I’ve not borrowed a book from our local library for the longest time.

After hearing so much from Gin n Ali, I decided to go check it out. So…… last Thurs when I was out on my own, I popped by Queenstown Library to have a look and I ended up making Sophie a library card and borrowing more than 10 books using her account and mine!

Turns out that the Library is having an offer (libraries have offers too! Like Great Singapore Sale!!) – instead of a limit of 4 books, we can borrow 8! Super cool…

I borrowed mostly parenting books and a magazine for Sophie and one for myself. For a reader like me, it was such a treat! Donno why i’ve never did this before. Guess i’ve always loved buying and owning books but think this is a better idea with the lack of space and $$. Hee…

Btw, I’ve finished reading/browsing through all the books, almost. In 4 days.

Little swamp
Originally uploaded by sophie8mths

Even a little swamp like this was an oasis when I was so down last week.

I was so glad James took me out. We went to West Coast Park, took a long walk, talked and had dinner at Macs.

Jen feeding Sophie
Originally uploaded by sophie8mths

Here’s a desperate attempt to relive our days in Brisbane!

We decided to get a few friends together for a picnic at Botanical Gardens. It was a public holiday yesterday and the weather was quite nice.

I prepared most of the food while Andrea got the drinks n fruits. I made 2 types of sandwich spreads – crab and cucumber and egg mayo. No brainer for both.

It was SOoooooo FUn! We really really enjoyed ourselves. I thot we met a bit late coz it was almost close to noon by the time we got there. HOT! But no choice coz we didn’t want to get up too early since it was a holiday. Jen n HY were there earlier to chop a really nice shady area so it was not too hot.

All of them had a chance to carry Sophie and she was absolutely soaking in all the attention! Jen even got to feed her lunch.

We were all prepared. We brought her bumbo seat so that she could seat with us instead of in the pram or on the rocky ground. We brought a new toy that she’s never seen before so that she can explore and entertain herself. It worked! She loved the toy! We brought juice and snacks for her so that she can snack before lunch and after. Yep.. she very much ate like we did. Eat and eat.

Oooooooo but towards the end, IT POURED! The sky was dark but we wanted to still play Taboo. We only managed one round. The guys won.

Just as we finished the round, it rained. Not a drizzle. POURED BIG TIME! Thank God Shawn had an umbrella so Sophie n I stayed dry. The rest were quite drenched. The picnic mats came in handy as shelter. We ran like mad to the nearest shelter at the Les Mis Cafe.

Rested at the cafe a bit and then went home.

It was a really nice way to spend the holiday.

P1080293.JPG
Originally uploaded by ailingnjames

This was last Sun.

We had lunch with the whole family at The Upper Room near Sixth Ave. It’s a nice little place. Seriously little. It’s got like 4-5 tables ONLY. It’s opened by this young girl who quit school to bake pies and cakes. Her mum helps her out too. Quaint little place.

Sophie looks SOO relaxed here with daddy… I love this pic of her.

Yipeee! We had such a fruitful day today.

We got our furniture from a garang guni man, my FIL’s lobang…. super cheap cheap! Super happy about that… I had such a good time rummaging thru stuff that people threw away. Am such a garang guni gal at heart… haha…

After that we went to Toyogo warehouse at Toa Payoh, PLASTIC PARADISE! Got big one small one. Even more shiok than Daiso! WAH! Think i went a bit mad. Or at least my FIL was so amused to see me so excited.

Sophie was such a good gal today… such a trouper… just followed us from place to place. Happily eating her healthy broccoli & pumpkin while rest of us had unhealthy MacDonalds. My MIL was happily carrying her most of the time so that left me to happily shop shop shop.