Our Experience: Covid & Home Quarantine

24 March 2022

And just like that, on a super rainy Sunday afternoon last week, my mum sent a brief message in the family WhatsApp group saying that both my parents were tested positive for Covid. We also had the feeling that sister could be too because she was slowing showing similar symptoms. 

I can't represent the whole family on what our initial response to that was. However, I guess I can say that for a brief moment, we all felt daunted and saddened by the news. We knew that at some point, despite all the SOPs and careful precautions we took for the past 2 years, there would come a time when the virus slips through and affect us. 

Luckily for us, as a household, we were all fully vaccinated and boosted. For my sister and me, we had our booster just 2-3 weeks ago before Covid was on us. 


Updating Our MySejahtera


This was safe to speak, painfully annoying to deal with - the app. Not fun at all. On Sunday, both my parents had updated their Covid status on their app and received the HSO. Later that day I updated my own status as close contact but it took another 24 hours before I got the orange status "Close Contact". And then on Tuesday I believe, my status changed back to blue and I was considered low risk... despite living with three confirmed/possible Covid patients.

I didn't want the risk of being asymptomatic and passing on the virus at work, I requested to WFH until everybody is well again and showing no other symptoms. 

Social Distancing Among Ourselves at Home


This wasn't much of a problem for us. We each have our own rooms so for most part of the quarantine period, we stayed inside continuing our work or classes as usual. If we wanted to take food or drink, cook or whatever outside of our rooms, we wore masks. For those of us with Covid, we had gloves after washing our hands.

Food, Health Supplements and Grocery Shopping 


For the first 2 days of quarantine, we mostly ordered our meals through GrabFood or FoodPanda but it got to the point that eating outside food made us feel queasy. Plus, ordering meals for a family of four is pretty expensive. We wanted something fresh and simple. Unfortunately, most of our ingredients had run out, we didn't have the time to get to the grocers and stock up on food supplies before the quarantine. 

Luckily, a close friend of mine suggested to use HappyFresh app to handle the grocery delivery part because it worked out for him in 2021 when we had the endless lockdowns and MCOs (oh yes, what a time that was). All we had to do was download the app, look up for Lotus and add the items we need to our shopping cart. All the ordered items were delivered the next day.

As for our meds and extra supplements to help with the coughs and fever, there's quite a selection of pharmacies nearby to get our stock. The rest we ordered from a relative.    


Work From Home (WFH)


It had been pretty bearable actually, I wasn't a stranger to staying at home for long periods of time and working from the comfort of my home. And the best part was that during my short breaks, I'd spent 10 minutes to play with my cats Leo and Dessi before continuing to complete my tasks for the day. 

Of course there were downsides to WFH and self-quarantine for an extensive amount of time. I missed my routine of working in the office on certain days of the week, eating lunch together with the colleagues, and socialising with my friends outside. I also developed the craziest food cravings and was ordering foods and snacks from the apps every few days. 
.
.
I'm glad that part of my life is over (for now... can't really be sure with the pandemic still around) and I'm back to being on the outside. 

Have you guys been under quarantine or similar situations before? What was that experience like for you?



Smelling Fab on a Budget with Scentses + Co Monthly Subscription — A Review

12 March 2022


I live on a comparatively small budget when it comes to spending on myself, be it makeup, skincare, food, etc. Anything above RM100 would have me sit back and contemplate is this a need or a want, what is this? And if price point isn't a problem, it doesn't help that I'm generally very picky with shopping. Something that I like, for example, a cute blouse or new blush can sit for weeks in my shopping cart before I finally make up my mind and say, "I want it."

Is this what they call procrastination? 

But anyway, I guess all this also affects my choice of perfumes. There are so many types and brands out there, and I have ZERO knowledge about buying perfumes. Like what if I buy a bottle and a couple of sprays later, I decided I didn't like it? At the end of the day, I still want to smell good just if only the perfumes I want to try fit my current budget. 

