Thursday, December 29, 2011
Christmas 2011
How was Christmas for everyone? Mine was spent with my family in Sydney which has been great over the last week or so. Been doing many activities, while also going to work over the Christmas period.
Some of the things I've done so far:
- Visited the Sydney aquarium for the first time, which was great as there were lots of things to see and got some great photos! The highlight of the day was seeing the amazing lego creations and the dugoong =).
- Went to Hunter Valley for wine tasting, not as fun, as I am not much of a wine fan, although I tasted this really nice white wine, which was really sweet. Highlight would have to be taking some really cool photos of this giant wine bottle which was 5 x the human size! haha. Also enjoyed going on the kids playground and going on the firefox..haha!!
- Took my family to the fishmarket, which has amazing sashimi..hmm so tasty! Definitely can't beat it!
- Exploring Harbour bridge and opera house at night - enjoyed the scenery and the late night stroll around Circular Quay =)
- Enjoyed the 3 hour showboat ride which contained a 3 meal course, some magic tricks and a performance by talented cabaret dancers.
Next on my To-Do List:
- take my parents to enjoy mouth watering dumplings at Din Tai Fung,
- Go to Wildlife with my Nephew
- pay a visit to Paddy's Market
- Visit the beaches of Sydney
I'm sure more things will pop up later, but for now, those are the things I want to cross off my list =), will be using my weekends to explore various parts of Sydney when my parent's leave Sydney. =)
Hope everyone's had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year~!
Some of the things I've done so far:
- Visited the Sydney aquarium for the first time, which was great as there were lots of things to see and got some great photos! The highlight of the day was seeing the amazing lego creations and the dugoong =).
- Went to Hunter Valley for wine tasting, not as fun, as I am not much of a wine fan, although I tasted this really nice white wine, which was really sweet. Highlight would have to be taking some really cool photos of this giant wine bottle which was 5 x the human size! haha. Also enjoyed going on the kids playground and going on the firefox..haha!!
- Took my family to the fishmarket, which has amazing sashimi..hmm so tasty! Definitely can't beat it!
- Exploring Harbour bridge and opera house at night - enjoyed the scenery and the late night stroll around Circular Quay =)
- Enjoyed the 3 hour showboat ride which contained a 3 meal course, some magic tricks and a performance by talented cabaret dancers.
Next on my To-Do List:
- take my parents to enjoy mouth watering dumplings at Din Tai Fung,
- Go to Wildlife with my Nephew
- pay a visit to Paddy's Market
- Visit the beaches of Sydney
I'm sure more things will pop up later, but for now, those are the things I want to cross off my list =), will be using my weekends to explore various parts of Sydney when my parent's leave Sydney. =)
Hope everyone's had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year~!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
So I finally made the big move to Sydney to take up my Graduate position at IBM. Thinking back when I was still in the interview stage, I couldn't make up my mind whether I was ready to make that big step. Would I survive on the salary I was going to receive? Would I be able to be independent enough? Would I make friends? Get along with colleagues? Many thoughts went through my head at the time, but taking that leap of faith, has gotten me to where I am know. Of course it's still just the beginning, but I am not regretting my decision.
I am actually enjoying the peace and quiet that I get on days when I'm tired or lazy and just not in the mood to do anything. Of course it does get particularly lonely on the weekends when you haven't got anyone to spend it with - especially your friends back in Melbourne.
I am enjoying work so far, and after the Friday White Elephant/International Xmas Lunch I feel like I am a step closer to getting to be apart of the team. I have alot to learn but I know that I can do well, Just got to keep reminding myself "one step at a time" and not trying to do everything at once.
I am working within a very international team (from Japan, China and Korea) and hope that I can eventually improve in my language in all three =). So far work has been about training. I have found the KT problem solving training and client management training quite useful. Some areas were obvious and logical to understand, others were great tips and tricks into my new role and I hope that I can remember to adapt them when I am solving issues for clients.
A lot has happened over the last month, good and bad but I will push forward to each new day, with hope and faith that it will get better and that it will take me places. For this weekend, I will be looking forward to reuniting with my family and enjoying the company of my 2 adorable nephews who will be spending Christmas and New Years with me. Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May a new Beginning bring you more joy and happiness =)
I am actually enjoying the peace and quiet that I get on days when I'm tired or lazy and just not in the mood to do anything. Of course it does get particularly lonely on the weekends when you haven't got anyone to spend it with - especially your friends back in Melbourne.
I am enjoying work so far, and after the Friday White Elephant/International Xmas Lunch I feel like I am a step closer to getting to be apart of the team. I have alot to learn but I know that I can do well, Just got to keep reminding myself "one step at a time" and not trying to do everything at once.
