Writing this from my lovely lil Penang island as we speak.

The past week has been almost entirely focused on family, friends and almost all my loved ones!

Let's take a ride in the car 

This week saw an emotional roadtrip for me as it marked the last time I'll ever drive my good ol' faithful white Perodua Kelisa which ferried me everywhere throughout all my years as a college kid & a university undergraduate.

Yup, six years with my lil one. 

It's now time for a change to something more powerful, stylish & cutting edge… one that befits me better

I present to you, my new precious, big baby, the Ford Fiesta Hatchback Sports Edition in Red.

Full story up soon! A shoot is in progress

What else is new? My hair.

Thanks to the amazing team at A Cut Above, I had another unique technology done to my hair – called the relaxer rebonding process. It's not straightening, nor relaxing, nor rebonding. It's.. a combination of all three!

Winnie dearest and I catching up over some snipsnips! 

Before and after! I'm loving the results! Professional & well-done

*full story soon!

While I was getting my hair done, Konzy bought some cakes from Just Heavenly for us to share

(Honestly I think he hates me and has evil intentions to fatten me up LOL!) I kid. 

Left: Cappucino Cupcake | Right: Death by Chocolate

I personally didn't like the Cappucino Cupcake, especially hated the icing on top.

But for people who love eating cream or icing, that's your treat right there 

Death by Chocolate, on the other hand, was more my cup of tea.

It was rich with dark chocolate mousse with a velvety layer of melted chocolate engulfing it whole

Oh geez, I wouldn't mind having ten more of this!  FULLY RECOMMENDED 

Triple Expresso Brownie

It had the perfect texture, chunky and fudgy but it wasn't as moist or as warm as I had expected it to be.

The taste, on the other hand, was great – coffee and the walnuts were a good combo! 

Lunch at La Bodega @ Bangsar Shopping Centre :

Smoked Salmon with Baba Ghanouj sandwich for me & Chicken Bocadillo sandwich for him

I loved mine. Healthy meals are always my first option, and this proved to be quite a good choice!

His was a little to bland and dry. Only tasted a lot better after layers of tabasco sauce 

Random photo in my new, sweet, sweet ride 

A world phenomenon of an American TV series – Gossip Girl – has finally come to an end.

Initially I was totally against watching something that was titled 'Gossip Girl', thinking that it would be some pretentious girly girl drama show. But I was wrong. Watching it got me hooked since 2010!

After six years/seasons of this, fans never wished this day would come. 

SPOILER ALERT : IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE CONCLUSION – FINAL EPISODE YET,

SCROLL SWIFTLY PAST THIS SECTION OF THE POST

I was so happy that my favorite on-screen couple, Chuck Bass & Blair Waldorf got married! 

All's well, ends well.

When I got back to Penang, my weekends included spending time with old friends, new friends and more friends, left, right, and center.

First up, my high school Class of 2006 reunion gathering at Suffolk House.

We all had to wear 'name tags' lest we forget how each other used to look like. Who is this girl? 

I haven't heard this name in a long, long, time. 

I'll be dedicating a full blog post special for this! A major 'then VS now' photos 

You'd be amazed what six years can do to a girl. We all looked somewhat different than we were since the moment we took our final walk out of the iron gates of our high school premises.

Off to Golden Screen Cinemas @ Gurney Plaza to watch The Hobbit

Overall, I thought it was a good movie, despite falling asleep in the first quarter LOL.

It had many witty punchlines and good ol' humour. Plus, having watched all the Lord of the Rings movies as a kid, I would certainly not give the prequel of it all a miss! 

I also had a dose of my usual Milkshake Factory obsession.

Tried the new Rio Coconut Shake for the first time with Ferrero Rocher in it.

It was absolutely delightful! The shaker recommended this to me and since I was a fan of coconut drinks, I thought, "Hey, why not?" Glad I decided upon it.

The chunky chocolate bits from the Ferrero Rocher blended in fresh, pure coconut water was a sip of heaven.

FULLY RECOMMENDED!! 

When dusk descended, it was time to let our hair down and party like the rockstar Penang-ites we are.

Buddy Minny introduced SOHO Gastro Pub @ Precinct 10 to me!

I'm still a loyal & a frequent at MOIS No 1 Upper Penang Road – my pick amongst the pool of Penang clubs!

But since SOHO was quite a new one and a fairly crazy place to party at, I thought I'd join in 

Ready for some party photos? I always look forward to my Penang homecoming! 

Don't mind us, we were semi bonkers by the end of the night. 

Lin Chong aka crazy dragon, Minny & I

 My babe Minny and I

All of us! We go a long way back… think, 2008? 

Flanked by Jon & Kon

Drunk-selcas with my childhood pal, Jon! 

With Thean Sim  It's been too long, girl!

And Lionel.. again! 

Theresa from our college days 

More of us at the table! 

My date for the night  Konzy & I

After the night was over, we trudged out into the patio to take a breather or two before finally deciding to go straight on to breakfast at 4AM. Why so late, you ask?

Well, it is morning after all. Very, very early in the morning 

This was the only photo I took during breakfast. Was I really that smashed? 

