Crystie’s 20th, The Apartment

About a few Sundays back, I spent an afternoon with my friends from work and then, in the late afternoon I was busy preparing for Crys’s birthday and with coordinating her ‘surprise’ birthday dinner as well. It was meant as a surprise but because I didn’t plan it properly, :x she did knew about it but played along with us. Haha. Here are some pictures of what went down during the dinner;

Once again, happy birthday Crys! I love you in ways that nobody can understand, even yourself. <3

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Before I end my post, this is what I had from The Apartment. I have never been here before so I did Google up on what’s good there. But there wasn’t anything that was really good (from the reviews I read online) so I ended up deciding on what seems fine from the menu, and I picked the Duck Confit.

Shot with Galaxy Note, under low light condition.

I picked this because I have never tried this anywhere before and I quite like it, the cranberries sauce was sweet, just nice and complemented the tender and slightly crispy duck. I don’t know if this was what a Duck Confit was supposed to taste like but I like it enough, anyway.

Meet Eaton Mess, a sinful delish dessert made from baked marshmallow topped with cream, tonnes of strawberries and sweet strawberries sauce. This is so delicious, it’ll make you go “screw that diet, I’ll eat this and worry about the calories later”.

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That’s all from me this time, have a great working week ahead. Uh, that goes out to me as well.

High School Reunions, :)

Thank you for reading this post on Malaysia Day! ;)

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Gee, how time flies. Right now, I can still remember clearly the day I finished my exams in June which marks the start of my holidays. *poof* Suddenly, my holiday is about to end, and I’ll be off to work already. Too fast, time is just going by too fast.

But nevertheless, I’ve really been able to enjoy myself this hols, unlike others where I would end up just bumming around. I even managed to meet up with my high school mates, some of which I haven’t seen for three years already. *gasp* It’s been so long, and it just dawned upon me how well I’ve kept in touch with some of them. I should be ashamed, and honestly I am. So now, I shall make in a point to attend the meet-ups. Hee.

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The first reunion was with the high school mates; we had lunch at Ben’s and there was 12 of us all together. It was really great to catch up and see them once again after so long. Some are back here since it’s summer and some are about to leave. Found out that most of the boys were doing engineering courses, I’ll know so many engineers in future!

I had Chunky Chicken Mushroom Pie. So-so, nothing to shout about. Too much pastry, too dry.

J had the Soft Shell Crab Spaghetti. Now this was really good, I had one bite of it and I immediately regret ordering my pie.

I think this was Ben’s Chocolate Cake, which was pretty good and oh-so-sinful. It was funny for us, when the cake came with the ice-cream in a separate bowl. We couldn’t decide whether to dunk the ice-cream over the cake or to take the cake first and then only the ice-cream.

I posted on my what I wore that day, click here to read.

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Then, the second reunion was with my class mates; Omega-ians as we were fondly known ourselves as. Actually I couldn’t make it to this reunion cum farewell for JY, since I was with the sister for her audition. But as it turns out, the sister’s audition ended early so I quickly rushed over to Pavilion. I was there in time for the group shot at the fountain outside Pavilion. Which explains my ‘aunty’ pose in the picture. Hah. We went to Coffee Bean then, talked about the times in school and what everyone was doing. Before we left, we headed to Snowflake for desserts. It was short but nice meet-up with them. <3

Some of the pics were grabbed from Pei Sun’s Facebook, :) since my camera was running low on the battery and so, I didn’t take much picture.

I’m 20, two decades old.

The week before my birthday, has been one of the worst week I could have ever lived through. It was terrible, truly horrifying because whatever I was going through was very much different from anything I’ve ever been through. It was worse than failing my exams because if I failed my papers, I could do-over. But not for this, I cannot reset. I cannot start over. It felt pretty much like I’m stuck at the bottom of the well, with no way to escape. It really wouldn’t been so bad, if only I could figure it out. But I can’t, I don’t have a choice. A friend once said, “You always have a choice.” I do realise I have, but I don’t have the courage to go to such lengths to do it. Sighs. I’ll be stuck till then. But I am better now, much better. We all learn to cope, live with it eventually. I’ll be stronger, that much I know. :)

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I was supposed to blog about my birthday a week after it, but I have been so busy that I kept delaying it. Plus, I was blogging on a LIFO basis; last-in-first-out. Haha. That is actually an accounting term, if you didn’t know. :) So anyway, my birthday this year was made perfect by the very awesome people in my life. :) My family; the parents especially, my beloved college mates, the close friends and of course, everyone who wished me on Facebook as well.

30.07.12, AM

Dad brought me to have my favourite prawns porridge to start my special day. :)

Nothing beats a claypot full of delicious prawns porridge with deep fried twisted dough-stick (yao char kuey) for an awesome breakfast.

30.07.12, Early PM

After the awesome breakfast, I was off with mom and dad to run a little errand. Nothing much, pretty insignificant. Came back home and thought I’ll pamper myself a bit before heading out for dinner with my friends. So, I decided to do a Japanese hair spa for myself, it’ll take up some time and by the time I’m done with it, I could have lunch and start getting ready for my dinner date. And so, I went to get my hair spa items ready. But while I was at it, my mom saw and she told me not to do the spa treatment because she needed my help in something, so I had to opt for the normal hair treatment. Which I luckily did, because about 10 mins after I was done with my shower + hair treatment, I had a surprise waiting for me at my door.

