Bonjour, Dian!

Disney on Ice

2011-04-20T15:20:00.009+08:00

Having grown up under the spell of Disney and their army of disarming princesses, naturally having acquired the power of disposable income at age of 20+ (that's right, 20+, shut it) I rushed to surrender my hard earned cash for 3 tickets to Disney on Ice!

Lamisse is under 3 years, so she doesn't need a ticket. (Woot!)

This time around, Disney was showcasing Ariel, Lion King, Cars and Tinkerbell on the ice-- a nice mix for boys and girls.

Truly, anyone growing up with me can attest to the long hours I sat in the tub waiting for my legs to mold into a fish tail. Wait, did I just type that out loud?

As is with all things Disney, with a "*sprinkling of fairy dust!*", there is "MAGIC in the air!" and thusly a fool and his err her money was so quickly parted.

I'm not sure why I'm in such a hurry to put my girls under the damned Disney spell that brought no end to my misery of being deprived from joining the merfolk where I truly belonged! AND at my own expense!

Anyway, with all things Disney, I treated it as a big magical family fanfare just as Disney's marketing team had planned it to be! Those stealthy corporate bastards!

I had the girls dress up as flower fairies and to add a little panache to the get-up, I face-painted them as fairies, too :) Ghizlane had a shimmering pink butterfly look with a little stick-on gem adornment.

Lamisse had pink shimmery orchids on both sides of her eyes, with gems stuck on the center. As you can very well NOT see from this photo, which is the best photo I have. :(

I did ask El Hubs to photograph my handiwork but this means I have to hunt down which of our gadgets it was captured by. Not now.

The show opened with Mickey, Minnie and their car broke down.

This was a cue for Cars to make an entrance!

skate

THEN:

The second act was Ariel!

Oh, I LOVED it! Not so much because it was a large portion of my childhood daydreams but the choreography, costumes, the sheer colour palette the design team poured into this act into all the sea creatures and fish was spectacular!

There was the magical musical masterpiece that is the Little Mermaid soundtrack, so they can't go wrong with that. But the Ariel skater looked a little masculine and I spent quite a large portion of the act peering at her throat for some indication. *face palm*

The next act was Lion King.

Quite impressive but I was doing the Asian thing of trying to "capture the moment". I missed quite a bulk of the bloody moments fiddling with the camera apparatus.

Also, these nice photos are courtesy of Google. I didn't quite get these kinda quality. Despite our supposedly good seats, there was a god-forsaken couple sitting in front of us with their kids and the mummy was pretty tall for an asian lady and her husband was a caucasian guy so they encroached into my viewing space a little.. >:-/

INTERMISSION.

(this is the part we got popcorn at RM10 a bag. If you think that's a rip-off, I didn't buy the RM35 cotton candy that came with a cute flower-shaped faerie-inspired hat. El Hubs did)

(I went and bought the expensive Disney merchandise because I believe in souvenirs when it comes to events/places Disney)

And the final act:

Disney Fairies!

This was quite an enjoyable act because the camera battery was running dead so I ditched it in favour of live entertainment. There were so many fairies in this act and all according to the Disney Fairies lineup i.e. Tink, Vidia and the rest of them whom I don't know.

It was very elaborate, with a fairy strung up to the ceiling like so:

It was the Fairy Queen and she came round on our side of the rink and waved at the audience. This sounds lame, but that was pretty magical for me.

Lulu waving to the Fairy Queen and me photobombing.

She's clutching the RM10 popcorn and wouldn't part with it for the world.

I hate bad photos.

But better than none.

Check out all those colours and movement!

Spectacular! Spectacular! No words in the vernacular!

The show wrapped up and I hastened to the rinkside to photograph the girls.

In full Faerie regalia, over-priced Disney merchandise and all!

I am happy to report at least, that they have not neglected their thingamajigs and still love the toys to this day (which is 2 1/2 weeks since then.. that's decades in child-speak)

My lovely flower, adorned with RM35 flower hat.

And these are my two little faeries who I'm so very proud of.

We had ice creams after that, that day was a scorcher. Later at home, we went for a swim :)

And they lived happily ever after.

The End.

