Second batch of items are already up at Shopper's Sanctuary.
Brands include Topshop, Warehouse, Zara and many more!


Don't miss it, ladies!

Labels: Sales and Shopping

Apparently this one from Stila does.




The Stila Makeup Player is a makeup case that comes with Stila's new foundation, eye shadow trio, eye shadow brush, convertible color for lips and cheeks, lip glaze, and a sound system that enables you to plug in your iPod/iPhone/mp3 player to watch makeup videos or listen to music while you do your makeup.


I don't know about you, I mean, it may appeal to teenagers... but I think it's ridiculous and unnecessary to include that sound system thingy. I can download makeup video tutorial from App Store to my iPhone for free (which I already did) and just watch it from there!

Labels: Beauty/Skincare

Meal time was once a fun time for both me and my baby. I always look forward to cook her meals and feed her, and most of the time she would happily finish them. But ever since Ayra has started walking, she becomes less interested with food. The most she can eat is 5 spoons at a time - 10, if I were lucky. It's so frustrating bcoz all the food that I cook always end up in the dustbin!


And then I found out that it's pretty normal for some babies to be a fussy eater. Babies won't starve themselves and it's actually up to them how much they want to eat, and we should learn to respect that instead of being cross about it. It was hard for me at first, but slowly I learn to accept it. I found out that the growth of babies her age has slowed down despite being active, and her energy needs are less. So now I just go with the flow - I would stop feeding her when she doesn't want to and be cool about it. And I'd cook less and feed her in smaller quantity so there won't be any waste. It's a win-win situation.


Anyway, here's a recipe that some of you have requested some time ago: Cheesy pasta. Now I don't measure the ingredients when I cook for my baby, semua main campak-campak jer ikut rasa.




Spaghetti
Cottage cheese, grated
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Full cream milk
2 garlic cloves
Butter
Carrots, chopped
Peas
Cauliflower, chopped
Oregano
Basil


Cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the packet. Drain, then set aside.
Blend cottage cheese + mozzarella cheese + milk + garlic in a blender.
Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Pour in the cheesy mixture.
Add carrots, peas, cauliflower, oregano and basil. Cook until the veggies are tender.


You can add in chicken, beef, zucchini, broccoli, whatever your baby likes. Here's another version of my Cheesy Pasta with minced beef.




Do share any baby recipes you know. This mommy is running out of ideas what to feed her little girl!

Labels: Food and Recipes, Mommyhood and Baby

A few weeks ago I had the chance to meet a very successful woman, Kak Hisma. She shared her story over lunch, and I was surprised when she told me that she used to be a factory worker, before working as a Maxis operator. I was like, whoa really? Who would have thought that!




She also told me that she used to be an air stewardess with an income of less than RM5k a month. Then she got married and wanted to quit her job. I mean, of course - you can't be an air-stewardess forever, can you? And she was tired of kerja makan gaji. That was when she met with the golden opportunity. Her friend, who is now her upline, approached Kak Hisma to join the unit trust business. Seeing her friend who was already very successful at that time made Kak Hisma jumped at the chance right away. And that decision of hers has completely changed her life. She worked really hard and was willing to learn and in just 2 1/2 years, she was the Group Agency Manager. Her success story is really an eye-opener. One will need to be a teachable person, willing to learn and hunger for money to be like her.




Kak Hisma is now the leader of Atrium Group, a unit trust agency based in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. She received a lot of awards and recognitions - in 2007, she was the Champion for Mutual Fund Agent Category, 10th Runner Up for Personal Sales Category, 1st Runner Up for Top Personal Sales Bangsar Branch and Million Dollar Producers. In 2008, she won the 2nd Runner Up Top Personal Sales Bangsar Branch and also Million Dollar Producers. Then last year in 2009, she was the Champion for Agency Manager Category.




.


