:: birthday getaway ::

On 17th January 2014 my age increased to another number. Alhamdulillah with His blessing I am still able to breathe until this day, continue to live and surrounded by my loved ones. Apparently the entire nation "celebrated" my special day with a public holiday - the Thaipusam. We did not travel anywhere during last year end so we thought it would be good to travel somewhere and at the same time celebrate my birthday. The inital plan was Hard Rock Hotel Penang but few weeks ago I ended up making reservation for Legoland Hotel in Johor instead. Lego is one of my favourite toys. When I was a kid I used to save my daily school allowance just to purchase one small set of pirate-themed lego set because I really liked it. It was priced between RM20 to RM30 back then but with a RM1 daily allowance it was quite tough to collect and achieve it.

Anyway, we travelled on Thursday 16th January with Malindo Air. It was a 7:45 am flight and the ticket was priced at an unbelievable rate of RM39 one way from KLIA. It was a very good deal because we travelled with a Boeing flight instead of propeller and most importantly we didn't need to walk outdoor and climb the stairs (ala-ala travel in style gitew). I personally recommend the airline because the seating area was spacious and there was in-flight entertainment even for short distance flight - just bring along personal headphone or purchase one if interested. Earlier that morning we travelled to KLIA from home via taxi that we booked via My Teksi app. It was a very reliable app indeed. We booked for the cab to arrive at 6:00 am and when it was in front of our home, a notification was updated with "your driver has arrived".

We straight away travelled to Legoland Hotel in Nusajaya from Senai Aiport to register and to keep our luggage because we wanted to enter Legoland immediately. It was around 35 minutes journey and the airport taxi rate was RM68. Check-in time is at 4:00 pm anyway so we didn't expect to wait. It was neither public holiday nor weekend so the park was not crowded at all. We took a lot of family photos, thanks to the photographers who were always on standby at strategic locations. They didn't mind to snap our photos with our personal camera before using their camera and we were given a strap which they can scan to upload our pics.

We let Ady enjoyed the rides. First he drove a car around the track. He still didn't know how to handle the steering so he kept on crashing into the curb. We then rode a boat together then took turns to accompany Ady riding Lego aeroplane. Waiting time for each ride was less than 5 minutes or none! Ady loved the aeroplane so much. He rode it twice in the morning and four more times in the evening without waiting. Even if there is a waiting line, kids won't feel too restless because a table of Lego is always there for them to play with. The entire park is very kids friendly!

At Duplo town area. There was a huge covered place where kids can play with Duplo Lego and ride a train. A good place to rest and catch some breath. There were restaurant and nursing room too.

 

 



The viewing tower where we could view the entire park from above. Lego Technic Academy is targetted for teenagers and adults. Hubby joined the free 45 minutes programming class and made his robot move to cut a wire.

 

 

The Lego City was filled with significant miniature of buildings and landmarks, all made of Lego. It was really impressive. That KLCC looks so real isn't it?

 

 

Not in any photo is the Lego Kingdom area with a huge castle. Ady had his usual afternoon nap so we took turns and had chance experiencing the roller coasters; one in Technic area and another in the Kingdom. Both rides were not as challenging as the Cyclone in Universal Studio Singapore or those in Movie World Gold Coast but they weren't too bad. Since the park was not crowded with guests, one day at the dry park is good enough for me. There are still other attractions that we did not experience due to age or height requirements so there is actually a lot more to ride and explore. Yet I really had a great time and enjoy the entire day.

 

Among highlights about the park based on my observation:

 

1. Legoland dry park is not only a theme park because there is always something for everybody at every age. If you don't like riding any game you can enjoy sightseeing at the Lego City area, riding train around the park or riding a boat. For those who love taking photos, it is definitely a perfect place for photography session because everything is unique and colourful.

 

2. Park opens at 10:00 am and close at 6:00 pm during weekdays and 7:00 pm during public holidays and weekends.

 

3. Restaurants or food stalls are everywhere. Please expect higher price compared to food outside but they were not too expensive.

 

4. Legoland staff is very warm and helpful. From my observation many of them naturally love kids and very patience. It is something that one could not pretend and I really respect that. Keep it up, guys.

 

5. There is wide range of Lego products that we may not find elsewhere. Rambang mata sangat! They do not stated anywhere but we received many free gifts too depending on total amount purchase. When we checked our bags there were a lot of extra stuff. Awesome meh.

 

6. Legoland has proper praying place or surau located at the main entrance area. Couldn't find such proper facility at other theme parks such as Universal Studio Singapore (during our visit last time there was only a small room) or Disneyland. There is high population of Muslims around Asia so they should consider that actually.