Bagan Lalang

2010-11-08T17:00:00.022+08:00

Last Friday we brainstormed for a weekend activity to indulge in given the Deepavali holiday on Friday making it a long weekend. Something fun for the kids; I suggested Bagan Lalang a.k.a. Sepang Gold Coast.

I think the beach was great-- the sands not sandy white and the water not clear spanking turquoise like Perhentian but it was good enough for Malaysian standards. Speaking of. Nvm. I did come across 2 jellyfish washed up on the beach in the morning though. Scary.

This is where we DIDN'T stay:

Golden Palm Tree Resort, one night at a purported RM1500 a villa.

I tried to include a bird's eye view photo here so the narration might be easier to understand. I can't resize the damn pic, it's humungo, wouldn't fit. You can google it up.

We went exploring on our 2nd day there. Meandered our way to the grand entrance fashioned in true glamorous style: palm trees, zen waterfalls trickling down zen art deco structures, and a well manicured greenery foliage with a sidewalk following along meticulously.

Like, we are so zen here at Golden Palm, right down to our stones and frangipanis.

All in the details.

The main lobby has a side entrance for little caddy vehicles that cart guests around.

Main lobby with a little blue sky.

We bumped into a Japanese tourist who enthusiastically noticed Lamisse pottering around in her cute manner and asked if she can already swim in the swimming pool *pointing emphatically behind her* because L was walking around in her bathers. That's right, swimming pool on board, yo....

We walked through the main lobby to tour the Golden Palm, walk down this chic resort and pass through all the chic villas.

It was pretty far even for a caddy drive. The guy presumed we were guests and carted us off to the middle of the Golden Palm; the coffeehouse.

Ladies and gentlemen: I give you zee coffeehaus

And mesmerizingly, an infinity pool! Right here in Malaysia okeh!

I am so deprived.

OMG cantiknye.... so annoyed that I can't afford it.

So the Golden Palm structurally branches off into its palm fronds where they have more villas.

That's what the end of a Golden Palm palm frond looks like. We meandered in the area for a bit before heading back to the lobby. We missed the caddy cart, so we had to walk back like losers.

And here we are.

Out front by the lobby they have some sitting area.

Very zen.

Then we headed back to our piece of beach we called our temporary home for a measly RM15 tent rented out from a shop.

Our Actual Camping Trip

No rental for the square feet of land, just stake your tent and it's all yours. We even had a little bbq action going on out front. We brought fish and sausages with us :P

That's our campsite in the background. Come nightfall and the rainwater was dripping through the holes in the tarp when someone mentioned our living conditions were much like Indians in India. Like, way to kill the camping mood. This is wholesome camping experience okay, we're not doing slumdogs *ahem*

We arrived Saturday and camped overnight. Big rainstorm and hard wind. I was holding down the bottom of the front entrance to front the wind lest it blows downour tent. Some other tents were already leaning like Pisa.

Despite the rain it was pretty warm in the tent. I suggested Cheri to sleep by the entrance if he wants some cool fresh air. He was like "Huh! I don't wanna get bronchitis" and I was all huffy like "What Bronchitis, this is not Europe, we're in Malaysia" (-_- )

And silly me the next day (and today) I was sneezing like a baby panda (reference YouTube), sore throat, flu and still relatively sick right now.

Some Rempits started karaoke-ing at 2 or 3 am to the tune of hard core rock Melayu. Holy Guacamole, Batman! We got kids trynna sleep here! And be damned the singing made the ribut all the more angry. Thusly was my somnambulent night with Lamisse crying between 3 to 6 am with the howling rainstorm&rempit duet.

Surreal. Foursquare did give me an Adventurer badge.

Ghizlane with her pose tonggek, I imagine a la laSign0ra (hakcipta terpelihara)Lamisse quickly imitates but Ghizlane already changed into Bond girl pose. I was like "What are you doing?" She motioned as if she's pointing a gun explaining that "you know, this pose when the girl holds and points it like this", as if this is an acceptable pose as she has no doubt seen somewhere. Disturbing.

The sweetest cutest swimming creature in the sea :)

I'm such a proud mummy! :D

And here we are far out from the shore looking at the Golden Palm in the distance. It was really gorgeous at night with all the lights, looked so magical.

