Fitness: Work those Abs baby!

We recently got this awesome workout machine called "CAP: AB roller with mat" that makes working out much more fun! It aids in doing crunches the proper way and more smoothly as compared to doing them the conventional way.

This baby has encouraged me once again to work harder on my life-long six-pack dream! Even though I have gained a lot of weight recently, I am going to try my best to stay focused this time.

All you have to do is place your head on the little cushion, place your arms on the arm rests, hold the grips in front of you and begin your crunches! Because of the rocking system at the bottom, it is easier to lift your shoulders and maintain the correct posture while doing so.

I can totally feel the difference after using it a few times!

Of course, apart from using this machine, I also do some other exercises and stretching to make it more effective. It is important to not just rely on this machine, after all, who wants toned abs with a humongous lower body?!

The one we got costs about RM109 in the market, that is around US$36. The last time I hit the mall, it was on 50% discount! so that's an awesome deal that I truly recommend for all! Consider it an investment for your health and body.

This Ab roller comes with a mat, a counter that calculates the time, calories and number of crunches done, and batteries.

So for those who would like to invest in a good machine to aid in their workouts, this is the one for you!

I got it from my Papa! - *A tribute to my wonderful father*

Hello All!

As most of the people around me know, I lost my father nearly 2 years back. Considering how fast time passes, 2 years is not that long ago.

There has not been a single day where I haven't thought about him. Whether it's just missing him, or remembering him through someone's words or actions.

I thought it was a good idea to compile a few things that he taught me, as a tribute to his love and care all the years we had him.

1. Always smile.
- This is one thing I inherited from my father rather than learn from him. My dad would always smile no matter how stressed out he was, which is probably why whenever I visualize him, I picture his charming smile and twinkling eyes.

I have noticed I do that too no matter how stressed I feel inside. I smile at everyone I know or don't know. I think it makes a big difference by reducing the stress level and building friendships with people :)

2. Don't lose your character
- Dad always gave this advice "If Wealth is lost, nothing is lost. If Health is lost, Something is lost, but if Character is lost, EVERYTHING is lost."
How true is that!  I feel people lose their character first in order to achieve the least important: Money!

I believe no matter now high or low your position is, maintain a good character. In a world where everything runs through politics, money and power, it is easy to fall into this mess and become tangled in it, hence losing oneself more and more.
I say, just be smart and alert. Don't lose yourself in the dirt.

 3. Be giving
- Whether its knowledge, money or time. Share it! Dad was always very giving, helping all those in need. Never wait for a time when you are rich to be able to help someone. Give whatever little amount you have got. Giving is the key to happiness, not receiving.
I see people spending a huge amount of money in shopping, but when it comes to giving a tiny amount to a person in need, people happen to be "broke."

4. Never stop learning
- Dad always gave first priority to education. He was always so encouraging. I remember how he used to reward me with gifts when I got good grades. How he agreed to let me come to Malaysia to study and was even nice enough to come till Malaysia to see I have settled down well here.
He was also always learning one thing or another himself and used to be full of creative ideas! You were truly inspiring, dad!

5. Perfectionism
- Dad was a perfectionist. A tiny dot out of place and he would do it all over again! He had an eye of an eagle. He wouldn't sleep till he had completed his work perfectly.

This is not always a good thing for me though, it's more of an OCD, the unfinished work tends to bug me to the point of having nightmares all night about it, but I am proud of the fact that I try to perfect the things I like or do.


So dad, this is for you. A little thank you for the things you taught me directly and indirectly. I am so proud to have you as my dad. Your teachings, your love and your memories will always remain part of me. What you did for us will never be forgotten. I love you.

Rest in Peace <3

Recipe: Beef Stroganoff

Hey all!
It's been long since I posted a recipe. That's because I haven't cooked in a long time! I woke up in a cooking mood today so I decided to make Beef Stroganoff with potatoes and veggies (Initial plan was to accompany that with homemade garlic bread but I didn't have enough butter to do so).

