#ootd : Her Lace Skirt

Haven't done my #ootd post for awhile.

I feel like moving back to my parent's house lately. Work has been really crazy that I end up sleeping at their home because the kids already sleeping when I finally got home. Isk

Which means I don't have anything to wear to the office. Lucky, me and my sister is about the same size. The good side of having a sister!

So I wore her lace kurung skirt that she custom made for raya, pair with my off white blouse tucked in and I'm good to go.

And i realized I've gained some weight! Haha.

Saigon : The few last stories

I meant to update more on Saigon, but suddenly "busy" came up to say hi and never leave me alone since. *sigh*

I was not joking peeps. Kids were getting sick one after another, work has been (as always) crazy even my body got upside down with fever, surprise double visit from my red aunty and everything else.

Anyway, lets mot talk about that. 

Where was I? Oh yes, Saigon..

Saigon, without doubt has so many museums, monuments and nice building. It's really fun to walk within the District 1 and just enjoy the scenery and the nice architectures even doors!

Here's a few picture we managed to snap while we where there.  

Some door. Makes a nice backdrop for photo snapping

Inside one of the museum. I can't remember which one anymore. Initially wanted to take "titanic" like picture but it's too hot I couldn't bother to make the effort. hehe.

With my handsome man. In every 100 pictures of me, he got one snap. Haha. Hail to the invention of monopod now he has the chance. hehe 

Another door. Haha. Doors really make a nice backdrop, no?

Self'us'

Other than museums and building, they also has nice parks in the middle of the city. I really love this about Saigon and you can see their locals really make full use of the parks.

You also cannot leave Saigon without visiting all their famous landmarks!

I actually has a lot of things to say about Saigon, but maybe I save it for my own self. :)

Till we meet again Saigon!

Saigon : Trung Nguyen Coffee

If you haven't know yet, Vietnam is the 2nd largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil and also if you haven't know yet, coffee is so happen to be my staple food. I can survive with no food but never without a cup of coffee.  So you can imagine how exited I was planning for this trip.

While doing the research, I found out that they have a few famous local coffee joint but Trung Nguyen Coffee and Highland Coffee were the famous one and they sure are. Their cafes were all over Saigon!

Anyway, there's a story behind this. It took 30mins taxi ride from the airport to the hotel and along the way, we could see so many Trung Nguyen Coffee joints all over the place! Exited, once we were done freshen up, we went straight for a stroll with a main mission, to have a drink at none other than Trung Nguyen.

But don't know what happened we couldn't find any Trung Nguyen Coffee even after a looooong walk! Turns out we keep on turning at the wrong side. LOL. This one that we went to was so far away from our hotel but actually there is one just around the corner.

This Trung Nguyen is like our Old Town White Coffee in Malaysia. They are everywhere!

His Drink. Can't remember the name anymore. But it tasted OK.

Mine. I like my coffee black and hot. But in Vietnam, their specialty is ice milk coffee and it tasted so good!!!!

Me looking at you, looking at me

Anyway, you can can also get the Iced Coffee for USD1 on the street rather than have a drink at their cafe. Much more cheaper and the taste is similar. They sell it at the back of their motorcycle and it took only a few minutes for them to make one for you since the coffee was brewed earlier. I swear I drank so many cups of iced coffee that my pee started to smell like one. err...

When you're in Vietnam, make sure you give it a try.

#ootd : Nichii

I gave up on Nichii in 2011. I was quite disappointed with the quality of the materials, tailoring and also the cheap-like design that they had tho once I was their loyal buyer. Since then, I never set a foot in their store, ever.

It was a few months back that I saw they now have a nice colors and design in store but I still haven't recovered from the "heartbreak" lol. Then my sister did say something about how nice their collections are now but I still don't believe it. Then I saw Vivy promoting Nichii on IG. Turns out Nichii is one of the brand who's using FV as their online platform. Stillllll... I was sceptical. Well, it's Vivy anyway. Give her a rice sack also she can turn it into some nice expensive looking couture!

But, few weeks ago I finally decided to check out their store with my sister and oh boy their collections now are very nice with an affordable price tag of course. I am loving all their latest season pattern & colors also design! Had a hard time choosing which so end up grabbing 3 although I make a vow not to shop for clothes anymore (I make that promise a lot, don't I?). What I love about them are how nicely fitted the blouse is to my body. I always have a problem where the length of the sleeves are too long compared to my short arm (T_T) but not Nichii (so far)

Anyway, here's one of it. I pair the top with an electric blue pants and a white heels. My usual personal photog was on MC that day, but the top was too beautiful to waste so I decided to take a mirror selfie. Hehe sorry about that.

Anyway, check out Nichii if you haven't yet.

Saigon : District 1 ~ The Stroll and Sidewalk Shops

Honestly, we are not much of a traveller (read here why) but when we do, we love to do it by foot. Husband's favourite when it comes to travelling is a local map and walking aimlessly seeking for a unique local gems (especially food) that will later brings such memories. Forget about normal tourist spot, that doesn't excite him. (Me tho will be happy anywhere I can shop, teheee)

So after we were done checking in and freshen up, we took a walk from the hotel and just strolling in search of their local coffee joint (more about it later). Found a lot of nice buildings and shops around district 1 and took a lot of selfie in between.

One of the nice local shop

I am quite impressed with Saigon to be honest. They don't have so many large upscale buildings like we do but the store and shops are quite updated (local and international brand) and they do have a lot of nicely decorated shops and cafes. Sadly most of them are not halal friendly so we just took a peek from the window. 

There are also a lot of bars and cafes (too tired to take photos after walking like forever, haha) and their town area are quite happening too. Too bad we did not go there as we're busy shopping for a tailor-made suits (again will tell you in a different post) and I had (still have) a chronic back pain I can't really take long distance walking.

To travel around Saigon, you have to take taxi or bus. The other option is to ride behind a scooter or rent one. But oh boy you should see their traffic it was like all the scooters in the world are in Saigon.

Here's some photos we took during one of our road crossing.

Anyway, here's another random photos that we took at random places.

Book Juice

We found this small cafe when we were wandering around aimlessly on a scorching hot afternoon. We were looking for a halal eating place but found this juice cafe instead. Ordered one of their hot selling stuff (can't remember the name anymore) and it was really nice and refreshing.

Christian Louboutin by the street. So chill la this Saigon

   

Nice sidewalk cafe. Wanted to stop for a drink but we need aircond haha

Local brand

Another one

Everywhere I go I met you. hehehe.

This store sell alligator shoes and bag. I can just browse, not dare to touch. haha

This is one of their local cafe. We wanted to have a drink after cheking out while waiting to go to the airport but then we got lost and couldn't find the cafe! too bad. The smell was so amazing!

Anyway, will blog more about Saigon (if time permit) later. Honestly, I go so many things to share. Saigon is really one nice beautiful city.

Saigon : The Stay ~ Silverland Hotel & Spa

So you know how this was supposed to be a honeymoon trip. The husband was kind enough to book us a suite at Silverland Hotel and Spa so that I get to have my own Jacuzzi in the room. He also arrange for airport transfer so our journey from airport to hotel was really a breeze.

Always saw this on TV. Cool!

The princess is coming thru!

And because we booked a suite, we get to skip the check-in process (the q was quite long at that time) and was ushered straight to our suite upon arrival. They even turn on the air-conditioner in advance so that the room was cool enough the moment we checked in. 

There's local fruits and they also left us a nice note welcoming us to the hotel. Nice but they spelled my name wrongly (-.-")

This hotel is located near Ben Than market at the so called "Malaysian Street" so finding halal food was easy as there are plenty near the hotel. There's also a night market nearby the hotel so it was quite happening.

I think this hotel was quite nice (heck all the hotels here are nice if you read the reviews) and the price was quite decent. It was clean, the staff are warm and welcoming, and most important the location is strategic.

Okay, gonna soak myself in the jacuzzi. Chiow.

Saigon : The Departure

Our flight scheduled on 12pm, May 15th. We had our breakfast at KL Sentral and took the KLIA express to the KLIA2.

So shocked to see how spacious and elegant looking this new airport is. No wonder our flight tickets were expensive. Anyway, it took us nearly more than half an hour (including bathroom time) to get to the gate. There were a lot of airport staff waiting around all areas with uniform shirt and a big "ask me" board so finding your way is kind of easy. 

Today's Adventure

Number one:

This was supposed to be a honeymoon trip for us but my "red aunty" decided to pay me a visit. (-.-"). Good news is..there won't be the 3rd child anytime soon. Haha. But seriously, we were laughing like mad the moment I told the news to the husband. Lucky I didn't go all out and bought those expensive lingerie. 

Lesson learnt: Check your period date before buying the ticket,fool!

Number two

My full size Keihl facial wash was confiscated by the custom (T_T). I was trying my luck using my charm to make the custom officer let it go but I guess, my charm doesn't really work all the time. Though I can see that the lady officer was giving me a sorry look (sisterhood yo!) but well... nevermind. 

Lesson learnt: Buy those travel size container and use it. 

Well, that summarize our journey (not even arriving Saigon yet, already a lot of drama). Pray for our safety ya!

With Love from both of us.

#ootd ~ Pelikat Skirt.

I love everything about Malay heritage. Don't you too? 

Recently, I got my eyes fixed on this pelikat trend. With batik is now too mainstream and songket is just crazy expensive, pelikat is the alternative if you want to go traditional.

I spotted a lot of pelikat kurung, and pants but what I do have in mind is a skirt. I am thinking of modernise it so that I can wear it to work so I tailored it to become a fitted A-line skirt which can also be worn with a slightly short plain kurung top or even a kebaya for more traditional look.

Pair it with a plain basic white top and throw a blazer on top for more serious look. Nude heels and grey cotton scarf and accessorise with a metal belt to complete the look.

Tell me what do you think?

SAIGON, VIETNAM ~ The Reason

At last.. a trip just for the two of us.

I am really looking forward for this trip but at the same time feeling a bit sad & guilty to leave the kids behind. But we both think we really need this trip to recharge our marriage so its's okay because we know we'll leave them in a very good hands of my parents and and my sister. Two kids with day jobs for both of us, I admit, taking care of each other is the last thing that we do. (T_T)

I got married at a young age.. at 24 to be exact and Rania came just a year after. There were no annual anniversary trips or whatsoever to celebrate our marriage as we are occupied with her and to be honest, we don't really got the money to splurge. I am the paranoid one in this relationship and whatever we do, it's for the kids future 1st then only our needs. Alhamdulillah, even without any huge celebrations or even gift, we manage to hold on still. :) I think our ignorance in celebrating anniversaries played it part too. Because we are both sucks at remembering events so no heart feelings for both of us. Haha

Then came Imaan oh boy both of them are pretty handful to deal with haha but alhamdulillah at the same time our hard work paid off and Allah has given us plenty to be grateful for. So now, with the kids future are safely secured, we can splurge a bit and it's time to take extra care and recharge our marriage. :)

We will be 7 years this 1st June. Honestly, we never had a proper anniversary memories together (except the birth of our two kids which co-incidentally near to our anniversary). Yes of course there were dinners and late night movies but we do that a lot even if it's not anniversary so yeah that doesn't count. haha. So we decided, let's do an annual trip. No need to be fancy. No need to be far from home. It can be just a night stay at any hotels in KL but the idea is, it has to be something just for the two of us (though an oversea trip will be preferable, thank you) haha.

But we really have to thank my mum and dad and also my big sister for agreeing (by force) to babysit my kids. We are fortunate that we still have our family so once in a while, we get to be alone. Alhamdulillah for that.

Get Together ~ The Asia Spa, Modvier & Dip n Dip

It's so hard to hang out with friends frequently now. With all those commitments with work, family, kids, and everything in between, let's face it, hanging out with friends will be at the very bottom of our list. Price to pay of being grown ups.

But yesterday I get the privillage of spending a quality time with my friends. A solid two hours of spa at The Asia Spa, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng.

It was really nice and by the end of the session, all of us were fully recharged! 

My roomate for 2 hours getting half naked together. Haha. I was wearing a MNG off-white top and a flowery jeans from Jaspal. Love the jeans! 

Missing one of us here. She arrived a bit late and still getting massage and whatnot in the room. To kill time waiting for her let's snap snap!

Went to Bangsar for a shopping trip to Modvier and tea time at Dip n Dip afterwards. 

Yep. Smiling. Wanna know why?

Okey now, drool!

Study Week

Few more days before my 4th CPA paper exam next Tuesday.

Going here and there with my (now) loyal companion. 

Okey not enough time to spare. Got to read & digest hundreds of pages. I'm a dead meat. 

Wish me luck guys!

The 2013 Bonus Bag : Part 2 - Coach Madison Christie Carryall Saffiano

Read part 1 here

So, my promise of not buying a new bag went to trash and I blame it all on my friend. 

To make sure that she brought home a bag that has an ultimate value of money, we actually went into ALL the designers store at Pavilion. 

Every. Single. Store

Of course, this weak lady had her saliva drooled in every store and by the time we were at Coach, I was kinda ready to buy one and make it my KPI too.

It was an accidental buy I swear. Previously my plan was to save up for the ultimate wish list(s) that I have in mind. Haha. I'm so weak!

By the way, I bought a Madison Christie Carryall Saffiano in powder blue. I am in love with the saffiano leather (who doesn't?) for the fact that it is so easy to maintain. I was initially torn (so classic of me) between it and a Borough bag but I want the one in grey and they don't have it in medium. Plus, my friend said that Borough bag looks so serious and I need something a bit playful. So Madison it is!

Do I love the bag? Hmmm.. Though I love it so much but to be frank, I haven't been carrying the bag often enough to comment. Like I said, I'm pretty much still very much in love with the speedy b so the bag get shoved at the back of my wardrobe till now. But I love the fact that Coach offers nice range of good quality and "affordable" leather handbag.      

But I can safely say that it was a good buy and let's hope that this too will last long enough to be worn as a vintage handbag by my daughters. Hehehe.