Beauty at its Best

I've been pampering myself a whole lot lately since I've got nothing much to do at home other than chores so I tend to try out new body and face products and if it's good, I'll buy more to bring to Aussieland. So, here's some products I would recommend you guys that is best to me

I have a love-hate feeling towards my hair all the time. I love the colour cuz it's naturally brown but it gets so dry sometimes I just hate it and tie it up in a bun. Which is why I've been testing out hair products to see which suits my hair BEST. And by best I mean make my hair smoother and less dry. So, after all the experiments, I still find that Kerastase is still the best shampoo, hands down. I'm using the Kerastase Dermo Calm for sensitive scalps and dry hair. This is one shampoo I seriously recommend for ythose with dry hair and oily scalp. I gives a really good effect after a hair wash and trust me, with my type of hair, when I say good effect, it is darn freaking good. Not even Schwarzkopf can beat Kerastase in this. I tried the Schwarzkopf one and OMG, I totally regretted it! Makes my hair worse. But, I dont use Kerastase often cuz it's kinda expensive, about RM75 per bottle and their bottle isn't big at all. So, I alternate my shampoos which is good as well since you're not supposed to stick to one shampoo all the time.

For body wash, I friggin love Body Shop's Strawberry Gel. It's the best scent ever! After bathing, even your toilet smells like strawberry! It's about RM20 per small bottle, quite worth it. I've since used this body gel after I wanted to try it cuz Viven was saying how nice it smells and all. It's not sticky or anything like that. Quite smooth gel and you don't feel the sticky touch on your body after using it which I find most body washes have that eg Dove, Dettol etc. And the strawberry smell stays with you for quite some time, not kidding. Ahem, something guys would like, heh :p And I have no idea why but this body gel gives you the cooling effect somehow. So, yes, this is one good buy!

Recently, for Christmas, I got a gift from Rach Low and she bought me this body polish called Organica Exfoliating Body Polish (Organic Green Apple). I didn't really know what it was at first cuz I only heard of body scrub not body polish lol. And I opened it, it smells like heaven and yup, you practically use it as a scrub in a way. I just put a litttle bit on my fingertips and massage at the areas where I have body acne. And amazingly, it clears off the acne. Woah, I was like so happy and it has that apple skin peel where it does good to your skin or something like that. Rach told me she got it from Watsons/Guardian so I would buy moreee!

I've been also indulging in face masks lately. I dont really stick to one brand but I've been using Skin Food and it seems okay to me. I can't really remember what's the best but it's something called Cucumber extract? It suits youngsters according to the counter lady.

I dont wana make this post too long or you'll be bored reading this so this are the 4 stuff I have been using lately. Does wonders to my skin :D

The Time for Reunion and Ang Paus

Today's the 3rd day of Chinese New Year and I've always enjoyed this time of the year since I only get to see dad's side of the family once or twice a year. Of course, there's also the mouth watering food which I cant seem to control myself from eating. This is the time of the year where I gain weight (sadly) cuz I eat 2 bowls of rice for lunch and dinner at the house reunion. Aunt's cooking is the best, hands down. Even my mum cant beat her cooking, especially the sea cucumber and homemade fishballs. YUMMEH! Of course, it's also my relatives especially the younger generations like my nephews and nieces. Ahhh, kids these days are so adorable and cheeky. 

So, as usual, we went back to Melaka on New Year's eve with dad speeding at 150km/h. Felt like I was floating instead of moving on the road. Had the usual reunion dinners, lion dance, ang pau taking etc. Went for a movie with the cousins, something we practice every year since 2 years ago. This time we watched All's Well End's Well 2012. Seriously, the FUNNIEST movie I've watched so far. Laughed like crazy the whole 2 hours till I had stomachache. 

Since I'm going to Melb in about 2 weeks, my relatives were talking bout Melb the whole 3 days I was in Melaka. Not to mention some ang paus for me going to Aussie as well. Got loads of advices and having my aunts and cousins telling me that I have a lot of connections from my own cousin, to my cousin in law's brothers to my cousin's cousin. Super lucky to have all of them there. Coincidentally, my cousin's cousin is studying her final year for Pharm in Monash also! So I get the books, notes from her. Woah, seriously damn lucky. And my aunt even tell me to look for my cousin if I'm lazy to cook lol. Ahh, so much love from my relatives. Hopefully I get to spend the next CNY in Malaysia. 

Some pictures :)

 Cousin's new dog, Amani

 Jonker Walk

 My nephew, Wayne

 Cousin Nei and Fionne

 Cousin Adrian and 2nd uncle as usual pouring Martell for the guys  :p

 Baby Chloe

 Baby Gionne

Dionne

Cheeky Fionne

GONG XI FA CAI EVERYONE!
May you have a prosperous year ahead :)

The Weekends

Yet, it's Monday again. So here's an update of what I did during the weekends.

Saturday was a crazy rush day. Had to woke up at 8am to follow mum to KLCC. You guys would think 'this girl is crazy, who goes to KLCC that early?'. Actually, my sis has early classes at British Council on Saturdays and to pass time, my mum and I would head over to KLCC for breakfast and some window shopping. As usual, that happened last Saturday. And mum was actually shopping for bags cuz hers seem to have worn out. But we had limited time so we didn't really look out. Went to Marks & Spencer and was looking out for the booties I've been eyeing for a while. Before this, it was RM399 and I was like wtf? That booties for 399?! I knew everywhere had sale now and decided to try my luck. Looked at the price tag. RM119. Hallelujah! Told mum about it and she said 'Just take it and meet me at the cashier'. So I quickly got my hands on them since it was more than 50% off. Was uber happy that I tweeted about it and I got a reply from Yen Thin saying 'Your shopping list is a never ending story'. You should see her shopping list pfft. I tend to window shop a lot buy I usually buy 1 or 2 items only. I don't buy like 5 items from each shop kinda thing. I only go home with 1 or 2 purchases and that's my shopping for the day.

Headed to granny's place later on to see my grandpa and alter my jeans. Super glad that my grandpa looks healthier and more joyful now. Came home at about 3 plus to dad asking: HOW MANY SHOES DO YOU NEED?! Heh. Had a dinner appointment with Rachael, whom I met during the Taiwan trip. Sold her my maths books and GC. Finally sold off everything. Happy girl!

On Sunday, it was resting day. Finally I have a weekend of not going out. I've been constantly going out during weekends and sometimes weekdays that I just wana stay at home and rest. And since I had reunion dinner with my mum's side of the family, we decided to just stay home.

 So that was my weekend. Next weekend will be CNY eve already!

10 Days. One month. The Time

I tweeted and updated my status about this but I cant seem to get over the fact that I have only a month left in Malaysia. It kinda saddens me a bit cuz I am really gona miss my family and my super cosy home. But the thing is, so many of my friends, approximately half of the people I know are actually going overseas mainly Aussie to study which sorta calms me down a little knowing I have friends there. And I'm considered kinda lucky since Pei Yu is taking the same course and going to the same campus as me. Not only that, we're housemates! So I kinda feel a little better. At least I know someone in Aussie. I have people telling me they went to Aussie alone, knowing no one, starting life in a whole new country all by themselves. I dont think I'll manage. I was supposed to fly to Aussie on my own but I couldn't do it and I'll probably cry like a baby there so my mum insisted she followed me, pheeeww. Yes, I'm pampered. Since young in fact. Which is why I'm gona miss home so much :( 

So, Chinese New Year's in about 10 days exactly. Seriously, it's either me or it's the time that's passing super fast lately. I thought 2011 was fast enough but seems like 2012 is passing even faster. I have like chores to do and spring cleaning for the new year and gosh, it's never ending. I'm like complaining and asking for a maid but seriously, the amount of cleaning I have to do is crazyyyy! My family just cleared god knows how many bags of recycled items yesterday and I'm super glad about it since my porch is becoming a recycling centre. I'm so glad that my house is just a 2 and a half storey terrace. If I were to stay in a bungalow whatsoever, I'll probably die of exhaustion. 

Other than CNY stuff, I have my Aussie stuff to pre-pack as well. Why I say pre-pack is because I tend to list down the stuff I need to buy and after I buy them, I put them all in a box. You would think I list down and buy all at once but no. My mind doesn't seem to work lately so I have to keep going out to buy in case I missed out something. I'm like way ahead of others since I bought loads of stuff already. By loads I mean loads. All the stationeries and toiletries are practically done. Kinda proud of myself, heh :)

The Story of My Toe

I was being a Chung Mae, as careless as always and knocked my toe onto something. Best part, I didn't even know what I knocked myself onto, champion -.-. I felt the pain but I thought, aiya, I always knock myself onto something anyways. Little did I know blood was oozing out like water. Yes, seriously, like water, not exaggerating. So, common sense, any human would take a tissue and absorb the blood and that was what I did. But, it kept flowing out so I tried another option which was running my toe under water. No change. So I used a handkerchief to tie around the toe to stop the blood. All I could think of was to stop the blood by whatever method.

While I was doing that, my mum called: Mae, come help me. So I hopped down the stairs, helped her with what she wanted me to do and she saw my handkerchief-tied-toe. She asked what happened so I said: I knocked myself onto something and blood kept flowing out. That was THE MISTAKE I made. The next minute, she took some watermelon powder or similar and poured it onto the wound. The moment she did that, AHHHHHH! I screamed like an idiot. Jumped up the stairs away from her and I could feel my wound stinging. The pain was fcking unbearable I almost died there. Obviously, my mum won't stop there, she came up, put cotton wool on it and the stinging came again and obviously the AHHHHH and this time I cried. I kept whining and my mum finished it off by putting cotton wool and plaster. You think she stopped there but she pressed it, OMG I wanted to just faint there and then. After the plastering was done, I literally just laid on the bed and just didn't want to move. Obviously, as stubborn as I was, I stood up, and my toe was numb. I couldn't even feel it. It felt as though I had only 4 toes.

Moral of the story: never tell my mum if I ever injured myself again.

The Crazy Week of Outings and Shoppings

The whole week of last week was practically me going out. And I mean going out every single day. I went out so much that I didn't realise one whole week just passed by. My sister's in a private school now so she's only home at 5pm. I practically have the whole house to myself from morning to evening. But, I didn't make use of the whole house to myself thing cuz my friends have been asking me out, wanting to spend more time with me before I fly off which is really sweet and god knows why I set the dates all a day after another. Not complaining just kinda curious why I did that but it was fun just kinda exhausted by the end of yesterday.

On Tuesday, my godmother took us out for lunch and to shop a bit at One U. Little did I know, we spent 8 hours there. That was like the longest time I've spent at One U. Had Sushi Zanmai for dinner as a treat from my godfather. I somehow will never go home without buying anything, FML, so I got myself a Uniqlo hoodie which was on some anniversary sale. Super comfy, best hoodie I've ever gotten, hands down. 

On the remaining Wednesday, Thrusday and Friday, I went out with the ones which the last time I seen them was ages ago. One was Pui Li, another was Yvonne. I mentioned about my outing with Pui Li in an earlier post so no need for me to repeat again. So, on Friday Yvonne was kind enough to take me to Taylor's for me to submit my visa application online and I spent an hour or more there. The newbie at the placement centre wasn't experienced and Miss Jenny was at the awards ceremony so I had no choice but to do it myself. After all the procedures yada yada yada, finally went for brunch at Sushi Zanmai. She wanted to get me something for me to bring to Aussie so we went shopping. In the end, she got me a scarf and I got myself a knitted scarf and a simple long sleeved top. I realised I've been buying a lot of those long sleeved warm tops lately for winter and I almost have all kinds of colours.

Weekends are always family days so we always go out. And yes, everytime I go out, I will spend money. Its like my money wont stay the same amount whenever I go out. Gosh. I got 2 flats but I had a reason, which was: I threw 4 pairs of flats out. Not because I didn't like it or they were out of fashion but I wore them so much in my college days that they got so rotten and some were out of shape. So I bought 2 to replace the 4. I couldn't buy so many cuz I cant bring all of the to Aussie so 2 was a better option. Wait, you think my outing stopped here but it didn't. I had a yum cha session with both Viven and Yvonne at Coffee Bean cuz it's been almost 2 years since we 3 had a sit down together.

I was completely exhausted by yesterday evening. Wanted to just chill at home this whole week but I've to go back to college to sell of my books. It's good though, can finally see the bunch. Miss them!

Friends? How Sure Are You?

There's a reason for this title and it's because I've encountered one of the who-are-your-real-friends-days. So, here goes the story.

 I was supposed to go for a Penang trip with my high school friends either this week (6th-8th) or next week (13th-15th). But honestly, after what I heard of my own friends saying about me, I'm actually kinda glad I couldn't go. The reason why I'm not going was because 

1. I need to settle my visa application ASAP

2. I wasn't allowed to take a night bus (Transnasional/Konsortium) cuz of newspapers reporting bout bus drivers falling asleep ending up in accidents

So, my friend(s) think I'm purposely bailing them and giving excuses for not going after I gave suggestions and all. The only suggestion I gave (which was even before I went to Taiwan) was going with Aeroline cuz it's a much safer transport line and do it before CNY in January cuz Puili only finishes her exams on 30th Dec. So after New Years, they suggested the dates and had a small meeting to conclude stuff, I found out I couldn't go cuz I had lack of time due to the reasons above. After explaining and everything, they somehow don't understand that I've got a more important thing to handle which is settling my Aussie stuff (visa, checkups etc) before CNY. I was told that some of them got pissed with me and I was indirectly kicked out of this trip cuz they felt like my reaction to this trip was just meehhh. I'm like what the hack do you want me to do when I've got a WAAAY more important stuff to handle.

I was actually told this by one of them: Since you're so concerned about your Aussie stuff, then go find your friends there. Or something like that I dont remember. Who wants to keep a hatred message right?

 From this, I realised that no matter how long you were friends with someone, they can still judge you without getting their facts right. Yes, I'm damn concerned about my Aussie stuff. Why? I'm flying of next month and I have a lot of procedures to go through. I'm supposed to do my medical checkup within 48 hours after I lodge my visa and I have to lodge my visa ASAP because it takes a minimum of 2 weeks to get it done. And I was just told that my friend took a whole month to get it done even during normal period. And what more when now is the peak period?

 But no, they think I'm just simply giving an excuse because I don't wana go. In fact, after the medical checkup, I have dental and eye appointment to go for, back to college to sell off my books and spring cleaning my house for CNY since I dont have a maid now. I have my own responsibilities to handle, I can't just go off to Penang leaving my visa and checkups unsettled and come home from the trip regretting it because I dont have a visa which result in me not going to Aussie. Sorry, but that's not me. Whatever they wana think of me, I wont be able to stop them but all I know is this Aussie thing is more important to me than anything else. You know who you are. If you still doubt my reason and  think its bullshit, go ahead.

First Week of 2012

2012 is passing faster than I thought it would and the first week is almost over.

I've been going to malls a lot lately to get all the essentials needed for Aussie since stuff in Aussie will be waaaay more expensive than here and now, as of today, the exchange rate is 3.3. Crazy! So anyways, I've been stocking up on stationeries, some lip balms, moisturizer, pads, IKEA's foldable cloth kinda boxes for storage and loads of other household stuff. And I'm bringing as much stuff there as possible so that I wouldn't need to buy anything that I can actually bring from home there unless I really need it. And since I'm gona stay there for approximately 9 months each year, I'll probably bring half or three quarters of my stuff there which is kinda insane but what to do? Need to save as much as possible. I already listed down the many stuff I'm actually bringing there and wow, it's like never ending. I keep adding items to the list and seriously, no joke, I've a feeling my luggage will be overweight although my mum and I have like a combination of 50kgs baggage allowance plus 10kgs hand carry. Okay, hopefully it wont go overweight or else I have to pay RM88 for EVERY KG!

So for the next few weeks I'll be busy with settling my visa, checkups and CNY spring cleaning. Oh gosh, I'm so excited for CNY. And this year, my cousin from Aussie will be coming home with the new addition to the family. Can't wait! And now, I'm also going after the sales for warm clothes like those knitted long sleeved ones from MNG and Zara. They're soooo comfyyy. Oh, I've also got a sudden obsession with scarves, I have no idea why but I feel like it's a new accessory to wear in Aussie. I keep talking bout Aussie, seems like I'm excited but I'm also very berat hati to leave home and family especially my sis. Hopefully she can cope well with her long school hours and house chores after I'm gone.

Went for a catch up session over steamboat with Puili and gosh, I missed that woman! Took my SPM cert from high school and wow, changes can be seen from 2 years back. Anyhow, I'm really glad I'm over with the high school days. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I hated my high school whatsoever but college was a waaay better environment to study in.

That's pretty much all for the first 5 days of 2012

Modified New Years Resolutions 2012

It's not modified but I had 2 more to add so here's the 12 resolutions!

1. Cope and do well in Pharmacy, focus!
2. Spend lesser, save more. So indirectly, shop lesser (No kidding wei, this is A MUST)
3. Maintain my body, gain some weight (2kgs) or not my pants wont fit me!
4. Try to get a part time job in Aussie, earn some cash
5. Cook better & healthier food
6. End of the year trip to Italy! Or somewhere in Europe at least
7. Procrastinate lesser & work harder!
8. Control my stress level & do yoga?
9. Do more charity, good karma
10. Visit the cousins in Aussie
11. Buy stuff from aussie for the family :)
12. Stop worrying about things. Or should I say, worry lesser!
13. Live life to the fullest, make the most out of it :D

The Unforgettable 2011

1. Started college on the 19th of Jan, class of HB3. The most amazing and laugh-non-stop class. Super glad for the classmates, lecturers and the people in SAM. No doubt SAM was a crazy, hectic and stressful pre-u programme but with all of them, it was the best studying year I've had.
2. Achieved good results in the 2 big exams I've sat which is SPM and SAM. Was really happy that my hard work paid off. 
3. Got into Monash University for Bachelor of Pharmacy. Super thrilled although I'm kinda scared :/
4. Went to Singapore (finally) and Taiwan for holidays.
5. Spent my birthday with the high school bunch. Was surprised by them at my house and got thrown water balloons at. 
6. Had coke all over my 3 months old blackberry (that time), whole thing couldn't work but pheew, thank god they managed to repair it.
7. Started to pamper myself more, which was kinda bad ($$$) at the same time good for the soul, especially with all the body and face products.
8. Got addicted to Korean dramas for the first time. Actually could stay up till 5am to finish one drama. Gosh!
9. College prom was amazing. Danced till 12am for 2 hours plus, best night of my life!
10. Walked along the streets of Bukit Bintang at 1am in the morning to get McDonalds.
    
    
    HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY!
    HERE'S TO A GREAT YEAR AHEAD! :D:D