Christmas Pressies!

Ahh.. Boxing Day.. how I wish that it was a public holiday here in Kuching, but to no avail.. then again, there's no big sale so what for take a day off work right?  

Hasn't the time passed fast?  Christmas has come and gone, and soon we'll be heading into the New Year.. but enough about that.. don't wanna jump the gun.. 

So I would like to talk about all the Christmas pressies I got.. haha.. no I'm not bragging.. just sharing!  It was weird this year because each of our siblings gave each other something.. usually I don't get pressies from the brother and second sister.. but this year.. it was gift exchange all over.. I must say, it's an expensive season though.  I spent so much a MAC that I got free gift bags AND a free makeover!  I bought each of my sisters and sister-in-law a MAC gift set that comes with like really cute bags.. 

So what did I get for Christmas?

I got this gorgeous pair of Melissa shoes from Jo.. who bought it when she was in Kuala Lumpur last week.. now I'd never heard of Melissa shoes before.. but I'm in love with it!  They're so adorable.. and they all smell like bubble gum!  Weird eh.. wonder if it covers up foot odour? hahaha

Aren't they gorgeous?  I just found out that AlanHarperIsMyIdol saw the exact same pair of shoes in Melbourne (in pink!) and thought that they were gorgeous as well!  I can't wait to wear it out.. although I don't really know at this moment with what outfit.. hahahaha

Ron and Elvina gave me a Benefit makeup learner's kit (comes with a pore minimiser :P ) and some foundation and stuff.. great present.  Although I'm not sure why they thought I would need a learner's kit.. hahaha.. are they trying to say something? :) But she did mention something about smoky eyes.. 

Christine and John gave me a Bowerhaus bracelet which I love.. I chose the pink stone ones :)  It's the one in the middle..

 I love Bowerhaus products.. it's actually a brand created by Elizabeth Lee, who is Shentel's sister, who is Bobby's wife, who is John's youngest brother.. we like to keep things in the family.. so we're stern supporters of her product, and she's doing quite well for herself!

Olivia gave me a pair of Ipanema slippers which were totally gorgeous.. it was the Gisele range.. can't wait to wear it as well.  I also got the cutest set of pink tea set from Valerie.. I wonder where she got it from.. it's totally adorable!

Lastly, what exactly did PrincessBling give me?  Well she (and hubby) gave me the greatest gift of all.. a cash cheque! hahahaha.. of course.. 4/5 of the amount was what she actually owed me.. so she pretty much paid off her debt :)

I love Christmas.. I love seeing the joy on people's faces, I love giving presents (although PrincessBling has screamed at me about savings!) and I love the fact that friends and family come together to enjoy this special festivity, regardless of belief!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!  God bless!
 

Christmas!!!!

Christmas is coming in a week and Oh my.. I can't wait for it!  I think Christmas is my favourite time of the year.. followed by Chinese New Year!  What do I love about Christmas?  I love it how the family comes together and celebrate, nothing like religion separating us (even though Johnny's family is Buddhist.. and we're Christians) .. and boy do we celebrate :)  Each year, we throw a Christmas party for close friends.. and each year it involves..

TURKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Turkey turkey turkey turkey....
I LOVE TURKEY!!!  I'm more fascinated with cooking the turkey rather than eating it.  I love cooking Turkey, because it takes time to prepare and prep, and out pops this beautiful looking roast turkey that tastes absolutely wonderful, and it always pleases me to know that people enjoy my cooking once a year.  Last year's turkey came out wonderfully moist.. this year I'm going to brine my turkey so it'll be even more moist!  My secret recipe?  Lots of vegetables in the roasting pan to make the turkey super sweet.. however this year, I'm going to lay it on a roasting rack to properly collect the juices from the turkey to make the dressing.. I'll be roasting the veges in a separate pan next to the turkey so the turkey will still smell the fumes of the veges! haha.. hope that works!

I wanted to try out a new recipe, which is roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes with bacon fat.. unfortunately, us being a small town with the wrong climate to cook brussel sprouts.. we can't get them here.. I tried the recipe in USA and it was delicious!  I found some brussel sprouts on my recent trip to Singapore, but they didn't look so hot.. and it would probably have rotted by the time Christmas came around.. 

Another item which we always have at Christmas party is...

Ham!!!  PrincessBling will be drooling over this picture.. she's a porky person.. loves her Sio Tu (roast pork) and she absolutely loves that Gammon Ham that we buy each year from Singapore.  Pop it into the oven for a couple of hours and it comes out hot and crispy on the outside and superbly moist and salty on the inside.  I don't care too much for cooking ham because it takes nothing.. just aluminum foil and a hot oven.

Alas.. there's always the alcohol that comes with every celebration.  We have beer, we have champagne, we have wine, we have sake.. whiskey.. anything your heart desires we have.. and the greatest thing about a celebration, is that no one stops you from drinking!  Hahaha.. but yes, I didn't forget my 2013 goal.. so I'm going to drink all I can before! HAHAHAHA just kidding.. I'm going to watch myself and don't over-indulge in turkey, ham and alcohol.

Christmas is also a scary time for binging.. my worst enemy.  I always ended up eating way too much and feeling so full and bloated for the rest of the day.. which then leads to bad thoughts in my head, and I usually get a little light headed from the alcohol binge as well.. but this year.. I HAVE A GOAL.. which is to lose 10kgs by April 2013.. and that means no binging.. I'm going to watch myself carefully.. and probably go to the gym prior and after to work out all that calorie intake!

Last but not least, is watching the joy of the children's faces when they open up their presents.. although past experiences have shown that they really don't care what they get, as long as its numerous (ie more presents the better!).. sigh.. kids will be kids after all.  Our Christmas tree is filling with presents and I can't wait to distribute them out.  But then again, there'll be some people without presents, because quite frankly.. what do you buy a person who already has everything?

Oh Christmas.. why don't you come sooner?  I am counting down the days til you get here.. and I'll be preparing my stomach for you.. which means hour long sessions at the gym on days that I can go.. which hopefully will be daily... hopefully...

 

2013 GOALS!!!!!

Since 2012 is coming to an end (yay Christmas and New Year Parties!!), I decided to write down my goals for 2013.. that I can think of anyway.. and let's see if I stick to it!

My first goal of course, which has been the same for every year.. is to participate more in exercising and keeping fit.. (and of course, weight loss would be the added bonus!).. I've been rather slack in that area in 2012.. but way better than I was in 2011 where I did NOT touch any gym equipments at all... exercise was EVIL.. but this year, I've started going to the gym at home and working out.. reaching my goal of fitting into my Tatler dress in one month etc.. BUT now.. for 2013, I've made the ultimate goal.. to lose 10kgs by April 2013.. (just before my big trip to Paris!).. now how on earth am I going to do that?  Well, firstly.. I've decided to sign up at Phoenix Gym.

Yes.. I decided that I'm not dedicated at home to do it on my own, and I need pushing.. and I'm practically at Phoenix Gym every day (I now operate a juice bar there.. more about that later!).. so what better use of my time than to work out and be fit and healthy!  But ultimately, I want to lose 10 - 20kgs by the end of 2013.. 

