As most of you know I hold a Taiwanese passport and that means I need Visas to virtually all countries in the world, including Malaysia. Which is why of all my years in Singapore, I’ve only visited Malaysia TWICEE!! I can’t do the whole impromptu weekend get away like fellow Singaporeans (you guys are so blessed really!). I can’t just book a ticket or a ferry ride to Bintam/Batam/Bangkok etc. Every overseas trip requires a Visa and mostly to be done personally at the embassy. The bf totally detests this cause he can’t just plan a surprise get away trip at all! lol! Sucks holding a Taiwanese passport in that sense but we did however find 1 use for it of late – FREE ENTRY to Casino on RW! muwahahahahha! Not that I gamble but it’s sort of a consolation I guess. HEE. Anyway, Haiping and Kaifen have been telling me all the wonderful things in Malaysia (cheap food, shopping, movies etc.) and I’ve been so tempted! So after like 2 weeks (due to the clash with CNY holidays) of waiting, I finally got my Visa last week and my virgin trip to JB took place yesterday! It was super fun filled!!

We took 170 from Kranji and it was super fast (pardon my over-excitement, this is afterall my very FIRST trip to JB) I spent so long at the customs cause of my lousy passport, not to mention I’ve the worst luck when it comes to queueing. Basic rule of thumb, DONT TAKE WHICH EVER QUEUE I’VE PICKED, cause it WILL be the slowest. lol!

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We spent the bulk of our time in City Square cause our main motive is to catch the $4 bucks movie. We went in the afternoon so we could only squeeze in 1 movie but we were all super thrilled at the ridiculously cheap ticket! And it’s not just any lousy random theatre, it’s the same Cathay Cineplex we’ve in Singapore! Before that we caught lunch at Kim Gary. They’ve a wider selection of food at the same numerical price. In another words, it is at less than half price compared to what we pay here!! EMMA!!! The FF should TOTALLY go there! Here’re the 3 couples!

With 6 of us, the total bill came up to only $52 SGD! The only reason why we look at the price stated on the menu is so that we can go gushing over how incredibly cheap it is. After the meal, the boys headed to Thomas&Guy for haircuts but only Edward took it up cause Teepee chanced upon a $10 voucher handed out by an old lady while we were exiting the custom. hahaha! hp and tc even went back to the linkway to look for more vouchers but the lady was no longer there. So ed got his hair wash+hair cut for only $10.90! We saw so many cheap deals there but we didnt have the time so we told ourselves we’ll be back next week. Jean Yip’s Gel Nails Extension for only $33.70!!!! Ed is going back there to dye his hair while I do my nails heh! Oh! the bf also got a new pair of spects, it was only $67 in total! (Frame+Lens) We’re going back to collect it next week, he is finally getting rid of his pervertic looking white glasses. Thank goodness!

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After the movie, we split into 2 cabs and headed down to Taman for seafood.

We were so thrilled to find a lorry selling finger food on satay sticks. We even found chicken backside and other internal organs, much to our delight (hahaha, more like only ed and me, nobody else really fancied the organs)

We went back to the stall the group last visited and ordered a whole table of good food! Did I mention they’ve gigantic sugar cane (which you can also find in Chompchomp) for only $2? Chompchomp’s is at $3-$4 if i’m not wrong.

Here’s our amazing spread!

After the wonderful dinner we hung out for a bit more before returning to City Square to tapau things back to Singapore. They’ve J.Co’s J.PoP Baby donut set for only $7.50! 24 donuts in 12 different flavours! I can’t recall how much I paid for it in Singapore, one thing for sure, it is no where near $7.50 lol!

It’s more like my virgin JB trip and not “our” since everyone has been there several times. Either way, Ed and I are super duper happy with this new find! Esp now that I got a multiple entry Visa, Malaysia will be seeing Teepee a lot for the next 9 months. LOL!

I do not believe in paying ridiculous prices on facial treatments that I can otherwise achieve with good facial products therefore I’ve never subscribed to any of those services. Furthermore, I’ve no major skin problems as most of you can tell. When I saw the O2 Peel Rejuvenation Facial Treatment on Xiaxue’s blog, I was inclined to the idea since she did a real detailed documentation of the entire treatment. I just went and the experience was HORRID beyond words, I left without even doing the treatment!

