in search of 360 GTC

you know the Shell V-Power Racing Ferrari Model cars that Shell Malaysia launches each year in conjunction with the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix? you can obtain any of these seven model cars at a special price by fuelling up at any Shell station nationwide with a minimum RM40. those who fill up with Shell V-Power Racing can buy the model cars at a special price of RM6.90 each, while filling up with Shell Super, Shell Regular or Shell Diesel will allow you to attain it at RM8.90.

we encountered one of these cars at my cousin's house, i wasn't sure if it was for Nedd's niece, or for my uncle to play with =P. but Dayana got attached to one of the cars, which immediately prompted Significant Other to purchase one one fine day. and so from there on, Significant Other decided to get a set for his own personal collection. he first set out hunting for the Shell V-Power Racing Collector’s Garage 2009, which he finally found at the Damansara NKVE station (with the initial thinking that he could purchase the whole set at RM60, lol).

he started out with one car in his collection (the one that was originally for Dayana is now sitting in his newly-bought garage, lol). he gradually added on another three more models (thanks very much to the super nice gas attendant!), and another trip to the station resulted in him bringing home another two more.

his current collection

the only model he doesn't have yet is the 360 GTC. and i've went to most of the Shell stations along the routes from my place to KL and to my parent's place, and a few others, but happened to be that this particular model has completely sold out =(. does anyone might know where this model is still available at? it's the last one to complete his collection.

the 360 GTC

the missing piece

and i just found out that the campaign ends on May 11, so i've less than a week to find it.

updated: thanks a bunch to Jerry Wong (a total stranger i only got to know of through cyberspace), if not for him i wouldn't have been able to complete the collector's set. phew!

stila curse

i cannot believe i went crazy over stila. and after all that rambling about not liking stila, about not ever going to buy stila, about being totally uninterested in stila, bla bla bla~ (yada yada yada, yeah, what a load of total crap).

i blame stila for bringing out items one at a time.
i blame stila for not bringing out the items that i want.
i blame stila for tempting me to get other things apart from what's in my list.
i blame stila for making me wait like an idiot at the counter just to get first dibs on hot selling items.
i blame stila for making my wallet emptier.
i blame stila for closing down in Malaysia.

hahahahha. i should blame myself really. but they're going really cheap. sigh.

anyway, here's a photo of my stash!


damages incurred:
1. kajal eye liner in amethyst
2. stila makeup case
3. angel fit whitening powder foundation + compact
4. eye shadow trio gold glow
5. stila petal infusions eye makeup dissolver
6. long wear lip color in flushed
7. convertible eye color in indigo and onyx
8. stila oil-free sheer color tinted moisturizer
9. stila blush brush #1
10. stila pink tin (collector's item)

i guess i'm gonna hafta postpone my plan to get an SSC =P.

eight month old Dayana

my little girl is 8 months old! but Daddy's in Dubai at the moment, though. don't worry, will take more photos of her to show (and i really need to get around to developing them).

here's her 8 months milestone:

1. i dunno how much she weighs because her next immunization isn't until her first birthday. so no weighing machine available.

2. she sleeps on her side sometimes. before falling asleep she will twist and turn for a bit before she settles herself to sleep. sometimes she overdoes it and flops over on to her tummy. usually i'll have to stop her from doing this if not she'll never fall asleep. she sleeps with her Chewy =D

3. she doesn't smile at just anyone now. she'll peer at you very carefully at first before deciding if you're friend or foe. if you're friend, she'll give you her gummy grin. if you're foe, she'll keep giving you the icy stare.

4. despite the smile-factor, she's more accepting towards strangers, i've noticed. i find it amazing that she didn't kick up a fuss with the maid on the first day she arrived at the house. if we go to my inlaws place it'll take a while before she warms up to the members of the family.

5. she just found out that she has a very powerful voice. the past week she's been testing her voice power by belting out mariah carey screams. hahahaha. i noticed this development last week when my maid first started taking care of her while Mommy and Daddy go to work.

6. apart from screaming, she meniaraps at every opportunity. so far we need more than 2 pairs of eyes to keep tabs on her. if we put her down on the floor mat, the next thing you know she'd be stuck under a table or the nearest piece of furniture. beats me how she does it. backward slither, perhaps? =P

daddyy i'm stuck! =(

7. she's more accustomed to eating now. and in bigger quantities too. my maid feeds her porridge twice a day. she poops twice a day as well, i think. i noticed when i get home from work there will always be a dirty diaper waiting specially for yours truly to change. i think she does that on purpose, haha *shudders at the thought of having to wash a poopified CD*.

mommy stop taking my photo and put on my diaper now please~

8. she wants to play with other things apart from her toys. i suspect she's bored with her collection already *hint hint*. and everything must pass her QC - mouth first.

9. she had her first hair fringe trim! her hair texture is really fine and soft, curled into little ringlets, a trait that make babies seem even cuter. in fact, i think she looks just like her Daddy when he was little. but i hope that it'll eventually straighten out. wouldn't want her to inherit the curliness from the other side of the family. wavy pun dah cukup.

see how funky my hair is! lol

10. recently i tried giving her milk using her MAM bottle. when she was younger she'd accept any bottle. but when i handed her the bottle, she only chewed on the teat and refused to drink. when i transferred the milk into her usual Avent bottle, mau pulak she minum. haiz.