Second goal of the year, would be cutting down on alcohol consumption.  Yes people, no more binge drinking (AFTER New Years :P).. I don't think my liver can take anymore abuse, and it's coming to the point where I'm craving for alcohol daily!  My psychologist has gone as far as to recommend Detox and Rehab.. to which I told her 'there's no way I'm giving up alcohol for life!'.. so it's my duty then, to prove that I don't need rehab.. to cut down on alcohol consumption.. that means possibly drinking only once a week.. not counting dinner functions etc.. or the occasional bottle of wine during dinner..  I figured, if I spent more time at the gym.. there's less opportunity for me to drink.. and less drinks means less carbohydrates, which will fuel my weight loss!  It's a win-win situation!

Third goal for 2013 would be to run a half marathon.. yup..  a full 21km.. and hopefully the training I get in the gym will gear me up for that.  There's the Standard Chartered Marathon in Singapore in December 2013, and I hope to be able to compete in the 21km category by then.  In the meantime, I will continue signing up for 10km marathons, just to prepare myself and to partake in something that I really do enjoy.. just thinking.. if I walked 21km (maybe running about 4km.. it will take me 4 hours to finish it!)

Fourth goal... to indulge in travels.. with planned trips to Paris and Egypt, I'm sure I'm going to fulfill this goal next year! :)  Might drop into Milan while in France as well.. just because it's shopping central for branded goods!

Fifth goal.. to find true love maybe?  Let's face it.. I'm not getting any younger.. perhaps it is time to let go of the past, of what's thats been haunting me for over 2 decades.. to face my fears and just let go.. 

So these are my main goals for 2013.. notice that much of it has to do with health :P  but yeah.. if you don't have health, what have you got?  HOORAY for 2013!!!

Post Marathon Indulgence

When you feel so accomplished completing a 10km marathon, there is no other way to reward yourself, than to indulge a little bit in pre-season shopping.. especially when you're in Singapore... 

I spent the rest of 2nd December 2012 indulging in beer and Prosecco with a dear friend in Singapore, gossiping about everything that's been happening with life and then catching up with another group of friends for Korean BBQ dinner.  It was great fun.

The next day, I hung out with bro and wifey in Orchard road.. where I limped along in the rain (I can't believe he expected me to run in the rain.. hello.. you're lucky I can even walk!) and we went for Ramen dinner.. pretty good considering the fact that I don't really like ramen.. but I was famished.. so I downed the whole bowl.. nice having a hot bowl of soup in such miserable weather.

So anyway, we went limping along the shops, and we stopped at Coast where I found this gorgeous skirt...

Sorry for the really pixelated picture.. but it's a tulle skirt that's really full and soft, slowing degrading in color.. and bonus.. it was 30% off and had my size!  Only disappointing thing is that the top for it was sold out..but after trolling through their website, I'm glad I didn't buy the 'bustier' (as the saleslady called it) that came with it.  I'm so wearing it for New Years.. where we'll be celebrating in 'formal fashion' at Sarawak Club.. 

The other thing I bought was for PrincessBling (don't worry.. she's sooooo paying me back for it) was an Anya Hindmarch clutch that she was after.. and it was gorgeous!  It's gold and really sparkly/blingy.. which is just so PrincessBling that I had to get it for her.

Ain't that like super gorgeous?  This picture does no justice to the 'sparklyness' of the bag though.. and being a tourist, I get to claim back GST, so bonus!  Oh, and I get a 10% discount on it just for being a tourist!  How great is Singapore people?  (to shop.. not to stay!)

I'm glad to say those were my only 2 purchases while spending 5 days in Singapore.  Yes, I have to save money now as we're planning a trip to Paris in April 2013.  How exciting is that?  We're going to crash on our friend's "pre-wedding honeymoon maybe?"  wink wink.. 

I'm proud to say.. there were many things that I itched to buy.. but I didn't.. score one for the shopaholic anonymous club!  (if there ever was one...)

Standard Chartered Marathon

I can't believe that it's already December 2012... has anyone else realized that this year just pretty much flew by?  It seems like I had all the time in the world before 2nd December 2012... and the date just seems to pop up and bite you in the ass..

Yes, I'm talking about the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2012 that I signed up for.  I was excited to be running a marathon again, but yeah.. didn't get in as much practice as I could have.. I did train 2x in the week coming up to the marathon.. in between visits to America and Singapore and in between heavy drinking sessions unfortunately.. 

I signed up for 10km again (okay, I'm not THAT ambitious to be trying 21km just yet!) and was a little worried about how I would do in the heat, as it's a morning race, not a night run like the previous marathon I signed up for.  My bib number was 67808 which I took as a good sign (what a great number!)  We were scheduled to flag off at 7.15am, but there being 20,000 runners in the 10km race, I didn't step pass the start line until 7.20am!  I started jogging.. jogging.. jogging.. being in my own world (which I love!) and I was very please with myself to realise that after 1km, I wasn't huffing and puffing like my last attempt.  However, do you realise that when you start thinking about the fact that you have ran 1km.. you suddenly do get tired?  Note to self: train the mind to be elsewhere instead of focusing on running... 

The good thing about Singapore is that it is supposedly 1 hour behind Malaysia time, but they pushed their clocks forward when they joined Malaysia.. so technically, 7am Singapore is like 6am Kuching.. so the weather was much cooler than I expected.. in fact, after building up some sweat, it kinda got chilly.. 

I timed myself.. keeping in mind that I had 12 minutes to run 1km in order to finish at 2 hours.. but oh no.. that wasn't my goal... my goal was to get a better time than my last run of 1 hour and 45 minutes!  I mean, you join this to get better.. not worst!  My first km.. I'm proud to say, was completed in 5 minutes.. 7 minutes for the second km and so on.. but never going more than 10 minutes for a km.  I was wearing my new New Balance running shoes.. which weren't that great for long distance because while it was really light, the soles were too thin, therefore not giving enough padding and my foot started hurting about 3/4 of the way into the race.. when I tried running again at the last km.. OW.. I had to limp along.. but that final 150m.. I just ran for it.. I put the pain behind and ran like there was no tomorrow!  Hey.. if I had that opportunity to finish infront of a few more people, wouldn't I take it?  So anyway.....

 1 HOUR AND 40 MINUTES!!!

That's right people... I had accomplished my mission of beating my last run.. and I did by a whole 5 minutes! I felt amazing!  I felt accomplished.. I felt.. on top of the world!  I had completed my 2nd 10km marathon.. all before 2 hours.. and I wasn't even feeling half dead!  Although my legs would tell you a different story 3 hours later.

I was so excited to collect my medal that I almost missed the distribution point!  I wish I had pictures to show you guys, but I ran alone so there was no one to ask for pictures (my brother came with me but he was a whole 10 minutes faster than me!).. so note people.. when I ask you to register.. you REGISTER! hahaha.. that's to all my friends who said that they would come running with me and missed the registration cut off time!

There's pictures online right now, unfortunately, it's copyrighted so I can't "steal" it and post it on this blog.. but here's a link to it here  where you can check me out in action :).. unfortunately, couldn't get glam up for it.. hahaha.. so no makeup here!  All naturel man.. 

Soo.. what would be my next marathon?  The Sundown Marathon in 2013 is on 1st June, which happens to coincide with Gawai.. would I rather drink than run?  Hell yeah.. and there is a marathon in Gold Coast coming up.. but I ain't flying all the way there just to run.. not to mention it's hella expensive in Australia right now.. Maybe the next Standard Chartered marathon in Kuala Lumpur sometime in August 2013.. but for now, I'll just relinquish the great memories of this marathon.. and hope that I can find another marathon in the first half of 2013..

Drama of the Day

Yes, we had our fair share of drama today.. it involved losing my beloved Hunter in the middle of the night.. 
It all started around 9pm, when bro's friend came over to drop some stuff, and bro forgot to close the gate.. the dogs were released at 9.30pm and we all went to bed at 11pm.  By 12.30pm, phones were ringing because a kind soul had reported on Facebook that a Husky has wandered into his premises.. so friends were calling up saying 'your dog is in someone else's house!'...

Jo woke me up and we charged to his house in our pajamas, hoping to see Hunter and Lupo there.. but only Lupo was around.. there was no sight of Hunter.  Anyway, task 1..get Lupo home!  He musta made good friends with the guy's dog because Lupo was having none of that.. he was howling bloody murder as I got hold of his collar and started the journey home... took me a good 10 minutes to drag him home, hoping that I didn't wake up the rest of the neighborhood!

Once he was home safely, I went back out searching for Hunter, but we didn't have a clue if he went left or right.. we canvas the entire neighborhood for an hour before giving up.. vowing to start the search again in the morning, and posting advertisements on Facebook.

We even offered a handsome reward (although not stating the price) hoping that people will turn him in for money... there were many comments, but most were about Lupo (because of the guy's posting) and none was about Hunter.. PrincessBling went out to canvas the entire neighborhood again, with no luck.. we were falling into despair..

Then.. miracles out of miracles, we were settling down in the living room after lunch when my daddy looked out the window and saw Hunter standing at the gate, waiting to come in!!! He just said 'Hey, Hunter's come home!' and we all starred in disbelief til he said that he was serious!  We opened the gate and let him in immediately, and boy was he filthy...

He HAD SOMEONE ELSES CHAIN ON HIS NECK!  Which goes to show me that he was taken by someone nearby who chained him up.. and Hunter .. being desperate to escape... pulled and chewed on the chain until it broke, and made the dash back home!  See, a Husky's first instinct is to run straight, and they lose their way home.. ie they have no homing instinct.. so for Hunter to find his way back after being dognapped.. it's a miracle!  He must have a strong love for us as we do for him..

Everyone (even my mummy!) took turns patting him and welcoming him home, with daddy even asking for a good meal to be provided to Hunter... but as he was filthy.. first thing first.. A SHOWER!!!!

How happy was he to be back?  You judge :)

 

Ashton Turns One Month!

Ashton turned One Month old last week, and in a grand gesture, his parents through a huge Full Moon party at Four Points Sheraton, with over 200 guests to celebrate and introduce Ashton to the world.

A little bit of history here, in the olden days, people would wait one month before introducing their baby to the world because it's not known if they'll survive in that one month.. which was pretty sad .. as you know, the mortality rate of newborns was quite high due to lack of hygiene and food etc..so if the baby survives the first month, chances are that they're strong enough.

It was awesome.. I wore a red dress from Forever 21, with my falsies (so addicted to them now!) and my new Cole Haan pumps (it feels like walking on air) and was ready to party the night away.

Three sisters with baby Ashton.  He's wearing a baseball baby outfit that we got for him from the States!  It was simply adorable.  I carried him for the first time last night, and he started crying! hahaha.. oh well, guess I didn't know how to carry him properly just yet.  

Overall, I had heaps of fun, and tons of great food.  And for once, my feet wasn't killing me! hahaha

Great night, great to catch up with everyone again.

I'm BAAAAACCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Yes, I am back from the U S of A!  Bittersweet feelings about that.. I absolutely love the States.. best of all, I love just hanging out, shopping, chilling and not having to go to work! hahaha.. that shows how lazy I am unfortunately.  Then again, if my job was as mind stimulating as I hoped it would be, then that wouldn't be a problem!

So anyway, I'm sorry that I didn't blog the entire time I was in USA... that's because my life revolved around waking up, deciding to stay at home or go out, and catching up on oodles of episodes of SVU! hahahaha... nothing very mind boggling to blog about unfortunately.  I can sum up my entire holiday in this blog!

Lets see, it was like the longest flight ever to get to USA.. it was 10.50am flight to Singapore, then a 5 hour layover before flying off to Hong Kong, with another layover of an hour, then a 13 hour flight straight to San Francisco.  I spent much of the time dozing off (thank goodness for night flights) so it wasn't too bad.. but boy was my ass flat when I arrived.  Got through immigration pretty quick and was glad to arrive at the conveyor belt just as my bag went by.  Hobnobbed it out of there and saw PrincessBling and hubby waiting outside.. so sweet.. thought that they were just going to wait in the car outside.  Anyway, we then went to pick up some pizza for dinner.. talk about jetlagged, I was out like a light (after and nice hot shower) soon after.

Next day was my birthday.. I waited in anticipation for the whole day for our steak dinner.. even worked out in the afternoon so I could enjoy my steak with no guilty conscience!!  The meal was HUGE.. and I had to eat raw fish (so good according to PrincessBling) so I gulped it down.. not too bad.. not something I would order again though.. by the time we got to the main course (after the hamachi shot and some appetizers).. we were STUFFED.. and the steak was HUGE!!  In the end.. we ended up taking like 3/4 of it home in the doggy bag.  Dinner came up to USD$600!! OMG.. that's the last time we'll indulge.. hahaha

The next night, we drove to Lake Tahoe and spent the weekend with awesome friends.  They were so generous, letting us crash at their place and supplying us with all the alcohol we could handle.  We stayed up past 1am every night for 2 nights.. what did we do in Lake Tahoe?  Unfortunately, snow season hasn't started yet.. soooo.. we ended up in the casinos in Nevada!  OMG.. it was so fun.. hahaha.. we started casino hopping!  PrincessBling learned to play on the Craps table and was doing well.. me.. I decided to just stick with slot machines.. didn't do too bad myself too!  In fact, we had so much fun in Lake Tahoe we decided to drive down there again two weeks later to spend another weekend with great friends, alcohol and casinos! hahaha .. second time, we drove down to Carson City, which is the capital of Nevada just to check it out.. I prefer Lake Tahoe! hahaha

The rest of the two weeks were spent pretty much shopping.. we rented cars and drove up to the Outlet Malls, where we would spend like 5 hours shopping non-stop.. I found HUGE bargains!  Like a Ralph Lauren SILK halter dress that used to be like USD$450.. I got it at a steal for USD$68!!!  I ended up with brands like DVF, Ralph Lauren, Oscar De La Renta (sunnies), Seven for all Mankind, DKNY.. it was just amazing!  Oh, and don't forget, BCBG! hahaha.. my favourite brand.  Pity there wasn't any Guess by Marciano .. only in Vegas.

Weather wise, it was slightly warmer than I anticipated.. just walked out with a jersey and that was it.  I looked overdressed in my Uggs though! hahaha...

