Of Heart and Mind

Today is my anniversary…and here I am, working in the office, with Nik hundreds and thousands of miles away in Jakarta. Huu huu huu To my husband….. Happy 9th Anniversary, dear! We knew each other in 1993….some 12 years ago through a friend. Well, to be exact, we were introduced by a friend, through the Internet (IRC specifically) …. hahaha… there you go! It was a cyber-relationship which turned out into a marriage. We owe it to our friend……. I guess those who are in the same age-league with me must know what IRC is. That was the time when email-IRC-Internet were so new and hot in the States and students were so hooked up to them (including me, that is). Telephone, email and IRC were mainly our medium of communication as our universities were far far away from each other. He was in Columbia Univ in NY and I was in the Mid-West zone, so courting-dating-or-what-ever-u-call-it is totally out of the question. Hallmark cards with love messages flew around and across the continent, exchanged...

Yesterday (24 Dec 2005) was Naqeeb’s birthday, but the celebration was held last week because: Nasreen’s birthday was on 1st Dec so we thought we could do some cost-cutting by doing 2 celebrations in 1; Nik was in town last week for a week or so, and that was the best time to do the birthday party; and This week will be the Christmas week with an extra day-off, which falls on Monday (26 Dec 05 – hey, it’s pay time!!!!) so most people will not be in town or if they do, they must be busy with their families as the weekend is longer. So, the birthday was set on Sunday, 18 December 2005 @ 5.30pm. It was held at McD Sect 3, Shah Alam and we invited some closed friends and relatives. It was just a small party and the kids really enjoyed themselves. I made 2 large cakes, i.e. a carrot cake with cheese topping and ‘Spongebob’ on top for Naqeeb and a moist chocolate cake for Nasreen. I thought the kids must be really excited but it turned out that my excitement outweighs theirs (heehehee) – the...

Life’s been quite hectic since I got back from my long holiday. Work to finish, documents to finalize, meetings to attend, house to clean, big big piles of laundry to do, clothes to iron…. The list is endless….and I’m down with fever, athma, flu…. Where do I start!? Anyway, the trip to Jakarta was fabulous! We had so much fun and the kids really enjoy themselves too. Our daily agenda was simple… Morning to afternoon….. sand pool!!! Every single day….. while the kids were having fun, I turned darker and darker each day (or tanned…. hehe, let’s just put it that way). Evening, when Nik came back from work .….. “jalan jalan” time!!! Toyota VIOS are widely used as taxis there.... impressive eh!? The apartment that we stayed was closed to quite a number of malls, so my daily activities were evolved around those buildings... (hahaha! I’m beginning to love Jakarta!). I took the liberty to visit Ciputra Mall – where I bought loads of souvenirs to take home, Anggerik Mall - there’s a Martha Th...

Cakes & Desserts: Moist Chocolate Cake with Melted Chocolate Topping (RM35) Marble Butter Cake with Butter Cream Icing (RM35) Banana & Nut Cake with Cream Cheese (RM35) Chocolate Brownies & Walnut with Chocolate Topping (RM30) Coconut-Pandan Cake with Butter Cream Topping (RM30) Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese (RM35) Snowy White Chocolate with Butter Cream (RM35) Orange Delight Cake with Cream Cheese (RM35) Plain Walnut Cake (RM35) - no topping Plain Prune & Walnut Cake (RM35) - no topping Creme Caramel (RM18 per serving) Baked Cheesecake - plain, chocolate, Oreo (RM40) Chilled Cheesecake (RM45) Butter Layer Cake (RM45) Mini Fruit Tarts (RM0.80) - min of 20 pcs Cut-Shape/Decorated Cake : (RM40 per kg) Choo Choo Train - 2kg Standing Barbie Doll - 2kg Enchanting Castle - 2.5kg Huggable Teddy Bear - 2kg Doll Cake - 1.5kg Racing Car - 2kg Photo Icing Cake - depending on availability of cartoon characters Scrumptious Meals : Cottage Pie / Chicken Pie (RM35 per serving) Baked P...

