It's November!

Yeah.. here comes the month of November.. how time fly so fast.

It is already 3rd quarter of the month and only now I have a chance to update my blog. So far November has been good to me.

One thing for sure now, I am so in love with my new 'gym place'. At first I was very contemplating to change the club that I've been going for so many years. It was the best and among expensive membership club here in Muscat. They have other facilities beside gym that my children really enjoyed it but come to think that lately we hardly go there so it was such a waste. And now.. religiously every morning I go to the gym, the new place that fully equipped with the latest equipments plus it is so close to my home. I enjoy every minute of it and no reasons or excuses not to do exercise!

November also is the month of celebration. Being living in Oman for so many years, I feel like Oman is my home too. Oman celebrated 44th anniversary of its National Day on the 18th November. The city has been decorated beautifully with flags and lights. All of us especially Omanis love their Sultan, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said who has developed the country as what it is now.

19th November is my youngest daughter birthday - Nabila. She turned 12 years old. Oh dear.. I still can't believe that she has grown up to a beautiful girl now. She is so matured and smart. For this year she just wanted a small party. A movie night and sleepover party with a small group of friends. My living room as been transformed to their 'room'. They watched movie, makeup and hairdo to each other, eating snacks, giggling and chatting till morning! They really had a good time!

The next birthday will be Nadira which will be on the 28th November. She won't be here to celebrate with me but I am sure she will have a good time with her friends in Wellington. Nadira also has given me a good news that she passed in her final exam and got thru to 2nd year. Alhamdullilah...

A week more to go before the November ends. The weather is getting cooler and better. We have now started planning for a picnic and camping. I am really looking forward for that!

Cancer Walk 2014 - Walk For The Cure

28th October 2014

Never fail to join the Cancer Walk organised by the Oman Cancer Association (OCA) every year. The theme of the walk for this year was - Walk for the cure.

Over 6,000 people comprising children, elders and students participated in this event. It was held at the Al Qurum Natural Park, Muscat. It was a 2km green stretch in the park. You won't feel the 2km at all (not even sweat) as when we joined walking with thousands of people, it was more like a leisure walking.

The walk is more to spread the awareness about cancer, especially the breast cancer. There has been a 35% increase in breast cancer since 2012. Breast cancer is the largest killer of females in Oman.

The walk is also to remember all those who lost the fight against breast cancer while celebrating those who have survived. It is to encourage those who are battling out.

I myself, have a very strong family history of cancer.

My mom - cervical - brain cancer
My aunty - lung - bone
My uncle - nose
My uncle - gastric/stomach

Al fatihah to all of them.

It is a lie if I say that I am not worry at all. Every day I wake up praying that I will stay healthy and Allah forbid me from getting cancer. I am doing my very best to live a healthy lifestyle.

- this remind me that I am due for my pap smear and mammogram check up!

Being A 'Survivor' Among 'Survivors'

Let’s say.. I just opened a shop selling Abaya. I chose to open the shop at the business commercial area. The chances of people getting to know and come to my shop are high because it is at the business commercial centre and everybody who goes or passes by there can see my shop (of course, with a big attractive signboard!)

Now the reality is I am running a ‘virtual shop’, an online business. How do I get people to know the existence of my business? It is not that easy as I thought. To create a platform of the business was a piece of cake to me! Now it is up excellently on Facebook and Instagram except now, how to tell the world to come and visit my shop. HOW?

I am so envious looking at some of the sellers who have followers more than 5k and some 10k-30k! I just wonder how they did it. Could it be the products that they sell? Or the price that they put? I’ve done some surveys on this, mostly they are selling the same things.. almost the same price.. but how they got to get thousands followers or likers, I am yet to discovered!

For the first month of my two online business (abayaoman & iwatchyourbag), we started to have 100-200 followers which mostly are our friends. Then we invited people to follow us by we first started requesting to follow them. Well.. when you follow them, doesn’t mean that they will follow you back! It depends.. if they like what you sell, they will definitely follow you. This means we have to choose the people who are into our product in order to get the ‘follow’ back.

How do we know those people? This is quite a dirty trick but I guess every seller is doing it. We are sort of ‘stealing’ other sellers customers/followers. We have to zoom in to our competitors (who sells almost like what we sell), look at their followers and click ‘follow’.

It works you know! Though the increment of the followers not that fast but at least the number of our followers changed. This was quite time consuming as you have to spend hours, days and months to do this. Another way that I noticed is you have to get a 'famous' people to tell their followers/fans about our business.

