Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Quick Chats #3

It's such a drag to shower but trust me, once I get in the shower, I'm there for like 45 minutes (while still conserving water the best I can, don't worry!). So I'm trying to delay my shower because once I do, I'll probably not blog at all.

I'm skipping dinner tonight because I had a heavy breakfast - nasi lemak with paru. And I freaking love myself some paru. For lunch, I had a massive bowl of ramyeon and I still am so full from those two so I'm giving my stomach a break and not have anything for dinner. So close to getting myself some fries just now but I had to refrain because!!! Tomorrow I'm going to get myself that nasi lemak again hahaha

I haven't updated my diary in ages because it was on my bedside table and the past 2 weeks, I was sleeping (and living) in my parents room while they were away. And I'm tiny bit scared to start writing again because I don't know what I would've remembered and what I've forgotten. I'll get the days all wrong and so is there any purpose to a diary if I can't remember the days and what I did?? Stress.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the gym with Sarah. And this was a spur of the moment "Jom Sarah, let's start enrolling to a gym" on a random mamak night and Sarah is a woman of promise and half of me wanted her to forget I ever proposed the idea to her but half of me is glad she remembers. Now, I kinda have to go. And only now I'm scrambling to find appropriate gym clothes. Thank God I still have one (!!! ONE!!!) from the time I tried to gym in KY but never worked out after that hahahaha

Anyway! My parents are home and so is my brother!!!! He hasn't been back in 2 years! I'm so excited and so, so happy to have him back and to have the house full again. Remember the days where I used to be alone at home and there'd be days that go by where I don't even see my own parents?? Now the house is noisy and lively though half of us are still jet-lagged haha.

They arrived KL last night but I was just so tired from work that I slept pretty early. Next thing I knew it was morning and my sisters had posted 'Welcome home!' videos of my brother on Instagram. And my mum posted a photo of my sisters and Zaim. We even got him a big, obnoxious balloon that says "Congrats, Zaim! What a nerd..." hahahaha because we just thought it was funny and appropriate (he'd always thought he was too cool to be a nerd... he ain't!). Apologies but I'm about to brag and praise my kid brother for graduating with first class honours!!!!!!! What a smart cookie! I mean, I've always known he was very smart but I mean!!! It ain't easy getting first class and he worked really hard to get it so I'm so happy and so proud that he managed to get that award. 

How the hell did he manage to survive flights with wearing just shorts? Aren't flights cold as January winter????

Ok bye, need to shower, put on a face mask, start filling in my diary and then find gym shoes...

... sigh, wish me luck!

xx

Monday, July 17, 2017

Quick Snaps #3

It's Sunday night and I'm all showered and full from my Samyang noodles (always a regret but it's just so sedap!). Parents and Zaim are coming back from the UK tomorrow insyaAllah so this would be my last night sleeping over at my parent's room. Boohoo. Who else thinks their parents room are the best???

Sucks that tomorrow is Monday already but I had a great weekend! Yesterday was spent with friends - went to Anis' place for her open house and I met people I haven't in SO long. So it was a really nice catch up and listening to how everyone's embracing adult life was quite fun. Working in banks, working in government bodies, working in construction companies, and then you have lil' ol' me working in fashion. I kinda like how a lot of my guy friends are all familiar with Nelissa Hilman hahaha. Also helps that I wear my NH flats everywhere I go!

Some photos to fill you in on what I've been doing these past 2 weeks.

My crazy friend and I at H&M near our workplace. We always unintentionally match and she's always rolling her eyes at me. Our birthdays are a day apart which is why I think we hit on so well.

My granny sunglasses made a debut! 

Tried out that chicken wings place at Curve. Wingstop was it called? Not too sure now but it was pretty good though the one they claimed to be the 'spiciest' isn't really that spicy. Not as good as 4 Fingers though.

Err sorry but I love Snow (an app similar to Snapchat but like with a million filters).. 

This was SUCH a great idea. Went to Sharul's place for an open house the other day. Uncle Jeff came up with a pretty smart and innovative way to make the giving out duit raya part fun. A lot of people got 50s and 100s but there were also some few unlucky ones who only got a ringgit which was pretty funny. But it was all part of the fun. Just a really cool spin of the traditional duit raya fun.

