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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Christmas 2014: The One With The Old Friends

On the Saturday prior to Christmas, I had a packed day meeting with old friends. That's like 2 gatherings in a day and there was a 3rd too but I had to give the other one a miss with a way-in-advance notice.

First, was a cozy tea party at Bei's house.




We weren't kidding when we said it was a TEA party.




Tiff brought along cupcakes and a swirled rainbow cake from Dean and Deluca. We also had gourmet chocolates (not pictured here).




Bei, Tiff and I had a hard time choosing which cupcake we wanted so we played a mind game to determine who got what. Pardon the graininess of these photos taken with a Samsung front camera. I had to brighten them many folds. These photos would not have existed if we hadn't sent the photos to someone. *winks*




Btw, xtina was not able to fall in that day as she had an early delivery and was in confinement. She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and there Baby Sam was winking and calling out to us.




Tiff got the Christmas tree.




Bei got the Santa Claus.




I got Olaf, I meant Frosty, I meant the snowman.




And that wasn't a good choice for Olaf, I meant Frosty, I meant the snowman as he was soon decapitated by me.




Gifts for us! Ooh la la... Simply love the packaging and the great products that Benefit always has to offer. And simply love cozy meet ups with gal pals when we could chat to our hearts content.




For dinner, I met up with the Bimbo and Himbo group at Paulaner Bräuhaus.




Paulaner is not only famous for their German beer...




or any sort of brew and alcohol...




but for their authentic Bavarian "food, flair and coziness".




Paulaner's crispy pork knuckle, otherwise known as knusprige schweinshaxe




Breaded veal escalopes "Vienna" style with sautéed potatoes and cranberry sauce




Pappardelle pasta with tomato sauce, fresh basil and Parmesan cheese




Paulaner Brew House special platter




There was so much meat to share that we needed some greens... okay not green here... some vegetables.




My favourite dessert was the cherry one.




We had 7 in attendance that evening. Bimbo Jo, Bimbo Gerra, Himbo Kh, Bimbo Zanne, Himbo Jimson. Looking forward to a homely get together again with you peeps like in 2013.




Gifts for my gal pals.
Simply love the colours and application of Ciate nail polish that I had to get these mini ones for my gal pals. Sephora had them in sets of 3 with one definite OFF colour in each set and since I saw people opening to mix and match, I decided I would do the same too. It wouldn't be fair to me getting all the super OFF colours right? Some sets have got 2 or 3 very ugly colours and I bet it must be because of other people's mixing and matching. I'm always happy to receive sweet feedback about the things people receive from me and boy am I glad when some gal pals actually texted back to swoon about the colours they got after opening their gifts. The strange thing is that, they chose the packages blindly but got the set they liked. That is, for those who texted. I'm not sure about those who didn't feedback.




The boys got gifts too but the gals got more. *wink*




As usual, some people thought I handmade the magnets while some could not see the personalization of their name. They probably needed far-sighted glasses like my parents and for the umpteenth time, no, not handmade. I'm only claiming intellectual rights to the graphic and digital aspects.




[All photos in this section were taken using iPhone 6 and Samsung S4.]


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I will disclaim my usual disclaimer whenever I'm super tired while doing blog post:
"I'm typing this post with half my eyes closed and nodding off to sleep. Proofreading and phases of edits would come after everyone has spotted my grammatical error, spelling error and weird sentence expression."

Be warned... impending verbal diarrhoea, ranting and incoherence ahead. Possible deletion of portion.

I sometimes wonder how do so many of you keep up with having blog posts every alternate days or once every few days and still manage to reply to comments and/or visit blogs back and reply with the ever sweetest comments (which obviously show that you have read or at least gathered gist of the posts) all on top of having a full time job/studies and/or managing a job and kids or being a full time mum? I really salute all of you who could manage your time so well. Do share some tips. =)

By the time I travel home from work, have dinner, shower and be all refreshed for the night, it could be 9-10pm on a usual day. Sometimes I fall asleep at weird hours only to wake up in the middle of the night to shower. I could only edit my photos and churn out chunks of paragraphs during pockets of free time in addition to a considerable state of consciousness. Such free time and good state of consciousness would probably constitute about 3--5% of my weekday. Breaking up these pockets of free time even further, free time does not only constitute blogging or managing other social media platforms. There are still so many other things in life to do than to engage in social media stuff. For weekends, I love to spend one day at cozying up at home which also includes doing some blog work (prepping a blog post, replying to comments and visiting blogs). Sometimes, both Saturdays and Sundays would be spent outside especially when there are meet ups and celebrations all falling during the same weekend and blogwork would have to be put on hold.