Okay okay okay.. I know what you're all thinking.. did I fulfill my promising of working out every day in USA?  Hell no!  hahaha.. I went to the gym exactly 4 times in the 3 weeks that I was there.  But we walked HEAPS! :)  And this was no stroll too.. I was practically running to catch up at PrincessBling's hubby's pace.. everyone walks fast in San Francisco apparently.. even the time given to cross the street was not long enough, always reaching the other side just as the crossing sign turns red!

So at the end of three weeks, with us rushing to pack everything up at the last minute.. it came to a bittersweet end of the holiday.  We all got to the airport with 6 bags, all maxed out in weight limit.. hahaha.. but luckily we all got through.. although our hand carry bags were like stuffed full, they didn't stop us! :)

Hence started the EVEN LONGER flight back home.. This time was through Seoul, Korea, but we were delayed on the tarmac, so waiting time was longer.  We were literally surrounded with Indians, and I'm sorry to say.. they're disgusting!  You should see the plane once we disembarked.. the couple in front of us had an annoying screaming child the whole flight, and once they left, there were blankets everywhere, the seat was wet, smudges of baby food on the floor.. the Indian guy behind us was talking so loudly, flirting with the girl who sat next to him (she has my full sympathy).. I was sooo glad when we finally arrived in Singapore at 2.30am.. only to be dismayed to find that the sky train shuts its service from 2.30am to 5.00am.. so we had to walk all the way from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 for the Transit Hotel.  By then I was exhausted.. ahhh.. nothing like a hot shower!  Out like a light, only to wake up 3 hours later.. so we decided to have breakfast and indulged in a little shopping.. 

I ended up buy a Marc Jacob bag just like PrincessBling (albeit a different colour) because I fell in love with it when I saw PrincessBling carry it for the first time in Greece.  So now I'm a proud owner of one too. I got mine in off-white, while her's is grey.  We stocked up on Hendricks Gin and got the cutest shaker set as a free gift.. last one in stock too!  Then we ended up on the Golden Lounge (yes, after the long flight, we decided to treat ourselves to business class tickets from Singapore to Kuching) and just chilled until our flight at 12.50am (yes, it was almost 12 hours in the airport!)

At immigration in Kuching, we went through without a hitch.. cept for them wanting to open my box which was filled with cups and sugar bowls for the juice bar.. and he had to say 'just to let you know, these things are taxable so next time you come back, you will be taxed'.. and I said 'you wanna tax?  This costs like RM5 each!' and he's like 'no no.. just to let you know for next time!'  I'm like.. sure dude.

Anyway, it's good to be home.. we went swimming straight away, to ward off the heat in Kuching.  And getting to see my babies again.. they were so cute!  Lupo started trying to jump out of the cage just to play with us (or get away.. who knows!)

Well, at this time, I'm all unpacked.. and it feels as if I'd never left for USA! haha.. how the mind forgets so quickly.

Birthday Celebrations

I celebrated my MILESTONE birthday on 20th October 2012, ahead of my actual birthday which is on the 25th October.  I'll be celebrating my real birthday with PrincessBling in U S of A!  We've already booked us a Steak dinner at a steakhouse that is walking distance from her place, and coincidentally is on the same block as my old apartment!

Dinner was held at Toms Restaurant, which is one of the better Western Cafes in Kuching.. Dinner started at 7.00pm, with the last guest arriving at 7.30pm (fashionably late eh? :p) and the menu consisted of 
1) Appetizer - Cream of Asparagus Soup
2) Entree - Mushroom salad
3) Main course - Lamb chop, ribeye steak or grilled Salmon
4) Dessert - Chocolate LARVA cake (add an 'E' and that would be a rather interesting cake)

I got my hair done at Richard and Iris at The Spring and I totally love the perm that I got.. gave me awesome curls man.  Got home and started the painstaking process to prettify myself.. in other words.. GET MY PRETTY ON!  I decided to go with a Karen Millen dress which I wore for 2011 Chinese New Year.. which golly.. still fits!  A tiny bit snug though.. but it FITS!  Pair it with my red Stewart Weiztmen shoes with the bow and my outfit was complete.  Pile on the falsies and makeup.. and I am readay to partay!

Don't cha love the curls?

I decided on brown and gold eyeshadow, paired with pink lipstick (one of very FEW lipsticks that I have unfortunately) and painted my nails shimmery pink, which I totally love.. yay to SASA for last minute bargains!  Put on my brown/pink blush and drew my eyebrows and off I go.. I wanted to carry my gold clutch, but it was so small it wouldn't even fit my car keys, which I thought would be rather dangerous incase I lost it.. so I changed to my Louis Vuitton clutch bag.

I reached Toms at exactly 7pm, just before the rain came in.  The decoration of the place was awesome.. with 2 tables of 14 and 12 (26 guests) and there were draping on the ceiling (although I suspect that it's a permanent fixture there.. rather than just done for my party).. oh by the way, the party was held upstairs in Toms, private functions only!

Here's a few pictures of my friends who came to the party dressed in 'Cocktail' style
 

Sorry for the photo bombarding.. hahaha.. that's just all my friends who showed up at the party.  Dinner went without a hitch.. although I did wonder why everyone came with a Pandora gift for me.. it's a conspiracy!!!  HAHAHAHA.. but my darling friends all bought me a charm bracelet, with Phoebe and Sean buying me the bracelet to start the charms.. here's what I got:
1) Fleur De Lis
2) Fairy
3) Hedgehog
4) Crown
5) Dolphin
6) Suitcase
It was gorgeous.. thanks guys for them.

Love to my parents for having me (and paying for the party!).. I love them to bits and I'm forever grateful to them for everything that they've given me, and for loving me through the hell I've put them through - from angry teen to depressed adult.. 

Dinner was done at 9.30pm.. and we proceeded to KBox at the Spring for a night of karaoke fun!

Ahhh.. what a great way to usher in my birthday... thanks heap everyone for attending and making me feel special!
 

Baby Ashton Ting

At 9.27am on the 17th October 2012, we welcomed baby Ashton Ting into the world.  He came into the world peeing and crying (according to my sister)..

Isn't he adorable?  He looks just like a mix between Samantha and Tyler, with my dad's nose.. hahaha.. he inherited the Ling nose :P

He's a hefty one, weighing in at 3.62kgs, and he's opened his eyes by evening time, giving everyone there a suspicious look :)

This is my first encounter with a newborn baby.. I only saw Ashley when she was 4 months old, Samantha when she was one month old, and Tyler when he was one years old!  I came back from Sydney for his birthday, where a seriously cute Samantha (then 2 years old) came up to me and said "I have a present for you, but it's at home".. ahh.. her very first lie to me.  hahaha.. just kidding.. I'm surprise she even spoke to me.. having not seen me since she was one?  I certainly don't remember her as a child.. then again, I don't remember all of them as a baby.. ahhhh this memory of mine.  Too much alcohol I tell you :P

Anyway, don't think I'll dare carry Ashton because he's so tiny and fragile.. I'm afraid that I would make him uncomfortable and he'll squirm and drop out of my hands or something as drastic as that.. I hope to bond with this kid, and I'm sure I will not spoil him.. but I'm definitely going to be one of the best aunts out there :)

Congratulations Chia and Johnny.. welcome to baby no 4.. Ashton Ting.

