Our 2011 Raya

It is already 25th Syawal and Ted and I haven't gone visiting at all. This year Raya is very quiet for both of us. Aiman was back in Sarawak. The only big thing that we did was that both of us got new wardrobe for Raya and bought some new ones for Aiman. My family theme was Pink /Cream and for the first time we had some nice "free-style" photos.

But as usual, chaos always follow any photo session in my family....

Unfortunately, we had no family gathering in Keramat, but we did spend the first Syawal evening in Keramat.  We left late and went home to Setapak to wind down the hectic day.

The new thing that happened this first Syawal was that we spend it at 3 important homes....my parents, Ted's parents...and finally our place in Setapak. All in all it was a fulfilling First Syawal. And of course, we had an eventful time in Mersing. But I was glad Ted's parents followed us despite everything that happened. We got both family together and it was wonderful.

Secret Recipe.

It is a Sunday and it is a day to learn the delicious Cik Miah's Acar Buah. Actually my staff had asked for the acar for the Raya Lunch this Tuesday. How could I say no?

We bought most of the ingredients yesterday. I had the time of my life preparing the raw ingredients and taking pictures of them.
Today is the prep day in Mak's house. Ted insisted that I watch each step carefully. It is not something you can learn from a book. It is a secret pass down from mother to daughter, grandmother to grand-daughter... And in my case mother in law to daughter in law.
   

 

Mak has a lot more recipe that are traditional in her family. I am eager to learn and hopefully I pass it down to my daughter 1 day.

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Welcoming the Remedy Babies

Edra Rafael

This year the Remedy family grew in number in the forms of 2 pairs of little feet.  Edra Rafael and Alehandra Ahmad. Edra is 7 months older and Andra was delivered yesterday. May both of them grow up to be as talented and beautiful as their parents, responsible human beings, humble in every way, caring and loving sons to their Remedy parents. We all love you two so much. 

Reflections

Ted is off to Perak for a training. Left early this morning after sahur and I missed him immediately. We are hardly apart and I never like the idea of him being away. But his work does take him everywhere, unlike mine that have 9 to 5 job.

When he is away, I have so many plans....clean the apartment, organize the kitchen, reorganize my wardrobe and so many more. For now, those are still plans. I ended up going back to Seremban to berbuka with Ibu. She called earlier last night and said it was her turned to cook for moreh and thought it would be good for me to come back since they have tahlil for my grandparents and Mama. How could I say no. So I drove back to Seremban after work. Times like this made me grateful that Ibu is just an hour away. I am so blessed in so many ways and living close to my parents are one of those blessings.

Ibu was happy and she even allowed me a short nap. She understand about my work more then I realized. The berbuka was chaotic as it is Thursday night and most of the Taman Bukit Kelana residents came for the prayer. But I loved it, it was nice to see how close knit our neighbourhood is. Prayers were brief and easy. I helped to wash dishes, as usual.

But what really got me tonight was the tahlil. Hearing the names of my loved ones that passed brought back a melancholic sort of feelings. Tok Rahim, Tok Taib, Tok Cu, Tok Ling, Mama....I missed them more then I like to admit. I wish that they are still around to see me where I am, to see us family happy. I hope wherever they are, they know this. Today, prayers were sent out to them in heaven. I wonder if I would have the same strength and capacity when I have to do similar act for my parents when they are gone. I don't know why this thought came to me today. It is not something that I would wish for but I know there will come a day where prayers would be the only thing I could offer. I just wonder if I could do them justice as they had done for their parents..... I pray that God will give the capacity to remember this when the time comes.

Apabila mati seseorang anak Adam itu, terputus ia semua hal kecuali 3 perkara:
1) Doa anak-anak yang soleh
2) Ilmu yang bermanfaat
3) Sedekah amal jariah

Our Passion

Our labour of love is slowly taking form. Today, Ted finally cleaned up the living room of our apartment and we were able to set it up. Actually it is still not finish but at least it is clean now. There are still the stage and lightings, but that will have to wait. Before this, Ted's tools and constructions material were scattered all over the living room. It took a lot of patience and time to reorganized them. I am glad that Ted noticed how patient I was. I don't like chaos, especially where I live. But for a while, I told myself that this is important. he needed the time to put them all together, just the way he wanted them to be. Finally all that was done, I am so relieved.

