HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORA..

Ever since I could remember, my sister Nora has always been there whenever I needed a helping hand.. when Naufal was born she was initially awkward at even the thought of handling a baby, but within a few days of welcoming the baby home, I could see that she warmed up to the idea of it and had since fell in love with the little angel. So whenever I needed someone to take care of Naufal, Nora would definitely jump to the chance and never look back..

As you can imagine, she has been a great help to me in many ways. So for this year's birthday present I decided to get her a new handbag from my favourite brand... COACH!!

One of my friends in Houston is absolutely in love with shopping, so she offers to buy COACH handbags from the outlet and retail stores. Whenever there is a sale, she would snap pictures and ask her friends if they are interested to buy. So I decided to buy this bag for Nora. Before choosing which design is desired, I ask Nora to choose between a couple of designs that I liked best.. but our tastes are very different and she didn't like any of them.. so she looked at the COACH website and choose bags that she liked, the choice in color is much more subtle than what I am used to, but I guess these are the things that make us all different.. so from there I knew what her tastes were. I asked my friend to check it out in Houston and luckily it was on SALE.. I just knew it was meant to be.. I quickly placed an order, and in about 10 days the handbag arrived in my hands..

And Voila!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORA!!
May there be many more happy moments to live through together.

Sorry that we couldn't be there to celebrate your birthday as we are under quarantine, we'll see you this weekend instead. If you're wondering, your little nephew Naufal is getting better, he's definitely enjoying every minute with mummy, and to tell you the truth I'm really enjoying this "stay-at-home-mummy/wife" thing too. Very relaxing, and entertaining. Anyway, good thing your present is already at mama's place, so that you can have it to enjoy on your happy day today.

I'm so glad you love your new handbag :)

Langkawi Island

The trip to Cameron Highlands was actually last weekend.. this week I took two days off my annual leave but manage to get 6 days off work, how? Well I took Wednesday and Thursday off, Friday is a public holiday (in lieu of Thaipusm on Saturday), Saturday and Sunday is an official weekend, and Monday is a public holiday (Federal Territory day).So what did we do? We went to Langkawi Island, and then stop by Penang to catch up with the in-laws.

The plan to go to Langkawi started off two weekends ago when I realised that the dinnerware set that we got for our wedding is non-microwavable (due to the gold rim decorations). During lunch on the regular week day, I went to KLCC and looked at Corelle dinnerware at Parkson and Isetan and found out that the standard price for a 16 piece set is RM699. After taking to my cousin who went to Langkawi last x-mas, she told me that the price in the duty-free island is almost 50% off. So I was convinced that going to Langkawi is economically feasible, to add to it all, my birthday was just around the corner, so the trip was furthermore justified.

So Norman and I discussed and since this was a last minute trip, we decided to drive to Kuala Kedah jetty, take a ferry and stay in Langkawi Island for two nights. We decided to stay at Bayview Hotel because it was he closest one to the jetty and right next to the shopping district.Naufal and Norman on the ferry. Notice that Naufal is carrying a first aid kit that he stores all his car toys.

The Executive Suite that we stayed in.. the offpeak weekday rate is only RM45 more than the Deluxe room.. but on the weekend the rate is almost double...
The connecting door from the bedroom to the living room..

In addition to this we also get to use the Executive Lounge where the hotel provides high tea everyday and also free internet. Everything in the minibar is also free.

Anyway, we spend the first day in Langkawi surveying the price of Corelle dinnerware and matching Corningware set. I wanted to buy Kobe design, but it was not available anywhere in he island.So instead we bought European herbs... this 20-piece set was selling at RM368 (KL 16-piece set is selling at RM699).

The 2nd day, which also happens to be my birthday, we started off the day with a trip to see the Eagle.It was a beautiful day for a holiday...Then we went to Makam Mahsuri... There's also a mini bird zoo at Makam Mahsuri with peacocks, eagles and many more. Later we went to visit Beras Terbakar and to Pantai Chenang.

Because Naufal loves fish, we decided to go to the Underwater World. Naufal is making friends with his peers..
So many types of fishes on display..There's also birds, turtles, sea-lions and penguins.. to name a few...

Afterwards we went back to the hotel for tea and snacks. Later Naufal and Norman went for a swim at the hotel's swimming pool. Naufal took an evening nap, and soon we were out again to go shopping for my Corelle and Corningware.
There was so many other things that I felt like buying but I was consciously worried about how we are going to carry it all back. Anyhow, no visit to Langkawi is complete without buying chocolates, so we squeezed in afew bags of chocolate before leaving the jetty.. Norman had to carry all 4 boxes of goods and our bags out of the ferry while I was carrying Naufal.
It was great to be away from the office and go on a holiday on your birthday. I will definitely visit Langkawi again soon (to buy more dish sets like Pyrex bowls and gamat oils).. perhaps next time we could plan a trip with Norman's parents and siblings, so that we could carry more things out of the island.. haha

Once we arrived back in Kuala Kedah, we drove to Penang to enjoy the weekend with our dearest in-laws :)