:: when u love your cat ... ::

...you'd do anything for her.

Today we sucessfully attached square-shaped wire to our door grill. We can now open the door for air ventilation and at the same time allow KiKi enjoying outside view without worrying her escape. As I'm writing this she is still sitting in front of the grill, enjoying herself and staring at our neighbour's dog. We know she loves the innovation and perhaps we should now singing Bryan Adam's "Everything I do - I do it for you... oh yeahhh..."

 

...and oh, Happy Halloween peeps~!

:: the easiest & cheapest diy toy for cats ::

KiKi got another new toy and this time it's a plastic ball. Seriously, if you really want to do a DIY toy for your cat and looking for something cheap and easy, this is the best thing I would recommend you:

What you need is a plastic bag, preferably a thicker one. I used a transparent plastic bag that wrapped my convocation robe, similar plastic bag people normally used to wrap new t-shirts, fabrics, etc. Just crumple and squeeze the bag into a round shape and put a small bell somewhere in the ball to attract attention. Test the sound first, don't put the bell too deep inside to get a louder sound and when everything is okay, just seal it around with a transparent tape - voila you're done~! 

The best thing about this plastic ball is its weight. It is light and bounces easily when KiKi plays with her paws. Moreover, sound that came from the bell and the plastic itself makes it catchier and attracts her attention to chase for the ball. At least she can play by herself for a while before asking me to play with her. Totally awesome and I'm so proud with my own handmade product ;-)

Since this entry is about KiKi, hopefully it is not too much for me to share what we bought for her as souvenirs from Melbourne:

Aren't they cute??? A pink paw print pet blanket and matching pink paw print socks for our furkid. That blanket was the first item we bought in Melbourne. It was purchased at the BigW for only AUD2, which equivalents to RM6 only meanwhile the socks were bought at Victoria Market. I like~! 

... and KiKi loves 'em too ...

 

*keywords: cheap and easy toy, diy ball, diy toy for cat, how to make toy, cat's toy

:: back to reality ::

Alhamdulillah... we have safely arrived home. It was a wonderful trip and except the cold wind, Melbourne was such a beautiful and peaceful place. To Isma and Hairil, you are the best hosts ever. We couldn't thank you enough for the comfort, good food, tour and not forgetting the patience and tolerance you've given us through out our stay. Do keep in touch and we look forward to seeing both of you back in Malaysia sometime next year. 

Being in a vacation is like going into another life. Nothing much to worry as if there is no other responsibilities except enjoying yourself, visiting places and go shopping. No matter how hectic the day was, your mind is still in relax mode because you would not think about work and other heavy commitments. Unfortunately those days are over and I'm now back into reality. Despite that I'm still glad to be back especially to meet our lil' sweetheart, KiKi. We picked her up from Zul & Azizi Boarding Pets in Puchong on our way home from the airport. I can't tell how excited I was to see her again because I've missed her so much. Thanks Zul for the good service and I will do a special entry later to share my testimonial. KiKi smells so nice and her fur is silky smooth after the grooming. I am glad because she seemed happy to see us and still remember her favourite spots. She is now sleeping besides me like she always did but this time with her hand covering her face ... ah, she is indeed the cutest cat I've ever seen. 

I will share my unforgettable moments hopefully in the next entry but for now here is a sneak peek of what we did during our stay in Melbourne:

*

(drum rolls)

*

:: dear kiki ::

"i miss you so much!"

:-(

(*see you in 2 days)

:: from melbourne with love ::

HellooOooOoo folks... g'day!

How are you guys? I didn't get a chance to bid farewell because I had panic attack during day of departure to Melbourne. Planned to do my packing the night before but instead, I slept until the next morning and only started packing few hours before our flight. Huhuhu. Anyway let's just forget about that cuz we've arrived safe and sound in this beautiful, calm city and welcomed by the lovely hosts, Isma & Hairil. It's a bit chilly today cuz it was raining... but I know I should enjoy this cold weather before I'm back to the humid country.

Will definitely write about our full journey when we're back in few more days and as for today, we're going to the city in a bit. Hope to see you again... taa!

xoxo,
phatgurl

:: on leisure mood ::

I purposely arrived late this morning. One, I somehow got fed-up with parking problem and secondly, the fact that our company doesn't seem to bother about it. What's the purpose of coming at 7:45 am - 1 hour 15 minutes before office hour (I opted for 9:00 am - 6:00 pm office hour) if you're still unable to park in the building because it's full house. It's either pay RM8 - RM10 for the illegal open space parking or park at the roadside for free and receive summons from DBKL, police or both. We all know that consequence comes when people break rule, and in this case we break the rule by parking on yellow line. But, does anybody care to find root of this problem? No but they rather choose to continuously punishing the rule breakers. Hello Mr.DBKL and abang pol, if you see there are hundred cars parking at the same road - at the same office area everyday... there must be something wrong with the parking space la kan. If we can fold our cars and put them in our pockets, we must've done it. Do you care to act and try solving the problem by providing metered parking space by the roadside for instance? I'll answer that question because you'll say NO and that is because you enjoy hitting the jackpot and making money from people around this area every single day. Pxagwakhisudsd...!!

