The first farewell

Goodbye R6. Janda Jai that I never had the chance to ride. I was in confinement when he bought her and having a baby, celah mana pulak nak naik bike kan ;p Dengan janda ni tak sedih sangat nak berpisah tapi......

Soon, we will bid goodbye to our first car in the US, a 1996 Mazda. We still do not know where she will end up yet, either to a new owner or to a junkyard, considering her age and conditions. But I thanked her service all these years. Considering she was not in the pink of health the time we bought her, it is just remarkable how long she survived us.

The first pic of her back in 2008

After contemplating whether or not we proceed with bringing back either a car or a bike, we decided bringing back a car would be the safest choice considering the rules and regulations back home. There are problems finding car parts for our Lexus, so buying another new (used) car is the only option.

And we welcomed a new putih to our house.

Jai and bini baru

This will be the first farewell among many. Urgh, how I hate farewell!

Nevertheless, jasamu dikenang my old putih. May you end up in a better place ;)

3-in-1 pictures entry

Baby shower

When we first announced that we're expecting, everyone was excited and Adilla a.k.a the party planner came out with the idea to throw me a baby shower. I would like to at least cook something for the baby shower but they won't allow me. And we left our house for few hours for them to make the preparations.  The shower was fun! fun! fun! and I was deeply touched by everyone's presence and effort to organize this special event specially for us. They are the only family I have in the US  ;)

Anyway, before I start crying, do enjoy the pictures!

The decos

The food

Playing pass the parcel game

Gift opening session

Model tidak berbayar

Group pictures

Maternity photoshoot

At first, we wanted to just do an outdoor photoshoot with the help of our Malaysian friend, Khalis. The only weekend that we're both free was last week, but unfortunately Jai had to work late in the afternoon. The best time especially if you would like a good natural lighting for outdoor photography as what I've been told by my photographer friend is early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Morning is certainly not a good time for both of us, especially Jai considering he's working graveyard shift again on Friday. And he will have to leave for work later in the afternoon. So, we had to cancel the plan with Khalis and booked a studio photoshoot instead. I still prefer kitorang nye photographer untuk kenduri kawin, Rozek tapi takkan lah nak import Cik Rozek datang sini kan. (Apesal tiba2 tulis BM nih kan?) :P Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Sacramento Kings vs Lakers game

This is one of my to-do list and I made it! By the way, this is probably the last home game for Sac Kings since they will be relocating to Anaheim and we won't have an NBA team anymore ;( Sad but I am glad, I have at least experienced watching NBA game LIVE!

It was boring the first 3 quarters until the last 5 mins of the final quarter when Sac Kings scored more points and they were ahead of Lakers by 3 points before Kobe Bryant ruined it with his 3 points shot and it was a tie.So, they had to play overtime. Anyway, Kings lose to Lakers but overall, an exciting game!

There are only two players from Lakers that I know of. Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom (Khloe Kardashian's husband)

Last but not least,

Percubaan berani mati:

Try pakai seluar jeans lama at 37 weeks after gaining 10kg. Motif try seluar lama? Sebab bosan pakai maternity pants yang hanya ada 2 helai itu. Huhuhu

It still fits!

Rocky buat muka bosan tengok tuan dia excited dapat pakai seluar jeans lama *yawning*

Have a good weekend everyone!

P/S: Baby has descended/dropped into the pelvic canal *gulp*

Spring, Food and Bizarre Weather

This is why I love a 3-day weekend...

I got the time to cook variety of makanan kampung today. I was itching to cook all these after reading Ayu and Kak Yani's blog but had no chance to do so.

From clockwise: Ketam masak lemak cili api, daging goreng kunyit, timun+tomato cicah sambal tempoyak ikan bilis,kerabu mangga,sambal ikan bilis tempe,kerang rebus and air asam kerisik.

Most of the recipes were 'imported' from kak yani and ayu's blog, my cooking guru =)

And yesterday, we had the opportunity to tick off many more baby's items since Jai had his day off.
As well as capturing pictures of spring debut appearance in Davis! It was nice and sunny (but cold!), however  it won't last that long as a series of raining will be coming again by the end of next week. Urgh!

Cherry blossom usually is the first one to bloom

I have not watched Winter Sonata, but I think this picture reminded me of that series.

