Izma Humaira is 2!!!

Huhuhu loooonnngggg time no write one. But this month must write something sempena birthday month of sweet lil' Izma Humaira :) Yeah her birthday was on 8 December but this super duper busy bee mama (tak tau busy buat mende punnn) was totally forgot about the existence of this blog (same goes for the other blog so no offense). It's not you bloggy, it's totally me, myself and I.

Nevertheless we didn't forget the birthday though so that's good right!!! And we didn't forget to celebrate!!! Although there was no official birthday party for her this year, we had celebrated with both families and that lucky girl got herself not one, not two, but THREE birthday cakes when she is only 2!!! Lucky you my cutie lil' pie ;)

I'm so lucky right mama?

-The birthday girl on 08/12/2011-

Ok2 now let us drool over the cakes shall we?

The first cake on 8th December:

From yours truly n hubby, bought at Isetan Supermarket. Choc banana cake with choc-dipped strawberries on top. One of the strawberries was gone right after I took this pic ;p

Upacara meniup lilin

Upacara memotong kek

The second cake was bought by her uwan at Bangi. Another upacara meniup lilin and memotong kek during the weekends. But sadly I forgot to took the picture of the beautiful cake. Hubby did take some pictures though. I'll get from him and upload the pics here (tapi tak janji tauuuu...maybe i'll do that next year...heyyy next year is just around the corner ya ;p)

Move to to the third cake also during the weekend. No upacara meniup lilin or memotong kek. Just mengambil gambar kek dan memakan kek...those cute cuppies are really yummylicious!!! Bought the cuppies from hubby's cousin who is a doctor but really good at baking cuppies and cakes. Dah2 byk ckp lak...jommmm tgk the pics...drooling~~~

Cute cuppies with Upin & Ipin theme requested by the birthday girl. Thanks to Kak Tini for the pretty and tasty cuppies :)

She was so excited when she saw her favorite character on the cuppies and demanded to eat them right away in the car...huhu terpaksa la ckp 'mkn kat umah wan ye nnt...dah dekat nak sampai dah ni..' (walaupun perjalanan masih jauh ;p)

'Saya suka! Saya suka!'

(ikut nada Mei Mei dlm Upin & Ipin)

And yes the cuppies are all yummy as they look. The cake is moist chocolate cake and the icing is butter cream, not so sweet, just nice :)

So that's all we have for our beloved daughter's birthday this year. Oh one more thing the birthday girl got herself some pressies as well. Two dresses from both opah and wan, a whiteboard set complete with numbers and alphabets magnets (tak tau name ape) from Pak Ngah and a pink tent with balls from mama & ayah :) But for now no space yet to set up the tent...hehehe wait until we move to new house la. For the time being she is excited to play with the 50 colourful balls all over the house....weee~~~

So happy second birthday sayang!!! We love u soooooo much!!! Semoga menjadi anak mama & ayah yang solehah...amin... ;)

 

Raya 2011

Raya Haji is just around the corner but here I am with full gedikness want to share a few (2 only) Raya Aidilfitri pics :)

First raya: We're blue double di double dye double di double dye double di double dye

Second raya: silverly grey, a gloomy birthday...

The first pic my debabness was covered a little bit by Izma as she sat on my lap. But second pic cannot hide it anymore...my defense: I was still preggy that time ;p

p/s: my tudung from Arzu, both exactly same design but different colours...last minute tudung hunting and so lazy to go to different shops ;p

preggy no more ;(( ~~~

"No farewell words are spoken, no time to say goodbye, you were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why..." - OurMiscarriage.com

Yes, sad...but true :(

Baru je update on my entry here about the good news. But suddenly now, i'm preggy no more...so saddd...huk...huk...huk...

But not to worry, i'm a bit ok now. Time heals i guess...so let me share this one of the sad journeys of my life...losing my baby at 11 weeks of pregnancy...it's hard, really really hard...

It's all started 1 day before raya (can u believe this? of all the time, my baby decided to leave us just before raya). So as u can imagine my raya and also my birthday which happened to fall during raya this year were a bit gloomy as I carry around my dead baby inside. I was bleeding 1 day before raya, just a few drops of blood. At first I was not that worried because few days before I had brown discharge and I thought maybe this is normal for pregger to have some discharge every now and then. However when I saw fresh red blood, I decided to share this with my hubby. He freaked out and asked me to get dressed and go to nearby clinic. So just to calm him, I just follow the lead. All the clinics near my house were closed because of the raya week so I told him well, maybe it's nothing and maybe it's normal. So we decided to relax and just wait and see later. But on the way back we passed by Columbia Asia Hospital which was just opened in front of Jusco Cheras Selatan so I said to my hubby, lets' just check if they have any gynae there today.

And so we went there and check for available gynae. And they do have a Chinese lady gynae that day (Dr Lim). We were lucky! So I just arranged for a walk-in check up and after 2 patients I was in. After briefing her on my conditions, we went through the ultrasound. That was the time my raya mood all gone. From the ultrasound she found out that my sac shape was abnormal, it was crooked, not in round shape as it should be. And also my baby was really small, size of a 6-week baby when I was 10 weeks pregnant and the saddest part was that she couldn't detect the heartbeat. She asked if I was certain on my last period date. I mentioned to her yes, it's confirmed and told her that I had an ultrasound scan on fifth week and the doc had detected my baby's heartbeat. Had knowing this, she mentioned that it was almost confirmed that I just had a miscarriage :( To make me feel a bit better since the next day is raya already, she gave me Duphaston for 4 days consumption and asked me to return on Friday for confirmation and perform D&C (dilation and curettage) right away if it's confirmed.

On Friday we went to PCMC instead ;p (because we want to have a free D&C and it's easier to arrange in PCMC as I have my previous pregnancy record there). Dr Seri was not around (of course!!!! it's still raya week ;p) so I went to see Dr Paul Tay. We had another ultrasound and the findings were the same as the previous ultrasound except this time my sac shape looked more normal (maybe due to Duphaston consumption). My baby size was still 6-week size so Dr Paul mentioned that it's confirmed I had a miscarriage and asked if I want to deliver the foetus normally of to perform D&C. I don't think I can wait for the foetus to come out naturally, as in wait for my water to break, having contractions and deliver like delivering a normal baby...huhu. It was enough for me had to carry the foetus inside me for 4 days knowing that my baby had died :(( So I opted for the D&C right away. Dr Paul arrange for the operation theater for the next morning as I need to fast for 6-8 hours before the procedure.

And so I had delivered and separated with my baby on Saturday, 3rd September 2011, definitely a date to remember. I want to share a lot of things that I learnt about miscarriage but I just couldn't yet now. Writing this already made me sad and want to cry (and I'm currently at Big Apple Donuts cafe now so definitely no drama allowed please ;p) so will save it for the next entry (I hope ;p)

20 things that change when you have a baby

I found this @ Babycenter website. Definitely true for me, all 20 of them :)
Do enjoy this mommies out there!

Everyone warns you that having a baby will change your life. Sure, you'll have less money (and sleep), and a lot more responsibility. But when the centre of your universe shifts to your new baby, there's much to celebrate too:

• You discover an inner strength you never realised you had.

• You accept that the last 15 pregnancy pounds you can't seem to shift are absolutely worth it.

• You don't need a clock any more - your baby now sets your daily schedule.

• You respect and love your own parents in a new way.

• Any pain your baby suffers feels much worse than your own.

• You don't mind going to bed at 9pm on a Friday night.

• Your heart breaks much more easily.

• You discover how much there is to say about one little baby tooth.

• You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

• You're no longer disgusted by babies' bodily functions - in fact, you're fascinated by them (hooray, a poo!)

• The sacrifices you thought you'd made to have a baby no longer seem that big a deal.

• You respect your body ... finally.

• You realise that a baby's comforter has magical powers!

• You give parents with a screaming baby an "I-know-the-feeling" look, instead of a "Can't-they-shut-him-up?" one.

• You make time for one more baby hug and kiss, even if it means you'll be late.

• You realise that it's possible to love a complete stranger.

• You learn that taking a shower is a luxury, never mind a trip to the hairdresser's.

• You finally get to speak to the shy neighbour in your street, because you've got a baby in your arms.

• You find that things that once seemed important are now meaningless.

• Every day is a surprise.

July 2011 updates

July 2011 was the most important month and yet I don't have even a single entry last month! How can this happen? (It always happen laaaa, don't be too surprised). Well the truth is that I was concentrated on my Shaklee blog and totally forgot about this blog already...huhuhu

Ok la let's have a gist of happenings in July 2011, according to the sequence from beginning of the month until the end...

6 - 7 July: Singapore trip - Universal Studios and Restoran Zam Zam (for the murtabak and nasi beryani terbaikkk) to be exact

10 July: Hubby's birthday lunch treat @ Victoria Station Jln Ampang (as usual); sorry gambar birthday boy takde, ade gambar budak tecik je yg tgh boring tunggu food, appetizer je baru sampai...huhu

11 July: Sneak peek to our new home @ Taman Seri Bangi, Seksyen 8, BBB; not a big house but we're so happy to finally set foot on our very first property (curik2 set foot sbb gate tak kunci - actually kunci tak dpt lagi...hahaha)

 

 19 July: Alhamdulillah :) the day we knew that we are pregnant (yes I use 'we' here coz hubby got all the pregnancy symptoms as well, worse than me to be exact...pity him...huhu, it's ok laling we're all in this together! hihi)

 23 July: My very first Shaklee bonus cheque! It's just RM96.72 but it's a free money man! Malas2 sahaja pada bulan Jun dpt jugak sedikit rezeki...Alhamdulillah. Definitely aim for more for July's bonus, insyaAllah :)

Yeah, I know I don't do justice to all these 5 major updates of July by putting them all in a single entry with 1-2 sentences description. If I were a bit rajin I already got myself at least 5 entries for July, no?hehehe dream on la...hahaha and yes, I'll try my best to have an exclusive entry for each happening especially on the Universal Studios Singapore trip. The memories are slipping away bit by bit. Wajib buat entry khas utk kenangan indah ini :) jiwangs laks ;p definitely kenangan indah coz Izma was really enjoying herself there and definitely have to go there again (and again :)), boleh kan hubby laling? *wink*



big rocks, small rocks and sands

Ini bukan entri rock kapak atau rock leleh yer..muahahaha

My office colleague shares a touching story this morning and I immediately log in to Blogger and write this post since I got some free time now (all bosses are not around ;p). Here is the story that he shared:

