Begin again.

Today marks an important day as one of my best friend just got married! 

She looked as beautiful as she always does, and I'm reminded that I'm so grateful for this friendship and how happy I am for her. And of course, it brought everyone at the party to ask me the same question people have been asking me a lot lately.

When's my turn? 

I don't know if I'm ready for marriage. Anyway, I'm just going to let it come naturally. Come what may, what's meant to happen will happen, all that yada yidi yada. Can I just be cheesy for now?

It's almost the end of 2013 and I can't wait to start the new year with brand new motivations, goals, perspectives and hopefully some wisdom that I've learnt from the mistakes I made. I know it's going to be good.

(And one of those goals is to post a picture every day next year. Let's see how it goes.)

Til next time, lovelies! 

December I'm in Love..

It's almost the end of the first week of December! Despite a busy, hectic week at work, my mood is flying high and I'm feeling the joyous Christmas spirit around me. I can't wait to start my Christmas shopping, send friends those handwritten Christmas cards, and have an excuse to sing Disney's Twelve Days of Christmas!

In this moment, I can't help but feeling very grateful for everything I have, and for the people around me. Although it has been a year full of roller coaster of emotions, I'm still blessed, because in the people that I've lost, I found new friends who I can trust.

And of course, I will always have my family, and Dearie. He will always be my rock, and I know he loves me for who I am: messy, insecure, demanding, complicated me. He's my partner for life, and I know it. It took me 25 years to figure this out, but I've found him.

Aren't I so lucky.

...because you make me believe in myself when nobody else can help.

Flaws

Once you've accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you.

You're not here, but it's ok.

I suppose this can be my goodbye note to you.

I want to thank you for the listening ear, companionship and laughter that we've shared.

It probably doesn't mean much, but those are the lovely memories that I want to keep. Not about how it ends, but about the good parts.

Isn't it funny, that it seems like a lifetime ago when it happened?

Sometimes people drift apart and we wonder, why? What has changed? I am still me, and you are still you, yet everything changed.

"If he really wanted to talk to you, he'd make the effort to do so. Don't waste your time on someone who won't give you theirs."

It's okay though. Let's not hold grudges or dwell on the past. We both are alright. We won't even leave scars.

I wish you all the best and I hope you're happy.

The Language Breaks.

You've got such beautiful words but none I can eat, none which block the rain, none which bandage my wounds, none which build a home. 

 Nothing beautiful, which did not work, ever became anything more than pretty.

A long rant on life, mistakes and karma.

What a week it has been! First, we has successfully moved office and I still have both my hands and legs intact! Packing our stuffs was fine, but try moving our computer screens, CPUs, drawers and even our own chair! I think the amount of work I did during those two days is equivalent to my exercise regime in a year!

Now our office is much bigger, and each department has its own room, as compared to before when Marketing was sandwiched right in between Sales and Finance Team and well, let's just say that it could get very noisy and hectic! Now we have our own cold little office but after a week of settling here, I realized that maybe we are the noisy one!

Then we also had a new Marketing Manager joining us this week! Although for the past two days we have been very busy with introductory meetings and then Christmas decorating session. I hardly had time to sit down and start crossing out stuffs from my 'To-do list' which, honestly speaking, is getting longer and longer than the Great Wall of China. (Yeah, I should be concerned)

I need to dedicate a time this week to prepare my PR application too, since my appointment is early next week. Hopefully the second time is the charm this time.

Anyway, that's that about work in general. I realized something this week though; something very important. I know it sounds clichey, but people do get what they deserve. What goes around really comes around. We all talk about karma, and I guess we say it in passing, just like we talk about similar clichey like 'good things come to those who wait.'. I mean, it sounds right, but usually it's just something we tell ourselves so that we can remain optimistic.

But really, I feel that there is not enough kindness in this world. Everybody should be kind, for and foremost. And I always try to believe the good in people, give them the benefit of the doubt even when others tell me otherwise. We have to treat everybody with kindness, and I'm saying that regardless of our genders or position or anything else. But as women, it's especially important to empower each other, not be bitchy and mean and nasty and dishonest.

I have been hurt by people. Because of misunderstanding or miscommunication, it happens right? But I can't think of the last time that someone hurt me on purpose out of malicious intent, until recently. It was something uncalled for, unfair and I believe that nobody should be that mean to do such thing to anyone. And remember what I said about what goes around, comes around? Yeah, let's just say that something unfortunate happened to her, and maybe it's karma for what she has done to me, or maybe it's a compilation of other bad things she has done, but I believe that she gets what she deserves.

