Lucky Strike

I can't believe my last post was dated October 25th! Just when I thought my blogging momentum was picking up, and then disaster must struck, of course! What disaster, you ask? Well, to begin with, Della the lappy was hit by some kinda virus, which wiped out most everything. And then it took a couple of weeks for it to be repaired, and it came back without Microsoft Office installed, and that, took more than a month to be done up. On top of that, just when Della finally came back to me, a week or so later the modem got struck by lightning and I'm out of touch again. -_- And when a new modem was replaced, it took forever for me to install the damn thing, even 2 calls to TM's service center at 2 in the AM, reset everything that can be reset and it didn't helped! And then the whole install, uninstall, reinstall, troubleshoot, retroubleshoot, install and uninstall and reinstall, and sent the modem back to the vendor and install again, and here we are, ladies and gentlemen, the problem, says the high and mighty of the techie world, lies in my phone line, please call your ISP provider kthxbai. @$%^*&(%^I&UTYT%%&^*&(*OIUTYGHJKU
-_______________-

Oh since I'm on the subject of disaster, might as well throw these bits in! Exciting!

In between the happenings of my lappy breaking down and modem getting struck, my new phone's 3G, without notice nor explanations, couldn't connect for a week, our car's battery died on a weekday morning, followed by punctured tires, or was it the other way round? /taps chin/. Anyways, during the process of the whole modem-installation-and-uninstallation was happening, just last Sunday, one of the car's tires got punctured by a darn nail. Again.

And yeah, I think that's about it! Pretty awesome huh? And just for the record, my internet connection issue is not solved yet, and it's a complicated situation on how I get to come online now, so let's just not exhaust ourselves getting that part explained.

BUTTTTT all these crazy mishaps aside, life went on - some days more awesomer than the others - and I'm practicing this whole positive thinking (so, hush!) and I'm surer than a heart attack that for every bad thing that happened to me/us, a hundred more good things' gonna happen, like, anytime now. Really.

And a quick report and record on my black-out month (that's November, where I was outta connection, remember? Z), I kinda organized a first tea party/meetup for a group of SAHMs, who mostly were only online friends before the gathering! I was crazy nervous about the whole thing, I mean, I'm not exactly a PR kinda person to begin with; and I got a little ambitious about trying to get sponsors for door gifts, just to make the participants happy. I sent out a million emails and only one company had the manners to reply me, though the response was negative. But still! Does letters sent without a company letterhead render us worthless? Such spirit breakers, these corporate players!

Anyhoo, the gathering came and went, and I can safely say the ladies had fun, and our objectives of having a little me-time with only girl-friends are met!

Oh and a week before that I was in Bangkok yo! Or erm, to be precise, Ms. Kate and I were around the Pratunam area, for the entire weekend. Yeah. How exciting right? I know! We were just such shopping noob lah! We didn't bring enough money in the first place, and then we got too excited and thought we overspent on the day we touched down (our first 4 Thai hours, uhm hmm), and so we got depressed on the second day and lost all mood to buy anything at all. And then on the third day, we realized that we, in fact, did have a little more kachings than we thought we did, and that we shouldn't be all so glum and go home empty handed, and so we speed-shopped in 3 hours and bought all that we could, before packing up and left for the airport at noon. How's that for noob travelers? Hehe!

Anything that happened before the trip my brain remembers not. And I blame this on epidurals! OHHHH BUT JUST BEFORE ANYTHING (erm, obviously after all the grandmother stories above there), I have an exciting "news" to share!
What? NuuuUUuuu. I'm not pregnant! -__- But that  my next post is gonna be a happy girly post somewhat a review article of an awesome blogshop! Cliche much? Well, the only two reasons I write about a brand/business is either a) it pisses me off, big time; or b) it's pretty awesome and worth a mention. And trust me, I do have a list of brands/businesses that seriously pissed me off the roof that I so want to rant about, but then the thought of it alone just saps my energy and makes me tired, and in the end, count it their lucky day as their names are safe from being tarnished, for yet another day. We'll see when it ends. We'll see.

