Rentokil, oh, rentokil

And here I thought I was gonna be able to successfully pull off a full work month in January 2016 barring the final week when I go on annual leave. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. I was doing so well, but unfortunately, the Rentokil people came and sprayed pesticide all over the Company and I was not aware of it happening. So you’d definitely be able to make a guess on what happened to me. I had an asthma attack which landed me in the hospital for a night.

Not too pleased that I had to take time away again as I really am trying hard to have a perfect attendance record barring annual leaves. I hate to be the “sickie” one, but unfortunately, what’s meant to be will always happen, so who am I to change God’s will?

Alhamdulilah though I rebounded and despite my doctor’s initial protests, she did finally bow out and allowed me to go on my trip to HK on Wed! So looking forward to spending a vacation with my boy Harry! We’ll  be without Zach this time though, which is a bit disheartening, but nevertheless, am sure it’ll be a fun-filled vacation, with Harry’s antics and all.

7th Wedding Anniversary and Fickles TTDI Restaurant Review and Peter and Mawar Restaurant Review

We made plans, oh yes, wonderful well-laid out plans. Got my parents and Nanny to babysit, planned to go for an all-day feasting at hipster dining spots together and watch the latest movie. But as always, our plans turned out to be just that, plans.

We spent our 7^th wedding anniversary together at home, followed by a swim with Harry at the pool. Then as we were making our way out, we found out that Zach’s family are nearby, hence we decided to catch up with them first before going ahead on our anniversary plans. The catch up turned to lunch at Fickles, TTDI.

Owned by a friend of Zach’s, this neat café actually has some delicious bottled coffees with loads of uber good flavours. I particularly love the mocha and chocolate ones. Parking, as in any place in TTDI, can be a pain in the neck. But the place is well lit and really bright during the day. We were all famished and wanted something super quick to eat hence most of us either ordered burgers or nasi lemak. Not the usual café fanfare I know, but yea, we were really hungry. The nasi lemak I had was good though, serving was quite big, hence I could easily share it with Harry, who woke up just in time as the food arrives.

Since Harry’s wide awake now, after Zach’s family left, we didn’t have the heart to just leave him be at my parents’ and since my parents are out anyway, we decided to take Nanny and Harry out for a spin, so we went for a short outing to the Curve. Just a quick walk around, window shopping and got Harry to play at the indoor play area.

Finally, we got home just before Maghrib and it was basically only after Maghrib that our “private” anniversary event began. Needless to say, we didn’t have the time nor the energy to do what we had planned, hence we just went for a quiet dinner at this restaurant called Peter and Mawar at Sunway Nexus, which we’ve been meaning to check out. The name itself is kinda inspiring and the ambience was perfect for a romantic night out. We even had the chance to spot celebs who were doing filming there, which was kinda cool.

We both loved what we had and had a quiet evening together, which was probably more splendid than the fun filled evening we had planned. So, our 7^th anniversary was about family and that’s I guess what’s most important and gives us that beautiful heartwarming feeling at the end.

Restaurant Review: Serai Paradigm Mall, Johnny Rocket The Curve and Rakshee Kota Damansara

We’ve eaten at a number of places lately, but I have yet to find the time to punch in my thoughts on them. So here goes:-

Serai Paradigm Mall

Serai Restaurant is known for its delectable menu and relaxing ambience. Or perhaps relaxing isn’t the right word, coz it can get pretty busy (and noisy!) particularly during weekday lunch hours. The décor however is nice and relaxing enough with its shades of blues and greens.

The menu is a combo of Western and Oriental, so one can have whatever is their fancy for the day. The restaurant at Paradigm Mall is quite hidden, I certainly got lost finding it the first time I went there.

I’ve eaten many times at Serai and simply love the menu they offer. Everything I’ve ever tasted here from the Nasi Ambang and Nasi Kerabu all the way to the Pastas are just delish. Their desserts are yummy as well and for beverage, I particularly love the refreshing Serai Iced Tea and the Tropical Fiesta.

The serving’s substantial, particularly if you’re going for the oriental dishes. Given the numerous times I’ve eaten there, I dare say that I’m a lover of Serai food.

