Tagging Game

sally tagged me again. maybe because she realised i haven't been writing that much lately. thank you, cos its kind of fun doing all this.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Nobody did

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Getting ready to work, i was late!

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Updating my blog

4. What happened to you in 2006?
Remove my tonsils

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"Abangggg…" (was at the brink of screaming at fahmi for the mess he did)

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Plain water and a glass of orange juice

7. What color is your hairbrush?
black with red end teeth

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
4 sets of wedding gifts, there goes my savings hihihi

9. Where were you last night?
Home watching tv while kepit'ing' fahmi

10. What color is your front door?
Yellow ochre

11. Where do you keep your change?
In my purse

12. What’s the weather like today?
slightly sunny in the morning, cloudy the rest of the day

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Must be from baskin n robbins… can't remember the name

14. What excites you?
Right now, must be alam budiman

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
What? Again? No, I’m done with my tomboyish years

16. Are you over the age of 25?
ughhh... can't cheat can i? it's all mention here in my blog... yes

17. Do you talk a lot?
Only with hubby

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
What’s that?

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
no

20. Do you make up your own words?
Why would I do that?

21. Are you a jealous person?
Very little jealousy in me. I’m sure if I do it is not obvious… perhaps because I hide it well?

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’
ayu

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Can’t think of any

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
House number

25. What does the last text message you received say?
Some invitation to watch a friendly football match at pulapol

26. Do you chew on your straw?
No, I don’t

27. Do you have curly hair?
no

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
To bed

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Can’t think of any right now

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Fish n chips… yumm yumm

31. Will you get married in the future?
What? Again? No.

32.What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
none

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Apart from hubby? If I say hyun bin & joo ji hon can?

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
err... yesterday?

35. Are you currently depressed?
no

36. Did you cry today?
no

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Cos I’m having fun doing this! That’s why.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Ila s2m3r, erin, shida, i want to tag azie too & watie

In Loving Memory

this may not be the best photo I have of my Honda civic 1.7 vtec but this is what’s left with me now, just a piece of photo. I’ve sold it last 2 weeks (hubby did). Meaning that hubby is now carless coz he’s been driving the civic to work all this while; I’m driving the other car. The civic was my pride, although it was a second hand unit but the fact that it was the first car purchased with my own hard-earned money, it marked a stage where I reached a point in my career. Of course comparing to any other person, when other people may have owned their very own car at much earlier age, mine considered nothing. Had i not married early, i would have owned a car and a house first before i get married. But things are the other way round for me. First, I got married, after 4 years of working only i managed to buy a used car and now after 5 yrs going to 6th year am considering buying a house under my own name with my own money.

This car may not be my choice at the point of purchase but i soon fall in love with it. It may not have many special features being an old model of the civic family, but i’m happy with it. Somebody at the office used to teased me coz he found the complex security features installed ridiculous. One has to be in possession of a security card in order to start the engine and keep the engine running. The engine will go off in mere seconds upon removing the card from the driver’s seat. Hubby senanglah just keep the card in his back pocket.

And now, i made the toughest decision to let it go. Am downgrading to a smaller car. We need more cash in hand for the ‘nest’ project! Hopefully... insyaAllah. Amin...

note: the pic was taken a couple of hours before it was sold. i only get to see the car for the last time via email. huhu sedeyyy...tak sempat peluk pun!

Wedding, Wedding And More Wedding

I shall describe December as the month for wedding, ton and tons of weddings. Seems like everyone all over the world is tying the knot before the year ends.

I received a handful wedding invitation this month including one invitation from Holland by mail sometime last week. The reception shall takes place today at 1900hrs Holland time. The groom, Jan as he is fondly known is a consultant at my office, very senior in age (almost 60!) but very young at heart. It will be his second marriage to an Indonesian born. I’ve know him for more than 5 years now, even before he join the company. Was never that close to him, pity coz he has a handsome son ;-). So sweet of him to include me in his list. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it to his reception (mana mampu sih). My best wishes to him from a far “it is a pleasant surprise. May you be bless with a blissful marriage” received a cheeky reply “…the old man starts a new future!”

And what a pleasant way to include us (in KL) in his celebration of love and merriment by delivering 3 delicious, sumptuous, mouth watering coffee table sized strawberry cake with fresh large strawberries topping today. He is one happy man and very proud to announce his wedding, very unlike our people here who ties the knot again at old age.

While ducking into two helpings of strawberry cake, I flipped through the invitation card again. It is not very difficult to figure out what’s in the card even though it is written in Dutch. But well, most cards must come with bride & groom’s name, followed by date of event, place and time kan? At least those in numbers senang nak figure out. So I went to do some searching on the internet, browsing for Orangerie Elswout, in Overveen, my wild guess that must be a restaurant’s name. Oh my, it is a breathtakingly beautiful place for a romantic reception. Mulalah nak berangan tu… hahaha

This weekend we’ll be in kajang attending the wedding of my officemate. Next weekend we’ll be off to seremban, again, this time to celebrate the wedding of an old friend … my childhood friend. On the last weekend of December we’ll be in puchong for the wedding of another colleague. So, now my weekends are full, again.

