Post race

It's six days post Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

Haven't ran all week. Just watched the video captured of myself at the finishing line at marathon-photos.com.

Feeling restless though. Maybe a short run tomorrow morning. Hope sore throat and runny nose is all better by then.

It's Green

Someone in advertising said to me awhile ago, "bloggers will blog about their coffee being black"....

So why not a blog post about my hair conditioner being green? :P haha... taking it a bit literally... 

Anyhoo, the hair conditioner that am using now is green. I suspect it's some seaweed ingredient in it that makes it green. Why seaweed? The hair product is from Japan. Why should I guess, why not just read off what's on the product label? The label is all in Japanese. How did I come to know of this product? The lady at the hair products store recommended it to me. 

Here's 2 pics of it - translation anyone? 

 

Had to finish off that post that I started last week when I was dry on blogging material.

Other more exciting news - personal record for a half marathon at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon! Woohooo!!! 2hr19m. :) Didn't quite make my target time of 2hr15m although I thought I was on track during the run. Felt really good during the run. Wore a Nike sleeveless tank top that I borrowed from sis for the run - think it kept me cool to the point of getting goosebumps at some parts of the race. So can i keep the top? *blinks innocently*

Think will do a proper blog post on the run after this. Feel like I have so much to say that I will not be able to contain my cheong hei-ness in just one paragraph above.

Other news - sister permed her hair! :) Permed... into curls.. hehehe.... she's had it straightened forever. Think she looks pretty good with it. Very different, but good different. Her friend calls it bombshell curls. :) Pic below of her getting her curls dried in the diffuser.

Did my hair too :) Hopefully will look less like a maid when I go out now... after the mandatory 3 days 'no wash hair' rule though. :)

Brotzeit, German Bier Bar & Restaurant

So, my botak friend told me about this new babi restaurant that recently opened during one of our, now, rare kopi sessions. He was telling me about how popular the place was and how everyone was heading over there for makans.

Where was it? At midvalley, near where Chilli's restaurant was.

So last Friday, the husband and I were deciding what to eat for lunch, while we were out with a friend. He suggested the coffee shop in Batai, Damansara Heights. I was like, let's go somewhere nicer to eat, since it was his birthday after all, which was when I remembered Brotzeit, which my botak friend had talked about.

Seems convenient enough, since we wanted to check out the Baby Expo that was going on in MV as well.

Headed over to MV and directions to the restaurant that was given was, near Starbucks. Yes - it was the same row as where Starbucks was, but No - it's not very near there, it's actually almost all the way to the other end of the row from Starbucks.

Approached it and was pleased that it looked like a nice open kinda pub. It's actually a German beer place. Ordered the recommended spicy bacon pizza. There were also lunch specials on and for RM19++ you could get a starter (choice of soup or green garden salad) and a main. Or for RM28++ you could add a third course of dessert. We had 2 lunch specials, one of which was the meatloaf as the main and the other was a farmer's platter of 2 sausages, mash potato, saurkraut and crispy pork. I was hungry, so I also added the bacon spread to the order.

A must try on the menu. My! The spicy bacon pizza certainly did not disappoint! It lived up to its expectations and the bacon spread was really yummy too! Came with 2 kinds of bread. yum yum! I could have just had the pizza and the bacon spread. But the meatloaf was tasty with the sunny side up egg. And the sausage platter was pretty good too, although I had preference for one of the sausages over the other - the one with the cheese inside. Yummmm.... :)

The verdict: Yes! Would definitely go back again. Also asked about them doing take aways for dinner, which they do!

We didn't finish the pizza, so here's the leftover. It was too good to go to waste and was pretty sure my sister would enjoy a taste of it!

yeah - it's a square pizza... so tasty... am feeling the craving for it now! 

Contest update

Blackberry Torch Celcom nuffnang contest - didn't win. buggaaa...

saw the winning posts... looks like mine only! cheh

Overhead - The Berries Talking....

Credits:

Have to remember to thank Jason Mumbles for the screenshot I stole above! Thank you! Thank you! Sorry, I had to crop out your watermark as well, cause I couldn't fit the image into the image of the phone. But, what a great review about the Blackberry OS6. Definitely seals the decision to get the Torch! So envy that you got to get a set from Maxis for your review *green eyes with envy*

So, nuffnang, my last plea for a free phone is based on pity factor. See the picture of my crackberry above? :( Been bearing with it for so long, a free Torch would rank you tops of my mostest favouritest! Please please, pretty please with a cherry on top! 

I think that's it. 

Pretty please!!!!! 

If Only....

.... this was possible?!

Stumbled across this when I was searching for breastfeeding articles. Read all about a man's attempt to lactate here. 

