2 in 1

Sana', my Algerian friend texted me last Saturday afternoon. She wanted to hold a surprised bday party for her bestie, Wani who happens to be one of my closest friends too. Last Saturday was Azalea's bithday FYI. She turned 1 dat day! WOWZER, it really had been a year already, aye? So, instead of celebrating only Wani's bday we ended up celebrating Azalea's as well. Hey, that lil pow-wow was such a good opportunity to catch up with my friends and their latest goings-on in their lives.

To the birthday girls, Wani & Azalea:

May Allah shower both of you with His mercy and forgiveness

AND

May each and every passing year bring you wisdom, peace and cheer!

Liana +Me+ Azalea+Amal+Nicky+Wani (Sana took this pix).

Don't mind her. She doesn't mean to be rude.

Mommy and the birthday gals.

The birthday cake - cheesy choc!

p/s: Thanks 'aunties' for throwing me this party. (on behalf of Azalea, lol)!

To Azalea:

Hey we're (mom+dad) gonna celebrate your real birthday with a partay that suits your age along with a group of suitable peers, thehehehehe) real soon. But let's wait for dad first, okay? Love ya!

My sweetie pie!

Of late, she's quite cranky. Perhaps, sebab bile kat umah just ade kami berdua. Unlike kat nursery yg penuh dengan manusia. Skang dah pandai main and pandai buat orang ketawa. Sheesh!Sungguh tak kupercaya dia akan menginjak ke umur satu tahun in this short time! Walau sampai umo 30 tahun sekalipun, you will always be my baby!

Happy Birthday Octoberians.

Happy birthday to these October babies! *hope it is not too late.

1st - My dad

6th - My one and only baby brother

7th - My other half (encik hubby lerrr)

12th - My nephew Danish

21st - My baby sister, Ijah.

And a very happy anniversary to my parents (13th October 2011), 27 years of sharing! We love you to the point of no return.

"Semoga Allah panjangkan umur and murahkan rezeki kalian. Amin."

Our still-under-construction property!

We believe that there's no other place like home and because of this too, we didn't mind to put our back into getting the right house to live in. This house proves that love at a first sight does exist. An embodiment of a true-blue infatuation, I must insist.

Anyway and anyhow, to cut a long story short, this house and its atmosphere are just perfect for our lil family and we definitely can tell when a house is right for us. Instinct works wonders, fellas! It's really like we get strong flutters when we are in the house. In certain conditions, our hearts might palpitate as well :)

With Allah's blessings and mercy, insyaallah this house would bring all the joy and happiness to its dwellers. Amin!

The master bedroom

Via the guest room

The front view of the house.

Our side lawn

A "convertible" utility room

The front lawn

The hall

The family lounge

The staircase

The other part of the living hall

Our house rear view

A view via our dry kitchen.

The patio

The hall in full view.

Our mini store

The house in full view

The Pak Gad's house.

A Home Song

by Henry Van Dyke

I read within a poet's book
A word that starred the page:
"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage!"

Yes, that is true; and something more
You'll find, where'er you roam,
That marble floors and gilded walls
Can never make a home.

But every house where Love abides,
And Friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home-sweet-home:
For there the heart can rest

~The end~

http://www.kotasas.com.my/bayu-ground.html

Panggilan Haji.

Selamat menunaikan rukun islam ke 5 wahai mak, ayah and tok.

Semoga memproleh haji yang mabrur.

We miss you guys to the max!

p/s: Teringin ke Makkatul Mukarramah and Madinatul Munawwarah, pronto!

A small step that can make a huge difference!

Hari Rabu adalah hari ke pasar malam. Time study dulu pegi pasar malam just nak cari food untuk pre-dinner, dinner and supper (gile pelahap). But now, things have changed. Now, pasar malam kat KL ni is the best place to get fresh meat, fish, vegies yada yada yada.

Sedang-sedang mencuci mata.

Bumped into this kakak yg jual barang2 mainan.

I took a great look at them and found tada..................

A so-called lappy for kids and to a great surprise I bought it for only RM15! The best thing about this pasar malam lappy is that it is a bilingual lappy. This multi-function lappy is of two languages: Arabic and English. It's worth every penny of mine, I tell you. The fact that I could not find laptops for kids yg dijual commercially yg gune Arabic had made me actually bought it.

The thing is, I want Azalea to be exposed to Arabic especially since she has already receive tremendous input of English via her morning cartoon programs. So I guess this is a good head start to get her acquainted with that language and hopefully she could learn it easily someday due to this little exposure, amin. To my knowledge, this lil exposure will be restored somewhere in her mental lexicon to the extent that next time, when she's ready to learn Arabic, her restored language input is ready to be triggered and learning Arabic would not be something impossible, insyaallah.

