Little Stories 272 : The First Week and It Was Our Birthday Week

On my birthday, I was supposed to be working, but I decided to replace it with last month's work day and I was just on standby. I went out with Aja, Mi, and Ma (they picked me up to treat me to a late breakfast and lunch).  

We went for a short 1-hr karaoke session. I'm not much of a singer (because I can't really sing), but I want to continue doing things that I'm uncomfortable with and all the firsts this year. Last year was interesting, and I think it would be fun to continue doing it this year just to loosen up a bit.  

It was a decent day 🎂

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The Birthday Weekend :

We went to Homst for lunch and later tea-time at my brother's house.

• My sister got me a De-Stress treatment at Virtue TCM in Bangsar South - with acupuncture, cupping, and upper body guasha, plus an add-on of ear seed therapy. The timing is great because I kinda needed it. I booked the date for later.
• Aja got me a 90-minute massage session in Bangi (because I requested it as well), and a lunch birthday treat at Yakiniku & Sukiyaki buffet the next week. Plus the hair oil that I wanted.
• My brother baked me an apple pie (as requested because we both don't eat cakes that often anymore). Other than that he made soft-baked cookies with huge chunks and gave me a new sling bag and gloves (as a reminder for our travel plan).
  
• Ma kinda went overboard and paid for a facial treatment, and a makeup set (she's still trying - so now I finally got makeup and ok, I'll learn but I won't promise that I'm going to use it as often), a new plaid shirt, and some kitchen stuff. 

This time, I actually only requested me-time treats from them, so that's why I got the facial and the massages but they always have extras as well because like I mentioned in my previous yearly birthday post - the sibling birthdays in my family are "our big events" because we only celebrate it twice a year (Azura & I) + (Aja & Azmi).  Plus, Ma always went overboard with the presents - siap ada lucky draw bagai.  

I also went out with Sofi & Af on Sunday, for a lunch treat and outing. 

Note : The desserts were all home-made by my brother & sister ♥︎

Ohh yes, and I just turned 37.

Thank you, everybody!

♥︎♥︎♥︎

Untitled Post : My 36th Birthday

 

This is a post I wrote later on, 10 months later.

It was a bleak birthday for me, so I didn't write anything about my birthday right away because it was a bit of a meh. But I should want to remember this as it is an important turning point in my life. 

I got a birthday day off from work, so I scheduled a home body massage for an hour from the Sentuh app. Sofi was at kindergarten for her half-day playschool. Then after picking her up from kindergarten, I treated myself to a lunch meal from Fishermanhatten - Af and Sofi were there, but I remember it as a bleak lunch as well. Then my brother came by and treated us to croissants at Cristine's. We also took a picture of the machine, so that I would remember the day well. 

That was the day I said to myself that I wouldn't want to wait anymore. 

Note: I also used all the present money I received from Ma and my siblings that I was supposed to buy myself a new reading chair, to survive later on.

Little Things 242 : Turning 31

I turned 31 last week! 

31 on 3.1  💛

Let me share some of the stuffs that I did on my birthday : 

1. Af sent me to Mid Valley for a 'Me' time because I know if I stay at home, I'll be doing works as usual. There are hardly any days in my week that I stay home relaxing doing nothing - I don't even understand what that is anymore. Fun is work, work is also work. Basically my life nowadays is consisted of 80% of working on something and 20% of other small stuffs.  

2. Bought the first early bird ticket for RM 11 - The Greatest Showman. 

I love musical and I really like the simple messages it brings. 

There are messages in every songs, here's what I extracted from watching it the first time :

• Dream on something and believe in it. Even though when no one believes in you and you have absolutely nothing. The most important thing is you believe in it | Song : A Million Dream
• Rather than being trapped in a work that you dislike for fame and privileges, might as well do something that you are really passionate in. There is no money or fame that can replace the feel of fulfilment in doing something that you are really passionate about  | Song : The Other Side
• You don't need everyone to love/like you, just the important ones, partner & family especially. Keep them close in your circle, always | Song : Tightrope
• 'A celebration of humanity' - every single people who works in the circus is unique in their own way. Some people might not like it, some people accept them as who they are. The world is consists of those differences and we as human need to be able to see pass all the physical appearance and focus on the inside. Our body is just a vehicle to your mind, your soul | Song : Come Alive
• Accepting yourself, the flaws, the uniqueness. Don't be ashamed, don't hide behind windows. You are you, celebrate your life | Song : This is Me
• It won't ever be enough. You can build an empire from nothing, be recognized for your work, make so much money for a lifetime  and it might still not be enough for you. The fulfilment is not supposed to those physical and material things. It should be from the inside, do it for you, for your family, for God. Goals and achievements are just there for you to put a ✔✔✔ on your list | Song : Never Enough
• Remember your ground, remember why you started in the first place | Song : From Now On

