Poly friend meet-up and LEGO Brickvention 2011

We had planned this meet-up since last year when Val told they were coming for holidays in VIC! Val and I had not yet for about 8 years! We got to know each other during the final year at Nanyang Polytechnic Singapore, when we chose our specialisations and did some modules and projects together. She and her hubby RX(as she usually calls him) met in poly as well. Their relationship blossomed into a wonderful love story as they are now married and have a cute daughter called Sheryl.

We met up with them last friday night for dinner and dessert. Tubbs treated them dinner at Pacific House restaurant along Chapel St. They were after all guests visiting from interstate. Val and RX studied in Queensland during their uni days and now RX is back to do his Master and of course Val and Sheryl followed too. They felt bad about us treating them and so we let them return the favour by buying us dessert. ;)

Val, Sheryl and I at Ganache Chocolate, Chapel Street.

Group pic of me, Tubbs, Val, Sheryl (sneeky little wave) and RX.

Over the weekend, Tubbs and I also went to Australia's Lego Convention, called Brickvention. We had planned to go together with Khim, Ellen (also LEGO fans) , Michelle and Jason, but when we drove past Russell St in the late morning, we saw a huge crowd and line around the building leading to the town hall where the convention was held, and so were in two minds now about it. Never did we expect it to be so popular and crazy!

Cindy (also a crazy Lego fan) said she drove past and saw the crowd as well and decided to give it a pass because they had to rush off for something else. While having lunch at Kopitiam in QV, The 4 of us had decided not to go except for Khim and Ellen who were adament about going. Luckily Han gave me a call and said he was lining up(already had been for an hour) and asked us to cut his queue. Michelle and Jason still decided not to join us as the queue was still quite long.
And so it was just Tubbs, Me, Khim, Ellen and Han. We still had to line up for another hour before we were let in, but it was well worth it! Above are some favourite picks of mine. Boy was it really crowded! It was a body-to-body push and shove around some of the stands to get a good look at the displays. Some of the proud Lego creators were explaining to people how long they took, the amount of bricks used and how they came about the idea of their creation.

A lot of the displays were Lego towns and city with some of the rarer and more exclusive ones like the Big Ben, Taj Mahal and London Bridge also spotted. Sets like those probably go for close to $1000! The last I checked, the Taj Mahal was around AUD$999! And so it was a great and rare opportunity to be able to see these magnificant sets in person. We spent quite a few hours there and only left at about 4pm-ish. It was a tiring but fun day!

Here's a link to the LEGO Brickvention 2011 photos on facebook if you want to check out more amazing display pics. Enjoy!

Christmas 2010 and New Year 2011 Celebrations

Firstly Happy New Year 2011 everyone! This year was another Christmas spent overseas away from family and home. But we're blessed to have friends and other family members here to celebrate with us. We held a Christmas Eve Party at our place on Fri 24th Dec.

Tubbs was initially pretty controlling of the number of people I was to invite for the party as our little hut was really small. But being the softie self (and hypocrite in the end!), he himself invited another few friends over as he just felt bad, plus it was the festive season.

Christmas Tree and Decos inside	The Chef cutting the leg of ham
Time for some Wii action after dinner	Then dessert was chocolate fondue
Xmas tree chock full of pressies!	Time for the naughty/funny gift exchange
Han and his Licquorice whip!	Aims with her sexy undies purse

Group pic! From L-R Top: Weichao, Troy, Ellen, Khim, Han (almost hidden), Jason, Michelle, Tubbs. L-R Bottom: Audrey, Ann, me and Ammie. Also present were James, Andy, Wai and his two siblings. At that point of time when everyone was present, can you imagine how squishy the house would have been! OMG.

In any case, we all still had fun! Two rounds of Xmas gift exchange, rounds of Wii and some pretty mess to clean up afterwards, but it was all good. Michelle, Audrey, Aims and I also went for midnight mass because we anticipated not being able to get up early the next day! haha!

On Christmas day, we were invited by dear Diana to a BBQ with the usual Karaoke gang. I've gotten to know them from D's birthday last year and they are a funny and fun bunch! The BBQ was at Albert Park and boy was it a pretty chilly Christmas day!

Diggin in to yummy prawns and chicken wings	Girlies pic: Linghui, me, Aims and D
The pple in charge of the cooking. hehe! While the rest of us just ate only	Ok crazy Christine came up with this funny Marilyn Monroe pose
Beer ad. - another idea from Christine.	With D and her Xmas pressie for me! :)

So it seemed like that was a good day for BBQs! Later that night, we were invited to my uncle and aunty's place for a BBQ dinner. He had a few other family friends over as well. And boy did our stomachs take the full blow from that day and the night before - with all the food!

Uncle and his only "ang-moh" friend(whom they boldly called him guai-loi and he's fine with it) doing the cooking	The hungry guests enjoying the food at the outdoor area. There was drinking but not for some under-age ones around!
The "gamblers" upstairs playing Texas Poker	The "Kiddies" and I downstairs playing Wii
Cutie Jasper posing at the Xmas Tree	Coussy Kayla and I at the chrismas tree

For the new years celebration, Michelle and Jason invited us to their house for another BBQ plus fun and games for the night! It was a really great and enjoyable festive season throughout! It's friends and extended family members that help ease the sadness of being away from your family during the holiday period. But I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world to spend Xmas with my parents, brother and sis-in-law again next year. :D