Sunday, December 12, 2021

Vintage Thrift Shoppers in Penang

I'm in Penang! After more than a year, I'm back in my hometown. You already know this but this island is my second home. Two of my favourite people I've ever known live here; my grandparents. After such a long year of being stuck at home, I finally got to fly back to Penang for a good break. We (my sisters and I) flew here on Thursday evening and came in enthusiastically. My Pak Tok doesn't have great memory as of late so it takes a while for him to recognise us. I said "Nadia! I'm Nadia!" and he said "Oh.... my sweet Nadia". I mean, pure unadulterated tears.

Today was a rather fun day out. It started with my sisters going out to buy lunch, we had Bangkok Lane mee (I highly recommend!) and after we were all full and happy, we went out to get drinks. But before that, we went to this vintage shop at Jalan Nagor called Fujiyama Jeans. It's just SO cool, it's a thrift store for both men and women, a record store, and they also sell bit of coffee and film cameras! It was such a pleasant experience because the people were really friendly and their curated collection of clothes (imported from Japan!) were really top notch. And super affordable too! I managed to snag a beige sequinned evening bag and a Ralph Lauren-esque cardigan. Tania also managed to get herself a genuine vintage Moncler jacket! Love it. You have to go if you're around the area.

Then after that we drove to La Vie En Rose but we just so happened to find parking right in front of this shop called TEMU Coffee. Coincidence because I had just looked up this cafe on Instagram the night before so we just kinda got in and decided to have some drinks and desserts first before going to La Vie En Rose. We had the waffle and it was genuinely SO good. It was the topped with cream and ice-cream and had burnt bananas on the side. SO YUMMMMM. I love Penang and alllll its alleys and streets of really obscure but insanely cool cafes and eateries. So unassuming but they're always so occupied that you often had to be waitlisted or like... denied entry completely. So this was great that we had seating and no waiting time and the food was really good. 

We weren't quite done with thrift shopping so we Googled the next one and it was our stroke of luck that it was just a 3 min drive from where we were. It's even MORE obscure but we got there in the end haha. It's a smaller shop but still full of gems. Iman got an oversized rugby shirt and Tania got two blouses for super cheap. As we were leaving, there was a rack of t-shirts outside and we spotted one that was Harry Potter themed, had 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good" and Iman freaked out, she's in her Potter phase now. Took the tee and went to the cashier to buy and the guy was like "If you buy 3, it'll be RM10" to which Iman said "No it's okay, I'll just take this one" and he just shrugged and said "Ok, then you can have it for free" and just put it in her bag. How sweet! Iman's a happy shopper.

Then we drove back home in time for a pizza dinner! Hahaha I know everyone who comes to Penang for holiday must want to kick me where it hurts but we actually don't always eat famous Penang food like chendol, nasi kandar, laksa and all that. We do have nasi kandar, that's a must of course but we rarely ever go out to eat it. We'd take away and have it home. So we don't really see the food sitch in Penang, unfortunately. Not until recently at least. 

Ok photo time! 

This was at our first stop; Fujiyama Jeans at Nagore Road. Not in photo: the divine beaded evening bag I got for 50 bucks.


Tania spotted this vintage Moncler jacket after buying her bucket bag. She couldn't stop thinking about it after trying it on. It looked pretty sick but we were weighing the pros and cons especially since it wasn't cheap. Like?? Where was she going to travel to warrant a purchase like this?? She said "With this jacket, I'll plan a damn trip somewhere". I told her to think about it and she put it back on the rack before heading out to our next spot; coffee and cakes at a cafe.






I definitely think I want to get a film camera for my birthday. I just don't know where to start looking.




But why are the tiles here so freaking cool.


The next thrift shop was an obscure one, hidden among small houses/shop houses. It's called Doppel Ganger (spelt that way).

Tania bought those two blouses for 40 bucks in total.









Ok so after that TEMU and La Vie En Rose trip, we went back to Fujiyama cause Tania decided she'll just get it instead of worrying it'll get snapped up by someone else. Idk who else is planning a winter trip but ok. Happy she got it though! I can pinjam duh.

It's about 1:16 am now and my uncle's buying nasi kandar for breakfast tomorrow and I'm so excited! Now I'm going to continue on this Downton Abbey episode before calling it a night. Have a great weekend, guys! 

xx

Thursday, November 4, 2021

My inspiration

This is my appreciation post for my friends who I know I talk about a lot but I just love them A LOT. 

So here's a bunch of photos from the meet up's thus far with friends! 







Marissa and I had planned for a spa date at Lax. but on the morning of, they called to cancel my appointment because the lady who was supposed to do my massage had to take an emergency leave and they had no one else to replace her. Sad!! Dahlah I was looking forward to it so much and my body was in need of a massage from constantly hunching over the computer. But we had a great time anyway! We went to this place at the Zhongshan Building and it's called Tommy Le Bakers. They serve sandwiches and it was actually pretty yummy! I'm not really one for sandwiches as you might not know already but this was really good. I loved the fuss free place especially. And!! There wasn't a super long line and parking was so easy to get (and cheap considering right smack in the middle of KL) so that made the whole experience so much better. With a LOT of the new cafe pop-up's in KL these days, you suffer with both parking and reservations. And 8 times out of 10, food ain't that great and you find yourself at a McD drive thru for an order of fries to fill you up. I like just really easy going places like these. I'd go again solely for their onion soup. 


Then during that icky bit of time I had (still have, just a lot less), Fatin texted "Babe you wanna go out? Let's" and honestly!!!! It made my day just being able to go out with her and talk things out and pour my heart out. We constanttttlyyy text but nothing beats conversations over coffee and tea. Love her so much. This is actually a photo of her CRYING because we were talking about London. She studied in City so she spent all her time in the UK in London and I have the fondest memories of our sleepovers whenever I'd go over to London. 




Sighhhhh I'm so lucky to be friends with so many people who exude the best energy. Sofea and Hidayah were my colleagues in my current company but they've left and so it's only me remaining hahaha. We used to be sucha trio, always huddling over Hidayah's table to gossip and complain. Ever since they've left, I've missed them at the office a whole lot. We went to Jibby Chow at Bangsar and caught up with each other again after what feels so long. I can't wait to see them again. These girls are the kind to always leave the night in the best, sweetest energy. The ones who always hype you up and you're always motivated to be a better person because of them. Love them so much. Can you believe we're all single? Hahahahaha



If I could just tell you how much Aina means to me. She's a life changer. My life changer. Truly, in every sense of the word. I'm sure I've said this somewhere before but I'll say it again 'til I go blue in the face. Met Aina in school when we were 9, I had just moved from Taman Tun to the school near my house. Met her and she was the lifeeeee of the party, super popular and super fun and just kept everyone so energised and happy. I always say this, Aina's the kind of friend I'd be HAPPY to bring anywhere to meet anyone ever sebab she can get on with everyone she meets. She just has that one of a kind energy that you only hope you can one day also emulate. I say this with all my heart, Aina's my inspiration. So whenever I meet new people, I'd always try to channel my inner social butterfly energy and I'd always think of Aina. And think of what she'd do and what she'd say. She's definitely helped me to be the person I am whether she knows it or not.




Just last Sunday, I finallllyyyyy went out with Amal and Fatin. I mean, I met Fatin recently but Amal I haven't met in AGES! So I was just so happy to be able to spend time with her over lunch. After lunch I sent her home but I decided to stick around at her place for the next 5 hours! Hahahah. If you know me, you know I love and appreciate house hangs. It's just infinitely times better because 1) You're not pressured to leave your table when the queue is crazy outside 2) You have a dependable, clean toilet to go to 3) You can hang however you want, I basically laid down on her couch the whole time sipping on rootbeer and eating doughnuts that I randomly ordered on Grab. It was the best!!! Makes me miss the times where we'd go over each others chalet and just borak the whole time. It was mostly Amal coming over to my room lah but still. Love you both to bits and pieces and then into smaller bits and pieces.

___

Thought I'd pen it down here too. But the other day, my office had a training session conducted for us. They'd invited instructors over and in the second session, there was this lady. She was 56 but looked nothing above early 40s. She was absolutely wonderful. I rarely get struck by someone's energy but that morning, I was just in awe. She was so inspiring, her whole energy was contagious and I couldn't get over it. She told us straight up "Honey, live your own damn life! Don't worry about what people think. Spend on whatever you want! So what? You'll make more money after that right? Do it! Life's short, go enjoy" and even though that's all generic life advice you've all heard before, you just know that to her she holds these principles in her life so dearly and it shows in the energy she had. She left just before lunch and I kinda went "aww shucks, wish she stayed on longer" and I realised damn, how great is that? To have people want you there with them for a while longer because they love you. I had never met her before then but I already felt like I'd love to tell her all my problems and she'd give me the best advice. 

At the end of the work day when my colleagues and I were in the lift to go to the carpark together, I just noted that I really enjoyed that training session and loved the lady so much and my senior just turned to me and said "Yeah I get that because she really reminded me of you" and I was just.... so flattered and taken aback. This whole time I had looked up to this lady and made a mental note to be more like her when I grow up and to think some of the girls in the office already think of me like that made my whole week, month, year. Heart's full alhamdulillah.

I hope everyone gets to meet someone they're inspired by. Someone who makes you feel motivated to be better in life. And if you haven't lately, I think you should exercise your right to be that person to someone else anyway. Life's so precious and we're all living on borrowed time so the best thing you can do is wake up everyday and spend it in service to yourself. InsyaAllah that will have a domino effect on the people around you. We never lose out from being nice, helpful, and generous so go do it everyday. It'll come back to you in multiple folds insyaAllah. Trust.

xx

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Trust

 It's 10.10.2021 today. We're in October already! 

Adele's about to come out with her new single next week so I'm on an Adele binge on Spotify now to prepare myself for the absolute feels she's about to have us all on.

I've been doing ok. There have been some really fun evenings and then there have been sad, quiet mornings for me. But I suppose that's just how we all go through things. Not one person has gone through 100/100 perfect days. And I've learnt that instead of forcing yourself to get over it, the best way about it is to welcome and embrace that and live through it. The more you tell yourself to get over it, the more you're actually thinking about it kan? So just take it in, be one with it, acknowledge it and live with it. It's only going to help you move on.

I won't indulge in the juicy details (or lack thereof) but I will just say that I'm always very grateful for everything that has happened and the people I've met along the way. There have been times when I was younger where I'd cry over things that didn't go according to plan and thus was "the end of me" (dramatic) but now I can hardly remember what those things were. And if I'm really looking at it optimistically, those things just... pass and I was on to my next best thing. I was so sad I didn't get the grades I wanted for SPM but I managed to pull through and get into KYUEM. Part of me thinks that if I had excelled, would I've been chucked into a different school instead? I was sad I didn't get to go to London for school but I got into Bristol instead and it turned out to be the best thing for me. If I had gone to London, would I have had a better experience than the one I had in Bristol? If I had decided to go for a "better" job than interning at Nelissa Hilman, would have I met a better friend than Anis is to me? Would I have met the people that are so dear to me if not for the missed opportunities? All that initial heartbreak and pain had to happen in order to bring me the happiness that came in ten fold right after. The magnitude of that joy that followed made the initial sadness of the closed door seem so negligible.

So as I weather through this icky stupid feeling, I'm trusting God as I have always that He's looking out for me. My biggest comfort is that the person who loves me most in this world is my mum. And God loves me infinitely more than my own mother. Would mama put me through something she knows wasn't the best for me? No. So what more God. I trust and I trust and I trust. All good things await for me and all things bad are distanced far from me. For as long as I do right by God and I continue praying and I continue to look for Him for answers and comfort, insyaAllah I'll be put in His greatest care. Our doas are always answered in our best interest. For when you are moved to make a doa, insyaAllah that is His sign that your doas will be answered for He won't make you beg for something that He won't give in His own good timing. You just gotta trust and insyaAllah I'm trusting and believing that all that is meant for me will find its way to me soon. 

"Let time be patient. Let pain be gracious"

And with that I'm going to live my best life and enjoy every bit as it comes. Acknowledge and welcome the sad evenings as much as I embrace the exciting start of mornings. It's the only way I know how.

A dear friend told me this quote to which I've learnt to internalise slowly:

You can't force someone to see that you're a blessing,
you just gotta let 'em miss out

So here's to the ones missing out.

xx

Sunday, August 22, 2021

another weekend

It's a Sunday evening. I have the Southampton - United game on and while I watch that, thought I'd blog about whatever I can think of. 

Read somewhere that said "In 4 months time, 2020 would've been 2 years ago" which absolutely blew my freaking mind. HOW! We've lost most of this year to Covid, unfortunately. It's almost been about 3 and half months that I've been working from home though I do remember my company taking a couple weeks off earlier on too. It feels like forever. I finally bought myself a foldable desk - the one you'd prop up on your bed. I don't have a desk in my room because the last one just became tempat letak all the junk and it was too much clutter so I took it out. So now for most of the day, I work on the floor, cross legged with a cushion to support my back. I can't wait for massage parlours to open up, I need that body cracking sesh stat.

