a week of birthdays

Last week was kakak's and my not so baby brother's Mamam's birthday.

For kakak's 26th birthday, Mama cooked some foods and we ordered a devil's chocolate cake from The Kitchen Guardian. We initially wanted to wait after Maghrib prayers to celebrate but because Ayah got stuck at the mosque because it was raining heavily we ended up eating first, and then blow out the candles later.

I don't have that much photos in my phone, they're mostly in Mama's phone.

And then a few days later it was Mamam's birthday.  Mamam is the "manja" nickname for Zul Atmam. He turned 15 this year, and I feel like although he's 15, he's not quite like when we were 15. He's still a BIG baby in my eyes. He'd always bug me for Subway or Chatime every single time I'd pick him up for school.

We initially planned to just go to Pizza Hut TTDI, but when we arrived there, most of the tables were left uncleared, and it was basically a mess. We ended up ditching the place and decided to head to The Curve instead. Funny story, cos we didn't expect to enter a shopping mall, most of us dressed up selekeh-ly, which is so unlike us. Selekeh is a no-no, ladies and gents. But oh what the hell, it's a Sunday anyway, who cares?

We ended up going to Italiannies and had a very satisfying late lunch. Good food, good ambiance, kecoh family. What else is better than this? Just that next time we need to dress up better and take photos. Heheheheh


We don't spend our birthdays with friends anymore, just family nowadays. I think it's nice to do it this way, because everyone is busy doing something and birthdays are a reason for us to gather at the same place, at the same time.

To more birthdays! So, who's next?

Kakak's Convocation

So yesterday was kakak's convocation day at the University of Malaya (UM). UM is not an unfamiliar place for us because we practically spent our childhood years there... before we moved to Penchala. My sister followed in the foot steps of my father by completing her advanced qualifications there.

Earlier in the morning I dropped off my parents at Dewan Tunku Chancellor and headed back home to get ready. Two hours later we headed back to the university (the perks of living so nearby, haha!) and I rummaged through the few floral stalls nearby to get a bouquet of flowers for kakak. We arrived at the right timing because we didn't have to wait for too long outside and luckily there were shaded areas for us to sit around while waiting.

Our parents... main back bone behind everything. Financially, emotionally, mentally. :)

Missing in picture is Awad... lost in London. Awad will be back in Malaysia for good February 2015 insyaAllah.

Congratulations kakak! Not many survived Architecture part 2 but she did it!

With my childhood friend Huda. Knew her since we were 5 and stayed in touch till now. Huda completed her first degree in Architecture. So passionate about art ever since we were little.

Lunch at Hadramawt the Curve afterwards. No food photos, was too hungry to snap pictures.

Good day, Alhamdulillah!

And with that, I would like to announce that I will try to blog more from now onwards. Gotta start jotting down more memories here. 

Assalamualaikum, blessed Friday to all!

Raya 2014

2 blog posts in a day?! Well I'm surprised too hahah. But thanks to my iphone now I don't have to transfer pictures to my laptop and then write a post (which I'm very much lazy to do). Now I can just write whenever I feel like it!

Anyway, this year my opah decided to spend her first half of Ramadhan in Kuantan and the remaining half at our house. Which means that Eid will be in KL. Opah is my mother's mother and my mother has 6 siblings altogether. So we're quite a big family I guess.

On the first day of Eid all my relatives came over to our house and spent the day here taking pictures and eating and talking. Nothing new there. As for my father's side, well my grandmother Tok is no longer fit to celebrate Eid and is bedridden at my aunt's house in Puncak Alam. So we visit them instead.

With my pregnant cousin. Opah will have a cicit very soon!

The rest of the days were just us shifting from one place to another. Same people, different homes. As for our baju Raya, no new purchases were made. We just recycled the ones that we made from kakak's wedding in December and wore those instead.

Suffice to say that it was a fulfilling Aidilfitri, Alhamdulillah. ;)

Oh btw, SELAMAT HARI RAYA MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN! 

finale of 2013

MasyaAllah, so many events happened since I last updated this blog. Was really busy! 

1) Had my final exams.

2) My sister got married.

3) Went to China right after the wedding.

Will write more when I find the time (and pictures) but as for now classes will commence again soon, and I'm pumped up to study and get back on track again. 

Azam 2014 konon. Oh and by the way, Happy New Year!

I leave you with some pictures. :)

Till then, Wassalam! :)

The convocation post.

Well hello blog berhabuk... today I will update on my convocation ceremony that was held last week. (11/11/2013)

The ceremony was held at UiTM Sri Iskandar, we were scheduled to receive our scrolls during the last session of the event. One word to describe convocation.... B.O.R.I.N.G. Some of my friends even slept throughout the ceremony. Haha

Pictures!

