Shanghai Tang

We were pleasantly surprised with what Shanghai had to offer, to say the least, it is a beautiful city with a lot, and I mean a lot of shopping malls! Every corner and every exit of the metro there's definitely a mall. Ironically with the abundance of shopping malls, I didn't really shopped much, but I did unfortunately indulged in a lot of holiday eating, and to top it off I don't feel the least bit guilty! We had a wonderful time, the weather was a bit chilly towards the evening but we woke up to sunshine every day!

We're Off To Shanghai

We're heading off to Shanghai in a few hours time,

So excited!!

The Bund, here we come!

Xintiandi, we're seeing you for happy hours :)

And, we would like to take this special season to wish each & everyone of our loved ones,

"Blessed Christmas, Happy New Year & Happy Holidays!"

HO! HO! HO!

It's never a splurge!

A lesson learnt is, there is never such thing as a splurge.. when we were in Hong Kong in October Vicky bought me a nice leather jacket which was to die for, it was soft and comfy & smelt heavenly. Ok, at first I thought that it was more of an indulgence but as soon as I realized that we're travelling soon into an icy, cold winter, and in that kind of weather I need not bother of what I have underneath because nobody is gonna see it, but at least on top of it I have my nice, leather jacket that will look great with my boots!

So, there's no such thing a splurge in a girl's vocab, it's more like, I'm sure there will come a time that I'll need it!

Hot Mama Birthday shoutout

A gargantum shoutout to my MIL who turns a young 58 today!

Yay! Happy Birthday, Amma!

We love you, tons ...

Weighty issues

We are officially in December

Christmas is just around the corner and we're stoked!

The tree is finally up, father & daughter tag team surprised me when I came home from work yesterday

Got Hugo his third jab and Jet his annual one, one needle was bigger than the other, take a guess the pooch that got the bigger needle.

And as they got themselves weighed on the Mr Mettler-Toledo, here's the numbers

Jet at 3.4Kg

Huga at 17.4Kg

and Niki in between at 15.3Kg :)

An extra Special Birthday shoutout

Me & Nikita would like to give an extra SUPERSIZED SPECIAL shout out to the main man in our lives, Nikita's Daddy :)

Happy Birthday, Darling! We love you to bits, of course you know that.

And use them vouchers!! ;-)

Final Installation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Fellow potterheads, the time is upon us, the final of the two part finale to the Harry Potter saga. Read in the news that JK Rowling herself, had this to say when asked if this is finally the end ... & she is quoted to have said this, "to never say never", dare we say there's a glimmer of hope that the Potter saga may be continued?

We will see, till then, let us await in anticipation for the Deathly Hallows! Ah, the beginning of the end perhaps, or perhaps not!

Additional note:

We watched it last week, and it was AWESOME!! More than we can ever hope for, it was a visual extravaganza, ah, rapture!!!

Embarassing Statements You Won't Want to Forget!

This shall be filed in as golden nuggets that I would not want to forget! So what better way that to have it here. Embarassing statements made by my Niki, which I would happily recount to her when she's telling me about a celeb crush or something during her tween years!

Niki: Mummy, I love you & daddy so much!
Me: Awww, that's a nice thing to say sweetheart
Niki : I don't want any boyfriends, and I don't ever want to get married, I don't like boys.. and I never want to have babies, they're difficult!
Me : Eeerrrr, ok, darling.
Niki : I'll be with you & daddy forever, and ever.
Me : *smiling to self* Ok, Niki whatever you say, we love you too..

Inundated

FB pic from my school friend, Tengku Putri Muzwita

Being from Alor Setar, I must say the current flood situation has left me reeling from a sense of loss. Though not staying there physically, I feel for the loss faced by Alor Setarians, friends has been calling and telling me about their parent's homes has badly been affected by the flood, many of my friends' families whom are staying in the Taman Golf & Taman Lumba Kuda areas, which are some of the most badly affected residential areas to date.

