The Counting Down and Shopping Dilemma

We are already on the 4th day of August. Just a few more weeks before I get on that airplane and fly home to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I have done almost all of the shopping needed for my long list of nieces and nephews. I have learned that it is so much easier to find stuff/clothes for babies and toddlers but not so much for teens and young adults. It doesn't make it any easier that I haven't seen them for so long that I don't know what they like and how they dress.Or if their parents would like their daughters to wear dresses.

1 of my nieces wants a dress and upon checking with my older brother, he told me the mother might not like the idea. I feel sad that I can't get her what she really wanted. She never asked for anything before and not the type who would ask and ask and ask and be pesky like some other kids. According to my brother, she does wear dresses but not her own. She would sometime wear her aunty's (her mom's sister) dresses. What a dilemma I am in right now!


But I am not going to let that get into my head too much. I haven't been back for almost 6yrs for goodness sake. I just want to be with my family to celebrate Ramadhan and Eid for the first time with my husband next to me. Yup. We have never celebrated Ramadhan/Eid in Malaysia before. That is 1 of the reasons why it took us so long to take the trip. Because I wanted our first trip home to be for celebrating Eid. After almost 6 long years, we finally decided this year is it. And now that we have bought the tickets, it feels even more real. So let the count down begins!

Baju Kurung for Sale

As promised, here are the pictures of all 5 pairs of baju kurung available for sale. They are all brand new aka never been worn. The first 4 are in size M while the last one is size S. I think my brother and sis-in-law didn't realise they got that 1 pair in a smaller size. lol.


If you are interested in buying, please leave your email address in the comment section. Thank you. Again, I apologise but due to high cost of international shipping, these are only available for those living in the USA/Canada.

Coming Soon - More Baju Kurung for Sale

Hi all

Sorry for the long hibernation. Everyday I plan to update the blogs but laziness always come in-between.

Just to let everybody knows that we're going back to Malaysia for raya this year (woohoo!!) so I'm going to sell  all the baju kurung that my brother sent me last years. They are all brand new and has never been worn. I will post them here soon. Let me know if you all would be interested.

Oh another thing is that this is only for US, delivery or pick up. 

Our 1st Cruise - Carnival Cruise

Finally getting onboard!

The cruise was supposed to be 4d/3n from Long Beach, California to Ensenada, Mexico departing at 5.30pm on Friday and back on Monday at 8am. But nobody can do anything when mother nature strikes. We had a severe storm the week approaching to our weekend trip so the ship that was supposed to come in at 8am on Friday, didn't until 4pm. That means our cruise was pushed back. With the late checking-in and all, we finally got onboard around 8pm or 9pm. And boy were we tired! Went straight to the room to freshen up and then dinner. There was nothing much to do since the ship was still docked at LB Port. The club was close for private function ie wedding so we decided to just call it a night. I woke up around midnight and peeked at the window only to see that we're still docking. lol.

Waiting for breakfast

The next morning we got up pretty early around 6am and decided to find something to eat. Unfortunately breakfast wasn't fully served until 7am so we explored the ship to find out what is where. The ship is huge but not obscenely huge. I guess that is why it's used for short cruises. They do have 'basic' amenities to keep passengers occupied like different restaurants, pubs/clubs, casino, theater (not a movie theater), duty-free shop, gym, spa and kid's activity room. When it comes to food, we both agreed the foods at cafeteria is much better than at the formal dining rooms.

1 of the smoking sections

The cruise cost us around USD800 for seaview room and food, coffee, juices, water all included. You would have to pay for soda and alcohol. It is cheaper to buy the alcohol coupon online through their website and have it sent to your room. Any drink bought onboard will be charged an additional 15% gratuity and that includes bottled water. Everybody is allowed to bring either soda/water but there is a maximum that you can bring. Check their (Carnival) website for details or you can always call their representatives. We brought a six-pack soda and put it in our luggage so we don't have to carry it with us and a water bottle that we just refill. It is advisable to bring water or an extra water bottle that you can refill since a liter bottle cost around $4.

Every morning they would give you the daily activities and time schedule so you can plan your activities. My advise is, read them! You'd want to know where you want to eat and what since they have Taste of the Nation/World everyday at the cafeteria and the food changes. They would also have the show's time and what's going on on different part of the ship be it karaoke, champagne/art/jewellery auctions or hairy-chest competition! :P

View from our breakfast table

I'm in Mexico!

Because of the delay, we only stopped at the Ensenada, Mexico on Sunday instead of Saturday. Our plan was to go for the atv ride but apparently it was cancelled due to the mud no thanks to the heavy rain prior to our cruise. Going for the excursions is not cheap. The bus ride alone would cost you USD15/pp each way. Since I am very frugal, we just walked around the small tourist town near the port.

At America Bar, another smoking section

You know it!

Emergency briefing at the deck on Level 10

All in all the cruise was worth it and enjoyable. It is very convenient since LB Port is only 15min drive from our place and we can just park our car at the carpark building which cost 15/day.

