Finally, sunshine can be seen after a few evenings of very heavy downpour in KL. A very nice weather indeed today. Not too humid and hot. Not too cloudy either. Nice. Just nice. I hope this clear skies remain for a few more days. Wanna know why I wish as such? I just sent my car for a wash. Go figure. :))

This is the reason I head out to Japan aaaall the way from Malaysia - to witness the beautiful cherry blossom that happens once a year at the start of every spring. Boy, was the trip to see sakura in full bloom worth the trip? A definite YES!

Although I'm a bit off the cherry blossom season (the flower blooms earlier than expected this year) but I still get to see some of the late blooming sakura particularly at Shinjukugyoen Park in Tokyo. The flowers were in full bloom in varieties of shades. Some of the flowers were white, others were slightly pinkish and also some in the shade of bright pink. :D

These flowers when in full bloom were sooooooo pretty to look at. I can't help but take lots and lots and I mean LOTS of pictures of the whole tree and the blooming flowers! Nope, I didn't get tired of looking at them if you're wondering. Haha. 

My friends and I didn't miss the chance to do what the locals do during cherry blossom season which is hanami. Hanami means flower viewing which is an act of having a picnic under or near any sakura tree during the cherry blossom season. Just enjoy the meal and drink with loved ones or even a bunch of friends while enjoying the awesome view. Tokyoites usually will bring along a mat with them and place it under or near any cherry tree at a park. My friends and I however, didn't even bring any mat with us, so we just sat on the grass and still had a good hanami. :)

Shinjukugyoen Park in Tokyo is the best place to see a wide variety of late blooming sakura if you missed the earlier ones.   Entrance to the park is 200 yen and it opens from 9 am to 4 pm if I remember it correctly. 

Whoa.... I can't believe that this is my first entry for this year. Quarter of the year have gone and here I am writing my first entry. 

It wasn't my intention to leave this blog unattended. To be honest, I haven't been quite well since January. Don't worry - nothing too serious. I just need a little breather after a very busy 2012. So my body kind of worked up a tantrum for the physical and emotional pressure I've put on it for the whole of last year. So, I've got sick easily and I was not really well throughout the first quarter of this year. I'm still having some problem with my ear and hope that I recover from it soon. 

Can't wait to share a bit of my experience from my little trip to Japan. Yerp, I made it all the way there and back! 

So, I'll write about it soon! Here are pictures of me with the famous sakura flower. Isn't the cherry blossom gorgeous?

well not yet ... still eyeing promo ticket from Air Asia. Haha. But the itinerary for my trip to Japan is almost complete. I've been researching A LOT about backpacking to Japan and all I can say is .... I can't wait for the trip to Japan next year at the start of Spring. So, Air Asia... please be nice to me and give some AWESOME-THE-BOMB promo ticket to Tokyo soon ...ok! OK!!!

So these are the places that I plan to visit in Tokyo in no particular order.

There are few things I have to do before I can go to Japan... like getting a flight ticket.. Haha. 2nd most important thing is getting a visa to enter Japan. Also, a few other bookings, So, hopefully things will go the way I plan it. Cheers!

What a lovely morning that Sunday was.Everyone is in their identical white t-shirts and beaming positive moods. Me and my sister were no different as we wait for the warm up sessions to start at 7:15 am. The venue is Tasik Titiwangsa. The scenery of the lake made more lovely with heart shaped red balloons floating almost everywhere. My sister didn't wait a second and rushed out to the queue to get herself one of those red balloons.

Met a friend, Syar who is a just started to run a few months back and loving it. I must say that she is the most enthusiastic beginner that I have ever met! But then again Syar is always enthusiastic about almost everything that she does!

I can't say that I'm enthusiastic about the warm up session though. Really! Just because the instructor kept repeating almost the same workout routine for that 30 minutes warm up session. Boooooriiinnnnggg! I ended up doing my own workout routine myself! Haha.

The run is almost 5 km. Yerp, almost. I don't know what my timing was for that short a run because I didn't turn on my Nike+ sportwatch until halfway through the route. Haha. But I know I ran a little harder than my long runs just because it is a relatively short route. Funnily enough, I had to slow down twice because of this stabbing pain that I experienced at the upper right side of my chest. I felt like a needle pricked me in the chest at the exact same spot ... TWICE! I don't know know what to make of it. But the pain subsided the moment I slowed down pace. Once I reached the finishing line ... well the pain just disappeared. Huh! But other than that... I'm all fine.

This run was organized by Institut Jantung Negara (IJN). Yerp, wonder no more why the run is called "Run for your heart" and why the medal and balloons were in the shape of a heart. There was a booth set up to give everyone a free  health screening. I signed myself to get one. By the end of the screening I've got green lights for my weight, blood glucose level, blood pressure is a bit high (but still under normal range). So, yay for those! Surprisingly, my cholesterol level is slightly over the normal level. Okaaaaaayyyy! Although the level is not that alarming but I'm starting to control my food intake now. Especially those foods that contain high level of fats or cholesterol. I'm limiting myself to those kind of food now - not wanting to see the red scale going up higher.

Now, if you really love your heart and wanted to know how your heart is doing then IJN is offering a few screening programs that you can take. This include a consultation with a specialist on the same day of the screening and a comprehensive medical report within 7 days (if I'm not mistaken). I'm considering of taking the screening program too - prevention is better than cure right? So for more information visit Institut Jantung Negara website here.

I went to the new Paradigm Mall a couple of weeks back to watch The Dark Knights Rises at GSC and decided to just check out what's there at the new mall after watching the movie. From just window shopping our journey turned into an unplanned iftar at Fish & Co ...haha. Me and 2 other friends decided to try the menu because the seafood platter looks awesome.

We ordered the Ramadhan set which includes a seafood platter and 2 drinks. Since were 3 of us so we had to order another drink for the 3rd person. If I'm not mistaken the Ramadhan set that we ordered cost us RM59.95 which is quite reasonable I think.

We had 8 shrimps in the platter. Others were grilled calamari, mussels, fish filet and french fries. Awesome!

Fish & Co only have two outlets in Klang valley. One is in Paradigm Mall that I went to and the other one is located at 1 Utama. They also have ala carte food that you can try too beside the Ramadhan set. All I can say about the seafood platter is that it is tasty, tasty, tasty! Haha.

Now, isn't my new Galaxy Note funky!!! Yeeeeargh, tell me that it's looking sooo funky. No doubt it is! Now my Galaxy Note is complete. ***Grinning*** I have covered it with a lightweight casing that is durable and looking good too. :)

Thanks to popmycase I am now able to personalized my phone's casing from the more bulky and boring looking one at the top to the casing that's soo vibrant ... you don't want to take your eyes off i! OK I exaggerated a bit ... I do take my eyes off it ... whenever I'm going to bed. Haha. Oh, oh ... popmycase has a lot more design to offer and it's hard for me to decide on a design that I like for my Galaxy Note. But in the end I've made my choice and I have no regrets!

My new casing from popmycase arrived at my doorstep delivered by Poslaju 2 days after I placed my order online. Well, I live in Kuala Lumpur ... so If you're living far from it then it may take more than 2 days for the casing of your choice to arrive at your address. It was packaged in a sturdy cardboard so that will take your worry about damaged case during delivery. The box was even sealed with popmycase's 100% satisfaction guarantee!

Just tear off the seal and the new case will be revealed right before your eyes!

Sweet! Now the casing is really is a snap on snap off kinda case. It's really easy even a 4 year old can do it.

The case does not cover the upper and lower part of the phone. It also leave some room for the camera and flash, power button and also volume buttons. From the picture above you can easily plug in a headphone.

The new casing doesn't obstruct the S pen. So I have no problem taking it out or even putting it back in. It also does not cover the speaker and the USB port used for charging or transferring data to other devices.

So I really love my new case from popmycase. It is made from durable piece of plastic, the color is sooo vibrant and best of all it is lightweight and less bulky. For a smartphone as big as Samsung Galaxy Note... you really want to make sure that the casing doesn't make it look bulky than it really is.

Popmycase also offer a customized design. If you don't fancy any of the designs available you can always design one of your own! That's even sweeter as you'll be creating one-of-a-kind casing that is unique to you! Seriously, I'm thinking of customizing one for myself soon. It's just a matter of me browsing through my personal collections of photos that I took with my DSLR to create that one casing that's just soooo me!

Since the casing is really easy to take off and put on your phone. Getting a second casing is just soooo tempting as I can easily change between the two. It's like changing the clothes of your smartphone. So, if you're planning to have more than one casing ...  then keep the box that it comes with. Why? Because you can place back your casing in it safely when you put another one to your phone. Gedit?

Personalizing your phone's casing has never been easier. Can't wait to get one for your smartphone? Just click on the link below to order your favorite design for your beloved Iphone, Ipad2, Blackberry or Samsung smartphones now!

Last night was the hottest night run in Putrajaya. I thought I was the only one that felt last night was a little dry and hot but all of my friends who ran along said the same thing too. I have ran at night in Putrajaya countless times before but last night was the hottest. There were no night breeze at all. No 100+ was provided at all the drinking stations too  ... which I thought was unusual.

Nevertheless I finish the 11.8 km run in 1 our 38 minutes. I could have run faster if I was feeling too bloated in the stomach all they way from the starting point to the 1st 6 km. I dunno, maybe the nasi goreng omellette I ate a few hours before that made me feel soooo bloated. Yes, I blame that food. I'll tell the story later.

As usual, SHAPE night run live up it's reputation again for being the run with the most awesome goodies in the goodie bag. Look at what I've got in the bag.

I was kinda disappointed that I didn't get to bring home the medal. It was only given to the 1st 300 runners who crosses the finishing line. My sister managed to grab the 299th medal. She finished the race at 1 hour 30 minutes. So I was not that not that far of getting a medal. But there is always next year. :) So enjoy more pic from last night.

Running in skirts looks soooo cool. Not to mention it looks feminine too. I've been wearing my faithful Nike capri pants for running for sooooo long that I feel the need to get a new running attire. Don't get me wrong I love my Nike pants but just wanted to have a different look.

I went to KLCC the other day to look for one but I couldn't find any. The closest is tennis skirt but I don't like the fabric. It felt heavy and I need to wear light clothing while I run of course.

Then while I was surfing just now I found runningskirts.com. Good news for me it is available in Athlete's Circle in Jaya One. So I'm going to go and check it out. Speaking of Athlete's Circle ... I'll be checking out Skins Compressions pants too. Hope I find what I like there.

Yay, that's me! One step closer to crossing the finish line to mark the completion of my first half marathon at KL Marathon 2012. Boy, was it fun to finally complete the 21 km race. Phew!

I took 3 hours and 10 minutes to complete it. A lot slower than I would have expected but no drama along the way. I still manage to smile at the end of the race ... so all is good! YEAARRGGHH!

Running in KL waaaayyy after 8:30 am is actually not a bad thing after all. I thought I'm gonna be smoked because of the hot sun. Turned out it wasn't that hot because most of the route are shaded by either tall trees or high rise buildings. My main worry before the race is getting dehydrated due to running under the hot morning sun but that is sooo not the case here. I think running at Standard Chartered Fun Run in Putrajaya prior to this event was waaaayyyy hotter and sunnier although I'm running about the same time.

KL Marathon this year went well for me. Water station is sufficient. Lots of volunteers and race marshals along the way. The traffic is well under control by traffic police. So, kudos to the organizer and everyone that help this event a successful one!

From now on, I am soooo looking forward to do this half marathon thing again. Hihi. I guess I've got the hm bug