Valen’s Vanity Square

Finally, managed to get tickets for the “Valentine’s Day” movie. It’s such a sweet and warm movie. Not that kind of lovey-dovey movie, but it does convey a bit about the true meaning of love.

Not sure if Valentine’s Day is such a huge day in LA, but from what was shown in the movie, it seemed that one had to queue up in a long line in order to buy flowers on that day. Reminds me of how we queued up to buy barbecued dried meat for CNY…

Ooooh, and the body of the actors in the movie… 6-packed abs, toned biceps… I think hubby must be thinking “how am I going to achieve that kind of body? I want that body too!” while watching the movie, haha!

Sometimes it really makes me wonder how the actors got so shaped up, is it truly through workout regimes or by taking muscle supplement? Or both?

It’s not easy to maintain a great body, even if you can achieve it at the first place. Perhaps those are the things we don’t know about - actors and actresses have their own sacrifices in order to be in their best shape and look…

So, may be it’s better to just be an ordinary person?

It’s the 5th day of CNY, and it’s a quiet one. Was hanging around at home, watching the newly installed ASTRO channels, hehe.

We signed up for ASTRO, just the basic channels in the family package, through the internet few days before CNY, and the installer came and install the system for us on the third day of CNY! Fast!

Normally Chinese don’t like to drill or bang at home during CNY, but we couldn’t stand watching blur TV screens any longer (coz we didn’t have an aerial installed), haha!

And while watching TV, I was munching away on cookies and candies from bottles placed on the coffee table. Imagine all the sugars running in my body now…And tonight, we’ll be having dinner with both our parents.

This means that, I’ll have to workout on the elliptical machine for at least 20 minutes after this. Burn off some calories first before I take in more tonight, haha! I don’t intend to resort to weight loss products like slimquick or QuickTrim to get rid of fat, so I have to work the difficult way.

Hubby keeps nagging on me to take a driving refresh course, so that I can drive and go any where I like. Yeah, right. You mean, send you to work using your company car, then go shopping using your company car, go pick up the dry-cleaned clothes using your company car…

It’s his company car, not HIS car. I don’t want to drive in his company car (a Proton Perdana). It’s huge, it’s heavy, and I’m not the ‘authorized’ person to drive it. I don’t want to be blamed for any damage done to his company car.

If you want me to become your driver, first get me a car. Haha! I will then get for myself a cheap auto insurance before I start driving it on the road.

But it will take a lot of courage for me to drive on the highways! These days drivers are so reckless on the road, slow lanes becomes fast lanes, and cars take over from the left not the right… It’s really dangerous to go out on the road actually, especially for a new driver, like me.

Wanted to watch the movie ‘Valentine’s Day’ after lunch, but tickets were sold out. In fact, almost all movies at all hours were fully booked!

Well, firstly today’s Wednesday, the movie tickets are 30% cheaper. Secondly, many Chinese have yet to return to work, like hubby. So the best thing to spend time is to watch movie. But it’s difficult to get tickets on the spot during holidays, you usually have to call earlier to reserve tickets or make a booking online.

Okay, no movie for us, so we thought we could get a cup of free coffee at Secret Recipe cafe. They are having a promotion of buy one piece of cake and get a cup of coffee or tea for free. We didn’t manage to have that either, coz the promotion is only available from 3pm to 6 pm. It was only 2.30 pm then, so we decided not to wait. Save money, and save myself from gulping in extra calories, haha! (Otherwise, I won’t be writing this post but looking for weight loss help on the website www.quickweightloss.org now.)

But it’s okay. I bought a CD of Kay Tze, I will entertain myself learning new songs later. Planning to go karaoke-ing this weekend. But this time I’ll make to call and make a reservation first!

The day just ended with another feast of dine and wine. Well, I just got home from a dinner with the parents in law of my brother in law. You must be wondering what do my brother in law’s parents in law got to do with me, right? Well, they really have nothing to do with me, this is just part of the custom after you got married.

And after eating so much over these few days, but not eliminating every day, my jeans and skirts seem to have gotten tighter than they were before CNY, haha! I think I have another two dinner occasions to attend before the week ends. Eeeks!

It won’t be a surprise if you see colon cleanse products selling like hot cakes after this festive season, coz I think everyone needs to clear all the junk they eat over the holiday, hehe.

