:: 365th day of the year ::

It's the last day for year 2010 and this should be my last post for this year. The usual connotation with a new year is resolution. So have you thought about yours yet? And how about the one this year? I don't usually decide about new year resolution before new year. Probably I need to 'feel' the new year first before deciding what to achieve through out the time and in some years I didn't even bother having any resolution at all.

I do have one resolution for year 2010. I don't think I've told anyone about it but since it's the last day of the year, why don't I confess it today. Well it's not an ambitious one actually, just promising myself to dress nicely for work. Yeap, that's my resolution for 2010 - to dress nicely and presentable for work. Frankly speaking, I personally think I did achieve that resolution, perhaps up to 95%. The balance of 5% is for being underdressed and not wearing any makeup. There were few days when I was too lazy and even had to force myself to office, but most of the time and especially during pregnancy I was really concerned about my look. I hardly wear flats except on casual Fridays because to me, wearing flat simply 'destroyed' the whole office look.

We have to look serious for people to take us seriously and I tell you, it works. Bukan nak masuk bakul angkat sendiri but since I look a bit 'young', other people sometimes didn't take me seriously. It's a lot better today but during my early days when I was working at Jalan Semarak it was worst, but no I don't want to talk about those days. Apart from that resolution I'm also satisfied with myself in other areas especially spiritually. Alhamdulillah, I've improved a bit compared to few previous years and will keep on improving myself to be a better Muslim and a better wife, insyaallah.

Before ending this post, let me share few memorable moments I had through out year 2010.

> 10 January: one day visit to Singapore with hubby, Zam and Tie 

> 17 January: surprise birthday bash by hubby and BFF. This is one most memorable birthday celebration in my entire life.

> 1 February: promoted as Manager

> 6 June: our first wedding anniversary

> 7 - 13  June: family vacation with hubby, mom and sisters to London and Manchester

> 16 August: welcome KiKi to our home 

> 11 October: convocation day - officially a postgraduate student in Master of Corporate Communication, UPM

> 21 - 26 October: Melbourne vacation with hubby. Thanks Isma & Hairil for being our wonderful, lovely hosts :-)

> 1 November: I'm pregnant~!

It's definitely one of best years so far and I thank God for His blessing and allowing me to keep on breathing in this world. Looking forward for another exciting year ahead. 2011 will be a year of transformation as I'll be entering the big "3-series" and also motherhood, insyaallah. 

Happy New Year 2011 to family, friends, followers and readers~! May this coming new year brings more prosperity and better life to all of us. 

XOXO,

phatgurl

31.12.2010

:: year end outing ::

My visit to the Gardens today was planned since days ago. Luckily it was a perfect planning because thanks to Malaysia national football squad who have won the AFF Suzuki Cup, tomorrow is declared as a public holiday and since it is also the last day of 2010 I bet everywhere will be jam packed with people. Thought of going alone at first but invited my partner-in-crime aka. bff to tag along so the day would be more "memorable". Ihiks :-)


This outing came with few objectives actually. One: to utilise RM90 isetan voucher which expires tomorrow. Since there's nothing else to buy, Bee and I decided to use the voucher for baby stuff so here I'm introducing our first baby item, Philips Avent Newborn Starter Set.

We chose Avent because it is among the best feeding bottle available. It is BPA free and able to reduce fussing and also colic acid in babies. The starter set consists of 4 bottles with teats (2 x 125ml & 2 x 260ml), 2 extra newborn teats, complete with 1 newborn pacifier and 1 brush. I guess we don't have to worry about feeding the baby anymore. The purchase was even more worthy because there was 20% discount which made it cost RM151.20 from its normal price at RM189. Baby stuff ain't cheap so we have to start buying from now. One item down, but a lot more to come.

Two: to check prices of LV bags for a friend. Isma seeked my assistance to check prices of certain LV models and that job was perfectly done today.

Three: to enjoy buy-5-free-1 sushi promo at Sushi King. We didn't manage to enjoy the sushi promo because my previous receipt did not meet the terms & condition. Apparently, previous purchase should be 5 or more sushi plates but mine only stated 4. Better yet, we managed getting 20% discounts instead because of happy hour (3 - 5pm during weekdays). Our visit to Sushi King today was not a pleasant one though. We ordered all our sushis but waited for 30 minutes for 3 of the plates to arrive and 1 plate did not arrive at all until we decided to leave. Happy hour became Unhappy hour for us.

