If ever I could own a house...

I have been in Pinterest for quite some time now, but I have recently discovered the joys of pinning.  Indeed a picture paints a thousand words.  And with that I am inspired to be a home-owner :)  A girl can dream you know.

If I could ever own a house

I will strive to make it our home.

With big closets…

And a lovely kitchen…

A welcoming foyer with a touch of Country Charm…

And a place for everything and everything in it’s a place….

A bath so lovely, taking a bath will always be a spa-like experience….

A his and her bathroom sink will be an added bonus.

And white picket fences would be a lovely addition  J

Ahhhh the joys of dreaming.

What about you, how do you picture a beautiful, relaxing home?

*All pictures taken from www.pinterest.com

How to consciously live life to the fullest?

Last Tuesday, 1^st October, I was about to post in my Facebook status “Zombie mode – wake me up when mid-November comes”.  But I pulled back.  My life mantra is what my blog header says “is on a journey to consciously live life to the fullest.”  And the idea of being in zombie mode definitely goes against the ideals I want to resonate in my life.

Living consciously is about taking control of your life.  Sleepwalking through life is definitely not taking control.  But most of the time, it is easier for us to set our lives in autopilot mode.  Do what we always do because we are used to it. It’s easier that way even if we have difficult chaotic lives.  It’s familiar.  It is never easy to break out of routines.

Yes it easy to cruise through life. But conscious living is living in the now.  It’s about taking time to smell the roses and be aware of your life and things that you are doing.

It gives us an understanding on what’s going around us and paving the way for us to get to where we want to go.  It allows us to expand our horizons.  It gives more passion into our relationships.  It makes our world more vibrant and colorful.  It creates a life that is more fun.  And who would not want that kind of life?

Living consciously is not a change you can do overnight.  It’s a journey with so many roadblocks and you will definitely have setbacks along the way.  I am on that journey and I am having my fair share of roadblocks and setbacks.

 

So how does one live a life of consciously living it to the fullest?  I have no definite answer.  It takes effort, and willful vigilance.  As what my cousin would often quote “let’s grab the bull by the horns”. Not an easy feat I should say, but it will definitely be a life well-lived.  And this is my work in progress.

So instead of sleeping the whole of October and half of November, I'm upping my oomph!  Well, hello there October! :)

Staycation @ Marina Bay Sands Hotel

September is anniversary month for hubby and I.  We wanted to have a quick getaway, but to save us the hassle of flying or “floating” with a little one in tow, we opted for a staycation.  We’ll after all; we celebrated our first anniversary with a staycation in Hard Rock hotel which I have talked about here.  So probably, we can make this a yearly tradition of staycations during our anniversary month.  Now that’s something we can look forward too. J 

As we have been eyeing Marina Bay Sands for quite sometime now, so this year, we chose to finally give in for an MBS experience.

hubby enjoying the infinity pool

Check in time for MBS is 3 pm, so we made use of the half day to kick off our staycation weekend by bringing the little one to his weekly baby spa at Yishun North Point.  

swimming @ the babyspa

The little one got tired after his swim.  He did not get to have his massage after because he was so sleepy already.

tired after my swim

We had a lunch at SWENSENS, before we head off to Marina Bay Sands. 

Fish and Chips

Chicken breast...they look the same :)

  

Gold Rush, my favorite :)

We arrived at MBS around 3:00 pm and the place was packed with people especially tourists who were probably just us curious as us to check out the MBS hotel.

waiting for our turn at the check-in counter

The room was like any other standard hotel room.  

little one getting comfy on the bed

But we get a good view of the Garden's by the Bay.  And the so many boats/ships lining Singapore sea (or do you call it coastline? :) grammar patrol help! ).

view from the top :)

What I love most was the bathroom.  I always love hotel bathrooms.  I often wish that someday I would have a bathroom similar to one of those hotels I have stayed in, but with the more cozy and homely decor.

bathtub love!

Yay! to double sinks.  His and her...

And or course the highlight of any MBS hotel stay would be the infinity pool.  The water was quite cold, but when you begin to wade and swim, the water's coldness would no longer bother you anymore.

he's just getting warmed up....

For hotel guest, they give you free access to the sky park. For the general public, you can visit the sky park for a fee for 20 SGD. (That's was two years ago, is it still the same fee?)

So we took advantage of this additional perk, and was rewarded by celebrity sighting.  We saw WWF Bokker T.  I don't know him but hubby did and he had their picture taken with him.

celebrity sightings!!!

But the real celebrity I think was this little fellow.  He was a hit to a few western mothers (I think they are either mothers/grandmothers because they find a little baby adorable:).  They even have his picture taken.

the real celebrity!
look mom, tiny matchboxes...can we take them home??? pretty pretty please!

We did went to the sky park again at night and the view was amazing.  I did not post some pictures here, as our camera phone did not do any justice to the view.

We did some window shopping and picture taking in the Shoppes by the Bay and in the hotel lobby.

hotel lobby interior

We had our dinner at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Bistro.  No photo of what we ate as our camera phone's battery died on us.

After a few more hours window shopping, we called it a day.  The next morning we then took the opportunity to have our last MBS infinity pool experience before we  had breakfast at ToastBox and headed home.

However, there are some downside of the hotel's amenities though worth mentioning.  I do not like the idea of automatic private bar charges.  Ok, its hi-tech, but if they do that, at least they provide another fridge storage.  Think breastfeeding moms and little ones who need to make use of fridge storage.

at least provide some place  I can store my baby's food...

I just want to read the bottle's label first before I decide if I want to drink it or not...
And you are charging me for that???

And I also wonder why they have to hide their tea/coffee set.  At least they should have displayed it nicely to enhance the homely feel of the hotel room.  We had to open all drawers to look for the electric kettle for us to boil water.

But all in all, it was a good one time experience.  A bit pricey I should say, but after all we have to pay for good experiences right?