Almira's first LRT train ride, splashing in the KLCC pool and Bisou Cupcakes!

Almira had her first LRT train rain last Sunday. I was skeptical at first thinking whether I was 'strong' enough to handle Almira during the LRT train ride knowing how restless and cerewet she can be, I even nearly drive to KLCC, which by the way is the destination for that day.

But then after much deliberation I decided I am braving my little girl's throwing tantrum and restless cries, so off to the LRT we go! Of course I dragged my sister along because handling two kids on my own for a few hours - are you mad? Haha.

Husayn was behaving himself inside the LRT but keep saying "mama..kita ni tengah naik keretapi dinosaur ke?" - thanks to the dinosaur cartoon at Astro Ceria. Thankfully, we all managed to get seats for ourselves.

As for Almira, she was a little bit blur at first, but her eyes kept scanning around looking at people. She saw a few Bangladeshi guys and suddenly she started squirming and muttering "tatutt! tatutt" which means she was afraidlah.

As soon as we reached KLCC, we went to Roti Buy to buy a few rotis since we just cannot resist the heavenly smell! And then as promised to Husayn the day before, we rushed off to the KLCC Park and hit the pool! Well, actually only Husayn hit the pool - but the day was so hot (it was 11.30am what do I expect!) that I wish I can jump into the pool too!


It was Husayn's first time at the KLCC pool and he had a splashing gooood time!

My usually shy shy cat son met a friend too!

While me and Almira struts besides the pool with the camera! Almira was down with flu so she stayed outside the pool. She had a good time munching the roti boy while running around near the pool though.

Almira was crying in the below pic since I actually forced her so I can take her photo! She really hates the glaring sun that she keeps crying whenever I stop to take photos. Most of the time she hides under the shades of her stroller while wearing a cap so she's all good.

After playing at the park, the kids were hungry and exhausted so we went to KFC for our lunch. I haven't been to KLCC for quite some time so I was a little bit lost there. I realised that the Toys R Us was not at its usual place and I went to Sephora for the first time! Didn't buy anything though but had a good time browsing and playing with the make up and stuff in Sephora.

We also went to Kinokuniya - but not to buy any books, but because I want to give Almira's chance to help rearrange the books there!

Seriously this litle girl is one avid rearranger that you should see my room. It's an absolute mess!

She managed to ride one of the rides in KLCC...

...and me managed to buy 4 cupcakes from Bisou! Absolutely deliciousssss! But look what happens to the cupcakes during the LRT rides..everything has gone upside down but still, it still tastes good!

The LRT ride back to home was exhausting but we had a good time. The LRT was full, but one good Samaritan has given up her seat - because she saw me holding Almira. I was thankful for that since I don't think I can stand holding her too long.

All in all, it was a fun Sunday, hope you had a good one too!

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

The below is an excerpt of Steve Job's speech that I found very inspirational and that I read again and again when I feel mentally drained and cursing my life away.

Connect the dots and live to the fullest

The Big Read:I want to tell you three stories from my life. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of college after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months before I really quit. I could not see the value in it. I dropped out and trusted it would all work out. It was scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on ones that looked more interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room. I returned Coke bottles for the 5c deposits to buy food, and I would walk the 11km across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.

For example, I decided to take a calligraphy course. I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac.

If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography they have.

Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very clear looking back 10 years later. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, karma, whatever - because believing the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.

My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky.

I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz (Steve Wozniak ) and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2-billion company with more than 4000 employees.

We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned 30, and then I got fired.

How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him and, at 30, I was very publicly out. What had been the focus of my adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I was a public failure. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did, so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired was the best thing that could happen to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of my most creative periods.

During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now a very successful animation studio.

In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple. The technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you'll most certainly be right". It made an impression, and since then, I ask myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" Whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've encountered to help me make the big choices, because almost everything - all external expectations, pride, fear of embarrassment or failure - falls away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About six years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors told me it was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.

No one wants to die, and yet, death is the destination we all share. And that is as it should be, because death is the best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other opinion drown your inner voice, heart and intuition .

Stay hungry, stay foolish.

The above pic is from here

* This is an edited version of the speech Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005 at a graduation ceremony

Hari Ahad yang indah

Sejak suami pergi kerja di negara lain, saya tak pernah bawak Husayn dan Almira sahaja kalau pergi jalan2 di hari minggu. Mesti kena bawak adik saya sebab saya tak rasa diri sendiri boleh handle makhluk comel 2 orang ni.

Almira suka main kat luar rumah.Macam best sangat bila dapat main kat halaman rumah.Bila ajak masuk dia selalu tunjuk perasaan dengan melakukan adegan baring dilantai sambil terjerit jerit.

Baju warna merah polka dot yang sangat comel tu adalah tajaan BBLUVSME. Check them out untuk baju kanak-kanak yang sangatlah adorable! Kasut Almira pula adalah kasut abangnya masa kecik kecik dulu.

Semalam pergi area The Curve dan Tesco bersama geng (anak-anak dan adiklah gengnya tu.) Pegi Tesco nak beli rak utk toilet dan macam macam, tapi boleh tak troli dah habis. Last last stroller jadi troli.Sumbat je apa yang patut .