Talking about social media, Instagram is another thing which I wanna briefly mention. I would perhaps need a whole blog post dedicated to Instagram. No offence to any of you blog friends who follow me coz you are definitely NOT whom I'm referring to. I love to receive comments from my real friends and blog friends. I also love to receive comments from new friends who really engage or whom I find an affinity to. But I get so sick of cursory comments and shallow people who just want to chat me up or who try so hard to keep a conversation going when I've already replied with a comment that seem to warrant no more further reply from the other party. Yes, I appreciate compliments and I do thank some of these people. Yet, there are simply too many of the same individual giving similar compliments to so many pictures or different individuals giving almost the same kind of compliments that I think maybe, just maybe, it is not impolite if I do not thank them after all. Next come the people who assume and just shoot off comments thinking they know me very well and it pisses me off. It gets worse when English isn't their first language. I often have to wonder if they are rude or just using words wrongly. Giving them the benefit of doubt, I can't answer them rudely too and boy it takes so much brain cells to reply them. Some try to reach out in their language and so I take the time to translate on Google to roughly gather what they mean and reply in their language. But hey... why am I the one doing all the work of translating when they are the one reaching out to me? With the increase in followers, I can no longer keep up with my notifications and I thought "What a fine way to not bother to reply to comments anymore!"

Since we are on the line of notification, this reminds me of all forms of notifications that people could see, eg WhatsApp online timing, last read message, activities on social media etc...  and assume "Hey you are free to be online, to have read my message, to like like like and comment on Instagram... bla bla bla" Erm... let's just say that online timing or a read notification do not indicate that you have really read and digest a message. Activities on social media could be posted during commutes or breaks. Such time could only be constructive in certain ways and not in the ways which I want. One of my whatsapp group recently had a discourse on WhatsApp notifications and how misunderstandings are caused. Boy it was so insightful and how we understood one another's habits even more after that.

There you see... verbal diarrhoea. How my train of thoughts could link from carriage to carraige. I think I sound totally bitchy here but I don't care at this moment. Maybe over the next few days you might see this portion disappearing from my blog after some form of consciousness takes over Mean Bitch Jo once more. This is supposed to be a Christmas post full of love... Bah...

Edited to add (few days later):
Ok I feel better (while it lasts) after ranting and I shall just leave this portion here.



38 comments:

  1. Hi Jo! Oh, you made me miss the Christmas so bad! I see you had lots of fun with your friends, those cupcakes are utterly fun and sweet, well done one getting the snowman, I would have "fought" for the santa lol!:P Love your gifts for the girls, so thoughtful! The dinner was yummy too, especially the dessert, and Jo, you were adorable as ever! Btw, to reply to what you said at the end, I havent much time either, thats why when I cant stop by first, feeling little guilty too! Dont know what happens on IG though, so sorry as I can imagine is so frustrating!:/ Write about it soon. Many hugs! xo

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    1. Hello Lilli. If you were around and have fought for the santa, you would have made our job of choosing a lot easier. Haha... Oh, I feel that you are one of those who would definitely visit and leave some lovely comments. If you feel guilty, I would feel guilty even more. =D I may or may not write about Instagram but if I do, it would be something many Instagram users would love to read... I hope.

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    2. Thanks a million Jo! <3 Oh, yes, I would have definitely fought for Santa!:P Ah, miss Xmas!XD

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  2. Jo, I love your honesty... first, I am with you... who has time to post every day or every other day? Not me, I am now lucky to post once a week... I used to post everyday a couple of years ago but that was when I only followed a few blogs, now I follow many. I used to comment on all of them... Now I comment on the ones that comment on mine and my absolute favorites (there are few that never comment but they follow me else where and keep up with me.) I only post once a week or so to Instagram, it is too much to do much more. I feel like I am media savvy but I still get overwhelmed. Most of my comments come from when I am on my commute to work.. an hour and a half back and forth on a bus and on breaks and lunch at work. It is relaxing after answering payroll questions :) Some at night after my daughter has gone to bed... I often take nights off and don't do anything, we all need breaks... :)

    As far as your first part of the post, I love it... the nail polish is a dream for me, there is not much I look at and think... Oooo I want that.. but I have to stop myself with buying nail polish or I would have 50 shades... I only have 10... the minis are cute :)

