Every new year is a new beginning that feels exciting and full of hope.
This year is no different (:



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Last year was an epitome of changes, transitions and adversaries.
Without being too melodramatic, last year was also the year of scary realisations that I am an independent full-time working adult so I have to pay my bills and earn enough to feed myself otherwise I will die and that I really hate being tied to a desk job and that I can also get very angsty when my clients are angsty at me and that good food and good friends make me feel better after a horrid day at work.

Okay, so good food and good friends always make me feel better after something shitty happens.
And this isn't the first year I've realised this (:



So it's time to look back and recognise that there were good times and bad,
some very memorable (like my birthday!) and others not so,
but still, I know I definitely breathed, lived, saw, heard, learnt, did and grew more than last year. Another healthy year with close family and friends by my side to be thankful for, well, as you get older, you realise how important good health is to have.

And it was another year to look back on what has been accomplished, and what hasn't,
so that I can strive to only do better next year.



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And one last update of 2012 I was late on:

We took a trip to Melaka after Christmas!



Beautiful red-bricked buildings greeted us once we got to Melaka.


St. Paul's Church.


Melaka is filled with many old Dutch/Portuguese architecture.




Mom suggested bringing 姨妈 with us since we haven't traveled together in a long time.


You can tell Sherman is really excited here.


I'm just happy to go somewhere new! :D


Mandatory happy tourists shot.


And real arty-farty shot we waited eons to take.


And there's Christ Church in the city center.


We walked everywhere around Melaka but the weather was scorching hot.


Further away from tourist stops..


We have little alleys..


And shophouses that really resemble our own at home.


Sherman's try at being an arty-farty photographer.


We walked along the streets and Melaka is only about 4 hours away but it's so different here.


Then we crossed Melaka River.



To get to Jonker Walk (:



Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, translated as the Temple of Clear Clouds.


We also tried a roadside lok lok van:
Skewers of ready-cooked food like tofu, fishcake and meatballs that you put into boiling soup and then eat with satay sauce.


Sunset.


And Melaka is quite pretty at night too.




The next day, we walked over to the ruins of Fort A Famosa:



This is Porta de Santiago.


And we also saw cute kittens.


This one was especially smitten with Sherman.


No one leaves until we have Nyonya food! This is very good buah keluak.


Egg-shaped icicles to beat the heat!
Plus I think we had like 58310845287492 bowls of cendol.


And satay celup (the satay version of lok lok) to end the day (:




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So if it's not too late,

May the new year be full of blessings and joy and good health for all of us (:

And that I, as an independent full-time working adult can only earn more to pay my bills and feed myself and be less angsty and more happy so I must laugh more, forgive quickly and love more strongly (:


♥

















♥



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There was some conspiracy happening behind my back for over a month, which I was somehow completely oblivious to; of which a certain someone was mistaken as a "little black bird" and a false realisation that all the world does not care about me anymore because I asked my closest friends out to have a nice and quiet birthday dinner with me and everybody was either at the same time, flying off elsewhere in my birthday week and probably never coming back or something or just suay suay have some sort of big event at work or thingy going on so everyone replied saying they were busy. One good friend even went as far as to say she forgot my birthday completely.


This all should have been plainly obvious to me because the bf started becoming fiercely protective of his phone which totally got me suspicious about him and some hanky-panky going on, and secondly, all these people really aren't as heartless as they seem.


All this led to some sort of a surprise party which gave itself away because I recognise where Mel stays, and the minute the bf drove his car into Mel's estate asking the guardhouse, "where is the clubhouse huh?", I knew something was up.




There you go, these are the liars with their pants on fire.



And the guys were being so sweet that night being sataymen,
and sweating at the charcoal to put food and marshmallows on the table for us (:



And my best girlfriends were there, of course.



It was a surprise BBQ party with not-enough food,
but enough drinks!
and more than enough fun, laughter and happiness going around.



Now see, they aren't really that heartless after all! (:


And they all got me twelve cupcakes!
More like fifteen :D

Thank you to all my lovely friends for such good times (:
I love you all, hope you had as much fun as I did!

♥




And the next day was a nice and quiet birthday dinner with the family
(:


My mom tried to hide the cake as a surprise.
She almost successfully surprised me until my grandma asked loudly, "WHERE'S THE CAKE HUH?"

It was hilarious, my mom's face was hilarious :D
And the cake was really pretty, a pink 2-tier strawberry cake
from one of my favourite bakeries, Paris Baguette ♡



And I also had dim sum on Sunday morning with mom ♡
I had been craving for liu sa bao all week!




I also took a long weekend off work (:
And the bf promised me a belated birthday treat at PS Cafe @ Dempsey! ♡
Tea and cake and fries while it's raining outside in the late afternoon.




I'm so happy and lucky to have the people whom I love and who love me by my side this birthday.
Thank you so much for all the birthday joy I've received, presents big and bigger (thank you Alvin, Mom, 姨妈 and Sherman!)
and know that I love you each and everyone of you!


♥















Chanced upon this on Thought Catalog.

.....


4 Things I Need From You In A Relationship





Just everything that I never knew I needed.
And all that you've always been doing for me.


♥