*I hope that this will have a significant effect on you supaya senang belajar Arabic later on in your life, Insyaallah*

Kisah suami isteri

Here I am lazing on my bed on this not-so-peaceful Friday morning. I can hear all sort of noises from my bedroom window. Children and their high-pitched roars. That indicates nothing but sheer happiness. Azalea is still soundly asleep and her beautiful slumber is still not being affected at all by the irritating yet negotiable sound waves. The usual Friday mornings are so unlike this one today.

Before me and Takim went to sleep last nite, we had a disagreement. A disagreement about Malaysian films. Not a blatant disagreement. I'd see it more like a banter rather than a debate between two opponents. thehehehehe. Kelakar la jugak since dua-dua dah jadi macam pengkritik filem la plak. Initially, he asked me to go out and catch this new movie yang his fav. actor berlakon. My reply was "I don't think we should spend around rm20 for that so-called comedy. It is not comical pon. Not funny at all and it doesn't deserve our RM20!" To my disbelief, he blew a sharp response defending the actor including the director... bla bla bla and the next thing we know, we woke up late this morning when he actually had to rush for a short course at Concorde, KL. That surely served us rite...

My husband kate saya tak chill and xsupport Malaysian films.

I beg to differ!

My two cents' worth:

I am not trying to be critical here. This is just a layman's humble opinion. I think my opinion is worth to be heard. It is not that I don't appreciate Malaysian movies or films. In fact, I do! I love Yasmin Ahmad's, Afdlin's and some other Malaysian-made masterpieces. As for comedies, I appreciate good comedies since I love to have one hell of a laugh. We rarely have good comedies that we can really be proud of. My only resentment is that either we realize it or not, we are surrounded by heaps of junks. Comedies yang got no values except for massive lawak murahan. Ini belom masuk lagi bab2 story line yg tah hape2 and acting yang ___________ (please fill in the blank with your own adjective). Scarry! Ni mende2 yang sgt transparent and you dont even have to be an expert to notice such flaws!

Just so you know Takim...

Those are the very reasons why I resort myself to the avoidance strategy. Don't get me wrong. Tapi, I still bleh teman u to watch your movies yg I can tolerate cam KL Gangster tu...Any movies yg I rase worth our RM20. I just avoid myself from watching any crappy stuffs so that I can live my life without wondering why on earth they are ever made? I prefer to exercise one of my rights as a free human being by forbidding myself from being fooled by those movies yg meant to fool me. Okay. I love you! You know I would trade 100 best movies in for you! As long as you are happy.

Got to break some eggs then...

Azalea has never had eggs in her diet at all. I learned that she can now enjoy eggs once in a while. Am gonna give these fab recipes a shot. Thanks to Momtastic (my baby food guru).

1. Crack an egg and separate the white from the yolk (you may use the shell for this or use an egg-separator)
2. Warm olive oil or butter in a frying pan
3. Scramble the yolk in a bowl with formula, breast milk, juice or whole milk and transfer to frying pan
4. Cook over medium heat, scrambling constantly, until thoroughly cooked

** You may also add items such as pureed (or small diced & soft cooked) broccoli, carrots, peas etc...makes great finger food.

EASY Meats and Protein "Dinners" and Combinations for Babies

Baby's First Omelet

Ingredients:

2 Egg Yolks
Milk or Formula
Puréed or Chunky Veggies
Cheese

Directions:

Prepare a small frying pan with a pat of butter or a dab of olive oil and heat
Scramble egg yolks & Milk or Formula in bowl then pour egg mixture into heated pan.
Scramble egg mixture until almost cooked and add veggies.
Cook until egg mixture is no longer runny.

Add small bits of shredded cheese (Swiss, American, Cheddar or Parmesan)
Scramble again when cheese has melted.

Serve with Fruit Dices, Yogurt, and/or Petite Toast Points with Fruit Purée Spread.

Great for Lunch or Dinner too. Ensure that the Baby Omelet has cooled enough for Baby to eat. (Please use only those ingredients that baby has eaten without any allergic reactions.)

They sound easy-peasy huh!

Daydreamers and their dream abode!

It had never occurred to us to own any property real soon before we met si Faisal ni time raya aritu. Ye la, I'm not working, and that leaves mr hubster as the sole breadwinner of our lil family. Tapi, setelah berborak2 ngan si Faisal (Takim's colleague) pasal rumah Bayu yg he bought @ KotaSAS Kuantan really opened our eyes that hey, we actually can own the same type of house too! Before this, we were sooo overly paranoid about the sum of money that is needed to be spent monthly if we bought the same house as Faisal's.

