CNY 2014 Preparation!

It's just 1 day left  to Chinese New Year. 

I've started prepping for CNY probably around few weeks back. And somethings screw up and thank goodness it was resolved at the very last minute. :)

Below are my various to-dos for every year CNY:

1) Help my mum make chi ku chips! It's a yearly thing btw. We started making 2 weekends before CNY. It wasn't a tedious process, just that the whole house will smell pretty bad for the whole day, and that includes my hair. 

I'm usually the taster/packer for the chips, but over the years, I've learnt self controlled. I will probably regret when I indulged too much in the chips, no one wants to fall sick before cny! 

All done up :) 

2) Spring Cleaning! The room was really in a big mess with plastic bags lying everywhere.There wasn't much space to walk then. I've spent one of my weekends packing all the different compartment of my dressing table, rearrange them and finally, nth is left laying around on the floor! 

The after photo. I should have took a before photo, it's really scary! lol. And not forgetting I went to get rid of my old pre-loved clothes at the flea in December, hence there isn't a need to pack my wardrobe again 

3) Cut and Dye Hair! I didn't dye my hair at Chapter 2 this time round, because I'll probably touch up my hair color for the photoshoot. So I'll just go for the budget dye.

I was really interested to try out this new dye my Garnier, it really seems that good because it claims to be 'ammonia free' and etc. 

It wasn't that fuss free afterall. I've asked Derp to help me with it because you got to apply it part by part. At the end of the day, it was quite a failure.

It was only last night then I started to re-dye my hair with Liese. I've used Liese many years back during my schooling days and it works wonder. So I some sort know that it won't fail me. All I ever wanted was to cover up my ugly bright brown hair ends. 

And yes, it works wonder. My hair is now saved by Liese. lol! I was looking for something dark for this CNY, and the color turns out to be really pretty,. 

3)  New nails color! I managed to find this home based manicurist who is located just a few blocks away from me. Her pricing is not that expensive as compared to outside salon in the shopping malls. Worth giving it a try since it's so convenient for me :) 

My nails for CNY 2014! Going for all pink because I'll be wearing pink/red. 

Shimmery maroon color for my feet.

I'm going back to do my bridal nails soon :) At least I know, I can walk over the day before to get my nails fix and be ready for my rom/photoshoot the next day! 

For more information of this manicurists based in Jurong, you may click here to see all the services she do and also the price of it. :)

4)  Keeping Fit and Eating Clean! As the festive season approach, no one wish to fall sick before that. My exercises routine are still the same, and not forgetting to throw in fruits after my meal so as to boost the immune system. My stomach was really unwell the week before CNY, I'm almost on bed for the whole weekend but I'm glad that I've recovered. 

Cutting up 1 sunkist to indulge it in in the middle of the night. lol. 

5)  Shopping for CNY Goodies! Derp and I decided to cut down on buying too much goodies. Because every year, our biscuit went lao hong even before we finished it. And we will have to throw around 1/2 of the leftover biscuits away. It's really a waste but no choice. So to prevent that, we stop ourselves from buying too much and at the same time we can save some $$ too :) 

Our favourite chocolate cookies from Bengawan Solo. We gave sugee a miss this year. Maybe when we move over to our new house, we can afford to have more goodies then to entertain our guests :) 

The pineapple tarts from Lester. I've already started attacking the pineapple balls even before CNY. 

6)  Shopping for CNY Clothes! Honestly speaking, it took me quite awhile to find the perfect dress to wear this CNY. It's been very long since I buy anything from the shop, I do online shopping most of the time. When it was closer to CNY, my day 1 dress arrive but no one was home to collect it.

Thankfully my mum was on leave, so she went to the singpost to collect for me. The queue was horrible. Postage services during the festive season is horrible.

All my CNY Clothes! 

Trust me, I cut down a lot as compared to last year. 2 tops, 1 bottom and 3 dresses. And I'm sure only 1 of them I won't wear it out normally, the rest I will haha! Got to really bear in mind which are the recyclable clothes.

Oh and my CNY Day 1 dress were pretty loose at the ptp area, but Derp sewed it up for me last night to make it look more fitting and nice. :):) Thanks love!

It's really busy with all the preparation but nth much to complain about because it's a yearly affair and family gathering time! Nothing beats having to spend quality time with the family.

I'm off to ironed all my clothes and dashed off to the gym to work out before the reunion dinner tonight. Dad is doing all the cooking tonight for the first time! Looking forward!

Wishing everyone a Happy Horse Year in advance :)

At long last, a proper meetup with the girls!

I've originally wanted to draft up a post regarding my house, but due to time constraint, I shall leave it to the long holidays then. There's so little time left to CNY and so much things to do! 

