Life in the shop has gotten much more tougher right now.
My mum fell down and fractured her left arm on the 8th of January, the day before school reopened.
There is no way I could get such last minute manpower help, the shop has to be open since the students will be returning back to school and I still need to pay rent.
That night I was really feeling sick in the stomach; if my mum goes to work with a broken arm, people may think why this is injured lady still working?
It's making me look like I'm the evil daughter forcing the mother to work.
To make matters worse, I have to overload myself.
When the students make their 15 minutes break dash to the shop, I can barely even breath when preparing the juices, now I need to help my mum with the food section.
With only one working arm, my mum can no longer do anything more than what one arm can do and her injured arm cannot touch water hence every single thing in the shop that needs to be washed, has to be washed by me.
My hands after the first week seems to have aged despite desperately slapping hand cream, I don't even want to talk about my nails.
With my mum having such a bad fall, is someone giving me a sign?

Putting hard work does pay off because I just hit a new sales record last Tuesday!
But that day almost made me cry because I was beyond, way beyond what my body could take the load.
I only had 20 minutes of eat / sitting down time for a 10 hours work.
I don't even have time to go pee!
While things in the shop is now on good track, at the end of each day I feel so exhausted with everything.
I have mentioned before and am truly grateful for the chance to realized my dream, but it seems like I have lost the spark in it.
To be able to keep an F&B operation running, one must employ people to run the operations.
While I wish to employ people to help, I have my limitations.
As March 2012 approaches, this marks the first year anniversary which also means my lease is ending and I won't be renewing my lease.
I am disappointed that I can't bring this dream of mine any further.
But I've learnt a lot; something my peers don't get to learn and something everyone don't get to learn in school.
An experience of a lifetime, being a boss while you are young is something not everyone gets to go through.
Be it good or bad, I have treasured every moment.
The amount of hard work I've poured into this shop of mine is unimaginable, which amazes me.
I'm not trying to flatter myself but I am proud of what I've able to achieve and I am capable of pushing myself hard.
Without SZ's behind the scene helping out in logistics and every other areas, I would have already given up long time ago.
SZ is truly THE MAN!
And not forgetting a couple of close friends supporting me every now and then, I appreciate you guys!

***

While you gain some, you'll lose some and I think this experience has caused much negativity between me and my mum.
Things at home with my mum and my elder sister seems to have gotten worse which makes my wonder did my decision to rope my mum into helping me out has cause even more unhappiness to the family?
Tension in the family was already bad after I graduated from school in 2009, it's 2012 now and things seems to get worse.
I think God did give me a sign, my mum's broken arm was probably the decision maker to end it, oh wells.

***

With chapter of my life is ending soon, is time to start a new one in April.
Will be back to post the last 3 days in Hong Kong soon!

Hong Kong 2011/2012
31st December 2011 - 4th January 2012

Day 1:
Departure from Singapore to Hong Kong at 9.30am via SQ :)
SZ and I decided to book an SQ fight to Hong Kong to enjoy the full on board service plus the prices on Jetstar/Tiger wasn't that cheap either.



I love airplane meals!


Puss in boots.

We arrived in Hong Kong 4 hours later with a slight delay at Singapore side before takeoff.
We were escorted by the hotel staff to the Regal Airport Hotel to take our shuttle bus to Regal Kowloon Hotel.
Our hotel is located at: 71 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
Nearest MTR (train station): East Tsim Sha Tsui (West Rail Line); about 5 minutes walk from the hotel.

We arrived at our hotel 35 minutes later, our check in was fast and we were given a free upgrade to the Regal Club Room on the highest floor in the hotel (15th Floor).

I think it's a 4 star hotel; though it may look a bit old school, you can see from the hair dryer!
But the lifts were slow and we had such a bad experience in getting squeezed/pushed out of the lift when SZ and I were already inside by stupid tourists who insisted in getting the entire family inside.

The weather there was great! My boyfriend doesn't even need a jacket yet.
Probably it was around 17-20 degrees on first day.
We got out of our hotel and headed straight to the main Tsim Sha Tusi area which is about 15 minutes walk from our hotel.
The first mall we went to was iSquare at 63 Nathan Road (MTR Tsim Sha Tusi Station Exit H).
We walked over to 1881 Heritage, (MTR Tsim Sha Tusi Station Exit E), walk straight till you reach Salisbury Road, turn right, on right is Peninsula Hotel, keep going till you reach Canton Road.
I thought it was a big mall but more like a place to take photos.





