How fast time flies, less than two weeks before Aidilfitri!
We've got all the basics covered. Kids' baju kurung sent to u'an (as always), ours were considered done(will be wearing the ones made for Alang's wedding) Got my shoes last week, the house is almost squeaky clean thanks to dear's latest toy Karcher water pressure washer ;)

Phewww! We've never been this organized! Always last minute prep. We even got our raya open hse date ready!

However, am pretty much sad that Ramadhan will be over soon :(
Frankly, if we eat regularly just like this, we'd maintain healthy weight.
We were pretty much disciplined when it comes to solat. Never miss Any Subuh! (thanks to sahur)

Hopefully we'll be able to keep the routine, insya Allah!

Off to more chores & cookie baking!

Salam Aidilfitri!

Ramadhan ya Ramadhan!

It feels so serene when Aresha joined us for tarawikh.
She patiently followed us and smiled all through all the rakaat while Zara looking excitedly/amused to see her big sis in telekung!

She also decided to wake up for sahur and already learnt to fast half day!
That's my girl! ;)

As mentioned last Ramadhan, I always look forward for this time of the year to solat together, cook delish juadah for iftar, dear to be home early & now training Aresha the basic essentials of fasting.

Tried new recipe today, deep fried minced chicken+crabstick wontons.
To my surprise both my darlings loved it to bits!
Our iftar is quite simple, rice meals are reserved for sahur.
We only splurged on weekends when having it together with the family.
Last weekend at mak's was like a buffet spread. End up bloating!
Nothing beats buka puasa with the whole Rezas!

This weekend mama invited us over plus I'll throw a bday/buka puasa get-together for my close friends!
Yeay!

What's on the menu? Surprise, surprise!

Island getaway :)

We've been packing since few hours ago and even before we finish I have to go through an article on bringing frozen expressed milk boarding the plane.

There will be a possibility that I might have to dump it all.
There goes hours of hard work and a month supply of milk! What a waste!

I hope I'll be able to pull my best smile and not to get too emotional over this issue.

Lately I've been thinking too much and lash out for tiny little mistake Aresha made.
Not happy with how I'm handling stress and in dire of a short break before coming home fresh and ready for more parenting challenges

Told Aresha way beforehand and preparing her with the transition of staying with Tok Ma.
Mom stayed for few nights to familiarize with the kids.

I was more excited hotel hunting 30 days ago than going tomorrow.
My girls were extremely clingy and 'manja' when I put them to sleep, 4 hours ago.
It's as if they're not letting me go :(
Ah, maybe leaving the kids behind is not as easy as I thought.

Am sure they'll be just fine, i will be fine, definitely ;)

Boys gone wild!

No, no this entry is not a review on a porn vid :P
Don't hold your breath ok?

It's rare to find young boys with such enthusiasm and passionate about life, travels and culture exchange.
Especially locals who thinks they need to compete (read colleague, friends, even family!)

I'm lucky to find such rare gems in Dimaz, Andrei Budiman & Riva ;)

These boys are from Bandung, initially, we met exactly a year ago, while I was preggy with Zara at Dago Atas to be exact.

Andrei is now a famous writer.
Travellous has made me teary eyed and sucked in his humble journey to Europe.
Check out http://travellous.blogspot.com
That's only half the book. I already felt I knew him for years!

These boys are exceptional, sad to see them leave so early, even Zara felt at ease instantly!

This is what I look for in CS, pure fun, no booze needed!
Kayanya mabuk minum teh tarik yaaa gitu!

I heart them!

It's not always that all of us three could hang out together.
Normally, just me & Nad or Ain et moi

This time we didn't plan much ahead, exchanging smses a week earlier, voila!
Last Saturday we were reunited!

So much has changed, physically & also emotionally ;)

I'm glad that Nad is moving to greener pasture now (believe me, you're doing great now!)
Ain also has her own great news which I won't elaborate until she post in her blog ;)
(Updated: She finally got transferred back to HKL on Monday, hooray!)

We didn't actually walk around, just moving from a cafe to another (which annoyed Aresha until she settled for pen & papers)
So much to talk about, luckily Zara slept most of the time.

Promised each other that we would do this more often, let's catch a movie next okay?

To be honest, it was a really short get-together. I already miss them when the day is over.

Babes, so glad that we found each other & become bffs after all these years!

YOU made it all worth it ;)

No matter how long & tiring my day was, these two babies of mine never make me regret on the choice that I made almost 6 years ago.
How can a simple chuckle, laughter, cheekiness & simple answer overcome the need to have a huge paycheck?

Mama asked me, "Don't you miss working?"
To be honest ma, I don't.
Not even a single bit.

Watching them grow right in front of my eyes is the biggest salary one could ever ask for ;)
Aresha knows when I'm pissed (with her). Her damage control would be.
"I'm sorry mommy, Aresha sayang mommy sangat," followed by a hug.
Now, at that age i didn't know how to pujuk my mother!
She didn't know either.
It was a spontaneous act of love :)

Graceful failure

'If the kids are united, they will never be divided!'

Sham '69 sure got it right to the bone ;)

The so-called event we tried to organize wasn't as successful as we hope for, blergh!

Lack of publicity and too much conspiracy over unnecessary stuffs.

We're just NOT ready to hold such events until we finally unite and get the right people to work together.
No hidden agenda, please. This is a non-profit organization. If we choose to be transparent, then, for God's sake, be transparent.


That aside, I am utterly baffled when it comes to people who thinks that being a SAHM is not as important as some professional job.
Please, if you're not a mother, just reserve your impression/ comments/assumption later when you have your gossip sessions with your friends. Don't be so insensitive. The world does NOT revolve around you.

Yeah, thank you. This is my rants/delayed update :P

Family getaway

We've just returned from a hellish bus ride from Kuala Besut early Wednesday morning.
I couldn't sleep the first three hours wondering if we could make it in one piece or be in the frontpage of national newspaper :P

Wedding went smoothly and KB has opened my eyes, truly new experience, everything is so different here, takes a while to adapt.

The family getaway was freakin' awesome! Imagine having siblings and spouses together for 3D/2N!
Private yacht and snorkel instructor!
Not to forget the food! If only we have fridge and microwave oven!

Of course, there's always someone who thinks he can do better, but screw them :P
We had so much fun and so much tanned!

Too many pics to choose from, will upload soon!


If only the 'real world' is that beautiful ;)

KISS!

Skuirtgun tweeted me on this new release ;)
He'll get it for me, yippee yeay!

Goes matchy-matchy with my el-cheapo Kiss tee.

I'm walking on clouds now~

wolekom!

Aresha cracked me up this evening.
I handed her slices of orange, her favorite fruit btw.
She forgot to say thanks.

I reminded her, " Did you forget something?'

"Oh, Thank you, mommy,WOLEKOM!"

I was like, 'Assalamulaikum' correcting her la konon.

Then I realized, she meant "Welcome"
LOL! Kids say the darndest thing, don't they? ;)

Too many things so little time!
May seems to pass oh so rapidly!
We have family wedding and getaway scheduled end of the month till early June ;)

Quite occupied with the CS City Attack Fest meetings and whatnots.

Did managed to check out Tenderfist + Homogenic and catch up with bff Ain :) Awesome!
Haven't met her since Lekman's @ Annexe! Waaaay too long!
Sorry darl you almost become my personal doctor pulak, teehee!
Loving ur new look!

Skuirtgun was being so sweet to let me stay till the wee hours ;)

I had so much fun just chit chatting accompanied by all these talented musicians.
Next time, Nad should join us, right, Ain?

Tweet & market view

I think I've tweeted about feeling trés content since I got my fridge fully restocked!
Went Pasar Pudu (by far the best wetmarket ever! Even Chef Wan said so!)
spent RM100 for bags full of fresh crabs, big prawns aka udang galah, tilapia merah, tomatoes, squid, etc. So satisfying and I should bring my camera next time!

I'm only motivated to experiment and cook fancy stuffs when i have everything in the fridge, so far we had eggplant pizzas, all made from scratch, tonight we'll be having chili crab and maybe buttered prawn along with zucchini and eggplant tempura, yummm!

I guess i have a new passion, reviewing markets!
When we were in Europe i spent hours @ Barcelona Merkat and Portobello....
Now where do i start?

Hyped!

Gone are my gloomy days I'm now ready for a new challenge.
Something big is coming....
That will be announced..... by the end of this week!

I'm keeping myself busy bee, with the chores the weekly menu, tutoring and sometimes babysitting (not my kids, :P, the neighbour's kids)

Last Saturday we checked out dear's new office. Bigger space to give way for Mr. CD!
Minimalize yet chic. I think he's loving his new job, though it needs time to familiarize with ;)

So much for nothing

Friends advised me to not get affected by this.
I tried.

Why can't they leave me alone?

Politics is just everywhere.

I don't wanna get sucked in.

From now on, ignorance is bliss.
It will remain that way I'm afraid.

Friends and dearest, you know who you are thank you for being my pillar of strength.

That aside, i love the fact that Nad is glowing ;-)
We met for quick lunch and she's prettier than ever!
Babe, I'm happy for you!

Newborn are just beautiful :)

Congratulations to Renee & Josh on the birth of Maxence aka Taco
Beautiful baby :)

Home birth which I wish I could.
The comfort of own bed and surroundings, ahhh!

Now that makes me feel like having another baby, but wait! Zara needs me, but I'm absolutely sure she's not gonna be the last ;)

The sisters I love :-)

What a joy to have these two girls :))

Aresha adores her sister with a hint of 'geramness'
Look at her expression, she would pinch Zara's cheeks as if she's a doll!

They're gonna be bff, like any sisters would ;)

Hosting & loving it!

It's been a while since we last hosted, January that is!

So, having new baby doesn't stop us from doing so, apparently!

We had fun times with Mads & Sarah, look @ the dinner they made for us, yumm!
even our cats loves her, sleeps with her every nite!

Our previous hosts in BKK & Barcelona is coming, next week & June, yeay!

Saturday nite out

I'm just hopeless when it comes to updating this blog.
H.o.p.e.l.e.s.s

Talk about hopeless, the supposedly thirty minutes Walk of Hope didn't go as scheduled, lasted only for ten minutes and the organizer had a brilliant idea lighting up the candle in a papercup. VERY environmental friendly.

We wasted our time there quickly redeemed by girly,cheesy naan session. I had two of those heavenly naan btw.
A CS couple joined us a petite Greek guy & his Lithuanian wife. They are just soooo enthusiastic telling us stories and jokes.
A lesbian joke that I only find funny when he explained it to me, lol!
And i wish i knew about Oxfam when we were in UK.
They both made it easy for us to have a conversation.
I didn't take any pictures, i'd be the last to upload anyway, but girls,my R's you guys made my day!

Bkk, Burapa & a lot of love!

Just came back last Tuesday from much deserving break .
He had to finish his previous year annual leave.
Burapa Bike Week '09 coincides with V day, what can I say, perfect timing!

Last year we went sans fille , this time with deux filles in tow :)

Well, fun isn't "the" word, I'd be lying if I say that it's not tiring, but definitely worth every sweat seeing Aresha enjoying every bits (especially the hostel part) & Zara's beautiful smile, every morning (and everytime we retire from all the shopping & sightseeing)

We never celebrated V- day , however dear was being so sweet & oh sooooo romantic by getting me a bouquet of roses (which I proudly brought home in one piece, ha!) when he went out on his own to get us coffee & snacks :)

Ok, enough of that, heres' some snippets of our first family holiday with Zara :)

The day he got" Mark"ed!

Someone smiling from ear to ear yesterday :)
We saw this at the boutique before raya and now he's wearing it to work!

It wasn't an easy decision to make but in the end it makes us all happy.

*and that's a rare smile from him, my Reza hardly smile on camera ;)