Happy Father's Day 2014

Happy Father's Day to my Abah. Thank you for providing me with everything I need. If you've seen this cartoon sketch yang orang duk sebar kat internet, the one yang ada budak pakai seluar bertampal-tampal holding his fathers hand, and the father punya seluar pulak berlubang-lubang, which brings the meaning he gave up what he had to provide for his child (malas nak cari balik gambar tu), that picture would best describe my Abah. Like even until now when all my siblings are grown up, working and married, he's still the first person to jump at our needs.

Happy Father's Day to my husband aka the father of my child. Thank you for helping with house chores and baby chores. For understanding and taking over when I'm tired. For that, I am blessed. But you still have a long way to go, Papa. :p

Last but not least, Happy Father's Day to all fathers in the world, and to those playing the role of a father. May Allah bless you all.

Zara & Papa enjoying ice cream Mama belanja. ♥

Hari ni keluar jalan-jalan ke Midvalley. Despite today being Father's Day, aku pulak yang dapat belated birthday gift. Hihi

Thank you HB ♥

Come to think of it, aku tak pernah beli wallet | purse untuk diri sendiri. All the ones I've been using had been gifts or passover from Mak. Phew banyak jugak la aku jimat selama ni ye. ;)

Weekend Getaway: Avilion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson

Sabtu lepas ada kenduri sepupu Mak kat PD, whom supposedly is my uncle yet he's only 23. Kitorang bertolak Jumaat malam sabtu. Singgah makan Wadihana kat Bangi Gateway dulu, then bertolak dari Bangi 10pm and arrived PD at 11pm. We stayed at Avilion Admiral Cove. Check in took a while sebab booking last minit so they still haven't received the confirmation from Agoda. With all the confusion, menunggu la for about 15 minutes kat lobby.

View from our room

Dapat bilik kat level 1. Mak, Zara and I stayed in one room (Straits Studio) while Abah, Imran and HB stayed in another (Superior). The difference between those two rooms was only the view, and the size of the room. Straits Studio view menghadap laut, but laut yang takde pantai la sebab kat luar tu marina. Superior pulak menghadap bangunan lain tapi boleh la nampak a glimpse of the swimming pool. But that would also depend on which room you are staying. Straits Studio was spacious jadi seronok la Zara lari sana sini. Superior is smaller but comfortable enough for 3. Both room ada daybed tapi dalam Superior takde cadar while Straits Studio ada cadar. Sarung daybed and cushion tu nampak macam kotor sikit sebab macam lama and banyak stain. Nasib baik Abah bawak sleeping bag so boleh la buat alas. They also provide iron and iron board in both rooms.

King bed in Straits Studio

Daybed with linen in Straits Studio

Breakfast was ok. Takde la banyak sangat choice tapi ok la. What I liked was the salad bar with 3 different types of dressing, cheddar cheese and beef pepperoni  (which were sliced a tad too thick). The fresh milk was nice, masa pekerja tu refill I notice they use Goodday milk. Kadang-kadang ada hotel yang guna fresh milk yang rasa macam pelik. Sort of susu murah ke apa I don't know. But taste different la if you know what I mean. Juice pulak on the first day ada pineapple and guava, the second day manggo and guava. Juice rasa pelik so I didn't have any. Thank goodness for the fresh milk. The breads were ok, they serve croissants with a couple of pastries each day. Ruang makan tu was rather small comparative to the hotel and obviously it would be full. The good thing was they kept on refilling the foods and I can see the chefs coming out to check on the foods, the manager was also there monitoring the staffs the whole time.

Hari first turun breakfast kitorang macam tercari-cari mana dining area. Sebab susunan hotel ni macam pelik sikit, kena pusing sana sini. Dari segi service for me semua ok, the staffs were ok. Hari nak checkout, Mak mintak extend our checkout time and dia bagi latest at 1pm. Lebih dari 1pm dia akan automatically charge RM100/hour. Hotel ni pun dekat je dari tol PD. I think dalam 10 minits macam tu la lebih kurang. In a nutshell, the hotel is clean and comfortable with spacious room so I would recommend it if you are looking for a hotel in PD.

