My First Time in Florida… PART I

And it was awesome! 

The journey started with a bad start though coz it was my first day of period. UGH.

And of course I lost my Teavana tumbler. I am pretty sure it didn’t make out of LAX. A said I probably left it in the rental car. Aiyo! 

Little did we know we weren’t getting any sleep in the plane LOL

We took a red eye flight, hoping we’d get some sleep on the plane and head to St Augustine straight after. My, my… We were seated next to a cranky baby and all he did in the flight was screaming bloody murder! I felt pity for the mom and of course to A coz he was seated next to them. 

I love how convenient Orlando airport is for nursing moms 🙂

And not to forget service animals as well. 🙂

Finally made it!

Since we didn’t get sleep at all, (maybe an hour max) we decided to just relax and take a nap instead of trying to drive 2-3 hours to St Augustine and back. First, it would be very stressful (coz we’ve never been there) and not to mention, dangerous if A tries to drive when he didn’t get enough sleep but the most important thing is, I would be cranky! The combination of period cramp and lack of sleep is freaking lethal! 

Thank goodness the hotel still has some empty rooms so we were checked in immediately! We left our bags in the room and headed down to get some breakfast. Florida is 3 hours ahead of California time btw. 

Look how gorgeous is this restaurant! ❤

Can you tell we were tired?

We were staying at the Gaylord Hotel and Resort and let me tell you, the property is HUGE! I get tired from walking around it HAHA! They have snakes, kois and alligators on site too! Feeding time for the alligators are Tuesdays and Fridays (or Saturdays? I’m not too sure about the second day) but it was boring. They were just baby alligators and if you’ve been to Asia and seen and fed crocodiles Asian style, the feeding session won’t thrill you. Well, not really. A bunch of people were saying it was nothing too. But at least there’s something to see, right? 🙂 

Anyways, while we were in Florida, I get to see a couple of my Internet friends and I was so happy! I get to meet Kak Nadya and made a new friend (Kak Adec!) in Orlando and finally meeting Hani in St Petersburg! 

Kak Nadya and Kak Adec picked me up from the hotel and took me out to this Malaysian restaurant called Mamak and it was just fabulous. We had the best sambal belacan ever, I wish I could take some back to the hotel HAH! Here are some pictures from our lunch session. 

Roti canai as appetizer

The ladies 🙂

A was so nice to me on this trip and bought me a little gift from my favorite store, Louis Vuitton. Thank you, baby! I was actually wanting to buy a zipper coin purse but the SA was telling me that the model has been discontinued. Boo. So I settled with something else. Scroll down bello to see what I picked up!

A little selfie while waiting for A to window shopping.

Me and my dream bag behind me LOL

Here it is! 😀

A and I managed to squeeze some fun time at the pool on our last day in Orlando. So after spending 4 days in Orlando, off we went to Tampa and I will write about that in my next post. 

Thank you for reading. 🙂 

Much love.

Shinedown Concert

It was as expected, they’d throw a freaking amazing show and they sure did!

My first time seeing them in concert was about a year or two ago in St Louis when they were playing at the Rock Fest. Ever since then, I have been a solid fan of theirs.

The concert was on a Wednesday and since it is usually our date night, we didn’t have any problem trying to schedule things. A took off early from work and we decided to head down early to have some dinner and drinks (also to celebrate A’s work performance YAY). A was so nice to have us a reservation and to my surprise, I loved the food!

I am very picky when it comes to a lot of things and food is on the very top of the list. LOL.

Here are a couple pictures from the night.

 

Us at The Mark. 

Reviews on The Mark-

The restaurant was suggested by A’s boss so A made a reservation for us. As we were walking into The Mark, I noticed a Japanese restaurant very close to it and so tempted to just cancel the reservation and head to the Japanese restaurant instead. But I’m glad A insisted we give The Mark a try.

We asked to be seated out on the patio and it took them less than 10 minutes to get set up (probably less than 5 minustes too. It was quick!). I ordered spaghetti carbonara without the bacon while A ordered NY strip steak. 

