Saturday in Downtown Orchard: Feasting and giving blood to save lives

Saturday is finally here!

Having heard good reviews about LINO Pizza & Pasta Bar, I decided to book seats at this restaurant with my friends for lunch. Well, we enjoyed ourselves - fuller review to be up on the blog soon!

And... since we were at Shaw Centre, how can we not drop by Tarte by Cheryl Koh for a sweet treat and a possibly perfect way to end post-Italian fare?

Overall, it was a lovely afternoon. The three of us had a lovely catch up about life and career, peppered with some necessary offloading of our work stresses that seem to plague most Singaporeans. Still, the pastries and company were still very much a required dose to combat workday moments that sometimes seem to carry itself over into our weekend moods.

We parted after a lovely mini gift exchange session.

Hearing how the National blood stocks are running a tad low, I've also managed to make an appointment to donate blood at the blood bank in Dhoby Ghaut Xchange (near Dhoby Ghaut MRT exit B). I was glad to see other folks also coming in on their weekend to donate blood.

It wasn't my first time donating blood, but my first time at the blood bank. It was a fairly easy process. The whole blood donation process took less than an hour to complete. A couple of points to note for my next appointment:

drink water before donating blood, to hydrate the body so as to allow the blood to flow better and smoother.
it's absolutely fine to donate blood when you're having period as long as you feel well and probably don't go when you've a heavy flow.
those eating supplements can also donate blood, as long as you're not taking traditional Chinese medication (TCM).
no drinking alcohol until the next day.

If you have yet to donate blood before, I highly encourage you to do so. Not only is it fuss free, and low risk and also helps regulate iron levels in the body, importantly, you also are able to contribute to saving lives - one pint of blood can save up to three lives!

Here's where you can read more about donating blood and where you can donate.

After I was done with my session, I made sure not to carry heavy stuff on the same hand of the venepuncture site, making sure I carried my gift bags on the other arm. And of course, having donated blood, I made sure to also replenish some iron by having a meatier dinner - nothing fancy, just popped by Chef Recipe for some take away Sirloin steak (medium rare, of course).

Thankful for another blessed, fulfilling day.

xoxo,

Janel

No comments