Decision that was spot-on

Posted on May 14, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

“Everything happens for a reason” 

You know that saying? Well, I experienced it first hand today. In a way.

My parents are here in Penang for a visit; they’ve been here since Saturday. So today, they were downtown running some errands while I was at work. I told my Mom that I would pick them both up for lunch at about 12:30p.m. because I had a meeting from 11:00a.m.-12:00p.m. today. I figured I could probably get to Pulau Tikus in half an hour from my office.

Anyways, when I arrived at my meeting place at 11:00a.m., nobody was there. I waited for 10 minutes, tried calling the organizer but could not get him. I then walked out of the room and suddenly I met the organizer on the way out. Apparently he had forgotten about the meeting, so he rescheduled it to the afternoon instead.

I then called Mom to let her know that I would be able to arrive earlier, i.e. at 12:00noon instead. And when I did, I asked my parents if they wanted to eat hawker food or Fatty Loh Chicken Rice. We voted for hawker food at New World Park Hawker Center.

I ordered a big bowl of curry mee, with everything in it. For just RM3.50 per bowl, it was worth every single sen.

And do you know why going for hawker food for lunch there was the right decision today? As we took our seats, my Mom asked me to see who was seated at the next table.

YAB Lim Guan Eng, who was with three other people, had already finished his meal by the time we arrived. We approached his table, said hi and he made some small talk with us right before he left the table. Very smiley, very cheerful and of course he graciously agreed to a photo too. I’ve heard that Lim Guan Eng has been seen in various hawker centers in Penang, but I have not met him in person till today.

As he walked away, there was a group of university students (I think) who also took a photo with him, after which I heard Guan Eng telling them to “study hard ah..”.

That’s our Chief Minister right there for ya.

Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | 29 Comments

Winning bandwagon way

Posted on May 12, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

To me, participating in contests is highly addictive. And therapeutic too, I might add. It helps to take my mind off the stressful environment I live in, and creates an avenue for me to escape into a world with endless possibilities. Okayla. Enough of all that hooha. The bottomline is I LOVE taking part in contests, oh yes. Especially when I win stuff. And in the past month or so, I have been blessed with countless contest wins, I am pleased to say. Hubbs will gladly vouch that I will be smiling ear to ear whenever I announce my win 😛

In early April, while browsing through the April edition of Malaysian Women’s Weekly in Borders, I checked out the contest winners page like I usually do, holding my breath as I skimmed the names from top to bottom. And there, printed in black and white was my name, under the Dermalogica winners’ list. At that time, I could not remember what I had won because I had entered the contest at least 2 months’ back, but when I got home, I excitedly dug out the January 2008 MWW and checked. And jumped for joy.I had won a Dermalogica The Perfect Fit gift set worth RM120 which comprises the Conditioning Body Wash, Body Hydrating Cream and Stress Relief Treatment Oil. Ooolala…I can’t wait…

I’m still waiting for the organizers to contact me pertaining to details of collecting the prize though.

And while I was still waiting, one afternoon in mid-April, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I had won the first ever lucky draw organized by the DiapersAsia forum. The prize was an adorable Starbunz cloth diaper, which of course, is for Ethan. I chose a doggy diaper for him, complete with floppy ears, which he adores to no end.

My winning streak didn’t end there. One fine morning in the last week of April, I discovered that I had won the 5th contest on Zoop’s Rantings on Life blog. My guess of £15.50 for the Calvin Klein belt was the closest to the actual price of £15.00! So I am now eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Jane Norman bag. Another bag for me! A girl can never have enough bags huh? 🙂 I’ll definitely post pictures of the real thing when it arrives.

Photo credits

While surfing the net on the first Saturday night of May, I discovered that the results of the Mia Bambina Earth Day contest was announced. And to my utter joy, I found out that I had won! I really cracked my head to come up with a poem to describe the Mia Bambina logo and it actually paid off. I received my prize today, which was a package of environmentally friendly products, like so:

One Drybees Hybrids All-In-One Diaper
One Regular Organic Cotton Willowpads + hemp insert
One Organic Cotton Breast pad from Willowpads

Very very awesome indeed.

I also welcomed the month of May with another lucky draw win at the DiapersAsia forum. It’s a set of two Envirosax, environmentally-friendly shopping bags that look gorgeous! This time it wasn’t a lucky draw win per se but it was cos I referred the most people for the contest. Lawl. Just two: Rinnah & Paris. Thanks girls! The bags will be coming sometime later, because I might want to order some other stuff from the Tiny Tapir store too, the organizer of the contest. Might as well ship them together huh? I am still undecided over the designs of the Envirosax to choose though, but I have narrowed my options down to a few. Let me know which ones you think I should get, or did I miss out any other nicer ones? (all Envirosax pictures are borrowed from the Envirosax site)

Well, the prizes I have won thus far are not THAT grand. Not like that Club Med Cherating holiday for two I won back in the year 2000. But I am very grateful, nonetheless. And I am praying for more to come….hopefully? 🙂

Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | 14 Comments

A fantasy I’m dreaming of

Posted on May 11, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

 

It is 8:00a.m.  I stir myself awake, still in a daze but very much aware of the clattering of cutlery in the dining area outside.  I stifle a yawn, stretch and turn over and it was then that I realize hubbs and Ethan were not in bed already.  I quickly got up, brush my teeth and wash up, and as I wipe my face dry, the aroma of freshly made pancakes and waffles greeted me.  With a smile, I waltz into my dining room, where I saw that my darling hubby had made me a breakfast fit for a queen princess!

Both the boys gave me a hug, wished me a Happy Mother’s Day and we had a terrific breakfast together.  We then got ready for church and had a really enjoyable service there.  All the mommies present were given a rose each, as a token of the celebration for Mother’s Day.

We then headed for the beach where we were gonna have a family picnic.  Hubbs had packed a basketful of goodies which included most of my favorite food items like chicken pie, cheese cake, Twisties and oh yeah, some pink guava juice too.  The weather was slightly cloudy with just the right amount of sun.  Perfect to acquire a tan. Which I took full advantage of 🙂 After a couple of hours playing with the waves, building sandcastles and having nothing but fun, we headed for home for our afternoon siesta.

We woke up just in time for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants.  Ethan was on his bestest behavior that night, obediently sitting in his baby chair and eating all by himself.  Not a single crumb of food was dropped.  Of course, for me, margarita was part of what I ordered for dinner too! 🙂

And then we came back home, and got ready for bed.  I read Ethan his bedtime story, Jack and the Beanstalk, gave him a kiss and tucked him into bed.  He looked up at me, reciprocated the kiss and said, “I love you Mommy!  You’re the best Mommy ever!  Happy Mother’s Day!”

Oh yeah, and before I called it a night, hubbs gave me a massage, complete with soothing essential oils and calming music.

Bliss.

Was that good enough a fantasy, SlaveMom?

Ah well, I did go to church today though.  And although I didn’t get that rose, I got a pink carnation and a mini brocade case from Mama’s Nyonya restaurant when we dined there for lunch.  Better than nothing la.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you awesome mommies out there!  May all your wishes come true!

And a very Happy Mother’s Day to my Mama, the queen of my heart and soul!  You’re da best!  I’m so glad I get to spend Mother’s Day with you this year! *grin*  Thank you for the freshly harvested sweet sweet persimmons you brought back from Perth too!  Y-U-M!

Oh, and also a special shoutout to Adino‘s wife, Poey Chin, who just qualified to celebrate her very first Mother’s Day!  Congratulations Adino and Poey Chin, on the arrival of little Rachel!

Now, since it’s already Mother’s Day today, I’m gonna twist this tag a wee bit and give a chance to the daddies instead to fantasize about Father’s Day coming up in June.  Fair, no?

Hereby tagging:

Don’t hold back. Let it rip! Will you share your Mother’s Day/Father’s Day Fantasies on your blog? Then pass it on to other Mothers/Fathers to share. Let’s be silly and let our hair down. Then add your name and blog post url to the list and let it go around. I’ll start with mine. Anyone can participate in this. Just write your blog post and add your name to the list. It’s that simple.

1. Mumsgather shares – What I REALLY want to do on Mother’s Day
2. Kiddos Realm shares
3. Ruth shares
4. Jazzmint shares
5. Chanel shares
6. Karen shares – My Mother’s Day Fantasies
7. Lemonjude shares – My Mother’s Day Fantasies
8. Sting shares
9. JO-N shares – Mothers
10. Montessorimum shares – What I REALLY want to do on Mother’s Day
11. Mummy In Vain shares – What I REALLY Want To Do On Mother’s Day
12. Slavemom shares – Mother’s Day Plan… In Dreamland
13. Giddy Tigress shares – A fantasy I’m dreaming of

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Memes & Tags, Thoughts & Scribblings | 14 Comments

Funky foxy fanciful fiver

Posted on May 9, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress


Dandelion dream alphas from A work in progress 

Aiyo, I missed this dateline by a week liao.  According to this meme, I am supposed to post my entry a week after being tagged on a Friday, and I was tagged by the bento-crazy DSLR-maniac Hijack Queen some 2 weeks ago!  Eeeek.  Anyway, at least I am posting this on a Friday. 🙂

DO YOU PREFER…

1. To watch or participate?
Lazy Smart people like me WATCH and learn, and then selectively participate.

2. Malls, catalog shopping, or the Internet?
Must I only choose ONE?  I love ALL of those options.  Don’t you know that I am a kaki shopping?  Hence, I must live up to my name la.  Seriously though, it really depends on what I am shopping for.  I’d even go to the extent of shopping in all options available, weighing the pros and cons before I land myself the perfect bargain.  That’s the kaki shopping for ya.  … and men think we women take so long to shop!

3. A bath or shower?
A shower with full blast bursts of water.  Even better if there is a massage function in the nozzle.  Works wonders on the nape of the neck, y’know.  My usual routine now is to have a cold shower every night before bed.  The cold water keeps me alert enough to have have a quick read before I hit the sack.  And my skin never felt better.

4. To talk to people by telephone, in person or by e-mail?
Email, because I get to phrase everything out the way I want it, I get to use the backspace and delete key and then I have a black and white proof of what I sent and what replies I get.  Trust me, emails have come in handy for me all the time.  The downside to this is that *sometimes* people don’t really get what you mean.  Someone called me up sometime back and asked if I was angry with regards to the email I sent out.  I told him no, but he said that I sounded angry from the email.  However, no matter how I reread my email, I just couldn’t pinpoint where he misconstrued the anger.

5. Typing or writing?
Writing by typing.

And I am tagging:

allthingspurple
rinnah
parisb
wen
slavemom

Have a good weekend y’all!  And oh yeah, here’s wishing all mommies out there a fantastic Mother’s Day this Sunday!

Posted in Memes & Tags | 9 Comments

Blown away by the breeze

Posted on May 8, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

Who doesn’t appreciate homecooked food?  Especially if it tastes really good and arrives like 10 minutes after the order had been placed… We recently stumbled upon a nice and cozy restaurant nestled in Aboo Sitee Lane in Penang.  Actually hubbs went there with some friends of his, and he was going on and on about how good the food was, that I simply HAD to try it out.  Oh by the way, I just found out that Aboo Sitee Lane in Hokkien means Gangsters’ Lane.

So anyway, the name of this restaurant is Nyonya Breeze and upon first glance, one might pass it off as a vegetarian restaurant, simply because of its (misleading) green and white signboard.  This picture was taken as we were leaving the place.  See the two cute guys in the doorway? *grin*

We didn’t order a lot since it was only two adults and one rice-loving kid dining.  Only four small dishes and dessert.  We ordered tau eu bak (braised pork with soya sauce), acar hu (sort of a pickled fish), jiu hu char (shredded radish, carrots, cuttlefish etc served with fresh green lettuce) and huan choo heok masak lemak (sweet potato leaves and sweet potatoes cooked in a soup mixture with TONS of santan).

I loved ALL of the food.  It was a nice authentic touch that the food was all served in those old-fashioned plates with the pink flower designs.  Actually I enjoyed the food so much that I almost did not notice that the tau eu bak did not have any eggs.  I did LOVE the masak lemak dish though.  Reminds me of the one my grandma and mother makes.  Mom calls it masak titek, which I believe is the same.  I can almost taste the flavor and aroma of the santan even as I am typing this now.  Definitely a must-order when I come back to the restaurant next time.  Not to self: get recipe from Mom.

I noticed a lot of elderly nyonya-looking folk eating at the restaurant too, which goes to show that the food must be good.  Lunch came up to RM37.75, which was very reasonable.  Of course it helped that our newly approved CIMB Platinum MasterCard qualified us for a 10% discount off the bill.

Posted in Drooling & Cooking | 13 Comments