de rien de tout

I snuck out of the office in the afternoon to have a quick tea/coffee with E. Unfortunately, I was very late, no thanks to a sudden desire by the powers-that-be to get some bills issued. But that 40 minutes of normality with E. was like a breath of fresh air. I want to be able to do this more often, and without having this twang of guilt for scuttling out of the office to meet a friend.

E. – Garden Slug soon yes? And very sorry again for the mad rush today!

Pepper being incredibly pleased with himself after a flying leap onto the scratching post.

When we first got Pepper, we thought that he was a strange cat. He hated being up high, would stand very still when we plonk him on top of the scratching post (and we have a somewhat trunk-like scratching post about 1m+ high) and will plaster himself on the high surface as though he was terrified of falling. Contrast this with Valentin and Moochie, who jump on top of every high surface and settle on top of the microwave to watch birds.

Fast forward 6 months and Pepper has now discovered the joys of being up high. His favourite (or at least one of his favourite) stunts is to take a run and make a flying leap onto the top of the scratching post. Yes, the same scratching post he used to cling onto as though one of his nine lives depended on it.

Today we found out that, instead of taking a flying leap onto the top of the post, Pepper climbed up the post instead, the same way how a cat would climb up a tree. Now, it was just a bit odd for Pepper to be doing that since he can almost reach the top of the post if he stretches out on his hind legs.

Pepper has gotten much cuter since the first days we got him. Now he likes to be with us instead of shying away. We really need to stop his weird biting habit though. Urgh.

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I spent the whole of today sleeping.

Not quite by choice though: I woke up in the morning with a headache, which developed into a migraine towards the warmer part of the day.

I am now awake and thankfully pain free, but feel somewhat annoyed because the entirety of Saturday was spent doing nothing. It doesn’t help that next weekend is Chinese New Year, and the house is not in a visitable state. I had grand plans to clean out the fridge today, but well, guess that’s not going to happen. Maybe tomorrow – but only if there aren’t any last minute summons to go to the office for some last minute research before Monday’s hearing. We also need to get our pre-CNY haircuts, and buy bak kwa in anticipation of the guests over CNY.

Urgh. Lots of things to do, not enough time to do them in!

Put simply, yesterday hasn’t ended.

All I want to do is to tell everyone to stuff it (and that’s already a very polite way of describing what I really want to say), and then crawl under the blankets and stay there until all this ends.

Today is one of those days that I wonder why I didn’t resign earlier.

Amethyst, ametrine and topaz briolettes from Beautiful Briolettes. Photographs by Beautiful Briolettes.

I’ve hit a bit of a design rut with the jewellery biz lately. I’m not quite sure why, but I’ve been a bit loathe to pick up the pliers and the wire, and would rather finish up the needlepoint canvases (I have 2.5 left!) instead.

This is a temporary hiatus, and new creations will be coming soon. Particularly with the arrival of the pictured gemstones: perfectly matching faceted briolettes of amethyst, green ametrine and London blue topaz. Aren’t they just gorgeous?

I posted about making roast beef a few weeks ago. Now, the same recipe – with some minor changes – can be adaped to beef ribs (or any other bone-in cut of beef).

Herb-crusted beef prime rib roast (Cote de Boeuf) with roast vegetables (serves 2)

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I am a Blackberry addict. I’m obviously not talking about fruit (although I quite like them too, save for the tiny little seeds that get stuck in every dental crevice), but the RIM device. Before it became standard for the Firm to issue one to every lawyer, I wanted one of my own (having espied all the partners carrying the device) and was immensely pleased when, during one of my first overseas work trips, I was loaned one to carry around.

The thing is, I check my BB incessantly. When I wake up in the morning, in the middle of a hearing (or a meeting), in the course of meals. It doesn’t help that I don’t wear a watch.

But when I realised that I would invariably look at the BB when I wake up in the middle of the night (regardless of whether it’s a toilet stop or just because Moochie stepped on me and I become dazedly awake), I realised that work has (through the device) come to dictate my life and it’s time to stop having to carry one around.

It’s already the first day of February. On the one hand I wonder where January has gone; on the other, January has been a painfully slow month. I’m glad it’s February, but will be even happier in April. A short post today because I had a late night at the office yesterday and was in the office by 7.30am this morning. The flowers in the picture were a gift from H. – he sent a bouquet of dark pink/mauve cymbidium orchids, my favourites. We had white cymbidiums at our wedding, so I naturally have a soft spot for this blossom.

Now I just wish that orchids don’t look so dodgy when looked at head on…