Singapore Top Travel, Beauty, Food, Lifestyle Blog

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Birthday Boy turns 30!

So I asked YZ, can I reveal your age online? 
And he was like.... Go ahead lor, anyway it doesn't matter to me.

So yes. This baby-faced boyfriend of mine whom everyone thinks is the same age as me (MAYBE I JUST LOOK OLD.) actually just turned 30 this month!
Which part of him looks like 30, huh? Tsk.

Turning 30 is quite a big deal, mostly because it signifies the end of the young 20s! But since he's a guy after all, I guess it doesn't make any difference. And also, I do like older guys, so 30 is a good number, actually. Hehehe.

We decided to just have a simple celebration to commemorate YZ's coming of age, so we went out for a nice movie and dinner date! Sounds super boring, I know, but you'd be surprised.. we usually spend a lot of our time hanging out together at home, or at our favorite few eats. Or we'd be at KTV hehe or maybe at our long-time foot reflexology centre at Fu Lu Shou. 

I hardly dress up when I'm together with YZ and vice versa, unless there's some special occasion or event. I like to think that it's because we're so relaxed and comfortable around each other, that dressing up becomes an extra chore that gets in the way, it's like how no one actually bothers to put on makeup or dress up at home, right?

But since it was a special day after all, we bothered to suit up for the occasion! We decided to celebrate the day before the actual birthday, since we'd be having a family dinner with YZ's family on his actual birthday.

YZ told me he'd leave the day's activities to me, so I knew immediately that I wanted to go watch a movie together, and I knew exactly which movie too... Despicable Me 2!

I'm the worst girlfriend on earth. (No I'm not actually but anyway..) I picked Despicable Me because I'm the one who wants to watch it.. I love cartoons!! And YZ doesn't really like them, but ever since we got together, I've made him watch quite a number of them with me already, and now he is very tolerant towards me and my cartoon-watching tendencies. HEHE.

We went to Cathay at Cineleisure, and here is where I made another bad girlfriend mistake: I wanted to book The Cathay (at Doby Ghaut) actually, but when we arrived at The Cathay fifteen minutes before the movie, we realised that my movie tickets were for Cathay at Cineleisure instead of The Cathay -__- AHHHH horrors. What a mistake to make!

After some quick mental calculations, we decided to rush down from Doby Ghaut to Somerset via MRT.. Ended up just being slightly late for the movie, ugh. So thankful and appreciative for the boy's patience with me. If this happened a couple years ago, he might have just blown up at me already because 1. He hates being late and missing the start of the movie 2. He hates it when I am so super careless and I make stupid mistakes like booking the wrong tickets =.= But well, all he did was to just grumble the slightest bit about missing the beginning, and afterwards gave me a peck on my cheek and everything was alright again! ❤

Nevertheless, it was sooooo super funny and cute! Those ridiculously minions never fail to steal the show away! Gotta watch it!
Bwahahaha. Too cuteeeeeee!

They had a huge blown-up minion standing in the basement of Cineleisure, so of course we had to take pictures with the minion! My dear Jayne was at work at Sœurs, so we borrowed her for a few minutes and she helped us take some shots!

This naughty Jayne took candid pictures of YZ adjusting my hair for me because my hair was so messy. Ain't YZ sweet?
The nicest picture! We decided we were too tiny in the picture and did the smart thing: moving forward so we were perspectively (is there such a word?) bigger in comparison! Hehe.

Took a mirror outfit shot too while I was at Sœurs.. I swear that Jayne's mirror has got a lengthening/slimming effect :X And yes.. If you spotted from the earlier pictures, I'm wearing TheVelvetDolls' newly arrived eyelet cut-out romper which is sooo much love!!

After the movie, we headed to The Halia at Raffles Hotel for dinner!

I previously attended a food tasting session there, and I have been wanting to bring YZ there, because we went to The Halia at Botanic Gardens for our first anniversary, and it's a place that holds alot of meaning for us. ^.^ Since The Halia is so conveniently located in town, we took another train ride from Somerset to Cityhall, and walked our way over to the restaurant!

