My First Birthday Present

I received a nice surprise in the mail yesterday - a bottle of clover seeds all the way from Japan for my birthday, 3 weeks early!

 Can't wait to grow them at our planter box soon :)

Thanks babe, I'll try to photograph the growing process!

Dinner with M and S

It's been more than a month since i started my new role.

Although i enjoy the new environment and job scope, I miss the company of my ex-colleagues, M and S and how we used to drive out for long lunches and go for retail therapy after work.

Ah, good times!

It's not everyday you meet colleagues whom you can bond with and I'm really thankful for their friendship.

Here are some photos from our catch up/belated b'day celebration for M last night.

I heart Ippudo's ramen and milky pork broth! *slurps*

Sugar cubes at Jones the Grocer

Strawberry Tart and Jones' Cheesecake

Photos taken by the iPhone on instagr.am

Friends from Deutschland

Michael and Vanessa are our friends from Germany whom we got to know on a 3D2N Halong Bay tour during our Vietnam trip in January.

Over cheap cocktails at a pub on Cat Ba Island on our second night, we shared stories on our countries, cultures, taught each other German and Chinese phrases and bonded as we discovered a mutual love for travel. The conversations continued over breakfast the next day and on the bus journey back to Hanoi. Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye and we were exchanging hugs, email addresses and extending mutual invitations to visit each other in the near future. It was really sad when we parted ways because there was still so much to talk about. I wish we could have more time together.

Thanks to the Internet, we've been keeping in touch over email and Facebook. Earlier this week, they shared photos of their new bundle of joy, Paul.

I’m so happy for them and I think they will be wonderful parents. Isn’t the photo of Michael sharing a moment with his son lovely? I hope very much that we get to make a trip to Munich next year to visit them and their baby boy!

Peta the Trendsetta

When i first met Peta-Gay on my first day at Dutch Funnel Cakes, i thought she didn't like me. (Maybe she really didn't? I never got around to asking her about it but that no longer matters.) She didn't give me a single smile and i thought she was bossy because she kept giving everyone, including me, instructions.

But when you're working at the same place, it's inevitable that you engage in small talk eventually and i soon realised that's just how Peta was. Aloof and slow to warm up to strangers. The moment she opened up, we really hit it off. I had a whole summer of fun working with this confident female who's not afraid to speak her mind, who's also a great, loyal friend. The title of this post is what she used to call herself, unabashedly.

It's been 4 years since we met during my Work & Travel stint, and i'm glad we're still in touch.

Despite living in a different continent and time zone, I appreciate how she still drops me a note via Facebook or MSN, once in a while to check on how B and i are doing.

Just yesterday, she almost went berserk when she found out that we're getting married next January.

Petabyte: "FINALLY!!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS!

We chatted about other daily stuff like work, before she ended the conversation with her usual question.

"When are you coming to Jamaica?"

Someday, someday, i hope :)