photo buttoncontact.png  photo buttonbloglovin.png  photo buttongfc.png  photo buttongoogleplus.png  photo buttonyoutube.png  photo buttongiveaway.png

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Lovely Company At The Wine Company

Earlier this month, I had a lovely lovely evening under the stars with the very gorgeous Cindee. Up till now, I'm still amazed that the Internet had brought 2 strangers from opposite ends of the world to cross paths and become friends.

Photobucket


It has been a few years since Cindee and I became acquainted via our blogs-- a Canadian and a Singaporean "blogger" brought together with our deep connection in writing and similar passion for life. (We try to avoid calling ourselves "bloggers" as we feel there is a difference between a "blogger" and a simple person who writes her thoughts in her blog.)

She underwent a few blog transformations and domain change before expressing her unique style at misscindee and finally establishing herself at thestylishyogi where I hope she would not hop around on the Internet anymore. =)

Cindee writes brilliantly. Her writing doesn't entail bombastic, impressive vocabulary like how some people would associate with brilliant writing. Neither is her writing in the literary descriptive fashion. Instead, she expresses herself emphatically in an almost poetic manner. I love her words, I love the way she crafts her posts and I'm always in awe of her creativity.


About a year ago, Cindee sent me a belated Valentine's Day parcel.

Photobucket


The parcel was delayed and mishandled over at Canada's side. (I always hear of my Canadian blog friends complaining about their postal service.) Due to the tearing at the side of the package, the original package came wrapped in a waterproof envelop.

Photobucket


The Valentine's Day gift pack came with a CD compilation of Cindee's favourite songs, an eyelash curler and a tokidoki unicorn figurine. I love the unicorn to bits.

Photobucket


The unicorn she chose for me was hawt and devilish. It came with two horns instead of one like mainstream unicorns. I have a particular love for things which are off the beaten track at times.

Photobucket


The unicorn's name is Peperino. Looking at the (crushed) box, I like Peperino after Stellina and Bellina though I'm not as sweet as the latter two. I'm very sure Cindee chose Peperino for me for obvious reasons! *evil laughs*

Photobucket


I would love to hear Cindee's song compilation. Alas the CD was cracked due to the mishandling of the parcel and could not be played. =(

Photobucket


As promised in her letter, Cindee planned a trip to Singapore with her beau last December over the post Christmas and New Year period. Very soon, we were excitedly arranging a double-date dinner meet up with each other via Facebook message and emails.

[PS: I hope you don't mind me showing this portion of your letter. If you do, please shoot me a message and I would remove it accordingly.]

Photobucket


I arranged to meet at The Wine Company at Sentosa Boardwalk. Cindee simply loves alfresco dining by the water and I was quite certain she would love the place. Before the meet up, I packed her a Christmas stocking filled with girly stuff and a box of chocolates for her beau to show that he wasn't left out. It was really funny when he said he might just like the girly stuff in the stocking as well!

Photobucket


The Wine Company changed their menu. It looks like it is endorsed by some Japanese game characters.The very first time I was there to celebrate a few of my colleagues' birthday, I remember the menu contained some quotes which I like a lot. I did not snap a picture then and I told kh that no matter what, I had to do so that day. It was a shame I could no longer do so.


Photobucket


We finally meet the gorgeous couple in person and the gals exchanged hugz. I bimbotically exclaimed to Cindee that she looked just like how she looked on photos and she could actually return my bimbocity and said likewise.

Photobucket


It was still early for dinner and we decided to get some light bites to share before ordering our main courses.

Photobucket


Cindee insisted on a photo of kh and me for keepsake.

Photobucket


Old friends... New friends!

Photobucket


We shared the salad...

Photobucket


... as well as the cheese platter.

Photobucket


I do not understand the hubby's love for dumplings. He just had to order dumplings complete with ginger shreds and vinegar at the most western venue. The dumplings were shared too.

Photobucket


We were mesmerized by the lights on the stairs. I could tell how much Cindee loves this picture for she has made this her current profile picture on Facebook. Awww... so sweet!

Photobucket


The sunset was beautiful and even though we could not see the sun sighing into the horizon, we were treated to a visually stunning sunset sky.

