Bye 2013!

As the clock inches closer towards 2014, my mind wanders back to my accomplishments for this year and I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I did not set out to do all that I've hope to achieve so this will inevitably make next year's list longer. But nonetheless, I did get married this year! So yay me!

2013 was not all that smooth sailing for me. I've experienced challenges, losses and disappointments of many sorts. I blame HDB for one of the major disappointments this year.

But we have to look forward somehow and hope that next year will bring us more happiness and luck. I'm keeping both my fingers and my toes crossed because if everything goes as plan, then 2014 will be a helluva year for me with all that I have planned. I'll be twice as stress but ten times more happy.

So here I am, 8 minutes before the clock strikes 12am and the dawn of a brand new year, wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year, filled with love and lots of joy! Remember to always tell your loved ones how much you love them!

HAPPY 2014 EVERYONE!!!

xoxo

Happy Christmas!

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope that everybody had a wonderful Christmas celebration!

We kept things simple this year with a dinner date at Shabuya and a movie. It irks me till no end that there are no Christmas or New Year's superstar collaboration movies this year. I look forward to those all the time and am immensely disappointed to not see any of such movies this time of the year.  

We took a leisurely walk at the Vivocity boardwalk upstairs to view the huge Christmas tree but any attempts to capture a shot with us in it was shot to hell because as much as hubby doesn't like to admit it, his Samsung camera phone is just as bad as my iPhone's, leaving us invisible against the brightly lit tree at the background. But the tree was gorgeous, one of the best I've seen other than the famed Takashimaya one. 

Fast forward to Christmas morning and it was time for gift exchanging!

I got him the shirt he wanted but could never find a reason to spend on. 

And he got me an awesomely unique fragrance imported from France! It smells so so good! Very sophisticated and grown up. Thank you!

Mum got me a dress I've been eyeing for a long while! The perfect blush pink dress that can be worn during cny! Loves!

Pretty pretty pretty!

And some sneaky little purchases for ourselves :)

My pretty pretty lippies!

Alcoholic -_-"

And that sums up our Christmas!

Excited about the 2014 countdown! Where will you guys be? :)

The One with the Medley of Events

Bestie's wedding transpired over the course of 2 weeks with an intimate garden solemnization at The White Rabbit and the actual day a week later with a grand wedding banquet at The St Regis. Her 'dream' wedding as she would have to constantly explain to the auntie that I'm slowly becoming when I nag at her for the unnecessary extravagance of it all.
Nonetheless, everything went somewhat smoothly with just some tiny bumps along the way and now, she's officially off the market! :) If I concentrate hard enough, I can hear the chorus of broken hearts shattering across Singapore.

The solemnization was an intimate affair for 25 pax with the bride and grooms' parents. If I were to give a rating for the ambience of the Rabbit Hole which was what they called the outdoor solemnization venue, I would give it a 8/10 because of the gorgeous march-in walkway as well as the pretty garden solemnization venue. I wouldn't however rate it a full 10/10 because I'm not a grassy lawn kinda bride and not to mentioned that the grass and mud stains  (rainy season) will totally ruin my pretty shoes. (which DID ruin the bride's $400 kate spade bridal satin heels).

Then it was a 3 course dinner for all guests consisting of a salad appetizer, beef main and creme brulee dessert. The food was pretty mediocre and I personally felt that it was not worth the $4000 (min spending) price tag which the couple splurged out for. I suppose the $4000 includes the outdoor solemnization venue as well as some rebate credits for your meals in the future but the food was, if anything, very forgettable. I felt like a rabbit the entire night due to the overload of greens and lack of starch throughout the entire meal.

The White Rabbit

And then, we had a surprise hen's party for the bestie which I painstakingly planned. Painstakingly not because it was a complicated shower full of strippers and manicures but because I was the only one who organized/bought/booked the entire event. Exhausted much. I was so happy to get the venue spot on which was a fluke since I've never heard of the restaurant until 2 days before. But the entire dinner went amazingly and I'm really glad she enjoyed her surprise. The chef and pastry chef made our day by customizing our celebratory dessert so I'll highly recommend Toots Brasserie to anyone hoping to have a hen's night dinner! *grinz*

We girls splurged on bestie's 'something blue' from Tiffany's seeing that she's Tiffany obssessed. I think we made a solid attempt to send her off to married life in style.

