Family Christmas exchange!

An annual affair for the Lim family since some years ago =) Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas without any gift exchange! So this year, we each were secret Santas for someone in the family.. Haha! It was supposed to be top secret until I clumsily dropped the piece of paper which has the name of the lucky person (daddy dearest) whom I'm getting the present for on it, in the toilet =p

Which led to my detective-like sister trying to guess/find out who our respective secret Santas were.. Haha! So that aside, I proceeded to get the gift for daddy.. And small little gifts for the rest =)

Our Christmas gift exchange!

Brother is my secret Santa!

Followed by ah qi buying for brother...

My gift to daddy!

Daddy buying for mummy...

And finally mummy presenting her gift to ah qi!

Everyone started unwrapping their presents and it's such a joy to see the smiles and laughter on everyone's faces.. It's always the thought that counts!

And I received the running man tshirt from brother, with some car models from mum and dad =)

Mr Koh and I had our gift exchange separately too.. With the theme being "creating memories", I got him a digital photo frame with some preloaded photos of us, while he got me a DIY canvas painting set (knowing that I've always wanted to try that) =)

We concluded the family gift exchange with a toast of Taiwan beer.. Haha! Nice~

Counting down 2 days to 2013.. It's so fast! Sometimes, I just wished time could stop or just slow down a little =p

 

 

Santa Claus came to town!

It's still Christmas Day, so I'm not too late to wish everyone a joyful and merry Christmas! Haha..

 

Christmas this year has been great for me! =) Full of gatherings, meet ups, good food and of course a lot of good food *yums* haha..

 

Mr Koh bought me an iPad mini!! Hahaha.. Which I affectionately call 'Minnie' =) this is my Christmas + v'day and anniversary gift.. Haha.. (We still have our themed Christmas exchange which I will blog about another day) =p

I'm now a proud owner of this chic and stylish piece of gadget.. Which is totally life changing and mind blowing.. Haha.. I know I'm a laggard =p but it's really amazing! Opened my mind to the wonders of technology.. It's high time I start embracing technology.. Haha! So the Christmas weekend was spent exploring my Minnie and attending personal iPad lessons from Mr Koh.. Haha! Who is so sweet to buy me an iPad mini! *hugs*

 

Fast forward to Christmas Eve, we treated ourselves to TODAI! Omg... The crabs were sooooo good~ I've never had any other crabs that tasted sweeter than what we had there! Snow crabs, red crabs, Alaska king crabs.. I love crabs! Haha.. Such an indulgence, along with other seafood, meat dishes and desserts =p

 

Atas buffet!

Crabby overdose!

 

Cheers! *jingle bells*

I shall slowly blog about my gatherings and meet ups with friends at a later date.. For now, here's wishing everyone a merry joyful and fruitful Christmas! =)

 

2013 is just a few days away.....

 

 

My 3rd time to Taipei!

This time round, I went to Taipei with my family! Brother couldn't join us as he had exhausted his annual leaves for his honeymoon earlier =p

Knowing that Taiwan is on Daddy's 'top to go countries' list, we decided to head over to Taipei this December holidays! =) really looked forward to the 15 degrees weather~

Though it's my third time there, I still looked forward to travelling overseas.. As the trip planner/tour guide for this trip, I planned to go to a few places which I hadn't had the chance to visit during my previous trips to Taipei..

As I'm using my phone to blog, I only have a limited amount of pictures to post.. Haha!

It was an enjoyable trip nevertheless, with daddy and I snapping more than 3000 photos, where we ate non stop, mummy ah qi and I bought 19 pairs of shoes altogether, tonnes of souvenirs, bags, foodies, etc.. And of course many happy memories and fun times! It would have been better if there was no rain.. (P.s. poor ah qi lost her iPhone in Taipei, and we had a 'rare' opportunity to visit the police station and sit inside a police car) hahaha.. Really rare! =p

Unforgettable trip~ but most importantly, I'm glad the folks enjoyed themselves! When we were young, parents took care of us and brought us overseas.. so this time round, it feels extra good to bring them overseas, to relax and sightsee =)

Cosy coffee and breakfast places~

Been to a few breakfast and coffee places recently and I must say I'm loving them more~ =)

Coffee houses used to be one of my favourite haunts, and they still are!

