2013

You're doing nothing on New Year's Eve? HAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHA same.

New Year's Eve with Friends Season 7 and Subway. Happy New Year's y'all!

March 10 is Good Deeds Day

Source - http://gdd.goodnet.org/

March 10, 2013 is Good Deeds Day, and this super nice deed came 3 months early! I pledge to be nice to everyone I meet on March 13, but hey, I'm doing lotsa good deeds already, like on December 20, 2012.

I attended a company training at the Bukit Jalil Golf Club and not knowing where it was specifically, a bunch of us rode the company shuttle bus to the course. The training ended earlier than it was scheduled to, so all of us from the department I work at hitched a ride with those who drove to the club. And that left 2 other people who were gonna wait at least 45 mins for the shuttle to arrive and pick them up.

Mind you, I hardly knew who they were. Yeah, same company but it's one big ass company. And I sorta felt bad for them because that very same thing happened to me 10 minutes earlier (before I knew I could hitch with a colleague). I couldn't make up my mind if I would drive to the golf club to give the 2 people a lift, but naturally my car was headed towards the place anyways - and long story short, I gave 2 strangers a ride back to the workplace. Short distance, but it was all worth while.

Then I went to Mid Valley.

So visit http://gdd.goodnet.org/ and pledge to do something nice on March 10, 2013.

=)

Go watch Ted

Source - collider.com

And don't bring your kids along, unless you want them to drop f bombs at you when you least expect it. Sure, he looks cuddly to you at first, but once you realize Seth McFarlane (from Family Guy fame) is directing it, he's not so cute after all.

Picture the most immature womanizer foul mouthed pot smoking douchebag you have come across. And you get Ted. The one sweet thing about Ted is his treasured friendship with Mark Wahlberg's character, John, and his constant look-out for John to chill and live like there's no tomorrow rubs John's girlfriend, Lori, the wrong way.

The plot is a familiar one - guy has to choose between his girl and his best bud, and when the best bud gets into trouble, the girl wishes everything will be back to normal and the bud grows up (albeit just a little) and it's a happy ending. But you can't help getting drawn to Ted and laugh along with his crude humour and hilarious one liners. After all, his exterior is a lovable teddy bear and you can't help feeling for the furry creature who was once a national celebrity and has now descended into a life of prostitution and slacking. Just like stories you've heard about real life Hollywood celebrities.

He also drives a car, he eventually gets a job at a grocery store and gets promoted a number of times due to his sexual escapades with a co-worker he eventually dates, and he genuinely loves John and Lori.

This movie is Rated-R, so unless you'd want your kids to listen to profanities for a good an hour and 40 minutes, this is a no-no for them. But if you're looking for a good ol' comedy and a fan of Seth McFarlane's Family Guy and American Dad, this is good one.

Food Network is now 24/7

I literally began spreading the news to (almost) everyone at work when the company's website informed us that Food Network and Life Inspired (channel 706) will split and have their very own channel! If you don't know already, these 2 have been sharing a channel since October 2010, and although I love switching to the other channel at 9am and 9pm (P/S - I work in Astro, if you don't know already), watching Food Network 24 hours a day makes it into my Top 10 best things of 2012.

I'm not much a foodie, but something about cooking and the host's kitchen makes my day.

Shows to watch out for on Astro Channel 727,

Source - foodnetwork.com

Giada At Home also whips up classic everyday dishes, but her expertise is Italian cuisine - being Italian herself. Her trademark is over enunciating Italian words, like ree-sott-to (risotto) and the house where her show is staged overlooks the ocean (I'm guessing the Pacific) and her kitchen is all white. Like Barefoot Contessa, she cooks for family and friends and sometimes for a local charity or organizations she supports. Plus, her daughter is oh-so-adorable!.

Source - housebeautiful.com

Barefoot Contessa stars Ina Garten in her East Hampton, New York home, and the camera accompanies her trips to town for ingredients, harvesting fruits and herbs in her backyard and whipping up food for friends and family. Her dishes ranges from French cuisine (whenever you hear any French words that is) to classic everyday meals you have probably heard of, like BLT sandwiches. It also helps that her kitchen is white with a black counter which gives off the modern but still countryish feeling.

Source - arizonafoothillsmagazine.com

Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller shows that prepping food ahead will save you lots of time, even if it means cooking for the family after work. She prepares a whole bunch of food and store it for future usage, or using the same ingredients for lunch and dinner. Can't be too choosy if you leave work at 5pm and reach home 2 hours later (stuck in traffic and all sorts).

Pretty things

While waiting for dinner, I thought I'd post some pretty things to remind myself to let the bad stuff go and think happy thoughts.

ffffound.com

ffffound.com

weheartit.com

Random thoughts

Just a few things off my head.

