adieu '08, HOLA 2009!

2008 has been quite a fruitful and memorable year for me.

Stepping into adulthood wasn't merely about elaborate celebrations, freedom and authority.

It also brought along new responsibilities and expectations (both from myself and others).

Standing at 21, i can safely say that i'm still in the process of maturing to be a full-bloom adult.

Like i always lament, time really flies. It really does.

I never knew that my parents have aged tremendously over the years until I had the time to sit down over dinner this holiday and notice the additional wrinkle or grey hair on them.

Sometimes i wonder how much more time do we have together?

Why am i still taking them for granted?

How can i contribute to make the family more loving and peaceful?

Despite the frequent arguments and cold wars, it's needless to emphasize that they remain the centre of my life.

Behind this facade, my greatest fear has always been the fear of losing any of them one day, because i know that the day will def. come, just sooner or later.

Therefore, Thank you papa and mummy for giving me life, for your infinite love, for putting up with my nonsense, for giving me the best of everything, for bringing me up to who i am today. I'm nothing without any of you.

In the course of two-oh-eight, i have also forged priceless friendships. I believe time is the true test of all kinds of relationships and i'm proud to say tat i have weaved strong ones in which i am v.certain the i will keep for life.You guys know who you are yeah :) Thank you my friends for your love and for never failing to be there for me. I'm truly blessed because of you people who are so close to my heart.

I bid farewell to some who i have unintentionally hurt and i sincerely hope that you will move on with something/someone better.

With that, i wanna bid 2008 goodbye and i know that 2009 is my year to continue to shine.

I strive to excel in every aspect of my life and most importantly to graduate smoothly and embark on my career. :*)

The bottomline of my 2009 resolution?

I wanna be a better person, a better daughter and a better friend. I hope to have the courage to step out of my comfort zone and make a difference to other people's lives.

I look forward to another splendid year with less war, less epidemics, better economy, more peace, love and happiness in this world. Most importantly, i wish for good health for my parents and the neverending moo-lahs. haha.

Happy two-oh-nine to all of you.

May the people i love be blessed with the goodness of life :)

With love,
fz

O' make merry with my favs :*)

The most important people of my life :)

Xmas this yr was a pretty simple affair for me. The eve was spent over a warm and cosy dinner, Twilight and yummylicious supper at Katong Hong kong cafe with my dearies.

Similar to past yrs, it's a tradition for all of us to don xmas hats, stroll down the crowded streets, hum xmas carols and make merry. I guess the only difference this yr is the unforgiving rain that serves to dampen the mood a lil. All we wish is for a white xmas and here comes a wet one. brr. Here we go, splurging on a 8-course dinner at Tao's restuarant in Paradiz Centre. We sure know how to pamper oursleves. haha.

It was our first visit except for jc. I thought the appetizers and starters tasted much better than the main course itself. I had lamb cutlets which fell way below expectations (considering that it was recommended) and the dessert (poached pear) was simply pathetic except for the creme bulee that the rest ordered.

oh well, i guess i might return in future just for their lunch menu...or maybe not? unless they start serving only starters without the obligation of having a set meal.

Everyone's fav. hangout. The washroom. HAHA. After looking thru the pics, i realised that this is the ONLY 'decent' shot i have of pq (peeks behind). oh my. -_-

fairies. :)

where Narcissism reigns..haa. This excludes poor jc.dear who wasnt really in the xmas mood due to her eye infection. I hope you're recovering well yeah? :)


At the lobby @ PS. Waiting for jc and pq to be done with their business b4 heading off to The Cathay.
Supper after Twilight to satisfy my porridge craving. hee.
I must say that admist the bad reviews by movie critics and those who have read the novel, this movie has successfully capture my heart and needless to say, im extremely besotted by Edward Cullen who exudes such charm and masculinity.
awww.. if only he exist in reality, i am 100% willing to turn a vampire for him. LOL.
-day dreams-

jc back in the mood for some cam-whoring. lol.
After reviewing each shot, we kept wondering why the hell our faces look so oily??!!
hmnn..i guess it must be the erratic weather.
duncha love these hats??
Initially, i was pretty reluctant to purchase one because it cost $5 BUT only 50 cents is going to singhealth.
oh well, it's a business gimmick instead of charity i say.
We still bought one each, it's gonna be our xmas 'uniform'/headress for the many yrs to come. :P

Xmas
was spent with alicia.darling in Orchard and at Tetsu. Amanda (her sis) got me a cute coin pouch from Japan! hehe. i love the color! so sweet of her rite? hehe. Darling made a really pretty handphone accessory for me since she knows that i love customize stuff and most importantly it's in my fav. pink and purple in bling bling crystals. haha. It's so pretttyyy! i can't stop going ga-ga over it. I actually thought that she bought it from somewhere. LOL.