Kalau parking mesti ambik gambar sebab konfim saya adalah cepat lupa. Hehe.

Lepas tu pergi makan kat Secret Recipe The Curve. Saya makan mushroom chicken dengan nasi sebab nak suap Almira jadi malaslah nak order yang pedas pedas.

Acik makan spaghetti dan Husayn makan kids' meal ada burger kenit kenit.

Yang geramnya Husayn ni makan sikit je lepas tu tak nak sebab sibuk nak main lori.

Almira pulak buat persembahan kat Secret Recipe tu. Panjat sana sini, baring kat kerusi dan macam macam lagi. Kat sebelah kitaorang ada couple ni duduk. Yang si bini pregant jadi si suami tolong sapukan minyak cap kapak kat dahi dia.Saya rasa dia pon pening tengok anak-anak saya yang bermacam ragam dan kecerewetan yang melampau.

Husayn pula main lori kat meja makan jadi penuhla meja tu dengan bermacam-macam benda.

Nampak tak orang meja sebelah yang tengah urut belakang bini dia tu sambil melihat gelagat kami? Itulah dia couple yang diperkatakan tadi! Saya pasti dia pening tengok anak anak saya yang tak tau duduk diam langsung. Kesian dia. Hihi.

Sampai rumah semua letih dan tidur kecuali Husayn. Petang tu boleh keluar lagi pergi main kat playground pulak.

Almira memang suka naik buai sependa ni. Heheh

Kelakar tengok gambar ni sebab Acik macam rongak dan takde gigi. Hahaha.

Inilah anak bujang kesayangan. Baju lori berwarna hijau adalah tajaan BBLUVSME juga.

Bila malam semua sudah letih dan terbongkang. Kecuali mek kecik di gambar di bawah ni. Jangan tertipu tengok gambar tu sebab dia bukan tidur sebenarnya, tapi bulu mata dia panjang jadi tak perasan sebenarnya mata dia terbukak lagi.

SERIUS SETIAP HARI ADA MASALAH SUSAH NAK TIDUR PEREMPUAN KECIK SORANG NI! TERTEKAN!

Heheh.

Bagaimanakah hari minggu anda? Dapat berpeluk pelukan dan bergomol dengan anak-anak tak? Hehe. Bai!

Thanks goodness it's iPhone 4S, not iPhone 5!

photo from Apple website

If other Apple's fans are complaining because Apple did not unveil any iPhone 5 during Apple event yesterday, then I beg to differ because I am certainly not complaining at all!

Just because I bought a white iPhone 4 last month !
So at least takdela rasa rugi sangat.Tihihi.
I've been fuming at my previous phone which has some problems that I ended up buying myself an iPhone 4, but at the same time hating it because I was saving and waiting for an iPhone 5. So now that it's not here yet, I kind of sigh in relief. Hihihi.

But fret not Apple lovers..

The iPhone 4S is powered with dual core A5 chip, and then there's the 8MP camera with iOS5 and iCloud. This iPhone 4S also comes with Siri which is some sort of virtual assistant (not to be confused with nombor siri ya!).

Look wise, the iPhone 4S looks the same like iPhone 4 and it's available in both black and white. This brand new iPhone 4S also comes with the 64GB version besides the usual 16bg and 32gb so you can download more movies, songs, take more photos due to the bigger storage.

Will you buy one?

Well Apple claimed it's the most amazing iPhone yet!

Not sure when it's coming to our shore yet though.

Which kindergartenlah wey?

Husayn will start his kindergarten next year so lately I found myself with throbbing headache on which kindy should I send him. I am looking for an English medium Islamic kindergarten but too bad it is so hard to find it near my area since we are the only Malay family there. The nearest would be around Kelana Jaya, Damansara Jaya/Utama (this one pun susah nak cari) or maybe Taman Tun. I googled around and found a few kindies that can be considered:

CIC Taman Tun (cic.net.my)

* Mutiara programme (8.30am -11.30pm) = RM4250 (roughly RM4250/11 = RM386.36 per month)
* Delima programme (8.30am - 2.00pm) - RM6190 (roughly RM6190/11 = RM562.73 per month)
* Zamrud programme (8.30am - 5.30am) - RM8390 (roughly 8390/11=RM762.73 per month)

All the fees above can be found on the online registration form of CIC website. However I was a bit confuse since I saw in this link that the total cost for kindy at CIC for Zamrud programme is RM6870 (tuition fee + meals). Maybe the cost for each CIC centres are different? Not sure since I only referred to their website for all the fees above.

Genius Aulad Kelana Jaya (geniusaulad.com.my)

Monthly = RM238 x 11 = 2618
Uniform = RM38 per unitform. Husband said I should buy 5 of those so 5 x 38 = RM190
One time payment = RM788 (if I'm not mistaken la but it's less than RM800)
Total = RM3596

Husayn and I went to Genius Aulad Kelana Jaya open day last Saturday and I like that place and the environment even though it is situated in shop lot. I already paid RM100 for booking fee, only downside is there's no transporation that cater for my area. If all goes well, Husayn will be attending the afternoon session, reason being the morning session is full but I really don't mind since my son is usually extra moody in the morning. But now I guess need to solve the transport problem between Kelana Jaya to either LRT Kelana Jaya area (my house) or Damansara Utama (my babysitter's house). Pening pening!

