a bee's thoughts

Pasta-lover and Sweet-toothed?

2015-05-15T12:44:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday we went to my parents place. Shah had some work to settle so Maisarah, Irfan and I went out with my mom and brother for lunch cum Mother's Day treat at Serai restaurant.

We mainly chose this restaurant because Maisarah wanted to eat their macarons and both of us wanted to have their delicious pavlova. Both of us have a sweet tooth and we are suckers for desserts. Shah is not fond of sweet things.

Before we had the sinful desserts, I had a scrumptious seafood marinara while Maisarah had chicken mushroom carnonara. As you can tell, us girls are also lovers of pasta while Shah isn't.

As for Irfan, we'll have to wait and see if he will join us, the pasta-loving-sweet-toothed girls, or his dad.

Throwback Thursday: My Two Babies

2015-05-07T22:07:00.001+08:00

Shah and I are blessed that we now have two healthy children; a girl and a boy. Our family is complete, alhamdulillah. Although they are eight years apart, I pray that they will be best of buddies and that they take care of each other at all times. May they both grow up to be pious muslims that will make both Shah and I proud parents in dunya and akhirah, insha Allah.

P/S: photo above are of Maisarah and Irfan a few hours after they were respectively brought into this world. Which one is Maisarah and which one is Irfan? That I leave it for you to guess.

Long Labour Day plus Wesak Weekend

2015-05-04T23:17:00.001+08:00

The Plan

Plans for this long Labour Day plus Wesak Day weekend (1st to 4th May) was initiated by yours truly when I was still in confinement. At that time I remembered about the 4-day holiday, I was jumping up and down inside (well, I couldn't do it literally as I was in confinement) and told Shah that we must have a stay-cation at a hotel in KL or PJ.

A few weeks after the end of my confinement, I got to know that the Homedec exhibition was scheduled for the same long weekend. Well, enough said, that sealed the deal for the location of our stay-cation. We had to stay at a hotel as close as possible to the KL Convention Centre (KLCC).

So, my brilliant plan was for us to have our first vacation as a family of four whilst also securing great deals to furnish our new house at the Homedec fair. As we say in Malay 'sambil menyelam, minum air' or the English version 'killing two birds with one stone'.

The Preparation

I pitched the plan to Shah a few days before I started work, post-confinement. Alhamdulillah, Shah was sold on the plan (Phew!! First hurdle accomplished).

I managed to get a good bargain for a 3 day-2 nights stay at Impiana KLCC hotel. Surprisingly, the hotel website gave a better deal than Agoda.com. (Second hurdle accomplished and a new lesson learnt - check hotel website as well as agoda/trivago to compare rates). We were all set for the stay-cation!

The Execution

Alhamdulillah, my darling Shah was generous enough to upgrade our room during check-in at the hotel. We got a very nice room on the top most floor with view of the KL Twin Towers. And, to top it off we had Club Lounge privilages - free afternoon tea and evening coktail. Woohoo!!

So, we had evening cocktail on both nights and had big breakfast on both mornings. We spent most of the time enjoying the room except for the time we had the succulent Saturday lunch at the Indian restaurant in Suria KLCC, the successful Sunday morning at Homedec, the delicious Sunday dinner at the hotel restaurant as well as the few hours spent enjoying the swim at the pool.

The Outcome

Our first vacation as a family of four was a total success. Yeay! All of us had fun. Irfan also had fun, I guess, as he wasn't fussy at all throughout the time. He slept most of the time while we were at Homedec which meant that we also succeeded to accomplish what we planned to secure for the house at great bargains. Double yeay!

The Summary

Two 'birds' sucessfully 'killed' with one 'stone'.

Three Years, One Month and Twenty Five Days On

2015-05-01T13:54:00.001+08:00

.... since I last posted an entry here.

A LOT (and I do mean 'a lot') has happened. I will try to give snapshots of things that has happened to my small family and I as we go along but I won't be able to write all of them now in one entry. I need to get my writing engines warmed up first. Plus that will give me ideas for my next few posts.

So why did I stop blogging in 2012?

Well, truth be told, life started becoming hectic and trying. I had not much time to write. At that time, I was just entrusted with management responsibilites at work and I was trying to find a balance between careerwoman, mommy and wife duties. Finding time to sit and blog was pushed way down to the bottom of the long 'To Do' list and finally the blog was abandoned.Even so, throughtout the time I was not blogging, there were instances when I yearned to pen down my thoughts and what was happening to us.

So, why start blogging again now?

Well, our little family has been blessed with a new addition. Since I documented Maisarah's (my first born princess) first few years here, it seemed fair that I also wrote on my little prince. Also, I just had the time to browse the App Store and found this Blogger App. Meaning I can now blog from my phone, any time, any where. I can even blog when I am breastfeeding my baby which is super awesome.

Finally, let me introduce our latest addition to the Anisa-Shah family which is baby Shah Irfan. Born 21st February 2015 at Tropicana Medical Centre. Irfan is now 10-weeks old and growing up healthily like a champ.

Irfan's birth had a story to it so stay tuned for that. Till then, adios!

WW 2012: my love

2012-03-07T19:53:00.000+08:00

The Weekend that Just Passed

2012-02-20T10:52:00.001+08:00

Ok, I'm now at the Ford service Centre alone. This is my first time here alone. Normally my Darling Hubby takes care of all things related to the car or we come together. But today, he can't take leave. So here I am waiting for the car. According to them The car will be ready in 3 hours. I've only be waiting for 30 minutes of the 3 hours and I'm already feeling sleepy. So,to kill time, let's blog about what we did last weekend. On Saturday morning, Shah went to play badminton with his friends from Uni*ten. Maisarah and I stayed home. The little Princess watched Disney Junior while I got down to doing some exercise. I managed to do 40 minutes of circuit training consisting of star jumps, lunges, crunches, push ups, oblique crunches and burpees. The first round I did 30 repetitions each and the second round I did 20 repetitions each. By the end of the 40 minutes I was drenched in sweat. On workdays I normally spend 20-25 minutes doing 2 rounds of star jumps, squats, crunches, pushups, shoulder bridge and burpees with 20 reps in each round. However, I don't exercise every day. just alternate days. Ok, so back to our weekend. Shah got back at 10.30 am and after he showered we went to Our usual weekend hang out, Alamanda. I had one main mission in mind, to get me a special 'apple'. You see, I was away the previous weekend on a management retreat to Lenggeng which was 40 minutes from Uni*ten and like 10 minutes from Semenyih. But,the phone reception there was like I was far away in a remote jungle. There were Maxis coverage intermittently but my current phone showed no coverage at all. And to make things worse, somehow when I woke up in Lenggeng the phone decided to reset itself and I lost all contacts, photos and most importantly the video from Maisarah's first school concert. I can't remember if I have copied the video onto my laptop. But in any case the original is lost forever. Anyway, cutting the story short, I have gotten a phone to complement my iPad. With iCloud, hopefully I will not be losing any more precious photos or videos. Alright, back to the Saturday story, we spent the rest time in Alamanda buying goggles and swim cap for Maiarah's first swim class as well as grocery shopping. That night I cooked Ikan tiga rasa for the first time. I must say it is not at all difficult and Shah was happy with the meal I cooked.

Sunday started early. We were out by 8 am because I wanted to hit the gym earlier than my weekly schedule of 9 am. I worked out for 75 minutes and then hit the showers. I was ready by 10 am for some breakfast before we headed to the swimming pool at Precinct 16, Putrajaya. Maisarah was going to attend her first swim class at 11 am. She was all excited at first, learning to flap her feet, blow bubbles in the water and semi-float (with the instructor holding her slightly) in the pool. But halfway through the class she was cold and made excuses to stop. First, she wanted to pee but when we got to the bathroom she didn't go. Then, she was hungry. She excuses included about her goggles being too tight and the she didn't like wearing the swim cap. Anyway, she stayed till the end of the one hour after Shah and I reasoned with her. We also sort of bribed her to go to Alamanda (again) for lunch.