Motherhood....

I've heard some people say that motherhood is a journey, rather than a destination. Such wisdom - I totally agree, having just embarked on this journey. And my journey has been more of a transformation process...

Firstly, during pregnancy, my body slowly but surely grew into that of a whale-like proportions. Anyone who's ever been pregnant will attest to the fact that once your belly starts growing, you start to feel like a beached whale. Well, what did you expect with the extra 12-15kgs? And that is just the healthy weight gain that is recommended for a normal pregnancy. What about those who end up putting on more than than the recommended weight gain? You end up needing help getting out of bed, getting up from sitting on the floor (for whatever reason, you have decided to plonk your big whale-sized arse on the floor), having trouble putting on a pair sneakers on your own and even have issues with soaping your feet properly in the shower. Just to make sure you have no problems visualising what I am trying to say:

▲ beached humpback whale

The next stage of my transformation took the form of a lactating cow. In the first month, I was either feeding or pumping milk. That took precedence over washing my face, eating my meals, washing myself and making myself look decent. True story!

Baby was feeding once every 2 hours. And 2 hourly intervals were counted from the start of the feed before. So with baby on the breast for 30-45 mins, that leaves very little time in between feeds to do all those things I said in the paragraph above. At nights, we decided to give her feeds via bottle, since it was faster than feeding direct. And I woke up every 3 hours to express milk instead. During each pumping session, I was basically trying to squeeze every last drop of precious milk out to feed bub. And I mean, literally, squeeze. Coz after being on the pump (think if I remember correctly, it was about 20 minutes each side), I would express by hand just to get those last few drops out that usually escaped the pump. And when you're only getting 1-2oz of milk after 20 minutes on the pump, you start to have a new appreciation for the term "liquid gold".

It definitely wasn't what is depicted in the picture below:

Well, for starters, I didn't have a double pump. Secondly, my pump doesn't do handsfree. Thirdly, I also held a mirror so I could see the milk coming out. So definitely did not have any free hands to hold a liptstick to the face. 

Then came the 2nd month of baby's life. Freedom! Confinement was over and it was time for me to rejoin life outside the house. With a body that was still carrying a lot of pregnancy weight and water, hair that was constantly tied up because I felt sweaty all the time and feet that were still too big to fit any of my pre-pregnancy shoes, I ended up looking like the maid everytime we went out as a family. My husband was dressed nicely. The baby was dressed as cute as button. And I felt like the maid in my ill-fitting, in between sized clothes while I flip flopped around the mall with them. :( 

And so the motherhood transformation journey continues....

Panic Alert

Been awhile since my last post. Have so many things I wanna blog about but not enough time.. nor sleep! That's because baby has gotten a lot more active, staying awake longer, so spending more time entertaining her. And my 'free time' while she's asleep have been spent doing i-dunno-what! So just a quick post now before I go wake her up for her morning bath.

As a new mom traveling the motherhood road for the first time, it's like experiencing the world with a new perspective. When we go out now, we have an extra bag for baby's diaper stuff, we have one less seat in the car because of the baby car seat and less space in the boot because her stroller is there. So since we've started braving the world outside the home abit more, we're also learning how to navigate our frequently visited shopping malls for baby friendly areas - nursing rooms (these are almost non-existent in Malaysia) and diaper change places. SO.... imagine new mom, out with baby, nervous when she cries in public, I found this rather amusing when I was looking to change baby's diaper at Bangsar Shopping Complex:

A PANIC BUTTON right next to the baby changing station?!! hahaha... wondered who would come running if you pressed it in panic while trying to change your baby!

Breaking out the Onesies...

So it's been slightly over a month since baby came into our lives and the confinement lady who had been helping me take care of baby had come and gone. :(

Anyways, I was asking her when we should start putting baby in onesies - which I seem to have so many of, thanks to gifts from people :). Baby had only been in tops that open up in front because slipping clothes over her head would have been too difficult for anyone handling a newborn. She said after she's a month old when her neck is stronger... so there I was, going through her closet for the onesies after she turned a month old and to my horror - some of them were already too small for her! aiyo! they couldn't go over her big head. hehe... so started bringing out the other ones that said 0-3 months old so that they don't outgrow all her pretty clothes.

Here's the fashionista on parade:

Label: Mon Caramel

Long sleeved romper with matching long pants for the night

Label: Pumpkin Patch

Stripey short sleeved onesie with matching yellow mittens and socks

This was my koko's so looking a bit like a boy boy here

Label: Roca Wear

Purple puff sleeved onesie with pink mittens

How cute do I look? 

