Positive Vibes

"Surround yourself with good people and positive vibes."

I have always believed that when you surround yourself with the right kind of people, you'll be fine. Some people often say that they don't get influenced easily by the people they hang out with but who are we kidding? Humans will always be humans. You can't run from being humans. Like it or not, we are easily influenced directly or indirectly by the people we surround ourselves with. 

Ever notice how your laugh changes when you hang out with one person a lot more? Notice how you sometimes feel it's okay to wear that skirt when you used to think it was too short for you when you hang out with a person who thinks the skirt is okay for you to wear? Notice how your accent will also change depending on who you're talking to? People around you has the power to indirectly influence you no matter how hard you try to deny it. Just admit it, guys. I am done being in denial, I think it's time for you to stop too. 

I used to think, I'm a strong individual. I can hang out with anyone and they will never have an affect on me. Well, I know I'm not always right but this time, I'm so wrong. Seriously, anyone who thinks they are not affected by the people around them, you should yell to yourself "wake up!" loudly so it'll wrap around your brain and let it sink in. Hehe. Okay that's a bit too exaggerating, huh?

All my life, I have never been a person who has a lot of friends. I always hang out with the same group of friends and confine myself into a certain circle of friends. I'm not saying that they're bad influence. No, I love them to death but all I'm saying is that I was wrong in the sense that I shouldn't have limit myself to only those group of friends. We hang out with each other in class, outside and even in dorm rooms. Basically, everywhere! So eventually, we are all becoming each other and became too comfortable. This isn't a good sign because once everyone in the circle is influenced by each other, then all of you would think similarly, therefore the opinions will be limited. How can you seek for different opinions and advices if all of you think alike? Trust me, that friend who you always hang out with will say "You did the right thing!", even if you did something stupid and very wrong. Why?

Easy. Because you think alike.

To surround yourself with positive vibes is one thing. To have a wide circle of friends is another thing. I'm not saying you should go out and socialize every other day. God, no. I'm just saying you should make friends with everyone and from there, you can see who are the ones you need to avoid and who are the ones that can bring positive vibes into your life. 

If you just realized that you have been limiting yourself to the same group of friends and that you and your friends think alike, well it's time for you to meet new people. There might be some risks to be friends with someone new because we don't know if they are sincere to be your friend or they have a different agenda but that's what life is all about. Taking the chances and risks to learn from mistakes. And believe me, I understand when you think "why would I find new friends when my friends now are cool?". Well guys, like I mentioned, you will never see the real world if you don't broaden your network. You will never know what other professions think of a certain situation or how others would react to solve a certain problem. Every person has a different way of solving and thinking. Don't you think it's worth it to be friends with different people from different backgrounds so you'll get different opinions according to their own personal experiences? Now, is that not something awesome? To learn new things every day just by talking to different kind of people? I think that's great because knowledge will never run out, unless you limit yourself to gain that knowledge. 

I realized all this after I finished my Foundation. All my 19 years of life at that time, I had been hanging out with the same people. I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't developing at all. I was stuck in a cocoon and I didn't even know it. But when it hit me, I started to be friends with everyone and made sure that I keep in touch with the ones I know I can trust. I realized that I gained a lot of stories, opinions and knowledge from just talking to these new people. I don't even have to organize a slumber party to get to know them. All I have to do is talk to them, ask them questions, be more friendly to new people. It isn't that hard!

However, sometimes the people that you call "friends" are not even true friends. I've faced with so many hypocrites and so called "true friends" when all they do is sending negative aura into my life. They will make fun of my passion, they will be sarcastic about my videos and you know, stuff that they think is funny but are certainly not funny to me. I still call them my friends but I know that I won't lose anything if I don't keep in touch with them that often. There are better people out there who believe in me and my dreams, who are always there to support me. 

Yesterday, I had a date with two beautiful bloggers, Kak Innanie from Blog Coklat Eyes & Kak Sabby from Sabby Prue. I knew these two ladies from the Internet, of course but I met them for the first time at an event (I vlogged during the event. You can watch the vlog here) and we've been friends ever since. 

Although I don't always join them for outings or events because I had always been the "loner" when it comes to blogger/vlogger events. I always go to events alone, doing my own thing. But that's just so wrong. People would think I'm snobbish but really, I was actually really humbled because I know I'm not as big as they are in the blogging world. But after yesterday, I realized how foolish I was because in this world, there's no such thing as who has the most followers or who always get the job from clients. We are all in this together. We share the same passion, we share a lot of things but we all come from different backgrounds and we've all been through our own experiences. 

Let me tell you, it was such a crazy day for us three because one moment we were karaoke-ing and laughing our butt off but then the waiters at Dome found us crying the next moment. We had so much to tell, from funny stories to all the emotional stories. I hadn't had that much fun for so long and it felt so good to share stories between us. I missed them a lot and I just realized that when I hugged them the moment we met yesterday. 

