This is happiness

Christmas weekend...

I'm not in the mood for typing at the moment..so let the pics do the talking for this post.

Thursday - morning and afternoon was spent in COA, so I was waiting and waiting.. 

Friday - I was supposed to be on leave but had to go to the office for a meeting, left in the afternoon to take airiel to the clinic after being bitten by a cat. This is him hugging his fave dino to the clinic 

Saturday and Sunday 

was spent in Bentong, Pahang for a kenduri. Bonda and Nenda and I and a bunch of us was doing the groundwork for the kenduri

Monday - My boys...

Alhamdulillah... until next time...

I am on leave until the end of the week and have tons of errands to run!!

Airiel's 1st LRT ride

Airiel's crazy about trains. So crazy in fact, Aries and I decided to take him on an LRT ride to ease his curiosity about it.

 this is Airiel, trying to be all grown up and macho. He wouldn't let anybody hold his hand

Excitedly waiting for the train

Haha, just melts...melts me. On a separate note, the pressure is on to have another child. Erkkkk... my 1st pregnancy was quite horrific and the fact that Aries was absent has made me have some sort of a phobia to even get pregnant again. Is that normal?  I don't know...

Should I start trying? Sigh...decisions decisions...

Hadramawt, Johor Bahru

On one of my recent court attendances in JB where Aries was sick, we stayed in and did something we would not usually do, we dined at hotel restaurants.

We ate at Putri Pacific's in house restaurant, Hadramawt.

I loved how rich fabrics lined the ceiling

and the walls

ambiance was warm and cozy

the decorations adorning the wall

 the tabouleh which is a must for me to each middle eastern restaurant I go to. I loved how this is sour and slightly sweet (from the onion) with a tangy taste in each bite

despite Aries' tonsils, he lapped up the bread

this was garlic lamb, to be eaten with the bread. This was hands down to me, the best dish of the night. Lamb was tender and fried with garlic and other spices. Yummy

my mixed grill. I loved the chicken and lamb but the meat kebab was a tad bit dry.

 the rice that came with the kebab. Actually all the kebabs were supposed to be served with fries but I asked for that to be replaced with rice instead. Thought it was a tad weird to be eating kebab with fries (although this was common in the UK, but hey we're in JB right?)

I was happy with the meal and would come back again.

It is a Monday with less than 2 weeks in for 2011. Have a great week ahead people!!!

Baan Habeebee Resort, Krabi

Ok, as I have promised Jas that I would blog about my experience in Krabi. Next up would have to be the accomodation right.

We stayed in Baan Habeebee Resort, Krabi. We loved this place. The pics are up in facebook and not here but let me share some which just shows how beautiful this place is:-

The resort is small and cozy with only 6 cottages. Perfect for couples and small families. It is 5 mins by motorcyle from Ao Nang town which I loved because I did not want to be too near the noise and hustle and bustle of the tourists. It has a lovely swimming pool.

Motorcycles are up for rent at a cheap price at the resort. The pics you see on the resort's website show exactly how the rooms are. Beautiful and tasteful.

Above all, Mac and her small team who run the place are absolute angels and will try to fulfill your every need!.

My review in Agoda can be found here.

Reflections

I'm sure you're tired of hearing/reading my tirade about how much crap I endured to stay with Aries in this long distance marriage. How things were so bad at one point of time, leaving seemed to be the only option for me. How faith has managed to get me to see things in a different light. How I am still here. How we are still together and have just turned 4.

It's almost a year now since all that has passed. I am ok on most days. But on some days it is just really bad. although it is not as bad as how I would feel a year ago.

I mean, why am I complaining? Aries has changed a lot since those days. People make mistakes don't they? Why am I worried? Is it because he is genetically predisposed? Aren't we all prisoners of our upbringing? Sometimes things need to get worse before they can get better....right?

"I once read the sentence 'I lay awake all night with a toothache, thinking about the toothache an about lying awake.' That's true to life. Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief." -C.S Lewis

And the above describes it. Thinking about things doesn't help at all. And I try not to. I keep myself busy. I think about how much I love my Airiel. I think about the friends I have. I think about how I am blessed to have the greatest family as a support system. I think about how blessed I am to wake up and go to a job that I absolutely love. I think about how we were and how much we endured to be together.

But I get fickle, and I get greedy. I want EVERYTHING. And no one person in this world gets everything they want. Allah gives you something else, and takes something else away. It keeps and preserves the balance, it is the ying and yang, it is life. I understand that, and yet I am discontent.

I bought this new diary.

How the simple things in life can make you happy. 

What a year it has been. 

Krabi Food [Part 1] - Frasai Seafood

Hello!

As promised, updates about Krabi. Since I am a notorious foodie, I'll start with the aspects that are closest to my heart, the food!!

