It's been a while since our last family holiday; we've been so busy with getting back into the groove with two kids and because Shafiq works a lot of weekends it's quite rare for us to get time off as a family. So we decided to take a weekend getaway. At first we didn't know where to go..Shafiq suggested bandung, i suggested Kota Kinabalu, but after thinking, we shelved those ideas since I wanted to go to both places wth more planning time involved. So then it was really not that much choice left - the east coast was off limits since the monson ...
Write
Part of my job involves copywriting - more specifically, coming up with stories to enrich our products and build connections between ourselves and our customers. Giving them something to vibe with, so to speak. Some of it gets used, a lot of it doesn't make it past the planning board. I was asked recently how i got into copywriting...well, it was kind of given to me to be honest. I have always been around writing. i do read quite a bit (well. now not so much). In high school i enjoyed english class assignments more than any other homework. I stil ...
Epiphany
I made a dress for Hudaa the other day and despite the very wobbly and uneven seams, crooked pleats, and shoddy workmanship in general, I was so happy and proud of myself. It's been a looooong time since I felt that way. A lot of people replied to my ig story post and it got me thinking, and I suddenly had an epiphany moment. My epiphany moment was this: I'm more of a crafts person rather than an arts person. Hand-on creating physical useable things. I have always liked arts and crafts. I distinctly remember in kindergarten really wanting to p ...
Culinary adventures
Eesa turned 1 last month, and for some reason he hasn't been eating as much. He used to be able to eat a whole bowl of oats for breakfast, and a full lunch and dinner meals, with snacks in between. but he caught a bad bout of coughing and ever since that he has been quite fussy with his food. There were even a few days when he refused to eat his all time favourite banana. It's heartbreaking! He does seem to have a preference for rice over any other food though. Lidah melayu like his dad I guess :) I'm no whiz in the kitchen - Shafiq will ...
The 4th trimester
You know before I gave birth I always used to hear people say 'selamat berpantang'. I never really understood why they said that. I assumed they meant something like happy holidays..boy was I wrong. Pantang or confinement was sort of horrible. Post delivery After giving birth I was allowed to rest for a short while in the labour room. I immediately fell asleep from exhaustion. The nurse came in and told me I could move to the ward, but I really didn't feel like moving. Not that I had a choice. My pelvis was still in a funk so I really c ...
My labour story
My EDD was 3rd of February, but because of my gestational diabetes, if I hadn’t given birth by the 2nd, I’d have to be admitted for induced labor on the 2nd of fib. So the days were going by and I didn’t feel any signs of giving birth. We decided to go to the bird park on the 1st to get a good walk in, which is supposed to help with labor. The day before I had attempted to do some squats, which weren’t that successful since I only managed a few before my knees started shaking lol. The morning of the 1st I woke up feeling a bit sore in the pelvis ...
Week 31
So the doctor told me I have gestational diabetes. I cried walking out of the clinic. It really sucks feeling like you couldn't provide the best for your baby... I've never been the kind of person to diet. Besides going for less sugar, less oil, and less salt (because thats what I'm used to), I pretty much eat whatever and whenever. So having to really monitor what I eat now is kind of hard. I'm so paranoid about food/drinks. Hopefully everything will be fine insha'Allah..
Week 19
Shafiq flew off to Bromo this morning for a 4 day bro-trip. After sending him to the KTM station I went back home and decided to make myself breakfast. Boiled the water for some oats and while trying to reach something in the overhead cupboard my thigh accidentally hit the boiling kettle. Ouch. Now i have thing angry deep red burn on my thigh :/ Then while cleaning out a thermos I decided to rinse it with hot water (I tend to do that a lot. Germs. yuck) I started to shake the closed thermos but I guess the lid wasn't secure so hot water kinda sp ...
#ShafiqMaryam
25 December 2014 Sometimes I still catch myself in disbelief that all of this happened - that I'm married to this amazing man and that every day I love him more and more. Alhmadulillah "رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا" In case anyone was wondering, Catering: Warisan Baiduri Wedding decor: Enrich Wedding Bride Outfits: Tia Fira Bridal MUA: Nabiha Badjenid (nikah, reception) Munira Hmz (Bertandang) Bridemaids attire: Jainas Roshim Official Photog ...
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-ربي يسر ولا تعسر ,ربي تمم بالخير -
Japan Pt7 – Tokyo day 3: Tokyo West!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6Many of the major must see places according to various sites and travel guides were clustered around the west side of Tokyo. For this leg of the journey a lot of the places were on the JR Yamanote line, so we had to purchase additional tickets.Akihabara & ShinjukuWe decided to keep the main players of Tokyo for the full day with the boys, so after grabbing some bre ...