The trend in Malaysia now, if you are a celebrity, what ever they wear, eat or even sell - the big fanatic fans of them will definitely want to have the same too. There are some Malaysian celebrities are doing IG review for online sellers like me in their IG. And mind you, it is not FREE.

At first I thought they are doing a favour to new sellers like us but I was wrong. Every review or mention in their FB, IG or Tweeter has to be paid. Hmm... artis Malaysia semua sendu dah, tak laku... maybe cara ni je ah nak buat extra pocket money. Ooppss.. ampun ye... 

I've so far paid to four different celebrities to do a review on both businesses. The amount that I have paid to each of them was as low from RM300 and as high as RM1500. Damn expensive right! At first I was very reluctant to pay them as I feel that they were sort of taking advantage on us but I guess that's the privilege and benefits for being famous.

Does this work? Well.. It did worked actually. We got immediate 200-500 followers but after a few days the number of followers remain static. This is why we had invested to four different celebrities to add more followers. 

If you ask me again, 'does this really work' - I will tell you that it didn't really work as I expect it to be!! The one that we paid RM1500 is a famous celebrity that has 1.3M followers and what we got was less than 500 followers. Can you imagine how frustrated I and my partners? We were so surprised and upset as we have to fork out that quite big amount and yet we didn't achieve our target.

This is my opinion to these celebrities - they are not sincere, well why they have to right? Hahaahaha. They are more on making money instead of helping us. When they do the review in their IG, they didn't do any homework on our product. They just copy and paste of whatever we tell them line by line. They didn't make any initiative to make the review as attractive as it can be. The review looked boring and uninviting. Some were so greedy that make a condition that the review will be removed from their IG after one month. Then after 5 minutes they did the review on our IG, they already started posted rows of their pictures that will put our review post far away behind it.

Huh... I guess this is how the game is. Probably I myself, too being impatient. I put the expectations towards all of these very high. After went thru all of these, I learned that nothing comes easy. Nothing is free. There are many sellers out there that sell the same thing like I do, very stiff competition but that should not a be reason for me to quit.

From the beginning I have already tell myself that this is only my leisure business. If it strikes means I hit the jackpot. If not... it is not the end of everything. Hmm.. do I sound like I am already giving up? Hahahaha. Sound so mellow je kan...

I am not yet quitting or giving up on what I'm doing right now. It just started... not even warm yet.. It is only 3rd month for AbayaOman and 7th month for iwatchyourbag. We are still newbies here.

With the followers of 1k++ now, I would say that was quite impressive. Day by day, we have new followers for our business and that matters. I think we have to go back to the first method of adding more followers rather than to burn our pocket paying those celebrities! (ayat tak puas hati kat deorang.. hahahha)

Behind The Scenes

Behind of every succesful businesswoman is her man and family. Well.. I am not eligble yet to claim the title of “succesful” but I believe I am going to that way. Soon… yeah… (*dream high*). In my previous post, I’ve mentioned how difficult for an online seller to promote our online business. Unless you have a thick budget, then this would not be an issue.

As for me, who is so determined to make use of all the skills, experiences and knowledges that I have still found, it is quite a very challenging and competitive.

Besides on how to make known the existing of your online business (promise will write it in my next post), you also have to make a very impressive FB or Instagram to attract people.

This again, if you have a thick budget.. everything is possible. Just hire a proffesional company, go all out for an advertisment and within a day you’ll get a thousands followers and likers.

As for me… the bajet ciput company… I have to do all it by myself from scratch. Well.. imagine me sitting at the couch, clicking the ‘follow’ or ‘add friend’ button until the FB and IG suspended me from doing it! Hahahahhaa…

Here.. I would like to ‘reveal’ the secret of my yet to be successful “abayaoman”. Since I am selling abaya, the pictures of abayas has to be looked beautiful and inspiring. My source of abaya is mostly from the Matrah Souq. For those who doesn’t know, Matrah Souq is an area with many shops selling household items, shoes, gold and readymade garments.

I had sort off signing an MOU business deal with one tailor shop there. So if there is any of new abaya stock ready, he will inform me. I also have the ‘privillege’ ordering the abaya from him thru whatsapp. Owh.. this is so convenient as to go there is quite a hassle with the limited parking space.

Now.. capturing the abaya photo to be put in the FB and Instagram! I am not a professional photographer though I have the camera that looks like one of them. Always got confused with lots of functions on the camera, so thanks to my Iphone. Yes.. all my pictures are taken using only with my handphone.

The outcome sometimes were not that perfect due to the lighting that sometimes customers got confused asking “is the abaya color black or green?”. Also while taking pictures, it happened sometimes a Bangla tailor man popped out from the middle of nowhere passing by or suddenly behind the abaya! Huh… rasa macam nak cubit je pasal kita dah cantik dapat angle gambar tu.

