The Perfect Companion

The perfect companion when you are stuck at the airport for 2 hours.

I could probably live without Starbucks actually, it’s the camera that should have been in the picture.

But how do I take a photo of my own camera ?? Tsk, tsk.

Anyway, the journey on the bus to the airport was smooth. Less hassle this time, with no rush looking for parking.

Miraculously, we managed to find all the gifts for the kids apart from the Irish bookmark and keychain, which I plan to buy after I check-in.

They have a greater selection of souvenirs at the airport compared to the ones in town.

So, wish me a safe journey. As much as I love to travel, I really hate flying. (And my other phobia is balloons by the way)

ps: Hey Momster, look at the photo! I’m reading your blog!

Lucky kiddies!

We are heading here later to get last minute gifts for the family.

And the weather looks very bright outside too.

Did I tell you the last time I was here Pink had a big sale and I got shirts for 20 euros each.

And I heard they costs nearly RM1k back home for a shirt, ridiculous!

Anyway, I couldn’t help but laugh when reading all the messages from home.

At least, now we know what to get for our nephews and nieces.

Fariz : Songs for Ipod ( Easy, we have tons of songs for you to choose from )

Elle : Quality Street chocolates ( Is this all Elle? )

Alea and Azarul : Ireland Bookmark or Keychain ( Nice ! )

Farouq : Sony PSP games ( Oh, we have a few of our own to give ! )

Fariq and Farhad : ‘Are you sure you don’t want anything ?’

Tsara : A Barbie/Ballerina nightie ( Shouldn’t be a problem )

Mikhail : Map of Ireland ( Huh? Cute though! )

Arisya : Stickers ( Shouldn’t be a problem too! )

Nufhail : ‘Cars’ School Bag ( Will checkout the toystore )

Arsyad : Ironman ( It’s everywhere, thank god )

We decided for the 2 young ones :

Amber : Barbie !

Maira : A pretty top !

Phuh, them being specific with the requests make our lives so much easier.

Opps, really have to go now. He was oncall last night and coming home really soon, yikes.

Yes,

it’s true, we are coming home!

After weeks of toying between should we, should we not, should we, should we not ?

We finally decided, YES WE SHOULD!

You see, the decision would have been much easier if his holidays were not somewhat limited and restricted to 2 weeks. And plus, the prices were ridiculously exorbitant and enough to make a big hole in our pockets. (we also have to worry about our upcoming house project etc)

But we figured, it’s better now than later and with his cousin tying the knot, it was the perfect timing too.

With the very short amount of time, I have come-up with a list of must-dos which we will try our utmost best to achieve.

Amongst the top priorities are:

1) A drive-up to Northern Perak to visit my 94 year old ailing grandmother who currently is not in the best of health and on the way, stop by Tapah to visit Hubby’s grandmother.

2) Attend cousin’s wedding.

3) Spend as much time as possible with family and the 14 nephews and nieces that are so full of life and energy (and cuteness too!)

4) To finalize the design for the kitchen and lightings for the new house.

5) Abuse our digestive system with killer Nasi Lemak and Roti Canai (must be 100% mamak and not some fancy-schmancy restaurant please!)

I intend to add more to the list but even if we get to achieve the above, I would think the trip home is a major success already.

And with only a few days away till I reach home soil, I am getting very excited. I really can’t wait!

ps: photo above is of Istana Kenangan, Kuala Kangsar taken during our last trip home.

From Tipperary to Sayong

We came across this Irish cottage on our way to Waterford the other day.

You don’t see that many thatched cottages in Ireland nowadays so when I see one, I will try to take a photo of it.

For some strange reason, the old rustic traditional features reminds me so much of my ‘kampung’ back home.

I was looking through my old albums this morning and I found a few photos of Sayong.

My grandmother’s original house had been tastefully refurbished by my parents a couple of years ago and I think they did a brilliant job with it.

I know there is a lot to love about the features of this house eg. the meticulous carved wooden trimmings, but I especially love mom’s choice of the sunflower curtains which added a very warm ambience to the house.

It’s more of a holiday home for my family nowadays where they go to relax and unwind, waking up in the mornings to the beautiful scenes of Sungai Perak.

This is the scene if you are looking out from the main window.

Lovely, right ?

Oh, and did I tell you that hubby was at war with the mosquitos the last time we stayed here? Heheh.

Now I really wish I was back home in Malaysia, sigh.

Mii Love Wii

Look at him- just back from work, still in his work clothes and playing boxing on the Wii. (And dinner’s waiting on the table)

If you’re wondering why I have been quiet on the updates, this is the reason why. I am in love with my birthday present!

The Wii Fit is very addictive and I am trying my utmost best to do at least 20 minutes of yoga per day.

My Wii Fit age says that I’m *cough* 10 years older so lets see if I can tone these flabby muscles to at least , my actual age.

A Sunny Sunday in Slievenamon

A friend was surprised that we have never made a visit to Slievenamon and yet we only live 10 minutes away from it.

So one sunny sunday, we took a drive to check out the place that the locals talk so much about.

The drive offered a perfect backdrop of County Tipperary, with rolling hills, valleys, sheeps, sheeps and more sheeps.

Apparently, Slievenamon Mountain (shown above) is an easy climb with even more spectacular 360′ views of Kilkenny, Waterford and Tipperary.

I do hope we will find the time to take the hike although it sounds very unlikely with something coming up every other weekend

Perhaps one day.

ps: Look closely in the second picture and you can see a tiny dot just at the top of the mountain.That’s somebody parachuting down the mountain. Now, wouldn’t that be fun?

Llama Llama Duck

‘Here’s a llama
There’s a llama
And another little llama
Fuzzy llama
Funny llama
Llama llama
Duck’

We had an unusual finding over the weekend while driving out in Slievenamon.

You would never expect to find a South American animal in this part of the world where sheeps and cows vastly outnumber it’s human population.

It was a first for me by the way, and I find them cute.

Some Enchanted Evening

An evening view of Killarney Lake.

Though the day was coming to an end and the sun was slowly disappearing,

the scenery was still very enchanting.

It’s true what they say, you can never get enough of this place.

I Scream For Ice Cream !

We were in Killarney very recently and had a go at Murphys Ice Cream after being recommended by friends.

The honeycomb flavoured ice cream with chocolate coated cone was not bad at all with lots and lots of crunchy bits, but I still love good ‘ol Ben and Jerry’s.

The shop was very nicely decorated and had a very bright blue theme to it which made it very inviting for people passing by.

I guess no visit to Killarney is complete without going to Murphy’s!

Pretty Incredible

We spent the last Saturday of April watching ‘The Incredibles’ at Millstreet, Cork.

We love the movie but this one had a different storyline to it. It was rather entertaining although I was expecting more, but no regrets there as I am a BIG fan of figure skating.

So much so, for the past 3 years, I have been religously watching Dancing On Ice. I was literally glued to the TV every Sunday evening for a couple of months!

I especially love this year’s champion – Suzanne And Matt, and here’s a video of them performing in the finals. I think I have watched it a million times, such a mesmerizing and graceful performance !

Very hypnotic, eh? Somehow, her flying moves reminds me so much of Tinkerbell.