:::SuGaR n SpiCe:::: Ushering in the Dragon Year (2012)~

lotsa narcissistic shots in this post.. you've been warned. LOL...

CNY is definitely one of my fave festive season! can't decide which i prefer more.. Christmas or CNY.. heehee.. think i'll choose CNY cuz of the family bonding and the $$$ heehee..

anyway, CNY is also one of the busiest periods of the yr.. from the preparations (shopping for new clothes, spring-cleaning, mani/pedi, cut hair etc.. ) to the visitings and to the late-nites cuz of gambling~ haha..

and nail palours are always packed to the brim the few days before the new yr! plus they charge exorbitant prices.. =(

but i managed to get an apptm to do my nails on 20th Jan.. and i paid only $22 cuz i have a package with them and they give back the same price for pple with packages.. only thing is tt cannot use the package (must pay cash there and then) and they v chop chop.. mani+pedi within 1 hr..

ok i must confess tt the fingernails were re-painted by myself cuz i went to itchy hand add crystals to the original pink mani.. and it was destroyed cuz of air bubbles appearing after i put a few layers of top coat =(

in the end i found this maroon color mani ugli-ly done so i also cleaned it off and settled for something light colored.. wasted alot of time repainting my nails.. sad..

ok, on to the actual festivities~

:: 22nd Jan 2012, Sunday - 除夕 ::

CNY always starts off on the eve of CNY where we will have reunion dinner with my mum's side relatives.. actually its her nieces and nephews cuz those are the relatives who we are closest to..

sad tt this yr's 除夕 is on sunday.. so no half day off =(

anyway, our reunion dinner this time round was held at Li Jiang @ Temasek Club (same plc where we had mum's 60th bday "banquet")..

dinner was @ 530pm but only started at 6+ cuz some pple were late.. zzz..

here's some pics of the food we had..

of cuz, starting off with Yu Sheng!

which was not bad~

Huat ah~ 身体健康, 天天开心, 年年有余, 万事如意, 步步高升, 财源广进, strike toto million dollar draw~ haha

this was some coffee flavoured sauce chicken.. its v gd~

coffee stuff usually gives me a headache but this din.. yums

the prawn balls were also nice!

and some veg dish..

and i got lazy n din take pics of the rest of the food.. haha.. had fish, sharks fin soup, rice.. can't rem wat else..

celebrated my nephew's bday cuz it was his chinese bday tt day n his ang moh bday was on 28th Jan!

btw, my nephew is 25.. lol..

this was by far one of the best tasting reunion dinner... and must thank my cousin for treating us all =) but i still wanna haf homecooked reunion dinner one day.. much more heartwarming don't u think?

after dinner, we went home to rest and then headed out for our (mum, sis and me) "traditional" midnite movie on 除夕. We usually will watch the CNY show tt's airing at tt time (usually jack neo's movie but i dun really like, so sometimes we'll watch the HK CNY movie instead).. this yr, we caught "We Not Naughty".. its really dam hilarious~~ go watch if u haven't.. lotsa pple say its touching too and they cried buckets.. but i din even find it THAT touching.. wasn't even at any pt of tearing, much less crying.. #heartless..

think i'm really v heartless leh.. nv ever cried at movies or while reading book before.. haha.. closest is only tearing.. the most recent show tt made me tear was Real Steel.. lol.

this was my OOTD!

block maxi dress from Miuee.

LOVE the baby pink color and i like how the skirt flairs out, thus hiding my fatty hips, stomach and thighs.. heehee

and its princess-y and fairy-like too~

$20+ if i'm not wrong..

and this is my new bed sheet and COMFORTER!!

first time buying a comforter myself... so its something i really love.. so pretty.. so happy~

(even tho its dam ex.. but tt txn got picked by stand chart as a winning txn so the cost got waived!!)

and this is my new PJs!

the bottoms was actually a 3/4 pants.. but i trimmed it to a shorts cuz i prefer wearing shorts to sleep..

love the pink here too..

bot it frm those small alley pasar malam-like stalls..

i think i paid HKD 50.. but i can't rem exactly #badmemory

:: 23rd Jan 2012, Monday - 初一 ::

Chu Yi!! first day of the lunar new yr~ a new beginning, a fresh start with a new yr~

as usual, chu yi celebration starts off at my house cuz mum is the oldest relative (of those who keep in contact lol) so everyone will come bai nian at our place..

