flashback

another weekend passes by,and time really flies,2 more weekends and i'll be on the flight across the Pacific to the place where i call home.it's really different this time around if compared to my time in the UK.while in the UK, i'm dreading to go back to Malaysia,but this time i really am counting the days,as i realize the reason of why i want to go back so badly this time,is because of her.she brings me joy and happiness,and i never felt so complete in my whole life when she's wrapped around my arms, exchanging whispers and laughs, showering her with love and kissies and just plainly spoiling her.

let's go back in time,to the previous weekend before the last,where we went to Gurnee Mills,some 45 minutes to the north of Deerfield.it's another of Chicago's many retail outlet,but in Gurnee Mills it's a bit different as the shops are located in a mall, a bit similar to York's retail outlet in the UK.

ate lunch at a cool restaurant there called the Rainforest Cafe with unique ambience and the feeling of having your meal deep inside the jungle with the animals surrounding you.

don't freak out okay,it's not a real snake :P

aquarium with tropical fishes
note the gorillas and monkeys at the right, they moves!

after we stuffed ourselves with good food, we decided to part ways to make us easier to shop for the things that we wanted.the first shop i went?fossil of course,where i got her and myself a pair of watches.now we both have fossil watches to match along with our fossil wallets :)

i bet she gonna be crazy in here..

and here too! :p

tried to get her something from Victoria's Secret, but i scared she won't like my choice so i decided to get her the next time we go to a retail outlet so that i could gather more information on what's her preferences :p 2 more weekends to go until i could surprise her with the best birthday present she ever had,and i really don't have any idea on how could i do that.haihs.

another 5 days of work passes by after that,and it's another weekend!Brenda went back on saturday morning and we got a new crew to roam Chicago with Nik and Kelvin joining us on friday,so on saturday we all went out to downtown and walk around under the burning sun (Nik still not getting the hang of walking around so much,his excuse?he need to buy a new Onitsuka Tiger so that he can walk around more :p ).went to the usual places like the Millenium Park and State Street then we head back home,deciding to give it another try the next morning when we all more energetic.

sunday morning came,and we all took the 11.26am train to downtown to see the Disney's A Christmas Carol train tour,the train stopped by in Chicago's Union Station just for the weekend before heading to St. Louis, and we decided to take the chance to take the tour.Buuutt the crowd were really crazy,the amount of people queueing are mind-blowing so we decided not to go to the tour and instead we just took a couple of pictures and just roam the town again,this time we walk along the Magnificent Mile with stops at souvenir shops around Chicago.

Disney's A Christmas Carol poster

my breakfast that morning, Rockstar energy drink.
(Kelvin interframing at the back)

Chicago Tribune building

we head to John Hancock Tower to have our lunch at The Cheesecake Factory located at the base of the tower itself. The Cheesecake Factory is famous with its cheesecake with a long list of tantalizing and sinful indulgence from a long history of dessert making with specialization in cheesecake recipes.

outside view of the restaurant

i can only imagine how stinky and snowy slurping to be here :P

unique interior of the restaurant

the cheesecake menu,and it's only the first page.

there i had a lunch portion of the fish,a herb crusted salmon with asparagus and mashed potatoes.i thought i can handle a slice of the famous cheesecake after the meal,but i'm really stuffed after the big portion of the fish,and i decided to tarpau back a brownie sundae cheesecake which is soooo freaking nice,i really hope she can be here with me to enjoy the cheesecake because i know she gonna love them too(but not my cheesecake though,it's too chocolatey for her) :p i only indulge in my cheesecake when we got home,but the decoration cacat a bit from the trip back,but they're still delicious :p yummyyy.

want some? :p

one of the things that i love here is of course,like in UK as well,the online shopping :p it is so convenient being in this side of the world because then i wouldn;t have to worry about shipping costs and stuff, and i could get basically anything that i wanted from a click of the button.bought a couple of cool stuffs online for myself and for her as well.


here's my new nike dunk hi premium sb "venom", from the character in spiderman which portrayed from the color of the sneakers, black and white. it's a bit tight at first (well,that's the only downside of online shopping,you can't really try an item first before you buy them), but after a couple of days it grew to fit my feet perfectly,just like what the shopkeeper that i met the other day said(he's a nike sb enthusiast as well), suede will grow and it's better to get half a size smaller than your original size.i love my new shoes,mainly because she's the one who ask me to get this colour as she likes this colour as well.

