Julia Gabriel Learning Centre

My sister Syida asked me to come to BVII today with the kids. There was a small carnival for the children and this was a session hosted by the JG Learning Centre.

Hady's having loads of fun joining in the activities, but Hariz needs a little bit of encouragement to join in though, he's still a pretty shy kid, taking his own time to come out of his shell.

Have to say, the teachers are great with kids, I need to learn more to communicate with my kids better!

The Andaman

We're finally here! And first impression is wow, super duper gorgeous. Am knackered and all I want to do is sleep now, bu will for sure blog about this more later.. Take care everyone!

I'm tired

I really am. As I write this, I suddenly feel an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. Hady's giving me a foot massage, thinks he pities his poor mum at the moment.

I'm looking forward to our family trip tom (HK Disneyland is going to have to wait for another time k babies, Mama has other plans for you), I actually chose a place close enough but far enough from civilization for us. Thanks Idhura (again) for handling all the arrangements for us, I owe you one babe (Shahril, your gf did all the work not you, so please do not take credit for it, and please handle my CRV with much TLC whilst I'm away :p).

I got back home near midnight last night (well, most nights lately), so today I really wasn't up to mark at a hunt held in KL this morning. Since it was a team effort,couldn't pull out and be selfish now could I, I did give it my all, but it wasn't good enough, but its ok, there are more hunts out there for us to participate in.

In the mean time, my girl friends and I are sorting out our girl friend getaway soon, which I'm sooooo looking forward to. It'll just be us 3 girls and the Daddy's will have to be on baby sitting duties to take care of the 6 children we have between the 3 of us.

Ami's a hands on Dad, so it shouldn't be a problem. Not worried, in fact I think they'd have a blast with me away, you know, no need to shower so early, can sit and watch tv all day long without Mama going do your home work do your homework! So I think they'll just do fine. Perhaps the little one will miss Mama's cuddles at night, but Mama will only be away for a bit, boleh ye Sayang?

I haven't packed a thing, don't feel like moving from this couch, but I better get on with it. Laundry needs to be hanged, Hady and Hariz's dinner needs to be prepared, oh Ami's long gone, fell asleep the moment we got home from the hunt and hasn't been up since, poor thing is exhausted too, and heh.. need to *remind* Hady and Hariz - homework homework homework kalau nak ikut Mama esok! Ha ha ha ha..

Oh, besides that, I officially signed on to become my cousins tutor/supervisor for her course elective this semester. She chose to do piano, so will be tutoring her on that, so I have to manage my time even more now. I'll be alright. Tired. But ok.

Gotta snap out of this now. Get up Linda! Stop being lazy, time waits for no one, so get a move on it!

Words are the sharpest swords

Nuff Said.

This and That

Last night Ami and I had a rare night out together, been ages since we'd been able to do that, so we caught the movie Wolverine. Ami had watched it with Hady and Hariz on one of the weekends that I was working, and since they couldn't stop talking about it, I decided to watch it myself. Ami treated me to the new Gardens Signature cinema with its twin seats, which I really really liked! Quite convenient that we didn't have to step on people if we needed to go to the loo, which I quite fancied.

Movie was great by my standards, and Hugh Jackman's a** and Ryan Reynolds abs were even better, fantastic even! Plot was simple enough for me to follow, and all that testosterone was making me giggle sheepishly non stop. Nice.

Today started out with some good news, I was one of the 4 winners of this month's trivia of my Company, hehehe.. paid off validating reports written on the company as I knew exactly how many ships the company owned ;)Haven't received my prize yet, so looking forward to that.

At about 11 am, Farni text me asking me out for a gf lunch, which I obliged, she came to my office and we had a lovely time just talking away about everything under the sun, our work, our husbands, our kids, our parents, everything. Thanks for the lunch treat babe, my turn next time yeah?

Along the way she asked me what I was doing this evening, and I couldn't decide between Star Trek (as Ami wanted to watch it yesterday since he had watched Wolverine before)or going back to sleep, as I still felt very tired from my late nights previously. We left it at that. Towards the end of the day, Farni text again saying that Avian, her husband wanted to join in for the movie, so I thought, why not, it's not often I get the night off, so let's go for it. Avian quickly bought the tickets online for us, and within 5 minutes, we were all set to catch a movie, the 4 of us.

So it was the second time Farni and I met for the day, now for dinner. Ha ha ha! We decided on Tony Romas's ribs, yummers, and seperti biasa, we just picked up from where we left in the afternoon and starting talking nonstop again. Talk about girl power, I tell you we never seem to run out of things to say to each other! The boys caught up with each other too, talking more on upcoming movies and about the coming AV fair which I'm looking forward to tag along.

How was Star Trek? Entertaining as well! Different from Wolverine, but was entertained the whole time too, which was great. All in all, I had a great time with the Avian's sans our kids, it would have been impossible to hold a decent conversation with Hady, Hariz, Alyssa and Aryff around!

