Who says you can't have fun at home? ;P

Just some pics of manlok playing with the monster...
DISCLAIMER: No dogs were harmed in the process of this photo shoot session... =D
(photos taken with my Sony Ericsson W960i... not bad, eh?)












WE WANT MORE!!! (Jacki & Loca)

Test-running...

Manlok & I decided to do a test run on actually making our own bouquet for the big day. Just wanted to try it out, as the style I sorta designed is not really very common and I am afraid if I get the florist back in Malaysia to do it, it might not turn out right & if we can do it ourselves, it would be more meaningful a& could save us some $, no? So, Manlok & myself embarked on this mission yesterday! ^_*

We managed to do it, although not totally successful. BUT we decided that yes, we can do it ourselves but would need some minor adjustments and improvements, the major issue being we will need to make it more voluminous.... :P

What do you think?




did u notice the feathers? They are real coc(que)-excuse the pun *-^ feathers! =D

The Great Oz Irony...

Since I have been in the land of Oz for so quite some time now, a lot of people I know have the tendency to ask me this same question every single year at this time of the year, without fail: So, how's the xmas decor in Melbourne? Must be nice wan, since it's Australia...

Sad to disappoint, but the irony is, the xmas decor here, in Melbourne is CRAP, if u can spot the decorations, that is! Somehow, it's a tradition in Melbourne not to decorate the city when it's Xmas because, according to the current mayor, John So: we need to be very sensitive to other cultures, and not give an impression that we place more importance in Xmas than any other festivities.

What sort of crap is that? I am not a person of the Christian faith, but I don't see anything wrong in decorating the streets for Xmas! :| The only saving grace for people to actually enjoy the Xmas mood is if you go to the Myers shopping mall. Every year, without fail, they put up about 5-6 display areas all decorated for Xmas, and usually it tells a story. One year they had the Grinch. This year, they featured Santa's workshop, which is very very cute indeed!! So many people here are so deprieved of Xmas decors to evoke the xmas-sy feel that the public actually had to line up to go through the displays! :| I took some pics of it the other weekend when I was out and about in the city. (sorry for the refections, the displays were all outdoors...)

Brides To Beeeee

As most of you would know by now, Bie and me are getting married!! Both our ROM and reception are just a matter of months apart :D How exciting, many would say, but I reckon only both of us know exactly how exciting and lucky we are that it so happen our weddings are so close to one another!!! Nothing was planned or discussed, it just happened one day we found out that we are both engaged!!!

So, lately we have been discussing and exchanging ideas, recommendations and opinions on what to and not to do for our big day. It makes the whole process so much more enjoyable, having a close friend to share the excitement, anxiety and all other emotions in between!!! And the best thing is, we actually share the same sentiment in a lot of viewpoints, but the results are oh-so-very different, because they are infused with our little personal touches and personality.

For that, I am really thankful and very much enjoying this whole process....! And I believe it's the same for Bie too!!! I feel so lucky, and I like to think both of us are the luckiest brides to be! ;P

Bangkok dangerous

Currently in Bangkok. its all bout the food and shopping. Me and my 2 bridesmaids, YC and J are on a bridesmaid-dress hunt. After much walking and exhaustion, we finally found something they liked. A greenish beige dress for the wedding next year.

Chatuchak market was a sticky and hot experience. We managed to salvage quite a bit from there.

Next we will be visiting SuanLum market again and continue our quest for a pair of covered shoes in preparation for our visit to the Grand Palace tomorrow.

Tata!

The Wonders of Human Love

I just finished watching A Feast of Love, a movie staring Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear and, it is one of the best movies to watch if you find yourself questioning this: why do we love? It is quite a remarkable movie; simply shot, deep dialogues, very expressive and very real.

At one point of the movie, Freeman's character questioned God's idea of making us suffer by creating this emotion and human's won't do it if they can see what is going to happen in the relationship further down the line. But Kinnear told him that he thinks that's the beauty of it, we as human will still do what we have done, even if we know that it is going to break our heart. That's the reason why God made our heart so brave. :)

It's about the pursuit and lost of love and happiness and coming to terms with yourself. Highly recommended, gives you something to think about after the movie... :) Definitely a great movie for an enjoyable night in!