Johnny Rocket, The Curve

If you’re after a dining at an American style diner, you really can’t go further than Johnny Rocket. Remember the Westlife Uptown Girls video, you know, the one in which Elle Macpherson strides in and there’s the Westlife boys serving burgers and what not and a bunch of corporate type guys are also there all ogling at beautiful Ms. Elle? The setting at Johnny Rocket very much reminds me of that.

A lot of singing and dancing. Quite a noisy ambience but entertaining nevertheless. I love the Root Beer Floats here and the burgers? Hmm, they’re big and really way too meaty for my tastebuds. I can understand why people love it though, the taste is reasonable enough, but I’m really just not much of a burger person.

Rakshee, Kota Damansara

Fancy some bakso? You can get your fix at Rakshee, a cozy cheerful looking restaurant at Kota Damansara which offers bakso the boat noodle way. A teensy bowl costs just RM1.90 and at one go, one can probably down about 3-4 bowls of these. I had three the first time I had it, but I did see others downing 6-7 bowls of these in one go. You know, whatever suits your fancy. J

If you’re after other spins of the bakso, it also makes its appearance in Rakshee’s western adaptations: Pasta, Nuggets, Burgers Ikea-style meatball dish etc. These are at an affordable RM9.90 each.

Back to the boat noodle style bakso, now those are yummy! I just love the rich and savoury broth! Zach had the Mini Burger which he didn’t quite enjoy, but we both really loved the Bakso Nuggets which we also ordered. So crispy and delish!

Hello 2016

I’m kinda late to the party, given that its already mid-January, but yes, hello 2016! My first two weeks of 2016 has been okay, normal-normal.

Kickstarted 2016 attending a beautiful wedding held at KL Tower. First time I went up KL Tower, hence I was kinda excited. The hall, albeit a little small, was decorated beautifully and the food was really yummy! Big fat congratulations and wishes for a blissful marriage to Zach’s cousin, N and her new hubby, H.

Harry and I pretty much bunked in at my parents’ home for about a week thereafter coz although I forced myself to be fit enough to attend work, I was actually feeling extremely lethargic and achy all over my joints. It’s the SLE flare, but I really cannot let this take over my life, hence gotta be strong.

Finally brought myself to see my Dr this week, so the meds are all sorted now. Anyway, my 2016 has been okay so far, nothing eventful, but okay.

Next couple of weeks are gonna be fun, since I have a trip with Zach up north coming up to attend another family wedding (just a day trip, but gonna be fun nevertheless) and of course my HK trip with my family!!! So excited to bring Harry to Disneyland!!

I’ve set myself a few very simple goals for 2016, and I hope, hope, hope I’ll be able to achieve them:-

1.    Read 30 books this year – I have been slacking off on the reading department, like a lot. I used to read heaps, but ever since life took over, I’ve very much slacked off and I think have pretty much only read 15 books or so in 2015. Not much but still an improvement from previous years. This year, I’ve doubled the count. My lunchbreaks are gonna be used to catch up on my reading, it’s knowledge-building yo!

2.    Exercise at least once a week – I plan to kickstart a fitness regime. I’m so super unfit to the extent that I get breathless just walking up a flight of stairs. That needs to be remedied and fast! So I am gonna sign up for a once-a-week supervised Pilates Reformer class soon, inshaAllah, and kickstart my fitness regime from there.

3.    Declutter at least on a semi-annual basis – Mess and clutter clouds one’s head. Certainly mine. So I’m gonna plan 2 major spring cleaning sessions at least every 6 months to clear all the mess and clutter from my wardrobe, my house, my life.

4.    Start the 52 Week Money Challenge and adopt better financial habits – I’ve only recently found out about this very interesting concept, and I thought it was kinda cool, so I’m gonna try it out. With all the bad buzz on economy etc, I hope to better manage my finances in 2016. Shop less, buy things of value if need to and save, save, save!!!

Let’s do this 2016!!!

Shopaholic on Honeymoon and Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella

I’m sort of alternating between “heavy” books and “easy-read” books in the hopes of boosting my reading count. Whilst you learn so much from heavy books, easy rood books are much easier and faster to palate due to its less thought-provoking sentiments. It’s just outright fun, making reading such a pleasure. And these two books were just the perfect picks.

Shopaholic on Honeymoon is a short prequel to Shopaholic Gets Married. It’s a speedy read at just about 50 pages and is just so, so fun! Becky’s up to her usual antics whilst her calm husband’s just amused by it all.

