To love and be loved...

31st July is our Wedding Anniversary...Orang lain sambut anniversary with trips abroad, with diamond rings, with fancy dinner and rose bouquets...I am celebrating my anniversary alone, working on a weekend. Sadis or what??? My other half is still outstationed. He is on a barge somewhere in Malaysia/Thailand waters overseeing the installtion of a new oil rig. I just found out that I will only probably see him when I get back from Kuching. Limited chopper service and what not.

Selagi the conference in Kuching belum selesai selagi itu hatiku resah...I have no idea if my postgraduate students have stumbled onto this blog or not. Apologies for not reviewing your papers. Organising the conference in addition to my other juggling acts keeps me completely occupied during the day and by the time I get home dah nak termuntah dah tengok scripts. That's why I need to destress on here. It's the only way to keep me sane. I hope normal life will resume in two weeks time...

Salma Aida's 5th Birthday is coming up on 2nd August.
Angan2 nak buat a birthday bash to celebrate this milestone of hers is out the window now.
Kesian Aida kalau mummy and daddy both tak ada on her birthday. We'll try to make up for it after this Kuching trip...

Adam's fingers got scalded last Monday from boiling water and his fingers got a nasty burn. Everytime I come home at the end of the day tengok the dressing and bandage dah terburai, so I decided to take it off altogether tonight. Surprisingly he is doing a lot better without the bandage and is using his fingers again despite them looking in pretty bad shape still, what with the decaying skin and all. I hope it heels soon...

Walaubagaimanapun, setelah bermuhasabah diri seperti yang telah diingatkan oleh LadyLOVE, there is much to be thankful for...My better half and I have known each other for a long time and have supported each other through thick and thin such that small discomforts and sacrifices do not discourage us me. Well I can only speak for myself but I trust he feels the same way...OK, so we miss an anniversary, we miss a birthday, its no big deal. Because on the grand scheme of things we are sincerely thankful to be in Allah's blessings...

Rather than say how much I love my husband or how good a father he is, I am inclined to leave a poem I love to commemorate this special occasion. This classic poem probably best represents me as I am today, and how I feel about being a wife and subsequently mother for the past 6 years...

It's All I Have to Bring To-day

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

It's all I have to bring to-day,

This, and my heart beside,

This, and my heart, and all the fields,

And all the meadows wide.

Be sure you count, should I forget, --

Someone the sum could tell, --

This, and my heart, and all the bees

Which in the clover dwell.

Interpretation of this poem can be found here. A couple of my favourite ones are excerpted below...

1. It seems that the author begins rather apologetically and abjectly:

"It's all I have to bring today - "This" is the poem she is writing. Immediately, however, she realises that she IS bringing more - her heart as well. And then all the fields, meadows and bees. She is giving the gift of counting our blessings.

2. Dickinson was trying to express her belief that all she had to offer is what she holds in her heart, but at the same time I also got the impression that she believed that was far more than enough. She says that although she only has her heart to bring she also has the fields and meadows wide, inspiring the idea that her heart is a lot more than it may at first seem. This, I think, is supported by her saying that she could lose count of the value of her own heart.


Who knows what the future holds for us tetapi doaku mudah2an kebahagiaan rumahtanggaku akan terus berkekalan, kami dipanjangkan dan diberkati umur, ditetapkan iman, dimurahkan rezeki, ditambahkan zuriat, amin. For now, it is enough to love and be loved...

Paparazzo

Noun.
A freelance photographer who pursues celebrities trying to take candid photos of them to try to sell to newspapers or magazines.


Tonight I was just looking through my BB photos and noticed something interesting: Kadang2 saya suka tangkap gambar ala2 paparazzo. Cuma orang/objek yang ditangkap tidak semestinya celebrity. Motif? Entah! Maybe to use as a topic for a silly entry like this one perhaps ;)



A few examples:

Masa ni agak teruja tengok these hot cars pull up beside me kat traffic light depan Country Heights. So harus snap padahal takde kena mengena! But don't you think they look hot?

Suka tangkap gambar cover line macam ni...The couple at the back are my parents' neighbours. Celebrity jugak kiranya ni...