11. she's outgrowing most of her clothes already. now she can fit Carter's 6 months, and is about to outgrow Mothercare 0-3 months (lol). her grandparents have already bought a couple of sleeping outfits for her, 6-12 months size. i'm on a mission to utilize every single outfit that she has before she outgrows them completely.

mommy now that i'm about to outgrow this dress, can i get new ones?

did i miss out anything? when Dayana turns 9 months old i plan to get her some stacking rings and a soft shapes sorter. and some boardbooks too =P.

excuse me. i want to go nuts over stila first.

my new ring sling

this is just great. i'm addicted. i just wish i had gotten addicted to this first before cloth diapering. i'd have done my money better justice =P.

my first baby carrier i bought for myself is Littlepods pouch, made by a local Malaysian mom. i made this purchase about 2 months after Dayana was born. i was still blur to the whole idea of babywearing and i had yet to get addicted to online forums so i wasn't very choosy over my first carrier. lol. i wanted one in red but they didn't have it in my size =(. the store owner suggested buying L size, saying that some mothers prefer pouches that were a size bigger. when i went home to try it out, i could practically fit three Dayanas in there. hahah. i immediately took it back to the store to get an exchange, settling for S size. but even S size was still big for me (that's the problem with small lean people. people envy us for having a high metabolism rate but i don't see what's so great about it because it's difficult to get sizing!).

now that we have a maid to help with the housework and the baby while i'm at work, i've loaned the maid my pouch so that she'll be able to look after her as well as getting the household chores done. but the idea of sharing a pouch isn't too appealing to me as i'd have to wash it everytime i wanna use it. at least i had a reason to get a new baby carrier =P. so the search for a second third baby carrier began. lol.

been eyeing Hotslings pouch for a long time, but because of the hefty price i decided against it =(. Molina carried Hotslings in her store, but the design i wanted in my size wasn't available. then i looked into ring slings. indonesian maids would usually gendong the little ones using kain batik lepas, but i have no idea where to get one. since ring slings have been getting very good reviews in the forums, and they're adjustable too, i thought of giving ring slings a try. after asking around for information from some of the local moms, i decided to get one from Syaz. she was having a sale on her blog so i managed to grab one before they were all out. my intention of getting this ring sling was for my maid to use so that i wouldn't have to share my Littlepods anymore.

Everyday Hostling in NYC

but i fell in love with the ring sling as soon as i opened the package and laid eyes on it for the first time. the ring sling was made from linen material in an earthy color (more guni-ish if you ask me =P), with pink trimmings to match its hot pink sling rings. terus tak jadi to give it to my maid to use, hahah. went back home immediately to try it out. Syaz helped me to alter the tail to a shorter length so that it wouldn't sapu lantai. the ring sling had a handy pocket sewn on the tail to chuck in small items like your purse, keys, etc. i like =D.

my new Jumpsac RS!

me and my little girl!

however i don't think i've quite mastered the technique of using a ring sling yet. i wore my daughter in the ring sling to Ikea with my mom and sister earlier today, and i started to get mild back pain (or was it shoulder pain?) after an hour or so. and when i do the hip carry position i notice Dayana gets slight reddish marks on her legs. i wonder if that's normal or not. i have yet to get her into a comfortable sleeping position in the sling too, because she fell asleep in the sling for a while, but my mom commented that she looked a bit uncomfortable with her head flopped to one side.

there were sooo many people at Ikea, i really don't know what is it with people and Ikea. there were alot of families pushing strollers with their kids in tow, and some parents were walking around carrying their sleeping child in their bare arms. i didn't bring my stroller because 1) it's bulky and too heavy for me to handle alone, and 2) it's a niusance to maneuver a stroller among the throngs of shoppers in Ikea who don't even care whether they ram their shopping carts into your feet or not. i wonder why those parents would rather carry their kids until their arms fall off instead of investing in a decent baby carrier. and most strollers will end up carrying their store purchases instead of the baby! i did notice one lady carrying her sleeping child in a nice dark blue ring sling. but i think she's foreign. i like wearing my baby. for one thing, it keeps my arms free =P.

i ended up buying a Quilt for Dayana. my mom ended up buying like no tomorrow at Ikea =P.

anyway, i didn't want to spend too much for my first ring sling, so i didn't really care about the design or color. however now that i've tried one, i've fell in love with a whole bunch of ring slings, in such yummy colors too! actually i've fallen in love with wraps that have been converted into ring slings - slingified wraps!!! =P. i don't think i'll ever fancy a wrap because it looks really difficult to lilit around yourself and i know i don't have the patience for that. haha. but some mommies (like Ito) who are really good at it make wearing a wrap seem so easy. and look cool too. some wrap designs i've started to fancy are the Storchenwiege (Ulli, due to Aida's unbelievable carboot find), Vatanai (Maruyama, due to someone's photo post in one of the forums, i love the pinkish color tone), and Girasol (no thanks to Syaz promoting her Chococabana which is a lovely shade of blue, ahhaha). but wraps are really expensive! sigh.

Storchenwiege Ulli

Vatanai Maruyama

Chococabana Girasol

so for now... i think i'm just gonna daydream at the moment and just settle for drooling over all the yummy ring sling images that i've saved into my laptop.

ever-crazed stila

my friend mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago that stila was going to close down in Malaysia. i couldn't care less because i wasn't that big of a fan of stila, despite owning a couple of lip glazes (which i've sold off because i realized i don't like wearing sticky lip gloss) and the stila scarlett swarovski christmas pallete (i only use the blusher now, haha). i used to crave stila during my first trimester last year and after i delivered my baby girl, the enchantment of stila seemed to diminish altogether. lol.

so every outlet in Malaysia is busy clearing their stocks now. being the girl that i am, who can resist items going at half of the original price, despite not liking the brand? =P. i was hoping to get one of their Stila Convertible Eye Color because according to Miu, it's one of their best sellers. i wasn't really an eye fan before because i always end up looking like a racoon in my attempt to use eyeliners and eyeshadows (i wear glasses too, so my eyes are less noticeable. and i hate wearing contacts). i didn't realize how many crazy stila fans were out there. by the time i decided to visit the stila counter at KLCC, most of the items and colors were out. i was lucky enough to grab an Eye Convertible in Onyx from Miu though. thanks Miu =D. i was also interested in the special edition makeup case going at RM50 only (because it's purple! so sweet) but as you can guess most of the stila-crazed mob snapped them up already. there are even some of them who grabbed as much as they could haul and resold them to people at double the price. geez. i'm beginning to think that this is a gimmick stila's pulling to get rid of their stock.

there are still bits and pieces left, but i wouldn't go as far as visiting every single stila outlet just to see what is still available (gone were the days where i would stalk each and every vincci store outlet in Malaysia just to get that particular shoe model that i fell in love with at the time, hahahah). there was one thing i was willing to buy though. i bought the stila mug. hahahah. it's selling for only rm15. some stila fans would add the mug to their museum of stila collectibles, but not me. i plan to use it in the office to drink. hahahahah! i should've bought more. i could make a collection at home. hahahah.

my Stila mug in the office

on another note, i bought some stuff at shiseido yesterday. i know i shouldn't have, but to be fair two of the items were on sale =P. oh, someone please kick me.

Significant Other will be going to Dubai tomorrow.

the meniarap deal

you know the question people usually ask you once they know you have a baby, the 'baby pandai buat apa sekarang? dah pandai meniarap?' question? well, i didn't really know how to respond to that at first because at the time my daughter was quite contented to stay put wherever and however i placed her and occasionally exerted to twisting herself onto her tummy should there be anything lying around to tempt her to do so. and even so she'd start to complain because she wasn't used to be placed on her tummy. so... i didn't really understand what the big deal was.

well, when bringing her home from my parent's place last weekend, i finally understood the whole big deal of 'meniarap'. heehee.

it seems that during previous week with my parents she managed to master the art of meniarap. at every chance she gets, once placed on her back on the floor, she'll twist herself around from a lying position to an upright tummy position. my mom told me one time Dayana woke up in her crib and couldn't see anyone around so she rolled on to her tummy and reached out her tiny hand to pull down the crib bumper just to see if anyone was about. haha. when it's time to go to sleep she'll still insist to turn around on her tummy even after i turn off all the lights. but she won't sleep in that position, nOoOoOOo. she'll start wail really loudly because she can't see anything in the dark and refuses to go be lulled to sleepyland.

even during nappy changing time it's a war between her and me, where my challenge is to get a nappy fitted on her properly while she attempts to wiggle away from my grasp. haha. her most favorite place to roll is on the bed, where we really need to keep an eye on her, or we build a barricade around her by creating a pillow fort for protection. else she'll do a rolly polly olly and fall off the bed. which i know it isn't recommended to put her on the bed of course, the uneven unsolid surface not good for her development and all, but our room has limited floor space and if we put her in another room, there isn't anyone around to watch her. she watches tv on our bed too (frankly i think it's the theme songs that she enjoys rather than the shows itself, lol).

my maid commented that since she has now mastered the art of meniarap, we need to keep many more eyes on her than before. haha. and she hasn't even turned fully mobile yet, haha (maybe i should pasang a GPS tracking system on her to keep tabs, hahahahah). i'm contemplating getting a playpen for her, but i dunno if it's practical or not. what do you think? we haven't even babyproofed the house too. and our house staircase poses one big potential hazard for the baby.

i'm getting good at this!

the meniarap stage passed and checked. coming up next: the crawling stage.

Dayana's first hair trim ever

last Sunday Significant Other went for a haircut. he won't be in Malaysia for three weeks, so decided to have a quick wash and a trim beforehand.

while waiting for him at one of the sofas provided, one of the hairstylists came over and decided to give Dayana's fringe a little trim too. here's the aftermath! lol.

Dayana laughing at Daddy's new haircut

Mommy wants a photo too =P

see how long her fringe has grown, lol