Powderpuff Mae

Today is teacher's day. I am truly grateful to teacher Lavender and teacher Tze Nie, both of whom are Jesse's teachers. They have done such a great job on teaching, training, encouraging, loving and playing with Jesse.

My mom in particular is amazed by how Jesse has grown emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Before he went to kindi, Jesse never called my mother at all. He wouldn't even let her hold him. These days he says hi and bye to grandma without being forced to do it. He is also very generous with his flying kisses. These days, he sings. He is more polite, no problems with "please" and "thank you". And surprisingly this kid has a great sense of humour. He thoroughly loves the recording on RK House (no pork). It is like his daily fix. He'll say "Mommy I want no pork please" or "Mommy, RK House please".

Unfortunately Jesse had been ill for the past few days and missed the teacher's day celebration today. James and I would love to give something nice to the two fantastic teachers. We were thinking of getting them a gift voucher to a spa, it would be great if we could pamper them by giving them a facial and full body massage.

Does anyone know of a great spa in PJ where the teachers could rest, relax and be rejuvenated?

Digital Perms are the in thing now. The last time I had a perm was 9 years ago. For the past few months I've been toying with the idea of having a perm. The salons at my housing area had been actively advertising their packages - a perm (digital or rebonding), cut, colour and treatment, all for less than RM300 regardless of hair length.

I've been doing my own research on which perm suits my face best. Initially I was going to go for large ceramic curls, and in preparation I kept my hair really long. After much thinking I decided against it as it may add at least 5 years to my looks and it would take too much of my time to maintain those curls. I then opted for rebonding but not the ones that leave the hair looking flat, apparently some stylists are able to make the hair look naturally straight!

I was about to make an appointment with my stylist to rebond my hair when I realised something terribly wrong with my hair the night before. My hair was dropping. I was losing hair. When I combed through my hair with my fingers, my heart almost stopped beating when I saw the large quantity of hair that remained on my fingers. I have never seen so much hair shed, it was as though my husband conspired with my new, young and youthful maid to finish me off with arsenic.

The next day I made an appointment with Peek-a-boo to have a hair cut. I decided to chop off at least 4 inches and to lay off any plans that involve chemicals on the head. Get a recommendation for a good shampoo that prevents hair loss and get whatever treatment necessary.

I left work early to save myself from balding. But the Friday jam just wouldn't allow me to get to my planned destination, so I detoured to Thomas & Guys in SS2. I walked into an empty salon with no one attending to me. 4 out of 5 people in that salon were busy being entertained by the computer for reasons only God knows. I was led to Joe a very Ah Beng looking stylist. I was starting to worry. I felt like running out of that place as it was so bare and empty with no decent looking stylists around. But I was desperate, so I regained my composure and told Joe exactly what I wanted. I wanted 4 inches off and I wanted the ends to be layered as I wanted my hair to have some body.

He summoned the shampoo boy and it was the worst shampooing that I ever had. I had shampoo splashed across my face and there wasn't any umph in his washing or massaging. Hated it. If he were a student there, I would have failed him immediately.

All in all Joe did a good job despite him looking like a DVD peddler (the kind that kept only the nails on the pinky long). I told him about my hair dropping problem and apparently my hair didn't drop at all when he was cutting or blowing it. Sigh. Just like taking a pregnancy test only to have your menstruation come the next day. Anyway he recommended Schwarzkopf's Bonacure Hairtherapy Deep Cleansing Expert and Smooth Control Conditioner specially for scalp treatment. Both the items costs RM45 each but there was an offer and I got the 2 items for only RM68.



I tried the scalp treatment set yesterday. I did notice that my hair dropped just a little and the smell was awesome, a very refreshing smell. But more importantly, no more hair dropping problems and I am pleased with my cut.

My husband loves "slutty" looking girls.

I caught him ogling at a young girl wearing a spaghetti strapped blouse revealing her cleavage, though there was nothing much to reveal. She was a skinny girl. My husband said she looked "slutty" and was hot.

"You used to look hot and slutty, not anymore" he said. Apparently these days I dressed more conservative, more like a mother. And that is a turn off. And the sweaters that I wear over my low cut spaghetti strapped tops, those sweaters, according to my husband drove a wedge to our marriage.

Frankly speaking, these days I feel rather conscious about my body, especially baring my midriff and cleavage (not that I have much to show). When men ogle at me, I no longer feel flattered, instead I feel rather uncomfortable. I am a mother now and it is my obligation to look respectable and to cover up my body.

But the husband is complaining and threatens to stray. Looks like it is time for a makeover. I told James that it will cost him for my makeover. Sexy clothes and a new sexy hair style don't come cheap and it looks like James is more than willing to be a major investor afterall he has a huge beneficial interest to the claim. To him, anything to save and spice up the marriage, is money well spent.

Will be on a shopping spree soon. Why do I give in to him....well it is better that he lusts for me than for another woman, as simple as that.

I have gone back to work after taking a year off. It is really good to be back at work.

Many, many years ago when I was active in the conveyancing department, it was the norm that properties were sold within the region of 200-400k. Anything above that, the purchaser would be deemed a rich person.

That was many years ago. Now I am back doing conveyancing after four long years of doing something completely unrelated to it. Property prices have gone up and the purchasing power of buyers too have gone up. Just the other day, an old classmate of mine purchased a property at 1 million without even batting an eye. Every week there will be quotations for the sale and purchase of properties worth a million and above. At times it would be 2 million and above. Today, it's 9.6 million! Where the h*&% do they get that kind of money?