Sampai family tgh makan pun orang tangkap video...Kalau tak silap RTM ;)

This was at Red Wok Seksyen 7 Bangi by the way...

Ops ter-rindu the hubs pulak tgk gambar2 ni...dah lama dia pergi offshore....

Sorry yang, terglamour pulak kat entry ni :P

Ok gambar ini ditangkap dalam Metro kat Paris sebab kesian tengok handbag Hermes Birkin tu direnjan sebegitu rupa. But it does look like it has served its owner well, which is a good thing actually. Her quilted spotless white shoes appear to be Chanel.

Another gambar cover line...Masa ni kat Hyde Park London with a platonic friend.

Ramai gile sunbathing people in bikinis and thongs, you would think you were at the beach!

Dah lama tak tengok scenes macam ni so I was inclined to take a shot, tapi tak jelas pun hahaha.

Owh yang ini sangat kelakar...terkantoi orang faculty dating huhuhu! Hopefully diorang tak nyesal makan kat sini malam tu...The identity of the couple at the back have been protected so their secret is safe with me *muahaha.

This last one I thought was quite cute because these cousins had not seen each other for a while at the time. I bawak Aida gi jumpa Nazme kat padang one afternoon...Ada gak gaya orang dating di situ hehehe...Tau tak diorang sembang apa? Pasal Toy Story 3...Ahhhh to be children and care free...

Ok, begitulah entry ringan for you today...This weekend I have 12 hours of masters class to conduct. Another source of income to contribute to the guilty pleasures fund ;P Flying to Kuching for the conference on Sunday night....coming back Thursday evening. Nak enjoy sakan that weekend before Ramadhan the following week insyaallah...

See you soon. Have a good weekend everyone XXX


- A juggling act from my iPad

Hello Sunshine...

Thank you, thank you and thank you to those yang sudi mencuba quiz yang tak seberapa tadi; both yang tinggalkan comment dan juga email ;D. Anda menceriakan hari saya hehehe...

And we have a winner!

Winner ni ala2 confident gitu! Harus! Hahaha :D

Dan winner tersebut juga lagi mau request nak pilih hadiah, boleh macam tu? Hahaha, hadiah tak boleh pilih2, keputusan juri adalah muktamad. You are stuck with the toiletries/makeup case ;D

So the answer is:

Model: Raquel
Brand: Tom Ford

And the winner is:

































































Syidagorjes of Syidamislan.blogspot.com. Nanti email me pls my dear...email add ada kat tab contact tu.

Terima kasih daun keladi, lain kali boleh buat quiz lagi...

*chicken dance*

Sangat suka dan setia to this pair of sunnies. I LOVE the design and material. Super light weight, super comfortable, super stylish ye ke?. Hati belum terbuka untuk membeli yang lain. Rasa cam nak nangis tertinggal sunnies ni masa pergi Paris/London baru2 ni. Dah lah matahari mencarak panas for days on end. But did I succumb to another? No! Not even Chanel baby!

                                                                   Angie                                                                   Demi




What's your favourite pair of sunnies?

Tiny Token...

When I was residing in the UK many years ago, the Cath Kidston brand was not as popular as it is today. Which is a good thing too otherwise I would probably be hoarding so many chintzy items from them. They make so many pretty things its no wonder I spent such a long time at the CK store in Terminal 4 on the way back to Malaysia from London recently.

I was hugely disappointed to find that most of the sales items were already gone. Barang2 yang orang kirim semua dah tak ada stock...But of course I couldn't leave empty handed.

I found some nice tea towels and a lovely matching apron; perfect eid gifts I thought for my grand-mother in law's house where so much cooking goes on.

A small cardcase and key fob; these two were just the things I needed.

I also found this pretty little toiletries case.

Not too big nor too small.

And inside the cutest small round mirror.

And who do you think I thought of when I bought this?...

YOU!

Yes, just as a thank you to my lovely readers, this is your chance to win this little momento from yours truly. It is not much, but I think you could easily make use of it.