*pfffttt!!!*

I just wrote a post and was gonna paste it from another document, but it got lost..... ERGH!!!!!!!!!!! @_@

Whose is whose? :D

Ring 1
Ring 2

Can you readers guess whose ring belong to whose finger? :D How coincidental, isn't it? Was a very pleasant surprise indeed!

TGIF

10 things planned for the weekend:
1. Cafe Imaculatte - church fund raising project
2. Facial- need to destress
3. Get a new laptop bag
4. Gym!!!!!- so need to work out
5. Clinic counseling- 3 patients
6. Dinner with aunt and uncle before they leave
7. Mass and bible class
8. Catch a movie- at home or in the cinema
9. Do the laundry and clean the house. ishhhh
10. Sleep-need to get more rest and try to sleep in

Thank God for Fridays-best day of the week :D

moving on

Finally, my application for a department transfer has been approved. It took me 6 months to get to this. It could have taken longer, but thanks to my superiors, it has been a whole lot faster than many others.



New department, new responsibilities, new challenges, new specialty. I anticipate to be a lot busier down the road. but it's exciting to be able to learn new things. After all, routine makes debbie a dull girl. My bond with the gov is ending soon. Can't believe how fast 4 years have passed. Looking back, it's not that bad working for a governmental agency. There are many things that I have learnt. Most importantly, i have learnt to enjoy long lunch breaks on Fridays :) Pay wise, i reckon it isn't as bad as those days. But then again, the cost of living in KL has also increased tremendously. So i suppose it's only right to pay us more? Anyhow, it's difficult to decide if i should leave or stay. It all depends on the opportunities i will encounter next year.

Meantime, enjoy the ride and embrace life- that's my motto in life

Bali pics

Yummy babi guling @ Ibu Oka, Ubud


Rice fields on the way to Kintamani


Sunday, full moon- best time for prayer and cleansing


Kopi luwak- made from mongoose poo-pooh


Bebek bertutu (smoked duck)- smoked for 24 hours before serving

Selamat Hari Raya

What greater way to pamper yourself than to spend a night at the premier room in a 5 star hotel. Yup- there's where i am, enjoying room service and blogging. The room is excellent, the bathroom is more than what i have expected. I could stay in the whole day, just lazing and chilling...something which i have not done in a while. 

The room is overlooking the KL skyline. KLCC is beaming proudly amidst the dark skies. With the Raya season ahead, the roads are extremely quiet. It would be a peaceful drive around town, and most importantly, peaceful and stree-free ride to work on Friday. 

I am salivating thinking bout rendang and lemang now. hopefully i will have a taste of it when my colleagues come back to the office. Meantime, enjoy the holiday season because for you know, it's time to go back to work again. 

Selamat Hari Raya and happy holidays!

My First PT Session

Last night I went for my first ever PT (Personal Training) session. Man, my trainer do know how to push... her favourite phrase is: 5 more, 10 more, etc more... MORE MORE MORE! :S

I was so tired after the session, my arms, legs and even neck felt like JELLY! It was good though, I must say. I felt that I have done well in my first step to staying healthy and shedding some weight along the way! :)

I will be continuing my session for the next 8 weeks while going for a bootcamp, twice a week. Hopefully by the end of the whole thing, I can see a healthier Sophie! :P Have to say, winter has done HEAPS of damage to me... (note the emphasis on HEAPS! :S)

I need to keep myself in good shape and most importantly, in good health. I think that's my main driving force, and of course, losing some weight is always a bonus! :D Need to tone up my body and bring up my stamina... I used to be able to play soccer without huffing and puffing. But now,.... :S

So now I have to keep telling myself, GO SOPHIE, GOOOOOOOOO!

Tiga sekawan

Had a great time with Rose and Shirley last night. Fed our tummies with some Vietnamese food and updated each other on the recent developments in our lives. Rose is expecting and we want to be there for her when she needs us, at least for the moral support from the girls.

