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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Meeting up with That Group That Shall Not Be Named

Just in case you are wondering about the above title, it has got nothing to do with Voldemort. Due to privacy issues, I made it a point not to address my family, friends and whoever who appears on my blog by their real names. Many of my friends were fine with me shortening their names or using their initials on my blog while some had no issues with me using their first names. Cliques of friends were given group names solely to be used on my blog so that it would be easier for me to refer to the various groups in writing. (However, there would be times when the group names stuck throughout. Take for example, the F4.)

This post chronicles all the meet-up sessions with April and Viv from last year till now and Viv suggested "That Group That Shall Not Be Named" to be used on my blog coz we can't think of anything else.

As most of you already know, I'm forever doing a throwback on my blog. The time lapse is really distinct when I'm blogging about friends who are pregnant or friends with kids as you would soon see.


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~*Tea at TWG 2012*~


That Group That Shall Not Be Named met up for tea at TWG last June.

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April was the epitome of an elegant and beautiful mother. She was practically glowing with radiance. When we met up then, she was due to deliver in about 2-3 months time.

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Both viv and I often see each other back then that we needn't have a shot together so we were both fighting for a picture moment with the beautiful mummy.

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I really love having tea sessions at TWG. I just don't like how I could take 10 minutes to pore through the list of tea even if it was not my first time there.

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Ya, I just love to do those individual "candid" shots thingy.

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Viv did this effect with some app and we felt like we were in a spaceship.

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Even without any effects, we looked like aliens through the reflection.

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April was always so busy that it was quite difficult to catch her. Arranging a meet up with her was so difficult that once she had a free date, we would try to push everything away and make ourselves available on that day. In fact, it seemed like we only meet once a year with the last outing being her birthday lunch the previous year (2011). Hence I'm really glad that we have been meeting up more often these 2 years and I hope we would continue to have more regular meet-up sessions. One session is never enough to finish updating about what's going on in our lives.

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[All photos in this section were taken using Canon S95 and iPhone 4.]


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~*Happy One Month Birthday to Talya 2012*~


Talya turned one (month) last September and April threw a one-month-old baby shower. We were so late due to work that there was hardly any food left. Hence, you don't see the usual food photos lurking around in this segment. Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to take more photos of Talya and of Kh's expresson when he saw her socks. He reckoned that Bruce must have forced those "I love Dad" socks upon Talya's little feet.

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The 2 beauties.

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3 of us with the centre of attraction.
Aside: I love to hold baby's heads which somehow look like I'm squishing them in photos.

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I hate the harsh flash of this group photo but the one without flash had us standing normally but with awkward expressions. Bruce looked totally stunned by the flash here while the rest of us each grabbed a part of Talya at the count of 3.

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I shall hijack this segment of updates with That Group That Shall Not Be Named with some photos of dinner with the hubz. After Talya's baby shower, Kh and I ate at TCC which is one of our favourite dining places. We had the Tuna Tataki Salad to share. He had some nondescript baked rice and I had Tobiko Scallop Pasta with sauteed scallops.

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Kh signed the bill with the pen the waitress had provided and said that the pen should be given to me instead. Other than implying I should get a best teacher recognition, he was also implying that I should sign the bill.
-_-|||

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[All photos in this section were taken using Canon S95.]


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~*The One with The Baby and The Cat 2013*~


April invited us over for lunch as Viv and I wanted to see Talya as well as PetPet her Scottish Fold cat. Since our last visit to their home, there was an addition of a Bengal cat called "The Little One". Yes, it really is called "The Little One". It was difficult to snap a picture of him when he wasn't moving and he tended to shy away.

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How we missed PetPet!

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Bruce was always doing funny things to PetPet.

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Cute little PetPet.

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How I love his pink paws!

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Talya was finally awake and smiling so radiantly. She certainly didn't look like a baby who had just woken up.

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Talya had her first solid food that day and Bruce felt that it was appropriate to allow her to pose with a knife.

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I really love this photo of Talya smiling. She is so adorable. Before this photo, I took many videos of Bruce "bullying" her. He was practically playing with her like a doll and making her shake her booty at mummy. It was hilarious! Talya seemed to enjoy being bullied by Bruce as she was smiling and laughing cheekily all the way.

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Top: More evidence of Daddy bullying Talya.
Bottom: Evidence of a good Daddy. Aww...

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It was our turn to bully Talya.

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Fortunately, she smiled (see photo on right) and so nobody could charge us for child abuse.

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The girls!

