Fireflies

Last night (sunday) Kaz and I went to the mini event at the nearby community centre, it was called Hotaru something, but basically Hotaru means firefly. The event started with a bit of briefing, all in Japanese, but we could understand a bit from the pictures shown, on a firefly's lifecycle and different types of fireflies in that area. After that, we went outside (well I thought I would see a firefly-released session, but no), it was just outside the building, and yesterday was the peak of the fireflies to turn into full hotaru lightning mode, so we could see the fireflies just above the paddy field. It was very dark outside, so all of our pictures are either blurred, or totally black, but i managed to capture this short vid, of Kaz holding one of the bug. After the short session of kids catching the bugs, keeping in their bottle, the instructor guy then told us to release all the flies back in the air. Kids must be quite disappointed I guess ;p

Ada lagik cerita beg: Truly lucky find

Hellew

Sorry, ada lagik kelakar hal beg kita tok.


Niatnya nak ke second hand shop to find a cheap manual paper shredder, so after dah jumpa shredder ya, I just walked around the ladies part of the store.. I went to the messenger/cross body bags section, because I am a sucker for crossbody bags. Tali panjang2 mmg I likee. So from afar I saw this bag in a very very good condition, but as I get closer, I saw the familiar jockey logo.

'Aih biar benar?'

Belek belek belek... then looked at the price, cuba depan cermin, tanyak syg ok sik.. last last, eh beli lah.

" Nang mudah nak lucky mummy tok" - Kaz

Thanks love for taking these pics.


I don't know the model name yet, but I guess it is one of the vintage messenger bag ones. Will look it up later.

The price?

RM17

I wonder berapa kedei ya ngambik dari owner before this........now it's minee, masok dlm thrifted category.


xoxo, N.

Another bag story

Happy Friday everyone.

Today I want to ramble about another type of bag, which I have not talked about before;  until this stage of my life: Diaper bags.

What is the big deal about diaper bags? I know right? You just need a big bag to stuff all the baby stuff in, and some of your stuff too. That is what I thought about before I discover the amazing world of baby bags/ diaper bags. I could browse for hours like I used to with shoes, or handbags.. just drooling.

Designer bags are also everywhere these days (or have they been there for a long time?) haha I didn't know but, there are some expensive bags out there that I have the desire to buy, but then again, I could not afford to. As a thrift shopper kental, I would want a second hand bag if I could, but I think it wouldn't be so great hygiene wise, so I thought of buying a new one for Baby K.

So I surveyed.

This is too big.
This is too small.
This does not give me what I need (ambiguity much?)
I don't like the color.
I don't like the design.
This is okay, but I dont like the handles.

Yes, these are allll excuses. Truth is, I do love some of the bags, I just don't want to know how much they cost, because I know what I could buy instead hehhehehe (selfish yes I know).

So there is another way, DIY. So I talked to my hubbs, Kaz few weeks back : Let's go to Tokyo. It will be my last shopping spree, before I would be able to walk so much anymore.
(Tip: when you persuade, always use the word 'last')

So Kaz agreed, bought the bus tickets and we went to Tokyo 2 days 1 night for the impromptu shopping spree. I already know what I wanted to buy when I got there, but my oh my, I forgot how overwhelmed I would be when I stand in Nippori, Tokyo's famous fabric street. There are so many designnnsss and choices I can't even.....

But because the trip from my town to Tokyo is a 7hr trip by bus, I don't want to go home empty handed, and since I arrived on Saturday morning, and Nippori closed on Sundays, everything must be settled on Saturday (the fabrics).

I was kinda proud of myself that although I am such an indecisive girl when it comes to shopping, I managed to get what I need. And to thank Kaz, I give him the options of choosing his own fabrics, because I want to make him his diaper bag too, since mine would be too fancy/girly for him to carry.

So here are the diaper bag stuff we got from that trip. Love my darling Kaz to bits, we arrived in Tokyo with only 1kg stuff in a big empty huge backpacking bag, and came back with stuff that's reaching 25kgs in that bag, and he was the one who carried them all. (I bought few heavy stuff from the bakery/cooking material shops as well).

This is my set. Seriously I don't know yet which one I will pick for outer bag, which one will be the one with pockets and is inside the bag, time will tell once I made the bag.

                       

This is daddy's set, he was decisive when he chose his fabric, not like mummy hehe. And he already gave me the design of what his diaper bag would look like. (because he wants to be able to put his laptop inside too)

You can see this in my set above, this was the type that I was hoping to find in Nippori, and I was
 happy that it was available there, this is a waterproof fabric, I will  be using it as the bottom of my diaper bag.. easy to clean, just wipe it with damp cloth.

Grabbed some ready-cut soft cottons for Baby K's binder.

And of course, some more extras for mummy. hehehe, I couldn't help it, these are 100yen per meter! These will be some of my new tudungs, will blog about it when I finished making them all.

Next up is making the bags, I am planning to make it when I'm in my 35th,36th weeks, right now I am focusing on finishing whatever I could with my research progress, I have 10 weeks left before the due date. Pray for me that everything will go smoothly, aameen (both research and baby).

I'll see you soon in next entry.

xoxo

N.

Thrift bags

Hellew.

