My Beauty Regime.

I have been receiving compliments about my complexion lately. Trust me, I had my fair share of skin problems few years back. I used to have white heads, black heads and pimples all over my face. There was once I had severe skin sensitive, my face became reddish and white bumps filled with puss conquered all over my face! It was so itchy and painful because it was inflamed! It was then I started going for facials and invest in high end skincare products. Now I live by the mantra, "Cheap no good, good no cheap".

I would say my sister played a big part influencing me about skincare. She told me to start using anti-ageing products earlier, better to prevent than cure! She started using anti-ageing products in her early twenties!

Now I managed to maintain my skin condition, with the occasional pimples. My skin still tend to get oily by mid day. But thank goodness I have no sign of wrinkles and fine lines *touchwood*. There are only 1-2 tiny brown spots on my cheek.

So here is my skincare regime that helps to maintain my skin condition.

DAY TIME

My skin is considered oily and living in such humid country, I prefer to put lesser skincare products during the day to avoid my skin from looking like a frying wok.

Some people skip this step. They said they already wash their face, what's the point of toning. Trust me, toner makes a lot of difference. Just tone!

I can't live without this product. If they decide to discontinue this, I think I shall discontinue myself from living as well. This product helps to control my white heads, black heads and all the imperfection. This works wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than many many many many many many other high end brands that swear to control oil secretion. I swear by this product!

Even oily skin needs moisturizing. Just opt for a lightweight moisturiser like gel.

At my age now, eye care is very crucial! It's either you make it or break it by the time you hit 30!

Living at such hot country where the sun shines bright like a diamond, UV ray plays a huge part at skin darkening and aging. You won't see it now, but few years down the road you will see brown spots, wrinkles, fine lines and uneven skin tone, all thanks to the sun! So shield it like it's your precious!

NIGHT TIME

At night, it is when your skin rejuvenates itself and your cell renewal is at the most active period too. It is vital to apply all the necessities before you sleep so your skin can drink up all the nutrients while you sleep. Sleeping in air conditioned room, I opt for heavier skincare product.

Same, tone tone and tone.

Applying a pre essence boosts everything you apply afterwards by triple!

I put on this for the sake of finishing it. I seriously don't think it does any difference to my skin.

Like the rest of your face, your eyes need the TLC too. Your face deserves some serum, so are your lovely eyes!

I apply both of this together, they are called SUPER SERUM when combined together. A pump of each and mix well together before applying all over the face. I tend to skip moisturizer if I put these 2 serums.

If I skip the super serum, I will apply anti-ageing moisturiser.

Of course, eye care! I use the same eye care I put during the day.

If I have pimples, spots or pimple scars, I will apply these little helpers.

Pffftttt.....! Imagine I need to slap almost 10 products on my skin every night!!!! It's so tiring to be a woman!

Me Before You.

I picked up this book a few times when I was browsing in bookstores but it didn't dawn upon me to purchase it even after reading the synopsis. It was either the cover didn't appeal to me or the synopsis seemed rather uninteresting. Recently I saw Reese Witherspoon posted a photo of her reading this particular book in her Instagram and she said she might cry reading it. So I thought, if it can make an Oscar winning actress cry, it must be a good book. So I purchased it.

Here is the synopsis. The synopsis from the book did not do any justice to the book, so I took one of the review from the reader in goodreads.com instead.

Will Traynor lost everything in an accident, but worst of all, he lost the chance to live normally for the rest of his life. Because of it, he lost the will to live. Until the day Louisa Clark appeared in his life as his care taker for six months. At first, they argue a lot. Will doesn't think Lou can handle being his care taker for that period of time, but Lou is not a person who easily gives up. And after a while, when Will realizes he cannot push her away like he did to everyone else, he accepts Lou for what she is. A kind person who through time reached to him and showed him that not everything is dark - that there are still choices and that life is worth living. It is about two families and how they deal with what life has dealt them. It is about choices and being allowed to choose. It's about being alive but not living. Lou had the body but she didn't have the strength to crawl out of her shell and live. She couldn't get out of her comfort zone and feared life. Will passed his love for life on to her and she used her body to help him live his.

