when i

when you people noticed that i've successfully posted 3 (THREE) posts in one day, you know i have nothing better to do. even though i know i do, i simply refuse to acknowledge it.

sigh.

and i haven't even reach the midlife crisis yet. and this is past the quarter-life crisis to be even called that.

haha.

looking forward to a more productive Tuesday! lol.

who loves Monday?

economy class syndrome

not many people are aware of economy class syndrome. the more accurate term for economy class syndrome is traveller's thrombosis, which is the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). it is commonly known to pose as a hazard to people on long-haul flights (usually more than 4 hours) after sitting for prolonged periods in cramped conditions, especially in those who are already at an increased rick of thrombosis.

deep veneous thrombosis: a blood clot (thrombosis) that forms in the deep vein system of the lower leg, usually between the ankle and the upper calf. if or when this clot dislodges, it may move through the body's veins to the lungs or even to the heart where even a small clot can block critical blood flow causing rapid death, or at best, paralysis.

source: www.google.com

some symptoms of DVT (although they may not be that obvious) include:

- pain and swelling in the leg, particularly in the calf
- swelling of the lower leg, ankle or foot
- the calf may be slightly red and tender (ouch)

try googling the term up. there's actually alot of webpages to describe this. we're just not publicly made aware of this syndrome. i don't think i've ever heard of this term myself, but there are a number of articles published in the travel section of magazines such as Cleo magazine, that actually tell us how to help reduce discomfort during air travel. this in fact helps to prevent economy class syndrome, although in an indirect manner. and you thought the worst thing that could happen when flying would be the plane disintegrating in mid air. *touch wood*

but this doesn't mean that you'll drop dead each time you travel long distances. economy class syndrome may be a serious hazard, but it is still preventable. so you don't need to swear off travelling by air for life. and it is not limited to just air travel.

some of the basic steps that you can do to reduce the risk:

- try to get seats with more leg room for you to flex your legs. it is better to choose the aisle seat rather than the window seat despite the latter having the better view. better yet, travel business or first class (unfortunately for us less-income earning people, that is not an option).

- wear loose fitting clothes and avoid ill-fitting socks that constrict circulation. studies have shown that wearing compression socks helps reduce the risk of getting economy class syndrome as they help to increase blood flow in the veins.

- avoid alcohol and caffeine, as these beverages will leave you feeling dehydrated. drink plenty of water and other fluids to help you stay hydrated.

- get up from your seat and walk up and down the aisles to stretch your muscles. it's adviced to do this every two hours or so.

- massage feet, ankles, lower legs and knees to avoid blood from pooling in your veins. keep blood circulation moving!

- do some leg and foot exercise while seated, such as clentching and unclentching your toes.

source: www.economyclasssyndrome.com

our new kitteh

last thursday night i went to ttdi to get my stuff from twiggy and later met up with sade to pick up our new kitteh! i was bloghopping (dangerous thing to do, sigh) when i came across twiggy's sales blog and i kinda liked some things she posted for sale, so asked her if i could c.o.d and she said it was okay... so we met up in front of Muhibbah (my favorite restaurant!). her husband was soo sweet to accompany her (if it were me going to meet up with a buyer, i'd have to drive all by myself! hmph). i forgot that i wanted to wear the outfit to work today. i'll wear it tomorrow. still thinking if i should edit it or not, the top part seemed a bit too wide for me. we both seem to be more or less the same size i guess, but i think she is more berisi than me, because i should think that she fits into dresses better, despite being small sized (when can i find someone with the same size feet as me so that they'd buy all the shoes i'm putting up for sale??). well that's just an assumption because at the moment she's 7 months along =D.

went to sade's friend's place in ttdi which was apparently behind muhibbah, yay! to pick up a kitteh. a guy was already there trying to figure out which kitteh to take. since mil wanted a female, we choose this one (photos by sade, i haven't had time to take my own photo, and i'm really superstitious in taking photos of cats):

meet Coco! a.k.a anak kucheng Dayana =P

dayana is ecstatic with the new addition to the family, although she was literally screaming in the car for temporarily abandoning her as i was picking up the kitteh, poor thing. had to pull a britney to calm her down. huhu.

the next day i heard the other three kittehs were all adopted =).

back when i was single and childless my cats are like one of the pieces of the puzzle in my life: you get to cuddle them and squeeze them and stroke their fur and allow them to sleep with you occasionally... sorta like your own living stuffed toy to play with. but i now have a child of my own to take care of and she's sort of like my very own 'kitteh' i can dress up and play with =P~~ so i'm not as crazy over cats as i was before...

i guess that's why movies tend to portray old and loney women as cat ladies. lol.

rusty is 11 years old this year! he's the longest surviving cat ever in our family =)

named rusty because of his karat color. my sis took this =D

i am sleepy

i'm having the monday blues. i got in to the office feeling pretty much the usual when i received a phone call this morning from joanne. it wasn't until she commented on how tired i sounded on the phone did i realize that i was really feeling washed out. usually a 4-hour sleep is the minimal for me to function properly, but i guess somehow i didn't sleep too soundly last night. wonder if it's Dayana's doing because i accidentally let her fall flat on her face. *sorry baby!*

ever since Dayana started going mobile, i put her to sleep on the mattress on the floor, that way i can sleep in peace without worrying if she's fall off the bed or not. i put Dayana down to sleep earlier yesterday night, so i decided to do a marathon of two movies, The House Bunny and Marley & Me. then Significant Other Skyped around 1am; at the time Dayana sorta like woke up in a daze, but she was too sleepy to talk to Daddy so i set her down on the bed, where she instantly continued her dreamland journey. i had to put her there because out of nowhere this big gigantic lipas paraded across the floor of my bedroom. he's dead now but the room was scarred by the event, which is why we ended up on the bed. i guess that's why i couldn't get proper zZz time. sigh. my maid is really hebat. she can actually catch a lipas with her bare hands *shudders*. she's even an excellent bat catcher. haha.

