Happy Chinese New Year 2016

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR, 恭喜发财, Kung Hei Fat Choy, Kiong Hee Huat Tsai to my dearest friends and family, fellow followers and supporters!!!
I'm glad that you're glad to see me making appearance in my long abandoned blog once again. Thank you all, thanks for still having faith in me :p

I hope 2015 treated everyone well. We shall pray for more prosperity and wealth in this exciting new Fire Monkey year. Ah kong, ah ma, auntie, uncle, sister, brother stay forever young, handsome / pretty and healthy as always. The past twelve months have been a life changer for me but I do feel very much grateful for every lesson learned and the light and love that continues to guide me.

"Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching."

Qing Xin Ling (清心岭) Leisure & Cultural Village Ipoh

We embarked on an unplanned trip to Ipoh just last weekend. It was a long weekend in celebration of the 58th Independence Day of our home country - Malaysia. I concerned a little bit at first as it was raining cats and dogs along the journey. The haze itself was bad enough I thought. But thankfully, miracle does happen and my prayer was answered. No more rain when we approached the old town of Ipoh. Tummies were well fed right before the walking and sweating begin.

Sunday Hike: Youth Park to Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera)

The last time I hiked up to Penang Hill was almost a decade ago, when I was hmm *clears throat* like a flower in bloom. I still am, alright? After all these years =p

As a casual jogger who hasn't jogged in a long while, I did not intend to go full force or try to accomplish anything at all. It was wholly about having a good sweat and friendship bonding with my fellow friends on a lovely Sunday morning.

Breakfast is important. A good breakfast fuels you up and gets you ready for the day. Our master plan, therefore, was to have a quick fix at Sunrise McDonald's prior heading to the departure point in Youth Park. I got no appetite really, with just 4 hours of sleep on the night before.

Captain Cook Cruise on Sydney Harbour: Anniversary Dinner

April 27th, a memorable day marked on our calender. It's been amazing 9 years. Faith brought us together, yet now, we're far apart from each other. But I believe distance doesn't count if there is love in between. True love never fades away.

It was drizzling a little that night when we drove to the city to take cab to Circular Quay. Some of you must be wondering why the hassle? The reason being, Mr. Choo thought that parking might be an issue since he's not familiar with that area.

After all the hustling and rustling, we arrived just in time to go on board and were warmly led to a window seat by the cruise members on top deck. All my worries vanished, like a flip of a switch as soon as the vessel started cruising.

Sydney Harbour's night view is enchanting ♥♡ Can't help falling for it over and over again.

First Autumn in Sydney: Food Indulgence

Hello Sydney! Hello Aussies! Excuse me if I freaked out any of you with my close-up. LOL. Things are sailing smooth here down under, despite the excessive amount of rain we're getting during the change of season. Honestly, it's far more colder than I imagined it would be. Or perhaps, I'm already acclimatized to the heat and stifling humidity in Malaysia that I almost forgot how chilly it can be in the autumn days.

Sydney in April

Sorry guys, I feel terribly sorry for contributing only 2-3 posts in the past two months. That's like the amount of post I used to write in a week -__________-

Life has been grateful and miserable at the same time. So much thoughts and feelings overflowing, yet I can't put them in words. #TypicalTaurus Have faith, Christina. Have faith. There will be sunshine after the rain.

Speaking of rain, I kinda brought it all the way from Penang to Sydney. Hahaha!

Feel Fresh with Air Wick Filter & Fresh and Multicolor Black Edition Candle

First of all, "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and "Happy Chinese New Year" to everyone who's celebrating CNY out there!!! It was 年初七 aka 人日 (literally means Human Day) yesterday. How's everyone going? Still in holiday mood and feeling reluctant to go back to where you're supposed to be doing I guess.

I pigged out a lot recently. Not because of the new year cookies or snacks I tried hard to avoid, but during my two-week stay in Sydney. Mr. Choo fed me too much potatoes, way too much potatoes!!! Damn those delicious potatoes =______________=

Sydney was awesome! I could image myself settling down in a city like that. Bondi Junction, Darling Harbour... Not to mention, Bella. I missed that little furball a lot *sniff sniff* She makes me wanna keep a pet dog even more.

When I was in Sydney, I received a parcel from Air Wick Australia a couple of days just after my arrival. Surprise, surprise! It's the newly launched Air Wick Filter & Fresh air freshener and Multicolor Black Edition candle which I will talk about in my blog post today.

Friend's Wedding + Visiting "Old" Friend Trip

Hellooooo, Penang! I missed ya, HEAPS!!! Some of you might have mistaken that I already flew back to Sydney but truth is, I'm still here peeps! My 6D5N visiting KL plus attending friend's wedding trip was indeed very rewarding, both mentally and emotionally. As a matter of fact, I was in desparate need of one like this.

