#KarsLittle2

I've been feeling extremely blessed and loved during my birthday week... And my birthday celebrations just kept getting better and better. :') 

Here's a post for me to remember how my birthday was spent this year and you are welcome to read it too. keke. 

My first birthday meal was with my sis and BIL. It was very normal because I didn't really have any mood to celebrate my birthday yet. And bcos Kel wouldn't be able to join us during our family celebration so we had it much earlier. But I was still blessed by their time and love. (: 

12th February

On Thursday, my beloved family went out for dinner with me followed by having icecream as deserts at #Udders. 

It was a very simple celebration, but what matters is, having your loved ones around you. :) 

and, I just love the whole concept of the shop at Bt Timah's outlet! 

oh! And we had a belated celebration for Bee too! 

13th February

And on friday, just a day before my actual, I met G up for brunch at #Hatched. 

It was my second time to Hatched, and their brunch was still yummy :)

Although their cheese fries were a disappointment :( 

After brunch, I went back for school (1-6pm straight of lessons.. omg) and at night, I went out with Zah. 

So thankful for this girl because she took time out to celebrate with me once again and treated me to dinner :) 

I am blessed to have such a dear friend by my side. 

After dinner, I went back to home area and met my sister because she said she wanted to have a prayer walk with me so as to meaningfully cross into the next decade of my life. :') 

But before we started our prayer walk, she gave me the presents that she prepared for me :D 

And while we were at the midpoint between BP and CCK, my sister said that she was inspired to let me do a trust walk. And that she would blindfold me as well as blast worship song into my ears, so that i would have no distractions in my worship time with God.

(well, at that moment, I didn't think of anything much because I just thought it's a spiritual thing that she wanted to do with me. haha)

14th February

And around midnight, I found myself being led to walk on some steps, and someone actually squirted water at me... Then I became a little suspicious, and when my blind fold was taken off,..

I was pleasantly surprised. 

I was so touched to see what was set up before my eyes and I began to tear. 

 

It was my first time having such "big" surprises and I am so so blessed and loved by the presence of Pam, Shar, Xh, Cel, Jieying, my family as well as my sister. 

They make me really really happy. And it is one experience that I won't forget. :)

And in the afternoon, I met Adihigh people at Tanjong Pagar for brunch at #GroupTheraphy. 

I really really love their smoked salmon benedict. (omg its so yummy!!)

And, at the end of our meal, they celebrated my birthday and gave me a really super nice birthday card!! 

So blessed by their friendship that was forged during Camp Run (2 years ago). It's amazing how we are still so close after all these years! 

(hehehe #birthdayootd) 

After our brunch, we rushed to church for service together! 

And in service, I was blessed by the many that gave me individual presents as well as the celebration from my CG as well as the KELtribe leaders :') 

 

And at night, after service, I had my birthday dinner celebration at this beautiful superheroes themed restaurant. :) 

The fries was sooo yummy. *slurps* 

15th February

I must be blessed and very loved, because E took time out to celebrate for me too!! 

We went to #Wheeler'sYard for brunch, and gosh, their truffle fries and pasta is sooooooo good! 

I can't wait to go back again! 

And, i am soooo happy because E designed such a pretty tumbler for me and even have other designs prepared for me so i can change it whenever I want! :')

 #iloveyouEm

17th February

And I thought my birthday celebrations are finally over, but nah, Jlynn arranged to meet me for dinner at HV's #LaNonna. 

I thought it was just the both of us, but to my pleasant surprise, Jess suddenly popped up with this huge helium three-layer birthday cake balloon. 

I was so shocked to see her and then the next moment, the most epic thing happened. 

My helium balloon flew away because I didn't tie it tightly enough onto my bag :( 

I was sooooo sad... because I only held it for like a few seconds and the next moment, it was gone. 

And because we were seated outdoors, so there was no chance of saving it when it flew away. 

But, the both of them make me feel much better by laughing at how epic the whole moment was and they kept telling me its okay, so in the end, we had a good time just chatting and eating :) 

I am so blessed to have these two Js in my life!!

Don't mind me, because I edited this balloon picture in (bcos this is how my balloon exactly looked like)

And, I am finally done with my Birthday post after almost a month.. 
and as I reflect back on those days, I feel so so blessed and loved to have all these friends around me. 
Thank you everybody for making me feel so special and loved, and for making my '2' so amazing. 
Cheers to a greater decade of my life ahead! #KarsLittle2

There's always just a few days that I will always look forward to in the year... 

Bwitpwicecif. Aicdwiwtd. 

Day out across the border

Finally, after constant postponing for 2 months, I went inside JB with Pam for our much awaited cafe hopping. 

I always cannot resist the temptation of not buying Rotiboy whenever I walked pass the stretch. Nothing will ever come close to my favourite buttermilk boy. 

So the first shop we went to visit was this traditional bakery shop which sells freshly baked banana cakes. 

Everything inside this shop is just so traditional... It is unlike the bakeries we see in Singapore now. 

