Living with Sarah

Remember my story about Aliyah buying me a flower and it got stolen and she got so sad that she cried at the guardhouse? Last Sunday, we went for lunch kat this shopping place kat Bangi. After lunch, pegi lah beli grocery sikit. Hubby and me dah plan actually. While I buy the groceries, he will take Aliyah to a flower shop and buy me a flower. A "planned" surprise. So, I tengah tolak trolley with Aliyah in it, when hubby bisik-bisik dengan dia and I saw her face suddenly lights up with this huge grin. She then told me she wanted to follow Abah to go see something. So, diaorg berdua anak-beranak pegi la somewhere. Then I tengah queue nak bayar Aliyah suddenly came and shoved to me this little bouquet of red plastic roses and said "surprise"! So, I pun buat-buat la surprised kan... Hehehe... She was so happy. Actually hubby nak cari fresh roses macam yang dia beli but then kat situ tak ada florist la pulak... Tak apa la, those plastic ones will do... I put them in a s...

I lama tak update blog. Sejak cuti skolah start ni Aliyah duduk office dengan I. She refused to go at her daycare. And I ni memang enjoy her company, so, I bawak dia gi office. Kat office I siap ada all her Barbie dolls, colour pencils, books, etc. So, she's quite occupied. However, kejap-kejap suruh ajar buat exercises, then jawab lak soalan-soalan dia yang sentiasa ada dalam kepala dia, then dia nak mintak main game la - asks me to take a break, etc. Haiyoo... one child but she's a handful. I memang tak schedule meetings this week. Good thing Hajar is with me, so dia la yang pegi buat trainings and meetings. Hehee... Anyway, I can't help to make remarks about this cooking show lah - Cook Like a Chef. I memang suka la sesangat tengok AFC. Tengok je la orang masak kan. But this show ni macam tak masuk akal lah. I memang cukup menyampah tengok. Know why? Dah lah masak kat satu dapur yang nampak very "technical" that looks like a lab. Pas tu the lights are dim not i...

My trip to Bali with Yatt was amazing, amazing, amazing. Dulu dengar cerita orang pegi Bali over and over again siap heran, apa lah yang best sangat tempat tu. Now that I have been there one simple word to describe the island is - amazing. We landed in Bali at 7.45pm. (Note to self and Yatt: next time nak pegi holiday, never pick a night flight). Since it's already night time, nothing much can be done. Yatt engaged a driver recommended by her friend. So, we were met by this tour guide cum driver by the name of Made. Handsome la jugak kalau dia trim rambut sikit and letak gel tegak macam Indon celebrity tu sure lagi handsome. He sent us to Saren Indah, Ubud, by the time we reached there it was almost 10.30pm. We agreed to meet up at 8am the next day. We woke up early every single day we were there - 5.45am. Subuh is 5.30am and by 6.15am the sun has already shine so no point tidur. Rugi je. The first morning we woke up to beautiful scenery of rice fields. The entrance of Saren Indah....

The next day was a whole day of sightseeing. It's good to hire a driver than joining a tour because you can decide where you wish to go and negotiate the fees. We collected brochures at the airport and the night before we circled the places we wish to go on the map. Based on the brochure, we have ideas on how we should pay our driver and the route of our tour. For example, we forgo places like Elephant Cave and Monkey Forest. Monkeys? I see lots of them near my parents place, so tak payah ler. And one good thing about Made, our guide is that he took us to the best places. We started the day with a culture show - Barong Dance. It was quite good and they blended the dance with some comic acts. Then we went to two silver factories and saw how they actually created the beautiful jewelery. Yatt bought beautiful earrings of precious stones. Geram la jugak, if only I wear those... I bought hubby a silver ring with black shells at the next factory. Very beautiful. While waiting for Yatt...

We planned our holiday in such a way that we spent the 2nd day crazily traveling, and the next day simply relaxing. Our 3rd day started after breakfast with a walk around Nyuh Kuning Village near our hotel. Time moves so slowly in Ubud. People don't rush. It feels weird. But it feels good. I could live like this... This is one of the roads we walked at the village. Majority of Balinese are Hindus. Mornings are the time for prayers and offerings. You can see offerings everywhere especially in front of houses and shops. One habit holidaying with Yatt is we like to go hotel hopping. We walked around, stopped at all the little hotels along the road, went in, asked for a tour and view of rooms, and get price quotes. I must say they have beautiful hotels in Ubud and at very reasonable price. Of course no trip to Bali is complete without a visit to a spa. I tak pernah pegi spa, OK. So, it was my first experience. And it was so so good and so so cheap. We went to a spa called Alam Wangi, v...

Our hotel is about 5mins to the beach. Walked there after breakfast. Not the white sandy beach kind of place, more of a fishing village and spot for boats to pick up snorkelers. Nevertheless, still a nice place with beach chairs and umbrellas and mat sallehs sunbathing. We spent the day walking along the Sanur road lined with hotels and shops. We did the hotel hopping again! It amazed me how they make their hotels so nice, clean, well-maintained and reasonably priced. One thing I wish to advice is - if you go to Bali, don't spend so much on hotels. Stay at small cheap hotels because their service is at par with the expansive ones, and just as beautiful. And you won't be spending so much time in your rooms anyway... Well, unless you are on honeymoon lah. While hotel hopping we checkout the shops. We found this nice looking expansive souvenir shop selling everything at 50%. Crazy. Must be the low season. I didn't shop much. Budget pun low... and I'm not really a shopper ...