Thanks to Farni and Avian too for treating us to dinner and the movie, next movie outing is on us, please. You paid for my lunch AND dinner, seriously, my treat next time k? Tomorrow will be another long day at work, just as I was about to leave work for the day today, I received some news that'll make my life for the next month as busy as before, so I'm mentally preparing myself for the onslaught coming tomorrow. Taking it as a challenge, albeit another painful one, but I'll get through it, I have faith in me.

I'm looking over my shoulder to look at Ami who is next to me, burying his head in his files, yet again tonight, and I do hope that I'll be able to match up to his drive and determination to succeed and be good at whatever path I choose in the future. Hariz is asleep and Hady's munching on the Choreo's doughnuts I got him from Big Apple and telling me about his day, he's a grown boy this one.

Ok folks, going to read a few pages from my new book before calling it a night, later peeps..

Catching up on lost time

We made it through another year end, thank god, so our job now is to finish tying up loose ends, before I start on my next yearly project, good luck to me.

Anyways, been trying to find time to catch up on my reading and Lin suggested that I read this book: 'The Time Traveler's Wife'. She called up Times last week to check on the availabilty of the book and BSC had a copy so I suggested dinner @ Chili's to celebrate me getting the book. Nice.

It's been sometime since I've had this book and finally today, I've been able to sit for a few moments (Not long la, I've got screaming babies who want my attention every 2 minutes) to catch up on my reading, and it feels good. Very good.

I love reading, as my mind can wander as much as it wants and I can just take my time to digest and appreciate what the author is trying to convey, so Linda is a happy girl, once again.

Ok, it's getting late and I have to work tom, but I do want to go ahead and read a couple of more pages before I call it a night. Accompanying Ami too, who's still reviewing his files, thought he'd like some conversation tonight, thought I'd continue with how hot Hugh Jackman is and what an a**, he he!

Good night everyone.

A mother is a Gem

It's Sunday, the 10th of May 2009, Mother's Day to be exact.

Well, I personally think it's just another marketing ploy from all you business people out there :) The irony of it all, it's supposedly to be "my" day so to speak, but was working till about 3 am this morning, came back to sleep, woke up at 7 am to a breakfast spread prepared by Ami (thanks Yang) to which I then fell asleep immediately again.

Woke up at 2pm and realised I was late for Daud's (Ami's other half, he he!) housewarming in Shah Alam, so rushed all the way there, and heh.. we were the last guest to arrive... Sorry Daud, didn't mean to be late, I hate being late, but I had a splitting head ache that I needed to sleep off.

Saw Mama at about 4pm and as we were discussing where to have dinner, boss text saying that we had to come back to office at 8 pm tonight. Dinner plans had to be scrapped to early dinner/late tea which was of course, Sushi @ BVII and as I felt soooo guilty for having to leave Hady and Hariz again tonight, bought them some books at MPH.

Went back to take a quick nap and got woken up by Farni's phone call, telling me she'd been at work since 7am that morning and that she was dead tired. Thinks we can so relate to each other, trying to manage a household and earn a living at the same time.. Said our goodbyes after reassuring each other that we could get through all of this, took a quick shower (the office is like a hot oven, panas!) before heading off to Coffee Bean for some much needed caffeiene and after all that, here I am back in office. I'm back here again already?

I do hope Hady and Hariz realise it's not easy to put food on the table for them, all the things Ami and I have to go through, and I truly appreciate what Papa and Mama have done for me, to raise me with much love all this while.. To Mama and my mother in law Ummi, I love you both with all my heart, Mama thanks for everything you've done for me and Ummi, thanks for raising such a wonderful man who is my husband.

Ok, back to work, I don't know what time we can go back today as the accounts are due tom at 0900 hours, we may be camping here overnight. Write again soon..

Late night rides

Its nearly 0000 hours, and yep, I'm still at work. Been here since 8 plus this morning so that's about 16 hours that I've been here, yet again. Just a quick note as I have to get back to work, but I was wondering, since I didn't drive today, whether I should just take a cab back home tonight. Called Ami at around 11+ and he was already asleep with Hady and Hariz, so I feel quite guilty now if I were to call him later to come pick me up, kesian lah pulak, he'd have to carry both sleeping kids to the car and drive here half awake. Worrying.

So the other alternative is to take a cab, which I'm thinking about, and which I have quite a few reservations about. To which got me thinking, I don't feel safe living in KL anymore? Seriously, I don't. So many horror stories I read every morning in the papers (thanks to Azril's Harian Metro, heh..), that I could actually end up as one of the casualties featured on the front page, tak nak lah pulakkan..

To give Ami credit (and lots of it), I'm sure he'd come here the moment I call him, bless him, but the independent person in me says, give him his rest, go find ur way back home yourself.. Ok, gotta get back to work, things always sorts its way out, eventually, just have to have some faith that I can go back home tonight, er, thinks it's already this morning ;)

Good day everyone..

