The lady at home

First week as a lady boss at home, oh well, you can call it lady boss or lady of leisure but those are just other words of calling a housewife.

Some may ask, why lady boss? Because I decide what to buy for the kitchen, I decide what to serve for dinner, I decide what to do during weekends, and I decide IF WANT TO COOK OR NOT :)

Pic taken from: zazzle.com

So why lady of leisure? Because I don't have to work? NOT. My husband always say that the house works like a company. It needs managers and workers. And shall I add a banker? However, in this small corporate body where we only have two people in the house, we have to brush up on our inter-personal skills on MULTITASKING. And the banker in the house is really a related party (my husband himself). So he is the sales manager who brings money in to the house and also a banker who disburses money whenever we need.

I am the auditor because I am so used of being one, only this time I am less lenient on myself. hmm..hmm.. I don't impose on audit trails where we need to have evidence of receipts in the house.

I am also the accountant, where I control certain budgets and cash outflow. Especially on cigarettes. My husband would ask me should he buy this and that. But I am not a queen control, because I don't ask for this budget controller position, I was NOMINATED by my husband *muka tak bersalah*

I am also the entertainment manager, well mostly for self entertainment during the times when my husband is at work. I watch all sorts of channel changing from Malay to English to Korean to Chinese to Hindustan, and sometimes to Cartoon channels. Because when my husband is around, I give him some autonomy to operate the sports channel.

Apart from all those chill tasks, I am also the maintenance department manager. I am the cleaner, my husband is the engineer. But there's not much technical jobs to be done in the house, however, there a lottts of cleaning to be done daily and weekly. So since I am the manager and I do not have enough resources, my husband sometimes get to be seconded to the cleaning unit. Sometimes he wash the dishes and sometimes he does the laundry. But really, it's just SOMETIMES, because most of the times, I do things myself.

Well, what else to say, I am also the Food & Beverage department manager. And because I don't employ any workers, I have to cook myself. And SOMETIMES when he is not working, he helps to cook. Ohohoooo.. when he is in the kitchen, he becomes Chef Ramsey and my kitchen feels like in the Hell's Kitchen show.

Because you see, he cooks better than I do, not because I can't cook (chewah, nak jugak), but because I never really cook for the past 5 years. I lost touch (chewah, nak lagi).

So you see, I still have to work you know? And I am still answerable to certain things to the Board of director, which is the ultimate boss, my husband, because I am not only working for myself. I am working for us. So time management is also important. I wake up the same time he wakes up for work. I drive him (Oh, yes, did I not mention this? I am also the driver!!) to the station for him to take the bus to Singapore. During the day, I have to study (sambil tengok TV of course) and I have to manage my time to cook so that dinner will be ready just in time when he comes home. After dinner I have to do a lot of washing and cleaning.

So it's really not that leisure. Unless, I get a maid. *eyelashes* Hmmm for the meantime, maybe I should impose giving salary to myself yang setimpal dengan gaji manager-manager di luar sana. heheh..

InsyaAllah, I am hoping and praying that I would come to that stage where I can call myself the Lady of Leisure, hopefully when I finish exams (Lady of Leisure, Association of Chartered Accountant) and have kids of my own, and hire a maid and husband getting his first million (insyaAllah). So I don't have to do the house chores while maintaining the 'manager' position for all departments. So I can focus my time on my kids (insyaAllah) and my husband. Ini impian seorang surirumah.

P/S: Semalam mak mentua saya pesan pada suami saya "jangan suruh dia masak hari-hari, nanti dia penat. makan la luar" Yahooo!! I love you, mak!

Ijab Qabul review - Waiting for the groom

19 May 2011 (Part 1)

The day started very very early as I could recall. I couldn't sleep well because I wasn't even sleeping on a bed as the katil pengantin was all made up already. And mom said, I have to wait for my husband to sleep on the katil pengantin. So I slept on a daybed in my parent's room. Not that it was uncomfy, but the thought of not sleeping properly on a bed annoys me (just an alasan, maybe I was damn nervous about the wedding that was gonna take place in less than 24 hours time).

My advice to the b2b, PLEASE SLEEP WELL!!!!! Make sure you prepare a tilam that is very comfortable for you to sleep off the nervousness.

