My October babes

October is a special month. Both Nurul's and mak's birthday fall in October. Not only the month but the same day! Too bad for Nurul it fell on her Maths exams paper this year... hehehheheheheh

But we did a little celebration nontheless and took her out for dinner at Fish and Co on the weekend. Hope you enjoyed your treat Kak!!! *HUGS*

Pre birthday Celebration

The baby of the family would turn 9 tomorrow. But since me and Pa would be working, we celebrated his birthday today! The day started with us fetching Siti and Amirus and running errands to collect money and exchange worng purchased items. Then off the IMAX we went! That was my first time ever in the IMAX! It was pretty cool, head kept turning from left to right to make sure i didn't miss out anything from the documentary projected on the globe. Oh, we watched a documentary abot sharks. Riyan LOVES sharks! He had always loved animals, especially sea creatures ever since he was a toddler. He has this beautiful pop-up book on sea creatures, i myself was and still am amazed by the book! This passion made him dream of becoming a marine biologist. 

We had a quick lunch at Manhattan before zooming off to IMAX. Fond of fish, Riyan ordered the usual Fish & Chips. Closing was dinner along with my parents at Downtown East Sakura.

We all hope that you had enjoyed your dau and filled it with fun and laughter, Riyan!

Riyan, Mama will always pray that you and Kakak will succeed in life, both duniawi and ukhrawi and that your dream to become a marine biologist will come true. Be a good role model and always contribute what you have learnt back to help the community. Amin.

More photos of the celebration...

Welcome 2014... and Bye 2014

Oh wow! I didn't realise that i hadn't updated anything in 2014 in here!! hehhehehehe 

I must have been so busy, huh? So now, write, i shall...

Don't even know where to begin since 2014 is ending in less than 1 week!

ok, i'll update some photos, hopefully tomorrow, of...:

1. Our current house (also realise i didn't update any here)

2. My Taiwan work trip in June

3. Our Melbourne trip in Dec

4. Random family events

5. Great friends bonding moments... which i'm very, very much gonna miss...

I looked through both my blog pages and (realise again..!) that time flies and i have grown O.L.D.

I don't usually have resolutions for a new year. BUT since things will change drastically in my life from 12 Jan, my 2015 resolution is.... to strive to be a better Muslim, wife, mom and family member, not forgetting to inch closer to Allah s.w.t.. Each day i'm learning from people around me. Both the good as an exemplar and the bad to remind me of consequences and not-to-follow. Dah nak dekat maghrib (a saying a.k.a. as nearing death in English).

Next step to look forward to is going through the year without Pa at home and preparing for our move in Jan 2016... preparing buckets and tissues for the move.... it's gonna be hard but it's a sacrifice and a jihad... 

Insya Allah...  :)

I Miss u, Homey...!

2013 in a nutshell...

Assalamualaikum!!!!!

Dah lama tak jumpa!!!! (it's been a while since we met!!)

How are you? 2013 had been been kind to me... and my family. Too many happenings within just a short time. Bear with me, ok, while i summarise my 2013 life ehheheheheh...

1. The first quarter of the year led us to fullfill our intent to perform Umrah as a family. Alhamdulillah, things were smooth and it was a bizzare, awesome, you-name-it-all-the-good-things-to-describe-it experience. Nothing could be better! Many things I learnt from this trip. Both spiritually and in the wordly affairs. Though there were some happenings which i wish i did not do when i was there, i was content and only have myself to blame for my shortcomings.... for the good only comes from Allah and the bad from us, human.

2. We came home from Umrah to receive another good news! I passed my VETASSESS verification and i was on my way to the next step in the Australian migration... that was to submit the EOI. I held it back for a long while cos i was tied up with another good news that came in Nov 2012... our MOVE!!!

3. YES!!! We moved. Finally... after all the house-hunting, we moved in April, 3 weeks after we came back from Umrah. So you could imagine how hectic it was to coordinate all the move and the packing and later on the unpacking... It was a bitter-sweet moment for me... I cried when we handed the keys over to the new owner. That was my first home ever! The ones my kids grew up in and the only place i sought refuge when things turned sour at my parents' place. Though me and the home parted on the wrong reason, i thank Allah for giving me the courage to just boldly head-on with letting go of the place and purchase a house of with a vlaue i could never had imagined i would take up. Yeah... i'll put up photos of the new abode soon....

Anyway, back to 2013....

4. March, Umrah. Apr, move. So we needed a break. Took a short trip to Penang. And we did go away on the right timing, i must say! The haze PSI in Singapore that was in June soared so high, that visibility was barely 100m! We enjoyed Penang's clear blue skies at that time... and suffered when we came home... It was sticky and smelled like we were in a room full of smokers! I feared for my kids' health and others as well.

5. While those were the happenings for my entire family, Allah paved my way to clear my mind and doubt. I took up religious classes after classes... Masya-Allah, I had the strength to go through it and suddenly i had all the time in the world to continue persuing knowledge despite my hectic working schedule. The knowledge gained was incredible! So many things i thought i knew and so many things that i ought to know...

I picked up Arabic too... with Pa.... finally I was in the same class as him. It was a fun bunch of people in the class and our friendship grew closer as we moved on from Fusha 1 to Fusha 2. Now awaiting for a suitable timeslot for Fusha 3... we wanted to all stick together in the same class... ehehheheheheh cute, rite??! Speaking of cute, yes, the Ustaz is cute, too. With all his animations to make sure we understand and remember... I'm so looking forward to our next outing as a class!

