Happy New Year!

Just had steamboat feast with my family members to welcome the new year :> Less than 2 hours before start of 2008 and i must say that i am really looking forward to the new year. I'm really thankful for having my family members with me and celebrating the new year together. Me and hubby are planning to go Korea in February and i can't wait as i have never been there.


Reflecting on 2007, i'm really thankful to my hubby for accepting my wildfulness. Hubby, you should know what i'm referring to ;> because of him i was able to spend more time doing the things i love and i find myself more at peace with myself. I enjoy just going out shopping alone with my trusty ipod or taking long walk or jogging to the nearby beach or to my mum's place. These are things that i would be too lazy to do if i was working. I was also grateful for being able to spend more time with my love ones especially my mum. I really treasure my loves ones as i understand the pain of losing someone dearest (my dad). Even after so many years, there are times when i would really miss him alot and wish that he was still around. For those who still have their parents with them, should really treasure them and spend more time with them before you regret it when they are gone. Make it one of your new year resolution :>


2007 also contains bad memories for me like the passing away of a relative (my dad's sister) of breast cancer. My only regret was not being able to visit her when she was in the hospital and telling her that although we had our disputes and , deep down in my heart i do not hate her and really wish that she would recover. Throughout all this bad memories, i also learnt to treasure my health more and be more health-conscious. I really hope that whereever she is, she would have found her true happiness.


My New Year wish is for good health for all my love ones and may the new year be an even better year for everyone. I also hope that 2008 would be a productive year for me and its time i join the rat race and work hard for our future.

My mum and cousin getting ready to start the feast :>

Our steamboat spread!

Fujiki Naohito-Hey Friends MV

I finally got my Ipod Touch courtesy of my hubby :> he bought it as a birthday present for me. I have been looking for videos online to load to my player and found this nice song from Fujiki Naohito to share with everyone.

Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium

I watched this movie "Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium" sometime ago and enjoyed the simple and heartwarming story. It reminds me of when i was a kid and i would enjoy playing with my barbie dolls, dressing them up and pretending that they are real and talking to them. Nowadays i still likes barbie dolls and have a huge collection of them but alot of my friends would always be shocked when they see my collection. The first thing they would ask me is if i still play with my dolls. I guess they can't imagine a grown up still playing with dolls. However come to think of it, why can't grown ups play with toys? Its the same as playing games like Xbox, playstation where children also enjoys and nobody feels that its strange for grown ups to enjoy such games.





In the movie one of the character, an accountant was embarrassed to admit that he likes the toys in the shop and feels that it is embarrassing for an adult to be playing with kids or toys. I can understand his reaction as whenever my friends ask if i play with my dolls, i would always insist that i just collect them and do not play with my dolls. But after watching the movie, i feel that there is nothing wrong with admitting that i enjoy playing with my dolls, dressing them up with the different outfits that i bought and decorating their rooms (i have 2 shelves that i used to store all my barbie doll furniture and i enjoy deciding where to put the different types of furniture to create living, dinning rooms and offices and shops). It is like a magical world for me or a never land where i have all the toys that i like. I would take some pictures and post it on my blog the next time for those who have not seem my barbie doll collections. I got somemore new dolls recently for Christmas and also during sales.



Back to the movie, the whole story revolves around a magical toyshop. Dustin Hoffman (Eccentric 243-year-old Mr. Magorium), Natalie Portman (Molly Mahoney) and Jason Bateman (Henry Weston) star in this family drama about the most fantastical toy store in the world where everything comes to life and all customers have to do is to believe. This is Portman's first family drama and she stars as Dustin's apprentice who has to revive the shop's magic upon his impending death. At the start of the movie and from time to time during the movie a 9-year-old boy Eric (Zach Mills) who helps out at the store, is shown with a book telling the story.

Mahoney, believing herself to be unworthy of the store, offers it for sale. Eric regrets this very much and approaches Weston with a "business proposal": he is willing to invest his savings and pocket-money in the shop. Though he refuses, Weston sees that Mahoney is making a mistake, and tries to persuade her against selling the store.

While doing so, he witnesses for himself the store's magic and is at last convinced of it. The shop itself, distressed by Magorium's death and the upcoming sale, is delighted and colourfully revived as Mahoney finally takes her position as manager and unlocks her creative potential.

