The year that went by...

As the curtains are drawn on 2007, I can't help but to reflect on how the year went by...

Over the course of 2007:

I made some new friends...

while some old ones left, leaving me with memories and bringing with them my good wishes.

I've cried over the mistakes that I've made and the disappointments that I've faced...

but I've also found happiness in knowing that there are those who care for me and would be there with a comforting shoulder for me to cry on.

I've achieved success in many things...

but I've also lost and failed in other things.

I've learnt many lessons in life that made me a better person...

yet, I have also forgotten some very important lessons and mistakes that I've made in the past.

I took the courage to try out new experiences in life...

though at times, I just refused stubbornly to face changes or move out of my comfort zone.

I have had my share of ups and downs in 2007... but I will only bring into 2008, all the wonderful memories... and I would like to thank all of you who have made a difference to my life, brought me joy throughout the year and stood by me when I needed someone.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR BEING PART OF MY LIFE IN 2007.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Boxing Day Sale

We originally planned to go shopping at 8.30am to beat the crowd to the Boxing Day sale... BUT, after staying up till 4am in the morning the night before... it was like Mission Impossible. We ended up only leaving for town at 9.30am and arrived past 10am at Bond Street...

Naturally, the crowd beat us to it... there were throngs of people and massive queues already... our dedication to shopping meant that we skipped breakfast and head to our first store - Zara.

It was really bad. After 20 minutes of waiting in the queue for the cashier (in which I've only inched a couple of steps for the whole duration!), I gave up and left the store empty handed.

My next target shop was River Island but with the queues snaking out to the pavement, I gave up even before browsing the sales items.

But... when Jane Norman had a one day special on Boxing Day with everything in the store on 50% discount, I couldn't resist. I absolutely love Jane Norman dresses and it would be an absolute bargain to get them at half price! Even though I ended up queuing for about 45 minutes to get those dresses, there were worth it... and with that I started the shopping spree...

Bin Bin, Clare and me posing in the middle of Regent Street during our intermission!

The shopping queen... retail therapy always works! We shopped all the way from Bond Street to Oxford Circus to Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus...

The guys met us for lunch as they couldn't be bothered with the sale... and after lunch we went for... MORE SHOPPING... hahahaha... what can I say... it's the great Boxing Day Sale... and we moved on to Covent Garden...

Just look at the mountain of shopping bags that we had! I guess you could call it a fruitful day... I went home with 3 dresses, a winter coat, 2 cardigans, 2 tops, a pair of boots, 15 pairs of stockings (er.. I can't help it... they have 3 for 2 promotion and each box comes with 5 pairs!), lingerie, at least 3 months supply of Body Shop goodies... AND of course, a dent in my savings...

I'M ABSOLUTELY A SHOPAHOLIC! (and not ashamed to admit it...) :P

Christmas Dinner

This year's Christmas Dinner was a quiet affair... there were only 6 of us instead of the 14-odd people! Nevertheless, it was fun and we had a special guest all the way from Hong Kong-Australia... Clare is back in London now!

Since we only have 6 this year, thought we should all have a proper sit down civilised dinner (and hopefully no drunkens :P)... So, I've prepared a 3-course dinner for everyone...

Starters was grilled Portobello mushrooms with cheese and parma ham served with garlic butter dough balls.

The main course was herbs and black pepper roast chicken with sausages stuffing as everyone didn't want to have a turkey (Quoted from Bin2: "Aiyah... turkey so dry and tough... don't like..."). And served with mashed potatoes and salad.

Dessert was lemon and chocolate hazelnut cheesecake in cupcake sizes... hehehe... I think they looked absolutely adorable with the chocolate decorations :)

Oh... and how can I forget... the mysterious bottle of Moet from my qualification celebration... :P

And after dinner activities include challenging each other at Wii, poker (as usual!) and chatting (hmm... or should I say debating?) on various topics until 4am! I don't know why we can never be good and go to bed early...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Thought I'll get myself into a festive mood and bring some cheers to my little flat... so I went out to get some Christmas decorations...

Snowflakes at the window...

My little Christmas tree...

And festive baubles on my shelf...

Happy Christmas! :)

Celebration - a tad too much!

Yes, I was terribly irrational... drank a wee bit too much on my qualification celebration (as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries... in case you wonder what FIA stands for...) ...

AND THE END RESULT:

1) I needed 3 friends to come to my rescue and practically carry me through the journey home (God knows how embarrassed they must have been... having to lug me on the tube)

2) Puked and vomited a zillion times... including at the tube station, on the way to the tube station, my friend's toilet... and my own toilet

3) Must have said a lot of stupid and senseless things

4) Found a bottle of champagne in my bag... which I have no idea how it got there...

5) Found a really icky and gross toy lion in my bag... yucks..

6) Did something really stupid and am regretting now

7) Dropped (or maybe threw!) my phone a million times... resulting in cracks and scratches everywhere :(

8) Had a really painful headache and hangover...

Gosh... I really need to stay away from alcohol... at least for the next few days... and I must really say thank you to Bin2, KT and Zhi Rui for taking care of me and bringing me home safely... I don't even remember how I got home... And sorry for all the troubles that I caused!

FIA

YES, YOURS TRULY IS A FIA NOW! YIPEE!

NO MORE STUDYING, NO MORE EXAMS!!

;)

The day...

It's the big day... the day that may mean that studying days are all in the past...

