Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 to conclude. Hello 2015!

Every year without fail, i will compile a year end blog post to conclude the year by listing down the significant events of each month. I would literally spend some time going through my blog archives for the year, look through my social media feeds such as Facebook and Instagram just to make sure i don't miss anything out (or to squeeze out something "significant" for the month, LOL) This year has been pretty smooth sailing without any major setbacks. This year is also the year where i have to make a big decision that will pretty much determine my future but even till now, i have yet to come to a decision. Let's put that aside first. This post is about looking back at the past 12 months, not looking forward since i can do that in my 2015 resolutions post, LOL Talking about my resolutions, I'm quite sure i did not fulfill about 60% of it dammit. Then again, it's not like I've been reminding myself throughout the year. Should i bring it forward? LOL

When i do blog post like this every year end, other than the fact that it made me realized how time passes really fast (and I'm getting older year by year), it made me ponder and think back what i have achieved for the year. I'm quite proud of myself for religiously updating my blog, even though not regularly (probably one third are advertorials, another third are travelogues but still!) despite my other commitments. Come to think of it, it has been 8 years since i started this blog. Sometimes i will think, without this blog, how different would the past 8 years be? I seriously have no idea...

Without further ado, it's time to conclude my year 2014 and welcome 2015!

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Technically Chinese New Year is in February but January is the month where you start preparing for CNY by shopping for CNY goodies and new clothes to take #ootds so i decided to combine both Jan and Feb together. Ok lah, the other part of the reason is there isn't any events worth mentioning in January (other than i visited the 2 degrees ice art exhibition if you count that) but i really look forward to CNY every year. Other than the angpows, it's the gathering with the relatives, the gambling and countless of get-together steamboat sessions with friends that makes this festive so fun
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One of my 2014 resolutions/ goals would be to participate in at least 3 runs and in March, i clocked my first one at the Singapore City Race. Joined the short distance category and it's 15km! It was a really fun "amazing race" experience around Singapore and i would definitely participate again in 2015! Read about my experience here: http://www.imandystorm.com/2014/03/singapore-city-race-i-completed-my-15km.html I think it took me and Joyce about 4 hours to complete. Would have been faster if we didn't stop to buy drinks from Gong cha and Macs, LOLOLOL
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First trip out of Singapore in 2014. It was to BKK with the *Cousins! Bought the tickets on promo in December 2013 and the day finally arrived. The trip almost didn't happen because of the ongoing riots in BKK but majority of us stood by our tickets hoping the riots will cease and it did! It was our first trip out of the country together (via plane) and it was really really fun!!! Really hope that we get to travel again in 2015! *cross fingers Read about our trip HERE if you are interested! April is also the month i finally decided to step into CDC to apply for my Provisional Driving License (PDL) which enables me to take driving lessons which i did not go for any... and it expired last October. FML It was one of my 2014 resolutions to get a driving license and i have already been procrastinating for like what, 5 years? Unbecoming :|

In April, my friend invited me to attend the Star Awards 红星大奖 with him and it was a star studded event! (obviously...) I got to see a lot of celebrities in real life like my favorite Rui en and Jeanette Aw! Quite interesting to see how they run a live event on national TV. By the way, the bottom right photo was my #OOTD for that night. HAHAHAHA
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In May, i unknowingly won an experience to iFly Singapore at Sentosa to try out how skydiving feels like. I hope to experience the real thing when i go Gold coast next year! Other than that, i also launched the 2nd collection for Graphikos. A mini project that i embarked on. The results were pretty good with about 90% of the clothes all sold, i wished i had more time to do this. Even though it's not easy managing a online store (you should totally read about my experience HERE!) I quite enjoy the whole tedious process single handed-ly. Now it seem like i only launch one collection every year, HAHAHHAA Till the next collection. You can still access Graphikos store @ http://graphikos.co.nr
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After a short 2 months back from BKK, i traveled again and this time it's to Korea for the third time! Spent the past few months planning an proper itinerary (not easy at all despite my third time visiting the country) and getting all the miscellaneous like booking of hostel done and finally it was time to depart! Before that, BlackHairSalon kindly sponsor their hair service for this trip and i got myself copper orange hair for that 1 week trip, LOL Planned the itinerary such that i get to experience another side of Seoul which i did not get during the past 2 trips. Visited the 2 theme parks and even got onto that scary wooden roller coaster at Everland! Only managed to complete the travelogue recently and you can now read the complete Seoul travelogue HERE. One of my 2014 resolutions/ goals was to pick up another language and i wanted Korean but it seem really difficult! Maybe i should read up more and attend language classes when able :(
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Cousins* Annual picnic at Marina Barrage for the 4th year running! Remember i mentioned earlier about wondering what would have happened if i didn't start my blog 8 years ago? Well, one thing i know is that i might not have met this bunch of awesome friends now affectionately known as "Cousins*" People have come and go within this group but I'm glad that i have them to spend time together, share stories, laugh at stupid things and may this friendship last eternally. Wow, i just used a pretty chim word to describe our friendship - "Eternally". LOLOLOL I should have threw that silly selfie stick aside in the above photo BUT i got a cool side shot of us looking at the camera hor! HAHA So when is our 2015 picnic?
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After years of balloting for the NDP tickets, i finally won 4 tickets to the preview this year! I think the chances of winning the preview ticket is much higher than balloting for the actually day one. Can't believe Wei Jie won 6 tickets to the actual day *insert shocked emoji* The preview was still fun though, and it was a full preview meaning everything is exactly like the actual day with the same amount of fireworks! I very patriotic one, must wear red and white and wave the flag enthusiastically. Not forgetting to sing along to all the NDP songs even though it's not the actual day. HAHAHAHA

