Lights.

"I'll love the light for it shows me the way, 
yet I'll endure the darkness because it shows me the stars"

Wedding dinner at Grand Shanghai yday :)

It was a different feel from most weddings that I've been to.

Very grand - in a old chinese kind of way.

To play olden-days songs for the wedding was really apt, esp with such an ambience :)
There was a live band too, and a lady in cheongsam was singing all the melodies.
Her singing was awesome,
and it's a pretty nice sight to see some of the older folks getting up and dancing along ;) 

Oh, and I really liked how the couple did their second march-in.

They danced in to the song of Cha cham bo.

Light-hearted but so memorable. 

It's a cosy wedding alright, and most of the food items were really good,

perhaps with the exception of this Egg white with scallops dish.
Not aesthetically appealing, and the egg white with scallops combination didn't work well at all. 

Of the lot, I particularly liked the Wasabi prawns dish and the fried eel dish.

Fusion-food; that seems to be the trend of late for many wedding dishes.

Wasn't feeling too well since yday, but thankful I could make it for the wedding.

And I'm very happy for this relative who got married :)
I've never seen him look more xing fu.

------

Went to visit Serena at Mount Alvernia on Friday! 

Baby Ruiqi is sooooo adorable with all the small noises she makes :)

Much as I think that babies all look quite alike,

some babies actually do look more delicate than others.

And Ruiqi has really cute features if you ask me!
Congrats to Serena and Gerald once again on their babybun! :D
I can't wait for her to grow a little bigger so I can buy her pretty frocks :D


------


Actually, there are many more things I want to blog about,
say Wicked the Muscical, wedding planning and work.
But I have another set of presentation slides to do..
boo.

Was telling Hoon that I've no idea how am I going to juggle wedding planning with work.
Timing is really quite critical right now,
and everything seems to be calling for my attention.
Maybe I should really draw up a detailed timeline,
and to stick closely to it.
I really feel like I'm a gov officer by day, and a wedding planner by night. lol.
I'm fretting so much when my wedding is in Jan next year,
I wonder how Kelly is feeling, esp when it was decided not long ago that she is getting married this Oct!
But I really don't think I'm being overworried or anything,
esp when good venues and vendors are being snapped up like nobody's business!
It's definitely better to plan early, than to start panicking at the very end right? ;)


Alrighto, will update again.
Time to do my last presentation slides. le sigh.

Wedding Planning :)

Yes, the big day will be coming soon.. on 6 Jan 2013! :)

So get this date down on your calendars okays! :D

I've been sooo excitedly looking forward to each step of the wedding planning!

Some have asked why don't I just engage a wedding planner,

but I don't think I'd want one :)

I'm already running events myself, it's a bit weird if I don't plan my own wedding yea?

Date selection has been a majorrrr headache.

I was pretty fixated on the hotel that I want as I've weighed all factors,

and found just one hotel that has most of the pros comparatively.

Hence, the date was such a big big big problem.

But I'm so glad it's (almost) settled already!

We are going to the hotel's wedding showcase coming feb!

But we have soft-booked the date already :) Whee!

Have also started gowns-hunting a while back,

and visited a few BS after doing proper research online.

Finally found one shop that I absolutely fell in love with,

and we even brought mumsie along to view the gowns today  :)

It's funny cuz before we went, she warned me against signing any package today.

But it turned out that she started to haggle with the salesperson before I mentioned anything!

Could tell our tastes are so alike!

The first shop we went to (just to scout more options),

she didn't have a good impression at all. lol.

We managed to get a reallyyyy good deal today! (many thanks to mumsie)

She could chat up a storm with the sales people. haha :P

Even managed to get a MTM wedding gown thrown in free with with original package price :D

We are also in the midst of looking for actual day photographer!

Shortlisted a few already, and will be contacting them soon.

Videographer is quite set too, we will be getting Shiwei (Rach's videographer)

So super happy that Shiwei is free :D

Now, we are set with date, hotel, prewedding shoot, actual day gown, and videography!

