QUEEN

melanie

Queen

Okay, don’t be surprise that I too do watch Indian movie. This is a really nice one which reflects quite a lot about me. Most likely about a failed relationship of my past that made me who I am today!

This movie is about Rani (means Queen), a 24-year-old Punjabi from Delhi. She is cute and funny. I like how the movie begins with music, dance and awesomely colorful wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, two days before her marriage, her fiancé Vijay meets with her in a local cafe and tell her he no longer wants to marry her, claiming he has changed, and she would not match his lifestyle anymore. What the crap? Go away…

Rani couldn’t accept this and shuts herself in her room for a day. Fair enough that she needs to be alone. How is she gonna tell her family and relatives about this? Such an irresponsible man leaving her just like this without explaining to her family. No respect at all.

With guts, she decided to go alone on her pre-booked honeymoon in Paris and Amsterdam. Yeah, GO!! Go out and see how beautiful the world is. Go meet new people who cares and loves you for who you are! Rani learns more about her new friends’ background and begins to understand how different life can be for people in other parts of the world. You are not alone and you are not the worse. I remember a friend of mine told me, Love is just like dessert. Life is sweeter with it but hey, life goes on even without it. That was a really good one for me to move on.

As Rani is moving on with her adventures with her new girl friend, Vijayalakshimi in Paris and then took a train to Amsterdam, Vijay begins searching for her after Rani accidentally sent a selfie of her to Vijay instead of  Vijayalakshimi. For few days Vijay looking for Rani and finally found her. He apologizes and asks her to reconsider about their relationship. What the heck? Go away you. Rani would rather speak with him in Delhi. Instead, she meets up with her friends one last time at a rock show she had previously chosen not to attend. After bidding an emotional farewell to her friends at the show’s end, Rani returns to Delhi as a changed person.

Upon returning to India, she meets up with Vijay at his house. Without saying anything, she simply hands him her engagement ring and thanks him. Rani leaves his house relieved and relaxed.

What I wanna say is, do not hamper yourself by someone who does not know how to appreciate and respect you. Let’s think about your family. They are always the most supportive ones and they love you unconditionally. Think about people around you who cares for you. It is not the end of the world for losing some assholes. Excuse my language, but who cares. Some might not agree with this saying, “time heals all wound”. Yeah, the wound remains but if you really let it go, it is a good wound. Honestly, thank you is the perfect word for “letting us go” to find our freedom. When I turn around and look back, I really thank you for this experience of life and remember this. What hurts us today, makes us stronger tomorrow. 

What I love most is, Abner got me this movie and he said, I am sure you gonna love this because it’s so you. Yes, I absolutely love it. 🙂 Go watch it. I hope you will like it and have some laugh!

Hana Baby Wrap.

melanie

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I saw a lot of young modern mothers using baby carrier in shopping mall and cafe nowadays. It’s so nice to see the babies sleep so well while the mothers managed to catch up with one another. I highly recommend Hana Baby Wrap not because my hubby and myself are carrying this product in HunnyChamp, but we are trying to introduce good, beneficial and high quality products to all the new parents. It’s amazing to receive great feedback from friends and customers who have bought and tested the products. I hope that I can personally share my experience of being a mother with you all one day.

Let’s understand more about Hana Baby Wrap.

Why Hana Baby Wrap?

Hana Baby Wraps are stretchy wrap carriers made of bamboo fabric, that can be used for newborns as it offers full head and neck support and carry your baby in a healthy and safe position.

Emotional Benefits

  • Babies cry less and are healthier – Studies have shown that babies that are held more, cry less.(1) One study found that leaving babies to cry for long periods of time alters their nervous system by flooding the developing brain with stress hormones and adrenalin.(2)
    Carried babies are calm and content – Wearing your baby in a wrap sling, a baby will feel reassured by the presence of their mother’s body rhythms. The familiarity of her heartbeat, body temperature, body smell and breathing patterns will create a smooth transition from womb to world. A randomised controlled test reported in Pediatrics showed that carrying babies reduces crying and fussiness 43% during the day and 51% at night. (3)

Cognitive Benefits

  • Carried babies are primed for learning – Carrying a baby promotes cognitive development and speech development, since babies are exposed to more experiences and conversations.

