Souled Out

Shame on me.I was supposed to write about Being Me months ago but now I remember only 30% of the take away from the conference. I also havent been reading blogs that I regularly read before, not even Vivy's.Last I heard was that she got hitched  and that the reception was you know, grand.

So I just came across a very inspiring interview with Alber Elbaz on Wall Street Journal today and thought that I share some wisdom of this Moroccan-born who refused to lose his weight. Macam bagus je kan baca WSJ. If you have no idea who Alber is, well he's the uber talented designer of Lanvin. And if you dont know peanuts of what Lanvin is, most probably because you cant afford it.

If you have been flipping through fashion magazines online or offline, Alber Elbaz definitively is something rare.One who thinks that fashion should "feel" like its a family business, Alber doesnt believe in hierarchy,in a pyramid of people reporting to other people. I love it that I can totally relate when he said that "Family is the only place where you feel comfortable enough to make mistakes, and in creation,mistakes are important. They drive you forward". Im not particularly sure how to elaborate but to simply put it,your family is your best critic. Your family SHOULD know you well enough to know whether you're doing the right thing,the right way.

I quote "I always say that if you really want to know the truth you have to go to the basement because thats where things happen. If you look for the truth in the penthouse,usually it's fake".

My understanding :-
1. Bukanlah maknanya theres no need for an organization chart, but you know, sickeningly, most people (especially in the corporate world) at the bottom, do more,work more and suffer more (haha) than people at the top.
2. This means that the people at the top, deserving or not,have found the answers to their burning questions before they reached their current positions.
3. I've said this before, and am gonna say this again, as a reminder to myself at the same time. Don't wait for too long. I learned that waiting have cost me a lot of pain. Inside.

I quote "Today we have to relearn how to be small again. It's not just about marketing,but about creativity again,about returning to intuition,to emotion. We have to bring joy to people - that's the essence of the job".

My understanding : -
1. Dig deeper inside your very core to find the ultimate definition of happiness.
2. Sadly, I feel that the yearly appraisal back in my old workplace WAS mostly marketing (didnt mean to sound so negative but this is sickeningly true)
3. There's nothing more awesome than bringing joy to yourself and the people around you. I'd tell u perfect examples but it's gonna be sekajang Pak Malau, so I save a story or two,for later ye.

Somehow working on my own has made me even more emotional than I was ever before. Highly likely the result of too much noise of people around me (I am assuming), yet to find their exit strategy. Stop whining, start praying, real hard. The answer wont show up at your doorstep the next day but it will, one day. It's only a matter of time.

You may not need to leave your 9-5 job like I did :P

 

Lanvin Spring Summer '12

Those silk chiffon dresses are just sublime.

Been There, Been Everywhere

I really miss this page. I have been everywhere, all over, between managing the restaurant, the daily operations(cashier,akauntan tak bertauliah,eksekutif pemasaran,minah despatch,tukang angkat kerusi meja) and so much more, I have purposedly ignore this page. I apologize to myself. One cannot give birth to a baby and not feed the baby well right. So this baby is kind of terencat tumbesarannya.

So inilah akibatnya sebab nak buat semuanya, kalau nak cuba rasa pahit dan manisnya hidup orang takde EPF, terjahlah dunia berniaga. Nak kata dah jadi millionaire,belum juga. Tapi itulahnya, masa terlalu pantas kan.  Daripada tak pandai twitter, dah dapat dah reply twit dgn Kim Kardashian.

Masa mula dulu, niatnya cuma nak buka kedai, serve orang makan. One thing will always lead to another. Never say never, and never say tak boleh. Walaupun tak terbayangkan macam manala bila betul2 dah tak bekerja, I always say "boleh". Luckily for me, my family have always been there,my safety net. Ingat tak takut ke pandai-pandai je berhenti keje pastu terus berniaga. Takut lah kang takleh bayar duit keta,duit rumah. Sedar atau tidak, sebenarnya, Allah tu selalu sangat permudahkan jalan. Eventhough bila kita tengok macam payah je, Allah tetap permudahkan.

Honestly, momentum nak menulis pun turun sangat-sangat. By the time sampai rumah, peruntukan masa untuk berehat, selak Quran (kadang2 tak pun), buat kerja surirumah sikit2. Sandar kepala atas sofa, dah pukul 11 lebih. Flip2 channel, husband pun panggil masuk bilik. Dulu2 masa mula2 tulis, selalulah husband merajuk sebab asyik tido lewat, sekarang ni, dah habis idea nak pujuk. Untuk elakkan merajuk, baiklah kita pun join peluk bantal. Lagipun TV dah takde citer best2 sekarang ni ek.

So lepas ni, kita nak buat macam2 lagi project dengan adik-adik. Kita dengar dalam "Two & A Half Men" semalam "Better do the simpler stuff well,than to do the fancy stuff badly". Kita mula dengan yang kecil dulu kan. Tak susah mana pun manage restaurant ni, susah lagi lah masa keje kat Petco dulu ;)

Kita rasa, kawan2 semua pun sama bz, sampai tak sempat nak keep in touch . Macam nilah life org business kecik. Tunggulah esok kita ada drebar hehehe, kita hang out hang out OK. Alamak, ada ke orang ingat kat kita lagi ni?

Kritika & Me - Unplanned animal prints shawl. We can never not talk about fashion can't we?

Owh ada lagi gambar tapi tak upload lagi from my BB. Ramai sangat kawan2 yg continue to support by coming over to our place during Ramadhan.

Ex-Munshian. Duduk kat atas jalan after Iftar.

 

 

Seriously explaining something to Rosman & Nazih.

 

Ada lagi ramai yang datang, tapi as usual I am not the one holding the camera. Kalau amik gambar pun, muka tak semenggah. 

Am positively looking forward for more happenings.

