A Picstory: Honeymoon

For a long while now, I've been meaning to do a post on my honeymoon from two years back. Crikes. I've sat down numerous times to start writing something about it, anything, but have always put it off. To be honest, I don't think I could ever really write a proper account of what this honeymoon was for the hubs and I. The two weeks were spectacularly amazing and full of discoveries about not just a country we had only previously heard and read bits and bats about, but also quite importantly about ourselves as a newly married couple.

So, why Malaysia? Well way before we got married, the hubs and I picked Malaysia over all the other common honeymoon destinations for one main reason - the huge distance! We figured that it would be a seriously long time before we'd get a chance to fly out so far out and so Malaysia was booked! The four s's: sun, sea, sand and shopping - hah also helped clinch the deal! Other factors such as religion, halal food and the Grand Prix circuit the hubs wanted to visit also helped to put a stamp on our decision.

In total, we spent two weeks there, landing there on my birthday (as sweetly arranged by the hubs) in August. The pic-story will sum up what we saw and did much better than I could ever explain. There really is something very powerful about still images. Captivating snapshots of time, kept safe forever.

I can't actually remember a day when one of us (the hubs and I) don't mention something about Malaysia. Whether it's the delicious ALL HALAL food, politics, education, property or even the hijabs unique to Malaysia, we loved and still love it all. Not forgetting to mention the beautiful and warm people of Malaysia who made our stay there very pleasant. To the extent, actually, where we have a real strong desire to move out there one day. Seriously. One day soon, please God :-)

But that's a story for another day.

For now, I hope you have as much pleasure in looking through the collection of snaps as I did putting them together. Yes I am foodie, so be warned in case the pictures reduce you to salivate.

On a nicer note, Aimie darling, a personal thank you for making me write this post which has brought endless smiles to my face, reminding me of probably the most special time in my life yet. I actually felt quite sad uploading the last picture but inshaAllah, there is a whole life time of discovery left :-)

Hip hip!

The past couple of months have been so jam packed: unbelieeeevable!

Firstly, the dissertation stress . Now OVER. RIP! Yippeeee!

Second, the hubs you may well remember, passed his ACCA back in the summer and finally graduated in November! Here's a snapshot of the things we got up to in his honour:

A month straight after this, my younger and youngest sister graduated too! This time in Radiography, not ACCA! MashaAllah, I'm so proud of her achievements, especially since what we've been through recently after losing our beloved father to cancer. She really deserved a good spoiling session, and she got one!

A couple of days after this celebratory event, my best friend and I finally got to see each other after months! But in all honesty, we didn't really get to have a proper catch up (not unless you count the drive down on the motorway!) as we spent the day at the NEC Arena checking out the "latest" high street slash designer trends in the Clothes Show. I quote latest as if I'm being totally honest, the clothes on most of the rails are the stuff I've already seen down in London, so a little naff really. Anyhoo. A good time was had. Many bargains were too, had, lol, another post mebbe.
Love it! :-D

Golden times

Just today, my mother-in-law (from here on I may refer to her as the MIL) were reminiscing over the by gone times. She was reminiscing about her tiny newly born baby boy with the red lips who was passed onto her by the midwife, wrapped up in a woolly blanket, cute as a button. This baby boy is now my husband and her 26 year old married son. How time flies she sighed. I remembered how my mum and dad always thought us five siblings grew up too quick and too soon, how they wished they could stop us from growing up beyond the age of 10 so that we could all stay at home and continue with the good times we all shared (although, realistically this 10 year old business could not work, how could we all be the same age, huh, heehee!). It's so sad isn't it, when your parents realise you're no longer their little child anymore and are in fact fully grown adults, living in the big bad world. That said, I think most parents will always see their child as that little baby they held in their arms or the little cute toddler good as gold.

*huge sigh*

That will be one of us one day, looking back as parents that is, inshaAllah.

Anyway. The hubs has earned lots of brownie points this week. Not only did he save me a chore by scrubbing the bathroom, head to toe, floor to ceiling, on the eve before Eid, he also very generously rewarded my uni efforts with a blingBLING watch! It's huuuuge, seriously HUUUGE!
I love it, although between you and me it's a little too much on the bling and size factor. I'm sure I'll get used to it though!

My baby's done it!

Salaam dear readers

How are we all today? In good spirits I hope :-)

Something quite amazing happened yesterday and I feel this event alone deserves a whole post of it's own.

*Warning: Sick bucket may be required.

