.happy belated easter!

an easter surprise.

I was about to leave the house to get some last minute ingredients for dinner when I saw this on my doorknob - A chocolate egg and an Easter note from a nice (mysterious) neighbor.

Yup, it's really nice of him/her to share these with all 7 (excluding their own) units on this floor! I'm sure this gesture has made everyone's day a good one just as it did with mine. :)

Neighbors like this person are really rare these days... At least in my apartment building... And I really, really appreciate the gesture. Perhaps I should borrow this idea end of this year and hang some candy canes on everyone's doors. : 3

So umm, to the neighbor on this floor who gave every unit an easter egg - Happy Easter and thanks for the gift! I hope you're enjoying the holiday!

And to everyone who's reading this, Happy belated Easter to you too, and hope you've received some chocolate bunnies or eggs!

That reminds me, I should go stock up on those chocolates!

.some day

.double joy

dual celebration.

Here's a fact for those of you who don't already know – Lunar New Year and St. Valentines Day happened to be on the same day this year. Yup, 14/02/2010.

For Chinese families, Lunar New Year is one of the biggest celebration of the year.. It's definitely a lot more important than Christmas, at least for my family, since we don't really do anything on 25th December every year.

It is mandatory for everyone to get together on Lunar New Year eve for a reunion dinner – no excuses.

My dad likes to have an open house party every year on the first day of Lunar New Year.. So instead of us going out to visit friends/relatives, people would come over instead.. And one of the chores my sister and I were given is to prepare the red envelopes – RM10 in each one.

red envelope preparation.

As for Valentines Day, it doesn't really effect SF and myself since we don't really do Vday stuff (I wouldn't mind if we do though).. And for the others, I guess they would have to celebrate sometime before or after Lunar New Year.

Sooo.. Happy Lunar New Year everyone, and for those of you who managed to celebrate Vday, hope you guys had a great time!

Feel free to check out more Lunar New Year photos over the next couple of weeks on my Flickr!

.the overnightmar-ish drive

Dawn.

We planned a trip up to Sydney and decided we would drive overnight just so we don't waste any time.. Took off at around 11.30pm, topped up the fuel tank and made our way towards CityLink that would lead up to Hume Freeway.

And we drove on and on... It felt like forever.. I'm never a huge fan of overnight drives since I can never fall asleep anywhere but my bed, or a very comfortable couch.. Before we know it, streaks of lights were starting to appear from the right side (east). I was sooooo drowsy that I could only drive for an hour after switching seats with SF.

...

We ended up going through 2 tolls before arriving at Sydney CBD. Poor SF was so angry at the bad traffic in the CBD – we got lost for a bit before arriving at the Sydney Fish Market, our first destination of the trip.

On our way back to the hotel (located between the CBD and Darling Harbor), we missed a turn and ended up on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Sure, it's pretty amazing driving up there but I was not impressed with having to pay the unexpected toll.. So I'm not sure if I like the bridge that much anymore.. :\

And SF was soooooo angry when we'd finally arrived at the carpark of our apartment hotel. We've learned a very valuable lesson from the nightmar-ish experience – Never, ever drive in Sydney CBD, especially if you are not familiar with the city!!! The train network's pretty confusing but I reckon it's still a whole lot easier than driving.

So there – 24 hours drive in total, 3 cans of red bull, 2 large chips from Maccas, 4 bathroom stops, 2 person, 2 days, 1 night.

.to cherish

mother & son on a christmas eve.

One of the sweetest moments I've witnessed...

Christmas Eve always makes me weak.. I don't know why... Especially this year since.. Well.. You know.

:(

Anyways, enough negative thoughts! I hope you guys are enjoying Christmas right now. :)

Growing up in a typical, non-religious Malaysian-Chinese family, I've never formally celebrated Christmas before, unless dropping-by-neighbors-place-over-Christmas counts. So tell me, how does Christmas really feel like? Is it enjoyable because of the pile of presents you are getting? Is it because of the family reunion? Dinner? Turkey?