surprise surprise.

For all of you who know me and my family, our level and frequency of surprising each other will be of no surprise to you=). Our surprises range from the hidden prepaid mobile top-up card and picking me up early from school to go to the movies, to buying the impulsive plane ticket to fly home for Christmas.

About two weeks ago, S and I were talking about our families and the topic of surprises came up. Being a tease I said, 'Sigh, it would be nice to get the occasional surprise once in a while...(cheeky hint)'.=p

From that moment forward, I got the feeling S wanted in on our elite surprise crew but to my great dismay, I thought him the biggest failure of a supriser if there ever was one;
The very next day S came up to me and said, 'Okay I have it all figured out and have documented it on Excel spreadsheets. Your surprise will occur every 30th of the month!' *I-am-so-pleased-with-myself grin*

'Why, that's wonderful dearest... But might I suggest that you look up the DEFINITION OF A SURPRISE??!'

As it slowly dawned upon him, his stricken face and his one word said it all...: 'crap'.

Understandably, I have written off the Every-30th-of-the-Month surprise. However, every now and then I can't resist giving him the occasional jibe about his wonderful excel sheets.=p

Well today, the mailman delivered an umbrella to the house. My Fulton Birdcage Umbrella that I've been looking for! And it doesn't end there... In the evening, S presented me the 250th Birthday Hamley's teddy bear and said, 'In case you haven't noticed, it's the 30th of November=)'.

Surprise, surprise, who would've thought that S knew how to surprise!

hehe=p

Hamley's teddy next to a gift for the boy next door who just turned 2

A surprise delivery

My very own Fulton Birdcage Umbrella!

christmas is near!.

I've got my hands full with making the house Christmas-worthy and boy I've gotta tell you, it's more challenging than I thought.

For one, picking out the nicest but most reasonable items alone requires brain-power worthy of Sherlock Holmes's very thorough deductions. Putting them up I can assure you, is no easy feat either.

I've always prided myself for being reasonably tall-ish. Sigh, today I discovered that I'm not quite tall enough to reach the ceiling even after standing on the table on tippy toes (oh shock and horror!).. Not even after borrowing my neighbour's ladder and standing on the highest rung=( Well desperate times call for desperate measures and I was truly desperate to reach the ceiling to replace my abysmal lamp shade with the spiffy new one I bought from Ikea.

And so, I stacked up all my Vogues and recipe books, placed them on the highest rung and finally... MANAGED TO REACH THE CEILING!!

YAYY!! pictures of the lamp shade for everyone!!=))

what's Christmas without some mistletoe?

my new lamp-shade!
(you DON'T want to see the old one, trust me... not unless you like cobwebs, dust and rusty chains...)

some sparklies over the fireplace

And finally, PURELY for your viewing pleasure and COMPLETELY out of topic;

Gelane and Memnoch
(s's and my alter ego in cyberworld!)

wishing on a star.

Finally, the day I've been waiting for all week has arrived. S and I planned to pay Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park a visit tonight!

Or so we thought...=(

We headed out to the city for dinner and it was pouring with rain. We were still hopeful though.

Oh how naive we were... Sigh, the rain didn't let up even after coffee and dessert. And so with heavy hearts, we trudged our way around the city. We will have to save Winter Wonderland for another day=(.

To make matters even worse, we forgot to bring umbrellas. Well I've always wanted to buy one of those dome umbrellas because I think they are super cool and keeps you the dryest among all other umbrellas. But after 2 hours of hunting, we wished upon a star with our fingers crossed and popped into Topshop for a last ditch try to find my elusive dome brolly.

Alas, they did not have my umbrella but what they did have was a star. A Superstar, that is... Beyonce Knowles was shopping in Topshop!=))!

Well, not really what I expected but.... I ACCEPT!=) I mean this is the woman that has one of the best video of all time. THE BEST VIDEO OF ALL TIME!

*but still boo to kanye west. BOOOOOOOOOO

very odd indeed.

