the year of the dragon

amidst all the celebration and angpao collection, it occured to me that this CNY will be the last year that i will be an all-receiving and non-angpao-giving individual.

not that i’m tying the knot next year, in case the earlier statement came as a shock to you, but i will start giving my first angpaos next year to my parents and grandparents as a working adult.

 

this year i chose to wear a super colourful Love Bonito piece that i just received from a backorder last year.

my Alethea dress SG$31.50 is only a fraction of my brother's SG$130 A&F polo...

super love my dress! the colours are plentiful and so vibrant! just perfect for CNY i had another outfit from Topshop intended for the first day of the new year, but when this arrived in the mail, the former outfit was automatically bumped to the second day

am also wearing the butterfly Paperself lashes on the corners of my eyes, which warranted a lot of curious stares from relatives today. they had no idea what it was and all took turns to ask my parents if my makeup had smeared or if my eyelashes had fallen off halfway without my realizing LOL.

family photo!

with all my maternal relatives

was pretty excited about going over to my paternal relatives’ place because i get to see my baby niece for the first time since she was born! to be honest, i still have no idea what her name is because my cousin has a knack for naming his kids all these exotic names like Kenrick.

but anyway she’s so cuteEEEEEE!!

totally sets my biological clock ticking!!

never realized how babies were so soft and squishy but i was totally addicted to squishing her small thighs and cute little hands! so so adorable, although she kept threatening to throw my iPhone onto the floor, and biting my Cath Kidston pouch.

awww my mum and her grand niece!

oh goodness she bears such a striking resemblance to Lily from Modern Family!

CNY this year was awesome, as always! it was a good break from school and a reminder that there is more to life than CAs, project work, lab sessions and FYP. and because i only see my relatives once a year, it’s a good time to catch up with each other. especially so for my brother because for once, he has a common topic of interest that he can engage my uncles and cousins with in conversation: Army.

looking forward to yet another day of CNY, this time spent at Jeremy’s side of the family. more home-cooked good food and great company to look forward to

happy dragon CNY everybardy!!!

NYC day 5

my trip to the US didn’t feel complete even though i was going to the city i wanted to visit the most. somehow, after paying a bomb for the plane ticket, it feels right that i should at least visit 2 cities while i’m there.

however, our budget didn’t have room for a domestic flight out of New York, so we settled on visiting Philadelphia, which is only a 2 hour bus ride away vis Boltbus (US$25 two-way).

our first stop at Philly after getting off the bus, was the Reading Terminal Market. while asking for directions at the 30th Penn Station, the lady at the Traveller’s Aid desk directed us along a walking path that would take us to the market, but at the same time, have a couple of sights to see along the way.

one of which was a 15 minute long Christmas-themed video at the Comcast building, complete with artificial foam snow that began floating down from the ceiling at the finale of the video.

and this was the closest i ever got to seeing snow in NYC...still a snow-virgin btw

check out the super high definition of the video that is projected onto the wall of the Comcast Building lobby!

we also stopped at a Christmas bazaar along the way to get some latte!

tastes better than Starbucks!

<3

we got kinda hungry along the way and decided to buy a cream cheese bagel off one of them street stalls along the road. to our surprise, it was the best bagel that we’ve ever had!!!! i’d been craving for cream cheese bagels ever since day 5 and we’ve tried 3 different kinds of bagels back in NYC but none of them were as awesome as the Philly Bagel!

a couple more places we came across along the way to Reading were landmarks like the Masonic Temple (very Danbrown-esque) and City Hall, which we had initially dismissed off our Philly itinerary because they looked too boring. and they really turned out to be just worth a 5-minute look around.

 

finally!! lunchtime

warm and happy to be indoors

Reading Terminal Market is more like a Marche rather than Pasir Panjang Wet Market.

there is a large variety of food from all over the world, although we stay away from the overpriced Asian food that would probably taste worse than the food in NUS science canteen.

the bagel from earlier was super filling, so we only ordered a Motzo soup (minced meat dumpling in celery soup), a cranberry-banana-pineapple smoothie, and a Flying Monkeys chocolate cupcake. Reading is apparently famous for it’s corn beef, but since we’d be having cheesesteak later, we decided to save stomach space for that.