Misha and I wore matching baju raya! Even down to our shoes (ahem those are the Tessa's by Nelissa).


For most of the week, Tania and I only had each other so we'd usually go out for dinner after I come home from work. This was at a place nearby our house where we had a Korean dinner.




At Anis' open house where I met so many of my friends whom I haven't met in so, so long. So good to catch up with faces I don't see every weekend hehe

 




The other day I posted an Instastory about going out to lunch at Beard Brothers and I got so many enquiries on it. It's at Tropicana Avenue and this is their Facebook page. We had too much to eat and word of caution; they're usually sold out very, very fast. So best you come for lunch or for early dinner. When I got there at about 8, they were all sold out but good thing my friends had ordered a huge platter for all of us. We all had to sit on a mat just outside because it's a pretty small space and not enough for all 18 of us. But it was just a lot of fun, great good and better company.



We then moved to Artisan in PJ and I had their moist chocolate cake though I should've known better that it would be wiped clean by the time I came back to the table. What did I expect from sharing a table with 13 other boys...

Today, it was sister day. We went out for breakfast at Ravi's and after being really full from having 2 of the best roti canai in town (!!!), we moved to Loudspeaker which is located at the row just behind Ravi's. So, so so so so so fun. We hardly took a seat 'cause was too busy dancing. 

Tania and I singing to one of our favourite slow songs from our queen, IU. We forced Iman to take this photo. Plenty of videos and pretty embarrassing ones at that on our Snapchat's and Instastories and ones we saved privately because really, no one needs to hear us belt to Forget You.

- - -

Ok back to work tomorrow. Have a great week, and I hope it's a busy one so that the week goes by pretty quick and we can all have our weekend again.

xx

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Raya in Penang 2017

SELAMAT HARI RAYA, EVERYONE!!!!!

Long time no write, dear blog but I'm back from the most wonderful Raya break!

I sincerely hope everyone had themselves a great week off, we all kinda needed it, right? Everyone working in retail would know that pre-Raya is hectic and crazy. I left the office mid Thursday because I had to take a flight to Penang that evening and I was so busy that whole week that I didn't get to pack for my week in my kampung. So I dropped by the office in the morning to do some last minute packing of the last batch of orders and had a quick outfit change for the team photo shoot (you can see that on our Instagram) and literally changed back and packed up to leave. I was supposed to just leave for the airport but I had to rush home because I didn't do my damn packing. Stressed! 

Anyway, got onto the pretty packed flight and arrived just in time for buka puasa. I love Penang, I love it with all my heart and soul and I will always love it. If you don't already know me, I'm not a Penang-ite. I was born and bred in KL but Penang is my mum's hometown and we've been going there ever since we were born. In fact, my brother was raised by my grandparents for a good few months in Penang before we got Kakak. So really, Penang is like home. 

Which is why I LOVE Raya. I love, love, love Raya. It's my favourite holiday. I know some people have come to realise that Raya might have been a lot more exciting when we were kids. But not for me!!! I love it, I love the days and weeks leading up to Raya and I love how Raya isn't just a day or two, it's a whole month! And if I tell you what we do for Raya, you'll laugh and question what exactly is it about this time of year that I love. 

We do nothing. Like, we just bum around and eat. Which is probably why I love it so much. I don't see my cousins as often anymore now that we've all grown up a bit. Half of us are already in college/uni/done with uni. But Penang is the time of the year where we all stay under one roof and have so much fun. We play games all day, cards lah, Monopoly lah, Avalon lah, everything! If not that, we're eating or sleeping. Honestly, we take our bumming around seriously. When people would ask "Ooh, where do you go eat when you're in Penang??" and I'm like, "...home...?" which might frustrate some people because they think I'm missing out. But am I really???? Have you seen the amount of food and drinks we have at home???? 

And we don't even do our ziarah-menziarahi during Raya. We don't have any other family in Penang so we're literally just home hahahaha what kind of Raya right??? But kinda glad because honestly, we get so sleepy after Raya lunch that most of us out flat by 3pm. Probably a lot to do with the amount of rice and bread we eat throughout the day.

