Thursday, December 18, 2014

AMS



In Amsterdam now! Will blog more soon when WiFi is steady and predictable. In the meantime, I shall eat more waffles and discover more of what this lovely city has to offer!

xxxx

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

December 2014 Favourites



SO it's December 7th already! So fast time has gone, before I know it I'll be 22 (that's January 19th guys, just to refresh your memory hehe) and man, this year was good. But I'll save that for my end of year post later this month!

I've been drowning with work load this past month - just one after another! Soooo tired and really just looking forward for my holidays!!!! Counting down the days now!

Music

Beyoncé's 'Ring Off'. I can listen to this song ALL DAY. She literally wrote it for her mum who went through a divorce and how she got back up again after, yes, taking her ring off. It's about how there's freedom after finally moving on. I love it I love it I love it, it's been on repeat on my Spotify.

"Dust yourself off and you love again" is my favourite line from the song because it's so simple yet so strong. I was talking to a friend who had long broken up with her last boyfriend and although she's completely okay with everything, she said that when she met him the other day and even though they spoke like normal and assumed everything was fine between them, she did come home and she did cry. I think a little bit of our hearts will always be for that someone, regardless of how long it's been since you've broken up or been apart. So that's why I say that line was my favourite. She's saying that there will be a time where we love again. Haih, girls. Why are we so damn emotional all the damn time?!?!?!?!?!

There was also a nice snippet of Tina Knowles' (her mum) speech at the end of the song,

"If you're going through it, just know it's called going "THROUGH" it. You're not going to get stuck there. You're gon' survive."

And Sam Smith's 'Make It To Me'. I don't know how and why I've not listened to this song any earlier; it was on the 'In The Lonely Hour' album and I had that on repeat my entire summer in KL so I don't know how I've managed to miss this song completely. But it's a beautiful tune and Sam Smith is unquestionably one of the best voices today. Really hope I get to go for his concert in March!!!

Movies

Interstellar definitely lived up to the hype. It was pretty spectacular. More than anything though, I left the cinema feeling pretty damn small. Tiny. Minute. I was just in absolute awe the whole time and I was thoroughly entertained the whole entire 169 minutes (yeah googled that) and man, the movie was so out of this world (hehe)! If you've not watched, treat yourself to a bloody good movie and go watch! It's also very very emotional and I teared up like 3 times. Prepare to watch fantastic cinematography and bloody ace acting! Brillzzzzzzzzzz and that really is all to it!

(I won't write on TV shows because they've all gone on hiatus and I figured I was going to be speaking on the SAME shows every month lol)

Fashion x Shopping

I have a minor obsession with turtlenecks. Yeah. Turtlenecks. Oversized, chunky turtlenecks. So if you go on my Tumblr, you'd see my many many reblogs on turtlenecks and how these ladies style it. So effortless.

I've always been a huge fan of minimalist style ; everything from home decor, architecture, dressing, everything. My pops is an architect and his way of architecture is very simple and very minimalist and he doesn't believe in colour basically hahaha I've always loved that since I was young so I grew up appreciating simple and understated art.










(Got this all from my Tumblr)


I mean, c'mon! Even by looking at the turtlenecks is making me all cozy and comfortable hahaha

It's so difficult though to find a decent one that isn't going to break my bank! Geez. I remember seeing them everywhere I went and the one good time I want one for myself, they aren't any around. But the colour palette for the photos above are my absolute EVERYTHING! I live for a white on white outfit and but I'm such a clutz so I can only do white on white if I don't i) eat ii) drink iii) move.

Tumblr

Been on a flower frenzy lately and have I told you the story of how my mum can count the exact number of times my dad has given her flowers?

4.

For every child she gave birth to.

And every time, my dad chose the flowers and they all weren't the typical roses. There weren't just roses or the other bouquets that were all tied and ready to be bought. He chose them and there were uncommon and wild flowers and each flower different from the other. I can totally imagine my dad at the florist being incredibly picky with his flowers - he is an architect, after all. I think that was incredibly romantic. That each flower he chose on his own because psh, what are roses anymore if not prickly little things. I mean, they are beautiful but I choose beautiful and rare flowers any day any time!

So I've gone a bit cuckoo with flowers on Tumblr and I'm just so in love.





_____

I've been super busy with work and I'm only blogging this now because I just finished half of my assignments last night so my burden has been halved so I can breathe a little now. I was supposed to go to the city today to get moisturiser for my face because I've completely run out but woke up super late and I was supposed to Skype my parents but they're not answerin' so I'm still at home and it's a bit too late now since shops close early.

School officially finishes Thursday and I'm allllllll freeeeeee for this semester!!!! So excited for my winter break and to see my mates from all over UK again!

