Out With The Old And In With The New!

That's exactly what one should do to greet the new year.

And that's exactly what we did at home.

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Our old, worn and humble sofa that has served us not that well for many years.

If you think this is just a sad sight to behold, you will be glad to know that I have decided against posting the three-seater one. Hahaha. After editing the photo, I feel a tad bit embarrassed over it. So nope, not posting that up. 

So the story begun months ago when mom finally urged dad to 

"For god sake, buy a new sofa set!". 

It was decided then that a new sofa we shall get except all of us kind of procrastinated 

till the max. So there was no sight of a new sofa set for another few months until... 

OMG! It's December! Hahaha. And finally, dad gave himself a deadline to get a new sofa set before the new year. 

Three weeks ago, we finally stop sitting on the job and instead sat on what was going to be our new sofa set. It was told that a newly manufactured one will be delivered to us in two weeks time. So we waited. And waited. And then we called. "Where on earth is our sofa?" 

And then we complained. And then to cut the story short. 

It finally came yesterday night. 

Delivered at 8.30pm at night yo! 

Hooray! New sofa in sight.

New sofa trying to make its way through the doors.

New sofa landed safely into the living room.

New sofa gets an unofficial opening ceremony.

TADAAAA!!

Brand new pretty, comfy, 'luxurious' sofa. :)

Good bye poor old stuffy sofa. :(

And now I can finally show you our three-seater sofa. 

Pretty right? Hahaha. Maybe a tad too pretty for everything else in our living room.

*shrugs* 

Oh well. It's a beautiful start.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Who says you need a roast turkey to celebrate Christmas?

And I bet no one said anything about being a Christian to celebrate Christmas either.

After all, it's also a 3-day long weekend. That itself calls for a celebration, right?

So instead we chose to forget about what we don't have and make do with what we have.

No roast turkey? No problem.

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We went ahead and got ourselves a yummy roast chicken instead. 

Baked up some cheesy cherry tomatoes and carrots to dress it up. Cooked up some mildly cheesy pasta. Faked up a minestrone. Mixed up some potato salad with fresh lettuce and eggs. Oh oh and somehow managed to also bake up a funny looking yet surprisingly delicious apple bread pudding. And top everything up with an affordable bottle of sparkling juice. *phew* And Waaa Laaaah! Enjoyed a grand feast for under uumm... RM40? 

Now who says it costs a lot to enjoy a delicious 5-course meal?

;-)

To be Simple is Simple: The Results!

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TADAA!!

*click on picture to enlarge ya!*

I admit the pictures are not in the sequence of how I wore them because I'm anal and I think this sequence looks the best when put up together. =P I also admit that I did not exactly wore the flowery dress for the weekend like I planned since... well, since I stayed home throughout the weekend. So there was no point to dress-up. But I did make the effort to put the dress on and take a picture. Hah! But yeah, this little mission thingy is doable after all. And I think I can safely declare that I made it through the week without looking all that unfortunate after all. :D

Confidence Makes Awesomeness

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Though I guess it is also Awesomeness that makes Confidence.

I don't claim to be a fan, neither am I an avid follower of the Chinese music scene.

Heck, I don't even though half the songs he's singing *hides* but they're definitely super memorable hits since I vaguely remember most of the chorus and melodies. 'Most' being the keyword here. Hehe. But everything I see and hear him sing, my head just go "Awesome. Awesome. Awesome." until the performance ends. I mean, look at those faces of other celebrities watching him. They read "Awesome. Awesome. Awesome." too! Hahaha.

*in a small voice*

Though I did kinda cringed at his 'corny' antics at the end of the performance. 

Hahaha. I guess he's totally 'feeling' it. =P Who cares? It's still awesome!

Am Feeling Very 'Rich' in Christmas Spirit

*grins*

I may or may not have got all giddy over tying ribbons yesterday night.

I may or may not be a little obsessed.

I don't know and I don't care!

And you know what... these are only half of it!

And and... I'm not even talking about numbers here.

Wee!

[L.E.P.A.K series: Paris] Chapter 16: I Louvre Art!

After all that excitement at Eiffel Tower, we were on our way again to our final destination for the day. According to our 32-page itinerary (in my defence, Paris was only 5 out of 
the 32 pages), we were 'hoping' to catch an evening cruise along the beautiful Seine River.
It was a very 'hopeful' plan because it was only possible if we were super lucky enough to meet with a short queue at Eiffel, which we did not, and we even topped that with a bomb scare. Seriously, who would have thought? 

So yeah. No Parisian cruise for us then. *sad face* 

Instead, we headed straight to here!

*grins*

Can you guess where this is?

 Yup yup! It’s time for some art appreciation class.

 Who would have thought we ended up right under the Louvre. Eh?

Here comes Hiyashibeeps' Travel Tip No.10!

