Pre-Valentine's Day Celebration~!!

This year is a very special year. I could not decide whether it should be a good news or a bad news. Why? Because Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day fall on the SAME date! *faint* Chinese New Year is a very very important day for me because I was born in M'sia, but I grew up here in S'pore. From Nursery to Primary to Secondary, all my first times in my life are all in S'pore (I was brought to S'pore since I was 1 week old~). My M'sia's family is considered big. Including my dear beloved mummy, my wonderful grandmother gave birth to 4 blur blur ladies and 4 macho great men! And adding up all the naughty little ding dongs, there are a total of 35 humans in my family tree (mother's side ONLY) including myself! (not yet include boyfriends, girlfriends and fiancees) And with all the hectic lifestyles, we rarely have the chance to meet up, let alone gatherings. Thus, Chinese New Year is the only festive celebration cum gathering we have in our family where everyone would gather and chat and play cards (better sounding than gambling, hehe) and not to mention and little kids running from the kitchen to the living room to the dining room, PHEW!! Chinese New Year is just one of the festival I can't wait to enjoy!! How much does Chinese New Year meant to me, you get the idea!

And how about Valentine's Day? OMG~!! How could any couple even think of missing such a sweet romantic day?!! It is a must-celebrate day for all couples!! If my boyfriend even dare to mention of skipping it, I'd dump him in the rubbish chute right away!!

And lastly, why is this year so special to me? Because not only is my most cant-wait festival Chinese New Year coming, most sweet and romantic Valentine's Day coming, our anniversary is also coming!! YOOHOO~!! Sorry to disappoint all the guys out there, neh~ =P

So in order to celebrate all these wonderous days, me and my boyfriend decided to bring forward our Valentine's Day to today ^_^ We decided to have a whole day "excitement" to The Cathay, and have tons of fun there!!

When me and my boyfriend were discussing where to celebrate our special day, I insisted on The Cathay, because I am a person who can have tons of fun out of the beach. A crazy, fun-loving, laugh-loudly siao ding dong girl like me love to go shopping and spend whole day playing with the displays, one minute imagine I am a queen shopping for royal furnitures, next minute imagine I am a little girl shopping for a barblie doll, you get the idea! I can just have tons of fun, even without spending ANY money!! (hehe~!!) I proudly brag to my boyfriend saying: "I bet with you we will have tons of fun, with less than $50 spent!" Look at how big his eyes were! Haha! He said he had never spent an anniversary less than $100, let alone $50! My boyfriend knows very well how crazy bonkers I am, but he still could not believe how much fun we can have in a MaLL with so little money, so I show him how!!

Before the trip down, i went online http://www.thecathay.com.sg to look more on their history. Wow! I then realised that the building have been there since 1939, and that makes it around 71 years old! I thought it pop out of nowhere! Opps =P Also found out that it used to have a hotel with 170 rooms for 11years, but it closed down already, too bad~ Now that The Cathay reopened in 2006, that makes it around 4yrs old with new look, hmmm, no wonder it looks pretty new and clean, never ever thought that it have been there for so long already. But I still feel like a mountain tortoise, not knowing its existence for my past 20 years, hehe~

Reaching the mall, we went up to #04-09, a shop called Black Alice.



The first thought that came into my mind when we first saw the shop was that the shop is about cosplay or animation stuffs, and I was so wrong!! *paisay* The friendly sweet giggling salesgirls Grace and Aeth told me that most the their customers would also mistaken their shop as cosplay themed or something like that, and asked me not to feel bad about it, so sweet of them~ Their shop is actually about Lolita fashion, a fashion subculture from Japan that is primarily influenced by Victorian Era Children's Clothes, and Rococo Period, 18th Century French Art. No wonder the clothes reminds me of something related to children and french. Hmmm, interesting...

The first set of clothes I tried on, is called "Castle of Nightmare", by "Alice and the Pirates". Putting the head bow, i turned and say to my boyfriend: "Guess what? I feel like a modern Minnie Mouse. Miao~" You should hear how loud Grace and Aeth laugh at me!! With invisible question marks floating all over my head, Grace told me: "Minnie Mouse is a MOUSE, not a CAT!" Opps!! Then I reply: "Then I am the Minnie Miaos!" =P

Minnie Miaos on the sofa, Miao~

"Castle of Nightmare" cost $420, and the head bow, "Beardsley Alice Print" by "Alice and the Pirates" sold separately at $72

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The 2nd set I tried on, is called the "Lovely Sweet Home" by "Baby,The Stars Shine Bright". Now I'm getting more and more like how I should be looking!

