Home-made Hand-stamped Gift Wrappers

Crap, it's a few days away from Christmas and I still haven't completed my gift list. I usually start very early but this year I won't be able to go home for Christmas in the Philippines (sob) so I procrastinated with christmas shopping.

Anyway, I did manage to buy a few. And as you may know (or not), I always have a theme for my gift wrapping every year. This year was inspired by Daphne Osena-Paez - I saw how she did homemade gift wraps in her blog by stamping them.

Schwetzingen Palace & Gardens and Bismarckplatz

As per my intensive research (a.k.a. Google), the massive Schwetzingen palace was the summer residence of the electors Palatine Karl III Philip and Charles Theodore. I don't have a clue in the world who they are hehehe. History has always been my weakness :-P.

We just took a quick 45-min bus ride and found ourselves walking the beautifully manicured streets of Baden-Wurttemberg.

Vegan Burg

We pause for a brief commercial break before I continue with the Germany posts :-). 

Last week, we ate at this vegan restaurant called Vegan Burg. Alf and I usually pass by this restaurant when taking Bus 966 from Marine Parade to my place in Balestier. It's a neat restaurant very near the Eunos MRT and we were intrigued, so off we went.

Rhein Neckar River Cruise

Holy Guacamole! I can't believe it's already December! Time can really fly by super fast. It's been 2 months since our Germany trip and I'm still on Day 2 haha. I just finished laundry so while resting I might as well get on with my posts. I still have a lot more I'd like to share other than this trip so here we go...

Day 2 was our river cruise to Neckarsteinach. It's a pretty little town with castles, around an hour by boat from Heidelberg. As usual, this post is picture heavy and I've already tried to edit out as much pictures as I can.

Schloss Heidelberg

I'm doing laundry and squeezing in this post haha. Looking at the pictures again while uploading them sure brought back such wonderful memories. In fact too many nice photos which is why this post is photo-heavy.

Let the pictures tell the story and I hope you enjoy the "journey" as much as I did :))...

Our first glimpse of the beautifully modern Frankfurt Main train station - connected to the airport.

Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Here's another hotel post from a recent business trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

We had an HR exhibit at the Hilton from 29-30 October. I decided to arrive early on a Saturday prior to the event to spend a little extra time in Kuala Lumpur. Luckily, the rates at the Hilton were very affordable that week despite it being a long weekend so we just decided to stay there as well (I'm not a "bigwig" in our company so my employee hotel privileges are capped :P). I rarely get to stay at a Hilton property as it is usually more expensive so it sure was a treat.

Now I'm not sure why the Le Meridien and the Hilton share one property. It almost seems like they split the property in half - or maybe it's managed by the same owners? In fact, the lagoon-like pool is also shared by both properties and it was literally split in half by a foot bridge which wouldn't allow you to swim the entire length of the pool (too bad I wasn't able to take a picture of that).

Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa

This month has been so hectic it just whizzed by so quickly. Anyway, I'm so piled up with backlog on blog posts haha. Before my posts on our Germany trip, let me get some hotel posts out of the way.

I spent my birthday weekend at Movenpick Heritage Hotel in Sentosa a few weeks ago - thanks to my friend Alf :). It was still under construction but it didn't really bother us. Not once did I hear any noise regarding the construction.

Lufthansa's A380 to and fro Frankfurt

It's been a week and a half since I got back from Germany. It was an amazing trip. Germans are the friendliest people I've met so far. Before I go into the full details of our trip, let me get this out of the way since I have an over eager friend who's waiting for my A380 pics :-P. I was thinking of adding watermarks to my pictures but since I'm lazy, I trust that my friend will add a link back to this blogpost lest he wants to be sued for plagiarism haha.

On the way to Germany, I was lucky once again. The middle seat beside me was vacant which meant more space. Yey!

My first impression of the A380 was "how spacious!", not surprisingly. Unlike what my friend said that only newer planes have retractable overhead bins, this wasn't true for the A380 - probably because they don't need it with all the available ceiling space.