Sweet baby pie, also known as the hubs, got his results yesterday at 5.20am and alhamdulilah is now a fully qualified ACCA accountant!!! He has completed all his exams, icluding the last two which he sat in June and has not only just passed, but passed with flying colours mashaAllah! Neither of us knew what to expect as the last two papers he sat were the most toughest he had sat yet. The ACCA website was incredibly jammed as ACCA hopefuls the world over were all attempting to log on at the same time to check their results. When I finally managed to log in I quickly saw the words "Pass" "Pass" and gave out a little "ahhh you've done it" scream as the hubs continued scanning the page! My in-laws were over come with joy and called half of Bangladesh to let their families know of their son's success, mashaAllah it was a great feeling :-)

I am so incredibly proud of him and it really is so heart warming to finally see the fruits of his hard labour. When the hubs and I met all those many years ago (around 5 years ago now!), he was just starting off the ACCA course and now, all those many years later - he's done it :-D InshaAllah it will give him a new uplifting courage to go on to do even greater things and to make his, and our dreams come true. Even I feel free-er knowing that he is now stress free in that department and that we can now both move on in making our dreams come true iA :-D

To celebrate, I booked us a table at our local Slug & Lettuce (no I'm not kiddin'!) and yaa, indulged in some gorgeous food. The hubs even by that point still couldn't believe he had done it and was generally in shock, so conversation largely centred on work, ACCA, and work. Blah.

Yes, that is lettuce of some sort. And no, those fried things are not slugs, but king prawns! Haaoww! :-)

Oh well. My baby's done it! Well done you!

B-day: the ahhs and naas.

Salaam world

So I'm no longer a young 23 year old! But am a young 24 year old instead ;-) Yes, yesterday I turned a year older and just this >> | | much closer to getting my pension! Heh.

It was a lovely day alhamdulilah, full of life's simple sweet things. I spent the day with the hubs and my in laws and for the second time, away from my parents and siblings. I don't think the whole "I miss you" thing will ever go away and yesterday was no different, although I have begun to get used to it.

I made it very clear from the outset that I didn't want any hoo-haa with this birthday. A double whammy b-day honeymoon celebration saw the hubs and I live it up in 6* hotels in Malaysia last year, and basically raised the bar so high that I doubt the hubs will ever be able to max the celebrations up ever again (not that I want him to btw)! I mean I would only be ageing, what's there to celebrate right? But oh no. The hubs spoilt me rotten, showering me with his endless love, and yes, not to mention lots of pressies, days well before my birthday. He really is the best and I don't deserve him! But clearly he thinks I do, so it's kewl ;-) lol.

Instead of dining out like we normally do, I insisted on staying in, cooking the family some mousakka. This took quite a while but thank God it paid off. T'was divine! What really topped it off though, was being with the family. Although we live together, we seldom eat together, let alone sit together. Yesterday however, we did, and we even managed to fit in a golden oldie, black n white old school Bengali film. Ahh. Family time :-) What didn't top it off though, was the news I got when I called my parents to bid them goodnight...I found out that my dad had to be taken into A&E last night as his breathing became dangerously difficult. He's had to stay in over night, but I've found out that he's doing okay now inshaAllah. *sigh* I knew he didn't sound well when he called yesterday morning to wish me a good day but silly me, I didn't pursue it any further :-( Allah knows best though, he'll be okay iA.

So. Another day and the future awaits. I'm really fortunate to have so many wonderful blessings in my life. These blessings are namely my nearest and dearest who truly care for me, something which admittedly I don't always succeed in recognising. Gifts are an obvious symbol of affection, but they are meaningless without the true meaning one attaches to them. I pray Allah always keeps me this blessed and surrounds me with his love through my loved ones. Ameen.

Aanyway. We took some pics to capture the sweet day. Enjoy readers :-)

Sweet card and the orchids from my in laws. So so so sweet!

Black and silver Asian dress from my parents.
Pink dress and second black dress from MIL.
Bag from sis
R. Lauren Style perfume (gift wrapped) from bro
Peridot (birthstone) and diamond earrings; Nintendo DS I with Brain Trainer - I was dying for this; card and chocs and not to mention insurance on the hubs car for my driving lessons - all from the hubs!

Home made mousakka! My first attempt mA :-)

Surprise cake, complete with candles and SHOES! lol Very sweet :-)


And that's the end of that.

Hay fever and flu sufferers - get well soon!

The combination of hay fever+virus+general unidentified fever = one poor poorly person, namely my hubs.

