Road To CIA 2 : .. and they lived happily ever after (Part 1)

Road To CIA series | 1:I've Committed! | 2: ... and they lived happily ever after (Part 1) | 3: Another Step Closer| 4: Let's Try This Again| 5: Miss Procrastinator Strikes Again | 6: It's Crunch Time |

I had it all figured out. Right to the very last page to be read, which review papers to latih tubi, complete with the online tutorials and mock tests. We were supposed to reach KL on Tuesday night, leaving Wednesday morning ample time to cram in some last minute preparations. The examination was scheduled at 3.30pm on Wednesday.

It was supposed to be a perfect study cum shopping cum relaxing getaway...

All hell broke loose when our our flight from Jakarta was delayed. No, not delayed, actually it was cancelled. Let's not dwell on it at the moment 'coz I'll give you a blow-by-blow of THAT in one of my Jakarta travelog series.

Long story short, I only got a flight out of Jakarta in the wee hours of the morning of the exam day. Flight was at 5am, had to check out of our courtesy hotel by 3am. Suffice to say, I DID NOT get enough sleep that night. By the time we reached home, it was already around 9:30am. Had to make use of the time left to finish up on the reading ( I only skipped 2 topics) and do as many questions as possible - a bigger priority. Syukur there's the online questions from learncia.com; I managed to finish up Sections 1-3 and tried the Post-review test. A little terkilan coz I didn't get to finish Sections 4 & 5 plus the Mock Exam. But, hey.. I think I've done the most I could in the given situation.

Went to the exam centre in University of Sheffield at Damansara Heights. Along the way I was reciting Allahumma Yassir, Allahummaftah, Rabbish Rahli, etc - almost all the ayat penerang hati and ayat to make it all smoth sailing that I know. Tummy was fluttering like no butterfly's business - I was shit scared.

Anyways, I went in and registered for the CIA - Part 1 examinations 30 minutes earlier than time. Crammed in a little more latih tubi before going into the exam room. When it was time, I just had to tawakkal and try I best. After my second round of reviewing the answers, I really felt like I have had enough. Could hardly make sense of the sentences at that moment, and my eyes felt sooo heavy. It's time to let it go and see how I did. Takut, okay.. Keluar je bilik tu, I closed my eyes when the invigilator passed me the printed result. I could only focus on one word - Passed! Syukur..... Alhamdulillah...

Felt like letting out a little scream. Yeay! Lepas satu perkara..
hihihihihi (Nantikan Part 2,3 and 4 pula..)

-dillz blogging out-

Travelog Jakarta 3: She came, she saw, she bought most everything..

Travelog Jakarta Series | 1:A Quickie | 2:Business Class All The Way | 3:She came, she saw, she bought most everything.. | 4:What about FUN things to do? |5:Ada Apa Dengan Makan(an)?|

As I have mentioned in my previous summary post (Travelog Jakarta 1) , there were a lot of malls in Jakarta. Top it up with the fact that we were there during the Jakarta Sale Fest. Due to the limited time we had around town and I was not particularly looking for kain or telekung or batik and the lot, we skipped Mangga Dua and Tanah Abang this time around. All available time was spent combing One Pacific Place, Senayan City, Plaza Senayan, Grand Indonesia, Plaza Indonesia, EX and FX Mall. *Drool*

It seemed that EVERYTHING was on sale. 70% here, 50% there, 60%.. To say that I was rambang mata was an understatement. There definitely wasn't enough time, for sure, to shop to my heart's content. Ada masa masuk kedai, tengok-tengok, try-try = tak beli and ada masa masuk kedai, tengok-tengok, try-try = a big package of goodies. :) It was also the first time ever I tried a few Manolo Blahniks, Tod's and MJs on my feet and ended up putting them back on the display, eventhough it was on -70%. *Damn it, bilalah boleh afford nih*

In the end, I got some stuff for the kids, a little for the husband and A LOTTTTT for me! hihihihihihi Rejeki.. Rejeki...

Nonetheless, the ones I bought for myself were all those bearing the 70% tag (preferable), 50% (majority) and 30%(acceptable). *Attempt to justify purchase, nih*

Let's just have a peek at some of the stuff I brought home, shall we? (clockwise from below)

1. The row of packages all lined up at the end of Monday. Not in picture: Tuesday's worth of shopping. hihihihihihi
2. My precious cargo - handcarried item on the flight back. Got it at a steal! The handbag was going at -70% (can you believe that?) I was , at one point, contemplating of buying three of those beauties - different models , different colour but of the same collection. After a lot of Istighfars, I put down the other two and ran off with this one. The wristlet was only on -30% sale but I got it anyways since *someone* already remarked that my current wristlet dah kotor. Not in picture: handphone lanyard at -70% which I just had to get. (Kan?)
3. My three Charles & Keith's. Selama dok Malaysia ni tak pernah pulak beli, kat Jakarta la pulak dia jadi jakun. hihihihihi. I was told this is a Singaporean brand but has gained popularity in Malaysia and Indonesia. (Ye ke?) They were all on -30% and I just had had had to get the gladiator sandals. Eventhough I have to suck in my tummy and fold my legs everytime I need to buckle them up. Why oh why la there's no zipper on that thang?? Very comfortable and very sexy, no? The second pair is also a favourite - black satin peep toe flats. You can never have enough of blacks, I say.. The 4 inch grey peep toe pun I like. It's meant more for work and is a little challenging to walk in, but I managed to parade it around the office on Tuesday! :)
4. Tops -all those from Banana Republic, Zara and GAP were on -50%. Lovely.
5. Jeans - a nice black one from Banana Republic and my first skinny from Dorothy Perkins. All at -50%, of course. :)

What can I say, but "I'm in heaven?" *Big big smile*

*Disclaimer: Title of this post was cilok-ed from my hubby's facebook status at some point*

-dillz blogging out-

Happy Birthday , 2 Boys and 1 Girl!!

I always look forward to end of July coz three of my favourite persons celebrate their birthdays one day after the other. 30th July this year is Khaleeq's 5th, 31st July is Azrul's 32nd and 1st August is Ema's 24th. (Boy, that was a mouthful!)

Khaleeq has been asking day in day out whether it is his birthday today eversince we celebrated Khadra's 6th on the 3rd of June. So, when it was finally his day, he was beyond excited. We promised to have a do at school, just like Khadra's with an added celebration at his Eki's in Puchong. I had more than 2 days to prepare for his party at school, so we decided to give out invites this time round. He was over the moon over it. The theme, of course, HAD to be Ben-10 Alien Force. Party packs were kept to the minimal number since we only distributed them to his classmates. Ben-10 stuff for the boys and Dora stuff for the girls. Party packs and invite was sorted thanks to Ziezi, party planner extraordinaire.

As expected, we also had cuppies at the do, all from Zura Naem of Hey Cupcakes! (Another Srikandi, I might add!) There are other pictures in our DSLR but it is not with me. So kalau ada rezeki , nanti saya update lah gambar yang lain itew..

Anyways, Khaleeq was more interested to open up the oodles of Ben-10 and Transformers action figures that he had wanted for his birthday. (We have a new agreement with the kids now - no more buying of toys. Exclusion adalah ketika birthday sahaja. So, they are now looking forward to November when it's Khaleeda's birthday!)

The big(ger) kids were treated to a karaoke session at Red Box Sunway. Apart from family, the famous SLIMRED-ers, Anyah & fiancee, Af and Farishah joined in. Lagu wajib termasuklah KRU old songs - AWAS (can't tahan with Liyana's famous dance!) , my Katy Perrys, Kira's Lady Gagas and of course rock kapaks and Indo mania. That was a fun night! :)

This year, I promised Azrul a nicer present and he chose to get a driver. (Not the one driving the car kind, but the one used to tee-off on the golf course variety) Entahla elok ke tak, tak tau la makcik.. We took it for a test at the driving range in Kiara. Bak kata orang tua-tua, berdesup perginye.. He bought it first so now I owe him RM1050 selepas diskaun. :) Boleh tak buat-buat lupa nak bayar? hihihihi

Happy birthday guys, you know how much you mean to me! :) Muahss!!

-dillz blogging out-

Travelog Jakarta 2: Business Class All The Way

Travelog Jakarta Series | 1:A Quickie | 2:Business Class All The Way | 3:She came, she saw, she bought most everything.. | 4:What about FUN things to do? |5:Ada Apa Dengan Makan(an)?|

We had a nice surprise in store for us when we checked in at KLIA on Saturday. We were already running late and they could not even get us to sit side-by-side on the flight. At the same time, a small group of 3-family members were also getting checked-in at the counter next to us. The nice lady supervisor then called us to retrieve our green boarding passes and did something at her terminal. *kecik kecik. F1. Esc.kecik kecik.Enter. Esc.kecik kecik.Enter - keyboard berbunyi* No words, just the sound of the keyboard being pressed while she was focusing on what she was doing.

Then suddenly she said with a smile, "The flight is full and we have upgraded you both to Business Class. Have a nice flight!"

Big eyed, even bigger smile. We said, "Thank You" in unison and went our merry way. There was only one thing on MY mind - Have to get to the Golden Lounge, QUICK! hihihihihihi

As expected, the hospitality was superb. Food was great. Free wi-fi some more.. We were just being jakun in that lounge. There was even a chef on standby to prepare a hot meal! It's one one those occasions when you have soo much food, yet, soo little time.. :)

In the air, we were living THE life, enjoying the extra body space and leg room with extra delicious meals and the steward/stewardess attending to our every needs and wants. I was even feeling motivated enough to slip in a little revison for my CIA examinations. It was THAAT comfortable!

So sweetlah Malaysia Airlines Systems.. You know, I have never been upgraded before in my life. Heard of people getting upgraded, but me myself? Never had that experience before. Inilah yang dikatakan customer service yang excellent! Just imagine, to be paying super low price with the MHlow fare, but to be experiencing the travels of those rich and famous. Only possible with Malaysia Hospitality, I tell you! :)

p/s: MAS ada tak nak kasik saya travel Business Class lagi ke mana-mana? I promote cukup-cukup.. *Serious* hihihihihihi

-dillz blogging out-

It's Been A While

One whole week (then some) without any updates. Sorry for the disappointment. I was just tied - right , left and centre. There's a lot to write, actually. A lot of drama in the past week or so. From the delayed pesawat to the CIA exam, to the H1N1 scare and self-quarantine. Top it all up with shopping and work - loads and loads of it. :) No wonder I hadn't had the time to breathe. :)~~

Promise, though. I shall let one entry by one get published. There's tonnes to share!

-dillz blogging out-