favourite month of the year

it's 21/12/2012 - the stipulated doomsday and i'm glad that the world's intact :) 

i've spent the majority of 21 years of my life mugging and i wouldn't want my life to end just like that!

i've much bigger dreams that i've yet to materialize so thank god for His Grace. 

& after a whole string of extravagant 21st parties and celebrations, we're down to the last two. 

had a simple birthday dinner with vanessa (whom we have not met for months) for her 22nd. 

 cancelled our prior reservations and settled for marmalade pantry due to the heavy rain. 

marmalade's pretty pricey and the food's only slightly above average in my opinion. 

i wouldn't mind heading back for their sticky date pudding though . 

date pudding served with ice cream and butterscotch sauce. such a sucker for sweet stuffs. 

singapore doesn't offer much for group activities so we proceeded to feast again. 

this time its tea and pastries appreciation at TheWellnessGroup (TWG) 

vannie's birthday cake . first taste of macarons and i'm sold ! 

it's a pity they are so pricey and add on so much to my calories intake.. 

my favourite tea patisserie ( and also a TWG specialty ) at TWG 

i'm so so so glad lyla made us try this. we were so full from dinner but she insisted on trying this . 

it's actually a creme brulee tart infused with strawberry bits . i'm coming back for you !

good companion, delectable pastries & impeccable service in a  grand continental setting. #life.  

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last saturday , we had a cozy 21st celebration at Nosh Restaurant . 

we were allocated to a section in the indoors and we had fun parading around , snapping pics away. 

the restaurant was pretty packed that night and the waiters' were busy shuffling around so we couldn't get them to take group pictures for us. it was unlike my previous visit with nia when the waiters were practically stoning in a corner, waiting for us to finish our food so they had something to clear /do. 

some of our mains that night. i ordered lamb chop which was served with cripsy potato cubes . 

oh potatoes what what i do without you <3 nbsp="nbsp" p="p">

their regular menu was not available and the christmas menu only had 8 course to offer. 

it was quite limited so the birthday girl was quite disappointed. 

& since there were 9 of us , we've got the whole menu ordered so we could poach one another's. 

it was so cold inside and the cold air condensed on my ricoh gxr s10 lens kit :( 

cake cutting + gift presentation time - the birthday girl beaming with her tory burch pumps. 

yenqin's so obssessed with all the brands she has such an expensive taste for everything. 

i'm beginning to worry for her future husband's pockets. 

which speaks for her theme - ATAS and the venue . 

here's to one of my favourite girls in the whole wide world, miss yang yen qin. 

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY 

as much as I love you , I can't deny that your birthdays are painful reminders to the fact that i'm turning +1 very soon . being with you makes me feel like an old grandmama (i kid you not) . thank you for  acceding to my nonsensical demands and playing along when i go bonkers. thank you for not pulling a nasty face when i experience strong maternal instincts ; hence the compelling need to nag at you for your expenses from time to time. monetary issues aside , i'm very happy to see that you're taking a conscious effort to dress up (i feel like a mother who's watching her very own daughter maturing into a beautiful swan) .  i love how you try to be sporting even though i know deep down inside you maybe completely uninterested in certain plans , just to spend quality time together. your presence made me feel relieved about my choice of school and courses because without them i wouldn't have met the very awesome you , so thank you . 

 love you till the end of the world my little sister from another mother. 

november updates.

went on a study date with jing at holland v's starbucks and i found myself highly motivated by her focus.  she was in the midst of her exams preparation while i decided that i should just get my revision start lest history repeats itself again. we were just chilling at one of the corner seats, sharing a cup of of hot green tea latte and catching up with each other before we proceeded with our revision. i actually managed to finish a few chapters and by the end of the day , i was beaming with great sense of achievement. you see, the people you hang out with have immense influence on you . hanging out with conscientious peeps can actually motivate you to study pretty well :)

been meaning to update this space but i was so preoccupied with my revision and other stuff. just as i was about to post an entry on our recent pjclique outing, blogger forbade me to upload anymore pictures unless i pay them a nominal monthly fee for data storage. it's so silly to pay for online data storage especially when i'm only blogging for fun. then one fine day (today) god reminded me of the existence of photobucket and here i'm blogging with pictures !!