Everyone's been crazy occupied with work and it's made us all realise second year is no joke so I'm glad Christmas break is around the corner; giving all of us a bit of time to recuperate and breathe.

xx

(Edit : So my mum just told me that my dad used to give her flowers a lot more than 4 times........ haih ok still cute) 

Monday, December 1, 2014

Bath Spa

Yesterday, I spent the whole day in my room as the sun shined through my windows and everyone was out and about. And I was in bed the whole day because I look at my weekends as my guilt-free relax time.

And I had an epiphany - I'm in the freakin' UK. My dream from since I was 7 when my mum would tell me of her uni stories abroad. It's been my dream since forever and I was annoyed at my own self that I've been indoors. So I decided - a daytrip to Bath. Bath is so near to Bristol - just about half an hour with train (and for only a fiver!) and I have Puchee and Syir there so there really was no excuse to not go. 

So I did! And I'm quite glad I did because I loooooooove Bath. It's absolutely beautiful and it's so old and so precious. It's such a small city but I love it. It's so intimate and cosy. They had small cute cafe's and I just loved it. The last time I went it was a bit warmer and the park was gorgeous but nevertheless, Bath is such a precious city and I foresee more daytrip visits!

Reached and walked around the city for a bit while I wait for Puchers to come. Waited for Syir before settling in at a Thai restaurant. I was looking forward to have hot and spicy and masam tom yam but alas, it wasn't spicy nor masam. It was okay, I guess but makes me miss Chieng Mai's tom yam.

Then we walked around and went to the Christmas Market. They had so many stalls and it was scattered all over! Made Bristols' look so tiny and boring hahaha but it had a lot more stalls selling THINGS and for a whole line of stalls, they only had one that sold drinks/food and most of it were sausages and mulled wine. Couldn't find hot chocolate nor waffles anywhere (actually there was one but they sold out of waffles...... what). And it was getting cold and I'm such a minah confident because I didn't bring my scarf nor wear boots so I was so sejuk and was in dire need of a hot drink. Found and sat in a cute cafe called Mad Hatter's Tea Party and we all had our hot chocolates and laughed and talked and laughed some more. Was soooo nice to have a girly girl conversation over hot chocolate. 

Planning to head over to Cardiff for another day trip next Saturday with Puchers. And before you know it, Marissa and I will be on our way to Amsterdam and Berlin!! Eeeeeep so excited for our travel ventures! Expect a hashtag on Twitter/Instagram hahahahaha 


(Syir is OBVIOUSLY obsessed over me)







(Minah confident pakai flats and no scarf)


Thank you Puch and Syir for bringing me around! #visitBath2014 

xx 

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Löbster Rôll

My last weekend in London was amazeballs because I got to satisfy so much of my food cravings!! I spend a bomb on just food lah seriously. Because I hardly go out in Bristol so I'd like to think I save my money here.... to only blow it on good food in London. But as Drake would say, "YOLO!"


This was actually the week of the AKYUEM Reunion when we got our Wafflemeister fix. If you've been to the one in KLCC and didn't like it, totes understandable. But it's so different here and it's so much more sedap. Maybe cause it's cold and a hot class waffle cannot ever go wrong... EVER! 


Last Summer when Tania was in London, my aunt treated us for lobster noodle and my God, was it good! So I just randomly suggested Mandarin Kitchen for lunch one day and we all went. SO GOOD, GUYS!!!!! After I tweeted this photo, it just went on a upward spiral and soon after everyone was eating lobster hahaha can't wait to go again with the rest of the gang in December. 



... and I wanted waffles after lobster noodle so we walked to Snowflake. Their gelatos, man. 


Went to Tok Aa's place the next morning to meet up with my cousins and aunty and uncle and I was greeted with warm hugs and NASI LEMAK! Yes, guys. That's the roast duck from Noodle Oodle. Yummers, man! Misha took a photo of me and sent it to my mum and my mum replied with a, 

"She must be on her second helping by now kan?"

This is why my mum is my bestfriend because when she replied that, I was actually on my 2nd helping lolllllz how can you not with all that food!!!! 


And on my last night in London, Diy and I finally went for the very very hyped Burger & Lobster. That was my first time after hearing so much of it from everyone! It was good of course because it's lobster but after a while it got a bit jelak. But I was thoroughly kenyang after that so it was a good dinner. If you've not tried it then you totally still should! I had the lobster role as recommended by Diy so it's basically lobster stuffed in a brioche with fries and salad. OBVIOUSLY I ate the salad.... like one leaf and the croutons in it and then I just handed it all over to Diy. 


We also went for GBK and Khan's so that was a seriously fulfilling weekend food-wise. 

And when I thought I had it good here, my cousin sent a photo of Mak Tok's cooking in Penang............





