My group of poly mates and I wanted to relive the fun that we had in Kukup two years ago, and arranged for a second trip there. Babs joined us this time round, and it was nothing short of fun! It was a pity that some of them couldn’t make it at the very last minute. Mahjong, in between, blackjack, fireworks, karaoke, feasting like kings and queens because neither do we have to prepare any of our meals nor clean them up. It’s probably the first time how I actually felt exhausted taking photos during our fireworks session because I had to fiddle around with the tripod I actually felt like I was panting. And how funny it was when we had to take our mobiles to find the correct way of writing chinese characters as we were scribbling our wishes on the kong ming deng, just because our chinese is terrible like this. I was so exhausted with all the fun and slept at 4am (probably first to hit the sack), while babs joined my friends and continued playing (having eight persons bunking into a room, coincidentally with 2 couple beds and 4 singles). I could literally hear all of them laughing as they all walked into the room when they finally figured that they were tired.

It really didn’t matter how run down and dirty this place may be because the company really made up for it. And this was really the weekend that I had been looking forward to. ♡

Last man standing

Chau gong gong, Chau po po

Gong xi gong xi!

The season of coming together.

x

2012 has been quite an emotional ride even though we are only 4 days through the year. Spent the first few hours of the year in a quarrel with the boyfriend (first time since he returned this time) over a problem and cried. But it all ended well because we went to sleep that night in hugs and kisses. Thank you (and sorry) Amanda for calling you to cry to you over the phone and having the both of us made you angry over our nonsense. Thank you for always being there to wake us up. You know how much we love you.

The second day saw us having a late night full of drinks and games with the boys. Pictionary, memory and drinking games. It was really surprising how good Little J was through the night. Hardly barking and even mingled around the boys so much through the night. Just look at the picture of J popping his head to take a peek on what the rest of them were looking at the laptop screen. *Awwww* He is just too cute not to love. And it is the first time in a long time that I slept at 6.30am in the morning.

2012 is looking to be very good. ☺

After work on Christmas Eve, the boyfriend drove over to my place to pick me up and we spent the first hour of Christmas doing some groceries shopping for our Christmas Potluck. It was raining and the night was just chilly, and somewhat blissful for some reason. Baby J who wasn’t sleeping when I went over came to join me up on the bed while the boyfriend was outside using the computer and accompanied me. This pup is really a sweetheart in every single way. ♥

Christmas gathering was held at Darren’s place, and it was nothing short of awesome. Simple company from the boys and Amanda, with endless laughter which even makes me chuckle as I think about it right now. From the random moment that Amanda broke the chair (epic moment for life) while eating, and all the boys just laughed for a good whole 10 minutes/wanting to take a picture instead of helping her up. Prepared our meals together and our dinner was an absolute feast. It was probably the best christmas dinner I’ve ever had, and the most heartwarming one too. Pictionary-turned-charade where Lance and I had to portray “birthday suit” and he started stripping while I just stared in awe. But it was hilarious. And skyping with Vincent who is currently in Perth.

Christmas, filled with good food and alcohol, good company and laughter.

Thinking back, this is probably the best Christmas I’ve ever had for the past 22 years of my life. x

Met up with Amanda for lunch at our favourite Yong Tau Fu place before roaming around town for her last minute christmas shopping. Turned out to be quite a wrong decision because the rain was so bad and it was just a massive human jam everywhere.

Pre-christmas dinner with the girlfriends and the boys at Santouka for dinner was good. Loads of catching up, laughing and what not. Settled at Starbucks thereafter for more catching up and gift exchange, and it was hilarious! Some got really nice presents, while others were small but wrapped up in so many layers (Linda) to give its receiver a big trouble opening up their presents (me). But I guess the funniest was when Eugene got March’s present and it turned out to be a set of pink towels. Boyfriend knowing what the girlfriend bought, and had no choice but to accept it. Traditional Christmas walkabout, then we headed over to Playnation to play Wii and Kinect till it was 3am in the morning! Too much dancing and moving in the wee hours of the morning my hands and shoulder ached so bad.

Too much fun in one night. Too much love to contain. Christmas is all about the gift of love and sharing.

I’ve got mine. x

Over the weekends, the boyfriend fell while playing football and sprained his wrist, so we had to change our plans from going on a date together to taking care of his hand and trying to seek medical advice. It was so swollen he could only do minimal movement. ☹  Stacey’s best friend arrived in Singapore and it has been quite a while since I last saw her. (My trip to Hong Kong, three years ago, was the last to be exact) But the weather wasn’t so nice because it was raining so heavily. ☂ Thank goodness I stole my boyfriend’s umbrella before I left the house. We had a simple Singaporean chicken rice dinner at Far East Plaza, and went to play Kinect. It was so much of a fun but exhausting that my unfit body woke up to an aching shoulder and arm.

The weekends is over. This weekend would be an exciting one I hope. Merry Christmas to everyone out there in advance! x

Surprise early breakfast takeaway from the market outside my place by the boyfriend, who accompanied me thru the train ride to work and went all the way back to city to meet up with his friends. x Our almost-every-night. x Kelvin and Pei Yu’s 21st birthday celebration after work.

