Never Too Late For A Raya Photo (Sheepish)

For the record, I am posting our latest photo from previous Raja Haji which was on 1 Sept.

We decided to do our qurban di luar negara tahun ini. So our raya was agak santai.

Cuma balik kampung and then visited my mum. We had raya dinner together minus Kaia who is currently in Sabah and also Ili, who came back later.

Luqman and family were in in-laws' place so there were only seven of us plus the babies.


Nikmat Allah.




~ Alhamdulillah 

The Wedding of Zakariyya & Ili

Yes. We had another wedding in December last year.

Kata kawan2 yang rapat, Kak Azah nak kawinkan anak lagi??! Kerapnye anak2 kawin. Saya jawab selamba, abis tu anak2 rapat macam anak tangga.. nak buat macamana? Dan saya sambung, korang yang dah kawin pun nak kahwin lagi. Ni kan budak2 bujang. Hahaha. Kami gelak besar lepas tu. 😊

Anyways. Alhamdulillah. Saya suka budak2 ni abis kawin cepat. Rasa macam selesai satu bab and they can get on with next stage of life. Kata hati saya.

I was quite clueless about the wedding sebenarnye. Balik haji macam tak berapa boleh nak fokus kat kerja kawin ni and I have that panicky feeling like I dont have enough time to prepare for it. So we kept things as simple as possible. I dont have bunga pahar sekali ni (but then neither did I for the last wedding come to think of it). Dan buah tangan sangat simple; takde nak twirl2 manik mutiara dengan wires. Payah.

And somehow it felt like I did the hantaran a thousand times before we finally got it right. Dried lavenders lah. Roses lah. Sampai rasa stressed ke anak telinga dibuatnye. Hahaha. In the end the hantaran turned out sangat simple and ala minimalist. Which I like.

Most of these stuff are mine. Senang rasanya bila ada kerja kawin bawak kluar je dari stor.. anak ramai tadi kan.. (I made these masa Zuf&Ilyas kawin. Alas tu guna cake board that I filled with batting and covered with ala silk curtain material. Dan berpeluh tau akak jahit that decoration kat bucu tu.. Tak sedar pulak yang saya ni sangat gigih! haha)

Anyway. We did the dewan reservation sebelum berangkat ke haji; dengan pesanan pada sales rep tu that I will pay the deposit once I return dr tanah suci. Punyalah baiknye budak itu pun. Sebabnya tak bayar pasal feeling sukakan dewan tak berapa terbuku di hati masa tu. Sabaq je lah.

But the dewan turned out to be beautiful and we so love it.


Sebak pulak bila langkah masuk dewan tengok wedding decorator hias dewan dengan simple tapi sangat sweet (thank you Ayu Deco - she is on ig if you are interested). Exactly how I like it. We had the reception at Felda dSaji Titiwangsa. Kami suka that indoor-outdoor atmosphere. Pun macam wedding Luman/Izy previously di Felda's Casa Haleconia. With greens around. Having a wedding in a dewan is nice but lacks that element of space and freedom (haha cakap pandai..) Well at least that is what I think.

We love the cake made by TheKitchenGuardian. Sangat ohsem. Dan sedap. We had 3 different flavors in there tapi apa saya dah tak ingat apa. Hahaha.

Thank you everybody who were so kind to attend our event. Semoga Allah merahmati sehingga abadi..

 Thank you also to the sporting dulang boys (Luqman tanya kenapa kena ada dulang boys? Antie2 kan ada? To which I said, antie2 dah tua tangan dah keras nak angkat dulang pun dah tak larat..)

Like father, like son..

Reception at Ili's. It was beautiful. Sweet. Cantik. Bergaya. All pretty words to describe the majlis. I cant find one word to describe it.

Semoga dirahmati Allah sentiasa. Di bawah lindunganNya. Dan dimurahkan rezeki. Hingga abadi InsyaAllah. Ili&Kaia.

And the thought that came to mind is banyak sangat nikmat kurniaan Allah. Have we been taat enough?


Maka nikmat2 Allah yang mana yang ingin kita dustakan?




~ AllahuAkbar

The Best Time Of Our Lives

This is actually something similar to a line from a Bryan Adams' song titled Summer of 69  (you may say: So? And I would so agree with you..)

