Hitting the "3-0".

I can't believe I'm 30. I no longer feel that I took my SPM exam recently but more like I graduated from university not too long ago. In fact, it's been half a decade of working years since then. Time flies as usual and I've learned to "live life a little" and splurge on myself.

How I celebrated my 30th Birthday?
1. Close friends treated me to dinners. :)
Yes, it's all about food, quality time together and celebrating life. I'll write a review of all the food next week. Thank you all dear friends.

2. Diamond are a girl's best friend.
My "alphabeth buddies" decided to get me little sparkles to commemorate my age. Just nice, I was thinking of extending my earrings collection. Thanks gals! :)

3. A short break from work
A weekend over in Langkawi to unwind for 2012. However, weather wasn't really on our side but still it was refreshing. Thanks dearie!

4. Fragrance
My long time perfume, 'Anna Sui-Secret Wish Magic Romance' has finally finished and I was looking for a replacement. Actually, I thought of getting 'Lancome Tresor In Love' but my brother said I shouldn't and get something nicer for myself. It shows I like something more flowery and light but I find the stronger ones can be offensive if accidentally over-sprayed on.

Hence, after a few sprays around -I ended up with Chanel Eau Tendre.
"CHANCE, the country’s bestselling fragrance family, reveals its newest facet, CHANCE EAU TENDRE. CHANEL Master Perfumer Jacques Polge reimagines the decidedly young scent in a constellation of tender and vibrant notes, at once delicate and airy, with an intoxicatingly light, fruity trail. "

A side note, I didn't really checked the prices in KL when I bought the perfume in Langkawi Airport. It ended up the same price. Lol

5. Skincare
I've reduced my budget to Pharmacy skincare but I couldn't help splurging today to try SK-II Pitera Essence Set. I overhead some colleagues talking about a trial set and saw it in Female magazine too.

It retails at RM199 for 1 facial treatment essence (75ml), 1 facial treatment clear lotion (40ml) and 1 facial treatment mask. The cleanser was a sample thrown in for my birthday. lol

6. Air ticket for 2012 holiday
Can't believe I finally did it.. can't wait to go but most of all, need to stop splurging to save for this trip!

7. Ipad2
I secretly wished for an Ipad2 when it came out. My elder brother has an Ipad. Then my younger bro bought it immediately after it launched but I still held on. Thank God... my loved ones knew my desire and my mum told me she wanted to get one for me.

However, when I saw this idea competition, I told myself, "What if I won myself an Ipad2 instead". I thanked God for helping me persevere and not backing out the very last minute of finishing my design to submit. When my friend told me I won... I couldn't believe it but secretly thank God for fulfilling my wish. This is definately from You, Lord! You heard my wishes too and my desire not to trouble my loved ones to get it for me. :)  Thanks to my bf for his support and buying the accessories for my new toy! :)

9. Racer-back Tank Tops
Ironically, when I was in my 20's, I always thought I was fleshy and didn't wear sleevelss or tight fitting clothes. Now I am 30, I want to wear them.

So here I am with flabby arms and more obvious muffin-tops, I decided I want to wear racer-back tank tops. I even decided to embrace getting size "L" instead of hoping to lose weight to look better in all my size "M" tops. My bf got me a few - I chose and he just paid it. Lol

* FYI, F.O.S. sells 3 tops for RM30. One top retails at RM13.90. However, there is a promotion currently which to celebrate Malaysia day. So I got these 3 tops for only RM21. That makes it RM7 each. Wow!

F.O.S is giving an additional 30% discount exclusively to 

F.O.S beloved Facebook Fans & Twitter Followers

Just show this voucher on your smartphone 

at the cashier counter when you are ready to pay

If you don't have a smartphone, print out the voucher,

including the barcode below, & show it to them

*Terms & conditions apply*

*Valid for 3 days only*

*Ends September 18, 2011*

****

In short, as I head out for another birthday dinner. I thank God for loved ones, close friends and best of all, the favours God has always showered me from the very beginning. I pray the 30's will be an eventful decade whereby I can be more fruitful to God and a good influence to others around me.

Christmas Shopping: Tealight Candle Holder

‘Tis the season to be jolly.. Fa la la la lah… la la la lah..

Are you in the Christmas mood? I dread this season. It’s raining all the time, money flies out my pocket and I have to eat lots! Sound like a pouting child?

Well, just kidding.. Obviously, I like this season especially now… It’s the end of the year!