3. Went out for a lunch with my mom.
Right after the movie, I didn't know what to do. So I texted my mom and asked whether she wants to have lunch together (because that morning she called and asked what I was doing that day). So she brought me to Sushi Zanmai for a lunch treat ! ❤

And I guess that's it !
Next thing planned was our birthday party on that Saturday (my little sister turned 26 on the 4th), so we usually celebrate our birthday together.

On Saturday :

• We went out for a 11 km cycling session (all the siblings + Af) 

• During lunch time, they reserved a table at Miyagi Restaurant in Bangi (as requested by us two because I only went there once last year - it was a bit pricy and we had to wait for special occasion ) I think our lunch for the whole family reached around RM 280 :F but it was WORTH IT. I had a special "Mini Udon to Soft Shell Crab Set" - I don't usually order for a set, but this time I did and it was goooood. I'm glad we tried it :

• Afterwards, we went to It's a Grind cafe in Cyberjaya for cake + present opening session :D My brother baked a nice special Strawberry Cheese Cake for us (and even for that I ate a bunch because it was really nice). 

• We actually received wayyy more than we expected this year. Birthday is an event where we actually pass a list of items we wanted among siblings and then each one of us will try to cross the whole list (so there will be discussion on what we are going to buy without the birthday person). So it wouldn't be hard on us to 'try' to find something we won't use/like. 

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Things I received (from my mom + siblings + Af) : 

• Novel graphic (You & A Bike & A Road by Elianor Davis) and Murakami's (Men without Woman) that I listed from Bookdepository 
• Skin Vacuum (or whatever it is called, to suck the living of your oils on your face), Biore Pore Pack & Oil Blotter - because man, my skin is oily 24/7 and I needed those to avoid constant break outs. My sister didn't want to buy these because she said I can buy it myself - but she asked for a list and that's what I wrote down :D
• Pure honey and Vitamin C - because I want to stay healthy !
• New working chair ! - you have no idea how long I waited to have my own proper working chair T^T I love it ❤
• New mini tripod for video taking because the one I bought from Mr Diy is now broken :D 
• Flight ticket to Langkawi in April and also a really nice passport holder ❤

Huge presents for Me, Aja + Af :

• A Silhoutte's Cameo 3 !  It is a huge cutting machine for DIY and my stickers ! :D Now I don't have to cut my own stickers and I can make more sticker sheets T^T 
• Free things inside : 2 x glossy vinyl rolls, Autoblade and Washi Sheets.

Things I gave my little sister :

• Amazin'Graze Super food packs - because she requested for this, she started her clean detox since last year and so she wanted this for her food supply. I think the ones that she eats with yogurt and oats? So I bought the Berry Burst Bundle with 3 packs of healthy foods (Blueberry Goji Coconut Granola, Pink Rasberry Granola, Berry-LiciousTrail Nut Mix and another free pack that I forgot). 

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That's it for our birthday celebration. 

Next one is probably in Feb - March , combining both my brother and Aja's birthday :D 

Mini Escapism : Avillion PD + Ma's Birthday

4 days after we got home from Sabah, we got another mini escapism planned out for Ma's birthday in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan. We were obviously still catching up with workloads and other stuffs after spending 5 days in Sabah, so that week felt so short. 

We spent 2-days at Avillion Port Dickson, a super fancy-mancy water villa. By far, this is the most expensive place we've ever stayed (for a budget traveller like us) . This was a sponsored short holiday for us, so we accepted it with open hands ❤

The trip started with :

1. Lunch at Burger Byte, Seremban
People suggested this place, so we went here for a lunch when we first arrived in Port Dickson. They cater most western foods specifically burgers. We ordered several different dishes, I shared with Aja because I was worried the potion might be too big for me. We ordered for a combo set of 2 patties (chicken & beef), mashed potato with 2  small broccoli pieces + 2 small cauliflower pieces ( for their price, I think they should have be more generous with their vegetable potion). Their patties and mashed potatoes were great ♥

2. Avillion Beach Resort

From the lunch stop, we headed to our hotel and it took an hour ride. Our hotel check-in time was around 2pm (it was also a full weekend - I guess it was school holiday season?). We never went to a 5-stars fancy beach hotel, so we were a bit 'jakun'. 