For those with family members staying in Penang are considered lucky because they have places that they can evacuate to, while the situation subsides, there are others who are not so lucky and has made temporary homes out of shelters and some even converted bus stops into their own temporary shelter.

I can only imagine the sense of loss that they feel, their homes ravaged by flood waters. This devastation has also taken 6 lives as casualty.

And at the same time I am very thankful that the home of my own parents were not affected.

And as I sat in my office today, Shah Alam clouded over and rain fell in huge drops, and I felt a sense of panic, of not knowing what the weather can bring, the laws of nature are against us now, I think it's time we think about the environment more than just a passing thought, we ought to do our bit before it really is too late.

Guilt

We're really full from over-eating, if there's anything the festive season does is encourage over eating, and I am actually quite so full that I made it a point to only eat porridge yesterday, and me & Niki shared a portion.

It's time once again for detox, and I'm embarking on it beginning from tomorrow because I think yummy food actually leaves a whole lot of mess in the insides.

I'm guilty for over-eating, sue me, I do enjoy food too much!

Happy Deepavali everyone!

Happy Deepavali to everyone, may the festival of lights illuminate your life abundantly.

God Bless!

Our bundle of joy!

Our Little Sweetheart is 6!

" Invites"

Poolside party for Niki

Kids get to pack their own party favours, needless to say most of the kids were on a sugar high towards the end of the party

Niki at five

1st November 2004, Nikita entered our life, and that event altered the course of our lives forever, we feel a wee bit sentimental today as she turns six, our baby no longer much of one is turning into a gorgeous young lady and becoming more and more of her own person every passing day.

One day, she may not need us as much as we need her, but that's part of growing up, but I shall cherish what she said to us yesterday that no matter what we will always be her mummy & her daddy. And that is what I will hold on to as I see her grow.

We've got a little surprise party planned for her (Niki doesn't know, we told her no party today coz she's a big girl already, heehee, maybe it will incur some emotional trauma but it's ok, I think she can take a little bit of it until 7pm tonight!)

And yeah we said no cake too, but there's an Aurora Strawberry Vanilla cake in the fridge waiting for her just the way she wanted it, we her parents are master of poker faces, muaahahahaha... :)

Man Must Fish To Live!

catch of the day!

Mantra for all men out there, due to the rapid and constant advancement of things around us, men everywhere is left with a dilemma, are there any good ol' manly activities left to show that they're king of the world, the answer to that question is ... YES, there is.

Fishing!

One day, even before daybreak my man and his Puchong gang went a-fishing, to prove that they rule! And so the gung ho gang took out their rods (ey, what you thinking!), dusted their rods and took it out to the open sea. After many hours a-float a little dingy, they found their bounty, and made sure they took photos of that proud moment in case the wifeys don't believe them :)

Check the size of the two fishies Vicky's holding, they weighed a tonne, but tasted second to none!

Best Mee Goreng in Klang

Where to get the yummeh! Got AC y'know .. don't believe? read e/ signage!

Yummeh!

Ever wondered where the best mee goreng is in Klang?

Were you ever wondering around Tengku Klana and felt the urge for some good ol' mee goreng?

Well here's a nugget for you, we discovered this place a few years back while doing some Deepavali shopping we were pulled into a modest looking shop by the smell of mee goreng, and every year while in Klang, for our annual deepavali shopping we have never failed to eat there.

Give it a go, and you may see yourself going back again, and again like we have!

HUGO

Our new Dobbie pup sounds just like his name..

Here's a pic of Hugo (posterior view heehee), who's just 2.5 months old, and a really loud bark, and is pretty territorial!

Our other dog, Jet is as small & cute as always, but has since become more manly (ahem!) since Hugo came into the picture.

Our New Furry Friend!

Jet's got a new buddy :)

We're happy to announce the arrival of our new furry friend, 2 month old Hugo.

