My new obsession

Since SB decided they were too good to not have me at their launch *sulk* I have a new found love... MK... Nooo, not Mustafa Kamal - aiyoh... Michael Kors! Hahah. (Okay, so I know I'm not famous enough to be invited to launches but still... it has put me off from shopping at SB for sometime. *patsselfonback*)

 

My 'relationship' with MK started with me looking for a new wallet. I hardly ever change wallets as I dont really see the need to (I don't know if I can still say this in five years' time) do it often (changing handbags are tiring enough). Unfortunately, the outer part of my Liz Clairborne has been peeling even worse than a snake shedding its skin. The inside still looks good!! (So I'm saving it for traveling in case it gets stolen... My sister joked saying the thief might actually just return it to me. Haha)




Excited much?

Wait for it....

Out of the paperbag, now to unwrap....



Tadaa!! Say hello to the MK Hamilton Large Ziparound Wallet in Navy Saffiano Leather!
(Phewh that's a mouthful)



It isn't exactly the latest design (in the US that is) but it was the one that attracted my attention. I first saw it online, but it was out of season (and stock)... Of course in the US it was a whole lot cheaper ($138) but I diligently waited for the MK store at Pavilion to go on sale. Luckily I did as it went 30% off the original price (RM679 was it?) so it came about the same price as the US. What I liked was that it opened out flat. It's also made of Saffiano leather (or so they claim) which is supposed to be scratch and water resistant (we'll see about that).

 

My sister came back from Mauritius a week ago "Sbb nak makan best-best" she said, so the whole week was spent on eating and eating. We had a nice family lunch at Luk Yu Tea House at Starhill Gallery on Sat, and then I walked over to H&M with my second sister and then to Pavilion. I had a horrible horrible tummy upset, which sent me to the washroom 4 times (each at different locations haha). I went to SB as they were having 50% off till Sunday and found these pair of high-heeled brogue shoes which were soo pretty... Thing is it was like RM312 AFTER discount and they're not exactly the shoes that can be worn everywhere. Plus my tummy was still acting up and SB was crowded, and I had to go and pray so I didn't buy it. It just wasn't meant to be...

 

That's coz I found something else instead. Teehee.

 

I eventually (coincidentally?) got better just before walking into the MK store. I thought I'd just browse around to see if there was anything worth it since they were having sale...

 

I found two tops (well three but I decided the other one made me look like a clown) but I managed to control myself to not purchase both of them together.

 



I tend to get attracted to greens....

 

Loved the top, but I feel like I look like a clown/jester and definitely not paying the RM300++ price to look like that.
Maybe if it went down further to RM100+, I'll reconsider. Haha.



 Ok fine, it was just that they didn't have any new stock and one of them had sort of a stain on it. So I went with the dark olive top.

 



Necklace from Diva

 

Of course me being the curious one, tried my luck and asked the (I think) store manager sort of "by-the-way" and she checked their stock - apparently they have one at the One Utama outlet! So yeah, the hijau pisang one will be coming........

 

You'd think I'd have learnt my lesson and stop shopping after looking at my ever increasing credit card bill... Unfortunately, no. I have a bad habit of buying on an impulse and online shopping is very dangerous for people like me. Cutting the story short, this will be on its way to me in January when my colleague comes to KL (with the rest of the Sephora items I purchased way back in November)....

 



Michael Kors Embellished silk-crepe shirt (picture taken from Polyvore)



This was a steal! Ok fine, it's still around RM200+ BUT the store manager at Pavi was promoting it to me and the price was like RM1k+ before discount!! (or was it after?) Pokoknye, even after 30% off it still couldn't beat the price I paid. At first when she was trying to promote it to me I did think about it, as I saw another lady trying it on. But of course she was a model, tall and slim so when I held it up against me and checked myself in the mirror I told the manager "Nah, too bling...". Partially that was the reason, but partially I am NOT gonna pay that much man.... Lucky for me, I found it at a price I was willing to pay at Net-a-Porter.

 

I thought I would be using my Borderlinx account, unfortunately NAP doesn't send to freight-forwarding agencies. Thus, I had it delivered to Yassir's house.

 

I doubt I'll be purchasing from the Pavi store again (well maybe that one shirt) since it's way cheaper in the US and one (or maybe two?) season late, also Michael Kors online delivers to Borderlinx. The only thing is, their delivery charges are significant on top of that I'd have to pay for Borderlinx delivery, so I'll prolly have to recalculate and compare which is more worth it. Can't keep sending it to Yassir's house now can I....

