Have any of you attended a baby shower before? If you're above 25 chances are you've been to a few already by now and if you haven't, go crash one (please don't quote me on that, I refuse to be held responsible when a hormone enraged woman comes after you).

They're extremely fun, not to mention funny (one of the girls actually strained her neck and took a Panadol from laughing too hard). If anything baby showers are just an excuse to gather your closest girl friends and act silly before you lose them forever upon baby arrival.

Our very own Hunny or better known to the world as Hunny Madu, is about to undergo a life changing experience from peace to no sleep, smelly diapers and shrill screaming all day everyday in just a few weeks so we thought we'd throw her a special going away party before the storm hits. Since she's weird, wacky and acts like a monkey it was only apt that the shower was themed Animal Safari.



One of the games we played was Kiss the Owl. How it works is that, an owl is passed around the table and each person had to kiss a part of the owl and remember where they kissed it. Simple right? Here's the punchline: Hunny now becomes the owl! So wherever you kissed the owl earlier, you now have to do the same on the mummy to be. Needless to say, there were a few lip locking and bum kissing involved.

And no baby shower is complete without some diaper action! Which I graciously lost, I might add.

Animals of the enchanted Madu Forest

Funny how 'ROARRR!' was behind the owl instead of the panther. Or just art imitating life? She is the feisty one. I'm just a little kitty. Peace!

Told you she was a monkey. M for monkey, not madu.

Hehe. Monkey with the biggest heart. Baby madu is going to be one lucky girl. We're counting down the days!

xo Reem

rip blackberry

Once upon a time, the Blackberry was the holy grail of phones. I felt so privileged to be able to ask someone 'what's your pin?'. Owning a berry was your golden ticket in to a clique where communication barriers fail to exist, opening you to a whole new world of gossip and TMI (too much info) chatter. Stuff that was sacred and limited to the confines of that sleek black device. Whatever happens in BBM, stays in BBM. Even the first few generations of the iPhone did little at best to put a crack on the BB anarchy.

And then it lost all relevance. A little perspective? If you accidentally left your phone at a restaurant, the waiters chase you to return it. True story.

For the past few weeks I've been complaining and whining about my primitive ol Blackberry. I've been waiting, and waiting and waiting for the release of the iPhone 5 in KL to no avail. It always made sense to expand my existing happy little Apple family with a sibling, hence I never considered an Android.

Good things come to those who wait, they say. They never had friends who've ignored them over tea because they were too busy Flipboard-ing or posting that same #tea as #foodporn on Instagram. Smartphones are supposed to enhance your life, not take over them (yes I'm talking to you. Don't shake your head).

So I waited indignantly, and then just about everything about the berry began to irritate me.

Like how it was so run-of-the-mill. The internet browser is a joke so funny everyone forgot to laugh. 'PING', period - possibly the most revolting thing about the berry. More so the personality of someone who would actually use it just because you took all of 30 seconds to reply. It had no Live Score app for the Liverpool matches I missed (more than half already this season). That everyone who messaged me on BBM were people I didn't want to talk to anyway (ex boyfriend, ex bosses, annoying colleagues).

"It's shit. My Blackberry is shit", I used to say to people, to myself, to my cat.

The universe heard me, alright.

On a recent work trip to Jakarta, I dropped the berry into the hotel lobby's toilet bowl.

My soul spiraled down the black hole briefly too. And pride - yes I dived in after it, but not before assessing the situation - it was clean, relatively. I mean, don't hotels clean their toilets every hour, on the hour? I don't really want to know the answer to that.

Moral of the story is, law of attraction isn't just some wish-wash theory! Wish and repeat a certain mantra often enough and the universe will conspire to make it happen.

For about 12 long hours I was phone-less and utterly gutted.

Until I got myself a new toy - Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - to play with. Granted, it wasn't my first or second choice. Or third now that I think about it (iPhone 5, S3, 4S - all unavailable at Maxis). It was the Note or no phone at all. A girl has her needs.

Though it took awhile to figure my way around the Android OS (I didn't know how to pick up a call!), baby now, I'm hooked on you.


All dressed up in a pink sleeve and a crystal jack too. Love!

My friends say I need an intervention. Tweet me with the hashtag #reemneedstounplug and maybe I'll take notice, guys.

xo Reem

j-town

Every time I return home from a trip, I feel cultivated and enriched with new experiences no matter how near or far the journey was. The chance to explore a new destination or revisit an old one is a passion shared by almost everyone I've ever met and spoken with. I personally don't remember ever coming home from a business trip or holiday thinking, 'that was the worst experience ever!'.  Because it never is.