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When I got there, I was told to fill up some particulars for first timers. During which the counter ladies were busy trying to “settle” this aunty who refused to pay for the GST charges for the facial products she bought because she was not informed before hand. After meddling with her for a good 15mins, they later waived the GST charges for her purchases and proceeded to serve me. I was brought into a consultation room by their beautician/consultant. When the lady saw “student” under the occupation column, she went: huh! student ah, followed by a disapproving look that sent off a snob message of students = poor = won’t buy package. Since it is a common stereotype I tried to ignore that response and she proceeded to do this “skin analysis” for me by taking a few scan shots of my face using the machine.

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She commented that I’ve no major problems except that I’ve REALLY DEEPLY ROOTED black heads and SERIOUSLY clogged pores that are only removable by machines. She then proceeded to show me a list of other treatments that are supposedly suited to my skin conditions and insisted that Xiaxue’s package is entirely not suitable for my skin. According to her, it will cause redness and swelling as the extraction (part of the treatment process) is too harsh (mind you, I’ve combination skin and NOT sensitive skin). She tried to substantiate her point with the fact that I’ve no prior facial treatments before so all the more my skin will react adversely to the harsh process. As I’ve said, I never saw the need for facial treatments cause I do not have a serious problem to deal with and I hate the ambiguity in treatments that I do not have prior knowledge of. So I explained to her that if I had wanted to do facial I’d have gone to any other facial treatments centres long ago. The sole reason why I’m here it’s because this is the first treatment I’ve come to know of with such detailed description on the entire process, I feel comfortable with it.

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The lady then tried to repeat her entire point about my black heads and pore clogging being beyond repair then without even me consenting to it, she said “Let’s proceed with the treatment and I’ll show you your face analysis again after that”. I was totally turned off by the pushy-ness. I told her since I do not want to jump into a treatment I’m uncertain of and the treatment which I intended to do was said to be unsuitable (by her), I’d like to pass. She panicked and said in that case I can always stick to the Xiaxue treatment I came for minus the extraction process. I laughed cause Xiaxue’s treatment for rejuvenation and without the extraction process, it’s like facial with all your dirt/contaminations kept in. At this point, her attitude took a 180 degree turned and she got annoyed. She shove me a pen and paper and asked me to write down the reason why I’ve refused to take on any treatment, claiming that she has no idea how to pen that down. I was appalled ” What? You want me to write down why?” She proceeded to tell me that she needs to show this to her management to explain why the customer has declined the service. Mind you, she was already getting a little rude at this point when she shove me the pen and paper.

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While I was jolting down the reasons (haha, I’m so nice right?), she suddenly stood up and said ” it’s so stuffy in here”, then proceeded to open the door of the consultation room before returning to her chair. Before I left she said bitterly “I must tell them to change the advertisement, or else it’s like that.” To which I replied “Ya, you might wanna add in that it’s not meant for everyone (which is odd cause it is meant to be a rejuvenation treatment, you don’t see people being turned away at spas because the rejuvenation treatment aint for you right? i mean it’s called rejuvenation for a reason!).

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While we’re at it, I must clarify that I AM AWARE that skin centres are pushy (mostly) and that they WILL attempt to promote their packages. The usual practice is to let you go ahead with what you’ve signed up for (with no serious complications of cause) and after the treatment, showing good results, proceed to sell you their packages. What was different in this case was that they didnt even let me go for the $28 treatment and insisted that I was not suitable for it and insisted that I must take another treatment instead. If I’ve super bad skin or acnes or sensitivity or whatever skin conditions then maybe, but I’ve none of those. The lady’s attitude was pushy and ill. I therefore recommend everyone to not go there. I’ve read the comments of those who went and they’d all agree with me that they were pushy in trying to sell their packages. PHEW. That’s all I wanna say. Goodnight!