What am I Reviewing Today? - Scentses + Co



And this is where Scentses + Co comes in. I have to be honest here, I've been seeing their ads EVERYWHERE for monthssss, on Instagram and Facebook, you name it. And the first thing that hook me into their brand is what they do - giving guys and girls the freedom to explore an array of authentic luxury designer perfumes without having to commit to buy a whole bottle when you want to try something else each month.

For me, that's the best bit about them. I don't have a specific preference for a perfume brand or the kinds of perfume that I like. I'm a totally noob and newbie in this department but with this option, I can get to explore what perfumes I like and don't like without burning my purse. In fact, they have over 750+ perfumes to try out and new perfume launches every 14 days. That's pretty crazy good if you ask me.

How Scentses + Co business model works is that it is subscription-based, so every month you can select new perfumes (or top-up the ones you like) to be sent to your doorstep. These perfumes vials come in at 8ml, and according to Scentses + Co, it can lasts for 30 days with 3 sprays daily.

There are currently two types of subscriptions, I picked the Lite package for review that's worth RM49.90/month.


My Perfume Choice

I had to rope in my sister for this because I didn't know what brand I wanted or what perfume I should try. My criteria were, I didn't want something that's too strong and floral (it makes me sneeze my nose off), much preferred fragrances that are musky and have that fresh after-shower kind of vibe. So okay, I had a rough idea of what fragrances I like but just didn't know what perfumes smell like that.

For this review, I went for the Signorina Misteriosa from Salvatore Ferragamo. From what I heard, you can't go wrong with this perfume. And so, I wanted to give this a go and see how Scentses + Co would deliver it to me. 

Inside the 1st Month Subscription Box

Delivery was fast, fast. Within days of placing my order, a mysterious package arrived at my door. I had almost forgotten it was the perfume that I ordered because I didn't think it'd arrive so soon.

The Packaging




And when you open things up... Voilà! 



Packing was simple and slick. I like the simplicity of the design and its practicality (I'll talk about this in a bit). To get the product out, I just needed to slide the interior box out with the perfume and inside of it were:
  • Free black plastic travel case (get it in your first month of subscription)
  • 8ml fragrance in a glass vial and
  • Welcome note that I'm pretty sure had personal written notes on it (cute!)
  • Info card on my perfume of the month
I really love opening up packages when the first thing that hits you in the nose, is the fragrance. Oh, and you know how I said the box is practical? Instead of throwing it away after getting your perfume, you can just flip it over and now you have a place to store your new perfume collection!


Worth the Price Tag? Practical as Claimed? - My Thoughts

I had a whole week to test the perfume and its travel case. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it outside like at a mall or my office, because I'm currently under quarantine at home. BUT because I've been WFH all week and I do dress up for work, I still managed to test the perfume out.

I actually LOVE the perfume! I didn't think I would, I was preparing for the worse like you know, losing my nose in a sneezing fit and end up not liking it. The perfume I chose lasted for 6 hours on me. Very noice!

The travel matte-black case feels great to carry around, especially because it's small and slim enough to fit inside my handbag. And get this, if you don't like the colour black for your travel case, there are other colours to choose from. I saw on their website they had a cute rose-gold case (I'm just thinking... hmm). 

To switch to different perfumes using the case, simply twist the vial out and insert a new until you hear a click. Then you're all set to go!


And remember how Scentses + Co have like over 750 perfumes to choose from and counting? What if the options are just too much and you don't know what to pick? I just noticed that they have "Our Handpick: Scent of the Month For Her/Him", so their team would pick a featured perfume for that month for you! I think this will be fun, it's like gifting a random surprise gift for yourself.
What about pricing point? I think if I wanted to expand my perfume collection without going broke, this is pretty great. I currently have just 3 perfumes that I own, including the Signorina Misteriosa from Scentses + Co, and I do want to expand it a little so I have more options. 

And say I do go broke or a little tight on budget for that particular month, I can skip, pause or cancel my perfume subscription any time I want, no questions asked. 