It's our last day. Cepatnya masa berlalu... We actually booked a 2-hour spa session for the morning before we fly off, but then the day before bershopping duit pun dah kurang. So, after breakfast we went to the spa and reduced the service to 1-hour traditional Bali massage. Itu je yang mampu! Hehehe... Still it was very very good. Punya lah best orang urut badan... Sigh... On our walk back to the hotel, sempatlah singgah lagi kat kedai souvenir 50% semalam... Our walking around take up so much of our time but the walk was good. There are a lot to see and experience. The arts, the culture, the people, the architecture, the beauty... we can't get enough. Back to the hotel, packed and then checked out. That's the pool at Stana Puri, next to it is the restaurant. We notice a Japanese couple and a few Australian ladies simply stay by the pool whole day long - the whole time we stayed there. We all keluar jalan - they are at the pool, we all balik from lunch - they are still at t...

Yesterday morning after hantar Aliyah, I baru lah nak baring-baring penat balik holiday and rasa malas gila nak pegi office when hubby called at around 7.30. He said kereta kena langgar dengan bas. Oh my God! Bas? Hubby kena langgar bas??? He said he's OK but the car was rammed from behind by a Metro bas in Bangsar. Alhamdulillah he's OK. He then settled everything - making police report, sending the car to Nissan workshop. It was a hit and run. He didn't managed to get the plate number. Good thing the salesman who sold us the car was really helpful and made arrangements for the repair works. Apparently hubby said, the people who bought cars with Ken, the salesman, are considered special customers, hence, the repair work will be priority. So, I nak promote that guy jap - if you ever wish to buy a Nissan, go to Nissan Puchong and go find Ken - a young tall skinny friendly Chinese guy who will ensure your Nissan test drive session will be an experience. Anyway, again Alhamdul...

I actually just came back from Bali yesterday evening. About that later. Aliyah was taken care of by hubby the whole of the week. She was OK, albeit counting the days I'll be coming home. The night I was home, she showed me a letter she wrote for me while I was away. It says "I love Mami" with a drawing of me. Sedihnya I... Then that night she told me she's going to surprise me tomorrow (today that is). Tapi Aliyah ni actually tak berapa pandai nak simpan rahsia sangat. Dia "tercerita" that she's going to buy me a flower from the school bookshop because she misses me so much. So, this morning on the way to school, again she excitedly told me she's going to buy me the flower - with her own money. And I happily said I'll be waiting for it. As usual, I fetch her from school on Fridays. Today is Teachers' Day and the kids actually went off a bit early. By the time I reached the guard house, she was already waiting anxiously. But she looked kinda ...

We went to Alamanda today for lunch, jalan-jalan and to buy a cake for my Mom for Mother's Day. It's tomorrow yes, but I can't join the party my eldest sister is arranging tomorrow because I kan nak pegi holiday. So, she changed it to today - dia kata tak best kalau I tak de! So, dah lunch and jalan-jalan, we went to Secret Recipe to get a cake. I'm not saying I'm a regular there, tapi ada lah makan sana a few times. Tak lah selalu. Sampai kat cashier je, the girl (a waitress right?) yang memang selalu stationed kat situ said "Hi Kak!" dengan enthusiastic tone macam dia kenal baik dengan I. They are always friendly there anyway and I'm sure she recognized us because every time we all datang, Aliyah suka duduk dekat situ depan display area tu and ogle over the cakes. I smiled back at her and then saw there are boxes of cakes already packed at the side. So I asked whether I should book a cake first. That girl said it's OK, I can just buy one and then...

We had a training at the Crown Princess yesterday. So, as usual, the whole Dextra little brood were camped there. Since Hajar joined us, bertambah meriah sikit our trainings. Bukan apa, kalau idea kurang, or mengantuk, or penat mulut, I can address questions or opinions to Hajar. Heheee... especially if I see she or Linda mengantuk. Jaga korang. Aku penat-penat kat depan berdiri satu hari mengajar makan pun tak lalu, bestnya korang kat belakang ye. Actually, kalau turn Caspian yang bagi training, I pulak ambik kesempatan makan sedap and merayau kat City Square or Ampang Park. Anyway, during lunch at the coffee house, Linda came over to our table dengan excitednya bagitau her Hero Filem Melayu ada kat situ - Tan Sri Jins Shamsuddin. We looked around tapi tak nampak. Then on the way to the lift, there he was with a bunch of people talking at the entrance of the coffee house. Oh my... he still looks handsome with that deep voice. Me and Hajar looked at him in passing and went on. Macam ta...

Finally, after about 1.5 years of waiting, our new house at Taman Impian Putra is now ready. Just received letter to collect the keys a few days ago. Alhamdulillah... Now tengah pening kepala mana aku nak cari duit buat renovation nak besarkan dapur yang comel tu. And the rest of the basic stuff like paying late interest (yang bank lembab bayar developer tapi we all yang kena bayar interest), electrical wiring + the lights, grill (penting oooo... nanti penyamun masuk buat party), curtains (rumah lain, size tingkap pun lain... tak leh nak recycle sangat). Anyway, back to the topic of donating clothes. We have lots of clothes. Banyak still in good condition. Me and hubby sama je perangai, we always wear the same clothes over and over. Yang lama ada tapi malas nak iron lah, panas la, etc. So, before we move to our new home (even though not so soon), I want to make sure we move with only necessary stuff. If anybody knows where I can donate clothes do tell. I promise to give only the good o...