August 31, 2012

D1 is now four


to my eldest Dayana Nur Sabrina,

Mommy and Daddy (and Adik) loves you!

even if we yell at you when you don't seem to listen to us,
even if you think we pay more attention to your younger sister than you,
even if we yell at you summore because you're such a naughty girl,
we love you anyway, because you're our eldest, and you can only have one eldest =P.

our beautiful eldest daughter. lol.

happy birthday sayang! xoxo


oh and Happy Independence Day, Malaysia =). 55 years and counting!

August 30, 2012

thank you nina


dear nina*,

she survived the 120km drive to lcct, the detour to usj, and back home to SA.
she didn't melt, she didn't trip over her heels... PHEW.

thanks so much! my daughter loves it.

although... the doll was abit scary once the cake was gone. HUHUHU

lillies


*nina of NinazCakes

August 28, 2012

random pilot jokes

googled from the Internet:

one:
Two drunk fighter pilots are flying in formation.
Leader to W1: "Can you see me?"
W1 to Leader: "No.""Can you see ME?"
Leader to W1: "No."
W1 to Leader: "Cool, now we are stealth fighters!!!"


two:
Cessna 152: "Flight Level Three Thousand, Seven Hundred"
Controller: "Roger, contact Houston Space Center."


three:
Lost student pilot: "Unknown airport with Cessna 150 circling overhead, identify yourself!"

where for art thou Gusto


where did that darn stall go? one minute it was there, the next thing you know, it's been replaced by a hotdog stall T___T.
anyone knows where i can get Gusto? google is not helpful either.
this little trinket makes for a handy makeup bag to store tiny stuff that tend to go lost in your gigantic handbag, bet it lipgloss, blusher, compact powder, etc.
they retailed at rm15 per piece.
bought a couple for my aunt last time, and i took the opportunity to get meself one too.
my mom wants a couple, but unfortunately they closed shop. phoooey.
anyone knows of their whereabouts? do tell me!

August 27, 2012

how to choose good friends

i found an interesting article on the subject of friends. below are bits of pieces i took from the article which felt quite meaningful (or relevant) to me.
find the full article here.

Categories of Friends:
  • Best Friend
  • Good Friends for Life
  • Casual Friends
  • Work Friends
  • Backstabbing Friends
To have a ‘Best friend' is a wonderful thing to have in life. This friend will know everything about you and never use it against you. They will always want the best for you know matter what. They will try and talk you out of things or talk you into things but it will all be for your good. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, when you are around your best friend there will be an excitement inside of you and happiness. To find such a friend takes time. You have to filter through friends to find that person.
i believe that your other half should be your best friend once you're married. this might be a rare relationship among married couples, but i could be wrong =). best friends are really rare to find, because in this world, people tend to think of themselves first before you, and imo it defeats the purpose of wanting what's best for you. i personally feel that everyone needs a best friend, a person they can turn to for the right advice for your own good, even though it's what you don't wanna hear. some people are dead set in what they have decided upon, and simply ask for advice just for the sake of asking. best friends are there to ensure that your decision is not one-sided.
best friends don't simply blindly agree to whatever the friend says just because they think it's what you want to hear, because whatever you think might not be the right choice for you in the first place. like for instance your best friend suddenly wants to tattoo her whole body and then run away to join the circus just because she suddenly feels like she wants to become an acrobat, you wouldn't just blindly say 'you go girl, i'm all for it!' now will you?

The best life long friends are the 'Good friends for life' friends. They go through everything with you and still stand beside you. You can go for years or months and not see these friends but know that they will be there for you in a minute. They are there if you need them.
does Sarah qualify in this category? LOL =P. granted i don't have many friends in this category, friends come and go just as the trends come and go... just as spring turns to summer to autumn to winter... the older you get, the harder it is to maintain a friendship, especially when you don't have that much in common. good friends for life are the friends who even though you don't see them as often as you should, but whenever you cross paths with each other, it's like you never left.
Casual friends are friends you see at events or through your children. You still need them in your life. You never know when a casual friend will turn into a life long friend. Casual friends are there if you need them to help out.
hmmm... does my baby-wearing friends i see at meetups count? perhaps parents of my children's friends might fill this category. i know that thanks to this group, i've managed to befriend people from work backgrounds that are different from mine. friends like these have the potential to flourish into long term friends, given the right situation.

