post raya

d1, d2, d3. who's who? LOL.

same outfit, same pair of socks, same tweety bird.

same chair even.

but oddly enough, the above photos were taken when

d1 was 5mo+, d2 was 4mo+, d3 was 3mo+.

either i produced slightly bigger babies as time went by or that outfit shrank.

carbon copies of each other, says many.

chomels tak? =D

d3 would have as much hair as the other two if i didn't decide to shave her hair off at 1mo+.

oh today we had potluck at the office. unlike last year, this year my baked macaroni tak laku, my dish came back empty by the end of the day, phew. the desserts were superb, i think they were the first ones to disappear. got moist chocolate cake!!! i didn't bring my camera because i wanted to concentrate on eating. bahahahahaha.

hmmm ramai juga minah melayu bukanet

the camera vault

have you heard of a camera vault? you know, like in hotels they provide you with this safety deposit box for your valuables where you key in some 4-digit pass-code, only this time it's specifically for cameras? LOL
ok so i don't remember its actual name at the top of my head at the moment, so we're gonna call it the camera vault, ok? =P~~~

(ok so i googled it up and they actually call it dry cabinet. bo-ring. i'm still gonna refer to it as vault, ok? =P).

Significant Other recently decided that he didn't have proper storage for his camera equipment (one lens too many) so he's been meaning to look for a cabinet of some sort for quite awhile. he came across this interesting piece of equipment on Shashinki one fine day (or maybe he's been plotting his buy for ages but just never told me, i dunno). so, meet the AIPO Exclusive 'Dry Cabinet'.

when you buy a lens, you'll want to buy proper storage for it, and then you'll want to buy other accessories, bla bla bla and the list goes on (sorta like the book 'when you give a mouse a cookie' bahahahah).

do you know this thingamajig needs to be plugged in? to somehow keep the temperature/humidity just right for the camera equipment to 'stew'. bahahahahahah. ok la, to keep them away from all the moist in the air that can ruin the lens.

the first time they sent it over to the house, they mailed him the wrong model. we had to painstakingly repack the heavy vault (it freakingly weighs 13.5kg!) and send it back to CityLink before they would send the correct one. now whose fault is it again? @_@ apparently they only do pickups at office addresses only, not house address. T__T still an address what.

anyway, here it is, taking up yet another small spot in my already cramped room.

it even has lights!

the glass door is laminated with some fancy artwork design (hence the 'exclusive') so you can't really see what's inside unless you open the vault. that illuminated number in the photo indicates the humidity (RH%) inside the cabinet, determined by some microcomputer digital control. Significant Other says that 40ish value is good for the cameras (apparently there's an optimal preservation parameter table you could look up online that tells you which percentage is good to preserve what). the insides of the vault is lightly padded with some super sponge so that everything stays nice and put without knocking into each other.

belum apa lagi sudah penuh

oh he keeps his watch collection in there too. it apparently runs in the family, this fetish over watches hahahaha.

not to forget this one contraption he also purchased recently: er, i forgot what you call it. oops. spider? spiderweb? LOL. spider camera holster. for the lazy who do not like to hang their cameras around their neck, you can loop it on a belt and fefeeling seperti koboi ahahahahahahahhah basically you can hang stuff on the belt, provided that you don't bump and scrape them against things around you. also provided that you can handle the weight around your waist. if it were me i think i'd feel as if my pants were about to fall off. LOL

berat woo 7D itu

Dinara's B-day

i had a Dr.'s appointment yesterday so i ended up wfh. Dinara's birthday fell on Monday so we could only celebrate it after work. as usual the birthday girl couldn't seem to care less. the elder one, on the other hand was really unsatisfied that we were celebrating her younger sister's birthday before hers (apa nak buat daa, 26 always comes before 31st haha).

the whole family had dinner at Serai Empire, ordering ala carte this time. i didn't know what to order so i ordered white rice + lemon chicken. Significant Other ordered the Serai Platter, which is surprisingly nice. sil ordered nasi kerabu, and bil went all western by ordering prawn aglio olio. i ordered fish and chips for the kids. those two usually have mood swings, at times they're ravenous as a horse, at others they don't care less about what food you put on the table, but they'll definitely steal a bit of your drink - Dayana's gone all 'ice lemon tea' on us. amboiii sapa ntah ajar. but we didn't order that, i ordered iced serai tea to share with instead, complete with those big mint leaves that Dayana dubbed as 'sayur'. bahahhahahah.

prawn aglio olio

serai platter

nasi kerabu

lemon chicken

the best pavlova so far

banana fritters and ice cream

i like how Serai has this small storybook section for the kids. not that they even know how to read, but they enjoyed flipping through the books all the same.