 However, that will be blog later, when it is all done. What I am so excited to blog today are about our passions. Ted for music and specifically guitars.... and mine for photography. What a beautiful combination these 2 passions created. Guitar is such a beautiful instrument. It look amazing in photos. With the perfect angles, lighting and exposure....Ted's collections of guitars just look amazing. He used to have a total of 27 guitars but over the years, the numbers decline. Some were sold away, some were lost. But I guess if you have passions for it, you could never loose it all. He started collecting them again.

Today, he mounted some of them on the wall of our apartment. Who needs photo frames and paintings if you can have guitars mounted? And they make beautiful pictures for my photos collections.....and probably scrapbooks later.....

What a Weekend

This third weekend of Ramadhan has been hectic. Not much time to hang around and be lazy. Remind me so much of my Leadership Program weeks. And I am not talking about my work....my social events has been filled to the brim.

My weekend started with me being on call on Friday, coping with a patient who underwent 6 hours surgery and her surgeon who stayed on to work with her another 8 hours post operatively. Then Ted & I sent our Matrix for a major service. My baby had a big Raya gifts of a new drive shaft and timing belts. Driving it now is so smooth and steady. While waiting for it to be service, we went to Kamdar just to browse....but end up buying Ted's Raya clothes and got the perfect window/door dressing for the condo, which I so love. Our balcony door look so chic now.  After that, I was busy finishing up the frame photos for Diyana before going to the breaking fast with The Pelopor.

Breaking fast with the Pelopor was like a reunion of our DiGi Teambuilding. Suran from Digi was there along with the other Peloporians ....Abang Kamal, Zaim, Haidy and the rest of the team. It was a cozy event and we get to meet up with all the people that built Pelopor. It was like a family breaking fast and I was glad that the NEXT coaches was accepted as part of the family. These are amazing people that are passionate in what they do.....just like Ted. I hope this alliances will continue to flourish.

 

We decided to drive back to Seremban for sahur at 4 am in the morning. I am so grateful for Ted who knows how important to have quality time with family. We arrived while Ibu, Ayah, Aida & Hazrik were eating and I am contend to spend that short half hour with them, bersahur together. Surprisingly, Ibu allowed us to sleep late and we woke up in the afternoon, undisturbed. Ted & I then went window shopping in Seremban Parade... came back late but another surprise was Ibu did not make any noise. I managed to make butter cake for Ibu & ayah before break fast and I was happy that Ibu was happy about the cake. Somehow, it is easier to please her now. I find it less taxing and actually enjoy doing stuff for her. Which is another big surprise.

We had our Terawih in Seremban and I prayed next to Ibu....and now back in our messy but cozy home in Setapak. The condo is work of love in progress....ever so slowly. But like I said before, I am loving it. I have lots to be grateful for, and God  bless the day I married Ted.

Let It Be Me

The Beginning of August

This month of 8 had a good start. First of all, I was not on call for this whole first week. I am back in Melor, where I am most comfortable in. I feel more efficient and fulfilled in the general ward. I think the nurses and the clerks like having me back too. There is nothing more rewarding then feeling needed and love.

Since I am not on call, I get to go home everyday and be in Setapak...where I got to handle stuff at home. We had a huge bulk of dirty clothes after our trip from Gunung Senyum. It was 4 loads of laundry and we decided to sent them to the cleaner, which was a great idea as it was really cumbersome to deal with them since we have no washing machine here in Setapak.I got to sort them out  effortlessly and that was a great relief.

Then on Thursday, we sent Aiman, Azrin and Melissa to tuition. We managed to watch Eclipse while waiting and it was pretty awesome spending  time alone with Ted. We were dead tired that night but coming home, I felt a bit more like a mother then I ever did. Sending Aiman to tuition all the way to Subang Jaya made all the tiredness disappeared as he seemed to be more grounded with his study.

