Another Year, Another Birthday!

What I really wanted to do on my birthday was to get away with B just for a day, to enjoy some "fresh air", away from my condo and my home-office and our dreary routine for the past few months. I had just got back from Bandung a while back, so I didn't want to go anywhere too far from home.

Some of you might already know about my passion for staying in hotels! B and I love doing that and every once in a while, usually on our birthdays or a long weekend, we'd check into a hotel somewhere in the city, to get a change of scenery and pace. So that was how I spent my birthday this year; in a nice hotel, where we can really relax without the kids, and indulge ourselves in room-service, the wonderful feel of a spacious hotel room without fur flying around, and the comfort and relief of knowing that whatever mess we made that day will not have to be cleaned by us later!



At Zeff's recommendation, we decided to check-in to Trader's Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. B had booked us the Club Package, which saw us way up above in the sky at 29th floor; how appropriate seeing that my birthday is on Aug 29!

Before happily jumping on the bed (which is the first thing I usually do whenever we step into a hotel room!) to savour the fresh coolness of the clean sheets on a large King size bed (ours is a Queen at home), I quickly snapped some pics of our room first!

We had an excellent view of the City Centre, which was breath-taking but also scary when u look down way up from the 29th floor! The Club package we booked for the day came with several perks including:

Private check-in and check-out at the 32nd floor Traders Club Lounge

Full use of the Traders Club lounge during daytime hours

Buffet breakfast, evening cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres

Suit pressing upon arrival

Daily international newspaper

Concierge service

Coffee, juices and soft drinks during the day

Both wired and wireless broadband Internet access

One of my major requirements for any hotel room is that there's a nice huge bathtub in a luxurious, cosy bathroom and Trader's did not disappoint me at all! I loved the huge and extremely luxurious bathroom we enjoyed for the day and spent quite a while luxuriating in all the delicious Lush products B got me on his last overseas trip, which I've been saving up to use on a special occasion as such! Heavenly!

By the time we settled into our hotel room, we were so comfy and too lazy to leave the nice air-conditioned room, so we ended up ordering room-service. Naturally I had my favourite Nasi Lemak, which for RM30 per plate had better be delicious, thank goodness it passed my taste level LOL! Later we went out to the Club Lounge for cocktail hour, which was where I dropped off some of the yummy hors d’oeuvres you see here for Emila, LJ and Jean! ;)



I love the cake B chose for me this year! I'm not sure what it's called, but I do know that it's from Baskin Robbins and it's all chocolaty on the outside while the inside is a pink n purple cotton candy flavour! YUMMY! :)

Naturally I had to take advantage of the free wi-fi that came with our room. After catching up on my favourite Bold & Beautiful soap, I couldn't resist a little blogsurfing from the hotel! I was so happy to see so many great birthday posts for me, thanks a million guys! That really put a huge smile on my face while soaking up the hotel goodness he he! ;)

Thank you to Joezul who was the first to send a lovely birthday poem my way! Joe was one of my earliest friends in the blogworld and I'd also like to welcome him back to the blogworld after being MIA for quite a bit. His beautiful poem was followed by an adorable birthday e-card from Bobby, the first I received this year, thanks Bobby! I'd also like to thank LJ, who not only helped me with my new look for Mariuca, but also for the very touching birthday post and all the wonderful pressies she left me at her blog, prior to her Singapore trip.

Bono presented me with a wonderful birthday post at his blog and 1000 EC credits WOWIE! I was also happy to see my BFF Zubli dropping off a birthday card for me on my birthday morning YAY! Thanks to Jean as well for the perfect birthday card she posted for me at AGP and of course I loved the very pretty illo Emila created for me at her blog! Roxy who has been talking about her sandcastle cake for days before my birthday, actually baked one for me with her two lovely daughters Maddie and London! I LOVE my sandcastle cake so much, it's so unique! A big thank you also goes out to Trinity, who immediately put on her thinking cap to come up with one of her creative work for my birthday post, thanks dear! And yesterday, I received a very expensive bottle of perfume from Farah! Thanks for thinking of my perfume passion Farah, love ya! I also received some birthday presents from 3 wonderful friends, which I've written about at MPG so check out my Sweet Birthday Surprise too okay? :)

So now, I'd like to thank everyone who left Birthday Pressies for Mariuca! I went through all your gifts and pressies and loved each and every one of them! Thank you all for your time and thoughtfulness in coming up with the very best pressies and messages for me. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I will choose the best one to receive 1000 EC credits and after much contemplation, I've finally settled on a perfect birthday gift to receive that 1,000 EC credits!

The best present I received came from Jean Chia, who presented me with exactly what I want and need right now - a brand new lime green Sony VAIO laptop! See, Jean didn't just say a VAIO laptop, she knows how much I want that specific lime green one, which means she knows me so well and that's why I chose her to be my recipient! :)

Thanks for all the lovely birthday messages I received too. I had a great time reading all your lovely birthday wishes and loved a particular message so much that I decided to give away another 1000 EC credits to the owner of this beautiful birthday message.

Happy Birthday Marzie!

For someone whose time may run out anytime, and candle may burn out without warning, More happy candles to blow, great wishes for you... and a lot more HAPPY birthdays to come.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy life. Savor every moment for they'll never come your way again. Treasure your friends, most especially the real ones, coz they're so hard to come by.
Wish you another great year and more to come, both in blogging and the real world.

Lastly, I adore your cats :)

-Lex

Congrats to Jean and Lex and thank you to everyone who made this birthday even more special with your presents and birthday wishes here. My biggest thank you of course goes out to my darling B, who planned everything to perfection, ensuring this birthday is as memorable as the ones we've shared together for the past 9 years. I love you sweetie and I had a wonderful day with you. Thank you for bringing all my favourite things to me on my special day. I had my nice comfy hotel room, internet access, Boldie on the Apple, my luxurious bathroom, my favourite food and most of all I had my best friend with me to share it all with!

Love always,