This morning I woke up, turned the computer on and logged into MSN to have my usual daily chat with my dear mom whom I usually catch online when I wake up at 9 a.m. (equivalent to 5 p.m. Malaysian time)

She's always right there waiting for me as it's still business hours in Malaysia=) This morning however, her name was not on my 'online' list.

'Hmmm, that's strange', I thought to myself. I looked through my list again and did a double-take because I found a 'nadia' on my list. I never had another nadia on my list before!

Lo and behold... it was my Dear Mom.

'Hey mummy, can you please tell me why you are using my name as your nickname on MSN? it is called IMPOSTING you know?

To which she replied, 'Aiyoh yalaa.. I don't know what I press in office now it become your name and I don't know how to change it back to my name. Nevermindlah it's ok'.

hehehe=p. oh mummy, you are darn funny. love you very much. please don't cheat my friends and pretend to be me. Imposting is AGAINST THE LAW!.

that's us on graduation day!=)

the cutest little thing in the world!.

The temperature's a-droppin' in London and it's time to work the heaters! Call it my student instincts kicking in but I still can't bring myself to turn on the central heating. (having studied in Melbourne, we students have handy little tips of keeping warm without costing us exorbitant electricity bills)

For example;

1. boiling hot water to emit steam to heat up the apartment
2. placing a hot water bottle in bed 10 minutes before bedtime to ensure warm snuggly sheets

Now in London, though I do not have those heating restrictions any longer, old habits die hard. And just as well really...=) It's always good to save that extra dollar, is it not?

And so on extra cold days such as these, I turn on the portable electric heater strategically placed in a corner to warm up as much coverage area as possible. It usually warms the place up in 15 minutes=p

Well today, 15 minutes passed and I still felt cold. So I glanced towards the heater and guess what i found?

LITTLE CUDDLES STEALING ALL MY WARM AIR!!!

The Culprit caught red-handed

uh-oh...

but she's cheating! Because NO ONE can get angry at that face.
*krys admit it... not even you=p

Isn't she just the cutest thing in the world?? Look at her all fluffy and clean=)

being a christian.

I stumbled across this poem on a blog today and nothing resounds more strongly in my ears/eyes. For those of you whom I have had conversations with about Christianity, you would have noticed that I get very impassioned when I talk about Christian portrayal in the world.

The poem you're about to read hits home about what being a Christian really is. We are neither perfect nor better than anyone else. Quite the contrary... but we made a Choice to follow Christ. The road is not any easier but at least now we have direction and we know where it goes=)!

And let's face it, every little bit helps in this mysterious journey we're all on called Life.=)


When I say ... "I am a Christian,"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'.
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say ..."I am a Christian,"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble,
And need Christ to be my guide.

When I say ... "I am a Christian,"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak,
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say ... "I am a Christian,"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed,
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say ... "I am a Christian,"
I'm not claiming to be perfect.
My flaws are far too visible,
But God believes I am worth it.

When I say ... "I am a Christian,"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches,
So I call upon His name.

When I say ... "I am a Christian,"
I'm not holier than thou.
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace somehow.

-Maya Angelou

what should i do now.

I have already done grocery shopping, the laundry, baked peanut butter and chocolate cookies, marinated the lamb shoulder to roast tomorrow for dinner and roasted the chicken to make chicken with chilli-lime mayo wrap for dinner tonight. Darn, it's only 1.30pm=(

Sigh...

Maybe I'll make Christmas cards!=)

favourites.

here are 2 of my favourite shots from the night out in the city! I photoshopped them for a more dramatic effect though (and also to cover up unsightly blemishes). Just refreshing my photoshop skills before they disappear altogether=(

i believe i can fly.

Woo guess what guess what? I am over the moon with my new flying mount peeps!=) I am now UBER KOOL! Who would've thought that 'banana-skin-slipping', 'tripping-over-shoelaces', 'coffee-spilling', 'asking poor-stranded-man-to-follow-me-to-the-atm-so-i-can-draw-out-money-for-him' ol' me would possess a steed of such splendour and glory?