In August, i also got an invitation by Julies' for a weekend sponsored trip to Malacca. It's been a while since i went to Malacca plus i was really interested in seeing how their biscuits were made. Next thing i know, i gathered with the rest of the bloggers at Golden Mile complex and off we go on our road trip to Malacca! Read about my trip to Malacca HERE.
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My second run for the year was the 5km Color Run held at Sentosa. It was quite unexpected on how i managed to join in the run but i'm not going to repeat the whole story all over again. If you are interested, you can read about it HERE. I'm considering whether to join the run in 2015 despite the hefty registration fee but it was really really fun! More of a fun run rather than a competitive "healthy" run but still, i clocked as 1 out of the 3 runs as part of my 2014 resolutions :D

In September, i also bought myself a new camera, the Canon G7x. Still relatively new in the market as of now and one of the best compact camera i have ever used. Earlier this year i upgraded to a Samsung Ex2F but i sold it in the end for this camera. Yes, i know... I have been switching gadgets like it's all free :| I'm very happy with my current G7x (the quality is really good!) and it has everything that i want/ need in a camera. If you are looking for a good compact camera and don't mind paying a bit more than the usual compact cameras, i would highly recommend this camera. 4✮!

September is also the first time i ever paid for a concert. I paid $268 just to watch YG Family concert. I've no idea why i did that because i can get a lot of stuff with $268 but if you asked me if i regretted getting the tickets, i would say no. In that close to 3 hours concert, i get to see the Korean artistes that I've always been watching on youtube in real life. Not just one group but 5 acts which includes hot favorite Big Bang, 2NE1 and YG latest boy group, WINNER. It felt quite unreal seeing them in real life on the stage. I could sing along to most songs and the atmosphere was really high! Totally worth the ticket price. I mean instead of paying the same price to watch one of group, let's say 2NE1 concert, i would rather pay to watch a few songs from each group/ artiste and see all of them in one concert on the same night. YG
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Spent most of the month of October in Australia and spent my birthday there as well. It was a pretty good experience to be traveling out of Asia even though it's not for a holiday. 3 weeks was the longest i have been away from Singapore in a foreign country. Throughout my days in Aussie, i took random photos and compiled them into a photo travelogue which i published recently, you can read the post HERE and HERE. In October i also did a collaboration with Singtel for their latest mobile plan and got myself the 64GB iPhone 6 plus which i always wanted! I was really really happy when i got it!

Had a couple of advance birthday celebrations before i departed for Aussie because on my actual birthday, i would be spending it in Australia. Met up with my 2 best friends, Jing long and Jiaqi for a day of good food and fun. Also met up with my poly mates (which we happen to meet only once a year during Christmas, but this year, it would be twice!) And on the actual day, when it hit midnight (2 hours earlier than SG) the guys came into my hotel room and surprised me with a Baskin' Robbins ice cream cake with the candles replaced by a bundle of matchsticks. What an awesome October.