Luxury condos in the heart of KL which costs millions sell like hot cakes. Yet for the last 3 years, there have been no takers for our 180k condo in Bandar Manjalara. I was told by the bankers that it is much easier to sell a 2 million luxury condo situated in KLCC than a 180K condo in Bandar Manjalara, sigh.

I think I have been out of the real world for far too long. I just have to come to terms that people are more affluent these days and what is 400K? I am still recovering from the shock that a potential buyer will pay 9.6 million for a piece of property and some lucky person is about to get his hands on 9.6 million real soon.

I noticed on several occasions, upon tight scrutiny, that when I have my jeans on, I looked somehow challenged vertically. Something doesn't seem right but I can't point my finger as to what it was exactly. Whenever I wear heels, I look fine, but not with flatties.

I was at an image management seminar last year. It was really interesting as we did a comprehensive profiling on our body shape and the type of clothes that fit our body type and shape. It was so comprehensive that it spells out in detail what looks great, ok and bad for a particular body, from the sleeves, to the hemline, to the cut of jacket, pants and even the swimwear and thongs! We took measurements from the head to the toes and our measurement data were then sent over to Australia to be processed. Within a few days, my complete profile was out. I was shocked with the findings.



In the past, I was disillusioned to think that I have a well proportioned body. When I look into the mirror, quite often I am satisfied with what I see, a nice, slender body with an acceptable height.

Anyway, my profile read as follows:-

body shape : triangle (that means pear shaped body with larger hips than bust)
body type: long body, short legs

That explains why I looked short wearing certain pants or jeans. The solution to my problem, always wear heels. If my legs are 3 inches shorter than what it should be, then I have to compensate by wearing 3 inch heels to bring my body back to proportion. I also learnt that everything can be camouflaged and every flaw can be hidden or corrected (to a certain degree) with the right clothing.




As for my short legs, I thank God for stilettos.

Whenever we go back to Taiping to visit my mother-in-law, we always end up shopping at Fajar. It is a must for both James and I. Some how things over there seems cheaper, small town, small prices.... Of course we were just making excuses to shop.

I always get my bras in Taiping, it feels cheaper buying them there. This year I got some from Triumph. Now that I am more informed on the techniques of bra fitting, it made bra shopping so much easier and satisfying. At least I knew what I wanted and was not confused by the amount of bras the sales girl forced upon me. The sales girl recommended everything that was expensive. I know my cut, and I knew exactly what I wanted, so I called the shots.

When I was in the fitting room, I saw something interesting....bra fitting techniques pasted on the wall. It is always good to have your camera around. I was in the fitting room for quite a while as I was busy taking as many photos as I could but my eager husband could not wait. He kept banging on the door of the tiniest changing room. The whole make shift room was shaking and I kept hearing his thundering voice "Are you done, how is it?". Apparently he was more excited than I was.

Here are some tips just in case you have not already seen it in the fitting rooms






Rule 3: Lean forward slightly,adjust the shoulder straps to a comfortable position (straps should not "cut" into the flesh)

Dressing Jesse can be quite a task. He wants a say in what goes on his body. There are days where the boy wants to wear black shirt. Then there will be days where he wants yellow. At times he even decides on his own what pants to put on.


If Jesse could have his way....


No matter how fussy this boy can be at times, he never refuses the pyjamas we got him from the flee market at the Curve. They are the cutest that I have ever seen. It is not that I'm the expert on kids' pyjamas but I really love the colours and the prints of the pyjamas we got. It started with Uncle Jeff, he gave a pair to Jesse for his second birthday. We loved it and the boy loved it, we got him another 2 pairs. The next pair would be the ultraman print....


Piggy or bear prints


Animal prints

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Jesse came home last week with something he made from his art and craft session at kindi. It was a necklace made from pastas! It was beautiful, at least to me. It was even more beautiful as he puts it around his neck proudly to parade his very own creation.



Funny how something so simple can be so beautiful and meaningful.

Talking about beauty, I was told by a friend that adults' perception of beauty is often prejudiced and distorted by "external factors". I have a friend, Foo, he has this thing for girls with long hair. Any girl with long straight hair would be beautiful to him. And any woman, it could be a Kylie Minogue look alike, with that short hair would be yukkie to him. I used to date Richard who likes girls with really short hair, apparently that gives him the adrenaline rush, but that same beautiful girl would be appalling to Foo.

Anyway back to beauty, according to my friend Luc, babies from the age of 6 months old are the best judge of beauty as their perception of beauty is unbais and untainted by prejudicial preferences or "external factors". Wanna know if you are good looking? If a 6 months old baby stares at you longer than usual with approval, it is good news. If he yells with disgust....sorry, bad news.

Back to the pasta necklace, I am fully aware that my judgments were clouded. Anything that Jesse does would be beautiful to me. If it were made by some other kid, then it would be a different story. Some call it prejudice, I call it love.

Carol gave me a call to passed me a pack of hokkien mein which she bought for my dinner, enough to feed the family for 2 meals. I really love that woman.

Anyway we had a little chat at her dining table under a bright fluorescent light. This woman has flawless skin, I mean not a single mark on her face. She candidly told me that "I am forty something already and touch wood I don't have any eyebags or dark circle around my eyes. I don't even have laughter lines when I smile". To emphasise that fact, she put on a huge smile to show her wrinkleless complexion. What's your secret? I asked. "It is internal and external", was her answer to great skin.

Externally, the skincare products serve to cleanse, tone and moisturise the skin. However there is so much these product can do for the skin. If there is something wrong with the body or internal organs, it may show on the face". I asked her if was related to the picture I saw on her table. It was a picture of a face with a map like demarcation on different parts of the face.

