2025 has been a tough year with its ups and downs. The year started as we just shifted from the accessible township of Toa Payoh to the slightly less convenient estate of Novena. Couple that with unbearable heat on hot days that made the house feel like a sauna, we second-guessed our decision to move.

Financially, it made sense since we were paying a little less for a bigger apartment though the inconvenience it came with didn’t feel like it was all that worth. Fortunately, we soon got acclimatised to the new living environment and are growing to love the place a little more for its tranquility.

March and April brought us on trips to Japan and Korea, almost back to back, that came with a lot of new experiences. In Japan, we tried skiing for the first time, hunted for cherry blossoms, saw snowfall while soaking in a private outdoors onsen and had kaiseki dinners that were to die for. While in Korea, we self-drove around Jeju where we had authentic Korean cuisine like cutlass fish, conch and whelk noodles which I probably wouldn’t have ventured a try on my own.

Summer passed quite uneventfully till a bout of plant shopping revived our desire to dabble with gardening once more. What followed were multiple visits to nurseries islandwide almost every weekend for at least a month or so. Eventually at the end of this phase, we ended up being proud plant parents to four though we’re still thinking about expanding our brood.

After a six-month drought of vacation, we had a rather memorable trip to Italy where the Dolomites enthralled us with its beauty, but the chaotic situation that bookended our vacation added considerable stress and likely scarred us for life. It also tested my limits on how many pizzas I could have for my meals and to my surprise, that threshold was very quickly breached.

Closing 2025 off, we hosted a few more of our close friends and their partners over dinner at our new place almost a year after we moved in. It was a good opportunity to give them the customary house tour as well as to catch up as we haven’t met some of them in over a year or more. Just the perfect way to sign off the year.