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Coming back from Australia, i was feeling quite sian. In Aussie, i can't wait to be back in SG with all my friends and family, but when i'm back... i wished i was back there. Anyway in November, i clocked my final 3rd and last run for the year - the 5km Singapore Airlines Charity Run. Registered for the run before i departed for Aussie but last min my colleague couldn't make it so Joyce took over him and went for the run with me. Just nice Josh signed up for the run too so we ran/ walked together, chatting and enjoying the scenery along the route! At least i completed 1 of my 2014 resolutions/ goals. Phew. In November, i also booked my year end getaway trip to Phuket with Jing Long and Jiaqi! Wanted to go Bali at first but as you know everything gets expensive (especially airfares!) towards the holiday season so we settled for Phuket instead. But still, it's a beach getaway! Really in need of a getaway and counting down day by day.

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Finally the day to depart for Phuket arrived and the three of us were really excited! We had a common understanding that this trip will be pure relaxing with no itinerary to follow. We even booked ourselves an awesome resort with personal jacuzzi! Literally spent 1/3 of the time inside our room. LOL Took lots of photos but have yet to find the time to do up a proper travelogue. I will try to start by next month! HAHA December is also the month of Christmas, the season of giving! Probably the most packed yet the most enjoyable month of the year for me. I totally love Christmas

Met up for dinner and gift exchange with different groups of people like every other year. BFFs, Nurul and Yah see. Wasn't expecting a meet up with all 3 of us because Nurul is studying overseas BUT she came back! This year i also met up with 2 groups of poly mates instead of the usual 1 (Rinn and the rest) but this year, another group which we have not met up for 4 years! All thanks to Zakia who consolidated our numbers and we had a dinner meetup in early December and decided that we should meet up again for Christmas! Last but not least, the Cousins*! Every year we would have a Staycation prior to Christmas but this year, we decided to combined both Christmas and Countdown together for a Staycation later at Park Avenue! Probably as you are reading this, i might be at the staycation right now, lol. You probably get to read my x'mas post and staycation post only in late January, i very slow one :| It's scary how times flies.
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That's it for my 2014 conclusion post. Phew, it took me one whole afternoon to sum up my year. May 2015 be a good year, one with full of adventures, opportunities, good health and luck. Now let's see where should i travel to... ✈✈✈


Hello 2015,                              

Friday, December 26, 2014

Christmas x Gardens By the Bay

December has always been my favorite month. It's the season of Christmas where i get to meet up with different groups of friends to catch up for a dinner and have a simple gift exchange. For the past 2 weeks, i have been visiting town every other day to hunt for gifts (and always end up buying something for myself, it's Christmas! LOL) This year has been a pretty special one for me so far. Still a couple more of meet ups and a Christmas/ Countdown staycation to go with the *Cousins on the 31st! On the actual day, a few of us decided to meet up to "soak up" the festive season at Gardens by the bay, probably the best place in SG to view Christmas lighting. The lights were really pretty but the place was pretty crowded. It's so easy to photobomb one another photo, it's like you turn your head and you realised your face is in someone's camera screen, HAHAHA Here are some of the photos i took with my camera before my camera died on me (Ok, i admit i forgot to charge it before i brought it out...) Only 2 of the photos in this post are taken using my iPhone, they are quite easy to identify i think. Without further ado, enjoy the photos and wish you guys a Merry Christmas!
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With lots of love ,                                 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Australia 2014: Photo-Travelogue Part 2/2

This is part 2 of my Aussie Photo-travelogue. By the way if you haven't read, or should i say browse through the first post (since it's all photos) you can go to this LINK. The Part 1 post is more of random photos of things i came across throughout the 3 weeks in Australia. As for Part 2, it is more on the activities that i did during my free time or off days. Normally what we do the night before we just google what are some of the places of interest to go to then we wake up early in the morning, have our breakfast and drive all the way to visit the place. Like literally drive 40km to the place...

Covered a couple of interesting places and saw the famous Australia Koala bear in real life, super lazy and not moving at all. Planned to drive up one of the more famous mountain (Mt. Archer) for a simple BBQ session and view the sunset but before that, we went to the supermarket to get all the BBQ essentials like charcoal, fire starter, food etc only to realized that the BBQ pits on the mountain are all electrical and are free to use. Waste money buying those charcoal and fire starters! Ended up taking turns to throw the charcoal to scare off those birds crowding around our BBQ pit, LOL