 

7. Explore the park and let your photos taken by the official photographers. It is not compulsory to purchase any at the end, but let me warn you there is a tendency to do so after viewing them :-P We viewed our photos 20 minutes before the park closed and ended up purchasing our family photo on lego bricks. It is a unique souvenir as they can be disassembled if we want to, just like playing normal Lego. The entire package came with another three (3) sets of printed photos and all four (4) photos can be viewed online, saved and shared via social media. It's worth the purchase.

 

 

 

We checked into our room later in the evening but I will write a review about Legoland Hotel in the next post. That night we had dinner at Medini Mall located next to the hotel. It was an open concept mall, with a number of restaurants and shopping outlets however the entire place close quite early. Some restaurants were already closed when we arrived at 8:30 pm. We had dinner at Chicken Rice Shop and according to the staff the place usually close a bit late and crowded only during weekends.

On 17th January which was my birthday we said goodbye to the hotel at 11:00 something in the morning. Our flight was at 3:05 pm so we decided to spend few hours left at Johor Premium Outlet. We rented a car stroller for our little boy - RM30 fee for one day rental with RM100 deposit. It was our second visit to JPO, the first one when it was just opened two years back. Now it has expended to the second phase with more outlets such as Furla, Timberland, Aigner and others but nothing really attracted me. Ended up buying a pair of wedges from Pedro, the wedges that Fila and I had our eyes on when it was displayed in Empire last year.

JPO to Senai Airport was merely 10 minutes drive so we departed at 2:15 pm with a cab. Our flight was slightly delayed and we arrived KLIA around 5:30 pm. Although we were only travelling within Malaysia the experience was very different because we took flight and travelled with taxis. We felt like tourists in our own country and such experience is in line with 2014's Visit Malaysia year :-D

It was a memorable getaway indeed, thanks to Mr. Husband and lil boy Ady Rifqi who made the experience more exciting and wonderful - double, triple the fun!

May this year brings me a lot of love, luck, good health, happiness and prosperity. Ameen.

:: the first of 2014 ::

After a long disappearance I suddenly become a frequent blogger (not). Actually I didn't switch off this laptop after publishing the last blog entry for 2013 although after hitting the 'publish' button we all went out to view fireworks on a flyover - had nasi lemak at Warung Nasi Lemak Opah in Taipan USJ area - came back playing with Ady and finishing up a DIY project - but since the laptop is still alive, I want to take this opportunity to publish the first entry of 2014.

We welcomed the new year on the flyover of USJ to Sunway route. We did it for the first time in 2013 so this is the second year and having the chance to view most fireworks displayed in the Klang Valley area from the spot is all we need. No entertainment required. Just waited in the car, went out of the car merely 2-3 minutes before the clock strikes 12:00, enjoyed the view, snapped few photos and off we go when the sky turned dark again. Back in the old days my definition of new year celebration was hanging out at the KLCC park enjoying performance and watching fireworks on top of my head but that definition is no longer available these days. I don't mind admitting what I did in the past - they all remain in memory and I'm blissful with the life I'm having now as an adult, a wife and a mother. I'm not sure what kind of blog post I'm writing here so before I ramble further here is my first pic for the year 2014:

 Ady was actually watching fireworks from Sunway Lagoon.

 

 

 

 

...so here is another shot...

 

 

 

 

...few seconds after the first pic...

Ah, better view!

 

 

My eyes couldn't sleep through out the night. Before started writing this post I just finished creating a headpiece for a ballerina. I received an order from someone at the office for her daughter ballet performance. I know nothing about ballet so I have asked the customer to share pic of a sample as well as the attire. The colour combo is gold and blue; and this is how the end result looks like:

 

 Hopefully both mother and daughter are satisfied and happy

*worried face*

So there goes my six hours of day one in 2014. Wishing and hoping for wonderful, blessed and healthy 364 days ahead.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!

:: the last of 2013 ::

This is my first and last post for December 2013.

When I look back, 2013 is not a bad year after all although six months towards the end of it was quite tough. In short I would describe this as a "strengthening the fundamentals" year for myself and our family. I finally purchased a property, gave my car a new look, leaped into a new work portfolio and also bought a number of new handbags, if that can be considered as investments too ^_^

Syukran ya Allah for giving me a beautiful family, happiness, rezeki and also the endurance to go through all the challenges.

May the new year brings more prosperity to all of us, insyaallah.

Goodbye 2013. Welcome 2014.

:: ady's biodata ::

Pics taken between June to October 2013

One significant memory of childhood is having an autograph book. The book was passed around to one and another, and to be completed with wishes as well as individual's biodata. The autograph book is a memorabilia so I thought why don't Ady has his "autograph" here

(but prepared by me, of course ^_^).

