the past one week...

(this post is a combination of things that has happened over the past week.)

Last Friday, I got the biggest surprise of my life when I went down to the kitchen in the morning. I found my brother who is studying in Australia standing there. He had just arrived on the morning flight. The only person who knew he was coming back was my father and he was only back for two nights, but for a very special reason. Last weekend, my dear parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. Yes, 30 years!!! I was so happy to see him and didn't feel like going to the office after that cause I would rather spend time with my brother.

My sister and I really wanted to do something special for my parents to celebrate this very special and rare occasion. So we invited over our closest family friends to our house and arranged everything for them. It was a very fun and happening night. My sister's friend has an amazing talent for making customised cakes and she made this cake especially for my parents. Each individual orchid on each cupcake was individually hand made! She is an artist I tell you! And there is a reason I requested orchids. My mother carried orchids when she got married.


The two figurines represent what my parents looked like when the got married 30 years ago. we don't have any photos of my parents on their wedding day. everything was lost when our apartment in Highland Towers collapsed. I was so sad about that because it would have been so nice to display pictures of their wedding at our house that night.



I have the greatest admiration for my parents. I can only imagine the sacrifices they have made for the family and each other. And my father gave the most touching speech about how he met my mother and since the first time they had dinner together, they have always been together unless unavoidable circumstances kept them apart. My parents don't even have their original wedding rings anymore. They were stolen when our old home was broken into. But that doesn't really matter does it. Cause a marriage is not about rings or photos. It's about love, commitment and sacrifice. And I see all of that in my parents.

That same weekend, Lord Derbyshire was sent to the vet to be neutured. He was so upset when he was in his cage in the car on the way to the vet.




When he came home the next day, he was a little grumpy, not that I blame him, so to try and make him happy, my sister and I fed him some tuna.




He saw us putting it away in the fridge after giving him some so he decided to sit in front of the fridge so that he could make sure he wouldn't miss out on asking anyone who went to the fridge for some more tuna.





He gave up after a while and went back to his usual spot near the big cushion.




And there was a little 'confrontation' between schizo and Lord Derbyshire


.

Schizo - just because you are sitting on a chair and I'm sitting on the floor, does not make you the boss around here... you want to avoid getting whacked, you better understand that...

Joberg stayed out of he way by just staying in her new favourite spot... a basket on one of the kitchen high chairs. No one else and nothing else is allowed to be in this basket. I once put my notebook in her basket and she refused to get into the basket until I took it out. Sorry Joberg...




Since my brother was back in town, he came with me and my sister to the GLAM anniversary party at the Borneo Rainforest Cafe in Sunway. I wore my canary yellow tiered dress to the event and added one of the gorgeous Odyssey necklaces from the shop OLA in Bangsar Village II. Also at the event was my Zairin who owns OLA. We were wearing very similar necklaces and bracelets!



The gorgeous girls who graced the cover of the April issue of GLAM looked as stunning in real life as they did on the magazine cover.



Trying to find our way home after the event was an event in itself too...

Sister - so how do we get home?

Me - go back the same way we came I suppose...

Brother - Hang on, what happened to the bridge that I remember seeing here on our way here ?! It's gone! I need to get on that bridge!

Me - what bridge? Just go straight lah!

Brother - I don't remember there being a toll here either.... Are you sure we're going the right way?!

Sister - you drove here.. just drive back the way we came..

After driving for a while...

Sister - Hey, that building looks familiar... where are we now?

Me - Yeah, that building is familiar... I think we're going the right way home... hey, it's another toll... Is this the Subang toll?

Brother - Yeah.. this is the Subang toll...

Me - How on earth did we get here?!

Brother - Does it matter? We're here now.. we can find our way home safely now cause we actually know where we are!

This is not the first time this has happened to us... we're hopeless together I suppose...

A few days ago, while on my way to a company launch in town, I stopped by Istana Budaya to see my former colleagues who are still friends and just to say hi. We only spent about 10 minutes together but we made a lot of noise and laughed a lot. We used to spend so much time together... miss you guys...

This weekend I will at Jom Heboh in Perlis. If any of you are in Perlis, do come by and say hi!

Indian Jewellery

This earring and necklace set I bought from Brickfields. If you are ever looking for Indian jewellery, I say Brickfields is one of the best places to go for affordable treasures.

Photos by Jay Ismail

another pic..

I think Aiemax took this one...

on a sunday...

what do two photographers and a girl who has never stopped loving dressing up do on a Sunday afternoon where they can think of nothing else to do?

have a photo shoot at a private studio!

The necklace is from MNG. You may recognise it. I wore it Anugerah Skrin 2 years ago. The dress is from BCBG Max Azria. Hair, make-up and styling all done by myself.

more photos from this shoot to come....

photography by Jay Ismail.

Launch of P&G Beauty Hair Spa

Last night I attended the launch of the P&G Beauty Hair Spa at the Pavillion. One of the first few familiar faces I saw when I arrived was Daphne Iking who looked fabulous as always.

Me - Why are you complaining you are so fat after giving birth?! You look great!

Daphne - Got lah! HERE! (she says while poking her non existent stomach)

Me - Stupid woman....

She was standing by backstage with several other familiar faces in gorgeous gowns.

As part of the event there was a fashion show with clothes by Khoon Hooi and Syaiful Baharim.

Khoon Hooi's clothes were fun with blocks of colour and a little bit funky.

For me though, as someone who always prefers long flowing evening wear, I really loved Syaiful Baharim's creations. I must wear one of his pieces sometime.

There were many P&G products on display and of course that includes the range of OLAY products.

The P&G Beauty Hair Spa will be open today (Friday), Saturday and Sunday at the Pavillion. If you have the chance, you should go and check it out!

CSI

Isn't it so obvious that Grissom misses Sara? And that guy who is creating the board game totally has a crush on that pretty brunette.

Last night's episode was pretty ridiculous, and my sister and I got quite confused along the way. But, If there was a CSI board game available, I would definitely buy it!

I think Grissom will go after Sara....

new clothes..

I only have about a month before I have to start travelling again to shoot the last 5 episodes of my new documentary. In that time I have so much to do that sometimes I don't even know where to start.

I have enjoyed going to One Utama and Pavillion after work to check out all of the new clothes and accessories coming in. Big bold bright colours are everywhere and so are floral prints. I just bought another evening dress. It's emerald green from MNG. As if I don't have enough evening dresses that have not been worn yet. And I tried on 2 pieces from the latest Kate Moss for TopShop collection which I can't stop thinking about. Good news is that it means I must really like it cause I can't stop thinking about it. Bad news is that now I have to calculate to see if I can afford it. I hate shopping budgets.

I haven't bought a pair of shoes in 4 months though! That is definitely a record for me.

Tonight my sister and I are going to watch CSI together. I'm interested to see Grissoms reaction to Sara's departure.

OLAY

I am proud and honoured to have been chosen by such an influential international brand as OLAY to be part of their campaign.

Thank you OLAY.

This advertorial is starting to appear in our local magazines starting from May issues.

(this posting will only make sense and be interesting for CSI fans and viewers)

WHOOOOOAAA! Sara Sidle has left CSI! And she was very brave to make an exit the way that she did, I am obviously referring to the very public kiss she gave the love of her life, Grissom in full view of everyone in the lab. Poor girl, she must be so tortured. But you know how in Sunday's episode, she said in her letter to Grissom that while she was under that car out in the dessert, she was haunted by images and she needs to go and confront them to be able to move on with her life? Well, I don't remember any visual references being made during that episode. So I don't quite understand what she is talking about.

I wonder how Grissom is going to respond to this. Will he chase after her? Will he try to find her?

I do like how in this last episode that Sara's obviously become jaded with the job when she was confronted with that horrific case of domestic abuse where the wife has a knife in her back.

As for CSI Miami, Gary Sinise's character, Mac is another troubled soul haunted by his past. I feel sorry for that British accent girl. Is her name Peyton? Or Claire?

And CSI Miami has got to be the most unrealistic of all 3. Why would you wear white pants, a really tight shirt with the buttons undone so low down that you can see their assets with your beautifully blow dried hair flowing in the wind while you check out dead bodies in strange places. And usually, they are wearing high heels too.

If I worked in CSI, I would wear black plastic like pants with big jacket and those rubber boots that people who work in fields wear. My hair will be up in a bun and I would wear no jewellery. I would still wear my huge bug like sunglasses though.

I'm so looking forward to the upcoming episodes.

Also, may I ask all of you to please cast your vote on the poll on the right hand colum of this site. Question - how often do you visit this site?

Thank you

Sawah padi...

Fadli (producer) - Ok Sha, untuk episod ni, I nak shot you kat sawah padi. ...berdiri kat air...

Me - Hmmmm...ok... tapi I takkan kena pacat ke lintah ke? Kan I dah kena masa shooting Beauty Secrets from the East tahun lepas...

Fadli - Tak de lah! Tapi kalau kena pun, bukannya mati....

So, the girl in the picture above is actually me! Don't believe me? This next picture is proof.
I was a bit nervous at first because I didn't know how deep it would be but once I was in there, I was ok. Quite fun after awhile feeling all of that muddy earth all around my feet which sank about 4 inches into the bottom. As you can see from the picture above, the water wasn't that deep.

First batch of shooting done!

I just arrived back in my office and my first batch of shooting 8 locations is done!

Now the scripting, voice overs, preparations for launch and arrangements for next round of locations begins.

I do have a few more photos to share with you from my last location. I will be putting them up very soon.

Can't wait to get home and see my 'babies'. I wonder who will come and see me first this time. Last time it was Joberg and before I left this time, Schizo made a rare appearance and walked with me to my car.

And I am soooooo hungry.....

A salad from Marmalade is exactly what I am craving now.....

abandoned houses and a sunset..

Whenever I see abandoned houses like this, I can't help but wonder who used to live there and what happened that resulted in it being abandoned. A love story gone wrong? A family feud? I saw this house while travelling back from my last location. I just find them so fasciniating and feel tempted to go inside and see if I can find anything that could tell me the story. A family photo or a necklace..... I have a very big imagination....

And I couldn't resist taking a pictur of this beautiful sunset.

Celine Dion

I came back from my last location just in time to see Celine Dion live in Kuala Lumpur. I had the amazing privilege of watching her perform live at the Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas a few years ago so I was not only excited to see her perform again but also interested to see how this show compared to her one in Vegas. I remember I lined up for two and a half hours and when I got to the counter they only had 1 ticket left. It was expensive but worth it.

Her voice, was amazing from beginning to end. No questions or doubts about that. But I don't know why she only wore one costume for the whole show except for the last song, her undisputed hit song, "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic. And that costume did not flatter her at all.

Exactly the same thing happened here as it did in Las Vegas where even though she has said good night, no one wanted tro leave cause she had not sung that song yet. When she came back on in a stunning yellow evening dress with glittering belt, the crowd went wild! In Vegas I think she wore a white dress for this song.

Her dancers were great but I don't think the choreography suits the songs. And Celine can't really dance. She always seems a bit off time, but I forgive all of that for her fantastic and consistent vocal performace.

I think Stadium Putra at Bukit Jalil would have been a better venue. I watched the show sitting on a wet banquet chair which had been placed out on the wet and slightly muddy field.

In terms of stage design, costume changes and visual effects, the Las Vegas show was a million times better. But so it should be, they don't have to transport all the equipment all over the place. Last night's concert was really watered down, but I will say it agin, her voice was fantastic.

After the show, I was completely starving so went to a very noisy warung near my house where everyone's eyes were totally focused on the tv cause there was football game on.

I have no idea who was playing who. I'm not into football.

I ordered my usual Tandoori chicken and bungkus balik some for Lord Derbyshire. He was so happy!

In less than 24 hours, I will be gone again, but this is our last location shoot and then we go on our short break before we start the next round of shooting. We should be launching it in a few weeks!

on the road...

I'm in the office earlier than usual this morning. We are to leave soon for our next shoot location. It was horrible having to drag myself out of bed at 5.30 am this morning so I could check that I have packed everything then leave to come to the office and beat the morning traffic.

As much as I love it, at this point, I am looking forward to just staying in KL for a while. 2 more locations then we are on "a break" where we will stay in KL and work on editing and voice over scripting of our last locations.

I never thought I would say this but I actually miss going to the gym regularly. And I definitely miss the salads at Marmalade when I'm away.

When Lord Derbyshire saw my suitcase this morning, he started miaowing loudly again. "Where are you going now?!" he was probably saying.

Joberg probably wishes I would take him with me so that he will stop annoying her.

Will update you again soon! Til then, keep smiling..

previous location update..

The photos from this location are beautiful. But shooting was like a bit of a bad dream. I hurt my back which made things very difficult for everyone. The locals started arguing with each other and at one point the production team and myself could only stand there and watch the drama unfolding before us. We could not believe what we were seeing. And just before we were supposed to shoot the final segment of the show which in many ways is the highlight of the show, it started pouring with rain. And I really mean heavy rain! We were supposed to shoot outdoors, but within a few minutes of this heavy downpour, the ground became very muddy and not suitable at all for us to shoot. So we have to move to Plan B which was to shoot in a slighly cramped covered area.

It's all just part of the journey. And we're not finished yet.....

Many thanks to Jay for the beautiful photographs... keep smiling!!!