Guten Abend

Greetings from Germany! It's past 12 midnight here. I've actually been sleeping very early since we arrived last Saturday (like 9pm or 10pm) since I'm usually tired from each day's sightseeing. Tonight I can't seem to sleep since I'm probably anxious I won't be able to wake up for our 4:30am train to Paris tomorrow in a few hours. I'll be posting more detailed travel blogs soon after I arrive in Singapore so this is a just a quick one.

Moving In; Q1 Observation Deck

Finally, I'm back in the blogging world. It's been so hectic the past few weeks. As you know (or don't), I've temporarily stayed at my friends' place for 3 weeks. I finally moved in our new place last Saturday but I haven't fully settled in. Minor things really, but they add up to the stress. REALLY.

My room doesn't have a cable tv point (it's not so bad actually). I don't have a wardrobe (BAD!) so most of my clothes are still in my luggage until my closet is delivered (thank you Ikea for cheap furniture). My bed is so firm (read: Hard) that I had to buy a topper, plus king size sheets since I've never experienced renting a room with a king bed (but yes I'm loving the king bed for a king-sized person like me haha). And some home appliances for household use. Minor things like I said but they add up to the expenses, and my pockets are really burned (BAD!). But I'm just ranting. I'm really happy we finally found a place. I moved in with friends Krizia and Lenin so I should really stop complaining.

Anyway, below are the last batch of pics from my Australian trip - photos from Q1 (meaning Queensland One) - Australia's tallest building. I'm flying to Germany in 3 days (yipee!) and I'm looking forward to visiting Paris for a day on 27th September :-) More importantly, I'm looking forward to spending time with my Mom, Stepdad, Twin Brother, Aunt and Uncle.

Enjoy the pics! :-)

Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast

It's been a week since I've been staying at my friends' place since our new place is only available on Sept.15. It really helps to have your closest and bestest friends when you really need them :-).

Anyway, back to regular programming. Here's another photo dump from my recent Gold Coast trip and this one is in and around Surfer's Paradise.

Eco-friendly toilet at the airport upon arrival..

 

Look for "Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle" at the arrival area to buy your "Go Card" - for use on public transportation. 

Four Fingers Crispy Chicken, Ion Orchard

They seriously make good great business... there is almost always a queue...

Wow, it's been quite a while since I last did a restaurant review. I normally eat the usual food on a daily basis so nothing special enough to share on this blog...

Until I met Four Fingers! :-P

I did a little bit of research (a.k.a. googling) but I still can't seem to figure out if Four Fingers is a Singaporean company (it seems like it though). Their website says 4Fingers represent 4 friends who started this fast-food "phenomenon" in Singapore when they were inspired by eateries in New York City selling korean-style fried chicken.

Now don't get confused as Four Fingers is totally different from BonChon Chicken. And I've tried the BonChon Chicken in Bugis+ and it pales in comparison to Four Fingers. Really!

DreamWorld Theme Park

I miss Dreamworld! Luckily, my highschool classmate Jason and his wife, Jen, were travelling to Gold Coast the same period I was, so we were able to go together. It would have been awkward to scream shriek on the rides alone haha.

Since the day I arrived was Jason and Jen's last full day, I just freshened up at the hotel then we went straight to Dreamworld. Good thing there was a shuttle from their hotel, Chevron Renaissance, to the theme park (AUD 18 each).

This is what I love in other countries that we don't have here in Singapore - long and winding highways...

Flying Scoot and Feeling the Vibe!

Gold Coast was awesome! I will definitely want to come back - when money is no longer an issue hahaha. Let me start my blog posts with my Scoot and Vibe experience.

 

The flight on the way there was at night so I didn't rent the iPad nor did I buy food on the plane. I actually forgot to take my melatonin along so I wasn't able to sleep properly on the plane. But not because of the flight experience to make it clear, I just normally couldn't sleep on planes.

