Happy New Year 2012!

Whole new year ahead

Christmas is gone, and I'm still not ready to let the year go just yet.

My Christmas was well spent with the family, complete with both me and brother throwing a feast for 8, good food, great time and a whole lot of extremely thoughtful gifts. Bad news is, my camera was left snuggling inside its pouch. Failed blogger, I know.

Anyways, I've never been more thankful of the events that has happened throughout this year. There were of course that standard ups and downs, but this year is definitely one heck of a good year for me. Let's see... I spent a lot of quality time with love ones, brought home another kitten, traveled, ate, grew wider, graduated, lost a bit of weight, build back some lean muscle, got back my curves, ate healthy, saved money, started investing, etc.

The best of 2011 has to be spending loads of quality time with love ones and gaining financial enlightenment. I learned that its extremely important to treasure people you love, and to secure yourself financially for a more comfortable future. As for the relationship between me and the other half, I'm really thankful to be blessed with someone who is always patient, always understanding, and always there for me at every step

NOW! Let's get down to business.

I've done my 2012 resolutions well in advance this time. Two weeks before Christmas to be exact. The intention was to make sure that my goals and objectives remain as specific and as realistic as possible so that I don't end up chucking the list into a bin and slack off.

If you haven't done so already, here's a tip. Start off by sectioning out different aspects of your life such as Health, Career, Knowledge, Relationship, Financial, and Holidays. Then slowly work your way from each aspects as you see fit. Good luck!

3 more days

I'm as excited as a kid being unleashed into a candy store.

Trust me, I'm not the only one in this home that's feeling all the festive cheer. I walked pass our Christmas tree one morning and saw a new addition to our pile of pressies under it. I was surprised to find my cat's favourite toy placed together with our pressies! Excited me walked back to my brother's room and got him and June to come look at what I had found.

All 3 of us just stood there looking at it, and went.. "aw..."

This little teddy bear was a gift from a close friend and has been with me since I was 15. It has always been alone, either stored or hanging somewhere in my room. So this year, I brought it out to be hung on the tree. I also placed my Hush Puppy Christmas plush from James and another Jusco teddy under our tree along with our gifts.

Next up, is to prepare a simple Christmas dinner for the whole bunch of us. Thankfully the brother is with me on this.

A little rest should do the trick

The body hasn't been feeling too well since yesterday and I seriously don't want to be in sick mode throughout Christmas and the New Years.

Now excuse me while I watch a few episodes of...

My Little Pony is super cute!!! Don't judge.

Air Symphony's Music Cinema @ PGRM Cheras

It was me and the other half's first time watching an orchestra performance together. Thanks to the dear friend Brandon who was the emcee on that day, we got to catch the performance together.

Me, Ai Lyn, Brandon and the bull which went around the crowd during a dance performance. Oh! and I got the privilege to record a guy's proposal to his girlfriend on my camera too! I'm not going to post it up here unless the couple gives the green light for me to do so.

For more info on their upcoming performances, check out Air Symphony's website at http://www.airsymphony.com/.

Sydney Harbour Cruise, Circular Quay

We went on board for our Harbour Cruise tour after our light lunch. There were so many companies offering various options of tours and guides at Circular Quay for us to choose from. After narrowing down our options, we settled for a super friendly (more like overly friendly in a scary way) old man.

Went on board and sailed off

The Sydney Opera House

Mom and the Sydney Bridge in the background

We opted to have tea on board instead of lunch and had more time to enjoy the views of Sydney Harbour. Thankfully the weather was good and we could chill out at the deck.

According to the Captain, this place is Sydney's most expensive real estate development. Nicole Kidman apparently lives somewhere among these luxury homes.

Me and the Sydney Opera House in the background. Yes I do notice how big I look in this photo. I had 3 layers of clothing and was eating non stop throughout my entire trip. Not to forget two days of being practically stuck in bed with intentions to rest my sprained back as much as possible.

After our harbour cruise, we walked over to the souvenir shop to pick out some gifts for our love ones at home. We caused quite a damage that day cause the prices of souvenirs were slightly higher than non-touristy areas. Oh well, we're on holiday anyways.

We then bought our tickets at the counter and took the bus back to Ryde.

Circular Quay, Sydney

We took the bus from Ryde to the city to do some exploring. Our destination of choice was Circular Quay since the weather was good and we could just do a harbour cruise while we're there.

Hello little seagull!

Me, mom, and the Sydney Opera House in the background

And if you look closely, you'll see a bird poking its beak into the man's bag

Seagulls were everywhere at Circular Quay!

Sorry can't help it, but I was really tempted to head over to Luna Park

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Writer's Walk

So the initial plan we had was to do the Harbour Bridge walk. Yes, the one where you literally walk (with safety equipments and a guide of course) on top of the arch to get to the other side of the bridge. Aunty said the weather will be too cold for us to take and advice us against it.

We walked around Circular Quay and manage to get ourselves a Harbour Cruise ticket somewhere along Writer's Walk.

But before that, we got ourselves some fish and chips to share

With a side of shrimp and avocado salad to go with

Can't help it. Hehe :)

Well the fish and chips by the harbour experience wasn't all too pleasant as there were seagulls wanting to have their share of food too. We learned that the key to avoid harassing seagulls was to NOT feed them while eating.

There was this one seagull which stayed close to us and kept the other seagulls away. So I saved my last french fry and gave it to him. We chilled a little and went for our Harbour Cruise.

Mini Santarinas and an Eclipse

The other half came over to my place last Saturday and mentioned that it'll be a good idea for us to watch the eclipse together. So eclipse watching for us after dinner it was.

While flipping the papers that afternoon, I came across this property launch advertisement which I've been having my eyes on for a while. So the plan that evening was for us to go check it out and watch the eclipse together.

And then, came the close friend who was so happen to be in the area and said yes to dinner at Tropicana City Mall when I asked if he wanted to join.

Checking out the mall's Christmas candy land deco before dinner

Coincidentally, we were in time for the mini Santarina fashion show

Adorned with all the Christmas ornaments. Pretty eh?

They were so pretty and adorable, our hearts melted instantly

After dinner, we headed up to the pool at the Tropics to chill and watch the eclipse together. It was definitely another Saturday evening well spent with people I love.

The moon was so round and bright that night

Then it all starts with the moon getting gobbled up

Just a little of its light left

And it turned all red

Then starts our conversation on the moon, the planets around us and its conspiracies. This lasted all the way till midnight and we headed home after. It was quality time well spent on a Saturday evening.