See how fast time flies....could still remember the days when we were in secondary school, then form 6 ( how we struggled through the days memorising bio and chemistry facts), then off we went to uni. Rose got married and now she is having a baby!! I was telling Shirley, the one who is pregnant is the one who is the slimmest! haha. Yep, i have gained 5 kilos since i worked here in PJ. I cannot say it's because of the food (because it ain't as great as Melaka food anyhow), so i rather think of it as 'happiness'. You know how ppl console you and say that gaining weight due to prosperity? As how Simon would simply put it-kaya dengan cinta :D

Anyway, back to the girls. It's good to know that we are all growing up well with good careers and life's such a blessing to us in their own unique way. There's nothing more to ask for than to have good friends who stand by you through storms and calm seas. So here's to Rose, may you have a wonderful pregnancy. I am confident that u will be a superb mom!

chiak :P i am back

For the past few months, i have been very silent, because all blogspots were blocked in my office. The end to civilisation. The only thing i could access to was my gmail and yahoo, and now, even my yahoo account is tresspasing into a forbidden access path!! well, i guess they would have a good reason to do so....exactly! to keep ppl like me focused on my job at all times. Fair enough. So today, with luck on my side, i managed to log into our blog. Muaahahaha. The office is dead quiet today. Almost everyone is on leave, getting ready for Raya. yeay!

I just got back from Bali a week ago, and i m already planning on my next trip to Bangkok with the gals. Shopping shopping and more shopping!!
will post some pics of bali when i get my laptop back from the servicing shop.

NEVER again!!!

I think I got too excited with the fact that Spring might be actually here! I agreed to go for a round of golf at 7.30am!!!!! Can you imagine that, waking up at 6.15am on a WEEKEND! But I suppose I was quite dying for a game of golf as I haven't had a game for the past 6 months! :S So I got up, cursing, and got ready.

We tee-ed off at 7.30am as planned and jeez, it was such a windy day! A few of my shots were sabotaged by the sudden gust of wind and nearly blew me off my feet, and needless to say, my swing got quite lopsided. :(

After 2 hours, we finished off the 9-hole game and went to pick Manlok's cousin up from the hotel where she was staying for the night. She is an air hostess and she was in a HK Melb flight so she was here for 2 nights. We picked her up, went yum cha, and guess where we went? to the Zoo for MORE walking... :S It was enjoyable, as I always love to see animals. :D

Believe it or not, this orang utan shares the same birthday as Manlok! But he is a year younger than Manlok :P Look at what he was doing! Peering into his sleeping quarters... hahaha...

Bong Su the elephant

This peacock got lost and was in the elephant's night enclosure. He kept looking at us asthough asking, hey mate, do you know the way outta here?!?!?! hahaha...

Can you spot it?

Cuties sunning themselves



Anyway, it was a loooooong day. Today when I woke up, I felt like SHIT. I was sooo tired and could hardly keep my eyes open! All the way to work, I was dozing off in the car!!!! :S I kept telling Manlok, DONT EVER INCLUDE ME IN A ROUND OF GOLF THAT STARTS BEFORE 9AM!!!!!!!!

Oh what a feeling!

That's what I think most young women who has just become mothers think ALL the time (either in dread or in bliss...). You come to a stage in life (it started a few years ago for me) when you start hearing (either by invitation or through the grapevine... :P) about friends getting hitched. And the next few years that follow (which is around this stage) you start getting friends with rounded bellies (not from too much eating...duh!).

It makes you wonder in awe how motherhood (ok lah, fatherhood oso la, but at this point of time I still have yet to have a male school friend who has any kid) makes a person glow! When you think about it, 9 months of waddling around like a duck, mood swings (that's sympathy for the dad), binge eating, sleepless nights and let's not talk about the nervousness and fear that you might have thinking of the birthing process!!!

But ALL is forgotten when the baby arrives! I go through photo albums (online, of course) with parents showing their kids... describing what a joy they are, how amazing it is, how worried they are when the kid is sick, etc. But none has the slightest mention of the labour pain that they had to go through!