Unit trust is the fastest way to achieve financial freedom and it's a great way to earn unlimited income as there are 5 level of incomes. Kak Hisma herself earns up to 6-figure income - I saw her income statement with my very own eyes! She is a living proof that anything is possible. If Coach was once a hardly affordable brand for her, now she can afford just about anything she wants - Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, even luxury cars and houses.




Another great thing - travel for free! Once you achieved a specific target, the company will give you free vacation every year. How cool is that? Anyone can be like her. And now she wants to help you achieve your financial freedom. It's a job opportunity for everybody! All it takes is just an SPM qualification and you need to be energetic as you will be approaching people.


Visit Kak Hisma's blog at http://atriumconsultants.blogspot.com. She can be contacted directly at hismazaitul@yahoo.com.my or 014-3240774.

Labels: Advertorials

If being a junkie for something means owning it in a large amount, then I guess this collection of mine makes me a fragrance junkie.




Did you know that perfumes in dark bottles last longer than those in clear bottles?


Some of my perfume collection are from more than 5 years ago and they are still at least half full. I can simply throw away my rarely-used eyeshadow palettes, lipsticks and lipglosses when they have past their shelf life, but I just don't have the hearts to throw away my old perfumes (unless of course if the bottles are empty). Each scent has its own special memory - JLo Still reminds me of my vacation in Spain, Britney Spears Fantasy reminds me of my uni years in Melaka, Lancome Miracle reminds me of my first date with my husband, Vera Wang reminds me of my wedding, Daisy reminds me of our honeymoon, Prada Tendre reminds me of Coach bag and Wani (there's a story behind it), etc etc.


Anyway, I would love to add this perfume to my collection: Lola Marc Jacobs. The smell is not so bad after a while...




Ok so I don't really fancy the scent - it has a rosey vanilla-ish scent, which is not really my type. But arghh the bottle is too pretty to pass up!

Labels: Beauty/Skincare

So I was invited to a party at the pool side of Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel last Saturday to celebrate my sister's friend's sister who won the Astro Series Kau & Aku contest. The theme was Hawaiian Night but I don't have any floral tops or dresses (baju kurung floral ada la ;p) and it was kinda last minute, so I just wore a bright colored ruffle top. Wani didn't dress up like a Hawaiian either, so yay ada geng.




The party started off with a buffet-style dinner. There were a lot of food but I was pretty stuffed (attended a kenduri before going to the party) so I couldn't really enjoy the food. Makan satu round jer.




Burn was one of the emcees and boy was he a funny guy! There were performances by Mila, Akim and Aril of AF, some games and Best Dress announcement.






I didn't snap any pics with the actors and actresses, as well as the AF stars bcoz we had to leave early - hubby had a futsal game at 10pm. Group photo jer sempat.

Labels: Events/Activities

I've never shopped with my baby alone. There's always my husband to accompany me most of the time. Or I'd leave my baby with him and go shopping with my sister instead.


But yesterday I decided to spend a couple of hours at Pavilion, just me and my baby, while my husband attended a seminar at the Grand Millennium Hotel.


Of course now that she knows how to walk on her own, she refused to sit in the stroller. She wanted to push the stroller instead. Fine. So I let her push the stroller and let her lead the way, wherever she wanted to go. We went inside Parkson (I guess because she saw giant dolls a.k.a mannequins). She stopped in front of a female mannequin at Miss Sixty who was wearing bright red pumps. She tried to take off the shoes but of course she can't. After several attempts of trying, she gave up and went to the clothes section. Satu-satu baju dia try nak capai. At last I picked her up, put her in the stroller and went out of Parkson.


Next, we went to Forever 21. I made a quick browse and grabbed whatever tops I could get my hands on because Ayra was screaming at the top of her lungs as a protest to free her out of the stroller. I freed her in the dressing room while I was trying on some clothes. Suka hati dapat lepas! She licked the mirror, played peekaboo with my clothes, banged on the door. And then when it was time to get out, dia tak nak. Cakap "bye bye" pon macam tak kisah. Instead, she went in and out of three other dressing rooms to check out the mirrors.