I am working within a very international team (from Japan, China and Korea) and hope that I can eventually improve in my language in all three =). So far work has been about training. I have found the KT problem solving training and client management training quite useful. Some areas were obvious and logical to understand, others were great tips and tricks into my new role and I hope that I can remember to adapt them when I am solving issues for clients.
A lot has happened over the last month, good and bad but I will push forward to each new day, with hope and faith that it will get better and that it will take me places. For this weekend, I will be looking forward to reuniting with my family and enjoying the company of my 2 adorable nephews who will be spending Christmas and New Years with me. Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May a new Beginning bring you more joy and happiness =)
Friday, October 14, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Sunday Brunch followed by a Wedding
yesterday morning started off well with me waking up at 10am, giving me 2 hours to get ready before heading over to a girlfriends place to go down to The Bathe Cafe along Beach road for brunch. Time somehow flew past me and I lost track of time -___-". I rushed to safeway to get some snacks and some passion pop. However while at the liquor store I was denied from buying my drink because i left my ID in my car. >_<". Rushing back to get it I found out the reason why I was denied - I looked 16years of age according to the sales assistant. haha. Didn't know whether to be frustrated because i just wanted to get it and go, or be happy that i got mistaken for looking so young. I believe part of the reason was because I chose to wear plats in my hair yesterday. Trust the one day I decide to do something different with my hair, I end up looking like a school kid! LOL.
So finally making our way to the cafe, we arrived at 1.15, already 1 hour late -__-". Despite the beautiful weather we were unable to get a seat outside and received horrible service from the waitresses and waiters. Possibly because we were in the corner, or possibly because we were the only asians there, the waiters seemed to see us but seemed oblivious to give us proper service which made us frustrated after having to wait half an hour for our food to come. It was also disappointing that we had ordered wedges to share, but this didnt come out until we received our main dishes. Not to mention the pourly mixed cocktail jug they gave us. -___-".
Thankfully we didn't let that ruin our mood as we made our way to the sand and set up our rugs while we popped some passion pop and took some photos and gossiped as girls usually do. =]. It was so nice and relaxing to be able to enjoy the good weather, allowing us to forget about our daily jobs, our weekend ending and just enjoyed the moment as it was.
One of my girlfriends and I had to rush back to get ready for a wedding which was to start at 6.30 and we only had half an hour to get ready! haha. I quickly redid my make up, did a quick curl on my hair and was out the door by 5.45pm! haha. It was a great night with a typical Chinese cuisine of lobster, Abalone, crab stick, crab noodles and other various dishes. We took many photos, danced heaps and I even ran into my aunty who happened to be at the same wedding! haha talk about small world! Being almost the last ones to leave, I finally crashed into bed close to 1am.
Funny thing is i don't think i slept properly and ended up at work at 7.55am this morning. world record I reckon! Also not feeling as tired as i thought i'd be, which is strange. Could be due to the nice weather we had all day. although there's now a slight overcast. Looking forward to hitting home soon and just enjoying some quiet time with my bf watching some tv and preparing for my group interview tomorrow =].
Birthday of 2011
Deciding on the last minute to celebrate my birthday, I had two mini-get-togethers: one with my close group of friends and one with my bf and his group of friends.
On the 16th (Friday night) I organised a Hotpot birthday event with my close group of friends, although not all could make it, I still enjoyed the small gathering in which we ordered tonnes of food (seeing it was a buffet!) and made sure we left the restaurant all full and bloated from a good meal!
Following on we headed down to Shine on Kings Way to have a few drinks. It was quite empty upstairs at the bar, which I didn't mind as we were still enjoying ourselves and also being able to hear each other speak too! We ordered some skittle bomb, lychee bomb and finished off with an ABC bomb. The Skittle bomb was quite nice although it didnt mix very well so all the main alcohol got left at the bottom haha! then my good friend shouted me and my friend a 151 shot. Not a very nice shot to have! but it definitely did its job! I think I've only had 2 in my life. my first one was at Cho Gao's sometime last year with my Holden workmates.
We finished the night at Pancake Parlour in which we ordered shortstacks, alice in wonderlands and drinks. Come to think of it, I'm surprised we were still able to eat after stuffing ourselves at hotpot! haha. The night finished around 12am and I was home by 1am. It was a good night, nothing big and nothing small. Just enjoyed being out with my friends to celebrate my 24th birthday. But of course the celebration didn't end there.
