Spoiled Rotten

This Christmas I have been spoiled by hubby. Probably making up for past Christmases and birthdays? Hahaha!

But seriously, I have been pampered with gifts this Christmas. I can't possibly ask for more. Of course I am happy but what makes it truly special is the fact that he has planned the whole thing without giving any sign away. It was all a surprise.

I thought this was hubby's gift. I was happy with it.

But he told me the "real" gift was inside the bag....

A ring! I am overjoyed.

This year we have been truly blessed. We've splurged a little and I think we deserved it.

Black but merry

So here's my outfit for Christmas. I totally copied everything from GAP. Hahaha!

I added some accesories so my outfit won't look too black.

All I need to do is lose some more weight. Bring on the New Year!

Is it Christmas yet?

This holiday season is my most anticipated event of this year.

It's only one more night before the Christmas Eve and I'm getting restless. LOL.

I am excited for Christmas because of a lot of things.

Having lost a considerable amount of weight, I can now wear dress. That makes me excited :)

It's my son's first time to open a gift on Christmas. Although he did open lots of pressies last year, I don't think it was meaningful for him.

I am excited to receive my gift from hubby too. Hmmm..what could could it be?

And of course I am excited to see the faces of my boys when they open my gifts for them.

Gosh...I want to pull time if I can!!!

When I grow up I want to be....

How nice would it be to go back home and be a graduation guest speaker in my old school?

Okay, this is a hilarious dream. But I have this fantasy of being a guest speaker and imparting wisdom to those wide-eyed, naive high school graduates.

But I don't think this will happen anytime soon. I don't even think it will happen ever.

To be honest, I feel sad.

Not because I couldn't share my mega knowledge (I don't have one) nor my wisdom (not from me) but because of the fact that I wouldn't be able to realize that dream.

Why?

Because I am just a SAHM.

It's a sad fact that people don't think highly of SAHM's. I don't think you'd be labelled a success if you're just a SAHM.

And people who have become guest speakers in my town are those who are succesful in their field. I don't think they'd consider SAHM as a field of work, much less a work.

I don't think teachers or administrators from my school would want their high school graduates to listen to a former valedictorian who was full of promise back then but turned out to be a stay-at-home mom. I don't think they'd want a SAHM as a role model for their graduates even.

Oh, I am not bitter. I am just sad.

Sad for other SAHM's like me who are intellectually above average but continually struggle to fight condescending attitudes from everybody.

Sad that I won't be able to cross off that list in my dreams.

Of course even for some twist of event, they ask me to be a guest speaker I don't think I would accept.

I'd be a nervous wreck and I have absolutely no idea what to say.

Hahaha. What am I thinking here?

P.S. My two brothers are both successful businessmen but still haven't been invited yet (as far as I know) so I shouldn't really feel sad. Haha!

Move and you shall be rewarded

I used to think that I can only exercise in the confines of a gym. Of course I was wrong. Since the renovation of the gym in our building, I have been forced to find other means and ways of exercising. I have surprised myself by being creative. If there's really a will, there's a way. I now exercise twice a day for about 30-45 minutes each session. I am usually awake by 6:30-7:00AM. During this time, my boys are still in dreamland and I have taken advantage of this. I used to go down to the gym to hit the treadmill. But now, I do a medium impact aerobics instead at the confines of our apartment. No need to put on a fancy gym attire. What I do for my medium impact aerobics is combine dancing, steady marching, jumping rope and all other movements I can think of. It may sound funny but it's working well for me. Before bedtime too while my boys are playing, I take the time to do another set of my exercise. Sometimes my boys even join me in marching. It has become a fun activity too! I have lost several pounds (will reveal the lost pounds soon) already. But of course I watch my diet too. Losing weight is always hard at the start. But if you've found the rhythm it becomes easier. What I've learned is that the more you move (walking, dancing, etc) the more calories you burn. So get that butt moving! :)

I am not a shopaholic, I promise

We had another impromptu shopping trip last night. Originally I just wanted to buy a plain tee from Gap. But when we went there, all the items were on sale. Even some of the new arrivals. Of course, I had no intention of buying anything other than the plain tshirt.

But when it is 40% off plus another 10% (I am a member), I can hardly resist.

I tried on a couple of pants and tops. After an hour, I emerged out of the store carrying a bag with these items.

Plus another sleeveless top which I couldn't find a picture online (must be old stock, I suppose). Imagine I got a total discount of RM235! Totally worth it!

Now the only thing I need to do is rock these outfits. Goodluck! LOL.