Driving around was not exactly boring because of the amazing scenery, once a while we will see a farm full of cows or horses, and there were only a couple of traffic lights along the way. During one of the last few days in Aussie, we drove to a famous beach and had fish and chips with a lot of seagulls staring at you. It was really peaceful and definitely not as hectic as in Singapore. It felt like everything slowed down and we had more time to do what we want. Then again in Australia, the malls and shop closes at like 5pm, which is like our 3pm?! Nothing much to do at night except for going Baskin' Robins for ice cream (fat die us! lol) or visit the slot machines at our hotel. Let's begin Part 2 of this travelogue!
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✈ Koorana Crocodile Farm, Queensland
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✈ Mount Archer, Queensland
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✈ Yeppoon Beach, Queensland
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Fast forward 3 weeks later, it's time to head to the airport to take a transit flight to Brisbane for our main flight back to Singapore via SQ. I was really looking forward to go home, somehow i miss my family and friends, i miss the food in Singapore, i miss my bed, but when i returned to work... i wished i was back in Australia instead. LOL Nevertheless it was a good experience and this marks the end of my 2 part Australia photo travelogue. I hope the next time i come to Australia would be for a holiday to Gold coast or Sydney where i can do a proper travelogue!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

#JuliesHersheys: Smiles in every bite!

Yesterday i was invited to the media launch of Julies x Hershey's and i was pretty excited to see what Julie's has to offer this time. This event felt like a mini Christmas gathering for those of us bloggers who went on a road trip over to Malacca in August, getting to meet each other again and also the people from Julie's like Mr Martin Ang, the Director of Perfect Food manufacturing, and their staffs like Miriam again! The room was setup with a Christmas-ty theme and they used biscuit boxes to form "Christmas trees" which everyone couldn't help it but take a few photos or selfies with them.

If you know  me well enough, I'm a HUGE fan of chocolates and i would indulge in them from time to time, especially when feeling moody or stressed. On the other hand, i love to eat biscuits as well, especially chocolate chip cookies. When they were introducing their range of #JuliesHersheys cookies, i couldn't help it but quietly open up one of the sample packs and give it a try on the spot, LOL Not trying to exaggerate but i think i definitely felt the Hershey's element in the cookie! It's like this premium chocolaty taste that i get from Hershey's kisses or their chocolate bars
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Can you spot the "Christmas tree" that i mentioned earlier?
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The #JuliesHersheys range has 6 varieties in total however there is only 5 in Singapore currently. This collaboration was launched in Malaysia in October 14 and Singapore in November 14, which means some of you might have already seen it selling in major supermarkets or have even tasted it! The 5 of them available in Singapore are as shown in the above photo: Chocolate Waffles, Chocolate Chip cookies, Chocolate Fudge Cookies, Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies and Chocolate chip hazelnut cookies! So far i have only tried a couple of it and i'm lovin' it, shall slowly open one box at a time. LOLOL
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Oh ya, during the event they held an instagram contest and all we have to do is upload a photo with their cookies and hashtag #JuliesHersheys and 5 lucky winners get to win a mystery prize. I joined for the fun of it and uploaded the photo above (since i intended to upload a photo of the event anyway) and guess what? My photo was chosen as one of the 5 photos! LOLOLOL I won another 2 boxes of cookies and 1 box of it is the one that is not available in Singapore (Chocolate Fudge vanilla flavored cookies) The rest can cross the border and go JB buy if they want to try, MUAHAHA
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Photo with Miriam during the lunch! A staff of Julie's and a friend i made during the Malacca trip! :)
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Ending off the event with a group photos with all the bloggers and Mr Martin Ang! If you ever spot the #JuliesHersheys biscuit in stores, do give it a try and you might just fall in love with it! Oh ya, before i end this post, Thanks Julies for the invitation and also for the Christmas gift! It's like my first gift i received for this Christmas, LOL

Ho ho ho,                                        

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

SingTel WiFi | Get more data and save!

This is probably the 3rd month since i renewed my Singtel line (and got myself the iPhone 6+!) and I'm happy to see the difference before and after the renewal! Ever since i switched to the Combo 3 plans, i have been making use of the unlimited data usage via Singtel WiFi hotspots whenever I'm outside, especially in town. I used to bust my data limit by about 2GB per month (my old Flexi plan has 3GB + 1 GB additional top up, total 4GB/month) and i had to pay additional $10.70 for each GB that i exceed. It's like no matter how i scrimp, save and try not to bust the limit, i will still end up exceeding and paying for at least 1 additional GB a month, damn! But now let me present to you my latest Singtel bill:
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My grand total for Data usage in my latest bill was only 2.1GB . Like what sorcery is this.

