Tomorrow is a holiday!

A 3-day weekend. Another JJCM mission, perhaps? I have lots lots lots of space to fill in ;)

 

Satay with peanut sauce.San Francisco. Feb 2011. BangSan Thai.

Thanksgiving 2010

Summary of my Thanksgiving celebration this year:

Black Friday

As I don't want to line up like the previous years, we headed out for a shopping spree at 2 am when people started to head home. I hit bed at 10 pm to get recharge before shopping but woke up at 11pm. The adrenaline rush made it harder for me to doze off so I end up watching TV until 2 am. Jai didn't sleep either.

Arrived at Vacaville factory outlet at about 2.30am, as what we expected it was really easy to find a parking spot. Coincidentally, we parked in front of Carter's and that was the first shop we went into. I didn't plan to buy anything for our baby just yet thus I didn't bring the baby's checklist. Plus, it will be much easier to shop for our baby if only we knew the gender, but we tried to grab few neutral attires considering the 50% discount they offered. Jai was really natural when it comes to shopping for baby gears. He said we should buy mittens to avoid baby from scratching their face, we should buy this and that, etc..etc..etc.

We ended our Black Friday shopping at about 6am. Didn't buy any bag this time cos they don't have any designs that capture my attention. Nevertheless, I headed home with several bags of clothes considering I will be 'expanding' in a few months. But the most interesting gadget I bought was this :

Tried it a few times, sometimes I get lucky to hear something that sounds like a heart beat. Sometimes, I just hear my stomach growling :P


Thanksgiving Dinner

This is the 3rd Thanksgiving Dinner I attended since I was here. Thanksgiving 2008 was actually the first event I felt I was assimilating with the Malaysians in Davis, so yes, thanksgiving is a really special occasion for me.Well, glad that we make it as an annual celebration or else, I will be drooling over someone's else roasted turkey.

I went to the lab and was back at home at 3pm and started cooking half-an-hour later. The dinner started at 6pm and I have 3 dishes to make. Jai helped me cutting stuff but still, I finished cooking 5 minutes before 6pm. But Malaysians are still Malaysians, hahaha, we started our dinner at around 6.45pm and I was starving cos the only food I ate that day was maggi kari.

Well, I let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the dinner.

Roasted turkeys

I made meat pie and shepherd's pie.

And mee goreng too. Oh, the bread pudding made by one of the Malaysians was delicious.

Turkey wings.

Us, stuffed with food. 

Ok, I'm heading out to the gym. Need to work out after being a potato-couch for several days. Tata.

Real Madrid vs. Club America

Bilalah nak sampai seru buat entry Oregon and Seattle nih.........

Well, anyway, we went to watch an exciting game between Real Madrid and Club America (pronounced as Kelub Amerikah) yesterday in San Francisco.We took off from Davis at 4pm, reached SF at about 6pm.Went makan2 at the Malaysian restaurant, Banana Island.

Thinking that the stadium is just 10 min away from the restaurant, we took our own sweet time enjoying Malaysian food.

The game started at 8pm and we got out from the restaurant around 7.30pm..

And then, my oh my... the traffic was really bad and we underestimated the popularity of the game. Anyway, we did the Malaysian style of 'mencilok' so we got into the area around 8pm.

Then, there's another problem. Finding a parking spot. It was a long queue to get the parking spot, had to pay $25 which was freaking expensive. Anyway, we dropped off Fakhirah and Adilla to get the ticket at the will call counter while we searched for parking spot.

The Candlestick Park's (the stadium) management was really terrible. They arranged the will call counter according to alphabetical order and the queue was very loooooong and way to slow. How was we supposed to know which line we were queuing when the line was not really a line?

Anyway, after people were shouting "refund, refund" for quite a while, the management opened the gate to us to enter with or without ticket. So, we stormed into the stadium and it was already halftime. Real Madrid has scored one goal. The stadium was only 20% full cos there was so many people stuck outside the stadium because of the stupid counters.

I was so 'lampi' (lambat pick-up) I didn't know Club America is a Mexican football team until I went into the stadium and saw all the Mexicans holding the Club America banner. Patutla ramai Mexican outside the stadium. Blur lah ko nih Farina. Hahaha.

