SO exciting

I've never had more than 1 other visitor sumultane0usly on the blog. ( Then again I've never paid much attention to it nor have I obsessively sat and stared at the screen for minutes) Such a pleasant surprise and I confess I'm a little excited to0. Thank you to those who've visited, and those regulars who leave comments ( you KNOW who you are ) and for those one-off visitors I hope you weren't too put off by the content and that some time in the future, you may return for more. All comments are read promptly ( with little leaps of joy...yes I've not gotten over this yet ) so please continue as the adrenaline surge is kinda addictive.

The Malaysian Youth Orchestra

Held at Sunway Pyramid Convention centre. Now I have two bones to pick with this place. One ( the more important one ) is the non-existent sound-proof walls for the rooms. IT's terribly unfair on the participants to slog for weeks for a recital only to have their music drowned by the piano playing from the next room. It messes your song up. The second is the nose-numbing air condition which I'm almost sure they bung up a notch or two midway thru the performance. This made the boy to my left sneeze continuously during intermission. H1N1 protocol dictates he cover up his sniffles. Sadly, he didn't and proceeded to shower many little droplets to the front, and I suspect to the sides as well.

The music was DIVINE tho. SO if in 6 days time I develop myalgia, and the sniffles, I guess it would have been almost worth the while. Tamiflu here I come!!

Picture taken with the CANON G10.

Fashionable handbag

I was in a queue. And this lady with horizontal stripes caught my eye. IT's difficult to look good in stripes. 9 out of ten folks look rotund. If you're ever tempted to buy one such item, make sure you've lugged a friend along. One who will be honest and say " GAWD No!!!!". But never mind that. let's talk about the accessory above. A handbag in the shape of ( she didn't remove her arm from that position so I couldn't see whether it was a white elephant hahah or something else ) an ANIMAL. Fess up, who finds this accessory a must-have....

Long awaited Binchy...with A. Christie ...

ITs finally in paperbag. Maeve Binchy's " Heart and Soul".And about bloody time. I'm not cheap. But my shelves refuse to allow books which are ill-fitting. It juts out and basically spoils the symmetry altogether. MY trip to MPH was not in vain. I found not one, but FIVE books.

It's that time of the year

Pre-raya season is a good time to see different types of baju kurungs. I found these lovely colourful ones at One Utama. The prints are gorgeous. But the price stays doggedly at a certain level. NO haggling ..or rather I should say haggling is pointless. YOu may, but there is NO way these prices will come down. If it was the right length and the shoulders sat ON the shoulders as opposed to below them, I could be swayed to part with RM 200+++ Otherwise, Madame you may be assured I won't be spending it at your stall

Blook

A wave of hands please those of you out there who agree I SHOULD be the owner of this dress. The box pleats at the front seems a little dodgy. The high waist ensure good space for post-lunch-tummies. And as it fits snugly, there is little chance of it being mistaken for a pregnancy number. On the other hand, the arm holes were meant for those of us with errr bigger arms. When I tried it on, there was more than ENOUGH space. IT sits just on the knee. For the manufacturers out there, newsflash, there are some of us who still favour a decent length and making them short with practically no cloth left to un-hem is not nice. We do have dress codes to adhere to you know.

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Life Skills. Not a disappointment. IN fact, reading this was a pleasant surprise. I think it's the first FForde book I've picked up. And it won't be the last.She writes well and there's a well set pace with little "presto" moments where you just HAVE to read just that bit faster. There's a sense of wanting to know which pushes you to read on regardless.

Kain Angkasawan

I left a trail of sparkles three nights back. And the dark coloured car seat glittered in the evening. This cloth is called Kain Angkasawan. I suspect as a minor tribute to our astronaut; Sheikh Muzaffar who used to work in the same place as me. I don't know him personally, but we were in the same room once and I just might have talked to him over the phone once. If I'd only known back then....would have exchanged numbers at least;)

Musical Merdeka Weekend

This was a first for me, a music-filled Saturday....spent at the Malaysian Youth Music Festival. There were proud mamas and papas, I spied a few maids looking unimpressive and bored to tears. And there were stern looking teachers over-seeing their students...and there was me. I recommend this to anyone aspiring to be musical and inspired. Pushy parents beware...you may find yourself way out of your depth. Some of these child prodigies may just ace your own little prodigy leaving you disheartened. Play because you love music , not for the prize or medal. 9/10 for the Saturday. I'm taking one mark off cos they left us practically no time at all for lunch...as a result I had lunch at 8:14pm and am now a proud owner of a super-nagging one-sided migraine. Which has just threatened to up it's pace just a minute ago. BOOOhooohoo

What I'm reading this week

I found this at the music section in Kinokuniya. Costs RM45.50 which is pretty expensive for a paperbag. But I liked the first page.( I read that when I got the lady to uncover the plastic cover for me). Because I'd decided on this book, the music scores had to be put aside.

Lisa Gee writes very well. I've not enjoyed a book like this for a few months now. I'm almost scared to come to the end. That would mean, no more "stage mum" to rush back home to read. *sigh* In the meantime, I'm savouring the book and trying to make it last longer by reading it only in the morning (during breakfast) and in the evening ( when I get back from work).

Friendly neighbourhood

This isn't my apartment. It isn't even my apartment block. It is, the apartment block opposite mine. The design is nicer, bigger balconies and more glass windows. If you look closely, you may well realise that these folks have utilised this extra space usefully. Nice!!!!( It's also more expensive ...which is pretty obvious but I thought I'ld state it just the same)

What I bought this sunday

Accessorize is a great shop to browse. What was it they claim to be : "highstreet wonderland". I dunno about that but it's certainly trendy. With trendy things inside it. And the trendy things were priced within my spending limit. Which was nice to know, this opened up the option of spending money should I find something I like.

