A Token From Bee Little

About two weeks ago, I received a special gift from Bee Little. The owner is such a nice lady, and she gave me some products from Earth Mama Angel Baby for both me and my baby's daily use. All I can say is, thank you very much Zhuriqa for those lovely gifts!

She sent me two boxes of tea, one is Monthly Comfort Tea which is to be consumed during postpartum and has a delicious cinnamon blend. Yums! While the other one is Organic Milkmaid Tea, which is good for breastfeeding moms as it can help you to produce healthy breast milk. I have yet to try the latter since I'm still on the Comfort Tea but can't wait to try the Milkmaid Tea, which has nice, fragrant smell too.

And Aisyah is not to be left out. For her skin wellness, I received 2 boxes of Angel Baby Bottom Balm to protect her skin from diaper rash. This balm has a nice lemon-y smell and soft, perfect for baby's delicate skin. Apart from diaper rash, I used this balm for other purposes as well, such as bug bites and blisters. Amazingly, the balm works out just great!

Well, that's not only what Bee Little has got to offer. I went online and found that they have other items selling at a very reasonable price (if not cheaper!) too. And since Raya is coming soon and if you're still looking for baju kurung for your little ones, why don't you head down to Bee Little for a feast. They have them in colourful designs and are too cute to pass.

Priced at RM35 each. Much cheaper than what other online stores have to offer.

And that's not all. Bee Little also sells boardbooks and clothbooks for toddlers and kids. And I love their Young Khalifah products. Apart from Islamic clothbooks, they have colourful prayer mats for kids too! Check this out:

Aren't they the cutest? These designs and more at RM55.

Oh, let's check out this bandana bibs from Funky Giraffe Bibs, originally from UK. The name says it out loud, these bibs are funky and have cheerful designs which is prefect for babies and bubbly toddlers. And you don't have to go far to order one as Bee Little sells these too. Yeayyyyy!

Grab this at RM16 each!

For more info and products for sale, you may head down to Bee Little FB Page. Most of their products are sourced from the UK and Europe, thus it explains why the price are cheaper than other online shops. Till then, happy shopping and salam Ramadhan.

Online Shopping: Furniture & Home Decoration

I'm an avid shopper, be it online or offline. But now since I have limitations due to my pregnancy (my due date is in 2 weeks time!), I opted for online shopping since it's hassle-free and saves my time and energy. This time around, I decided to take a break from baby items since everything for her is all prepared, I'm just anxiously waiting for this bundle of joy to pop out.

My interest now has changed to home decoration. We've moved to this new house for almost 4 months now right after the renovation progress settled. Since then, I don't really have much time and money to decorate the house as I pleased because I wanted to prepare for the baby first. For a few months, the idea to decorate the interior has to be postponed and we just make do with whatever furniture that we have and bought earlier, until this last month of my pregnancy where I can finally take a breather from baby's stuffs and start focusing on the house instead.

Since we've got some of the decoration items beforehand, I just added on a few to the list to complete whichever that is not. That's when I stumbled upon Home 24, a Malaysian-based furniture and home deco online shopping. Yes, too good to be true but they do sell furniture online now! All you just have to do is browse through their online catalogue for your desired items, add them to your cart, make payment and wait for the items to be delivered at your doorstep. Easy, right?

Their simple and interactive website for your best viewing option

So I decided to give it a try and bought a few decoration items for the house. I signed up for their newsletter and received an instant RM20 rebate for purchases above RM100 in a single receipt. I opted for cash on delivery instead of online payment to see how it works. Right after I placed the order, their sales rep called up to re-confirm my order and said that the items will be delivered within 7 working days. That's a long wait but nevermind, let's just give it a try then. Mind you, I ordered these items on Wednesday evening at 5pm.

Then on Saturday morning (while I was still sleeping), I received a call from a courier company saying that my items from Home 24 will be delivered in 10 minutes. Wowwwww that was fast! I thought their delivery policy is within 7-14 working days. But mine only took 2 days. Excellent!