Usually, we have a number of public holidays in December i.e. Christmas & New Year! Coincidentally, a few public holidays fall on every Friday in 4 weeks in a row this year! :) My ideal figure for a weekend – 3 days!

Everyone is busy shopping for presents, preparing festive meals and going for long holidays. I regretted not buying extra stuff to be given as Christmas gifts…

I’m keeping all these 3 tealight candle holders for myself. I got them in one of the shopping malls in Singapore (can’t recall which as I was too tired carrying my luggage and shopping).

Isn’t the painting of the Christmas scene just "divinely lovely and Christmasy"? (sorry, out of adjectives.. haha) I was taken by the cute little angel. Santa could have been cuter but I guess this one seems more artisy.

But pause for a moment, didn’t we celebrate Christmas not too long ago? Another year has gone by? It’s time to check my list of resolutions to see if I have accomplished anything. If not, I will continue to carry forward my resolutions to infinity...

I know a few resolutions I have been carrying forward… will reveal next time!

Another year... pressies! :)

Another year is added to my age and I'm nearing the big "3-0". Sigh. Where has my youth gone to?

I had a lovely time yesterday with my dear friends; A,B,C,F,H+M, K. Thank you for the fun and laughter. I couldn't blog about this earlier because I was waiting for the pictures my friends took (as I didn't bother to bring a camera as someone else normally would... )

Anyway, decided to just upload the goodies I got this year ; courtesty of my loved ones! :)

Roses for the girlfriend. :)
A bouquet of red and white roses delivered to my office.. Guess from who? :)

Bags bags galore
Somehow, this year was a year of bags for me. I got 3 bags this year.

ABC got me this "transformer bag" (as quoted directly from B) ;) Thanks girls. It can be interchangeable into a sling bag or a hand carry bag.

Mummy got me this evening bag... among other stuff.

Younger bro and gf got me this white bag from MNG. Thanks.

Sweet tooth!
A box of Belgian chocolate from my dear friend Serene.. sighh you know my weakness for chocolate.. yummy.. half a box left. :D

F got me a nice chocolate cake from his bakery (pending pictures from the photographers) :) and a lovely treat in Delicious despite all our errors in bookings. Ha! Not going to write about it here. Ahem.

Wishlist fulfilled

My darling got me the headphones as I wanted.. and also cute little speakers for my pc. Yippee! :) Thank you.. But I actually prefer a netbook! (ahahha I know.. ingrate! :p)

Got to enjoy a lovely meal with my dear friends and hope to have more memorable time in future! :) Thank you all!

Christmas Goodies

How could I forget??

How was my Christmas? Well, it was a nice family-time with the Christmas dinner. My brother cooked turkey again with my parents' help. (Somehow, my brothers tend to cook more often than me.) *whisper* I am the guinea pig... lol

There was a nice Christmas celebration in church with a special performance again by Juwita Suwito. This time, our Sr. Pastor managed to bring her brother, Aubrey Suwito to accompany Juwito to sing two Christmas carole. He played the keyboard while she sang with a very good control of her voice from the loud tones to the soft sweet tones. (I mean not like some singers who just sing in one tone.... la la la la...)

Anyway, just a little peek at a few of the goodies I got this year.

My dearest brother gave me food! Luxurious food... (sing to the tune of Oliver!) He bought me Haagen Daaz ice-cream and Belgian chocolate. Of course, they are long gone now. I only remembered to take the picture of the box of chocolates. Burp!



The chocolate literally melts in your mouth. I should have taken a picture of it after a bite. I savoured the soft liquid of hazelnut truffle, almond praline, caramel, etc as it slowly melts into my mouth. Mmmmm...

Another brother - the practical one, gave me gift vouchers again! Just nice for my CNY clothes shopping or next Christmas shopping! :)

A Mousehunt fanatic like me, gave me a Christmas Mousey!! :) Thank you, Ms Alina! Would have prefered the Ambush Trap, though.


And last, but not the least, my darling bought me a travelling facial set! Dermalogica, mind you! (Ok-lah.. I bought it myself and then push the bill to him). Still counts, right?
Belated Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Special Occasion

How do you celebrate a special occasion?