I was right. She said that the chinese sinseh could tell what was wrong with a person by merely looking at the face. She said from her 15 years of experience as a beautician, the chineses sinseh's diagnoses can be quite accurate. For example if a person has pigmentation around the cheeks and after using proper skin care to rid the problem area, pigmentation still persists, the root cause may be the liver. As such to properly treat the pigmentation, use proper skincare for pigmentation and supplement it with the right nutrient for the liver. Milk Thistle is known for cleansing the liver.

I used to have millia seeds around my eyes. Lovely Carol removed them all for me. However the culprit could be bad blood circulation. As such, to combat bad blood circulation, most neutritionist would recommend Vit C and Gingko Biloba . Also according to Carol, tiny pimples on the forehead could be caused by stress or using the wrong shampoo.

Carol also gave me a tip on the proper way to take supplements. She just attended a health seminar and she learnt that for maximum results and absorption when taking supplements, take it consistently at a fixed time. Apparently the body is like a time table and at a certain fixed time every day, it will absorb the nutrients to its maximum capacity. That info was certainly something new for me. I'll give it a try to see if it holds any truth.

Some months ago I was informed by Wendy that Zara was about to have their sale. I asked Wendy to go along with me to help me shop for some working clothes and she kindly obliged. It'll make shopping much faster and easier for me if I went with an image consultant. Wendy looks impeccable at all times and her secret, always get your suits from Edmund Ser and Zara during sales. The cut is great and the prices are reasonable.

I was so looking forward to our shopping trip but she had to cancel due to some last minute appointment. I was devastated. "You got to help me, Wendy" I cried in desperation. Wendy tried to calm me down and she gave me some tips on how to get jackets and pants.

The first lesson from Wendy, the length of the pants. Always wear your working shoes when you shop for your pants. It'll be weird if the pants are too short and you will look shorter if the pants are too long, ie when they cover all the heels. The right length would be when part of the heels can be seen.


The correct length for pants


The next problem was the jacket. She was very sure that I could fit into any Zara jacket as long as it was a "S" size, and she was right. This woman is good! Zara's jackets are lovely, perfect fit and perfect cut. I paid a little bit more for the material, texture and the cut but it was worth every penny that I spent.

The next suit will definitely be from Zara again, but of course I will have to wait for their next Sale!

I got tagged some time ago by dear G on the Top 5 fav movies. Been thinking about it and I found it hard to pick only 5 favourite movies. So, like G I am going to go for movies that brings fond memories.

1. The Sound of Music and Oliver





These were the family favourites where the 3 siblings must have seen both the movies like a hundred times, ok I am exaggerating. But we can't seem to have enough of them. Maybe it's because we are musically inclined.....

2. Mr Holland's Opus



James considers me a nerd. He is quite right. When it comes to studies I can be quite anal. This movie was exceptionally sweet because I skipped class to watch it. This was my first truancy and it certainly was not the last. After tasting how sweet truancy could be, the very next week, I skipped another class for "The Rock".

3. A Night at the Roxbury



James, at that time he was dating someone else and his friend KK convinced me that it was a great movie. It stopped screening at all respectable cinemas and the only sleazy cinema that was screening it was at Pertama Complex! I couldn't go alone, as such I had to persuade my siblings to go along with me. I convinced them that it would be hilarious and that I would pay for their tickets. As I drove to Pertama Complex that evening, we passed the FRU at the KL Mosque, at that time it wasn't really safe to be in KL as it was the climax of the Anwar Ibrahim riot or protest. I convinced my siblings that it would be worth risking our lives ....

My siblings' verdict after the movie :- James is wierd and has a queer sense of humour and since I too enjoyed that movie, they considered me as strange and I certainly never heard the end of it, referring to this movie as "the Pertama Complex Movie".

4. Cider House Rules



My first movie with James.

5. Chicken Little



The first family movie, our very first movie at the cinema with Jesse.

I finally can breathe again, at least only for the next few days. Today is a beautiful quiet day, the boy is sleeping and I finally have time to blog or read my regular blog sites and to finish up 1 out of the 2 memes that I've been tagged.

Paris Beaverbanks tagged me for a meme on her blog, so here goes.

1. Who is the first blogger you meet?

Way back before I started blogging, about 2 years 7 months ago, 3 wonderful bloggers, IreneQ, Ariel and Jotay came over to see the then baby Jesse, about 3 weeks after his birth.

2. Who is the "most wanted to meet blogger" for you?

I always wondered how Wingz looks like, does he look anything like his profile photo?

3. Who is the "I can meet, want to meet but somehow never got to meet" blogger?

Not at the moment

4. Who are the group of blogers you most wanted to meet?

The superwomen I want to meet are Paris Beaverbanks, Mott, 5xmom, and Mumsgather. I have always found Ah Pek to be really hillarious, so I suppose I would like to meet him also.

5. Do you have any bloggers/blog readers that you wish to meet right now?

Right now? No... I want to be alone for a while, need my "cave".

I don't think I will be taggin anyone.

One down, one more to go, Gina, I've not forgotten yours....

Carol's car was at the workshop. I offered to give her a lift to her salon. We got to talking and she decided to give me a mini facial as a Chinese New Year gift. Yippee!

The mini facial session ended with the usual massage session and Carol said "I am going to do the digital pressure now". She had always used that term "digital pressure" which I presumed it to be the massage session but I never bothered asking her what it really was. Today I did.

