Stuff Your Face, BSC

Apologies if the pictures are a bit dark.

 

Lunch today was at BSC. Saja je google for a place to eat at BSC and friedchillies recommended this place.

Located at the kids' floor at BSC, as warned, the place is rather noisy with expat kids running around - can't imagine this place during weekends.

 

Anyway, few weeks back I ordered the wrong chicken chop at Coliseum (was craving for hainanese style chicken chop but ordered the black pepper one instead) so I thought I'd give this place a try.

 

Eyy, not bad lah! But of course the winner of all Hainanese Chicken Chop would be Cozy Corner man! But Stuff Your Face's chickchop will be a good back-up plan if I'm in the mood for one.

 

Oh shit I just realised they now have Cozy Corner at Jaya 33!

 

Anyway, I digress. My colleague ordered the chicken curry (in a tiffin no less) but the curry was spicy but tasteless. Blergh. My latte wasn't that great either. For an RM10 latte I'd be more satisfied with an RM8 latte at SanFran Coffee.

 

Didn't get to check out the desserts though - they have fried Mars Bar! Will probably come again to check it out.

 

Now, who wants to bring their kids for a playdate with me and my rowdy cowboy soon?

Plan B

I wanted to type Plan B just now but terlajak type Plan BN. Oops!

 

Been craving carbonara for days, but didn't have the time to drag my husband for my carbonara fix either at Food Foundry or Pizza Uno.

 

Today by chance I ended up at Plan B over at BV1. Decided to give their carbonara a shot and wahey for RM19 I get a very tasty & rich meal!

My colleague had fish&chip but it wasn't your typical one because it is served like a burger. The fish 'burger' is thick and juicy.Recommended as well.

 

I hate eating at places that are noisy, especially when the table next to mine is so close that I can't help but eavesdrop la kan. I'm not the type who likes to listen in on other people because I can never keep my face straight but I have no choice here. ;p I can't carry a conversation for more than 5 minutes so it was nice to see the dating couple talking about many things from Bersih to religion to books and the list goes on... I bet the guy has a set of questions that can last him for the whole day! Bravo.

 

The lady who sat next to me has a nice Prada bag. She kept feeling her bag, probably worried that I might run with it and scream "The Prada is mineeeeeeee!". ;p

 

Too afraid to walk, I might fall over.

(sleepy)

Makin dekat dengan Ramadhan, makin kuat rindu pada arwah Danial. I don't know what's wrong with me but I miss him terribly. Every single day teringatkan pada arwah, especially during my long drive to work/home. All I can do now is to doakan kesejahteraannya di sana.

:(

Rasa macam nak muntah dah pergi hair salon. I can't seem to be satisfied with my new hairstyle -- no idea why, perhaps now that I'm getting older, my hair texture has changed as well (tapi perangai masih di takuk lama yes?). Fed-up. I want to look good when I go back to work, since I can't impress my colleagues with my weight. Why is it that when someone comes back from maternity leave, people will be expecting that person to lose weight? Come on. Shallow sungguh. When I had my first baby, my excuse for not losing weight was that I am preparing for second baby, buat penat je kalau lose weight sebab nanti akan naik balik. Bollocks. But it kept everyone quiet. But now I have no excuse at all. I JUST LIKE BEING FAT ALRIGHT?!! Yeah. Emo pulak saya.



I'm not really looking forward to go back to work. I miss my colleagues, but I think the dynamics of the department have changed. Not sure how much of this is true, I'm gonna have to check it out myself. 3 of my favorite people that I work with (from our ad agency and HQ) have quit too so I foresee there will be some problems ahead. Tak tahulah. A job is a job is a job. I'm comfortable here. Not sure if other people feel the same though.

Enough about work.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could sleep and hug my boys at the same tight. Peluk mereka kuat-kuat. I want them to know I love them tremendously.

It's been a crazy 3 months and on the 20th I go back to work. Funny, last year I couldn't imagine myself having two kids, now I can't imagine NOT having two kids. Both boys are so different from one another and everyday I am experiencing new things. Rumi, the feral child; Emre, the giver of smiles. Motherhood has taught me to learn not to lose my cool easily, but it has also taught me to reciprocate -- the children comes first, while my needs can come later, or never. Not that it's a bad thing.

In a nutshell, motherhood is a Pyrrhic victory for me against many of my insecurities and flaws -- everyday I can only pray that my little family will continue to be blessed with so much love and happiness.

Now if only I could lose few more pounds...

Great, just when was in the mood to update, blogger was pulak down. Boo.

Anyway, I have about a month or so to be with the kids full time before I start work on the 20th June. It’s been fun staying at home with the kids. Well, most of the time it’s fun. Bathe the kids, figure out what to eat, do laundry, watch tv, fold laundry, attempt to cook (once) aaaand at the same time watch over the abang who likes to bully the adik. Love works in mysterious ways, I tell my friend Chee, even if it involves tarik rambut adik / cucuk mata adik / squeeze kaki tangan adik / lepuk kepala adik, you know, that sort of brotherly love thing.

I’m watching Julie & Julia for the umpteenth time right now. Fast forward to Julie Powell sections only. She is me – we never finish anything. I have not touched my camera for weeks, my photobook project never took off, my cooking has gotten worse etc. etc. My rice was overcooked, my fried chicken terlebih kunyit, my egg masak tomato was too spicy. *sigh*

This is how my hair looks like these days – the epitome of servantless working mom. Eh, ini excuse sahaja, I’m not even working right now!



Have a good weekend. Saya nak makan red velvet cake.

My mother used to spend hours in front of the tv sambil melipat baju dan melayan sinetron/telenovela. I would do the same but both sinetron/telenovela -- I cannot tahan. Marshanda/Bintang/Kejora should all die a slow painful death like the slow-motion shots that happens every five minutes in the sinetron. Marshanda punya slow-mo shot mesti dengan mulut ternganga which I don't get at all. An expression of guilt, or anger, or shock doesn't need to be with a open mouth no?

Telenovela(s) are as horrible, because Pinoys dress like whores and their boobies are too big for their body. And they have talking dogs! But I shall not comment much about telenovela. My adik angkat is now dating a Filipino (I don't know how to tell him that she looks like a man with overblown boobies and fake lips). Mwahaha.

Gambar di atas? Tiada kena mengena dengan topik yang dibincangkan di sini. I got bored.

p/s: I secretly wish Malaysian dramas can be made panjang berjela rentak berlipat like sinetron&telenovela. Si Capik doesn't count.

My little bat is asleep (he'll probably wake up by the time I'm sleepy!) and I should take this little chance to update this space. But I don't really have anything to say right now. Another bad weekend for me so hopefully next week things will get better. I keep telling my husband that "I'm trying very hard", you know, just to act like a sane wife but sometimes I just get too tired and sick of myself. Sometimes I just want to duduk dalam store and cry myself out because talking about it would make things worse.

But inilah cabaran kehidupan wanita berpantang. Dalam masa 44 hari senang sahaja you lose grip of your sanity. Just few more days to go, Nate. Berusahalah!

Lepas ni kita pergi shopping okay. Duit bonus masih menanti untuk dihabiskan tanpa berfikir dua kali.

If my calculation is correct, I should finish my pantang on 2nd May. But if I wanna cheat and go for the 40 days confinement instead of the punishing 44 days, it'll be end of April.

Yah, yah, berusahalah Nate!

(I think I've been punished enough)

My little oppa, yang pandai membawa diri.

Mana ada sepi!

Anyway, having someone close to you lose her baby at a babysitter has made me extra paranoid about bringin up kids. It's not just about the issue of negligent babysitters, but also the weight of bringing a child into this world and ensuring that you don't have to see your child go before you do. A morbid topic of discussion, yes, it's something that every parents fear I suppose. Or should we just bertawakal and berserah pada ketentuan Allah sahaja? I could, but since I'm in confinement, I'm allowed to wallow myself in insecurities and fear for my children.

(wow, I said 'children'. 10 years ago mana ada terfikir to have kids.)

Anyway, I still have another 2 months to decide on what to do next once I start working again. Nak hantar ke daycare or not? Find a babysitter? Status quo? I will find my answers then.

In the meantime, I got some online shopping to do and sputter some merapu-ness on my twitter before kid Emre wakes up. It's kid Rumi's first day at the cinema with his dad today. Harap-harap dia behave.

Today I watched Life as a House (the dying father re-built a house, rediscovering the lost bond he had with his miscreant son) and thought, would I'd be a different person if I lost my dad from a terrible illness instead of having him yanked from my life all of a sudden?

But I lost Danial from cancer and I'm still regretting the time not spent with him. I don't know where this entry is heading, I just miss them both very much. *sigh*

Note to self: That's it, no more sad movies for me. Life is a great big canvas kan, I still have a lot of space to paint it with happiness.

Still alive. Takde mood nak update apa-apa. My new little bat is lovely, kita namakan dia Emre, and I'm just waiting for the 40 days to be over!!! Nghhhhhhhhhhh! :)

I can wait.

Damn I'm huge. a photo by natinski on Flickr.

With the recent developments in Japan, I feel that giving birth is the least of my worry right now. I packed my hospital bag, while my in-laws in Yokohama packed their evacuation bags. Hope everybody will be safe.

I'm officially on MC now. Not sure when will I pop, maybe this week, maybe not.

Refrain!

Yes I do realize that I should start buying stuff for the 2nd kid but! Why does everything has to look so nice these days?!!

Sent via BlackBerry from space.

Had lunch at Bumbu Bali today (I never say no to free food). The last time I was there was like 7 years ago - so when my sister-in-law asked "what's good there?", I dare not say much. I can't remember. Surely you can't go wrong with Indonesian food yes? And always choose chicken. Chicken never disappoints! Heh.

Well the food didn't disappoint. Everything was good but the surefire winner was the apple splash mocktail. Hmmm sedapnya, on a hot scorching day I don't mind having glasses of this lovely drink.

Alamak nak hujan. Mahu angkat kain.

Laksam di hati

Sent via BlackBerry from space.

Our kid, Idris Rumi

Our kid, Idris Rumi
Originally uploaded by natinski

Wish I was as talented as my husband. :)

When the 2nd baby comes out, I feel the need to apologize to him for drinking too much coffee.

What I'm wearing:
Star Wars tee from Uniqlo
Stretchy pants from Pengkalan Kubur, Kelate
Double chin
(ha ha!)

34 weeks and counting. No crazy cravings for now but I do like my mee hoon goreng and chrysanthemum tea. And brownies. Shot this today while waiting for my kid to wake up, sungguh sangap. Husband was down with cough and diarrhea for the past few days and today my kid looks like he is on his way to recovery from diarrhea (yes him too) since last Sunday. He's all skins and bones now. Terjojol dah segala tulang. *sad face*

Well looks like my object of interest for the past few weeks are toys. First picture was taken yesterday - I managed to wash my kid's comfort Boo! Yeah! Not an easy feat because he needs his Boo every other hour. Julia the doll's pic was taken the day before at Rumi's cousin's house and the last pic is Rodney Copperbottom. He is mine. No one is allowed to touch him except me. Sentimental value weh, a gift from my good friend few years back.

The 4 days break was a blessing for us workaholics to spend time with the family but today was slightly marred because Rumi had diarrhea! Adeh, not fun at all. So not looking forward to work esok. Pfttthhhh.

Can't really think right now when some units doing renovations and pounding away. My kid is asleep, love it when I have him all to myself. Menguji kesabaran sungguh! In a good way of course. :)

Esok cuti FT, I should take advantage of this. Perhaps settle some bills, unbox some boxes, I don't know. Or sleep in. Rasa mahu jadi cocoon sahaja sejak akhir-akhir ini.

Gonna take a nap for a bit. Later nak kena drive jauh. Ouh.

So my blog went missing for 10 days. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. I've always had a love-hate relationship with blogging, I want to be heard, but not by many; sometimes I just want to rant without sounding stupid; most of the time I want to rant and not be judged for the stuff I've said here. Guess I can't win at everything. Tapi I won't lie - saya ada sedikit gelabah apabila blog hilang. But in case it goes missing again, fret not, it might come back. Unless I decided to go dramatic and quit internet altogether (tapi saya masih tidak boleh hidup tanpa twitter). I suppose I still need this space whether I like it or not. I have short-term memory (self-diagnosed, bukan kata pakar) jadi from time to time I'd go back to my archive and reminisce about kisah zaman dahulu.

I'm 32 weeks pregnant now. Panic attack mula melanda. I don't know why this second pregnancy seems scarier than the first. *sad face*

Oh wow I can't believe my eyes I got my blog back!

Something worth reflecting- about this whole 'losing your blog' saga. Maybe later.

Tahun ini tahun memperbaiki kekhilafan kewangan. Insya-Allah tanjah!

Lately I find myself fighting for my kids's kasih sayang with this smelly cow. Mr. Boo. Geram pun ada because he's very attached with it. Yang kelakarnya, he's always forgetting mana dia campak Boo (most of the time in the kitchen). Bila kid Rumi makan nasi, he will feed Boo as well. Kalau dia tumpahkan air, Boo yang kena lap-kan. Bila he sees something that he likes, he will make Boo kiss it. So yeah, you can imagine how comot this cow is. If I ask my kid for a kiss, he will make Boo kiss me, euw euw euw. In other words, pagi petang siang malam dengan Boo. Dalam swimming pool je he will forget about Boo momentarily. Ngggghhh.

Konsert Super Junior this year is confirmed on the 21st of March. I'm due on 25th March.
*cries a river*

A parent should never bury their own child

 

Against everybody's advice today, I went to the funeral of my colleague's 4 months-old gorgeous baby girl. We sit next to each other at work, and setiap hari pasti kami akan bertukar-tukar cerita anak-anak kami. Sejak mendapat berita semalam, I couldn't believe my ears and I thought I was imagining things. Sehingga pagi ini bila kami sampai di rumahnya, dan sekujur badan kecil menanti di ruang tamu, ya Allah, akhirnya terpaksa menerima hakikat bahawa baby Deanna sudah dipanggil oleh Yang Maha Esa dan diangkat ke syurga.

 

It was a classic case of kematian berpunca dari tersedak susu di rumah babysitter. Terlalu mengharukan apabila the mother was the one who discovered her, already blue, di rumah babysitter (the babysitter thought that arwah was sleeping). It's just so unacceptable how people can be so careless.

 

Semoga my colleague tabah menghadapi dugaan yang begitu besar sebegini. Al-Fatihah.

Cerita aftermath bag kena ragut - well, got my C1MB credit card statement and wahlau penyangak2 itu sudah swipe saya punya card di Shell station sebanyak 200 bucks! There was a gap about an hour before I could block the card and now I have to fill up a dispute form to get my money back. Ah, more forms to fill, more time on the phone with the customer service.

Cit1bank said there was attempt to swipe my card as well, on 2 separate days (at the same Shell too). *Sigh*

It's unfortunate that both banks are unable to detect which rangkaian (?) Shell it was otherwise I would have done my own investigation thingy. Beli apa di Shell dengan harga RM200?

Semalam kami ke MidValley to get a new smartphone for me. Aduh sales assistants di Malaysia ni kenapa lah kamu kurang mesra dengan pelanggan! Whatever. If I tak pregnant I would have said to his face "sorry I tak jadi beli, service you teruk" but I needed to buy my phone. *sigh*

First post of 2011.

We went to IKEA in the morning, dengan satu juta rakyat Malaysia yang lain. Grabbed whatever came my way - dengan budak hyper yang berkaki ayam and refused to stay in shopping cart. Haihhh penat!

We are finally sleeping at our new loft tonight, which feels great!

I don't really have much to say right now but I pray that everyone will have a safe and prosperous 2011! God bless.

/n.

Sementara I tunggu masa nak balik, I might as well update this space.

I'm okay. Really, I am.

Cuma, bila berada di traffic light di hadapan Plaza OUG, mulalah gelisah. My grip on the steering wheel gets tighter, kejap2 tengok cermin, mata pun mulalah berair sambil wishing that the red light will turn green as soon as possible.

 

I hate being a victim. I hate travelling to work thinking that I'll be safe anymore. I sleep okay at night, but my drive to-and-fro work kini sudah menjadi a living nightmare.

 

Tak apalah. Just a few months lagi. Then I beranak, and duduk diam2 di rumah for 90 days.

 

Saat2 begini I'm grateful to have friends yang sudi menghulurkan bantuan. Friendship work both ways, bukan one-sided. Tak semestinya bila kita dalam kesusahan je baru kedengaran suara yes?

 

Dah, malas melalut. Esok sudah boleh tidur di tempat baru. Syukur, we can finally live like a normal family, and tak payah jadi nomad dah. Yay!

Oh where do I even begin. Lepas seksa siapkan annual December office project, we finally took a day off to move house. That was on Monday.

It felt really good to finally be able to move to a place we can call home. On Tuesday, I was really excited to go to work. My workload has lessened by half, we moved house and my kid was showing sign of recovery - he's been sick on and off.

Haengbok (happiness) shortlived. Ketika di traffic light plaza oug di old klang road, I made the wrong move of taking my handbag from passenger's seat floor to fish out my phone. Tak sampai few seconds 2 men on a bike smashed my window and stold my handbag. Coz my hand was on my handbag, I got some minor cuts on my left hand.

Rasa kecewa tidak terkata. I've always been a careful person. Handbag tak pernah letak atas passenger seat but that fateful day... entahlah, dah nasib badan.

sedih
trauma
kesal

rasa seperti tiada identiti. my phones, my (new) camera, wallet with gambar muda arwah Baba all gone. i only had 7 bucks in my wallet at that time but you know the hassle of losing all your identification cards and ATM/credit cards kan?

besar sungguh dugaan mengandung kali ini. but someone said, at least you have a story to tell your baby #2 bila dia besar nanti. that's true. sad, but true.

I still have to pass by the road everysingleworkingday. I cant turn back time, but I cant stop from the memory coming back either. *sigh*

Esok I'm still on MC.

Semoga 2011 will be a better year for me.

this view

Like I don't say this enough, December adalah bulan stress for me. People go for their extended holidays or plan parties in December, while I have to work extra hard pada bulan ini. That's why many little things tend to annoy me easily.

 

Perhaps I should tell my boss that I want to change portfolio next year. Er, maybe not.

 

Anyway, tak sabar nak pindah rumah!

 

p/s: I didn't take this picture, my husband did during his recent trip to Tokyo. I like looking at it because it has a calming effect on me. Perhaps I should move to Tokyo...

boots1

boots1
Originally uploaded by natinski

My kid is out for a haircut (in his boots). I decided not to go so that I can catch up with work (yeah right) and the family demands that his hair should be cut shorter. My heart couldn't take it. Please don't cut my baby's hair!

Mengada sungguh. Bukannya rambut tu tak boleh tumbuh balik. He's not Samson anyway, he'll still be bouncing of the walls kalau berambut pendek. Heheh.

pasta zanmai

Obligatory food post!

Pasta Zanmai at Midvalley. Their potato stuff is good (as pictured) but pasta-japanese-fusion type of thing doesn't really work for me.

The ice-cream crepe sucked (dalam menu je nampak cantik) and they refused my request to change it to chocolate from vanilla.

I didn't even try the green tea puff because i hate green tea and the puff wasn't that soft. Oh well.

 

Gambar lama ni actually. Had dinner there to celebrate an ex-colleague who decided to join company lain dengan alasan environment syarikat baru lebih Islamik. Hmm been there done that, Islamik or not, we are still human. Pasti ada individu and fahaman peribadi / politik syarikat yang begitu jelik untuk ditangani. All I can do is wish him good luck.