A special meal i.e. candle-light dinner?
An expensive posh fine dining?
A special outing to a nice romantic spot?
A special trip to somewhere memorable?
A luxurious gift to commemorate the day?
Throw a pie at the face? :p

Sigh. I am having the “ideas” blues. I am giving myself a hard time to think of doing something special for a special someone’s day. *ahem*

Obviously, it will go unappreciated but I am the type of person who likes to take this opportunity to celebrate birthdays (usually not mine.. but others.)

I cannot throw a surprise party to someone who is not sporting. Besides, no venue to hold it and I don’t have all his friends’ contact.

I cannot buy something nice for someone because I did once, and he literally didn’t accept and gave it back to me. I learned to drag that person to the shop and ask him to choose himself or at least agree on what I choose, albeit reluctantly.

I cannot buy what he desires because it is WAY above my budget and not practical for his age. You know-lah- Guy’s IT gadgets…. Never-ending upgrades, never lasting (obsolete the next day) yet it is a “must-have”!!
Even though he has another version of it, it’s always a “MUST HAVE” to get the latest one… (rolling my eyes)

Hence, how do you show your appreciation to someone on this special occasion? Alas, I resort to handmade stuff and hope he’ll like it.

“I am not a cheapskate but I haven’t anymore ideas what to get for you!!”

Oh well; in the meantime, enjoy being an "older man" with creaking bones and squiggly wrinkly lines all over your face. MUAHAHAHAHA! (evil laugh)

Happy birthday, my dearest! Hope you liked the pre-birthday lunch of porky! :p

Food review
Ms A recommended this place to have our mini-cheese party. I decided to check out the place at the last minute first for this special lunch.

I only googled it this morning to choose the dishes. I ordered the wrong appetiser which was supposed to be the "Caramelised roast pork" which now I found out it's actually "caramelised siew yok" as reviewed here.

Quite delectable dishes. The appetisers: The sauteed mushrooms is ok-la; nothing to shout about while the deep fried pork strips was a nice snack with its dip.

The main course: the BBQ pork ribs has the extra zest from the lemon but it was little "chau ta"/overcooked. Of course, we finished it clean minus some sauce and veggies. My bf only praised the mashed potato.

I had to try "tiramisu" because of its interesting description. Ermm.. something about finger biscuits soaked in somesort of cheese and liqour with coffee on top. (Sorry I cannot remember the description). It was all right, not too rich but again, nothing to kill for. :p

Over all, the meal was all right. We were the only one there for lunch Perhaps if we were to visit it in the evening with the crowd and ambience plus no limited time (lunch time), the magic of the place might seduced us to praise the food further. But I have yet to try the cheese platter!! Next!

Thoughts that count

These are the gifts which shows the thoughts of my dearest loved ones and friends (with no particular order)…

1. Book: 1001 buildings to see before you die
Never expected to get an architectural book from Ms A.B.C. Here are their thoughtful, lovely birthday messages. (This gift is also a disguise of a homework from “Teacher” to advice the next place to visit. So says Teacher. :p )

2.Charm bracelet (as seen in the entry before this)
A gift to my childish girly self for the love of cutesy-cutesy charms.

3.Squash racquet
My “old” friend Uncle Eug got me this squash racquet. Now I need to learn it to make full use of it. Is it some subtle way of telling me to get fit? Haha. Thank you for the gift and lovely lunch (+ advice). I forgot to take any pictures on my birthday!!

Ironically, my mum bought me a squash racquet too. I guess they expect me to be the next Nicole David? *dream on!! I can’t get my legs to run after the ball ..ahaha*

Now I have a pair of racquet, guess who will be my partner to slave against a tiny ball.. :P

4. RM10 Metrojaya voucher
This warrants a number by itself because Ms A bought two pairs of shoes which make us qualify for this voucher. I hope she won’t regret getting those shoes because despite the lack of stylishness (as commented by Ms.C), I believe the comfy-ness should overcome that since I have an unstylish comfortable shoes of the same brand. I got an alphabeth “J” charm from this.

5. Charm bracelet and keychains
I do this all the time; I sulk if my bf doesn’t get me anything. I will force him to get me a pig soft toy or just a pig keychain for Piggilot kingdom. He never fails. (I’ve always read somewhere that if you don’t let guys pamper you, they will not buy you anything. So a little gift makes me happy because it shows the thought of getting it for me despite burning a little hole in his pocket)

In short, I had a memorable lovely day. It helps that for this year, my birthday fell on a public holiday. Thank you so much for a good blessed time with me.

Next off, planning mischievous gifts for the next birthday child!! :p