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Last week my husband surprised me with a very sweet unexpected gesture by dropping by to my office unexpectedly. And yes it was UNEXPECTED coz he has never done his before EVER! He texted me around lunch time with this:

Honestly don’t know why but I panicked, and sent him the dumbest message to anyone attempting to do something sweet.

EH?

EH?? WTF is that??! Sound like an absolutely retard, shame on me. Coz see la hubby hardly surprises me like this until I didn’t know how to react. Blame him, not me

I quickly dashed down to the lobby and there he was waiting like a knight in shining armour and presented me with a bag, not before asking for a kiss. And then, the knight in shining armour drove away coz I turned down his lunch idea (coz I already had an early lunch) and he had to go back to work in Cyberjaya!!

He apparently had gone to Gardens Mall in the morning, got the gift and drove 20 mins to my office, only to drive another 40 mins to his office for a meeting!

My heart was honestly racing the entire time as I took the lift back to my office. What the heck is inside this I wondered, careful not to come to a conclusion there was anything related to Burberry inside coz hey it’s just a shopping bag that could be laced with divorced papers for all I know!! Shit happens and men do have a sick sense of humor too, admit it.

Lucky no one was around so I quickly opened to look see what’s inside.

First saw the card of course (lie, I went straight for the goodie la what else)

Yup a bonus treat for me coz someone had his bonus recently.

Well no surprises he attempted to do this on Friday and got caught in traffic – he’s just very bad at ‘planning’ and anticipating things out in advance. Infact I told him he was lucky I was in the office and didn’t choose to go out for lunch coz I did consider dropping by to Pavilion to redeem vouchers, lol.

After opening the bag, I realized it was really something from Burberry. Why Burberry I have no idea too coz I’m not big on this brand.

After opening the box, it revealed a very pretty wallet, which I have to admit, took some time to like it coz in my mind I couldn’t believe my husband paid RETAIL for this!!

I was smiling yes, but that came with some mixed reaction too.

First off, I already have my trusty 3 year old Coach wallet that is still in pristine condition mind you. Secondly, if I’m being honest, I would have preferred a bag, not a wallet.  Thirdly, the red wasn’t initially to my liking – I actually called the store to see if they have it in pink and apparently it’s sold out. So after showing it to my mom and sis, they concluded the red is a nice striking color and mom said it will bring more ONG (luck) so here’s hoping more money magically skips into my wallet. By the end of the day, I was indeed loving the wallet. Plus there’s also a one year warranty on this wallet and this is technically my most expensive wallet to date which I”m taking time to adjust.  And yes fourthly (or is this the fifth?!) I was wondering why would he pay so much for just a wallet that would be sitting in my bag most of the time!

Mom, if you don’t want this, I’ll gladly take it!

MINE!

Then I sat my husband down later that evening and asked him why did he pay retail price for it coz if you read my other post, I’m TOTALLY against retail shopping in stores. I did a quick google and couldn’t find this current model on sale cheaper but either way, I told him next time better if he gives me the cash and I’ll source for something CHEAPER and pow the extra cash by buying something else

But he said, where’s the surprise in that. Oh so very cooly. Could this be a mid 30s change in the husband? And a very good one at that perhaps?? Hmm….

But fark, this just goes to show you how a mind of a woman can be boggling, hahaha. Maybe it’s just me. While I was ecstatic over  his sweet gesture and gift, I was also thinking of all those things. I guess end of the day, as they say it, women can do it better and cheaper

I’m happy with the gift though, I really am. The execution was flawless and it totally made my day. And it goes to show sometimes that even when you’re with someone for 8 years, sometimes, just sometimes they can suprise you, unexpectedly

Gougères! Gougères! Gougères!

I feel so French whenever I attempt to pronounce what I baked but to be honest I almost sound retarded trying to roll my tongue around so let me just refer to these as cheese puffs!

A while ago I started seeing these all over my facebook – suddenly every mommy I knew were making cheese puffs for the lil one! Morever they were baking these for breakfast!! Supermom or what?! But seriously, what’s there not to love about these puffs? The first thing I ever do whenever I walk into a bakery is to attack cheese based buns.