Breakfast was Chiow Lin Steamboat Restaurant at Abu Siti Lane, Georgetown.

We had a private room to ourselves (with the Empire State building framed up LOL) and the steamboat was served with an authentic Zhong Qing soup, which, to me, was unsurpassable by any other steamboat outlets I've dined in. 

Being out of touch from Penang for several years, I can only trust my Penang buddies to bring me to the best places nowadays! Thanks ya'll! xoxo

Massive seafood by the seaside dinner with the family at Hai Boey Seafood Restaurant @ Gertak Sanggul

Amongst the hoards of flags, I caught sight of something fairly interesting.

HAHAHAHAH. Smart.

The flag of Germany & the flag of Japan hung next to each other on the ceiling?

Now everybody knows your political stance! I see what you did there… but don't worry. People who don't know their world history will Nazi it. (Get it? Get it?)

Mom & I. One of the few photos I have of the night. Thanks for the photo, dad! 

Caught Life of Pi in cinemas with the family!

I loved every bit of the movie. It was so personal, eye-opening, reflective and deep! I felt very inspired and had a better perspective at life and its many meanings upon leaving the cinema.

If you're tired of the same ol' Hollywood drama, this movie offers a good alternative.

It made me appreciate the gift of life so much better. Go watch it! 

Decorated the interior of my new car a lil bit.

Recognize this lil red octopus? Once upon a time, it meant the world to me.

And it still does. Some things never change. I guess I'm just sentimental like that 

Thanks for the gift Glad you recognized it on my Instagram haha!

Life is always full of surprises. Isn't it always?

But never run away from your past, it made you who you are today. In some strange way or another, all the memories of my past were beautiful, and I've never regretted a single thing I've done.. ever.

Neither should you. 

Much love,

Jessicat

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The Sunday Times is a weekly series; published every Sunday night to recap the highlights of my week, capture what piques my interest and to briefly highlight my recommendations for to-go and to-eat places!

Some of the photos in this edition are posted instantly on my Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr & Facebook

Do follow to get instant updates and pretty photos of the sights & sounds all around me!

After 2 years of not meeting up, Violet and I were glad to *finally* see each other again!

We were both in Melbourne at that time so it was perfect for a catch-up sesh

Violet and I 🙂

We didn't know where to go at first cos we were practically gushing when we saw each other!

I was happy to see her again! After walking around aimlessly for a bit, we went to Koko Black

What could be better than catching up over glorious, glorious chocolate?

The hardcore chocolate lover was simply delighted! *beams* 

James was there to join us as well! 🙂

We chatted for hours and talked about old times and what we're going and where we should go next when we meet again. So much to do together, so little time!

But unfortunately, all of us have busy schedules plus the fact that I live pretty far from the city! 🙁

Girls doing what we do best 😛

Thanks for the photo dearie! 😀

After our teatime, we went outside for some air and to do a lil shopping.

Also, it's sometimes really cool to have a guy who is into photography tagging along while we do girly stuff or whatever we do. 😛 So I passed James my camera to help me take a few shots!

Hence, we get to actually have candid shots while walking or talking to each other LOL

Thanks for helping us take candids, James 😀

T'was an awesome day catching up with them but alas, something fairly tragic happened!!

I was wearing the new pair of boots which I bought yesterday, and since I've never wore boots before (we hardly ever wear boots in Malaysia) I didn't know we needed to wear socks or stockings or something similar.

So I was badly cut and bled from above my heels. A blister somehow managed to appear in less than an hour and it hurt to the max  

pic courtesy of Violet

Hmph. And this is why I hate wearing new shoes 🙁

Thankfully, they took me to the nearest footwear section and I bought a pair of flip-flops

I also had some band-aids with me (fortunately!) and poor me had to limp back home.

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Our next outing wasn't as tragic as the first one, though. Phew!

We met up at Pancake Parlour this time :D

Before our food arrived!

It was funny how we actually ended up choosing what to eat.

Both of us wanted to suggest Pancake Parlour, but didn't think that the other would want to eat that. But eventually, we both found out that the both of us had Pancake Parlour in mind! @__@

So, Pancake Parlour it is! 😀

I've always been a pancake fan. If you've been a long-time reader, yall would know that if there was any pancake outlet in front of me, I'd hit it. No matter what!

The flooring reminded me of checkerboards!

I liked the interior decor as well!

Don't know why, but ambience plays a part in how much I'd enjoy myself in a restaurant

Perhaps I'm not exactly a minimalist, that's why. I like elaborate or even artsy decorations 😉

While waiting for food!

Since I'm an avid fan of traditional stacks with maple syrup, I ordered that and something savory

Violet had some Pancake Spanakopita while James opted for Blueberry Pancakes!

In the end I was so full I couldn't finish 'em!

Had a great time with them, as I did the previous outing.

Cheers to more catch up sessions the next time I'm up in Melbourne! 😀

Camwhoring against some pretty Pancake Parlour backgrounds

Love their pop art-ish concept!

Yay for good times and good food! 😀