Journey To Great Skin

Do you notice those nasty fine lines under my eyes, how my pores are barely visible, canvased with a matte looking skin? If you don't, perhaps you should zoom into the picture above and I'll explain why it seems to be a huge problem.

One simple word for my skin. DEHYDRATED.

For the last 8 long years, my skin had been screaming and knocking on the epidermis wall demanding help or even sending S.O.S. signals, but I ignored its cry. I refused to drink at 3 liters of plain water everyday, I neglected to improve its fragile condition after being exposed to dry recycled air in long hour flights, I slapped on chemically harmful ingredients onto it to be forcefully absorbed, and I've been ignorant towards my irregular sleeping patterns. My eyes were finally opened by a few judgmental therapist/esthetician bout the importance of having great skin in the long term. I've also realized that after being horribly tortured, my skin wasn't being that cruel towards me as the analysis of my skin didn't highlight any 'fatal' permanent damages. In fact, one of the esthetician mentioned that "Your skin doesn't seem so bad for a stewardess who has been flying for 8 years. Most stewardesses have worse skin conditions due to lack of hydration, fatigue, radiation and changes of sleeping patterns." Pheww!! Boy, was I relieved to hear that! 

The comment above was like a booster to my brains, reminding me the importance of beautiful skin every single day. I know that beauty is more than skin deep, but the outer layer, largest, and most important organ of your body needs care too. The surface DOES matter, besides your conscience.

For one whole week I've been trying to be a mechanic to my skin, fixing the 'loop holes', and guess what I discovered? The remedy to my tired and hydrated skin was as simple as breathing. H2O, complete skin care regime (including frequent exfoliation and application of masque) and sleeping before midnight. I drank 3 liters (or more) purified clean water everyday, I double cleansed,toned and moisturized like I used to with additional of deep exfoliation and masque application of every other day, and I skipped watching movies til late at night and jumped into bed before 11 every night. The result? A brighter skin tone and moist skin in just 1 week! To be honest, I've always hated drinking a lot of water as I was too lazy for toilet breaks. And I know most of you girls out there would agree to it. But apparently, these amazing changes on my skin after making water my new bestfriend has encouraged me to drink even more. Ok, I have a simple tip for you girls out there who doesn't drink at least 3 liters of water everyday and finds it difficult to do such. Get yourself to the mall and find 1 adorable drinking tumbler/bottle that catches your eye. Buy that tumbler/bottle, even if it cost you a ridiculous amount of money for 1 freaking tumbler/bottle. Coz trust me, that expensive tumbler/bottle will be a great investment for a beautiful skin that is worthwhile! That fancy tumble/bottle you adore will make you wanna drink whatever that's contained in it.

Above, is my 'Chic Life' buddy. It has been helping me to hydrate my skin for almost 2 weeks now, and so far, it has been doing a tremendous job! A pat on the back :) I never leave home without it. So girls, search for that perfect buddy to help you hydrate! Pronto!

I've been talking too much and I need to stop. By all means, you may ignore those crappy advises above but by the end of this year, I'll be a professional licensed beauty expert (InsyaAllah) that you folks might wana listen to. Hehe. But not to worry. I'll be the expert who loves to share, so any sort of knowledge that might be useful to my beloved lady blog readers out there, I'll put them down here on my blog.

At the moment, I'm undergoing proper trainings and courses with the right people and company to achieve my international professional diploma, majoring in beauty, cosmetology and esthetics. The sponsor of my scholarship for this particular course is a name known by people all over the world, so do not try to doubt my ability and knowledge in the nearest future ;D Til then folks!

A Sporty Weekend

THREE different sports in a weekend. That's way to extreme and impossible for a couch potato like me, but definitely possible for a sporty bloke like Sweetie Pie. He spent the whole day at UPM playing in a rugby league and futsal at midnight on Saturday, then football for a friendly game on Sunday at UNITEN. Even the thought of it made my whole super lembik limbs ached like hell =P

Mr Sportsman.