anyway, i've been feeling like nodding off ever since that phone call. it doesn't help that i suddenly decided to wear heels to work, i even had to cellotaped that little pinky of mine and pray that i won't get blisters. met farid at the foodcourt! (actually i noticed her bag first, then only the person clutching it, haha. i thought it was an Envirosax). afterwards followed my friends to isetan and i ended up buying a peach outfit for Dayana, the reason being it was on sale and it's really cheap. i just hope it fits. there was a really nice red outfit but the biggest size i could find was M so i had to forgo that one =(. i might go back for a rattle, Dayana was really into Nia's son's toy key rings so i think i might buy one for her later.

i have Key Ng's wedges on the brain now. it's 50% off. think think think. i need softsoles for Dayana too, but i need to bring her along for that. and maybe i should heret Significant Other to Ikea this weekend. i want to get a box to store her clothes that have seemed to shrunk =P.

on Saturday i went to Adriana's brother-in-law's wedding in Kg Tungku with my parents. i actually went to Adriana's wedding 3 years ago and didn't even know that, haha. i only remembered her husband because we used to go to the same college for a while. i absolutely love the eggshell white RS she was wearing! was surprised to see rayhana there though. and she thought she was attending a babywearing gathering or something, lol.

when Dayana got cranky we headed over to Nedd's house for a bit. tried to influence her to get an RS for herself later, and brought my Ulli along to further poke her. hehe. Aunty Zah mentioned the other day that Nedd's tummy was HUGE. Nedd contributes it to gas. haha. tapaued Lau Wan's porridge for dinner, which was really really yummy. even Dayana liked it. i like porridge lately. i blame this current crave on seeing Dayana's servings of porridge twice a day. hahahah.

on Sunday i decided to change the lightbulb of my room, with bil's help. unfortunately the design of the light made me and bil want to curse it to oblivion. now we both now the next time we want to get lights for our room, NEVER get this design. haha. all his efforts were in vain though. after he finally managed to wedge the stupid screw in and secure all the nuts in place, the stupid light refused to light up. now i need to look for a new transformer. blargh. this activity ended up in me having to vacuum my room, dust was everywhere.

in the afternoon i attended Sarakids 2nd birthday bash. decided to drop by because i had nothing planned that evening. apparently there were alot of bloggers attending this event. shada was the first to greet me when i arrived. met along too, Fahry has really huge eyes O_O. sat beside Nia, i didn't even know it was her until she introduced herself =P. syaz was there showing off her lovely ring slings (farrah, ur pinky RS is to die for!). saw someone that looked like FoxyFarah (which was really her, but i only got to talk to her until the end of the event), and crapped abit with Liz! plan to drop by Sarakids one of these days, saw some nice baju kurung for Dayana but didn't bring enough moolah. i just wished i had gotten one of the nicer looking goody bags =(. i got the boring drab looking one instead. no photos of my own because i had no arms free to actually take photos. anyone who have the group photos please send me the original copy? better yet, can i have the photos that have my face in it? =P~~~ *shiny eyes*. happy 2nd birthday to Puteri Sara Azalea! =D

so that was pretty much my weekend. and now we're back to monday. and i'm still sleepy!!! i haven't watched Transformers 2 yet. bil has been trying to get tickets and is still unsuccessful. suggested for them to watch the movie when everyone else is at work today. Significant Other is adamant that he wants to watch Drag Me to Hell the moment he touches Malaysian soil. grrr. i wonder what's so great about horror movies.

i was just curious, is a 3.6m wrap considered too short?

solemn passings

the past two days were very sombre days.

apart from the King of Pop's passing, which was really a shocker throughout the world, even to us here in Malaysia, my arwah Auntie Jah passed away. it was unexpected and a real shocker too.
charlie's angel's farah fawcett passed on too yesterday after succumbing to cancer.

i took EL yesterday to attend the funeral.
i'll always remember her as the aunt who was always around during family gatherings despite being related to us on her late husband's side, and one who had an unusual passion for geography...
it was nice to know that her last moments were happy ones.

rest in peace, may their souls be blessed. Al-Fatihah to my arwah Auntie Jah...

Rume Green Label Luxe

i was browsing through random blogs when i came across this at tiny tapir's wordpress:

Rume's latest addition!

i've been a fan of Rume ever since Tiny Tapir had that Rume promotion when they were phasing out their Envirosax stock a couple of months ago, so when i saw the above photo that crazy feeling you get when you're dying to get that new blouse you've been lusting over for weeks suddenly resurfaced out of nowhere.

yep. ME LIKEY!

they're the latest line of Rume bags from the Green Label Luxe. they're a bit pricey though because they're slightly different from the normal Rumes. i read that they even have a small pocket inside where you can stash away your keys, handphone or other small items. and they come in really nice metallic colors too! i've never seen them in real life yet, but i'm mulling over the purple colored one. or maybe the gold one. the silver one looks uber cool too. they even come in hot pink for the pinky fans out there. gwah i'm guessing i'll have a hard time deciding later (up to point where i decide not to buy altogether! haha).

they're really useful, they're really small and lightweight to carry around, they can hold alot of weight (don't be fooled by its looks), and you do your part for the environment by refusing plastic bags! my friend Sarah is absolutely loving her mini Rume, she's been putting it to really good use. i have yet to buy the mini version.

i'm crazy, aren't i. bags like this pun i can go crazy over. people go crazy over Coach, and i go crazy over Rumes *rolls eyes*.

anyway, you can get more information about the Rume Green Label Luxe online (half of the content is in Japanese), or you can just head over to the Tiny Tapir store over at Ampang Park. i think they currently stock the bag in the regular size. i think i'd grab one for myself if there were the mini size, but then again, bigger is better... =P). they sell a whole bunch of other lovelies at their store, baby and mommy related! Tiny Tapir is offering free shipping until the end of June for anyone who includes a Rume with their purchases =D.

i am currently lusting for an Ellaroo Christiane... =P

miracle! haha

today i walked into zara (i bumped into KY on his way out)...
and i left the store without buying anything.
miracle twinkle little star! lol.

ok that was weird. i never leave a sale empty handed. even the four of my peeps went back to the office clutching their 'garbage' bags (as hani puts it, since the bags are black and ugly-looking).
nothing! ... even after deb's and aeris's attempts to tempt me.
now hani is threatening to poison me with another round of zara tomorrow. haha.

i think this has something to do with my recent online purchase which has wiped my credit out dry. hehe.
we'll see.