So who says a woman aren't forgiving? :D

PS: this post is dedicated to all my girlfriends who are either in the process of or already over and done with having kiddos! :D

I feel so blessed!

This post is dedicate to all my wonderful girlfriends. Thanks for all the concerned sms, message and wall posts on my facebook over a rather embarrassing misunderstanding. As usual, my 'tactful' and ill-timed change in the general status and the disappearance of the relationship status has gotten everyone worried! :S When I got my first message of concern from none other than my blog buddy, I was like...errr... huh?!?!?

But after I found out what it was that caused the nationwide panic, I felt so bad, embarrassed but at the same time SO TOUCHED!!!

So, THANKS girls!!!! I WILL ALWAYS remember this moment...!!!!!!

LOVE YOU ALLLLLLL!!!

Life's little directions....

Lately I have been wondering what life has in store for me. I know, to a lot of people, just the fact that I am working in a foreign land is adventure enough. And to some degree, it IS quite true. I never would have gained the experiences and do the things that I have done if I have gone home to Malaysia like most people after graduating. Instead, I stood my ground with my family and resisted the temptations of the late night mamak sessions, friends, and shopping malls luring me home. I stayed behind in the land of kangaroos, alcohol and nearly non-existent shopping hours.

I have learn plenty of things in the past 8 years of living here, first in Tassie where I found a few good (wo)men to call buddies and then here in Melbourne. I am more independent now (although some might say, how more independent can Sophie get since we knew her?!?!?! :P ) and more mature in terms of facing adversities in life without family members around. Time and time again, I hit a blank wall, but instead of calling home for consolations, I stuck it. And I manage to get through it all. I was lucky at least I have manlok around most of the time to stick it with me. THANKS for that.. :P

But now, after 8 years, what is in front of me? I have had people asking me, when are you heading back? When are you gonna come back to Msia? You not coming back ar? Become angmoh liao ar? When getting married? When this, when that. Aiseh, I have also been asking myself those questions. But no answer yet lah! Only thing that I know is, I am determined to get my architect’s registration next year (BIG exams.. written AND oral… *gulp*) After that, hopefully my research comes through as well.

I spoke to manlok about moving elsewhere to work. We realized that oz is still very ‘primitive’ when it comes to our line of work. They are not open at all about how architecture should be seen. They are so driven with the visual effect and if you try to explain how architecture is MORE than just a visual experience, they think you already gone cuckoo… and laugh at you. We have been toying at the idea of moving to either US or UK… but after all, moving country is a rather huge decision. If we stay in Oz, we might be able to build a stable life here. So it’s a case of stability vs satisfaction. :S It’s always a hard decision, but we are not thinking about it seriously until we both pass our registration examinations (which is notoriously difficult! Even my director had to take it 3-4 times before he can call himself an architect!).

Will we be able to adapt as well as we had when we came to Oz? Or will age make it harder for us? After all, I am not young anymore, closing in on the big THREE-0. *gulp* What about personal life?!? Do I put a hold on that if we move??!?! All these questions will need an answer soon!

What a wonderful trip!

I know, I know! It’s been very very long since anyone last heard from both deb and me. I guess you won’t be hearing from Deb anytime soon, she has been very busy and has no access to the internet…  there goes my blog mate. Hope she will come back soon. 

As most of you must have known, I was home (Msia…) about a month ago. It was a short trip, made even shorter with a trip to Jogja with my family. I have wanted to go Jogja for a very long time now, and I am happy I went. :D It was an amazing place, all the temples and the amazing Borobudur. Imagine, that huge monolithic structure build so many centuries ago! Simply breathtaking. Really makes you feel humbled and looking at the skyscrapers, it’s really crap, isn’t it? Can’t we do any better than THAT?!?!??! Can’t we build more meaningful structures rather than all these ego trips? Very sad indeed.