Can I Borrow $25?
A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'
DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.
SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often

The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.
'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.
'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled. 'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.' The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love. If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Reading the story I straight away relates this with another sharing from my boss on how we should prioritize our works based on rocks and sands terminology. It's like this, in one day when you come to work you should list down all the works that you need to do on that day. Then categorize each work into whether it is big rock (very urgent and need to be done immediately, if not will have high consequence), small rock (not very urgent but still need to be done by that day) or just sands (not urgent, can wait until tomorrow). I'm sure despite our busy schedule and all, there are works that actually can wait until tomorrow right? And this is the whole point. You don't actually need to stay all day at the office to get everything done. You just need to prioritize and get your big and small rocks done by the end of the day, and if you have time settle some of the sands :)

To get better picture on this big rocks, small rocks and sands, imagine you have a big jar that you need to fill with all big rocks, small rocks and sands. You need to fill the jar with all three types of elements given and all of them must fit to that jar. So imagine if you put your sands first, then your small rocks, followed by big rocks, by the time you want to put your big rocks, most probably the jar is already full and no space left for the big rocks and maybe you have to find another jar. Now imagine this, you put yur big rocks first into your empty jar, followed by your small rocks and lastly your sands, definitely there'll be enough space for the sands in between the big rocks and small rocks right? Same goes for your work, the jar is actually your working hours. Try to get your super urgent works done first then only you entertain your not-so-urgent and not-urgent matters. InsyaAllah there'll be always enough given working hours without you having to stay at the office until late hours :)

Relating this back to the story shared just now, the big rocks, small rocks and sands terminology can be applied to our personal life as well. To our family and work to be exact. You need to really know what are the three things that represent the three elements (big rocks, small rocks and sands). For example my big rocks definitely my immediate family, my small rocks is my daily work and my sands are my side business, not-so-immediate family and others. Different people might have different prioritization and hence different definition of their three elements in life.

Go back to the story above, for the father, his big rocks maybe his work because he needs to support the family and it's very important for him to perform well at his work and keep his job in order to do so. Then only come his family which represent the small rocks. And for most of us although this arrangement is ok for us as we are still prioritize our family and know how to balance between work and family, do remember that our children can be our small rocks BUT for the children, we are their big rocks! Super duper bigggest rock ever!!! Just like the story above, the son is saving money just to have a dinner with the father. He's doing that because his father is everything to him and he'll do anything to spend time with his father. Very touching indeed...sob...sob...nak balik rumah main ngan izma sekarang juga!!! Hihihi

Although I claim my big rocks are my immediate family, sometimes I feel guilty also when I go back home in the evening, I watch the Korean drama (;p) instead of playing with Izma...or watching the Glee-athon during weekend...huhuhu so much regret! Ok insaf2 balik ni bawak Izma jln2 and play with her until she asleep :)

So peeps, what's/who's your big rocks, small rocks and sands?

Izma Dictionary and Thesaurus

Izma turned exactly 18 months last Wednesday. Not much progress on her height and weight but her vocabulary becomes wider and wider everyday. She surprises us almost everyday with a new word. It's so true they say that baby's brain is like a sponge absorbing everything they can and register it there immediately. So be extra careful next time you want to say something not good in front of your babies. They sure pick them up quickly and next time you know they say those words to you back or worse, to other people. Confirm time tu malu nak mengaku anak ;p

It's so exciting seeing her developing her verbal skill and hence I want to record all her vocabularies as of now. So that next time you see her and she's blabbering alien language at you, you'll know what she means. I'm one of the experts now :) So here we go, Izma Dictionary and Thesaurus, go make a copy before you see her ;p

Starts with the best la kan:

Mama = Mama (yeay me! :))
Yah = Ayah
Dik/Cu = My youngest sister; she follows everyone calling her 'adik' ;p but when asked mana Cu?, she'll point to my sister and said 'Cu'
Pah = Opah
Tuk = Atuk (both sides)
Wa = Wan (my MIL)
Nak = Nak/Want
Ak = Tak nak/ don't want
Shik = Nasik/ rice
Shik mak = Nasik lemak (her favorite!)
Ti = Roti
Uah = Buah (most favourite!!!)
Shu = Susu/ milk or her kasut/ shoes :) - this can be confusing sometimes
Ba = Bam (baring)
Jo = Jom
Pu = Lampu
Dah = Dah
Hot = Panas/ pedas (mama yg kejam suka bagi dia mkn benda pedas ;p) And it looks like this is the only English word in her vocab as of now in the list. A true Malaysian.
Two = Two
Ti = Three
Four = Four
Juk = Sejuk
Nini = Nenen ;p
Be = Bird
Fish = Fish
Cat = Cat
Dog = Dog
Bit = Rabbit
Bo = Dibo
Do = Tido

Ok that's all I can think of right now. Yeah most of them are single phrase except her favourite 'shik mak'...hehe it's so fun hearing her saying all those words. So cute! :) Definitely need to record all these down and remember the moment :))

The big girl :)

Folic acid

Coppp i'm not pregnant...yet. But yes, i'm already on folic acid. I started taking them about 3 weeks ago just as preparation to conceive. Yeah i'm on trying mode already now. Just in trying mode but never actually try yet.hehe originally the plan is to start trying by this month but something came up. We were not feeling well that is.