Back in school, sports had neither been my forte nor the strongest point to highlight in my co-curriculum assessment certificate. A cheerleader? You could bet on that but unfortunately, there was no establishment of a squad in need of perky, flexible, pony tailed young girls jumping up and down to boost the spirits of our school athletes. Or I would've been one, instead of a rhythm squad girl.

Books, makeup, and purses would most likely to be seen with/on me but whenever my sporty hubby needed his cheerleader, I'd be there for him. So that simply described how I too, spent my weekend. Standing by the side lines.

Anyway, how did you folks spend your weekend? Hope they were lovely, just like my good friend, Bewna's weekend.She just tied the knot with her loving fiance in Kota Bharu after so many long years of being together. I believed that the wedding must have been beautiful but couldn't wait to attend the reception on groom's side this 5th May. May you both stay strong and divine together til death do its part. Love you, Bewns!

This carefree student/wife lifestyle is fabulous. And I'm getting used to it :) Til the next post, folks!

The Last Flight

A change in behavior begins with a change in the heart, while a change of career begins with a change in interest. My fragile heart no longer belongs in the blue skies as the winds of change has been whispering in my ears to evolve.

So last weekend, I went for THE last fight. It was to Adelaide.

The flight to and return from Adelaide were pleasant and smooth.In Adelaide, well, knowing that I might not be able to step into Australia as often right after, I shopped til I dropped! Mainly at 2 of my favourite Australian brands outlet, Forever New and Review. I didn't just shop for myself, but for everyone close to me.

Anyway, before we departed from Adelaide, I managed to take a few pictures at Adelaide International Airport with my fellow colleagues for remembrance. In short, the last pictures of me in my beloved green kebaya uniform. When I put it that way, it was undeniably heartbreaking :'(

Am I ready to let go of these fond memories, flying with incredibly great people at 35,000 feet high for the past 8 years?Perhaps not, but sooner or later I'll adapt to my new lifestyle, and new career.A much more challenging, yet interesting career with no waking-up-at-odd-hours routine and check-in bag needed. Wanna know what it is? THAT I hafta save for later.So keep browsing for new entries!Enjoy your weekend folks! :)

My Heart Will Go On

As for the 2nd part of Sweetie Pie's birthday celebration, we went to watch a midnight Titanic 3D movie at Signature's Gold Class!

Didn't we all love Titanic back in 1998? I remembered being a freshie at TKC at watched Titanic over the empty big screen at the hall's stage on a movie night (a Saturday night,every fortnight). I actually fell asleep in the hall halfway through the movie. Well, don't hate me! I was stupid young freshie! =P Anyway, after Titanic, everybody went gaga over 2 things : Leo DiCap and 'My Heart Will Go On'. Every girl would have their own private poster of Leo and they would sing Celine Dion's number 1 hit, in or out of tune. Well, who cared?

That night out, we both dressed up to celebrate Titanic's 100th year and Sweetie Pie's 27th year of anniversary. The moment I stepped into the cinema hall, I've started humming 'My Heart Will Go On' in my mouth. Good memories of being young were brought back and I sure hell remembered how I used to drown in my own tears every single time I watched Titanic. Especially during the last part when Rose finally closed her eyes on her death bed, and flashes of images being in the Titanic back in 1912, with Jack waiting for above the stairs staring at the grandfather clock, came to her mind.

I think I've mentioned before about not fancying putting on those 3D glasses, coz they never failed giving me headaches, but watching movies like Harry Potter and Titanic with those 3D glasses definitely worth the pain.

Sweetie Pie and I enjoyed our night watching Titanic 3D and most importantly, we didn't fall asleep or cried! That was good news to me, at least I didn't ruin my mascara.

Wana bring back those good memories of yours back in 1998? Then go catch Titanic 3D at cinemas near you. Who would've thought that Titanic had sank for a 100years now!

His 27th Birthday!

It was a 2-day celebration of Sweetie Pie's 27th birthday!!

