Juicy Anticipation

Today! I get my Juicy Couture bag today and I cannot wait to get home to see it!

I’ve been pining for a Juicy bag ever since I realised how cute and preppy the brand’s products are. Didn’t take long for me to set my eyes on the Baby Fluffy Velour bag. I lurrrrve the velour material and soft leather base. It’s soooo pretty!

It’s selling at a ridiculous amount of AUD$325 at David Jones and I couldn’t bear to pay so much for it when it’s only retailing at US$185 in America. So Pen came to the rescue! He got his work associate in Seattle to buy the bag for me and hold on to it until one of their guys could meet up with Pen in Japan. Best part was, this bag happened to be on special at the store and it only came up to about US$120. OOoooooh, score!

And as if this wasn’t good enough, my sweetheart of a husband bought me the Juicy perfume to go with the bag on our wedding anniversary. :) Oh, I’m in couture bliss!

Jazzing up an Anniversary

Yesterday was our one-year wedding anniversary and we celebrated by going to see Michael Bublé sing at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. It was an amazing night and extra special to Pen and I because we used quite a few of his songs at our wedding ceremony and reception last year.

As expected, Bublé gave a spectacular performance and connected with the audience exceptionally well. My favourite song for the night had got to be Me and Mrs Jones. Unfortunately for Pen, his much anticipated Home was ruined by the crowd’s joyful cheers when a photo slideshow of Michael in Brisbane appeared on the screen. To make things worse, we could only see a fraction of the screen as we were seated towards the corner of the stage.

What was truly worth mentioning though, was the opening act by Naturally Seven. They are an award-winning gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz and soul vocal play crew from New York City. Their performance blew everyone away – the “instruments” (drums, bass, electric guitar, etc) you hear in their songs are all their voices! You really have to see it to believe it. See the You Tube video below.



Photos of our night out:

Quick dinner at Wagamama before driving to the Entertainment Centre at Boondall

Tucking into some Japanese

Our tickets!

Happy snaps while waiting for Michael

Standing at our corner seats

Opening performance by Naturally Seven

Bublé struts his stuff

Me with Roger (Rap) and Garfield (Harmonica) from Naturally Seven, at the autograph session after the concert

Pen and Armand, the bass guy

Can’t believe we’ve been married for one whole year! It still feels like we just got married a few months ago. How time flies. God has blessed us so much over the past few months and has kept our relationship going stronger day by day. More exciting times ahead I’m sure, as we prepare to move into our new house in the next few months.

Wedding Bells in Sydney

Just got back from Sydney on Sunday evening – somehow this trip really drained me out. Maybe it was because our schedule for the weekend was really tight or perhaps it was my body fighting extremely hard not to fall sick. The bumpy flights did not help at all; did I mention I hate flying?

Pen and I went down to Sydney to attend our friend James’ wedding. The wedding was on Saturday but we flew down on Friday evening to get ourselves settled in first. Poor Pen fell sick on Wednesday – so apart from taking care of him and making sure he takes his medicine regularly, I was also desperately fending the virus from myself. Praise God for watching over us! Pen recovered speedily over the weekend and I fortunately didn’t feel too much under the weather.

We stayed in North Sydney, at the Rydges. This place sure brought back some memories – same time last year, I lived in North Sydney for two weeks by myself while working for LEWIS Sydney. Hence, I became quite the “local” and ended up being the better guide for our hunt for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Best part was, the church where James and Roberta got married, St Thomas Anglican Church, was just up the road from our hotel, a mere 5 minutes walk. It was such a gorgeous-looking church with such intricate details that there was absolutely no need to decorate the sanctuary. The landscaping outdoors also made it a perfect picture opportunity for a wedding. After the ceremony, we briefly scanned the grounds for familiar faces from Pen’s Sydney church. A few photos and some refreshments later, we jetted off to...

Paddington! I was soooooo excited because I’ve heard so much about the markets and boutiques there and couldn’t wait to get my hands on some unique finds. We had an interesting journey there though. Pen got a bit lost driving and we ended up at a suburb near Paddington and thought we were at the right place when we saw some tents set up there. We parked, got out of the car and walked towards the “market”. Wasn’t long till we noticed something was amiss – the surrounding looked dodgy and we found ourselves in the midst of a police and thief chase. (A woman had her mobile snatched off her hands and a couple of policemen had just caught the alleged thief by the collar.) Riiiight. Turned out we were at Kings Cross* and the “market” was a mini food carnival.

