34 (photos uploaded)

So I'm another year older today. Adrian sprang a 'surprise' party on me and it was held at Syl's house in London. It has to be one of the best birthday ever. Apparently from what I gathered, he had planned it for weeks. The 'cohorts' were Daniel (my bro-in-law), Daniel Chew (a close Uni friend whom I'd not seen for almost 2 yrs) and his lovely partner, Rita, Val and her family and last but not least, Syl (but of course, it's her place) and her very hospitable hubby, Dennis, not forgetting 'princess Danielle'. I leave you with just a family photo and will blog more when I get the chance. I'm now going to bed with a distended stomach (too much good food). The diet shall start tomorrow. There's always a tomorrow, isn't it?

Update: Monday 28th April

Ops! Syl sent me the photos amid packing for her trip to NY tomorrow. So I'd better post the photos and blog about my special day.

The surprise party marked the end of a (in Adrian's words) 'trilogy celebration'. I wasn't even sure if I should be celebrating the occasion at all since my grandma had just passed away. So, I actually felt a little bad about it. OK, it wasn't any big fanfare but still, we celebrated, 3 times over. It all started on Friday, Lavigne's first full day at school. With free time to spare, Adrian and I decided to go out and 'pak tor'. It felt strange but we needed that and it was good. We had buffet lunch (forgettable Asian food) and went shopping. No kids to keep an eye on, no toilet breaks......we browsed the shops leisurely.

The girls' bentos

An old friend of mine, Emily, had wanted to celebrate my birthday with me. Adrian suggested we drop by their place yesterday to meet up. So after attending a birthday party (Lavigne's friend), we went over to Emily and Gerald's. They took us to a Thai restuarant near to where they live and treated us to a sumptuous dinner. Oh the food was simply wonderful! Good company and good food makes a lovely evening.

So! THE day. Adrian had in fact told me he'd planned to bring me SOMEWHERE about 2 weeks ago. I hadn't the faintest idea where he was going to bring me. But I did get excited over it. Unfortunately with the passing of my grandma, I hesitated and repeatedly asked him if we should go ahead with his plan, whatever it was. He reassured me it was. Yesterday, he took out the London map and said he needed to study the route. Ahhh...right....London.....who lives in London? Sylvia, Valerie, my brother-in-law. OK....hmmmm. I smelt a rat. I got more and more excited (yes, yes, like a 6 yr old).

This morning, I asked Adrian what time we needed to set off. He said he had booked a table for 1pm and we had to leave at 12noon. He was so sweet, he let me have a lie-in, settled the girls' breakfast and guess what (?!), when I went downstairs, he made me a cup of tea and a slice of toast. I was really touched. The girls gave me a card and hugs and kisses. We then prepared for our day out and I thought out of respect, I put on a black dress. But Adrian asked me to change out of it and I wore a very festive coloured one instead. He explained to me that my grandma had lived to a grand old age and the funeral was over so it wasn't necessary.

I was really looking forward to 'lunch'. To be honest, I had a feeling Syl and Val's families would be involved and most definitely my BIL simply because Adrian wouldn't suggest driving to London otherwise. Since I'm always the one behind the wheel, he would have to be the map-reader. He didn't tell me our final destination (of course he couldn't). He just told me we would be passing by Kingston, which I know the way. Once we passed that town and got onto A3, I became more and more suspicious. Yes, I know I should just go with the flow but I didn't. The moment I saw the road sign with a certain town on it, I knew where we were heading (I've never been to Syl's house before though). So I told Adrian, 'We're going to Sylvia's house, aren't we?' which he then casually told me 'that town is so big, we could be going anywhere'. So I thought they were going to surprise me at a restuarant. We were caught in a congestion and I could see he was sending messages on his mobile phone. That, I act blur. But once we turned into a street, I immediately recognised the street name. Without a shadow of doubt, I knew for sure where we were heading. Final destination - my dear friend, Syl's house.