So, both of us the eager beavers went to the sales gallery in Kuantan. We couldnt enter the show house since someone bought it already mehh. Dah tak bleh nak berangan. Tapi, both of us dah berangan siap2 when we browsed thru the website prior to our visit. We scrutinized and inspected the house like nobody's business. Aiyooh... nak beli rumah got to be extra careful since the price is quite pricey to us still.

Quick overview:

Dual Frontage.

Double-storey semi-d.

Got 5 rooms (3 bedrooms, 1 guest room, 1 utility yg sgt besar boleh jadi bilik maid-if we wanted to hire one la).

4 bathrooms (amik kau!)

Wet n Dry kitchen

Siap ade mini store belah luar umah.

Memang suke la umah ni head to toe! Memang berangan habis!

But wait!

Kena tunggu loan kena approve dulu baru boleh berangan tak hengat. Alamak kna berangan smp sini dulu.Loan dah approve baru boleh berangan.Nevertheless, I think my hubster yg berangan lebih2 pulak.tsktsktsk.Whatever it is diharapnye adelah bank yg nak kasik loan worth 400k. Amin. Insyaallah.

p/s: memang selambe gile la klu nk beli umah ni dgn keje yg tatau dapat ke tak kat kuantan nye..hadoii..Quite risky tapi, we believe that it is never too soon to own assets kan. Harga rumah n tanah makin naik. Let's grab this opportunity and leave everything to Allah.

Words of wisdom:

Your future depends on your dreams,

so......

go to sleep!PRONTO!

Moral of the story? Tidak lah salah untuk berangan.Theheheheh :) Peace out yo!

Eid al-Mubarak

Raya tahun ini macam ada perasaan incomplete.

Eid this year, I celebrated without my own parents.

They went back to our hometown in Perak to beraya with our beloved Opah.

Tapi takpe. No worries kata mat saleh.

Saya sudah punye keluarga kecil saya sendiri.

Takim+ME+Lil Azalea.

Lagipun,

The in-laws pon ader.

Two's a company, three's never a crowd!

The more the merrier!

p/s: Credits to Ilah for these wonderful pixies

Chubby sticks, I heart you!

Okay I want one of these pronto! I went to Kuantan ECM and Sukie the SA told me that none is available there. Kat KL pon die tak sure. She'll have me informed once she has the stock or better still, she'll tell me where to get them in KL. I read some of the reviews and all of the reviewers love these sticks to the point of no return. LOL!

p/s: I wonder which one of these colours will complement my complexion the best?

Whatever It Takes, hunny! whatever it takes...

Told you time apparates.

It is the tenth of Ramadhan already. I am still here in Pekan waiting for my hubster to come back from work. * He works offshore and that means 2 weeks for us and the other 2 weeks are dedicated to breadwinning. Sebab tu la 2 minggu die lupe daratan. Hahahah.LOL!

Sabar. Yerp. Ramadhan is not only about abstaining oneself from eating and drinking and it also teaches me to be patience all the time especially in sticky situations. It is hoped that this Ramadhan would bring all the joy to the world!

For the past 2 months, I had to directly breastfed Azalea when she out of the blue just refused her formula milk. I didn't have any explanations to support this phenomenon. I was clueless. The fact that she is not an exclusively breastfed baby made me puzzled even more! * She was fully breastfed until she reached 2 months old only. What a bummer!

I knew that I was in the dire need of finding an alternative to breast milk long before the arrival of Ramadhan. I exactly knew that I would be in the shortage of milk supply during Ramadhan. I procrastinated, again. I put the blame on you, mr. P!

I searched high and low for the best formula milk to substitute Mamex Gold. I did some research and Enfalac A+ came across. Of course, "Research is a must" kata Takim. It is always a brilliant move to search for online forums that discuss our subjects of interest. By taking in all the pros and cons that are virtually articulated, those discussions would thereby aid us immensely in our decision-making to finally come out with the best verdict.

Setelah berkoyan2 input along with a few testimonials from friends who feed their babies with this FM, we have chosen Enfalac A+ as our alternative. Azalea's officially an Enfalac A+ baby now. This is just an alternative I must say, I still breastfeed her directly at night and whenever the demand arises.

I know it is quite pricey. Tapi, I see this as some sort of a make up for not being able to exclusively breastfeed her for 2 years. Nevertheless, deep down inside my heart I know that this is not a sufficient redemption at all and it aint gonna make up the loss, sistah! Because of this hubs and me promise ourselves to give Azalea only the best! The best of everything so as to redeem all the nourishment that she has missed out! Insyaallah.