Japan Pt6 – Tokyo Day 2: Food, Fashion, and Festivals
Japan Part 1 | Japan Part 2 | Japan Part 3 | Japan Part 4 | Japan Part 5Tsukiji Fish MarketA lot of people suggested that we go to the Tsukiji Fish Market, which I wasn’t too sure about because let’s face it: it’s a fish market and I hardly ever go to fish markets in Malaysia anyway. But since it opened early and so many people recommended it, and we wanted to get some food, we went there the next morning, but not super early to catch the auction becau ...
Japan Pt5 – Tokyo day 1!!! Heat and Heaven
Japan Part 1 | Japan Part 2 | Japan Part 3 | Japan Part 4We landed in Narita Airport and my first stop was the tourist information centre where we picked up train maps, a tourist map, and a tourist guide book. The night before I researched the available day passes for Tokyo railways, and decided to get the Tokyo Metro Open ticket, since our hostel was on one of the lines and the Tokyo metro also operated most of the lines to the places we wanted to go to, and they had mo ...
Japan Pt 4 – Sapporo with Muhsin :D
Japan Part 1Japan Part 2Japan Part 3After arriving at Sapporo New Chitose Airport we took the train out to Sapporo where we planned to meet Muhsin. The station was huge but thankfully Muhsin was there at the gates to meet us. It's been three months almost, since we last saw him! Peluk tanak lepas >.< We dropped off our bags at Muhsin's hostel, a 10 minute walk away, and after a quick onigiri lunch, we headed back to Sapporo station to go to Otaru. We bought the Sapporo-Otaru welcome pass, which was Y1500 and came with a one day subway pas ...
Japan Pt3 – Kyoto Day 3: Arashiyama, friends, and stranded
Japan Part 1Japan Part 2For day 3 we were undecided whether to leave Kyoto for Osaka earlier or just have the whole day in Kyoto. We had to go to Osaka to get to the airport for our early flight the next morning, but we didn't really know what to do in Osaka besides the aquarium and Universal studios, both of which were expensive, so we decided to just take it easy and spend the day in Kyoto.ArashiyamaOur bus route headed towards Arashiyama was apparently an old folks route, since our bus was full of cute old grannies and grandpas getting out and ...
Japan Pt2 – Kyoto day 2: Palaces, Castles, and Geishas
*warning - this is gonna be quite a looong post with lots of pics. You can read Part 1 here*Kyoto Imperial PalaceDay two started off with a guided walking tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, which was free but needed advanced reservations and approval from the Kyoto Imperial Household Agency. Our tour started at 10am, so we decided to head out a bit earlier and have breakfast at the Imperial Palace Gardens. The outer compound was huge, and it took us quite a while to walk up to the entrance gates. The tour was conducted in English, and it brought ...
Japan Pt1 – Travel and Kyoto Day 1
After a whole lot of planning (which I still felt was not enough, but I didn't have time or much help) the day finally arrived: Osaka-Kyoto-Sapporo-Tokyo roadtrip commence! :D Our flight to Kansai International Airport, Osaka, was at 3 pm so we decided to leave the house at around 11.45. I thought that was ample time buuuuut we must've missed a turn somewhere and I had never taken the NKVE to LCCT before. In the end we arrived just in time to drop off our baggage and clear the security check. Thank God we checked in online earlier hehe. Kansai I ...
Car-karaoke + scatterbrained kinda day
Today while driving ABBA’s Chiquitita came on and i started singing along but ended up almost crying. like seriously. I think its such a touching song. And singing along to ABBA is always, always fun. then otw back i had a very scary panic attack because i couldnt find my parked car even though i was sure i parked right by the exit. walked around and around frantically for almost 15 minutes and was almost in tears when i decided to re-enter the building and try to calm down and gather my thoughts and trace my steps and it turns out i wa ...
So this happened sometime last year
Around Ramadhan last year one of my old lecturers asked if I was interested in writing a piece for a magazine. He didn't give me much detail or direction, so I wasn't really sure what to write and how. But I typed away and emailed him the draft and forgot about it. A few months later, people started telling me they saw my piece in Architecture Malaysia magazine. I was gobsmacked. I didn't actually think they'd publish it, because I didn't really get any feedback on my draft. Anywho, I only recently got my hands on a copy during Archidex'13. Tried ...
Butterfly week
The Holidays have started and I intend to make the most of them. This week has been filled with activities, going out and socializing and meeting people and going places and doing things. not my average week, but definitely enjoyable :D4-7 June - Pulau Perhentian Kecilmore pics below :) most perhentian pics from rahsia studio and phyA lot of uncertainty building up to the trip but boy was everything worth it. From ramai jadi sikit until I was the only girl then nego2 til there were 5 girls on board. I didn't know what to expect from Perhentian, o ...