Carol uses essential oils for her facials. For the oil to be fully absorbed into the skin, actually she said "all five layers of the skin" digital pressure is necessary. It involves pressing or applying pressure on certain facial points on the face. The whole procedure takes approx 15 minutes. I asked her about the benefits of "digital pressure". I was surprise to find out that our face may contain toxins from lack of sleep, stress, wrong skin care, self induced pimple extraction and digital pressure helps in removing toxin from the face. It also enhances blood circulation. She confessed that the first time I went to her for facials I had water retention on my forehead! Digital pressure removed it. By applying the correct pressure on the correct facial points, one is actually exercising the face. Some call it facial exercise and that helps in firming the face, giving it an even skin tone with a glow.

After applying digital pressure on the face, the next session is phyto drainage, basically to dispel the toxin from the body. Usually she massages at the neck and back area. The toxin will be discharged via urea or perspiration. That finally explains why I always had a fuller bladder than usual when I have my facials with Carol.

In the past I faithfully went for my facials every month as I had problems with pimples and clogged pores. My complexion improved after every facial however in two months, it would revert to its former condition, all clogged up and all bumpy. In actual fact there wasn't much improvement to my complexion at all. According to Carol, after each session of facial, the complexion should improve and not revert to its former condition. And looking back, Carol's technique worked well on my skin.

It is all about using the right products and going to the right beautician. This may not come easy and cheap for some people, it took me 17 years and a lot of money spent before I was truly satisfied with my complexion. Of course this is only externally, we haven't even begun to explore the internal factors that affect the skin!

As I was strolling along the buffet counter of medicine in my mother's home, I noticed a bottle of thick black sticky stuff similar to dark soy sauce ("hak si yau"). The label read "Organic Blackstrap Molasses". Out of curiosity, I asked my "physician" mother what it was.

Blackstrap Molasses is rich in calcium, iron and potassium. That explanation meant nothing to a layman like me. On further enquiry and in summary, the benefits of Blackstrap Molasses are as follows (women please take note):-

1. It reduces menstrual cramps
2. It reduces heavy blood flow during menstruation
3. Reduces or prevents the growth of fibrosis
4. It is anti-cancerous
5. Good for nails because of its high calcium contents
6. Gets rid of heart palpitation

A 1kg bottle of Blackstrap Molasses is priced at about RM15.00. I gave it a try, it wasn't revolting or putrid, there was just a lingering sourish taste behind my tongue. I will probably give it a go afterall its benefits outweighs its taste.

I have not taken enough to see its results and those facts were compiled based on my mother's research.

GONG XI FA CHAI to everyone.

We made our journey back to Taiping on the eve of New Year in the wee hours of the morning. My brilliant husband had made an elaborated plan concerning our journey in order to get us home without getting stuck in the jam. He slept at 9pm the night before the trip and woke up at 3am. I on the other hand had to do all the packing to ensure that the family had everything we needed for the next 3-4 days. I slept at 11.30pm and woke up at 3.30am. We left the house at 4.30am for Taiping.

Despite planning and coming up with the best route to take to avoid the crawl, we were stuck in the mother of all crawls at 4.30am. There was an accident in Rawang involving a bus. As such it took us 2 1/2 hours to get to Rawang when normally a 50km stretch would probably take us 15-20 minutes. The rest of the journey was smooth save for the congestion at the Ipoh toll.

Breakfast at Dunkin Doughnut in one of the stops

All in all we had a good time in Taiping. We didn't really have a big celebration this year as we were suppose to be still "mourning" the death of Ah Poh. When we got back to Taiping, we managed to eat the famous "kai see mein" (shredded chicken noodles) aka KSM. I find it strange that the "Taipingans" seem to love their KSM to no end and they never seem to get enough of this stuff. For example, we had "KSM" the morning before New Year . The next morning, Uncle Ricky bought KSM for breakfast. And James' doting mother made more KSM for lunch but she made enough to feed an entire village for a few more days. So everyone had KSM for breakfast, lunch and dinner. By lunch my entire bodily system was on red alert, too much KSM, need to eat something else, anything but KSM. So I stuffed myself crazy with all the chinese new year cookies and peanuts. Anything will do but please not another bowl of KSM.

Sadly all the good stalls were closed for the new year. So for the next few days we ate the worst food Taiping could offer. The good hawkers were on a well deserved holiday. Whereas the rejects were out to make a quick buck from hungry diners like us who refuse to eat at home. Anyway, the cookies at home were much better as such I stuffed myself with more cookies as the cousins festered in front of the idiot box for a whole 8 hours for our "Heroes' marathon. It was a great series.... save the cheerleader!

The cousins festering in front of the TV eating CNY cookies

Jesse and Baby

We got back last night. It was a long journey. We were stuck in another jam, but it was a great trip nonetheless.

I just came from the doctor's. I discovered this morning that had I lost my voice. In my attempt to avoid KSM, I stuffed myself with too much cookies and peanuts and this my friends have cost me my voice.

Today is Valentine's day. I am one of the few who have difficulties remembering auspicious occasions. Heck I even forget my own birthday until I receive birthday wishes via sms from family and friends.

I remember when I was still dating James, I put off getting his gift until the very last minute, the night before Valentine's. I rushed off to One Utama that evening. I ran out of cash and was the ATM machine. I went into the air conditioned booth and when I was about to retrieve my cash, I felt someone hugging me from behind. I was startled and my instinct told me to deliver my kungfu tiger fist onto the deranged pervert. Quick as lightning I turned and when I was about to deliver the deadliest blow mankind has ever tasted, it was James. Thank God my reflexes were quick as lightning, it could have been a fatal blow if I hadn't stop on time.

What are the chances that he should catch me buying him a last minute gift? And to make things more embarrassing, I made up a lame ass excuse why I couldn't meet up with him that night.