And then, it was D-day. I woke up bleary eyed at 5.30am and got ready to reach her place by 7.15am. The whole morning was a deja-vu for me having went through the exact same thing just 8 months ago. The entire morning was filled with ooh-ing and ahh-ing as the bride got ready, lots of lemon and wasabi squeezing and ice freezing. It was really fun to be experiencing the whole gate crashing just so I know what it felt like to be on the other side. And so I conclude that as much fun as it was sitting upstairs waiting for the guys to be let in, it was even more exciting downstairs forcing them to surrender their hongbaos over. Bride and bridesmaid for 2013, check!

Finally, it was the wedding banquet and boy, was it a glammed up event. Hubby and I got all dolled up and it was my first time ever putting on a solid red lipstick. I almost couldn't recognize myself but I am really glad I stepped out of my usual girly comfort zone to venture into old hollywood glam for the night. I felt butterflies in my tummy when I looked at hubby that night. I was brought back to my own wedding day when I saw him in a suit. (^^;) why you sho kyute la heehee~

My dashing date for the night

The dinner was pretty good was some hits and misses throughout. For St Regis's standard, I thought it could have been better. The food was not entirely piping hot for all courses and the only memorable dishes were the appetizer and the atlantic cod. The venue was beautiful, with ornate chandeliers and glassy backdrops, but I am not a fan of the L-shaped march-in. So I would rate St Regis a 7.5/10 in terms of food and venue. And oh, the Executive Suite given to the bride and groom for 2 nights was surprisingly small. I seriously expected better of them.

That sums up my 2 weekends! Phew! Christmas in just 8 short days!!

❆❅☃♥♥ I FREAKIN LOVE CHRISTMAS !!!! ♥♥ ☃❅❆

Wedding planning... once more.

It's mighty stressful helping someone with her wedding when the memory of my own wedding is still vivid in my head. The prep, the stress and everything I experienced is all coming back to me now.

Not good. 

But I had awesome friends who stepped in when I needed their help, so I hope I can be there for the bride-to-be as well. 

*Sweats*

It's really not easier being on either sides. 

My first time stepping into Tiffany's today and I came out with a big and beautiful blue paper bag. Sadly, it's not for me, but I'm hoping that I've just made someone really happy! :)

I want... :(

Weekend Updates

My apologies for being delinquent with weekend updates that only gets published mid-week instead of a Monday because you see, Mondays are busy days for me and Tuesdays are "why is it only Tuesday?!" whiny days where I'll spend a good portion of the day lamenting on why Friday is so damn far away. This usually dies down by Wednesday and that's when I'll settle down to start blogging about the weekend. Very very bad I know... I'll strive to rid myself of this nasty habit. Monday shall be blog days, or at least I'll try.

so damn full...

Hubby (yes him again) had a thai craving to satisfy so we went to good ol' Nakhon Kitchen along Bedok North for some yummy and affordable thai fare. I'm a bonafide tom yum connoisseur and I am very picky when it comes to the sweet, spicy and sour concoction. I'll rate this soup a 7/10 because halfway through the soup became cold and I am seriously pissed when that happens. Who likes cold soup!? I give high commendations to restaurants who bother putting soup in a claypot or on top of a tealight or something that will keep it hot throughout the meal. But the taste of the soup was sublime. I always go for the chilli oil version as opposed to the more popular clearer base because I fancy the extra oomph in my tom yum :)

The rest of the dishes were equally yummy and I particularly liked their rendition of the Sambal Kang Kong. Delicious and spicy! The pandan chix could have a tad more pandan taste to them, but the chicken thigh meat was tender and moist. I love the pineapple rice, although nothing beats my absolute favourite from Nam Sing in Bangkok. Hands down, best pineapple rice in the world! The fish with thai chilli was nice but unnecessary seeing that we were dying from the over-ordered amount of food on the table. *a hungry man should NVR be allowed to order food*

