Bali trip..

I had so much of story to tell, but don't know where to start..

I guess during Ramadan ni, masa lebih banyak tertumpu kepada kerja, rushing balik ke rumah to beat the jam, then masak (or beli je kat Bazar Ramadan).. make sure all set for iftar.. Lepas iftar, fokus plak on ibadah (yang selalunya asyik ketinggalan -- berazam to ensure this part will increase this year -- alhamdullillah so far so good).. then terus tido --sebab by 4.00am dah nak bangun plak for sahur..That's it for my ramadan routine..However, the merdeka weekend I was very excited coz dapat balik Penang berbuka puasa with all my family members - immediate and extended.. Lepas the kenduri Yone a couple of months back (which reminds me, I still have 1 last entry abt that), was very glad to see all of them -- especially the small ones (Adi and Irfan -- wish Emran was there too, but I guess that will happen during raya ja kot).. dapat suprise birthday party lagi -- hehehe.. thank you to all my siblings, parents and my beloved husband (terlibat ke idak ni??)

Anyway -- back to my original story plan -- I was in Bali a couple of weeks back for the 9th ICAAP -- the flight was ok -- on time and we got to the hotel fine. However, the hotel we stayed in Nusa Dua was really, really horrible - the bath tub was moldy - the bathroom was dingy.. The ceiling was moldy and had water stains (don't think it was due to rain because there's another couple of floors above me) -- there was only 1 power socket which was used by the TV (small 14 inch TV) and there were a couple of times, I saw this 'ulat' - I used to call it 'Separ Bulan' mengulit mimpi di dalam toilet as well as in front of the closet.. eeeewwww..

It seems Letchumi had a lousy room too - so it's not just me.. Francyne who had to stay one night earlier at the same hotel pun complaint that it wasn't great (mind you, she got to stay in one of the presidential suite!! The hotel misplaced her reservation, so they upgrade her at the same price).. It's so not worth it for USD85.00 (this is conference rate kalau tidak it's more than USD100.00) per night.. Tapi memandangkan easy commute to the Convention Centre -- we make do je la..

Petang the first day tu, we had to attend the opening ceremony -- I didn't realise that it's going to be so windy and chilly at night so tak prepare with any thicker clothes. Also, asap rokok dengan merdekanya berterbangan di sekeliling ku menyebabkan tonsilku mula terasa bengkak.. Jenuh la dok pop-in the 'F**h*r**n F*i**d -- to make the sore throat go away.. The O.C. was good, tapi the speeches were quite long, orang semua dah lapar..And by the time the OC is over -- the food stations dah penuh dikerumuni ramai orang -- so we took the bus to get back to the hotel. We had our dinner at the hotel's restaurant je that night.

Overall the whole conference was good. The participants got what they want. Most of the participants are first timers in reporting on HIV/AIDS -- we had to spent quite a while to make sure they understand the sensitivity of reporting on HIV/AIDS. Alhamdullillah -- they all look quite excited about learning something new...

Also, this is the first time ever in my experience of handling these types of workshop the majority of the participants are women -- almost 90% -- only 2 guys (but 1 dropped out last minute - so last2 tinggal sorang)..

I also managed to finally meet Kak Pi of Pi's Twist during one of the interviews. The efforts and commitments of the NGO and the people running the NGO such as Buddies of Ipoh really deserve the highest salute from the community. Sungguh mulia hati mereka ini semua...

Kak Pi being interviewed by Shaza..

The troop from Buddies and ABU

By this time, I was quite sick -- nasib baik ada clinic kat the conference, went there quickly to get the medication before my fever escalates. Nanti tak boleh balik plak..kena kuarantine..

We were checked out from the hotel on the 11th and proceed to Kuta for our own time -- the hotel there (eventhough 3 star) was so much better.. we really love the room there..We did some shopping and spa the next day and by night time, boarded our plane back to KL..

cantik kan.. lupa plak nak amik gambar 'horror' kat the previous hotel..

Muka tak berapa sihat tapi tetap pegi shopping.. hehehe.. kat Erlangga..

It was a good trip...

Mohon Ampun dan Maaf...

Girls day out..

Need to interrupt my posts on the wedding.. lepas ni will continue..

It's been a while since Leen, Zaili and I went out for a weekend outings.. I remembered those days when we were single (by 'we' - I meant Zaili and I -- Leen masih single .. hehehe.. Leen, jangan mare ye..), almost every other weekend we would have our outings.. The outings usually consists of movies (perasan tak the 's') and makan-makan.. What we usually do is either Saturday or Sunday, we will watch 2 movies back-to-back and then finished the day with makan-makan and chit-chat session..

