School Holidays!

We headed to 1U today. Jusco has reopened after closing for extensive reno works - it looks great! The crowd was good but was not too chaotic which is always a good thing.

Dinner at Mojo Upstairs in SS2 - Nic likes their fettuccine carbonara

Getting Into The Spirit of Christmas

Nothing like heading to the mall to get the Christmas feel - carols, Christmas tress and for Nic, it's to get her fix at the penny arcade (except it costs a dollar a game today).

Booked A Car

Following my visit to the Proton car showroom yesterday I proceeded to book the very humble 1300 cc new Saga today. Well it was either this new car or a "bigger" - 1500 cc & above used car. Susan liked the white model, Nic the red and I preferred the black car but as we eventually opted for the SE version - it only came in red and white. So we chose red (see pic).

I figured a new car came with a 3-year warranty and should be hassle-free (fingers and toes crossed) for a bit while a used car would be a lottery of sorts, at best. I will have to adjust my driving habits to a smaller vehicle then not that my lemon (it has served us well) was that big. The Saga was not a hard decision as the only other car we can afford is the Myvi and I did not quite like hatchbacks to be that short (Saga is 20 inches longer) and stout-looking.

Then there is Susan reminding me to take better care of the forthcoming car as those of you who know me - I am terrible when it comes to caring for cars. To me a car is just a means to get me from point A to point B.

Year Of The Tiger Draws Near

Sunday: Just under a week to the lunar year of the Tiger and people are running to and fro preparing for it. We headed to 1U (where else) and the place was jumping. I think every restaurant was packed and every retail outlet had sales on.

Nic just wanted to go to one place - Toys r Us - Nic's "playground"! So I took her there while mum had some alone time shopping.

Nic's pick - pink shoes!

School Shoes

Nic picked out these sneakers - her current school shoes are literally falling apart. Hey, matches our floor tiles too!

Crocs Shoes - Overruns or Quality Fakes?

We hardly ever shop at the pasar malam (night market) and last night was a rare event. Mom suggested we head to the quiet one along SS4C to buy veggies and such.

Mid way through we saw a crowd browsing over a pile of Crocs. I picked up a pair and said to mom that these are the real deal not imitation or pirated stuff. "Berapa?" I asked. The Indon helper replied, RM28, RM38 and RM55. Here's what Nic and I picked up! RM38 (USD10.87) a pair. Perhaps they're older models but I think it is worth it. Beats paying RM128 at the mall eh!

Baby girl already decided on her shoes (Disney Minnie Mouse) in a flash and was 'modeling' a few pairs for a lady. She has a 6-year old girl at home and was so unsure if she had gotten the right size. She suggested another pair for Nicole to which I replied, "Once she decides you cannot change her mind". She repled, "She has a strong will (please read last sentence on link) ". Ooh, I heard that before! Tell me about it! I picked out a sweet pink Dora model for her but she said no!

Note: We got Nic 2 pairs of slippers/shoes in May and they're both thrashed! Apparently these Crocs are gaining popularity in pasar malams around the city. Here's another blogger with a story, HealthFreakMommy.

Update; Crocs going belly up ?

Timeout at the Mall

Mum wanted to buy a pair of shoes so off we went to 1U. Nic picked out a couple of accessories but we told her no. She'd just get bored with them after a few days.


Nic played with a girl at Toys R Us despite me telling her otherwise. The girl spoke Bahasa and Nic English. That didn't stop them from having a ball. I hope the kid has had chicken pox or else this is her lucky day!

Shopping for Footwear

Saturday: It's time to get Nic a pair of casual footwear to wear at daycare. As usual she was more interested in the fancy heeled ones and after poring through the aisles at Jusco 1U she chose this sweet pair complete with sequins and such.

After that it was playtime and she had fun with Play-Doh at the Nestle Bliss roadshow at Ground Floor Centre Court.

It's a Holiday

Today is Thaipusam and a holiday. We decided to hang out at 1U seeing we have not taken Nic out for a bit now.

The roads near the mall was surprisingly clear even at noon time and it was a breeze finding a parking space. I guess the crowds were there the previous two days. We were so glad it is unlike the usual weekend mad rush.

Nic was so excited when she heard the "lion dance" drums as we entered the mall. Come to think of it, we have yet to witness one so far. We promised to take her to the show only after lunch but she insisted that the show would be over by then. Smart kid!

As it turned out the troupe was still there and Nic got her dose of not one but four "lions". Shucks, I forgot to bring the camera with me so no pics.