Right, urgh, lotsa digression (yes, the epidural!), so yeah, obviously this is a matter of b) and not a)! On top of that, the blogshop owner (ok actually yeah, she's somewhere in between an acquaintance and a friend!) is actually sweet enough to offer a little promotion for my readers (chewah sound so important! Just ok, please, no need to say the obvious, just play along ok and give me that 2 seconds of erm, importance -.-)

So yuppers, stay tuned!

Meanwhile, life in pikchas!!! :)))

My clingy lil bub finally started walking!

ootd! Ever since I received an iphone for our wedding anniversary, I've become this shameless camwhore haha :x

case in point.

Frap drew this and said, "mommy, me!" I was reduced to a teary pulp.

After the cut and the dye job that failed.

Primary through High school friends!

Went back for touch-up and had an accidental dip-dye job instead.

Frappy pre-haircut

Nipped this pic from Melly. Love our group pic!

This was taken before oli started walking on her own. Frap was helping her walk.

Bought this without even thinking if I'd wear it because it was that cheap!

noob travelers are meant to travel together haha

These cheeky+ghetto faces greeted me on the phone when I was away in BKK.

Green-tea tasting honey cake.

 

See my lilac skinnies? SEE?!

Frappy practicing her ABC scribbles. I'm impressed that she recognizes quite a few letters!

Love this drama pic! Haha Also love this floral number from Asos. Taken during the mommy gathering!

Our not-very-dainty tea party!

And people think sahm are ah sohs/aunties? Eat my dust! (HAHAHA! Totally irrelevant, I just want to say that!)

Midnight book shopping @ Big Bad Wolf Book Sale! Reached home at 3am x_x

If you can't beat them, join them. This crazy galloping fever. Z.

The (Sad) Story Of A Lazy Baker

OK, so by now you should know that I'm a lazy cook and a lazy baker; I love recipes that are hardly recipes, a bonus when the result turns out amazing, that recipe will get lots of loving and raving, like duh, obviously. z.

And so the story goes like this, I've been dying and craving to bake and eat baked goodies of late, but it's a little impossible (mostly out of sheer laziness) for me right now with my two precious tornadoes locked out behind bars constantly standing at the baby gate whining and wanting hugs and attention all the time.

And so the craving shot up to its max one day and I just HAD TO BAKE AND EAT NOW!

And so. I took out my mug, anyhowly spoon in some flour, sugar, salt, oil, cocoa powder, nutella, gave it a good stir and in it went into a saucepan of boiling water, to be steamed to its perfection, of course! Erm, because I'm... creative like that? 

I thought nutella mug cake is a foolproof recipe, I mean, 9 out of 10 persons who perused the method often came back with rave reviews, but yeah lah, maybe because I so smart go and steam it, not that the thing turned out awful, it just came out... funny. Like eating a mat salleh kuih. HAHA!

Ah well, the Frap took a bite and gave me the thumbs up. Heck, I took the first bite and gave her the thumbs up too. And then she refused it by covering her mouth tightly with one hand, and waving the other left and right vigorously to say no AND running the opposite direction by the third bite. Erm, maybe she's on a diet gua... /shifty eyes.

p/s ok fine, for reals, the texture was seriously like eating some kinda kuih, the taste was a little weird but I conclude that was because my cocoa powder has been kept for quite sometime, and really, by the third bite all my craving for baked goods are gone. For good.

Behold! Steamed Mat Salleh Kuih Nutella Brownies

My First Pre-Loved Closet Sale Party @ TTDI

So I'm finally done talking the walk and am walking the talk! Imma gonna throw a PRE-LOVED CLOSET SALE/PARTY this coming 1st September @ TTDI!

pls click for the fine print.
try saving it on to your computer to read. :)

How exciting is that??? Date, time, venue as stated in the promo poster. My aunt, who's a beautician and runs a beauty salon, is kind enough to lend me her space to hold the sale! /gamdong So. Yup. Here we are!

Organizing this "event" is truly exhilarating yet nerve wrecking! I mean, knowing me, the things I'd worry about is none other than, what if no body comes and not will people buy my junk gems, they are gems ok! T___T *chill chill* but it's ok, at least I try. Huhu

Ok , sob promos aside, please come! Even just to say hello! That'd be a heck load of motivation for me!