Still shortlisting for actual day photography, and some fringe events before banquet :)

Many of the big ticket items are set already, next up will be more of the nitty gritty :)

Like florals, invites, designing of wedding gown, selection of evening gown and tea dress,

sequence of events, solemnizer, guest list, song list, food tasting :D

Looks like there is a lot more stuff to do!

Even though there is some painful problems along the way,

but I'm treasuring every step of this planning journey :)

The boy has been very supportive and tolerant with my many outbursts too.

Thank you the b! :P

Hello 2012! :D

2011 has left us, and 2012 is already here!

It really felt as though time just whizzed past in 2011,

and I haven't even got the time to catch a proper breather..

But it's already gone.

Gosh, twenties is such a time when everyone is racing against time.

On this faithful day last year, I did up my resolutions..

And now looking at the post again to see if I've achieved them,

I feel this sense of nostalgia, and I tried to imagine myself when writing the post last year.

That post felt kind of sad, yet hopeful of a better 2011.

And indeed, 2011 had been fantastic to me :)

Resolutions:

Work Related: 

2011 - To seek a career that gives me the sense of satisfaction I crave for.

Yes, I have this resolution nailed down for the year. 

I officially transferred to my current dept on 28 Mar 11, 

and I've never looked back or had any regrets ever since. 

Work is challenging, but it gives me a huge sense of ownership and pride when I do my work.  

I seldom dread going to work these days, 

except for the occasional blues, and the rare occurrences of heated discussions with fellow colleagues. 

My plan of action for Year 2012 looks packed, and very very daunting.  

 

For Year 2012, I hope that the new initiatives all run smoothly.

I will be more meticulous and do more "leg-work" to make the initiatives failure-proof. 

I will also brush up on my presentation style to suit my management's style to get their buy-in for new initiatives.

~~~~~~

Family Related:

2011 - To try to be a better daughter, to make an effort to notice the small things

Even though this is a very subjective matter, 

I felt that I got closer to my family this year.
You know, during those growing up years, relationships with the family could be strained at times.

But as I grow older, and watch them grow older..

The conflicts have came to a point where they no longer occur.

Perhaps I had grown accustomed to their rules, and I no longer try to toe the line.

I've gone out with my mum more this year,

ate with the family more, bonded with them more over MJ and Wii, 

and bought more stuff for my mum, stuff that she sacrificed for our sake in the past.

In the past twenty odd years, she had given her everything to this family, and esp me.

It's time for her to enjoy a good life, and I'm here to make it happen.

My only wish is that my parents will have no unfulfilled wish in this lifetime.

And I will do anything in my capacity, to make their wishes translate into reality.

For Year 2012, I will be bringing my mum to Hong Kong. 

Took me a long time to convince her to go, 

and I hope she will enjoy the trip as I've hoped for.

I will try to add more activities when spending time with the family,

MJ, Kinect and Wii have proven that family bonding goes beyond eating dinner, watching tv and shopping.

~~~~~~

Love Related:

2011 - To better manage my emotions.

Year 2011 had been a roller coaster year for my work life,

where I'm trying to build up on my work amidst all the changes in Management, and more new colleagues.

It wasn't easy at all, and the boy had to hear my rants all my time.

I hadn't managed my emotions better, and I guessed I can't. 

My way of releasing negative energy is to whine and rant, 

so I guess the only good thing was that my emotions did not go out of hand? lol!

A nice surprise came along for 2011,where we got engaged :) 

But with him starting work as well, we really have to make time for each other.

It's not that difficult to do so yet.

But I believe, with the upcoming years, we will only get busier with work.

We can only try to make things work out, and keep conflict at bay.

For Year 2012, it will be a challenging and planning year ahead.

I believe there will be quite a bit of conflict in whatever that's going to happen,

but I hope we will have the strength to endure through and to emerge stronger.

~~~~~~

Friends Related:

2011 - To try to meet up with friends more

I traveled with a girlfriend this year! :D

It was a fun trip to Hong Kong and we got to know each other better.

And I do think Jx and I make pretty good travel mates!

Other than this trip, there was Serena's wedding where a few of us band together to put things together :)

Even though I was sick and tired then,
I'm glad I managed to help out in this major milestone of her life :)

As I also went back to dance, so I got to see the dancers more.

Hopefully I can still catch up with the dancers more nx year, be it I'm still joining dance or not.

Managed to catch up with my psych clique this year too,
and also had a few gatherings with B's engine clique of friends.
They are fun people to with be too :)
There was Fred's wedding, Hongju's bday, B's bday, and Fred's Xmas Steamboat.
Taboo was them was really awesome too! :D

I'm also very thankful for being able to catch up with one old pal.

He's none other than good ol' Walter.

He's one pal I can count on when I'm down and out.

And it's nice to catch up with him after 1.5 years of non contact.

Geez. We didn't even realize we haven't contacted for that long. 

It's nice to hear him talking about plans for the future like buying flat etc.

This goes to show me how much we have all grown up to be.

We used to talk about CCAs, and crushes! Gosh.

~~~~~~

Myself Related:

2011 - To let go more, relax more, love life more.

I really do think there is an almighty power out there looking over me.

When I first heard on my first day of work at my new dept that I'm in the R&R team,

I was kind of worried and dreadful about the additional work.

But in the end, R&R activities turned out to be such joyous moments for me.

I got to organize events I like, and to gather a bunch of staff to go with me.

I feasted during buffets, visited Art Science Museum, and even learnt how to make a logcake! :D

These are snippets of life which I manage to have time for myself, and enjoyed myself thoroughly :)

I think the year 2011 had been very kind and uplifting for me,

and it's indeed one of the best years of my life thus far.

For Year 2012, I hope to have a stronger state of mind, and to be more positive about things.

The cynical part of me can make me very withdrawn and timid,
but I hope I'm able to keep the cynicism in check for this coming year.

I also hope to learn something new this year, :)