Last but not least, Happy Independence Day and enjoy your 3 day-weekend!

Debunga wangi

Intan Marliana loves flowers and everything about planning a wedding that she decided to venture in the wedding service industry by making hand bouquets and centerpieces. I am quite sure that she will be adding more to her portfolio soon.

Ni memang kerja tangan orang kreatif. Kalau tangan saya, takkan jadi macam ni. Jadi mangkuk ayun ada kemungkinan.

Lovely kan?

Happy birthday Hafiz!

Today is Hafiz's birthday, who is going to get hitched soon. Yang bestnya, semalam, 29th March was his fiance's birthday. Kuasa Allah sebagai "adjustment bureau" yang menemukan these two lovebirds. Can't believe the boy in the blue cap is going to be someone's husband kan??  Disaster sungguh pemilihan pakaian masa budak-budak. Tak salahkan ibu bapak sebab masa tu Globe & Kamdar pun dah kira hebat. How we wish we had better fashion sense. My husband pun kata kalau dia tengok gambar ni dulu, dia sure reject. Ceh. Nasib baik dah pandai stylo mylo sekarang :P

So anyway, I'm keeping the checklist close so that I would be able to jot things down whenever there is updates on the preparation. As of today, the hardcore items like baju pengantin, tempahan dewan, katering (for sure takyah risau), goodie bags, photography & videography semua dah settle. Tinggal the minor-minor details je yang kena follow up and make sure takde benda yang tertinggal.

Nikah

Date  27/4/2012

1. Pakaian Pengantin

2. Make up pengantin

3. Photography & Videography

4. Hantaran

5. Hand bouquet 

6. Family yang follow

7. Hantaran boys

8. Waktu bertolak from Ampang - to confirm

9. Siapa siapkan pengantin lelaki

10. Siapa drive pengantin lelaki 

11. Pengapit pengantin - both

Reception - Bride's side

Date 28/4/12

1. Pakaian pengantin

2. Make-up pengantin

3. Photography & Videography

4. Family yang follow

Reception - Groom's side

Date 6/5/2012

To make sure tak miss every details, kita breakdown under beberapa cateogry such as, F&B, Dewan management, Pengantin, Family, Order of events etc. 

Things like susun atur meja keluarga pengantin belah perempuan pun kena plan, walaupun majlis adalah semi-formal. To make sure things run smoothly, lets hope that things tak akan constantly be changing to the last minute. Apa-pun kalau benda yang terlalu remeh dan tak menjejaskan perjalanan majlis, takde lah nak pening sangat fikir.

Ultimately, objektif untuk meraikan tetamu dalam satu-satu majlis especially wedding reception is to make sure that :

1.  Tetamu dapat tempat duduk selesa, bersesuai dengan venue yang dipilih
2.  Makanan memuaskan, eventhough tak mungkin dapat memenuhi selera semua, tapi biasanya orang makan je kan sebab dah namanya pun jemputan.
3.  Tuan rumah layan dengan baik,
4.  Lagu tak terlalu memekakkan telinga. Penting ni sebab selalu experience pegi wedding lagu macam tak sesuai untuk majlis kahwin.

What we are trying to do is maintaining konsep kesederhanaan. Coordinating an event memang seronok, since wedding ni ada timeline yang panjang, so banyak masa untuk buat preparation. Dengan rasa rendah hati memohon keberkatan dan dipermudahkan segala urusan sehingga selesainya majlis nanti. InsyaAllah.

Something Blue

Inspirations. I think what we need more of is not just money but jealousy. If we are more jealous, we would do anything to get what we want.

Might not be too suitable for our unpredictable hot weather, but this is just beyond. 

Never a dull moment

One of the things that I really take with pride as a restaurant owner is the experiences that I get serving different backgrounds of patrons. To me, falsafah penyediaan makanan ni simple je. Serve the food, just like how you would like it to be served to you. Ala, macam do unto others as how you would have them do to you. Something like that. Be it the taste or the presentation. So, when you know what and how you would like your food to taste and look like, hey, you can open a restaurant already!

Just the other day, our customer brought his friends, a pair of American Indian husband & wife, whom also are very strict vegetarians. Terang-terangan our menu kebanyakannya berunsurkan ayam, daging dan kambing. Segala jenis haiwan ternakan gitu. So it was rather challenging for any vegetarian yang menerima jemputan dibelanja di kedai kami, one thing for sure orang yang mengajak tu sepatutnya aware yang kawan dia vege and orang yang diajak, tentu tak mau turn the friend down. I managed to convince the couple to have our rice with the dalca, yang sememangnya berisi sayuran sahaja. In fact, selama ni kalau ada customer vegetarian, memang diorang takde choice lain. Maybe we should include one or two choices of vegetarian dish? However, this lovely lady ordered a plate of rice and rojak buah with extra cili padi potong. To my surprise, she finished her meal berlaukkan rojak buah. I can only imagine how would that taste. Kuah rojak petis ditabur ground nuts lepas tu gaul dengan nasi briyani saje.  Mungkin ok kot, it was just me yang tak boleh terima kombinasi tu.

On another occasion at our outlet in Ampang, sepasang Korean membelek2 menu dengan khusyuk. Mungkin memang lapar sebab hari hujan, the guy seolah-olah push the girl to order fast tapi the girl just can't decide which one to order. Bila hujan, maknanya cuaca sejuk. Lepas the guy order "Mee Kari" (dengan fluent bahasa Melayunya, mungkin dia dah lama duduk sini) dia order juga "Beer". Dengan harapan dapat memanaskan badannya kot (betul ke beer memanaskan badan pun?) Then I smiled. And his lady friend kind of shuush him which in return he said "Sorry Sorry" sambil menyusun 10 jari tunjuk minta maaf. He was undoubtedly forgiven.

