It was a quiet Christmas

Christmas was a quiet affair with me spending it mostly at home with my TV and sock monkeys. The Christmas project of making it as gifts fell flat as I did not have enough time and enough socks to get it all done on time. Ok, so I left it a little late but at least I managed to finish 3 and a half : )
Had Christmas/family get-together dinner at Uncle Kong Cheng's as the family from Singapore was down for Sue May's wedding on 26th. Never meet them before but that's not new as I barely know most of the relatives from my dad's side.

When Saturday came, it was busy busy busy. Woke up at 6am in order to get to SS2 on time to prepare for the morning session. No pictures as I was busy organising and making sure everything went well. Damn lucky I got loads of help from the other chee mui's. Thank you Irene, Pooi Pooi, Siew Li and Li Lian. Got my mum to be the tai kam chair during the tea ceremony and by 10.30am, the bride and groom was off to the groom's house. Phew...

Had a short session in 1Utama with the family for lunch and to look for shoes. Then it was hme for a 30 min nap then off again to Sheraton Imperial in KL to get all the things ready for dinner.
It was raining so heavily when I left home to the extent the main road in Puchong leading from Sunway was badly flooded in front of Binary College. The busy bodies of course had to slow down and look causing another jam on the opp side of the road. Managed to get to the hotel by 5pm. Had a little problem with the seating arrangements and place card settings and people started showing up early. A first for a chinese wedding I must say...

The bride Sue May and groom Haan YongShe had fantastic flower arrangements. Most of the family took keepsakes home. 2 table deco's now sit on my speakers at home adding a touch of color to my otherwise dready home.

Flowers for the table and apples as keepsakes for the family.

Dinner shoes and her bouquet.

The wedding was no typical chinese wedding which was good as there was less fanfare and less noise : ) Everyone went home happily by 12am. I couldn't find my way back from the hotel to Sg Besi highway so had to take Jln Kuching. It was like a drive down memory lane : ) That's another story to tell...

It's 2 days to Christmas and 8 days to a new year!

I knew I would not be able to update my blog constantly but never knew months would have passed since my last entry.

It's 2 days to Christmas!! Snow would complete the feel but guess we'll just have to make do with Christmas Carols, present exchange and get togethers : ) Now, I just need to finish my Christmas shopping. Think I am in trouble in that area...

So what has been happening the past few months. All I can remember right now is our annual dinner themed 'Back to School' on 16th Dec.

My work table is still a mess. Think it has gotten worse as the days move along. To pen in a spring cleaning session in 2010.

Can't wait for 4pm today as we will be having our present and foody exchange with the other departments. I had a tough time looking for my present. Why? Coz I was lazy to go shopping ;Þ Shopping malls are crowded to max capacity with peole who are doing their last minute shopping as well as just to kill time. Wish I had more time to want to kill time ;oÞ

Wish 2010 is a greater and better year for me and everyone in the world. Got so many plans sitting at the edge of my conciousness, just haven't had the time to grap hold of them and make the realities. 2010. 2010. That's the year I am going to make my dreams come true. Hope I remember this next month. hahahha...

Oh yeah, I made a Monkey for Christmas. Here is the unfinished version. He now sits proudly on my Hi-Fi set with a tail and a bow just waiting for someone to pick him up and love him. What should we call him? Port Belly? Big Willy?

Japanese! Japanese! The Mktg, Branding and Creative team plus Carat and PosterScope had a get together at Jogoya Starhill last night. I had so much sashimi and am swearing off it to the year ;Þ The food was not a good as I tot it would be looking at the price but overall, it was not too bad as the choices were varied and extensive.

Oh yeah. I got the i phone 3GS 32GB!!! Got it from Taiwan as I didn't want to get tied down to a long term plan with Maxis. Their data plans suck. DIGI is now offering unlimited for RM 48 while Celcom is RM 68 unlimited. 5 mths pls pass fast so that I can change my service provider... The battery power sucks, it has hung twice on me, I can't seem to MMS using this phone and it is constantly logged on to the net. So be careful when you play any of the free games downloaded from i tunes. It automatically downloads banner ads and for the 1st week, my bill was already RM 51 for data! SMSing is hard as the touch pad is so small for my fatty fingers and don't even try it when u are driving. It's an accident waiting to happen.

