I was very fortunate to win a pair of tickets to "The House of Bernada Alba" staged by W!ld Rice. So, I brought my mum to watch it along with me.

2 Peranakan ladies watch a Singaporean Peranakan adaptation of a Spanish novel. Apt, don't you think? Thanks to SMRT, we got seats in the 2nd row from the front. One of the few times that I get to see the actors on stage in HD. LOL.

"The House of Bernada Alba" tells the tale of a matriarch who declares 8 years of mourning after the death of her husband and this decision shows the tension, stress and dysfunction within the Alba family of 5 daughters and Bernada Alba herself. The original novel is a classic drama by Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca.

W!ld Rice pulled no stops with this production, starting with the stellar cast of Margaret Chan, Claire Wong, Neo Swee Lin, Jo Kukathas, Glory Ngim, Noorlinah Mohamed, Karen Tan, Serene Chen and Sharon Lim. Celebrated director Glen Goei was at the helm and I was surprised to find out that my Uni friend Marcia is the Asst. Director for this production. Of course, a lot of credit has to go to the playwright Chay Yew who did an excellent job of updating a script that was full of witty comebacks, easy to understand to the lay person but yet retained a lot of the layers/ themes such as the Role of Women and Repression of oneself. Also, the decision to make it a Peranakan setting was brilliant because it could then be easily understood by the local audience who would think that the play was 'fake' if the cast were dressed like Spanish in the 1800s.

At the end of the 2 hour of non-stop tension, it ends on a melancholic note and you can't help but be blown away by the fantastic acting that was just presented. Margaret Chan had a lot of fun playing a lunatic grandmother who, ironically, has the most insight and has the most freedom of speech. However, I felt that Neo Swee Lin's character was too small for her and that it didn't allow her to really stretch and show off her depth of acting. Maybe it's because I'm so used to seeing her play bigger roles but then, I didn't feel the same way when I saw her in "Anna & I".  

All in all, I highly recommend any theatre-fan to go watch "The House of Bernada Alba". The play is ongoing till 29 Mar 2014! For more details about the play and on how to purchase them, click here.

I plan events for a living so planning my mum's semi-surprise 60th Birthday Party was a bit of a walk in the park.

First - the presents! I created a scrapbook where I instructed everyone to think of their favourite memory of my mum and to then write it down.  I included really old photos inside so that it fit the theme of 'Walking Down Memory Lane'. There was a floral theme going on as well!  The other present that I arranged was for my Dad to give to my mum.  I ordered tulips from Sing and then got Dad to pay...so it's from him.  The bouquet is below...

Second - decorations! I ordered balloons to decorate our estate's multi-purpose rooms.  Below is the balloon bouquet, which comes with a weight.  I believe I only paid about $20 for it as it was on offer.
 

I also ordered the 'normal' type of balloons in various pastel colours because Mum likes pastel colours.  Each cost me only $0.80, including the helium.  All balloons were ordered from Harvest Well.

I also bought a nice pink chequered plastic table cloth and a 'Happy Birthday' sign for the designated gift table.

Third - what's a party without party favours?  Inside these bags are chatek, white rabbit candy, Ferrero Rocher chocolates and the old-balloon blowing thing.  All are super cheap, especially when you hit the party shops located at the back street of Bugis+.

Above, my cousins are busy writing their notes and cracking their brains.  Fourth is food!! Below is the spread of Peranakan food, which we ordered from Chilli Padi.  I would've preferred another Peranakan caterer but...budget!!!

Peach buns from Crystal Jade! 

Younger cousins, who have never played chatek, getting a 'kick' out of it.  Pardon the pun. Ahem.

Overall, we all had fun and it was one of the rare birthday celebrations where my uncles and my mum's friends joined.  As such, there was a lot of catching up while swapping stories about what happened in the past (yup, the key was the photos).  I wish I could've taken a photo of the cake with my phone but my aunt from the US facetimed me throughout the whole party.  Bro took some photos but...he's notoriously slow in uploading his photos.  I'll definitely update this post once I manage to get my hands on that photo. 

This year will be a milestone for my mum and I in terms of age.  Interestingly enough, this year is the only year where I'm exactly half her age! Oops...I just revealed my age.  Parties...parties...such fun! I suspect that I'll be planning my own party this year. Again. :P

Revelling...

The liquid diet started on Thu at Hotel Intercontinental during their cocktail reception to launch their opening of the new club lounge. The new club lounge is now located on 2F instead of on the 11F, between the club floors. The concept is that the lounge is now open to all club floor occupants as well as any other guest who is willing to pay a premium for the club lounge facilities. I must say that the new club lounge is rather fancy schmancy with very nice decor, which I can only describe as neo-Peranakan. I was telling my sales coverer that I want the Peranakan ware that they used to decorate the whole place. Just to add to my mum's collection! :) Good move to the hotel for removing 7 guest rooms that used to face the Bugis Junction shopping centre and convert it into the said club lounge!

