Living with Sarah

It has been such a quiet and boring week. My work has officially ended. For now. Sebenarnya dah 2 bulan rasa macam project ni dah nak masuk fasa "sakit". Rasanya system yang betul-betul siap ialah yang my team buat. Lain-lain system semua masih fasa requirement study. I got message from the project head while I was in Langkawi. Project officially stop for now until further notice. But I got compensation of half month payment till next month. If the project continues, then will resume work. So, I'm now unemployed. Dah setahun so-called kerja makan gaji, bila project ended kecut perut juga. But then, I think it's the best time since school holidays pun dah nak mula. I told Aliyah that Mommy is taking a break from work till end December. After that I will actively find a new project. Keadaan kewangan pun rasanya OK lagi. (Dengan peluh menitik di dahi!). My translation work payment yang patutnya dapat bulan 5 dulu alhamdulillah dah dapat. Sebenarnya I yang salah. I didn...

Hubbs came back last weekend. Actually he was not supposed to. The next flight will be on 4th November. He got tickets back for Raya Haji, hence the reason there's a huge gap of almost a month. At first I adalah survey tickets for Aliyah and I to go visit him. Sajalah nak berjalan-jalan ke negara orang kan. But I guess he needed the break from his workplace so he came back instead. At his own expenses. No where better than home right? Lagipun nak celebrate birthday Aliyah. So we spent the weekend makan-makan :).  While waiting for Hubbs at KLIA2 makan roti bakar Papparich. First time dia naik Airasia. Dekat 3 jam katanya. Ye la, smaller plane kan. I ni sebenarnya baru jumpa function camera selective focus :).  Mula-mula birthday lunch @sushiking. I really wanted Hubbs to try that beef dish. The next night anak comel pilih Nando's. Her favourite is the Ceasar Salad. Tambah feta cheese lagi. Punyalah rich.  OK, another shot of selective focus. Hehehe...  ...

Finally last day... Sebab semalam agak penat, keluar breakfast dengan Jay & Ies dulu. Anak comel flat pada hari ke-4. Macam mana ni? Tak boleh keep up dengan energy mak dan aunty-aunty? Untuk breakfast, merayau-rayau saja cari tempat makan sebab di tepi-tepi jalan memang banyak je gerai. Since Jay perasan ada gerai yang banyak jual nasi lemak dan kuih di tepi Petronas Kedawang, ke sana dulu untuk tapau nasi lemak dan kuih. Lepas tu singgah di satu gerai tepi jalan yang di belakangnya ada sawah padi. Sedap nasi lemak sini. Lauk walaupun tak banyak sangat tapi sedapppp... Udara pun segar... Abaikan aksi mulut senget itu :) Lepas tu balik bilik, kemas-kemas dan check out. Our flight was at 6.05pm, so banyak masa nak merayau lagi. Next destination - Beras Terbakar Padang Matsirat. Seronok jugak pergi tempat-tempat bersejarah ni.  Siap cerita kat Aliyah sejarah tempat ni. Anak comel aku ni angguk-angguk je. Schedule hari ni sebenarnya free and easy. Siapa ada idea ba...

Cuaca masih suram jadinya plan nak ke Kilim GeoPark dibatalkan. Nampak dari jauh laut macam bergelora sikit. Bukan apa, dah kerjanya asyik makan. Takut lak bila dilambung ombak isi perut semua keluar. Jadinya hari ke 3 banyak drive around dan singgah tempat shopping. Tak apalah, tak ada rezeki nak adventure naik bot. Plan nak cuba nasi dagang Pak Malau yang famous tu pun tak kesampaian. Ada notis di situ - "Cuti Kecemasan". Alaaa... tekak dah terliur nak rasa nasi dagang yang katanya marvelous tu. Tapi area kedai tu memang sangat cantik. Tepi sawah lagi. Siap ada kereta antik tersadai kat tepi sawah tu. I love this picture :) Terus ke Kuah cari breakfast sebab nak merayau area tu. Dapatlah rasa Roti Bistik yang agak famous juga. Cumanya, Aliyah and I agree that eating blackpepper sauce in the morning doesn't do well with our stomachs :).  Roti bistik di Restoren Terung. Lepas tu aktiviti shopping walaupun I ni memang tak plan nak shopping pun. Tapi ok ...

Hari ke-2 hujan turun renyai-renyai. Tapi kami tetap keluar. We started the day with awesome breakfast. The kind of breakfast yang jarang jumpa belah Selangor ni - gerai yang penuh dengan berbagai jenis nasi lemak bungkus harga RM1.00 sahaja. Pilihlah nak lauk apa.  Punyalah banyak jenis nasi lemak dan kuih-muih. Very cheap dan sedap. If you wish for a hearty breakfast that can last you till lunch hour, this is the place. Location: opposite Fave Hotel near Pantai Cenang. Lepas kenyang, gerak ke SkyCab. Nak naik cable car di Gunung Machincang. Isi minyak dulu... tapi tombol nak buka tempat isi minyak dah patah. Ramai juga abam-abam yang sudi tolong. Kikiki... Cuaca masih hujan. Sekejap lebat, sekejap renyai. Tapi redah saja. Nampak dari jauh kabus tebal. We bought basic tickets untuk naik SkyCab dan tengok shows SkyDome dan SkyRex. Now, here's where our adventure began. Naik SkyCab dalam hujan dan angin. Fuhh... experience yang tak boleh lupa!  Masa naik OK...

Our flight was at 12.45pm. We were sent to the airport by my nephew Along Iwan. Aliyah was so excited. The last time she flew was when she was small. Also to Langkawi. Masa tu umur 4-5 tahun kot. Sebab ada gambar I dukung dia kat belakang :). Muka-muka regular :) We reached Langkawi about an hour later. Tunggu sekejap terus dapat kereta sewa. Jay rented an Avanza but we got a slightly bigger car - Inova. Bagus juga sebab banyak space nak letak barang :). Akak ditugaskan jadi supir untuk hari pertama. Surprisingly quite a pleasant car to drive. First thing we did was to have lunch by the beach near the airport. Misi mencari laksa ikan sekoq yang famous itu. Ada a few food trucks. We chose the middle one yang jual pasemboq dan cendol jugak.  Laksa ikan sekoq yang marvelous. I yang tak berapa minat laksa ni pun berjaya habiskan 3/4 pinggan. Lagi 1/4 Aliyah yang makan :). The fish was so fresh. Memang sedap.   Ini paling marvelous. Pasemboq. Macam-macam ada dalam t...

Langkawi was the destination. We were there from 16-19 October. Belum datang idea untuk tulis cerita 4 hari 3 malam di Langkawi. Yang pasti, walaupun suasana di sana mendung dan hujan renyai-renyai (almost) sepanjang masa kami di sana, trip tu masih lagi penuh dengan adventure. Shopping pun adventure ek? Belanja gambar dulu...  Inilah orang-orang yang pergi - Jay, Ies, Shake, Aliyah and I.  Makan pastilah agenda utama.  Ada juga lawatan sambil belajar kisah sejarah.  Tunggu nak naik SkyCab di Gunung Machincang. Tak sempat nak spend masa di beach sangat sebab cuaca tak mengizinkan.  Lalu habiskan masa dengan shopping :). Ini sekitar Pantai Cenang. Ada juga aktiviti shopping perfume kat Duty Free shop. Tapi apa lagi penting? Makan...  As usual, we had so much fun!

Insyaallah tomorrow Aliyah and I will be going for an adventure :). Our bags are ready! Our trusted travel organiser Jay bought us Airasia tickets during sale last year. I think sometime before Raya. Punyalah lama. Tapi sangat murahlah. Two months ago, I knew I couldn't leave Aliyah behind. For one, Hubbs won't be around. But most importantly, the travel dates coincide with her birthday. So I bought her a ticket. It costed more than double than the price Jay bought us last time. But still OK lah harganya. Where to? Secret dulu :). Yang penting, I dah buat my mother's laundry and bought her those little kuih bahulu that she loves. Tomorrow insyaallah sempat settlekan dia before I go. And insyaallah on Thursday morning resume that daily task. Tapi yang stressnya, on Thursday tu terus kena buat training. Bila masa nak recover penat balik from that trip? Walaupun berjaya taichi kepada team leader untuk buat training, rasanya macam kena taichi balik ke diri sendiri je... J...

Anak comel memang betul-betul merdeka lepas exam. Hari ni pulangkan buku teks. Bila tanya buat apa di sekolah, kata dia tak ada apa. I told her she should bring maybe Uno to school to play instead of spending her time chatting with her friends. Adalah aktiviti sikit. Lepas sekolah ke Izzkin hari ni. Anak comel dah buat appointment dengan Kak Ekin dia untuk buat facial. I don't know where she gets this perangai melawa from. Definitely not from me. Sebab Mommy dia memang comot dan selebet. But Aliyah is the opposite. While I only have one lipstick and one eyeliner in my drawer, plus a few old eyeshadow cases yang warnanya cuma earth colours dan sangat jarang diguna, my daughter has these complete set of make-ups with various types of brushes. I even had a hand-me-down eyeshadow set from her! However, we have this understanding - anything that she wants, which is not a necessity, she will need to pay using her own money. And since she's quite a thrifty person (this trait she d...