......... BRB CRYING IN MY CORNER bye


xx

(kidding, guys. Still very thankful for all the food I have here but very hard to not want daging kurma, udang kunyit and kari ayam from home ok!)

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Oversleeping

Here's a not so funny story that happened to me, come come let me share the story of my misfortune with you.

So I was on my way back from London to Bristol, this was at 10:40pm. In my carriage, there were only like, 4 other people besides me.

Before Bristol, there are 3 stops ; Reading, Didcot Parkway and Swindon. I slept in between those stops but I managed to wake up for every single stop because I ***thought*** I was sleeping lightly.

Guess not, huh?

I was so confident when we were at Swindon and I thought I'm just going to close my eyes for just a few minutes and the next thing I know, I'll be back in Bristol.

I was supposed to reach Bristol by 12:45 and when I woke up it was 12:50. And at first I panicked but then I remembered the train had delayed for 10 minutes so technically we shouldn't arrive Bristol yet, right?

Nope.

And Azam had texted me throughout and his last text was,

"You should be back in Bristol now right? Right?"

In my head I was like, "Err... I'm not?"

And the next thing I knew, the announcement went something like,

"The next stop will be Newport".

What.

What the hell?!?!?!?!?!

I quickly opened my Google Maps just to make sure that there wasn't a stop between Swindon and Bristol and my heart SUNK when I saw that we had long passed Bristol.

I freaked the f- out!

I went up to the guy infront of me and asked him kindly without letting him know that I was obviously freaking the hell out.

"Excuse me, what's the next stop?"

"Cardiff"

......


I called Sarah immediately and told her I was on my way to Cardiff and I'm going to need a place to bunk in for the night and thank God she wasn't already asleep! And thank God I had her there! What if I had missed Cardiff as well and ended up in Swansea!?!?!?!?! Who was I supposed to call then!??!?! Gila. I can't even imagine!!

I took the 10 am train the next day back to Bristol and you BET I didn't fall asleep. I was wide-eyed awake the whole time hahahah

Lessons learnt : 

i. Don't sleep on the train. Keep yourself occupied with anything!
ii. Put your alarm on anyway if you do decide to take a nap.
iii. Make friends anywhere and everywhere. You never know when you need to bunk in their place on a cold winters night when you make a stupid mistake like oversleeping and missing your stop.

xx

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Syazwan's Surprise Birthday x AKYUEM Reunion

Last weekend was super fun - the most fun I had in ages! Started the weekend with having friends over to Bristol and I took them places....... ok so places would just include lunch at Zaza's Bazaar and then we aimlessly walked to find 'coloured houses' because apparently that was what Bristol is known for. Yeah, so we walked here and there because Nens was super determined to find these 'coloured houses'. We did find some houses that were coloured but they were depressing and did not look like anything like how they were pictured on the magnet that Nens got for herself and so we just took obligatory photos and left for the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

It was already super dark and cold and windy so we were at the bridge for just a little bit - Bristol is pretty beautiful at night and when all the lights were lit.


(with Syir, Nens and Fazmir!)





Left for London with Fazmir along at 1pm the next day and settled down at Diy's place before leaving again for Syazwan's surprise do. Met up with Azam because it was a potluck thing so seeing how we were traveling from Bristol, we didn't bring anything along from home (not that I was going to cook up anything but y'know) so we settled for Tinseltown's chicken wings. Didn't get to try them because everyone else brought other things so I was busy eating that lol

But the surprise was a success, nevertheless! It was so nice meeting everyone again! I miss dinner parties like how we would do in KL. It's a bit more difficult to gather everyone as 2nd year becomes more and more hectic so when we do meet up, it's really fun.

So many people who aren't KY think we can be a bit too overwhelming 'cause we are constantly around each other but what can I say, man, that's what 2 years of literally living with each other does to you. From morning to nights, we are constantly around each other and for those 2 years we were each other's family so it's only natural for us to graduate and have that same tight bond. #sorrytaksorry

We played Heads Up (and we separated into Boys v Girls so it was even more kecoh and intense) and Mafia which was EVEN more intense because if you've played the game, it's basically just blaming and betraying each other hahaha but was so funny and fun and kinda wanted to play it the whole night.







So difficult to see Pana around 'cause she's a hermit like me and we hardly go out and we're always too lazy to make an effort and we still complain that we don't meet enough new people hahahah



One with the ladies! 




That night was seriously gila fun because I've not laughed so much in ages so it was such a good stress reliever and very much needed after a month of constant work! 

The next day was our AKYUEM Reunion - our very first one! Told this to my brother the other day and he said 

"... Reunion ? Don't you guys meet up every time anyway ?"