But overall, the games are cool, the camera is good and the sound, fantastic.

See ya in 2010!!

No bird chickened out on our chick's nite!

Suzen's chick's nite didn't turn out as I originally planned. We were supposed to rent a suite and stuff all the holes and poles in there for the night with unlimited booze and fun. But as I had just returned from my trip to London, there was not enough time. What do people always say bout last minute planning? I oso don't know ;Þ

Girls that were invited to the do:
Li Yen
Jzune
Flora
Jessie
Fiona
Valerie
Caroline
And of course, the bride to be herself : )

I was a bit late in picking Li Yen up from the mamak in TTDI and rushed straight to Flora's to put the finishing touches to our props for the night. Who knew it ended up taking more than an hr so we had to send Jzune ahead to get out table at Laundy (by the way, we are boycotting that place). Took us half an hr to stitch the LifeSavers to the little t LY brot. Thank gawd I had some needle skills. Then we had to prepare the cans for Suzen's bridal walk. Downed cans of drinks in order to get 6 cans.

The games we had planned:
Lipstick
Bridal walk
3 drinks
Like a Virgin
Sucker

We finally got everyone together at Curve at 7.30pm. Service at Laundry was so bad it took 20 mins for someone to notice us frantically waving to get our orders. Then it took another 15 mins for us to get our plates and cutlery. Very bad service. I ordered the Calamari, 2 types of spaghetti, a Caeser Salad and 2 types of pizza. We ended the dinner by downing Tequila Shots at 9.30am. Damage? RM 521.We made her wear this the entire night.

Bride-zilla?
First shots for the night

The killer ladies

Did you know Laundry does not serve water, alco in jugs or towers on the eve of a hol? And they charge RM 80+ for Heinekken? Crazy... So we decided to go straight to Sanctuary to wait for the guys.

There we had to renegotiate the no of ppl we can bring inside. Ended up with 5 pax per bottle but they were so stingy with their tables. So what's the use of a reservation when they can't find it? We had to open a 3rd bottle to get access to a 2nd table. Slaughter... By 10.15 pm, BK, Kelvin, KC, Soon Yean, Rudy and Kelvin all arrived.

Crazy Flora and Jessie

The party begins!!
Girls busy mixing...
Kampai!!

Group pic before we get too drunk.

We loaded Suzen with drinks as the games we had in mind was quite provocative and tot she couldn't handle it sober. So at 11pm, laden with drinks in the system, off we went... But first, the cans went on...

Clank! Clank! Clank!

First up, she had to go round with her glass asking for drinks. She had to get 5 men to fill it up. In return, they would get a kiss from any of the girls. Guess who was the first casualty? Mua... But it was all in good fun. The rounds ended with Li Yen's cutie fren buying a Flaming Lamborgini.

Go Suzen! Go Suzen!

Had a quick loo break and discovered the gals went back up and Suzen disappeared! Found her outside suffering from gastric. Luckily the pill queen was around. Whip whip. Pills to the rescue... And things got more interesting from there... Bride-zilla was drunk and we couldn't continue with the games!! But we had other forms of entertainment. Lips will be sealed about wat went on but wat I can say is it involved the french...

Let's start stoning...

My good fren Kelvin
Before whisky kicked in

After the whisky kicked in

The groom who crashed the party

I was nearly gone by the time we met Bryan

Can't remember what time we went home exactly but I had a great night doing all kinds of stuff. It's great being single...

When we got back to work, KC showed us pics of Soon Yean with floor poses. We didn't even know he was drunk! Kelakar : ) Let's have more nights like this...

It's been ages!!!

Wow... It's not easy keeping a blog going I must say... So what have I left out since my last entry. Let's see....