Anyways. Semua orang kata comeii nye Umar bila tengok gambar ni. Takkanlah saya nenna tak kata comei (walau apa gambar sekali pun. Haha). Kata Abi kat luar frame tu ada Abi dan pedang. We didnt get it until Abi sent the next couple of gambar.

Barulah kami pun ooo.

 Itu gambar Umar masa baby dalam passport. Yang gambar sekali ni pun tangkap gambar untuk passport jugak.

The wonderful life of a toddler : the infinite freedom.


This is indeed the best time of life. Teramat banyak nikmat. Makan sedap. Sihat tubuh. Tidur yang lena. Anak-menantu-cucu yang membahagiakan (cheesy - but for the lack of a better word I had to use it). Kata Sheikh Assim alHakeem (I was at his talk and he was most engaging - in Arabic time is life, bukan setakat emas) - apa nak tunggu lagi buat je lah ibadat sebab kalau harini tak buat, esok lusa lagi tua lagi tak ada daya.


Kadang2 terfikir, apa yang akan diceritakan kepada Allah di sana nanti on my contribution for ugama? Ada ke?


Selamat beramal untuk hari yang tiada diketahui kepayahannnya.




~ Allahuakbar

Wedding Stories ~ Alhamdulillah

And so Luqman's wedding is officially over. Alhamdulillah. I thought it went really well.

We wanted a small-ish ceremony; and it was that. Kecil tapi cantik. Itu angan-angan saya. Pardon me for saying so, I thought the wedding was simply that.

Casa Haleconia was indeed pretty. Lush plants. Green grass. Fountains. Dan MasyaaAllah the weather cooperated.

Kata beberapa tetamu makanan pun sedap. Sesungguhnya Allah amat pemurah (bak kata ustaz, cara menunjukkan syukur kepada Allah ialah dengan mentaati seruanNya).

I have pictures to share if you'd like to see.

ps - gambar pengantin sengaja saya letak kecil. I have an inkling that pengantin tak minat gambar mereka terpampang (agak saya lah).

On a serious note : Bila tengok gambar keluarga begini, saya pulak yang jadi takut. Sebab terlalu banyak nikmat Allah. Apa yang tinggal untuk di sana nanti?


Berkat dunia akhirat, InsyaaAllah.




~ AllahuAkbar

Happy 2016

Haha. Saya tahu. Amat terlambat nak wish happy new year. Half the month is already gone.

But I have been busy. An excuse I have been using for the 3,487,255th or so times already, I know. And I sound like a broken record. Yang usang.

So how are you darlings? Any new year resolution?

Saya sebenarnye sentiasa saja ada new resolution. Yang lama pun tak pernah tercapai, sudah ada pulak yang baru. Minggu lepas I told friends, I now have a resolution for the new year. When I had their attention, I proudly announced, tahun ni I nak jadi kurus! Haha. Langsung disambut dengan hilaian ketawa. Semua memang sedia maklum itu resolution saya sepanjang zaman. Haha. That resolution never stick.

Last couple of months pun saya announced, I ada cita2 baru. Ketawa lagi. Apa cita2 tu saya ditanya. Tanpa segan silu saya beritahu, I nak jadi cantik! (Mengilai lagi) Haha. I think what I meant was I want to be perfect; bukan cantik (kalau berangan tak pernah nak kalah). Now however, this cita2 is no more.

Dua hari lepas saya ada terfikir resolution yang baru. Lagi. I think for the new year I will take up interest in the sky and the stars. Nak pergi star gazing. Dan berangan jauh. Dan mengkagumi Allah's creation.

Tiba2 hari ni pulak membaca surah al Mulk:

Dia lah yang telah mengaturkan kejadian tujuh petala langit yang berlapis-lapis; engkau tidak dapat melihat pada ciptaan Allah Yang Maha Pemurah itu sebarang keadaan yang tidak seimbang dan tidak munasabah; (jika engkau ragu-ragu) maka ulangilah pandangan - (mu) - dapatkah engkau melihat sebarang kecacatan?

(Al-Mulk 67:3) 

Kemudian ulangilah pandangan (mu) berkali-kali, nescaya pandanganmu itu akan berbalik kepadamu dengan hampa (daripada melihat sebarang kecacatan), sedang ia pula berkeadaan lemah lesu (kerana habis tenaga dengan sia-sia).