Weekend Getaway: JPO + Grand Bluewave Hotel, JB

Finally, the weekend for our getaway to USS! Kononnya Zara's belated birthday + my advance birthday vacation. Masa beli package holiday kat MATTA Fair, ingatkan nak ber-honeymoon. Tiba-tiba macam dah jadi family day pulak with my parent, sister & brother in law, cousins and aunt join sekali. Not that I mind, memang lagi seronok pergi ramai-ramai pun. :D

Zara malam tadi, dah standby dengan beg dia.

Malam sebelum gerak, aku siap message kat group Whatsapp family, esok nak gerak by 9am sebab petang nak relax dalam hotel. Tapi malam tu Zara pulak tidur pukul 4am! Sudahnya lepas Subuh tidur balik, 8.30am baru bangun and 10am++ baru gerak dari Bangi. Singgah 'brunch' kat Restoran Jejantas Ayer Keroh, Bebi baru sedar dia tertinggal passport so kena patah balik. Nasib baik la Redza tu jenis relax je tak marah. Kalau aku la yang tertinggal, I don't even want to imagine. :p

Singgah JPO dulu before check in hotel. Last time aku pergi JPO (some time around August last year), macam tak best sangat pun. Barang tak banyak. Ni macam dah best la pulak. Clarks outlet dulu ada a few designs je. Sekarang dah banyak, even rak dalam kedai tu pun dah bertambah. Dah la kali ni masa memang limited sebab nak check in hotel so sempat masuk certain kedai yang memang target nak beli je.

Zara having late lunch at JPO.

Checked in kat hotel dah almost 7pm, pukul 8.30pm nak keluar makan balik. Tak sempat nak rehat sangat pun. Mandi, solat, and belek-belek barang yang beli kat JPO tadi. Kitorang duduk kat Grand Bluewave Hotel, JB. Satu malam RM230 untuk Studio Room book kat MATTA Fair. Semalam aku tolong book the same room for Bebi & Redza through Agoda RM203 per night and they got upgraded to Executive Studio. Pftt! No more MATTA Fair for me.

I like the room. Spacious with carpeted floor, jadi anak aku nak main lari sana sini takde la risau sangat. The carpet pun seems clean enough. Kalau ada extra guest nak tidur atas lantai pun selesa lagi, banyak space. View menghadap laut | Singapore but biasa-biasa je. Serabut and sesak pun ada, tengok luar ada construction (at the moment) and laut yang seciput between Malaysia and Singapore. Tapi view dari suite Mak Abah menghadap tambak Johor and the better side of the city so cantik la sikit.

I'm also happy with the bathroom even though takde bathtub, shower dia best and luas with pretty tiles. I would say I like the Studio Room punya bathroom compared to the Suite Mak Abah was staying. Jubin kat Studio Room lagi cantik (color dark grey jenis kesat) while kat Suite (color maroon jenis licin). I feel that the Suite's bathroom is too big, making me feel rather uncomfortable. The shower and bathtub were together and I don't fancy having my shower in a bathtub. But rasanya unlike me, ramai yang kisah sangat kot hal shower/bathtub ni?

For my Studio Room, masa masuk bilik we realize ada dia bagi satu je towel so HB call mintak hantar satu lagi and they sent it straight away. The downside was probably the TV which was quite small. Channel pulak tak banyak and channel yang ada pun semua siaran tak berapa jelas. All in all, I'd stay again at this hotel.

Lighting in the room was rather dim.