Oh well. There are too many other unforgettable moments that we made through 2011. Tahun pertama in the business, terlalu banyak yang kita belajar. Experiences are too valuable you can't even find them in those university textbooks. Nothing beats real life expreriences kan. Some sweet, some maybe bitter. I would say, when it comes to managing the ups and the downs, there is no real format that you can follow. It is important that you develop the perseverance trait inside of you. I read from other successful business people that it is really the key.

"In an enterpreneur's life, it is always the matter of juggling, whether the chicken or the eggs come first" - Sahar Hashemi, Coffee Republic. 

Mr Chow Miami . Extravagantly stunning. 

Laksanakan tuntutan jiwa

After much consideration, I am channeling my personal views to Bomb Diggity. Ruz Aladdin will have its own official website soon, InsyaAllah.

Sembunyi

Last year, masa mula-mula pakai Blackberry, sakan picit-memicit, busy sungguh bercakap dengan kawan-kawan yg lebih dulu ber-Blackberry. Sekali tu Blackberry kong, sementara tu pakailah Nokia yang agak koman. Bila dapat ganti Blackberry yg dah masuk longkang tu, tiba-tiba terasa macam tak bercakap sangat dengan sesiapa. Add orang pun buat syarat je. Saya assume semua orang semakin busy. Pastu nak install whatsapp tak reti, dah download, tapi ntah apa error keluar, malas pulak nak melangkah ke Maxis tanya ape ke hal dengan error tu. Sekarang kan macam lagi ramai pakai Androids, so tu yang popularity Blackberry menurun kot. Still, I prefer the Berry above all. Am not a fan of touch screens and will never be.

Semalam Zana tanya khabar and rasa sungguh terharu. Mesti kadang-kadang terlintas jugak kan kawan2 lama. Apa la agaknya cerita terbaru. Honestly, bff yang saya claim bff pun saya tak berapa sempat nak text/bbm/call. Takde apa nak update. Kalau update pun mesti benda yang betul2 penting, macam dah beranak ke, ada kematian ke, selain dari tu, memang people dah gossip less and less nowadays kot. Like I said before, masa berlalu begitu pantas. Kalau spend too much time membelek telefon tu, tak jadi keje. Sedangkan keje dah sedia banyak, masa pulak, sedar tak sedar, semakin hari semakin sikit.

Lepas saya quit last year, dengan tak semena-mena macam ramai jugak (ramai takde la sampai 100 orang) yang make the same move, either amik study leave, unpaid leave,quit terus and move to another company. Basically I think (I feel), that the reason people can't help but leave is because we cannot visualize ourselves in a better position or job description within a certain duration of time in the near future. Its unbearable to be staying at the same spot not because we don't work hard tapi sebab it is how it is.

Life ni memang sentiasa kena buat pilihan.  Imaginelah, hidup kita sekarang ni menentukan hidup kita disana nanti. Kita takkan boleh pilih separuh syurga, separuh neraka. Mesti either one. Tu kira straightforward tu, tapi life, tak selalunya straightforward. Tough choices membuatkan kita memaksa otak kita fikir jauh dari jangkauan biasa. Perlukan kita carik info, analisa, scrutinize, discuss and finally make a decision. Takde yang mudah dalam hidup ni kan. Bak kata Ustaz Pahrol, kalau haiwan tu iyelah, makan, membiak je kejenya. Tapi kita ni, lebih dari tu.

Nasihat untuk diri sendiri - tabahkanlah hati, kuatkanlah iman, tingkatkanlah kesabaran, banyakkan bersyukur.

"Sometimes we need to lose our way to find our way" - Robin Sharma

Gucci

Hidup dan nasib, roller coaster.

Pendekkan masa sekarang?  I used to think that working on my own would help me slow down, but no. I once heard from a movie, I think it was The Switch, (the one with Jason Bates & Jennifer Aniston) the reason we are called human race is because we are always running, that we are always racing against time. And time always wins, leaving us with our unfinished business with the people we deal with during the day and because we are exhausted, we can't even make our time for Allah di sepertiga malamnya. 

I can't believe I missed writing exactly on our 1st year of opening the shop in TTDI. It has been one year that fast! I remember Elena was still so very small, tak reti jalan lagi, bila time tido, kena tidokan dalam stroller. Bila ramai customer bising, dia terjaga and menangis sekuat hati. Oh anak. Setahun yang lalu. Setahun yang seakan-akan sekelip mata. 

And then bila ada kematian, lagilah masa terasa begitu pantas. Terasa "ek eh, bukan ke baru jumpa dia hari tu, tau2 dia dah tak ada". Begitulah. 

Minggu ni kami sekeluarga berkumpul di Ipoh, untuk mengiringi perjalanan terakhir nenek (my husband's Nenda) iaitu menuju ke pusara. Inilah kali pertama (bagi saya), berkumpul with the whole big family at one time, even hari raya pun tak dapat jumpa kesemua sekali. Sayu hati bila tengok satu persatu anak-anak nenek cium dahi dan kedua pipi sebelum kain kafan ditutup sepenuhnya. Allahuakbar. 

Kalau orang putih kawin, dalam vow tu dia kata "Till death do us part", tapi sebenarnya, death brings brothers and sisters together. Barulah nampak besarnya family tu dan bila dah ramai-ramai tu terasa kayanya kasih sayang antara kita. Itulah seronoknya berkeluarga. 

Antara pesanan yang saya masih ingat masa talkin tu is something like this "Luaskan kuburnya, lebih luas dari rumah yang ditinggalkannya", referring to nenek yang dah selamat dikebumikan. Tapi sesungguhnya yang mendengar ni lagi tersentak dan takut. Belum ready nak mati. 

Sangat belum ready. 