met up with the bishan peeps on two separate occasions. the last time i saw grace was in january , on her birthday at regent hotel. i used to see her everyday when we were in PJC and it was so much more convenient to rant to her.  judging from the insane amount of workload that a SMU undergraduate gets , i'm in no position to rant or whatsoever. i should be fine and contented that i dont have to put up with sucky project mates and struggle with back to back datelines to meet. in fact, i'm really loving uni life even though i'm not immersing in any form of campus life. i guess i'm just happy to spend time with my friends during lectures ; be it paying attention / scribbling notes / checking out sneak previews of online boutiques. we could talk about shopping all day and that's what girls do :)

been going on many many movie dates with the boyfriend too . i've been thinking if i should give up my weekend tuition classes to spend more quality time with him. it's the kids vs le boyfriend. 

finally a rare TGIF dinner date with the pjclique :) dinner at yoshimaru , holland village. i'm not a big fan of ramen but i have to say that yoshimaru serves really good ramen. it was full house that night and we had to wait quite a while to be seated. prices are pretty reasonable with the 10% student discount.



headed off to island creamery where i bumped into my long lost friend sarah who's working there.  i can't get enough of their mudpie . it's my cheaper alternative to the mudpies at NYDC.  i'm so hooked on the ice cream flavour pingpong milo ever since nia made me try it a few months back. if only ice cream work like slimming pills or something, i would have this everyday. i don't have the habit of buying pints of ice cream back to feast on but i was really tempted to takeaway a pint of pingpong milo.
after 1 serving of mudpie and apple pie served with ice cream , we ordered another pint to share among ourselves. it was such a rare sinful indulgence and i was happy while it lasted until i got home. i was literally having war with my tummy.

& here's a picture of my outfit on tuesday . ah boys to men movie date with felimbo . 

skirt's from lovebonito.com and bag's from http://tgif-ashion.livejournal.com . 

we're down to the last month of 2012.  make it count !! 

TGIF @ NOSH.

back with some visual & wordy updates ! 

my bestfriend @peasandpetals brought me to nosh @rochester park last friday. 

we've been meaning to spend some quality time together but both of us were up to our necks with work and tuitions for the past couple of months. most of our previous 'meetups' were 5 minutes of greetings in between our pathetic tuition breaks and the short walk to my place after our class tuitions. 

so there you go , some cozy time at nosh . 

love everything about this restaurant - the food , service and ambience. 

it was one of nia's top choices to host her 21st birthday party and i applaud her for her keen sense

the outdoor area was such a perfect chilling zone but we decided to opt for the indoors instead. 

love how we had a meticulous waiter and the entire indoor area to ourselves :) 

my main dish ; grilled chicken served with mash potatoes & asparagus . 

i'm very boring like that . i opt for anything that comes with potatoes. 

in fact , potatoes served as my mains rather than the chicken itself :x 

Bestie's main nosh : kurobuta Pork Belly 

Apple Chutney , Roasted Nutmeg, Sweet Potato Mash & Sweet Potato Crisp. 

neither of us were fans of sweet potatoes but the mash was really good. 

apparently Nosh serves really good desserts . 

their desserts are specially created in collaboration with local pastry chef janice wong ( of 2am dessert bar fame) and desserts like toffee date cakes were hot favourites. 

it's a pity that i was really craving for milo pingpong from island creamery instead. 

new found love for the ice cream flavour ever since nia introduced it to me two weeks ago. 

& i'm a huge fan of milo. mum's been purchasing milo packets for good 10 years :) 

#solidmilofan signing off here. 

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"there comes a point in time when you realise who matters , who never did , who won't anymore and who always will " 

felicia koh:

"YUPPPP

i am sure there comes an eternal time u realise i matter to u alot

LOLLLLLLLLLL

forever n eva"

truly my number one source of entertainment. 