We all make mistakes, we hurt people we love, people around us. But I'd like to think that nobody should be mean to each other on purpose. When you're mean and you have evil intention to others, that's it. Everybody should support each other, encourage one another to be better. If you can't be nice to someone, at least don't hurt them. It's better to walk away. But as soon as you hurt someone intentionally, that's on you. That's what I can't understand.

One of my good friends told me that there are a lot of mean people out there and maybe I have not come across them yet in my life because I've led a sheltered life. And maybe he's right, and I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for my parents who have protected me and surrounded me with great, loving, positive people. Even my friends all throughout school until university, they are a bunch of fun, loving, friendly people that I'm so grateful for.

I have not met such poisonous people until now, and I consider myself lucky. I hope I can keep it that way. And I will still treat people that I meet equally: with a smile. At least I'll try my best to. Whatever the outcome is, that's not up to us to decide. But take comfort in the fact that, people get what they deserve.

- from The Fault in Our Stars

“Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said. 

"Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway."

Reunion!

Friendship picks you up when the world lets you down.

Fear. Love.

There are no two stronger human emotions than fear and love. In many ways they’re not so different. Both can make you do crazy things. Tell your own brother you’re in love with him. Put your own life in risk to hunt down the man who took away your beloved. Or do something that scares you to death because you may be in love.

Quote of The Day

People get what they deserve. At least they should.

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles

True, isn't it? Life is really unpredictable. You fall, you stand back on, you learn from your mistakes. The truth is, I believe that what goes around, comes around. And you know what? You may call me naive, but as long as you do something with good intention and sincerity, it doesn't matter what the outcome is.

It doesn't matter whether people will appreciate what you do, or whether they will reject you, make fun of you, betray you. That's already out of our control; that falls on them. But we are responsible for our own action. The only thing we can control is ourselves, so always do things with kind heart and good intention. Hopefully other people will see it too.

In life, sometimes we may be stuck in a place that we do not wish to be in, with people we do not like, in unideal situations, in difficult and complicated circumstances. But we have to deal.

I see a lot of superficiality around me. People who say things they don't mean, those who appear one thing but behave the other way. I always say that words are cheap, because somehow they lost their importance. It's sad, but that's the reality of life.

Does that mean we have to be like them? Don't.

I hope I won't ever be. I wish everyone can be honest and say what they mean. I wish people are kinder, friendlier, more loving and genuine. Imagine how much better this world will be.

Grateful.

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.

Soulmate or Life Partner?

Soul Mates. Soul Reminders. Soul Connections. We hear about it, read about it and some of us are lucky enough to experience it. We are all curious and most of us want one.

“Your soul mate makes you feel entirely intact, like no piece is missing from the puzzle. A life partner, on the other hand, can be a great supporter and long-time companion, but is limited in his or her capacity to enrich your spirit.” ~ Dr. Carmen Harra

Soul mates differ from life partners. Some people, not ever encountering a soul mate or soul connection, settle down with a life partner. These relationships can be very satisfying. They are often built on mutual trust, respect and friendship.

You see, in life, we have no control over timing and sometimes less control of circumstance. Some cannot wait forever in hopes of encountering a soul mate, so they are satisfied with a mature life-partner relationship. For some it is about survival, security or simple companionship, and the word soul mate does not resonate. The concept may seem flighty, dreamy and unrealistic. Life circumstance, timing, availability, security and many other factors may all influence our relationship choices…

BUT…

Chances are if you are open, ready and blessed enough to meet a Soul Mate in this life time it will happen unanticipated and unexpected. It can feel unsettling, destabilizing and ungrounding because it is a different connection than any other you have had.

There are no words or explanations that can clearly articulate such a connection. It is a magnetic energy, an intuitive knowing and it just seems right. There is no matter of space or time, you have found your way to one another.

Actually, timing and way are quite often terrible. But when it arrives, you know. There is the “I get you feeling.” There is a flow and a rhythm that seems to be guided by something much higher. You step back to catch your breath because deep down you know this is special. This is different. This is genuine.

