Being among the leaders

Two weeks ago I flew off to Dubai to attend Annual World Takaful Conference with another colleague. I took my family with me because I couldn't bear the thought of leaving my 1 year old baby at home for a week. That's one and the other reason is I was lazy to manage my EBM (expressed breast milk) and to fly the packets back to Malaysia.

I managed to convince my husband to come along with me, and to take care of Iris during my conference which only took about 1 and a half day. Anyway we stayed at the hotel where my conference was held, so no biggie. I even went up during lunch time to help put Iris to nap. Or maybe I wasn't helping hahah.. because before I went up I saw the two was happily watching elmo on you tube. Of course she was happy to see me then I put her to nap, and went back down to my conference. When she woke up about half hour later only to see that I was not around, hubby said she went bananas. Luckily the second half of the day took only about 1.5 hours or so. Don't ask me what hubby did when Iris went bonkers, the most important thing is, THUMBS UP to my husband, for passing the test of being alone with the baby for the whole day.

Anyway, my experience going to the conference was great. There were only few representatives from Malaysian companies, and they were all CEOs, MDs, paling cikai pon Heads of department. I was probably the youngest there, and people pay little attention to me, probably wondering if I was in the wrong course.

 

Before I left my previous job, I was contemplating because I was slowly climbing up the corporate ladder, meeting with regulators, consultants, and other peers, I thought I was losing it all. But I guess, I feel even better now that I am in the supervision line, not only I get to meet the leaders of our Malaysian companies, I get to meet the leaders of multinational companies. What an amazing feeling.

Although I admit it was a bit tiring, trying to act professional and matured altogether, I was kinda proud of myself getting the opportunity to mingle with these great people. And I must tell you something that really made me prouder, women were probably less than 10% of the total attendees, and this malay lady, a managing director from an asset management company in Malaysia, was one of the speaker for the second day. She went up the stage with red kurung modern, so elegant, tak main la black blazer. Tinggi mana pun kita, jangan lupa angkat darjat melayu. chewah.

Shoanne's 31st Birthday

14.1.14 is a nice date.

My bff Shoanne turned 31 on 13.1.14.

Nowadays, with kids and double family to attend to during holidays, we can't really gather like those days we used to do.

So on 14.1.14 we had a quick gathering with the rest of the gang to celebrate her birthday. Breakfast at La Bodega.

Every little time counts.

The lovely birthday girl with her cake

Chanel cake for Shoanne

Without Dyla as she has to return to work shortly after

Everybody

It was really nice to gather like this once in a while.

Hubby was not well the night before. But he managed to get himself together on that day and joined us. How sweet.

Thanks to Zetty for organizing and for ordering the lovely cake.

Later in the evening, we went to another birthday party at Shah Alam. My cousin's daughter turned one, also on 13.1.14.

By this time, Imaan already tired and sleepy.

Happy birthday Shoanne, may you have a blessed year with your wonderful family and I love you so much. May our friendship lasts. Ameen.

To Flora, happy 1st Birthday. Semoga menjadi anak yang baik untuk mama dan ayah.



Pic courtesy: Ali, Farouq

Imaan Iris turns 1 party

My baby turned one on 26 Dec 2013. It was a working day so we decided to have a small family celebration at home. We bought a simple blueberry cheesecake from King's because she loves cheese and blueberry.

Mommy, Daddy and Imaan

 

Our little family

My in laws came for the celebration. My bestfriend Latiff and family gave a surprise visit and Aunty Maria, mom's bestfriend also dropped by because she is staying nearby. It was nice of her to wait until 10.48pm because that was the actual time Imaan was delivered into the world, and she happened to there at the hospital waiting for me.

Iris and Lily, two beautiful flowers in my life, messing up their cakes

The actual birthday party was held on 28 December 2013, Saturday at my parents' house in Bukit Jelutong. Attended by over 90 guests of close family and friends, I was honoured to have them spending their precious time with us celebrating our daughter's first birthday.

I didn't plan for any birthday themes, I thought while she is still 1 year old, she won't understand anything, I just wanted to have a simple old-skool kinda birthday that I used to have when I was little. No fancy theme, no fancy games, no fantastic decorations. Konon-konon nak reminisce zaman kita kecik kecik dulu, very old-skool la konon.

Tapi still jugak nak buat some minor décor. We DIY everything, hasil tangan mommy and daddy.

The very humble DIY décor. I love the photos of Imaan from three different faces of her. When she was 2 week, 3 months and 10 months old.