I have no idea what is the name of this pokok, but I think it is poisonous. Rupa macam berry. 

And it is in front of my house!

 Bunga rumput (memandai je bagi nama), these too were right at our doorstep.

Jai nih suka buat muka ketat tau!

Oh, I was down with cough and sore throat since Thursday. Shoot an email to my midwife and she was suggesting, steam,hydration and plain Robitussin or plain Mucinex. I went to pharmacy yesterday to buy the suggested cough syrup, asked the pharmacist which one is the plain version and he was quite reluctant to let me take any cough medicine as I am pregnant. He has a thick Vietnamese accent and from what I understand, he was saying the effect could go to central nervous system, so does to baby CNS. I woke up today to find I have lost my voice. So, right now, I have no other choices other than trying natural cough remedies, such as honey, lemon from what my friends suggested. The cough gets worse at night when the outside temperature drops to below 4C and this bizarre weather hitting Davis the past few weeks doesn't help either. You know, one week of sunny and warm weather at 24C then went down again for another week to 8C. That goes on and on.......

Alright.Nak sykpe dengan mak.Nasib baik ada gambar, kalo tak mesti dia ingat suara jantan garau mana yang call dia =P

Home sweet home

Chinese New Year and my housewarming party 2011 (title cam tiap tahun nak buat housewarming je :P)

At first, we were afraid there will be not enough food since there were about 18 people attending. It was a potluck event and most of the guests brought dessert. Luckily, it was enough, leh bawak tapau lagi. As I have a poster presentation that morning, I do not have time to cook time-consuming dishes so I made kuih lopes, steamboat and kuah rojak. Started cooking at 3pm, finished just in time before the guests arrived at 6pm.

The crowds

The food spread

And this is the backyard I was talking about. Wish that spring will make this area more appealing.

Our little patio. We still need to do a major clean-up and reorganization of this area. But that is Jai's task, he is in the midst of transforming this area into a little garden.

His favorite spot. If we leave the bedroom door open, he will run towards the sliding door as it is the only access to the patio. We had to wear him a collar again, afraid he will go roaming.

I'm so looking forward to this weekend cos it is a 3-day weekend! Nak cover tidur =) Oh, and NBA Allstar games too =)))

Stranger alert!

Apparently, I am still under my old apartment email listing and received this email a while ago.

Our office received a notice about a suspicious person in the Orchard Park complex. Please see the email below. In instances like these when there are suspicious characters within the complex, please call Campus Police immediately.

Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 11:34 AM

Subject: Stranger at OP

A young (early 20s) white male was hanging out by our apartment (building #6300) and seemed to follow my partner and young child to the playground.

When he tried to speak to her she interrupted and called me. Although he seemed non-threatening there was something off about it all. He had just rolled a joint and was walking around the playground area smoking it. Doesn't seem to be the most appropriate place for that. This is the description she gave me:

~5'9"

thin

black warm up jacket

dark brown hair, short and shaggy

sunglasses

blue jeans

black sneakers

Yep, that is the building I used to live in.

Hopefully it is not our downstairs neighbor, Tony and Kris. Several months ago, we received a similar email about a stranger who came out of his car trying to talk to a kid in our apartment complex but the kid ran away and told his parents. Scary! Davis is definitely a safe town to raise children, fingers crossed I hope it will remain that way.

Yang dekat Malaysia buat berita penculikan palsu tuh, takde kerja kot. Ingat benda main2 ke?

Anyway, two thumbs up to Datuk Nuraina Samad who are among those that initiates Nur Alert, a child abduction alert in Malaysia (it was supposed to be Nurin Alert but for whatever reason, the cabinet decided to change it to Nur Alert). Amber Alert is what we have in the US, name taken from a child that was abducted in the 90s later to be found dead. Stay safe all kids out there!

Tempat jatuh lagikan dikenang ;(

I always have sentimental attachment with places that bring great memories to my life. 

My old apartment was one of them. The same goes to my single room in K12, my parents-in-law house in Bukit Jelutong and my bestfriend's house in Section 18, Shah Alam. Everytime I pass by the area, I will make sure to stop by for the sake of reliving all the memories.