Saturday saw us waking up waaaay too late when we had so many errands to run. We made our way to Philips to collect our free coffee grinder that came as a GWP with our spanking new coffee machine. I am so proud of us for investing in a manual coffee machine although I don't actually drink a single drop of coffee. But owning a machine like this makes me feel sooo grown up! Can't wait to have guests over at our new place! :) Then off we went for a suit fitting for some hiao pok who wanted a new suit for work. We then headed to MBS to try on some new jeans. Premium jeans are so blardy comfy! Sliding on a pair of buttery 7-for-all-mankinds makes you regret ever buying Levis from the beginning. Like omg why have I been torturing my poor legs? But they ran out of sizes and we left sans new jeans for the hubby but with 3 new bottles of perfume!

They were on sale and he had been wanting them for ages so he finally caved and bought them. Then because I gave him puppy eyes for watching him shop the entire day... he got me my Hugo Boss Jour perfume. Now I have both the Jour and Nuit. Been loving them since my first whiff. Happy puppy! :)

We settled for dinner at Ichiban Boshi at Suntec after deciding that restaurants in MBS are meant for occasions only. Much too pricey for an everyday meal.

we are getting fatter by the minute...

Hubby was really cheesed off with the pathetic piece of unagi in his set but I was pretty pleased with my Sukiyaki set because I was given really thick slices of salmon belly sashimi! Yums max! Really really stuffed.

Then it was off to a date with The Hunger Games - Catching Fire. I found the ending really abrupt am now really tempted to get the book to read just to clear my confusion. What do you think? Is the book better than the movie? Will I regret reading it?

Another fun-filled weekend coming up, featuring "My Best Friend's Wedding Part 1". Excited much! :)

Happy 731 days!

You used to laugh at my childish notions of romance

I've learnt not to expect serenades under my window and tea lights by the sea. 

From you, I've learnt that roses are expensive and violets are a waste of money.

But then you went and did this even though it's not your style, but mine. 

 

so sweet :)

Thank you for doing this :) 

For the mushy words and the thoughtful gesture! I love you.



Morton's Steakhouse for a double celebration!

Dinner at Morton's was amazing. If only all steaks were this awesome. Hands down, best beef in Singapore. At $100 a pop, how can it possibly get any better than this? The kind waitor shaved $60 off our bill because he gave us 2 complimentary desserts to celebrate the occasions. We were mighty thankful for that.

Happy Birthday and Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Updates on the week!

Had a surprisingly good time at a car survey yesterday for some extra moolah. Met people from many different walks of life and for the first time, reckoned I could be friends with a couple of them.

Then of course there were the occasional creeps who were really full of themselves. Okay, creep, singular. I knew the session was being filmed and that we were being observed through a two-way mirror hence I avoided rolling my eyes at all cost. Otherwise it was a thoroughly enjoyable session. 

Yums!

And they gave a pretty good spread for dinner! I was really hungry and wolfed down a couple slices of pizza and tons of cakes and garlic bread. Carbo overload... *pokes tummy*

Got home a tad late at 9.30pm to a pretty duck egg blue invite from the bestie. 

Pretty!

Someone's getting hitched! Teehee!

Poulet with the hubby after a 1/2 hour queue was, okayyy. I was desperately hoping for the chicken to not be the typical 'dry boobies' sort but it still turned out dry. But the taste of the Chardonnay sauce and the mash was fantastic! I may return to try some other really interesting items on the menu :)

Yums!

While walking around, we found a sofa that we really really love! I personally adore the colour, the fabric, the look, everything about it! I just can't really decide on the classy beige or the pretty dove grey. 

I'm loving the simplicity of this design!

Chic and classy! Very up my alley!

Thoughts anyone? If I live in a perfect world where dirt and stains are not an issue, a clean WHITE leather couch is the perfect way to go. So so dreamy!