The cooking method was different. It honestly was like magic seeing the flour magically become stringy upon getting in contact with water and butter in the pot. Got the recipe from Racheal Ray here and as usual, it didn’t fail to keep a smile on our tummies (if our tummies could smile that is!)

Freshly baked out of the oven. I used sliced cheddar cheese coz I couldn’t find fancy cheese in our local Carrefour outlet. Woe.

But I made these in the evening coz God knows I would not torture my soul by waking it up really early just to bake. Nuh uh.

Naturally, that also means shitty lighting for photo opportunity.

Might have gone a lil loco with the cheese so it was really filled with it. Shouldn’t complain though

Overall, a very good recipe to follow, however I made them slightly big (my bad, I like things BIG) so my cheese puffs were deflated….but its okay, deflated balls or not, it still does the job It goes nicely in the mouth. And best of all, it taste good!

And enter the randomness, this is the new phone my hubby got me a week before his birthday. That’s right, instead of me buying him something nice for his birthday, I got a present instead Also coz my old phone was giving serious problems and I think he secretly needs me to have a phone so he can monitor my movement

Did not want to spend too much so we ended up with the Samsung S3 Mini (though the ironic part is I said I like em big earlier and now I’m showing you a mini sized phone, haha). Phones have never been my cup of tea but with this phone I am liking the ability to check my Facebook (during office hours ahem) and keeping in touch with friends via WhatsApp. Plus I have a shitload of other unnecessary apps and games I downloaded for during office hour bored times. After more than 7 years of using postpaid, I finally have data plan, unbelievable or what?!

Can finally feel like a cool hipster nao, lol. Got the phone for under RM1k inclusive of my hot pink cover so anybody wants to know where I got it from – email la. The shop  I went to generally sells phones for RM200-300 cheaper. Or you can check out their roadshow happening this weekend here.

And here’s sharing some random photos taken from my new phone using the Photo Grid App which I adore. Dunno how many people are annoyed seeing my Facebook flooded with multiple photos in one post but heck it. It’s mah new hobby and talent  :D

This year for his birthday, I cracked my head until it almost bled and finally decided with a massage and pedicure TOGETHER, followed by a foot massage and a head & massage trip to Truefitt & Hill on his own for some more pampering while I baby-sat his child.

Some photos of hubby claiming his birthday gift. I paid for the coffee too btw. As  for the main gift, it was actually a GPS which I will send over to him once he moves coz surely he will need some sort of naggy woman’s voice in the car when driving coz if you know my husband, you will feel sorry for his lack of sense of direction. It’s so shit that nobody can save him.  Except for a damn GPS.

Valentine’s this year – wasn’t expecting any flowers but husband got it anyway. Hmm…I told him to give him the cash instead next year since I’m not huge on flowers. I am on cash though

Baby-Daddy love in a Hypermarket.

Poor baby brushing her fake pony….until daddy can afford the real deal that is, lol. She has so much love for something that cannot reciprocate back. Bless her.

And yes let’s move on to my new hair do! A friend recommended her hair stylist and for some reason I left it in her good hands (I swear I didn’t cock-stare her or watch her cut like a hawk this time – played it cool I did) to do whatever she wanted to do with my bushy hair and this was the end results:

You likey?? I felt so ‘rich’ like a Mak Datin stepping out from the hair salon after that, lol. But one look at my empty wallet brought me down to earth. Now if only I can employ someone to blow dry my hair like this everyday! Husband was very impressed with the cut coz it’s not every time I am brave enough to get layers AND a side fringe to go. I love my new hair stylist

And then this of course is poor me blow drying my hair on my own…..you can see the layers a lil but not as nicely when its professionally done.

Okay that’s about it, over and out! And yes I know you’re still trying to figure out how to pronounce and say Gougères

I was clearing out my empty beauty boxes the other day when a creative idea struck me. Let’s decorate these boxes I told my 29 month old girl enthusiastically, of course with no intentions of decorating the box like NOW NOW but more like a week later once we buy the supplies. Coz you know, art supplies aren’t gonna fall off from the sky for free.

But try telling that to a 2 year old. She must have been super excited about the prospect of messing up herself decorating that every 2 minutes after I told her about my idea, she went around saying ‘I want to decorate the box’ like a broken record. For starters kid, do you even know know what the word decorate means??

Plus hey it’s really hard to say no to a kid who’s saying her puhleeze with her hands clasping in front of her coz we’re suckers like that, plus of course, we’ll do anything, just anything to see a smile on that face….

So off we went to get the supplies! This small haul cost me RM28! When the hell did painting supplies become so expensive? RM50 can hardly stretch much thesedays yo.

 We started this project right after dinner with Daddy-Sir appointed as the Project Manager to over-see and supervise, lol. Aftreall he’s the one with a artsy flair so mommy just merely stood around taking photos while baking at the same time But yes, I will take the damn credit for starting this project coz it was MY idea

Baby was in charge of picking out her favorite colors to go on the box. Decisions decisions!

See, that’s the puhleezee we can never say no to! Think she wanted to squeeze out the blue paint all by herself.

Let the painting begin…

Of course credit has to be given to the husband for helping her paint/decorate the box. I would have merely smeared one color over the entire box and call that a masterpiece, lol. It was of course also nerve wrecking seeing the palatte of colors just near her feet coz one kick and the entire floor would have been covered in paint. So make sure you have newspapers on the floor…just incase and let the little ones wear house clothes incase of any spillage or mess.

After building up some confidence with the brush, she wanted to free-style it so we used her huge drawing pad for her to unleash her creativity. All by herself.

This was the end result. Not bad eh for a 2 year old? Given a chance, of course I”m gonna say this is an awesome masterpiece just coz I”m her mother

She even got her ‘S’ initial going in her masterpiece, lol way to go baby girl.

Together with the box the next day after it was dry.

The super-duper-proud artist with her creation – would anyone like to buy it? Money would go into her Susu (milk) Fund And of course towards her RM28 loan repayment for the supplies she took from her mom

Another overly-proud highly-enthusiastic painter shot. If only she can be this happy about eating her vegetables too

To add on to the excitment, we added some more glitters to the box…finishing touches if you must.

SO much concentration over applying the glitters.

End result!  Her masterpieces will defininitely be hung over the shelf in her room.

There – the last magical touch to my wonderful box. Perfecto!

Can even sit back a little to enjoy her creation, lol. It must have been a very satisfying moment for her.

This lil project definitely was way better than what I expected it to be. It was SO much fun for the little one that all she did was talk about painting after that, and the next morning. Even wanted to paint the minute she woke up but we had to tell her to hang on a little…plus it’s also a great way to kill some time esp during long holidays.

So mommies, do try out this fun wholesome activity with your kids! It unleashes their creativity and passion for the little things and who knows, your kid could be the next Pablo Pica$$o

They say the one thing you should never do when it comes to life, is take it for granted no matter what. Anything can happen, one day you’re here and the next day you could diminish from this face of earth. It doesn’t discriminate age or gender or whether you’re rich or poor.

Take it from someone who has experienced it first hand, although I may be exaggerating it a wee bit.

We rewind back 12-13 years (am a lil hazy on which year exactly it happened) when my family together with our family friends made a trip to Genting Highlands – it might have been for CNY or Christmas I can’t remember.

After checking in the parents were hanging out in the room when the kids finally decided to visit the outdoor theme park. I remember we argued with our family friend coz he refused to follow us and play bodyguard, lol so we 3 girls decided to head out by ourselves. When I say ‘kids’ I am exaggerating coz I must have been at least 19 or 20 or 21,(I was already in college) I think it was definitely before my 21^st birthday – either way I was in the age where it’s safe to call me a full grown buffalo

I *think* we only had played a few rides when we decided to check out the Cyclone which was basically a rollercoaster with at least a few carts that would sit up to 4 people each go running up and down the lines. I remember very clearly how the lines were actually long (peak season joy) and I should have been waiting for another 10-15 minutes before it was our turn but the guy in charge suddenly pointed out to me and asked me to join a cart which had already 3 people by then who I remember quite clearly till today. There was this Chinese young boy – maybe about 12-14 or so, together with a Chinese couple, probably in their late 20s. I wonder if they’re married now though

I shook my head and said I wanted to ride with my sister and friend but the SOB was quite persistent so I went ahead, not knowing what was about to happen. I should have been happy about cutting queue but I wasn’t.

Barely 1 minute into the ride, the cart we were sitted in had rammed into the cart in front. Our carts got stuck together and made its way high up at the highest point and then – it STOPPED!

Perfect timing for this shot – the pink cart right on top is exactly the spot where I got stuck. Except I was sitting on a red one when it happened.

Everything came to a halt, the carts wouldn’t move and it was obvious we were stuck high up and looking down, I was convinced, should we fall off from the cart, we would absolutely die.  Even if we didn’t die, we were definitely bound to break a few bones or be paralyzed coz if we dropped, we’d crush into the lines below. And I’m pretty sure they are made of solid steel.

Imagine dying in a theme park out of all places.  A place where you’re suppose to be having fun!

By now people were curious, onto the right side, near the dinosaur land I think people were surrounding that area coz it was almost at the same level as we were and get this – they started taking photos of us. Why I have no idea but there you have it – demented human behavior.  I could see the look on my sister and friend’s face looking down (though it can get nauseating if you do it one too many times) and I swear I saw her crying :D  Staff operating the ride started scrambling trying to figure out what to do next. Lucky thing I had my handphone with me (it was an old ugly siemens phone I remember correctly, lol), so by then I was able to communicate with my sister. Only after a while as well they decided to call my parents who rushed only to see me stuck on top of this stupid god damn ride which wasn’t even my turn yet. I f*cking saved the SOB standing right in front who’s turn was suppose to be his!

But you know what they say, that’s luck! Fucken shitty luck that day I had obviously.But I was thankful it was just me and not my sis and family friend too. I have no idea how they would have reacted.

We must have been stuck for at least 2 hours coz they were initially suppose to bring a CRANE to lift us out from there and I suppose the geniuses finally figured it wasn’t exactly safe coz first off, how on earth do you get a crane into a theme park and secondly, what if our cart tips off while being carried? There were no safety nets below mind you. That would be a 50-50 suicide mission.

It also started to drizzle slightly by then btw. Not sure if GOD was crying for us or over their lack of emergency skills. The firemen finally arrived and climbed all the way up the poles while securing themselves with harnesses (mind you it was only for them) and then told those in the first cart so slowly climb down the pole with the fireman holding behind them.

4 people in the first cart were finally cleared.  They were indeed alive and I suppose that gave us some hope. Then the fireman instructed the couple behind us (who spent a good 5 minutes crying and saying I love yous just incase) to cross over us from the second cart into the first one which was a dangerous feat since we had no harness whatsoever and had to jump over by ourselves. The cart could have tipped, or worse still we could have fallen off the cart if our short legs fail to get us across.

Thank god I was SKINNY with a very flexible body coz I swear I wouldn’t be able to do it now with my back problems. I literally slowly moved from the back cart to the front one very careful as to not to tip the damn thing plus I was the last one leaving it too.

After making our way down we were quickly told to go to the nearest clinic for a checkup for any injuries/trauma. I was so happy to see my parents and sis and my dad told me how the father of the 12 year old boy was literally screaming his head off with the staff over this matter. Who wouldn’t?

After all that drama, the folks in Genting compensated us with a FREE stay in Theme Park hotel followed by four free passes to the theme park, lol. That’s like adding salt to the wound I swear. My dad was contemplating sueing them but was told by his lawyers that would be fruitless since there’s a clause somewhere about riding the rides at your own risk. F*ck disclaimer clauses sometimes. It took us a long time before deciding to utilize the free vouchers btw but when we did, I avoided the Cyclone like a plague, including the few other times we went again to the theme park. Anyway, I was willing to go on it this time around for old times sake but then guess what??

Yup, closed for repairs!! Scumbag Cyclone. Guess it was a sign, haha.

