my mini 'holiday'

reading week is for.. reading.

so i've buried my nose in equity and european (which to be honest, i am slo0o0owwly starting to detest) and medical (fun, this one) and i havent touched anything on my wild module on food and i have an essay due for that in a couple of weeks time. yikes!

oh, i found out my new friend in food seminar (short for social politics of food) named mustafa is actually a muslim. i know the name kinda gave it away, but nowadays there're loads of ppl with muslim names who arent and muslims with names that arent. u get me?

anyhoo, its refreshing to come to class and be able to give salaam to someone.

i decided to take the day off from exercise today (or maybe do a light yoga routine once my breakfast sinks in in about.. oh, 3hrs time?) because my gluteus maximus and thighs and obliques hurt like keraazee. i tired out a new yoga routine ystrdy, some sort of hybrid that included dumbbells usage and man, my muscles everywhere hurted! mcm.. its beyond sakit that its hurted as oppose to just hurt.

no pain no gain so i say what doesnt kill me, makes me stronger. (in this case, literally if the pain on my arms are any indication =p)

i finally caught up with HSM3 ystrdy. first time i ever went to the odeon. yeap, im in my final year and only now i've been to the local cinema. and of all the movies that succeeded in making me go was one with zac efron. but i love chees-tastic movies and musicals. my only complaint is that sharpay didnt have a lot of numbers. banyak zefron and vadge singing sappy songs. and its a movie for kids, ppl!

sharpay's my fave character btw. shes so funny. and i love that she wears pink. illah had the nerve to say 'mcm c rabz tu' at the scene where sharpay came to school in her pink convertible wearing pink alligator boots... for the record, i do not wear that much pink.

oh, but i did wear pink ystrdy. coz it was pink hijab day, for breast cancer awareness. didnt see any other hijabis while out ystrdy tho so i didnt feel any sort of sisterhood feel.. oh well.

HSM3 still rocks.

speaking of cheese (coz the movie's cheesy?), i have to cut out cheese and chocolate from the diet for a bit because of recent migrane attacks. i still have the occasional chocolate drink plg.. hee (to compensate!). but as far as snacking goes, its zilch. which is such a shame because my housemates have been literally stuffing the fridge with all sorts of chocolate heavenly goodness to make even the most self-proclaimed chocoholic cry.

i didnt cry plg. coz i got me special k =p anyway, with the cheese and choc ban, i better be losing weight.

oh, a lil' something for ur viewing pleasure. friends from facebook have obviously seen this coz its my display picture.



this is yours truly in a dinky krispy kreme bag. i actually FIT IN A KRISPY KREME BAG THAT FITS A DOZEN BOXFUL OF GLAZED GOODNESS.

next project is to fit into the krispy kreme box itself.

i kid. haha.

much love,
be'ah the krispy kreme gal

cellulite buster!

okay somebody asked abt a cellulite workout a couple of weeks ago. its not my habit to actually do this, but it was an unusual request and altogether intriguing. so this is for u, check shape.com for more stuff =)

www.shape.com >> Routines




and sorry for the lack of updates. been busy. mcm i feel a kind of rebirth of my relationship with law. i finally am enjoying my course for what it truly is. hee. on the exercise front, im considering joining the uni gym. but me has to gets proper trainers first and all this requires moolah that i is lacking!

huhu.


much love,
be'ah-who-now-has-no-life-because-she's-so-busy-reading-law-textbooks

successful day

what defines a successful day for me?

i wake up early. do yoga/weights.

i multi-task. listen to a lecture (online) while doing weights/getting dressed/online window shopping/ cleaning my room.

i know what goes on in my seminars because i've done the readings before hand (as opposed to previous years, where i do the reading AFTER a seminar. tsk tsk)

i feel energized, happy and hyper!

i have an early dinner with my housemates, catch up with everyone on how they're doing.

i read my law books before bed.

then back to bed early for another successful day tomorrow.

=)

i love love LOVE all my modules this year. maybe because i actually understand whats going on. that said, i really should get a new pair of trainers. i left my old ones back in brunei and i should really make the most of the wonderful weather to go jogging.

im thinking nike ids but they take 3mths to be ready. and i doubt the weather will hold just for me to get nike ids. haha. but if i do get them, it'll definitely be pink. woot woot!

oh, and im thinking of taking up kickboxing. yes, a 180 from yoga but variety is the spice of life. or the spice of my dedication to exercise. lol. will see how this goes tho. planning to see the kickboxing coach on monday with a few friends who i managed to persuade to go with me.

to be honest, i have this image in my mind of jlo in that movie she did where she took up kickboxing. apakah nama that movie. macam coolios berabis. so yea.

making the most of my final year in UKC. wish me luck!

much love,
be'ah xoxo

on the other side

i still find it hard to digest that i am a size 6.

sorry. that was slap-bang in the face but i really dont knw how to put it in any other way.

i returned my jeans* ystrdy so now i am (again) jeans-less but for ONE pair. i had two pairs to begin with, one of them longgar but still wearable with a belt. SEKALI! i put them in the washing with my red pashmina and now it has a pink tint. now i love pink, but wearing pink-tinted denim is where i draw the line.

back to the story of i-cant-believe-i-am-a-size6.

for so long i have been on the weighty, plumpish (even overweight) side. now that im on the other side ie the size 6 side, i find its EVEN MORE DIFFICULT to find a pair of jeans.

or maybe its because i need the petite range.

during shopping ystrdy, i actually picked up size 8s because on the hanger, size 6 looks tiny. i was thinking, there's no way im fitting into jeans that small, so lets just save myself time and the hassle and get size 8s. sekali size 8 proved to be one size bigger. tried on the size 6 and voila, they fit. but oh gee the jeans seriously look miniscule on the hanger. illah had to keep saying 'but rabzz you ARE small!'.

anyhoo, looking for a pair of jeans in size 6 in the petite range was unsuccessful ystrdy.

so today, i stuffed myself with potato chips (actually finish half of a big bag) and a bar of kitkat chunky. to be honest, i dont knw why i did that. i AM happy to be this size, no less no more. but im concerned its going to go even less. so i think i can up my food consumption and stuff my face whilst still maintaining my exercise routine.

speaking of which, my weights arrived lastnight from amazon. i was out (in the quest to find a pair of jeans) and nis brought in my box, thinking they were books. she told me she was like 'banyak jua buku d balinya anie' while carrying it and when i told her they were weights, she said 'patuttah barat!!'.

poor nis. she carried 10kgs of dumbbells plus box and all. but hey, walaupun badannya damit, kuat kali ah masih. she even did a lil demonstration with my dumbbells after i unpacked them out of the box. anisah is very entertaining. haha.

anyway, my rant for today is basically the challenge of maintaining my weight as opposed to reducing my weight.

oh, and i still need a pair of jeans.


much love,
be'ah xoxo

*got my 17quid back because i hated the jeans. they were cold to wear outside and warm in the house. macam, apakan? no insulation kah..

funny

i still feel weird when i find i can fit into size 6 jeans.

i got new jeans today. its funny because now i find myself buying jeans because i need to, as opposed to because 'i want to'.

all my jeans are too longgar. i cant even hold it up proper with a belt because it bunches up too much in the waist/hip area. oh, and my belts dont even hold them up proper, because even on the last notch done up, the belt is slightly loose.

i had to resort to wearing a skirt today when i went out to find a pair of jeans. it was a nice day, the sun was out apa, but the wind was cold.. couldnt even find my tights to wear under my skirt!

so now i got myself a pair of jeans at a bargain price of 17quid (with student discount).

to be honest, the jeans i bought werent even ones i'd buy but i got them anyway because they fitted me nicely. macam, i could think of dozen other stuff i can buy for 17quid but because i cant go around in winter wearing skirts, the purchase was necessary.

now i need to give out/sell off my old stuff again.

speaking of purchases.. i ordered my weights online. hee.

i cant really say weather they're frivolous or essential buys because on the one hand.. i need it to maintain my weight/muscle mass/stress-reliever but on the other hand...

i could've made do with just yoga and pilates.

but the weights give me options. i can do strength training while reading (or more like strength training and watching tv) =D

anyhoo, its done. my dumbbells are on its way. mind you, i got my books first so i do have my priorities straight =p

oh, just a mention. over the summer i met two fellow bloggers who i only knw thru their blogs. nisya is one. well, we go way back to primary school but its only recently thru our blogs that we got acquainted again. second is the only person i knw who understands my weight obsession, Nisa! i met her on the plane on the way back to uk. its nice to finally meet ppl who u knw thru the internet!

okay, atu iklan sikit. anyhoo, wishing everyone goodluck for the start of term.

much love,
be'ah xoxo

mamma mia

so much to do. so little time.

it hasnt sunk in yet that i'm back in dreary grey England. somehow i managed to do a bit of yoga this morning. i think its the jetlag.

oh, i got my new phone today.



i call it Tallullah Belle, after Bruce Willis' and Demi Moore's youngest daughter. lol.





i miss home. and i miss you.

HARI RAYA IN BRUNEIII!!

hee. sorry for the caps but i'm just so excited to be spending a couple of days of raya here.

and i knw nobody bothers checking out blogs during raya but this is just to remind me of my raya here. so whenever i think 'damn i shouldn't have missed a week of school for raya!' if/when i struggle to catch up on what i missed, i have this post to remind me that it is all WORTH IT.

(and yes, i WILL catch up on what i missed. final year, final push, baby!)

first day of raya was ysrdy and oh em gee felt every bit as good as i remembered. went to kampong first (mummy's side) and met all my adorable littlr cousins and funny aunts and uncles and took a bazillion gajillion pictures which i do not have because i forgot to bring my camera *slaps forehead*

oh, and i everyone commented on how much weight i lost.. i think my baju raya helped highlight the weight loss hee. but did i think about calories or dieting or portion control ystrdy? nu-uh no sirreeee~ i stuffed myself with cakes and cookies and biscuits all the way through every house. especially the kek batiks. me loves kek batiks. and this year's kek batiks did not dissapoint me. psl ada some hses nda nyaman kan the kek batik (lol. not saying where but yea) but anie semuaaa nyaman!

left kampong around noon after getting boatloads of moneh (another reason for me to sambung belajar and not start work - so i still get duit raya!) and drove aaaaaalll the way to tutong to my nenek there (daddy's side). my fave cousins came 5 mins after my family arrived there so it was a big catch up fest. okay i dont mean to have favourites apa but these cousins were my only cousins on dad's side for a good 12 years and we grew up together. the rest of the cousins are 12years old below and we're the only 2 families with kids in their 20s and late teens.

anyhoo, after getting more moneh (more than i expected too! pasal aku kan belayar atu kali.. hehe) we convoyed over to dad's grandmother in panchor where we met up with iman's family and mamacits' family! the latter had a surprise for me.. one box of cupcakes waiting for me to get at her house. hee. moved next door of datu's house to nini yem where we all just talked about how 'everyone's so big', 'how iman's so tall' and meet cousins that i've only seen in pictures.

i think that was the best bit. meeting adorable cute kids who i want to gigit when i see pictures of them.. then actually seeing them live in their cute little baju fesyen and dangly earring (awuu belabih baru 1 yea plus sudah be piercing!) but i didnt gigit becoz nanti the parents marah. haha.

and everyone went 'eh be'ah balum kau balik?' and all that. hee. it felt GREAT seeing everyone. some i havent seen for a good decade, believe it or not. oh, and the last house i visited lastnite was at my nini amit and my uda and i go wayyyy back. she was the one who 'smuggled' me into Brunei Hall back in '98 when my family went to london for a holiday (and she was a final year student then). so yea, i was only 12 when i first slept in BH. and now she has two kids and oh my they're soooo adorable!!!

kids are just adorable. full stop.

today, second day raya. but today's extra special bekos it will be the first raya i spend with my boyfriend. =D and we got matching bajus! haha. i knw its nauseating/lame/annoying /watever u wanna call it but hey, we're in love bah!

selamat hari rayaaaaaa!!!!!

much love,
be'ah xoxo

final assessment

ystrdy was my last day at the gym for 2008. and tims time, i really mean it. im leaving for uk in 3 days time.

anyhoo, i gave up my strength training during puasa and yes, it shows. my muscles percentage went down and my fat went up. but the latter i think is more because of my cupcake crazy binge last weekend lol.

the most obvious change? my arms lost their almost-toned quality. its now back to being squidgy and all soft.

one more day of puasa. and then hari raya.

i. cannot. wait. for. HARI RAYA! first time in brunei after two years away!

much love,
be'ah xoxo