Sorry about that. I automatically get emotional everytime I talk about parking problem in this area. Positive energy, please come back to me... fuhh fuhhh.

{*waiting for positive energy to return}


... Ok, I'm not in the mood for work since last week. Our system's server is down due to migration process so I keep on telling my colleagues that it's break time for us. There are still requests to entertain, but I procrastinated and completed them in my own sweet time. Seriously, I feel like a sloth at work. But, when it comes to personal interest like what I'm doing now (blogging) the feeling is different and I'm enjoying it. Not only this, I've also got in touch with my creative side and created handmade cards, digital scrapbook designs and an accessory during office hours since last few days. It obviously seems like I'm on leisure mood and wanna know why?

Our vacation trip starts tomorrow. Yippee yeay! Months of waiting has finally come to end and we're leaving on a jet plane to Melbourne, Australia tomorrow noon. I'm not saying goodbye yet because I plan to do it before we departed tomorrow, but in the meantime:
Havva G'day Mate!

:: surprise! (part 2) ::

This is the surprise I was telling about in my previous entry:

It was a cat tunnel for KiKi~!

Hubby made it out of 2 boxes sealed together in an L shape with a hole at each end and another window hole on top. I was so excited because I've been talking about DIY cat tunnel for KiKi since past few weeks and now she got one. Cats love tunnel and I really want KiKi to have new playground so she has something else to play besides her favourite toy, a plastic yarn we called 'ramba'. Thank you so much for the effort, Bee... you're the BEST! I'm so happy for KiKi although she took some time to start playing with her new toy. I guess she'll get used to it later, ain't it dear?

The tunnel is bare so I suggested to wrap the box with natural rope to turn it into a scratching post too. Gonna check how much the rope costs later this evening and if it's not too expensive the tunnel will become a 2-in-1 DIY cat furniture for our lil' sweetheart. It may not look that pretty, but making own cat furniture or toy can gives self satisfaction especially when our fur kid is enjoying the item and gives money-can't-buy experience to see our beloved kitty appreciating it :-)

KiKi, we love you so much~!

*keywords: diy cat tunnel, diy cat furniture, diy cat toy

:: surprise! (part 1) ::

Today is a special day for my bff, Nor as she turned *ehem* ..... 19? :-P

Had lunch together at office's cafeteria, but nothing special. Earlier, I've promised to treat her cake so we had another appointment at Secret Recipe in the evening. Last week I've booked her time and said hubby's gonna stay back a bit late so I could hang out at their crib for a while as well as meeting her roomie who's also my bff, Fila. Little that she knew we already plannedto throw a lil' surprise for the birthday girl. When we almost reached the door, I purposely asked whether Fila was already home... and when Nor opened the door it was complete darkness. "Maybe Fila hasn't reached home yet" she said and suddenly...

"prottttttttt" (sound of party wistle)

"SURPRISE~!!!"

Nor got punk'd. She was screaming and obviously surprised. Haha... we made it Fila :-)

Since it's working day Fila only ordered Dominos for the lil' surprise party. She actually planned (well, she's the mastermind) to do it on Saturday so she can cooked something special but due to unforeseen circumstances it couldn't be done. We still enjoyed ourselves though especially looking at Alvin who was wearing black ribbon around her his neck. A big cat now, I have to admit that he looked pretty handsome and macho. 

It's Nor's birthday but Fila got the prezzie. It was a belated birthday prezzie I owed her for almost 2 months already, but both received my handmade birthday cards or better known as "kad penuh kasih sayang". Both were personally customised for both of you. Hope you guys like 'em... and Fila, hope you like that prezzie too. Nor, as promised your's coming up after I came back from the trip later keyh ;-)

Wokie cik Noor Hazera... happy birthday to you and hope you really enjoyed the evening with us. Remember, age is just a number so just chill and be happy ya. 

I later drove home with a smile and satisfaction. Reached home around 9:30 pm and somehow hubby welcomed me with a lil' surprise too... 

...but I'm gonna share that in the next entry {*wink}.

