Birthday Prep

Leila's birthday is coming up,  planning isn't really stressful this time as we are not celebrating it at home which means less stress and less messy, sigh.  That is because she opted to do it in Kizsports where we recently attended her friend's birthday.  Ohh well, ok that is even better for me since they do packaged parties which includes free playtime in the kids' indoor playground.  Discussed it with hubby and I got a thumbs up. So, here we go.  All we need to bring is the birthday cake. 

The Cake Plan

I love making cakes and nothing thrills me more with cakes than doing Kid's birthday cakes where I find them fun to do and needless to say, challenging.  My daughters cake has been planned since last year.  She had been wanting to have a Tinkerbell cake, but that changed after she saw Mika's Cake, a princess doll cake with crown.  Kid's do love to do what their friends do! She like to have the same cake and the same kind of party. She will have a doll cake in blue which I find strange because her favorite colors are pink and purple, but she's my customer; customer is always right!

Getting Crafty

So when the idea of a princess party was born, my crafty hands are itching to do something.  Well, I dropped by to a party shop to check ready-made crowns for kids instead of party hats, and alas, when you need it, there is no way to be found. I searched for crown templates and surprised how easy to do these Paper Crowns.  My daughter loves to decorate them with sticker blings.  I also used some of my nail polish with sparkles.  I can't contain the excitement myself seeing the kids with these paper crowns.  It's unique and so inexpensive and fun to do! We love decorating them and now, we are feeling like royal family. She would use her crown when she wakes up in the morning, and crown the Queen (that's me :) and King (Daddy) so that makes her a princess. 

Home made valentine chocolates

I can't just let the day pass without making these.  Have a bite of home made dark belgian chocolates...  Happy Valentine's Day!

Flowery Valentine

I'm going to flood this post with flowers with the latest snaps I got.  I hope you like them too as much as I do as I'll take you with me to my recent visit to the Orchid and Hibiscus Garden in KL.  Happy Valentine's Day Everyone.

Reflecting Relationships

In our lives we crossed others paths, we walk together with someone in it, we even laugh, dance and fall in-love in it.  Even if we knew that path is just temporary and would soon walk on different paths and separate ways even if we don't want to.

This post I dedicate to Bugsy.  The movie reminded me so much of him when we thought we had a different world. Whom once in my life had shared a roller coaster ride of emotions. I love the ride though it broke my heart so much, but that was the best decision we've ever made. We have moved on and happy on different paths.  I am a believer of the saying saying "I't's not meant to be"

One thing I've learned and am always careful of, I should take care with someone who is wearing his watch on the right.. Is it a coincidence in this movie? nobody would understand the meaning if you wear your watch on your left.  And if you are, I believe you have a different perspective in life. Quote on me "you can relate".

Enjoy the movie, and don't cry to much :-).. have a tissue handy.

Blogging Love Affair

I have a confession to make, an On and Off blogging affair.. Hubby won't be jealous, right?  My first blog  was born 8 years ago..I started a food blog with blogspot.com; that time it was even more complicated than blogging today as it requires html codes which is a different world for me.   Since I would like to be organized neatly as the page would appear on my blog, I have created loads of blogs according to each category i.e. appetizers, main-course, pasta preparations, etc. etc.  Tagging wasn't popular by then and the only way i found to be organized is to hyperlink each category to the main blog. Blogger gained popularity and there goes the merging stuffs and tagging, so then i have to put all the other blogs together and put all my posts to the main blog and do the tagging.  It was tedious but I'm happy with the result.  Now, blogger gets more and more easier with the new interface.

I'm getting more and more busier as years go by, so I blog from time to time and I came up with different names of my blog as I don't want to mix everything together in just one place,  Hence,  The Kitchen Journal for food, but I noticed that my food blog is becoming a cakeshop,hence Sweet Gourmet was born.   I got crazy with just anything to blog, hence I got the mixed bag of all the things I'd like to write about in The Parking Place.  Now I have linked the related ones as tabs and the rest through tags.

As years go by, the thought of monetizing my blog was at the back of my mind but didnt come to reality coz I am easily distracted with a lot of things i.e. cakes, photography even construction (during the house renovation), gardening and a lot other stuffs (aside from these hobbies) I have to do on top of being a wife, mother, teacher, driver.. etc. I admit, I can not focus on just blogging. or just caking, btw, hubby complains that I have turned the house into a bakery and now I'm forced to stop doing cakes, which I really love to do. Which is why I am back to blogging! :-)  he isn't forcing me to do it though, but why not? and oh, why not earn from it? Now i have loads to ask to others who are professional bloggers out there for pieces of advice what to do.. like is owning a domain necessary? and what field should I touch? food? photography? travel? cakes? I got gazillion of things to write about! ha ha.. and how to earn wisely perhaps?

This is my first post for 2012 on this blog.  Waking up the long rested parking place.. blow the dusts off and take off the cobwebs :-)

SNAPS FOR THE SEASON

Personalize your own greeting card

What's itching?