Candlestick Park

 He sat right beside us. Tak berapa semenggah sikit perangainye.

Mexican fans

On the screen, Cristiano Ronaldo

When the game started, only one football star that I recognized which was Cristiano Ronaldo *wink*. Kaka and Iker Casillas were not in the line-up. Nevertheless, I think the second half was much more exciting because there were 4 goals scored, 2 by each side. Real Madrid defeated Club America, 3-2. The winning goal which was a freekick (freekick ala David Beckham), was scored by Ronaldo. Both team played very well, even Club America had many attempts to score goal. Real Madrid did not put their full force team, that's probably the reason why Club America could actually scored. 

In nutshell, buy the cheapest ticket you can get with a good seating position. As long as you can see the whole view of the game is good enough. Bring a binocular if you want to see the player closely. Come 2 hrs before the game. Any management who wants to organize any kind of football match should offer online ticket printing. Don't underestimate the popularity of soccer in the US.

Ape2 pun bestnyeeeeee dapat tengok Real Madrid! *tone jakun*  

Recap: Spain vs. Netherlands

Damn! Again....

It was an exciting game. We watched it at a bar restaurant, the Grad just to have that adrenaline rush.

Both of the team had many chances to score but Netherlands especially, wasted their chance to score. Netherlands as usual, likes to play rough. So, no surprise they got a red card in the end. And that accidental kick on the the chest, gosh, it surely hurts like hell.

The referee was biased, he gave 14 yellow cards the entire match. Some of them were unjustified. It reminds me of the referee in Germany vs. Serbia match.  I walked out from the Grad less than a minute before the game ends cos he was giving another yellow card. I could not stand him anymore. Sangat gila kuasa. Xavi, reminds me of Ronaldo in WC 2002. Hahaha. Sikit2 jatuh.

Apepun, congratulations Spain for winning  two prestigious championships in a row.

And good job Mueller for winning the golden boot! (I know if you were playing in semi-final match, you could have changed how Germany played the game *tibe-tibe*)

Obviously, Mani's keeper boleh tutup kedai lepas nih. Paul won't be making any predictions in the future cos he probably has a year or two to live. So, spare him some time please. Hahaha

In all, I believe Germany will make a stronger appearance in Euro 2012. So, Germany, here we go :)

Life after WC: Holiday!!

In case you haven't read about this, a parrot from Singapore predicted the 'Oranje' will win the WC. Please click the link HERE. What is wrong with this world, first an octopus then a bird?
 
Anyway, life during WC is exciting. It does bring more good than harm at least for me.

For example:

1. I usually go to work at 10am. As you know, I'm not a morning person. But because of WC, I was wide awake at 7 am to watch the WC match. By 8.45 am right after the game ends, I made my move to work and the parking lot usually still empty. The Americans usually come to work between 9-9.30am. So, during WC, aku bagus sikit dari Americans. Hahaha.

2. I managed my work pretty good since I wanna make sure I get everything done by 11.30 am which is the last match of the day. Kalau tak, petang baru nak start buat kerja :P

3. This is the first WC for us as husband and wife. I realized I'm more obsessed with WC compared to Jai. He was calmer than me in accepting his team's lost. So, takdelah adegan boikot masak or tidur luar lagi.

Life after WC? Ah, as usual. The boring yada yada yada..... Yang penting, WC 2014 aku plan nak deliver sebab time Mesia and Brazil beza 13 jam,  so aku tak yah gi kerja, boleh tgk WC dalam pantang. . Gile planning jauh ke depan. Hohoho.

But I'm looking forward for our roadtrip next week. The loooooooong-awaited holiday. Where to?





View Larger Map

From California to Oregon to Washington.Total 12 hours of driving one way. Here we come! .

P/S: Anyone has visited these states before? Any must-visit place?

Ini entry frust menonggeng :(

Damn you Germany! You disappoint me :( Mahal tau aku beli jersey ko Germany pastuh ko kalah pulak kan. Rocky pun suruh aku cukur bulu die sampai bogel, die suruh aku kalerkan oren pulak. Aku pun kena carik baju oren pulak Ahad nih. Hahahaha.. Sapa ada baju oren, pinjam boleh?

