Nice, France

So I'm finally home from my week of holiday.

We went to France!! On Monday, we took the early cab out to the Bristol airport for our flight to Nice, France. I was beaming with excitement but I was very sleepy so it might have not been portrayed as such. Nevertheless, I was stoked!

We reached the airport and we got some breakfast while we waited for the others from London to arrive. Guys, they're not kidding. The French croissants and the pastries were crazy amazing. They be cray! So soft and so tasty, it's almost unreal because how cliché is it to say the French pastries were sedap??? But they were. I could easily live on croissants all day all night long.

So after meeting up with the London travelers (aka Fatin, Maryam, Sarah, Tariq and Paan), we headed to our hotel. We walked what seemed ages along the beach promenade. Which was beautiful and the weather was so sunny so although I was complaining on how far we had to walk, I was taking it all in! MasyaAllah, gorgeous!

We were in the city first to have late lunch and we had kebabs. But it was really sedap so ok fine it might have not been very French but it was very 'student' hahaha. They had this really tasty sauce and all the while, the girls and I were trying to figure out what sauce it was. 

The city was small and it was very reminiscent of a lot smaller Oxford Street. The buildings were so colourful and bold and so cheery. A nice change from ol' gloomy UK. It was salmon pink walls with turqoise wooden doors. Some say gaudy, some say bold chic. I say bold chic. It was so gorgeous and so quirky! From the mosaic floors, to the rather peculiar lights (I don't know how to explain them without showing a photo... which I don't have at the moment), the city was so cool. It had all sorts of greenery along the street, making it look more and more like spring time! And the weather was so good, with slight wind and lots of sun! I've been Vitamin D deficient, y'see... so yes, I appreciate the sun. 

(the caricaturist asked if he could draw Tariq because he liked his hair lolzzzz)

_____

We walked all the way up the Colline du Chateau for the view of the seaside promenade and the small houses on top of the hills. WHAT A SIGHT. Leaves you breathless (literally... it was a very high climb and from someone who is nowhere near athletic, it was a long stretch. But worth every step!)

Gorgeous. Photos can't and won't do justice. You simply have to see it on your own, the view is c'est magnifique! I wouldn't mind my honeymoon in this city! ;) Honestly, the view was just so breathtaking and it just reminded me of how beautiful this Earth is. Traveling is such a beautiful thing to do because you discover precious places in this world and it reminds you of how amazing God is. Everyone should travel and everyone should have Nice on their travel bucket list. It's serene and the small cute alleys are filled with the cutest cafés and more than anything, you'll enjoy the small nook and crannies Nice offers. I feel like the city is not even trying to impress you but it does in every way. It's so effortless chic, very much like the French people themselves.

We climbed further up (I was panting by then) and we stopped almost every 2 minutes to take more photos because it was like the further you went up, the more of Nice you could see. BEAUTIFUL VIEW.

The yachts all lined up was so cool lah, made me want one. Eventhough I get seasick so easily and crazily. Gorgeous though. Eeeeeep can't get over how wonderful the city was.

Sunset. Was. Stunning. I really can go on and on over how beautiful Nice was during sunset. Loooook lah oh my god my heart. So picturesque. It's so calming also that after this photo, I put my camera down for a bit and just let the view sink in. Nice is so underrated compared to Paris and I think everyone should go visit Nice first because the city is so untouched and raw that it makes it so much more French. Nice was beautiful, too beautiful for words.

We ended the day by walking to a local gelato place. It was like a mamak with their plastic tables and chairs outside for people to lepak. But not with maggi goreng or teh ais. It was with gelato. All kinds of gelato! I had 2 scoops of mango and passionfruit and yum yum yummmmmm it was so good!!!!! Eeek, probably the best I've had. It was so nice to unwind and borak and lepak over good ice-cream with everyone. We played our usual teka-teki and that was good fun seeing everyone scratch their heads over teka-teki's. 

Such a gorgeous first day for me. 

And it was about to get better.