I was all excited when the box arrived!

Let's open it up and see what's inside...

The neatly packed items in plastic wrap. I bought 2 sets of curtain (for the living room) and 3 place mats. They even sent me another RM20 voucher for my next purchase. Total damage: RM90 + free delivery. Wheeeeeeeeee!

My verdict on Home 24? Happy and pleased. They have excellent customer service and delivery is fast than what I expect. Maybe I can try to purchase a few small furniture for the house on my next order, to see how it goes. Hehehehe. But for the time being, I'm happy with my current purchase and will definitely come back to Home 24 and shop again.

Nubian Goat's Milk

Never ever has it crossed my mind that I'm gonna drink goat's milk, what's more loving it. Goat's milk have this awful smell which I can't stand, really. But ever since I'm pregnant, I started to learn new things each day and one of them is the possibility of jaundice on newborns and how your blood type can actually be one of the factors that contributes to it. I don't know if this is myth, assumptions or purely made based on scientific research but parents or moms (especially asians) with an O type blood have higher chances to have jaundice babies. Unlucky for me, I'm an O type blood too so I guess a simple precaution to prevent jaundice will do no harm for me and my baby. But it's all depends actually, if God's willing.

I heard goat's milk is one of the most popular method used to prevent jaundice on babies before they were born. Talking about goat's milk, my first reaction was like, yikes! I know I can't bear its smell but I just have to try it and thinking that this is just an experiment. Hahaha. I didn't want those prepacked goat's milk and decided to be really brave and tried the fresh goat's milk from Nubian. 

My brother used to drink goat's milk from Nubian before so I thought, hey maybe it wasn't that bad. And yes, it wasn't that bad at all. For a first timer, of course the smell was a total turn-off but once you drink it for the second time and the next, you'll get accustomed to its strong odour. In fact, I'm loving it now.

I started to drink goat's milk during the middle of my second trimester, with a bottle per week because fresh goat's milk is quite expensive. And now at 8 months, I increased my intake to three to four bottles per week. I can only drink milk from Nubian's. They're available in certain Giant hypermarkets, JJ/Carefour MidValley and Presto. But sometimes, they ran out of stock and boy, it was hard to find anywhere else.

My stocks for two weeks

But thank God they offer home delivery service, yes right at your doorstep. With my current condition now which is quite unforgiving, I guess I should make good use of this service. So I went to their website to register and placed my order. They have many flavors available if you decided to order online but I'm still stuck with the plain, original flavor. I've become their regular and now whenever I ran out of stock and decided to order I just text their staff at 016-3458988 and the milk will be delivered to me (with a very minimal delivery charge) in 2 days. Much easier and efficient!

For more info on pricing and delivery, do check out their super cute animated website!

House Renovation: Vendors Details (Part II)

I'm on EL this whole week because my car broke down on Tuesday morning and husband is not around to help me bring it to the workshop. So I'm sort of on 'house-arrest', seeing that I have no transport to move around. Trust me, it's not fun staying at home with nothing much to do. I was bored to death.

Okay, let's just skip that part. It's not that important anyway.

Hey, I know I promised you a second post on details of my vendors. So here you go. I guess it's all complete now. It's now time to decorate our new pod and that means, cash is rolling into the drain and I'm really broke (eventho it was just payday yesterday!) Please, please, please I'm in need of a relief donation. Huhu!

Lamps

As you know, budget is our main priority. Since we have a major renovation, that means everything needs to be replaced and the same goes to the lightings. I decided to forego the original lampu kalimantang and spent a few bucks on new soft light lamps. We browsed through Mudah and found cheaper solution for it. We bought ours at wholesale price and mind you, they are really, really cheap and the owner does give some good pointers and suggestions on the lightings. The shop has quite a few choices to your liking (as shown in pictures). Just drop by to Silver Star Wholesale Lighting Enterprise, located on the top floor in The 19 USJ Digital Mall. You can contact the owner at 014-2272368 for directions.