Then we went to the jewelry section. I wanted to check out the necklaces... and so did my baby. The lowest level of necklaces on display was about the same height as my baby, so everything at that level were reachable by her. She saw this one particular necklace with a big oval pendant, put it on her ear and began talking to herself, like she was talking on the telephone.

Labels: Mommyhood and Baby

(This is a 48-hour sticky post, scroll down for updates!)



You know, my favorite TV channels are E!, Travel & Living and Asian Food Channel, but I watch Playhouse Disney more than those three. In fact I know all the cartoons, the songs, the characters, you name it. That's what happens when you have a kid.


My little girl doesn't demand that she wants to watch TV, but whenever I'm busy with work (whether in front of the laptop or in the kitchen) I would turn on Playhouse Disney to entertain her while she's playing. She's not really fixated to it - she will only watch it for a few minutes then move around and play with her toys - but when there's music, she will move her body and dance to it. Some of her favorites are the songs in Handy Manny, like Hop Up Jump In and We Work Together. They're catchy; even I sometimes find myself humming those songs!


Speaking of Handy Manny, did you know that the voice of Manny is actually Wilmer Valderrama - as in the actor of That '70s Show? I told my husband when I first found out about it (he's a big fan of That '70s Show) and he was like "No way!". I know right! Macam tak percaya jer. If you watch Handy Manny, you know what I mean.


Anyways, there will be Handy Manny Season 3 soon and to celebrate the launch of it, Playhouse Disney is bringing an entire week of Handy Mandy goodness. One of them is the premiere of Handy Manny Motorcycle Adventure on Friday, 22nd January at 10am.




Five mommies including yours truly get to watch it, a few Fridays ago. In this 1-hour show, Manny and his tools - Stretch, Dusty, Felipe, Turner, Squeeze, Rusty, Pat and Flicker - head for a road trip to Manny's family reunion on his motorcycle. They stopped at a gas station, and Pat, Squeeze and Flicker went inside a tool truck to check if Pat's family members were in there. That was when they were separated from the rest as the truck headed for a large hardware store outside of town.




Manny realized that some of his tools went missing, so he raced to catch up with the big truck. They came across several obstacles, which Manny managed to fix with the help of his tools. Finally he found Pat, Squeeze and Flicker, so they continued their journey to Manny's family reunion and Pat realized that he actually have a special family all along.





Just like any Handy Manny episodes, this Handy Mandy Motorcycle Adventure is filled with lessons about manners, safety and helping others. Definitely a great cartoon for your kids! Catch the premiere of Handy Manny Motorcycle Adventure on Playhouse Disney on Friday, January 22nd at 10am!

Labels: Advertorials

I just uploaded my blogshop with some stuff (bags and jeans to be precise).
Go and check it out. Now!


Shopper's Sanctuary.


I have a few more stuff to let go so keep your eyes open, ladies!

Labels: Sales and Shopping

Ayra's bangs have grown a little long that it kept on getting into her eyes, so I decided it's time to give it a little trim.


I strapped her on her high chair and handed her my mascara tube to distract her from the scissors. It worked. She didn't cry, she didn't try to get off the chair. She didn't even move her head. Just a few snips and it was done! I didn't expect it to be that easy.




This is not the first time I've ever cut someone's hair tho. I've cut my Barbie's hair when I was a kid. Konon nak kasi a new hairstyle la. End up jadi gonjeng rambut Barbie tu! Hee.

Labels: Mommyhood and Baby

I'm inspired to post these pics after reading Karen Cheng's latest post.





No that's not my latest recipe invention. That's mold! But unlike Karen's green tea mold, my rice mold is utterly revolting - every speckle of it!


How on earth did it happen? Good question.


I actually forgot that I still have some rice leftover in my rice cooker until 2-3 weeks later (I haven't been cooking much lately). This is so embarrassing. But I have a reason for that.

Labels: Food and Recipes, Random Stuff

Sometimes I think it's unfair that men can get ready in just 2 minutes and still look good. They don't exfoliate. They don't wear makeup. They don't need to figure which bag and shoes go with their outfit, which scarf matches their top, which fragrance to wear. They don't spend hours styling their hair bcoz apparently the messier the hair, the cuter. We women on the other hand, need to put a lot of effort to look fabulous. It's so unfair!


I don't know you ladies but I need at least an hour to get ready. Ok, maybe two. I can get ready in 2 minutes - if I don't mind looking like a drab (which I sometimes do, if it's only to my PIL's house). But most of the time, I need 1-2 hours.


Deciding what to wear is the toughest and most time-consuming part. At least for me. It can take up to an hour! I would go through all the clothes in my closet, take out all the "possibilities", try them on, parade in front of the mirror, take them off and try on a different one, go through the clothes in my closet again, try them on... the cycle goes on until I found the right thing to wear. It's tiring. None of those would've happened if I knew exactly what I wanna wear - which rarely happens. (Men, when women say "I don't have anything to wear", we actually mean we don't have anything new to wear).


And then comes makeup. I'm pretty quick at applying makeup, if I may say so myself. But my husband thinks I took hours. I so not! I timed myself and walla - it only took me 15 minutes to do a full makeup, complete with eyeshadows, blusher and everything. That's quick, no?




How long it takes to wear a scarf depends on how my scarf behaved that day. Sometimes it only took a few minutes, sometimes half an hour. Next - deciding which bag and shoes to wear. And perfume. I'm telling you, having more than 20 bottles of perfumes really doesn't help to speed things up.


And just as I'm about to spray my perfume, my husband walks into the room, puts on his clothes, briskly runs his fingers through his hair (with hair clay), spritz on perfume and before you know it, he's all done!


But I guess it's normal for women to get ready in 2 hours, and men only in 2 minutes. According to this, the time women spend putting on make up and getting dressed works out at 3,276 hours over their lifetimes while men only devote 1,092 hours to looking their best. Uh-huh.

Labels: Beauty/Skincare

Labels: Fashion

(This is a 48-hour sticky post, scroll down for updates!)



It's amazing how television has evolved over the years, from fat bulky TV to flat screen....




From black and white to color TV, from analogue transmission to digital, and from free-to-air broadcasting to multi-channel broadcasting. The evolution didn't stop there.


Astro has just recently launched Astro B.yond, Malaysia's first High-Definition broadcast. It's the future of home entertainment; the next big thing. It's probably as big as the evolution from black-and-white TV to color!




Astro B.yond will change TV viewing experiences 5 times greater than the regular Standard-Definition (SD) in all aspects. It delivers sharper pictures, more vibrant colors, cinematic surround sound and wider screen, giving audiences crystal clear details and colors like never before.




It's so detailed and crystal clear that cosmetic application on actors and actresses are easily visible in HD. And bcoz of that, cosmetic companies like Make Up For Ever and MAC had to create a line of makeup specifically for it.




In conjunction with the launch of Astro B.yond, Astro is inviting Nuffnangers to the Astro B.yond Bloggers Night, happening on the 13th January at Modesto's, Desa Sri Hartamas. There will be a showcase on Astro B.yond and Astro HD channels anndddd... a preview of Astro B.yond online promo video that I, along with other bloggers (Redmummy, Sultan Muzaffar, Beautiful Nara, KY, Huai Bin, etc etc) shot last Sunday at Waterfront Desa ParkCity!





There will also be a Murder Mystery Game called "Murder In The Details" on Astro Facebook Fanpage. And guess what? The winner of the on-ground Murder Mystery Game will walk away with Astro B.yond set which includes a 32" LG High Definition TV, Astro B.yond box, new remote control and new outdoor dish!


That's not all. Everyone who goes to the event and blogs about it can stand a chance to win those too! Check out this page for more info on how to get the invites. There will only be limited spaces, so hurry! And don't forget to be a fan of the Astro Facebook bcoz the winner of the Murder Mystery Game will be announced there.

Labels: Advertorials, Events/Activities

My sister went to Perth a few weeks ago, and guess what did she get me?




The pinkest pair of shoes ever!




The shoes is from Zu, an Australian brand which carries fab shoes (my sister bought a few pairs for herself). I super love them. I've been prancing around the house in this shoes and cannot wait to wear them!

Labels: Shoes

(This is a 48-hour sticky post, scroll down for updates!)



"I don't know how to tell you this, but I feel like I have to bcoz I care for you and it's killing me. Ok here goes".


Pause.


"Your body umm err... STINKS."


It's not easy trying to tell a friend of yours or someone close to you that he/she has a bad body odor (BO) bcoz... it may sound mean. Plus, you don't know how the other person would take it. But then, keeping it quiet won't do any good for both of you either. Has it ever happened to you? How did you tell someone if he/she stinks?


I know we all have body odor. But some people have stronger body odor than others that they are able to make the people around them turning blue from holding their breaths. People with strong BO are like walking stink bombs. Everywhere they go, their BO would "attract" and offend others - whether in a crowded LRT, or in an elevator, or even just walking pass each other. And then there's the different "types" of BO. Macam-macam jenis bau ada - bau tajam a.k.a bawang putih, bau rebung, bau hapak, bau masam and bau hanyir. (Goshhh, I feel like puking as I'm typing this!)


If you don't have the heart to tell your friend straight in his/her face that they stink, then you might want to consider this softer approach. All you need is a Sanex Anti-Perspirant Deodorant spray!



1) Make sure there's no one else but you and your "BO" friend.


2) Casually start the conversation by saying something like, "You know, the other day I went to Watsons to buy some toiletries and saw this one sales girl promoting Sanex deodorants. So I stopped and listened to her explaining about the products, bla bla... and I was hooked. They were having a promotion - buy 1 free 1, so I thought of giving you the other one!". Just make up a story about the buy 1 free 1 promotion or something. Tipu sunat takpe! ;p


3) Well it's obvious that the next thing you should do is to give the deodorant to her. But don't just stop there. Tell her the benefits, what you like about it, etc... Maybe you can say, "There's actually 2 types of Sanex deodorants - spray and roll-on. I like the spray ones bcoz it's easier to use and they don't leave that sticky feeling! This one doesn't contain alcohol, yet dries so fast and lasts all day! And not only that, Sanex protects your skin as it is moisturizing unlike others that just concentrate on beauty and deodorizing."





4) Add more juicy details. Get her to be really interested to actually use it! But be honest. You can pinjam my ayat if you want: "If I'm not mistaken, there were like 4 different types of Sanex deodorant spray, and I sprayed each one of them on my wrist just like I was testing a perfume. I like the Dermo Sensitive one bcoz the dry down kinda reminds me of L'occitane Almond Oil. Well, maybe a softer and milkier powderish version, which comes in no surprise as it contains Lactoserum that's rich in milk protein!"


5) Pray that she will use it and if she does, be happy bcoz you managed to wangikan your friend without embarrassing her!


But make sure that friend of yours doesn't read ThePinkStilettos blog tho! LOL.


Anyways, did you know that moist underarms are actually not moisturized armpits? I never bothered to find out how deodorants work (I just chose the ones that smell good) until I came across thetruthfuldeodorant.com website. Here, you can find the truth about deodorant. You can send a nice truth to someone special too:




Ok, someone who actually exists and has an email! ;p


There's even The Truth Forum which lets you share how you tell someone if they stink. Start telling the truth now and you could stand a chance to win a Sanex hamper worth RM100!

Labels: Advertorials, Beauty/Skincare, Nuffnang