Hey nineteen

Hellooo,

Yesterday morning I woke up at my usual ungodly hour of 5:50am to get the kids ready for school and while walking past the dining table, I saw a wrapped present. Nothing unusual about that because yesterday was my 19th wedding anniversary and I knew hubs had got me a present. Except it had a note on it that said "Open Now".

I got very excited because hubs and I had already talked the day before and we had both agreed that we would open our presents at the end of the day. See, I had to go for my Nikon camera class in the morning and we would meet for lunch and I didn't want to bring the presents out. (my present for hubs is very big!)

But I couldn't open the present right away as I needed to take care of the kids first. Also I wanted to do it when I was alone. (blush)

So I was sitting at the computer waiting for the kids to get ready when suddenly I felt 2 hands on my shoulder. I immediately screamed thinking it was a psycho killer mainly because I had been watching Hannibal a couple of days ago. Also I knew it wasn't my kids because at such an early hour, they're in no mood to kid with mom. And it couldn't be hubs because he wakes up much later. And so I screamed. Well, it was hubs. I guess he wanted to see me open the present! Which made it even more exciting. What could it be? What could it be? It was big and I was quite afraid it would be a household item like a vacuum cleaner or a water flask (which he got me for a present one year) or a kettle.

After the kids had left for school, I gave hubs my huge present and I opened his. And then I screamed. Again. I could not believe my eyes.

It was a doll. A doll of my dreams. For quite a long time I had secretly wanted to buy myself a doll to dress up. Yes, I'm aware I already own Melly. But Melly has a babyish kind of body and she can only do a few poses due to the limited number of joints. Anyway, I didn't act on my secret desire and would just go online to look at the photos of these dressable dolls and in Singapore there are a few shops which sell a few of these dolls. Sometimes I take hubs to these shops and I would just stare at them through the showcase. I really did not expect to receive such a doll from hubs. It was such a surprise!

Oh, you must be wondering what was the huge present I got him. It was a memory pillow. It looks just like a regular pillow. Hubs has these crazily broad shoulders and I often see him struggling to sleep. So I thought/hoped a memory pillow would help him.

Anyhoos, unknown to him, I had prepared another present for him.

I got him a white long sleeved pullover except it was something he already owned. A week or so ago, he had worn the same thing and he said he wished he could get rid of the yellow stain on the front. So I decided to make it my little project to get rid of the yellow stain for him. Except I had no idea how. The pullover had been washed many times already and somehow the stain remained. I went to the supermarket and found a Japanese magic soap (yes, it's actually called magic soap) that could remove any stain. I followed the instructions and the stain became less obvious. Quite magical actually. But you could still see the yellow stains. I felt so desperate. Finally I soaked it in a lot of bleach. An hour later, I saw that the yellow stains had completely disappeared. OMG. I wished I had tried bleach right away. Drying the pullover took some effort as I didn't want hubs to see it. This present made him laugh so I think he liked it.

So I was going to get ready for my Nikon camera class when hubs came out of the room and handed me a plastic bag. He asked me to look in the bag and inside was...

another doll! I couldn't stop laughing. What? Hubs said he needed to give me a second doll since I had given him two presents! This doll's eyes are different in colour, did you notice?

Okaaay.

Anyway, I had to go to Nikon school and learn how to use my camera.

This guy is my teacher. Here I have taken of photo of him flapping his arms. (it's part of the lesson) This class is pretty basic and it's free. I did learn a few things but most of what he taught I already knew.

After class I went to meet hubs for a Japanese lunch.

He wore my gift!

I wore my camera!

This is what we ate. This restaurant specializes in gyoza. (dumpling) Eating with me can be quite a pain because I take photos of my food before I eat. Usually with my phone camera.

After lunch, we decided to walk under the hot sun to check out a stationery shop. We hadn't been there before and since it was nearby... The shop is called Overjoyed and it is in a run down building. I was quite expecting the worst. Finally we reached the building and we were dripping with sweat and ready to faint. Then I saw the shop and honestly, I felt overjoyed. It is such a nice, clean pretty shop. So unexpected. And it's air-conditioned too. Hubs took pics of me shopping.

Actually Overjoyed is in a very good location because just across the road is an art school, Lasalle college.

I wonder who designed the school building. It's so interesting.

Finally we went home. It had been a long hot day. I went to check out my new dolls and almost fainted. There is an extra doll!

I went to ask hubs why there's another doll and he just kept laughing. Finally he said: I love you three times as much. Awww.

I do feel absolutely over the moon. Over and under the moon. Is this what it feels like to be spoilt rotten?

Oh, I just remembered I have other dolls...