During my 'fertile' period and hubby was around, Izma had a very bad fever. Reaching 39 degrees for a few days. And later the whole Cheras clan got her virus. We all came down with flu, cough, sore throat and fever including hubby, myself an even my mom. Very strong virus huh. So there goes our plan for this month. Mission was canceled and aborted. Saje je Izma sabotaged our plan :p so will try again next month. Try to try if you know what i mean. Hopefully hubby will be around during the right time :) but we are not actually in the rush so we'll take our sweet time. Definitely no pressure :)

Copppp back to the main topic. So why bother with the folic acid when you are not pregnant yet? And not even started trying to get pregnant. Well as i mentioned it's for my preparation to conceive. Apparently folic acid can helps you conceive. Or so it claims. Maybe it makes your womb strong or just make a good environment for conception. I don't really know but i'm doing this as to follow my friend's advice. Before i was married she had advised me to start taking folic acid if i want to get pregnant right away. Considering my age at that time i straight away went to the pharmacy and ger them! :) and Alhamdulillah i got pregnant during second month of our marriage :)) maybe not so much on that folic acid or not at all but no harm trying right. I have nothing to lose. Just consider it as one of the supplements la kut (eventhough i chose the time to have this supplement..hehe).

So that's about it i guess. Maybe (if rajin) i'll try to google up on this folic acid to find out if it's really can helps conception in any way. And again, if rajin :p so guys toodles for now! Want to go plan my timing for the mission :)

i've been hit!!!

Yes, LITERALLY!!! On a Monday morning!!! What can be worse than this to start off your supposed-to-be energetic week??? Well, yeah I'm really looking forward to start the week off as I have a 2-day good lunch workshop at Doubletree by Hilton Hotel on Monday and Tuesday. And I went out early on Monday morning so that I could reach early and follow the whole flow of that workshop from the beginning. But then yeah, something came up. Something that I least expected of at this kind of time. Somebody hit my car!!!!! Grrrr!!!!!

I was driving dengan penuh berhemah di jalanraya, at Jalan Tun Razak to be exact and it was massive traffic jam at that time which is usual thing in the morning. Approaching the tunnel in front of RHB Building (if I'm not mistaken) suddenly I saw through my mirror the car behind me was coming quite fast and he was aiming to get to the right lane. And I was there all static and all innocent and suddenly banggggg he hit me on his way to the right lane!!!! Dengggggg

At that time I was so angry because I really saw it coming but there was nothing I can do because I was in the traffic jam, we all were! And that guy still have the gut to merempit in between the traffic! Grrrrr!!!!! So went to the side, called my hubby just to update him, exchanged hp numbers with the pesalah trafik, he gave me RM50 because he didn't have cash that time, promised me to settle later and still there is still one major thing  forgot to do which is to record the other car's registration number!!!! Dengggggg #2

Mangsa, Mercedes Kompressor mata bulat (bukan nama sebenar)

my one-day-off dream

Weird title, no? It's actually just my dream of having a one day off during working days and have a date with myself (euwwww ;p). Or if you like the 'me time' day. One day is enough and perfect for me. So I'm going to list down the itinerary details of this dream day which I don't know yet when. But most probably on a fine Wednesday. I don't know why Wednesday but the idea of having to work for only 2 days then have a day off then work another only 2 days and off again is somewhat nice :) You don't get it right? It's ok let's just go to our itinerary ;p

So here are the details of my one-day-off dream:

1. Breakfast at Starbucks Coffee KLCC until late morning (have to go out early as usual so that my mom won't suspect anything...hahaha jahat...and oh with office attire as well...casual office attire ;p)
2. Have my facial at Aster Spring KLCC (or is it no longer there? huhu) or other Dermalogica outlet
3. See my dentist for scaling treatment (haven't done this for 2 years!!!! euwwwww ;p)
4. Hair treatment (maybe?)
5. Shopping
6. Shopping
7. Shopping

So if you notice I had allocated 3 shopping sessions which indicates 3 different shopping spots. Nice rightttttt. But if I have any other important administrative that I need to settle then it will override my shopping activity. So I'll left with only 2 shopping sessions ;p And of course I'll add in a nice lunch and lots of snack times! Weeeee.....

Actually that's about it la. Tak macam dream pun kan. Boring jek...haha but for me if I can just do all those thing, i'll be so contented and will definitely relieve all my stress. Actually the above activities used to be my routine activities during my single mingle life. I never missed my dentist appointment, had my facial almost every month, hang up at Starbucks with friends until late night (only girlfriends ye hubby ;p) and of course shopping every other day...haha over lak ;p

However those activities are no longer in my priority lists since I got the mom title. I never got the leisure time to spend on myself as most of my time are devoted to that chubby little girl and that chubby little hubby :) I'm not complaining here ya, it's just that I had realised that my priorities had changed 360 degrees (fuiyooo) and I'm doing more things that I love most doing like spending time with my two chubby buddies :) (that's why la I pun become chubby tauuuu)

So yeah I got my lists done. Now it's time to choose the perfect day for my one-day-off dream day! Just thinking about it makes me smile :))) Can't wait!!!

Ho Chi Minh ~ ho ho ho

Did you know what happen? I had write a beautiful entry on my ho ho ho trip last Sunday but somehow I lost it and I am very frustrated until now. I wrote my entry at my phone and after a lots of beautiful paragraphs I decided to save it as draft then continue later. But then I don't know what button I had pressed wrongly and all my beautiful karangan disappeared!!! (sorry perasan beautiful, you won't know anyway ;p).