Will I pass and can finally say hello to being a qualified actuary?

They say once you start failing, it just becomes a viscous cycle... it knocks the confidence out of you... and eventually, you may end up getting sick of taking the exams...

The only bad thing about having a good track record is that everyone has so much expectation on you. Everyone EXPECT you to pass, no less... and you end up being in a position where failing becomes so much harder to stomach...

But I guess at the end of the day... whatever the results, I can truly say to myself that I've tried my best... so, I'll try to be brave and face the results - good or bad!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed... so, wish me luck!

BBB

That stands for Bin Bin's Birthday...

Anyway, since I failed to keep my promise the last time round of making a tiramisu for my housewarming and some have been complaining that it has been a year since the last time I made one for everyone... so, I've made the efforts to make one for Bin Bin's birthday...

Wanted it to be a surprise for her (as I told her that I was really busy at work and didn't have the time to do it... which is true by the way...) hence, I couldn't make it on Friday night when we usually have our poker session... plus, I wasn't going to carry the cake around town on Saturday night! So, instead... I had to make it on Thursday night after work...

I ended up staying up till about 1am to make the tiramisu... but it's worth it when you can make someone happy (and I guess others who get to eat it?) I was really happy when my little sis baked a cake for my birthday...

The final product... a really huge tiramisu! Didn't have much time to think about decorations... so had to rely on good old strawberries to make it look prettier!

The birthday girl with the birthday cake (on what else... but the poker table? hahaha...)

The birthday girl, birthday cake and me!

And everyone else posing for pictures in my house...

The next day, we went to watch a musical as the birthday girl wanted to watch one. We ended up watching Avenue Q...

I thought the musical was pretty funny and provocative... They poked fun at everything from homosexuality, racism, one night stand, pornography, the internet, drinking to unemployment. It's really a musical for the younger generation... the main characters of the musical had university degrees yet, they find themselves without the "dream job" and how much their lives sucks... in their search for the "purpose" of life, they discover what friendship, love and dreams are made of (which coincidentally is the name of my blog! :P)

After the musical, we went to this seafood restaurant for dinner... which according to KT Yeo, they have more variety of fishes on their menu than the number of times that Naveen actually won at poker...

Some pictures of what we had...

Fresh oysters, seafood platter, monkfish with parma ham, grilled sea bream with lemon and thyme sea salt, catch of the day, and grilled sea bass with garlic butter.

And a toast to the birthday girl! Think we went a bit wild on the wine and ended up with quite a big bill :P

Nevertheless, hope everyone had a good time... Happy 26th Birthday Bin Bin!

Fine Dining

One of the perks of being a consultant is that you work on many different projects in a year. And at the end of each project, there will be a project meal.

Through these meals, I was introduced to the concept of fine dining. And I absolutely love it! It brings a whole new meaning to the dining experience because not only you get the freshest ingredients and inspirational ways of cooking them, you also get the presentation, the ambience and the service. (And I mean proper service - your own private dining room with butler-like waiters/waitress serving you and attending to your needs throughout a 10-course tasting menu for example!)

Some examples of what I've been treated to - bite size tapas and cocktails at the famed Library Bar (which is supposedly one of Britain's legendary private clubs with it's world-renowned collection of vintage cognacs) and dinner at the internationally acclaim Conservatory at the Lanesborough hotel with its succulent hunks of Scotch beef.

Then there's also the private champagne reception and dining at the new Andaz Hotel at Liverpool Street (formerly called the Great Eastern Hotel!). Everything from the fresh scallops to the steak to the white chocolate dessert were excellent.

There are other places which are too posh for me to take any pictures!! (Paiseh to start snapping pictures in front of my partner... hehehe...) And that includes the 10-course tasting menu at the Savoy hotel, this posh French restaurant at Notting Hill, a 3-course lunch by Tower Hill, scallops and champagne reception at Tower 42 in the City, black tie reception at the Gherkin, just to mention a few.

My Associate Director has given me the task to choose the restaurant for a project that just ended. Too bad it's too short notice, otherwise, I'll definitely go for Gordon Ramsay's at the Claridges!

Sigh... I could really get used to this kind of lifestyle...

Breakfast

I'm not a morning person... I hate waking up early if I don't have to... and if I have my way, I would be going to work at 11am instead...

BUT... on one fine Saturday morning... Grace decided that we should all wake up early and meet for breakfast... what????? I don't even wake up early enough on work days to have breakfast... (I usually have my breakfast in the office... I have my stash of yoghurt and cereals at the office!! hehehe)

Hmmm... but for dear Grace, I dragged myself out of bed and arrive at this American breakfast place at Green Park called Automat - it's supposed to be quite good and famous!

You can have your eggs either with salmon or ham... I chose the salmon one... somehow, it reminds me of my days in Singapore when I would go to the Coffee Bean near my hostel all the time to have their breakfast! I used to love the Coffee Bean breakfast... (yes, back then I DO wake up early to go to the college for the never-ending common tests or block tests... *shudder*)

The vanilla milkshake was also really good... if only I can get that near the office every morning! That would really make my day :)

And of course, my all time-favourite waffles with strawberries and ice-cream... it was delicious... the blueberry pancake was not too bad as well!

The verdict: It's a nice change from my usual wake-up-at-12pm-then-have-instant-noodles-Saturday-morning routine! But, don't even think about making me do it every Saturday... I need my (beauty) sleep! :P