Tripping through poppy fields: Friday 31 August 2007

The boyfriend already told me that he was planning a whole day out in honour of my birthday on Sunday. He'd already taken leave and made arrangements to ensure that nothing would stand in the way of our day. I was sceptical cos his office is always calling him at ridiculous hours but nonetheless, I was pretty excited too.

The boyfriend is stolid and pragmatic and not given to high bouts of imagination so I was really cracking my brains to figure out what he had planned.

We had a late start cos I was on a web conversation with a business contact in China. Yes, I had to eat my words after all cos his office didn't even call him once.

When we got to the car, the boyfriend reached into the back seat and casually handed me a copy of Mort and said that it was my birthday present. No, it wasn't wrapped or anything but I'm used to him. Anyway I love Terry Pratchett so I was really pleased with the gift.

Then he told me that there were 5 surprises in store and that was the 1st of them! We had a hurried lunch at Macs cos we were apparently running late for the 2nd surprise. He told me that I should eat up cos it would be 2 hrs before I could leave the place, but I was too engrossed in Mort to do more than munch on his fries.

Anyway, we were driving towards Upp Thomson when he swerved into Sin Min Tower. I was still scratching my head, thinking that he was heading to our mechanic when he pulled up outside a beauty spa.

OMG! He got me an afternoon's worth of beauty pampering at Eden's Loft.

It's this really quaint place where the entire lower floor is for beauty treatments and the mezzanine level is for shopping and lounging around. Esther (the boyfriend's designer) owns the place and she very generously blocked off the entire afternoon for my use. I had 3 hours of personalised attention from two very sweet ladies who patiently manicured, pedicured and massaged me to within an inch of my life. It was pure heaven. I chatted with them, read Mort, fell asleep during the massage and thru'out it all, the boyfriend sat by, playing NFS on his new PSP (that's my birthday gift to him), and smiling indulgently at me every now and then.

I was even nail art-ed, compliments of Esther!

And while I was waiting for the polish to dry, how could I have resisted some shopping? The mezzanine level is not very big and most of the clothes and footware are one-of-a-kind items. They even sell the sweetest baby clothes; empire dresses with puffed sleeves and tiny roses on the hem.

I got a shimmery gold-ish top and I really loved the jeans with a lace hem along the waistband but I didn't want to spend too much in one go.

Just to divert from the topic at hand a little, Eden's Loft is a fabulous place to hang with your girlfriends. The ladies are really sweet and the service is excellent. On top of that, the decor reminds me of an English countryhouse (think Fosters) and I simply love love love the fact that there is a level dedicated to shopping! It's great that you don't have to sit there with your toes under the fan, pretending to re-read an article just to avoid the manicurist's gaze in case she tries to coerce you into buying another package. The spa rooms remind me of Senze Salus, with the little jacuzzi baths and showers hidden behind a wooden shutter. The beds are heated which means that you don't have to shiver when you first undress. The heat gets a little uncomfortable towards the end, but I was already on my way to dreamland so it didn't really bother me too much. It's not a huge place, but it's perfect to host a girlie tea party and treat your closest 10 pals to an afternoon of bliss.

After that 2nd treat, I was already kissing the boyfriend non-stop and gushing about how sweet he was, when again, like a magician, he pulled out two boxes from the boot.

He'd gotten me the new Samsung cell phone (I still haven't found out what model it is) and a bluetooth system! And the nicest part is, he'd charged the phone the night before so I could transfer my SIM card over and use it immediately!

And the sweet boy actually planned for a short break time during which we went back to his place, lazed on the bed for a while (I read Mort, he played with his PSP) before showering and heading out for dinner.

The dinner venue was a surprise too, so I had no idea where we were heading to. I thought we'd passed Victoria Street twice and suspected the boyfriend was lost. (Much later on, he admitted that he was - perfect opening to convince me to buy that new Nokia navigator phone for him) Anyway, when we pulled up at CHIJMES, I thought we were eating at Hog's Breath because I used to go on so much about how I used to eat there back in Brisbane and we have never eaten it in Singapore, simply because I think the prices are ridiculous.

But, the boyfriend wrangled a reservation at the exclusive Sun Japanese Dining through a media contact. Apparently, it's almost impossible to get a booking on a Friday night at such short notice...?

The venue was chosen because I said that I have never eaten one of those huge sashimi boats which you'd see in TV shows. So that night, I had my very own Aburi bowl (boat was too big for just 2 of us). Between us, we also polished off two mains - lamb chops and the beef with foie gras Kamameshi. The succulent lamb chops were grilled to perfection and served with a light and crispy coating, while the kamameshi had a robust flavour with the tender beef and the melt-in-mouth foie gras coming together wonderfully.

We practically rolled out of the restaurant, after the cam-whore in me got the receptionist to take a picture of us. Not a good one by the way, we both looked bloated and dreamy after the feasting.

So that was 4 surprises and as the boyfriend took the route home, I was wondering what was the 5th and remaining surprise. It turned out that the boyfriend had planned a cosy night in for the two of us.

The Moscato was chilling nicely in the fridge and we popped by a 7-11 to get a pint of Ben & Jerry's and some peanuts. Plus, a Norbit DVD was waiting for me to rip off its cellophane and plonk it into the DVD player.

Unfortunately, I was feeling a little sleepy after the fantastic meal, so we decided to skip the DVD and chill with the wine. It was good quality time, with him telling me how he had planned the whole day and me gushing non-stop about what a wonderful time I had and how happy I was.

And honestly, as far as I can remember, it was a lovely day for both of us. We spent some amazing quality time together; it was a relaxing and fun day and the boyfriend has proved to be a capable event planner and more importantly, a wonderful caring partner whom I would gladly donate half of any organ to.

Don't get me wrong, it's not cos of the pampering or the wonderful presents. It's cos every single surprise was given a lot of thought to. He made sure that I got the book first so that I could read at the spa and he charged the phone so that I could use it. He even knew that I would want to freshen up before dinner and included some rest time in between. We have become so busy that we may have misplaced that "loving feeling" for a while. And I was getting quite worried that it was gone forever. But this day has shown me that we might have forgotten it during our daily struggles, but we would never lose it completely.

The entire day reminded me of this Daniel Bedingfield song:

Well make it through
And I hope you are the one I share my life with
And I wish that you could be the one I die with
And I pray in you're the one I build my home with
I hope I love you all my life

So baby, thank you for an amazing birthday celebration! It doesn't matter if you dig your nose with your fingers, or that you shove your elbow in my face and steal the blanket every night, or that you always lose your way while driving. I love you!

And a huge thank-you to Esther and the media friend for helping to make the day so special!

Air-kisses,
The Birthday Girl