Back from a super duper long hiatus ...

I have to admit that it's been way too long since i've written anything but 2011 has just been busy yet fulfilling. Time just flies past at the blink of an eye and before you know it, there's only five month's left of the year. The past few month's has mostly been spent between work, travelling (for work) and travelling (for leisure). Work wise, pretty stable now with a few hiccups here and there. Then again, nothing is perfect that's for sure. Stress is always lingering around but I've learned to adapt and live through it. Hence, the frequency in travelling for leisure (in other words, HOLIDAY!!!!) has increased tremendously this year. 

A bit of recap of the past 7 months, Jan as usual we had the company's annual meeting plus national conference. Highlight of the event would be the venue of this year's conference was in Penang. Definitely had a blast pigging out on Penang's ever famous hawker foods ('char kuey teow', 'rojak', 'assam laksa', 'o-chien' etc) *salivating* .. Yums!! Fun times! 

In Feb, since the cousins were back for Chinese New Year, i organized a chillax shopping trip to Bangkok with two of my favourite cousins, K and J, along with a close buddy, N during the 2nd week of CNY. Partied hard, shopped to the max, ate like kings and queens, and literally came home with a huge hole in my pocket. 

But the real major dent to the bank account was my European escapade - London, Greece (Santorini & Mykonos) and Iceland (Reyjavik) in May. Though the damage came up to five figure however, I must say, it was a hell of an experience that i will always remember. Fine dining, shopping, chilling, moving from one hotel to another, catching flights, adrenalin rushing excursions, geothermal spa, panaromic views, most romantic island's of the world, snow mountains, Super Jeeps and the list goes on. To summarize, I definitely do not regret the $$$$ spent because it was certainly worth every penny. Definitely a trip to remember, especially with the volcano eruption in Iceland. What an adventure!! *phew*

As the saying goes, " Work hard, play harder " . *lol* It definitely took a few months to recuperate from Europe's damage but it did not stop me from travelling. Therefore, I resorted to travelling locally within budget constraints in order to destress from work. Payed a visit to the east side of Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu to be exact with a couple of friends. As always, travelling must always be accompanied but good local food besides great company. The seafood was AMAZING and best of all, super CHEAP in KK. Such bliss!! 

Will definitely do a post with photos and all on the places I've been to soon. 

**ZZZZzzzzz

Chilling with the Couzie - Day 2

Day 2 - Changkat & Sg. Wang

Our day started late as Couzie had a hair cut and I went for the pre-employment medical check-up. So by the time we reached downtown, it was almost 4+. Us being us, cocktails were desperately needed after a long, hot afternoon. We headed to TwentyOne @ Changkat (one of my fav's place in Changkat) for a drinky or...two before we began the spree in Sg. Wang.

* Mojitos and Special Calamari with Ginger Dipping *

* It was Happy Hour and it was Buy 1 Free 1 (whoopee!!!), so we had another round of Cosmos before heading to Sg. Wang .. check out Couzie's new haircut!! *

Sg. Wang has always been too chaotic for my liking, however, much to my surprise, I did find some good buys. As for the Couzie, he literally went mad there and couldn't pull the plug. Everything was a steal and such a bargain for him. Haha ... He was practically beaming and vowed to go back for more as we finally made an exit from the mall. We decided to have dinner at Yoko's (@ Changkat Bukit Bintang) and I desperately needed to take a leak. Plus, we couldn't decide on which restaurant so we took a random pick.

* Dragon Maki roll (super huge) & surprisingly, delicious!! *

* Okonomiyaki *

* Takoyaki ( a huge disappointment compared to the other 2 amazing dishes) *

For a random pick, Yoko's turned out to be pretty alright. However, 2 consecutive days of cocktails and shopping has definitely left us exhausted. After a gin and tonic each, we headed to Subang, had to drop off Couzie. They (other Couzie and her frenz) were heading for Perhentian that night. I literally knocked off when I reached my pad. It was barely 11pm. Haha .. Who knew shopping and chilling could be this exhausting? .. 

X

Chilling with the Couzie - Day 1

The precious Couzie has arrived from Melbourne!!! 

Day 1 - MidValley and Gardens:

(Morning - Ehem! It's actually brunch @ Fah Kee, Seremban ;P )

* Fishball noodle soup (kuey teow) @ Seremban *

We were literally starving by the time we left the house, so we did a pit-stop to this oldie for a bowl of noodle soup before heading to KL! 

( Noon @ MidValley )

* A drinky @ delicious before we began our shopping spree *

* Cocktails, of course!! Caprioska for Couzie plus shoestring fries with aeoli (aeoli was a major disappointment!!) *

* Thailicious for me (pretty refreshing but bit stingy on the vodka though ;P) *

* Pretty nice place to chill despite the hot humid weather & we can't be separated from our BB's ..lol .. *

(Tea time @ Alexis, The Gardens )

* One of my fav's, a subtle place to relax and have a bite & drinks of course *

We were feeling a bit peckish, so we ordered some sides to share ...

