HaPpY BiRtHdAy Mili & Shin Yi

Happy Birthday & Hope you had a good celebration!
Mili - I will see you in a few months time!!
=)

Good Food & Wine Show 2008

I mentioned earlier how excited I was with the Good Food & Wine Show and how I was hoping to meet Gordon Ramsay.

The day finally came and I woke up bright and early before the show started so that I can get me some tickets to see his live demonstration.

There were already hordes of people there and I was worried about not being able to get any tickets. Thankfully, after some minor mishaps with the ticket lady (she over charged me!), I finally got some tickets and M and I proceeded to enter the show. As our tickets were for his 3.30pm show, we planned to check out as much as we can (i.e. eat and drink) before his live demonstration.

M kept saying that we shouldn't wait till after his show to go for the book signing. So we headed off looking for the book signing area. We were going round and round and not sure where to go until I suddenly spied this.

Eagerly, we started following the foot prints!

There was already quite a queue when we finally found it at like 10 minutes into the opening time.

Started talking to one of the book sales lady and she said that it was a good idea to come for the morning book signing session as this was the only one that Gordon is extending to 1 hour instead of the usual 30 minutes. There were a lot of disappointed people who queued up who didn't manage to get their books signed within the 30 minutes.

M and I eagerly waited in line.

While waiting, I had plenty of time to look at what was around me.

Finally the time came and Gordon appeared and the queue started moving. Half an hour into the session and it wasn't our turn yet. I was thanking my lucky stars that this session was an hour. Otherwise, I had to continue queueing again and won't get to walk around and check out the stalls.

Finally it was my turn and I became SPEECHLESS! I can't believe it, I was star struck and couldn't think of anything to say. =(


Sigh....I never had any luck with book signing sessions or when I attended my one and only celebrity signing session!

M and I were famished after that and we headed off to get some lunch. For the rest of the day, we came across some interesting stalls and food.

A mascot for a Tupperware! What else....

This stall was quite interesting. You place this sachet in the fridge and it helps to keep your veges and fruits lasts longer. I had to buy one and try.

I never thought that I would see this but an actual human vending machine. Give him your money and you will receive your product with the other hand. Freaky!

I had a great time and we only left at closing time. I seriously doubt 1 day is enough as we spent that just going through stalls and celebrity demonstrations. We didn't even get to go for any of the other food demonstrations.

Do check out my food blog for all the food and drink pictures!

Apple store opening, Sydney

For those who have been wondering what the commotion was that started in the afternoon at the corner of King and George Street in Sydney, it was the opening of the Apple store. The first ever in the Southern hemisphere and the second largest in the world so far. There was quite a buzz going around with many Apple fans flying in from other states and overseas.

The media got a sneak peek yesterday but us public have to wait until today.

The store is to open at 5pm to the public. When I got there half an hour before, there was already a huge queue.

It stretched all the way round the side of the block to the middle of the next street.

Lucky for me, I had my newest baby to keep me occupied while waiting. The good people at Nudie also came and quench our thirst.

There was a lot of waiting and waiting and the queue just keeps getting longer and longer.

Finally I was at the side of the Apple store with only about 50 people ahead of me. It started to drizzle. Ooh! I need to get in.

20 people ahead of me, I am now waiting at the front of the store.

Finally got in. The first 2,400 patrons get a free T-shirt. Yippee....I was one of the first 2,400 people.

The first level are all the computers and peripherals. You get to the second level and you are greeted with an array of all the ipods and media accessories.

As the whole place has an open theme with glass walls, you could still see the queue waiting to get in at the entrance.

Could see Channel 9 covering the opening event on the side.

Love the displays on the side.

Anyone interested in pink laptop covers?

Up the amazing stairs to Level 3 and you get to the service/genius centre.

The wall displays conveys this on Level 3 as well. While the parents are having their one on one discussions, you can leave the kiddies on the side to play games.

Anyone interested in some lab workshops?

Check out the huge long table of techies answering questions and helping customers.

The signature Apple logo hanging in the middle of the store.

The the people who are still queueing to get in, the Apple staff were kind enough to start handing out Apple umbrellas so that they don't get wet.