First taste of LV

After debating it within myself what to do with the money I have earned from blogging, I have decided to:

~share a little to my parents as christmas gift
~bought gifts for hubby and my son
~and the remaining money (with hubby's contribution too) I bought something luxurious for myself. I've convinced myself I deserve this even with the economic crunch right now.

Here's what I bought for myself tonight.


It feels exhilarating!

Thank you blogging world. And thanks to my honey :)))

Of jobs and hospitality industry

I still receive auto emails from jobsearch engines. I haven't deactivated them even if I have no use for them now. I usually check which hotels and countries the job was needed. I love to imagine I was working in those romantic resorts. Hahaha. And of course I would like to believe I am still part of that industry. LOLz. But there are two more jobsearch engines that I really need to deactivate because the category I have listed there are more of a generalized jobs. I signed up when I was still a fresh graduate. The jobs listed are not relevant to my field (not since anyway). Jobs listed are engineering jobs, business jobs, IT jobs and some more technical jobs. I really should move on. I don't think I would be going back to working in the hospitality industry or any job for that matter. I'll be a businesswoman. Now the only question is when I am going to start realizing that part.

Christmas Outfit

I finally had time to buy something for myself last night. I bought a couple of things for my Christmas Eve outfit..hehe.


A black and gold bangle and a necklace with a long chain.


I don't know what's this shoes called, a mini boots? I searched hard for this kind of shoes (not too high heels though because I wouldn't be able to walk anymore..hehe) because I wanted to copy this entire look below. LOLz.

This is basically my look on Christmas Eve except that the dress is black and I'll be wearing the above accessories more or less.

Can you tell I am excited? :)

Forget this not

Here we go again....

Forgive me guys. It's the holidays (as if it can't get any more obvious..hehe) and I need to work doubly hard to cover for the expenses we're going to incur. It's in the future tense because I have yet to buy what I want. And I am expecting major damage to our wallet already..hahaha. NOT.

Anyway, here's a friendly reminder. Stock on Orovo now. We all need it this holiday season.

I have also stocked on green tea as an alternative. Gotta be healthy to enjoy the season!

Gosh, I am really excited. This Christmas promises to be the best one ever for me.

Your personality based on your blog test

I got curious so I checked what kind of personality I have based on this blog. Here's what I got.


"The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions."

And here's the brain activity analysis. Based from this, it seems that I have been using too many "feelings".


I don't agree with some of the stuff said above. For one, I am not the entertainer-kind of person. I am shy. Second, I like to think I plan ahead.

But then like what the site said, writing style on a blog may have little or nothing to do with a person's self-perceived personality. So there.

If you want to have fun, check here.

Reward thyself

It's no secret that I do paid blogging in both my blogs. I do it because I like to write and of course there's the lure of extra money. Since I joined last May, I have earned quite steadily albeit in small amounts.

This got me thinking what to do with the money I have earned. I could put it in bank as savings, buy another term life insurance, I could splurge and buy myself something ridiculously expensive (buy something for hubby and baby too) or I could just put it in my paypal and wait for more earnings.

Honestly I am torn. I want to save it (financial crisis, etc). But I also want to reward myself and buy a luxury bag I have been lusting over for the past few months. I deserve one, don't I?

Hubby said it's my call.

I wish I have earned double the money I have now so I can save half and use the other half to buy anything I fancy.

More to go

We've started buying things on our Christmas shopping list. Mostly it's for hubby and the little tyke. Hubby has bought a Nikon D60. I love it. The photos are clearer and the colors are more defined. Somebody said that even if you don't know how to take photos, the photos will still come out better than any other camera. Let's see if hubby will be able to use it properly. Me? I don't have time to read the manual. I think I will just point and shoot again. LOL.


On our way to the mall yesterday, we passed by a restaurant with bamboo blinds. It looked sophisticated. Must put it in my journal.

Anyway, I didn't get to buy what I came for. I couldn't find the shoes I had in mind. I ended up buying only a necklace and a bangle.

If the rain stops later, we'll probably go to another mall tonight.

Christmas shopping sure is fun!

Ten percent

I've seen this around the web as meme. I wanted to do it to see how many books I've read in this list. Out of a hundred, I have only read ten books. I should read more, I know.

Feel free to snag this if you want.

The directions are simple:
1) look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) italicize those you intend to read.
3) underline the books you LOVE.


1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare – not even close!
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransom
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Internet baby

There are currently two books that are just gathering dust on my "work" desk instead of being read by me. Reading books seem to be a sporadic activity lately. The last time I opened a book, I finished five more in a week's time. And then after that I couldn't seem to finish a chapter of another book anymore. It doesn't help even if the book I am reading is really good.