BIODATA

Name: Ady Rifqi bin Abdullah Adil

Birthdate: 17 June 2011

Birthplace: Hospital Putrajaya

Birth Time: 9:09 pm

Birth Weight: 3.12kg

Current Weight: around 13kg

Nicknames: Ady, Baby, Sayang, Cho'ang

 

Hobbies: Watching toys reviews or nursery rhymes on YouTube, playing with toys (Thomas & friends and other vehicles), playing games on iPad 

 

Favourite Food: Nothing specific - usually eat what ever parents feed him

 

Favourite Drinks: Iced tea, Chatime pearl milk tea, syrup, Vitagen - grape flavour

 

Favourite Flavour: Chocolate instead of vanilla (Team Mama wins)

 

Favourite Colour: not yet identified

 

Favourite Place-to-Go: Petrol station (refer all stations as 'Nonas' aka Petronas)

 

Favourite TV Programs: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, High 5, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Elmo's World, Pocoyo

 

Top 5 Words: Nak, Nanakkk, Jom, Eeeiii, Alaaa

 

Top 5 Gestures: Bye bye *waving*, Handshake, Flying kiss, Giving a kiss, Giving a hug

 

Current Obsessions: Transportation & Surprise Egg

 

 

Okay, no more idea to write autograph.

***

In general Ady is a cheerful boy who is also cheeky. I would say he is a bit of 'prim and proper' as he usually sit on his stool behind the table before eating even if he is eating snacks alone, hardly forgot to turn off the tap before leaving the bathroom, even willingly show his dirty hands to be washed and others.

He might be well behaved most of the time but he is still a very young boy who sometimes tested his parents' patience and temper with his crankiness and screaming over slow internet connection that caused his youtube video to load slowly. He might not listen to instructions all the time, but one thing for sure just feed him well before going for a shopping spree because just like the malay saying, 'gendang gendut tali kecapi, kenyang perut suka hati'.

 

 

...just something he did to melt my heart...

 

 

...and something I did to win his heart...

Being his playmate, going up and down the slide at McD play area :-D

 

:: whuzzup with ady rifqi ::

It has been 5 months after our little hero celebrated his second birthday. Haven't shared anything about him ever since but although I still call him 'baby' most of the time, our Ady Rifqi is now a toddler who is busy exploring things around him.

I wish time could move slower so he won't grow up too fast. I want to spend more time with him while he is very dependent of me because sooner or later he will become more independent, prefers his own space and going to spend more time with his friends rather than his old mama.
...and I'm so gonna miss this moment forever :-(

Although people usually refer two-years old kids as 'terrible two', I may not totally agree with that. In my opinion it is a lot more easier to handle a two years old Ady than the younger version of him because he can now understand and convey what he wants. Within the past five months his development is tremendous and the most significant of all is his ability to talk.

Ady may not be fluent enough talking and he is still babbling in his own language, but knowing what he needs is good enough. Among his favourite lines are "nak milk" (want milk), "nak air/eat" (want water/eat), "nak balik umah" (want to go back), "nak main train" (want to play train), "jom main" (let's play) and he also likes saying "eeeeeiii" when he saw gross or nasty things. Although he is still building his vocabulary to talk, he understands some instructions and even what people are talking either in malay or english. He can also now tell us when he is uncomfortable with his diaper or just had a poopoo - helpful info indeed.

Ady surprised me with few of his behaviours and one of them is being pro-active at throwing rubbish into the trash bin. Whenever he sees empty wrapper or anything identified as trash he will pick up and throw it without being asked. He also likes to help cleaning after our cats finish eating their wet food. If he sees the empty plates he will stack and put them on the kitchen counter next to the sink and throws the newspaper into the bin. When he did that for the first time I was really surprised because we never taught him the process. His actions reflected how kids can learn only through observation and therefore as parents, we should be more careful at what we are doing.

In addition to that, Ady is a concern fella. If he heard either of us saying we are in pain he will go into our room, open the drawer, take out bottle of aloe vera gel, bring it to us and even apply the gel with his fingers on our pain area. We always use the aloe vera gel on him if he got bitten by ants or mosquito, which he refers as pain so he replicates that. Again, the power of observation.



Growing up with five cats made our little gem a cat lover too. Among the five, his closest furry friend is Neslo. Neslo is a male cat and the biggest among the five. He is the 'house cat' type. He sleeps with us almost every night and even love squeezing himself in between us when ever we sit on the couch watching tv (he is now sleeping next to me while I'm typing this). Almost every day Ady grabs Neslo and kisses him with a "mmmuaaahhh". He even hug / cuddle the cat, sit on top of him, pinch his face and sometimes pull his tail but Neslo must have love Ady too because he either sit still or run away. Ady never had a single scratch from Neslo.