It is raw and it is so damn real you want to run away just to soak it up and take it in. The soul mate. The one you feel vibrate when they are a thousand miles away. The one you hear whisper when they think about you. The one who lets you move freely but embraces your shadow from afar. That one. The one you feel like you have known for a million years. 

When you finally settle into the WOW, you see the beauty, the rarity, and eventually the clarity. You know it is real, a keeper. Sometimes as a friend, other times a lover. Sometimes transient, other times permanent.

These beautiful soul reminders may too, just pop into our lives temporarily to remind us of what we have been forgetting; our writing, singing, creating, imagining, dancing or living. They light the spark. They get the fire going. They are the gentle nudge. Sometimes they stay, and other times move on. But they usually leave you appreciative and often breathless. They remind us to be alive, vibrant and hopeful.

“Have you ever met someone for the first time, but in your heart you feel as if you have met them before?”~ Joanne Kenrick, When a Mullo Loves a Woman

“We were not making love, we did not even kiss, but the inexplicable intimacy we shared left us wordlessly and hopelessly locked into each other’s gaze.” ~ Jasmine Dubroff 

“Soulmates are people who bring out the best in you. They are not perfect but are perfect for you.” ~ Author Unknown

There is a catch to encountering these deep connections. Before you can go to this depth and even be brave enough to notice it, you first must love yourself. Because when you have love times a million for yourself, it comes naturally and effortlessly, transforming through you and transfixing to another who too loves themselves and are ready and open for depth.

Intimacy requires an open-heart. Looking, searching, praying, visualizing and meditating does not bring a soul mate. I do not believe they can be summoned. No one can be your other half or fill your cup but you. Sure, a soul mate can remind, inspire and certainly enhance your life but no one can be your happiness — but YOU. Although, one can be prepared.

Do your work. Love and nourish yourself. Fill your own soul and fuel your own fire. And then when, and if, they do come along, you are ready to sizzle.

“Don’t worry about finding your soul mate. Find yourself.” ~ Jason Evert

Feeling curious? Read on and without over-analyzing, ask yourself — soul mate or life partner?

The 10 Elements of a Soul Mate

1. It’s something inside. Describing how a soul mate makes you feel is difficult. It’s a tenacious, profound and lingering emotion which no words can encompass.

2. Flashbacks. If your partner is your soul mate, chances are he or she has been present in your past lives. You might even feel an odd sense of déjà vu, as if the moment in time has already taken place, perhaps a long time ago, perhaps in a different setting.

3. You just get each other. Ever met two people who finish each others sentences? Some people call that spending too much time together, but I call it a soul mate connection. You might experience this with your best friend or your mother, but it is the telltale sign of a soul mate when you experience it with your partner.

4. You fall in love with his (or her) flaws. No relationship is perfect, and even soul mate relationships will experience ups and downs. Still, that bond will be much harder to break. Soul mates have an easier time of accepting, even learning to love, each others imperfections.

5. It’s intense. A soul mate relationship may be more intense than normal relationships, in both good and sometimes bad ways. The most important thing is that, even during negative episodes, you’re focused on resolving the problem and can see beyond the bad moment.

6. You two against the world. Soul mates often see their relationship as “us against the world.” They feel so linked together that they’re ready and willing to take on any feat of life, so long as they have their soul mate by their side.

7. You’re mentally inseparable. Soul mates often have a mental connection similar to twins. They might pick up the phone to call each other at the exact same time. Though life may keep you apart at times, your minds will always be in tune if you are soul mates.

8. You feel secure and protected. Regardless of the gender of your partner, he or she should always make you feel secure and protected. Your soul mate will make you feel like you have a guardian angel by your side. A person who plays on your insecurities, whether consciously or subconsciously, is not your soul mate.

9. You can’t imagine your life without him (or her). A soul mate is not someone you can walk away from that easily. It is someone you can’t imagine being without, a person you believe is worth sticking with and fighting for.

10. You look each other in the eye. Soul mates have a tendency to look into each others eyes when speaking more often than ordinary couples. It comes naturally from the deep-seated connection between them. Looking a person in the eye when speaking denotes a high level of comfort and confidence.

Tired.

Hey you,

I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings. Maybe I could've dealt with this better, but I'm confused. I'm so, very confused. We always talk about honesty, and I expect that from you just as I've always been true to you.

Sometimes I wonder if this is all just a game to you, and if this is, I'm sorry, but I don't want to play. I think I'm not up for games.