But before I went on this trip, I attended one of my 'bestest' friend’s wedding. We have come a long way, growing up together. from tiny tots to now, 27 years old. I haven’t seen her for about 8 years, and who would have known after 8 years, I met up with her again on her wedding day! :D How very emotional. Ok, I know those who know me would go, Sophie??!??! Emotional?!??! But YES, IT WAS VERY EMOTIONAL! :P I made it a point to get there, told myself, what sort of buddy am I if I can’t even make it for her wedding?!?!?!?!?!? Right? So there I was, in the morning amidst beaming parents and relatives, the tea ceremony. It was such a joyous event, everyone was so happy!!! I was indeed very pleased I made the trip. There was nothing in the world that could make me miss this day!

Then night came, a few of us girls went to help Lavi out with her last minute dash and panic… as usual. Ed was running a ‘little’ short on time too.. sorry, no pun intended Ed! :P So we were rushing, getting the speech done (we did meet a rather ‘interesting’ character while we were working on the speech, didn’t we Ed? :P)

It was a wonderful day for sure. I met up with most of the girls I haven’t seen for AGES… like seriously AGES! I wished I was in Msia for longer, but alas, it was not to be lor.  Anyway, I am sure there will be another time for a grand reunion… perhaps CNY 2009? ;)

girl's day out

Today was a fantabulous day! Hung out with a very dear friend from uni and went shopping!!! lasted nearly the whole day before we met up with our respective partners to watch Narnia...(very good movie, by the way!). scary, bought a few things but as good a gf that I am, I didn't forget manlok! hehe.. bought a nice looking shirt for him and a bath towel that was on discount! :D :D Now whole of Melbourne is on sale, Stocktake Sale.. similar to Spore great sale, So you can imagine! Anyway, thought to share this with everyone.. hahaha.. you will not find this shop in Msia!

Vroom Vroom

Recognise this? its the F1 circuit for Melbourne...! I drive through it everyday going to work. It's just abt 2-3 minutes drive from my office, and whenever they practice before the race, we can hear it in our office! hehehe... cool eh?

OUCH!

Yikes! Went for paintballing 2 weeks ago and got shot point blank! :S This bruise is actually a week old... so use your imagination! But the whole game was soooo fun! It lasted for 2 hours... longer than one of my friend said I could! heheheh....

Torta Nero

Translate from Italian to be Dark Tart. And it is just that! :P It is quite easy, and it is GOOD!! I decided to make it coz the recipe said that its a not so sweet tart, and it's true to it's word! Its not sweet, but bittersweet. And it doesn't really use a large quantity of sugar. The base doesn't contain any sugar at all! Quite healthy, eh? Somemore it uses 70% cocoa dark chocolate.. YUM! post a message if any of you want the recipe! ;P

lookie at my monsters...

Here are some pics of my nearly 4 year old monsters....! Some of you might have met them, but most of you probably have not! They are both jack russells.. why do they look different? Let me explain. The neat tidy monster with HUGE ears is not exactly a pure breed jackie.. Her name is JACKI and she is a mix between a smooth coat jack russell and fox terrier. The scruffy male is LOCA, who is a pure breed wire coat jack russell, hence the scruffiness! *O*

Sony Ericsson W960i

Just remembered that I haven't put up some images of the new phone I bought in HK 6 months ago! Its quite a good phone, would definitely recommend it to anyone who's looking at getting a new phone! Comes with a HUGE 8G internal memory, so no need for all those mini SD whatsoever business... :) And it comes with a touchscreen that works under daylight too! :D :D When I was shopping for a mobile phone in HK, i was in between the W960i and the Nokia N82 which has a larger 5mp camera, but decided against it. Mostly because the keys are too small and hard to use properly. Secondly because it doesn't have as much practical function as the W960i (one of which is the really amazing business card scanner - scans a business card and inputs the information into your phone book... automatically! Also I can have skype on my mobile!!!)

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Mount KK

Mount KK from afar

Helllooooo.....ok firstly, Soph, I am soooo sorry. I know i have been like non-existant for quite a long time. It's just that all blog sites have been blocked in my office!! How cruel are they! Now time at work has become even more boring. Haha. Don't they know that all work and no play makes Debbie a dull girl??

