Kota Kinabalu, 13 June 2011

These are fresh from oven.

Am now one a queen-sized bed, Le Meridian Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Not a gateaway, but more to another call of works. But somehow or rather, this is a good, brief me-time when I can enjoy my luxurious 30 mins bath, uninterrupted TV session and once in a blue moon night blogging! Yes, I didn't mention about uninterrupted sleep since it is almost sure that I'll still get 'interrupted' sleep after consistent 2 years of terjaga malam because of Eirsa. No regret but rather getting used to it and made me miss my baby a lot!

So, Kota Kinabalu. This is not my first, second or third. I had been here for quite some belas-belas time for work and once for our third honeymoon. But I could never get enough of this city. It seems to have inexhaustible list of offerings to the visitors. I will fall in love over and over again.

Arrived at around 7.30pm at the hotel, we still managed to catch up with the night markets in which there are 4 of them just around this area; the famous Philippines market (I bought nothing, puas dah bakar duit kat sini dulu), pasar jual buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran (I bought dried anchovies for Mak and Mama), pasar dried food (I bought nothing, but my staff bought whole lot of Amplang and kuih cin cin), pasar makan-makanan hawkers style (I bought my dinner here, nasik goreng membukit punya banyak!) and pasar malam jual all the denims, bags, shoes with very good bargain (I bought a bangle, worth buying!). Pasar buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran offered the best selections that you could get; all items are well packed and very neat! Murah dan fresh, tok sah nak cakap la. I takut Mak nak bermastautin kat sini je kalau jumpa benda-benda makan yang fresh begini.

Foreigners are not foreign here. They are always some numbers of them, most of them backpackers.

I always say KK is good place for tourism. The kaki scenery gunung Kinabalu, the breathtaking islands around Tunku Abdul Rahman marine area, the night markets, and not to forget, the fresh fresh fresh seafood. I'll definitely come back, with Eirsa of course. One day.

Ye. Saya menyesal. Sebab malas nak bawak camera. Lalu terpaksa ambil gambar guna camera iPhone 3GS sahaja. Harap maaf kualiti gambar tidak sesedap mata memandang.

The flea market was located along this road. And very early in the morning, the road already cleaned! I mean, very clean!

This thing is heavy, I mean not the cheapo style. But I manage to get this half of first offered price.

 Note : Can't wait to go home. Homesick. Mengada gedik.

Let's Get Crafty!

I've been doing a lot of Ida's blog reading lately and getting inspired with her creativity in both photography and blog designing. And recently, Marliza has opened for orders, for her very own diaper cake (very cute baby shower gift!), make me feel like I wanted to start venturing more in this small itsy bitsy arty passion that I have.

I'm not that good in crafting, neither I am in photography. But I have interest in both. I used to make 'cheap' simple birthday card for my friends back in secondary school and even received several (mind you, small quantity only) so-called orders from friends. Well, the old good boundary school style when you only had small amount of money to buy nasi lemak once every two days and the rest of the day you'd just satisfy your tummy with the chewy ikan jacket and labu masak kuah lemak putih. Lalu, nak beli kad Hallmark hatta Memory Lane pun tak kena buat budget berbulan-bulan.

I would usually just use colorful A4 papers available in my stock and come up with some collage type of cards. Usually during outing, I'd stock up colorful A4 papers or I would even keep any colorful papers that I found anywhere (bukan kutip tepi jalan, but those yang jumpa in magazines or newspaper or any kind of books) with interesting color or pictures. Betul. Lama-lama akan jadi menyemak locker besi nan lebar 50cm tinggi 200 cm itu.

And I made my own small doorgift boxes (later filled with wajik Melaka) with total of 800 units, for the guests during my reception. Not to mention the cheapskate crafts that I made for Eirsa's carers (nak jugak bagi walhal budget ciput suka hati kau lah kalau kau nak mengata aku kedekut).

Small steps at a time, I tried to add some new look for my blog. Cemburu sungguh hati melihat blog header yang creatively crafty yang dimiliki oleh bloggers kegemaran. I know, some just purely creative, some would pay for the creativity and uniqueness, while some would just copy any free available template from thousands offerred online. As for me, I go for free, simple, doable, yet original.

Browsing through the web yesterday, I virtually stumbled upon (sebenarnya ada je link kat blog Ida, I yang tak perasan!) this website Shabby Blogs and my darlings, it's free! Quite some options offerred for both background and blog header. I opted several background, tried to apply some designs to my blog but it didn't seem to work well. Senget, skewed to the right or left, shrunk, etc. Buruk dan kelihatan terlalu mencuba. Then I tried some available blog headers, modified here and there, add small personal touch (using Photoscape) and voila! Hasil yang ringkas sebegini!

I would love to explore the opportunities to add other craft materials to my blog as they also provide free accessories such as buttons, post pretties, sidebar titles and such. Tapi mood belum mari lagi. Nak siapkan yang sekarang ni pun berhempas pulas.

As for the background, I still used this free background pattern maker that I've been using for quite sometimes, which I found super easy peasy to customize background at anytime I want (but with limited design).

No, you don't want me to guide you one by one on how to do this and that. You want to explore all the opportunities yourself so that you could feel the artistic feeling! Ha ha. Maaf lawak rasa nak lempang. The guidelines are all available at the website or software. Go explore and let you imaginations fly high!

May be one day I'll come up with my very own craft products, not necessarily blog design, but something else in which I have actually bought some of the materials quite some times ago but being keep in our utility room as dust collector.

Fun Facts : 1) I never get higher than B- for my Pendidikan Seni during high school. 2) I am an IT graduate but I know only 20% about coding. Everything that I did to my blog was totally code-free (I was just using the available applications or shortcuts).

Carilah Jalan Keluar

Apa ke jadahnya perkara sebegini? Kot ye pun 'bot', janganlah sampai buat lawak tahap guling serupa ini. 

Kenapa Kau Diam Membisu?

I don't know.

I didn't feel like sharing much thus the flow on stories that I wanted to share with you, tak mari (didn't come). Atau mati di tengah jalan. Bits and pieces were everywhere but I didn't have the mood to join connect everything together.

By the way, I'm now looking forward for my very first vacation without Eirsa (since her existence). I'll be going to a famous holiday destination in Malaysia with only Mak and my younger brother, Hasry. Just the three of us, semua pun 'bujang', in 2 weeks. It was a short notice vacation plan that I've ever made (1 month notice is considered a short notice for me).

I don't know what to expect, I know I will certainly miss Eirsa a lot (ok lah, I'm going to miss Husband too but bearable la, plus at night, he can easily sail off to neverland whenever his head touch the pillow). But Eirsa, hmmm.. May be the get to bed part is going to be easy but she might wake up in the middle of night and look for me. I have confidence in Husband and my in-laws but when Eirsa is in her super-cranky mode, memang boleh jadi sakit jiwa sangat menduga kesabaran. Not that I had never left Eirsa alone with Husband before, but previously she was too little to understand that I'll not be around for quite some time. And her level of mogok was much tolerable when she was younger. Plus I traveled very little lately and Eirsa is spoiled with my daily availability at home.

Whatever it is flight tickets have been paid for, so does our 3D/2N accommodation. Despite the worry, I'm still excited as this is the first Mak will be on a flight. In fact, the reason I'm doing all these is because Mak has been telling me how much she wanted to get on a flight several times before. With the condition that I only have one child and it is manageable for Husband to take a good care of her all by himself and with name of Allah I arranged everything for her and pray to Him that everything will go as planned. InshaAllah.

You be a good girl, ok? Saaaaaayang Eirsa.

Note : I already have all my outfits planned, in my head.

Cerita Kereta, Minyak dan Duit

Yes, after 2 years of husband, Eirsa and myself travelling in our little Kelisa (correct, with stroller, car seat, bags fro Eirsa, bags fro parents, toys and all the necessities), we finally managed to upgrade our family car from a city car Kelisa to small family car; Honda Insight Hybrid. More on car size here.

Our main criteria during car shopping was the space; both driver + passanger seats and boot. Secondly the price range, since from there we could work out on the options what we had; technical specification, fuel consumption, pre-sales, after-sales services, depreciation value and of course, color. I would say Insight came in at just the right time for us. Alhamdulillah. Syukur. Syukur

Had Insight in March 2011, it was considered as new in Malaysia. Kalau pergi mana-mana akan jadi tumpuan. Rata-rata waktu parking, ramai akan bertanya tentang harga, performance dan kadang-kadang terpacul juga soalan "Sedap tak?". Apakah?

With help from Husband for some of the technical specifications, we came up with this important information or rather comparison of fuel consumption, in which I think would be the main criteria in considering a new car, other than the space, design, color and all (please click at image for better view).

All in all, so far we are happy and satisfied with the car; the space, the fuel consumption, the design. Dengan pemanduan berhemah, our average fuel consumption is 20 kilometer per liter. And, the performance of driving to Genting Highlands was not bad at all!

Hi baybeh!

Note 1 : Husband's car zaman bercinta, Satria (2003), sold for RM8,350.

Note 2 : On handling, car performance, maintenance and what not detail technical specifications, please ask Husband as there is a high possibility that I might respond to question such as "How about the ABS?" with "Oh, They are sexy with six-pack!" (You know, abs as in the flat tummy, instead of Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)).

Fun Facts : United States is at rank 1 in list of countries by vehicles per capita, with 779 motor vehicles per 1000 people (as per record in 2008) and Malaysia is at rank 42 with 273 motor vehicles per 1000 people (as per record in 2007). (Source : Wiki)

It's Just A Click Away!

Betul!

Jika anda suka mana-mana terbitan saya di blog ini, anda boleh 'suka' dengan kelik pada butang '+1' di bawah! Terbitan lepas juga boleh di'suka' juga.

Bagus Blogger kerana memahami yang rata-rata pembaca adalah malu untuk memberi komentar semula, tetapi di dalam hati berbunga suka akan sesuatu terbitan. Selain itu, dapat juga membantu mempromosikan terbitan yang disukai pembaca, untuk dikongsi bersama dunia!

True!

If you liked any of my posts in this blog, you could 'like' the post by clicking the '+1' button as below! This feature is available for previous posts too!

I'm glad that Blogger is sensitive about readers' behavior in which most of them prefer to choose to be a silent reader even though they actually like a post. Besides, this is a very helpful tool for a blogger to promote and share their posts with the world!

Gambar Makanan Sahaja, Sungguh!

Guilty as charged, I didn't have much time to put many things I have in my mind now into readable and comprehend-able sentences, type and publish them. But I did have photos ready in my laptop, with some minor editing required.

So, let's salivate!

Note : Menu and price for Malaysia Bubba Gump is here, and I could not find Malaysia's version of Tony Roma's menu. Boleh budget cantik-cantik dan cuba.

Fun Facts : Locavore is a new word formed from two Latin words; locus, "place", and vorare, "to swallow". Found in 2001, this word is defined as "a person who attempts to eat only food grown-locally. (Source 1 and Source 2)