Little treasures from New York…

For those that know me well, will be very familiar  with how i get excited when i get surprises when least expected, and that is what just happened before i got off work last week. My BFF in New York was a real sweet heart and had gotten me some lovely goodies for my belated 30th birthday and Christmas gift. Her mom had recently gone to New York to visit her and her recent born grandson, Jonathan, who is my ever as cute godson, and had been requested by my BFF to deliver the goods to me in person. That’s when i got a call and auntie was at the door of my office with the bag of goodies. If you are reading this, my BFF, i love you girl!!!

I remember my very first trip to the states in New York back in 2008, where i fell in love with Bath & Body Works, an American skin care brand. Fast forward 5 years later, BFF is ever as sweet and remembers my love for this brand. Although my love for Bath & Body Works isn’t as crazy as before, surely one should not decline gorgeous looking beauty products, right? There were 2 shower gels that came in the flavors of sun ripened raspberry and cucmber melon, which reminds me of the summer times. I absolutely adore the cute mini anti-bacterial hand gels, and they are the perfect size to put into my bag. Japanese Cherry Blossom is my favorite.

On my lazy days, when i don’t have time or patience to glam up, i always find spraying on a fave perfume or applying a tint of lip gloss is all it takes to feel dolled up without much effort. This is when less is more fits my agenda, where i go for the casual look. So i was very much amused when i found out that BFF had gotten me a multi functional cosmetic piece to add to my collection.  This special make up kit is a wand that has a pink lip gloss on one end and a lovely summery roll on perfume on the other end. Two things in one, it’s the perfect gift for a busy lady like me that always rushes to work every morning. The AVOCA soap bar is an additional piece i added because i felt that it completed the entire look with the whole pink color scheme going on in the photo. I actually bought this soap during my trip to Wicklow in Ireland three years ago. I still haven’t had the heart to use this soap because it just looks too pretty and still smells ever as lovely as the day i bought it. 

One of my fave gifts to receive are jewelries as it can hold sentimental values, where memories are embedded of that certain moment or special person, and a valuable to be kept forever. You can say i’m more of the sappy type, if you like. For my belated birthday gift, BFF got me this gorgeous Swarovski crystal necklace. The simple and elegant design of this gem is very close to my usual style in jewelry, and the size is perfect for me.

What are some of your most memorable birthday gifts received in the past?

Looking back at 2012…

As we enter the second week of 2013, I cannot help but think how fast the time is moving. It feels like only yesterday that I was still in beautiful Vancouver having a lovely Christmas holiday with friends.

If I had to sum up 2012, I would say I had a pretty fruitful year where I accomplished a few new years resolution that I had set out earlier in the year. One of my biggest accomplishments was joining Toastmasters, where I conquered my fear of public speaking. This opened doors for me to other public speaking opportunities, such as being the MC for my company’s annual dinner at the Four Seasons hotel. I also made 2012 my traveling year where I traveled to Beijing, Europe, and Canada. It was the best thing that i could had ever had done, with special and memorable moments that will always stay with me. Of course, there are also the smaller things but that means just as much to me, which I enjoyed throughout the year. Such moments that I truly appreciated were the quality times spent with friends and families, high tea’ing over hours of rambling with girlfriends, a trip to Paul Lafayet for my macaron fix, pampering myself with a new manicure or just simply buying myself a small gift to brighten my day.

Here is a sneak peak into my 2012, and i know 2013 will be just as good, or even better.

Beautiful flowers, kuamquat (tangerine) trees, and delicious Chinese treats were everywhere during Chinese New Year, where families gathered together to watch fireworks, as a way to welcome the year ahead. I had the opportunity to be the MC for my company’s annual dinner at the Four Seasons hotel,which was an unforgettable experience. Got spontaneous one day and decided to try a new Israeli nail polish brand, Laka. The numerous choices of colors lured me to their mini express manicure shop, where I purchased 3 lovely colors in green, pink, and lavender. Took BFF to the luxury Armani Aqua restaurant to celebrate her big 30, where it served a mixed fusion of Japanese and Italian food. It was a lovely and chilled night where we laughed non stop about anything. Finally went to a live jazz performance to see the talented English jazz singer, Clare Teal, who sang with such passion and lit up the entire room. I got to speak to her in person while she signed her latest album “Hey Ho” for me, and she is such a down to earth person.