This is the food we had on our first day in Krabi.

I don't know what drink this is but its lovely and refreshing

Frasai Seafood stall menu

Som Tum [Papaya Salad] Hands down the best som tum we had while we were in Krabi. I was addicted to this. Masam and pedas

The tom yum which was tangy and sour and pedas. Sgt sedap!!

 Crab meat omelette. I would say its an acquired taste because the flavour combination was weird to me.

Frasai seafood is halal and is run my muslims [siap pakai tudung lagi and there was even a girl who knew how to speak fluent malay as she spent some years in langkawi working as a cook]. You can find the stall at the nopparat thara pier where all the boats stop to pick up passengers for their tour. Just keep a look out for the girl with the scarf selling deep fried goodies right at the front.

Until the next krabi update, have a good weekend everyone!!

Anecdote for Today

Look honey, when you're dead, people are 

not going to remember how good of a 

lawyer you were, how many cases you won

 or how many times your name was

 reported in the MLJ, CLJ and the likes, 

people are only going to remember how

 you were as a person, were you kind? 

were you compassionate? were you an

 asshole? were you a bully? 

...and really, from they way you're

 going, there will be really nothing nice to 

say or hear during the funeral, whenever

 that happens. So I would be obliged if you 

could take your attitude and shove it up 

your ASS. Thank you.

Disclaimer : perkara ini tiada kaitan dan/atau tidak ditujukan kepada mana-

mana pihak yang masih hidup atau yang telah mati. Saya tidak dapat membantu anda

sekiranya anda terasa.

Maksu's Surgery

Maksu's surgery is scheduled today.

Moga semuanya selamat.

Worried to death...

Insyaallah. Amin

Poyo, Solaris Dutamas [Part 2]

My previous post on Poyo reflected on how I thought the cuisine was a bit bland.

Ok, I came back with farah shu and ordered their nasi lemak this time around.

It was not that bad and was quite yummy actually.

Would not mind going back for more nasi lemak!!. Well done

Just Nuts about Jeans (Part 3)

Bought me some more jeans:-

A pair of Joe's Jeans

A pair of Notify jeans 

A pair of Miss Me jeans

I love jeans!

We are 4..

Pejam celik, it has been 4 years since Aries held my father's hand and said 'Aku terima nikahnya....'

Things have not been easy since that day... but things that come easy for you are less memorable are they not? A favourite quote of mine on love was one that was by Louis De Bernieres, and it reflects what I have been through in so far as this institution is concerned:-

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. You and I have it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

There were times when I knew Aries was not 'in love' with me, and there were times when he knew I was not either and was ready to walk away. But we are, 4 years later still here...together

I do not know what the future holds for us...but I hope we can still be to each other what we were when we met 7 years ago...and so much more for the rest of our lives..

He was and still is...My Only Hope..

Biarlah cinta ini sampai syurga...Amin

Hello

Is it just me, or have all the pics in my blog gone kaput?

Sheesh, trust blogger to keep my pics intact...

I am sorry to have been neglecting this space.. will post updates later.

My maids are on leave and I am enjoying some home with Airiel time...

Later

Apakah?

Libra = SOCIAL?

Letaklah 'anti' di belakang perkataan itu, barulah diriku ini akan bersetuju. Wakakaka...

Can I please cite some names?

Finally, somebody with balls to say this out loud. Link to it is here

Aries, can I please please cite some names???? hehehehe, pretty please? hehehe

A certain someone yang tak pernah baca gatley on libel and slander and has the audacity to teach me about defamation on my blog? Yang dlm komen kononnya mengkritik dengan membina telah dengan kesiannya menggunakan wrong grammar and spelling? Yang ingat dia tuhan bila dia bgtahu semua org 'I am going to destroy *&^&%&'

Yang tak tahu kita menyimpan semua e-mel-emel keji dia hantar pasal colleague yang telah divictimise jugak? Hahahaha..

Takpelah kan? Jangan dibalas dosa dengan dosa, marilah balas sahaja dengan doa. A prayer can move oceans and can crush mountains...

Kita lihat sahaja pembalasan itu tiba. Amin amin dan amin

Rightful owner of my Heart...

I get terrified whenever my wedding anniversary draws near.

Nothing good ever happens to my marriage on my anniversary. 3 years in a row, something bad always
happens when my anniversary draws near.

My heart is terrified of something bad happening this year. I repeat, TERRIFIED. Maka hati ini berdoa.

And then I read this quote on facebook:-

"This world cannot break you—unless you give it permission. And it cannot own you unless you hand it 

the keys – unless you give it your heart. And so, if you have handed those keys to dunya for a while—

take them back. This isn’t the End. You don’t have to die here. Reclaim your heart and place it with its 

rightful owner...God."