There are moments in our friendship that I can look at you, and finally catch a glimpse of the real you. Not the you that everyone else says. Not the you that you portray to everyone else. Somehow I see a different side of you, a more serious and contemplative you. The you that I can relate to, talk to, rely on. These are the times that I think to myself, yeah, I can find myself trusting you and being your friend.

Isn't it very simple? Friendship doesn't have to be complicated.

And yet, something seems to be holding me back. Despite the sincere moments that we have shared together, I'm still very wary. I'm wary because I'm scared to be hurt, again. I'm wary because I've been down this road before, and.. you know me, don't you? I'm not very good in handling broken promises, betrayal, backstabbing, and all these games that people play. I'm too easily affected.

Trust is earned, not given so easily. So I'm asking you to be patient with me. I want to get there, I promise you. But how can I, when your action speaks otherwise sometimes? It's like, we're going one step forward today, but two steps backwards tomorrow. In the end, what are we doing?

I'm still drawing a blank. And when it comes to you, it's still just a question mark.

And I'm tired of guessing.. I'm tired of scrambling around to find the answer.

Those moments..

"They told me that to make her fall in love, I had to make her laugh. But everytime she laughs, I'm the one who falls in love." 

Hong Kong and Them Jellyfish!

Last weekend Dearie and I packed our bags and went on our first holiday again since... Bali. (Okay, that wasn't so long ago, I was hoping I could make a more dramatic story by saying that it was our first trip since UK last year and how we really needed this break..) But! For a traveller like me, even half a year without going away seems a like a really long time. (Now I know why I'm constantly broke.)

When we were in Hong Kong the last time, we made a promise to go back and finally we got to fulfil it!

Us in Hong Kong 2 years ago. Time flies!

I won't elaborate much on the trip since it mainly consisted of Dearie hunting for toys and me pretending to be interested, and me hunting for bags and dresses and Dearie pretending to be interested, and us hunting for heavenly Char Siew Pao at Tim Ho Wan (this time we both were really interested), and late-night cravings for KFC chicken.

Honestly I didn't take that many photos in this trip mainly though, because, well, I didn't bring my digital camera, and Dearie isn't exactly Mr. Camera-Ready as proven by these few snapshots...

I might as well just stop trying, right?

I ended up taking selfies a lot (which is annoying since I can do that anytime and anywhere.)

I did, however, take some good pictures of jellyfish when we were at Ocean Park and I have always been fascinated by jellyfish. They are so pretty but dangerous too! Much like humans - who can seem good and nice on the outside, but bleak and poisonous inside. Looks indeed can be very deceiving.

Feast your eyes, fellow jellyfish geek!

I think Dearie had to drag me out of the exhibition because I spent too much time staring at these jellyfish. 

Sorry I haven't been writing much, guys. Life has been kinda crazy, but if you have time do check out my other blog that I share with my sisters over at http://threeof1kind.wordpress.com/ ! My sister is an amazing writer and the blog will basically be more on lifestyle and photography stuffs - fashion, beauty, travel, and everything fun and colourful!

See you on the next post!

What is love?

A friend asked me recently. "What is love, to you?"

Lately I've been having a personal struggle with this. I've seen couples around me break-up, lie to each other, cheat, and it's very demotivating to me to know that love once shared can easily be broken.

If your love to someone destroys you, violate you, takes your freedom away from you, is it still love? Or is it just a desperate attempt to hang on to the idea of love that is no longer there? 

At the end of the day, we all can say love easily. Sometimes I wonder if it still has its meaning when everyone can say it loosely just for the sake of saying it. 

But there is no love without trust, kindness, patience, hope. And despite that love itself is a feeling, the rest of those things - trust, kindness, patience, have to be done actively and by choice. It's more than just a feeling, it's a way of thinking, an active decision day by day to be true to each other, never hurt one another, to forgive and not dwell on the past wrongdoings.

While it's easy to say 'I love you', it's more difficult to really follow through with everything else that comes with love. The feeling of love itself will not be enough.

After the novelty wears off, it's all about staying in love and making that decision every day. When you truly love someone, the other person's happiness becomes your own, and all those things: being honest, patient, always protects, always hopes, always perseveres - will not feel like a commitment. They will come naturally.

Let's spend time less talking, but more loving. Don't just say it, but show it.

Us.

Love is only a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.

Manchester-bound!

