Bidding 2009 GOODBYE with happiness, laughter & joy...

What did i do for Xmas & New Year 2009? Oh well... it was a rather busy period for me... after a busy period at work in the last quarter, it was time for me to rejuvenate and to re-connect with my friends. so during the festive period, i spent quality time with my dearest frens. here are some photos taken during some of the gathering...

1) Xmas Celebration with Sec Sch - 2/4 frens...

usual once a yr xmas gift exchange...

a group photo before we look forward to the next xmas gift exchange...

me and some of the gals...

2) Tess' visit to Spore during Xmas period...

finally~!!! Warren St's Baobei-s r together once again!

haha... certainly i miss the days in Aussie with the gals...

Tess' 2nd visit to Spore... how can we miss out on taking her to Singapore's latest attraction (then) - Singapore Flyer...

view from the top..

the capsule...

3) New Year Countdown celebration with my Spice Buddies

we booked a room for a night to countdown to NEW YEAR. here we were, at the Ascott Apartment @ Raffles Place.. excellent location to see the fireworks at Marina area and cosy room, just nice for all of us...

spacious and cosy...

bathtub! heehee...

fully equipped kitchen!

our pot-luck dinner.. cooking was not too smooth as stove was not functioning well... so for next time when we go back again for celebration, we decide to ta-bao hawker food! ideal leh... :)

we r missing Jasmin! but still worth taking a group photo...

Lian & I...

Lin & I..

Jun & I...

Jas! u owe me a photo... i took with all of them except u. u shall be with us for this year's new year.. yeah? Fingers crossed tat u dun have to go count things or pple again... haha...

Yeah! with this entry... 2009 ended with lots of laughter, joy, fun and happiness. i am delighted tat 2009 was a happy and fulfilling yr for me. i started on a new job which i enjoyed very much. it was something i was looking out for. i got my driving licence. something which i had been longing for. :D

cheerios to a Happy & Eventful & Fulfilling 2009~!

Welcome 2010 with higher hopes, greater expectation!

my long weekend activities...

Good Friday long weekend holidays was a fruitful and exciting break for me! heehee... had programs lined up on both Fri and Sat. HOWEVER, due to my laziness, i have no photos to share as yet. still awaiting patiently for LI HUILIN to send me the photos taken for our gathering on Fri. once i received, i will upload all photos for both days' events onto the blog. rite now, juz have a read at our activities.

on Fri, the Spice gang met up for buffet lunch. our reservation was at 11am at Noble House. so being ambitious, i told them to meet at 10.30am at Tanjong Pagar MRT. haha... knowing all of our usual pattern of being late, i still took the risk to ask for such an early meeting time. in the end, within my expectations, ALL of us were LATE! haha... we only managed to reach Noble House restaurant at abt 1115am. lucky they din cancel our reservation ah. reason for us to go so a-tas to go for buffet lunch cos it was meant to be a combine bday treat from Jas and Lin together with my 1st pay treat. so we went for buffet and it was a really good experience. the dishes were yummy, ingredients were fresh and taste was juz rite. we cleared almost every dishes we ordered and we even had 2nd order for some yummy ones like the poached prawns, diced beef. when it came to dessert, we had a really scary order list sia... 1st round of order list was 3 bowls of herbal jelly, 5 bowls of mango pudding, 5 bowls of honeydew sago. guess wat? Lian and Lin had a serving of each of the dessert! haha... then we went for 2nd round of dessert with 5 bowls of honeydew sago, 2 bowls of mango pudding and 1 bowl of herbal jelly. YES! in the end, Lian had the most bowls of dessert! salute her ah! whahaha...

after lunch, we went for some indoor exercise. 1st stop was to Marina Square bowling centre for some bowling. donkey years since we lasted played bowling together. we had a good time laughing at one another, had a good time teasing at one another's "drainage clearing skill". overall, it was a very energetic session. we all played well and we did put in effort not to get too many ZEROs. heehee... 2nd stop was to the arcade centre next door. oso long time nv play arcade games together. well well, me and jun played the knocking game and we got so violent tat the whole machine shifted position! haha... & my hands got all red playing the smacking game. we had a race at the daytona car race. all these certainly brought back many fond memories. after much nua-ing here and there, we ended our gathering with lots of smiles, happiness and laughter. it always take us abt 1 mth to plan a gathering with full attendance so we had to decide on our next gathering now. not too kua zhang as all of us r having commitments here and there and such early planning can "book" everyone 1st. :D