Pretty~

Love the sweet girl's look in the poster..

With a doll..

Sweet little doll..

"Lovely Sweet Room" is sold at $369. The black blouse, "Baby Black Blouse" by "Baby,The Stars Shine Bright" is sold at $183. And too bad, the adorable little doll is not for sale~ *awwwww~*

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The 3rd and last set I tried on, it's my favourite!! It's called the "Chair Print" by "Innocent World" Now I look like those half nurse half ancient princess from the pictures!! Hehe!!

With the "cap" on, (I don't know what it's called), now I look more like a sweet little head nurse, wahaha~

Now sweet little nurse is hiding away from the invisible rain!! =P

"Chair Print" by "Innocent World" sold at $409. Blouse "Baby Bolero Blouse" by "Baby,The Stars Shine Bright" sold at $208. "Felice Frill Parasol" sold at $99

Finally back to the reality after a trip into the imaginations. Had so much fun wow-ing at all the adorable things!!

This is how the whole thing should look, hope I didn't ruin any images!!

Black Alice have been opened for at least a year plus already, with all the stocks all the way from Japan. Right now, they're having a Happy Spring 2010 Sale, with discounts up to 55%!! Yoohooo~

They also have this membership thingy. To apply, just spend $700 over a period of 2 months (can combine receipts) and just apply through Grace, Aeth or any of the staffs. Being a member, you can enjoy 5% discount storewide, 10% discount on birthday month, privilege mailing list to get notification new arrivals, tea parties and free workshops, imagine in a room with all the human size dolls and characters!! Sounds soooooo fun~!! ^_^ Apart from that, members will also get free vouchers and gifts!! WoW!!

Check out their website http://black-alice-sg.livejournal.com/, look at all the pictures of their products, I got over excited just browsing it!!

Thank you Grace and Aeth for letting me and my boyfriend enjoy so much, and dolling me up and allowing me to feel like a human-sized doll!! We had so much fun!!

And not to forget, Mr boss and Ms Lady Boss for allowing us to take so much pictures!! I will never forget our experiences and fun at your shop!! Thank you thank you thank you *touched*

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After the fun experience at Black Alice, we went down to #03-15, Clique, for more fun. Used to be a cafe shop on the upper level of The Cathay, they moved down and concentrate on selling more interesting items. Awwww~ Won't it be sooooo nice and romantic to have a nice coffee in a shop, running around examining all the small little interesting treasures from all over the world.. At the shop, we met friendly Charlie (hey, that rymthes!) and he show us around in the fun shop.


Clique is a shop that sells lifestyle things, Charlie told us, and is opened by a boss who loves to travel all over the world and bring back interesting stuffs to put in the shop. Countries like Indonesia, Thailand and USA are his favourites. Taking a quick look around get us very very excited all over again!!

Interesting padlock from Thailand at $59 each, there's only these 3pcs in the shop!! Never thought a normal padlock on my gate could be interesting like this before~!!

My favourite piece *wink*

Very very interesting "underwear" notepad ($10) /notebook ($18), from Thailand ^_^ Boyfriend asked me to put behind my butt for a funny picture taken, but I was too shy!! *blush*

Interesting Hippy Hippo Chair from Thailand, looks heavy huh!! But don't worry, it's only 6kg, not to heavy to carry, yet not too light to fall off easily. Selling at $650 each, there only 3pcs in the shop in different colours, so if you like it, better be quick!!

Monkeys scratch each other's back, hippo's sniff each other's butt =P

Pretty REAL leather bag, (Jackieo Bag) Charlie told me is BrAnDeD, so must take a picture pretend I am "branded" lady, hehe~

Whole shelf of real leather, woohoo..


Shelf-full of perter items (mixture metal). Mostly holders, can put sweets, keys, small toys, dot dot dot...

The BIGGEST pewter item in the shop, can contain half my body!!

