Happy new year 2013

It's new year again! This year I'll be hitting the big three oooo. I feel so old. The only decade people look forward is the 20's, after that everyone wish the the age just stop there. Huhu.

For this new year, I wish to pray more, travel more, learn more, give more, smile more and exercise more.

Specific resolution will be done as needed basis. For example, I want to cook more and eat out less. Managed to achieve that in this month and guess what, my skin has improved a lot. Eating out is not healthy especially with excessive oil and MSG that they dump into our food. Alhamdulillah, small steps into monthly resolution goes a long way.

To all my friends out there, happy new year 2013. May our wishes come true and may Allah bless us always.

posted from Bloggeroid

Continuing the journey

For once I wish the mover will be less efficient. Suddenly everything moved so fast. I think I just said yes to move there earlier this month. I talked to the new line manager a week after that and a week after that, the HR send me a note to accept the offer on that day itself as she's going for on leave until new year.

Then only it struck to me that this is not about just another empty promises that I heard before, this is going to happen. I panicked of course, started to call husband if I should accept it. Husband consoled me and said that we have discussed about this and I should accept it. I accepted it and few days later saw an email saying that the HR has already prepared for my movement.

A day later, I got an email from the mover company that someone will be contacting me about my stuff. True enough, few hours later someone did contact me. I tried to buy time by asking what the date bla bla, but yesterday, he asked me again when is the date I want to move and he wanted to come over to see what stuff I want to move.

Seriously, I'm sad of leaving my house. It's not even 1 year yet and I'm moving again. Sure, I'll be back every weekend but I will spend another 5 days somewhere else. I wish I can move the whole house including the person who is living there too. Then the whole situation will be perfect.

Oh well, another episode of my nomadic life.

Knowing that my kitchen has not gone wasted

Sometimes daughter in law needs to bake something for the mother in law (especially for her birthday). This will show that her son will not starve by marrying this woman.

Does my statement legit?

Haha.



Finally I managed to take the whole pavlova before being attacked.

posted from Bloggeroid

The big bad wolf book sale

Thanks to Big Bad Wolf book sales for stocking up our yearly reading material. We went there yesterday night, and if not because my leg was in pain and my arms were tired carrying the box of books, we might have more damage to the wallet.

It was damn cheap. This year there was more business books which delighted mr hubby. Lots of Nigella's and Jamie's recipes book. Though I have promised myself not to buy any recipe book anymore, but I felt guilty not to buy at least one coz it's cheap. So I bought one. No self control at all!

This is the books we managed to grab:


The damage: only RM 307 for 34 books! Totally worth it..

posted from Bloggeroid

Extra fat in the tummy

This week in office:

Colleague: Mun, are you pregnant? *looking at my stomach*
Me: Nooo... This is just rice *sob sob*

Today after family dinner:

Niece: Cik Ngah mengandung ke?
Me: Eh, tak lah..
Niece: tipu la cik ngah, perut cik ngah besar...
Me: Waaaahhh.. *lari balik*

Though I will be sooo happy if I'm really pregnant but people assuming I'm pregnant by looking at my tummy is sooooo frustrating.

Really need to lose this annoying extra fat... Arghhh..

posted from Bloggeroid

What do you collect when traveling?

I'm sure all of you who love to travel will collect some memorabilia when traveling. Some collect t-shirst, newspaper, snow globes, fridge magnet, maps, mugs and so on. From all of this, we chose the easiest, cheapest, lightest and small memento which is fridge magnet. I know it is so common but the beauty of fridge magnet is it is light, wouldn't add any weight to our luggage, easily found, cheap- most important when you travel to countries where the exchange rate is high and the best part is, you can turn anything to fridge magnet by just adding the magnet.

Still got empty place. Means more travel! Hehe

This is a pin  that I put a magnet on.

Front view..

We started to collect fridge magnet when we were traveling in US. At that time we were considered hardcore poverty by the US government, therefore we usually travel using as minimal expense as possible. Even though we wanted to save the money, souvenirs from each destination that we went is a must. That's why we choose fridge magnet.

Besides that, I also collect Hard Rock Cafe pin. These pins have turned into magnet too. See I told you, sometimes when you go to some place, you can't find magnet. All you see are key chains and pins. What I do is I will buy the pin or key chains stick a magnet behind it, walla! it's a magnet. It'll be unique coz nobody has that magnet.

The collection so far..

Another best part of magnet is that since it is not expensive, we able to buy many. So instead of just buy one for a destination, we usually buy the magnet according to the places we've been. For example instead of just buy one magnet for San Francisco, we bought 1 magnet from Fisherman's Wharf, 1 from Alcatraz and 1 from Golden Gate bridge. Every specific places that we went, we would bought one. I love it coz the design from each places is unique and very much specific what are the interesting part of that.

Other than that, Zainal collected Coke bottles and cans. Coke from different part of the world are quite unique in their own packaging which is very interesting. My favourite Coke can is the one that have Duke logo when Duke won the NCAA in 2010. Precious.

Coke congratulating Duke becoming NCAA 2010 National Champion

Of course we also like to keep all the papers that involved in the travel process. From maps, itinerary, tickets, subway tickets and cards. I actually wanted to do a scrap book with all that, but it never materialised. I only managed to do New York trip, then everything was trashed into a file. A fat and bulging file. Hai.. don't think the scrap book will be happened anytime soon.

All the paper memorabilia

That pink file having problem containing all of these

So what is your collection? 

