my 2013 resolution, can eh?! :p [ailee - i will show you]

important dates 2012

see if u get this...

the traditional game of 'main tarik tali' it's either you first or me first

show your love before it's too late...

Source: Sheikh Khalid Yasin Facebook status

"After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, “I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.”

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie. “What’s wrong, are you well?” she asked.

My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news. “I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you,” I responded. “Just the two of us.” She thought about it for a moment, and then said, “I would like that very much.”

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel’s. “I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed, “she said, as she got into the car. “They can’t wait to hear about our meeting.”

We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. “It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,” she said. “Then it’s time that you relax and let me return the favor,” I responded.

During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation – nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of each other’s life. We talked so much that we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed.

“How was your dinner date?” asked my wife when I got home. “Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined,” I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have a chance to do anything for her. Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note said: “I paid this bill in advance. I wasn’t sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates – one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I love you, son.”

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: “I LOVE YOU” and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till “some other time.”

May Allah (SWT) bless our mothers and fathers, Ameen!

ps: i immediately called my mom after reading this. if i haven't mentioned before, i'm the type of person that rarely call or text another. i'll only do it if it's really important. i'm also ashamed to admit that i'm not the type of daughter that call her parents frequently. it's usually my parents, my mother most of the time that call me. if they didn't call me, maybe i only call them once every two weeks.

reading this article also made me realize that our parents are not always gonna be around. sooner or later, they will have to go. maybe, if we are lucky, we left them first. we always heard the phrase that children should not die before their parents do. it's just not the way to go. but 'ajal' is in the hand of Allah. it's not for us to choose who will die first.

all these times, i always hope that i'll be in the situation where i die before my parents do. reason, i couldn't bear the feeling of losing them. at least, if i die first my parents would still have four other children to accompany them. four who are much better and much greater than me. then again. it's all already written on the 'luh mahfuz.' we couldn't change it.

seeing that i'm the youngest child and that i'm already 30 years old, it would only be logic that my parents are old. my mom is 68 years old while my dad is one year younger. i could see that they're not strong and agile as they used to be. every night, before sleep, i think about what my life would be without my parents to advise me, to listen to my babbling, to help me when i needed help, to scold me when i'm in the wrong, to console me when i'm sad, to praise me when i deserved it and many more. still at the age of 30, i still depend on my parents like when i was three with on a slight different. they don't have to change my nappy, hehe...

i know i'm not a good child and further from being perfect. i fight with my parents, i ignore and heed their advices, to sum it up i drive them crazy! still, i'm hoping that in their eyes, they're proud of me with all my flaws and all. so mak and abah, if by any chances you guys come to read this, know that i love you both with all my heart eventhough most of the time my actions and words contradict it all. i brought both of you to a life roller coaster ride especially ever since i've been diagnosised with bipolar, the most challenging episode in my life. honest be told, wihout your support i don;t think i'm where i'm now. you both are my pillars and my rocks! love you so very much and sorry for everything as well...

crazy about books.. and reading them, of course..

see.. see.. see what happened everytime the big bad wolf came to town! let's just say, i'm crazy about it! this is the opportunity to buy books at 75 - 95% less than the usual price. please compared my purchases from 2011 (left) and 2012 (right). the amount is getting larger and the genres are different. in 2011, i bought lots of romance books. but since i had no mood for romance lately, reading them of course, not romance in real life if you know what i mean, i bought more books based on humor, self help, young adult and picture books i really hope that i could finish them all before next big bad wolf invasion! long live the big bad wolf!

rocking vacation in cameron highlands

29/11/2012 (Thursday)

3 as 1 once again

salam.. finally, the most anticipated vacation of all is already done. it started with the arrival of miss awed on 29/11/2012. that day, i took half day off and miss A applied for leave. after picking up miss A, we went directly to TBS to pick miss awed she arrived from kota tinggi at about 3pm. then, we drove to ioi mall puchong for luncheon at seoul garden and movie date, breaking dawn part II. done with date, we met my mother at my sister's house and went back to my other sister house, the one i'm staying with. we slept and planned to start early tomorrow.

30/11/2012 (Friday)

the journey begins

we started a little bit late than planned. we planned to start our journey at about 9am, but it was delayed for about an hour due to waking up late that day. we went to cold storage alamanda first to get a bottle of whipped cream. we already bought a bottle of hershey chocolate syrup the night before. both of course, to be eaten with the strawberries we going to pick. we had brunch at R&R tapah (north bound). we exited at simpang pulai since the roads are better there compared when exiting at tapah.

self made strawberry crepes

we arrived at the hotel at about 4pm. we checked in, we rested for awhile before continuing to our next agenda, food! we had an early dinner. done with dinner, we went to brinchang night market which only 5 minutes walk from our hotel. we didn't buy anything that night. we just surveyed the stuffs, prices and all so that we could buy them tomorrow night. we did bought two boxes of strawberries though along with sweet corns. fresher things tend to taste so much better. done for the night, we walked back to our hotel and called it the night (after done eating the foods we bought).

oh, i almost forgot about an unexpected event that turned up this night. while browsing through the market, we saw a little boy about 2 - 3 years old that was crying. since, awed and i are fond of children, we smiled at the boy and asked him why he was crying. we were expecting the boy's guardian will pick him up and soothe  him. after a couple of couple, we noticed that the boy was wandering alone with no adults around him.the three of us was a bit of clueless of what to do next.

the first thought that came to our mind was sending the boy to the nearest police station if no one turned up to pick the boy. i hold the boy's hand and try to coax him into walking so we could find his guardians together. but when he wouldn't nudge a bit, i carried him instead. we planned to break into two groups. the boy and me would stand at the location we found him, while awed and miss A walked around to look up for any frantic people looking for their lost child.

but, not long after we made the decision, a woman came with another little child in tow saw us and the boy and recognized him as his nephew. when the aunt tried to pick the lost boy from me, the boy clings to me and wouldn't let go. so we had to walk with the aunt to the boy's mother. it turned out, that mother of the boy was holding another new born baby in her arm. once the boy saw his mother, he started to cry once again. the mother and the aunt thanked us. it is a memorable experience, really!

01/12/2012 (Saturday)

first stop : big red strawberry farm

on our second day here, we had breakfast at the hotel. after that we went to big red strawberry farm to do our first agenda on our list that is picking strawberries ourselves. we arrived a little bit early and had to wait about 15 minutes for the center to be opened. when it was finally opened, we began our mission enthusiastically. awed was on a mission picking the biggest one, while i'm on the mission picking the most unique and deformed one. the strawberries picked cost RM25 per 1/2 kilos. before we went in, we mumbled about who's gonna eat 1 1/2 kilos of strawberries anyway.

but, when we went in the strawberry farm, we forgot all about the weight and began picking without thinking because they were so many red and ripe strawberries just waiting to be picked. even when we decided we are done, on our way out we kept on calling, 'okay, last call! last call!' meaning it would be our last pick. each of us had maybe 5-7 last calls, hehe.. when, we went to weight the strawberries, the staffs there told us that we were lucky to manage to pick the beautiful ones since we came early. if we came in later in the evening, there wouldn't be so much choice.

second stop: time tunnel museum

our second stop is the time tunnel museum. here, we got to watch various collections of old stuffs, even the stuffs before the world war 1. some of the stuffs were from my generation of growing up, so we could relate to them. the museum is quite small yet it contains a lot of interesting and wonderful things that really bring back memories. some of the memories are forgotten but being here, help us reminiscing it.

third stop : boh tea plantation

next stop is boh tea plantation. the view here is very beautiful. we were being shown how the tea being processed, first from watching the videos shown and next from the actual factory. while watching the video, we also managed to learn about boh plantation history. after done watching tea being processed at the factory, we took the opportunity to have early afternoon tea time at the cafe. the cafe's location is so strategic that you get to see the breathtaking view of the plantation. we had to wait a couple of minutes to get a seat but the view made the waiting worthwhile.

fourth stop : butterfly farm

fourth stop of the day is the butterfly farm. the butterfly farm is quite small but it still had lots of beautiful butterflies flying around. it also had insects and snakes on display. at first, we didn't include this in our tour program. but since we still had ample time on the day, we decided to stop and visit it. awed and me even get hooked on a couple of beetles that were 'fighting for their life.' honestly, we didn't know what the beetles were fighting over, but we concluded that they were fighting over a girl.

fifth stop : rose centre

the last stop of the day is rose centre. the walk is really challenging. we had to climb hundreds of stair. but we really felt like 'alice in wonderland' during the walk because we were surrounded by beautiful and colourful flower, not only roses but many different types. here, we managed to took lots of beautiful pictures to add to our memorable photos collection. after done with the stroll among the flowers, we went to the market and bought some souvenirs, fresh flowers and flower petals. what we did to the petals is shown below. that night, we went once again to the night market (no lost boy this time) to bought some last minute souvenirs.

friends like you are more precious than diamond (comparing diamonds are girl best friend)

02/12/2012 (Sunday)

trick art museum, i-city shah alam

we started our journey back to putrajaya at about 12 noon. but we didn't went straight back home. we stopped at i-city shah alam to visit the trick art museum. here, we managed to get lots of funny and silly pose. some of them are shown in the picture above. after done with the trick art museum, we went back home and getting ready for dinner at saba reastaurant in cyberjaya. the restaurant offers arabic cuisine. we wore our  ao dai that night. after done with dinner, we went to klcc for our ao dai photoshoot and some of the results are shown below.

ao dai photoshoot

03/12/2012 (Monday)

until later, girls..

everything must come to an end especially the good one. on our final day together, we went karakoeing at alamanda. oh, we had lunch there as well. we choose a few k-pop songs to watch while eating. we send awed back at tbs. her bus back was on 4pm. we couldn't wait for our next vacation together. even it was only for five days, time spent with your love ones are timeless and priceless. the memories made will remain forever, insyaAllah. i'm glad and thankful to Allah for the friendships given with both of you. until later..