Quite Weekend

For the past few months (after hari raya) we had heavy schedule for our weekends. Our weekends were filled with open houses, weekend outings with the kids, window shopping, commute to mum’s house for the regular visit where at the same time pay a visit to my regular tailor, birthday parties and the house hunting, again.

This weekend were spent leisurely, at our small house. We didn’t really have any plan for the weekend. Initially we wanted to visit my niece at hukm on Saturday after I got back from work. But I got to know that she were discharge on Friday afternoon. She had been in and out of hospital for more than 1 month now. I bought some books and stationeries for her to kill the time. She must be bored having lying on the bed doing nothing except the occasional watching TV. I guess I just keep the books and stationeries with me until the next visit on Tuesday.

So the visit was replaced with… afternoon nap instead. It has been ages since I had an afternoon nap. I can’t remember when the last time was, and I can’t remember how tiring an afternoon nap can be. And today I had another nap which last for 1 ½ hour. Wow! Sungguh memenatkan! Feel guilty and I actually regret losing my time to a nap. I could have done many things in 1 1/2hour. Tapi takpelah, I really need it anyway, especially after the bali trip and the recent langkawi business trip.

One of the reasons why we choose to stay at home this weekend was because yaya is down with fever. Her temperature is high and she started to cough now. We’ve been giving her paracetamol syrup, but there were times when she simply refused to take, the times when she take she would end up throwing up segala isi perutnya termasuk ubat tu sekali. Sungguh penat nak bagi si kecil ni makan ubat, macam nak beragaduh pun iye!


she sat on my lap while i was uploading some pics and fall asleep atas tangan mama


bila baringkan atas katil dia jaga pulak. agaknya bila tak sedap badan nak tido pun tak selesa

And me… I am down with fever too. I’ve down with fever longer than yaya had. This is the cause of my fever… alam budiman. Aduhhh sakitnyaaa…

Bali Day 4

Bali Day 4
Last day in Bali
Return to KL

after having our last breakfast at the resturant, say goodbye to one mat salleh couple yang dah berumur, we went for a short walk down the beach for our last mini shopping. i saw sequin sandals the day we arrived here, so decide to buy them for my mum, sis & sil.


kami dah berjanji dengan Wayan who agreed to send us to the airport pagi itu. the check out was very smooth, alhamdulillah, and we left the hotel at around 10.30am to catch our return flight at 1.55pm.


flight tak penuh sangat. kat airport sempat lagi grab 2 helai t-shirt polo, one for me & one for hubby, dapat 30% off. and sempat lagi snap pic ni



everywhere baik di hotel, di kedai2, di patung2 mahupun dalam kereta Wayan or kereta orang lain we spotted this. aku fikir tujuannya sebagai wangian, yelah bunga rampai dalam bekas daun kelapa. but hubby says itu untuk orang sembahyang... i wanted to ask but i don't dare to takut offend orang pulak. dah lah tempohari aku tegur tuan kedai tu tengah cucuk2 daun kat batang lidi, i thought dia jual sirih yang dah siap dikapur, rupa2nya untuk sembahyang

we touched down at lcct 30mins earlier than the eta. laju giler pilot ni bawa... hehe. this time around much to our surprise none of the flights were delay. it took off on time and arrive earlier than eta.

Bali Day 3

Bali Day 3
22 nov 2007
At leisure

we came here to relax, to get away from hectic working life, to spend our time leisurely without having to think of what to do next, just enjoy our time together as a family. basically that's what we did on the 3rd day in bali.

walaupun sebenarnya i finally realised that bali is not the place for family vacation. if you come as a couple or in group looking for adventure, yes there's plenty you can do here from spending your time leisurely at the beach, go hiking, see the sun rise, rafting or join the night life at kuta. rasanya we are the only couple yang bawa children, because non of those staying at the hotel bawa children. at the elephant ride we saw some children but there are all above 12yo.

the fact that we were the only couple on holiday with children really grabs attention mat-mat salleh yang stay at the same hotel. we saw same faces every morning we went for breakfast and dinner. they sort of became friendly with fahmi & yaya. and the staff at the restaurant they too became friendly with the children, they'd smile and stop to talk with the children and lama2 macam dah tau je perangai anak2ku yang tak segan2 bergaduh depan orang... huhu maluuu.