Apart from that the best part is that I can edit the picture to make it more realistic. Though not that perfect but Alhamdulliah, all the abaya pictures were well captured and put in the FB and IG.

Recently, AbayaOman has launched its own design. Wah… dah maju setapak gayanya.. hehehe. Ni.. kena lah ada model untuk gayakan abaya tu kan.. Tapi bajet ciput company ni mana ah ada ongkos nak hire model. So sape lagi yg jadi mangsa?? Hahahaha… Then.. to get a good photo, must have a good studio with a perfect lighting and a professional photographer. Hmm…. 

Luckily I have those… Taraaaaa….

This our own little studio.

My "lighting boy". Asyik senget je tala lamp tu.. muka boring kena marah!

My photographer! Kena keje tangkap gambar malam, so tak sempat nak sarong suit & tie. 

See.. we managed to do it! Owh yes.. my daughter Nabila, is the assistant of the photographer. When the photographer has no mood to do his work, Nabila will take over the job. I have an awesome team! 

I always believe that to be success in whatever we want to do, you just have to be creative and love what you do. As said by Oprah Winfrey - "Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

Owh yes.. every day I wake up excitedly waiting for the customers to make an order. I enjoy doing what I am doing now and that is the most important.

SILENCE : the absence of sound

The best thing that I can do when I am angry, too angry is just to remain SILENCE. 

The best thing that I would do when I am having a fight with my love ones, is just to remain SILENCE.

I guess that's the best I can do. I do sometimes explode, which I really hate to be in that situation. I am afraid that I might say something that I later on will regret.

Passion-Based Business

I've started doing business (like earning my own pocket money) at the age of 10. My mom made nasi lemak and I brought to school to sell to my friends. It was of course not allowed at school but I did it sembunyi2. It was only last for a few days until I've been caught in red handed!

My late mom was a great cook. I guess because of that many of her friends always got her to cook for them. It started by helping them until she later got paid for all the foods that she cooked. I always helped her especially during Raya. That was the busiest month of the year. She made thousands and thousands of delicious cookies. Owh.. I miss those moment.

I made my own first cake to sell when I was 15years old. Sold it to my aunty and mom's friend with pride! Hahaha though it was only two "customers", I was still proud of it.

Since I am now not working and stay at home, I find a way to create business to fill up my 'extra' time beside earning additional income. Five years ago when I was in Malaysia, I sort of trial and error in selling cakes and kek lapis sarawak. Surprisingly it was quite a huge success especially during Raya sampai tak cukup tangan. People got to know my product from mouth to mouth and online. Yes.. at that time I did have a blog promoting my cakes. It was an exciting moment when strangers contacted you asking about your cakes!

Nowadays, an online business is not only a trend but it is like a must for everybody to make known their product thru online. Though you already have a physical store or shop, one good way of telling people is thru the internet. We can promote our product thru its own website, blog, fb or instagram.

I myself love to shop online! I find it very convenient. I can shop at anytime and anywhere. I have also seriously started venture business thru online. The first one is iwatchyourbag. This idea came from three of us (me, M and N) who are so crazy over handbags. We can just talk endlessly about handbags. One day, I told them.. since we have so much knowledge about all kind of designer handbags and always keep up to date with the new design/model, why not we transform our passion to money?

It has been six months now and I can say that it is not bad after all. We manage to sell quite number of handbags. It is very competitive market as there are many online seller out there but we are selling preloved vintage designer handbags. Maybe that's the different. Designer handbags are increasing their price crazily and we are here to fulfil the desire of those who can't earn the expensive brand-new but still can buy the good preloved with cheaper price!

A month ago I've started another online business - abayaoman. The idea started after a few times went back to Malaysia buying abaya for my friends. I venture this business with my sister in-law. She is handling all the enquiries from customers where as I am in charge of designing, purchasing and tailoring the abaya and also sharing the abaya in our fb and instagram. For a newbie, I would say that we are quite success.

One of the problems that we are having for the online seller like us is HOW TO LET PEOPLE KNOW THAT WE ARE EXIST?

I will continue this in my next post. Meanwhile please do visit my fb and ig of iwatchyourbag and abayaoman.

45

Alhamdullilah… Thank you Allah for allowing me to breath till now. Today I am 45 years old. Huih.. tak sangka dah tua kan..

There are of course ups and downs along the journey of my life to reach this age and if I were to list down here, there might be not enough pages.