I love the umbrella. Simple and just the logo. This is one umbrella that I am happy to help flaunt and advertise.

Were you one of the lucky few to get an umbrella?

Good Food and Wine Show

My thumbs are twiddling on my desk and I keep looking at the time, wishing that it will pass faster.

I can't wait for the Good Food and Wine Show which starts on Friday. After being in Sydney for so many years and always being a no-show. What better excuse than to go this year as Gordon Ramsay will be there.

Needless to say, I am a huge fan!

Hopefully, I might see some of you there. If you see a queue with people holding a book, one of them could be me queueing to get my book autographed by Gordon!

Onda VX767

It finally arrived. I wanted something that can play RM and RMVB files. My new baby just arrived! I love it! 4.3 inch screen, has TV out functions and all the other works! All those months of researching and I finally settled on this. Great quality and features and the price is really reasonable as well. Made and sold in the China market, it sure bits some of the American MP4 players in terms of price and features.

Jay Chou is the spokes person for it and my new baby has his signature on it. Teehee!

Allergies and rashes

OMG...I woke up the next day from my trip and I was covered with rashes on my entire face and hands!

The skin was so bumpy and red and really inflamed! This is a result of too much alcohol, I used to get rashes when I first started drinking as a teen. I needed to get to a pharmacy during lunchtime to get me some anti-histamine.

It's already been 5 days and it is only slowly subsiding. The only thing that I can use is Aloe Vera.

That's it, no more drinking for me for a while. It was so not worth it, I would have felt a bit better if the rashes was just on my body and not my entire FACE!

Considering that my resolve was not to drink as well but I decided what the heck! Now, I need more resolve then ever and is the perfect reason for my friends not to force me to drink next time.

Manyana

I was looking forward to the weekend away trip for so long. The uncle of one of our friends was kind enough to loan us his holiday house for the weekend. For me, it was about enjoying the company of friends and just being away. For some of them, it was just about alcohol. Ha!

Friday night came and even before we left the city, we had a few crazy moments. Let's just say it was along the lines of switching drivers while at the red lights and passing a map to the car behind us while at another set of red light.

It didn't help that I gulped down my drink at the bar straight before we started our journey there and needless to say, I needed to visit the toilet about 30 minutes in.

We finally arrived and the house was fantastic! Thanks V. It was located at Manyana which was past Jervis Bay down South of Sydney.

Doesn't the bed look inviting after a whole week of work? I was too excited and didn't manage to take photos of the entire house. But wooden floors and the sound of the waves on the beach while sleeping is definitely my cup of tea.

Most of us decided that it was time to get some rest before the crazy activities are to start. I slept on this and it was just sooo comfortable.

Morning came and this was what greeted me. Amazing, I'm in heaven.

Breakfast was toast, bacon and eggs. Yum!

Round off with creamy Lindt chocolate. Slurp!

Games started and so did the drinks and cocktails!

Followed by another and another and another.

Lunch was BBQ. Check out all that meat and grease. Haha.....

We had our lunch at the patio. It was so cold and windy but we braved it just to have the view and smell of the ocean. I was so stuffed after that. I seriously don't think I can have dinner.

More drinks again. Seriously, I think I am drinking more this weekend than I did in the past year!

R suggested a drinking card game and we all started to play. Penalty were drinking shots. There were a lot more shots than this but that was just the first round. Thankfully, I didn't do too badly with the card game and didn't have to drink that much. Alas, I kept getting nominated by T to drink.

By the time I was able to have dinner, it was around 11pm. OMG!

I was soo tired when it was past midnight, not to mention the amount of alcohol in me that it was time for bed. T and I lit a candle in our sleeping area and chatted the night away.

Aren't this bedroom slippers cute?

No breakfast yet and it was already time for more drinks. My group of friends sure are drinkers.

Yummy Caesar salad for breakfast.

With plenty of leftover BBQ meat.

It's time to head home now. Bye holiday house. I wish we had a long weekend and could have stayed longer but I don't think my liver will appreciated that.

It was so good to getaway and have some stress release. Great friends and company.