Chocolate?!! No lah~ Hehe.. The yellowish white "bar" is a notepad ($10) while the beige white "bar" is a.... pencil holder?? Hmmmm...

Wow.. So many treasure from all over the world.....

You'd never believe what we found there!! ORIGINAL movie posters, all the way back to the 60s!! Can you recognize this movie?

And not only movie posters, even old movie pictures on T-shirt!!
Charlie told me, if you buy a poster, you can get one of this oldie T-shirt at $20 only!! Bargain!! Collectable items sia~!! *excited* Felt like we went back to the old times!!

Even have a player to listen to CDs from all over the world!! Woohoo~!!

Interesting accessories from different countries too!!

Love this Chinese-sy laptop bag from Shanghai!! Feel like very Chinese-sy loh~

Since young, lightings in different colours in different shapes and sizes never failed to get me so excited, imagine how bouncy-ing excited I was enjoying all the pretty lightings in the shop!!

Bestest one over here!! Gigantic DINOSAUR EGG!! Waahoo~!! (Dono which dinosaur passed by and left this egg here.. Now I have the privilege to hug it, dono which guy will have the luck to bring it home~ ) -_-"

Love this interesting chair, it is so different from the normal ones. After enjoying the mosaic lightings, my boyfriend say this chair must be made of mosaic too, and it reminds him of the ones below the void-deck, faint!! Oh by the way, Charlie say it is not made of mosaic, hehe!!

Nice bag from Thailand!! Charlie said it is made of Vinyl, I just love the special design!! Too bad I have just toooooo many bags at home, can practically carry a different one everyday, so I faster put it back after admiring it, if not out will come my wallet!! >_<

We found these interesting notepads ($19) with funny wordings on top, like "Scratch Pad", "Moosie Notes", "Ruff Notes", "Ruff Day", "Shut The Duck Up", "Berry Important" and few more.....

Check out their cool website at http://www.cliquestore.com/ , they have almost everything in their shop posted on the site, argh!! Couldn't bare to leave the place after so much fun!!

After the exciting fun trip to Clique, we felt as if we had traveled all over the world in 3hours' time!! Indonesia, Thailand, USA, Shanghai, OH what a fun and fruitful trip!! Haha!! *happy happy happy!!*

Very very thank you to Charlie for showing us around your shop, telling us soooooo much things, stories and informations on your stuffs, we had indeed soooo much fun and learnt soooo much things!! We laughed so much in your shop!! Hope we didn't bother you too much!! Hehe!! =P


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After the fun "overseas" trip to Clique, we went to Metallurgy which is just next door, wow!! Couple WonderLand!! So many couple couple things!! Too bad the boss is abit uncomfortable with us taking photos inside, thus we could only take their little catalogue home after the trip.. T_T

Inside the shop, we got excited all over again, wow-ing at the sweet little couple things in the shop. Necklance, rings, keychains and many more!! What caught my attention and made me WOW the loudest was the size of a particular ring, try joining the tip of your thumb and first finger together, that's almost the size of the RING!! Serious!! After the LoUd wow-ing, I turn to my boyfriend: "Ever one day you want to propose to me, no ring this big, no marry!" This made my boyfriend laughed and laughed, asking: " So where will you be wearing it?" HaHa!! Good question!! =D

This couple ring is called the "Promise of Love", you could engrave anything on it, like the name of your partner, or your anniversary date, or the "first time muack muack" date, and so on, you get the idea!! Good recommendation for couples whom one of them is pretty popular to the opposite sex, wearing this will turn people off by indirectly telling them: "I'm single but NOT available!!" (Haven't marry mah, so still considered single =P)

The next thing you could give each other is this "Love in Serenity", where you could also engrave something on it. Sweet isn't it??

We prefer "Madly in Love" more, it give as a feeling like a mixture of modern with ancient feeling. Just like LOVE, a mixture of thrills, excitements and happiness ^_^

There are quite a few kinds of necklace in the shop, and there are also that kind where you could ask for your name to be shaped out, either your own name, your partner's name, or BOTH your names on it, they have so many kinds of designs to choose from!! It is just so sweet!! Too bad Mr boss and Ms Lady Boss are not comfortable to have pictures taken, if not we would be just soooooo excited to take alot of pictures to show everyone over here!!

This butterfly necklace is yet another interesting thing!! It's called the "Love's Blossom", and it could be twisted and turn into another shape, so you could twist it either way to wear on alternate days, something different!! Hehe~!!

This "We love as One" name is as cool as their "invention"!! The lady could wear half of the "invention" on her neck, and the man could wear the other half on his!! Usually other shop could only provide SAME pendant for couples, but this is much more meaningful and sweet to have a couple set with the lady's version so femaline and man's version so man! Most interesting part is that the lady's version have reversed printing of "Eternity Love" on it, and it needs the man's version to mirror the word!! Special~!!

Another design of couple necklace you could consider =)

Ohhhh~!!! This is one of my favourite in the shop!! This eggy necklace is called the "Capsulated Love". (Opps!! So it's supposed to look like a capsule, not an egg!! Sorry Mr Inventor/Designer x_x) This necklace, the interesting fun part is that it could be twisted OPEN, with laser inscriptions "Te Amo" (I Love You) inside on the diamond. Outside is "Amour Vincit Omnia" which means "Love Conquers All Things. Sooooooo Sweeeeeeeet~~~~

Last but not least of my favourites, is this "Love Letter" necklace!! Imagine you write something sweet and nice on a small scented paper and stuff it inside, and give it to your partner on special occasion, isn't it just sooooooo romantic?? Awwwwww~~

So fast we already spend 2hours awwww-ing in the shop, admiring all the sweet little things we could give each other on special occasions, the best part is, they are not that expensive AT ALL!! Weewit!! We are so excited to give each other SoMeThInG on the Valentine's Day~!! Lets see if we could "accidentally" get each other the same thing~ (I love eggy eggy~) =P

If you are interested in the sweet little romantic items in the shop, check out their website at http://www.metallurgy.com.sg/. Very interesting indeed!!

Thanks to Mr Boss for setting up this shop for us to admire, we feel so loved and sweet after admiring your stuffs, THANKS!! ^_^ It's ok you feel uncomfortable with photo takings, we understand one, and so do my readers, don't we?? *wink*


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After all the excitements, we decided to have a nice meal at Indo Padang #B1-19 for lunch, and they having this very nice promotion of 4-course meal for 2pax!! If you have it at normal timing, there would be 10% off. For us, we chose to have it for lunch, because from 11.30am till 5pm, it's 20% off!! Yoohoo~

Indo Padang Restaurant


Upon reaching the restaurant, we feel very warmth and romantic because of the lighttings and atmosphere, with soft indonesian instrumental music in the background. After being led to sit at the best seats right inside the restaurant, we got to know 2 very friendly and nice people by the name of Jean and Edcor, who chatted with us and tell us alot of things about their restaurant and food =)

Jean also served us appetizer while we look through the menu..

Emping Crackers (famous traditional indonesian delicacy, $2), along with their own mixed chilli and sambal ikan bilis *yummy*

For the 4-course meal (for 2pax), these are our choices:

- Mutton Soup / Oxtail Soup
- Beef Rendang / Mutton Curry
- Chicken: Fried / Grilled / Rendang / Curry
- Sayur Lober (vegetable curry) /
Sayur Nangka (young jackfruit curry)
- Free flow of rice

Out of these choices, we chose Mutton Soup, Beef Rendang, Curry Chicken and Sayur Nangka

Beside meal for 2 pax, they also have these:

For 2 to 3 pax:
- Mutton Soup / Oxtail Soup
- Beef Rendang / Mutton Curry
- 2pcs Chicken: Fried / Grilled / Rendang / Curry
- Fish Curry / Sambal Fried Fish
- Sayur Lober (vegetable curry) /
Sayur Nangka (young jackfruit curry)
- Free flow of rice

For 3 to 4 pax:
- Mutton Soup / Oxtail Soup
- Beef Rendang / Mutton Curry
- 2pcs Chicken: Fried / Grilled / Rendang / Curry
- Sambal Petai Prawns
- Sambal Fried Egg
- Sayur Lober (vegetable curry) /
Sayur Nangka (young jackfruit curry)
- Free flow of rice

