When was the last time you felt alive?: At 28

Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again. --Menachem Mendel Schneerson

A birthday asalto dinner...New York cheesecake...choco mocha crunch cake...a birthday card...a shopping spree... flowers...a cashmere shawl...celebrating your birthday is just damn good! Add to that the fact that my birthday week is all about shabu shabu --- I swear I've never seen so much soup in my life! Hahaha.

With Isha at Cantonese Kitchen

SingTel minus two

With heavy rains flooding the city by Wednesday night, I decided not to go to work on Thursday. Mark picked me up, went to Rockwell (birthday present...yahoo!!!) and had another shabu shabu session over at Mini Shabu Shabu.

Yummy!!!

Waited for the clock to strike at 12 midnight after which Mark had to ask me to go get him some tea (style!!!) and to my surprise when I came back, he was lighting the candle on my birthday cheesecake! How sweet is sweet?

Woohoo...bente otso!!!

And a surprise from the mail...

Thanks Jogo!

Who wouldn't be excited on their special day? I've always loved birthdays and as a way of changing my world, I decided a long time ago to keep track of the birthdays of the people in my life. From grade school friends to friends in my MBA classes, it really does make a difference if you remember and do not forget. It does for me, especially that I keep a list of the people who didn't forget to greet me. To the ones who did, well...next year na lang. Haha.

I guess the highlight of my birthday is this simple one: that of spending it with my family. Surprisingly, this is the first time we actually went out (and together with Mark at that...nak!!!) as I have always spent my birthday with my friends either partying or partying (take your pick). This year is such a refreshing change!

Shabu shabu isn't really one of my favorite things on earth.