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Author: bobostephanie

Old City of Dubrovnik, Croatia I

A little heads up on what this blogpost is about. Yes, it’s about my recent trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia.

If you’re a fan of Game Of Thrones, you should be able to recognize this place immediately.

WELCOME TO KING’S LANDING!!!

*GOT song plays

Let me start from way before I got this offer to visit this beautiful country.

So, 2 years ago me and Jo were planning which country we should visit. We knew we wanted to go to the beach because both of us love beaches! I thought about Santorini because everyone has been telling me it’s a MUST visit place but we are not into Santorini because it’s too mainstream lol. Suddenly, JO was like why not we visit Croatia? I was like What? Where? and how do u spell a? Jo googled image Dubrovnik to me I straight away said YES!

That’s how Dubrovnik, Croatia has been in our must-visit-country-list since 2 years ago. We planned to visit last year but failed because we moved into our new place and we spent most of our budget on renovations and all. So we told ourselves, it’s ok we go in 2016, and we set our goal to visit Croatia in 2016 and WE DID IT!

I feel so lucky that we managed to visit this beautiful country as planned and to make even more awesome, I received a fully sponsored trip from Turkish Airlines to visit Dubrovnik, Croatia while we were in the midst of planning! I still cant believe the timing!

This sponsored trip was a 4D3N trip and then I extended another 3 nights in Dubrovnik so JO can meet me for the rest of my stay.

Ok, let me go through everything with u guys with pictures!

I took a mid night flight from KUL to Istanbul and had a 5 hour transit in the airport. It was my first time visiting Istanbul airport so everything was super new to me hahaha. Finally, it was time to board my connecting flight from Istanbul to Dubrovnik, my final destination.

My flight from Istanbul to Dubrovnik was the first flight in this route so we were welcomed with desserts and drinks at the boarding gate!

I was also greeted with a small little door gift in the plane. The duration of the flight was around 2 hours.

Once we boarded, we were given a rolled letter as a menu on the flight. It feels like I was in the scene of GOT haha.

My breakfast of the day, a few different types of cheese with chicken slice. I really like it when they serve cheese and biscuits in the morning! I also tried out their homemade lemonade which was really tasty.

Look at the super cute looking chef serving us haha.

Before I doze off, we were all given a tag so that they can recognize us during the ground tour. This trip that I joined was a media trip, so I was the only blogger in the trip but I’m so glad that I joined because I got to know editors and writers from countries like Canada, Turkey, Taiwan, Japan and Korea!

The view from the top of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

When we landed we were greeted with water canons and also a traditional dance.

Then we went straight to the press conference and lounge for more local food!

I couldn’t wait to explore the city when I was in the bus ride from airport to our first destination, Dubrovnik Cable car ! The weather that day was perfect, not too hot and it was really sunny! It’s a perfect day for us to explore the Old City! Look at the view on the way up the hill!

We had our 3 course lunch at Panorama Restaurant. My first time seeing such big piece of tuna hahahaha. it was also my first time trying fresh seafood salad that only had seafood and no vegetables. Their seafood isreally fresh especially the octopus!

The view from my lunch was really breath taking.

Then right after lunch, we met up with our walking-tour guide so he can show us around the Old City while sharing some history of this place. I was trying to take pictures of the flag (4th pic), the tour guide mentioned the country of this flag does not longer exist which i find it pretty interesting. Croatia was part of Yugoslavia before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Well if you’re GOT fan, this is where Arya Stark got stabbed by the Waif and she jumped into a river. This is also one of the City Gates of the Old City. (3rd pic)

Look at the water and the buildings! I really want to revisit this place again. This is where the rich park their boats.

Every corner of the Old City is picture worthy. I’m so glad I brought Sony A7 to this trip!

Then we slowly moved on to City Walls!

The view is so pretty I cannot T___T Pardon my come straight from the airport look haha.

The view on top of the City Walls.

I was standing at the top of the City Walls and it was where GOT filmed, The House of the Undying.

After 20 mins walk on the Walls,we headed down to the main street of the Old City.

The main clock tower on the street =)

I had to take a picture of the famous walk of shame down from the Sept of Balor in GOT!

There are a lot of small little alleys along the main street, that’s where you can find restaurants, shops and also Game of Thrones souvenir shops haha.