Bitch and Moan...

I'm bored at work.. been a fruitful morning and I feel that I got my daily tasks done .. so I'm stuck here with nothing to do for now.. I could find something to do I guess..

But I'm gonna bitch here before I find other work to do.. hahaha.. I'm having trouble registering Activate as a business name... namely because the head Encik Iskander will not approve anything with the name 'Activate' in it.. so cross out Activate Lifestyle Corner as well.. frankly, I think he just wants to save the name for his own venture.. because they said "there's alot of Active out there already" (as in business names).. but google it dude.. there's NOTHING in Kuching.  Suspicious isn't it?

Anyway, I've engaged an accounting firm to help me with getting the license, and they are SLOW.. they send their office boy to be the runner and he goes out for the ENTIRE day.. so I don't get news on whether it's approved until end of the day, which by then I can't do anything until the next day.. which means another day is gone and wasted.. I KNOW from personal experience that it does NOT take that long to seek name approval.. in fact.. I did it myself yesterday and it took me 10 minutes!  I was so flustered when they didn't approve Activate that I blurted out "how about my name".. thinking I'll just register my name.. not knowing they registered it with "Lisa Ling Mei Sing Cafe".. sigh.. so I'm definitely not going to use that.. so I've relied back on the accounting firm to get it done.  I'm now looking to register Lisa and Company Trading and use Activate as my Trading Name.  

Why do I have to register a business?  So I can get suppliers to supply me things at wholesale rates!  And I would need a license to get Gatorade to put in fridge and supply me drink in my kiosk.. not to mention, it's illegal not to register the business.. hahaha

It's such a tedious process I'm finding.. first you have to find out if the name is registered, then after they approve your name, you need to get a chop with your address on it, the fill in the form, send it to them, they process it, and then you come and sign the business registration from and tadah..it's finally yours.. let's just say... 8 MORE DAYS TIL I LEAVE FOR USA!!! so it'll have to be done before so I can sign the sheet.. my partner is my sister and she'll be in confinement in 3 days, so no way will she be able to sign it.  

Calling the accountant every hour on the hour to see if their office boy is back.  The office closes at 3.30pm (slackers) so he definitely have to be back after that.. oh well, we'll see if the new name gets approved...
 

9 More Days to Go!!!

Yups, 9 more days to go til I fly off to San Francisco!  I'm so excited.. it hasn't actually dawned on me until the weekend that I'm flying off next week.. I thought I still had like 3 weeks to go or something.. I'm telling ya, time just flew by this year.. it's coming to the end of the year and next thing you know, it'll be 2013!!  And you know what's coming up soon?  MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!  ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... I'm not going to write down my age though.. but lets just say it's the dawn of a new era.. sigh.. 

What will I be doing?  PrincessBling and I have discussed it and we've booked dinner for ourselves at a Steakhouse that's near to her place.. dinner will be intimate, just her, me and her hubby (I think).. but for my Kuching peeps who will not be there to celebrate the day with us, I've organized a sit down dinner at Toms followed by a night of Karaoke!   I've decided to come up with a set menu of:
1) Appetizer - Cream of Mushroom or Caesar Salad
2) Main Course - Fish, Lamb chop or Ribeye steak
3) Dessert - Chocolate Lava Cake
Accompanied by alcohol.. wine preferably.. as it's a fancy dinner.. I figured a quiet one would suit, and I don't feel like celebrating this milestone with a huge bang.. just quietly usher it in.. hahaha.. but then again, Karaoke will make it a night to remember.. 
Currently I have a list of 20 people who will be coming to dinner.  I'm wondering if I should give out goodie bags?

Here's the things that I have achieved this year:

1. .... can't think of anything

Well isn't that great? Hahaha.. actually, the biggest achievement this year that is still to come is the opening of Activate Lifestyle Corner on 1st December 2012 (tentatively).. the renovation works for the gym is delayed so I might just be in time for the opening of the gym!  Other things I've done this year (notice the switch from achieved to done...)

1. Went to America again and excelled at snowboarding with no fear
2. Went to Greece, which is a dream of mine
3. Went to Japan on a free trip
4. Ran 10km to complete the marathon in less than 2 hours without any practice or training prior
5. Ran 5km in the Spring Marathon
6. Attended the Tatler Ball
7. Appeared in Tatler Magazine 3 times!
8. Going back to America for the final time
9. Became gym-going after a 4 year self-imposed ban :)
10. Started a blog

Seems short, but a lifetime of memories :)
And now I'll be going on another 10km marathon on 2nd December in Singapore, in one of the biggest marathons organized yearly by Standard Chartered.  Boy am I looking forward to that.. will continue my training in San Francisco, with PrincessBling being my motivator...

I do not plan to put on anymore weight in San Francisco, so the gym is a must do.. no gym = no pig out.. that's all I can say :)

As for our Steak Dinner.. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes...

I can't wait to go!!!!!!!!!!!!  9 more days....

Arachnophobia....

The extreme fear of spiders... Yes, unfortunately, I have this intense fear of spiders.. they're gross..they're creepy crawlies and they look sinister, and one can have me dashing out of the room to find mosquito spray to zap them away.

I'm not going to be posting up any pictures of spiders on my blog.. as I don't want disgusting things to be featured on my blog.. and I'm definitely not going to scare myself sourcing for pictures of spiders.. and scare you readers into reading my blog!  But I have a tale to tell...

I was contemplating wearing a Zara dress for the wedding dinner I had to attend last night.  The dress was hanging at the back of my bathroom door since I last wore it to Keith's birthday party on the 21st September 2012.  The dress was inside out (yes, I am that slack) so turning it back to the right way, I notice a white mark (about the size of a 50 cent coin).. wondering what it was.. I took a closer look and realised that it was a spider's nest!  On even closer inspection, I realise that a spider was LIVING IN THERE... with what I can only describe as eggs/larvae.. because it was CRAWLING!! OMG OMG OMG.. I've never been so freaked out in my life.. I threw the dress into the sink and turn the water to maximum HOT.. and flushed out the spider.. watching with satisfaction as it went down the sink hole.. then I ran the eggs/larvae under the hot water and hopefully it died a painful death.. then I threw the dress on the floor and ran out the bathroom.. I don't think I ever want to wear that dress ever again!

I remember always having this fear of spiders.. when we were young.. PrincessBling, AlanHarperIsMyIdol, CryptKeeper and I used to play on tree tops (sorta like a mini tree house we built) and one day, we saw this TINY spider on the tree trunk and it sent us scrambling down the tree in 5 seconds.. needless to say, that was the last time we ever played on that tree.. 

There was also that time when we were watching the movie Arachnophobia.. yeah yeah.. why would I watch a movie about something so disgusting.. well..it was interesting.. haha.. and I totally recalled screaming out loud when the spider jumped on the girl who was taking a shower.. 

And then there was this newsarticle about a lady who had a spider living in her ear for 5 days before finally seeking treatment for 'itchiness'.. they took a picture of it in her ear.. and all I saw were the sinister looking 8 set of eyes.. (or was it four?) ANYWAY... it was DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I hope to never be in that position EVER!

YUCKS... I hate spiders...

Sorry to all the spider lovers out there.. but my intense fear and hatred of them has prompted me to speak out! hahaha

Now What....

That's right.. now what?  Now that Tatler Ball is over, do I go back to over-indulging in food and laziness again?  After all, there is no more goal in sight.. no more dress that I need to fit in.. 

GASP.. of course it's not over with the gym.. there's many more goals to attain..  firstly.. how about to get that body of a Goddess?  I realise now that even though the weight loss is not reflected on the scale.. yes.. I still weigh myself twice a day.. it's reflected in the overall appearance.. for one.. you look extremely tone.. all the fats are turned to muscle and you are much much trimmer.. and never forget.. MUSCLE IS HEAVIER THAN FAT!   So I'm hoping that in the last month, I'm building muscle rather than losing fat.  Cos if it was just losing fat, it creeps back easily.. trust me.. I lost fat last year and it all came gushing back after a trip to USA and Japan!

I therefore, pledge to continue working out at the gym.. with an average loss of 600 Kcals per session.  I vow to continue gymming in USA with PrincessBling, as to not overindulge and put on tons of weight like I did at the beginning of the year.

As for now what... OMG.. so many things coming up!

I just had a meeting with Permanis Sandilands, the distributor of Pepsi products such as Gatorade, Bleu water, Revive Isotonic..  Basically, we set up a contract that has me commit my juice bar to his store and stock only his products.. (he wanted me to stock Twister fruit juices, until I told him that I'm doing fresh juices!).. and he provides me with a fridge and the drinks on a 30 day credit term.  This is so exciting.. it's all coming together.. 

Now I just have to get my business registered.. apparently, IRD (inland revenue department) feels that my name 'Activate!' doesn't make sense.  Must it make sense?  And besides, I thought it was totally fitting as a gym store.. hopefully they will come to their senses and approve the name.  I'm going to register a partnership with my sister.  From there, things will be moving fast.. as I now only have 15 days (2 weeks! Ekkk!) before I fly off to USA.. that means I need to get things sorted out NOW.. better get that fridge in and find out where the renovation is at and whether I can move in my stuff now.. 

Oh yeah.. and there's the coffee maker as well.. and the freezer..  so much to do.. so little time to do it..

Tatler Ball presents......

ME!  Hahaha yes.. the Tatler Ball had finally occurred.. and I had a Ball (no pun intended) at the Ball.. what I love most about the Ball is dressing up.. like it's a transformation from plain to wonderful.. in an instant.. you look gorgeous behind the thick wall of makeup (okay.. not being humble here.. but I needed little makeup :P)...

Let's start with the flight to KL.. my flight was at 4.05pm.. and at 3.30pm.. the heaviest downpour that I've seen lately decided to pay us a visit.. visibility was down to 0 meters and in the brief occasions where I could see through the rain.. I swear the runway was getting flooded.. all I could see were waves of water on the runway as the wind howled.. needless to say.. all flights were grounded.. time for take off went from 5.40pm to 5.50pm to 6.30pm til 7.50pm.. until we finally took off at 8.20pm.. yes.. I was stuck in the airport for 4 hours! Thank goodness for Golden Lounge (yay Gold Enrich membership card!) so I was able to sit comfortably on couches while waiting for the flight to take off.. why the huge delay? Well, the safety landing system got struck by lightning and was down for 2 and a half hours.. so all flights were diverted to Sibu as no planes could land in Kuching.. so when it's finally fixed, we had to wait for flights to come in from Sibu.  By the time I got to KL, I was looking washed out (and a zit decided to pop out on my chin!) and so exhausted that all thoughts of room service and pampering myself went out the window.. by the time I got to ShangriLa hotel, I was spent.. took a shower and went to bed .. which by that time was 12am already...

Woke up at 9am on Saturday (wow, how nice was it to sleep in!) and decided to treat myself to a RM76 buffet breakfast.  After paying and viewing the food selection, I was sorely disappointed.. I wanted the Western selection, but it was so focused on Asian (who eats roast duck for breakfast?) and Indian (vegetarian for breakfast??) that the only thing Western they had were sausages and bake beans, and a small amount of beef bacon.. I headed for the carbs section (bread bread bread galore) and pigged out on buns and croissants.. before realizing that I shouldn't binge and put on weight before the night as the dress just might not fit.. so I bet I ate like RM15 worth of breakfast only.. what a waste..

Then I jumped in a cab to MidValley to check out their Cuisinart selection (there were none.. stupid website lied) and decided to get an upper lip wax.. but had to wait 2 hours before my appointment, so I walked and walked and walked til my feet ached.. bought a new 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle though.. by the time I got back to the hotel, it was 2pm and I was sleepy (Again!) and hungry.. decided to take the nap first.. then woke up at 3pm when my sister arrived.. ordered room service (more carbs.. pizza!) and then Frederick the makeup Artist came at 4pm.. he was half an hour early.. I hadn't even showered yet!  So while he was putting on makeup for Jo, I hopped into the shower.. very mindful of not wetting my gorgeously permed hair... (you can never trust shower caps these days) and hopped out and waited for my turn...
 

Tadah!!!!

Here's the after picture of me with my falsies all done up.. my falsies are cool.. they're longer at the ends which totally spikes up and looks so long..  but love the whole cam whoring effect on my new camera.. 

And the side view....

Here's a side view of me.. looking all ready for the ball isn't it?  Don't you think my eyebrows are like super thick?  That's like the first thing I kept seeing.. eyebrows!

Photo Bomb!

This is a picture of Jo after she's done her makeup.. she had blue makeup on.. while I had pink makeup on to match my dress.. Jo brought along two dresses cos she just couldn't make up her mind.. in the end, she wore the gold dress that she had promised a friend that she would wear it.. (marketing and all)..

Frederick didn't want to go dark with my make up because my dress is so light in colour.. and we used this new product by Shu Umera that made our faces glow (although some might think it's just greasy) and no powder (to affect the glow).. 

I am an Angel sent from God... *Touched By An Angel*

Love the light effect on my hair.. but that's my look with my hair down.. I'm so glad AlanHarperIsMyIdol convinced me to perm my hair 2 weeks prior to the Tatler Ball.. cos it's looking awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

 This is the full length look with me posing in my dress... I can't believe all the hard work paid off and I could zip the dress again!

An upclose look on the jewellery I borrowed from my mother.. coincidentally, it's the same necklace that PrincessBling wore on her wedding day :)

That's my cousin Valery.. I took her as my date.. just to open up her eyes to new experiences.. she enjoyed herself :)

 
That's right... Malaysia Tatler!  Of course I had to pose infront of that picture.. hahaha.. sorry it's so far back that you can't really see my face...

That's Jo, Valery, myself and Jacqueline (Miss Malaysia 1995) - Yes.. she still brings that up quite often..  My mum saw this picture and was like 'who's that really pretty girl in light pink?' and I'm like 'mummy.. that's me' and she's like 'wahh.. so pretty'.. and then comes the inevitable 'so how come no boyfriend?' ROFL... right mummy... 

 And that's Olivia added to that picture..she's wearing a Farrah Khan dress that looked stunning on her.. although she likened herself to one of her aunties.. hahaha.. no sweetie.. we ain't that old...

