Unplugging

It's been a busy week for me and I need a chill pill. There're so many things going on in my mind that I need to GETITDONERIGHTNOW but can't. So I'm fidgety and restless. The other day, I left my laptop charger at work. I left work with only 20% battery on my laptop. It didn't take very long for my laptop battery to go flat. I was forced to have a No-screen night. I picked up a book and read. Something I have not done in a while! I love reading and enjoy a good book, but there this thing called the internet that's distracting me. 

Life Is A Beach, I'm Just Playing In The Sand

It was my first trip to Cottesloe that made me fall in love with Perth, seven years ago. I remember being so overwhelmed by its majestic view. Blue skies. Soft white sand. Clear waters. I took SO many photos at the beach, so I can document how beautiful the view and the atmosphere. I grew up in the urban jungle where we have to drive out for hours to see a decent looking beach. Seeing the horizon, how blue and sunny the beach was, it was love at first sight for me.

Elephant Rocks (William Bay National Park), Western Australia

Elephant Rocks in Denmark

Elephant Pool is a sight seeing spot in a town called Denmark. Why it's called Elephant Rocks because it looks exactly like a herd of elephants paddling in the shallow waters. It's located in Willam Bay National Park about 15km west of the Denmark town cenre.

Address: 

William Bay Road | Denmark, William Bay National Park, Western Australia 6333, Australia

BEAUTY HAUL

If you know me by now, I am a beauty enthusiast. I love makeup. I love cosmetics. I love skin care. I love Sephora. I love walking into drugstores. I love testing out products. I love watching makeup reviews. I love watching makeup tutorials. It's no brainer. I love makeup.  Blushingkay was created for my love of makeup. Every time I travel, I always have my itinerary, list of things I want to eat and a list of things I want to buy. Every time I go to Perth, my list of things I want to buy is usually filled with makeups. I am very blessed to have the best of both worlds. I can easily shop in Sephora in KL for my high-end beauty products and whenever I am in Perth I can go crazy in drugstores (PRICELINE FTW).

Visiting My Long Distance Boyfriend: Perth in 13 Photos

I just got back from my short and sweet trip from Perth! It felt SO good to see Don and be in his arms again. Gosh, I didn't know how much I miss him until I saw him. The reason why I went to Perth on such a short notice was to play wifey to Don. Don got a new job back in the city and before he moves up, I wanted to see the town he worked in for the past year and spend some time with him. While I was there, I helped him pack up his house, gave him moral support and lotsa love for his new job.

I can go without Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr and Facebook for days, but not Instagram! Instagram is my favourite social media ever. I am always on the lookout for cool, colourful Instagram accounts to follow. I think this has to do with my love for taking photos. As usual, I took many photos of everything! I like having a platform where I can easily see photos of good memories. Creating my own hashtag to document holidays, memories and events! A few months back, I decided to post only good memories because I want my Instagram feed to be a positive one. My trip to Perth looked like we had a wonderful time together. We look like a typical couple in love. We did have a great time together! And we are a typical couple in love! Perth is such a beautiful city and so Instagram-able!! But I am not going to post photos of us quarrelling or me having an anxiety attack. My little advice is to not always believe what you read or see on the internet.

Below are some Instagram photos of my recent trip in Perth! 

LDR Featured Couple: Jade and Anna!

I have been wanting to feature other long distance relationship couples for the longest time. To share other long distance stories! Ever since I joined the LDRBN community, I am amazed to see how many different kinds of long distance relationship out there! It's very humbling to be able to connect with people who are in a similar yet different situation. My first featured couple is Anna from sunshine and snowstorms and her handsome beau, Jade, yes, his name is Jade like the stone and colour. According to Anna, it wasn't a popular name when he was born, his mom considered is as a unisex name! Definitely a quirky, cool name, but who am I to say? How many "Khairas" have you met?

Read on below to find out more about this lovely couple!

Current Beauty Favourites

Ever since my love for makeup and beauty blossomed, I was always on the lookout for the latest beauty trend or product. Whatever the Youtube beauty gurus reviewed or was using, I wanted it! The Clarisonic, Kiehl's midnight recovery oil, Chanel foundation, Naked palette and the Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse. I was hooked! I bought the Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse at the height of its glory. I loved it at first. It was so moisturising without that sticky oily feeling and it has a wonderful warm vanilla citrusy scent. Over time, I stopped using it because there were other body lotions to try.

Interracial Relationships: Clash of Cultures

If you spend some time with Don and me, you can tell that we're two different people but very alike. We have the same ideas of what we want in life, our passions, what we think about aliens, personal goals and etc. The "different" thing about us is we both grew up in different cultures. As we are dating, a few clashes came up that we often talk (and laugh) about. They're no deal breakers, just things that would come up for interracial couples. Here are some clash of cultures I face with Don.

LDR Tales: Don's new house pet.

Don was living in a small town, south of Perth called Denmark. A Beautiful country town known for its famous wines, yoga and natural beauty (Don's words, not mine). Don is an animal lover. He would send me random photos of him with cows, kangaroos, cats, dogs, birds, and etc. My friends have nicknamed him Snow White.

One day, Don sent me a message with a photo...

My 10 Guilty Pleasures

I think in life you have to have little guilty pleasures to help you get through this horrible, cruel world. It doesn't have to be a lot. It doesn't have to be expensive spas, trips or holidays but just little everyday things that excite you. It would be lovely to go for a spa every time I feel stressed or plan a trip anywhere in a short notice, but reality hits. I can't do that. However, I found a few things in life that gives me so much pleasure and happiness. I believe it's the simple things in life that gives us the most happiness!

Here are my 10 guilty pleasures...

LDR Tales: WHERE ARE YOU?!

Don't you hate it when you're bf suddenly goes missing for hours end and you are at home worried sick! Don has this habit of "forgetting" to charge his phone. He will go missing for a few hours but always come back after a while. After a few heated conversations about him missing for hours, Don, now always makes it habit to check in with me every other hour. EXCEPT this one day, he was driving long-distance (5 hours drive from his hometown to the town he was living in). It was late in the evening, I was worried cause the roads can get really dark and if anything happened, it would be a while before help can arrive and another few hours until news gets to me.

Lomography: Perth, Western Australia in Fisheye

Travel Staples

I am heading to see Don for a quick, sneaky trip! Earlier the month, I decided that I want to see Don. I miss him and I miss Perth. We’re not going to wait until Christmas to see each other. Making it another 5-6 months gap between our visits. Don couldn’t give me exact dates to when I could come because of work, but I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. After some stressful planning (for Don), I booked my flight ticket a week before I was intended to fly off. I only had a few days to pack and a day to organize my itinerary. I tried to let this trip be a free and easy one, but I couldn’t!! The OCD in me wrote a small, quick itinerary of place I want to go, eat, buy and people to meet.

I have been quite lucky to go on trips every month for the past 3 months. Packing has become significantly easier for me. As I was packing, I compiled a few of my travel staples. I didn’t know I had “staples” for my travels because I do different kinds of traveling. Turns out, I do. Here are some of my travel staples.

How To Deal With Long-Distance Breakups

Recently, I found out that one of my LDR buddies broke up with her boyfriend. Really sad times... We had a chat about it – she seemed okay, but I knew deep down she was a sad and disappointed about the breakup. As she was telling me what happen, I started having flashbacks about MY long-distance breakup. I was in an LDR with my previous boyfriend when I first moved to Australia. We didn’t break up because of the distance (as a couple, we had too many issues) but the distance contributed to the breakup.

No break up is easy. Especially if it’s a long-term relationship. I’ve been heart broken many times and in my experience, breaking up when you’re in a long-distance relationship is the easiest and the hardest thing to go through. Easy because… you were already leading a “single” life. Your SO was hardly around you to feel the loss. You don’t feel the physical loss. Hard because… it’s emotionally draining. What you feel the most is the emotional loss. No one to talk to at night before bed. No one “there” for you when you need someone. No one to make you laugh. No one to tell you jokes.

5 Ways To Afford Trips To See Your Long-Distance Partner

When Don and I first started our long-distance relationship, we knew that it was going to be a lot of work, time and money. We are both working our first job after graduating uni and earning entry level wage (which is not much). But you know, we are both in love, young and eager to see the world together. We had to make it work even if we have to eat cheap, cut down on things and save. I guess, we are pretty lucky in the sense that Don’s currency is WAY higher than mine. Traveling to me is SUPER cheap for him but me traveling to him is SUPER expensive for me. It would cost him two weeks salary to afford a flight ticket, accommodation + food to Malaysia while it would cost me a month salary to afford flight and money to move around. Despite all the travel costs and having to save diligently every month, every penny is worth it when I get to see my smiley, handsome man when I walk out the gate.

Here’s are some tips on how I save to afford trips to see Don in Australia.

Interracial Couple: Why are people staring at us?

This incident happened over a year old when we first started dating. After moving back (from Perth) to Malaysia for good, I took a trip back to Perth to see Don for a few weeks. It was one of our first time together, out in public. It took a little adjusting because we were so used to hanging out uni cafes in a big group or watching movies at our houses. Walking out together holding hands in public was new for us as a couple.

25 Things I Hope To Do When We Close The Distance

Here’s a sappy post from a girl who misses her other half. Don has been going through a stressful time at work and I am feeling like the WORST girlfriend ever because I can’t do anything. I can’t hug him to make him feel better. Make him a nice cup of tea to de-stress him. Can’t sit next to him to watch Netflix. I feel so helpless… I can only offer him kind words of encouragement and affection. THAT’S IT! And I know, he needs more than just words. :( I tried to send him flowers, but because he is living in the freaking countryside. There was a little confusion and mix up, he didn’t get the flowers on the day it was supposed to be delivered.

OCTOBER GOALS!

Can't believe September is over and October is here. October is starting off great. I welcomed the month with a much-needed visit to my new favourite hair salon, Number76. I've been wanting to get my hair done for a while now, I'm so glad that I did it! Check it out here. Besides having, great hair, I am going to see Don this month. I am all about well-planned trips, but this time it's pretty last minute that I am going with the flow. Exciting times ahead with monthly goals to achieve below...

CHECK OUT MY PHOTOLOG

Did you die a little inside when you looked the photo above? I DEFINITELY DID. I woke up one morning, sat down at my desk, push up my laptop screen and was welcomed with this sight. Panic washed over me and I started frantically trying to fix the white screen of death, calling Don, calling every mac tech geek friend i know, google and researching how to fix this... I had no choice but to go to the shops to figure out what happen.