these past 5 years! The man is purposely trying to push me over the edge.

Last month, a very happy, happy coincidence happened on Facebook. A very old and dear friend contacted me. Leeana and I were very close high school friends. If Stefan and I were not in the midst of packing right now, I would totally try to dig up my old pictures of us as young, fresh faced grade 9ners.

We shared so many things in common - our love of reading, laughing, shared family experiences; we were in so many ways such kindred spirits. For various reasons, we had lost touch shortly after high school. It wasn't for any reasons of discord or love lost between us. These things just sometimes happen.

And I would think about her for the next thirteen years. The first few years of the lost connection were more painful than the later years. And I always wondered where she was, what she was doing, hoping she was happy wherever she was. And to my delight, one day in September, I got a message from her on Facebook.

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We finally connected for dinner last week. It was such a joyful, happy meeting. The moment did not in any way feel awkward, we simply picked up from where we had left off. She's still the same Lee (she looks the same but more sophisticated, we all should be so lucky) - with her big smile, her wicked wit, her propensity to just exude happiness. Words kept tumbling as wine kept pouring. We were at dinner at around 6:45 p.m and the restaurant essentially had to kick us out. I feel like we have just touched the surface.

The best part? She lives very close to our new place. I can't wait for many more dinners, introductions of spouses and catch ups to come. I am excited to have her back in my life.

I feel like we go through this every time Stef or I go away for long periods of time.

The first stage is poop rage mixed with wistful looks.

Mindy poops on Leaver's possessions, butts head and paws reach out when the Leaver calls. Pictures of the Leaver is shown to Mindy, whereby she will also head butt, touch and purr at picture.

The second stage involves crying during inappropriate times.

Mindy cries at the door for the Leaver. This usually takes place at sometime in the early morning and will take place for an hour. No amount of cajoling or treats will calm her down. She will cry until she falls asleep. This is usually a very traumatizing time for the Stayer.

The last stage involves total and utter indifference to Leaver and too much love for the Stayer.

Mention of the Leaver's name brings back blank stares. Huffiness is coupled with nose in air and swish of tail. Then begins the neediness of Mindy to see, touch and cuddle the Stayer at all moments while the Stayer is within her vicinity.

The return usually results in tears (of the Leaver) as Mindy will ignore the Leaver for at least a week to punish the Leaver for leaving. This usually brings of sad stares and cajoling of the Leaver to no avail.

And they say animals are dumb beasts with no feelings.

I can't wait. Revenge is such a sweet, sweet treat!

All I know is that some tend to be quite noisy and inconsiderate. And tonight there was this.

So this is the deal, if someone is ahead of you in laundry, you simply defer to the person in front of you, right? Or so that is how it should be. Instead, some guy takes my laundry out and manages to sneak his laundry into the dryer, even though I had put my money in the machine already. I had simply been waiting for my first load to be done. Then he writes a scrawly note on a random piece of paper and just says,"Ooops! I wasn't sure whether your all your clothes needed to be dried so I put mine in instead." WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT?!!! So now I have to wait past my bed time just to put my laundry in...

I am so over it and cannot wait to have my own laundry room.

I am not sure you realize this, but at some point, in the very near future, you will be coming home. I highly suggest that you try to call me very soon and do the following to avoid being in that very bad place that I assure you; you don't want to be in. This bad place is also called the doghouse. This is what I suggest:

(a) Proclaim your undying love

(b) Tell me you've bought fabulous paper/stationary/home accessories from the various stores that I sourced for you

I have not heard from you for almost 5 days other than your cryptic emails about needing some password for some account, possibly coming home a day early (what does 1 day do anyway?) and wanting a picture of me and Mindy. I am not sure how you expected me to take a one handed picture of myself as you have taken our point and shoot camera. Which is also a very sore point with me, as you have mentioned that you have taken very little pictures with it.

I am not worried. I know you are alive since you somehow manage to find the time to change your status on Facebook and add new friends. The only way I've been able to hear your voice is by listening to this radio interview, where I was forced to listen to a lot of footy mumbo jumbo before actually hearing your voice. As you might be able to tell, I am not pleased.

However, here is a picture of your precious Mindy.

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In case you are wondering, yes that is a picture of her sitting in "your" chair. The one that you hate her sitting on and you guys fight about every morning. She's been sleeping in it every day, on her back, with her one paw over her eye, getting her hair over all your dark clothes. I just thought you would like to know.

Sincerely yours,

Your Wife

As per usual, I don't have an actual recipe with proper measurements. I don't know how to cook or create recipes with measurements but this is a really easy thing to make even with basic gauging. I do have to say that the only hard part of this recipe is the prep.

I love eating these; to me it has everything a perfect summer meal should have - the fresh herbs, mixed with the lightness of the noodles, the sweetness of the shrimp and the tangy spicy sauce make it a filling meal without being heavy.

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Ingredients
Coriander - half a bunch, cut in half
Mint - Thai mint is recommend but regular is fine, strip the leaves off stalk
Sweet pepper - half, the cut into thin strips
English Cucumber - cut into 1.5 inch strips
Lettuce - Cut into 1.5 inch long pieces
Glass noodles - although any rice noodles is fine. Soften with boiling water and then immediate blanch with cold water
Rice paper rolls - I prefer the medium sized ones but this is totally up to you
Shrimp - boiled and sliced in half lengthwise

Dipping Sauce
Usually they serve this with a peanut sauce, I generally don't like peanut sauces so I made my own. I am sure you could google an easy peanut sauce recipe

2 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of honey
Lime juice (half) or fish sauce
Fine chopped red chillies, de-seed them if you don't want it to have a bite without it being too hot

Directions Have all your ingredients prepped and put on plates for easy accessibility