2015 New Year's Resolutions - A Review

It seems like the only time I write nowadays are to review hotels or write letters to my girls  on their birthdays, LOL. To be honest, life has been a monotonous tone, thank you very much *pause*

Well, you have to be thankful that life works out predictable in this highly volatile environment and economic situation - we still have work to keep us occupied, salary gets in as usual, there's enough moolah to cover all the bills, the kids (and I) are growing and healthy, my husband and I are still married though we live separately most of the time, and well, that's how life goes.

BUT. Deep, deep down inside, I am feeling pretty restless at the absence of excitement in life. When MBA mission is over and accomplished, for a while I felt hugely satisfied and inspired that I had overcome one major block in life - that is to graduate with a master's degree. I guess I'm an adrenaline junkie, somewhat. Even though I've settled down with two kids, I am always on the lookout for something to set my eyes on, to pursue and conquer at the end of the day.

One of the biggest hurdles / accomplishment in our lives

So what have I done in 2015?

Firstly, at the beginning of the year, I had set a few targets to achieve:

1. To read and finish a book every month (12months x 1 book = 12 books all together) - checked!

2. To leave office at 5pm 3 times a week - mixed results

3. To go on an overseas trip - does Brunei count?? It's still on the same land though, but hey, our kids got their first Immigration stamp on their passport!

Although I spent 4 years going back to school and doing lots of reading, it's not the same, no sir! Reading because you are obliged to, as opposed to reading because you enjoy reading can feel somewhat 'empty' (just like performing solat because it's compulsory but you don't put your heart into it will make you will feel 'empty'). So when I graduated, I thought it was time to catch up on my first hobby - reading.

So I read. And read one book after another. I don't have a specific genre that I like to read - my choice of book depends on the author. I tend to buy books by the same author because I would feel a lot more confident that I will like their writing style hence their storyline. I also like straightforward books - one that doesn't require me to go on overdrive mode trying to understand the message the author is trying to deliver. After all, I read books to unwind and I like to unwind in the most relaxing manner, LOL. So if you are thinking to get me books for birthday gifts, skip Dan Brown or Stephen Kings, please.

Some of the books I've covered

So far, my favourite authors are Sophie Kinsella (I get amused by her characters), James Patterson (he writes murders and crimes in the simplest manner and language), JK Rowling (who doesn't like her books?), Diana Wynne Jones (I'm not embarrassed to admit I still read children's fictions, but I love love LOVE her imagination!) and Kamila Shamsie (she is just amazing at describing simple, every day things).

So yes, this is one big accomplishment this year!

On the second goal - there is one good news and one bad news. The bad news is, being workaholic is pretty tough to kick out! I thought I had cured myself of this addiction after Khayla was born, but then I relapsed. To make it worse, I realize that I tend to get more productive towards the end of the day rather than at the beginning of the day. So when I go into productive mode, it's already 5pm. Most of the time, I end up calling my mom to ask her to pick the girls up and continue my work until 6.30 or 7pm.

The good news is, I think I'm slowly starting to let go of this bad habit. It's just taking quite some time to convince myself to leave office while the sun is still up (yeah, 3 years is pretty much a long time to change!). I was a lot worse back then - when I started work, my record of going back from the office was 4 freaking AM! Then I started to cut back to 10pm, 8pm, 7pm.. and now, trying to go back earlier than 6.30pm.

I've also stopped regularly bringing work home, since I know that I'll go into mommy mode, so there's no way I'll touch my work laptop once I reach home (unless I have a really, really urgent deadline!). So, yeah. I'm still on track on this one! 

When I need to distract my kids while working on urgent deadline

Lastly, I have been dreaming to go on overseas trip with my family (read: cold-climate countries). This was fuelled further when Suami Terchenta mentioned that he was going to be posted to Ireland for 3 weeks sometime early of the year. I almost bought tickets to Gold Coast after he called me to inform that his superior had asked him to standby to go to Australia for a meeting with potential client there. I was more excited than him and even spent a bit of my time researching on the places he mentioned but turned out, none materialized! *so disappointed*

Still, I am determined to make it happen. I don't agree with people who say that it's a waste of time and money travelling when our kids are still young because we have to lug around a lot of stuff (diapers, strollers, formula milk, etc.) and they will most likely end up not remembering the trip. Instead, my rationale is it will be more difficult to go on vacation during off-peak period (read: when it's not school holiday) once Khayla started primary school. Besides, kids' tickets are cheaper and most of the time, admission fees for kids are half of adult's price when they are not of school-age (6 years and below). Below 4 are even free!