Anyway he was there to get me a last minute present as well. That was seven years ago. Today, we are cool. We do not fuss over presents, flowers and dinners. Just a quiet night alone together watching DVD without any interruptions would be good enough for us.

This year James got me something big, which I will blog about another time:)

A symmetrical face

Last week was an interesting week. My friend Sally was back from Australia. Despite our age gap, we enjoy hanging out together. We had one thing in common, we are both vain and we would pay the price or suffer the pain for the sake of vanity.

Sally had always wanted a set of full lips like that of Angelina Jolie's. She didn't believe in injecting some foreign substance into the body but had not qualms about cuts, stitches and pain. As such collagen was out of the question. She opted for lip embroidery. Sally was to an extent able to choose the shape of her desired lips which she had coveted for such a long time.

We made an appointment with Ms Tang at Metro Prima at Kepong. Ms Tang and her sister are trained "surgeons" from China who had performed thousands of "minor cosmetic surgeries" for more than a decade. Both Sally and I were hopeless at Mandarin and both the sisters could only converse in Mandarin. Still, that didn't stop us from our pursuit for beauty.

Sally knew exactly what she wanted. She had pictures of Amber, Angelina and Gong Li ready for Ms Tang. However, Ms Tang couldn't give her Amber nor Angelina's lips. There are some factors that had to be considered, the original shape of her lips and facial structure. As such, she could only give her slightly fuller and thicker lips.

Couldn't keep my eyes off this picture


Amazing, you can choose the eyes and lips that you desire

My personal favourite - Arousing

Check out the English. I think it is a direct translation from Mandarin

First Ms Tang drew the outline of the lips for Sally's approval. After many corrections and half and hour of chicken and duck talk trying to convince Ms Tang that thick lips are now fashionable and not abominable, the next step was to choose the colour to be tattooed on the lips. Fortunately Sally chose a light colour.

Ms Tang took out her "tattooing pen" and she started inflicting pain for a whole hour on Sally's lips. For the sake of beauty, Sally withstood every prick from the needle that fell onto her lips. She had an option, to either take 4 jabs of anesthetic around the lips, a painless process but her lips will swell up for a few hours or just opt for numbing liquid. Since she had a business presentation in 2 hours, she opted for more pain less swell.

Tattooing in progress

I was with Sally throughout the whole process. I was contemplating whether I should get my lips done. I saw every gory detail. Asked as many questions I could with my limited Mandarin. Saw the end result of my friends ordeal. Ms Tang assured me that I would look lovely with light pinkish lips as I had pale skin and didn't have much pigmentation on my lips. The cost of lip embroidery is RM1,000.00 which includes touch ups.

There are alot of things I would do for the sake of vanity, but I think I will pass on this one.

Look at those eyes....

We did some New Year shopping at Metrojaya last Sunday. We had a great time shopping, just the three of us, Jesse, daddy and mommy.

There were some really cool shoes for little boys at Metro. Usually we have problems getting Jesse to try any shoes but this time he cooperated with us. He tried on most of the shoes, actually only the ones that he liked. They didn't have Jesse's feet size for the ones that we really liked so we grabbed whatever that was available. As I was queueing up to pay for the shoes, James walked Jesse over to the toys section. It wasn't a long queue, it was just my luck to have a really slow cashier on duty that day. I was bored to tears. Thank God for small distractions, the aunty infront of me had really beautiful hair, her hair stylist did a great job perming her hair. As I was admiring her great hair and analysing every detail of it, James came back with Jesse with a new addition, which would eventually be the new addition to the family.

According to James, Jesse fell in love with the toy instantaneously. Usually Jesse doesn't make a fuss when it comes to soft toys, he merely hugs and kisses the toys that he likes and walks away. But not for this puppy, whose name was supposed to be RAVI (the name came with the tag). Anyway Jesse couldn't resist RAVI, he was mesmerised by the dog, somehow. We caved in and RAVI became the newest addition to the Tan family.

Jesse and his new friend, Ravi


It is all in the eyes, I tell you. Look at RAVI'S over sized pupils or some will say cute puppy dog eyes. There is power in that pair of eyes, the ones that had a grip on Jesse which caused him to go "Ehhhhhhhhh" when taken from him and made countless passerby stare at our boy sleeping in the stroller with his beloved RAVI. I think they were hypnotised by those eyes.

Remember this fella and what he did after giving "that loook"

Back to the eyes, I posted about the power of the eyes and how a woman can get a man to think that he is in love with her by just gazing at him. Apparently his heart will go "bedeboop" "bedeboop" if the woman looks and flirts with him with the eyes. Never knew how powerful those eyes were until I met RAVI.

I knew an English couple, Sarah and Robert, who were seconded to Malaysia for 2 years. Their daughter, Charlotte was 5 and took a school bus to kindi. Sarah found Malaysians to be extremely polite people, they often refer to anyone and everyone as uncles or aunties. They found it even more amusing that Charlotte had picked up that habit from her friends. Even if she didn't know the name of the aunty or uncle, it didn't matter, every uncle and aunty had a special name. Thus the bus driver was officially named "uncle bus" by Charlotte and her friends. We had a good laugh, but as I recalled back, all the 4 designated school bus drivers who ferried me and my siblings throughout our 12 years of schooling were either called uncle bus or aunty bus.

Parents at Jesse's kindi had to pick their kids up in an orderly manner. We had to queue up outside the kindi. Everyday when I wait for Jesse in the queue I meet two aunties who were the designated drivers for some of the children at the kindi. The first aunty drove a Toyota Unser and she had 16 kids under her care. Imagine all 16 kids in a van. It was really amusing watching the kids get in. They just keep hopping into the van of unlimited space which reminded me of a tv commercial for Toyota Unser sometime ago where they showed the "forty vertically challenged thieves" getting into the unser in a similar manner as the kids. Indeed the Unser is great for space.