on Sat, i went for a farm tour with my grandma, aunt YY, cousin SW, her husband - WK & my lovely niece, Lynnette. pleasant day for outdoor activities. Lynn had a good time running around the Aeroponics Farm (vege). when we reached the Fish Farm, we saw many big and small fishes. Lynn was so fascinated by the big sized fishes. we fed the fishes and they were surely hungry sia. all of them opened their mouths so wide and BIG! there were turtles in the pond, so we fed them as well. most of them were actually doing sun-tanning so we tried to distract their lovely sun-tanning session by luring them with the food. haha... it surely works when one by one, each of them slowly discard their sun-tanning position. :) when we reached the Goat Farm, i tot we can go in the barn for a walk. however, due to AVA regulation, such barn walk is no longer allowed. so juz too bad tat Lynn cannot get a close up look @ the goats. i had a close up look @ the goats a few yrs back when we brought our kids from Mentoring club for outing. Lunch was at Poison Ivy. all food served was fresh and organic. very original taste and healthy. pleasant outdoor seating arrangement which allow the customers to enjoy their meals even when the weather is rather hot with sorching sun. day ended with tiredness and happiness. Lynn had a fun time, i had a good time too.

Sun was housework day. spent the whole day doing laundry, sweeping floor and mopping floor. really became auntie maria ah. haha... but after 2 days of fun, i shld do some work to balance up. :p

*i realised without photos, i seems to tok too much ah. hahaha... paiseh for the long winded-ness*

previous weekend's happenings...

last weekend, it was rather happening and interesting. a fruitful weekend with lots of catching up with friends. 1stly on Sat, i went for the Safari Zoo Run with the girls. it was a 6.2km run around the Zoo and Night Safari. the run was flagged off at abt 4pm, a rather good timing. hahaha.. not much sun, cooling weather. as it was still early for the animals at Night Safari, we did not manage to see any interesting animals at Night Safari. When we were in the Zoo, we were greeted by different animals. our pace were slowed down as well as we would like to make full use of the opportunity to take a good look @ the animals. anyway, it had been donkey years since i last visited the Zoo, hence it was a good opportunity to re-visit the Zoo. & as quoted by Stella: "since we paid $38 for the run, we muz make full use of the money to enjoy the Zoo." haha... definitely! we took our own sweet time to look at the various animals such as Otters, Elephants, Polar Bears, Zebras, Giraffes, the "infamous" White Tigers and Orang Utans. our conclusion was tat Polar Bears had the best treatment. with a whole area to themselves as their playground and swimming pool as well as a private bedroom! hahaha...

after the run, we were taking a rest while waiting for the lucky draw which we were not tat lucky to win anything. Oh well, though we went home empty handed, i guess all of us had fun afterall.

Chimpanzee in action... this chimp looked like it was doing the guard duty as it was sitting far at the corner, away from the main group of chimp.

lazy pigs sleeping under broad daylight. and their sleeping position looked really funny. back to back...

the White Tiger territory...

we saw 2 white tigers. one was resting quietly at a corner while the other white tiger was super "AA" la... trying to attract everyone's attention by cat-walking up and down..

as for Sun, i met up with my Spice buddies for a gathering. it was supposed to be a combined bday celebration for Lian, Jun and myself. for me and Lian, it shld be super belated bday celebration. haha.. this gathering was organised abt 1 mth ago and after much changes and cancellation, finally we managed to meet up properly for a simple yet entertaining dinner @ the famous Melben Seafood! it was a long wait for the food to be served as the restuarant was full house. while waiting, we had our usual chit chatting sessions abt anything and everything under the sun. with Jun around, how could we miss out on the old jokes which always make us laugh whenever mention. together with Chee Wei and Ziqi, the atmosphere was even better as Jun had someone to sing along with. & usually one of us (Lian, myself, Lin or Jas) would be one of the target for the night. heehee... for the very night, i guess Jas became the most prominent center of attraction as she brought someone special along. well well, no matter wat was being said or commented abt, everything was juz for fun and laughter. nutting would be taken personally. i do look forward to the next gathering and if possible, i hope tat Lian will bring her special someone along. Lian, dun worry... i am pretty sure tat Jun will give the similar kind of frenly greetings to him. hahaha.. get ready for it, yeah~!

Melben Seafood is famous for the crab dishes and we ordered 2 different ones. Crab Beehoon Soup and Butter Crab (as shown here). this butter crab was simply delicious, esp with the fried "man-tou"... woohoo~!!!

photos taken before the actual feast starts...

