I would love to show the full 1 minute fireworks but the file size will be gigantic.
And it was such a disappointment that the sound got removed by Windows Live Movie Maker.
Kelvin took it on the 4th night of CNY, right below my block. Everyone was just firing fireworks into the sky to welcome the arrival of the God of Fortune once it strikes midnight.
It was a lovely sight on the highway when we cab home. Fireworks shooting up everywhere at our eye level.
Something that we won’t get to experience in Singapore.
This is extremely late, and I just have to get it posted before CNY.
I’m now typing this post on the train to Wen Zhou for CNY, which allowed me some free time to edit the photos. My laptop battery better last me till the end of this post!
Countdown was more than a month ago. The days are getting passed faster each year. Our initial plan was to bar-hop for the night but I went against it. We were hosting a Russian friend – Igor, and so we decided to start out with dinner at Inna’s place, having it the Russian way.
I was baffled at why they are decorating the Christmas tree on 31 Dec – it is so a Russian tradition.
Sergey was the chef for the night. I was amazed that this man can cook! Haha.
Some starters for the dinner – those mini sized whole cabbage is a tradition Russian dish.
Take a peep into the cheese fondue. Added with white wine for the extra omph~ super yummy!
I enjoyed dipping the bread, the cabbage, and the cold cuts into it. Yummy yummy.
Diet plans? Oh well, another day. Haha..
With Russians around, how could we miss out on authentic Russian vodka?
The dinner was excellent with the ever-flowing of vodka and food plus the jokes and laughter.
Sergey insisted on popping the champagne at midnight.
Such a cute act, standing in front of the TV, waiting for the 3, 2, 1.
Happy 2010!
It’s amazing how fate works. These 2 russian men, went to the same middle school back in Russia – different years though. And only here in Singapore, they met each other, on New Year’s eve! Just so coincidental!
After the countdown, we headed off to Attica to party on. However, the photos are too unglam! Haha. I’m not gonna show it here.
Alright, just one. Thanks guys for the great night!
Posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 9:05 pm
This used to be called “Kong Ming Deng” 孔明灯 in the past.
I have made it before, years back at a camp. It sure does bring back memories when I saw this.
We made it from scratch – cut out the shapes from a special white paper, bend and tied the bamboos together for the base, carefully stick and piece out the lantern. We wrote our wishes on it and finally, lighted up and watch it fly up into the sky..
It’s really pretty to watch many of it slowly fly up and light up the dark sky.
This red one, was from the peddlers along the bund. They named it “Wishing Lantern” 许愿灯.
We bought one of it and I watched it got lighted up, slowly balloon-ed up.
Zara was 99rmb, 139rmb, 199rmb, 399rmb, 599rmb.
I bought a thick knit sweater dress for 139rmb – $29!
Then I headed to H&M which totally got me hooked for 2hours.
100rmb, 150rmb, 50%, etc.
I had the urged to pick up several pieces but i had to stay focus on getting an outerwear.
After browsing through the 4-storey H&M, I narrowed down my choices to 2.
First up, red hot fleece jacket. love the neckline details.
(pardon for the iPhone quality, the lighting made the red looked orange too.)
its going at 350rmb!
my 2nd option was this dark red trenchcoat.
I kinda liked it very much.
the only dislike was the pleats at the back – simply too much.
In the end, I did get the trenchcoat instead. It’s 300rmb – $62!
Well, the trenchcoat would be more in handy.
Only which I made my purchase, it struck me that I did took a liking to a red burgundy trenchcoat on H&M online sometime back. And after tracking back the post, I realised it’s the one i bought!!!
it’s been raining for 2 days. Freaking cold and wet.
i’m in serious need of some good effective winter clothings.
Somehow, all that I have are more suited for Autumn.
I will just have to layer up more i guess.
I was given an opportunity to shop freely. <– YES, someone will foot the bill.
but i refused.
am i stupid or what.
Posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 10:06 am
it’s frigg’in cold here.. -1 degrees.
the sudden gust of cold air blew me off when I stepped out of the airport. freaking cold!
anyway, i’m so glad that I swopped my blog to my own domain. I can blog freely!!! yay!
I’m supposed to go to the bank and also do some winter clothing shopping. But i’m so reluctant to step out of the house. Just going downstairs to get the topup card was already tortorous.
alright, on a side note, miao told me su zhen is pregnant!!!
Posted on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Part 2 of Christmas – A trip to Malacca.
We set off for malacca early in the morning on Christmas Day and took 4hrs to arrive at Majestic Hotel.
I was awed by the architecture and design of the whole hotel.
The room was love at first sight. The decor gave me a warm fuzzy comfy feeling~
They took care of every single detail. We were led to our room by the counter staff and they prepared hot tea for us.
bathtub! my favourite.
Bath salts!
super comfy bed… just wanna sink into the white sheets and fluffy pillows.
The main purpose of the trip was to relax. It’s been a hectic year for both of us.
So we headed down to the spa village for a pampering treat! =)
The waiting area…
Looking out was the swimming pool..
Majestic Malacca belongs to YTL group.
A relaxing moment…
A cold towel and a mandarin to start off the refreshing experience..
Happily waiting…
We chose the high-tea promotion which includes 50 minutes spa plus a 30 minutes hair ritual & high tea session at a special price.
And we upgraded to the signature experiences – a total of 3 hours.
Kelvin took the Suam-Suam Panas which is a warming spa while I went with the cooling Shiok-Shiok Sejuk.