(Al-Mulk 67:4) 

Dan demi sesungguhnya! Kami telah menghiasi langit yang dekat (pada penglihatan penduduk bumi) dengan bintang-bintang, dan Kami jadikan bintang-bintang itu punca rejaman terhadap Syaitan-syaitan; dan Kami sediakan bagi mereka azab neraka yang menjulang-julang.

(Al-Mulk 67:5) 
 

And I sort of think that star gazing is something worth doing. Must look for other places with dark skies to visit.

Maka nikmat Allah yang mana yang ingin didustakan?

Lalu teringat pada kawan lama yang membaca buku Carl Sagan pada usia muda. Mungkin saya akan baca buku2 Sagan sekarang (pada usia begini..!)


Have the most successful 2016 darlings; walau apa pun cita2 yang tersemat.




~ AllahuAkbar

An Outdated Post

Ini cerita lama sebenarnya. I have been meaning to write about this tapi terlupa. Kemudian terjumpa gambar dan terus terasa mesti blog juga pasal ni sebab it was a fun evening out with friends.



Bila dapat email pasal musical ni I thought I must go watch it. Hubs couldnt believe I was going to Istana Budaya for a musical. Sampai sudah dia tak ingat I was going. His and Iman's conversation went like this on that particular evening : Iman said, kan mama kata pergi tengok musical. Muzikal apa? Muzikal pasal TM. Muzikal apa? Pasal TM. Him : oh, ok (like kalau pasal TM ok lah walaupun masih confuse termasuk dengan unsur tak percaya that I am going to a musical kut. haha)

Mungkin dia terlupa we went to see PGL many years ago.

Anyway. Memang seronok musical ni. Taklah perfect but still boleh tabik la.

Not that I like our CHCO so much; but this is the only gambar yang turned out cantik. A pro photographer I am not.

Saya balik sambil berfikir nak potong rambut macam Mel, the star (!) And how juvenile is that anyway?

We should do this again.

~ xoxo

Life Goes On

Hello darlings.

It has been a while. Sejak2 panic cerita pasal apa pun  belum siap untuk wedding, terus busy semacam buat preparation. Tak abis2 pergi ke kedai riben!

Nevertheless the other day we took time away to send Efan balik ke kolej. Dia dah pindah kolej ke Raub this semester. Alhamdulillah lebih cantik. No more bunk beds. New facilities.

Saya selalu pesan, belajar elok2. Boleh express buat degree dan balik ke KL. Alhamdulillah he was on Dean's List last semester. Last sem sengaja saya kata, ada apa di Jengka kalau dibanding di Melawati. haha. Tapi saya agak memang lain Jengka dan Raub. Jengka nampak macam memang a university town; catering to the residents of the uni. Macam tak berapa ada local life di situ if not for the uni. Kata hubs, harap stadium je gah. Raub on the other hand is a proper township.

Nevertheless. We have never been to Raub. Ever. Jam pulak. Mungkin terlalu ramai mak bapak hantar anak2 last weekend.

It was late so we didnt have time to explore. Namun Raub nampak interesting. Masih ramai anak Melayu buat construction di jalan. Tiada Indon di gerai. Dan tak ada Bangla cuci lantai di dewan makan.

Terlalu bayak dusun2 especially durian. Sepanjang jalan in fact. Dan dusun pun di jaga sangat rapi. Rumput cantik macam di lawn menara!

One thing that stood out in Raub is the gerai nangka sepanjang jalan. Kata nya buah nangka madu dari Lanchang.

Sebab jalan ikut Bentong jam, waze detoured us via Mempaga. Jalan kampung yang agak jauh tapi peaceful. Musim durian di Raub mesti best.

And I have been reading somewhat.

Maka Maha Tinggilah Allah, yang Menguasai seluruh alam, lagi Yang Benar (pada segala-galanya). Dan janganlah engkau (wahai Muhammad) tergesa-gesa membaca Al-Quran sebelum selesai dibacakan oleh Jibril kepadamu, dan berdoalah dengan berkata: "Wahai Tuhanku, tambahilah ilmuku".

