HI IT'S BEEN SO LONG!!

Well, it has been a hot minute.

It's been a busy past few months and I really haven't had the time to write. I met someone yesterday who said her sister loves reading my blog posts (which was so nice to hear!) and that was when I realised DAMN I hadn't written anything in so long.

Apologies. I don't know who reads this space anymore but if you are reading and you still constantly check my blog for updates, thank you! 

So, here's what's up.

1. I quit my old job!

Yes! I actually finally doggone did it. I, for the longest time, was reluctant to quit because I had gotten so comfortable in it and I knew the system already like the back of my hand so I was just afraid that I'd have to do that all over again in a new job. And I loved my colleagues at NH so I was also partially scared I wasn't able to get colleagues like that anymore.

Then I realised - I was just constantly making excuses to delay me ever getting a new job. I loved the company and I will always have a special place in my heart for the brand because it was i) my first work experience ever and ii) I had learnt so much about starting a business which was the exact reason I chose to work there. But I came to the point where I didn't feel like I enjoyed much of it anymore. It was like being stuck in a rut. Maybe I burned out a bit? Don't get me wrong - the Raya campaign prep was so much fun and I loved the whole collection. Much more than I ever have! I was excited about people seeing it, I was excited for people to buy it and I was so happy to see the collection did really well for the Raya holidays. 

But I knew that was just that and I'll be back to doing the same work in and out. I wanted to learn something new and put myself in a new role! 

So I was called for an interview for a retail consultant firm and they immediately said yes and it took me about 1 and a half weeks to work up the courage to write a letter to my boss with my official resignation letter. I remember it clearly because I was so nervous to send it! 

2. My new job

I am now working at a retail consultant firm. Tomorrow will mark my three weeks there already! So fast. I'm in awe of myself really hahaha. I love my new job - it's challenging, fast paced, and I have learnt so much from my bosses. Who are really very nice - they've been so accommodating to my queries and have brought me out to teach me a thing or two about the job. I love learning new things so to know more about the development of a shopping mall from the very beginning to the day-to-day operations is so fascinating to me. And my bosses are like pioneers in this line and have brought in so many brands (like Ikea!!) to Malaysia so ummm they know a thing or two about developing a brand.

I like to think working at NH has been fruitful for this job because I'm the only one who has worked for a retail brand in the office so I've been asked a lot on my opinion of the current retail scene. It's fun, I enjoy it. My office is just next to a mall so I'm constantly shopping. Not good.

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I will update more on other things like Raya and Game of Thrones (I've only *just* watched it and I did all 8 seasons under 3 weeks whuddup) and my friends getting married this year and more fun stuff soon. I find that if I write a super long post on everything, I'll have the tendency to not update for like half a year. 

Thanks for still reading, friends! I will promise to have this space updated as often as I can. I'm thinking like once a week but we'll see first how that goes. 

Have a great Sunday!!

xx

Friends and OGS

2 days 'til Christmas, man what even was this year! 

Yesterday was eventful, went to Muar to see one of my bestest friends get married. She had been so nervous leading up to the wedding so I'm glad it's now all done and dusted with and she's happily married! I've only known her less than 2 years but she's honestly the kind of friend that's made my life just so much more colourful. And I get to see her everyday. And we text literally everyday. I'm just so happy she's so happy! 

(Edit: Right, so this was abandoned for a week and this is only going out on the 30th of December '18, Anis got married on the 22nd). 

Anis' kampung was so serene and quite lovely with the small roads roofed by tall trees. It was so pretty. As was the bride herself.

The week leading to her wedding up 'til the New Year, Anis has taken off so I won't see her 'til work reopens on the second and already I can't wait to hear how married life's like. She said after her nikah she ate without even thinking of her husband because she forgot she's now married hahaha

Came back from the wedding and left to celebrate Diy's birthday at an Airbnb she got. Earlier in the week she texted me asking for a favour

"Nadia, you're my big sister right, can you do something please because I know you're good at it. Can you tell people to shut up if it gets too noisy??"

to which I said, "Ofc"

but guess who was also screaming and laughing way too much?

...