Easter came before i knew it, and a short trip to Beijing with my BFF was arranged so we could visit our dearest Ms. C in Beijing to keep her company. We did all the things a tourist could do – ate their local Peking duck at the infamous “DaDong”, boat pedalling in the Summer Palace where we saw the sun set, and of course, went to the Forbidden City to admire their historical Chinese architecture. It was my first ever gift giveaway to celebrate my blog’s 3 years anniversary finally , where i presented a lovely Parisian themed calender, lip gloss and nail polish set. Reading mode was back on track and i bought 3 books to help kill time for those long train rides going home. Took mom and dad out for high tea at “The Parlor” on Mothers day for an relaxing afternoon and got her a lovely bouquet of red roses. My fave Japanese pop singer, Namie Amuro, had released a new album called Uncontrolled, and i bought it the minute i found it. The song “Love Story” is super good.

Light shopping spree for no particular reason, got some colorful flats and the SATC movie version DVDs. I practically lived on the SATC series during my studies in London and how i miss those days. Beautiful fireworks were up in the air at Victoria Harbour to celebrate the 1st of July, to commemorate the hand over date of Hong Kong from the UK to the Peoples Republic of China in 1997. My dearest BFF, Ms. C, came to Hong Kong where we all celebrated her birthday at a Japanese restaurant and enjoyed some delicious plume wine. A new scent, Hermès Jardin Sur le Toit was introduced into my new perfume collection, which added a nice and refreshing touch for the summer days.

Traveling mode made it a memorable summer, where i celebrated my big 30th birthday with my families back home in Copenhagen. I felt so blessed that the people i care and love for, were there with me on my special day. They prepared the traditional Danish birthday cake along with the Danish flags decorated on it, where it was enough to serve 25 people!!! Family trip to Europe included our home town, along with London and Paris, which proved to be the best family trip ever. Enjoyed a lot of Parisian macarons and pastries, gazed upon the “La Tour Eiffel” in admiration, revisited old places during my studies in London, such as China Town, London Eye, the shopping zone “oxford circus” and especially Primark, and feeling like a kid all over again in the M&M shop at Leicester Square. Caught up with friends after Euro trip and got treated to some lovely belated birthday drinks in Lan Kwai Fong, talking the night away and with a lot of will power to not get drunk, lol. My first every macaron making class was arranged by my BFF as part of my birthday present, where i failed terribly. But they still tasted good!

October and November were busy months with families visiting. Took my brother and his family to go on the Ngong Ping 360 crystal cable car to go see the infamous Tian Tan Buddha, located at Lantau island in Hong Kong. The crystal cable car had a glass bottom floor, which allowed us to see everything below our feet as we crossed mountains and land. My younger cousin was in town for her 26th birthday, where we celebrated in style with Thai food and wine. Trips to Lan Kwai Fong with my cousin for our cocktail fixes was like a revisit back to the good old times when i used to be a regular there. A visit to Paul Lafeyet for my macaron craving after a bad day at work made everything all better, at least for that brief moment as i slowly savored an Earl Grey flavored macaron. Finally opened the new Gucci perfume i got as a birthday gift from my family and was filled with excitement as i always do when putting on a new scent. I had the honor of being the mc for my toastmasters club’s 3rd year anniversary dinner and was presented with the Brand Building Award, for my contribution to the club as a Vice President of PR.