Allow me to express my thoughts.

This is not any typical sappy and corny love story about boy meets girl, fall in love, break up yada yada. It's about the sacrifices of love and choices in life. When you finish this book, you will not just put it aside or back on the shelf and go on with your daily routine. When you finish this book, you will close the book but still remain it in your hands, look ahead of you and start letting the story sink into you and makes you wonder about the fragility of life. This story is going to stay in you for quite some time.

While reading the book, it made me looking like this....

After I've finished it, it made me looked like this!

I'm serious, I really looked like that when I read the ending. It was so unexpected and made me wondered for days....Why? Why did he made that choice? Love is not enough? And after letting it sunk in, I finally realized....

You have to live life, not just being alive.

There was a part where Will Traynor got a tattoo with Louisa Clark. He tattooed "Best before 19 March 2007". It was so heartbreaking T________T The date was the day he became a disabled in the accident. A simple tattoo like that carried such heavy and heart wrenching agony in a man who has given up hope in life.

There were also a few words of wisdom that I found unforgettable.

“I will never, ever regret the things I've done.

Because most days, all you have are places

 in your memory that you can go to.”

The letter Will Traynor wrote to Louisa Clark in the ending made me cried like shit on the bed. This is like Chicken Soup for the Soul in one full story. The story touched me emotionally and mentally, I even teared up while listening to some sad songs at work the next day WTF!!!! If the previous books gave me a book hangover, this book gave me a bloody book poisoning!

I'm running out of words to describe my feelings, you just need to read! I can't wait for them to adapt it into a motion movie! I'm going to watch it with a box of tissue and prepare the next day for MC from work because I'll be having a massive flu!

As of now, I'm going to live everyday on behalf of Will Traynor T_______T

Here's my verdict:

The wrong perception of marriage (from my point of view).

After getting married for nearly a year (I know, it seems like just yesterday! ), the next dreading question will be..."When are you having kids?". I usually wave away the question with a simple answer, "later, not now". And I got a very wrong feedback from those who asked, "So why did you get married if you don't want to have kids now?"

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Get your facts straight please. Marriage and kids are totally 2 different agenda. Because people always rush into parenthood right after marriage, that's why we have so many divorces! They don't even have time to enjoy their moment as husband and wife and get to know each other (unless you guys have been together for a decade, I guess you know each others inside out pretty clearly). If not, what's the hurry?

Marriage is just like any other phases in a relationship. First, you fall in love and you enjoy the courtship phase. Then you commit to each other and enjoy the relationship phase. If things work out, you devote your love to each other forever and enjoy marriage phase. After that when you are ready, you start a family with the love of your life and enjoy parenthood phase! Life is all about slowing down, smell the roses along the way and enjoy every moment. You don't go rush into things like your eggs are expiring soon. Quickly fall in love, get married after a few months together and make babies the next day. Few years down the road you're going to have a house full with kids running around (or maybe you don't even have a house of your own because you were in a rush to reproduce) and you're going to look at the man snoring next to you wondering, "What the hell just happened to your life?"

So hold your horses and stop asking me the same question. I got married not because I'm in a hurry to make babies. Marriage is a life long devotion to your partner in which you said "I do" solely because you just want to spend your life with the love of your life. Not because you think it's time to reproduce therefore you put that ring on her/his finger. If your partner said so, that just proves how desperate he/she to have babies more than having you. Can you imagine your other half propose to you because he wants to knock you up to extend his family tree? I will knock his head out and give 2 chicken eggs for him to fertilize instead! So does he really loves you or your ovaries? Something you should ponder upon.

I am now enjoying life with my husband, just the 2 of us (note: at the mean time). I fully intend to fulfill all my wishes before I hit 30, going to all the places I want to go and owning a house of my own (note: together with my husband, that's the reason we got married, doing things together as a married couple). Don't tell me I can fulfill my wishes after I give birth! By then I either need all the money to pay for the never ending school fees or I don't have the energy anymore because I'll be old and out of youthful energy to run around and camwhore!

Soon after 30 when I already have everything achieved, I will settle down and have little pitter patter in my house, which I take time before getting pregnant to nestle and prepare as a warm and loving home for my child.

That's my plan. Harap maklum, sekian terima kasih. 

The Providence Trilogy.

Since Jamie's McGuire's Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster gave me a good hangover, I researched about this author and found out she penned another book, Providence. And it's a trilogy! I couldn't find the book in the local bookstores, so I downloaded them and read with my ePub app instead. How I love the technology these days. Though reading from a gadget feels awfully different from holding a book itself.

It's a thriller/fantasy/romance genre kind a book. I found the synopsis quite interesting. But I was glad that I did not purchase the book from Amazon. It was a let down.

Synopsis from the book:

Book #1 Providence
Struggling with her father's death, Nina meets Jared Ryel, presumably by chance. However it soon becomes clear that he knows more about her than even close friends. When her father's former associates begin following her in the dark, Nina learns that her father was not the man she thought he was, but a thief who stole from demons. In searching for the truth behind her father's death, she stumbles upon something she never expected, and something Hell wants, that only she holds the key for. Jared risks everything to keep the women he was born to save, by sharing the secret he was sworn to protect.

Book #2 Requiem
Still healing from her last run-in with Hell, Nina struggles with not only her life as a Brown University student, but also as an intern at Titan Shipping, her father's company. Recurring nightmares about her father's violent death have become a nightly event, but being overwhelmed with guilt from Ryan's unexpected departure to the Armed Forces, and heart ache over Claire being across the ocean to protect him, Nina believes her sleepless nights are the least of her problems—but she's wrong.

Worried about Nina's declining health, Jared must steal back Shax's book for answers. Fighting new enemies, and with the help of new friends, Jared's worst fear comes to fruition. Desperate, he is faced with a choice: Fight Hell alone, or start a war with Heaven.

Book #3 Eden
She had seen the unspeakable. She would learn the unknowable. Now, she would fight the invincible. In the third and final installment of the Providence series, Nina Grey will marry the wrong man, carry the child that was never supposed to be born, and fight a war she can't win. Faced with the impossible task of protecting his new wife and unborn child against the throes of Hell, Jared Ryel is allowed no mistakes. Pressured to return the Naissance de Demoniac to Jerusalem, he revisits St. Ann's to learn the answers were in front of him all along. Together, they must survive long enough to let their child save them - and the world.

The first book was alright. When I started the second installment, the story started to dread into a boring plot. My head felt heavy every time I had to digest the facts, it felt like I was reading a bible (the story is in fact about angels and Gods). So dreading that by the third installment, I felt like reading it just to finish up what I started. Mind you, I already could guess what was the ending.

It was so predictable. It was just like another Twilight wannabe, instead of human+vampire+werewolves love story, this was human+angels+demons. The first book was about how they fell in love, the second book was about them getting married and the third book was about the baby. Why does all the trilogy romance novels have to have the same sequence? Same goes to Fifty Shades of Grey!!! SO EXPECTED! Be creative! Surprise the readers!

But this story has a difference of it's own, comparing to other romance trilogies. I hated the main character. Seriously. If this is the intention of Jamie McGuire, I think she has succeeded. The lead female character, Nina Grey was a spoiled brat, so full of herself and most of all, freaking weak. I can't remember how many times she cried in the whole trilogy. All she did was indulge in self pity. She only thought about herself all the time and caused troubles in the end, which was picked up by non other than the boyfriend. For instance, she wanted to have sex with the boyfriend so she could forget about her miserable life, when her boyfriend refused, she cried and cried and cried until he gave in. And guess what, she got pregnant =___= In another scenario, everyone was trapped in a cave to wait for her to give birth, she threw a tantrum and wanted to get out and complained that she had a choice, she didn't want to be in the hellhole (HELLO! Like everyone else were obliged to stuck in there for months! They were stuck there because of you! You were the last person to have the rights to complain!) and so she ran off selfishly and caused the death of her friend.