The banana cakes cost RM9 ($3.40) for a box of twelve slices. It was seriously so yummy and flavourful, I wished I bought more boxes back home! 

Here's the address of the place in case you're interested to go and buy some banana cakes!

Address: 13 Jalan Tan Hiok Nee

Next stop: Maco Vintage cafe! 

We had our lunch here and they were having a set lunch promotion, which were super affordable! 

I ordered the chicken bolognese for my main, and had raspberry tea for my drinks. The pasta weren't that fantastic, but for the price that I'm paying, no complaints! For the pasta and the drinks, it cost only RM23 ($8.70). 

We also top up an additional RM5 ($1.90) for our hazelnut Mille crepe cake! And it was really yummy!! 

I would definitely go back to try the other flavours of the Mille crepe cakes as well as their mains and just to chill. Besides, they have free wifi and it's really cheap! ;) 

Address: Jalan Ibrahim, 80000 Johor Bahru (it's right beside the bakery shop!)

While hunting for other cafes, we found several places that were nice spots to take some pictures at! And so... Girls being girls... Or Kar being Kar... We went snapping away! 

After walking and covering almost every road, we decided to head back to Chaiwalla & Co for some teas. It's the first container cafe in JB and it's an outdoor seating area. 

I ordered the caramel milk tea which cost RM5.80 ($2.20) while Pam ordered Milk tea with pudding. 

To be honest, I didn't really like the milk tea... It tasted like it was Thai milk tea with caramel (they do sell Thai milk tea as well!) so it was super sweet and the combination was a little weird. However, I will definitely go back again to try their smoothies! 

It was nice just chilling there as well, because it was windy and we weren't really in the sun. 

Address: Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, 80000 Johor Bahru (just opposite Maco)

By the way, all these places are walking distance from city square mall! :)

Most of the other cafes were still closed as they only open evening onwards, so I will definitely go back again to visit them! Besides, if you know me... I go into JB pretty often. Haha! 

Caught "Night at the museum" at only RM13 ($5). It would have been cheaper if we brought our ICs along though, because Tuesdays are ladies night and tickets would only cost RM8. 

But anyway, it was a really nice movie and it allows us to rest our legs after walking for so much. 

To end off our day, we had our dinner at this toilet bowl concept restaurant located at the rooftop of City Square mall. 

Come to think of it, it's actually quite disturbing to be sitting on a toilet bowl cushioned chair, AND to be eating from a toilet bowl designed bowl.. But it's a pretty interesting concept nevertheless! 

I ordered the cheese chicken chop baked rice and it was soooo cheesy, it's yummy!! It was RM17 ($6.50) only.

It was a really enjoyable and relaxing day at JB and I love how the exchange rate is just so good for us now! I mean... $1 to RM2.62?! Hehe. 

Goodbye 2014, hello 2015!

2014 passed by in a blink of an eye.

It wasn't all that good...

There were valley low moments for me, but ofcos, there were mountain high experiences for me too.

When i reflected back at my year, I can only think of all the good and not the bad. 

1. I enrolled into SOT for 7 months of my life. It was always my dream to go to SOT since I was young and I grew a lot as a person through the whole journey. Many opportunities came my way. I was one of the youngest team leader and had the privilege to lead team 9. More than all the head knowledge and skills, my walk with God deepened. The experiences I had daily was simply just amazing. 

2. I got accepted into NUS. It is also another dream of mine since I was young. I could never imagine myself really studying in NUS, but I did it anyway. And I can only thank God for that. 

3. I had many more opportunities to serve in drama ministry - in fact I acted in all the dramas for church this year! From Easter to Fathers Day to SOT Homecoming to SOT Graduation to Emerge to Drama fest and lastly, to Christmas. It was crazy tiring and I was very stretched... But I grew through it. 

4. My bro's entire family is back in SG and in church and we have our own house now too! 

5. I've been really blessed financially! 

6. I can't even remember when was the last time I was really really sick... In fact, in 2014, I hardly ever fell sick! Whereas in the past, I would be falling sick every other month. Thank You Jehovah Rapha... Indeed, I walk in divine health!

7. I'm able to spend more quality time with my family members. 

8. I joined KEL tribe leaders group!! It has always been one of the desires of my heart... 

9. I did fairly well for my first Semester in NUS and I'm believing that I'm only gonna do better and better! 

10. I'm able to spend quality time with all the precious ones in my life. Thank God for all the different friendships I have. 

And these are only 10 of them... There's so so much more. 

Although there are bad things that has happened in my life, undeniably.. But yet, I know it happened for a reason. And through the bad in my life,.. I learn. I grow. I mature. I see. I change. 

My prayer for 2015 is to be able to see the good in every bad. To be able to praise God in every situation in my life. To give thanks for everything. 

A pure heart, that's what I longed for. 

So 2015, I'm excited for you! I can't wait to see what God has in stored for my life. 

Happy 2015 everyone! :)