Impulse purchase

I have been keeping the intention to buy a new handbag to work for so long now. I know I should just replace my old bag. Been using it for two years, the same bag, 5 days a week, for TWO years. I am the type that keeps 1 bag and use it sampai rabak baru nak beli baru. Rabak until macam ni.

Seriously I donno what the hell I do until it becomes like this. Maybe because I take it all the time with me, sometimes I carry my pencil case in there, my water bottle, my heavy wallet, my tags (I have plenty of client's tags). Ok.. that doesnt count cz it doesnt add to the weight. Ouh.. SOMETIMES... just sometimes, i put my laptop in there!! *-_-*

Ali always NAG at me, to take care of my stuff. He said I donno how to handle things. Beli mahal-mahal, lepas tu rabak. Hey, to my defence, this is THE ONLY office handbag I have, and I dont have a permanent workplace, I travel a lot, and I need my stuff to be carried with me. Fair, right. So two years IS a good number.

Recently I changed my purse that Ali bought for me many years back from Braun Buffel. He said that was the first expensive gift he had ever given to any girls before. And now it became like this.

So Ali has this perception that I donno how to take good care of things :(. He said he is not gonna buy me a new designer bag to replace my DKNY. Oh I love dkny so much, the only brand that I am always drooling over for handbags. So he bought me a Vincci purse, which I also like lah, to replace my buffel. Although for handbags, I believe that if he refused to buy a new designer, I am very adamant to get it myself. I think it's not because of the brand..it's self satisfaction! Because I love dkny's designs for bags. I can go without Coach, LV or Gucci (because I dont really like the brand names written all over the bag), but it's kinda hard to resist dkny. For me lah.

But today however, changed my persistency in looking for new dkny. Because I found this.

It has a simple design that I like, with the right color, the right size, definitely cannot put a laptop inside, so I won't have the chance to do it, and if I get bored, or if it is easily worn out or tattered, or if I decide to force a laptop inside and spoil it, I can always buy a new one without much hesitation. Because it is very cheap!!! It is only 10% of my previous bag. And it is new arrival!

Most importantly, it is environmental friendly. They did not give paperbag for the purchase, I got this instead. So next time I can use it for future shoppings.

Ok, saya jakun baru tahu Charles & Keith itu murah. Tak mahu jadi bodoh lagi to buy a 1k bag only to get it lusuh after a year. Baiklah, saya mengaku saya tak tahu jaga barang :(

SCSM 2010

2010 is not a running year for me. I have registered myself in less than 10 runs and showed up at 8 runs only I think. But since joining the SCSM 2009 last year, I knew I had to join the run again this year. It was very well organised as expected. But overall, last year might have been a better event. Firstly, the sporting goods exhibition they had last year was not included this time. Runners looking forward to shop at comically low prices merchandise will be disappointed.

Ayman and I decided to drive this time around, (we took a flight last year). We left KL at approximately 0400 Saturday and reached Larkin Bus Station about 0800. We got to Singapore just before 1000. We knew the race kit collection will begin as early as 0900, so we headed straight to 'The Float @ Marina' to collect the kit. On our way there I snapped these amazing building and playing field.




We checked in at a youth hostel named G4 Station Backpackers near Little India MRT Station. I would rate the place a 7.5/10, mainly because of its strategic location and cleanliness.



Friendliness of the personnel is not as good as the Hives Backpackers and the rooms are really tiny. I bumped my head several times on the bunk bed frame.




I called the night in at around 2215 and woke up at 0450, but continued to sleep in while telling myself "sedapnya selimut ni sejuk2 tido balik la, mamat kat atas ni kalau bangun die gerak la aku, kalau tak sambung je la tido". And at 0505 both of us was awaken by our alarm clocks. We got ourselves ready and took the 2nd train from Little India to Harbour Front.





I got to the starting line just at the right time, and by then thousands of runners are already there.



The route chosen this year was very tourist oriented as it covered the whole of Sentosa Island including their famous Universal Studios. However I was in and out of Universal Studios in 12 minutes approximately.




But there are some stretches where the road gets really narrow and for people eyeing for a PB will definitely get agitated. I am not affected since I was merely enjoying the whole thing.




Along the run I felt really hungry and felt like breaking wind a couple of times and I did it at strategic points. Firstly at the Sentosa Coach Depot where it was noisy and filled with coach's emission, secondly when there was an ambulance on emergency and finally towards the finishing line next to a line of coaches along the roadside.

*DISCLAIMER: the next paragraph could be disturbing to some readers
But what was really disturbing was this one female runner, I think she may have suffered from a bad meal the night before. I saw a brownish patch at her left cheek bum which looked a lot like poo at first glance. I thought to myself she might have sat at a muddy area while stretching or had her chocolate flavoured gel burst, but the smell that followed as she run past by confirmed it was poo! Yikes! She should have wash it off at the water station at least. Don't leave it to dry up.

I crossed the finish line at an unimpressive turtle timing of 3h 26m 14s. I am just glad to have finish it. This turtle timing is an indication that full marathon is not going to be attempted anytime soon.






We left Singapore at around 1500 and reached Larkin at 1600. We got back in KL safely at 2000. We surprised ourselves that we could survive the long drive after a run earlier that morning. :p

Well Done to ALL runners who participated and I look forward to SCSM 2011 with my wife by that time InsyaAllah. :)

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2010

more photos will be uploaded and some words and comments to follow...
stay tuned :)

Engagement - Part 1

I would say that I did not spend much time doing surveys for my engagement. Like some other bride-to-be would do. Not because I did not have time, I was just pure lazy to think of the whole engagement thing.
Hantaran, baju, mini pelamin, house deco, food, khemah, guests, makeup, photographer, dan banyak lagi nak fikir. So I just left it to my mom who knows a lot of people and she can sweet-talk too, so sometimes she gets things cheap her own way :)

These are the hantarans, 7 dulang membalas 5 dulang presented by the boy's side.

Mini pelamin konon ala-kayangan, wasnt expected it to be like that. I didnt have any theme or any specific choice in mind. Just left it to the guy, and he did it all. But alhamdulillah, I loved it so much. Although initially, I did not want to have any pelamin.. I wanted it to be traditional, let the mom come in to my room and sarungkan cincin in my room. Gaduh la dengan parents macam mana pun, they prefer to have the pelamin, so ok there you go.

Baju tunang ni from syaiful baharim. Saya sangat puas hati! I didnt want my engagement to look like nikah (altho some would say that it does), tapi alhamdulillah, i chose the right color other than white and cream. So tak la nampak macam kawin sangat. But the most important thing is, i love the cutting and the design. it didnt make me look so fat, and dia tak banyak sangat beading on the body...which i like so much!

Makeup was done by one lady who works in TV3, introduced by my friend, zetty. Malas nak pikir punya pasal, i straight away took the same lady who did for zetty's engagement and nikah. It was worth it too.

Rombongan sampai with their dulang. Terpaksa menyempit dalam teratak yang kecil ni. The discussion wasn't long. Mainly because both our sides have agreed on the dates and venues and stuff. So it was just purely for formalisation, they mentioned them again.

While discussion, masuklah satu pak haji ni , an ustaz called by my dad to bacakan doa. He was dressed like pak kadi, and the boy's side macam terkedu seketika. Macam upacara nikah dah ni.  My father said jokingly, "Kalau Ali ada ni, I dont mind to nikah kan aje. Lagi bagus. Save duit! semua dah ada." OMG, nasib baik the boy was not there..Kalau tak, sure berpeluh panic.

Upacara kemuncak, sarung cincin by my future MIL. Dia kata dia panic naik atas pelamin tu. Sebab banyak cameraman. Tak biasa, hehe comel!

Aalhamdulillah, upacara doa, dilakukan oleh ustaz yang macam tok kadi tu.

Koyak!

Itulah tajuk Ali's message when he sent me this photo from Singapore.

Honestly, I haven't seen him run for quite some time. When I asked him, have you been training? His answer would be, "yes". I asked him, "when and what do you do?" He would say "malam-malam, angkat weights". THAT is his training. Angkat weights.

However, I dont worry much about him. Although with zero training, he has always managed to finish his run, always managed to bring back medal. With his strong will, insyaAllah, walaupun sakit kaki, tempang-tempang he will try to finish. Tak laju takper, asalkan habis, dapat medal, and puas hati.

I wish him all the best. Hopefully this time, dia akan habis lagi.

Come back home safe.

Another must-read Confessions

As I was walking around in a bookstore, I found this book:

CONFESSIONS OF A WEDDING PLANNER

It did not take me more than 2 minutes to decide on buying it.

As the News of the World had described it as a 'must-have book for any bride-to-be', I did not even have a second thought whatsoever.

Without looking at the price, I headed to the cashier. Let's see in about a week time, what will I find out about wedding planners.

Or more like the truth behind the scene of a wedding preparation. Tunggu.

My long lost love

I have been in love with Prince William, since I was small. I adored him so much, as much as my mother had adored his mother, the late Princess Diana. I read almost all Hello magazines to follow the story of that royal family. I even remembered his birthday, 21 June (Our birthday falls on the same month :p). I told myself (and everybody else in my family) that one day, I am gonna marry Prince William. Haha..

Everybody tried to tell me that it is impossible to happen, apart from both of us came from two different parts of the world, two different countries, different lifestyles, it is almost impossible for me to even meet him to say ‘hello’, I have to bear in mind that we also have different religion. He is going to be a king some day, and he cannot be a muslim for him to hold the throne. But, nothing brings the dream to an end. No kidding ok, I was at least 10% convinced that it COULD happen.

I went to study in the UK, chose to study in Wales, since William Wales was the son of Prince of Wales. Tak der kene mengena kan. Hehe.. Although we have never crossed each other’s path, we finally decided to get married, although not to each other, but in the same year, Spring 2011.

We got engaged in a gap of two weeks, and I think it was very much co-incidence that we happen to have the same engagement ring. Well, almost the same, I would say. (Jodoh yang tak kesampaian ;))

hers from the side

mine from the side

hers from the top

mine from the top

OK, tak lah sama sangat, design is about the same, difference is, her saphire is oval, mine is round, and of coz la her ring is berpuluh-puluh ribu pounds :) and her jari is kurus and long, mine is pendek and fat.

Baik lah, kene kuruskan badan :)