So, I lowered my expectations (read: divert my attention away from Europe / Australia) since currency exchange is pretty bad now, and instead will take the opportunity to visit my sister in Japan during winter. At least we will save a lot on plane tickets / travelling time there.

I soooo can't wait for this vacation! *eyes shining full of hope*

With that, I am looking forward to 2016. 2015 may be monotonous, but it's good monotonous. I hope to stir things up in 2016 but I haven't figured out in what way LOL! Perhaps Japan will give me some ideas on what to do in 2016.

Will definitely blog about my Japan trip later. Toodles!

Read More

Letter To My Girls: Khayla (60 Months) & Khadeeja (36 months)

My darling daughters,

Today, both of you celebrate your fifth & third birthday. Happy birthday, sweeties!! No days have passed without laughter since you girls came to our lives. Of course there are days when I wished I could have some peace and quiet. There are also days when all I want to do is to lock myself in the room so I could have some me-time without you two poking your head and asking me what's up. But those days are nothing compared to all the time I enjoy watching you grow up, loving your happy nature as well as childish antics.

As usual, I'm going to write to each of you separately. May one day you two enjoy reading these letters and remember how much I love you till my last breath.

To my Queen Elsa a.k.a. Princess Amber a.k.a. my sweetest firstborn - Khayla,

At four years old, you are quite a chatterbox. You like to observe things and asking 'Why's'. Your love for singing is still apparent - and what a sweet voice you have too. You like the finer things in life like travelling in an aeroplane (Malaysia Airlines, of course) and staying in a hotel (at least 4 stars!). Whenever I told you we are staying in a hotel, you get all excited and will then rush to pack your small toy luggage for the journey LOL!

Watching cartoon programs en-route to KL

Part of the reason you love staying in hotels - food tastes better in fine-dining restaurant?

At this age, your command of English far surpasses mine when I was your age. What's more, you speak English with an accent, courtesy of Disney Jr channel. Nevertheless, you have started picking up Malay language from friends at school, and occasionally you address yourself as 'kamek' (me), which is kinda cute.

Telling dad a story

Like any other 4-years-old girls, you adore Queen Elsa of 'Frozen' and desperately wish to be her in every aspect - you want to dress up like her, speak like her (you can recite all her lines by heart!) and everything you own from your school bag to your stationeries, have pictures of Queen Elsa on them. Every morning, I have to wake you up saying, 'Wake-y2x, Queen Elsa!' because you fancy her so much you want to be her LOL. You are crazy about Hi-5 too, but now you are slowly losing interest in this group. And this month, you start to watch Sofia the First and calling yourself 'Princess Amber'!

Love getting made up - even with face painting

You are still VERY picky about food, and most of the time only eat one type of food - white rice. Or noodle (plain). It is quite normal of course, but I still get very agitated each mealtime. Nothing will ever work out your appetite since you even refuse multivitamins!

Social skills-wise, you seem to be able to mingle with friends but when I ask you if you have any best friends, you can't think of any and end up saying you don't have any friends. We will have to work on that, sayang, because to survive in this world you need to connect with a lot of people. You also still can't get along well with your sister most of the time - refusing to share toys, colouring pencils or food with Khadeeja. BUT. When you guys do get along, I get all warm inside watching you play with dolls together, or just chasing each other screaming with laughter.

Joining in colouring contest

My beautiful princess,

The thing that I love about you is how you are fond of proclaiming your love to your family. Clearly, you love your family A LOT. There was one time when you stay with your Wa, and then you called us to tell us how much you miss us. Your Wa then told us after you hang up, you cried because, in your own word, 'I miss my family.' Only that, most of the time, you don't count Khadeeja as your family. In your mind, family is Bapak, Mommy and yourself. This is another thing we have to work out, sweetie. 

Moving on to my adorable little cupcake, Khadeeja;

Despite your petite size, you are the embodiment of LIFE itself! You are sweet, lovable, huggable, loud, annoying, hard-headed, funny,/"" confident, bad-temper and clever all rolled into one. You never seem to run out of energy - always running, meddling, shouting and going after your sister like a hurricane. You are the opposite of your sister - where your sister is shy, you are bold and you have this devil-may-care attitude that no one can match except your mother. 

I love to eat - omnomnomnom!

At this age, you are extremely independent too - you don't want Mommy to bathe you, no thank you! You can shampoo yourself, brush your own teeth and occasionally put on your own clothes too. You also have your own preferred style - despite your very boy-ish behavior, you refuse to put on anything other than 'princess' gowns - choosing skirts over pants or shorts.

You love food especially fruits (apples, grapes, oranges, watermelon, durians - you name it) but you don't seem to grow that much despite your healthy appetite.

Ice cream, Mom?

You look up to your sister in the love-hate kind of way. She is your role model but she is also your fast enemy. You want to be like her  and you love everything that she loves, yet you have no qualms of picking fights with her as well.

Even though you are close to three, you are still very 'pelat' - you can't pronounce 's' and often say 'sat' as 'cat'. Yet, this is the thing that endears everybody to you.

You have a quirky sense of style at this age

Here rockin' up another shades!

Sweetie-pie,

If your sister likes to proclaim her love to her family, you prefer to show your love physically. You enjoy giving kisses and hugging us, something that your sister is more reluctant to do (she doesn't mind getting kissed but don't really like kissing people). You still want me to hug you until you fall asleep at night, which can be complicated since your sister also wants to sleep in my arm. Then you both will fight and end up one of you will cry (most often than not, your sister). Even though both of you can't seem to sleep without being physically in contact with another person (me or Bapak), somehow in your sleep you can sense if you get too close to each other. Then you two will push and kick at each other even in your sleep LOL!

My chocolate cupcake with cherry on top,

In terms of learning, you are a very fast learner and can catch a concept with no problems whatsoever. My only worry is since you are very stubborn at times, you refuse to let me to show you how to do things correctly (e.g. how to write letters). This is something that we need to talk about, Khadeeja - your stubbornness. Somehow, I know I have to teach you how to listen to others because you could get obstinate and refuse to come when I call you.

Adik is about to get kicked!

My darlings,

Despite everything that goes on between the two of you, sometimes you can be very sweet to each other too. Like picking matching dresses - or playing together. You two have started getting along with each other. For example, tonight I was feeling not well and decided to rest. The two of you rarely interrupted my nap, except for important matters. The rest of the night, you played with each other which is a major relief to me.

Taking photo together

My gentle Queen and princess warrior,

No matter what, no matter when, I will always be by your side especially on your special day. I love you two very, very, very much my darlings. I won't trade you with anyone, not even with Prince George and his adorable baby sister. In my eyes, the two of you are the most beautiful gifts that Allah bestowed on me. Alhamdulillah.

Happy birthday sayangku, Khayla & Khadeeja!

Happy together

Love you with every beat of my heart,
Mommy

Read More

Riverside Majestic Hotel Kuching

My colleague was getting married last month at Riverside Majestic Hotel so our colleagues and yours truly flew to Kuching and stayed at this hotel for the wedding.

Before I went further, a short intro to this hotel - located along the Sarawak Riverside (thus, its name), it is right smack in the middle of the town with easy access to Kuching attractions namely Kuching Waterfront, Top Spot Foodcourt (famous for heavenly seafood) and adjacent to Riverside Shopping Complex (where guests can shop at Parkson right next door).

To be honest, this will be a short review because I was sharing room with two other friends so I couldn't really spent the time to properly review the hotel. 

However, my overall take of the hotel room is - it is comfortable but needs to be improved in terms of cleanliness - I was sneezing almost non-stop throughout my stay here!

Checking in was a breeze and when we came i through the door, the doorman and bellboy greeted us warmly. 

Below are some photos that I managed to snap right after entering the room:

Deluxe Twin Room

At a glance, the hotel room looks clean but we couldn't help but notice some corners near the lighting area and and the bed were rather dusty.

Decoration-wise, the room seriously needs some face-lifting as the furniture, the carpet and even the bed are outdated. The whole room just looks and feels dull to me.

Bathroom with adjacent toilet

Same thing applies to the bathroom where you don't get separate shower and bathtub area, since all old bathrooms tend to have showers in the bathtub.

A tips for guests staying here - if you don't get hot water even after turning on the tap to Hot, make sure you turn the knob to the max. I find it rather annoying though.

Apart from that, you get full amenities in your room namely iron and ironing board, safe box, tea-making facilities with two complimentary bottled drinks, stationeries etc.

The tea-making facilities

Not bad if you are staying here on sightseeing or business trips, but certainly not the right hotel for staycation.

Rating: 7/10

Read More

Selera Rasa Segar, Miri

Wherever you are in Malaysia, food is a big thing and breakfast is no exception. When you are in Sarawak, locals will tell you to try out the local delicacies namely mee kolok and laksa Sarawak. However if you are a local yourself or just tired of having the same menu for breakfast, then head over to Selera Rasa Segar (or SRS in short) in Miri.

SRS stands out amongst other eateries simply because the main menu for breakfast is not mee kolok or laksa Sarawak. Instead, they serve nasi lemak with plenty of side dishes to satisfy your cravings.

