Swirl: Confetti of Love III

 

Start your shopping 

www.shopatswirl.weebly.com

 Rem to like & share on FB to win $15 e-vouchers! 

www.facebook.com/shopatswirl

 

And, my picks for this week :) 

London 2012 Part Two

 

Just finished packing my bags for KL, leaving tomorrow morning. Traveling alone this time round, with a busy schedule, I hope I'll be able to catch my flight back given the short time that I have for commuting to the airport from my last meeting *fingers crossed*.

  

Back to updating the entries for London trip (P1 here) ~ We arrived at the hotel at close to 8am. Rooms were not available for us, so we had a quick wash-up before heading for breakfast near our office. 

 

Still in my flight gear, lol! 
 

Breakfast @ Patisserie Valerie, located around 15 min walk from the hotel / 5 min walk from the office. This place was named after the founder, Madam Valerie, a Belgian born lady who went to London on a mission to introduce fine continental pastisserie to the English. They have a lot of outlets located throughout London, serving different menus as well according to the location.

 

Hot chocolate (GBP2.80) & latte (GBP2.80) to warm up our cold bodies! It was freezing cold (by my standards) even though the sun shone on brightly outside. The window-facing-the-sun-seat was also chosen on purpose >.<

Ordered from their all-day breakfast & brunch selection (GBP7.95) ~ full english breakfast which came with choice of two fried/poached/scrambled eggs, bacon, cumberland sausage, grilled tomatoes, mushroom & toast. It was really yummy, but the portion was too big for me, so I had to leave the toast untouched.

Patisserie Valerie
37 Brushfield St 
London E1 6AA  United Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 7247 4906

I stayed on the 5th floor, together with a few colleagues. The walkway was dimly lit & felt as if we were walking inside a spacecraft, haha!
  

We managed to get a room once we came back from breakfast. By then, our other colleagues from Asia have arrived in London and were making their way to the hotel. So, we freshened  up and headed to the lobby to meet up with them. I was extremely tired and suffering from jet-lag, but I had to prevent myself from sleeping so I won't have problems sleeping later in the night. So, the rest of the team decided to head out for sight-seeing.

Patisserie Valerie was first opened in Frith Street in London's Soho in 1926 by Belgian born Madam Valerie. She came to London on a mission to introduce fine Continental Patisserie to the English. It was an instant success. - See more at: http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/about.aspx#sthash.zNl60Hz1.dpuf

Patisserie Valerie was first opened in Frith Street in London's Soho in 1926 by Belgian born Madam Valerie. She came to London on a mission to introduce fine Continental Patisserie to the English. It was an instant success. - See more at: http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/about.aspx#sthash.zNl60Hz1.dpuf

Sight-seeing include a trip to Selfridge :) I was on good behaviour and didn't buy a single thing *beams with pride, lol* 

Patisserie Valerie was first opened in Frith Street in London's Soho in 1926 by Belgian born Madam Valerie. She came to London on a mission to introduce fine Continental Patisserie to the English. It was an instant success. - See more at: http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/about.aspx#sthash.zNl60Hz1.dpu

Patisserie Valerie was first opened in Frith Street in London's Soho in 1926 by Belgian born Madam Valerie. She came to London on a mission to introduce fine Continental Patisserie to the English. It was an instant success. - See more at: http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/about.aspx#sthash.zNl60Hz1

The AM team met up for drinks first, before adjourning for a cozy dinner @ Meson Los Barriles, located within walking distance from the hotel.

 

Drinking is the culture in the office, haha! Whenever we go, there are bound to be booze and more booze. 

 

We catch up over dinner & also introducing Sidney to the rest of the team. The tapas were all amazing ~ I was told that these were really authentic Spanish food, a rare find in London.

 

The AM team, with Cindy in Product team. Most of the AMs are girls, apart from Japan & America, where guys dominated the team, lol!   

While I googled for the address for the restaurant, I came across a comment in a forum saying that the restaurant has closed down as of 20th Dec 2012, due to the management ramping up the rents around the area. I dunno how true that is, but I've put down the address in case anyone is keen to visit this place (if it is still around).

Menson Los Barriles

8A Lamb Street, Spitalfields Market

London E1 6EA

Tel: +44 (0)20 7375 3136

 I reached the hotel, feeling completely zoned out! Met up with the rest of the guys who went to the stadium & caught the live actions from the EPL match. We headed back to our rooms instead of opting for a nights' out. Guess everyone just wanted to hop into bed and enjoy a night of undisturbed rest. 

 

Filled up my breakfast requirement & hung the bag outside my door. 

*********************

 

Woke up the next morning with the breakfast carrier hanging outside the hotel door. 

 

Healthy pot of yogurt, banana and orange juice. 