Anyway, just briefly - the sale will be held, as mentioned, in my aunt's thalgo salon @ taman tun dr. ismail (address @ the attached pic), from 10am to 4pm. I'm digging deep into my closet (and my sisters', my mom's, and my aunts') and basically took out everything that we are not wearing anymore, and hopefully find them some real loving in new homes. There are some really good brands (brand new and preloved but lightly worn!) here! No worn-out, pariah stuff on sale. Don't worry.

The objective is to clear my wardrobe, which I don't have one, actually, a physical wardrobe I mean. So my clothes are all hung out in a room - a sort of walk in... wardrobe? But it's not working! The dust and the mozzies are bugging me nuts! Besides, I'm just not wearing them anymore, but sayang want to throw out because they are in good condition and are pretty! Really, just for one reason or another, I've grown out of the erm, teen/college girl styles (I mean, a mother? Hello? I can't be donning that H&M mini skirt and I Luv NKOTB BSB band tee anymore right. It's just... off. Age-wise T_T)?

ANYWAYS!!! Giving clothes a second life instead of sending it to the dumpster is good for the earth. So!

I'm also going to donate 10% of the proceeds to Malaysia Independent Animal Rescue (MIAR) - a non profit volunteer group dedicated to saving the strays (receipt will be shown here upon making the donation). I've read a few of their rescue efforts and I'm really touched by it; I can't be on the ground with them, so I just want to do what I can. So, I appeal for your support too! You can check them out on their facebook page.

So yes, feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, I'd be glad to furnish you with as much info as I can. But yeah, it's not a complicated event, just make time and come say hello. And re-home my darling BSB tee. Please? /hopeful

Meanwhile, here's google map's link to the said location. So come! Don't make me wait from 10-4 and cry from 4-cows come home ok please.

p/s do bring along your own bag/recycle bag to keep your purchases. Save the earth! Use not plastic! 

p/p/s OH YES HOW CAN I FORGET! DO HELP ME TO SHARE THIS OUT, I'D REALLY, REALLY APPRECIATE IT! THANK YOU PEEPLES!!!!! :)

Here's some of the pieces that will be on sale that day posted on facebook

Hands-On Makeup Course @ MALswisse

Some months back, a girlfriend asked a few of us girls if we’d like to buy a groupon voucher for a makeup course! Now given the me from 3 years ago, I’d have shrugged you off and asked, rather rudely, for what? But since this year I’ve made a resolution to try NEW things, so I thought, heck, there’s no reason to say no. I mean, it’s high time I be a girl already! So after a few exchanged of giggly words, we bought the voucher and waited breathlessly for the day(s) to come. OK, it was just me being all breathless and jakun-ish. Zzz.

A little background - the course was conducted by MALswisse at Empire, and was divided into 2 lessons (dates of our choice) and all three of us chose Saturday afternoons; each lesson was about 3 hours long. The first lesson talked about skincare, you know, from makeup removal to double cleansing (very important!), and all that. I counted, a total of 9 steps, and that should equate to about plus minus 9 products per routine? Like, seriously? So that confirms what people say about being a girl is not cheap. 

The second lesson taught us the basic makeup technique and this, confirms what people say something about there’s no ugly girls but lazy ones. 

And that’s the grand summary of my experience! Haha! Oh I forgot to mention that the promotion cost around RM45 per pax through groupon, if my memory serves me well.

The lessons were pretty fun; there were less than 10 of us in both lessons, so it was cozy and that made me feel less shy to talk back ask questions. The trainer, Sharmaine, was friendly too, which made the whole experience very enjoyable, even more so when I went with friends!

Now, I’m not a full-makeup-on-everyday kinda girl, but at the end of the course, I was more confident with applying makeup on my own, especially applying liquid/cream foundation and eyeliner - the 2 steps that I'd avoid at all cost because did I tell you before? That once, I got a complimentary full face makeup at Stila's counter, and I was to attend a wedding after that. Half way into the wedding, where I've greeted like a gazillion people, I decided to pay the loo a visit, and by golly when I saw myself in the mirror I almost died! My lower eye lines "dropped" and I literally looked like a Red Indian ready for war with all the under-eye war paint. What truly killed me that night, was that when I asked Jason why didn't he tell me that I looked like some crazy woman?! His answer, was as epic as epic could ever be - "well, I thought it's supposed to be like that!". Man, srsly? -___- I died a million times that night, till this day, the thought of it is enough to kill me another million times T____T Since then, I avoided eyeliners like... like... you would a terrible ex from a bad romance. Ah. Those young, ignorant days! We shall reminisce in another post now, shall we not?

SO ANYWAYS! I’m also diligently practicing double cleansing now and I remind myself everyday to moisturize; seriously, the lack of moisturizing is the downfall of your skin. Hello flakiness!!! I think if we do the cleansing and moisturizing steps well, good skin is achievable, no matter how terrible your skin is currently! 

So yeah, coming back to the course, personally it does feel good to be back in a learning setting, given a chance, I’d do this kinda short courses again! Whether to learn, to update ourselves, or simply to network, they are all pretty good reasons to go out and just have fun! :)

MALswisse conducts various beauty courses, do check them out! 

p/s thanks for the fun girls! :)

On A Roll (of Digital Film)

Had wanted to start a weekly weekend-in-pictures kinda post, but obviously it’s an epic fail because I’ve been taking pictures for the past, what? 4 weekends on and none of them pictures are up here! Just go ahead and tell me how fail I am already! Actually, no, I rather you don’t. But yeah, ok, go ahead. Zzz. 

But I’m not gonna let my picture-taking effort go to waste  because this new year, one of my resolutions is to be a pro camwhore so here goes a vomit of 4 weeks’ worth of pikchas! Fancy!

Oli went for her jab at Assunta, one of my fav things to do, uh sounds wrong right? But I just love going to that part of the old PJ! So charming! The people there are what I called, true pj-ians! I mean, we just sat down at Lotus for breakfast, and these malay and chindian aunties started talking to us and playing with Oli, and the malay aunty even helped us to carry Oli so that we get free hands to eat, how cool is that (they were sitting by the wall, so there's no way for them to run away with the baby if that's what you're thinking of now)?! Anyway, going to Assunta reminds me of both my deliveries there, memorable times! Oh and my fav gynae! Haha

Usually Oli won't even bat an eyelid when jabbed, but this time someone's royally pissed because her beauty sleep was interrupted! And she made sure we pay.

I was in sunnies heaven when my bro intro-ed me to this optical shop in SS2! I'm a geek and I wear glasses, and it's not for fun; and fixing specs usually costs me a bomb, and I always have this fear that the optometrist would sneer at my eyesight power, like, tsk, you're going blind for sure lah. I dunno why! So besides having cat phobia, I really dislike going to the optometrist's (and the dentist's). But this! This place! Oh mai be still my heart! My frame plus lenses only cost me one hundred and eighty ringgit yo (I was prepared in my mind to fork out a good one K before I arrive). Oh how I danced and twirled around the shop like a lunatic, trying on sunnies and frames like a diva, smiling like a... doofus -_-. On and off I could hear the word "psycho" muttered from under jason's breath. Oh well. Guess I'm just an aunty who loves cheap stuff like that.

 Tea time while our white horse was sent for a rub-a-dub-dub!

Fav shade of orange and Oli's mark of adulthood (baby's version).

Tray of golden eggs - very important for your sanity.

Butterfly! There were 3 cocoons hanging on the wall just outside my door, in fact I took a picture (of them cocoons but I can't find it now! found it!) thinking I can document the metamorphosis thing, haha, but yeah who am I kidding the next thing I saw 2 butterflies fluttered away while this above was still hanging on the wall so there you go!

Fav top at the moment, from Forever21! Leopard print but so subtle and comfy! 

Typically us during sunday church service - a family of sloths! Haha. Oh well, it'd be nice if the nursery provides cots, or proper seats for parents to go all sloth-like in private. Just saying.

Frappy's fav corner in the church - library. Here's them girls with their beautiful tutors and sitters - something the girls are very blessed with, there are always someone around to fuss over them and giving them too much attention.

 

The girls were cranky like anything on a crazy hot saturday, so brought them out on a car ride and suddenly all was well again and they turned into these peaceful angels *clouds parted angels singing*

 Doofus and her fav coffee brand.

Come what may.