So here I am again, trying to redo my essay on 'Percutian saya dan keluarga ke Ho Chi Minh'. No mood. Seriously. But the show must go on (really?). I had skipped my Bandung and Singapore reviews so let's do justice for this once and for all. All for one, one for all....hehehe

Ok I think I gained my mood already but I'm warning ya, this entry won't be as beautiful as my previous draft which had disappeared (annoying kan to read the word beautiful again and again, and there you go again ;p). Well let's start now. For now no photos will be uploaded since I was too busy with my shopping meeting hence no time for photographing. Not to worry, i'll hijacked hubby's photos from his camera and phone. He took quite good photos actually. Not much but enough to get the essence of Vietnam, particularly Ho Chi Minh city itself. Good job darling :)

Now only I want to start my story-telling. Just to brief you, it was just a 3-day trip and it's my business trip actually. Hubby and Izma tagged along and they got to enjoy a little bit more of Ho Chi Minh while I'm enjoying myself with my meetingsss. Yes I have 2 meetings on a 3-day trip. So can you imagine where I got the time to even shop? Hehehe you'll be surprised ;p So our flight from KL was on Tuesday, 15 Feb (yes, that's like one month ago ;p) afternoon and we reached Ho Chi Minh city airport at around 5pm local time. Hubby's uncle's driver picked us up at the airport and we reached Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers at around 5.30 pm (btw Saigon is the previous name of Ho Chi Minh city; sometimes they still refer to Ho Chi Minh as Saigon). And without further a due, we got ourselves into a taxi for our first shopping trip at 6 pm! How efficient! Despite the super duper nice room (we got a room at the tower side since the standard rooms are full), we still managed to keep the shopping spirit high! (note: we = I, me and myself) Ngeh ngeh ngeh. And the best part is we have a very good tourist guide for our trip, who happened to be my boss actually, remember it's my business trip...haha he had been attached to Vietnam office for 6 months in 2008 if I'm not mistaken and so yeah he's the expert. He still remembered all the streets and places by heart and can even pronounced the street name perfectly. We are so lucky!

Izma's third trip to oversea!

 

 

Welcomed at the hotel by this traditional 'band' on their traditional costumes (haruslah super duper slim to fit into that Vietnamese suit!)

The hotel

So our first shopping heaven was Hong Anh Collection boutique at Ly Ty Trung street (pronounce: Li Ti Ceng - learned from my boss..hehe). Summary of this boutique: full of Malaysians!!!!! They even have signboard in Malay languange like 'Sila simpan invois pembelian anda'...huhu seriously...so it's like a mandatory pit stop for Malaysians that visit Ho Chi Minh. They sell telekung, baju kurung pahang, baju kurung moden, pretty jubah, long sleeve blouses, baju melayu, tudung ariani, etc. Bottom line is all their clothes line are so close to Malaysian hearts...haha and the most important part is they are so so so cheap! Maybe a little bit pricey if you compare to the other stores in Ho Chi Minh but they have a good quality of stuff. So it's really worth it! Got myself a baju kurung pahang, a few blouses, a glamorous jubah with a matching baju melayu for hubby. Really nice the baju melayu although the cutting is a bit off but still can wear...anyhow he'll wear it once je kut for his cousin's wedding soon. So penjimatan yang terbaekkk :) And I also bought a few telekungs for my office colleagues. None for myself coz not really to my liking. I prefer telekung from Bandung :) Oh also, Hong Anh closes at 7pm so just imagine us bought all those in just 45 minutes! Expert level!!!

After shopping spree, went back to hotel, change into my new blouse (ehem2 tak sabar2 ;p), had dinner with hubby's uncle. He is the project manager in Vietnam office and her wife just joined him there that very week. So we were lucky to see both of them. We had dinner at Four Seasons restaurants. Not to worry peeps, halal restaurants are everywhere in Ho Chi Minh city especially at the Sheraton Hotel area. There is a mosque beside the hotel and along the way are mostly halal restaurants :) Back to Four Seasons, we had a la carte dinner consists of rice (wajib), ikan siakap tiga rasa, ayam goreng kicap, telur dadar, kailan goreng ikan masin and satay. Yes the menu stated exactly those menu in Malay language. Rasa macam mkn kat Warung Dusun gearbox and tomyam in Bangi...hehe but the taste not as good as back at home. Then went back to hotel, hubby went to change our USD into millions of VND (Vietnam Dong). Who wants to be a millionaire? This is the place besides Bandung :) Multi-millionaires in fact *ka-ching*

So second day, after breakfast I went to PCVL office for my meeting. But somehow our counterpart is having another meeting so we went back to the hotel and decided to come back after lunch for the meeting...weehuuuuu shopping time!!! We managed to had a walk around our hotel area, bought some souvenirs and had lunch at Saigon Halal Restaurant. I had nasi lemak (cam xde bende lain nak mkn kan ;p) and hubby had nasi goreng kampung. But I tried an interesting drink here which is the lemon soda. They just give a can of unsweetened soda, slices of lemon and a small jug of syrup. Mixed all together into an iced glass and there you go! Yummeh!!! Hubby also love this drink and we ordered this for every meal (except breakfast ;p) ever since :) Then later I went back to the office and had my meeting...bla..bla...bla...

