A Fabulous Farewell to 2014

  

The first few days of 2015 have been a bewildering mix of parties, hangovers, and the lack of will to do anything that can be considered as work. Luckily, I have the memories of a fabulous New Year's Eve to keep my mood afloat even while stuck doing things that I don't want to do. Inevitably, thinking of NYE also makes me reminisce about the past year and all of the wonderful things that I experienced. The following five points neatly summarize the main areas of true joy and happiness that I have encountered during 2014.

The Engagement. 
In terms of life changes, getting engaged was most certainly the biggest event of the year. I was completely shocked when my now fiancé knelt down on one knee and asked me to marry him-- however, I feel very much ready to start the next chapter of my life with such an amazing partner. Now just wish me luck with the wedding planning! 

Friendship.
I cannot believe how incredibly blessed I have been with regard to friendship over this past year! Whether they are old or new friends, I would not have survived this year half as well without the support network offered by these amazing individuals. I'm especially thankful for certain individuals such as my lovely coworkers with whom I've become so close to over the past year, my incredible Maid of Honour, and my bestie-slash-personal trainer. Thank you for showering me with much love, care, and kindness-- I only hope that I can reciprocate your amazingness!

Travel.
Over the past year, I have been blessed enough to travel all over the globe and experience cultures that I have never before encountered. In May, I travelled for the first time to Miami and the Bahamas for a Caribbean Cruise. In July, I would leave for a week-long visit to China, a month-long stay in Singapore (my home country), and a three-day impromptu visit to Hong Kong (where I became engaged). Finally, in both October and December I was lucky enough to visit Las Vegas for some good fun while partying, eating, and shopping.

In the upcoming year, I'm very excited to plan my first trip to Europe for my honeymoon-- you can bet I'll be hardcore blogging every last bit of it. As well, my bachelorette trip to L.A. has already been booked and is being steadily planned by both myself and my enthusiastic ladies.

Fitness.
While I've been a gym rat for years, this year (in mid-August to be exact) I turned things up ten notches with the addition of a fitness coach in my life (a.k.a. my bestie Cha). Without this girl, I would never be waking up regularly at 5:10 am for two hour workouts. Nor would I be quite so motivated to sweat it out five to six times a week with various strength and HIIT training, as well as spin and boot camp classes. We motivate each other not only in terms of working out (which is also where we have the opportunity to discuss life philosophies, paleo cooking recipes, and cheap grocery prices every morning) but also in staying productive and discliplined through the day (eating healthy, not procrastinating, sleeping early, etc.).

Thank you so much for being such a wonderful, caring, funny, and intelligent presence in my life!

Blog.
Last but not least, I'm so amazed at how far I've come with this little ol' blog of mine. From something of which I was once embarrassed, I've grown this platform into something of which I can now be proud. I've been fortunate to be sponsored more times that I can manage, received shiny new things to feature on my blog, and have steadily improved my blog design and photography. While I had minor setbacks recently with my new camera being stolen and my laptop breaking down, I will be bouncing back to full blogging vibrancy very soon!

Also, I've been able to meet so many lovely people from all the world and in my own city through the blogging social network. Thank you to all of my lovely blogger friends; without you, I would not be half as inspired to continue with my endeavours.


This year I decided to party it up at Celebs with some good pals since we had failed to plan a successful Halloween bash. My friends and I bought our tickets in early November so that we wouldn't make the mistake of waiting too long and losing out on tickets again. Before the club, I was able to enjoy a delicious dinner at Gyoza Bar with some friends; we ended up with an enjoyable mix of big laughs, immature jokes, and scrumptious food. Moreover, my friend's boyfriend, who is an ace photographer, was kind enough to bring his camera for a spontaneous nightshoot in some random alleyways. All of these lovely pictures are an end result-- check out Paula's modelling skills (by the way, she actually is a model)!

While you can't see much of my dress here, I did take a gratuitous selfie in our lovely hotel suite if you're curious as to what I was wearing that night. Also, I fell in love with the fur coat that Paula was wearing that night after seeing how fabulous it looked on her; as a result, I felt obliged to go to H&M as soon as possible and buy the same piece. Thank goodness she doesn't mind!

We then headed back to Paula and her boyfriend's place in Gastown for drinks and laughs until it was time to head over to the club. Other than in Vegas, I must say that I had one of my favourite clubbing experiences on this NYE-- the club was packed with happy people ushering in the new year with champagne, crazy dance-offs (Paula accidentally challenged and won a random battle with some dude), and much fist-pumping.

Headpiece // Urban Outfitters (Las Vegas)

Dress // Forever 21 (gifted from Jasmeen)

Coat // Topshop

Scarf // Aldo

Shoes // Zara

Ear Cuffs // Forever 21 (Las Vegas)

Rings // H&M

Bag // Hong Kong boutique 

Other than continuing with my usual fashion blogging, one of my goals is to start documenting  more foodie experiences on my blog instead of merely Instagram. Therefore, it is only fitting that I have my first somewhat legitimate foodie pictures in the first post of the year-- enjoy!

Some gyoza of some sort. I think I need to start remembering dish names before I quit my day job to become a food blogger...

Tamari-Shoyu Tonkotsu Pork Ramen topped with Aburi Char-siu and Tamago (egg).

Photo Credits: Reece Voyer

Some more gyoza and Paula's excellent hand modelling.

Overall, I had the most wonderful year and cannot wait for what lies in store in 2015. I wish that everyone experiences much happiness, good health, friendship, and love in the coming twelve months!  

What were some of your favourite memories from the past year?