Imran nak bawak kitorang pergi makan dalam 9pm so kitorang ke rumah nenek dulu, tunggu dia kat sana. Tunggu punya tunggu, pukul 10pm baru dia sampai. Kitorang bawak nenek keluar makan kat Restoran Singgah Selalu. Kat situ, nak bercakap dengan orang kena shout at the top of your voice sebab ada live band and speaker dia kuat giler. Seronok but kesian kat Zara tengah tidur. Environment dia buat rasa macam orang muda pulak lepas sini malam-malam. Kahkah.

Sampai hotel nak masuk bilik ada problem dengan card so HB kena turun ke reception and activatekan balik card tu. It was already after midnight and HB terus tertidur, penat sangat. Aku pulak melayan si kecik tu main pukul 2am baru tidur. Phew.

Beli pakej USS kat MATTA Fair.

Untuk birthday Zara tahun ni kitorang plan nak celebrate special sikit. Mula-mula nak buat birthday party but then many questions came up and we couldn't come to a decision. Nak buat kat mana, rumah kitorang, rumah Atuk & Opah Zara or kat luar? How far should we extend the invitation, just family, or ajak kawan-kawan rapat, jiran, kawan office? Menu apa, nak masak (as if), ambik catering, upah orang masak, take outs?

So in the end kitorang decide nak go and celebrate somewhere just the three of us. Gabungkan sekali celebration birthday Zara & Mama, HB nak belanja pergi USS. YEAY!

Last weekend kitorang pergi MATTA Fair. Banyak jugak package USS. Ada yang RM168 + free SGD10 meal voucher + SGD5 retail voucher. Pakej Hotel Sentral JB RM280/person untuk 1 night stay, return transfer to USS and entrance tickets.

HB beli pakej USS dengan Grand BlueWave Hotel berharga RM600 nett for 1 night stay at the hotel, 2 entrance ticket and hotel-USS return transfer. Breakfast tak termasuk dalam pakej so for breakfast tambah RM15/person. Bas bertolak 8am so takut tak sempat pun nak breakfast. Tapi HB kata because dia tau aku suka makan kat hotel so tambah jela. Hihihi

Murah ke tak pakej ni? I would say actually sama je pun if you beli bukan kat MATTA Fair. Because entrance ticket paling murah aku pernah jumpa RM165/person. Harga biasa rasanya RM185/person. Return transfer to USS usually RM30/person. Grand Bluewave Hotel aku check kat booking.com boleh dapat dalam RM205/night including breakfast! Tapi tu check in Friday la. Kalau check in Saturday at least RM250/night. The advantage of this package is takde surcharge on weekends and public holidays. So kira-kira balik if beli hotel, ticket & bus asing-asing harga dia sama je kan if not higher. Tapi kalau nak lagi jimat boleh je duduk budget hotel tak pun duduk Tune Hotel pun ok. Bus ke USS pun ada dari Tune Hotel tu.

So bottom line is kalau nak cari pakej jimat untuk ke USS during MATTA Fair ni, baik tak payah la. Tapi kalau malas nak fikir, nak mudah and terus book 'all in' package banyak la kat situ. But mind you, there're not exactly at the lowest price. Aku ni ada jugak terfikir rugi je beli pakej tu, kalau ambik hotel budget boleh jimat cost. Nak sedapkan hati --> takpe la kan, cos its a special ocassion. Huhu.

Ok now aku kena survey pulak tips what to do or not to do kat USS. Come to think of it, banyak ke rides untuk budak 2 years old macam Zara ek? Then if aku nak naik rides yang Zara takleh naik macam mana? T_T

Product Review: TBS Born Lippy Lip Balm

My favorite lip product at the moment. Smells delicious!! The watermelon flavor was beyond expectation. Smells yummy and it doesn't give much of a color on your lips. The strawberry flavor smells very sweet so it might not be for everyone. It gives your lips a slightly red tint. I also have the raspberry flavor which I have yet to try. Can't decide which would be my favorite flavor as they change along with my mood. ;)

Got this from The Body Shop UK for £2 a pot (normal price). Here in Malaysia its RM19 a pot. Don't know if I'd buy it for that price though. Then again, maybe I would. But just one pot at a time and use it until it is finish. :p

I won the Big Bad Wolf preview pass!

