#Rayamoodon

Salam everyone. How's your Ramadhan so far? Today should be the 18th day since we started fasting. Alhamdulillah.

Today is also a public holiday, specifically for Nuzul Qur'an.

As expected, traffic jams everywhere in KL. With the public holiday and Raya/Eid fast approaching, everyone was most likely shopping for Raya and picking up their clothes from their respective tailors (including yours truly).

We started off our morning at the Kraftangan fair in Chulan. It's a yearly thing for us. I must say that it's poorly organised though. A disappointing start to the morning. I refuse to hear such excuses as "Malaysian work culture" or "Ikut Malaysian time looor". Really? NO! Such wastage of both time and money. It was advertised that the fair was to start on 22 June at 10am hence it should begin rightly so. Everything should have been set up last night. To boot today is a public holiday and is the best time to capitalise on people having the time to go through the booths. Yes, the fair will only be officiated by our Minister tomorrow. Regardless, things could have been prepared in advance. Things can proceed and all booths open for business with the opening ceremony being held tomorrow. If the idea was to only begin after the ceremony, then it should be advertised that the fair will only be held on the same day as the ceremony itself or the day after. I felt like we wasted time coming over on the first day, hoping we could avoid the massive crowd. Yet, many of the booths were still not set up or still preparing for the day. The confused faces of some tourists who were there also does not bode a good start to the fair. Ayoyooo... sayang sungguh! Hubs suggests that we come again this weekend. I don't think I can though with revision classes and all.

We then moved on to KLCC to finish off our Raya preparation. This year we gradually bought the necessary and with exams looming over, not much is needed with Raya time most likely being spent in our library in my case. We managed to catch a performance in KLCC as part of their Raya celebrations. Nice deco at the concourse. A colourful rendition of life in the kampung.

By noon, we were already heading to Jalan TAR. Fuuh, so many people. Even then the sales lady at one of the boutiques mentioned the crowd was even more massive two weeks ago. Wow! We were in Jalan TAR to pick up our baju raya. At the same time, we went to look for something for my mum and sisters. With her impending move to KL, thought a nice baju raya would cheer her return to KL. She is definitely a bit sad leaving Kuantan after many 'more or less' peaceful years there with things such as 15 minute jams and bird watching almost everyday. However with everyone here in KL, the move is definitely for the better.

The Raya mood is definitely in the air. Our initial plan to spend only an hour or two in Jalan TAR extended to more than that. Despite the crowd, I do feel my Raya spirits lifted seeing people's excited faces shopping in Jalan TAR. The next trip there will most likely to go for their night markets. Hubs especially loves this specific stall which sells mini keropok lekors.

I hope your Raya mood is ON as mine.

Wishing you all well with the preparations.

Holiday Mood

Harloo peeps...

Most of you would still be at work today, like moi'. Some dah balik Raya dah pun.

How's your Raya prep? Ok? So-so? Bolehlaaaaa...

Mine? Boleeeehlaaaa

Very important meeting this afternoon but my head is already in the clouds thinking of the things I get to do over Raya and my days off. Fuuuh! Aper-aper bab makan kena control sebab taknak perut mengejut. Also, taknak gemuk terus after Raya. There will be a whole month of feasting at relatives' and friends' open houses. Baru ajer text my Tok Muna. Since dah lama tak jumpa and dapat jumpa balik time kenduri Aunty Zah before Washington, mestilar nak visit Tok Muna and Tok Nyang. Tok Muna is my late grandma's stepsister and Tok Nyang pangkat great grandma lar. Ingat nak pay them a visit soon.

Pagi nih pulak, ada message from old school flame (gedik bebudak sikit time nih). Don't worry yer, no scandal here. Memang generally semua kengkawan and takder aper-aper. Masing-masing happy ngan hidup sekarang. I'm stupid crazy in love with my husband and he and the world know it.

Aper jadi nyer, masa zaman study kat college in Cambridge dulu, ada banyak gambar scenery cantik-cantik and of course, gambar ngan kengkawan college and bf dulu. Hantar balik kat Malaysia, photoshop hilang semua. Dengar kata Baba masa dapat tau, nak saman terus photoshop kat OU dulu. So pagi nih, entah kenapa, bf lama nih godek-godek album lama, jumpa gambar lama and terus message and share.

