A Painter is Painting A Ninja

That's the title of Nazreen's drawing.

I like the level of details in this drawing, especially the french hat and glasses he associated with the painter. And the fact that a few famous artists (da Vinci, Rembrandt and Van Gohg) were left-handed.

And two curves coming out from the bottom of the whiteboard? I believe those were the side views of the gutter where you put your markers on. And the double line at the bottom of the whiteboard? That's the front view of the gutter. It is so amazing on how he translated 3D views into 2D drawing. Great job.

Birthday presents for everyone

Yesterday was my nephew's birthday.

I went out during lunch time and grab a few presents for him (5 in total) (H), for my sons (N), my niece (S) and my cousin (J).

I cut out the letters using the blank side of the [leftover] gift wrap.

We have these rules in the house :

1. On anyone's birthday (be it my sons', my nephew's, my niece's, my 8yo cousin's - all se7en of them) - each kid should received at least one similar birthday present. Usually they got 4 (from my sister, me, my brother and my aunt). 

2. The one who is celebrating the birthday, should get extra.

So, in a year, they should received 4 presents each in 6 different birthday celebrations (4x6=24 presents=WOW!). Why 6 birthdays since there are 7 kids? 6 birthdays because Nabil's and Nazran's are only one day apart (Nabil 4 Dec and Nazran 2 Dec, of course, different year) and we usually celebrate it together. 

I love to shop for birthday presents for the kids. You could just buy anything and they will really appreciate it!

Dessert : Chocolate-dipped Marshmallow

I bought marshmallows on sticks for my kids at KAED Fest. Each got six pieces of chocolate- covered marshmallows on stick and they were asking for more. I promised them a homemade chocolate-dipped marshmallow once we got home. (ok, the marshmallow is not a home-made)

On our way back, I bought a plastic bag full of Halal marshmallow (there are Halal certificates for every type of marshmallow, on the wall), tempered a few scoops of dark chocolate buttons and voila! They can eat them as much as they want.

I JUST LOVE MY FRIENDS! - On Yellow Rubber Ducky

Baby Nazmi was having a fever last night and my concerned KAED friends were discussing and giving advise on the best way to keep his temperature down.

Boys will always be boys (on the left) and the innocents will always be... the innocents (on the right). Just like 12 years ago, in the studio. That's what I love about them. 

KAED Fest : Random

 

 

 

Scenic view

This was after my cousin's engagement ceremony at a golf club. It is too beautiful. We just have to stop and capture a few shots.

New tablecloth

I bought a piece of fabric to make a kitchen cabinet cover long time ago. Somehow the colour didnt match the tiles. Recently, I took it out and discovered that the width and the length are PERFECT for tiny our dining table. The earthy colour is extremely calming and suitable for dining ambiance.

So I took out my sewing machine. It was originally a present from my FIL to my MIL and since they have a new machine now, they decided to give the old one to me. The performance is still great, just like new.

 After a 20 minutes of sewing and ironing, voila!

Kinabalu team

Last Friday was the flag off and presentation of Jalur Gemilang and my office's flag to the Mount Kinabalu climbers. They are a bunch of energetic people who are very determine to put our flag on top of one of the highest mountain peaks in Southeast Asia, Mount Kinabalu in Sabah.

 

They will start their climb today. I wish them all the best.

Good luck guys! Make us proud!

Everest, next? Why not?

Happy Monday!

Let's have some yummy breakfast.

Potluck birthday

Last week was my director's birthday. We arranged a surprise birthday party for her with a lot of food and balloons. I woke up early and make apple crumble and fruit cocktail custard.

I mixed the ingredient for fruit cocktail custard, let it settle in the fridge for one hour. In the meantime, I peel the apples and made the crumble in 15 minutes, then it went into the oven for 45 minutes. Easy.

By the time I finished preparing my kids to school and dressed up for work, the food is ready.

Afternoon Matinee 2.0

My first post on Afternoon Matinee (here).

Yesterday was the second show. It was a bomb! The sound system was great!

The hall is prettier this time. There were red fabrics hanging between black curtains, so it gave the hall more character. There were more round tables so more people could sit together in a group and enjoy their meal while watching this cute movie (well, who doesnt like to look at pretty clothes and shoes?)

The food? OMG. Dont get me started. I skipped my lunch yesterday because of these: 

Free flow of buttery yet crispy popcorn, cotton candy, TAKOYAKI (great!!!!) and A&W's signature coney dog. Who can say NO to all these?? 

This is the front row. How cool is that?

I sat on a comfortable sofa at the front. This is the view from my spot.

What I like the most about this session is the discussion on the key takeaways at the end of the session. Actually, I have a lot of things to share but I was having a flu and I cant speak properly with blocked nose +__+

I LOVE MY OFFICE.

Supper : Chicken Fajita

I grilled a salmon and a few chicken breasts.

My husband turned it into chicken fajitas.

My kids finished the salmon.

Salam Aidil Adha

I made rendang, ketupat pulut and nasi himpit for AidilAdha. We had it during AidilAdha eve. Yummy.

The next morning, we went to the nearest surau to witness people performing qurban. They have just finish sacrificed the 12th cow when we arrived at the first surau.

Then I bring them to another surau. There were three more cows in the lorry and they had a chance to watch the whole thing.

KAED Fest : My old design studio

This is KAED Gallery during KAED Fest. There are birds and rainbow :)

This was my design studio during my 3rd year. COOL, RIGHT? It was so exciting to be able to bring my kids to my old studio. They promised to study really hard to get into THIS SCHOOL because it has beautiful classroom (the studio) :)

KAED Fest : World Habitat Day 2013

If you guys have been reading my previous blog posts, you will know that I have been the secretariat for World Habitat Day (WHD) by United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) for a few years. It will always be close to my heart.

Since I didnt had a chance to visit the WHD 2013 Exhibition at KL Sentral this year and I saw a few of my friends saying something about World Habitat Day at KAED Fest, online, I went to KAED with Nabil.

They have this palm printing activity going on for WHD supporters. We showed our support too!

Extremely excited because I let him to play with the paints. So he went for Round Two.

 

No more space left, so I just left my finger print. 

Healthy food for dinner

On a weekend a few weeks back.

Me and my mom did not know what to prepare for the family dinner on a lazy Sunday. So, I went out and bought a few items for steamboat.

Drink Vegetable

I dont eat vege.

Dont ask me why. I just dont. But now I force myself to eat them, slowly. One vege at a time.

My friend, Mye, sent this cute and inspiring photo of her daughter, Khadeeja, drinking vegetable juice. I really want my kids to be able to drink vege juice like her, so I should be the one to do it first. 

"Dont like to eat vegetable? Drink vegetable instead!" 

She is right. I think drinking is easier because I dont have to chew them and I could add in a few types of fruit in the juicer so the end product will not taste like pure vegetable.

So guys, please pray for me. I HAVE TO DRINK VEGETABLE!

KAED Fest : KAED is .......

KAED is best?

Seriously Nabil?

Awww....thank you. Memang best.

Organise 101 : Business card

Since I joined this office last year, I have received more than 200 business cards. I stacked them on my table because I use them all the times.

Last weekend, I went out with my mom and I bought business card organisers. I sorted all cards today according to the industry. 

And it looks tidier afterwards *duh* of course.

I need to buy another two sets.

Retreat

I went to a retreat earlier this week. A cool session involving a lot of post-it-notes, a few discussion sessions and presentations. 

KAED Fest : Bali & Lijiang Exhibition

KAED stands for Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design. I studied there for 6 years. KAED Fest is KAED's annual festival. You will see all sort of creative-minded people gathered there, all kind of booth selling creative merchandise, with wonderfully crafted booth signs - usually handmade, some creative - yet Islamic - performing arts, colourful posters and paintings everywhere, exhibition, competition, music, food and of course, the friendly students of KAED.

(Poster taken from Khalilah Zakariya's FB)

I had a chance to visit the Landscape Heritage & Cultural Studies Exhibition by landscape architecture students after I came back from the office on the 4th day. I told my husband I want to visit the exhibition the minute I saw my friend Kayla posted that marvelous poster (above) in FB. I went there with Nabil because he loves anything art-sy (and because his brothers were sleeping that time).

The students went to Bali, Indonesia and the Old Town of Lijiang, China for the Study. These are their final works. Awesome.

Old Town Lijiang team:

 

 Bali team:

 

 

Makan-makan at Aidan

This was happened long time ago. Aidan's open house for Raya. Aidan is my brother's office. A lot of food as usual. These are my heroes.

And these are my kids who cant wait to grow up and work at Aidan.

These are the future clients of Lot.my.
Stories on lot.my - here or here or here or here.

I like the thought of having the kids area there. Most of the people missed that. I once had a boss who didnt allow kids to enter his house because he was afraid kids will break his expensive vases, jump on his imported leather sofa, spill drinks on the his Persian carpet and... I can list his endless worries here but I rather not. You guessed it right, he never invited me to his house for any events. But the rest of the office were invited :) 

Mind Mapping Course

I have been mind-mapping since I was a kid. As far as I can remember, it was all started during primary school. No one taught me how to do it, but I enjoy doing it all the times.

Last two weeks, I have attended a Mind Mapping course by one of Tony Buzan's students. The course really helps in making my mind map more structured and organised. Now, I am really into mindmapping :)

Happy World Habitat Day 2013!

Today is the World Habitat Day.