Raya Get-together at Micasa

It’s the time of the year again (no it's not what you think!), I hosted the 2nd annual IU9 girls Raya get-together recently at my humble abode. A week prior to the event I was down with very bad flu that kept me sleepless for days (in fact I’m still down with flu and severe cough as we speak). I was worried that I might not have the energy to cook and to entertain friends on the actual day. But, entertaining being my forte (I loike this statement!), I brave myself and got everything ready in time for the gathering, syukur Alhamdulillah.

Based on the learning outcomes from last year’s event, I set up 2 food stations – one for the ladies and 1 for the gentlemen, and arrange more chairs at the living room. I also prepared some finger food for the kids. It was so much easier this way but pity the hubbies coz they had to eat on the sofa whereas us ladies had the dining tables all for ourselves...hehehe. The bigger kids on the other hand had a party of their own upstairs – and there were 28 of them!

Thanks to friends who brought food for the day we had so much to eat and plenty of leftover too. It's always hard to eat as much when you keep chatting non-stop kan. But fret not there was an AJK to tapau the food, thank God! Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do with the leftovers.

In addition to my nasi daging, Shikin brought laksa Penang, Wengky - fried angel hair pasta, Saf - bread pudding, Lin - Kuzi Ayam, Eika - kek lapis & super delicious choc cake, Shahar - swiss roll cake, Am - 3 types of homemade talam, Ezy (who came after everyone left) - ice cream and jelly, Wan - dates and drinks from Bahrain & Jaimy (I terforgot la). Thanks all!

Coming back to entertaining being my forte (teeheehee!), I actually love having friends and family at my house. I like the sense of the house being ‘alive’ with lotsa people in it making a lot of noise. But, to get lots of people like that is not easy. This event was almost cancelled at the last minute coz quite a number of couples couldn’t make it. But, thanks to those who could make it, it was a blast indeed! Till next year people...muahhhs.

The girls who came. It was great having all of you frens!




Upacara tapau-menapau



The husbands who are also from the same batch. I loike this...pandai cari jodoh kannn!


Some of the 28 kids who came with their parents. Some were having a party of their own upstairs. These are true IU9 kids coz both parents are IU9-ners :-)

Nana is 6!

Mini me (she looks exactly like me!) celebrated her 6th birthday recently on 22nd Sept. Yup, in case you are wondering, both my girls were born in September. Wait! My boys were also born in the same month – December. Talk about planning ek? Bagus punya! I haven’t organized any ‘real’ birthday party for my girl ever since her first because her birthday has always fell either in puasa month or Raya week. This year, fortunately it falls in the second week of Raya. Hence, I could organize a small do at her school.

On the actual day of her birthday, we took her out for dinner and she chose Chilli’s (again!). Off we went to Empire Subang with the whole clan and after dinner we took her to Toy’r’Us. This year I decided to let her choose her own present. I told her she can pick ANYTHING she wants from the store, no restriction whatsoever (sounds like heaven for kids isn’t it?). Guess what, she picked a Playdoh set that only cost a fraction of the present that I would normally get her. This little girl sure knows how to save her parents money, bravo Ariana! I was actually trying to coax her to pick another item that I felt was more suitable as her birthday present but she was adamant on getting the Playdoh set. Well, I normally don’t allow Playdoh at home, hence it was a ‘present’ for her indeed.

Two days later, I organized a party at her kindergarten with her classmates. I ordered a mermaid cake (she likes Princess Ariel so much) especially for the celebration, fried some chicken nuggets and made mini 3-cheese pizzas. The cake was simply beautiful and she loves it. I’m delighted that she felt special that day. I have to admit that ever since Sophie came into the picture, she didn't get all the attentions she used to get when she was the only girl in the family. And it wasn’t easy having an adorable girl for a baby sister. All attentions seem to diverge to the younger one.

But one thing I adore about Nana is even though Sophie has taken away almost all the stars from her, she never hates her little sister. She loves her so so much and very protective of her baby sister, such a darling sister she is. Momma loves you darling...muahhhh!

Here is my not-so-little-anymore princess during her birthday celebration at school...




This little girl was also there to celebrate her kakak's birthday :-)

Sophie is 2!

My sweeety pie celebrated her 2nd birthday on 17/9. Sophia Amani was born via emergency c-section on Nuzul Quran 2008. I chose the name Sophia in honour of my late maternal grandmother who was my second mother. I miss my Tok sooo much *sob sob*

We were all looking forward to celebrate her birthday with makan-makan days before her birthday. I’ve been craving for Red Velvet Cake from Just Heavenly for a while hence I suggested Chilli’s BSC (so that I could get the yummylicious cake there, smart eh?). My kids love Chilli’s hence they get pretty excited and superbly happy (they actually shouted 'yeay' in the car) the minute I suggested the place...phewww! Should I pick the wrong place everyone would put on their long masam face I tell ya. My kids, especially the boys, are really particular when it comes to food. They would rather go hungry than dine at a place they don’t like. Trust me, I’m not exaggerating.