The only thing I would wish for them to improve is to curate the perfumes selection better, especially for newbie perfume buyers. It can look a little bit overwhelming, so perhaps for newbies or those who don't know what they want to choose, the perfumes can be categorised into types of scents? So we can choose according to the scents we generally like or want to explore. 

Overall, I really love the experience I had with Scentses + Co. Would I recommend for others to try? Yes, definitely. 

Click here to start shoppinggg!


Have you tried Scentses + Co before? 
How was your experience?


How My First Two Months in 2022 Went

27 February 2022

 

Hey guys, it has been a WHILE. And I'm pretty sure I've gone a little rusty with my writing because these days, it takes me a good chunk of hours just to complete one writing piece. It's like when that one brain cell is all is left while the rest take a long a vacation.

But anyway, I think a lot has happened since the start of 2022. And to be completely honest with you, I feel like I've gone through half of the year in just January. I really don't know why, time seemed to move extra slower last month and now we're living in February that's whizzing very quickly to March.

Before I start to ramble on about losing track of time, here's a quick wrap-up of January and a teeny tiny bit of February 2022:

January 2022

Makeup and Skincare Collection Spring-Cleaning

My special trolley that's dedicated to hold all my makeup and skincare stuff together has definitely seen better days. Since the pandemic and the many countless lockdowns we had over the year, a lot of my makeup were left unused. Some were practically brand new or I had only reached out for them once or twice, but I found that quite a number have already gone bad (can't explain it). Others have completely given up on living and expired or dried up (RIP Maybelline eyeliner T_T). However, it felt oddly satisfying to throw out some of my old lipsticks, dried skincare bottles and powdered products into the bin. What was left is more space on my makeup/skincare trolley and I'm back to when I first set it up. 

The spring cleaning was a good eye-opener for me as well since I learned that my skincare and makeup routine hasn't changed that much. I haven't tested anything "new" to add to my collection. Maybe 2022 can be that year?


Friends Reunion and a Taste of Tik Tok Inspired Pasta! 

I haven't seen my two friends who I met through my internship period in 2017 since just before Covid. It has been a long while and earlier this month, we managed to have a mini reunion! Thanks to Myra, we got a taste of Tik Tok inspired pasta over a long conversation and some laughs. I couldn't feel the muscles on my face after that was over. 


Mini Family Barbeque

We had a busy month in January. My family thought we deserved a small break at the end of the week and a barbeque with marinated chicken and beef was just what we needed! I can't remember when was the last time we had one, most probably before covid when we had relatives and the cousins over. 

And for the first time EVER, I got to try out s'mores! It was golden on the outside and an oozing melting goodness on the inside after the first bite. It turns out to be quite a snack although personally, I thought it was very sweet. I love sweet foods like ice creams and boba drinks, but s'mores are on a whole new level of sweet.


February 2022

My Birthday, creeping closer to my thirty series.

I had a nice small birthday celebration with my family just after Chinese New Year. I honestly wasn't expecting much this year and I was not in the best state of health to celebrate. But I had friends sending the cutest gifts over and my family got me a cake with meds as a side dish (that was a very nice touch).  It was a treat I didn't think would cheer me up so much after being holed up at home because of all the fever and coughing.

This birthday feels a little different because to me it is a reminder than I'm getting closer to my thirties. Am I excited, nervous or feeling completely indifferent to it? I can't tell, it seems like it's a good mix of everything and to be very frank, I think I'm mostly looking forward to it? Or not? See, I really can't tell. One thing for sure though, I sure as heck don't feel grownup. Am I supposed to be super wise and know-it-all about how my life works, because I really don't. I'm still pretty much going with the flow at the moment.


Of course, restock on some important self-care purchases (ehem!)

On a sadder note, I have not been consistent with my skincare that much during most of 2021. I'd slap some moisturiser and essence on, and then I was good to go. Even then I only remembered to follow my skincare routine at night. This year though, I take the time for at least 10 minutes to get through my skincare and just recently noticed some products needed restocking. This included my holy grail Loreal Revitalift crystal micro-essence and for haircare, Lucidol Argan Hair Treatment Oil.