I can go on and on and on like the energizer bunny talking about 2013.... but i'll take a break and try to sort out some photos... they are all in my ipone!! My phone's bursting! I need to have some photo management going on. See ya soon!!

Penang random shots

Same smile.

Preparing for the haze that hit back in Singapore.

Right next to Trader's Hotel.

My pumps bought in Penang cos the one i put on had its soles came off.

This company sells Halal Penang 'tau sar pheah' or Tambun biscuit.

Our ride home that circled Changi Airport for about 10 mins cos of the haze.

The environment that welcomed us home...   :(

Penang Day 02

OK, here are our other Penang photos fo Day 02. Enjoy! All taken using my trusted iphone. heheheh!

We booked a connecting room at Traders Hotel in George Town. Hotel facilities were satisfactory except for the pool... they could do better, i believe. But their staff service was excellent. Especially the reception staff who served us. He was so helpful with the places to go and the info about the shuttle to the 'sister' hotel - Shangrila's Golden Sand Resort. I would stay there again if we were to make a trip there.

The hotel lobby. Nothing fancy.

One of the adjoining rooms.

It was a little past lunch when we arrived and checked in. Trader's is situated right next to a modern mall. It was like a typical Singapore heartland mall. But i think it was recently opened so many shops at the basement were not in operation yet. With shops like Coach, Parkson, Gloria Jean, Starbucks and Subway. And yes, I had my first taste of subway there. HEAVENLY! Now i know why people are raving about it. We got to the top floor where the foodcourt was. Ate something local there. 

The original Penang laksa. Mak ordered it. She had never tried had this dish before and this was super sour!

Can't remember what my dish was called but it was a nicely fried chicken with something like 'serunding' on it. Yes, it was called Ayam Rempah. Served with pickled veg and sambal belachan. Not bad.

The kids had their usual chicken rice. I was feeling monstrous so i ordered another bowl of tom yum soup.

hmmmm... feeling cold with Nyai. Waiting for the other 2 at Gloria Jean.

Cute, rite...?  :) Like Japanese...

Our itinerary for the following day was tiring... a little tiring. Bird Park, Penang Hill, Street Art, Shangrila Resort to catch the night flea market (which was a little disappointing cos it was just like our normal pasar malam...) We booked a car plus driver with Ocean Jupiters for our tour within Penang. Friendly driver but i had hoped that he had brought us to a better place for lunch. We went to this Indian foodplace in a two storey shophouse. We ordered briyani but hmmm... i had tasted better briyani, that's all i could say.

Brekkie! I always love hotel breakfast spread.

Displays only...  :(     Don't they look yummy?

Pa's miso soup.

The local booth corner.

Mine.... the congee is a must.

On the way up to Bukit Bendera or Penang Hill. It was about a ten-minutes ride up to the peak. Many people but not crowd-pushing. There was till space to breadthe. Noticed that there were many Arabs... mostly couples. Think it was their honeymoon...

It was beautiful up at the peak. You can see the entire Penang island and part of the Mainland. We could even see our hotel from there! ehhee...There were quite a few places to see at the peak but cos we were rushing to the Bird Park later, we only got to go to The Owl Museum.

Going up Bukit Bendera or Penang Hill.

We got in the front carriage. good view from there.

It was a perpetually slanted monorail. The last i took this was waaaaaay back when i was five or six? It was natural ventilated back then. They had improvised it with aircon and it was more comfortable though it was full.

View along the journey.

At the peak. It was clear air up there while Singapore was going through 400+psi reading.

It was very clear scenery... my photo did not do justice to the view.

We visited The Owl Museum. All owls!

Him doing what he does not know best! ahahahha

Got the kids identical pair of the Brother and Sister street art painting.

The mamak food place where we had our lunch in Little India. We sat at the upper floor.

Very retro....

I was not sure but i think the customers dished out their own choice of gravy.

I had requested for the driver to take us through the Unesco Street Art areas. We only went to a few streets. These wall murals were done by a Spanish artist and it was a mix of wall painting and a 3D physical item. It was interesting. And along some sreets they had this comic which were extruded using thick metal something that looked like plated steel. Some reflected Penang or Malaysia politics in a fun way...

hmm... trying hard to decipher what it meant.

...where i almost got knocked down by a scooter. It was a one way street and he was going in the opposite direction!

Took a vehicle ferry to the Mainland.

Nothing much to say about their Bird Park. It looked like a family run park... But these birds or heron or whachamaycallit are huge! They welcomed all visitors and would come very close to us.

Like watching an open-air movie back in the good ol' days, we watched the mini bird show sitting on stools. The herons were free to roam among us as we watched. Riyan was scared of the birds that flew low during the show he practically put his head on Mak's lap to dodge the birds. One of the birds slapped Pa with its wings... ahahhahahah it was THAT low.

The driver took us back to the island via the Penang bridge. No, this was the first bridge and not the second one that collapsed.

A must-go place. This shot reminded me of a Mc D in Australia. This Mc D was at a petrol station and the meal was super cheap!

Their favourite...fish spa!! but this one was not satisfying, painful rather. Cos the fish were huge!

Our last stop over to get souvenirs at the airport. Cos our flight was at 10am, we didnt have the time to shop at George Town.