Hello 2012!

It's 33 days late, but better late than never, right? ;)
Happy New Year everyone!

Where have January gone?! Yikes, it's February already!
So, how's everyone Christmas and New Year? Hopefully you all had an awesome Holiday season, as well as an exciting new year to look forward to. My holiday season has been filled with lots of family gatherings and catch up with friends. Other than that, we just simply enjoying some time off work (who wouldn't? ;p)

I shall keep this short & sweet and share some photos I took over the Holiday seasons via instagr.am

Of course, it's not Christmas without gift wrappings! Even Spencer helps too!

Tree of gifts! all wrapped up and ready to go!

For some peeps at work, I prepared some chocolate treats!

Christmas shoppings ... Filled up my car booth to the brim!

Christmas aftermath: I got a mountain of NENDOROIDS as xmas gifts!!!

and last but not least; I started the New Year with some Glittery goodness!

Phew, hopefully that's give you a snippet of what I've been up to during the silly season!
Have a nice day everyone!

ps: don't you just love instagr.am?! It has become my latest obsession! ;)

2011 in review

via imgfave

Ola everyone!
It's 6 days before Christmas and exactly 12 days before the year end!!
Yikes!! Where have November gone?
It seems like just yesterday that I was blogging about my tea-sub and that was back in October. Crazy how (for me) days seems to fly away in lightning speed nowadays.

via weheartit

Anyhoo, sorry everyone for such lack in blog post for the past 6 months. Life has just been so hectic lately and I know that I threw so many ... too many excuses on my lacking in blogging. In saying that, I think this post will be my last post for the year due to hectic: Christmas season, family and friends gathering and of course Christmas shopping! But I shall be back next year with more regular updates (fingercross >___<)
So, to close off the year, I thought I create a blog post about how 2011 has been for me.
Well ... Long story cut short: 2011 has been a rollercoaster year for me, plenty of ups and downs.

via ohsopictures!

Truth be told, I've been such a biatch and a brat earlier in the year. I've complained, I've whinged, I was being easily irritable, super moody and I wasn't the best person you want to be around with when the mood strike and to top it off, I was feeling down so often, I lost count on how many times I cry for no reason. I didn't know why, my mood swing was super high (and no I'm not having menopause ;p). Perhaps I've been stress out financially (money has been tight, tighter than usual).  Worrying about what will happen if I don't have enough? Yet on the same time; felt like I was wanting more and more of things that I can't have or can't afford. I started being so frustrated because why do other people have things that I don't have or things that I can't have, why do other people have it all: High power career, awesome big house, traveling around the world, Hermes handbags, Mercedes-Benzs, hot looking body with hot looking partner beside them, etc etc and the list goes on (talking about green with envy).

via leilockheart

Then one day it strikes me, what the hell have I been thinking + mulling and whinging about?! Why do I kept on comparing myself to those people. There will always be someone who is better than me, richer than me, better looking than me and have things that I could probably will never have in my lifetime. But those people are only a small fraction of the society. When you think on the flip side, there are majority people out there that are less fortunate than I am. They're barely make ends meet everyday and for some, eating a full meal once a day was a hardship enough. And yet here I am complaining that we haven't been out on dinner dates often enough. Peer pressure and social expectation has bring me to the lowest of myself. (I've even been losing sleep because of this, so not good for my complexion ;p)

via lovelydreamms

So to close off this 2011 year, instead of listing things that I would like to have, I would like to share three things that I'm thankful and grateful that I have this year:

1. I am thankful that I have a family whom always support me throughout the year. Though we fight, argue and get under each other skin at times, we still came strong at the end, we are a family afterall, what's a family without occasional tantrum? :p

via happythings

2. I am thankful that I have such an amazing boyfriend who stick by me through thick and thin. His patience and wise words, has always keep me grounded.

'I and you, are always connected' via omnomnomjapanesefood

3. I am thankful for meeting so many new people who has became awesome friends that I'll cherish for life.

via happythings

The list can go on and on but I think I'll bore you with all the materials and corny things that I'm thankful for, so just I just keep it short and sweet. Bottom line is: I am thankful that I've been so blessed in this life of mine. I might not have a lot but I have a lot to be thankful for.

Oh by the way, Today is my birthday actually. I'm officially turning 26 years old!
Well, I guess I'm not just another year older, but (hopefully) another year better :)

via gingerella

Thank you everyone for following and/or reading my blog so far. Your support and kind words have been so awesome and have always made my day. This has been an awesome year (despite of everything- but hey! I'm only human - I made mistakes and I entitled to throw one or two tantrums once in a while :p).

I wish you all to have an awesome and terrific Christmas and Holiday Season!
Hope to see you all in the new year! Have fun and Be Merry everyone!!

via myguidetohappiness

Still here!

Hello Bloggers!
Omigosh! I can't believe, it has been over three month from my last post?!
Sorry bloggers T____T

Life has been just so hectic for the past months and I don't know if it is just me or others feels the same way: but it is just so easy to go back to non-blogging life. What I meant is sometimes when you forget or not blog for a day: a day become a week, a week become a month and a month turns into several months; Next thing you know, it's been 4 months since your last post @__@?! Gosh times seems to be slipping away from me lately...

Anyhoo, long story cut short:

1st. There's no excuse of my tardiness
2nd. I've been struggling with life in general
3rd. But in saying that, I'm back and ready to take on the world ....
      one tax return at the time ;p LOL

via weheartit

Well, while I was away from blogging of my own, I didn't neglect my blogs reading. I still do visit everyone's blog, and I realised some blogs that I used to visit, having the same predicament like me. They just seems to 'poof' gone with the wind and the blog left unattended.

Part of me felt: 'awww... that's too bad! I love reading that blog!'
and yet another part of me felt:
'I know what you're going through and I understand. Juggling life, family, friends, work, and blogging among other things can be quite challenging. But in saying that: do not be discourage and hopefully you'll be back into blogging in the near future!' ;)

via happy things tumblr

Anyhoo, while blog surfings; I found tons more inspiring blogs; hence the over growing list of my daily blog read on the right corner of my blog. Do check it out!

So, in hindsight, I'll be blogging semi often. But I can assure you that I won't let a week go by without saying 'Hello' to all of you ;)

Have a good weekend everyone! xx

daily inspiration from simplynattie tumblr ;)

Pressie has arrived!

Yay! Remember when the lovely Anna from Around my table hosted her Japanese goodies giveaway back in November? Well, I won it!! But due to me going on holiday and she going on holiday and the busy holiday season, I just received Anna's goodies yesterday! and let me tell you, it sure was worth the wait ;D

yay! I received a mystery package!

awww! love love the japanesse goodies!

I received a gorgeous origami paper pack!

a cute panda brooch + a lovely pinkish cotton handkerchief 

When I first saw this, I thought what could this be? it looks like a bag of
obanyaki [lol - me and my foods cravings ;p]

It turned up to be a cute Japanese coin pouch awww....

The complete goodies!

Thanks Anna for the super cute and awesome giveaway!!
If you haven't visit Anna's blog, you definitely should! She always has awesome decor ideas and lovely adventures to share! Check out Anna's blog : Around my table.

Have a nice Wednesday bloggers!

The never ending cleaning ...

Excuse the mess, bloggers ...

Today mark the first day of Autumn for us here in Adelaide, which means that I have neglected all summer to clean up my study room and now piles of things to be organise is piling up quite high T___T 

So things to do for Nattie this week:

+ clear out all un-needed empty boxes

+ organise shoe boxes

+ get rid of 2 x ugly bookcases

+ clean and organise my table, which at the moment burried under piles of things

+ organise my study room, which at the moment looks like storage room

Have a nice day bloggers! :)

All you need is LOVE!

 + via choccywoccydoodah
ps: it's a real cake! 

I'm still here bloggers! Gosh ... where has the time gone?!!
Sorry for the MIA for the past weeks, I honestly have no idea where the weeks had gone. I didn't even feel that the we're already in mid-February already ( oh noes! )
Anyhoo, how's everyone been? I hope everyone is doing well!
Talking about mid-Feb, gosh Valentine's day is coming up!

+ via goldylocks : dress up your cupcakes with this gorgeous valentines heart

So bloggers, do you have any Valentine's plan? gift to make or buy? cards to sign? flower to arrange? yearly tradition that you always do for Valentine's?

via feltandwireshop - aiga ne valentine's day card

For me Valentine's is all about spending time together with your loves ones. So for me and my dear honey, we always spend Valentine's: Baking Together!

+ via sugarcraver

It's rare to find a guy who enjoy cooking and baking: lucky for me my honey is one of those rare find. He loves cooking (hence the fact I don't cook that much around the home - point for me) and he enjoy baking! (more points for me!). This year, we are attempting on making layered cake foam pudding (I think that's what its called - close enough).

+ via lolita-lempicka

Anyhoo, long story cut short: We'll do baking this weekend! Don't know how it'll turned up. If it turned up good, I'll take a few snaps and share with you all!
In a meantime, have a good weekend and Happy Valentine's everyone!

xx
nattie

ps: I know I know I know ... I really should already change my banner!! >___<  I have several in file, but this little miss perfect is not easily satisfied with any of it. So back to the drawing board. Promise, will update soon!!

Explore Singapore

Hello Bloggers!
Sorry it took me so long to upload and blog these pictures. I'm still recovering from my holiday and lately I have this insatiable need for sleep. Perhaps my exhaustion from travelling is just catching up with me ;) Anyhoo, so where did I go for the holiday? I went to explore Singapore! A country that rich with cultural and historical aspects, insatiable foods as well as lots of shopping malls!

The night view are just gorgeous and these are the views from our hotel!

With a diverse cultural background - Singapore is always full of vibrant colour. And gosh, if you love high end shopping, Singapore is the place to satisfy all your shopping cravings. Seriously how many Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci store do you need in one shopping strip? Apparently you need it more than 3! *rolled eyes* 

For me, it's just too much of unaffordable shoppings. 

So instead, off I go on culinary delights!

Omigosh, there are so many yummy foods and snacks in Singapore: from Japanese, Malay, Chinesse, Western, delectables deserts and the lists are endless. You should see me constantly eating. Everytime I saw a food stall selling bizzare yummy looking food, I'll be the first in line to buy it.

Overall, my holiday has been really good (aside from minor mishap here and there). At the moment, all my stuffs are still in the suitcase, so I'll be sharing my latest loots later on!

found via google

In a meantime, take care everyone and for all Australian - Have a Happy Australian day!
OZ OZ OZ - OI OI OI! ;)

PS: I just can't help not to share this with you guys. When I was shopping around in the shopping mall; a Swatch shop ( a major funky watch shop ) have this huge clock in front of its store. I thought it was very funny, so I took a snap to share it with you all ;D

Honey, I'm home!

+ via

Happy 2011 everyone! Sorry for the late greetings, I was away after all ;)
How's everyone's 2011 been so far? Full with lots of new year's resolutions and goals?

My apology of the late post: long story cut short, I was stranded in Singapore due to airline stuffed up with no luggage whatsoever. Have to wait and gone through so many connecting flights to make it back home. Now I'm still recovering through ginormous jet-lag plus had to go back to work straightaway since I've been missing couple days of work already.

But all in all, I had an awesome holiday & can't wait to share bits and pieces with you all!
In a meantime, do take care and have fun! Catch up with you all in the blogland soon!

xx nattie

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy Christmas Bloggers!

  

Hello Bloggers! I'm wishing you a very merry Christmas! Hope your Christmas is filled with lots of blessing, love and joy. Sorry for my lack of posting for the past week, I guess most of you know the feel of crazy silly season shopping, preparation and also end of year office work closure.

Anyhoo, how was everyone's Christmas? or for some of you ... How is your Christmas Eve? My Christmas celebration is filled with lots of good food ( too much of good foods ) and lots of sweets of course! Chocolate ginger bread cookies is always the best!

Well .. I won't keep you too much on blogging: It is a festive season after all, where you should spend lots of time with your family and friends. I just dropping by to wish you lots of season greetings for this festive season!

and oh yeah, I'm going on holiday blogger! I'm off to travel Asia for the holiday!
I'll be off blogging as well. I will be back online on 17th January to say Hi and also to share my adventures. In mean time, do take care and enjoy the holiday season!
Once again: Happy Holiday and Have a very merry Christmas everyone!

All images courtesy of my tumblr account - please visit my tumblr for source.

xmas 2010 banner

Good Morning everyone!

How's everyone weekend?
Hope you all have relaxing and/or productive weekend!
My weekend has been filled with more Christmas shopping and more Christmas gift wrapping.

Believe it or not I still have plenty more to wrap. It feels like a never ending xmas gifts to buy and to wrap! I don't mind the wrapping, I love wrapping gift: I found it very soothingly therapeutic. Buying on the other hand, is not something that I too keen about. The way I kept on slashing my credit card, I think I'll be horrified when  my credit card bill come next month :p

Anyhoo, just in case you notice (duh, hard to miss ;p) I finally get a Christmas theme banner up and running! I supposed to create another drawing with xmas theme BUT due to my hectic schedule lately, I'm starting to run out of time, so this just have to do: I snapped a photo from my frame ledges at home and voila! instant banner ;) Hope you like it. Honest opinion is very much appreciated! You can even be brutally honest, I always appreciate a good healthy criticism :)

Oh one more thing, I don't know if it's noticeable due to my white blog but I added in a falling snowy effect to add a touch of Christmas vibes :) It super easy to add it into your blog, just click here and click 'add snow effect to your blogger blog' and voila instant falling snow for your blog. Do let me know if you do add it, so I can check it out how it looks in your blog too!

So how's everyone Christmas preps and shoppings? Almost done? nearly done? or just getting started? ;)

Have a nice Monday everyone!

a blog with substance award

I got the sweetest award ever - well... it is my first ever award ;)

Thank you to the sweetest blogger I ever met in blogland: Meghan
Once again, thanks Meghan! x hugs x

*update*

oopsie, due to my speed reading I forget to forward this to several bloggers that totally deserve the same awards ;)

Meghan - of course I have to sent this back to you xx
Nina from Stylizimo
Anna from aroundmytable
Christine from Bijou and Boheme 
Lisa from LatteLisa
Signe from SignePling
Diana from Expresso
The gorgeous Kellie Collis from Ada and Darcy
Dolores from Humbleablog 
Lisa from Ledamea
Christine from Just bella
Mirela from Melli's Design 
Sandy from Ampersand's Design

Thanks everyone! For making my day brighter each day with your inspirational blogs :) x hugs x

ps: if I missed anyone, do comment on the bottom, I'll be gladly to pass this forward to you ^__^