Okay, maybe it sucks a little that I haven't watched a proper Liverpool match for 3 weekends in a row. Derby, Newcastle and Chelsea. But thank technology for all its binary greatness, I was with you all for every dive, offside and goals both for and against. Case in point, I was midway through dessert at Union (in Plaza Senayan) when I got the devastating news that Terry had scored. I squealed a loud 'NOOOO' and pushed the rest of my cake aside. I never push cake aside okay? Especially not my birthday cake. That was brutal.

We did manage to salvage a point from that game, and all was not lost. Aside from that temporary heartbreak (a positive sign that despite these
trying'developing' times for the club, I'm still firmly enthused) I had an amazing weekend in Jakarta full of laughter, food plus a session at the spa.

I've been to  j-town plenty in recent years but mostly for work and with family, so I never really got around their social or culinary scene much like I did this time. The interiors of the restaurants we went to had character, and were thoughtfully designed - elegant yet casual - a scenic and relaxing ambience just screaming to be photographed. Every last detail had purpose, as opposed to an after thought. And where we stayed, was just as charming.

Stumbled upon Ocha and Bella, an industrial-chic eatery by the hotel that I absolutely adore!

When I have my own home, my dining room floors will look exactly like the one from Ninty-Nine at Grand Indonesia

The mini heart attack, no thanks to John Terry, at Union in Plaza Senayan

I can safely say that I've fallen in love with j-town's New York meets Asia vibe. Will be back there in less than 48 hours for a business trip. But not before I catch the Wigan match in KL, KL.

xo Reem

movember

Can't believe this is only my first entry in Movember, the month formerly known as November.

Movember may be a cultural phenomenon for men to grow out their moussies (formerly known as moustache - no, not really, i just made it up) but for yours truly, it's literally the month to 'move-it, move-it...'.

I've been moving it up the past week from Sabah to Manila - a separate post for later, just to provoke those with obsessive chronological compulsive disorders - to Bangkok and then Jakarta. Which explains the lack of updates.

In aviation terms, the past week for me looks something like this: KUL-SDK-KUL-CRK-KUL-DMK-KUL-CGK-KUL.

Have I lost you yet? Those letters/initials put together to confuse you are simply standard world airport codes.

In an attempt to achieve a sense of purpose while getting out of my 10km rut, plus the opportunity to run in unfamiliar terrains - I jumped at the opportunity when our culture team (Human Resources) invited me to run for MAA (Malaysia AirAsia) in Bangkok.

Thai AirAsia recently moved (there goes that word again) its operations and services from Suvarnabhumi (BKK) to Don Mueang (DMK) in its efforts to maintain operations at a low cost. So what's the best way to raise awareness for this big move? An even BIGGER fun rally!

No other airline, in fact no other company that ever came to be does fun the way AirAsia does. NONE.

The rally route began at Suvarnabhumi Airport and progressed along the Airport Rail Link (Suvarnabhumi to Phaya Thai), connected to the BTS Skytrain (Phaya Thai to Mo Chit), included an RC hunt game at the Chatuchak Train Yard (I almost threw in the towel here. The glittering markets had my name all over them) and ended with a 12.9km (we did our own calculations and our pacers all recorded 14.9km) marathon from the yard, down Vipavadee Road to the finish line at AirAsia’s counter at Terminal 1 of Don Mueang Airport.

In Thailand, this is how you dress when running:

We obviously didn't get the memo. 'We' the reps from Indonesia AirAsia & MAA

While about 1000 odd runners were warming up before the race, we thought it'd be better to conserve our energies and play fashion police instead.

'She's running in 4-inch heels? Crazy!'

'Did she eat make-up for breakfast or what?? It's starting to grow on her face'

'Is she even a she?'

Soon after the race took off, we were full of optimism happily snapping photos away

After about the 3rd km, my photos started looking like this, having lost all equilibrium:

1528283 hours later, we crossed the finish line! *beams proudly* (still haven't found equilibrium at this point)

On my bucket list: Run 14.9km. Check!

Visit (Soi) Cowboy town? Check!

Er, there were no horses in this town. Only horse noises that don't come from actual horses. Leave the rest to your imagination.

Found my equilibrium though!

xo Reem