But, even an experience parent like moi (perasan teheheee!) makes mistake. I didn’t feed the birthday baby before we left the house. Hence, she threw tantrum all the way there until the food arrived on our table (yup she was that hungry and I was a mean mom). My first attempt at cutting the cake at the venue failed. She refused to cooperate and almost hit the cake with her bare hand. Nevermind I said, we’ll do another round of cake cutting at home. Owh, I made another major mistake - I requested for only 1 candle when in fact my girl was turning 2! In my defense (as usual I have to defense myself ler), I was coaxing a baby who kept screaming “nak mamam” when I was ordering the cake, so I couldn’t think straight *grin*. Good enough excuse? Yes, I think so...hehehe.

Once we reached home, dear hubby improvised by halving the candle (thank God for the smart hubby) and we sang her happy birthday enthusiastically (yes, really!). She was so so happy and kept clapping until we finish the song. The look on her face was, like MasterCard says it, priceless!

Here are some snapshots of my baby, my heartbeat, on her birthday. Momma loves you so much darling!

I wish she could stay this cute forever and ever...



All grown up! She's the only child that I 'raised' myself. The rest was practically 'raised' by the maids :-(

Catching up after Raya

It’s raining heavily outside, tones of works are waiting for me, clients are calling asking about the status of the jobs and I’m down with flu and fever for the second time after Raya (I can’t think when I’m sick, hence no work done yet since Raya). But I’m not complaining, instead I’m thankful, alhamdulillah. Moga terhapus dosa2 kecilku, aminnn.

I have a lot of things in mind but too little time to write, hence this entry will be short and sweet. I need to warm up my brain too before I start work again hehehe...

The recent TV3 Raya ad has caught my attention big time. I have a lot to say about that but I guess what I wanted to say has been said by others online. I feel that those responsible for approving such lousy ad should take full responsibility for their action. 1Malaysia is not about religion you dum***s, you should never ever mix religions together. I have been involved with TV commercial productions before and I know for a fact that it takes a big team to work on the project from the story board to final editing. What puzzled me was, weren't there anyone who was quick to say something about the improper and offensive concept that clearly won’t work? Don’t tell me that everyone in TV3 is blinded with the 1Malaysia concept so much that they can’t see that religion is a very serious and sensitive issue? Come on lar people!

Sadly, Islamophobia is on the rise around the world too. And the western media is doing their best to portray a very negative image of Islam. I feel so sad when fellow Muslims take what the western media is saying as the truth. I think we all are smart enough not to believe everything the media is saying (particularly when those behind them are out to tarnish Islam). The stoning of Soraya M for example, the Western media had a field day with this sensational story. I’m not saying that I agree with the stoning punishment, all I’m saying is the story has been sensationalized and manipulated to their benefit and to our detriment.

The murder of the local cosmetic millionaire also garnered our attention, so much so that the media is covering the news every single day. Even the story about her daughter going to the office for the first time since her death was aired on TV3 Prime News (do we really care?). It was like a plot in Hindi movie to say the least. If there is one thing I should learn from this saga is – money does not guarantee a good ending to your life. Your ibadah is the only guarantee, wallahuwa’lam. Also don’t ever befriend lawyers from a certain race...hahaha. Oops, am I being racist here?

Speaking of racism, I wonder why it is ok for people from other races to utter racist remarks, but it’s not acceptable when we the Malays did it? It’s so unfair isn’t it? But then again, the world is unfair and unkind. Live with it people. Suck it up!

Interestingly, so many ulamak are making their say about FB these days. There was even one circulated in FB that shows an Imam giving advice about FB in his Friday sermon, I loike! He said in a gist “FB adalah agenda Yahudi untuk menghalalkan maksiat.” I can’t agree more, it’s so so true. We all have seen it and done it, but try to deny it either consciously or otherwise. Nau’zubillah. There was one about dosa 24 jam on FB. I have since deleted all my pictures that show aurat (accept for one that I recently posted). Hubby has requested that I deleted that too *grin*. And I tell you that it wasn’t easy for me to click the delete button.

I say it takes a lot of courage and conviction to do good things ke jalan Allah but it’s so so easy to perform maksiat. May Allah show us the righteous way, insyaAllah.

That should be it for now. I’d like to wish everyone SELAMAT HARI RAYA, MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN, TERKASAR BAHASA, TERSILAP KATA, HALALKAN MAKAN, MINUM & HUTANG JIKA ADA.