I was tired when I woke up (believe me), but when I came down the hall, I saw people already started to work on the pelamin and stuffs. I forgot about the nervousness and started to be excited again.

The theme for the akad nikah was 'Moroccan wedding - Black and Fuschia Pink'

Outside the foyer was all carpeted and all the chairs and tables from the house was brought out to be utilised by people during dinner

From different angle

Just some decoration for the pond

We adopted the concept of buffet style with stalls

MUA, Kak Saidatulnissa arrived my house with her assistant Kak Liza at 4pm. Both of them are very very nice people, so what you heard about Kak Sai being diva and all sorts are definitely wrong. Kak Sai never talks to you on the phone, Kak Liza always sounds garang, but believe me, they are very friendly in person. But some tips that some people tell me about Kak Sai, jangan buat dia hilang mood, nanti hilang seri pengantin.

Theme colour for the room - white, green and brown (kaler kayu)

Oh, another thing, don't always assume that the MUA will bring her assistant like I did. I thought Kak liza will tag along to assist her and I thought I could just ask her assistant to make up the MOTB, mother of the bride. Unfortunately, Kak Sai was supposed to come alone, because I didn't ask for any assistance. Nasib baik I called and reconfirmed. Kak Liza actually rescheduled her appointment to help me out for my mom.  She was very nice.. and I was very thankful to her. Otherwise, MOTB will have to make up herself.

Saidatulnissa

Malam menjelma, hati mula berdebar kembali. Berdebar sebab apa pon tak tau sebenarnya. Nak kata tak pernah jumpa bakal suami, dah bercinta 6 tahun, nak kata takut persiapan tak betul, dah ada wedding planner. Serious tak tahu kenapa.

Night view of the khemah. 

We put a TV outside, so the people not getting place inside can also watch the akad nikah. We adopted a concept where the guests can start to eat first even before the arrival of the groom. Reason being, it was a Thursday night, so the akad would naturally start very late because the Tok Imam needs to give ceramah first and only come to my house after isya'. So we didnt want people to wait. However, the tables for the groom's family are berhidang and reserved.

Yang slack nya from this is, there was no volume coming out from the TV. So next time (not for me lah :p), must remember to get some audio assistance for the extra TVs or screens. Well it was last minute pun.

The centrepiece for each table

Tables for the groom's family and my VIP (atok-atok and opah-opah saya)

Since it was not a seated dinner, people can laze around makan-makan bersila like arab style at this  side of the house. Brilliant idea! I love it.

I have no comments on the deco, I loved every single area of the house. Like it was transformed. But... Guess what's missing? Meja makan pengantin!!!!!!! OK, I overlooked this and the Wedding planner oso overlooked this!! haiyaaa, no wonder la i hungry sampai esok pagi. So moral of the story, although you have a very reliable wedding planner (believe me mine was very reliable so they said, and he had done a lot of famous weddings), you must always have your own checklist. They too are human.

Well, ok. 

The hantarans are all ready now. Tunggu untuk dibalas jer.

Jam tangan

Cake sponsored by bff Zetty, thank you syg

Casual wear set, baju, pants and belt

Set baju melayu

Camera 

Wedding ring

Macaroons 

Sejadah and al-Quran

Sirih junjung

All the hantarans are ready

Almost done

Always the first to arrive, love you babe!

So thankful to my girlfriends, walaupun hari kerja, they were there before the groom arrive. Tapi yang tak bestnya, by the time they arrived, the cameramen already left my room, to capture the photos of the guests and also getting ready for the groom. If I can turn back time (and if I had extra bajet, ahaha) I would hire a photographer to stand just near me and my girlfriends. Well, I had the intention, but the cost wiiiiuuueee, out of my bajet laa.. so harap gambar kengkawan je la to remind me that these girls actually came to my akad nikah. 

Zetty, Ashik, Syikin, ShoN, Aliaa, Dini and Nana - Pemberi semangat

All ready

Take a peek

Dalam hati, "mana pengantin ni, perut dah lapar nih". Pengantin, please makan dulu sikit before make up. Sekian.

photo courtesy: Samsultahir, the official photographer, and Nana and Jannah

Wedding review - Malam Berinai

The malam berinai night wasn't really like some other malam berinai that you may have seen before. Some people would do 'khatam Quran' and marhaban (put baby in the beautifully decorated buaian) for those who has small babies in the family, of course. However, we think that it is not necessary as I have khatam-ed before several times and I dont have small babies in my family. So what happened during my malam berinai was simply geting together with my close friends and family members. 

Called the henna lady to help me with my Inai. 

I started to feel excited on that night. Started to see the tents, 

the pelamin, bilik pengantin yadaa yadaa yadaa.. 

Other people in my family as well as some of my friends also had some henna on their hands to show support.

  

But what I didnt do, but should have done was fotography session on my pelamin... ALONE! without the groom. I should have changed to multiple selections of traditional baju kahwin and pose at my pelamin and get blessings from my close family members. Maybe some advices from family, or something like that, I dont know, can be turned into a formal-informal occasion kinda thing? It'd be nice to have that I think. I just didnt have the time to plan for it. Maybe I'll do that for my daughter in the future, chewah!

Another advice from me, based on my experience, try to get the henna from Mekah instead the indian henna. The difference is in the colour, which the Mekah inai is more reddish than orange-ish. Or the inai from the pokok is also so much better. It lasts longer too. The indian henna that I had only lasted up to my honeymoon time (thank God it was still there during honeymoon, baru la ada rasa pengantin baru)..But after two weeks, dah no more pengantin baru.. inai pon makin hilang.. so get the Mekah one, or the one original from the pokok. If i can turn back time, this is one thing that I would change.

I loved my malam berinai anyway, because all the important people were there.

  

And I love the designs on my hands too..

My left hand fingers look like monster's, because the nail is super long. You can only leave your nails long if you decide not to put henna on, and do manicure instead. If you want to put inai..better not, nanti jadi macam gambar di atas. (Anyway, I cut my fingernails the next morning) :)

Wedding review - Before I became a Mrs

I am very grateful to be around these lovely and thoughtful people in my life. Although everybody was busy with things running in their lives, they had taken the time to plan and organize friends to get together before I get married. So even when I was very busy with my wedding schedules, I didn't mind to take some time off from 'weddings' and just be around my girls before life starts to change.

The first get-together was with my lovely ex-housemates at The Pressroom in Bangsar Shopping Centre.

With Adzy, Monzy, Tashy and Meeman (Dadat couldnt join sebab tengah berpantang). The theme was something like the B2B wearing white and the rest will wear striking colors. Very cute!

Great dinner and foto-shooting (a MUST).

And I received a a wedding present too. I dont need to show the lingerie now, do I? :D You see the tables are empty, not because we didn't eat...but because we left our table and went outside to take fotos...teehee!

Everybody was supposed to make ugly face but Monzy was cheating I guess... hmm..

Second get-together was with my wonderful bffs at Metropolitan Condo (I just made this up, coz I dont know the name) at Damansara Perdana. The theme was Tea Party by The Pool. Ohhh it's soo nice..

I was having so much fun with Ira, Sho-Anne, Zetty and Dyla. Everything was home-made (make with love) :)

This is us with door-gifts, done by Ira, lovely!

You see the bottom picture, especially made for me. :) Two tea-bags one for myself and one for my husband to be consumed during our honeymoon.. haha so thoughtful.

This was what written on the teabag.

And here again, they were all supposed to show ugly expressions except me, but it turns out that Zetty and Sho-Anne were cheating! grrrr..

The last gathering was with my extraordinary amazing and awesome girls from highschool. It was held at the Upstairs Cafe in Subang. We had the whole section for ourselves. And I oh love the decoration. There was one small section decorated, and there were wedding gifts, I cannot describe how lovely it was. I dont have much fotos here, because obviously I dont take fotos on my own occassion. And other people who had the fotos obviously did not upload them in FB. heheh.. So here are the little things that I can share.

We had some games and of course, foto-session (how can we call a complete occasion without that!)

The lovely people at the top foto from left, Jan (a gf), myself (was engaged), syikin (a wife), hana (a wife), ashik (a gf), hana (a fiance), dini (a wife), aliaa(a wife), dyla (a fiance), aziati (a fiance). I guess you can say that almost all my frens are taken :)

With favours for everyone to remember..It was cotton candy, how sweet :)

I had such great times with these people, those wonderful gatherings had helped me to get through the difficult days towards my wedding day. Those smiles, laughter and gifts of course, have kept me motivated and confident to go through the hardship and moments of stressed during the wedding preparation. Because they made me feel how important I am, and it is important to make somebody else feels important to get them moving.