Label: Baby Biz

Red 3/4 sleeved romper

This is a bit too small for me already - see how there's only 1 button used?

Label: DKNY Baby

2 Piece long sleeved side buttoned top and long pants

Looking mega comfortable here

Label: Mothercare

Short sleeved onesie

Only got 1 photo of me in this since I was already crying for milk

Label: Baby Biz

Purple long sleeved romper 

You can't see it in the photo but it says '100% Adorable' on the front

Label: Carter's

Pink short sleeved onesie

Daddy couldn't stop saying "just too cute" the whole day 

That's all for now... will have more fashion updates at another time....  :)

You Know You're Breastfeeding When...

1. you indiscrimately grab your breasts.... not in a sexual way, to check which boob has more milk....
2. you search your wardrobe for a top to wear that would allow you whip your boobs in the least time possible...and they aren't for your other half's benefit....
3. you look at a the pacifier not as a saviour but as a rival to your breastfeeding efforts.... 
4. you are "baby-trained", ie you wake up at about feeding time waiting for baby to wake up eventhough you haven't had quite enough sleep yet
5. new parts of your body hurt/tingle, that didn't before, when you touch cold water...
6. you say 'BF' and you don't mean bestfriend...
7. you shriek in the bathroom when your "faucets" turn on...
8. you understand where the expression "crying over spilt milk" comes from and it's not just an expression anymore... 
9. the amount of poop in your baby's diaper gives you a sense achievement - telling you that she had a good feed on the breast earlier....
10. you wonder if there was anyone else who might walk in through the door while you were nursing... don't people knock anymore?!

But it's all worth it....

Sleep Deprivation Is...

When you can't figure out if you used liquid body wash or shampoo on your hair while in the shower.. hurm....

She's Here....

SATC 2!

Gasp! I love the white dress that SJP wears in the trailer. I dunno when I'll be able to fit into something like that again.... well fit into it and look as good as she does in my own right... hurmmm.....

But enough about me, the 2nd movie does look exciting! I love Empire State of Mind and that song by Alicia Keys totally depicts New York - love! love! love! Love the extravagance of the outfits they are wearing when they are Abu Dhabi and can't wait to see more of it, espc Samantha interpreting Cleopatra fashion for the 21st century. *gasp* And Aidan.... he looks yum... and don't you love how SJP can show so much emotion in her puppy dog eyes. She's so different when she's with Big than when she's with Aidan.

Anyways, although the first movie was a little bit of a disappointment, it was disjointed and the dear 4 ladies are getting a little bit over the hill - they are not as vibrant as they used to be in the tv series, nevertheless, it's good to see them altogether again. So I look forward to see how their lives develop, with SJP and Mr Big tackling the possible baby issue and Charlotte moving along with motherhood - now mom to her adopted and own kid, etcc....

Can't wait!

Egg Tart update

There was a stage when I was going through an egg tart phase.. and had 1 a day for dessert after lunch... and hence the reason for this earlier post. Anyways, had since weaned myself off them after that time... and then tried another one from Mr. Siew Bao:

I got the Portugese Egg Tart, just to try something different. It is definitely not as good as the John King ones. The taste is there, but somehow John King can preserve the soft taste of the egg and the puffy light-ness of the pastry even while it stays displayed out of the oven.

The Mr. Siew Bao ones get crunchy and a bit tough at the pastry when you finally eat them. Not as good lar.

Date Night

Sister scored some free GSC tickets again and she wasn't going to use it, so guess who gets to benefit from them? Her favourite sister and brother in law of course. :) hehehe....

Went to redeem the movie tickets for Date Night - starring Steve Carrell (from The Office, US version) and Tina Fey (of SNL fame, and of course, for her role in 30 Rock). These two are our current favourite comedians. The husband, of course, loves Steve Carrell for his role as eccentric, crazy manager boss, whom no one listens to, in The Office, and also all the roles he's played in other recent movies. And Tina Fey, who could ever forget her rendition of Sarah Pallin in Saturday Night Live!

So you put these two together and it should be a recipe for a successful comedic movie.

Surprisingly, when husband went to redeem tickets just the night before scheduled showtime, he said not many tickets had been sold. And when we went to take our seats before the movie yesterday night, sure enough, the cinema was rather empty. Although, the last row of seats we were sitting at slowly filled up closer to the movie start time.

It's quite a simple story line, ordinary (boring) husband and wife couple with two kids living in the 'burbs wanted to spice up one night of their lives with a nice paktor dinner out to a fancy restaurant in the city. They end up getting entangled in a web of mystery and getting chased down by mobs after they decidedly took a reservation for a no-show couple at the restaurant.