Very happy to be in Hong Kong to enjoy such weather!

We headed for dinner at Sweet Dynasty 'Tang Chao' at 88 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.
Came here with the bowlers 2 years ago, now we are back here, but the food standard seems to have dropped a little?
The prawn omelet we had is good!


By the time we finished our dinner, the roads along Canton Road were closed for the New Year countdown.

That's me in the middle of the road!






At Silvercord Mall; there's a H&M, but I didn't buy anything from H&M since we already have in Singapore, plus it was all winter clothing.

We took a really long walk from Canton Road all the way to Temple Street Night Market (MTR Jordan Station Exit A), we were walking in circles because there were road closure and we landed up in Austin MTR Station, walked though the underpass in circles just to realized if we had walked outside we won't have walked the extra miles to get to our destination!


Ice cream truck which sells soft-serve ice cream!
There were more food stalls at Temple Street, next time we should try out the food there!
We took a train back to our hotel to rest our feet before heading down to join the crowd for the countdown!
The moment I stepped out of the hotel lobby I was really feeling cold and had to grab SZ's jacket to warm myself up!

SZ and I didn't walk further to the Victoria Harbor because it was already packed with people!



The place was getting crowded and we are restlessly waiting for 2012 to arrive! Hahaha.

Our view wasn't great, so was the fireworks.
I was like, 'that's all?'





Everyone heading back home!
We started 2012 with supper from Delifrance! Some food outlets surrounding our hotel were still open for business!

Day 2:
We skipped breakfast and headed to Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, (MTR Kowloon Station Exit C).







We had lunch (I didn't snap a photo of the cafe's name), I call it the 'Hong Kong Cafe Style Fast Food Version'.
The food was good :)

Looks like unripe mangoes from afar, but its actually green tea bun!


Their version of our breadtalk, just that it's more atas looking!

Airport in-town check in, how cool is that!
Hong Kong have trains that lead directly from the airport to the city.



I call this place 'nine dragons'!

We took the train down to Allied Plaza, (MTR Prince Edward Station Exit B2).
This mall is like our Far East Plaza, rows of shops selling clothing, accessories, shoes, bags. It's winter in Hong Kong, hence they stock up everything winter ranging from coats, jackets, boots.
The boots are all so pretty but all so useless in Singapore!
Spotted this dog right when we were about to exit the mall.


We walked down towards Mongkok, along the streets we stopped by for desserts at their famous desserts place; Hui Lau Shan 許留山.






Once we reached Mongkok, we headed to Argyle Centre, (MTR Mongkok Station Exit D2).
This is another kind of our 'Far East Plaza' mall, again all sorts of winter wear and I managed to find a really cute polka dot pink jacket which I got it for only $13.00 and decided to wear it immediately since its the only time to wear!

So CUTE but so expensive!


Happy Lemon!
We ordered a special lemon juice which tasted like another other lemonade :/ They took away my favorite drink from Happy Lemon in Singapore and its also no longer available in Hong Kong :(

We headed to Langham Place, 3 Argyle Street, Mongkok, (MTR Mongkok Station Exit C3).
I was informed that this is a 'must-go' mall but SZ and I found nothing special and it was really crowded hence I didn't snap any photos of the mall.
We left the mall and headed to Ladies Market, Tung Choi Street, (MTR Mongkok Station Exit E2).
This is probably the most famous market to go to in Hong Kong.
It's SUPER crowded, so be careful of your bags!
You can find all sorts of fake branded bags/watches, toys, accessories, clothing, shoes, handphone covers, fake branded head/earphones (which SZ ended up buying one for his gaming at home!).

We hopped over to the Sportswear Street aka Fa Yuen Street (which is just beside Ladies Market).
This street sells everything related to sports shoes and wears.
Once again, this area is fully packed with people and it really hard to buy anything out from the shops.
We ended up at Nike boutique and got ourselves a pair of shoes each; the shoes were priced almost the same with those private owned stalls.

We settled for dinner at a Hong Kong Cafe along the street, we got attracted to this stall selling claypot rice!



Handmade beef balls and noodles; this is probably the best beef ball noodles I ever eaten, its piping hot, you can even see the smoke from the photo!


SZ's claypot rice!


Yep, this is the cafe!





After a long day walking, we decided to head back to our hotel area to look for a place to have desserts!
Our nearest mall to our hotel is K11, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, (MTR Tsim Sha Tusi Station Exit D2/N4).
This is one art mall worth visiting though the shop varieties cannot be compared to those at the main shopping area.
We had our desserts at Agnes b Cafe, yes it is the bag brand you see in Singapore!
They have a cafe here in Hong Kong.