Nikon D90

What's consuming my time these days is the new DSLR that hubby bought last Christmas is. The coveted Nikon D90 pulling the energy out of me. Which is great, it helps me in keeping my sanity as a busy full time mum. I admit I have to get myself crazy on something else than house works, otherwise I'd go insane.

The Nikon D90 is bringing me a new level of photography experience than the previous Sony DSLR that we own, which is now broken. It needs a serious repair of the mother board which will cost more than a new camera. Apart from being broken, i guess its time to upgrade.

So, this is what's driving me crazy these days and the more i get to know that gadget, the more I'm loving it! Expect more photos then!

Sunrise or sunset?

Sometimes I wonder which scene I like; sunrise or sunset? Sunrise wakes me up to my senses for the day... sunset rests my mind to wilderness what awaits me tomorrow!

Swimming through

When I'm with my favorite element, which is water, I'm feeling relaxed specially when I'm floating on it. I can float for an hour day dreaming, watching the clouds passing by and listening the soft sound of water flowing in and out the pool. Just like laying idly on the bed. That's the way I cool down after swimming. I'm no-pro of the subject but since I'm swimming regularly now than before,(that's because I don't like to go to the gym, it bores me!) I think it's time to review my swimming techniques and other areas to improve, which landed me browsing on you tube's swimming tips.

Have to practice some of the tricks tomorrow and keep swimming!

For today, I find these videos helpful:

How to Swim Freestyle Stroke by JimmyDShea


Breast Stroke



Free Style Kicking


Top Three Swim Drills

How far can i stretch?

I feel like I really in dire need to do something for my physical fitness regimen stuff... because I've done little enough! I swim, irregularly, I use the gym very sparingly, and got no time for sauna and I barely do yoga anymore. Needless to say, I'm feeling the bulge in my tummy and around my sides getting wider and wider. My time is consumed in taking care of my little one, driving around, and household stuffs... Now, I feel like my energy is depleting.... Guess its time to pump it up!

Well, I have to admit, I am not that stretchy but I'm going back to yoga. I am not into losing weight yet, but more on energizing myself to "feel good". As for me, feeling good needs a little effort in keeping up positive energies in you which means needs a little daily exercise that would lead to less back and neck aches which I often have. Having said that, what have I done so far?

My wish list goes like this; first i want to utilize the facilities that we have in the apartment/hotel, i.e. swimming pool, gymn, sauna, squash court. I think that is more than enough if I have the discipline to do so.

To start with, I've done yoga for the last 3 days at home. I had yoga lessons before my pregnancy and kept a CD to follow, now I'm back to yoga slowly until I keep a rhythm of the routine. To get splashing for 30 minutes, minimum of 10 laps, 2x a week and enjoy sauna after. The gym can wait... maybe after a month of this rhythm... I am more enjoying swimming than going to the gym.

That would be an effort, I guess... will start from that then we'll see. Diet is another subject to tackle. I'm not so strict but I restrain myself from unhealthy guilty pleasures. I'm glad that B. is conscious of his intake as he is really into fitness these days. We have cut cheeses already for the past few months. Salads at night on weekdays, hmmm but guilty pleasures on weekends.. He had lost weight already and I'm the one gaining.. Grrrrr... Get moving!

We'll see

still around

ohh well it has been a long time... just to assure you that I'm here... Did I miss blogging? not really, coz I didn't had idle times. I've just been busy with something else ... I hope to regain my blogging momentum soon... anything goes.

Cheers!

Happy Chinese New Year!

taken in KLCC

Let me grab a chance to greet you Happy Chinese New Year everyone! I'm only having short posts these days as I don't have a extra pair of hands and mind to get through my days and my 24 hours isn't enough... in short, "I'm just a busy mom".

taken in Pavillion

I hope everyone is having a good time this 4-day weekend!

Ox, give us a good head start!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

our princess turns 1!

Dear friends and family, Hear Ye By the order of the King & Queen you are cordially invited to Castle Maple Suite to celebrate the first birthday of Princess Leila located in the Historic village of Kuala Lumpur. Royal Celebration begins at 12 NN on Saturday the 28th of February 2009. Please have your coachman deliver you to our address: Maple Suite, #1 Changkat Raja Chulan,Kuala Lumpur. To prepare for your arrival please R.S.V.P. by 20th February. notes: Actual date of birth of our princess is 26th Feb but since not everyone will be available on weekdays, we moved the date on a weekend. Those who love singing, unlimited Karaoke after lunch for your entertainment. Party theme: Princess Your Royal Highness, The King and Queen

VISIT TO LANGKAWI

Had a quick visit to see what’s at store in Langkawi last Dec. 6-8 2008. Langkawi is located around the northeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia. We stayed at Berjaya Hotel which was quite a disappointment as it wasn’t the kind of 5star hotel service I’ve expected. Our activities were limited as we have baby around, so we went only to baby friendly activities, however there were so much to see in island to those who travel without little bundle to carry around. Well, I was expecting to be basking in the sun with a nice cocktail in a beach bed, but nope it wasn’t the case. First I struggled to be transferred to a chalet near the beach and when we got to the beach enjoying the sand, the rain poured down. Not a bit of luck for the sun. My sunblock was unused and most of the times we just stayed in our chalet. Anyway, it was good to have some time off the house works and spend some time with nothing else but family. We’ll try the fun next time, as we can’t do much with the weather condition. We had an afternoon tour of the island which reminds me of some places in Philippines. There’s nothing much difference. There were a bunch of activities in line which we were not able do due to bad weather. We've visited the underwater world, other beaches, eagle square, street shopping and ended the tour with local cuisine.

Travelling with a 9 month-old baby without a nanny around, it would have been great to have a comfort of good hotel service but it wasn’t the case so at the end, I was all stressed out. First, the chalet that we had was in the middle of nowhere in the jungle which, I wasn’t expecting in the first place. I have searched the net or maybe I should have searched further that when they meant garden facing room, I was expecting it to be a well manicured garden where we could have a peaceful walk around with nice landscaping and all, but it is exactly the opposite. There is nowhere to walk around because the surroundings are heavily-densed forest with slopes and dangerous cliffs. Somehow, after a few unpleasant conversations with staffs and the manager we managed to transfer to a chalet near the beach.

The spa is one of the few things I’ve enjoyed during our short stay. Had two hours of blissful aromatic massage which was so great. It was just what I needed.

Some great shots taken from underwater world which made the visit worthwhile and I’m just as happy as a bee. More pictures are posted in Multiply.

HOLIDAYS @ HOME

It was our first Family Christmas at home so it was quite meaningful celebrating the season with dearest friends and family. It was so much fun having everyone around hyped with all the spirit of the season. My cousin Rey and Family and Dad-in-law came over after Christmas and celebrated New Year with us. We had blasting fireworks at home which was spectacular. I had so much fun but I haven’t took any picture of the Christmas and New Year fireworks.

Food was great with hubby as the chef. Everything was cooked in the brick oven which he made mid 2008. He cooked becoff which is authentic French cuisine, Pork Belly with super crispy crackling, roasted whole rack of pork ribs, roasted chicken, smoked tuna and marlin, home made ham and lovely bread. Wine and spirits were at hand all the time, nothing could I ask more for a feast!

……2008 that was…..

The year 2008 was the most significant year for me because it’s the year that I officially became a mother. Nothing can beat that feeling of fulfillment. Went home 3 times in a row this year in July, September and December. Had our first family Christmas and ended the year with a Big Bang @ home.

In some other aspects, or undesirable aspects I should say, some relationships had been chipped off from in-laws which I don’t know how it just happened. I wish I could just patch things up easily, but things went messy so quickly leaving me unjustified with painful allegations. I’m not really a big talker as a person and I do believe that sometimes the best answer is simply “silence”.

Every year that passes by doesn’t only make me realize that I’m getting older but just a little bit wiser. Oh well.. yes, I do tell myself I’m old when I see my nephews and nieces growing so quickly. It was just like last year when I enjoyed annoying them with their innocence but now, they’ve gone wiser. They make fun of me instead of me making fun of them and I just settle in a fake smile telling myself they’ve known much already. I’m somehow quietly glad.

What’s at store for us for 2009? We don’t know and nobody knows, we could be moving somewhere… prospects, Singapore or Australia… dunno. We live with plenty of uncertainties.

Snorring blog

This blog had been sleeping quietly for the last two months. Hope everyone had a great time for the last holidays and though its quite late but let me greet you a pleasant new year 2009. Been busy moving around visiting places and having a good time, so good that I can’t post anything here. Hugs and Kisses

Box of Chocolate

Box of Chocolate with 32 pieces bite size seashell semi-sweet chocolates filled with almonds.

Treat your loved one a chocolate bliss. These home made seashell chocolates are intricately made for your indulgence. One bite is not enough! How about 32 heavenly bites? It's at its best when chilled.

PRE-CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Christmas is fast approaching! Since we will be away for Christmas, will be giving our gifts in advance. What would it be? Can anyone guess? The wild guesser will get a special one!

These were my give-aways last Christmas, I only knew a few since we were new in KL that time, I had everyone I knew back then a taste of home made cookies.
Take me back HOME

Leila's Photo Shoot

I had these photos last Sept but haven't posted them yet. I love taking photos of little human beings and my baby is no exemption.

the picture below was taken last June when she was 4 months old. She's such a poser!

Take me back HOME

Hybernating from posting

Whoah... its been a while I haven't posted anything.. its not that I don't have anything to write about, its just that my times just flew so quickly. In between making chocolates and cakes, baby,hubby,household chores and tea time with friends, I didn't had much time to blog. I have a lot to catch up reading others' posts as well. I've been left behind. tsk..tsk...

Take me back HOME