This quote is from Yasmin  Mogahed, and the link to her blog can be found at the lists of blogs I read.

And so I shall place my heart, with all its shattered and broken parts and pieces that I have

painstakingly pieced together to the one who will never break it, whose love stands immortal, who I 

know I can trust with every fibre of my being, who has blessed me with so much and whose kindness I 

can never repay.

MasyaAllah. I leave this heart of mine with you, Ya Allah. And I am ok. Come what may... I will be ok.

Entry Random

Ok, I should be telling you about my eating escapades again..but I am lazy.  Malas malas malas...

Instead I will post some random pics about some random and not so random pics that I have taken lately.

this was taken in dubai, and these are my current fave pair of sandals. comel tak?? 

airiel moves so fast these days..and look at his flailing arms!! mama sometimes just cant keep up!!

the house is only peaceful when he sleeps haha...

And so ends my completely random entry...

Ujian Akhir Tahun

And I wish my title above referred to PMR or SPM or something. But alas...

Something always happens to our family every end of the year.

Nenda was the first, and had to be admitted and undergo surgery for her fibroid. I was in high school.

And then it was Atok and his heart attack, it was at this time we realised that Atok was taking way too much responsibility for Maksu and the family and had decided to start having a maid. I was also high school as well I think.

And then it was Maksu were she had to be admitted for 2 weeks for a severe allergic reaction to something. Not only that, she developed DVT during her stint in the hospital and had to take warfarin which she had to take for a long time. I think I was still in law school. At this time, I think I had already met Aries and although we were not married, he was there for the family throughout the ordeal. I think it was at that point of time I knew he was really intent on being with me for the long haul, thick and thin you know what I mean? I was sold on him. Hehe

When I was heavily preggers with Airiel, Atok was admitted for Busung kat hospital. Lepas operation that showed he was not medically sick, pergi berubat kampung pulak. I think this was the worst time for all of us in the family as there was a very real fear in us that Atok, although being a fighter that he is... may not make it out of this one. Syukur kepada Allah kerana it all worked out ok.

And the next year it was Bonda with her eye surgery and her 'I am legally half blind but I am my father's daughter and I am tough and I drive anywhere anyway...' And in the same year after that it was Ayah with his busung again, this time tak masuk spital, terus pergi berubat. I was suffering from severe ashesion colic and at times I would just feel like 'Ya Allah, dah nak matike hambaMu ini? Sakitnye tak tertahan...'

And this year, Bonda had to have her hempedu surgery, some other health issues and now...bring the drum roll please!!! Giliran Maksu tiba!! Maksu has been bleeding non-stop and is scheduled to have surgery next week to install a contraption to make the bleeding stop and to have her checked out to see whether there is anything else which is wrong with her. I am worried, Maksu being a disabled with a host of medical conditions and allergies and going under during the surgery...the family all knows the risks. So today is the 'I am worried and cannot bring myself to eat' day.

Our household and especially matters concerning Maksu, are run like a well oiled machine. So while Bonda deals with all the medical issues in our nucleus family, I deal with the legal aspects of Maksu and everybody else, makes sure that bills are paid, that loans for cars are paid on time and that everything is order for the smooth running of the house. I come up with the expected budget for household expenditure and approve claims made by other family members in respect of Maksu's medical bills etc. It is a labour of love on the part of all us.

Allah itu Maha Kaya. Ujian seperti ini, our family expects at every end of the year. It humbles us, scares the shit out of us and makes us realise what is really important in our lives and that is each other. Walaupun risau, hati tetap rasa bersyukur dan berterima kasih atas segala rezeki yang telah dikurniakan.

Like I have said before, things are tough, yes that is true. But make no mistake, WE... this nucleus family of ours are tougher.

Pray for us readers, you may think its nothing..but trust me when I say that there is nothing more powerful than the effect of a prayer.

Thank you

All over the place..

I am supposed to draft a Board Paper on an ongoing litigation to inform the Board of a bla bla bla company (which is by the way due today) and I have not started yet. I am just not inspired at the moment, you know what I mean?

I mean its all in my mind right now, what I want to say and how I want to say things, but instead of typing that I am typing this entry. Shucks. My mind is not into it and I am so screwed...

You know that trial which I had to conduct on my own in the midst of COA appeals and FC appeals and rushing and splitting myself into 3 places and at the same time getting myself locked out of my car in the middle of the highway which I talked about? Well, I won that one. Yeay!! So it was worth it!! My own trial!! I think I have a few more of those coming up. So yeay to more experience for me.That kind of experience no amount of money can buy..

I am supposed to list down what to do and buy before going off to Krabi. Like I said, its all in my head but I cannot seem to put it down on paper.

Malas malas malas

I have a few photographs of some new places I tried to eat around the office, and its in my phone, and I am itching to upload the food and share it with you guys, but like I said, I have it all planned in my head but Ijust can't seem to just sit down and do it.