Bila dulu2 orang tua cakap - "aku makan garam dulu dari kau" atau "aku ni orang tua.. hati sensitif" atau "eee.. tak lalu ah nak makan ni.. "

Ahah.. now I have that all sorts of feelings. Bila budak2 hingusan nak tunjuk terror atau anak2 nak tunjuk pandai maka keluarlah ayat "aku makan garam dulu dari kau"!

I am happy with my life now. Syukur sangat. Though I am not working, go to office but I still can earn money in my own way. Well.. beside pocket money given by hubby, I am now be able to create money thru my passion.

I've been staying at home as a homemaker for 12 years now. Huh.. that very long that I didn't even realise it. Luckily my brain is still smart and functioning. Hahahaha..

I always love to occupied myself with sorts of activities and hobbies. I always make myself busy to do this and that which sometimes I feel like I need more time to do more things.

I just love my life now and love what I am doing now. Thank you Allah. Thank you to my husband who has always support and encourage me in whatever I want to do though sometimes it is the nonsense things but he still go along with me!

I am also proud to see the achievement of all my children. They are such a smart and independent kids. They always make me and hubby proud of them.

Couldn't ask for more right?

My pray and wish for my 45th birthday are:
Allah will give me a healthy long life at least until I am be able to attend Nabila & Hakeem University Graduation Day.
I and my family will always be protected from any harms and major sickness.
My body is always healthy so that I can continue going to the gym, cycling and do my amal ibadah.
Allah memurahkan my rezeki and family.
To be loved by family and friends
Last but not least, to always look fabulous and good walaupun dah tua kerepot!

September… Kau Datang Lagi..

Among of all the months in the whole year, SEPTEMBER is my favourite month. If you ask me why, I don't really know how to answer it.

To me September is a sexy month. A month of feminine and love. Hahahhaa.. you would probably be thinking that I am crazy or some psycho woman who just escaped from the mental institute but hey.. that is what I feel.

September is also a month of my born day! A month that I always looking forward to be getting older a year.. to receive wishes from everybody and also presents or flowers (if i am lucky) from loved ones.

September also means, we have already passed the third quarter of the year. We are just a few months away before reaching the next new year. Once we reach September.. everything just go so fast that without realising we are already in December!

Well.. I am looking forward to be sexy and loved during this month!

Welcome September.

Malaysia… Di Sini Lahirnya Cinta

My two younger children, Nabila and Hakeem have never been to Malaysian school. They never learn about the history of Malaysia. What they only learn and know is, Malaysia is the place where they were born. Malaysia is their homeland. Malaysia is where are all their grandparents and cousins stay. Malaysia is the only place they feel like home when they are there.

What they learn in their school is a world history. The history of England - the history of WWII and also the Victorians. In Geography, they learn more on the environment of how to save the earth.

They just know Kuala Lumpur/Shah Alam is the place where we always stay whenever we go to back to Malaysia. They know Kedah as a place where their Tok Ayah stay and also Malacca where we always go to visit their grandmother. Miri, Sarawak is a place where both of them were born. They just memorise the place by name but never been there since they were 1 year old.

At home, I cook Malay dishes as our daily diet. Sambal belacan, sambal tumis, masak tempoyak, kari, laksa and more foods if I were to list here. Nabila is a big fan of my cooking. She is just like me, loves to explore foods. Believe it or not, one of her favourites is lemak pucuk ubi masak tempoyak. Unlike Hakeem, tekak orang putih. He loves to eats spaghetti, pasta, cheese and burger. Last year during Ramadhan, I have to cook lasagna as Hakeem's iftar meal for the whole month! Unbelievable that he can eat the same meal every day. Only lately, Hakeem learns to accept Malay food. He started to eat what I cook.

Nabila and Hakeem cannot converse in Bahasa Melayu. They think and talk in English but they can understand Bahasa Melayu, mostly what I and hubby were talking. When they were small, we can openly talk about anything especially gossips and about them! Hahahha.. but now.. it's so difficult. I wish I and hubby can talk a language that they don't understand!

Today 31st August is my country, Malaysia.. 57th National Day. Though I am far far away from my homeland, the spirit of patriotism to my country is always in my blood. I am proud to see Malaysia as it is now.

To Nabila and Hakeem, though they don't know the history of Malaysia, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Rukun Negara or even to sing the National Anthem, I believe Malaysia has always been in their heart. They have been to a few places in other country and have seen how the other side of the world looks like.

In all their life, they know Malaysia is a place where they were born, the place where they belong. They are proud to introduce to their British, Americans or any other Asians friends - "I am from Malaysia. I am Malaysian". They are always happy and excited every time going back to Malaysia.