He still plays with the other four, but the cats sometimes run away from him. One of them, named MiuMiu used to give Ady a lot of scratches until he cried but Ady never stop wanting to play with him. He is always excited when he sees cats anywhere we went to. Actually Ady is not only fond of cats but other animals too. We even had to accompany him to pet shops because he always want to stop and watch the fish, cats, dogs, hamsters and birds. Will definitely bring him to the national zoo one day.

Alhamdulillah since 1 to 2 months back Ady can already count 1 until 10 in english by his own. He still couldn't recite A to Z without guidance but he knows the sequence and able to recite the alphabets together with us or with the song. The positive side of being a YouTube addict made him able to sing and understand few nursery rhymes and also increase his vocabs especially on transportation, because he just love them! Even most of his toys consists of cars, trains, busses, airplanes, trucks and others.

I couldn't wait to see whether Ady would follow my footsteps in the area of art, so when he requested to have a set of colour pencils I got all excited. Bought him a colouring book but I ended up colouring some of the pictures because the little boy only knows how to scribble. Or else he just requested me to draw something and most frequent one is to draw him a bus.

Since Ady is still unable to control his hand with the colour pencils I somehow got an idea to utilise them in a different way. On a printed out sheet with colourful circles, I taught him on colours and put a matching colour pencil to each of the circle. After two days Ady managed to do it by his own and the result is on the picture above.

In order to make him explore his creativity, I have made Ady a homemade play dough out of flour, salt, oil, water and food colouring. It was his first experience playing with dough and guess what, he did not want his hands to be dirty at first. I had to make few shapes and even finger puppets out of the dough before he got interested. That homemade dough didn't last long though and turned yucky on the next day. What a waste. We then bought him a Play Dough instead and he likes playing with it.

Ady is surrounded with people who love him. Not in the picture are his Nenek, Opah, Tok Wan, rest of the aunties, uncles and cousins.

There might be more development progress that I do not share here but on top of all I am glad and happy to see Ady becoming a well behaved boy. He still nags, cries on top of his lung, runs when ever to whereever he wants or says "nanakkkk" (don't want) loudly with a struggle in front of shops he doesn't want to enter, but that is just him being a kid.

We are proud of you, little boy and continue making us proud will ya?

xoxo,
Mama.

:: halal vitamin e makeup remover ::

Makeup remover is a must-have item for frequent makeup users like me as it can ensure cleanliness of the skin. Sometimes I really have to push myself to do the clean up after a long, tiring day so I would prefer an efficient one which can remove the stains as fast as possible to get over with it.

It is worrying to know that our face can age up for more than two days if we sleep with the makeup for one night and you can read HERE and HERE to read about horrifying stories on what sleeping with makeup does to your skin.

My old makeup remover finished just in time before Cosmoderm launched its own range so I was in need of one and got excited to try it. The first thing I noticed about the product is the pleasant smell. Although it contains rosehip oil, the liquid is not oily and best of all, it removes makeup easily just like I want it.

I did took photos of myself before and after but there was not enough lighting so it was hard to see the difference, hence I made a simple simulation using my hand as below:

Direction on the bottle stated the product to be squeezed on facial cotton but it can also be poured directly on hand before massaging it on the makeup area. I always take the opportunity to rub my entire face because not only it helps to remove makeup, foundation or powder, Cosmoderm Vitamin E Makeup Remover also has the ability to reduce oil seed with constant usage.

It can be rinsed off with water but I am so used to washing my face with facial cleanser after the session but magnificently, my skin feels even more soft and moisturised. With its endorsed halal certificate by JAKIM, Cosmoderm Vitamin E Makeup Remover is definitely a keeper!

 

Now selling at only RM13.52 for 100ml

(Np: RM16.90)

 

No need to go anywhere, just click link below to directly purchase from Cosmoderm's website

 http://www.cosmoderm.com.my/?cur=catalog/product&id=1&pid=1&title=Vitamin_E_Make_up_Remover_100ml 

 

 

*keywords: best makeup remover, halal makeup remover review

:: my first camellia ::

Alhamdulillah, one item is crossed off from the bucket list*.

I don't join any MLM business and I'm not a celebrity so this is quite an achievement for an ordinary person like me. 

A gift for all the sweats, joy, tears, screams and satisfactions through out my tenure in TM.

^_^

 

 

*bucket list: a list of things to do before you die.