For 4 to 5 pax:
- Mutton Soup / Oxtail Soup
- Beef Rendang / Mutton Curry
- 3pcs Chicken: Fried / Grilled / Rendang / Curry
- Sambal Petai Prawns
- Nila Fish: Fried / Grilled
- Kangkung Belacan
- Sayur Lober (vegetable curry) /
Sayur Nangka (young jackfruit curry)
- Free flow of rice

For all:
-$1 for any soft drinks (worth $1.95)
Teh Botol / Coke / Lemonade / Ice Lemon Tea)

OR

-$2 for any Es Marquisa (worth $3.50)
(Exotic Passion Fruit Juice from Indonesia)

We ordered Teh Botol and Lemonade on Jean's recommendation =)

Food arrived within 10mins!! (Maybe it's because we came at the off-peak timing ^_^)

Teh Botol Sosro and Lemonade

Teh Botol Sosro tasted like indonesian's version of jasmine tea, nice!! And the lemonade, it's so different from the normal ones outside!! It's just a little sour and mostly sweet, special!!

Basket of free flow rice, love the basket!! Feel like mountain tortoise, getting excited over a basket of rice, hehe!! =P

"Sop Kambing. A mildly spicy soup of succullent mutton cooked with special herbs and sprinkled with fried shallot and celery" explained the menu.

We love the soft potato and carrot, so soft we just mashed it in our mouth with using our teeth!! Soup is very nice, can practically drink 3 bowls of it all at once!! The mutton is also very soft, obviously have been boiled very very long, making the soup very tasty and nice =)

"Beef Rendang. Chunky beef in thick dry and spicy coconut milk gravy"

Meat is extremly seasoned, till the meat right inside is also very nice!! Jean told us this Beef Rendang is the best seller in the restaurant, and now we know why!! *yummy*

"Gulai Ayam. Padang style chicken curry"

I love this curry most!! Very aromatic, love wetting my rice with its curry, even had to ask for one more bowl of chicken curry to finish the rice!! YUMMY~!!! (who doesn't love their rice wet? =P)

"Sayur Nangka. House special young jackfruit cooked in rich coconut gravy. Must Try!!"

A must try indeed. Never tried JACKFRUIT with curry before in my life!! (mountain tortoise again). The jackfruit is just so soft and nice!!

Imagine this: One mouth rice with chicken curry, one mouth rice with jackfruit curry, one mouth rice with beef rendang, one mouth full of mutton soup, bet your saliva is dripping now!! Haha~!!

Getting ready to eat!!

Look how much he enjoy the food!! Hehe~

Our "clean" table. *bloated*

Interesting napkin stand, with a "secret" compartment for toothpick!!

Thought our stomach is so full till a little pat on our stomach, we'd be a mini merlion, but looking through the menu, we can't help ordering a dessert!!

"Es Alpukat ($3.50)
Smooth blend of sun-ripen avocado topped with cocoa"

Very nice!! Taste very dessert-ish and refreshing, very new and special to me, Yummy!!

*burp* Phew!! Bloated beyond words!! Finish my share of lunch plus dinner for the day!! *faint*

After the nice bloated lunch, we got to know the Lady Boss Ms Sylvia Layanto and Mr Boss Derrick, all thanks to them for opening such a nice restaurant so that people like us can have a taste of overseas food without leaving Singapore!!

Ms Sylvia told us, the restaurant can fill up to 42 pax, and the dishes were invented by their indonesian chief. All the dishes were truly truly indonesian without changing a single bit to fit Singaporean's taste. (Did I mention that Ms pretty sweet Sylvia is a beautiful Chinese Indonesian?? *wink*)

If you want to taste a truly indonesian food, or you are from indonesia and you miss home food, you know where to go!!

Do you know what is the BEST part out of this experience?? Although we had tasted soooo much food, bloated beyond words, the bill is only $29.90!! For TWO of us!! omg~ We always thought eating at restaurant the bill sure is very expensive, but the bill here shocked us!! Yoohoo~~~

Jean told us, the best timing to eat at their place is at around 2pm-5pm on weekdays where there are not much customers. Before you go down to their place, its best to call for reservation, as their seats are limited, and most of the old customers reserve before coming.

