The day got better afterall

We eventually left home at about 2.20pm and travelled a long time till we reached... Ikea Tampines! I could've almost blasted Chris for celebrating my birthday with lunch there but I wasn't even going to bother.

We ate and the food tasted boring. We left at about 3.30pm and I discovered I was having my period. Great timing. We ended up reaching his planned surprise destination at almost 4pm. He had taken me to a pet farm area in Pasir Ris - Farmway 3.

We checked out Ericson Pet Farm and was so happy to see 2 cute daschund puppies behind glass and 3 pugs. They were so adorable and small. A young sales assistant spoke with us and we asked him many questions on these two breeds.

I started talking to Chris about the idea of having a dog recently. I think it was after watching Marley & Me on our return flight from Tokyo. Plus I had a dream of the late Swizzle (my ole poodle)... again. I have no idea why I keep dreaming of Swizzle. In the dreams (recurrent), it's always of Swizzle in her old age, soon to die stage but still alive. They're such sad yet memorable dreams. That was why I talked to Chris about the idea of having a dog.

I have to admit we were quite tempted with the idea especially seeing those puppies there. Sadly visiting the farms there made me feel sorry for these puppies. So many of the farms there, aside from Ericson, appears dirty, gross and uncaring for the animals. There was one farm there which had lotsa dogs running around in front of its compound but no one looking after them. The strange thing about those dogs were that, none of them barked. No sound. Every other dog around the area was barking like crazy. It made me really wonder why they weren't barking. I think these dogs were just so sad that... they didn't even feel like barking.

We saw a few others looking unkempt, some farm owners, you can tell, just wants to earn the buck. Some were dirty, malnourished, denied water, etc. It's so sad. They were cheaper too compared to Ericson. Ericson was selling their daschund at $1500-2000. Pugs were at $2500. Crazy. But Ericson is huge. They have an extended compound behind that they do not allow visitors to enter. Lots of big dogs there. I wonder what they do with them there...breed?

We headed home at about 6pm and I took another hour deciding on a place for dinner even though Chris gave me 3 options. I chose none of them and picked a weird restaurant at Rochester called Eden Sanctuary. They grow their own herbs and looked interesting. Upon arrival, the place had only 2 customers and doesn't look very fancy. I had rosemary rosepetal chicken ($16.90) while Chris had honey mustard chicken ($18.90).

The meal came and looked good, tasted good too. After a while, it dawned upon us that there were no carbs in our meal, no bread, no potato. Just 1 slice of chicken and lots of salad but even more olive oil on our plate. There wasn't even balsamic vinegrette dressing on the salad, just loads of oil. I was quite horrified that I felt hungry after my dinner still. The total came up to $42. Sigh.... paying so much yet not feeling like you ate much. I needed more food.

Chris ended up taking me to another surprise. We went to Labrador Park where he lied that we could walk from there to Prive (where we had planned to go). After strolling a bit, I noticed our friend Chee Meng's car parked in the parking lot. As we approached, we realised it was him and his wife Jackie. They acted like it was a coincidence and invited me to go with them for a drink at the raintree spa bar up on the hill.

After a while Chris finally admitted this was all planned. We ended up at the bar called Moonlight something where the waiters are not really very wise in keeping a surprise birthday cake. So the cake came and I had the pleasure of blowing out 29 candles for the last time. It was a wonderful black forest chocolate ice cream cake from Swensen's. I truly enjoyed myself. I think it would have been fun celebrating with a cake among friends instead of having a birthday cake with just the 2 of us.

Thanks dear for planning this surprise. I really appreciate it even though I kept asking why. :P
And thanks to Chee Meng & Jackie for their wonderful gift, delicious (and filling) birthday cake as well as their very enjoyable company on a birthday night that could've been quite boring.