I’ve been trying out a few new products for some time now and I know those readers who are accustomed to reading my semester-reviews on new facial products must be wondering if that’s ever gonna come for this semester. Rest assured that I’ve many products which I can’t wait to share with you guys, including Biotherm’s Skin Vivo Series, Shu Uemura’s new UV Under Base Fluid. This time round I’d also like to share some of my favourite make-up stash with you guys.. The many little magic that does wonders to your face :) But all that has to wait cause a full blown review on all that is gonna take me a long longggg time, which explains why I’m here to do up a short review on 2 of my current cant-live-withouts – DHC’s Acne Spot Therapy & Bio-Essence Inchloss Body Cream.

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My previous pimple cream (Vichy Anti-imperfections) has officially retired after serving me well for almost 5months. DHC might be new to some of you but it’s no stranger to taiwanese. DHC has been around for a pretty long time, in fact, my very first skin care starter’s kit was from their line. Looking back, it’s been a good 6 years since I first used their products. My top favourites  includes their iconic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (some uber shit), Cleansing Oil and their Olive Oil Soap (my absolute fav!). This is the first time I tried their Salicylic Acid collection and I’m highly impressed by their Acne Spot Therapy. While most pimple cream attempts to dry out your skin asap, the spot therapy does so without being harsh on the skin around it. While my concealers usually end up cracking over the pimple due to the dryness, this was totally not the case with the Acne Spot Therapy. Very simple packaging. Delivers everything a pimple cream should. Minimises redness and de-swell pimples in a blink. I love it! :)

The 2nd current cant-live-without is my Inchloss Body Cream. Many out there might be skeptical about slimming creams and to tell you the truth, they don’t work the way you think they do. hahaha. confused? Well, let’s all face it, if rubbing some cream can make your fats go away, there will be no fatties on this planet. These slimming creams (I’d like to believe..) are there to “assist” or “speed up” the slimming process. Having said that, by means of laws of thermodynamics ( = me bullshitting hahaha!), you can’t create or destroy energy. This also means, since we’ve all established that creams can’t just make your fats DISAPPEAR, if you want to make them disappear, you gotta input a certain amount of energy. The way I do it is through massaging. I’ve with me an applicator/massager of sorts with rollers which I’ve been using faithfully for the past 1 year (I think..). There came a time after all that weight loss you realise that’s probably the lightest you’ll ever go. My body weight became stagnant and though overall average, I was (still am actually) unhappy about my legs. ooOOOoo how I wish I can just chop off that chunk off my inner thighs and calves hahaha. ok, stop giving me those stares.

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ANYWAY! I started massaging my calves faithfully with the roller along with various slimming cream (I’ve tried so many! Every single one from Loreal and Nivea series. It’s crazy!) and I dare say massage really works! (It’s a lot slower and more time consuming but it doesn’t rebounce and despite the results being subtle, they don’t go unnoticed!) A lot of work yes but hey, no pain no gain! We can’t all be lucky babes with high metabolism to eat carefreely so if you can’t give up food, you gotta work hard somewhere down the line yea? :) So why particularly review the Inchloss Cream since I’ve used so many others? Firstly, I must say, I think they work ALL THE SAME. They more or less deliver the same results (Loreal’s Perfect Slim Laser/Loreal’s Perfect Slim Lifting Pro, Nivea’s My Silhouette Slimming & Reshaping Gel-Cream/ NIVEA’s body Good-bye Cellulite Gel Cream/Vichy’s Lipo-Metri Slimming Treatment). The products I’ve mentioned usually cost abt $39-$69 which if you use at my intensity, it’s crazy. So on that fine day when I saw the packaging of Inchloss that reads “Burns fat THROUGHOUT the day!” I was sold. hahaha and I’m glad I was cause at only half the price, this product delivers too! So if you’re looking for something to go along with massaging, a long term plan that is, you might wanna consider the Inchloss Cream (pardon the typo below).