 

we found our way (thanks to a very helpful passerby who helped us with bus directions) to Pat King’s and Geno’s, 2 famous rivals competing to serve the best cheesesteak in the whole of Philadelphia. since they were conveniently located right opposite each other, it is absolutely necessary to order a sandwich from both places and then decide for yourself which tastes the best.how to order a cheesesteak

because there are queues of people throughout the whole day, the servers have to be really efficient, right down to you ordering your cheesesteak. you have to do it right and do it fast, otherwise they can get really impatient and hasty.

so for example, to order a cheesesteak with onions and mushrooms can be accomplished by delivering this tongue-twister of a phrase, “Cheese Whiz Wit“.

Pat King's cheesesteak

Geno's cheesesteak

the winner of the two: Geno’s cheesesteak!

i don’t know how they do it, but the beef slices are cooked to the right level of medium-well tenderness. add in the hot melted cheese and it’s just the perfect sandwich to dig into on a cold, rainy day. i wasn’t even hungry but my stomach found a way to fit this in!

AHHHHH

 

we were caught in the rain that started to get really heavy in the afternoon. at first, you wouldn’t feel it because you’re wrapped up in all your winter things, which seemed nice for a change compared to Singapore. but the rain persisted and eventually, i began to miss rain in Singapore because at least over here, i wouldn’t be wearing boots that are going to get wet and then take forever to dry.

our last stop for the day

not a very artsy person and i confess that i liked the art pieces that double up as nice and colourful wallpapers for my iPhone

like this one haha!

overall, we had a really good time in Philly and we managed to see a lot and eat a lot all in just 1 day! the Boltbus was really comfortable- i slept like a baby throughout the whole journey to Philly. the bus also has a toilet, which was very reassuring for my S-sized bladder heh heh!

NYC day 4

i’d been absolutely deprived from all forms of shopping on the first 3 days of coming to NYC because firstly of the eve of the eve of Xmas, where it is impossible to squeeze with the crowds buying last minute Xmas presents. and then the eve of Xmas, where shops close at 6pm, and Xmas day itself, where not a single soul is opened for business.

hence, boxing day and the anticipation of the post-xmas sale got be really excited and out of bed early to begin striking things off my to-get list!

i had a few places i needed to go to and we planned it such that we’d find all of them in the same area. because NY is so huge, it’s practically impossible to find everything all in the same place unlike Orchard Road or City Hall in Singapore.

so we spent the morning at SoHo getting all my shopping done

L'occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream 1 for US$10

tried to find this in a set of 3 but they were completely sold out everywhere! so i picked 2 out of the 3 which were my favourites: dessert rose (pink) and hibiscus (orange). loving the texture of it so much more compared to the other l’occitane hand creams i have. it’s midway between toothpaste and soft cream without being too diluted or stiff. although when it was in NY, we had a hard time spreading it on our hands because the cream kinda froze up in the subzero weather.

L'occitane Shea butter foot cream, US $26

i swear by this foot cream! i dont even use it everyday and it still keeps my feet soft and the cracked heels away!

also satisfied my Sephora cravings by spending US$100+ on Benefit’s Cha Cha Tint, Urban Decay Naked palette, Urban Decay primer potion for the eye (FREAKING MAGIC and i’d recommend it to anyone) and Benefit’s Pore-fessional (which i later returned even after using it for a few days and got my money back. love the cosmetic exchange policy in the US!)

