New Year : New Day

My first day at work in this New Year :)

Last week was crazy hectic mostly because Ryan was hospitalized for 4 days at SJMC. Long story short everyone and everything is fine and dandy. Nothing major but a minor lung infection (bronchitis) and doctor needed to put him under review and 3 days antibiotics course. Ryan being Ryan does not show any signs of sickness, jumping around and playing like nobody business :) Anyway he's ok now..

I rather not spend 45 minutes detailing moaning and complaints that goes like"why do god do this to me rants" as I see them as POINTLESS. Negative people attract negative energy so why bother,huh?

Anyhoooo... On a more cheerful note... We had our first function at our new crib on the 01.01.11 :) Everything went as plan *alhamdullilah* Thanks to my family members for all the help and food and thanks to my friends who came to celebrate with us. Technically we did not have a housewarming party and the event was not merely to celebrate Ryan's birthday, the MAIN EVENT of the day is actually the DOA SELAMAT to "bless" our new home with prayers and Yassin Recital.

We decided to kill two birds with one stone and celebrate Ryan's birthday with his extended family : piyut (great great grandma), his 2 nyangs (great grandma), countless atuks, nenek, wan, uncles, aunts and friends :) To minimize cost I did most of the decorations myself (cutting Elmo faces from cardboard, gathering feathers, making my own lollipop stand) Yeah yeah I know Ryan don't have a clue on what's going on but I love the creative process so it is not much of a chore to me...

The most gorgeous and delicious Elmo cake + Sesame Street cupcakes from Nadibakes

First tier : Chocolate mud, Second tier: Nutella and cupcakes : Butterscotch

*yummy*

Our Sesame Street inspired Desert Bar

Self Help concept : great idea but my cousin kinda whip everything within 5 seconds :p

Ryan, Mummy and Daddy...

With atuk, nenek, mak long and Darrin :)

Ryan playing with Lana on his new tricycle courtesy of atuk...

Thanks girls for coming...
(and my other friends yg datang but tak letak gambar :p )

Ryan and his supermarket tent from Mak Long

Good haul : toys, clothes and $$$$

Alhamdullilah murah rezeki :)

Thanks everyone for being so generous....

Happy playing with his new train thingy.

Thank you Aunt Farisa...

Our little family: cake cutting time :)

End of the Year....

The end of 2010 is fast approaching.

So many good things have happen to me this year with some bad memories interwoven too. The most important thing is I’ve grown stronger, wiser and more mature due to the experiences (not so but still…)

Whatever it is I’m thankful to Allah for all the blessings

Thank you for my beautiful baby boy and the most awesome (patient) husband, great family and in-laws, health, my newly acquired Masters Degree (big grin), several new assets (;p) and lovely friends and confidante’

With every good thing some bad things will follow, well I don’t expect my life to be one easy straight road. The challenges are the things that give colour to my life and I always believe that Allah won’t test us with things that he don’t think we can cope with. I shall endure and *insyallah* more good things will come soon.

I hope everyone will have a good year ahead and stay positive in the face of crappy stuff happening : p

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!!

P/S: Ryan is down with bronchitis at the moment :( Doctor almost decided that he is to be warded 3 days before his birthday party, but he was better after his nebulizer treatment yesterday, hope the follow up today bring some good news, no hospital please…

PP/S: Good job and congratulations to the Malaysian football team. Thanks to you the PM have declared tomorrow to be a PUBLIC HOLIDAY for everyone where most of us did nothing but sat on our butt for 1 ½ hours cheering you on. Keep up the good work boys :p

December Happenings : The Summary

I'm a bit lazy to type actual words so I shall do a PHOTO STORY :) of our activities in December 2010.

1. Dinos Alive : Pusat Sains Negara (12 December 2010)

Salt water fish aquarium : Entrance with Ryan and Mamat (my sister's nephew)

The boys with the monkey band :p

TRANSFORMERS

Tyrannosaurus Rex : Grrrr

T- Rex fossils

Sumpah lawak Dino ni rap ala2 Kelwa :p

Hello!!!

Let's raid mummy's bag

@curve

TGIF : Ryan buli abang mamat :p hahaha

2. Iena's Wedding @ Bangi

Uda, Reebok & Aimee

Love this photo


*awww*

My lil man surrounded by hotties :p

With Nawal

Salam x tengok muka *sigh* I guess he prefers older kids

Nawal and his mummy. Dana muka sama-lah

Cubaan nak geng ngan Kak Nia x berjaya :p

Hehehehe tetiba geng with Aunt Isya...

With the Bride and the Groom

Congrats Ienanononi...

Ok I dunno what kinda pose we're trying to do...

Note:

There's more pics but I haven't found the time to upload it on FB. I shall be more dilligent by Mid January, when I expect all the furnitures to arrive and we've officially move in ALL our stuff to the new crib :p

Ryan's Birthday Celebration - Part One

Date: 20/12/2010
Venue: Home, Ikea Damansara, Empire Subang and Taska Az-Zahra
Occassion?? Hooray Hooray Ryan is ONE today...