Both the aunty unser and friend had brownish yellow hair. They have kept up with the trend of having their hair coloured and bleached. Similarly, some decades ago, they must have kept up with the trend then and had their brows and eyeliner tattooed black and that event must have slipped their minds when they coloured their hair recently. The tattooing must have happened some decades ago. Today they have grayish black eyebrows and eyeliner (the black must have faded of) with light brown hair. Not good. It was quite excruciating looking at the pair of aunties everyday under the hot sun. Somehow under the bright natural sunlight, every colour and flaw seemed accentuated.

According to a professional makeup artist, she pointed out that the colour of the brows had to match the colour of the hair. As such black hair, darker or black brows; brown hair, brownish brows. I never saw the importance of such colour coordination until I saw how ghastly aunty unser and friend looked in their trendy new hair colour.

Chinese New Year is around the corner and I know many of my Cantonese (Canto) speaking friends who are itching to do something new and drastic to the hair. Just yesterday two of my canto friends, with great enthusiasm and in anticipation of the New Year coloured their hair brownish yellow, it did look very stark with their black brows. SO do be careful if you intend to colour your hair for the New Year, choose wisely.

I wish they were my natural lashes; they are extensions


I have small eyes and have always wanted larger eyes. I am always looking for ways on how to enhance or enlarge the eyes. From experiments and trial and errors, I realised that with proper makeup and some other "little enhancements", any person can have beautiful eyes or at least have better looking and more attractive eyes.

Mascaras could help create longer, darker and thicker lashes. According to a make-up artist, she told me that mascara helps to "open up" your eyes, I think what she meant was that it makes the eyes look bigger. However I dread cleaning the mascara off the lashes at the end of the day, in particular waterproof mascara. Seeing my lashes fall off after each washing was heartbreaking.

I hardly use mascara these days (trying to preserve whatever lashes I have left) as such, I opt of fakes or extensions. Just a quick tip for mascara lovers, curling lashes gives eyes the appearance of being wider & brighter. Shoot hot air from your hair dryer on the mascara curler for 3-5 seconds to warm it up before curling lashes. Touch it first to make sure it's not TOO hot. Shu Uemura makes the most popular eyelash curler on the market. I saw my makeup artist for my wedding photos do that and it does wonders for the eyes and lashes.

Winnie, of Splendour De Beauty usually gives me a call when there are offers at her salon. This time, the eyelash extensions are going for RM88 until Chinese New Year. I made an appointment to see her. I've done eyelash extensions last year at Body Perfect (the place where "Gutsy Girl" got her entire slimming course sponsored) and they were beautiful. But beauty came with a price, RM150, and that was the offer price! Normally it would be priced at about RM300! I was looking for something more reasonable so I decided to go with Winnie this time.

Winnie painstakingly stuck each synthetic lash onto my original eyelashes and since, according to her, I had quite a lot of them it took her nearly 2 1/2 hours to complete. Occasionally I dozed off, my body just couldn't resist the calm and soothing music of the waves and nature. Every pain and ache in my body due to lack of bodily movement for the whole 2 1/2 hours was worth it. I was pleased with the results. The eyelashes looked really natural, naturally long which I love.

Synthetic lashes that was glued to my original lashes


Some of the equipment Winnie used





The glue

I've had them on for 2 weeks since and they still look beautiful. Most of them still holding on strong and still in good shape. I was told by Winnie that it will last for a month if I take care of them, that means no excessive rubbing of the eyes.

I am sure they will not last till Valentines or Chinese New Year. I may go back for touch ups next month, it costs only approximately RM40 for her to replace fallen synthetic lash.

Valentines' coming up soon and what better way to look fabulous with "almost" naturally long and beautiful eyelashes. The lashes are so discreetly good looking and trust me, the men will not even realise what hit them unless they have read this post!

Side profile


Front profile

For those interested call Winnie at 77103036. Her salon is at 26M Jln SS21/58, Damansara Utama. Just let her know that I recommended you, she'll know what to do.

Despite having quite a bad memory, I still could remember the first seminar on Image Management I attended 7 years ago. It was conducted by Dennis something something, an image consultant from New Zealand.

I always had an interest in beauty and image and I suppose that is the reason why and how I could remember some of things Dennis said. There are 4 things I remember from this class.

1. Round, round. Square, square.

If you have a round face, wear a round spectacle. Similarly for people with a square face, a squarish shaped spectacle would be more suitable. Dennis belongs to the first school of thought.
However, according to Wendy, who belongs to the other school, felt that round and round is abit over, as such she would recommend a slightly squarish spectacles for a person with round face and a more oval specs for a person with squarish face.

2. Invest in a few pairs of good shoes, preferably made from genuine leather.

Dennis quoted Dr Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lamb. It was Clarice Starling's first interview, and Hannibal sizes up Clarice and said these famous lines "You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste".

Incidentally this seminar was organized by my ex boss. This man really needs a total makeover. He was an asian scholar and is known to be a brilliant man amongst his peers but when it comes to decent dressing, this guy needs to go back to kindergarten. Even Jesse knows how to choose his own clothes and protested vehemently when he was forced to put on his kindi uniform. Back to my ex-boss, he had a pair of black shoes. He wore them daily to the office. It would have been a respectable pair of black shoes save for the fact that he destroyed it with sheer laziness and with his own two feet. Instead of wearing them a shoes, he slips them on like a pair of flip flops and that was the exact sound we heard when he walked around the office "flip flop, flip flop".