UD Primer Potion, US$29

for lunch, we took the subway to Shake Shack at Madison Avenue. i first saw it in a scene from Something Borrowed, which featured their flagship al-fresco restaurant, and i bugged Jeremy to bring me there!

seemed like a nice chill place to enjoy burgers and the company of a handsome dude

but i forgot the most important thing when dining out in an al-fresco area: the weather

it was maybe 7 degrees (but felt like 0 degrees) and we had to queue 30 minutes to get our burgers. and luckily they set up heating lamps at the seating area so after camping for some koreans to leave, i managed to get us a seat right under the lamp. never appreciated heat until now.

even then, i was still freezing and as such, wasn’t able to enjoy the milkshake which they’re supposed to be famous for.

The Shake Shack menu

the Shack Stack, Cheese Fries, and the Shack Attack milkshake

the fried ball in between the bread is a ball of thick, melted cheese and sliced portobello mushrooms. it is just heavenly i tell you! although the second time i had this, it felt too overpoweringly fried and cruelly reminding of my Hypertension notes.

every year, people die from drinking this on a regular basis

the milkshake was abit too rich and sweet for my liking. i guess the American diet doesn’t suit my tastebuds too well.

i almost look blue from being frozen

 

after lunch, took a walk down to the Museum of Sex, and on the way there, we came across the Flatiron

spectacular architecture

at the museum of sex! tee hee!

we went in to look-see and basically it’s everything kinky and banned from public displays in Singapore unless you’re brave enough to enter a dodgy shop at lucky plaza with neon signs that are begging people to label you as ‘PERVERT!!!’.

karma sutras no matter what your sexual orientation is

cute souvenirs for your bros. come to think of it, why didnt i get any for them!

the rest of the evening was spent at downtown Brooklyn area, where we went to the A&F store at Water Street hoping that they’d at least have some sale. but they didnt ):

in fact, all the stores we went to don’t have Boxing Day sales at all. i guess Boxing Day is to the British what Black Friday is to the Americans. and you only need 1 day like that a year otherwise people will die.

nonetheless, i still bought a plaid shirt from A&F at full price. although we went back to our apartment and online shopped on their website, which had 50% off storewide , taking the $25 next day shipping because we were afraid that it may not reach us in time, but it did (:

the A&F culture is really amusing. that was the first time i ever walked into an A&F store and i am greeted by a shirtless dude saying “hey…how’s it going” in his surfer dude drawl of a voice. quite pity him actually because he gets a blast of the cold winter air every time the doors open at the entrance

the hot model-like staff are usually placed near the entrance and around the stores. they barely do much clothes folding- that is left to the regular staff, who can be distinguished as having average looks and height. some of the regular staff also rotate between clothes folding, to dancing at random spots to the A&F soundtrack of the month (bloody irritating i feel sorry that they have to hear it on loop for a whole month) using a set of same dance moves, and one person will be designated the perfume dude and he literally walks around the store spritzing Fierce at areas that don’t smell Fierce enough.

add that to a dimly lit setting, with loud blasting music, it makes it almost impossible to find the clothes you are looking for unless the layout of the store is good. even then, the tops you pick out turn out to be a different colour when you try them on under good lighting in the change room. HAHAHA

the plaid top i bought from the store smelt of Fierce even after several days of wearing it. every time i leave an A&F store, my entire nasopharynx feels saturated with Fierce, to the point that i am exhaling it from my nose. Fierce can seriously be considered for its application in modern biological warfare man.

nonetheless, i have become a shameless fan of the cult label although i will never buy anything from the Singapore store, after knowing that i can get a shirt for 1/4 of the price (SG$30) on an online sale event.

Karlton

the biggest and most rewarding buys out of my NYC holiday loot was my Amazon Kindle Keyboard Wifi. i was thinking about getting the kindle for the longest time but wanted to wait until i was in the US, instead of shipping it into Singapore and paying extra costs for shipping.

to be honest, i’ve always been one to enjoy physical books much more than an ebook. turning the pages is never quite the same on an ebook.but i’ve realized that carrying a book around with me is cumbersome because i risk damaging the delicate pages when i leave the book in my bag. the OCD in me also dislikes the effect of wrinkling the spine when i read a paperback, or pages that turn yellow and stinky with time, or silverfish that starts to infest my books that have spent some time on the shelves. and after awhile, i simply dont have the space to keep that many books without wanting to chuck them out because they get so old and dusty.