bought a set of Never Shout Never merch, i love the cool design of the tshirt,and the EP is for her to listen to in her torto car (that's why torto pose in this picture too) :p


and of course, Vans Warped Tour tickets!! got it from ebay as i couldn't buy it directly from the website because of billing problems.really can't wait for this saturday where i'm going to finally watch my favourite bands live.but i really rather have her to teman me instead,as some of the bands are her favourites as well.looks like i have to make do with Nik.i'll took videos and pictures for you ok,penguin? :) some of my favourite bands that are playing are All Time Low,Every Avenue, Forever The Sickest Kids, Hit The Lights, Madina Lake, Meg and Dia, Never Shout Never, Sing It Loud, The White Tie Affair, The Maine, There For Tomorrow, You Me At Six, You Me and Everyone We Know and of course,the best of them all, VALENCIA!!!!

sowwy penguin if i make you jealous,i really do hope you can be here to join me,i would give everything in the world to have you in my arms while listening to our favourite songs.okay,maybe i need to make you feel better,perhaps this'll do for now.


a matching pair of To Write Love On Her Arms tshirts, the black one is for me and the white one is for her :) i know she wanted the other design,love is the movement,but that particular design is out of stock and needed more than a month for it to be in stock and delivered.i really tried my best to deal with the shop,but they said they really can't do anything,the only thing they can do is to cancel my previous order and ask me to make a new order on in-stock items for them to deliver a.s.a.p. but i still haven;t given up my hopes just yet,going to find for that design that she likes at the Warped Tour because there'll be a TWLOHA booth there.hope the design that she wants available at the booth. *fingers crossed,prays hard*
but hopefully this will make your day :)

going to soak in the bath tub,a long,hot bath is just what i really needed right now. *stretchyyy*

until next time.

kisses from Chicago.

x

your smile is what that counts.

i'm so freaking mad at the one who stole her N95, that's her most prized posession and she really love that phone so much.don't worry ok penguin,the most important thing is that you're safe and sound,because i couldn't forgive myself if anything ever happened to you.and things such as handphones and such is replaceable,i wonder how much is N95 right now? *masterminding a plan* :P

all i want is for her to be happy,and through this rough times where i am so far away from her,i didn't know what could i possibly do to make her smile and forget her mishaps,apart from the not-so-clear phone calls and e-dating.so went i went out today,i was thinking what should i get for her as i have promised her with a surprise.so i got her this :)


bought a pink chicago mug and a cute baby blue and pink keychain for her,so that she can put the mug in the office for her to enjoy her milo at work,and the keychain,well,basically because i know she love the color combination.i don't know whether if these are enough for her to make her smile again after a rough day yesterday,but i hope it will.

don't be sad about your N95 okay,if your new mug and keychain are not enough to make you feel better again,i hope this will.


a brand spanking new Never Shout Never ep, The Summer ep, with 6 new songs to cheer her up whenever she's feeling down.and it includes the song that i gave her the other day too,Happy,so be happy okay,what's past is past,what we can do is looks forward to the future and curse the bloody thief. *poking my thief voodoo doll* :p

still not enough?well,you know i won't give anymore hints on your coach bag right?so hopefully this'll make u smile,if this don't then i don't know what else can :)


i saw torto on the bed,chilling on your pillow,when i came back from work the other day,must be he ask the housekeeper to put him there :P

so please smile for me,do know that i'm always be there for you even though how far i am right now,and i'd do anything for you to be happy,always. *kissy your forehead,huggy you to make you feel better*

2 more weekends to go until i can see her again.counting my days now.

miss her so much.

x

weekends..

...are finally here! *doing the jiggy dance* :P it's been a really loooong week, work is killing me!

but to look on the bright side,i finally get to see Four Year Strong live yesterday,it was wickedly awesome!

before we get to that,let's flash back to my last weekend,okay?

we didn't really do anything much on saturday,nantha and i spend the time walking around downtown(like literally,walking around and around and around) just to familiarize ourselves with the city.rajjiv were sick that day,and brenda insisted us to go to the field museum and the planetarium but she ended up going alone as we decided to just go those places another time.


so we walk,we walk,we walk,until we reach michigan avenue,where supposedly there're tons of high street brands along the road.and guess what?






i know she's gonna go crazy in these places :P

anyways this stretch of shopping heaven is called the magnificent mile, because of its being a center of shopaholics all around Chicago.as we walk along the stores,i saw a disney store and we decided to pop inside.and i saw these cute guinea pigs cuddlies from the new disney animation picture, g-force. and there's the platipus from the show Phineas and Ferb.wonder which one would she like best :)


nantha bought two soft-toys from the shop,mickey and donald.after that we continue our walk along the magnificent mile.we saw this art festival with quite nice and artistic display and we chill around that area for awhile for pictures.we reached the john hancock tower too,it's the second tallest tower in chicago,offering spectacular view of the city from the observatory deck,second to sears tower.we got pretty knackered after that,so we just went home and took the rest of the day off,since the next day we're all going to the science and industry museum.