HAPPY 21ST NIA NIA ♥ 

i don't think i can ever forget how gorgeous you look on your birthday . 

i wished you knew how beautiful you are :) 

and in your words, till our teeth fall out and our hair turn white. 

bestfriend forever and ever and ever !! 

my handmade gift for the birthday girl who values thought over materialism :) 

all my friends know that i'm someone who's bereft of creativity . 

my handwriting's like type printed and i'm a rigid piece of wood with zero craft skill.

i know it's a really simple piece of work but it took me quite a bit of time and effort!

it didn't turn out as i've wanted it to be but i'm glad it pleased the birthday girl. 

i usually don't do handmade stuffs for gifts but i did it for my favourite girl in the world!

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU MEAN TO ME ? :) 

pretty rainbow cake from my fat lady :) 

the previous rainbow cakes that i've tried were so disappointing . loving this one !!

tiramisu cake from la villa 

the sophisticated dining area that's allocated for the birthday bash . 

everything's so well planned and carefully thought out. 

wished i was as good as planning back in january for my 21st bash. 

with casuarine whom i haven't seen for ages. 

to many many years of friendship down the road.. 

thank you for being there for me through it all.

shanghai day day 2 & 3

been two weeks since i'm back from shanghai and i'm missing it already. 

i don't miss the uncouth people and the street urchins who kept harassing me though. 

imagine them tapping on your shoulders and thrusting their hands right up to your face.

i encounter beggars every single day and some of them really ruin my day. 

back to my trip . the second day we head over to shanghai happy valley . 

we went to the happy valley in beijing 5 years back but it was winter and most of the rides ceased operations.  tickets are a bit pricey at 200RMB (~40SGD) but we had a good time. 

they had a lot of thrilling rides to offer and we barely had to queue for rides :)

when drunkard meets drunkard under the broad daylight.. 

It took us slightly less than 1.5 hours to head over from East Nanjing to Happy Valley. 

Take subway line 9 to Sheshan station , cross over the bridge and take the orange shuttle bus. 

When we were alighted at the station, there were alot of sellers trying to sell us plastic raincoats at 1RMB. (~$0.20) we didn't buy because it was so overwhelming with so many of them thrusting the packets of raincoats at us.  we ended up getting raincoats at Happy Valley at 5RMB which was still very cheap. i figured vannie would be like " you can save 4RMB leh" hahahaha. 

 left happy valley to meet yifang at east nanjing commercial street for steamboat :) 

shanghai has quite a few famous hotpot chains like haidilao and dollar shop . 

we decided to try dollar shop since it's near my hotel and look at the amount we ordered. 

all these for only 60SGD in total. did i mention that the service was impeccable ? 

totally wish i could send some food over to my babes in singapore!!

rachel my baby lion seriously needs to put on some weight so she won't fly away. 

after dinner we walked down to the bund area to enjoy the night view. 

it was rather hazy that night which explains the mediocre standard of the picture. 

headed over to starbucks which just down the street to catch up and chill over frappuccino. 

something that i've always wanted to do with lyla yang in singapore. 

shanghai third day 

first stop at shanghai science and technology museum . 

it was 100RMB per entrance and we thought it had a lot to offer :) 

& i really like how shanghai's attractions are located near one another so there's minimal travelling.

S&T museum is just right outside science and technology station exit 7/8 

 dramatic boyfriend. 

robot playing  the piano while a little boy was singing on the stage !

there were a lot of amazing robots. some can play chess / riversi with you and draw a portrait of you.

i totally need one robot to cook for me. 

then it was dinner with sucheng at the some chinese restaurant at east nanjing again !

love the pork ribs so much i wish i could go back for more. 

part of the reason why i feel so safe at shanghai is because of my friends who are there. 

thank you for the meal sucheng :> 

& that's it for day two and three. 

it's monday and mine started off on a good note with yoga. hope yours did too. ^^