But it was really very fun and I've realised that house parties like theses make up for a better time than at restaurants. We played games and had good potluck food and then screamed for more games and sang to a lot of 'thank u, next' which I absolutely loved hahaha

Love you Diy, knew it from the time I first met you. xxx

Not related to Diy's birthday but this is from Hanna's little get together at her place. It was a potluck situation so Tania made her roti jala and I... ate it. Hahaha! Glad that everyone liked it because it really is very good! Thanks Hanna for inviting us over, we love you and all the best for your upcoming papers!!! You can do this eyes closed!! xx

This was at Publika for Zain's birthday. He's ONLY turned 25, guys!!!! And I'm 26 in a few weeks! Bye. (Also, still the eldest one here)

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Also I'm enjoying football more than ever now that Ole Gunnar Solksjaer's the new manager. Albeit just temporary but man, what a change! I always try to refrain from speaking too much about football because I hate to look like I live eat breathe the sport because I don't. Atleast not yet! But I have been watching most of United's games since I started with club football and I get it why other United fans are so fed up with Mourinho and the team. So when it was announced that he was fired and that Ole was taking his place, I was just as excited. I've heard of Ole since my dad told me about the arguably most important goal for United - the 1999 Champions League final at Camp Nou, Barcelona. I've watched the treble-winning goal and I've been so blown away by the sheer madness of how late the goal was and how important it was for the club. And it was Ole who won it for them so you can imagine how excited everyone was at his appointment. Well, at least I was. We've accepted that Manchester United won't win the league this time around but it's a consensus amongst fans that it's just so much more rewarding to see that Ole's steered the ship in the right direction. It's insane to see how we've been on a losing streak and then Ole takes charge and it's a 5-1 win! It's been fun watching and not as frustrating! I get it now. How fans get emotional and how they feverishly look forward to match day. I totally get it now. I'm in for the long haul! Ole Ole Ole!

xx

Been a while!

It's already October tomorrow. Is it still appropriate to say/tweet "Wake me up when September ends" or did that joke die in 2008? 

So glad to be blogging again! I've been meaning to write in an entry for a bit now but never got around doing it because workload spiked in recent weeks so I'm always quite drained. And the drive back home is really what kills it. I hate traffic jam. It's the worst. You kinda just wanna be home literally right after work but even thinking about going through shit traffic kills your vibe!! I much prefer getting on the train to and fro. 

I don't have major news to update but I'll blog about what I've done in recent weeks.

So weddings! We'll start with weddings first. I love myself a wedding. I have personal reservations on weddings but it's a night out with friends in really pretty clothing so I love it anyhow.

So cool how as you grow older you realise the world is just really very tiny. Aina (middle) is my friend from when I was 9 and she went to high school with Sherry (on your left). And Sherry went to KY with me. Best part is we all live literally 4 minutes within one another. And I have NEVER met them anywhere around my place. Like not even at the local mart or at McD or at a petrol station.

With the bridesmaids. Also very loud and kecoh group of girls. So, so, so fun regardless!

This one's at Rongge's wedding. Really beautiful set-up and all of his friends were seated at the back of the hall... for very good reason. We were too loud and definitely not as calm and collected as all the adults in the room haha. Was really cool seeing everyone dress up for this.

Finally got to wear my lace kebaya. Lace is from Jakarta and this is wholly inspired by Bunga Citra Lestari's red get-up for Yuna's wedding.

With my Bristolian bebe.

So before I got into Taman Tun, I was in a high school that was walking distance from my place. I was only there for a year before moving to Taman Tun but I had the BEST company there. It was so fun because the girls that I spent my days with were so so so so so so funny and so sweet and they really made my whole year there. We lost contact after I got into a new school because they too went on to different schools. One of the girls I got really close to (she lives few roads down from me so we used to study together all the time too!) was Fatimah. People call her Mia but I'm old school and am probably the few who call her that. Anyway, she got married to her longtime boyfriend and she invited me to her wedding which was so so sweet given that we've not spoken/met in AGES! She glowed and my heart's so full for her. She's really incredibly lovely and I ask for nothing but happy days for her and her new husband. 

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Spent our Malaysia Day weekend at Riuh! This would be my second time in a row spending it at Riuh. Last year I was helping out with Nelissa's booth but this time was solely spent with my sister. It was Riuh's first time at a brand new location, a depot at Sentul West. It was SO much more spacious, making way for a lot more vendors and food stalls. And plenty for a good OOTD. It was a pretty gloomy day but didn't rain so much so the weather was perfect. The problem with the last location was that it was just ridiculous hot everywhere you go. 

With our RM0.01 ice-cream Malaysia. You didn't read that wrong. It was actually seriously 1 cent each.

This lady was super friendly and incredibly talented. I actually stayed on at Riuh just to get our portraits done. Don't know if you can see it from this photo but bless her, she drew my forehead so wide that it looked really funny hahaha but swear she's so cool!

Iman and her Chinese takeout. You best believe she got it mostly cause of the takeout box.