You see there are more ways than one to enter the Louvre. Of course, every tour bus and tourist alike will most probably arrive at the front entrance of the museum, then proceed to line up in another super long queue that rivals that of Eiffel at the main pyramid entrance. Well, if you are arriving via Metro, choose the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre stop. Upon stepping out from the Metro, you will find yourself right under the Louvre and instead at the Carrousel du Louvre Shopping Centre. Here you will eventually find another entrance that takes you to the museum. The queue here is way much shorter. ;) But but, there's a flaw to this plan though. More about that later.

 But what about the 'compulsory' shots of the iconic glass pyramid structure in front?


Worry not as you can always step out anytime.

See! That's Cik Anai with her canggih-manggih camera taking canggih-manggih 

shots with the famous Pyramide du Louvre right behind her.

Her canggih-manggih shots of course should have me in it. :D

And of course, I must return the favour as well. But but! How can we keep taking separate shots of each other right? We're travelling together-gether and therefore, should take pictures together-gether. So with eyes like the hawk, we searched for our prey target and eventually settled for a group of girls chatting merrily in a corner. With our smiley faces on, we asked them if they can help take a photo of us together and they said.....

 "Okay."

 Hahaha. Of course they said okay.
It's not like we are two suspicious ladies asking them to help us buy LV bags right?

So finally we got another shot of us together!
 In return, we offered to help them take a picture of them together too.
See! Win, win for both parties. 

Noticed the change of colour tones between the earlier pictures with this one?

Well, that's cause the sun was beginning to set. So pretty. *hearts* 

Now for the biggest flaw to the time-saving tip I shared earlier. *sigh* 

You see, after all that photo-taking outside of the museum, we decided it's time to go 

back in and pay a visit to our dear friend, Mona Lisa.

But... but... BUT!!

One turn around and we found ourselves facing with another long queue. Bummer. 

*big big sigh* The biggest bummer though was the fact that I lost my shawl here. What made the situation so heartbreaking for me was the fact that the shawl wasn't mine but my dearest godmom's. *sad face* I didn't even realised it was gone until much later and in the massive state of lost and panic, we looked through our photos and noticed the last time it had made an appearance was in that shot of us together in front of the Louvre. You see it wasn't as cold here as it was in London and Edinburgh, so I knotted the shawl around my bag stripe. 

My guess is that the knot probably came loose when my bag went under the security scans upon entering the Louvre. 

 So here's Hiyashibeeps' Travel Tip No.11 learnt from a costly and very regrettable lesson. MAKE SURE you check all your belongings upon picking up your bag from the scanners. We tend to be very careful when we go through security scans at the airport (most of the time it's because we're more afraid of not being let through the gates than anything else) but when its scans at tourist attractions, we see them as merely a needed procedure. 

 Well, never again! 

 *sigh* 

 I'm still very very sad over the loss. :(

And we're finally inside! There are three main wings in this massive museum. Word is you actually need three full days to see everything inside but all we have is only a few hours, so we head straight to Denon Wing where the famous Mona Lisa is located.

Obviously there were many other interesting exhibits along the way.

Like a lot LOT! 

The place is huge and we're only at one of the many wings and each wing has a few floors. It's really an art lover's paradise. In fact, there were lessons going on right inside the Louvre. You'll see young eager students listening attentively to their teachers explaining enthusiastically about the painting behind them. You'll find art students sitting cross-legged on the floors, seeking inspirations from all that is around them and painting away. Wow. 

 It's a slow pace way to live life I must say but that's not us. We're two young ladies on a mission. Walk, walk, walk. See, see, see. Then suddenly... stop, stop, STOP!

We were 'stopped' by this interesting piece of work in the middle of the walkway. 

You probably wonder "What's so special about this one?" 

 Wait till you see what's on the other side.

It's the opposite angle of the same scene! Nice. Very nice. I like.

Did I mention that the place was huuuuuge? 
I'm repeating myself, am I?

That's because I'm not kidding. I was totally poof out half way through and 

there was no sight of Madam Mona yet. *phew* 

 That's it for this post as I relief my poor arching feet. 

Will we ever see Mona Lisa before the end of the night? 

 Or is it going to be a no show? 

 Till next time. Hehehe.

When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.

When life throws you germs though,
don’t even look back, just run and run far far away! 

 To those who wondered what on earth happened to my ‘simple’ mission, well, the mission is fine but I’m not. I ended up falling sick right towards the last day of my mission and lived through the week with slower brain functionality. Felt totally terrible on Monday. Got a wee bit better on Tuesday. Functioned better on Wednesday. Stuck with a stuffy nose on Thursday. And finally thought that was the end of the whole ordeal on Friday. 

Except I kind of feel worst today than I was yesterday.

What the *toot*?!?!

It almost seemed like I’m back at the starting point again with that stupid little sore in my throat that refuses to go away along with a little strand of phlegm caught in between the nasal. So tiny that I just couldn’t “craaaccc…eerrk… pui!” it out. :(

Am so very not amused.

So yeah. The result of my ‘simple’ mission is still in my camera. Hanako-bachan, I know you’re eager to know but you just got to wait a bit more ya. Gomenasai.