There were so many times I wanted to jump into the book and slap the shit out of her. Your life is miserable, so get over it! Stop crying and grow some guts, you whiny weak troublemaker bitch! UUURRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

I didn't even bother reading some parts and just jumped to the end where they lived happily ever after. The end, yay!!!!!

Here's my verdict:

Beautiful Walking Disaster.

Do not judge a book by it's cover. Something might appeal a certain way to you, but the fact is if you get to know and understand it, it might turn out to be different from what you expected.

That is exactly the problem I'm having. I used to have people thinking that I'm a cool and arrogant person because when I do not smile, I kinda look cocky. But seriously, I can't wear my smile 24/7 wherever I go. I'm going to have laugh lines around my mouth. And blame my mother for giving me a non-cheery and non-sunshiny face when I ain't smiling. But when people get to know me, they realized that I'm a very funny person and I occasionally make a fool out of myself too.

Lately, I face another problem. People think I'm a bimbo =___= The other day Shaowen was asking me about pasting YouTube link in Facebook without the link appearing in the status. When I enlightened her, she said she didn't know I'm that smart, she had the wrong impression of me.

......... *cricket sound*

I might go gaga when I see bags and shoes more than the political issues. I might have more pink stuff than my niece. I might take time to doll up myself looking pretty and presentable. I might have my husband doing things for me. But that doesn't justify that I'm a bimbo! I think a lot and I think deep! My friends come to me for advice! And I'm the pillar of strength in my family! God forsaken this word to be concluded upon me! *kneel and cry with hands up in the air*

That goes the same when I told people I have read 5 books in a month. Their reaction was like as though they just saw Jesus came back to life. They said I don't look like a person who read. So how does a person who read looks like?

Like this?!

Stop being so judgmental!

If the book is interesting, I only need 3 days to complete it. I used to love horror novels back in high school. I had a whole shelve of books varying from the whole complete set of "True Singapore Ghost Stories" to "Goosebumps" collection. After I left for college, I only read a few chic lit novels and stopped until recently, I started to dwell in romance novels. I don't like to watch romance movies, maybe because the lead actor and actress sometimes can't deliver that chemistry to me. But in books, I have full control with my brain. And maybe because I'm married and have a stable love life, so I can only look for some love drama in novels.

This post is supposed to be a book review, but I have gone way past 50% of the blog post and I still haven't start reviewing =_____=

WALKING DISASTER / BEAUTIFUL DISASTER

Let me start with my favorite, Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire. It's a story about a fighter in illegal underground fighting arena with tattoos all over his body and a well known bad boy in college. But he fell hopelessly in love with a decent girl who was the total opposite of all the girls he had gone after. The story focused on how he tried to win her heart and all the heartbreaks that came along. It's a perfect book for hopeless in love.

Synopsis from the book:

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand. 

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

Do you know what is a book hangover?

Definition: When you've finished a book and you suddenly return to the real world, but the real world feels incomplete or surreal because you're still living in the world of the book.

I had it bad. So bad I had to buy the other version. The book also came in another version called Beautiful Disaster. It tells the story from the girl's point of view. Walking Disaster was the guy's point of view. Yes, same story line, just different perspective. It was so good I didn't mind reading the same story again on how crazily in love the guy was to the girl *heart melts*

Here's my verdict for this book.

My 2 cents of Huck's Cafe.

This post is long overdue. But I need to do it because my friends told me so and I feel that it is appropriate for me to speak out since I am one of the customer of the famous private kitchen, Huck's Cafe. We had Manda's Bridal Shower at this place, suggested by Hooi. I researched this place online and found it has a fair share of positive reviews from quite a few food bloggers. Judging from their Facebook's photos, the food had me salivating.

Huck's Cafe is not any ordinary restaurant. It is a private kitchen in a huge bungalow located in a private residential are. You have to make your order of a 3 course meal few days earlier through the phone and you also have to pay a certain amount of deposit to secure your order. With such hassle and great reviews, we all turned up to that place with high anticipation and expectation.

And we were crushed.

Appetizer : Mushroom soup

Decent. I've tasted better, even Dome's mushroom soup scores better.

Main course 1 : Cordon Bleu Apples

This was my main course of choice. I picked this because I LOVE cordon bleu, melting cheese wrapped with ham and chicken, mm mm!!!! Furthermore this was paired with apples, I thought it will taste cheesy and sweet. But I was so disappointed. The chicken was over baked, the texture of the chicken became too soft or shall I say "lam pet". The cheese inside wasn't melting and it was chunky, felt sandy and sticky like wet sand. The apples were soft like it has been exposed to air for a day.

Main course 2 : Cottage Lamb Stew Pie

This was Kelle's order. According to her, she said hers tasted the best. I don't know, since I don't eat lamb I didn't bother to taste it. But looking at her eating habit, anything and everything can taste good to her =___=

Main course 3 : Parmigiana Chicken Mushroom
Paige ordered this. When we asked her for her opinion, she gave us the WTF face. She didn't even finish the potato.

Main course 4 : Sealed with a Kiss
This is the most ordered dish. 3 of them ordered the same thing. All sorts of mushroom cooked together with chicken. Hooi complained that there were not even a slice of chicken inside, maybe there was but probably it was too tiny she couldn't even taste it. When I asked her if she thinks it's good, she gave me that =___= face and shook her head. Sharon even had diarrhea after that, LOL! Mushroom poisoning!

Desserts
I thought the main course might suck, but they can't go wrong with the dessert *face palm* Indeed they failed my expectation again and again. With the amount of money they charged me, I assume the quality of the ice-cream will be slightly more exquisite like Haagen-Dazs. If not, probably Bens & Jerry's or Baskin Robbins? But it tasted more like the ice-cream you get at the all-you-can-eat buffet.

After bashing about their food, let me bash about their staff too. When we reached the place, we were not greeted and I was standing at the entrance dumbfounded. I didn't know who to ask because it was a bungalow and there was no reception area until I approached someone.

Later that night, Eeva came to join us but she wasn't eating because she went to a party earlier. She just dropped by to hang out with us. Because the place does not welcome walk in guests, the staff approached me and said we were not allowed to have extra people other than the amount of pax I had mentioned in the booking. I told the staff my friend was just sitting here and she was not going to eat. Then he said something that made me want to smack the plate on his face. "It is not fair for other customers to see you could bring extra people while they can't". WTF!!!! Like as though other people know how many pax I've booked and like as though they keep their eyes on us the whole night and know how many of us and how each of us look like!!!! Like as though if they see a non-familiar face at our table they will lodge a complain! I was so fumed I told him off, "So do you want me to chase my friend away now?!" He then said it's alright for this time but not to do again in the future.

I'm aware that other places, especially in Paris, they have this kind of rules in restaurants. But for fuck sake, this is a private kitchen in Malaysia, don't act all classy and arrogant. Rest assured, there will be no future because I'm not coming back again. Not because of your rules, but because your food sucks balls.

Since there are so many people raving about this place, I will be expecting hate emails or comments to bash about my negativity towards Huck's Cafe. But I seriously don't understand what's the hoo-ha of this place. Probably they were paid or given free meal to write nice comments about them so they can con people like me to pay so much money to eat their gibberish.

Bad food aside, luckily we managed to take pretty photos because I came out with a cute dress code and theme for the bridal shower. Tuxedo girls with the bride! I should become a party planner instead.

Thanks to Sharon for beautifying the tiara. My guy colleague helped me to get the tiara from a party shop and I was shocked to see the choice he made. Bejewels in red, blue and green donning the gold tiara. I was like O____O ||| Sharon hand painted each blings with her Chanel white nail polish and transformed the ah neh neh looking tiara to a glamorous looking tiara!

Photos of us fooling around with the props, LOL!!!!

Sharon got proposed!

Getting married with the veil down!

1 minute later, she was divorced. LOL!

Ghost bride.