Sam's Surprise Birthday Party

So I had been secretly planning Sam's surprise birthday party since mid February and the date finally arrived! It wasn't anything big, just invited a bunch of his friends whom he hadn't seen for a while (due to his new job and I guess.. me :p) and prepared food etc. However it got me crazy stressed up the day leading up to the party because I suddenly realised that I had to single-handedly coordinate several minute details - thankfully I had some help from friends and it all went mostly smoothly :3

Okay despite the drama, there wasn't really much food. Just loads of nuggets (unfeatured in this picture), a couple of packets of chips, tortilla chips, salsa, and 24cans of drinks. Friends brought the nutella and snack packs!

Separate pairs of Sam's friends; they were all really punctual! And then super patient and understanding because the boy was late, lol. 

Picking this cake up nearly gave me a heart attack because they initially piped "Happy Birthday FAM". Having them to correct the mistake took some time and threw me off my course for a bit, but I'm thankful that it was settled! The cake tasted amazing. 

My helpful onigiri who helped to get more drinks and cups <3

And beautiful Kanika who bought the nuggets and huge disposable trays for all the food <3 

Oops, busy people with phones. 

Sam and his sisters!

And some of his army friends. 

NTU friends!

 

And... a bunch of my friends with whom he's familiar with hahaha.

 

Lol found this attractive couple in my camera.

Myself with the NTU girls :3

 

We had some wine, think the room service crew must've been exhausted bringing up buckets and buckets of ice up to us!

 

We loved the side seats and view. 

 

I was completely bushed midway through the day from all the planning and talking and executing, ready to pass out.

 

The hotel very thoughtfully presented us with this birthday cupcake from their in-house Marmalade Pantry!

 

The boy snapped this as we were winding down after all the guests had left.

 

Crashed for a bit and then went to Waraku for dinner, we shared this dinner set thing and it was definitely worth it. The portion was huge, we were so stuffed at the end of it all. 

 

Boy brought his work along with him while I chilled and drifted in and out of sleep. Check out the cans of Dr. Pepper and A&W Cream Soda I got for him! Personally, I thoroughly dislike both drinks (as did most of our guests lol, thankfully we had some back up drinks), but he loves them so... :3

 

Perfect way to wake up: In white sheets and soft sunlight streaming through the curtains. 

 

Cup noodles & Fresh Off the Boat! 

 

We were fortunate to be granted a late check out so we headed over to the pool with our moscato and chips! The sun started blazing after a while so it got kinda uncomfortable thereafter, but it was still a pretty good time :3 

 

We initially had no plans to dip into the water but decided that we had to after the heatwave started. 

 

We were too full to have the cupcake the day before, so this silly boy lit the candles and sang me a birthday song while we were packing. 

 

After we checked out, we went to meet this furry little baby. She's going to board at my place for ac couple of days while Kathy's out of town so we thought it'd be good to get acquainted first. 

 

Such qts :3 

 

I love her so much, I may not be able to return her after she boards with me :P

 

 

  Ending the post with a final picture of my sweetheart and myself, love this boy <3

Affordable Art Fair

Had the opportunity to attend the Affordable Art Fair 2015, thanks to Erin who scored free tickets. I brought Huili as my plus one and we had a pretty fine time hobnobbing around and pretending to understand the beautiful work.

Dinner time first with Lili, Erin, and Chongwai. The food at the Flyer area is pretty expensive but thankfully the taste was not too bad. 

This was one of my favourites. A painting of a bookshelf which looked so eerily real! Complete with real life book titles and covers, good lord. 

Favourite collection: Re-conceptualisation of classic paintings, either replacing main characters as cats or simply adding cats into the painting. It's brilliant. 

The big man. 

One more with the lovely lady who made this trip possible :3 

Work days speeding by

Au contraire - the work days sometimes seem to drag on by. Time is a funny concept, sometimes it seems too fast, some times too slow. In any case, random snaps from week days that I've been shamefully neglecting:

Messy play with paints and potatoes. 

Qtpai

First joy ride out with the papiman's new car. 

10min meetup in the middle of the day. 

Cotton candy 

Books from my childhood.

In Italian heaven. 

For a cute boy. 

Fries to heal the soul 

Cute Joshiepie. 

Ninja cat. 

 Goodbye :3 

~

"Stop minimizing and discounting your feelings. You have every right to feel the way you do. Your feelings may not always be logical, but they are always valid. Because if you feel something, then you feel it and it's real to you. It's not something you can ignore or wish away. It's there, gnawing at you, tugging at your core, and in order to find peace, you have to give yourself permission to feel whatever it is you feel. You have to let go of what you've been told you 'should' or 'shouldn't' feel. You have to drown out the voices of people who try to shame you into silence. You have to listen to the sound of your own breathing and honor the truth inside you. Because despite what you may believe, you don't need anyone's validation or approval to feel what you feel. Your feelings are inherently right and true. They're important and they matter - you matter - and it is more than okay to feel what you feel. Don't let anyone, including yourself, convince you otherwise."

- Daniell Koepke