Selera Rasa Segar from the outside

The restaurant itself is set in a rustic setting, with wooden floor and round table, very much like any kopitiam. 

Packed with patrons early in the morning

Stepping inside, the first thing I noticed is the queue of people waiting to be served by one very busy young man, dolloping bowls of steaming hot nasi lemak and attending to orders. Basically, the standard menu is the rice in coconut milk (nasi lemak), two slices of cucumber, a spoonful of fried peanuts, one half of hard-boiled egg and a dash of sambal bilis (anchovies). The extra things, you need to tell the man which dish you want to add on.

Choices of sambal, rendang, ayam percik, masak hitam (soy-sauce based gravy) to name a few

More choices of protein - you can opt for chicken, beef or mutton

I decided to just have whole egg of fried chicken added to my nasi lemak. Don't be fooled by the pitiful look of the dish below, the chicken is flavourful and the nasi lemak is delicious. My only fault is in the sambal because it doesn't have a lot of anchovies in it and just tasted of blended dried chillies or what we call 'cili boh'. What a disappointment!

My choice of nasi lemak for breakfast

If you happen to go in a group but don't feel like having nasi lemak, you can also order nasi kerabu, laksa penang, nasi ayam (chicken rice) and oh yes, the usual laksa Sarawak and mee kolok. They do carry that in their menu.

Other options for breakfast

So if you want to try out the nasi lemak at SRS, head over to Jalan Permaisuri where their outlet is located. It's definitely worth a try when you want a break from the usual.

Read More

How To Share Microsoft OneNote Across Devices

I happen to be one of those people who embraces IT and its uses in every day life, for example taking notes. For me, traditional note-taking using pen and paper is not only inefficient but also not supporting forest conservation (unlike using electronic devices where you can simply delete or undo a typo).

These are some of the awesome things about taking notes using iPad or good ol' laptop:

1. Use less paper, contributes to cost-saving
2. You can edit your notes later by using 'Copy+Paste' function instead of copying and re-writing your notes (saves time!)
3. With different choice of writing tool (pen, pencil, paintbrush, highlighter) in a notes app / software, you don't even have to worry about forgetting to bring a pen to a meeting!
4. You can even search your notes even those you took months ago without breaking a sweat!

There are plenty of note-taking apps out there, but the one that I like the most is none other than Microsoft OneNote:



OneNote is available across platforms and even on iOS

Even though Apple recently released an improved version of Notes, it still can't beat Microsoft OneNote in terms of looks and functions. OneNote looks very much like the traditional notebook complete with colored tabs for different sections. You can even add pages in each section so your notes will appear more organized and structured:

OneNote looks a lot like traditional paper notebook

There's a lot of things you can do using OneNote, like making checklists, creating reminders, saving web links for later reference, saving images (great for recipe / idea books!), do sketches, and many more! Simply put, there are endless possibilities with OneNote. Even more interesting, you can share your notebook with others so everyone can jot down their ideas and collaborate online on real-time. It's a great collaboration tool but this is something that I haven't really explored.

 

Since I use my iPad mini a lot during meetings, I am really grateful of the idea that OneNote can be synced across devices. There's only one snag - since my office network blocks OneDrive - Personal (it only allows access the company's SharePoint drive, I can only sync my OneNote if I bring my laptop home and use my own WiFi.

 

That is certainly not efficient if I have to refer to two different notebooks, so I decided to move my notebook on OneNote from my OneDrive  - Personal to the Company's OneDrive for Business / SharePoint.

 

What I have to do after that is to send the link to my company's email address, and then open the notebook from the link on my iPad once I'm logged on to my office network.

 

Moving OneNote is surprisingly tedious - you can't just copy and paste or move the whole notebook to the new location. This is basically the steps that I had to do to move my notebook:

1. Create a new file in my OneDrive for Business folder through OneNote (New > Other Web Locations > OneDrive for Business folder
2. Open the notebook that needs to be copied
3. Right-click each section and select 'Move or Copy...'
4. Wait for it to finish copying, repeat until every section is copied.
5. After the notebook has been uploaded on the new location, share the notebook by clicking on 'Invite People'.
6. Type company's email address and you will receive a link in your email
7. Open the link on your iPad, and then choose option to open in OneNote apps

Moving my notebook to OneDrive for Business

Copy in progress

 

I tried those steps and found that it works :) So basically I don't have to worry about outdated versions of notebook since it is totally synced between the notebook on my laptop and the one on my iPad.

 

So what's your favourite note-taking apps? Do share in the Comment section :)

Read More