    By the way, like you, I really like to get to know the people I follow... there are some that get a small comment from me as that is what they give me (even then it is more thoughtful then theirs but others like yourself I actually take the time and you don't post everyday :) xox

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    1. Hey Launna. You are one of those whose comments I would always look forward to reading coz they are so sweet and well-thought out. I would never have guess that you wrote them on your commutes to and fro work and home. I wished I could do more with my commute time. I would get dizzy typing too much in moving transport except for on the MRT (subway). I could only read and scroll apps like Facebook and Instagram, like like like and type short comments. I would also take this time to reply to WhatsApp and sms from friends. But for blogs and emails, I love to sit down proper at the laptop and type from there. The past few days, my modem is down and I could only use my phone. Hence, all blog stuff was left aside. And yes, sometimes we do need the nights off.

      I think it is ok to own many shades of nail polish simply because they are nail polish. Haha... Am I making any sense here? I would have guess that your comment is definitely way thoughtful than those who gave you short cursory ones coz of your good-natured personality.

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  3. Look at the baby!!! Not ignoring the pointed essay by MBJ there at the end, but just look at that sweet baby! Perhaps you are having Instagram issues due to bad karma from eating Olaf. As for the writing, you know a bit of my recent blah-ness with Instagram. About twice a month something happens to really encourage me to stay, a few times a week something sort of ok happens, and then mostly its just people liking my pictures which is fine but not near enough any more. I have unfollowed a ton of people, even some who follow me which I never did before. I want a small, active, loyal, sweet group in my life in any setting and IG is no different. People do not reach out to me so much in the ways you speak of. i think that mostly happens to women. The people who do reach out to me on those super rare times (and are not selling me things) it is pretty great for me. But mostly I do all the reaching and my knuckles are awfully bruised and cold. Hope you finally got my email :)

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    1. Haha... that's so cute of a grown man to comment on my gal pal's sweet baby first before anything else! Oh you did an Instagram clean up? Congrats, I hope you feel the merits of the decluttering on Instagram. I don't follow many people as I do not like my newsfeed to be too crowded. Following 176 people, I'm already missing photos as soon as I don't scroll through the newsfeed once or even twice a day. I wonder how's the newsfeed like for people who follow a few thousands or few tens of thousands. Don't be discouraged if you reach out to people and don't get the response you expect. Instagram being so "instant", many people would not other to connect on a deeper level. I myself don't connect on a deeper level on Instagram as on blog if you could tell. Plus the fact that I mostly reply to Instagram comments on commutes. Yet on the other hand, there are people who just wanna connect... on FB, on whatever KIK etc. I wonder how come they have so much time to chat with strangers. I've found your email and will get down to replying in the next few days.

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  4. I only spy 1 ugly colour amongst those polishes! The rest all look wearable. And oh my God, FOOD! It's alarming how much I enjoy looking at pictures of food. Thanks for sharing!

    As for having time to blog, I struggle. I dedicate a few hours on Tuesdays and Sundays to photograph everything I need to for the next week. When ever I get a free moment I edit and write up my posts, sometimes I end up doing it at work or in clinic. I'm in the last year of a 5 year degree, so I'm at Uni 6 days a week as well as having to work part time so I feel your pain.

    I guess a tip is to be super organised? Really unhelpful, I know. I am making 'to do' lists every day. Things to Google, things to buy, things to blog about, lists of sponsors etc.

    Oh and Instagram is a funny place. Most people just spam the same comment to hundreds of people in a bid to get you to notice them and follow them :P

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Kim. I love seeing newcomers around and I love your thoughtful comment. Most newcomers usually leave cursory comments so I sat up and read yours with delight. You are so good at your time management especially with school and working part time. Thank you for sharing on how you manage your social media time. It is always refreshing to read other people's practices.

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  5. First of all, it looks like you had a great Christmas gathering, Jo and those cupcakes looks scrumptious! Secondly, I used to work a full time job, a baby and then blog. It was extremely tough and there are days I felt I was about to go mad. Between waking up at 4 or 5 am, feed the baby, leave for work at 7am and back home at 7.30pm, again with baby, cook, time with hubby and baby and finally blog, it was pure madness. It's easier these days as I am a full time mum and U find keeping blogging schedule to posting Monday, Wednesday and Friday helps. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday are replying, drafting days with Saturday completely off from blogging.
    On Instagram matter, I have to agree with you. I don't encounter such problem but I can see why it is annoying. I would say just ignore those who doesn't deserve your attention. I'm starting to do that with those who post "Great post! I like it!" on my blog too. Probably not the advise you're looking for but I hope it helps a little. xx

    Shireen | Reflection of Sanity

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    1. Hey Shireen. I really admire you for being able to have a full time job, be a mum to a young baby and blog. I can imagine all the family commitments you have at home after work with a baby to look after. Kudos to you for being able to manage it all in the past despite being about to go mad. I'm glad that right now, being a full time mum has helped to release some time for you. Are you on maternity leave and going back to the workforce in a few month's time or you are taking a break from work to be a full-time mum?