a steel moose

john hancock tower

again,an early sunday morning last weekend.i don't know when could i sleep in without any plans to do,just to chill at home being lazy all day long.anyways on sunday,we all head to the science and industry museum somewhere south of the downtown.the main attraction of the museum is currently it's display of the U-505 submarine, a german submarine from world war I, and also the harry potter exhibition (which i badly wanna go,but they all are not interested,so i guess i just have to follow the flow).

the flying car in harry potter and the chamber of secrets

outside the submarine entrance

the huge U-505 submarine

one of the manned spaceship on display

3-D show of the planets

brilliant invention,wish i could have this to send her a huggy.

cool,a view of myself on the heat detector thingy,like in ghost hunter

we had quite a fun day out that day,and the weather was super nice too,but i guess we got bored with the displays and just went back home after that.

and...now's the main event.

FOUR YEAR STRONG!! :D

went to watch them yesterday at metro,wrigleyville just nearby the wrigley field which is the home of the chicago cubs.the traffic was crazyyy on the way to wrigleyville,we had no idea why until we actually reach there.

freaking elton john was playing at wrigley field,the same time as four year strong

by the time we got there,we could only see only two out of the five opening acts.but i guess it's a good thing,so that i won't have to wait for too long until fys come out on stage.we got to watch the fireworks and set your goals doing their thing for an hour or so,until the crowd went crazy when four year strong appears.i decided to join in and after a couple of songs,i got drenched with sweat from jumping and moshing around and pushed like a fish in a wave inside the crowd :P i even manage to injure myself,got my fingers sprained when i'm trying to block someone from hitting me in the face while moshing (not that i succesfully blocked it oso).hehe.four year strong really rocks my socks off,so that's another one that i can tick off my list of the bands to see in the states *ticks my band list* :)

the fireworks

set your goals

four year strong!!

i went back home drenched in sweat,and it was quite a cold night and my tshirt all wet,so it's a bit chilly but the adrenalin still rushing through me making me warm inside.what a night.and once i got home and stripped for a nice,hot shower,i discover a couple of bruises on my shoulders,my back and i even got a bump on my head.hehe.but it's all worth it. (except that the fact of injuring my fingers doesn't help me much in completing my work efficiently the next day) :p

my fingers still hurting now.and tomorrow we're going to another retail outlet for another shopping trip.gonna find myself a new pair of sneakers, and something special for her :) and she's going to United's match soon,hope she gonna have a great time there (even though i doubt that she will,since she already mentioned to me that she rather go to liverpool's game than United's).really wish i could be back home,going to the game with her,having the time of our life there.dang-it this pacific ocean.but one more week passes by,one more week lesser for me to wait to go home back into her arms.

oh,and here's my dinner the other night,made myself a vege pizza,but it was so nice and cheesy,bet the rats gonna be jealous of me :P


that's it from me for now.lots of loves for her.gnite.

<3>

just for her eyes

...shhh~ don't tell anyone okay, this is only for her eyes, as she's the one i treasured the most in this whole wide world, and even though I'm not there to be with her right now, I want her to know that I'll always be with her inside her heart no matter what, and in 4 weeks time, I would be back into her arms, to the only place that I belong to. This words really comes from my heart with all the sincerity and honesty I could ever imagine, but I won't see this world in the same way anymore without her wrapped safely in my arms, holding her tight, kissing her softly, as it would only complete me, as I would hope that it would complete hers as well. So let's wait for the moment to come with excitement and anticipation, not with dreadfulness and forelong, as I will be back to let you shine my life, as always.

To Penguin :

Just so you know, for every warm breeze that brushes against you there, those are the kiss that I blew to you from across the Pacific, and I hope it reaches you. I really do.

Loves, Munkeey

i feel so lonely without her here, i miss her.

...and here's that something that I've promised her for her to start her day a little bit brighter :)

a small coach clutch purse for her as starter :)

...and that's it. no more hint. i've given more than enough already. hehe.

so let's just smile, and think about each other, because it is true, absence of the heart will make thy heart grows fonder.

