Engaged and A Happy New Year

I'm engaged to a wonderful, wonderful man. I'm content and blessed. I don't ask much in life and I couldn't ask for anything better than this, Alhamdullilah.

The ceremony was an amazing one, if you ask. Surrounded by family and close friends; those who've been there throughout my ups and downs, meaningful people in my life. It's more of a personal celebration and get together. A few have been talking about my engagement dress and how grand the ceremony would be; which was actually just a simple, merry occasion. I don't know how they got the idea, maybe from my excitement. Oh well.

Had a lovely dinner with Matt and Han the night before my engagement. They've been such sweethearts to my family; I personally love the time they sit down together with all of us at home having a humble breakfast. Oh, and I had teary eyes looking at the pictures below (of my best friends and sister peeking at me); you guys are my world. MY WORLD. I love you guys to the moon and back!

Wanna thank EVERYONE who came down all the way to join me on my joyous day. Thank you to those who wished and called as well. 

Christmas have been a great one for me this year too, had lovely dinners with friends and colleagues and I totally love the Christmas present Ben bought me. 

2009 is coming, behold! It's super crazy how fast time flies by. It has been a great year with lots of challenges and merriment mix up together. Hmmm...don't feel like celebrating at all, dah tua agaknya. So am going out with Muzzo, Yana, Eka and Nadiah for dinner. They hated new year, so. 

But hey, here's a toast to a betterment, to a joyous year, to a happy 2009. Thank you and goodbye 2008; you'll be missed. 

Work smart, be good to yourself, be kind to people. Happy new year, everyone. 

Photo credit goes to my darling Matt Marzuki, thank you for taking the honor to snap and also Efan for the wonderful candids :)

Marriage - Did I Marry The Right Person?

Scrapped from a friend's note in facebook:

This is a very good article....Those who are still single may learn something from here...

Those who are already married may take it as a guide to improve your marriage & relationship ... DID I MARRY THE RIGHT PERSON? Here's the answer.....

EVERY relationship has a cycle. In the beginning, you fell in love with your spouse / partner . You anticipated their call, wanted their touch, and liked their idiosyncrasies(unconventional behavior/habit). Falling in love with your spouse wasn't hard. In fact, it was acompletely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called 'falling' inlove... Because it's happening TO YOU. People in love sometimes say, 'I was swept of my feet.' Think aboutthe imagery of that __expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something came along and happened TO YOU. Falling in love is easy. It's a passive and spontaneous experience.But after a few years of marriage, the euphoria (excitement) of love FADES........ It's the natural cycle of EVERY relationship. Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all),touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse'sidiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship, but if you think about your marriage, you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your spouse might start asking, 'Did I marry the right person?' And as you and your spouse reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when marriages breakdown. People blame their spouse for their unhappiness and look outside their marriage for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most obvious. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your marriage. It lies within it. I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someoneelse. You could. And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later......

"Because (listen carefully to this): THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND"

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. It'll NEVER just happen to you. You can't 'find' LASTING love. You have to 'make' it day in and day out. That's why we have the __expression 'the labor of love.' Because it takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly,it takes WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage work. Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery.

There are specific things you can do (with or without your spouse) to succeed with your marriage.. Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity),there are also laws for relationships. Just as the right diet and exercise program makes you physically stronger, certain habits in your relationship WILL make your marriage stronger. It's a direct cause and effect. If you know and apply the laws, the results are predictable... you can 'make love'. Love in marriage is indeed a 'decision'... Not just a feeling. Remember this always: 'God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.'

I buta-buta ambik from people's note :P 

Thanks yanee :D

Actually..

..I have absolutely nothing to say that's of your interest. 

I use Trebuchet coz I'm fed up with Verdana.

The son of M8, I so want this. 

Had three great dinners in a row with MN. Sunday night I brought him to a small cafe back in Muar where my parents used to dine when they were younger (and still dating). I grew up dining at this cafe with them eating ice-cream and two-piece fried chicken. We had our family dinner every Friday there too. And back then, Friday in Johor was considered a weekend off.