SMAP- Christmas Nite

Found this nice video of SMAP. Long time never hear their song. Enjoy :>

Dim Sum at Dragon Phoenix Restaurant

My brother's girlfriend treated us to a super yummy dim sum lunch at the Dragon Phoenix Restaurant. My favourite dishes was the custard fried bun, siew mai and xiao long bao. The ambience was also very good and the service quite prompt. The waitress kept refilling our tea and we did not have to wait long for the food. I would definitely want to go back there again :>

Address: 177A River Valley Road #06-00 Novotel Clarke Quay

Tel: 6339 3368

More info of the restaurant can be found : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/dragon_phoenix_restaurant

Christmas Party at Cousin's Place

Gifts for my relatives
Yummy lunch sponsored by my cousin



Lychee Martini log cake from Pine Garden, yummy!

My cousin's lovely Christmas tree

Nice My Melody Christmas Wallpaper

Christmas Eve Dinner at Seoul Garden

I just got back home from having Christmas eve dinner with my family members. This year we decided to skip going to Orchard for our dinner to avoid the crowd and also because we wanted to join my cousin and his family to celebrate this special occasion. We chose Causeway Point as it is nearer to our homes and i have never been to Seoul Garden before. We were lucky to get seats as there was lot of people waiting subsequently. I tried making reservation in advance earlier in the week but was told that they do not accept reservation. We were just trying our luck when we went today and even joked that we might have to go food court instead for our Christmas Eve dinner if we can't get seats. We walked past Swensen and there was already a long queue at around 5pm plus.


We chose Ginseng Chicken soup for our steamboat base and it was quite nice although not as nice as my favourite steamboat buffet at Suntec City where the herbal soup base is super nice and rich :> or Chongqing Steamboat at Tanglin. However Seoul Garden offers different variety of chicken, beef mixed with teriyaki sauce, coffee, curry etc for us to barbeque and also seafoods for our steamboat and yummy deserts like ice cream and sweet potato soup so overall the dinning experience was quite nice and we enjoyed ourselves taking pictures and chit chatting.


Looking forward to celebrating Christmas tomorrow at another of my cousin's place and having our gift exchange :> Every year, me and my cousins would take turns to organise Christmas party at our homes and have gifts exchange. Can't wait to see what gifts i would be getting hehe although the most enjoyable part is all of us making an effort to spend time with each other ;> Hope everyone enjoys this special occasion and spend precious times with their loves ones. I always feel that Christmas is also a time to show your appreciation to the people closed to you by buying something nice for them or just sending them a Christmas greeting to let them know that you care about them. May all your Christmas wishes come true and 2008 be an even better year for everyone!

About Perfume

I'm a perfume lover and i always believes that perfumes evoke feelings, emotions and memories like music. I have always wonder about the difference between the difference terms of perfumes like what is Eau De Toilette and isn't it all the same ?? I finally found my answers while reading the December 2007 edition of "Simply Her" magazine. I have included the answers below for those interested :>

I have different types of perfumes (floral, citrus and oriental & woody) and wears it according to my moods. I particularly likes my RUMEUR perfume by LAVIN and Forever and ever Dior perfume. I'm also tempted to buy the Burberry brit sheer eau de toilette as i like the scent which contains of mandarin orange, peony, peach blossom, sweet pea and creamy amyris wood. I would wait till i go for holiday next year so that i can buy it cheaper at the airport.

I also found some useful tips from the magazine like to prolong the life of your perfume, you should put it in a ziplock bag and stick it in the fridge. Stored properly, perfumes should last up to 2 years. However i don't think my hubby would be pleased to find all my perfumes in the fridge hehe can imagine he would banish all my perfumes if i do that as he does not like a messy and packed fridge. I'm not sure if the tip really makes a difference to the lifespan of perfumes, whoever tries please drop me a note if it really works :>

Another tip is when testing a scent, spray on skin and wait 10 minutes for the fragrance notes to react with your body temperature and skin chemistry. Smelling from a blotter strip isn't accurate. However whenever i buy perfume the salesperson would just give me the blotter strip and expect me to decide on the spot. They should be the expert and should have advised me to maybe shop around for awhile before deciding as the scent would change overtime.

Whats the Difference?

Parfum - 15-30% essential oils. The most concentrated and hence, the most expensive. A little goes a long way.

Eau De Parfum - 8-15% essential oils. The most common and affordable as it's not as intense.

Eau De Toilette - 4-8% essential oils. The lower concentration means you get a subtle, but not long, lasting scent.

Eau De Cologne - 2-5% essential oils. The lightest of the lot, these scents don't last long.

In the Mood for shopping and Karaoke :>

I can proudly say that i have finally finished all my Christmas shopping. I went Orchard on Friday noon with my mum and brother as i wanted to collect the Apple Itouch that my hubby bought for my birthday. But it was out of stock and i had to wait for about 2-3 weeks :< It was so crowded and there was long queues everywhere we went!