Al-Fatihah untuk Hjh Norijah bt Abu.

 

Picisan

I wish Ammar had not inserted his Ben 10 plastic coin into my CD drive. Tak berapa seronok menulis dengan laptop kepunyaan orang lain. 

Agak-agak tahun ni berapa bulan bonus orang Petronas kan? :) 

 

Punchlines

Dil To Pagal Hai

A lovely photo of the sunset  by Nrul who is now taking break in Goa, India.

Very Eat, Pray, Love gitu. Tell us more please.

Pinch me coz I'm still asleep

Tak boleh tido dibuatnya. Bukan nak cerita pasal mati, tapi setiap kali pikir pasal perjalanan kehidupan, memang kadang-kadang tak lelap mata. Cuba tengok kat mana kita dalam gambarajah atas ni. Kalau dah dalam gambar last tu takdelah baca benda ni kan, tapi sebenarnya itulah ringkasan fasa kehidupan yang serba turun naik ibarat roda ni.

Two days ago, my old friend from MMU, Yani & her husband drop by for dinner at our place in Ampang and told us that they just got back from "Kursus Mengajar Al-Quran Pada Kanak-Kanak". Oh excitednya diorang bercerita. Sebagai parents yang dah plan nak halakan anak-anak ke arah cintakan Al-Quran, memang patutlah pun diorang excited sebegitu rupa. Siap recommend pegi the same course secepat mungkin. So, malam tu saya pun google lah video & blog. Alahai ketinggalan lagi saya ni. Taktau nak cakap macam mana, sebak & terkejut sebab terernya budak-budak ni! Budak umur 3 tahun boleh hafaz surah-surah dalam Al-Quran macam nyanyi nursery rhymes!  Ya Allah..taktau nak cakap. Rupanya selama ni ada cara yang lebih baik & efektif untuk ajar Al-Quran pada anak. 

Kenapa ek. Kenapa mesti beriye-iye diorang ni ajar anak hafaz Quran seawal usia 2-3 tahun. Automatiknya, berbalik pada gambar atas ni. Imagine kita kalau dah duduk atas kerusi roda, tapi ilmu tentang Al-Quran pun tak berapa nak pandai. Pernah tak kita bayangkan hari tua kita nanti macam mana? Sakit ke kita? Sihat ke kita?

Tentu kita biasa tengok ahli keluarga kita yang sedang hidup diakhir usia. Just imagine kita yang jadi tua. Kalau anak-anak kita dah sibuk dengan kehidupan seperti yang kita lalui sekarang, berseoranganlah kita jawabnya. Tapi saya pernah dengar ustaz cakap dulu, kalau kita mati, anak kita baca Quran, dalam kubur nanti, kita dapat cahaya. Kalau orang kubur sebelah tu gelap, dia boleh nampak kita ada cahaya sebab anak kita baca Al-Quran untuk kita. Something like that la gambarannya. Ni perkara ghaib, so takdelah ustaz cerita exactly macam mana, tapi objektifnya nak tekankan pentingnya Al-Quran not just untuk jadi petunjuk in this life tapi nak tolong kita in our afterlife nanti. 

Tak sabar nak pegi course tu. After a very long conversation with Yani & her husband (who happened to be our senior in MMU as well), I still had no idea how and where to begin with my children. Buku Iqra' tu memang la ada, tapi how to get them from just Alif Baa Taa sampai jadi macam adik Darwisha. Here she is reciting Surah Al-Waqiah. Kita?? Balik-balik surah lazim je pun baca dalam solat :( 

I know it is never too late.  Dah lama sangat buang masa. Tak adil kalau boleh menyibukkan diri dengan hal dunia, sampai leka tak amik peduli tentang ilmu nak bawak bekal ke akhirat. Leka tu bukan sikit-sikit, leka sungguh. Sikit sangat rasanya buat amal. Malu. 

Bye Bye Bye

A very big kongratulasi to our cousin, Sofina Sani yang bakal melangkah ke alam keusahawanan tak lama lagi. It's a jungle out here, you know. Be strong, you finally did it!

Dengar cerita Sofina last day keje is on the 10th Feb. I remember feeling every bit of William Wallace masa dekat2 nak berenti dulu. Teruk sangat ke keje sampai rasa macam ni? Bukan teruk. Rasa terpenjara jiwa. Tak tahan. Tak suka Isnin. Selasa. Rabu. Khamis & Jumaat suka sebab dah dekat weekend.

Freedom!

"Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it" - Braveheart (1995) 

Belaian Jiwa

You've Got Mail

Happy birthday

Can you believe it? You're Double Three!
Semoga tenang di sana. Hanya doa yang mampu dikirimkan agar ditemani cahaya hendaknya.

Al-Fatihah 


Ahmad Marzuki Rifat 
20 January 1979 - 9 Oktober 2009

"The odd thing about this form of communication is you're more likely to talk about nothing than ssmething. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings. So, thanks." 


- You've Got Mail 

Oral Fixation

A week ago, I was down with fever yang juga dengan diiringi dengan muntah-muntah yang hebat. No, I am not pregnant for the third time, yet, I may have eaten something that tickle my tummy, the wrong way. I couldn't eat solids for 5 days and can bersyukur that bubur is the best that I can feast upon. Pada waktu tersangat desperate,  I made my husband beli bubur kat Kadir sebab ada ikan bilis goreng, telur masin ada cili-cili & kangkung goreng. Lama sungguh rasanya tak sakit sampai macam ni. Lembik & helpless terus. Right after recovery I feel so kurus I think I my girls shrunk into Bee Dees sizes. Gosh. I feel so un-sexy I don't even have nafsu looking at me. 