Masuk tahun nih...gambar tu 13 tahun dulu! Adoi, dah rasa berumur terus. Perasan ajer muda. Hahaha! Tunjuk Husbie, comment macam-macam!

"Macam Pinoy!" (Kughaang asaaam)

" Orang study you bopren mat salleh " (To which I responded and clarified I was TOP STUDENT in college yer... so don't play-play. Study tetap study)

Both of us came to the conclusion maybe my parents took one look at the pictures and just threw them away. Hahaha...sedeyyy...

Ini sidetrack sikit, a bit of a tip and sharing session to segelintir of my readers whom I know are sorting through some issues in their lives. I'm not talking about those yang ada everyday problems and stress situ sini sikit. Those yang faham, bagus lar yer. I hope by me sharing and how I deal with 'it', boleh membantu some of you.

Generally, Raya is not one of those holidays I'm excited for. Too many painful and 'perit' memories. Let's not get into that. My blog is supposed to be a living document of my happy and joyful memories kan? The memory of my late grandma's jelly keras, raya cooking and her famous bubur with different kinds of sambals gets me through. Tapi, memang time nih I akan solemn sikit. Of course, I will get wrapped up in all the excitement i.e. bab shopping, baju raya baru suami etc.

Yes, there are those more unfortunate. Ramai sangat! You can take the whole world and universe's problem in and compare it to yours. It doesn't change the fact that you are going through what you are going through. To each his and her own struggles. I have the right to feel what I feel and to deal with it. Key here, identify and DEAL!!!

Last year efforts to meriahkan Raya tak berjaya. Keluarga tak cooperative. Takper lah, we make the best of things kan. Sejak kahwin, Alhamdulillah Husbie adalar attempt to inject some joy and excitement for the holidays. Tapi macammana pun, memang deep down, ada that 'feeling'.

For those experiencing the same, for one reason or another, either a lost of loved one(s) or other negative incidents, tabahkan hati yer. Embrace that feeling tapi jangan lupa to make the effort to join in the festivities too. Memang susah and kekadang rasa liat, but better try than lay dead. You are still breathing and alive and well. I didn't watch the whole movie but I'd like to remind myself of the Yes Man movie, alaaaa..yang Jim Carrey berlakon tu. Bagus concept dia to make positive and drastic changes in his life.

The key to resolve this...TRY!!! Jangan buat derk and harap everything fall in your lap.

Insya Allah, the festive season will be good for you too.

To my readers, if ada tersalah post, terkasar bahasa or kekurangan, maaf zahir dan batin yer. Kosong-kosong!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Here's my favourite picture turned meme of last year's Raya! Hahaha! Enjoy! Stay positive and well!

A Day Off

We took the day off during a weekday to just breathe, relax, do our chores and have some quality time together. We totally needed some time together after these past few busy weeks.

By noon, we completed our chores and made our way to Jakel. Raya dah dekat and we have not bought any fabrics for our 'raya sedondon' look. One of the sweetest things I find to do as a married couple is to have this 'raya sedondon' look. Padahal dulu dok pikir cliche' lar benda-benda macam nih. ;p

Our second time round in Jakel was much relaxed. Finally we were able to browse through all the fabrics with not many crowds bustling about. 

We weren't sure with what colour to go for this year. I wanted something metallic based. Nonetheless, I was open to other colours suitable with our skin colour and different from any what either of us had before in creating another year of happy raya memories.

Upon rolls of fabrics, we finally have our theme colour. Not gonna share it yet...wait for Raya yer...

On the way to the carpark, nampak lar promo Ariani RTW. My general take on Asian made ready-to-wears is that they don't cater to my bootylicious size. Tapi Alhamdulillah, dapat lar satu set. Either I'm gonna wear it soon or second day Raya. 

Worth a visit. Cantik jugak designs Ariani RTW and prices are ok. They're having a competition at the moment. Insya Allah will be one of my pit stops to shop for Raya.

Hujan dah lebat kat luar building. Kena cepat-cepat keluar KL to escape the jam. 

A very productive and enjoyable day off...definitely.