 

One great things about this sofa is that they have pocketed springs in them instead of being a fully high density foam cushion. Here's a link explaining why pocketed springs are a much better investment than high density foam sofas and they can be found here.

 

My newest fashion obsession is this pretty flower necklace from Zara. It's so so bling! Throw it on top of a simple black tee and it's instant glam! Loving this so much!

  

The weekend's here! Someone's abandoning me for an entire week again. Grr!! 

All About Polishes

I am absolutely furious with Singpost. What part of the words "Fragile! Please handle with care!" do they not understand?

I bought some nail polishes and they were delivered via normal mail. When I arrived home, I saw the package lying on my front porch, which is 20 meters from my gate. The gate was locked, which means my package flew 20 meters from my gate to land on hard granite floor. Sure my polishes were double bubbled wrap but as soon as I opened the envelope, I was greeted with a nasty smell of nail varnish. Uh oh... 

And sure enough... 

Polish Number 1

Polish Number 2 :(

Yes Mr Postman, you are damn brilliant. Go try out for touch football why dunch you! #%*\?£¥!

Have since lodged a complaint to Singpost and they have promised to issue him a warning letter. Sobs... Money down the drain. 

Hubby is overseas and I miss him terribly.  But he'll be back tmr! Whee!

I'm loving this nail colour at the moment! 

Pretty!

It's called A Butterfly Moment from the Mariah Carey Spring collection. The perfect shade of pinky nude!

Christmas season is near!  I know this because OPI launched their holiday collection! (I know... holiday collection in October? Crazy)

I'm in love with all 18 colours from the Mariah Carey (Huge) Holiday collection! 

Mariah Carey Holiday 2013

So so so beautiful! I want them all! If I had to choose, my top picks will be...

1) Sleigh Ride for Two (Mahogany Red)
2) Underneath the Mistletoe - Broken (Red with amazing glitter)
3) Make Him Mine - Broken (Rose Gold Liquid Sand)
4) My Favorite Ornament (Champagne Gold Glitter)
5) Ski Slope Sweetie (Pearlescent Gold Shimmer)
6) Warm Me Up (Chocolate-Espresso)

A long weekend of Krispy Kreme and Chilli Crab

Krispy Kreme launched in Singapore, 5 donkey years after I got back from Australia.

Good grief...

And yes... we queued. But it was fun queueing because we were showered with snacks and drinks by the snack bearers. So we candy crushed for abt 40 mins and when it got to our turn, we were led by a guy carrying a Krispy Kreme sign that says "Follow Me' down the escalator and into this  'blink and you'll miss it' corner where trays and trays of yummy doughnuts were being wiped out. It baffles me as to why they allocate such a tiny corner for such a prominent brand. Hell, this place deserves a drive-thru the size of a Kallang Macdonald's, and not this cafe like corner at the basement of a department store. Seriously!

But let me tell you, this queueing system does not work. I had a mysterious guy appearing out of nowhere in front of me enroute to the donut counter while meadering through the basement of Tangs. Blardy cut-queuers.

The donuts made up for it though, $50 worth of it. And no, I still can't believe I forked out a blue note in exchange for 24 pieces of donuts. Daylight robbery.



Woah, check out the couple behind. Sweetness overload huh?

Chanced upon this adorable pair of gloves at H&M. Awww... Did not get them though, left them for someone else who travels more. Boo..



cutest thing ever

As usual, the mister had cravings. But I didn't really feel like spending for the real thing, so we made a trip to NTUC and Tekka Market and he made...

CHILLI CRAB!!!

 

Hell yeah, we did! Ok, he did.

It was quite a feat, killing and cleaning the crab. But to get 2 800g crabs for $36 and a pack of Prima Chilli Crab sauce at $7 beats forking out $55 per kg at Jumbo. The crab was cooked to absolute perfection, because the Mister insisted I get out of the kitchen to let him concentrate on getting it right, and got it right he did. It tasted amazing! Better than the Jumbo one it seems. Jumbo's crabs are more 'ketchupy' if that makes sense and quite frankly, not really power-packed enough. I like mine spicier. And the chef added 2 eggs, shiok la! And because we were lazy to fry our own man tous, we cheated and got them from a Tze Char store.

