Saturday, March 28, 2009

Leaving for Umrah

I will be away for awhile. Not sure if there is an oppprtunity to update my blog but then I assume I would be busy doing other things where I am going.

My family and I will be going to Medina and Mecca to perform our umrah. Our flight leaves tomorrow, March 29, at 3pm and we will return, God willing, on April 9.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any shortcomings on my part. To my dear friends, please forgive me for anything I have said or done. God bless!

Little Zadie

My cousin Alia has just emailed me latest pictures of her first child, Zadie. I had updated pictures of Zadie at birth. She is growing up to look like such a darling!

Too bad Alia and Zadie live all the way on the other side of the globe in LA, USA if not I would love to cuddle this one.
Zadie and her proud mother. Don't they look lovely!



Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Trip of A Lifetime

I will be going for a trip on Sunday. A trip I have been waiting for quite some time now. No, its not Paris. Better than that. Will be going to do my umrah, insyaallah. Best part is, the whole family will be going. Yes, even little Ali.

Am really looking forward to this trip as I have wanted to go for quite some time now. The last time I almost could go but didn't. Bob went in 2007 but I was carrying Ali, I was 7 months already I think, so I stayed home. Was so sad then.

This time, God has opened his heart and Bob agreed that we all go. Alhamdulillah. It will be for 12 days. We will be back, insyaallah, on April 9. The girls will be missing school. It will be an out of classroom experience which I hope they will remember. They are so lucky to be able to go at such a young age. Oh ya! Taking the maid too. She is so happy to get to go.

I have put aside some clothing to bring along already but still have some last minute things to buy. I have to think for four people now including me and that can be quite taxing. I am trying my level best to relax as I really don't want to be stressed out.

I am not sure what to expect when there and what it will be like with the kids, but I plan to keep the mind as open as possible and not create expectations for myself. I have received advice from my friends and also my mom. Thank you all, I appreciate the kind thoughts. As one of my good friends just said, "Go with zero expectations and come back with immesuarable spiritual satisfaction." God willing ...

I have been there before also to do the umrah but as I was telling my friends, I was young then and did not fully appreciate the experience. This time I feel I am mentally and emotionally prepared and I know what my purpose is. When I went in 1992 I was still so young and naive and not at all as I am now. I didn't fully understand the reason for our being and our existence. Age does these things to you I guess.

I really feel now is the best time for me to go. Maybe it would be best to do it alone some of you may argue and not with the children. The thing is I can't bear to leave them for so long and I want them to experience it. To be aware of spiritual essence at an early age.That is my wish and desire but I can only plan, the rest is up to the All Mighthy. But as my alma mater goes: Do your best and God will do the rest. AMIN

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Historical City of Melaka

I had a good day today. I had organised a trip for reporters to take a trip to Melaka to look and understand some of the conservation and restoration works undertaken by my new client, The Department of Heritage. I took Najihah with me to expose her a little to Melaka and its history. She enjoyed it too although some parts were a little boring for her.

All in all it was a good trip and I learnt a little myself about how tedious it can be to actually undertake such a task as restoring something that not many people really give much thought. It is quite sad actually that when you talk about it, restoring and preserving I mean, people will look at you blankly. When the historical items are gone they begin to question. When they are preserved and made brand new for our rakyat to enjoy and remember the history they ask why. Whatever it is, what the department is doing is a commendable job. I am not saying that just because they are my clients but because I too want to share with my children and possibly with their children how our country came about. Wouldn't you?!?

Our first stop was in Kota Melaka itself where we were taken to the old HSBC building on Jalan Bandar Hilir. It is a very old building which has not been torn down and the department has taken over. They plan to restore it to its original look and feel. Once thart is done, they will use the building as a gallery for all to enjoy. The good thing about this is I learnt they will use the original paint colour of way back then. That is so good to hear because honestly, our municipal and some Government offices just do not know how to use colour wisely. They do not seem to understand warm and hot and cool colours. They also do not seem to understand how colour can set the mood and tone. Can you imagine how ugly the fire department looks like all bathed in pink. I mean really ...come on lah! Go for a course for god's sake. Learn some colour and aesthetics.

Okay ... back to the story. After a few sights around Kota Melaka, we went up to Merlimau. This is bordering Johore. There is an old house there dating to 1894. It was owned by a Penghulu or village leader. Very nice house! Typical kampung Melaka house. He was also very rich which is why his house used paint. It was a very colourful house, looked almost like Lego if I may add...

This is Najihah and me at a pelamin or dais found in the main part of the house. I wonder what he did with it!

This is the house. It looks very quaint and is really a pleasant sight when you drive by it. It is taken care by one of the family members. He is the 8th generation.