My first glimpse of Scoot's plane

Guittard Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Wheat Cookies

Today is a happy day! :-) After 2 days and viewing 6 flats, we finally found the perfect new place! I'm not sure if I mentioned it here before but our rental contract is expiring and my cousin bought their own place so I'll be moving out with friends in less than 2 weeks. I was sort of in panic-mode already as we really only started to look 2 days ago. I'll be flying off to Australia this coming weekend then the following weekend we have to move out so I'm extremely happy we found the place just in the nick of time. AND the best of it all is that it's in Novena which is 2 mrt stations away from Orchard! :-)

So since I just stayed in tonight (it being a Saturday), I decided to make full use of the remaining days with our amazing oven and to clear the pantry. Thus, I came up with... (drum roll) Guittard Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Wheat Cookies! Hahaha what a mouthful!

Prepping for Gold Coast

Crap, a little over 4 years with this blog and I've maximized the storage for photos. I honestly thought it was unlimited. I was uploading photos and I kept on getting this error message below and was hoping it was a bug. I don't know when blogger decided to start storing my photos in Picasa. Argh.

I had no choice but to purchase additional storage space lest I want to lose this blog. It's not exactly expensive but it's still freaking money that recurs every month and I seriously thought blogger is a free service entirely. Working in a software company myself, I do understand they need to start charging for storage space. BUT STILL. I'm pissed. :-P

Hiatus

Wow it's been a while. Apologies for the long hiatus. As if anyone cares haha. I've been pretty busy (obviously), mostly with work, renewal of documentation and other stuff. Last May, I renewed my passport since it's up for expiry on December plus I was up for work visa renewal. I got my passport last June (after a month, ugh) and I finally renewed my work visa in end-June.

It was really a relief to have my work visa renewed for another 2 years. Singapore has been very strict lately with the influx of foreign workers. In fact, some of my Filipino friends got their passes either rejected or demoted to the lower type. I can't blame the government though. I just feel grateful I could stay here longer. Towards the end of this year, I plan to apply for Permanent Residency for the 3rd time.

Anyway, it's been 3 months since I started gym and I'm darn happy I've lost 7kg. Slowly but surely. I've been sick though the past few days due to flu and have been giving in to my cravings but I hope to be back on track.

Earlier this month, I was in Manila and Cebu for a short 4 days. The trip was mainly for the Cebu townhouse turnover. Yey! I'm a homeowner! :-P Huge thanks to my Mom really. She has really helped a great deal, not only financially but more importantly by physically going to Cebu to handle all the admin stuff prior to turnover and minor renovations with the townhouse after the turnover. I love you Mom! :-)

I'll be broke for the next 8 years to pay for the monthly amortization haha, unless we get the place rented out. Either way, it's a great investment. I'm happy my mom influenced me to make this investment :-)

Wicked Avenger

Here I go again with combined posts haha. It's a drizzly rainy sunday afternoon. While I'm waiting for my laundry to finish spinning, might as well catch up on backlogs.

Fitness Blog #12

Surprise!!! Well, aren't you surprised?? Yes, the "fitness" is still alive. If you remember some 2 years ago, I signed up with Fitness First. Our office has since moved to a different location, so I cancelled that (plus I lost the steam to consistently go, what's new).

Website Photo

The Hungry Titanic

Haha sorry about the lousy title. I was attempting to be creative for a title of my review on "The Hunger Games" and "Titanic 3D" :-P

Anyway, I just realized I haven't done a movie review in a while. I actually find it the hardest to review movies, as I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to films or the technicality of it. I guess you could take my reviews from a lay man's point of view, much like Ellen Degeneres judging on American Idol (gets? haha).

Me, Myself and I

It's so hard to think of a creative title whenever I create posts (in fact, I think I already used the above title). Oh well...

Anyway, there's this new Singaporean budget airline called "Scoot". They are scheduled to start flying in late-June or early-July I think. As an introductory sale, they came up with really crazy promos - as low as $88 to Gold Coast or Sydney (one-way and without taxes I think). I didn't get to catch the $88 sale but I did manage to book a flight today to Gold Coast (last day of sale is today!) at an unbelievably low rate! Really, it's almost the same price as my ticket to HK earlier this month. I haven't been to Australia so I'm uber excited! :-)

F-I-V-E---Y-E-A-R-S

It's freaken' 3 in the morning and i'm wide awake. Damn, I should stop taking these naps when I get home from work. Anyway, as I lay in bed trying to get some shut eye, I just realized I missed my 5th year anniversary in Singapore 2 days ago. 