***

I promised myself to utilize the fridge and kitchen, so I made creamy pasta bolognaise for my first dish. I went grocery shopping at Giant and Jusco, and got the smallest and cheapest olive oil (I think I got it for 18 bucks). I was preparing to cook the beef, and just as I poured in the oil, it sputtered all over and in the process, burnt the pot. I realized 2 weeks later that the oil I bought was for salad dressing.

***

My Instagram account is 6 months old with only 34 photos because there are simply nothing interesting around me and I can't camwhore nicely enough to show it off to the world.

***

12-hour work is slowly taking its toll on me. Just the other day I came home after dinner and slept on the floor the entire night because taking a bath was too much.

***

Forever 21 is open at Mid Valley, and nothing has caught my eye so far. I did buy some bracelets, and when I got home I realized it looked like the ones Indian women would wear. Still, no biggie. 

***

Victoria's Secret is open at Pavilion, but I heard it's just selling beauty products and accessories. Still, no biggie. I can buy online. I purchased an item from the site early this year and it arrived earlier than expected. Wheee!

Grand Lexis

For our third vacation of the year (it's either I do it a lot, or I don't), we went to Grand Lexis Port Dickson. It was kind of a spur of the moment - we decided to go because of the private pools they have in each room. When we were first contemplating PD, this hotel was out because it was too pricey.

Because I booked through Agoda, we got a garden chalet (built safely on the ground). The ones in this pic are the water chalets, and more expensive.

We spent a lot of time in the pool, in the evenings and night. The water was too cold for us in the mornings. Rather than entering the pool through the door, we used the huge windows (not shown on the right side) to enter. 

I couldn't get a nice enough angle of the windows and pool, so I print screen this from the Grand Lexis official website.

Enough for three! Beds were super comfy and I spent a lot of time on it. Instead of soaking up the scenery and the fact we paid 1,038 bucks for it, I slept in the afternoon on Day 2. Total waste of money. There weren't many entertaining channels too, except for AXN.

We have a pantry too, but didn't use much of it. We used the kettle to boil water, but the result was a very weird tasting water. Not sure if it's the chlorine from the tap water, or the kettle itself.

After the pantry is the washroom area. There's a sink, the door to the toilet and the bathroom on the right. We thoroughly enjoyed the hot water, especially after our night swims.

Again, I cropped this out of Instagram. Breakfast was okay, but somehow I didn't really enjoyed it as much as Cyberview. Maybe because they didn't have hash browns. But I loved the salad. We went out for dinner, first night at a place called Seaview. Their seafood was pricey, but nice. We ordered fish, tofu and greens which came up to 82 bucks. Then, we wanted dessert at McD's because we had seen the signboard as we approached Seaview. Got lost, and ended up at Iceroom.

My Blueberry shaved ice at Iceroom. Unlike those served at coffeeshops, this is pure shaved ice. It is so soft, it literally melts before you swallow it in. Worth every penny. Oh, and it serves western food too.

We had another round of seafood the next day, but at a cheaper rate and finally found McD's after asking the owner of the seafood shop for directions.

Last shot of the water chalets in the morning. Overall, we had a good stay here. Also, it helps if you got a car to drive around. But are we coming back soon? Maybe not, unless they hike up our salaries.

Cyberview Lodge

This is a very backdated post, which is why I can't recall when this vacay took place. *I think it was in May*. This is Cyberview Lodge Resort & Spa. We paid 500 bucks for a 3 day 2 night stay, which was a super bargain because it is a 5 star resort, or so they gave themselves. All thanks to MBF rewards.

I could care less about the location of our vacation, because it meant we would spend less on transportation and getting lost. A holiday is still a holiday, we say. This is me on a hammock (for the very first time!) beside the pool.

Our room! I used the candlelight effect while taking this shot using my phone (gone are the days we use digital cameras) because the normal mode made the photo dull. 

Bed was smaller than the one at Avillion, but maybe because they weren't anticipating 3 people in a room. I am super proud of this photo because it looks like something right out of a Home Decor magazine =)

Bathroom! (the sink is on the right) The hot shower stopped working on Day 2, and I thought blowing myself with the hair dryer would keep me a little warmer, boy was I wrong.

The balcony which served as a drying area for our pool towels and laundry. Yes, we washed our clothes because we didn't want it to reek of sweat (from the gym) and chlorine (from the pool). We didn't try the spa, though.

Wading pool.

A tiny waterfall separating the wading pool from the main pool.

Main pool on the left and kids pool on the right.

Early morning view from the bed. Unlike some, our vacation consists of eating and chilling in the room. They had a lot of good Astro channels, MTV, Disney, Star World, HBO (or was it FMP, can't remember) etc and we spent Day 2 downloading TV series and playing Taboo. In the hotel book provided in each room, it claimed that there were board and card games we could rent but no one had any idea what it was, including those at the front desks. So we created our own Taboo game before discovering we could play online too.