Today was another great day. We had pre-Ramadhan feast in Melor and I made my fruit salad, which was loved by everyone. It is a wonderful feeling to be complemented on my cooking (even though fruit salad tecnically is not cooking). Nevertheless, I felt happy that everyone liked it. Furthermore, we were graced by a surprised visit of Mak Kiah(our retired clerk) who I haven't seen for almost a year. My day at work was filled with efficiency in discharging patients and solving pending cases. We worked and laughed and made the working environment so relaxed.

At the end of it, Ted and I went to Berjaya Time Square to get his new BlackBerry. He surprised me with his new Ibanez Guitar, the closest thing to a Martin.....for now. Ted finally got new watch too....2 in fact. The best part, we got them at a bargain and I am always happy to shop for bargains. On our way out from Berjaya we found a stray kitten that was just adorable, we couldn't resist taking him back. Underneath the anorexic dirty body, we saw a kitten who has potential to filled our lives with love. We spend almost an hour trying to trick him to come back with us. He finally jumped in the car and we drove back to Keramat, with him meowing non stop at the back seat.

In Keramat, we get to spend time with Mak, Ayah and Mak Ngah Wan Chik.....sitting down and talking to them, I felt at ease. It was me winding down and I couldn't have done that in a better place. Ayah was not feeling too well so Ted brought the 2 lady out to dinner while I kept Ayah & Aiman company at home. It was nice....that Ted & I could do something so easy and effortless, so that the elderly are happy.

My day is ending....in a good way. Ted tried out his new guitar, which sounded magical. But then, in his hand anything turns to magic. He is such a beautiful player....I am so blessed to always have a front row seat to his performances.

Tomorrow, Ibu & Ayah are coming to Setapak for the first time....so excited to have them here finally. Later, we will be hiking up Broga Hill to watch the sunrise....what a wonderful way to end a wonderful first week of August!

Passionate Living -NEXT Coach in Action

Ted is starting his journey as NEXT (Neuro-Empowerment Experiential Training) Coach finally. Set in Gunung Senyum, Sir Ted and the Pelopor Adventure Team Malaysia will be guiding the Yellow People into caves and more importantly a journey into themselves, in the next 4 days. This is one of many beginnings he had taken... One that he had taken multiple times and become so familiar with. One that he is passionate about and would not give up, even though it was paved with many obstacles and failures.
The only difference in this journey is that he finally get to create a training that he solely dreamt of ... It had come out from decades of experienced being in contribution and countless sleepless nights of readings and writings.
 Ted is so passionate about training, that it can only be compared to his music, his cooking and Aiman. After all, aren't they all...training, cooking, music and his son.... are about being in contribution to happiness and building relationships and bonds that are positive? Creating a future with people that truly cares... To talk the talks and walk the walks.
I am so proud of him at this moment and he made me love him more. I am just happy to be in his space, and to experienced the true meaning of being passionate...

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Home

They say, home is where your heart is. At the moment, physically, Ted and I are in between 2 homes.
When we first got married a year ago, we moved into Ayah's apartment in Cheras. Ted renovate the place and made it cozy. It was fine till about 6 months back when the place got too congested and going to work means being stuck in jams for 3-4 hours a day.

Now we are setting a new place in Setapak which has been around for ages. Ted just never renovate it to make it livable, till recently. Now he is in the process of making it a home.

What I love about our new home is that it is about 10 minutes away from IJN... Sometimes I get to come back for lunch. It also has a pool and a gym, so that I can go exercise anytime I want(no more excuses of being fat). Ted is also creating a kitchen the way he would love it. Calling it the Black Rock! To top it all of, the condo is on the 18th floor and it overlooks an amazing view of KLCC and KL Tower.

                                  
But I guess no matter where we live, I am always home. Ted is always close in my heart and that is where his home lies...and mine in his...

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