We got 2 villas (one with a huge king-sized bed and another one with 2 single beds) - my siblings and ma got the one with the one big bed + extra bed at the Pangkin for 2, and Af + me got ourself the other villa ★★★★ It was beautiful and huge ! There's a door to the open sky bathroom with bathtub, huge rain shower and a small toilet. There's also a sliding door to my own private balcony so you can have a view of the sea or even fishing.

My favorite part was the huge rain shower, but it was a bit uncomfortable to take a shower in a open sky area with no ceiling :F 

Extra stuffs : Pet farm, 2 pools (one for everyone another one for adult only), karaoke lounge, children room & playhouse, spas, fully equipped gym, tennis courts, several lookout points, nature walk, steam & sauna, peacocks walking around the area. Faaaancy. 

3. Embok Village Steamboat
For dinner that night, we went to Embok for a steamboat and grilled fish (but unfortunately it was full house for an event), so we decided to order some seafoods. We just got back from seafood galore in Sabah the weekend before, so for me, this wasn't the best seafood I tasted this month. It took around an hour to get our food, Ma was already feeling sleepy (so it wasn't the best place to eat out during the weekend night).

Food for 6-7 people costed : RM 160

4. Late night birthday celebration at the hotel's 24-hours restaurant

After our dinner, we went back to our hotel and waited for Ma's birthday. We ordered for 2 juices and spent the time there chatting until 12 am. My brother made a 2-tier birthday carrot cake in purple (Ma's favorite colour) with fresh flowers. We ate our cake, passed our birthday gifts and we went back to our villas back.

5. Next morning super-big Breakfast Buffet

I love breakfast buffet (because the food isn't as heavy as other buffet). If I was not mistaken, the morning buffet costed around RM 40 per person (which was way expensive for us) but we got 50% discount using special passes. I think I ate until my stomach can't process anymore, this wasn't my proudest moment. My favorite were hash potatoes (not salty, not too mashed), camembert cheese slices, several types of ham slices, and fishes. 

6. Walking at the beach

By the time we wanted to walk on the beach after our big breakfast, it was around 11 am and it was  already painfully hot. The glare was too much for my eyes, I couldn't even open my eyes properly. I borrowed Ma's sunglasses and walked along with the others. Af wanted to shoot a short videos but I couldn't participate,  I was the first one to go back to my room and I hid in the darken room where I pull down all the blinder. The sun was never my best friend and I need to do something with the condition of my eyes.

Finally, we checked out at 12 pm and our short stay at PD ended 😩 

Personal thoughts :
This is definitely a nice honeymoon spot ! You'll get a great view of the sea, everything was so beautiful with thoughtful tiny details, personal space with everything oh-so-fancy and romantic. We are very grateful for this chance ❤❤❤

Little Thing 226 : 30th Birthday

Tuesday : Birthday leave, because no one should work on their birthday !

I turned 30.

I survived 30 years of human's life ♥  I always have the feeling that I'll die a bit early and maybe I won't even reach this age, but I did somehow, with God's will T^T This feels like I reach the third check-point in my life. 

Life is still like this, I am still working, still writing, still doodling, still travelling, still reading like I used to 10 years ago. The biggest change in my life would be being married, but somehow I'm still not pregnant (yet). So nothing changed drastically. I am still me, but I'm 30. The number sounded big, huge, and old, but nothing feels different much inside. 

I'm still the sarcastic introverted person, less gloomy and dark than before, but still the same-old me. I'm a woman now, I've left the childish version of immature girl I used to be, the one who doesn't want to grow up and doesn't speaks her mind. In a way, I became more bad-ass and an ass myself, but hey, I realized that it was who I am from the start. 

I noticed that I've always been this loud and stubborn person, the difference is I embraced who I am now instead of hiding in second layers like before. So instead of 'perfecting' my social media view of how people see me, now I don't really care much. I hope people can see that I am this not-so-friendly, a bit awkward, sometimes too open, sometimes just don't want to open-up, a little bit too reserved, choosy-picky person who doesn't want to socialize or try to fit in. Ma always reminds me to show the best of me in social media, so 'no-goofiness-no-whines-nothing', just curated view. Of course, I never agree with that. Can't let people think I'm nice and friendly when I'm not :F I'd be betraying myself if I keep on showing perfected little life I'm having in social media, kan? 