The weather on 2nd day was still manageable during the day, slightly colder at night. I wore inside one t-shirt, one light cardigan and this pink coat you see above.

I shall continue day 3 / 4 / 5 soon!
Good night and Happy Chinese New Year!

Time does flies!
New school term starts this coming Monday and it's gotta be another 14 weeks of work.
Must go physically / mentally prepare for work soon!

I've just gotten back from Hong Kong with SZ and we both love the weather there though I don't fancy the cold that much, I still enjoyed it!
Everywhere is currently stocked up with winter clothing, hence I didn't get to shop for any new clothing that I could wear in Singapore.
(I still prefer shopping in Bangkok, Thailand!)
We spent more on eating and exploring the city but we didn't went to places like Disneyland / Ocean Park.
Oh, I've gotten this really cute polka dots baby pink jacket for only $13!

Singapore is only about 4 hours apart from Hong Kong yet they get such a nice winter weather.
Loving the coats, jackets and boots!

Let me edit those photos first and I shall post them up here with my detailed travel itinerary!
(PS: Will probably take a while to get the post up since work is starting soon)

Genting Highlands & Sunway Pyramid with bowling friends!
20th December - 22nd December 2011
It was a 2 weeks before trip planned with the guys.
We caught an early bus up to Genting and stayed at First World.
I've been to Genting countless times but never stayed at First World.
It was really an eye opener; the rooms were really small and pretty much no frills.
They doon't even provide bath slippers :(
Then again, nothing really beats my hostel stay at Malaysia.

We had free tickets to the outdoor theme park but this is the only ride we hopped on because everywhere was packed and it rained.







Best kaya balls!


All ready to get hands down in the casino.

The next morning after breakfast, we paid RM6.00 each for an upgrade of breakfast buffet at Maxims Hotel.
The breakfast at First World is pale in comparison to which I ate on my second morning.
We booked a 6 seater cab down to Sunway Pyramid; RM180 per trip.
While the rest fell asleep in the cab, I was battling with a extreme ear block; I never had it so bad before!
I could hear glass shattering in my ear while trying my hardest to blow out; well it got better once I managed to sneezed out.


My yearly bra purchase!

We had lunch at Bubba Gump.





We just needed to try out the new lanes at Sunway!


Having ice cream out in the cold = shiok!


Christmas 2011 with Secondary School friends!
24th December 2011
It's our annual dinner and gift exchange :)
Love the whole gift exchange with these friends!


SZ and I whipped up a dinner for the gang!


My bread pudding :)


Portobello mushroom pasta.


Front: Potato hash with spicy chicken fillet, bacon pieces and hot dog.
Back: Hashbrown rosti with eggs.




7 players monopoly + 1 banker!


Surprise gift exchange!


With our random pick gifts!
Can you spot my Christmas theme Kapibara?


Dear William giving us his presents, so sweet!


Our yearly gift exchange :)


***

I was reading up recipes online and I came across root beer cake / cupcakes.
Do you know that I don't fancy / eat cupcakes outside?
There are so many cupcake stores in Singapore but I never once ordered because I don't like the frosting.
I think I'm weird :/
Because cupcakes are like the must eat / bake / have kinda baked item.
I eat my cakes with frosting but I actually scrap them one side, eat a little of the cream and play with the rest of it!
I prefer making muffins, they are a fuss free thing to bake and eat.
Even if I do bake cupcakes, I always leave the fancy frosting away.
But I like looking at cupcake photos, they are all so pretty right!
So anyway I decided to try on this root beer cupcake.
Since there were so many variations to it, I decided to use my muffin-making method.


My new muffin pan :)
The batter was great; one whole cup of root beer was poured in to make 12 cupakes! It was so root-beerlicious but after it was baked.....

Ehhh, is this a root beer cupcake?
Where's the root beer man?!
Some recipes calls for root bear extract (I wonder if our baking supply shops sells the extract), that's the only way to get the root beer flavoring out but since I only wanted to try out first, I decided to skip the extract.
So I guess if I really want to make this again I'll have to get a bottle of it!



After not heading to the west side for more than 3 months, SZ and I had dinner at this Chinese restaurant located at West Mall.
They serve great mango pudding with a layer of fresh mango.
I can't taste if the pudding is freshly made or powdered form; it doesn't matter because it taste good :)

It's Hong Kong this coming Saturday!
I can't wait :)