Wow, it's been 5 years. Looking back and pondering on what I've been through really makes me sentimental. At the same time, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I've definitely learned a lot not only in terms of my professional work but personally, as well. I feel proud that all these 5 years I've been independent and fending for myself. Of course, with the help of friends and family around me.

The Lady

I said it in my FB account but I'll say it again - You MUST watch this movie!

I haven't seen such a great movie in a while. According to Wikipedia, this movie is a french-english production, thus it's mostly released in Europe and the US. I do hope it gets to be shown in the Philippines so that my friends and family out there can see it.

Cosmopolitan Hong Kong

Like I previously mentioned, the last time I've been to Hong Kong was way back in 2003. During that first trip to HK, we spent most of our time on the Kowloon side. Since we were staying at a friend's place in Causeway Bay this time, we got to spend more time on the Hong Kong island side.

Q & Pearl's Boracay Wedding

Seems like the trend now in the Philippines is to have an out-of-town wedding. And why not? With the vast expanse of greenery and beaches in our 7,000+ islands, you have endless choices. My cousin Quincy, did just that. Last Jan. 28, he had one of the most blissful weddings I have ever attended. In fact, my first ever beach wedding :-).

(This post is picture-heavy. Boracay is too beautiful I had a hard time editing out my pictures.)

Antwerp, Belgium

 

Day 7 (our last full day in Amsterdam) was our trip to Antwerp, Belgium. We just wanted to maximize our stay actually and Antwerp was the nearest outside of Netherlands - around 2hrs by high speed train. Picture above was our last breakfast from Mrs. Sprangers - sigh I will really miss this kind of breakfast :-)

Diamond Museum, Albert Cuyp Market & PC Hoofstraat

Day 6 we were supposed to go to Germany but it turned out the train tickets were too damn expensive as we didn't buy them in advance. Major bummer as we all met up early at the train station only to cancel the trip. Soooo, we opted to do the "Hop on Hop off" bus tour instead.

Efteling Theme Park, Netherlands

Efteling Theme Park was a "MUST" on my list. We had to take a high-speed train to 's-Hertogenbosch - it was around 2hrs I think. Now how the hell do I pronounce that train station? hehehe.

Museumplein, Heineken, Delft, Hague & Madurodam

I just woke up from a 2-hr pre-sleep nap (hahaha) so might as well finish all these backlog entries... Day 4 of our Amsterdam trip was more of the city and south of the Netherlands. Picture above was at the Museumplein, where you could find the "I amsterdam" fixture. It was drizzling a bit which turned out to be good because we had the sign all to ourselves.

North Holland - Zaanse Schans Windmills, Volendam & Marken Island

Day 3 was our most anticipated trip of North Holland. I couldn't wait to see REAL windmills :-)

Red Light District, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum & Canal Cruise

I'm waiting for my stomach to digest my late lunch of Delimondo corned beef with piping hot rice (hehehe) before I go for a run around the reservoir, so might as well (finally) start my travel blog on my Netherlands trip last October :-).

2012 Travel Plans (and more...)

 

Now, I'm sure you've probably heard of the new campaign by the Department of Tourism in the Philippines - "It's more fun in the Philippines". And since my blog is about travel ("flight" being one of the F's in this blog), I feel I should contribute in my own little way towards this campaign. First of all, to all the smart-a$$ critics out there, let's give this a chance. The WOW Philippines campaign needs to be changed - inspite of all it's success (or was it?). And to the smarter a$$ who said the "fun" campaign was copied from Switzerland's campaign in 1951 with the same slogan - Helloowww?? that was so 19-kopong kopong. Even "Amazing" Thailand and "Incredible" India were used by several countries.

A Prayer for 2012