Zul looked like he was flying without wings. Mentang-mentang dapat ANC. Hahaha

If you don't know me personally then this picture probably gives an overall explanation of my personality. Haha

Idzham (most left), was supposed to join us for convo but haih biasalah dia. So I thought we should take a convo pic together. Zul gave him the ANC sash, I gave him my mortar board. Ok lah tu. 

Alhamdulillah, suffice to say that I have managed to close one chapter in my life. I am blessed to have such amazing, supporting and loving parents who never stopped encouraging and believing in me. Mama who is always worried on my capabilities as I always complain. Ayah who never stopped giving me words of encouragement (and money, LOL). For visiting me in Tapah when I can't come home. For bringing me yummy food when I'm homesick. I am truly grateful to have them as my parents, no one can ever replace them. 

To my friends, thank you for everything. Thank you for the tears, the laughter, the moral support, spending time just to help me study and made sure that I passed my papers. I know we no longer have the same common ground but I'm rooting for you guys here in KPTM Cheras.

What did I gain throughout my 2.5 years? I learnt that I'm stronger than I think I am. Although I gained like, 15 kilos from living there due to stress (haha yes I'm currently working on shedding the weight), I learnt a lot on life. I'm stronger mentally now than I ever was before and I look forward to achieving my true potential. I don't regret changing courses now because over here, I can realise my talent as a future corporate leader (insyaAllah) and like makteh said, the sky is the limit. 

And finally, I thank Allah SWT for this wonderful opportunity to meet such amazing talents with such complex brains. I thank Him for letting me graduate on time, I thank him for the hardships that I had to endure. Alhamdulillah.

I now have one scroll in my hand. Looking forward to receiving the next one!

Well I have to get back to studying for my finals. Till then, Wassalam. xx

Yuna Istana Budaya

It was just one of those last minute decisions to grab the last available tickets when Yuna Room Records announced that they were gonna open another slot on 5th September to fulfill the demands of their fans. So we grabbed the cheapest available tickets, which happened to be the seats that were located right in front of the stage. So you can imagine how close Yuna was to us.

One word to describe this born and bred Malaysian is, "amazing". With talent, skills, charm, good taste and charisma, Yuna is able to go far in the industry. That night was spectacular, accompanied with the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra, the music was just too beautiful. I was trying to absorb as much as possible and store them in the remnants of my memory. You can tell she loves what she does, cos she never looked tired with back to back singing and entertaining.

I remember following her back during her Myspace days a few years ago, downloaded her songs and stored them in my mp3. But look at where she is now, international and slowly being recognised by the world. Nothing is impossible, if you love what you do, chase after it! She is not just any anonymous typical girl, she's Yunalis Zarai. :)

17th Aug 2013, kakak's engagement

The week before my sister's engagement ceremony day we were frantically running around to get things done. Alhamdulillah, it went better than expected. Pictures!

Kakak getting ready

Makan place, we cleared the garage just for this!

The hall, and pelamin.

Rombongan lelaki

When upacara berbalas pantun was about to begin

Balas pantun

Sarung cincin, and kakak with her future MIL

Adik-beradik and family from both sides

Hantarans, 5 berbalas 3. Kakak's hantarans were done by Mama

makan-makan

Us pretending to be married. haha

My childhood friends, I've known them since before we reached puberty. Haha

Kuala Kangsar clan, missing in the picture is Makteh and Kuantan gang

Us kacau-ing Opah. Haha

Upacara queue panjang untuk dapatkan duit raya from PakCu.

Eman oogling over the hand bouquet

Simple pelamin

sirih junjung and chocolates

Gorgeous cake by Maklang

Mamam who looks cute here

Kakak and her friends

Yang dah kahwin pun still dapat duit raya? Haha

Kakak with both grandmothers

Balas pantun, jangan tak balas.

Tak sempat nak buat candy buffet, kuih raya pun jadilah. Cupcakes, also by Maklang.

Flower power

Can't deny that there were some downsides to it as well... from the videographer who didn't show up that we hired a last-minute one two hours before the ceremony began, due to desperation anything was okay. And the fact that the caterer didn't prepare extra water for refill drinks that guests had to wait for more than half an hour since the caterers had to go to the grocery store to get a refill, my friends and I ended up coming to the rescue by making sarsi from the cordial we had in the kitchen and poured it into the water displacement thingy. 

But all in all, it was good, Alhamdulillah. On Monday it was back to school for me and I've been busy with classes eversince, schedule will stay this way till I'm done with finals on December. Till then, Assalamualaikum.