Anyways, like what Sophie mentioned, yes, i have been travelling quite a bit :) In January, i visited Hanoi. In April, i was in Kota Kinabalu, next month i will be going to Pulau Kapas, September to Bali and November to Bangkok.....OMG, it's a crazy year of travelling for me.

Kota Kinabalu , in short KK was fun and torturous at the same time. Fun because of the company of the crazy group i spent 7 straight days with. Torturous, of course because of the climb itself. I almost pulled myself out from going. Seriously. 2 weeks before the trip, i was down with a bad flu, which lasted 2 wks!! Bad enough that the air got thinner as we climb, the irritating phlegm did not help at all. Then i thought to myself, i have come this far, by hook or by crook, i will just try to pull my ass up there once and for all. And so i did. With much help of our guide, Antonius, i managed to climb 4900 ft up to Low's Peak.

The view was magnificent and we managed to catch the sun rise at 6 am.

The climb started with a hike to mid summit, Laban Rata, which took us a grulling 10 hours to get there. There are 2 routes which will lead us to Laban Rata, one through Mersilau, and the other through Timpohon. We tracked through Mersilau, which greeted us with much greens to see and a great scenery. After reaching Laban Rata at 6pm, we rested our bodies for the final part of the hike from mid summit to Low's Peak. That took us another 4 hours and alot of determination. Finally, after a total of 14 hours of hike, we finally made it to the top. The view was AWESOME. At that point of time, all the effort of getting up there didn't matter a bit. All that mattered was the feeling of you being on top of the world, literally :)

Is this Karma?

The past couple of days there has been a flood of news about the devastating typhoon Nargis in Burma. Now as I sit watching the news in my living room, I feel the pain and sadness that the Burmese people are feeling. It's said that it might have killed 150, 000 people in its wake. That is a lot of innocent lives lost.

Maybe this is a sign for the Burmese military junta/government that what they are doing is wrong. Just a few months ago that they were violently clamping down on both Buddhist monks and civilians who were doing a peaceful protest for the atrocities that the Burmese military junta has been carrying out and with the years of house arrest Syu Kyi has been placed in.

Even more atrocious was while the Burmese people are fighting against Nargis and recovering, the government was putting famous stars on tv to urge people to go vote! Shouldn't they get their priorities straight? How many more of these atrocities need to happen before these inhuman junta will realise their wrongdoings? It is sad that the people are at the receiving end of the whole thing, natural or not.

My heart goes out to them and I hope they will recover from it all.

Food, Glorious FOOD!!!

After moving to our new place, I have rediscovered my passion for cooking as a therapeutic relaxation. Manlok and me love to cook but back in our old place, the kitchen was too small to do any serious cooking. As a result, we haven't really do any full on cooking for 2 years. :( I know, how sad, aye?

But ever since we moved to this new place, we have started cooking again! And after reading some of my friend's blogs about their weekend, I felt inspired to indulge details of my weekend that just passed. :D

After lazing around and doing some laps in the clubhouse's lap pool on Saturday (serious lazing around the house....), I decided to do some cooking on Sunday. I wanted to make Roti Canai (yes, from scratch), Curry Chicken (yes, again from scratch) and n Italian Chocolate Tart. But we din go for grocery shopping till 4pm and therefore have to shelf the tart and I cooked only Roti Canai and Curry Chicken. :(

Tried to toss the roti like those mamak stalls, but not much skill la! hahahaha.. but anyway, here are some pics of what I cooked...

The roti dough I made

Spices that needs to be stir fried with the curry

Coconut milk

Other spices that I made with my blender

...and the chicken

... with some potatoes

with the help of a kitchen

frying the spice paste + chicken + spices + potatoes

TADAA!!!

And the roti TOO! (ok, I admit, it's quite out of shape! hahahah....)

It was a bit spicy for Manlok, but he loved it... hehe.. next time mebbe I should reduce the chilli even more...

Anyway, here's a pic of what I made 2 weeks ago... garlic foccacia! (pic quality is a bit bad.. sorry!)



ENJOY!