Only 2 days to go till the weekend. Yay!!

The One with the goodbye to Granny

So, a week has come and gone. We spent it running from Bedok to Suntec to Bukit Gombak to Thomson back to Bedok every single day. I'd like to thank my wonderful husband for his love and support over the past 1 week. He was the designated driver and anyone who drives know that it can be the most exhausting thing. That coupled with the lack of sleep doubles the lethargy factor. So thank you my dear, love you mountains high! 

I appreciated the time spent with my paternal family over the last week. I think it's the most I've seen of them in years. Sad as it sounds, the death of a loved one does bring the rest of the family closer together, so I suppose every dark cloud has a silver lining. 

I know it's a tad inappropriate but I kinda like this picture that hubby took of me as a joke. He claims I look silly. But I think it makes light of a sad situation. 

After all that have transpired, it makes me think about my remaining family members and how I don't see them often enough. Just a reminder to everyone to not take anybody for granted and to always treasure the people around you. Life is too short, so drink up! Be merry and love with all your heart! Here's to the ones who have passed, the people we know and the strangers we have yet to meet!

Granny passed away yesterday at 9.46am whilst the rest of us were at work. I think she waited for the maid to come back to her side, at least she didn't have to be alone. 

It saddens me that I don't even have a proper picture with her. 

RIP ah ma. You'll be missed.

And then it was Saturday

We had a very eventful Saturday last week driving around in our new ride. Eugene was completely obsessed with his "turbo" that he couldn't stop talking it. I just nodded along pretending to understand what he's going on and on about.

We popped by Punggol to take a look at the progress of our flat, and we were really happy the windows are up! Yay to finally having windows!

Our future home!

The 2nd highest unit in case anybody's wondering :)

Excited much!

Then we proceeded to meet our ID for tiles selection. We breezed through the living room tiles but got stuck at bathroom tiles for over an hour! How on earth?! The bathroom is so tiny and after an hour we still couldn't decide. We ended up reserving both designs because we disagreed on the colours we wanted.

decisions, decisions...

Then off to Thomson Medical Centre we went to visit Wayne, Jayne and cute baby Callan! Congratulations new Mummy and Daddy! I think Jayne is the luckiest person in the world, having only spent 1/2 an hour contracting and delivering just 2 short hours after she got admitted. I've heard of 30 hours labour horror stories and am completely freaking out.

shoooo kyute! I can just pinch your little cheeks...

I remembered telling Eugene that if I were to give birth, Mount Alvernia would be my choice since I was born there. But when I arrived at TMC, I was pretty fascinated with how nice the place looks! It reminded me of the classy and clean wards over at Gleneagles. With a nice delifrance cafe at the lobby too! I know that having a nice lobby and amenities does not equate to a hospital having reputable doctors and quality medical care, but I'm sure it gives just that extra edge over hospitals that are warm and stuffy with ceiling fans swirling over the heads of sick patients. But surely such luxury comes with a hefty price tag and so I was just pondering about how costly it'll be to give birth there when...

Wah so zhun!

They place this information inside the lifts!  How appropriate and informative! The price difference between TMC and Mount Alvernia isn't too vast, so I can still keep Mt A as a feasible option. Not that I'm in dire need of this information, but still a good to know :)

We were starving after an entire day of running around Singapore, so we headed for dinner at Jackie's before our movie date. Husbo had a big craving for steak. -_-"" Come to think about it, we seem to be satisfying quite a bit of his cravings lately, maybe 他有喜了...hmm...

Looove the sambal chilli!