After few hours of exploring the Old City, we headed back to our hotel to check-in and get some rest before the Gala Dinner. The view of the lobby is insanely beautiful, over looking blue seas and cliffs.

I was super satisfied with my stay at Rixos Libertas Hotel. It’s spacious, clean with a modern interior design and not to forget I also got the sea view room with a huge balcony!

The view from my balcony!!!

After 2 hours of rest plus freshening up, we hopped on to our bus and headed off to the Gala Dinner that was held in a fortress.

The Gala dinner was in Club Revelin! it was a 500 year old fortress!

The view from the fortress was amazing especially during sunset!

Local dance to welcome us and the Mayor of Dubrovnik.

The table setting makes me feels like I was in a scene of Beauty and The Beast hahaha.

I ended my night earlier than everyone else because I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, stupid jetlag T_T. I went back to the hotel and called it the night at around 10pm haha.

The plan for the next day was to visit a few small islands called the Elaphite Islands so it’s better I get some sleep so I can have more energy to explore new places!

To Be Continued…

June 23, 2016
PEDIGREE DENTASTIX – Closer Cuddles

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So finally we have completed our Pedigree 30 Days Challenge with our Nacho boy, and I can definitely say that not only Jo and I, but our babyboy as well, had lots of fun and learned many new tricks and activities through this challenge!

Probably our favorite activity with him so far is the “cup game challenge” where we put a DentaStix into an upside-down cup, and switching places with two other empty cups.

Then, we let him sniff the cups to find the DentaStix! The first time we played, babyboy just sat there, waiting for us to give him his favorite DentaStix but after some encouragement he will now actively look for it!

After feeding him Pedigree DentaStix for the last 30 days, I can tell you that his oral health has improved tremendously, no doubt thanks to the unique X-shaped treats, which have been clinically proven to reduce tartar build-up by to 80% and also 2 active ingredients in the DentaStix, sodium tripolyphosphate and zinc sulphate that eases plaque removal.

His teeth and gum lines are markedly cleaner and his breath smells like he has been brushed everyday!

I used to avoid letting him kiss or lick me but not anymore!

We also love all the attention we’ve been getting from him ‘cause he’s constantly expecting us to play a game with him and feed him his DentaStix. Yes, if you’ve read my last post, he is still constantly following us around.

Oh, Pedigree is running a Closer Cuddles content on their facebook page here!

All you need to do is just to take a picture with your dog (show them how much you love your dog!) and complete the given slogan in the most creative way to win. Contest starts on 16^th June until 11^th July 2016, so hurry up! P/S: Each contest starts on Wednesday and ends on the following Monday!

♥

June 20, 2016
#BoboinBali – Ubud 1

This is the second in a series of posts on my recent trip to Bali, so if you missed my first entry, click HERE.

So, back to where I stopped in my last post, we had lunch at Delphi Rock Bar in Blue Point and then started on our 2 hour journey in to Ubud.

This was our room for the next 2 nights, a private pool villa in Wapa Di Ume Resort! This resort is set in the middle of a paddy field and is absolutely beautiful! So quiet and peaceful as well. Anyway we quickly checked-in, changed, and went back out to Ubud town for dinner at my all-time favorite restaurant in Bali.

Naughty Nuri’s Warung for their amazing BBQ pork ribs, mie goreng, and pork satay! Haha, we were actually very full after our meal but we ordered another rack of ribs, and the second one they gave us was bigger than the first! Don’t know whether to be thankful or not for that, hahaha.

After dinner, our driver dropped us off back in Ubud town so we could attempt to walk-off our dinner. Ubud is really beautiful with all it’s temples and the atmosphere is really chill and laid-back. Wapa Di Ume provides free shuttles to and from town so it was really convenient for us.

Took a nice hot bath and attempted to take some pictures of us cause I just realized we didn’t have a picture together all day, hahaha. We were really tired after a long day so we went to bed really early, not to mention we had to wake up very early for a paddy field walk/tour!

Put on a thick layer of mosquito repellant from head-to-toe and we were ready to go! Met up with the nicest guide ever who also works at the front desk, haha. There are few guests here so the staff are really intimate with us.

This is the entrance to a communal home in Ubud where up to five or six families would live together.

Complete with their own altars and temples in their yard!

Along the walk, our guide told us about the Hindu religion, beliefs, different types of temples, and even their architecture, so it was very informative and thankfully I wasn’t bored at all, hahaha.

She also explained how the paddy fields are plot and belongs to different owners. Nowadays most of the owners outsource the farming work to specialists who care and harvest the fields as more and more of the young are not interested anymore.

She also insisted Jo to take a picture, hahahaha. He was reluctant cause he’s vain and said he wasn’t dressed nice.

After the walk, we went back to our room and changed again, or well, I got changed again, hahaha, this time into my bikini so we can go out to have breakfast and then for a quick swim! The weather was awesome, sunny with a cooling breeze, perfect for tanning! Took some pictures by our private pool with Jo’s manual 135mm lens and the pictures turned out great!

This is what happens when you’re trying to prevent your face from getting burnt while trying to Snapchat, hahaha.

I was quite brave to sit on the edge of the pool to take this shot lol.

We explored both pools in the resort and then headed back to our own private pool!

Going to have to split this post into two if not it’s going to be super long, so do stay tuned for the next and last post!

♥

June 16, 2016
Panasonic Beauty Cafe at Glass House Seputeh

I have been attending Panasonic beauty café events since 2014, but whenever I receive an invitation from Panasonic beauty, I still genuinely get really excited! This is because I know I would be able to check out all the new beauty technology for my face, hair or even body! Ever since I attended their first beauty café I told myself I have to keep coming back to check out more products from them.

I’m so glad that Panasonic invited me to their recent beauty café that took place a few weeks ago in Glasshouse Seputeh! It was also my first time going to Glasshouse and I have previously heard a lot of good feedback from my friends that have been there. They say it’s a perfect place for pictures because of the natural lighting.

They were right about this place, it’s literally a lush garden in a glasshouse!

The theme of the day was a garden with pastel colored flowers! We were told to wear full white or pastel colors so I went with full white instead =)

Got there early so I get to enjoy stuffing myself full of fingerfood haha.

There was a booth to showcase Panasonic Beauty Inventions!

This round Panasonic is introducing Mirco Foaming Cleansing Device (EH-SC50 RM499), Ionic Cleansing and Toning Device (EH-ST50 RM559) and also Styling Brush Ion (EH-HT40 RM199)

As usual, Panasonic Beauty Café started with a welcome speech by Mr Cheng Chee Chung, Managing Director Panasonic Malaysia.

Then a dance performance from ballerinas who were holding Panasonic Beauty new products.

Photo opportunity!

After that, it was our time to experience Panasonic Beauty products! I really like attending events that we can get experience a product hands-on instead of just walking around and taking pictures of the products and selfies. Hands-on experience helps us to better understand the products so that we can properly share with our readers, don’t you think?

We were brought into another room filled with Panasonic latest beauty products, such as EH-SC50 and also EH-ST50.

They even prepared handbag holders for each of us =)

When they told me we will be required to remove our makeup at the event my thought was like should I bring extra towel or whatever a? So happy that Panasonic was super thoughtful! They provided each of us with a cute pink hairband, a white robe and also a face towel!

First we listened to the instructions on how to use Panasonic Micro Foam Cleansing Device.

First step is to remove our makeup! We were using Bio-Essence makeup remover and EH-SC50. There is two different heads for this device, warm makeup removal and brush & foam cleansing. To use the warm makeup removal, you just need to press the warm button, apply the makeup remover on your face then glide the makeup removal head, from inside out, to carefully blend your make up with the remover. Once you’re done blending your make up with the remover, rinse off the remover.

Then it’s time for the facial cleansing step, which is my favorite step haha. I’m sure a lot of you have seen a few brands coming out with a facial cleansing device but I’m 100% you have never seen one that has a foam generator, I know =) When I first saw it I was like OMG, this is what I have been looking for!!! The step is pretty simple! First, attach the soft brush on to the device.

Add the foaming cleaner through the inlet and pour approx 4 ml of water into the center of the attachment cavity.

Press the WASH button and select speed! It’s super simple right and it makes facial cleaning way more fun.

Spread the foam around your face to slowly cleanse it!

The foam generator generates an airy foam like whipped cream that hands can never match. I had to look in the mirror to make sure I wont wash away my eyebrows T__T cause I’m too lazy to redraw again lol.

As a lazy person like me, I’m sure you will ask how to clean this devise after use? No worries because it’s super simple and it doesn’t require a lot of time haha. Just detach the brush then open the inlet and rinse it under running water =)

Same goes to cleaning the brush =) Then just leave it on the sink to air dry!

Once we are done with facial cleaning we moved to toner and moisturizer.

We are using EH-ST50 Ionic Cleansing and Toning Device for this step. All you need is the device, cotton pad and your toner and moisturizer.

Attach a cotton pad to the head and let it absorb the lotion.

Press the select button, select CLEANSE mode and set the ION LEVEL. Then press TEMP button and select the temperature of you preference. Grip the device on the ion panel from the rear, apply the cotton surface to the skin and gently glide it.

Then we moved to moisturize! Repeat like what we have done on the toner step but select MOISTURIZE mode instead.

The last step is to massage your skin with the MASSAGE mode on the device.

My face is so clean and fresh now!

Then we were given some time to re apply our make up =)

After our face now we move to hair, and a lot of people, including me have a lot of problem when it comes to styling our hair. When I’m lazy I just tie them into a bun but when I’m not I always curl it with a curler but the problem with the curler that I have is that it always burns my hand or shoulder = =” So happy that Panasonic came out with a better curler for clumsy girls like me! It’s Panasonic Styling Brush EH-HT40.

This tool comes with a brush and also a clip to let you achieve natural and beautiful curls! The best thing about it is that it wont burn your hand because of the static electricity suppressing brush.

Yoshi san from Number76 was there to demo how to style our hair using EH-HT40!

Then it’s my turn to do it myself hahaha.

I’m quite amazed that it’s so easy to use! All you need to do is to just gently brush through your hair!

It’s perfect to achieve a very natural end curls for my mid length hair.

Yeah, hair and makeup done at the workshop =)

My full white outfit of the day =)

Thanks to Panasonic for once again showing us your amazing beauty tools! I can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us in the future! For more info check out http://www.panasonic.com/my/consumer/beauty

♥

June 13, 2016
PEDIGREE DENTASTIX – Hide-And-Seek

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Hi everyone! My furryboy and I are nearing the end of our 30 Days DentaStix Challenge so let me update you guys on our progress thus far.

There are two areas that have seen the most noticeable changes, which are his oral health, and also his attentiveness towards Jo and me. Having fed him Pedigree Daily DentaStix for almost 30 days now, I can tell you that his breath smells like he just had his teeth brushed! Yes! Like I mentioned in my previous post, the fishyness in his breath due to his salmon diet is gone, and this will last till the next meal time, obviously, hahaha.

His teeth and gums are also much cleaner due to daily chewing on the unique X-shaped treats, which are clinically proven to reduce tartar build-up by to 80%! 2 active ingredients in the DentaStix, sodium tripolyphosphate and zinc sulphate also eases plaque removal when its time to clean his teeth.

Look at his super white teeth! We took this picture when we were playing a new game with him, and this is also one way to incorporate using the DentaStix in his daily feeding.

It’s basically hide-and-seek and we hid the DentaStix somewhere in the house, and he has to find it. First I showed him the DentaStix to pique his interest, then Jo took him into the room.

Didn’t even take long, cause once Jo let him out, he ran straight for the couch and started sniffing under the pillows. Found it straight away, but next time I will make it more difficult by hiding it in a drawer.

This is a fun and also rewarding game for him!

Another area where we noticed a big change is his attentiveness and generally become very clingy or attached to us! Nowadays he will follow us around the house, non-stop, and I really mean follow us around anywhere!

When I’m getting breakfast.

When I’m brushing my teeth.

When I walk into the room to change.

When I’m getting a drink. Hahaha, we’re not really used to all the attention he is giving us, but it is a lot of fun to play around with him. We might sometimes trick him by quickly running into the room and see how fast he comes.

I think constantly challenging and varying the times of feeding him his DentaStix has brought this change which also improved his oral health as well and I really need to thank Pedigree for bringing our boy much closer to us now.

For all of you dog lovers join me and take up the 30 Days Challenge to improve your dog’s health too!

♥

June 10, 2016