Oh man this is a very long and emotional post! Hehe anyway, I just want to get this out of my chest because I think everyone should not limit themselves in any way. Don't put a limitation in whatever you do because that will not allow you to grow as an individual. 

Remember, be nice to everyone and be a lifetime learner ;)

I'm facing life crisis??

Hello guys.

As you all know I haven't been a really good blogger or vlogger lately. And by lately I mean, this past one year. I'm sorry. I truly am. I really love being on the Internet it's just that I don't have time for it these days. Usually when I was about to blog something on my computer, an email comes in.

Ahhhh, email from a colleague. 

Or the developer.

Or a client.

I need to always reply these emails as soon as I can. So by the time I finished replying all these emails, I will either be sleepy or I completely forgot my main purpose when I turned on my computer.  The fact that I'm dealing with people in London doesn't help either as the time difference means they start working as I am about to go to bed. 

So yes. That's my life now. 

I spend most of my time stressing and worrying about closing deals, agreements, contracts and everything else except writing a blog post or making a video. And honestly? I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my job. I just hate how it drives me away from what I love doing the most; being on the Internet, typing away and talking in front of the camera. I want to be able to have the time to do my job and be on the Internet. But my job requires me to work on weekends as well, so tough luck, man.

I've been stressing over this for a little over a while now and I have not voice this out because I feel bad for complaining. I don't want to complain. I don't want to be the whiny brat because it's not even the job at all, I don't think. It's just my feelings. And I'm bad at expressing my feelings. Like, literally really bad at it. So right now I'm trying to figure this out. I need to find myself. I need to build my career based on my passion, not based on the money. Because I don't think you will ever be successful if you do something for the money instead of your love and compassion towards the things you do. 

So please dear readers/viewers, please bear with me while I figure my life out and how am I going around this. But know this; I won't give up blogging and Youtube. Never. 

If you have any comforting words for me or any advises, just shoot them to me. Email me, tweet me, comment below. Anything. I will be sure to read them.

Oh! And thank you to those who have been tweeting, commenting on my pictures on Instagram, emailing me asking me to blog and film videos again. I miss you guys too!!! I will start again. Pretty soon, InsyaAllah. 

Okay fun's time over. Back to work now.

Hello, Real Life!

When you were in primary school or high school, have you ever expected your life is going to turn out exactly like how it has turned out right now? Is the life you're living now the life you expected to live from the start? Is the life you're living now is the life you wished to live since you were younger?

I'm pretty sure 99% of the answers will be a big fat NO.

As I grew older, I realized that not everything will turn out as planned or as expected. Planning and dreaming about the future seems so easy to do but to make everything you dreamed of actually happen.... Not so. That's why I have given up planning the future so precisely because I know it won't turn out like I want it to be. I just focus on my goals now and aiming to achieve it instead of having everything mapped out in front of me. After all, life is an adventure. It's good to have life goals and strategies to achieve them but you can't really control everything and everyone in your life.

I turned 23 last Saturday and man, do I feel old. It might not sound as bad to some of you but to me, 23 is an age where I can announce to the world that I am officially "old". What more when I have actually started working. That certainly make me feel older. Talking about work, it had never crossed my mind that I will be in the real estate industry. Let me repeat. N-E-V-E-R. As a little kid, I never really dreamed of being the doctor, the engineer or the lawyer like most of kids my age wanted to be. Believe it or not, every time people ask me what I want to be when I grow up. My answer was "A Cashier". Reason? Simply because I love plastics and paper bags. Not to mention the cash counters/machines. I've always loved and dreamed to be a cashier at any stores so I can play with the cash machines. My love for the cash machine was so true that my Dad bought me a white and pink Barbie cash machine so I can play and live my 'dream' to be a cashier. LOL. I sure dream big, don't I? Hahahaha.

Okay you can stop laughing at me now.

As I grew, my dream career changed. When I was in the first half of my high school years, I was determined and sure that I want to be a teacher. I want to teach English, just like my Mom. That was when I started writing on my blog because I know it will improve my English if I start writing. That was also when I discovered that I really love writing. I started my own "book". Not like a proper book for everyone to read, of course. Just something I write, sort of like a novel but a personal one. No, it's not a journal or a diary or anything like that, in case you're wondering. I didn't write about my life but I imagine being someone else and created the whole story myself. I really fell in love with writing because it's something that I know I'm in control and I'm in charge of the whole story line. I can write whatever crap that comes to mind and it's okay because I invented the story. I am in charge of the characters. I am the story.