Since I only have one to give away, I think a mini quiz should do the trick. So how do you win this item? All you need to do is tell me the model and brand of my favourite shades below...Gosh, agakla tak ada idea di situ tapi harap-harap ada yang sudi mencuba ;D

Best wishes everyone XXX




- A juggling act from my iPad

Chocolate Cubes

Hola people!
Proceedings and program timetable dah submit to the congress committee to be published. Phew!
So malam ni nak buat entry pasal tidak lain dan tidak bukan topik kegemaranku iaitu hembeg ;D


Entry Screaming Mommy brought back my own memories of mengidam dan angau kepada objek yang sama ~ Trevi. It was early 2008, Trevi had been launched several months before in 2007 if I remember correctly. I *needed* something from the damier line and Trevi was the one that made my heart skip a beat and subsequently caused endless sleepless nights. Problem was it was sold out in KL. A trip to New York at the time presented itself as an opportunity to find one over there. But fear that it would be sold out when I got there not for another couple of months made me desperately contact my dear cousin Hanum who was residing in New York to find one for me. And find one she did. Lepas tu saya macam cacing kepanasan tunggu a few months for my trip hehehe...


I was attracted toTrevi because in my opinion it had a pleasant shape and design which softened the relatively masculine print of the damier canvas. Masa mula2 berjinak dengan LV dulu, saya pernah beli a fake damier wallet, which fell apart as soon as I tried to use it, which made me vow never again. After seeing original damier in real life, one can appreciate not only how beautiful the ebony damier canvas is, but also how really ugly the fakes are as well.

Trevi PM.

The damier canvas looks like dark chocolate and milk chocolate cubes, good enough to eat ;)

My previous two LVs before Trevi were speedies, both with vachetta which needed a certain level of care lest it was unsightly stained. So after using damier it was like OMG, best giler boleh renjan tak ingat punya! No more worries about stains and what not. It was a great workhorse. I would find myself using it for weeks on end only to put it away out of pity for the other bags which longed to be back in rotation. Poyo.


Tapi ramai orang kata Trevi berat. Mmmm...generally any bag with substantial hardware can have a bit of weight to it. If you wanted a light bag you would use a Speedy, Neverfull or even better a Le Pliage for example. The way in which the Trevi was designed makes it possible to have it hand carried, arm carried or sholder carried. You don't really notice the weight. You only notice how naturally fabulous it looks ;P

The relatively thin sholder strap ensures it stays comfortably on the sholder.

Ramai orang kata susah nak get in and out of Trevi sebab mulut dia tak bukak luas. Mmmm...not really. Of course masa mula2 beli dia agak stiff sikit, itu pun tak de la masalah sangat, but with time the canvas softens and gives way a little bit more making it easier to open.

 

 It is deceivingly large. It fits all of my daily necessities with room to spare for a small bottle of water or a mini umbrella.

So begitulah some features of Trevi I would like to share. I often say this: If I could only have ONE Louis Vuitton, it would be the TREVI PM. I heart this bag.

Gambar kenangan bersama Ms. Trevi di 5th Avenue New York (2008).

Pose poyo di NYC adalah dibenarkan hehehe...

But lately kesian dia, it is now waiting to be used because the current bag in rotation is this one...

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 Poudre Mahina Solar. Heart as well. Nothing beats lux leather...

But I will say this again: If I could only have ONE Louis Vuitton, it would be the TREVI PM.

 To Screaming Mommy, and Ms Jabberholic as well *wink*, I hope the current bag of your dreams will arrive very soon! XXX

Clutter be gone...

LadyLOVESLeisure once said that she thought my desk at work was rather tidy. I wonder what she thinks of it now...



I'm not usually a slob but serious tak sempat nak sort out the junk on my table. The reason is because these past few days kalut menyiapkan program book and proceedings for the 1st Conference on Advanced Processes and Materials (CAPM) in conjunction with the 4th World Engineering Congress 2010. WEC will be held 2nd to 5th August in Kuching, Sarawak, which is less than two weeks away! WEC is jointly organised by the Malaysian Society for Engineering and Technology (mSET), the Federation of Engineering Institutions in Islamic Countries (FEIIC) and Faculty of Engineering, Unviersity Putra Malaysia.