My second mini celebration was combined with my bf whose birthday was a week later than mine and a good friend of ours who had his birthday one week before mine. haha.We had a delightful dinner at a restaurant called China Red on bourke street. The cool thing about this place is that your orders come out super fast and it can be ordered through a touch screen menu! We ordered about 3 fried rices, a couple of noodles, some chicken dishes, not to mention some dumplings and other bits and pieces!
We then made our way to Rainbow karaoke which was also situated on bourke street. It was a great place for socialising and definitely worth the experience. But definitely not the greatest song selection. The theme we had was Oscar, which I thought would be classy and elegant - but to my disappointment was only a room full of asian "oscar" themed movies with red carpet walls. Definitely a let down. However that didnt stop us from having a great time =). we had many drinks, and I was also introduced to this very interesting rainbow shot(s) drink which changed colour as the bar tender poured the alcoholic mix from the shaker.
The night ended at 3.30am and we had a quick bite at a souvalaki joint before taking the taxi home. I got home and crashed into bed around 5am. haha. It was a long night but it was a fun night by the end of it.
Maybe I will plan a big one again next year. But I must say, my birthday in 2010 was by far one of the best birthdays I've had in my life =]. Let's hope I can top it next year =] hehe.
Following on we headed down to Shine on Kings Way to have a few drinks. It was quite empty upstairs at the bar, which I didn't mind as we were still enjoying ourselves and also being able to hear each other speak too! We ordered some skittle bomb, lychee bomb and finished off with an ABC bomb. The Skittle bomb was quite nice although it didnt mix very well so all the main alcohol got left at the bottom haha! then my good friend shouted me and my friend a 151 shot. Not a very nice shot to have! but it definitely did its job! I think I've only had 2 in my life. my first one was at Cho Gao's sometime last year with my Holden workmates.
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| ABC BomB |
My second mini celebration was combined with my bf whose birthday was a week later than mine and a good friend of ours who had his birthday one week before mine. haha.We had a delightful dinner at a restaurant called China Red on bourke street. The cool thing about this place is that your orders come out super fast and it can be ordered through a touch screen menu! We ordered about 3 fried rices, a couple of noodles, some chicken dishes, not to mention some dumplings and other bits and pieces!
We then made our way to Rainbow karaoke which was also situated on bourke street. It was a great place for socialising and definitely worth the experience. But definitely not the greatest song selection. The theme we had was Oscar, which I thought would be classy and elegant - but to my disappointment was only a room full of asian "oscar" themed movies with red carpet walls. Definitely a let down. However that didnt stop us from having a great time =). we had many drinks, and I was also introduced to this very interesting rainbow shot(s) drink which changed colour as the bar tender poured the alcoholic mix from the shaker.
The night ended at 3.30am and we had a quick bite at a souvalaki joint before taking the taxi home. I got home and crashed into bed around 5am. haha. It was a long night but it was a fun night by the end of it.
Maybe I will plan a big one again next year. But I must say, my birthday in 2010 was by far one of the best birthdays I've had in my life =]. Let's hope I can top it next year =] hehe.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Girls Weekend
Had a wonderful weekend with my Girls at the Spring Fashion Week. We started off our day at the Intercontinental Hotel, getting ready. The room was quite small but it was still quite decent and was a nice place to stay. Although it did seem like we were in a jail - probably because of the design of the hotel.
We also spotted a nice cupcake store next to the hotel and couldnt help but buy some while we took our time to get ready for the fashion show haha. They were delicious!
Colin street was so packed we were stuck in a taxi for 1/2 an hour before deciding to run the next block or so to get to the fashion show. we made it, with 5 minutes to spare! haha. there wasn't a need to rush but man was it a workout! We had great view of the fashion show and got a mini showbag entailing a marie clare magazine, some markers and some discounts and booklets.
We then made our way to Allegro situated within the westin hotel. We all had steak and shared a dessert platter. The food was quite good and the apricot crumble was my favorite dessert out of the 4. It was a good environment in which we chatted away - like girls do on girls night haha, we then had an interesting trip to an exotic place haha! But I shall keep that part out of my blog haha. What happens at girls night should stay within girls night =P.
So we then headed off spice market which we soon left after 10 minutes because it was so packed. -__-" we spent about 20 dollars in the taxi trying to get there and it was such a waste! It was hard getting drinks with so many people around. so we bailed and headed back to the hotel to enjoy the last moments of our girls night before passing out from exhaustion! haha.
I was then surprised by an early birthday cupcake from my beautiful girls. Thanks guys! It was sweet and I love u all! xoxo
Finishing our Girls weekend, we went to Hardware lane for lunch - risotto wasn't bad, but coffee was horrible -__-". I had a mocha, but it tasted more like hot chocolate - not in a good way either! LOL.Now uploading some amazing photos from the weekend =).
looking for more amazing girls nights to come! Also quite proud of myself for driving into the city without too much hassle! =). Hope you guys had an amazing weekend as well!
So this was my outfit of the night, My dress was actually purple but came out blue in all my photos! haha. Seeing I always have straight hair, I opted for some curles - thanks to Julia's skills~~! haha, Loved them!
We also spotted a nice cupcake store next to the hotel and couldnt help but buy some while we took our time to get ready for the fashion show haha. They were delicious!
Colin street was so packed we were stuck in a taxi for 1/2 an hour before deciding to run the next block or so to get to the fashion show. we made it, with 5 minutes to spare! haha. there wasn't a need to rush but man was it a workout! We had great view of the fashion show and got a mini showbag entailing a marie clare magazine, some markers and some discounts and booklets.
We then made our way to Allegro situated within the westin hotel. We all had steak and shared a dessert platter. The food was quite good and the apricot crumble was my favorite dessert out of the 4. It was a good environment in which we chatted away - like girls do on girls night haha, we then had an interesting trip to an exotic place haha! But I shall keep that part out of my blog haha. What happens at girls night should stay within girls night =P.
So we then headed off spice market which we soon left after 10 minutes because it was so packed. -__-" we spent about 20 dollars in the taxi trying to get there and it was such a waste! It was hard getting drinks with so many people around. so we bailed and headed back to the hotel to enjoy the last moments of our girls night before passing out from exhaustion! haha.
I was then surprised by an early birthday cupcake from my beautiful girls. Thanks guys! It was sweet and I love u all! xoxo
Finishing our Girls weekend, we went to Hardware lane for lunch - risotto wasn't bad, but coffee was horrible -__-". I had a mocha, but it tasted more like hot chocolate - not in a good way either! LOL.Now uploading some amazing photos from the weekend =).
looking for more amazing girls nights to come! Also quite proud of myself for driving into the city without too much hassle! =). Hope you guys had an amazing weekend as well!
So this was my outfit of the night, My dress was actually purple but came out blue in all my photos! haha. Seeing I always have straight hair, I opted for some curles - thanks to Julia's skills~~! haha, Loved them!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Ishiya Japanese Restaurant
Ishiya Japanese Restaurant
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This was my second time coming to this amazing Japanese stone grill restaurant. The first time left quite an impression I decided to take my bf there for our 6 month anniversary, as he had never been and is a big fan of steak! Haha.
We ordered 2 Wagyu stone grill meal sets which came with cucumber salad as an appetizer, 7 sashimi pieces as entrĂ©e and garlic fried rice to accompany the wagyu steak on a stone grill. There were 4 different types of sauces with the steak, in which the teriyaki sauce was my favourite. I can’t remember what the others entailed but one had sake and another had mayo.
We also ordered 2 scrumptious mocktails! I think I enjoyed my bf’s honey dew and watermelon mocktail over my strawberry and mango mocktail though! Haha.
I managed to finish all my food, except for the fried rice but couldn’t resist finishing the night with some green tea ice cream! What a great way to finish a meal =P.
The Help
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Went to Glenny for dumplings at Raramen before heading to village to watch The Help. Originally wasn’t that keen on the movie, but came out satisfied. It was a touching story that depicts how the “coloured” people were maids for the “white” kids. Overall it was quite a good movie and would recommend it to people to watch =)
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Went to Glenny for dumplings at Raramen before heading to village to watch The Help. Originally wasn’t that keen on the movie, but came out satisfied. It was a touching story that depicts how the “coloured” people were maids for the “white” kids. Overall it was quite a good movie and would recommend it to people to watch =)
IKEA
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So it was the launching of the new IKEA in Springvale today. Already flooded by the notifications on facebook even before I got to work! Couldn’t resist going onto the website to browse the millions of
products advertised. Already forming a shopping list of things I want to buy to renovate my room (something I’ve been meaning to do for months!) haha. There’s this one particular table that I really want to get, its nothing fancy, although it is about $299. By browsing the website I could already see that there are a lot of new things happening, although there needs to be some tweaks needed for the website, but the idea of having a “family ikea” where members can gain discounts on products was a great move. I am looking forward to more sales and bargains that I can gain from IKEA! Would definitely rather be at IKEA than sitting at work looking up medicare numbers -__-“. Quite depressing if you ask me. Haha. Will definitely make a trip down there sometime soon, if not in a few weeks when there aren’t massive lines at the front entrance! haha
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So it was the launching of the new IKEA in Springvale today. Already flooded by the notifications on facebook even before I got to work! Couldn’t resist going onto the website to browse the millions of
products advertised. Already forming a shopping list of things I want to buy to renovate my room (something I’ve been meaning to do for months!) haha. There’s this one particular table that I really want to get, its nothing fancy, although it is about $299. By browsing the website I could already see that there are a lot of new things happening, although there needs to be some tweaks needed for the website, but the idea of having a “family ikea” where members can gain discounts on products was a great move. I am looking forward to more sales and bargains that I can gain from IKEA! Would definitely rather be at IKEA than sitting at work looking up medicare numbers -__-“. Quite depressing if you ask me. Haha. Will definitely make a trip down there sometime soon, if not in a few weeks when there aren’t massive lines at the front entrance! haha
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Blue Diamond
So I've decided to get into blogging again and today's post is going to be about a nice exotic bar I went to yesterday. The bar was called Blue Diamond and was located on the 15th level of Queen street.
