It had been two weeks and two days since we did our house inspection and the day of handover had finally come. At 9am this morning, the handover took place at our nest. Today, we are officially a first home owner.

Now, the next step is to do the final cleaning inside the house before moving in this coming Saturday, which is only 2 sleeps to go!

Last Sunday, hubby monkey and I spent our afternoon to check out the St Kilda Festival. It was my first time but hubby monkey’s second experience. There were road blocks everywhere and it was packed. Overall, it was a great experience and will definitely go back again next year!

Ferris Wheel

The Flying Dumbo

Merry-Go-Round Truck

Shark's Attack

Floating bubbles

Sweet tooth

Silent Disco - people were dancing to music listened to on wireless headphones

Kids & Big M

People checking out the Big M

Find your way around

Overlooking at the crowds

Sunset Silhouette

Poffertjes

Drinking spots

Walking along the TENth Avenue

Busking

Nice classic Fiat

This year, I had the best of the best Valentine. Even though there were no dinner plans, no dates, no gifts, no cards, no chocolates, no roses – but it turned to be a moment of unexpected surprise, thankfulness and appreciation. Came to think about it, this was the first Valentine that I did not received cards and roses from hubby monkey!

Anyway, after we finished work, hubby monkey walked from his office to pick me up. As we strolled to get our car, we came across a small Japanese Sushi Bar in an alley. We went to have a look at the menu and we entered.

As we entered, we were greeted by the chef that was slicing the sashimi at the sushi bar. The place was tiny and it is just like the one we went in Tokyo.

The master chef

There were only 20 seats in the bar and 18 of them were labeled reserved. The waitress approached us and asked if we had any booking. We didn’t. It was definitely His favour that we had the 2 unreserved seats reserved for us. Thank God!

Apparently the place is very popular, it has been featured and awarded in many food and travel magazines. It is owned by a Japanese chef and all the waitresses are Japanese as well. Finally, we found a place that serves good and authentic sushi!

Well, it is popular and so of course the menu is on the pricey side, but it is all worth it! They served excellent sushi and sashimi.

We had these:

Hot Ocha

Sake & Tako Sushi, Tamago Maki and Aka Dashi Miso

Soft Shell Crab & Unagi Rolls

Agedashi Tofu

Chirashi Sake & Maguro

The cost

Burp! Can you hear the sound of our satisfactions?

After an unexpectedly awesome dinner, we went to church to attend the Creative Discipleship. As I was praising and worshipping, tears just dropped down on my face. It wasn’t tears of sadness but tears of thankfulness and appreciation for all the love, favours and blessings that I have had in my life. I was being reminded of all promises that had come through in my life.

I had experienced the real meaning of Valentine, to appreciate the love in my life.

Thank you hubby monkey for your pure heart, for loving me for who I am, for holding my hands while walking, for hugging me before you left for work, for kissing my cheek every night before I fall asleep, for all ‘I love you’ you’ve whispered in my ear. I love you!

A love letter to hubby monkey…
The love of my life and my very best friend,

So often during the day, I find myself thinking of you
and wanting to tell you how much you mean to me
- but then things get so hectic and before I know it,
the time has slipped away…

And so on this Valentine’s day,
this “I love you” is for all those missed moments
and countless times when I’ve thought of you with love,
and felt so lucky that you’re my husband.

It’s great to be married to someone like you,
So thoughtful and caring in all that you do.

I love you for the man you are
and what you do for me,
For every little joke we’ve shared,
each precious memory.

With you as my hubby,
I have all of the love and caring
my heart could desire.

With you as my best friend,
I have every hope that our plans
and our dreams will come true.

At 2.30pm today, we have an appointment with our builder for the house inspection. It is our first house inspection to check and point out things that need to be fix, making sure the house is all good before handover. After today, the builder will then have a maximum of two weeks to fix all the things, clean up the mess and get the house ready for handover.

Hubby monkey has been doing many research online, reading forums and asking friends about their house inspection experiences. We have learned so much about what to prepare for it – stuffs like what tools to bring, what things are a must to check in details and how to deal with the inspector.