Busily setting up the Christmas tree and gazing at beautiful Christmas ornaments as the count down for Christmas began. Christmas shopping spree was in full gear, where i bought gifts for families and friends. Laduree finally arrived to Hong Kong on Dec 1st, 2012, and the que was pure madness! I been told that people had to wait for 2 hours and i have yet to try their macarons, and that shall happen after the frenzy dies down.

My last minute trip to Vancouver to spend a hopefully white Christmas with my two BFFs. It was an unforgettable Christmas where i met such great people and enjoyed a lot of delicious food at Christmas house parties, did a road trip to the states for some outlet shopping, experienced my first ever Tim Horton’s latte, visited the Granville market which was filled with fresh produces, their local maple syrup, and beautiful Christmas decorations, and spent quality times with my BFFs where we would talk til 4 or 5 in the morning almost every night! The trip ended with a sad good bye but a bottle of ice wine and ice wine chocolate truffles that i purchased at the airport, was a sweet reminder for me to take home.

The Christmas month also had some good news that came along with it, one of my good old friend from high school was getting married to the love of her life, at the Repulse Bay resort. It was such a lovely and sweet night where i witnessed true love between 2 people, where i was overwhelmed by all the emotions that filled the room that night. Cute “Maison du chocolat” dark chocolates were gifted for guests to take home and mini sweet bites were presented after dinner and dessert. It was definitely a sweet and memorable way to say good bye to 2012!!!

“Christmas in Vancouver, Canada – Dec 2012″

Looking back into 2012, i am truly blessed and will always cherish each and every moment that had moved my heart. It is sometimes the smaller things in life that we take for granted, which turns out to be the more important things. I hope that we will all remember to stop for a moment in our daily busy lives and remind yourself what is most important to you. With that said, I really look forward to a great 2013 and i’m sure it will be a great year and if not, i shall make sure of that. I want to say a big thank you to all of you bloggers for supporting my blog throughout all these years and it really means the world to me.

Wishing you all a happy and fabulous new year in 2013!!!!

My sweet 30th!!!

It has been a while since i last blogged but i just thought i would drop by and let you all know that i’m back from Europe and that i had a lovely trip, where i got to celebrate my big 30th birthday with all my families back home in Denmark!!!

It was truly a memorable and joyous day filled with laughter, joy, delicious food, which included our must have traditional Danish birthday cake that was decorated with tons of Danish flags, and most importantly, all my lovely families that were there to spend this special day with me. I’m already missing everyone so dearly, especially my 3 little cutie pies, my nephew and nieces!!!

Anyhow, just a quick update but i will be back very soon to update you all on my lovely adventures!!! Take care for now and have a happy mid autumn festival for those that celebrate this festive Asian celebration:)

Photo accredited to me

Snapshots in a week…

This week was insanely busy as i was working towards a deadline to complete the newsletter for the April issue, for the Toastmasters Club that i have recently joined.  With such a tight schedule, i forced myself to go home straight after work for 3 days consecutively this week and hence, i didn’t manage to capture too many snapshots of my week.

Although, on my way home from work earlier this week, i passed by this cute little pop up shop that were selling some French goodies. The pop up shop is called “La Madeline de Proust” and everything there looks simply too beautiful to resist!

The sales lady told me that those round things are Macarons lookalike but if you ask me, i think they taste the same. The only difference would be that these are slightly harder in terms of its texture and there’s no creamy filling in the center. There were floral and fruit flavors to choose from ranging from ginger,violet,jasmine, rose, lychee, and apple. I bought little Ms. Violet home with me that night. Final verdict?I  say Macarons are still the best.

I also passed by this display in the middle of the shopping mall that i really liked. It’s by a Chinese designer and I just really liked the way the outfits were designed.

Over the weekend, i managed to be really productive and i’m quite pleased to say so. I started my Saturday morning with a facial treatment that lasted for 2 hours and then headed to my local restaurant to grab some food to eat. I had the lunch set and it included a delicious cream and mushroom soup for “soup of the day”, along with my chicken steak with baby potatoes and a icy cold lemon tea.