Just in case you were wondering if i stopped playing games on my phone, or decided to use my phone lesser, the answer is no. Nothing has changed, except that i turned on my phone's WIFI more frequently now that there might be a possibility a SingTel Wifi hotspot might just be around the corner, LOL It's like you don't even have to look it. Whenever your phone's WIFI detects a SingTel WiFi hotspot, it will automatically connect to it without you having to login or whatsoever. Next thing you know, you see your 3G/4G logo at the top of your phone being replaced by the WIFI sign :D
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Having to switched to the latest Combo plan adds on an additional 100 mins talk time. Other than data, the no. 2 concern would definitely be outgoing talktime minutes. No issues with incoming calls because they are free but what if you are the one calling out? 100 minutes does makes a big difference i feel. I used to be one of those who spend my night chatting with my friends over the phone and end up busting my talk time limit. Then again, times have changed, now everyone is chatting over whatsapp or LINE instead of over the phone. But still, it's good to have more talk time

Here's an overview of SingTel's latest Combo plan:
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If you are already a SingTel Combo plan subscriber, do turn on your WiFi and try out the FREE Singtel WiFi service if you come across any of their hotspots! For the whole list of hotspots available, you can refer to this link - http://info.singtel.com/personal/phones-plans/mobile/postpaid/combo/singtel-wifi Can't wait for more hotspots to be up, especially at MRT stations where it would probably be most useful since people are always gathering or waiting for one another there. Happy my monthly bill is pretty constant now! Wish i could have shown you guys my old bills. LOL

Monday, December 8, 2014

Australia 2014: Photo-Travelogue Part 1/2

A couple of months ago, i went to Australia for a 3 weeks work trip (i wished it was for a holiday instead, lol) and it was quite an eye opener for me. Despite me traveling frequently throughout the past few years, this trip was the first time i traveled out of Asia. Took a 7 hours flight to Brisbane via Singapore Airlines. Even though it's an Economy flight on SQ, the 7 hours was not exactly comfortable. I couldn't really find a nice position to fall asleep in and ended up watching about 4 movies throughout the flight. Cannot imagine if i were to take a budget airline with the much constraint space.

Transited at Brisbane to Rockhampton, Queensland. Obviously i wouldn't do a travelogue out of this 3 weeks trip because it's gonna take forever to complete plus there wasn't much of an itinerary. Basically during my off days, i would google and see what are the places/ attractions i can visit around the area. It's not like going to Gold coast or Sydney where you really need an itinerary. Throughout the 3 weeks, i just randomly took snapshots of things that are around me, the food that i eat, the places that i visited and some interesting things like wild animals like kangaroos and cows.

Took about 500 odd photos throughout the trip and managed to filter down to what you are going to see in this 2 part photo travelogue. More of scenery photos which are all very wallpaper worthy, less photos of myself/ selfies, for once. Weather is super nice there, Sunny but not hot, chill in the night. Food is really expensive, especially Asian food. We frequent this Hong Kong restaurant and they dishes are like average Aud13 - 14 each, which is about Sgd15 for a place of duck rice or wanton noodle, the portion is huge though. Chocolates are surprisingly very cheap and grocery shopping is quite enjoyable despite the price. A bottle of coke cost about Aud3.50 (which is Sgd4) Like what? The cheapest food is probably pizza. Fast food prices like KFC, Hungry Jacks, Red Rooster are still quite acceptable at about Aud10/ meal.

This trip is the longest i have ever been away from home. I returned to the same hotel room every single day and had hotel breakfast every day with different kind of eggs (American breakfast which i usually have for brunch in SG, LOL) There were ups and downs in this trip and there were times i wished i was back in SG but nevertheless, the 3 weeks passed quite quickly and unknowingly i'm back in Singapore again. Shall not bore you guys further with chunks of words (i wonder if you guys read it anyway, HAHAHHA) So without further ado, do enjoy my photo travelogue in Australia
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✈ Brisbane Airport, Australia
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✈ Rockhampton, Queensland
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Back in Singapore,                               
Photos taken using iPhone 6+ | Canon G7x | Edited using Adobe Photoshop | PhotoScape
Part 1 | Part 2

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Bye Bye Singapore, Hello Phuket!

Flying off to Phuket, will be back with another travelogue!
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Wanderlust,