After weeks of preparation, here are the checklists that we have prepared for today:

• Ladder
• Measuring tape
• Red dots stickers
• Torchlight
• Light bulb
• Wipe cloth
• Pen and notepads
• Camera
• …and two pairs of big and wide eyes!

We are very excited about today but we are so thrilled about the day of handover!

Our home is looking very good. The house is now at the final stages of completion!

Since the lock-up stage, the building progress has since been really slow. We could no longer sneak inside to check on the progress. Sometimes, we were lucky to be able to get into the house when they were working or when they had forgotten to lock the door. But, most of the times, all we could do was to peek through the windows.

The kitchen has come into good shapes and we are really happy with the Laminate Timber flooring

The double sinks in the ensuite

Our cool shower with dark tiles

The house is very near completion yet we do not know the exact date of when can we move in. The feeling of waiting unknowingly is very annoying, but there is nothing we can do.

We are now waiting for our supervisor to be in contact over the next 1-2 weeks for an inspection. Our dream home is on our doorstep!

In the past four weeks, we have been seeing three constructors stacking up the bricks of our house, piece by piece, as if they were playing the tetris game. It looks fun. As fun as playing tetris!

I was wondering how many pieces of bricks they need for the whole house. But, no, I am not curious enough to count the total number of the bricks.

Front right view of the house

Back left view of the house

The bricks are looking good. They blend in well with the colour of the roof tiles. We are again happy with our choice!

After the bricks are complete, we are now on the lock-up stage. Meaning, we can no longer sneak in to our house to check on the progress of the house because the doors and windows will be all locked! Unless we made an appointment with the builder, for now, we could only see the house from the outside.

The main reason we bought the land and built our first home at Saltwater Coast among the other estates in Point Cook, is the lifestyle, facilities and living environment that they offered.

It has a 50-hectares of pristine park and wetlands around the estate. It is like a residential estate comes a holiday resort.

The pristine park and wetlands you would see as you drive into the estate

I love the design of the estate itself that reflects a balance of urban, natural coastal and rural residential themes.

Coastal influence parks

On the park, there are a number of BBQ/Picnic spots with kids playground. It is a great place for family to enjoy outdoor activities or to catch up with friends and neighbours.

Kids Playground

BBQ/Picnic Area

Another plus point is the Lifestyle Centre featuring sports and recreational facilities. A place for us to be actively fit and stay healthy.

Architecturally designed Lifestyle Centre

At Saltwater Coast, it all points to a better life.

Since the past two weekends, we had been expecting for the bricks to be completed but apparently they have yet to start working on the bricks at all. Instead, they have been working on the inside of the house after the roof tiles.

They have added a pink colour cotton-like padding in between the frames, which is the insulation.

The insulation in master bedroom

The ducted heating pipes were seen hanging on the roof.

Ducted Heating

We saw a number of electrical power point spots and pink colour markings on the floor around the house.

Markings for TV and Power Points in the living area

Markings in the kitchen area

Markings in the bathroom and the frame for bath spa

The house were in a mess when the plaster were being installed but glad they cleaned it up after they had finished with the job.

The mess for installing the plaster

The bricks were already on the building site for 2 weeks and were waiting to be dismantled and get worked on.

Austral Bricks - Nougat colour

Just like us, we are also waiting for the bricks updates.

Two years ago today, we exchanged our vows in Singapore. Tonight, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary at the Anchorage Restaurant, Williamstown.

It was a beautiful place by the pier, overlooking the sea and the WestGate Bridge. We arrived just on time to see the sunset before we enjoyed our dinner.

A toast to celebrate a romantic night *love*

We sat by the window and had the Seafood Platter!

The platter was huge, really huge. They served seasonal seafood – a dozen of oysters, a half dozen of scallops, prawns, calamari, grilled salmon fillet, salmon sashimi, a crab and a lobster!

A close up look to see how huge is the platter

A dessert to end the beautiful night