Hugo is a black Dobermann, he's still pretty much a pup and have is a BIG baby.

We'll get a photo or a video in here soon!

Our Photos of Hong Kong & Macau

Here's our pix collages for y'all to enjoy!

We had a grand time, can see from our smiles, right... and yeah we had "bak pow" cheeks to boot, from eating indiscriminately throughout the whole holiday, it was food, food, and more food! We were a happy lot!

Honey made pasta from scratch!

It was last weekend, and we were too lazy to get out of the house, even for food.

And in this kind of situation I'm just hopeless, so turned to honey who said that he would whip up from whatever we had at home, which to me was close to nothing since we have yet to do our groceries shopping.

He shooed me out of the kitchen coz, well I wasn't much help and set to work...

And the result * ta da* spaghetti carbonara with garden salad, oh I feel so envious, but it tasted so good!! Still envious though ...

Jet may get a new buddy

We are expanding our furry family, Jet may get a new buddy, watch this space for further development!

What a trip!

We had a blast in HK & Macau! And as in all holidays it was over too soon!

It was absolutely awesome and the weather oh gosh was perfect, all autumny & the breeze was light and cool.

I was hoping for a bit more of summer throw-out sale but every mall was on the fall/winter 2010 collection and all, which means nothing suitable for our malaysian weather! Oh well, less shopping time just meant more eating time and we were very happy hunting for our "chow tou fu" at Temple St. :)

HK Disneyland was great! We loved it, it truly, truly was a magical place, and some comments made were it was a tad small, to us it was not small at all & just right for a full day out. Though Niki was tickled that everything was in Cantonese, Mickey & Minnie spoke in Cantonese as well as street performers and such, well thank goodness mummy was a great translator! Niki was star struck when she met both Belle and Sleeping Beauty and got to hug them, and had a dreamy look on her face after both princesses planted a peck on both her cheeks, it was cute to see!

Lots of photos of course but not enough coz we were much too busy having fun!

Till the photos get loaded here, have a magical day everyone!

Hong Kong, here we come!

Packing light (hopefully!) --bringing with us, lots of bag space & a good appetite & yeah flip flops to pound the pavement good!

We're flying off soon, everyone's excited!

Siew ngor fan & lai char, we see you soon, eh!

A day out with Niki

Today the 1st day of October, so thought it would be fun to renew mine as well as Niki's passport since it is 011010, sort of a bad idea when we saw that maybe other people were having the same thought as I were, and so when we arrived at 10:15am @ the PKNS office, it was full to the brim with people, *shock* *horror* but since we were already there and Niki "ponteng" her kindy for today, we barrelled through!

What was supposed to be a less than 2hr process as advertised by the Immigration office themselves turned into a 3.5 hour ordeal, and brrrrhhhh... the ac at the office was amazingly cold even when I wore layered casuals today, me and Niki huddled together to keep warm while waiting and when you're cold you get hungry too, and I did not pack snacks thinking that it was going to be an in and out process.

Since we were subjected to such a rough morning, what better way than to pamper ourselves to a pedi & mani, so that's what we did, I called up to Rubes and half an hour later we were getting our treatment, it was bliss!

And now today with our new passports are our new, brightly coloured nails!

And now I reveal...

Honey finally lent his expertise into our blog, finally, finally, we're almost done with niki blog 2.0! There's still abit of kinks here and there but we're getting there. We truly hope you like the new look of our blog and that you have a swell time visiting.

And now back to construction!

C'ya!

What I Am with Will.I.Am

look who's rubbing shoulders with ernie! me & Niki have listened to it countless times now. and it's just too, too cute have a listen here . who can resist sesame street characters grooving with a super star? love it.

image via sesamestreet.org

Ai Sei Man!

I've been doing some changes to my blog and it's not going so well, I need to do alot of construction and the one with the IT degree (nudge, nudge, honey, you're e/ IT whiz!!) is not helping!! Hmmmpphhh!