The house had all these old tiles. Some are replicas because the original ones were broken. But I love these old tiles. At one time I wanted to look for them and place them all over my kitchen but they would cost too much and I didn't want replicas.

This is one of the department's offices explaining how they found the original paint of the old HSBC bank. I was quite impressed that they actually had the inkling to use the original colour hence the picture.


The old bank actually had the safe room still intact. The department also plans to keep the room and the door there. How nice!

This is Najihah at the water wheel. It overlooks the Straits of Malacca and is situated just next to the Bastion Middleburgh, which is the old fort used by the Dutch. Oh ya ... you can see the Eye of Malaysia from here. It is standing on reclaimed land by the way and the ride is cheaper now that it has been moved to Melaka. RM10 only. I wanted to take Najihah up initially but it rained in the afternoon.

Najihah standing on the fort of Bastion Middleburgh....very clean and well landscaped place. Across the water is Jonkers Street.

This is just outside the HSBC building and is Bastion Frederick Hendrick. It is considered an archaelogical sight and they had discovered 4 skeletons there over the years.

I didn't get the time to look around the rest of the city. But I did catch glimpse of the many colourful beca's or trishaws driving around with locals and tourists. The trishaws were a little too made up for my liking and they had radios blaring too. Not a bad idea but now when reggae or techno music was blasting from the speakers.
I wouldn't mind going to Melaka again. Maybe just a day trip lah!





Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Petrosains --- Ggggrrooowwwllll....

The girls are always bugging me to take them to Petrosains and I always argue and say they are too young and not that interested in science yet to actually read all the exhibits to fully understand what it all means.

Today I gave in although I would have enjoyed Aquaria better. For one there is less time spent there, albeit more money for the entrance fee, and watching fish swim around seems more relaxing than reading about science and kinetics if you ask me!

Oh well, I also found out why they like to go to Petrosains. It's those cars that you have to ride on going in and out. Oh dear....I bet they would love Disneyland then eh!!!! But anyways, I made them go through everything and I think they enjoyed it. How did I find out it was those cars, which according to the exhibit directory is the car ride through darkness or something morbid like that lah, is because when we arrived the cars were not functioning so we had to walk into the exhibit area.

They were having this dinasour exhibition too so we went in there first. It was a small exhibit only but very impressive I must say. The dinasours were live like and robotic. So they actually moved. I had to tell Nadiah over and over that they were not alive, it was robotic. The thing that surprised me most was that Ali did not even flinch. I was expecting him to get all excited at the sight of those giants moving around but he just sat in his stroller looking the least impressed. He gets more excited when he sees the kittens!


The only part Ali seemed to like about the whole exhibit was the playtime in this lorry. It was an exhibit on how kinetics work. I can't remember what exactly it was about now but I know it amused him cause he has this thing for buses, lorries and cars. He also got very excited when he saw the F1 car of exhibit. Too bad he is too young to ride in the cars, they had the video game version where you can actually drive it. Like in the video game parlours.
This is the biggest of the exhibits at the dinosaur area. The caption on this exhibit was interesting. These two dinasours are fighthing so which do you think will win. It actually had sounds coming out too, growling and all.

Of course this was the highlight of the show for many visitors. Petrosains was packed and we were that at 10am. There were many school trips. So nice to see the place doing well.

This dinasour was laying eggs and eagerly watching over them hatching. Nadiah insisted I take a picture of the eggs to show Bob!

See how Ali looked when the dinasours were figthing! It is so unlike him!!! I think he had a good time all in all. I guess next best place to take them is the National Science Centre. At least no chances of retail damage there (for the mama lah!!!)

Monday, March 16, 2009

Can I Do Nothing ....

School holidays are here. And we have nothing planned so far. Well, it is only for a week and how much can be done in a week anyways. I assume Bob is busy cause he has not said anything about going anywhere either.

Of course I can think of taking them to many places but then again, I am happy to just sit back and enjoy not having to drive them around this whole week. That is just bliss!!! Besides, the week will go by so fast and before you know it, it will be Monday again and the whole routine will be back in gear.

I was thinking of taking them to Genting Highlands though. Najihah has been asking to experience a cable car ride. What do you think? Is it worth it? I have been up only once and that was when it first opened. I remember the ride up and down being really scary. I am a bit wary of heights see!

Other than that, there is the usual Aquaria, Petrosains and what not. Maybe I should attempt the zoo. Hmmmm... now that is a thought. Or maybe Sunway Lagoon's petting zoo is good enough lah. Our national zoo is just so far away!

What else to do other than that! Like I said, it is my holiday too. And I want to do absolutely nothing!

Poor Little Kitten

I should take the pictures before telling you the story but I don't have time. I must tell you this story and I can only imagine what your reactions would be.

Ali almost killed the kittens. Yes, he did. And how he did it will get you cringing. My cat, her name is Komek (courtesy of my little sister, Aishah), was here in this house before we moved in. When we moved in we decided to just take care of her. She cleaned up pretty good after that and has a whole string of litters. I think I have written about her before and how I have a pet cemetary going here. Well, just to recap then, many of her litter have died. She just had two more kittens.

Really cute they are. One is jet black and the other is black and white. Najihah named the latter snowflake. The black cat has no name yet. Well of course Ali has taken a real liking to the kittens and we make it a point to never and I mean NEVER leave him with the kittens.

The other day he almost crushed one of them to death with his little hands. We heard the little kitten squeeling and quickly saved it. But the other day we were all too late to stop him. He came down and being the sprinter he is, he ran straight to the kittens, picked them both up and sat down. He has silently observed how lovingly his sisters play with the kittens and I guess he was trying to do the same,

He sat down with them and with each kitten in each hand, he whisked them in the air and threw them across the room. AHHHHHhhhhh.... the screams from his sisters. We are just so lucky they are alive. But alas, blackie was all quiet on the floor. We all panicked and worried it was dead. Slowly, it twitched and moved. It got up ever so slowly and crawled slowly. Slowly, it was on its legs. I thought the little kitten was crippled but a few days later we noticed the kitten's head was not straight anymore! Arrrgghhhhh ... ALI!!!!!

I have to take the poor little kitten to the vet now . Sigh ....

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

My Little Ali

Ali is growing up so fast and before you know he will be two years old come July. It has been an eventful 20 months with Ali around. He keeps us on our toes. Which explains why my waist is slimmer these days!

Today I caught him climbing up all the way to the top of our wooden doors. And no, before you ask, he does not watch spiderman!

He can say more words these days and understands the meaning. He says "nice" very well and finishes it off with "mmmmmm". He knows when to use it too and it is mostly food related. But the other day in the car I was putting up some lipstick and he was looking at me so adoringly and he said "nice". I was impressed! I think only my son will love me so unconditionally.

Isn't he adorable? Melts my heart when he smiles. Sigh ... many of my friends say he looks more like Bob these days. Ya, well ... he is still my apple!

Whenever I am having a bad day, Ali will always make me happy....

GGG --- 1st Year Anniversary

It may seem a little childish to actually name our clique but we did! We named ourselves GGG. Nevermind what it stands for. That is a state secret! Only the 12 of us know what it means. We were always friends in school, some of us a little closer to each other than the others. We all got along well together. We had good laughs in school and did good and naugthy things together too.

Of course life and family catches up on us and we did not always stay in touch with each other. But last year we rekindled an old flame and we found that we enjoyed each other's company very much. The year was great with each other.

Since that meeting on March 1 2008, it seems like we have not gotten enough of each other. We met regularly for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner , supper, movies and even holidays together.

We turned 1 on March 1 and we celebrated the best way we know how. With loads of food and each other!

This is GGG ... my friends ...
There were many more dishes that night as we organised a barbecue but of course dessert is always the highlight for us! This is our official birthday cake, the yummylicious-to-die-for-cheesecake with some strawberries for added flavour!

Ahhhh ... our kids. They have also grown to be good friends. Some of them even keep in toucjh regularly with each other. It is so nice to see them warm up to each other after a year! Especially my two girls as they found it hard to mix at first cause of the different age groups. Yes, we have differents set of ages here. From teenagers (the eldest is 15) to the little ones and the babies of course. Oh dear ... I forgot what was the headcount for the kids. Definitely more than 12 lah


We celebrated one of the birthday's that day. It was Adeen's. When we met a year ago, we celebrated her birthday also. I think that fact brought tears to many of our eyes ...

They seem to love the camera don't they. Such a darling sight. Oh yes ... I do know that we have more boys than girls.

Ali doesn't have friends yet as the one closest to him is a girl and the next boy is 4 so ... he found solace in looking into the ice box!

I know some of our other friends will complain that our pictures are all they see in Facebook. What to do, we just love the camera. No lah, we want to make sure we record every single moment together.
The year has been a blast hasn't it girls? Enjoyed every minute of it and here is to many more ....!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Belgian Chocolate Anyone? It's A Great Pick-Me-Upper

I have not written much this week. Feel a bit burned out actually. Today I told another parent at school how I can't wait for the school holidays to come as I feel bored. Not tired. Bored. Yes, bored of sending and picking them from school. Bored of having to make sure they get ready on time. Bored of the tantrums of why must we and so on and so forth. I can't wait for next year when they will both be in the same session. Then again, maybe its just me PMSing ... I feel bored about so many things today.

I wish the wind will blow me away. Blow me away to Paris. Blow me away to any part of France. I wish I could be there. That is where I want to be right now.

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had done something differently way back then. It is not so much a What If question but just a wondering question. Not sure what the difference is lah.

I wish sometimes our schools believed in education out of the classroom. But for that I must have lots of money right. Then I would take my kids away at least for 3 months out of school and we can see the world together. I am sure taking them backpacking in India would teach them more about being humble than one year in school.

Yes, there are so many things I wish now. I think its not bored with school as I said earlier. I think its just bored today. PMSing. Must be lah. What else could it be. Bet whoever reads this will also be wondering what is wrong with her today. Sigh.

I know what will cheer me up. Not that I am feeling down. I am just feeling bored. That's all. Bored. And retail therapy is out of the question. Last week bought a pair of gorgeous slippers from Stuart Weitzman. I shouldn't have but it was just gorgeous, had my name all over it. It is pink. Maybe that's why. I love pink. One of my girlfriends scolded me the last time I wanted to buy another pink handbag. I love pink. What to do. I have all shades of pink handbags. Yea ... well ... I love pink. Hehehehe...

I am also a bit upset with Facebook past few days. They were having some problems and I could not open Scrabble. I still can't open it today and all my friends can. I am upset with that too. Maybe that is the actual root of the problem.

I know what will cheer me up. For now at least. Haagen Daaz Belgian Chocolate. YUMMY!

Have a good weekend!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Lantern and Fairies

I didn't realise it but Najihah has been counting how many birthday parties she went to this year. I think she said 5. I can't remember either. I have yet to ask her which one she enjoyed best. Am sure she will say her cousin's Maryam because it was at KidzSports. They just love the place.

We went to another birthday over the weekend, my BFF who stays in Puchong. She took the easy way out and celebrated both her daughter, Alya, and son's, Ali Imran, birthdays together. The birthdays are about a month apart.

Alya had these beautiful cupcakes (which were delicious too) for her cake. I just loved the fairies. The artwork on these cupcakes are exquisite don't you think. They were very competitively priced too!
Ali Imran had Thomas and friends cupcakes. Oh ya, Alya's cupcakes were vanilla and Ali's was chocolate. The girls only had the vanilla ones and there were no complaints until they started eating the fairy. Najihah, Nadiah and Maryam shared one and when they started eating the body parts of the fairy ( hmmmm....) they exclaimed in unison, "Oh MY! It tastes terrible!" Well, just as well as you shouldn't be eating all that sugar!

The kids having fun at the only game they played. There is Ali, Nadiah, Najihah, Maryam and Farris

Aren't the paper lanterns just beautiful. A lot of planning went into this. Come to think about it, this is first at home party for the year. I liked it ... the decor and ambience was so cool and relaxed!

The party was held at night. It was a barbecue and my dear friend went through a lot of trouble to make paper lanterns and decorate the house with them. It was really very pretty with fairy lights and all. The sad thing was it rained!

Only one game was managed and this is Najihah looking oh so bored! They kept on asking me to get more games going. It was raining cats and dogs out there!

All in all, it was a good party. Happy Birthday to Alya and Ali Imran!

Billu Barber ...When Lah!

I have not had the chance to watch it but am just dying too! I can give you a review of it from what I have read but then you can go and find websites yourself to do that. The thing is, it is only showing at Sunway Pyramid and Mid Valley and of course the show times are really odd.

I hope to be able to watch it on Friday night, or perhaps Thursday. Two of my girlfriends already said wait for the VCD lah and only my other die-hard fan, Miss Shuriana, is anxiously waiting for me to give her a date!
Billu tells the story of a simple ordinary man, Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irrfan Khan), living in a small town with his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and two kids. His life undergoes a drastic change as superstar Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) visits the village for a film shoot. Everything changes. Things go from good to bad to worse to good again.

SRK's track is equally fascinating and only spices up the proceedings. In fact, Priyadarshan has amalgamated the three songs (featuring SRK with Deepika, Priyanka and Kareena) in the narrative smartly. Not once do you feel that you're watching two stories concurrently. The best part of the enterprise is its climax. The superstar recalls his humble beginning and how his friend stood by him in times of crisis. The writing is brilliant and SRK only takes the scene to greater heights with his terrific portrayal.

Some people think this is the movie that he shot here in Malacca which rewarded him with the Datuk title. It is not lah! That was an older movie.
I can't wait to see it! Will tell you all about it then ...