mum always will arrange for a lion dance troupe to come and perform inside our house and this yr was no different! only thing was they are ALWAYS v late.. usually for an apptm of 3pm, they will come at 4-430pm.. but this yr, they came at 320pm~ all of us were shocked.. lol

i took a video of the whole dance... here's the video i posted on youtube..

its rather boring towards the middle cuz they took v long to peel the cai and orange..

this was the end product..

there was a 4 digit no. formed with oranges.. this yr's no. was 1883..

but every yr the no. also nv open as a 4d no., this yr was no exception.. lol

me posing with my 2 fave CNY snacks..

pineapple tarts and prawn roll~

my OOTD!

purple lace dress from H&M HK

got this at a disc. think it was HKD 150.. tt's less than SGD30~

sis also likes these but she's more a prawn roll person..

sis and her bf..

sis and me~

i chose the prettiest thing in our house to camwhore with - the CNY flowers (dunno wat they're called)

and me alone w the flowers =)

my distant aunt (actually she's my cousin la.. haha) made this agar agar fish.. so pretty~

and a close up shot of my hair tt day..

curled it with this curler thingy i bot at tpy for $12.. its not bad but dun last..

nxt time must spray those hairspray to hold it in place..

played mj for mum at our house and lost for her $44.. =(..

then at nite when to my cousin's place and i lost $30 in mj cuz we played "shooter pay" and i still lost so much tho i nv shoot the big games.. cuz everyone else keep zi-mo-ing to game except me =(

also played bj which i lost $2.. tt's alright tho~

:: 24th Jan 2012, Tuesday - 初二 ::

chu er we usually visit mum's elder brother to bai nian.. he's like one of the few pple i need to bai nian to..

he lives @ seng kang and every yr we need to figure out how to go his place.. too complicated already lol

chicky and sis~

chicky and me!

all 3 of us~ coincidentally, we were all in shades of cream.. heehee

my OOTD

H&M lace panel top from H&M SG. Arnd $40 i think.. ex but i liked it alot

Skirt is from Dorothy Perkins. Arnd $50 after disc..

played one dong (i.e. 4 games) of mj at my uncle's place.. and i lost arnd $6!

then at nite played mj with my mum and her frens and lost $10.. grrr.. no luck in mj =(

:: 25th Jan 2012, Wednesday - 初三 ::

took leave on this day cuz 2 days of CNY is just too short, don't u agree?

went down to munkysuperstar office to collect the prize i won from Budget Barbie (daiso straw hats! hee).. mum's fren lent mum her new audi A6 and i drove it out cuz mum lent her car to our overseas cousins who were in town..

the drive was not bad.. but dam stress driving sucha ex car that don't belong to u.. was so scared of damaging it!

my OOTD

block lace top from an online wholesale site (can't rem which..)

& v short denim shorts i bot from bugis street.. arnd $27 i think

and mum's frens cam over to play mj so we had our homemade lou hei by my cousin-in-law..

oh mum was hilarious when she played mj tt day.. she was calling for "3 suo" and then when she mo pai, she went to shout out "3 suo".. she said cuz she tot she was playing the banker/player game where they always call out the card they want -_-.. but all of us laughed non-stop.. esp cuz one of the other player was calling "3 suo" and "6 suo" so she was dam sian when mum called out the tile cuz no one wld throw alrdy.. but mum was lucky cuz she zi-mo ed the "3 suo"..

:: 26th to 29th Jan 2012, Thu to Sun - 初四 to 初七 ::

Chu 4 and 5 was back to work for me! so not much activities + photos on those days..

my Chu 4 OOTD!

pink hearts prints top from asos.com (arnd SGD 30+)

pencil skirt also from asos.com (arnd SGD 40?)

my Chu 5 OOTD!

dress from H&M HK.. think arnd HKD 150..

belt from New look (old one)

chu 5 had our cny dept lunch @ some coffeeshop/restaurant.. i din really like the food.. but the shiok part was tt we got to go home after lunch! tt was almost 3pm tho.. so technically only 2 - 2.5hr off.. but nv before so it was shiok~ last yr we had to go back to ofc to work after the cny dept lunch =(

so i went home and did a lil shopping @ nex.. went home for dinner then went out at nite for bj session at mum's fren's house! her house has a v gd ktv system so i managed to sing 2 sandy lam songs there.. heehee.. really got ktv craving esp when i listen to my chinese mp3 songs =(

had this "ban ban"(double ace)! was the only one playing who had this tt nite..

pays triple.. shiok~

and i got it a 2nd time! lucky or wat?

i think my bj luck not bad.. always will get black jack or ban ban at least once..