The 1 thing that I was not happy about was getting off the ship. There were 2 lanes and Michael was already queuing on 1 lane and I joined him later only to find out at the front that it was for US citizen only. Apparently for cruises, GC holders are supposed to queue at the non-citizen lane unlike at the airport and non of the ground crew said anything. So I had to go all the way back, and it was a long one on the non-citizen lane. Nope, I was not happy at all. Ground crew was not as good as the onboard crew and I did express my dissatisfaction. Only then they started announcing the 2 different lanes.

So that was our 1st cruise experience. Should anybody ask if I would recommend Carnival Cruise, I would definitely say yes!

Scottish Band

Things To Do

1. Shopping for milk, soda and sea-sick medication.

2. Laundry

3. Packing (note to self, are 4 pair of shoes enough? hmmm)

4. Get hair done

In the meantime, lets hope the storm ends quickly so I get to do all those stuff that I plan to do before we leave for our 1st cruise!

Thanksgiving Celebration

At first we weren't sure if we really want to cook a whole turkey or just get the turkey breast. In the end we decided to get a whole turkey because eversince we got married, we've never had our very own turkey. The first 2 years of our marriage, we always go to his parents house for Thanksgiving and the 3rd year, we were already here in California.

The invitations were sent a week before Thanksgiving to our friends whom like us, don't have any family here. That will be Shirley and Kevin, another Malaysian living in SoCal and Tab and his family who were here on a business/holiday trip. Once everybody confirmed they are coming, we started planning of what to cook.

Unlike the previous 'parties' where I always have more asian foods than western, this time I try to make more of Michael's food than mine. Our menu that day was rather simple. The turkey was done with minimal marinade. Mashed potatoes with gravy. Corn of a cob. Steamed mixed vegetables. Coleslaw. Sweet bun which were store bought. The only thing asian was the rice which I cooked with a little bit of chicken stock to make it taste a bit like chicken rice to go with the turkey.

Shirley and Kevin who just got back from their emergency trip to Malaysia brought some stuff that my brother and sister-in-law and my friend Bert bought for me. Among the stuff was serunding specially ordered from Kelantan. My favourite! Thank you Rizal, Fara and Bert for buying me the stuff and Shirley and Kevin for bringing them back for me!

My Personal Take on New Moon the movie

The long agonising wait which basically started right after I walked out of the movie theater last year watching Twilight is finally over. The longing for New Moon grew bigger and bigger especially after I got myself all 4 books of the Twilight saga. Yesterday, Saturday Nov 21 at 10.30am, the wait was finally over. At least for me!

Let me explain first why I am writing what I am writing. I fell in love with twilight saga the moment I watched the trailer for Twilight the movie on tv. At that time, I have never even heard of the books but somehow the scene of Edward confronting Bella in the woods about him being a vampire just tug my heart. I think my heart might have even skipped a beat or two!

Now for New Moon. Director Chris Weitz were lucky to have been chosen to direct the movie with such big budget and an already well known movie with HUGE followers. He doesn't have to be afraid of a flopped movie. Twi-hards are not going to let that happen. No matter how hollow the movie is.

So on my part. I am not loving the movie ... yet! As awesome as the clothes everyone wore, the movie IMO lack the 1 thing that is the essence of the twilight saga that is LOVE. I cried my eyes bucket when I read the book. All 3 times of it especially when Edward decided that leaving Bella is the best way in making sure she is safe and then later when Charlie told Alice what happened to Bella during their absence. When they showed the part in the woods, I waited and waited and then .... nothing. I personally feel that the scene was made in a hurry. Well, actually I feel the whole movie was made in a hurry and somehow Chris Weitz (CW) forgot to add emotions in the movie.

There are a few things in the movie that made me cringe.

1) is of course the lack of emotions. CW practically ignored facial expressions. Watch for it when you go see the movie especially between Edward/Bella and Jacob/Bella. The other person's expression just doesn't seem to connect and it was so frustrating.

2) is when they are with the Volturi and Alice showed Aro the future of Bella as vampire. Bella and Edward running in the woods. Boy! Was it cheesy or what??? Ewww.

3) is the fact that a lot of the important scripts are taken straight out of New Moon's book word-for-word. It made me feel that somehow Melissa Rosernberg the scriptwriter either hates CW or she was told to write it differently and take the wordings out of the book so it would help director CW whom I doubt read the book before he directed it.

4) almost forgot about the part of Bella in the woods after Edward left her. We are supposed to feel her pain but CW's directing with a spinning camera made me sick. Literally.

The only reason I understood the movie is because I have read the book 3 times. It helps in filling up the emptiness of the movie. The only reason I cried a little bit when watching it is because I know what happened. If I had watched the movie without reading the book, I seriously doubt I would get the feelings, the emotions, the heart-wrenching, the fear and everything else that (should)come with the movie.

Saying all that, will I buy the dvd and watch it again? Hell yeah! What choice do I have being a twilight fan but, have the whole collection of the books and dvds? Who knows maybe the movie is better the second or third time I watch it. But 1 thing for sure, it would be very interesting if Catherine Hardwicke were to make a different version of New Moon movie. Maybe I would feel more connected?

If you are a twihard but haven't watch New Moon yet, do go see it for yourself but really try not to think so much about the book. Just go with the flow and let's hope that Eclipse would be better.