Sick, Tired and Nearly Dead

I've been feeling very sick since the past few days. Sore throat, blocked nose, headache, sneezing and coughing constantly *rubs sore nose with tissue* I'm down with a terribly bad cold!!! Or flu I'm not even sure. Aww, how I hate all these pains I'm feeling right now. The flu shot I had earlier this year is obviously no help in protecting my body against influenza virus *frown* I miss looking fresh and healthy like weeks ago, happily enjoying mouth-watering Nyonya cuisine in a restaurant with besties ='(

Sunday Afternoon's Picnic

I'm gonna keep this post real short today, as I have a few errands to run in the city. You know, it's one of those days when time is at a premium and there are so many other things to be done. Alright, alright, just stay calm and keep writing, Christina. What I'm about to show you now is the lovely picnic we had with friends last Sunday afternoon.

First Golf Experience and Dinner Afterwards

On a fine sunny afternoon, we joined Yen and his little two sons to play golf at the Fairway Golf Driving Range. It was our first golf experience, a bit exciting but not exactly pleasant. We've got ourselves a jumbo bucket with 200 golf balls and that's still a lot after splitting them to everyone of us.

It's Now or Never

Winter is approaching! Yay or nay? I have a love and hate relationship with cold weather. Love it as I would be able to wear them pretty winter coats and fluffy, furry stuff like these adorable pair of UGG boots I dug out of my shoerobe. Hate it 'cause it's such a pain to get out of my bed every morning, finding myself being wrapped up with layers and layers of clothes.

Randomness in My Life

Hey hey, what's everyone up to these days? Work has been keeping me busy, as usual and as always. My Project Trying-To-Lose-Weight-So-Can-Look-Good-In-Bikinis has officially begun!!! Oops, what have I just got myself into?! Announcing it loud and proud over my blog. There's no turning back for me now, is there? Haha xD

Not that I actually dare enough to wear bikinis and walk on the beach or anything, but the satisfaction and the confidence I gain when staring myself into the mirror. Moreover, winter is on its way. So let's just forget about the bikinis part and focus on the dieting and workouts.

I did a lot of shopping lately. It's my most favorite form of cardio, if shopping is ever counted as a workout. With the long Easter holiday weekend (which is just around the corner), I'm squeezing out every ounce of my brain juice trying to come out with a plan, a road trip or whatever possible to make sure that I make the most out of my free time, and I've planned nothing so far *facepalm*

Warm and Hearty Steamboat Dinner

Tonight was such perfect timing for a warm and hearty steamboat. Due to the wet weather condition, we cancelled our plan to Brisbane, spent the morning sleeping in, did laundry, then headed out for both clothes and grocery shopping in town. I've got myself two casual knitted tops, teehee! One grey, one maroon, you'll get to see me wearing them very soon =)

Sofra Turkish Restaurant: Chap Goh Meh Dinner Joy

Chap Goh Meh aka "元宵节" is a festival celebrated on the 15th, which is also the last day of Chinese New Year. We fixed up a dinner date with the Tan's family, two eat-outs in one day, amazing! Location was picked by Kevin, at the Sofra Turkish Restaurant in town, then followed by an ice-cream indulgence at the Gelatissimo I longed for. Belgian Chocolate - the best!!!

Bak Kut Teh Catch-Up Dinner

I had an amazing Australia Day yesterday! Despite the non-stop heavy rain and stormy wind which ruined the outdoor barbies and my appearance a little bit, it was no doubt a fun-filled and enjoyable celebration. Sorry guys, no photos from yesterday as I forgot to bring the camera out with me. My bad =/

Cafe Valetta: Brunch Under The Sun

It's like our little tradition to dine out or shall I re-phase it as a "meal date" on sunny Sunday. I realize we haven't really done it in a while, since October last year maybe. My heart, my body were screaming badly for a relaxing meal somewhere in town, so I went to do some digging last night. And the digging points us to this Cafe Valetta, located just a few steps away from the Park House Cafe.

Alive and Cooking

I'm back! *hachu* Did any of yas miss me? The weather has been ridiculously hot these few days, WAY TOO HOT that I feel sick just sitting in front of the fan that blows me constant hot air. Our unit is like a "hot stove" in the summer afternoons.

Christmas Day Celebration: Turkey Lunch

It's the Christmas Day today!!! How excited! I woke up early to do what I was meant to do. Make-up, dress-up, then headed straight to Kevin and Veny's house. They were kind enough to host a Christmas potluck lunch this year (instead of dinner) and invited us and few of their friends over.

We've prepared tiger prawns, tartare sauce and a little Christmas pressie for baby Preston which we got about a month ago, when doing routine grocery shopping in Grand Central. The Super Mario plush bag is simply too cute that I wanted our chubby little buddy to have it!

Baby Preston's 1st Birthday Bash

13th of October was Baby Preston's 1st birthday. The party was indeed flawlessly planned and put together from decorations to food. A big round of applause to the loving daddy, mummy and family. Thank you so, so much for having us there and I'm sorry for taking more a month's time to post all these up.

Speaking of whom, I bumped into the mummy yesterday pushing the one-year-old in pram together with the in-laws while shopping for Christmas gift ideas (for Mr. Choo) in the Grand Central. The weather was so warm but it felt warmer when I saw Baby Preston walking like a roly-poly for the first time. Hooray!!! Baby Preston can finally walk!!!

I definitely did not nom the whole slice by myself.