I am over the moon! I won the preview pass to the Big Bad Wolf 2014 sale! Meaning, a day before the actual event starts, a limited no of people get early excess to the sale. So the chances untuk dapat buku-buku yang best | bestseller tu tinggi la sikit.

How I won the preview pass? The BBW FB page ada buat sharing contest. Kena share one of the BBW promo photo then 10 lucky people will win a preview pass to the Big Bad Wolf 2014 main event, biasanya hujung tahun.

Hujung bulan ni ada BBW sale lagi, tapi its a bit different this time. Kena beli box dulu (ada dua size) then you fill the books that you want in the box, make sure box tu boleh tutup rapat then you get all the books inside for free. Tak boleh nak imagine lagi untung ke tak sebab box tu harga RM79.70 and RM99.90. What if tak banyak buku yang kita suka? Like it or not kena jugak spend that amount of money for the box. Therefore aku plan untuk tak pergi event ni, because I want to save up for the main sale nanti (as if).

The only thing that I'm not happy with is nanti aku kena claim preview pass tu kat BookXcess punya office kat Amcorp Mall. Kat mana tu! Yang aku tau its not anywhere near Bangi. Malasnya. Kenapa dia tak boleh email je kat kita terus.. Huhuhu.

Anyways, boleh la pergi dengan Kakak nanti. Kakak pun menang preview pass jugak tapi in another contest. Actually she was my inspiration. Hehe. I am counting days! :D

Balik Kelantan.

Dah lama tak balik Kelantan. Supposedly nak balik masa cuti CNY last month, but we had to cancel sebab Zara masuk hospital because of Pneumonia. So bulan ni kena balik jugak la. Mak Abah decided nak ikut sekali, saja-saja nak berjalan ke pantai timur.

Zara sibuk nak bawak kereta dia balik kampung.

Zara dengan kereta dia.

Sem ni my schedule from Monday till Thursday is literally full so aku boleh cuti Jumaat je. Hari Khamis, kelas habis pukul 8pm so kitorang gerak malam, plus hoping that kalau gerak malam Zara tidur so takde la meragam dalam kereta. Well guess what, dia tak tidur. -_-

Omg geram + stress betul rasa masa tu. Kitorang gerak dari rumah Mak Abah dalam 10pm. Abah je ikut naik kereta, Mak esok baru naik flight ke KB. Zara tidur dari 11pm-12am and then she was wide awake! Panjat sana panjat sini, tengok Upin Ipin. Aku dah la tak rehat since 6am++ pagi tu. Kelas 7.45am-1pm, sambung lagi 2pm-8pm. Balik rumah terus packing barang, bersiap, then gerak. Dengan sakit badan lagi sebab jalan agak teruk and kereta bergoyang-goyang. Pukul 5am baru Zara tidur, and pukul 6am kitorang selamat sampai kampung.

Lepas solat Subuh tidur sampai 10am. Then kena pergi ambik Mak kat airport and hantar Mak Abah check in kat Renaissance KB. Kat airport Abah & HB suruh beli terus ticket flight untuk aku and Zara balik KL. Tak sanggup rasanya nak travel jauh 8 jam dalam kereta dengan Zara.

Kat hotel baru mandikan Zara sebab dia baru bangun. Abah & HB pergi solat Jumaat kat Masjid which was within walking distance from the hotel. Balik dari hotel, ingat nak singgah makan mee celup tapi tutup pulak kedai.

Petang kitorang keluar pergi pasar malam kat Pantai Irama. Aku teringin nak makan kuih-kuih | makanan Kelantan. Tapi gerai jual makanan bape deret je yang banyak kedai jual baju/barang-barang. Then malam pergi Wakaf Che Yeh.

Makan sausage + keropok lekor tepi Pantai Irama.