The rest of my skincare collection remains pretty much the same as last year's. However, I am looking for anti-ageing products to tap into. I've been hesitant to try because I have sensitive skin that apparently hates anything new. It gets to the point that I'd feel it's a miracle if a new product works on me at all and stays long enough to be part of my skincare collection family. 

It's that much of a struggle.



I Had My Booster Shot!

I have friends left and right who received notifications for their booster jab appointments, while my app remained quiet. Not going to lie, I was a little restless about it especially with the sudden spike of daily new covid cases. Not willing to wait much longer, I went for a walk-in booster jab at the nearest vaccination centre to my home and within 15 minutes, the whole thing was over. I got boosted!

Previously, my vaccines were the AstraZeneca and for my booster, I had Pfizer. A day after receiving the jab, I didn't experience any serious side-effects at all. And this may be a little TMI, but what the heck, most girls experience this. I was going through the earlier days of my period and to be very honest, the cramps pretty much overwhelmed whatever discomfort I had from the Pfizer booster. In fact, the only noticeable changes that I took notice of was just fatigue and the need to sleep all day. The cramps champion over everything else.

After a day of resting, I was back to being old me!


A few honorable mentions:

And of course, I know how much popular my two cats are; Dessi (white cat) and Leo (read his full story here). They're doing really well over the past few months, maybe gained a kilo or two as well. Leo has grown an extra coat and he's just a walking buzzy ball of cuteness at the moment. 



How has January and February treated you guys? 

Do share in the comment section and we'll have a chat!

Weekend Trip to Kebun Kebun Bangsar

4 November 2021

 

Hi there! So last weekend, we made a quick trip to Kuala Lumpur, specifically Bangsar area to visit Kebun-Kebun Bangsar. My mum had always wanted to visit this place since the lockdown happened last year but it was temporarily closed down because of covid. 

Okay so true, we do have our own pretty garden to admire, however, sometimes you just want a different kind of view other than the one you have. In our case, my parents in particular wanted new inspiration to further beautify our garden at home. 

Arriving

At 8AM on a Saturday morning, we all huddled in the car and set off for Bangsar. Unfortunately, I can't share with you how the traffic was like post-pandemic in KL because I'm the type of passenger who just immediately sleeps like a log once I'm in the car. It also doesn't help that I'm not much of a morning person on the weekends. 

Kebun-Kebun Bangsar wasn't difficult to navigate on the Waze app. The parking outside of the premise was limited but since we were early, we managed to snipe the last spot. We arrived around 8:30AM when the weather was still cool but if we arrived an hour or two later than that, we would have melted in a pool of mush.

Entry Fee

It was FREE, but you can contribute a few ringgit as a contribution for the urban community vegetable farm to keep going. They also had a few volunteers working around the farm as we explored the premise.

Enjoying Nature in the City & Feeding Animals

I had my phone out and camera ready the moment I stepped outside of the car. The morning in KL looked really peaceful, a few cars went slowly past the farm and the air felt cool. There's a small entrance to Kebun Kebun Bangsar through a small gate. We scanned our MySejahtera app first, went in and dived into a picture-snapping spree. 


It felt like we stepped into the Secret Garden. The area behind the entrance looked very cosy, with a small greenhouse to the right that had boxes of animal feed you can buy from RM2-RM5 per packet. Beside the building was a snug hangout area with a campfire prop in the middle beneath the shades.
Going past the greenhouse, we walked into a stretched out lawn area with chickens and roosters running around, a couple of turkeys, and a peacock not subtly following the visitors for feed. Kebun Kebun Bangsar also got a super friendly sheep with really soft wool chilling by the shades near the visitors sitting area.

On top of the cute animals we could feed and pet, we definitely noticed just how surreal the farm is in contrast to the residential houses built around it and the Kuala Lumpur buildings in the distance.






There were four or five happy cows at the very back of the farm, busy mowing the grass for breakfast. Around them were carefully planted herbs of all kinds and we could actually smell the herby aroma in the morning air.