 

Also, Shahrul who used to say "BUY!" everytime I asked his opinion when purchasing, is starting to say STOP! OR I'LL SEND YOU TO REHAB!!

 

Well, that's all on my new obsession! Thanks for reading!

The Final Episode : Phuket and Phi Phi

Day 4

 

We didn't do much in the morning except for breakfast, getting onto the ferry and back to the hotel. We took a tuktuk to Ibis Patong to find halal restaurants (which we saw from reviews were 'right in front of Ibis' or '5 mins away from Ibis'). Needless to say, we were walking and walking and walking till we finally found Masjid Nurul Islam and two restaurants just across the street. We chose the other that had less people, the workers were prolly from Patani or Kelantan since they could kecek Kelate.

 

Lunch! Tomyam, Kailan Ikan Masin, Spicy Glass Noodle Salad, Chicken with Cashewnuts

Masjid Nurul Islam

 

Once we had our tummies filled, we walked down to look for a cab to Jim Thompson outlet (which was of course the highlight of my day). We managed to find one, a decent Toyota Vios for 1000baht return trip.

 

The outlet is in Laguna Resort, in Chengthelay (or something like that) about 1/2 hr away from Patong.

 

 

Spent almost two hours and pretty much 20k baht (yes, 20k...OMG!) on cushion covers, thai silk fabric, thai silk shawls and scarves, a shirt for dad, a bag for mom and sis, and myself and some souvenirs.

 

I was of course tired.........

 

After all the shopping, I just had to have another massage which was at Sweet Lemongrass - as recommended from TripAdvisor! And it is as good as the reviews. Cheap and the pressure was strong enough. Of course the masseuse was nervous when I suddenly started to giggle uncontrollably as I was ticklish. She knew not to massage my thighs after that.

 

Look what we found at the massage parlour.

 

Check out the powder....Hahaha

 

We took a tuktuk to Patong (again!) and walked around as Sha wanted to look for Muay Thai stuff for her family. We came across a few stalls selling food, and one was a kakak selling Pad Thai and Fried Rice. We bought one each and ate at another stall that sold grilled seafood...

 

Yummy Seafood!

 

The stalls are across the road from the Bangla Muay Thai Stadium.

 



Muay Thai Stadium

 

Well that pretty much concludes our trip (I wouldn't wanna bore you with the petty details of us sleeping, repacking our bags, and the trip to the airport...). Hope you enjoyed reading, as much as I enjoyed sharing. For those who have been Phuket, how was it for you? and for those who haven't and are planning to go soon... hope it helps you plan your trip to Phuket and Phi Phi!

Phuket and Phi Phi Trip Part Deux

Day 3

Woke up early to take a walk around the island - ok maybe just to the left side of the hotel and back. But it was almost towards the end of the island... I wanted to look for the mosque to see if there was anything interesting around there, but since it was too early in the morning there wasn't anything going on. So I left a small donation, snapped some photos and left. On the way, I passed by one of the resorts and boy was it packed with a tour group! Thank goodness I chose PP Banyan Villa.

 

Went to the normal halal warong to have fried rice for breakfast before going to the diveshop. Met up with Rahim and Keira, discussed about our dive and went to the boat at Tonsai Pier.

Our first dive was at Bida Nok, unfortunately I'm not a good writer, nor an experienced diver so I don't really know how to describe the dive. It was good, but nothing fantastically mind-blowing. There were plenty of marine life, but somehow I found the colors of the marine life were slightly less than in Perhentian with the exception of corals. We did about 55mins which was quite long since my previous dives were about 40 mins or so. The sea was a bit choppy so the first time around I was already tired trying to swim closer to the cliff. (Note to self : Exercise more dammit!)

During the break we were parked just outside Maya Bay. Unfortunately I chose tuna sandwich for the meal, and the strong onion- tunamayo-rocky boat combo made me sick. I was desperate to get off the boat immediately, so the minute we reached our next dive site, Malong, I was like "let me go! move outta the way!" Needless to say, I barfed a few times during the dive. Hahaha. What? I was just following Keira's instructions "If you're sick, just let it out..". I couldn't really enjoy much of the dive since I was busy trying to barf and equalize. There were two swim-throughs but I only did one as I couldn't go deeper without feeling like puking.

I saw turtles by the way.