Both came out perfect and until this day, I am still craving for those! We gotta go back soon!

So okay, after dinner, A and I took a stroll around the block to 1- digest our food and 2- let the queue to the venue slowed down a little bit. I am so glad we did just that because we didn’t have to wait too long to be seated. Yay! 

So so glad we went! Shinedown started playing at about 800 pm and they were still playing when we left at 11pm (somebody had a meeting at 6 am the next day LOL). They played most of their famous songs that I LOVE, duh! 

Oh, Brent Smith (the lead singer) even went down to the floor, ran around and my my, he’s short! HAHA! I told A about it and he was like “Really? That’s what you said? Not ‘I just saw Brent Smith!'” LOL.

So anyways, if you don’t know who they are, go to Youtube or Spotify and have a listen to my personal favorite songs of mine. 

1- Simple Man (a cover)

2- 45 

3- Second Chance

4- If You Only Knew

5- Call Me 

6- Diamond Eyes

7- Bully

8- I’ll Follow You 

OMG! I could list a lot more but I will give you eight! Eight is a good number HAHA! 

Thanks for reading guys and let me know if you like them or not okay! 

Much love. 

Quitting

This is going to be my weekly journal of quitting cigarettes. 

The weekend before –

A and I went and get gas and as usual, i got my money ready to buy my ciggies by the carton. I went inside and i dont know what got into me but i asked how much it is going to cost. Now, i have been doing this every month and i KNOW how much i have been paying for the carton. The cashier scanned the carton and to my surprise, the price has jumped by over 20$!! 

I didn’t have enough money then so instead of getting the carton, i got me 2 packs. I was so upset yet at the same time i made a mental note “it’s time to quit.”

A needed to get his haircut that same day and since his hair salon is next to Target, I went ahead and got me a box of nicotine patch.

First Day-

I was supposed to quit on Monday but I felt like I wasn’t ready. My quit date is April 13th, Thursday. 

It isn’t too bad for me because I have bought the nicotine patch. The nicotine patch didn’t stick too well, however so I had to improvise and bought a medical tape to tape it over the patch. I moved the patch about 3 times and finally decided to stick it on my flat chest LOL.

It is so hard to sleep tonight. I felt so hot. 😦

Second Day-

I’ve got a headache. Other than that I’m okay. I still got the cravings (more like something to do with my hand to be honest). I take a lot of deep breaths today. That helped. Tonight’s sleep was okay. I did get a bit of zzzs. Unlike last night.

Third Day-

No headache, still have cravings but not that bad. I have been doing a research today online on stories of people quitting cigarettes, particularly famous people and I came across this book – Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking. 

To be honest, whenever I get cravings, I read the book. Otherwise, I am ok. I dont know if this is a good idea or not. LOL. But so far it’s working. 🙂 I am feeling tired today so I took a nap. That helped. I read online that you will get sluggish the first few days of quitting ciggies. 

I did legs today too after my nap (I try to do legs twice a week because it’s the body part that I dislike of myself) and I felt so much better doing it. I didnt get kaput too easily (usually around 8 reps LOL) so that could be a motivation. Step up my squat game. Yeah! 

Forth Day-

It’s Sunday and I got my period. Not feeling the best but since my period pain always trumps other pain in my life, I didn’t get the cravings or had got no time to think of ciggies. Plus A is leaving today for work. Who is going to police me?  

Fifth Day-

I woke up with rash skin and bubbles on the skin I put on the patch yesterday. Boo. And it hurts so bad when I showered. 

I had the weirdest dream last night. Ever since I have put on this patch, I always get weird dreams. The patch box already mentioned having vivid dreams as one of the side effects. I hope the dreams stop though. Ugh. 

I went to the gym today and I thought I did very well. No shortness of breathe and definitely rocked my workout. Tempted to go to the gas station near my gym but I didn’t. A would be so proud of me. YAY!