and to pick up books again so that I would not be stuck in a mental frame of mind.

~~~~~~

To all, I hope you have fulfilled your wishes for year 2011, 

and to look forward to an even better year 2012!
I'm sure Year 2012 will be an even bigger blast than 2011!

This year's New year for me was spent at home with loved ones,

but it was was meaningful and symbolic of a whole new challenging 2012.

This sounds vague I know, 

will keep you all updated on stuff once things are more settled down ;)

Till the next, HAPPY NEW YEAR YE' ALL! :D

Christmas wind in my face.

The season to be jolly is back again! :D

Definitely my favorite season of the year!

Mm.. there seems to be something wrong with blogger today..

so I guess this will just be a short post :)

I'm finally (almost) done with my Christmas shopping!

The above shows just some of the many goodie bags I've packed for colleagues.

Got them Elf's lip glosses from Smoochiezz.

In any case, Smoochiezz's range is AWESOME and cheap!

But their office's at Toh Guan, which is really out of the way if you ask me.

And it's an industrial area.

However, the amount of things found there is amazing.

I got some Elf, NYX and OPI products for myself and mumsie too. hee :)

And I finally decided to have a hair cut today.

Look at the amount of hair chopped off.

(I have deliberately took the photo with my foot there for comparison.)

Haha! Everytime I go to my hairdresser, he will always trim off THIS much.

I didn't try anything drastic this time though.

Initially wanted to try the soft rebonding which Beatrice did.

But I realized that they only curl the bottom to get that "curl-in" look.

This means anything above that, they don't rebond at all!

And for that, it will cost me $280.

So I figure I can blow dry the locks myself every morning to get that curl-in look.

And oh boy, I'm sure glad I chose this option!

My hair now looks natural and quite nice :))

No need for any sort of maintenance.

Will post a photo soon when I get a chance to take any pics :)

Tomorrow is the start of a crazy awesome Christmas week!

I hope all my Christmas gifts will arrive on time! *keeps finger crossed

Funnily enough, I think I bought most of the gifts online this year!

haha! But the bad part is.. you never know if they will arrive on time.

In any case, I'm already feeling all prepped up for this year's Christmas! :D

Till the next, bye!

Delicious December is here!

Finally back for an update, and Dec is already here :D

Definitely my favourite month of the year.

Have gone for a few events, and shall try to list them in chronological order.

Global Kitchen Buffet (Pan Pacific Singapore)

Had gone there as an R&R organizer for my company.

The ambience of the Global Kitchen was pretty nice,

where there are different kinds of seating arrangement to cater to different grp sizes.

Food-wise, I think it wasn't anything fantastic.

Being a seafood lover, I'm more picky about the spread of seafood.

If I have to choose, I'd pick Pan Pacific Orchard's Ocean Feast over this buffet anyday.

However, taking in consideration that this is a one-for-one buffet,

I do think it's still a pretty good deal,

considering that there were plenty of interesting cooked food being available.

Brunetti (Pic shown above)

Oohhh! This place is awesome!

Being a huge fan of sweet stuff,

the sight of all the french desserts made my heart go aflutter :P

haha! A little overdramatic, but yes, the desserts were awesome.

My all-time favourite macarons were on our platter as well.

There were also cheesecake, which was rich and moist,

strawberry tart with some custard filling, blackforest cake,

and some other pretty things which we couldn't resist ordering!

Hehe, thanks to Serena for the lovely treat!

Food events aside, I had visited Dinosaurs Live exhibition

and attended my first year-end party of the year.

Dinosaurs live was pretty well-done if you ask me.

But I had gone there, with an eye out for work related issues.

Hence, I paid attention to details more than just the overall picture,

and I was pretty impressed by how all the different components came together.

For instance, the exhibition had life-sized dinos (which I know cost a bomb),

plus they were selling education materials such as a passport, pri & sec school booklets.

The passport was a good way to make sure people pay attention to details of each dino.

There was also the augmented reality part,

where high-tech is weaved in to show a different outlook to the dinosaurs.

You can see T-Rex bursting out of the poster and roar at you through iphone/ipad,

and to have the dinos on your hand through iphone/ipad as well.

Really cool, if you ask me.

And I'm very excited to see how I can weave all the ideas for my work area.

But for the boy, he wasn't that impressed.

Well, for one, we finished the exhibition in about half an hour. lol!

The venue is kind of small, and felt a little cramped.

Other than the Dinos event, I had gone for my ex boss's party yesterday!

It definitely exceeded my expectations, and I'm so glad I went :D

He had a karaoke room, and we sang (rather, screamed) our hearts out.

It's so fun to do that in a big group of crazy people. hehe.

No one was really singing into the mic, rather, everyone sang out really loudly. haha!

Backstreet boys, 98 degrees, Westlife, Blue, The Corrs, BBMak, SClub7 songs.

Gosh, now they all seem so old-school!

But everyone in the room could sing these songs :D

Also played mahjong for a while before calling it a night.

Really thoroughly enjoyed myself, and realized how much we miss our ex-boss.

He is one humble man, with no airs around him.

I sure hope that the new boss won't deviate too much... :))

With the festive season kicking in..