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By then it was time for Talya's nap and she was fast getting cranky. All of us ignored her and smiled for the camera while she started wailing.

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This was how our parting shot looked like on Bruce's phone. He insisted that all of us were smiling and that Talya was laughing with her eyes closed and mouth wide open. Hahaha...

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Once again, I shall hijack this segment of updates with food photos. For dinner, the hubz and I went to Cotton Bleu. Since our first visit there, we had favourable impression of the place.

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Special mention of their bread once more. Crusty on the outside; warm and fluffy on the inside. I really love their bread. It was Blue Mussels weekend and kh ordered that for his mains. I was not sure how mussels could ever be filling for a main course but I do know that it was really lip smacking. We slurped the last drop of soup. I had some I-can't-remember-the-name crepe.


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Outfit that day was from Fleurfaerie.

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[All photos in this section were taken using Canon S95.]


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~*The Double Meeting in a Day 2013*~


I am getting more current with my updates as I progress in this post and I'm really excited for being able to catch up. Last month, we met up at Marmalade Pantry for lunch. You would find this section of photos familiar since I've featured them in the October Instagram snapshots post just last week.

Our lunch consisted of pastas and burgers. Viv had Carbonara. I had Scallop Bisque Linguine. April had mini burgers from the kid's menu pretending that it was for Talya but it was actually really for herself. Even the waiter had to reaffirm with April that she hadn't ordered for herself yet. Just 3 fries with salt dusted off was all Talya got in addition to the peach packed from home.

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That was Round 1 of the gathering with Little Talya being the star that afternoon.

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She is growing up to be a really pretty little girl.

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Talya is such a doll and quite well-behaved. She was a little shy though and shied away when we wanted to carry her. April said she was at the Daddy only and Mummy only stage. Oh man but when she walked, she just grabbed anyone's hand for balance and pulled us everywhere. She got down to walk at one point after lunch and she grabbed my hand and strung me along. When I felt how wet her hand was, I asked April, "Did she just remove her hand from her mouth?" To which, April answered, "Yes, I'm afraid so."

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Even as Talya did a "like a boss" pose with her legs on the table, even as she went "no no no no no" in her babyish voice, she is just so adorable. After a few hours away from home, Talya was beginning to get cranky like most children of that age. April had to bid us goodbye to put Talya to bed and then meet us for dinner in the evening.

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Round 2 of the gathering was at Cotton Bleu. Let me just reuse the picture from just now. There were many eateries along the rows of shophouses and April being the earliest to reach, chose Cotton Bleu.

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I had Boeuf Bourguignon for my mains which I ordered on my maiden visit there and fell in love with the tender chunks of beef stewed in red wine and served with mashed potatoes. I love the comforting home-cooked flavour. Viv had Steak Frites and April (the one who eats like a bird) had French onion soup. All of us had fries to share. We felt that everything was good except the lavender creme brûlée. It tasted really odd or perhaps, I don't have a strong liking for lavender.

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We were glad to have Round 2 for it was when we could really chat and keep ourselves updated on one another's lives.

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In Viv's words, "In the afternoon, we met Talya's mummy. At night, we met April." How her words ring true. A woman wears many hats and very often, when the mummy hat is put on, all other identities seem to cease. All hail to the mummies in the world.

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We chatted till the restaurant closed and still felt like there was so much more to say.

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Have you ever seen taxi vouchers before? I did not even know taxi vouchers existed. April insisted on splitting the cost of dinner but we argued that all she had was soup. Since we would not accept her money, she dug out two crumpled taxi vouchers and asked for us to accept them. She explained that the vouchers were crumpled as Talya once played with them and dropped them into a tub of water. I thought that was really funny.

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Copied and pasted from my Instagram page:
Sponsorship of my super belated bday present from Viv. Pretty pretty Coach handbag in pink and classic Coach brown. Well, I didn't intend to have another bag. It's all Viv's fault. She wanted a Coach bag for herself and started sending me pics of some bags to seek my opinion. She asked me if I wanted and that she could get it for me too while she was there since it was so affordable. I told her I've got enough bags. To entice me further, she told me that there was a 30% on top of 30% off SGD$315 so it was $146. "Wah! So cheap ah? But I've really got enough bags..." said me. So after she dangled a carrot saying she would sponsor half the bag for my belated birthday present, the rest was history. Happy gal now!

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We had to call it a day as the restaurant was closing but just as we were walking away, we felt that we had not taken enough pictures of the 3 of us. So we just stood in front of a spa palour and snapped away.