Anyway, I'm not going to watch the 3rd/4th place this Saturday. Luka masih berbekas di hati.

Main paintball lagi bagus nyah. At least aku leh tembak orang lepas geram. Best tembak orang bila dah ada gun canggih sikit. Sebenarnye nak tunjuk paintball gun baru beli. Jai beli complete set untuk suami-isteri. Bonding moment gituh.

            Peluru leh pergi jauh sikit bile pakai gun nih, leh set 13 biji sekali kuar.

Jai punye complete set, macam M16. Dah macam nak pergi perang dunia pertama.

Last weekend dah gi try gun baru tapi aku main 2 game je, tak breakfast. Pastuh susah pulak tuh sebab opposite team main perangkap kiri kanan so aku kena tembak 2 kali. Oh, perempuan dapat main free kalau bawak gun sendiri on weekend. Best kan? Leh main tiap minggu :P

Benci lah German kalah. Nak gi berkabung jap. (Aik, tak habis lagi?)

Oh boy, I was soo wrong...

Before I go to the main point of the post, I've just updated our sales blog, http://fescalados.blogspot.com
So, please check it out!

***************************************************************************
 
No Kaka, no Messi.

I should have more faith in my own team, Germany. I'm praying hard they will defeat Spain tomorrow.

And I have a new supporter in the house yo!

He is a born to be Germany supporter. Don't play play ok!

Ok. Off to bed now. I'm going to lab tomorrow at 6 am to settle my work so that I can watch the game at 11.30am in peace... Semangat berkobar2..

Twilight die-hard fan

I thought I was one but not anymore after seeing this line just now....

Twilight fan line okeh..

In the US, the cinemas do not have assigned seating, so you have to come early to get a seat with the best view. This was what the die-hard fan did (mostly teenagers), lining up from I don't know what time but I was there about 7pm to watch The Karate Kid and got out at 9pm watching the line grew longer and longer. The debut show of Twilight Saga: Eclipse is at 12.01am tonight.

Jai agreed to give me a company me (again!) but I think I'll probably watch it after 2 weeks to let the frenziness and craziness of Twilight fan to calm down a little bit. As what I wrote last year, I just don't like hearing teenagers screaming in the cinema while I'm trying to concentrate on the movie. Annoying giler bila ada scene bukak baju which I bet Jacob and the wolf pack will be doing in this movie.

Oklah. Nak gi study.

P/S: If you like The Pursuit of Happiness, you should also watch the Karate Kid. Lots of moral values. Jaden Smith is a talented actor!

WC final prediction

Brazil vs Argentina

Nope, I'm neither Brazil nor Argentina fans but they are among the best teams playing in this year World Cup. I was supporting Germany. Eh, I AM still supporting Germany but I don't want to get my hopes high as Podolski and Klose seems to miss out every chance they got to score a goal.

As Jai was indecisive to choose either Portugal or Argentina, I will leave him with those two teams. As for Spain, FIFA World fact stated that no team that lose in opening match had ever win a World Cup. Anyway, my aunt has just delivered a baby boy and my mom told me my uncle decided to put a famous World Cup player name as the name of his son. My mom didn't remember the name so I guessed "Is it Torres?" and my mom said, " Haaaa, betul betul betul. Mohamad Torres nama die."  Biar betul! Turned out it was sooo false, my uncle made a joke to my mom who was already " Astaghfirullahalazim, biar benar Cik bagi anak kamu nama macam tuh" Hahaha. Pakcik aku buang tebiat.

I started watching WC since 2002 when I had a roommate who was a die-hard soccer fan. We lived in the dorm that had poor TV reception, so most of the time we went to Kedai Pak Mid to watch WC. Semua meja penuh laki, kitorang je perempuan tengok bola. And during those days, all the girls were cheering for England sebab ada David Beckham :P

If Brazil meets Argentina, I will cheer for Brazil as I want to place a bet with Jai. Nak bet ape ek? Handphone baru boleh? Ngeh ngeh ngeh.