<33

remembering sunday

brrr...i just done bathing,now i'm snuggling on the couch with torto,writing this blog.and the b&j strawberry cheesecake is seriously addictive!! i need her to share my ice cream with me,if not i'm gonna finish this whole tub off!

so here's how i spent my sunday last weekend to sum up a productive,tiring Independence Day holidays.

the weather's really beautiful last sunday, it may be a hot with the sun glaring angrily on us,but we're Malaysian, we're used to hot and steamy weather.hehe.but it's not that hot, still got the breeze from Lake Michigan to cool us down a little bit.

*nasi lemak,nasi lemak* (random people shout when they saw a Malaysian in Chicago)
heheh.

our first stop that day is the Shedd Aquarium, which has once been the biggest aquarium in the world.it's a long walk from the Union Station to the Museum Campus (which includes the Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and Field Museum of Natural History), but at least we got to enjoy the sun after a whole week of overcast and gloomy weather. once we reached there,we saw this long,long queue to buy the tickets to enter the aquarium.haiihss.

super-long-queue in front of the aquarium

After 20 minutes and still not moving an inch, we decided to buy the City Pass for $69, which includes the tickets to the Aquarium, the Field Museum, the Planetarium, the Museum of Science, and also the observatory deck of either John Hancock Tower or Sears Tower. Quite a good value for money, and it includes VIP passes to jump ahead the long,long queues for all venues.

The aquarium was quite interesting, loads of fishies swimming around, and crabs, and all kinds of seafood :p we got into the Wild Reef section at the level below, and i saw this bad boys swimming around scaring people.

auuummmm

they got sharks here!but they're all small sharks,not the big type "Jaws" kinda-shark. and i saw torto's cousin here too :p

holla, i need vege.

lucky i didn't bring torto there,if not he would be ecstatic to see his cousin.hehe.after that we went to watch a 4-D movie called Planet Earth, which tells us the story of animals in the world like penguins(yaay!), polar bear,seals to snakes and elephants.you know why it's called 4-D?because the seats are equipped with hoses for water and air,and the chair also vibrates,so you'll get the feeling of actually being in the movie,for example,if the movie got someone sneezes out of the screen,you're face will get sprayed and got wind coming out of the hoses as well.hehe.we got the scare of our lives when in the movie got snakes coming out of the screen and we feel something was slithering under our chair.i don't want her to watch it, because it'll traumatized her so much.

moving on,we went to this practice session where the dolphins and beluga whales practicing for their show.it was fun,and the dolphins we're really smart,wonder how come they can jump in and out of the water so easily.and they're so friendly too.

the beluga whales,which reminds me of snowy :P

saw a couple of fascinating animals as well, gonna post the pics up on facebook instead of here because there're a loaaad of fishy and some other animals picture to be uploaded :)

starfish...can eat or not? :p

i found nemo!!

i cannot turn this photo around..weird.but see the name of the fish?hahaha!

aaaannddd the main attraction of the day,

PENGUINS!!!

the penguins with yellow eyebrows, her favourite type of penguin :)

the penguins here aren't as many as the ones in Edinburgh Zoo, and they're all trapped in glass cage..poor penguins.but they look sooo cuteeeeee,feel like want to bring them back home and give one to her as souvenir.hehe.

it's getting quite late and not wanting to waste anymore time, we head to the Sears Tower to go up to the observatory deck, which is the 103rd floor.and again we got to cut a super freaking long queue,a security guard there told us we're lucky that we bought the tickets,because there're a lot of people in the queue has been queueing for 2 hours but still stuck, and it took us only 5 minutes to jump the queue and take the 1 minute lift ride to the deck.phew!

once we step outside the lift, we're greeted with beautiful surroundings of Chicago from bird's eye view...it was simply amazing.and the fact the sun is slowly setting in makes it more memorable to us.it would be perfect if she's there with me in my arms while enjoying the sunset from basically the top of the world.one day..maybe one day,we will.

stunning view of Chicago and Lake Michigan.

They even had this see-through platform where you can walk on it, and to tell you the truth it was pretty scary,my palms are practically sweating, but after a while i got used to it and even jumps on the glass panel :P

the munkeey chillaxing on the glass panel

it was a fun sunday altogether,and as the City Pass can be used for 2 weekends, this weekend we're planning to cover the Museums and also the Planetarium.can't wait for another weekend out :)

and tomorrow friday!!don't think will be too busy tomorrow,but she won't be able to go online for long to teman me at work since she have to stay back for work,guess i'm gonna be bored tomorrow. oh well, i'm gonna give her a call soon, just wanted to kacau her before i go to bed (even though i know she will be busy with work and will say "can i talk to you later?") heheh. :p

kisses from across the Pacific.

x