Significant Other's trip has been delayed to an unforseen date. yay! so i don't have to panic for now. but he'll be going off to Norway in two weeks after he touches down in KL. don't know if he's too thrilled about that. he'll start complaining about how he won't have enough 'rest' before jetting off to another country.

what's there to see in Norway? are there any good baby wraps? LOL. excuse me, i have baby carriers on the brain at the moment.

after work i'm off to pick up a lovely cat in search of a new home... and off to pick up a lovely gingham dress that i HOPE can fit me properly. hehe.

taa~!

pricey

flight tickets are damn pricey... i'm in a bad mood because of this. the cheapest is 5k+!!! and that's excluding the price of the connecting flight to my actual destination. where are the really good promotions when you're looking for one? and SIA just recently closed their IAH promotion. eeeeeeee geramnye!!!

i have yet to find an airfare that breaks my boss and D's record, of 2.5k. sigh. *hi Dee =D*

it's just an empty thought, but if i had travel options i would:

1) ride a hot air balloon *hi Hema!*
2) swim *hi sharks! goodbye me, hello fishfood*
3) get a Transformer to drop me off *hi Optimus Prime!*
4) walk, with a glass of water in hand *hi Spike, cousin of Snoopy =P*. but i guess in this case i should replace the glass of water with a GPS. lol.

hahahhahahahaha.

i was listening to the radio yesterday when i heard something about a greys anatomy merchandise giveaway. the first thing that came to mind were stethoscopes. wth?

zara is having a sale tomorrow. i really shouldn't tempt myself. hehe. last monday i walked into Accessorize with Kalp and she already hasut me into buying this really cute orange stripey slouch bag. it comes with really cute ribbons on each side! (which, i found out, actually falls into the 3-12 year old girls category, lol). thinking of getting a headband fer meself, and some cute tie bands for dot. her hair's long enuff to tie up already (imagining coconut trees). agreed to wait for Friday and see if the desire still exists or not.

this screams kiddy cute, don't you think so? =D

yesterday initially wanted to save a bit of moolah by bringing a packed lunch from home (a.k.a. yesterday's leftovers) but was still hungry after that and ended up buying a sandwich from Cold Storage. i think i need to increase the size of my tupperware. it defeats the purpose of bringing your own lunch to work when you end up buying something to eat anyway. haha.

yesterday night belanje Abang to dinner at Rasta, he drives. hehe. sup kosong = rm2. gila. tasted like oil + water = tasteless!

i'm wondering if i should just screw the above most issue and simply apply for a visa. valid for 10 years you know.

happy father's day

here's wishing all Daddies out there a happy father's day! =D
(happy father's day to you too daddy Dayana, hugs and smooches delivered all the way to Libya!)

weekend checklist:

1) go to Ikea to find ghost night light
brought Dayana along, met up with my parents there. didn't manage to get the blue one like Alpha's =( only left the red ones. green one was on display but there wasn't any available to be bought. oh well. next time then.

the ghost night light

created a mental checklist of what i want to buy when the time comes to move... =P
end up my parents were the one that did all the shopping, lol.
my parents put Dayana into one of those trollies, but Dayana started to feel sleepy at the glasses / plates section, and she slept soundly in my Ulli all the way to the cashier =)
did you know they now charge for each plastic bags you bring home with you? saw alot of families bringing home that hideous looking blue-colored bag. put my Rume to use that day =P. for rm30+ my dad refuses to get one for himself. perhaps one of the cheaper ones, maybe?

taken from Ikea's website

met my cikgu Gamelan there! OMG.
also met Faz on the way out with her hubby, and at the cashier saw none other than Twiggy! (excuse me for staring, love =P. did i maanage to convince you to buy an RS for yourself later? heehee).
in the parking lot we passed by the twigs again, trying to fit a couple of huge boxes into their very compact car. lol.
left Ikea with 5 washcloths, and 2 currypuffs (mom's fav). initial mission = fail.

2) celebrate Daddy's day
since Daddy is in Libya, Dayana sent an e-card to Daddy... hope he reads it on the correct day.
went to celebrate with MY dad instead =P. Fahmi suggested Papa John's, but my dad was afraid of the jams so decided to bring dad to Auntie Aini's (in the middle of nowhere). but just our luck, they were closed (celebrating Father's Day too perhaps?).
end up having dinner somewhere near our house. food wasn't too bad. the place was packed, even at 10pm. reached home wayy past midnight.
planning to give my dad a momento of Dayana with her granddaddy, just haven't managed to achieve that 'momento' yet.

happy Grandfather's Day?

3) decide whether i want to accompany Significant Other on his next trip
should i? shouldn't i? i need to scout for the perfect airfare! not to mention i need to apply for the visa. i hear they randomly choose people to reject just for the fun of it. wth? but this is the perfect opportunity to go to the States! when else will i be able to go?
and Aritha's there! how could i not go, now that i know i could have my very own personal tour guide there? *hi aritha* (hahahhahahahha, mati tak pi mana if i were to go alone).
most importantly, will my boss approve? i know he wants to /stab me already. i've been losing sight of my work lately (hoping the dev opportunity works out, despite the crazy oracle test. i barely remember what a candidate key is! *pengsan ketawa reading all 3 pages of the test*).
thinking, thinking...

