Sawan Masak

I have always loved to cook. A few years back in 2006, a long long time ago now it feels, I lobbied my husband to get me my first oven - a Zanussi ZOE535 Electric Oven/ Grill. Then on, I tried experimenting with recipes especially from the trusted Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson cook books. My family and close friends can vouch for our tried and tested Roast Chicken and how successful that dish is. I have even imparted my knowledge to the rest of the family. Khadra can cook it and just last week, Azrul cooked three birds for my birthday dinner celebrations with the nucleus family. 

Just recently, I had a reason to expand my culinary repertoire. It came in the form of a Kitchen Aid freestanding mixer. I is love. It was on an irresistible promotion, buy the KA mixer at retail price and get the KA heavy duty 4-slice toaster for free. How can one resist?

With that came more experiment. With the help of more Mr. Google, cook books (Nigella lawson's Domestic Goddess is an example) and a lot of tags and recipe hunting on instagram I am proud to share with you some of my success stories. Featured here are the Victoria Sponge cake, Mixed berry pavlova (you better believe it, girlfriend!), Blueberry yogurt cake and Banana pecan muffin (and loaf). Yummers...

 

Instant gratification. Baking is not as hard as it seems, really. I have a lot to share in this respect too. All fueled up by the instant feedback that I get from posting it on Instagram and also looking at my timeline. hihihihihi. Hoping that this won't end up to be one of my HHTA (Hangat-Hangat-Tahi-Ayam) projects though. 

-dillz blogging out-  

Testing saja

Hubs decided that he's getting an iPhone 4s for himself. He got one for me as my advanced birthday present. Sapalah saya untuk menolak rezeki. ;)

Sedang sesi menerai. Having a blast with Siri. Lawak siuts.

iHappy.

-dillz blogging out-

Rumahku Syurgaku - Part 2

Rumahku Syurgaku series | Part 1 | Part 2 |

One of the things that have kept me busy the past couple of weeks have been the furnishing of our home. If you can recall earlier, we bought the condo unit next door to ours and the major infrastructure works (complete rewiring, plaster ceiling, lighting, kitchen, toilets etc) has been completed sometime in February 2011. Come October 2011, the furnishing is still not done. hahahahahaha... But we have, however, made some very very significant progress. So, housewarming is not in the calender as yet sebab forevernya Work-in-Progress. Makanya kawan-kawan if you wanna, just drop me a BB message, sms or call ibefore you come visit. Amatlah dialu-alukan. :)

It has to be stressed that I am one who tries to find a "home" to everything that we have. For example, the heaps of stationeries need to be sorted and housed into a specific container / drawer. I need to know where to find them and I can be quite anal about it. So, it has taken me long-er than most to complete the furnishing. Plus, no Bibik in the world can help me with that. The "Mem" has to decide and carry it out. Darn it!

Also, we have applied the "don't buy anything until you are sure of it" and "mix and match furnishing". Maka, it is not as easy as buying the 3+2+1 sofa set for us. Hasilnya, there has been a number of rights and misses along the way, but it's OK. We do learn along the way.. :)

Anyways, the main objective of this post is to share with you what we have added to the house since. So far, I have not shared any "after" pictures here, so I can very well start anywhere, right? hihihihihi

Great!

The new "wing" now constitutes of the new Master Bedroom, Khaleeq's room, library, my "dry" / show kitchen and laundry area. We also redid the two toilets. The living area (with no TV) and main dining are in this wing too.

So, where to start, where to start? How about I start from the library? I love that room. I love the fact that we even decided to have one to begin with.

We decided that a book shelf is key! Therefore we custom built one complete with a ladder and the switches for the lights, air-conditioner and fan embedded at the side. When it first came, the space for the books resembled more like tempat baju, too deep, if you get what I mean. And it made the entrance too cramped and the room much smaller than it is. So the builders took it off once again and cut them to the size that I was happy with. The other end of the room opens up to a little balcony ala Juliet's. We decided to paint the doors white and up till now we have not decided on what to do to that area as yet. I probably want to have my pots of herbs there. We'll see..

When I started putting my books in, I realized that they were not all the same size. The novels were smaller, while the illustrated encyclopedia types were much larger. So it didn't quite make sense that all the shelves were the same size, right? Some words with the builders later, I was given a better organization for my books. It could fit much more without having to "make do" with stacking two lines of novels in one shelving. The ladder itself was a genius idea. It made reaching to high places a breeze. The construction is quite sturdy, it glides from one end to another by lifting the ladder a little before sliding it. My kids have tried climbing up and down the ladder but I try to keep their books within the lower portion of the book shelf. So, I'm quite happy with how it turned out in the end.