I always tell them, no matter where you go.. where you live.. how success you are in your life, NEVER and always NEVER forget where you come from. Don't talk bad of your own country. Living abroad like us, we carrying the good names of our country. Always be proud of who you are as whatever good and bad things that you do, it reflects your nationality and country.

"Malaysia… Di Sini Lahirnya Cinta" or "Malaysia Where Love Grows" indeed carry a big meaning to all of us. Despite having the disagreement among political thinking and the tragedy of our National Carrier, MAS that the whole world are eying on us, we as Malaysian still stand together for the love of our country.

The Magic Way

Ya….. masa kecemasan telah bermula!! What you see above is the herbal tea. Well.. not literally a tea with herbs like those so called organic! I drink this tea when I start to feel that I've eaten a lot.. or I start to feel that I need to discard those 'excess baggage' in my body. Yeah.. it did helped me though.

This is actually a kind of tea that helps you to reduce weight and body odour in a traditional way. I will drink it at night before sleep and the next morning the 'traditional process' begin! I will start having a very pain stomach ache that will make me going to the toilet 3-4 times a day. Wah… I feel so good actually because physiologically I feel that whatever excess that I have in my body has been disposed!

Unfortunately this way of loosing weight won't seems to last long with me. This is not my first kind of tea to reduce weight. I've tried a few other brands before. All of these will only work on the first two days. After that my body seems to get immune with it and I don't feel those pain of urging going to the toilet anymore.

Arghh… it is so easy to gain weight but not to loose it! People say that I am still in the category of the 'slim' size of person. Probably it is because of my height. I agree with them as I am not that bloated and fat yet BUT I feel I am going to be soon.

Only you know your body well especially when you put on your dress.. the sleeves seems to be getting tighter and uncomfortable, you can't pull your shirt/blouse down to cover your hips which is getting bigger and wider now, you can't button your favourite pants or jeans and more and more that make you say to yourself - "I've put on weight" , "I dah gemuk!!!!"

At my age now.. I am easily getting demotivated during the process of loosing weight. The target of my magic number of kilos keep increasing after a few months not achieving the initial number.

I just have to keep saying good things to comfort and motivate myself. Thank God that I am not really a big eater person. I always eat moderate in a small portion. I only sometimes go crazy on foods during holidays and vacations. And yet I don't know how I still gain weight!

I know it is impossible for me to get my shape or weight back like my zaman anak dara dulu. What I have to do now is just continue doing what I am doing. Eat moderate, go to the gym and sometimes drink my magic herbal tea!

Sounds good right? I've to stop for always feeling regret after every time I eat. Berdosa!! I've to stop thinking of poking my finger in my mouth so that I can throw out all the food that I've eaten. Hahahaha.. never done that yet.. only the thought of it!

What I have to is.. I've to start appreciating my healthy body that I have now rather than worried over nothing. I've to keep telling myself that at my age now - I still do look sexy and pretty! Yes.. say it every time I stand in front of the mirror. Last but not least, bersyukur to have a choice to eat anything what I want at anytime because I can afford to have it and also because Alhamdullilah I am healthy and free from any major sickness. It is just up to me whether I want to do it or not!

So stop complaining my dear 'me'...

If Only You Understand Me..

A few days ago I was talking to hubby about our children, the plan for all of them. I have a friend who her son will be married next month. She told me how worries she is now with all the preparations, budgets and everything. I am trying to imagine if I were in her shoes. I probably feel the same too.

We discussed if our eldest daughter were to get married, where would it be held, who were to be invited and all the cost that we have to spend. Hahaha.. so funny that both of us especially me who were so excited planning this and that like she’s going to get married soon!

Sometimes, our children may not realize that we as a parent work hard to provide all the best for them. It is not just in terms of the luxury and comfort but also a piece of mind. We want them to wake up in the morning and have everything complete around them – enough food to eat, nice clothes to wear and exciting toys to play.

As a mother, I have my own role to do. I carry a big responsibility to make sure that my children turn out to be a good person. Kalau jadi tak elok.. orang kata mak juga tak pandai didik anak kan…

I am not a perfect mom or probably an ideal person to some people but what I know that I want to be the best mother in front of my children’s eyes. I have four beautiful teenage daughters. Each of them has their own character and way of thinking. I sometimes might not be able to go along with their drastic change of life or thinking. Looking at them like that make me realize that they are no more my little girls.

Yes.. we do argue sometimes, we do have different opinions but at the end of the day all I want them to understand that only love that bond between us can erase those differences.

I might not be able to be with my children 24-7, but if I were to be given the opportunity even a minute, an hour, a day, a year or even a second to be and spend time with them, I will make the best out of it.