Suam-Suam Panas includes:
- Palm Sugar and Honey Body Scrub
- Nutmeg Rice Rolling Massage
- Pandan Coconut Hair Mask
- Bird’s Nest Facial with Fermented Tapoica Mask
Shiok-Shiok Sejuk includes:
- Yoghurt Guava Leaves Body Scrub
- Egg Rolling Body Therapy
- Limau Kasturi Yoghurt Hair Mask
- Bird’s Nest Facial with Star Fruit Mask
The whole session started off with the complimentary hair ritual.
We were told that it’s a tradition for the bride and groom to go through this ritual before getting married.
It’s actually a hair cleansing wash.
The yoghurt guava scrub surprised me, I had no idea that guava leaves are rough.. While the egg rolling therapy was unique. The hard-boiled eggs were kept in the steamer to maintain the warmth. The star fruit mask was funny as they used the real fruit! The starfruit was sliced and laid all over my face. lol.
I felt so relax throughout the session that I was asleep most of the time.
After we were done, we went over to the library for our high-tea.
Don’t you just love the whole paranakan style?
The jasmine flowers pin was a gift from the spa, a sweet ending to the whole experience.
I ordered Passion Fruit Tea… *smells great*
The high-tea selection served. The sandwiches were excellent!!
Although it was the usual smoked salmon and egg mayo, but it just tasted great. The softness of the white bread with the right ratio of ingredients and sauce. *yummy*!
We ended the high-tea at 7pm, almost time for dinner. ha. We went out of the hotel, did some shopping and explored the non-touristic part of Malacca.
We chance upon a marvellous seafood place. Ordered steam crab, frog legs and vegetables.
The crab was out of the world – that absolute freshness & sweetness – it’s even better than the taraban kani and only at a fraction of the price. *bleams*
The following day, we did a short dip at the pool and went for the breakfast.
It was a semi-buffet style with warm orders aside.
I took poached eggs on satueed potato..
The waffle with blueberry confit and thick cream, dripped with butterscotch sauce was thumbs up!
The total awesome one was the pancakes with caramelized banana, thick cream and butterscrotch sauce. I couldn’t stop myself from taking one bite after the other. I really wanted a 2nd serving but I told myself to take it easy. Got that weight of mine to watch yeah.
So the 2day 1 night ended off and we drove into johor for more shopping and food.
The whole trip was wonderful. Though it’s just malacca and johor, and only for a short 2 days, we had a good mix of experience and got ourselves loosen up.
I don’t want 2009 to end but I guess, there’s only a few more hours left.
Alright, time to head out. Gonna be counting down with the russians. Hope I don’t get drunk! lol.
Ettusais year-end gathering at Greenhouse in 313 Orchard.
check out the bouquets of flowers on display!
been a long while since i received flowers…. *hint hint*
We had the company of the ducks for dinner!
Evelyn and Iris joined in as well. =)
We booked the swing seats and had the best ambience in the whole restaurant. The group of us attracted many people looking into the restaurant. For a moment, we felt like the animals in the zoo. Lol.
The dinner started off with an Ettusais Quiz!
which I missed because I was late due to earlier appointment.
Christine won herself a limited edition Ettusais Tote Bag!
I had lamb rack. badly done. boo….
the peach cake was unique! nice but overly sweet…
Pretty ladies! *whistles*
with sarah and christine!
Sheradine was really sweet to prepare an award ceremony!
All of us were a prize winner!
Sarah was awarded the “Ettusais Biggest Fan”! that miniature fan is so ccuuuuttee~
Christine banged the “Awesome Creative Writing”. You go girl!
The miniature newsletters are so darn lovely lah! I’m jealous!
Gonna sneak into ur house at night and steal it! Lol.
The other ambassadors with their awards:
For me, I won the “Most Print-Worthy Blog” and aside, I get 1-year free CLEO subscription!
Im feeling really honored as it was selected by the CLEO Team.
So thank you CLEO and Ettusais!!!
it was a wonderful time with the girls! Wished we had more get-togethers.
With Sheradine! I hope this will not be the last session. =X
dessert was an adventurous one!
we had haagen-dazs ice-cream, dove amicelli wafer and nutella.
yes, our very own cold rock creamy creation~
chilled the metal bowl, crushed the amicelli wafer, added in the nutella and ice-cream.
stir & mix, stir & mix.
the ice-cream melted a fair bit. I guess we could do a ice-bowl below the metal bowl.
nevertheless, it still tasted blissful. can’t go wrong with nutella!
the christmas lunch ended off with a mini log cake.
Durian-flavoured from Emi Cakes.
On Christmas day, I set off early in the morning to Malacca for a relaxing retreat.
more updates to come! =)
Posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 11:39 am
Driving down to orchard on a Saturday is crazy!
I arrived late for the setup and rush like mad to do up everything.
The weather wasn’t on our side, nevertheless, we had still a good crowd. =)
Checking out the Ettusais products.
See the polkadot luggage bag? It was for free if you purchased over $100!
Saw a few girls went home with it!
The accessories stall.
Shoes!! They had a great deal for the event and their designs are really lovely.
free manicure services! I did mine too – with glitter and crystals.
But due to the nature of my work, all crystals fell off within 2 days. =(
Frenchfleurs’ Stall! By the way, new arrivals at the website!
www.frenchfleurs.com
2 of them came down to help me out at the stall! Thank you girls. =)
Trying out the hairbands…
Trying out the military jacket. It was the hot pick for the event.
It’s out of stock now, but there’s backorders!
I reckon we all resembled airline stewardess with all 3 of us wearing the same jacket.