The outlet at KLCC is small-ish, more like a half shop. It has a rather wide shop front but only say 6 feet in depth. The girls were friendly and left me to my own devices. They had clips, bags, scarfs, little thingys you can hang on your handphone, frillly panties ( odd !) and flip-flops. For a while now, I've been searching for a hairclip with a life-like flower. So you can forgive me the excitement when I set my eyes on this heliotrope number. It was a close ( close , close) fight between the flat-tish red rose the size of my palm and this.

Some random pictures of Hong Kong..

Hongkong by night. This is the view from Intercontinental Hotel. The colorful lights were amazing.
The view which hit us right in between the eyes, as we excited D3 onto what would be the start of our short journey to Ladies' Market. Very similar to Petaling Street in KL. Or so I'm told.
This was taken from the conference room, when we broke into smaller groups mid afternoon.
The gym at the Sheraton faced the main road. On the last day, I waved like a crazed person as our bus left the hotel. And would you believe it, soeone waved back and everyone on the bus cheered.
Breakfast with a view. An odd concoction I admit. But I had no intention of gorging self so early in the day. It makes me sleepy.

Red Velvet

The red is BLOOD red, and as you take your first bite...the creamy cheese at the top kicks in and you just have to close your eyes for a second to savour the experience. I had this yesterday evening at the end of the working day. A steal at RM 2 per cupcake.

Hong Kong..

I've been away. A short weekend trip to Hong Kong. It was good to get away from work for a bit. The week leading up to this trip was busy. So I arrived with mixed feelings. Minimal excitement re visiting a new country. Uncharted territories. But generally tired-out and cross because the weekend would be spent away from home. But who can resist such a colorful city? Certainly not me. I ended up doing quite a bit of walking, even venturing onto public transport to get to the Ladies' Market. Folks are generally polite. And you feel safe :)

Names....

Cupcakes  seem to be the latest craze, if the I can believe the internet. Try clicking cupcake..and you'ld be flooded with pictures, recipes, blogs, online shopping. There are two pictures above. the top, is by a friend..who makes the most ( to me anyway ) gorgeous cupcakes ....and she charges so reasonable a price I'm almost tempted to pay her more.  The picture below, is a sorry looking row of cupcakes. Look at the size of 'em. For comparision, I've thoughfully taken a picture with the ipod touch for comparison. Shameful!! And these miniscule cupcakes were e hard...and the icing was nauseatingly sweat I had to slowly chip it away like an block of ice before I ate in the cupcake.( One mouthful..with spare to spare)

Goes without saying, the friend's cupcakes are far superior. And here's the deal, hypothetically speaking....what would you name the cupcake blog/online-shop?

Maggi Goreng

This is surely a Malaysian idea. Do you know, before writing this post, I attempted to remember my first maggi goreng..couldn't remember it. But, I am now in a position to proudly tell you, that the BEST maggi goreng can be found in Plaza Damas, Hartamas, KL. It's located diagonally in front of Starbucks on the 2nd floor. ( The picture above is not the real deal...don't be fooled. That was my dinner last night, a decidedly inferior version of the real deal) You may then well ask, what constitutes a good version? It must be springy. Not too oily. Half cloves of garlic tucked deep in the depths of it teamed with onions is a must. Some vegetables is aesthetically pleasing but contributes little to the overall taste. Colour! That's the other give-away. If it's dark brown, you can be sure it'll be salty and you would be left thirsty after. Too pale is bad as well. The overall lightness of the entire meal is a must. What drink do you team it with? Teh O panas of course. 

What we did this Sunday...

There's  this brilliant food court, tucked neatly away on the 2nd floor in Midvalley. It's just beside MACHINES. ( The lovely shop I bought the imac from ) And get this...it serves PETAI. I love it already. What's there not to like? Not too many folks around ...certainly less than the food court at KLCC...where folks with buggies tend to nick your toes with the wheels, and kids with ice-cream smeared faces and hands want to TOUCH you all the time. This was far quieter...and more enjoyable. 10/10 for taste. NO COMPLAINS

Will ya look at the mess

I haven't practised my pieces properly todayl.TOok a break. Not a wise move because now I'm starting to feel a little guilty and it's going to spoil my beauty sleep. Bah! The picture is my exam piece. Take a look at the added pencil marks...scribbled everywhere....done by my poor teacher whose efforts to turn me into a decent player ....isn't going as she planned. 

imac therefore I am

Thank you for making such a sleek piece of machine Apple. It's absolutely brilliant and my desk is not as cluttered as it would have been had I bought a pc. This "little" baby is fast and sleek. Tap tap tap...and off I go. More news to follow once I sort out the rest of the stuff on the desk. The macbook is going to take a backseat for this week...whilst I cosy up to my new toy. Not forgotten.... heavens no. 

The real deal..

And so we got the cake folks. From King's confectionary, the icing was a little sweet but it got an 8/10 for  looks alone. Possibly 7/10 for taste. I'm deducting marks for the slight weird after-taste which I think it gives. The parents want to thank those of you on the net ( you KNOW who you are ) for the well wishes. And they also want to agree with the one person who said it must have been hard work....( both parents nodded heads vehemently when told .) 

Happy 40th Anniversary and may God bless you today and always!

The green plant was a gift to me, and it looks nice cos there was a quick pruning session before the photo-op. The yella leaves had to be removed. ( There were quite a bit of it...so the plant looks decidedly bald in comparison to the BEFORE picture)

Happy 40th ...a day early

Happy 40th wedding anniversary to my parents...pictured above. They celebrate it properly tomorrow...the 2nd of August. May God bless you both on this special day.

You're not just a wonderful couple.....you're a couple of wonderful PARENTS!!!