In the mean time, back at the hotel hubby took a cab and went to Hard Rock Cafe with Izma and got themselves nice Hard Rock t-shirts. Sooo jealous!!! Izma was enjoying herself walk walk with ayah until she felt asleep during their trip. So they went back to the hotel and waited for the shopping queen to return...hihihihihi

Then later that evening, we went to Hong Anh...again...hehe bought a few more blouses then went to Saigon Square. But not much catch here as according to my boss Ben Thanh will be more interesting so I'm saving my energy (and money) for the Ben Thanh trip the next day :) However there is something interesting as well here in Saigon Square which is the Russian market they call it. I'm not sure whether the whole Saigon Square is the Russian market or only the upper level as we saw the signange RUSSIAN MARKET and there was an arrow pointing towards the upper level. What was interesting at the Russian market was that they have a lot of branded stuff and they are all original and the most important part is they are very cheap!!! Hubby found this Timberland shoes and thought it was a fake. But he got a closer look and lifted the shoes and told me it is certainly an original Timberland shoes but soooo cheap. The thing is most of the US branded stuff are made in vietnam so that's why they are cheap. Not sure about the quality but who cares right? It's original so the quality should be there. And it's cheap so don't demand much on the quality la kan. Besides Timberland, they have lots of kids' branded apparel like Gap, Osh Kosh, Guess but most of them are for kids and only a few for babies. And I think it is boys' heaven as I found a lot of nice boys' shirt but none for girls. Very hard to find Izma's size as well so she just got a few t-shirts...fuhhh selamat! ;p

After that we excused ourselves as my boss continue his spree...hehe hubby's uncle invited us to have dinner at his service apartment. Forgot the place name but I really like his apartment. Quite spacious with 3 big bedrooms and spacious living room. We had Viatnamese signature dish, the noodle soup with beef and lots of i-don't-know-the-name veges...hehehe seriously lots of them. No wonder the Viatnamese are all slim. Veges and fruits are abundant and fresh and very sweet. Hubby's aunt made fried rice on top of the noodle...huhu lots of food...burppp kenyang*pengsan*

So the next day a.k.a. our last day I still have my meeting in the morning. Our flight was at 4pm that evening so I was very panic! Panic of thinking that I might not be able to have my visit to the most important part of the trip (besides the meeting of course ;p), the Ben Thanh market!!!!! So I plan with my boss to finish our meeting by 11am and leave the office immediately, by hook or by crook! Semangat! But guess what? I was the one who prolonged the meeting until almost 12!!!wawawawa why la me so semangat?huhuhu so we were rushing back to the hotel after the meeting coz haven't check out yet. Arrived hotel, do my final packing, checked out and had our lunch at D'Nyonya Restaurant just beside the mosque. It is another Malaysian restaurant and we had our lemon soda for the last time...sob..sob...i'm missing my lemon soda now...

After Zuhur prayer, we kept our luggage at the hotel concierge and went straight to Ben Thanh. So my first mission was my kain of course! Hadn't got a chance to buy any for the past 2 days. I aimed for the Vietnam silk that is. This is to cater for the 'orders' from my friends. To tell the truth I didn't have any idea what type of material that I should buy and how's the price gonna be. But I knew that they are cheap according to word of mouth...hehe so there we were stopping at the first kain shop that we found. And the only kain shop that we managed to stop by actually. And yes they are certainly cheap for a good and nice material. I bought around 8pcs if I'm not mistaken and mine is actually only 1 pc from those. Yes more reason to go there again...and again ;p

After finished my important mission, we follow the leader (my boss ;p) to the nuts' stall. Bought cashew nuts and dried jackfruit for our office colleagues. They are so cheap!!! But due to warning from hubby on our potential extra baggage I managed to grab only 1kg of cashew nuts and 1 kg of dried jackfruit...sob...sob...I really want those pistachios and the other nuts there but what to do kan...next time la hubby k? :) Then our last stop in Ben Thanh was at the shop that sold smocking dresses for kids. I love love love this!!!! Rmabang mata tak hengat looking at those beautiful and colourful dresses and cheap$$$$$!!!! 1 dress is just USD8 which is equivalent to around RM25!!! Cheap cheap cheap!!! Izma was the happiest girl as she got 4 of them!!! And they are all so adorable :) And we also bought Izma a Vietnamese suit...a pink one! :) (since the Mama takde size nak beli kan so Izma on behalf la ;p). And that's it. A really sweet ending to our shopping spree experience in Ho Chi Minh city. Definitely will come back for moreeeeeee!!! :))

Then we went back to the hotel to get our things and repacking to make space for our Ben Thanh stuff. Proceed to the airport and welcome back to Malaysia home sweet home~~~

2 years...