4) raise funds for OMT
sigh. i've put up more things for sale that are in my closet not getting the TLC they deserve. this is the last thing i want so badly i could scream. if only the currency exchange rate was still 2.5 like in the old days...
help me fund my OMT! *scream*


on a side note, kakak made a smashing nasi lemak for lunch today. and the pudding was super! *cursing for being sucky at cooking*.

it's 2am, and the internet connection sucks. been trying to Skype with Significant Other but the call keeps on dropping. *sigh*.

here's to another Monday!!! =P~~~~~~~~

liz's sun hat for Dayana

i got this in the mail yesterday. liz recently blogged about how she conjured up a frilly sun hat using her own sheer creativity (which i envy over =P) and i was tempted to ask her to make one for my dot. the hats my daughter owns all look soo... grandmotherly. even better yet, you know those buluh terbang that Doraemon and Nobita uses to fly? her hats reminds me of something like that sans the propeller. haha.

Dayana owns only 3 hats: 1) Significant Other bought her one pink Anakku hat before Dayana was even born, 2) we received a pink and white Barney hat as a gift, and 3) Significant Other bought her another hat in Bandung, white color with white flowers stuck over it. she looked much better in this hat, but my mom says the hat sort of reminds her of Old Mother Hubbard = granny hat. hehe.

and so liz agreed =D.

i told liz that she could just pick whatever colors that she wanted, as long as it's on the girlish side. in other words, surprise me, i know she has good taste (unlike yours truly who doesn't care about the clashing of colors). i put in the order last week, and it only arrived yesterday *big grin*.

thanks liz! appreciate the effort =). Dayana loves it too. lol.

the wrapping

the end product

it's a snugg alright. i didn't mind the label!

trial test run

i'm thinking she likes it OK

which waves?

help!!! i wanna know... which is nicer?

top to bottom: cassis waves, holunder waves, aubergine waves, sinfonie waves

disregard the last waves (the red one), i put it there only because i love the color, but the mama who had this already chopped it up *sigh*. so it's down to the other three. which one do you think is nicer? =P~

didy didy didy... you're so bloody expensive!

mak ngah is a banana

well... Significant Other is safely in Tripoli now. we arrived back home after sending him to the airport at 2am. he mati-mati ingat his flight was on Sunday afternoon... luckily i double-checked. apparently he was supposed to fly off at 2 o'clock in the morning. another round of curses from him. haha. i couldn't attend the CD gathering held at Nia's due to the last minute packing and preparation for his keberangkatan pergi (if there is such usage of a word).

on Sunday we went to the parent's place to celebrate kak ish a.k.a. mak ngah's belated birthday, which falls on the 8th of June. i thought that Aida's reception was gonna be held that Sunday night (no thanks to you-know-who) so i lugged my baju kurung along with me. turns out her reception was on Saturday afternoon, so i totally missed it altogether =(. oops, sorry Aida, didn't meant to miss it on purpose T_T. talk about getting the times wrong for the past weekend. lol. and you-know-who was already on her way there, hahahaha *pengsan*

anyway, since my sistah was leaving for Seremban in the evening, i was late to leave the house, so by the time i arrived my dad had already gone off to play a round of golf. my brother was also there since morning (nobody told me he was gonna be around! cheese). and the birthday girl? snoozing practically the whole day. haiz. so we had to wait until my dad got home before cutting the cake. by then my brother was long gone off (sorry ek Abang) to frolick with one of his friends or something.

Dayana was taking her evening nap, so we sang the quick version of happy birthday in hushed tones and took photos with my sista's camera (Aya i want photos plizz!). for presents, my brother bought her a book, i forgot what Aya bought for kak ish, and i handed over my present of which i totally forgot to wrap properly, i just jammed it into a wedding goodie bag (oops lagi). daddy got chocolate indulgence, which turned out to be a bit lembiks because mommy didn't put it in the freezer. lol.

my sister is a top banana

i got her one of those momiji dolls =D cute eh?

i added in a freaky-looking alien keychain for kicks... hahahah

Dayana giving it the Quality Control inspection

Dayana didn't want to miss the celebrations too =P

Dayana: happy birthday Mak Ngah! don't forget my duit raya this year =P

cutey crawly

Dayana is awfully good at crawling now. she crawls at every chance she gets. it's pretty difficult to get her to lie down in bed for her schleepy time. she would prefer exploring my bedroom floor than going to sleep. yesterday morning she got up at 1am+ for a Skype call with Daddy and refuses to fall back asleep even after bribing her with a bottle of milk!

i got her a pair of knee protectors to - what else? - protect her knees. dunno how useful it will be though. it's a bit pricey! i'm having second thoughts about purchasing this item from tt. fell in love with rumparooz, but they're a bit pricey as well. not to mentioned i just splurged on an rs, so... *sheepish grin*. oh well. i got a little something for myself too =P *wishing i had gotten meself the square one instead*

should i have not?

can't leave Dayana unattended now. goodness knows where she'll end up crawling into, or what sorta stuff she'd find and cram into her mouth *pengsan*. i can't leave her on the bed for more than 5 seconds anymore. babies really have no fear of falling, haha. she can climb over obstacles too. her favorite obstacle is her Mommy. haiz. she doesn't like the walker Daddy bought her, she howls like no tomorrow whenever she's being put inside it. need to check with the maid on her latest progress with the walker later.

her first time in her super canggih punye walker

her current pastime is babbling to herself, and engaging into a scream war with Tok Mami. her first blurtings were 'da da'. *oh how annoyed i was, penat ku jagamu and you mention that first??* so there she was, playing and mumbling 'da da da' non stop. pagi petang siang malam. until one day i got tired of it so i taught her how to pronounce 'ma ma'. which she finally managed to pronouce after a few tries, yay! but not as often as 'da da' though. pagi2 bile bangun sebut 'da da', bile nak tido terus cariek 'ma ma'. ok la tu. lol. but i read from babycentre UK that all this syllables mean squat to Dayana at the moment. but that's alright. whatever puts you to sleep at night =P~~~

she already knows how to protest when you take something away from her. hahaha.

she's fascinated with mirrors! i'm not sure what she thinks of her own reflection though, because sometimes she'll attempt to talk to her own reflection. heehee.