Thank you darling, i dun hafta say much but im sure you know how much you mean to me :)
it's our 3rd xmas together...hahahaha.
like we always say, if only one of us is a guy, we wld have been happily married already.
HAHAHAHHAHA.
If you reader do not know yet, the endless chemistry and telepathy is somethg that really bond this priceless friendship together.
:*)

My latest addiction!
After reading the raves on CLEO about this attas-looking authentic japanese resturant, darling suggested for us to have our xmas dindin there. All I can say is that Tetsu is
superb.
Ambience: 4.5/5
Service: 5/5
Food: 5/5
Price: 4/5 (subjective, but reasonable to us)
For fussypots like us, we seriously have got NOTHING to complain about this restuarant. It's located on the 2nd level at Tanglin Mall and i highly recommend that anyone who loves jap food MUST make your first visit there and i'm extremely sure you will return for more.
It's absolutely gonna be my fav.hangout soon.
I had rather pay more to dine here as compared to Sakae sushi and whatsnot. Okie, Ichiban sushi (Esplanade) and sushi tei are still acceptable on low-budget days. haa.

Now, i'll let the pics do the talking although i feel that it doesn't do much justice if you dun personally taste it. Embrace yourself for some drooling time! :P

i love the interior design of Tetsu. Extremely elegant, classy, romantic yada yada... All my fav. adjectives can be put to use here. haha.


See? now you know what im talking about. teeheehee.
We shared a festive set meal and here you go!

Our starter.
i can't remember the exact names so i shall roughly cook up the description k?
from left to right: chilled deep-fried tempura salmon/swordfish, half-done fish ( i forgot it's name, is it red snapper?) soaked in sweet tangy sauce and smooth cold tofu drizzled in a dressing thats garnished with century egg. This made every spoonful heavenly (fyi, it's our fav appetizer).


California roll.

It looks pretty normal eh? Trust me, try putting one piece into your mouth and it will tell the whole story. Maybe it's the rice, maybe it's the chef's skill, just maybe..we can't tell why it taste so special as compared to the normal sushi you find at cheap eateries. hmmn.

my fav.hotpot that can send me to paradise! yum yum yum.

We agree that codfish taste better than salmon afterall.

Interesting?

Guess what's this for?

No, it does not contain a genie that will grant you 3 wishes. haha.

Tempura prawns and katsu thats deep-fried till light golden-brown! It's crispy on the outside and juicy inside. woolala. The tangy sauce that is lightly stirred in grounded peanuts reminds me of those in Mai-Mason. Not forgetting the savoury garlic rice thats only second to my dad's creation. :)

Right up to the Dessert, it was still perfect! Presenting to you, Tetsu's very own in-house sesame-flavoured ice cream. WEEEEE. Just the right thing to end the meal on a high note. haha.

Need i emphasize more on how much we LOVE the food there? :)

This is us goofy-ing away as usual. haha. only these few pathetic shots and those ta-glam ones that alicia.darling tagged. ROARR. According to her (which i agree), i looked really chui that day...pale-looking (not as if i'm not white/fair enough) and all.

All thanks to the accumulative late nites out and being consecuetively caught in the rain..i was officially sick on xmas itself. I woke up to a pretty bad sorethroat, block nose n i will spare you the rest of the details.

I still remember the first thing i said when i met alicia was "Merry Xmas." (with the most insincere tone ever and a stupid black face).

HAHAHHAA. forgive me lah okokok.

oh yah, darling was holding onto the magazine (nu ren wo zui da) and she says i really resemble selina from s.h.e. maybe it's the extreme girliness? haha. okie, loyal s.h.e fanatics pls dun kill me. it's just a comment. :P

blurry effect. haha. The truth behind this shaky shot is that we were busy giggling away when we were 'caught red-handed' by the waiter (who was standing at his counter which was just opposite our table) while doing those monkey-faces. LOL.

i guess this is a common situation. haha.
whats xmas without a xmas tree? but this one's fairly okie. i have seen nicer ones. My fav. this yr has gotta be the crystal one at bugis which is sponsored by Lee Hwa jewellery. :)

yes an extremely chui-looking me. i have decided to put up this pic all becos of the reindeer which truly outshines me here. HAHA.