kemain lagi budak besday girl ni minum

itu Uncle Amal

Dayana and the serai 'ice lemon tea'

melantak pavlova

enjoying her kerabu

the best part about Serai was their dessert - we ordered banana fritters + ice cream and pavlova. the kids of course walloped the ice cream and left the rest for us.

oh i think you've guessed it by now - i left d3 at home. bahahahahah kesian. she'd be busy drooling all over me and screaming her head off. she's not the type to sit quietly in her stroller and amuse herself, nonono.

funny how we bumped into deensy and stiletto at Serai, haha. not that the latter recognizes me. if deens were there Significant Other would've said hi to the accomplished pilot, hee~.

as a birthday present Uncle Amal bought Dinara this funny-looking giraffe (which looks totally organic to me). Dayana? he told her to wait for her birthday this Saturday. muka memang tak puas hati. penat people try to explain to her that it's not yet her birthday no matter how much she whines. even after i told her there's gonna be fireworks on her birthday hahahaha.

after dinner we dropped by USJ for cake! Auntie Enn bought the kids a minion cake, lol. thanks Auntie! Dinara macam takut je nak blow out the candles. but she didn't hesitate when we offered her the knife to cut the cake. the outer part of the cake was quite chewy, btw. haha. sugar rush for everyone! @_@

the minion cake

blowing the candles

(pssst Auntie Enn, mana lagi gambar?)

until now we still have trouble trying to get the birthday girl to sit still and take her photo. and mau pulak dia pakai that bunga purple besar gedabak tu, accessories in her hair usually never last that long. ni mesti sebab her sister was wearing one too. made by Noreen's friend btw.

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just writing this here for future reference:

JPJ transfer of ownership (assuming that the car's roadtax is still valid):
a) 1 cancellation of roadtax letter from the seller (seller must be present)
b) 2 copies of borang xxx (buyer and seller)
c) 2 copies of borang xxx (buyer and seller)
d) verification of IC - if the buyer/seller is present, use borang xx, else use borang xx to be verified at the Commissioner of Oaths.
e) puspakom report of the said vehicle (valid for one month only)
f) car grant/road tax

if the car's roadtax has already expired, no need to do a).
buyer does not need to buy new insurance immediately. the officer there told me to wait for the transfer process to be completed before purchasing.

stash shrinkage

once upon a time,

my wraps collection used to look like this

(with a bunch of wraps still not in the photo):

so after getting a huge wake up call from Significant Other (ouch), my current stash now looks like this
(didys, grads, handwovens, oschas):

am quite happy with the shrinkage, as much as i would like to shrink it further, the current market is not moving as fast as it used to, thanks to handwovens. oh well.

anyhoo, the following below are still for sale. pm with interest =) they're all size 5 @ 4.2m~.

(top to bottom):

aqua silk waves, $400.

grass hemp indio, $300. *sold*

jk aiko chiisai, $300. *sold*

Dinara's 3!

this one just turned three yesterday.

i still wonder what goes on in that tiny little brain of hers.

she speaks Spanish most of the time (from watching too many clips on Youtube -_-).

i have no idea when her pronounciation will improve.

she loves fighting with her elder sister.

i am always amazed with her generous appetite =D

she's finally weaned off her pacifier.

already she wants to follow her sister to school (boring kot duduk rumah agaknya).

she efficiently asks for the iPod or iPad every morning (mami sudah sorok itu iPad tsk).

her favorite cartoons include Barbie and Poyee (Polly Pocket).

happy birthday my tanned cinapek! may you grow up to be the perfect little girl one could ever ask for =)

wordless random of the day

coz it's Wednesday

ok wordless posts are boring when the photos people post onto their blogs have no relation to us. unless they write a lengthy explanation to accompany the photo, then only i'd go like, oOOoOoo so ni laaa bla bla bla... if you get my drift (i think i've been insta-browsing too much).

so i'm gonna add a boring description for each of the photos i've stuck into this blog post. you can skip the lengthy bedtime story if you're not interested =P

 because they're colorful and fluffy

i came back from maternity and the first person i bumped into was non other than Siti, the apam maker =P~~~. i tell you she makes the best apams ever. i like em kosong because they seem to turn out fluffier. that day she happened to have an extra 50 pieces that day so i sapu them all, bahahahaha. i could finish all 50 pieces by myself (which i did a number of times back when i was pregnant) but i need to keep some for Dinara. she's the only one apart from me that likes 'em.

