Familiar faces & places

"Aunty Jo-Jo, why haven't you blogged for such a long time? Busy ah?" asked Reco, my Taiwanese friend yesterday. It was that gentle reminder that made me realise that Aunty Jo-Jo has been silent for most of December & January. Thanks Reco!

Well I have been on the road but mostly to familiar places to catch up with friends and family. Some of whom I haven't seen for a LONG time. First stop - KL. To attend Deva "The Stallion"'s wedding at JW Marriott Hotel. It was so good to catch up with the Family: ex-colleagues from my very first job at Arthur Andersen. We sat there teasing each other, imitating old bosses and laughing over the same old jokes while the spouses looked on in bewilderment. It was a pity that Li Ki & Lily couldn't join us.

Seated L-R:Connie, Yee, Manjit, Raten

Standing L -R: Sreedhar, Joanna, Rajen, Shirley

Mum's birthday celebration @ Victoria Station / Hunting down hawker food @ New Lane

I also made a stop in Penang to celebrate Mum's birthday. The birthday girl chose to dine western-style so we reserved a table at Victoria Station Steakhouse. My parents also invited their church pastor, Earnest & his wife Ee-Hui. The steaks were delicious and our conversation was lively & animated. It was a very enjoyable evening, probably because the pastor, his wife & I are around the same age so my parents had the excuse to act "young"...haha...

Also took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to my second-favourite hawker centre in Penang: New Lane. It's right next to Sunway Hotel in the heart of Georgetown. There are dozens of stalls lighting up the night with an amazing array of Penang delights. We had our fill of curry mee, chee cheong fun, dumplings, chee chap chok and nyonya kuih...burp...

Aunty Jo-Jo with her beautiful godkids: Katelynn (pink), Kiersten (white), Jared (blue) & Justin (orange)

Then it was back to Singapore to celebrate Christmas with my beautiful godkids. The twins holidayed with me and I loved spoiling them. The most exciting thing we did was a train ride from Orchard Road back to my condo in Kembangan. After which Kiersten declared "Phew...we made it!" They also provided many hours of entertainment with song & dance routines including "Ke Len Lai" and "Hokey Pokey". History was also made when I got a chance to introduce the twins to my favourite boys, Justin & Jared. Both families had a delicious seafood & Hokkien mee dinner at Big Eater. After which Jared declared "We finally get to meet the twins..after so long!"

I really should blog more often about familiar places and faces. After all, they make up the memories that never fail to put a smile on my face :-)