:: easy salsa dip ::

Mexican food is among my favourite. During visit to London last June, found this small store in Arndale Market Manchester selling Mexican food items like dips, tortillas and other dry ingredients. I managed to buy tortillas with salsa dip and it tasted good. It suits my liking because it has soury taste so I surfed the Net and found that making salsa is dead easy. However, despite its easiness I finally managed to make it yesterday so I'm sharing the triumph of making salsa dip - malaysian style here:

The ingredients:

- 1 tomato

- 1 onion

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 2 chillis (Mexican used jalapenos, but being a Malaysian I substitute it with cili padi instead. Another substitute could be green chilli)

- A bunch of coriander leaves (in recipes they called it cilantro but wikipedia said they're the same)

- Lime juice

- Salt (not in the pic)

The steps:

1. Diced tomato, onion and garlic, then slice chillis and parsley leaves. 

2. Mix all ingredients together with 3 tablespoons of lime juice and a pinch of salt.

3. Refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour.

4. Ready to be eaten with nachos. (I used original flavoured Chacos for this.)

Very simple ain't it? But it still took me 4 months to make it... heehee.

*keywords: simple salsa, salsa dip, how to make salsa, salsa recipe

:: budget 2011 for shopaholics? ::

It's the time of the year - it's Budget 2011, announced by our Prime Minister aka. Finance Minister. Usually I didn't care much about it and only wait for next day's newspaper to see the whole summary, written in point forms because they are easier to understand than watching it live on tv. This time I try catching up things on the Net and found this particular highlight:

"Abolishment of import duty on 300 goods preferred by tourists and locals, at 5 to 30 per cent, to promote Malaysia as a shopping heaven in Asia. Such goods are apparel, handbags, shoes, shampoo, suits, children’s apparel, wallets, hair colourants, golf balls, imitation jewellery, talcum powder, curtains, table cloth, blankets, bed sheets, shirt, undergarments, lingerie, nightwear, perfumes and mosquito netting."

This one should come with a loud 'ka-chinggg' sound because cheaper imported goods = shopping spree time {yeay!}. It's like 5 - 30% discounts to all normal price items and shopaholics are definitely loving this. I'm excited to see apparel, handbags and shoes are listed because they are obviously preferred goods among tourists and locals like ME :-)

Anyhow, I'm quite surprised to see mosquito netting is also in the list. Who's buying that?

Okay, other interesting Budget 2011 highlights are:

• PLUS toll rate will remain for the next 5 years
• Exemption of sales tax for all mobile phones
• Service tax is proposed to be increased to 6% effective 1 Jan 2011, but credit card tax still remains RM50 / RM25
• RM50 million budget to construct several shaded walkways in the KLCC-Bukit Bintang vicinity
• Private Pension Fund for private sector employees and self-employed

Well I'm not going to list everything here, but if you want to know more about Malaysia Budget 2011 just read the Prime Minister's full text speech at NST Online.

And oh, HAPPY WEEKEND folks!

*keywords: budget 2011, budget 2011 highlights, belanjawan 2011, belanjawan malaysia 2011

:: cheeky kiki ::

I heart digital scrapbooking and wanna make it my new hobby. I got inspired and awed with works done by the sahlinstudio team and some other individuals. They are cute, colourful and sweet, adorable enough to highlight and treasure memorable moments in life. I was supposed to work on my blog's header, but this is what I did instead:

That's our cheeky lil' sweetheart playing with a mouse, chilling with a keyboard and looking out from top of the curtain. This is my first try and obviously there's more to come ;-)

:: review - biore makeup remover wipes ::

I've seen an advert on Biore Cleansing Oil - In Cotton Wipes in last month's Cleo magazine. In fact, the product itself was nominated as the best facial wipes for their Beauty Hall of Fame '10. Such buzz successfully influenced me to give it a try. Wondering what the fuss is all about, I made my way to Guardian to purchase a pack. Biore Cleansing Oil Wipes is made in Japan and in fact the no.1 makeup remover in that country. It came in two pack sizes, one with 10 wipes for the price of RM5.90 and another is pack of 48 for the price of RM32.90. For trial purpose, I grabbed a pack of 10 which came in a small, thin plastic packaging that can easily fit into my small handbags. Definitely a perfect travelling companion!

The wipes are actually similar to baby wipes - white, moist tissue and this one comes with light rose scent. Without any hassle, just take out a piece of wipe from the pack, swipe the makeup area you want to remove and *poof* they will all gone. Biore Cleansing Oil Wipes can be used on all face as well as neck area and gentle enough to be used on delicate eye area. To remove heavy makeups and waterproof mascara, it is recommended to put the wipes on such area for 5 seconds before wiping it off so dirts will be easily removed without scrubbing. In simple steps, let me share with you how it works:

 

1. I was wearing paint pot (cream eyeshadow) and normal dry eyeshadow with liquid eye liner and mascara. 

2. Take a piece of clean wipe from the pack.

3. 1,2,3,4,5 seconds... wipe off.