It was such a nice day to just chill by myself and enjoy the sunny day. Shortly after, i went to get my shoes fixed and quickly had a hair cut to get a trim, and like lightning,  i rushed to town to attend my evening class for Photoshop, which lasted for 3 hours! Boy, that was some crazy 3 hours just sitting there and listening to the class whilst writing notes. I kinda had the feeling like i was back to school.

Today was a beautiful day to say the least. I had per-organized a date with my girls to enjoy a Sunday brunch at this beautiful out of town location called Stanley, in celebration for our friend’s birthday. The weather was perfect, with blue skies and sun beaming and it was just the best day we have had in weeks!

Arriving to Stanley for our friend's birthday brunch

I had booked a table for4 at “ROCKSALT”, which serves western food such as pizzas, pastas, burgers, sandwiches, all day breakfast, salads, and some lovely selections of fresh juices, tea, and dessert.

Wagyu Beef Burger with Potato Wedges

Yummy runny Eggs Benedicts

Happy birthday to our dearest Shirley!!!

We spent hours chatting away updating on each others busy lives while we enjoyed our food, and it was a simple yet lovely day relaxing with my girls. After eating all that food, we decided to take a stroll along Stanley and to intake all of the nature that it had to offer. We also got really lucky and managed to witness the sunset just in time. We saw a lot of beautiful flowers along the way and i simply couldn’t resist and started taking photos of anything that took my breath away.

I also wore my newly purchased ballet flats for our Stanley excursion as i wanted to test out and see if they were comfy. After wearing them for the whole day and night, i have to say, they are really comfy!!! I am definitely gonna bring these cute babies for my trip to Beijing!!! What’s even better is that i got them during sale and it was further deducted from my membership discount where it came down to a grand total of HK$369, good purchase indeed!

As we walked along the shops and stalls in Stanley market, there was the usual tourist attractions such as mini Chinese budda statues, lots of sarongs and flip flops for beach wear, Hong Kong themed magnets and post cards, and the list goes on.

On the other handle, i spotted something slightly different, i saw some really gorgeous scarves  that came in all sorts of patterns.  I really liked the leopard printed ones but i refrained myself from buying anything. I’m sure i can find something like this when i shop in Beijing, hehe.

We spotted a local cafe “Lucy’s on the Front” as we finished out walk and decided to sit down for some tea and cake. We ordered earl grey and cappuccino and for cakes, we chose my fave carrot cake and chocolate brownie. As my friend was craving for some savory food, we also got french fries which came in 9 different types of sauce. The fries tasted really good in all the sauces so it was a good call we ordered it. As night time came and the weather was getting pretty windy, we decided to leave lovely Stanley with a happy smile on our face.

The night view of Stanley before we said our good nights to this lovely place. We will be back…..

So what have you all been up to this week? I would love to know.

My birthday celebration, continued…

On the day of my birthday, September 7th, i celebrated it with a few of my friends singing karaoke at CEO (Neway) where dinner buffet was included. To be honest, the buffets there are not the greatest but the good thing about singing karaoke on weekdays is that you are most likely able to sit until closing (5:45am). But they do have a variety of food to choose from such as Chinese dim sum, stir fried noodles, fried rice, sushi and some  Asian and Western desserts. As always, i ordered my usual lemon tea with honey, it’s good for the throat as you gotta sing throughout the entire night!

It was a great night of singing and trust me, some were really good old classic songs. Just think, “Prince – Could you be the most beautiful girl in the world” or “Whitney Houston – I wanna dance with somebody”, hahaha.  I always feel that the old 80′s and 90′s were the best years in music.

One of my BFF was also really sweet and arrived one hour late to surprise me with a Haagen-Dazs ice cream birthday cake!!! It was cookies n’ cream flavor and she chose the cake because the girl on it reminded her of me! Not sure if it looks like me tho, lol. The rest of my friends had to leave early as they had work next morning and since i arranged to have the next day off work, BFF and i just started chatting instead of singing for the next 2 hours! We left at 3am so i would say we made pretty much use of our time there, hehe.