I have never been a big eater, not even during my pregnancies. I only eat when I'm hungry and I usually eat in small portions. I don't really munch in between meals and I don't like kerepek, chocolates, kekacang etc. That's why dulu masa kat office, waktu kakak yang jual munchies dalam troli tu lalu, I hardly buy from her, but kadang-kadang beli sebab kesian dia lalu tu tapi kita buat taktau pulak kan.  I've tried kononnya nak makan granola, energy bars tapi terasa macam poyo.  I am the person that people will label rugi bawak pegi buffet buka puasa yang mahal-mahal, sebab tak boleh makan banyak. Masa pregnant pun, I only gain 8 - 9 kgs and lost all of it right after I gave birth. I remember appreciating my not-so-curvy curve during those 9 months and missing it so badly once I'm back to my skeletal physique. I always complaint to my roomate that I hate being so kurus, but he said it is better than if I gain weight uncontrollably. I second that, and I am grateful. But, I do wish for a bit of flesh here and there, where it matters to me at least. 

You know, men do tell the truth (sometimes just to get themselves off the hook) when they say that "It's ok","You look ok", "Dah cantik dah tu" but we women, we are complicated ungrateful creatures most of the times. We need to be frequently reminded that we are nice to be looked at. Even in the dark. Haha. 

Can I just add fat, cheese, cupcakes, milk, and all the fattenings into my diet now? I haven't shop for pretty sleepwear ever since I can't remember when. I want to be able to wear a nice baju kurung without looking like a budak darjah-darjah, not because my face looks young (I have wrinkles) but because I am shapeless.

Heavenly body Miranda Kerr 

One of my mission impossible this year is, to gain weight, without getting pregnant. Funnily enough, I think I am going to fail. Argh. Allah tu adil kan. Agaknya memang sengaja dia tak bagi kita sesuatu yang kita nak sangat-sangat, takut-takut nanti kita tak boleh nak handle. Manalah tau kalau tiba-tiba dapat body hot, lupa diri pulak. Nauzubillah. 

Apa pun, sangat bersyukur, eventhough kurus, telah kembali sihat seperti sediakala, cuma selera makan yang belum berapa normal. Mungkin kena cari stimulant supaya tekak ada semangat nak telan makanan sedap dan menaikkan berat badan at the same time. Dan juga syukur, dalam keadaan kurus, berjaya fully breastfeed my daughter for 2 years. Two Years! Yeay to breastfeeding! 

Life is not a box full of chocolates

My dear friend Syareza just gave birth to her second son and is now enjoying her confinement holidays at home, fully breastfeeding her baby. I thought I'd share my thoughts as well.

Life in fact is a routine. Yang bezanya ialah laluan hidup masing-masing. Fasa hidup kita sebagai isteri, ibu, menantu, biras memang tak boleh lari dari rutin. There will be things yang akan sentiasa kita buat dan ulang-ulang sebab itulah jalan hidup kita. Even in the office pun, our jobs pun ada routine tersendiri. The only difference is that we get to met different people all the time, lunches at different fine dining restaurants and offsite meeting at different resorts.

To me, daily routine sebagai housewife adalah terlalu petty untuk dirisaukan. Mungkin kita ingat, kalau ada maid, hidup akan lebih mudah, iye, betul. For now memang takde, tapi takde lah sesusah mana. Mungkin sampai masa nanti akan amik, tapi now still manageable. Even masa kerja dulu pun, it is still ok that some house chores buat ikut priority. Now dah jadi housewife, nothing has changed. Except, flexible working hours.

There are days yang rileks and rasa nak bermalas-malas, spend most of the time reading or studying. Ada jugak tiba-tiba kena rush ke sana sini and perlukan full commitment to make sure things run smoothly. There are days kena bangun awal sebab nak jumpa orang itu, orang ini. There are days boleh pegi tengok wayang and window shopping. There are days kena buat admin work, sorting bills and do some banking. There are days where all of a sudden start kereta, pegi KLCC for a quick lunch and cari buku kat Kinokuniya. So it's all terpulang pada diri sendiri untuk atur masa. 24 jam tu sangat singkat. Sometimes rasa macam kena squeeze everything at one go.

I just want to share with you this clip from Sex & The City. I bet ramai mommies out there yang feel the same. But, hey. Just be grateful.



Also my favorite quote from the movie Titanic

"I mean, I got everything I need right here with me. I got air in my lungs, a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what's gonna happen or, who I'm gonna meet, where I'm gonna wind up. Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you... to make each day count. " 

Jack Dawson, Titanic 1997. 

Cantik Magik

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Madah Berhelah

Semasa menulis ni, Dr Hasan Ali sudah pun dipecat keanggotaannya dalam PAS. Sangat curious dan tertanya-tanya dengan kontroversi yang melanda, since saya "mengenali" Hasan Ali sejak bersekolah lagi. Saya pernah join summer camp organized by this motivational expert masa cuti sekolah dulu and I can still remember it was one of the best summer camp and an experience I will never forget. 

Lepas Hasan Ali jadi politician, saya takde dah follow dia cuma legalah sebab motivator favorite saya akhirnya berjuang atas platform dan untuk Islam. Sepanjang dia jadi Exco pun, saya pun macam ramai yang di luar sana, tak kuasalah nak baca segala detail berita politik, yang penting tak ganggu hidup saya, dah cukup baik. 

Watch the video then you will understand what I mean. Agak kurang selesa dengan soalan yang Host ajukan, sebab bagi saya Host kena tanya soalan mewakili apa yang orang yang menonton diluar ni rasa nak tanya kalau dapat peluang bertanya pada tetamu yang diundang. Mungkin saya sendiri tak berapa follow rancangan ni (mungkin saya bukan penonton TV3) so saya tak pastilah apa objektif  rancangan Soal Jawab melalui interview ni, tapi you knowlah, some politician menjawab some questions secara diplomatik. Kena paham-paham sendiri. 