4. One eye done, another to go.

5. The wipe, no longer white & clean.

6. My eyes - clean & clear.

The verdict: Biore Cleansing Oil Wipes is definitely my new friend. It has proven its capability to remove my makeup clean and clear. It is a lie if I said everything can be cleaned with one swipe because you will need more (in my experience at least 3-5 swipes for one eye) to ensure everything is gone. So far it didn't irritate or made my skin dry, but instead made it feels clean and fresh especially after washing the face with cleanser. The wipes are convenient and you won't spend more than 5 minutes to get rid off everything. The scent is just nice, I don't know what it is actually but to me it smells like rose water. I believed one wipe is sufficient enough to wipe off all face area with normal makeup, but maybe you will need more if you are wearing heavy ones like bridal or photoshoot makeup.

I highly recommend the 10 pack size for all light travellers, but actually the 40 pack size is still okay for those who normally carry large handbags. I can say goodbye to my bottled makeup remover during my next vacation. With such convenience it can offer, Biore Cleansing Oil Wipes is actually affordable (around 60 cents per piece for the small pack but around 68 cents for the larger pack maybe because of the hard plastic packaging). If you don't mind about the price, you can have it in your daily cleansing regime. As for me, it will be my definite choice when travelling and also tiring after-work or outing days. 

I would rate Biore Cleansing Oil Wipes 4.5 / 5. Do give it a try and share what you think too (*wink).

:: my convocation day ::

Yeszaaa... Today I'm officially a Master of Corporate Communication graduate - UPM Alumni 2010. Alhamdulillah, after 2 years of non-stop effort, patience and sweat the scroll is finally mine. 

We're in the fifth, morning session of the 5-days ceremony. I was not that excited about this convocation earlier and even forgotten about it in the past few days. However, as soon as we were asked to walk for the graduands parade, I somehow felt the sense of proud building inside me. This is what I've been waiting for - the real convocation with protocols and all. I had my first convocation in 2003 for my bachelor in MMU but sorry to say, that convocation sucks. Ask anybody who graduated that year whether they had a memorable convocation, the one held at the state hall in Melaka where two faculties received certificates at one time on the stage while the Chancellor, Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah was sitting in the middle and nodding left and right to acknowledge recipients. I believed majority will give no good remarks about that event. Above all, our names were not even called - can you believe that? Even kids were being called at kindergarten's convocation day, but not us who have at least studied for 4 consecutive years through pain. That's how bad the day was. Anyway let's just forget about that for a moment.

During the parade, I purposely made myself to be the last one to que for our course. Through my experience as an emcee for MMC's convocation day and other certificate presentation ceremonies, I learnt that you have to be either the first or the last to be significant on stage and it worked! There was this guy who tried to que behind me just before we went on stage but I didn't let him do it. So when the lady emcee called my name with "...and..." the crowd was clapping, I received my scroll and waved at the audience. Gila glamour kan... but who cares?! :-D

I believed I've made my parents and hubby proud... and of course, I'm proud of myself too. I really enjoyed studying Corporate Communication and it gave me pure satisfaction. I thank Allah the Mighty for giving me the strength and ability to complete the study. To my beloved parents, thank you for the motivation and encouragement. 

Bee, thank you so much for the endless support, patience, understanding and I'm so glad to share the wonderful moment with you. To bff and friends, thanks for your support and motivation too (especially when I was stressful with assignments) and last but not least, appreciation note for lecturers and fellow classmates - thanks for sharing the knowledge and nice knowing you guys.

Some other pics:

:: memories with family - classmates - lil sis - mr.hubby ::

 

yeayyy~!!!

p/s: to my friends (Nor, Rabby & Nurul) who are still studying, keep it going girls. Your time will come soon~!

p/p/s: Happy PMR Independence Day for my lil sis, Atiqah who couldn't join us today. You're now temporarily free from torture... enjoy it keyh ;-)

... and last but not least, a pic with our lil sweetheart:

:: Welcome ::

Irasshaimase (or welcome) to my new blog home.

After 7 years with blogdrive, I've decided to pack things and move here instead. I really really love phatgurl.blogdrive but blogdrive has many limitations in terms of customisation and that is the main concrete reason for this move. Sorry blogdrive, despite all those years I have to turn my back on you this time. It has been a pleasant ride and thank you for everything.

Basically this blog is a continuation to what I had before (and it's still pink!) I'll try to make it more interesting though and try to write more often too. I do love writing you know, but time usually surpassed me. Will try my best to keep the journals and do wish me luck on that. To all readers out there, thank you for your continuous support and look forward to having more support from you guys. Don't forget to follow me and leave your comments. Keep on reading and visiting key :-)

At this opportunity I would love to thank kevinandamanda.com for the tutorial on how to change font for post titles and inspiring me with cute scrapbook designs. Special thanks also goes to shabbyblogs.com for the extras and the header. I'm dying to design my own header but in the meantime I just use that header instead.

That's all for my first entry and happy 10.10.10.

xoxo,
phatgurl