At the moment

[1] TOTALLY IN AWE of Sassy Hong Kong for coming up with this amazing article on 35 fashion websites with free delivery to Hong Kong. Priceless piece of information!

[2] LOOKING FORWARD to watch Silver Linings Playbook with J tonight in Festival Walk. Here are some of the reasons why! 

[3] NON-STOP THINKING of our pre-wedding trip to Thailand happening in less than a month now! We're staying in Bangkok for a night and in Hua Hin for another three, where we booked a breathtaking pool villa.

[4] FINISHED READING The Start-Up of You, by  Reid Hoffman, co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn, on investing in yourself and adapting to the future. This book is an endless source of inspiration, one of the best I've read of late. I've started planning my future accordingly, and the least I can say is it's gonna be BIG! But let's not forget... 

“Before dreaming about the future or marking plans, you need to articulate what you already have going for you – as entrepreneurs do.”

Wedding Wednesday: The girls

I have been giving a lot of thought to whether I should have bridesmaids in my wedding in Barcelona. Bridesmaids are not popular when it comes to weddings in Spain, so I almost went with the flow and forgot about the idea. 

I've always known I'll be having bridesmaids in my wedding in Hong Kong because it is a big tradition here. And I am seriously so excited about it, about having my girlfriends sharing my big day with me not as mere guests but as sisters. That's when I thought I couldn't miss the chance to experience this with my best friends since childhood, my best friends back in Spain. 

Even though we live so far away, they are helping me so much with the wedding planning, and I seriously couldn't do it without them. Soraya is the one who convinced me on having bridesmaids, she practically begged me, and Marta, a wedding-planner herself, gives me precious advise without me even having to ask. Marta also took the responsibility of organizing my bridal shower, which will be in early April, when I go back to Barcelona for some days. 

These girls have been giving me their support since day 1, since I said I was engaged, and have been sharing my excitement all along. I'm so thankful for having friends like them. I'll have four bridesmaids in total, Maria and Eva being the other two. They were all thrilled when I asked them to be, even though I haven't asked formally yet, I'm still preparing the "Will you be my bridesmaid?" cards with my ever improving Illustrator skills. I just wanted to tell them beforehand because I was afraid some of them would buy a dress for my wedding while I was busy preparing the bridesmaids cards... I couldn't let that happen because my idea is for all of them to wear the same dress, that I will tailor made for them in China :)

I think bridesmaids make a wedding PRETTIER and MERRIER, and I can't wait to see the result!  What are your thoughts on bridesmaids?

Picture via One Wed

 

Life, recently, as captured by my iPhone

[1] My fiancé surprised me by sending this amazing 11-red-roses-bouquet to my office on Valentine's Day

[2] I visited J's dad hometown in mainland China, Shunde, for the first time, and fell in love with Lau Kin Hang, the toddler son of J's cousin

[3] Sushi dates with J are my favorite {just behind high tea ones!}

[4] Chloris and I visited the vegetarian restaurant The Herbivores, review soon up on the blog!

[5] Pics I take when I'm bored at the office...

[6] I love revitalizing office breaks with Daisy

[7] David and I were the MC of my company's annual dinner last Friday

[8] I started looking for bridesmaids dresses, and I'm loving it!

[9] I had my nails done in Shenzhen yesterday for... CNY10! {USD1.6!}

[10] Yesterday was the fifteenth day of the lunar year, time to open the 44 red packets I received this year :))

Wedding Wednesday: Lace, lace, lace!

If you know me even a little bit, you'll know that I'm head over heels for lace wedding gowns. Lace is romantic, elegant, stylish, eternal, delicate... How I see it, lace is the perfect choice for the wedding dress. I'm not unveiling any major secret on my wedding dress by saying I love lace because, honestly, besides the material there is so much more to take into account. After having seen and tried on enough wedding gowns for my whole life, I'm finally going to make my decision next month. I'm almost 100% sure I'm going to order my dress from a small bridal shop which has its own collection + tailor made services. It's perfect because I get to choose a dress that I really like, and change anything I want until it becomes my dream wedding gown! I'm really excited about it. I already know which dress I'm going to pick, and all I need to decide now is what I want to change to make it MINE. There's so much to think about really, since basically anything can be changed! The shape of the dress, the length of the tail, the belt {or the lack of it}, the sleeves... And then the veil... Wish me luck! :) 

Picture via Aire Barcelona

The best High Tea in Hong Kong - The Ritz-Carlton

I have a new High Tea crush. I tried it, loved it, and keep thinking about it. It's the High Tea from The Lounge & Bar, at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong. Amazing atmosphere, decor, views, food quality and presentation make of this my new favorite high tea in Hong Kong.

The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong is one of the highest hotels in Asia, occupying the 102 to 118 floors of the International Commerce Centre (ICC), Hong Kong's tallest building. The Ritz Carlton has two choices for high tea, a traditional one on the 102nd floor at The Lounge and Bar, and the signature chocolate afternoon tea on the 103th floor at Café 103.