Anyway, I'm on Dayre and I do update them daily, all my rantings and daily happenings. Do follow me @firstlove88 if you do have Dayre :)

I met up with the girls few weeks back. I can't really remember when was the last time I met them. If I'm not wrong, it was July/August last year. Time really flies when you are really busy. 

YY is finally back with us and we can finally have a proper meetup with everyone around. If not it's always the few of us. 

We met up at Swensens @ Marina Square. No pictures of the food because we were all famished. We only started out dinner at 8++pm because everyone was late. 

We ordered our favorite earthquake as dessert. We used to order the Large one when we were young but we ordered the regular one this time round, and we feel like bursting after the dessert. 

Some group photos..like finally..

Nana's boyfriend, Hafeez did join us for the dinner :)

My very belated birthday gift from the girls. My first ever coach and I love it to bits. Till date, I have not started using it yet lol! I've no idea what I'm waiting for, probably this CNY? :) 

Guess the next time I meet them will be during my solmenization? Time flies! 

Be back soon with my HDB update, I'll try.

Brunch @ Stranger's Reunion

I'm back to Stranger's Reunion with highness for a brunch. She's probably my favourite person to have a brunch date with. We are like the partners in crime when comes to exploring new places and especially cafe hopping! It's not my first time there but I'm more than willing to go back there to try their other food.

We were there around 11:30am. The crowd wasn't that bad yet so we managed to secure a table for 2 pretty fast. They don't allow reservation unless you are coming in big groups.

Their glass cups were all printed with their slogans. 

We each ordered their signature coffee, Magic. 

Their coffee's latte art is definitely instagram worthy. 

We shared our mains. I don't really remember what this is called, I only remember we chose poached egg. We were expecting something more but then we come to realize, you have to ala carte to add on veggies and bacon/etc. But we are good enough with this portion because we saved our stomach space for other yummy stuff.

Their poached eggs are so-so. 

The mandatory truffle fries. 

:) 

And so we had their waffles as our dessert. The waffles can really fill up the rest of the space in my stomach.

Their weekly special: Red velvet waffles with macadamia ice cream. It's really pretty! 

Can't help but to take photos with it :) 

My first time trying red velvet waffles, not only are they  beautiful, they are also super yummy! 

Do ask for their weekly specials for their waffles whenever you are there, they never fails to disappoint me. :) It saves us the trouble from thinking which waffles to choose, so just go for their weekly specials. 

#OOTD - In Agneselle's Chrissy Twist Dress

I foresee myself going back to Strangers' Reunion again in time to come.

Read about my experience of doing latte art at Strangers' Reunion here if you have not do so. :)

Strangers' Reunion 

37 Kampong Bahru Rd, 169356

6222 4869

Upcoming Runs for First Half of 2014!

Derp and I sat down and discussed through our schedule for the first half of 2014. We didn't really wish reonvation or wedding preparation to be used as an excuse for not exercising and keeping fit. 

After much discussion, We've settled on 4 runs for the first half of 2014. We would have participate in more runs but we think this is good enough. I'll be running 4 marathons in the first hafl of 2014, and 3 for him because there's a women run which he is not allowed to join lol! But he will be going with me to give me support. :):)

First marathon in less than a month time, it's the Marina Run 2014.Our first 10km run of the year. 

We weren't really interested to join this in the first place, but upon seeing there's groupon deal for it, we went ahead. Probably, the cheapest run after CNY to burn all the rubbish we ate during CNY and just in time to look good for our solemnization. 

I've also signed up for the Venus Run. My first ever Venus Run. 

I do love their theme because it's pink! A all women run and it's 5km. I'm just praying that it's not another run filled with never ending bottlenecks. 

We've also signed up for the NTUC Run 350. Both of us are NTUC policy holder, hence it's not expensive to join at all :) Signed up for another 10km so as to prep us for Sundown! 

I'm only praying that all this run are sufficient to get us prepared for Sundown. I don't wish to overwork my legs hence we scheduled one marathon per month. 

Sundown will be our official half marathon. It's my resolution to finish a half marathon this year. Honestly speaking, what I fret most is the tiredness that kicks in once it's night. Imagine you are already sleepy and you need more oxygen to stay awake, but the trees are fighting with you for oxygen lol! 

Derp was quite tempted to join the full marathon, but we discussed it out and reckon we should  not run full marathon for Sundown. Maybe next year or so. We don't know how long we will take for a 21km yet, and how we feel after running 21km. So it's better to take it slow and easy before running a full marathon. 

I'm already looking and planning the runs for 2nd half of the year. Feeling kind of excited for the first marathon of the year and at the same time feeling scare. No idea where my guts gone to but with Derp around, I know we can motivate each other!