It was about 6.30PM on a Monday night, but the restaurant had just a sprinkling of occupied tables, which I like. Overly crowded eating places sometimes give me a headache from all that rowdiness.

We wore our matching watches too! I got these as an anniversary gift for the two of us last year, from France. Love the simple but classic black and gold faces :)

I took care of the food, and ordered some of the favorites from the food tasting session. We took the Pre-Theatre set (applicable from 5.30-7PM) and paid $33++ for one small plate, one big plate, and one dessert!

There's only limited choices available for the Pre-Theatre set though. For the small plates, we could choose from either soup or the cheese plate, but I don't take cheese, so we went for the soup, which was tomato soup. As for the big plates, you can pick from the Sous Vide Chicken or Chilli Crab Spaghettini, both are great choices and I had a hard time battling the two greedy voices in my head! Went for the Chicken in the end, because I wanted to get the Seafood Gratin ;) Dessert's a choice between ginger nougat parfait and sticky date pudding so the choice was clear, half the reason why I was coming back was for the sticky date pudding!

Unfortunately, the tomato soup failed to impress, I didn't find the flavour tangy or distinctive enough. I also ordered the Foie Gras Salad which was just as orgasmic as the first time I tried it! YUM YUM.

Tucking in yay!

The restaurant's interior (or just the spot where we were seated actually) had terrible lighting for taking pictures, because of the ceiling lights ;( So if you plan to take some pretty pictures, you might want to seat in the middle of the restaurant (where I was seated the first time) where the lighting is somewhat better!

That being said, you could just turn on the camera flash too, hahaha. My camera doesn't have a built-in flash and I'm not accustomed to flash photography.

We waited for quite a fair bit in between our small plates and big plates, and if you're particular about waiting time in between courses, I would recommend you to inform the waiter 10-15 minutes in advance before you finish the starters so that the kitchen can start preparing!
Thankfully, the standards of the food remain the same from my previous visit. The Sous Vide Chicken was just as tender and well-grilled, while the Seafood Gratin had generous portions of mussels, prawns and other seafood amidst a bed of creamy pasta, topped with baked cheese!

We were unable to finish the huge portion of Seafood Gratin, but the staff kindly packed up the leftovers for us.

As I'd indicated to one of the staff that we were celebrating a birthday, they were super cute and served our dessert, sticky date pudding, with a candle, and a procession of waiters singing a birthday song for the birthday boy!
And you absolutely cannot miss the Sticky Toffee Pudding, it's officially one of my favorite places to have sticky date pudding now!

This picture is just hilarious.. YZ wanted to take a picture with his birthday "cake", but the ice cream tumbled off the sticky date pudding just before I pressed the shutter, resulting in YZ's I'm-actually-posing-with-a smile-but-my-eyes-are-on-my-fallen-ice-cream expression. Hahahahaha.

We were absolutely stuffed after our meal! Almost wanted to get another sticky toffee pudding but decided to restrain ourselves. We've been having one too many good meals of late!

***

On YZ's actual birthday, we had a family dinner at Thai Village Restaurant, at Kallang Leisure Park! This is one of my favourite restaurants that I frequent alot with my family too, so we suggested it for YZ's birthday dinner.  It's a tad pricey but is worth it if you'd like to splurge a little for a nice family meal! I love the food there :)

YZ and his huge family! They are all really close, and make a point to celebrate every single member's birthday with a special family dinner.

With my birthday boy!

And without fail, the cake that we get every year, because everyone in the family loves it! It's Rive Gauche's Guanaja cake, and it is sinfully addictive, especially if you're a chocolate lover! You have got to try it to know what I mean. I love the crunchy biscuit base to it, reminds me of a Kit Kat wafer!

YZ with Zavier and Zylia, the two little imps. They are super cute but such a handful to deal with at times!

