bbg - life in Kobe

5 months old - figuring out her fingers

The end of 2012 is here! The end of the world came & went though, & we all survived :p i wonder what happened to the people who believed it & ended their lives (resigned their jobs, spent all their money etc)

It's time to look back on the year; this year flew by very quickly, last year at this time I was just pregnant, now bb is 5 months old + .. so fast! & as I write this, I realised this is why I need to blog, as age comes, I can't really remember what I did in the year, so even a summary blogpost a month helps me remember what I did in the past year (looking at my own archives now haha)

My 2012 in short:
January - New Year, & CNY in SG with family and friends. First time I had such a fun New Year's day , usually I'm snoozing at home by midnight 31-Dec.

February - Tokyo Marathon with the guys, & all the touring around Tokyo of course. My favourite part was the meal at Bills at Kamakura (for no particular reason, the memory of it just brings warmth into my tummy)

March - Saw Mount Fuji upclose for the first time at Kawakoguchi - it was really a WOOOOOOOW moment. The day before was snowy and cloudy and cold, basically a bad day for even travelling, & we had reached the ryokan not even knowing which direction Mount Fuji was at. & the next morning, it was the sun streaming through the window that woke me, I looked out and was shocked at the sight of the majestic view of the mountain so clear against the blue sky. I'm not a mountain person (don't ask me to climb any!) but this was just magnificent! in case you want to feel the same woooooow I did, the picture here might do it for you:

if you don't feel it, go see it in spring / summer, you won't regret this!

Moving on,
April - Mum & cousin Rina visited me in Japan at the best time of the year, when the sakura was blooming.. Quarrelled alot as usual with my mum, but all in all, it was good to have people over.

May - Solar eclipse - first ever full solar eclipse for me! It was really cool, even though my equipment isn't that great, managed to shoot through my sunglasses and got at least 1good shot. if you want to see the pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157629925829026/with/7283025400/

June - KL/ Marathon - last overseas trip for me before having a baby, went with the guys to KL on their marathon weekend. Best part of KL as usual, is the Angsana spa visit! This is probably my favourite branded spa in the whole world, nearly 4 hours of bliss at only S$100+++ thanks to the weak ringgit. My 2nd favourite would be Willow Stream at Fairmont, but they cost a bomb.

July - bb Mirei arrived! Happy that she's out of me, but confinement was the worst month of my life. Secret showers had to be taken to keep my sanity. & no cold drinks! Still don't know what the reasons for torturing new mums are, but someone should abolish them!

August - Staycation at MBS after surviving confinement - Ryo came to sg for bb's first month party & then we headed for a short vacation at MBS. It wasn't really much of a vacation with a 1 month bb around, but at least we got some time away from my parents to just spend time as a small little family.

September - The big 30. - Best part of it was that my sis was in SG for a short break since the last time I saw her was in 2011 in Italy. Had alot of work to clear the night before, so the day itself was just a quiet affair with my mum, bb, sis & Calvin spent at Tiong Bahru Bakery. Youngest sis was MIA.

October - Nike Run - I managed to complete my first post-delivery 10km! It was not easy .. since I haven't trained for a year, and was run/walking the whole way with a 1h 15 min timing..

November - Osaka Marathon - Back in Japan, bb took some time to get used to her new home. Visitors from Singapore was probably the highlight of the month & the feeling of emptiness after they left was quite bad knowing that the next trip to sg was >6 months later and by then, bb would be almost a year old.

December - Xmas / NY holidays! - Sort of holiday.. first time visiting the Kobe luminaire, and lights in osaka, usually we are so lazy as a couple + the weather is so cold that we just hibernate on our couch. Looking forward to bringing bb for her first NY temple visit on 1-1-2013.

After listing out the above, I realised I could have just easily referred to facebook (-.-!).

other notable achievements in 2012 - grew my first ever tomato (Ryo ate it), crocheted a hat for the baby, a pouch for me, a sorta scarf, learnt how to knit and came up with 3 scarfs so far - one for my youngest sis, one as a wedding gift & one as a xmas/birthday gift. The last one being this :　