Now let’s move on to the part of the trip that Dearie loves the most: Manchester! Being a Manchester United’s biggest fan, it has been his lifelong dream to watch his favorite team in the one and only Theatre of Dreams, and I was more than happy to oblige! He has bought us tickets to the United – Arsenal match and it cost us both our arms and legs (ah! We’re limping!) but it’s a good thing that we both travelled together so we could look for cheaper options in terms of lodging.

However, I have to say that our accommodation history throughout our stay in the UK has been really pleasant. The hotel we stayed at in Manchester was Travelodge, and it was much bigger than Stanley House Hotel in London. But even in London we were pretty happy with our place since we didn’t spend much time inside the room anyway, and they provided decent daily breakfast. The most important thing to us was the location – it had to be convenient and near to the metro station.

Anyway, back to Manchester! (The short attention-span-me.)

So, we made our way to Manchester by train from London. The train ride itself was uneventful but really nice (uneventful in this way means we didn’t get robbed, or take the wrong train, so yeah, uneventful is a good adjective here). Our seats were pre-allocated so it was relatively easy finding out way.

Fast forward to a few hours later…

Hello Manchester! You’so pretty! We arrived in the late afternoon so the sun was shining brightly and the wind was blowing and I was freezing and my luggage was heavy.. Oops, okay, I’m not painting a very good picture here, am I?

Seriously though! We managed to drag our luggage and we initially decided to take a bus to the city near our hotel since we saw there was a free shuttle from the train station. We hopped in, but I wasn’t very certain because I couldn’t see the stop name where our hotel was at in the bus route. Luckily we asked the driver and turned out the bus didn’t go to the place that we wanted to go! So we quickly hopped out and after deliberation, decided to just opt for train!

The train there was nice because it wasn’t underground and we could admire the view along the way! The ride wasn’t long, in no time we arrived in our stop! It was a beautiful place near the river and our hotel was perched nicely in the side of the bridge that connected this side of the road with the one where Old Trafford was.

After checking in at our hotel, it was probably around 4 or 5pm, and Dearie couldn’t wait to go to the stadium! The match happened the next day, so we still had that evening to go check out the place first before the big mayhem the following day. What was memorable about it too was the weather! The moment we stepped out of the hotel, it was hailing! Real ice falling down from the sky! What a welcome, Manchester.

The walk to Old Trafford itself probably took 15-20 minutes. And there we were, at the Sir Matt Busby Way! Throughout our 3-days stay in Manchester, we probably went to Old Trafford like 5 times.  Well, that’s the main purpose we were there! Anyway, that evening we just walked around the stadium, took obligatory pictures and checked out the United store. This was when Dearie bought the thick black jacket that would survive him throughout the rest of the journey.

The next day passed by like a blur! We woke up early and quick to dress in our Manchester United’s attire – Dearie in his red jersey, topped with Cantona scarf that he bought the day before, and moi in the blue one. The atmosphere was so lively on our way to the stadium as we saw fellow fans going there as well. The surroundings of the stadium now resembled a flea market, with booths and people selling match scarves, shirts and all sorts of memorabilia! 

Oh! Another awesome experience I must share here is the pre-match lunch in the Red Café! People who bought the VIP package were entitled this lunch before the match and it was amazing! We sat with 6 other people in the table, two from Ireland, two from Malaysia, the other two from the States and then there were us. What’s fun was during the meal itself, they actually distributed a quiz that we could fill in as a table, and the table with the best score would win some prize! The questions in the quiz itself mostly circled around sports, although I remember there was one question of: “What is the name of Jamie’s Cullum’s wife?” to which we answered, “Mrs. Cullum.” Well, that certainly isn’t wrong!

Anyway, the questions weren’t easy okay! But the group managed to answer quite a fair bit, and to my amazement, Dearie actually knew way more than I thought! I know he’s a major United fan, but his sports knowledge really went beyond that, and it made me proud! (Aww!) Especially when one of the Irish guy was a sports journalist, yet Dearie had more knowledge than him, it seemed. Even though our table didn’t win in the end, I think that was a very good and clever idea to get everyone engaged before the match, and a chance for us to actually make new friends along the way too!

Next, the match! All I remembered was walking and trying to find our seats, and all I could see was people, people and more people! We had really good seats at Sir Alex Ferguson stand and wow, the view from up there was simply sensational! I think these pictures can describe better than any words. I could see Rooney, Van Persie, Ferdinand and all those players I usually could only watch from the television screen at home. If I was excited, I can’t imagine how Dearie must have felt!

