Mark is old.

 This week was busy and exciting.  Monday morning began with me meeting up with the Shell Outpost Group for a core workout followed by coffee.  The Shell Outpost Group is made up of the wives of Shell expats in Singapore.  None of the other wives are from the U.S. but several of them have visited Houston before which I thought was neat. The Outpost Group gets together to create the Outpost newsletter which touches on a variety of things: Singapore history, fun places to visit in Singapore, expat experiences in Singapore, and more.  They also meet about once a month just for some fun and interaction which is what Monday was about.  One of the ladies is a personal trainer so she led a Pilates inspired core workout which was really good.  She also gave some general tips on how to get the most from your workout.  After the workout we drank espresso and conversed for a bit.  Since they have all been here longer, they had a lot of good information for me.

Monday night Mark and I went to see the new X-Men movie with his coworkers.  Surprising (I say surprisingly because sometimes prequels can be pretty bad), it was a pretty good movie-at least the visual effects were pretty impressive anyways. I also enjoyed meeting the wife of one of Mark's coworkers.

Tuesday marked the most exciting day of the week for Colt.  We got our Ikea delivery that day which included the sofa bed for our guest room a.k.a. Colt's bed for Colt's room.  We needed something in that room for potential guests to sleep on anyways (potential guests: don't worry we bought a separate cover just for you so you won't be sleeping in dog hair) and it works perfectly since Colt was getting to big for the largest dog bed.  Mark would like for you all to believe that I spoil Colt rotten but I would like to state for the record that this was his idea, so was the idea to get Colt his own fan which we did. Just saying.

Colt on his brand new bed that he managed to get this dirty in about 5 minutes

Referencing the workout on Monday, I enjoyed the Pilates so much that later in the week on Wednesday I decided to do a trial of machine Pilates at a place just up the river from our condo.  I was extremely impressed (and sore) afterwards.  I have to say that it was one of the best workouts I've had in a long time.  The classes at this particular gym are a little steep in price for my taste but now that I know I like it, I will be checking other places to see if they offer similar sessions!

When Thursday, Mark's birthday, rolled around I had several last minute preparations to make during the day so I spent most of the morning looking for wrapping paper, bows, and birthday candles.  Although, I was never able to find the later so Mark got to blow out my Sun and Sand Yankee candle.  Hey, I tried!  When Mark got off work we did a little birthday celebration here where he blew out his candle and opened his gifts.  He got a coffee table book, 100 Best Cites of the World, from me to help with travel ideas and from Colt he got 4 blue horse statues that he called the "mini Colt's" and had said he liked a few weeks ago.  After presents we went out to Clarke Quay where we went to several places and listened to live music and then sat by the river and enjoyed Spanish Tapas.

Mark's birthday spread with the Yankee Candle serving as Birthday Candle

The "mini Colts" from Colt

View of Clarke Quay Fountains and lights at night

Mark and Niki on Mark's birthday

When Mark and I came to Singapore for our preview trip we noticed the service in restaurants wasn't quite what we were used to, except at one place, Hog's Breath (I know, sounds appetizing, right?!), where we had a great bartender that we really liked named Jay.  He was so nice and gave such great service that we actually asked when he was working and ate there again during that trip.  When we moved here we were disappointed to find out that Hog's Breath had closed down but then randomly we saw Jay out a few weeks after that.  He told us that he and a few friends were opening their own bar in the next month and it was close to where we live.  So, on Friday we went to Jay's soft opening for his bar, Black & White.  We experienced the same great service and were pleasantly surprised with the prices.  We also got a VIP card from Jay which gives us 25% off every time we visit for the rest of the year.  Needless to say, we'll visit again!  We also met a really nice man originally from Katy, Texas so all-in-all it was a great night!

Black & White Bar & Bites, we really liked the picture hanging of New York Harbor in the 1930's

Black & White Bar & Bites view 2 (if you are ever in Singapore check this place out)

!

After staying out and sleeping in much later than we should have on Friday, we took Colt on a walk and then went to try Menya Shinchan, a Japanese noodle restaurant, right across the street from our condo.  Mark and I each ordered a noodle soup and we shared an order of dumplings.  And overall, we liked it!

Mark's Japanese noodle soup

Niki's Japanese noodle soup. The eggs were delicious, the meat...not so much

To officially celebrate Mark's birthday we went to the Marina Bay Sands Casino and to Cut, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant.  Before heading into the casino we took some pictures outside of Marina Bay Sands of the city and the skyline (see below).  Since the casino didn't have Texas Hold 'Em we decided to play Roulette and Blackjack.  Mark was actually doing pretty well until I came in the picture and started playing.  I managed to lose every single hand of every single game that I played!  To sum up our time in the casino I'll quote Mark, "Wow, some good luck charm you are." He's right, haha!

Picture of Marina Bay Sands, compliments of Wikipedia

The White building is the Art Science Museum in Singapore.  It's a major architectural attraction and was designed to resemble the lotus.

View of the Singapore City Skyline on a rainy day

The dome shaped building at near center is the Esplanade which contains concert halls and theaters. It was designed to look like the outside of a durian fruit (the local fruit Mark and I tried a few weeks ago).

After we officially became losers, we made our way to Cut for dinner.  It was awesome! Mark and I each had a steak, I had the U.S.D.A. New York Strip from Illinois (Go America!) and Mark had the Rib-eye from Australia.  After dinner they brought Mark a, "Happy Birthday" desert and before leaving they brought three mini macaroons for the table.  I had only recently tried macaroons and I love them, Mark really didn't care for them so I ate all three-But, they were "mini's"! Yes, this is what I tell myself to make it okay ; ) 

Mark and his birthday desert from Cut

Blowing out the candle

"Forbidden Kiss" drink at Cut which was infused with rose petals and raspberries. No idea what that means but it was good!

Mini Macaroons, aren't they cute?! No, they're evil!

After an eventful Friday and Saturday, Sunday was pretty chill.  Sadly, my Sunday excitement came from finding a new application for the iPhone called Incredibooth which takes photo booth like photos.  I'll warn you in advance, Colt and I got a little carried away...