The 'normal, ordinary' part of the story may ring true for a lot of married couples, and one that husband and I hope not to have later on when kids come. Getting woken up by the kids at 5am! OMG! Getting stuck in a rut of having an ordinary date night once a week... hehehe.. hasn't come to that point yet... so *fingers crossed*...

So, anyways, our movie ended at about 9.15pm, came home at 9.30am, showered and got into bed by about 10.30pm, when we both declared that we were tired and went to sleep shortly after! so much for crossing fingers.....

hahaha....

Updates

So, tis been a while since my last post. Been meaning to do an update post for a while.. but have not really been inspired. And when I was, things have become a bit outdated.... so hurm.....

Here's just some photos of random stuff over the last couple of weeks or so, which gives some idea as to what have been up to. 

▲ peanut encrusted crispies homemade by the maid, had this with 

gado gado, there were also ikan bilis encrusted ones but no picture

Also, the lou koong took me to have chilli pan mee at Kin Kin one of the Saturday afternoons. The wait was long and I was hungry and the boss' son was busy throwing his temper around scolding his helpers. Anyways, when the food finally came, it was such a small serving. And the soup didn't come with the noodles.... till later. Wolfed down the whole bowl quite quickly, eventhough I was consciously trying to make it last longer by eating each mouthful slowly and deliberately. The wait was so long and when the food came, so unsatisfying - decided the chilli pan mee wasn't going all the way there anymore. humph.... but not before going home with 4 packets of tapau and sharing another packet with the husband at home, to up the satiety level a little bit. 

▲ standard chilli pan mee - u only order how many bowls you want - make sure u order your

takeaway orders at the same time, otherwise u end up at the bottom of the queue again.

▲ the chilli that you add yourself to your pan mee

Also bought some Ikea furniture over the last couple of weeks. Am sure most of you know that Ikea furniture requires self-assembly.... was just amused at illustrations on the assembly instructions... hehehe

▲ caption: dun crack the corners, but put it on a magic flying carpet

and sayang ur furniture? hahahaha

▲ caption: what's in the box? hurm... 

Project Alpha!

A little over a while ago, I was enticed into starting a blog by my sister.... she had started working in the online media industry and had gotten insight into how you could earn money just by writing stuff on your mind and publishing it over the world wide web for all to see.... "hurm, how hard could that be? Just writing whatever crap that's on your mind and all the kepohs in the world would read it?"

Anyways, fast forward to where I am now... using my blog as sort of a showcase for my photography (although I've only been using the compact camera recently instead of very sayang-ed DSLR) and bit of journalism where I get to write what I think is hopefully read-worthy stuff.... I am still constantly awed by this new media that keeps opening up opportunities for one to broadcast themselves. There're blogs and then there's youtube (am sure you've heard about those who have found fame by posting their homemade videos on youtube) and then there's embedding your youtube videos on your blogs! :)

For those of us who don't live in the land of opportunity, ie the US of A, and feel that we are disadvantaged in terms of getting "discovered" on the internet, here's your chance for a stab at fame:

You can now send in an audition to be a Project Alpha TV Star!  

What is Project Alpha? It's a Malaysia wide campaign to bring to you the real life of the top bloggers in our country.

How? Well you can find out all about it here. For those who are itching for that little bit of fame, please do check out how to participate.

Project Alpha's Facebook

Project Alpha Season 2 is presented by Adidas Action 3 and supported by P1 and MAS. Auditions are now open! Check it out at www.projectalpha.com.my/auditions or projectalpha.ruumz.com/groups.

Chop Chop

If you recall way back when, we discovered that Logan only had one descended testicle. The advice the vet gave then was to wait a few months to see if the other would descend. If it didn't, it was advisable to remove it as it would susceptible to being cancerous later on in his life. Well, it hasn't, so on Monday, he was finally taken for the chop :).

When I came back that evening, he looked way miserable.... probably still wearing off the after effects of the general anaesthesia. Plus, poor doggies are never meant to be put in cones, they just look much worse for wear.

Here was the face the greeted me that evening:

▲ his eyes were red, probably because he was still groggy from the GA

Instead of his usual perky self when anyone went to say hello to him, he was barely lifting his eyelids to see who it was.... poor puppy....

The next morning, the maid was gonna take him for his morning walk, but he only made it to the front of the car porch... but he looked much better... no more bloodshot eyes... and was more responsive....

▲ he came over to the grill to let me pat his head, eyes not red anymore after

a good night's sleep

▲ the manja fella... kept his head resting in between the grills even 

after I was done patting and giving him the sayangs

This morning, he seems back to his usual self.... jumping up at the kitchen window to see what and who's cooking.... hehehe....