I sort of know why this is. I have become too attached to my laptop. When I wake up, I turn on my laptop immediately. I spend about 30-45 minutes reading blogs, newspaper, checking my emails, checking my assignments, checking travel deals or sometimes look for the best spider glue traps like I did this morning.

When I am free in the afternoon, I sit in front of the laptop again and read all my favorite blogs, then work on my assignments. When I am done, my baby is awake and I don't have time to read a book anymore.

Or even if I have more time (when my baby naps longer), I try to open a book but I just can't focus. So I end up going to my laptop again until my eyes hurt from too much radiation.

Yesterday I did read two chapters of One for my Baby by Tony Parsons. I wanted to finish the book but unfortunately my baby woke up.

Hopefully I'll find the time to read books again. I heard the Twilight series are really captivating. Must visit the bookstore soon.

It's not meant to be

Sometimes I am just too courteous that it gets me in trouble.

I was supposed to go somewhere with a new found friend today. I texted her that I was on my way to our meeting place. I arrived there ten minutes early. Of course I waited. Ten minutes past the meeting time, she was still not around. There was no text or call from her either. I decided to just go without her. Since I was supposed to hitch a ride with her, I didn't call her lest she thinks I am being demanding. And she might still be sleeping so I didn't bother calling.

On the taxi, I checked my phone. I had three missed calls. I must have been busy hailing a cab that time when she called. The problem was I couldn't call her back because I just realized I didn't have sufficient credit.

When my phone rang again, I heard a masked annoyance at the other end. She said she's still at the meeting place and had been waiting there for fifteen minutes. 15 minutes!! I couldn't believe it, I just left the place and only eight minutes have passed since. But of course I was still polite and apologized. She told me I should have waited or even texted to inform her that I left already. It was true, I could have done that but as I've said earlier I had my reasons why I did not. I am not sure now if I was rude or just being too courteous.

I saw her at our destination. She arrived only 3 minutes behind me. But it was evident she was irritated with me even after I told her my apologies. Later on, she seemed okay.

After the event, I stayed behind to settle payments. I didn't expect she'd wait for me but she did. I thought everything was forgotten.

Inside her car, she again told me that I should have waited for her. She even said that the last time we went out, she waited for me. Which was true but I wasn't late. She was just early. I couldn't butt in, she was on a roll. I don't know what's her point after I said my half a dozen apologies. It was clear she was really annoyed at me. I didn't argue. After all I was riding in her car.

She's a nice person, I am sure. But after this, I don't think I'd like to hang out with her again. She might just be honest and just expressed her feelings but I am also very sensitive person. I almost cried inside the car.

I texted her this afternoon that I wasn't going with her next week because I have plans. She answered "K".

I guess that's the end of the friendship that has never even begun. It's sad.

The itch

I am not sure if it is because of the year end sale here in Malaysia but I find myself craving, itching, wanting badly to go shopping. I don't know. I don't normally feel this way. It's a little odd.

The thing is, I cannot go shopping now. We've alloted the second week of this month for our shopping "extravaganza". We agreed not to touch our savings and instead wait for hubby's salary next week.

But next week seems like forever. Hahahaha! I am not really good at waiting. But of course I have no choice. I will just continue window shopping for now and refine my shopping list.

1) Bag - this I must have! My bags are already tattered.
2) Ballet shoes/Flat shoes - for a change. I'm tired of my flip flops.
3) Necklace - a fancy gold with a long chain.
4) Gadget - it could be a phone, an MP3 player or maybe an ipod. But more of a phone. I don't like using hubby's old O2 phone. It's a little big and I hate using stylus. I have survived not having any ipods since eventhough everybody had one or even two.
5) Dress - hopefully in a smaller size.

Let's see how will I fare with this waiting game.

Wouldn't go away

How many times have I been tempted to try diet pills? Countless of times! Have I tried one? Yes. But I stopped using it after a week only. I think I have mentioned it in this blog. If not then probably on my other blog. The thing is, I am on a "diet" right now. I do portion control, watch what I eat, sometimes even count the calories of the food I eat. It is tedious and there are days when I just want to give up and start stuffing myself with food again. Sometimes though I give in just to assuage my cravings. And then I go back counting the calories again. It's no fun. Then I go online and read people losing weight without much effort. How do they do that? Pills of course. Just when I think I can lose weight by going the healthy way, then this temptation to use pills resurfaces again. I've read some good orovo reviews. I might direct my sister to this site. More than me, she needs a little help. Maybe just for her to get started. I might join her too if I can't fight this temptation away :)