Indo Padang is also in the planning process of having tea-time kueys and small little bite bite food, we can't wait for it to start!! And not to mention they are also in the process of having a "speed-off" counter at Jurong Point, opening probably in March!! *excited*

Phew, after soooooo nice lunch and chit chatting with Jean, Ms Sylvia and Mr Derrick, as we were getting ready to leave, Jean hand us a lucky draw!! *happy* Jean said customers who spent $30 and above get to have a lucky draw, we were so happy!! *lucky lucky lucky*

Thanks Jean, Edcor, Ms Sylvia and Mr Derrick, we had so much fun and we truly enjoyed the "indonesia overseas trip" at your restaurant within 2hrs!! THANKS!! ^_^


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Apart from Indo Padang, we also saw a few interesting eating place beside it. Check it out!!

New York Pizza #B1-24

Gourmet Popcorn #B1-28

Nihon Mura #B1-04 (sushi for 99cents?? No woder!! Look at the queue!!)

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At ground floor, we saw this booth that sell couple couple things too!!

Check it out at level 1 ^_^

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While checking out the booth, we met this interesting lady by the name of Saw Ann, she was pretty excited in meeting us, and introduced us to this shop "Atlantic Optical", another interesting place indeed!!

#01-17

There, we met Eugene Low, and he told us about all their spectacle frames and sunglasses, we never knew a simple glasses can be so complicated!! Check out my pictures of me trying out the sunglasses, hehe~

Haha!! So fun trying out all the sunglasses and glasses, pretending I'm 007, teacher, and feels good to be a "student" again, like a toot toot geek, hehehe~

Very interesting pair. My Favourite!! ^_^

All the different kinds of glasses

They having this promotion of any glasses at only $99!! Including the frame and lens (multi-coated/high index) Check out their roadshow on 26 March to 28 March for more $99 glasses at The Cathay!!

They also have sunglasses from Nike, Rayban, Addidas, Gucci, Dior, Marc Jacobs and many more!!

The most special part is, they also do sponsorship for companies who are looking for sponsors!! Call them up if you're interested!! ^_^

Thanks Eugene, Saw Ann and Zen for allowing us to have fun being different "characters" with your glasses, we had tons of fun!! ^_^


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Do you know that there's a "forest" environment at #03-02? I bet you don't!! Even if you stand right outside the shop, you will still not noticed the forest thingy inside!! What is inside?? It's Forest n Tress, a shop that does manicures and pedicures in a forest environment, and half the shop selling souvenirs and gifts, interesting!! Check out my pictures!!


Interesting right?!! Imagine sitting in a forest environment doing your manicure and pedicure.. *relax* And best part is that only max 5pax is allowed to do enjoy the services at one times, thus the place will never get too crowded, and you can really relax and blend in the relaxing environment ^_^

Express manicure: $12
Express pedicure: $15
Both: $22

Polish only (manicure): $7
Polish only (pedicure): $10
Both: $15

Spa (manicure): $45
Spa (pedicure): $65
Both: $110

They also have alot more other services, call them to check it out if you're interested!! *wink*

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Right beside Forest n Trees is another interesting shop, Wood Would, another shop full of interesting funny little things, phew, full of fun!! If I'm to write all our fun here in my blog, you would be spending at least one whole day to read it!! I'd leave it up to you to visit The Cathay and have your own set of fun!! =P

Check out the shops we had also visited..

NUMflipflops.com, #01-01

Jitterbugs Swingapore, #B1-08 (they teaches POLE dancing!!)

Spin The Bottle, #01-02

The Vault, #01-03

+20 Bulbs, #01-08

Totally Hot Stuff, #02-13

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WoW~!! What a day!! Walked through so many shops and saw sooooo much interesting stuffs!! So tired!! But despite being so tired and still full, we couldn't resist a trip to BJ. We love BJ!! Who doesn't?? Hey Hey~!! What are you thinking?? Don't try to deny!! The BJ I'm talking about, is Ben & Jerry at #02-12!! (kakakaka~!!)

Brownie Ice-Cream!! Yummy Yum Yumm~!!!!

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Wooo~~ My boyfriend is amazed on how much we could enjoy ourselves in a mall, without having to spend much, even on food!! So are you excited and interested to have a fun exciting day like we did? Head down to The Cathay!! ^_^

Join The Cathay facebook fanpage at www.facebook.com/thecathay to get updated with latest promos, events, contests and giveaways!! *wink*