Dayana: mirror mirror on the wall, who's the cutest baby of them all? lol

now she's in the process of trying to pull herself up onto her feet. she'll crawl up to me and she'll hold her hands out, so i'll take them in mine and she'll struggle to pull herself up. hehe. i cheer everytime she successfully manages to do so. she'll beam at me like Little Miss Sunshine, and i'll sing her the hotdog dance. lol. i wonder when she'll move on to furniture cruising. there isn't much furniture to perch onto safely in the house.

i haven't thought of getting her shoes yet. tried one of my old pairs last weekend and she was slipping and sliding in them. haha. anyway, mil bought her a pair of red soft soles, her very first pair (minus her Adidas). they totally match with her IB. hehe.

tappity tappity... those are MY shoes ok

tag from Joely, Sasa and Mi

i've been tagged again!!! huarghhhhh (the feeling is similar to being splattered by a gigantic paintball... no matter how hard you duck you'll eventually get hit... i've never played paintball before though, but noreen says it hurts each time you get hit... ahaks).

i find that since all three tags are more or less the same, i'm gonna sum them up into one boring tag... hope you don't mind... =P

i'll start with joely's tag since i saw my name typed at the end of her tag post one fine day... moving on to sasa's tag, and ending with fahmi's tag...

Blogger Friendship Award

1. Copy badge “Blogger Friendship Award” di atas untuk diletakkan di blog anda.

COPIED!

2. Link/ceritakan kembali siapa yang memberikan award ini kepada anda.

1. Joely a.k.a. Jolai =D (i looooOoOve calling her that =P)
she was my housemate back in our Uni years starting from our second year, if i'm not mistaken. before that i just knew her from afar as the-girl-i've-seen-around-but-had-no-reason-to-mingle-with. haha. dah la kurus like me, we eat like nobody's business yet still manage to maintain our stick figures, haiz (although i think she's doing better than me right now, i'm a measly 37kg. the horrors!). got to know her better when we shared the same house in V4C-S1 despite taking different majors, and the rest is history =P.
p/s. joli ingat lagi tak the time i had to pick you up in Lumut in the middle of the night that one time? hahahahah.

2. Sasa a.k.a. febeles! =P
we were from the same batch back in Uni, but we weren't really close. i took IT, she was from the IS degree. she had her own group of friends, i had mine. but we ended up in the same company during our internship term in third year (although not the same department). and i think we were both sponsored by PTPTipu last time, so i guess that's something in common, boleh tak? haha. there's alot i don't know about Sasa though =D.

3. Fahmi a.k.a. Ozy (i got no idea why he's called that. is it because he used to live in Australia before?)
i don't think i remember him back in my Uni days, knew he used to be Significant Other's colleague back in his PwC days... (were you in 'kampung' too back then? i dah lupe) then he moved on to the kerang for a while before returning to the former. i seriously can't remember what brought us close together, but i guess because of Significant Other, i got to know him much better i think, by attending the same functions and meeting up for lunches and whatnot. he even offered to help me change my tyres last time (which i am really greatful for). he bought my daughter her first pair of shoes (which she hasn't managed to grow into yet), he's really into Chilli's (seriously) and loves getting a bite to eat with Johanna =P. is that enuff? oh yeah, and he has this really cute cate named Barb. i love cats. that's something in common, don't you think? =P.

3. Setiap blogger mesti menyatakan 10 fakta/hobi diri sendiri sebelum memilih penerima award seterusnya (anda di-tag).

ala... i don't like this part. what facts would you like to know about? hmmmm...

1. i eat alot. on a really good day, my appetite is really good. you can ask some of my friends who've seen me polish the food off my plate. or you could just ask Sarah about my 'tomyam' escapade (hahaha, even she couldn't believe her eyes ok). yet we all wonder where all that food go, i'm so skinny it's annoying! i can't fit into proper dresses, i look like a sticklady in them =(.

2. i'm superstitious about sitting in the seat i'm assigned to on an airplane. i'm not willing to exchange seats with anyone, it doesn't matter if you're some old couple who pretends to get their seat number wrong just to get my window saet (teruk tak me? =P). my reason is that just in case anything were to ever happen to the plane that ends with the plane being unable to reach its destination safely, i'd prefer to be identified correctly and not to be mistaken for someone else.
ok i'm crazy i know, but that's what i think.

3. did you know i had this dream that my fate were to end in a car accident? i don't know how true dreams are though. some say things will happen the opposite of what you've dreamt. i remember my friend panicking one time back in Form 5 when she dreamt she scored 10A's for SPM, haha. there are some things i just don't beleive in, but there are others in which i do. like how the traffic light turns red each time it sees my car coming? definitely jinxed (or probably because the last digits of my car's chassis number is 444. hahahahha).

4. my favorite number is 9. i just like it, so don't ask me why not 5 or 2 or 11? *slap*. i used to like the number 7 but then there were too many of my friends who liked 7 so i decided to change my favorite number to 9. hahahaha. and i'm more in favor of odd numbers than even numbers.

5. i can swim pretty well (although i haven't reached saving lives status, i might get drowned in the process) but i'm a bit phobic when it comes to swimming in open waters where i can't see the bottom. seriously, once my imagination runs wild, there's no stopping it. i remember going for a quick dip in the Tasik Dayang Bunting some years ago on my honeymoon trip, and i kept imagining piranhas were about to bite off my toes any moment. or that i'd be kicking my legs in the murky depths of the water and suddenly knock them against something, like dead pieces of wood or some slimy stone or some really creepy looking sea creature. eeks!

6. i love chinese food. malay food and thai food follows a close second and third.

7. i'm superstitious in a way that i don't bring back anything off the island with me. you know like, bringing back a souvenir or two from nature itself for free? i heard one time there was this person who took something from the island as some kind of proof that he visited the island or something, and his life was never in peace after that until he actually went back to return it to the island. i think it's just a way of scaring people off from ruining nature's beauty, and to leave nature as it is for other people to enjoy. there won't be much to look at sooner or later if people keep bringing back a coral or two, right? so... better safe than sorry =P.