... and harlequin shrimps! (which apparently are rare to find... I couldn't really figure out how it was supposed to look like, since I didn't feel so good so I wasn't really concentrating...)

 

The PP Aquanauts dive shop

This was where I started to get sick. Haha

 

  Surprisingly I actually survived the dive of 54 mins. Unfortunately the boat drifted away, so it took us awhile to get the attention. The sea was still choppy and I was tired, so I tried to cling on to Rahim, who thought I was trying to play tag, while of course, barfing. Haha. The best part is Rahim didn't know he was swimming in my barf. When I got up to the boat I was like "get this equipment off of me!!" and found a corner to sulk and barf. Hahaha. The minute we reached the pier I was like "ME FIRST! GET OUT!". I rushed back to the hotel to let the rest go all at once. Went for lunch at the same warong and walked around to shop. Also went for a massage, which wasn't that good. After that we went shopping for a sundress for me (didn't bring any and whatever I had would've made me sweat in the ferry again) and walked to and fro finding an outerwear for the dress. We settled down for dinner and then back to the hotel to packup. 

I sure slept well through the night after all the diving and puking and shopping. Haha.

More photos!

They have big fluffy cats EVERYWHERE!

 

 

 

 

Phuket and Phi Phi Trip

A long overdue post, but the cause was the trip itself. The next day after I came back from the trip I was in the office, rushing around chairing a meeting and last minute chasing people around to ensure that my next trip (which was the next day) goes as planned. And yes, the next trip was out in the sea but it was on a "steel island" - an oil platform. After I came back, had a last date before the bf went to Dubai :( , worked the whole week and just came back from a teambuilding session. But enough about those, let's concentrate on the trip.

Day 1

We arrived at Phuket in the evening via MAS (which served chicken pie and some other snacks yay!) and got into our ground transfer (which Rahim had already pre-booked). The hotel we stayed at was Seeka Boutique Resort in Patong, about 50 mins away from the airport (with traffic and a stop at 7E). We reached the hotel when it was almost getting dark and checked in to our rooms. The room was big enough and nicely decorated, although it had a strong scent which wasn't exactly to my liking. Since it was already around 7PM, there wasn't any free transportation for us from the hotel so we walked about and managed to flag down a tuk-tuk. As other reviews mentioned, the tuk-tuk is quite pricely (200 baht to almost everywhere) but as we split the cost between 4 of us, it came to about RM5 per person so it wasn't too bad. First stop was of course Jungceylon as I already had my list of items to buy - lingerie from Annebra (the so-called special lingerie I purchased in Spore) and shampoo from Boots pharmacy. The rest did purchase some stuff too so I didn't feel too bad that I dragged them to Jungceylon. We then we walked (and walked and walked and walked...) to Hard Rock Cafe, which if we didn't get lost initially, is not that far off from the mall where I ended up purchasing a HRC t-shirt (It was nice! It wasn't the standard classic tee!). We finally gave in to the growling tummy and sat in the closest halal restaurant we found, which was Cairo Restaurant or something. We ordered Thai food which didn't taste as authentic (yes, I know its specialty is mid-eastern cuisine but still...) but since we were hungry we gobbled up everything. We took a tuk-tuk back (another 200 baht) only to realise the hotel is pretty near to Jungceylon (but of course no one wanted to walk back!). Slept around 1AM local time after repacking my shopping stuff.

Day 2

We woke up and got ready to go out around 9+ AM and walked down the road for breakfast at a restaurant called Taverne (I think...). Since it wasn't a halal restaurant, I opted for yoghurt and fruits. Little did I know what wonders it did to my bowels... We then took a tuk-tuk to Patong beach for a stroll where Sha got her hair braided. Patong beach is nice, but very crowded. We walked along the stalls by the roadside till it was time to get back to the hotel. We checked out and waited for our ride to Rassada Pier, about half an hour away. When we finally reached Rassada about 12+ PM it was scorching hot and crowded. Got into the ferry, which was already packed, but noticed they were still letting passengers in. We couldn't find any seats as some people "booked" it with their bags, etc, so Sha and Shahrul sat on the deck (and got sunburned) while Rahim and I sat on his luggage near the staircase. Haha. By that time my tummy didn't feel to well. I kept going to the toilet but nothing really happened, till like one final one where I pretty much cleared my stomach. I was super hungry so I ended up purchasing cup noodle (in the ferry) for 40 baht. Luckily I managed to find my one and only diaorrhea pill or I'd prolly have ended up in the washroom again.