I am on second pack of gum today. And I demolished 2/3rd of my chocolate bar. Oh my. I am so gaining weight from quitting ciggies but thankfully I am on a muscle building program so I can eat! Teehee. 

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I will update day six and seven on next week’s post. I have one day left being by myself on this journey. Being alone by myself simply means physically. I have great support from my gym friends and of course my friends in Malaysia. ❤ 

I will also let you know on the nicotine patch that I use some time in the next post.

Thanks for reading. ❤

Mario Badescu Facial Spray Review

My heart is blooming! I have been getting a lot of positive comments on my skin (a fellow gym go-er thought I was 24 years old!!!! 😀 ) and the only thing I have changed was adding this facial spray into my beauty regime.

I have not tried many facial sprays but I have tried three (including this) from different categories. i.e: basic, affordable and expensive.

The very first one I’ve tried was the basic, Evian facial spray and to be honest it didn’t do much for me. Just freshen up my skin. So I scouted for another one. I went with Caudalie.  That was a bit too ‘spicy’ for my face. Probably the mint feel and I hated it.

I almost gave up on facial sprays until I heard of this skin care brand, Mario Badescu from Zoella’s Youtube channel. She was actually talking about the drying lotion but the name stuck to me because it’s so unique.

And since I’ve paid so much for the Caudalie, I thought to myself, this isn’t a bad price at all! So I purchased it and have been loving it ever since. This facial spray is here to stay! *See what I did there? It even rhymes!*

 

Here it is!

And here are the ingredients! I have a very sensitive skin, however this never hurt me and I’m so happy about it. I use this twice or thrice a day. Once after morning shower, once before I head to the gym and once at night before bed. I pat/pressed it on my skin after I sprayed onto my face.

And here’s me today with very minimal make up. These two pictures were obviously taken under different lighting but I swear to you I didn’t edit any of these.

I am so excited to do my next review on another Mario Badescu’s skin care product which is the infamous Drying Lotion. I have tried it for the first time last night and I will give you an update and review after a week of using it so stay tuned for that. 🙂

Much love.

What’s in My Gym Bag

I am a very simple person. I carry only essentials when I’m out most of the time and my gym bag is the same as well.

Here are the things that I carry in my gym bag:

I bought the bag from Target for 3$ and I love it! I have a proper gym bag from Nike but with only little things that I carry, it tends to sag and I find it very hard for me to look for my stuff.

So in the gym bag, I have 2 pairs lifting gloves, a pad lock (the combination is insane sometimes after a tiring workout, it took me awhile to have it opened. True story!), a pouch from Victoria’s Secret that holds my extra earphones, Bose earphone case (Bose is amazing!), an iPod, sunnies case from Ray Ban and glasses case from Versace (I wear contact lenses most of the time but sometimes my eyes get dry and uncomfortable), a pen, Polar heart rate tracker, an extra hair band and of course my trusted LV key cles.

I know I should have more stuff in here, like my contact lenses case, a lifting belt (I actually need to buy this!) and probably eye drops too. But for now, this is the situation. 🙂

Have a great week, my lovelies!

 

Vacation Proposal Numero Uno!

Adam and I try to go back to Malaysia once a year but unfortunately that won’t be happening this year as we have other plans that required money! LOL. So we have to put that plan off this year and go next year instead.

I usually leave several weeks before him because obviously I have the time and he doesn’t. And since every time we go back he will use up his vacation days, I try to plan for a trip to somewhere else aside from my hometown. We went to Kuching (where me met!), Kota Kinabalu (with my friends), Kuala Lumpur (for work) and Hong Kong (we had a long layover it was so fun!) just last year!

I am still looking for air flight tickets that will allow us to have a long layover on our way back to the States so we could do what we did in Hong Kong last year. I am thinking of Japan this time. We shall see.

So anyways back to the topic. I have three different places that I’d like to visit next year and we’ll talk about that in this post. The location is- CAMBODIA! 

Well this is actually A’s idea.

I have seen a few movies regarding Cambodia and would like to visit Angkor Watt and obviously Phnom Penh. I know I would be so sad when I visit the Killing Fields. Sigh.

