Pretty ribbons and great food!


Spotlight @ Plaza Singapura has always been my stop whenever I need to get materials for my craft work. Whatever you want, they probably have it. Some of the things are a little on the expensive side so I am always on the lookout for a cheaper alternative.

A few days after the CNY hols, mum brought me to Arab Street. She said there is a shop selling ribbons and other things at relatively cheaper prices.

The shop is called YKK (I think it stands for someone's name - the founder, perhaps). The minute I stepped in , I felt like a kid in a candy shop. There were HUNDREDS of rolls of ribbons, butterflies, pins, masks, feathers, beads, tulle fabrics, ...the list goes on! Why haven't I discovered this place before???










What you see above is just one-third of the whole shop. And my mum was absolutely correct when she said things here are cheaper. An average 1-inch-wide ribbon in Spotlight costs $3 per metre. I bought a whole roll of 30-yards black ribbon for only $10! I wished I could just buy the whole shop... hahaha.... btw, they do not sell the ribbons by length. You have to purchase the whole roll but seriously, it is worth the money. 

I managed to get the things I needed for my diapercakes and enquired on the price of customized ribbons. I'll definitely make a second, third, fourth trip here...

Since it was just a day after the CNY hols, this particular stretch of Arab St was pretty deserted . We were hungry so we started to look for a place to eat. And we found KOH-NANGKAM!


It is situated next to this well-known Briyani place (no idea what the name is) and serves Southern Thai food.





It is just a simple shop with very basic furnishings. We were famished so who cared about all that? I just wanted my food! 

However, my mum and I are trying to lose weight so we decided to order one dish and share. 


Fried Glass Noodles. $5 for  a small one but the serving was big - definitely enough for the 2 of us. But beware! VERY SPICY!

The glass noodles were delicious despite burning our tongues. So if you are not a chilli person, remember to ask them to ease off the chillies. I am quite sure they used many many many stalks of cili padi!

Our drinks came soon after....look at how huge my glass of Lychee drink was!





We had ordered the Clear Tom Yum Soup so I was expecting the really clear (not red- coloured) type which is still amazingly spicy. But we still received the reddish type.

To be fair, it was clear as compared to the kind whereby one can see all the spices floating around. 

The soup was fantastic! One of the best Tom Yam soups I have ever had! I wanna bring the husby here to taste it. 

We also had chicken wrapped in pandan leaves. I was too busy devouring everything though , so no pictures of that . I only remembered to take a photo of it  after everything was gone :P . Too late.

My dad wasn't too impressed with his order which was their version of Briyani rice. Perhaps, it was too 'light' for him - not the typical spices-laden beef briyani.

Look at the amount of oil! Ewwww....

Overall , it was a nice lunch experience. And everything cost $27 which I think is relatively cheap - $9 per person. I know I'll come back here again as well as there are a few other things on the menu that I would like to give a shot at!

So that's how I spent a Thursday afternoon with my dear parents. It is really nice to have just the 3 of us out once in a while :)


Why should we patronise Reebonz?

Reebonz never fails to impress, I tell you!

I have been thinking of gifts to get my two dear colleagues / friends ... planned to give them during the start of the new year actually but somehow, never really managed to as nothing seemed appropriate.

Then yesterday morning, when I was in my usual "warming up" routine in the office, I decided to visit Reebonz. I have not gone to their site for a few months because I do not want to give in to temptations. If you have been to Reebonz, you can understand why!

I saw that they were having a sale for Victoria Secret .That would make a good gift, wouldn't it? I quickly checked the album out and was pleased to see that each set that consisted of the body mist, body lotion and body wash was going for only $45!!!!!

That was a darn good deal! If you purchase in normal stores, each bottle will cost between $19 - $21, depending on where you get them . So even if I take the lowest price, that would cost me $57 per set. Of course I had to grab! To top it off, I used my Mastercard and got an additional 5% off my purchase! Woo hoo!

I decided to get the Wild Scarlet and Secret Ravishing set immediately.

From past experience, I know Reebonz has always been prompt in their delivery - one will usually receive the goods in 3 days.But it is the CNY season afterall thus, I was prepared to wait till after the public hols to get them.


So imagine my huge surprise when the courier came yesterday night!!!!! In less than 24 hours!!!! Now, that is what I call service , you know :)

I also love their new paper bag - very designer-like !


Reminds me of GUESS packaging

I was too busy to buy any wrapping paper or gift boxes to put them in but hey! I should have remembered Reebonz provides everything!

 

All beautifully wrapped in glossy black boxes and glittery gold ribbon!

Even if you buy those things for yourself, I am sure it feels good to pretend to be receiving gifts, right? Hehhee....