I bought some Precious Moment gifts at Takashimaya and had to queue also. My brother was grumbling throughout but the advantage of going out with him is he would always help me carry my shopping bags and he also likes to shop (as long as there are no long queues) ;> My hubby on the other hand, can't stand shopping with me hehe he rather go to the bookstore to browse at his favourite books. There was alot of sales going on and i couldn't help buying lots of stuffs hehe.. Esprit was selling their towel sets for $13.90 each instead of $19.90 and i bought a blue towel set for my hubby. Got the impulse to buy more but my mum already bought me a pink Esprit towel set 2 weeks ago and my wardrobe is bursting due to lack of space.


I also bought a Panasonic Ion Styling Iron from Best Denki for $59.90 and got a free set of Lucido-L hair-styling products. I had wanted to buy it since i saw the advertisement in a magazine as i don't wish to go rebonding again for fear of damaging my hair and i would have to avoid going swimming if i rebond my hair. I was also attracted to the panasonic product as it claims to discharge negative ions which would replenises hair with moisture and forms a protective coating to lock in the moisture so that i would not be afraid of damaging my hair with repeated use.


We then went to Kinokuniya to buy magazines (20% discount for members) and there was a long queue. Everyone was also taking advantage of the discount to buy books and magazines. We wanted to have a drink at Coffee Club after all the shopping and to rest our poor feets but we had to wait for a long time as there was a queue again. Luckily we managed to find seats at Breeks but the service staff forgotten about our order and we had to wait foir more than half an hour just for drinks. I had to also repeatedly remind the staff about our orders. Don't think i would go there again.


I have also been going to Kbox frequently for karaoke this week. I went once with my hubby on Wednesday and yesterday with my cousin. We always go for the K-lunch package as the price is really cheap and we can sing from 11am-1pm (sometimes we get to sing till 2pm). Bento lunch and a drink is included and we only have to pay about $12.50 per person.

By the way. for those who have been watching Korean drama "Jumong" and would like to buy the DVD set, Blue Max is selling the DVD set for only $39.90/-. It is the best price i have found so far. I saw Poh Kim selling the VCD set for $79.90 yesterday. I bought mine from Blue Max Toa Payoh Central branch yesterday when the sales person called and told me there was stock. I also bought the korean drama "Air City" vcd set for only $20/-. I would always have dramas to buy whenever i go to Blue Max video store as i find that their vcds/dvds for Korean and Taiwan dramas are the cheapest.

I bought this Baking book from Popular for only $12.90 and there are 200 recipes of cookies, bread, cakes and muffins with detailed comprehensive instructions and pictures for baking novices like me :> Those wishing to do some bakings for Christmas or looking for gifts for love ones who likes baking must definitely get this book!

My mum's Christmas Tree, it was so cute with soft toys that i could not resist taking a picture to share with everyone :>

Bento Lunch at Kbox

Chicken Cutlet with fried rice from The Asian Kitchen City Link

Yummy Shiromi Sakana Pirikara lunch set from Ichiban Boshi at Wisma Atria at $8.80 during lunch hour 11am-3pm

Great way to spend a day :>

In my previous posts i was hoping that it would stop raining and i could go swimming. I have been going out shopping these few days (still busy shopping for more Christmas gifts) and did not have time to update my blog. I went swimming last thursday as my wish came true and it stopped raining. Surprisingly the sun was out and i could also laze around at the pool sun tanning :> My brother was also on leave and went with me. It was so nice to spend the day lazing around at the pool after swimming.

The funny thing was my stupid swimming goggle snapped into half before i went into the pool. I was so pissed off as i had not swim for awhile and finally when i had my sunny day, my goggle had to play a trick on me. I was so desperate to swim that i approached a lifeguard for help and i was so thankful to him for loaning me a pair of goggle so that i could finally swim. After all the exercising, i went for a yummy late lunch and shopping with my brother and mum at Causeway Point.

I finished reading the Nancy Drew book that i borrowed from the library while sun tanning. So nice except for the scare i got when i saw a cat walking pass me. First time i saw a cat at the swimming pool at Safra. I'm really scare of cats and would be super alert the next time i laze around at the pool. I was real lucky that it did not disturb me or else i would be doing some more exercise busy running away haha

Yummy lunch at Breeks with my family. Me and my brother really like the garlic mashed potato, so long never eat liao. Super yummy and sinful....

My brother bought this "True Love" diamond ring for his girlfriend for Christmas.

What a cute bear and my brother got it free at SK. So cute with the ring, sure his girlfriend would be touched ;>

Since my brother was in a generous mood , hehe i got him to buy me this cute and pretty star pendant with necklace for my birthday next month. Big thanks to my dear bro ;>