Maybe coz I'm no longer a student (since some xx years ago), I hardly had much opportunities now, to immerse myself in the lovely aromas of coffee and to people watch as time go by slowly =p it's such a joy! So I jump at every opportunity to explore and relax at coffee houses..

So one of my new year resolutions for 2013, is to visit more unique coffee houses and to enjoy life more! =)

Back in my student days, my usual haunts were coffee bean, Starbucks, pacific coffee, coffee club and tcc.. Now more and more interesting-themed cafes and coffee houses are sprouting out by the dozens!

Recently I've been to Chye Seng Huat hardware coffee during lunch time (yes, it's not a typo), they retained the former shop name and transformed it into a coffee and breakfast place! Lovely coffee they serve, breakfast is nice too! Not going to do a review here coz I think others can do a better job =p

Mr Koh and I also visited eggs and berries at Changi city point, where they serve all day breakfast too~ not too bad, but serving was small.. The interior deco's pleasantly colourful and pretty =)

And the hunt for nice coffee and breakfast places continues~~

Rider's cafe on a rainy day~

As the title suggests, it was a wet journey and day at the rider's cafe, secretly tucked in a corner of Bukit Timah~ but it definitely felt like I was overseas.. Haha.. There were few cars, lots of trees and field patches, cafes housed along the sides of the roads and of course horses!

Heard much about the rider's cafe but always thought it was more easily accessible and visible from the main roads.. Pleasant surprise it was~ it almost felt like a little town =)

Light snacks were served at the cafe coz we missed the brunch timing, but that's fine, the cheesecake was awesome! I've never tasted nicer cheesecake, it's true =p

We had hot mocha and cappuccino to go along with the cheesecake and chicken skewers~ very comforting on a cold and wet day =)

We strolled to the nearby horse riding club to get up close with the horses and ponies~ they looked bored in their little stables, but I guess they are very well looked after.. We saw many expat children taking riding lessons there, it really felt like I wasn't in Singapore =p

My closest encounter with horses was when I visited a farm in Australia when I was very young (9 or 10?) and I remembered riding a little pony, and I was truly terrified! Haha.. These kids at the riding club are way more brave and adept =p

As with usual exploration trips around Singapore, we were armed with our slew of cameras, snapping away moments and memories of the place =)

Visit to arts science museum again~

Visited the arts science museum again recently, for another new exhibition that landed onto the shores of Singapore~ The art of the brick!

Our third time there~ this time round to look at bricks =p amazing structures built from countless individual lego pieces..

In my mind I was just thinking of how much time and effort the sculptor had devoted to every 'art piece'.. Doesn't he have to work? I'm honestly jealous he gets to play with Legos while I slog hard at work.. Haha

The exhibition showcased mainly human forms, of which some are comical, sometimes scary, sometimes just a little out of this world =p

I used to play with Lego bricks when I was much younger.. And my products were much simpler.. Haha.. I built houses, cars, staircases, bridges, etc.. Fond memories of childhood =)

We proceeded to the magnum photo exhibition few floors down, to 'appreciate' the award winning photographs by a group of skilled photographers~ under Mr. Koh's influence, I've been more interested in picture framing lately, so going through the exhibition was pretty enjoyable.. Haha!

Nevertheless, i had a nice time at the exhibition~ enjoying our weekend, feeding our eyes with bright colours and interesting structures and photographs.. Do head down to the museum if you have some time to spare!

Fu Shan's wedding

Recently attended my secondary school friend's wedding (who coincidentally is also my neighbour). It was a lunch reception and I've actually not been to one before~ so it was interesting too see how different it would be from the typical Chinese wedding dinners..