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... so this happened. I finally went for Tulus!!!!! I really, really, really wanted to see him live but he wasn't on the list of performers for this year's Java Jazz Fest in Jakarta so you can imagine how ecstatic I was upon learning he was coming to KL for his first concert in Malaysia.

I mean, I'm such a sucker for Indonesian voices and I love their music so much. Tulus is my favourite Indonesian gem and so you can imagine just how much fun I had at his intimate concert. His voice is extraordinary and was unreal. Echoed so beautifully around the hall. And the live band was fantastic and I just loved all of it! There were so many times during the concert that I went, "oh wow this is Tulus I'm seeing live!!!". It was held at Istana Budaya so it was really nice also in terms of how chilled the whole show was - no phones, no cameras, no screaming excessively. Ok fine there were excessive screaming... by me. It was really fun lah ok best concert I've been ever! Yes!! Even beats Beyoncé! 

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Spent last Sunday with Marissa who just recently got back from Dublin! This time for good! Did our nails at the prettiest manicure place at Great Eastern Mall. Overpriced but a nice splurge once in a while I suppose?? So fancy for my toes!

Caught up with Marissa for a good 4 hours on a bowl of salad (her) and pavlova (me), so good to have her back. I've a million and one places I've wanted to go but never had the right person to go with and Marissa's the right person so I can't wait to start ticking off my list with her.

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Our Merdeka night spent at Bob's place for an intense game night. Intense like... screaming unnecessarily and emotionally. Was pretty disappointed that there wasn't a *decent* fireworks display at KLCC. Bob's place has a fantastic view of the KL skyline so we could see KLCC and the KL Tower just fine but... nothing! That was fine - we were back to our games a minute after the clock struck midnight. The theme was supposed to be the Jalur Gemilang colours but.... underwhelming. My friends never understood what a themed get together ever meant. 

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Papa hits the big 5-9! For his birthday, Mama planned a breakfast do at home. My dad's really really big on breakfasts and swears it's the most important meal of the day and well, he's had a tough time having the table full for breakfast because we're i) sleepyheads ii) don't appreciate breakfast as much as he does. But we woke up really early to accommodate to his time and had breakfast with him. Albeit rushed but it was really nice, regardless. I love the old man <3 nbsp="" p="">

This was the day after when he asked for dim sum for lunch. He doesn't usually like dim sum so this was an odd choice but we weren't complaining cause we love us some dim sum any day anytime.

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With my play dates (get it?), Ewa and Hanna.

Supported my dear friend, Nabil at his most recent work at Istana Budaya. It was in conjunction with Malaysia Day and it was a story about a Chinese family finding their footing in Malaysia. Falling in love with a esteemed Malay boy and the mess that comes from that. So happy for him! Need to see him on the main bill very soon - talent bigger than the stage, this boy!

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Had some really kick-ass Indian food with these two ladies which was so sedap btw! It's called Flour and it's at Bukit Damansara. Sedap, you should go! It's tad bit pricey but it was really tasty. We had some odd desert that Sarah swore was really good. Took a bit to acquire the taste hahaha. Then we moved to Huckleberry After Dark for desert. Mind you this was on a Sunday and we stayed right 'til closing. Loved this night out so much just cause it was a lot of catching up and de-stressing. We don't see each other as much as we'd like because of work and family so when we do, we've got enough material to cover for the whole day and a half basically haha 

Coffee time with the boys. I say 'coffee time' but I don't drink coffee. I ordered some off tasting tea that I just had to endure because of how mahal it is. Never really got why tea is so expensive in these coffee shops. 

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Last but not least! My mum's really into baking these days, guys. Her farewell present from her former school was an oven and let's just say she's put it to real good use. She's chilled a bit from the baking but I swear she used to do a cake (or two) every single day for the first two weeks she got it. If it wasn't a cake, it was lasagna or pie or something that was OVEN BAKE-ABLE. I joke that she's found something to do during her retirement years. But I kinda think she'll do something about it. Stay tuned to Liza's Baking hahaha

My mum and her bread butter pudding. She's real cute.

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Work tomorrow! Back to it. I hope to not stretch on too long 'til my next post. I'm feeling out of the loop lately because I'm not on Instagram anymore and I must say, it's so refreshing. I'm usually the first person to know about something so now when people ask me, "Have you heard...?" "Have you seen her Story??" I'm like nope please enlighten me what is this Instagram you speak of. 

I recommend it, being off Instagram I mean. it's really nice to regroup your focus on things other than what people are having for lunch.

xx