Photobucket


Guess where were these taken?
In the ladies! When I saw Cindee bringing her camera into the ladies, I could not help laughing coz I do that at times too. She felt that there were many beautiful toilets in Singapore and she had the habit of snapping pictures in there.

Photobucket


After a few takes, the initial shot was still the best.

Photobucket


We spent quite some time in the ladies that when we emerged from the loo, the sky had already darkened. After we returned from the ladies, we were happy to see the boys talking and ignoring our presence. We were really glad that the boys hit off so well. There were times when the gals and the boys engaged in our own girly and boy's talk and there were also times when the four of us would chat and share stories of our lives as well as exchange knowledge of Singapore and Canada.

Photobucket


The boys ordered another bottle of wine and this must be one of the better white wines I ever had. The Steigelmann Neuftadter Pfaffengrund Gewurztraminer Auslese (pfalz) 2009 is a German wine with an exceptional concentration and a hint of delicate aroma of roses. A subtle sweet fragrance would waft into my nose each time I took a sip.

Photobucket


The boys had already tucked into their Chicken Pesto Cream Penne and Char Kway Teow before Cindee could snap any picture. Cindee and I shared these:


Scallop and Prawn Linguine

Photobucket


Crabmeat Spaghetti (This is one of their signature dishes and it is really flavourful, packed with generous amount of fresh blueswimmer crab meat.)

Photobucket


Having a love for all things beautiful, Cindee found little details like the lights in the floorboards simply alluring.

Photobucket


When fireworks came up without any warning on a day with no special occasion, Cindee mused that the fireworks had to be for us-- a celebration of our friendship.

Photobucket


I love this accidental beauty.

Photobucket


Already beautiful in the evening, the scenery was even more gorgeous when the lights dazzled at night. The heat and humidity from the day was replaced with cool sea breeze.

Photobucket

Photobucket


Sidetrack:
The beautiful evening was slightly marred by my annoying health condition. Those of you who have been reading my blog would know that I've been plagued with inexplicable tummy related pains recently. As soon as I stood up to walk over to the boardwalk for more pictures with Cindee, the sharp pain caused me to feel nauseous and break out in cold sweat. As I was posing for the picture below, blackness slowly overtook my vision and very soon I could no longer see what was in front of me even with my eyes wide open. I was scared stiff and held on very tightly to kh's arm. He got anxious after feeling my icy cold body as I grew heavy on him. Somehow, he managed to help me to the nearest seat and kept asking me to respond when I was feeling faint and losing my ability to talk. In retrospect, he admitted that I gave him quite a scare. He was afraid that if he did not keep me talking, something terrible might happen.

Photobucket


Sweet Cindee immediately got me 2 glasses of warm and cold water. After regaining my mobility, I sipped some warm water and gradually felt better. She was really worried for me and suggested some natural means to deal with the condition like detoxing and TCM if western medication isn't helping much. After some rest and feeling really bad that Cindee and her beau had to witness this, I was soon feeling normal enough to take a last shot with her.

Photobucket


I'm not too sure how some of you feel about meeting up with blogger friends or any other people you know on the Internet. For me, as much as I feel excited meeting a long time blogger friend, I was also a little apprehensive before the meet up. A deluge of questions like "Would there be awkwardness?" "Would we have nothing to talk about?" "Would the interaction online and offline be very different?" "I wonder how Cindee is like?" "Would we be able to click?" and many more kept flooding my mind before the meet up.

That said, both of us share the same sentiments that it was a indeed a lovely gathering under the stars with good food, good scenery and good company. We connected so well and simply could not bear to end the night. There were just endless topics to talk about that there wasn't even a split second of silence except when all 4 of us had food in our mouths. It was indeed a beautifully forged friendship.

"Love you right back! So happy that even tho we are across the world from each other we have been able to create such a beautiful friendship. Meeting you was exactly AND more than I imagined. Glad we could connect so easily with each other. Yes please let us know if you ever - no scratch that - WHEN you do come visit. hehe" -- Cindee


Cindee gave us a box of Max Brenner chocolate bon bons. The pink ribbon and the colourful geometric tin set my heart fluttering.

Photobucket


Outfit of the day:
♥ No label flowy white top
♥ ClubCouture sleeves draped vest
♥ Fleur Faerie tiered layer crochet shorts

Photobucket

24 comments:

  1. Aw she's so sweet for sending you some of her favorite things. :) Such as the DVD full of her fav. songs! What a lovely lady :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. aww you two look beautiful together! I've always found it really nice that the Internet and blogging in particular can bring people together and create new friendships between like-minded people :)

    Metallic Paws- New giveaway up on my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. aw i love the first pix of you guys! you should come to states so we can meet up :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's sooo sweet babe! Glad you both got to meet :) I also started reading Cindee's blog back in the day, and she used to live in my area as well in Vancouver! Saw your pic on her instagram, and we were saying how we should get you on it too :P Awesome to see how "online" friendships have blossomed!! Next time I'm back in Sg we can go for makan also!! Anyways, hope ur doing well :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think this is a really sweet and genuine friendship! I enjoyed reading this post (lol at your husband for the dumplings) and in the last few photos of you two, you look like sisters! I'm glad your tummy got better and I hope it goes away permanently!

    ReplyDelete
  6. so if I bring Mrs.Turtle to singapore you would meet up with us for an entire day too? =D

    Hello Jolene. My favourite blogger. It's been a while; I hope you had a lovely new year and didn't party too hard! It's odd that I have been reading cindee's blog for years. I found her through blog hopping canadians and just hung on as an audience ever since. I think her packages are cute hahahaha - only the nicest bloggers draw pictures of turtles for me and what not.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Need to visit that restaurant. I'm not too good with wine - I put red wine in the ice bucket and everyone at the party started yelling at me. Apparently you don't do that :S AND I hate to drive them home, meanies!!

    Someone handed me a card last month, they work at the skyscraper in singapore that looks like a cruise ship on top and people think it's cool but I don't understand it, and I saw the card and thought of Jolene. Dunno why!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm sorry to hear about your health trouble during that evening. I honestly don't know what to say - I always gift stuffed teddies and cute smooches on the forehead to friends of mine who are girls when they got sick. I will not ask you if you're ok because you said not to. I will just pray for Jolene.

    See you later alligator!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is scary, the pain and not being able to see. I've heard your vision goes black just before someone is about to faint. Did you feel like you were about to pass out?

    Two handsome couples! A wonderful friendship deserves fireworks. I'm glad you were able to meet. I'll never have that experience. My wife had reservations about me blogging, so she asked me to promise I would never meet any of my on-line friends. That makes me a little sad.

    ReplyDelete
  10. omgosh this is so amazing and sweet!! friendship through blogging!! blogging bff's heeheh!! that's so awesome that you guys became such good friends through blogging :) and that you guys got to hang out and even double date!! you guys look like sisters haha :p

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am so glad you two has the chance to catch up. I hope you feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh my darling, Jojo! I can't believe how you captured the essence of that night so beautifully in this blog post. It was like I was re-living that moment with sprinkles of laugher here and there. it was definitely a lovely night esp when the fireworks surprised us. hehe.

    I didnt notice this before but if you look at the photos we took in the ladies room, we look like we have the same nose & similar smile ^_^ hehe

    I hope you haven't had any more of those tummy episodes. I was just thinking about it today bcos my tummy hasn't been feeling too great either after coming back from S'pore. You should try eating some probiotic yogurt or organically cultured called Kefir. It really settles and helps balance the bacteria in our tummies.

    I hope we can go on another date soon! It felt like it wasn't enough time. and yes i am so glad we could connect as well in person as we do over the internet.

    Im glad I've made a life long friend =)

    Talk to you soon babe *muah* xox

    Cin Cin

    ps: and yes I have to stop jumping around. lol. Its a bad habit =P

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh my. You ladies are beyond gorgeous! That's so sweet that you gals are great friends. It's hard for people to make honest friends locally, but you did it at far distances. What you ladies have is very special. I pray you gals continue to stay close and best friends.

    ReplyDelete
  14. thanks for sharing this one Jo! it's actually the sunset photo that caught me..made me miss watching sunset by the shore back home..this suddenly made me think of happy thoughts..thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Such beauties...it looks like you guys had fun!! ^ ^

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think it's so wonderful that you've forged this friendship through bloggin. Looks like you guys had a great time together.

    ReplyDelete
  17. :D Wow, I can't believe you met and met someone who lives in the opposite ends of the world from you. The internet is such a powerful place :D I've never really clearly made a definition for the word, "blogger." I think there are two types of bloggers though: bloggers and professional bloggers :)

    You two look so pretty!!! And the food looks delicious! :D Cute outfit, too!

    nyuu
    lolitium.net

    ReplyDelete
  18. london's beauty,

    She is really sweet and lovely. I feel so blessed to have our paths crossed.


    ~~~

    Izzy,

    My exact sentiments! It is my first meeting with someone non-local and I’m so glad for this friendship.


    ~~~

    Yvonne,

    You have changed your blogger ID to google plus? Somehow I find that I stop getting updates from blogspot people who switch to google plus. =( I wanna continue to get your updates! Hahaha… I have so many blogger friends living in the United States and I think I have to compile a list of where each of you stay so that I could plan a meet up for dinner or something when I drop by. Will you ever be visiting Singapore, Yvonne?


    ~~~

    Tessa,

    Ah, it’s nice to know another person who read Cindee’s blog from a while back. We have common friends now. Hahaha… that’s a cute way to discover how people know each other. I have an instagram account but I don’t post photos there and I am not familiar with the settings. You can add me at iamjolene so I could keep up with your photo posts? I remember a new change in terms and conditions from Instagram that made me not wanna post photos there even more. Sure! Please buzz me when you are coming back. I hope you are well too.


    ~~~

    suki pooki,

    Yes it is and haha… We do look similar in some ways. Thank you for your concern, dear. I hope the nasty pain could go away too.


    ~~~

    TURTLE,

    My favourite turtle who always disappears into his shell for a long time and come out to release verbal vomit is here. Hehehe… Is there a Mrs Turtle already? Haha… If so, I would definitely love to meet Mr and Mrs Turtle! Of course without Mrs Turtle, I would also love to meet up with Turtle. I suspect you would be able to click very well with my hubby coz your level of humour is the same!
    It’s nice to know another blogger who has been reading Cindee’s blog since a while back. We have common friends now. Hahaha… I could draw a turtle for you so that I could be classified as a nice blogger.
    You really do not know about wine! That’s a funny anecdote. Oh and that building you are talking about is Marina Bay Sands. Every non-Singaporean dreams of staying at that hotel to use that roof top infinity pool. In fact, Cindee was up there on her last night in Singapore. It’s very nice of you to think of me when you see that building.
    Thank you, Turtle for praying for me!


    ~~~

    Rick,

    I have not experienced being fully unconscious so I do not know how it feels like when passing out. I do experience subconscious fainting before such that I’m still aware of what’s going on, just unable to react well and I think that night was one of those experiences.
    Thank you, Rick. Ooooh… That’s so sad. I would so love to meet up with you and your family should we ever meet. I guess your wife is sort of reserved and I would respect that.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Lisa,

    Blogging bff? What a cute term. I love it! More and more people are saying we look similar or look like sisters. I guess it is really true when I look at features like our noses and smile. We should hang out too if you ever come to Singapore and if I ever go to Germany. How long would you be in Germany?


    ~~~

    Bessie,

    Thank you, dear.


    ~~~

    Cindee,

    The memories are still fresh in my mind and I love looking at photos and doing photo story updates while reliving the moments. I totally agree with you on the similar nose and smile, especially the nose! I only noticed it when I was editing the pictures. No wonder people say we look like sisters.

    Thanx for your concern, dear. I have probiotics in powdered form but I don’t take them regularly. I think I should. How’s your tummy now? I hope that now you are back home, you have started going back to your healthy eating and that your tummy is ok now.

    If I had known we would have endless stuff to chat about, we could have arranged a whole day meeting but still, that wouldn’t be enough. One of us should relocate. Hahaha

    Yes, rabbit. Stop jumping around!

    Xoxo


    ~~~

    My-My,

    That’s really sweet. Thank you. Honestly, sometimes I’m really very thankful for all the amazing people I meet in my life.


    ~~~

    MACY,

    I’m glad my sunset photo could cheer you up as it reminded you of home. Have you relocated or something? I haven’t been catching up as closely as I should.


    ~~~

    Kri,

    I love seeing newcomers here. Thank you for stopping by my blog and for leaving me a lovely comment.


    ~~~

    trishie,

    I love seeing newcomers here. Thank you for stopping by my blog and for leaving me a lovely comment.


    ~~~

    nyuu,

    Sometimes, I really love the Internet. Hmm… I think you are right about the definition about the 2 types of bloggers. So as long as most of us who has a blog and write on a blog would belong to the first category.

    I love seeing newcomers here. Thank you for stopping by my blog and for leaving me a lovely comment.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow, that is so sweet that you met such a nice friend from "blogging!" It looks like you all had a lovely time and I really adore both of your outfits. You two could pass for twins!!! xo

    ReplyDelete
  21. Always lovely to see your picture posts. Especially the food pics make me all weak, dangit, I really do love me a plate full of colourful foodsies! You always seem to be going on such amazing trips or evenings out with friends and kh, I'm kinda jealous >< But I do understand what we see here is only a small part of your life, and I bet you're a hard worker. You deserve to have time off!

    I'm a little bit worried about your health, but I think you're taking care of yourself, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Just know that we think of you and support you - which is basically all we can do over the Internet.

    What happened to you on the boardwalk resembles something I had last year. I felt nauseous, and was having all the symptoms of fainting (cold sweats, everything turning black in front of my eyes, loss of control over my limbs...) but wasn't gone just yet. It was really scary (my friend, who was with me at the time, even called for an ambulance... of course I came to before they got there). I guess the only thing you can really do is wait it out :/

    (Also, thank you so so much for the wonderful message you left on my blog. It had me in tears (only just a little bit) because it was so true what you said. I just don't realise certain obvious things until someone tells me straight on. Thanks for always encouraging me, Jo!)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Lauren,

    Thank you for stopping by my blog and for your lovely comment. =)


    ~~~

    Bibi,

    Your comment struck a few chords in me. Firstly, I don't think I have ever read anyone telling me on my comments page that they do recognize that whatever they see on my blog is just a small part of my life. It struck me coz when I read other people's blogs and see nasty comments deriving from how they judge the blogger through the posts and photos, I cannot help but wonder why can't people see that whatever they see on the Internet is just a facet of the person's life. It is good to know that there are still people out there who is not judgmental to base all assumptions about someone thorugh a blog and who is wise enough to think logically.

    Thank you for your concern. Since you've experienced almost the same fainting spell as me, could you pinpoint what caused it? There are certain things in life that seem to want to remain a mystery to us eh?

    I'm glad that my message to you brought you to tears. Nah... of course I wasn't aiming to touch you and make you tear but I'm glad to know it struck something in you too.

    Thank you too for also always leaving me lots of encouragement. The kindness goes around. =)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Of course I understand this is only a fragment of your life! Any reasonable person would get that! It would be fun to never have to do boring things, but that's not life, is it?

    As for the near-fainting, I never really found out what exactly was wrong. The paramedics didn't find anything particularly wrong with me. By the time they got there my body was answering again, all they saw was that my blood pressure was low, but then again, it always is.

    I blame it on a combination of multiple things. Over-all fatigue (hadn't slept properly in weeks, if not months), stress (big school project), period (I'm very prone to fainting), very small breakfast (not smart), and climbing a wobbly ladder to measure a stupid pilar (the things they make me do for school ><).

    So yeah, it could basically have been because of anything or all the things :/ Guess my body just said: "oh woman, you and the crazy things you keep putting me through... there, full-body shut-down, that'll teach you!"

    ReplyDelete
  24. Bibi,

    I like how you put everything in brackets coz all the reasons seem to connect.

    My favourite GP provided a very logical explanation for my near-fainting. My situation is just like yours. My blood pressure was low the next day when I saw the doc and she couldn't imagine how low it was the previous night it happened. I was also losing lots of iron during that period (if you get what I mean) which resulted in an even lower blood pressure. The pain and the sudden standing caused all the blood to rush to those areas and hence not enough to the head. I also had fatigue (it's a constant problem) and my meals have become smaller quite unlike before.

    I'm thinking of seeing Chinese Physician if everything continues to persists.

    I hope you are doing well, Bibi!

    ReplyDelete

I love reading sincere comments and hearing your voice. While blatant self promotion of blogs and follow for follow requests are not advisable, I would love if you leave a mark here with a trackback link so that I could connect with you. I reply to comments here or on your blog so don't forget to check back on replies! =)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...