For those who would like to know how I make Beef Stroganoff, the recipe is below :-)

Ingredients:
- 0.5kg tenderloin steak (depends on how many stomachs you are feeding) - cut into thin strips
- 2 cloves garlic - mashed
- 1/2 tsp ginger paste
- soy sauce
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup yoghurt
- 1 tbsp white flour
- water
- 1 medium onion - chopped
- Button mushrooms - sliced
- butter or oil

Method:
- Marinate the beef with the garlic, ginger, about 1tbsp of soy sauce and pepper for at least 30mins to 1hour in the refrigerator.
- In a frying pan, put some butter or oil and fry the beef strips till browned on both sides. Add some salt to taste while frying the beef.
- Set aside the beef.
- In the same pan, fry the onions until soft and golden brown and set aside together with the beef.
- Remove any excess oil/butter, and add mushrooms in the same pan and saute in medium heat.
- Now add 1 cup of yoghurt, followed by a mixture of 1 tbsp of flour in 1/4 cup of water. This will thicken the sauce.
- Now add the beef and onion mixture into the mushroom sauce, add extra ingredients as per your taste - You can add extra soy sauce, or salt and pepper if you wish, as well as some water if you prefer to have more gravy.
- Let it cook for about 10 minutes.
- Your Beef Stroganoff is now ready! Enjoy with Pasta, mashed potatoes, garlic bread or rice!

PS. The Soy sauce is my own addition, you can eliminate it from this recipe if you wish. I use it because I like the extra taste and colour of soy sauce in my food :)

Beef Stroganoff with Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower

Beauty: Hair Rebonding Nightmare

Ladies, get your tissues ready to weep for me. This is a sad one.

When I first came to Malaysia back in 2007, I was a full-time geek, but I had nice, curly hair. I could straighten it when I wanted or I could leave it curly. Pure bliss.

As time went on, my geekiness took over me. I had no time to play around with my hair anymore.
I then learned about Hair Rebonding - The miracle hair cure for people like me!
Hair rebonding is a permanent hair straightening method (well, until your hair grows, that is). It is a tedious process of first breaking your natural hair bonds, and then creating new bonds). It takes about 3-7hours to get it done (from my experiences), depending on your hair type. After it's done, you can not wash, tie or let your hair get wet for a minimum of three days.

With your rebonded hair, you can be worry-free for at least 4-6 months. It is a pretty expensive method, but it saves a lot of time at the end of the day so if you think of it this way, it's worth it!

As for me, it was a huge mistake!
Once you rebond your hair, you are stuck with it for a long time! Considering how fast my hair grows, I had to get it retouched every 3 months! damn expensive and damaging, right? On top of that, I couldn't style my at all. It ended up looking straight, flat and lifeless.

The worse thing is, you can not get your hair permed while your hair is rebonded. You have to let it grow out completely before you can do that. So in order to get my naturally curly hair back, I had to wait while it grew.

It has now been a little over a year since I last rebonded my hair. I have about 2 inches of rebonded hair left, the rest is curly! But thanks to Hair straightening irons, I can fix that problem.

I think in a month or two, I should have my curly hair back! :) Keeping my fingers crossed!

For those considering this straightening method, think twice. If you have naturally straight hair and you want to make it straighter and shinier, it might be worth it for you, but for the others, I recommend relaxing your hair, or just styling it with hair straighters or curlers. Your hair will look much more healthier with more volume.

Rambles: Confessions of a Coffee Addict

Hi. I am Nooreen, and I am a Coffee Addict.

Mention Latte, Mocha or just plain White Coffee and I am all yours!

As cheap as that may make me sound, my caffeine addiction is getting worse. The fact that I used to hate coffee in the past is what worries me more.

The thing is, I have never been a morning person, and having to wake up early in the mornings everyday led me to start having coffee to give me a boost as tea wouldn't help much.

Then I started having a cup an hour or two after lunch to overcome post-lunch laziness.

Now, I have reached a point where I need a cup immediately after waking, another cup about two hours later, and the third one during the post-lunch laziness period.

I am kind of curious to know what number I will reach if I don't do something about it immediately.

I don't plan to stop it completely, I mean I don't mind the wake-up coffee. I just feel the other two cups are not necessary and I want to avoid the long-term effects of having too much coffee.

I would really appreciate some tips on how to overcome this. Is there a better tasting substitute? PLEASE HELP! :(

Rambles: How to feel good when you are sick

Hello All!

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have been unwell this past week; been stuck with flu and fever, and we all know how much that drains all the energy off our bodies; making us look- and feel like zombies!

Those of you who know me personally also know that I get sick easily. I drink lots of orange juice - I get a sore throat that starts of the flu-fever series, I stay up too late for 3 days in a row - I get a sore throat...and so on.

I have therefore decided to share some tips with you all below on how to feel good when not feeling well. These are from my own experiences and my way of adapting to such times.

So how do we feel good at such times?
- The most important thing to do is to stay positive! Wait, don't go away yet! I know you have heard this statement several times before. Maybe I should say, don't have negative thoughts! Be DETERMINED to get well and REFUSE to feel sick. Make great plans for yourself to do when you are fine. This way you will look forward to recovering, hence recover faster.

- Dress up and look good no matter how you feel. By doing this, all attention from people goes on the way you are dressed instead of how sick your face looks! Get complimented rather than asked why you look sick or tired. You will feel a hundred times better this way.

- Surround yourself with friends, loved ones or do something that you enjoy such as reading a good book or listening to music. Make sure you don't get lonely. Avoid being alone except for when you are resting (and you should get plenty of rest as well).


In short, to feel good when you are sick, just pretend that you are not sick. Continue as normal :)

PS. Pretending to be normal doesn't mean that we should not take advantage of the situation by getting extra TLC from loved ones. There is no harm in getting pampered, as long as your mindset is positive :)

Rambles: The Magic of Urine!

As disgusting as the title may sound, this is some serious sh*t! :)
I was always aware of Urine therapy being a traditional healing practice, but I didn't really think deeply about it until recently. I was complaining about Acne to my friends, when one of them said "maybe you can apply urine on your face!" I thought she was joking at first, but she convinced me that she was pretty serious by sharing a story of someone she knows, who does that and has a lovely, glowing complexion as a result!

Apparently, all you have to do is when you wake up, pee in a cup or a cotton pad and apply then all over your face for about 5 minutes, then wash it off (obviously).

I was really fascinated by that! I mean, how can something we excrete be so good for our face? I then did some extra research, and lo and behold! it was true! every person who has tried it had great things to say about it!

Below are the pros and cons I read from the reviews:
Pros: Free of charge, No side effects, 100% effective
Cons: You're applying pee on your face! Pee!

I did some further research (ain't I pathetic?) and I found out the following:
• Urine is best applied when fresh.
• It should not be applied on open wounds.
• It should not be used if one is on strong medication.

Urine has several other benefits that you can read here if you like: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/urine-therapy-for-skin.html

I, personally, have not reached that stage of desperation to do that yet. My acne problem is not that severe (touch wood!) I don't know how I feel about this practice personally, but if it works for others, good for them! :) For me, it was just an interesting topic to discuss with you all!

Have a good weekend!

Rambles: The world is going nuts!

Hello all!
I have been bed-ridden all day with a high fever and cold. Being too weak to do any work, I decided to check out the happenings of the world. I had not really gotten the chance to take a deeper look at the situation in Japan, so I started doing some research and honestly, my heart goes out to Japan and all those who have been affected by the Tsunami. I pray things get back to normal soon and no further catastrophe befalls any country again.

I then came across this one Youtube video that truly disgusted me. It is about this UCLA Student Alexandra Wallace, who portrays total insensitivity towards the Tsunami, Racism against Asians, and lots of pride for being American.
I won't start any stereotypical comments as I saw most people doing, but seriously, this girl needs to learn some manners!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLLEZlpUxk

Next, I came across this very interesting link talking about Signs that we are approaching the end of the world and Jesus is near.
This article had several links to it that took me the entire day to go through, and truly shocked me! Check it out for yourself when you have the time.

http://bossip.com/355158/revelations-signs-were-in-the-end-of-days-and-jesus-is-near12006/

The above link is a 12-page article, with several sub-links attached to it. It talks about how the world has changed tremendously at present. Large amounts of unexplained deaths of animals, mudslides, parents killing their children, children killing their parents, Crimes against women committed by men becoming worse, drugs cases and so on.

All these problems make me think why such things didn't happen as often in the past and happens now? What is the cause?
I personally think it is the advancement of Technology, Media and Loss of faith in God and Religion that causes the above.

- Technology:
The more we become "technologically advanced," the more we are relying on machines and polluting our environment.

- Media
The media has been portraying things that should not really be shown to young children as it affects their development. I can't believe how openly we can see X-rated content nowadays. We can not blame people later on for committing crimes as they have been exposed to these 'ideas' from their childhood! My friend recently told me how her little nephew and his friend started fighting at school recently. The parents later realized he reenacted the fighting move from a cartoon series he watched.
And seriously, speaking of the influence of Media, Lady Gaga's 'creative' costumes should be banned!! We shouldn't be surprised if we saw kids roaming the streets in Lady Gaga 'clothes' in the near future.

The media has also been hiding certain facts about countries that the world should know about. The world is not what we see in news channels. The world is what the media censors from us till the truth leaks! Pointing fingers at Muslims. The unfairness in Iran that was not heard of until recently,  The beauty of African countries that the media fails to show often, apart from the game parks that makes the world think we live among the elephants and lions, and we are all infected with HIV. Come on! get real! What I know so far is from the people around me and from my research. so I don't blame those who point fingers without knowing anything because they haven't taken their time to do some research.

- Loss of Faith
Nowadays, mentioning "God" or "Allah" becomes something once has to think twice about. Mind you, I mention it nonetheless. I feel it is one's wish if they want to believe in God or not. My only point is, by following the teachings of most religions, we used to learn about peace, humanity, compassion, honesty and so on. And the world was a much better place. Now people are turning into atheists; and making up their own rules as they go on. There are some atheists and free-thinkers I know who are generally good people with good values, thanks to their upbringing, but there are others who have totally lost track of their lives. I think belief in God gives us a sense of security and keeps us on the right track at the end of the day.

From the link posted above, I read of a 10 year old boy who killed his own mother because she didn't let him play his video game.
What can one say about that?
- He got the idea from somewhere.
- He had access to a gun at such a young age.
- He clearly didn't know what was right or wrong or have the fear of God in him.


If you made through this post, thank you! This was me partly venting and partly sharing my findings of my day.
PS. The above was just MY views and opinions. Am not looking for global support here. So feel free to differ but don't judge! :)

Goodnight all!

Rambles: Buddha's Hand Amulet.

Hello all! Today I would like to share with you this lovely gift that my boss gifted me and my colleagues when he got back from his trip to Taiwan recently.

This pendant is actually known as "Buddha's Hand" and is made from Jade. It is meant to bring good fortune to the wearers.

I was really fascinated by this amulet. I love the way it is hand-carved and carries such a deep meaning behind it. I therefore decided to do some further research on it.

I learnt some interesting facts about it:
- It has been worn for thousands of years by Buddhists (and Non-Buddhists).
- It is considered improper if worn below the chest.
- One should not point directly at it.
- One should not enter any inappropriate places while wearing it.
- The hand gesture symbolizes granting of wishes.

I would love to know more about it, so if anyone who comes across this article has any more information, please share! Also, if I have given any wrong information here, do not hesitate to correct me :)

Well, that's it for tonight. Goodnight all! :)

Beauty: Estee Lauder Nutritious Radiant Health Skin Care Collection

Hello all! It's been quite a long time since my last blog post. My apologies!

Today I thought of sharing with you these great beauty products I have been using that have made a HUGE difference in my opinion!

Lately, I have been breaking out a lot and I have been confused as to what could be the possible cause. My Nandos hot sauce addiction with every meal? my new facial mask? the Clean and Clear facial cleanser set I recently purchased? over-indulging on coffee? my MAC studio fix foundation? Well this remains a mystery for now, but I decided to stop all of the above, with the exception of coffee, of course, and try to figure out what works best for me.

Out of all the above, I suspected my MAC foundation and the Nandos hot sauce to be the major causes...so I went hunting for a better foundation.
I stopped by the Estee Lauder counter, and the nice lady there gave me two options for foundations...the Double Wear stay-in-place makeup; which is a bit heavy and long lasting (15 hours) and the Nutritious Vita-Mineral Makeup SPF 10 which is more skin-friendly, lighter and more natural looking.
Since I needed my skin to breathe a bit more after the heavy MAC foundation I wore previously (my biggest regret)...I purchased the Nutritious foundation together with the Nutritious Vita-Mineral Loose Powder  SPF 15.
I must say, I love it! my skin looks much more natural and fresh compared to the matte look MAC gave me. It doesn't stay on for that long though so I do have to re-apply some of the loose powder occasionally.
Since am out of the house from morning till night, I feel this is a much healthier option for my skin.

I got lots of other samples in the Nutritious Radiant Health Skin Care Collection together with my purchases. I got the Nutritious cleanser, that acts as a cleanser in the morning, and a mask at night. I also got the eye gel, moisturizer and toner in the same range.

I must say, I had a love-at-first-wash experience with the face wash! Omg, you won't believe the instant transformation I went through! From tired, dull skin to super-clean glowing face. I loved it and went to purchase that immediately!
Since these products are quite pricey, I will hold myself from purchasing the others for a while. The ones that I purchased were those that I felt were really worth it.
I was told by the lady that I will be getting some white heads from the cleanser for some time as my face undergoes deep cleansing. so at the moment, I can not say my break outs have stopped, but they have definitely reduced and my skin feels much cleaner, healthier and fresher.

The above collection is made from Pomegranate and is meant to make our face more radiant. I would totally recommend it for those suffering from acne/dull/tired skin. It is an investment worth making!

That's all for now, I will be back soon with more Nooreenisms! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Goodnight :)