Shopaholic to the Stars is another fun read. Imagine all the mischief that Becky’d get up to in Hollywood and that is what she precisely did! Always hilarious, this one. It was a downright page turner till the end. 

Working Mum Guilt

Harry is becoming more and more attached to us and has been having separation anxiety lately. Every morning, as we set off to go to work, he’d cry and have such a look of despair on his face that it just tears me apart. It breaks me up from the inside, but what can a working mum like me do? As much as I’d really like to stay home, raise him and see to his needs 24/7, I have to go out to cari rezeki for the betterment of our family.

Really, really hard to be a working mum. The guilt just never leaves you. Leaving for work is becoming harder and harder each day. Harry would go “Papa” “Mama” as he holds on to our legs or whatever he can get his hands on and I will try to slowly wriggle out from the embrace I was giving him as I have to get to work then.

I try to compensate for the guilt and lack of presence on weekdays by spending quality time with him at night and on the weekends. I hope somehow that that’s enough and that as he grows older, he’ll understand. 

2015 – The Year That Was

2015 began tumultuously for me with various kafuffles happening at work. It’s really hard to have a boss who does not understand life commitments. I started looking for a new job and Alhamdulilah, I got a pretty good one, one that’s not only near my home but complete with bosses who are way more understanding of life commitments than previously. Such is important particularly when you reach this stage of life.

I also had episodes of ill health starting with the scariest of all – an episode of leptospirosis which sadly landed me in the hospital for practically 2 weeks. I was septic and almost on my death bed, but I guess Alhamdulilah, my umur masih panjang, hence I rebounded to good health again. I have no idea where I had contracted this scary thing, but since then, I’ve been a lot more careful with food especially when eating out.

We brought Harry for a trip to Port Dickson, his very first vacation when he was 6 months old. We had a blast staying at the very beautiful Grand Lexis which is complete with a comfortable 2 king sized bed and a private pool in the villa. He was such a gem, happy and contented to swim and relax.

I became more confident at bringing him around for vacations after Port Dickson, spending a night at the scenic Avani Sepang Goldcoast Resort, 4 nights for a beach vacation in Penang, took him on his first flight to Bandung for a 3 night stay and finally a 3 night stay in Singapore in November to attend my cousin’s wedding.

Harry is actually quite fun to travel with, barring moments when he gets cranky and overwhelmed with the sights and sounds and suddenly needs his Youtube to soothe him (this can get hard overseas when we don’t have WiFi connection). Apart from his off-moments which can get pretty stressful for Zach and I, I really do enjoy vacationing with my darling baby boy. I love showing him things, teaching him the sounds of this and that and letting him just bask in the experience the world has to offer.

We planned a Zoo-themed first birthday for Harry, which was such a fun thing to do. The lead up to his birthday was real fun for me as I do love to plan parties, particularly for people I love and  birthday parties for kids are always a fun thing to plan for. So colourful, so bright, so cheery. Wonder where my imagination will stretch when Harry turns 2, inshaAllah, in 2016.

Zach and I also tried to re-inject the fun and romance into our marriage, which admittedly, has gone slightly downhill, with the pregnancy, birth and caring after Harry, so we planned our little couple escapade to JB recently. It was a nice trip spent for just the two of us which we probably need more of and should plan every now and again so we could just catch up with romance and be just us – husband and wife, instead of mama, papa and the various other roles that we have personally, at work and with our respective families.

I kickstarted the blogging thing again in December to have an avenue, a space to pen my thoughts and feelings, however, I didn’t want the same crap and attention from yesteryears to recur when blogging which should be a passion and a hobby started becoming like work for me. So this is gonna really be about me and what and who I love and absolutely nothing to fulfil anyone’s expectations.

Another episode of ill-health for me also occurred recently when I started having some extreme achiness on my arms and legs and also extreme fatigue so much so that walking and getting out of bed can require significant effort. The Docs say its lupus, but somehow though I think it may be a mild form of an auto-immune thing, I don’t really want to encourage my thought process and mindset in that direction hence I much prefer to think of it as a little stress-related manifestation and slowly just recharge myself towards energy and vitality.

Guess that sort of sums up my 2015 – a year of various challenges particularly in the health and career front but a year full of beautiful memories with my little family.