Well, we then turned our back to Jaya Jusco's yummy takoyaki and also Auntie Ann's premium combo pretzel instead. Who said we have to rely on only one food source? ;-)

Four: to buy some important groceries. That important item is actually cooking oil. Our cooking oil was finished yesterday after frying keropok lekor given by brother-in-law who just came back from his wife's hometown in Terengganu. Other items bought were HL Marigold milk, large canned of baked beans and also Anlene yogurt. I have to admit that I have skipped drinking Enfamama for few weeks already because I couldn't stand the 'salty' taste. Consumed Marigold milk instead as approved by the doctor and fyi, that milk also contain small amount of folic acid so hopefully that's better than nothing. Try to increase calcium consumption with the Anlene yogurt. Bought strawberry flavour and it did taste good.

Despite all the objectives, I still did one impulsive purchase at MNG, which now offers further reduction up to 70%. Saw that shirt when I was out with Riza last week but that time it was RM99. Said to myself I'll buy if it's still available during the further reduction and guess what, there was one left for me yesterday and it was reduced to RM79. It was size S but large enough to be worn during maternity and post maternity later.

Dunno why I'm so interested in checkered shirt these days. Apart from that I also love the cuff and the fact that I can tie a bow at the neck. Haven't been to MNG as often as I did before, so I was quite excited looking at their sleek and pretty long sleeve shirts from the Autumn / Winter '10 collection. I used to buy a lot of MNG apparels for work. Once, I bought 14 items at one shot during their by-invitation-only sale to show how crazy I was for MNG stuff but those days were over. MNG is now a main street fashion in the country not like when I did my first purchase 8 years back.

Anyway that ends the story. Thanks Nor for tagging along and becoming my PA for a day. Really enjoyed your company. So see you in February? Ahaksz.

:: wanted! ::

Inilah seekor antara dua ekor mamat kucing yang bertanggungjawab mengganggu emosi awek kucing di rumah ini:

Seekor lagi bermuka putih, berbadan oren. Memasing dok sibuk datang depan rumah nak mengorat sambil buat gaya-gaya cool. Ntah apa janji palsu yang diorang dah bagi ntah. Dah kena marah pun still selamba lagi tak bergerak. 

5 hari KiKi menderita tau... alhamdulillah hari ini KiKi dah sihat semula. Jagalah kamu mamat-mamat kucing sekalian! Dapek nanti den sosah kan yo.

:: my 3-month look ::

Took these pics before going out to Seremban yesterday. I've tried snapping some pics in the office before but failed because there was always someone coming into the toilet. It's my 14th week and I'm now entering second trimester. Time flies too fast, don't cha think? Alhamdulillah everything went well in the first trimester and I really hope it's gonna be the same until the end of this pregnancy. 

intoducing my baby bump :-)

As some people knew, I didn't experience any sickness be it in the morning or evening. Some even surprised to know that I'm preggie because they said I looked active and cheerful in the office. Yes I did, but I still got exhausted later in the evening though. Just realised that I even panted after climbing up stairs or walking fast. No wonder I got remarks like "are you tired?" but I usually thought it was due to hot weather or flu, etc.

Yet, I still went through few first trimester challenges. In the earlier weeks I often experienced bloated tummy especially after lunch onwards due to gas. I'm not good at burping out the gas so sometimes it did lead to headache. Found out that it was normal as the body is getting used to changes. Another challenge is another normal pregnancy thingy, which is constipation. Even after eating a lot of fruits and litres of fluids, I still experienced it once in a while. To overcome it is to eat more and more fruits so I've eaten fruits like almost everyday. That reminds me to eat prune for today's fruit consumption. Don't have problem on food. I ate what I normally ate but one thing for sure is I don't fancy eating oily food. Other than that, everything is fine and I'm enjoying the moment as it is.

Don't have much problem with attire yet. I can still disguise my slight bump, which sometimes look big but sometimes look small. Still I have to face the fact that my body is 'widening' at the middle part of the body and if you see me from the side, I look so 'thick' than usual. 

In that pic I was wearing a top that can be tied at the back which is perfect for pregnancy and non-pregnancy time. It was Jay Jay's, bought in New Zealand 2 years back and that was a Guess jeans bought around 7 years back in Mid Valley. It was the best investment among all as I can still wear it comfortably till today, but thanks to the flexible belt. That jeans is actually size 24 but due to its stretching material, it can still fit my thigh nicely (*yeay!) Wore that black tassel necklace from Melbourne just to complete the overall look and I was ready to go. 

So that's it for the 3-month look. Toodles!

:: sistas day out ::

Went back to Seremban yesterday to visit my family and also to treat my second sister who got 8As in her PMR recently. BIG congrats to you sis and you finally made it~! So it was sisters day out and the three of us went to the hippest place in Seremban, Jaya Jusco S2. Well, where else to go in Seremban other than Jusco. Takkan nak gi Terminal One, Seremban Parade, Centrepoint or Giant plak? Haha. Ok I'm not condemning my place of birth but that's the fact. Anyhow, I still love Seremban though. It's the town that offers good food, cheap price and many others lah. Ask me where to find stuff in Seremban and insyaallah I'll be able to show you. From best tomyam restaurant, fantastic burger, famous popia basah, superb rojak & cendol, cheap tailor rate... to reliable car wiring service, you just name it all.