ITQAN (itqan.com.my)
I read about this place in TripletsPlusOne blog and I thought this is an excellent place for kids.Only thing is it's in the Kota Damansara area. Fees for 5 year old kids class should be around RM6650. You can read more about the fees structure here.

The above are only some of the English medium Islamic kindergarten that I found. Honestly I myself did not even go to kindergarten, I basically learn to read at home by reading the intisari rancangan in the newspaper! But then, of course nowadays it is so different. Early education has been so emphasized that parents everywhere are scrambling to get the best education for their kids.

Hopefully whichever kindergarten that I end up choosing will be love and enjoyed by Husayn who is by the way the most cerewet person in my life right now!

Husayn - pic taken last Saturday after he had his ALIMKIDS class, and then we went to Genius Aulad Open Day, oh we managed to lunch at JM Bariani which is in the same row as Genius Aulad too!

Hari Raya in IKEA when it's not even Hari Raya month anymore

It all started with an SMS from my old university friend Ropol (of course not her real name la kan!) inviting the bunch of us for dinner at IKEA. She actually just gave birth to a handsome baby boy named Musa. For a person who named both her kids using 3 mouthful words, I thought her baby's name is really unique since it's only Musa!

I was really excited since I haven't seen Ropol in quite a long time, well the last time was back in July during Almira's birthday party. So there I was on Friday evening, braving through the Friday jam and rain, rushing home after work. Surprisingly, me who are usually late is the earliest who arrive at IKEA! I dragged my sister along since I don't think it's possible for me to handle Mira and Husayn alone out in the public.

Here's my friend Ropol holding her little baby who is comeyyyy ongott ongotttt! (translation: comel sangat sangat=uber cute)

Initially Husayn said that he didn't want to follow me to IKEA, but of course I dragged him along. He had a good time jumping and playing around and I'm glad that I brought him along!

Clockwise: Baby Musa with Baby Tihany, yours truly with a surprisingly good behaviour Almira, Baby Musa with his hip hop look and Husayn.

I just realised that Husayn is actually the oldest kid there! Husayn used to be so afraid of people and will cry or refuse to meet and mix with people he rarely meet. But, I'm glad that he's all grown up now and he mixes around better even with people that he just met.


I was surprised that Almira who is usually so restless was actually well behaved during the dinner. Maybe she was entranced with all the kids and babies surrounding her? I hid her shoes in my handbag though since I was too lazy to chase her around. Heheh.

Maryam was my friend - Afni's kids. I saw her running really fast and Afni was chasing behind her. And yes, she actually came with that handbag sitting prettily on her shoulder and I think she will make a gorgeous fashionista when she grows up! Oh, she can shuffle too!

The whole lot of us had a great night gossipping and catching up with our lives. Looking back, I thought it was ironic since we all used to be so carefree during our university days and now here we are, not so free anymore with kids in tow. I mean back then all we gossiped about was our crush or our boyfriend, and now we mostly gossiped about our kids and how they have make our lives a riot! Well, at least in my case it's true..haha.


It was my first time where the IKEA guard has to show us the way out since we were the last customer left there. It was late that the elevator and the escalator was not even working anymore.

Thank you Ropol for inviting all of us and for belanja-ing us as well. Hopefully we'll meet again soon!

*some photos are courtesy of Mr Ropol aka Joe

Siapa rasa dress Vera Wang yang Memey pakai tu cantik sangat?

I IS CONFUSE........

gamba cilok dari BeautifulNara

Dress Vera Wang harga RM500,000 yang dipakai oleh Memey ni yang mana sebenarnya? Gaun pengantin bercorak polos (ok serius aku pon tatau sebenarnya apa makna polos ni bole? Tapi selalu nampak dalam majalah fesyen bahasa malaysia) berwarna krim (eh ke putih?) berpotongan pendek dihadapan hingga menampakkan lutut ni?

ATAUPUN..

gamba cilok dari BeautifulNara

Gaun tidak berlengan yang boleh intai intai cleavage ni dengan mutiara tajaan rafflesia tu la kot..

Tak kisahla mana-mana satu yang dress Vera Wang pun..

Tetapi mengapakah saya merasakan dress pengantin Kate Middleton yang bukan Muslim ni lebih sopan dan ayu dari Memey yang beragama Islam ya?

gambar cilok dari Daily Mail UK

Saya bukanlah calon Ustazah Pilihan dan bukan baik sangat pun, tapi aku tak boleh tengokla Memey ni, mesti nak kutuk dia! Ok dah dah bai.

Kesimpulannya: Dress tu tak cantiklah dan macam tak sesuai sangat untuk reception. Ke saya yang jahil fesyen ni? Hihihi.