After the seminar he bought something to replace the junk. I would have expected him to get at least one good pair from Bally, since he was the boss or maybe something more modest from Bonia, but he got himself a pair of black cowboy boots accessorised with something like silver spurs at the sides. Instead of "flip flop" it was now "cling clang".

Jesse's new uniform...you can't blame Jesse, can you?

3. Proper dining etiquette. Always bring the food to your mouth and never bend down to your food.

I told James about this new piece of information. One lovely evening at a fancy restaurant, with great enthusiasm, we sat at the dinner table brimming with poise and grace and we were all set to put our newly acquired dinning etiquette to practice, we failed miserably. We had soup and food remnants spilling onto our clothes and most of which missed our mouths by just a few inches. Results were dirty chins and shirts and even dirtier napkins.

4. Try to play down your looks especially when you are beautiful.

Dennis said people tend not to take a beautiful woman seriously. She advised all beautiful woman to look more “ah soh” like buning or tying up the hair, wear less make up or maybe wear a pair of spectacles.

Looking back, it was indeed an interesting and informative seminar. Surprisingly it was well attended by many company directors and top executives who needed an entire day of lesson on how to look presentable.

I hate coughs. I used to think having a sore throat is the worst among the "flu" package, until I caught this bout of cough from James. It is really bad, I've been coughing for over a week. I took the doctor's medication, it got worse. I can hardly talk. Even taking a deep breath irritates the throat resulting in a horrible outburst of lengthy chesty coughs and yes, my chest hurts too.

Anyway, I took some advise from Kelvin who have had some bad coughing experiences like the "100-day cough" and the "oldman or smoker's cough". He recommended me to get some really good homemade "Pei Pah Ko" from Fook Cheong Sea Foods & Medical Trading from Centre Point, Bandar Utama. I got a bottle for RM22. The normal ones like "Ubat Batuk Cap Ibu & Anak" are much cheaper, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that Kelvin is right.

Also I asked for "Lam Hang Pak Hang" to go with the "Pei Pah Ko". I think I got slaughtered there. One serving costs me RM20. This is my first time buying chinese medication from a medical hall and I am totally clueless when it comes to the prices of dried sea horses, dried rhino horns, dried frogs, ginsengs and etc...

Also the "sifu" advised me to lay off chicken (all forms including eggs), bananas, oranges and ice. I've got a confession to make, the reason why the cough has been lingering for such a long time is due to my love for chewing ice. Looks like sacrifices have to be made now before I get an infection (that's when the phlegm turns greenish).

In the meantime, I'll stay in doors and keep the germs to myself lest I start infecting some unsuspecting innocent person.

We live in a condominium. Despite sharing a piece of 3 acre land with 300 over residence, I hardly socialise with the aunties at the lift lobby. Every morning and evening most of the aunties and their children / grandchildren will congregate and loiter at the lobby to fish for the latest piece of gossip. The main reason I refrain from the pack stems from the fact that I am not fluent in Cantonese and I am very self conscious of my handicap. The more I talk the more likely I will end up being served as tonight's special for their gossip session.

There are many new parents in Block C, the block where I live in. Mothers are a competitive lot when it comes to their children at this condo, in particular this "Kia su" aunty staying on the 5th floor. When Jesse and I first met her at the lobby, her son was 3 months old and Jesse was about a year older than the baby. We exchanged our usual hellos. I remembered our very first conversation. She asked what milk powder Jesse was taking, I told her that Jesse takes Mamil Gold. She proudly offered me a piece of unsolicited information, that her boy was taking a higher grade of imported milk formula, Enfalac A+. Apparently babies who drink Enfalac A+ will turn out to be larger, healthier geniuses, unlike our puny and daft little kid whose dead beat parents could only afford to get him Dumex. Parents like us were frown upon by the likes of herself.

My next conversation with this kia su aunty was when her genius in the making son was close to 9 months old. To my surprise he was much larger than Jesse in size and height. She asked how old Jesse was, and was delighted to learn that her son was growing faster than our vertically and horizontally challenged boy.

Our son is a late bloomer. He walked and talked later than most kids at our condo. Parents often blew their trumpets loud and clear, telling us what their boy or girl could say or do, but Jesse's parents could only reply "our boy cannot talk yet". Some kids could do their spelling bee by the age of 2 and the proud parents demonstrated their kid's spelling prowess and skills to our confused little Jesse and his embarrassed parents. What Jesse could do, other parents, in their competitive spirits proudly claim "mine also can" PLUS additional stunts which often left us flabbergasted.

I thank God for good parenting books and pediatrician who dispenses sound advise to anxious parents like us, constantly assuring us that our son is developing normally. Whilst we were a little worried at our son's progress, we didn't want to put undue pressure on the poor child to perform like a circus clown to each and every parent we meet.

We have learnt not to be too competitive or "kia su", there are so many more things which are important to a child's development besides education. Jesse will learn how to catch butterflies, fly a kite, ride a bicycle, climb grandma's rambutan tree and most of all enjoy his childhood while he is able to before his parents succumb to the surmounting pressures of today's society.

Flirt and seduce with your eyes


I was at the dentist on a hot Monday afternoon. Since it was going to be a long wait I took up this month's issue of Her World and read an article on "Science of seduction". As I read this article I began to reminisce about those carefree days when I was in my twenties. No worries, no commitments, not a single care in the world. Those were the days and gone were the days where I could flirt, date and seduce to my heart's content.