The view from the balcony was absolutely amazing! Unfortunately I didn't get to take as many photos as I wanted! Reason being - I wasn't with my usual photo taking friends! haha. I tend to adapt depending on the people I'm with. Yesterday was a catch-up with my workmates from Holden. Although they already know I love taking photos, I couldn't bring myself to go crazy! haha. So I shall make an attempt to return to Blue Diamond for photo taking purposes =P. Drinks were pretty reasonable in price, although I didn't pay for many of mine!
It was great seeing everyone again and It made me miss the good days when I was at Holden. I am glad that these friendships have continued despite me finishing my intern and now working at a place called Healthscope.
Apparently it is $5 for entry into Blue Diamond and you need to make a booking (with a list of all your guests) before entering into the uper-class bar, the reason why I used the word "apparently" is because I was not on the list nor did I pay the $5 dollars entry fee. haha. My appearance was more of a surprise as I was told that one of my workmates were leaving and joining HP in a new role as a project manager. Taking this opportunity to catch up with everyone, I rocked up..(looking lost as usual) and was guided towards the table where everyone was chatting away and sipping on champagne, nibbling on snacks. Realizing half way through the night that everyone else had paid the $5 and realizng I was not on the "guestlist", it surprised everyone else too! haha. I had a few Lemon Lime Vodkas. The first one I had was the best lemon lime vodka I have ever tasted! I couldnt put my glass down! Usually at other bars, they always put too much vodka, or its not sweet enough. But the one I had yesterday had the right proportion of every element -no joke! It didn'teven taste like an alcoholic drink but it definitely hit the spot! I am wondering if its because they squeezed the lemon and line into a glass, poured the vodka shot and left it there for about half a minute before pouring in the lemonade? Either way it was absolutely delicious!
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| Level 15, 123 Queens Street, Melbourne |
The view from the balcony was absolutely amazing! Unfortunately I didn't get to take as many photos as I wanted! Reason being - I wasn't with my usual photo taking friends! haha. I tend to adapt depending on the people I'm with. Yesterday was a catch-up with my workmates from Holden. Although they already know I love taking photos, I couldn't bring myself to go crazy! haha. So I shall make an attempt to return to Blue Diamond for photo taking purposes =P. Drinks were pretty reasonable in price, although I didn't pay for many of mine!
It was great seeing everyone again and It made me miss the good days when I was at Holden. I am glad that these friendships have continued despite me finishing my intern and now working at a place called Healthscope.
Apparently it is $5 for entry into Blue Diamond and you need to make a booking (with a list of all your guests) before entering into the uper-class bar, the reason why I used the word "apparently" is because I was not on the list nor did I pay the $5 dollars entry fee. haha. My appearance was more of a surprise as I was told that one of my workmates were leaving and joining HP in a new role as a project manager. Taking this opportunity to catch up with everyone, I rocked up..(looking lost as usual) and was guided towards the table where everyone was chatting away and sipping on champagne, nibbling on snacks. Realizing half way through the night that everyone else had paid the $5 and realizng I was not on the "guestlist", it surprised everyone else too! haha. I had a few Lemon Lime Vodkas. The first one I had was the best lemon lime vodka I have ever tasted! I couldnt put my glass down! Usually at other bars, they always put too much vodka, or its not sweet enough. But the one I had yesterday had the right proportion of every element -no joke! It didn'teven taste like an alcoholic drink but it definitely hit the spot! I am wondering if its because they squeezed the lemon and line into a glass, poured the vodka shot and left it there for about half a minute before pouring in the lemonade? Either way it was absolutely delicious!
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