The game was fantastic and we won! The energy was contagious, people were cheering and shouting and singing along, and it seemed like everyone was in pure sync. We were like droids army, systematically standing in line and following orders. (Weird metaphor, but you get the drift, don’t you? Don’t you? Don’t YOU?)

The match ended with a 2-1 victory! Woo-hoo! I nearly had to drag Dearie outta there, cos he was kept asking me for pictures with his Cantona scarf. Bless him! Going out after the match was a pandemonium again! We made a stop at the store again to buy even more stuffs and we both bought the table-cloth jerseys and other souvenirs like coasters, mugs, and figures.

The next time we were at Old Trafford again was the following day when we went for the stadium tour and museum tour, checking out the football field up close and personal, hanging out in the players’ dressing room (no biggie..) and getting too much info on the club and its history that I cared to know. Haha, kidding! It was really fun!

One evening in Manchester, we went out to the city and had quite fancy Italian dinner with a friend of mine who was living there. I think otherwise we wouldn’t have figured out a way to go to the city beyond our hotel and Old Trafford so it was pretty special. Oh! Near to our hotel, there was this shopping center that has Nike’s factory outlet and I’m sure Dearie loved it because he bought tons of cheap football jerseys for his friends back home!

Thank you Manchester for the awesome experience! Thanks for making my Dearie's dreams come true too!

❤

Inspiring

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

Miss you, Mom.

Dearest Mom,

How are you Mom? I hope you're doing wonderful up there, and that you're finally resting and not having to worry about me. I know you're always looking out for me, Mom, and I miss you so much tonight.

I miss waiting for you to get home from work so we can have dinner together as a family. I miss talking to you and telling you about my days while you're cutting fruits for me and Dad. I miss finding you on your usual spot, reading the paper on a Saturday afternoon. I miss you teaching me algebra and chemistry throughout my school days. But most importantly I just miss you. I miss having you, I miss hugging you, I miss your advice and your wise lessons and I miss you. I miss you so, so much.

You are the best Mom I can ever hope for, and I'm so, so thankful that I have lived, always feeling loved and taken care of, by you and Dad. You gave me everything I need. I am who I am because of you. And it hurts too much, having you taken away from me so soon when I haven't done anything to make you proud yet. Why? I don't understand, and I probably never will.

I want to let you know that I miss you and I love you so much. I want to tell you that you're so loved and that you're the bravest, strongest, wisest person I know, and everything I can ever dream to be. I pray that you will always be happy, because you deserve it, Mom. You deserve it so, so much.

And I dream for a day when I will be able to see you again, to hug you and spend time with you like we always did. I know you're always with me, in my heart.

But let me weep and cry, just for tonight. I'll be okay tomorrow, Mom. Just that tonight, I miss you so, so much.

London!

I haven't written much about my trip to UK, so I'm going to try now. I hope I'm not forgetting any important stuffs! I have a memory worse than a goldfish so yeah, bear with me here!

So, UK, yeah! Let me just say that it was like a dream being there! I had a big ball of awesomeness throughout my 2-weeks stay and I didn't want to leave! It was colder than I had anticipated too, and I realized now how crazy I was to think that the weather would just be bearable with just one thin jacket. I think I have the tendency to underestimate things, especially weather! In my mind I thought I was a thick-skinned (literally) wonder woman. "Jacket? NO! I don't need this shit!" (while continue packing tank tops and shorts)

Yeah, shame on me. Luckily my sister convinced me to bring along his winter jacket, and that ended up saving my stubborn arse! I would say London was still quite alright without that winter jacket, but as soon as we got to Manchester, goodness, we were welcomed by some crazy hailing action! Even Dearie had to buy a thicker jacket at Manchester United Store, cos the only jacket he brought was this one from Uniqlo. Well, the fact that it was a very cool, suave-looking jacket didn't hurt either.

Oh, sorry for jumping the gun here. Let's start from London, our first stop! I figured we can split this into a few posts so you won't have to read everything at once (read: I'm just lazy, give me a break!)

Our flight from here was like, 9 in the morning so we got there early for a quick breakfast first. I was so excited! Have I told you I love airports and flying in general? Anyway, I think I spent most of my time on the plane watching random stuffs on the entertainment system. (Yay to that!)