8. i hate ironing. i suck at it. iron ten thousand times pun yet it still looks crinkly, especially Significant Other's working clothes. i'd sweat buckets of sweat just trying to iron it properly, and i'd break my back in the process *grrr*. i even burnt a small hole in my roommate's kain baju kurung once =P but it could still be worn as the hole wasn't visible (but later on my rommate ended up terminating the baju kurung completely by burning an even bigger hole, haha).

9. i'm a shopaholic. but i think everyone know this already. but i'm the worse kind in the sense that it is cumpulsory for me to join one of those Shopaholics Annonymous, if there ever was one. and i need a sponsor to ensure that i'm kept in line. lol.

10. before i delivered my first child, my initial plan was to have 3 kids at the most. after having Dayana however, i wouldn't mind having enough to form a football team. hahaha. the more the merrier! think about how sunyi the house will be once they've all grown up and entered Uni. at least with many kids with different age gaps your house will never feel lonely =P (ok what kind of reasoning is this i have no idea wahhahahahah). and i'd love to have twins! if God permits me one day *prays*

DONE!

4. Anda perlu memilih 6 penerima award seterusnya dan menyatakan nama mereka di blog anda.

haiz... do i really? this one also needs alot of thinking. haha.

1. munira - i don't care even if you decide to discontinue your blog
2. mawar - but she decided to terminate her blog. how la then?
3. shasha M - OMG you're getting engaged? congrats dear! =)
4. sara - my cousin in Terengganu =P
5. yatt - my colleague! go update you blog wokeyh!
6. aya - my sister a.k.a. ashu, lol
7. my roommate - if she has a blog one day

my trip to Kedah

we went to Kedah last weekend! Significat Other agreed to go, and boy was i excited. even my parents were going back to Kedah, my cousin was getting engaged in Langkawi. practically all of my close friends back in uni (all seven of us) would be in Kedah at the very same time, it's been ages since we actually got together like this. and we were bringing Dayana for her furthest trip ever!

we wanted to leave for Kedah in the wee hours of the morning to avoid the traffic but i ended up oversnoozing and only got up at 5am Saturday morning *oops*. i crammed a bunch of stuff into two bags (one for us, the other for Dayana) and hurriedly threw them into the car. by the time we left it was already 7.30am.

Dayana schleepy schleepy~

driving past the speed limit... shhhhh

the roads were still busy with traffic heading up north, but not as busy as during midnight a few hours earlier, which i later found out from my dad (they left for Kedah at midnight and got stuck in horrendous traffic on the way). we took turns driving, i drove from Sungai Perak up until Gurun. we arrived in Alor Setar around 11.30am (thanks to Significant Other, who speeded most of the way) and headed for my uncle's house to drop off our stuff. my uncle and family, including my dad would be leaving for Langkawi after lunch and since they're staying overnight there we practically had the house for ourselves. it would just be my mom, my two sistahs and us. whee~~

Aunt Ina made great nasi lemak and yummy cupcakes! *mouth watering* *reminds meself to get the recipe from her later*

our first stop of the day was to go to Eiwa's wedding reception, held at her newly renovated house from wood to stone (woohoo~ my peeps keep saying 'siap ade aircond office, occay~!'). it was almost 3pm by the time i reached her house. my mom accidentally took the wrong set of keys and we ended up being locked out of the house. gwahhhhh. everyone was already at Eiwa's, minus Sarah, who arrived shortly later. my mom and sistah proceeded to hang out at Hanim's house while we continued to do our visits =P. *congrats Eiwa and Kian!* *finally!*

kian & eiwa

with the whole bunch

Dayana mingling with Wally

the girls

the guys

we headed off to Noriza's place next to see her 44-day old baby, Muhammad Hafiz Naufal =). sungguh rock ok, siap pakai striking red mitten and booties, lol!

naufal =)

next stop: Wanza's place. she was having her son's cukur jambul the very same day so we dropped by her place for a visit =). her baby, Muhammad Irfan Danial, was roughly about 2 weeks old (i think). *congrats Wan!*

our final stop was to Aida's house. her wedding solemnization was today but we decided to skip that and serbu her house for the food instead =P. *congrats Aida!*

aida's reception the next day

i couldn't make Aida's wedding reception the next day because we had to head back down south to attend Rijal's wedding at Nibong Tebal. but i told her i'd try to make it for her wedding in Shah Alam the next weekend.

after we bid our goodbyes we headed back to Hanim's place to see her 2-month old baby, then whisked everyone to Kangar, PERLIS with my mom and sistah to pick up the spare keys that my uncle left us to get in the house. *jauhnya! pengsan*

it was almost 9.30pm by the time we reached Alor Setar so we went to pick up my other sistah who had gone to lepak with her Kedah peeps and made a beeline for Riverland =D. yummy! my most favorite chinese restaurant in Alor Setar. one of the things i miss about leaving Kedah, lol. it's Dayana's first time in a high chair!

Dayana and Daddy

Dayana wants to order food too

wanted to drop by Kuey Teow Iman for a late supper, but we were too tired and decided to retire early that day.

the next morning we packed up our stuff, left for the tailors to drop off some kain for raya, then headed off to my grandparents' place to say a quick hye =). tok wan was getting older, his eyesight wasn't as good as before. after saying hyes and byes and promising to drop by for a longer visit next time (and a quick photos with the grandies!), we headed off to Penang.