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  6. Hey, Jo! What a lovely Christmas edition part 2! I loved the cupcakes, haha, and how clever of you to play a mind game to get one! You and your friend look so nice! I absolutely loved the food on the photos, but what caught my attention - the beer, yeah, the beer! I am a beer lover and I drink beer every day, lol (don't think I am an alcoholic, just love it!). Hope you enjoyed a pint of good beer! Your friend's baby is absolutely gorgeous! And how cool you prepared a nail-polish gifts for your girlfriends! I am sure they enjoyed the gifts, even when they didn't text you about them!

    About the last part of this post - I need to tell you something. I also work 40hours per week, I am a student, I have exams, classes every day, I have a boyfriend and I go out very often with my girlfriends. I love blogging though and I always can find the time to come up with my future post, prepare it and check my favourite blogger's updates. I have a scheduled posts - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. During the weekend I take a break and most of the time I gather some material for the blogging week. I also have limited my reading list only to blogs that really matter to me. I mean, I don't follow lots of the most popular bloggers. They are always so easy to reach and they never response back to me. So why wasting time on this? I prefer keeping in touch with people like you, Lilli, etc. because it's always so interesting to have a "virtual" conversation. About the spammers - I just ignore them. That's my philosophy. Hope it'll help you somehow. Kisses

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    1. Hello Sany. This is Part 3 actually and omg, I still have 2 more parts to end the whole Christmas 2014 so please don't get sick of my Chirtsmas posts. Hehehe... =D I couldn't tell you are a beer person and that you drink it every day. The image that comes to my mind of a beer guzzling person who drinks beer every day is someone with a round beer belly and you are nothing like that at all! So slim and beautiful. My hubby started lots of beer drinking after work these few years and his tummy is getting rounder and rounder.

      I really take my hat off you for being able to manage your work, studies, social life and blogging all at once. I think if I were to follow your schedule, I still wouldn't be able to make it. Hahaha... I get tired so easily as age catches up on me. I used to be able to manage 4-6 hours of sleep every day w/o feeling tired at all. That was the time when I was able to craft posts once or twice a week and return comments and visits. Now I can't do that. I'm simply too tired. Hence, all other commitments would come before blogging though I would say blogging is a hobby which I enjoy a lot. I love keeping my memories in caches and I love all the connection with you people.

      Thanx for sharing! I love reading what you have to say. xo

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  7. Hahah I can't get that image of the glasses on the dog out of my head! That's awesome you got to do this meet up/gathering, I haven't had a proper one with my highschool friends yet! We're just too all over the place! I've heard so much about dean & deluca and totally need to head there for a slice of cake or two! Paulaner is a great place for beer brewed in town, there are only a few in singapore and the beer really taste amazing and the food is great a hearty! Sorry to hear about your issue with commenters! I don't practice replying to comments unless there's a question or if I want to tell someone something I'll do it back on their blog so they see it for sure. People are so unreasonable and you don't owe them any explanation. I don't know if not replying all together for a while would help you but that's what I would do for a short while. We are all busy people, even if our online media is active or not life goes one! ^^

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    1. "We are all busy people, even if our online media is active or not life goes one! ^^"

      I love this line of yours the most, Sharlynn.

      It is so strange that in my last post I was having negative feedback for Dean and Deluca but in this post, I'm in awe of their cute little cakes. And yes, I've not replied to some comments and also ignored those which are not important. Some comments are just so "unrepliable". I need to go to Paulaner more often. There are still many dishes on their menu which I want to try.

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  8. These are really sumptuous foods! so enticing because I'm also a tea lover. The problem is that I think I'm the only one in my circle who is.

    Looks like a fun catching up. :) Have a wonderful 2015!

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    1. Ah, I thought many gals and ladies would be into tea. I'm trying my best to avoid too much tea but tea with chat is the best combination. Same to you, have an amazing 2015!

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  9. love the table setting and the cupcakes!

    and as for instagram and other communication platforms yeah I can relate. it's annoying when people just spam you with follow like like like, for me, if I like something, I will LIKE it and I don't need someone to ask me to like it. and the languange barrier- yeeah I just feel some people have too much time wherever they are from! ;)

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    1. I fell in love with the table setting too. My gal pal is just such a good host! About instagrammers... yeah indeed, they really have lots of time. Why keep asking people to add on instachat, KIK, FB etc? I don't even have time for so many things, much less chat with a stranger.

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  10. That poor snowman's head! HaHaHa Just kidding! I would've eaten him also. Those Christmas cupcakes look so good. Benefit skincare is awesome. I made the switch this winter. My skin is glowing. Love the get togethers you guys have. The food looked delicious. Blogging changes with me. Last year, I posted 3 days a week. The year before that 4 days. This year, EVERYDAY! I don't have kids. I don't have a husband. I have a lot of free time on my hands. So I'm just writing post after post. I don't expect comments everyday from my readers. Everyone's lifestyle is different. I feel like blogging. So I'm doing it. Each one of us goes through a phase. HaHaHa
    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

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    1. I knew you were into Benefit, Kim! You had such fine reviews for them. You are one who writes very interesting stuff, be it reviews or sharing about your outings so posting such delightful posts every day is a mean feat. I admit I have a hard time catching up with your posts but I do try to speed read through whatever I've missed. It's not an obligation to do so but I would like to at least know what's happening with you. I'm ignorant in this aspect even though we are blog friends for years, are you a full time blogger now?

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  11. Love the photos!! That food looks so good :)

    Love the rant. I totally agree. If we like your blog we will follow.


    http://floralsandsmiles.blogspot.ca/
    twitter.com/floralandsmiles

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    1. Hi Double Ks, Yes I agree too. People don't have to tell us to like or follow coz if we like a blog/instagrammer, we would defnitely follow.

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  12. How cool are you guys. Man, I wish my friends could band together like that for special holidays. I get so envious of people who do this. That said, it wasn't like I was bending over backwards to arrange anything either. BTW, correct me if I am wrong Jo but this is your blog isn't it? Soooo rant away girl! Never apologise. It's one of my favorites things about you and this blog, how you speak your mind and say things people don't say aloud (at least people I know that is) I don't understand how people can blog everyday and visit blogs too. I am currently not working and 14 days into the year I did a post. 14 days. Technically I could have done one everyday but it's not possible. I guess I just don't have that many topics or ideas to share. And I'm boring too lol, no crazy cool adventures to share. I do find it getting harder and harder to keep up with other bloggers. I wish I could visit them everyday and keep up with all their posts but it's a struggle. I end up visiting every time I do a new post. I check bloglovin' then go through the previous posts comments and stay on track that way. It takes a good while to go through them all though. I suppose because I take the time to read each post not skim through or copy and pasting generic stuff into boxes. Aside from my digital signature lol. Re Instagram, I am fortunate enough that I don't get comments like that, I don't think I do. I don't have that many followers so I can keep track of who comments etc. I do hate those who tag a bunch of usernames, thinking I'll go follow them or something. That annoys me. Plus random people saying "nice pic" - not liking your photo but just commenting so you'll click on their profile and it tells you how to gain 1000 followers. That, I dislike because for a while I was thanking them and sending them emoji kiss faces. Man what a waste.

    Sxx
    www.daringcoco.com

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    1. Sonia, YOU ARE NOT BORING. I repeat, YOU ARE NOT BORING. Your posts are such a joy to read and your photos are so gorgeous. Well, it is good to rant at times and I admit that I was actually very sleepy crafting this post and then I started to feel wonder about how other bloggers do it and then I became very annoyed with the frivolous Instagram comments... everything all rolled into one and made me one very pissed off lady. I literally lol when I saw you mentioning that you were thanking some instagrammers and sending them emoji till you realised that it was a waste. That's really funny babe.

      I too, keep up with other blog friends by looking through the comments section of the recent posts and visit back. I seldom use bloglovin so I would sometimes recall that I haven't seen a certain blog friend for a while and would look back at more dated posts to find their links.

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  13. Looks like you had a fun time. The table setting is lovely and I like to see candles and pine cones together at this time of year. Cute cupcakes and I'm a huge fan of Tea Forté too.

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    1. Yes, I fell in love with the table setting too! My gal pal is such a good host!

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  14. Hi Jo, I have tea party with my friends too, but we're a lot older so we drink those Chinese tea, you know the ones in those teeny weeny cups. Lol. I'm not too crazy about tea since I'm a huge coffee drinker but it's a good time to gather around and talk. That's one thing I love about you, you're so real and honest. Honestly, I have time to blog but I rather do other stuff (chat with my kids, cook, read, clean the house) and since my blog is mostly about fashion, I don't blog that often in the winter, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I'm not a fan of winter fashion. Lol. Love the thing you talk about instagram too. I can literally write a whole post on IG too. Thank you so much for your honesty.

    xo Jo

    http://www.whiterosesandcoffee.com/

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    1. Hey Jo. I love chinese tea too! My gal pal in this post is into chinese tea too and she has a couple of tea sets. Thank you, dear. I guess I'm real and honest when I need to get things out to feel better. Yes, you have a family and I'm sure you spend lots of quality time with them. I love all your food photos on Instagram most coz you do whip out some delightful home-cooked dishes which reminds me of my parents' cooking at times. I would definitely enjoy it if you wrote a post about IG. Isn't that a wonderful idea for a blog post? =D

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  15. it seems you are having a really good time.
    xxx
    mari
    www.ilovegreeninspiration.com

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  16. What a wonderful time...I love Christmas!! This looked really special...all the gifts and food and great company is marvellous. I hope you enjoyed yourself!! Perfect xx

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  17. Hi Jo, omg these cupcakes are way too cute to be eaten. Noooo you beheaded Frosty the snowman ;-) Congrats to xtina fro giving birth to the super cutie baby Sam! Can you believe it but I have never been to a Paulaner Brauhäus and I totally hate beer. One sip and I have to throw up haha. Glad you guys had fun. Your cupcakes look way more yummy than the ones I made. Have you tried gluten-free muffins. You know they tasted like bread instead of muffins. They need more sugar and chocolat if you ask me. I'm not the best baker out there (okay maybe the worst) but I have to an gluten-intolerance and no other choice. Btw my histamine intolerance has gotten much better since I'm not eating gluten anymore! Actually I'm feeling much better overall :D Lol you used google translate to answer them on Instagram. I wouldn't have bothered. Please don't get upset by them Jo. It's not worth your time :D

    xx

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    1. Lol... Paulaner Brauhäus hails from your country right? And you must be the first German I know who hates beer. I haven't tried gluten-free muffins but no matter how you said yours aren't yummy, I would love a home-made one coz it is made with loads of love, MIra dear!

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  18. That first photo is seriously divine...didn't even think it was someone's HOUSE. Thought it was a hotel or a restaurant! I'd love to host my own tea party someday, because I've become a tea hoarder as of late AND I NEED ALL THE HELP I CAN GET IN FINISHING OFF MY TEAS ;-;
    Congrats to Christina/Xtina and the new baby girl! That wink is too cute! And damn at all that German food *-* Kinda hungry at the moment, but totally makes me miss being in Germany! (Was in Germany last summer, and of course, the food was amazing)

    And I totally get you in regards to not having time for interaction on social media platforms. Honestly, there are better things to do with your precious free time, and I think everyone needs to understand that not everyone has the time to leave a comment/respond to comments because y'know, there's life outside blogging. One of the reasons why I took a blog hiatus for two months last year was because I was overwhelmed by the amount of commenting I had to do, but take it easy on yourself! You don't need to comment on every post, just the ones you're interested in!

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    1. Hey Vanessa, Yes my friend's family is wealthy but they are such humble people. We are old friends and still she requested not to post pictures of her house on social media. That's how nondescript they are. That photo you see was approved since it was just the table. Lol...

      You are the comment QUEEN Vanessa. I'm so awed by the time and effort you took to address your readers and even visit their blogs. It takes lots of commitment to maintain this 2-way communication and yes, it could get tiring as much as it is fun connecting with people. Agree about taking it easy. Nobody would expect their readers to comment on every single post too. That's how understanding we all are and I'm glad for this blogosphere friendship with people like you! We will always be back some time or another and we still show our existence and support on Instagram. *winkz*

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    2. Haha, too humble! (But yeah, again security reasons behind that too)

      Naw, I'm hardly a 'comment queen' :( I haven't been in a very very long time as I take forever to respond to my comments these days due to how mentally exhausted I am from blogging, hah. I do make efforts to visit people's blogs and comment though, as it's only fair to them for putting so much effort into their posts!

      BUT YES, sooner or later we always come back as old friends catching up! :D

      Delete

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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