Furniture

Most of my furniture are from Macy. I bought them while they were on sale at the end of last year and thus it was a bargain. They're not entirely cheap nor expensive, but I was hooked on some of their design and decided to buy them eventho we weren't sure of renovating the house at that time. And I'm just glad I bought them much earlier because apparently they're no longer re-produce certain designs that we have. Phewwwwwww! My black sofa is from Macy Seri Kembangan while my bedframe and dining table set are from Macy IOI Mall. I think it's best to buy from them when they're having their major sale. Super cheap and choices are a plenty, I tell you!

Grill

We got the contact from family, where apparently most of my husband's relatives used their service whenever they want to have new grills for the house. After getting some ridiculous quotations from other vendors, we decided to hire them because they have the cheapest and most affordable rates in town. We managed to get by with only 3k to do grills the whole house, including the main gate. Isn't it cheap? You can contact Ahlim Engineering at 012-3091087 for quotation and discussion.

Astro / Streamyx Relocation

It was a headache at first when we want to find someone to move our readily installed Astro and Streamyx to the new address. So I went online and found a contact who can relocate my Astro. My husband decided to dismantle the dish by himself to save cost so we just hire a wireman to re-install our Astro at the new house. The charge is RM100 for installing the dish and RM150 for dismantling and installing the dish from your old place to your new house. You can contact Mizan at 019-2832487. As for Streamyx relocation, I just went to TM Point office in USJ Taipan (since I stayed in Subang previously) and filled up a form to apply for relocation. Within 7 working days, their assigned vendor will contact you to install the new line and you'll be charged RM30 for the service. As usual, they can be quite a slowmo at times so it's best to keep contacting them if they failed to do so after the promised period.

Hmmmm, I think that's all the details and contacts that I have so far. I can't think of anymore right now. Do let me know if I missed on anything. Will surely keep you informed and updated then. :)

Wedding Finds in Petaling Street

The holiday was spent with me and Johan trying to find wedding items. It's four months left to the wedding and luckily, all the major things have been taken cared of.

We went to Petaling Street on one hot and sunny afternoon. Thinking that it's going to be a marathon from Petaling Street to Jln. TAR to PJ State. But we were so exhausted in the middle of Jln. TAR and decided to go to PJ next time. What's in PJ? Well, there's an art shop selling easels in various size and design at an affordable price range. I'll let you guys know the drill once I buy the easels from them yeah?

Okay, let's move on to the initial story. The reason we went to Petaling Street was to buy paper lanterns and decorations for my reception. I happen to know from an anonymous that there's a shop selling paper lanterns so cheap you feel like crying! Hahaha! So that afternoon, we just went there and were looking at the map by the roadside, felt like tourists, asked some directions from the locals and tried to find the shop. It is hidden, you must have missed it if you're not aware of the surroundings.

What did we bought?

• 13 (16-inch) plain paper lanterns in red, white and pink.
• 4 (14-inch) flower-cut paper lanterns in black.
• 2 kipas bulu (for bersanding).
• 70pcs white organza pouch.

Total damage? RM150!!!!

Omgggggggg!!!!! So cheap yes I feel like crying because money is so tight right now so anything cheap will make me drool. Haha!

They sell various types of lantern. The biggest paper lantern ever is cheap too, selling at RM19.90. Sooooo huge!!! They do have the famous kipas bulu but in limited colors tho, maybe kehabisan stok? When I was there, they only have it in red, white, orange and yellow. I thought of buying black and red fan but after some discussion with Johan, we settled for the white fan. Senang nak guna for other function later. Yes, you can unwrap it and check if there are any defects before you commit to buy the fans. They don't mind. I buat macam itu kedai I sendiri je, try itu ini without even asking them. Haha!