this is how yaya decides to spent her last day kat bali, main hide & seek with daddy depan pintu bilik


dah last day baru teringat pakaikan budak2 ni hat

we thought of spending the rest of the day in our room tapi bila dah masuk tengahari the housekeeping staff came to clean the room. so we decided to go out for a walk, di tengahari buta! orang-orang kat bali ni, they are so friendly tapi bukan semua orang lah. those involved in the tourism memang tersangat friendly sampai penat mulut melayan. bila nampak kami berjalan keluar dari hotel, semua bertanya nak ke mana? the way they ask makes us believe that they are concern tapi sebenarnya they'd want to know if you need their service to chaffeur you around. sepanjang2 jalan kami disapa, since hubby agak berat mulut everytime i had to tell them no we don't need taxi... well they are being nice to you, you don't lose anything by responding to them in a nice way jugak kan? but i guess, among the 4 of us, fahmi gets irritated the most dengan sapaan2 itu. sampaikan he questioned me why aku melayan cakap2 orang2 tu... boleh gitu? hahaha dia kata "kenapa mama asyik bercakap je?" "kenapa mama cakap dengan orang tu?"

about 15m from the hotel i saw a signboard showing the direction of a mosque. we've been dying for halal food so we thought why not we go to the mosque manalah tau kalau2 ada orang Islam kat situ boleh juga tumpang tanya.

signboard masjid al-ihsan about 15m walk from the hotel menghala ke jalan besar

yup, memang ada orang kat situ, ramai. so me being the most ringan mulut that day teruslah bagi salam. percaya tak 4 kali aku bagi salam sorang pun tak jawab? yang perempuan sibuk bercakap kat hp langsung tak pandang muka aku walaupun dia bercakap mengadap aku, and yang lelaki plak buat2 pekak. aku rasa macam tak percaya... we quickly leave the mosque with frustration, senang cakap hampa!

the day before Wayan did mention to us that there's a 24hr minang restaurant about 50m dari jalan besar. jadi lepas tak dilayan di masjid, kami pun dah tak kuasa nak tanya orang terus je jalan sampai jumpa satu kedai makan kecil dengan tanda halal pada signboard nya.

restoran Bundo Kanduang lebih kurang gitu lah

again, walaupun hati seronok jumpa restoran halal tapi sambutan dingin sangat buat kami rasa cuak dengan perangai orang Islam di bali. just imagine, while all the non-muslim boleh bertegur sapa with you dengan mesra kenapa orang Muslim sesama agama boleh buat tak pandang bila kita step in to their shop? aku pakai tudung tau. kalau aku pakai mini skirt lain cerita lah.

walaupun layanannya dingin, tapi aku suka air fresh oren dia... taste very different tak macam oren sunkist tu... manis sangat tapi bukan manis gula. rupa2nya kat situ dia guna limau kulit hijau tu... apa nama dia?

balik hotel, lepak, tengok tv and tidur. bangun tidur we took the kids main air dalam swimming pool depan bilik.


the floater belongs to the hotel. the hotel staff was so kind to lend us the floater, kami tak minta pun. how nice & thoughtful of them





ada incident kat kolam ni. yaya showing off keberanian dia main dalam kolam dengan air separas ketiak dia tanpa floater, while fahmi almost drown bila melompat2 tak pakai floater. hmm garu kepala tengok gelagat budak berdua ni... beza betul.

while daddy entertaining the kids main air, aku sibuk snap pics pohon kemboja yang bersepah2 bukan kat hotel ni jer, anywhere and everywhere you go there's no spot without a kemboja tree. the flower are used in ritual agama and also untuk menyerikan sanggul rambut or just as a natural wangian dalam bilik.


pohon kemboja ni daunnya bulat di hujung, bunganya agak besar


yang ni plak daunnya ends with sharp edge, while the flower slightly smaller than above tapi pusarannya unik


ni hubby kata lalang, tapi akarnya macam berubi macam serai gitu. takkan nak tanam lalang dalam hotel.. isyy hubby ni


cuba teka pukul berapa ni? jam 6 dah macam 7ptg kat malaysia

we had our last dinner at the hotel's restaurant. apparently we are not the only one spending our last night there. a group of mat & minah salleh who become friends during their stay there decided to hold a group dinner.


boringnyer tunggu food... dekat 40mins baru sampai our food coz chef sibuk siapkan group dinner


kunyah crackers dulu satu bakul

lepas dinner, tidur awal coz esok nak check out.

Bali Day 2

Bali Day 2 - 21 nov 2007
Elephant Ride, Ubud Art Museum, Galuh Batik Shop & Pasar Sukawati
Location : Ubud, Bali

we received the response on our request for a private tour just before we left for breakfast. walaupun kat bali ni jam 5.30pagi dah terang benderang macam jam 7pagi but we just couldn't push our selves to woke up early... kalau nak ikutkan semua tour packages kat sini begins as early as 3am! itu untuk package tengok matahari terbit dari pantai jimbaran kalau tak silap. other packages begins as early as 5.30am to 8am... but our private tour was tailor made to our own timing...hehe sesuai untuk orang yang malas bangun pagi ;-).


lepak kat veranda bilik lepas breakfast


before we left for the tour sempat lagi aku book for massage ;-)


posing 3 beranak... one thing i noticed budak berdua ni makin happening posing mereka! terhibur bila tengok balik

we left the hotel at around 10am, menuju ke elephant safari somewhere di perkampungan taro, ubud. our tourist guide cum driver by the name Wayan actually wanted to bring us to many other tourist spot i.e. barong dance, temples, silver craft worksyop, monkey forest but we don't want to do all that. yelah dengan 2 orang kanak2 riang ni, mana larat nak berjalan 8 hours non stop. that's why we opt for private tour, kalau ikut tour package lain2 tu it will takes paling kurang 8hours keliling bali in 1 day. plus, ada apa dengan temple?

we thought that bali is just a small island like langkawi... hehe buta geography betul! we didn't expect that the journey from sanur to the elephant safari will takes almost 1 hour to reach there. sampaikan fahmi & yaya tertidur. and the road was very busy, sesibuk jalan di KL!

there were 3 rides offered, the 15mins ride, 40mins ride or the 1hr ride. we choose the 40mins ride walaupun hati risau takut budak berdua ni tak tahan lama2 atas gajah. paid the fee in US$, sib baik ada tukar US$ skit. me & fahymi took off first riding the elephant named Elsa, hubby & yaya rides Tony. the elephant keeper that accompanied us, Abbas (a muslim from Sumatra) was very friendly & informative. i didn't expect fahmi to be so scared of the elephant that he was so restless throughout the ride, the reason why i asked hubby to ride with yaya was because i expect yaya yang akan jadi si penakut that i won't be able to control her. surprisingly she was very relaxed, cheerful and seems to enjoy the ride very very much! fahmi wears this worry look on his face sepanjang the ride, but still bila daddy nak snap his pics he's able to give his signature 'peace' post.


fahmi actually meronta2 tak nak naik, bila daddy nak snap pics immediately dia posing!


yaya was such a darling, from a far i can hear her giggles and asking daddy tons of questions


'Tony' showing off his talent angkat daddy & fahmi using his belalai

the riding package comes with complimentary lunch at the reastaurant nearby. before proceeded to the restaurant i asked Abbas whether the food provided are halal? Abbas advice us to take only vegetarian food. in my mind i thought that the vegetarian buffet counter were separated from non-halal counter, so i didn't expect that the food to be on the same buffet line. bila hubby tanya semua food halal ke? quickly the lady tutup lauk pauk yang non-halal... masa tu serta merta kembang tekak kami... the one yang nampak macam fish ball celup tepung tu rupa2nya daging 'itu'... separuh mati aku ingat bleh bagi the kids makan! ohhh tidakkkk! kejamnya aku. separuh jalan makan pecal terasa kembang tekak semula... terus kami berhenti makan. huwaaa seksanya!

paling tak sampai hati bila tengok the kids tak makan apa2 pun. just imagine yaya yang hantu nasi didn't had sebiji nasi pun sepanjang 4 days in bali... she lived on fried egg, french fries, oreo biscuits and more fried eggs!

next, we went to the art museum. hubby is not an art lover, i do love art but i'm not passionate about it, when your partner does not share the same interest with you, the love for art sort of mati dengan sendirinya, not that i care so much. we decided that the art museum is not our 'thing' and leave empty handed.

next stop ni yang plaing menyeronokkan for me! hehe Galuh batik shop. we got 50% discount for all items from kain batik lepas, pelikat samarinda, kebaya, batik printed tote, sandals etc. seronok bershopping lupa perut lapar... ada patut?

after the stop at galuh, Wayan wants to bring us to the monkey forest and silver craft shop which i and hubby rejected (in a nice way). the kids dah kepenatan, lapar but that didn't stop me from asking Wayan to bring us to Pasar Sukawati. this is the place where you can buy all sorts of souvenir items tapi kena pandai bargain. i enjoy the bargain part so much, hubby did too... macam sport plak for us doing the bargain thing. the hawkers kind of forcing us to buy things from their shop, bila kita cakap tak nak, they'll immediately lower down the price, if you say tak nak again, they'll ask you how much you want. kadang2 irritating jugak sebab kita betul2 tak nak barang tu.

and if you bring your kids with you please be more alert coz if the hawkers can't persuade you to buy then they'll turn to your kids. tak pasal2 beli miniature cats at the price of rp15,000 ... ntah apa gunanya aku pun tak tau. kes terperangkap lah ni.

we saw one stall selling 'Muslim' bakso... tapi tak berani nak cuba. so just bought a few carton drinks and biscuits for the kids.

balik ke hotel, semuanya tertidur kepenatan, while i go for the massage at the hotel's spa.