* Rocket and Parmesan Salad (again, they could've been more generous on the Parmesan) *

* Roasted potatoes - Yummy!! My fav sides @ Alexis *

* Our drinkies - Cold, glass of beer for me and choc shake for Couzie (he decided to take a break from alcohol) *

After Alexis, we were contemplating whether to continue to walk around or save some energy for tomorrow and head for Happy Hour instead. The latter won. So, Zouk Cafe was the next place of destination.

(Happy Hour @ Zouk Cafe, The Gardens)

* Check this out : Happy Hour promo - Buy 1 free 1 *

* Gin & tonic - Erm! We had 3 glasses of these babies each. Chill, much? Totally!!! *

Around 8pm, we decided to head to Ninja Joes @ Northpoint for dinner but little did we know what we were about to encounter... The god damn place WAS CLOSED!!! Frustrating, 'coz we had to lug ourselves from Gardens to MidValley to Northpoint. Long journey!!! I guess business wasn't good so they decided to close the place plus, location wise was bad because Northpoint was a very quiet place to have a Japanese Izakaya. Hence, dinner was at Xenri, Old Klang Road instead. A major consolation, I must say!!

(Dinner @ Xenri D'RiverView)

* We decided to sit at the bar instead of the boring tables at the bottom .. *

* Fresh seafoods *

* More alcohol - Cold Sake! *

* Appetiser - Hanpen Cheese Age (Fried Japanese Fish Cake Stuffed with Cheese)  .. This stuff is amazingggg... Love it!! Must try!! *

 

* Sashimi of course is A MUST!!! *

* Inaniwa Udon - Delicious!! We had ours cold .. You can eat it hot too! *

* Watana Ebi Maki (Tempura Prawn Roll with Tanuki) *

* Couzie wanted dessert so we ordered the Sesame Ice-Cream ... Thumbs up!! *

I must say, Xenri has definitely entered my list of 'Must-try' Japanese Restaurants. Am totally satisfied, both food wise and service too!! Oh! Fyi, they have buffet promotions on Sunday, all-u-can-eat at RM50++. Worth a try!! What an amazing chill out day!!! The day ended with the famous Hokkien Mee supper @ Jalan 222. I'm stuffed for the day, that's for sure!! 

p/s:- Another amazing thing is I DID NOT purchase anything!! *pat on the back* Hahaha... See! I do have self-control.. though I almost (but didn't) did splurge on the pair of metal green Aldo's that I've been eyeing on. 

Pre-employment to do list ...

I've been postponing this 'To do' list for the past 2 weeks and as always, good times flies. My funemployment is coming to an end in approximately 7 days ..*sobs* .. Anyways, I'm going to enjoy and make full use of it before going back into the rat race again!

Schedule for last week of funemployment:-


(Monday)

1. Opening of bank account. (The company only uses HSBC bank, instead of Maybank) 
2. Complete KWSP (to maintain getting 11% deduction instead of the standard 8%) application form for the new company.
3. Complete Citibank's corporate card application form for the new company. (Solely for business purposes only)
4. Complete Computer Usage and Internet Code of Conduct forms. (I'll be getting my own notebook and broadband for the dreaded daily reports)
5. Pick up precious Couzie arriving from Melbourne at the LCCT airport.

(Tuesday)

1. Shopping, eating and chilling in KL with the Couzie. (Can't wait to bring him to Hajime for lunch..Yippee!!)

(Wednesday)

1. Pre-employment Medical Check-up @ Cap Square.
2. More shopping and eating with the Couzie.

(Thursday - Saturday)

1. Work on my webshop.
2. Pack, pack, pack!!
3. Chill, chill chill!!!
4. Sleep, sleep, sleep. (doubt that I'll be getting enough rest with the trainings and examinations throughout the whole AUG. Boo!!)

(Sunday)

1. Think of the perfect outfit to kickstart my 1st employment day!! (essential)

So, I guess it's gonna be a pretty full-on week of funemployment before going back into the 'real world'. Eeekkss!! 5 months of funemployment ending soon. But it's totally worth it .. ^.^

Chill, much? Yesssss ...

Woke up early yesterday to a rough start, tummy problems ... @#$%%^ ...again!! However, by the time I was done with my make-up, getting dressed etc .. I felt much better. Nothing is going to keep me from watching the much anticipated 'Sex and the City 2' (yes!! I know it's been showing at the cinemas for ages, we are a tad 'outdated'..but what the heck!!)..*laughs* . W and I drove down to the City, well...Pavilion to be exact, in time for the 12 pm show. 