What used to be a small fast food joint is now a cosy cafe with soothing ambience and interior design. The food remains practically the same. I still love their sweet bun that's wayyy better than other sweet bun I've ever tasted in my whole life. Their nasi beriyani and nasi lemak are not that bad either. I have a cousin who used to be addicted to their nasi lemak that she dragged me there nearly every night.

So back to the great dinners I had - MN made me laugh at his stupid jokes all night long and we played Q&A; he amazed me with nearly 40 questions in 10minutes. I had a tough time answering "Amongst your good friends, who would you pick to watch porn with?" coz I'm stuck between Eka and Muzzo. 

And we had an awesome time slurping great Penang food at a place near where I work last night. I had tom yam kuey tiao that's really spicy with sambal goreng. Damn! The combination of the two were so orgasmic! You know the explosion in your head if you have too much wasabi? It's pretty much the same but with less dynamite. Orang melayu kata 'tebabo'? Yeap. Its like that. If you dig hot and spicy stuff, I recommend Simply Penang. 

I've started my painting project too. Oil paint on canvas. I think this is the most versatile medium to use. I can either go really thick or extremely thin. Now that I've started, I kinda regret it not using linseed oil coz my painting didn't dry thoroughly. Shall wait for three days before I could apply another coat. Painting spank my temper hard, really.

Bought the canvas and paints at my favorite art shop in Muar. I spend most of my time there on my hols, the place is magic. And me being so cheap and broke, I ended up using tripod and two big clips as my easel. Even cooler if they can transform into big giant autobots. Yea, I wish.

Hello, ants.

There are three little ants on my desk at the office; circling and sniffing their way around looking for sweet stuff. One of them was squashed accidentally when I put down my book. Poor thing. I felt sorry for him; I mean, if I saw him earlier I would have dump the book elsewhere.

Wow, they are after my mentos now. Hmm. Maybe I shall cut my last piece of sweet into small tiny pieces and transport those three friends to the kitchen table in the pantry room and feed 'em with it. 

Anyway, Friday was great. Haja from TheOther Bookstore came in with a huge bundle of design books for Womb. Ben and Sai Meng brought him in. We had a major super happy moment flippin' through all the books, dived in as deep as we could and personally picked some for Womb's little library. 

My engagement is in two weeks time. Salmi and I were super excited in the car on the way back to KL last night, giggling like schoolgirls. Zatyl and Yana are going to make it to my reception, rain or shine. Ira...ira....she's my sweetheart who knows everything about my wedding plan, my fear, my tears of joy. 

Now that I got most of my work wrapped up at the office, I'm looking forward for a good self-indulgence this Thursday. I really need to tender myself with some good massage and facial treatments. Oh, and need to get my nails done too!

This life sometimes.

Too many shows, too many egos and way too many personal agendas.

-David Droga

I Want To Live In Stockholm.

Because I love their packaging design? Oh, tasteful minimalism. 

I bought Ikea's Gingerbread House kit just for fun. Haven't assemble 'em yet, maybe tonight if I can go back early. I love the twinkling Christmas lights I saw at the mall yesterday, so nice. Gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. Bought two small Christmas socks for my cats as well. Maybe i should put some whiskas cookies inside?

I'm going to update my tumblr from now on. Besides, its cleaner and fresher there. 

Three Weird Things

Three weird things have been happening:

1- Yesterday the moon look as if it's smiling; like this --> :)
2- Its already 11.47am now and nobody's in yet except for me.

3- A flower shop just called in to tell that they have a delivery for me and request for my new office's address. 

I wonder.

Thanks so much Inaz for the lovely pink roses, I was damn surprised!

On a not-so-weird account, my first ad appeared in The Star yesterday. I did the copy. I love my job!

I really need to get rid of the background. It's hideous, dont know why I put it up at the first place!