Mum bought a pot for brewing herbs and such at Jusco but apart from that it was the usual play time at the toys section for Nic.

We noticed Dome cafe has closed down or did they relocate to the new wing? Sign of the bad times maybe? We left 1U a little past 3pm and whoa, the car park was now full and more vehicles queueing to get in.

Shopping for Chinese New Year

We planned to head to Isetan KLCC today via the LRT but only after my meeting at Plaza Pantai at 1.30pm. That ended at 4pm and I headed back to the Taman Bahagia LRT station to rendezvous with Sue and Nic.

Were we glad to be on the train as the highway below us was very slow moving. The same was for most main roads too. We arrived at KLCC about 4.40pm and had a snack at the food court.

We spent most of our time shopping for Nic's clothes and footwear and I managed to grab a T-shirt but mum tried a few blouses but didn't like them and decided to quit as we were exhausted by now. After an ice-cream snack we headed home. We reached the Bahagia stop at around 9pm and drove to SS2 for dinner.

Shopping at Tesco

We had a few items to pick out for Nicole like milk powder, shampoo, diapers and such. These stuff are to be stocked up at the new kindy next week.

Traffic was rather slow due to the hordes of shoppers both for Chinese New Year (3 weeks away) but we pretty much saw all kinds of people there. People gotta eat anyhow. Despite the crowd at Tesco it was very pleasant compared to Giant where the aisles are so narrow. Check-out was quite smooth too as they had opened up so many counters (kudos to management).

Shopping at Tesco

We decided to shop at Tesco today instead of the usual Giant's. I find that Tesco has good offers on disposable diapers and Nicole's milk powder. Without any idea if these items were actually on offer we were taking a chance.

The place was crowded as is any mall or shopping center on weekends. As usual I had to watch over Nic at the toys area while Sue went shopping. Nic spent almost an hour playing with whatever she could get her hands on. This time she got interested in playing 'cooking' probably from watching so much Asian Food Channel on cable tv. At the end she asked me to buy her the microwave and cash register to which I said no. They cost RM49.90 (USD13.96) each and that's a lot of dosh in these trying times. I managed to persuade her to go for a multi piece kitchen play set (pic) that cost a mere RM5.90 (USD1.65). This will entertain her for a week or two I suppose. And oh yeah, she has been "cooking" for us all day. Could she be becoming more feminine?

We finally caught up with mom who by now has a cart full of groceries. It was a right decision to shop here as Huggies diapers cost only RM35.95 (USD10.06) a pack (got 3 packs) compared to the usual price of around RM48.00.

Kindy's Out

Nicole felt a bit feverish this morning so we decided to let her skip kindy. At midday she said she wanted to go to 1U as she felt better. Seeing her temperature was normal and she looked so energetic I gave in. Nic said she wanted to get a shiny belt just like Sammie's but barely five minutes of browsing she ran to the shoes section of Jusco and decided she wanted shoes instead.

She tried on a deep pink slipper thingy and went back to get a second one which she eventually chose. Here it is!

Shopping for Groceries

Saturday: Giant hypermart has some items on offer that we need like Huggies diapers, milk powder and liquid detergent. So we headed over to the Kelana Jaya outlet after dinner and it was packed, as expected. Unable to find a parking space we decided to head to Old Town Kopitiam nearby.

We bumped into my eldest brother and his girlfriend there and good thing too as I was getting tired chasing after Nicole all over the mall. She spent the next hour or so sitting with Robert at his notebook.

We went over to Giant at around 9.15pm and the crowd was less than before and we found a parking spot with ease. It was still fairly crowded inside and we decided to take our time shopping. Nicole was as usual playing at the toys area. She rarely bugs us to buy any but tonight she did. She picked out a 'soldier' set (pic above) complete with rifle, knife, wristwatch and handcuffs. In fact, it was the handcuffs that caught her fancy. It must have been the movie "The Mask" (we love this movie and I must have seen it over 50 times) that featured cuffs that made her want them.

Needless to say I was handcuffed by her for the rest of the 'night'. She finally jumped into bed at 2am. Well she still is not into Barbie dolls.

Shopping for Sneakers

We went to 1U to check out the sale at Studio R. Nicole chose a few lady-like shoes but we distracted her to try out a few sneakers on offer.

We managed to find a Reebok Sweets sneaker for her to try. It had a price tag of RM139 but was on sale with a 60% discount. At RM55 it was a good buy.