Poor lamb has been off work for the past two days now as his usual hay fever tablets surprisingly stopped working, leading us to suspect something a bit more sinister. Alhamdulilah the nurse yesterday at the emergency doctor's clinic identified his illness as some sort of virus, causing blocked congestion and a high temperature. The medicine prescribed seems to be working, albeit slowly and the steam facials I've had him enduring seems to be clearing his airways. Oh another benefit of this steam session was that it gave me the perfect opportunity to remove the shockingly gross black and WHITE heads on his NOSE! Gosh it was satisfying! I mean, I never anticipated how great the results would be (yah, he had quite a few visible ones) but boy I was so pleased that I couldn't stop staring at his nose with amazement! Made my (yester)day :D

So yeah, the poor soul is off work today and since he's getting his stamina and good health back, he's been hooked on the Wii playing BoomBlox for God know's how many hours :|

Oh and he keeps poking his head round my laptop from time to time to see what I'm writing about [cuttieee!] claiming to do it because apparently I like it! Yeaah ;)

For anyone suffering from hay fever or such an illness, you have my sympathetics people! Remember, drink plenty of water and fresh and pure orange juice - wonder drinks!

Books, clothes, shiny lip gloss in a hot hot noodle soup

Hello world!

I've been meaning to update my little personal journal for a while now, but alas, things have been quite hectic recently so here's my update [ooh, btw, I shall write in bullet form as it helps keep my mind focused, eh]:

• I was at uni yesterday for a lil while and during my walk from the bus station to my building, I realised that I wouldn't be there for much longer and so, should utilise my handy camera to snapshot my surrounding since the weather too was on my side. Here's a glimpse of my uni area from yesterday:

Pic of the Law Building, Wills Memorial if I remember correctly. Awesome looking building.

My building! Oh the temple of profound wisdom! Hmm.

• Gosh, got sooo much to do for this final FINAL unit: the dreaded dissertation! Okay, so I have done before, but the thought of doing another, Master's level at that, is quite frightening. InshaAllah, it will be fine, I will put my sweat, blood and tears into it to turn it into a masterpiece and voila, I'll have the Master's under my belt in no time hah! Now to get to those books about educational research and communication technologies......

• Yesterday was also the final day of darling hubby's final exams! The poor love was ill-ish with hay fever as well, I only hope Allah will reward him kindly for his efforts, inshaAllah. Results out in August, fingers and toes crossed until then. But before then, drool over this delish looking supergrub....I say supergrub cos it was belissimo! Halal chicken is a rare treat in UK, non Indian, chain restaurants and we found it at Tampopo (yes, pardon the name, it means daffodil or something similar in Japanases apparently!) T'was a cool restaurant, serving pan far eastern dishes from Singapore to the Philippines to the people of Brizzle!

'Laksa' dish from Singapore was my choice of the day. Fiery cocounut broth and noodle thing with chicken, prawns and tofu - lush! HOT HOT HOT!!!

Hubby's dish, a Malay 'Kway Tweo' - quite tasty. Shame neither of us managed to use the chopsticks, guess we'll have to practise using the one's the waitress so kindly gifted me!

Vietnamese coffee - with condensed milk! Teh tarik nostalgia!

• Okay food indulgence aside I also bought three books, yes THREE reading books! I surprised myself actually, as although I do want to read more for leisure, I rarely find or quite honestly make the time. Will soon change I hope as the following books seem to good to miss:

1. Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi; have already read almost a dozen chapters, definitely a page turner
   
2. Beauty - Zadie Smith; blurb sounded intriguing
   
3. The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh; novel on the happenings in colonial India

• I also embarked on a style finding/developing journey with hubby yesterday as he has recently shown a deep interest in pleasing me wrt: fashion, to which I stressed that developing one's own sense of style is far more important than just following fashion. Bless! I don't know what has brought this on right now, but I'm not complaining! His wardrobe has (or had rather) three shades: black, white and blue: ahhh, I suddenly remember why he's doing it now! Shopping for him for hours on end, was definitely worth it :)

• I've also spent half of today shopping, again, and not for myself, again! Gosh. Self restraint or what!! Good feeling :O

• Finally lip gloss: I now have two cute tubes of pure lip shine! One peach the other pink, both very transparent and s.h.i.n.e.y! Perfect for summer!

So there. My update. I feel a need to do more often than before for some obscure reason: actually the thought of sufering with memory loss is quite scary and in case that ever happens, I have this for an extra memory aid! hehe

As for tomorrow, I am offsie to my parent's on a weekend visit, with a wedding squashed in, can't wait iA :)

As for now, I am SHATTERED! EXHAUSTED! SLEEEPY! Huuuge post huh. Right, I'm off! Nite all!

x

A picstory

Here are a few snaps of what went on in the Fatty domain earlier this week, Thursday to be precise:

In summary

1. Bust up with hubby resulted in a bouquet of flowers and a thank you card at 7am in the morning, followed by breakfast in bed. Sweet sweet sweet, I am a lucky girl, I know alhamdulilah.
   