I’ve looked around for hotels and they are not too bad. Obviously not as expensive as in California. LOL. We might stay for a week here in Cambodia if we go because I dont want us to rush on our vacation. Duh! That is the worst thing.

Has anyone been to Cambodia before? I know I can read them up from Google searches, Lonely Planet and obviously Trip Advisor but nothing beats personal experiences.

 

 

Handbag Wishlist 2017

Hello guys!

I don’t have any ideas on what to write so let’s daydream and enjoy my handbag wishlist! I need to be good this year because I totally went overboard with my bag purchases last year. This year I have promised A that I would only buy one hand bag! Gaaaaaa!!

My preference when it comes to handbags is I like them to have many styles as possible (can be crossbody, can be held top handle etc). Most of my bags have these features and they make me feel like I have multiple bags because of these purposes. Of course I wish to have all the beautiful handbags in the world but in my world, it is not realistic because I dont go out as much and I would hate to have my bags sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Already doing that so I am guilty as charged.

I am by no mean, rich. A spoils me by buying me some designer handbags over the years because he appreciates what I do at home. I try to find good deals when I can (like the secondary market or sale) because I hate to be in heavy debt because of handbags. So shallow kan? So here you go guys. These are the handbags that made it to my list this year. I may get one of them. I may not get any but it’s been fun looking around and making this list. I may consider doing this every year to see if my style and taste change. We’ll see.

1- Chanel Classic Handbag

Like how can one start a handbag wish list without listing a Chanel is beyond me! I have no Chanel as of yet but I would love to have one in my collection! It is just so classic and beautiful. I’ve touched it you guys! THRICE! HAHA! One’s at the store, second is a friend’s and one belongs to my cousin. I would like to have one in black of course!

I know it is impossible for me to buy this brand new from the store because of the ridiculous price so I might get it (hopefully) from a secondary market. Hopefully I will get lucky to get one at an awesome price and great condition. #PleaseMakeOneOfTheRichGirlsBeBrokeSheNeedsToSellHerChanels

2- Saint Laurent Classic Collège Monogram Saint Laurent

Gaaaaaaa! I’ve known YSL as a brand for while but I have never considered their handbags before until I saw them at Barney’s New York store in San Francisco last year! Oh my! What a beauty!

3- Louis Vuitton Capucines PM

You guys! This bag is just so elegant. So beautiful. I love the gold against the black! If I was a professional career woman, I could see myself rocking this!

4- Louis Vuitton Petit Noé

I have always loved a bucket bag but I never had one! Would be cool to have one in my collection.

Alright guys. I shall leave you guys here as it is getting harder to pick which bag should be on the list! (And I’m drooling!! Can I blame you guys if I accidentally place an order tonight??). Please let me know if you have any handbag wishlist like me because I would love to know what’s in yours!

Take care.

 

The Eyeliner Showdown

Hey guys.

I have no talent or skills when it comes to make up so I only have four things that I use on a daily basis. And they are all very important to me. So please dont ask me to pick which one I couldn’t live without. Haha!

Oh if you were curious of the three things that I use on a daily basis, they are: eye brow definer, tinted moisturizer, liquid lipstick and eyeliner. And today we are going to talk about the eyeliners!

I am always on the hunt for an awesome eyeliner especially from the price point and how long it will last.

These are the eyeliners I have been using lately. Mind you, I wear them to the gym as well so that’s about 1.5 – 2 hours of sweating. Here you go!

1- Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner 

Woah!! That’s a mouthful. Haha! And as I was typing it, I was wondering if this was a crayon or a gel eyeliner. Sorry, I ain’t a makeup expert. But I know they are gel, crayon and liquid eyeliners right? Maybe this Marc Jacobs’s eyeliner is both? Like 2 in 1?