They left the door opened so we just went in. We were promptly greeted by Danielle (Syl's daughter) and I could see streamers. Adrian directed me into the lounge. Lo and behold! I saw the faces I'd expected to see and cameras flashed. Did they shout 'SURPRISE!'? Dennis (Syl's hub) passed me a cake (compliment of Val) while they sang the birthday song (how come 15 candles huh?). There were banners and balloons and even though it wasn't a surprise-surprise, I was overjoyed, beyond what words could explain. Oh there were two people I didn't expect to see though - Daniel C. and his partner. I was really, honestly pleased and delighted with what everyone had done. Of course, it wouldn't have happened if not for Adrian. I couldn't believe he had been secretly contacting my friends and planning the surprise. I can't thank him enough. To say I was touched by him making breakfast for me earlier, I don't know what word to use to describe how I felt then.

We proceeded to have steamboat (my favourite!) in the kitchen. I can have it everyday and not get sick of it. There were so much food - wantons, meatballs made by Syl, shabu-shabu meat, fishballs, famous Four Seasons' roast duck bought by my BIL and lots and lots of enoki mushroom. Seriously, there was a mountain of it, all because they knew I love it. Syl also made something sinfully good. Spam in 'ma-la' soup. Oh it was so spicy but luckily the weather was cool, perfect for steamboat. The little ones had pizza, nuggets, sausage rolls and mixed veg. Lavigne, whose nap in the car was cut short, then suddenly greeted by so many people, became clingy. But after some food and thanks to some chocs and crisps, she warmed up to her old self and soon joined the rest who had adjourned to the lounge to watch Toy Story 2. So we adults enjoyed our steaming pot of goodies in between chatting with one another.

This post is getting way too long, I know. But it was a long day. After way too much food, we proceeded to the front room to have a proper 'cake cutting ceremony'. So they sang the song again and I blew out another candle. What's a party without posing for pictures right?

So we had more food. Cakes this time round. First it was the chocolate ganache torte which was quickly followed by Daniel C's homemade tiramisu. I'm surprised he still makes it after so many years. We all learnt it from my Italian housemate years ago. Oooh! Presents! The ladies gave me the presents and I opened them on the spot. What can I say? They know what I like. Dear Val gave me a pretty Cath Kidston wallet and (oh no!) another bar of chocolate! Dear me! I'd stopped myself from eating more. Syl-oh-Syl gave me 3 parcels in all. I was asked to open them in a certain order. The first was a box filled with yet another Cath Kidston bag (same print as the wallet, did you ladies agree beforehand?), a set of craft materials and a few things from a place I had told her about late Thursday night. This lady went to the branch at Covent Garden the next day to buy them for me. How sweet is that? You could see from my reaction in the photo. She had captured it so well. I received more craft materials from her and beautiful, beautiful ribbons. Oh, I can't wait to use them.

While the children played and watched telly, we 4 ladies sat in the kitchen and yakked over cups of tea - from celebrity gossips to pregnancy and parenting to life in general in UK. The young ones had their moments like not sharing the toys and bickering but they were easy to distract and soon all was well. The men even entertained them with a 'bear hunt'. Soon it was time to leave. The children had school to attend the next morning and it's the beginning of work week. At past 8pm, I have to say the kids did well. It must be the sugar from the chocolates that did the trick!

Seriously, I had a fabulous time! I'm touched by first of all, Adrian's effort to give me a surprise party and everyone else who helped make it a success. On our way home, Adrian told me he had checked with his grandmother regarding the celebration - if we could have it and whether decorations were appropriate. To think that he even thought of that. Thank you, everyone, for making my birthday such a memorable and special one!

You can also read about it here.

Update: Saturday 3rd May

Almost finished with this post on Monday night when I got interrupted and I had been occupied with a new project since then. Hence the delay. :p We spent a day at London today so am too tired to post the pictures. I thought I'd better finish writing first before my memory fails me.