Into the new year 2009

My first blog for 2009....

I spent New Year's Eve morning servicing my baby car.

My baby car will be three years old end of this month which also marks the end of my final payment for the car....woohoo!

Three options for the car:

a) Sell it and buy another car when I go home

b) Trade in the car for another one-(not sure to what though)

c) Keep it and ship it home

I'm not yet sure what I want to do....everytime I think of selling it/changing it I feel sad because it had so many memories with it...I'm a sentimentalist if there ever was such a word...

I took Aliza and Ninie to Portobello Rd in the morning to check out Hummingbird Bakery for a girlie morning coffee chat with cupcakes...but we were disappointed that the cafe was closed....

All was not lost, however, because we discovered another cafe called Humble Cafe for some humble pie---it was yummy! I'll definitely take a short drive there again....

Then it was back to work-more of a short afternoon of checking emails and calling my peeps back home before heading home.I wasn't planning to do anything for the NYE countdown and would have been content to stay in and watch the fireworks along the Thames on tv rather than freezing out in the cold along the riverbank.

But as usual when I don't plan things...something impromptu will come up.

I decided to join No.53 peeps for Hakkasan dinner which I hoped wouldn't come to the same bill total as last time....it was less pricey than before and it is a once in a while treat and the food is definitely first class.

The whole evening was thoroughly enjoyable with good company. We headed back to wait for the countdown and watch the fireworks from Primrose Hill. I think this year was a better NYE countdown than last year's - Despite the bitter cold weather , there were plenty of fireworks on display and beautiful lanterns flying up into the sky.

The next day, Nazlin invited me over with a few other mates for a New Years Day Turkish lunch since her mother in law was in town. It was a delicious meal especially trying out salma (rice stuffed in vine leaves) which I love but it was my first time to try it home made which was amazing.

It was nice to catch up with old mates since we are all spread out all over London and don't meet up often.

Even my close friend Omar said we don't meet up often enough especially since he's moved nearer to my area...So to make amends...I visited his new place which was a typical batchelor's pad and met his flatmates.

We then headed to the movies to watch our first movie for the year-Australia. I wanted to watch Slumdog Millionaire especially after watching the trailers but it doesn't come out here until the end of the month.

Australia was an epic movie starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman-it was a good movie but you have to be in the right mood for it. It's not something you want to watch if you're expecting a movie with a lot of special effects, unpredictable plot or twists in the movie.

It's a good movie with great acting by Nicole Kidman..so-so acting by Hugh Jackman but my favourite character was Nala the aboriginal kid who became the narrator throughout the whole story.

The cinematography of the Outback was breathtaking and makes you just want to get on the horse and hit the Great Outback.

I recommend it if you want to watch a good old classic Gone With the Wind type movie for a three hour movie...

So get comfortable in the cinema... :) This was my favourite song in the movie as the characters sat around the campfire. It is by Iron and Wine "Such Great Heights"

All in all it has been a relaxing start to the New Year.

Any resolutions? Well no resolutions but to be happy and better myself as a person:

Workwise-I wanna aim for promotion to have a more secure future when I go home (it's gonna be a challenge especially after talking to other execs in my position)

Personalwise- Try to be less naive and be more wary of people who take me for granted.

This past year, a few people have disappointed me in their actions and at times have cause misunderstandings between certain people I know.

People sometimes misunderstand me and make certain assumptions about me-but if they're not willing to know the real me then I'm not going to impose it on them.

I will also try to think about my actions /words first before judging/making my assumptions about them until I know them well enough. Sometimes first impressions are deceiving and all is not as they seem.

Despite that, I am still blessed to have people around me near and far who are there for me during the good and bad times....

Let 2009 bring me closer to my goal.... Bring it on!