It's basically the same as wedding dinners, except that it starts earlier and ends earlier.. Some people prefer it that way~

I attended the wedding lunch with Canice, and made friends with another fellow Cedarian at the wedding whom I didn't know personally before =)

I guess I've come to the stage where friends around me are getting married.. Friends I used to study and play with are all grown up, embarking on another journey in their lives.. Perhaps next year onwards, I might be attending weddings every quarter~ =p

Nevertheless, here's wishing Fu Shan and her husband a happy and blissful marriage!

His 28th Birthday!

We took the day off to celebrate his birthday together =)

It was a full day event, for which I had a tough time deciding what we should do in the day.. Haha! I planned the day's programme in a reverse manner, knowing where I want to bring him to at night, but pretty clueless on what we should do in the day =p

I had planned for a nice dinner, just to pamper ourselves (especially him as it's his special day).. As for the afternoon's plan, I gave the birthday boy a few options to choose from, ranging from pampering treats, relaxing to adventurous activities..

He chose the adventurous option: kusu island exploration! =p
Haha.. Definitely a super awkward pairing with the dinner that I planned for at night, which he of coz had no idea of =p

But, we went ahead with the plan! Haha.. We woke up bright and early for macs breakfast before heading to the marina south pier~ the ferry ride was pretty short and we reached the land of turtles in approx 30 mins =)

The weather was perfect (very thankful) for trigger happy folks like us! The island is small, but very well maintained~ the lagoon is clean and blue, air is fresh.. We spent a few hrs there snapping pretty pictures, strolling around the souvenir stalls, visiting the temples on the island, feeding the turtles and enjoying a simple picnic I prepared by the beautiful lagoon =)

We returned back to Singapore main island and visited the maritime gallery (which was at the pier itself) set up by MPA.. Where we spent most of our time piecing Lego bricks together at the kids play area, instead of reading the educational boards and posters.. Haha!

We headed over to MBS for a short stroll before dinner~ we passed by Epi centre and the birthday boy bought himself an ipad4! Haha.. He was thrilled with his new toy =)

Armed with his new toy, we went up 57 levels above ground, to Ku De Ta restaurant at MBS skydeck~ we used to gaze up from the grounds below and now we finally had the chance to look down from the top =)

We've been to Baiyoke sky hotel at Bangkok, Victoria peak at Hong kong, one altitude at OUB centre (Singapore), but the view from MBS skydeck is my favourite so far.. Maybe because I recognise everything and building I see, and I'm proud my country has a beautiful skyline too!

Dinner at Ku De Ta was decent and there was a complimentary birthday cake for him too~ =) the rest of the night was spent on the sky deck, taking and breathing in the beautiful sight!

Happy birthday my dear! I hope you enjoyed the day, as much as I did *hugs*

Brother's wedding day!

28 Oct 2012

Was the day when my brother got married! Haha.. Months of preparation for that one day of celebration~ An event that made the family come closer together, to pack and clean the house, dispose off old and purchasing new furniture, getting busy preparing the necessary, shopping, buying new suits and gowns, learning how to do dinner make up, first time getting my hair styled for a dinner, first time sitting at the VIP table, going up on stage for a toast, etc etc.. Experienced many first times because of my brother's wedding and it's truly memorable =)

It was definitely a big event for the Lim family! Especially so for my brother and his girlfriend (now wife).. They both gave the most touching and sweetest wedding speeches I've ever heard, truly sincere and heartfelt..

That night, they were the envy of everyone~ A couple so in love and blissful..

Wishing 大哥 and 大嫂 a blissful and happy marriage! =)

Final parts of birthday celebration!

Finally, I met up with my PPG and JC girlies to celebrate my birthday! =)

We caught up over yummy food, good company and lots of catching up~ updating the latest happenings in everyone's life..

Looking fwd to Lily's Wedding and am very happy for my dearest blossoms too~ finally took the first step towards settling down and got herself a bto unit with her beau of many years! I'm sure they are both in very good hands =)

Really touched that I'm surrounded by so many lovely friends who will celebrate my birthday with me every year~ reminding me how lucky I am.. friends whom I've known since a long long time ago, I know they will be my friends for life! Been through our growing up years together! Sharing the ups and downs =) Thank you dearies for being there.. *hugs*

祝我生日快乐！