naziehah

Ghoyye tagged me to do this. There’s a set of rules. Upon looking at all these rules, I know exactly what I want to do -to not follow any of it! (Sorry Ghoyye, me, rules - tak masuk la!)

Ok so here goes:

1. I love my living room langsir (curtain) so much I look at it everyday adoringly. I even wrote a poem about my langsir. Beep, beep - crazy lady alert.

2. The only food I can cook decently is porridge. I campak everything in, I wait until everything melt and soften into a mush. Then I eat.

3. I am madly, ‘head-over-heels’ ly, crazy-in-love with my husband Big Z. I know people say ‘oh, sebab you baru kawin lagi, tak de anak, bla bla’, and I don’t understand why they said that. Can’t people just be happy that other people are so in love with their spouse? (eh, melencong plak). While I am so in love with him, I also everyday without fail bicker with him on every single thing. There’s also a lot of things I found annoying about him (which wife doesn’t?), but I still love him to bits anyway.

4. I love the subject marketing. Everything that has got to do with marketing. In fact, I love to think of myself as quite the marketeer. eheh.

5. I am ‘marginally overweight’ now, as decided by the software that calculated my body mass index. All my siblings, including the hubby teased me about it. I am determined to lose the word overweight, how marginal it may be.

6. I am not easily embarrased. For instance, (refer above statement). I see no point in trying to cover up every single of my weaknesses. It’s tiring. I found it easier to let it all out in the open and deal with it one by one. Senang cerita.

7. I am inspired by Lini’s gardening story and decided that we (read:Big Z) should also plant organic vegetables. He plonked a lettuce root into a bottle of water and call it ‘hydroponic’. Bile la boleh makan tu :P.

8. (agagag..susahnye nak pikir sampai 8!..ape lagi ni…). I need to do my stretches and yoga everyday. If not, I will feel very stiff to a point I feel like a wooden puppet - crack, crack, cracking.

9. (to not follow the rules I must do MORE!). I bought a water sprayer from Carrefour and use it to squirt water at Periwinkle and Mika when they misbehave. According to the ‘how to take care of your cat’ books, that is the most humane way to discipline your cat. It’s true. Very effective too.

10. Among the Desperate Wives, I think am most similar to Lynette. Minus the troop of kids. Big Z thinks I am a cross between Susan and Lynette.  

Cukup Ghoyye? Sungguh self-indulgent terasa malam ini. (as if I wrote about world hunger and environmental crisis in my other entries..*roll eyes banyak2 kali*)

A few days ago I finally managed to go to a spa, after wanting to go for a few weeks. I went to my trusted spa, Dewi Sri Spa, a spa by Martha Tilaar.

Having dabbled in the whole spa scene, I dveloped a rather complicated spa screening process. In one way, it did limit my spa experience. But I’d rather be less adventurous rather than having myself massaged on a massage bed that has seen questionable things, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I went to Dewi Sri Spa in Shah Alam. I went a couple of times at their centre in KL when I was teaching there. Now that I am nearer to Shah Alam area, I opt to check their franchise here.

I love Martha Tilaar spa products. Nothing beats Ibu Martha Tilaar’s formula, a prove that years and years of exerience is a unique selling point on its own.  The scrub, the massage oil, the masker, the body lotion, and the bath oil were simply divine. I can still smell their aroma hours in fact, days after the treatment.

I also love the fact that all their therapists were trained in Martha Tilaar Centre before allowed to work. Meaning they have sufficient knoweledge, experience, and most importantly, etiquette on what to do and what not to do.

I love their decor. Not overly complicated, with just enough hints and touch of authentic Balinese items that do wonders for the eyes. I absolutely adore the fresh ‘bunga rampai’s that they generously scatter in a wooden bowl all over the spa. Small little details that goes a long, long way.

From their spa menu, I chose the aromatherapy range as opposed to the traditional range. I can’t really tahan the ‘rempah’ smell. From 4 distinct aromas, I chose the ones with a combination of ylang-ylang and something else that I can’t remember. Starting off with a body scrub, the therapist did a thorough job scrubbing my dead skin cells away. From my experience, if the scrub is from inferior quality (which many spas are using, even the so called 5 stars one), it will feel very harsh on your skin. Almost like rubbing a sand directly on your skin. But this scrub has the right degree of friction to produce the scrubbing effect that doesn’t make you feel like somebody is trying to skin you off.

I was then asked to take a shower to clean off the scrub. This is another thing that I really like. The therapist then will gave you a special shower gel (for you to shower with). The shower gel has the same aroma, so at all time - even while you were washing one scent off, you will always continuously be surrounded by the aromatherapy effect. I was transferred to a sauna to warm my body up. This process is important to loosen your muscles up so that you get optimum benefit from the massage that will come later.

After about 10 minutes, the therapists prepared me for my massage. My therapist that day is not the best masseuse I have ever experienced, but she’s adequate. So I am not complaining. After the massage, she put on body mask and let me rest for a few minutes while she prepared the bath.

The bath was amazing! I have no idea how she does it, but the water has the just right temperature, the flowers essences that she uses, the bath salt - everything is in a perfect balance!. I keep trying to peek at her while she’s preparing the bath so that maybe I can learn a thing or two, but no - it’s all done discreetly like some dayang-dayang quietly coming in and out of the room bringing all sorts of condiments that she poured and mixed into the bathtub. Before I knew it, I was happily soaking myself in the very fragrant water.

After the bath, I showered and was again, given the special body lotion to put on. Now those girls who do not like to put on body lotion, when you go to this spa, please put on their body lotion. It’s a magic body lotion I tell you! Again, there’s the sweet smell that will linger for hours. But the magic will only happen a few minutes after that when the body lotion will sort of emanates gentle heat from your body, giving you a nice warm cozy feeling as if you are walking around enveloped in a big warm fluffy towel!. I just love that feeling, warm and nice, sipping their sweet and delicious ginger tea, warming myself from inside and out.

So yeah, I can go on and on about great spa treatments but do note that I am not getting paid for writing this. eheh. I believe great service deserves rave (and rather lengthy) reviews. I am all smiles when I walked out of the spa and into Mr. Big Z’s car.

He asked ‘How was it?’. I said ‘I am in heaven, baby’. ‘My money well spent?’ . ‘Totally. Thanks for the treat honey!’