Just about this close to saying goodbye to 2018! Overall, it’s been a pretty good year. :) 2018 brought along with it a new start, as I settled down into life in Singapore and happily welcomed a new job, finally took it upon myself to join a cell group in church and met so many new friends and people this year. I feel so thankful for all the new friendships and the people who have become a part of my 2018 chapter and blessed to receive the kindness and generosity I have been shown.
In 2018, I spent the entire year in Singapore and didn’t travel overseas or back to Hong Kong. I found myself missing Hong Kong less than I did in 2017 and started exploring and rediscovering Singapore again. On that note, what a great year it has been for Singapore! I felt very lucky to be in the city this year, and to witness it all happening around me. I don’t think I remember Singapore being as talked about and featured internationally as it did this year, and I’m happy to see the love for our sunny island!
As with previous years, I wanted to capture some memories of 2018 through snapshots taken across every month and it’s quite exciting to see that this year, every single photo in this post is from Singapore, a first since I started this blog. Here’s my 2018 and ahh, I’m already feeling excited for 2019 – I hope there will be good surprises to come!
With that, I also wanted to say thank you for dropping by online home and for reading these posts I share (even though I know I’ve been quite absent from it this year). Here’s wishing everyone the very very best wishes for 2019!
JANUARY 2018
I started 2018 by watching The Greatest Showman on New Year’s Day! I love this movie, and it’s one of my favourite movies of the year, maybe even among my top 10. But I have many favourite movies, so I’m not too sure whether my top 10 is more like a top 25 hahaha!
Apart from a great movie, January kicked off my 2018 on a rather bad start, with a lot of the unhappiness coming from my previous job. Midway through January, I knew I had to leave and I was so incredibly blessed to have a new door open for me in perfect timing, to a much bigger and better opportunity. I resigned from my old job, I quit my ex-boss and while I was happy to have met good colleagues during my stint there, I walked away from a job with a work culture and hours that took way too much from me. One of the best things I did for myself this year.
FEBRUARY 2018
In February, I started at my new job, which is much much better for me in every single way possible. This job and the people within it, are among my top things to be thankful for in 2018.
MARCH 2018
In March, I decided it was a good time to recreate the feeling of the spring season in a city with only summer year round, by going to a spring themed cherry blossom display at Gardens by the Bay, visiting the National Orchid Garden and as a birthday treat, went to see Disney on Ice! I loved it so much! I think the last time I went to a Disney on Ice show was probably 10 years ago, and even now, it’s still magical. Disney probably always is. :)
APRIL 2018
In April, I went to my favourite museum in Singapore, the ArtScience Museum, to check out the Art From the Streets exhibition and the Treasures of the Natural World exhibition. While I enjoyed both, Art from the Streets was one of my favourite exhibitions in Singapore in 2018!
This month, I also attended the wedding of one of my childhood friends (who I’ve known since we were 10 or 11!) as she married her high school sweetheart!
MAY 2018
It seems like I had a lot of fun in May 2018! I checked out a cafe called Cake Spade and I’ve added it to my list of favourites because they serve yummy cake and drinks, have a very pretty and girly interior and is housed in a millennial pink shophouse. Perfect.
My family and I also drove over to check out this HDB residential estate, which was painted over with a look inspired by artist Piet Mondrian’s well known work! (Read more about this here!) I also scored a good deal and got tickets to see the Legally Blonde musical and it was so much fun! :D I loved the movie and I love the musical just as much!
JUNE 2018
Another month, another museum exhibition! I visited the Singapore Philatelic Museum to check out the The Little Prince: Behind the Story exhibition which was a little small but very informative and interesting, giving a more detailed look behind the famous book! :) (Note: Exhibition is ongoing till 17 March 2019.) My friend also took me to try some French style cakes at G Patisserie – verdict is expensive but good cakes, averagely good service.
June was also a big month for Singapore, with the Trump-Kim summit taking place! Suddenly, media worldwide was covering Singapore and I was quite fascinated to follow the news as it happened!
JULY 2018
July was fun! I went to Singapore’s very first Cat Festival and discovered several cat themed brands, with one particular favourite being Kittea, a line of cat inspired teas.
I also absolutely loved the Selling Dreams: Early Advertising in Singapore exhibition by the National Library Board, it was so huge and informative and visual and interactive! I think I spent two hours in there, this one was my other favourite exhibition of 2018. Definitely recommend it! (Note: This exhibition is FREE admission and ongoing till 24 Feb 2019!)
Finally, I took a day off work and spent a Monday at the River Safari, where I spent the most time looking at the two pandas Jia Jia and Kai Kai who live there! I think I was pretty lucky to have gotten to spot both of them!
AUGUST 2018
August was packed! In the best way possible. :) By chance, we had family friends visiting Singapore on holiday and my good friend from university also travelled to Singapore! It was so nice to see friends from my other home visit this home, and they all loved Singapore too, I’m so glad. :)
In August, I went to the DC Comics Superheroes Cafe, which is officially my favourite and the best themed restaurant I have been to (everything from the decor to the food was great), finally popped by a traditional Singaporean coffee shop with quite a long history: Tong Ah Eating House and also checked out the Singapore Night Festival!
The Crazy Rich Asians and Mamma Mia 2 movies were released too, and I enjoyed both so much! It was really fun seeing Singapore being the setting of a Hollywood movie.
SEPTEMBER 2018
This September, I made sure to fill my calendar with Mid-Autumn Festival events (see my post here). The festival is a huge deal in Hong Kong and while I still miss the bustling energy and celebrations of it in Hong Kong, this year I decided to check out some events here to discover the festival Singapore style!
While parts of the world welcomed the fall season in September, we welcomed trumpet trees with their falling and fluttering flowers here in Singapore – so pretty!
OCTOBER 2018
In October, I played tourist and checked out the tourist shops at Lucky Plaza for the first time! I was there shopping for some ‘I ❤ SG’ tourist tees and picked up two!
NOVEMBER 2018
In November, I hit up a lot of arts and culture events: from the Affordable Art Fair Singapore, to the polaroid themed exhibition In an Instant: Polaroid at the Intersection of Art and Technology to the Minimalism: Space. Light. Object. exhibition at ArtScience Museum and the updated Future World digital exhibition also at ArtScience Museum.
After much research and debate, and scoring an awesome deal online, I finally also bought myself the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 smartphone photo printer! I’ve had this in mind for over 2 years now, so I’m really excited to finally get it!
DECEMBER 2018
December is my favourite time of the year, as always. It’s been an extra special one in 2018, because this year my December has been so active! I’ve been gifting and receiving and helped out in planning a Christmas party, and had two to attend this year! :) Singapore during the Christmas season is very sparkly, of course, and Orchard Road even had a Disney themed display going on this year (Christmas in Singapore post here)! It reminded me of Disneyland during the Christmas season, and I’d like to go back to Hong Kong Disneyland during Christmas again in future.
Before the year ended, I popped by one last exhibition of the year at ION Orchard – the Virtually Versailles digital exhibition, bringing the Palace of Versailles virtually to Singapore. It was a great experience and I’ve added the palace to my wishlist of places I would love to visit one day. :)
My 2018 started off rough, but it only got better and better as the year went on, and I am so grateful for what it has been. Now at the end of 2018, I feel happy and contented, and I’m excited for bigger and better things I’m hoping to come my way in 2019.
Goodbye, 2018. Hello 2019! ☆