Tomorrow, I'm handing back the key to my old apartment ;( I will miss going back for a quick lunch and prayer break in between incubation period, I will miss walking hand in hand with Jai to Old Tea House to get a sip of milk black tea, I will miss biking to school (ok, ini tipu!), I will miss watching squirrels teasing Rocky from our sliding door, I will miss kids' voices playing outside my house. Ok, masa sentimental sudah tamat. Sila tukar topik :P

Alhamdulillah, more than 10 people helped us during the moving day. It was surprising to see how many stuffs we have been accumulating for the past 1 yr 8 mths . I solemnly swear I will refrain myself from buying furnitures except for our baby. And definitely, no more moving after this! Period. And as of yesterday night, we have finally settled down. Everything is in order and I have found my maternity pants! Isnin pagi tak jumpa seluar and seluar lama semua tak boleh button. Nasib baik ada leggings. Haha!

So far, the new crib is great. Apart from not knowing how to lock the bathroom door and turning on the shower initially, this place deserves to be called home sweet home. As for the pictures of our new crib, we will be having our housewarming party + Chinese New Year celebration next week so will be uploading some of pics soon. 

Last but not least, thank you OP 6321. Jasamu dikenang ;)

Mode: Packing

I was into intensive packing this week. I think the early sign of third trimester exhaustion has started to creep in as I slept 13 hours straight last night. Not to forget another few hours of napping today.

Anyway, most of the things are well kept in box now, leaving the kitchen next in line. Ah! Saving 'the best' for last.. (Hint: malas nak scrub oven!)

Hopefully the next time we meet, it will be from our new home sweet home =)

Homeless. No more.

Haish, my life these few days has been in topsy-turvy situation. Tired and I couldn't concentrate with work. Buat keja kejap pastuh Jai call suh pi tengok rumah. Asyik bukak craigslist setiap 5 minit tengok housing listing. The same thing went over and over again.

And finally today, we have secured an apartment. The 900 sq. ft. apartment with large backyard. (Hint: MASA people, good place for outdoor event *wink*)

We went to view the unit last Tuesday. We agreed this place is a steal. There's no way anyone could get a 900 sq. feet, 2 bed/1 bath for that price in Davis. The average will be between $1000-1200/month, with the exception of my current house. But.. but... my current house is 594 sq. feet, tiny but enough for the two of us. Only that, it will last for another 3 months. Then, pops the baby, this house will no longer fit us three. We couldn't even fit a baby crib into our 2nd bedroom. Our bedroom jangan cakaplah, leh letak bassinet je kot. Jai will either have to sacrifice his desk or we have to give our sofa-bed away. So, where does my mom or other visiting guests has to sleep? It will be either living room or on the floor cramming with the baby crib.

This was why we decided to move-out. The timing is probably not so good, considering that I am pregnant but it has to happen when it has to be. 

And this is our first time dealing with a landlord himself rather than a manager of some apartment complex. Initially, we backed out from signing the lease with him cos he wanted the last-month rent on top of security deposit. But after searching for another apartment(s) where we had to deal with realtors yang sangat busy dan selalu tak datang bila schedule appointment, we finally agreed to call the landlord/Uncle Roger negotiating with him the date of move-in.

Jai met him this morning and had a heart-to-heart talk with him. Oh no, bukan Jai yang meluahkan perasaan. It's the uncle. He spent one-hour with him, telling stories about his wife who died of ovarian cancer etc. He brought all the application forms from other applicants to prove that the house was on demand, but he still wanted us to become his tenants because he likes us. 

"I like your wife, she is nice and resembles my wife", so Jai told me what he said. It might sound pretty scary, plus I don't look like a Chinese in any ways but my eyes started filling up with tears.  Jai yang jiwa kental pun cakap dia nak nangis dengar cite uncle tuh. Kalau dia tipu, tak tahulah. Takut esok lusa pegi Farmer's Market nampak elok je dia dengan wife dia kan. Hahaha. But I did google the place and saw someone posted about the landlord and mentioned he was a friendly and nice person. And from our meeting, I couldn't agree more of what the previous tenant said.

Alhamdulillah, baby F lepas nih boleh merangkak atas carpet ;)

And Rocky no longer need to climb chair. He gained his freedom finally (although he might misses his Rockiah)

So, here I am. Ready to move-out in 21 days. The clock starts ticking now.

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.