After lunch, she was in a more jovial mood and by night time she was teaching her teddies (whom she refers to as her kids) the lessons she learnt from the swim class. She was also excited to go to the class next week. I hope she will like the classes and learn fast to be a good swimmer, unlike her mommy. I've just got to remember to feed her well before the class and get her a swim suit that is like the diver suit so that she won't get cold easily. So, that was our last weekend in a post. Oh gosh, I still have another two hours to kill here at Ford. What should I do next? Hmmm.... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Resuming My 'Get Fit' Mission

2012-02-02T14:05:00.002+08:00

In January 2011, I had turned a new leaf and started exercising by joining a Pilates class in PJ. I got addicted to Pilates and looked forward to go to the class every saturday. After moving to Kajang, I tried my best to continue with the classes in PJ. Alas, in September 2011, I called it quits because the weekly travel to PJ was impractical for Shah, Maisarah and I. Hence, I wasn't exercising towards the end of last year. This caused my weight to rise from 57 to 60 kgs. Somehow in December, I got to know from a colleague that a Celebrity Fitness gym was opening in January 2012 at The Mines which is 5 minutes drive from the house. So, enough said, I enrolled for a year at the gym. I've been going to the gym every Sunday for 2 hours since the first week of this year. The first hour is spent using the treadmill or cycling machine. Then I follow the Cardio Dance class in the studio. There are other classes such as yoga, zumba and pilates but the timing doesn't quite suit me.

*source Celebrity Fitness Malaysia

The gym enrollment entitled me to get 3 sessions with the gym's Personal Trainer. In the first session with the trainer, we did some tests to gauge my stamina, body fat and muscle composition. I had to burn 100 calories on the cycling machine within 15-20 minutes of cycling at 80rpm or higher. I managed to finish the test within the 20 minutes which meant my stamina is quite good but still can be improved. I got to know too that my body fat percentage is more than the advised 25% of my weight. Not a surprise there. So I must burn those fat. And I am lacking muscle in all parts of my body, in particular my legs. Again, not a surprise there. So, the trainer said that if I took 2 months of the Personal Training session wi her I would be able to reach my target weight of 55 kgs. But, a huge but here, I need to fork out another RM 3600 more for 24 session with the Personal Trainer.

Having heard that, I decided that I will not sign on for the Personal Trainer session. Instead, I will now train myself every week by doing at least three session of Pilates at home or circuit training workouts which I have been reading about from the net. Also, I have found out from Ira's blog about an app to he lose weight my calculating the calories taken in from food and burnt from exercising. So since the 20th I have been religiously using this app and exercising at home. Alhamdulillah, today, after almost 2 weeks of this I have shed almost 1 kg and need to shed another 4 more to get to 55 kgs.

*recorded using myfitnesspal

So, wish me luck in my 'Get Fit' mission!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

WW 2012 - Being 'Fishy' at KLCC

2012-01-25T19:50:00.001+08:00

We took the opportunity of the long weekend to bring Maisarah to Aquaria.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

WW 2012 - Gold Coast

2012-01-18T18:43:00.001+08:00

No, not Australia, just Sepang. We went to Bagan Lalang for a day trip last Saturday. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad P.S. iPad is good as new after a visit to Digital Mall.

WW 2012 - KPI n iPad

2012-01-11T16:06:00.000+08:00

Today has been occupied by marking and KPI. On a side note, my iPad is ill.
Lesson learnt: never restart a jailbroken iPad!

Us in Dec 2011

2011-12-31T23:58:00.001+08:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Last Day in Year 2011

2011-12-31T23:55:00.000+08:00

I'm trying to type the final entry for this year before 12 midnigt strikes. But it's not going to be an easy feat because I can only type with one hand whilst lying in bed and keeping the ipad stable. The othe arm is used by Maisarah as a pillow.she cant sleep without lying on my arm and yes, she still sleeps with us. Don't ask me when she will sleep in her own bed. Oh wait! Since it's going to be a new year in about 15 minutes or so, my new year's resolution could be to train Maisarah to sleep on her own. well, we'll see. I havent been making any new year's resolution for a few years now. so, I'm not sure if I'll make any this time.

But I would like to reflect on the things that have happened in 2011 though. I think the major change in 2011 has to be us miving into our own home. Followed by Maisarah entering kindy. and finally, changes in my career which now requires me to manage a department of staff and students. Shah has also had a change in career so it sure has been an eventful year for us three.

I pray that these changes will bring us more opportunities to become wiser and closer to each other and lots of happy times in 2012, insyaAllah. so, to all , Happy New Year! may thins coming year bring lots of joy and happiness to you and me.

Wordless Wednesday: Uni*en Senators

2011-10-05T13:39:00.000+08:00

As members of the University Senate, our pictures gets to be in the convocation book. The drawback is we have to attend the ceremony on both days. This will most probably be Shah's last official duty.

Wordless Wednesday: Need to Spend More Time in Here

2011-09-28T17:51:00.000+08:00

Haven't been cooking much lately. My bad!

Textless Thursday: At Kuala Perlis

2011-09-22T20:33:00.000+08:00

During Our Malaysia Day Long Weekend

Wordless Wednesday: Us 8 Years Ago

2011-09-14T22:49:00.000+08:00

On our first anniversary cum honeymoon to York, UK.

What We did Last Raya?

2011-09-12T08:53:00.000+08:00

This year, we spent the first day of raya in PJ. Normally we would be heading to Perlis on the second day but not this year. We need to settle students grades by 9th September. So we plan to go back to Perlis after that. Now what did we do for Raya?

The first day we went for solat raya at Uni*en mosque. Then we headed to my parents place and stayed there till 6 pm. We ate laksa johor, rendang, lemang and nasi impit cooked by my mom. We took pictures of the three of us and also seperate pictures with my sister and her hubby, my mom and my dad but no pictures of us all as a family. Some relatives came to visit and also my dad's friends.

The second day we went visiting to IKEA. I was confident that there would ne not many people but boy was I wrong. There were tonnes of people and we had a helluva time getting a table to eat at the Cafe. Not to mention the long queue. But we divided and conquered. I waited for a table with my aunty and uncle while my sis and her hubby went to buy the food. We waited for almost an hour for a family to finish their food. We thought they were never going to leave because they kept on refilling thier coffee and soft drinks. The purpose of going to IKEA - to met with my mom and aunty's family friends from Jakarta. Plus we had nothing else to do at home.

We met the same family friends again on the third day of Raya when they came over to my mom's house for lunch. This time it was a proper gathering where my mom's siblings also came. You see, my mom's family used to live in Kota Kinabalu (when she was 18 yrs old) and they were all close friends with another family from Jakarta. After more than 40 years, they decided to gather on that day. All my mom's siblings (bar my pilot uncle who flew to Sydney on his last flight before he retired with M*AS) and all sibling's from the Jakarta family (minus one sister who could not come). Lots of pictures were taken but it's all in my mom's camera except for the one below.

On the fourth day we rested at home. We didn't receive any visitors except for Shah's brother and family. We might invite some friends over but we're not sure when as we will be going back to Perlis for the Malaysia Day long weekend break. So, this post sums up our raya which I not as happening as every one else.

Wordless Wednesday: Self Reward with Hubby's Consent

2011-09-07T09:55:00.000+08:00

Bought on Saturday 3rd Sept at KLCC.

Spinning Around

2011-09-05T20:14:00.000+08:00

Some of you might not know that Shah has been diagnosed with vertigo since 1998. When it comes, he feels that the room is spinning wildly before is stops sometimes within a few minutes, sometimes more. If he moves his head, the spinning starts again.

Last Sunday I experienced vertigo for the first time. When I was awaken at 5am, i felt the spinning sensation but I didn't think of ittoo much and thought it woukd go away if i slept a bit more. But, when I woke up for Subuh at 6.30 am the spinning was still there. It didn't seem to go away. It was difficult to pray because I felt like falling especially when I got up from sujud. I went downstairs to tell Shah and I cried because I was afraid that it would not go away. Also because I finally understood what Shah has been feeling for the past 13 years. Shah messaged my calves with some hot ointment and told me to sleep it off.

Alhamdulillah, after sleeping for one and a half hours, the vertigo went away. Shah said it may have been caused by wind because I didn't eat rice for dinner the noght before, just a kebab. And I also slpet late the previous night because I watched Sex and The City 2. I pray that I will not get vertigo again because it is scary to have everything spinning around you and the falling sensation. I now have a little understanding of what Shah feels. Shah has learned to live with the vertigo so that he can become a good husband to me and a great father to Maisarah. If it were me I know I would just give up on life. Thank you Abang! We love you and appreciate all that you do for us.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wordless Wednesday: Raya 2011

2011-08-31T21:30:00.000+08:00

How was your raya? Hope it was fun!

Ramadhan 2011

2011-08-27T14:08:00.000+08:00

In a few days we will bid farewell to Ramadhan. I have to admit my Ramadhan this year has not made me improve myself spiritually. I did very little tarawih prayers and only recited a few pages of the quran. I have no one to blame except myself. Ashamed as I am what has done is done. I can only pray that I am given the chance to see another Ramadhan and do more things to better my relationship with Allah.

InsyaAllah next week we will be celebrating Aidilfitri in PJ. Ususally we wpuld be on our way to Perlis on the 2nd day of eid but not this year. Shah and I need to settle the final exam grading before 9th of September. If we can settle them earlier then we might take a few days to go back to Perlis. Eid in PJ is certainly not the same as back in Perlis.

As for our eid preparations, it can considered moderate. I didn't bake any cookies this year because my baking partner, which is my sister, is overseas. We have also not bought any new clothes for Maisarah except for a matching baju kurung which was tailormade for her and I. So, tomorrow we will go shopping for Maisarah's clothes. Hopefully there will be not as many people as the previous weekends.

Before I pen off, I just want to wish all out there a Happy Eid and may we continue to finish of the remainder of Ramadhan with prayers and be blessed to meet this holy month again next year.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wordless Wednesday: Caught in the Act

2011-08-24T18:01:00.000+08:00

Someone tried my new shoes and walked all around the house.

At Home Today

2011-08-18T11:10:00.000+08:00

Maisarah had high fever yesterday. We brought her to the out-patient clinic at An-nur hospital and she was immediately given medicine through her bum to reduce thetemperature. I think Maisarah is abit traumatised about it because she kept repeating that she doesn't want to go to that clinic again. This morning at 4am, i had to give her the medicine through her bum again and she was scared. I asked her to relax and alhamdulillah she was ok with me giving the medicine.

So, here we are at home today. Since she started school in June this is the second time she got high fever and had to miss school. One day each month. I guess that is normal thatchildren fall sick frequently once they mix with other children at school.

Even so, I find that Maisarah has learnt quite a lot fron school. She now knows how to perform wudhu. She has learnt a song with all the steps qfor wudhu which she will sing every time before we pray. She also now knows how to perform solat and knows the doa for rukuk and sujud. She can recite half of doa iftitah. She has mastered surah Al Fatihah, An-Naas and Al-Ikhlas. I think most Islamic kindies now have started teaching children solat and the simple surahs from young because that is the best age for memorising.

Alhamdulillah that we have these kindies because I dont think Maisarah would have learnt all these if Shah or I had to teach her at home.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wordless Wednesday: Hard at Work

2011-08-10T16:10:00.000+08:00

Maisarah doing her homework from school. She will always do more than the required pages.

Second Month of School

2011-07-30T11:54:00.000+08:00

Alhamdulillah, after about one and a half months since starting school, Maisarah has stopped crying when we send her in the morning. It started on 19 July, a day after she missed school for the first time due to fever. She still has some problems waking up in the morning but once she is up, she can't wait to get to school. She also has lots of stories from school and likes to do the homework which she occasionally brings home. Last Saturday I went to her school for their Progress Report Day. Her teachers said she is a fast learner and is also making friends at school. The teachers also said that she can remember all their names. Alhamdulillah, we are very happy to hear that Maisarag is progressing well at school and we hope she will continue to love school and learning for the rest of her life.

At the gome front, we are also entering two months living at our own place. We are now very comfortable there. Last month we were busy adding more furniture to the house. We went to Ikea and bought a cabinet to be placed near the dining table to store my future chinaware, bookshelves for the family area upstairs, a kitchen trolley for me and shelves for Maisarah's toys. We wanted to get a wardrobe for Maisarah but they were out of stock. We then wanted to get her a wardrobe we saw at a furniture shop, but the little princess was picky and didn't want it. I guess we are done with the major decorating of the house, well except for Maisarah's wardrobe. I just need to add some soft furnishing like flower vases, candles and candle stands and wall decorations. For the exterior of the house,we changed the gate and fencing by installing an auto gate system with matching fencing. What is left is to plant some grass in the small patch and get some pots with plants.

Well, I guess that is all the updates for now. I will try and take some pictures of the house to upload here for our memories.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad