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Last weekend I decided to treat the husband to something different because I know men these days demand to be pampered. Which would explain the abundance of beauty saloons catering for the darker sex.  

My husband is no different. This man loves anything that’s relaxing and all I have to do is coyly insert that word in a sentence and he’s sold!

I’m not sure how a pedicure session sounds to most straight  men. They might agree to tag along after A LOT of coaxing and promises of sexual favors, heh or they would rather see the joy in sticking a fork into their eyes before they get caught getting their feet done.

Put it simply, most of the time it does not augur well but as for mine……… I did not even have to put a gun to his head but merely mention those magic words when he said YES. I even gave him the option of getting a foot massage elsewhere while I get my feet done but he decided it was time to try something new (which is why I love him so!)

And of all the nail saloons we could have walked into, I picked The Nail Parlour in Mid Valley where the interiors are very PINK and girly. Heck even the chairs were in a scary girly bright pink hue!!

I bet at that instant he must have hated me so I quickly looked at him and said, get ready to be pampered, it’s going to be *magic word* soooo relaxing! And off he hopped onto the pink chair although I must say, he conveniently picked the chair at the veryyy end so that people walking by would not catch a glimpse of him. Good thing he’s no where famous.

I actually have a very cute photo of him dozing off, pink chair in full view but for the sake of him not leaving me and the baby over the incriminating photo, I shall refrain from doing that

Can you spot the pink chair

Overall, it was definitely a relaxing experience for the man. I saw him doze off a couple of times and at the same time, noticed how very curious he was at the process of a pedicure.

This is the end results:

(Yea I know he doesn’t have the prettiest looking feet but can you imagine what these buggers really looked like before the session?!)

He claims his feet and toes have never felt this clean and mmm white!! Plus he raved how soft the legs and feet were. Talk about actually liking the entire pedicure session. Without being forced to okie.

And here’s mine – a medium purple plum hue which the husband picked. To be honest, I was more than happy settling for a BRIGHT pink shade (ya know to welcome my baby girl’s arrival) but as you can tell, men are not fans of bright pink hues. Nuh uh.

More so after they’ve been forced to sit on a intense pink chair for 45 minutes!

But that’s okay, coz it looks like I’ve found myself a pedicure partner for LIFE,  muahaha. Together, hand in hand and till feet do us part we shall explore the different nail saloons KL has to offer

The Nail Parlour can be found at the 2nd Floor of Mid Valley.

Pedicures are priced at RM40 each. And obviously my only irk is that pedicure for men should be a little cheaper since there’s no coloring involved. They also have a special range of manicure-pedicure session (not exactly that cheap either) designed just your man so who knows, might just treat my new pedicure buddy to that one day.

Since the beginning of my pregnancy, I’ve toyed around with the idea of getting some nice maternity shots done to commemorate our journey as first time (soon to be) parents and as a reminder to Baby S how big mommy had to get just to give birth to her, heh. Ok I kid about the last part.

The idea probably came from the fact that till today we have yet to get our fancy studio wedding photos done because it was always one thing after the other that kept postponing it. Granted, 80% of it I can blame on the fact that our wedding got brought forward much earlier followed by I-need-to-loose-weight moments before I get photographed, followed by the husband not being around for the shoot…….you get the idea. I’m really not sure if our deposit and package is still valid at this studio (it’s been 3 years afterall!) but I’ve told my husband once this baby pops out and IF I get back into shape, we’ll try to get it done then. It’s as good as saying yea when pigs fly…….but we’ll see

Before I digress much, it was one of those days when I did a search for maternity photoshoot in Malaysia on Mr Google when I came across Asther Lau’s blog.

At a glance, I was quite impressed with her work. But to be honest, the one thing that stood out about her is the fact that she’s a female! Which obviously makes it a whole lot easier for someone who is shy like me

A few emails bounced back and forth before we decided to engage her and here’s the end results I must have booked her at least 5 months in advance. Talk about being overly excited about a maternity shoot eh?

This is only the first batch and I’m already very happy with the outcome. She has at least managed to make me look decent in the photos, lol. It was my first time at a photo shoot session (was nervous as hell as I’m a very conscious person but she managed to put us at ease) and this was probably the husband’s third or fourth since someone is a part time talent and has the experience

Definitely one of my fav!