Lan and I decided to have a small celebration for Ryan on Monday. Everyone in my family took leave to have an intimate family lunch together and spend some time with our little boy.

Woke up early and finalized Ryan's party packs for his kindy mates. Later Lan, Ryan and I went to Ikea to get some house stuff. We decided to meet up with my dad, mum and sis at Empire Subang and we had lunch at Kenny Rogers :P The birthday boy got to choose his present from atuk and mak long (quite a haul, alhamdullilah!!)

Around 5pm we headed out to Ryan's school to have a simple celebration with his "friends". I'm gonna leave you guys with the pictures.

Theme of the day : Sesame Beginnings :)

I designed the stickers myself (and some other deco for Party Part 2. I think my little boy deserve some personalized touch from mummy dearie huhu

Let's help mummy stick the stickers

Big Apple ;p

Maybe I should get him one of this...hahaha

Ryan's "older" classmates

One of his main caretaker, Ryan is jealous that she's holding the other boy haha

Cutting "mo" cake :)

"nak nak"

*yummy* everyone was shouting 'cake..cake" at the moment

Hehe thanks for accommodating us teachers :)

(malu sebab other parents x celebrate pun, my mum over excited nak celebrate the first grandson bday at school ;p but still thanks mummy for wanting the best for Ryan )

Stay tuned for part II coming soon in a few more weeks :D

In My Very Own Dream(Bag)Land....

Since I'm a total dunce and did not upload pictures from Ryan's bday "party" yesterday (which I will do tomorrow) I shall make it up with another IMPORTANT post...

You see I've gotten my pay + bonus for this year (it's neither GOOD nor is it bad, I'm just thankful) . Majority of the $$$ would be spent on the house (sad but necessary :( ) but after having to put up with one of the most difficult supervisor i.e. tai chi master for a year. I think I deserve a treat.

And that treat should come in the form of this Anya Hindmarch Vernis Bag as seen on the fashion guru herself Blair Waldorf :) The one Blair is carrying is a few season back but the new line is even prettier with an even sturdier handle (must have for a mum like moi)

I can't make up my mind, should I or should I not?? I know the design is very "simple" and may look a bit B O R I N G but I need a new bag for work -something a bit more classic rather than my usual choice of bright red and hot pink bags.

Let see what my "financial advisor" have to say about this intended purchase... huhuhu

SHOULD I GET A MATCHING SHOE WITH MY IMAGINARY NEW BAG?

I love this Pierre Hardy heels spotted on Leighton Meester during a Herbal Essences event. Mimpi jelah the shoes retail at USD 1,053 (about RM3500++ in Malaysia) I rather buy my Boston instead :p

Very pretty up close right :)

Everyone Judge (It's me Judging)

When people tell you to just be yourself. Do you think they really mean it? Or are they just saying that so that they can go behind your back and judge you like crazy.

But my question is why do you care? If the things you are doing make you happy, why not disregard other people views on you? As long as you’re happy, right? Too bad humans are driven more by emotions than logic. So no matter what is being said, whether it is true or not, if it is a negative statement it will affect us on some level.

For some of us, you may get all emotional, start screaming at that person, hurl verbal abuse, rant on twitter, blog about it etc. Some people may keep quiet and do nothing or think about it for a second and dismissing it as jealousy/negative feedback etc. Whatever your method of coping may be there would be some reaction to the statement.

I don’t know a single person who is as “open minded” as they claim to be (at least in my opinion). My definition of “open minded” is being able to accept and respect views from all quarters, process it logically and act in a manner the “open minded” person sees fit.

Nowadays when people say that they are open minded, most choose to see it from one angel which is accepting “western cultures and views”. Sometimes it goes as far as accepting other people cultures but disregarding our own local/religious belief with the preconceived notion that anything Islam/ Malaysian is “uncool”, “kolot” and “uptight”.

Whatever happens to balance?

To me, EVERYONE is entitled to have their own opinion but please don’t expect everyone to agree. The thing about freedom of speech is that it goes BOTH ways. You have the FREEDOM to say what you want and other people have the same FREEDOM to disagree/criticize etc. How you plan to handle people perception on you is up to you but you can’t expect to say something provocative and expect people around you to nod and agree.

For example: I’ve been asked this question from my non-muslim friends when I was younger. ‘Far,I thought you’re open minded, why don’t you drink alcohol ?”. My answer has always been the same “I’m open minded as much as my religion allow me to be” and they respected that. FULL STOP.

The tiring part is that I have to defend my choices to my friends who are Muslims, who knows the faith but still choose to consume alcohol and goes all out to justify their actions. For some reason the defensive mode just kick in full gear. Honestly, Do I think they are bad people? Nope but at the same I don’t necessarily agree with their choices. If you’re close to me I may even tell you WHY :) but your decision is your own and I respect you for it.

At the same time I don't think just because you're wearing hijab, act all holy means you're a good person. I know some people who are physically covered but *masyallah* perangai worst than their non-hijabians counterparts.

