The "icing" on my birthday cake

Turning 26. Surely it's not so bad. As I described in an email to some friends - I have made it up the horrendous uphill climb to the big 2-6 (ok, maybe not that horrendous), and the view is pretty damn fine from here! Whilst some may say it's a tumble downwards henceforth, I don't believe it necessarily has to be the case. I think it has so much to do with your attitude and approach to life. I'll definitely endeavour to keep living it up - work hard, play hard, build deep relationships, cultivate my interests, keep learning and growing as a person, and ... just have heaps of fun! And thank you to my Asian genes (and my mum's skin), for the lack of wrinkles thus far... haha :P

Although the actual day is this coming Saturday (boxing day!), I have already started to be spoilt with beautiful and thoughtful gifts from my friends and workmates (thanks thanks thanks!). I'm not usually a present person (rather, my predominant "love languages" are words of affirmation and touch - i.e. i feel the most loved and also express my love the best by verbal/written expressions of encouragement/affirmation, and via physical touch (e.g. hugs)), because in this material consumeristic day and age, us Gen Ys usually buy whatever we want, or at least save up for it and get it anyway. But what touches my heart about gifts is when people know you well enough to choose something that is relevant to your interests and likes. That is often quite rare.

I've been spoilt with, amongst other things - vanilla bean room fragrance (to make my room spell nice - smelling nice is very important to me! haha); a cute handmade card with an elephant and panda; a Christian fiction book about Queen Esther - one of the heroines in the Bible who was both stunningly beautiful and crazily courageous; a bottle of T'Gallant 'Juliet' 2008 Pinot Noir (the heart on the bottle and name was sufficiently romantic for me to love it without even tasting the wine!); a book titled "Coco" which contains info/recipes/pictures re 100 emerging chef talents globally and it even has a lengthy glossary of gastronomical terms; two sets of inspirational gift books - one set about wisdom from famous people over 65 years of age on the themes of Love, Peace, Ideas (by Andrew Zuckerman) - i haven't read through everything but i love some of the quotes thus far; the second a cute set of illustrated mini books with the titles "the Friends", "Shoes, chocs, bags and frocks", "The lady who was beautiful inside" and "A lovely love story" (by Edward Monkton).

As simple as they are, these books are just so "me" - so in line with my philosophy and outlook on life (e.g. the importance of being beautiful inside). My absolute favourite is the "A lovely love story" which talks about two dinosaurs (the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur) falling in love, and how the Lovely Other Dinosaur melts the ice cage that the Dinosaur is trapped in by her kind words and loving thoughts. Awwwwww.. it's so cute! It makes me want to be that Lovely Other Dinosaur that will one day melt the ice cage of some Dinosaur with my kind words and loving thoughts. Lol! :P


I also received a beautiful journal and notepad from Bookbinders (I've already started using the journal, and the notepad will be my new food/coffee review notepad - i.e. I'll take it out to eateries to scribble notes while I eat).

Oh, and beautiful purple flowers. Absolutely gorgeous (see pictures below)! If anyone knows what type of flowers they are, please do let me know. I've never seen them before, and totally totally love them! (Apparently they start with the letter "L".)


So yes, I'm a happy little vegemite with rosy cheeks because of all the blessings, friendships and love in my life. (Now, all I have to do is convince my parents to chip in for my new camera.) Haha