LOVE this shot and will definitely frame it up in the baby’s room

I adore this too but it kinda looks like the hubby is grabbing my you know what, haha.

There are a few other photos that I absolutely love but since they’re rather indecent, I shall refrain from putting them up, haha.

Thanks Asther for these wonderful photos. Can’t wait for Batch 2 of photos.

That said, I highly recommend a maternity photoshoot with the hubby before the little one arrives. It creates a great bonding session and it’s definitely something you can look back at years from now and be very happy about a simple thing like this :)

If you love Asther’s work, hop over to her site here and book a slot today!

P.s:  All pretty necklaces and the pillow cover seen in the photos are courtesy of  Elevyn.com These babies are hand-made with love from the marginalized communities within Malaysia. Please help support them by picking up a few of these gorgeous pieces.  Head over to Elevyn.com NOW!

It’s finally here.

I came home from work and found the cot all assembled by my dad and mom. Everytime I pass by the cot I tell myself, wow in about 3 weeks from now, a little  tiny baby totally dependant on ME will be having her naps in this very cot.  I constantly ask myself if she’ll take a strong liking towards me, if I’ll be the mom she thought she’d have, if she’ll be an easy baby or one that will keep her mommie up late at night, so many questions which I guess will be answered very soon.

The night the cot was up, I had this dream where I was breast feeding my baby girl. Both boobies had its turn. She looked so peaceful, full of innocence and cute!

In real life, one of my major concern is not being able to produce milk for her – I don’t know why this bugs me to no end but it does.

Anyway, I’ve been staying with my parents for the past 3 weeks because they don’t trust my husband in times of an emergency they say it’s easier for them to handle any pregnant/labour situation. Hence in the past weeks I have been chauffeured around (then again, this aint new!) to work, I get to eat mom’s cooking and more importantly I get to be pampered on a daily basis! The hubby of course comes over from work and stays till 10ish before he goes home. If I’m not too tired I try to go to our apartment for the weekend, otherwise he just stays with me at my parent’s place.

We had a checkup this week and Baby S is already close to 3kgs and we still have 3 weeks to go!! I told the hubby that she definitely has inherited the Punjabi genes somehow :D I suspect it could also be due to the amount of chocolates I’ve been stuffing my face with, heh. Total shopping spree $ as of today: RM2.9k. Woot.

We have also done a pre-admission with the hospital in case I go into labour any time soon so we wouldn’t need to spend a huge chunk of our time filing up forms. Now that’s done and taken care of, all I need to do is wash and pack up some baby clothes to be stored in a luggage together with my things to take to the hospital.

The husband is convinced that I would somehow spend time doing my hair first when I find myself going into labour, just because I was complaining to him about the strict no appliance rule the hospital has imposed. Bah. Guess the first thing the baby will see is a crappy looking mommie – makeup free and deranged hair! Then again, babies don’t have very good eye sight when they’re born isn’t it? Hmm….

Btw, does this place look familiar or what? Ahem.

 You bet there’s more to come!

10 Things I Will Miss About Being Pregnant

1. All that attention and fuss from family, relatives,  friends, colleagues and even strangers!! Let’s not forget the gifts, emails, calls, text asking about my progress etc. How I feel loved Have you noticed how difficult it is to actually hate a preggie?? We’re a loveable bunch I tell you.

2. Strangers smiling at my bump and stopping to make small chat about my pregnancy while trying to guess the gender of the baby at the same time :D  To date only a FATHER of four got it right. Everyone else thought I was carrying a boy!!

3. Bossing the husband around and using the pregnancy as an excuse to get out of household chores and everything else

4. Pigging out and having NO guilt whatsoever coz I tell myself what I eat – my baby benefits from it That or the baby is making me crave it.

5. Free massages from my mom and husband.  Sometimes I don’t even have to ask

6. Taking countless days of medical leave because I have a damn good reason. Yes it’s 17 days and counting as of today.

7. Saying good bye to the most comfie clothes ever - maternity clothes.  And of course granny panties and maternity bras. Hmm, on seconds thought I might just hang on to these granny panties!

8. Not bothering about dressing up because I can’t be arsed.

9. Not caring in the world about putting on weight or how I look like because no one checks out a knocked up woman, unless they’re somewhat demented.

10. My baby’s kick and punches in my tummy and of course my monthly ultrasound scan. It’s been a journey watching her grow from the size of a peanut to a baby of 2.8 kgs and counting!