When we finally found our way to Paddington, I was absolutely stoked to see streets and streets and streets of boutiques. And the markets totally lived up to my expectations. The only downside was we only had about two hours to explore because we had the wedding dinner to attend. Arghh, I knew it was impossible to cover this much ground in two hours, so my joy quickly turned into disappointment. And because of the time constraint, I had to choose between focussing on shopping or taking photos AND shopping, which would greatly reduced my ability to concentrate. So guess which one I chose?

When our time was up, Pen had to drag me away from the splendour that was Paddington. Well, at least I didn’t leave the place empty-handed – I bought a ton of stuff from Make Up Store and a chunky silver ring from the markets. I was very happy with my jewellery purchase and I must say I was glad to have Pen with me as he always does all the bargaining for me! Paddington is an amazing shopping strip and I am kicking myself for not stepping foot into that suburb during my previous trips to Sydney. I will be back.

And oh yes, the wedding dinner was a ball too. Heh.

*Similar to Singapore’s Geylang

Eating at Harry's Cafe de Wheels on Friday night, a push cart famous for its hotdogs

Breakfast at a cafe in North Sydney

At St Thomas Anglican Church - The bridal party and parents after signing the registry

We missed out on the group photo (too busy eating) so we got a private one taken with Roberta and James

L - Susie, Ivan, me and Pen

Wedding dinner at Zilver Restaurant, very good Chinese food. There were suckling roast pig, mock shark's fin, abalone, etc.
L - Pen, Me, Amanda and Luke

Our table
Top L - Luke, James, Ivan, Kris, Susie and Amanda
Bottom L - Susie, me and Pen

Me and Pen

We're going trigger happy!

The boys - Pen, James (groom), Wilson, Luke, James and Kris

Swinging at Manly

On Saturday, the Young Adult Fellowship spent the morning together playing putt putt at Manly. We split into groups of four and tried to conquer the nine holes. I thought at first that it would be a piece of cake but I sure was wrong about that. Turned out some holes weren’t as simple as they looked because the slopes made them really tricky. Especially this one...

Mic, Fong, Rev Alexis and YC strategising their next move

After putt putt and a few more swings at the driving range, we went to Manly Harbour Village for lunch. It was my first visit there and I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the place looked. There were heaps of boats and yachts anchored at the quay and rows of coffee shops and fish and chips takeaways located along the water. Very picture-perfect indeed.

Manly Village - overlooking the water

Had lunch at this fish and chips takeaway

Waiting for our food!

Just as we were leaving, I was suddenly reminded of the times (yes, plural!) when Ally and Hui took the wrong train and landed up at Manly instead of home. The first time it happened, I was worried. Second time, it started to get funny. Can’t remember if there was a third time. Ahh, those were the days.

A Trip to the Fashion Capital

Day 1

Pen and I flew down to Melbourne for the Anzac Day long weekend. It was my first trip to the shopping and fashion capital of Australia so I was really excited to embark on my three-day retail (and sight-seeing) adventure.

Our trip started off slightly rocky – I had to drag myself out of bed at 4am because we were catching a 6:15am flight. Why so early you ask? Because we were on standby and the previous night’s flights were all fully booked due to the long weekend, so in order to guarantee ourselves seats, we had to get on a “less popular” flight. It was still a very full flight nonetheless and we were very blessed to get onboard. In fact, they only allowed four standby people on the flight.

Upon arrival, we realised that not only were we on standby, so was our baggage! They left my bag and the 7kg of longans (from Uncle Albert to Lou) back in Brisbane. Good one. My resentment was soon appeased at the sight of our friends Kev and Lou who so kindly came to pick us up for breakfast.

They took us to Retro Cafe at Fitzroy, a picturesque nostalgic coffee shop with furniture that looked like they had been around since the 70s. I had an Eggs Benedict and Pen ordered a massive hangover meal. It was soooo yummy and I knew we were off to a good start. Lou didn’t waste any time and immediately helped me plan my shopping route for the next two days.

Breakfast at Retro Cafe

After breakfast, we had a quick Underbelly tour around North Melbourne and also stopped by Lygon Street for gelati. Setting foot on Lygon Street is like stepping into little Italy. There were rows and rows of Italian cafes and restaurants, alternating with a heap of Gelato shops.