2. On feeling quite silly and yes, guilty for the pettiness, I decided to cook up a treat for hubby and the family. I'd never cooked anything like this before, had only eaten the dauphinoise potatoes at a restaurant and so used recipes of the Internet as a guide. Outcome, well see for yourselves!

Fatty and pretty flowers



Cod & Pepper Bake with Dauphinoise Potatoes



Gosh, posting pics is such a farce, surely there must be an easier way! Please let me know what you guys reckon the easiest way is!

June showers!

Gosh it is so dull and damn out there! We have had a week of glorious sunny warm weather and now dampness! Bleugh. I don't know how some people can find weather like this gorgeously romantic, just the thought of water getting into my toes makes me *shudder*.

So what's been going on in Fatty's world as of late?

I've been swotting up for my driving theory test continuously after a huge slump of nothingness from when I booked my test to the moment hubby rightfully gave me a telling off for not bothering to revise! He never NEVER yells and boy, when he did, it gave me the kick I massively needed! So yes, I am now feeling a lot more confident about my theory test on Tuesday. For those of you not from the UK, all learner drivers must pass a driving theory test and a hazard perception test which covers all the necessary info regarding driving motor vehicles; once passed, the learner can only then proceed to attempting the practical driving test, within two years of passing the theory test: in total, the driving tests consists of three parts. I have actually attempted this test and passed it before, however, due to my laziness for not getting round to taking my practical test in the two year window provided after passing the theory test, my pass has become invalid, hence the retake! Grr grr grr! InshaAllah I'll be okay!


On a more positive note, my two sisters have been on the phone all morning keeping me up to date about the race for life event which they have taken part in for the first time today. I was supposed to be taking part too, but due to hubby's exams, it's been impossible! Well not impossible, but there's no way I'd be able to leave him in the run up to his LAST EVER exam unless it was a life/death situation! InshaAllah I will take part one day as it is a charitable event for a cause very close to the heart of my family. The runners/walkers who have participated will run or walk a number of kilometers to raise money for cancer care, research etc, and since my dad is a cancer sufferer and has been for the last 8-9 years, it is a charity I would definitely become involved with at some point in my life, inshaAllah.

Okay, shall leave it there for now. I fancy a cup of tea to suit my mood in this damp rainy weather so ciao amigos!

All smiles :-)

Hello hello and hello :-)

Hope you're well and happy iA.

I haven't blogged in a few days now, although I haven't been too far away, just haven't had the urge to get things written down recently. Anyway, a little update on everything typeworthy so far:

1. My beloved dad hasn't been too well (will explain later) and was asked to stay over night at the hospital, seems like he will be there for another night only iA before being discharged - he is not in a critical state and is as fine as can be right now :-) . I ask all of you reading this post to take a micro-second of your time when you close your eyes/bow your heads or just remember your beloved God to make a small prayer for dad's health recovery. InshaAllah.
   
2. I have a job! Remember my previous rambling about the possibility of working in a girl's school? Well, I recieved an email yesterday with an offer for the post, which by the way, I only read this morning! I'm so over the moon about this as I genuinely began thinking that there was no way I'd be in employment this September! The relief is just incredible and was evident from the moment I broke the news to hubby and my in-laws. Everyone I think, is just relieved for me as they were worried about me worrying! I'm just waiting for the official contract which will be agreed once the teaching references come through, nothing to worry about iA.
   
3. Thirdly....hmm, nothing else really 'cept that I've been all smiles today, as pointed out by the hubby! I don't think I've looked this happy since,...., I can't remember! All thanks to the most beautiful and kind Almighty :-)

So then. I think I'll leave it here for now before I ramble on and on and on and on...lol

By the way, before I am off, a BIG HEY to my new blog followers: Queen and Aimie. I have been a reader of your blogs for a while now and it is because of all of you sisters (and my hubby's suggestion) that I have felt inspired to start writing a blog. Glad to know I'm not just writing into an empty virtual space!

Cool and out :-)

Things I love right now...

No point moping around, especially not on a day like this when the temp is 23C! High enough to put a :-) on any one's face!

By the way, you may be wondering why am I indoors on a gorg day like this. Reason is because the hubby has his final exams starting next week, so the last thing I want to be doing is enjoy the weather by myself!

So what am I loving right now:

1. Lovely weather and the blue skies it brings with it
2. Hubby, lots and lots and lots
3. The plethora of music I've recently dld! Esp the Kings of Leon album (from last year, I must add, better late than never!)
4. Smell of freshly washed clothes - yes, that's right, I'm loving the smell of washing powder/softner, lol