Am I lucky to be alive? Well of course. I think this near-death experience changed my view on life competely and how we should live life the fullest coz we just don’t know when we’ll cease to exist. A friend sent this sad news yesterday and if you seriously thought one could not die coz of frogs, you’re dead wrong! So now if I want to do something I just do it coz you never know – there might not be a second time around. That could explain why I also eat a damn cake without putting up a fight if I”m craving one coz I don’t know if I”ll get to savour it again, lol.

So during our trip to Genting last week, this crazy mother who really is a thrill junkie (I swear Sairah has inherited that) decided to give the power shot a try. I remember they called it Solero Shot before but they changed the name. I never got to ride on it despite it being there for years coz the lines are usual long but not last week

The ride basically takes you all the way up there (looks like it’s almost reaching the sun, heh) and then drops you down and stops mid air before dropping you down again. The adraline rush on this one was amazing! I was literally afraid when we got right to the top (esp after looking down) and stopped but then my thrill junkie mode kicked in and FARK YEA…..bring it on – best ride in GH theme park if you ask me but I’m also wondering how would ppl climb down should they get stuck up there, chooiiii!! Okay I pray that never happens.

And yea I double, triple checked to see if the harness was tightly attached, lol. God forbid.

I shudder to think if things had gone differently that day….say if our cart had plunged and killed me (will farkin haunt GH I swear) there wouldn’t be this post, there wouldn’t be this blog, there wouldn’t be Sairah nor my marriage to my husband….there wouldn’t be me telling this story. But you know what, I survived to tell this story and for that reason you should never take your precious life and reason for existence for granted….live your life to the fullest. And oh avoid that damn Cyclone if you can, lol.

P.s: Check this Gloria Jean’s coffee cash voucher deal out. After this story, I swear I could do with some coffee, lol.

Up until I was 8 months pregnant, Sairah was to us, Baby Sanya. I know I hinted plenty in my old blog post about her being Baby S and in that essence; Baby S was truly Baby Sanya and not Sairah initially :D  Bet you didn’t know that.

 I had three simple requirements in choosing her name:

No 1: I wanted it to be her own name – I was bent on not naming her after anyone that we know of / or have come in contact with. Even if I’ve come across someone for a brief 10 stinky seconds the idea of sharing the same name bothers and turns me off. Safe to say, I’ve not met any Sairahs before or Sanya for that matter :D  Maybe it’s just me. Yes I am weird.

No 2: No long winded Indian names and no looking at moon/star to get her name. Coz let’s face it, Thangamani will never be a sexy name, no matter how hard you try to make it sexy, EVER. Neither would Puspharani be coz that’s the name my grandmother wanted to name me initially and until today I cringe at the thought of being called that…..but not to say my current name is sexy either but okay la, will do! And yes, I was also bent on not having the elders refer to the priest to help us with names coz usually that ends up with a very ‘colorful’ spelling. Yet someone apparently did check for us and was advised her name  ideally should start with a ‘N’, ‘NA’ or ‘Ni’. I was ‘advised’ on Nitya or Nalini and while I think they are lovely names, looking at my new born baby at that point, I could never imagine her having that names so thanks but no thanks – NO ONE asked you to check!

No 3: I wanted the name to go with the face – to me that was also important. Period.

Anyhos, I had spent hours if not months researching on that perfect little name for her looking at websites after websites and not forgetting standing in bookstores with my big belly while attempting to flip through these baby naming books for free coz I didn’t want to splurge on them

But you know what, the irony is I’ve realized my inspiration for Sanya didn’t even come from baby books nor did it come from a website, it came from a gorgeous island in China after I heard about it somewhere. I actually googled for images of this place and fell in love with it instantly and knew I wanted my child to be able to tell her friends how her awesomely cool name was derived from a beachy island coz hey life is like a beach according to mom and we’re all just playing in the sand – it’s fun, it’s carefree and it means good times!

Sanya is also an Arabic derived name – which I later found out from the internet.

After I told my dad about it, he started telling a few close relatives and they voiced out their concerns about how the name sounded too similar to one of our Gods who was the God of Obstacles. And my dad sat me down and told me to reconsider the name carefully because he didn’t want bad things or rather having doors closed on baby girls’ luck and ours too just because of the way the name sounds.