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I hope that That Group That Shall Not Be Named could meet up more often. We made a significant improvement from meeting once a year to twice a year. Cheers to gal pals and friendship!

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[All photos in this section were taken using iPhone 5.]

39 comments:

  1. Hi Jo! Congrats to your friends, she has the sweetest and most adorable baby in the world, utterly tender! How she grew up seeing the photos from last year and the ones of now, she is a cute pie. Also the bag you got is a very lovely gift. Have a great weekend dear, kisses! xo

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    1. Thank you for your sweet words, Lilli. It seems like blogging a throwback entry with a mix of the present is a good way to see the growth of a cute little baby.

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  2. So there are aliens, spaceships, babies, babies with knives, babies with squeezed heads and an adorable cat? That's my kind of post right there. Good on ya' :) Maybe you should hold a contest to name TGTSNBN.

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    1. You shall be the winner. TGTSNBN is a good acronym!

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  3. Oh wow, so much to catch up on! Aha, looks like your friend has one adorable little one <3
    Life has been treating you well it looks like :)

    The Dragonfruit Diaries

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    1. Thank you, Linda. Life has been treating you well too!

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  4. Love the title. I call my sis bf he who must not be named haha. You and your friends looks so pretty and adorable. Tayla is the cutest. I would love to babysit her. Thanks for following on Bloglovin and google+. I love to stay in touch and already followed you back. To answer your question. Holly is the blonde, Lola the tall and I'm the little one who's writing all the posts. Wish you a happy Sunday sweetheart!

    xx Mira

    www.glamdevils.com

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    1. Oh dear. I do hope your sis's bf isn't "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" as in "You-Know-Who". Thank you for your sweet words, for following and for the clear explanation on the faces behind your blog. So it's just you doing all the writing!

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  5. Whats a sweet group! Tayla is hilarious hahaha especially with her boss photo =P Her mummy is super pretty though! And so much food photos, I can't remember them all but I think there was quite a bit of pasta and is that creme brulee you're holding in one photo? I could really go for one right now! Kitty paws are sooo cute, sadly I only have one friend who has a kitty and he doesn't really appreciate hugs, though he did let me pick him up once lol *key words - he let me* The tea house looks gorgeous!!!

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    1. I agree with you on everything that you've said. Yes, that's a creme brulee but it's a lavender one and it tasted kind of weird. Some cats just love to be left alone. I don't like those. I like those who would come up to me and rub their heads on me. Mostly, these would be the strays in my neighbourhood.

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  6. Ah Jo, you've gotta stop posting all these amazing pictures of food. Looks like you've had quite a bit to catch up on--hey, much better than not having anything to catch up on at all.

    Don't you hate it when you're out to dinner with friends and the restaurant closes and you're still chatting up a storm? Man, that happened to me the other week! Guess that means more to talk abut next time. :)

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    1. Hahaha... I absolutely find it torturous to look at delicious food photos on blogs when I'm hungry. And yup, there will always be so much to talk about and that's the perfect excuse for more meet-ups.

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  7. Great photos, Jo! Your group sure knows how to have fun! When I lived a few hours south of where I currently lived, I met up with a group of friends quarterly for dinner. We always had such great times! Hugs, T. http://ticklledpinkwoman.blogspot.com

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    1. I know it can get pretty tough meeting with a group of friends especially if you live in the suburbs or in a huge town. So it is lovely to be able to meet up with your friends!

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  8. the food pictures is just mouth watering *sigh*

    talya is SO CUTE!!!!
    the handbag is cute too BUT tayla is so much cuterrrrrr
    her 'boss' pic is adorable!! ><

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    1. Hahaha... Yes, Talya is the cutest "object" in this whole post!

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  9. Oh goodness, I love reading these posts when I have an extra minute. Makes me feel like one of the girls.

    7% Solution

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  10. Talya is a doll baby! She is so cute Jo! HAHA I think she was a good sport putting up with you guys. HAHAHA I can't get over the selection of teas. I would've been there all day trying to figure out what I want. HAHAHA That cat is so pretty! I love a grey and white cat. Love the pink paws. Thanks for sharing and your kind words :)
    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

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    1. Yeah, we were so annoying to Talya that it's really amazing of her to put up with our nonsense. Hahaha... I feel like you would have the same problem about tea just like me!

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  11. Looks like a very fun time was had, gorgeous girls xx

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  12. I love the name of the group, its really interesting and creative, looks like a splendid time, beautifully photo memories. I hope you have an inspiring week ahead doll!