The shallow wading pool was a real winner. I love simple splashy fun.

And in the end we can have our little pieces of zen too.

Les Ardennes

2010-11-03T04:45:00.000+08:00

Reminiscing my beautiful Belgian spring days at Malmedy in the Belgian countryside. It had a laid-back kampung feel to it except entirely European, i.e. clean, crisp with different animals and foliage.

I savoured these forestry and had an epiphany of how Western myths and legends with its unicorns and fauns are so different and fantastic from Malaysian folklore of... hantu raya and hantu pochong.... I totally got how Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings could be written. This forest is awe some and inspiring stuff.

Bubbling brooks really are and do.

Get a load of this countryside *le sigh*

Cathartic refuge

2010-09-14T21:07:00.003+08:00

I managed to score a job interview.

2 weeks I waited for this day. 1 week ago today I fell insanely ill with fever. Recovered from the fever but there is some residual flu effect. My flu head was still recovering so my thoughts were swimming slowww... I knew I should have called sick and postponed the interview.

I don't know what I was expecting in a job interview... I suppose because it's been so long since I've been to one. I managed to score what I now hope is a stylin outfit.

But I gave some very pregnant pauses to some very specific on technique questions.

BOMBED.

I really miss legal work already.... be drafting stuff.. just give me stuff to draft. I know how to get things done, I know where to look things up. Rawwrrrrrrrrr

Well. Till end of next week when I learn my fate T_T

Back to the Motherland

2010-08-10T02:10:00.006+08:00

So we returned from Belgium back to Malaysia for what seems like for good. I've been compiling a list of to-do's once I reach tropical sunlight (one of them being to update my blog more regularly). It's funny how compulsive this blogging thing was when I first started and now it feels like such a chore. I'd rather cook a meal or work. Anyhoo

Random flashbacks of my return thus far:

1. Movie night with my girls: Toy Story 3.

I really hated how expensive the Kinepolis was but that place sure was swanky. I also think it's a brilliant idea to keep the cinema by itself and not in the shopping malls. That way, movie nights are just movie nights and you don't get sidetracked by shopping. Just sayin.

2. A splash pool on the lawn. After months of cold weather I was determined to enjoy the sun like a European would if they'd ever got the chance.

I remember telling people there about Malaysia and showing pictures and they'd be like, "oh it's just like a postcard" and I'm all, "but it's not like a postcard, it's real!"

Man, this is the life!

Lots of fun water activities: by the pool

or old skool mandi hujan XD

3. And there's always fun random stuff to do like running around on the motorbike.

3. I also missed buying cheap knock-offs! I like buying cheap stuff that looks expensive (to me)! I bought this one on eBay though, I didn't find anything at Low Yat. At least I don't have to pay the douane like in Brussels right.. Man I hated receiving mail and having to pay tax for my own stuff!

Picturesque.

I hope good times are a'comin'

1 day in Paris

2010-03-21T05:17:00.013+08:00

I suppose the foodie post will just have to wait. So my darling husband decided to give me an early birthday treat and take me to Paris for a day, like a pair of lovebirds. The kids stayed back with the MIL-- thanks Maman! :P

I've done this before in 2005 and we don't know where those photos are... anyway, here goes:

We took a bus from Brussels at 6 a.m. in the morning at Gare du Nord. We passed through the French countryside. Slept like a baby on that bus... the bus driver did an exceptional job.
We arrived and jumped to Republique via the Metro. We had breakfast at some nondescript cafe where the bathroom is reserved only for clients (which was why we graced our presence there)
Then we jumped to Concorde. This is my Rabbiqa pose. Oh, lookit the Tour Eiffel in the background, SCORE! This is my birthday bag which Cheri bought me after I got pickpocketed at Rue Neuve... that sucked. Damn gypsies. Anyway, I love my new bag regardless of what anyone else thinks. It's truly one of a kind.

My husband and a merman.

Me and a mermaid.

Couple photo at the erm, Concorde Fountain place... hmmm....
I really admire all that French architectural symmetry. Then we walked through a big gate to a park, following all the tourists; there was a big group of Italian teenage school kids and what not. How cool is it that it is normal to go on school trips to famous European cities, reknowned of the world?.. Then we came upon a (big @$$) pond.

In Malaysia you can go to ... Zoo Negara, Taman Negara... paling pun Singapore... oh well. Ke kalau sekolah tu gempak, Bali kot... tak pernah dengar pulak orang pergi school trip sampai Bali.

Anyway, there were even ducks there in the pond. I made throwing gestures by the pond like I was throwing crumbs/bread and all those gullible ducks came swimming by.

Haha! Fooled ya! A bunch of funky-ish French boys were laughing at me. Bet they thought they looked real cool with their mohawks, skinny jeans and black leather-looking jacket. Whatever, I got my pics.

My stylin' husband.

"Take a picture of me lounging leisure-like by the pond."

Ok, Boss!

Here's a pic of me with some awesome trees. I really liked these spherical trees positioned all spaced out. Very Alice in Wonderland.

Anyway, we discovered that at the other end of the park is the Louvre!

Quelle chance or what?

We walked by those spherical trees into another park where we can plainly see the Louvre behind us.

There were some naked ladies in the park. I love how this was art back in the whatever century (because really, if you ask me, they're really naked ladies in the park)

My husband with a naked lady. I told him to cup her *ahem*...

Not the desired effect; but it'll have to do. There was another naked lady in the park and she was in a really funny position, I asked him to stand behind her for me to take a photo. Good lord I was laughing so hard at my ingenious idea, I had tears running down my face-- unfortunately great minds don't always think alike. Cheri's pose didn't reflect my idea and the photo didn't turn out as funny as I pictured it in my head, but francophonic conservative Cheri deleted it anyway. Party pooper!

What a nice weather that day in Paris! It was so awesome sitting on grass and not freezing my fingers off! Winter is over!! Aah.. my springtime in Paris. (well officially not spring yet until 21st March, for whatever reason but yeah whatever)
My dashing husband with all that impressive French 18th (or whatever) century architecture.

Then we approached the Louvre. That's the Louvre behind me.

Yup. The Louvre.

A dashing portrait photo. I'm good at this.

A nice portrait photo of me. Good lord how long we stood there squibbling till he managed to snap a decent portrait photo of me.

I'm looking pretty good for 1 week post chicken pox!

This place is really pretty. I can only speak for the outdoors.. no time to go inside. That's Cheri sitting on the brink. There was a guy who was lying down on the edge and playing with the water. Maybe I'll twitpic it.

My dashing husband, credits my portrait photo skills.

That was a nice shirt for spring.

This is a really nice photo of me, I think. My Cheri did good :)

Another photo I like a lot. Still at the Louvre... we were totally like, omg the weather is so nice we better get our butts down to the Tour Eiffel to snap some good photos before the weather turns bad AND the battery on the camera dies... yes, such romantic notions in the city of love.
But a Couple Photo before we left-- we did a clever one and asked a funky looking asian chick with a professional looking camera. I thought maybe she was one of those professional bloggers and she has to snap nice pics of anywhere she goes. Anyway, good for us, she took a good photo.
And being the conscientious photographer she was, she took another angle just to be safe. Proactive, I like that.
So we headed for the Metro to jump to the Tour Eiffel. The Metro in Paris-- I like that Moulin Rouge-esque font, so I took a photo with it.

Yes!!! I'm at the Tour Eiffel :D

And the Les Amoureux photo at the Tour Eiffel~!! I came to Paris set on 2 things. This photo and another one to come up soon hereafter. Mission #1 accomplished!!!

We are so in love~~!!!! (No, really..)

And here's mission #2 accomplished:

A photo at the Champs Elysees!!

By Cartier, no less svp~ I took a photo with the Arc de Triomphe too.

My dashing husband did not want to miss out on the opportunity to photograph with the (signboard of the) purported most beautiful avenue in the world, next to Cartier just like me :D

Yup, just the signboard, if you want to see how beautiful the most beautiful avenue in the world is, google it up.

Arc de Triomphe on Champs Elysees-- after this we headed back to the bus station, jumped to the Gallieni Metro stop and took off at 7.30 p.m. It was a LONG day but action packed, just how I like 'em.

I didn't buy anything in Paris because I'm dead set on saving money to go to Disneyland Paris with my kids ... basically spent money on breakfast, lunch and a Coke. And a Littlest Pet Shop set of game cards, souvenir for Ghizlane I managed to buy at some shop. And medicine from the Pharmacy because they're cheaper in France than Belgium. Penny pinchers....

And that's it-- Toute a l'heure!

I think I can get used to this

2010-01-13T04:29:00.005+08:00

After the initial ~~minor~~ turbulence, life is settling into some kinda routine. Staying at home with Lamisse is well.. not rocket science. And once I start classes or work or whatever, life will resume its hectic pace. I think I'me savour this for the while :D

Random pics to accompany this post:

I registered at the Malaysian Embassy within 1 week of arrival. It was a little strange. I had expected someone to greet me all Melayu style, "Apa khabar?" etc. Hmm... no Malaysian greeted nor made conversation with me. Just attended by a Moroccan guy who works there. Disappointing.

One of the things I really quite miss is seeing my kids nude! They don't bathe twice a day here, heck they don't bathe everyday even. Which surprisingly makes me miss seeing their lithe little bodies wiggling around freely or scantily clad like they did in Malaysia.

Bathtime! I love bathing my kids :)

Taking a picture with the fireplace because it's so awesome.

Sunday market with Ghizlane.

Miscellaneous Lamisse.
Hey Baby!Picked up Ghizlane from school or something. This was like, 5 or 6 p.m.

Anyway, despite the cold outside (and the hot inside some people's heads) I think Belgium and I are getting along famously. I must add, eBay does make me a great deal happier here than I could have not been without.

It does help that we eat fabulous food just about everyday. I'll do a foodie post one of these days.

Missing a lot of little things in Malaysia.. I guess it's just going to be that way in my life-- either or.

Europe

2009-12-31T05:01:00.007+08:00

Goodbye tranquility

After nearly a month, I now report:

Europe is cold.

Europe is tough.

Europe c'est dur.

Wait. Life is hard.

But I suppose I never imagined life this gritty, poor pathetic little Bumiputra displaced as I am.

After nearly one month, I come to the conclusion that:

I am still culture shocked.

The French culture is courteous but sometimes, really just... n'importe quoi.

La langue francais irritates me more than I realise.

Or perhaps it's the lack of anglophone anything around me that's driving me mad.

Ghizlane seems happy enough. But the poor things always chooses "Malaisie" over "Belgique" when asked her preference. I wonder if she even remembers what she's comparing.

I have never realized how my speaking English was a precondition of my personality and character. And now degraded into bad French, I (obviously) sound dumber which doesn't help that (to some people) I already look like I belong on the yellow bus.

I watched AVATAR and that really jumped my mood-- a solid 2 hours plus of English! It did me good.

I was a lawyer, dammit!

Fricking Gopal Sri Ram shouted me down in Court of Appeal...

and now I'm reduced to this.... vague misery.

CentCinquanteSept: the dream now the reality.

This is an open invitation to everyone to email me to keep me in good humour.

God knows I need it.

NB/ I've heard the hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri song, if it's really raining gold somewhere, let me know stat. I'd bet if this was a Chinese proverb, it'd be something like di mana ada hujan emas di situ ada orang Cina or whatever...

Hoard

2009-12-16T21:24:00.001+08:00

Hoarding.

Hoarder.

I'm not one.

Help.

My final day in Malaysia

2009-12-05T07:47:00.004+08:00

Updated: Edited with photos.

Crap I'm trying to cram

Unsurprisingly, having worked until 5 days before my flight, my last 4 days have been HECTIC.I still need to fricking repack (internally twisting and writhing in pain excruciate....) I've no Internet connection at my current abode to blog/FB/pay my bills online and thank God for iPhone and a little purchased broadband! Except the FB app is a little buggy which explains my very limited interaction on FB.

If everyone on FB was on Twitter there wouldn't be so much of an incommunicado (HINT HINT) and I would have proven to be very connected after all these last few days.. ...

Which brings me to.. My final day today. Contrary to popular belief, I'm actually not excited. I'm nervous and intensely and physically anxious of this long flight. I think in fact, I am scared out of my wits. Motherhood has made me very wimpy.

My stomach is twisting and aching in trepidation already (hurl).

Digress!

Yesterday me and @MewsOfTheMuse went to the PC Fair to hunt for a good lappie deal. I spotted a few A list celebrities, namely the HP Mini Tord Boontje, 160GB HDD and absolutely drop dead gorgeous in person and very Edward Cullen-ish, glittering like a diamond under the light. PRETTY.... My HP VT feels so 2008 in comparison.

There was that cutesy ideapad S10-2 with all the cute colourful cartoony etchings.

The chiclet keyboards of Toshiba N200.

That Canon Ixus camera, too pricey for a last minute splurge.

Can you say drool?...

Anyway I came home with a Buffalo 320GB external HDD and said Mew with an 11.6" beauty of a HP Mini with black swirls imprint, Windows 7, 250GB HDD, 2GB upgradable to 4GB(!!) RAM, a kick butt nvidia graphic card and a commendable 5 cell battery which claims to last for a purported 8 hours if I'm right. And chockful of HP kids' games, for crying out loud, that hits the jackpot with me BIG time!

Comes in 3 colours; mine would be the white one.

That cool HP Mini at 11.6" and with a nice graphic card.

A purchase is not complete without tweeting about said purchase.

Another time another day.

For now, for today, I'm gonna make like a bird and migrate.

Sent from my iPhone

Rainy evening

2009-12-03T18:27:00.001+08:00

Update: On our last rainy morning in Malaysia. Or evening..

Final week as a lawyer

2009-11-23T10:35:00.003+08:00

I never thought I would miss being a lawyer.

But my final week as a lawyer is surprisingly.... horrifying.

No offence to the layman, but.... having had that 'Advocate & Solicitor' attached to my identity had been a taste albeit, small dose, of power.

I will cease to be a (somewhat) important civilian.

We watched "Twilight" last night, the first one not the new one. I never understood the Robert Pattinson hype. That is, until I saw him on screen. I liked the leading lady too, very pretty and conservatively moody.

That said, I thought the screenplay was tragically bad, dialogue was bearable but since the plot wasn't so well developed throughout, the whole movie was quite hollow.

Notwithstanding, I still really liked the beautiful+menacing look of Edward as well as the beautiful+hard look of Bella.

Anyway, later that night when I slept I dreamt that I already took the flight to Belgium, reached there and I shopped a little at the airport.

Then Cheri picked me up and we reached a nice little garden house in the twilight and I realized I forgot Lamisse at the airport (for some reason) when I did the shopping.

We were panicking to head back to the airport when Ghizlane comes running out, shouting "Mama Dian, Mama Dian!"

I'll finish this post with a Lorna Brown illustration.

Lamisse!!!

2009-11-16T11:07:00.002+08:00

I super heart my baby!

from my HP Mini Vivienne Tam

3 weeks left

2009-11-13T11:57:00.004+08:00

I'm counting the days, damn!

My baby's hair looks good!

Get me there, stat!

I need to sort out a lot of stuff toute de suite.

Checklist: (Updated)

Visa-- next week
Composition de Menage-- next week
Packing!!!!!! (to sort out next week)
Mail off stuff-- ~~after 2 weeks?~~ (to mail out next week)
The gold pendants....!!!-- 2 weeks???
Couch money collection!!!-- ~~this is really dragging~~ (to call Zeenat)
Dentist appointment-- next week
Bills!!-- ~~2 weeks~~ (next week)
Work in the office..... 2 weeks to clear this mess!!!

*colour coded to levels of stress involved... le sigh

I hate that there is still stuff on the list... but at least I have a Checklist to check for now.

Dental Drama

2009-11-10T16:50:00.002+08:00

5 a.m. in the morning and my 7 year old filling loosened. If came loose would reveal my chipped front tooth. Man, I was hyperventilating.

Got it fixed though a crowning should be considered.

Time is finally flying. 3 weeks left. God speed.

Lamisse is 6 months old~!

2009-11-03T17:02:00.006+08:00

Going to Nekma's house

Stretch~~~ and then fell asleep again.

Woke up to sound of camera click.

Bath at Nekma's house.

And then back at Auntie Cayang's house:Stuck under the TV cabinet.I'm a standup err crawling comedian

See how adorable I am!!

That's all, folks~!

I iz a joker

I ♥ Skype

2009-10-29T16:21:00.006+08:00

At 2.30 p.m. Malaysian time coinciding with Brussels at about 7 or so a.m.

My Darlings!

I'm not sure why I didn't just do a screenshot. Wasn't thinking straight.

I finally managed to catch my baby before she goes off to school. The only time when we both have internet connection.

My baby just speaks French now!

She greeted me with "Mama Dian, t'est la?"

I'm a happy camper

Depressed.

2009-10-29T08:32:00.006+08:00

I know the expression time flies. But when there is only 5 weeks left, I wonder why I find myself waiting if time is supposed to be flying? I should be catching my breath.

I don't know if this post makes any sense. But this waiting feeling is awful. It all sounds so cliche, but I feel like I've been hollowed out. A J.Co donut with no cream inside.

Ghizlane and me pigging out on Baskin Robbins when I was pregnant with Lamisse.

I remember being adamant about spending time with my little girl doing our final "Ghizlane and Mama" things we always do before Lamisse arrives.

What's horrifying is the reality check that one day this will happen to me when a loved one really does pass. So this must be grief 101. What also horrifies me is the idea that my daughter is feeling the same way or trying to cope with this same desperate passive distress.

One month passed. Now yet another month still to pass. Time, please fly..!!!

My dancing princess

This is Ghizlane hanging out with me at the hospital when I just had her little sister.
I have archives of miscellaneous videos to console myself by. It's not much consolation. Short of having my little girl on my lap to cuddle, it's pretty much inconsolable.

1 step closer

2009-10-27T10:10:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I went out to get all the prerequisite documents for my visa application. In short:

1. Medical report from Klinik Segara at City Square, KL

2. Certificate of Good Conduct from the Foreign Ministry, Putrajaya

3. Legalisation of my birth certificate at the Foreign Ministry, Putrajaya

First stop, the clinic at City Square. Little did I know it was under renovations and the clinic now resides on the 19th floor at a very swank Vista Tower. Check out the elevator button:

You key in the digits of your floor number and wait. The lift comes and there are no digit buttons inside.

Anyway, the first stop was very fast, 3 vials of blood, some gross bodily fluid samples, a physical checkup and an X Ray. Done. Cost me RM300... *not thinking bout it*

They'll forward the actual report to the Belgian Embassy directly, so saves me the hassle.

Drove down to Putrajaya with iPhone Maps app... I got lost nonetheless.

Putrajaya looks really western metropolis.

The second stop was for the Certificate and legalisation both and that was fast too, save the driving down from KL to Putrajaya and getting lost in Putrajaya for a couple of minutes.

It cost me RM20 and a total of RM60 respectively for the legalisations, but my relief of having these documents is priceless.

I still had half a day to finish up before heading back home so I went to 'ol ATS and said goodbye to some dear friends there. Well, primarily I went to see Kim and Haizan. Damn, I miss them!

My next appointment is 4th November 2009, Belgian Embassy at Menara Tan & Tan.

I will be seeing my baby soon... :)

I think she put on some weight.

Bisous, Ghizlane Mama will see you soon inchaallah :)

Bisous from Lamisse too :)

The less publicized sister

2009-10-22T17:12:00.001+08:00

My 2 girls :D

Lamisse and big sister Ghizlane when she got back from the island and nobody put sunblock on her (I was working and did not join the fun).

Just because she's less mentioned doesn't mean she has less star power!

My real baby, not an overgrown one :)

1 week shy of 6 months old! Aww baby, I'm so proud of you!

It is so lovely to have a small baby to come home to and cuddle, kiss and play with. It's like an adorable little toy / pet but not as disgusting / boring / dirty.

Girls are so sweet though

Nom, Nom, Nom....

*Mama eat you!*

I've been told and I sometimes think that she looks a lot like her sister when she was a baby

Ghizlane as a baby

Back at our last tropical home:

Back in the good old days. I will never forget lazing about at this beautiful pool, living in a nice condominium and the tropical weather. I know soon I will be worrying about whether I will fall ill if I wear such and such clothes. I will miss never worrying about my health and outfit when I leave the house.

I'm an eBay fiend

2009-10-09T14:06:00.000+08:00

This is my baby posing on the couch in the house in Rue Piers. I love this photo.

I've been eBaying for a bit after she left and sent some lipsmackers to her (amidst all the Stila lipglazes I binged).

After that I thought to send her some of her stuff she left behind and some goodies I bought for her.

Ghizlane opening my package. Funnily it didn't occur to me to take a picture of the package before I sent it.

She looks well pleased with her package. This photo made my day :)

Hbb called from Belgium when they received the package and I can hear her excited in the background "Present for Ghizlane!"

I sent a bunch of cute little stickers and Disney Princess sticker labels with her name on it, to label her school stuff, books or anything. I also found some Nerds and Gobstoppers at our local Bangsar Village I and a box of Disney Princess handiplast for my Baby if she hurts herself. I also sent a bandeau for her hair.

Showing off to her Grandma.

I also sent her toothbrush and toothpaste which got left behind too.

This is the letter I wrote to her. She used to ask me to draw stuff for her on her etch-a-sketch or a piece of paper. I wrote a bit but she can't read yet, so I drew some of the stuff I used to draw for her. I drew Ariel the mermaid and she stuck the corresponding sticker from the bunch of stickers I sent.

Cute.

When I asked her on the phone if she liked her package she said "Mama nak umbrella pink"

Needless to say, being the psycho Mummy I am missing my Baby, I have since sent her 2 umbrellas I bought on eBay too.

Meh.

They're cute though, right?

Why 2? Because I couldn't decide between the 2...

(Dora or Princess?... Hmmm... BOTH)

although the official answer to that is my little baby is growing up fast and so there are 2 umbrellas for my 2 little girls.

My baby goes to school

2009-09-24T11:20:00.000+08:00

It is a lovely and horrible feeling to see her start her life without me.

She looks like she's having fun :)

I miss her terribly.

Eid in Brussels

2009-09-21T11:41:00.000+08:00

My cute little darling.

Drinking what looks like Mint Tea.

She looks pensive. I always get some anxiety perusing her photos and if she looks pensive or sad.

She looks happy here with all the cousins :)

Missing you to bits, baby.

1 Semaine

2009-09-15T13:48:00.000+08:00

My baby left last Friday to Belgium. I'm counting down 11 weeks until I see her again :(

Ghizlane on the flight to Paris-- very very excited and talking to me on the phone. Didn't know yet how long she wasn't going to see me for.

Living without her has been a shock. Life is so different and empty hardly understand what's happening to me. Moving into sister's house today because the loneliness is depressing.

Anyway, Ghizlane is starting school on Wednesday ... and I won't be there to dress her, walk her and wave her goodbye on her first day. I've always assumed that I would be there on her first day of school, suffice to say I never saw this coming.

My baby arrived in Paris, CDG

2009-09-13T11:16:00.000+08:00

Ghizlane with my wonderful sister in law and husband, and mother in law.

The arrival was 0605hrs, and they drove about 2 hours to Paris from Brussels, I don't know what time they woke up to get there on time.

Really lovely people, I'm very happy :)

Ghizlane at the Paris CDG parking lot.

My in-laws travel to Paris once a month or so to shop. Apparently Belgians like to shop in France. Notwithstanding that they are so close in proximity and are both Francophone countries, there are some stuffs you can only find in France.

Ghizlane does the groceries.

Doing her favourite thing: Mechanical rides.

Ghizlane finally arrives in Brussels, a first time for her after 3 1/2 years of being Belgian.

Sadness to the max

2009-09-04T16:52:00.001+08:00

Time to sell our furniture

Prelude

2009-08-27T16:50:00.000+08:00

Today is Thursday, 27th August. Tomorrow is Ghizlane's last day in her daycare, the 'ol faithful Taska Al Akmal.

I let her take her camera to take pictures of her friends (well, shockproof+waterproof should be fine). This is her final week with her daycare and tomorrow is her last day.

I am SO nostalgic and sad!!! I gave away some of her toys to her (little) friends as gifts..

le sigh!