My flight to Jakarta departs this afternoon and I'm still here, in my office, doing my work which I think.... I will not be able to complete by 12noon today, and in 10 minutes time, I have a meeting to attend. So, what does that tell me? Yesss.... I have to bring my laptop and my documents along to Jakarta! Aaarrgghhhh!!!!!!!! This is so very unfair! I deserve this trip but what have I done wrong to deserve this punishment.... Hhmmm..... no escape! Got to do what I got to do.... I came home quite late last nite and it was Nasreen's birthday! But I managed to get her birthday cake and a present. Was a veerryyyy small celebration, the big one will be done together with Naqeeb's end of this month. Anyway, I will not be updating my blog for a while as I'll be away until 12 December 2005. So, have a great weekend to all!!!!!!!!

Life’s been busy and I find less and less time available for blogging. I’m temporarily assigned to another subsidiary company to look into some compliance issues. Therefore, documents are piling up my desk and emails are flowing in my Inbox like…. no mercy! I’m supposed to complete this task by 12th December (that is 2 weeks from now)… the problem here is…. How can I!!!???? I’ll be on leave from 2nd December to 11th December… that means I only have now until Thursday (1st December) - F.O.U.R days, I kid you not! - to complete them…… hoollyyy ssmmokkee!!! OK… this should be my last post for this week before I’m off for a 10-day-long leave. How was your weekend? Mine? As usual…. Saturday morning, I was busy putting some final touch on my Lemon Cheesecake, ordered by a friend of mine for her husband’s birthday. After that, I went out to do some banking chores…. and managed to open up a savings account with HSBC bank in USJ. I will give the ATM card to Nik so that he can withdraw money fro...

I've been busy.... veerrrryyyy busy! Actually, I have tons of things to write but since I was so tied up with work, cake orders, house chores, the kids, yadda...yadda...yadda.... all the juicy stuff that I wanted to write evaporate into the air, though I tried hard to seal them inside my almost-filled-up brain - which can holds less than 100KB of information per day, and it's deteriorating each day, mind you! Gosh... I'm so old! Aaahhhh! While we are on this topic, the other day I was looking at the mirror in my room and I saw an image of a middle aged woman and she looked oh!-so-old!!!!! Oh no!!!! Was that really me? Yeah, I know I'm having a mid-life crisis of some sort but couldn't be thhhaaatttt old!!????? Quickly I asked Nik (via SMS laaa.... hehehe. He's still in Jakarta) if I do look old and he said probably because I smile less these days (that means he agreed that I look older than my age????) Hhmmm....why ah? Not sure myself lah! (And I didn't know...

I adore flowers. Tulip and Lily are my favourites. When I did the 'flower-quiz', ...guess what? I am a Lily! These are what Lilies like....... "You are graceful, gentle, calm, and pure and perhaps a little shy (though your shyness is part of your charm). You are a very honorable person who always wants to do the right thing. Your calm attitude has a soothing effect on others. The lily has long been used as a symbol of majesty, honor, chastity, and purity of heart." True of false? Hmm.. sounds too good to be true, but I have no problem at all believing in it (hehehe). Find out which flower you are.... check out my Fav. Quizzes.

It's 17 November 2005 and my watch says the time now is 7.40pm..... wondering what should I do !?#$%^&**(&^ Last nite was a busy one, indeed. Here's what happened... 8.00 pm Took the kids to McDonald in Sect9, suddenly both of them felt like eating burger and fries! 9.00 pm Stopped by at East India, Shah Alam Mall. Nik bought some stuff, and I too .... hehehe 10.00 pm Drove back and we had late dinner (almost supper!). Fat! Fat! Fat! 11.00 pm - 2.00am Packed, packed and packed... Some of his stuff and his bags The kids went to sleep quite late as they wanted to wait until we finished packing.... and the teddies too. 5.00 am (17/11/05) Woke up early to send Nik to airport. We left the house around 6.00am and reached KLIA around 6.45am. 7.30 am Nik checked-in his luggages and then we had breakfast at one of the cafes there. Cafe mocha, hot chocolate and beef pie.... what a healthy (!?) breakfast to kick start the day! 7.50am Oops! Time to go. I need to be in KLGCC at 9...