 

December is certainly a bad month for me. The Company's yearly award submission is due and my deadline is on the 16th. Satu jack-shit pun tak siap lagi. And of course, the management expects to win! Kalau tak menang, maka kuranglah bonus tahun hadapan. Pressure pressure.

 

Habis submit award on the 16th nanti, I will then look forward to moving to a new place on the 20th. Can't wait.

 

For now I'm just gonna curse silently for my ant trails of bad luck and misunderstandings. I'm sorry I've been an ugly person inside and out. Semoga tahun 1432 will bring better luck and less tears for me. Except masa nak beranak. Azza azza fighting!

SFF

Pergi window-shopping kat SSF pun nak kena ada blog entry ke?

Of course.

It's a wonderful place for you and me to build our dreams.

Make mental notes on what to purchase, simpan dalam kocek.

test shot

I don't know how to use my new camera. Help!

 

*goes back to doing my KPI*

 

[tapi tangan gatal nak test kamera]

2011 reso

It remains blank.

Life would be better if I could get coffee in my system!

This is totally random, because I am falling asleep at work:

 

Me: We're gonna name our baby IMAN ADALAH. You know, like that song "Iman adalah... Mutiaraaaaaa..." HEHE.

Sis: Ha! Ha! You must be joking dear! But I love Iman Rasul! Mcm dlm drama 'Chinta'.

Me: NoooOoOoOo you're not the only one person yang suggest nama tu

Sis: Ha! Ha! *laughrollroll*

 

Sometimes when we're at our weekend home, I hear suara some boys yang sayup-sayup memanggil nama Danial. It's not my imagination - it's just the boys' way of calling Danial to hang out with them but they're too terrified to knock on our door (takut I marah and won't allow Danial to go out and see them). I didn't have the heart to tell them that Danial is gone.

 

Let them call Danial for a while, I miss those voices calling my arwah nephew's name.

He was well loved by everyone.

Since my husband calls me a mini-hoarder, I decided to clear some of my junks last weekend. Saya berjaya buang:

• 5 pair of shoes
• Beg botol yang kalau diberi pada orang lain, orang lain juga tidak sanggup pakai
• Some magazines
• A handbag usang

Er that's about it I think. It's not easy to part with your junk okay! But whether I like it or not I have to start sorting my stuff – we're moving to a new place in December, gotta make sure I have minimum junk as possible. Sapa-sapa berangan nak further studies or study English Literature please email me if you want some ancient notes and bahan rujukan. Oh I also managed to donate a big paperbag of baju kurung. Let's face it, I'm never gonna be thin like I was 10 years ago. Maybe I will, but not in the near future kot.

 

This weekend, I want to clear baju-baju disko! My nieces semua pakai tudung (oops) so I'll probably bring them to the office and see if any of my colleagues want them.

 

OK this entry is dumb. Have a good weekend.

I find it so hard to take pictures of my own kid (which explains why his photos are mostly snapshots of his feet, hair or fingers). Gambar anak2 orang lain okay pulak. Maybe my boy is camera shy? Anyways, it doesn't matter.

Should I blame my camera? Is it time to splurge on a new camera where I'll end up having another love-hate-love relationship with? But recently I learned a valuable lesson from a mummy photog in Australia. She said the best camera that one can have is the one that you have right now. Tak kisahlah kamera itu mahal atau murah. Just make full use of it. Besides, who's to judge whether you are a good photographer or not eh? It's your life, YOU are the photographer of YOUR life. (OK fine, saya suka criticize orang2 yang ambik gambar pakai camera mahal tapi their pictures takde artistic value hehe peace). My point is, rajin-rajin lah pakai camera tu.

I currently don't have a dream camera right now. Mungkin sebab tiada bajet. I'm happy with my point-shoot-cameras: my 2nd hand Lumix cikai and Ixus 80 (both have their own flaws); BB Curve 8900 (I swear I take better pictures with my phone) and my pink Vivitar kamera filem.

Apsal tiba2 bercerita tentang kamera ni? I don't know, maybe because today saya sedar saya sudah malas ambik gambar. I shouldn't. I can't rely on my memory forever.