Towards a healthier lifestyle and a fit-er body! :)

Dinner with parents @ O' Coffee Club

On the first weekend of 2014, I brought my parents out for dinner! We had $100 voucher from O'Coffee Club given by my brother. One of my resolution for 2014 which I didn't wrote down , is to spend more time with my family! 

I'm glad to be fulfilling them on the first weekend of 2014, but it's not as though we didn't had dinner after that. I do go out with my parents for dinner more often nowadays and they are suggesting to go out for dinner this weekend. But I told them pizza delivery seems not bad too. opps! lol. I'm feeling gian over the new pizza launch for CNY. 

Anyway, I went to have a jog with Derp that morning aftermoon. We wanted to go in the morning, but I can't wake up so in the end, we went for a jog at around 11:00am. It was really hot. I can't really get used to it and started panting soon. It was my first run ever since I almost fainted over MRT after xmas. We did 2.4km that day and ran all the way to Mcdonalds to have our brunch. 

My usual running route during day time. Probably a clearer view of where I usually run at.

A shot before my run. 

Big ass selfie of me at the Mcdonalds resting while Derp is seen behind buying Mcdonalds for me. 

Went home to rest thereafter before going out to meet my parents. They were at JP and the nearest O'Coffee Club was IMM.

They have implemented shuttle bus services from Westgate to IMM. It was raining cats and dogs that evening hence the queue for the shuttle bus were pretty long. Thankfully the frequency was fast enough, we didn't wait that long.

We had a really early dinner that day since all of us were famished. Here's what we have ordered: 

My Mum's Hazelnut Cappuccino

It comes with a cinnamon stick so you are required to stir your cappuccino with it. 

Our Sides: Mexican Quesadilla with Chicken Filling.

This side dish is pretty not bad especially the sauce they have given. The sauce tasted a little spicy and sour at the same time. 

\

My Dad's All Mushroom Spaghetti. 

My Mum's Chicken and Mushroom Baked Rice

Btw, I had the Black Pepper Smoked Duck Breast Linguine at the bottom left of the picture. It do looks similar to the All Mushroom Spaghetti lol. The smoked duck breast wasn't that great, I find it a little too hard. It wasn't soft enough. I didn't finish the whole plate in the end because the portion was quite big. 

I know I'm being random, but I do miss the Seafood Aglio Oilo from TCC. Not forgetting to mention, My dad and I shared the Chamomile Blossoms tea. They don't do refill so yup. 1 teapot can pour around 1 and 3/4 cup. It costs around $6 for that pot of tea. 

A shot with my parents before we tucked in. 

Doubt I will dine in there for their main course again, because it's nth special. Probably, I will go there for their coffee and desserts which seems to be more appealing. Oh and the branch at IMM, have really bad attitude. None of them were proactive to get orders from us and they were talking among themselves. -_-". If not for the vouchers, we will not have went there in the first place.

O' Coffee Club @ IMM

#01-125, IMM, 2 Jurong East Street 21 

We went to shop around after dinner. I'm looking forward to more dinner like such but I've got to squeeze time out to have more family time with them. :) It's part of my 2014 resolutions, I shall do it!

Tim Ho Wan @ Westgate

On the first day of 2014, Derp and I decided to try out Tim Ho Wan. We queued more than an hour for it, around 1.5 hours till we got a seat inside. Crazy as it may sounds to queue so long for it, for the sake of the crispy pork bun, it's worth it. 

We went to the newly Tim Ho Wan branch at Westgate. 

The newly opened branch is pretty small. But as usual, it's easier to get a 2 person seat. We wanted to have lunch there but we ended up having our early dinner there. 

The menu.

Below are the dim sum we have ordered! 

Century Egg Porridge

Tim Ho Wan's signature Crispy Pork Bun. 

It's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Pretty different from the one I always eat at Canton Paradise. The overall taste is great, but a little oily for my liking. 

Har Gao which tasted good! 

The glutinous rice. 

To be honest, we can't finish it. But we managed to sweep all the ingredients inside because they were really yummy! 

马来糕! 

It's really fluffy and soft. Not too sweet so thumbs up for it! 

Vermicelli Roll with Pig's Liver.

 I love love love pig liver hence all dishes with pig's liver in it, I'm good. Try this dish with their chilli sauce, it tastes superb! 

Spring Roll with Egg White

Derp wanted to try this dish, I think he's thinking how does a spring roll taste with egg white in it. Anyway, if you're wondering, it's just spring roll with egg white just like the name sounds. There's also many other spring rolls served by them,

It was a #fulldieus meal. The total bill costs us $40++. But you can try it once in a life time just not everytime because it's not cheap at all. I'll still prefer going back to Swee Choon whenever I crave for dim sum :)

Tim Ho Wan @ Westgate

#01-13/14, Westgate, 3 Gateway Drive