...and counting :)

Happy anniversary to me n my beloved lovely hubby! I luv u soooo much!!! XOX

Well hubby is in Kerteh right now attending a course so no candlelight dinner for us tonight :p

But izma n i are going to join him this Wednesday! Yippie! Cuti2 ganu :) however on that note i'm going on a flight to kuantan alone with izma..then hubby will pick us up at the airport..wawawa nervousness! Remind me to pack loads of chocs to calm her in case of anything..huhu just this once ok ayah, pls, pls... After that no more chocs for her :)

Update on 16 March 2011: Got this pretty lovely treat from hubby for our second anniversary!!! Thanks so much lalinggggg :)))

A bouquet of lots of white lilies and sweet baby breaths :)

Made the entire office smell lovely :))

walk walk eat eat

Yesterday was an eating day. I just want to list down all the food that we eat while it is still fresh in my mind...and in my big tummy ;p

Morning I had nasi lemak ayam masak merah for breakfast, hubby had nasi lemak biasa and Izma ate some of my nasi lemak with hard boiled egg (I don't like hard boiled egg so Izma helped me to finish that :)). Then we went to KLCC (like no other place to go kan ;p) and decided to go to Chilli's for lunch. I had Cajun Club Sandwich, hubby had Big Mouth Bites and Izma had her rice porridge which I tapau and her free kiddy meal of Chicken Crispers. We didn't manage to finish the food coz actually not really hungry yet that time. Then walk walk at KLCC, buy this and that. After that around 5pm s'thing we decided to go to The Apartment for tea (saje gediksss). I had peach coolers, hubby had red apple juice and we ordered Baked Chocolate Pudding. Soooo yummy the chocolate pudding! It was serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and lots of hazelnut! Nyum2....

And then for dinner we went out with my mom and sister to a Thai restaurant nearby my house. Here are the list of our delicious dishes:
- Tomyam ayam
- Ikan siakap goreng kicap
- Sotong goreng tepung
- Sayur campur
- Kerabu mangga
- Telur dadar
- Various drinks...hehe malas nak list satu2
Izma was enjoying herself with her tomyam bowl and spoon. She imitated us took the dishes onto our plates and eat. In her case she took my rice and put in her tomyam bowl. Then took the dishes with her spoon, put into her bowl and fed herself. But most of time she fed the floor. Sikit je berjaya masuk mulut ;p

So yeah it was like eating marathon yesterday. More reasons for me to go to the gym today!!!! Come on emy let's do the power walk today!!! (And followed by power eat maybe? ;p)

I passed!!!

Remember I mentioned about the CUTE in my previous post? Guess what? I passed!!! Alhamdulillah. Now I am hoping my recruiter read this and be proud :) it's no big deal but this is big for me coz I was mentally prepared to fail since I didn't manage to cover all chapters and didn't go to the class. As I was registering myself for the exam just now, I was planning on what I'm going to do if I fail. I was planning to take a day off and go to the class ASAP and take my exam back. But now since I passed, save my annual leave and save RM250 for the exam! Phewww...

But I did go through tough time prior to my exam. To start off, supposedly hubby is supposed to send me to the test centre then he and Izma will lepak at KLCC while I have my test. But Izma wouldn't sit in her car seat so I have to walk from KLCC to the test centre which is at Megan Avenue. No big deal right, just nearby beside the Ambank building in front of KLCC. So I'm supposed to be there half an hour before the test which is at 11.30 am. It was already 11.15 when I left KLCC. I reached the test centre (which I thought so) at 11.25 and I was like ok, I made it and it's still early. But the disaster starts as I confidently ask the security guard there 'Which one is block E?'
Guard: Block A ke?
Me: Bukan A. Block E.
Guard: (Pause for a long long time) Errr di sini tidak ada Block E.
Me: Ada la. Block E, Megan Avenue 1 (dgn nada konfiden dan riak sambil nak tunjuk address yg telah digoogle dlm hp :p)
Guard: Ooo mungkin ni Block E di Megan Avenue 1
Me: What? Ni bukan Megan Avenue ke? (sambil menunjuk ke arah papan tanda yg tulis Megan Avenue in front of the building)
Guard: Mmg ini Megan Avenue tapi Megan Avenue 2
Me: Ooo Block E ni di Megan Avenue 1 ye? (it's ok Megan Avenue 1 surely just beside Megan Avenue 22 right? Duhh common sense ;p)
Guard: Ya di Megan Avenue 1. Ini Megan Avenue 2 ada Block A, B dan C saja.
Me: So mane Megan Avenue 1? Dekat je kan? (sambil look around kut2 boleh jumpe sendiri without the guard's help)
Guard: Eh jauh Megan Avenue 1. Di belakang Bank of China dekat Jalan Ampang.
Me: What??? Jauh??? (Ok I'm definitely won't make it. Btw where the **** is Bank of China?)
Guard: Jauh jugak kalau nak jalan. Dekat Ampang Park tu.
Me: Ooo dekat Ampang Park. Ok thanks. (down down down down down.....)

Then I called hubby and told him that I'm at the wrong place. He said there's a shortcut to go there from Megan Avenue 2. Perlu melalui jalan2 kecil dan sunyi dan panas. Oh no thanks! So I was like ok I'm going back to KLCC and that's it for today. But then as I turned back and walked to the direction of KLCC, I saw a taxi dropping by its passenger at the roadside and I was like TING!!! (light bulb on ;p) Why not kan? Just give it a try la.
Me: Pakcik, pegi Megan Avenue 1 boleh? (btw scary ok the taxi driver, big bald man with moustache...ganas kan?)
Driver: Boleh....(then pause for looonnnnggg time) 5 ringgit boleh?
Me: (Mak aiiii suspen giler ingat nak ckp 50 ringgit tadi...cis!!) Boleh la....(masuk2 taxi, dgr alunan ayat2 Al-Quran...Alhamdulillah...ok x scary dah pakcik ni ;p)

After 2 minutes I arrived at the destination (patut la cuak2 je pakcik tu nak ckp 5 ringgit...dokek giler kutttt, cis lagi skali!!).