We were there on the farm for a good an hour and a half. Coming here felt like a good way to spend our Saturday morning. If we lived nearby, I could definitely see ourselves visiting this place more often. I really recommend you guys to visit this place if you're nearby in Bangsar.

Have you visited Kebun Kebun Bangsar before? 
Do you have other places in KL you've been to before and would like to suggest we visit next?

And... I'm Back on Genshin Impact

18 October 2021



Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? If we want to make it count, it's been exactly 22 days since my last post was updated and there's been radio silence ever since. The good news is, I'm in perfectly good health, I'm at home (still) just doing what I do best - attending as many free online talks and programs as I can to consume my time, proofreading manuscripts for clients, binge-watching through shows on Netflix and getting back on Genshin Impact.

I think this is the first time that I've mentioned this in my blog, but yes, I do play Genshin Impact. I mean I used to play just a bit more when the game was first launched around last year and my main device was my phone, which turned out to be quite the hellish experience for a newbie gamer like me (I will explain later). 

I remember going all out from the moment it was launched and I had the game installed on my phone. But after completing most of its quests, extensively explored the map, repetitively completed my daily commissions... I got a little impatient with their slow updates. Like many other players at the time, we wanted more. But at some point, I decided to leave the game and got myself obsessed with something else instead.

However, I think the game has changed for the better these days with new maps and regions to explore, tons of new characters to collect, new bosses and mobs to fight, and of course, more story quests and side-quests. I couldn't resist, especially after seeing my friends really enjoying the new content so far.

Okay, but what is Genshin Impact?


Genshin Impact is a free-to-play open-world RPG game that is available on mobile phones, PC and PS4. If you love bright, colourful and anime-inspired characters, then this game is recommended for you. Everything is so aesthetically beautiful, from the characters to the scenery around you in the game. 

You can do tons of stuff in this game. There is an extensive main story for you to follow, quests, puzzles and games, boss fights, and even a housing system now with furnishing items you can make. Manoeuvring around the game is fairly fun too, you can run, glide, swim or simply teleport to the nearest waypoints to your location that exist across the map. 


Genshin Impact is actually my first open-world game ever. I wasn't sure what to expect at first but I did not anticipate the number of hours I would spend on this game. The story is decent, the combat system is flashy and thrilling, and there are the occasional events that Mihoyo would host from time to time.

This scene really cracked me up. I've never felt so personally attacked as I did at this point XD

Genshin Impact Characters & Elements

Credits: lostsoulaltair (tumblr)

When you first begin with Genshin, you'll be playing as either Lumine (female MC) or Aether (male MC, also the twin brother). And as your journey through the story quests, you'll meet some interesting characters along the way who will eventually join your party. 

You can also pull other characters from summoning banners through "Wishes" which is Genshin's gacha system. This part is totally RNG and if you're lucky, you'll get your desired 5-star characters or weapons, or just... not (my luck is sewer level). Certain characters like Xiangling can be obtained through dungeon quests.

These characters have certain elemental qualities and skills that can help you in your quests such as Pyro (Fire), Geo (Earth), Dendro (Nature), Cyro (Ice), Electro (Lightning), Anemo (Wind) and Hydro (Water). Having characters with these elements can help you create "elemental reactions" that can have a powerful impact on the damage you make to mobs.

Co-op with Friends to Fight Bosses and Mobs

Once you've reached a certain level in the game, you can invite your friends to come over to "your world" to fight some bosses or just explore the map. There have been many times when the bosses were a little too difficult for my characters to fight or I'm still a noob at the mechanics (usually it's both XD), so having an extra hand to damage the boss is really helpful.

Plus, it's a really chill way to spend time with your friends while on vc!

My Current Party in Genshin


My setup was a little different when I was playing on mobile. Previously, I had Qiqi, Fischl, Xiangling and the main character, Lumine. I was still building the team before I temporarily quit the game. Now that I'm back on PC, I have a new set of characters to work on.

Switching from Mobile to PC Platform

I started off with Genshin by playing on my phone mostly because I didn't have a compatible laptop to meet the graphical demands of the game. The laptop that I was using to write my research report and work was barely alive and playing the game on it would actually make it combust in total disrepair.