I got my first present already! :D

It's not really for Christmas,

but Daddy and Mumsie got me an ipad2 as an early bday gift :D

This was one present which I was very much looking forward to receive,

cuz it will come in handy for my upcoming work :D

But for now, it's making me very happy with the many games I'm already addicted to!

Hehe, Dream Park and Sims Freeplay are soooo fun! :D

And ohoh! Jetstar is having its 7th birthday celebrations,

where there's a really good deal of 1-for-1!

The best part is, I finally convinced my mumsie to go Hong Kong with me.

16 - 19 April 2012, HK, here we come!

2012 seems set to look like a really fun year too :D

Till the next, have an awesome weekend ppl!

off we go.

I really like the idea of photo booths at weddings,

it makes things so much more fun for the guests (:

Not to mention the wacky props help to make the poses fun!

This pic was taken at B's cousin's wedding on 11.11.11

This was the second wedding I went for recently.

The other one was Ser's.

And in 2 months, I fell sick twice. again.

I'm itching to get the flu jab once more.

Going for the Dinosaurs' Live exhibition later on to get more ideas for work.

I've been fretting so much over work that weekends don't feel exactly like weekends.

But I guess, I'm happy running errands for the job :)

Hope the boy doesn't mind running ard with me! lol!

Will do a more substantial post when I'm back from Dino Live!

Have a lovely sunday peeps!

Day 7 in Hong Kong

(This is the 2nd post for today. Day 6 of HK is below this post)

Day 7 was our final day in Hong Kong.

We had kind of anticipated that we would be sad to leave HK,

and had already planned for a sumptuous breakfast before we leave.

Hence, we had the "Character Breakfast" at Disney Hotel :))

Our slot was the 9.00am one, which was actually the later slot.

So we washed up, and proceeded to check out of the hotel first.

Left our luggage with the Bellboys,

and we could come back to retrieve the luggage later.

Such great service right? :)

When we were done, we walked to the Disney hotel.

The weather was sooooo different from the earlier day.

The clouds weren't zooming past, and it was a little sunny too!

This huge picture depicting a Disney Garden greeted us as we walked down the stairs.

After we were seated, I proceeded to take photos of the food!

And Jiaxin was in charge of getting sufficient food for both of us :D

Just look at the glorious spread of food!

My favorite of all... Scrambled eggs and hashbrowns!

Soon enough, we started to see the Disney Characters going on their rounds :D

Goofy was the first character to have come to our side! hehe

He is sooo veryyyy talll!

Whoops, this is our spread!

We were too excited upon seeing the characters,

that we had to take photo with Goofy even before eating. HAHA! :P

Our favorite Minnie!!! :D

You know, seeing this photo reminds me of a rather negative experience..

The characters actually went on 2 rounds to visit the tables

Mickey, Goofy, Pluto all came past twice.

But Minnie had to leave before she came past our table the second time.

This was all due to a family of IDIOTIC CHINA TOURISTS!

This old fella decided to try to lift Minnie off her feet for a photo.

And whoever was behind the mascot honestly freaked out.

She signaled to a staff that this idiotic guy tried to lift her off (more than 2 attempts),

and the staff had to explain that this is not allowed.

All the time, his family ppl were laughing at Minnie's response. Super wtf.

This is so not funny.

Come on, use your common sense.

Do you have any freaking idea how heavy the costumes are?

And do you really wanna spoil your image of Minnie,

and to see the head figurine of Minnie roll down accidentally,

all in your moment of idiotic frolic?

And not to mention you are risking the possibility of hurting the employee?

Plus, if it's a She behind the mascot, you are courting sexual harassment charges?

Honestly, he is such an idiot!

We were glaring at him thereafter throughout the meal.

And he showed no sign of regret or remorse.

He thought it was really funny, from the way he kept laughing.

I so wanna slap him! *pissed

Ok, I shall not rant about the matter anymore.

More on the breakfast! :)

We were definitely very pleased with our breakfast haul. heh.

Baby Toots wanted her moment of fun too :P

When it was about 10.15am, we left the breakfast place all full and happy :D

Decided to walk back to our hotel and to explore the area a little more.

There is natural scenery to be found in Disney too :)

And before we know it...

it's time to leave Disneyland :((

And this shot below was taken after Jiaxin and I checked in at the airport,

and waiting to receive info on which boarding gate to get to.

We had reached the airport pretty early..

Even chilled out for an hour plus at the airport's starbucks.

Then it was home sweet home after 4 hours of flight :)

At that point when I was about to leave Disney, I felt pangs of longingness to stay.

But when I was the airport, I realized how much I miss my family and friends back home.

Was imagining how happy everyone look with the loots I got them,

and their excitement as I share my trip.

It definitely brought a smile to my face,

and I was honestly looking forward to coming home.

Hong Kong was helluva fun,

and it was also made possible with a good travel mate ;)

We may have our differences,

but we accommodated and complemented each other quite well I think :)

Ah, now looking back at all these photos make me wanna go back again.

Maybe next year or something :)

With this post, I've come to the end of my blogging spree on HK.

I've tons to update on the other things which have happened!

Shall update on those another day! :D

Have a lovely Sunday ppl!