I cropped this out of Instagram after realizing I deleted it off the phone. Breakfast was included in the 500 bucks, so we rammed in food as much as we could. I had a couple of Danish pastries, cherry tomatoes, salami, chicken slices, hash browns, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, buttermilk pancakes and porridge. No way I was going for nasi lemak - I usually have them at work. Dinner was on our own, so Day 1 we went to Alamanda Putrajaya (and got a little lost) and Day 2 we went to a shop in Seri Kembangan.

So this wraps up our 3 day 2 night stay. We're in the midst of planning another trip here again =)

3 weeks only

Home for the past 3 weeks
To all of my 3 (yes, 3) readers, hope you had a blast watching the Olympics, and not just that badminton men's singles gold medal match. This photo pretty much explains my disappearance from this place since, well, my last post. So, for the last 3 weeks I had the opportunity to switch my job title to director *pumps fist*, and now I'm demoted to my regular job *face palm*. 

*starts ranting*In the early hours of July 18 (so dramatic, right?) I was told that I needn't to come to work tonight because I was one of the ten who were chosen to handle the Olympics *boo yeah!* with another department that regularly handles live events (Euro, BPL etc). 2 seconds later I realized I had already promised 3 other colleagues months earlier to cover for them while they were on leave.

Long story short, I spent a good 15 minutes pleading to be taken off (yes, taken off the Olympics team) and the entire day calling and texting other colleagues to take over my OTs to no avail. And my phone bill wasn't pretty either at the end of the month.

All these crap went on until I got the working schedule for the Olympics. Despite what the supervisor said about not allowing us to work in 2 departments, well, that went out the window. So on my off days, I went back to my old place for OTs. 

Yep, but my dedication to work and keeping my promises better be noticed. *hmmmpphrhrhhrr*

But it's the Olympics!, so forget about leave and OTs. All in all, it was the best 3 weeks I've had in recent times and secretly wished it was Olympics everyday. People might not be able to handle my fascination with the Games because I, for one, do not play sports, but it is what it is and if only I could write "2012 Olympics team" on my forehead everytime I go to work.

Yep, life is good.

Pageant Predictions: Miss Teen USA 2012

Miss Teen USA 2012 is a couple of days away, and since pageantry get the most traffic here while I am still not bored of it yet, here are my favorite teens for the 2012 crown. 

Alabama - Peyton Brown

Arizona - Alexa Zellers

Maine - Molly Fitzpatrick

Minnesota - Kendra Berger

Mississippi - Jessica Carter

Nebraska - Sarah Summers

New York - Sabrina Mastrangelo

Texas - Madison Lee

Source - Miss Alabama USA, Miss Arizona USA, Tess J Photography, Miss Minnesota USA, Miss Nebraska USA, Miss New York Teen USA Facebook, Miss Texas USA

I've moved!

My new room! So much brighter and airy than my former place, mainly because the window panels were rusty and creaky and I thought I'd break it if I forced it open. So I was living in a cooped up room for the past one year without opening windows.

Here, I can open the windows, I feel like I've got more freedom to walk around, I've got the air cond and a fridge =) The down side is crappy internet and Digi connection and I've got ants in the room! Not huge ants, but irritating enough because I've found some on the bed. *smacks forehead*. And I sleep on the floor! I seriously have to move the bed to another side.

See mom? I've kept my word to have healthy food whenever I got the time - instant oatmeal with apples and blueberries (I've never had blueberries before!). And I actually found time too to cut oranges and take them to work. 

Honestly I've still got one more box and a luggage to unpack. The first week I wasn't around, and then I was at work 4 days and this is the only day I've got to unwind before working again. So when I've got the day off, the only thing I can actually do is sit and do nothing. 

Your new Miss USA 2012!

Let's talk about happy things instead of scandals, transgenders and courtroom dramas! We got a new Miss USA, Olivia Culpo =)

Member of the National Honor Society in high school, meaning she's one smart cookie.

Studies at Boston University and a member of the Dean's List, meaning she's probably smarter than you and way smarter than me.

Competed for the state title for the first time, and won. Competed for the national title for the first time, and won.

Has 4 siblings, and raised in musically rich surroundings. If I had to picture her home, it'll be filled with twinkly lights and Mozart compositions.

She performs at orchestras.

Plays the cello and spent summers attending band camp, I don't think it's like what they portrayed in American Pie.

And she's only 20. I seriously need to rethink about life. =)

Pageant Predictions: Miss USA 2012

Yay it's Miss USA season again. Unlike last year no one really emerges as the hot favorite but that's a good thing right?

Picks as usual:

Indiana - Megan Leigh Myrehn

Kansas - Gentry Linn Miller

Louisiana - Erin Edmiston

Missouri - Katie Kearney

Montana - Autumn Muller

New Jersey - Michelle Virginia Leonardo

New Mexico - Jessica Martin

North Dakota - Jaci Stofferahn

Oklahoma - Lauren Lundeen

Rhode Island - Olivia Culpo

South Dakota - Taylor Neisen

Texas - Brittany Lynn Booker

Virginia - Catherine Ashley Muldoon