Again, in the same dilemma

Again, this question pop in my life.

To go or not to go?

Comfort zone or challenging zone?

This time around the difference is the distance.

From 24 hours flight to 2 hours, which is not so bad but still...........

K-Pop Land Trip: Jeju Island

Another trip that I was looking forward in this year is trip to South Korea. It was not easy to get approval from hubby to book the tickets as he didn't think there's many things to see and do in South Korea. After persuading and convinced him that the reason I want to go there NOT because the influence of the K-drama, but the beauty of that country itself, finally he agreed to go. Anybody knows that is not true, of course the one and only reason to go there is because of the influences of K-drama. But on my defense, I only watched less than 10 dramas which does not qualify me as K-drama addict (unlike my mom!). Haha...

Anyway, after searching the best dates to see the autumn foliage, waiting anxiously for the Air Asia Sale, endless review reading and comprehensive itinerary discussion, finally the time has come. We went to 2 part of South Korea, Jeju Island and Seoul. For this part, I will cover Jeju Island first.

Jeju Island is like Hawaii for South Korea people. They went there for honeymoon and the weather is slightly warmer than in Seoul. Initially we want to go there after Seoul but after consulting few friends that went there before, they advised to go before Seoul. We booked the flight ticket a month before. I was thinking of doing the adventure trip which is by taking KTX train from Seoul to Busan, then take a ferry to Jeju. The KTX train to Busan takes around 2 hours, but the ferry from Busan to Jeju takes 8 hours! So we decided to take flight there which is around 1 hour only.

Arrived in Incheon International Airport around 8am and our flight to Jeju is around 2 pm. Purposely took longer buffer as we need to change airport and didn't want to rush just in case the flight from KL delay. This is the second time I'm in Incheon International Airport. The first one was a transit to New York few years ago which I had food poisoning when traveling alone. One of the worst experience, pulling luggage in and out of toilet and finally slept on the bench dehydrated. So this time around I was able to explore more of the airport than the toilets.. Haha.

Took our sweet time in Incheon before took the train to Gimpo International Airport. After checking in for our flight, we decided to find lunch. This is the first challenge of food finding. After walking round surveying the food (which is not much since Gimpo is quite small), we finally settled for a plate of what looked like sotong masak merah with rice. The menu written in Korean but there is a number at the side. After memorizing the number, we went in and realized it's a food court. How do we know which stall selling this squid? Then light bulb moment. I took a picture of that food and showed the cashier that I want this. She was quite amused and told us to go to the specific stall. Success!

We arrived at Jeju International Airport around 4pm and followed the instruction from Yeha Tour, a company I used to rent a car, off we went to the parking lot. I thought it will be easy but when I arrived at the designated parking lot, I saw at least 7 rent-a-car company vans that converted to mini office. I have no idea which one is ours. Suddenly it become like Amazing Race. With luggage in our hand, trying to match the Korean word in the email with every white van. Finally we found our van with a help of another van. Our car rental company showed us the car (we got Hyundai Sonata..yuhuu), trying to explain to us in limited English and lots of acting and sounds (with his friend laughing beside him) and finally off we go. The GPS was included in the rental but it was in Korean. The good news is this is South Korea and their technology is way ahead. By using telephone number of the place that we want to go, the GPS can bring you there. So jot down all the telephone number and just key in into the GPS. He gave us the map of Jeju in Korean but with telephone number. We brought Jeju map in English without telephone number. At the end, the matching game of two maps was our main activity before any trip.

My hotel in Jeju is Little France Hotel which located in Seogwipo and located at the other side of Jeju-do city where the airport is located. It took around an hour from airport to the hotel as we have to cross Mount Hallasan which is located in the middle of the island. The view was so beautiful. We were oohh and ahhh along the way. When there's a scenic view, we would stopped and took some picture. That was the best part of driving your own versus tour group and public transport.

Loveland... Definitely 18sx..

Before we went to the other side of the island aka Seogwipo, we went to the Loveland first as it was located in Jeju-do. It's a park filled with sex theme sculptures  which definitely not suitable for below 18 years old. Haha. Then drive through the so called Mysterious Road which seriously I didn't understand what the fuss is all about. There's a lot of tour bus though so I told my husband to just drove away.

The next day we started early as there's a lot to cover. The size of Jeju Island is about 3 times of Singapore and it has a lot of natural wonders. It has many inactive volcanoes which over the years has created a beautiful landscape. We started with Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. It was in the middle of green lush with 3 waterfalls and Seonimgyo Bridge. The weather was so nice and it was so relaxing to walk around.

Seonimgyo Bridge

Cheonjeyeon Waterfall

Next we drove to Mount Songaksan along the coastal road. The water was so blue and from far you can see the Mount Songaksan rising tall contrasting the bright blue ocean. On the right of the road is Mount Sanbangsan. We thought we can drive up to the top of Mount Songaksan, but actually not. So we decided to save energy and not to hike to the top. 

Lunch was next. According to the map, there's a seafood restaurant nearby. Once arrived, the waitress can't speak a single word of English beside pork and chicken. And there's no menu. Tried to order fish and end up acting the word fish to get the message across. Luckily she understood and brought us the best fish I ever taste. Seriously, it tasted a bit like asam pedas but not the same. She just not brought us the fish, but tofu soup, fish ball and so many other things! Andddd that was the cheapest food we had in this whole South Korea trip. Only Korean Won 10,000. If you compare apple to apple, it's like 10 ringgit. 

Yummy lunch.. the soup hasn't arrived..

Satisfied with delicious and cheap lunch we proceed to our next destination, Jungmun Daepo Columnar Jointed Lava. It was mind blowing! The rocks looked like a rectangular column being stacked together. Masya Allah, it's actually from the lava flowing and after few thousand years, it become like that. The beauty of Allah's creation.

Cantik kan

While trying to find Jungmun Daepo, we drove in front The Seaes Hotel where the filming of Secret Garden was held. I was like some crazy fan pointing to the hotel while unamused driver calmly drove by, until my husband gave me an option to go in and took some pictures. Macam orang mengantuk disorong bantal, mesti la nak kan. Waaaa... such as beautiful hotel. Took some pictures from far (konon tak nak nampak macam groupies sangat).

This is the location of Secret Garden....

Jeongbang Waterfall

Next destination was Jeongbang Waterfall. Ok, there are a lot of waterfall in Jeju. We decided to go to 2 only. This waterfall is quite unique coz it flows to the ocean. Supposedly one of the few waterfall that flows direct to ocean in Asia. Saw people selling and eating so food at the foot of the waterfall, but not sure what's that, so we just ignored.

Second last destination of the day was Jeju Folk Village Museum. We cheated a bit and took a short cut. Apparently this is where drama Jewel in the Palace was shot. I didn't watch it so I was not so crazy about this place. It has the model of the traditional village of Jeju. I just didn't understand why different type of occupation have different type of house. It showed that I don't really like history. Haha.

Jeju Folk Village Museum

The last destination and the one that my husband has kept his energy was Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Seongsan Sunrise Peak). It was known to have the best view of sunrise in Jeju. Of course if you want to wake up at 4am to catch the sunrise. I didn't climb to the top coz of health reason so husband climbed to the top and took a lot of pictures and video for me. Then the sun started to set behind Mount Hallasan and it was awesome and it is also mean it is getting colder. I was waiting at the foot of the Seongsan freezing cold while waiting for the hubby to get down. Once he got down I rushed to the car. Couldn't stand the cold anymore. We ate dinner around that area before going back to hotel.

That's the peak...

It's actually an inactive volcano. This is the crater that now looks like a field in the middle of it.

The thing about Jeju Island is tat the halal food is hard to find and most of them are located at Jeju-do. But seafood is abundant. So seafood become our main food in Jeju. 

Dinner... More seafood.

The next morning after check out we decided to drive around Jeju-do. GPS brough us different route to Jeju-do, still crossing Mount Hallasan but different view. Still oohhh and aahhh along the way. Jeju Island is definitely beautiful around autumn season. Orange, red, yellow and green seems to blend nicely and created a shady canopy along the road. 

The view along the way

Decided to go to  airport direct as traffic was quite heavy in Jeju-do compared to Seogwipo. End up driving around for LPG station to top up before returning the car. All petrol and LPG station are local company. No Shell in sight! Returned the rental car and flew to Seoul with 12.25 pm flight.

Pheww... I am in the mood of writing, hence the long post =)

Honeymoon in Mekah & Madinah

Quite frequent we read in magazine when an artist got married, they would said that they are going honeymoon in Mekah and Madinah. When I read that, the first thing that came out of my mind that how do they want to do that. Honeymoon is always associated with sexy time, spending most of the time in the room than outside and stuff that not suitable to be done in Holy Land. But then I never been to Mekah and Madinah with my husband previously, so I was naive about it.

However, my perspective changed when I went Umrah with my husband early this year. I forgot that honeymoon is not just about lust but about love and spending time with each other. Morever it was at the holiest place on earth and it become one of the best trip that I ever had with my husband.

Arriving at the airport and looking around at our group, I whispered to my husband, do you want to bet that people will think that we are newly weds. True enough, few hours after that some ladies asked me if I just got married. Hehe. Perasan muda.

How do I describe the feeling of honeymoon in Mekah and Madinah? It was different from others. We woke up each other to prepare for Suboh prayer every morning, reminded each other to read Quran and discussed how many umrah we want to do. Everywhere we went - to Masjidil Haram, Nabawi, during tawaf and saie, I always hold his arm (the upper arm - where the sleeves are - supaya tak batal air sembahyang). Everywhere we went, we always went together until I was chased out from the barber shop coz that was for men only. The mutawwif even asked us to seat separately during our first ihram to prevent unnecessary event that might lead to penalty! My husband refused and sat next to me. Of course nothing happened, we were in the bus for God's sake. Haha.

Before the umrah, some of my colleagues advised me to be patient when in Holy Land. She advised me sometimes when we go there, suddenly our husband changed. Allah wanted to show his true colour and we never ever talk back and always be patient with our husband as that is part of the umrah process. I prayed deep in my heart, please Allah, please don't change my husband to worse, please change to the best. Alhamdulillah, Allah change my husband to the best husband ever. He never let my hand go no matter how pack the crowd was, bought me food when I was not feeling well and always take care of me.

You know what is the best part of this trip, the five times daily prayer trips. Everyday we will go to either Masjidil Haram or Nabawi, my hand in his arm, walked to the masjid and parted at the gate or door (depending which masjid). Then after prayer, we will meet again at the same door or gate. We devised a timing system so that we can met at the same time. I didn't buy local sim card, so there was no communication thru handphone (and in Masjid Nabawi, women can't bring in handphone with camera, so I left mine in the hotel). What we have is just trust each other that we will meet at the promised time and place. One time I got lost in Masjidil Haram, I almost cried coz I didn't find that door and I don't know how to contact my husband. Luckily I remembered the door number and when I finally found that door, almost half an hour later, I saw the love of my life standing there waiting for me. That was the best feeling ever!

Coming back from the umrah trip, I was down with Influenza B and was quarantined in SDMC for almost a week. My husband took care of me the whole time even though he himself was sick but surprising enough not caught the deadly virus. I really felt bad coz he has to sleep on that uncomfortable sleeping care every night so that I was not alone.

So my conclusion is, Mekah and Madinah is the best place for honeymoon. It gave you a different kind of feeling that you will never have with other places. The best part is the experience and memories that we build along the way, the stories we shared and the enlighnment we have from Allah. In shaa Allah we will be there again. So do you =)

Wedding car at Madinah. The ustaz forced us to take picture with the car. Haha..

Filled with warmth and kindness

Raya month just passed us by so quickly. Open house and traffic jam every weekend for the whole 4 weeks and suddenly on the first weekend of Zulkaedah, boom all road empty. So empty that I'm wondering where is everybody? Am I missing something here. Oh well, might as well enjoy it then.

This Raya, as this was the first raya in the new home, we decided to have housewarming plus open house together. Also doa selamat in the morning as well. Oh well, better did in one shot to save all the hassle of cleaning the house.

To tell the truth, the decision was made quite last minute. Then we were panicking when found out caterers were not taking any orders anymore. By that time, I already send out my invitation.

We send out lot of invitations. We took this opportunity to invite neighbours as well. At least i've done my part to get to know them. Surprisingly, a lot of them came. There's one uncle came with a wheelchair. He asked his maid to push him to our house. He couldn't eat anything as he was sick. I tried to make conversation but man, that was not easy! I'm not a very good small talker, especially with strangers. But I have to face that fear coz hubby has assigned me to layan neighbours. I can't thank him enough for coming. There were neighbours that i've known since I was small, neighbours that are new and neighbours that was my tuition teacher. Almost everyone came actually and honestly I can't remember all their name. But they remembered one thing: arwah pak and arwah mek. Made me missed them so much more.

We also invited our colleagues and of course friends. I couldn't express how happy I was seeing all my old friends. From Subang, UM and even Duke! So sad that I can only chat for few minutes before I need to tend other people. I was running around socializing with people that I forgot to eat! Haha.. And my ankle brace helped a lot. I wouldn't be able to walk and run that much without it.

The most unexpected thing was some of them brought gifts for our new house. I'm so happy! From fire extingusher to Pyrex, I grateful for it as I told them just come to eat, no need to bring anything. Some also brought fruits and food. Wah lau, at the of the day, I felt like it was my birthday.. Hehe.

But I'm a bit disappointed coz I didn't take any picture at all! Initially I asked my brother to be my official photographer but last minute he had to work. The only photo I have was before the event start, when everything was empty. And I think i'm in 3 of my friends' camera. What a bummer.

Oh, also the fun part: house tour! My hubby and I actually cleaned the whole house for this. We know people will ask to see the house especially when it is new. Biasa la, I did that when I visited other people new house. Haha. So just be prepared and embraced it. Not to show off but to share what we did that took so long to finish. It was really hardwork to do major renovation without an ID. It's like having another full time job.

At the end of the day, we were so tired yet happy. We also made conclusion on who to invite next time and who is not going to be in our list. At least we know that some people will always stay in our life, some will be just friends in facebook and some will just stay as colleagues in the office.

In conclusion, my house is now being filled with prayers, warmth and kindness of people that matters.

posted from Bloggeroid

Never win

When I came back from States, I got complacent of not working. I told my husband that i'm going to be a housewife. Obviously husband is not happy especially when I just finished my post-grad. Might as well I just stay here if that I want to be. I told him many justifications - when I was working in factory previously, I knew the operators salary even combined with his wife is lesser than husband's and they can survived. Why can't we?

Quietly my husband took my hand and looked into my eyes (ok, I added this to have more dramatic impact) and said,"yes we can survived. No doubt. But we can't afford to travel and have vacations. The best we can have is Port Dickson."

You know what my husband did? He touched on the most sensitive topic. My favourite hobby: travelling. Nobody can say no to me when it comes to travel (except my wallet, of course). I rather not owning a single Coach handbag as long as I can travel (when Coach is super duper cheap in US). I was quite taken back about that actually and my job hunting after that had never been so serious. Haha.

Now, whenever I felt like quitting my job, I just remember this and try to find the motivation to stay on. I have made another KPI for us, I want to go to haj before we are 40, and for streched target (OMG, I sound like my boss) I want to go before 35. For that, I need to work so that I can help my husband to save for the fifth rukun Islam.

For now, Kate Spade and LV that i've been eyeing will take a backseat (why always handbags that need to sacrifice? Hehe).

What is the learning here? Know your partner. If my husband said something else, I might not bought it. Knowing what important to me has made his reasons easy for me to accept. In the end, I always lost talking to him.. ceettt

posted from Bloggeroid

Lova lova

I was in the mood of baking stuff last week and pavlova came to my mind. It's easy to make and required few ingredients only. This was my first try and succeed. *happy*

The best thing is, hubby loves it. We at it for 3 nights in the row for supper. Hubby chose grapes as topper and I chose strawberry. Raya ni nak buat lagi untuk family pulak. Hehe...

A slice of my strawberry pavlova.

posted from Bloggeroid

A third of Ramadhan

Alhamdulillah it's 10 Ramadhan already. I hope it's not too late to wish everyone Ramadhan Mubarak. Let's make this Ramadhan better than the last one.

This is our first Ramadhan in our own house. Still adjusting of the space that we need to walk to get something and of course the stairs. Yelah, sebelum ni asyik tinggal kat apartment je, semua within hand reach. But of course no complain of the extra steps which also mean we have more space now.

This year I'm going to take the Ramadhan advantage as much as I can. Last year was bad, so this year I want to improve, InsyaAllah. So far I don't miss any puasa yet. Praying hard I will not miss any puasa this time around and of course praying hard I don't need to miss solat for the next 9 months.

I think this year bazaar Ramadhan is not interesting anymore. The food price has increased or they just maintained the same price but with lesser portion. I tried to cook (since I got new and bigger kitchen, kena la semangat kan) when I reached home earlier or during weekend. Alhamdulillah this year we don't overly excited to eat everything. Just want to maintain this phase and eat moderately.

However, I teringin nak makan that ayam golek at Bangi roadside. I wonder it still there or moved already. One of the best ayam golek. And I want to have murtabak singapore. Wonder where can I get it?

posted from Bloggeroid

Sandakan trip

Finally my open ticket that was bought under last year's budget is utilised. I'm going to Sandakan finally.

It's actually for my project involving dredging and jetty. I followed my stakeholders for site briefing and didn't expect much from this trip. But I was surprised that my dotted line manager coming along too for her contract kick off. I ended up joined her meeting and she joined my site briefing too.

Since we were big group now to a small terminal in Sandakan, the terminal manager become our tour guide. He was there for 3 years already and knew the local favourite's. So this business trip become seafood trip.

On the first day we arrived, we ate at Ocean King Restaurant. The fish was so fresh and first time ever I ate siput tarik. Not bad. But I prefer siput sedut. Dinner, the TM brought us to Pasir Puteh Restaurant. We have lobster noodle, more fishes and again I tried another new seafood for my tastebud, it is prawn mantis. It is good. The taste remind me of crab plus lobster. So good.. I forgot to take picture.

After that he took us around to the new Sandakan town where the city not yet slept as compared to the old Sandakan town that already quiet at 10pm.

Thr next day, TM told us to skip hotel breakfast and we would try local food again. This time around we went to water village where the Sim Sim restaurant situated. It was low tide and you can see rubbish every where under the house. Not a scenary you want to see especially if you are heading for a breakfast. He ordered konlo mee, squid and tofu. I'm not a breakfast person, so this is big breakfast for me.

Since we had a big breakfast, everyone agreed to have late lunch. Lunch only happened at almost 4 since some of us have meetings and I have 2 back to back call. This time around I actually glad we are not going for another seafood! We went to Kedai Kopi Sate Tradisi which actually served quite nice satay. Of course I tasted better but this one is different. Usually I ate satay with nasi impit, but this one, they served bread. And the bread was quite nice.

With that, that's the end of my 1 night trip to Sandakan. My colleagues wanted to do the tourist stuff like visit Sipilok, portugese monkey and I wanted to shop for seafood but of course we did't have time to do any of that. But the group that came on this trip was one funny bunch and we ended laughing non-stop throughout the whole trip.

That was definitely a business trip to remember.

konlo mee


siput tarik


View from my hotel. I stayed at Four Points by Sheraton. The newest hotel in Sandakan.

posted from Bloggeroid

My first time...

I have to admit one thing. At the age of *ehem* *ehem* ( a woman will never reveal her age), I never donate blood. Not ever once. Not that I'm afraid of needles, but I never had the chance. I was underweight, got migraine and long list of reasons for not to do it. But deep inside me I know it is just excuses not to donate.

Sempat lagi ambil gambar :p

So yesterday I have made up my mind that today I will donate my blood for the first time of my life. In conjunction of Safety Day of my company, there would be a blood donation drive and I will use this opportunity to do my part. My husband said that it is not painful, the most painful part is when they taking a small sample of blood to check your blood type. Oookayyyyy.. such a confident statement from someone who can't stand blood and needles, let alone donate blood. Iye je kan lah.. hehe (at the end, his statement was actually true!)

So I registered myself and donated the blood. Another of my colleague joined together (ok, she was the one who motivated me to donate actually), while 2 were restricted from donating coz they had an acupuncture less than 1 year and end up cheering us and the other colleague was there just to support us. So much love in the building! 

The best part of all of this, it wasn't painful at all! I felt light-headed after that and used that excuse to go home a bit early.. hehe.. It was wonderful experience for me as I postponed to do this for so many years and when I finally have the courage to do it, it was so simple and fast. I have wasted so many years with my excuses. Haih.. 

Therefore, from this day onwards, I will try to donate blood as much as I can as long as I'm able to do it. So for all of you out there, don't give excuses to donate blood. It wasn't painful at all. Your blood can saves lives :)

Coming home soon

Live blogging from our house. Can't wait to move. We targeting before Ramadhan InsyaAllah.

posted from Bloggeroid

Busy May

Wah lau... this month is so pack with so many activities. So many celebration - my birthday, hubby's birthday, my brother's birthday, Mother's day and our anniversary. So my mom squeezed everything in one dinner in Las Vacas in SS5 Kelana Jaya. That was the most delicious steak ever. Now Tomy Roma's is number 2. I don't really like beef but this one, I really like it. We went there without any thought of reserving a table and we arrived there, we were lucky to get a table! It was mother's day weekend and it was fully booked (except 1 table apparently). As usual, every year mak has to paid mother's day dinner :p. You know why, coz mak always forgot my birthday (but remember his son-in-law birthday!) and she will always have to pay the dinner for redemption. Not a model daughter, yes I am.

Besides the 1st weekend that we went to take a break in Penang, other weekends were filled with more house related survey and shopping. It was so tiring and stressful. Why stressful? Coz I need to wear my designer and CFO hat at the same time. While hubby examining and questioning the sales person about a stuff, I quietly open my budget document to see if it is within the budget. Thank you for the invention of smartphone, my CFO work is now paperless. 

The good part of this whole arrangement, I don't have to be the project manager. Oh man, I can't imagine the stress level I will have if I have to be one. I just observed my husband how he has to coordinate the main contractor, sub contractors and the worst of all, the designer which is me! I will freak out for every little details that contractor missed, wrongly did and whenever they send out the invoices. Now every time a small mistake come up, he will say, don't freak out, today I found out bla bla. When he said that, I become calmer and can think rationally.  Haha. I can't help it but this house is our big project and the amount of money we spend just to renovate it, it better be perfect. Now he goes to the site every day as this is the crucial part where they are doing the finishing part. All wet works are done, Alhamdulillah.

The funny part of this whole process is that I have become so attached with this project. I dreamed about the house and missed the house if I didn't see it for few days. I need to see with my own eyes the progress and hubby's pictures are not enough. At work, I talked about it all the time with my colleague who luckily is renovating her house too. We shared ideas and cheap findings and of course sharing our experiences. 

Well, my hubby has made a conclusion that we are not going to do any major renovation again in the future. It is so stressful I tell you. And not good for your relationship too. If you think planning a wedding is already a handful and stressful, wait till you doing major renovating. Trust me, I've done both.

10 Years

10 years ago, your friends told you that we are not suitable for each other.

But you ignored them and asked me to be your girlfriend.


10 years ago, my friends advised me that we shouldn't be together.

But I ignored them and accepted your proposal.



Now, 10 years later, I'm glad you asked me and I said yes.




Happy 10th Anniversary Boyfriend!

Sharing the joy

Wow, it's May already. You know what's mean? It means my birthday is in 4 days and my last birthday in my 20s. Ahh... I'm getting old (wiping sweat). And of course this is my favourite month of the year. My boyfriend and I are celebrating our 10th year anniversary. Yippee..

This year, for this birthday, instead of only receiving, I would like to give. To share this joy with others. No details will be shared on this, coz Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, "Seven (types of) people will be covered with Allah's shade on a day when there is no shade but His Shade, (from among them) a man who gives a charity hiding it, that (even) his left hand does not know what his right hand has spent".

So shhh..

The dream kitchen

We went to meet our kitchen cabinet designer today to see our kitchen design. MasyaAllah, he seemed to be have mind reading power. He drew exactly what is on my mind. No, it's even better. He even remembered what colour I chose. Honestly, I don't even remember telling him that.

Then, he showed the quotation. Tetiba nak pitam tengok total harga.

So anybody out there wants to sponsor this? I will hang your picture in my kitchen. Hehe...

Ps: the renovation is running a bit slow but smoothly. Now, all the tiny little details part is coming soooonnn..

posted from Bloggeroid

Umrah Part 1: Preparing for the journey

The last time I went to Umrah, I told myself that the next visit would be with a husband by my side. Sometimes what you said can be a prayer too and almost 10 years later, I was called by Him to be His guest with a husband by my side. However this time around was the first time I went umrah without arwah Pak and arwah Mek. It really sadden me as they were not joining us not because they are busy or sick but they are already gone. But despite that, I'm glad I'll be going to Mekah and Madinah with my husband. 

I remembered when my husband suggested to go Umrah and the first thing I asked him was, 'Can I go with you?' Of course la can kan... If cannot, WWIII will be happening soon. Haha.. The moment he said yes, I was super happy and suddenly I felt like I want to go now. My longing to Masjidil Haram was unbearable. We wanted to go in Ramadhan last year but the date was too close so we decided to go in December. But we found out that Saudi Arabia didn't give out Umrah Visa yet as it was just right after Haj and they will be issuing the free visa from end of January onwards. I was so disappointed when I heard that. That's mean we have to postpone again. So February I said but then I found out my brother's reception in February. Finally I told my husband, by hook and crook we will go umrah in March. I cannot wait any longer. My heart was crying out loud to be in Mekah and Madinah. Finally, after calculating the perfect date (between my menses cycle), we decided that mid-March is the best time. The good thing about a man that any dates is best for him, but we women, the best is make sure that it will not fall during your period time. If not, rugi la... duduk hotel je la (happened to me once).

Next, finding the travel agent. Previously, all was done by arwah Pak. I just packed my bag and off I went. But now, being an adult come this responsibility. Did you know that there are a LOT of travel agency for umrah in Malaysia alone. All type of packages out there that looked almost the same but different. Pening-pening. Finally we picked the best two based on relatives' recommendations - Andalusia and MAS Holiday. I don't know why but my heart said MAS Holiday so strongly. Finally we decided to take MAS Holiday as their group is quite small compared to Andalusia. And I'm glad I made that decision. They are really good of taking care of the group and provide a lot of extras to us.

Let me give some review of MAS Holiday Lambaian Kaabah package.

Our group was only consisted of 22 jemaah and there were 3 mutawwif that taking care of us - 2 qualified ustaz and 1 trainee. Before departure, they have free kursus umrah in MAS training centre in Kelana Jaya. Since it's under MAS, obviously we will take MAS Airlines. And since we are under MAS directly, we were given seats in upper deck of 747 and I love it coz I don't have to share toilets with a lot of people. Hehe. During ziarah, the mutawwif gave us detailed account of the history of each site we visited. They also have tazkirah in between the prayers which I found it really helpful and insightful. When one of the jemaah is sick, they really take care and always ask us we are ok or need any help. The hotel in both Mekah and Madinah were not far from the mosques and provided ok meals.

However one week before departure, Allah tried me with one of the test - health.  I was so stressful at work as I have to finish all the work before my 2 weeks leave and it was not very helpful to have a boss that make my work slower. Finally I woke up with a painful heartburn which mean my gastritis is back. I went to clinic twice and the doctor wanted to give me MC that I have to decline as I have so many work to do. And at the same time my work laptop couldn't connect to office VPN which mean working from home is out of question. When I can't work from home, my stress level increase tremendously. Zainal was worried coz in few days we are going to umrah and here I was crying in pain. I prayed to Allah please don't let me get sick and please let me have my appetite back. I started to calm and slowly delegated my works to my colleagues and finally one day before the departure, the stressful me was gone and I was so eager to go. I shut my brain from thinking about work and focus to worship to my Creator. 

Alhamdulillah the day finally come.

Can't wait

Alhamdulillah the house renovation is going well. Can't wait to move to our own house. InsyaAllah before Ramadhan we target to move in...

posted from Bloggeroid

Good night sleep

Sometimes in life we took simple little things for granted like good night sleep. After spending 4 nights in the hospital, the first night back at home felt such a bliss that I don't want to wake up at all.

All 4 nights when I was in the hospital, not a single night I slept more than 3 hours straight. The first few nights were terrible. Coughing badly every hour, nose blocked and stomach pain. Then the room was not dark enough as I have to switch on a light for the nurses. Every few hours the nurses would come to take my temperature and blood pressure. At 6am, a medication nurse would come and forced me to take drugs when i'm barely awake. If i'm unlucky, the drip would finish during the night and infusion pump alarm would blasted throughout the night.

So when doctor gave a green light to go home and recover at home, I was excited. The first night at my parents home, I slept like a baby. No more light to be on, nurses waking me up to check my vital and the best of all, my cough and flu has almost stopped which provided me with a good night sleep.

As I awaked on my first morning at home, looking at my loved ones beside me, I realized I never appreciate a good night sleep before. At that moment I felt so grateful as Allah still give me a chance to have a good night sleep. Alhamdulillah...

posted from Bloggeroid

Watching Duke basketball

I know I'm lying if I said I don't miss my life back in US. I've been dreaming in my sleep about places in US these past few weeks. Like I dreamed I went shopping in Marshall's and picnic at Duke Garden. But today, the event that took place in Duke made me missed Durham even more. What else than Duke vs UNC basketball rivalry.

I missed watching Duke basketball live, whether in the stadium itself, with other Dukies around the campus TV or at my apartment. The energy was amazing. To watch live in Cameron Indoor Stadium itself, you have to queue up to 2 hours or more, no matter if it is in winter or spring. Then in the stadium, there's no seating area for the graduate students. So the whole 2 hours game, you are standing up. You are jumping, cheering and shouting all the time. It is so crazy. Crazy beautiful.

This afternoon Malaysia time, there's a match between Duke and UNC at UNC ground. I was following the live updates from tweeter. UNC was leading all the way but few minutes before the game over, Duke was catching up. But the last 10 seconds, something wonderful happened. Austin Rivers got hold the ball and threw it for 3-pointer. The ball went into the hop when the clock turned to zero. And guess what? Duke won by just 1 point. You should see the face of all UNC.. haha.

There's a tradition in Duke, when we won against UNC, we will burn the benches.. Yup, those benches was build for that. The first semester I went to Duke, no benches got burned but lately I realized Duke must been building a lot of benches nowadays. Haha. I witnessed one burning ceremony during my last semester. Again, crazy! Don't worry, we got permit to do that.

Below are the pictures took when I was there in 2010 win!

Waaaa.. I want to go back to Duke, Durham and US. Even just for visiting. Hmmm.. maybe I should ask my company to send me there someday ;)

Ps: there is a saying in Duke and it is GTHC which mean Go To Hell Carolina! 

The making of our dream home: The beginning

One of my new year wish for this year is to move to our own house at least in May. Yes, our own sweet little dream house. I want to record all the journey in building our love nest in this blog of mine. 

The house that we bought is a second hand intermediate double storey linked house that never been renovated since ermm.. 1980s? The good news is that since it is in original state, we can change whatever we want but the bad news is there's a lot of changes need to be done. In short, major renovation!

Me who has an ambition to be an architect (besides astronomer but never engineer) is so happy to take this project especially it's going to be my own house. I declared myself to be the chief of designer and Zainal is of course the project manager. We also have other responsibilities like CFO (me- was forced to) and CEO (Zainal - self-appointed).

However there is a challenge being a designer and also finance controller. How am I gonna let my creative juice flow if every time I saw a beautiful product that suitable for the house, I have to think if this will also fit our budget. OMG, see how evil my husband's plan is. Initially he's the CFO but after hearing all my ideas, he decided I should be both so I can be creative within budget. To tell the truth, it's not easy and very stressful.

Anyway, after scouting for best house loans we finally decided on HSBC as they gave the best rate. Then we just used the lawyer that the bank used for ourselves too. Well, not our best decision as they keep on delaying my request until now. Now, they are my daily call to chase them. What a hassle.

While waiting to get our money for renovating, I started my role. I used Google SketchUp to draw the house plan as I don't have the house plan. We went to the house and measured every area. Then my job was to draw back the sketches accurately using a proper software. I was debating whether to use AutoCad or SketchUp but decided to use SketchUp since it is specialized for drawing building plan and can draw 3D easier than AutoCad. Glad I made that decision as it is indeed easier than AutoCad but the function a bit limited compared to AutoCad. So I recommend to use SketchUp if you want to draw house plan and you are not an architect.

After few discussion with my CEO, we came out with the final design. The house will have a library/study room, bigger kitchen, laundry room (inspired by Meg house in Durham), a glass room (or I called it Zainal's room) and of course a walk-in wardrobe. Other than that, the house will maintain it's original structure. 

We put up a 'board' using majong paper at our rent house that served as out idea board for the project. All ideas, details and processes were pasted there for reference. It was situated at the our dining area and every day we will pass through it. It's a constant reminder about our future house =)

The board at first day (excuse me for the pink wall, my landlord must really love pink & purple coz he painted the whole living room and dining area in these colour):

House plan - the current and proposed plan

Not-so-current idea board (coz now is more crowded than this):

I used post-it note, something that I learned at Duke for brainstorming especially for processes. 

That's all for now. I will continue the next step that we took after we agreed on the design.

From stress to gastric pain to acid reflux to almost asthma

Kekadang bukan bermakna tak boleh memandu boleh buat kerja di rumah, tetapi maksud adalah lebih mendalam dari itu. Kekadang ia adalah indication orang itu tidak sihat dan tak boleh bekerja.

Just because you need something urgent from me, your comment is not relevant anymore. You are the one who delay it, so don't push it to me and made it my urgency.

Haiyooo.. Doktor dah cakap jangan stress tapi macam mana tak stress, baru dapat cuti sakit tak sampai separuh hari pun penuh dengan phone call yang menyakitkan hati. Ok, no more unknown phone call after this. I want to rest and sleep.

posted from Bloggeroid

4 years of bliss

Alhamdulillah today marked the 4th year of our marriage. A blissful union of two best friend and lover.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my beloved husband (my blog biggest fan) "happy 4th anniversary". I wouldn't change anything of what we have and I am so glad to have you as my husband in this life and insyaAllah in hereafter.

To my husband, thank you so much for always be there for me through everything. Thank you for supporting my interest, ideas and opportunities. Thank you for accepting my gaps and challenges. Thank you for being my best friend, my lover and my everything. Thank you for always believe in me, trust me and stay loyal with me. Thank you for everything.

4 years is just a beginning of great life together. We have another 40, 50 or more years ahead of us that will promise more challenges and changes but as long as we stay together and still madly in love, InsyaAllah everything can be faced with open arms.

I pray everyday that our marriage is forever blessed by Allah and will last till the end of our life and continue in heaven InsyaAllah.

posted from Bloggeroid

Cheers to 2011

Today is the 15th day of 2012 and the second day of my sick day. First sick of the year yo! Haha.. Don't worry, Allah wanted to test my iman in new year. I am feeling better now when I have the best husband by my side.

Haven't done the Something Purply new year tradition yet, which is 2011 re-cap. I don't think people really care to read about it but it is for my memory. I don't have a physical diary anymore, so my blog serves as my diary. When I'm down or bored or need to confirm some date, I will read back my blog and reminiscence the good and bad old days. 

What has happened in 2011? To tell the truth, nothing much. Continuing 2010 news, death of close family members was still unavoidable. In June, my uncle that lived in JB passed away on Thursday night. 14 hours later my father in law passed away on Friday morning. Both death were a great shock to us. This kind of death really remind me how death will come to you whether you prepared for it or not. 

Then, few weeks before Ramadhan, my fur kid, Choki passed away too. One of the saddest moment of my life as I watched him died in my care and felt helpless about it. That night I called every veterinary that open 24 hours, but none wants to take in a rabbit. I never felt so helpless and angry at that moment. Worse still, at the last night Choki alive, when half on his body couldn't moved, he tried to walk to an area that he always sat that can see directly to the kitchen because I was there. He wanted to be near us. Oh, I still not ready to have a full post on this. Still crying while typing this.

However, of course there are good news in 2011. Finally we bought a house! Yes, a house under our name and that's mean,  our biggest loan yet. Well, 30 years of loan that it. Where is it? No other than Subang Jaya. Budak Subang will always have their heart to Subang no matter where they go :p

We hardly travel in 2011. One diving trip to Pulau Dayang (again!) and Singapore. That's it. We spend most of our time working our butt off building back our financial stability and progression in career. Alhamdulillah, our hard work paid off with excellent year end performance review and remuneration. 

Oh I joined a new company in April. From small start up company to one of the biggest company in the world. Wasn't a shock to me as the new company is friendly and welcoming me with open arms. It has made the transaction to new environment easier and smoother.

Well, 2011 has been good to us if not great. InsyaAllah, 2012 will bring more good news and happiness all around us.