We stood around for and hour and a half having cocktails before being brought into the dining room.. where the decoration was fabulous...wish I could say more on the food.. but I think this year they up the budget for decoration and lowered the budget for food...

1. First course = ceviche of prawn and scallop, with edamame soup and lobster
2. Second course = Tomato and Enoki Mushroom consume in Winter Melon bowl (tasted like water with tomato in it)
3. Third course = pumpkin sorbet (cleans the pallet)
4. Fourth course = veal with taru puff (too gamey.. and the puff was like.. what the?)
5. Fifth course = chocolate mousse cake with pistachio ice cream and apricot donut (yum!)

Sorry I don't have pictures of the food.. it wasn't very fascinating to look at.

The evening went on like normal.. we waited forever for the photo booth cos some aunty didn't think she look pretty in the picture (honey.. you ain't pretty in real life already.. rofl.. mean) and then there's this Eurasion girl just standing there waiting and doing the Gangnam dance.. man did I feel embarrassed for her.  She might think that she looked cool doing it.. but no one can look cool doing Gangnam.. Unfortunately, they only gave one picture.. so Valery took it as a keepsake for the night.

My feet were totally killing for standing so long.. the minute I sat.. I took off my shoes.. there was a slight wardrobe malfunction when Valery stepped on one of my tulle 'tails'..and ripped it halfway.. luckily it wasn't noticeable.. but we both froze when we heard the 'rippppppppppppppp'.. and the kepoh toilet lady came running and going 'aiyoh.. what happened?' and kept checking it out and saying 'cannot tell lah'.. like lady.. stop starring at my ass..

I was sorely disappointed that I didn't make it on the dance floor because of my feet.. but I certainly had fun that night.. 

I called at night at midnight (before I turn into a pumpkin) and walked barefoot back to my room a happy chap.. I love functions like this.. I just hope I'm invited for another round next year!
 

Countdown!!!

Many things to countdown to now..

1. Tatler Ball!
Hooray.. the day that I've been working so hard towards is finally dawning upon us.. yes.. the Tatler Ball is this Saturday, 6th October 2012.  I'm flying out to KL tomorrow afternoon, after doing my hair at Richard N Iris (@ The Spring Shopping Mall) - hahaha.. how's that for placement advertisement?  Anyway, gonna set my hair in curls and lots of hair spray so it doesn't deflate in like 30 minutes..  and then I'm heading out and arriving in KL at dinner time... I'm alone in KL so I'm not sure what I'll do with myself for dinner.. but I rather have a good nights sleep so I'm alive at the Ball, rather than fly in on the early morning flight on Saturday and be zombied during the ball.

I tried on my dress last night.. and it fits!  Hallelujah!!!  Well, I could only zip it halfway up, but then as I've mentioned, I'm no contortionist.. so I can't really zip it all the way up.. I'll get help for it tonight as I do my final dress fitting.

But Oooo... I'm so excited.. and I just can't hide it.. hahahaha.. 

2. The U. S. of A!!!!
It's no big secret that I'm heading back to USA at the end of this month to celebrate my birthday with PrincessBling.  We've decided on a steak dinner to celebrate the impending doom.. hahaha.. no offense to my friends born in my year who's already celebrated their birthday!  I'm counting down the days til I leave (3 weeks by the way) and I can't wait to see PrincessBling and her hubby again.  Can't wait to eat all the glorious food that I used to chow on when I was working in the States.. Crabs, Steak, buffets.. etc. etc. etc.  Oh I'm gonna get FAT again.. wait.. again?  I haven't even broken out of the 'fat threshold!'

Those are the two biggest things that I can think of at the moment :)

Been away at a seminar learning about minimum wage and minimum retirement age.. from what I learned in my 2 day seminar.. Malaysian politicians are STUPID.. they don't think about consequences.. they just wake up one day with a crazy idea in mind and decide to implement it.  Take for example, the minimum wage for Sarawak is now RM800 per month.  That's pretty high.. say if you're working tables at the restaurant.. usually you'll be paid like RM500 per month or something.. and if you're in a rural area.. it'll be even lower.. how then.. do rural businesses survive?  And what about long time employees who just hit the RM800 threshold?  How are they going to feel that a newbie will come in and be on the same income level as them?  It's not like you can give a pay rise for every single person in the office!  The way I see it, unemployment numbers are going to soar because 
1) Rural areas cannot afford to pay that much, so will limit number of employees
2) Companies will be more vigilant in their recruitment process as they don't want to do a wrong hire
3) People will be more fussy and spoilt for choice.. knowing they will get RM800 for doing NOTHING..

So Politicians.. great job you're doing eh?  

SURPRISE!!! *snicker snicker*

Walk-A-Mile Charity Event

There was a Walk-A-Mile charity event that was organized by one of our partner company's secretary.  It's basically a charity fundraiser for the Heart Foundation Sarawak, and for RM10, you get a T-shirt and a heart balloon headband and you get to participate in the walk.. I was interested in the walk.. seeing how long it'll take me to complete a mile (approximately 1.6km).. 

Got there at 6am to collect the 'goodie bag' and then waited for a whole hour for the CM to arrive to officiate the event.. so many 'pek moh' around.. kept mistaking them for CM.. and wondering why it was such a non-ceremonious entry.  Anyway.. once he finally came and gave the opening speech and all that.. we were ready to walk.. I had no idea what the route was, so was excited. 

 Check out our cute headbands.. hahaha.. 

Anyway, when the race was officiated.. we started walking.. I realized that we were walking one round around the park.. 200m.. and that was it!  No repeated rounds nothing.. so what happened to 'walk-a-mile'?  I think it was named that just to sound good.. 

I barely broke a sweat!  What a waste of a morning IMHO.. 

Stressed.. and sick...

Two combinations that I do not like.. stress makes me wanna binge drink.. sick makes me wanna curl up at home under the covers in bed.. both scenarios depicting depression.
What happened?  Why am I so stressed?  How did I get sick?
Thanks to Jo, I now caught her sore throat and flu.. she had the audacity to cough her germs all over me in a bid to get me to move from my usual position on the bean bag on the floor.. covered by a blanket.. and she wanted that spot.. who cares if I got there first right?  So now I have a killer sore throat, and I'm cranky and achy all over.. 

To make matters worst, I'm so stressed out right now.. because of the stupid scam situation that I'm in!  Revert back to Naivity post.. oh.. it got worst.  So my last update, was that the stupid lose Huan (aka Muhammad) got my threat to go to the police and said that he'll release the package to me.  GREAT !!  Problem solved..right?  No no no... I got an email on Saturday from the courier company, claiming that there is a charge of RM1200 for 'security and VAT'.. OMG.. this guy just wants money.. does he think that I'm stupid or something?  And he gave me a personal bank account to bank the RM1200 in.. hello...

1. We don't have VAT in Malaysia.. GST yes.. not VAT.. that's a Europe term.
2. What security?
3. If you were a company, shouldn't I bank it into a business account and not a personal account?

I wrote back asking them what security.. and VAT shouldn't be applicable for domestic couriers and purchases.. and that I've settled all charges with Mohammad therefore I shouldn't pay the RM1200... a reply came quickly.. saying 'this is to let you know that if the package stays longer in our hands, the fees might go up'... SIGNAL BELLS.. what do you mean 'might'.. it's either a yes or a no.. and why is that tone so similar to Mohammad's last email to me?

Detective time.. their company is fake.. there's no such registered business on SSM website (a site to look up businesses).. there's no such thing as Ipost.. 

So you know what I think?  This is a huge elaborate scam.. there is no yogurt maker.. there is no Ipost.. it's a fake page that he's created and entered in the tracking number to fool me.  A look at the consignment paper shows that it's packed by 'Atlantic Packaging' or something like that.. which is based in USA.. 

So right.. I have all this evidence against him.. what am I going to do?  

Firstly, I'm going to lodge a police report. reporting this as a scam and asking police to investigate things further.  Secondly, I'm going to sue Mohammad.. forget about small claims court.. I'm taking this guy for all he has... Thirdly, I'm going to sue 'ipost' as well.. and fourth.. I'm going to find the owner of KKSell.com and sue him for advertising scammers on his site.

Oh I mean business people.. no one scams me and gets away with it..

So now I'm stressed.. I'm sick.. I feel like shit.. I wish this all never happened in the first place.. 

FML....  

It's Friday Friday Everybody get down on Friday...

You can probably tell that I'm ecstatic that it's Friday!  And no, I'm no Fan of Rebecca Black.  Can't stand her nasal voice.. and the fact that her Aussie Accent is so strong.. and Aussie.. no offense to my Aussie peeps out there.

Why am I excited that it's Friday?  Well mainly because it means that it's one day closer to the weekend, and one week closer to Tatler Ball! OMG.. I'm like super duperly excited.. I've got my tickets booked, my makeup artiste booked.. my hotel room booked (most importantly).. only thing is that it's now crunch time on the weight loss mission.. I'm proud to announce that I dropped 0.5kgs yesterday.  How you ask?  What's the secret?

Ugh people.. there is no secret.. it's called HARDCORE EXERCISING... yes.. I did 640 Kcals yesterday .. 30 minutes on the elliptical and 50 minutes on the treadmill.. I find that if I run on the treadmill with no incline, I can run for ages!  It's those damn inclines that makes your muscle more tired.. if only we live in a world that's flat.. no hills whatsoever.. then I'll have no problem running 10km! hahaha  I did my ab roller as well.. feeling the burn in my abs which is awesome.  Oh, am on a lean protein diet too.. cutting out rice for the next week!  Can't give up my morning Kolo Mee though.. unfortunately.

I'm participating in the Heart Foundation Charity Walk-A-Mile on Sunday 30th September 2012.  I wanted to bring Hunter along, but I guess that's against regulation.  I did ask, and the lady on the phone sounded shocked.. as if this was never suggested before.. then again, it's a charity where they have food stalls etc.. I'm expecting lots of Huans.. should bring my dog and scare them all away.. mua ha ha ha..

On 13th October, I plan to participate in Kuchingnite Run.. only doing the 5km run though.. I'm rather uneasy with the thought of running past a cemetery alone at night.. I'm going to make sure that my friends run with me during that part.. we can part ways after (thank goodness its at the beginning of the race).

It's going to be a rather busy October for me.  And it starts from the 1st October.  I have 2 new employees coming on board, so I have to arrange for equipment for them etc.. then on 2nd and 3rd I have a course to attend, 5th I'm flying to KL, 6th is Tatler Ball, 7th is Samantha's birthday party, 8th is Daddy's birthday, 9th is Jerome's wedding, 12th is Valerie's birthday, 13th is the night run, 19th is when my sister is due to give birth, 23rd is Samantha's actual birthday, 24th I fly to USA, 25th is my birthday, 26th we head down to Lake Tahoe for the weekend.. 30th is Bobby's birthday, 31st is Halloween.  OH MY.. what a full month I have ahead of myself..not to mention 2nd November is Ron's birthday.  And I got to do payroll before 24th..  FUN..

So what's on the plans for tonight?  It's Sean's birthday party and we're having steamboat.. LOVE steamboat.  Always tend to overeat though.. so tonight I'll be watching myself carefully.. making sure not to make a glutton of myself.  There's HH before and after dinner, but I'm not sure if I want to binge on alcohol and see my weight increase again.. know what I mean?  It's empty calories after all.  So hence the dilemma.. should I go home and exercise before dinner?  I know I should.. but do I want to? :P  

In the meantime, I have heaps going on with Activate!  Trying to get the business license at the moment.. which might take a couple months to approve! I don't got couple of months!  I have one and a half!  Better get a crunch on it.. hahaha...

It's Friday Friday.. one more day to the weekend weekend!

Naivity

I am very naive, I think I place too much trust in the fact that all people on this world is good.. unless of course if you have a criminal history, or you're a dodgy homeless person..etc etc..
What drama have I gotten myself into this time?  If you only knew...

So one of the equipment I needed was a frozen yogurt maker right.. and I've been searching online on where to get it etc.. and I found it selling on KKSELL.com.my .. the exact brand and item I was looking for.. omg.. I was so happy.. I emailed the guy asking information on it, he replied.. he seemed genuine.. all in all, the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt maker was going to cost me RM450 (RM380 for the maker and RM70 for shipping and processing).. Kinda worth it.. after all, it costs USD$90 for the same thing in USA.. figured they'll up the costs for a little profit etc..

Anyway, I debited the amount into the bank account given (Dodgy No. 1) and it took 2 days for the money to show in their account.  The minute they got it on 24th September, they sent the item to me and sent me the consignment form showing that it's been sent via IPost (Dodgy No. 2).  Never mind, as long as I get it right?

26th September I received an email from the sales representative, saying that their warehouse shipped the wrong things.. Instead of the one Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt Maker, they sent 2 AND another 2 ice cream maker worth USD1000 each... stupid right?  How can they make such a huge mistake like this?  What's worst.. is that he asked me for 50% upfront downpayment to release the package from the courier in KL (he'd called ahead to ask them to stop sending the package).. okay.. FIRST OF ALL.. why on earth should I pay for something that I didn't order.. SECOND OF ALL.. why on earth should I pay for your mistake?  Being nice, I asked him what 50% was.. RM3000.. OH HELL NO.. I am NOT coughing up RM3k to pay for something that has nothing to do with me.  I told him that, and he started getting desperate, saying he'll lose his job for this mistake... NOT MY PROBLEM.. 

So in a bid to correct all this hoohah.. I asked for the courier number so I can call and ask them to send the items BACK to the warehouse.. at THEIR OWN COST.. courier guy answered.. he sounded Japanese (Dodgy No. 3) and said that the Sender has to call and arrange it.  FINE.. so I emailed the bloody Huan back and told him to call.. to which he replied that the courier cannot send the item back to them as I am the recipient.. (Dodgy No. 4).. they're the sender.. don't they have rights to the item?

So fine.. I emailed them back saying I'll give them RM1 for the item.. will that satisfy them?  After all, it's meant to be a 'deposit' and the representative will come and collect the items from me immediately and give me back the money.. does it really matter how much deposit I give them?  I have already given them my word.. that I don't want the 3 items.. that I will gladly give it back to them.

I think my final message to them should be "If you don't solve this and I don't receive my yogurt maker by 5th October 2012, I have no choice but to take you to court."  HAH!

Let's see how this will pan out over the day...