In denial.

Makin rajin mengupdate blog nampaknye.

Yes, I couldn't agree more. Research proposal langsung tak bergerak.

I need a kick start. Somebody please kick my arse so I can start working on my research proposal. *ROTFL, please dont take it literally.

I procrastinate. All the time. So what? Everybody does it. That's just so normal, innit?

Good. Now I can keep on procrastinating and jeopardizing my future.

Okay, lets look on the bright side of life, at least I don't just sit back waiting my life to happen, aite? I am being productive here.

Being productive on a task that is not high in my priority list.

Guilty still!

Crazy people who are productive are geniuses. Crazy people who are rich are eccentric. But crazy people who are neither productive nor rich a just crazy.”

Got that? Peace out.

Double Celebrations, Zillions of Happiness and Blessings

Our 2nd Anniversary! (29th May 2011)

Wow, it has been 2 years now living with the man I love and adore from head to toe. I truly love him, yes I do. He is a super cool hubster but sometimes he nags more than I do. We did not celebrate our previous anniversary so grandly. Following our last year tradition, this year it was only a lunch date for both of us at Madam Kwan's Suria KLCC. We had nasi bojari, kangkong belacan and udang petai (his all-time favourite). Why Madam Kwan's? Initially, I planned for a dining out at Ben's KLCC but mengenangkan my hubby ni memangla seorg yang extremely choosy and fussy when it comes to eating, I had to re-plan. To be on the safe side, we went to Madam Kwan's after he was finally convinced by me that all its cuisines would meet the standard requirement of his taste buds :)

A table for two @ Madam Kwan's Suria KLCC

Of coz we went to Suria KLCC due to its nearness to our residential area. Tapi on the second thought, Suria KLCC memangla our favourite shopping mall pon. I've been to Pavilion KL yang orang dok kate best gile tu but still Suria KLCC jugak la best for so many sound reasons! No traffic jams, a variety of boutiques and restaurants, boleh gune touch n go for parking fee bla bla bla and paling best adalah Mothercare punye boutique adalah the largest in Malaysia. In a word, Suria KLCC is the best, period!

This lunch date was not only meant for celebrating our 2nd anniversary, but also to celebrate Mother's Day for the first time as a mommy to Azalea Amani Binti Mohd. Mustaqim. However, that celebration was celebrated without our sweetheart because we sent her to the nursery. *Yeah sometimes mommy and daddy need to spend our quality time together. Prezzie?No prezzie, cukup la dengan our TLC as our gift to ourselves, kan Takim?

My Birthday (July 22nd 2011)

Birthday cake is a must! Thot of indulging Baskin & Robbins Ice Cream Cake this year, akan tatapi disebabkan pulang ke tanah tumpah darah, Pekan Pahang would take a half-hour drive to Kuantan, of which the only place yang ade BR, impian tinggal impian aje la. Tak pe, there's always next time, aite? *pujuk diri sendiri. Last2 layan Choc Mud Cake (my all-time fav. cake) with my family je la. And hell yeah, prezzie is also a must time2 bday ni. If I asked myself what would I want as a prezzie? Of course the answer is handbag. CLICHÉ!!!!It is always handbag! Ya, I must admit that it is always handbag that I really fond of on top of any other things. Handbags are gals' BFF and eventually I was eyeing for this hobo! A to die for Coach Hobo. Did hubby gimme handbag for prezzie this year?

Naaaaaaa. He did offer me that Coach that I wanted so bad. Tapi, this year, ade sikit kelainan. I felt content. Yes, contentment actually prevented me from buying that hobo. I should be! I have loads of handbags and I really thot that we could use that money to buy something else for Azalea or as a means for Ramadhan and Syawal preparation. I guess, the 22nd of July this year was like on the brink of Ramadhan and the spirit of Ramadhan has seeped into my heart. Thank you Allah. Patience is indeed a virtue. Virtue prevails!

I still received a prezzie from him. Nonetheless, this prezzie was tagged as a need and not as a supplementary item. Thanks Hubster, you're simply amazing.

Spent RM370 for that Derma White Serum and the rest was free! Thanks darl for understanding my needs...

p/s: Received a mail from Clinique prior to my birthday and got to pick up this special gift from Clinique plus, a complimentary make-up voucher as well. muchas gracias. That really made my day!!!!

At present, I am 26.

Married to Mohd. Mustaqim Bin Azizan.

A mommy to Azalea Amani Binti Mohd. Mustaqim.

Jobless. Work part-timely as a language teacher.

In the midst of finishing my MA ESL.