 

on the last couple of days in NYC, we went to Staples (which is like their Harvey Norman) and bought me my kindle! i was short of cash so i was glad for Jeremy to be my (temporary) cash sponsor, just so i could save a couple more bucks from paying the higher exchange rate if i had used a credit card.

the Kindle Keyboard cost me $107.79 USD after tax. i got the wifi version (3G is not supported outside of US) with the special offers (which is essentially sponsored screen-savers that are harmless and don’t interrupt reading).

 

before buying, doing research about owning a Kindle was essential. thank goodness the only 2 other people we knew whom owned Kindles were running on the same timezone as us. so we managed to have a bunch of Kindle-noob questions answered 0n the spot. things like how to download books, and even where to get the free ones.

the amazing matte quality of the screen

in fact, it was the matte screen that first caught my attention. i saw someone on the train with a kindle (not the Kindle fire duh) and it amazed me to see a device attain the matte surface that is almost non-existent in a world of glossy screens and diamond screen protectors to enhance its glossiness. this appealed to me so much more compared with reading something on the iPad.

it's glare-free quality ensures you are still able to enjoy a good read while tanning on the beach

the home page, which lists your books, and my 100 drugs pdf HAHA

the 1 drawback: it tells you the location number rather than the page number

this is necessary because as you increase the size of the font, the pages would change. and it would be completely redundant to be on the same page 1 for 4 flips of the kindle ebook.

true, the Kindle Keyboard is unable to do much except store books and some other documents (pdf, doc) for the sole purpose of reading. but it’s long battery life is another pro: a daily-used Kindle can go for 1 month without charging! how long can your iPad last if you lost the charger? even a week is hard to achieve with all the high-power functions you’ll be using it for.

another plus factor is that the screen never ever dims, and flipping through the pages (although is not as realistic compared to the iPad), is alot easier with the side buttons. because when you are on a crowded train and only have 1 hand on your Kindle, you’re still able to flip the page without lifting the other hand and accidentally caressing someone’s behind.

 

and why it’s named Karlton? i named it for the same reason my camera is named Ritz: to save our future sons from inheriting one of Jeremy’s crazy ideas to name his children after hotels (they will thank me for it, i’m sure). and i swapped the C for a K so it’s called “Karlton the Kindle”

owning a Kindle is easy if you’ve done enough research. this link teaches you how to buy books off Amazon.com, a problem for non-US users because the Kindle is not supported.

however, we’ve found a place where books are even more accesible and no torrenting is required let’s just say that if i manage to download 10 books, i’d be able to cover the cost of my kindle.

 

right now, i’m completely hooked onto Hunger Games, and i’d totally recommend it because it’s a fantastic read despite it being written for teenagers. i know you severely distrust me after my love for the Twilight book series but many people have read Hunger Games and i was referred to it by a good few sensible adults. so i assure you, it’s worth reading! besides, the movie comes out in March so there’s plenty of time for you to finish the first book before then!

Hunger Games is about a future America that is now called Panum and is rulled by Capitol (an advance section of the country where all the rich and privileged people live), while the rest of the country is divided into districts and function to serve the needs of the Capitol. to remind the districts of where their place is in the social hierarchy, the Capitol organizes a yearly event called the Hunger Games, where tributes (1 boy and 1 girl from ages 12 to 18) from each district are sacrificed to fight against each other in a battle arena until 1 winner emerges. and i’m surprised at how dark this supposed teenage book is because by fighting, they mean fighting to the death.

omg this trailer gives me the same anticipating chills as i do when i watch trailers for Harry Potter and heh heh for Twilight!!! CANT WAIT FOR THE MOVIE IN MARCH!!!!