My so-fake-shocked look! :)

My college mates had came all together with a cake to surprise me! I had no idea they were coming, I was dressed so shabbily that when my mom said my friends were here, I just went running to my room to change into something decent. Plus, my hair was so huge! Haha.

This is almost everyone that was there. :D Almost, because Crys was late as she got lost again. Heh.

Thank you (L-R) Amanda, Desmund, Jia Ping, Carmen, Celia, Danny, Eugene, Reuben, Timothy (Reuben’s guitar) and Crys for making my 20th birthday so memorable. I love each and everyone of you and am so thankful to have you all in my life. Also, Reuben and Danny played and sang “Be Your Everything” by Boys Like Girls for me! <3 Of course, it wasn’t as a proclamation of love, but rather because it was my favourite song.

They stayed on for a while after we cut the cake. Oh, the cake was from RT Pastry and I have always always wanted to try their cakes. Glad to finally be able to on my birthday some more. :) How blessed was I. Haha. After that, we had a mini karaoke session where we got Reuben to play the guitar and the rest of us singing along.

30.07.12, Mid PM

After everyone left, Celia and Crys stayed behind and we chatted for a while before they were to head off to avoid the jam. Then, we had this brilliant idea to help me decide what I was to wear for dinner that night! So, we went through my wardrobe, picked a few outfits (6 actually) out and I was to try them on and they would style accordingly. Haha, that session was really fun. Finally decided on one outfit and they, then left. But before they left, they told me that my gift wasn’t ready. And that they’ll pass it to me when it is. :)

30.07.12, Late Mid PM

Immediately after they left, I went to have my lunch and a shower to get ready for dinner. I only had an hour to get ready before my friend picked me up. Which actually isn’t enough for me, it was a bit rushing but I managed, albeit being 10 mins late and my friend had to wait. But I was late because a weird unknown number called me while I was going out, I had actually hesitated in picking the phone call up because I was in obvious rush. Luckily I did because it was my aunt, calling all the way from UK to wish me. How lovely and sweet of her. <3 We chatted for a bit, and it was great to hear her voice again. I miss her.

30.07.12, Late PM

I actually had a choice between Japanese or Western for dinner, but since the initial plan was Western.. I stuck on with it. Had dinner at a lovely place called Porta Romano, I blogged about it here. Do click to read my review. Food was great, dinner was awesome. :) It ended in the most perfect way I could have ever imagined. <3

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Once again, I just want to say how grateful I am for the awesome people in my life who made my birthday such a memorable one. <3 But, guess what, 30th July wasn’t the end to my birthday. I received my gift from the girls; Celia and Crys a few days later.

It was a book filled with photos and it tells a story on every page. It’s really funny and I was so touched when I got it. I love the girls so much, for the time and effort they have put into the doing this. Nothing ever beats something handmade with love. <3

Besides that, I previously told Daddy that I was craving for some crabs and would love to have them for my birthday. But because I didn’t manage to have dinner with the family, so Dad made them especially for me one day!

The uncooked crab, to be steamed. Can you see the yellow bit there? That’s eggs!

And ta-da! It’s done and ready to eat! :) So yummy, my stomach is growling as I type this :P

And now, Daddy just owes me my durian birthday cake and my grilled lamb. :P I ate my celebratory chicken wings at Ah Wah in Jalan Peel. Heh.

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So that is all for my 20th birthday, I could never quite remember my last few ones, hence I decided to put this one into words. I hope my 21st will be even better than this. :)

Shadow Shoots.

There is something about this picture that emits a rather sombre mood, don’t you feel so?

Personally, shooting in the shadows is awesome. Why? Simply because it can’t capture the facial expression. Quite ironic to say so, as facial expressions are quite crucial for portraits. But I do feel, body movements and posture are just important to make a picture great. I think the pictures in this set is a form of creative photography. What do you think? ;)

Rag Doll Attempt by Kimberly.

Rag Dolls Attempt by myself and Kim. (One of my favourite pics!)

Again, I’ll say that this impromptu shoot has been pure fun for myself and Kim. I’ll be honest and say that I find myself getting conscious whenever I’m in a photoshoot. Somehow, I always imagined the picture would turn out ugly. Hence, the lack of confidence would show in the pictures too. :( But for this shoot, screw my expression cause you can’t see my face. Hahaa.

 Left: Posing Attempt Right: Hourglass figure!

I managed to drag my sis, Clarrisha for a few pictures as well. So happens, she was wearing a bodysuit. Hence, you get a model with curves! LOL. Unlike, my shots with Kim, since we were both wearing dresses.

Posing Attempt Part 2.

Superhero To The Rescue?

Oh, yes. We even managed to drag my brother into doing this mini shadow photoshoot. We asked him to give a pose, and these were what he thought of doing. :) Superhero? Hahaa.

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I haven’t seen the hyperactive Kimberly Hong since like February this year and even then, she wasn’t hyper. Possibly because we were in the public area and she’ll be sure to get stares if she starts screaming away. Hahaa, So, pictures below were multiple silly shots taken at one go. Note: They look absolutely silly and I’m amazed I’m even posting this up. :)

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That’s all for now, loves. I've been a little busy lately with an upcoming test. Usually, these tests are no biggie but since I’m currently in the Professional Stage of ICAEW, I should be taking them seriously. Plus, they are in written form questions. And very different from the CFAB multiple choice questions! But I believe that, against all odds, I can do it. Because nothing is impossible. BUT I’M FREAKING OUT NOW. Simply, because I have no mood to study. :O