The High Tea at The Lounge & Bar was everything one could wish for when it comes to a perfect high tea experience. Being the second tallest High Tea in Hong Kong right after the one just above on Café 103, the views from The Lounge & Bar are stunning! I loved the grand and modern ambiance too, very different from the traditional decor you would picture for an English afternoon tea, and this made it even the more special. The tables are spacious and not too close to each other, so even though the restaurant was full on our visit, the atmosphere was totally relaxing, as an afternoon tea is supposed to be!  The food was delicious, and the whole experience was magical. I couldn't recommend this afternoon tea enough!

Visited on: February 8, 2013
Overall Quality: 5*
Price: 548 + 10% service charge for a tea set for two ($568 on weekends)
Value for Money: 5*
Would I recommend it? If someone visited Hong Kong and wanted to go for high tea, this is where I would take them, and that's all that needs to be said :)

Happy New Year of the Snake!

Happy New Year to all my Chinese readers. May the year of the snake be one full of health, wealth and love. It is most certainly a year I have been looking forward to. One only gets married once in a lifetime! :)

DIY Book Cover with Dailylike

I have been super obsessed with Dailylike recently. Dailylike is a Korean crafting supplies brand, and they have THE cutest things! 

The brand is available at Log On in Hong Kong, and they have a fair variety of items for you to choose from. 

Last week I got a fabric sticker, a fabric tape, and some regular fabric. I had a Minnie notebook I got from the samples of the company where I work {I work in the toys industry}, and I wanted to change the cover, which is fine for 4 year-olds but not that great for me!

The Fabric Sticker is perfect to renew a notebook, book, folder, or just for general scrapbooking. It's just so easy! It's like when I used to line my school books with transparent cover paper back in primary school so that they wouldn't get damaged. Same thing, easy peasy. 

Then I added some fabric tape on the corners of the notebook and on the spine. Finally I cut a small rectangle from the flowery fabric and wrote Thoughts on it, because that's what I'm planning on using this notebook for, and stuck the fabric to the notebook with some more cute fabric tape. Tadaaa! :) 

Now you know how to renew your Fifty Shades series so that people will stop staring at you for reading such a novel in public =D

Wedding Wednesday: Our Own Royal Wedding

Happy Wednesday everyone! As promised, here are some pics of the venue for our wedding reception in Hong Kong. As I mentioned previously, we will be having a wedding reception for our Hong Kong family and friends on December 29, 2013. Our banquet will be held at Royal Wedding, in the China Hong Kong City Building, Tsim Sha Tsui. 

The venue was not set up for a wedding on the day we visited it to take these pics, so you'll have to wait until our wedding to see the real thing!

Please ignore the Chinese New Year decor...

One special feature for today's Wedding Wednesday post, is I'm opening it up to you guys to link up your own posts ! All I ask is for your post to be wedding related and you to follow me on GFC. I'm looking forward to your links!!!

Sift Patisserie @ Prince's Building, Central

Yesterday my colleague and friend Marie joined J and I on our sweet treats quest. You may remember I blogged about Sift Patisserie in Wan Chai not so long ago. Since that time we only got to try two cupcakes and one petit four, I had to go back to explore some more! So we headed to the branch in Prince's Building, Central, which has pros and cons compared to the Wan Chai one. The Wan Chai branch has way more food variety, but there is no sitting area. The one in Central has less to choose from but 4 convenient tables are available.

It was great that Marie joined us, we had a great time and we got to order more food too!

This time we had four cupcakes and two petit fours, what a feast! We had the Strawberry, Red Velvet, Lemon, and Salty Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes; and the Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch, and Strawberry Muffin with Cream.

As I said on my previous review about Sift, their cupcakes are highly overrated. Specially the Red Velvet one, I still can't understand some people agree on it being THE Red Velvet Cupcake in town. NO WAY. I liked the Strawberry Cupcake (4.5*) and the Salty Caramel Chocolate Cupcake (4.5*) the most. Those were truly delicious. The Red Velvet (3.5*) and the Strawberry Muffin (3*) were average, while the lemon cupcake (1*) was well below average. The Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch was good (4*).

Sift Patisserie
Shop 240 - 241, Prince's Building, 10 Chater Road, Central

A Pink Chinese New Year

The year of the Snake is just a week away, and the whole city is filled with decorations for the Chinese New Year. Today, walking around New Town Plaza in Shatin, I found these pink decorations matched my outfit too much not to take pictures! :D

Since the camera was already out, I took some pics at Agnes B., too. Agnes B is a fashion retailer, florist and cafe! I love the gorgeous tiles on the floor of the floristry :)

Fine Foods - The Royal Garden's Cozy Cake Shop

The Royal Garden Hotel has a hidden gem known to few: Fine Foods, the coziest cake shop in Tsim Sha Tsui. Every time I pass by I can't help but stare at it for a while. The cakes are gorgeous, but I even like the interior design better. I love the floor tiles, the brightness, the colors, the big flower bouquet, and just about everything! Their packaging is gorgeous, too!

Because of its rather inconvenient location in Tsim Sha Tsui East, few Hong Kongers know about this cute cake shop. Now that you know about it, are you gonna give it a try? I myself still haven't tried any of their cakes, when I took these pictures it was not "cake time" at all, but I will certainly be visiting again soon!

 

Fine Foods
69 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon