Fourth of July 2009 - Day 1

It's the T's family tradition to spend Fourth of July in DC every year.

So, we packed our bag....



filled our cooler with drinks, sandwiches, snacks and juices....



and hit the road at 11:00 am yesterday.








We made a pit-stop at Ikea in Potomac Mill to have a quick meatballs lunch.



At 2:00 pm, we were in DC downtown.



Driving to our hotel.



One thing I like about DC is there are tonnes of old and beautiful buildings around.



This is The Willards - will cost you an arm and a leg to stay there.



So patriotic.



More buildings left and right.



The Westin hotel that we're going to stay for 3 days.




I have to give alot of credit to this hotel particularly their outstanding services after an incident happened today (will blog about that later).

Like many hotels around the world, you tend to like and dislike about it - be it their services, how you like/dislike their rooms, the restaurant, locations and so on.

What I like about The Westin:-

Their well-decorated room.



The not-so-large bathroom...



with a black sleek marble top sink.



The oh-so-comfortable bed....



and their soft and fluffy feather pillows.



42" flat-screen TV.



A small cozy area for you to blog.



The nice chaise sofa to laze around.



They even pay so much attention and detail on the bathroom soap.




Now what I really don't like about this hotel:-


They gave me a room with this view.




Their over-priced bottle of water.



Who would pay $3 for a bottle of water?



Look at the price of a snickers bar.



Soda for $3.50?



I wonder what was in that intimacy kit..???





After check-in, we took a couple minutes to take some pictures.










We took a rest in the hotel for a while before we went for a walk around downtown DC.



We did a lot of walking and I was so glad to have brought my flip flops along.










Dinner was in Singaporean Restaurant on M Street.



What a big disappointment.



The restaurant serves more Fusion food - a mixture of Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian.



I had Nasi Campur - basically it was coconut rice, two-bites size of beef rendang, some gado-gado, sliced cucumbers and carrots, keropok, a bowl of sambal belacan and two sticks of chicken satay.



MrT had some chicken and beef satay. It was just alright.



All gone within minutes - I was starving!



The food was alright - wasn't really what I expected it would be. Don't think I will be coming back anytime soon.




Fireworks is tonight. Can't wait for that. Gotta go and take a short nap coz I figure it's going to be a very long and busy night.





.......

Cat Cat in Bikinis

I have been debating myself for the longest time if I should have posted this entry in my blog.

It's a bit too much of personal - some of you might think, but what the heck!

I thought I should be very proud of myself for being successfully achieved my ideal weight although I would very much like to lose more, possibily to shed 10 more lbs.

I mean I had worked so hard, struggling and starving myself to death some time, to lose all those weight and now I should let the world, my family and my friends know and acknowledge my achievement and be inspired by them.

Lets see some of my old pictures before I lost all those weight.


Picture taken in February 2008 - I basically let myself go back then.

Getting dinner ready - March 2008.



See the double-chin? March 2008.



Shopping at Ikea in a pair of size 12 jeans (that's probably 32 for European size) - undated (2008)



The heaviest me at 148 lbs in April 2008....



and I decided to take this picture and started my diet program.




At 148 lbs, I became very depressed and sad, it got to the point that I was ashamed of myself. I constantly worried about putting on weight uncontrollably and being an ex-gestational diabetes patient, I was stressed out most of the day about my weight.



Anyway, here there are... pictures of me in BIKINIS.

I know majority of my blog readers are Malaysian Muslim who are very conservative about showing "aura" in public but I'll warn you first.

If any of my readers here felt very offensive and do not wish to see me in sexy bikinis, please STOP HERE!



STOP!


S T O P !!!!


S T O P !!!!







Now that you've been WARNED and, if you want to see it, scroll down.

The Floral







The Green - My Favourite






The Fake LV bought from Petaling Street, Malaysia. Haha!






I must admit, now that I have lost all the weight, I'm happier, have alot more energy and most importantly - I feel good about myself. I have gained my self-confident back and I no longer ashamed of myself.

Lets just hope I keep my weight down just like it is for a little while. I might want to try to lose a couple more inches here and there.




Time to hit the pool in my bikini and get some sun. Happy Fourth everyone!






.............

not quite "Cucur"

Saturday, a dear friend of mine, Felicityville (yeah, she was the lady that I had a babyshower for her last year) was planning to come over for a visit with her cute, chubby 7-months old son, R.

Unfortunately due to our different time schedule, we had to re-arrange the visit to another weekend so that they can stay longer and have dinner with us too.

Being paranoid me, I started to plan what to serve my guests for dinner on their upcoming visit.

We had Har Mee (Prawn Noodles) the last time they visited us and it was good. I wanted to do something different; an appertizer, entree and follow by dessert.

I'm thinking to cook Curry Laksa Noodles with Chicken - no "See Ham" (cockles) though. Wish I could find cockles here in Richmond.

I haven't thought about dessert yet but for appertizer, I'm going to make:



with fresh shrimp (prawn for those of you who are not American).



So, I started to practise my cooking skill of making an authentic "Cucur Udang" so that I won't embrassed myself in front of my guests lah...

Heated some cooking oil in the sauce pot.... and began to deep-frying the delicious "Cucur Udang". Just like what Datin Salt & Tumeric posted in her blog.



The first one turned out okay, not as pretty as our Datin S&T's Cucur Udang.



Boleh lah, eh..??

And when I did the second one, the darn batter kinda sticked to the ladle - HARD LIKE A GLUE.

I had to use a fork to forcefully dig the batter off the ladle.



I was getting very disappointed by then.


"Datin S&T, what did I do wrong..?"

"Was the oil not hot enough?"

See, my second Cucur turned out missing one of its shrimp.



I was getting frustrated, so instead of following Datin's instructions, I did my own way.

I used a spoon.



Add all the shrimps to the batter, scoop and drop it to the hot oil.



And all my "Cucur" turned out looking like this.



But it still taste very good.



Eat with Maggi Chili Garlic Sauce. It's HEAVEN, I tell you!



Just like those "Cucur Udang" sold in pasar malam back home.



Crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside.



Well, I might change my mind and just do a simple Fried Popiah as an appertizer since my "Cucur" didn't turned out quite "Cucur". We will see.


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Ava came over and had a sleep-over with Annabel Friday night.



They both go to the same school, in the same grade, ride on the same bus, on the same swim team, have swim practise every morning, both are very goofy - they are just like twins!



Except one with black hair with brown eyes and the other has blonde hair with blue eyes.




Must run. The girls are calling for help.






.......

No title...

I have been struggling with my weight lost so much lately it gets to the point that I just couldn't handle it anymore.

My lowest weight went down to 117 lbs, three weeks ago to be exact and for some reason (whatever it was) in the past couple of weeks, I was chowing down food like a hungry hog.

Gave me a burger and it was gone in seconds. Add fries - two thumbs up for me. Wasn't much interested drinking just water or diet, so soda full of sugar RULED my world.

This morning, stepped on the scale and I almost passed out. I have put on 4 lbs. Four freaggin' pounds in 2 weeks. How in the world did I do that?

"I have to stop this." I told MrT.

He nodded his head, "Uh-hu... and what are you gonna do..?"

"I gotta do something." I said.

"Well, you are not going to stop eating, aren't you?" he asked.

"Of course not. I just have to control my bad eating habit." I added.


So, I got on the internet trying to find some solutions. I remember a friend of mine was taking some kind of colon cleansing pill and lost tonnes of weight.

And today, I started with this 30-days colon detox program - Nature Cleanse. It says I will lose 25 to 30 lbs in a month.

"Uh-hu!" said MrT again.



Holy Guacamole! I don't need to lose 25 lbs. Take 10 lbs off me, I will be one happy camper.

I will tell you if I lost 10 lbs or 25 lbs by the end of 30 days. Pray for me, please.


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With the hot summer months, we spent most of our evenings soaking in the pool to cool off.



I have a few pairs of sexy bikinis but this lime green one is one of my favourite.



Look how tan she got from the sun.



And this young lady couldn't stand the heat; she went hiding underneath the table.




I find her extremely cute in Chinese Cheongsam.




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Annabel had her first swim meet two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. She finished 7th place in the relay and did very well in her back stroke.

MrT volunteered himself to be a time-keeper for the first half.



The girls teaming up for the relay.



Counting toes and see who has the prettiest.



Smile Ladies, you are on candid camera!



Someday, I will grow up like my big sister.




Gotta go.. Colon detox pill is kicking in!



...........

a tribute...

to my beloved Michael Jackson who passed away today at the age of 50 from cardiac arrest.