Arrgh. Not easy I tell you being Indian sometimes!

After much thought put into it,  while I loved the name to no end,  a part of me was a little afraid. Like if my daughter had a string of bad luck or had doors closed on her, or worst still, if she was born with complications just because of her name (that I picked),  I am pretty sure the guilt would really kill me and I didn’t want to carry that sin *que dramatic song*

So I obliged and said I would choose another name for her. Which really wasn’t a problem coz if you know me enough I ALWAYS have a back up plan :D  Though I was just a lil bumped out about it esp since we did a photoshoot as well with her name on my belly.

My second choice was Saira with a H of course (it’s common for Saira but I wanted it to be a little different hence the H behind), while my third was Rania (after the Queen of Jordan but of course, lol) but then I noticed more and more kids were being named that (all of a sudden in malls, mom would scream out to their kids aka Rania – now that was strange) so I dropped the third option. Also I was bent on my daughter having her name start with a ‘S’ just like mommy

So with Sairah set as the chosen name, I had other issues like having to deal with some sides (no need to figure whos side la, cough) just because according to them, the name is a Muslim one. All of a sudden a compiled list of of ‘Hindu’ names was given to the husband to consider. Like hello, please mind your own business, if this child isn’t coming through your god damn vagina then shut up and don’t try to name her, can? I can never understand people who for most parts don’t give two hoots about you but then conviniently poke their heads when it comes to certain things.

But I’ll tell you, muslim name or not, it didn’t bother me. Afterall, she is to be raised as a Citizen of the World and not someone confined to a specific race/religion. But little did everyone know, Sairah is a variant of the name Sarah (Hebrew) and it means Princess. I’ve always found the name Sarah to be sweet so why not a variant of it right?  And in Arabic, it means a little traveller (quite apt so far) which really – I could roll with! So if you hear me calling her Princess Sairah, technically that would be right

So here are some tips to new parents when naming a child:

No 1: ALWAYS pick out at minimum of three names once you find out the gender of your baby. If you opt not to know the gender, then choose 3 male names and 3 female names. Use baby name books and websites. You’ll need back-ups!

No 2: At this point, being Asian, lots of ‘kepohs’ would want to give their 2 cent asshole opinions on which name you should use. Don’t give in under pressure no matter what, else of course the name has a bad meaning to it.

Which brings me to point no 3.

No 3: Living in Malaysia/Asia, sometimes some names can bear a close resemblance to a bad meaning either in Malay, Chinese or Tamil. Like Suhai could be played as Sohai (just an example okie!) and many more so choose wisely so they don’t end up being bullied in school over their parent’s mistake! And once my Canadian lecturer said my name beared similiarly to Shanty – now pleaseeee, go google and see what that stands for and you’ll get my point.

No 3: Avoid ‘large’ names and by that I understand the temptations to name your child after some super star like say Aishwarya Rai or Giselle but SERIOUSLY people, not being mean or anything, but it’s really a huge shoe to fill being named after a famous super star so reallyyyy…..think twice before you name your kid after a celebrity or supermodel, unless you already loved that name before that person became famous.

No 4: Why be boring and use names that are already taken?? You could be creative and come up with your own. You could maybe play around with the characters from your name and husband’s and build it on from there.

No 5: Keep to simple names if possible – 2 -4 syllable is acceptable, but 5-6 might pose a headache for some to pronounce. And remember. The right spelling is also important otherwise that will give room for people to butcher your name and misprounouce it.  And by all means, if you must, stick to 2 names and not go over-board like say Uma Thurman’s choice name for her daughter which is - Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson and get this ‘also better known to family and friends as Luna’, like wtf not just Luna Thurman-Busson????! What’s the point to a super long name when people are gonna give the child a different nickname after that hmm?

In the end, just remember, it’s a name your child will be stuck with for life, so make it a good one and more importantly, one you love! 

After all that drama, I’m very HAPPY with her name, it rolls out beautifully from my tongue each time I call and scream at her, lol. I’m glad the decision to name her was solely ours

I knew you were a Sairah the minute I met you, my beautiful travelling lil princess