The wall that opens up to the balcony? Well, we decided to drape it all with patterned curtains and sheers to give that feel that it's larger than it is. (Curtains adalah one-stop solution from Macy's, Sungai Besi.) We decided on a simple wall light and a clock piece we found in a quaint shop in Solaris Mont Kiara. It worked well with the 4 white downlights and T-5 lights on the ceiling.

To finish it all up, we have only just installed the wall paper treatment some 2 weeks ago. The motive is the outline of skyscrapers with white background. It gives it a clean, coffee shop feel to the room. To complete the look, I moved my 2 arm chairs over (kidnapped from the living room). I think it now needs a little coffee table and maybe a stand lamp yang cantik to complete my reading experience. :) I'll be on a look out for that. On the other wall, I have the kids' schoolbooks and worksheets, our stationery cupboard and a doodle drawer . I have yet to finalize the arrangement and feel. As of now, we are just using what we already have in the house. Can lah.

Pictures a through d are the arrangement of the stationery cupboard. While e and f is of the doodle drawer.

a is where you can find the normal stationery stuff - pencils, erasers, rulers, highlighters, markers in one drawer and adhesives, tapes, stickers, stapler bullets in the other.

Warning: These items are chargeable to my kids. I find it a very effective learning tool. Kalau tak asyik hilangggg aje pensil, rubber and pembaris. Acik dah tak tahan. So, every lost stationery is charged at 50sen per item. Itu pun dah kira subsidi tau. My rulers cost RM1.80 each. hihihihi So far, even Khaleeda has to pay. It's so cute, she'll come with her tabung to buy a pencil. Tu la, lain kali, jaga elok-elok sikit..

b keeps all the colours. Pencil colour, crayons and magic colours.

c is all that you need to paint - smocks, aprons, old cloth, pastel colours, water colours, brushes and pallettes.

d is my A4 - sized printer paper and coloured paper. As well as the place where I stash the loot I got from the Big Bad Wolf sale. Shhh....

e is of course my favourite. We have googly eyes - small/medium/large, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, ice-cream sticks, feathers (small/large), stickers, scrapbooking stuff, laces, remnants, plasticine, tools like glue gun, styrofoam cutter, leather puncher, cutters, cutting board, etc. Basically, all that you might need for arts and crafts. We call it our Doodle Drawer (ambik feel Art Attack sikit)

f is where I keep the arty papers - crepe papers, manilla cards, wrapping papers...


The work is not done, however, I still have to sort out the mess that is pictured above. Old mails, recycleable items etc. Good to see that the pile has lessened from a mountain to a hill and hopefully soon to a mole. Entah bila lagi la nak buat tu, but I shall trudge along and keep at it. :)

Here's another project that we have been at. I bought three pieces from #apebarang by the very talented @stoodlerist. We fell right in love with the I LOVE series and commissioned 6 more! hihihihi.. So, we now have 9 to be framed and displayed in the library later. I am looking for a frame shop as I type this. So, when the space is all ready, I'll update it here lah, ya. :)

That's all we have so far from the library. Next Friday cerita pasal bilik lain pulak. :P

-dillz blogging out-

Never Too Many

It has been said, a girl can never have too many shoes. I just simply love them. I remember my first ever purchase of a pricey, luxury brand was for my wedding 9 years ago. We saved up every penny to get my Salvatore Ferragamo black pumps. It was on Sale at KLCC at the time, and how I really treasure that pair of shoes. I still wear them to go to weddings and functions.

Then there was this one time when we loved Camper (pronounced Kam-per) so so much. Me and @azrulx were the regulars at their KLCC outlet. Berapa banyak Camper ada, daa... (mostly belongs to @azrulx, obviously) Semenjak dua menjak (probably 5 years ago) tahu dia banyak pakai pig skin lining ni lah yang tak beli langsung. And berakhirlah era Camper. My only other kasut mahal is my Jimmy Choo's Star Stud Western flats. Bought it in Jakarta last year at 30% discount. Other than those two, my shoes are really the biasa-biasa ones. I love variety and VOLUME! hahahahahaha...

Sempena masuk rumah sebelah ni, my shoes have been neatly stacked in our shoe cabinet. Those in boxes will have a laminated tag to indicate what's in them. Gambar dah ambik dah semua, belum print and laminate je lagi. Ambik feel celebrity sikit, buat shoe catalog. Apa cerr???

Namun, ada pertambahan keluarga kasut baru-baru ini...