 

Seven tables for family and friends

 

DIY centrepiece on each table. Walaupon quality tak berapa nak elok, mommy and daddy take pride in all these handmade décor and ideas.

For candy table, we didn't have much candies on it, silap sebab tak make orders. Just assumed Wondermilk bukak...sekali tutup daaaa that morning... so had to go to few places to get the few things on the candy table.

Candy table, we had choclairs, sumi jelly, marshmellows, subway cookies, cheese tarts and fruit tarts from King's

DIY door gifts for babies (on the left) and kids (on the right). For babies we just have babies biscuits and rattle. For kids, we had blower, rattle, mask, twisties, mentos, cloud 9, Apollo waffle. Nak old skool sangat, amek kau, Apollo waffle masa kita kecik-kecik punya snacks.

 

 

For cakes, I actually just wanted the same kinda cake that I had when I was 1, a plain white vanilla butter cake in the shape of 1. So I asked my mom to order this cake for me, pretty sure she remembered my first birthday cake. I didn't expect to see clowns, skittles and bendera Malaysia on the cake, but whatever... hahah I don't want to be fussy about it. It's just a birthday party, the most important thing is we had our families and friends attending the party.

 



Imaan's birthday cake ordered from Aunty Noraini, PJ Sek 1. Very nice cake, I love it. 1.5kg cake for rm100.

My Korean princess, style in hanbok, brought by MIL from korea. 

 

Mommy helped Imaan to blow the candle

 

Mommy and Daddy helped to cut the cake

 

With some of my girlfriends. Been friends for 17 years. Missing from the picture, Ashik, Dyla and Myra.

The dragon babies, Adam, Sharleez, Imaan and Lily

 

My little family

 

Birthday presents, whee Alhamdulillah

 

 

The hanbok very hot, changed to her CottonOn dress that is so super comfy, and she is sleepy already towards the end

 

 

I don't have photos of the food. We catered for mee curry, popiah goring pedas and seri muka, cordial drink, bubur kacang hijau and teh tarik. We also had homemade nasi lemak, pasta Bolognese, and egg sandwhiches.

Overall, I love everything about the party, and I was so grateful to have our families and friends gathered together for this very special day.

Imaan Iris, doa mommy, semoga baby menjadi anak yang baik dan solehah dunia akhirat. Ameen.

Raya 21 - 2012

Dah 21 hari raya, baru la berkesempatan nak jumpa my bffs. Dah la bulan puasa tak jumpa langsung. But anyway, Dyla's open house memang la rumah yang ditunggu setiap tahun.

From left: ShoN, Ira, me, Dini, Myra, Dyla, Nad and Asma

So happy to meet everyone. Especially the moms to be! I call ourselves, the dragon mummies. That's because all of us who are pregnant will be delivering in the year of dragon, insyaAllah. Except for Dini though. Not sure when is her due date. She will be dragon mom also if she delivers before 10th Feb 2013.

Macam mana pun, so very happy to meet up and sharing checkup experiences.

 I look like I'm gonna pop real soon don't I? Haihh tapi hakikatnya, lambat lagi.. heheh!!

Can't wait for next meet up with the girls, hopefully..very soon.

Raya 8 - 2012

Hari raya ke lapan baru nak gi open house.

First, I went to bff Zetty's open house in Subang Jaya. Walaupun it was my first house for the day, I reached there pun almost 4pm already.. Hubby had a migrain, so kene tunggu dia tidur and recover from the migrain.

Walaupun lambat, managed to catch up with some old friend, Iena and Nadia. But did not manage to take photo with them. Tapi sempat bergambar with my friend, Aziati that has been working in the US for quite some time now, dah lama tak jumpa.

With Aziati and Zetty, the tuan rumah

Had my lunch there, makan kueteow goreng basah yang sangat sedap.

After that, shoot to bff Dini's house in Kota Damansara. Dapat jumpa another old friend, Sarah, my college mate. Tapi, jugak tak dapat bergambar with her. Only managed to take foto with my Subang girls. Biasalah, my Subang girls ni memang giler camera sket, pegi mana pun sure amik gambar. ;)

Back: Ali, Stewart, Dzue's fiance, Adri (with ARR), Hadi, Riz and Dini
Front: Me, Dzue, Nadira, Aziati, Myra and LA

Chewah, siap caption perkenalan lagi... Anyway, dekat sini, makan Spagetthi home-made yang sangat best, and satay kajang.

Oh, I love open house with good food!



Pic courtesy: Aziati Wan Haron

Go eat and do charity

We usually have Charity Runs, Charity shopping but seldom we hear (I never came across) Charity eating!!

So this is your chance to 'Mengeyangkan Perut sambil Beramal'.

15 October 2011 - this saturday.
Only at the Subang Parade outlet, not the one near to SDMC. Yes, they open new outlet in Subang Parade. (Promo sikit untuk my fren, Hana.. so proud of you, babe!!)

Not only you can do charity by helping to donate, you can also makan best at the cafe. I guarantee you, it's very very yummy! Not because she's my friend's cafe, but honestly, otherwise they would be able to open another cafe right. Ask the Subang people, saper tak tau Bawang Merah? ;)

Tips: You CANNOT leave the cafe without ordering its best karipap and kuih seri muka.

Go check it out!!

AFFcup 2010 Final in Bkt Jalil

I was definitely not a stadium virgin. I have been to football stadiums to watch matches a couple of times when I was little. Back then, the atmosphere was absolutely different than what I experienced last Sunday at the Stadium Bukit Jalil.


Malaysia v Indonesia is probably a match that nobody in this country would ever want to miss it, especially those who enjoys watching football. What more if it’s a final match. I believe that tickets were all sold out as the stadium was so full, and I have never seen any stadium that is as packed.

From the twitter updates, the roads to Bukit Jalil have started to get jammed up since 11am. We decided to drive to Salak Selatan, Cheras and take the train from there which was about 4 stations away from Bukit Jalil.

Let me tell you how semangat I was. Two days before the event we have been searching high and low for the original Malaysia yellow jersey, but to no avail. So takpe la, just wear any baju that we have first and we intended to buy any t-shirts at the stadium (Ali refused to buy the imitation jersey, semangat kan? *clap clap*)

When we reached the stadium, there were so many people, and it was only 3.30pm. We bought ourselves a t-shirt each that says “Tanah tumpahnya darahku”

I also bought stickers for my face. Semangat tak  -_- Kalau bukan kerana panas terik dah nak mampos kat luar tu, I would have painted my face with Malaysian flag color. Tapi tak larat laaaa…It was soo hot and I was sweating like a piglet.

Nampak tak gambar harimau :( First time tatau guna sticker, so rosak..heheh

Malaysia

We decided to go in early. So we can find the best spots. Out seats were just next to the VIP. Ok tak la next to VIP, next to the sponsors who were seated next to the VIPs, chewah.. nak jugak! Anyways.. why I said this, is because the players keluar masuk from our side. So the best part was when the players went out for warming up, then on the way to go back in, Safee Sali was looking at my seating area (not me, but my seating area). I was waiving at him (nobody else did, because I noticed either people were clapping hands or waiving the flags, but NOBODY waived with hands, only I DID) and Safee waived back at me. (Sukati lah nak perasan! :p)

Where we sit

Malaysia vs Indonesia

As early as 5pm

At 6pm

At 7pm

Our players came out sekejap untuk amik feeeeeel of hte atmosphere

Our players warming up

Indonesian players, tatau knp they chose the colour, maybe celebrate Christmas :)

Despite of the players gets 'boo'ing from Malaysian supporters, I think we are generally nice that we still allow them to hang all these posters and banners to show their support. I wonder how la if we were at their place, takut kene bakar jer.

Indonesian supporters

Our neighbour yang semangat satu family!

Well I am sure everybody knows about the laser incident. To me it couldnt be the factor for the lost. If Malaysia had lost the game, we would have said the same thing, that the indonesian players were throwing down bottles to the players who were taking corner kicks. But the fact is, they have got nothing to do with the performance of the players. Even the coach of Indon players admitted that. Read here. SO STOP IT OK!!!!!! THEY WERE GOOOOOD..!

When we scored our first goal

The clebration up to the third goal...

oh-o

Sorak lagi-sorak lagi

People shouting "satu lagi!"

The best game ever.... Even Ali admitted it to be better than watching Liverpool matches. This was awesome I tell you. I wish I can go to Indonesia to watch the game over there for the second final. I wish I could witness the victory live! Tapi takper.. semangat itu penting.

I pray that there will be sufficient number of Malaysian supporters watching the match live in Indonesia. I pray for their safety, while at the stadium, selamat pergi dan balik. And the most important thing is for our Malaysian players to be well prepared, more energetic, dont panic, balik dengan piala. Please score at least 1.

I believed in you even before everybody ever did. Because I am your number 1 fan! :)