2 weeks into 2013 and how is everyone so far?

All I can say is that -

I’m tired.

I’m glad it’s the weekend and I so need to look forward to another holiday.

Perhaps I’m suffering from post holidays blues?

This past 2 weeks has had me barking orders throughout the day from the moment I wake up till the kids’ heads hit the pillow.

Why you ask?

Although their routine is the same day in and day out, they do not do  whatever they need to do until I tell them to do so.

Yes, I have reward charts and all……

But getting them to do stuff on time is actually quite a pain and I’m tired.

Wake up!

Brush your teeth!

Eat your breakfast!

Drink your milk!

Do your homework!

Get ready for school!

Finish your lunch!

Eat your dinner!

Bathe!

bla bla bla

And that all stops when they go to bed.

These days, I’m knackered  by 9pm and in bed by 10.30pm.

Age must be catching up.

I’m tired.

It’s the year end holidays.

From the moment these 2 little people wake up till the moment they doze off at night, our house is constantly filled with laughter, cries, shrieks, stamping of feet, video games, tv…you name it.

Don’t get me wrong.

I love ALL of it ….most of the time.

When you’re working from home on a full time basis like I do, sometimes, I need to be left alone so I can tend to my conference calls, emails and what-have-yous.  The kids are old enough to know not to knock on my door if I am not to be disturbed unless it’s a life and death situation. (I’ve a helper to watch over them) But sometimes, especially during the school holidays when the kids are home 24×7, I yearn for some peace and quiet and I feel a tad guilty for saying it.

Tonight, they are sleeping over at their cousin’s place and the moment I dropped them off earlier this evening, I suddenly felt so lonely.  The silence in the house was deafening.  (My helper had retired to her room and DH is kicking balls – literally)  It’s funny how I yearn for some peace and quiet  but when I do get it for an extended period of time, I long for my kids! This motherhood thingy can be a bitch sometimes – screwing around with my head.

I guess the best thing to do is to cherish the peace and quiet for now.

Good night!

This morning, barely awake, Aidan walked towards where I was sitting, climbed onto my lap and leaned in towards me and continued to sleep while he sucked his thumb and played with my hair. I don’t know how long this is going to last but I’ll take it and cherish it for as long as he continues to do this. Ashley (7y0) doesn’t do this anymore

Although there may be challenges work-wise, I’m ever so thankful that I am able to work from home and not miss precious moments like this one.

Count your blessings every single day!

I can’t remember the last time I had a mani/pedi but when Twin suggested that we spontaneously go for one yesterday, I jumped at the opportunity since :

1. I was sans kids and hubby

2. I have a helper at home and don’t need to do any housework hence my nails will not be compromised (vain vain vain!)

3. I get to spend some girlie time with my dear old friend, Twin! (We knew each other since secondary school!)

When the manicurist worked on my nails, I reminded myself that I have to do this more often! I used to get  a mani/pedi done when I go for my hair cut every 5 weeks but I got lazy because the hair salon I go to don’t have one of those nail dri stations as seen in the picture above.

Anyway…overall, I am very happy with my nails and Twin’s toenails looked fabulous! (Twin has a pedicure). The girls at the beauty parlour seemed very experience. One pet peeve I have though is that while the manucurist was working on my nails, she typed and sent a text message on her phone  for at least a min or less. Maybe it’s just a one off thing.

Other than that, I’ll give that place 2 thumbs up for their workmanship.

P/S I paid RM35 for a mani. I believe Twin paid RM50+ for a pedi.

When I was a kid, my parents signed me up for piano lessons.

I.hated.it.

I’d always get the theory part wrong and I’d erase my answers until I made holes on the paper. I had 2 piano teachers and they intimidated me. I guess I felt pressured. After Grade 2, I managed to persuade my parents to stop me from going for further piano classes.

HURRAY!

Best move ever.

By then, I knew the basics of playing the piano. So if you can read notes and know which key is which note, you can make music right? DEFINITELY! I picked up my sister’s Richard Clayderman’s  music sheets, practiced everyday and played wonderful music. I could even play them by heart.

Some of the pieces I can remember offhand are :

1. Ballade Pour Adeline

2. Marriage D’Amour

3. Fur Elise (MY FAVOURITE!!!!)

4. Love Me Tender

So the moral of the story here is that if the kids don’t  have a passion for any instrument or sport, don’t force them. Instead, find out what they really like and encourage them by playing with them or find an instructor that’s suitable to them.