10 Things I look Forward To After Giving Birth

1. Meeting and spoiling my mini me!!

2. Getting back into shape. I can’t wait to be able to finally fit into my old clothes AND buy new ones :)  Oh dresses that show off the curve – how I yearn to wear them again.

Karen Millen – I got my eyes on you!

3. To be able to see my long lost vagina and toes again. HELLOOOOO girls! It’s time you and I get reacquainted again

4. Free from back-pain – I can finally store away the deep heat rub cream and painkillers and say good bye to being miserable.

5. Alcohol – okay so not in mass quantities anymore, but maybe a glass once in a while?

5. To be bump free!! Don’t get me wrong, as much as I love being pregnant, I also miss being bump free. The strain from this 8th month is REALLY getting to me.

6. To be able to do my OWN toe nails (although I’ve secretly come to enjoy pedicures done in nail saloons)

7. To see the joy again in going to a cinema again coz I can finally sit through a movie without cursing and lamenting about my back/bump/bum pain.

8. Making trips – albeit not so spontenous anymore but still………..dont have to stare at Airasia’s bargain deals and sigh with envy while cursing all those lucky f*ckers who bought tickets at a steal. I’m such a sore person that way.

9. Getting my lion mane sorted!!! OMG this should be number 2! It’s been MORE than a year since my hair came in contact with any sort of chemicals and it surely looks the part

10. Pow-ing something expensive from the hubby for getting me knocked up! Suggestions are most welcome :D  I”m thinking of a Gucci bag or some $ for a shopping spree. The husband has already promised to give me RM1 to match every 1 gm of the baby’s weight. And we both suspect Baby S could go up to 4kgs.  No I am not stuffing myself on purpose just to make her fat.

You do the maths

3.5 weeks to go before we take on a new exciting role and be reponsible for this brand new life.  It’s scary and exciting at the same time.

Whimsicaljottings was mentioning recently that there’s this broccoli-chicken dish that she makes that’s very tasty yet very simple to make. So when she blogged about it on her site, I shamelessly flicked her recipe (again!) and told myself I’d make it for the weekend

Made this on the same day we had the labor scare coz hey, a girl’s still gotta eat and cook for her man right?

I only made a little modification to the cooking method and this was the end result:

The dish was lovely!!! And this woman does not lie, when she says it’s tasty –  IT IS TASTY. When she says it’s easy – IT IS EASY!!

A photo does not lie either:

Besides the taste, I LOVE the fact that you have your meat AND your daily dose of favorite vege in one dish. I was telling the hubby that this would come in handy on days when I have no time to cook once Baby S arrives I should teach him how to make this!

For some reason I wanted to make tofu too. Got the recipe from a Chinese site (although I’m very sure she has a tofu recipe on her site too, ahem)

Something went very wrong with the seasoning, which had everything to do with the 1 cube chicken stock granules – it was too salty so I had to add in a lot of water to tone down the saltiness. But in the end, it was pretty yummy.

It was my first time making tofu. I even stupidly asked the husband IF the bean curd would eventually turn brown if I fry it (coz it didnt look like it would ok) .

For the record, he didn’t know if it would either.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 pieces of soft bean curd

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red chili, finely sliced

Red capsicum, chopped

Minced Chicken (you may skip this if  you’re already making another chicken dish)

Seasoning:

Water according to how thin or thick you want the sauce. I used quarter cup.

2 tbsps oyster sauce

1 tsps dark soy sauce

A pinch of chicken stock granules  (Original recipe called for whole cube but you REALLY want to go slow on this one and not make the same mistake I did)

½ tsp sesame oil

Pepper to taste

1 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 2 tsps water 

Directions:

1.  Cut bean curd into half and fry bean till brown; set aside.

2.   Stir fry garlic, chili and red capsicum in hot oil until lightly browned.

3.   Add in chicken meat and fry for 2 minutes.

4.  Stir in seasoning and bring to a boil. Thicken with cornstarch mixture and set aside. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

5.  Spoon sauce over bean curd and feel free to  garnish with coriander.

Done.

For dessert, we had the luxury of having the cupcakes my good friend Anusha got for me when I met her for a catch up session on Friday.

Aren’t these the cutest?? Wasn’t really expecting it but thanks alot babe!

The booties were just sooo adorable, made me think twice before I goobled them up.