It was evening time when we finally landed in London and we actually took the train (or subway, or metro, as the Brits call it?) to reach our hotel! (Bless Dearie and his awesome navigational skills!) We reached our hotel late and most of the places were closed by then. We managed to grab dinner at one of the restaurants in the metro station, which wasn't far from the hotel.

The next few days seemed like a blur, really. We visited all the places we had wanted to see, and more! Tower of London and Tower Bridge were the first few places we checked out on our first day.

You know, just chilling out, at Tower Bridge. 

Second day, we went to Warner Brothers studio where they filmed Harry Potter (yes, I'm a geek that way!) and it was super fun! Seeing all the props and costumes and we even tried Butterbeer! (not so good, though.) If you're a fan, you would really enjoy checking this place out. I hope Dearie enjoyed it too. (I made him watch all the movies before our trip, and he seemed to like them, but that may have something to do with the fact that I might have given him the evil, threatening eye when I asked if he liked the movies. Psst.)

I even got up close and personal to Hedwig!

Third day was an eventful one! We were walking around the city, visiting Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square, seeing the Big Ben and London Eye from a distance, and ended our day watching Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre, which was really, really awesome! It was funny though, we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of guards, and there were tons of people there. There was this moment when the 'knights' actually rode horses to the palace, and one of the horses pooped on his way, so there was this pile of poop on the street for the rest of the procession. And one of the guards had to walk on that road, and you could tell he's trying to avoid the poop but it was right on his way. Haha. Damn horse can't hold it in!

Also, we caught a glimpse of the Queen twice! (I actually just saw her once, because I was too short. But Dearie saw her twice.) And, that day apparently there was this delegation going to the Palace too, and guess which country?

Indonesia! Ha! Indonesian flags were everywhere, and Dearie made me take picture with it, it was really funny. Overall, the whole experience was just really memorable. 

After seeing the ceremony, we made our way to the theatre to see Les Mis. It was actually quite a distance, but once again, bless Dearie, he managed to find his way (through the map!) and we got there with half an hour to spare. Because we haven't had our meal yet, we decided to step into one of the steak place nearby, and wanted to have a quick bite before the show. But it actually took a while for them to prepare our steak, and by the time our food came, we only had like 10 minutes before the show started and I just gulped my steak like I haven't eaten in one month and in the end left quite a lot of french fries. We rushed back to the theatre, and the show has started! We had to wait until the next scene before they could bring us in, as to not interrupt the show. 

Now, this is one of the things I regretted. When we went to see the show at that time, we didn't have much idea about Les Mis. The reason why we wanted to see it was because it was highly recommended by my sister, but we didn't know much about the story and songs and everything. But since that trip and as soon as we got back to Singapore, Dearie and I started watching the show through DVD and absolutely fell in love with it! There was a period of time when I just played the songs over and over again throughout the day until my younger sister once came in to my room when I was listening to the song for the hundreds of times and she said, "Maniac." Haha.

I made a mental promise to myself that I would go back again just to watch the live musical again because I can definitely appreciate it a lot more now and pay more attention to the details that I may have missed the first time around. 

What a majestic sight, huh? 

The next day, it was Dearie's turn to be geeky so we went to National History Museum to see some dinosaurs! 

Dearie and the love of his love. The T-Rex.

And afterwards, these two geeks went to 221B Baker Street! Woo-hoo!

You can't see it, but I was absolutely freezing here! There was a line of people queueing and it was really, really cold outside my teeth were cracking and I just buried my face into my scarf and I couldn't even talk! Anyway, finally we went in and basically inside they had all these Sherlock Holmes' artifacts from the costumes, pages of the books and the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, figures to re-enact some memorable scenes and a chance for us to snap some pictures.

Us, in Sherlock's living room and fireplace.

We bought some souvenirs from the shop, it was cool!

That was London. It was all I could imagine and more. I wish we could have explored more places and had more time to spend there. I got a bit sad now thinking about it, but hey I will be back, I'm sure of it! As soon as I'm back in Singapore, I'm missing the weather and the cute accents and my scarf and my boots! But most importantly, I'm missing the adventure I got to share with Dearie! It was priceless. 

So on that note, we continued our trip to Manchester. Until the next post, let me leave you with this picture of me with Darth Vader himself, built from Lego.