Luckily, there won’t be any family gathering tomorrow. I’ll be cooking like normal and eating like normal tomorrow. Suddenly, I’m craving for a bowl of hot old cucumber with pork ribs soup…

Jeez, a few late night sleeps and the hot, humid weather are enough to make my pores open up and cause a couple of zits to pop up. Urrgh, my complexion also looks less firmer than last week.

It’s like you get all ready to look good for a special occasion, but because you’re so busy preparing for the occasion (i.e. house cleaning, cookies baking) and go to bed late for a few nights, you get the opposite effect.

And I have a bunch of relatives to meet this afternoon! I think I need to do a mini at home facial treatment afterward - skin exfoliation and facial mask - before I leave the house. Of course, must apply my L’Oreal anti-wrinkle firming day moisturizer, too. While it’s not the best firming face cream that I’ve known, but it’s considered a cost-effective option for me for the time being.

Oh, I also like L’Oreal anti-wrinkle night cream (the one in blue bottle), but have finished up the bottle a month ago. Ah, I must get a new bottle this week. I think it would have made a difference if I didn’t stop using the cream, and I wouldn’t have looked so bad today.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Happy Chinese New Year to you if you’re celebrating this festive.

Today’s the second day of CNY. Yesterday, we visited my father in law’s relatives. Today, we’ll be visiting my mother in law’s. Well, this is the ‘tradition’ of my hubby’s family. Anyway, I’ll be going back to my parents’ this evening for dinner. The second day of CNY is the day where the wives get to visit their own family.

I think the city is pretty quite today, so are the highways. The highways were super duper jam last Friday and Saturday, where many drove back to their hometowns to be in time for reunion dinners. Lucky for us, we moved back to KL more than a year ago, so we didn’t have to go through the ‘balik kampong’ traffic agony anymore.

When there’s such heavy traffic on the highways, naturally there will be increased incidence of road accidents or cars breaking down. You have to call for help, then wait by the roadside for assistance to come, it might be a very hot day or raining cats and dogs, your journey is delayed…

Can’t imagine if you’re driving a heavy duty automobile, such as a motor home, and this happened. That would be such a big spoiler to your plan, be it a RV or camping trip. Of course, if you’re in US or Canada, you don’t have to worry a bit coz there’s good sam motorhome towing ready to your rescue if your motor home breaks down.

Anyhow, the best way to prevent all those unfortunate road incidents is to get your vehicle checked and serviced before you set off, and drive carefully on the road.

Have a safe journey, wherever you’re going!

Drug rehabilitation, in short drug rehab, is a broad term describing the processes of treating dependency on psychoactive substances, such as alcohol, recreational drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine, and other drugs of abuse. Through medical and psychotherapeutic treatment, the goal of drug rehab is to make sure the patient cease abusing and depending on substances.

A drug rehab program involves a detoxification process, which is very uncomfortable for the patients, as they will get all sorts of withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia, seizures, schizophrenia, etc. The drug rehab program will help patients to cope with those physical and mental withdrawal symptoms from the drug they regularly used.

Many drug rehab programs also teach patients how to interact in a drug-free environment, change habits related to addiction, and not to associate further with people who use addictive substances. This is to ensure a successful rehab and prevent them from getting back into drug abuse.

For those who have been suffering from acne, you might be wondering if there is any effective natural acne treatment to help solve your problem, so that you would no longer have to rely on OTC or prescribed acne medications. You then might also wonder what the best natural acne treatment is.

Well, the best and most natural treatment for acne is none other than…. live a healthy life! Eat a healthy diet, be physically active, and learn how to manage the stresses of life.

Proper diet as a natural acne solution

Increase fruits and vegetables in the diet, preferable at least 2 pieces of fruit and 1 cup of vegetables daily.

Eliminate sugar and sugary foods because sugar makes the skin sebaceous glands more active and secretes more oil. These glands are easily infected by acne-causing bacteria.

Avoid junk foods, fried and oily foods, and dairy products, as they tend to aggravate acne.

Take vitamins and supplements. Vitamins that will help improve acne skin are such as vitamins A, C and E. You can also take garlic and evening primrose oil capsules.

Other natural remedies for acne

You may also try herbal acne remedy  and homeotherapy to help cure acne problems. To use homeotherapy, it’s advisable to have a trained homeopathic health care provider to prescribe your acne medication.

Last but not least, practice good skin care. Cleanse your skin well every day to remove dirt and oil as well as acne-causing bacteria. Exfoliate your skin once or twice weekly to remove dead skin cells and prevent clogged pores.