& as Jas & her bf were late, we did not take any pic of them. & we oso miss out on our group photo!!!! hahaha... we muz be too hungry to tink abt tat ah...

post Xmas Celebration with Spice Buddies

yummy~ yummy~ it was a lovely cum fulfilling buffet dinner @ Carousel located at Royal Plaza on Scotts. there were quite a good variety of food ranging from chinese dishes such as dim sum to italian pasta to roasted meat such as turkey & primb ribs to seafood to japanese sushi to desserts & fondue. the overall dining ambience and service level were generally acceptable, as wat i had expected after seeing the recommendation from the channel 8 TV show. personally, i like the italian pasta & desserts very much.

anyway, tis post xmas celebration had been planned abt 1 mth ago. i am glad tat all of us were able to attend. it had been quite a while since i last went out with the Spice Buddies & i had been missing out in the xmas celebration with my spice buddies for the past 2 years. tis xmas celebration is actually quite special and memorable for me. i really look forward to tis celebration gathering cum xmas gift exchange. & i muz really say tat we all had made great effort in choosing presents for one another. all along our gift exchange had been pre-arranged as in we had a specific target to buy the xmas pressie for. so in this way, the xmas pressie will be personalised for the particular person. tis yr, all of us really made an effort in personalising the pressie. great job, buddies~!!!


i not only had a good dinner, but also had a good laugh on all the jokes we talked abt over dinner. we can simply joke and laugh on anything and everything under the sun. jokes tat had been cracked years ago could still be in topic during every gathering. happenings tat had occured years ago can also be talked abt whenever we meet up. haha... i guess we will nv get sianz in talking abt all these history & it seems tat this kind of memories recall once in a while is rather useful and heart warming. in general, xmas is a season of blessings, joy, laughter and warmth. i am glad tat i have all these with me for tis xmas with my wonderful spice buddies around. :D

we r together as Spice buddies for almost 12 years & definitely more years to go!

here r some photos taken for the night:

@ Carousel...

cutlery set... quite nicely placed but take up quite a bit of space on the table la... hahaha...

after the appetizer, before the actual feast starts...

woohoo~ here we go! wooo... jun was enjoying his delicious Carbonara pasta... yummy leh~

when we were almost done with dinner, we had our gift exchange. it was a pretty funny scene when everyone took out the presents of all sizes and colours. although it was a pre-arranged gift exchange, there were still excitement as to wat kind of presents to be expected.

satisfied after getting the pressies... heehee...

i received a Sephora eyes shadow set & a personalised luggage tag with my name from Jasmin. i loved my pressies very much! thank u very much, jas~!!! muackzzzz

Poh Lian's pressie was from ME! it was a scrapbook photo album (details of the album will be stated at the end of tis entry). Lian, i hope u will like this pressie~

Jas' pressie was from Jun & it was skincare products from Crabtree & Evelyn. our comment for jun's pressie was tat he really made an effort to change and upgraded from Bodyshop to Crabtree & Evelyn. haha...

awww... Lin surely noes how to choose a pressie for Jun ah. hahaha... so Jun, do rem to inform us if u r wearing it the next time, k? hahaha...

Lin's pressie was from Lian. it was a personalise calendar with our photos printed on every month. on top of tat, Lian noted down all our birthdays on the calendar to remind Lin abt it. how sweet and nice of Lian ah... we were all very surprised by Lian's pressie as we never expected her to actually handmake the pressie. we were even quite reluctant to receive her pressie after the various negative comments and revied abt the present stated by herself. but in the end, she surprised all of us. hahaha... great work, Lian! i'm pretty sure Lin will make good use of the calendar. heehee... *no photos of Lin & her present. paiseh ah..*

i like tis photo very much... cos all of us look good! hee...

jun & I.. do we look like mother & son? haha...

Lian & I... ewww... a bit too close-up taken ah...

Jas & I.. hmm.. jas looks a bit tired sia... she had been busy with work. hope her peak period will soon be over and she can rest well ah...

candid shot of me and Lin...

after dinner, we had a walk along Orchard Road as i wanted to take some photos of the Xmas lightings. i dun really like tis yr's theme as i tink all the lightings look kinda weird. hopefully next yr will be better...

Details of the present which i gave to Poh Lian. is a scrapbook photo album which took me almost 2 days to finish up. is true tat i am quite free now so i had time to handmake the pressie. but even if i have limited time, i guess i will still wanna handmake the pressie. i juz like the satisfaction after i finish making the pressie. & i am always eager to look at pple's expression upon receiving my handmade pressie. :)

the cover page which was not planned to be done initially. it was a last min add-on as i felt tat the pink album cover will look rather plain without any decor.

1st page with the receiver's name...

photo of the receiver~

tis photo album served as a journey down the memory lane of the friendship among us, the Spice Buddies~

hahaha... the most classic photo~ when we were 16 years old, the nerdy looks!

when we were in our teens...

bday celebrations, chalet gathering, farewell gathering...

photos of recent years...

collage of photos.. signing off wishes from ME~

hmm... Jun said tat since i made one for Lian, i muz do one for each of them. well, if i have the time, i will do one for each of u but u guys have to wait for next few xmas. hahaha...