.

.

.

On the 26th, Boxing Day,

it was spent with my precious jie meis (xin lan, joanne) and yc. To my horror, i only realised when i got hm that we did not take any pics at all!!! :( I guess we must be too engrossed in catching-up with each other's lives. And no people, im not getting married yet. Stop wishing n looking

forward to it. HAHAHAHA -_-

We had a lovely picnic at The Botanical Gardens on a lazy afternoon. I was fashionably late as usual. heh. It has been eons since i last visited this place. The weather, scenery, food and great company adds to the list of memorable outings we have together. :)

Soon after, we headed to chill out at Coffee Club in taka and then to Condom Fantasy since both lan n joanne have yet to explore it b4. haha.

Nothing interesting..just the usual stuff...except for the fact that the shopkeepers there can't seem to be able to keep their eyes off you and this makes it a lil uncomfortable. ah whatever, i dun give a damn.

I just wanna tell you guys that i feel extremely blessed that after so many yrs, we still have each other :). Sometimes i wonder how magical friendships can be. Despite the fact that we do not share a common interest, we are not studying in the same unis, we have gatherings only once or twice annually and we have different personalities; it's really fated for us to cross paths and maintain it till now. thank you for always being there for me.

:)

.
.

.

On Sunday, i brought my family to Dian Xiao Er at T3 to try the Angelica Herb quack quack quack. haha. Im so glad that they love it! My parents also ordered 2 ducks for the coming cny. lol. now tell me how cute is that.

After that, we headed over to the Marina Barrage. I have been telling them about it ever since mr.ck drove me there last tues. haha. The view was splendid! :*)

Thru rain and shine; they have always been my main source of security.


The adorable lil boats that ck 'threatened' to sell me off in. HAHA.

ooo. just look at the pretty neon lights.

Anything with colors like that is sufficient to make my heart flutter. haha.

Alrite..thats all for now.

If you have read till here, i sincerely thank you for your patience for going thru this long post with me. haha. For now, i'm trying to churn up my new year resolution (1 more day) and hopefully make it short and sweet. lol.

To you (if ya reading this): i'm sorry.

i think i have MIA-ed for quite awhile. brb for the xmas eve, xmas, boxing day n family outings update soon.

i'm trying v.hard to motivate myself to upload all the pics asap and then i realised that i am 2 days away from 2009. Ahhh. Alrite, and i will be back for the end-of-the-year-tradition-so-you-say --> my new year resolution 2009.

on a side note, i'm overwhelmed with my newly acquired loots... a v.pretty n girly
Guess heart shape charm bracelet watch that i got for half price where the original was 300 plus and a pair of Steve Madden knee-high Boots thats made out of soft calf leather. oohlala.

I dun care what you say, but retail theraphy does make me happy. i'm v.sure i'm not the only one who feels so..come'on lets just admit it. :)

I realised that there are certain things or people in our lives that we choose to forget and human beings choose to retain only the things they want to.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S of the zoooo

woohoo!! i have survived the zoo and am back in one-piece. LOL.
This excludes the fact that i am currently nursing a terrible backache. argh.

i can no longer live in denial. I realised that i can't catch up with their pace anymore. -sulks-

Oh well. The weather was perfect for a pre-xmas excursion like this.

hehe. one thing for sure, i think the kids had really enjoyed themselves.

It's really amazing to know how they can memorise the various enclosures and the names of the animals by heart. OMG.

E.g: They can tell me that the name of the polar bear is called Inuka. Gosh.

Anyway, special thanks to ber.fairy for her company n i'm sure the kids love her too. :*)

of cos, we had our own share of fun and not forgetting ah tes who never fails to entertain us with her dirty jokes and staring at the baboons whatsnot.

hahaha. arhuh. arhuh. it must be the mating the season

Here are some of my fav.shots! :)
The rest are already on my fb.
There are 2 full albums of pretty pics, get clicking n enjoy!