NYC day 3

school has completely exhausted me terrible so i will keep this post as picture heavy and words-free as possible so that i won’t have to think much.

met kaye and chunyim at chinatown for dimsum lunch!

it was xmas day, and everywhere but Chinatown was closed for the holidays. Chinese people are really clever at making money and all the dimsum restaurants had a long wait to be seated! we wanted to try the 2nd famous dimsum restaurant, but the waiting time was close to 1 hour. thankfully, Chunyim got us into Ping’s within half an hour.

food was surprisingly good, almost comparable or even better than some of the dimsum i’ve had in Singapore. it cost us about $20 per person, which is quite ok considering the amount of food we ordered!

and Kaye really shocked me (apart from her wild, streaked hair) cos she wanted to drink and asked everyone if they wanted to order beer during the meal. HAHAHAHA somebody really learnt to party in the USA.

at Bryant Park with the new mufflers i bought for $15!

having a cup of warm apple cider at Bryant Park- a must try because it's so SHIOK in the winter

kaye, whom i miss so much at school!!

super nice to chill at a park, except it would be alot better if it weren't so cold

the skating rink at Bryant park was twice as crowded as that in Kallang on a weekend. so we didn’t waste time queueing for it. besides, i was afraid that my noobness at ice-skating would be a severe obstruction in the rink.

at Junior's Cheesecake, which was the best cheesecake we could get since NYC doesn't have the famous Cheesecake factory ):

we had the Devil’s Food Cheesecake and the Strawberry Cheesecake Pie. i realized i don’t really like American cheesecake because it’s way too sweet and too heavy. i’m a bigger fan of the Japanese cheesecake, which is light and simply melts in your mouth!

one last photo before they were off!

later that night, at Times Square!

for dinner, we queued 1 hour for the original The Halal Guys’ Chicken Over Rice ($5). It counts as the best and cheapest meal of the whole trip!!! i couldn’t feel my face and all of my fingers by the time we managed to dig into the meal. and so on subsequent nights, we simply bought Chicken Over Rice from the other copycat street stalls that you can find on almost every street. to me, the difference in quality of food from the original (almost non-existent) wasn’t worth the 1 hour queue in the cold.

Chicken Over Rice, however, a must try for anyone going to NYC! they really should have one in Singapore!!

NYC day 2

after sleeping away my jet lag, we were up early at 830am to vacate our apartment while the cleaning lady came and tidy the house up for the next guest. since we had until 2pm before checking into the next apartment, we decided to grab some breakfast and visit the Museum of Natural History!

artistic shot by jeremy

ordering coffee and breakfast at Momofuku Milk Bar

we chanced upon the Momofuku Milk Bar on while walking to the Museum of Natural History and i’m glad we did because this was one of the best breakfasts we’ve had in NYC!

it was located at 561 Columbus Ave and if you hadn’t paid much attention while walking past, you’d totally miss it! the nature about food places in NY that are really famous is that they’re totally inconspicuous. unlike in Singapore, where famous restaurants/cafes would have HUGEASS banners, millions of laminated newspaper articles about them or have their walls overcrowded with photos of celebrities with the owner.

took this from Yelp, and this is what the Momofuku Milk Bar storefront looks like

you wouldn't even know what it sold unless you peered into the glass windows

for breakfast, we ordered latte, macchiato, cinnamon & raisin croissant and a Bagel Bomb.

forgot that macchiato was actually an expresso shot with milk and not the size of the caramel macchiato in Starbucks

top: Bagel Bomb. bottom: cinnamon & raisin croissant

i usually hate raisins, but i sure enjoyed ones they put in the croissant because they were very soggy and sweet (contrary to the dry and sour ones that i hate), almost like jam! the bagel bomb was interesting, because there was some sort of japanese-mayo-tasting filling in the middle of it. and of course, that the bagel wasn’t actually shaped like a bagel. pity we had no internet then and couldn’t research it’s speciality, The Crack Pie. although this would have to go down on my to-eat list the very next time i’m in NYC!

love how we could just chill by the window and people watch (:

we continued our walk to the Museum of Natural History, which i’ve been so excited to visit because it’s the one museum that i’m actually interested it because i like animals!

love the blurred background haha

strangely, it looks different from the museum that Night at the Museum was shot at, and for a moment after entering, we were trying to search on our  iPhones whether we had gone into the right museum. but it was, to my relief, and i was excited to check out the enormous Trex, Rexy a little later in my tour!

we paid the student price of $19 for entrance, which includes one special exhibition, of which we chose the dinosaurs one.

i really enjoyed the Museum of Nat History because it’s like a zoo except all the animals are frozen (Taxidermy) for you to admire them, instead of having to spot them hiding in one corner or being all lazy and sleepy.

bisons, i think?

RAWR!

some goat

isn’t it just amazing how Taxidermist can get dead animals to be in all sorts of positions despite rigor mortis? i wonder how that works!

some saurus

i see you looking at me, like i'm some kind of freak

the smallest bone of the Brachiosaurus vs all 164.5cm of me

Brachiosaurus, the old-school giraffe

doing some fossil digging at the children's pit

this guy could accidentally stab you in the back

us and something saurus in the background

sadly did not have some gum to offer to gum-gum!

was rather disappointed by this that replaced Rexy at the entrance of the Museum ):

the blue whale at the marine exhibit, which is simply magnificent!

there was also a creepy dark exhibit showing the giant squid attacking the blue whale, or was it the other way around. it was pretty cool that scientists have never seen a giant squid alive. i wanted to take a photo of the exhibit but it creeped me out too much cos the squid was so scary and i hated that it was too close to where i was standing.

walrus chilling out

spot the cat!

we were able to finish viewing the whole museum, a first out of all the museums we had to chance to visit in this holiday. after that, we headed back to the first apartment to lug all our luggage onto the subway and to the new apartment. i really nearly died especially when i was trying to hold on to jeremy’s 50kg luggage, that was going to tip over, while he helped me carry some stuff down the stairs. it’s like me falling on top of me.

bruised hands, and aching arms, we finally got to the next apartment where clem and mel were already waiting. it’s also very small but very nicely furnished, no thanks to the owner being an architect. despite the apartment being so tiny, he found ways to maximize the space with 2 queen sized beds, a flat screen telly, walls decorated with paintings, as well as random tables and shelves decorated with various artifacts and thingums.

on the first day, we thought they were cool. by the 2nd day, we thought they were freaking zhor dang cos we kept bumping into things while trying to maneuver past all of it in the small apartment. by the last day, jeremy broke one of the glass cups on the display and a painting on top of clement & mel’s bed fell onto clement…

our sofa bed, surprisingly which i had no trouble sleeping on for 11 nights!

the toilet, which was so damn small but decent at least

soap, shampoo and conditioner and 2 bath towels per person were provided. gotta love the hospitality of airbnb apartments! it’s comparable to hotels yet you only pay a fraction of the price

the kitchen, which we mostly used to charge laptops and phones, and boil water

thankfully, we found a laundry room at the basement of the apartment and my travel detergent came in handy as we did laundry 4 times while we were there so that we could have fresh clean clothes, socks and underwear everyday (:

it’s funny that we felt like we were in the laundry room scene in Big Bang Theory each time we were down there. also, it was pretty cool to be doing my own laundry for the first time, even if it’s just putting stuff in and taking stuff out of the washing machine and dryer.

at the lobby of our apartment, with the beautiful Xmas tree

in addition, the apartment had a doorman, who was super helpful in answering our questions about the laundry room and what happens to a package that gets delivered (we did some online shopping while we were there heh heh!) to the apartment while we were out.

am so thankful we found this apartment to stay at in NYC. it felt so much like home for 12 days. even now, i still think about it and miss coming home to it after a long day of sightseeing.

NYC day 1

got back a few days ago from my amazing holiday to NYC. it was totally worth every dollar (and there were alot) spent!!!

get ready for a picture-heavy series of posts and about the things we saw and did!

Day 1:

the closest i'll ever get to going abroad for exchange and having people send me off at the airport

it was my first time flying alone, and thankfully, the experience was a good one. of course, being alone made me more vigilant of my surroundings and extra careful about where to go and what to do so i guess that helped. nonetheless, it very liberating and i felt so grown up because i got on two planes and travelled halfway around the world, for 24 hours by myself!

it got abit unbearable on the 14 hour flight from Dubai to NYC though, and hours felt like days because i felt so claustrophobic and i also badly wanted to see Jeremy!

oh well, but it was worth it and although our reunion at the airport wasn’t a run-dropluggage-hug kind of epic like you see in the movies, it was still very memorable (:

first time on the subway in NYC

we heaved all our luggage on the subway all the way to Columbus Avenue, where we spent the first and only night in a dingy apartment that is the size of a 1-room HDB flat in Singapore.

 

believe me, if you’ve had the chance to enter a NYC subway station, you’d be thankful for SMRT even if they had delays once a week. i feel so ashamed of all my laments about the recent MRT delays the moment i stepped into a NYC subway.

- the tracks are littered with (i suspect) months worth of rubbish tossed in by commuters despite having a dustbin nearby. you can eat and drink in the subway, so i reckon that contributes to the insane amount of littering.

- the trains are jerky and they sometimes don’t have signs to tell you all the stops the train will make.

- there is no waiting time display at all. so stop complaining about SMRT giving you a heads up that the train is arriving 6 minutes later. we once waited 30 minutes for a freaking train only to go up to the control station and find a notice which stated that particular train doesn’t operate at night.

so yes, be thankful for SMRT you guys.

 

he took me out to dinner later at Pepe Verde’s, an Italian restaurant located a 10 minute walk away from our apartment. i believe Yelp.com is a super useful tool to find good food around you when you’re in the US.

Pepe Verde’s is a small cozy restaurant that feels very homely. maybe it appealed to me particularly at that time because i was so shocked at how cold 7 degrees was and was desperate to get into a nice warm place and order a hot meal.

Calamari rings in tomato sauce

Papadel with some minced meat

Meat Lagsane

he also ordered a bottle of red wine, which we couldn’t finish haha. food was ok only, though i really enjoyed the calamari rings because they were easy to bite into and swallow. how come nobody thought to serve calamari rings in tomato sauce before?

om nom nom

it took me a lot of getting used to taking 5 minutes to pile on 4 layers of clothes, a scarf, gloves, and my beret. only to start stripping them off for another 5 minutes when going indoors.

after dinner, we went to walk walk at 5th Avenue but by the time we got there, all the shops were closed so i couldn’t get down to my shopaholic ways. so we just took in the sights of Christmas decorations in NYC, as well as all the classic shop buildings that always goes in the montage of Gossip Girl.

at Harry Winston!

can't believe i forgot to go back and have breakfast at Tiffany's!!!

grand central station

memories after grand central were quite hazy because the fatigue from insufficient sleep on the plane kicked in. i sleep so soundly that night, despite our apartment being right above a pub that was playing Jazz music all the way to the wee hours of the morning.

one step closer

sentimental entry alert!!!

4 months and 8 days ago, i would’ve never imagined myself to be here at this point of time, waiting to fly off on a plane to NYC to meet Jeremy finally.

it was definitely not easy getting through all those months alone either. sure, it may only be such a short time for some people. but it felt like a million years to me. in the first 2 months, i was practically just getting by from morning to night each day- definitely not a good thing :/

despite that, i think the ample alone time (and boredom that often accompanies it) somewhat motivated me to accomplish many things that i found a lot of excuses for avoiding before:

- learning to drive: completed all 30 lessons and have booked my traffic police practical test for Feb 15!

- joining the Cleo blogging competition

- putting my everything into studying so that i can pull my miserable year 3 CAP up. i finally did, with a whopping highest CAP i ever got in all the semesters of my uni life (4.83). cumulative cap is up only by 0.05 but whatever, I DID IT!

most of all, i found so much more time to hang out with my friends! and i’m grateful for all the support and love they’ve given me, even if it was just 5 seconds of grumbling about how lonely or bored i was.

haha but don’t get me wrong! jeremy has never once neglected me either. in fact, he’s been the biggest support i had in the past few months, always motivating me to do more and be more <3

 

final hurdle to cross: not get lost while travelling alone.

believe me or not, but this has been the biggest stressor since the exams, and i swear i’m the most blur person when it comes to airports and i’ve always followed my parents blindly without knowing the process! i pray that i will safely deliver myself to NYC in 1 piece.

 

in a way, i’m grateful for the past 4 months because it made me grow up and prepare for the next phase of true blue adulthood. although, if i had to do it again, i’d probably just die haha!

anyway, WE MADE IT!!! <3 <3 <3

stay tuned for updates on my NYC trip! it’s gonna be so epic, i’ll take loads of pictures to make up for the absence of visuals on my blog for so long haha!!

SEE YA PALS

the new girl

i was so bored i decided to start watching The New Girl, a new comedy staring Zooey Deschanel (found out her surname is pronounced ‘Deh-Chanel’ haha cool!)

the pilot episode was so-so and it’s humour isn’t the same, and hence not really as good, as HIMYM, MF or BBT. however, zooey deschanel is so pretty and charming in her silly dorky ways that i decided to continue watching the next 8 episodes of the first season.

what i also love is her girly vintage outfits, her pumps in all the different colours of the rainbow (i need to start collecting those), and her cute sling pouches that are only big enough to fit a phone and maybe some folded dollar bills.

cute shorts-skirt!

wow someone tell me where i can get my own rainbow brolly!

my favourite outfit of all!! i'd never even consider combining two times of polka dots in the same outfit but as you can see, it works!

The New Girl is about, well the new girl who moves into a male-dominated apartment, and brings a whole new female perspective into their lives. at the same time, she gets some bro-advice on how to get into the dating scene again, having just gotten out of a bad relationship.

watch the trailer here!

her dude room mates aren’t that attractive, except Schmidt (Max Greenfield)! hahaha but sometimes he’s quite gay and google hasn’t given me a solid answer on whether he’s really gay IRL. but for now, that’s my TV eye candy

for the guys, either quirky, doe-eyed Zooey’s your type, or her sultry, cleavage-baring Victoria-Secret-Model-potential friend Cece (Hannah Simone) is.

well, if you liked the show, you heard it first from me

bucket list: appear in a magazine

CHECKED!!!!

still wouldn’t walk out of my house wearing this outfit, no matter how fashion-savvy it may be. haha i still prefer any of the other girls’ outfits, especially the nude maxi dress + cardigan get up(worn by Rachel), Miss Selfridge cut-out dress (worn by Clarie), and the nice nude pumps from F21 (worn by Samantha)

what do you think, did i pull off neon + nude anyway?

i loved the brooch though, was never really a brooch person but it’s pretty cool how a brooch can add a touch of quirky to a plain outfit! if i show this magazine cut-out to Topshop, you’ll think they’ll let me have the brooch for free? haha!!

really liked the neon Quintessential bangles too, except they were too big for my wrist! but never knew they cost $89 a pop!

and it was also interesting to realize that i don’t look that ridiculous with a headband, and a neon one at that. but also still wouldn’t dare to wear it out HAHA!

it was fun though: the anticipation of going for the fashion shoot, experiencing a photoshoot first-hand, being styled by someone else, and then the frantic worrying of whether i’ll look like shit when it comes out in print, rushing out on the day of release of the issue to grab a copy, and heaving a sigh of relief that it wasn’t so bad after all