But then after a while, I thought that I don't want to be a teacher because it's hard to have that big responsibility of teaching people's children and making sure the knowledge you pass on to the students are the best you can give. Being a teacher is hard work, believe me. Most people I know look at teachers like they are nothing but I have lived with a teacher all my life. Trust me when I say, they are the ones who always get underestimation from people. To me, being a teacher is the sincerest job anyone could be and I will always respect teachers as without teachers, we wouldn't even know how to count to 10, we wouldn't even know how to spell "Apple" for the first time and we wouldn't even know the history. I have seen my Mom get upset and worried whenever her students did very bad in their tests. I have also seen my Mom got so excited to think of something for her students to learn a different way by teaching them outdoors. There was this one time, she asked her students to bring their own food and drinks from home for a 'study picnic' under the tree at school. I told her, "how come my teachers have never done this for us when I was in primary?". Seeing my Mom being a teacher made me want to be a teacher too, so that was why I applied to be a French language teacher after I graduated high school. I did well for the interview but my heart told me that wasn't it. That career is not the path I want to take. So I accepted the offer from University of Malaya instead, to do a one year foundation in Built Environment. At that time, I knew it was a risk to take because if I fail, I would have to start all over again from Diploma and I will be behind everyone else in my batch. Also, it wasn't like I know what "Built Environment" means at that time. I just went with the flow. After I learned what Built Environment is all about, I was aiming to be an Architect. I couldn't be so sure because I was in the University, so I thought... "hey, I'm 18 and I'm in college. I don't think I will every change my ambition again." Well, guess what?

It changed. Again.

After passing my Foundation, Alhamdulillah, I got accepted in University of Malaya for my Degree as well. During my first year in Real Estate, I realized I gravitate more towards a few subjects like Law, Marketing & Sales. I hated (and still hate) subjects like Valuation, Investments or Construction.

Fast forward four years, I am now done with my Degree in Real Estate and I am working now. In Agency & Marketing Department at a very awesome Real Estate company and I couldn't be more blessed. I am so happy and honored to be offered a job there even before I finished my internship. All those 4 years of Degree are definitely worth it because look at where it got me. I am 23 and turning into a new chapter in my life. I know this part of my life will be the hardest because this is when I have the responsibility towards my own life, my work, my achievements and a lot of other things too. This is the part where my parents can let go of me financially and in other aspects too for me to think what's best for myself and not be too dependant on them. Another step towards real life and I'm going to be honest with you, I'm nervous and scared as hell because this is the beginning of my real life.

Something that my Mom said on the night of my birthday made me cry :

"Please stop growing up, baby. Stop here. I don't want you to grow up anymore."

I just hugged her and told her that as much as I don't want to grow up-too, this is the time when I need to grow up and learn. It's time for me to take care of her and Dad instead of the other way around.

So, guys. Wish me luck on this new journey of mine.

Bismilahirrahmannirahim.

The Story of My YouTube Channel

I started my YouTube Channel in September 2011. That's like, almost 3 years ago. Not as long as my beloved blog, of course but you know, I thought I was born to write on my blog.

But then I found YouTube. 

I know I shouldn't be bias or anything but since I started my YouTube channel, I've been thinking that maybe this is what I was born to do.

Youtube.

Making videos about beauty, fashion and other random things.

I love and enjoy making videos. It's a lot of work but I never seem to mind it. Hours and hassle of setting up the camera and props to film the video, hours and hours spent on editing the video, brainstorming on what videos I should do next... you know, these things make me happy though it is a whole lot of hard work. Sometimes I even spend 48 hours to edit a video that is less than 8 minutes long just to make it right and perfect. The sleepless nights I spent because I couldn't get enough of editing are so so so worth it when you guys enjoyed the videos I made. I don't know how to explain it, but it really feels like it's my love. My passion. Like I can't get enough of filming and editing.

If I have a choice, I would definitely film and edit all day every day but of course, my channel is not that stable for me to quit my job and do this full time just yet. Maybe one day, who knows but for now, I'm just enjoying all that I can. What irritates me the most about being a Malaysian Youtuber/beauty guru is that Malaysia is not really big on YouTubers. I mean of course there are a few YouTubers that are known internationally like Jinny Boy but there's no beauty guru community here in Malaysia like they have in The States, especially LA. Not that I know of anyway. I know there are some beauty bloggers community and such but I have never heard of Malaysian beauty YouTubers community here in Malaysia. If you know any community of that sort, let me know so I can check them out.

Sometimes when I watch some of my favorite beauty gurus doing this full time, I feel like packing my bags and fly to LA to do this full time too because I really really love doing this. I mean, I like my job but if I were to be given a choice, I would definitely choose something I'm more passionate about which are beauty and fashion. I started my channel out of interest, not for the benefits like free stuff and money, while I accepted my current job because I like real estate but I like money more. You see the difference? If I were to do this YouTube thing full time, I would be doing it because I love it more than I love the money but of course, doing something you really love and getting paid for it sounds a whole lot better. But still... you get what I mean.