When I first got married, the outings had dwindled a bit to just makan-makan and at least 1 movie.. When Zaili got married and had Fariz, the occasion of get-together had switched to makan-makan sessions in either my house or Zaili's house.. (of course this includes the spouses and Fariz).. After Fariz dah besar sikit, our outings kind of switched plak to the theater -- mainly just PLGM and P. Ramlee the Musical.. I think the last planned outing that we had was last year for the theater P. Ramlee the Musical some time in June, I think. I was injured that time and was heavily relying on the crutches - so nak tak nak, terpaksa la let go of the teater.. Nasib baik Leen managed to persuade her sister, Mira to join them so tak la rugi the tickets.. Zaili came over earlier to collect the tickets and tried to persuade me one last time to give it a go.. But, bila memikirkan the number of anak tangga that I have to climb even 2 atau 3 kat Istana Budaya tu, tak sanggup I nak take the risk.. so there goes our last outings..

In between tu adala we met each other kat functions/weddings tapi not on outings like we always do...

Ntah macamana .. last couple of weeks while I was on ym with Zaili, suddenly we decided we should do one soon.. best time would be last weekend(1/2 August) or the weekend of 15/16 because I'll be travelling to Bali this coming weekend for the ICAAP conference and Zaili is heading to Sandakan for a holiday.. Eventually we decided to go for yesterday -- the agenda --"The Proposal", lunch then balik...

The movie was at 11.15am and I reached MV at around 10.50am.. By then both Leen and Zaili dah sampai.. Zaili by 10.25 dah sampai and collected the ticket.. Zaili then suggested, since it's so hard to actually do the outing, why not we do 2 movies at one go... In the end we opt for this, start with "The Proposal" -- sampai at least 1.00pm, then lunch + cit-cat2, solat, window shopping (hehehe.. Leen almost bought the shoe and Zaili almost bought the bag...) and then around 4.00pm we went for the "Ghost of Girlfriends Past"..

We had a blast!!.. The Proposal was simply hilarious.. and cute.. we really enjoyed it so much.. and while having our lunch at K**n* R**e*'*.. we jump from one topic to another.. Mostly to catch up on what's been happening in each other's lives..Unfortunately, punye rancak berborak -- I langsung tak teringat to get a picture of us.. hish...memang confirm dah tua.. hehehe..

The second movie wasn't as good as the first one -- tapi takpe la -- the company that counts.. Anyway to Leen and Zaili -- thank you for the outing -- we should do it again maybe before the end of the year.. and Selamat Berpuasa..

Picture was take here.. Thumbs up for Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.. Enjoyed it very much..

P/S: There was a funny incident while we at the cashier -- to read it, go to my other blog..

Wedding of the year.. for our family la...part 2

24.05.09 Pagi-pagi we all bangun -- terus start buat kerja.. Cik Abang, terus menuju ke garden mama -- tolong gantung blinds, ubah pasu, trim pokok2 mama dan seangkatan dengannya.. Me, don't quite remember what I did that morning. Probably tolong mama prepare breakfast (as in, punggah semua dari bungkusan2 yang ditapau dari Market Taman Tun Sa'ardon oleh Abah) and buat air.. Cik abang pukul 1.00 tgh, dah nak bertolak balik ke KL naik bas.

After breakfast, I started with my bunga pahar yang tak habis2 -- mana nak habis, one of the 'inti' tersalah buat, jadi kena bukak balik semula, buat yang betul and cantumkan.. Dapat la buat dalam 10 je pagi tu.. By lunch time, Mama dah siap masak -- suruh menantu sulung makan dulu sebab takut terlepas bas plak.. Kebetulan Mamu Non, Mami Timah and Farhana mai.. join la makan sekali. Bila Mamu Non tau my hubby nak balik KL petang tu, he terus offer to hantaq Nasir ke bas stesyen.. Alhamdullillah..

Around 3pm macam tu, rombongan from Ipoh pun sampai -- Wan Chik, Wan Chu, Meor and Adi came from Ipoh. Meor yg balik dari Ipoh (which is routine as a 'weekend husband') drove Wan Chik's car to Penang so that Wan Chik and Wan Chu can help out the whole week. By then all the aunties and cousin2 pun dah sampai and they started the work on the chocolates.. Nasib baik the chocolates semua selamat.. Memandangkan the weather was quite hot and humid, all chocolates had to be stored in my room (actually it's Yone's room tapi dia dah dapat bilik pengantin terpaksala we all menumpang kat bilik dia) with the aircond on almost all the time...(bill electric abah mesti naik punye la bulan tu)...