The only minus point was that I had no idea which was which so I HAD to open up one of them .Sigh. Just to check out if I am giving correct fragrance to the correct person. I also discovered that they included 2 packets of (of course, empty) red packets in each package.Not that my friends would need them but hey, we can always use them when attending Chinese weddings :)

I know I am raving as though as I get some kind of commission from Reebonz. But they deserve it for such a wonderful and prompt service.

The other side of the bag. Couture!

So if you are ever clueless as to what gifts to get your loved ones, friends or even for yourself, do not forget to check Reebonz out! It is not often that you will come across such excellent service :)

a lil tribute to my beloved nephew

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My Surprise Birthday Party :P

Did I really forget to blog about my birthday?

Of course not!

I know I am already 3 weeks late and it is not because it wasn't a memorable one. In fact, it was beyond what words could describe. I have just been really busy because soon after the birthday was Christmas , New Year...then start of school! *eeeewwwwww*

I would still want to pen down the day's activities and memories so that I would remember it for the rest of my life. Not that I would ever forget it - you will see why!

I have always loved the anticipation leading to my birthday each year. He will so secretive all the time - either texting , lurking in some weird corners of the house (I suspect, to hide my presents... heehee) and often has weird facial expressiions (as if he is doing some planning in his head). When the day comes, I will always try to act cool . Heh. This happens all the time.

Anyway , the day started with a trip down to NUS. I know it probably sounds like a weird place but it is a 'special' place ..not because that's where we met . But that's where we should have met! We spent 3 years in the same building, same faculty and even knew each other's friends yet , NEVER even bump into each other. Either we were both super unattractive that we didn't bother giving each other a second look or we were just blind! I think I'd rather believe the latter . Hahhaa.....












After all the walking and exploring - a good workout, indeed!- we set off for lunch. No surprise that he brought me here because I've always wanted to try out their buffets.

Asian Market Cafe @ Fairmount Hotel





That ended close to 2pm. And apparently , we were behind time. For what? I had no idea myself actually but I was really full then and I couldn't bring myself to feel excited. Hahaha... too bloated to do anything.

[We did our Zuhur prayers. For those not in the know , there is a space in Raffles City Shopping Centre that is specially designed for prayers. A very small space but I feel it is a really nice gesture on their part.]



After prayers, we drove on ... again , yours truly remained clueless throughout. When I realised that we were going into the Marina Bay Sands area, I started speculating . I had these in mind:

1) Walking around the area and taking pictures along the Helix bridge. I have always wanted to do this but more of in the late evening , not 3+pm  when it was hot!
2) We were going to watch the musical WICKED. I was wickedly excited!
3) He was going to bring me to the huge LV boutique and my birthday present will welcome me with open arms once I stepped in. Haha.. super fat hope!









Yeap, we went to see the Titanic exhibition. Although the movie itself was rather overrated, I always get this feeling of sadness when I read / see  anything on Titanic. I really cannot imagine how the victims had felt going through the very tragic accident. Sigh. Such a sad 'experience' on my happy day. ..

Anyway, without my knowledge, some secret activity was being carried out in the dark - something that involved so many people yet I knew nothing about!

My dearest hubby had actually practised his party planning skills and somehow managed to 'hack' into my FB account to get into contact with his accomplices.... and all these accomplices deserve an award! For being able to carry out everything smoothly without interrupting my day with him. TSK!








Husby actually planned a surprise party for me - the OLD me! And those people you see above in the photos were my ex-students from 2006 and 2009 batches , from 2 different schools. He knows these are the students I love the most and I just could not believe he brought them all in . Super sweet, right?

Was I surprised? Like, obviously!




The best thing was that everything was themed according to my alias - Fairy Queen! I have always wanted a birthday celebration with fairies and butterflies but I expected that when I was a kid lah... not when I am this old. Haha! It was really lovely.... the decorations and cake were all following the theme. The little kiddos looked like beautiful fairies and I got my own set of wings! *sob sob* so touched, touched, touched....

I love the details on the cake. Waterfall, fairies, fairy house, toadstools...and even a worm!






I finally had wings!
Both families were there, the lovable ex-students and my besties who made me believe that they were all still stuck at work . Super evil yet really sweet of them .... I was totally lost for words when I saw all the people in the room!















There are many other photos but of course, I cannot possible post all up .

I have to say I was extremely touched by everyone's presence (assuming that they were not forced at gun-point by my dearest!) and I felt so loved! It was also really sweet of the ex-students to take full charge of putting the decorations up and blowing the many many balloons *HUGS*. Jasper, who used to be my IT rep, was into his role again that night , checking the sound system and ensuring that the microphone and everything else was in order.

I am really very, very thankful to have all these people in my life.

And obviously, the most special dedication goes out to the most special person who was the mastermind behind all these. I cannot believe that you went to great lengths to celebrate my day. No more such things in future please! I am getting a lil too old and we must save money for important things. ..hhehehe

Husby, thank you for the surprise and your lovely presents. And, thank you for always bringing joy into my life. I love you.