Here are photos!



One of the main reasons my grandfather bought this round marble table was so that we could play card games during Raya. What a Godsent right?????

Raya breakfast! Featuring china plates my grandmother brings out only once a year. Who else has the same exact ones???

Essentials! Phone (to play Psych duh) and balang's of kuih.

I loved my batik this year! I bought this 2 years ago and made it also 2 years ago but since I didn't come back for Raya last year, I kept this kurung for 2017.

My heart and soul and entire being. I love my grandparents so much, I can't verbalise it.




Ok reason we always take photos at the same place with the same background is because of lighting. Everywhere else looked odd. And also??? I'm the shortest???? Bye???




This was my first year of giving out duit raya so obviously I needed to take a photo to commemorate the special moment. So weird for me but I oddly loved it. And yes, I did force them to take this photo with me. 


"Hug me or no duit raya!"

One with our dear, dear, dear, wonderful Pak Tok.








We unintentionally looked like one harmonious colour palette. My aunty said, "You guys look like Stabilo!"





















'96s and besties fer life.

I look extra sepet that night because I had a minor sty and it really made my eyes swollen. So although it calmed down after a day or two, it was still quite painful and I decided to swear off eye make-up for a bit. So this is what I really look like without some mascara, guys.

Idk, guys.


We also celebrated Myra's birthday in Penang as she turned 21 on the 3rd day of Raya! This is her green tea cake.... which no one really ate except for this family hahahaha 



What a cutiepie!!!!




This was when Sharul and his lovely family came over for breakfast on Tuesday. I think? I'm not too sure now but Mama bought nasi kandar in the morning for breakfast. So nice having people over because we don't usually have guests hahaha

Mama's friend pesan-ed some jeruk and I was like, "Why??" because I thought it was so random... until my mum then told me "Hello! Jeruk in Penang is like keropok lekor in Terengganu ok, it's famous here". I tried one and didn't like it.  

We were singing along to Rollin' by Khalid though it doesn't look like we were. Rollin' was our theme song the whole of Raya.

Raya was so much fun and I was so sad when we had to leave. We left a day earlier than my other cousins so it was even more sad. I always tear up when I had to wave my grandparents bye and yes guys, even at age 24 I teared up. I love Penang and I love Raya. I look forward to it feverishly every year so after not spending it in Penang last year (I was in the UK, waiting for graduation), I was especially looking forward to come back this year. I don't know if we made the most of it but I definitely had a lot of fun. I think also because we've grown so much since we were children that we can kinda relate each other a bit better. 

I also immensely enjoyed scrolling through my Instagram and Twitter feed this year to see the Raya love. Seeing people so segak and so cantik in their baju raya really does make me so happy. And I've always loved what Raya stood for - to take time out to forgive one another and to be together. We're so busy with work and studies and ourselves that we tend to distant ourselves from family - whether we like it or not. So to have that one time of the year to come together and to salam and to laugh and play games and reminisce is so greatly needed. And although I dread that the Penang house doesn't have WiFi, I'm also very glad it doesn't. 

Raya is and has always been my favourite time of year and I can't wait to celebrate more here in KL with more family and friends. How brilliant is it that we have a whole month to celebrate??? I know a lot of people might not resonate with my love for Raya so this whole post might sound too squeaky and shrieky (can you imagine my voice? Bet you can) but it fills my heart with so much happiness and so I thought I'd write a whole damn post on it. 

Hung out so much with each other that we started to sync with one another.



After a whole week with them, here's what I've gathered

Song of the week : Rollin' by Khalid
Word of the week : 'Rude!'
Phrase of the week : "Check yourself before you wreck yourself" and "Bye Felish"
Food of the week : Apam telur and nasi tomato
Game of the week : Psych

Already miss my Raya in Penang and today being the first day of work definitely did not do anything to subside that.

Selamat Hari Raya! Maaf zahir batin from me and from all that I've said/not said, done/not done. Here's wishing everyone the loveliest, the funnest, the most fulfilling Aidilfitri.

xx

P/S : I'm sleepy and have no energy to spellcheck and grammar check so maaf zahir batin for that also. I'll do it soon.