Adios 2010.....Hola 2011 !!

It’s a known fact that my memory isn’t the greatest in the world but I can assure you that when I look back at 2010, I’ll definitely remember it as the year:

• I got offered a new position and permanent job (after working with them on contract for 2 years)
• I got hitched

• I had an amazing honeymoon in Bali and stayed at a gorgeous private pool villa 
• I went on the reverse bungee (Bali Sling Shot) with Mi Amor in Bali (something I've always wanted to do)
• I  completed the Skytrex Extreme Challenge with Mi Mujer

·         I went on a 2^nd honeymoon to Rome, Milan, Venice, England

·         Lil’ cousin got hitched

·         Lil’ sis got hitched

·         Lil’ sis got pregnant (prolly on the same day she got hitched! haha)

·         Our family celebrated Hari Raya with an addition of 3 male members to the family (it's a big deal when we are a predominantly female family!)

Welcome Ian, Mi Amor and BIL...the rest are still trying to infilterate the family..hahaha

·         I started a blog
·         Mi Amor whisked me away to Pangkor Laut for a 3^rd honeymoon

·         Mi Amor left for Vevey (leaving me single and available..heh)

·         I bought my 1^st ever camera! (am still learning how to use it)

·         I Went to Buenos Aires, Argentina to attend a symposium (with Mi Madre tagging along!)

·         Went on an ATV adventure ride with friends

·         I started learning how to cook

Nasi goreng Cina

Now it may not seem like much to some people but suffice to say, I'm happy with how the year 2010 turned out for me. Sure, there's prolly a lot of others things I wished I could have done but hey, I'll just carry that forward to next year then (that's what new year's resolutions are for..heh). I'm actually excited for the new year (maybe going to Vevey has something to do with it). Here's hoping that 2011 will have bigger and better things in store for me (and for you guys!).  BRING IT ON!!! : D

Good clean Xmas fun

I know, this post is too lil’ too late....but I figured if I don’t put em’ up here, what am I gonna do with all em’ pics? Anyway, since we have an honorary cousin (he’s an exchange student from Germany, staying with my aunty and uncle for a year), the Kids decided to throw a small family Xmas eve dinner for him. So we had delicious homemade food (not counting the satay) and dessert, exchanged pressies (more like the Kids and Ramin exchanged pressies), watched Mr. Bean Xmas episode on TV (seriously, people find him funny?!?) and played Kinnect (bowling, ping-pong, dancing)...yupp, that about sums up the night. Believe it or not, the guard had to call us up twice to say that a neighbour was complaining about the noise level and would report us to the police if we didn’t keep it down (BOO for you...where’s your Xmas spirit? :P )

Preparing the garlic bread...the least I could contribute (oh and the drinks!)

Preggo waiting patiently for dinner to start

No roast turkey so roast chicken will do

With a side of potato salad

Satay...to add a local touch to the dinner..heh

Ho Ho Ho....Reindeer candy canes for everyone!

The only piece of decoration we could find to put up

Say “Merry Xmas Everyone!”...no? Ok then, just smile :P

Santa Ramin and his lil’ elves

Contrary to popular belief, boys camwhore too

Santa’s Head Elf

On to the Kinnect games!

BIL still finding it hard to believe that I can whip his ass at bowling

Me = WINNER, BIL=LOSER (*yawn*what else is new?)

Preggo wants in on the action...playing Kinnect Ping pong

Fahmi doing his thing

If anyone can make playing Kinnect look graceful, it’s Diyana

Kinnect dance showdown...took videos of it....hilarious! but it’s not with me L ...and please excuse preggo...it’s past her bedtime..haha

So the post may be up late and there’s no point wishing you a Merry Xmas now (this is me assuming someone is actually reading this post and celebrates/celebrated Christmas.....in which case I hope you had a memorable Xmas!) but it’s still not too late for me to wish you a

  

Right? :D

What goes up must come down !!!

The whole of last week I have been in and out of hotels as I attended a full 3 day workshop from Monday –Wednesday at the Royale Chulan Hotel and had to check in from Friday- Sunday at the Boulevard Hotel to attend my Department’s retreat (and no, it’s not the relaxing kind of retreat...rather the away from the office so that no one can disturb our morning till night brainstorming session retreat...BOO!! :P ).

Now, when I hear that I have to go to a hotel to attend something, one thing instantly comes to mind...FOOD. Why? Because as is the Malaysian culture, whenever an event is held in a hotel, you can be sure that guests will be well fed (like seriously, we eat about 4-6 times at the hotel....there’s breakfast, morning tea, lunch, evening tea, dinner, supper). Now anyone with a good sense of self restraint will prolly have no problem when faced with this situation but I am obviously missing that gene coz I-just-can’t-resist-FOOD!!!

To cut a long story short, by Sunday evening, when I weighed myself on the scale....I had put on 2 FREAKING KGS!! Hell, even my lil’ sis who’s preggers doesn’t put on that much weight within a week!

Thus began my battle this week of trying to lose the extra 2kgs. Now I like to think that I’m a pretty sane person...but somehow when it comes to dieting, my sanity goes flying out the window. I've read enough health articles and watched episodes of the Biggest Loser to know that it isn’t all about the weight but what’s important is to live and maintain a healthy lifestyle overall (which hopefully I will eventually) but for the time being...I just want to get rid of those extra 2 kgs!! (I can literally see those 2 extra kgs around my stomach everytime I sit!  :P).