Counting blessings in every way possible. ☺

I’ve been spending plenty of time with the boyfriend since he returned but it wasn’t any sort of fancy/exciting dates, which is good in a way because 1) it is inexpensive 2) we just enjoy each other’s presence. And it is actually good. We actually laugh a lot together, every day. Laughing together, and laughing at each other. When I actually had a rough time, I sought solace in him – he wiped my tears, understood my angst/pain, and brought a smile to my face. To think of it, it might actually be the first time that we actually just laid in bed before the night ended and doing something like that. I know I can always fall back on him no matter what happens. He always, always have a way to make bad events a lot easier to swallow. ♥

That aside, I am still looking forward to some exciting dates! On a side note, we’d be getting our house a year earlier than expected, and that would mean we’d have a lot of planning to do. Plans that are made by real adults.

Definitely my favourite vegetable dish from Dian Xiao Er

Dinner feast at  The Chau’s

My favourite boys

Groceries shopping with the boyfriend

Gordon Ramsay inspired breakfast – Pan-fried portobello mushrooms and tomatoes, scrambled eggs with potato onion bread

My little batman

Tuesday movie dates

Lunch with The Chaus at Dian Xiao Er x Slept the entire afternoon away with the boyfriend and woke up for home cooked dinner x Drinks at Three Crowns, followed by supper with together with Amanda and Darren, which we obviously over ordered thanks to Darren. x Woke up early in the morning to whip up a Gordon Ramsay inspired breakfast with the boyfriend x Tuesday movie date x Cheap-but-good eats at Maxwell market.

Instead of having what I actually hoped – fancy dining, some fun and exciting activities – for during my four days off from work, it was actually an absolutely lazy one. Completely makeup-less, running errands, having cheap eats and doing something new together. It was actually such a rejuvenating break that I actually woke up an hour earlier than I usually did on the first day back at work.

P.S: All photos were unedited (except for resizing the images) and comes straight from the camera. ;)

Good catching up session via sports at 11pm in the night at Ceylon Sports Club with one of the most spontaneous group of people I’ve met.

Life is good this way.

x☺x☺

It is legal to laze your Sundays away, just like how I refused to get myself out of bed and chose to roll all over the entire morning. Met up with my baby girl for dinner despite initial plans of meeting up with boys has been called off. Settled down at Jones the Grocer at Mandarin Gallery for dinner was a great idea – I had the best mushroom risotto I’ve ever tasted. The mushrooms and the risotto itself was really flavourful despite looking real simple. Catching up in each other’s lives that we’ve been missing out on in a quiet setting by the corner was just peaceful and slow. It was like a short runaway from the crazy hectic everyday life, and I really enjoyed that.

I am probably extremely repetitive because I am not a person that is extremely good with words. But this is the kind of day that makes me there is something worth looking forward to in the boring week. With someone that makes me feels loved. x

Left to right #1 Stacey came to have a stayover session. Troubled my Dad to buy Lao Ban Tau Huay for the sweetheart to try and she loved it. #2 Talking till the wee hours of the night. ♥ #3 Stacey’s very cute hello kitty handphone cover. #4 Estella the angel brought me some home cooked mashed potato and bubble tea (just because I ranted about my cravings for it on twitter) for me at work when Anthony came to make his glasses. She is such a sweetheart. ♥ #5 & #6 Took out my flute to play on a Sunday afternoon and started with playing The Phantom of the Opera. #7 Rare sight of a clear sky while I was crossing the road over to the boyfriend’s place. #8 The playful boy who wants to play. Look at his adorable ears. *awwww* #9 Babyboy falling asleep by the bed side while Xing Ying and I were lazing on the boyfriend’s bed. #10 & #11 Stayover session with Xing Ying at The Chau’s can get quite fun! We raided the fridge in the middle of the night because we were hungry. #12 Simple bliss is spending a lazy and peaceful time together with the monster pup. #13 Monday afternoon by the pool. #14 & #15 Splashing loving!

Never knew that mobile photography can capture so many beautiful recollections of things I didn’t even remember that happened through the week. ✕

Bbgirl

Homemade potato gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce

Tomato soup

Roasted Sea bream “Isolana”, Potato, Tomato, Onion, Black Olive, White Wine sauce

Truffle Profiterole

I received an email one night from my favourite girl, and it was a dinner reservation for two at Casa Tartufo Ristorante so I actually bbm Amanda to ask if this was a date. This girl just assumes that I was available and booked it without consulting me, but it’s alright because I guess I wouldn’t mind spending some time with her and her food choices is the best thing I can bet on. And as expected, the food was good. ☺

Amanda had Homemade potato gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce for entree while I had Soup of the Day. My soup was good, but Amanda’s was better. The smell of truffle was a beautiful blend with the potato gnocchi I just wanted more. The fish tasted good and we swiped the entire table clean. The dessert was a pleasant surprise – we expected it to taste as ordinary as it looked, maybe vanilla ice-cream with some truffle flakes around, but the ice-cream itself was truffle and the first mouth of it blew me away. I’ve never tasted anything like this before. I am so glad that bbgirl made this booking without consulting for my opinion.

Short night with my precious girl, but it was sufficient for us to know of our love for each other never died despite being busy in our daily life. Can’t love this girl any less. ♥

I love having friends like these – simple, non-pretentious and down to earth people. Meeting up with these lovely people after work on a Saturday night puts my weariness from work aside. ☺