(Surah Taha 20:114)


Have a blessed week ahead. Semoga dipermudahkan Allah segala urusan.

ps - Bila di Pahang, teringat arwah Jamal yang berasal dari Temerloh (kalau saya tak silap). Semoga Allah ampunkan arwah dan merahmatinya InsyaaAllah. Life is indeed short.




~ xoxo

Feel Like A Girl Again (Or Not. You Were Never That Girl)

Kata Di, buku ni untuk relieve stress. I said oh ye ke? I bought it because I can make a claim for my taxes.. Haha penipu besar! I bought it in fact because the gambar are so cantik.

Dan terfikir saya pun dah bertahun tak mewarna. I dont think I ever did any coloring when I was small. First maybe because there were no such thing as a coloring book then. Second mungkin saya budak kampung; tak ter-expose kepada such books. Ketiga mungkin we could never afford such luxury.

Dan saya agak mungkin sebab ketiga. Sebab saya ingat saya pernah menangis tak mahu ke sekolah kerana tiada buku teks dan cikgu akan denda saya berdiri di luar kelas jika saya tidak membawa duit untuk beli buku saya that day. Ingat pun rasa nak menangis lagi.

Anyway.. Those were the days.

Mungkin saya mewarna semasa anak2 masih kecil. Share dengan anak2. Quality time now gone by..

There are two such books like this by the same author. The other is called Secret Garden. Saya flipped the pages and the Enchanted Forest looked more interesting.

I concur it MIGHT have some positive impact. I was singing on my way in to the office the other day! (unbelievable)

Tapi semalam I got a crick in the neck sebab mungkin mewarna terlalu lama. Or maybe it was the photobooks that gave me that.

You should try. It might work for you. Namun. Saya agak semuanya mesti dibuat dengan berpada2. I thought I could spend the time for more productive things. Maybe.




~ xoxo

Cakes 101 (for me at least)

Dan, teringin jugak nak bake best macam The Kitchen Guardian. So I did these.

First up, the Victoria Sandwich cake.

Tak berapa jadi; hahah. Got confused over the french-butter (!) measurement. And then also got the meringue butter cream wrong (the meringue turned to scrambled egg whites..) And had to redo that. Dan terlupa pulak letak fresh strawberries on top.

Namun, anak2 kata sedap (they are my #1 fans after all). Dah pesan kat semua orang suruh bawak sorang sikit pergi ofis. But turned out there isnt enough to give away pun. Habis disapu dek my fan club.. What a bless.

And brownies. As taught, I bakes these in two separate pans. The first was what can I say? Sedap nye.. The second was undercooked and when I baked some more it turned out somewhat crispy!

Namun, we took it up a notch and served it with ice cream. Decadent of course. Tapi takut nanti jadi macam Americans makan dessert tak sedar alam.

I am thinking of making the devil's choc cake this weekend. InsyaaAllah. Must keep the inspiration rolling, people!

Have the greatest weekend.




~ xoxo

When In Ipoh : Interesting Stuff (2)

We were in Ipoh again the other day. And stayed at the other M Boutique Hotel. Sama cantik hotel2 ini. I let the picture tell the story.

Their tagline is come as strangers leave as friends. Makes you feel so at home.

Reception yang sangat memikat. And their employees are so friendly and helpful.

We stayed in a room yang sangat interesting. Modern. Appealing.

Breakfast comes with the room. Tapi rather a let down. Tak setaraf bilik2 hotel. Namun the cafe is quite charming.

Lift foyer upstairs.

The corridor. Cantik kan?




Mesti meraikan cucu2 walau dalam blog sekalipun..





We had dinner at a place called Thumb's Cafe. Makan biasa2 je namun tempat makan yang sangat adorable. It reminds me of an indie cafe on a beach somewhere in the Carribean maybe (haha.. bermimpi..) Sebenarnya cafe ini terletak di dalam sebuah rumah lama. Tapi nampak cantik di dalam gambar dengan lampu2 dan deko yang amat menarik.

We wanted to have lobster dinner somewhere di Sungai Siput maybe 45 mins drive dari Ipoh town center. Tapi jauh kata anak2 dan masing2 pun dah kepenatan.

We had lunch at nasi ganja the next day di Jalan Yang Kalthum. Namun anak2 tak berapa minat; lebih sedap di Nasi Kandar Suberi AU3 kata mereka!

So that was that.




~ xoxo