Dressed causally for the day, for we had to take the coach from Central London to Cambridge, where we will be staying for 2 nights for the conference.

Packed my breakfast into my bag, together with all the necessities - scarf (checked), camera (checked), water (checked), document file (checked).

 

On the way to Cambridge!

Weddings: Maythu & Weiming, Kaijie & Geraldine, Jinlian & Daryl

As we embark on the new year, I've already received 5 wedding invitations thus far. Still recalled the times when we get invited to friends' birthday parties, now, we have upgrading to attending weddings & baby showers/parties. We attended a couple of my close friends' weddings last year and am glad that they are embarking a new chapter of life together with their other halves.

 Weddings are now the new reunion dinners, where we can catch up with old friends - eat, drink and be merry. 3 of my sisters (my bridesmaids) tied the knot last year and I'm glad to join in their celebrations :) This was also a year of wedding lunches, which is gaining popularity over the years. 

 

Held @ Conrad Hotel, this was the 1st wedding lunch I've ever attended. Leecher very kindly drove me to the wedding venue, for I was running late. 

My first time attending a wedding @ Conrad! I always remember Oscar's restaurant @ Conrad, where I had my ice-cream out of a fishing bowl years ago.

Maythu looked absolutely stunning in her gown, like a porcelain doll. 

 

Always a soft spot for white roses which expresses purity & innocence. 

 

Display table which show-cast their "lovey-dovey" moments.

with brides-to-be Wanling, SSL, Jinlian. Finally, I can claimed to be more "senior" than them after being the junior all these while, lol! 

Another bride-to-be, Jun.  
 
with Tingfeng, who came as a guest today, lol! He was my photographer for the actual day & thumbs up for their service. Drop me a note if you're interested to engage in their services :)
 
Seated in the ballroom, waiting for the event to commerce.   
  
The usual table-shot. It's nv too early for drinking, haha!  
 
Sat next to Wanling and we started talking about manicure. I did this set of nails specially for the occasion! 
 
Wedding flavours in terms of stamps! SSL even joked that we give her all the stamps so she can use it to send us her wedding invites.  

Cam-whoring in the washroom, where we had the whole place to ourselves when cleaning auntie came in halfway *paiseh*

 When you put all the girls together, we'll grab whatever chance we have for a group pic :)

Table representative of 204 pax! Top pic was courtesy of Peilu's husband using a DSLR, vivid colours as compared to dent dent. 

 

A pic with the beautiful bride and extremely humourous groom.  

 

Last March, Leecher & me were busy attending weddings in Sentosa almost every week, in different parts of the island ~ Capella, Amara Sanctuary & Marina Club.
 

Taking public on the NEL, thankfully the journey was smooth with no major hiccups. 

 

A convenient way to reach the is to take the complimentary shuttle bus service. 
 

Peacock roaming around the place! Ever so atas, lol! 

The wedding reception was held @ Marina Club, 1 degree 15.

 

All the yachts at the bay! I wanna go on a yacht ride *hint to Leecher*

The bride & groom, congrats! As both Kaijie & Geraldine were ex-BPians, I saw many BPians ~ some seniors, some juniors.
 

My councillor & girl guides Junior, Xiaobin. Time flies, she's now a teacher @ a local JC and her cousin-in-law is my Uni classmate. Small world!

 

The first wedding that I attended with a huge display of wedding flavours ~ the bears looked so cute in nautical colours.  

 

A Polaroid corner with pics taken during the event.   

 

A cute rendition of their zodiac.
 

Instead of a sit-down dinner, the couple opted for buffet style (good move as they save any trouble on table-planning!). Guests were left to mingle around with one another. 

 with bobo & his army gang.

  Our class chairman/Councillor president's wedding! How can we miss it in the world right? 

 

Held @ Mandarin Oriental, I was excited at trying out their lunch menu for I've heard raves about their food.

 

with Wenpin, been ages since our last meet up! Ever a smooth-talker and charming guy, lol!  

 

 Oriental theme for the wedding.
 

Let's drink to our hearts' content :) 

 

I actually remembered to take pics of the food this time round, lol! Everything was just so delicious then we all had to "fight" for second helpings. Kok Yew ever so kindly traded his chocolate cake with me cuz I was soooo obvious in eyeing that piece from his plate, lol! 

 

The lucky guy who sat with a table of pretty babes, lol! 

   

Kok Yew with his calendar girls of Year 2012, short of 2 girls to make it a full year. He's more fortunate than the groom, so he claimed.

 Our Disciplinary Master aka Tiger Tan (what we used to call him behind his back) was also invited for the event & he hasn't changed a bit over the years!

Group pic with all the girls :) 

Have to head off to bed now, will be back with some more weddings in another post! Nitey >.<