Alright! That’s all for now. On a side note, FYP is ending and I’m kinda sad cause I made so many good friends through FYP and I really really can’t express how blessed I am to have met these wonderful people. This is probably not a good time to emo, I’ll be back in a future post after the final PPT. Have a good day everyone! :)

as i’ve  previously shared, i was highly impressed by IQQU’s acne serum so i decided to give another product from the line a shot and i was pleasantly surprised yet again! *beams* this review is gonna be really short cuz i’m really burn out this week. i’m trying to cramp everything so i can free up more time for thesis later this mth. anw. i wanted to address some concerns abt bad reviews with regards to facial products. we all know that there is no one product that suits everyone. and we know that there is no one single invention or policy or promotion or song or movie or whatever else u can name on this planet that pleases everybody. somehow somewhere someone is gonna say a certain something sucks. usually the majority wins (note: USUALLY, not always). anw, so the question lies in to follow the majority or not. to take that leap of faith to attempt at sth everybody says otherwise. i’d like to say that majority is usually a good gauge. if a certain product has excessive bad reviews, i’ll prob be turned away. but that being said, there will ALWAYS be bad reviews. it is up to u to interpret. i always take reviews with a pinch of salt. both the good ones and the bad ones. i go by instincts. if i feel that the good reviews or the marketing makes the product looks try-worthy, i’ll heck all bad reviews and go ahead. afterall, reviews will be meaningless if it’s not tried and tested personally, who else better to give the final verdict but urself? if the product turns out to be hideous and my instincts were proven wrong, then so be it. whether it’s good or bad, i’d have bagged a little sth to share with my frens and readers. as u make more leaps of faith, u’ll eventually master the art of “near” perfection. ur instincts become more reliable and u make lesser wrong choices. unless of cuz u’re totally cursed and condemned to make all the wrong choices in life (may god have mercy on u), i think we’re all good. generally :) -i hope-

so here’s IQQU’s Jasmine Rice Scrub. it smells delicious! and i mean really delicious. it smells candy and creamy and flowery all at the same time. when i read that countless commented on its good smell, i was skeptical. but now i totally believed it when the reviewer wrote that she had to exercise a certain amt of self control to refrain from eating the scrub during washing. lol! anw, the product is to be used AFTER u’ve washed ur face. it basically has the same application as facial wash. after u’ve washed ur face, take a suitable amt and go in circles round ur washed (wet) face. rinse off thoroughly after that. this scrub is not only cleansing, it is also the most moisturising facial scrub i’ve used. most facial scrubs i tried are super cleansing but they usually leave my face real tight. IQQU’s scrub is a sweet change. the micro-beads are gentle yet able to clear up the dirt clogging ur poles. leaving ur skin soft and smooth. i personally loved it! at only USD$15, it is a very investment-worthy purchase! i even recommended it to my mum. lol!

with all the deadlines kicking in, 24hrs a day is totally not enough. sth to keep readers entertained. here’s a short post on Ma Maison revisit. i’ve always liked the interior design of this place. food wise it’s decent but not too impressive. other than its butter rice which is pretty iconic, i cant remember anything else from the menu.

tried their cheese fritters for the first time and it was surprisingly pleasant with the sweet sauce provided. for the cheese-loving pple :)

our mains. ed commented that the portion was too little for mine but i thought it was alright. standard wise, hmm.. nothing too impressive. stick to the butter rice pple! :)

here’s us before i leave. i tried on the eye shadow quad from Lancome-USA and the eye shadow brushes. it’s wonderful! haha, it’s officially my fav brush now. and i’ve 4 other eye shadow brushes. just like clothes, u can neva complain one too isnt it? i’m currently deliberating on the need for a large powder brush. cuz my goat’s hair powder brush from Laura Mercier is totally under-utilised. not to mention it’s only 2 mths old. but having that big fat volume brush looks so shiok!! ahhh. right now i’ve only found the MAC one that i particular like cuz it’s seriously huge. it’s very value for money cuz for such a big fat brush it’s only $80? i got the MAC small duo stipling brush for $75! hahaha, yes i noe the size has no relations to the monetary value. owells. after i’m done with deliberating on which brush to go with wad i will come back, u’ll see my answer in another post. in anycase some of u are wondering why i need so many brushes of similar functionality, teepee has this OCD thing abt her brush applications. i’ll have 2 blush brushes. one for matt one for shimmer. 2 powder brushes, one for mineral one for normal. 4 eyeshadow brushes (now 5), 2 for fine application (one for dark one for light colours) and 2 for broad application (one for dark one for light colours) and so on… basically everything in sets of 2 and above cuz i cant stand the powders mixing. and sometimes when u’re doing make up, u cant possible wash the brushes immediately in between product switching  and i prefer each application with a fresh clean brush. so i’ll have several brushes with similar functionality such that i can work on different colours and textures simultaneously without fearing colour crossings. it’s a very sick OCD which i totally dont recommend anyone to catch on. technically it’s a little redundant haha and u noe brushes aint exactly cheap… owells :)