Work friends are friends that you have at work but usually don’t see them outside of working settings. Work friends are good to have but don’t confide your personal business with them unless you want your personal business spread all over your work place. Work friends are good to have if you are considering another job and can use them as references.
i don't think i ever hung out much with my colleagues other than during working hours and social office events. have you ever heard of the saying, 'jangan bagitau orang?' well. if you ever plan to confide in a colleague, never EVER start by using those 3 words. like children, they'll do the total opposite. HAHAHAHA. but it is important to keep your old friendships from your previous companies, in Significant Other's line of work, it really does make a big difference.

Backstabbing friends are maybe the worst kind of a friend. They get close to you to find something to in return use it against you if they have to for their personal gain. Be careful of the backstabbing friends. They can destroy your income and your self esteem.
i've had a friend like this before. you thought they could be trusted. you thought that they were a friend you could confide in... to bare your soul. you thought that they fell in the 'good friends for life' or 'best friend' category. goes to show just how wrong you could be. they pretend that they want what's best for you, they talk you into doing things that is supposed to be good for you, but in actual fact, it's the total opposite. jealousy, perhaps? in times of need they end up dropping you like a hot potato just to save their ass on the line. you end up making the wrong decisions, get influenced by all the wrong things, and end up hurting those around you that actually mean the world to you. if you're affected financially, then that's even worse. you end up hating yourself, and for those with a weak 'iman', you might end up going over to the 'dark side'.


a friend who supported the endings of marriages... would you call that a friend?

Significant Other always tells me to choose my friends wisely, as it's friends like these that will benefit you in the long run. these friends will help you better yourself, to make you become a better person, to help push you further to achieve accomplishments you never could have on your own. or you could decide to be stagnant and be with friends that choose to pull you down, or hold you back from the success that was really meant to be yours. it's your choice.

August 26, 2012

D2 turns two


happy 2nd birthday sweetheart!

Mommy & Daddy loves You :*)
(and Kakak loves Adik too... well... most of the time haha)

August 21, 2012

bibik sudah pulang


yup, my beloved bibik sudah pulang. Dinara has become really clingy lately, preferring only me and driving me crazy. she prefers Ashu over my mom.

although as of yet, she still hasn't gotten the concept of her aunt being called 'Ashu'. shoes just keeps popping into her brain. HAHA.

photo taken during our H&M Family reunion dinner at Ri-Yaz, Kuala Terengganu recently. photos are everywhere, so i'll update photos later. seems we have alot of potential photographers in the family, hehe.


August 19, 2012

eid 2012


salam aidilfitri 1433!
maaf zahir & batin...

with LOVE from

MAI, ALA, DNS & DNA

August 13, 2012

as told by Dinara

ah foo = iPhone
ta = bukak
car
nak shu shu~
nak babi = Barbie on iPhone, what else? lol
nak ni = everything pun is 'ni'
nak mami nak mami nak mami = overuses the word
mou = mickey mouse
le le la = cinderella (or whatever Disney princess)
mamani = at first i thought she was pronouncing her name, rupa2nya she 'nak mandi'

mana Ashu? = points to shoe

24th Ramadan already...

eta 20/9:

hapai = high five
nanak = tak nak
ah peh = iPad
bellow = balloon
no = NO~!

August 11, 2012

iftar at Paradigm

window shopping at Paradigm

for a fish-hater, Significant Other actually approves.

fish & co! definitely beats MFM.
(price too)

chicken & mushroom spaghetti

thumbs up... for salmon

arctic fish & chips

some white fish appetizer... like ikan bilis

thanks Mr. Husband

the hungriest (and comotest) fish-eating participant

the sick child... Paradigm was freezing

see? *happy*

August 8, 2012

sisters indeed

wordless Wednesday...
(because i don't have time to give you words)



with thanks to Auntie Noli and Auntie Nurel

August 7, 2012

two eyes

image source: google

if only it looked that simple.

be afraid. mwahahahahahah.

ok so some of you might already know that i went ahead and did lasik surgery. it was always itw but never realized. i finally went ahead and took the plunge, mainly thanks to Significant Other. he did his lasik about 3 years ago? piece of cake, he says.

so. what you should know about lasik. i actually didn't ponder over it too much because i was afraid i would chicken out. i mean have you seen that Final Destination movie where that woman was trapped in the chair with her eyes being laser-ed until smoke emitted from her eyes and in the end she fell out the window and died? horror man. word of advice: while being strapped in, NEVER think about that particular episode. Significant Other told me his eye surgery involved no pain, only minor discomfort. wahhhh so easy of him to say. but probably different centres, different procedure, different form of pain perhaps?

