29 July 2010 - Bangun solat Subuh .. and remembering my good friend who will be going for a 'medical procedure' at Adventist Hospital. Sent her a prayer and later, a short sms .. thinking of her and wishing her well.

Beberapa hari yang lepas merupakan hari-hari yang penuh stress for my Yasmin. She would zoom off to attend her classes and come home looking more or less like this ..

uisshh!... awat tu??

~ assignments and deadlines

~ lecturer not satisfied with assignment topic

~ team member 'missing in action'

~ meetings

... and the list goes on ...


So, it was a welcomed break for her to go spend the weekend in KL with my sister and was eagerly anticipating their plans for the weekend together. At 7pm, Faiz and I sent her to the Penang Airport and she happily waved goodbye as we left her there to take the 8pm Firefly flight.


When I arrived home, I got a frantic call from her .. rupanya flight tiket yang dibeli online since last week dah tersalah beli!!!










Ya ampuuunnn.. !! Instead of Penang/Subang destination, it was the other way round! Kena pulak masa printing out the online tickets before leaving home, tak ambil kisah nak re-check the transaction!

Aduihh! Nasib baik ada tiket untuk the next flight, which was at 9.40pm. So, I went back to the airport, got her the tickets, had dinner with her there and waited till boarding time.

Itu laa.. kita hanya merancang. As fate would have it, sometimes our plans don't go as planned. Nampaknya, karaoke session terpaksa di-postpone-kan to tomorrow night pulak la yer..

Agak-agak laa... camner yer andaikata semalam tu ... no tickets available and have to cancel trip? .. dah la stress .. 'kaboomm!!' terus meletop airport tu kot?!! muaahahaha..!! (as I type this entry, I dok tergelak sorang-sorang teringatkan muka 'suspense' dia last night)

Jangan marah aaa... ! Have fun, my luv...

Double Celebration

Our anniversary is a time to look back at the good times, the joys of today, the memories of yesterday and a time to look ahead to live our dreams and hopes of tomorrow together.

Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday to my luv ..

FAIZ ISMAIL MUKHTAR

JULIA SYALINA

Yesterday, 27 July 2010 was Julia's birthday.

Poor thing! On such a happy occasion, both Julia and Yasmin have lots of assignments to do and were very stressed to meet the deadline.

"There's no shortcut to success".

Kita bersusah-susah sekarang demi untuk kesenangan di kemudian hari, insyaAllah. All the best in your undertakings, darling...

Don't make plans, make options.

Yesterday tengahari.. boring takder apa nak buat. Masuk Facebook. Wah! My friend, Kathy, tengah online. "psst..psstt.. tengah buat apa tu?" .. chat a while .. dua-dua orang pun free. Let's go ..

'Plan A'

oh! on second thought, cancel that one. Let's go ...

Plan B

Just then, another friend Yusmayati pun online. Same conversation .. "tengah buat apa?" .. "today my offday.. at home.. bla.. bla.. jom?" Settled!

I left home at 2pm. First stop, fetched Yusma and then, Kathy. Best! Best! Am happy to be out of the house and spend time with friends.

We had cakes and drinks and did a lot of 'sembang-sembang'. Still early to go home, so jalan-jalan kejap. Decided to get the girl's opinions and help me decide on the Braun Buffel handbag I have been contemplating to get for myself. And the winner isssss....

First comes thought;
then organization of that thought,
into ideas and plans;
then transformation of those plans into reality....

It's time to land that 'helicopter'

Parents can only give advice or put children on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.
~ Anne Frank

As a parent, I ...

.. teach my children the best that I can

.. compliment them when they have done something right

.. discipline them when they have broken the rules

.. trust that I have taught them well enough for them to make it on their own (through kindergarten, school, college/university, work, life)

Having said that.. I have mixed feelings of being happy and sad.
~ Happy that my children had adjusted easily and well to their college/university/working life and are having a great time;
~ Sad because they didn’t seem to miss me anymore.

Letting go isn't easy for parents, yet, this will be one of my greatest gift to my beloved children.. the peace of mind without a "helicopter" parent constantly hovering in the background or over their heads! I will let my children initiate the correspondence for a change ... give advice only when it’s being asked for; visit or attend activities only because they invited/asked me to.

These days, I believe I’m more equipped! Now, I ...

...plan and spend time with friends (even go for holidays together),

...catch up on stuff in the house (more stuff in the new house soon!)

...spend time at the slimming centre

...go to the movies

...have breakfast/lunch dates

...read books/magazines

...surf the internet/update my blog

...have facials

...last, but not least, have spontaneous ‘unlimited’ shopping spree and splurging on MYSELF! (bless my husband for the kind tolerance)


These are things I wouldn’t dream to normally do, nor have time for, during my parenting days before. So...

