My birthday presents! *updated

I have been waiting to write this post for a long time! I had to delay to wait until all my presents arrived, especially those that were mailed to me from overseas. :) Now that I have everything with me, I can do a complete review on the gorgeous birthday pressies that I have received this year. :)

First of all, there was an advanced gift mailed to be all the way from Johor! It's a really cute prawn handphone string, handmade with love using pink and purple strings (lovely colours!), by theyoungestgranny. :) Just look at the prawn, complete with big round eyes as well. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to make it yourself! I always appreciate handmade, one-of-a-kind gifts, because they make me feel special. :) You can't find a similar one anywhere in the world!

Handmade handphone string

Then, there was the French manicure, which was presented to me by dear bamboo. By now, they polish has chipped and cracked, and I'm back with plain old nails. *sigh*

My dear brothers also gave me something, well, literally they paid for it, but I chose the present myself. :) I love bags! I can never get enough of bags, bags and more bags! I think the number of bags I have is uncountable. *shy* This is the one I chose from Vincci. I like that it's big and spacious, without being too heavy. Plus, it has many compartments so I can easily place my stuffs in different segments to ease the process of finding them later.

Handbag

Remember my wish list? My sweet colleagues took note of that and bought me a complete makeup set, in addition to a nice lunch at Paddington House of Pancakes. I love this set because everything is packed into a compact case that is easy to be carried around. It has loads of colours for eye shadows and 2 different blushers. In addition, it contains foundation, eyeliner and lip pencil. Well the problem now is, I don't really know how to apply them to get the best results. It's time I learn how to makeup properly, and I have a good reason too! :)

Makeup set

My best friend Szu Ann coincidentally bought me makeup as well, even though she didn't see my wish list. But it's really not surprising, considering we have some sort of a telepathy going on. We always happen to complete each other's sentences or know what each of us is thinking before we say it out aloud. *LOL* Thank you!

Blusher and eye shadows

My good friend J surprised me with this purse from Nine West. I car pooled with him back to my hometown just before my birthday and he slipped this into one of the paper bags that I was carrying. What a pleasant surprise when I saw something foreign there! I haven't used this purse yet because my current one is still in a good condition, but I know now that I'll have a backup purse in case my current one is spoiled. :) Thank you!

Nine West purse

My dearest mom also got me a very pretty present from My Diamond - a white gold bracelet that really blings! Under the sunlight or bright light indoors, it looks like the bracelet is studded with diamonds. Love it to bits!

White gold bracelet

Sweet chiaoju bought me something which I've always wanted, Loccitane beauty products! *yay* The package consists of a bottle of shower gel, a bar of butterfly-shaped soap and a bottle of fragrance, all rose-flavoured. I really love the smell from the fragrance! It's not as strong as perfume, and the smell is subtle yet lingers around for a long time. Made me smell like a rose the whole night! :) Thank you darling!

Loccitane products

My dear friend Corinne from high school did not forget me as well. I was so touched to see a nice envelope sent to me all the way from down under. It has a pretty card and a pair of dangly earrings, which I love, by the way. They're also very shiny under the light, perfect for formal dinner occasions. Thanks dearest!

Card and earrings from Australia

Not forgetting Mei Fong, another of my high school friend, who sent me a card and a bling bling pendant all the way from the UK! I'm so touched. :) Yes, the card is a little bimbo-ish but I love it! However, it actually took me quite some time to figure out what the gift was. Initially I thought it's a ring which was distorted by the mail! *LOL*

Card and pendant ring from the UK

Then I realized that there wasn't any distortion and it's meant to be flat like that. So, the only possible reason is that it's a pendant? It can't be anything else, right? :) But thank you so much, my dear. It is indeed very bling! :)

*updated: Mei Fong called me right after she read my post, and told me it's actually a ring! Just that it was distorted in the mail. The bling flower is supposed to stay perpendicular ON the ring, not lying flat like in the picture. I have tried to bend the flower upwards to make it look like the original form now. :)

Pendant? A ring!

*updated
I forgot one very meaningful present that was given to me by dear Allan! You know how we used to have mixed tapes last time as gifts? Allan was so sweet to burn me movies on DVD instead! :) So I have a mixed DVD! *LOL* The DVD has a compilation of movies including "A Fool's Gold", "Five people you meet in heaven", "The Love Guru", "Pathology" and "Get Smart - Bruce and Lloyd". By the way, I converted two of the movies into mp4 format to store into my Ipod Nano and they kept me company during my recent bus journey to KL. 5 freaking hours! Thanks Allan! It's very thoughtful of you. :)

Finally, dearest Saucer got me a combination of several gifts. *excited* You know how I was, and still am training for the Penang Bridge International Marathon? When I run, I used to listen to my Ipod Nano, but I felt that my ears ached after just 15 minutes of listening. I thought there was something wrong with my ears, then Saucer told me it could be that the headphones were too large for my ears. I was a little doubtful at first, but then he got me these in-ear headphones by Philips and they fit into my ears perfectly! Now I can listen for a few hours continuously and won't feel the pain. Best of all, it helps to reduce external noise so I am practically isolated from the environment noise whenever I listen to my Ipod now. I love them! :)

Philips in-ear headphones

Of course, not to forget the very important armband for my Ipod as well. Very useful for running purposes. I used to carry my Ipod using my hand, but now I don't need to, with this convenient armband. :)

Ipod Nano armband

And last but not least, Saucer also got me a very pretty Esprit umbrella, because he realized mine was not working very well during our trip to Phuket. My old umbrella behaved in a very weird way. It wouldn't stay open for long. Somehow, the clasp was not strong, so it always tended to close up when I was using it. It's just difficult to describe the situation, but it definitely was irritating. That was why, he got me this umbrella to get rid of my old one. Thank you! :)

Esprit umbrella

There you go! My birthday presents for year 2008. I love all of them to bits! You guys just know the right stuffs to get and make my day. I appreciate all the well-wishers, SMSes and facebook messages as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! :) *HUGS*