Sometimes in our life, things happen as not as we want it to be. I may have a “no choice” situation that limit me to show my love to my girls. I might not be able to do like a norm mother do that later can be claimed as a perfect mom by all of you. With a period that I had for a minute, an hour, a day, a year or even a second, I did my best, my very best and with all my heart to make all of you happy. I did my best to play a role as a supermom.

Whatever that I’ve done to my children is because of my love towards them. I never expect all them to pay me back (though I always had this stupid Si Tanggang or Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup drama joke with them) in whatever way. All I want is to see them success in their study, have a good job and good life. That’s it. That thought has already made me happy and pleased.

I am not young anymore. My heart and feelings might not be as hyper and strong like when I was young which I can just swallow everything and forget about it. I can easily get worried from small little things. I also sometimes can be over excited about everything! And at times, just a plain harsh word or sentence can simply hurt me too.

Owh my dear heart.. It takes time to heal but I know one day it will go away.

I just want to live my life happily. I want to do what I like. I want to buy what I want. I want to eat what I crave.

I want to wake up in the morning with a happy mood, getting good news from my girls, looking at both younger ones smiling at me and last but not least a husband that always there to comfort me. I want to have a stress-free life.

To all my girls, I might not be the perfect one or the supermom, as all of you want me to be. I make mistakes and sometimes hurt your feelings. All of you may only see the ‘evil’ side of me. Maybe you could take a second and be in my shoes. You will see how every second clock ticking worries me so much about your well-being.  Then maybe you will realize how much I care and love each one of you.

No mother in this entire world, be it either biological mother, stepmother or adoptive mother would ever wants to see her children in trouble and unhappy. A mother love will never end. It is there from beginning to the end.

Selfie… Selfus

Owh .. I just fell in love with my new 'toy' . Not that I am too obsessed - well not yet.. but thanks to those who invented this!

I love to take photos. Those days I relied so much on cameras, cameras with the film mind you.. So the limit was like 36 pieces per roll. Mistakes are definitely best to be avoided coz once you click the camera it will be considered taken.

Not like now.. which is so much more spoiled and convenient. The digital camera is everywhere now since that almost everyone can afford to own one. If you don't like having a camera, you can always use a handphone. You can take as many pictures as you like and even delete those that you don't want. The tips - get a handphone with the best resolution. Then edit a bit here and there with the free apps you downloaded in the phone - muka banyak jerawat pun boleh hilang! Thats the beautiful part of it…. you can even make it more dramatic by editing the resolution or colour from the original picture. It just needs bit of practice to master it.

The latest trend of taking a photo now is 'selfie'. A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. The first time I was introduced to this 'selfie', agak kelam kabut gak lah nak mengadjust camera or phone supaya muka masuk dalam screen. I always failed  and gave up. Then came out a phone that can switch the screen to face us.

And wow.. since then I have non-stop taking photos of myself. Well just for myself collections. Only lately I started to share in the social media especially if its a group photos using my new gadget called 'monopod'.

Monopod is a handheld pole or stick that can hold your handphone in a order to take an extend selfie picture. Amazing how this thing works! You can even have a large group up to 20 people and all of them can fit in a picture.

Don't you love it? I do!

How I Celebrate My Eid

Yeah… today we celebrate Eid in Oman. After the Solat Raya, all of us (four cars – 17ppl) head to Salalah. Salalah is the second largest city in the Sultanate of Oman and is located in the southern Governate of Dhofar.

It took us a 12 hours drive from Muscat to Salalah. In the first three hours of our journey we passed by towns and got to see the beautiful mountain scenery, but the rest of our journey was just an endless view of dessert. I’ve never been in such a long 12hours drive before. It was quite tiring and I got bored at one point. We stopped a few times for a break, lunch and petrol.

After a very long hours drive, we finally reached Salalah. We had to pass thru a police checkpoint before entering the town. The moment we passed thru the checkpoint, the climate immediately changed. We could hardly see the road and around us as it was covered with fog. I was expecting to see the lush green of Salalah but unfortunately it was all very hazy, misty and cloudy.

This kind of weather – khareef (monsoon) only happens in July-August every year. Salalah received the most visitors and tourists at this time as they are celebrating the Khareef Festival as well. We are very lucky to be able to experience this.

At some point we felt like back in our home country – mendung dan hujan renyai2 all day long. Salalah is known as “the Switzerland of Oman”, “the oasis” and “the paradise of Arabia” because when all other GCC countries are blazing hot, Salalah is having the Khareef season and cool drizzles. It is hard to imagine and to believe how can the two regions in the same country have the totally opposite climate. For us.. coming from Muscat with a very harsh hot weather, this is something to be appreciated!