Sometimes your actions/clothes/ words does not necessarily defined you. Sometimes it does. We all interpret things differently.We just need to agree to disagree and go on and live our life as we sees fit.

In the words of Shakespeare – “Few love to hear the sins they love to act"

I’m not here to preach. That is not my job. But I think some people should not live in an idealistic world where they think everyone should listen to what they have to say because THEY are saying it. You see everyone JUDGE. You can’t help it you’re human. Just don’t be a hypocrite about it: p

If you don’t know me, you’ll hate me. When you make the mistake of thinking you know my you’ll think I’m plain and emotionally unavailable but when you truly know me you won’t be able to stop yourself from loving me. XoXo- Far

P/S: I need more hours in the day. In between work, wifely/mumsy duty, planning for Ryan's Bday @ Kindy and Doa Selamat + Ryan's Bday @ home I have no time to even finish a book this week. To me that is BAD!!!

PP/S: I just designed and printed stickers for Ryan's party packs on my own. Kinda fun, I think I can do this party planning thingy for a living hahaha (yeah getting a bit over my head)

Our Hijrah...

Update 1- Awal Muharram Project

We’ve moved out from our Shah Alam house into our new crib last Tuesday. There’s crazy amount of cleaning to do and I have no idea how I’m going to complete it all by January 1st. Besides some drama with the movers (thank god for my brother in law who totally saved the day) everything went well.

Lan and I hosted our first “family gathering” with my family and in-laws. It was an impromptu “picnic lunch” when my mum in law decided to come over with loads of yummy treats and then my mum came with more food she cooked from home so we ended up with quite a spread. Carted off cutleries from my mum’s place (pathetic cause most of my dishware are all still in boxes) and had lunch on the floor. It was fun to have everyone together though.

I’m telling you the expenses to set up the house is CRAZY (hence the capital letters) and here I’m talking absolute essential stuff. Money is flowing out like water. However, I see it as an investment as it is for long term used. As of now we’ve managed to install our grills, kitchen cabinet, tiles to the living room, build an extended back wall/ cement ½ of car porch, main bathroom sliding door and air conditioner. More home improvement work to be done gradually :p

Update 2- Mini Shopaholic Inspiration of the Day

I think I shall stop buying clothes (we’ll see how long I can abstain).Seeing all the outfits that I have to cart from Shah Alam makes me feel guilty. Some of the clothes still have tags and never worn. There are some purchases that was highly questionable like a PVC legging and neon green dress (what was I thinking mode).

I think I shall throw the ones that are not wearable, donate the decent clothes to the charity box near my house and probably sell off some. If you’re nice to me I may let you raid my closet for clothes, scarves, bags and shoes that I don’t want anymore.

My sisters in law had a field day after I gave them a paper bag full of Roxy, Converse, kiddy handbags and sling bags that I have out grown. Serious rasa sayang nak bagi (dasar manusia memang tamak haha) but I figured letting them go unused is just wasteful.

I shall learn to mix and match my available clothes better, reorganize my closet and come up with loads of new outfits instead of buying clothes just because. In honour of the New Year I shall strive to be less wastefull and be more prudent with my spending :)

Update 3- 3 Muharram 1432
According to the Islamic Calendar, my little prince turns one today. I remembered how I was hoping that his birthday fall on Awal Muharram: p but Ryan has different plans for me. Making us wait for 45 hours before he decided to grace us with his presence. Darling let me tell you this: The wait was worth every single contraction, pain, sweat, blood etc. You’re worth it. I hope you will grow up into a soleh, highly intelligent, handsome, considerate, understanding, responsible and happy young man. Mummy and daddy will always pray for your well being.

Happy Birthday Muhammad Ryan Daniel. I love you very very much. I’ll bring you out later for a small celebration (provided that your father agrees) and we will celebrate again with Atuk & Nenek on your “other” birthday this 20/12/2010 ok

Run-A-Way Fashion...

Some of the key pieces on the Fall-Winter 2010 Fashion must have list are the Maxi skirts :) I'm dying for one (or maybe 20 ha-ha) but of course I have to behave and not waste money on things I don't need (but want).

I guess if you're wearing a hijab and are finding new ways to revamp your style/closet, but are not adventerous enough to go the "harem pants" way -> Maxi's (dress/skirts) are the way to go.

Anyway I've compiled a short maxi skirt wishlist. I hope the new line would be in by xmas and you can guess what I would be spending my meager bonus on :p In the meantime I saw the most gorgeous citrus coloured skirt in one of the Thai fair and is planning on getting one (it is also way cheaper than any of the skirt on the wishlist) :p

1. Topshop Stained Glass Maxi Skirt

2. Topshop Patchwork Stripe Maxi- Kate Moss Special Edition

3. Miss Selfridge Animal Printed Maxi

4. F21 Metallic Knit Maxi

5. F21 Black Lace Maxi

6. Longline Tulle Skirt- This is not practical but I love love this, whimsical but with with a simple t-shirt it won't be so over the top :p