Nibong Tebal apparently resides closer to the Perak borderline, so we didn't get a chance to drop by the island, since it was pointless to patah balik. this crazy Rijal pulak didn't give us his invitation card, and his scanned version for the original basically sucked =P. but thanks to Significant Other's fantastic Garmin GPS, we managed to reach his house without seriously getting lost. haha.

a smile for the camera, lol

fascinated with the fan

the bride and groom

Dayana: do i know you?

we continued our journey around 3ish, but the traffic was really bad after the Semanggul R&R. it was my turn to drive, and i guess i kinda burned rubber due to the sluggish traffic flow and utter boringness sampai nak tertido driving like a snail. we stopped at Tapah for fruits and ice cream (and gas for the Civic) when Significant Other decided to continue the journey via the trunk roads. the trunk roads aren't that bad, actually. traffic was smooth for one thing. the GPS however, insisted we get back onto the highway pronto. haha. we did eventually because the trunk road only had one single lane per side, and by the time we got back onto the highway it was already three lanes =D.

marvelous GPS creation

we arrived at Subang toll around 10ish and headed for fil's place first. i was so tired (i was still in my baju kurung okay) i fell asleep on the sofa waiting for Significant Other to finish tinkering around with the fil's PC, leaving Dayana to her grandparents (funnily she took an instant liking to Bibik, while the Grandad had to work a little harder to earn her trust, haha). we finally reached home safe and sound at almost midnight.

luckily we were on leave the next day *grin*. btw congrats to my cousin on his engagement!

p/s. at the time i'm typing this tower 2 is announcing that there's a fire situation two levels down. is ordered to standby until further notice. hahahahhaha. and i see that everyone in office is still cool as a cucumber. lol. apparently it was activated due to a technical error in the system. blueks.

fashion is...

i have an f3 coupon i need to utilize at the end of the month and so i've been eyeing this dress at Dorothy Perkins last weekend... seems that this type of dress is the in thing this season (or so it seems, i've been seeing them draped on mannequins in store windows), so i've been wondering whether i should own one or not. i like the cutting of the dress of course, but i'm not too sure of the print. sometimes when i look at it it looks really nice and sweet, but when i try and squint my eyes a little the pattern will start to resemble one of those old-fashioned curtains. lol.

decided to browse through the f3 shops online... came across a couple of nice ones... and then some =P.

collection from Dorothy Perkins

the dress i'm initially interested in is the leftmost one, the pink dress with floral print and pink waistbelt. the mannequin was modelling it in the store so that kinda caught my eye. i saw the other two dresses online: the cream-colored dress in the middle, and the pink/purple rose dress with purple waistbelt at the righmost of the picture. i don't know if the other two are available at the stores, does anyone know?

since i was already browsing at Dorothy Perkins, i might as well browse through Topshop and Miss Slefridge, right? =P.

collection from Miss Selfridge

the dress on the left is the White Lurex Bandeau Dress, the dress on the right is the White Dropwaist Dress. the left one is also a kind of cover up, so now i'm half wishing i had bought that instead of my colorful one (which Significant Other tends to compare with the colorful umbrellas by the beach... chis). the one on the right is actually just too cute for words, i've always been a fan of white, just that i rarely buy things in white because i'm afraid i might soil them.

but i prefer to see them in front of my eyes before making a purchase. sometimes items look really lovely in online photos, but when you see it for youself some of the magic that has captivated you earlier seem to diminish. haha. it happened to a couple of tops i tried on when i was looking for a new top at Topshop. in the end i bought something completely not in my list (and it was also relatively cheaper than my initial selection! lol).

uber coolness from Dorothy Perkins

i am soOoOo not into heels anymore. either that or i gotta start practicing wearing them ever since i abandoned them when i delivered my baby. but one of the shoes from DP caught my eye. check out that super cool pair of heels! if i was a huge fan of heels i'd get them in a jiff. haha. btw, does DP sell shoes? i don't think i've ever noticed if they did or not. i was never a DP fan, even though Significant Other is =P.

apart from these lovelies, i've been eyeing a couple of other stuffs as well. note the word 'eyeing', because they cost a bomb!

didy dyed purple waves waves wrap... the one that got away... sob

aubergine waves OMT - photo from tbw

aqua waves OMT - photo from tbw

was browsing throught the FSOT section... came across the above and immediately fell in love with them. unfortunately they're still selling at a crazy price, so i can only hope =P. i just realized that didy waves patterns are absolutely lovely! and check out the third photo, the kid looks absolutely happy sitting in there. i don't own an OMT except for Aidafiqs (which is currently on loan to my roommate). do you reckon an SSC would be better?

on another note, Significant Other is going to Libya this Saturday. lol. and i so need to get myself a webcam.

day 3: under the open sky

this is the 3rd and last day on the island *sentimental kejap*.

since we woke up late yesterday morning and missed sunrise, we decided to make an early start to catch the sunrise this morning. so i set my alarm clock to ring at 6am. apparently it was still pitch black when i woke up so i snoozed for another 15 minutes when i realized there were signs of visible light in the sky. i hurriedly woke up Significant Other and we grabbed our things and headed out the door. supposedly Fahmi and Diyana wanted to catch the sunrise too. but they tido mati again and did not even stir, no matter how hard Significant Other banged on their room door. so off we headed to the beach, just the two of us.

the beach was really calm and peaceful in the morning =).

in the still of the morning

but we didn't get to see the sun rising on the horizon. probably because there were too many clouds? or we simply just missed it? O_o

morning!

waiting...

the morning skies

i thought we still had time to do a bit of swimming that morning (or any sort of activity for that matter), but apparently the rest of them jakuns got up late again, they stayed up playing cards in the bachelor's room after dinner, haiz. after hanging out at the beach and playing with sand (and me and him fighting over how the material of my outfit resembled the umbrellas scattered on the beach) we went back to our room, where Significant Other proceeded to continue his morning nap *slaps forehead*.

yep this is where i'm going back to sleep!

however it was deemed that we didn't have enough time to do much that morning. checkout was at 11.30am, so we rushed to get dressed and hurriedly packed our things. i had to think of a way to lighten the contents of the big fat luggage we brought with us. in the end i stuffed all of my clothings into my backpack (i utilized my Wahmies wetbag in the process, really useful i tell you, apart from stuffing soiled diapers, lol), stuffed all of Significant's soiled clothes into a DP plastic bag, and tossed the remainder of our things into the big luggage. seriously, we girls may lug around alot of stuff whenever we go on trips, but at least our stuff is wayyy lighter than the guy's stuff =P (plus, dear Significant Other, you ended up bringing alot of stuff you ended up not even using! blekkk).