I'm back! .....with my first paintball experience in the US

Hi peeps,

Some of you might have noticed I shut down my blog the last two days. As all of you can see, I'm transforming my blog layout and I'm not an IT-geek, so shutting it temporarily will  provide me some time space while I'm experimenting with everything. And orange is my new color :)

Anyway, as the title says, we went out for a paintball game yesterday. Well, my first and last paintball game in Malaysia was 4 years back when we were still dating. It was a lame game cos there was no one else playing except me, Jai, his brother and his uncle and we played against each other. It costed around RM25 and we only received 50 bullets and that means we played for only 10 minutes before the bullets were out.

The paintball field in Davis was quite secluded and when we got there, we were surprised there's already 15-20 cars in the parking lot and it was only 10 am. We paid $25 cos we had discount coupons of $12, which means the total cost was $37. But if you bring your own guns and bullets, all you have to pay is $12. Guess how many bullets they gave? 500 freaking bullets for each people! I thought we would play for an hour max with that 500 bullets, turned out we played from 10 am til 3pm. Hahaha.

We played around 6 games, each game lasted about 20-30 minutes. We couldn't get the field to ourselves (there's 10 of us) because there was not enough referees. Nevertheless, playing with other teams was fun, except when there's little kids in your team, they just went hiding without trying to shoot at all. I got shot only once. Well, two actually but the other one didn't count cos the bullet didn't break, it was called 'rebound bullet'. I shot probably 2-3 people, bolehla beginner kan.  Some of the mat saleh have the most canggih paintball guns, which looked like a bazooka to me, they can shot 5-10 bullets each time while us with rented guns could only shot one bullet at a time. So, we made every effort to play with them than against them :P

                                              Davis paintball fields. It is huge! We played all 4 fields

                                         

 

I want to do this more in the future cos the adrenaline rush was just off the limit. Oh, did I mention the field has a lot of rabbit holes, so we had to watch out where we were running. But Jai jatuh tersungkur macam nangka busuk sekali cos his leg was trapped inside the hole and the game just get started, nasib baik tak kena tembak... Nak tidur pun boleh tergelak teringat aksi nangka busuk die. But Jai is the most 'semangatest' among all of us, balik rumah terus search how much the paintball gun costs so that we could play more often. It's not as expensive as in Malaysia and they sell used guns too which costs below $50, so it's a good deal.

Best2! Lepas nih leh main lagi.

The setback was our body all aching afterwards because of squatting too many times and Jai's back has 5 red spots. Takpe, kita leh buat sesi mengurut bersama-sama :P

Resident Evil 5

After 8 days frying our brains (and fingers) and heated arguments on what strategy to be used, we finally made it!


No more....

" La, kenapa awak tak tembak"
" Lari lah cepat, ape tunggu lagi?"
" Ok, awak lari sana, saya lari sini"
" Kenapa awak pergi lari kat die? Kan dah mati!  (I know I have a poor sense of direction)"

The first time playing PS3 with Jai and I was constantly under pressure :P

Now, it is time to study. Back to reality :)

How I wish I could be her?

Found this picture on my brother's FB, he was attending some sort of photography class. Amazed of how the model could handled it. How I wish that so many people were capturing me instead of her. Dream on lah you, Farina. Anyway, my brother was on the most right side of the picture, baring baek punya atas rumput.

P/S: Tuan punya gambar, saya pinjam gambar awak ye.

Nak tanya?

Hi readers,

Anyone knows the name of lepat yang isi die kaler putih? Puas google tapi jumpe lepat lain. And lagi satu, kuih ape yang macam seri muka tapi kaler coklat and putih?

Ni lah akibatnye duk Malaysia tahu makan je :( 
Aku mengidam lepat, Jai pulak ngidam kuih no 2 tuh. Nasib baik perut dua2 ekor masih slim, ada seinci jer muffin-top, oh Jai lebih dua inci kot dari aku.Hahaha.

Any feedback is highly appreciated. Thanks!

Felicity

Guess what was in my mailbox yesterday?

Maybe most of you don't know about this TV series, it was aired only for one season on TV2 couple of years ago. This was one of TV series I followed regularly before Grey's Anatomy and House. When TV2 suddenly stopped showing the series and the ending was kind of hanging, I was so frustrated.