.... it's time to let go ...

.. continuation from yesterday ..


Selepas selesai checking-out the new house, Faiz went to work while Yasmin, Julia and I went to lunch at ..

Yasmin had spagetti and mushroom soup





Julia's order

and

Gourmet Seafood Pie for me

Perut kenyang, senang hati ... ok, now time to ronda-ronda. Tapi, yang utama must make one important phonecall .. to the BANKER laaa .. hehehe. After getting 'green light' from Faiz, we happily went shopping.

First stop..

GUESS boutique

Yasmin wanted to get a handbag for herself, tapi tak der yang dia berkenan. Next, we went to ..

MANGO's

tak der jugak .. then to

FOREVER 21

Haa.. kat sini, the girls happily went their separate ways and disappeared into the plentiful rows of clothing till I had to strain my neck to locate who was where!!

Julia's birthday is just round the corner (27th July), so since we're out shopping, I told her to pick what she liked for her birthday so as to save the trouble of me hunting on my own later on. She tried a few and finally narrowed down to three she liked best and couldn't make up her mind which two to choose. So, I got her all three then .. settled!

Yasmin ..?? I lost count berapa banyak baju she got for herself!

Tinggi-tinggi si matahari,
Anak kerbau mati tertambat,
Sudah lama saya menanti,
Baru kini saya mendapat.

Dapat apa?

to my new home ...

Location: D'Residence, Bayan Mutiara
Purchased on: 11 Nov 2006

Ina arrived at 11.30am, very punctual. I told her Yasmin tengah ada 'projek' kat dapur, so Ina masuk ke kitchen kejap nak jengok apa benda la Cik Yasmin kita tu tengah buat ....

.. apa lagi .. cepat-cepat Min halau kitorang dari dapur! hehehehe.. "Alaa .. jangan la tengok! tak leh nak buat keja niii..!". "Ok Girl, bye .. Mama nak gi shopping dah ... "

I drove Ina to Queensbay and straight to GEB's. Just as I thought, she loved the choice of blouses there just as much as I do! Maka bermulalah episode keluar masuk fitting room with the help of two salesgirls providing us with loads of blouses to try on. In the end, she picked 7 for herself and I chose 5.

... yuuhuu ... darling! ... i'm home ... dah habis masak ke?

Tiba di rumah, her friends have arrived and the food were ready on the table. Hmm.. not bad.

The menu :

Ayam Masak Merah,

Steamed Fish,
Kailan Goreng Ikan Masin.

... pssttt ... pssstt ... Yasmin is in one of her 'very rajin' mood again. Last night when she came back from USM, she asked me what we have in the freezer coz she feels like cooking today and inviting friends over for lunch. wohoo..!! yes!! yes!!

She cooks well and her Dad particularly loves her cooking (biasa la kaaannn!! anak kesayangan Daddy! masa tu, mama punya masakan pun kalah!)

It's 8am now, nak siap gi marketing. Kebetulan today at 11.30am nanti, I dah janji nak temankan my sis-in-law, Ina, nak pegi shopping. So, I better get the things prepared for Min awal-awal before I go. Nanti dia masak jer ler. Hope she don't burn down the kitchen and it'll still be there when I get home !! muahahaha...

10am – Dental appointment at Hospital Lam Wah Ee. Checked gigi semua ok. Was out in a jiffy!! Wah! Legaaa..

Elok sampai rumah jer, Faiz was on his way out. Wherever it was that he was about to go, he cancelled. Instead, he asked me to accompany him to Adventist Hospital to have his eyes checked. I decided to have mine checked too.

According to the Doctor, Faiz’s cataract is still very mild, should leave it alone for time being since it’s not blocking his vision; the eye redness is normal.

My left eye ok; tapi my right eye pulak yang needed second screening coz ‘the pressure is slightly on the high side and compressing the nerve’ (whatever that means!). I need to go see him again next month.


Sememangnya pun, my full medical check-up is already due this month tapi belum buat lagi. What’ll we find out next??!!



itu laaa...
just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it's not there
... yer dak? hmmm ...

Venue: Sofina's House
Lorong 3, Taman Sutera Prima

Time: 10 am - 12.30 noon

Date: 19 July 2010

sorry, gambar blur pulak dah

Awal pagi dah siap berkesah buat laundry, fed my 6 Persian cats, pegi beli nasi lemak sotong for Farid, panaskan kuah Laksa Teluk Kechai yang I beli yesterday for my girls and lastly, put the clothes out for drying. Wah! berpeluh macam lari marathon jer..

I'm running late to fetch Kila ... keluar dari rumah pun dah 9.35 pagi, padahal janji nak jumpa 9.30 pagi. Apa lagi... pecut laa..

Sampai jer, Kila was already waiting for me by the roadside. When she saw me coming, senyumnya manis meleret... Kenapa? Coz I came to fetch her with this..






Selesai bacaan Yaasin dan tahlil, tuan rumah pun menjemput kitorang menikmati juadah-juadah yang telah disediakannya. Seeedap uuu ..!!









... buurrp!! Alhamdulillah ...

Decided to drive up to Jitra with cousin Yati and her daughter, Sarah, to visit cousin Ana. Yasmin was supposed to join us but cancelled at the last minute due to other commitments.

Fetched Yati and Sarah at 9.30am and went for a quick breakfast at Astaka Bukit Jambul. Had one set of Roti Bakar & half boiled eggs.





It was a pleasant drive up.. cuaca mendung jer.. traffic pun tak banyak. By 11.30am, we arrived. Bersembang .. bertukar-tukar cerita .. till 1pm, time to fetch her son Syamil back from school. From there, we went for lunch where her husband Shaker already ordered the dishes and joined us. Absolutely delicious!

After lunch, we went back to her house. Sementara tunggu diorang selesai solat, I sempat ambil gambar her cat and 5 (one week old) kittens. Ibunya putih gebu, anak-anaknya pula dua kelabu, dua putih and satu oren.





We proceeded to Kuala Kedah sebab nak pi makan Laksa Teluk Kechai. Makan tengahari tadi pun masih kenyang lagi, dah makan laksa la pulak!





We left for Penang at 4.30pm selepas hujan lebat agak reda sikit. Arrived home 6.30pm. Malamnya selepas solat Maghrib, Faiz and I berkunjung ke rumah mertua di Permatang Tok Gelam, Kepala Batas. Incidentally, my brother-in-law Hafiz and wife Ina, also came for a visit.

Before balik, sempat make plans with Ina to go Queensbay hari Rabu. She wants to get some accessories/presents for relatives in Saudi. She & Hafiz will be leaving for a 2 weeks ziarah/umrah trip soon.

Attended kenduri at Tabung Haji today. Faiz kata nak pegi awal, so dari 11.30pagi Yasmin & Julia pun mulalah bersiap-siap. Dah jam 12.30noon, Faiz belum balik lagi.. ok, tak per... jom makan nasi lemak dulu, buat alas perut.

Tunggu ... punya tunggu ... 'seseorang' yang tadinya ceria macam sunflower tu dah mula nak mengantuk. By the time Faiz balik, mandi, solat and siap ... 2.30pm baru bertolak dari rumah.

.. me and my girls ..

Masa tiba di dewan, pengantin sedang bersanding. The crowd was just nice, tak der nak beratur panjang-panjang and sufficient tables available. I received sms from my cousin Yati while I was there. She's in Penang with her family. Made arrangements to meet up later.

I fetched Yati at about 5.30pm. Dia kata teringin nak makan Pasembur so we went to Medan Suri, Lip Sin where she had Pasembur and I had Mee Goreng Pitchay. Lepas makan, we went to E-gate Secret Recipe lepak-lepak sembang till 8.30pm.

We're meeting up again tomorrow, insyaAllah, tapi belum ada proper plans nak ke mana. See how it goes ...

My lunch date was fabulous ... I had the most wonderful time.

Fetched Yusmayati at 12noon and we decided to go to Gurney Plaza. Sebab apa? Sebab ... lepas makan, can go ronda-ronda shopping.

I took her to Seoul Garden for BBQ/steamboat buffet lunch. It was her first time there and she loved the place! I could see she enjoyed her lunch as much as I did. She said she'd be bringing her husband and daughter there sometime soon.

Lepas makan, kitorang pegi Parksons. Apparently, Yusma had her eyes on a beautiful 'Guess' handbag and asked her friend to keep it aside for her. Tapi, agaknya tak der rezeki kot.. orang lain dah beli dulu.

... and then, it happened! ... I fell in love!!

with this....

GUESS handbag

Beli ... put my purse and my newly purchased MAC Lip Tint in it and terus pakai!! .... muahahahaha ... happy! happy!

On the way out from Parksons, bumped into Yusma's friend, Betty. She showed us a pouch full of nice crystal bangles she was selling.

Beli ... dua: one bangle was of white and bright blue combination and another was a combination of yellow and green crystals (which I wore straight away after purchase coz it matches with the light yellow blouse I was wearing). happy lagi .. !

We went up to the Surau at Level 4 for prayers. After prayers, we crossed over to Gurney Hotel to check out the jewellery and gemstone exhibition currently being held there. I tried on a RM17,500, 1.01 carat 'Princess cut' solitaire and the ring size fits my finger perfectly!

Beli?


eemm...

..... taaak!! acah jer!! ... hehehe...