We reached Tonsai Pier past 3.30PM and paid our 20baht fee for 'cleaning up' or something (which I think is useless as I still found a lot of trash in the sea...) and walked to PP Banyan Villa hotel which was about 5-10 minutes walk. Checked into the room which was quite hot and the aircond wasn't as strong as Seeka's. The room is much smaller than Seeka but was of reasonable size and clean. I stayed in the room to cool down a bit whilst the rest of them went to cari makan. Joined them later just before my yoga session with Keira at Mama Beach Residence.

After the yoga workout (you can read from my review here) we walked back to the dive shop which was conveniently located right next to the hotel to register for our dives. Then we went around to look for 'banana pancake' which was actually roti pisang with fancy toppings. I went to bed early while the rest checked out the nightlife.

Think that's enough for this post, will continue the other days in the next few posts! Enjoy the photos below!

View of the toilet at Seeka Boutique Hotel

View of the toilet at Seeka Part 2

Me camwhoring. Cool sink eh?
Shirt from H&M

Ah... How romantic... Hahah

Cafe and pool view of Seeka Boutique Hotel

The breakfast that really cleansed my bowel

Patong Beach

Patong Beach

 

Wearing Randall While Getting Another Randall

Hehe. Yep, you've guessed correctly. I got myself the off-white version of Randall.

Whilst in the fitting room. That's White Randall sitting on the bench.
Top - Yacht 21, Cardigan - MNG (old), Pants - BCBG, Bag - LV Lockit, Necklaces - Diva, Shoes - Manolo Blahnik

I still feel like the pants was altered a little too short but maybe I'm just being paranoid. As I was going to my car to go back to the other office, it started raining and I parked my car at the end. Naturally, women would usually protect their expensive shoes and bags rather than themselves - i.e. cover the bag! not your head! Fortunately the bag was from a waterproof material so I didn't have to go out of style walking while covering my bag instead of my head. Unfortunately, I had to save the shoes and even if I used an umbrella, it'll get wet as the wind was blowing quite strongly. Did I take of my shoes? Yes. Did I walk barefoot? No.

 

I had my safety shoes replaced today so I changed from 4" heels to these steel-toed shoes. I looked odd, but oh well, better than me weeping over the damaged heels.

What about you? Are you the type who would save your bag and let yourself get wet or would you use your bag as shelter?

Always do everything in style...

...except when you have a swollen jaw, your boyfriend's too busy (and lazy) to meet you at your place, so you end up drive all the way somewhere near his place for breakfast, right after you went to the market to buy chicken and beef.

So after my morning prayers, I went to the market to replenish the stock in the freezer. Mind you it's a wet market and I'm a firm believer that you should dress to blend in with the crowd... so obviously I dressed no different than a makcik jual sayur dan tempe. Ok, perhaps I had a bit more of a fashion sense. I had on a green tshirt (that had embellishments) under a black cardi, with jeans and a matching green tudung malas and nice-looking flip flops.

Went home, stuffed the groceries into the fridge and changed to a cleaner pair of jeans and my Ipanema slippers and drove to Taman Desa. We had breakfast at Desa Kopitiam since I wasn't sure if Ficelle Boulangerie was halal or not. (p/s: the definition of halal is not limited to "no pork no lard")

 

Bad enough I was dressed like a makcik (mainly coz I wasn't really in the mood plus I wasn't planning on going anywhere after that...), I looked like a greedy makcik, after eating my half-boiled eggs and toast, I started picking on the bf's fish head noodle soup. Hahah. Partly coz I was bored while waiting for him, partly I wanted to drown the taste of the coffee, and also I was looking for the pickled veges. Then I drank the (very little left) balance of his cincau drink. Heheh.

Nothing like good old toast and half boiled eggs with coffee!

I don't know what spooked me that I was quite determined to go to MO Outlet at Lakefields, so naturally, I dragged the bf along (although it wasn't very forceful, I just asked he said ok). Yes, I went there looking shabby. Did I really care? Nope. (I swear this swollen jaw has given me some attitude yo!) 

Two items caught my eye, one is the Farah Khan top I purchased and the other a Treesje clutch which I almost but didn't buy.

Nicely packed :)

Check out the embellishments!

One side of the label came off, so I decided to just snip the whole thing off..