After 13 days, made the 13 hr trip back from London on an AirAsia X Premium Seat at 2am 25th Aug 09. You could say I slept all the way back. Bad mistake. Reached KL in the afternoon and suffered bad jetlag for a week. So my night were spent awake in bed with only my thoughts to keep me company and finally only managing to fall asleep at 6am and having to wake up at 7am to go to work. Kept that up for a week and nearly died. But I had some respites thanks to Chivas and Glen something. Whisky, I love you...

One of the many cafe's in Paris

It's been 20 days since I got back and my minds a mess... Not that anyone can see coz Macho Woman is in the HOUSE!!!

Ok, back to the story... Threw Suzen's a chick's nite on 30th Aug 09 at Laundry and Sanctuary, Curve. I don't think any of the girls will be going back there as the management was not sporting and so calculative.Tequila shots all round

I had to cancel my 6 day Bali trip coz we had to work during the weekend at MATTA but had fun at the fair. Last day there, something caught fire but surprisingly, no one wanted to leave the hall especially those at the AA booth as they had lined up for hrs...

Suzen's wedding was held at Saujana on the way to the Subang airport. It was very different from what you would have expected from a typical chinese wedding. maybe I shud have one like that as well, if I ever do get married : )

Blurry pic of Suzen and me

So, this is the gist of my 20 days since I got back. Will narate more later. Got much to tell....

Paris! Paris!

I sorta think Paris is over rated but then again, that could be coz I have no clue how to get around or where to go. It's not as easy as London as you can go to Soho for night life and all the laces of attaraction are so close together. Here, I can't read the maps and the signages and the people are not very friendly. Most say they don'tunderstand you...

I liked walking the Paris streets at night. Less people and the weather was cooler. Saw the lourve and the Arc in twilight and shud be going inside to marvel at the masterpieces either today or tomolo before I head back to London on the 11pm bus which will take about 8 hrs. The trip here was not too bad. Passed real fast and only cost me GBP 52 return.

I hope the weather holds as it is as I didn't bring enough clothes to sweat in : )

I think spending so many days here is making ma lazy as I seem to be getting up later and later. Usually I am up and about by 9am taking in the sights. Irina! Buck UP!!!

It's been boiling and reaching its peak!

Excited!!! That's what my soul has been drumming steadily since I started planning the trip to London first to watch the U2 concert in Wembley and then my own holiday extension. And now, it's reaching boiling point and can hardly keep it in.

But I haven't had the time to even plan my trip so at this current point of time, I have no itinerary from 17 till 24th Aug. Need some ideas...

And to make matters worse, I just remembered I am supposed to be planning Suzen's hen's night for the weekend I get back to KL!! Aarghhh!!! Can I do it all in 1 day??

Paramore's Decode rocks!!

Misc happenings...

It was a long week last week with Flora out of town. A meeting was scheduled with Visit Britain in Singapore on Friday and that saw we getting up at 5am and driving in the dark to the airport as the flight departs 7.50am. Thank god for the radio keeping me awake : )

It was a good meeting with the VB team. At the airport while waiting for Emilia to make the purchases, guess who I saw? Denise Keller, the VJ from Channel V. The first thing that struck me was that she had sooo much make up on. Next we how much of a prima dona she was. She kep compliaining about the duty free bag her purchase was being sealed into and went on and on about the environment. Hello.. You are talking to the wrong people. You shud just write a complaint letter to the airport authorities to get them to reduce or do away with plastic instead of making the sales attendants life hell... Flight was delay 20 mins and arrived in KL at 6pm.

Meet Li Yen and Flora for drinks at Laundry, Curve at 10pm. Bumped into Kok Hoe and his frens as I was leaving at 12am. What a day... Couldn't wait to go home and sleep.

On came Saturday and it was housework and chill time. Did the laundry and basically chilled out at home in front of the telly. Had dinner with sis at Bukit Jalil but had to pick the kids up first from the club. The monsters are so adorable : )

Woke up early Sunday morning to bring Lilo for her refresher classes in Central Park BU at 9.30am. Lilo was not in the mood to pay attention. I was glad when class finally ended. Kumar wants me to be a trainer! I might be able to train my dog but are my methods the ones which I can pass on? Am I good at instructing people? No answers to those questions yet.
As we were running to the car (I had an itchy backside and wanted to let Lilo run yet scared to let her off leash) and I fell... Yup, I fell. My legs had the scrapping of their life and the grass and stones took a good sized chunk of flesh. I had this image of my butt bouncing up and down as the forward momentum kept me sliding forward on the ground.