Malas malas malas

Apakah sumber kemalasan ini?

Maybe I have not had any online retail therapy lately thats why. I shall buy a few things and see if that makes me better.

POS Malaysia drama

I have not been shopping online lately. Much of course have to do with me spending bucketloads on stuff in Dubai and saving more money for my trip to Krabi next, but its actually more than that.

I have been having some drama with the POS Malaysia people. All this while I have received like hundreds, heck maybe even thousands of packages from Poslaju. What happens is, I leave my IC No. with my maids. When the postman comes, they fill in my I.C No and take the package on my behalf, I think for the past 3 years +, that was how it went.

About 2 weeks ago, the postman called me up telling me he cannot deliver my parcel because he cannot verify that I shall receive the package. I said, well you called me and I can confirm now that my maid is receiving my package on my behalf, so please give it to her. This postman said, No, your maid needs to show him a copy of her passport. I got a bit peeved and asked him why he needed such a thing? He just said it was POS Malaysia's policy.

I had reservations about making copies of my maids' pasport and showing it to random people. What if they took that copy and maliciously make a police report or something like that? What if they use that copy to forge another pasport? The possibilities are endless and believe you me, Aries being in the criminal law line has seen it all and agreed with me that all this was possible.

I had an argument with the Postman back and forth and he put down the phone. When I tried calling him again later on a number of occasions, he never picked up. I smsed him by saying, that I have received hundreds of packages where my maids just put my IC no. down and accepted it on my behalf and that was fine. He said no, he wants to see a copy of the passport. It was the pasport or nothing, meaning the parcel would not be delivered and I would have to pick it up at the collection center, a jammed, in the middle of nowhere place which would cost precious time. Needless to say, I never got my package. I had to pick it up later, which in all honesty I had no time to do. I have all the smses by this postman kept as evidence in my phone. Sedeynye. Sob sob

I was like, POS Malaysia's policy? I mean c'mon, even if they do have such a policy, have they not by their conduct on the thousands of occasions they have delivered packages to my house, waived such strict compliance with that policy? Why strictly insist now? Do they know how much of an inconvenience they are causing to me as a customer? Sigh

I would do anything so that I do not have to show my maid's passport to the postman! I mean his requirement is a bit offensive to me! What else can I do? So now I have stopped shopping online because I do not want to deal with these people!!!

And then a couple of days ago, my sister had made an order for some food which we needed to sample as wedding favours for a relative. And she had it delivered to our house and guess what? Same thing!! I think because of my previous argument with the postman, he has now blacklisted our house!! Typical. And you know what made it worse? My sister then went to the collection centre and guess what, the postman has not even returned with her parcel which contained the food i.e. perishable goods! So the collection centre called the postman up and spoke to the postman and he said he'll drop by the house. And so my sister went back to our house and waited...only to receive a call from that postman to say 'he is to busy to drop by because he has so many parcels to deliver'!!! sampai hati kan? kan? kan? So in the end my sister had to pick up the food the next morning!! Sigh...

Has this happened to any of you out there? Is there such a policy by POS Malaysia? Can someone help me out here? I do not want to make a copy of my maids' passport to show to anyone. I don't think its a reasonable request for them to make, unless of course you're the immigration department or something...then bolehlah kan. If they want to verify its my house or I will accept the package for sure, just call me and I can confirm it. But this kind of request I just find it a tad too unreasonable. The problem is during the day, no one is at home save for the maids and on occasion, my dad.

Sigh, I am stumped. What do I do? I am so sad to be getting this kind of treatment from them. I am thinking of getting the blogshops I order from now on to courier the stuff to me using other courier companies and I am willing to pay more for it because I do not like the way I am treated as a customer.

I am an unhappy customer indeed!!

Who would have thought?

My friend told me she saw me quoted on Groupon. I was like... huh?

And then she showed me...

Terasa over exposed la pulak kan...

Takpe, so long people can read how the food is at the place.

Hahaha

Yawn

And I am back!

Am so glad to be back home, to play with Airiel, peluk peluk bapak Airiel hehehe.

And then to realise that work is waiting in the office. So here I am.. I thought I would have Monday blues (disguised as Tuesday) but I am quite productive today.

I am tired though and can barely keep my eyes open.

I cannot wait to have a proper getaway in 2 weeks time.

After Dubai, guess where I'm going next?

Hehe

Hint hint

Can't wait!!!

P.S - The pic above is credited to its owner.

There is no place like home...

The beauty (this pic was taken by me, can you believe it? at the burj khalifa, At The Top.. the tallest building in the world)...

The damage..

The heartache...

There is truly no place like home and family!!!

Selamat hari raya Aidil Adha semua! Be safe on the road.