CAPM is one of the seven parallel conferences for WEC. We have been organising and preparing for this conference for a year now. I am pleased to mention that we have had tremendous response from both local and international participants with CAPM receiving the highest number of papers. My publicity team did an excellent job! All the papers received have also been peer-reviewed to ensure the quality of the work being sent in. Selected papers will be published in special issues of selected citation indexed journals.

Being the chairperson for CAPM it is my responsibility to ensure that the technical program, the proceedings and everything else is in order. Nak edit a proceedings of ~120 papers is not easy. Conference program pun berapa kali buat final version daaa! Last2 minute ni macam2 requests nak entertain. Ada yang tak sempat hantar paper tapi dah beli tiket ke Kuching, how? Ada yang nak tukar daripada poster presentation to oral presentation and vice versa. Ada yang baru perasan tersalah register conference!!! Selagi belum hantar progrsm book for printing I will try my best to meet participants' requests. But of course I didn't do everything on my own; I have my technical team to help me.

I must admit that we have a great team going on. The best probably. We are all ladies. Go Girl Power! Although we have worked together in the past for the previous WEC in 2007, this is the first time I am chairing and leading this team and alhamdulillah things have been going smoothly from the beginning. Leadership and teamwork go hand in hand. Yang penting tak boleh nak berkira buat kerja. Yang penting kena proactive. Yang penting kena hands on.

In addition to that, I am also the treasurer for WEC. So harus daripada awal dah include 'monetory incentive' budget for each conference.
RM5000 for those who achieve the target of 100 papers with RM80/paper for additonal papers.
RM3000 for preparing the technical program and proceedings.
RM2000 for selecting papers for journal publications.
At least ada la duit sikit untuk masing2 shopping beli kek lapis dan ikan terubuk masin di Kuching nanti ;D

I'll be going to Kuching alone so yet again kena tinggalkan the children. Nasib baik kali ni tak de la jauh sangat. Yang menambah lagi kepada juggling actku adalah I have weekend classes to conduct for my masters students beginning on 31st July (Sat) and ends at 6pm on 1st August (Sun). I've checked that the only flight still available to take lands in Kuching at midnight o_O

mSET also plans to publish a special issue newsletter covering the opening ceremony and Keynote speaches conducted on the first day, on the second day of the congress. This means that pictures will need to be taken and edited for the newsletter and printing for about 1000 copies needs to be done in Kuching. Being the Chief Editor for the newsletter this means that I have yet another burden to bear on my sholders in addition to overseeing the smooth operation of my conference...

Diwaktu2 begini, i begin to miss my little sanctuary...






Hopefully life will return to its relatively normal state after 6th August, insyaallah..



- A juggling act from my iPad

Instead of counting sheep...

You know the feeling of being too tired to sleep? Well that's what I am right now.

Today I was a fascillitator for Starting School, a one-day program for first year students who have just enroled at UPM. This time I was allocated at my own turf; Faculty of Engineering. SS diadakan untuk membantu pelajar menyesuaikan diri dengan kehidupan di kampus serta cara pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang lebih bersifat berdikari di universiti. Antara topik yang dibincangkan adalah:

Kemahiran suai diri
Seronoknya belajar!
Interaksi sosial kampus
English: Fear no more!
Graduan unggul

Owh penatnya memberikan sepenuh jiwa dan raga sepanjang hari, from 8am to 6 pm tadi. Tapi tak pe lah, sekali setahun je ;D

Mari kita lihat sikit gelagat budak2 nih...good students this lot, very cooperative and fun!

Anyway, sambil2 tak boleh tidur ni sambil melayan apps. Ipad ngan iphone hampir sama je apps nya...

Blogging with Blogpress. Wish it had more features since it ain't free, but it is a lot better than blackberry's mail2blogger.

Watermark with Impressions. Okla, convenient, wish it had more font choices, but what did i expect from a free app :P

And as if aku tak de kerja2 lain yang lebih bermanfaat, i also enjoy fooling around with Photochop hehehe...

Hokeylah, sat lagi nak main Blitz pulak which is highly addictive :P

THANK GOD IT IS SUNDAY!!!


*owh, entry ni tak published rupanya malam tadi...I'm still getting the hang of blogpress.


- A juggling act from my iPad