while Significant Other headed off to the reception counter, i took a couple of photos before leaving our room.

our Room #5. they say Room #6 is haunted... T_T

mister katak decided to drop by just as i was about to leave

the bachelor three were already at the restaurant ordering brunch, by that time it was almost 12pm. the boat heading back to mainland left around 3pm+ so we still had three hours to kill. someone suggested going for the banana boat (we didn't get to do it yesterday! whyy????) but we were already checked out so i guess it was too much of a hassle to change back to normal clothing later due to lack of a proper changing room =(. next time, perhaps? Significant Other absolutely had to go online so those yg bersemangat waja to connect with the outside world sempat lagi update their profiles in Facebook =P (also not to forget the the main thing: uploading photos! talk about the power of technology! hahahahahah).

Husni's four glasses of orange juice =P

impatient to update his profile in Facebook, lol

Mohsin Special and iced lemon tea =)

to kill time,while Zahrul and Husni decided to snooze, the four of us: me, Bern, Diyana and Fahmi played a round of Jenga. Bern jokingly said that whoever loses would be declared 'Jengo'. hahahhaha. i have my own set of Uno Stacko but i haven't played this game in a long time. so what the heck.

contestant #1 and #2

contestant #3 and #4

Significant Other is of little help

fall seQuence #1: before

fall seQuence #2: jeng

fall seQuence #3: jeng

fall seQuence #4: Di-Jeng! lol

so you can obviously guess from the sequence of the photos who won the honor of the ultimate title =P. except, Bern adjusted it to 'Di-Jeng' to suit the title-holder better. hahahha. kejam betul si Bern ni.

since it was still early, we dropped by one of the stalls for a nice refreshing drink of Lassi! =D~~~~ and the rest of them played a few rounds of cards.

the final leap

another round of cards

final round of Banana lassi =D

Jali dropping by to say bye-bye

so around 3pm we gathered our things and headed to the smaller boat that would take us to the speedboat waiting for us further out at sea. we were not the only ones on the boat though. the lovely gentleman Bern decided to strike up a conversation with the two ladies on board.

waiting for blast off

Bern's new aquaintances =P

the speedboat took us to the other side of the island to pick up more passengers - ended up the boat was nearly crammed full. by that time the skies were getting darker, and the waters were getting choppier. and boy, what a ride it was. it was bad enough that we were sitting in the front section of the boat again =P. my butt hurt! imagine, the boat skimming / bumping / treading its way over the rolling waves, going bumpity bump. we all got drenched by the rain waist up halfway through the journey. Fahmi even got out his towel and tried to cower behind it, but i dunno if it did him any justice though. by the time we reached the jetty, it was drizzling, and everything and everyone was dampy. but that was the most awesomest boat rides ever! =D.

whee!

the dark skies and choppy seas

as usual Significant Other changed out of his island clothes to more warmer clothes (i didn't bother, i was too tired to rummage through our stuff). we took a van to get to Kota Bharu for rm15 each. we shared the ride with two other foreigners, so not bad a price eh? the ride took roughly over an hour. halfway there we encountered this narrow bridge on which due to some stupid idiot's decision, traffic came to a total standstill, each side stubborn and refused to give way. haiz.

el stuck-O

we were supposed to be heading for the airport, but we asked the driver to drop us by the roadside at a random restaurant because we wanted to have dinner first, mainly to try ayam percik. boy, the food was good. a little bit on the sweet side though. kelantan food is always sweet. i actually like it sweet, but somehow in Kelantan the food tastes a little bit sweeter than usual.

nom nom nom nom

thanks to these two, sata tidak laku that day

where we dropped by for dinner

everything all polished off... *burp*

our flight was to take off at 8.40pm, and since the locals informed us that taxis were scarce there (really?) Bern enlisted the help of two nice uncles to take us to the airport. we reached the airport at around 7ish. we were just about to check in when si Significant Other realized he left his most expensive pair of eyewear ever owned in the restroom of the restaurant we had dinner earlier. OMG. total mayhem. while he rushed off with one of the uncles who drove us to the airport to salvage the situation, i checked in our heavy luggage bag. air asia luggage weight limit was 15kg, and i was somehow shocked and relieved to know that our bag was 15.9kg (gila berat ok). was lucky that our bag weight was still acceptable.

expensive! don't pray pray~

Significant Other arrived back at the airport not long after, WITH his sunnies, ,thank God. i swear i wouldn't hear the end of it if it were to disappear forever. i might've cursed the dingo brain who stole it from the restroom then and there.

at this time, 1) Fahmi's camera batteries were dead, 2) my batteries were dead, and right after taking a couple of group photos, 3) Significant Other's SLR camera batteries went dead too. huwargh (note to digicam users, if you intend to scroll through all the photos you've taken and plan to ooh and ahh over them, DO remember to bring charger along. powering the display alone can drain your batteries out! wahahahah). so wouldn't there be any photo-taking at the airport? =(

luckily Zahrul came to the rescue by whipping out his camera, which he didn't even use throughout the whole duration of the trip. yay!. at least we managed to get a couple of airport photos =P. but his camera pulak, ran out of memory space, aiya... so we used my memory card instead. Bern, as usual became the honorable Malaysian citizen when he helped a mother (without her husband) to carry her baby stoller down a flight of steps to get to the aircraft parked some way away from the terminal. heh.

mulling over our flight tickets

Bern says, "you're supposed to sit on the wing of the plane la, Di"

inflight photo

we arrived at LCCT at 9.20pm. which was really quick. haha. waited for my Dad to come pick us up at the terminal, brought Dayana home with us and dropped Zahrul at KL Sentral before heading back home.

so... that's the end of my Perhentian story. i'd do this again if i could. twas the best getaway ever =D. now i'm currently on the mission to fairen my skin. i feel so kusam now! huwa huwa huwa...