Anyway, of course when I ventured myself in making videos on YouTube, not everything is fun and games all the time. This is when I know who is there to support me and who's not. I got insulted a lot, being in the YouTube scene. Blogging is not as bad because people can't really see you. They don't see you talking, they don't really know how you act and talk, they only see your writings. Your words. So they don't really have any strong foundation to insult you. All the years that I blogged, I've never received any strong insults but when I started YouTube.... man, the insults and negative comments really got to my head. I almost gave up, I almost deleted my channel. But then I realized everything you do in this world, there will always be people who criticize you and hate what you do, the way you talk and the way you act. You can't please everyone. You can't always impress everyone. So the best thing to do is just be yourself and do what you feel is right for you. If people like you and what you do, then you know they like you for who you are. Not because you are doing what they want you to do. I even cried some days reading negative comments back in the day. I even had friends who were always making fun of my videos. I always laugh a long with them and acted like it didn't hurt my feelings. But it did. To have your own friends making fun of what you like doing? Can I really call them my friends then? I started to stay away from these people because I know they will only give negative vibes into my life if I keep them close to me. And guess what?

That. Was. The. Best. Decision. I've. Ever. Made. In. My. Life.

After much support and positive motivation by a few people in my life and from some of you as well, I decided to let my channel grow. And here it is, 3 years later, I'm still making videos! Alhamdulillah, my channel has definitely grow. Slowly but surely. I'm so glad I kept going instead of giving up when things got difficult. I have received a lot of opportunities and one of the best ones was of course, being a part of Style Haul. But that's not even the best part yet. The best part is to have you guys. All of you who watch my videos, subscribing to me, leaving me comments so I can improve and keep going in the future. You all are truly a blessing for me. I like knowing that I made someone's day when I upload a new video or the fact that my videos motivate some of you in some weird ways. I am happy to receive emails and comments saying that I changed their lives and I inspired them. To think of me being an inspiration is beyond this world. I would never have thought I would make an impact in anyone's life. I also had encountered a situation where a Mom approached me asking whether I can come meet her 4 year old daughter because her daughter watches my videos repeatedly, every single day. She even imitates what I do in my videos. I was shocked hearing this of course, exciting but scary at the same time. Scary  in the sense that it made me think back of what I did in all my videos. This is a 4 year old child we're talking about, I wouldn't want to be a bad influence to anyone, especially little kids.

So I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you. Without you guys' support, I won't even be making videos right now. Because of you and the few people in my life who support me made me realized I don't have to please everyone. I just have to be myself and do what I like doing with some effort, everything will turn out well. I also learned that all those negative comments and insults people throw at me are nothing. I shouldn't be affected by them and I should take that as a challenge or turn them into something positive that I can use to further motivate myself.

So, THANK YOU.
*virtual hugs*

All I wanna do is sleep

I have been crazy busy these past couple of months. I'm not even kidding. I work literally every single day for the past two months. Yes, even on weekends. I think I haven't even told you about my work. 

Okay basically I started my internship in February this year and I was rewarded some kind of award for special intern scheme. After I finished my intern, the company offered me a permanent job. Without the 3 months probation period other people have to go through. Alhamdulillah, I was flattered, of course. So now I am the Project Marketing Executive for International Properties in my company. Oh if you are wondering, I am a Real Estate major and the company I'm working at is a Real Estate company (duh?). 

Anyway, I have been busy with exhibitions and launches every day including weekends and I travelled to East Malaysia for one week for the roadshow as well. I was there during the first day of Ramadhan, which was... an experience for me. The first day of Puasa was the last day we were there. Usually exhibitions end at 7pm and with me being in Kuching at that time, Maghrib is earlier that West Malaysia. And my flight was at 9pm which means we had to dismantle the panels and pack the brochures and stuff and rush to the airport at 7.30pm. My muslim colleagues and I drank one sip of bad coffee at the hotel, rushed to the surau to pray and rushed to the airport with our huge luggages full with hard covered brochures. 

So if you were at the Kuching International Airport that Sunday night and saw three girls wearing black blazers, skirts and heels, running with huge luggages, sweating and panting. Yea, that was definitely us.

There was also this one time in KL, we were still in the exhibition hall and we had to drink plain water for iftar. But because we were so desperate for some flavor, we actually put sugar in the plain water. That's just so sad right? Haha.

After two months of working every day, I decided to take two days off work. So yes, I am on leave today! What are my plans you ask? Well, sleep. And sleep. And sleep. And......... sleep. I miss being lazy. I miss being unproductive. I miss proper sleep. I miss sleeping more than 4 hours. So that's what I'm going to do today and you can't judge me. Hehe.

I went for a mani/pedi/scrub session this morning and it felt so good to just relax and pamper myself after those crazy two months. I felt like i deserve the treatment and tomorrow will be spa day! I can't wait!