Sekejap je, almost 3/4 of the 1,000++ boxes have been filled. Tu la bila banyak tangan kerja pun jalan cepat..Malam tu we had one final 'commitee' meeting which was chaired by Meor.. All aunties left earlier and the cousins stayed back for the meeting. It went well -- I brought out all the food for them to enjoy while in their meeting. I stayed out since my tasks are mostly before the wedding -- sikit2 je that I have to take care during the wedding -- so Cha took notes of my tasks and all the rest punye tasks as well.. Ala2 take down minutes la tu..

25.05.09 -- Continued with my bunga pahar.. baru buat sikit, stop plak to help with the bunga telur(ie kotak2 bunga telur).. Finishing up packing the chocolates, masukkan dalam balance kotak2 and betulkan all the ribbons.. Petang tu, lepas Yone balik dari kerja both she and I together with Wan Chu went to collect my baju kat Aunty J's place, then singgah jap kat rumah Mami Khairun to solat, then proceeded to T*sc* - Wan Chu nak cari kedai B*t* nak cari kasut, we all plak nak cari potpourri essence for the bunga rampai...While we were there, Wan Chu buat citer kelakar -- ala2 abah.. which left us giggling all the way sampai balik rumah..

26.05.09 -- Pagi-pagi tu Yone and Meor pegi kerja.. I started with my bunga pahar again.. By lunch time Wan Chik and Wan Chu ajak I and Cha to start decorating the bilik pengantin.. We all pun started with the curtains.. Adoiii makkk... luckily Cha ada -- the whole railing thing ada masalah..Cha kira terror la jugak jadi MacGyver..Then we moved on to the katil... Adi through out this event happily played with all the gadgets yg berada di sekeliling we all.. Tak larat dah nak larang..Petang tu Yone balik tengok bilik semua dah siap -- dia dah mula nervous.. alamak..dah nak kawin ke ???

Mama actually sew the sequins on the bantal2 dan kusyen2 warna beige.. Mama memang like to do the small, creative little things for her kids wedding.. Masa my wedding, she put in pearl beads on my cadar to make it more interesting and cantik...She even sew a new set of 'tikar sila' for my wedding and that has been used numerous times now by cousins and siblings..We are so lucky to have Mama as our mother..

To be continued....

Kotak coklat yang telah disusun elok2 dalam kotak besar...

Kotak2 yang diletak dalam the bakul -- ready for the guests..

Bilik pengantin yang disiapkan oleh Cha, Wan Chu, Wan Chik and myself.. Ni hantaran pun dah siap letak tp blm susun betul2 lagi time ni..

Wedding of the year.. for our family la...part 1

It's been more than a month now since the wedding of Yone and Azri.. It's about a year ago when they got engaged. Time do fly by quickly...

Anyway, this is my take on the whole wedding preparation from my point of view...

Both Cha (my younger sis) and I took a week of leave from work to help/start with the preparation at home for the wedding. For me, the week started from the afternoon of the 22nd of May..

22.05.09 (Friday) - around 2.00 pm went straight to Serdang to B**y*'s Chocolate factory to get all the chocolates for the wedding favours..Decided to bring all the chocolates home (sebab takut cair -- almaklumla, the climate is so hot and humid) then continue with the tasks to be completed. Sampai rumah around 4.00pm, unload the stuff and saw hubby sampai.. Told him about the things that I still need to do, he said he'll come along after Asar. So, right after solat Asar, went straight to S*F in Damansara for last minute purchase of stuff. Left around 7.30pm, called Aunty Nie nak check whether we can come over then. Got green light, went straight to her place in Kelana Jaya. Aunty Nie is the one decorated the bakul2 hantaran so went there to collect all the bakul. Bila sampai je kat sana, tengok Tok Bachik and co. is there..so, I agak mesti sangkut lama punye ni..True enough by 9.30, we are still there -- I have 1 more stop to make -- W**d**m**k to collect my cupcakes, tapi tengok cik abang dok rancak berborak.. terus ajak Peepee(Syafiqah - anak dara A. Nie) to accompany me to collect the cupcakes and came back to the house. Nasib baik sempat.. brought back some cuppies for orang rumah to rasa.. Left A. Nie's house almost midnight.. Sampai rumah dekat pukul 1.00 pagi -- terus flat, packing tak habis lagi -- esok lah...

23.05.09 (Saturday) - planningnya nak balik Penang awal2 pagi, tapi pasal packing tak habis - gedebak-gedebuk pukul 1.30 tgh baru keluar rumah.. Bila tengah sangkut dalam jam kat area Batu Caves tu, hati dah mula risau takut coklat semua cair tengah hari panas ni.. Hubby kata better not to take the risks -- nanti bila sampai Penang, semua coklat melt -- baru habis citer semua.. So, call mama -- told her that we will leave bila dah malam/sejuk sikit sebab takut coklat cair. Mama was ok, Abah was not so excited (before that Abah dah brapa kali call, dok tanya pukul brapa we all nak bertolak -- tak sabar-sabar Abah) -- tapi bila dah explain -- ok la..We all pun patah balik, unload back all the chocolates into the house and tunggu sampai around 6.00pm.