We didn't do much in JJ except strolling, window shopping and having lunch. My sister did some shopping because she got a lot of RMs in her purse right now due to her success :-P She wanted to buy a Crocs flat using the money hubby gave him so I pitched in some to complete the purchase. We had our lunch at Kenny Rogers because that was the best choice. My last sister earlier said "no sushi~!" when we were thinking of where to eat so there was only Kenny Rogers and Pizza left. After having two best experiences in Nando's before, I'd say Nando's chicken tasted far better than Kenny's. The portion was ok but the chicken was all white inside, meaning not rich in flavour. To be exact, the flavours were actually on the skin, outside and mine was still a bit red inside. After watching Gordon Ramsey in season one of Masterchef US, I now know how to taste and compare food, eh? Hehe. Anyway we enjoyed the food and had fun. Just look at these pics here...

I went back home after Maghrib as my family went out for dinner with our ol' neighbour. Bee suggested us having dinner at Kg. Baru. The weather was chilly due to rain so it'll be perfect to have hot Kelantanese soup that we missed weeks earlier. KiKi followed him to modernopc yesterday so Bee picked me up at home while KiKi and his sister were already in the car. We were still in front of Summit USJ when KiKi did something unexpectedly in the car which made us turned back and abort our mission. In the end, it was mcDelivery that saved our day. We'll try our luck again perhaps tonight or tomorrow then... 

Please get well soon, KiKi.

:: if kiki could speak ::

If KiKi could speak she must have said this:

"Itulaa Mama, KiKi kejut Mama banyak kali tapi Mama tak nak bangun..."

This morning KiKi woke up at 6 something as usual. She had her breakfast and wondered around the room while I continued sleeping. About an hour later she kept making sound, not mieouwing but more like whining. I woke up again for toilet and let her play while I was back to bed. She still kept on whining, grabbed and even bited my hand. I could woke up but I just didn't want to do it because it was too early for Sunday. So I said to her, "Mama tak keje harini KiKi. Jomlaa tido," as if she would understood. 

She kept on with her behaviour and almost an hour later jumped on the bed beside my thigh. Thought she wanted to sleep but I was all wrong because not long after that I could felt this warm water... and it was KiKi peeing on the comforter, just next to my thigh! I couldn't remember what I said but Bee woke up to my voice. I asked him to wash KiKi and took my turn later. So that was it and she finally made me woke up on a beautiful Sunday morning.

As a result to that incident, we finally manage to use a new comforter set which was a wedding gift from my friend Alyaa (after 1 and a half year). Thanks Alyaa, the colour brightens up our room and it also matches the wall and curtain :-) We were quite surprised with KiKi though because she always do her 'thing' at her sandy toilet except during heat and her heat cycle has passed two weeks ago. We were quite worried because her behaviour has changed and she didn't sleep much since yesterday too. Well, it was not too long because this evening we saw her staring at this male cat and that was the same male cat who came near our porch 1-2 nights before! 

Cinta sudah berputik ya... no wonder lah. Nak kena kucing jantan ni... pandai plak nak ngorat awek kucing kat umah ni ek... siaplah kamu. Cis.

Awek kucing akhirnya tido tak sedar diri petang tadi

Living with a cat teaches us a lot about patience and tolerancy. We hardly get mad at KiKi maybe because she is a cat, an animal and moreover she is too cute to be scolded. If only we knew what she's going through, we would give the best we could... and KiKi, we both really love you!

:: last working day in 2010 ::

Today is my last working day in year 2010. Gonna be on leave for 5 days next week, as mandated by the management. The company will shut its business down and almost all staffs will be on leave except those in customer or network related services. I've tried completing all pending items today and so far everything went well accordingly. My work station even look organized and ready for the new year, so next is cleaning up the mailbox before going home with peace of mind. There is no specific plan on what to do during the whole week off, though. I have to plan something or else it will be wasted just like that. Hrmmm... 

Don't like to write much about my current job because it is too administrative. Honestly speaking, it's not my cup of tea but hey, we have to open for challenges right? After 10 months here, alhamdulillah I'm quite confident with my responsibilities yet still learning and absorbing new knowledge. Apart from that I'm still proud to manage this so-called "high profile" unit in the company and after what I've experienced so far, I'm looking forward for a more competent and excel year ahead, insyaallah.

Guess that's it for the time being. I'll have one whole week to overload this blog with different posts, so see you next time then. For those who are celebrating Christmas, I wish you a memorable, merry Christmas and a Happy New Year~! Mwahs!