Over the weekend, i celebrated  with my ex colleagues who were real darlings and took me to a tea buffet at The Place in Langham Hotel. The food was quite yummy and a lot of varieties to choose from. But i always stress that it’s a ripe off for me to eat buffets as i can only eat 2 or 3 rounds, lol. I loved their desserts more than their savory dishes and i guess it’s because i’ve got a major sweet tooth!!!

That day was a proper eating marathon and not long after my tea buffet, i met up with another friend for Spanish dinner at 1/5 Nuevo. The restaurant was really cosy with dim lights and we got lucky and had the corner sofa seat all to ourselves. It was more quiet that way and we were able to have a proper chat amongst the busy crowd. We ordered Iberico ham, Chorizo sauteed – onions, and fresh oysters. Yummmm!!! The Chorizo sausages were a tad bit too spicy for me though. I think 2 of my fave dishes were the garlic prawns and the pan fried goose liver. I normally don’t like goose liver but this one was utterly tasty and it came along with a sweet grape sauce, which was just a right mixture between the savory and sweetness taste.

We ended the night by bar hopping at Lan Kwai Fong (LKF), which is this drinking area in the city center and i have to say, it’s changed a lot since i last went! So many bars have closed down and so many new restaurants, bars, and clubs have emerged. Yes, you can tell it’s been a while since i’ve been drinking there. We only went to 3 bars but i was proper knackered at 4am and decided to call it a night. That was such a long birthday celebration, i tell you! But i am very blessed for everything and i cherished every moment of it.

Iberico ham, Chorizo sauteed - onions, and fresh oysters

Prawns - sauteed garlic

Pan fried goose liver in grape sauce

Here are some birthday presents that i received and thought i’d share it with you guys. I really like the YSL nail polish and the color is so me!!! It’s a perfect darkish purple color for the Autumn/Fall as well. That doll thingie is actually a mirror and i think it’s so cute! I always need a mirror with me no matter what so it’s a practical gift for sure. I also got this really cute fluffy and girlie pen from my ex colleague and i think it will go great with my organizer.  Lastly, another one of my BFF from New York sent me these amazing beauty products from Bath & Body works and Victoria Secret, and a colorful scarf from Coach. She is really such a sweetie, i love her!!! All in all, i think that all the pressies were really thoughtful and cute! Thanks to everyone. Love you all!!!

Okay, so this is my final wrap up for my birthday celebrations and my normal postings will resume very soon! So stay tuned peeps!

By the way, it’s actually typhoon 8 in Hong Kong today and that means no work! Yeahhh baby, i love you Typhoon Nesat!!!

My birthday celebration…

Gosh, i can’t believe it’s been almost 2 weeks since i last blogged. I am so over due for my birthday post and i feel like my birthday just flew past in a flash!  I just don’t know where the time goes sometimes. But one thing for sure, i had a special birthday with a lot of love, happiness, gifts, and yummy food!!!  I actually had quite a few eating outs during my birthday celebration so i think i’ll be making another post for my special birthday, or else i might be bombarding this post with photos, lol.

So  my BBF was super sweet and took me to this lovely Italian restaurant called Bistecca, located in Central.  The restaurant is quite hidden and you have to go into this building and take the lifts to get there but i like how it’s  secretive and not so out in the known. To begin with, the atmosphere was really relaxing where they had dim lighting and friendly staffs that served us.  FYI, i know the photo below of the restaurant looks bright but it’s because of my camera, it always makes dark places look bright!