Ahh wonders will never cease...=)

S and his guildies helped me get it last night. I've been whining and whinging about my mount o' bones for long enough! And the helmeted pigeon? Don't even go there=S... So Sam the GM got a group together to get me my Flying Bronze Drake.

What is a GM you ask? Well I can assure you it's not General Manager, Grand Master, Glorious Man or Great Missionary.... It is in fact, a GUILD MASTER.

On a very serious note, I am very surprised with myself that I enjoy playing WoW as much as I do.

Will link S's website soon. The new one is under construction because they just got a new sponsorship from the Ministry of Sound UK! Exciting times=)

Stay tuned!

*HL, this is for you=p

christmas is all around us!.

Time to pack up those frilly summer dresses and bring them beanies out from storage!

S and I took a stroll down London city this fine Friday night to get a good view of the Christmas lights. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!=)

to my dear family, the chins and my dear dear friends in kl and melbourne:
wish you were here.

being silly

what else is new?

the spirit of Christmas

another spirit of Christmas

and above all these is Love

s and i shivering in our shoes. (phew! luckily it doesn't show on camera)

reindeer balloon on carnaby street

<3

s and i

christmas is all about love!

regent street

s and i again

regent street

looking towards oxford street

mmm... either regent or oxford street

definitely regent street

not so fun but must be done.

yup that's right! I'm talking about household chores. Blessed I am that I actually like a few of these despicable things. Washing the dishes for example. =) I don't know why but there's a sense of wonderful achievement when I see dirty surfaces restored to its original sparkly self! This theory applies to mirrors, dusty surfaces, mopped floors and yes, even WCs. (eeek!)

Laundry is alright. Nothing much to it at all. I mean seriously, how difficult is it to dump your clothes into the washing machine? =)

Now ironing... is one of my favourites!! I get awashed by the aforementioned sense of achievement everytime I iron out those wrinkles. And since it's almost winter now in London, standing that close to a warm iron is a bonus.

What I DON'T like is vacuuming because no matter how many hundred times you lug that big noisy lump of a machine around your house, you are forever doomed to miss a spot.

Well you win some you lose some! But I do feel credit is due to S for recently purchasing a Dyson. Vacuuming is now a little less painful.=)

new found love.

I have recently discovered the wonders of ROASTING. It really thrills me that only a morsel to no oil is required. I'll admit, I'm not the healthiest eater but I do try to be when I can. And 'no oil' sounds like quite a good way to go.

So due to my new found love;

Set dinner menu last Sunday

Rare roast beef joint with mustard (recipe credits goes to Samantha Tan)
Steamed brocolli, cauliflower and carrots
Creamy black pepper gravy
Coke

Set dinner menu for Monday

Rare roast beef joint with mustard
Steamed brocolli, cauliflower and carrrots
Creamy black pepper gravy
Orange Juice
Mango for dessert

Set dinner menu for Tuesday

Roast chicken with chives and stuffing
Blanched brocolli and carrot sticks
Sweet chilli mayo sauce
Breakfast juice
Roasted chestnuts for nibbles

Set dinner menu for Wednesday

Hmmm.... roast?=p

Mr. S is such a western foodie. I love western food too but being a Malaysian, I do need my asian food fix every now and then. So when a week or two passes by and when I cannot tolerate my cravings any longer, I will drag S to any asian restaurant and eat my fill.=)

missing the sun.

sigh, it's going to be a while till we're able to go out jacket-less...

for me?=).

I got a present last night from Uncle Fred. It really made my day so I had to share it with you=)

A joke book in contrast with a ghost book to neutralize my heebie jeebies. very thoughtful!=)

Bedfordshire is near their place (where I sometimes stay during the weekends). Ooh my weekend nights just got a whole lot more interesting.=p

the christmas song.

Christmas is in the air everyone, and don't you forget it!
I have made it my personal duty to ensure that Sammie doesn't forget it either.