Dear Allah,

Please don't overlook me,

As I am so minute and puny.

For I am so hopeless without your grace and mercy.

Protect my family, friends and me

from fiends and foes.

We take refuge from YOU

and only from YOU we seek forgiveness

O Allah,

The most merciful and benevolent.

Ameen.

Life updates.

Busy. NAY! super busy. AYE!

Hence, this blog of mine remains as boring as always. Not so many big things have occurred in my life so far. Lemme think for a sec. hmmmm:

1. January, February & March

Still got a few classes to pay heed to. Course Design with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Isarji, Language Learning & Acquisition with Dr Normala and Language & Literature with Dr. Nora. I whined about my super duper busi-ness already, so for now it would be safe for me to just zip it. Because if I started to whine, I would never stop. God doesnt like his servants to lament. I should ingrain this in my mind!

2. April

April was the month of exams. I sat for those 3 exams aforementioned. Truth be told, I wasnt well-prepared at all. Due to this I only obtained 3.4 something for my GPA. Kinda sad but hey that was the price that I had to pay for my laziness. That served me right!

3. May

The month that I had been waited for. Actually, I told my hubster that I seriously need to take a break from my hustle bustle life. We planned for a getaway somewhere in Terengganu. Just a simple vacation for the sake of relieving our stress. * I was soooo terribly stressed out with my assignments, tests, exams yada yada yada and as for him, he was soooo stressed by seeing me so stressed out. LOL* It was so obvious that we needed to get away from that. As always, May is the month for Petrofac Family Day (Takim's company annual gathering). This year we got the chance to spend 3 days and 2 nights at Tanjong Rhu Beach Resort in Langkawi. OMG! I love this place, I mean Langkawi. It's a shopping paradise for crying out loud! We spent our time together in that luxurious room. Azalea and I were cuddling on the bed for the whole day while Takim had to go out and do all the scheduled activities. Who would want to leave this super comfy room?

The hall

This is the bathroom

Photo was taken via the room hall

The balcony

The bed

The food was so superb and fantastic in and out. I love the variety. Food wise, I would give them 4 stars out of 5!

As usual, the final nite is the gala nite. So, we needed to dress up a lil bit. The theme for this year family day was superheroes. I didnt play dress up. Takim was Peter Pan and Azalea was Tink!

Truth be told, it's actually a good thing that Petrofac annual gathering falls in May every year because May is the month that we celebrate our anniversary. Yippee. Speaking of shopping, due to our short trip this time, we managed to shop at the jetty point only. We managed to buy chocs (lotsa 'em), perfumes (Fresh Blossom by DKNY for me & Hugo Boss for him) and the best of all ... was a set of Corelle and Luminarc tableware. A Corelle dish can cost up to rm59 each at Isetan while you only pay it for rm23 in Langkawi. What a vast difference, aite? We couldnt buy many things since we boarded a ferry to the Kuala Perlis Jetty. Takim was the only man power on that day. I was preoccupied with Azalea. We were all sweaty and exhausted tremendously! We made a vow that our next trip to this island, we would by all means take the aircraft. Less hassle and less tired.

Taken at the Kuala Perlis Jetty

Why did we drive all the way from KL to Perlis?

We visited Takim's family back in Sungai Petani before we arrived in Perlis and on our way back to KL we spent a nite at my opah's in Parit Perak. In a word, that was a very short trip to the northern part of Malaysia and not to mention Azalea's first northern trip (Perlis+Kedah+Perak).

With the Sg. Petani Clan.

With Onyang @ Parit, Perak

She supposed to enjoy the scenery and all that but she slept all the way. What would an infant do in a long, boring and bumpy car ride? Sing to a song? I must be kiddin' myself!

Our Lil Lady boss

I was offered to teach at CELPAD UIA for the second time in May. Alhamdulillah rezeki Azalea adanya. I taught Section 3 LE0520 and my principal teacher was Ary, my fellow BENL comrade and yeah there was this other teacher who taught essay; DR. Abdul Shakour. I had to teach Writing Task A (summary). Everything went well alhamdulillah and it ended up in June. Insyaallah, they will hire me again! I must admit that I enjoyed myself teaching in UIA. I love its surrounding. This is a place where Islam is practiced without prejudice. This is also a place where you get to see people rush to the mosque during the azan. This is also a place that have taught me to spread my wings!

A few students yg ajak pose. Lemme recall; (Left) Alaa from Palestine, Haidar from Iraq, ME, Maen fron Yemen, Ma Huan from China and Fayed who was born in Oman. :) See, I still remember you guys and it is a proof to show that I do have a good memory!