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  13. omg i laughed so hard when you mentioned the band F4! hahaha. i used to like them! i feel so embarrassed admitting it now lol. but there was a point in time when they were so popular and for some reason i was very much into those boys lol. ps : cute kitty and baby <3 aaand bad turtle!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hahaha... Did you read the older post on the story of how that name came about and how people might think it's the band F4? I've never liked F4, their songs or their shows but I do not dislike them too. They look cuter when they got older. Hee

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  14. Beautiful photographs with family, nice to see you have cute family moments, all the food from your photographs made ​​me hungry (as usual it looks delicious) I loved the section of the cats as I am a lover of these beautiful cats.

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    1. Hehehehe... Why did you refer to them as my family? Or you meant my friend's family? Ooh yes, another cat lover!

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  15. Hi Jo!

    I agree we definitely should be connecting on our blogs as well as instagram! I love reading your blog, this post is so fun! Very cute to see all of your friends and that adorable baby! The food in these photos also looks amazing and I love the cat pictures, so fun! These pictures are all really nice!

    Francesca

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    1. It's good to see you here, chessabond! Hehehe... Thanx for your sweet words.

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  16. We are all entitled to have our privacy :) you share as much as you find appropriate.

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    1. You're absolutely right. The Internet is such a 1st World problem.

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  17. It's kind of amazing to see one beauty turn into two beauties--and it's wonderful to see you laugh in the set of pictures with Viv holding the little boss! :)

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    1. It's always kind of amazing to see you here even though you always drop by coz you always have different perspective to offer. =)

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  18. I would check out your blog in time to come. =)

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  19. What an unusual name Talya. She is so cute. Great deal for bag. I never get deals like this. Unfair ;). Also you always make me hungry with those food photos.
    www.thoughtsofpaps.com

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    1. Yup. It is pronounced as Tah-Lia which I initially thought was Tal-Ya when I first saw the spelling and my hubz joked that I sounded like I was saying "Tell Ya".

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  20. Heyy Jo :))
    (grr I was typing, then I pressed a random button and all of it got deleted! So annyoing. But this isn't gonna stop me haha)
    First of all I am so sorry for not having stopped by at your blog lately (This concerns all blogs actually ;D)...For some reason I didn't write posts anymore and I didn't read other blogs >.< So thanks a lot for not forgetting about me ♥ At least I got to see some of what you do on your instagram ♥
    Anyway hehe thanks for the Nicole-Kidman comoliment. Last time I've heard that I resemble her a little bit was ages ago and I really like her as an actress. ♥ And yupp please try out Pumpkin Spiced Latte. I know it's such a blogger-drink but aside from looking fancy, it also tastes and smells good.

    I love how positively you talk about people in your posts ♥ for example when you said that the mother-to-be was glowing with radiance :) Maybe that's just me but I think that nowadays not many people talk about others so nicely. (Or maybe that's just the case in Germany haha :D) the different people you met up with all look lovely ♥ I can see how well everyone gets on! And the babyy!! awwwww :) It kinda looks like you are squishing its head though ;D Oh and I thought I am the only one looking at cat's paws :D I think they're so cute :) And pink!! These days my cat doesn't feel very well though. I'm going to the vet in a while but that's like the third vet we've been to and none of them can help her. She can't walk properly even though her leg isn't broken or anything. :(

    I hope to hear from you soon! ♥♥

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    1. Good to see you here Keki. And woots! I love reading long comments coz the sweet words in there would really make my day! I'm so sorry to hear about you accidentally deleting your comment. It happened to me a few times and I would be quite annoyed when that happened especially after typing so much.

      There really was/is a period of time when the usual bloggers stopped visiting. I hope this phase would die off soon. I understand how busy we all are and I was also like this during the last few months when it was the peak of my work and also other after work commitments.

      I walked past Starbucks yesterday and we didn't have that drink. We have 3 new Christmas drinks though not the pumpkin spiced latte.

      I always believe that words can make or break people. Nice positively words would always create positive vibes around you and affect others positively too. So if there are things to compliment one about, why not voice it out? Of course, there are times when I have bad things to say about bad people but most of the times, the people around me are good. I think it's a culture too. Different people in different situations would talk differently too. I haven't been to Germany before! I wonder about the people and culture. If I were to just generalize Germany based on you, I would think the people there are lovely like rainbows and cupcakes.

      I hope a vet would soon be able to diagnose what is wrong with your kitty cat. How old is she? I really hope it isn't related to her organs affecting her mobility. Lots of hugz sent over to keki and neko!

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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! =)

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