So be patient ya, as I iron out the kinks!

C'ya ... off to do mummy duties!

You can take the girl out of the kampung, but never the kampung out of the girl!

Lots of time I can't comprehend my obsession with a certain food, and the food is assam laksa, an old school mate and I actually has a fb conversation over it, which lasted several posts. Even now as I am writing guess what is on my mind, I'm feeling a bit peckish, and it's nearly lunch, can I convince Vicky to eat with me later?

Suffice to say that you can take the girl out of the kampung but never the kampung out of the girl!

On a totally unrelated note/post.

Last weekend, we took Niki to KL, actually I think this is only like the 2nd time we took her to the city. In her mind she thinks that KL is like another state or something, which is geographically correct in actual fact.

So we booked a night's stay in the Concorde, and showed Niki around town, we took her to KLCC, the KL Tower, went around Bukit Bintang, it was so much fun! And I must say the newly refurbished Concorde is really not bad, and the breakfast spread was excellent -- they had nyonya laksa too :) (we are Malaysian, food will always be important, we are very comfortable with this fact!)

However, we found that the roads were in need of a bit of repair, and not fun at all when walking in a pair of platform espadrilles! Do something about it DBKL, afterall it's the city centre and tourists walk it!

Our would be graduate

Two days ago in Niki's Comm book, there was a note from the school that today they'll be having a photo session for this year's graduates in their robes. Students would have to be in school bright and early, per usual for Niki's kindy.

I sent her to school as usual and lo & behold there were a lot of parents there probably feeling the same thing I am, of anticipation and excitement of seeing our offspring in the graduation robes, and so as Teacher Wang suited them up we parents were peeking through the doors and the windows and snapping photos.

There was a sense of parental pride in the air, some parents came armed with cameras that looked like paparazzi types, you know those super duper looking ones with long lenses and built in what not that could even capture a fly in moon, and then there's me armed with my trusty camera phone. Hhhmmpphh, mine takes nice photos too, people!

Anyways back on track, so as Niki's class piled into a line to head over to the school field where chairs were already lined up for the smaller kids to sit, guess who's sitting for sure. While the taller kids stand at the back row. All of children looks so excited, I am too, Niki will soon be completing her four year pre school course :)

Obsession

Niki : Daddy, I like the Lotus, wanna buy it? Please get one

Daddy: I think we need to ask mummy what she thinks.

Niki: I already know what she's going to say, she's going to say "no"

Daddy: Then we better come up with a plan how to get her to say "yes"

Niki: Ok, agreed!

Daddy: Check out the car Niki, do you like it?

Niki: Yes, of course, we can roll down the window and we can get the wind in our face & hair! and Daddy, there's only two seats, poor thing Mummy can't join us!

Daddy: Ya lor.

Mummy: *fumes*

Niki and her father are both car enthusiasts, mummy not so much.

Surprisingly enough Niki and her dad agrees on a lot of things when it comes to fast cars, and has several times tried to strong arm me into agreeing with them that a sports car would look nice in our porch, to which mummy thinks *what??!!??*

Anyways they are still cute when we took a detour to a showroom in PJ for a look-see, can you see them beaming at the car?

To Chinese or Too Chinese

Writing exercises

And so school is out, and I am porting my daughter to office with me, the working mum dilemma so to speak,.

Anyways that's got nothing to do with my post for today, as to pick up where I left off about sending Niki to a private school instead of public school, and so as most of you know she's now heading to a private school come January 2011 for her Primary 1. But one of the criteria her dad and I have is that Mandarin must be a compulsory subject, since she's progressing very well in her chinese medium kindy right now.

It's a "I told you so" and "I should have know better then" situation but it's never too late, I had the opportunity to take up Mandarin during my primary school days but I wasn't serious and instead loads of time I just scrapped through the exam. I didn't care and look where it has gotten me now, I'm a "banana" and it's not something I'm proud of. And so, I feel it's important that Niki takes her Mandarin language classes seriously and I'm proud to say the she's much better a student than I, must have taken after her father in terms of seeing things through, which I thank God for every day!