As I mentioned earlier, the liquid diet began here at the cocktail reception. Let the count begin:

1 white wine
0.5 sweet martini (yucks)
2 lychee martinis (yum)
1 brown cow (yum.....kahlua with milk)

Yes, I did have finger food with the drinks but I was tired and I haven't been drinking frequently (not to mention I downed the white on an 'empty' stomach), which resulted me in being tipsy by the end of the 2nd lychee martini. Eeks.

I 'rested' this diet on Fri. Finally, I had a happening Saturday yesterday!! It started out with CLEO's career workshop together with the girls. Now, you might be asking why am I attending this workshop despite me already having a job? Ditto to my gal pals. Well, I thought it was going to be a workshop to help you find that dream job or finding out ways to further your career path. The free ZA products sure didn't hurt either *wink*. However, the workshop seemed more geared towards fresh graduates who are starting their job search - make-up demonstration (still relatively relevant for me...I guess?), how to write a resume (or C.V. in the Brit context), basic tips on how to sail through interviews, how to dress according to your skin/ hair colour (hmm...remotely interesting), degrees and post-grad degrees offered by Kaplan in Singapore (relevant and could've been more interesting had they answered my question: "How do you value add compared to other schools that are offering MBAs?"). The organisers didn't quite factor in the fact that these events tend to overrun and therefore, when it was mine and Moon's turn for the free 'make-over', ours was a rush job. Our poor make-p artistes had to slap on make-up on us while the hotel staff were removing partitions, moving tables and chairs, playing around with the lightings as there was going to be another event which had booked 2 rooms of Pan Pac's Ocean ballroom (we were using 1 room). Ah well.

Sing ran off half way for her pole-dancing lesson while Moon and I went for hot chocolate once the workshop ended. I just had a craving for a salad (don't ask me why) and ordered a grilled chicken caesar salad with Moon watching me munch on greens...haha...those who know Moon should know that she doesn't eat veggies. So she was just watching me polish off the whole plate of greens. It would have been torture if I had asked her to eat the whole plate. Haha.

Moon got bored halfway and decided to call her Ozland guy (disclaimer...he's not Aussie...he just lives there). When she was talking halfway, I shouted into her phone "She's ours for the night!! Remember the names Melissa and Sing Yee and we love soft nougats!!!!" Wahahahahaha....

Time really flew and soon it was 7pm and Sing trotted down to meet us after her pole lesson. We then walked to Raffles City to meet with Chowchow. Originally, we wanted to go along with Moon's suggestion of going to the food court before heading off to the National Museum to view the various installations and take part in the other activities held during the Night Festival. However, Chow suddenly went, "Or would you guys rather go to Loof?" *Tinkle in eyes* YES!

Loof (www.loof.com.sg) is located at Odeon Towers and the drinks + food there are gooooood. If you have a Citibank Plat card or any biz card, you can get 1-for-1 drinks. Moon brought her biz cards so we managed to get their promotional 1-for-1 drinks before 8.30pm! In addition, chowchow had a pamphlet that allowed us to have a free platter. Score! We should really check out their Satay Mondays where they give free flow of satays from 6-9pm as well as their Martini Tues where martinis go at 40% disc from 8-10pm. Now, that platter was small, so we definitely ordered a lot more food:

1 plate Loofalo wings
2 plates bacon wrapped scallops
1 plate Magic mushrooms
2 pizzas

My personal drink list:
2 white chocolate martinis
1 strawberry magarita
a few sips of Moon's Loof Life

Any complaints? None except that we were leaning against the lighted glass, which was HOT. 2 cushions wasn't enough to dispel the heat. Moon complained that she was having her hair steamed. Haha...

When chow took this pic, he said that I was already 'drunk'. Whatever.
Towards the end of the dinner, Moon's bf in Ozland called and she just haaad to turn her head to the side and she started talking really softly. Couldn't resist imitating her! Yes dahhling, sweetheart, honey...sleep early ok? Muahahahahahahaha!

Surprisingly, we arrived at Loof at around 7.45pm and left at 10pm! Time really just goes by when you're relaxed and having fun huh. We then took a short walk over towards the Singapore Art Museum and National Museum to first see the light installations.....


This is all done with light! During this fest, all museums were open till 2am with free admission! I've never seen the museum so crowded before. Anyway, we decided to walk into the museum since we haven't been inside ever since the renovation works ended (I've only been to Muse - the restaurant/ bar). We were greeted very aptly by a pink Adonis....


After walking a round...we soon got really tired and decided to call it a day. Technically speaking, it was the end of the day as well since it was just past midnight. Sing and Chow headed off to Millenia Walk where she parked her car while Moon & I shared a cab home. Tired but what a good Saturday!! I like!!!