And how I might be doing that?
I've begun hanging Christmas decorations in the house and singing The Christmas Song to him from dawn till dusk=p

Here's the lyrics for those who want to follow suit=)

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping at your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright,
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa's on his way,
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh,
And every mother's child is gonna spy,
To see if reindeers really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering a simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
Merry Christmas to you.

at long last.

after a day of toiling, i finally got a new mount for my character!!! i'm really quite pleased with myself=)

Look at my talbuk in all its massive glory as opposed to my old mount in all its punyness.

TALBUK = WIN!=))

well well well what d'ya know.

I'm going to do some stereotypical categorizing here so please bear with me=p
I'm going to list down the understandably "expected duties" of a girlfriend/partner/wife/spouse/other half. (this adheres more to couples without kids yet)

1. Cooking your beloved his favourite food
2. Completing household chores with pride and grace (this includes laundry, dusting, vacuuming, etc...)
3. Running little errands like going to the post office and collecting that 'rent-a-dvd'
4. Basically, being the epitome of charm and a source of delight!

You'd think that pretty much sums it up yeah?

WRONG.

I was completely and utterly bamboozled when S called me from work one fine morning and said (albeit sheepishly), 'mmmmm.... honey if you are free, would it be alright if you helped me level my warrior?'

Now THAT'S not something you hear everyday. In fact, it's not really something you'll hear at all under normal circumstances.

But well, life throws little unexpected surprises for you. And apparently, not just good and bad surprises but strange ones as well!

So level his warrior in WoW I did that bright Thursday afternoon...

P/S: for those who are a little confused, S plays this game called World of Warcraft and you need to level up to be cool. So i'm the assigned level upperer for one of his game characters.

*disclaimer:
sam says: I have 6 level 80s

.....

.....

show off.

the myth.

Correct me if i'm wrong but through personal experience, when you hear the words, 'shopping' and 'London' in the same sentence, the first word that pops into your mind is 'expensive'.

Behold dear readers for I am here to bring the light. Never, i repeat: NEVER was there a more untrue word spoken. Yes of course it CAN be expensive. But nobody asked you trot down Bond Street to Prada for a £1,500 suit now did they?=p

Now Zara, H&M, Topshop, Miss Selfridges and Dorothy Perkins are all in the reasonable range bracket. Trendy and hip, a pair of shoes of acceptable quality can cost you from £30 to £70. (similiar to Melbourne's, if not less than Pilgrim, Witchery and Country Road). And Malaysia? Even after conversion, clothes in London are still a tad cheaper.=)

Okay Primark in London, for a pair of trendy shoes (note: though not too great in the quality department), can range from £1.95 to £20!!! £1.95!!!!!!! £1.95!!!!!!!!!!

£1.95!!!!!!!!!

I've always looked at myself as a reasonable spender. (sometimes brinking on being thrifty).. But seriously you gotta admit, £1.95 for a pair of good-looking shoes is really quite cheap!!

So if you have always wanted to come to London but think that the shopping will be too expensive, fear no more. It's a myth!

Now, restaurant food in London.... is quite a different story.=S

what's not to love!.

yes chaps! it's another fulfilling day in the city. Although my mood was slightly dampened by the rain... I think most of the raindrops fell into my shoes=S. I mean, it was a reservoir in there! But don't worry no drama, nothing a good dinner wouldn't fix.. and praise God, a good dinner we had! I will be forever grateful to my new friend P for introducing these rare gems of good asian restaurants in london to me.=)

They turned on the Christmas lights in the city. It was Jim Carey this year who did the honors. Apparently they have a different celebrity every year to do it. Sadly, I missed the official 'turn-on-the-christmas-lights' night=(

But that's alright, S and I are just waiting for the right celebrity. S's is Kate Moss and mine is.. hmm... at the moment, possibly Robert Pattinson=p

Girls, can i hear an Amen to that?=)

beautiful aren't they??=)

christmas is in the air. can you smell it??
i can and it smells GOOOOOOODDDDD=))))))

pin pin, nicole and i

it's so good to see a familiar face.