To us, Mandarin is not only an additional universal language but it teaches the young ones about discipline, consistency, accuracy and diligence, all these are good qualities to be instilled, and even is the usual gripe is "wah, so much homework" ... and this sentence is usually uttered to herself in her thoughts by your truly, never my little one.

Even now for homework she's got another 4 pages to write, and ten words to learn for her spelling, she takes it all in stride. That's why even when she's in Primary 1 we want her to continue with her Mandarin studies.

To us, it's To Chinese, and never Too Chinese.

What a Gem!

on arrival

our villa & the view from it

Vicky, Niki & my in laws

blissful evenings

Niki, soon turning 6!

We had the most wonderful time during our short break to Terengganu last weekend.

First off, Terengganu is overall beautiful, the people there are also pretty warm as was the weather, which made it a perfect beach holiday. On the downside, all of us are at least 4 shades darker than before, and well Niki is hardly recognizable.

Our flight out was super early, and we arrived on the island by 9:15am! Thank goodness our villas were ready, and we were able to check in immediately after gulping down our welcome drinks.

By 9:50am we were already in the water snorkelling, for Niki they had kiddy gear, so she could snorkel too, and apparently saw a clown fish amongst the many, many types of fishies we saw.

The resort which is privately owned had only very few chalets making it really private and not too popular as in the case of Redang.

Gem is actually known as Pulau Gemia, and we could just as easily canoe over to Pulau Kapas, which we did, and we managed to snog (minus Niki & my in laws, of course!) and snorkel there as well :)

And the corals were alive! One night Niki & Vicky even guided a sesat hermit crab back to the sea.

The lushness of the place was breathtaking, it was so unspoilt, so natural and sea smelt salty & the sand was powdery and fine.

We already miss it, and hopefully not too long from now, we can go back again.

To Gem Island we go

This Friday.

An island off the east coast.

Snorkelling.

Coral.

Hatchlings.

a beach hat, a book and iced tea.

Serenity.

Bliss!

How Do You DO It?

I actually like "how-to" articles.
Women folk are a curious bunch, eh?
Anyways for similar like minded women, here's one I read recently by the below author.

HOW-TO BUY OR SELL A HOME
by susan of persimmonandpink.com

I'm only a second time home buyer and at the moment quite content with our current property. However, I have a love of following the housing market as well as watching shows regarding selling and buying homes. Nerd that I am, I find the thrill of the sell and the hunt exciting! (Tell me I'm not alone?)

Here are a few tips I've taken while watching many episodes of house hunting and selling shows. They've helped change my perspective on updates and remodels we do on our own home, as well as looking at potential homes from a different perspective. Here they are:

BUYING & SELLING
• Buy the worst house on the best street to stretch your dollar and get into an area you desire.
• Make sure your renovations are new and fresh before putting your home on the market.
• Treat each house as an investment property and you as the tenant to look after it.
• Your investment property might not always be in the place you want to live forever.
• Buy close to a city center or close to where people work—there will always be a demand for housing.
• You must invest in renovations.
• Buy near an area you desire. Demand for that area will drive up prices in outlying neighborhoods.
• When selling your home know your competition. Follow the market in your area and know what similar houses are selling for. Be realistic when setting the price of your home. Better to attract many buyers with a competitive price and sell quickly than lose potential buyers and later have to lower the listing price anyway.
• Think 3-5 years ahead. Thats how long it takes for suburbs and trends to change.
• Shop in areas with potential, even if they are not already established.
• When buying a home, be prepared with a list of what you will and will not compromise on. Sometimes location will have to give, other times its house size/quality. Its almost impossible to get perfect location and the perfect house for your budget so know which one you are willing to compromise on.
• Take emotion out of it.

Aren't you fired up to sell and/or buy a house now?! Do you have any good tips to add?

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden

Nearly Six

Niki wants to be an artist when she grows up.
Type of artist? TBA
My not so baby anymore baby, is turning six soon.
A lot of people asks me why not add to the brood?
Why add, when we are contented with what we already have.
It's not the quantity but the quality, people.
That said, I am already struggling with the challenges being thrown at me.
And with a little girl who won't be little for long.
One step at a time, eh? One step at a time.
Till then I'll enjoy my little girl who's by her piano playing Heart&Soul for my listening pleasure as I write this.

Collages of Sarawak

last day in town

scenes of Kampung Giam

can you say sarawak laksa and kolok mee?

seafood makes great dinners

us

walking all over town

Life in a Bidayuh Village

Most times I consider myself a city girl. Other times, not so much. Afterall I am from a small town up north.

Recently my family and I were blessed with the opportunity to just live simply. I must admit I myself was a bit apprehensive with the prospect, I simply can't get rid of the creature of comfort in me. I'm not sure if I can live simply as much as I want too, I found that I enjoy all the trappings of modern city life, such the AC, warm showers, warm soaks in the bath with a good book in hand, and till a certain extent carpet flooring & hairdryers! But there is also a part of me that craves simplicity.

Sometimes we really need to strip away the unnecessary add-ons in life and live simply.

And I guess, that’s what I felt when we headed down to Kuching recently for a Bidayuh holiday. We were warmly welcomed by Phyllis and her family. Phyllis is Vicky's second cousin's wife actually and after years & years of city living, they uprooted their family and went back to her hometown of Kuching. Phyllis then started her own homestay business in her village, known as Kampung Giam in the Penrissen area.

It makes me reassess what I need in order to survive. It makes me realise what I CAN and CANNOT live without. It makes me choose. And cull.And I realised that indeed I can live without a lot of things!

I found that living in a Bidayuh village; with less makes me focus on nature, and its pleasures.

There’s just something intoxicating about waking up at sunrise and breathing in the morning air, our bedroom window overlooked a beautiful mountain. It is heavy, dewy, cold, and rich with the smells of wet wood, damp earth and grass. Surrounded by lush trees and the cocophony of birds and inserts it was indeed a piece of heaven on earth.

Short of a better word, the nature retreat was simply amazing.

I now believe that living simply brings about a certain kind of happiness and contentment.

We should really do it more often.

And I should at least try a little harder to bring some of that contented simplicity back into my normal life. Sometimes we forget, no?

Last but not at all least I would like to thank Phyllis and her family for making us the most amazing meals, and sharing with us their life for a few days, and your warm hospitality was awesome.

Land of The Hornbills

Our Sarawak trip was one for the books, I'll post it all up soon, photos and all! Just came home from a four day, three night nature retreat .. Just know that it was such a great experience, and this from a self-professed "not at all a nature person" .. !! So Much Fun!

Kuching here we come!

yummers
city of cats

This morning Niki told me this "Mummy, yay two more days of school!" She's pretty excited with our forthcoming trip to Kuching because poor girl hasn't been on one single getaway this year.

This Thursday, we're heading down to Kuching with Siva & his family, my in laws, and Vicky's cousins and their respective family, too. Told Niki it's gonna be a nature holiday, I don't think she would know what to expect until we get there :) and the little girl has never swam in a river before ... and that is all set to change this weekend. I'm not sure how my city slicker of a daughter will fare in the great outdoors, well we have to wait & see, ey. So watch this space for future posts.

However, before we head down to Kampung Giam, we're staying the night over in Kuching town first, and we booked ourselves into a boutique hotel, right in the middle of town, so that we can explore Kuching and well eat their famous Sarawak Laksa, and Sarawak Kan Pua noodle. It's always eats over everything else with us.

Two more days .... :)