Video makin' and KY lovin'

I love video-making. It started from KY when Amal and I came together and produced a video to be represented for our house in the usual video competition. I had no idea how to make one and was completely new to the process. Amal is pro! So I learnt from her a lot during our KY days. The video that we made was very minimalist and it was very us. We both filmed and Amal edited. It was a long shot because it wasn't the usual video people made in KY; it was bordering on documentary-ish. There was no real story line and it was a risk, but it was a risk we were willing to take. When we finished making it and showed it to some people, they were doubtful about the video. They suggested we amended the video and we did consider it because then, we just kinda wanted to win something. 

We tried changing it and adding a storyline but we weren't feeling it. At all. We just didn't like it at all so we were like "Y'know what I don't really care if we win or not. We love it so that's all that matters. Win or lose, I'll be super proud and happy that the video was ours."

We stuck to our intuitions and upon showing it to everyone in the great hall, Amal and I got so nervous and we were sinking in our seats. We were the last one up so pressure was building after seeing everyone's videos. It made people laugh. So when ours was shown on the big projector screen, everyone was still and quiet. 

They loved it. The video was a great hit (atleast I think it was!) and people were talking about it on Twitter for quite some time. Eeeep Amal and I were so grateful and we were happy that we decided to do what we wanted and went with it. Alhamdulillah, we won the competition. But that video meant so much more than winning first place. It marked my love for video-making! 

I'm looking forward to many many more videos to make and to record. There's just something about filming that makes me happy. Editing makes me happy too, Amal! Hahahah

I've been meaning to make a KY video from all the shots I took from our last week but never got around to doing it so a couple days ago, I had finished all of my coursework and I had some free time on my hands so I figured I'd make one.

Making the video was so much fun and so funny! I laughed so much rewatching the videos from our time playing Taboo in the café! 

I hope KY meant as much to you as it did to me. 

Hope you like it!! 

Coke fast

So on the first of March, I declared a No Coke/Chocolate month. It was a spur of the moment thing and I just decided to see if I can swear off my favourite soda and chocolates off for a whole month.

Well, yes, I did. I hit a month a couple days ago, and after uni, I went straight to the grocery shop nearby and picked myself up 2 bottles of coke and three packets of 6-pack chocolate.

....

I was so elated !

But I think that whole month helped me a bit because I didn't reach for the two as quick and as much as I thought I would.. which is a good thing eh?

Hmm..

But still, now I can go out to restaurants and not just have tap water!

Cheers !!

7

I'm supposed to start my work but ho hum.

I admit, I do read my old blog posts from time to time; to laugh, to reminisce, to see what I was doing on a specific date, to see how I've (hopefully) progressed in terms of my writing skills (my writing was laughable when I first started out, it's embarrassing). Sometimes, when I read my posts back and see a grammar mistake or a typo, I'll actually go and correct it. Even when I know nobody will read that far back.

And I've completed surveys on this blog and when I read them back, I'll be so embarrassed and go all "But whyyyyyyyyyy Nadia whyyyyyyy"

So I decide to do one today so I can go all "But whyyyyyyy Nadia whyyyyyy" again in the future.

Songs I've Had On Repeat

1 Beyoncé's 'Partition'. Ooh risqué.
2 Clean Bandit's 'Rather Be'.
3 Ed Sheeran's 'I See Fire'.

TV Shows I've Been Loving

1. House of Cards. I don't know how I feel about this actually but I was sucked in and spent a good two to three days watching the whole 2 seasons. It's good but a weird kind of good. Kevin Spacey kut.
2. HIMYM is coming to an end in about 2 days time. SO MUCH FEELS!!!!! I've been watching this show for 9 years now, albeit on and off but I always come back to this show for my dose of good comedy.
3. Scandal. I've got such a love/hate relationship with that show.

(I didn't mention Grey's Anatomy because I've been loving that show ages ago so it's nothing new)

Things I'm Excited About

1. For the next 2 weeks to be over because that's when all my assignments are due. After that, I'll be a happy bunny.
2. My summer with Tanners!!!!!!! SOOO stoked for our little sissy bonding time.
3. Fashion Valet x Mimpikita's second collection hahahah I have Tania at the ready to buy on my behalf.

Things I Miss

1. Driving. Anywhere and everywhere. Driving.
2. Malaysian ringgit. Hahahahaha I miss having cash lah basically. I hardly ever have cash with me now because there's no purpose for it anymore sebab I don't like withdrawing money here. So yeah. Cash. I miss cash.
3. Taking photos with my camera. I sometimes despise my phone for having such a high quality built-in camera but I was browsing through my photos the other day and no matter how high tech your phone is, taking photos with a proper camera is second to none.

So now, the UK is officially back to being 7 hours behind Malaysia. I've lost an hour. So I'll sleep now.

It's important to at least have one good day in the week so I hope that day is tomorrow for you.

Spoil*

My whole family is in Penang for Pak Tok's birthday do last weekend. :((((((((((

Penang is my second home, I've been there so many times now and everytime I step into my grandparents' house, I feel so at peace and I'll be so happy. Because that house plays such a major role in my childhood. Every year, my parents would drive up to Penang and we'd spend our end year holidays (which at the time, coincided with Raya as well). And all our cousins would come to Penang as well so it was like a nice big reunion. Which obviously made my grandparents super happy. They love their grandkids because they would spoil us endlessly!! With good food, that is. Constant supply of food everyday. My grandmother practically lives in the kitchen throughout the stay there because she's always cooking something up.

For breakfast, my grandfather would wake up super early to get to the supermarket to buy all the nasi lemak and all the apam and my grandmother would cook curry to eat with bread and there'll be roti jala and roti canai and this and that. If it's raya, all sorts of lemang ketupat rendang kurma will be on the table.... for breakfast!!

And then for lunch, there would be WAY too many dishes from fish curry to chicken curry to fried chicken and ikan sambal and kangkung belacan especially for me. And of course udang kunyit. She'd spoil us silly. And after cooking, she'd come and sit at the table with us and ask

"Sedap ke? Why you all not eating!"

Completely unaware that I'm on my 3rd helping of rice.

Then there would be tea where Mak Tok would fry pisang goreng and Pak Tok would buy other kuih's for us.

I'm telling you, it's constant feeding time for us! But it's so nice to all come together and eat.

I'm quite glad that Papa brought us up with a special rule where everyone eats at the same time. If we don't, he'd be quite disappointed. I would understand why, he'd be working the whole day and we'd be busy with school work then or out and about so dinner time is the only time we'd get together as a family and eat. Even if sometimes it's just silence.

___

Maybe I'm just typing out the blog post because I've been super hungry these days. I just found a packet of ayam madu perencah and all I have to add is chicken and water. Simple enough kan??



xx

Face Mask Wednesday Specials

Marissa and I planned one night to stick to a diet.

No, not the kind of diet to lose weight. We ain't got time for that. This was particularly for our skin.

Our skin has been acting up and it's been annoying to deal with it so we decided to go on a strict no chocolate, no soft drinks, no fried food, no oily food for a whole month to see how things go and to see how effective it really is. Because if it's no difference, please hand me a bottle of Coke right this instance!!!!

I've been pretty good and seeing how I'm OBSESSED with my Freddo chocolates and Coke, I'm giving myself a well deserved pat in the back for surviving thus far. Only a week or two to go and I can finally eat my 2 favourite unhealthy things in the world!!

Anyway, we've given each other 3 times to succumb to our guilty pleasures. 3 chances. 3 strikes and you're out lah something like that. The first person to hit 3 strikes has to treat the other with a brand new lipstick.

So far, I've gone way more than 3 times but I didn't admit it .......... til Marissa did!!!! Hahahahaha so now we both owe each other a new lipstick.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still on my no chocolate bars no coke fast, it's just that I may have eaten fries at GBK and indulged in oily food.

I can't tear away!

We even scheduled a face mask day every Wednesday and to promise to drink green tea everyday. I haven't done that part yet because I keep forgetting to do it. Padahal I've already bought the green tea and it's in my kitchen just waiting for me to drink it???? Haih. It's amazing how lazy I am!

I'll start tomorrow.... promise!

xx from Marissa and I in our face masks......

Boys please form an orderly queue thank you very much.

Manc

2 weekends ago, I was in Coventry for Warwick's Malaysian Night and last weekend I went for Manchester's Malaysian Night.

Safe to say, I'll be staying put in Bristol for hopefully a long time. Let's hope my itchy fingers won't book me a bus elsewhere.

Planned to go for Manchester since my Cardiff trip because Ha was there and she told me she'd be co-directing her Malaysian Night in Manchester and knowing how good of a show Ha can put up, I went.

And I did not regret that 4 hour bus ride! It was soooo good! They had a different spin to it and instead of a love story, they went with a Sherlock Holmes-esque production and I loved it! It wasn't a musical either so the actors didn't sing, they had dances instead; modern, Chinese, Malay, Indian. The script was super funny and I legit laughed out loud at some parts. I think I was most impressed with the number of cast and crew involved. There were so many extras and props throughout the whole play so it really felt like a proper play. I don't like when plays have like one chair and a table and it's supposed to indicate a café. Manchester's MNight had like 4/5 tables and chairs with waiters and customers and a till and the whole thing. It was properly thought out and the extras really made the scene more believable. All in all, I loved it!!!!

Manchester is also suchhhh a nice town. I don't know what about it but I like the place, so many places to eat and the city is so big! Compared to Bristol, it's huge! I was in awe 'cause they had a tram ???? Their public transport is so ace.

And they had a legit shopping mall. Like, it was huge and ok, the deco might have been a bit gaudy for my liking but they had Selfridges and all and it reminded me of KL's shopping malls and made me miss home where malls were a thing!

I just had a really good time in Manchester and it might be my favourite city besides Bristol and London of course.

Looking forward to go there again for the 1D concert in May (hey, pls don't judge, this blog is not for judging).

x

Queen B

I just got back from my looooong weekend away from Bristol.

FOR BEYONCE!!!!!!!

If you know me you know I'm a huge fan. So when I knew that she was going to do a tour here in the UK, I was BEYOND stoked. Kaveetha and I were on our laptops waiting for tickets to be released. I managed to nab standing tickets because I wanted to get as close to Beyoncé as possible hahahah

So on Thursday, Kaveetha, Mun and I headed our way to the O2 Arena at 12pm. Concert was at 9pm. We legit waited in the line for 6 and half hours before they let us in in the arena. We even made a new friend who was waiting alone next to us! This was my first experience camping for a concert. Crazy!! I don't think I would have done for anyone else 'cept for Beyoncé!

We were pretty early in the line despite being there at 12pm. I started getting pretty restless though...

I was just so ready to watch my favourite singer to perform!!!

When it was finally showtime, my heart raced! This is Beyoncé we're talking about! The crowd was crazy but I let that pass because I was just really really happy and stoked to be at a Beyoncé concert finally!!

And when Beyoncé did happen.....

... guys I cannot form into words just how brilliant the whole show was without letting out cuss words and my mum reads this so I have to let it easy on the swearing. I mean, SHE'S QUEEN BEY FOR A REASON. She started the show with Grown Woman and Flawless. Omg I swear everytime she started singing a different song, Kaveetha, Mun and I would look at each and let out a proper fan girl scream before going back to Beyoncé on the stage. We were just soooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!! And we knew all the words and between balancing my phone and dancing, I was just screaming every lyric in her songs. She's damn good lah serious serious if there's at all any opportunity to go for her concert, you should pay good money and go! She's fantastic live.

Drunk in Love was when the whole place erupted with screams because everyone knows Jay Z was going to come on stage. He did and again the whole arena just went wild. THEY WERE INSANELY CUTE TOGETHER because they were hugging and just being normal husband wife.... 'cept they were Beyoncé and Jay Z and they were singing a hit song together. That was crazy good. Ahhhhhhh!!!!! Of course when she started singing her old songs like Naughty Girl and Crazy in Love and Single Ladies, I just couldn't hold it in and just danced and screamed and jumped! I have her concert performances on my iTunes so I've even memorised all her runs. Ahhhhhhh gila!!! Beyoncé is insane!!!

...

And when she told the audience to snap our fingers and "put some jazz and soul into it", and started with the first verse of Love on Top, I kind of went mental. Love on Top is my ALL time favourite song ever so to hear her sing this live was incredible!!!!! I was sooooooooooooo out of it and having Kaveetha and Mun with me there made it even better because they were huge fans of the song too.

I could go on and on about how amazing the concert was but that would be too long of a post.

I'm just so happy I got to actually actually see her (she was freakin' flawless too ughhhhhhh)

UNBELIEVABLE.

Beyoncé is unbelievable.

"Pindah je lah London"

... that's what my dad said when I told my parents I was in London for the weekend. I love the city but I don't think I can ever pindah there! Makes me so stressed looking at all the people speed walking everywhere. I LOVE the hustle bustle of the city; makes you feel so alive and busy. But I don't think I can deal with that every single day. Bristol is so chilled, I instantly feel calmer when I'm back here.

Anyway. I went to London for the Pixar Philharmonic show at the Royal Albert Hall. We were like 2 minutes away from missing the first part of the show, which was the music for Toy Story. Basically, they had a screen above the orchestra and the music was played live which was beautiful. Blown away!  I had chills up and down my spine everytime they played something from my childhood days. I haven't watched Brave or Wall-E yet so eventhough the music was spectacular, I had no real attachment to the music and/or movie. But when they played scores from Toy Story 1/2/3, Up, Finding Nemo, A Bugs Life, Monsters Inc., I couldn't stop smiling because they were all so familiar and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Once a Disney kid, forever a Disney kid. It was so nice seeing parts and bits of the movies because it's been a while since I last watched them. And they ended it with the score for 'You've Got A Friend In Me' in which the audience went quite wild (read: excited. No one really gets """wild""" at a philharmonic orchestra lol).

And yes, I cried when the music from Up played. Because they showed the love story that beats all other love stories out there!!!!! It was so sad and so much sad feels. This grown up man behind me also totally cried!! And of course, the last part of Toy Story 3 when Andy left. Oh my God, be still my heart.

We had amazing seats which just made my first experience at the Royal Albert Hall that much better. Had suchhhh a fun time!


My London trip also consisted of gelato eating and lots of laughs with Diy.

My next trip would be for....



..... BEYONCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH SO MUCH EXCITEMENT RUNNIN IN MY BODY!!!!!

Werk

I long for the day where Malaysia turns to be more accepting of a career in the arts and not dismiss them as being simply "Nak kerja jadi apa? Boleh dapat duit ke?"

I've always thought that if every one could have that option of doing something they're passionate about, how much more colourful would the world be.

We'd have more musicians, painters, writers and directors. We'd be that much happier with our choices. We'd probably be living off crap income but imagine waking up and being excited to go and work.

I have a friend who was supposed to come to the UK to study law but she'd make SUCH a great director (I bet my bottom dollar she's as good, if not better, than most Asian directors out there) because she's been responsible for directing her Bangsawan production and the videos she's been responsible for have all been top notch. She's responsible for producing the first Topaz video where it put the benchmark way way up top for the rest of us.

I have a friend who's studying accounting and finance now but has a passion for film and theater and Kaveetha and I would call her IMDB because she basically knows every film and movie out there??? I can see her writing screenplays and directing it and acting in it all at once.

I have a friend who's still quite undecided with what she wants to do in the future but if she could take her illustrating skills to the next level, I reckon she'd be hella successful. Imagining starting a company that specialises in illustrations and artsy fartsy things and putting them on paper and properly selling them. She could be the next Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co. !

It's pretty fun to think what people would really want to do if money was not an issue. If we had no worries and the future was secured financially, I wonder if we would go ahead and turn that hobby and passion into a proper career. I would. I'd dump everything and invest my time and money into something I get excited for. Work won't be work anymore, would it? You'd be volunteering to work longer hours and you'd happily stay back and finish the job. You'd sacrifice your holidays and you find yourselves blurring the lines of business and pleasure.

Sure, money is essential and to be living a comfortable life, you'd need to be doing a job that generates a good level of income and climbing that ladder of success is a tough and long one. But man, how mundane life would be to do a 9-5 job doing something you were only pushed to doing because of societal pressure.

But when an individual puts their heart and soul into something that they're passionate and enthusiastic about, I have every reason to believe that they'll be more happy and joy going around in this world. With God's blessing, there's really no excuse why you won't be successful doing your favourite thing in the world. You'd strive and work the hardest you can to accomplish something you love.

I long for the day where when asked "Nak kerja apa buat tu? Boleh dapat duit ke?", we will be able to answer with every ounce of confidence in our being, our accomplishments in tow. So what if we don't get as much money out of it, at least you know you're doing something you've always wanted to do and as long as your heart is full and content. Besides, who's to say you won't be successful if you put all your effort into it. InsyaAllah, God gives His blessings to those who strive for what they want to do.

Spend And Sensibility

I'm in such a great mood today because the weather was so nice and sunny. There was no rain, no wind; just good ol' warm sunshine. I love how it's not already dark by 4:30 pm now. I've grown to be more grateful for the sun since I got here. I'll probably complain about how hot it'll be when I come home but for now, I really miss warmth and selipar jepun.

I have some plans for the Spring and Summer time; including my sister !!!!! If all things go well, Tania will be coming here to visit me! I haven't seen family in SO long so I'm really really really looking forward to my sissy's company.

Sometimes I feel like Tania is the elder sister because she's so annoyingly sensible all the time. Sometimes I'd have to hide my shopping because she'd go on an endless rant about how I'm wasting money and I really didn't need another black blouse. And she can back most of her arguments because she's so thrifty and I'm so not! Thing is, we share clothes anyway so I always see my shopping as a form of good investment. And if you split the cost of something in half, it's not really that bad. And so concludes my argument for the motion why This House Believes Buying Another Black Blouse Can Be Seen As A Smart Investment in The Long Run.

So I was out in the city the other day and routinely went into Topshop and found this really sick snake-patterned top in which I snapped a photo of me trying it on and sent it to Tania. Kind of like me asking permission from my sister rather than from my mum which is bizarre.

........... But it was really nice...............

Phoenix

So I went to my first concert here.

PHOENIX!!!!!!!!! I've only started listening to them a few years ago from their song 'Rome' but it didn't take long for me to get hooked on them. I was BEYOND excited when I knew they were making their way to London. Naturally, I got tickets with Sofia and on Wednesday morning, we got the bus to London all the way singing to Phoenix's songs and getting hyped up.

Unfortunately, London decided to be really really annoying with its tube strike. Lemme tell you, the tube strike is seriously effective and I think people realise just how important it is to us commuters. We had to resort to the bus but the traffic in central London was so crap that what could have been a 15 minute walk turned into a 40 minute bus ride. Ridiculous!! I'm going to forever and ever avoid London during a tube strike.

Anyway, moving on! We reached the venue just 15 minutes before Phoenix showed up which was ace. We got pretty close to the stage as well which was cool because I never thought I'd be the type to be in the standing pit of a concert. But I just had to!

Sofia and I went pretty wild when the band came out. Screamed and jumped and sang to the songs and just occasionally looking at each other and saying things like

"OMG WTF THIS IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
or
"WEI TAK LAWAK BEST DIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hahahahaha if you're anywhere near a Phoenix fan, you would have LOVED the whole show; the lights, the songs, the music, the singing. Thomas Mars SLAYED the whole show throughout. Bloody brilliant!

Soooo good; they sang all my favourite songs and then some! Everytime I think about it, it gives me a certain high. The show was seriously so good and I'm so glad that this was my first proper concert; what could have been better?

My next concert is in March and it'll be freaking Beyoncé. I know right, I still can't quite believe it. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm going with my 2 Beyoncé MEGAFANS! Cannot imagine a night any more fun than that!

Stayed in London for a bit after that because I had no classes in Bristol. I always love London so it's always really fun to be there; despite the whole tube strike ordeal.

Spent some quality Diy time at Oxford Circus for some lunch and for some window shopping. Had Ben's cookies which were out of this world. Of course I took the orange chocolate cookie. So good, man! I shall make it a point to makan that whenever I'm in London.

Sat at St Christopher's Place and devoured our cookie and talked like ol' times. Missed her quite a whole lot so it was a really really great evening.

xx