They helped me to get through the days before I became a Mrs! Love you all so much.

New life, new beginning

I know I havn't been updating the blog since the day I got married. Not blaming anything, coz I was blissfully living the life of a 'newly wed couple' for the past 4 months (exactly 4 months from today). I will definitely update on wedding post mortem when I can find the time.

My husband is now stationed in JB, and undergoing training in Singapore, for how long, I am not too sure. Yes, he had been a weekend husband as much as I have been a weekend daughter to my parents. So during the weekdays, we were all very busy with work, and I can only call myself a human when it's Friday night, fetching my husband from the bus stand when he comes back from JB.

3 months ago was also the time when I decided to continue with my remaining 3 papers to get me to Chartered Accountant (CA). So 3 weeks before raya, I sent in my resignation letter. Serving one month notice was not very difficult, I had 1 week of raya and and there was a long weekend on Malaysia day, my boss also were not much around during that period, so wow!! 1 month felt like 1 week to me.

This raya was my first raya as a wife. What was different? I still go back to my kampung, but only on the first day of raya, so I wasn't there for bunga api, masak memasak, takbir raya from house to house and no malay raya movie on tv. I was also not there during the salam-salam mintak ampun part where it's usually a tradition to go to each person according to the rank in the family.

I was at my inlaw's the raya eve and also on raya morning. But I am not complaining coz the feeling is really good to be the new pengantin, everywhere you go, people will ask for the new pengantin. What's NOT nice is when people starts to hold my tummy and say "takde lagi ker?" pressure!

What else was different? I had to make sure that both of us have matching baju raya, ironed the sampin for the hubby, when it's makan time with the family, I have to make sure that my husband is eating first, had his drinks ready and make coffee for him after dinner. Really, this raya was the first time we ever spend time together for that long period of time...1 week!

Ohh, what else was different? I seek for forgiveness from my husband the night before raya and it was very touching. Tapi esoknya, buat dosa lagi.. hehehe :p

I have ended my career as an auditor in EY last thursday, a day before Malaysia day. Now I am in JB with my husband becoming the Lady of Leisure, that is now my job title! I'll seek for other new title next year, insyaAllah.

For now, I am happy with the thoughts of living together as husband and wife for the first time. And I am sure that there will be a lot more changes in my life as I go on.
This is my new life, my new beginning.

A week before Nikah

A week before nikah.. what did I do. I started to go on leave 6 days before nikah day. At that time, I felt I was at zero base.

- I have never done ANY fitting to ANY of my wedding attire.
- I have not gotten my bridal shoes
- No spa/facial/waxing/manicure-pedicure whatsoever
- I have not trimmed my hair for more than a year
- Have not found my source to do my henna
- 2 incomplete dulang for hantaran which eventually became macaroons and sejadah
- I did not have any baju for my malam berinai
- No ring for the groom
- The groom have not completed the dulang for my jewelleries
- Marriage approval have not been completed
- Bilik pengantin belum ada perabot (literally only a small walk-in-wardrobe, a katil and a tv)
- Have not searched for my wedding bedding sets including duvet
- Belum kurus lagi

Well, I think not mentioning the rest of other things is enough to make a bridezilla become panic. But not me. I went with the flow. I was never a bridezilla pon to begin with. hehe

In five days (a day before nikah, I was not allowed to go out anymore) I went to do the following:

Fitting Baju


Went for my nikah baju fitting five days before nikah. That was the first time I saw my baju nikah, and I fell in love with it. It wasn’t all ready, no laces, no beadings up yet, but I was already excited to be wearing that Ivory beautiful schiffon. I got my baju nikah 2 days before nikah ceremony.

I also went for my kebaya songket fitting. Still needed to alter after several time of fitting (ehem..bukan untuk besarkan ye..untuk kecikkan lagi.. heheh :))I got my baju kebaya 1 day after my reception, one day before the groom’s reception

Fitting for my reception dress one day before nikah, 2 days before the reception itself. I donno if there is any other person who was as calm as I was. The designer came to my house for first fitting at 3.30pm on my malam berinai day. First time I saw the baju I did not like it. Because it was champagne color. Not that I didn’t like the color, I just never had ANY idea that it was gonna be champagne. I thought it would be off-white with bit of silver, that was what in the sketch given to me...at least that was what I expected it to be. My husband had his suit grey, my bridesmaid and MOH are all wearing grey. And seriously, me being non-artistic at all, I couldn’t imagine my champagne could match with their greys. BUT, I had less than 48 hours, I couldn’t complaint could i? I kept on telling to myself, “Just a wedding reception, just a wedding reception, whats important is the marriage itself” I let it go. I got my baju 3 hours before my reception starts.

Bridal shoes


I really had no idea where other brides go and search for their shoes. I know Lewre had some good ones as my designer’s boutique is full of that brand’s shoes. So I went to Mid Valley, 1 days before nikah. I went to Lewre boutique, nothing caught my attention. Ada lah yang cantik but only 3 feet high. And considering my husband’s height, the designer told me to look for 4.5 height of heels. Gila nak mampos. My friend, Adzy told me to go to Lewre bridal Couture at the Gardens. MY GODDD…. They range from RM 1,500 to RM2,000 per pair of shoes. I will NEVER buy such expensive shoes, walaupun saya kaya macam Ivana Trump.

Adzy also told me to try to search at a shop at Ampang Park. Tapi, it was already evening, I had to go back to get ready for my Berinai session at night. So, my BFF’s lent me their wedding shoes, and my designer also lent me his 5 inch heels for my reception.
Bridal Pamper Treats

I went to do my Manicure and Pedicure 4 days before nikah. That only costs me almost a hundred bucks. Also, I went to salon to trim my hair, color and did some hair treatment, almost RM500 bucks on that.

Spa and facial was done at Tini’s spa in Shah Alam Section 7 2 days before nikah. But altogether was only about RM250. I loved it!!

Body waxing was done 1 day before my nikah. Thanks to my friends for the voucher. I loved it too

 
Henna


I had actually engaged a lady to do my inai, she agreed, she said she could come to the house and charging me RM150 plus transportation costs. 1 day before the Malam Berinai, she said she had no transport and asked me to go to her shop to do my inai. WTH??? I was gonna have a small ceremony for malam berinai at my house and she asked me to go to her shop. Bodoh.

So I cancelled and luckily, my friend Ira helped me to search for the Henna lady who did for her nikah. Her name was Rajesh. I loved all her designs. And she was only charging about RM100 for both tangan and kaki. She came to the house! Alhamdulillah…

Incomplete dulang

One was supposed to be an I-Pad (which he doesn’t want, tapi I yang nak :p) However, short of budget, so I tak jadi beli, he didn’t want it anyway. I replaced with Sejadah that my mom recently bought from Syria.

Another dulang was supposed to be chocolates. But I remembered that I gave chocolates during engagement, so I didn’t want to give the same thing. I told my wedding planner to handle that one. He bought some macaroons for the dulang. All these were settled on the day of my nikah day!


Jewelleries

I first bought the groom’s cincin suasa and my husband bought my bracelet from Tomei, Subang Parade. Only later we got to know that men cannot wear suasa. It has gold in it, so to be safe, we returned back the ring to Tomei to get something else, but they didn’t have platinum for men that goes without diamond on top. Mr A doesn’t like diamond. So I went to Diamonds and Platinum to buy my Mr his plain platinum ring that cost me a bomb. And my Mr also bought my one set of jewelleries over there that cost him Megabomb. Oh well, but they all were beautiful.



Marriage approval

Completed 5 days before nikah. Phewww!!! Orang nak kawin one month after me, also completed one month before I completed mine. Haiyooo.. But all were good, Alhamdulillah..


Bilik Pengantin

I bought a king-sized duvet, plus white bedding sets for my room 2 days before nikah. I bought furniture for the room like a writing desk, drawers, a bigger chest of drawer, a dresser, a TV console, all 6 days before nikah. And they all arrived 1 day before nikah.


Kurus

Something that was not achievable. Hah! I was a fat bride, whatever!



I am always a last minute person. And he married me anyway.