treschichijabi

Going Gaga Over BCBG

2012-08-12T23:08:00.001-07:00

I have some fabrics in my closet which I bought months ago and yet I never seem to have the time to get it tailored partly because I am still searching for the right design and I'm also getting bored of making the same A-line maxis *yawn*. So as I was browsing the internet for some inspiration, I bumped into BCBG's latest collection & it got me excited to blog about it. I'm really obsessed with their flowy pleated dresses and the geometric color blocking tunics from their fall & pre-fall collection..I mean just look at these uber gorgeous designs and you'll know exactly what I mean!

There are a few looks in this collection that I think I can emulate & make them a bit more "hijab-friendly"..but I guess I need to run to the fabric store (again!) and get a few more plain colored fabrics first which hopefully wont add more junk to my closet. Its quite frustrating sometimes not being able to find a brand that exclusively sells trendy clothes for muslimah. I mean those few brands out there that do are not usually up to my standard *sigh*. In other words their fashion sense is a bit "kampung" to me...thats why i have to make my own dresses!huhuuu

Anyways I'm planning to let go some of my clothes too, since they can't fit in my closet anymore. Most of them I wore just once/twice and still in good condition. I'll try to upload them in my next post.
Thats all for today my lovely fashionistas..Feast your eyes on this cool Fall & Pre Fall 2012 BCBG runway collection!♥

Travelogue: Singapore Jan 2012 #Day 2:Marina Bay

2012-08-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

After checking out from our hotel we walked around Geylang area looking for halal food before heading to Marina Bay. We bumped into this malay cafe called P&Z which claimed to be the best mee rebus eating house in Singapore. We ordered 2 bowls and all I can say is..it was just so-so. We might be kinda diva-ish on this subject considering the fact that we have tasted so many awesomely delicious mee rebus in Malaysia....nothing like Malaysian food! (sorry if I'm biased..hehee)

Finally with our tummies full and thirst quenched we continued our journey to Marina Bay Sands. Its a world-class casino, hotel and shopping mall-all in one (we were interested in the shopping mall of course!) so we thought it might be worth it to check it out before leaving for the airport. We walked from Marina Bay MRT towards the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade and took pictures along the way in spite of the scorching heat! We almost got lost halfway but thankfully we asked the locals for directions and eventually found our way...And thank god i wore flats..phew!

The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is a huge shopping mall ~1mil sqf of retail space with numerous luxury duplex boutiques such as Prada, Cartier, Chanel and Ralph Lauren. There's also a canal that runs through the length of the Shoppes, in the same style as the Venetian in Las Vegas. Sampan rides on the canal are also available for guests and shoppers at the shopping mall. We didn't try the sampan ride but decided to have drinks instead at The Coffee Beans & Tea Leaf which was just beside the canal & near the rain oculus (a 70-foot-wide whirlpool). The view of the rain oculus, the canal and the ambience at the cafe were very relaxing plus we get to rest our feet too after the long walk from Marina Bay MRT to the Promenade;)

P/S: If you have the moolah then this is definitely the place to shop..else just enjoy the window-shopping experience

After the long rest, we took a cab back to the MRT station to catch our 4.30pm flight back to Malaysia. Thank you Air Asia for the awesome deal. It was a short trip but a very enjoyable one. Can't wait for my next vacay!♥

Note:
I've received some comments from my friends requesting me to blog in Malay. I guess since most of my blog readers ARE Malaysians (second is US:-based on my Google Adsense report) so maybe i'll "rojak" Malay & English in my future posts ya. What do you think?? Please let me know;)

Travelogue: Singapore Jan 2012 #Day 1:Universal Studios

2012-08-06T20:50:00.001-07:00

Another travelogue entry this week..hehe..Just wanna share with you where I went early this year. After months of suffering from post-trip depression since my last trip to Hong Kong I finally managed to take a short hiatus and decided to visit the Universal Studios in Singapore with my hubby. I remembered the last time i was there 9 years ago and a lot has changed since then. Singapore wasn't actually in my travel list but since I'm a chronic Disneyland and Universal Studios addict, it was the nearest one to home and considering the mere 2 days off that we had.

We arrived at Changi Airport ~8.30am on a lovely Monday morning, took the MRT straight to Kallang Station and checked in the Emerald Fragrance Hotel in Geylang. The hotel was not that bad and we weren't picky travellers anyway. We quickly settled into our room and headed to Universal Studios *yeayyy!!*. Its pretty simple to get there, just alight at HarbourFront Station and proceed to level 3 of VivoCity Shopping Mall to transfer to the Sentosa Express to enter the resort. Luckily we've pre-booked our Universal Studios tickets online ($68/each) so it didnt take long for us to queue. Book tickets here

Universal Studios..ahhhh...What can I say..Definitely a sight for sore eyes! Our favorite ride would have to be the Transformers ride *hands down*..We wanted to get on the ride for the second time but there were a few other rides and character meet sessions that we had to rush to. The Ancient Egypt area was also one of our favorites; the Egyptian setting, army of Anubis and the Revenge of The Mummy ride were just amazing. Oh just a caution to those of you who are planning to get on the Cyclone ride...not for the faint-hearted ok! My arms were quite sore after the ride. I think they should install extra padding for side seaters to cushion the impact, or is it that I'm just too skinny? Hmmm..Anyways I guess luck was on our side coz the place was not overly crowded and maybe coz its Monday. I've seen some of my colleagues who went there and they could hardly snap any pics with all the people passing by..thats how bad it was. So plan your trip well and avoid peak seasons!;)

For dinner we went to Food Republik at Wisma Atrium shopping centre. There weren't much choice for halal food; only 1-2 malay/indonesian stalls and we ended up ordering rice with seafood and mix vege. We then strolled along the famous Orchard Road, took some pictures and admired the colorful arts installations amid the beautiful window displays along Ion Orchard and Paragon shopping centre before calling it a day.

P/S: Pls pls pls go to Arab Street for an extensive choice of halal food coz its quite hard to find halal food in Singapore..what a pity!

Travelogue: Hong Kong Apr 2011 #Day 4

2012-07-24T23:03:00.002-07:00

Day 4
*I didnt do much research on Central but decided to go to the mid-levels area anyway. The Central-Mid-levels escalators in Hong Kong is The Longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world (P/S: The Dark Knight (2008)-Batman filming took place here from 6-11 Nov 2007)

*The escalator which starts at Des Voeux Road, Central moves downhill from 6am-10am and uphill from 10.15am-midnight. It was a great experience indeed but there was hardly any time for us to pose at the escalators coz the place was swarmed with people. Besides we were too hungry and had to rush to our next location (pics above from google..hehee)

* From Central we headed to Wan Chai Stn by MRT and took a cab (~HK$18) to Masjid Ammar Islamic Centre at No.40 Oi Kwan Road. We went up to the 5th floor to the Islamic Canteen and had our brunch (~HK$30 per person and the portion was quite big).

*Sadly after brunch we had to leave the city and board the airport express to Hong Kong Int Airport. We had trouble finding a prayer room at the airport so I went to the nursery room instead. I just got to know that there are actually 3 prayer rooms available at the airport..duhhh...Well here are the locations:-

Prayer Room 1:
Level 7, Check-In Hall, near Aisle A
Terminal 1(non-restricted area)
Service Hours: 06:00 - 24:00

Prayer Room 2:
Level 6, near Gate 42
Terminal 1(restricted area)
Service Hours: 24 hours

Prayer Room 3:
Level 5, near Gate 501
North Satellite, Concourse (restricted area)
Service Hours: 24 hours

*While waiting for our flight we gathered all the souvenirs we've bought (wish I bought more!) even our boarding passes and took some pictures..haha..bored beyond boredom I must say..Thankfully there was no flight delay and it took <4hrs to reach home and thank god we booked our pre-meal coz Air Asia ran out of food when I wanted to order another set of meal (yeahh..I was very hungry). Well thats pretty much all I can say about Hong Kong. Let me know if you've tried other Halal food spots in Kowloon or island area..Love to hear from you;)

Till then....Adios!·٠•●♥

Travelogue: Hong Kong Apr 2011 #Day 3

2012-07-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Day 3
*On the 3rd day of our trip, we rushed early in the morning to view the picturesque Victoria Harbour. Its very easy to get to the Avenue of Stars/Victoria Harbour. Just board the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui Stn and take the Avenue of Stars exit (you can refer to the signboard at the MTR stn). It was quite sunny when we got there so we hurriedly snapped a few pictures to avoid the increasing number of tourists and continued our journey to Ocean Park...1 of the largest ocean parks in the world...Yeay!

*We got on the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui Stn to Admiralty Stn (Just follow the sign that says Ocean Park and you'll see a bus stop once you exit Admiralty Stn). We purchased our Ocean Park tickets (HK$250 per pax) + return bus trip (HK$10.6 per pax). We got on the 629 Citybus and sat on the upper deck and enjoyed the view of the city from the bus. It was nice to see the hustle and bustle of HK started to dissipate as we approached Ocean Park.
More info on Ocean Park

*Ocean Park is divided into 2 main areas: The Summit and The Waterfront. You can either take the 1.5km long cable car system or get on the Ocean Express to get to these areas. We were so excited to see the pandas so we did that first. I've never seen a red panda before! Too bad I cant hug them coz they are very sensitive and shy creatures so I cuddled the plush pandas at the souvenir shop instead=P

*After snapping some pictures we hopped on the Ocean Express to The Summit, had our lunch at McD and we got on most of the rides (The Eagle, Dragon & Raging River were our favorites!). It was really fun but exhausting coz the place was quite huge and we had to do a lot of walking from one ride to another. A few hours later we got back to The Waterfront via cable car and that was one of the best moments at Ocean Park..I got to rest my feet and enjoyed the breathtaking view of Hong Kong island and the sublime South China Sea. Ahhhh.....

*All in all our visit to Ocean Park was pretty awesome (I heard there are lots of new attractions this year). The only drawback was we had to do a lot of walking to the rides plus we missed a few shows coz it was quite crowded and we were just too tired to queue. It would've been nicer if the weather was cooler too (late Autumn from Oct-Dec would be the best time to visit Hong Kong). I spent almost HK$80 just for drinks and McD's double fish fillet. There's also no room for you to pray & dont bother asking the staff coz they dont even understand the word "pray". So just find a clean spot and bring along your compass. Other than that I had a great time..the pandas, seals, dolphins & the rides were unforgettable!

The Red Panda

View from the cable car

Travelogue: Hong Kong Apr 2011 #Day 2

2012-07-23T21:09:00.001-07:00

Day 2
*I started Day 2 with Snickers for breakfast as we walked to Mong Kok Stn. We took the MRT to Sunny Bay Stn and hopped on the Disney train. We then proceeded to the ticketing booth and purchased the tickets (HK$350 per pax) and there were already long queues at the Disney entrance when we arrived. You can check out more Disney info & latest ticket price here. The Disney staff checked all bags prior to entry and the funny thing was they allowed bread/biscuits in but not instant cup noodles. So my friends had to discard them and get back in line. Thankfully we had our bread and my mom's homemade sambal which i think they didnt notice/check, Im really not sure, so we had that for lunch..yummy!♥

*Everyone was busy taking pictures as we walked to the entrance. We just took a few shots and studied the Disney map and schedule so that we didnt miss any shows. I highly recommend the Lion King show (see bottom right pic-last collage). It was a very entertaining show with colorful props, amazing light display and great songs..simply spectacular! Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pics during the show so I just managed to take this 1 shot. Excited but exhausted after the long queues from the shows and rides, we decided to take a short break and I spent about HK$42 just for 2 bottles of drinks! And Disney staff kept offering us pictures taken by their professional photogs at the rides and Disney's characters meet but we declined politely (they charge ~HK$100 just for an A5 pic)

*To perform solat at Disneyland is very easy and convenient. Just go to the City Hall (the 1st building on your left after the main entrance) and inform the staff that you need to pray and they will usher you to a room. I was informed that there are several rooms available here for Muslims to pray (just dont forget to bring your own compass) perhaps due to the fact that there are a number of Muslim Indonesians that visit HK Disneyland quite frequently. Well kudos to HK Disney for their hospitality & helpful staff!♥

*The Tinker Bell Magic Castle show at 8pm was simply an out of this world experience (must see!!)and I wished I had a better camera to record the amazing show. Anyways it will definitely be one of the sweetest memories of Hong Kong that I shall treasure always. As for dinner, we actually have planned to go to Islam Food at 1,Lung Kong Road, Kowloon City to try out their famous Halal veal goulash/beef patties but we were too exhausted so we went to Ali Baba (again!) instead for dinner coz my friend was seriously addicted to their beef briyani..haha..Perhaps in my next visit to Hong Kong? Who knows..=)

Travelogue: Hong Kong Apr 2011 #Day 1

2012-07-23T00:59:00.001-07:00

Today's entry is about my trip to Hong Kong back in April 2011. I know..that was ages ago..hehe..I've actually posted this last year in my Parfait10 blog but I figured its time to declutter all my blog contents & segregate them accordingly since I have 3 blogs to manage at the moment (phew!). Never thought decluttering blog contents would be this time consuming. Anyways just a guide for those who'd like to follow my blogs, detail as follows:-

Parfait10 - Food Reviews
TresChicThePartyPlanner - Party planning services, parties that I've done
TresChicHijabi - Fashion Reviews & Travelogue

Ok..Glad I've cleared that up now lets get back to business & talk about Hong Kong!
My friends & I went to HK in early April & the weather's mainly sunny, average ~22degC with relatively low humidity. So travel light & forget about thick jackets & all coz it can be quite hot during the day. The jacket Im wearing in the photos below is PU, not leather so its not that hot plus it was just for photography purposes..haha I'm so vain! Ok lets look at my itinerary below:-

DAY 1
*Arrived at HK International Airport at 11am (Terminal 1). The 3.5hr journey with Air Asia Airbus 320 was not that bad. There was a security guard with a scary looking dog waiting right after we passed the passenger boarding bridge and another one after immigration. So if you're scared of dogs just look the other way or walk closely beside your friend like I did

*After immigration we walked towards Terminal 2 and purchased our Octopus card (on-loan) at the customer service counter. We bought HK$300 card (HK$50 deposit, HK$250 card value) and took the airport express straight to Tsing Yi. From Tsing Yi interchange we hopped on to another train to Lai King. And then finally to Mong Kok. It would be advisable that you bring a small MTR map with you so that you wont get confused and get on the wrong platform. Refer link here if you want to know more about the MTR system, map, fares, etc

*Once we arrived at Mong Kok, we took the C3 exit towards Langham Place (there are multiple exits at every MTR stn so be sure to read the signboards) and had our lunch at McD located on the 2nd floor. We had no choice but to order fish fillet set coz that's the only Halal thing that you can eat. After lunch we took some pictures along Portland St and walked ~350m to our MK Hotel at Changsha St. Its a very strategic located hotel despite the tiny size rooms coz there's an Indian shop selling halal food just across the street called Ali Baba Curry House. You can also opt for KFC's mashed potato and coleslaw which is at Portland St if curry is not your thing. And the hotel is very near the famous Ladies Market which is just 2 blocks away.

*After check-in, we took the train from Mong Kok Stn to Central and walked to the Peak Tram Lower Terminus at Garden Road (Refer link here) There was a long queue when we arrived and we waited patiently for our turn. You can also get on bus no 15 straight to the Peak if the tram queue is too long.

The Peak

*The view at the Peak was simply mesmerizing and it was worth the wait♥. We went up to the Sky Terrace (just swipe your Octopus card before you get on the escalator) and took more pictures and enjoyed every minute of it. We then headed down to the Peak Tower and had coffee at the Pacific Coffee. A cup of vanilla latte and mushroom & spinach quiche (the only halal food I could find there) will cost you HK$54. Peak Galleria is just opposite the Peak Tower and you can purchase HK Hard Rock Cafe souvenirs (if you're a die hard fan) located on the 1st floor. A simple keychain will cost you ~HK$65.

*At 7.20pm we took bus no.15 from the Peak down to the ferry pier (I must warn you that the bus ride is not for the faint- hearted!). Once we reached the pier, we boarded the Star ferry at Pier 7 to Tsim Sha Tsui. The view of the neon-lit skyscrapers from the ferry was magnificent! Although we missed the symphony of lights show, we had a wonderful time strolling along the Avenue of Stars and we ended our nite with a hearty dinner at Ali Baba Curry House (beef briyani & ice lemon tea = HK$48)♥.

Aldo Shoes

2012-07-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

Chilling at home today on a beautiful Sunday & thought I'd share with you what i wore last night for my iftar. Just bought a pair of beige ALDO shoes last week and decided to match them with my black & white top (Promod) and my black maxi (Warehouse). I just love the shoe color, looks really elegant and furthermore it was on sale..Yeayyy..a perfect reason for me to shop!;) hehe..

I completed the look with 2 sets of long gold necklaces (I have 2 shops that I really love>>DIVA & CHIC CHIC), my favorite rose shaped ring (made from polymer clay which I bought for only RM22 at a booth in Desa Parkcity), my beige Fossil bag and lastly to add a pop of color, a red two-toned scarf...and I'm ready to go!

Oh speaking of rose shaped rings, u can checkout some of Phang's cute designs on her website>> http://www.etsy.com/shop/phang coz I was not allowed to snap any pics of her collection at The Waterfront @Desa Parkcity. If u reside in KL it would be a lot cheaper to purchase these items at her booth.
Happy Sunday!♥

Mix N Match

2012-07-20T00:23:00.001-07:00

Bonjour ladies!
Its Friday again and since Im on a long lunch break and my boss is not around (yippie!) I figured why not blog about mixing & matching fashion basics..coz that's what I do everyday;) I'm currently obsessed over maxi dresses and maxi skirts coz I used to be a jeans & tunic kinda girl and realizing the fact that I couldnt afford to shop every week (sad!) I just mix and match my cardis with my maxis and...Voila! I've created the illusion of having tonnes of clothes in my wardrobe..hehe..I love adding accessories like belts or long necklaces & funky rings/bangles coz they can do wonders to your wardrobe and help to personalize your look.

Here are some of my favorite pieces....♥

Notice that I've mixed and matched my maxi dresses and skirts with my basic cardis to create several different looks? (even more than 10 but these are the only pics that I have with me at the moment). There are actually so many ways you can style your cardi; button, unbutton, tie it in a knot..or layer it with another top. You can also pair it with your favorite jeans or jumpsuits on days when you just dont feel like dressing up so girlishly..its so much fun when it comes to mixing and matching, believe me..I'll try to upload more pics in my next post..In the meantime, scrutinize your closet, be experimental and unleash the fashionista in you!