Updates!

Ahhhh... It has been such a long LONG time since I've blogged!

Work is indeed starting to creep into me, bit by bit. Also, with the wedding havoc preparation, I just realized that there are more than I thought that needed my attention. I often have to nag my fiance to finalize on his guests list. *Sigh* Until today, he still hasn't while I'm pretty much done with mine although there are more and more self-invites coming my way ><

Activities for the month:
1) Malacca with uni-mates (Done that, June 27 & 28)
2) Dinner & karaoke with colleagues (kinda rejected them, but now kinda feeling bad, should I go?)
3) This weekend (shop for bikini for Tioman trip?)
4) Parents came to town (July 4 & 5)
5) Kuala Lipis with fiance's colleagues (Don't really know if this is really happening or not, tentative July 18 & 19)
6) Tioman with fiance's colleagues (hooray, very excited for snorkeling but very afraid to get tanned cause I've already obviously became darker in Malacca)

July is indeed a busy month for me. I took a lot of Malacca photos but now I feel so lazy to share them... oh well!
That's all for now, folks!

P/S: In Malacca, I discovered a Japanese singer who sings English songs, Emi Fujita and I'm loving her songs!

What ticks me off?

I was at Tesco yesterday, stopped by on the way to church to purchase an "emergency" item. Since it was only ONE item, I queued at the so-called Express Lane for items below 10. There were three other patrons in front of me.

The other immediate two patrons in front of me indeed had 10 items or less while the furthest patron who is already their turn to pay had a full load of trolley. They definitely had MORE than 10 items.

I can forgive the lady for being illiterate who couldn't read BM or English but I believe her son (a younger chap) should at least know how to read either of the language stated on the express lane! But NOOOOOOOoooooooo, they had to queue there and hog up the lane to pay for their trolley-load of items!!! Arghhhhh... What's worse is that the cashier wouldn't tell them to queue elsewhere, they prolly are afraid that people will stop patronising? If they are, then there is something they should know. As long as your items are cheap, Malaysians will NEVER stop patronising it!

No wonder Malaysia will never improve because Malaysians never seem to want to improve. This is definitely NOT ignorance, this is simply not bothering and it really pisses me off BIG TIME!

There are many many many more complaints that I may have based on my observation of how people act and go about their daily lives in public places that affect other people within the same vicinity but I can simply go on and on and on... Can people from other parts of the world tell me, do people act like this in other parts of the world or is it just Malaysians?????

Disappointed!

Just a short update. The song which I've gotten myself over-excited about to use as a bridal march-in can no longer be used as the priest didn't allow non-church hymns to be used during the wedding blessings.
Huge disappointment...*sigh*

A stroll down memory lane...

To have finally found time to blog is nearly impossible, have been pretty tied up with work and what-nots.

Take a sneak preview of the church which I will be having my wedding, shall we? Fiance was asking why aren't we getting married in the older ancient church which would look even more classic to which I didn't exactly know how to answer and simply said that I preferred this new one instead =.="

It's a huge church. It was designed to appear like the cross shape... this view is overseeing the altar and the main entrance.

When I was in school, I corresponded with a few friends via letters... I still remember exchanging story books (yes, novels but at that time, they were teen novels?) wrapped as presents and we give it to each other. So, every other day, we're celebrating birthdays! Lolx. It all started in Form 3 when I was not in any of the disciplinary "societies" and continued into Form 4 when I was a prefect! Anyway, those were the bygone days. Then, my bestie left for another school and we only meet every week during the tuitions we both attended and exchanged letters too! Come to think of it, they were really fun and I took some time going through some of the letters and the things we have shared, the silly thoughts we once had and all that... At that time, I think we were all pretty fascinated with the paper designed in lovely colours and cute pictures, envelopes that matched the paper if not cuter!

I don't think this bestie's handwriting has changed one bit. At least, I didn't feel so. Maybe smaller? Then, they were rounder? *heeee*

Then, there were birthday cards, seasonal cards, more letters (I was indulged in pen-pal correspondence even then and engaged through the Galaxie magazine! rofl...), pressies, school souvenirs, etc which I still keep! They're definitely memorable, never fail to make me crack into a chuckle or smile when I look at them and all the thoughts and memories that flood my mind!

See the origami? Eventually, I learned up to fold that origami and handed out to a few of my friends! It was good fun... I was once so obsessed with the origami and my then bf now fiance future husband has a set of all that I knew how to fold and they were all in the shape of hearts because I once borrowed the origami book from the girl who gave me that ring of hearts you see above =)

Birthday gifts which I have received since upper secondary I think? Maybe even before that phase. I still remember the once crazed "Hello Kitty" dolls marketed through McDonald's and honestly, I was not a big fan of that cat and I still am not, but they are definitely one of the most treasured gifts cause they are pressies from wonderful friends where I can't put a price to the gifts received. Oooh... But I think those sesame street dolls were something I purchased on my own through McDonald's as well. I absolutely adored those dolls... =)

One of the best fun part of my life was getting involved in the various activities which my friends and I joined. If I'm not mistaken, I think most of them were part of a fun raising for which-organization-or-purpose-that-I-can't-remember-anymore. But, I remember the great fun we had in the process...

The day I turned 15 was the day I received this treasured photo album from a group of buddies! Today, this particular photo album stores all my fav and treasured photos over the years...

I think nobody has ever seen this transformation of me other than my family members and the other person who was not a family member but soon to be is none other than my fiance and I'm now showing it to the world! >< (Left to right: From childhood to age 15)

My kindy's graduation photo! Spot me? ahahahha... There was only one girl whom I remember we sat next to each other everyday (think that was my best friend in kindy) whom I only knew we both attended the same Primary & Secondary school which I only found out about when I was in Lower Secondary. Irony of life, classic case! Have only recently added each other through Facebook too... Glad to know she's doing well, very happy for her definitely without a doubt.

The one-day fame we experienced, my first and possibly only newspaper article that had me as their subject. Thinking back, we were lucky to have bumped into the journalist by chance! Lolx...Form 2, right?

Can't recall if this was in Form 4 or Form 5? But it was definitely Physics class because of the teacher/sir. Funny the Malay classmates aren't in this photo and I can't remember why...

Board of Prefects, Year 2000

Red House Marching Squad, Year 2000. The Red House was never first in this school but at least we clinched the Best Marching Squad for that year which we are very proud of... hip hip hooray!

The first co-ed school which I attended for only 2 weeks? Perhaps 4 weeks the most, before I hurriedly pack up to leave town and headed for university. =) Wasted my parents' money as they forced us to wear black school shoes! Stoopid bugger... Just so I point this out, my brother & dad attended this school, my bestie attended this school for 2 years. Hmm... I almost ended up in this school when I was 16 due to the stupid rumour about relocating our Convent school to some Cow River area!!! (which of course the relocation never did happen until today =.=")

The flight I took back to Penang the other day had a public figure on board as well. He's a public figure in which people will either love or hate, there's no mutual neutral feelings or in between for this such person as far as I'm concerned.

Say Peekaboo!

As I'm finishing this blog post, I could smell that someone has just failed in cooking as he / she has burnt the rice. The smell is just too similar to the one where I have definitely burnt rice when my mom asked me to cook them at home and forgetting to turn the gas off and only to realise it when such smell emerge from the kitchen!

My trip back to Penang: Part I

Ahhh... finally I found time to blog!

What did I accomplish back in my hometown?

1) Met up with my freelance make up artist for the wedding in Lunas and paid him the deposit
2) Met up with St. Anne's parish priest to confirm Nov 21 for the church blessings, time at 12:30 PM
3) Did not meet up with the church group who are church florists for the decoration purposes, I'll leave that to my parents, or I may return next month to work on it again
4) Had a couple of my favourite food
5) Spent quality time with my parents

I went around snapping photos of the food I've taken and funnily enough during this trip back, I went to eatery places that I've not been to before in my whole life! Lolx...

I can't recall if this was chicken / salted / century egg broth??? Bottomline, it's porridge with (yew char kuey) chinese fritters.
My parents came to this coffeeshop (few weeks before they brought me there) after reading an article from the local newspaper highlighting this dish. It's called "lor-bak". I felt that it couldn't beat my aunt's skills but my mom insisted that this was healthier because they used lean meat while my aunt used a little of the unhealthy fattening pork meat. =.="

Ahh... one of my favourite dish back home! Fried Kuey Teow!!

All the above 3 dishes were something my parents and I had in a restaurant called Kheng Pin coffeeshop. It's opposite Oriental Hotel, adjacent to the Odeon cinema. We shared the food amongst ourselves. Actually, there's still another dish, Hainanese Chicken Rice, apparently famous in that shop. We waited half an hour for it. The chicken was really soft and tender, but I think it still couldn't beat my mom's Hainanese Chicken Rice. *smug* I must learn from her (actually I already know the recipe, I just have not tried cooking them on my own before!) so that I can cook for my family one day! Tee hee hee...

That was on Friday. The next day, we went to the church and confirmed my wedding date with the church and parish priest. He turned out to be nice. Previously, on the phone, he was really cocky I wanted to smack him if he were to speak to me that way face to face. Went home, called the makeup artist and had an appointment set. Something happened along the way (too lazy to elaborate) and got ourselves delayed for an hour and a half.

We headed to Lunas because the makeup artist is based there and Lunas is (or was?) famous for the duck! The last time I went there was more than 10 years ago. Yupppp, after all those years. Somehow, I think the taste has changed. It no longer is as good as it was. Still, the place was crowded to the core I almost walked out of the shop because nobody paid attention to us who were new customers and awaiting for them to clear the table. One of the waitress actually saw me and IGNORED ME! Kanasai betul...

Half a roast duck, accompanied with soya taukua and 2 hard boiled eggs

So, that was lunch at about almost 2pm. My makeup artist, Joseph. Nice guy, my parents said he was so friendly =.=" and he is from the same parish as us, St. Anne's! But, I've never seen him before probably because he attends the Chinese mass while my family attends the English mass. Talk about a small town, yet this is just confined to a church congregation alone.

We headed to the island again thereafter. Headed to Genting coffeeshop in Island Glades to fulfill my crave for Assam Laksa. Actually, I've wanted to try the famous Air Itam laksa which I've never tried before in my entire life and have only heard about it! Anyway, I settled for this, perhaps my next trip back I will visit the one in Air Itam. Lolx...

Extra prawn paste! Just the way I like it!!! *Yummy...* Had this bowl at approximately an hour and a half after that 3pm lunch? Lolx...Yeah, I was on full speed mode in eating that weekend =)

At night, I continued with my eating escapades! ><

Mom had this bowl of mix pork vermicelli (bee hoon). But, this is the version that I prefer in soup-based dish, it's thicker than the usual ones which we call bee hoon. I've had this before, it's of excellent taste. There was once my parents ordered the one with pig's brain in it. If they didn't tell me, I think I would have consumed it ignorantly. But, the moment they told me about it was when I picked them out and gave it to them! *yuck* I could take the intestines, but not the tail nor ear nor brains ><

Had another fix of Char Kuey Teow *glee*

Ikan Panggang!!!!! Arghhhh.... I never let this go each time I come to this coffeeshop.

"Umbra" fruit juice with asam. I never missed having this whenever I'm back in Penang because KL coffeeshops don't serve this. But, finally found one but it's from malay stalls? It's called buah kedondong in Malay. I never knew it ><

So, this coffeeshop is located one block away from the hotel that I'm holding the banquet. It's along the main Macalister Road and Rangoon Road. It's a coffeeshop that span across 3 shops combined. Dun miss going to this place when you're in Penang! My favourite by far. *heeeee*

Alrighty, that's all for now folks! I'll be back with some stories with a stroll down memory lane.

Home for the long weekend

The long weekend is here! I'm flying back home tonight! So darn excited to see my parents! AND also the food there which I've missed dearly and crave desperately (NO, this has nothing to do with PMS whatsoever!).

Happy Labour's Day, everyone! =)

P/S: Back with more updates of pictures, hopefully...

Post-busyness update

This post should have been updated earlier as it has been long overdue, but heck, I just found time to extract the photos and also had some amateur time playing around with Photoshop to learn how to include texts. From the photos attached, you can still see my amateur-ish skills bordering beginner-ish due to the misalignment of the texts I've inserted.

We celebrated our 8th Anniversary one week earlier prior to the actual date to provide me ample time going on strict diets before going into the pre-wedding photoshoot. So, Ping, I went for the Jap buffet afterall! Heh... just at a different time instead of the earlier planned during my birthday last month.

On an overall basis, the food was not bad but nothing extraordinary or extravagant to shout about (I'll tell you why at the end of this post why I made this statment). I hesitated taking photos there and thus asked the staffs there if I could.

An array of fish. The unagi was great albeit with a number of bones in it. Had to eat it with much care.

The Chawanmushi was excellent but I didn't try the Yaki Udon as I was never a big fan of Udon.

Tell me if they aren't pretty?!?!?! But, ain't a wide selection or range I'd say.

The salad-cum-dessert bar

If this is not pretty, then I don't know what else is! Again, a huge fan!

Fresh oysters in Tabasco sauce and lemon!

My first plate

Not a huge fan of Tempura but this was actually quite good

My second plate. LOVED the fried garlic rice, awesome! I'm a huge fan of sushi but I've tasted better...

I never have sushi without them...

Fish nugget

Miso soup! Not a big fan but fiance helped himself with the serving of seaweed and tofu. This was alright as I'm a big seaweed fan. When I was in Japan, I didn't touch the authentic Miso soup and here I am trying local Miso soup. Weird, huh?

The ambience & atmosphere. Cool?

Salmon sashimi. Again, not a big fan but my fiance is, apparently.

Teppanyaki. Photo is a lil' blur cause I think my hands shook. Paiseh! There's a hint of black pepper... again, I'm not a huge fan of black pepepr! ><

Sinful dessert.

An even more sinful dessert but the cookies in the shape of bears were utterly cute! But, they looked grumpy don't they? *teeheehee*

I would have rated the place 5 out of 5 if not for the diarrhea we both suffered when we got home! ><

Pre-wedding photoshoot

It was one of the most exciting day of my life yet I thought I'd die out of fatigue. I finally had my pre-wedding photoshoot that had taken place over the weekend. If you were at Kepong's FRIM in the morning on Sunday, you might have bumped into me the other day, the mad couple who went to the different scenes which FRIM had to offer.

There was a mass area of dried leaves from a grove of trees, it almost gave us the feeling of Autumn as experienced in the countries that goes through the four different seasons in a year. I call it the Malaysian Autumn or tropical Autumn. Hehehe... When we were there, there was a group of tourists who jumped on the opportunity to snap a photo with us. It almost felt as though we were some celebrity caught in the public eye, well, that's the nearest I had to the feeling of being treated like a famous person! They were from Iran and Iraq.

There was one part where the photographer suggested that he carry me. I was thinking, "OMG! In front of all these people, are you friggin' insane or what? You must be maddddd...". It still happened! I have not seen what that photo would turn out like, I'll let you know when I get to view it (tomorrow!!! Yippeeeee)... The photographer even commended him for being able to carry me up that high ><. I take it negatively because he prolly thought that I was too friggin' fat to enable any lifting activities, let alone being carried up high! *blueks* Then, apart from a bouquet of flowers that was brought along as accessories by the photographer, there was this other thing that children loved to play and let wind carry the colourful blades move in circular motion. My fiance, was asked to carry that as his accessory while I was ultimately carrying the bouquet. He was reluctant to carry it, to say the least because it felt so non-macho! I couldn't help but kept laughing at him... The day before the photoshooting, we went to FRIM on our own to do some research on particular spots which we'd like to have our shots taken. One of them were the bamboo shoots, I felt that the green bamboo shoots gave a special feel or atmosphere, thus we brought the photographer there. Alas, he said the bunch of bamboo shoots were too minimal to capture a great shot. Instead, he felt the thicket bamboo trees we came across on the way to the spot we brought him there would have provided a better opportunity for a good photo turnout. So, I shall wait and see... I realised that there is this particular vision that I had in mind which I wanted to have taken but I totally forgot about them because of all the hype and the weather which was a lil' hot. It was a sunny day afterall (THANK GOD, if it had rained, I think I'll have to postpone the photoshoot which I really didn't want to). The last spot in FRIM which we took was one of the attraction in FRIM, which was the waterfall area. There were a few groups of picnickers there who were grinning from ear to ear looking at us having our photos taken there. I had to hang my head down each time I was walking past a group of people. I was shy, you see! YES, SHUDDUP, I AM A SHY PERSON!!! We had a fun time having our photos taken at the waterfall. We had our clothes completely drenched from head to toe! =) Amazingly, the make-up on my face did not get destroyed one bit, imagine how thick it must have been or the products were absolutely reliable! HAHAHA... I'd think the earlier possibility was more believable than latter though. I chipped one of my left foot's toe nail while attempting to climb the slippery rocks admist the torrential water gushing down rapidly and I was so fearful with the gown and all, not to mention that everyone's eyes were on us practically! I believe that everytime a wedding pre-wedding shoot is taking place there, it has never failed to capture attention and on that day at that point of time, I've experienced it all. Imagine how insane it got because while the photographer was busy instructing us and carefully directing us to the correct spots admist the slippery stones, there came that group of tourists we met earlier. They were so gung-ho that they joined us and I meant literally except getting themselves drenched from head to toe. But, they took the trouble to climb the rocks and got their shoes, socks and feet drenched and mind you, I doubt they brought any extra pair of shoes or socks to change! They took their photos happily while our photographer were busy snapping away in his and of course during this time, they didn't pose with us but they got like two feet away from us just to get their shot taken! That is what I call insanity! The outdoor shoot came to an end after we enjoyed getting drenched in the cold water. While I got myself changed in the public toilet provided at that place, it was not a comfortable position nor a pretty sight, nevertheless, it was just that once in a lifetime thingy (lemme put a disclaimer here, I do not visit public toilets at public places esp outdoor and not even coffee shops! I just couldn't bear the seeing the place that is not hygienic and esp if it stinks! Malaysia just isn't famous for public toilets, that's an understatement.) Spent about 3 hours at FRIM and returned to the photo studio at about 2pm and the indoor photoshoot begins from there and ended at 7pm. I spent a total of 10.5 hours that day completing the photoshoot and took another 2 hours getting myself washed and cleaned. One day's photoshoot has damaged my hair which I've taken care for the entire year considering the massive hairspray and chemicals used on my hair! *sigh* The following days that ensued were days where I continuously pampered my hair with massive treatment masks. Yes, I don't really have any fetish in cosmetics and facial skin care products or really particular in fashion, but I am very particular about hair care and body lotion! =) I ensure that my hair remains soft and shiny although having had my hair dyed numerous times and ensure my skin stays smooth and soft with body lotion TWICE a day! 'Nuff said. I'm so EXCITED tomorrow! I hope the photos will turn out good...

All excited for the past weekend!

As the pre-wedding photoshoot day was inching closer, I was getting all excited and prepared myself for it.

On Thursday, I pampered myself to a french manicure and normal pedicure. Now, I have an idea of what manicure and pedicure mean. Honestly, I don't know how people could spend the money to do it cause I felt that it is entirely unnecessary. (Disclaimer: This statement made is entirely my opinion and only mine!) Fine, they scrub your dead cells cum cuticles off from the nail surface in order to make it look cleaner and all that but if one were to care for your own nails, those are things one can do on their own without having to pay someone else to do it. As for pedicure, the extensive portion of it is the scrubbing of the feet and legs (knee downwards) and smoothing the rough patches. The only necessity in which I feel a manicure or pedicure is required for myself is perhaps when I want nail art done.


French manicure cost me RM 32 while the pedicure cost me RM 40. The moment I exitted the nail parlour into my car, I spoiled my left thumb's nail while fiddling with the seat-belt buckle. *sigh* When I got home, I continued to spoil another two fingers of my right hand. So much for the RM 32 spent!


That is one part of the preparation I made. On Saturday, we went out for last minute shopping. Fiance bought his stuffs while I got myself the so-called-magic-bra-cum-angel-bra-cum-silicon-bra. That cost me RM 59.90 from SASA. All the expenses are getting higher, we have to start re-structuring our budget entirely. Wedding for a day (okay, mine becomes two days) takes up a lot of money!

Can you see the damaged left thumb's nail?

The 2nd & 3rd nail damaged from the right hand

My toes in pearly white as suggested by the manucurist to match my silver pair of shoes

The week before last, I went online researching for the necessities which are required during the photoshoot. For example, ampoule. So, I bought a set of ampoules I found in an online forum and had a COD payment method with the dealer. Little did I know, during the research, I found out that ampoules can be used on a daily basis because they are like serums. So, I purchased the Germany Sensual brand. How authentic or genuine this is, I have no idea but I'm loving it because it has somehow reduced my acne little by little. Hopefully, it's able to clear it off? Hopefully... I can only hope!

12 April 2009, quite eventful... in a bad way!

12 April 2009
It was our 8th year anniversary. But, we didn't celebrate it.
I was out with my friends and got a flat tyre!
It was also Easter yesterday.

On 12 Dec 2009, which is my wedding banquet day, marks our 8th year & 8th month together. Quite auspicious eh? tee hee hee...