because it was a pleasant surprise with yummy content

sally dropped by my desk to give me this. cantik kan? i think she customized the whole jar by herself. i forgot to ask her if she made the contents of the jar by herself as well. in the jar there were cornflake tarts, almond london lookalikes, and pineapple tarts. they were so good (and i was so hungry) i ate them all. bahahahahaha (teruk betul kan? people wonder why the hell am i not fat. i wonder the same thing too).

because they're my current happy wraps

i feel happy just looking at them, probably because they're grads. the one in the middle is the longest surviving wrap that's still with me. the one on the top just had a makeover. the one on the bottom is purple. i used to hate purple. now what happens? my stash becomes purple-heavy without me knowing it T_T.

because mashi poisoned me LOL

i usually do not like selipar-jepun lookalikes because my feet are not used to having that 'thing' sitting nested in between my toes, but somehow this one seems to be an exception. the whole thing is made out of velvet btw, so this pair of shoes is definitely not meant to be worn to be beach, no matter how much it looks like a selipar jepun. heck, i keep wondering to myself how come this brand cost so much for just having the most simplest design possible. but this particular design got stuck in my brain, possibly because of that rosette. this design i couldn't find on the website though. probably sudah lapuk. hee~ takda discount ka..?

oops. my post went from wordless to one word too many. bahahaha.

the epic for Significant Other

you don't find many people these days who have the heart of gold.
you don't find many people these days that see the good things people do.
rather, they choose to only see the bad things that happen around them.
the best kind of people are the ones that see past your faults.
the ones that accepts you for who you are no matter how bad your past has been.
people worth treasuring are the ones that are willing to sacrifice everything for another despite their inconveniences.
i've found mine. the other half.
the one who is willing to tolerate all my faults, all the wrong that i've done.
the one willing to forgive even after all the bad things i've ever said and did.
the one who is willing to settle all my worldly debts when i desperately needed it.
the one who reaches out to put me on the correct path each time i stray away. the one who is still by my side after all the ups and especially downs in life.

sometimes people make stupid decisions that affects the closest people without even knowing it.
people can be stupid that way. they never think it through, the decisions that they make.
you can't blame others for something that you've mucked up on your own, can you?
i guess everyone has their dark era. i've gone through mine. 
goes to show that alot of improvements are needed, especially the responsibilities to God for the afterlife.

the world is merely just a temporary place before we are granted something much greater.
never stop asking for His forgiveness. unlike the mortal human, God is ever forgiving. al-Ghaffar = maha Pengampun.
oh also, it is hoped that that very someone will get exactly what that person deserves: for being utterly deceiving, greedy and for their betrayal. now and in the afterlife, especially for all the fitnah you've been doing.
every day i'm grateful for what i have. always remember that God knows what's best for you.

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dear Significant Other,
my sweetheart,
my one and only, 

not everyone is perfect. you make mistakes on your journey of life, and maybe with or without intention you hurt people along the way for the decisions that you make.

i'd like to apologize for making the biggest mistake i've ever made so far which resulted in hurting you and the family. true it's my fault for not making use of everything that i've learnt my entire 30 yrs of living, my fault for listening to the wrong set of people, my wrongdoing for not being smart enough to know what's right and what's wrong.

but good people will always emerge and be rewarded by God for your patience and because of this i truly believe you will eventually get what you really want for yourself in life that would make you truly happy, here and in the afterlife. you're intelligent, loyal, way better than anyone i know, an added bonus that you come with a big package, everything that anyone would love to have. i know you deserve someone much better, but if permitted by God i would like to be the one that tries hard every day to make you happy, to make sure that you wake up with a smile on your face every morning and fall asleep with a light heart at night.

i hope that somewhere in your heart you will learn to open your heart and forgive the one person that's closest to you who is also only human and has alot to improve in order to become the better wife for you, or if God permits, to grant you with the wife you truly deserve, be it me or another. and i also pray that you will be the husband and father that your family can always look up to and depend upon.

i look back on the past years and i realize how i've never shown how much appreciation i've had for you, for all the things that you've done and sacrificed in order to keep the whole family together, to grant them a better life. you've been nothing but loyal, i've been nothing but a jerk who doesn't know how to express the emotions you're longing for. i'm sorry it had to take a mistake to really open up my eyes. every day i'm learning to be grateful for everything that i have in my life, one day at a time.

i believe that the blessing of a child is a sign of blessing from above, a piece of encouragement that tells you that you still have the opportunity to seek His forgiveness, an opportunity to make things right so as long as you're sincere and stay away from all the negativeness in life. there are so many people out there who are never happy at other people's success so they try to do everything in their power to destroy you. insyallah i believe that eventually after time everything will be repaired, slowly if not surely. you just have to have faith and believe.

wishing you a happy birthday my love, may you always be blessed with happiness, may you learn to love more and give more, may God recognize you for your utter patience and reward you with your hearts' desires.

from 1981 to many more years of love and life.

love,

your humble wife.

note: the excerpt below is taken from Asma's blog. her entries are always meaningful in every way.

'Except those who repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds; for those, Allah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.'
(Surah Al-Furqan: 70)

raya photos 2013

we started off the morning Raya-ing at Sepang.
some of the photos taken that morning...

black theme this year

Dira with her Grandad

on the father-in-law's side

back in our room, we decided to camwhore for abit.

our first family photo 2013 lol

Dinara.

hubby.

baby and me.

kecik2 get duit raya already

Dayana.

then back at home, we took more raya photos, this time with Dad and the rest of the family.

makcik bergaya ngan LV

frazzled mommy

anak dara

salam aidilfitri

Sophia.

attempting a smile haha

each year we take our raya photos as the same spot.
this year, we're minus one person.
God bless you, Mama.

the usual raya portrait

until next year.

syawal 1434

salam aidilfitri maaf zahir dan batin
from the 5 of us,
including
D1, D2 and D3

purple is my favorite color...

it arrived just before raya! thanks Fadh! =)

dancing fish

i guess the restaurant was named after one of their dishes, the dancing fish - deep fried fish twisted in such a way that it looks like it's dancing? LOL. we decided to go out for iftar on Saturday last weekend, ever since mil's passing we never did manage to have a proper iftar together as a family. i tried calling Muhibbah, the line was always engaged. tried to book for Serai, but every outlet happened to be fully booked (come back 8.30pm they said. whaaa..? orang Mesia minat sungguh berbuka luar noh?).

we decided to go to Dancing Fish at Setia City Mall for iftar (also because i tried calling and managed to get a booking there haha). it was our first time here. sil and bil have been here a couple of times already, even fil went there a few days ago, haha. the kids were supposed to come too, but they were all flat by the time we were about to leave (and it's an utter pain to deal with cranky kids abruptly awoken from their short slumber) so we left them behind. ooops. bil's friend tagged along for iftar, so that's 6 of us. no photos of the 6 of us, i was too engrossed in food to take any.

*remind thyself to charge my camera batteries*

you get a 10% discount off the bill if you pay with a CIMB credit card. i'm no food reviewer so this entry is just merely to share what we ordered for iftar that night. i actually not a fan of Indonesian cuisine. but Dancing Fish is Indo-Malay, so i guess the food here's ok. you had the option of ordering their set menu for Ramadhan, but we decided to go ala carte instead.

we ordered:
- 1/2 bbq spring chicken
- daging masak kicap
- udang sambal petai (er, i didn't notice any petai)
- dancing fish (w sambal terasi and kicap)
- gulai pucuk paku
- kailan w salted fish

they had a little dessert table in the corner, not sure how they charged us for (sil footed the bil, fil belanje). between the 6 of us we managed to finish everything (except for the pucuk paku, sil didn't seem to like it for some reason).

Dancing Fish - Malay-Indo cuisine

bits n pieces taken from the dessert table

Significant Other ordered milo

earl grey tea. was amused at how 'big' the teapot was

starters: empeng with sambal terasi

the dancing fish, gulai pucuk paku, bbq spring chicken

udang sambal (petai?), kailan w salted fish

the daging masak kicap came last

everyone went for prayers first before digging in. i must say, the way in to the surau was poorly designed - one dedicated walkway to get to both the men and women's surau. imagine both men and women queueing up to get in, plus the people leaving the surau, i could barely find my shoes amidst the number of people standing and waiting in line @_@. fil was right about going to the surau first before digging in, the crowd literally swelled in numbers by the time we were done with prayers. i think i now know why it's better to break fast at home, hee~.

we wanted to watch a movie but GSC didn't show 'The Conjuring'. pffffft. so we went shopping! well sil did, anyways. she bought stuff at Uniqlo. managed to get myself a pair of jeans i've been eyeing aeons ago while i was fat, but it needs length altering though. sil also added more charms to her Pandora collection, so jealous!!! #$(*#(@(*#&*$% *mentally adding that to my wishlist once i've sold off a few more wraps*.

raya is less than a week away. how time flies, seriously. i'm still on maternity leave so i didn't have to deal with the terrific Ramadhan jam. will be raya-ing locally this year. am so not looking forward to work in two weeks' time. i checked my mail the other day only to find that the company's organizing Sports Day? and guess who got the last pick due to not being in the office? *groans*.