To be honest, I got this as a birthday gift from Sephora Birthday gift last year and guess what? I freakin love this! This lasts the whole day you guys! Yes, even when i go to the gym and get on the Stairmaster for 50 minutes! This wont budge until you clean your face! You can check the product out here : Marc Jacobs

It has 3 different finishes and a lot of colours to choose from too! This is my ultimate favourite and thanks to Sephora’s awesome birthday gift, I have discovered this! If you haven’t done so, please enroll in Sephora’s Beauty Rewards and you get to collect awesome birthday gift!

Verdict: I highly recommend this! 🙂

2- Chanel Le Crayon Yeux Precision Eye Definer

Okay I purchased this about a year of two ago so I dont remember where I got it from. Most probably in Neiman Marcus in St Louis. Sadly guys, I paid the most for this and it’s kind of a let down. I know everyone’s eyelids are different and mine can be oily and this doesnt sit well at all on my eyelids. It can get everywhere and fades very quickly too. You can check the product here: Chanel

It comes with a sharpener (perhaps that’s why it’s expensive. You get a Chanel sharpener LOL) and oh, at the end of the crayon there’s a smudge tip applicator.

Verdict: I do not recommend this. 😦

3- Urban Decay Perversion All Nighter Eyeliner

I can’t find this on the website you guys! It must have been an old style because I bought this from Nordstrom Rack. Funny, my left eyelid still had the eyeliner but it’s a mess on my right eyelid. So I don’t know how to feel about this. It’s the least priced amongst all three but what I dont like about it is it’s a retractable version. I prefer the ones that you can sharpen. Sorry I couldn’t find any link to this online. Not even on Nordstrom Rack website. Boo.

Verdict: I do not recommend this. 😦

So there you go guys! I might be a bit harsh with the verdicts but hey, I only have a few items that I can judge for my lack of skills and knowledge when it comes to makeup. I hope this post will help you to decide on which high end eyeliner to get next time because I know the pain of trying make up stuff and they don’t work as good as you’d like them to.

Thanks for reading you guys and if you have any favourite eyeliner that you think I should try, comment below and let me know!

Take care.

 

Teavana Haul

Hi, I am back!

And I have sad news to tell you.

I HAVE TO QUIT COFFEE.

Sobs.

I was not well for few days past several weeks and as most of my family and friends know, I have severe gastric and acid reflux problem.

I know coffee is horrible for me. Like I can feel my tummy churn when I drink it but I just waved it off. Until I thought I was going to burp but I actually vomited.

Euw. .

It happened a couple times a day for 3 days and I got so fed up and finally admitted it’s the coffee that made me sick.

Let me tell you, my days without coffee were horrible. I had to take naps and I dont like it at all. So A and I turned to Teavana to test out their tea and we got hooked on them. 🙂

We bought three different types of tea, several tea tins and also an infuser mug for me. 🙂

The tins are so cute aren’t they? But the best part is they were all on sale. So instead of paying full price for all the tins and mugs, we got them at a great discount. 30-50%.

The ones with the hearts were from their Valentine’s Day collection so they were both 50% off and I only had to pay about 20$ for both. The original price for the infuser mug alone is 24.95$. 🙂

Here’s a close up to my infuser mug with my loose tea in it.

 

And these are the three types of tea that we picked up:

Rev Up and Strawberry Slender have strong caffeine level compared to the Winterberry and A and I plan to drink those in the morning. I dont usually take a lot of sugar in my diet (now that I have to stop coffee, no more coffee creamer for me boo) so I love my tea to be fruity.

Here are some descriptions of the teas from Teavana website:

WINTERBERRY (Price: 9.98$ per 2 oz)

Tasting note:

Sweet strawberry with delicate yet zingy pink grapefruit and citrus lemon balanced with hibiscus.

Ingredients:

Apple pieces, hibiscus flowers, rose hip peels, lemongrass, orange peel, strawberry pieces, Xue Long green tea, orange slices, natural flavor, marigold petals, apple pieces (apple, citric acid), citric acid.

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REV UP WELLNESS TEA (Price: 12.50$ per 2 oz)

Tasting notes:

Mango, with flavors of peach & apricot balanced with a blend of muscatel Darjeeling black tea, floral jasmine green & high quality Chinese oolong.

Ingredients:

Black tea, oolong tea, apple pieces, green tea, candied mango pieces (mango, sugar, citric acid), natural flavor, mango chips (mango, rice flour), mango pieces, passion fruit pieces (passion fruit juice puree, banana puree), marigold petals.

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STRAWBERRY SLENDER PU-ERH TEA (PRICE: 5.58$ per 2oz)

Tasting notes:

Full bodied infusion of bold pu-erh and sweet strawberry undertones.

Ingredients:

Pu-erh black tea, strawberry pieces, artificial flavoring. <— I just saw that they have artificial flavoring for this loose tea. Have I known it, I wouldn’t buy it. I was just assuming that all Teavana teas were all natural. 

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So there we go. I’m so glad I went through the ingredients with you because I just realized that they have artificial flavoring too in their tea. Meh. But that’s okay, I suppose. Adam can take it to work LOL.

To be honest, my most favourite tea is the Winterberry. It smells soooooo nice, so fruity and it tastes great as well! It’s such a treat each time I drink it.

One last thing guys, since Starbucks has acquired Teavana, you can also pay for your Teavana purchases using your Starbucks card and rack up stars! Go check out your local Teavana stores for some tea (they always have tea for samples yay!) and tell me which is your favorite!

Thanks for reading guys. Have a wonderful the rest of your week!

Much love.

IKEA WISHLIST 2017

Every year, A and I head our way to Ikea for our annual home shopping trip. We usually set up a budget of $300 to be spent on home each year and let me tell you, it is easy to spend that amount of money in Ikea!

This year is no different so I’d like to share with you guys what we usually get on our yearly Ikea trip.

1. Sheets – We usually buy one every year because we didn’t have a big collection to start with when we got married in 2013. We have tried few different materials and my ultimate favorite has always been the cotton ones. But be careful coz some of the cotton materials are very cheap and they collect hair, dust etc and I hate that. So don’t be too cheap like me by getting the 16.99$ one and expect to use it for several years. Spend a little more and you get the best quality of cotton. We bought SKOGSNARV sheet set last year and the wear has been amazing. However, I would prefer to use this in colder months coz the material is quite thick and I always find myself sweating if I use this in summer time. It is 100% cotton but the cotton is very thick. (Am I making sense here? LOL). You can view the one I like here: Sheets
2. Duvet cover – We dont but duvet cover every year but we buy it every two years. So basically we only have 2 sets of duvet covers LOL. If I still have room of budget, I might get it this year. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter. You can view the ones I want here: Duvet 1, Duvet 2 ( Both duvet covers we have at home are white so I might not get this), Duvet 3
3. Towels – I LOVE Ikea towels. I think they are just light weighted and absorbs water very well. And most importantly they dont leave residue on your body. You know some towels will leave a bit of the material on your skin and I dont like it. We have bought a lot of towels over the years from Ikea so we might skip towels this year! Yay! More budget room for other things! You can view the item here: Towels
4. KULLEN 2 Drawer Chest – That I will use for my night stand. We bought one about 2-3 years ago because A didnt want one. And we have switched bed sides and he has my nightstand and I dont have any. I like a nightstand with drawers because God knows how much I love to keep EVERYTHING by me! 😀 You can view the item here: Night Stand. But I’d also like to get this one White Night Stand just coz it’s white! 😀
5. Chest of Drawers – Ok obviously we dont get this every year but we have bought 2 entertainment centres from Ikea and I am thinking of getting one more to change out with the one we have in the bedroom. I am torn between these two styles – Style 1 and Style 2. If I have one of this chest of drawers, I can put my TV on it and put all the junks that I have on the entertainment centre in the drawers. Ha!

So there you go. That’s the list of things that we usually get on our yearly trip to Ikea. Except for num 4 and 5. We dont usually buy furnitures every year 😂

Have a good rest of your week and speak to you soon. 

Much love.