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Anyhow, on other stuffs regarding my birthday :

We celebrated at The Manhatten Fish Market. 

I love seafood and my sister is on diet + avoiding rice and meat, so I just decided to dine there. We got 3 free birthday desserts + unlimited chosen drinks *that we didn't want because there's too much sugar in everything else so we asked for plain water instead. My family also bought a huge cake as well even though I'm trying to restrict my sugar intake, gah, I ate a lot of those afterwards.

The flamin' platter :

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We also watched The Assasin's Creed. I dozed off several times, I got lost along the way, the storyline was messy, the changes between real world and inside the Animus was a bit too distracting, there's no character development so I didn't get attached to anyone from the movie. All in all, other than Micheal Fassbender as Callum/Aguilar, everything else seemed a bit like a movie franchise-trying-too-hard. I've watched Af played Assasin's Creed for far too tong to know the game meant something for PS gamers. But the movie was not. 3/10 stars, 3 for Micheal being there.

Plus I redeemed my free birthday juice at Boost! - Opted for huge Mango Magic. And I still haven't used my free movie ticket from GSC yet. 

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For my little sister's birthday - her birthday on the next day, I gave her :

• Canvas sling bag for our next family trip
• 2 temporary tattoos with wordings 
• Hair Oil 
• Shungite pendant from Russia, the one that I ordered for both of us from Etsy. 

Note : Shungite is all black carbon mineraloid - it is not like other crystal or gemstones. It is said to shield-off electromagnetic radiation from your phone, tv, or computer. It is also used for water filtration, natural anti-oxidant and ancient healing process. There's a lot of research regarding the use of shungite medically but I'm not really into those stuffs much. I just love how black it is compared to all the shiny gemstones, and considering both of us are quite dark and sarcastic, I like how it represent us. Black and not-shiny, but really resourceful. Kan?

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For my 30th birthday presents :

I chose these 2 books from Kinokuniya, one is the picture book/comic by Lorena Alvarez : Nightlings and another one is Infinite Icon. I also received a black Macbook cover/bag, new black super stretch jeans for work, a comic : Matilah Kali Ini by Santa Fung and money. Looove every presents came from my family ♥ because I don't have friends anymore hah hah. Except for Tasy who wished me early and perhaps Ping (?). 

Other people in Ig wished because I told the world that I just turned 30, so that doesn't count lah, main tipu. 

Ohh, and for my own birthday present, I subscribed for unlimited Premium classes at Skillshare - because I got the 0.99$ for 3 months offer again. Remember I once took these premium classes when I was a freelancer here? I love the classes offered there, I'll try to cram as much as I can in these 3 months! And more new paperback fictions that I'm still waiting to be published.

My current read : Snow by Orhan Pamuk

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I'm 30 !

Little Stories 218 : Super Long Birthday - Af !

Af's birthday is on the 4th of April.

We had planned a long extended weekend with family and close friends. It started with a plan to makan2 at Ma's on Monday and Tokmak's birthday celebration on Sunday at my Aunt's house. And Af thought that we should invite his family to come over on Saturday and I also took that chance to do a potluck/house-warming at our small apt as well :F *because they keep on asking for it, ha.

By last Thursday I finished off all my freelance and Freepik tasks :F That was such an achievement!  ❤ My busy working schedule throughout the final March week's was so crazy - we didn't went out for our exercise routine and I didn't even have proper meals and sleep. Small pimples popped everywhere on my forehead and chin T^T On Friday, I went out with Ma to find additional groceries for my house-warming event and little presents for Af.

Af isn't really used to a big birthday celebration, but to welcome him to our family's tradition, we are having some extra fun making him feeling awkward and shy this time :D Extended celebratiooon!  ❤

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Saturday :

Af's family informed us that they will arrive probably during lunch hour from Raub. So we woke up in the morning to cook some stuffs - I prepared butter-prawn and spicy chicken and some broccoli with kewpie and a lot of white rice. I also asked ma to buy a bucket of KFC for additional food. Af fried a big pack of nuggets and he was in charge of the drinks. Af's mom cooked for us : sambal tempoyak, sambal hitam, ikan belah belakang, sambal terung, and papodom. Aja made a nice caramel pudding and Tasya brought 3 boxes of mini La Cremeria. Oh and I also bought a big box of cupcakes from Cakes de Lemari as substitute for cake. 

There were 9 from Af's family and addition of Ma, Aja, Waty and Tasya. No one ever came over to our house and on that day, suddenly the little apartment looked so small and pack and happening. We didn't receive any complains for the sudden chaos, I think my neighbour understand :) It was a successful first potluck ! You can't imagine how 2 introverts can pull-off a nice events without having panic-attacks. Ha.

We also went to Putrajaya with his family that evening. 

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Sunday :

Af's family packed back and headed off to other places that morning. We had several hours off so we decided to go to the gym in the afternoon before another open house to attend. There was only the 2 of us at the gym during that hot afternoon, we had only 1 hour so I manage to run around 5km and packed back right-away. 

By 5 pm, we arrived at my aunt's house. We makan2, celebrated my Tokmak's 85 birthday - almost the whole family members were there. It was a really big event. They also sang for Af, so Af kind-off celebrated twice for his 29th birthday by now :D I got to eat Mi Kari that I've been craving to find.

Here is a photo my dad's family. Tokmak is in the middle, in green-coloured scarf. My dad is the one hunched down on the right, in beige-coloured shirt :

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Monday :

Af took a day-off because everyone deserves to have a holiday on their birthday ! :D

I promised him saying that "we will watch Batman vs Superman together" after I finished all my March's freelance, so we bought an online ticket for the movie to watch at IOI city mall that afternoon. I didn't have high expectation for the movie or watch all the sneak-peak trailers so I think the movie was quite good. All the hype about the movie was such a disappointment and bad *as rotten tomatoes gave them only 29% and thought the movie failed? Well, for me, as not even a fan of superheroes or action movies, I think the movie itself was quite good. I guess people just wait to find any reasons to criticize something big. I enjoyed watching Superman's pretty face, *akhem.

We didn't stop by at the gym as we planned because we had a big lunch at Fuel Shack ! after we watched the movie. So we headed back, and before we go to Ma's for our final Af's birthday celebration, I finished up all my task 3 Freepik and updated the invoice to my client. *yeay for super fast work!

Ma asked both of us to come after Maghrib, so I didn't help with the cooking and all. I think only Ra & Azmi helped organize the event. I only came as a guest :D As planned, there were requested nasi lemak from ma and special additional dishes of chicken rendang and ketam masak lemak! To appreciate the effort she put for all of us, I posted some pictures here. I know she spent hours preparing all these delicious and beautiful food - for AF! and we invited close friends as well.

The red velvet cheese cake was baked by Tasya herself, and it was supah-delicious ❤❤  Tasya brought 'her friend', Aja invited Waty and Azmi invited Wan. And Awan sat at the sofa looking very grumpy - I think she used to having many people coming over for makan2 by now. Since I got married, we did a lot of that and got to be more open to people other than our family. 

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Presents galore :

I gave him some presents consisted of :

1) mini printed pictures of us because we almost have none except for the drawing Oren drawn for us both. So we can have something to put on our fridge :D I ordered this from Aja : 

2) Deck for his new iPhone in the car + screen protectors. 

3) Too small tshirt from Uniqlo - *hahaha. We are going to change the shirt to something bigger la later this weekend. Salah bajet size yong.

4) Return tickets to Siem Reap in the next 2 week. I bought the promotional tickets from AirAsia 6 months ago after our Tokiyo Trip. I hope we will have a good time there  ❤

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Little Things 217 : 26 + 32

My brother turned 26 and my older sister turned 32 !

Another addition to the number we are counting ourselves. What it is about being adult that people keep on pestering us on how to be the 'right' adult? How we should spend our lives, where we should work at, how much money we should make, which partner we should be with, how big the house we should be living in. Who are we anyway, to make such demands and decisions on someone else's life?

At this point, I couldn't really point it out like we used to when we are much younger. As far as I can see, we are all grown-ups, and for me what that really mean is giving them full trust and space for them to grow and make their own decision. And maybe, try to respect that as well.

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I guess the huge difference between my brother and I at 26 is the responsibilities. I am one of the oldest siblings in the family, and he is used to having several strong figures in his life. So he is a bit off-track. But I've been thinking, who am I to put a certain 'label' in what's good in his life, at his age? As much as I concern, I don't like people to decide for me as well. So here it goes, I've decided that I will help if he asks for help, I've decided that he should pay the house rent because I'm not going to pay for his part anymore, but; which career path he will choose, or how he spends his money, won't be my problems anymore. I'm a bit concerned about him, but I have to let it go, I'm not his parents for-god-sake :p As his sister, I'll give him the space he wants - as long as he is in charge with his own life. Deal.

Af & I got him a pull-up bar and Starbucks gift card :

As for my older sister. She's fine. If she is figuring out what she wants in her life, and she's taking it slow, then that's her choice. I don't really have a word of wisdom to share, she has survived much longer than me :D I'm just hoping that she is happy. Also : Be fit and healthy ! Shessh.

We shared and got her a nice little printer to print photos directed from smartphones or digital camera. It was soooo cool I feel like I want one for myself :F So she doesn't has to go out to print pictures for her crafts projects.

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We celebrated their birthdays several times. 

Mostly including a big amount of foods and some presents. Ha. We should probably think of something else next time. Eating out/in is getting a bit over-done. We each brought our best-friend this time. So I invited Tasya, Aja invited Wati, Azmi invited Wan, and Azura invited Aizzah. Plus: Ma and Af, also different event with my dad and Ali. Small gatherings for our introverted family :D 

I personally like the last celebration that we did at home. The one that Ma cooked for us all the Japanese dishes she learned while living in Japan. T^T Aja requested this and so Ma went out for days to find all the raw foods and items needed in making all those crafty foods. She even took the whole day to prepare the food with Azura, and that night all of us helped her with the final stage : frying the tempura.

So there were beautiful sushi, rich miso soup, chawamushi, tamagoyaki, kinpira gobo, and tempura set for all of us. I can't give enough appreciation for her, can't imagine the time and effort to prepare everything for all of us T^T

We should definitely just celebrate at home in the future.
:D

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Little Stories 216 : Post Birthdays

It's 'that' time of the year !

I love new year, it's birthday time for all 4 of us : Aja in March, Azmi in Feb, both Azura and Me in January. Consider '5' now since Af's birthday is in April. I love birthdays, especially when I have some money to spend on them. 

I've been putting some consideration in what to give to my younger sister. Her's on the 4th, after my birthday on the 3rd of Jan. As a person, she's into fashion and gaming, still in the young stage where she likes cute but cool stuffs.

It's getting harder now because we grew up and we don't really know what we want. Usually we will create some kind of 'wish-list' and pass it around the siblings so it's easier for us to buy stuffs. But not this year, she doesn't know what she wants :| 

Hunting takes time and a lot of thinking.

I've been putting consideration on these :

• Working Attire
• Sunglasses
• Facial Voucher for 2
• Shirts + Jacket

In the end, I bought these things for her :

• Long 'Happiness' shirt from FOS + Navy Green Jacket from Cotton On 
• Gift card from Starbucks
• Gift voucher from Aeon, *so she can choose her own working attires

We celebrated at Homst Restaurant, Cyberjaya the night before my birthday. It was a really nice Chinese Muslim restaurant, both my sister and I love chinese food. This was our 2nd time at the restaurant and the food was ah-mazing like the last time ! This time I asked Tasy to join us *I think it's her first birthday celebration with us, because most of the time we keep it only to the family.

Thanks Ma, my siblings, Af, Tasy and Wati :

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On my birthday, we spent half the day at home and another half day spent at my aunt's. Tokmak was there, alongside with my uncle and aunts - even my dad came as well, he baked a cake for both of us. We also stopped by at Boost to redeem the 'free' drink for my birthday - I can choose any drinks from the list ! So she gave me Cookies & Cream, the biggest size because I don't feel like having juices for my birthday :D  I've never redeem anything for birthday, and if it wasn't for my colleague, I wouldn't even know about it :

I also got 2 redeemable movie passes from GSC for my birthday month. I haven't decided on which movie to watch with Af :o

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Another surprise came from the office.

I was busy doing works when I saw a gleam of candle lights behind the mirror separator's door and I even asked to AR, "Ehh, what's that?". The door opened and my boss came in holding the cake, she sang a "Happy Birthday" song and the whole office suddenly sang it together *even all the students for today's class. T^T She then passed me an Austin Kleon's journal - The Steal Like an Artist Journal, the one to be used as a doodle journal. T^T 

I was surprised, I usually hate surprises and I didn't see this coming.