You initial investment does not have to cost an arm and a leg.

If they want to learn the piano – get a pre-loved piano or a cheap electric piano or keyboard

If they want to pick up the trumbone, get a cheap or pre-loved plastic trombone.

A little investment can go a loong loong way.

I’ll let you in on what my secret obsession is….. I’ve been stalking 6pm.com and other international online shopping sites (who do not ship directly to Malaysia) on good deals and when the I felt like I’ve struck gold,  I’ll shoot Kulshopper  (personal shopper) an email to get a quotation on how much the product(s) I am interested in will cost  - including shipping charges, taxes and service charge.

What are personal shoppers? Well as you know, if you’re in Malaysia and would like to shop at U.S. websites, majority of these websites do not ship to a Malaysian address. That’s where the personal shoppers come in. They would take your order, give you a quotation based on the price of the product, include shipping charges right up to your doorstep + taxes + service charge. How it works is that these personal shoppers will have a U.S address given by their freight forwarder service provider to which they subscribe to. Once the items reach their U.S. address, the freight forwarder will ship the items to the personal shoppers in Malaysia and they in turn will ship the items to your doorstep. So you don’t have to worry about liasing with the merchant and the freight forwarder. You just sit plump and wait for your items to arrive at your doorsteps

Now many would ask why I shop with a personal shopper instead of signing up with a freight forwarding service provider like vpost/HopShopGo/Vshub/Borderlinx/Comgateway and so on. I’ve done my research and trust me – there are complaints for each and every one of these freight forwarders on the internet – Parcels go missing, freebies within the parcels mysteriously disappear and I decided against signing up with any of these freight forwarders and instead  let the personal shoppers shoulder the risks and hassle. Yea, I may pay a bbbbit more but I’ll have peace of mind that my goods will arrive safely at my doorstep.

For clothing, shoes and handbags, I shop with Kulshopper. They are reputable, known for their excellent customer service (and I can surely vouch for that!). You can check them out at their Facebook page and Lowyat forum thread.

For beauty products ( i.e makeup & other facial products) – I shop with Sgdrugstore.  Click here to go to their Lowyat forum thread. I bought most of my beauty products from Sgdrugstore and I WILL go back there again if I have to. They are prompt in their responses and very professional.

I have encountered a personal shopper who’s presence is mainly in Facebook  and who is not fond of following through with her emails. She’d respond once or twice and then no matter how often I emailed her on the same topic, she never replied. I bumped her on her Facebook page and she responded on her Facebook wall  (prolly cause all her ‘fans’ could monitor her replies) that she DID see my email. That’s it. Did she ever come back with a reply on my query? No. Yes I know, she may be doing this personal shopper thingy as a part-time thing but part-time or not, you gotta respond to emails even if it means dropping a line to acknowledge the customer’s email and inform him/her that you will get back to him/her in x days. If you want your business to succeed, one of the fundamentals is customer service.  And that is why I like Kulshopper and Sgdrugstore.

Here are some pointers you should consider when choosing a personal shopper :

1. Choose an Experienced Personal Shopper

Make sure that they have been in the business for at LEAST more than a year or two. Chances are that they are know what they are doing better than the newbies. But if you decide on going with the newbies, well, good luck! Someone has to give them a chance right?  These personal shoppers usually have a presence in Lowyat forums so check out their threads and customer feedback and you will be able to get a sense of how your end to end  online shopping experience will be  like with them.

2. Make Sure that There’s a Proper System to Order and Trace Your Orders

The thing with these personal shoppers is is that  you’d have to pay upfront before they proceed to place your order online. Some personal shoppers may accept deposits. Now if I am going to pay for the items upfront, I’d want to be able to know when the personal shopper will place the order and what the ETA of the item is. YES YES…they may state in their T&Cs that it would usually take x weeks to arrive in Malaysia. Sgdrugstore has a very organized system whereby they post all the spree-ers’  names and orders categorized by batch number in his Lowyat forum thread. That way, their customers will know which batch their orders are in and the status of each batch – whether the orders have been placed, in transit, arrived in Malaysia etc.