The damage

So here I am today with a pain in my left leg with scraps and bruises to show when I am in UK. Who would have tot this would happen to me at this date? But I shud have known better. The klut, that's me : ) It was pure luck I managed to avoid much damage in the last 10 yrs...

Adrenaline Gold Coast - Day 3

It's already Thursday 23 July 09!! Wow, does time pass when you are having fun. I was so reluctant to wake up as the gigantic bed I was on kept calling me back to sleep. "Irina... Go back to sleep and snuggle under the fluffy duvet amongst 4 pillows... Sleep..." I was very tempted but I was also looking forward to breakfast at Sage Cafe where we are to meet with racing legend Sir Jack Brabham and his son.The restaurant was very near 1Two3 where we had dinner that first night.

Interior

I ordered the traditional eggs and bacon with a strawberry milk shake. When the bacon and eggs arrived, I was mesmerised. Tne bacon was sooo thick! And it was swimming in oil. *Shudder* The eggs were a little wet and creamy as if they added cheese to it. I didn't really enjoy breakfast too much as the bacon was too salty and oily. It was very difficult to swallow the stuff but Donald tot it was fine and wolfed it all down. A great way to start the day - A cup of creamy strawberry milk shakeMy bacon, eggs and toast

Some other options

Half way thru my food, I suddenly noticed this very cute guy sitting outside being spoon fed by a girl. He was so cute I couldn't resist taking a picture. Actually through out the entire trip, I took so many pictures of cute guys that passed me by. Everytime I whipped out the camera, the guys would all groan as they knew what I was about to do ;Þ

Cute ain't he ;)

Ah, here I am talking about this guys I don't even know, I totally placed Sir Jack on the back burner... He's about 80+ now and hard of hearing but still quick on his toes when it comes to answering questions.

Sir Jack

It was quite cold that morning and after breakfast, we made our way to Southport Surf Club on Suirfer's Paradise for the official launch of the Nitro Super GP by BAM Media.

The V8 HoldenThe V8 Ford

I got bored so went walkabout the area takings random pictures.

Lifeguards

Aborigine troup preforming at the event
They really got people's attention when they came out shaking their booty...
Ms Super GP. She was HOT and tall!

The sun suddenly came out and the temperature went sky high. Luckily it was not humid as I would have been sweating like a BBQ pig. The media were ushered to the beach front as they would be using sky divers to launch the event. They made us stand in the sun for 30 mins before we saw the first bodies falling out of the plane. Quite exciting when I first saw them ; )

It was a proud moment when I made out the Malaysian flag.
Safe landing on the beach front.

The team leader was an old man and he was carrying the biggests flag and executed the best landing. One of them actually landed in the water on his face. I had a good silent laugh the bad girl I am ;Þ

Once that wrapped, everyone adjourned upstairs to the mian area for the speeches, food and drinks. I took more photo's of the cutie hunky drivers as the place were crawling with them.

The Premier of Gold Coast Anna Bligh
was also there to support the event.
The Malaysian A1 car was also on display
which gave us free publicity

But the weird thing was, it was the only car available as the rest was dismantled being cleaned and under maintenance for the upcoming race while the Malaysian can was just sitting there.

The guys interviewed Alan Jones (in the sun mind you) and once the event was done, we were off to Harbour Town for a few hours of shopping bliss. And when that was not enough, John brought us to the Robina Shopping Centre which was huge! I had my worst meal there of fish and chips.

Robina Shopping Centre -
there was too much to see, too little time

We were lucky as today was late night shopping and the shops were open till 9pm. But the guys were tired and all spent out, so we headed back to the hotel about 8.30pm. Daniel was considering a trip to Hooters again but settled for directions there : )

After a blissful bath, I slipped under the covers, turned out the lights and meet slumber for a dreamy romp. Tomorrow's another exciting day - guns....