We had a home-cooked fine dining at my cousin's place on tues. The brocolli cream soup, grilled salmon with smoked prawns simmered in white-wine cream sauce and Australian leek were simply orgasmic!! Not kidding you.

The fillet is tender and succulent; it melts in your mouth like nv b4.

awww.

a pity i was too hungry to take any pics of it.

with my sweet 7 yr-old niece, Samantha. Shes really sharp and witty. Ber also commented that we look alike. do we? is it the hairstyle or what?

Noticed the white/violet scarf around my neck?
It's a v.special gift from vanessa (as seen below). This is the 1st scarf she has knitted her entire life! I felt really touched and surprised! Although it isn't perfect, but it's easily one of the most sentimental presents i have ever received. She said that she wanted to give it to someone she could trust and is really close to her heart.
awwww. sucha sweetie :*)
i will def. bring it to aussie and make sure it returns with me in one-piece yeah.

On wed: the usual shot -at the entrance of the zoo. lol

we are all enthu and prepared to conquer the place. HAHA.

Fairies unite! :) It wld'nt be the same without her presence.

Just look at our stun expressions. We were really afraid that the parrots behind decide to launch an attack on us anytime. HAHA. The zookeeper was super hilarious. She kept telling us to remain calm because we look real nervous in the pics. LOL.

-drumrolls- LOL. The infamous shot of the day. you go figure out yourself ok? :P

A group shot right infront of the flamingo enclosure. It was taken by this v.nice ah pek. haha.

with my cutie.pie whos a lil grumpy at times but adorable 80% of the time. The kids really do respect me. If any argument arises among themselves, i just need to give them a 'friendly' stare and they will stop their nonsense immediately. hahaha.

with Samantha and Gerrick- The Mr.Macho in the making. I watched him grow up over the yrs and i'm glad that he has mature for the better :)

Inuka the polar bear. Her mum, Sheba, had passed away not too long ago. She still looks kinda sad n empty isnt it?

ber and i wanted to take a decent pic together but the lil kiddo had to come into the picture. hahaha. It's still a prettay shot =)

On the tram..chu chu chu.

Theres no doubt that elephant is her fav.animal afterall. Spot the resemblance?

Arhuh. how can we forget some spastic shots to spice things up. Here are 2 disoriented bunnies. Cute right? haha.

Maybe i should consider that job in the casino. ahhhaha. okie. JUST KIDDING.

charming vanessa and her panda that looked so real!

Mr.act cool.

okie... here comes the part that really burnt off all the calories we consumed from KFC! ber n i kinda strained our backs while pulling the rope to get this boat-like-tug-of-war thingy moving!! ahhh...The 3 kids had more strength than us. omg.

WEEE.. almost reaching! Hanging in there while the onlookers (parents n kids) were laughing at us. haha. UNGLAM.

Her fav.cable wire. I wonder why is it sucha a popular one among the kids? Hmmn. dun they feel uncomfortable sitting like that? lol.

At Ben and Jerrys with my gorgeous nieces and hunky nephew. haha. aww. this must be the 1st pic we have taken together after they have grown so much!

We were just in time for the elephant show. It was really entertaining but I wished it could lasts longer though.

i like this shot. The mountain goat looked really strong and empowering as though it was about to conquer a higher mountain.

i forgot their names but un these creatures cute??!! they look like soft toys~ haha.
Their way of showing affection. Scratching time!

Now comes the ferocious White Tigers! Ber n i have been looking forward to visit this enclosure. Still remember that man who got killed in this den? hmmn.

At Australian outback. Ohmy. darling..dun tell me we will really see them daily when we r over there next yr!

True to the metaphor..as proud as a peacock. It simply refused to pose for me. Now i have gotta leave you guys with it's perky ass.

idiotic ah tes says that she sees the resemblance among the THREE of us. -stares at kangeroo n roll eyes at her- HAHAHA.

I swear having 1-2 kids in future is sufficient for me. haha. It's really not easy! Now i can finally understand why every parent lament that it's a tough job to bring up a child. My experience with the 3 of them for a day is nothing compared to being responsible for them for the entire lifetime. It's all about duties, tlc (tender loving care), discipline and not forgetting fun.

alrite, i'm still suffering the aftermath of ystd. Backaches, muscle ache yada yada. Off to catch some wink. Feel free to leave your tags! :*)