The art of flirting is all in the eyes. According to the author of the article, a Harvard psychologist discovered couples who are deeply in love look at each other 75% of the time when talking. To seduce your man, gaze at him, he wrote. In that way the woman would be able to trick the man's brain into thinking he's in love with her. Apparently that will kick-start the production of phenylethylamine (PEA, the love hormone that makes the heart race). This is just too easy, either that or men are just gullible creatures.

Women are advised to lock eyes with the man even when someone else joins the conversation or when he is done talking. When the woman looks away, she should do it slowly but her eyes should return to her target. In that way, even the blurrest man would know that he is her object of interest. That could again flood his body with PEA.

Research has shown that men are more attracted to women with larger pupils. To enlarge your pupils, you can create the right environment or conditions to control the size of the pupils. Dim or soft lighting enlarges the pupils. Interestingly the pupils enlarge when we are looking at something we like. It would help if the woman can think of something she likes best about her "target".

Hope the above information extracted from "Her World" would be helpful to anyone with a "target" and with such potent information at one's disposal, it'll be bullseyes. Even the most reluctant one will fall prey to his predator.

Just a couple of days ago I was on a "vanity project" hunt. I hopped into Splendour De Beauty at Damansara Uptown for some consultation on eyelash extensions (which I will eventually blog about). On the way up the stairs, I noticed a banner on an instant miracle for cracked heels.

I made some inquiries (and gave the product a try on my heels) and I am glad to announce that I've found a cheaper alternative for those who are keen on getting their cracked heels dilemma sorted out. While I was getting my lashes extended (ahem, yes I succumbed) I gave the new product a try on my heels. The process is quite similar to Peggy's Dr SoHo. Immediate improvement can been seen after one session, smooth, soft and pinkish skin in 1 hour. Winne, the owner of Splendour De Beauty uses Silk Factor by Tsuya Tsuya for her cracked heels treatment. Each treatment costs RM48. The prices of Silk Factor's home care products are surprisingly reasonable, especially after seeing its rather impressive performance. Callus Removing Patch (6 pieces), Foot Cream and Green Tea Scrub costs less than RM50.

For best results, try a session with Winnie, if you are satisfied with the results and her massage "kungfu" you can either sign a package with her (buy 5 session, get 1 session free) or get the home care products and start your own maintenance programme in the comfort of your own home. It does require some discipline, but it pays, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your heels being restored day by day. I would say, all in all, this is indeed a "good buy".

Dr SoHo Set for Cracked Heels


Miracles hardly happen to me. Yesterday it did in the strangest way...

There was one part of my body that I have neglected. It had been so neglected that it looked like a prune, wrinkly, hard and dry. I suffered from serious cracked heels.

I have had cracked heels for as long as I could remember and I never did anything about it, simply because the foot is situated at an obscure place where it hardly gets noticed. It didn't help that I love heels, the higher the better. I was told by some people that wearing heels and rubber slippers may aggravate it.

Last week, I gathered enough courage to inspect the condition of my heels and I was truly repulsed by its sorry state of neglect and abuse. I just didn't know what else to conjure up anymore, in the past I tried soaking my feet in warm water, scrubbing it and applying cracked heels lotion advertised on tv but nothing seemed to work.

To add to my misery, at times the skin gets flaky, and other times, dirt residue very often gets trapped between the crevices making me look like a dirty person with no sense of hygiene, sigh.

Before treatment


That's one ugly foot

I decided enough was enough and it was time to take some serious actions. So the next day, in exasperation and desperation, I sought professional help at Peggy Nail Beauty Centre near my condo. Peggy was a very nice bubbly girl in her mid twenties. I asked if she had any treatment for cracked heels. I was in luck. They just brought in a new product from Singapore, Dr SoHo Feet for cracked heels. I asked how many treatments I needed to undergo and but she needed to examine my feet first. This was the part I dreaded most, exposing "it" to a stranger not knowing how she would react. My pruny feet must have shocked her and she inquired if it had been in this state for a long time. I admitted to the years of abuse and neglect like a guilty convict.

She ushered me to the feet treatment area. First she soaked my feet in luke warm water and that followed by application of Dr SoHo's callus remover with cotton wool to remove the dead skin. With the cotton wool pressed against my feet, she wrapped both my feet with plastic for 20 minutes.


Peggy wrapping my foot with plastic



After 20 minutes she scraped away the callus using a spatula. A gargantuan amount of dirt and dead skin came off the feet with the rigorous scrapping. Eww it was truly disgusting looking at thirty four years of accumulated dead skin removed from the feet. Later she filed my feet with a huge feet filer.

Peggy using spatula to scrap away the callus

Dead skin cells

Peggy filing my foot

All the dead skin Peggy scrapped from my left foot!

The next step was to scrub the feet with Dr SoHo's Skin Soften Gel. Finally Peggy massaged my feet with the Repair Lotion.

"Got improvement or not?" Peggy asked as she lifted my feet to reveal the transformation to the guilty yet anxious foot abuser. At that moment I felt like I was in the reality show "the Swan" during the big reveal when the anxious multiple surgery ridden participant awaits the lifting of the curtain for a peek at herself in the mirror. I cried, hugged, kissed and thanked Peggy repeatedly when I beheld in awe the all new smooth, subtle and soft feet.. I was exaggerating lah. I just said "Wah very nice already, thanks". I was indeed amazed by the results achieved in just one session and they looked like a pair of brand new feet.

After treatment

Not perfect yet but immediate improvement just after one treatment

After second treatment. The cracks are almost gone!

Peggy wanted me to go for another 2 sessions of treatment before my heavily abused feet could return to its former glory. This may not be a big miracle to many but it was to me that I could finally have beautiful, smooth feet in exactly 3 weeks.