And so, I resorted to playing Genshin on my then-new Realme 6 phone. Everything was running smoothly and the graphics were amazing. I could also co-op with my friends who were on PC. The only few problems that I had when playing on my phone were:
  • Phone temperature went up
  • The battery drained very quickly
  • Sometimes there was a noticeable lag while I was in combat with mobs
  • Playing on characters who fight with arrows was a nightmare, aiming your shot was so hard
  • If your Internet data sucks, then RIP. You might be disconnected from the game entirely. 
Since then, I have had a better laptop to play games on, Genshin included and so far, I'm really enjoying my time in the game. For now, I'm just collecting resources to level up or ascend my characters to make up for the lost time and also for me to collect primogems to summon on a suitable banner in the near future. 



Gardening Goodies from Urban Ecolife Agro Farm — A Review

26 September 2021

Hello everyone! I haven't been here in a while but I'm slowly coming back to my blogging routine now that I have my life and work sorted behind the scenes. 

So you know how we have a pretty decent garden at home that my parents grow vegetables and fruits out of? I did write a little bit about it in my previous post with some really pretty pics of our garden in Our Home Garden Tour and How We Compost Our Kitchen Waste Every Day posts. 

I was recently fortunate enough to be contacted by Urban Ecolife Agro Farm to review some of their gardening products and see how effective they are in improving our green produce. 

Here is my honest review of our experience using their products.

The Products up for Review

I requested for two gardening products from Ecolife Agro Farm for reviewing - their Organic Vermicast (Earthworm Casting) and A & B Fertilizer (Plant Growth Booster). You can easily find these items or other gardening and food products on their official website and Shopee store.


All the items arrived safely in a very secured thick bubble wrap. I had to use quite a lot of my non-existent muscles to pry the packaging open to see the goodies inside. Unfortunately, we had an accident with one of the fertiliser liquids that spilled slightly in the parcel but it wasn't anything too serious. Perhaps the brand could work on ensuring that bottle caps for their liquid products are more secure. Generally, at least in terms of delivery, it was very prompt and satisfactory.

It was actually great timing that these products arrived because we were having trouble with our chili plants that were struggling to grow healthily. And with that, we put both sets of products to the test.

Organic Vermicast (Earthworm Casting) 


Let's start with Vermicompost and exactly what it is. The product is basically vermicast which is an organic by-product produced by worms through composting activities. In simpler terms, we're looking at a bag of worm poop and other undigested materials they left behind when they were chomping on decayed waste.

It was a great addition to our existing natural fertiliser collection. Previously, we've tried many options to have our chili plants live but they always ended up growing shriveled and stunted at some point in their development. We're not sure if Vermicompost was the sole contributor to our healthy chili plants which later produced ripe produce, however, since we were mostly relying on this compost over most things, we can say that it actually worked! 

We're really happy with the results. Although we've always had a healthy population of worms living in our garden, perhaps they needed a little help with richening the earth. A little comes a long way. We sprinkled small amounts of Vermicompost around the plant base every few days before watering it down.


Fertiliser A & B

Like I mentioned before, we had a little oopsie-daisy problem when we received the packaging. Had a bit of a spill despite the generous bubble wrap that came with the products. Still, it's nothing that a few wads of tissue can solve. After reading through the description of what the two products do, we got straight into testing them out on our nutrient-deprived plants. 
From what we've gathered about the two fertilisers, you mix a certain amount of them before sprinkling them onto the soil. The results as claimed by the products are better nutrient absorption and yield. 

We're not sure which of the two products - the Vermicompost or Fertiliser, or perhaps the combination of both, but after a few weeks of trying to revive our chili plants and a few others, most of them turned out so much better than what we expected. 





✨ The end results ✨


Overall, we're actually really happy with the outcome of our testing of both the Vermicompost and fertilisers. We're actually looking forward to trying out potentially good products from Urban Ecolife  Agro Farm. Who knows what other hidden treasures we can find!

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )