Lily Rose Kaftan £29.99 from Trotters.
I dedicate so much time to choosing presents for people, but often still struggle. My lovely step-mother, on the other hand, always manages to buy amazing presents for people, I don’t know how she does it.
She sent this beautiful Lily Rose Kaftan from the UK to Miss C for a Christmas present. I’ve been on the hunt for one for her for ages. It’s from Trotters, one of my favourite shops on the Kings Road in London.
It’s so gorgeous. Perfect for Miss C to wear to the pool or beach.
If you’re want some fabulous and fun ideas of what to do with your kids for the rest of January and for February, in Singapore, check out my article on The Honeycombers: New Year, New Fun. There’s everything from new rides at Universal, to theatre shows and Chinese New Year celebrations. Have a read.
21stCM x
After just getting over one New Year celebrations, it’s Chinese New Year these weekend, the most important traditional Chinese holiday, based on the lunar calendar. It is a HUGE celebration in Singapore, not surprising given that it is a nation with an ethnic Chinese majority. Preparations start a few weeks before Lunar New Year’s Day and celebrations continue until the 15th day of the lunar month.
People clean their houses, get a hair cut, buy new clothes, go food shopping and give out red Ang Pow/Hong Bao (envelopes containing money). Everything from decorations to clothes to money packets has to be in red. Red is seen as a lucky colour, because legend has it that a village was once plagued by a terrifying dragon, and the villagers drove it away by hanging red swaths of cloth and setting off firecrackers. You can read more about different traditions on the Yahoo blog
We’d just arrived here, last Chinese New Year, and being a bit wet behind the ears, we got it wrong completely and went to China Town on New Year’s Day. It was deserted,
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6 years later, I received a letter from my daughter’s preschool saying they would be “tossing the traditional CNY salad” at her Chinese New Year party.
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I am fascinated by star signs and zodiacs, as regular readers will probably realise. According to legend, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality. The mythical dragon represents power and the fifth sign of the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese believe that there is a balance between heaven and earth in the life of people born in the year of the dragon, and that this is the luckiest year to have a child.
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Miss C loves Disney Junior Asia – both the TV channel and their website. We are forever downloading colouring pages of the Disney princesses, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Toystory. They keep Miss C and her friends entertained for while when we go out to eat – so thank you Disney Junior for that!
I recently went to a Disney Junior Asia lunch for blogging mums where they launched their “grown ups” section. The idea is that parents can create themed birthday parties for their kids, based on their favourite characters.
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Some of the pictures from earlier today (only there for 3 more days). Some cute, crazy and colourful creations.
(please do not use photographs without permission from blog owner)
Elephant Parade is the largest open air art exhibition worldwide in preservation of the Asian elephant.
In November, 162 art elephants descended upon Singapore and have become a huge attraction, but they won’t be here for much longer. Famous artists and celebrities that pledged support include Joss Stone, Paul Smith, Philip Treacy, Leona Lewis, Rupert Grint, Ronald Ventura, Ay Tjoe Christine, John Van Hamersveld.
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If it’s one thing I’ve learnt in the past year, it’s that Singaporeans know how to throw a party. New Year’s Eve is no exception. This New Year’s Eve, our first in Singapore, was one of the best I have had for a long time. With Miss C and Baby C safely tucked up in bed, we headed to the roof top bar at Kinki, a Japanese restaurant at Collyer Quay, overlooking Marina Bay. Prime viewing for the fireworks. It was a hot, humid evening, the skies were clear. There were no rowdy crowds or queues to get anywhere, like you get in London, it was easy to get there and get out again.
The Singapore skyline is hard to beat. The colours you can see in the picture above kept changing every few minutes.
Champagne flowed and at midnight a feast of fireworks exploded into the sky illuminating the river below. The DJ played some thumping tunes and we danced as we watched the display. Fireworks and dancing. 2 of my favourite things.
I always cry when I watch fireworks. Does anyone else or is it just me? That night, I felt emotional on so many levels. We’d been in Singapore for a year, so I felt a great sense of achievement; I felt sad for a moment because I suddenly missed my friends and family; I felt a rush of happiness, because I love my life here; and top top it all, the evening was amazing.
The night ended with long walk home via MacDonalds (we hadn’t eaten anything that evening). What was I thinking? I still feel sick thinking about munching on a Big Mac (for the first time in years and years).
What a way to bring in 2012!
What a year 2011 was for us. Some downs but mostly ups. One year ago today we moved all the way to Singapore, nearly 7,000km from London. I’d always wanted to be an expat and I was finally getting my wish. I was pregnant – talk about really bad timing. There were lots of tears at the airport as we said goodbye to family and friends, but we were glad to leave the UK and all its doom and gloom behind us.
Things got off to a bad start, when we saw the tiny, dirty 1-bed apartment we were being put up in by Mr C’s company.
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