By 6.00pm -- all the chocolates were all back in the car -- the Myvi macam tongkang pecah -- all the seats behind had be flatten sebab too many things. Nasib baik tak kena bawak the wedding cake. If not, dah tak tau nak letak mana. I had to riba the cupcakes sebab takut terpenyek.. Anyway, ngam-ngam 6.30 we all bertolak, hujan pun turun dengan lebatnya. Terpaksa singgah R*B Bank dulu - nak drop chq for car repayment. Nanti terus terlupa.. The journey wasn't eventful as I was knock out most of the time -- letih.. At around 10.00pm berenti kat Bukit Gantang to have the nasi lemak and hilangkan mengantuk cik abang.. At around midnight, we all pun sampai -- Abah setia menanti, menunggu nak bukak kan pintu untuk we all sebab semua orang dah tido..Abah bagitau that Emilia, wife my cousin Haikal baru bersalin at around 7.30 kat Tawakal Hospital.. Alahai, apsal tak cakap, tidak we all pun dapat singgah tadi sebelum bertolak..

**To be continued...

P/S: Dengan blurnya, I forgot to take pictures -- yg ada ni pun atas ehsan cousin2 yang rajin menangkap gambar.. The ones yg quite blur-blur tu are from my handphone. Almaklumla, tak dak kamera canggih..

Birthday cuppies for mama (more fore makan2 sebenarnya..hehehe..)

The bakul-bakul hantaran together with the hantaran... Pandai A. Nie, mengubah..

The wedding cake yang almost dibawak balik..Nasib baik tak jadi..(Wedding Cake is courtesy of Aunty Jan..)

Simply Awesome!!!!

After the week long of sick leave, both hubby and I treat ourselves to a dosage of an awesome movie late last night at the GSC Pavilion.. It was truly amazing. Truthfully over my expectations. Reached home at 4.00am and couldn't really go straight to sleep.

Now, for those who knew my husband -- you would know that he dislikes movies(mostly). If you are able to catch him watching a movie on the tv -- that's considered a miracle. Even when the movie was about to start last night, he started with "do you think they can turn the volume down ???" hehehe... that's my beloved husband.

Anyway, how did I persuaded him to go for this one -- surprise, surprise -- this time round, practically no persuasion needed. While we were sick the past few days, we were watching more TV than we usually do. Stumbled upon the VIP Access on HBO and it was focused on what else -- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Now, both of us watched the first Transformers on HBO earlier this year (or was it last year?? mmmm..). Dear hubby was so captivated by the movie. I told him, it would have been better if we saw it on the big screen. He said, how come I dunno about this movie ? I said, that's because you are not a fan of movies, period. So, to cut the story short -- he's now very excited that the second movie is out and willing to go to the cinema to catch it. So, after being cooped up in the house for the past one week, we decided to go to Pavilion for it. We arrived around 6.00pm and by then -- everything was selling fast. The ones yang tinggal are seats on 2 rows from the screen. Hubby was reluctant to go for it as nanti tak puas tengok the screen. So we opt for the midnight show at 12.45am.

The key reason why this one catches his attention -- the military stuff and the technology..It was awesome -- thanks abang ;-)

P/S: I have a couple of entries that's overdue -- especially about the wedding.. will do it soon..

Wedding Azim & Saleha and the coming wedding..

As might you know the month of May this year is a very busy month for our extended family as there are 2 weddings happening this month.

On the 1st of May - my cousin Azim got married to his lovely wife Saleha. Since both of them are from Penang, it was easier to do all the kenduris in the same weekend. On Friday, was the akad nikah, Saturday was the kenduri on Saleha's side at the Dewan Sri Pinang and on Sunday our kenduri -- at the new bay constructed - Tanjung City Marina.. It is such a beautiful place to hold your wedding reception especially with the breeze blowing and the view of the yatch docked there.

Soon on the 29th May will be my younger sister's turn (Yone and Azri).. Her akad nikah is going to be on that day and the reception will be on the 30th May.. Both my hubby and I sincerely wish both couples greatest happiness in their new chapter of life..

Here are some photos from the events..

These are the bunga pahar that I'm doing for Yone's wedding..

Baru sikit je siap.. soon have to finish it -- I'm due to leave for Penang this Saturday!!