avi-spa@avillion-port-dickson

no, no, no...

i did not do these ceramic pieces for avi-spa...

or having anything to do with their interior designs and/or furnishings..

i was just there recently enjoying foot, back and overall body massages 2 times/days in a row...

whilst enjoying the sea-views, breezes, sands and life's simple pleasures...

yeah, this body needs some pampering... ;)

pretty ugly: pretty closed..?!

i'm not sure what i'm doing here, but i was trying to tell a fellow blogger that i'd like to continue being one of her silent-readers by creating a link at her blog.. but unexpectedly a blogpost appearing in MY blog, instead..?? yes pugly? i'm doing this correctly, huh?? take care sis and good luck in your new beginnings..

pretty ugly: A New Beginning.

entertaining at home

i've wanted to blog about dinner for 12 persons with 2 of my former schoolmates, their spouses and children that i hosted last friday 27th feb.. and also about my lunch with the famous radio personality of yester-years, kak-yong and her immediate family members, on the following sunday 1st march, also at my house..

entertaining friends at home has been our new passion the past 3-4 years, eversince moving to bukit beruntung for good.. mmm, maybe the extra dining & lepaking spaces around the house contributed highly to the development and nurturing of this new passion..

now that both events were already almost 2-weeks ago, i'd just instead post some of the photos i took.. not so much of my guests but of my table-settings, in the hope that some of my handmade ceramic tablewares & decorative items are 'accidentally' featured in the snapshots..!!!! ;)

sunday royal affair..

his father waited patiently and frustratedly for nearly 48 years to reclaim his birth-right.. and almost as soon as the father was pronounced the rightful ruler of his subjects, he immediately put succession plans in place to protect his children and future generation from further squabbles..

i'm not ashamed to admit that i shed a few tears and wiped my nose a few times during this simple yet beautiful ceremony..

bajukurungs & me..

i'd normally buy bajukurungs whenever hariraya comes along, but of late i've had to buy more bajukurungs whenever there is a function coming on.. and of late, not only the bajukurungs have to match my simple taste, geometric-inclinations, petite (short!?) structure and thinking-personality (haha), they'd also have to match my darling husband's attire/s and the function/s..

the designer-in-me have always tried to be different and creative and have always attempted over the years to design her own bajukurungs, by scouting high & low for suitable fabrics not just for the bajus but the kains and selendangs as well, not to forget the brooches, necklaces, earings etc.. while the experiences have been fun, fullfilling and resulting in satisfactorily-designed bajukurungs for my simple-tastes and subdued-styles, the time and effort involved in putting everything nicely together have been, yeah time-consuming..

therefore finding and frequenting poya@bsc have been one of life's little blessings, at least for me.. eventhough i've been a repeat customer over the past few years or maybe eversince the shop opened 5 years ago, i've never really decided that i should solely focus my bajukurung-needs on this small boutique, until last friday..

poya the shop's owner was my subang-usj9/3B's neighbour whom i never knew then until that friday, eventhough we've been exchanging background details eversince we first met for my first purchase of bajukurung from her a few years ago.. the boutique was opened 5 years ago when poya decided to accept vss-option from her employer, and hence, to venture on her own at the ripe-age of 48 after many years in banking, public relations and corporate affairs..

she's been carrying bajukurungs that suit my tastes and styles that resist heavy beadings, elaborate decorations, loud colours and flowery patterns.. and most importantly her friendly-disposition from years of handling banking customers of various backgrounds and temperaments have endeared her to her regular customers, old and young, middle or upper classes, rich or not-so, titled or otherwise, me included..

to me, she's not just the owner of my favourite bajukurung-boutique, a former neighbour and fellow entreprenuer.. last friday she has also become my bajukurung-designer, function-advisor and social-confidante.. yes, from here onwards, i'd not need to look high and low to put my bajukurung-ensembles together so that i'd look nice & comfortable, appropriately-matched and suited to darling husband and our function/s, coz poya@bsc is here to stay among my life's little blessings..

welcome 2009..

phew, what a relief..!! the school holidays are finally over and i'm actually very glad to be back to normal routines..!! one activity after another and i never realized just how busy and hectic a year-end holidays could do to me until now.. or is it that my body is no longer able to sustain all these..??? mmm..



asked my darling hubby whether he felt glad too, and he replied, why should he? life has been normal to him, work-work-work, regardless of the times of the year, therefore school holidays or not, my darling hubby's life is always centred around his passion, that is his work & business.. i'm forever glad that he's very committed and really enjoying looking after his/our financial-priorities, therefore allowing me to be forever having free reins of the other 'non-financial' areas in his life.. ;) i'd just need to give him ample notices of our family plans and he'd re-adjust his schedules to be involved as my better-half and my children's doting-father.. simply 'perfect' huh?? ;)

yes, so welcome 2009..!!!

i already know what my new year goals and plans are, but i'd just need to rewind and snip off whatever remnants of 2008 that are still trailing behind me.. and with the school-hols plans always mixing together and jumbling up my other agendas, sorting out my head to face the new year may take a while..

some quiet time alone with my iced cappuchino in my favourite wifi-cafe.. is necessary, huh??

this blog-post is just to tell my few 'loyal-readers' that my life the past 2-weeks was not just about my many, many cats.. ;))

this is also to inform that i started the new year in full blast with fellow mama-mias, exactly on new year's day 1st january 2009.. ;))

3days 2nights in our children's kampung..

i'm feeling holiday-lagged.. 3 full-days of sunway lagoon, ice-skating, alacarte-dining, fish-spa-ing, some shopping and plenty of kids' fun-time.. is enough for aging bodies like mine and darling hubby's..!! by the mid of the final day, we had to argue and persisted with the kids that enough is enough, mama and abah needed to go home and recuperate..

by the next morning, today saturday, my darling hubby is back to work.. he's very focused and hard-working, that better-half of mine.. 3 off-days were already too long a time to be away from his busy schedules, and we fully-understand.. that was why we chose sunway, a mere 30min drive away to spend quality funtime, away from normal routines..

we used to be subang-jaya-urbanites all our working/married life till we moved here 3 years ago.. but my elder-kids took sunway and other urban amenities for granted coz all those were short drives away and almost daily-frequented.. therefore now, visits back to sunway or subang jaya are cherished by my 2 eldest..

and to spend 3 full-days in their 'kampung' environment with all amenities 5-minutes away from their hotel bunkers was heavenly.. and without having to drive back and forth from one place to another, darling hubby was more relaxed and contented to follow the kids and his wife's many whims.. ;)

an ABBA fan since i was seventeen..

and 27 years later.. my 5yr old son is a fellow cult-member..!!!

i had been cooped up in my soho the past 5 days finishing off the remnants of my 2008 resolutions when i received a reminder call to attend this ebay-business tutorial seminar that i had registered a week earlier..

i've always been soho-based in my business-operations, but 5 days working from home without going anywhere even to do gardening or grocery-shopping had made my son very attached to his mum, so upon seeing me dressing up to go out to attend the seminar, ikmal started to sulk, cry and bawl..

that was until his father my darling husband suggested that he should watch some of the newly-bought pirated cds that he brought home the night before, which included 'mamamia the movie'..!! and immediately ikmal's eyes brightened up and almost as immediately he stopped crying, then settled down on the sofa with his barney whilst sucking his thumb..

yes, with mamamia the movie featuring all the ABBA's songs that he'd been listening very often throughout his young life, this mama could now go to work in peace and with full consent coz 'ikmal nak tengok cerita ikmal'...

enjoy one of my many ABBA's all-time favourites, DANCING QUEEN.. which ikmal insists, is HIS song..!! one of these days instead of my fellow dancers, eh girlfriends taking me karaoke-ing, eh kroaking.. i foresee ikmal accompanying his mama instead.. ;)

friday night and the lights are low

looking out for a place to go

where they play the right music

get into the swing

you've come to look for a king..

anybody could be that guy

night is young and the music's high

with a bit of the right music

everything is fine

you're in the mood for a dance..

and when you get the chance

you are the dancing queen

young and sweet only seventeen

dancing queen

feel the beat from the tamborine oh yeah..

you can dance you can jive

having the time of your life

ooo see that girl watch that scene

dig in the dancing queen..

you're a teaser and you turn them on

leave them burning and then you're gone

looking out for another

anyone will do

you're in the mood for a dance..

and when you get the chance

you are the dancing queen

young and sweet only seventeen

dancing queen

feel the beat from the tamborine oh yeah..

you can dance you can jive

having the time of your life

ooo see that girl watch that scene

dig in the dancing queen

dig in the dancing queen..

you can dance you can jive

having the time of our life

ooo see that girl watch that scene

dig in the dancing queen..

(wishing now i have an audio-something installed here in my blog..)

one iced mochachino please..??

mmm.. yum, yum.. slurrpp.. very nice.. hope this will get my head cracking, eh..??

december already and what have i achieved this year..?? have i grown richer, happier, savvier, healthier..?? have i become more organised, more work-focused, more religious, more business-minded..?? have i become a better mum/wife/daughter/sister/friend..??

around this time last year, i listed my 2008-goals into 4-categories: 1.work, 2.personal, 3.family and 4.house.. and under each category, i listed down all the things that needed to be done or looked into.. and i ended up with quite a mouthful/typeful of little projects and assignments to keep me occupied for the whole year..

but other things always got in my way of course, both invited and otherwise.. but as i re-look at my long list again, i've to admit that while the last 3-categories are now almost fully-ticked, my 1st and foremost should have been my priority-category.. is barely one-third completed.. :(

it happens again, again and again...!!! maybe i shouldn't have too many other things on my mind..?? but i'm a soho-based mother with growing children who need regular guidance & assistance.. and my aging body needs much more tender loving care (read: maintenance).. and my 3-yr old house needs greater housekeeping than we ever expected.. and blogging is this new-found creative outlet that i just cannot resist having a daily-dose of.. and running your own business can be quite lonely sometimes, so those long-lunches and tete-a-tetes with my girl-friends are necessary, okay..??!!

therefore i'm very thankful for the advances in technology these days.. it makes life so much more easier and efficient for small little businesses like mine.. and i'm also thankful to be given the hindsight and motivation to pursue these alien technologies despite the many hiccups along the way..

so am i better off than a year before..?? whilst only barely one-third of my work-projects are ticked off from my list and it really bugs and bothers me big-time coz this business-owner is still actually not so business-minded even after 15yrs in business.. i'm happy to announce that all other areas of my life have progressed well accordingly to plans, and some have infact proceeded beyond my expectations, alhamdulillah..

one cannot get everything, eh?? i'll be more work-oriented next year inshaallah, darling hubby.. ;)

in pursuit of it-savviness, part 2..

i've decided to pursue it-savviness since 2001/2002, but only decided to put it firmly embedded in my head as my yearly goals since the past 3years.. putting and listing everything down has always worked for me eversince i could remember, and these lists would be my guiding forces for the rest of the year/s.. being sanguine and always spurred by emotions and gut-feelings, i've repeatedly found that the lists have successfully kept me sane and in-focus despite the many turnings, off-beaten and unplanned tracks that i had taken along the way..

before it-savviness became a big part of my vocabulary, listing down my goals would always involve multi-coloured pens/highlighters, plenty of papers and some quiet corners of a cozy cafe.. the same multi-coloured pens/highlighters, plenty of papers and some quiet corners of a cozy cafe would also be the most important participants to any brainstorming sessions between me, myself, my soul and my mind..

as i regularly streamline my business over the years to reduce my headaches and body-aches, and settle down to simple needs and wants.. my multicoloured pens/highlighters are slowly replaced by only one black felt-pen.. my plenty of papers (which by the way, would sometimes include tissue-papers) would be taken over by half a cm thick notebook.. and my quiet corners of some cozy cafes have been upgraded to wi-fi providers..

such is the way to go now.. and i upgraded my mobile to 3G so that i can sms, mms and browse even when i'm gardening.. proceeded with a laptop so that i could do some 'serious' work wherever i rest my hat on.. a digicam to capture my product images and anything that i fancy to share with the world.. a gmail address instead of streamyx so that i'm less-proned to virus-attacks and better organized with my emails.. picasa web-albums instead of photo attachments.. google documents instead of bulky files..

and along the way i discovered blogging and make new web-friends..

and how does a photo of my purse and reading glasses relate to all these..??

despite the hefty financial investments on it-savviness, the outcomes have been enormous.. despite my frustrations dealing with any technical complications, overcoming them have been liberating considering 'my age'.. despite the longer-than-expected years spent researching, browsing and learning this new-age technologies, i'm now considered way above my it-peers..

and what else have i paid to be it-savvier than the rest of my peers..?? after 44 years of blissful perfect eyesights, i am now for the first time in my life.. be-spectacled.. :(

in pursuit of it-savviness, part 1..

these are all that i need most of the times these days to get me on the go and fully productive and working.. i'd transfer all these 'necessary-for-my-survival' items all over my soho to enjoy different seating/working environments, or onto my car for a short drive to clear my head at some of my favourite coffee-jaunts, or drag it along to my other destinations just in case there'd be a few hours in-between my chores/errands/appointments for some quality work to be done..

those slideshows are cool, huh..??

this latest blogger's 'gadget' is really cool, huh..?? lucky that i've been using picasa web-albums the past 2-3years already, therefore applying the slideshow/s to my blog was a breeze.. provided the albums that you'd want to show are listed for public-viewing!!

as you can see, i've 2 slide-shows currently showing in my blog for all to see.. the first slide shows my factory's latest production/s that may or may not have been included in my existing (5) websites.. and the second slide shows all, well mostly all, the plants and interesting textures in my beruntung-garden sanctuary..

it's half past ten at night, i'm typing in the dark infront of the tv accompanying my young son watching his spongebob squarepants.. and i think i'm mumbling my words and sentences here.. my mind is all jumbled up with different things to do.. my eyesights are blurry and my hands & shoulders still sore from yesterday's life-changing 'operation'..

aahh yes, i've also created a blog for my schoolmates.. g'nite, g'nite..

no more shopping please..

it's been exhausting shopping, preparing and anticipating... but now that all the official dinners are over, i feel much more relaxed eventhough the actual award presentation is still yet to be completed.. hubby says it's some time before puasa, but as long as i know already what i'm going to be wearing that day, i'm ok with any day/date..

who says shopping is every girl's best friend?? my girl-friends huda and azu may totally embrace this statement, and maybe sherry and zana too.. but i have always been shopping-with-a-purpose type of girl.. shirts/baby-Ts/no-frill-blouses are my regular fashion-styles..black/brown/earth-tones are my colour staples.. subdued yet rugged/funky appearances are my close acquaintances.. with chunky pendants/earings/bracelets as my only loud advertisers..

upgrading eh, changing my styles to suit certain protocols and fit certain societal norms are stressful on me.. no wonder my vertigos have kept lurking around to attack me the past 1 week in-between both weekend functions..

okay, okay, no more shopping for me.. but ooppss, hariraya is coming soon...????!!! oh well, let me just rest for a while and enjoy this snapshot of this new acquaintance in my new environment..

aussiegals BLUE-luncheon..

everybody was supposed to wear any tones of blue.. but as what happened last year when we first introduced this dress colour-theme, some gals still turned up in different colors..

yeah, yeah, yeah regardless of that.. here we are the aussiegals posing in our best bluesy-attires!! this time around there were only 11 of us who can make it to this 'annual' lunch-gathering as compared to 16 last year..

'aussiegals' was loosely formed sometime in 2001/2002 to consist of (zaida's & rosmah's) former aussiemates whilst they studied and goofed around in sydney australia between the years of 1982-1990.. over time as we get more excited of being reunited with more and more mates, anybody's mates become everybody's mates too..

for gals in our (early?) forties.. we don't look so bad, huh??? ;)))

random thots in my messy head..

with the school holidays over and the new maid finally stationed in my port, i'm trying to get back into ceramic-focus after nearly three months of house 'bliss'.. but hey, it's difficult these days coz daily dosage of chedet.com is a must too!! and that could go on and on the whole morning maa...

blogging for hours to increase my google ranking is 'work' hence acceptable, therefore time well spent.. browsing & reading other blogs is research & development, therefore equally permissible too.. but reading & commenting on a political blog..???

but i don't consider dr.M as just a politician.. he's been my constant source of inspiration, motivation, admiration and respect for as long as i can remember.. i miss reading articles about him in the main media..

the whole family was in cameron highlands for 4 days last week, therefore the photo above should be familiar, huh?? cameron's tea plantations are amazing shows of human strengths and always pleasing to my eyes.. i'm also trying to upload/add other green & pleasing photos of cacti and veges in this post but unsuccessful so far, mmm...

pleasing to my eyes.. get back into ceramic-focus.. eh, headache coming.. my son's making a choc-mess.. my new maid needs supervising.. my urut-lady is dropping by shortly.. will sort my mess later, later, later lorr...

i'm still a french-maid..

my last posting was 2 and a half weeks ago.. mmm, what have i been doing?? busy with the housechores, the kids, the cats, the fishes, the plants and yes, tuti & tutu the turtles!! hardly any real ceramic-work has been attempted!! :(

i've been procastinating big time, aarrgghh..!!

i'm still my husband's french-maid-of-honour.. but it's been 10 weeks already and the new maid is still not arriving any time soon. always the optimistic believing there're blessings in disguises in whatever hardships coming my way, i'm now: a better cook (3 dishes in less than an hour), a more efficient housekeeper (daily chores done by 11am), a less spender (no more trips out of bb-town), a more fit-ter woman above 40 (stronger arms due to daily upstretch to dry up my laundry), a more observant mother (my 12yr old girl actually still needs more baby-ish playtime with me), a more tolerant mother ('accepting' the constant mess made by my 5yr old boy coz he 'promised' to clean up by himself afterwards), a less tolerant cat-lover (no cats playing/lazying inside the house to reduce furry-mess), blah, blah, blah..

now that i've listed them down, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives huh?? but oh my.. how i wish i can just disappear for a while.. and enjoy some pampering body massages or something!! 3hr karaoke, eh kroaking-session with my girl-friends would be very nice and most welcome too!!!

my eyes teary, my nose blocked, my head hurts..

yes, i've been 'crying' the past 2hours, whilst i was uploading the photos of my ceramic leaves in my previous two postings.. thinking about the public disrespects and humiliations the present malaysian government is continuing giving to it's former PM, our beloved Tun Dr Mahathir.. :(

i'm no supporter of any political party, but i'm passionate about respecting your elders.. i'm constantly reminded of my own 74-yr old father still recuperating from stroke for the past (nearly) 2 years..

i posted a comment in dr. M's blog 2 hours ago re. ex-gratia payments to judges, my first ever 'communication' with him after decades admiring and looking up to him from afar.. and since then i've been going back and forth checking on further comments from other readers, but none was yet to be published after mine..

considering his previous postings attracted hundreds of comments, today's posting is stopping at comment number 31?? it's been 2 and a half hours now without follow-ups, maybe more comments coming soon..?

with the lack of follow-up comments after mine, i was 'forced' to re-read and re-read my own posting until my eyes bleed.. my nose blocked.. and now headaches developing..

how could the present leaders simply forget his many contributions the past 22 years, and instead pick on one issue after another just to embarrass and belittle him?? instead of enjoying his long overdue retirement like our fathers, dr. M is still fighting for malaysians..

my heart goes out to him.. teary eyes, red nose and all...

beloved dr. mahathir..

yaaayyy.. my most favourite prime minister is now blogging too.. since yesterday!! www.chedet.com will be among my favourite net-stop-overs too, despite me being not politically very interested and savvy about anything political.. i'm just a big supporter of the doctor, no matter what the others say.. ;)

the yusof family

i juz stumbled upon sufiah yusof's official family blog approx. an hour ago, and is briefly blogging about it now so that i would not forget to keep visiting again later..