My Gladiator Wedge from Charles and Keith. Senang nak pakai, due to the zipper up front. I love it, terasa sexy kan? But, @azrulx tak berapa setuju I pakai tinggi-tinggi ni. Adoiii... Pakai dengan baju kurung jer lah..

These next 2 pairs I bought at Shoezobsession. The outlet we went was in Berjaya Time Square. Pembelian terpaksa sebenarnya, I was out and about doing my audit fieldwork which required me to visit the malls and walk and walk and walk. Nak jadi cerita, my feet were already killing me softly and I so desperately needed flats. Me and the team went into Shoezobsession and came out with those two babies. So comfy and murah je. RM49.90 rasanya.

These next ones were custom made for me. Ada Uncle Henry (016-2868236) yang datang our office with his sample of shoes. Not too pricey. The ones I chose pakai sarung je RM60, kalau nak yang ada belakang tu RM70. What's more, you can pick and choose the texture, colour and cut that suits you.

Tapinya, Uncle dah salah buat daa.... That red one is supposed to be golden yellow. So he sold it off to me cheap, cheap. RM40 only. *rezeki* Semalam dia sudah hantar yang betul punya.

Ini dia..

-dillz blogging out-

We Have Expanded a.k.a. Rumahku Syurgaku! (Part 1)

Rumahku Syurgaku series | Part 1 | Part 2 |

I've always thought that a 3-bedded condo of 1,300sqft was a little small for our growing family of 5 (+1 campur Bibik Parmi). Considering the space that the kids need to grow, amount of stuff/junk that we have accumulated all these years and my need to have the dedicated place for each thing that we own, we have decided that we simply needed more room. I was getting rather demotivated by the state of "tongkang pecah"-ness of our home. Howlah nak jadi Rumahku Syurgaku, liddis? :(

Despite loving the location we're at, finding more space (= landed property) in the Bangsar area was pretty darn expensive. So, we searched other towns as well, termasuklah Petaling Jaya, Kelana Jaya, Bandar Kinrara, Alam Impian, Shah Alam, Bukit Jelutong etc. Various types of properties, at so many locations. Semuanya mahal and/or jauh.

*Iklan kejap - Mengapa property mahal sangat kat Malaysia ni? Bordering gila, okeh!*

Anyhoots, at the back of our minds, the ideal solution to our predicament would be if the owner to the next door condo unit would sell off her house to us. As theirs is the exact mirror -image of our current abode, our space would have doubled whilst maintaing our current location. No need to uproot the entire family. Perfect!

However, since there are only 4-units of houses per floor, the only adjoining unit to ours belonged to a lady (let's call her Lina - *bukan nama sebenar*) who is currently staying in Dubai (*bukan tempat sebenar*) with her family. She only comes over, probably 3 times a year to check on the house. She doesn't even rent the house out. She only gets her friend to house-sit it once in a while.

Here we are, sambil mencari rumah yang lebih besar, sambil berangan-angan dan berdoa that somehow, Lina would sell her house to us.

To keep the story short, by a stroke of fate and sheer luck, we managed to convince her to sell the unit to us. And after a long long wait for DBKL to sort the change of title deed, we finally got the keys to the condo sometime back in June / July last year. Yeay!!! Alhamdulillah.....

Serious! Macam tak percaya kan? Ini buktinya!

The living room and balcony.

Kitchen and dry area.

Some of the rooms and restrooms.

So, selesai most of the renovation works in the new unit , we brought the walls down (just a little bit je, the opening is around 6ft or so) on the 29th December 2010. Kami siap dok Double Tree, wak masa diorang tebuk lubang ni. :)

We officially have a front entrance and a back door now. Woot!

Status terkini:
Kami dah selesai meng-renovate rumah sebelah and it is now classified as a Work In Progress. The old condo unit will also be touched-up (a.k.a. Phase 2 renovation) once I have figured out where everything goes. The main mantra is NOT TO BUY ANYTHING NEW unless we are SO DAMN CERTAIN about it. Have to figure out whether we want to keep the stuff, where would it be in the new house flow and sorting the giveaways should we need to. Ni lah kerja saya setiap weekend selama beberapa bulan ni. Mengemasnya tak habis-habis.

Insya Allah, I'll share the after pictures section-by-section. I'm so excited. Ngee.. *bak kata @MarlizaRadzi*

-dillz blogging out-

Date Night Is Movie Night Is Date Night

Had a little WE time last night with Inche Azrul.

Agenda biasa = dinner then the movies.
He was craving for duck confit so I obliged. To Alexis we go. Dapatlah makan mixed berry meringue for desserts. Yeay!! :)

Happy. :)

The movie of the night?

picture from: here

Best giller okeh. A bit long , about 2 hours and a half. But I really liked it. Intellectual, gitu. Plus there's Leonardo DiCaprio, that mamat from 3rd Rock, Joseph Gordon Levitt and this child prodigy Ellen Page *no wonder she looked fimilar, adalah Juno* for good acting . Whoever thought of that story is a real cracko. Giller complex dan out-of-this-world sekali. However, I find that it could be summarized by this tajuk lagu rock kapak dari tahun 90-an. Inception = Umpama Mimpi Dalam Mimpi. hihihihihi

Happy. Happy. :)

Here's another reason to be happy. My first Choos made her debut on Malaysian soil.
Happy. Happy. Happy. :)

Happy Friday, all!

-dillz blogging out-

Tak Ngantuk Pun?

I was getting a little sleepy over our early lunch today when I remembered what my hubby bought me over the weekend.

It's a headphone, yaww!

Selama alam ni pun, I have been using the earphones that came with my ancient and ever obsolete iPod Nano. Memang la macam susah sikit since saya pakai tudung. Nak kena godek-godek baru jumpa lubang telinga, kan? At the back of my mind though, I have always, like always wanted a cool headphone. Lagi pulak one that can lipat-lipat and be stuffed easily in my handbag. Macam senang, kan? Dan sangat style!!!
It's the Sennheiser PC-100 II model. We got the one in black. Jangan la tanya saya brand ke tak brand ke hapa. Entah-entah cap Ayam je. As far as I know this is as chic as it gets. And have I mentioned it yet, adalah style? I loike!!!!!

Harus terus pasang iTunes.
Dung.Dung.Dung.Dung. (Bass tu..)
Lagu Bad Romance, babe..

hihihihihihi

Terima kasih ya Inche Azrul. Sekarang, saya tak mengantuk lagi!

-dillz blogging out-

Shopping Sebelum Shopping

The super efficient Ziezi booked us on a Bandung vacation sans the kids sometime last year at a ridiculously low price. (something like RM160 return per pax on AirAsia) So naturally, this trip was not really on my mind until it was time to actually go!

Realizing that my one and only sling bag was with my mom *excuse semata*. I decided that, "Hey! Prolly a great idea to get me a NEW sling bag that's small enough in view of the shopping mode that we're gonna be and big enough to house all my 'important' stuff. "This time I wasn't thinking about a change of clothes or disposable diapers.

I walked into Longchamp at The Gardens and they were on SALE for the F1 Grand Prix. And this beauty was calling my name!!

Some BBM messages ensued between yours truly and the Minister of Finance and the procurement was approved. Siap nak kasik sempena our dating-dating anniversary lagi. hihhihihihihi

Thank you, B!

-dillz blogging out-

She's finally here..

Been waiting for this baby the whole day. And she's finally here... :)

Like The K-E-K, I am an employee of the said Telco too and these kind of staff deal really is an icing on the cake. :) We are only paying RM10 ontop of my current Broadband subscription for the next 3 years. That makes it just RM360. Seriously good deal, right???

Anyways, I promised Khadra that she could be the "owner" of the netbook. Hopefully this would also encourage her to go to school without much drama. ;) She's been asking me about the netbook's arrival eversince I submitted the application form. *Serious* She's that excited. Her first reaction when we opened up the package was, "WoW!!"... Really put a smile on my face, that did.. :)

I hope to be blogging more diligently with this. So chic and small and lightweight. Kalau ibu travel, bolehla ibu pinjam, kan kakak? hihihihihi

Sudah-sudahla tu. I was supposed to set it up aje. Now I need to siap-siap for a celebrity wedding tonight. hihihihi.. So excited.

*this entry was brought to you by the new HP mini. Tq.

-dillz blogging out-

My New Toy Is A BB

Waited for it for a while now. I think the waiting game began since December 2009. So I was really overjoyed when this baby was waiting for me at home last Friday. :)

Inche Azrul charged it up and did the initial setting up and such. Nothing fancy; just my email, BlackBerry Messaging (BBM), twitter and facebook applications. Then, I was good to go. :)

Aduiiii.. Berhantulah BB ini...

• BBM

I was hooked to BBM instantly. It's basically instant massaging gone amok, if I may say so myself. Of course you need to have people to talk to first,lah. And for that you'd need to get your friend / contact's BB Pin. This is a special ID unique to each BB, ala-ala MAC addressla gitu.. I don't know what the BBetiquette is, really, but I was broadcasting my BB PIN like nobody's business. If you are my friend on facebook or my follower on twitter, you would know. :) Don't see the harm in it coz you could easily Decline a contact's request. Say if you TER-add them, you could Ignore them later anyways. So, in a way, it was safer than broadcasting your mobile number, kan? :)

The BBM application itself is superb coz you get the response instantly. Plus, you can even conference chat! Most my family members are already BB owners - Inche Azrul, Ewa, Ema, Illa, Nazz. So, we had a whale of a time conferencing last weekend. (Ziezi, go get onelah! Loser betul!) To top it all off, it's FREE too. I just hooked up with a long lost A-level friend living in Nigeria via BBM just last weekend. It really does make it feel like she's just next beside you, you know. (Hi Hadjara Dikko! *waves*) I really think this is the application that will eventually lead to BB's invasion of the world. *okay, exeggerating a little. but so necessary for the drama, kan?* Unless iPhone has a reply to BBM, world invasion is almost certain! Just look at how they are accepting BB in Indonesia. There's even a term coined - "BB Autis" - for the way the locals are behaving when they are actually meeting their friends for coffee. Everybody is busy drinking coffee and layaning their own BB. Hello? Tak de orang bercakap sesama sendiri ke? *serious*

Also, I had a little competition going on with Inche Azrul. He has 79 contacts in his BB to date. My target is to surpass that number (in an undisclosed timeframe). This morning, I already have 44. hihihihihi.. Be afraid, Inche Azrul, be very afraid...

• Uber Twitter

Tweeting has never been simpler with Uber Twitter. Senang nak Reply and Retweet. Plus, I am able to upload a picture conveniently taken by the BlackBerry phone onto TweetPhoto to accompany my tweets. Sungguh jaki dengan orang yang able to do that on the move before. Previously, my E71 kena email the photo to a dedicated addresslah apalah - which I was too lazy to figure out. In the end I just do it on my lappy - top when it was already obsolete. Now I can tweet with photo too. :)

• Facebook application for BB
  

Yeay! Enough said! :)

The other thing that I learnt really quickly was : When in doubt, just press the BB key. :)

(Picture from here)

This key is the keeper of all things wonderful - if you :

• Were at the BB Home, you'll be able to access all the controls and applications on your BB - Messages, SMS and MMS, Browser, Contacts, Clock, Calendar, Media, etc etc
• Were at the call log, you'd be able to Call / SMS / MMS the contact and set any special "treatment" to the contact (Speed Dial, Ring Tone), etc etc
  
• Were writing a message on the BBM, say, you'd be able to Select, Copy, Paste, Check Spelling, Add Smiley etc
  
• Were at Uber Twitter, it would allow you to send New Tweet, Refresh, View, Reply , etc etc.
• Were on Facebook for Blackberry, it would allow you to Share, Refresh, View your Profile, View news Feed, View Status Updates, etc etc
  

So, use it often that BlackBerry key. It will serve you well!

Terima Kasih, Inche Azrul. :) I love it loads.

Now I just need a COACH phone lanyard to distinguish between His and Hers.
hihihihihihi *sempat lagi tu..*

-dillz blogging out-

2 Great News In A Day!

I was just minding my own business today when not one, but two great , wonderful news came my way. :)

News Number ONE

The lovely Liana from my office has given birth to a beautiful baby girl, who at the moment is known as Sara. She was born at 12.33pm yesterday at Pantai Medical Centre. She is still looking for a good second name , so I suggested - Sara Hana (cilok nama anak Faradzilla Roziani) or Sara Lynn (cilok nama anak Zaihasra). She is such an adorable baby, with her big big eyes and pouty lips. She kept her eyes opened and was scrutinizing the makcik-makcik yang bising datang visit dia. :)

So, congratulations dearest Liana and take a good, much deserved rest. She would be taking the services of Hanis Zalikha's aunty as the live-in confinement lady for 14 days (daily urut, masak pantang, jaga baby). So I am really waiting for her review on her services. Mana tau it might come in handy in a few years... :)

News Number TWO

This second news really come as a very very pleasant surprise.

Begini, background storynya.
Two people that I really liked from my PPP days got married to each other and I have been reading her blog for a while now. She also operates a blogshop ; ShoppingQueen78 (that is really cool, by the way) that handles orders from the US. Salah satu product that really caught my eye and yang tengah selling like hot cakes sekarang ini adalah Coach ID lanyard that comes in gold (10 left), black(2 left) and red(1 left).

Sila rujuk product tersebut di sini.

Jokingly, sebagai orang yang tak tau malu, I commented on her personal blog that I would like to get the awesome Coach lanyard as a birthday present. But, of course, I expected nothing out of it.

Tup,tup. Guess what abang poslaju got for me this morning?

So sweetlah KS and SK. I lap you two very very much lah! (Ooo, dapat hadiah baru nak sayang sayang!) hihihihihihi Still smiling like a kerang busuk. Thank you lovelies, you guys really made my day. :)

-dillz blogging out-

My Boring Present to Myself

I knew that I had to start taking serious care of my face. From the last detailed skin analysis (you can read them once I have published the entry *will update when it's done, promise*) that was done on my face, I am convinced that I am seriously heading to "Tua Sebelum Waktunya" in no time at all.. :( My skin is dehydrated, blotchy, uneven skin tones, I have brown spots and early signs of pigmentation, fine wrinkles are starting to show and the icing on the cake must be the break-outs that I get every so often. *gasp!*

I blame it to my almost non existent facials for the past three years, no application of sunscreen whatsoever and not to mention my laziness to apply my now defunct Body Shop's Tea Tree Oil facial set that was bought around a year ago. :(

Anyways, from my trip to Sothy's sometime back, I was recommended the following products to treat and maintain a healthier looking me (in terms of my face, lah):

Home Use Procedure

Morning
Cleanser
1. Normalizing milk
Toner
1. Normalizing lotion
Eye Care
1. Eye Contour Serum
Intensive care
1. [W] Serum (Day)
2. THI3 Serum
Moisturizer
1. THI3 Cream
Sun Care
1. SPF 30

Evening
Cleanser
1. Normalizing milk
2. [W] Foaming Cleanser
Toner
1. Normalizing lotion
Eye Care
1. Eye Contour Serum
Intensive care
1. [W] Serum (Night)
2. GradeI Serum
Moisturizer
1. Noctuelle Cream

Home Treatment (Twice a week)
Mask
1. Oxyliance Mask
2. Hydrating Mask
Exfoliating
1. Gommage
2. Desquacrem

Adoiaiiiii!!! Banyaknya nak kena beli!!!!!

Anyhoots, I have decided, as boring as it may be . This is something that I have to do for myself. I am getting them (albeit bit by bit) and I promise to use them day and night. Nak muka lawa tak???


Kenalah Zero Percent interest nampaknya... Pelan-pelan bayar..
hihihihihi

and Happy Birthday To Me!

-dillz blogging out-

Lunching with the GCEO

What a pleasant surprise.
The exclusive lunch talk invitation with the GCEO included a certificate presentation - plaque (and cash?) allin. Thing is i completed my Masters way back in 2006. Ingatkan memang dah tak dapat dah. So, this was unexpected and pleasant indeed.
I'll update later. Nak dengar welcoming speech sat. :)

*Updated*
No cash this time around, but I was in the news smiling away.. Wu-hu!
-dillz blogging out-

Welcome to the Club!

We are in! We are in!
In where, you ask?
Why, Kelab Golf Negara Subang, of course! :)

Pictures from: here

*Grin*Grin*Grin*

Good thing about the club is that there are plenty of outlets serving food. And they are not at all pricey. I already got my SPOUSE membership card semalam. So, bolehlah entertain kawan-kawan kat sini nanti.. I sign, Azrul bayar.. hihihihihi (Perasan tai-tai)

Nak kena fmiliarize with what we can do there, for me and for the familylah pullok, other than golf for Azrul, that is.. Among the facilities offered:

• Sporting Facilities - They have a gym (complete with gym instructors at designated times hahahaha NO MORE EXCUSES, FATSO!), Aerobics, Yoga, some dance classes, squash, table tennis, swimming, tennis, tai chi and tae-kwan-do.

• Recreational Facilities - Library (would be the perfect place for me to study my CIA, loh!) , Fruit Machine (ini apa?), snooker and card room.
  
• Other Facilities - Pro shop, hair salon, car wash, convenience shop and foot reflexology centre. (Wah! I loike!)
  

Looks like we would be hanging out there often now. It's good that they have proper classes / coaching for swimming, tennis etc. Could enrol the kids in it while I check out the foot reflexology centre! hihihihi I remember when I was yee-high (pointing to my waist) , us, adik-beradik , would hang out at Lake Club attending swimming lessons, going to library and all that. I guess it has now come to a full circle. Now, my kids are able to do that pulak. :)

-dillz blogging out-

My Leica

I have noticed that I have not been cam-whoring of late. Main reason? Our Alpha 350 is much too big to be stuffed into my handbag. Hence, missed opportunities on pretty pictures that would have otherwise been posted up on my facebook or this wonderful *ahem* blog. And, I do pity you for having to stare at fuzzy crappy images captured by my trusty mobile. Tapi, apa nak buat.. Takkan nak heret kamera bagak tu merata-rata, kan...

For our 7th year anniversary, hubby got me this:

Well, he got the camera for me. My very own Leica D-LUX 4. Casing tu, I yang tambah sendiri. (Leather casing itu mencekik , ok? But, I just had to.. hihihihihi)

I so love it! Now, it has a permanent place in my handbag. Plus, kalau nak jalan-jalan, can sling it and a trigger-happy tourist is born.

We were just mucking about with it the other night. For a point and shoot person such as yours truly, I was more than thrilled to find various pre-settings in the Scene mode. Here are some of my favourite shots:

Using Scene: Night Potrait with Film mode : Vibrant - I love the way the sky looks and my sisters look extra beautiful here. *hah!*

Using Scene:Food. *Really* Don't they just look extra yummy?

Using Scene : Hi-Speed Burst - High speed burst shooting allows you to capture a crucial moment such as the very best smile. Crucial for capturing the move-a-lot kid named Khaleeda. :) Plus, it is hilarious when you play 'em back frame by frame.

With this in my possession, expect nothing less than high quality picture, everytime. Yee-ha! Thanks babe. You know I heart it loads!

-dillz blogging out-

Skin It!

They were asking and looking around for a nice compact camera for us. They went into a Mac shop and came back with this for Kira to slide over Ema's iPhone. Cantik juga, ya?

The iPhone 3G skin is not like the one I got from Digiskin in Jakarta. Definitely NOT like the blings I got much earlier. It is made of silicone, methinks, so it has this rubbery feeling to it. A few days later, Azrul got the monkey Julius from Paul Frank. (It was RM10 cheaper from the one they got off the Mac store)

I just love that monkey - Julius, I mean, not Azrul.

Anyhoots, I thought the writings on the packagind were kinda cute:

skin for iPhone 3G
to protect your iPhone from danger

Care
Paul Frank recommends the regular cleaning of your iPhone and case to prevent dust, scum and other particles from building up. If you do not follow a regular cleaning schedule, the collection of dust, scum and other particles may cause slight abrasion to your device as well as leaving a scummy residue on your face. Ewww...

Comel, kan??

-dillz blogging out-

Thirty Three

.. and counting. Hoop-de-doo!

The whole family was at our humble abode the night before. Since it was a spontaneous plan, we ended up having rice with chicken korma (courtesy of Illa) and Parmi fried loads of chicken with a plate of omelette and sambal belacan at the side. Not very fancy, I know.. We ended the night with a happy birthday song and me cutting the obligatory birthday cake. (Had chocolate cheese cake this year which was absolute yum!)

Azrul treated me to a birthday lunch at Victoria Station. We had the usual Indonesian Oxtail soup and Chili Spare Ribs. The birthday girl decided on Lobster Thermidor as a special treat. The food was good but the ambience was better. Since ours was a late lunch - the 3pm crowd was almost non-existent. The kids were really having a time of their life, running around the restaurant and acting like their grandfather owned it. Since there were no other patrons at that time, we just let them enjoy driving the train and going round and round the coach for the umpteenth time.

Speaking about Coach... Have a look at my brand new find and salivate!
My very own Bleecker Flap Leather Duffle bag. I love you, Azrul... Maybe another one next year? heh heh heh

-dillz blogging out-

Eee. Bee. Emm

I have always known that I would breastfeed my babies even from early on. Of course, the advantages are aplenty : nutritious and everything in just the right amount, hassle free when you are mobile - no need to bring the thermos of hot water, bottles and formula when you go shopping and not to mention, cost effective ( especially if you plan to have several kids). With Khadra, I exclusively breastfed (only drinking mommy's wholesome milk) her for 7 months, that was until I was 5 months pregnant with Khaleeq. Khaleeq had a longer span of exclusive breastfeeding - 11 months. However, I carried on breastfeeding him whenever I was around him. Only when I was away, our trusted Bibik Lidiya would make him formula milk instead. It was a huge relief for me then coz it also meant that I could stop expressing milk at work. This went on until he was 2 years and 3 months. Not bad, not bad at all... I hope this time round I'll be able to match my experience with Khaleeq. Just taking it one day at a time.. We'll see how it goes..

