Christmas Day Party!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We hosted a Christmas Party today at our house today for our cellgroup and a few of our close friends. I wanted to order catering but Le hubby thought it will be more fun if we do a potluck party and get everyone to bring a dish of their own.. So we had a potluck instead!

Sent out the invites via Whatsapp cos it's not fashionable to send out paper invites anymore (unless it's for a wedding). That's really sad cos I really like to send cards and paper invites for parties. Guess that's not the trend anymore and it'll be a waste of my effort & money if I do it. The last time I sent out paper invites was for Le hubby's 30th birthday party. I bought Minion themed invitation cards and mailed it out to everyone. #somucheffort

The e-invite!

(I removed our address from this picture)

Preparing the goody bags!

Goody bag station!

(I made the mini poms and the banner)

The table set-up!

We only have black ink at home so I printed out black letters and string them up to form a banner over the table. Made a few mini pom pom balls to cover up the blue tac. 

So Christmasy!

(★^O^★)

The Christmas wreath is donated by Nat who also gave us + help us set up our Christmas tree! Nat also bought the Turkey and Ray came to fry the Hokkien Mee. Both of them came really early to help to cook and prepare. So thankful for their help!!

The Christmas Turkey!

Both of them came in the morning to roast the turkey. It was moist and very flavourful! Well done boys!!!

~ヾ(＾∇＾)

As our guests arrive, we had more food on the table! I prepared satay, cold tofu, cheeseboard, fruits & the drinks. 

#HardcoreYakultFan

I also bought 100 bottles of Yakult in Green & Red colours to suit the Christmas theme! I refilled them cos I don't have an iced box and I don't want them to be sitting in room temperature for too long. I had around 20 bottles left so that's 80 bottles for the whole group! Heh heh! Seems like everyone loves Yakult too!

Yummy cheesecake!

My very talented and lovable cellgroup sister - Calin baked her signature Oreo cheesecake! My sister is currently holidaying in USA so I can't commission her to bake cakes for the party. It's the 2nd time she's missing our Christmas party!!!! *ROAR* She better come to our party next year or I'll smack her butt.

We said Grace and then it's time for lunch! I bought green plates to suit the Christmas theme! Wanted to have more Christmas decoration but Le hubby said simple is good.. don't overdo it.

Ok lor...... (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

Christmas Tree with all the gift exchange presents!

I requested everyone to bring a gift not more than SGD20 so we can have fun exchanging presents. I pasted numbered stickers on the presents and everyone takes a number from a box and come to the tree to claim their present.

Stickers for the gift exchange.

Group picture after the gift exchange! :)

I painstaking cut and made this but there's no place to put it. 

(；￣Д￣）

Photobooth props!

Calin also prepared all these super cute & fun props! She printed, cut then laminated each piece. So dedicated!! Her favourite food is obviously roast pork as you can see in the picture. Hahahahahaha!

Le hubby set up the camera (thanks Nat for bringing the stand!) for the photobooth. Then we went to test out the lighting for him by being his models.

Obviously Nat wins the #MostSiaoNang award. Hahahaha!

o(╥﹏╥)o

Really FML cos I also had a Arts and Craft station but I can't believe I don't have any pictures of it!!!! 

I bought arts and craft staff that are Christmas themed. Things like bracelets, snow globes, Christmas tree ornaments, etc. You can make your own and bring the finished item home. It's quite popular cos I saw everyone crowding there after lunch to try their hand at making something. Next year I'll introduce a glue gun and let the girls make their own Christmas accessories. 12 months to research for new ideas! Heh heh!

We also brought them around the house for a house tour because some of them have not come to our house before. The girls were especially excited to see my 3 years supply of tampons I bought at a Watsons sale a few months ago. They find it so amazing and amusing that I am such a hoarder. Eh! I don't anyhow hoard stuff! I hoard useful stuff that have a long shelf life.

******************************

In the evening we had a 2nd party! This time it's much smaller in scale cos it's for Le hubby's family and his close extended family. Had fun with the photobooth again with my cousins-in-law Marcus & Sherise, and of course.. Le hubby! 

(๑￫‿￩๑)

Brownie wants a picture too.

ヾ(◍’౪`◍)ﾉﾞ♡

I received soooooooooo many presents this year! What an unexpected haul! Thank you everyone for coming for the party, for helping out and for bringing food.. also for giving me the presents! Can't wait for next year's party! Yay!!

Gardens by the Bay Christmas Wonderland

I was moping around because we have no plans to go anywhere during year end period. A bit emo cos I really love to travel and this year has been a really "dry" and boring year for me. Last year we went to Hong Kong in October, Bangkok in November, Perth in December and I went to LA with my sister in January. That's 4 countries in 4 months! Damn shiok lah... This year I started my new job and I only have 15 days of annual leave so it's difficult to go on holidays anymore. 

Not complaining about my job cos I like it so much more than the previous one because of my awesome boss and the fixed stable working hours. Just a bit sian about the annual leave cos 15 days is super little lah. I had 21 days in my previous job and since I had to work on every public holiday because of my shift timing (I even worked everyday during Chinese New Year!), I accumulated a lot of leave to go on super long trips. Also the pay was better because of the midnight shifts so I can afford the holidays. 