I grew up listening to his song. He was one of my favourite singer for many many years. Today he left us to be "home" and I will mourn for the lost of this talented singer.

May his soul rest in peace.





.......

just an update...

For the past few days, I have been thinking about changing my hairstyle. Some of you may say, "WHAT..?? Not again!"

I honestly have to admit that I had a very bad experience with the Vietnamese hairdresser when she did my highlight a few months back. I also do remember swearing over my dead body not to have a haircut for the next twenty years.

But you know what? Summer is here and having a very long hair, I repeat VERY LOOOOOONG, like mine during the hot summer months is a pain in the behind.

The heat and rays from the sun can be very damaging, causing hair to become dry, brittle and frizzy.

So, lately I have been thinking to cut my hair short, perhaps shoulder length with long side swept bangs.

What do you think of this hairstyle?




And I really like the one below.



Or perhaps I will just stick to my long hair, have it permenant and cut my bangs just like this one.




I have not had a clue. I will decide later.



************************************


As told in my earlier post, I wanted to share some of MrT's old photos that he got from his sister in Canada.

Here you go.


MrT and his sister, Kim. Isn't he a cheeky one? I think Emma looks alot like him. No?



At Kim's wedding in Federicksburg.

From left to right: MrT's Dad, Kim, MrT and MrT's Mom. Look at that MrT's hairstyle. And I'm madly in love with Kim's heels.



MrT's parent's wedding.

From left to right: MrT's maternal grandparents, not sure who that little girl was, MrT's parents, MrT's faternal grandsparents.

Phew! Got it..??



MrT's mom when she was a baby with her parents - MrT's maternal grandmother lah...!!!

I think this is the most precious photo that we have in our collection.





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When MrT and the girls were away in Canada, I was bored out of my wits. I wasn't going to spend twenty some dollars on a pedicure (yeah, I'm cheap but hey, that 1/4 of my weekly grocery money, you know).

So what did I do?

Went out to the mall and my initial plan was just to have a quick lunch at the food court, then make a quick stop at Body & Bath Works and Victoria Secret's (Uh-hu..!!!)

I did went to both stores but found nothing worth buying, so on my way out, I passed-by Claire's, a custome jewelry store which both my girls adore so much.

A quick stop at the store and I came out VERY HAPPY with this:-





I wanted to have the 3rd hole on my ear pierced since 10 years ago. And last Saturday, I DID IT!

So, instead of spending 20 some dolloars on a pedicure which I frugally refuse to pay, I ended up spending 50 some dollars at Claire's... That's 1/2 of my weekly grocery money.

I guess the girls have to stick with Peanut Butter Sandwich dinners for a week now!



*******************************



Summer months in Virginia can be very hot. Average summer temperatures normally climb into the upper 90’s and even reach over 100 degrees at times.

During these three months, I usually wear a pair of open toe heels to work most of the days.

So besides home pedicure every week to make my toe nails all pretty and presentable, a little foot accessories is a must, at least for me, not sure about others.



I'm also thinking of getting a small tattoo on my ankle. What say you?




Time to go to the pool. See ya!




..............

home finally....

The girls are home.

They got in at 4:00 pm yesterday from Detroit, MI. Once home, they had their bathing suits on and went to the pool right away, leaving MrT at home, having some down time, ALL BY HIMSELF.

To be honest, I had the most fabolous 6-days of my life, ALL BY MYSELF at home, in 10 years while MrT and the girls were away in Canada.



No cooking AT ALL (ate out twice and leftover most of the nights), no crazy morning rush to the bus-stop, and the best part, I basically did whatever I wanted. It was indeed fun to be "single" again and I honestly don't mind doing it again. It was almost like hitting a MegaMillion!



I have tonnes of photos to share - from the girls' vacation in Canada to some of MrT's old photos when he was a kid. So, bear with me. I need to sort things out and find some time to have those old photos scanned and uploaded in here.


At the meantime, enjoy some photos of Megan Fox, the most beautiful woman on the planet, IMHO.

Seriously, do women get more painfully hot than this?

Megan Fox has the face of an angel, a body so perfect that God may have carved it out of soap and sex appeal that could melt a unicorn's horn. Plus, I read somewhere that she smells like clouds.

No blogging

Here are the reasons why I haven't been blogging for A WEEK!


1. The power adapter to my laptop is acting up. It will power up for a second and then goes off for 3 hours. At current state, my poor laptop is running out of "juice". New power adapter has been ordered and will get it in the mail, hopefully in a couple of days.

2. I have been hooked up with Facebook lately. The games are addicting and I highly recommend Restaurant City. I named my restaurant as Chui Lui Pan Mee. Haha!

3. MrT and the girls are going to Canada this afternoon for a week, so I have been busy packing their stuff and spending most of my time with the girls. Gosh, I will be missing them so much. Any suggestion what to do for a week ALL BY MYSELF....???

4. Have nothing to blog about. Running out of idea, but I have a cute video to share in my next post. I'm sure you will like it.


So, yeah I'm still ALIVE in pieces, but surely and slowly I will be back to my humble blog for more to share.


Arios!



........

the evenings...

Annabel had her 2nd week of swim practise this week and here is she in action showing off her back-stroke.



Swim practise starts Monday to Friday from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm.



"Ms-I'm-So-Cool" chilling out while waiting for her sister.



By the time we got home, it was almost 6:30 pm.



I had some "Chicky Boobies" (Dawn, borrow your words) marinated with BBQ sauce since last night...



... and BBQ Chicky Boobies on the grill we had for dinner tonight.



Oh, with BBB too. What's BBB? Baked Beans & Bacon. Aha!




My dinner - 4 small bites of chicken breast and some baked beans. Pssst, I'm still on my diet. Guess what is my weight now..?



His dinner.


The girls and their dinners.




Done with dinner, it was close to 8:00 pm.




Got the girls a quick shower (they prefer bath though but I didn't have the patience) and off they went to their rooms to watch T.V.





That's basically how most of our evenings go. Wanna know the mornings??

Come back and check it out.


At the meantime, please enjoy a couple of the girls' videos at your own leisure.

Comments are welcome.








.......

the number 9

The girls had playdates over today.

Dolce came over and stayed for a couple of hours. She lives in the same neighborhood as ours and used to go to the same daycare with Emma.



Imani (in picture below) and Ava were Annabel's playdates and they also live in our neighborhood.



This is what it turned out to be if you left 5 super-hyperactive young girls playing in the playroom for 2 hours.



I had the playroom door shut and dare not to go in.



Someone got to clean the room fast before I have a heart attack.





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After the playdates, we spent the entire afternoon at the pool.



The girls took a break during the "Adult Swim" time and played at the playground right beside the pool.





It was a relaxing weekend and we finished up our day with a take-out BBQ Ribs dinner from Famous Dave's BBQ.

Yum, it was finger licking good. I have never eaten so much in a long long time.



******************************




Oh by the way, today is our 9th Anniversary. Happy Anniversary, MrT!



...........

more short posts...

Our neighborhood's pool opened for the summer season on Saturday.

The girls got up very early in the morning with full of excitement and can't wait to go for a swim. They have been waiting for the Memorial Day weekend for the longest time.



At 12 noon sharp, with their bikes and swimsuits on, off they went to the pool and spent the entire afternoon there.

I'm so glad the pool is open now - the girls can spend most of their summer afternoon there.



MsA is going to be in the swim team this year, so expect to see more pictures of her and her swim mates.



***************************


No Sambal Sotong for dinner yet. I have been lazy in the kitchen lately. Most dinners were cooked on the grill - burgers, hotdogs, steaks and chicky boobies.

Found some fish paste at the Oriental store and I was crazy for some Yong Tau Foo.




So, Tau Foo Pok with fish paste cooked in soy & oyster sauce were my dinners for the past few nights.

Not as good as my mom's but hey, I can't complaint much.

Will try to do a full version of Yong Tau Foo with eggplants, chillies, ladyfingers and silken tofu. Only when I'm not too lazy!



********************************





MrT went out and bought an electric guitar a few weeks ago and was talking about taking up a guitar lesson by watching YouTube.

I know it can be done and I'm sure he can do it. Wish him luck!



******************************



At 3-1/2 years old, I guess this is the age that most kids loves stickers - just like Robbie Williams adores his tattoos.


How do you like my tattoos...??


Only if they are real...


and PERMENANT...!!!!



***********************


Got to go now.



The girls are bugging me to go to the pool. Agaaaaaain!

So long Folks!




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