Kipas bulu sold at RM8.90 per piece. Fluffy and pretty!

Black flower-cut lantern at RM8.90 per piece. Cheap!

The shop owner, an old Chinese lady is very helpful. Do look out for her. And her Cambodian (i think!) assistant too, who cannot speak Malay and doesn't understand BM much. Hehe.

The location?

It's in Jalan Panggong. If you're coming from the market area in Petaling Street, walk just a bit further up to your right. Keep your eyes open and you'll see a McD signage across the road and there's a signage to Jalan Panggong. Enter the alley and walk straight up until you reach a row of shoplots. The shop is located next to a restaurant. From the outside you could see lanterns hanging inside the shop, you're at the right place then.

Or if you're still clueless, just ask any taxi drivers yang dok melepak tepi jalan tu. They'll help you. Owh I love Malaysians!

Happy hunting!

Krabi for Honeymoon

Ok. Ok. This is boring but we too, have been eyeing Krabi for our honeymoon destination. Haha. It looks like we'll be jumping on the bandwagon like Sha, Sab and Ashylla too.

Why Krabi? Good question.

First and foremost, I was influenced by the reviews from our newly-wed bloggers yang bertiga itu. They did a good job in writing a review about Krabi and I, being a sucker for anything beach, falls for it. See, I am easily influenced.

Second, budget. I like beach so much. I did survey local islands like Redang, Perhentian and those in Sabah too. They are heavenly, especially in Sabah. But they are insanely expensive. We don't have so much left after the wedding, and these places are waaayyyy beyond our budget. After considering the accomodation rates, transportation, expenses and all, we decided travelling abroad is cheaper than travelling to your own islands in Malaysia. No offense but I was surprised, mighty shocked you know, to find that the place has grown up to be expensive where once upon a time it was very laid-back and affordable.

Third, season. Yes. Our wedding is in October 24th. Two days after that we'll be leaving for honeymoon, insya-Allah. Most of the resorts and chalets on the islands will be closed during this time for monsoon period. Krabi saja la yang available because it's not an island. I love beach but not to the extent of spending the whole time diving and snorkeling aje. Or at least when it's raining in Krabi, we can go for massages and hibernating in the room.

I did some research on the accomodation at Krabi, mainly at the AoNang area. And then I fell in love with these two places.

AoNang Princeville. Sab stayed here for her honeymoon if I'm not mistaken. The main reason that attracted me to this resort is because they served HALAL food. But the reviews on TA is not much. So I have no high hopes for this place.

Krabi La Playa. TA reviews are helpful and photos are plentiful. Simply beautiful.

I personally prefer the latter but the first one should be my priority because of the HALAL food.

Psst!!! Are you coming to the gath this Saturday? I have to pass tho. Would love to meet you pretty ladies in person but time is constricting me from doing so. We'll meet next time then. Ah, aku jeles ni!

Honeymoon Destination

This is merely a plan. Since we're saving a lot (mostly it's more to spending a lot) for the wedding so the thought of going for honeymoon hasn't even made it to our priority list yet. Well, at least not right after the wedding. Few weeks after that or best, until we are financially stable to splurge would be much better.

However...

That doesn't stop me from finding the best deals, especially for beach escapade. The one place that is within our range of budget is Phuket and yes, Krabi, which seems to be the current favorite place for honeymoon among bloggers (or so I think..).

In this post, let's talk about Krabi alone, shall we?

I've made tedious research on these two island and found Krabi to be the most affordable among them. Well, for our budget at least. After hours and days spent on googling online and visited each respective websites, I have shortlisted these hotels as the best accomodation that meets the requirements and most importantly, BUDGET!

Aree Tara is modern and chic. The pool is shaded most of the time but it's still pretty. They have pool access room. Bonus!

Buri Tara have pool access room too. I think Sha stayed here on her honeymoon. They have two separate sinks in the bathroom. I loike!

Aonang Paradise Resort is beautiful! They are surrounded in greenery, which is very relaxing and laidback. Heaven!

These resorts are located in the Ao Nang area. I've always looked up for real reviews from travellers in Trip Advisor for the the real insights and honest opinions before I book on accomodation. Normally, pictures shown on the resorts' websites are perfect but Trip Advisor shows the real flaws and actual things. Those pictures above were taken from visitors on Trip Advisor who have visited the resorts. So I could assume that these places are actually almost the same as they depicted in their websites. Pretty, aren't they?

These resorts are affordable, considering the location, ammenities and room. Tapi untuk penjimatan terhebat, do book early. Direct booking with the hotel is cheap but I found cheaper option if you book with booking.com. They don't charge your credit card. It's only needed to guarantee your booking. All payment must be made directly to the hotel when you arrive. It means, they don't take your credit card details and simply charge you the total rate of your booking. Yeay!

I have set my eyes on one of these resorts. Can you guess which one would it be? Hehe.

On the next post, I shall write about Phuket and its heaven for honeymoon escapade.

UPDATE! Gable Boxes

Okay. So I finally found a local supplier for gable boxes while simultaneously searching online. It's from PPH, located in Penang. Finding this, I know I can finally save my time, energy and petrol. No need to go all the way to Jln. Pudu or Brickfields for paper printing.

I got an instant quotation from the sales admin. The box is priced at RM0.70/pc. The delivery fee is charged at RM50 (sape-sape balik kampung ke Penang I nak kirim this just to cut cost. Hehehe.. ;p). So the total price for 800pcs of this box including delivery is RM610. Cheap? No. But I think it is relatively reasonable considering the box is quite big and is made of hard paper. For sure it is sturdy and able to hold the weight of an apple.

I did ask them if they are able to custom made the boxes in certain color. It is possible but it must be in large quantity. For 800pcs, no, tak layan. You have to buy their ready-made white boxes jugak. It's ok then. We can play around with ribbons and stickers. Not a problem.

On the other hand, my mom is still undecided on the favors. Since both of our family has agreed to sponsor the favors, and there's a greenlight from the other side, so now I'm just waiting for my mom's. I'm annoyed whenever she suggested on giving out the 'expected' favors. I strictly told her I don't want those regular bekas mengkuang, handkerchief, candle, things that collecting dusts later on, etc. I'm demanding, I know. But it's our wedding, at least let us (mainly ME!) have it our way. Since the other side has decided to give out edible items as wedding favor (which I think is cool considering they won't be such a waste after all), I thought my mom should do the same. But she loathe the bahulu idea. Bleh! I know there's gonna be a HUGE row between me and my mom later on regarding this matter.

Back to the boxes, it's not confirmed yet. I haven't placed my order as I need to discuss further with the others. Budget, it is important!

Sharing Information

I just got back from OU and guess what I found? A corner punch! I've been to all three craft stores in the mall just to find the punch I've been looking for. And when I'm just about to give up, I finally found one within my budget at Craft Haven. Retails at RM28. The SA was so helpful she even tried the punch on my draft card just to make sure the curve fits the card. And it did fit nicely. I'm happy!

Corner punch from Craft Haven 1 Utama.


Oh. There's this other craft shop in OU called Scrap Book Memories (2nd floor, old wing) that sells corner rounders as well but they're a bit expensive. The smallest one is priced at RM40+. I'm not surprised because they are from Fiskars.

For your art and crafting needs, I suggest you these two outlets for supplies. They have various pre-made stamps which is fun and pretty (price varies according to the size), stamp pads in various colors, alphabet stickers and much more. Or if you prefer to shop online, I love Scrap n Crop. Otherwise, click on Sheerah for an extensive link of almost the up-to-date craft supplies in Malaysia.