So, this series is about a girl who abandoned her dream to enrol in a pre-med programme at Stanford  where she followed a guy who she had a crush on since junior high. She moved all the way to New York to attend the same college, University of New York later to find out her crush liked her no more than just a friend. To make things complicated, her crush liked this girl's girlfriend and vice versa. This series has 4 season, basically follows her journey from freshman to sophomore to junior and senior year in college. I just bought the first season to recapitulate my diminishing memories of this series but I am looking forward to own a full collection of Felicity. Oh, her crush smiles like Edward Cullen :)

P/S: Shila, aku balik Mesia for good nanti, aku kasik ko pinjam k. Aku ingat ko salah sorang peminat citer nih :)

But the dream is never forgotten

I love cats! That was one of the reasons why I went to get a vet degree.

Once I enrolled into a vet program, I knew I wanna be a small animal clinician. Though small animal rotation scares the pants off of everyone, it was a satisfaction when you saw your lil patient getting better everyday. I remembered taking care of Cindy, a dog who had a cataract surgery from the day of her admission until the end of my rotation (2 weeks) where I had to apply eye drop almost every hour. I visited her a week after my rotation ends and guess what? She still remembered me cos she was all around me when I entered her cage and she did that only to those she recognized. How enlightening to have that right? Ah, I always liked small animal :)

******* until*******

during my third year of study, my academic adviser asked me what I'm gonna do after I graduate?

and she threw me the possibility of joining the academia. It was a big NO to me at that point of time. But soon, I realized it is a big commitment to enter the world of practitioners. You have to sacrifice a lot of your time on weekends, the pay is sucks for fresh graduate and the important thing is you could only treat the animals with all the resources you have but you could not invest your time finding the resources. That is one of the reasons why I joined the academia so that I could do research and search for the resources. Besides, I would like to lead a healthy family life.

Looking back, sometimes I regretted my choice not to become a practitioner especially when my lab is a part of animal hospital and you see owners bringing their pets, nurses running around and vets giving consultation to the owners. It just brings the joy back into my heart, uplifting my spirit of once-my-dream-job. Well, for the time being, let just hope by doing small animal research, I will be encountering small animal more often when I come back to UPM. I hope they won't shut me off from visiting small animal clinic now and then :)

And here are some of my collections during those good ol' days :) Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Bye bye Facebook!

At least for now...

I deactivated my facebook due to my procrastinating habit which is getting worst when exam is around the corner. So, at least until the last paper of my finals, you won't be seeing me hanging around in Facebook. I wish I can deactivate Facebook permanently but I am so sayang with the pictures that I uploaded which some of them has gone forever since my external hard drive crashed last few weeks.. Sob..sob..sob

Any urgent matters (or not so urgent pun takpe, gossip lagi mak suke!), can email me at fina_vet@yahoo.com. XOXO.

Packed for shopping!

In order to get all the stuffs in your shopping list on Black Friday require some tips.
1. Black Friday madness starts at midnight so you need to wear layer of clothes since it is almost to winter weather especially at night. But do not wear too many layers cos if clothes is in your shopping list, you need to undress layer by layer of clothes, phewwwww......... So, go for the thickest winter clothing you have in the closet.

2. Bring your own hot drinks. You prone to get a cup of hot drink  when you're cold and there are only 1-2 kiosk that sell hot drink in the entire factory outlet, so the queue is as long as one that going into the Coach outlet itself.

3. Go with a group of friends who likes shopping or wanted to get the same things as you. For example, if you have to lining up to get into Coach outlet for 3 hours, it is good to have friend that has mutual shopping list :) So, you don't have to line up for 3 hrs, instead take turn to go check out other designer shops.

4. If you tend to go overboard on shopping, bring just cash. Leave your credit card/debit card at home or with your husband :)


*This could also be applied for Malaysian Mega Sale as well  :)*

Post-shopping notes:

I lined up for 2 hrs at Coach yesterday, fuhhh..  Bought 2 sling bags! Yes, I'm into sling bags now, easy to travel. Glad that I didn't go overboard (usually I will). Last year, I spent over the allocated budget cos tak bawak banyak clothes from Malaysia.