By the way, here's a picture of us on the plane on the way back to West Malaysia. 

We looked like we weren't tired at all.

Happy and all smiles. 

But you know when people say "looks can be deceiving"?

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Because this is how we actually felt.

It's been 2 months since I last blogged?!

It feels a whooooooole lot longer though.

But phewwwww finally, I can write on this blog again and it feels so so so so good. If you miss this blog (let's face it, you all actually miss me, I know. Haha), let me enlighten you to what actually happened and why my domain, ayeenkadir.com is not accessible. And why it's now ayeenkadir.blogspot.com.

In the month of April every year, I will be reminded by an email by the provider of my domain to pay for my yearly subscription. This year though, I started working and yes, you guessed it. I forgot to pay the subscription because I was too caught up with my work. Also, I didn't receive the bloody reminder email this year! So it's not entirely my fault. Right?

 I know you guys are probably wondering why didn't I just set the payment to auto, so they can just charge the credit card automatically when it expires every year? 

Well, you guys got to cut me some slacks because when I first started my blog, I was just a child. Okay, not exactly a child. But I was 17. I was in high school. So I secretly charged the payment to my Dad's credit card without consulting him first. To avoid him nagging me about "how he doesn't grow money on trees and how the credit card he gave me is for emergencies ONLY", I thought I'd try it out just for one year. After one year though, my Dad seems to be okay with it seeing how I am really passionate towards blogging and how serious I was/am with it. When I said "he seems to be okay with it", I meant he didn't seem to mind when there is my domain provider's name on the credit card bill every year and he didn't complain or nag about it. So I assumed he didn't mind. After that, I didn't really bother to change the manual payment to auto and boy, that's the biggest regret in my 23 years of life. Now I am domain-less and I have to pay almost RM900 to get the domain and all its content back. I had the hardest time to decide what I want to do. 

To pay the RM900 and get it over with so I can start writing on my blog again 

or...

To terminate that domain from my provider and change my provider which will costs me cheaper than RM900

So I decided I will use this .blogspot for the mean time, while I solve this problem. Maybe I will change to a different provider. So if you're a blogger, do give me some recommendations of good and user-friendly provider for me to consider!

On a totally different note, I have a lot to tell you guys, a lot of ootd pictures to post here, a lot of working experiences I want to share and just about everything! Ahhhh I cannot wait to start back on blogging!!! Who's excited????!

No one?

Okay... maybe it's just me.

Start Saving Your Money!

Have you ever felt like you are stuck in a position where you are determined to save money but you cannot hold yourself back when you saw that new lipstick MAC just launched, or that very cute top at Forever21? Well, if your answer is yes, then read on!

I am a shopaholic, I admit. I mean, I was. Every time I receive my allowance from my Dad or every time I make money from anything, I will always find a way to spend it all. Yes, all. Not a single cent to save. I always find something at the mall that I can spend my money on. The easiest way to say this is that I wasted my money on things I don't even need. I was a spender, not a saver. 

After reading some self help books, I realized that if I had saved all the money I earned before, I could have bought myself a Balenciaga and I would still have extra money after. But I told myself that it's not too late to start saving. It's not too late to actually change myself and stop that shopaholic attitude as if I had all the money in the world. I once read, the rich buy luxuries last and the poor buy luxuries first. I couldn't agree more with that statement because I've been in that 'poor' category before. I used to buy everything I set my eyes on if I have the money. My mind was set that I have to spend everything until it's all gone. Luckily, I read all these books and feel the need to change my mindset. Here I have some tips that worked for me and I already started to save money instead of spending. Who knows, these tips might help some of you too!

TIP #1 : AVOID GOING TO THE MALL/ONLINE SHOPS

For all you chronic shopaholics, this might be the hardest thing to do. Trust me, I had the hardest time to do this but I managed to do it anyway. So if I can do it, of course you can too. Start by not going to the mall without a strong purpose. Unless your family wants to have a family day out or a dinner, there's no need for you to go step foot in a mall.

TIP #2 : STAY HOME

I know some of you love to meet up with friends, talk and hang out. Sounds fun huh? Well, I hate to break it to you, but hanging out with friends requires money. If you think back about it, every time you go out with your friends, your money flows like water. I know it's all fun to be out and about with friends but try to tone it down a little. Instead of hanging out with your friends twice a week, make it only once a week, then when you're ready, tone it down a little bit more to once every fortnight. This one is not as hard for me as I am a home kind of girl. I love staying home but it feels great to go out sometimes. Just don't go out too often because once you step out of the house, chances are, you'll be spending your money. A little money or a lot of money, doesn't matter. It's the spending we want to avoid, despite the amount. So, learn to say no to your friends when they ask you to hang out!

