Cool Pretty Drawings…

I received the above two drawings (Halloween theme) from my France swap partner, Nini today. She’s an illustrator. Isnt it pretty? There’s a whole lot more that she send to me but these two are my favourites!!

Just sharing beautiful pictures…. and if you like you can check out her blog for more cool drawings but be warned that it’s all in French!

Here’s one more that she sent through email in my earlier correspondence with her….

Table attraction…

Table centrepiece for Christmas Eve Dinner at my place. Alas, forgot to snap pictures of the foodie prepared
and yes, that’s an actual orange in case you’re wondering :p

Christmas Nostalgia..

It has always been my favourite season of the year ~ Christmas!! The malls are decked in festive Christmas colours, lots of different themes/decorations as they compete year after year and not forgetting those lovely Christmas tunes

Each time I hear any Christmas carols, it always bring a smile on my face as it just lighten me up, making me in a really cheerful and holiday spirit!

Add this on to those lovely decorations and voila, I just wish that everyday it will be this great feeling. No work, no worries

This year, the malls did a great job again in their decorations :

Marching Bands @ 1U, Bandar Utama

Christmas Lodge @ The Curve, Mutiara Damansara

The North Pole Express @ Ikano Power Centre, Mutiara Damansara

Fairy Whisper @ Mid Valley Megamall

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite Christmas carols ~ Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire. Hope you have a Berry Good Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

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Merry Christmas Everyone!!

credits : KSC_Charm of Christmas_Foliage Frame Spec & MAD_SSLyo Stocking Special-2007

Happy Winter Solstice!

Today, we celebrated Winter Solstice rather differently. We went to Exotic – a Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian Cuisine at Sri Hartamas. Initialy, the venue was to be at The Ming Room, Bangsar Shopping Centre but it was changed by my 8th aunt so that we can savour something ‘different’.

‘Different’ it was and a great experience as well (on some of the dishes which is my first try).

Here’s rolling it off what we had :

~ Fresh Prawn Roll (prawns rolled with vegetables. the mint leaves is a bit too heavy for my liking tho..)
~ Spring Roll (this is the fried version, could not make out what’s inside besides veggies!)
~ Vietnamese Crepe (crispy thin crust with fillings of chick peas, chicken and prawns)
~ Mango Salad
~ Cambodian Salad (shreds of cabbage and bits of chicken in it)
~ Steamed Rice Cakes with Prawns (first time I tried this, a tiny plate with a layer of steam rice and bits of crouton, minced prawns and chick peas. Add fish sauce, mix and eat it!)
~ Pineapple Rice
~ Lotus Seed Rice (it came wrapped in lotus leaves)
~ Grilled Squid
~ Thai Tom Yam Fish (steamed)
~ Beef Stew
~ Mixed Vegetables

A total of 14 pax and 1 toddler shared the above menu. For dessert, we had mango and glutinous rice with coconut milk and cambodian fried banana with ice cream. Not to forget the drink I had which was the Lemongrass drink. It has just the right amount of lemongrass, not too heavy nor light in taste!

Happy Winter Solstice everyone!

credits : foodie photos from my 8th aunt camera & photos of restaurant and ‘tong yuen’ from the web and flickr

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad’s 66th birthday. We celebrated by having a simple family dinner at Seapark.

Today is also the day my dad went for a bone scan. He had been suffering back pain for the past one over month (Spinal Compression Fractures). Been going for therapy every Saturday and numerous scans/tests to find out the exact cause besides osteoporosis. Can say that today’s test is the final fatal test to see and know exactly what’s inside. At 2.23pm today, I received a SMS from him (in his own words) “Jesus has given me a very good birthday gift. No bone cancer.” Yay! Praise God!! What a relief!!

I still remember the days when I was very young say 5 – 6 years old and being naughty, my dad would be chasing me around the house (around chairs actually :p) holding the cane but not beating me but those chairs that I run to one another. It really scared me till I’m older that whenever the cane is being mentioned, I would be behaving very well!! This same scenario happened to my brother as well told by my mum when I was older. You see, the cane that my dad used never touched our flesh. He just uses it to scare us to behave well. It worked well and ONCE was all it took.

60+ years on and the same technique delivered to his grandchildren and does it work? Nope. They made him freaking mad one day and the cane was not spared. A lesson well learned though, for they were afraid the next time round for making their grandad angry after numerous warning. Thus it was ONCE and message delivered!

I’m using this technique on Cavan as I don’t believe in beating (well maybe once, a no-nonsense ONCE). Let’s hope that the “once” does not even need to take place.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Surprise Pressie! :)

I received a surprise Christmas pressie from my colleague in Singapore and the Santarina that helped brought my pressie across the South China Sea is my boss!! hehehe….

Looking at the wrapped pressie, my initial thought was a bar of chocolate. However, it felt too hard for a chocolate and there’s groove at the side, so my second guess was a photo frame. When I opened my pressie (yah, couldn’t wait till Christmas Day :p), it never cross my mind that I would receive this……

A “Precious Moments” frame of my name!! It’s kewl and I love it lots!!

Thank you Jackie for the lovely gift.

NSC, Sunbeams Home & Christmas Hi-Tea

As mentioned in my earlier post, my Company’s annual charity this year brought us to National Science Center in Bukit Kiara where we took the children from Sunbeams Home for an outing. This is followed by our year end gathering which took place at Ali Yaa Restaurant in Damansara Heights in the form of a Hi-Tea.

National Science Center, Bukit Kiara which has an outdoor park (birds, butterflies, rabbit and livestock farm) and indoor (interactive stations for exploration)

A panda-eyed rabbit that caught my attention. Isn’t he cute?

Group photo with the children of Sunbeams Home

The highlight of our Year End Christmas Hi-Tea was the staff performance which had everyone in stitches!!

The buffet spread was fabulous and the Sri Lankan fare was absolutely delicious although some said that it’s a bit tad spicy which to me was acceptable since I can take spicy food.

Group photo. Note the bright orange ‘T’ that really stands out!

Commercial Team group photo which I now belongs too
(previously was attached to the Operations Team for 2 years)

The ‘goofy’ Charity & Christmas Hi-Tea committee which made it all possible

~ photos courtesy of our appointed photographers, Frankie & Yeo ~

Early Christmas Gifts!

In conjunction with my Company’s Annual Charity and Year End Gathering, the committee gave each one a round neck collar T-shirt, a real bright orange ‘T’ as our door gift.

The agenda for our event held on December 3rd is morning session bringing the underprivileged kids from Sunbeams Home, Cheras to our National Science Center. After lunch with the kids at the Centre, we will had our Hi-Tea Event at Ali Yaa Restaurant at Damansara Heights.

Our yearly gift exchange also took place during our Hi-Tea and this year my recipient is a guy. A tough gift item to choose thus I settled for a tall mug which I hope he likes it.

~ the bright orange ‘T’ and my choice for the Christmas Gift Exchange ~

~ a close up view of the tall mug which i find rather cute ~

Ironically, I receive my Christmas gift exchange from a guy as well!! Not knowing what I like, he gave me a box of 10 sets 2-piece jigsaw puzzle for Cavan. Thank you!

Countdown to Christmas….

This is the 2nd year we place a Christmas Tree in our home. Bought it last year when Cavan was a year old so that he could see the beautiful lights

Sad to say Ikea’s Christmas Tree leaves are falling off as I drag the tree and bend the branches!! I would think give it a few more years and the poor tree would be bare!! hehehe…

Some pictures of our simple decorated tree with the assistance of my cheeky elf :p

~ my helpful cheeky elf hard at work ~

~ all lighted up!! ~