I must say, being an avid follower of Sex and the City on HBO, the movie and hence, the sequel..Sex and the City 2 is the bomb!! Truly enjoyed the shoes, amazing clothes worn by the cast and the movie, of course. Despite the annoying Chinese a**holes sitting behind us (conversing in Mandarin throughout the movie and constantly kicking our chairs), we had a blast. Ohh... and I loveeeeee Carrie's apartment *hearts*, the new one, obviously with that extensive and to-die-for walk-in wardrobe!!!! 

After the 2 hour movie, I was starving so we headed to the third floor of Pavilion and decided to have the late lunch at Athena, a modern Mediterranean restaurant.

* Interior *

W, who was actually craving for Starbucks coffee (but they didn't allow outside food and beverages) had to settle for a cappucino here instead, which according to her, sucked .. (Sorry, W!!). As for me, I opted for a cold, glass of Heineken since it was happy hour.. =) There's actually a 'Buy 1 free 1' promotion at Athena but I just had 1 .. unlike the old, alcoholic me! *grins*

* W's Cappucino (which sucked, btw and the platter was stained ... Yeap! Points minus for this place) *

* Heineken for me, of course!! *

As for food, we decided to have some soup and a pasta to share. The Prawn Cajun soup was absolutely delicious, a spicy broth served with rice (which is actually the yellow stuff you see on top of the broth). The mushroom carbonara was pretty decent. Service wise, however, needed some improvements .. but wth, we're in Malaysia, aren't we? Ok...must not get into that frustrating topic ..Ha ha ..

* Prawn Cajun *

* Mushroom Carbonara *

* People watching from our seats*

Athena

Lot C3.05, Third Floor, The Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

T. 03 - 2141 5131          F. 03 - 2164 5002

A bit of backdated post ... And yes!! Haha... more food porn .. Met up with an ex-colleague, C, for lunch on Tuesday. We decided to pay Empire Shopping Centre (latest mall in Subang area) a visit and Pasta Zanmai (Italian + Japanese fusion) was the place of choice.. or should I say! I was actually craving for Japanese... Hehe.. 

We've had loads of lunches together at Pasta Zanmai, so we decided to try something that we haven't tried before - Salmon something something (Excuse the forgetful me!!) pasta and the Scallop pizza, which were both absolutely delicioussss. Especially the pizza!! 

* Salmon something something pasta *

* Scallop pizza ( MUST TRY!!!) *

After an hour or so of indulging and catching up, we asked for the bill. Much to my surprise, instead of going Dutch, generous C said the treat was on her. Thanks a bunch, C!!! My turn, next!! 

Pasta Zanmai

LG33, Empire Shopping Gallery

Subang Jaya, Selangor

Hoorayyyyy~

Guess what? I GOT THE JOB!!! *jumps with joy* ... Things happened in a flash, I must say. First interview, then second meeting with the HR, NSM and Sales Director (who turned out to be a nice, funny guy), calls from the HR on the package and the confirmation call. 

On the downside, this means funemployment is coming to an end really soon!!! I might either be starting work next Weds or 2nd of August. My future boss will confirm that tomorrow.

However ... On the brighter side of things, SHOPPING BAN lifted!!!! Tralala...new shoes, new work outfit perhaps, new bag, make-up *trails off*...erm.. ooOpsie! Sorry, I guess it's been quite a while since I last shopped. Thou must not be a spendthrift this time and must be a wise shopper !! (hopefully) ...

And my dear couzie will be back on the 26th this month for two weeks... Ooooh! So excited! May the good news continue to roll in!! 


X

Nervous ..

Crikey! Am having a bit of jitters for tomorrow's 2nd interview with the big shots, especially when the SM informed me that it's going to take 2 to 2.5 hours. Haha .. guess it's quite normal to be feeling this way, right?? Oh well, what the heck! I'll just give it my best shot. 

Hopefully, there'll be good news tomorrow! *fingerstoesnnailscrossed*

;)

Movie mania ...

Guess how I spent my day, yesterday? At the cinema !!! Teehee .. W & I had a movie mania, we went for 3 movies in a row! Pretty crazy, huh? Well, it was all good fun, and not to mention some aching in the knees and on my back (signs of aging, perhaps! Crikey!!).  It was just like old times, we snuck McDonald's fries and nuggets inside ... What? I bet you do that too .. *laughs*

* We watched these as in order (Oh! Toy story 3 was in 3D) *

Btw, good news! Received a call from the Interviewer this morning, for a 2nd plus 3rd interview (this time with the scary big shots) on Monday, 10am -1230 pm (pretty long, huh?). Woot!! Another thing to look forward to besides this is, Sex and the City 2!!! Have been craving to watch this since I was in Perth. Why do everything take forever to get into Malaysia??? Boo~ 

Anyways, I can't wait!! Promised W, I'd wait for her to be back from her escapade to watch SATC 2 together and dine at Hajime too.

 ;)