3. Check Out Review of Personal Shoppers in Malaysia

Always google the personal shoppers for reviews by their customers. I did my own research before I started placing my orders confidently with them. Kulshopper went the extra mile by sending one of 2 of the items I ordered from them to me first instead of waiting for both items to arrive before sending both items together to me. They even  added a personal touch by including a handwritten note in my packages. Similarly, Sgdrugstore have included freebies into my packages on several occassions. What a pleasant surprise to receive something unexpected.

Kulshopper also  recently demonstrated what true customer service really is. I bought a pair of Nine West PeggyFo wedges recently from 6pm.com via Kulshopper.

Source : 6pm.com

When my shoes arrived, I tried them on and found a defect. I took pictures, dropped Kulshopper an email – not expecting any refund whatsoever but was hoping that they’d be able to make an exchange for me somehow. Honestly, I was not hopeful at all because 6pm.com only excepts returns within 30days (if I am not mistaken) of the date of purchase but by the time I got my shoes, it was more than 30 days. Kulshopper emailed them and appealed to them and finally managed to get a FULL refund for me. Now THAT is what I call personalized customer service and commitment! I know many who won’t even  bat an eyelash and give a rat’s ass about it.

If you have other experiences with personal shoppers or freight forwarders, I’d love to hear from you.

P/S  I wasn’t paid to write this post. Just sayin’.

..is the hardest job in the world.

But it’s also the best job!

(Taken from the Procter and Gamble video below). Better get those tissues ready! Don’t say I didn’t warn you ….

*backdated post….

After our shop-till-you-drop girly trip to Singapore, we vowed to have a r & r getaway instead – where shopping is not the main highlight of our getaway

3 days after our short Penang getaway, I bade the hubs and the kids farewell and went off to Jakarta for a 4-day (5-9 Oct 2011)  with the usual suspects (3 of my girlfriends). We were so looking forward for this trip – cause what’s there NOT to look forward to especially with good company?

Day 1 – Jakarta

When we arrived at Jakarta on Wednesday evening (5 Oct 2011), we headed to the Westlife concert! Woo hoo! We had a blast there except for the 30 minutes interruption  because a die-hard fan standing right in front of the stage fainted and  the organizers had to get everyone standing at the front of the stage to spread out and no one wanted to move their behind. So yea..we lost 30 mins of face time with Westlife Boo for that!

(Photo taken by KP)

Anyhow..the next day, all four of us set out to Javana Spa at Sukabumi – 90km from Jakarta but it took us 3 hours to get there! The last 1.5hr ride was a ride uphill through the narrow, windy and bumpy kampung streets.

Day 2 – Javana Spa, Sukabumi

At 9am, we headed to Javana Spa at Kemang Raya where we were picked up to go to Javana Spa at Sukabumi. We had a Toyota Innova to ourselves. We were each given a snack pack for the car ride…

When we opened the pack, we got abit worried. There was an apple and a packet of water in it. Our minds began race …wondering if the food at Javana Spa was going to be super healthy and super bland. We were proven wrong. Fortunately.

On the way to Sukabumi…

When we arrived at Javana Spa, we were taken for a tour around the compound. For the first 2 days, we had the WHOLE place to ourselves. I was very impressed by how well kept the establishment was. The gardens were impeccably trimmed, the rooms were very clean and tidy and there weren’t any musty smell whatsoever – considering that the occupancy of the place is not always at full throttle.

Checking out the Onsen….

Our rooms were surprisingly big with 2 super single beds. We could have fit 4 to a room but we booked 2 rooms instead (2 to a room).

Both rooms were next to each other. This photo was taken at the back of the rooms. We had a nice view of the jungle!

Doesn’t it look like a scene from the Salem High Country ad ? The temperature was about 20C. It was nice and cool.

We had our daily breakfast and lunch here. We had our dinners indoors.

A snap shot of our itinerary for the day.

After our hike to the waterfall, we did some exercises at the gym.

I went for aromatherapy massage and a body scrub on the first day. It.was.sooo.nice!

Day 3 – Javana Spa, Sukabumi

We got up for our 6am waterfall hike!

The guide made us do some stretches before we started out hike. See the knapsack by the wall? It contains a flask with ginger tea, paper cups and a plastic sheet for us to sit on by the waterfall.

The water was cold!!!!!!!

When we got back, we had to exercise at the gym – again. It was quite slow and easy…..

Onsen time! After that we had another massage session

Day 4 – Javana Spa, Sukabumi

The food was very nice!