Friends, Family and Anniversary

Yes I know, I'm terrible at updating. Couldn't sleep tonight and got time off early from work today (is 2030 hours considered early? It is for us!), so thought I'd just update a bit.

Been extremely busy at work, and as usual, I'm trying to juggle my wifey, mummy, daughter, friend duties all at the same time. Phewww.. It ain't easy juggling all that. Eventhough, I'm swamped with work, I do try to make sure that I don't neglect my family and friends, but of course at the cost of zero time for myself and this blog.. Heh.. excuses, excuses, excuses..

Anyways, lets see, what have I been up to? The week before had the Saturday off, so did my errands in the morning and spent the evening at Harie's place in Subang. Harie and I go a lonnnnngggg way back, we were housemates in uni and like Latape, he used to feed me, told ya I had zero culinary skills. So whenever he knew I was around and he had cooked, he'd surely make me join him for dinner. Heh.. Good times.. We survived uni together, travelling when we could, he was a year ahead of me, and it was nice having a housemate like him, always looking out for me back then. He threw a party for both his kids, so of course I had to attend..



The next day, I had a preplanned outdoor wedding shoot with Kamal and Fendi in Klang, so that's where I went bright and early on Sunday morning. This is my first time doing a photo shoot like that, so it wasn't easy, was struggling a bit, and it was hot, I wasn't even sure whether what I did was right.



Got a few shots and I was due back in office that morning, so I rushed back to KL, where we were till late that night. In the meantime, I really wanted to faint from the heat and sheer tiredness of that morning, it isn't easy being a photographer.. I have so much to learn still..

Then came the weekdays, where we'd be putting in hours till midnight nightly, sometimes running to 1 am. Doing 16 hours straight daily really just drains you out, but I can't complain much, other people have it worse than me, I just have to persevere. Worked on labour day itself, the irony of it all..

On Saturday and Sunday, it was a mad dash for me to catch up with friends and family. Had my cousin Gina's engagement in Klang, she looked lovely in pink, congrats sweetie!



Then had my cousin's Fahariah's party in Kg Baru, happy birthday Syaqeel, I hope you had lots of fun on your birthday Sayang! Fahariah and I grew up together, we were deskmates in Secondary School, so we were pretty close back then, dah lah cousins, duduk sebelah2 pulak tu dalam kelas, macam tak de orang lain! Ha ha ha ha ha.. Love ya babes!



Then later that night, it was dinner with my cousin Mat who was down from Perlis. His wife teaches in KL, so he comes back fortnightly to see her, and this time he made me a promise that he'd pop by and see me, so off we went for dinner. Meriah Yeop!



The next day, I had a flash class at the Heritage Hotel in KL, where I was the only lady present (besides the pro model, of course). A bit segan in the beginning, but the other guys made me feel at ease, and boy were they pros! Gave me a few tips here and there and they certainly weren't kedekut with their knowledge, so I gained a lot from attending the class. Thanks Zuhri, looking forward to attend more of your classes.



Which brings me to today, the 4th of May 2009, my 7th year wedding anniversary. I'm not one for public display of affections, and I don't think people would want to read sappy love notes in this blog anyways, so lets keep the mushy stuff away for my own private time. We had nothing planned for today as I knew I'd be working late, but somehow, we were let off early tonight. Lucky me?

Called Ami and asked him where he was, said he was on the way to Bora Asmara to have dinner with his mates so I asked if I could join in.. He said of course and made a u-turn to come pick me up. I love Bora Asmara, the ambience especially. Coincidently, the dinner tonight was to celebrate Ami's collegue's farewell, as it was her last week at the firm.

Bunyi macam some person from the office kan, but his collegue, Fadh, was actually my schoolmate since kindergarten, to Primary School and to Secondary School, yep, I had known her all my life! That's why Ami was more than happy to let me tag along as I knew her personally and he knew I could fit right in. So it also became an anniversary celebration for us, dah alang2 tu kan..

There were about 20 of them at the table when we arrived, all Ami's friends from EY and as soon as we arrived, there were choruses of Happy Anniversary Linda and Ami! I was like eh? Heh.. The wonders of facebook.. Ha ha ha ha ha.. I have most of his friends in my list too, and its pretty convenient that way, eventhough I don't meet up with them often, I would know of their happenings and vice versa, so it's pretty easy for me to hold a conversation with them when we meet up, till the point of saying good bye's, thinks it was harder for me to say good bye as I had so much to catch up with everyone (macam my event ler pulak tadi.. aisey..)..

Food was good, the company was great, all in all, had a nice quiet 7th anniversary, oh and Hady and Hariz tagged along tonight, so yeah, it was a family celebration too.. That's what I've been up to in a nutshell, not sure if I'd have the time to write again soon, I hope I do, till then, take care everyone!