A young and handsome 27 year old loving husband!A little goofy as well,I must say =D

Taking place at our little home in Sri Hartamas, I managed to organize a get-together small surprise birthday party for Sweetie Pie.Invited were my parents, my brother and his soon-to-be fiance,Bella.Looking at the budget I have for this month, I couldn't plan a fancier birthday party for him, but glad he loved it. 

After dinner on his birthday (which he paid for), he was surprised that there was an ice cream cake with 27 candles to be blown for him!

The cake cutting ceremony!

Right after cake cutting, of course, there was prize giving! Sweetie Pie received a brand new smart phone, HTC One X, replacing his old iPhone 4 (which by the way, accidentally 'washed' and 'spinned' in our dear washing machine just a few days before his birthday.Trust me, it was a funny story). The gift was from all 4 of them (my parent,Pasha and Bella), not including myself. Sweetie Pie totally adored the phone as it was the latest released by HTC with highest technology level that any smart phone could ever have.

We wished the phone was ours too =P

I forgot to mention that our party was attended by none other than our little furry cutie.She just couldn't stand not being part of the family gathering....

She was in a party mood too!

....and she just hafta put herself in every single picture snapped!

Polly, Pasha and Bella.

Bella, Pasha, Juares, Polly and Denna.

Polly, wanting her share of the creamy ice cream cake.

Polly and Pasha.

Good old kitty =) Overall, it was a great night of celebrating Sweetie Pie's birthday with family members who cared gathering around. It was also a night of showing our new place to Pasha and Bella for the first time. Well, my parents were frequent visitors of our place as their favourite mee rebus stall are situated just around the corner.At Plaza Damas, next to our condo to be exact.

So glad that Sweetie Pie and the rest enjoyed the cake from Baskin Robbins =)

To Sweetie Pie, enjoy being the vibrant, young, 27 year old you! Enjoy all the love and positive vibes around you from those who love you so dearly. Muahhhss!!

It Was Totally WICKED!

Witches,wizards, and magic.The ultimate fascination of all generations,especially those who believe in fairytales,like myself :) I mean who doesn't love The Wizard of Oz, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland? 

Ok,so all of the fairytales I mentioned above have film adaptations on the big screen except this one particular awesome fairytale, Wicked.Well,it has been adapted and produced into a musical play in 2003 on the famous Broadway and West End theaters,and became legendary ever since.To those who are clueless on what Wicked is all about, google it, folks!If you have always loved The Wizard of Oz,you'd love Wicked coz the characters were somehow parallel to another.

I wouldn't wanna miss the opportunity watch Wicked live while it was playing in Singapore,so Sweetie Pie and I went on a field trip to Marina Bay Sands,Singapore last Saturday.Other than making a visit to the Grand Theater, I also took the opportunity to discover the amazing engineering and architecture of Marina Bay Sands that all the Singaporeans are so proud of.

We bought two A Reserve tickets for the best view of the play but it turned out that we received free upgrades on both tickets to Emerald seats!Some luck we have! :D And of course,like I've always expected,the play was mind blowing!Even Sweetie Pie,who was at first had no clue on what Wicked was all about,was totally blown away!

The Dragon hanging on top really moved and scared the crap out of me!

By just even looking at the props set up before the drop was opened,your mouth would just open and say 'Wow!'.Every single detail was simply breath taking including the talents of the ensembles!My favourites would definitely be Elphaba,The Wicked Witch of The West and Glinda,The Good.Their singing voices and acting skills were simply outstanding!

Glinda and Elphaba arriving at the City of Emeralds.

Oh,and I did mention bout the costumes and songs?They were magnificent!I've heard a few of the songs from the Wicked soundtrack on Glee,when Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel sang them,but they sounded even better on stage,LIVE!

Above was the most outrageous scene from the play where Elphaba was singing 'Defying Gravity' (both Sweetie Pie and my favourite song from the play) and levitated a few feets above the stage ground with her broom stick.Want more from Wicked : The Untold Story of The Witches of Oz? Go and catch the play before it ends this 22nd April 2012 at Marina Bay Sands Grand Theater in Singapore!

Right after the play,we went around the area to witness modern and captivating architecture of Marina Bay Sands.Everything around was super tall and uniquely build, including the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Art and Science Museum, Skypark, and of course, the famous three leveled Louis Vuitton Island Maison!

Both of us outside of the GIANT LV boutique.

The Marina Bay Sands Art & Science Museum.There was a Titanic Exhibition held.

The Rain Oculus inside the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall.Splendid!

Beautiful floating water lilies at the surface of the pond outside the mall.

Ok,Singapore.You got our standing ovation for building such an extremely engineered new trademark of the country.But we still don't dig your locals' attitude though :P 

Will we be coming to Marina Bay Sands again in the nearest future? Absolutely!

Black,White And Glamour

Alright,so I've been extremely busy with wifey duties and an enormous transition in my career path that's gonna take place very soon,but those won't stop my persistence from blogging here =)

So I'm gonna continue from where I've left you folks off.

I absolutely adore the combination of colors black and white.The combination is significant to yin and yang,good and evil,old classic film,elegance,and of course,Chanel ;)

Despite my undying possessive admiration towards the color pink,black and white were chosen as the official theme color of my wedding reception.At least I wouldn't hafta hear complaints from both Ayah and Pasha on how ridiculous they'd look in pink baju Melayu.But of course,we weren't totally off the hook.They both managed to force themselves into their pink baju Melayu for my solemnization ceremony ;P

So as most of you might already knew,the wedding reception was held on the same day of the solemnization ceremony.10 hours later,to be exact.There wasn't much time for us to prepare ourselves and relax within those 10 hours,coz time seemed to be very jealous of us on that day.Everything went so fast that I hardly got time to catch a breath!

After lunching at the Sultan Salahuddin Aziz Shah mosque's compound,we went back home to change and stash a few more necessary items in our overnight bags,then headed straight to Dewan Sri Endon to check-in at the apartment provided and rooms rented by my parents.I just threw the overnight bag and got myself ready for the reception rehearsal with the emcees,band,technicians,flower girls and singers.Trust me when I said that the rehearsal didn't actually go well.Everyhing I've planned and had in mind months before my reception had to altered due to 'obscure' protocols.I was so frustrated with the changes that hafta be made and the end of the ceremony,my reception was gona be just exactly like other Malay wedding receptions,filled with protocols and stereotypical orders/gestures/movements.Boooring!

Too frustrated,I went away from the venue and got myself ready for the night.It was almost 6pm anyway,and my kind and sweet makeup artist,KuYee,was already waiting at the apartment with his curlers,hairdryer and makeup brushes.Such dedication!

By 7.30pm,those involved in the ceremony had swarmed the apartment to get ready.My beloved flower girls and bridesmaid were out at the living hall,getting their makeup done by another makeup artist,the photographers were wandering around looking for moments and objects to be captured on camera,Sweetie Pie and his best man were talking non-stop in our room trying to cheer things up while putting on their tuxedos and I was fidgeting like hell while KuYee was slapping my face with makeup and curling my hair with a hot thong.By 8.30pm,we were all ready to hit the hall's big doors!

While checking my reflection in the mirror at the apartment,Bak the photographer snapped this.

So I told my invited friends and colleagues to dress up 'GLAMOUR' for my wedding reception,and to my surprise,they really did!Before we marched into the hall,we were told to standby in the waiting room at 1st floor to wait for the VIPs' arrival.Not long after,the usherer gave a thumbs up and down the spiral steps we went.

The setup of our dais on the hall's big stage.

