tuesday is the new friday

we interrupt the sydney series for some good ol' fashioned fun in the +65. after the deluge of deadlines, it's great to finally get some well-deserved downtime. and it felt like a friday but without the madding crowd that crawls outta the cracks in the sidewalks and into every conceivable space worth hanging out in. that said, the bar was packed to the rafters on a tuesday night and there was the occasional scurry to hustle an extra chair as our party grew and grew. thank goodness ee hui had the foresight to reserve a table in the adjacent room which we filled, and some, in no time!

loved the buzz and it's always self-satisfying to walk into a place and see familiar faces. familiar faces who are in-the-know, and you know that you, too, are onto a good thing! the chilled out atmosphere was just what the doctor ordered for a tuesday night (yeah, i can't get over it either. decadent!) out on the town. good mix of old friends and new, personalised cocktails (hell yeah! there was a pretty awesome raspberry sakae-tini...) and off we went on a cocktail adventure. have heard many good things about this new watering hole and was glad to finally get round to checking it out myself :) the company was awesome, as always, and after a few drinks we were racking our brains for long-forgotten cheng yu in an acsian vs rafflesian stand off. no prizes for guessing which camp reigned supreme, teehee. the cocktails, rather mysteriously, sent us on a trip down memory lane and before long we were reminiscing about paddle pop and the sharity elephant. there was a mini phone drama and a case of mistaken identity (long story), but needless to say it was very sweet of sam to come all the way down, thinking he was rescuing my lost mobile. the lengths he'd go to for a friend. awwww :) and this was right after we caught up over lunch today, so i guess lunch and then drinks with me isn't the overdose i'd thought it to be!

here are some photos - all the furniture is for sale btw! reminded me of cafe string in stockholm...

and now i'm off to bed! busy busy wednesday ahead.

one for the ladies

(photo from tsura)

as we tiptoe into september, don't these autumn stackable rings look divine and oh-so-season-appropriate? tara is one of the most gifted artist i know and looking at her first collection, i'm spoilt for choice. would pick everything in a heartbeat! do swing by her website that just went live to see more of her captivating work. particularly appreciate how she's remained true to the theme and captures the essence of divinity in nature.

sneaks

a range of cheese from hard to soft, iberico sausage from madrid, grapes, crackers and moscato!

had the girls over for the first time last week*. he's entertained a few times in my absence (grrr...) and i'm making up for lost time with my ladies. so i picked a day where he'll be at his action mama best i.e. out of my hair and while he plays tennis / soccer / gyms, my girls are taking over :) so they came last week bearing beard papa and popiah (my two loves) and this time we've decided to go all pretentious and do a simple wine and cheese tea party. yes, sacrilegious as ritz may be (cheese goes with bread, and bread alone, according to my friends) i happen to like salty crackers and abhor white bread. so there. also, i've stocked the wine fridge with moscato and am making a special trip to my parents' later to pick up the plonk my father refuses to serve his guests. haha. more for us uncultured wine swilling philistines! yay!

ohmyword i sound like such an underaged alkie.

*nothing like having your girlfriends over and the first thing they did was mark out all the spots they'd get busy on. oh the horror! and somehow there was a gathering in my bathroom and it felt like we were schoolgirls on a toilet trip all over again :) good times!

day 29

sunday 6 june 2010 valencia

left barca bright and early and took the bus to valencia. 5h and EUR25 later (it's still half the price of the 3h long train ride), i made stumbled out of the bus station and somehow managed to make my way across the old river bed and into the historic centre of the city.ok, take 'stumbled' back. i'm actually a huge far of bus rides. love overland travel and my innate ability to space out comes in very handy for long bus rides. the kiasu singaporean in me usually tries to get a seat near the front so i've a good view, and as the country rumbles by, my mind wanders and it's a very pleasant experience. poor person's high, perhaps.

met Y at maccas (i know, very historic) and she'd already plotted our route to the hostel. woot! yay to my all-time favourite travel buddy. we'd done brunei together 8 years ago, and i'd gone with her family to bangkok the year after but this was our first time travelling together sans parentals. she'd just finished her exams and was sweet enough to join me for an all too short 2 nights in valencia. plus, she'd done her research and knew everything about valencia, right down to us arriving on the day of the rockers.

unfortunately, i'm as culturally obtuse as Y is savvy, and we'd a field day with our minor miscommunication. she'd really sold the idea of the 'rocker parade' to me and i was all excited about watching rock stars tour and perform around the city. it was after much confusion, however, that i found out that rockers were not ageing rockstars like i'd imagined but what the locals called their floats. nonetheless, a parade is a parade and no one was going to rain on ours! 

so Y and i headed to another historical institution (101 flavours of tapas, J, my born-and-bred valencian friend rolled his eyes when i told him i'd liked it) and ordered enough food for 4. the waitress tried to warn us that it was too much food for 2 people but we remained unmoved. the 2 of us proceeded to demolish this baby (below) and eagerly went to get curb-side seats of the parade.

before the parade, here's a photo of my bed in our double room. it was pretty insane. when we first opened the door and i saw this huge bed, i sighed inwardly, thinking they'd gotten our twin booking wrong. split second later, that sigh turned into elation as i spied from the corner of my eye that we actually had a king sized bed EACH and our room, psychedelic colour scheme aside, was HUGE. by far the most spacious hostel i've ever stayed in :) we couldn't believe our luck. 

a rocker getting ready to roll

the people dangle what looked like table runners from their window to add to the festive feel. it's a competition, according to J, and the best window display wins a prize! fascinating how the community is involved.

after the rocker parade, we were so wiped out (Y'd been on the go since 3am) that we surrendered to the fatigue and had an early night.