I'm still considering the clutch, but my sister's also interested in it so I'll prolly just wait for her to get it and borrow it! Hehehe.

Well that concludes the outing for today. Thanks for reading!

I Have Fins!

No, I did not grow them, of course I purchased them... or I'd be making headlines right now.

 

Quickly rushed to the NAUI Asia Pacific office/dive store right after the clock struck 5PM as they close at 5.30PM. Got meself a pair of booties and fins. I wanted to get the booties that go above the ankle but they didn't have it my size so I went for the ankle ones instead.

 

As usual, when excited to buy something at the store, I don't research it or think too much just give them my credit card and walk away with the item only to think "Hmmm... Maybe I should've checked out if it's ok or not...". Especially when it looks good.

 

I couldn't help it this time, I did think of just buying the booties only and use the fins at the dive shops when I go diving, but they shoved me the fins to try with the booties and then they showed me this.....

 

My Tusa Imprex Tri-Ex Fins and Oceanic booties

What's so attractive about it? It matches my mask of course! Heheh. (Yes, I'm quite shallow)

 

The shop owner said, fins don't really matter it's you legs that really count... not sure if that was true or it was a cheap marketing strategy. Whatever it is, I fell for it. So I ended up buying it, of course after shamelessly asking for a discount left, right and center. I also bought a defogging liquid for the mask. An expensive one. Hope it works. If not, lesson learnt. An expensive lesson learnt.

 

I can't wait to use them, I hope they're good! Thank God we're flying MAS so I can bring them to Phuket without extra fee! Or at least I think so. Well, I don't think my luggage would reach 20kg anyway. Or would it? Hmm...

 

Please don't tell me (or at least let me know in the utmost gentle way) that I made a wrong choice in purchasing fins. Heheh.

 

In Love with Randall

I showed my dad the photo of the batik shirt I wanted to get him and he liked it, so after I cut-short my mengaji session (the ustad was surprised that I suddenly wanted to stop haha) and went for lunch at Busana (again! but this time I knew I wanted to eat Laksa Utara), I dropped by Noor Arfa to purchase it. Of course, something caught my eye when I was there, a long flowy cotton top (long below the knee) which I have no idea when or where I'm gonna where it. But it was nice. Hehe.

It's so nice and soft and flowyyyy.... (Notice I changed the label? Isn't it cute?)

After work I went over to Sacoor Brothers to collect my jeans I bought last week. Unfortunately it was still a bit long so I had to get it altered again. And wait another week. Again. Did I tell you that Sacoor Brothers is having an opening sale, storewide 30% off, buy two or more - 40% off! Of course the starting price is expensive, in fact I don't think I've ever purchased any SB stuff at the original price, but the quality is good. Plus, they always give you a "Happy Days" coupon which entitles you to more discounts the next time around. Not all Happy Days are worth, sometimes the sale has more to offer so you have to do your own calculations. But Happy Days are one of the reasons I keep coming back. As usual I was offered coffee and chocolate but I opted for Evian only and left the choc alone.

They pamper you with free coffee and Ferrero Rocher choc... How can you not love this store?

After that I went to pray and met up with the BF and had teppanyaki for dinner.

Yes while he was being the goody and berdoa, I happily snapped a photo!

We dropped by BCBG just to see if there were any other interesting items on sale but nothing attracted me, either that too expensive. Hehe. So we made our way to his car, for me to collect Randall...

What's in here? What's in here?

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

Tadaa!!! Say hello to Randall!

Ok, so the photos above don't really tell much. Randall is my new pair of blue pants. I reserved this on Wednesday last week because the sale started on Thursday - love the sales assistant who told me about it. But I was afraid they'd release it so I got the BF to go get it. Hehe. I don't know what material it is (haven't checked the label), but it sure as hell is soft and comfy and flowy. It's a size XS, i.e. I cannot grow any fatter than I am right now. It's a bit long unless I wear it constantly with 5" heels, which I won't so I'm getting it shortened by one of 'em tailors in Campbell. I just love the way it looks and feels, totally worth the RM350 I paid for it (and that's after 50% off!), so much so that I'm thinking of getting the white version of Randall. Although, I would have to check on its transparency, if it's really white or off-white... But then again, I don't have an off-white pants yet.........

Outfit of the day : Bag - Coach, Top - MNG, Pants - Executive (old), Heels - Manolo Blahnik

Hehe. What are you waiting for? Go check out Sacoor Brothers and BCBG now!