There's something magical about this Christmas

I had one of the most magical and memorable hotel staycation ever yesterday. 

My mom works in an optical shop and her outlet had the top sales amongst all the other branches. Her boss decided to reward them to a one night stay in the ocean suite and lunch at one of the restaurants there. 

Ocean suite! How awesome is that?! I've not been to the ocean suite before, and I've seen loads of photos of it, so I was definitely excited to see for myself how beautiful the room is! It's nice that her boss included us family members for the celebration too.

First up was lunch at Forest森 restaurant. It was a decision between Cat Cora and Forest森 and I was initially a little miffed that they didn't pick Cat Cora. I mean, it's the ocean restaurant man! What are the odds of every going there, unless it's some anniversary celebration (which will never ever happen to me I'm sure). 

I'm not really someone that does fine dining often, so imagine how torturous it was to wait for each dish to be served. We believed that they took exceptionally long to serve it up. It was a seven course meal, but after the soup was served up, we were left hanging for a good 20-30 minutes before the next appetizer was served. It's honestly a wee bit too slow... 

We were not impressed at all...

Granted, the food was delish. Haha like I said, fine dining is really not our thing as we were sooo hungry in between the appetizers! It didn't really help that they were all in tasting portion size.. Here are some of the dishes we tried that I managed to snap a photo of. 

What I didn't had time to snap a picture of, was the grilled steak with pan-fried foie gras. It was sooo good! After our three hours (!!!!) lunch, we proceed to check in to the room. Amongst the staff, they did a lucky draw to see who get to stay for the night. Another colleague of her's got it. Lucky woman. 

Nevertheless, we all had the opportunity to stay in the room for the afternoon. The view's really something. The tranquility of the fishes and other sea creatures swimming around. The kids, including myself were so fascinated by it! The ocean suite comprises of two stories, the upper deck has a jacuzzi and can see light, while the lower deck is the aquarium view together with an open concept bathtub, which is hidden beneath a wooden platform. A bath, with the view of the aquarium? Hell yes! 

The winner of the staycation had to leave in the evening and would only be back before midnight, and since mumma and I had no plans, we had the chance to stay in the room till they got back. We had the whole room to ourself! Whee! 

So then of course, this happened (; 

On top of the lunch and staycation, there was a lucky draw as well, and mumma got a $100 Resorts World Sentosa Gift voucher. Wanting to maximise the gift voucher, we decided to dine at Palio, which is located at Hotel Michael. It's a first time for both mumma and I, dining at an Italian restaurant, so we were definitely excited. 

We ordered a truffle mushroom soup, an antipasti - rock melon with Parma ham (which I've been dying to try), pizza and a pasta. 

Obviously, we over ordered. But we wanted to make up that $100. These amounted to exactly $100, can you believe it. The food was pretty decent, we particularly enjoyed the mushroom soup and pasta.

I think what really was the icing on the cake is that we spent the entire day - indulging in good food, drinks and got to even soak in the bathtub together with the fishes - only spending a grand $20. 

How you might ask. Especially when their parking charges are exorbitant. Did you know that the first hour is $8 and every subsequent hour is $2?! Also, each room is only allowed one complimentary parking coupon. Our parking charges amounted to $28... BUT we managed to have it waived off thanks to the lovely guy at the reception counter. I'd say my charm played a part of it too HAHA but yay to complimentary parking coupons!

It was definitely one of the greatest days I've had in 2014 and particularly, in December. Definitely a magical Christmas I'll never forget. (':

Merry Merry Christmas to everyone, my family and loved ones, and all that have chanced upon my blog! This year had been a pretty tiring one, with many lessons learnt, but it is through ever lesson and stones on the floor picked up that makes one stronger. I've new resolutions to make and new plans that I look forward to implementing, so I do hope that 2015 will be a great year for me. 

Happy holidays~