*touch wood* lol

but overall i only won $8 tt nite.. was actually up $20+ but lost back the last few rnds cuz banker too wang alrdy..

chu 6 OOTD!

polka dots blue top from cotton on (SGD 15)

denim shorts from bugis street (arnd SGD 30)

i initially wanted to buy a denim shorts from dorothy perkins.. but it cost like SGD 50+.. so i yi yi bu she gave it up and decided to go bugis street instead..

thus i got 2 shorts for almost the price of one dp shorts.. =)

chu 6, went to mum's sis' place to bai nian.. this is the only other relative i need to bai nian too..

had fun reminiscing abt the old times.. when we were kids..

and my aunt's daughter's room is like how messy can! she beat us all hands down.. chenda will be thankful of me if she sees tt.. haha

chu 7 OTTD

pinkish lace dress from H&M HK.. this one i think was HKD 199 (slightly less than SGD 40)..

chio but a lil short..

chu 7 we went for those v chinese kinda dinner under tentage (think auction kinda chinese dinner)..

had performances such as lion dance, dragon dance, orchestra..

vvvv noisy.. was already feeling heaty + having slight headache and the noise made it worse!

dun like such kinda dinner.. not my cuppa tea..

din know it was this kind if not i'd not go.. oh well..

anyway, we were each given one of this plastic gold inggot.. its actually nian gao inside.. then u were suppose to scratch the front to reveal 4 digit no.

and they had this segment whereby the "cai shen ye" draw 4 no.s for all to go buy 4d .. and guess wat?

he drew the EXACT same 4 no.s as my inggot!!

mum went to tell them and ask for prize (as a joke) and the emcee said ok, she'll give us one more inggot.. (as if we want tt.. haha)

dam qiao so i went to buy 4d.. but din strike.. =(

the other qiao thing was tt my young nephew was asking my mum whether his name was included in the lucky draw tt was on-going... and my mum was saying "yes, i put ur name XXX"..

and just when my mum said his name, the emcee announced his name!

he won the top prize.. a big big food hamper.. lol

::3rd Feb 2012, Fri - 初十二 ::

Chu 8 to Chu 11 was just back to my usual work routine.. then Chu 12, had the annual gambling session at our place..

this was my Chu 12 OOTD

white lace dress with peter pan collar from asos.com (arnd SGD 40+)

looovve this so much~

abit too roomy for me tho.. think i bot a size too big..

we played mj! and i lost $12! again! ikr..

but nvm.. cuz played bj after that and i won $24~ heehe.. bj rocks!

my mum fren dam suay.. he lost $1k in bj! but he was dam cool abt it.. i like pple who don't lose their cool when they gamble.. r.e.s.p.e.c.t.

oh and i din win at the $10m ang bao draw.. everytime i'm truly dissapointed when i dun win.. haha.. gimme $1m i'd be dam happy liao.. but dun haf..

so i wanted $20 to cover my bets.. but tt one also dun haf.. sad...

oh well..

chu 13: apparently this is the actual first day of the dragon year (dunno why cny doesn't start on this day tho).. and i think its true!

cuz, lillian too (well known "Feng Shui" consultant) said in her book that my yr's rats have financial luck in the dragon yr.. (she said will have financial bonanza)

AND I WON MJ FOR THE FIRST TIME (DURING CNY PERIOD) THAT DAY!

and won $50 somemore.. i RARELY (like once in 2 yrs) win so much one..

actually i won like $15 more.. but lost tt to my fren who "xian yu fan shen" in the last 3 games while we were waiting for my other fren's husband to come..

ok la.. $50 i'm contented liao..

told my mum and ask her "li hai not?" den she said i lucky.. =(

Chu 14 OOTD!

cotton on tee (SGD 15)

and my bugis street shorts agn lol

::6th Feb 2012, Mon - 元宵节 ::

and then before we knew it, it was Chu 15, 元宵节! last day of cny! pineapple tarts eating coming to an end, well, at least until they all get eatten up.. hehe..

was craving steamboat and chenda prepared steamboat for us after work! happy~