... yeah well ok he got a point

It was great fun despite the late start but it was nice to meet everyone again like how we would for a KY event in the Great Hall. We even took photos by Houses and batch and just like how kecoh it was in the great hall, it was just as kecoh in London! Makes me miss KY more, really. The friends I gained from that place > anything else.




Garnet!!! 


(with Miss Kecoh #1 and Miss Kecoh #2)


1/2 of my fav Diyana's ever. 


L54 was like my second home in KY next to my own. 




Batch 14.0 





With my Garnet juniors whom I love loads and they're really cute lah

 


Missing Amal, Kanda and Marissa especially because my KY experience had a lot a lot to do with them also so I missed them a lot during the reunion because I know they wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world! 


xx

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Okay

It's completely normal to feel down in the dumps and feeling like you're in a rut.

There will be days where you don't feel like doing anything and there will be nights where you just can't sleep because you're thinking about way too many things for way too long.

There's no cure, really. There's no real concrete solution to stop the way we're feeling. We want it to stop, obviously but there's nothing we can do.

Feelings are feelings; they're inevitable.

"Why must this happen to me?"

There must be a reason. You just have to know that everything happens for a reason. People come into your life for a reason so it's just as well that they leave for a reason too.

It hurts. Really really hurt. The kind of hurt that you didn't think you'd experience. The kind of hurt that you'd think you'd get used to after some time.

Truth is, you don't.

You won't get used to it. No matter how much you build a fort for yourself. No matter how much you put your guard up. No matter how much you think you're okay.

You bring yourself to that place in your mind and in your heart, and you're back to square one before you even know it.

And then the tears well up.

"It'll pass" you say to yourself. Almost like a mantra. Like a broken record.

But it hasn't and you fear that it won't for a long time.

The only form of comfort is knowing that this is a phase. You have to know it's a phase. It has to be a phase. This can't go on forever.

"You have to have faith that you'll get over it." - this is what I tell my friends all the time whenever they cry to me or tell me things that have upset them or made them sad.

But it's way easier said than done.

You don't just get over things just like that. Especially not when you've invested in your feelings and time and effort for something and for someone.

It's going to take time, so all I can really say is to you, my friend, is to endure it and hold it out for as long as you can. It's going to be a tough one and you're going to still text me late night asking what to do and pour your heart out to me and you'll ask for my advice and I can tell you everything you want to hear but ultimately, it is up to you.

You have to move on at your own pace. So if it's going to take another 2 weeks or another 2 years, let it be. The problem is when you rush into it. When you are so quick to tell yourself to get up and get out of this rut. You're forcing yourself to be good and do good. It's ego. Your ego is telling you you're better than this and you should quit feeling so low. But shut that ego up and listen to yourself. You're hurt. You're sad. Do that first instead of being coerced into being something and someone you're not at that specific moment. Take it one by one. Don't just snap yourself out of it. You can't. It's difficult.

It's going to hurt. You're going to be sad. You're going to immerse yourself in a pit of self-pity. You're going to drown yourself in a pool of "Why?"'s. You're going to cry when you think too much into it. You're going to be lonely. You're going to feel empty.

And that's okay.

You just have to have faith that there will be a day when you wake up one day and you realise that you're better. You're better and you're finally okay.

That day will come. You just have to believe it will. So I'm not going to tell you to cheer up now and to be okay now.

I'm going to tell you to take your time.

Take your time to be okay, you will get there soon enough.

xx

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Box of Lies



This is me attempting to colour my hair all on by my own effort. I was like,

"Right, no big deal, just mix that into that, shake it, and put on your gloves and just lather it all over your hair, psh why do we pay so much for this at the salon?"

Guys.

I didn't even sempat to put the gloves on and I already tertumpah some of the colour cream. The klutz in me never fails to show up at times like these. Thank God I had the logical sense in me to lay the floor with newspaper.

And the universe was telling me I was going to be in a right big mess if I was going to do on my own. And just as I was about to start, my housemates came in to ask about something and when they saw what I was doing, I just succumbed and asked them nicely if they could do my hair for me hihi

So they did! 

I just had to goyang kaki and refresh Instagram and contemplate whether cooking and eating fries at 10:30 is a good idea or not...

As usual, hair colour didn't look like how it was depicted on the box. It never does! I'm too scared to get anything too light because I kinda don't wanna be blonde or anything like that. So I just went with "light golden brown'.


DON'T EVEN LOOK LIGHT NOR GOLDEN.




My weekend officially starts tomorrow after 1pm and I can't wait. I'm super determined to have a great weekend because the past few ones were quite disappointing. I can't wait to see my favourite friends and to genuinely have many many many hearty laughs and good food.

(I'm currently seriously seriously considering having some french fries [who are we all kidding? Of course I'm going to fry them???] and I'm having such good feels from listening to old Babyface songs 'cause they remind me of my parents so much!)

xx