Actually, I can't wait for SO many other things to open. Nail parlours, cinemas, badminton courts (for more than just singles!), mamak's, you name it, I miss it! I went into this year with shoulder length hair. Now it's so long, frazzled and untamed. Dine in's have started to open up though not for every restaurant. I really respect that though! I saw that Kenny Hills have decided to remain open only for take outs and deliveries which I think is a great move considering that we're still high in our daily cases. I do take comfort however that a good majority (like 98-99%) comprises of stage 1 & 2 cases. So, cases that are either asymptomatic or with very light symptoms. Alhamdulillah. Numbers may seem scary on the surface but I think if we were to look at it closely, it's quite hopeful and optimistic to see that serious cases have been on the low. Still though... death is a death is a death. It's still a loved one to someone and that's never been lost on me. 

____

Another work week ahead of us. Last few weeks have been pretty tough and busy but I managed to power through, with some tears and LOTS of cursing in between. I pray it'll be a relatively easier one this week. This weekend I didn't check any work texts nor attended to anything work related. I just took naps, watched movies, texted a bunch of friends and ate a whole lot. 

It's already the 22nd of August! Phew. Looking forward for the end of this damn virus already.

Bye, talk soon. Take care, eat vitamins and most importantly, stay home! 

xx

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Sundays

It's a very chilled Sunday. We're all in our rooms, either lying down or watching something on Netflix. Iman is actually sitting for her finals now and I've always found it bit odd that UiTM has exams/classes on Sundays! Surely that can't be right.

I'm watching the Artistic Gymnastics qualifications on Sooka now. I love watching this sport, it's so fantastic how the body can bend and balance hahaha am trying to watch Farah Ann but cameras haven't shown her yet! I'm watching on the Sooka app and I've been keeping track of events via the Olympics app. I also really love that TikTok has been so pivotal for updates because we have athletes who show the Olympic Village there too. It's soooo cooooooooool ugh there's just something about the really really talented and the really really skilled coming together for an event to represent their country. Like I just think you cannot get any cooler than that. That's why I love the World Cup so much. A team sport and even if you're an individual competing like many of our Malaysians there, they have the whole country behind them! I'm telling ya, nothing unites a country more than defending the local delicacies and for supporting a sportsperson. 

In Covid news, we are at 17k cases today...... even when a majority of the country is on lockdown for more than a month now. Sigh. The only thing keeping me going is to see the vaccination rates going strong in recent days. We did 500k a day on Wednesday I think and that's commendable, I have to say. In the family, all of us have been vaxxed once and 5/7 are fully vaccinated alhamdulillah. Iman just did hers yesterday and so it's just my dad and her that's left with a second dose appointment soon insyaAllah. I'm also very happy to know that all my friends are all at least half vaxxed. Like I said, am not friends with anti vaxxers haha.





Really just so excited and almost nervous (??) to go out again and meet friends and have outside food that isn't in a takeaway package. Y'know, just simple things! I miss the office and my colleagues! And our 5pm McD teatime. Such a different feeling compared to the last lockdown... at the time I was very much comfortable working from home and even resisted going back to office because I thought it was too soon. Now I'm just counting the days for us to go back working in a NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. Hate that home has become work. The government's about to announce some special privileges (if you can even call it that) to those who are fully vaccinated so I'm hoping that's soon enough and I'm also hoping people don't abuse it and cause another spike in cases. I just miss being around other people!! Texts and video calls won't cut it anymore, not natural for us to be connected virtually. I need them hugs!!!!!

We spent out THIRD raya (both Aidilfitri and Aidiladha) at home. We got to spend Raya Haji in Penang last year but unfortunately we can't spend it with them yet this year. Both my grandparents are vaxxed alhamdulillah and I miss them loads. First place we're going is to visit them and give them big hugs and kisses. Our Raya Haji was simple, Mama cooked some food that lasted us two days for all meals haha and we just took some photos outside. Zaim and Hanis didn't join us and it was for the best - we'd all prefer if everyone's double vaxxed before they can come over again. You just never know with this new variant. 













It's almost 10pm now (I started writing this a little after lunch!) and I'm going to continue watching One Tree Hill. Naomi Osaka's playing tomorrow at 10:00am so I'll sneak that in while working. Best part about WFH is that I get to just go downstairs to do work in my PJ's. Though I do miss getting ready and putting on proper pants. 

Take care, everybody! Talk soon.