Then we took a walk because we were too full and I attempted to lull him into shopping at Uniqlo. Spotted this uber cute 毛毛 hoodie and couldn't stop hugging it! It was so so so comfy snuggling with it... but I was forbided to shop, so all I could do was snap a shot of myself wearing the jacket to savor it's plushy goodness. *sobs*

We were really exhausted after the movie. But we were really glad that we got everything on our list done, and that we are a step closer to getting our home up. Keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go smoothly! Gambatte!

Over the weekend...

Something's up with my movie booking skills...
Last month I booked the wrong time for the right movie, and last week, I booked the wrong movie at the right time. Geez lewis...

So we had the best seats in the house for "Riddick"... but we ended up with...

for "We are the Millers"

-______-""

But it was worth it. We laughed so hard and had an amazing time.

For all beauty fans out there, Luxola is having a 3-days special anniversary sale! 30% off all items except for SK-II! Free next day delivery included as well, how amazing is that! Remember to key in the code at checkout to enjoy 30% off your total!

Do make use of this once a year offer to stock up on your beauty favourites! I've already made mine! ;)

Mid-Autumn FYI

Just a heads up for BTBs or ladies watching your waistline... don't mean to dampen your mood there :)

I know I know... I'll stop now. Just a good  bad to know yah?

HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL Y'ALL!

From best Monday to worst Friday. I don't even know where to begin.

Would give anything for a box of these right now.

Weekend roundup

Another weekend has come and gone, and I can't believe that we are nearing the end of August already. Where did the time go? I'm so nervous about the year end approaching because of the house and more financial commitments but I'm super excited about finally having a place of our own! Talk about being on the fence.. geez.

Weekends are usually spent catching up on Hong Kong dramas (Triumph of the Skies 2 obviously) and home-cooked meals. We bought a TV! (Damn kiasu I know...) and it comes with a free soundbar and wireless subwoofer ! Mega exciting! I went with the mentality that all we are lugging home is a tube and a square box... then when we arrived at the collection venue we were greeted with this.

I walked right by it and didn't even give it a second glance. It didn't even occur to me it was this big, until the lady at the counter told us to just pick 1 and go. My eyes popped open and I went, "That's the soundbar?!?" She rolled her eyes and nodded before resuming her typing.

*rolls eyes*

A tiny tiny soundbar in a huge ass box. Okaaay.

Anyhoo... we head on home for dinner before heading to the movies. *Yawns, yes we know we are boring folks*



Salt-baked chicken, the usual greens and pan-fried salmon

Am dying to try out the newly opened Lady M located at Marina Square this weekend.
Lady M, an upscale dessert boutique hailing from New York’s posh Upper East Side has arrived in Singapore! Its first branch here holds only 12 tables, but nevertheless showcases the bakery’s dessert-making ethos that combines the finesse of French pastry techniques with a meticulous attention to detail. One to try is their signature mille crepe, a laboriously stacked cake of 20 handmade razor-thin crepes, layered with feather-light pastry cream, with coconut and green tea renditions.

Just look at this beauty...

Can't wait!!!

So, our weekend...

Felt like baking on Saturday and bake I did. Woke up bright and early at 7am to prep and I was surprised at how much fun it was and how much I missed baking. Saturday baking sessions are rare because as I'm no longer home during the weekends. But everyone who received a cake loved it, so my lack of sleep was totally worth it. :)

Booked the wrong movie session at 7.15pm instead of our usual 9pms at Vivocity. Clumsy fingers... so we had to rush to get some quick dinner before our hot date with the R.I.P.D (which was an all right movie, not as good as I thought it'll be). But we both had the same cravings (surprise, surprise...) so we ended up at...

Favourite Fish Steamboat!

Tian Wai Tian! Our fave place for fish steamboat! Chilli Prawn with Tofu is absolutely to die for. I can eat this all day, everyday.

And because din din was so early, we ended up being hungry after the movie ended. So we gave in to Macdonalds drive-thru and plonked in front of the tele to watch Cruel Intensions which I thoroughly regretted and am gonna make up for it with fish soup sans the carbo for the rest of next week.

Simple but awesome weekend. :)

P.S. Found and confirmed our ID! Excited much!