I was complaining to Nat that it's so boring and hot in Singapore, and he suggested going to Christmas Wonderland at Gardens by the Bay! Not that it will be colder there, but at least there are pretty lights and we can get into the Christmas mood! He went last week and said the lights were really pretty so he wanted to go back again to take more pictures.

Ok lah.. better than nothing hor? So I agreed to go with him, together with Le hubby and Ray last night. We went for brunch in the morning then went home to nua a bit before meeting at night. So happening hor? Meet twice in a day! Hahaha! That's why it's so awesome to live near your friends! Can meet anytime!

Dates: 29 November 2014 - 01 January 2015

Click here for more details!

All the photos below are taken by my new Sony Xperia Z3. Le hubby bought me a new phone as my early Christmas present! So happy cos this phone is awesome! Waterproof, battery lasts for 2 days and it takes awesome photos! More on it next time. Thank you Le hubby for the present! And yes, he's keeping to his tradition of giving me techie products as gifts. Hahahahahaha! 

Look at the giant Christmas tree!

❆(੭ु ◜◡‾)੭ु⁾☃❆

Wah! So pretty!! ᒄ₍⁽ˆ⁰ˆ⁾₎ᒃ♪♬

·͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙

The walkway is huge and filled with lots of lights!

I saw the giant trees with the walkways and I asked Nat why he never bring me here for our wedding photoshoot last year! He said he thought I know about this place so he never suggest. AAAHHHH!! Smack him ah! It was my first time there last year and I don't know anything about Gardens by the Bay. This place looks really nice for wedding shoots lah!! #angry

See so pretty! If daytime confirm prettier cos of the blue skies!! ROAR!!!

◝(๑⁺᷄д⁺᷅๑)◞՞

There are many small stalls selling stuff. Nat loves Yankee Candle.

He was feeling peckish so he went to buy some food.

Prawn paste chicken!

(*´ڡ`●)

This is where the fake snow will fall every hourly. We didn't go in because the ground is muddy, soggy and super dirty. Lots of people were milling around waiting for the next snow fall. I think it's soap. Looks soapy. 

Nat said this is a super old structure from Amsterdam. Few hundred years old!

I bought Hokkaido milk ice cream! Yums! ◟(◔ั₀◔ั )◞ ༘♡

｡ﾟ.(*♡´◡` 人´◡` ♡*)ﾟ °

The weather was awesome cos it was windy and there's no rain! Not very crowded too.. maybe cos we went really late (1 hour before closing time). Heh heh. If you haven't been there yet.. go check it out before the event ends! It's free admission and the layout of everything is very well thought out and properly designed with good crowd control.

Wimbly Lu Chocolate Cafe

Suddenly had the mood for a weekend brunch before I slept last night so I jio Le hubby and Nathaniel to go have breakfast with me at Wimbly Lu!

WIMBLY LU
15-2 Jalan Riang Singapore 358987
Tel: 6289 1489

The place can get pretty packed on weekends but it's super quiet in the morning cos most people sleep in anyways. We reached there when they just opened this morning so the place was empty!

The back area has natural daylight shining through so if you want to take nice pictures of your food & drinks, I recommend sitting along this stretch.

Since we were the first customers, we can choose to sit anyway. It was too bright sitting at the back and the sofa chairs were too low for us, so we decided to sit beside the open concept prep kitchen. Water is free flow and it's self-service. It's located right beside our table. Super convenient.

They were preparing the cakes and desserts!

Chocolates & tarts! Ooooh!

They look really good, but in my mind it's just "sugar sugar sugar"!

Christmas tree made out of sugar cookies!

For the full menu, click here!"

Food is served!

(〃⌒▽⌒)八(〃⌒▽⌒〃)八(⌒▽⌒〃)

We look really sleepy... Haha!

(/￣(ｴ)￣)

Nat looks sleepy too! And it's already like 10am in the morning!?

All of us had the cafe latte SGD5++ each.

Le hubby had the "Grand Slam" with sunny side ups.

Nat & I both had the "Grand Slam" with scrambled eggs.

Nat insisted in ordering 6 cakes (like the other when the 3 of us went to P.S Cafe). I put my foot down and refused to let him order. I restricted him to 3 cakes instead.. in the end also cannot finish!!!! Heng never order 6!!!

Rootbeer cake with vanilla ice-cream SGD6++ 

Apparently the Rootbeer cake is one of their signature dessert.. But it's not really nice.. the ice-cream is of the cheap cheap quality and the cake is so-so only. Very disappointed. The other 2 cakes/tarts were also not really good. It's just normal lor.. I just feel that the desserts are not worth the calories. 

Total bill was almost SGD100 for the 3 of us.

The service at Wimbly Lu is quite good and the ambiance is nice. But the desserts that we tried are not nice. So if you are heading there, skip the desserts unless you are not a fussy eater.

We seldom eat brunch at cafes in Singapore cos Le hubby finds it "bo hua" (not worth the money) for the type of food that they serve. So we usually only eat brunch outside when we are overseas, like in Perth or when we go on holidays. Cos their menu is more sophisticated and they serve more complex dishes which is not simple eggs/bacon/sausages which are easy to cook.

Oh well, once in a while is ok lah. More importantly is the time spent with each other and the fun conversations that we have while we are hanging out together. ٩(^ᴗ^)۶

The skies are super pretty today! Sunny day, blue skies and fluffy clouds!

It's been raining a lot recently so I am happy to see pretty skies like this.