yay another fulfilling day!

had lunch with mr and yn at ah loy thai @ shaw towers and then tom's palette (thanks to pp's recommendation!)
we had stier-fried pork with basil leaves, pad thai and kangkong. and longan chengteng to drink.
the food was good and i will definitely head there for a meal sometime soon!

i have seen a few friends posting pictures of this secret artsy fartsy hideout. finally arrived today at arteastiq's art jam with kmr and we had a wheel of a time mixing colours on the palette and spilling paint on our limbs. super proud of ourselves to have spent 3 hours sitting patiently on a chair painting the canvas...

first of all, i love how unkempt the floor is.

 heehee wearing the artist's apron.

and the clock starts now! tick tock tick tock...

the horizon was a good place to start painting. (oh you see we browsed through some illusttrations for inspiration, and i got one for reference on my top left corner)

: )

the queen totally engrossed in her work. typical virgo.

and...VOILA! heehee super pleased with what we did! (although i did not draw the little boat due to time constraint but i emphasised a little more on the clouds! hhahahha

 oh for your information the session costs S$48nett, giving you 3 hours, unlimited paint, and a free drink from their menu. and after everything is done the canvas is packaged nicely with cardboard. oh you can bring home the brushes too but i didn't cuz i think i mistreated them too badly that most of them were crinkled and out of shape already... :P okay on to cooking next time! 

 oh and then it was shuffle night. got to sing 'need you now' with kmr.

okay gotta go grab some sleep before packing for melbourne tomorrow. :)

didn't regret bringing my dslr (although it's friggin old already) to amsterdam! heehee

spent the first day pretty much ZZZZ-ing. met the rest of the crew for super delicious dinner at cafe de glos. we had escargots (my first time), french onion soup with melted cheese, medium-done ribeye and t-bone steak, and really good bread and herb butter. just thinking about all these food generates juices in my tummy...:P o and my colleague had something called orgasm coffee. we were all speculating what it was but it's actually just coffee + ALOT of kahlua and baileys ---> girls' favourite drink.

we trudged through the holland rain to H&M, the coffeeshop for some coffee (for real), and then to the red light district. hahha it's really interesting how people are objectified in showrooms, and how they try or do not even bother to attract the window-shoppers. in the end we wound up at a this place below after some pretty good salesmanship from the locals. most of the goods were extra large there. :P

ok and so after a rough night (!!!) we ventured out again to explore the city. planned to go for the cruise, windmill and heineken experience. we asked  for directions from the concierge for a good breakfast joint, and i chanced upon my name. hahaha.

 after breakfast it was a really draggy 75-min boat ride. really bad service from the ticket counter and the boat was too crowded. not worth the 18euros. but we took some of the rare outdoor seats which offered really good views of the amsterdam.

we had a quick lunch in the city centre (some fries, wings, waffles and hotdog buns) and then took a 15-min tram ride to the windmill. happy enough to see one and not take the 2-hour train ride to the outskirts to see a few.

it soon started to pour but the shower was short-lived. we wound up at the heineken brewery and so begun a crazy booze-filled afternoon.

 me horsing around

 most of it was a blur but i remembered we got to learn about the beer-making process (which involved hops (for flavour) and heineken's prized 'A' yeast), understood how to taste beer the right way, and also tried draughting the heineken beer witht he layer of foam just touching the red star.

 "hmmmm...."

 and i got my name on the bottle for 6 euros (abit of a ripoff but who cares! my name's on it. HAHA)

 and so we had a few drinks and got a little high in the middle of the day. but i guess that's what travelling's about and what makes it so fun.

 to end off the night we had dinner at cafe de glos AGAIN, but this time with a really decent lamb shoulder. wah liao damn shiok the food there.

had a furball of a time in tokyo.

woke up late (and missed the lunch meeting time!) and decided to walk around on my own.

there's a new mall called diver city nearby and i had lunch there. it was kinda like genki sushi in singapore, whereby orders arrive on trains. but the sushi here wasn't very good. :(

 and then it was after-meal desserts at a vending machine!

 saw the mini statue of liberty from afar the other time. this time up close and personal. next time it will be the real one in New York!!!! hahaa when will that be i wonder.

oooo the highlight of the trip must have been at aeon pet shop. HAHHA spent 700yen to play with kittens for half an hour (deprived me).

 why o why.

 there's a shrine at the top of the shopping mall.

 and then it was dinner by the sea before knocking out at 5pm singapore time.

and i am packed for amsterdam! :)

01 ticket booked. 01 more to go. :)

watched bourne legacy in 4D with mireen in typhoonic seoul!
and we had dinner at e-mart. and then baskin robbin :D and then work...:(

cleaned and tidied the house.

tried to buy the concessional travel tickets but couldn't do so on my mac. damn. sian.

had salted egg pork chop thanks to yy

had nice but really salty salted caramel cupcake thanks to daniel

and i bought a vacuum cleaner. ji random.

oh yeah some pics from nagoya....

woke up in the afternoon and walked for super long with indecisive colleagues
we ended up at a mixed-veg-rice-buffet kinda store.
i had soba, potato salad and miso soup. not sushi. :(

 decided to part with the group and went for a walk by myself to nagoya station.
came across this building, which i think is a medical school.

 chanced upon this super nice custard bun

 searched for the lift to get to the 51st floor

 and i had chamomile tea with a view. hehe

 and then it was off to kaitenzushi!!!!!!! (japanese for sushi belt) :P

 pretty decent sushi except for the natto one which i would have thrown out from my mouth if not for public scrutiny. haha

 after-dinner dessert. super good.

heading to nagoya in a few hours.
planning to search for a sushi belt restaurant.

just swept the house TWICE.

something is brewing.

had a great saturday!

woke up really early for xperia quest, whereby we had to compete against 21 other teams with interesting photos and eye-catching captions... and in the end we came in 5th. woohoo. thought we wouldnt get a ranking since our photos took damn long to upload.

sinderella unhappily ever after.

drop-dead gorgeous

anyway i guess what was really fun was being able to enjoy the afternoon in USS.

can't believe we conquered battlestar galatica! hahah life-long dream accomplished.

had a lovely dinner at sushi tei and then ice cream at udders and salted caramel. yay