Tapi bila jadi macam ni, teringin jugak nak tau, bilakah dan dimanakah starting point, tersasarnya perjuangan Hasan Ali? Sesungguhnya, saya masih percaya dasar perjuangan tetap sama, yang berubah mungkin approach, method, strategi etc. Bila saya dengar komen dia kat TV3 lepas kena pecat tu, saya rasa agak irritating dengan ayat-ayatnya itu "Memperjuangkan institusi raja". Seumur hidup yang baru 32 tahun ni, saya sendiri tak pernah tahu yang saya ada tanggungjawab memperjuangkan institusi raja. Mungkinkah maksudnya macam ni : Raja menjadi rujukan rakyat untuk bab-bab berkenaan Agama dan Hal Ehwal Adat orang Melayu yang beragama Islam, jadi adalah menjadi tanggungjawab bersama untuk mengangkat Raja sebagai tempat rujukan jika berlaku kekusutan dalam hal-hal sedemikian. Tak surelah, tapi the King must be sitting there for a bigger and more important role, that I don't know of, yet. Yang saya tengok, Raja-Raja dan kerabat diraja ni rileks je. They have their own kempompong yang rakyat pun tak perlu nak question or amik tahu lebih-lebih. Kalau nak glimpses of their glamorous lives, boleh je tengok dalam all the Malaysian version of high society magazines seperti Tatler, Harper's Bazaar, Glam or Hello!. Mesti ada the same faces punya. So, apa yang Hasan Ali cuba sampaikan melalui statement "memperjuangkan institusi raja-raja" sedangkan raja-raja macam OK je menjalani kehidupan masing-masing. I just don't get it.

Entah macam mana jugak Host boleh mengajukan soalan kurang bijak seperti "Kenapa Datuk seolah-olah berseorangan di Negeri Selangor" dan lain-lain soalan yang sebenarnya dah tahu jawapan. Oh come on. 

Adakah kemungkinannya, selama ni Hasan Ali ada menyuarakan kepada pimpinan approach-approach yang dia nak ambil untuk melaksanakan tanggungjawab sebagai Exco, tapi tak mendapat persetujuan mungkin sebab tak sesuai or the timing is not right or any other reasons yang kita tak perlu tau. Logiknya, Exco ni power dia kira besarlah jugak. So, when you're sitting at the decision making's chair, tapi still cannot make decision mesti somehow tak puas hati kot. My father, my husband and I had a big debate about this the other day and personally I think it is a big lost to PAS for letting Hasan Ali go. Maybe Hasan Ali isn't the same person he is before, or there must be something that went wrong that pucuk pimpinan terpaksa membuat keputusan yang dikatakan drastik. 

I cannot believe I am actually writing about this. Bila baca balik, macam yikes. 

Meh Dengar Jap

Ha.Ustaz bagitau dah. Jangan kata Ustaz tak bagitau. Esok mati, mintak-mintaklah anak sendiri yang mandikan, kafankan & masukkan dalam liang. Ni kursus jenazah pun tak pegi lagi ni, bukan apa, selalu sangat tengok orang mati sampai takut nak pegi. 

Love Me Tender

Inikan orang tua pun sakit, apa lagi budak kecik. Ingatkan Elena boleh pecah rekod tak admitted hospital before 2 years old, tapi Allah Maha Mengetahui. Hari ni hari kedua menikmati pemandangan metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, mengimbau kembali kali pertama bermalam di hospital 5 bintang masa lahirkan Elena 23 bulan yang lalu. Cewah.

The first thing that we did once we were no longer employed was to sign up for medical coverage with Prudential Takaful. Our agent (Hafiz's friend), Khairul Ikram is the best. Iyelah, mana nak tahu kan sakit ni bukan boleh agak, so bila Nena dah demam seminggu, complete antibiotik 5 hari tapi still demam balik, cepat-cepat kitaorg bawak pegi emergency. Hopefully tak lama duduk ward, walaupun 5 bintang, hospital tetap hospital.

Nak baring sebelah Abang jugak-jugak

Nena bushuk

Hidup nyawa dapat kopiter

Penat

Kena marah baru tido

Lena Diulit Intan

Bertitik tolak dari tulisan Hilda Jue, kita pun nak tulis gaklah. Gila panjang makcik ni membebel. Kau memang penuh dengan perkataan sejak azali lagi kan. 

Kebetulan hari tu kitaorang lalu kat Al-Amin, so saje lah singgah tanya bila boleh register untuk Darjah 1. Ketiga-tiga orang adik lelaki saya semua Al-Amin (Hafiz: Gen-6, Faizal: Gen-9, Baby:Gen-11 kot) so automatik saya tak fikir nak pegi sekolah lain, tapi kena standby jugak plan B, kot la tak dapat kan. Yang bestnya, terlupa habis nak masuk Al-Amin kena ada basic Bahasa Arab, sekali tengok2 Genius Aulad takde bahasa Arab! Haih ni sebab tak pay attention sangat masa briefing & masa tengok brochure yang explain syllabus ke apa benda. Yang perasan ada subjek Maths, English, Science etc. 

Bila cikgu kelas Darjah 1 tu kata " Masuklah Tadika Amal,senang nanti nak jawab test untuk masuk Al-Amin". Ha panik. Ye lah, Ammar memang takde basic langsung, pastu dia kata budak Genius Aulad ada 3-4 orang je yang lepas. Takkan nak tukar pulak dah last minute, so teruskan je lah and nanti umur 6 tahun tengok macam mana, mungkin masuk Tadika Amal pulak. In the meantime, kenalah carik buku-buku basic Bahasa Arab nak ajar kat Ammar, so that nanti takde lah dia blur kalau tukar school. 

Tapi tension kan. Padahal baru nak masuk Darjah 1 tapi preparation bukannya senang. Rasanya, lepas Ammar masuk Darjah 1, dah takleh nak berdondang sayang. Macam kena hadap je buku. Ish. Biar betul. Kebanyakan mak bapak taknak anak-anak ketinggalan compared to budak-budak lain. Somehow saya rasa, makin hari, budak-budak makin pandai-pandai. Tengok je lah result SPM, 10A1, 12A1 macam takde apa-apa je. Aku dulu nak dapat 5A pun macam nak mati berdiri rasanya. Al-Amin accepted 110 students only untuk Darjah 1 for 2012 session. Ada 3 kelas je untuk darjah 1. Sedia maklum, Sekolah Rendah Al-Amin ni satu je bangunan dia, so fahamlah kenapa tak ramai. Tak boleh jadi ni. Mak bapak Ammar dahlah takde basic Bahasa Arab, kalau setakat nyanyi lagu Amr Diab boleh lah. 

Zaman Android, Ipad, Tablet, segala tok nenek gadget sekarang, budak-budak pun advance, tak macam kita dulu. Seingat saya, masa tadika 6 tahun tu, tak pandai apa pun. Tercengang je cikgu cakap dalam kelas apa benda tak faham. Cakap orang putih konfirm tak reti, mana ada Disney Junior macam sekarang. I think most of kids Ammar's age nowadays belajar converse in English informally sebab tengok Disney Juniorlah. Untunglah kalau mak bapak memang cakap omputih, tapi bapak Ammar cakap Perak, mummy Ammar cakap Melaka, Ammar belajar cakap omputih dengan Animal Mechanical & Ben-10. Eloklah tu. Esok masa turn Ammar, cikgu tanya lain, Ammar jawab lain, tak ke haru. 

Peredaran masa dan perubahan dunia yang semakin lama, semakin pantas, secara tak langsung, anak-anak zaman ni, belajar ikut apa yang diorang tengok sekeliling diorang. Believe it or not, it's all up to apa yang mak bapak provide sebab anak-anak macam sponge. Dia absorb semua yang kita curah, perbuatan kita, percakapan semua dia observe. So, nak masuk Darjah 1 nanti, mak bapaklah yang responsible untuk bagi persediaan  mentally, socially etc pada anak-anak. Sesungguhnya, semua mak bapak ada cara masing-masing, at the end of the day all we want is the best for our children. Best yang macam mana, terpulang pada masing-masing juga. Kalau boleh, memang nak anak pandai semua, baik akademik ataupun bab ngaji Quran. Mak bapak pulak, kena tau, tak boleh semua harapkan sekolah, yang terbaik semuanya mesti bermula dari rumah. Kalau mak bapak tak pernah ngaji kat rumah, camne nak suruh anak mengaji, nanti anak pelik "apesal mak bapak aku suruh mengaji, dia dok tengok Kim Kardashian" (akulah tu). 

Rupanya, jadi mak bapak, tak senang. Kalau tak percaya, cuba lah beranak sorang. Bukan sebab penat nak layan kerenah dia je, nak menyediakan diri dia untuk masa depan pun dari sekarang dah kena plan. Cabaran tersangat hebat untuk diri mak bapak sendiri dan anak-anak juga. Apa-apapun, baliklah pada fitrah dan janji masa mula-mula kawin dulu. Kalau suami kata "Saya nak bawak awak dan anak-anak sampai ke syurga", ikutlah cara yang nak bawak pegi syurga, taulah Allah nak tunjukkan jalannya.  InsyaAllah. 

Coming of Age

Look at them poached eggs. Ini Masterchef Ezani yang buat.

Excited tak nak tengok Masterchef Final? Tak sabar kan. I didn't follow the show from the beginning sebab taktau pun bila masa startnya, everytime tengok mesti dah halfway and most of the time tengok repeat show. Talented, passionate, creative & skillful diorang ni. Jeles sebab terer sangat-sangat rasanya. Boleh cipta dish pastu masak dengan pantas, presentation macam hotel 5 star. Walaupun tak perfect sebab ada je komen-komen juri, tapi konfirm tererlah dari aku ni.

Tak boleh nak pilih between the two finalist, sebab dua-dua pun hebat!

On today's show terharu dengar Chef Zamir cakap "Saya tidak akan kembali kepada bidang kejuruteraan, tetapi akan meneruskan perjuangan dalam bidang kulinari".

Teringat movie Ratatouile, where Chef Gusteau's motto says "Anyone can cook". Betul ke? I really love the quote from the movie where the food critique Anton Ego gave an astounding comment, but the best part is this :

" Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere" 



Cooking is another form of art. I am so not anyone yang can cook from scratch, campak-campak and jadi dish yang menyelerakan. Opening a restaurant without culinary skill nampak macam tak kena kan? That's why saya heret roomate saya, who has better sense of flavour, who is more creative and have better imagination when it comes to masak-memasak. I am the un-advanterous one. If it wasn't because of him, I would never have discovered  tempoyak, kalau bukan kerana Zana & Yder, saya tak pernah jejak Sushi King and my ex-boss En Ishak yang convince untuk cuba makan escargot. Ini escargot yang we all makan at Jake's.

Tapi ni bukan kena mengena dengan adventure atau pun tak. Haih I don't know what this is all about. You figure it out. 

Some Like It Hot

Sebenarnya saya tergoogle quotes from the book setelah saya men-stalk facebook Labu. Labu ialah kawan kepada Topek & Laila. Laila ialah rakan lunch saya masa di Menara Berkembar. Sorry Labu. Sape suruh tak privatekan wall. Mungkin takde apa yang Labu nak hide hence sape2 boleh tengok wall dia. 

