• australia grassfed ribeye with rocket crispy onion mashed potatomaria's steakcafe malaysia agirlnamedclara
    Life,  Money

    Turning Thirty

    I turned thirty last week. Finally, this petite girl is thirty! I should make sure that I keep petite and not gain a lot of weight during MCO 2.0 (Movement Control Order) hahaha… Originally, I planned to celebrate it with my family at the newly-opened Maria’s Signature at KLCC as they’re having a Buy-1-Free-1 Wagyu promotion. Alas, our prime minister announced MCO 2.0 a few days before my big day. However, I feel grateful and blessed that I and the ones I loved are healthy. Furthermore, it would be my first (and hopefully, the last) birthday during the pandemic. I have a story to tell to young people when I…

  • agirlnamedclara thank you 2020 grateful blessing
    Health & Beauty,  Life,  Money

    Thank You 2020, You’ve Been a Blessing

    This year, nobody can escape the impact of the arrival of Covid-19. As you may have read in the news, some have it very tough, some not so, and the rest may be even richer than before (hint: Zoom, Amazon, the 1% society). I myself find the year 2020 a blessing. Compared to the lockdown and no travel this year, I feel that God opened the floodgate of blessings to me. I’m sorry if this isn’t the case for you… I treat my blog as a diary, hence I always write a yearly review as the last post of the year.  Blessed 2020 — Career I landed a new job…

  • asian girl tourist pink jacket hush pose with santa claus helsinki finland travel agirlnamedclara
    Travel

    Helsinki Travel: from Rock Church to Contemporary Arts

    Some of you may have planned for a year-end trip or winter holiday. Although now most of us can only dream about travelling, this week I’ll take you to a far, far away country where Santa Claus is residing – Finland. We’ll have a virtual tour of Helsinki: The Rock Church, Sibelius Monument, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and Suomenlinna. I may only spend two days in Helsinki during the autumn of 2017, but whenever the end of the year is approaching, I would look back at my Northern Europe trips. Well, let’s start our virtual tour! Helsinki Travel: The Rock Church The Rock Church isn’t a regular church. It…

  • girl tourist smile trastevere cobbled stone rome italy summer agirlnamedclara
    Travel

    Trastevere, a Hidden Gem in Rome

    I’m sorry that recently I only update this blog once every two weeks. I don’t have the mood to share travel stories when many people are tired of the lockdown (like me) or facing financial problems. But! I realized that I feel happy when I recall summer trips when the sun shines so bright and the air feels light. Therefore, this week I want to share with you my lovely experience in Trastevere, a hidden gem in Rome, Italy. Finding Trastevere, a Hidden Gem in Rome I reached Rome in the afternoon and had a quick lunch at the airport (something that I regret). By the time I put my…

  • girl smile gabriella cruise deck stockholm to finland sea background agirlnamedclara
    Travel

    M/S Gabriella – What Overnight on a Cruise Feels Like

    Now that we have new hopes that the Covid-19 vaccines might be rolled out in November, December or Q1 2021, we can continue our travel dream. It’s not that I’ve stopped dreaming, but I had no mood (and inspiration) to write about my travel experience seeing the cases are increasing. This week, let me share with you my experience boarding a cruise when in Europe. We’ll be boarding M/S Gabriella, a cruise ship that departs from Stockholm, Sweden to Helsinki, Finland. My Room and My Favourite Spot on the Gabriella Cruise I love travelling but I never dreamt of boarding a cruise. Luckily, I was able to have the experience…

  • Putumayo CD collection CMCO music playlist agirlnamedclara
    Life,  Travel

    Clara’s CMCO Essentials – Try It!

    I thought I had my life back. I went to the gym regularly, started to adapt to the new office, planned my next revenge trips then BOOM! CMCO is back. If you’re living in Malaysia, I’m sure you feel the same. So, in this week’s blog post, I’m gonna share with you what calms me down and makes me happy. Here are my CMCO essentials: The CMCO Playlist to Destress – Putumayo My #1 playlist that I recommend to destress when drinking or taking a break is Putumayo. If you love travelling, this playlist will take you around the world with its world music, living up to the tagline “Celebrate…

  • Disco Ayala La Cueva Trinidad Cuba clubbing group of travelers diversity agirlnamedclara
    Travel

    Clubbing in Cuba: Disco Ayala, Trinidad

    I love dancing but seldom go clubbing (can’t stand the smoke!) in Malaysia. However, whenever I travel, I always visit popular bars to experience the nightlife in different cities. So, of course, I was very excited when I found out about Disco Ayala aka La Cueva, a dance club built into a natural cave in Trinidad when I was doing my research for my 15-days Cuba trip. At that time, “Despacito” was played everywhere around the world. I got even more excited, imagining dancing to the song in the Latin-influenced country. However, clubbing in Cuba isn’t as great as listening to their live bands. Read on to find out why.…

  • cuti cuti malaysia sekinchan kuala selangor man washing hand cow grass blue sky background agirlnamedclara
    Travel

    Cuti-cuti Malaysia: Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan

    Last weekend, I went for a day trip to Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan. That was my second visit but I never get bored with cuti-cuti Malaysia visiting those destinations! If you haven’t heard or been there, Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan are small towns on the west coast of Malaysia. They’re famous for fresh seafood, lush scenery, paddy field, mirror lake and fireflies boat rides. From KL to Kuala Selangor it takes around 1.5 hours by car, and from Kuala Selangor to Sekinchan is just around 30 minutes. They are far far away from the city but the highway is smooth and the scenery is lush – so you’re up for…