This is an attempt to get back on my blogging series, and I will try to write at least an entry a day, albeit a short one. I really miss talking about fitness and such, deadlifting, squatting, and footworks (fast paced skipping) - oh how i miss these three, for now if I am practicing footworks, and the rope drops, I wouldn't know where the rope went, because of my big belly; and inability to see my feet.
But worry not, I still exercise, I walk -- a lot. I climb the stairs everyday because it's unavoidable, and I do maternity yoga. One thing that bugs me, my body decides that I need more and more padding, and these paddings are getting thicker everyday! EEE!

So, I guess, all my fitness talk will resume after the baby comes, after I recovered, after my confinement period. Right now I will talk about whatevs, and yea, baby stuff. hehehe.

So last night me and hubbs decided to buy a proper mattress, before I started feeling all achy all over (Alhamdulillah I haven't experienced any of the backpains yet. thanks to all those deadlifts - yes they are great for your back and butt) since I will be entering 8 months soon. And to set everything up in our cute room, I decided to do a mini cleanup for the whole room, including the closet.

When I was cleaning, I thought about how I am always fond of cheap stuff; esp bags, and to have access to these stuff, we need to have some love for thrift shopping. All the bags that I currently owned are either thrifted, or bought from consignment stores. So today I just want to share the ones that I got from thrift shopping.
These are all below MYR100 (after yen conversion).

Ferragamo bucket bag

I found this bag by accident, I was not planning to go to the thrift shop, but there it was, calling for me. hehe. I am not using this bag so often anymore, because of the scratches on the bag, causing the uneven-color-look, and I need to get it to a leather expert to polish or something. I got it for around MYR90-95.

YSL crossbody bag

I think this is a very old design of YSL? I am not sure, but I checked all the features of the bag, it seems authentic. I found this bag at a vintage shop, all stuff looks old including this bag. One thing that bugs me about it is that the colorings from my jeans and dresses transfer easily to this bag, and it is white, and i have to clean it all the time.. Luckily the canvas is in the low maintenance range, so it is quite easy to clean. Got this baby for MYR78 - 83.

Another crossbody bag

This baby is a plain brown bag, but I love it so much, that it gets to travel to Japan with me! :P
I found this at a house selling secondhand broken/old stuff in my hometown. The seller wanted to sell it for MYR40, but I ended up paying RM10, I forgot how the  deal went, I just know I went back with a smile on my face.

A classic 80's hand-me-downs from mom bag

This is one of the many good finds when I went thrift shopping. 97% excellent condition, smooth surface and all that. Inside there's a very classic coin compartment which I love very much. I haven't use this bag out yet, I figured that it suits a dinner party better than a regular shopping day. Guess how much I got this for.

MYR 3.00


Love!

N.

Hormones

Heys

It has been almost 4 months since I updated. Well, I am  busy, but not too busy that I couldn't write anything here, I was just being lazy. I've been wanting to tell every experience of my first pregnancy, but then it is quite the same with every first pregnancies, the excitement, the whats and the whys, the ouches that we experienced during sleep time on the pelvic bones when we are moving from left to right and so on.

But what I am surprised most about myself is my hormones. I am sensitive, but I seldom cry watching sad movies. I never even cried watching Hindustan's movies. Raju Chacha didnt do anything to me, but my bestie-slash-roomie during my undergraduate cried a river, and I was there to console her.

So currently I am 7 and a half months pregnant, and I experienced emotional rollercoaster few times already. Nothing serious, but when I looked back, not that those moments were nothing serious, they were actually nothing to get hormonal about. Hehe.

The most hormonal one that I experienced was when we were going for a morning walk one day, and I couldn't find my five-fingered socks, as my workout shoes are not regular sneakers (I love my adidas adipure fivefingers, and I am never coming back to regular sneakers). I thought for a while, 'maybe it's ok not to wear socks' but then again i thought 'it's a 7km path, i need the socks', so the last option was to wear the regular socks, with my only-once-used sneakers in the cupboard. It was a pair that I bought long time ago, with thick soles and all, but when I put on my socks, I imagined my toes all stuffed, too close to each other, and with the toes stuffed and those thick soles, I would lose my balance. I continued putting on the sneakers and tried to stand up. My heart was racing, already imagining myself on the lake track, losing balance and all and I felt I want to burst there and then.

This is because when you wear a five fingered shoes, your toes are properly spaced, and it provides you better balance, and you could run/walk naturally..like the barefoot feeling. I almost shed a tear when hubbs suddenly came and pass me the fivefinger socks. oh my god! saved my life! I didn't tell him the hormonal episode until after our workout, and yea he laughed at me :D


There were few more episodes but none as dramatic as this one, including the one I had this morning, when I discovered I gained too much weight, despite of my crazy long walking hours here and there while in Tokyo, and while Malaysian delegates visited my uni last week. If I was not pregnant, those walks and less eating would cause me to lose 2kgs! I told my husband how much I gained with a slurred voice, feeling my face red, and tears were on their way up, but I managed to calm down before seeing the doctor. Luckily the doctor didn't comment on that, probably because there are no other problems on my sugar levels and blood pressure.

But then, seeing how much my Baby K grows, I feel very happy, esp this morning, with those cute cheeks, cute button nose n cute lips.. I can't wait to hold Baby K in my arms.

Till then!

xoxo
N.