Then the rest is history.......lalalalalalala~~~~~ (malas nak cite dah sbenarnye...penat buat skrip sume kat atas...fuhhhh....) 

CUTE

Am I ready for the CUTE? NO, NO and absolutely NOT!!! And I have only 2 days left!!! Waaa hellllppppppp!!!!!! If my recruiter read this, dia pasti pengsan di laut sana...huhuhu

Hey this is serious ok. Yeah I know it's CUTE but it's not the comel tembam debab buchuk2 punye cute okayyy. In this case my CUTE is the Computerised Unit Trust Examination!!! Haa now it sounds scary right? Yes I'm very scared. I have 6 chapters to cover and I had covered...........1 chapter ONLY!!!!! Ok now I'm really really really scared. I haven't memorize all the formula yet, haven't buy the calculator yet, haven't go through all the sample questions.....I'm dead!!!!

Sudah2 jgn membebel di sini. Sila pergi belajar sekarang si emy yg cute!!! ;p

Izma's 1st birthday bash

Wow tajuk macam ada bitrthday party besar-besaran tapi sebenarnya just a small makan2 session at my in-law's. Asyik la menumpang rumah diorang kan sebab rumah sendiri tak siap lagi...huhu insyaAllah by this year siap :) Ok la actually this is just to kill time before I go down to Twin Towers Fitness Centre (TTFC)...ececece saje je nak sebut nak gi gym kan ;p baru kali ketiga yer. Don't over excited yet. Those 5kg are still around...literally ;p

I just want to upload the photos from the makan2 session, courtesy of my SIL @ Izma's Mak Su. Nak harap mama n ayah Izma entah bila nak start rajin mengambil and mengupload gambar...huhu ok2 let's see what we have...

Birthday girl sedikit bad mood sebab masa org start dtg tu dia dipaksa bangun tido..huhu cranky n berkepit je ngan mama. Dress from Lovely Lace with matching hair clip and socks :)

I love love love this Barbie cake. It's so yummy as it looks! Got it from here http://babycakes2u.blogspot.com/

And the best thing is that the owner is from Bangi hence very convenient to pick up this fragile lovely cake. My hubby picked up the cake on his own and the owner was really worried because no one hold the cake in the car. But the cake turned out perfectly ok! Yelah rumah pun sekangkang kera je. Just to promote, the whole cake is edible (except for the Barbie Doll of course ;p), the icing is made from soft buttercream (not the hard fondant) and inside is tasty moist chocolate cake...so yummy!!!!!

Izma je yang boleh dok dekat with this cake. Kanak2 lain tidak dibenarkan ye ;p

Izma blowing the candle with help from mama. Dia tak tau pun kena buat ape bila tgk candle tu...blur je apasal la mama dukung senget2 ni...hehe

Acara potong kek. Suka betul Izma dpt pegang pisau kek tu.

Mood dah ok sikit sebab dpt mkn kek sedapppp...nyum2...

Ok la nak balik...haha anti climax betul. Later I'll upload more photos k...that's all folks!

2011

Hi all! Hopefully it's not too late to wish you Happy New Year 2011!!! Yeah it's already 7 days into the new year I know but still not too late for the wishing kan :) So what's your resolutions for this year? As for me, I do have a few in mind right now and let's see what I've got so far~~~

1. To become a successful unit trust agent (belom jadi agent lagi but on the way, hopefully in 2 months time)
2. To get my promotion by this year - definitely will miss the April batch, let's aim for the October batch ok (but in order to do this I have to change my SKG ASAP!!!)
3. To lose weight - A LOT OF IT!!!!! Ok let's be a little bit realistic here...I want to get rid at least 5kg of those extra fat...fuhhh itu hanyalah sebahagian kecil lemak yang perlu dibuang ye kawan2...masih ada lebihan yang mungkin perlu di'bring forward'...haha
4. To teach Izma ABC, 123 and Alif Ba Ta and make sure she remembers them by heart by end of 2011 (she'll be 2 years old then) - this is too ambitious no?
5. To give Izma an adik (if she can achieve item #4 ;p) - mungkin dia akan buat2 tak hafal supaya tak dpt adik yang akan berebut toys dgn dia...hehe eh tapi cop...kalau dpt adik pun bukan by this year yer...dpt dlm perut mungkin boleh this year but load out in 2012 ;pp
6. To move into our new house in Seri Bangi *wink*
7. To do more and more sales for my Tupperware Brands and makes my upline happy :) - jom2 beli jgn tak beli
8. To update my blogs more regularly especially my Tupperware Brands blog shop - ngee...ngee...
9. To be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, mother-in-law...eh tipu yg last tu, Izma jgn gatal2 nak kawin lagi....aippp!

Ok I think that's enough la for now. Only 9 goals but I feel so scary and nervous just by looking at them...huhu InsyaAllah hopefully I can achieve those goals for this year. Of course the above list is not exhaustive. Those are the big ones. I'll add in if there are any other goals that I want to record here. Let's walk with me through all these this beautiful year...

Again, happy new year and have a blessed year peeps!!!