Belum lagi baca buku dia, tapi dah tengok review. Heavylah sangat wording dia. Orang-orang macam Labu boleh kot.

The author won Nobel Prize in 1982 for writing this piece of art. Tajam menikam like a G6 gitu.

"To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell."
Gabriel Garcia Marquez.


Cuba untuk tidak untuk menulis tentang isu-isu panas. Cuaca dahlah panas.

Makin panas dengan debaran menanti 9 Januari.

Panas telinga dengar khutbah Jumaat kat radio tajuk "Cinta Negara" 

Ustaz yang paling panas sekarang. Tak sangka kan. Tahun 2010 & early 2011 tengok kat youtube je kuliah ustaz. Mostly kuliah ustaz kat Terengganu je, tapi makin hawt ustaz sekarang dah jauh dah jalan. 

Places where we comfy at

Berapa hari tak menulis ni. Bercakap banyak, maknanya dah exercise mulut. Tapi bila tak menulis, macam tak exercise mental. Jay-Z said writing keeps him sane. Kalau tak tulis rasa macam makan takde sambal. Apa punya metafora. Kenapa Jay-Z? Oh sebab hari tu belek-belek buku Decoded. Ok jugak. Walaupun content lebih kepada perjalanan hidup seorang hustler, rapper & hiphop Mogul, his words are so powerful. Full of love, hate, success and everything that matters in life. May not be applicable to our daily life as a Muslim, but good enough if you need to build up your motivation. 

One of my favorite 

"I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of not trying" - Jay-Z. 

Saya sakit tekak. Dengan automatik nak buat kesimpulan bahawa saya juga adalah terlalu banyak bercakap sejak akhir-akhir ni. Ada saja benda yang saya cakap, komen, bagitahu, bertanya termasuklah cakap sebab marah (haih). Penat jugak jadi Miss-I-Have-Opinion-About-Everything ni kan. Opinion sangat. Boleh tak nak jadi Miss-You-Say-It-Best-When-You-Say-Nothing-At-All? Tu belum termasuk layan Ammar punya soalan yang bertubi-tubi. Dulu masa dia tak bercakap, dok bising kenapa mulut dia macam ada emas, tak berbunyi-bunyi, sekarang, rasa macam nak tekan "Pause". 

Oh hari tu Ammar tanya "Mummy, Najib tu apa?". Takde ke soalan lain. 

Bukan apa. Lately macam banyak sangat benda yang tak best kat tv, kat paper, kat facebook. Menjadi penyebab mulut mengata. Tak bukak kang, ketinggalan berita. Jadi terpaksalah tahan hati, tahan mata & tahan mulut. Kalau tak, free-free je dapat dosa. Setiap hari berazam kurangkan dosa, tambahkan pahala. Dr Muhaya kata, pahala tu currency yang kita pakai kat akhirat nanti, so kalau kurang, kira macam orang miskin la. Melukut ditepi gantang la jawabnya. Akhirat nanti, confirm memang sama-sama manusia pun tak sempat nak pandang memandang, tapi taknaklah kalau Allah taknak pandang kita. 

Tapi apalah sangat sakit tekak ni. Imagine orang yang berkorban masa & tenaga untuk bercakap dan menyampaikan ilmu pada orang lain. Imagine orang yang berjauhan dengan family,bukan hanya bersebab sumber pendapatan, tapi sayangnya dan sukanya dengan apa yang mereka kerjakan. Salute. Salute dengan ibu-ibu yang bersendirian membesarkan anak. Dan juga bapa-bapa yang sanggup tak cari pengganti kepada isteri yang dah takde disisi. 

Recently, saya volunteer nak carikan calon untuk kawan saya yang seorang ni, manalah tahu kot-kot ada dara sunti kat luar sana yang rela nak jadi mak instant. Ciri-ciri dah ok dah, lagipun ustaz kata orang baik ni yang penting sekali jaga solat, kalau solat ok, InsyaAllah yang lain ikut ok. So saya nak tolong cari perempuan yang baik untuk kawan saya ni. Moga dipermudahkan dalam usaha menemukan jodoh. 

Hari ni 5th January. 

Happy birthday Vic Fuad. You're engaged! 

Happy birthday Mas Zuhaida. Yang ke berapa tak penting, you're in Paris! 

Carpe Diem

There are times that you had to let go, unwillingly. Sesuatu yang dipinjamkan, hakikatnya adalah sementara. I can't write a poem, my words are too cliche. I found something better from Hilal Asyraf. 

Sebab Dia Adalah Sahabat.

Dia adalah yang Allah beri kepadaku,

walau yang mencarinya adalah aku,

maka dia adalah hadiah,

mustahil sekadar dilempar begitu.

Biarlah dia berbicara hanya sedikit,

Biarlah dia berjauhan,

Biarlah kadangkala ada salah sangkaan,

Biarlah ada waktu dia melukakan,

Sebab dia adalah sahabat,

maka aku tidak pernah menghiraukan.

Mengira bahagia-bahagia yang wujud bila dia ada di sisi,

itu sahaja sudah melebihi dunia dan segala isi.

Kalau dia tiba-tiba menyimpang,

aku adalah yang akan menghulurkan tangan dan tidak berjauhan,

Kalau aku adalah yang tersungkur,

aku akan segera bangkit agar dia tidak kususahkan.

Sebab dia adalah sahabat,

dan aku tahu sahabatku adalah manusia,

maka aku hormati kekurangan yang ada,

dan aku besar-besarkan kelebihannya,

Hanya iman yang mampu melestari hubungan ini,

mengekstensi hingga ke syurga nanti.

Sebab dia adalah sahabat,

mustahil aku mahu berada di syurga tanpa dia di sisi.

Hilal Asyraf of Langit Ilahi.

121011 Irbid,Jordan.

Hugh McLeod.