Anyhow, the food was absolutely delicious and everything just fell in place, good food with good company:) For starters we had this cheese fondue with bruschetta bread and it was heavenly divine.  I loved that taste of the warm and soft cheese fondue against the crispy bruschetta bread, it was just the perfect combination. I’ve actually never had bruschetta bread with cheese fondue before and i’m not sure if this is an Italian dish? Do you guys know? We had a fillet steak and Linguine Vongole (clams in white wine sauce) for  the main course. The fillet steak was really juicy where the texture and softness was just right to my tasting and paired with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon just cut the deal!  It’s really one of the best Cabernet Sauvignon i’ve ever tried in Hong Kong so far. Too bad, i forgot what the name of the wine was. The Linguine Vongole was a bit disappointing as it tasted a bit bland and the spaghetti could have been cooked for a little longer. But i’ve tried worst, lol.

I was really looking forward to my dessert as i got a major sweet tooth and i gotta say, they did not fail to impress me! I ordered a very simple  blueberry Cheesecake with a scoop of Pistachio ice cream but the taste was more than just simple!!! The cheese cake was so rich and the pistachio flavor was so delish!!! My BFF ordered an Espresso slush dessert thingie, which did not taste good at all. We both changed faces when we took a bite of it so i would definitely not recommend this little sucker, ladies. It was such a fun night and we chatted til closing time and as usual, happy times flies by in a blink of an eye. We ended the night there as my friend had work the next day on a Sunday. Yes, you heard me right,  Sunday! So crazy right!!!

My sister was real sweet and sent me a little birthday gift this year. She got me this black top with these cute ruffled sleeves and this red studded belt from French Connection. I super super love the birthday card she got me, it’s so girlie, so me, hehe.  I could tell she put some thoughts into picking that card, lol. I was truly happy when i received her parcel, thanks sis if you’re reading this!!

My sister also got me this Jo Malone perfume and she just happened to have bought me the scent that i like! Now that is what i call sisters think a like, lol. She got me the Nectarine Blossom & Honey scent and funny enough, i bought the exact same one when i was in London last summer.  You can see more of my Europe trip and my purchases  here. It’s good to have a spare one though because Jo Malone is so expensive in Hong Kong. The big sized bottled 100ML costs HK$900 over here, whereas in the UK it’s £65 (HK$787) or something along the lines of that. Quite a difference in price, eh?

One of my other good friend got me this really thoughtful gift. She bought me a 2012 organizer from Moleskine. It’s a practical gift as i always use an organizer and i love to write down all my what to dos and what to buys, lol.  The cover of the organizer is really soft and it has adhesive labels inside to write down important dates, payments, events, meetings, and etc. It’s pretty neat and you can click on the link above to find out more about their products. It’s definitely a good purchase for people that like to organize and manage their time well;)

She also got me this really cute self grow plant in a teddy bear pot. The bear is called Rilakkuma and it’s a really famous Japanese character and of course, i would know nothing about this as  i don’t like cutsey stuff! lol My friend had to explain who this little Ms. Rilakkuma was, haha. I’ve been taking photos to capture her growth as well. Here are a few snapshots i took.

Day 1

Day 7

Okay, this update will have to do for now because it’s already 12:30am and i got work tomorrow morning!!! But I’ll be back real soon:)

It’s my birthday!!!

Yeahhh baby!!!! It’s my birthday today and just thought i’d give a shout out to all my lovely bloggers!!! I can’t believe it’s already another year and time seems to fly past faster than ever. I remember my last birthday just as if it was yesterday and let me tell ya, it was a fab one! It was quite possibly one of the bestest ones i’ve ever experienced in my life!!!

A lot of things have happened in my life since that very special birthday of mine, good and bad but mostly bad, so lets hope for a brighter future ahead, starting from today! I’m really excited to see what’s instored for me, hehe.

Lastly, as this will be my birthday week, please excuse the lack of posting as i’ll be busy with birthday lunches, high tea, dinners, and drinks with my dearest ones. But feel free to show me some loving by simply dropping by to say a little hello and i’ll be more than happy and uber thankful.

Okay that’s a wrap up for now, let the partying begin!!!!!!!!!!!