Funny notes :

While we were lining up, an old couple went to a group in front of us and asked "What's so special??" cos the queue was very long. Hahahahaha.. Aah kan, ape yang special sangat Coach nih? Anyway, Burberry opens at 6am and people started to lining up since 11pm. When we passed by Burberry at 4 am, the same person still lining up but the line was growing longer.. Aiyarkk! Tapi walau Burberry 50% pun, still tak mampu beli.


Jai was waiting outside when me and friends went inside Coach. There were one Asian couple, without lining up, ran straight into the Coach outlet and the security need to pull them out. Orang macam nih pun ade ke?

Lingerie with GPS device won't make you sexy anymore :)

I stumbled upon NurAina Samad's article on lingerie equipped with GPS device. Read HERE. Hilarious and a very weird combination!

Anyway, I watched New Moon already! Guess who accompanied me to the movie? Yes, you are right, Mr. Hubby! I was amused by his expression-less face during the entire movie, kesian pun ada :P  Hahaha.

Apart from getting stiff neck and cross-eyed cos we were sitting 2 rows from the front,the movie was ok lah. The last 30 mins was kinda exciting but the beginning was very slow. Not to forget, those teenagers yang beratur dalam cinema 2-3 hours earlier just to get a nice seating cos in the US, the seat is not assigned unlike Malaysia.I don't understand their madness towards Edward Cullen or Jacob sampai terjerit2 dalam cinema. Hello, macam nak bagi pelempang dalam iklan Digi boleh tak? Tengok Jacob bukak baju menjerit, Edward cium Bella menjerit. They just spoiled my mood lah.

I like the part at the very end sooooo much, which reminds me that I won't be looking forward to their next movie, Eclipse.

*

*

*

Because

*

*

*

Hey,tak naklah spoil orang yang tak tgk movie tuh lagi, but those who has been reading the book sure know what I meant by that. Oklah, it's 1 am. Glad that it's still weekend and next week, weeee! A long break :) See ya peeps!

What has changed in the past one year?

I've been here in the US for slightly more than a year. "And what has changed", I asked myself one day?

1) I realized that we will not always get what we wanted but giving up is not the solution, you just have to work through it no matter what.

2) Coming here without a Master's degree was really hard for me. Coming from a clinical environment make it even harder to survive in a research setting. Nevertheless, I'll always make a note to myself, 'I can go through it, though I have to crawl while others were running". Not to mention, the age factor makes me less absorbing than before.

3) Facebook is ruining my life bit by bit. I'm planning to put a stop to this addiction. Soon.

4) I thought I were not able to juggle the time being both a wife and a student. I was totally wrong.

5) The word 'homesick' is no longer exist in my dictionary. I am pretty capable of keeping my heart 'sane' at the moment.

6) I am no longer hating the fact that I'm living in a small university town named Davis. I have to agree with the fact that Davis is a safe town to raise a child.

Coach price range..

Because of many people asking what is the price range of COACH over here.. So, I'll make a post just for this one.. (Sebenarnye baru tgk confessions of a shopaholic kan, so terinspire sikit).

And do take note, this price is only valid during sale period..

Macam nih boleh dapat around $100 or even less, it's a pouch handbag..




Wristlet cam nih leh dapat as low as $29-80, depending on design etc. Wallets range lebih kurang sama..



Shoulder bags can get as low as $80, again depending on design etc..



Hobos, totes and satchels from as low as $120....


* All the pictures above taken from www.coach.com*


So, my plan is to buy few handbags, wallets, wristlets and publish the pictures on this blog, so if anyone interested,can just pay me then...

Tapi kena tahu ada sambutan ke tidak baru semangat nak beli... Sila angkat tangan sapa mau!

Sebagai inspirasi anda semua, di bawah adalah beg Coach pertama saya.. Beratur 3 jam di dalam kesejukan untuk beli beg ini.. It was $120 and the original price was $398.. So grab it now sementara saya dok kat sini lagi! *wink*



P/S: The conversion is around RM3.56 for USD1.00 as for today.