That Thing You Do - Sneak Preview to Cate's Concert (N2)

Cate will probably not be very happy about me publishing this cos she is SO SHY! She was even too shy to dance in front of Paul. Hopefully she will get over her nerves before the actual concert!!!!

I think we need Kai Ma Ginny (a.k.a. Kai Ma Jukebox) to teach her the right lyrics!!!

Link for those who can't see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LpaYnNpvok

Team Muddy Gras @ The North Face Race - 50km DUO

Paul and I were Team Muddy Gras doing the 50km duo at TNF yesterday.

We were far from prepared but weren't going to miss it seeing as my sister was the one organising it. I was excited to see the fruit of her several months of labour.....

Pre-Race shot of Team Muddy Gras - still fresh and unaware of what was to happen to us!!!

Race started at 10am (hot!) but I guess the consolation is that it was in the trail so lots of shade.

By about 6km into the race, I was feeling pretty tired,.... never really found my rhythm (I never really do on trail to be honest) but to this point it was the familiar MacRitchie trails.....

Then we got to the crazy Bukit Timah Hill part. It was so steep that everyone was literally just trying to make it up the hill. I didn't see anyone running,.... I was struggling just walking up. I thought I was going to have an asthma attack! (not that I am asthmatic, but now I know what it might feel if I were!)

As you can see from the pic on left, we did make it up in one piece and managed to get a nice shot by the summit rock. :D This was the u-turn point 12.5km into the race. It took us almost 2 hrs! Yikes! Hopefully we won't miss the cut-off and end up DNF (Did Not Finish). I ain't gonna treck / run / jog / walk 25km to get a DNF! No way!

Going downhill was fun. Wheeee!!! I sure didn't envy the people I saw who were still on their way up!

Spirits were high since we were past the halfway mark, but it got harder and harder... I just wasn't prepared. Paul was with me sometimes but was ahead most of the time and waited at certain junctions. Don't think he found it very fun having to do that. Although I did tell him to go ahead and I could just meet him at the end.

By the 18km mark, my back was crazy aching and I couldn't really see Paul who was somewhere in front. Funnily my twisted ankle wasn't giving me any troubles at all. Well, the only trouble was that I couldn't actually do much training at all prior to the race due to the twisted ankle but during the actual race, it only threatened to buckle once or maybe twice, but in general behaved itself.

Anyway, with my crazy aching back (weak core?).....I suddenly reached enlightenment. I got my phone out and made an appointment for a full body massage for that afternoon (+ foot reflex for Paul). What a great idea....the thought of 1.5 hrs of full body massage after the race kept me smiling for a few more kilometres despite the backache.

I enjoyed the trails, we were introduced to lots of other trails. Check out the picture on the left at about the 19km mark. I felt like we weren't in Singapore.

Paul and I usually do the 10km MR loop every weekend, but now we can explore some of these new routes.

Back to the race,.... the last few kilometres were quite painful for me. I just didn't have much energy. Towards the end of the trail, there was the tunnel of sunlight. "Follow the light....." I ran on towards the light and there was Paul waiting for me so we could finish together as a team. :) The last few hundred metres I was suddenly full of energy. I guess I was just happy to be finishing. Woo hoo! Embarrassingly, I think I took around 3hr 50 min to complete the race, but am so pleased to have finished! My first trail race.

Team Muddy Gras - Post Race

That's not all, after the race, there were Subway sandwiches, and yummy yoghurts and fruit. Not cheap bananas and apples type of fruit, but yummy sweet strawberries and grapes!!!

Team Muddy Gras with Elaine who was looking exhausted after being up all night and she still had to stay on another 10hrs for the 100km solos to come in!

So far, have heard lots of positive feedback from others too, so well done Elaine and her team!

...And am not just saying this cos she is my sister. Trust me, if it was crap, she would know about it from me..... ;)

Bakin' with Emma

Emma looks forward to her next birthday as soon as her birthday is past. So by the time it came to her 7th birthday this year, she was well excited and ready for it!!!!

She requested for a party at home (rather than outsourced). The trade-off was that she couldn't invite ALL her friends. I was hoping that would change her mind, but Emma was pretty insistent on having a "Home Party"... and so we had "Bakin' with Emma" where only a handful of school mates and her motley crew of cousins were present.

Chocolatté Cupcakes (Emma named the recipe) was on the menu....

Goofing around with her cousins (and "Your-Piano-Is-Out-Of-Tune-Kat")

Homemade Banner - Alright considering this was created the night before!!!

Method Instructions that Emma & I put together the morning of the party!- Looks simple enough.... but I wasn't quite prepared for the mess and flying mixtures! (all unintentional I'm sure!!!)

And the baking begins....

The outcome -MASTERPIECES!

It was a bit hairy trying to get 70 cupcakes baked in my teeny oven while trying to get the kids fed lunch - but I would say all in all, it went well. I'm not sure if everyone else had fun but I sure did!!! :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!