Our adventures have only begun on the following day. We went to visit the Makam Nabi Ayoub and Imran. We were lucky to have an Omani friend who was very proudly showing us around the interesting places in Salalah. We went to the famous spot called “the zero gravity” point. There is nothing to see here except for the amazing experience of our car defying gravity and moving uphill while in Neutral. Well.. some say that it is an optical illusion but I don’t care! Since I am here, I want to experience the feeling of it!

On the following day, we visited the Marneef Cave, which is located at the AL Mughsayl Beach. Since it was Eid holiday, the place was crowded with visitors. Dah rasa macam kat Batu Caves ah pulak. The cave overlooks the Arabian Sea and the famous Al Mughsayl blow-holes. If you were to stand near the spot, the gush of water, like a fountain, would come out from the holes.

This phenomenon is from the momentum of the water surging into the cavities of rock that lie mostly under water. We were lucky as it was a monsoon season and the sea level rise. The water currents become more active and the running water rips through the rock cavities resulting in the surge of the water fountain.

We were fortunate to see the beauty of the place but on the other hand because of too many visitors, the spot of this blow-hole was just like a “stage show” to them. A few of them (taking turns) stood on the spot and waited for the water to shoot up to pose for a picture. The annoying part was some of them stood on the holes it self that we couldn’t see the water come out beautifully. Memang geram sangat!

We then had a picnic lunch on the hills nearby. It was a very breathtaking view. Our Omani friend cooked for us the local biryani rice with fresh grilled fish and chicken. Yummy… We ended our day of course with shopping! We went to the famous Al Husyn Souq and Khareef Festivals.

4 days and 3 nights in Salalah – I really enjoyed myself. It is worth for a visit though it was a very tiring long hour drive journey. I’ve been staying in Oman for almost 7 years and only now have the opportunity to visit Salalah.  Salalah is a very beautiful place and no doubt will astonish you.

I love the weather – wish that we in Muscat could have the same climate and also enjoy the beautiful green scenery. Salalah, which is also known as a religious city, also has its own unique history. If you want to know about the city, read here as what I am sharing here is just my wonderful experience holiday with my family and friends.

This is how I celebrate my Eid. Berbaju kurung, berpakaian melayu lengkap sampin dan songkok – berjam2 dalam kereta… kami tetap gembira!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri semua!

Esok BELUM Raya

Penyimpan mohor besar Oman baru saja membuat pengumuman - anak bulan tidak kelihatan dan maka itu esok kami di sini masih lagi berpuasa dan esok juga bermakna BELUM raya!

While friends and relatives back in Malaysia are busy cooking, kemas mengemas or doing last minute shopping for Raya, we, over here having our last tarawekh tonight. This year I am celebrating Eid in Oman. 

This is my second time celebrating Eid in Oman. We came here three years ago a week before Ramadhan. Even during our 'first session' stay in Oman, we go back every year to Malaysia to celebrate Eid.

This year, I and hubby decided just to stay here as four of our elder daughters celebrating Eid at their place (Tasmania, Wellington and Washington). Furthermore I have my mother in-law joining us since mid Ramadhan.

At first I thought I will be fine with all this plan but I was wrong. I don't know why.. but since a week ago I've already feeling sad. Yesterday was even worst when all my daughters started sending their Raya wishes. I felt terribly down. 

All I was thinking that what will they do and eat on the first day of Eid. They celebrate their Eid tomorrow, Monday. One has to work and the other have classes as normal. As a mother, I always worried of their well-being. Worried whether they are safe there and also worried whether they are eating well or not. Every time when I cook, I always remember them especially if it is their favourite dish or food. 

Hmm.. ni baru anak2 belajar jauh… kalau dah khawin dan ada keluarga sendiri? I hope they will still find their way back home to visit me.. :) 

Sometimes I feel that the up and down feelings that I have is because I am now probably getting older (ayat-ayat skema orang tua selalu cakap kan..). I sometimes tend to be over sensitive if my children say or do something that make me kind of nothing and not important to them. Well.. probably to them it is nothing or normal, but to me it is probably something that could deeply hurt my feelings.

OK.. no more sad story here.. I just pray that wherever my children are and whatever they do, Allah will always protect them. 

To all my relatives and friends who celebrate Eid tomorrow, Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Dzahir Batin. Wishing all of you a blessed Eid. 

As to us here in Oman.. one more day to go!

 

Here I Go Again..

Here I go… Sitting in front of my laptop, blogging again. Yeah.. hoping that people will still reading it.. my dearest followers are still aware that this infamous blog is still exist! It has been like around seven months that I've neglected my blog.