But it was a nice one, thanks Boss, and everyone in the office T^T 

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Note :

Can't believe I'm already 29.

I don't feel any wiser, and I'm not going to say that I mature up to be a whole 'new-me' because honestly, I feel exactly like myself days before. It's just a number and I'm proud of myself for surviving this long. I pray for the best in my future stories :D

Little Things 164 : Weekend Birthday

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I'm officially 28 last weekend, while my younger sister turned 23.

So we celebrated together like we always did. Saturday with ma, and Sunday with my dad & close family members. 2 days of presents, feast and love. 

A day spent with my mom & siblings on Saturday, with my yearly favorite food ie: Johnny's - *my sister complained that I keep on requesting the same thing every year :D We ate, opened some presents, and ate some more and watched the final Hobbit at the cinema. Honestly, I watched the movie several days before, so I dozed for more than half of the movie.

While on Sunday, my dad planned for a small BBQ party like the 'old days'. I remember I used to enjoy 'hari bakar2' and 'hari rebus2' while I was small because we'll have a reason to seat together merrily while we cook and eat foods. We hardly have that these days. 

Delicious chicken and lamb marinated with salt, pepper and yogurt. There was also the famous spagetthi, fruit & potato salad, and we baked some chocolate moist cakes. 

It was the time for my tokmak, aunts, uncle, and cousins to meet 'the fiance' :F 

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It was a good birthday party among my family members. Too bad my brother isn't around, usually he'd be the most excited one in any big events. I'm planning to meet him soon. 

Please, please, please, make this happen. 

These are little mulberries :

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I bet he'll regret for agreeing to let me post pictures of him online. 

Can't be so mysterious anymore, ah? 

Little Stories 57 : 080613

Yesterday was my dad's 58th birthday. 

We went to his house, watched movie, ate lunch+dinner, he cooked for us this amazing nasi minyak special and oven-baked chicken. He also made this delicious red velvet cake with cream cheese as perfect as it is possible. He gave each of us - girls a present, black pearl bracelet. 

He took a lot of pictures, he recorded us all. He missed us, and it's killing me. 

Can I not talk about my parents without holding up my tears? Hardly. I love them to bits, they made me human, I learned about life from both of them in hard and indirect ways. I keep on digging for lessons in every encounter. We had a hard time growing up, but it's a never-ending process - no one said it was going to be easy. Without them both, I would never be here typing this down.

Seeing them growing older is tough for me. I wish I have more time, I wish I have more to offer, I wish I could give both of you the world.   

And to tell I love you. 

Every day, every night. 

So that you will always remember that you have me.

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I wish it is easy, to love someone so relentlessly.

I wish it is easy, to look in someone's eyes and say that you love them.

I wish it is easy, to let them hold your heart in their hand.

I wish these are all easy.

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And to you, 

Happy Birthday too. 

Little Stories 35 : Childhood Memory

My earliest childhood memory is when I was having my 3rd birthday. I know it was at our rented little house in Japan because I saw the old photo of the little event later.

We were celebrating my birthday. I remember the cake in front of me. I remember the little Tv behind me, because I remember glancing several times to watch 'The Land before Time' that was on aired. Next thing I knew, someone scolded me for not focusing on the cake. The Tv was turned off afterwards - that was probably my dad, because he did that many times later in our life. 

That is all I can remember. 

Many times throughout life, I remember the short scene of my childhood memory. I asked my mom once, but she can't remember any of it.

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Today is my 26th birthday. I took a day off from work, I had a nice breakfast with my loved ones, I enjoyed my day and it ended so well. It was pretty nice - far from what I had last year. Last year, I worked on my birthday, and I asked myself many times on that day "What am I doing?", so since last year, I promised to make it as my day, free from work and stress. 

I also got this awesome box from my doodler sifoo : zamzammee. 

How I started my doodling career? Go ask him. 

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Random : Tasya's birthday

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Last weekend was one of my best friend's birthday. 

Happy birthday Tasya! 

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We went to Ole-ole Bali in Sunway Pyramid.

It was my first time experience so I ordered western food : Chicken Chop and Chips for RM 28.90. I should probably order their signature food instead of random western food but I wasn't really focusing much while reading the menu *it was almost 7pm! The restaurant's interior was really beautiful and welcoming. 

Tasya's dinner : Nasi Kambing Bumbu

Moi Chicken Chop and Chips

See those lights! Bubu!

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Yesterday's event while on my way to work :

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