Happy birthday again to the man of my life ;)

❤❤❤

Outfit:
TheVelvetDolls Embroidered Eyelet Cut-Out Romper in Salmon Pink
TheVelvetDolls Courtney Box Clutch in White
Sam Edelman loafers from OnPedder

I was so super excited that stocks for this manufactured romper finally arrived, that I wore it out on the very same day! 

You might remember my original inspiration from Topshop that I wore in this entry, our own version is finally here, and we did some amendments to the fabric and cutting! Choose a smoother and better quality material, and added inner lining to it as well so that the lighter colors wouldn't be sheer cos my original piece from Topshop was so sheer. Am absolutely in loooove with it, and couldn't be more pleased about how the four colors we chose turned out! Yayyy!

Beautiful eyelet cut-out details and scalloped hem!

There'll be more previews on TheVelvetDolls Facebook soon so keep a look out ;)

xoxo

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Thursday, March 1, 2012

Nuffnang is FIVE!

NUFFNANG IS FIVE!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D (give you 5 smiley faces for being 5 years old!) and we had a ball of a time celebrating last Monday evening, at Equinox privating dining, Swissotel! i have like a shitload of pictures (as usual) so i'm just gonna dump em photos here. ZOMG.

Jayne, Peggy and myself at the photo booth that was specially prepared for the night! :D

so this Gabby called me and asked me to keep myself available for the 27th, and said that there would be a Nuffnang birthday dinner, and i was like oh okay! thought it was going to be like a small affair, but nooooooo, the day before the dinner, everyone on twitter (the bloggers) were all going on about what they were gonna wear and all that and i was like SHIT. was just gonna wear something simple and all but i was like damn worried i would underdress! no time to go shop for new dress some more, in the end, i dug out something from Gina's wardrobe ahahaha yay problem solved! i know, you might be thinking like wtf i should have a million and one clothes from TVD but it's not the dressy season so there isn't anything (new) that's dressy enough for the occasion! and i die die want to wear something i never wear before. lolol vain. SO. moving on!

decided to go all out in the end, and booked a hair appointment together with Jayne, at our most trusted Salon Vim! mad awesome. i never have to worry about my hair, all thanks to my amazing hair stylist Stephanie! ^_^
 
starting off with a hair wash and 1-step treatment first!
 
Gary discussing Jayne's look for the night!
 
so cute lololol. Salon Vim just brought in this new equipment and i totally look like i ought to be soaking in an onsen with the towel around my forehead and steam all around me! 
 
on to the styling.. it's curls to one side and super funky looking with strands artistically pulled out!
 
Steph working her magic with the bobbi pins!

we ended up kinda of late in the end cos our hair styling took too long! D: but it's worth it, look at our hair, so mad chio! Jayne had these really cool braids on one side with curls on the other side! 
 
ALL DONE WITH OUR HAIR. taken while cabbing down to Swissotel, lol. luckily it's near.

***

SALON VIM
313 @ Somerset #04-07/08/09
vimsalon@yahoo.com.sg
68847757/68847767


check out Salon Vim's facebook page too, for the latest promos and services available! :)


***

 
we arrived at the Equinox restaurant, which is on the freaking 69th floor of Swissotel The Stamford! too bad it was getting dark already so there wasn't much of a view. Jayne signing off in the guestbook!
 
we got our photo booth pictures printed out instantly too! yippee!
 
ok the only picture i took of myself by myself. lolol.
 
i was seated at Table 2, with Peggy, Zoe Raymond, Sheila, Esther, Nadia, Noel, Becks and Yutaki!

first time meeting some of these peeps, though it's like i know who they are already, i tell you, the feeling is weird lol. it's like so awkward! like, hi! i know you're Peggy! anyway i'm Yina! nice to meet you!

i feel like a stalker y'know. it's like you know who these people are and you even read their blogs but if you go like "oh so i read your last entry and you did this and that" i dunno man it just sounds very stalkerish doesn't it!

luckily, they're all very nice people :D so awkward moment over, it was really easy to converse and talk with them!
 
with the really nice Peggy on my right
 
and Yutaki on my left! i swear, he's prettier than me.

we had a huge spread of food available for us, so so so so much food zomg! i didn't eat so much of the food (the people at my table were all eating very little! i didn't want to look like the only glut!) but i made up for it by having lots of desserts :D
 
Nadia and Esther happily eating across the table :D
 
and of course, being Nuffnang's 5tih birthday, Boss Ming went up to give a speech! 
 
desserts: the best darn crepe cake ever. from Humble Beginnings!scame in so so many flavors and it was MAD yummy!!! i even da-baoed some leftovers home at the end of the night ahaha :X
 
it was a super entertaining night, with performances and games! Chua En Lai appeared as Porn from The Noose and he was friggin hilarious with his Thai accent!
 
Noel and Qiuqiu kena sabo-ed to go on stage! lolol.
the cutest cake ever! that's supposed to be Ming and Timothy! (the co-founders)
 
and all the Nuffies participating in the cake-cutting and taking a group photo!
 
had a wonderful singer, Ling Kai, who serenaded us with her gorgeous voice and guitar.. *melts*

what a night, great food, awesome performances and of course bloggers doing what they usually do best: camwhore ahahaha :D
 
i was just demonstrating how the E-P3 flash is so awesome everyone looks damn radiant with it!
 
group picture of Table 2 ^_^
 
with Noel!
 
Jayne, Peggy and me! these two girls are gorgeous rightttt
 
and with Zoe as well!
 
Becks came and left pretty quick, didn't get to talk much but we still snapped a quick picture :D
 
and more with Yutaki, he's really the king of camwhore cos his arms are so damn long, he can hold the camera super far! seriously amazing. Yutaki says he can take a self-shot with 10 people inside.
 
this is proof right. you see got three of us already still can fit in at least 6 other faces in the frame!
 
with Sheila and Zoe!
 
and my favorite beauty queen, Valerie :D
 
promised Jayne i will put up a CHIO picture of her. Jayne, can or not??? this is very chio already ok!
 
with Wen! i like her short hair so nice!
 
pretty Sophie!
 
Bea, looking stunning as always! :D
 
hamsum Brad was wearing a super smart outfit too!
 
and with Clara
  
Wen appeared from nowhere i also dunno how come got this pic LOL.
 
with Qiuqiu! i think i did you justice in this picture. LOL. is chio de!
 
and of course i had to take a picture with Wendy!
 
everyone busy taking pictures throughout the night haha.
 
with Boss Ming! Nuffnang HUAT AH!!!!
 
my dear Nuffies Gabby and Wen..
 
and also Amanda and Eliza :D

left the dinner pretty late, but some of the NN folks wanted to go chill and have some drinks, so Val and i joined em! we went to Switch by Timbre, which is a pretty new joint near Bras Basah. it's a great place to chill, and opens pretty late as well. the menu is adapted from Timbre's, so you can find favorites like the thin crust roast duck pizza! i went back there last night, so maybe i'll blog more about Switch soon!
 
so cute one this Valerie!
 
Timbre-style thin crusted pizza. 
 
Wen, Huixian, Edwin and Xavier!
 
and this Huiwen super tired until she blur lor. she keep on asking me if we took pictures together already or not i was like JUST NOW DURING DINNER WE TOOK ALOT LIAO WHAT! but never mind, take again!
 
with these two talented 小弟弟们. hahahaha :S Edwin and Xavier! dammit, i feel old. thanks ah Xavier. at least i say i look like 23 years old. HAHAHA self-consolation.
last group photo of the night! Chris, Huixian, Edwin, Xavier, Noel, Alvin, Wen, Patrick, Val and myself!

i am SO proud for Nuffnang. 5 incredible years and many more to come!!! and if you asked me 2 years ago, i would have laughed in your face (and maybe tell you to go and 吃大便) if you told me i'd be part of this amazing community of talented bloggers and people. and it's all because of Nuffnang. #emo

here's to many more years to come, and may Nuffnang HUAT BIG BIG!!! 
HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, NUFFNANG!!!!!
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© Yina Goes

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