We finally checked-in at our hotel Holiday Inn at 1pm. Still no sign of my bag. Arrrgh. We rested for a while and then jetted off to DFO (Direct Factory Outlet), just across the road. We didn’t stay there long as the shops were all similar to the ones in Brisbane. We wandered around the city streets, albeit a little quiet due to Anzac Day, taking photos and soaking in Melbourne’s old-town sights.

Our hotel

Melbourne tram

In the heart of Melbourne Central

Venturing into Chinatown

Dinner at Sambal Kampung - a Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown

In the evening, Pen took me to Crown Casino along Southbank. He was really keen on showing me the “fire” at Crown. The whole time, I thought it was just a small area of burning flames. Turned out there were actually six tall towers with flames going off every half hour or hour. Think Lord of the Rings, Return of the King’s lighting of the beacons.

Walking towards Southbank Crown Casino

Big flames!

Day 2

We met up with Nick and Lou for brunch at Collingwood Children’s Farm. It’s a “city” farm located just 5km from the CBD, specially established so kids could experience rural life without driving miles from home. Yes yes, people in Melbourne are BIG on breakfasts and brunches. A weekend with friends is almost never complete without one of those.

We ate at The Farm Cafe, a country-side eatery owned by one of Nick’s friends. The cafe is famous for using only produce from the farm – so you’ve got your free-range eggs, organic cereal, goat’s milk, etc. You’ve also got some other “organic things” left behind by the farm animals at the door so patrons have been warned to watch where they walk.

Breakfast at The Farm Cafe

At noon, we went to Bridge Road at Richmond, a street well-known for its warehouse-type shopping. Think Stones Corner but bigger, longer and definitely livelier! We visited shop after shop, with Pen cheerfully tagging along. My poor husband must have been so bored but he didn’t say a word, just stuffed himself with Subway cookies and whatever else he could find in between boutiques. After three hours, I only bought a cardigan, a long-sleeved top and a belt. The shopping was great but there weren’t many things that really caught my eye.

We headed down on a tram to Queen Victoria Markets next, determined to find some bargains for ourselves. Comically enough, the moment we stepped into the market’s compounds, an announcement was made over the PA system telling shoppers they were closed! Arggh! Pen and I scurried through the aisles and aisles of stalls selling fresh fruits, vegetables, chickens, eggs, etc. It felt just like my Eunos market in Singapore, only much drier. The retail part of the market was exactly like a pasar malam, from the set up right down to the products! Fake Hello Kitty stuff, cheap-looking bags and This Fashion-type clothes. Cheh! They don’t fool us.

On the tram

Deli at Queen Victoria Market

Chickens for sale

After another fruitless shopping trip, we walked to Lygon Street for dinner. The Italian food was so authentic and Pen’s pasta was exceptionally good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. After that, we had a pear and cheese crumble at Brunetti, a dessert wonderland! It was so delicious that I totally forgot to take photos!

Pillow-filled pasta with pumpkin and ricotti

Pen's yummy pasta

At 9:30pm, back at the hotel, we got a call from Lou inviting us for dessert at Max Brenner. So off we went again for more food! Seeing it was raining and cold as, it was definitely appropriate weather for a nice cup of hot chocolate. We also shared some chocolate fondue and dark and milk chocolate suckao. Yes, Melbourne is also a food capital.

L to R: me, Kev, Nick, Lou and Pen

Day 3

The temperature went down to about 14 degrees topped with cold wind chills. Time to layer up!

We strolled to Southbank, had breakfast at the Southgate food court and visited the markets. The markets were somewhat disappointing - I had expected it to be better than Brisbane Southbank's but it wasn't.

Walking to Southbank from another bridge

Southbank Markets

Walking back to the city

We went back to the city centre after that and explored Flinders Lane, a small street in the heart of Melbourne's CBD with a rustic feel and boasting numerous quaint little boutiques. Now we're talking! In the thick of atmospheric cafes and bars, there were fabulous shops selling fun and quirky fashion imports. This old alley is really a treasure cove for shopaholics! Times like these, you'd wished you had really deep pockets. What a pity we only discovered this street on our last day - but we certainly shopped till the very last minute.

Old church building

Standing at Federation Square with my shopping bags

Pen looking terrified of the haunted bookshop

It was definitely good to get away for the weekend. Melbourne is such a vibrant and trendy city compared to sleepy town Brisbane. Now that we've conquered shopping, we'll do the Great Ocean Road drive the next time we visit.