So I drew out my game plan which is a combination of fasting + detoxing. Now if I really wanted to up my game, I would have added exercise in as well...but I’m too lazy (what else is new?). If I don’t lose those extra kgs by end of this week, then I’ll start looking for my jogging shoes. The only time I ever pulled out the big guns (i.e combination of exercise + low carb diet and a meal of mostly steamed fish and veggies + detox + fasting) was a few months before my wedding (and yes, it did work...I managed to fit into my dress!).

Anyway, if I had to put my dieting ordeal into a cartoon it would prolly look like something below:

Yes, why is it when I'm dieting, people seem to be offering me food left and right?! This week alone my colleague has baked cupcakes and marble cake on 2 seperate days and packed me some. I even had tiramisu cake for MIL's bday this week!

And if I ever do find myself at the gym :

So far I can’t tell if the diet is working but last night I met SIL and BIL (after not seeing them for 2 weeks) and they asked me if I’ve lost weight (I highly doubt it though...maybe it was the top I was wearing...gotta wear that more often!)

Ok, I never thought of myself as fat...maybe just chubby

Well...2 more days to go before the weigh in....wish me luck! And even if it does work, pray I don’t end up like this after:

P.s.....Mi Mujer, just sent me a link to some wellness profiler test and I’m type 4, The Hopeful :

 

You believe health is a roll of the dice!

You’re a carefree character who lives for today. You’re probably young and believe you have plenty of time to change your eating habits. Taste is king,and you indulge your taste buds whenever you can. You also tend to look for quick fixes such as weight loss pills or slimming beverages. All is not lost, as you still aspire to eat healthier one day.

*surprise surprise*

Melancholic rain

It’s been raining almost every day here.....especially during the evenings. But it’s the morning rain that is the hardest...at least for me. First there is the mammoth task of hauling my ass out of bed when all I want to do is curl up and continue sleeping (or does rain have that effect on people in general?). For me there’s something soothing about the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the rooftop...almost like a lullaby. Then of course with the rain comes extra traffic and accidents on the way to work (which also means I have to be extra cautious when driving....something hard to do when I'm rushing to work).

I don’t know if Mi Amor knows this but whenever it rains in the morning, there is the particular song that always comes to my mind and I love singing that song to myself.  It’s a classic song called Tunggu Sekejap written by the legendary P. Ramlee for the movie Sarjan Hasssan (which believe it or not, I have yet to watch!) and has been made into a few versions by various local singers since then. Since it rained this morning (and still is at this moment...in fact it’s getting heavier!), the moment I stepped into the office, I Googled the song just to listen to it before starting my work day (which is going to be a freaking busy one today) and all I can say is that was prolly a bad move coz I miss Mi Amor even more now :(

Below is a scene from the movie (with english subtitles...how cool is that?!)  but the video after it is my favourite version of the song by our local oldies singer Rafeah Buang. Now I know some people find it boring when people post videos of songs on their blog (Mi Amor is one of em') but seriously, try giving it a listen (as the song says 'tunggu sekejap' i.e. wait a while)....you never know if you might end up liking the song (maybe not as much as I do though..heh). To add more feel to it, try listening to the song on a rainy day :)

All I want for Christmas is a sole mate

Mi Amor went to Liverpool over the weekend and he posted some pics up on his FB. Out of all the pics, this one caught my eye

Ted Baker store in Liverpool

And that got me reminiscing on this post  (*sob sob*). I had a feeling that Mi Amor (being the sweetie that he is) tried looking for a replacement for me (preferably the same design) but to no avail....sighhhhh......



Oh well, he’s going back there for Christmas (since the Liverpool match he was originally suppose to watch when he was there got postponed due to heavy snow) and hopefully he’ll come back with a Christmas presssie for me (in fact, to make it easier for you MI Amor, I have pictures for you...yay! heh).  I have been in love with these Tory Burch flats since I first came across their pics on the net while randomly Googling for ballet flats. Now I wouldn’t say 100% in love (coz I have yet to see them in real life and try them on to see how they look on my feet) but I do like what I see from the pics. The fact that they come in all sorts of materials (leather, suede, etc.) and colours makes it even harder to decide.

But since it is financially out of the question for me to buy one in every colour of the rainbow (heck, I don’t know if I can even afford a pair!), I guess if ever I (or *ehem*  Mi Amor) were to buy TB flats, I would go for the basic colour, i.e black or dark brown so that it can match everything  in my wardrobe (which isn’t much anyway).

Tory Burch Reva ballet flats (I think this is suede)

not sure if this is the same shoe as the pic above but it seems to me like the logo is silver (and the one above is slightly goldish)...I prefer silver.

Tory Burch black leather ballet flats



Tory Burch Reva black patent ballet flats

 

Tory Burch Reva ballet flats in grape wine (looks more like brown to me)

and of coz in classic black and silver...my fav!

So Mi Amor....can I expect a Sole mate from my Soul mate? ;D (I have been exceptionally good this year, I swear!)