So far, I think we are on the right track. It is Day 30 and my little stash of Expressed Breast Milk a.k.a EBM is now at 23 bottles. I have a couple of 2 oz., 2.5 oz. as well as 3 oz. bottles to cater for Khaleeda's current milk intake while I am out and about town. (merayau la, mana lagi..)

I started expressing since Week 2 and hopefully, I'll be able to hit 60 bottles of 4 oz. by the time I get back to work in January next year (or more, who knows.. ) It's not all that impossible, you know.. I personally know at least 2 people who came back to work with 100+ bottles of EBM stocked in their freezer. (which was especially bought to store them milk, by the way.. And NO, they were not especially well-endowed if you know what I mean..)

I have been tempted to switch my old skool Avent ISIS manual pump to the double automatic pump most of my friends are using, but I really do swear by my Avent pump. Seriously.. Eventhough Avent has come up with an enhanced version of the classic pump as well as a more intelligent version of the pump, obsolete me am still using the good old pump I bought during Khadra's days. All thanks to the purchase of the pump spare parts way back then.. The bottles, sterilizer unit as well as the warmer has also been brought out from storage, so I did not have to spend much this time round. (Lega... heh heh heh)

Excuse me, I am off to pump some milky!

-dillz blogging out-

A Big Breakfast, A Blind Date and A New Phone

The April meet-up of the Sri Petaling clan took place at Kiwi Cafe (again!) last Friday and the turnout was rather lukewarm. The ever faithful Johan and Rizal Shafie were first on scene , along with newbie Azida Roselay. Later came Intan and me, and much much later Idham aka Eddie and Izham turned up. We were such regulars at the place that the Burmese waiter gave us a keychain each halfway through the meeting. Don't ask me why, I don't have a clue either. Responding to the dwindling number of turnout, it was decided that:

1. A Big Breakfast event will be held at La Bodega Jalan Telawi (uuuuu... so posh!) on 12th May 2007 at 10.30am. Please RSVP ASAP! So far, I have Aida and Reza Zin committing already! :) The rest of you in my calling list will be bombarded with more smses and follow up calls. You have been warned!

2. A do will happen at Azida's mom's happening Puteri Penchala for either a BBQ or a proper makan-makan. Details of event to be decided.

Oh, did I tell you that we already have a yahoogroup for the clan called gembeling87? Yup, jangan tak percaya.. So, through this channel, friends hook up once more or so, I thought. There was this one particular soul , whom we shall call AI henceforth, announcing, "Hey guys, I am with Daimler-Chrysler" and a sudden lightbulb moment appeared in my mind! Wow, she's working in the same building as I , so I should say hi! Maybe, have lunch at the food court or something. However, I could not for the life of me figure out who this person really was. Then, Nadia replied saying how she remembers her well... Her sister is Kak Joan.. yada, yada, yada.. Hmmm, I thought. Let's just be nice and ask her out for lunch, lah.. So, we have lunch set for sometime next week, and the next e-mail was from Eddie saying how he always terserempak AI at the SS14 mosque for Jumaat prayers. What? AI is a MAN? What have I gotten myself into?? Tak pasal aje aku ada blind date ni.. heh heh heh.. I think I'll have to invite more people to join the lunch. (Ah Seng, you up for it?)

So, the meet-up was cut short past 12 midnight after I got a phone call from my darling hubby. Sent off Azida and the rest of the guys stayed on until 2am.

No wonder he was anxious. When I got back, a card with my name on it was waiting for me at the vanity chest. Kad apa pulak ni? It was our 10th year anniversary as bf-gf and I didn't even remember.. heh heh heh So, I walked out sheepishly and thanked him for the card. Malu I... but, it didn't end there. He took out a box from my lingerie drawer and it was a brand new phone - the N73 Music Edition. Ahhhh... Aku terkedu..

How's that for a surprise?

-dillz blogging out-

Bluey & Barbie Bikey

Finally... We got the kids their respective bikes to add on to their evening activities. Also, there's also the fact that we have promised them a bike each for quite some time. Khaleeq was promised a blue bike after he finally weaned off my boobies and Khadra was promised a pink bike to stop her from sucking her thumb. Since Khaleeq has stopped breastfeeding completely and Khadra is only on occasional tumb-sucking sessions, we figured we might as well get them the darn bikes.

Glad to note that Khadra is now riding her pink Barbie bike (with training wheels) beautifully. Khaleeq, on the other hand, has yet to grasp the very concept of biking. He just puts his legs on the pedal and expects it to move -- cycle it boy, cycle it!! Shesh... As for now, we are content on just pushing him around... heh heh heh

-dillz blogging out-