Bad Knee Ramblings

 

Among all the stuff that's been happening for the past few days, the worst one has to be me and my bad knee. The old injury has come to visit again after landing wrongly as I walked down stairs in heels during the Maxim Swimwear Search on Friday Night.

But hey, I'm a finalist for the NZ round now. :3

Then again, there shall be no finals, or going to town, or jumping, or intense workouts until this idiotic knee heals. So I'll be good for these couple of days and rest. Oh yeah, I've started wearing my knee brace again. The bionic left leg is back in action! I'm also on crutches after seeing my physiotherapist. T_T

Until my knee doesn't give way or feel funny.

Here are some shots that I took over the crazy weekend. Competition on Friday, photoshoot on Saturday and then the Wellington Fashion Week castings on Sunday!! No pics of models in swimwear, sorry to disappoint. But here's a picture of a bagel to start!

Salmon Cream Cheese Bagel. MY ULTIMATE FAVOURITE.

By the time Sunday came, my system came close to shutting off. Especially when I'm trying to lay off the carbs. WHY IS IT SO HARD? Is it just me or is it just so difficult to not consume too much carbs, other than the obvious things like bread, pasta (which I haven't had for a month), pastries, etc? Damn. I've been lifting a teeny bit though. :)

No.3! Got there early, done with, and I finally had my lunch however I liked it.

Of course, he had his lunch too. I love this picture.

Sneak peek from Saturday's shoot with a photographer from the United States.

Me during casting yesterday from the official photographer. As much as I hate candid photos, I guess this didn't look too bad. Not my favourite angle however. I guess that's how I'd look like if I was captured from a low angle. Meh.

Also! RIP black heels. I know you're in town somewhere.. or on the feet of someone evil who wears a size 5 in this city!!! >:O

On the hunt for a new pair of heels now. I know I'll get a better pair. I really do miss all my heels at home in KL.. I hardly wear heels here due to the hilly slopes and all the walking I do daily. I think it's almost 5km daily on average? Heels won't do.

That's about all I can muster now. Wondering how I'm gonna walk up the hill with them crutches tomorrow for class and this aching shoulder injury that never seems to go away. -__-

Also Doug is cracking all the crutches jokes now.

xxx,
Ashley M.

3 More Days to Home.

Not only have I been on a gaming/video watching spree for about 20 days after my final recital, I've been packing my arse off for the past week just because I'm coming home to Malaysia for the summer and I just have too many things!

 I've been back in the dance scene lately too, it's been good to be dancing. I've also successfully lost about 2 plus kgs for the past 3 months! Also learnt that my body rejected the Keto diet, and sorta backfired on me for 2 weeks. Instead, I'm just eating food low in calories like clear Chinese soup and limit myself to 6 spoons of rice, when I do have rice. 

Here's a couple of pictures from my recital. I'm wearing this beautiful designer dress by Zorro Potion from her Ghost Train collection. Feeling so blessed to be wearing a designer dress for a music exam. :)

Not perfect, but I also took the time to do my hair up, which is rare for me, since my hair is usually low maintenance on normal days. I also got this beautiful hair chain from an online shop, which complements the dress. Yay! My final recital was nerve wrecking. I may have performed for many events, weddings and fashion shows, but I still get the nerves when I entered the hall. This is not just an ABRSM/Trinity Guildhall exam (bad enough)... this is music UNI. Which makes it all the scarier. I seriously apologize to my neighbours for having to listen to me playing the same (crappy) thing over and over for hours, daily.

Well, it is all finally over. Last exam of my first year of uni - done. I've officially done my first year of degree studies in New Zealand. Hard to believe but it has sunken into my system, especially when I've realized how much I've to buck up to keep up with the standard of music here. So happy to have a once in a lifetime experience in this country. Thanks to my family and people who have supported me. 

The next thing to look forward to was all the days I could use for sleeping, resting and being a couch potato. Then of course, it started getting sunnier and warmer... and the right thing to do was to go to the beach!

Visited Oriental Bay in my summer attire on Friday with Doug, Shu Run and her cousins. 

My first beach experience in NZ. Gotta say, it definitely is not as warm as it looks. Nonetheless, scenic and beautiful as ever.

A very windy paradise.

NZ couldn't have been more fun without her! We've been friends since high school and miraculously met at uni here in Wellington. It is fate for us to have reunited, woman! :D

It was one of those nice days.

Although, we hardly touched the water because it was too cold!We tried to follow the angmohs and pretended to tan ourselves. Lol. Us and the group just ended up talking and laughing on the sand.

Couch days and lazy days are almost over.
It's almost time to go home and the hectic packing finally ended this afternoon, well, sort of. 

Three. More. Days.

I can't wait to go out for makan at any time of the day with my family, events for the MHB girls & Tim, perform for more weddings and events, do some photoshoots probably, mamaking with friends and dancing! Since airport day on February 26th, the day to return has finally come. It's so close that I can taste it! 

Officially having Nasi Lemak and Chicken Rice cravings now... and Ais Kacang.

See you soon, Kay Elle!

xxx

Ashley Mah

Carlsberg's Where's the Party? (2012)

Of all the parties I've attended in 2012, I have to say, this one would be the most memorable and epic party of the year! It was really exciting, because guests would not know Where The Party is. Hence the name! 

I was Chelsea's plus one. We all assembled at the Carlsberg brewery in the morning, then took off in respective buses which took us to the 'secret location'. Turned out, the destination was Batu Feringghi, Penang! From that moment on, I knew it was gonna be a crazy party...

We were given a very special VIP room at Hardrock Hotel, Penang, where the party actually took place! Chelsea and I gasped in awe when we opened the room door. Everything was so perfect!

On our beds, we were given a goodie bag each. :) How cute.

We went absolutely berserk when we saw this..... our room had direct access to the POOL!

HOW FREAKIN' WICKED IS THIS! 

We were shrieking and giggling in excitement like maniacs. Goes to show how much we loved the room! Special thanks to Soren Ravn who gave us the lovely VIP treatment. :)

 I could hear music from a distance, where the beach was.... and saw people walking around. So Chelsea and I made a quick trip to the party area for a look-see (for eye candy.. hehe) before the Press Conference.

Guests were chilling, drinking and playing games before the sun set. I guess everyone was in the holiday/party mood. At least, my roomie and I were!

Eek. 

This was supposed to be a decent photo. Chels captured me in the moment, literally. Lol

There were electronic darts for us to play! Thanks to iDarts Malaysia. Fun!

When there's iDarts, there's Leonard Chua! :)

Girls ready to party!

Got to snag a photo with Patricia K and Joey G! :)

Soon, it got close to 6.30pm. We headed back to our rooms, changed and got ready for the press conference. 

"Would you like a Carlsberg, miss?"

Q&A session with Soren Ravn, and other Carlsberg MD's from Singapore and Hong Kong who flew to Penang for the party!

After the lineup of acts and performers were introduced, I got super starry eyed when I saw KELIS, who sang the memorable Milkshake song!

Above : The MV for the Milkshake song, in case you guys didn't know what I was talking about.

 ...andddd homaigodd I GOT A PICTURE WITH HER!! She was super tall! So she had to stand one step lower on the staircase from me in our photo. Haha

The lineup of artists who will be making the party epic that night! And of course, the Carlsberg people from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong!

All my big sisters from MHB with York Spencer, Andy Kho and Tim Chew!

Press conference was over.
 By that time, I was itching to run to the beach to party already!

All the lights, the booming music and chilled Carlsberg to go around! :)

Party people everywhere! 

Here's Linora from Red FM.

Chammaine Tan

Clevermunkey & Choulyin Tan :)

Shawn Lee, Malaysia's talented beatboxer, who's also my high school senior. Hee

MHB Casey

Our facilitator in the bus!

Ah Bok and I

Ash & Ash

Soren Ravn, who's responsible for Chelsea's and my awesome room! 

Thank you again Soren! x

Louise and I

Maggy Wang and I

The Jessicat! I love her pink sunglasses!

The performances had started and I think this one, by a Japanese girl band, caught all the guys' attention. They danced really well though!

More pics!

Judging my the pictures, you can tell that it was a WICKED party! Heh heh. I remembered and savoured every moment of it.

Kelis sang Milkshake and Bounce. Dayumm. It was mind blowing! 

I LOVE YOU KELIS!

My lovely roomie. Probably the coolest I've ever had. If you came into our room, your mouth would be gaping open because it looked like as if it was Spring Break in our room. Clothes, makeup, shoes everywhere!

After the party ended, Chelsea and I had some girl talk in our comfy beds. But before that, I did play in the pool for a bit. Hehe

I know I looked silly in these frames. In fact, I usually make fun of people wearing lens-less frames. But that day, it was somewhat fun to wear it. Haha. 

Doesn't make sense. Nevermind. Moving on.

The view of the party directly from my room.

The next morning was slightly excruciating for Chels and I. Woke up like a pair of zombies. But we had partied so hard the night before, we made a beeline for breakfast at the hotel.

 

Sunglasses on = no makeup. Hee. She still looks gorgeous without makeup! 

 

Waffles, my 2nd favorite bfast food, next to pancakes! :)

 I expected the beach to look like a mess the next morning, which it did. Huge evidence of a massive party the night before. Haha! The poolside was very pretty. If only we could stay longer to have a dip..

That's the end of my suuuuper long post of pictures and stuff. I truly enjoyed Carlsberg's WTP and am thankful to have such a lovely experience with friends, meeting new people and enjoying such awesome music! I had a terrific time! 

For more information on the next WTP, go on over to Carlsberg Malaysia's FB Page :

http://www.facebook.com/Carlsberg.MY 

Photo credits to Carlsberg MY, Andy Kho, MHB Facebook Page, author's own.

xxx 

Ashley Mah