i didn't do my lasik at the same place Significant Other did. the centre where he did his lasik was where two of my friends and my aunt did theirs; Significant Other was via referral. his surgery was much pricier than mine was. i stumbled across the centre through a friend. apparently many of my colleagues did their lasik there and i didn't even know, haha. it was also a whole lot cheaper, the price quoted was for both eyes. so why not?

there were steps to doing eye surgery:

1. the initial eye check
2. the detailed eye check
3. the actual surgery
4. the follow-ups that proceeded the surgery

the initial eye check was free, they basically just wanted to see whether your eyes were fit for surgery or not.

you had to pay rm80 for the detailed eye check, where they dilated your pupils and carried out more detailed tests to make sure your eyes were suitable for surgery. after putting those eye drops into your eyes you couldn't see close range for about a day or so. i couldn't stare at my PC monitor even, it gave me headache.

once you're confirmed for surgery, you had to set a date and put a deposit of rm300 to secure your surgery date. you could set for date for surgery about a year later and that would still be ok as long as you passed the detailed eye check.

on the day of the surgery (August 3rd) you had to make sure you had a designated driver to drive you back because i guarantee you're in no position to drive yourself home.

before the actual surgery they gave me a list of forms to complete (which includes the usual if-you-die-we-will-not-be-responsible-for-your-death kind of stuff). no makeup, no perfume (the lasers are sensitive towards alcohol...?). they gave me a list of do's and don'ts to follow once you completed the surgery.

basically no contact with water for 3 weeks, no swimming, no sauna, no extreme activities that could jeopardize your eyes... no rubbing your eyes, no splashing water onto your face (alamatnye, takleh basuh muka for 3 weeks HAHAHAHA).

the actual surgery? i don't think i want to go through with it a second time if i ever had to do it again. the operating room was cold i tell you. and there were so many assistants you had to wonder what the heck were you getting yourself into. after lying on the operating table with your head positioned under the laser, they covered you with a thick blanket and handed you a pillow (for comfort??). the worse part for me was when the surgeon used some sort of contraption to hold your eyelids open, the pressure i felt pressing onto my eyeballs was excruciating. i had my hands clenched the whole time... or maybe i was exaggerating, i dunno, hee~. at one point you'd lose vision (don't panic, don't panic, the surgeon would repeat to me gallantly). once everything was in place he would tell you to look straight while they cut a flap into your cornea and blast away eye tissue. basically there was nothing to fix your attention upon so i kept getting scolded by the surgeon to look straight T__T nothing to see over there, please look straight, nononono don't look there, please move your eyes a little to the left please, ahhh ok don't move yadayadayada... at one point i could smell something burning... @_@.

the surgery lasted about 10 minutes per eye? and the surgeon was really nice. he kept giving words of encouragement along the way, never condescending, at least it helped me la, dunno if inside he wanted to strangle me for not following orders, ouch.

and that was it. finito. 50% of vision would return within the first half hour or so, then perhaps 70-90% the following day, and it would get better and better as time passed by. they let me rest in this comfortable eye chair in this darkened room until i was confident enough to return to the world with eyes that were partially functioning, hoho.

the initial stages post-surgery was ok. heck i thought i was ok. but i was not prepared for what came right after the op. everything seemed too bright, at one point it was impossible to even open my eyes. tears kept pouring out nonstop, my nose was dripping, i was completely freaking out. i even got a big splitting headache right after. they gave me three different eyes drops for me to use for the next 2 weeks: one for inflammation, one for antibiotics, the other to replenish the moisture for your eyes. they were smart enough to give me a sleeping pill, a good one at that, because i konked out right after taking it.

that's me post-op.

much love to Significant Other for taking care of things while i nursed my wounds, lol. truly i was touched. he even helped me put on those eye protective shields on to prevent me from rubbing my eyes in my sleep (which i tend to do very often @_@ skin very loose ya? you like to rub your eyes isit? the surgeon happily tells me T___T).

ok so enough with the horror stories. i went to office with very tired-looking eyes. red spots formed in the whites of my eye so it looked like i was infected by some T-virus like in those Zombie movies on tv. my eyesight kept fluctuating, my eyes were dry, someone even told me i looked sick -___-. i was too scared to even wash my face or my hair!, using only a sponge to dab my face and silently hope that people didn't look at me and think i tak mandi seminggu. i even looked like a stranger to myself each time i stared into the mirror. i think i lost alot of eyelashes in the process of unsticking my lashes that got clumped together due to the moisturizing eye drops (or eye gel, as written on the bottle).