3 of the 5 (and counting) parcels came in last week after the cny hols. i LOVEEEE receiving parcels. it’s like children getting their xmas presents from their xmas socks! there’s the old time VS and Quiksilver. sth which i wanna recommend to girls out there is Lancome-USA. this is actually the first time i purchased sth from the site and it’s a very pleasant shopping experience.

if u’re a frequent online shopper, u shld be familiar with discount coupons. very often we do not have them but a little googling does the magic. there is no harm trying really. saw sth u fancy on a site? google for discount codes! u neva noe wad u will find! anw, so i came across Lancome-USA.com in an attempt to purchase some brushes (make up brushes). i find their brushes very reasonably priced but tt’s not the best part. it’s the insane number of freebies u get from each purchase! i only purchased 2 brushes from the site but i did a little googling and found a 6 pieces freebie discount code! i applied it and tada! the parcel came in with a shitload of goodies! there’s the High Resolution Collaser 5X Serum, Effacil Eye make up remover, Cover Fever Lipstick, Colour Design Eye Shadow Quad, Bi-Facil make up remover and Definicils High Definition Mascara! the 2 bottles of eye make up remover are quite sizable! 50ml each! super worth it dont u think? hahaha, they’re not in little miserable sachets which u get from the lancome counters in singapore! so i’m recommending girls to visit lancome-usa for some super value steals!

as for guys, quiksilver.com has good sales. all those tshirts for only SGD$150! if u divide it out, including shipping, each shirt is only SGD$25! shopping brings such joy. i’ve just placed another order with VS, they’ve some hottt heels for this season. for those using Borderlinx, do not forget to google for discount codes! i got 10% off my previous shipping :) google is one’s best fren.

ed is one of those typical untidy boys. and him being him, all sentimental, keeps ALL things. he even has worksheets from his RI days. he keeps every single book he has ever read since he was a kid. basically he stores everything. i’m perfectly fine with sentimental pple. i mean if u keep every single card or present or present wrapper even, that’s fine. but! u must tidy them. wads the point of having boxes of randomly thrown in presents/cards/old books/worksheets without organising them? i mean the purpose of keeping is so that u can remember and be able to go through them when u grow older. yanoe, look back at the good old days etc. but without organising ur oldies, it’s as good as throwing them away cuz in the first place, u wont even know where to start looking for them even if u want to. isnt it a lot easier to just organise them neatly. according to wadeva categories appropriate. eg. primary sch/ sec sch/ jc/ uni/ hall etc. at least u noe exactly where to look when u really wanna go through them. without organisation, they’re no different to junks honestly. anw, so we’ve been having this disagreement for the longest time cuz i cannot stand the state of mess his room is in and i cannot believe he’s been living in tt pig’s sty over a decade. i made him throw away a lot of stuff 2 years back. hahaha, it was one tough fight. this CNY, i attempted to make him clear up his room again. this time a tad more successful. i told him one basic rule. u wanna keep it? get organised. so it’s a choice between just flinging them right into the garbage bag on the floor or painstaking sort them out from the giant pile i pulled out from his cupboards. u see, u wont have to endure such pain if u got organised from the very beginning. storing them for 10 years and trying to get organised later is no joke. him being half lazy and half driven mad by my persistence, he threw quite a bit of stuff away. (thank god! hahaha)

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with everything out of the way, i helped him organise the remaining keepers neatly into the cupboards and freed up quite a bit of space. the long bench (see diagram below) by the window used to be flooded with books and notes has been entirely emptied. leaving a spacious wide area for him to carry out his electronic works (sth he has been very pleased abt). i also made him clear up the trash under his bed. they’ve been there for eternity. cny is just abt time for massive clean up. and the bed broke during the midst. hahaha. it has lived out his life i guess. the bed has been with him for over 10years since he moved into his current place. i suggested him to get a sofa bed so he cld free up more living space in the room. given the new found dimensions, he can have friends over for board games, have proper seating avenues. most friends used to sit on his bed to watch tv which is at an awkward angle. he thought abt it and agreed that a sofa bed will be an excellent idea. so where else better to get a sofa bed other than Ikea right? here’s the change in living space (shaded in blue) after ed got rid of his old bed and bought the new sofa bed. pretty good isnt it? :)

the sofa bed looks deceivingly small but it actually opens up to queen size! (slightly shorter in height. queen is 200, the sofa bed is 188, the difference is barely noticeable) if u remember, tt’s the couple pillow case i got him last year for vday. i sent it over to finland while he was on SEP :)

it’s an extremely worth it purchase and ed has been extremely pleased with the tranformation to his room. hahaha. this is the time where teepee says “what wld u do without meee?” MUWHAHAHAHHAHA.

i’m finally here doing my review on the IQQU acne serum. i noe i took forever hahaha. busy is my excuse :) anw! so here is the amazing serum which i’ve used for about 2 weeks now. it’s 30ml, designed with vacuum pump squeeze. in another words, there is no tubing that transports the serum to the outlet. those who just obtain their bottle might find themselves not being able to squeeze out a single drop after several presses. michelle phan explained that it’s becuz of the pressure change during shipping. my solution to that is easy. simply unscrew the cap, put it back on tightly and give it a few pumps to remove the air u’ve just introduced and there u have it!

some thoughts on the product itself. it has a thick creamy texture. a lot of pple said it smells orangey but honestly, i think it smells like mosquito repellent. it is not entirely unbearable so dont get me wrong girls.  u’ll prob get use to it after a while. the serum comes before ur other serums followed by ur moisturizer/creams. this serum is so easily absorbed. it doesnt leave ur skin too dry and the best part of the deal is that it assists in the absorption of ur other serums and creams. the whitening serum i’m using from Shiseido (Melanor Reduce Ex) takes a while to work into the skin but after putting on the acne serum, the whitening serum disappears in a blink! lovely :)

u can feel the effect of the serum just a day or two after u start using. some reviews i’ve read say that they’ve massive breakout during the first week and according to IQQU, it’s due to the presence of retinol. it’s also said to go away after u skin gets used to it. not too sure abt tt cuz i didnt have breakouts. i’m assuming if u’ve ultra sensitive skin, then maybe it’s not too wise to be too adventurous. all things else, i think this product definitely delivers wad it promises. it handles my breakouts during period days well too (not totally breakout proof but it keeps things under control) so i’m highly recommending it to all girls out there. guys with acne issues or basically anyone who wants refine skin, do give this product a shot.

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below is a shot taken on vday. with no foundations or wadsoeva. just my moisturizer :) i’m loving it :)

every valentine’s, the bouquet is always the highlight. 

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2008

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on our 1st vday (2008), edward made (yes, he wrapped it himself) a bouquet consisting of 60 white roses that formed a heart shape in the center, surrounded by 99 red roses. it was soo huge, u cant even see the red roses from the top cuz the whole bouquet curves into a sphere.

2009

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last year (2009), he was away on SEP in finland so no handmade bouquet. to make up for that, he gave me 2 bouquets. one small one as a surprise with the help of kaifen (we were interning at the same company tgt). the other one, 99 roses delivered by emma. i lost the original photos cuz i didnt back up my photos for the first half of 2009 so everything during that 6mths is gone. thankgod for blogging. here’s a collage i did then.

2010

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this year, i told him no more roses. or soon we’ll be looking at 999 in a couple of years. i told him i want something refreshing. soo…. here’s the BIGGEST bouquet i’ve ever received. not only does it weigh a tonne, it is also MOTHER huge. 60 sunflowers. self-wrapped no less :)

just a sneak peak on my vday. full post coming up soon but it will be password locked. those who knows the password knows it *wink* till then!