TIP #3 : COOK OR EAT AT HOME

This is obvious. Outside food may sound very easy but if you put your thought around to it, there are so many bad things about outside food. It's unhealthy, for one. Food can be pricey too nowadays. So trust me, if you avoid eating outside, you'll be doing yourself a huge favour in terms of health and financial. I used to love outside food especially fast foods. Now that I avoid eating outside, and eat at home instead, I save a whole lot more! You'll be shocked to see the amount you pay for outside food because when you buy food outside everyday, you won't even realize the total amount you spent just to get a piece of hamburger or that cup of milkshake by the end of the month.

TIP #4 : STOP BEING SHY AND PUT THAT THICK FACE ON!

I know some of us have the confidence but to some of us, we probably encountered situations where you go out with a bunch of friends for dinner. Then, when the bill comes, everyone pinch in their money for their meals. However, you don't have small change, so you ended up paying the bill and logically, your friends will have to pay their portion to you. In some cases, people tend to say "Okay, you pay first, I'll pay you back later." Okay, first, you need to remind them to pay you no matter what the situation is because hello, we all need money to survive. No one can let others pay for their meals unwillingly. So, brave up and ask them for your money. No matter how small the amount is. If they owe you $1 for that matter, just ask. They may not pay you back because they forgot or they thought you didn't mind paying for them. Any small amount of money can be amounted to a big sum. So don't brush off that $1 if you feel like you need it. Don't be shy to ask for the money people owe you because you have the rights to ask for it.

TIP #5 : RECORD YOUR INCOME AND EXPENSES

This sounds like a hassle. No one has the time to buy a book and make an account for their income and expenses nowadays. But fret not, as I have a solution for that. I found an amazing app for you to download so you can keep track of your income and expenses. The app is called Spending and it's free on the App Store! So go download it now. Since I first had this app, I have been keeping good tracks on my spendings and earnings. I don't stray on my budget anymore and it feels really great!

You can see a summary of your expenses and income for the month. 

 When you tilt your phone, it will show a graph of your expenses and income, so you'll know whether you spend or earn more.

When you click on the "cash flow" tab at the bottom on the other hand, you'll see a pie chart, showing you the percentages of your expenses. This way, you'll know how much you spend on a certain things and what you need to cut from your expenses. As you can see on the picture, I clearly need to practise what I preach, which is to cut my expenses from eating out. *oops*

You can also see the exact amount you spent on specific things on the "transaction" tab at the bottom.

These are the categories of expenses you can choose from and you can also create a new name for your expenses and it will be automatically saved.

 These are the categories for your income. You can also create a new name for the income category as well.

And here are the settings that you can change according to your preferences!

This app is so easy to use and very useful to me. You should try it too if you have troubles at keeping track of your budget and cash flows.

I hope you guys find these tips helpful and let's start saving for the future!

Next time you go to a mall, tell yourself "no, you certainly do not need that new purse when you already have more than one at home."

GOOD LUCK! ❤︎

Two Thousand Thirteen

In a few minutes, the fireworks will go off, a sign that a year just passed by again.

I know this sounds cliche but where did the time go? It doesn't feel like a year. That's 12 months. 365 days. But it sure felt like a breeze to me.

A lot had happened in 2013, both good and bad. Just like every other year. However, I have a few major things that happened in my life this year that made me change completely. If you asked me at the beginning of this year, I would never thought I'd be here right now. 

For starter, I am at the end of my final semester before I go for my internship. Who would have thought I survived all those hardships through out my final projects and thesis? I have also became much closer to my friends this year. Some of them turned out to be really good people and can be trusted but most of them turned out to be exactly how I predicted them to be. Not in a good way. I tried to stop thinking negatively and tried to open up to people. After all, what's life without taking chances right? But like I said, most of the people I took my chances with turned out to be how I expected them to be. I'm not complaining though because I know these people brought lessons into my life and I learned that these people are not worth my time at all. I don't have time for negativity anyway.

I went through a heartache, a massive one at that. But it made me realize I am stronger than I thought I was to survive it on my own, without holding on to it too long because I taught myself to just let it go and focus on the future instead of being stuck on the past. I also learned that I don't need to depend on anyone for my own happiness. I can totally survive by my own and I can definitely do things on my own.

I met a lot of new people this year too, some gave good impacts, some bad. Yea, shocker. 

But among all these people I met this year, one of them gave such a big impact to my life.  I have no idea how and why but the the first time I met this person, I automatically knew that he will be a significant part of my life. Not necessarily romantically, but generally. He completely changed my perspective on life and my inner self. He believes in what I'm passionate about, he supports what I like to do and he motivates me by sharing advices, life experiences and he introduced opportunities for me to improve myself and my life. To be honest, I have never met someone who is as positive as he is, as determined as he is, who believes in themselves, who brings out the best out of other people as he does. He basically made me realize the existence of all the good things in life that were clouded by my negative thoughts and judgements all this while. He recommends books for me to read, tv series for me to watch, suggests solutions to my problems and motivates me in the meanest way possible (but it worked. Haha) when I was about to give up. He cracks lame jokes sometimes too but hey, that's part of the charm, right? Haha. Anyway, I am grateful to have met someone like him who made me realize that I am so much better than what I thought I can be and that I can push myself to the fullest potential. I doubt he is reading this but if you are, I would like to thank you for affecting my life in such positive way :)

Because of the fact that I have changed my perspective on life completely, I found myself to be really positive about other things in life too. I have been very discipline with my health and eating habits, I've been consistent with my goals and striving to achieve them, I learned to avoid the people who bring me down constantly, I learned to take chances and not be afraid of risks and mistakes, I learned more about myself this year than I did in the previous years of my life, I taught myself to stop being a shopaholic and most important of all, I have improved my relationship with Allah and my family. Not saying I had bad relationships with them before, I am so close to my family but I felt like I wasn't good enough. Now I am still improving but Alhamdullilah, I can see that I'm on the right path in getting there. I am also trying to improve the relationships I have with everyone I know. In fact, I'm absolutely sure that I have improved my relationship with one of my best friend and my number one reader (as she always say), Putt. I have become so much closer to her this year and I enjoy being around her and talking to her. She's a gem, enough said. Oh and I know you're reading this. So hiiiiiii, baby girl! *waves*

Last year I didn't have any resolutions. My reason was that I wouldn't keep up even if I had one. But 2014 is a year of change for me. I want 2014 to be a life changing year for myself. I want to change to be a better person, inside and out. I have so many resolutions in my mind right now but I will just include some of the important ones that pops into my head.

First, I would like to stop complaining. Just about anything. I don't want to complain. Instead, I would like to take control of my own mind and think of all the obstacles and problems in the most positive way possible. 

Secondly, I want to cut off all the negative people from my life. Once and for all. The ones who always condemn me. The ones who are always being sarcastic about the things I'm passionate about like my YouTube channel or the motivational videos I always watch. I will only acknowledge people who support me and bring the positive vibes into my life.

I also would like to start saving instead of spending. After all, as Robert Kiyosaki once tweeted, "The wealthy buy luxuries last, while the poor and middle-class tend to buy luxuries first". No more drug stores or Sephora, no more new bags, no more shoes, no more accessories unless it's a necessity (I doubt a new lipstick is a necessity but whatever. Haha). 

Lastly, I hope the motivation for me to keep healthy and eat clean won't die down. I want to be active and be healthy through out my life starting from now. Hopefully!

Okay so those are my 2014 resolutions. Well, some of them. Do you have any resolutions for 2014? Do share your resolutions with me in the comment section, so we all can motivate each other to focus and achieve our goals for this new year!

Happy New Year, everyone! 

Universal Studios Singapore? Say what?!!!

Before I start, note that I've never been outside of the state, let alone the country without my parents. Well, there was this one time that I went to Kelantan because my friend is from there, so her family stays there. That was basically more of a sleepover than 'traveling' to me. The reason why I have never traveled outside of Klang Valley without my parents is simply because my parents (well, particularly my Dad hehe) are/is very strict on my social life. I mean, come on, I went to a mall without my parents for the first time after I graduated high school! If that doesn't give you an idea of how strict my parents are, then I don't know what will. However, I'm not complaining. I used to be all 'teenage girl' and threw tantrums when my friends went out but I just had to stay home and watch tv. But now, I really am thankful for it. I know there's a solid good reason why my parents raised me that way. 
Anyways, the purpose of this post is to actually tell you guys that I went to Singapore with my friends!!!!!! *fireworks* Hahaha okay yes, I was pretty stoked when my Dad said yes to my little 'proposal' to travel all the way to Singapore without his or Mom's supervision.

Truthfully, May had not been a good month for me. I was experiencing a very stressful situation at school, at home and also my love life. Seriously I've never experienced that much depression in my whole 22 years of life and it was really getting to me in the head. I would cry literally every single day. I cried at school, I cried myself to sleep and you know, just a whole lot of crying. But one night, my Dad casually asked 'why haven't you visited Reena's house in Johor?'. I couldn't believe my ears because just a couple days earlier, my college friend, Reena who is from Johor invited me and some of our friends to her sister's wedding which obviously will be in Johor. I said no to her because A) I have never traveled with friends and B) the situation I was in at that moment wasn't really appropriate for me to ask my Dad's permission. So I turned down the invite while my two other guy friends were already planning to go. I was pretty jealous to be honest because I wanted to go too. So when my Dad asked me that question, I jumped to the chance and told him about Reena's invitation. I was shocked myself that my Dad didn't slaughter me alive but said "yes, you should go. Get the whole trip planned out properly with your friends and tell me about it later" instead. And...... the rest is history!!!! Although, I flew to Johor while my other two friends drove there. They fetched me at the airport and we went to the wedding on Saturday.

I was happy for the first time in May while I was in Johor. They drove me to Johor Premium Outlet which wasn't really amazing because to me, the prices are still over the top compared to Cabazon Outlet in the States. So I didn't buy anything fancy, just a couple of things from Cotton On and La Senza. Other than that, the Victoria's Secret's prices are literally the same with the outlet in Pavilion. So why waste money there when you can go to the real store instead of an outlet to purchase a body mist? At least, that was what I thought of JPO. We spent our day in Johor, had our dinner, caught a midnight movie (Oh by the way, a little side note : Fast & Furious 6 was bad. I hated it, dozed of a couple times in the cinema. But if you liked it, then good for you!) and drove in to Singapore after.  We went into Singapore at around 2 in the morning. We all practically looked like zombies by then and it felt good to finally checked in our hotel. Hotels were really hard to book since it was Malaysia's school holiday so we settled for Fragrance Hotel Waterfront because if not, we wouldn't have any place to stay. The guys went to their room and Reena and I to ours, we wanted to sleep but after I showered, I suddenly felt hungry. We drove around finding a decent place to eat at 4 in the morning. And guess what? I didn't even sleep, guys!! That morning, we had to rush to Universal Studios because my flight back was at 9.30PM in Senai airport which is in Johor. So we had to leave USS earlier since we need to go through the immigrations and what not. 

However, we were kind of behind schedule that morning because I guess all of us were exhausted. We took the cab from our hotel to USS which only cost SGD11 because our hotel was only around 10 to 15 minutes away from USS. When we arrived, it was jam packed with people! But that certainly didn't stop us from being all excited! I was suddenly wide awake when we arrived although I didn't sleep at all the night before. We took a ton of pictures and I didn't really mind the long queue for rides because waiting didn't seem so bad when you're with your friends. 

There were a lot more things I was excited about but it was too much to write. Hehe but it was seriously the best weekend I've had in a long long time! So thank you Daddy for giving me the permission to go and for paying every single thing for me (Cause I know you're reading this. Haha! Hi Dadddd! *waves*) and to Reena, Ehsan and Syamin for being such entertaining bunch of friends! Gahhh, just by writing all these makes me excited! 

Twenty Thirteen

Happy New Year guys!!!! How did you celebrate last night?

I've never been the type who goes out or celebrates New Year. I just don't celebrate because to me it's not necessary. Yes, it's a new year and it's the time where I should start fresh and everything. But I guess I'm more of the type who sits at home, reminiscing how the past years had been and what I'm aiming for the future. More often that not, I will realize all my mistakes and the things I did that might have hurt someone on NYE. Maybe because thinking about the past made me realize about a lot of things.  But that's how I do it, other people have other ways of celebrating the New Year. One way or the other, I hope you guys had the best time of your lives celebrating last night.

I spent my New Year in the car, on the way to Kuantan to send my brother off to his boarding school. And my family and I spent the first few minutes of 2013 worrying about our car because the battery was overcharged or something, and the car transmitted this really awful smell. It was really bad, it smelled like battery water and some kind of a gas, if that makes any sense.. but seriously, I almost choked. But Alhamdulillah, we're back home now. Even though we had to wind down our window the whole journey back home (yeap, the whole six hours) and we had to stop every half an hour, we still survived. My hair was all haywire when we arrived.. but that's fine. Hehe.

This year, I have so many memories, both good and bad but it's time to let go of the mistakes I've done, cherish the good memories and start the new year with positive vibes. You know, it's a good thing to have the wake up call every new year. I'm so thankful for a lot of things in 2012 ; the life that Allah has given me. With every breath I take, I have Allah to thank for giving me the chance to live in this world surrounded by all the prospers He gave. My family who has always been there for me, despite the things I did in the past. My boyfriend, who has always accept me for who I am and has always been my number one supporter in everything I do. My cat, who has always been there for me to listen even though he can't talk but I'm pretty sure he understands what I say and he most probably replied me in his heart. And my girlfriends who I mentioned in my previous post, they are just an amazing group of loyal and the most sincere people I know. 

Want to know what my New Year resolutions are? Well, I only have one, actually.
To not have a list of resolutions.
Want to know why? 
Because not a single thing will be crossed out on the list by December 31st 2013.. Or ever. So why bother? Haha.

Anyway, I would like to wish all of you who's reading this post, YES, YOU. Happy New Year and I wish all of you to have an amazing and blessed year ahead of you. May God bless you with all the prospers and happiness. Let go of your mistakes and start to look at the future, try to change to be a better person. And to my Muslim friends and readers, I hope we all, including myself will grow to be a better Muslim as the years pass by, InsyaAllah.