infected!

but things eventually improved, my eyesight is better although am not sure if it's the sharpest of all eye sights, night driving still proves slightly challenging as before this i never noticed star bursts around lights, without glasses those gorgeous halos look really obvious now, the effect lessened as time went by, but they're there.

so... i'm glasses-free! looking back i realized i looked really old with glasses. they used to be a form of protection i used to hide behind, silly really. i know some people *ahem* who have perfectly good eyesight yet chose to wear glasses (with no power!) simply because it gave them confidence. to look smarter yes, i even had that feeling sometimes. but to spend thousands for a frame when your eyes are perfectly normal? way beyond my reasoning. i've never splurged on a frame before, my lens always ended up expensive.

my eyes has now lost the redness but i realize that without glasses, dark circles look more obvious now T_T. i'm gonna hafta invest in some powerful eye cream soon. oh and learn how to apply eyeshadow now. lol.

yup... that's me now. whoever said 'stay just as you are' is mentally challenged

so, that's my story. ada beran? =D i guess i might've exaggerated a little =P~~~. you might wanna research more about eye surgery on the internet. lotsa medical terms, lotsa risks, lotsa pros and cons, it all depends on the why, how, what, when.

August 5, 2012

a weekend with the family

putting on her shoes

hubby chose the outfit

babywearing in style

Bubba Gump balloons

not-so-graceful while panjat tangga

buka puasa with the in-laws

with the beloved Significant Other

sil & bil

my heart my soul. whoever thinks otherwise can eat mud.

August 1, 2012

buttonmybuttons & fossil

for sale:

Buttonmybuttons Signature Bow Kurung

Size : XS - Shoulder-13", Chest -34", Waist -27", Hip -36", Length -34"

brand new, unworn. purchased from the ss15 boutique.

retails for almost rm550 at their boutique.
letting go for rm460 with postage inclusive.

how it looks like when worn
and another:

Fossil Maddox Floral Drawstring Hobo *SOLD*

cotton canvas, fabric lining.

measurements:

11.5" high
14" wide
5.5" deep
14" shoulder drop

used sparingly.
love it, don't use it much because i prefer bigger bags.
has 2 compartments + 1 zippered compartment.
there's a small pen stain in the zippered compartment, not noticeable unless u actually look.

asking rm300, much less than what i have paid.

pm at ririyana [@] yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk

param

i find it amusing that there are some people who have never heard of the term 'param'.

param = pasar + ramadhan, no?

the name distinguishes itself from all the other weekly pasar malams.
you could probably call the rest as 'palam' then. HAHA
*scratch head*

well anyways. i usually don't like going to params mainly because at one point it gets too crowded and i'd get pissed off because i can't get parking, not to mention the massive jams at the infamous SA roundabouts @_@ and you might probably end up buying too much food for berbuka.

i asked bil to get us nasi tomato one day and he literally did that - he bought us just the nasi. no ayam or kuah whatsoever @_@. seriously, who eats nasi tomato on its own? so i decided to brave the crowd with Dayana one day - it's been two days already. she enjoys these excursions. was able to reach param at 5.30ish so the crowd wasn't so bad then.

whenever going to param, always remember not to buy like there's no food tomorrow.

day 1 at param: (otw to Bangi)
- roti john rm3.80
- kebab pita rm6

day 2 at param:
- air bunga rm2
- samosa rm3

day 3 at param:
- chicken kebab rm5.50
- murtabak maggi rm2.20
- dayana's drink rm1
- dayana' bihun goreng rm2.50

today am going for iftar with my colleagues, probably heading to Bumbu Desa (which i'm not really sure what i'd want to eat over there). i didn't join last year's iftar because of what reason i can't remember what, so somehow i would seem to be quite anti-social if i didn't attend this year's iftar =P.

today they officiated the company's new office level, apparently one floor can't fit 200+ people so some of us were thrown to a new floor. the downside of moving is that the new cubicles seem to have been adapted with an open concept, there is no privacy between you and your neighbor and you're forced to share your chips during tea time, but without even having to stand up from your chair.

the pantry comes equipped with its own tv, and we even have a vending machine! how kewl is that? (i do hope they replenish it often else no point). since we aren't allowed to wheel our drawers downstairs, i have a lot of junk to get rid of. anyone wants them blue Didymos boxes before i throw them out?

=D