Oh ya, he also went for an x-ray for his hips while he was out cold as he looked like his hind legs were bowed. Vet says that his hip dysplaxia was quite severe with only about a quarter of his bone sitting in the socket. This will inevitably cause joint pains when the fella is older and the solution when it gets to that stage would be surgery.

How come dogs are able to bring about such emotions in human beings? Are they the smarter creature?

Painting #2

As my blog seemed to be transforming fast into a food blog, I had to quickly post this up:

Tadah! Finally.... my completed butterfly painting.... it was unfinished for quite a long time, as you can see on this post, it has been close to a month! What was the hold up - I was missing blue colored paint, which I finally went to get from Czip Lee Plus. So, what cha thinks? It's still rather cartoony, ie, where there isn't much tone, etc... just merely making sure the colors fill the spaces without running too much out of line.

Speaking of painting, was at Bangsar Village 2 and randomly walked into one of the shops selling paintings (there are about 3 of them at the top floor now) and saw this series of 8 paintings. They were oil on canvas paintings, in a series of 8, for each of the 8 chinese gods, done by a Chinese painter. His name was Duxi, or another pin yin variant spelling of his name. I really liked those paintings (too bad I can't find images of it on the internet to post up here) and his style seems to be painting Chinese characters in a cartoony caricature but with loads of details for the Chinese garments. Took the husband to the same shop after that time and the 8 paintings had been packed up, ie SOLD! Take a guess how much the set sold for.... they are roughly the size of an A4 piece of paper each. C'mon, your best guess...

RM52,500!!!

Damn, I should've been an artist!!! He's got one more bigger sized piece still hanging in the shop also going for the same price. It's worth a look, I think the detailing is really pretty... this one depicts some Chinese soldiers battling each other. 

I have another empty canvas waiting for me.... :) what next? 

Happy Belated St Pat's Day

St Pat's Day was last Friday. And am celebrating it ala Cupcake Chic style with their special St Pat's Day cupcakes just today! :) Sis got them from the Curve last Friday.... just had the belgian chocolate wan which was delicious - the cake was moist and soft, and the icing was creamy delicious.... tis definitely finger licking! (move over KFC)....

▲ Foreground: Leprechaun Chocolate Cupcake (Belgian Chocolate cupcake 

with chocolate frosting edged with green sprinkles) 

Background: Pot O' Vanilla Gold Cupcake (Vanilla cupcake with Green Vanilla frosting)

▲ the inside of the Leprechaun Cupcake - yes, it was as moist and 

as finger licking good as it looks here in the photo

▲ haven't tasted this yet

Ze Bacon Burger....

So since I read this blog post, I have been craving for a burger just like that. Well, it's more like since I saw the photo at the blog post:

▲ Paul's Famous Hamburgers @ Sylvania, Sydney, Australia

Doesn't that look exceptionally sumptious? Incidentally, Paul's Burgers located at Sylvania was near my husbands' family home in Sydney! To put things into perspective, husband and I used to live at least 45 minutes of no-traffic-Sunday-evening-drive away from each other in Sydney. And if you've ever lived in Sydney, you'll know that it's a big big city that requires planning for logistics everytime you decide to go anywhere. So, my point is, Paul's Burger being located in Sylvania, warranted a HOW-COME-YOU-NEVER-TOOK-ME-THERE to the dear husband.

In any case, saying that to him in KL definitely didn't bring me any closer to that burger. So the search for it in KL was on. Got a few suggestions from my fb status update on where to find a good pork burger in KL. One that looked promising, judging from the description of it in the menu, was at Brussels, as suggested by Larry:

▲ He said it was delicious.... 

In any case, decided that I shall make one of my own... and sister was over to have 1 too:

▲ Left: sister's burger with Bega slice cheese Right: husband's burger with mustard, no cheese

Both are ramly beef patties wrapped in fried egg with bacon

And here's mine in the making: 

▲ First, toasted the buns and melted the cheese before slapping on garlic butter , 

then added the bacon, squirted the Japanese mayo over the bacon

 

▲ Left: View of bacon on melted wrinkly Bega slice cheese 

Right: Ramly beef burger patty wrapped up in fried egg on bacon

▲ The completed burger: garlic buttered roll, back bacon, fried egg, ramly beef patty, 

bega slice cheese, mayo, tomato ketchup

It was void of vegetables.. hahaha.. so i just ate the lettuce on the side... was yummy and satisfying... definitely hit the spot. The husband agrees... :) 

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FARK! Just saw the below on this post: 

▲ Hamburger with egg, bacon, cheese, pineapple, beetroot, with BBQ and 

chilli sauce and caramelised onions..... 

I think I need another burger....