Young Living Malaysia

When I was younger I had this obsession with witchcraft. 

My friends and I would gather  during recess and instead of eating we would write fake spells in our self made Book of Shadows and brew potions using a combination of mineral water, mum's stolen perfume and crushed flower petals.

Of course, our thick muggle blood prevented anything magical from happening and over the years we found something else to be interested in (eg. Jesse McCartney) and stopped practicing our version of witchcraft altogether.

One thing stuck though.

My love of brewing potions.

That's when I discovered essential oils!

Before my friends got me my very own  oil diffuser, I would use one of  the old fashion oil burner.

Something like this.

It was amazing how a few tiny drops of  lavender oil could fill the whole entire living  room with such a soothing aroma! 

Despite my interest, my knowledge about oils in general is rather limited and  I've always wanted to know more about the different uses and benefits of oils  beyond what Google has to offer.

That's why when I was offered a  ticket to attend Young Living Malaysia's talk by  Jen O' Sullivan, I got extremely excited and said yes as soon as I could. 

In true paranoid and overly excited fashion, I arrived at Sunway Pyramid's Convention Centre a bit early so the place was pretty much empty.

Soon the crowd started forming

Since it was my first time attending a talk by Young Living, I didn't know what to expect but I remember being pleasantly surprised over the diverse set of audience. 

Mothers from every age group, their husbands, young working adults and even teenagers. It's like nobody could feel out of place. 

Even awkward old me!

A little healthy snack for the talk

The minute the hall started filling up with people I realised that everyone and I mean everyone smelled amazing. 

Some smelled like lavender and some smelled like roses and there were other scents that I didn't even know existed in my whole 25 years of living.

I was just sitting there subtly sniffing everybody and getting rather giddily happy with the aroma when I noticed that everyone carried a bottle of an essential oil in their handbags. 

They would occasionally take out a bottle and place a few drops of oil on the palm of their hands, rub it together and bring it close to their face to inhale.

I was dying to try it!

Part of me wanted to tap one of the lovely lavender smelling ladies on the shoulder to ask if I could have a few drops but I chickened out. 

You'd think after spending 9 months in a legal firm  dealing  with intimidating  judges and criminal offenders I would be able to pluck up the courage to approach  kind looking mothers but no. 

Still a chicken. 

The talk was given by the famous Jen O' Sullivan, also known as "The Oil Lady to the Oil Ladies". She shared with us her journey of how she slowly incorporated the use of oils in her daily life and how there is a perfect oil you can use for just about everything! 

It was interesting how there were so many things that I didn't even know that I didn't know. Does that make sense?

Like for example you can use oils like lemon and copaiba for emotional support ( I should have bought those) and how frankincense helps with maintaining a youthful complexion. 

Which makes sense because it is also used in the process of embalming.

 There were also some essential oils that need to be diluted with carrier oils because they were too strong and she demonstrated how a single drop of oil could make a hole through a styrofoam cup! 

Imagine just purchasing an oil and rubbing it on the palm of your hands without knowing the actual damage it could do. Yikes!

All in all it was a very educational experience! 

It was wonderful to see so many people coming together and discussing something they are deeply passionate about. 

I could tell to some extent the oils definitely did have an influence because throughout the whole talk none of the babies and toddlers cried or squirmed to be released! I saw a mother rubbing oil at the back of the toddler's neck so that must be it.

They just sat there happily and patiently waiting. 

Now that's magic. 

Bye 2017

2017 passed by super fast, but I don't think I can go ahead and post anything related to 2018 without having a proper goodbye post for last year. 

So even though it is already April and nobody really cares,  here is a bunch of great stuff that happened last year!

1) Graduated

Law school was no joke.

In that 4 years of degree,  I thought of quitting probably about 50 times a year. 

And if finals was that month I would usually go through a minor depression and start googling things like "Fun Jobs To Do Without a Degree" and then end up with suggestions about leading a career as a drug dealer or something. 

That won't really suit my Muslim lifestyle so then I tried to picture  life as a university drop out who would then make this grand pitch and create her own ciplak version of Facebook.

Then I remember that I can barely use Microsoft Excel let alone code, so that was that. 

Granted, it wasn't Harvard but it definitely wasn't as simple as " read, memorize and puke it out " like all the aunties kept telling me after high school. 

That day ( think it was in April) my parents came and all of my wonderful friends too! 

I still have the deflated balloons and dead flowers much to my mum's dismay.

What can I say, I'm  a horder sentimental.

Me trying to be Hermione Granger

Anyway, despite the struggles, university was definitely fun. Mostly because of the people and the lack of responsibility of having to make money all the time.

2) Prison Programme

In order  to get called to the Bar, you have to do some pro bono work for a few months. Some didn't like it, (haha don't lie)  while others looked forward to it.

I was the latter.  

I joined the Prison Programme which basically allowed us to go to prisons and give the prisoners who can't afford lawyers some legal advice. 

At first I liked it for purely selfish reasons, like being able to get away from the office once a week and end early. However, once the programme started, my perspective changed and it became slightly more  than that.

A few of the team members! 

We mostly dealt with those with minor offences, but it was really memorable and eye opening because I think that was one of the few times where I felt like I was actually making a tiny bit of difference. 

Plus since I was in a firm dealing with civil litigation, I never thought I would get a chance to enter a prison before this ( except that one time when I almost strangled my sister to death a few years back).

3) Called to the Bar

Fast forward a couple of months later, I got called to the Bar. 

I could've chosen better pants but no.

I have so many things to say about my experience chambering, and the whole process of getting called to the Bar but not in this post. Maybe in the future. 

I thought that day was going to be an emotional one, but it was pretty chill. Mainly it was because I was the 12th person to get called and the fact that we were all squeezed together in that one small bench was making me somewhat antsy.

It was memorable though. Plus it marked the first day of my freedom!

3) Travelling

So the fun begins! I saved up most of my chambering allowances for this much awaited trip. Pretty much been looking forward to this vacation ever since my university days!

(a) Norwich

Stayed at my sister's place so we were able to save on accomodation.

My mum and I got really fit (well,by our definition) during our stay there because we walked literally everywhere. From the city centre, to my sister's university, to the city's festivals and we did that everyday for almost 2 weeks, just exploring everything by foot.

Plus halal meat was expensive and had to be ordered online so our food mostly consists of 80% vegetables and the rest was pasta and salmon. 

I felt like one of those health gurus on Youtube you know. All vegetables and positive thinking and animal loving and erm..yoga. 

It was all in my head but still. 

Regular picnic spot.

It was really cold there. 

One day I forgot to wear my thermal wear ( the ones from Uniqlo are just amazing) and I started shivering really bad and I couldn't think so my mum had to poke me with her pen a couple of times just to make sure my pain receptors were still functioning. 

I would go around skipping about merrily  until I realised this is where the dogs peed

Secret garden!! Nobody was around. So magical. Almost scary.

(b) Paris

The Eiffle Tower was great and all but Disneyland was like....dayum.

 I cried.

You can't see this but my eyes were glistening with tears of joy. Really.

For once, I didn't bother much with my Go Pro because I wanted to run around and be everywhere and experience everything all at once.

The minute I entered the magical kingdom of Disney, their songs were playing from the speakers and all of a sudden I wasn't the 24 year old Aifa who sat through client  meetings and used words like due diligence (okay not really) no. 

I became a hyper 12 year old who would sneak her way through the crowd with this mad glint in her eyes and would stop at nothing until I reached my goal. 

The Castle. (that was the goal).

We stayed till midnight which was when they had the fireworks and light shows.

At the end of that day, I was a changed woman. 

(c) Brighton

After Paris we got back to London and I separated from my mum and sisters and met up with Binxy!

Had a bit of a scare that night we met up because  there was a rumor that somebody got stabbed or a shooting was going on (either one, can't remember) in central London so that obviously freaked my mum out because they were going back to Norwich and we were heading off somewhere else.

Thank God it was not true. 

I've never had to deal with that sort of fear in Malaysia before so that was scary.

We spent a day in London and then the next day took the train to Brighton!

You will notice a change in the quality of pictures from now on because they were mostly taken by Binxy with her new fabulous handphone woots woots!

It was super windy and my sensitive skin was screaming in pain but all I felt was pure joy

Had the famous fish and chips with salt and vinegar! Yums!

The last stop before taking the trip back home was Snooper's Paradise which is an amazing place where they sold vintage stuff and lots of second hand goodies!

You could find just about everything there! The kind of place where you would find Annabelle type dolls you know.

We also found an old vintage photo booth! You know like the ones in the movies where the couple would go in and make out and then the flash would go off and somebody would steal the photo strips from outside??

Yes that one!!

(d) Germany

Here we met up with Janice and it was his turn to show us around! Last time in Penang he was the blur tourist but this time it was our turn.

The first night there Janice brought us to a Christmas Market! 

Everyone was pretty much drinking beer and having a old good chat in the super cold weather which kind of reminds me of our mamak culture in Malaysia! Well, minus the cold and alcohol haha.

We didn't want to miss out on the fun so he got us hot chocolates instead haha!

(i)  Neuschwanstein Castle 

 Inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle!

Touched snow for the very first time. No words. Just emotions. 

Janiceeee!

(ii) Rothenburg

The most beautiful medieval town ever! It was like being in another time. 

Before it started snowing

Overall it was an amazing trip.

 So amazing that I didn't feel particularly sad when  we boarded the plane home. Mostly because I felt satisfied being able to do so many things and having the luxury of time to truly experience and savour each moment.

2017 was a blast with the first half being somewhat depressing and the second half being all around amazing.

I know I live a pretty blessed life and not once will I take it for granted. (This is more like a reminder to myself haha)

Okay bye.

Ps. 2018 is scary but it is okay for I bought cupcakes.