Do you still remember my post about wanting to find popsicle sticks which are slightly bigger than the usual ones? Yes, I've found it too. After googling on the net, I found the supplier. They actually supply medical products. And the sticks are actually called tongue depressor, used by doctors. But nobody can tell they're actually medical products, right? I called up Zipper Marketing. They're located in Skudai, Johor. The sticks are priced at RM5 per box, which contains 100pcs sticks inside. If you need a courier service, they charged RM10 for it. You can either call or email them for payment details. I tried emailed them and the reply came within 6 hours, which is pretty quick for a supplier company. :)



The cheap wooden sticks for my wedding program project.



Last Sunday, I went to Jalan TAR with Hanis, my little sister, to buy some kain for my bridesmaids during nikah and stuffs for my DIY project. Jakel was having sale on that day so I bought 16 metres of greenish blue crepe for my bridesmaids. Total? RM96. Happy! Then went to Bunga Riben to buy some flowers for my DIY pomander balls project. Priced at RM15.90 per pack (fixed price!). You can get 2 pomander balls done with it. Mind you, these are small pomander balls. They are priced at RM1 per ball at Sin Yin Semua House but the lady sold it to me at RM9 altogether. Hehe.



The end result of my blue pomander balls.


Do let me know if you B2B out there need more info yeah? I'll be glad to help. :)

Religious Wedding Favors

I still haven't decided on the solemnization favors. Apart from the custom-made bunga telur from Nani, the rest is still pending. The discussion for my bunga telur will start on April 2010, since my wedding is still a long way to go. I have to give way to others whose big days are coming up.

Went to Mydin with Johan today to get the quotation for some stuffs. Originally, we planned to give out Yassin and tasbih as favors to our guests for akad nikah. But I'm sure, people have received Yassin too many times now, it's quite common.

We did browse around the religious books area, and stumbled upon Manzil. I open it up and I like the wordings. They're clear and not too small eventho the size of the book is petite. The cover is great too. It's not the usual hardpaper cover like other books, but it's kinda made of thin plastic so it's doesn't quickly worn-out or torn-up. The price of Manzil at Mydin USJ varies according to the size. The cheapest comes at RM6 per pack. Each pack contains 10pcs of mini Manzil.

Pictures of Manzil books taken from Google Image.


The tasbih has a great variety and wider selection too. Whether it's long or short; small, medium or large size beads in multiple colors, it's all up to you. The one like in the picture below is RM8.40 per pack. Each pack contains 12pcs of green tasbih.


Green long tasbih taken from Google.


And I know this is expensive but I'm still considering giving out mini wooden rehal instead of tasbih as favors. Price, again, varies according to size. From RM3.90 to RM7.90 per piece.


Mini wooden rehal taken from Google.

Wedding Program

Remember the other day when I bought the red card papers in Brickfields? Okay, there's a slight miscalculation. That's what I get for not bringing the actual draft when buying materials. *sigh* It happens that we actually need 300pcs of A4 size red paper only! We've bought about 600pcs, and now, I'm left with half of it. In red! What to do?

So the thought came in... since there's so many leftover, I'm gonna make my own wedding program. 300pcs is just enough because not many people are used to this kind of information for wedding. Here's the ideas:

They all look basically the same. I specifically want a fan-type wedding program.

And yes, this one is in RED! Woohoo! Images are all credited from Google.

So, what info can be put on the fan? Okay, here goes. There are two sides for information, right? For one side, I plan to write down the wedding itinerary, menu and candy table information. The other side pulak I want to list down the names of the people who are involved with the wedding. Example: The bride and groom's parents and grandparents' names, the bridesmaids and groomsmen' names, the maid of honour and bestman's names, etc. Get the idea?

The things I need to find now are a bunch of popsicle sticks (preferably yang lebar macam in the pictures, not the normal stick-thin ones) and a corner punch (might be available at craft stores).

Corner punch. Picture credited from here.

Popsicle sticks. I want that size or bigger! Photo credited from here.

Do let me know if you know where can I get my hands on these.