You might wonder what make me suddenly pop up now right? Every single night while waiting for myself to doze off, as usual my mind will always keep playing all the incidents, plans, memories like a movie in my head. I always plan to blog those and share it here.

But…. the next day when I woke up, I either forget about it or just lazy to do it. Owh.. what a shame..

I don't want to make any promises (as I always do every time I continue blogging after M.I.A for so long).. but Insyaalah. I think I have got back on track.

I feel that I need to write and blog again because there are things or feelings that sometimes better to pour it out thru blogging or writing.

Till then.. cheers and have a nice day.

Like a "Diva"

Throwback 2012: One of the 'excited perasan diva' moment I had!!


LOCATION: QCC, food court
TIME: 2nd sept, noon

Stranger: I think I've seen you somewhere in the magazine.

Me: Hah? (curious face..) I think you've got the wrong person. It cannot be.

Stranger: Yes.. I am very sure I've seen you. (pause for a while..) Oh yeah.. It was in the newspaper - The Week!

Me: Really?? (muka hidung kembang kuncup excited) Wah.. That was long time ago. Like a month back. Surprisingly you could recognize and remember my face.

Stranger: Of course I remember and recognize your face. The story was something about food and Ramadhan celebration.

Me: Yes.. It was about how our Malaysian celebrates Ramadhan. Thank you by the way for noticing me.

Perasaanku saat itu: Like a Diva babe.. Anyway this was me that appeared in The Week. It is actually a weekly newspaper that is quite famous and well known here in Oman.

Amazing kan mamat ni bole ingat muka akak.. Now akak tau macam mana perasaan Siti Nurhaliza, Fasha Sandha atau artis suam2 kuku tu.. Bila peminat dtg tegur deorang. Inikan pulak akak.. yang hanya sekali tu je muka keluar kat newspaper Oman.

Sesungguhnya akak rasa sangat terharu dan dihargai! Hahahaha.. Statement dah ala2 artis diva gitew. Anyway.. uolss baca post akak ni jgn ah hentam dan kutuk akak ala2 peminat kutuk Abby Abadi ye.. Akak ni saja je syok sendiri verangan..

Ye lah.. Hidup ni akan bosan kalau asyik nak serius je kan... Ok. Take care uollss.. Selepas insiden ini, muka akak kuar banyak kali gak ah lagi dlm newspaper Oman ni.. tapi takde lagi ah peminat mcm ni tegur akak… hehehhe.. Maybe kalau akak jadi cover page magazine kut baru ada yang notice. Anyway kalau ada lagi peminat kejar akak.. akak kasi tau lagi ye..

Ceria-ceria selalu.. Muah muah..

Say NO to Jeans

I don’t remember when is the actual date but what I know is I’ve not worn jeans for more than a year. Wah.. Pecah rekod!!

What make me stop wearing it? Well.. One day when I was putting on my jeans, stood in front of the mirror.. I felt like a pumpkin. I felt so bloated. My butt was so huge and that peace of denim was just trying to cover it.

I suddenly lost my confident. I felt so ugly and old. I told myself, maybe this is it. This is the time that I should say good bye to my favorite denim pants. Jeans has been ‘a must’ in my wardrobes. I’ve worn jeans since I was small. I have all kind range of designs – boot cut? bell bottom? straight cut? low cut? skinny? jegging? Just name it and I had it all. I followed closely to all the designs so not to be left out.

Now I am more comfortable seeing myself in long skirts or non denim pants. Some say, you are what you are. Well.. Maybe I look more feminine or like makcik2 but that doesn’t mean that I am not cool.

Hey.. I still love and doing my outdoor activities. I can still climb the mountain without jeans. The most important thing is you yourself. Wear something that you like and feel confident in it.

I always check myself in the mirror before going out. This may seem vain, but if what I see don’t make me smile, then it’s not worth it. If you find yourself adjusting your clothing constantly, it’s obviously not something you’re comfy in. Doesn’t matter what it is, it needs to make you feel good when you see yourself!

Be yourself, everyone else is taken!

Happy New Year - 2014

Happy New Year everyone!

New year.. new day.. new chapter begins for the year of 2014. I had a wonderful year of 2013. I wish I could be more proactive in writing blog for the year of 2013 that I could share all the moments I had with all of you.

I don't have any resolutions as I never fulfill it! Everyday is my new day with my new resolution! Better that way I guess..

I hope this year will give me and my family happiness and prosperous. I want to see all my children success in their study and life.

To all of you - happy new year and may you always be blessed, healthy, happy and loved.

photo taken from my instagram