Presenting: nicole, my first visitor from Melbourne!

nicole and i

mummy says.

here's a little excerpt my daily conversation with my dearest mom. With her, always always without exception; Loved is what I feel and Incredibly Blessed is what I am to have her as a mother.

Esther says:
girl, mummy have to go washroom already and pack to go home to cook

nadia says:
ok ok ok. love you miss you kiss you

Esther says:
love you...

nadia says:
love youu

Esther says: today we chat alot already..and laugh alot too

nadia says:
good for you
go home la go home la

Esther says:
say hi to sam for me...tell him dont bully you ok

(this always cracks me up because sam gets very indignant=p... And this is not the first time she has said it either! my mom is always deathly afraid that I'll get bullied by anyone. Sigh, I must really look like a real weak wimpy girl=S)


nadia says:
okie!
bye love you love you miss you kiss you

Esther says:
love you...bye

my hot mom when in her forties

the brighton weekend.

It all began with dinner at Bayswater on a cool Friday evening. Through the smiles on everybody's faces, it was clear that the weekend has arrived! Ooh hang on a minute... except for poor s who had to work the weekend=( The kind, considerate boy insisted that we all went ahead without him.

So we dropped him off home after dinner and proceeded to Leighton Buzzard. It felt weird without s there but I was much consoled with his endless phonecalls checking to see what we were up to. tee hee=p

It was going to be an early night for us all just so we could have an early start to Brighton the next day. So there we were; just Smiley Mikey, Fantastic Freddie and lil' ol' me, all prepared to go on the 2 hour drive to Brighton at 10.30am. We arrived just in time for lunch at Picolo Mondo ala' UK style.=) Had the loveliest gnocchi ever but could not finish it because of its overly rich flavours. Man if I knew I was going to have awesome gnocchi, i would've skipped breakfast lunch and dinner the day before.=S oh well, lessons learnt buttocks burnt I now know what to do the next time I go to Brighton.

Now after lunch it was off to the shops! Brighton is kinda like St. Kilda in Melbourne.... (i'm sorry Melbourne but...) it's just about 10033542420 times better!!!! There were vintage shops (my favourite), furniture shops, christmas shops, watch shops (fred's favourite), food shops, jewellery shops (michael's favourite) and an amusement park. Everybody had a slice of heaven that beautiful Saturday afternoon! And I learnt many new things I never thought I'd learn. One of them is; how to spot inclusions in a diamond. Not something one learns everyday I can tell ya that!=) I felt like a kid all over again: spending a day by the beach, going to the amusement park, having ice-cream, seeing sparkly things... what more could a girl want!

Home again home again to Leighton Buzzard for a hot shower and a nice change into fluffy flanel jammies.=) And the perfect ending to a wonderful day? McDonalds at 10 pm in my jammies because we were hungry=p. M and F insisted that no one would notice I was in my pajamas. (yea right, they were matching blue with white polka dots long-sleeved shirt and trousers...) =S but they insisted I had no time to change. Too hungry, too hungry.

And just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, 'Nadia, would you like to go riding tomorrow morning?' said Michael. Oh sweet music to my ears! I always try to refrain from asking to ride because I'm so afraid for troubling Michael and testing his patience with my apalling riding skills.

Sadly, riding was not to be for we woke up to a blustery, rainy autumn Sunday.=( And so, I went to the centuries-old church across the street instead. Watched Witches with Freddie and adjourned to London to pick up Sammie for a dim sum lunch at Chinatown. (seriously I love dim sum. I am very convinced I can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2 weeks straight)

Thus concludes my weekend! Fred and Michael, you are such blessings and I am so grateful to have you in my life.

'Sigh, but at the rate you're going, I don't see how you can improve your riding', was Michael's parting lament at my doorstep. Why yes I am quite aware of that but alas, it's not my fault that I can't control the weather now is it?=S

amusement park on the pier

ooh! i wonder what they taste like...

random shop

*this is the point my camera ran out of battery.=(

On a completely different topic, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tried calling you but your phone was switched off or something. will call you tomorrow! miss you please come quick. here's another place to make our 'must-go-if-have-time' list.=)