As we were marching into the hall after given the queue,another glitch happened to appear.I specifically picked a classic tune from 1 of the soundtracks of Man In The Iron Mask movie coz it was slow,sweet and calming.But what did I get?An annoyingly repeating short version of the track!It stopped at 1 part of the track and repeated back from the start 3 times like a broken vinyl record!While walking down the aisle,deep in my heart,I was swearing and cursing the sound technician who made it go wrong!As a classy bride,I just hafta continue walking with Sweetie Pie holding my hands next to me,and bare with the error,til we were finally up at the dais.

Us,walking down the aisle and our wedding cake.Love the flower icing details.

During the renjis ceremony,right after the opening speech by the emcees and doa recital.Above was the picture Papa and Mama (Sweetie Pie's parents) giving their bless on us.

Another glitch during the ceremony?ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY!It was my hair this time!

As much I hated to admit this,but I gotta agree to KuYee that I did (and still do) have stubborn straight hair.Even after being set up and sprayed with cans of hairspray,once they hit an air conditioned room,they would just go flat and out of place.And that was what happened during the ceremony!My fringe kept falling across my forehead!

Ok,I sucked up the hair part and tried to enjoy the rest of the ceremony.Amazingly,I did have a great time,especially during dinner,coz I got to dine at the high table and enjoy the show.The performers I specially assigned to sing at my wedding reception were magnificent!Hazrul 'Jejai' sang 'Sedetik Lebih' by Anuar Zain beautifully and Iqa sang 'Mencintaimu' her heart out wonderfully!They were just awesome,and extremely great friends too!

Well,the ceremony didn't just end after the cake cutting ceremony and Thank You speech from Ayah.There was also a surprise performance from Sweetie Pie!Okay,I wasn't THAT surprised coz I already knew that he was gonna sing for me that night,except that I have no clue on what song he was gonna sing and how good his voice really was.So,JENG JENG JENG!Once the emcee announced that Sweetie Pie would be singing,accompanied by the live band,it was quite shocking.It was daring of him to actually sing with a live band than a minus one.

Once the music started,I immediately recognized the opening of the song,it was 'Gadisku',popular in the 80s sang by Amy Search!Okay,so my husband was sweet.Deal with it! =D 

The song goes like this :

Gadisku
Seri mewangi bagai disiram selautan kasturi
Gadisku
Terindah padamu kerna tak pernah meminta selain cinta
Dialah gadisku (selalu) selama-lamanya

Tak peduli kata orang terhadap dirinya
Aku tahu dia gadisku
Tak peduli nista yang terlempar padaku
Dia tahu dia gadisku

Cinta kan bermakna jika sama saling memahami
Cintaku bercahaya jika disulami cinta suci

Halfway through the song,not wanting to be a flattered-wife-doing-nothing-on-the-dais loser,I got up to Sweetie Pie and kissed his cheek on the stage while he was singing,without actually realizing the effect I put on him.He got distracted with the kiss and suddenly lost the lyrics in his head!It wasn't just that.At the end of the song,he tried to reach for the high note but failed miserably!Poor thing.Everyone in the hall laughed horribly,including myself! =D

Putting aside the terrible sound Sweetie Pie made at the end of the song,he was truly an awesome and sweet husband for throwing his voice out at his own wedding.He wasn't scared of humiliation and criticism,just wanted the wedding reception to be a memorable one.But he received recognitions from all the guests for being such a rockstar.Well,that's my guy! =D

I haven't got the chance to express my utmost gratitude to my parents,brother,grandma,aunts uncles and cousins,close friends (you guys know who you are) and those involved (designer,makeup artist,performers) on this blog for making the night happened.Without you,the wedding would be a total failure.I love you guys so much.Your help and efforts will be repaid by The One and only,up there.

Well,more official pictures of the wedding reception will be posted as soon as I got my hands on them from the photographers.So at the moment,just enjoy whatever that I'm posting temporarily.I'll be posting about the wedding gifts and my new home on this blog very soon.Take care!

The pictures are courtesies of Bakri Hafiz Hisham,Shah Zainal and Azuha Mamat.Also thanks to Faridzul Anuar.

You guys are such amazing talented young photographers.