Physiological Benefits

  • Babywearing stimulates a baby’s physical development -Touching your baby stimulates her growth hormone production.(4)
  • Babywearing stimulates a baby’s vestibular system, the parts of the inner ear that control the body’s sense of balance.
  • Babywearing increases a baby’s circulation and promotes respiration.(5)
  • Babywearing promotes deeper, longer and more peaceful sleep cycles, vital for brain maturation.
  • Babywearing helps digestion and eases colic – wearing your baby in a wrap sling offers an upright position which promotes digestion. A baby’s tummy is massaged through the act of babywearing which also promotes bowel movement. The acupressure points that aid digestion and sleep, are located on the belly and on the lower insides of the thighs. These points are automatically massaged through babywearing.(6)

Benefits to Wearer

  • Hana Baby Wrap provides balanced back support and helps in the prevention of strain or injuryto the your back or shoulders.
  • Hana Baby Wrap offers you truly hands-free freedom, allowing you to enjoy an active lifestyle indoors or outdoors.
  1. Hunziker UA, Barr RG.1986. “Increased carrying reduces infant crying: A randomised controlled trial.”Pediatrics 77:641-648
  2. Powell A., “Children need touching and attention, Harvard researchers say.” Harvard Gazette April 9, 1998.
  3. Hunziker UA, Barr RG.1986. “Increased carrying reduces infant crying: A randomised controlled trial.”Pediatrics 77:641-648
  4. Conde-Agudelo A, Diaz-Rossello JL, Balizan JM. 2003 “Kangaroo Mother care to reduce morbitity and mortality in low birthweight infants”. Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2): CD002771
  5. Sears, Bill and Martha. The Baby Book: Everything you need to know about your baby from birth to two. 2003
  6. Dr. Eckhard Bonnet (specialist in paediatrics, youth medicine, environmental medicine and sports medicine). 1998. Krankengymnastik 50 Jg No.8

You can check out for the story from HanaBabyUk. And do visit our store at HunnyChamp.com for offer.

A wonderful Saturday.

melanie

stretch

My respect goes to all fashion designers in the world. You guys are awesome!! Although I am not one of them, but I now know how crazy (in a good way) it is.

I am currently working on new harem pants by demand and also to stock up GOPAKO which has been running out of stocks for a month. Because I am working on my own, it takes me some time from picking the fabrics to drafting and sewing. Drafting the pants is pretty hectic because of the fabrication. Spun cotton or viscose is indeed very comfortable but it is a killer to draft and cut. Next, I have to send them for a special outerlock and unfortunately, their machine is under repair. A couple of days delayed. Darn my luck. Just this week, I managed to get all the pockets ready to be assembled on the pants. This is just step one.

Next, lots of research. Mood board. Mix and match arrangement. Props preparation. Fuh~ I have to organize all these for photoshooting which I enjoy most. I love planning and organizing my work. I am supposed to have a beautiful girl friend of mine to be my model, but understandable that she is packed with her schedule. I can’t wait and needless to say I can’t afford to hire a model just yet. With no choice, I have to be my own model. Yikes, so embarrassing to strut, strut, strut and pose. But I did some wonderful stretching though. Click here for some stretching exercises which I personally find them useful for runners as well as daily activities.

Above is one of my favourite shots. Not professionally taken but, okay-lah. Boleh pakai. Geez, so uncomfortable I felt like a clown more than anything else. So tiring – no joke. Hats off to all the models out there.

I will also be launching a new activity shorts in October which got me absolutely thrilled. They are made with lycra with fold-over waist band and are manufactured in size S, M, L and XL. Do check out GOPAKO in October for more information.

Next will be marketing and publishing. So many things in hand. So many to learn. So excited. So not ready. Mixed feeling.

There’s a saying. What we learn becomes a part of who we are. I hope you enjoy learning as much as I do. Have a nice weekend. ~ Melle

Yes, Chef! I love you, Chef!

melanie

chef_movie

Woo… I love this movie so much. I can feel the passion in Carl Casper and his love working in the kitchen. (I wish to have a workshop of my own to throw ideas and experiment without any worry of messing up the place.) Being creative is not easy. The truth is, working with dull bosses is discouraging.

Next, do not underestimate the social medias. We really really do have to behave well and no irksome action in public. Don’t you notice that majority of us have more than 1 daily job? Paparazzi that it is. Snap or video + click and there it goes viral on the internet. That makes Carl loses his job with negative publicity. Period. 🙂

He ends up restored a broke-down food truck with son, Percy. I like seeing how they spend time together and fortified the their bond. Then later, his buddy Martin joins them as a sous-chef. Not to forget, his super supportive ex-wife joins in as well and they remarried. Happy ending.

One man’s opinion. Passion, humbleness and hard-working is very important to get yourself into the limelight. And balance is the big deal!

homecookfood
A few outdated photos of home cooked food.

Please have full attention when you reach the part where Carl was making cheese toast for Percy. OMG. The crunchy sound was so… so sexy it makes me go uh and ah…*wink* And this is ART!

Watch the trailer here.

It’s time to spend some little time in the kitchen. Making ABC soup with ground white pepper and dried shrimp with cabbage for this rainy evening. Have a great evening everyone.

There goes my Monday…

melanie

monday

Am too tired to wake up early from the weekend trip in Muar. Morning walk and jog skipped.

I have my schedule planned to make a trip to China Town today. To save up time and money, Abner sent me to the LRT station after breakfast. First thing I did upon arriving China Town is to pray at Guan Gung’s temple. I then headed to the fabric shops. I enjoy taking my own sweet time picking the fabrics. If I have not mistaken, I have spent about an hour in the shop to get the best ones.

On the way to the Art Shop along Petaling Street, I could smell the wonderful aroma of roasted chestnuts. How could I resist? I got a packet for my tea break later at home. Got some information for my project from the shop owner and bought an A4 size sketch book for ideas and drafts.

China Town is not the same as before. Too many foreigner workers at times I feel like I am in a different country. Especially when there is construction, heritage and tradition gone. No discrimination. I didn’t spend much time wandering around I thought that I would. I decided to take the LRT back home. Wrap up some work, kopek-kopek the chestnuts, went to Time Square to get his machine fixed and we end the day with Japanese. 🙂

Okay, why am I taking the LRT than driving myself to China Town?
Because it is cost and time effective. I only need to spend RM4 for round trip. It takes only erm… I didn’t notice the time. I guess around 15-20 minutes to reach the destination. Walking distant is about the same as where I normally park my car. Save me a lot of hassle from driving and jam. Parking fees in China Town is not just rocket high, but I got conned by one of them. Here’s the scenario.

I entered the parking place at 11:35am. I left the place at 2:30pm. If my calculation is not wrong, I have parked my car for less than 3 hours. First hour at RM2.50. Subsequent hour at RM1.50. So it should be RM5.50. This gentlemen charged me extra by 1 hour and caused me making FULL payment at RM8.00. At first I thought I have calculated wrongly, but when I check the clockssssss, one on the radio panel, one on the display panel, one on Abner’s wrist and one on my own wrist. It was reading 2:35pm. We recheck the receipt, the time out was punched “3:30pm”. It was 5 minutes too late for me to come to the senses as we were already heading home. But hello… how can it be 3:30pm when I reached home at 3:05pm!? I went to China Town 2 days later. I try parking at a different place. End up paying RM11.50 for 5 hours. Hmm…

Well, I hate dishonest people. When a loyal patron of 10 years meets a huge disappointment, wise choices were made evidently. 🙂

Tang Lung

melanie

tanglung

Abner and I celebrated our first alone time on this festival. It lasted only for 1 candle with a mooncake and a cup of green tea and things went back to normal with work and HK drama series. 😛 I wonder why lantern? Click here to know more. We shall not stop this beautiful celebration every year with family and friends.

Wishing everyone wing yuen gin-gin hong-hong – good health always. Cheers, Melle.

MINE!!

melanie

volleyball
Good Morning everyone !! I had a very great evening yesterday playing Volleyball (VB) with a nice group of ladies and gentlemen. Damn, I can’t stop myself from thinking about VB. I wanna train my overhand service and spiking which *ahem – clear throat* I was pretty good at it back in high school. Not tip-top but just good. I miss the long hours of training be it rain or shine. All the sacrifices and tough time we have been through. All the adrenalin rush during tournaments. Those precious moments are very well kept in the heart. Now it make sense that VB is part of my life. Yes? 🙂

This is a super cute one I saw on the internet. If you are a VB player, I bet it will bring a smile on your face. Have a nice day y’all!!

“I wish love was like Volleyball, when you say ‘MINE’ everyone backs off…”

Hello September…

melanie

hello_september

Decades back, friendship bands were so famous. We make the bands using colored threads and were given to our friends as a symbol of friendship. And now, loom bands are the new thing here all over the world. It’s a trend now for everyone!! Young and old. Albeit I read that it’s kinda banned for the chemical kinda thing, but I have to get myself in vogue. Okay, okay… I know I am late. But it’s better late than never, right? So, being a kiasu one, I bought myself a starter pack at RM7.90 and one for my niece, Meagan. For the first time, I see how focused Meagan is. We both are so into it and wanna get more of it. I hope we will be able to get better quality of the bands and are chemical free. Fingers crossed.

A brand new month has started. Come to think about it, 4 more months to the end of 2014. I gotta speed up to achieve my goals or at least to strike off some of my personal projects in the list. Have a wonderful day dear all.