Before we headed back to Jakarta, we had our beauty treatment

KP plucking some eucalyptus leaves for our car ride home – in case any of us got motion sickness.

The sambal belacan was heavenly!

While we took out last meal there, we met 4 50-60 something elderly ladies – who happened to be having their own girlie retreat and we couldn’t help but imagine that that would be us in 15-20 years time!

Day 5 – Jakarta

We had brunch at Anthipodean at Kemang, we shopped abit and then headed back home to KL…..

Twas a really good rest & relaxing getaway with the girls.

We got to do this more often girls!!!

I’m finally back from my much-needed break with my BFFs The last time we went to Bangkok was in 2008 for a friend’s hens’ getaway and there were 10 of us. This time, it was also a hens’ getaway and there were only 4 of us. We did lots of shopping, a spot of massage and lots and lots of eating!

Day 1

We took the 10.40am flight and arrived at Bangkok at noon and we were greeted by the Bangkok jam! 1-1.5 hours later, we arrived at Novotel Bangkok Platinum hotel. It was the perfect hotel for us as it was smack in the middle of where we were going to spend our time shopping We paid RM287 per room based on twin sharing and might I add that we were very pleased with the accommodations as the hotel is very new and modern.

After settling in at the hotel, we walked next door to Platinum Mall and had a late lunch at the food court. The food was very good and we were pleasantly charged up to shop! After 3-4 hours of shopping, we headed to T & K Seafood restaurant at China Town for dinner. (T & K is before the White Orchid Hotel on a one-way street). We ate here in our last trip and couldn’t resist coming back to this restaurant again!

They’ve a basic system for communicating orders from the upper floors to the kitchen on the ground floor using a rope and a clothes peg.

My favourite dish! So so so yummy!

Prawn with glass noodles.

Tom Yam soup!

And there were other dishes that we ordered but I was too busy eating! The food was gastronimical! After dinner, we crossed the road for some desserts at the stalls by the road.

Check out the size of the durians!!!?

We had the black sesame seed ‘tong yuen’ balls. Business was so good until they had to set up a stove on the floor!

Day 2

On Day 2, we shopped at Central World, Siam Paragon/Discovery, Siam Sqaure and had lunch at Somtan at Siam Square Soi 5.  The thing about Bangkok is that one can never get enough of the food there!

The busy road sides of Bangkok were peppered with food stalls.

They serve excellent northern Thai food here – according to a  Thai friend. Excellent excellent food! Must try!

Deciding where to shop after lunch….

After shopping at the malls, we headed back to Platinum Mall – again for some unfinished shopping business. And while the rest of the girls had a massage at the mall itself, I couldn’t help but walked around the mall a little bit longer – to satisfy the shopping bug in me and reassure myself that I’ve covered everything!

After shopping, we had street food for dinner at Pratunam. We ate across the road from our hotel.  Street side or not, the food was JUST AS GOOD!  and after filling our tummies, we got back to the hotel and got ready for our night out We headed over to Face Bar for our gf’s hen night. Gone are the days where we’d drink ourselves silly. We had some wine,  got the hen to wear a ridiculous head gear which we snagged from Platinum Mall, gave her a flaming lamborghini, we chatted, camwhored and had a great time together!! The best kind of outing – with good friends!

Day 3

Chatuchak day!

As soon as we arrived at Chatuchak market, we lost our bearings and had to find our way to the information center to get a map. Thankfully we got some help from a fellow tourist

Yup! It’s real.

We got brass woks and stainless steel kitchen utensils from this stall called Bloom Bloom. It is located at Section 17, Soi 1.  I got this set of kitchen utensils for 90 baht per piece.

We had dinner at Chatucahk market before heading back home. Food was good but boy was it HOT and HUMID over there!!!

After 4 hrs at Chatuchak market, we headed back to the hotel. We freshened up and headed to Central Chitlom for abit and then went to Taling Pling (90 Pan Road, Silom, Bangkok, Tel : 02-2344872) for dinner.  2 thumbs up for this restaurant!  Not once were we disappointed with the food at Bangkok!

Day 4

The end of our girly getaway. We bade farewell to Bangkok. Till next time!!!

In 24 hours, my bffs and I will be off for our annual getaway! Till then, have a good rest of the week! Yipeeeeee!